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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lives of the Engineers, by Samuel Smiles
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Lives of the Engineers
+       The Locomotive.  George and Robert Stephenson
+
+
+Author: Samuel Smiles
+
+
+
+Release Date: January 5, 2009  [eBook #27710]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS***
+
+
+This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler.
+
+                       [Picture: George Stephenson]
+
+
+
+
+
+                                  LIVES
+                                  OF THE
+                                ENGINEERS.
+
+
+                             THE LOCOMOTIVE.
+
+                      GEORGE AND ROBERT STEPHENSON.
+
+                            BY SAMUEL SMILES,
+                 AUTHOR OF ‘CHARACTER,’ ‘SELF-HELP,’ ETC.
+
+    “Bid Harbours open, Public Ways extend;
+    Bid Temples, worthier of God, ascend;
+    Bid the broad Arch the dang’rous flood contain,
+    The Mole projected break the roaring main,
+    Back to his bounds their subject sea command,
+    And roll obedient rivers through the land.
+    These honours, Peace to happy Britain brings;
+    These are imperial works, and worthy kings.”
+
+                                                                     POPE.
+
+                       _A NEW AND REVISED EDITION_.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                                 LONDON:
+                      JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
+                                  1879.
+
+                 _The right of Translation is reserved_.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+Since the appearance of this book in its original form, some seventeen
+years since, the construction of Railways has continued to make
+extraordinary progress.  Although Great Britain, first in the field, had
+then, after about twenty-five years’ work, expended nearly 300 millions
+sterling in the construction of 8300 miles of railway, it has, during the
+last seventeen years, expended about 288 millions more in constructing
+7780 additional miles.
+
+But the construction of railways has proceeded with equal rapidity on the
+Continent.  France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland,
+Holland, have largely added to their railway mileage.  Austria is
+actively engaged in carrying new lines across the plains of Hungary,
+which Turkey is preparing to meet by lines carried up the valley of the
+Lower Danube.  Russia is also occupied with extensive schemes for
+connecting Petersburg and Moscow with her ports in the Black Sea on the
+one hand, and with the frontier towns of her Asiatic empire on the other.
+
+Italy is employing her new-born liberty in vigorously extending railways
+throughout her dominions.  A direct line of communication has already
+been opened between France and Italy, through the Mont Cenis Tunnel;
+while another has been opened between Germany and Italy through the
+Brenner Pass,—so that the entire journey may now be made by two different
+railway routes (excepting only the short sea-passage across the English
+Channel) from London to Brindisi, situated in the south-eastern extremity
+of the Italian peninsula.
+
+During the last sixteen years, nearly the whole of the Indian railways
+have been made.  When Edmund Burke, in 1783, arraigned the British
+Government for their neglect of India in his speech on Mr. Fox’s Bill, he
+said: “England has built no bridges, made no high roads, cut no
+navigations, dug out no reservoirs. . . .  Were we to be driven out of
+India this day, nothing would remain to tell that it had been possessed,
+during the inglorious period of our dominion, by anything better than the
+ourang-outang or the tiger.”
+
+But that reproach no longer exists.  Some of the greatest bridges erected
+in modern times—such as those over the Sone near Patna, and over the
+Jumna at Allahabad—have been erected in connection with the Indian
+railways.  More than 5000 miles are now at work, and they have been
+constructed at an expenditure of about £88,000,000 of British capital,
+guaranteed by the British Government.  The Indian railways connect the
+capitals of the three Presidencies—uniting Bombay with Madras on the
+south, and with Calcutta on the north-east—while a great main line, 2200
+miles in extent, passing through the north-western provinces, and
+connecting Calcutta with Lucknow, Delhi, Lahore, Moultan, and Kurrachee,
+unites the mouths of the Hooghly in the Bay of Bengal with those of the
+Indus in the Arabian Sea.
+
+When the first edition of this work appeared, in the beginning of 1857,
+the Canadian system of railways was but in its infancy.  The Grand Trunk
+was only begun, and the Victoria Bridge—the greatest of all railway
+structures—was not half erected.  The Colony of Canada has now more than
+3000 miles in active operation along the great valley of the St.
+Lawrence, connecting Rivière du Loup at the mouth of that river, and the
+harbour of Portland in the State of Maine, _viâ_ Montreal and Toronto,
+with Sarnia on Lake Huron, and with Windsor, opposite Detroit in the
+State of Michigan.  During the same time the Australian Colonies have
+been actively engaged in providing themselves with railways, many of
+which are at work, and others are in course of formation.  The Cape of
+Good Hope has several lines open, and others making.  France has
+constructed about 400 miles in Algeria; while the Pasha of Egypt is the
+proprietor of 360 miles in operation across the Egyptian desert.  The
+Japanese are also making railroads.
+
+But in no country has railway construction been prosecuted with greater
+vigour than in the United States.  There the railway furnishes not only
+the means of intercommunication between already established settlements,
+as in the Old World; but it is regarded as the pioneer of colonization,
+and as instrumental in opening up new and fertile territories of vast
+extent in the west,—the food-grounds of future nations.  Hence railway
+construction in that country was scarcely interrupted even by the great
+Civil War,—at the commencement of which Mr. Seward publicly expressed the
+opinion that “physical bonds—such as highways, railroads, rivers, and
+canals—are vastly more powerful for holding civil communities together
+than any mere covenants, though written on parchment or engraved on
+iron.”
+
+The people of the United States were the first to follow the example of
+England, after the practicability of steam locomotion had been proved on
+the Stockton and Darlington, and Liverpool and Manchester Railways.  The
+first sod of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway was cut on the 4th of July,
+1828, and the line was completed and opened for traffic in the following
+year, when it was worked partly by horse-power, and partly by a
+locomotive built at Baltimore, which is still preserved in the Company’s
+workshops.  In 1830, the Hudson and Mohawk Railway was begun, while other
+lines were under construction in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New
+Jersey; and in the course of ten years, 1843 miles were finished and in
+operation.  In ten more years, 8827 miles were at work; at the end of
+1864, 35,000 miles; and at the 31st of December, 1873, not less than
+70,651 miles were in operation, of which 3916 had been made during that
+year.  One of the most extensive trunk-lines is the Great Pacific
+Railroad, connecting the lines in the valleys of the Mississippi and the
+Missouri with the city of San Francisco on the shores of the Pacific, by
+means of which it is possible to make the journey from England to Hong
+Kong, via New York, in little more than a month.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+The results of the working of railways have been in many respects
+different from those anticipated by their projectors.  One of the most
+unexpected has been the growth of an immense passenger-traffic.  The
+Stockton and Darlington line was projected as a coal line only, and the
+Liverpool and Manchester as a merchandise line.  Passengers were not
+taken into account as a source of revenue, for at the time of their
+projection, it was not believed that people would trust themselves to be
+drawn upon a railway by an “explosive machine,” as the locomotive was
+described to be.  Indeed, a writer of eminence declared that he would as
+soon think of being fired off on a ricochet rocket, as travel on a
+railway at twice the speed of the old stagecoaches.  So great was the
+alarm which existed as to the locomotive, that the Liverpool and
+Manchester Committee pledged themselves in their second prospectus,
+issued in 1825, “not to require any clause empowering its use;” and as
+late as 1829, the Newcastle and Carlisle Act was conceded on the express
+condition that the line should not be worked by locomotives, but by
+horses only.
+
+Nevertheless, the Liverpool and Manchester Company obtained powers to
+make and work their railway without any such restriction; and when the
+line was made and opened, a locomotive passenger train was advertised to
+be run upon it, by way of experiment.  Greatly to the surprise of the
+directors, more passengers presented themselves as travellers by the
+train than could conveniently be carried.
+
+The first arrangements as to passenger-traffic were of a very primitive
+character, being mainly copied from the old stage-coach system.  The
+passengers were “booked” at the railway office, and their names were
+entered in a way-bill which was given to the guard when the train
+started.  Though the usual stage-coach bugleman could not conveniently
+accompany the passengers, the trains were at first played out of the
+terminal stations by a lively tune performed by a trumpeter at the end of
+the platform; and this continued to be done at the Manchester Station
+until a comparatively recent date.
+
+But the number of passengers carried by the Liverpool and Manchester line
+was so unexpectedly great, that it was very soon found necessary to
+remodel the entire system.  Tickets were introduced, by which a great
+saving of time was effected.  More roomy and commodious carriages were
+provided, the original first-class compartments being seated for four
+passengers only.  Everything was found to have been in the first instance
+made too light and too slight.  The prize ‘Rocket,’ which weighed only 4½
+tons when loaded with its coke and water, was found quite unsuited for
+drawing the increasingly heavy loads of passengers.  There was also this
+essential difference between the old stage-coach and the new railway
+train, that, whereas the former was “full” with six inside and ten
+outside, the latter must be able to accommodate whatever number of
+passengers came to be carried.  Hence heavier and more powerful engines,
+and larger and more substantial carriages were from time to time added to
+the carrying stock of the railway.
+
+The speed of the trains was also increased.  The first locomotives used
+in hauling coal-trains ran at from four to six miles an hour.  On the
+Stockton and Darlington line the speed was increased to about ten miles
+an hour; and on the Liverpool and Manchester line the first
+passenger-trains were run at the average speed of seventeen miles an
+hour, which at that time was considered very fast.  But this was not
+enough.  When the London and Birmingham line was opened, the mail-trains
+were run at twenty-three miles an hour; and gradually the speed went up,
+until now the fast trains are run at from fifty to sixty miles an
+hour,—the pistons in the cylinders, at sixty miles, travelling at the
+inconceivable rapidity of 800 feet per minute!
+
+To bear the load of heavy engines run at high speeds, a much stronger and
+heavier road was found necessary; and shortly after the opening of the
+Liverpool and Manchester line, it was entirely relaid with stronger
+materials.  Now that express passenger-engines are from thirty to
+thirty-five tons each, the weight of the rails has been increased from 35
+lbs. to 75 lbs. or 86 lbs. to the yard.  Stone blocks have given place to
+wooden sleepers; rails with loose ends resting on the chairs, to rails
+with their ends firmly “fished” together; and in many places, where the
+traffic is unusually heavy, iron rails have been replaced by those of
+steel.
+
+And now see the enormous magnitude to which railway passenger-traffic has
+grown.  In the year 1873, 401,465,086 passengers were carried by day
+tickets in Great Britain alone.  But this was not all.  For in that year
+257,470 periodical tickets were issued by the different railways; and
+assuming half of them to be annual, one-fourth half-yearly, and the
+remainder quarterly tickets, and that their holders made only five
+journeys each way weekly, this would give an additional number of
+47,024,000 journeys, or a total of 448,489,086 passengers carried in
+Great Britain in one year.
+
+It is difficult to grasp the idea of the enormous number of persons
+represented by these figures.  The mind is merely bewildered by them, and
+can form no adequate notion of their magnitude.  To reckon them singly
+would occupy twenty-five years, counting at the rate of one a second for
+twelve hours every day.  Or take another illustration.  Supposing every
+man, woman, and child in Great Britain to make ten journeys by rail
+yearly, the number would greatly fall short of the passengers carried in
+1873.
+
+Mr. Porter, in his ‘Progress of the Nation,’ estimated that thirty
+millions of passengers, or about eighty-two thousand a day, travelled by
+coaches in Great Britain in 1834, an average distance of twelve miles
+each, at an average cost of 5s. a passenger, or at the rate of 5d. a
+mile; whereas above 448 millions are now carried by railway an average
+distance of 8½ miles each, at an average cost of 1s. 1½d. per passenger,
+or about three halfpence per mile, in considerably less than one-fourth
+of the time.
+
+But besides the above number of passengers, over one hundred and
+sixty-two million tons of minerals and merchandise were carried by
+railway in the United Kingdom in 1873, besides mails, cattle, parcels,
+and other traffic.  The distance run by passenger and goods trains in the
+year was 162,561,304 miles; to accomplish which it is estimated that four
+miles of railway must have been covered by running trains during every
+second all the year round.
+
+To perform this service, there were, in 1873, 11,255 locomotives at work
+in the United Kingdom, consuming about four million tons of coal and
+coke, and flashing into the air every minute some forty tons of water in
+the form of steam in a high state of elasticity.  There were also 24,644
+passenger-carriages, 9128 vans and breaks attached to passenger-trains,
+and 329,163 trucks, waggons, and other vehicles appropriated to
+merchandise.  Buckled together, buffer to buffer, the locomotives and
+tenders would extend from London to Peterborough; while the carrying
+vehicles, joined together, would form two trains occupying a double line
+of railway extending from London to beyond Inverness.
+
+A notable feature in the growth of railway traffic of late years has been
+the increase in the number of third-class passengers, compared with first
+and second class.  Sixteen years since, the third-class passengers
+constituted only about one-third; ten years later, they were about
+one-half; whereas now they form more than three-fourths of the whole
+number carried.  In 1873, there were about 23 million first-class
+passengers, 62 million second-class, and not less than 306 million
+third-class.  Thus George Stephenson’s prediction, “that the time would
+come when it would be cheaper for a working man to make a journey by
+railway than to walk on foot,” is already verified.
+
+The degree of safety with which this great traffic has been conducted is
+not the least remarkable of its features.  Of course, so long as railways
+are worked by men they will be liable to the imperfections belonging to
+all things human.  Though their machinery may be perfect and their
+organisation as complete as skill and forethought can make it, workmen
+will at times be forgetful and listless; and a moment’s carelessness may
+lead to the most disastrous results.  Yet, taking all circumstances into
+account, the wonder is, that travelling by railway at high speed should
+have been rendered comparatively so safe.
+
+To be struck by lightning is one of the rarest of all causes of death;
+yet more persons are killed by lightning in Great Britain than are killed
+on railways from causes beyond their own control.  Most persons would
+consider the probability of their dying by hanging to be extremely
+remote; yet, according to the Registrar-General’s returns, it is
+considerably greater than that of being killed by railway accident.
+
+The remarkable safety with which railway traffic is on the whole
+conducted, is due to constant watchfulness and highly-applied skill.  The
+men who work the railways are for the most part the picked men of the
+country, and every railway station may be regarded as a practical school
+of industry, attention, and punctuality.
+
+Few are aware of the complicated means and agencies that are in constant
+operation on railways day and night, to ensure the safety of the
+passengers to their journey’s end.  The road is under a system of
+continuous inspection.  The railway is watched by foremen, with “gangs”
+of men under them, in lengths varying from twelve to five miles,
+according to circumstances.  Their continuous duty is to see that the
+rails and chairs are sound, their fastenings complete, and the line clear
+of all obstructions.
+
+Then, at all the junctions, sidings, and crossings, pointsmen are
+stationed, with definite instructions as to the duties to be performed by
+them.  At these places, signals are provided, worked from the station
+platforms, or from special signal boxes, for the purpose of protecting
+the stopping or passing trains.  When the first railways were opened, the
+signals were of a very simple kind.  The station men gave them with their
+arms stretched out in different positions; then flags of different
+colours were used; next fixed signals, with arms or discs of rectangular
+or triangular shape.  These were followed by a complete system of
+semaphore signals, near and distant, protecting all junctions, sidings,
+and crossings.
+
+When Government inspectors were first appointed by the Board of Trade to
+examine and report upon the working of railways, they were alarmed by the
+number of trains following each other at some stations, in what then
+seemed to be a very rapid succession.  A passage from a Report written in
+1840 by Sir Frederick Smith, as to the traffic at “Taylor’s Junction,” on
+the York and North Midland Railway, contrasts curiously with the railway
+life and activity of the present day:—“Here,” wrote the alarmed
+Inspector, “the passenger trains from York as well as Leeds and Selby,
+meet four times a day.  No less than 23 passenger-trains stop at or pass
+this station in the 21 hours—an amount of traffic requiring not only the
+utmost perfect arrangements on the part of the management, but the utmost
+vigilance and energy in the servants of the Company employed at this
+place.”
+
+Contrast this with the state of things now.  On the Metropolitan Line,
+667 trains pass a given point in one direction or the other during the
+eighteen hours of the working day, or an average of 36 trains an hour.
+At the Cannon Street Station of the South-Eastern Railway, 627 trains
+pass in and out daily, many of them crossing each other’s tracks under
+the protection of the station-signals.  Forty-five trains run in and out
+between 9 and 10 A.M., and an equal number between 4 and 5 P.M.  Again,
+at the Clapham Junction, near London, about 700 trains pass or stop
+daily; and though to the casual observer the succession of trains coming
+and going, running and stopping, coupling and shunting, appears a scene
+of inextricable confusion and danger, the whole is clearly intelligible
+to the signalmen in their boxes, who work the trains in and out with
+extraordinary precision and regularity.
+
+The inside of a signal-box reminds one of a pianoforte on a large scale,
+the lever-handles corresponding with the keys of the instrument; and, to
+an uninstructed person, to work the one would be as difficult as to play
+a tune on the other.  The signal-box outside Cannon Street Station
+contains 67 lever-handles, by means of which the signalmen are enabled at
+the same moment to communicate with the drivers of all the engines on the
+line within an area of 800 yards.  They direct by signs, which are quite
+as intelligible as words, the drivers of the trains starting from inside
+the station, as well as those of the trains arriving from outside.  By
+pulling a lever-handle, a distant signal, perhaps out of sight, is set
+some hundred yards off, which the approaching driver—reading it quickly
+as he comes along—at once interprets, and stops or advances as the signal
+may direct.
+
+The precision and accuracy of the signal-machinery employed at important
+stations and junctions have of late years been much improved by an
+ingenious contrivance, by means of which the setting of the signal
+prepares the road for the coming train.  When the signal is set at
+“Danger,” the points are at the same time worked, and the road is
+“locked” against it; and when at “Safety,” the road is open,—the signal
+and the points exactly corresponding.
+
+The Electric Telegraph has also been found a valuable auxiliary in
+ensuring the safe working of large railway traffics.  Though the
+locomotive may run at 60 miles an hour, electricity, when at its fastest,
+travels at the rate of 288,000 miles a second, and is therefore always
+able to herald the coming train.  The electric telegraph may, indeed, be
+regarded as the nervous system of the railway.  By its means the whole
+line is kept throbbing with intelligence.  The method of working the
+electric signals varies on different lines; but the usual practice is, to
+divide a line into so many lengths, each protected by its
+signal-stations,—the fundamental law of telegraph-working being, that two
+engines are not to be allowed to run on the same line between two
+signal-stations at the same time.
+
+When a train passes one of such stations, it is immediately signalled
+on—usually by electric signal-bells—to the station in advance, and that
+interval of railway is “blocked” until the signal has been received from
+the station in advance that the train has passed it.  Thus an interval of
+space is always secured between trains following each other, which are
+thereby alike protected before and behind.  And thus, when a train starts
+on a journey, it may be of hundreds of miles, it is signalled on from
+station to station—it “lives along the line,”—until at length it reaches
+its destination and the last signal of “train in” is given.  By this
+means an immense number of trains can be worked with regularity and
+safety.  On the South-Eastern Railway, where the system has been brought
+to a state of high efficiency, it is no unusual thing during Easter week
+to send 600,000 passengers through the London Bridge Station alone; and
+on some days as many as 1200 trains a-day.
+
+While such are the expedients adopted to ensure safety, others equally
+ingenious are adopted to ensure speed.  In the case of express and mail
+trains, the frequent stopping of the engines to take in a fresh supply of
+water occasions a considerable loss of time on a long journey, each
+stoppage for this purpose occupying from ten to fifteen minutes.  To
+avoid such stoppages, larger tenders have been provided, capable of
+carrying as much as 2000 gallons of water each.  But as a considerable
+time is occupied in filling these, a plan has been contrived by Mr.
+Ramsbottom, the Locomotive Engineer of the London and North-Western
+Railway, by which the engines are made to _feed themselves_ while running
+at full speed!  The plan is as follows:—An open trough, about 440 feet
+long, is laid longitudinally between the rails.  Into this trough, which
+is filled with water, a dip-pipe or scoop attached to the bottom of the
+tender of the running train is lowered; and, at a speed of 50 miles an
+hour, as much as 1070 gallons of water are scooped up in the course of a
+few minutes.  The first of such troughs was laid down between Chester and
+Holyhead, to enable the Express Mail to run the distance of 841 miles in
+two hours and five minutes without stopping; and similar troughs have
+since been laid down at Bushey near London, at Castlethorpe near
+Wolverton, and at Parkside near Liverpool.  At these four troughs about
+130,000 gallons of water are scooped up daily.
+
+Wherever railways have been made, new towns have sprung up, and old towns
+and cities been quickened into new life.  When the first English lines
+were projected, great were the prophecies of disaster to the inhabitants
+of the districts through which they were proposed to be forced.  Such
+fears have long since been dispelled in this country.  The same
+prejudices existed in France.  When the railway from Paris to Marseilles
+was laid out so as to pass through Lyons, a local prophet predicted that
+if the line were made the city would be ruined—“_Ville traversée_, _ville
+perdue_;” while a local priest denounced the locomotive and the electric
+telegraph as heralding _the reign of Antichrist_.  But such nonsense is
+no longer uttered.  Now it is the city without the railway that is
+regarded as the “city lost;” for it is in a measure shut out from the
+rest of the world, and left outside the pale of civilisation.
+
+Perhaps the most striking of all the illustrations that could be offered
+of the extent to which railways facilitate the locomotion, the industry,
+and the subsistence of the population of large towns and cities, is
+afforded by the working of the railway system in connection with the
+capital of Great Britain.
+
+The extension of railways to London has been of comparatively recent
+date; the whole of the lines connecting it with the provinces and
+terminating at its outskirts, having been opened during the last thirty
+years, while the lines inside London have for the most part been opened
+within the last sixteen years.
+
+The first London line was the Greenwich Railway, part of which was opened
+for traffic to Deptford in February 1836.  The working of this railway
+was first exhibited as a show, and the usual attractions were employed to
+make it “draw.”  A band of musicians in the garb of the Beef-eaters was
+stationed at the London end, and another band at Deptford.  For
+cheapness’ sake the Deptford band was shortly superseded by a large
+barrel-organ, which played in the passengers; but, when the traffic
+became established, the barrel organ, as well as the beef-eater band at
+the London end, were both discontinued.  The whole length of the line was
+lit up at night by a row of lamps on either side like a street, as if to
+enable the locomotives or the passengers to see their way in the dark;
+but these lamps also were eventually discontinued as unnecessary.
+
+As a show, the Greenwich Railway proved tolerably successful.  During the
+first eleven months it carried 456,750 passengers, or an average of about
+1300 a-day.  But the railway having been found more convenient to the
+public than either the river boats or the omnibuses, the number of
+passengers rapidly increased.  When the Croydon, Brighton, and
+South-Eastern Railways began to pour their streams of traffic over the
+Greenwich viaduct, its accommodation was found much too limited; and it
+was widened from time to time, until now nine lines of railway are laid
+side by side, over which more than twenty millions of passengers are
+carried yearly, or an average of about 60,000 a day all the year round.
+
+Since the partial opening of the Greenwich Railway in 1836, a large
+extent of railways has been constructed in and about the metropolis, and
+convenient stations have been established almost in the heart of the
+City.  Sixteen of these stations are within a circle of half a mile
+radius from the Mansion House, and above three hundred stations are in
+actual use within about five miles of Charing Cross.
+
+To accommodate this vast traffic, not fewer than 3600 local trains are
+run in and out daily, besides 340 trains which depart to and arrive from
+distant places, north, south, east, and west.  In the morning hours,
+between 8.30 and 10.30, when business men are proceeding inwards to their
+offices and counting-houses, and in the afternoon between four and six,
+when they are returning outwards to their homes, as many as two thousand
+stoppages are made in the hour, within the metropolitan district, for the
+purpose of taking up and setting down passengers, while about two miles
+of railway are covered by the running trains.
+
+One of the remarkable effects of railways has been to extend the
+residential area of all large towns and cities.  This is especially
+notable in the case of London.  Before the introduction of railways, the
+residential area of the metropolis was limited by the time occupied by
+business men in making the journey outwards and inwards daily; and it was
+for the most part bounded by Bow on the east, by Hampstead and Highgate
+on the north, by Paddington and Kensington on the west, and by Clapham
+and Brixton on the south.  But now that stations have been established
+near the centre of the city, and places so distant as Waltham, Barnet,
+Watford, Hanwell, Richmond, Epsom, Croydon, Reigate, and Erith, can be
+more quickly reached by rail than the old suburban quarters were by
+omnibus, the metropolis has become extended in all directions along its
+railway lines, and the population of London, instead of living in the
+City or its immediate vicinity, as formerly, have come to occupy a
+residential area of not less than six hundred square miles!
+
+The number of new towns which have consequently sprung into existence
+near London within the last twenty years has been very great; towns
+numbering from ten to twenty thousand inhabitants, which before were but
+villages,—if, indeed, they existed.  This has especially been the case
+along the lines south of the Thames, principally in consequence of the
+termini of those lines being more conveniently situated for city men of
+business.  Hence the rapid growth of the suburban towns up and down the
+river, from Richmond and Staines on the west, to Erith and Gravesend on
+the east, and the hives of population which have settled on the high
+grounds south of the Thames, in the neighbourhood of Norwood and the
+Crystal Palace, rapidly spreading over the Surrey Downs, from Wimbledon
+to Guildford, and from Bromley to Croydon, Epsom, and Dorking.  And now
+that the towns on the south and south-east coast can be reached by city
+men in little more time than it takes to travel to Clapham or Bayswater
+by omnibus, such places have become as it were parts of the great
+metropolis, and Brighton and Hastings are but the marine suburbs of
+London.
+
+The improved state of the communications of the City with the country has
+had a marked effect upon its population.  While the action of the
+railways has been to add largely to the number of persons living in
+London, it has also been accompanied by their dispersion over a much
+larger area.  Thus the population of the central parts of London is
+constantly decreasing, whereas that of the suburban districts is as
+constantly increasing.  The population of the City fell off more than
+10,000 between 1851 and 1861; and during the same period, that of
+Holborn, the Strand, St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, St. James’s,
+Westminster, East and West London, showed a considerable decrease.  But,
+as regards the whole mass of the metropolitan population, the increase
+has been enormous.  Thus, starting from 1801, when the population of
+London was 958,863, we find it increasing in each decennial period at the
+rate of between two and three hundred thousand, until the year 1841, when
+it amounted to 1,948,369.  Railways had by that time reached London,
+after which its population increased at nearly double the former ratio.
+In the ten years ending 1851, the increase was 513,867; and in the ten
+years ending 1861, 441,753: until now, to quote the words of the
+Registrar-General in a recent annual Report, “the population within the
+registration limits is by estimate 2,993,513; but beyond this central
+mass there is a ring of life growing rapidly, and extending along railway
+lines over a circle of fifteen miles from Charing Cross.  The population
+within that circle, patrolled by the metropolitan police, is about
+3,463,771”!
+
+The aggregation of so vast a number of persons within so comparatively
+limited an area—the immense quantity of food required for their daily
+sustenance, as well as of fuel, clothing, and other necessaries—would be
+attended with no small inconvenience and danger, but for the facilities
+again provided by the railways.  The provisioning of a garrison of even
+four thousand men is considered a formidable affair; how much more so the
+provisioning of nearly four millions of people!
+
+The whole mystery is explained by the admirable organisation of the
+railway service, and the regularity and despatch with which it is
+conducted.  We are enabled by the courtesy of the General Managers of the
+London railways to bring together the following brief summary of facts
+relating to the food supply of London, which will probably be regarded by
+most readers as of a very remarkable character.
+
+Generally speaking, the railways to the south of the Thames contribute
+comparatively little towards the feeding of London.  They are, for the
+most part passenger and residential lines, traversing a limited and not
+very fertile district bounded by the sea-coast; and, excepting in fruit
+and vegetables, milk and hops, they probably carry more food from London
+than they bring to it.  The principal supplies of grain, flour, potatoes,
+and fish, are brought by railway from the eastern counties of England and
+Scotland; and of cattle and sheep, beef and mutton, from the grazing
+counties of the west and north-west of Britain, as far as the Highlands
+of Scotland, which have, through the instrumentality of railways, become
+part of the great grazing grounds of the metropolis.
+
+Take first “the staff of life”—bread and its constituents.  Of wheat, not
+less than 222,080 quarters were brought into London by railway in 1867,
+besides what was brought by sea; of oats 151,757 quarters; of barley
+70,282 quarters; of beans and peas 51,448 quarters.  Of the wheat and
+barley, by far the largest proportion is brought by the Great Eastern
+Railway, which delivers in London in one year 155,000 quarters of wheat
+and 45,500 quarters of barley, besides 600,429 quarters more in the form
+of malt.  The largest quantity of oats is brought by the Great Northern
+Railway, principally from the north of England and the East of
+Scotland,—the quantity delivered by that Company in 1867 having been
+97,500 quarters, besides 24,664 quarters of wheat, 5560 quarters of
+barley, and 103,917 quarters of malt.  Again, of 1,250,566 sacks of flour
+and meal delivered in London in one year, the Great Eastern brings
+654,000 sacks, the Great Northern 232,022 sacks, and the Great Western
+136,312 sacks; the principal contribution of the London and North-Western
+Railway towards the London bread-stores being 100,760 boxes of American
+flour, besides 24,300 sacks of English.  The total quantity of malt
+delivered at the London railway stations in 1867 was thirteen hundred
+thousand sacks.
+
+Next, as to flesh meat.  In 1867, not fewer than 172,300 head of cattle
+were brought to London by railway,—though this was considerably less than
+the number carried before the cattle-plague, the Great Eastern Railway
+alone having carried 44,672 less than in 1864.  But this loss has since
+been more than made up by the increased quantities of fresh beef, mutton,
+and other kinds of meat imported in lieu of the live animals.  The
+principal supplies of cattle are brought, as we have said, by the
+Western, Northern, and Eastern lines: by the Great Western from the
+western counties and Ireland; by the London and North-Western, the
+Midland, and the Great Northern from the northern counties and from
+Scotland; and by the Great Eastern from the eastern counties and from the
+ports of Harwich and Lowestoft.
+
+In 1867, also, 1,147,609 sheep were brought to London by railway, of
+which the Great Eastern delivered not less than 265,371 head.  The London
+and North-Western and Great Northern between them brought 390,000 head
+from the northern English counties, with a large proportion from the
+Scotch Highlands.  While the Great Western brought up 130,000 head from
+the Welsh mountains and from the rich grazing districts of Wilts,
+Gloucester, Somerset, and Devon.  Another important freight of the London
+and North-Western Railway consists of pigs, of which they delivered
+54,700 in London, principally Irish; while the Great Eastern brought up
+27,500 of the same animal, partly foreign.
+
+While the cattle-plague had the effect of greatly reducing the number of
+live stock brought into London yearly, it gave a considerable impetus to
+the Fresh Meat traffic.  Thus, in addition to the above large numbers of
+cattle and sheep delivered in London in 1867, the railways brought 76,175
+tons of meat, which—taking the meat of an average beast at 800 lbs., and
+of an average sheep at 64 lbs.—would be equivalent to about 112,000 more
+cattle, and 1,267,500 more sheep.  The Great Northern brought the largest
+quantity; next the London and North-Western;—these two Companies having
+brought up between them, from distances as remote as Aberdeen and
+Inverness, about 42,000 tons of fresh meat in 1867, at an average freight
+of about ½d. a lb.
+
+Again as regards Fish, of which six-tenths of the whole quantity consumed
+in London is now brought by rail.  The Great Eastern and the Great
+Northern are by far the largest importers of this article, and justify
+their claim to be regarded as the great food lines of London.  Of the
+61,358 tons of fish brought by railway in 1867, not less than 24,500 tons
+were delivered by the former, and 22,000 tons, brought from much longer
+distances, by the latter Company.  The London and North-Western brought
+about 6000 tons, the principal part of which was salmon from Scotland and
+Ireland.  The Great Western also brought about 4000 tons, partly salmon,
+but the greater part mackerel from the south-west coast.  During the
+mackerel season, as much as a hundred tons at a time are brought into the
+Paddington Station by express fish-train from Cornwall.
+
+The Great Eastern and Great Northern Companies are also the principal
+carriers of turkeys, geese, fowls, and game; the quantity delivered in
+London by the former Company having been 5042 tons.  In Christmas week no
+fewer than 30,000 turkeys and geese were delivered at the Bishopsgate
+Station, besides about 300 tons of poultry, 10,000 barrels of beer, and
+immense quantities of fish, oysters, and other kinds of food.  As much as
+1600 tons of poultry and game were brought last year by the South-Western
+Railway; 600 tons by the Great Northern Railway; and 130 tons of turkeys,
+geese, and fowls, by the London, Chatham and Dover line, principally from
+France.
+
+Of miscellaneous articles, the Great Northern and the Midland each
+brought about 3000 tons of cheese, the South-Western 2600 tons, and the
+London and North-Western 10,034 cheeses in number; while the
+South-Western and Brighton lines brought a splendid contribution to the
+London breakfast-table in the shape of 11,259 _tons_ of French eggs;
+these two Companies delivering between them an average of more than three
+millions of eggs a week all the year round!  The same Companies delivered
+in London 14,819 tons of butter, for the most part the produce of the
+farms of Normandy,—the greater cleanness and neatness with which the
+Normandy butter is prepared for market rendering it a favourite both with
+dealers and consumers of late years compared with Irish butter.  The
+London, Chatham and Dover Company also brought from Calais 96 tons of
+eggs.
+
+Next, as to the potatoes, vegetables, and fruit, brought by rail.  Forty
+years since, the inhabitants of London relied for their supply of
+vegetables on the garden-grounds in the immediate neighbourhood of the
+metropolis, and the consequence was that they were both very dear and
+limited in quantity.  But railways, while they have extended the
+grazing-grounds of London as far as the Highlands, have at the same time
+extended the garden-grounds of London into all the adjoining
+counties—into East Kent, Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, the vale of
+Gloucester, and even as far as Penzance in Cornwall.  The London, Chatham
+and Dover, one of the youngest of our main lines, brought up from East
+Kent in 1867 5279 tons of potatoes, 1046 tons of vegetables, and 5386
+tons of fruit, besides 542 tons of vegetables from France.  The
+South-Eastern brought 25,163 tons of the same produce.  The Great Eastern
+brought from the eastern counties 21,315 tons of potatoes, and 3596 tons
+of vegetables and fruit; while the Great Northern brought no less than
+78,505 tons of potatoes—a large part of them from the east of
+Scotland—and 3768 tons of vegetables and fruit.  About 6000 tons of early
+potatoes were brought from Cornwall, with about 5000 tons of broccoli,
+and the quantities are steadily increasing.  “Truly London hath a large
+belly,” said old Fuller, two hundred years since.  But how much more
+capacious is it now!
+
+One of the most striking illustrations of the utility of railways in
+contributing to the supply of wholesome articles of food to the
+population of large cities, is to be found in the rapid growth of the
+traffic in Milk.  Readers of newspapers may remember the descriptions
+published some years since of the horrid dens in which London cows were
+penned, and of the odious compound sold by the name of milk, of which the
+least deleterious ingredient in it was supplied by the “cow with the iron
+tail.”  That state of affairs is now completely changed.  What with the
+greatly improved state of the London dairies and the better quality of
+the milk supplied by them, together with the large quantities brought by
+railway from a range of a hundred miles and more all round London, even
+the poorest classes in the metropolis are now enabled to obtain as
+wholesome a supply of the article as the inhabitants of most country
+towns.
+
+These great streams of food, which we have thus so summarily described,
+flow into London so continuously and uninterruptedly, that comparatively
+few persons are aware of the magnitude and importance of the process thus
+daily going forward.  Though gathered from an immense extent of
+country—embracing England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland—the influx is so
+unintermitted that it is relied upon with as much certainty as if it only
+came from the counties immediately adjoining London.  The express
+meat-train from Aberdeen arrives in town as punctually as the Clapham
+omnibus, and the express milk-train from Aylesbury is as regular in its
+delivery as the penny post.  Indeed London now depends so much upon
+railways for its subsistence, that it may be said to be fed by them from
+day to day, having never more than a few days’ food in stock.  And the
+supply is so regular and continuous, that the possibility of its being
+interrupted never for a moment occurs to any one.  Yet in these days of
+strikes amongst workmen, such a contingency is quite within the limits of
+possibility.  Another contingency, which might arise during a state of
+war, is probably still more remote.  But were it possible for a war to
+occur between England and a combination of foreign powers possessed of
+stronger ironclads than ours, and that they were able to ram our ships
+back into port and land an enemy of overpowering force on the Essex
+coast, it would be sufficient for them to occupy or cut the railways
+leading from the north, to starve London into submission in less than a
+fortnight.
+
+Besides supplying London with food, railways have also been instrumental
+in ensuring the more regular and economical supply of fuel,—a matter of
+almost as vital importance to the population in a climate such as that of
+England.  So long as the market was supplied with coal brought by sea in
+sailing ships, fuel in winter often rose to a famine price, especially
+during long-continued easterly winds.  But now that railways are in full
+work, the price is almost as steady in winter as in summer, and (but for
+strikes) the supply is more regular at all seasons.
+
+But the carriage of food and fuel to London forms but a small part of the
+merchandise traffic carried by railway.  Above 600,000 tons of goods of
+various kinds yearly pass through one station only, that of the London
+and North-Western Company, at Camden Town; and sometimes as many as
+20,000 parcels daily.  Every other metropolitan station is similarly
+alive with traffic inwards and outwards, London having since the
+introduction of railways become more than ever a great distributive
+centre, to which merchandise of all kinds converges, and from which it is
+distributed to all parts of the country.  Mr. Bazley, M.P., stated at a
+late public meeting at Manchester, that it would probably require ten
+millions of horses to convey by road the merchandise traffic which is now
+annually carried by railway.
+
+Railways have also proved of great value in connection with the Cheap
+Postage system.  By their means it has become possible to carry letters,
+newspapers, books and post parcels, in any quantity, expeditiously, and
+cheaply.  The Liverpool and Manchester line was no sooner opened in 1830,
+than the Post Office authorities recognised its utility, and used it for
+carrying the mails between the two towns.  When the London and Birmingham
+line was opened eight years later, mail trains were at once put on,—the
+directors undertaking to perform the distance of 113 miles within 5 hours
+by day and 5½ hours by night.  As additional lines were opened, the old
+four-horse mail coaches were gradually discontinued, until in 1858, the
+last of them, the “Derby Dilly,” which ran between Manchester and Derby,
+was taken off on the opening of the Midland line to Rowsley.
+
+The increased accommodation provided by railways was found of essential
+importance, more particularly after the adoption of the Cheap Postage
+system; and that such accommodation was needed will be obvious from the
+extraordinary increase which has taken place in the number of letters and
+packets sent by post.  Thus, in 1839, the number of chargeable letters
+carried was only 76 millions, and of newspapers 44½ millions; whereas, in
+1865, the numbers of letters had increased to 720 millions, and in 1867
+to 775 millions, or more than ten-fold, while the number of newspapers,
+books, samples and patterns (a new branch of postal business began in
+1864) had increased, in 1865, to 98½ millions.
+
+To accommodate this largely-increasing traffic, the bulk of which is
+carried by railway, the mileage run by mail trains in the United Kingdom
+has increased from 25,000 miles a day in 1854 (the first year of which we
+have any return of the mileage run) to 60,000 miles a day in 1867, or an
+increase of 240 per cent.  The Post Office expenditure on railway service
+has also increased, but not in like proportion, having been £364,000 in
+the former year, and £559,575 in the latter, or an increase of 154 per
+cent.  The revenue, gross and net, has increased still more rapidly.  In
+1841, the first complete year of the Cheap Postage system, the gross
+revenue was £1,359,466 and the net revenue £500,789; in 1854, the gross
+revenue was £2,574,407, and the net revenue £1,173,723; and in 1867, the
+gross revenue was £4,548,129, and the net revenue £2,127,125, being an
+increase of 420 per cent. compared with 1841, and of 180 per cent.
+compared with 1854.  How much of this net increase might fairly be
+credited to the Railway Postal service we shall not pretend to say; but
+assuredly the proportion must be very considerable.
+
+One of the great advantages of railways in connection with the postal
+service is the greatly increased frequency of communication which they
+provide between all the large towns.  Thus Liverpool has now six
+deliveries of Manchester letters daily; while every large town in the
+kingdom has two or more deliveries of London letters daily.  In 1863, 393
+towns had two mails daily from London; 50 had three mails daily; 7 had
+four mails a day _from_ London, and 15 had four mails a day _to_ London;
+while 3 towns had five mails a day _from_ London, and 6 had five mails a
+day _to_ London.
+
+Another feature of the railway mail train, as of the passenger train, is
+its capacity to carry any quantity of letters and post parcels that may
+require to be carried.  In 1838, the aggregate weight of all the evening
+mails despatched from London by twenty-eight mail coaches was 4 tons 6
+cwt., or an average of about 3¼ cwt. each, though the maximum contract
+weight was 15 cwt.  The mails now are necessarily much heavier, the
+number of letters and packets having, as we have seen, increased more
+than ten-fold since 1839.  But it is not the ordinary so much as the
+extraordinary mails that are of considerable weight,—more particularly
+the American, the Continental, and the Australian mails.  It is no
+unusual thing, we are informed, for the last-mentioned mail to weigh as
+much as 40 tons.  How many of the old mail coaches it would take to carry
+such a mail the 79 miles journey to Southampton, with a relay of four
+horses every five or seven miles, is a problem for the arithmetician to
+solve.  But even supposing each coach to be loaded to the maximum weight
+of 15 cwt. per coach, it would require about sixty vehicles and about
+1700 horses to carry the 40 tons, besides the coachman and guards.
+
+Whatever may be said of the financial management of railways, there can
+be no doubt as to the great benefits conferred by them on the public
+wherever made.  Even those railways which have exhibited the most
+“frightful examples” of financing and jobbing, have been found to prove
+of unquestionable public convenience and utility.  And notwithstanding
+all the faults and imperfections that have been alleged against railways,
+we think that they must, nevertheless, be recognised as by far the most
+valuable means of communication between men and nations that has yet been
+given to the world.
+
+The author’s object in publishing this book in its original form, was to
+describe, in connection with the ‘Life of George Stephenson,’ the origin
+and progress of the railway system,—to show by what moral and material
+agencies its founders were enabled to carry their ideas into effect, and
+work out results which even then were of a remarkable character, though
+they have since, as above described, become so much more extraordinary.
+The favour with which successive editions of the book have been received,
+has justified the author in his anticipation that such a narrative would
+prove of general, if not of permanent interest.
+
+The book was written with the concurrence and assistance of Robert
+Stephenson, who also supplied the necessary particulars relating to
+himself.  Such portions of these were accordingly embodied in the
+narrative as could with propriety be published during his lifetime, and
+the remaining portions have since been added, with the object of
+rendering more complete the record of the son’s life as well as of the
+early history of the Railway system.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+                              CHAPTER I.
+
+            NEWCASTLE AND THE GREAT NORTHERN COAL-FIELDS.
+
+The colliery districts of the                          Pages 1–11
+North—Newcastle-upon-Tyne in ancient times—The Roman
+settlement—Social insecurity in the Middle
+Ages—Northumberland roads—The coal-trade—Modern
+Newcastle—Coal haulage—Early waggon-roads,
+tram-roads, and railways—Machinery of
+coal-mines—Newcomen’s fire-engine—The colliers,
+their character and habits—Coal-staiths—The keelmen
+
+                             CHAPTER II.
+
+        WYLAM AND DEWLEY BURN—GEORGE STEPHENSON’S EARLY YEARS.
+
+Wylam Colliery and village—George Stephenson’s         12–30
+birth-place—His parents—The Stephenson family—Old
+Robert Stephenson—George’s boyhood—Dewley Burn
+Colliery—Sister Nell’s bonnet—Employed as a
+herd-boy—Makes clay engines—Follows the
+plough—Employed as corf-bitter—Drives the
+gin-horse—Black Callerton Colliery—Love of
+animals—Made assistant-fireman—Old Robert and family
+shift their home—Jolly’s Close, Newburn—Family
+earnings—George as fireman—His athletic
+feats—Throckley Bridge—“A made man for
+life!”—Appointed engineman—Studies his
+engine—Experiments in egg-hatching—Puts himself to
+school, and learns to read—His
+schoolmasters—Progress in arithmetic—His dog—Learns
+to brake—Brakesman at Black Callerton—Duties of
+brakesman—Begins shoe-making—Fanny Henderson—Saves
+his first guinea—Fight with a pitman
+
+                             CHAPTER III.
+
+            ENGINEMAN AT WILLINGTON QUAY AND KILLINGWORTH.
+
+Sobriety and studiousness—Inventiveness—Removes to     31–46
+Willington Quay—Marries Fanny Henderson—Their
+cottage at Willington—Attempts at perpetual
+motion—William Fairbairn and George
+Stephenson—Ballast-heaving—Chimney on fire, and
+clock-cleaning—Birth of Robert Stephenson—George
+removes to West Moor, Killingworth—Death of his
+wife—Engineman at Montrose, Scotland—His
+pump-boot—Saves money—His return to
+Killingworth—Brakesman at West Moor—Is drawn for the
+Militia—Thinks of emigrating to America—Takes a
+contract for brakeing engines—Improves the
+winding-engine—Cures a pumping-engine—Becomes famous
+as an engine-doctor—Appointed engine-wright of a
+colliery
+
+                             CHAPTER IV.
+
+   THE STEPHENSONS AT KILLINGWORTH—EDUCATION AND SELF-EDUCATION OF
+                           FATHER AND SON.
+
+George Stephenson’s self-improvement—John              47–62
+Wigham—Studies in Natural
+Philosophy—Sobriety—Education of Robert
+Stephenson—Sent to Rutter’s school, Benton—Bruce’s
+school, Newcastle—Literary and Philosophical
+Institute—George educates his son in Mechanics—Ride
+to Killingworth—Robert’s boyish tricks—Repeats the
+Franklin kite-experiment—Stephenson’s cottage, West
+Moor—Odd mechanical expedients—Competition in
+last-making—Father and son make a sun-dial—Colliery
+improvements—Stephenson’s mechanical expertness
+
+                              CHAPTER V.
+
+     EARLY HISTORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE—GEORGE STEPHENSON BEGINS ITS
+                             IMPROVEMENT.
+
+Various expedients for                                 63–88
+coal-haulage—Sailing-waggons—Mr. Edgworth’s
+experiments—Cugnot’s first locomotive
+steam-carriage—Murdock’s model
+locomotive—Trevithick’s steam-carriage and
+tram-engine—Blenkinsop’s engine—Chapman and
+Brunton’s locomotives—The Wylam waggon-way—Mr.
+Blackett’s experiments—Jonathan Foster—William
+Hedley—The Wylam engine—Stephenson determines to
+build a locomotive—Lord Ravensworth—The first
+Killingworth engine described—The steam-blast
+invented—Stephenson’s second locomotive
+
+                             CHAPTER VI.
+
+                INVENTION OF THE “GEORDY” SAFETY-LAMP.
+
+Frequency of colliery explosions—Accident in the       89–108
+Killingworth Pit—Stephenson’s heroic conduct—A
+safety-lamp described—Dr. Clanny’s lamp—Stephenson’s
+experiments on fire-damp—Designs a lamp, and tests
+it in the pit—Cottage experiments with
+coal-gas—Stephenson’s second and third lamps—The
+Stephenson and Davy controversy—Scene at the
+Newcastle Institute—The Davy testimonial—The
+Stephenson testimonial—Merits of the “Geordy” lamp
+
+                             CHAPTER VII.
+
+GEORGE STEPHENSON’S FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN THE LOCOMOTIVE—THE HETTON
+    RAILWAY—ROBERT STEPHENSON AS VIEWER’S APPRENTICE AND STUDENT.
+
+The Killingworth mine machinery—Stephenson improves    109–122
+his locomotive—Strengthens the road—His patent—His
+steam-springs—Experiments on
+friction—Steam-locomotion on common roads—Early
+neglect of the locomotive—Stephenson again thinks of
+emigration—Constructs the Hetton Railway—The working
+power employed—Robert Stephenson viewer’s
+apprentice—His pursuits at Killingworth—His father
+sends him to Edinburgh University—His application to
+the studies of Chemistry, Natural History, and
+Natural Philosophy—His MS. volumes of
+Lectures—Geological tour with Professor Jameson in
+the Highlands
+
+                            CHAPTER VIII.
+
+  GEORGE STEPHENSON ENGINEER OF THE STOCKTON AND DARLINGTON RAILWAY.
+
+The Bishop Auckland Coal-field—Edward Pease projects   123–145
+a railway from Witton to Stockton—The Bill
+rejected—The line re-surveyed, and the Act
+obtained—George Stephenson’s visit to Edward
+Pease—Appointed engineer of the railway—Again
+surveys the line—Mr. Pease visits Killingworth—The
+Newcastle locomotive works projected—The railway
+constructed—Locomotives ordered—Stephenson’s
+anticipations as to railways—Public opening of the
+line—The coal traffic—The first railway
+passenger-coach—The coaching traffic described—The
+“Locomotion” engine—Race with stage-coach—Commercial
+results of the Stockton and Darlington Railway—The
+town of Middlesborough created
+
+                             CHAPTER IX.
+
+           THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY PROJECTED.
+
+Insufficient communications between Manchester and     146–172
+Liverpool—The canal monopoly—A tramroad
+projected—Joseph Sanders—Sir R. Phillip’s
+speculations as to railways—Thomas Gray—William
+James surveys a line between Liverpool and
+Manchester—Opposition to the survey—Mr. James’s
+visits to Killingworth—Robert Stephenson assists in
+the survey—George Stephenson appointed engineer—The
+first prospectus—Stephenson’s survey opposed—The
+canal companies—Speculations as to railway
+speed—Stephenson’s notions thought
+extravagant—Article in the ‘Quarterly’—The Bill
+before Parliament—The Evidence—George Stephenson in
+the witness box—Examined as to speed—His
+cross-examination—The survey found defective—Mr.
+Harrison’s speech—Evidence of opposing engineers—Mr.
+Alderson’s speech—The Bill withdrawn—Stephenson’s
+vexation—The scheme prosecuted—The line
+re-surveyed—Sir Isaac Coffin’s speech—The Act passed
+
+                              CHAPTER X.
+
+   CHAT MOSS—CONSTRUCTION OF THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY.
+
+George Stephenson appointed engineer—Chat Moss         173–192
+described—The resident engineers—Mr. Dixon’s visit
+of inspection—Stephenson’s theory of a floating
+road—Operations begun—Tar-barrel drains—The
+embankment sinks in the Moss—Proposed abandonment of
+the work—Stephenson perseveres—The obstacles
+conquered—Road across Parr Moss—The road
+formed—Stephenson’s organization of labour—The
+Liverpool Tunnel—Olive Mount Cutting—Sankey
+Viaduct—Stephenson and Cropper—Stephenson’s
+labours—Pupils and assistants—His daily
+life—Practical education—Evenings at home
+
+                             CHAPTER XI.
+
+  ROBERT STEPHENSON’S RESIDENCE IN COLOMBIA AND RETURN—THE BATTLE OF
+                     THE LOCOMOTIVE—THE “ROCKET.”
+
+Robert Stephenson mining engineer in Colombia—Mule     193–220
+journey to Bogota—Mariquita—Silver
+mining—Difficulties with the Cornishmen—His cottage
+at Santa Anna—Longs to return home—Resigns his
+post—Meeting with Trevithick—Voyage to New York, and
+shipwreck—Returns to Newcastle, and takes charge of
+the factory—The working power of the Liverpool and
+Manchester Railway—Fixed engines and locomotives,
+and their respective advocates—Walker and Rastrick’s
+report—A prize offered for the best
+locomotive—Conferences of the Stephensons—Boiler
+arrangements and heating surface—Mr. Booth’s
+contrivance—Building of the “Rocket”—The competition
+of engines at Rainhill—The “Novelty” and
+“Sanspareil”—Triumph of the “Rocket,” and its
+destination
+
+                             CHAPTER XII.
+
+OPENING OF THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY, AND EXTENSION OF THE
+                           RAILWAY SYSTEM.
+
+The railway finished—The traffic arrangements          221–236
+organized—Public opening of the line—Accident to Mr.
+Huskisson—Arrival of the trains at Manchester—The
+traffic results—Improvement of the road and rolling
+stock—Improvements in the locomotive—The railway a
+wonder—Extension of the railway system—Joint-stock
+railway companies—New lines projected—New
+engineers—The Grand Junction—Public opposition to
+railways—Robert Stephenson engineer to the Leicester
+and Swannington Railway—George Stephenson removes to
+Snibston—Sinks for and gets coal—Stimulates local
+enterprise—His liberality
+
+                            CHAPTER XIII.
+
+   ROBERT STEPHENSON CONSTRUCTS THE LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY.
+
+The line projected—George and Robert Stephenson        237–252
+appointed engineers—Opposition—Hostile pamphlets and
+public meetings—Robert Stephenson and Sir Astley
+Cooper—The survey obstructed—The opposing
+clergyman—The Bill in Parliament—Thrown out in the
+Lords—Proprietors conciliated, and the Act
+obtained—The works let in contracts—The difficulties
+of the undertaking—The line described—Blisworth
+Cutting—Primrose Hill Tunnel—Kilsby Tunnel—Its
+construction described—Cost of the Railway greatly
+increased—Failure of contractors—Magnitude of the
+works—Railway navvies
+
+                             CHAPTER XIV.
+
+   MANCHESTER AND LEEDS, AND MIDLAND RAILWAYS—STEPHENSON’S LIFE AT
+    ALTON—VISIT TO BELGIUM—GENERAL EXTENSION OF RAILWAYS AND THEIR
+                               RESULTS.
+
+Projection of new lines—Dutton Viaduct, Grand          253–274
+Junction—The Manchester and Leeds—Summit Tunnel,
+Littleborough—Magnitude of the work—The Midland
+Railway—The works compared with the Simplon
+road—Slip near Ambergate—Bull Bridge—The York and
+North Midland—George Stephenson on his surveys—His
+quick observation—Travelling and correspondence—Life
+at Alton Grange—The Stephensons’ London
+office—Visits to Belgium—Interviews with the
+King—Public openings of English
+railways—Stephenson’s pupils and
+assistants—Prophecies falsified concerning
+railways—Their advantageous results
+
+                             CHAPTER XV.
+
+    GEORGE STEPHENSON’S COAL MINES—THE ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEM—RAILWAY
+                  MANIA—VISITS TO BELGIUM AND SPAIN.
+
+George Stephenson on railways and                      275–300
+coal-traffic—Leases the Claycross estate, and sinks
+for coal—His extensive lime-works—Removes to Tapton
+House—British Association at Newcastle—Appears at
+Mechanics’ Institutes—Speech at Leeds—His
+self-acting brake—His views of railway speed—Theory
+of “undulating lines”—Chester and Birkenhead
+Company—Stephenson’s liberality—Atmospheric railways
+projected—Stephenson opposes the principle of
+working—The railway mania—Stephenson resists, and
+warns against it—George Hudson, “Railway
+King”—Parliament and the mania—Stephenson’s letter
+to Sir R. Peel—Again visits Belgium—Interviews with
+King Leopold—Journey into Spain
+
+                             CHAPTER XVI.
+
+   ROBERT STEPHENSON’S CAREER—THE STEPHENSONS AND BRUNEL—EAST COAST
+  ROUTE TO SCOTLAND—ROYAL BORDER BRIDGE, BERWICK—HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE,
+                              NEWCASTLE.
+
+George Stephenson’s retirement—Robert’s employment     301–319
+as Parliamentary Engineer—His rival Brunel—The Great
+Western Railway—The width of gauge—Robert
+Stephenson’s caution as to investments—The Newcastle
+and Berwick Railway—Contest in Parliament—George
+Stephenson’s interview with Lord Howick—Royal Border
+Bridge, Berwick—Progress of iron-bridge
+building—Robert Stephenson constructs the High Level
+Bridge, Newcastle—Pile-driving by
+steam—Characteristics of the structure—Through
+railway to Scotland completed
+
+                            CHAPTER XVII.
+
+       ROBERT STEPHENSON’S TUBULAR BRIDGES AT MENAI AND CONWAY.
+
+George Stephenson surveys a line from Chester to       320–340
+Holyhead—Robert Stephenson’s construction of the
+works at Penmaen Mawr—Crossing of the Menai
+Strait—Various plans proposed—A tubular beam
+determined on—Strength of wrought-iron tubes—Mr.
+William Fairbairn consulted—His experiments—The
+design settled—The Britannia Bridge described—The
+Conway Bridge—Floating of the tubes—Lifting of the
+tubes—Robert Stephenson’s anxieties—Bursting of the
+Hydraulic Press—The works completed—Merits of the
+Britannia and Conway Bridges
+
+                            CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+         GEORGE STEPHENSON’S CLOSING YEARS—ILLNESS AND DEATH.
+
+George Stephenson’s Life at Tapton—Experiments in      341–356
+Horticulture, Gardening, and Farming—Affection for
+animals—Bird-hatching and bee-keeping—Reading and
+conversation—Rencontre with Lord Denman—Hospitality
+at Tapton—Experiments with the microscope—Frolics—“A
+crowdie night”—Visits to London—Visit to Sir Robert
+Peel at Drayton Manor—Encounter with Dr.
+Buckland—Coal formed by the sun’s light—Opening of
+the Trent Valley Railway—Meeting with
+Emerson—Illness, death, and funeral—Memorial Statues
+
+                             CHAPTER XIX.
+
+    ROBERT STEPHENSON’S VICTORIA BRIDGE, LOWER CANADA—ILLNESS AND
+                  DEATH—STEPHENSON CHARACTERISTICS.
+
+Robert Stephenson’s inheritances—Gradual retirement    357–380
+from the profession of engineer—His last great
+works—Tubular Bridges over the St. Lawrence and the
+Nile—The Grand Trunk Railway, Canada—Necessity for a
+great railway bridge near Montreal—Discussion as to
+the plan—Robert Stephenson’s report—A tubular bridge
+determined on—Massiveness of the piers—Ice-floods in
+the St. Lawrence—Victoria Bridge constructed and
+completed—Tubular bridges in Egypt—The Suez
+Canal—Robert Stephenson’s employment as
+arbitrator—Assists Brunel at launching of the “Great
+Eastern”—Regardlessness of health—Death and
+Funeral—Characteristics of the Stephensons and
+resumé of their history—Politics of father and
+son—Services rendered to civilization by the
+Stephensons
+
+INDEX                                                  381
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+
+Portrait of George Stephenson _to face title page_
+High Level Bridge, _to face_                                         1
+Map of Newcastle District                                            2
+Flange rail                                                          6
+Coal-staith on the Tyne                                             10
+Coal waggons                                                        11
+Wylam Colliery and village                                          12
+High Street House, Wylam—George Stephenson’s birthplace             14
+Newburn on the Tyne                                                 20
+Colliery Whimsey                                                    30
+Stephenson’s Cottage, Willington Quay                               31
+West Moor Colliery                                                  37
+Killingworth High Pit                                               46
+Glebe Farm House, Benton                                            47
+Rutter’s School House, Long Benton                                  51
+Bruce’s School, Newcastle                                           53
+Stephenson’s Cottage, West Moor                                     57
+Sun-dial at Killingworth                                            60
+Colliers’ Cottages at Long Benton                                   62
+Cugnot’s Engine                                                     64
+Section of Murdock’s Model Locomotive                               66
+Trevithick’s high-pressure Tram-Engine                              70
+Improved Wylam Engine                                               78
+Spur-gear                                                           83
+The Pit-head, West Moor                                             91
+Davy’s and Stephenson’s Safety-lamps                               101
+West Moor Pit, Killingworth                                        108
+Half-lap joint                                                     111
+Old Killingworth Locomotive                                        113
+Map of Stockton and Darlington Railway                             123
+Portrait of Edward Pease                                           124
+The first Railway Coach                                            139
+The No. 1 Engine at Darlington                                     142
+Middlesborough-on-Tees                                             145
+Map of Liverpool and Manchester Railway (Western Part)             150
+                   ,,                    (Eastern part)            151
+Surveying on Chat Moss                                             172
+Olive Mount Cutting                                                184
+Sankey Viaduct                                                     186
+Robert Stephenson’s Cottage at Santa Anna                          198
+The “Rocket”                                                       212
+Locomotive competition, Rainhill                                   215
+Railway _versus_ Road                                              220
+Map of Leicester and Swannington Railway                           233
+Stephenson’s House at Alton Grange                                 236
+Portrait of Robert Stephenson, _to face_                           237
+Map of London and Birmingham Railway (Rugby to Watford)            242
+Blisworth Cutting                                                  243
+Shafts over Kilsby Tunnel                                          246
+Dutton Viaduct                                                     254
+Entrance to Summit Tunnel, Lancashire and Yorkshire                256
+Railway
+Land-slip, near Ambergate, North Midland Railway                   259
+Bullbridge, near Ambergate                                         260
+Coalville and Snibston Colliery                                    274
+Tapton House, near Chesterfield                                    275
+Lime-works at Ambergate                                            278
+Newcastle, from the High Level Bridge                              301
+Royal Border Bridge, Berwick-upon-Tweed                            311
+High Level Bridge—Elevation of one Arch                            318
+Penmaen Mawr                                                       322
+Map of Menai Straits                                               325
+Conway Tubular Bridge                                              334
+Britannia Bridge                                                   339
+Conway Bridge—Floating the first Tube                              340
+View in Tapton Gardens                                             341
+Pathway to Tapton House                                            347
+Trinity Church, Chesterfield                                       355
+Tablet in Trinity Church, Chesterfield                             356
+The Victoria Bridge, Montreal                                      357
+Robert Stephenson’s Burial-place in Westminster Abbey              369
+The Stephenson Memorial Schools, Willington Quay                   380
+
+         [Picture: Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the High-level Bridge]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+NEWCASTLE AND THE GREAT NORTHERN COAL-FIELD.
+
+
+In no quarter of England have greater changes been wrought by the
+successive advances made in the practical science of engineering than in
+the extensive colliery districts of the North, of which
+Newcastle-upon-Tyne is the centre and the capital.
+
+In ancient times the Romans planted a colony at Newcastle, throwing a
+bridge across the Tyne near the site of the low-level bridge shown in the
+prefixed engraving, and erecting a strong fortification above it on the
+high ground now occupied by the Central Railway Station.  North and
+north-west lay a wild country, abounding in moors, mountains, and
+morasses, but occupied to a certain extent by fierce and barbarous
+tribes.  To defend the young colony against their ravages, a strong wall
+was built by the Romans, extending from Wallsend on the north bank of the
+Tyne, a few miles below Newcastle, across the country to Burgh-upon-Sands
+on the Solway Firth.  The remains of the wall are still to be traced in
+the less populous hill-districts of Northumberland.  In the neighbourhood
+of Newcastle they have been gradually effaced by the works of succeeding
+generations, though the “Wallsend” coal consumed in our household fires
+still serves to remind us of the great Roman work.
+
+                   [Picture: Map of Newcastle District]
+
+After the withdrawal of the Romans, Northumbria became planted by
+immigrant Saxons from North Germany and Norsemen from Scandinavia, whose
+Eorls or Earls made Newcastle their principal seat.  Then came the
+Normans, from whose _New_ Castle, built some eight hundred years since,
+the town derived its present name.  The keep of this venerable structure,
+black with age and smoke, still stands entire at the northern end of the
+noble high-level bridge—the utilitarian work of modern times thus
+confronting the warlike relic of the older civilisation.
+
+The nearness of Newcastle to the Scotch Border was a great hindrance to
+its security and progress in the middle ages of English history.  Indeed,
+the district between it and Berwick continued to be ravaged by
+moss-troopers long after the union of the Crowns.  The gentry lived in
+their strong Peel castles; even the larger farm-houses were fortified;
+and bloodhounds were trained for the purpose of tracking the
+cattle-reavers to their retreats in the hills.  The Judges of Assize rode
+from Carlisle to Newcastle guarded by an escort armed to the teeth.  A
+tribute called “dagger and protection money” was annually paid by the
+Sheriff of Newcastle for the purpose of providing daggers and other
+weapons for the escort; and, though the need of such protection has long
+since ceased, the tribute continues to be paid in broad gold pieces of
+the time of Charles the First.
+
+Until about the middle of last century the roads across Northumberland
+were little better than horse-tracks, and not many years since the
+primitive agricultural cart with solid wooden wheels was almost as common
+in the western parts of the county as it is in Spain now.  The tract of
+the old Roman road continued to be the most practicable route between
+Newcastle and Carlisle, the traffic between the two towns having been
+carried along it upon packhorses until a comparatively recent period.
+
+Since that time great changes have taken place on the Tyne.  When wood
+for firing became scarce and dear, and the forests of the South of
+England were found inadequate to supply the increasing demand for fuel,
+attention was turned to the rich stores of coal lying underground in the
+neighbourhood of Newcastle and Durham.  It then became an article of
+increasing export, and “seacoal” fires gradually supplanted those of
+wood.  Hence an old writer described Newcastle as “the Eye of the North,
+and the Hearth that warmeth the South parts of this kingdom with Fire.”
+Fuel has become the staple product of the district, the quantity exported
+increasing from year to year, until the coal raised from these northern
+mines amounts to upwards of sixteen millions of tons a year, of which not
+less than nine millions are annually conveyed away by sea.
+
+Newcastle has in the mean time spread in all directions far beyond its
+ancient boundaries.  From a walled mediæval town of monks and merchants,
+it has been converted into a busy centre of commerce and manufactures
+inhabited by nearly 100,000 people.  It is no longer a Border fortress—a
+“shield and defence against the invasions and frequent insults of the
+Scots,” as described in ancient charters—but a busy centre of peaceful
+industry, and the outlet for a vast amount of steam-power, which is
+exported in the form of coal to all parts of the world.  Newcastle is in
+many respects a town of singular and curious interest, especially in its
+older parts, which are full of crooked lanes and narrow streets, wynds,
+and chares, {4} formed by tall, antique houses, rising tier above tier
+along the steep northern bank of the Tyne, as the similarly precipitous
+streets of Gateshead crowd the opposite shore.
+
+All over the coal region, which extends from the Coquet to the Tees,
+about fifty miles from north to south, the surface of the soil exhibits
+the signs of extensive underground workings.  As you pass through the
+country at night, the earth looks as if it were bursting with fire at
+many points; the blaze of coke-ovens, iron-furnaces, and coal-heaps
+reddening the sky to such a distance that the horizon seems to be a
+glowing belt of fire.
+
+From the necessity which existed for facilitating the transport of coals
+from the pits to the shipping places, it is easy to understand how the
+railway and the locomotive should have first found their home in such a
+district as we have thus briefly described.  At an early period the coal
+was carried to the boats in panniers, or in sacks upon horses’ backs.
+Then carts were used, to facilitate the progress of which tramways of
+flag-stone were laid down.  This led to the enlargement of the vehicle,
+which became known as a waggon, and it was mounted on four wheels instead
+of two.  A local writer about the middle of the seventeenth century says,
+“Many thousand people are engaged in this trade of coals; many live by
+working of them in the pits; and many live by conveying them in waggons
+and wains to the river Tyne.”
+
+Still further to facilitate the haulage of the waggons, pieces of
+planking were laid parallel upon wooden sleepers, or imbedded in the
+ordinary track, by which friction was still further diminished.  It is
+said that these wooden rails were first employed by one Beaumont, about
+1630; and on a road thus laid, a single horse was capable of drawing a
+large loaded waggon from the coal-pit to the shipping staith.  Roger
+North, in 1676, found the practice had become extensively adopted, and he
+speaks of the large sums then paid for way-leaves; that is, the
+permission granted by the owners of lands lying between the coal-pit and
+the river-side to lay down a tramway between the one and the other.  A
+century later, Arthur Young observed that not only had these roads become
+greatly multiplied, but important works had been constructed to carry
+them along upon the same level.  “The coal-waggon roads from the pits to
+the water,” he says, “are great works, carried over all sorts of
+inequalities of ground, so far as the distance of nine or ten miles.  The
+tracks of the wheels are marked with pieces of wood let into the road for
+the wheels of the waggons to run on, by which one horse is enabled to
+draw, and that with ease, fifty or sixty bushels of coals.” {5}
+
+Similar waggon-roads were laid down in the coal districts of Wales,
+Cumberland, and Scotland.  At the time of the Scotch rebellion in 1745, a
+tramroad existed between the Tranent coal-pits and the small harbour of
+Cockenzie in East Lothian; and a portion of the line was selected by
+General Cope as a position for his cannon at the battle of Prestonpans.
+
+In these rude wooden tracks we find the germ of the modern railroad.
+Improvements were gradually made in them.  Thus, at some collieries, thin
+plates of iron were nailed upon their upper surface, for the purpose of
+protecting the parts most exposed to friction.  Cast-iron rails were also
+tried, the wooden rails having been found liable to rot.  The first rails
+of this kind are supposed to have been used at Whitehaven as early as
+1738.  This cast-iron road was denominated a “plate-way,” from the
+plate-like form in which the rails were cast.  In 1767, as appears from
+the books of the Coalbrookdale Iron Works, in Shropshire, five or six
+tons of rails were cast, as an experiment, on the suggestion of Mr.
+Reynolds, one of the partners; and they were shortly after laid down to
+form a road.
+
+In 1776, a cast-iron tramway, nailed to wooden sleepers, was laid down at
+the Duke of Norfolk’s colliery near Sheffield.  The person who designed
+and constructed this coal line was Mr. John Curr, whose son has
+erroneously claimed for him the invention of the cast-iron railway.  He
+certainly adopted it early, and thereby met the fate of men before their
+age; for his plan was opposed by the labouring people of the colliery,
+who got up a riot in which they tore up the road and burnt the
+coal-staith, whilst Mr. Curr fled into a neighbouring wood for
+concealment, and lay there _perdu_ for three days and nights, to escape
+the fury of the populace.  The plates of these early tramways had a ledge
+cast on their edge to guide the wheel along the road, after the manner
+shown in the annexed cut.
+
+                          [Picture: Flange rail]
+
+In 1789, Mr. William Jessop constructed a railway at Loughborough, in
+Leicestershire, and there introduced the cast-iron edge-rail, with
+flanches cast upon the tire of the waggon-wheels to keep them on the
+track, instead of having the margin or flanch cast upon the rail itself;
+and this plan was shortly after adopted in other places.  In 1800, Mr.
+Benjamin Outram, of Little Eaton, in Derbyshire (father of the
+distinguished General Outram), used stone props instead of timber for
+supporting the ends or joinings of the rails.  Thus the use of railroads,
+in various forms, gradually extended, until they were found in general
+use all over the mining districts.
+
+Such was the growth of the railway, which, it will be observed,
+originated in necessity, and was modified according to experience;
+progress in this, as in all departments of mechanics, having been
+effected by the exertions of many men, one generation entering upon the
+labours of that which preceded it, and carrying them onward to further
+stages of improvement.  We shall afterwards find that the invention of
+the locomotive was made by like successive steps.  It was not the
+invention of one man, but of a succession of men, each working at the
+proper hour, and according to the needs of that hour; one inventor
+interpreting only the first word of the problem which his successors were
+to solve after long and laborious efforts and experiments.  “The
+locomotive is not the invention of one man,” said Robert Stephenson at
+Newcastle, “but of a nation of mechanical engineers.”
+
+The same circumstances which led to the rapid extension of railways in
+the coal districts of the north tended to direct the attention of the
+mining engineers to the early development of the powers of the
+steam-engine as a useful instrument of motive power.  The necessity which
+existed for a more effective method of hauling the coals from the pits to
+the shipping places was constantly present to many minds; and the daily
+pursuits of a large class of mechanics occupied in the management of
+steam power, by which the coal was raised from the pits, and the mines
+were pumped clear of water, had the effect of directing their attention
+to the same agency as the best means for accomplishing that object.
+
+Among the upper-ground workmen employed at the coal-pits, the principal
+are the firemen, enginemen, and brakes-men, who fire and work the
+engines, and superintend the machinery by means of which the collieries
+are worked.  Previous to the introduction of the steam-engine the usual
+machine employed for the purpose was what is called a “gin.”  The gin
+consists of a large drum placed horizontally, round which ropes attached
+to buckets and corves are wound, which are thus drawn up or sent down the
+shafts by a horse travelling in a circular track or “gin race.”  This
+method was employed for drawing up both coals and water, and it is still
+used for the same purpose in small collieries; but where the quantity of
+water to be raised is great, pumps worked by steam power are called into
+requisition.
+
+Newcomen’s atmospheric engine was first made use of to work the pumps;
+and it continued to be so employed long after the more powerful and
+economical condensing engine of Watt had been invented.  In the Newcomen
+or “fire engine,” as it was called, the power is produced by the pressure
+of the atmosphere forcing down the piston in the cylinder, on a vacuum
+being produced within it by condensation of the contained steam by means
+of cold water injection.  The piston-rod is attached to one end of a
+lever, whilst the pump-rod works in connexion with the other,—the
+hydraulic action employed to raise the water being exactly similar to
+that of a common sucking-pump.
+
+The working of a Newcomen engine was a clumsy and apparently a very
+painful process, accompanied by an extraordinary amount of wheezing,
+sighing, creaking, and bumping.  When the pump descended, there was heard
+a plunge, a heavy sigh, and a loud bump: then, as it rose, and the sucker
+began to act, there was heard a croak, a wheeze, another bump, and then a
+strong rush of water as it was lifted and poured out.  Where engines of a
+more powerful and improved description are used, the quantity of water
+raised is enormous—as much as a million and a half gallons in the
+twenty-four hours.
+
+The pitmen, or “the lads belaw,” who work out the coal below ground, are
+a peculiar class, quite distinct from the workmen on the surface.  They
+are a people with peculiar habits, manners, and character, as much as
+fishermen and sailors, to whom, indeed, they bear, in some respects, a
+considerable resemblance.  Some fifty years since they were a much
+rougher and worse educated class than they are now; hard workers, but
+very wild and uncouth; much given to “steeks,” or strikes; and
+distinguished, in their hours of leisure and on pay-nights, for their
+love of cock-fighting, dog-fighting, hard drinking, and cuddy races.  The
+pay-night was a fortnightly saturnalia, in which the pitman’s character
+was fully brought out, especially when the “yel” was good.  Though
+earning much higher wages than the ordinary labouring population of the
+upper soil, the latter did not mix nor intermarry with them; so that they
+were left to form their own communities, and hence their marked
+peculiarities as a class.  Indeed, a sort of traditional disrepute seems
+long to have clung to the pitmen, arising perhaps from the nature of
+their employment, and from the circumstance that the colliers were among
+the last classes enfranchised in England, as they were certainly the last
+in Scotland, where they continued bondmen down to the end of last
+century.  The last thirty years, however, have worked a great improvement
+in the moral condition of the Northumbrian pitmen; the abolition of the
+twelve months’ bond to the mine, and the substitution of a month’s notice
+previous to leaving, having given them greater freedom and opportunity
+for obtaining employment; and day-schools and Sunday-schools, together
+with the important influences of railways, have brought them fully up to
+a level with the other classes of the labouring population.
+
+The coals, when raised from the pits, are emptied into the waggons placed
+alongside, from whence they are sent along the rails to the staiths
+erected by the river-side, the waggons sometimes descending by their own
+gravity along inclined planes, the waggoner standing behind to check the
+speed by means of a convoy or wooden brake bearing upon the rims of the
+wheels.  Arrived at the staiths, the waggons are emptied at once into the
+ships waiting alongside for cargo.  Any one who has sailed down the Tyne
+from Newcastle Bridge cannot but have been struck with the appearance of
+the immense staiths, constructed of timber, which are erected at short
+distances from each other on both sides of the river.
+
+                    [Picture: Coal-Staith on the Tyne]
+
+But a great deal of the coal shipped from the Tyne comes from
+above-bridge, where sea-going craft cannot reach, and is floated down the
+river in “keels,” in which the coals are sometimes piled up according to
+convenience when large, or, when the coal is small or tender, it is
+conveyed in tubs to prevent breakage.  These keels are of a very ancient
+model,—perhaps the oldest extant in England: they are even said to be of
+the same build as those in which the Norsemen navigated the Tyne
+centuries ago.  The keel is a tubby, grimy-looking craft, rounded fore
+and aft, with a single large square sail, which the keel-bullies, as the
+Tyne watermen are called, manage with great dexterity; the vessel being
+guided by the aid of the “swape,” or great oar, which is used as a kind
+of rudder at the stern of the vessel.  These keelmen are an exceedingly
+hardy class of workmen, not by any means so quarrelsome as their
+designation of “bully” would imply—the word being merely derived from the
+obsolete term “boolie,” or beloved, an appellation still in familiar use
+amongst brother workers in the coal districts.  One of the most curious
+sights upon the Tyne is the fleet of hundreds of these black-sailed,
+black-hulled keels, bringing down at each tide their black cargoes for
+the ships at anchor in the deep water at Shields and other parts of the
+river below Newcastle.
+
+These preliminary observations will perhaps be sufficient to explain the
+meaning of many of the occupations alluded to, and the phrases employed,
+in the course of the following narrative, some of which might otherwise
+have been comparatively unintelligible to the general reader.
+
+                         [Picture: Coal Waggons]
+
+                  [Picture: Wylam Colliery and Village]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+WYLAM AND DEWLEY BURN—GEORGE STEPHENSON’S EARLY YEARS.
+
+
+The colliery village of Wylam is situated on the north bank of the Tyne,
+about eight miles west of Newcastle.  The Newcastle and Carlisle railway
+runs along the opposite bank; and the traveller by that line sees the
+usual signs of a colliery in the unsightly pumping-engines surrounded by
+heaps of ashes, coal-dust, and slag; whilst a neighbouring iron-furnace
+in full blast throws out dense smoke and loud jets of steam by day and
+lurid flames at night.  These works form the nucleus of the village,
+which is almost entirely occupied by coal-miners and iron-furnacemen.
+The place is remarkable for its large population, but not for its
+cleanness or neatness as a village; the houses, as in most colliery
+villages, being the property of the owners or lessees, who employ them in
+temporarily accommodating the workpeople, against whose earnings there is
+a weekly set-off for house and coals.  About the end of last century the
+estate of which Wylam forms part, belonged to Mr. Blackett, a gentleman
+of considerable celebrity in coal-mining, then more generally known as
+the proprietor of the ‘Globe’ newspaper.
+
+There is nothing to interest one in the village itself.  But a few
+hundred yards from its eastern extremity stands a humble detached
+dwelling, which will be interesting to many as the birthplace of one of
+the most remarkable men of our times—George Stephenson, the Railway
+Engineer.  It is a common two-storied, red-tiled, rubble house, portioned
+off into four labourers’ apartments.  It is known by the name of High
+Street House, and was originally so called because it stands by the side
+of what used to be the old riding post road or street between Newcastle
+and Hexham, along which the post was carried on horseback within the
+memory of persons living.
+
+The lower room in the west end of this house was the home of the
+Stephenson family; and there George Stephenson was born, the second of a
+family of six children, on the 9th of June, 1781.  The apartment is now,
+what it was then, an ordinary labourer’s dwelling,—its walls are
+unplastered, its floor is of clay, and the bare rafters are exposed
+overhead.
+
+Robert Stephenson, or “Old Bob,” as the neighbours familiarly called him,
+and his wife Mabel, were a respectable couple, careful and hard-working.
+It is said that Robert Stephenson’s father was a Scotchman, and came into
+England as a gentleman’s servant.  Mabel, his wife, was the daughter of
+Robert Carr, a dyer at Ovingham.  When first married, they lived at
+Walbottle, a village situated between Wylam and Newcastle, afterwards
+removing to Wylam, where Robert was employed as fireman of the old
+pumping engine at that colliery.
+
+ [Picture: High-street House, Wylam, the Birthplace of George Stephenson]
+
+An old Wylam collier, who remembered George Stephenson’s father, thus
+described him:—“Geordie’s fayther war like a peer o’ deals nailed
+thegither, an’ a bit o’ flesh i’ th’ inside; he war as queer as Dick’s
+hatband—went thrice aboot, an’ wudn’t tie.  His wife Mabel war a delicat’
+boddie, an’ varry flighty.  Thay war an honest family, but sair hadden
+doon i’ th’ world.”  Indeed, the earnings of old Robert did not amount to
+more than twelve shillings a week; and, as there were six children to
+maintain, the family, during their stay at Wylam, were necessarily in
+very straitened circumstances.  The father’s wages being barely
+sufficient, even with the most rigid economy, for the sustenance of the
+household, there was little to spare for clothing, and nothing for
+education, so none of the children were sent to school.
+
+Old Robert was a general favourite in the village, especially amongst the
+children, whom he was accustomed to draw about him whilst tending the
+engine-fire, and feast their young imaginations with tales of Sinbad the
+Sailor and Robinson Crusoe, besides others of his own invention; so that
+“Bob’s engine-fire” came to be the most popular resort in the village.
+Another feature in his character, by which he was long remembered, was
+his affection for birds and animals; and he had many tame favourites of
+both sorts, which were as fond of resorting to his engine-fire as the
+boys and girls themselves.  In the winter time he had usually a flock of
+tame robins about him; and they would come hopping familiarly to his feet
+to pick up the crumbs which he had saved for them out of his humble
+dinner.  At his cottage he was rarely without one or more tame
+blackbirds, which flew about the house, or in and out at the door.  In
+summer-time he would go a-birdnesting with his children; and one day he
+took his little son George to see a blackbird’s nest for the first time.
+Holding him up in his arms, he let the wondering boy peep down, through
+the branches held aside for the purpose, into a nest full of young
+birds—a sight which the boy never forgot, but used to speak of with
+delight to his intimate friends when he himself had grown an old man.
+
+The boy George led the ordinary life of working-people’s children.  He
+played about the doors; went birdnesting when he could; and ran errands
+to the village.  He was also an eager listener, with the other children,
+to his father’s curious tales; and he early imbibed from him that
+affection for birds and animals which continued throughout his life.  In
+course of time he was promoted to the office of carrying his father’s
+dinner to him while at work, and it was on such occasions his great
+delight to see the robins fed.  At home he helped to nurse, and that with
+a careful hand, his younger brothers and sisters.  One of his duties was
+to see that the other children were kept out of the way of the chaldron
+waggons, which were then dragged by horses along the wooden tramroad
+immediately in front of the cottage-door.  This waggon-way was the first
+in the northern district on which the experiment of a locomotive engine
+was tried.  But at the time of which we speak, the locomotive had
+scarcely been dreamt of in England as a practicable working power; horses
+only were used to haul the coal; and one of the first sights with which
+the boy was familiar was the coal-waggons dragged by them along the
+wooden railway at Wylam.
+
+Thus eight years passed; after which, the coal having been worked out,
+the old engine, which had grown “dismal to look at,” as one of the
+workmen described it, was pulled down; and then Robert, having obtained
+employment as a fireman at the Dewley Burn Colliery, removed with his
+family to that place.  Dewley Burn, at this day, consists of a few
+old-fashioned low-roofed cottages standing on either side of a babbling
+little stream.  They are connected by a rustic wooden bridge, which spans
+the rift in front of the doors.  In the central one-roomed cottage of
+this group, on the right bank, Robert Stephenson lived for a time with
+his family; the pit at which he worked standing in the rear of the
+cottages.
+
+Young though he was, George was now of an age to be able to contribute
+something towards the family maintenance; for in a poor man’s house,
+every child is a burden until his little hands can be turned to
+profitable account.  That the boy was shrewd and active, and possessed of
+a ready mother wit, will be evident enough from the following incident.
+One day his sister Nell went into Newcastle to buy a bonnet; and Geordie
+went with her “for company.”  At a draper’s shop in the Bigg Market, Nell
+found a “chip” quite to her mind, but on pricing it, alas! it was found
+to be fifteen pence beyond her means, and she left the shop very much
+disappointed.  But Geordie said, “Never heed, Nell; see if I canna win
+siller enough to buy the bonnet; stand ye there, till I come back.”  Away
+ran the boy and disappeared amidst the throng of the market, leaving the
+girl to wait his return.  Long and long she waited, until it grew dusk,
+and the market people had nearly all left.  She had begun to despair, and
+fears crossed her mind that Geordie must have been run over and killed;
+when at last up he came running, almost breathless.  “I’ve gotten the
+siller for the bonnet, Nell!” cried he.  “Eh Geordie!” she said, “but hoo
+hae ye gotten it?”  “Haudin the gentlemen’s horses!” was the exultant
+reply.  The bonnet was forthwith bought, and the two returned to Dewley
+happy.
+
+George’s first regular employment was of a very humble sort.  A widow,
+named Grace Ainslie, then occupied the neighbouring farmhouse of Dewley.
+She kept a number of cows, and had the privilege of grazing them along
+the waggon-road.  She needed a boy to herd the cows, to keep them out of
+the way of the waggons, and prevent their straying or trespassing on the
+neighbours’ “liberties;” the boy’s duty was also to bar the gates at
+night after all the waggons had passed.  George petitioned for this post,
+and, to his great joy, he was appointed at the wage of twopence a day.
+
+It was light employment, and he had plenty of spare time on his hands,
+which he spent in birdnesting, making whistles out of reeds and scrannel
+straws, and erecting Lilliputian mills in the little water-streams that
+ran into the Dewley bog.  But his favourite amusement at this early age
+was erecting clay engines in conjunction with his chosen playmate, Bill
+Thirlwall.  The place is still pointed out where the future engineers
+made their first essays in modelling.  The boys found the clay for their
+engines in the adjoining bog, and the hemlocks which grew about supplied
+them with imaginary steam-pipes.  They even proceeded to make a miniature
+winding-machine in connexion with their engine, and the apparatus was
+erected upon a bench in front of the Thirlwalls’ cottage.  The corves
+were made out of hollowed corks; the ropes were supplied by twine; and a
+few bits of wood gleaned from the refuse of the carpenter’s shop
+completed their materials.  With this apparatus the boys made a show of
+sending the corves down the pit and drawing them up again, much to the
+marvel of the pitmen.  But some mischievous person about the place seized
+the opportunity early one morning of smashing the fragile machinery, much
+to the grief of the young engineers.
+
+As Stephenson grew older and abler to work, he was set to lead the horses
+when ploughing, though scarce big enough to stride across the furrows;
+and he used afterwards to say that he rode to his work in the mornings at
+an hour when most other children of his age were asleep in their beds.
+He was also employed to hoe turnips, and do similar farm-work, for which
+he was paid the advanced wage of fourpence a day.  But his highest
+ambition was to be taken on at the colliery where his father worked; and
+he shortly joined his elder brother James there as a “corf-bitter,” or
+“picker,” to clear the coal of stones, bats, and dross.  His wages were
+then advanced to sixpence a day, and afterwards to eightpence when he was
+set to drive the gin-horse.
+
+Shortly after, George went to Black Callerton to drive the gin there; and
+as that colliery lies about two miles across the fields from Dewley Burn,
+he walked that distance early in the morning to his work, returning home
+late in the evening.  One of the old residents at Black Callerton, who
+remembered him at that time, described him to the author as “a grit
+growing lad, with bare legs an’ feet;” adding that he was “very
+quick-witted and full of fun and tricks: indeed, there was nothing under
+the sun but he tried to imitate.”  He was usually foremost also in the
+sports and pastimes of youth.
+
+Among his first strongly-developed tastes was the love of birds and
+animals, which he inherited from his father.  Blackbirds were his special
+favourites.  The hedges between Dewley and Black Callerton were capital
+bird-nesting places; and there was not a nest there that he did not know
+of.  When the young birds were old enough, he would bring them home with
+him, feed them, and teach them to fly about the cottage unconfined by
+cages.  One of his blackbirds became so tame, that, after flying about
+the doors all day, and in and out of the cottage, it would take up its
+roost upon the bed-head at night.  And most singular of all, the bird
+would disappear in the spring and summer months, when it was supposed to
+go into the woods to pair and rear its young, after which it would
+reappear at the cottage, and resume its social habits during the winter.
+This went on for several years.  George had also a stock of tame rabbits,
+for which he built a little house behind the cottage, and for many years
+he continued to pride himself upon the superiority of his breed.
+
+After he had driven the gin for some time at Dewley and Black Callerton,
+he was taken on as an assistant to his father in firing the engine at
+Dewley.  This was a step of promotion which he had anxiously desired, his
+only fear being lest he should be found too young for the work.  Indeed,
+he used afterwards to relate how he was wont to hide himself when the
+owner of the colliery went round, in case he should be thought too little
+a boy to earn the wages paid him.  Since he had modelled his clay engines
+in the bog, his young ambition was to be an engineman; and to be an
+assistant fireman was the first step towards this position.  Great
+therefore was his joy when, at about fourteen years of age, he was
+appointed assistant-fireman, at the wage of a shilling a day.
+
+But the coal at Dewley Burn being at length worked out, the pit was
+ordered to be “laid in,” and old Robert and his family were again under
+the necessity of shifting their home; for, to use the common phrase, they
+must “follow the wark.”  They removed accordingly to a place called
+Jolly’s Close, a few miles to the south, close behind the village of
+Newburn, where another coal-mine belonging to the Duke of Northumberland,
+called “the Duke’s Winnin,” had recently been opened out.
+
+                      [Picture: Newburn on the Tyne]
+
+One of the old persons in the neighbourhood, who knew the family well,
+describes the dwelling in which they lived as a poor cottage of only one
+room, in which the father, mother, four sons, and two daughters, lived
+and slept.  It was crowded with three low-poled beds.  The one apartment
+served for parlour, kitchen, sleeping-room, and all.
+
+The children of the Stephenson family were now growing apace, and several
+of them were old enough to be able to earn money at various kinds of
+colliery work.  James and George, the two eldest sons, worked as
+assistant-firemen; and the younger boys worked as wheelers or pickers on
+the bank-tops.  The two girls helped their mother with the household
+work.
+
+Other workings of the coal were opened out in the neighbourhood; and to
+one of these George was removed as fireman on his own account.  This was
+called the “Mid Mill Winnin,” where he had for his mate a young man named
+Coe.  They worked together there for about two years, by twelve-hour
+shifts, George firing the engine at the wage of a shilling a day.  He was
+now fifteen years old.  His ambition was as yet limited to attaining the
+standing of a full workman, at a man’s wages; and with that view he
+endeavoured to attain such a knowledge of his engine as would eventually
+lead to his employment as an engineman, with its accompanying advantage
+of higher pay.  He was a steady, sober, hard-working young man, but
+nothing more in the estimation of his fellow-workmen.
+
+One of his favourite pastimes in by-hours was trying feats of strength
+with his companions.  Although in frame he was not particularly robust,
+yet he was big and bony, and considered very strong for his age.  At
+throwing the hammer George had no compeer.  At lifting heavy weights off
+the ground from between his feet, by means of a bar of iron passed
+through them—placing the bar against his knees as a fulcrum, and then
+straightening his spine and lifting them sheer up—he was also very
+successful.  On one occasion he lifted as much as sixty stones weight—a
+striking indication of his strength of bone and muscle.
+
+When the pit at Mid Mill was closed, George and his companion Coe were
+sent to work another pumping-engine erected near Throckley Bridge, where
+they continued for some months.  It was while working at this place that
+his wages were raised to 12s. a week—an event to him of great importance.
+On coming out of the foreman’s office that Saturday evening on which he
+received the advance, he announced the fact to his fellow-workmen, adding
+triumphantly “I am now a made man for life!”
+
+The pit opened at Newburn, at which old Robert Stephenson worked, proving
+a failure, it was closed; and a new pit was sunk at Water-row, on a strip
+of land lying between the Wylam waggon-way and the river Tyne, about half
+a mile west of Newburn Church.  A pumping engine was erected there by
+Robert Hawthorn, the Duke’s engineer; and old Stephenson went to work it
+as fireman, his son George acting as the engineman or plugman.  At that
+time he was about seventeen years old—a very youthful age at which to
+fill so responsible a post.  He had thus already got ahead of his father
+in his station as a workman; for the plugman holds a higher grade than
+the fireman, requiring more practical knowledge and skill, and usually
+receiving higher wages.
+
+George’s duty as plugman was to watch the engine, to see that it kept
+well in work, and that the pumps were efficient in drawing the water.
+When the water-level in the pit was lowered, and the suction became
+incomplete through the exposure of the suction-holes, it was then his
+duty to proceed to the bottom of the shaft and plug the tube so that the
+pump should draw: hence the designation of “plugman.”  If a stoppage in
+the engine took place through any defect which he was incapable of
+remedying, it was for him to call in the aid of the chief engineer to set
+it to rights.
+
+But from the time when George Stephenson was appointed fireman, and more
+particularly afterwards as engineman, he applied himself so assiduously
+and so successfully to the study of the engine and its gearing—taking the
+machine to pieces in his leisure hours for the purpose of cleaning and
+understanding its various parts—that he soon acquired a thorough
+practical knowledge of its construction and mode of working, and very
+rarely needed to call the engineer of the colliery to his aid.  His
+engine became a sort of pet with him, and he was never wearied of
+watching and inspecting it with admiration.
+
+Though eighteen years old, like many of his fellow-workmen, Stephenson
+had not yet learnt to read.  All that he could do was to get some one to
+read for him by his engine fire, out of any book or stray newspaper which
+found its way into the neighbourhood.  Buonaparte was then overrunning
+Italy, and astounding Europe by his brilliant succession of victories;
+and there was no more eager auditor of his exploits, as read from the
+newspaper accounts, than the young engineman at the Water-row Pit.
+
+There were also numerous stray bits of information and intelligence
+contained in these papers, which excited Stephenson’s interest.  One of
+these related to the Egyptian method of hatching birds’ eggs by means of
+artificial heat.  Curious about everything relating to birds, he
+determined to test it by experiment.  It was spring time, and he
+forthwith went a birdnesting in the adjoining woods and hedges.  He
+gathered a collection of eggs of various sorts, set them in flour in a
+warm place in the engine-house, covering the whole with wool, and then
+waited the issue.  The heat was kept as steady as possible, and the eggs
+were carefully turned every twelve hours, but though they chipped, and
+some of them exhibited well-grown chicks, they never hatched.  The
+experiment failed, but the incident shows that the inquiring mind of the
+youth was fairly at work.
+
+Modelling of engines in clay continued to be another of his favourite
+occupations.  He made models of engines which he had seen, and of others
+which were described to him.  These attempts were an improvement upon his
+first trials at Dewley Burn bog, when occupied there as a herd-boy.  He
+was, however, anxious to know something of the wonderful engines of
+Boulton and Watt, and was told that they were to be found fully described
+in books, which he must search for information as to their construction,
+action and uses.  But, alas! Stephenson could not read; he had not yet
+learnt even his letters.
+
+Thus he shortly found, when gazing wistfully in the direction of
+knowledge, that to advance further as a skilled workman, he must master
+this wonderful art of reading—the key to so many other arts.  Only thus
+could he gain an access to books, the depositories of the wisdom and
+experience of the past.  Although a grown man, and doing the work of a
+man, he was not ashamed to confess his ignorance, and go to school, big
+as he was, to learn his letters.  Perhaps, too, he foresaw that, in
+laying out a little of his spare earnings for this purpose, he was
+investing money judiciously, and that, in every hour he spent at school,
+he was really working for better wages.
+
+His first schoolmaster was Robin Cowens, a poor teacher in the village of
+Walbottle.  He kept a night-school, which was attended by a few of the
+colliers and labourers’ sons in the neighbourhood.  George took lessons
+in spelling and reading three nights in the week.  Robin Cowen’s teaching
+cost threepence a week; and though it was not very good, yet George,
+being hungry for knowledge and eager to acquire it, soon learnt to read.
+He also practised “pothooks,” and at the age of nineteen he was proud to
+be able to write his own name.
+
+A Scotch dominie, named Andrew Robertson, set up a night-school in the
+village of Newburn, in the winter of 1799.  It was more convenient for
+George to attend this school, as it was nearer to his work, and only a
+few minutes’ walk from Jolly’s Close.  Besides, Andrew had the reputation
+of being a skilled arithmetician; and this branch of knowledge Stephenson
+was very desirous of acquiring.  He accordingly began taking lessons from
+him, paying fourpence a week.  Robert Gray, the junior fireman at the
+Water-row Pit, began arithmetic at the same time; and Gray afterwards
+told the author that George learnt “figuring” so much faster than he did,
+that he could not make out how it was—“he took to figures so wonderful.”
+Although the two started together from the same point, at the end of the
+winter George had mastered “reduction,” while Robert Gray was still
+struggling with the difficulties of simple division.  But George’s secret
+was his perseverance.  He worked out the sums in his bye-hours, improving
+every minute of his spare time by the engine-fire, and studying there the
+arithmetical problems set for him upon his slate by the master.  In the
+evenings he took to Robertson the sums which he had “worked,” and new
+ones were “set” for him to study out the following day.  Thus his
+progress was rapid, and, with a willing heart and mind, he soon became
+well advanced in arithmetic.  Indeed, Andrew Robertson became very proud
+of his scholar; and shortly after, when the Water-row Pit was closed, and
+George removed to Black Callerton to work there, the poor schoolmaster,
+not having a very extensive connexion in Newburn, went with his pupils,
+and set up his night-school at Black Callerton, where he continued his
+lessons.
+
+George still found time to attend to his favourite animals while working
+at the Water-row Pit.  Like his father, he used to tempt the
+robin-redbreasts to hop and fly about him at the engine-fire, by the bait
+of bread-crumbs saved from his dinner.  But his chief favourite was his
+dog—so sagacious that he almost daily carried George’s dinner to him at
+the pit.  The tin containing the meal was suspended from the dog’s neck,
+and, thus laden, he proceeded faithfully from Jolly’s Close to Water-row
+Pit, quite through the village of Newburn.  He turned neither to left nor
+right, nor heeded the barking of curs at his heels.  But his course was
+not unattended with perils.  One day the big strange dog of a passing
+butcher espying the engineman’s messenger with the tin can about his
+neck, ran after and fell upon him.  There was a terrible tussle and
+worrying, which lasted for a brief while, and, shortly after, the dog’s
+master, anxious for his dinner, saw his faithful servant approaching,
+bleeding but triumphant.  The tin can was still round his neck, but the
+dinner had been spilt in the struggle.  Though George went without his
+dinner that day, he was prouder of his dog than ever when the
+circumstances of the combat were related to him by the villagers who had
+seen it.
+
+It was while working at the Water-row Pit that Stephenson learnt the art
+of brakeing an engine.  This being one of the higher departments of
+colliery labour, and among the best paid, George was very anxious to
+learn it.  A small winding-engine having been put up for the purpose of
+drawing the coals from the pit, Bill Coe, his friend and fellow-workman,
+was appointed the brakesman.  He frequently allowed George to try his
+hand at the machine, and instructed him how to proceed.  Coe was,
+however, opposed in this by several of the other workmen—one of whom, a
+banksman named William Locke, {26} went so far as to stop the working of
+the pit because Stephenson had been called in to the brake.  But one day
+as Mr. Charles Nixon, the manager of the pit, was observed approaching,
+Coe adopted an expedient which put a stop to the opposition.  He called
+upon Stephenson to “come into the brake-house, and take hold of the
+machine.”  Locke, as usual, sat down, and the working of the pit was
+stopped.  When requested by the manager to give an explanation, he said
+that “young Stephenson couldn’t brake, and, what was more, never would
+learn, he was so clumsy.”  Mr. Nixon, however, ordered Locke to go on
+with the work, which he did; and Stephenson, after some further practice,
+acquired the art of brakeing.
+
+After working at the Water-row Pit and at other engines near Newburn for
+about three years, George and Coe went to Black Callerton early in 1801.
+Though only twenty years of age, his employers thought so well of him
+that they appointed him to the responsible office of brakesman at the
+Dolly Pit.  For convenience’ sake, he took lodgings at a small farmer’s
+in the village, finding his own victuals, and paying so much a week for
+lodging and attendance.  In the locality this was called “picklin in his
+awn poke neuk.”  It not unfrequently happens that the young workman about
+the collieries, when selecting a lodging, contrives to pitch his tent
+where the daughter of the house ultimately becomes his wife.  This is
+often the real attraction that draws the youth from home, though a very
+different one may be pretended.
+
+George Stephenson’s duties as brakesman may be briefly described.  The
+work was somewhat monotonous, and consisted in superintending the working
+of the engine and machinery by means of which the coals were drawn out of
+the pit.  Brakesman are almost invariably selected from those who have
+had considerable experience as engine-firemen, and borne a good character
+for steadiness, punctuality, watchfulness, and “mother wit.”  In George
+Stephenson’s day the coals were drawn out of the pit in corves, or large
+baskets made of hazel rods.  The corves were placed together in a cage,
+between which and the pit-ropes there was usually from fifteen to twenty
+feet of chain.  The approach of the corves towards the pit mouth was
+signalled by a bell, brought into action by a piece of mechanism worked
+from the shaft of the engine.  When the bell sounded, the brakesman
+checked the speed, by taking hold of the hand-gear connected with the
+steam-valves, which were so arranged that by their means he could
+regulate the speed of the engine, and stop or set it in motion when
+required.  Connected with the fly-wheel was a powerful wooden brake,
+acting by pressure against its rim, something like the brake of a
+railway-carriage against its wheels.  On catching sight of the chain
+attached to the ascending corve-cage, the brakesman, by pressing his foot
+upon a foot-step near him, was enabled, with great precision, to stop the
+revolutions of the wheel, and arrest the ascent of the corves at the pit
+mouth, when they were forthwith landed on the “settle board.”  On the
+full corves being replaced by empty ones, it was then the duty of the
+brakesman to reverse the engine, and send the corves down the pit to be
+filled again.
+
+The monotony of George Stephenson’s occupation as a brakesman was
+somewhat varied by the change which he made, in his turn, from the day to
+the night shift.  His duty, on the latter occasions, consisted chiefly in
+sending men and materials into the mine, and in drawing other men and
+materials out.  Most of the workmen enter the pit during the night shift,
+and leave it in the latter part of the day, whilst coal-drawing is
+proceeding.  The requirements of the work at night are such, that the
+brakesman has a good deal of spare time on his hands, which he is at
+liberty to employ in his own way.  From an early period, George was
+accustomed to employ those vacant night hours in working the sums set for
+him by Andrew Robertson upon his slate, practising writing in his
+copy-book, and mending the shoes of his fellow-workmen.  His wages while
+working at the Dolly Pit amounted to from £1 15s. to £2 in the fortnight;
+but he gradually added to them as he became more expert at shoe-mending,
+and afterwards at shoe-making.
+
+Probably he was stimulated to take in hand this extra work by the
+attachment he had by this time formed for a young woman named Fanny
+Henderson, who officiated as servant in the small farmer’s house in which
+he lodged.  We have been informed that the personal attractions of Fanny,
+though these were considerable, were the least of her charms.  Mr.
+William Fairbairn, who afterwards saw her in her home at Willington Quay,
+describes her as a very comely woman.  But her temper was one of the
+sweetest; and those who knew her were accustomed to speak of the charming
+modesty of her demeanour, her kindness of disposition, and withal her
+sound good sense.
+
+Amongst his various mendings of old shoes at Callerton.  George was on
+one occasion favoured with the shoes of his sweetheart to sole.  One can
+imagine the pleasure with which he would linger over such a piece of
+work, and the pride with which he would execute it.  A friend of his,
+still living, relates that, after he had finished the shoes, he carried
+them about with him in his pocket on the Sunday afternoon, and that from
+time to time he would pull them out and hold them up, exclaiming, “what a
+capital job he had made of them!”
+
+Out of his earnings by shoe-mending at Callerton, George contrived to
+save his first guinea.  The first guinea saved by a working man is no
+trivial thing.  If, as in Stephenson’s case, it has been the result of
+prudent self-denial, of extra labour at bye-hours, and of the honest
+resolution to save and economise for worthy purposes, the first guinea
+saved is an earnest of better things.  When Stephenson had saved this
+guinea he was not a little elated at the achievement, and expressed the
+opinion to a friend, who many years after reminded him of it, that he was
+“now a rich man.”
+
+Not long after he began to work at Black Callerton as brakesman, he had a
+quarrel with a pitman named Ned Nelson, a roistering bully, who was the
+terror of the village.  Nelson was a great fighter; and it was therefore
+considered dangerous to quarrel with him.  Stephenson was so unfortunate
+as not to be able to please this pitman by the way in which he drew him
+out of the pit; and Nelson swore at him grossly because of the alleged
+clumsiness of his brakeing.  George defended himself, and appealed to the
+testimony of the other workmen.  But Nelson had not been accustomed to
+George’s style of self-assertion; and, after a great deal of abuse, he
+threatened to kick the brakesman, who defied him to do so.  Nelson ended
+by challenging Stephenson to a pitched battle; and the latter accepted
+the challenge, when a day was fixed on which the fight was to come off.
+
+Great was the excitement at Black Callerton when it was known that George
+Stephenson had accepted Nelson’s challenge.  Everybody said he would be
+killed.  The villagers, the young men, and especially the boys of the
+place, with whom George was a great favourite, all wished that he might
+beat Nelson, but they scarcely dared to say so.  They came about him
+while he was at work in the engine-house to inquire if it was really true
+that he was “goin to fight Nelson?”  “Ay; never fear for me; I’ll fight
+him.”  And fight him he did.  For some days previous to the appointed day
+of battle, Nelson went entirely off work for the purpose of keeping
+himself fresh and strong, whereas Stephenson went on doing his daily work
+as usual, and appeared not in the least disconcerted by the prospect of
+the affair.  So, on the evening appointed, after George had done his
+day’s labour, he went into the Dolly Pit Field, where his already
+exulting rival was ready to meet him.  George stripped, and “went in”
+like a practised pugilist—though it was his first and last fight.  After
+a few rounds, George’s wiry muscles and practised strength enabled him
+severely to punish his adversary, and to secure an easy victory.
+
+This circumstance is related in illustration of Stephenson’s personal
+pluck and courage; and it was thoroughly characteristic of the man.  He
+was no pugilist, and the very reverse of quarrelsome.  But he would not
+be put down by the bully of the colliery, and he fought him.  There his
+pugilism ended; they afterwards shook hands, and continued good friends.
+In after life, Stephenson’s mettle was often as hardly tried, though in a
+different way; and he did not fail to exhibit the same resolute courage
+in contending with the bullies of the railway world, as he showed in his
+encounter with Ned Nelson, the fighting pitman of Callerton.
+
+                       [Picture: Colliery Whimsey]
+
+            [Picture: Stephenson’s Cottage at Wallington Quay]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+ENGINEMAN AT WILLINGTON QUAY AND KILLINGWORTH.
+
+
+George Stephenson had now acquired the character of an expert workman.
+He was diligent and observant while at work, and sober and studious when
+the day’s work was over.  His friend Coe described him to the author as
+“a standing example of manly character.”  On pay-Saturday afternoons,
+when the pitmen held their fortnightly holiday, occupying themselves
+chiefly in cock-fighting and dog-fighting in the adjoining fields,
+followed by adjournments to the “yel-house,” George was accustomed to
+take his engine to pieces, for the purpose of obtaining “insight,” and he
+cleaned all the parts and put the machine in thorough working order
+before leaving it.
+
+In the evenings he improved himself in the arts of reading and writing,
+and occasionally took a turn at modelling.  It was at Callerton, his son
+Robert informed us, that he began to try his hand at original invention;
+and for some time he applied his attention to a machine of the nature of
+an engine-brake, which reversed itself by its own action.  But nothing
+came of the contrivance, and it was eventually thrown aside as useless.
+Yet not altogether so; for even the highest skill must undergo the
+inevitable discipline of experiment, and submit to the wholesome
+correction of occasional failure.
+
+After working at Callerton for about two years, he received an offer to
+take charge of the engine on Willington Ballast Hill at an advanced wage.
+He determined to accept it, and at the same time to marry Fanny
+Henderson, and begin housekeeping on his own account.  Though he was only
+twenty-one years old, he had contrived, by thrift, steadiness, and
+industry, to save as much money as enabled him to take a cottage-dwelling
+at Willington Quay, and furnish it in a humble but comfortable style for
+the reception of his bride.
+
+Willington Quay lies on the north bank of the Tyne, about six miles below
+Newcastle.  It consists of a line of houses straggling along the
+river-side; and high behind it towers up the huge mound of ballast
+emptied out of the ships which resort to the quay for their cargoes of
+coal for the London market.  The ballast is thrown out of the ships’
+holds into waggons laid alongside, which are run up to the summit of the
+Ballast Hill, and emptied out there.  At the foot of the great mound of
+shot rubbish was the fixed engine of which George Stephenson acted as
+brakesman.
+
+The cottage in which he took up his abode was a small two-storied
+dwelling, standing a little back from the quay with a bit of garden
+ground in front. {33}  The Stephenson family occupied the upper room in
+the west end of the cottage.  Close behind rose the Ballast Hill.
+
+When the cottage dwelling had been made snug, and was ready for
+occupation, the marriage took place.  It was celebrated in Newburn
+Church, on the 28th of November, 1802.  After the ceremony, George, with
+his newly-wedded wife, proceeded to the house of his father at Jolly’s
+Close.  The old man was now becoming infirm, and, though he still worked
+as an engine-fireman, contrived with difficulty “to keep his head above
+water.”  When the visit had been paid, the bridal party set out for their
+new home at Willington Quay, whither they went in a manner quite common
+before travelling by railway came into use.  Two farm horses, borrowed
+from a neighbouring farmer, were each provided with a saddle and pillion,
+and George having mounted one, his wife seated herself behind him,
+holding on by his waist.  The bridesman and bridesmaid in like manner
+mounted the other horse; and in this wise the wedding party rode across
+the country, passing through the old streets of Newcastle, and then by
+Wallsend to Willington Quay—a ride of about fifteen miles.
+
+George Stephenson’s daily life at Willington was that of a steady
+workman.  By the manner, however, in which he continued to improve his
+spare hours in the evening, he was silently and surely paving the way for
+being something more than a manual labourer.  He set himself to study
+diligently the principles of mechanics, and to master the laws by which
+his engine worked.  For a workman, he was even at that time more than
+ordinarily speculative—often taking up strange theories, and trying to
+sift out the truth that was in them.  While sitting by his wife’s side in
+his cottage-dwelling in the winter evenings, he was usually occupied in
+studying mechanical subjects, or in modelling experimental machines.
+Amongst his various speculations while at Willington, he tried to
+discover a means of Perpetual Motion.  Although he failed, as so many
+others had done before him, the very efforts he made tended to whet his
+inventive faculties, and to call forth his dormant powers.  He went so
+far as to construct the model of a machine for the purpose.  It consisted
+of a wooden wheel, the periphery of which was furnished with glass tubes
+filled with quicksilver; as the wheel rotated, the quicksilver poured
+itself down into the lower tubes, and thus a sort of self-acting motion
+was kept up in the apparatus, which, however, did not prove to be
+perpetual.  Where he had first obtained the idea of this machine—whether
+from conversation or reading, is not known; but his son Robert was of
+opinion that he had heard of the apparatus of this kind described in the
+“History of Inventions.”  As he had then no access to books, and indeed
+could barely read with ease, it is probable that he had been told of the
+contrivance, and set about testing its value according to his own
+methods.
+
+Much of his spare time continued to be occupied by labour more
+immediately profitable, regarded in a pecuniary point of view.  In the
+evenings, after his day’s labour at his engine, he would occasionally
+employ himself for an hour or two in casting ballast out of the collier
+ships, by which means he was enabled to earn a few extra shillings
+weekly.  Mr. William Fairbairn of Manchester has informed us that while
+Stephenson was employed at Willington, he himself was working in the
+neighbourhood as an engine apprentice at the Percy Main Colliery.  He was
+very fond of George, who was a fine, hearty fellow, besides being a
+capital workman.  In the summer evenings young Fairbairn was accustomed
+to go down to the Quay to see his friend, and on such occasions he would
+frequently take charge of George’s engine while he took a turn at heaving
+ballast out of the ships’ holds.  It is pleasant to think of the future
+President of the British Association thus helping the future Railway
+Engineer to earn a few extra shillings by overwork in the evenings, at a
+time when both occupied the rank of humble working men in an obscure
+northern village.
+
+Mr. Fairbairn was also a frequent visitor at George’s cottage on the
+Quay, where, though there was no luxury, there was comfort, cleanliness,
+and a pervading spirit of industry.  Even at home George was never for a
+moment idle.  When there was no ballast to heave out at the Quay he took
+in shoes to mend; and from mending he proceeded to making them, as well
+as shoe-lasts, in which he was admitted to be very expert.
+
+But an accident occurred in Stephenson’s household about this time, which
+had the effect of directing his industry into a new and still more
+profitable channel.  The cottage chimney took fire one day in his
+absence, when the alarmed neighbours, rushing in, threw quantities of
+water upon the flames; and some, in their zeal, even mounted the ridge of
+the house, and poured buckets of water down the chimney.  The fire was
+soon put out, but the house was thoroughly soaked.  When George came home
+he found everything in disorder, and his new furniture covered with soot.
+The eight-day clock, which hung against the wall—one of the most
+highly-prized articles in the house—was much damaged by the steam with
+which the room had been filled; and its wheels were so clogged by the
+dust and soot that it was brought to a complete standstill.  George was
+always ready to turn his hand to anything, and his ingenuity, never at
+fault, immediately set to work to repair the unfortunate clock.  He was
+advised to send it to the clockmaker, but that would cost money; and he
+declared that he would repair it himself—at least he would try.  The
+clock was accordingly taken to pieces and cleaned; the tools which he had
+been accumulating for the purpose of constructing his Perpetual Motion
+machine, enabled him to do this readily; and he succeeded so well that,
+shortly after, the neighbours sent him their clocks to clean, and he soon
+became one of the most famous clock-doctors in the neighbourhood.
+
+It was while living at Willington Quay that George Stephenson’s only son
+was born, on the 16th of October, 1803.  The child was a great favourite
+with his father, and added much to the happiness of his evening hours.
+George’s “philoprogenitiveness,” as phrenologists call it, had been
+exercised hitherto upon birds, dogs, rabbits, and even the poor old
+gin-horses which he had driven at the Callerton Pit; but in his boy he
+now found a much more genial object for the exercise of his affection.
+
+The christening took place in the school-house at Wallsend, the old
+parish church being at the time in so dilapidated a condition from the
+“creeping” or subsidence of the ground, consequent upon the excavation of
+the coal, that it was considered dangerous to enter it.  On this
+occasion, Robert Gray and Anne Henderson, who had officiated as bridesman
+and bridesmaid at the wedding, came over again to Willington, and stood
+godfather and godmother to little Robert,—so named after his grandfather.
+
+After working for several years more as a brakesman at the Willington
+machine, George Stephenson was induced to leave his situation there for a
+similar one at the West Moor Colliery, Killingworth.  It was not without
+considerable persuasion that he was induced to leave the Quay, as he knew
+that he should thereby give up the chance of earning extra money by
+casting ballast from the keels.  At last, however, he consented, in the
+hope of making up the loss in some other way.
+
+The village of Killingworth lies about seven miles north of Newcastle,
+and is one of the best-known collieries in that neighbourhood.  The
+workings of the coal are of vast extent, and give employment to a large
+number of work-people.  To this place Stephenson first came as a
+brakesman about the beginning of 1805.  He had not been long in his new
+place, ere his wife died (in 1806), shortly after giving birth to a
+daughter, who survived the mother only a few months.  George deeply felt
+the loss of his wife, for they had been very happy together.  Their lot
+had been sweetened by daily successful toil.  The husband was sober and
+hard-working, and his wife made his hearth so bright and his home so
+snug, that no attraction could draw him from her side in the evening
+hours.  But this domestic happiness was all to pass away; and George felt
+as one that had thenceforth to tread the journey of life alone.
+
+                      [Picture: West Moor Colliery]
+
+Shortly after this event, while his grief was still fresh, he received an
+invitation from some gentlemen concerned in large spinning works near
+Montrose in Scotland, to proceed thither and superintend the working of
+one of Boulton and Watt’s engines.  He accepted the offer, and made
+arrangements to leave Killingworth for a time.
+
+Having left his little boy in good keeping, he set out upon his long
+journey to Scotland on foot, with his kit upon his back.  While working
+at Montrose he gave a striking proof of that practical ability in
+contrivance for which he was afterwards so distinguished.  It appears
+that the water required for the purposes of his engine, as well as for
+the use of the works, was pumped from a considerable depth, being
+supplied from the adjacent extensive sand strata.  The pumps frequently
+got choked by the sand drawn in at the bottom of the well through the
+snore-holes, or apertures through which the water to be raised is
+admitted.  The barrels soon became worn, and the bucket and clack
+leathers destroyed, so that it became necessary to devise a remedy; and
+with this object the engineman proceeded to adopt the following simple
+but original expedient.  He had a wooden box or boot made, twelve feet
+high, which he placed in the sump or well, and into this he inserted the
+lower end of the pump.  The result was, that the water flowed clear from
+the outer part of the well over into the boot, and being drawn up without
+any admixture of sand, the difficulty was thus conquered. {38}
+
+Being paid good wages, Stephenson contrived, during the year he worked at
+Montrose, to save a sum of £28, which he took back with him to
+Killingworth.  Longing to get back to his kindred, his heart yearning for
+the son whom he had left behind, our engineman took leave of his
+employers, and trudged back to Northumberland on foot as he had gone.
+While on his journey southward he arrived late one evening, footsore and
+wearied, at the door of a small farmer’s cottage, at which he knocked,
+and requested shelter for the night.  It was refused, and then he
+entreated that, being tired, and unable to proceed further, the farmer
+would permit him to lie down in the outhouse, for that a little clean
+straw would serve him.  The farmer’s wife appeared at the door, looked at
+the traveller, then retiring with her husband, the two confabulated a
+little apart, and finally they invited Stephenson into the cottage.
+Always full of conversation and anecdote, he soon made himself at home in
+the farmer’s family, and spent with them a few pleasant hours.  He was
+hospitably entertained for the night, and when he left the cottage in the
+morning, he pressed them to make some charge for his lodging, but they
+refused to accept any recompense.  They only asked him to remember them
+kindly, and if he ever came that way, to be sure and call again.  Many
+years after, when Stephenson had become a thriving man, he did not forget
+the humble pair who had succoured and entertained him on his way; he
+sought their cottage again, when age had silvered their hair; and when he
+left the aged couple, they may have been reminded of the old saying that
+we may sometimes “entertain angels unawares.”
+
+Reaching home, Stephenson found that his father had met with a serious
+accident at the Blucher Pit, which had reduced him to great distress and
+poverty.  While engaged in the inside of an engine, making some repairs,
+a fellow-workman accidentally let in the steam upon him.  The blast
+struck him full in the face; he was terribly scorched, and his eyesight
+was irretrievably lost.  The helpless and infirm man had struggled for a
+time with poverty; his sons who were at home, poor as himself, were
+little able to help him, while George was at a distance in Scotland.  On
+his return, however, with his savings in his pocket, his first step was
+to pay off his father’s debts, amounting to about £15; and shortly after
+he removed the aged pair from Jolly’s Close to a comfortable cottage
+adjoining the tramroad near the West Moor at Killingworth, where the old
+man lived for many years, supported entirely by his son.
+
+Stephenson was again taken on as a brakesman at the West Moor Pit.  He
+does not seem to have been very hopeful as to his prospects in life about
+this time (1807–8).  Indeed the condition of the working class generally
+was very discouraging.  England was engaged in a great war, which pressed
+upon the industry, and severely tried the resources, of the country.
+There was a constant demand for men to fill the army.  The working people
+were also liable to be pressed for the navy, or drawn for the militia;
+and though they could not fail to be discontented under such
+circumstances, they scarcely dared even to mutter their discontent to
+their neighbours.
+
+Stephenson was drawn for the militia: he must therefore either quit his
+work and go a-soldiering, or find a substitute.  He adopted the latter
+course, and borrowed £6, which, with the remainder of his savings,
+enabled him to provide a militiaman to serve in his stead.  Thus the
+whole of his hard-won earnings were swept away at a stroke.  He was
+almost in despair, and contemplated the idea of leaving the country, and
+emigrating to the United States.  Although a voyage thither was then a
+much more formidable thing for a working man to accomplish than a voyage
+to Australia is now, he seriously entertained the project, and had all
+but made up his mind to go.  His sister Ann, with her husband, emigrated
+about that time, but George could not raise the requisite money, and they
+departed without him.  After all, it went sore against his heart to leave
+his home and his kindred, the scenes of his youth and the friends of his
+boyhood; and he struggled long with the idea, brooding over it in sorrow.
+Speaking afterwards to a friend of his thoughts at the time, he said:
+“You know the road from my house at the West Moor to Killingworth.  I
+remember once when I went along that road I wept bitterly, for I knew not
+where my lot in life would be cast.”
+
+In 1808, Stephenson, with two other brakesmen, took a small contract
+under the colliery lessees for brakeing the engines at the West Moor Pit.
+The brakesmen found the oil and tallow; they divided the work amongst
+them, and were paid so much per score for their labour.  It was the
+interest of the brakesmen to economise the working as much as possible,
+and George no sooner entered upon the contract than he proceeded to
+devise ways and means of making it “pay.”  He observed that the ropes
+which, at other pits in the neighbourhood, lasted about three months, at
+the West Moor Pit became worn out in about a month.  He immediately set
+about ascertaining the cause of the defect; and finding it to be
+occasioned by excessive friction, he proceeded, with the sanction of the
+head engine-wright and the colliery owners, to shift the pulley-wheels
+and re-arrange the gearing, which had the effect of greatly diminishing
+the tear and wear, besides allowing the work of the colliery to proceed
+without interruption.
+
+About the same time he attempted an improvement in the winding-engine
+which he worked, by placing a valve between the air-pump and condenser.
+This expedient, although it led to no practical result, showed that his
+mind was actively engaged in studying new mechanical adaptations.  It
+continued to be his regular habit, on Saturdays, to take his engine to
+pieces, for the purpose, at the same time, of familiarising himself with
+its action, and of placing it in a state of thorough working order.  By
+mastering its details, he was enabled, as opportunity occurred, to turn
+to practical account the knowledge he thus diligently and patiently
+acquired.
+
+Such an opportunity was not long in presenting itself.  In the year 1810,
+a new pit was sunk by the “Grand Allies” (the lessees of the mines) at
+the village of Killingworth, now known as the Killingworth High Pit.  An
+atmospheric or Newcomen engine, made by Smeaton, was fixed there for the
+purpose of pumping out the water from the shaft; but somehow it failed to
+clear the pit.  As one of the workmen has since described the
+circumstance—“She couldn’t keep her jack-head in water: all the enginemen
+in the neighbourhood were tried, as well as Crowther of the Ouseburn, but
+they were clean bet.”  The engine had been fruitlessly pumping for nearly
+twelve months, and began to be spoken of as a total failure.  Stephenson
+had gone to look at it when in course of erection, and then observed to
+the over-man that he thought it was defective; he also gave it as his
+opinion that, if there were much water in the mine, the engine would
+never keep it under.  Of course, as he was only a brakesman, his opinion
+was considered to be worth very little on such a point.  He continued,
+however, to make frequent visits to the engine, to see “how she was
+getting on.”  From the bank-head where he worked his brake he could see
+the chimney smoking at the High Pit; and as the men were passing to and
+from their work, he would call out and inquire “if they had gotten to the
+bottom yet?”  And the reply was always to the same effect—the pumping
+made no progress, and the workmen were still “drowned out.”
+
+One Saturday afternoon he went over to the High Pit to examine the engine
+more carefully than he had yet done.  He had been turning the subject
+over thoughtfully in his mind; and seemed to have satisfied himself as to
+the cause of the failure.  Kit Heppel, one of the sinkers, asked him,
+“Weel, George, what do you mak’ o’ her?  Do you think you could do
+anything to improve her?”  Said George, “I could alter her, man, and make
+her draw: in a week’s time I could send you to the bottom.”
+
+Forthwith Heppel reported this conversation to Ralph Dodds, the head
+viewer, who, being now quite in despair, and hopeless of succeeding with
+the engine, determined to give George’s skill a trial.  At the worst he
+could only fail, as the rest had done.  In the evening, Dodds went in
+search of Stephenson, and met him on the road, dressed in his Sunday’s
+suit, on the way to “the preaching” in the Methodist Chapel, which he
+attended.  “Well, George,” said Dodds, “they tell me that you think you
+can put the engine at the High Pit to rights.”  “Yes, sir,” said George.
+“I think I could.”  “If that’s the case, I’ll give you a fair trial, and
+you must set to work immediately.  We are clean drowned out, and cannot
+get a stop further.  The engineers hereabouts are all bet; and if you
+really succeed in accomplishing what they cannot do, you may depend upon
+it I will make you a man for life.”
+
+Stephenson began his operations early next morning.  The only condition
+that he made, before setting to work, was that he should select his own
+workmen.  There was, as he knew, a good deal of jealousy amongst the
+“regular” men that a colliery brakesman should pretend to know more about
+their engine than they themselves did, and attempt to remedy defects
+which the most skilled men of their craft, including the engineer of the
+colliery, had failed to do.  But George made the condition a _sine quâ
+non_.  “The workmen,” said he, “must either be all Whigs or all Tories.”
+There was no help for it, so Dodds ordered the old hands to stand aside.
+The men grumbled, but gave way; and then George and his party went in.
+
+The engine was taken entirely to pieces.  The cistern containing the
+injection water was raised ten feet; the injection cock, being too small,
+was enlarged to nearly double its former size, and it was so arranged
+that it should be shut off quickly at the beginning of the stroke.  These
+and other alterations were necessarily performed in a rough way, but, as
+the result proved, on true principles.  Stephenson also, finding that the
+boiler would bear a greater pressure than five pounds to the inch,
+determined to work it at a pressure of ten pounds, though this was
+contrary to the directions of both Newcomen and Smeaton.  The necessary
+alterations were made in about three days, and many persons came to see
+the engine start, including the men who had put her up.  The pit being
+nearly full of water, she had little to do on starting, and, to use
+George’s words, “came bounce into the house.”  Dodds exclaimed, “Why, she
+was better as she was; now, she will knock the house down.”  After a
+short time, however, the engine got fairly to work, and by ten o’clock
+that night the water was lower in the pit than it had ever been before.
+It was kept pumping all Thursday, and by the Friday afternoon the pit was
+cleared of water, and the workmen were “sent to the bottom,” as
+Stephenson had promised.  Thus the alterations effected in the pumping
+apparatus proved completely successful.
+
+Dodds was particularly gratified with the manner in which the job had
+been done, and he made Stephenson a present of ten pounds, which, though
+very inadequate when compared with the value of the work performed, was
+accepted with gratitude.  George was proud of the gift as the first
+marked recognition of his skill as a workman; and he used afterwards to
+say that it was the biggest sum of money he had up to that time earned in
+one lump.  Ralph Dodds, however, did more than this.  He released the
+brakesman from the handles of his engine at West Moot, and appointed him
+engineman at the High Pit, at good wages, during the time the pit was
+sinking,—the job lasting for about a year; and he also kept him in mind
+for further advancement.
+
+Stephenson’s skill as an engine-doctor soon became noised abroad, and he
+was called upon to prescribe remedies for all the old, wheezy, and
+ineffective pumping-machines in the neighbourhood.  In this capacity he
+soon left the “regular” men far behind, though they in their turn were
+very mach disposed to treat the Killingworth brakesman as no better than
+a quack.  Nevertheless, his practice was really founded upon a close
+study of the principles of mechanics, and on an intimate practical
+acquaintance with the details of the pumping-engine.
+
+Another of his smaller achievements in the same line is still told by the
+people of the district.  At the corner of the road leading to Long
+Benton, there was a quarry from which a peculiar and scarce kind of ochre
+was taken.  In the course of working it out, the water had collected in
+considerable quantities; and there being no means of draining it off, it
+accumulated to such an extent that the further working of the ochre was
+almost entirely stopped.  Ordinary pumps were tried, and failed; and then
+a windmill was tried, and failed too.  On this, George was asked what
+ought to be done to clear the quarry of the water.  He said, “he would
+set up for them an engine little bigger than a kail-pot, that would clear
+them out in a week.”  And he did so.  A little engine was speedily
+erected, by means of which the quarry was pumped dry in the course of a
+few days.  Thus his skill as a pump-doctor soon became the marvel of the
+district.
+
+In elastic muscular vigour, Stephenson was now in his prime, and he still
+continued to be zealous in measuring his strength and agility with his
+fellow workmen.  The competitive element in his nature was always strong;
+and his success in these feats of rivalry was certainly remarkable.  Few,
+if any, could lift such weights, throw the hammer and putt the stone so
+far, or cover so great a space at a standing or running leap.  One day,
+between the engine hour and the rope-rolling hour, Kit Heppel challenged
+him to leap from one high wall to another, with a deep gap between.  To
+Heppel’s surprise and dismay, George took the standing leap, and cleared
+the eleven feet at a bound.  Had his eye been less accurate, or his limbs
+less agile and sure, the feat must have cost him his life.
+
+But so full of redundant muscular vigour was he, that leaping, putting,
+or throwing the hammer were not enough for him.  He was also ambitious of
+riding on horseback, and, as he had not yet been promoted to an office
+enabling him to keep a horse of his own, he sometimes borrowed one of the
+gin-horses for a ride.  On one of these occasions, he brought the animal
+back reeking; when Tommy Mitcheson, the bank horse-keeper, a rough-spoken
+fellow, exclaimed to him: “Set such fellows as you on horseback, and
+you’ll soon ride to the De’il.”  But Tommy Mitcheson lived to tell the
+joke, and to confess that, after all, there had been a better issue to
+George’s horsemanship than that which he predicted.
+
+Old Cree, the engine-wright at Killingworth High Pit, having been killed
+by an accident, George Stephenson was, in 1812, appointed engine-wright
+of the colliery at the salary of £100 a year.  He was also allowed the
+use of a galloway to ride upon in his visits of inspection to the
+collieries leased by the “Grand Allies” in that neighbourhood.  The
+“Grand Allies” were a company of gentlemen, consisting of Sir Thomas
+Liddell (afterwards Lord Ravensworth), the Earl of Strathmore, and Mr.
+Stuart Wortley (afterwards Lord Wharncliffe), the lessees of the
+Killingworth collieries.  Having been informed of the merits of
+Stephenson, of his indefatigable industry, and the skill which he had
+displayed in the repairs of the pumping-engines, they readily acceded to
+Mr. Dodds’ recommendation that he should be appointed the colliery
+engine-wright; and, as we shall afterwards find, they continued to honour
+him by distinguished marks of their approval.
+
+                     [Picture: Killingworth High Pit]
+
+                   [Picture: Glebe Farm House, Benton]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+THE STEPHENSONS AT KILLINGWORTH—EDUCATION AND SELF-EDUCATION OF FATHER
+AND SON.
+
+
+George Stephenson had now been diligently employed for several years in
+the work of self-improvement, and he experienced the usual results in
+increasing mental strength, capability, and skill.  Perhaps the secret of
+every man’s best success is to be found in the alacrity and industry with
+which he takes advantage of the opportunities which present themselves
+for well-doing.  Our engineman was an eminent illustration of the
+importance of cultivating this habit of life.  Every spare moment was
+laid under contribution by him, either for the purpose of adding to his
+earnings, or to his knowledge.  He missed no opportunity of extending his
+observations, especially in his own department of work, ever aiming at
+improvement, and trying to turn all that he did know to useful practical
+account.
+
+He continued his attempts to solve the mystery of Perpetual Motion, and
+contrived several model machines with the object of embodying his ideas
+in a practical working shape.  He afterwards used to lament the time he
+had lost in these futile efforts, and said that if he had enjoyed the
+opportunity which most young men now have, of learning from books what
+previous experimenters had accomplished, he would have been spared much
+labour and mortification.  Not being acquainted with what other mechanics
+had done, he groped his way in pursuit of some idea originated by his own
+independent thinking and observation; and, when he had brought it into
+some definite form, lo! he found that his supposed invention had long
+been known and recorded in scientific books.  Often he thought he had hit
+upon discoveries, which he subsequently found were but old and exploded
+fallacies.  Yet his very struggle to overcome the difficulties which lay
+in his way, was of itself an education of the best sort.  By wrestling
+with them, he strengthened his judgment and sharpened his skill,
+stimulating and cultivating his inventiveness and mechanical ingenuity.
+Being very much in earnest, he was compelled to consider the subject of
+his special inquiry in all its relations; and thus he gradually acquired
+practical ability even through his very efforts after the impracticable.
+
+Many of his evenings were now spent in the society of John Wigham, whose
+father occupied the Glebe Farm at Benton, close at hand.  John was a fair
+penman and a sound arithmetician, and Stephenson sought his society
+chiefly for the purpose of improving himself in writing and “figures.”
+Under Andrew Robertson, he had never quite mastered the Rule of Three,
+and it was only when Wigham took him in hand that he made much progress
+in the higher branches of arithmetic.  He generally took his slate with
+him to the Wighams’ cottage, when he had his sums set, that he might work
+them out while tending his engine on the following day.  When too busy to
+be able to call upon Wigham, he sent the slate to have the former sums
+corrected and new ones set.  Sometimes also, at leisure moments, he was
+enabled to do a little “figuring” with chalk upon the sides of the
+coal-waggons.  So much patient perseverance could not but eventually
+succeed; and by dint of practice and study, Stephenson was enabled to
+master successively the various rules of arithmetic.
+
+John Wigham was of great use to his pupil in many ways.  He was a good
+talker, fond of argument, an extensive reader as country reading went in
+those days, and a very suggestive thinker.  Though his store of
+information might be comparatively small when measured with that of more
+highly-cultivated minds, much of it was entirely new to Stephenson, who
+regarded him as a very clever and ingenious person.  Wigham taught him to
+draw plans and sections; though in this branch Stephenson proved so apt
+that he soon surpassed his master.  A volume of ‘Ferguson’s Lectures on
+Mechanics,’ which fell into their hands, was a great treasure to both the
+students.  One who remembers their evening occupations says he used to
+wonder what they meant by weighing the air and water in so odd a way.
+They were trying the specific gravities of objects; and the devices which
+they employed, the mechanical shifts to which they were put, were often
+of the rudest kind.  In these evening entertainments, the mechanical
+contrivances were supplied by Stephenson, whilst Wigham found the
+scientific rationale.  The opportunity thus afforded to the former of
+cultivating his mind by contact with one wiser than himself proved of
+great value, and in after-life Stephenson gratefully remembered the
+assistance which, when a humble workman, he had derived from John Wigham,
+the farmer’s son.
+
+His leisure moments thus carefully improved, it will be inferred that
+Stephenson continued a sober man.  Though his notions were never extreme
+on this point, he was systematically temperate.  It appears that on the
+invitation of his master, he had, on one or two occasions, been induced
+to join him in a forenoon glass of ale in the public-house of the
+village.  But one day, about noon, when Dodds had got him as far as the
+public-house door, on his invitation to “come in and take a glass o’
+yel,” Stephenson made a dead stop, and said, firmly, “No, sir, you must
+excuse me; I have made a resolution to drink no more at this time of
+day.”  And he went back.  He desired to retain the character of a steady
+workman; and the instances of men about him who had made shipwreck of
+their character through intemperance, were then, as now, unhappily but
+too frequent.
+
+But another consideration besides his own self-improvement had already
+begun to exercise an important influence on his life.  This was the
+training and education of his son Robert, now growing up an active,
+intelligent boy, as full of fun and tricks as his father had been.  When
+a little fellow, scarcely able to reach so high as to put a clock-head on
+when placed upon the table, his father would make him mount a chair for
+the purpose; and to “help father” was the proudest work which the boy
+then, and ever after, could take part in.  When the little engine was set
+up at the Ochre Quarry to pump it dry, Robert was scarcely absent for an
+hour.  He watched the machine very eagerly when it was set to work; and
+he was very much annoyed at the fire burning away the grates.  The man
+who fired the engine was a sort of wag, and thinking to get a laugh at
+the boy, he said, “Those bars are getting varra bad, Robert; I think we
+main cut up some of that hard wood, and put it in instead.”  “What would
+be the use of that, you fool?” said the boy quickly.  “You would no
+sooner have put them in than they would be burnt out again!”
+
+So soon as Robert was of proper age, his father sent him over to the
+road-side school at Long Benton, kept by Rutter, the parish clerk.  But
+the education which Rutter could give was of a very limited kind,
+scarcely extending beyond the primer and pothooks.  While working as a
+brakesman on the pit-head at Killingworth, the father had often bethought
+him of the obstructions he had himself encountered in life through his
+want of schooling; and he formed the noble determination that no labour,
+nor pains, nor self-denial on his part should be spared to furnish his
+son with the best education that it was in his power to bestow.
+
+              [Picture: Rutter’s School House, Long Benton]
+
+It is true his earnings were comparatively small at that time.  He was
+still maintaining his infirm parents; and the cost of living continued
+excessive.  But he fell back upon his old expedient of working up his
+spare time in the evenings at home, or during the night shifts when it
+was his turn to tend the engine, in mending and making shoes, cleaning
+clocks and watches, making shoe-lasts for the shoe-makers of the
+neighbourhood, and cutting out the pitmen’s clothes for their wives; and
+we have been told that to this day there are clothes worn at Killingworth
+made after “Geordy Steevie’s cut.”  To give his own words:—“In the
+earlier period of my career,” said he, “when Robert was a little boy, I
+saw how deficient I was in education, and I made up my mind that he
+should not labour under the same defect, but that I would put him to a
+good school, and give him a liberal training.  I was, however, a poor
+man; and how do you think I managed?  I betook myself to mending my
+neighbours’ clocks and watches at nights, after my daily labour was done,
+and thus I procured the means of educating my son.” {52}
+
+Carrying out the resolution as to his boy’s education, Robert was sent to
+Mr. Bruce’s school in Percy Street, Newcastle, at Midsummer, 1815, when
+he was about twelve years old.  His father bought for him a donkey, on
+which he rode into Newcastle and back daily; and there are many still
+living who remember the little boy, dressed in his suit of homely grey
+stuff, cut out by his father, cantering along to school upon the “cuddy,”
+with his wallet of provisions for the day and his bag of books slung over
+his shoulder.
+
+When Robert went to Mr. Bruce’s school, he was a shy, unpolished country
+lad, speaking the broad dialect of the pitmen; and the other boys would
+occasionally tease him, for the purpose of provoking an outburst of his
+Killingworth Doric.  As the shyness got rubbed off, his love of fun began
+to show itself, and he was found able enough to hold his own amongst the
+other boys.  As a scholar he was steady and diligent, and his master was
+accustomed to hold him up to the laggards of the school as an example of
+good conduct and industry.  But his progress, though satisfactory, was by
+no means extraordinary.  He used in after-life to pride himself on his
+achievements in mensuration, though another boy, John Taylor, beat him at
+arithmetic.  He also made considerable progress in mathematics; and in a
+letter written to the son of his teacher, many years after, he said, “It
+was to Mr. Bruce’s tuition and methods of modelling the mind that I
+attribute much of my success as an engineer; for it was from him that I
+derived my taste for mathematical pursuits and the facility I possess of
+applying this kind of knowledge to practical purposes and modifying it
+according to circumstances.”
+
+                   [Picture: Bruce’s School, Newcastle]
+
+During the time Robert attended school at Newcastle, his father made the
+boy’s education instrumental to his own.  Robert was accustomed to spend
+some of his spare time at the rooms of the Literary and Philosophical
+Institute; and when he went home in the evening, he would recount to his
+father the results of his reading.  Sometimes he was allowed to take with
+him to Killingworth a volume of the ‘Repertory of Arts and Sciences,’
+which father and son studied together.  But many of the most valuable
+works belonging to the Newcastle Library were not lent out; these Robert
+was instructed to read and study, and bring away with him descriptions
+and sketches for his father’s information.  His father also practised him
+in reading plans and drawings without reference to the written
+descriptions.  He used to observe that “A good plan should always explain
+itself;” and, placing a drawing of an engine or machine before the youth,
+would say, “There, now, describe that to me—the arrangement and the
+action.”  Thus he taught him to read a drawing as easily as he would read
+a page of a book.  Both father and son profited by this excellent
+practice, which enabled them to apprehend with the greatest facility the
+details of even the most difficult and complicated mechanical drawing.
+
+While Robert went on with his lessons in the evenings, his father was
+usually occupied with his watch and clock cleaning; or in contriving
+models of pumping-engines; or endeavouring to embody in a tangible shape
+the mechanical inventions which he found described in the odd volumes on
+Mechanics which fell in his way.  This daily and unceasing example of
+industry and application, in the person of a loving and beloved father,
+imprinted itself deeply upon the boy’s heart in characters never to be
+effaced.  A spirit of self-improvement was thus early and carefully
+planted and fostered in Robert’s mind, which continued to influence him
+through life; and to the close of his career, he was proud to confess
+that if his professional success had been great, it was mainly to the
+example and training of his father that he owed it.
+
+Robert was not, however, exclusively devoted to study, but, like most
+boys full of animal spirits, he was very fond of fun and play, and
+sometimes of mischief.  Dr. Bruce relates that an old Killingworth
+labourer, when asked by Robert, on one of his last visits to Newcastle,
+if he remembered him, replied with emotion, “Ay, indeed!  Haven’t I paid
+your head many a time when you came with your father’s bait, for you were
+always a sad hempy?”
+
+The author had the pleasure, in the year 1854, of accompanying Robert
+Stephenson on a visit to his old home and haunts at Killingworth.  He had
+so often travelled the road upon his donkey to and from school, that
+every foot of it was familiar to him; and each turn in it served to
+recall to mind some incident of his boyish days.  His eyes glistened when
+he came in sight of Killingworth pit-head.  Pointing to a humble
+red-tiled house by the road-side at Benton, he said, “You see that
+house—that was Rutter’s, where I learnt my A B C, and made a beginning of
+my school learning.  And there,” pointing to a colliery chimney on the
+left, “there is Long Benton, where my father put up his first
+pumping-engine; and a great success it was.  And this humble clay-floored
+cottage you see here, is where my grandfather lived till the close of his
+life.  Many a time have I ridden straight into the house, mounted on my
+cuddy, and called upon grandfather to admire his points.  I remember the
+old man feeling the animal all over—he was then quite blind—after which
+he would dilate upon the shape of his ears, fetlocks, and quarters, and
+usually end by pronouncing him to be a ‘real blood.’  I was a great
+favourite with the old man, who continued very fond of animals, and
+cheerful to the last; and I believe nothing gave him greater pleasure
+than a visit from me and my cuddy.”
+
+On the way from Benton to High Killingworth, Mr. Stephenson pointed to a
+corner of the road where he had once played a boyish trick upon a
+Killingworth collier.  “Straker,” said he, “was a great bully, a coarse,
+swearing fellow, and a perfect tyrant amongst the women and children.  He
+would go tearing into old Nanny the huxter’s shop in the village, and
+demand in a savage voice, ‘What’s ye’r best ham the pund?’  ‘What’s floor
+the hunder?’  ‘What d’ye ax for prime bacon?’—his questions often ending
+with the miserable order, accompanied with a tremendous oath, of ‘Gie’s a
+penny rrow (roll) an’ a baubee herrin!’  The poor woman was usually set
+‘all of a shake’ by a visit from this fellow.  He was also a great
+boaster, and used to crow over the robbers whom he had put to flight;
+mere men in buckram, as everybody knew.  We boys,” he continued,
+“believed him to be a great coward, and determined to play him a trick.
+Two other boys joined me in waylaying Straker one night at that corner,”
+pointing to it.  “We sprang out and called upon him, in as gruff voices
+as we could assume, to ‘stand and deliver!’  He dropped down upon his
+knees in the dirt, declaring he was a poor man, with a sma’ family,
+asking for ‘mercy,’ and imploring us, as ‘gentlemen, for God’s sake, t’
+let him a-be!’  We couldn’t stand this any longer, and set up a shout of
+laughter.  Recognizing our boys’ voices, he sprang to his feet and
+rattled out a volley of oaths; on which we cut through the hedge, and
+heard him shortly after swearing his way along the road to the
+yel-house.”
+
+On another occasion, Robert played a series of tricks of a somewhat
+different character.  Like his father, he was very fond of reducing his
+scientific reading to practice; and after studying Franklin’s description
+of the lightning experiment, he proceeded to expend his store of Saturday
+pennies in purchasing about half a mile of copper wire at a brazier’s
+shop in Newcastle.  Having prepared his kite, he sent it up in the field
+opposite his father’s door, and bringing the wire, insulated by means of
+a few feet of silk cord, over the backs of some of Farmer Wigham’s cows,
+he soon had them skipping about the field in all directions with their
+tails up.  One day he had his kite flying at the cottage-door as his
+father’s galloway was hanging by the bridle to the paling, waiting for
+the master to mount.  Bringing the end of the wire just over the pony’s
+crupper, so smart an electric shock was given it, that the brute was
+almost knocked down.  At this juncture the father issued from the door,
+riding-whip in hand, and was witness to the scientific trick just played
+off upon his galloway.  “Ah! you mischievous scoondrel!” cried he to the
+boy, who ran off.  He inwardly chuckled with pride, nevertheless, at
+Robert’s successful experiment. {57}
+
+                [Picture: Stephenson’s Cottage, West Moor]
+
+At this time, and for many years after, Stephenson dwelt in a cottage
+standing by the side of the road leading from the West Moor colliery to
+Killingworth.  The railway from the West Moor Pit crosses this road close
+by the east end of the cottage.  The dwelling originally consisted of but
+one apartment on the ground-floor, with the garret over-head, to which
+access was obtained by means of a step-ladder.  But with his own hands
+Stephenson built an oven, and in the course of time he added rooms to the
+cottage, until it became a comfortable four-roomed dwelling, in which he
+lived as long as he remained at Killingworth.
+
+He continued as fond of birds and animals as ever, and seemed to have the
+power of attaching them to him in a remarkable degree.  He had a
+blackbird at Killingworth so fond of him that it would fly about the
+cottage, and on holding out his finger, would come and perch upon it.  A
+cage was built for “blackie” in the partition between the passage and the
+room, a square of glass forming its outer wall; and Robert used
+afterwards to take pleasure in describing the oddity of the bird,
+imitating the manner in which it would cock its head on his father’s
+entering the house, and follow him with its eye into the inner apartment.
+
+Neighbours were accustomed to call at the cottage and have their clocks
+and watches set to rights when they went wrong.  One day, after looking
+at the works of a watch left by a pitman’s wife, George handed it to his
+son; “Put her in the oven, Robert,” said he, “for a quarter of an hour or
+so.”  It seemed an odd way of repairing a watch; nevertheless, the watch
+was put into the oven, and at the end of the appointed time it was taken
+out, going all right.  The wheels had merely got clogged by the oil
+congealed by the cold; which at once explains the rationale of the remedy
+adopted.
+
+There was a little garden attached to the cottage, in which, while a
+workman, Stephenson took a pride in growing gigantic leeks and astounding
+cabbages.  There was great competition amongst the villagers in the
+growth of vegetables, all of whom he excelled, excepting one of his
+neighbours, whose cabbages sometimes outshone his.  In the protection of
+his garden-crops from the ravages of the birds, he invented a strange
+sort of “fley-craw,” which moved its arms with the wind; and he fastened
+his garden-door by means of a piece of ingenious mechanism, so that no
+one but himself could enter it.  His cottage was quite a curiosity-shop
+of models of engines, self-acting planes, and perpetual-motion machines.
+The last-named contrivances, however, were only unsuccessful attempts to
+solve a problem which had effectually baffled hundreds of preceding
+inventors.  His odd and eccentric contrivances often excited great wonder
+amongst the Killingworth villagers.  He won the women’s admiration by
+connecting their cradles with the smoke-jack, and making them
+self-acting.  Then he astonished the pitmen by attaching an alarum to the
+clock of the watchman whose duty it was to call them betimes in the
+morning.  He also contrived a wonderful lamp which burned under water,
+with which he was afterwards wont to amuse the Brandling family at
+Gosforth,—going into the fish-pond at night, lamp in hand, attracting and
+catching the fish, which rushed wildly towards the flame.
+
+Dr. Bruce tells of a competition which Stephenson had with the joiner at
+Killingworth, as to which of them could make the best shoe-last; and when
+the former had done his work, either for the humour of the thing, or to
+secure fair play from the appointed judge, he took it to the Morrisons in
+Newcastle, and got them to put their stamp upon it.  So that it is
+possible the Killingworth brakesman, afterwards the inventor of the
+safety lamp and the originator of the railway system, and John Morrison,
+the last-maker, afterwards the translator of the Scriptures into the
+Chinese language, may have confronted each other in solemn contemplation
+over the successful last, which won the verdict coveted by its maker.
+
+Sometimes he would endeavour to impart to his fellow-workmen the results
+of his scientific reading.  Everything that he learnt from books was so
+new and so wonderful to him, that he regarded the facts he drew from them
+in the light of discoveries, as if they had been made but yesterday.
+Once he tried to explain to some of the pitmen how the earth was round,
+and kept turning round.  But his auditors flatly declared the thing to be
+impossible, as it was clear that “at the bottom side they must fall off!”
+“Ah!” said George, “you don’t quite understand it yet.”  His son Robert
+also early endeavoured to communicate to others the information which he
+had gathered at school; and Dr. Bruce has related that, when visiting
+Killingworth on one occasion, he found him engaged in teaching algebra to
+such of the pitmen’s boys as would become his pupils.
+
+                          [Picture: The Sundial]
+
+While Robert was still at school, his father proposed to him during the
+holidays that he should construct a sun-dial, to be placed over their
+cottage-door at West Moor.  “I expostulated with him at first,” said
+Robert, “that I had not learnt sufficient astronomy and mathematics to
+enable me to make the necessary calculations.  But he would have no
+denial.  ‘The thing is to be done,’ said he; ‘so just set about it at
+once.’  Well; we got a ‘Ferguson’s Astronomy,’ and studied the subject
+together.  Many a sore head I had while making the necessary calculations
+to adapt the dial to the latitude of Killingworth.  But at length it was
+fairly drawn out on paper, and then my father got a stone, and we hewed,
+and carved, and polished it, until we made a very respectable dial of it;
+and there it is, you see,” pointing to it over the cottage-door, “still
+quietly numbering the hours when the sun is shining.  I assure you, not a
+little was thought of that piece of work by the pitmen when it was put
+up, and began to tell its tale of time.”  The date carved upon the dial
+is “August 11th, MDCCCXVI.”  Both father and son were in after-life very
+proud of the joint production.  Many years after, George took a party of
+savans, when attending the meeting of the British Association at
+Newcastle, over to Killingworth to see the pits, and he did not fail to
+direct their attention to the sun-dial; and Robert, on the last visit
+which he made to the place, a short time before his death, took a friend
+into the cottage, and pointed out to him the very desk, still there, at
+which he had sat while making his calculations of the latitude of
+Killingworth.
+
+From the time of his appointment as engineer at the Killingworth Pit,
+George Stephenson was in a measure relieved from the daily routine of
+manual labour, having, as we have seen, advanced himself to the grade of
+a higher class workman.  But he had not ceased to be a worker, though he
+employed his industry in a different way.  It might, indeed, be inferred
+that he had now the command of greater leisure; but his spare hours were
+as much as ever given to work, either necessary or self-imposed.  So far
+as regarded his social position, he had already reached the summit of his
+ambition; and when he had got his hundred a year, and his dun galloway to
+ride on, he said he never wanted to be any higher.  When Robert Whetherly
+offered to give him an old gig, his travelling having so much increased
+of late, he accepted it with great reluctance, observing, that he should
+be ashamed to get into it, “people would think him so proud.”
+
+When the High Pit had been sunk, and the coal was ready for working,
+Stephenson erected his first winding-engine to draw the coals out of the
+pit, and also a pumping-engine for Long Benton Colliery, both of which
+proved quite successful.  Amongst other works of this time, he projected
+and laid down a self-acting incline along the declivity which fell
+towards the coal-loading place near Willington, where he had officiated
+as brakesman; and he so arranged it, that the full waggons descending
+drew the empty waggons up the railroad.  This was one of the first
+self-acting inclines laid down in the district.
+
+Stephenson had now much better opportunities than hitherto for improving
+himself in mechanics.  His familiar acquaintance with the steam-engine
+proved of great value to him.  His shrewd insight, and his intimate
+practical acquaintance with its mechanism, enabled him to apprehend, as
+if by intuition, its most abstruse and difficult combinations.  The
+practical study which he had given to it when a workman, and the patient
+manner in which he had groped his way through all the details of the
+machine, gave him the power of a master in dealing with it as applied to
+colliery purposes.
+
+Sir Thomas Liddell was frequently about the works, and took pleasure in
+giving every encouragement to the engine-wright in his efforts after
+improvement.  The subject of the locomotive engine was already closely
+occupying Stephenson’s attention; although it was still regarded as a
+curious and costly toy, of comparatively little real use.  But he had at
+an early period detected its practical value, and formed an adequate
+conception of the might which as yet slumbered within it; and he now bent
+his entire faculties to the development of its extraordinary powers.
+
+               [Picture: Colliers’ Cottages at Long Benton]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+EARLY HISTORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE—GEORGE STEPHENSON BEGINS ITS IMPROVEMENT.
+
+
+The rapid increase in the coal-trade of the Tyne about the beginning of
+the present century had the effect of stimulating the ingenuity of
+mechanics, and encouraging them to devise improved methods of
+transporting the coal from the pits to the shipping places.  From our
+introductory chapter, it will have been observed that the improvements
+which had thus far been effected were confined almost entirely to the
+road.  The railway waggons still continued to be drawn by horses.  By
+improving and flattening the tramway, considerable economy in horse-power
+had indeed been secured; but unless some more effective method of
+mechanical traction could be devised, it was clear that railway
+improvement had almost reached its limits.
+
+Many expedients had been tried with this object.  One of the earliest was
+that of hoisting sails upon the waggons, and driving them along the
+waggon-way, as a ship is driven through the water by the wind.  This
+method seems to have been employed by Sir Humphrey Mackworth, an
+ingenious coal-miner at Neath in Glamorganshire, about the end of the
+seventeenth century.
+
+After having been lost sight of for more than a century, the same plan of
+impelling carriages was revived by Richard Lovell Edgworth, with the
+addition of a portable railway, since revived also, in Boydell’s patent.
+But although Mr. Edgworth devoted himself to the subject for many years,
+he failed in securing the adoption of his sailing carriage.  It is indeed
+quite clear that a power so uncertain as wind could never be relied on
+for ordinary traffic, and Mr. Edgworth’s project was consequently left to
+repose in the limbo of the Patent Office, with thousands of other equally
+useless though ingenious contrivances.
+
+A much more favourite scheme was the application of steam power for the
+purpose of carriage traction.  Savery, the inventor of the working
+steam-engine, was the first to propose its employment to propel vehicles
+along the common roads; and in 1759 Dr. Robison, then a young man
+studying at Glasgow College, threw out the same idea to his friend James
+Watt; but the scheme was not matured.
+
+                        [Picture: Cugnot’s Engine]
+
+The first locomotive steam-carriage was built at Paris by the French
+engineer Cugnot, a native of Lorraine.  It is said to have been invented
+for the purpose of dragging cannon into the field independent of horses.
+The original model of this machine was made in 1763.  Count Saxe was so
+much pleased with it, that on his recommendation a full-sized engine was
+constructed at the cost of the French monarch; and in 1769 it was tried
+in the presence of the Duc de Choiseul, Minister of War, General
+Gribeauval, and other officers.  At one of the experiments it ran with
+such force as to knock down a wall in its way.  But the new vehicle,
+loaded with four persons, could not travel faster than two and a half
+miles an hour.  The boiler was insufficient in size, and it could only
+work for about fifteen minutes; after which it was necessary to wait
+until the steam had again risen to a sufficient pressure.  To remedy this
+defect, Cugnot constructed a new machine in 1770, the working of which
+was more satisfactory.  It was composed of two parts—the fore part
+consisting of a small steam-engine, formed of a round copper boiler, with
+a furnace inside, provided with two small chimneys and two single-acting
+brass steam cylinders, whose pistons acted alternately upon the single
+driving-wheel.  The hinder part consisted merely of a rude carriage on
+two wheels to carry the load, furnished with a seat in front for the
+conductor.  This engine was tried in the streets of Paris; but when
+passing near where the Madeleine now stands, it overbalanced itself on
+turning a corner, and fell over with a crash; after which, its employment
+being thought dangerous, it was locked up in the arsenal to prevent
+further mischief.  The machine is, however, still to be seen in the
+collection of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers at Paris.  It has
+very much the look of a long brewer’s cart, with the addition of the
+circular boiler hung on at one end.  Rough though it looks, it was a
+highly creditable piece of work, considering the period at which it was
+executed; and as the first actual machine constructed for the purpose of
+travelling on ordinary roads by the power of steam, it is certainly a
+most curious and interesting mechanical relic, well worthy of
+preservation.
+
+But though Cugnot’s road locomotive remained locked up from public sight,
+the subject was not dead; for we find inventors employing themselves from
+time to time in attempting to solve the problem of steam locomotion in
+places far remote from Paris.  The idea had taken root in the minds of
+inventors, and was striving to grow into a reality.  Thus Oliver Evans,
+the American, invented a steam carriage in 1772 to travel on common
+roads; in 1787 he obtained from the State of Maryland an exclusive right
+to make and use steam-carriages, but his invention never came into use.
+Then, in 1784, William Symington, one of the early inventors of the
+steamboat, was similarly occupied in Scotland in endeavouring to develop
+the latent powers of the steam-carriage.  He had a working model of one
+constructed, which he exhibited in 1786 to the professors of Edinburgh
+College; but the state of the Scotch roads was then so bad that he found
+it impracticable to proceed further with his scheme, which he shortly
+after abandoned in favour of steam navigation.
+
+                  [Picture: Section of Murdock’s Model]
+
+The same year in which Symington was occupied upon his steam-carriage,
+William Murdock, the friend and assistant of Watt, constructed his model
+of a locomotive at the opposite end of the island—at Redruth in Cornwall.
+His model was of small dimensions, standing little more than a foot high;
+and it was until recently in the possession of the son of the inventor,
+at whose house we saw it a few years ago.  The annexed section will give
+an idea of the arrangements of this machine.
+
+It acted on the high-pressure principle, and, like Cugnot’s engine, ran
+upon three wheels, the boiler being heated by a spirit-lamp.  Small
+though the machine was, it went so fast on one occasion that it fairly
+outran its inventor.  It seems that one night after returning from his
+duties at the Redruth mine, Murdock determined to try the working of his
+model locomotive.  For this purpose he had recourse to the walk leading
+to the church, about a mile from the town.  It was rather narrow, and was
+bounded on each side by high hedges.  The night was dark, and Murdock set
+out alone to try his experiment.  Having lit his lamp, the water boiled
+speedily, and off started the engine with the inventor after it.  He soon
+heard distant shouts of terror.  It was too dark to perceive objects; but
+he found, on following up the machine, that the cries proceeded from the
+worthy pastor of the parish, who, going towards the town, was met on this
+lonely road by the hissing and fiery little monster, which he
+subsequently declared he had taken to be the Evil One _in propriá
+personâ_.  No further steps were, however, taken by Murdock to embody his
+idea of a locomotive carriage in a more practical form.
+
+The idea was next taken up by Murdock’s pupil, Richard Trevithick, who
+resolved on building a steam-carriage adapted for common roads as well as
+railways.  He took out a patent to secure the right of his invention in
+1802.  Andrew Vivian, his cousin, joined with him in the patent—Vivian
+finding the money, and Trevithick the brains.  The steam-carriage built
+on this patent presented the appearance of an ordinary stage-coach on
+four wheels.  The engine had one horizontal cylinder, which, together
+with the boiler and the furnace-box, was placed in the rear of the hind
+axle.  The motion of the piston was transmitted to a separate crank-axle,
+from which, through the medium of spur-gear, the axle of the
+driving-wheel (which was mounted with a fly-wheel) derived its motion.
+The steam-cocks and the force-pump, as also the bellows used for the
+purpose of quickening combustion in the furnace, were worked off the same
+crank-axle.
+
+John Petherick, of Camborne, has related that he remembers this first
+English steam-coach passing along the principal street of his native
+town.  Considerable difficulty was experienced in keeping up the pressure
+of steam; but when there was pressure enough, Trevithick would call upon
+the people to “jump up,” so as to create a load upon the engine.  It was
+soon covered with men attracted by the novelty, nor did their number seem
+to make any difference in the speed of the engine so long as there was
+steam enough; but it was constantly running short, and the horizontal
+bellows failed to keep it up.
+
+This road-locomotive of Trevithick’s was one of the first high-pressure
+working engines constructed on the principle of moving a piston by the
+elasticity of steam against the pressure only of the atmosphere.  Such an
+engine had been described by Leopold, though in his apparatus it was
+proposed that the pressure should act only on one side of the piston.  In
+Trevithick’s engine the piston was not only raised, but was also
+depressed by the action of the steam, being in this respect an entirely
+original invention, and of great merit.  The steam was admitted from the
+boiler under the piston moving in a cylinder, impelling it upward.  When
+the motion had reached its limit, the communication between the piston
+and the under side was shut off, and the steam allowed to escape into the
+atmosphere.  A passage being then opened between the boiler and the upper
+side of the piston, which was pressed downwards, the steam was again
+allowed to escape as before.  Thus the power of the engine was equal to
+the difference between the pressure of the atmosphere and the elasticity
+of the steam in the boiler.
+
+This steam-carriage excited considerable interest in the remote district
+near the Land’s End where it had been erected.  Being so far removed from
+the great movements and enterprise of the commercial world, Trevithick
+and Vivian determined upon exhibiting their machine in the metropolis.
+They accordingly set out with it to Plymouth, whence it was conveyed by
+sea to London.
+
+The carriage safely reached the metropolis, and excited much public
+interest.  It also attracted the notice of scientific men, amongst others
+of Mr. Davies Gilbert, President of the Royal Society, and Sir Humphry
+Davy, both Cornishmen like Trevithick, who went to see the private
+performances of the engine, and were greatly pleased with it.  Writing to
+a Cornish friend shortly after its arrival in town, Sir Humphry said: “I
+shall soon hope to hear that the roads of England are the haunts of
+Captain Trevithick’s dragons—a characteristic name.”  The machine was
+afterwards publicly exhibited in an enclosed piece of ground near Euston
+Square, where the London and North-Western Station now stands, and it
+dragged behind it a wheel-carriage full of passengers.  On the second day
+of the performance, crowds flocked to see it; but Trevithick, in one of
+his odd freaks, shut up the place, and shortly after removed the engine.
+It is, however, probable that the inventor came to the conclusion that
+the state of the roads at that time was such as to preclude its coming
+into general use for purposes of ordinary traffic.
+
+While the steam-carriage was being exhibited, a gentleman was laying
+heavy wagers as to the weight which could be hauled by a single horse on
+the Wandsworth and Croydon iron tramway; and the number and weight of
+waggons drawn by the horse were something surprising.  Trevithick very
+probably put the two things together—the steam-horse and the iron-way—and
+kept the performance in mind when he proceeded to construct his second or
+railway locomotive.  The idea was not, however, entirely new to him; for,
+although his first engine had been constructed with a view to its
+employment upon common roads, the specification of his patent distinctly
+alludes to the application of his engine to travelling on railroads.
+Having been employed at the iron-works of Pen-y-darran, in South Wales,
+to erect a forge engine for the Company, a convenient opportunity
+presented itself, on the completion of this work, for carrying out his
+design of a locomotive to haul the minerals along the Pen-y-darran
+tramway.  Such an engine was erected by him in 1803, in the blacksmiths’
+shop at the Company’s works, and it was finished and ready for trial
+before the end of the year.
+
+The boiler of this second engine was cylindrical in form, flat at the
+ends, and made of wrought iron.  The furnace and flue were inside the
+boiler, within which the single cylinder, eight inches in diameter and
+four feet six inches stroke, was placed horizontally.  As in the first
+engine, the motion of the wheels was produced by spur gear, to which was
+also added a fly-wheel on one side, to secure a rotatory motion in the
+crank at the end of each stroke of the piston in the single cylinder.
+The waste steam was thrown into the chimney through a tube inserted into
+it at right angles; but it will be obvious that this arrangement was not
+calculated to produce any result in the way of a steam-blast in the
+chimney.  In fact, the waste steam seems to have been turned into the
+chimney in order to get rid of the nuisance caused by throwing the jet
+directly into the air.  Trevithick was here hovering on the verge of a
+great discovery; but that he was not aware of the action of the blast in
+contributing to increase the draught and thus quicken combustion, is
+clear from the fact that he employed bellows for this special purpose;
+and at a much later date (1815) he took out a patent which included a
+method of urging the fire by means of fanners. {70}
+
+            [Picture: Trevithick’s High Pressure Tram-Engine]
+
+At the first trial of this engine it succeeded in dragging after it
+several waggons, containing ten tons of bar-iron, at the rate of about
+five miles an hour.  Rees Jones, who worked at the fitting of the engine,
+and remembers its performances, says, “She was used for bringing down
+metal from the furnaces to the Old Forge.  She worked very well; but
+frequently, from her weight, broke the tram-plates and the hooks between
+the trams.  After working for some time in this way, she took a load of
+iron from Pen-y-darran down the Basin-road, upon which road she was
+intended to work.  On the journey she broke a great many of the
+tram-plates, and before reaching the basin ran off the road, and had to
+be brought back to Pen-y-darran by horses.  The engine was never after
+used as a locomotive.” {71}
+
+It seems to have been felt that unless the road were entirely
+reconstructed so as to bear the heavy weight of the locomotive—so much
+greater than that of the tram-waggons, to carry which the original rails
+had been laid down—the regular employment of Trevithick’s high-pressure
+tram-engine was altogether impracticable; and as the owners of the works
+were not prepared to incur so serious a cost, it was determined to take
+the locomotive off the road, and employ it as an engine for other
+purposes.  It was accordingly dismounted, and used for some time after as
+a pumping-engine, for which purpose it was found well adapted.
+Trevithick himself seems from this time to have taken no further steps to
+bring the locomotive into general use.  We find him, shortly after,
+engaged upon schemes of a more promising character, abandoning the engine
+to other mechanical inventors, though little improvement was made in it
+for several years.  An imaginary difficulty seems to have tended, amongst
+other obstacles, to prevent its adoption; viz., the idea that, if a heavy
+weight were placed behind the engine, the “grip” or “bite” of its smooth
+wheels upon the equally smooth iron rail, must necessarily be so slight
+that they would whirl round upon it, and, consequently, that the machine
+would not make progress.  Hence Trevithick, in his patent, provided that
+the periphery of the driving-wheels should be made rough by the
+projection of bolts or cross-grooves, so that the adhesion of the wheels
+to the road might be secured.
+
+Following up the presumed necessity for a more effectual adhesion between
+the wheels and the rails, Mr. Blenkinsop of Leeds, in 1811, took out a
+patent for a racked or tooth-rail laid along one side of the road, into
+which the toothed-wheel of his locomotive worked as pinions work into a
+rack.  The boiler of his engine was supported by a carriage with four
+wheels without teeth, and rested immediately upon the axles.  These
+wheels were entirely independent of the working parts of the engine, and
+therefore merely supported its weight upon the rails, the progress being
+effected by means of the cogged-wheel working into the cogged-rail.  The
+engine had two cylinders, instead of one as in Trevithick’s engine.  The
+invention of the double cylinder was due to Matthew Murray, of Leeds, one
+of the best mechanical engineers of his time; Mr. Blenkinsop, who was not
+a mechanic, having consulted him as to all the practical arrangements.
+The connecting-rods gave the motion to two pinions by cranks at right
+angles to each other; these pinions communicating the motion to the wheel
+which worked into the cogged-rail.
+
+Mr. Blenkinsop’s engines began running on the railway from the Middleton
+Collieries to Leeds, about 3½ miles, on the 12th of August, 1812.  They
+continued for many years to be one of the principal curiosities of the
+place, and were visited by strangers from all parts.  In 1816, the Grand
+Duke Nicholas (afterwards Emperor) of Russia observed the working of
+Blenkinsop’s locomotive with curious interest and admiration.  An engine
+dragged as many as thirty coal-waggons at a speed of about 3¼ miles per
+hour.  These engines continued for many years to be thus employed in the
+haulage of coal, and furnished the first instance of the regular
+employment of locomotive power for commercial purposes.
+
+The Messrs. Chapman, of Newcastle, in 1812, endeavoured to overcome the
+same fictitious difficulty of the want of adhesion between the wheel and
+the rail, by patenting a locomotive to work along the road by means of a
+chain stretched from one end of it to the other.  This chain was passed
+once round a grooved barrel-wheel under the centre of the engine: so
+that, when the wheel turned, the locomotive, as it were, dragged itself
+along the railway.  An engine, constructed after this plan, was tried on
+the Heaton Railway, near Newcastle; but it was so clumsy in its action,
+there was so great a loss of power by friction, and it was found to be so
+expensive and difficult to keep in repair, that it was soon abandoned.
+Another remarkable expedient was adopted by Mr. Brunton, of the Butterley
+Works, Derbyshire, who, in 1813, patented his Mechanical Traveller, to go
+_upon legs_ working alternately like those of a horse. {73}  But this
+engine never got beyond the experimental state, for, at its very first
+trial, the driver, to make sure of a good start, overloaded the
+safety-valve, when the boiler burst and killed a number of the
+bystanders, wounding many more.  These, and other contrivances with the
+same object, projected about the same time, show that invention was
+actively at work, and that many minds were anxiously labouring to solve
+the important problem of locomotive traction upon railways.
+
+But the difficulties contended with by these early inventors, and the
+step-by-step progress which they made, will probably be best illustrated
+by the experiments conducted by Mr. Blackett, of Wylam, which are all the
+more worthy of notice, as the persevering efforts of this gentleman in a
+great measure paved the way for the labours of George Stephenson, who,
+shortly after, took up the question of steam locomotion, and brought it
+to a successful issue.
+
+The Wylam waggon-way is one of the oldest in the north of England.  Down
+to the year 1807 it was formed of wooden spars or rails, laid down
+between the colliery at Wylam—where old Robert Stephenson had worked—and
+the village of Lemington, some four miles down the Tyne, where the coals
+were loaded into keels or barges, and floated down past Newcastle, to be
+shipped for London.  Each chaldron-waggon had a man in charge of it, and
+was originally drawn by one horse.  The rate at which the waggons were
+hauled was so slow that only two journeys were performed by each man and
+horse in one day, and three on the day following.  This primitive
+waggon-way passed, as before stated, close in front of the cottage in
+which George Stephenson was born; and one of the earliest sights which
+met his infant eyes was this wooden tramroad worked by horses.
+
+Mr. Blackett was the first colliery owner in the North who took an active
+interest in the locomotive.  Having formed the acquaintance of Trevithick
+in London, and inspected the performances of his engine, he determined to
+repeat the Pen-y-darran experiment upon the Wylam waggon-way.  He
+accordingly obtained from Trevithick, in October, 1804, a plan of his
+engine, provided with “friction-wheels,” and employed Mr. John Whinfield,
+of Pipewellgate, Gateshead, to construct it at his foundry there.  The
+engine was constructed under the superintendence of one John Steele, an
+ingenious mechanic who had been in Wales, and worked under Trevithick in
+fitting the engine at Pen-y-darran.  When the Gateshead locomotive was
+finished, a temporary way was laid down in the works, on which it was run
+backwards and forwards many times.  For some reason, however—it is said
+because the engine was deemed too light for drawing the coal-trains—it
+never left the works, but was dismounted from the wheels, and set to blow
+the cupola of the foundry, in which service it long continued to be
+employed.
+
+Several years elapsed before Mr. Blackett took any further steps to carry
+out his idea.  The final abandonment of Trevithick’s locomotive at
+Pen-y-darran perhaps contributed to deter him from proceeding further;
+but he had the wooden tramway taken up in 1808, and a plate-way of
+cast-iron laid down instead—a single line furnished with sidings to
+enable the laden waggons to pass the empty ones.  The new iron road
+proved so much smoother than the old wooden one, that a single horse,
+instead of drawing one, was now enabled to draw two, or even three, laden
+waggons.
+
+Encouraged by the success of Mr. Blenkinsop’s experiment at Leeds, Mr.
+Blackett determined to follow his example; and in 1812 he ordered a
+second engine, to work with a toothed driving-wheel upon a rack-rail.
+This locomotive was constructed by Thomas Waters, of Gateshead, under the
+superintendence of Jonathan Foster, Mr. Blackett’s principal
+engine-wright.  It was a combination of Trevithick’s and Blenkinsop’s
+engines; but it was of a more awkward construction than either.  The
+boiler was of cast-iron.  The engine was provided with a single cylinder
+six inches in diameter, with a fly-wheel working at one side to carry the
+crank over the dead points.  Jonathan Foster described it to the author
+in 1854, as “a strange machine, with lots of pumps, cog-wheels, and
+plugs, requiring constant attention while at work.”  The weight of the
+whole was about six tons.
+
+When finished, it was conveyed to Wylam on a waggon, and there mounted
+upon a wooden frame supported by four pairs of wheels, which had been
+constructed for its reception.  A barrel of water, placed on another
+frame upon wheels, was attached to it as a tender.  After a great deal of
+labour, the cumbrous machine was got upon the road.  At first it would
+not move an inch.  Its maker, Tommy Waters, became impatient, and at
+length enraged, and taking hold of the lever of the safety valve,
+declared in his desperation, that “either _she_ or _he_ should go.”  At
+length the machinery was set in motion, on which, as Jonathan Foster
+described to the author “she flew all to pieces, and it was the biggest
+wonder i’ the world that we were not all blewn up.”  The incompetent and
+useless engine was declared to be a failure; it was shortly after
+dismounted and sold; and Mr. Blackett’s praiseworthy efforts thus far
+proved in vain.
+
+He was still, however, desirous of testing the practicability of
+employing locomotive power in working the coal down to Lemington, and he
+determined on another trial.  He accordingly directed his engine-wright
+to proceed with the building of a third engine in the Wylam workshops.
+This new locomotive had a single 8-inch cylinder, was provided with a
+fly-wheel like its predecessor, and the driving-wheel was cogged on one
+side to enable it to travel in the rack-rail laid along the road.  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.  It was also very apt to get off the rack-rail, and
+then it stood still.  The driver was one day asked how he got on?  “Get
+on?” said he, “we don’t get on; we only get off!”  On such occasions,
+horses had to be sent to drag the waggons as before, and others to haul
+the engine back to the work-shops.  It was constantly getting out of
+order; its plugs, pumps, or cranks, got wrong; it was under repair as
+often as at work; at length it became so cranky that the horses were
+usually sent out after it to drag it when it gave up; and the workmen
+generally declared it to be a “perfect plague.”  Mr. Blackett did not
+obtain credit amongst his neighbours for these experiments.  Many laughed
+at his machines, regarding them only in the light of
+crotchets,—frequently quoting the proverb that “a fool and his money are
+soon parted.”  Others regarded them as absurd innovations on the
+established method of hauling coal; and pronounced that they would “never
+answer.”
+
+Notwithstanding, however, the comparative failure of this second
+locomotive, Mr. Blackett persevered with his experiments.  He was
+zealously assisted by Jonathan Foster the engine-wright, and William
+Hedley, the viewer of the colliery, a highly ingenious person, who proved
+of great use in carrying out the experiments to a successful issue.  One
+of the chief causes of failure being the rack-rail, the idea occurred to
+Mr. Hedley that it might be possible to secure adhesion enough between
+the wheel and the rail by the mere weight of the engine, and he proceeded
+to make a series of experiments for the purpose of determining this
+problem.  He had a frame placed on four wheels, and fitted up with
+windlasses attached by gearing to the several wheels.  The frame having
+been properly weighted, six men were set to work the windlasses; when it
+was found that the adhesion of the smooth wheels on the smooth rails was
+quite sufficient to enable them to propel the machine without slipping.
+Having found the proportion which the power bore to the weight, he
+demonstrated by successive experiments that the weight of the engine
+would of itself produce sufficient adhesion to enable it to draw upon a
+smooth railroad the requisite number of waggons in all kinds of weather.
+And thus was the fallacy which had heretofore prevailed on this subject
+completely exploded, and it was satisfactorily proved that rack-rails,
+toothed wheels, endless chains, and legs, were alike unnecessary for the
+efficient traction of loaded waggons upon a moderately level road.
+
+From this time forward considerably less difficulty was experienced in
+working the coal trains upon the Wylam tramroad.  At length the rack-rail
+was dispensed with.  The road was laid with heavier rails; the working of
+the old engine was improved; and a new engine was shortly after built and
+placed upon the road, still on eight wheels, driven by seven rack-wheels
+working inside them—with a wrought-iron boiler through which the flue was
+returned so as largely to increase the heating surface, and thus give
+increased power to the engine.
+
+                     [Picture: Improved Wylam Engine]
+
+As may readily be imagined, the jets of steam from the piston, blowing
+off into the air at high pressure while the engine was in motion, caused
+considerable annoyance to horses passing along the Wylam road, at that
+time a public highway.  The nuisance was felt to be almost intolerable,
+and a neighbouring gentleman threatened to have it put down.  To diminish
+the noise as much as possible, Mr. Blackett gave orders that so soon as
+any horse, or horses, came in sight, the locomotive was to be stopped,
+and the frightful blast of the engine thus suspended until the passing
+animals had got out of hearing.  Much interruption was thus caused to the
+working of the railway, and it excited considerable dissatisfaction
+amongst the workmen.  The following plan was adopted to abate the
+nuisance: a reservoir was provided immediately behind the chimney (as
+shown in the preceding cut) into which the waste steam was thrown after
+it had performed its office in the cylinder; and from this reservoir, the
+steam gradually escaped into the atmosphere without noise.
+
+While Mr. Blackett was thus experimenting and building locomotives at
+Wylam, George Stephenson was anxiously studying the same subject at
+Killingworth.  He was no sooner appointed engine-wright of the collieries
+than his attention was directed to the means of more economically hauling
+the coal from the pits to the river-side.  We have seen that one of the
+first important improvements which he made, after being placed in charge
+of the colliery machinery, was to apply the surplus power of a pumping
+steam-engine, fixed underground, to drawing the coals out of the deeper
+workings of the Killingworth mines,—by which he succeeded in effecting a
+large reduction in the expenditure on manual and horse labour.
+
+The coals, when brought above ground, had next to be laboriously dragged
+by horses to the shipping staiths on the Tyne, several miles distant.
+The adoption of a tramroad, it is true, had tended to facilitate their
+transit.  Nevertheless the haulage was both tedious and costly.  With the
+view of economising labour, Stephenson laid down inclined planes where
+the nature of the ground would admit of this expedient.  Thus, a train of
+full waggons let down the incline by means of a rope running over wheels
+laid along the tramroad, the other end of which was attached to a train
+of empty waggons placed at the bottom of the parallel road on the same
+incline, dragged them up by the simple power of gravity.  But this
+applied only to a comparatively small part of the road.  An economical
+method of working the coal trains, instead of by horses,—the keep of
+which was at that time very costly, from the high price of corn,—was
+still a great desideratum; and the best practical minds in the collieries
+were actively engaged in the attempt to solve the problem.
+
+In the first place Stephenson resolved to make himself thoroughly
+acquainted with what had already been done.  Mr. Blackett’s engines were
+working daily at Wylam, past the cottage where he had been born; and
+thither he frequently went to inspect the improvements made by Mr.
+Blackett from time to time both in the locomotive and in the plateway
+along which it worked.  Jonathan Foster informed us that, after one of
+these visits, Stephenson declared to him his conviction that a much more
+effective engine might be made, that should work more steadily and draw
+the load more effectively.
+
+He had also the advantage, about the same time, of seeing one of
+Blenkinsop’s Leeds engines, which was placed on the tramway leading from
+the collieries of Kenton and Coxlodge, on the 2nd September, 1813.  This
+locomotive drew sixteen chaldron waggons containing an aggregate weight
+of seventy tons, at the rate of about three miles an hour.  George
+Stephenson and several of the Killingworth men were amongst the crowd of
+spectators that day; and after examining the engine and observing its
+performances, he observed to his companions, that “he thought he could
+make a better engine than that, to go upon legs.”  Probably he had heard
+of the invention of Brunton, whose patent had by this time been
+published, and proved the subject of much curious speculation in the
+colliery districts.  Certain it is, that, shortly after the inspection of
+the Coxlodge engine, he contemplated the construction of a new
+locomotive, which was to surpass all that had preceded it.  He observed
+that those engines which had been constructed up to this time, however
+ingenious in their arrangements, had proved practical failures.  Mr.
+Blackett’s was as yet both clumsy and expensive.  Chapman’s had been
+removed from the Heaton tramway in 1812, and was regarded as a total
+failure.  And the Blenkinsop engine at Coxlodge was found very unsteady
+and costly in its working; besides, it pulled the rails to pieces, the
+entire strain being upon the rack-rail on one side of the road.  The
+boiler, however, having soon after blown up, there was an end of that
+engine; and the colliery owners did not feel encouraged to try any
+further experiment.
+
+An efficient and economical working locomotive, therefore, still remained
+to be invented; and to accomplish this object Mr. Stephenson now applied
+himself.  Profiting by what his predecessors had done, warned by their
+failures and encouraged by their partial successes, he commenced his
+labours.  There was still wanting the man who should accomplish for the
+locomotive what James Watt had done for the steam-engine, and combine in
+a complete form the best points in the separate plans of others,
+embodying with them such original inventions and adaptations of his own
+as to entitle him to the merit of inventing the working locomotive, in
+the same manner as James Watt is to be regarded as the inventor of the
+working condensing-engine.  This was the great work upon which George
+Stephenson now entered, though probably without any adequate idea of the
+ultimate importance of his labours to society and civilization.
+
+He proceeded to bring the subject of constructing a “Travelling Engine,”
+as he then denominated the locomotive, under the notice of the lessees of
+the Killingworth Colliery, in the year 1813.  Lord Ravensworth, the
+principal partner, had already formed a very favourable opinion of the
+new engine-wright, from the improvements which he had effected in the
+colliery engines, both above and below ground; and, after considering the
+matter, and hearing Stephenson’s explanations, he authorised him to
+proceed with the construction of a locomotive,—though his lordship was,
+by some, called a fool for advancing money for such a purpose.  “The
+first locomotive that I made,” said Stephenson, many years after, {82}
+when speaking of his early career at a public meeting in Newcastle, “was
+at Killingworth Colliery, and with Lord Ravensworth’s money.  Yes; Lord
+Ravensworth and partners were the first to entrust me, thirty-two years
+since, with money to make a locomotive engine.  I said to my friends,
+there was no limit to the speed of such an engine, if the works could be
+made to stand.”
+
+Our engine-wright had, however, many obstacles to encounter before he
+could get fairly to work with the erection of his locomotive.  His chief
+difficulty was in finding workmen sufficiently skilled in mechanics, and
+in the use of tools, to follow his instructions and embody his designs in
+a practical shape.  The tools then in use about the collieries were rude
+and clumsy; and there were no such facilities as now exist for turning
+out machinery of an entirely new character.  Stephenson was under the
+necessity of working with such men and tools as were at his command; and
+he had in a great measure to train and instruct the workmen himself.  The
+engine was built in the workshops at the West Moor, the leading mechanic
+employed being the colliery blacksmith, an excellent workman in his way,
+though quite new to the work now entrusted to him.
+
+In this first locomotive constructed at Killingworth, Stephenson to some
+extent followed the plan of Blenkinsop’s engine.  The boiler was
+cylindrical, of wrought iron, 8 feet in length and 34 inches in diameter,
+with an internal flue-tube 20 inches wide passing through it.  The engine
+had two vertical cylinders of 8 inches diameter, and 2 feet stroke, let
+into the boiler, working the propelling gear with cross heads and
+connecting rods.  The power of the two cylinders was combined by means of
+spurwheels, which communicated the motive power to the wheels supporting
+the engine on the rail, instead of, as in Blenkinsop’s engine, to
+cogwheels which acted on the cogged rail independent of the four
+supporting wheels.  The engine thus worked upon what is termed the second
+motion.  The chimney was of wrought iron, round which was a chamber
+extending back to the feed-pumps, for the purpose of heating the water
+previous to its injection into the boiler.  The engine had no springs,
+and was mounted on a wooden frame supported on four wheels.  In order to
+neutralise as much as possible the jolts and shocks which such an engine
+would necessarily encounter from the obstacles and inequalities of the
+then very imperfect plateway, the water-barrel which served for a tender
+was fixed to the end of a lever and weighted, the other end of the lever
+being connected with the frame of the locomotive carriage.  By this means
+the weight of the two was more equally distributed, though the
+contrivance did not by any means compensate for the absence of springs.
+
+                         [Picture: The Spur-gear]
+
+The wheels of the locomotive were all smooth, Mr. Stephenson having
+satisfied himself by experiment that the adhesion between the wheels of a
+loaded engine and the rail would be sufficient for the purpose of
+traction.  Robert Stephenson informed us that his father caused a number
+of workmen to mount upon the wheels of a waggon moderately loaded, and
+throw their entire weight upon the spokes on one side, when he found that
+the waggon could thus be easily propelled forward without the wheels
+slipping.  This, together with other experiments, satisfied him of the
+expediency of adopting smooth wheels on his engine, and it was so
+finished accordingly.
+
+The engine was, after much labour and anxiety, and frequent alterations
+of parts, at length brought to completion, having been about ten months
+in hand.  It was placed upon the Killingworth Railway on the 25th July,
+1814; and its powers were tried on the same day.  On an ascending
+gradient of 1 in 450, the engine succeeded in drawing after it eight
+loaded carriages of thirty tons’ weight at about four miles an hour; and
+for some time after it continued regularly at work.
+
+Although a considerable advance upon previous locomotives, “Blutcher” (as
+the engine was popularly called) was nevertheless a somewhat cumbrous and
+clumsy machine.  The parts were huddled together.  The boiler constituted
+the principal feature; and being the foundation of the other parts, it
+was made to do duty not only as a generator of steam, but also as a basis
+for the fixings of the machinery and for the bearings of the wheels and
+axles.  The want of springs was seriously felt; and the progress of the
+engine was a succession of jolts, causing considerable derangement to the
+machinery.  The mode of communicating the motive power to the wheels by
+means of the spur-gear also caused frequent jerks, each cylinder
+alternately propelling or becoming propelled by the other, as the
+pressure of the one upon the wheels became greater or less than the
+pressure of the other; and when the teeth of the cogwheels became at all
+worn, a rattling noise was produced during the travelling of the engine.
+
+As the principal test of the success of the locomotive was its economy as
+compared with horse power, careful calculations were made with the view
+of ascertaining this important point.  The result was, that it was found
+the working of the engine was at first barely economical; and at the end
+of the year the steam power and the horse power were ascertained to be as
+nearly as possible upon a par in point of cost.  The fate of the
+locomotive in a great measure depended on this very engine.  Its speed
+was not beyond that of a horse’s walk, and the heating surface presented
+to the fire being comparatively small, sufficient steam could not be
+raised to enable it to accomplish more on an average than about four
+miles an hour.  The result was anything but decisive; and the locomotive
+might have been condemned as useless, had not our engineer at this
+juncture applied the steam-blast, and by its means carried his experiment
+to a triumphant issue.
+
+The steam, after performing its duty in the cylinders, was at first
+allowed to escape into the open atmosphere with a hissing blast, to the
+terror of horses and cattle.  It was complained of as a nuisance; and an
+action at law against the colliery lessees was threatened unless it was
+stopped.  Stephenson’s attention had been drawn to the much greater
+velocity with which the steam issued from the exit pipe compared with
+that at which the smoke escaped from the chimney.  He conceived that, by
+conveying the eduction steam into the chimney, by means of a small pipe,
+after it had performed its office in the cylinders, allowing it to escape
+in a vertical direction, its velocity would be imparted to the smoke from
+the fire, or to the ascending current of air in the chimney, thereby
+increasing the draft, and consequently the intensity of combustion in the
+furnace.
+
+The experiment was no sooner made than the power of the engine was at
+once more than doubled; combustion was stimulated by the blast;
+consequently the capability of the boiler to generate steam was greatly
+increased, and the effective power of the engine augmented in precisely
+the same proportion, without in any way adding to its weight.  This
+simple but beautiful expedient was really fraught with the most important
+consequences to railway communication; and it is not too much to say that
+the success of the locomotive has in a great measure been the result of
+its adoption.  Without the steam-blast, by means of which the intensity
+of combustion is maintained at its highest point, producing a
+correspondingly rapid evolution of steam, high rates of speed could not
+have been kept up; the advantages of the multi-tubular boiler (afterwards
+invented) could never have been fairly tested; and locomotives might
+still have been dragging themselves unwieldily along at little more than
+five or six miles an hour.
+
+The steam-blast had scarcely been adopted, with so decided a success,
+when Stephenson, observing the numerous defects in his engine, and
+profiting by the experience which he had already acquired, determined to
+construct a second engine, in which to embody his improvements in their
+best form.  Careful and cautious observation of the working of his
+locomotive had convinced him that the complication arising out of the
+action of the two cylinders being combined by spur-wheels would prevent
+its coming into practical use.  He accordingly directed his attention to
+an entire change in the construction and mechanical arrangements of the
+machine; and in the following year, conjointly with Mr. Dodds, who
+provided the necessary funds, he took out a patent, dated the 28th of
+February, 1815, for an engine which combined in a remarkable degree the
+essential requisites of an economical locomotive; that is to say, few
+parts, simplicity in their action, and directness in the mode by which
+the power was communicated to the wheels supporting the engine.
+
+This locomotive, like the first, had two vertical cylinders, which
+communicated _directly_ with each pair of the four wheels that supported
+the engine, by means of a cross head and a pair of connecting rods.  But
+in attempting to establish a direct communication between the cylinders
+and the wheels that rolled upon the rails, considerable difficulties
+presented themselves.  The ordinary joints could not be employed to unite
+the parts of the engine, which was a rigid mass, with the wheels lolling
+upon the irregular surface of the rails; for it was evident that the two
+rails of the line of way—more especially in those early days of imperfect
+construction of the permanent road—could not always be maintained at the
+same level,—that the wheel at one end of the axle might be depressed into
+one part of the line which had subsided, whilst the other wheel would be
+comparatively elevated; and in such a position of the axle and wheels, it
+was obvious that a rigid communication between the cross head and the
+wheels was impracticable.  Hence it became necessary to form a joint at
+the top of the piston-rod where it united with the cross head, so as to
+permit the cross head to preserve complete parallelism with the axle of
+the wheels with which it was in communication.
+
+In order to obtain that degree of flexibility combined with direct
+action, which was essential for ensuring power and avoiding needless
+friction and jars from irregularities in the road, Stephenson made use of
+the “ball and socket” joint for effecting a union between the ends of the
+cross heads where they united with the connecting rods, and between the
+ends of the connecting rods where they were united with the crank-pins
+attached to each driving-wheel.  By this arrangement the parallelism
+between the cross head and the axle was at all times maintained and
+preserved, without producing any serious jar or friction on any part of
+the machine.  Another important point was, to combine each pair of wheels
+by means of some simple mechanism instead of by the cogwheels which had
+formerly been used.  And, with this object, Stephenson made cranks in
+each axle at right angles to each other, with rods communicating
+horizontally between them.
+
+A locomotive was constructed upon this plan in 1815, and was found to
+answer extremely well.  But at that period the mechanical skill of the
+country was not equal to forging cranked axles of the soundness and
+strength necessary to stand the jars incident to locomotive work.
+Stephenson was accordingly compelled to fall back upon a substitute,
+which, although less simple and efficient, was within the mechanical
+capabilities of the workmen of that day, in respect of construction as
+well as repair.  He adopted a chain which rolled over indented wheels
+placed on the centre of each axle, and was so arranged that the two pairs
+of wheels were effectually coupled and made to keep pace with each other.
+The chain, however, after a few years’ use, became stretched; and then
+the engines were liable to irregularity in their working, especially in
+changing from working back to working forward again.  Eventually the
+chain was laid aside, and the front and hind wheels were united by rods
+on the outside, instead of by rods and crank axles inside, as specified
+in the original patent.  This expedient completely answered the purpose
+required, without involving any expensive or difficult workmanship.
+
+Thus, in 1815, by dint of patient and persevering labour,—by careful
+observation of the works of others, and never neglecting to avail himself
+of their suggestions,—Stephenson succeeded in manufacturing an engine
+which included the following important improvements on all previous
+attempts in the same direction:—viz., simple and direct communication
+between the cylinders and the wheels rolling upon the rails; joint
+adhesion of all the wheels, attained by the use of horizontal
+connecting-rods; and finally, a beautiful method of exciting the
+combustion of the fuel by employing the waste steam, which had formerly
+been allowed to escape uselessly into the air.  Although many
+improvements in detail were afterwards introduced in the locomotive by
+George Stephenson himself, as well as by his equally distinguished son,
+it is perhaps not too much to say that this engine, as a mechanical
+contrivance, contained the germ of all that has since been effected.  It
+may in fact be regarded as the type of the present locomotive engine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+INVENTION OF THE “GEORDY” SAFETY-LAMP.
+
+
+Explosions of fire-damp were unusually frequent in the coal mines of
+Northumberland and Durham about the time when George Stephenson was
+engaged in the construction of his first locomotives.  These explosions
+were often attended with fearful loss of life and dreadful suffering to
+the workpeople.  Killingworth Colliery was not free from such deplorable
+calamities; and during the time that Stephenson was employed as a
+brakesman at the West Moor, several “blasts” took place in the pit, by
+which many workmen were scorched and killed, and the owners of the
+colliery sustained heavy losses.  One of the most serious of these
+accidents occurred in 1806, not long after he had been appointed
+brakesman, by which 10 persons were killed.  Stephenson was working at
+the mouth of the pit at the time, and the circumstances connected with
+the accident made a deep impression on his mind.
+
+Another explosion took place in the same pit in 1809, by which 12 persons
+lost their lives.  The blast did not reach the shaft as in the former
+case; the unfortunate persons in the pit having been suffocated by the
+after-damp.  More calamitous still were the explosions which took place
+in the neighbouring collieries; one of the worst being that of 1812, in
+the Felling Pit, near Gateshead, by which no fewer than 90 men and boys
+were suffocated or burnt to death.  And a similar accident occurred in
+the same pit in the year following, by which 22 persons perished.
+
+It was natural that George Stephenson should devote his attention to the
+causes of these deplorable accidents, and to the means by which they
+might if possible be prevented.  His daily occupation led him to think
+much and deeply on the subject.  As engine-wright of a colliery so
+extensive as that of Killingworth, where there were nearly 160 miles of
+gallery excavation, in which he personally superintended the working of
+the inclined planes along which the coals were sent to the pit entrance,
+he was necessarily very often underground, and brought face to face with
+the dangers of fire-damp.  From fissures in the roofs of the galleries,
+carburetted hydrogen gas was constantly flowing; in some of the more
+dangerous places it might be heard escaping from the crevices of the coal
+with a hissing noise.  Ventilation, firing, and all conceivable modes of
+drawing out the foul air had been adopted, and the more dangerous parts
+of the galleries were built up.  Still the danger could not be wholly
+prevented.  The miners must necessarily guide their steps through the
+extensive underground ways with lighted lamps or candles, the naked flame
+of which, coming in contact with the inflammable air, daily exposed them
+and their fellow-workers in the pit to the risk of death in one of its
+most dreadful forms.
+
+One day, in 1814, a workman hurried into Stephenson’s cottage with the
+startling information that the deepest main of the colliery was on fire!
+He immediately hastened to the pit-head, about a hundred yards off,
+whither the women and children of the colliery were running, with
+wildness and terror depicted in every face.  In a commanding voice
+Stephenson ordered the engineman to lower him down the shaft in the
+corve.  There was peril, it might be death, before him, but he must go.
+
+He was soon at the bottom, and in the midst of the men, who were
+paralysed by the danger which threatened the lives of all in the pit.
+Leaping from the corve on its touching the ground, he called out; “Are
+there six men among you who have courage to follow me?  If so, come, and
+we will put the fire out.”  The Killingworth pitmen had the most perfect
+confidence in their engine-wright, and they readily volunteered to follow
+him.
+
+                    [Picture: The Pit Head, West Moor]
+
+Silence succeeded the frantic tumult of the previous minute, and the men
+set to work with a will.  In every mine, bricks, mortar, and tools enough
+are at hand, and by Stephenson’s direction the materials were forthwith
+carried to the required spot, where, in a very short time a wall was
+raised at the entrance to the main, he himself taking the most active
+part in the work.  The atmospheric air was by this means excluded, the
+fire was extinguished, the people were saved from death, and the mine was
+preserved.
+
+This anecdote of Stephenson was related to the writer, near the
+pit-mouth, by one of the men who had been present and helped to build up
+the brick wall by which the fire was stayed, though several workmen were
+suffocated.  He related that, when down the pit some days after, seeking
+out the dead bodies, the cause of the accident was the subject of
+conversation, and Stephenson was asked, “Can nothing be done to prevent
+such awful occurrences?”  His reply was that he thought something might
+be done.  “Then,” said the other, “the sooner you start the better; for
+the price of coal-mining now is _pitmen’s lives_.”
+
+Fifty years since, many of the best pits were so full of the inflammable
+gas given forth by the coal, that they could not be worked without the
+greatest danger; and for this reason some were altogether abandoned, The
+rudest possible methods were adopted of producing light sufficient to
+enable the pitmen to work by.  The phosphorescence of decayed fish-skins
+was tried; but this, though safe, was very inefficient.  The most common
+method employed was what was called a steel mill, the notched wheel of
+which, being made to revolve against a flint, struck a succession of
+sparks, which scarcely served to do more than make the darkness visible.
+A boy carried the apparatus after the miner, working the wheel, and by
+the imperfect light thus given forth he plied his dangerous trade.
+Candles were only used in those parts of the pit where gas was not
+abundant.  Under this rude system not more than one-third of the coal
+could be worked; and two-thirds were left.
+
+What the workmen, not less than the coal-owners, eagerly desired was, a
+lamp that should give forth sufficient light, without communicating flame
+to the inflammable gas which accumulated in certain parts of the pit.
+Something had already been attempted towards the invention of such a lamp
+by Dr. Clanny, of Sunderland, who, in 1813, contrived an apparatus to
+which he gave air from the mine through water, by means of bellows.  This
+lamp went out of itself in inflammable gas.  It was found, however, too
+unwieldy to be used by the miners for the purposes of their work, and did
+not come into general use.  A committee of gentlemen was formed to
+investigate the causes of the explosions, and to devise, if possible,
+some means of preventing them.  At the invitation of that Committee, Sir
+Humphry Davy, then in the full zenith of his reputation, was requested to
+turn his attention to the subject.  He accordingly visited the collieries
+near Newcastle on the 24th of August, 1815; and on the 9th of November
+following, he read before the Royal Society of London his celebrated
+paper “On the Fire-Damp of Coal Mines, and on Methods of lighting the
+Mine so as to prevent its explosion.”
+
+But a humbler though not less diligent and original thinker had been at
+work before him, and had already practically solved the problem of the
+Safety-Lamp.  Stephenson was of course well aware of the anxiety which
+prevailed in the colliery districts as to the invention of a lamp which
+should give light enough for the miners to work by without exploding the
+fire-damp.  The painful incidents above described only served to quicken
+his eagerness to master the difficulty.
+
+For several years he had been engaged, in his own rude way, in making
+experiments with the fire-damp in the Killingworth mine.  The pitmen used
+to expostulate with him on these occasions, believing his experiments to
+be fraught with danger.  One of the sinkers, observing him holding up
+lighted candles to the windward of the “blower” or fissure from which the
+inflammable gas escaped, entreated him to desist; but Stephenson’s answer
+was, that “he was busy with a plan by which he hoped to make his
+experiments useful for preserving men’s lives.”  On these occasions the
+miners usually got out of the way before he lit the gas.
+
+In 1815, although he was very much occupied with the business of the
+collieries and the improvement of his locomotive engine, he was also
+busily engaged in making experiments upon inflammable gas in the
+Killingworth pit.  According to the explanation afterwards given by him,
+he imagined that if he could construct a lamp with a chimney so arranged
+as to cause a strong current, it would not fire at the top of the
+chimney; as the burnt air would ascend with such a velocity as to prevent
+the inflammable air of the pit from descending towards the flame; and
+such a lamp, he thought, might be taken into a dangerous atmosphere
+without risk of exploding.
+
+Such was Stephenson’s theory when he proceeded to embody his idea of a
+miner’s safety-lamp in a practical form.  In the month of August, 1815,
+he requested his friend Nicholas Wood, the head viewer, to prepare a
+drawing of a lamp according to the description which he gave him.  After
+several evenings’ careful deliberations, the drawing was made, and shown
+to several of the head men about the works.
+
+Stephenson proceeded to order a lamp to be made by a Newcastle tinman,
+according to his plan; and at the same time he directed a glass to be
+made for the lamp at the Northumberland Glass House.  Both were received
+by him from the makers on the 21st October, and the lamp was taken to
+Killingworth for the purpose of immediate experiment.
+
+“I remember that evening as distinctly as if it had been but yesterday,”
+said Robert Stephenson, describing the circumstances to the author in
+1857: “Moodie came to our cottage about dusk, and asked, ‘if father had
+got back yet with the lamp?’  ‘No.’  ‘Then I’ll wait till he comes,’ said
+Moodie, ‘he can’t be long now.’  In about half-an-hour, in came my
+father, his face all radiant.  He had the lamp with him!  It was at once
+uncovered, and shown to Moodie.  Then it was filled with oil, trimmed,
+and lighted.  All was ready, only the head viewer hadn’t arrived.  ‘Run
+over to Benton for Nichol, Robert,’ said my father to me, ‘and ask him to
+come directly; say we’re going down the pit to try the lamp.’  By this
+time it was quite dark; and off I ran to bring Nicholas Wood.  His house
+was at Benton, about a mile off.  There was a short cut through the
+Churchyard, but just as I was about to pass the wicket, I saw what I
+thought was a white figure moving about amongst the grave-stones.  I took
+it for a ghost!  My heart fluttered, and I was in a great fright, but to
+Wood’s house I must get, so I made the circuit of the Churchyard; and
+when I got round to the other side I looked, and lo! the figure was still
+there.  But what do you think it was?  Only the grave-digger, plying his
+work at that late hour by the light of his lanthorn set upon one of the
+gravestones!  I found Wood at home, and in a few minutes he was mounted
+and off to my father’s.  When I got back, I was told they had just
+left—it was then about eleven—and gone down the shaft to try the lamp in
+one of the most dangerous parts of the mine.”
+
+Arrived at the bottom of the shaft with the lamp, the party directed
+their steps towards one of the foulest galleries in the pit, where the
+explosive gas was issuing through a blower in the roof of the mine with a
+loud hissing noise.  By erecting some deal boarding round that part of
+the gallery into which the gas was escaping, the air was made more foul
+for the purpose of the experiment.  After waiting about an hour, Moodie,
+whose practical experience of fire-damp in pits was greater than that of
+either Stephenson or Wood, was requested to go into the place which had
+thus been made foul; and, having done so, he returned, and told them that
+the smell of the air was such, that if a lighted candle were now
+introduced, an explosion must inevitably take place.  He cautioned
+Stephenson as to the danger both to themselves and to the pit, if the gas
+took fire.  But Stephenson declared his confidence in the safety of his
+lamp, and, having lit the wick, he boldly proceeded with it towards the
+explosive air.  The others, more timid and doubtful, hung back when they
+came within hearing of the blower; and apprehensive of the danger, they
+retired into a safe place, out of sight of the lamp, which gradually
+disappeared with its bearer in the recesses of the mine. {95}
+
+Advancing to the place of danger, and entering within the fouled air, his
+lighted lamp in hand, Stephenson held it finally out, in the full current
+of the blower, and within a few inches of its mouth.  Thus exposed, the
+flame of the lamp at first increased, then flickered, and then went out;
+but there was no explosion of the gas.  Returning to his companions, who
+were still at a distance, he told them what had occurred.  Having now
+acquired somewhat more confidence, they advanced with him to a point from
+which they could observe him repeat his experiment, but still at a safe
+distance.  They saw that when the lighted lamp was held within the
+explosive mixture, there was a great flame; the lamp became almost full
+of fire; and then it smothered out.  Again returning to his companions,
+he relighted the lamp, and repeated the experiment several times with the
+same result.  At length Wood and Moodie ventured to advance close to the
+fouled part of the pit; and, in making some of the later trials, Mr. Wood
+himself held up the lighted lamp to the blower.
+
+Before leaving the pit, Stephenson expressed his opinion that by an
+alteration of the lamp which he then contemplated, he could make it burn
+better; this was by a change in the slide through which the air was
+admitted into the lower part, under the flame.  After making some
+experiments on the air collected at the blower, by bladders which were
+mounted with tubes of various diameters, he satisfied himself that, when
+the tube was reduced to a certain diameter, the foul air would not pass
+through; and he fashioned his slide accordingly, reducing the diameter of
+the tube until he conceived it was quite safe.  In about a fortnight the
+experiments were repeated, in a place purposely made foul as before; on
+this occasion a larger number of persons ventured to witness them, and
+they again proved successful.  The lamp was not yet, however, so
+efficient as the inventor desired.  It required, he observed, to be kept
+very steady when burning in the inflammable gas, otherwise it was liable
+to go out, in consequence, as he imagined, of the contact of the burnt
+air (as he then called it), or azotic gas, which lodged round the
+exterior of the flame.  If the lamp was moved horizontally, the azote
+came in contact with the flame and extinguished it.  “It struck me,” said
+he, “that if I put more tubes in, I should discharge the poisonous matter
+that hung round the flame, by admitting the air to its exterior part.”
+Although he had then no access to scientific books, nor intercourse with
+scientific men, nor anything that could assist him in his investigation,
+besides his own indefatigable spirit of inquiry, he contrived a rude
+apparatus by which he tested the explosive properties of the gas and the
+velocity of current (for this was the direction of his inquiries)
+necessary to enable the explosive gas to pass through tubes of different
+diameters.  In making these experiments in his humble cottage at the West
+Moor, Nicholas Wood and George’s son Robert usually acted as his
+assistants, and sometimes the gentlemen of the neighbourhood interested
+in coal-mining attended as spectators.
+
+These experiments were not performed without risk, for on one occasion
+the experimenting party had nearly blown off the roof of the cottage.
+One of these “blows up” was described by Stephenson himself before the
+Committee on Accidents in Coal Mines, in 1835: “I made several
+experiments,” said he, “as to the velocity required in tubes of different
+diameters, to prevent explosion from fire-damp.  We made the mixtures in
+all proportions of light carburetted hydrogen with atmospheric air in the
+receiver, and we found by the experiments that when a current of the most
+explosive mixture that we could make was forced up a tube 4/10 of an inch
+in diameter, the necessary current was 9 inches in a second to prevent
+its coming down that tube.  These experiments were repeated several
+times.  We had two or three blows up in making the experiments, by the
+flame getting down into the receiver, though we had a piece of very fine
+wire-gauze put at the bottom of the pipe, between the receiver and the
+pipe through which we were forcing the current.  In one of these
+experiments I was watching the flame in the tube, my son was taking the
+vibrations of the pendulum of the clock, and Mr. Wood was attending to
+give me the column of water as I called for it, to keep the current up to
+a certain point.  As I saw the flame descending in the tube I called for
+more water, and Wood unfortunately turned the cock the wrong way, the
+current ceased, the flame went down the tube, and all our implements were
+blown to pieces, which at the time we were not very able to replace.”
+
+Stephenson followed up those experiments by others of a similar kind,
+with the view of ascertaining whether ordinary flame would pass through
+tubes of a small diameter and with this object he filed off the barrels
+of several small keys.  Placing these together, he held them
+perpendicularly over a strong flame, and ascertained that it did not pass
+upward.  This was a further proof to him of the soundness of the course
+he was pursuing.
+
+In order to correct the defect of his first lamp he resolved to alter it
+so as to admit the air to the flame by several tubes of reduced diameter,
+instead of by a single tube.  He inferred that a sufficient quantity of
+air would thus be introduced into the lamp for the purposes of
+combustion, while the smallness of the apertures would still prevent the
+explosive gas passing downwards, at the same time that the “burnt air”
+(the cause, in his opinion, of the lamp going out) would be more
+effectually dislodged.  He accordingly took the lamp to a tinman in
+Newcastle, and had it altered so that the air was admitted by three small
+tubes inserted in the bottom of the lamp, the openings of which were
+placed on the outside of the burner, instead of having (as in the
+original lamp) the one tube opening directly under the flame.
+
+This second or altered lamp was tried in the Killingworth pit on the 4th
+November, and was found to burn better than the first, and to be
+perfectly safe.  But as it did not yet come quite up to the inventor’s
+expectations, he proceeded to contrive a third lamp, in which he proposed
+to surround the oil vessel with a number of capillary tubes.  Then it
+struck him, that if he cut off the middle of the tubes, or made holes in
+metal plates, placed at a distance from each other, equal to the length
+of the tubes, the air would get in better, and the effect in preventing
+explosion would be the same.
+
+He was encouraged to persevere in the completion of his safety-lamp by
+the occurrence of several fatal accidents about this time in the
+Killingworth pit.  On the 9th November a boy was killed by a blast in the
+_A_ pit, at the very place where Stephenson had made the experiments with
+his first lamp; and, when told of the accident, he observed that if the
+boy had been provided with his lamp, his life would have been saved.  On
+the 20th November he went over to Newcastle to order his third lamp from
+a plumber in that town.  The plumber referred him to his clerk, whom
+Stephenson invited to join him at a neighbouring public-house, where they
+might quietly talk over the matter, and finally settle the plan of the
+new lamp.  They adjourned to the “Newcastle Arms,” near the present High
+Level Bridge, where they had some ale, and a design of the lamp was drawn
+in pencil upon a half-sheet of foolscap, with a rough specification
+subjoined.  The sketch, when shown to us by Robert Stephenson some years
+since, still bore the marks of the ale.  It was a very rude design, but
+sufficient to work from.  It was immediately placed in the hands of the
+workmen, finished in the course of a few days, and experimentally tested
+in the Killingworth pit like the previous lamps, on the 30th November.
+At that time neither Stephenson nor Wood had heard of Sir Humphry Davy’s
+experiments nor of the lamp which that gentleman proposed to construct.
+
+An angry controversy afterwards took place as to the respective merits of
+George Stephenson and Sir Humphry Davy in respect of the invention of the
+safety-lamp.  A committee was formed on both sides, and the facts were
+stated in various ways.  It is perfectly clear, however, that Stephenson
+had ascertained _the fact_ that flame will not pass through tubes of a
+certain diameter—the principle on which the safety-lamp is
+constructed—before Sir Humphry Davy had formed any definite idea on the
+subject, or invented the model lamp afterwards exhibited by him before
+the Royal Society.  Stephenson had actually constructed a lamp on such a
+principle, and proved its safety, before Sir Humphry had communicated his
+views on the subject to any person; and by the time that the first public
+intimation had been given of his discovery, Stephenson’s second lamp had
+been constructed and tested in like manner in the Killingworth pit.  The
+_first_ was tried on the 21st October, 1815; the _second_ was tried on
+the 4th November; but it was not until the 9th November that Sir Humphry
+Davy presented his first lamp to the public.  And by the 30th of the same
+month, as we have seen, Stephenson had constructed and tested his _third_
+safety-lamp.
+
+             [Picture: Davy’s and Stephenson’s Safety Lamps]
+
+Stephenson’s theory of the “burnt air” and the “draught” was no doubt
+wrong; but his lamp was right, and that was the great fact which mainly
+concerned him.  Torricelli did not know the rationale of his tube, nor
+Otto Gürike that of his air-pump; yet no one thinks of denying them the
+merit of their inventions on that account.  The discoveries of Volta and
+Galvani were in like manner independent of theory; the greatest
+discoveries consisting in bringing to light certain grand facts, on which
+theories are afterwards framed.  Our inventor had been pursuing the
+Baconian method, though he did not think of that, but of inventing a safe
+lamp, which he knew could only be done through the process of repeated
+experiment.  He experimented upon the fire-damp at the blowers in the
+mine, and also by means of the apparatus which was blown up in his
+cottage, as above described by himself.  By experiment he distinctly
+ascertained that the explosion of fire-damp could not pass through small
+tubes; and he also did what had not before been done by any inventor—he
+constructed a lamp on this principle, and repeatedly proved its safety at
+the risk of his life.  At the same time, there is no doubt that it was to
+Sir Humphry Davy that the merit belonged of having pointed out the true
+law on which the safety-lamp is constructed.
+
+The subject of this important invention excited so much interest in the
+northern mining districts, and Stephenson’s numerous friends considered
+his lamp so completely successful—having stood the test of repeated
+experiments—that they urged him to bring his invention before the
+Philosophical and Literary Society of Newcastle, of whose apparatus he
+had availed himself in the course of his experiments on fire-damp.  After
+much persuasion he consented, and a meeting was appointed for the purpose
+of receiving his explanations, on the evening of the 5th December, 1815.
+Stephenson was at that time so diffident in manner and unpractised in
+speech, that he took with him his friend Nicholas Wood, to act as his
+interpreter and expositor on the occasion.  From eighty to a hundred of
+the most intelligent members of the society were present at the meeting,
+when Mr. Wood stood forward to expound the principles on which the lamp
+had been formed, and to describe the details of its construction.
+Several questions were put, to which Mr. Wood proceeded to give replies
+to the best of his knowledge.  But Stephenson, who up to that time had
+stood behind Wood, screened from notice, observing that the explanations
+given were not quite correct, could no longer control his reserve, and,
+standing forward, he proceeded in his strong Northumbrian dialect, to
+describe the lamp, down to its minutest details.  He then produced
+several bladders full of carburetted hydrogen, which he had collected
+from the blowers in the Killingworth mine, and proved the safety of his
+lamp by numerous experiments with the gas, repeated in various ways; his
+earnest and impressive manner exciting in the minds of his auditors the
+liveliest interest both in the inventor and his invention.
+
+Shortly after, Sir H. Davy’s model lamp was received and exhibited to the
+coal-miners at Newcastle, on which occasion the observation was made by
+several gentlemen, “Why, it is the same as Stephenson’s!”
+
+Notwithstanding Stephenson’s claim to be regarded as the first inventor
+of the Tube Safety-lamp, his merits do not seem to have been generally
+recognised; and Sir Humphry Davy carried off the larger share of the
+_éclat_ which attached to the discovery.  What chance had the unknown
+workman of Killingworth with so distinguished a competitor?  The one was
+as yet but a colliery engine-wright, scarce raised above the
+manual-labour class, pursuing his experiments in obscurity, with a view
+only to usefulness; the other was the scientific prodigy of his day, the
+most brilliant of lecturers, and the most popular of philosophers.
+
+No small indignation was expressed by the friends of Sir Humphry Davy at
+Stephenson’s “presumption” in laying claim to the invention of the
+safety-lamp.  In 1831 Dr. Paris, in his ‘Life of Sir Humphry Davy,’ thus
+wrote:—“It will hereafter be scarcely believed that an invention so
+eminently scientific, and which could never have been derived but from
+the sterling treasury of science, should have been claimed on behalf of
+an engine-wright of Killingworth, of the name of Stephenson—a person not
+even possessing a knowledge of the elements of chemistry.”
+
+But Stephenson was far above claiming for himself any invention not his
+own.  He had already accomplished a far greater feat than the making of a
+safety-lamp—he had constructed a successful locomotive, which was to be
+seen in daily work on the Killingworth railway.  By the improvements he
+had made in the engine, he might almost be said to have _invented_ it;
+but no one—not even the philosophers—detected the significance of that
+wonderful machine.  What railways were to become, rested in a great
+measure with that “engine-wright of Killingworth, of the name of
+Stephenson,” though he was scarcely known as yet beyond the bounds of his
+own district.
+
+As to the value of the invention of the safety-lamp there could be no
+doubt; and the colliery owners of Durham and Northumberland, to testify
+their sense of its importance, determined to present a testimonial to its
+inventor.  The friends of Sir H. Davy met in August, 1816, to take steps
+for raising a subscription for the purpose.  The advertised object of the
+meeting was to present him with a reward for “the invention of _his_
+safety-lamp.”  To this no objection could be taken; for though the
+principle on which the safety-lamps of Stephenson and Davy were
+constructed was the same; and although Stephenson’s lamp was,
+unquestionably, the first successful lamp that had been constructed on
+such principle, and proved to be efficient,—yet Sir H. Davy did invent a
+safety-lamp, no doubt quite independent of all that Stephenson had done;
+and having directed his careful attention to the subject, and elucidated
+the true theory of explosion of carburetted hydrogen, he was entitled to
+all praise and reward for his labours.  But when the meeting of
+coal-owners proposed to raise a subscription for the purpose of
+presenting Sir H. Davy with a reward for “his invention of _the_
+safety-lamp,” the case was entirely altered; and Stephenson’s friends
+then proceeded to assert his claims to be regarded as its first inventor.
+
+Many meetings took place on the subject, and much discussion ensued, the
+result of which was that a sum of £2000 was presented to Sir Humphry Davy
+as “the inventor of the safety-lamp;” but, at the same time, a purse of
+100 guineas was voted to George Stephenson, in consideration of what he
+had done in the same direction.  This result was, however very
+unsatisfactory to Stephenson, as well as to his friends, and Mr.
+Brandling, of Gosforth, suggested to him that, the subject being now
+fairly before the public, he should publish a statement of the facts on
+which his claim was founded.
+
+This was not at all in George’s line.  He had never appeared in print;
+and it seemed to him a more formidable thing to write a letter for “the
+papers” than to invent a safety-lamp or design a locomotive.  However, he
+called to his aid his son Robert, set him down before a sheet of
+foolscap, and told him to “put down there just what I tell you.”  The
+composition of this letter, as we were informed by the writer of it,
+occupied more evenings than one; and when it was at length finished,
+after many corrections, and fairly copied out, the father and son set
+out—the latter dressed in his Sunday’s round jacket—to lay the joint
+production before Mr. Brandling, at Gosforth House.  Glancing over the
+letter, Mr. Brandling said, “George, this will never do.”  “It is all
+true, sir,” was the reply.  “That may be; but it is badly written.”
+Robert blushed, for he thought the penmanship was called in question, and
+he had written his best.  Mr. Brandling, however, revised the letter,
+which was shortly after published in the local journals.
+
+Stephenson’s friends, fully satisfied of his claims to priority as the
+inventor of the safety-lamp used in the Killingworth and other
+collieries, held a public meeting for the purpose of presenting him with
+a reward “for the valuable service he had thus rendered to mankind.”  A
+subscription was immediately commenced with this object, and a committee
+was formed, consisting of the Earl of Strathmore, C. J. Brandling, and
+others.  The subscriptions, when collected, amounted to £1000.  Part of
+the money was devoted to the purchase of a silver tankard, which was
+presented to the inventor, together with the balance of the subscription,
+at a public dinner given in the Assembly Rooms at Newcastle. {105}  But
+what gave Stephenson even greater pleasure than the silver tankard and
+purse of sovereigns was the gift of a silver watch, purchased by small
+subscriptions amongst the colliers themselves, and presented by them as a
+token of their personal esteem and regard for him, as well as of their
+gratitude for the perseverance and skill with which he had prosecuted his
+valuable and lifesaving invention to a successful issue.
+
+However great the merits of Stephenson in connexion with the invention of
+the tube safety-lamp, they cannot be regarded as detracting from the
+reputation of Sir Humphry Davy.  His inquiries into the explosive
+properties of carburetted hydrogen gas were quite original; and his
+discovery of the fact that explosion will not pass through tubes of a
+certain diameter was made independently of all that Stephenson had done
+in verification of the same fact.  It even appears that Mr. Smithson
+Tennant and Dr. Wollaston had observed the same fact several years
+before, though neither Stephenson nor Davy knew it while they were
+prosecuting their experiments.  Sir Humphry Davy’s subsequent
+modification of the tube-lamp, by which, while diminishing the diameter,
+he in the same ratio shortened the tubes without danger, and in the form
+of wire-gauze enveloped the safety-lamp by a multiplicity of tubes, was a
+beautiful application of the true theory which he had formed upon the
+subject.
+
+The increased number of accidents which have occurred from explosions in
+coal-mines since the general introduction of the Davy lamp, have led to
+considerable doubts as to its safety, and to inquiries as to the means by
+which it may be further improved; for experience has shown that, under
+certain circumstances, the Davy lamp is _not_ safe.  Stephenson was
+himself of opinion that the modification of his own and Sir Humphry
+Davy’s lamp, combining the glass cylinder with the wire-gauze, was the
+most secure; at the same time it must be admitted that the Davy and the
+Geordy lamps alike failed to stand the severe tests to which they were
+submitted by Dr. Pereira, before the Committee on Accidents in Mines.
+Indeed, Dr. Pereira did not hesitate to say, that when exposed to a
+current of explosive gas the Davy lamp is “decidedly unsafe,” and that
+the experiments by which its safety had been “demonstrated” in the
+lecture-room had proved entirely “fallacious.”
+
+It is worthy of remark, that under circumstances in which the wire-gauze
+of the Davy lamp becomes red-hot from the high explosiveness of the gas,
+the Geordy lamp is extinguished; and we cannot but think that this fact
+testifies to the decidedly superior safety of the Geordy.  An accident
+occurred in the Oaks colliery Pit at Barnsley, on the 20th August, 1857,
+which strikingly exemplified the respective qualities of the lamps.  A
+sudden outburst of gas took place from the floor of the mine, along a
+distance of fifty yards.  Fortunately the men working in the pit at the
+time were all supplied with safety-lamps—the hewers with Stephenson’s,
+and the hurriers with Davy’s.  Upon this occasion, the whole of the
+Stephenson’s lamps, over a space of five hundred yards, were extinguished
+almost instantaneously; whereas the Davy lamps were filled with fire, and
+became red-hot—so much so, that several of the men using them had their
+hands burnt by the gauze.  Had a strong current of air been blowing
+through the gallery at the time, an explosion would most probably have
+taken place—an accident which, it will be observed, could not, under such
+circumstances, occur from the use of the Geordy, which is immediately
+extinguished as soon as the air becomes explosive. {107}
+
+Nicholas Wood, a good judge, has said of the two inventions, “Priority
+has been claimed for each of them—I believe the inventions to be
+parallel.  By different roads they both arrived at the same result.
+Stephenson’s is the superior lamp.  Davy’s is safe—Stephenson’s is
+safer.”
+
+When the question of priority was under discussion at the studio of Mr.
+Lough, the sculptor, in 1857, Sir Matthew White Ridley asked Robert
+Stephenson, who was present, for his opinion on the subject.  His answer
+was, “I am not exactly the person to give an unbiassed opinion; but, as
+you ask me frankly, I will as frankly say, that if George Stephenson had
+never lived, Sir Humphry Davy could and most probably would have invented
+the safety-lamp; but again, if Sir Humphry Davy had never lived, George
+Stephenson certainly would have invented the safety-lamp, as I believe he
+did, independent of all that Sir Humphry Davy had ever done in the
+matter.”
+
+                  [Picture: West Moor Pit, Killingworth]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+GEORGE STEPHENSON’S FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN THE LOCOMOTIVE—THE HETTON
+RAILWAY—ROBERT STEPHENSON AS VIEWER’S APPRENTICE AND STUDENT.
+
+
+Stephenson’s experiments on fire-damp, and his labours in connexion with
+the invention of the safety-lamp, occupied but a small portion of his
+time, which was necessarily devoted for the most part to the ordinary
+business of the colliery.  From the day of his appointment as
+engine-wright, one of the subjects which particularly occupied his
+attention was the best practical method of winning and raising the coal.
+He was one of the first to introduce steam machinery underground with the
+latter object.  Indeed, the Killingworth mines came to be regarded as the
+models of the district; the working arrangements generally being
+conducted in a skilful and efficient manner, reflecting the highest
+credit on the colliery engineer.
+
+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.  He even went so far as to say
+that the locomotive would yet supersede every other traction-power for
+drawing heavy loads.  Many still regarded his travelling engine as little
+better than a curious toy; and some, shaking their heads, predicted for
+it “a terrible blow-up some day.”  Nevertheless, it was daily performing
+its work with regularity, dragging the coal-waggons between the colliery
+and the staiths, and saving the labour of many men and horses.  There was
+not, however, so marked a saving in haulage as to induce the colliery
+masters to adopt locomotive power generally as a substitute for horses.
+How it could be improved and rendered more efficient as well as
+economical, was constantly present to Stephenson’s mind.
+
+At an early period of his labours, or about the time when he had
+completed his second locomotive, he began to direct his particular
+attention to the state of the Road; as he perceived that the extended use
+of the locomotive must necessarily depend in a great measure upon the
+perfection, solidity, continuity, and smoothness of the way along which
+the engine travelled.  Even at that early period, he was in the habit of
+regarding the road and the locomotive as one machine, speaking of the
+rail and the wheel as “man and wife.”
+
+All railways were at that time laid in a careless and loose manner, and
+great inequalities of level were allowed to occur without much attention
+being paid to repairs.  The consequence was a great loss of power, as
+well as much tear and wear of the machinery, by the frequent jolts and
+blows of the wheels against the rails.  His first object therefore was,
+to remove the inequalities produced by the imperfect junction between
+rail and rail.  At that time, (in 1816) the rails were made of cast iron,
+each rail being about three feet long; and sufficient care was not taken
+to maintain the points of junction on the same level.  The chairs, or
+cast-iron pedestals into which the rails were inserted, were flat at the
+bottom; so that, whenever any disturbance took place in the stone blocks
+or sleepers supporting them, the flat base of the chair upon which the
+rails rested being tilted by unequal subsidence, the end of one rail
+became depressed, whilst that of the other was elevated.  Hence constant
+jolts and shocks, the reaction of which very often caused the fracture of
+the rails, and occasionally threw the engine off the road.
+
+To remedy this imperfection Mr. Stephenson devised a new chair, with an
+entirely new mode of fixing the rails therein.  Instead of adopting the
+_butt-joint_ which had hitherto been used in all cast-iron rails, he
+adopted the _half-lap joint_, by which means the rails extended a certain
+distance over each other at the ends, like a scarf-joint.  These ends,
+instead of resting upon the flat chair, were made to rest upon the apex
+of a curve forming the bottom of the chair.  The supports were also
+extended from three feet to three feet nine inches or four feet apart.
+These rails were accordingly substituted for the old cast-iron plates on
+the Killingworth Colliery Railway, and they were found to be a very great
+improvement upon the previous system, adding both to the efficiency of
+the horse-power, still employed in working the railway, and to the smooth
+action of the locomotive engine, but more particularly increasing the
+efficiency of the latter.
+
+                        [Picture: Half-lap Joint]
+
+This improved form of rail and chair was embodied in a patent taken out
+in the joint names of Mr. Losh, of Newcastle, iron-founder, and of Mr.
+Stephenson, bearing date 30th September, 1816.  Mr. Losh being a wealthy,
+enterprising iron-manufacturer, and having confidence in George
+Stephenson and his improvements, found the money for the purpose of
+taking out the patent, which, in those days, was a very costly as well as
+troublesome affair.
+
+The specification of the same patent also described various important
+improvements in the locomotive itself.  The wheels of the engine were
+improved, being altered from cast to malleable iron, in whole or in part,
+by which they were made lighter as well as more durable and safe.  But
+the most ingenious and original contrivance embodied in this patent was
+the substitute for springs which Mr. Stephenson invented.  He contrived
+that the steam generated in the boiler should perform this important
+office.  The method by which this was effected displayed such genuine
+mechanical genius, that we would particularly call attention to the
+device, which was the more remarkable, as it was contrived long before
+the possibility of steam locomotion had become an object of general
+inquiry or of public interest.
+
+It has already been observed that up to, and indeed after, the period of
+which we speak, there was no such class of skilled mechanics, nor were
+there any such machines and tools in use, as are now available to
+inventors and manufacturers.  Although skilled workmen were in course of
+gradual training in a few of the larger manufacturing towns, they did
+not, at the date of Stephenson’s patent, exist in any considerable
+numbers, nor was there then any class of mechanics capable of
+constructing springs of sufficient strength and elasticity to support
+locomotive engines of ten tons weight.
+
+In order to avoid the dangers arising from the inequalities of the road,
+Stephenson so arranged the boiler of his new patent locomotive that it
+was supported upon the frame of the engine by four cylinders, which
+opened into the interior of the boiler.  These cylinders were occupied by
+pistons with rods, which passed downwards and pressed upon the upper side
+of the axles.  The cylinders opening into the interior of the boiler,
+allowed the pressure of steam to be applied to the upper side of the
+piston; and the pressure being nearly equivalent to one-fourth of the
+weight of the engine, each axle, whatever might be its position, had at
+all times nearly the same amount of weight to bear, and consequently the
+entire weight was pretty equally distributed amongst the four wheels of
+the locomotive.  Thus the four floating pistons were ingeniously made to
+serve the purpose of springs in equalising the weight, and in softening
+the jerks of the machine; the weight of which, it must also be observed,
+had been increased, on a road originally calculated to bear a
+considerably lighter description of carriage.  This mode of supporting
+the engine remained in use until the progress of spring-making had so far
+advanced that steel springs could be manufactured of sufficient strength
+to bear the weight of locomotive engines.
+
+           [Picture: Old Killingworth Locomotive, still in use]
+
+The result of the actual working of the new locomotive on the improved
+road amply justified the promises held forth in the specification.  The
+traffic was conducted with greater regularity and economy, and the
+superiority of the engine, as compared with horse traction, became still
+more marked.  It is a fact worthy of notice, that the identical engines
+constructed in 1816 after the plan above described are to this day to be
+seen in regular useful work upon the Killingworth Railway, conveying
+heavy coal-trains at the speed of between five and six miles an hour,
+probably as economically as any of the more perfect locomotives now in
+use.
+
+Mr. Stephenson’s endeavours having been attended with such marked success
+in the adaptation of locomotive power to railways, his attention was
+called by many of his friends, about the year 1818, to the application of
+steam to travelling on common roads.  It was from this point that the
+locomotive started, Trevithick’s first engine having been constructed
+with this special object.  Stephenson’s friends having observed how far
+behind he had left the original projector of the locomotive in its
+application to railroads, perhaps naturally inferred that he would be
+equally successful in applying it to the purpose for which Trevithick and
+Vivian had intended their first engine.  But the accuracy with which he
+estimated the resistance to which loads were exposed on railways, arising
+from friction and gravity, led him at a very early stage to reject the
+idea of ever applying steam power economically to common-road travelling.
+In October, 1818, he made a series of careful experiments in conjunction
+with Nicholas Wood, on the resistance to which carriages were exposed on
+railways, testing the results by means of a dynamometer of his own
+construction.  The series of practical observations made by means of this
+instrument were interesting, as the first systematic attempt to determine
+the precise amount of resistance to carriages moving along railways.  It
+was then for the first time ascertained by experiment that the friction
+was a constant quantity at all velocities.  Although this theory had long
+before been developed by Vince and Coulomb, and was well known to
+scientific men as an established truth, yet, at the time when Stephenson
+made his experiments, the deductions of philosophers on the subject were
+neither believed in nor acted upon by practical engineers.
+
+He ascertained that the resistances to traction were mainly three; the
+first being upon the axles of the carriages, the second, or rolling
+resistance, being between the circumference of the wheel and the surface
+of the rail, and the third being the resistance of gravity.  The amount
+of friction and gravity he could accurately ascertain; but the rolling
+resistance was a matter of greater difficulty, being subject to much
+variation.  He satisfied himself, however, that it was so great when the
+surface presented to the wheel was of a rough character, that the idea of
+working steam carriages economically on common roads was dismissed by him
+as entirely impracticable.  Taking it as 10 lbs to a ton weight on a
+level railway, it became obvious to him that so small a rise as 1 in 100
+would diminish the useful effort of a locomotive by upwards of 50 per
+cent.  This was demonstrated by repeated experiments, and the important
+fact, thus rooted in his mind, was never lost sight of in the course of
+his future railway career.
+
+It was owing in a great measure to these painstaking experiments that he
+early became convinced of the vital importance, in an economical point of
+view, of reducing the country through which a railway was intended to
+pass as nearly as possible to a level.  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.  But when the loads were both ways, he deemed it of great
+importance that the railroad should be constructed as nearly as possible
+on a level.
+
+These views, thus early entertained, originated in Stephenson’s mind the
+peculiar character of railroad works as distinguished from other roads;
+for, in railways, he early contended that large sums would be wisely
+expended in perforating barriers of hills with long tunnels, and in
+raising the lower levels with the excess cut down from the adjacent high
+ground.  In proportion as these views forced themselves upon his mind and
+were corroborated by his daily experience, he became more and more
+convinced of the hopelessness of applying steam locomotion to common
+roads; for every argument in favour of a level railway was, in his view,
+an argument against the rough and hilly course of a common road.
+
+Although Stephenson’s locomotive engines were in daily use for many years
+on the Killingworth Railway, they excited comparatively little interest.
+They were no longer experimental, but had become an established tractive
+power.  The experience of years had proved that they worked more
+steadily, drew heavier loads, and were, on the whole, considerably more
+economical than horses.  Nevertheless eight years passed before another
+locomotive railway was constructed and opened for the purposes of coal or
+other traffic.
+
+Stephenson had no means of bringing his important invention prominently
+under the notice of the public.  He himself knew well its importance, and
+he already anticipated its eventual general adoption; but being an
+unlettered man, he could not give utterance to the thoughts which brooded
+within him on the subject.  Killingworth Colliery lay far from London,
+the centre of scientific life in England.  It was visited by no savans
+nor literary men, who might have succeeded in introducing to notice the
+wonderful machine of Stephenson.  Even the local chroniclers seem to have
+taken no notice of the Killingworth Railway.
+
+There seemed, indeed, to be so small a prospect of introducing the
+locomotive into general use, that Stephenson,—perhaps feeling the
+capabilities within him,—again recurred to his old idea of emigrating to
+the United States.  Before joining Mr. Burrel as partner in a small
+foundry at Forth Banks, Newcastle, he had thrown out to him the
+suggestion that it would be a good speculation for them to emigrate to
+North America, and introduce steamboats upon the great inland lakes
+there.  The first steamers were then plying upon the Tyne before his
+eyes; and he saw in them the germ of a great revolution in navigation.
+It occurred to him that North America presented the finest field for
+trying their wonderful powers.  He was an engineer, his partner was an
+iron-founder; and between them he thought they might strike out a path to
+fortune in the mighty West.  Fortunately, this idea remained a mere
+speculation so far as Stephenson was concerned: and it was left to others
+to do what he had dreamt of achieving.  After all his patient waiting,
+his skill, industry, and perseverance were at length about to bear fruit.
+
+In 1819 the owners of the Hetton Colliery, in the county of Durham,
+determined to have their waggon-way altered to a locomotive railroad.
+The result of the working of the Killingworth Railway had been so
+satisfactory, that they resolved to adopt the same system.  One reason
+why an experiment so long continued and so successful as that at
+Killingworth should have been so slow in producing results, perhaps was,
+that to lay down a railway and furnish it with locomotives, or fixed
+engines where necessary, required a very large capital, beyond the means
+of ordinary coal-owners; whilst the small amount of interest felt in
+railways by the general public, and the supposed impracticability of
+working them to a profit, as yet prevented ordinary capitalists from
+venturing their money in the promotion of such undertakings.  The Hetton
+Coal Company were, however, possessed of adequate means; and the local
+reputation of the Killingworth engine-wright pointed him out as the man
+best calculated to lay out their line, and superintend their works.  They
+accordingly invited him to act as the engineer of the proposed railway,
+which was to be the longest locomotive line that had, up to that time,
+been constructed.  It extended from the Hetton Colliery, situated about
+two miles south of Houghton-le-Spring, in the county of Durham, to the
+shipping-places on the banks of the Wear, near Sunderland.  Its length
+was about eight miles; and in its course it crossed Warden Law, one of
+the highest hills in the district.  The character of the country forbade
+the construction of a flat line, or one of comparatively easy gradients,
+except by the expenditure of a much larger capital than was placed at the
+engineer’s disposal.  Heavy works could not be executed; it was therefore
+necessary to form the line with but little deviation from the natural
+conformation of the district which it traversed, and also to adapt the
+mechanical methods employed for its working to the character of the
+gradients, which in some places were necessarily heavy.
+
+Although Stephenson had, with every step made towards its increased
+utility, become more and more identified with the success of the
+locomotive engine, he did not allow his enthusiasm to carry him away into
+costly mistakes.  He carefully drew the line between the cases in which
+the locomotive could be usefully employed, and those in which stationary
+engines were calculated to be more economical.  This led him, as in the
+instance of the Hetton Railway, to execute lines through and over rough
+countries, where gradients within the powers of the locomotive engine of
+that day could not be secured, employing in their stead stationary
+engines where locomotives were not practicable.  In the present case,
+this course was adopted by him most successfully.  On the original Hetton
+line, there were five self-acting inclines,—the full waggons drawing the
+empty ones up,—and two inclines worked by fixed reciprocating engines of
+sixty horse power each.  The locomotive travelling engine, or “the iron
+horse,” as the people of the neighbourhood then styled it, did the rest.
+On the day of the opening of the Hetton Railway, the 18th November, 1822,
+crowds of spectators assembled from all parts to witness the first
+operations of this ingenious and powerful machinery, which was entirely
+successful.  On that day five of Stephenson’s locomotives were at work
+upon the railway, under the direction of his brother Robert; and the
+first shipment of coal was then made by the Hetton Company, at their new
+staiths on the Wear.  The speed at which the locomotives travelled was
+about 4 miles an hour, and each engine dragged after it a train of 17
+waggons, weighing about 64 tons.
+
+While thus advancing step by step,—attending to the business of the
+Killingworth Colliery, and laying out railways in the neighbourhood,—he
+was carefully watching over the education of his son.  We have already
+seen that Robert was sent to Bruce’s school at Newcastle, where he
+remained about four years.  He left it in the summer of 1819, and was
+then put apprentice to Mr. Nicholas Wood, the head viewer at
+Killingworth, to learn the business of the colliery.  He served in that
+capacity for about three years, during which time he became familiar with
+most departments of underground work.  The occupation was not unattended
+with peril, as the following incident will show.  Though the use of the
+Geordy lamp had become general in the Killingworth pits, and the workmen
+were bound, under a penalty of half-a-crown, not to use a naked candle,
+it was difficult to enforce the rule, and even the masters themselves
+occasionally broke it.  One day Nicholas Wood, the head viewer, Moodie
+the under viewer, and Robert Stephenson, were proceeding along one of the
+galleries, Wood with a naked candle in his hand, and Robert following him
+with a lamp.  They came to a place where a fall of stones from the roof
+had taken place, on which Wood, who was first, proceeded to clamber over
+the stones, holding high the naked candle.  He had nearly reached the
+summit of the heap, when the fire-damp, which had accumulated in the
+hollow of the roof, exploded, and instantly the whole party were blown
+down, and the lights extinguished.  They were a mile from the shaft, and
+quite in the dark.  There was a rush of the workpeople from all quarters
+towards the shaft, for it was feared that the fire might extend to more
+dangerous parts of the pit, where, if the gas had exploded, every soul in
+the mine must inevitably have perished.  Robert Stephenson and Moodie, on
+the first impulse, ran back at full speed along the dark gallery leading
+to the shaft, coming into collision, on their way, with the hind quarters
+of a horse stunned by the explosion.  When they had gone halfway, Moodie
+halted, and bethought him of Nicholas Wood.  “Stop, laddie!” said he to
+Robert, “stop; we maun gang back, and seek the maister.”  So they
+retraced their steps.  Happily, no further explosion had taken place.
+They found the master lying on the heap of stones, stunned and bruised,
+with his hands severely burnt.  They led him to the bottom of the shaft;
+and he took care afterwards not to venture into the dangerous parts of
+the mine without the protection of a Geordy lamp.
+
+The time that Robert spent at Killingworth as viewer’s apprentice was of
+advantage both to his father and himself.  The evenings were generally
+devoted to reading and study, the two from this time working together as
+friends and co-labourers.  One who used to drop in at the cottage of an
+evening, well remembers the animated and eager discussions which on some
+occasions took place, more especially with reference to the growing
+powers of the locomotive engine.  The son was even more enthusiastic than
+the father on this subject.  Robert would suggest numerous alterations
+and improvements in details.  His father, on the contrary, would offer
+every possible objection, defending the existing arrangements,—proud,
+nevertheless of his son’s suggestions, and often warmed and excited by
+his brilliant anticipations of the ultimate triumph of the locomotive.
+
+These discussions probably had considerable influence in inducing
+Stephenson to take the next important step in the education of his son.
+Although Robert, who was only nineteen years of age, was doing well, and
+was certain at the expiration of his apprenticeship to rise to a higher
+position, his father was not satisfied with the amount of instruction
+which he had as yet given him.  Remembering the disadvantages under which
+he had himself laboured through his ignorance of practical chemistry
+during his investigations connected with the safety-lamp, more especially
+with reference to the properties of gas, as well as in the course of his
+experiments with the object of improving the locomotive engine, he
+determined to furnish his son with as complete a scientific culture as
+his means would afford.  He also believed that a proper training in
+technical science was indispensable to success in the higher walks of the
+engineer’s profession; and he determined to give to his son that kind and
+degree of education which he so much desired for himself.  He would thus,
+he knew, secure a hearty and generous co-worker in the elaboration of the
+great ideas now looming before him, and with their united practical and
+scientific knowledge he probably felt that they would be equal to any
+enterprise.
+
+He accordingly took Robert from his labours as under-viewer in the West
+Moor Pit, and in October, 1822, sent him to the Edinburgh University,
+there being then no college in England accessible to persons of moderate
+means, for purposes of scientific culture.  Robert was furnished with
+letters of introduction to several men of literary eminence in Edinburgh;
+his father’s reputation in connexion with the safety-lamp being of
+service to him in this respect.  He lodged in Drummond Street, in the
+immediate vicinity of the college, and attended the Chemical Lectures of
+Dr. Hope, the Natural Philosophy Lectures of Sir John Leslie, and the
+Natural History Class of Professor Jameson.  He also devoted several
+evenings in each week to the study of practical Chemistry under Dr. John
+Murray, himself one of the numerous designers of a safety-lamp.  He took
+careful notes of all the lectures, which he copied out at night before he
+went to bed; so that, when he returned to Killingworth, he might read
+them over to his father.  He afterwards had the notes bound up, and
+placed in his library.  Long years after, when conversing with Thomas
+Harrison, C.E., at his house in Gloucester Square, he rose from his seat
+and took down a volume from the shelves.  Mr. Harrison observed that the
+book was in MS., neatly written out.  “What have we here?” he asked.  The
+answer was—“When I went to college, I knew the difficulty my father had
+in collecting the funds to send me there.  Before going I studied
+short-hand; while at Edinburgh, I took down verbatim every lecture; and
+in the evenings, before I went to bed, I transcribed those lectures word
+for word.  You see the result in that range of books.”
+
+One of the practical sciences in the study of which Robert Stephenson
+took special interest while at Edinburgh was that of geology.  The
+situation of the city, in the midst of a district of highly interesting
+geological formation, easily accessible to pedestrians, is indeed most
+favourable to the pursuit of such a study; and it was the practice of
+Professor Jameson frequently to head a band of his pupils, armed with
+hammers, chisels, and clinometers, and take them with him on a long
+ramble into the country, for the purpose of teaching them habits of
+observation and reading to them from the open book of Nature itself.  At
+the close of this session, the professor took with him a select body of
+his pupils on an excursion along the Great Glen of the Highlands, in the
+line of the Caledonian Canal, and Robert formed one of the party.  They
+passed under the shadow of Ben Nevis, examined the famous old sea-margins
+known as the “parallel roads of Glen Roy,” and extended their journey as
+far as Inverness; the professor teaching the young men as they travelled
+how to observe in a mountain country.  Not long before his death, Robert
+Stephenson spoke in glowing terms of the great pleasure and benefit which
+he had derived from that interesting excursion.  “I have travelled far,
+and enjoyed much,” he said; “but that delightful botanical and geological
+journey I shall never forget; and I am just about to start in the
+_Titania_ for a trip round the east coast of Scotland, returning south
+through the Caledonian Canal, to refresh myself with the recollection of
+that first and brightest tour of my life.”
+
+Towards the end of the summer of 1822 the young student returned to
+Killingworth to re-enter upon the active business of life.  The six
+months’ study had cost his father £80; but he was amply repaid by the
+better scientific culture which his son had acquired, and the evidence of
+ability and industry which he was enabled to exhibit in a prize for
+mathematics which he had won at the University.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+GEORGE STEPHENSON ENGINEER OF THE STOCKTON AND DARLINGTON RAILWAY.
+
+
+The district west of Darlington, in Durham, is one of the richest mineral
+fields of the North.  Vast stores of coal underlie the Bishop Auckland
+Valley; and from an early period new and good roads to market were felt
+to be exceedingly desirable.  As yet it remained almost a closed field,
+the cost of transport of the coal in carts, or on horses’ or donkeys’
+backs, greatly limiting the sale.  Long ago, in the days of canal
+formations, Brindley was consulted about a canal; afterwards, in 1812, a
+tramroad was surveyed by Rennie; and eventually, in 1817, a railway was
+projected from Darlington to Stockton-on-Tees.
+
+            [Picture: Map of Stockton and Darlington Railway]
+
+Of this railway Edward Pease was the projector.  A thoughtful and
+sagacious man, ready in resources, possessed of indomitable energy and
+perseverance, he was eminently qualified to undertake what appeared to
+many the hopeless enterprise of obtaining an Act for a railway through
+such an unpromising district.  One who knew him in 1818 said, “he was a
+man who could see a hundred years ahead.”
+
+                         [Picture: Edward Pease]
+
+When the writer last saw him, in the autumn of 1854, Mr. Pease was in his
+  eighty-eighth year; yet he still possessed the hopefulness and mental
+vigour of a man in his prime.  Hale and hearty, and full of reminiscences
+   of the past, he continued to take an active interest in all measures
+ calculated to render men happier and better.  Still sound in health, his
+ eye had not lost its brilliancy, nor his cheek its colour; and there was
+   an elasticity in his step which younger men might have envied. {125}
+
+In getting up a company for surveying and forming a railway, Mr. Pease
+had great difficulties to encounter.  The people of the neighbourhood
+spoke of it as a ridiculous undertaking, and predicted that it would be
+ruinous to all concerned.  Even those most interested in the opening of
+new markets for their coal, were indifferent, if not actually hostile.
+The Stockton merchants and shipowners, whom it was calculated so greatly
+to benefit, gave the project no support; and not twenty shares were
+subscribed for in the whole town.  Mr. Pease nevertheless persevered; and
+he induced many of his friends and relations to subscribe the capital
+required.
+
+The necessary preliminary steps were taken in 1818 to apply for an act to
+authorise the construction of a tramroad from Witton to Stockton.  The
+measure was however, strongly opposed by the Duke of Cleveland, because
+the proposed line passed close by one of his fox covers; and the bill was
+rejected.  A new survey was then made, avoiding the Duke’s cover; and in
+1819 a renewed application was made to Parliament.  The promoters were
+this time successful, and the royal assent was given to the first
+Stockton and Darlington Railway Act on the 19th April, 1821.
+
+The projectors did not originally contemplate the employment of
+locomotives.  The Act provided for the making and maintaining of
+tramroads for the passage “of waggons and other carriages” “_with men and
+horses_ or otherwise,” and a further clause made provision for damages
+done in course of traffic by the “waggoners.”  The public were to be free
+“to use with horses, cattle and carriages,” the roads formed by the
+company, on payment of the authorised rates, “between the hours of seven
+in the morning and six in the evening,” during winter; “between six in
+the morning and eight in the evening,” in two of the spring and autumn
+months; and “between five in the morning and ten in the evening,” in the
+summer months of May, June, July, and August.  From this it will be
+obvious that the projectors of the line had themselves at first no very
+large conceptions as to the scope of their project.
+
+One day, in the spring of 1821, two strangers knocked at the door of Mr.
+Pease’s house in Darlington; and the message was brought to him that some
+persons from Killingworth wanted to speak with him.  They were invited
+in, on which one of the visitors introduced himself as Nicholas Wood,
+viewer at Killingworth, and then turning to his companion, he introduced
+him as George Stephenson, engine-wright, of the same place.
+
+Mr. Pease entered into conversation with his visitors, and was soon told
+their object.  Stephenson had heard of the passing of the Stockton and
+Darlington Act, and desiring to increase his railway experience, and also
+to employ in some larger field the practical knowledge he had already
+gained, he determined to visit the known projector of the undertaking,
+with the view of being employed to carry it out.  He had brought with him
+his friend Wood, for the purpose at the same time of relieving his
+diffidence, and supporting his application.
+
+Mr. Pease liked the appearance of his visitor: “there was,” as he
+afterwards remarked when speaking of Stephenson, “such an honest,
+sensible look about him, and he seemed so modest and unpretending.  He
+spoke in the strong Northumbrian dialect of his district, and described
+himself as ‘only the engine-wright at Killingworth; that’s what he was.’“
+
+Mr. Pease soon saw that our engineer was the very man for his purpose.
+The whole plans of the railway were still in an undetermined state, and
+Mr. Pease was therefore glad to have the opportunity of profiting by
+Stephenson’s experience.  In the course of their conversation, the latter
+strongly recommended a _railway_ in preference to a tramroad.  They also
+discussed the kind of tractive power to be employed: Mr. Pease stating
+that the company had based their whole calculations on the employment of
+_horse_ power.  “I was so satisfied,” said he afterwards, “that a horse
+upon an iron road would draw ten tons for one ton on a common road, that
+I felt sure that before long the railway would become the King’s
+highway.”  But Mr. Pease was scarcely prepared for the bold assertion
+made by his visitor, that the locomotive engine with which he had been
+working the Killingworth Railway for many years past was worth fifty
+horses, and that engines made after a similar plan would yet entirely
+supersede all horse power upon railroads.  Stephenson was daily becoming
+more positive as to the superiority of his locomotive; and hence he
+strongly urged Mr. Pease to adopt it.  “Come over to Killingworth,” said
+he, “and see what my engines can do; seeing is believing, sir.”  Mr.
+Pease accordingly promised that on some early day he would go over to
+Killingworth, and take a look at the wonderful machine that was to
+supersede horses.  The result of the interview was, that Mr. Pease
+promised to bring Stephenson’s application for the appointment of
+engineer before the Directors, and to support it with his influence;
+whereon the two visitors prepared to take their leave, informing Mr.
+Pease that they intended to return to Newcastle “by nip;” that is, they
+expected to get a smuggled lift on the stage-coach, by tipping Jehu,—for
+in those days the stage coachmen regarded all casual roadside passengers
+as their proper perquisites.  They had, however, been so much engrossed
+by their conversation, that the lapse of time was forgotten, and when
+Stephenson and his friend made enquiries about the return coach, they
+found the last had left; and they had to walk the 18 miles to Durham on
+their way back to Newcastle.
+
+Mr. Pease having made further inquiries respecting Stephenson’s character
+and qualifications, and having received a very strong recommendation of
+him as the right man for the intended work, he brought the subject of his
+application before the directors of the Stockton and Darlington Company.
+They resolved to adopt his recommendation that a railway be formed
+instead of a tramroad; and they further requested Mr. Pease to write to
+Stephenson, desiring him to undertake a re-survey of the line at the
+earliest practicable period.
+
+A man was despatched on a horse with the letter, and when he reached
+Killingworth he made diligent enquiry after the person named upon the
+address, “George Stephenson, Esquire, Engineer.”  No such person was
+known in the village.  It is said that the man was on the point of giving
+up all further search, when the happy thought struck some of the
+colliers’ wives who had gathered about him, that it must be “Geordie the
+engine-wright” the man was in search of; and to Geordie’s cottage he
+accordingly went, found him at home, and delivered the letter.
+
+About the end of September, Stephenson went carefully over the line of
+the proposed railway, for the purpose of suggesting such improvements and
+deviations as he might consider desirable.  He was accompanied by an
+assistant and a chainman,—his son Robert entering the figures while his
+father took the sights.  After being engaged in the work at intervals for
+about six weeks, Stephenson reported the result of his survey to the
+Board of Directors, and showed that by certain deviations, a line shorter
+by about three miles might be constructed at a considerable saving in
+expense, while at the same time more favourable gradients—an important
+consideration—would be secured.
+
+It was, however, determined in the first place to proceed with the works
+at those parts of the line where no deviation was proposed; and the first
+rail of the Stockton and Darlington Railway was laid with considerable
+ceremony, near Stockton, on the 23rd May, 1822.
+
+It is worthy of note that Stephenson, in making his first estimate of the
+cost of forming the railway according to the Instructions of the
+directors, set down, as part of the cost, £6200 for stationary engines,
+not mentioning locomotives at all.  The directors as yet confined their
+views to the employment only of horses for the haulage of the coals, and
+of fixed engines and ropes where horse-power was not applicable.  The
+whole question of steam locomotive power was, in the estimation of the
+public, as well as of practical and scientific men, as yet in doubt.  The
+confident anticipations of George Stephenson, as to the eventual success
+of locomotive engines, were regarded as mere speculations; and when he
+gave utterance to his views, as he frequently took the opportunity of
+doing, it even had the effect of shaking the confidence of some of his
+friends in the solidity of his judgment and his practical qualities as an
+engineer.
+
+When Mr. Pease discussed the question with Stephenson, his remark was,
+“Come over and see my engines at Killingworth, and satisfy yourself as to
+the efficiency of the locomotive.  I will show you the colliery books,
+that you may ascertain for yourself the actual cost of working.  And I
+must tell you that the economy of the locomotive engine is no longer a
+matter of theory, but a matter of fact.”  So confident was the tone in
+which Stephenson spoke of the success of his engines, and so important
+were the consequences involved in arriving at a correct conclusion on the
+subject, that Mr. Pease at length resolved upon paying a visit to
+Killingworth in the summer of 1822, to see with his own eyes the
+wonderful new power so much vaunted by the engineer.
+
+When Mr. Pease arrived at Killingworth village, he inquired for George
+Stephenson, and was told that he must go over to the West Moor, and seek
+for a cottage by the roadside, with a dial over the door—“that was where
+George Stephenson lived.”  They soon found the house with the dial; and
+on knocking, the door was opened by Mrs. Stephenson—his second wife
+(Elizabeth Hindmarsh), the daughter of a farmer at Black Callerton, whom
+he had married in 1820. {129}  Her husband, she said, was not in the
+house at present, but she would send for him to the colliery.  And in a
+short time Stephenson appeared before them in his working dress, just as
+he had come out of the pit.
+
+He very soon had his locomotive brought up to the crossing close by the
+end of the cottage,—made the gentlemen mount it, and showed them its
+paces.  Harnessing it to a train of loaded waggons, he ran it along the
+railroad, and so thoroughly satisfied his visitors of its power and
+capabilities, that from that day Edward Pease was a declared supporter of
+the locomotive engine.  In preparing the Amended Stockton and Darlington
+Act, at Stephenson’s urgent request Mr. Pease had a clause inserted,
+taking power to work the railway by means of locomotive engines, and to
+employ them for the haulage of passengers as well as of merchandise.
+{130}  The Act was obtained in 1823, on which Stephenson was appointed
+the company’s engineer at a salary of £300 per annum; and it was
+determined that the line should be constructed and opened for traffic as
+soon as practicable.
+
+He at once proceeded, accompanied by his assistants, with the working
+survey of the line, laying out every foot of the ground himself.  Railway
+surveying was as yet in its infancy, and was slow and difficult work.  It
+afterwards became a separate branch of railway business, and was
+entrusted to a special staff.  Indeed on no subsequent line did George
+Stephenson take the sights through the spirit level with his own hands
+and eyes as he did on this railway.  He started very early—dressed in a
+blue tailed coat, breeches, and top-boots—and surveyed until dusk.  He
+was not at any time particular as to his living; and during the survey,
+he took his chance of getting a little milk and bread at some cottager’s
+house along the line, or occasionally joined in a homely dinner at some
+neighbouring farmhouse.  The country people were accustomed to give him a
+hearty welcome when he appeared at their door; for he was always full of
+cheery and homely talk, and, when there were children about the house, he
+had plenty of humorous chat for them as well as for their seniors.
+
+After the day’s work was over, George would drop in at Mr. Pease’s, to
+talk over the progress of the survey, and discuss various matters
+connected with the railway.  Mr. Pease’s daughters were usually present;
+and on one occasion, finding the young ladies learning the art of
+embroidery, he volunteered to instruct them. {131}  “I know all about
+it,” said he; “and you will wonder how I learnt it.  I will tell you.
+When I was a brakesman at Killingworth, I learnt the art of embroidery
+while working the pitmen’s buttonholes by the engine fire at nights.”  He
+was never ashamed, but on the contrary rather proud, of reminding his
+friends of these humble pursuits of his early life.  Mr. Pease’s family
+were greatly pleased with his conversation, which was always amusing and
+instructive; full of all sorts of experience, gathered in the oddest and
+most out-of-the-way places.  Even at that early period, before he mixed
+in the society of educated persons, there was a dash of speculativeness
+in his remarks, which gave a high degree of originality to his
+conversation; and he would sometimes, in a casual remark, throw a flash
+of light upon a subject, which called up a train of pregnant suggestions.
+
+One of the most important subjects of discussion at these meetings with
+Mr. Pease, was the establishment of a manufactory at Newcastle for the
+building of locomotive engines.  Up to this time all the locomotives
+constructed after Stephenson’s designs, had been made by ordinary
+mechanics working among the collieries in the North of England.  But he
+had long felt that the accuracy and style of their workmanship admitted
+of great improvement, and that upon this the more perfect action of the
+locomotive engine, and its general adoption, in a great measure depended.
+One great object that he had in view in establishing the proposed factory
+was, to concentrate a number of good workmen, for the purpose of carrying
+out the improvements in detail which he was constantly making in his
+engine.  He felt hampered by the want of efficient help from skilled
+mechanics, who could work out in a practical form the ideas of which his
+busy mind was always so prolific.  Doubtless, too, he believed that the
+manufactory would prove a remunerative investment, and that, on the
+general adoption of the railway system which he anticipated, he would
+derive solid advantages from the fact of his establishment being the only
+one of the kind for the special construction of locomotive engines.
+
+Mr. Pease approved of his design, and strongly recommended him to carry
+it into effect.  But there was the question of means; and Stephenson did
+not think he had capital enough for the purpose.  He told Mr. Pease that
+he could advance £1000—the amount of the testimonial presented by the
+coal-owners for his safety-lamp invention, which he had still left
+untouched; but he did not think this sufficient for the purpose, and he
+thought that he should require at least another £1000.  Mr. Pease had
+been very much struck with the successful performances of the
+Killingworth engine; and being an accurate judge of character, he
+believed that he could not go far wrong in linking a portion of his
+fortune with the energy and industry of George Stephenson.  He consulted
+his friend Thomas Richardson in the matter; and the two consented to
+advance £500 each for the purpose of establishing the engine factory at
+Newcastle.  A piece of land was accordingly purchased in Forth Street, in
+August, 1823, on which a small building was erected—the nucleus of the
+gigantic establishment which was afterwards formed around it; and active
+operations were begun early in 1824.
+
+While the Stockton and Darlington Railway works were in progress, our
+engineer had many interesting discussions with Mr. Pease, on points
+connected with its construction and working, the determination of which
+in a great measure affected the formation and working of all future
+railways.  The most important points were these:
+
+1.  The comparative merits of cast and wrought iron rails.
+
+2.  The gauge of the railway.
+
+3.  The employment of horse or engine power in working it, when ready for
+traffic.
+
+The kind of rails to be laid down to form the permanent road was a matter
+of considerable importance.  A wooden tramroad had been contemplated when
+the first Act was applied for; but Stephenson having advised that an iron
+road should be laid down, he was instructed to draw up a specification of
+the rails.  He went before the directors to discuss with them the kind of
+material to be specified.  He was himself interested in the patent for
+cast-iron rails, which he had taken out in conjunction with Mr. Losh in
+1816; and, of course, it was to his interest that his articles should be
+used.  But when requested to give his opinion on the subject, he frankly
+said to the directors, “Well, gentlemen, to tell you the truth, although
+it would put £500 in my pocket to specify my own patent rails, I cannot
+do so after the experience I have had.  If you take my advice, you will
+not lay down a single cast-iron rail.”  “Why?” asked the directors.
+“Because they will not stand the weight, and you will be at no end of
+expense for repairs and relays.”  “What kind of road, then,” he was
+asked, “would you recommend?”  “Malleable rails, certainly,” said he;
+“and I can recommend them with the more confidence from the fact that at
+Killingworth we have had some Swedish bars laid down—nailed to wooden
+sleepers—for a period of fourteen years, the waggons passing over them
+daily; and there they are, in use yet, whereas the cast rails are
+constantly giving way.”
+
+The price of malleable rails was, however, so high—being then worth about
+£12 per ton as compared with cast-iron rails at about £5 10s.—and the
+saving of expense was so important a consideration with the subscribers,
+that Stephenson was directed to provide, in the specification, that only
+one-half of the rails required—or about 800 tons—should be of malleable
+iron, and the remainder of cast-iron.  The malleable rails were of the
+kind called “fish-bellied,” and weighed 28 lbs. to the yard, being 2¼
+inches broad at the top, with the upper flange ¾ inch thick.  They were
+only 2 inches in depth at the points at which they rested on the chairs,
+and 3¼ inches in the middle or bellied part.
+
+When forming the road, the proper gauge had also to be determined.  What
+width was this to be?  The gauge of the first tramroad laid down had
+virtually settled the point.  The gauge of wheels of the common vehicles
+of the country—of the carts and waggons employed on common roads, which
+were first used on the tramroads—was about 4 feet 8½ inches.  And so the
+first tramroads were laid down of this gauge.  The tools and machinery
+for constructing coal-waggons and locomotives were formed with this gauge
+in view.  The Wylam waggon-way, afterwards the Wylam plate-way, the
+Killingworth railroad, and the Hetton rail road, were as nearly as
+possible on the same gauge.  Some of the earth-waggons used to form the
+Stockton and Darlington road were brought from the Hetton railway; and
+others which were specially constructed were formed of the same
+dimensions, these being intended to be afterwards employed in the working
+of the traffic.
+
+As the period drew near for the opening of the line, the question of the
+tractive power to be employed was anxiously discussed.  At the Brusselton
+incline, fixed engines must necessarily be made use of; but with respect
+to the mode of working the railway generally, it was decided that horses
+were to be largely employed, and arrangements were made for their
+purchase.  The influence of Mr. Pease also secured that a fair trial
+should be given to the experiment of working the traffic by locomotive
+power; and three engines were ordered from the firm of Stephenson and
+Co., Newcastle, which were put in hand forthwith, in anticipation of the
+opening of the railway.  These were constructed after Mr. Stephenson’s
+most matured designs, and embodied all the improvements which he had
+contrived up to that time.  No. I. engine, the “Locomotion,” which was
+first delivered, weighed about eight tons.  It had one large flue or tube
+through the boiler, by which the heated air passed direct from the
+furnace at one end, lined with fire-bricks, to the chimney at the other.
+The combustion in the furnace was quickened by the adoption of the
+steam-blast in the chimney.  The heat raised was sometimes so great, and
+it was so imperfectly abstracted by the surrounding water, that the
+chimney became almost red-hot.  Such engines, when put to their speed,
+were found capable of running at the rate of from twelve to sixteen miles
+an hour; but they were better adapted for the heavy work of hauling
+coal-trains at low speeds—for which, indeed, they were specially
+constructed—than for running at the higher speeds afterwards adopted.
+Nor was it contemplated by the directors as possible, at the time when
+they were ordered, that locomotives could be made available for the
+purposes of passenger travelling.  Besides, the Stockton and Darlington
+Railway did not run through a district in which passengers were supposed
+to be likely to constitute any considerable portion of the traffic.
+
+We may easily imagine the anxiety felt by Mr. Stephenson during the
+progress of the works towards completion, and his mingled hopes and
+doubts (though his doubts were but few) as to the issue of this great
+experiment.  When the formation of the line near Stockton was well
+advanced, Mr. Stephenson one day, accompanied by his son Robert and John
+Dixon, made a journey of inspection of the works.  The party reached
+Stockton, and proceeded to dine at one of the inns there.  After dinner,
+Stephenson ventured on the very unusual measure of ordering in a bottle
+of wine, to drink success to the railway.  John Dixon relates with pride
+the utterance of the master on the occasion.  “Now, lads,” said he to the
+two young men, “I venture to tell you that I think you will live to see
+the day when railways will supersede almost all other methods of
+conveyance in this country—when mail-coaches will go by railway, and
+railroads will become the great highway for the king and all his
+subjects.  The time is coming when it will be cheaper for a working man
+to travel upon a railway than to walk on foot.  I know there are great
+and almost insurmountable difficulties to be encountered; but what I have
+said will come to pass as sure as you live.  I only wish I may live to
+see the day, though that I can scarcely hope for, as I know how slow all
+human progress is, and with what difficulty I have been able to get the
+locomotive thus far adopted, notwithstanding my more than ten years’
+successful experiment at Killingworth.”  The result, however, outstripped
+even the most sanguine anticipations of Stephenson; and his son Robert,
+shortly after his return from America in 1827, saw his father’s
+locomotive generally employed as the tractive power on railways.
+
+The Stockton and Darlington line was opened for traffic on the 27th
+September, 1825.  An immense concourse of people assembled from all parts
+to witness the ceremony of opening this first public railway.  The
+powerful opposition which the project had encountered, the threats which
+were still uttered against the company by the road-trustees and others,
+who declared that they would yet prevent the line being worked, and
+perhaps the general unbelief as to its success which still prevailed,
+tended to excite the curiosity of the public as to the result.  Some went
+to rejoice at the opening, some to see the “bubble burst;” and there were
+many prophets of evil who would not miss the blowing up of the boasted
+travelling engine.  The opening was, however, auspicious.  The
+proceedings commenced at Brusselton Incline, about nine miles above
+Darlington, where the fixed engine drew a train of loaded waggons up the
+incline from the west, and lowered them on the east side.  At the foot of
+the incline a locomotive was in readiness to receive them, Stephenson
+himself driving the engine.  The train consisted of six waggons loaded
+with coals and flour; after these was the passenger-coach, filled with
+the directors and their friends, and then twenty-one waggons fitted up
+with temporary seats for passengers; and lastly came six waggon-loads of
+coals, making in all a train of thirty-eight vehicles.  The local
+chronicler of the day almost went beside himself in describing the
+extraordinary event:—“The signal being given,” he says, “the engine
+started off with this immense train of carriages; and such was its
+velocity, that in some parts the speed was frequently 12 miles an hour!”
+By the time it reached Stockton there were about 600 persons in the train
+or hanging on to the waggons, which must have gone at a safe and steady
+pace of from four to six miles an hour from Darlington.  “The arrival at
+Stockton,” it is added, “excited a deep interest and admiration.”
+
+The working of the line then commenced, and the results were such as to
+surprise even the most sanguine of its projectors.  The traffic upon
+which they had formed their estimates of profit proved to be small in
+comparison with that which flowed in upon them which they had never
+dreamt of.  Thus, what the company had principally relied upon for their
+receipts was the carriage of coals for land sale at the stations along
+the line, whereas the haulage of coals to the seaports for exportation to
+the London market was not contemplated as possible.  When the bill was
+before Parliament, Mr. Lambton (afterwards Earl of Durham) succeeded in
+getting a clause inserted, limiting the charge for the haulage of all
+coal to Stockton-on-Tees for the purpose of shipment to ½d. per ton per
+mile; whereas a rate of 4d. per ton was allowed to be taken for all coals
+led upon the railway for land sale.  Mr. Lambton’s object in enforcing
+the low rate of ½d. was to protect his own trade in coal exported from
+Sunderland and the northern ports.  He believed, in common with everybody
+else, that the ½d. rate would effectually secure him against competition
+on the part of the Company; for it was not considered possible to lead
+coals at that price, and the proprietors of the railway themselves
+considered that such a rate would be utterly ruinous.  The projectors
+never contemplated sending more than 10,000 tons a year to Stockton, and
+those only for shipment as ballast; they looked for their profits almost
+exclusively to the land sale.  The result, however, was as surprising to
+them as it must have been to Mr. Lambton.  The ½d. rate which was forced
+upon them, instead of being ruinous, proved the vital element in the
+success of the railway.  In the course of a few years, the annual
+shipment of coal, led by the Stockton and Darlington Railway to Stockton
+and Middlesborough, was more than 500,000 tons; and it has since far
+exceeded this amount.  Instead of being, as anticipated, a subordinate
+branch of traffic, it proved, in fact, the main traffic, while the land
+sale was merely subsidiary.
+
+The anticipations of the company as to passenger traffic were in like
+manner more than realised.  At first, passengers were not thought of; and
+it was only while the works were in progress that the starting of a
+passenger coach was seriously contemplated.  The number of persons
+travelling between the two towns was very small; and it was not known
+whether these would risk their persons upon the iron road.  It was
+determined, however, to make trial of a railway coach; and Mr. Stephenson
+was authorised to have one built at Newcastle, at the cost of the
+company.  This was done accordingly; and the first railway passenger
+carriage was built after our engineer’s design.  It was, however, a very
+modest, and indeed a somewhat uncouth machine, more resembling the
+caravans still to be seen at country fairs containing the “Giant and the
+Dwarf” and other wonders of the world, than a passenger-coach of any
+extant form.  A row of seats ran along each side of the interior, and a
+long deal table was fixed in the centre; the access being by means of a
+door at the back end, in the manner of an omnibus.
+
+                    [Picture: The First Railway Coach]
+
+This coach arrived from Newcastle the day before the opening, and formed
+part of the railway procession above described.  Mr. Stephenson was
+consulted as to the name of the coach, and he at once suggested “The
+Experiment;” and by this name it was called.  The Company’s arms were
+afterwards painted on her side, with the motto “Periculum privatum
+utilitas publica.”  Such was the sole passenger-carrying stock of the
+Stockton and Darlington Company in the year 1825.  But the “Experiment”
+proved the forerunner of a mighty traffic: and long time did not elapse
+before it was displaced, not only by improved coaches (still drawn by
+horses), but afterwards by long trains of passenger-carriages drawn by
+locomotive engines.
+
+“The Experiment” was fairly started as a passenger-coach on the 10th
+October, 1825, a fortnight after the opening of the line.  It was drawn
+by one horse, and performed a journey daily each way between the two
+towns, accomplishing the distance of twelve miles in about two hours.
+The fare charged was a shilling without distinction of class; and each
+passenger was allowed fourteen pounds of luggage free.  “The Experiment”
+was not, however, worked by the company, but was let to contractors who
+worked it under an arrangement whereby toll was paid for the use of the
+line, rent of booking-cabins, etc.
+
+The speculation answered so well, that several private coaching companies
+were shortly after got up by innkeepers at Darlington and Stockton, for
+the purpose of running other coaches upon the railroad; and an active
+competition for passenger traffic sprang up.  “The Experiment” being
+found too heavy for one horse to draw, besides being found an
+uncomfortable machine, was banished to the coal district.  Its place was
+then supplied by other and better vehicles,—though they were no other
+than old stage-coach bodies purchased by the company, and each mounted
+upon an underframe with flange-wheels.  These were let on hire to the
+coaching companies, who horsed and managed them under an arrangement as
+to tolls, in like manner as the “Experiment” had been worked.  Now began
+the distinction of inside and outside passengers, equivalent to first and
+second class, paying different fares.  The competition with each other
+upon the railway, and with the ordinary stagecoaches upon the road, soon
+brought up the speed, which was increased to ten miles an hour—the
+mail-coach rate of travelling in those days, and considered very fast.
+
+Mr. Clephan, a native of the district, has described some of the curious
+features of the competition between the rival coach companies:—“There
+were two separate coach companies in Stockton, and amusing collisions
+sometimes occurred between the drivers—who found on the rail a novel
+element for contention.  Coaches cannot pass each other on the rail as on
+the road; and, as the line was single, with four sidings in the mile,
+when two coaches met, or two trains, or coach and train, the question
+arose which of the drivers must go back?  This was not always settled in
+silence.  As to trains, it came to be a sort of understanding that empty
+should give way to loaded waggons; and as to trains and coaches, that the
+passengers should have preference over coals; while coaches, when they
+met, must quarrel it out.  At length, midway between sidings, a post was
+erected, and a rule was laid down that he who had passed the pillar must
+go on, and the ‘coming man’ go back.  At the Goose Pool and Early Nook,
+it was common for these coaches to stop; and there, as Jonathan would
+say, passengers and coachmen ‘liquored.’  One coach, introduced by an
+innkeeper, was a compound of two mourning-coaches,—an approximation to
+the real railway-coach, which still adheres, with multiplying exceptions,
+to the stage-coach type.  One Dixon, who drove the ‘Experiment’ between
+Darlington and Shildon, is the inventor of carriage-lighting on the rail.
+On a dark winter night, having compassion on his passengers, he would buy
+a penny candle, and place it lighted amongst them on the table of the
+‘Experiment’—the first railway-coach (which, by the way, ended its days
+at Shildon as a railway cabin), being also the first coach on the rail
+(first, second, and third class jammed all into one) that indulged its
+customers with light in darkness.”
+
+The traffic of all sorts increased so steadily and so rapidly that
+considerable difficulty was experienced in working it satisfactorily.  It
+had been provided by the first Stockton and Darlington Act that the line
+should be free to all parties who chose to use it at certain prescribed
+rates, and that any person might put horses and waggons on the railway,
+and carry for himself.  But this arrangement led to increasing confusion
+and difficulty, and could not continue in the face of a large and
+rapidly-increasing traffic.  The goods trains got so long that the
+carriers found it necessary to call in the aid of the locomotive engine
+to help them on their way.  Then mixed trains of passengers and
+merchandise began to run; and the result was that the railway company
+found it necessary to take the entire charge and working of the traffic.
+In course of time new coaches were specially built for the better
+accommodation of the public, until at length regular passenger-trains
+were run, drawn by the locomotive engine,—though this was not until after
+the Liverpool and Manchester Company had established this as a distinct
+branch of their traffic.
+
+                [Picture: The No. I. Engine at Darlington]
+
+The three Stephenson locomotives were from the first regularly employed
+to work the coal trains; and their proved efficiency for this purpose led
+to the gradual increase of the locomotive power.  The speed of the
+engines—slow though it seems now—was in those days regarded as something
+marvellous.  A race actually came off between No. I. engine, the
+“Locomotion,” and one of the stage-coaches travelling from Darlington to
+Stockton by the ordinary road; and it was regarded as a great triumph of
+mechanical skill that the locomotive reached Stockton first, beating the
+stage-coach by about a hundred yards!  The same engine continued in good
+working order in the year 1846, when it headed the railway procession on
+the opening of the Middlesborough and Redcar Railway, travelling at the
+rate of about fourteen miles an hour.  This engine, the first that
+travelled upon the first public railway, has recently been placed upon a
+pedestal in front of the railway station at Darlington.
+
+For some years, however, the principal haulage of the line was performed
+by horses.  The inclination of the gradients being towards the sea, this
+was perhaps the cheapest mode of traction, so long as the traffic was not
+very large.  The horse drew the train along the level road, until, on
+reaching a descending gradient, down which the train ran by its own
+gravity, the animal was unharnessed, and, when loose, he wheeled round to
+the other end of the waggons, to which a “dandy-cart” was attached, its
+bottom being only a few inches from the rail.  Bringing his step into
+unison with the speed of the train, the horse learnt to leap nimbly into
+his place in this waggon, which was usually fitted with a well-filled
+hay-rack.
+
+The details of the working were gradually perfected by experience, the
+projectors of the line being scarcely conscious at first of the
+importance and significance of the work which they had taken in hand, and
+little thinking that they were laying the foundations of a system which
+was yet to revolutionise the internal communications of the world, and
+confer the greatest blessings on mankind.  It is important to note that
+the commercial results of the enterprise were considered satisfactory
+from the opening of the railway.  Besides conferring a great public
+benefit upon the inhabitants of the district and throwing open entirely
+new markets for coal, the profits derived from the traffic created by the
+railway yielded increasing dividends to those who had risked their
+capital in the undertaking, and thus held forth an encouragement to the
+projectors of railways generally, which was not without an important
+effect in stimulating the projection of similar enterprises in other
+districts.  These results, as displayed in the annual dividends, must
+have been eminently encouraging to the astute commercial men of Liverpool
+and Manchester, who were then engaged in the prosecution of their
+railway.  Indeed, the commercial success of the Stockton and Darlington
+Company may be justly characterised as the turning-point of the railway
+system.
+
+Before leaving this subject, we cannot avoid alluding to one of its most
+remarkable and direct results—the creation of the town of
+Middlesborough-on-Tees.  When the railway was opened in 1825, the site of
+this future metropolis of Cleveland was occupied by one solitary
+farmhouse and its outbuildings.  All round was pasture-land or mud-banks;
+scarcely another house was within sight.  In 1829 some of the principal
+proprietors of the railway joined in the purchase of about 500 or 600
+acres of land five miles below Stockton—the site of the modern
+Middlesborough—for the purpose of there forming a new seaport for the
+shipment of coals brought to the Tees by the railway.  The line was
+accordingly extended thither; docks were excavated; a town sprang up;
+churches, chapels, and schools were built, with a custom-house,
+mechanics’ institute, banks, shipbuilding yards, and iron-factories.  In
+ten years a busy population of some 6000 persons (since increased to
+about 23,000) occupied the site of the original farmhouse. {144}  More
+recently, the discovery of vast stores of ironstone in the Cleveland
+Hills, closely adjoining Middlesborough, has tended still more rapidly to
+augment the population and increase the commercial importance of the
+place.
+
+It is pleasing to relate, in connexion with this great work—the Stockton
+and Darlington Railway, projected by Edward Pease and executed by George
+Stephenson—that when Mr. Stephenson became a prosperous and a celebrated
+man, he did not forget the friend who had taken him by the hand, and
+helped him on in his early days.  He continued to remember Mr. Pease with
+gratitude and affection, and that gentleman, to the close of his life,
+was proud to exhibit a handsome gold watch, received as a gift from his
+celebrated _protégé_, bearing these words;—“Esteem and gratitude: from
+George Stephenson to Edward Pease.”
+
+                    [Picture: Middlesborough-on-Tees]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY PROJECTED.
+
+
+The rapid growth of the trade and manufactures of South Lancashire gave
+rise, about the year 1821, to the project of a tramroad for the
+conveyance of goods between Liverpool and Manchester.  Since the
+construction of the Bridgewater Canal by Brindley, some fifty years
+before, the increase in the business transacted between the two towns had
+become quite marvellous.  The steam-engine, the spinning-jenny, and the
+canal, working together, had accumulated in one focus a vast aggregate of
+population, manufactures, and trade.
+
+Such was the expansion of business caused by the inventions to which we
+have referred, that the navigation was found altogether inadequate to
+accommodate the traffic, which completely outgrew all the Canal
+Companies’ appliances of wharves, boats, and horses.  Cotton lay at
+Liverpool for weeks together, waiting to be removed; and it occupied a
+longer time to transport the cargoes from Liverpool to Manchester than it
+had done to bring them across the Atlantic from the United States to
+England.  Carts and waggons were tried, but proved altogether
+insufficient.  Sometimes manufacturing operations had to be suspended
+altogether, and during a frost, when the canals were frozen up, the
+communication was entirely stopped.  The consequences were often
+disastrous, alike to operatives, merchants, and manufacturers.
+
+Expostulation with the Canal Companies was of no use.  They were
+overcrowded with business at their own prices, and disposed to be very
+dictatorial.  When the Duke first constructed his canal, he had to
+encounter the fierce opposition of the Irwell and Mersey Navigation,
+whose monopoly his new line of water conveyance threatened to interfere
+with. {147}  But the innovation of one generation often becomes the
+obstruction of the next.  The Duke’s agents would scarcely listen to the
+remonstrances of the Liverpool merchants and Manchester manufacturers,
+and the Bridgewater Canal was accordingly, in its turn, denounced as a
+monopoly.
+
+Under these circumstances, any new mode of transit between the two towns
+which offered a reasonable prospect of relief was certain to receive a
+cordial welcome.  The scheme of a tramroad was, however, so new and
+comparatively untried, that it is not surprising that the parties
+interested should have hesitated before committing themselves to it.  Mr.
+Sandars, a Liverpool merchant, was amongst the first to broach the
+subject.  He had suffered in his business, in common with many others,
+from the insufficiency of the existing modes of communication, and was
+ready to give consideration to any plan presenting elements of practical
+efficiency which proposed a remedy for the generally admitted grievance.
+Having caused inquiry to be made as to the success which had attended the
+haulage of heavy coal-trains by locomotive power on the northern
+railways, he was led to the opinion that the same means might be equally
+efficient in conducting the increasing traffic in merchandise between
+Liverpool and Manchester.  He ventilated the subject amongst his friends,
+and about the beginning of 1821 a committee was formed for the purpose of
+bringing the scheme of a railroad before the public.
+
+The novel project having become noised abroad, attracted the attention of
+the friends of railways in other quarters.  Tramroads were by no means
+new expedients for the transit of heavy articles.  The Croydon and
+Wandsworth Railway, laid down by William Jessop as early as the year
+1801, had been regularly used for the conveyance of lime and stone in
+waggons hauled by mules or donkeys from Merstham to London.  The sight of
+this humble railroad in 1813 led Sir Richard Phillips in his ‘Morning
+Walk to Kew’ to anticipate the great advantages which would be derived by
+the nation from the general adoption of Blenkinsop’s engine for the
+conveyance of mails and passengers at ten or even fifteen miles an hour.
+In the same year we find Mr. Lovell Edgworth, who had for fifty years
+been advocating the superiority of tram or rail roads over common roads,
+writing to James Watt (7th August, 1813): “I have always thought that
+steam would become the universal lord, and that we should in time scorn
+post-horses; an iron railroad would be a cheaper thing than a road upon
+the common construction.”
+
+Thomas Gray, of Nottingham, was another speculator on the same subject.
+Though he was no mechanic nor inventor, he had an enthusiastic belief in
+the powers of the railroad system.  Being a native of Leeds, he had, when
+a boy, seen Blenkinsop’s locomotive at work on the Middleton cogged
+railroad, and from an early period he seems to have entertained almost as
+sanguine views on the subject as Sir Richard Phillips.  It would appear
+that Gray was residing in Brussels in 1816, when the project of a canal
+from Charleroi, for the purpose of connecting Holland with the mining
+districts of Belgium, was the subject of discussion; and, in conversation
+with Mr. John Cockerill and others, he took the opportunity of advocating
+the superior advantages of a railway.  He was absorbed for some time with
+the preparation of a pamphlet on the subject.  He shut himself up,
+secluded from his wife and relations, declining to give them any
+information as to his mysterious studies, beyond the assurance that his
+scheme “would revolutionise the whole face of the material world and of
+society.”  In 1820 Mr. Gray published the result of his studies in his
+‘Observations on a General Iron Railway,’ in which, with great cogency,
+he urged the superiority of a locomotive railway over common roads and
+canals, pointing out, at the same time, the advantages to all classes of
+the community of this mode of conveyance for merchandise and persons.  In
+this book Mr. Gray suggested a railway between Manchester and Liverpool,
+“which,” he observed, “would employ many thousands of the distressed
+population of Lancashire.”  The treatise must have met with a ready sale,
+as we find that two years later it had passed into a fourth edition.  In
+1822 Mr. Gray added diagrams to the book, showing, in one, suggested
+lines of railway connecting the principal towns of England, and in
+another, the principal towns of Ireland.
+
+These speculations show that the subject of railways was gradually
+becoming familiar to the public mind, and that thoughtful men were
+anticipating with confidence the adoption of steam-power for the purposes
+of railway traction.  At the same time, a still more profitable class of
+labourers was at work—first, men like Stephenson, who were engaged in
+improving the locomotive and making it a practicable and economical
+working power; and next, those like Edward Pease of Darlington, and
+Joseph Sandars of Liverpool, who were organising the means of laying down
+the railways.  Mr. William James, of West Bromwich, belonged to the
+active class of projectors.  He was a man of considerable social
+influence, of an active temperament, and had from an early period taken a
+warm interest in the formation of tramroads.  Acting as land-agent for
+gentlemen of property in the mining districts, he had laid down several
+tramroads in the neighbourhood of Birmingham, Gloucester, and Bristol;
+and he published many pamphlets urging their formation in other places.
+At one period of his life he was a large iron-manufacturer.  The times,
+however, went against him.  It was thought he was too bold, some
+considered him even reckless, in his speculations; and he lost almost his
+entire fortune.  He continued to follow the business of a land-agent, and
+it was while engaged in making a survey for one of his clients in the
+neighbourhood of Liverpool early in 1821, that he first heard of the
+project of a railway between that town and Manchester.  He at once called
+upon Mr. Sandars, and offered his services as surveyor of the proposed
+line, and his offer was accepted.
+
+   [Picture: Map of Liverpool and Manchester Railway.  (Western Part.)]
+
+   [Picture: Map of Liverpool and Manchester Railway.  (Eastern Part.)]
+
+A trial survey was then begun, but it was conducted with great
+difficulty, the inhabitants of the district entertaining the most violent
+prejudices against the scheme. In some places Mr. James and his surveying
+party even encountered personal violence. The farmers stationed men at
+the field-gates with pitchforks, and sometimes with guns, to drive them
+back. At St. Helen’s, one of the chainmen was laid hold of by a mob of
+colliers, and threatened to be hurled down a coal-pit. A number of men,
+women, and children, collected and ran after the surveyors wherever they
+made their appearance, bawling nicknames and throwing stones at them. As
+one of the chainmen was climbing over a gate one day, a labourer made at
+him with a pitchfork, and ran it through his clothes into his back; other
+watchers running up, the chainman, who was more stunned than hurt, took
+to his heels and fled. But that mysterious-looking instrument—-the
+theodolite-—most excited the fury of the natives, who concentrated on the
+man who carried it their fiercest execrations and most offensive
+nicknames.
+
+A powerful fellow, a noted bruiser, was hired by the surveyors to carry
+the instrument, with a view to its protection against all assailants; but
+one day an equally powerful fellow, a St. Helen’s collier, cock of the
+walk in his neighbourhood, made up to the theodolite bearer to wrest it
+from him by sheer force.  A battle took place, the collier was soundly
+pummelled, but the natives poured in volleys of stones upon the surveyors
+and their instruments, and the theodolite was smashed to pieces.
+
+An outline-survey having at length been made, notices were published of
+an intended application to Parliament.  In the mean time Mr. James
+proceeded to Killingworth to see Stephenson’s locomotives at work.
+Stephenson was not at home at the time, but James saw his engines, and
+was very much struck by their power and efficiency.  He saw at a glance
+the magnificent uses to which the locomotive might be applied.  “Here,”
+said he, “is an engine that will, before long, effect a complete
+revolution in society.”  Returning to Moreton-in-the-Marsh, he wrote to
+Mr. Losh (Stephenson’s partner in the patent) expressing his admiration
+of the Killingworth engine.  “It is,” said he, “the greatest wonder of
+the age, and the forerunner, as I firmly believe, of the most important
+changes in the internal communications of the kingdom.”  Shortly after,
+Mr. James, accompanied by his two sons, made a second journey to
+Killingworth, where he met both Losh and Stephenson.  The visitors were
+at once taken to where the locomotive was working, and invited to mount
+it.  The uncouth and extraordinary appearance of the machine, as it came
+snorting along, was somewhat alarming to the youths, who expressed their
+fears lest it should burst; and they were with some difficulty induced to
+mount.
+
+The engine went through its usual performances, dragging a heavy load of
+coal-waggons at about six miles an hour, with apparent ease, at which Mr.
+James expressed his extreme satisfaction, and declared to Mr. Losh his
+opinion that Stephenson “was the greatest practical genius of the age,”
+and that, “if he developed the full powers of that engine (the
+locomotive), his fame in the world would rank equal with that of Watt.”
+Mr. James informed Stephenson and Losh of his survey of the proposed
+tramroad between Liverpool and Manchester, and did not hesitate to state
+that he would thenceforward advocate the construction of a locomotive
+railroad instead of the tramroad which had originally been proposed.
+
+Stephenson and Losh were naturally desirous of enlisting James’s good
+services on behalf of their patent locomotive, for as yet it had proved
+comparatively unproductive.  They believed that he might be able so to
+advocate it in influential quarters as to ensure its more extensive
+adoption, and with this object they proposed to give him an interest in
+the patent.  Accordingly they assigned him one-fourth of any profits
+which might be derived from the use of the patent locomotive on any
+railways constructed south of a line drawn across England from Liverpool
+to Hull.  The arrangement, however, led to no beneficial results.  Mr.
+James endeavoured to introduce the engine on the Moreton-on-Marsh
+Railway; but it was opposed by the engineer of the line, and the attempt
+failed.  He next urged that a locomotive should be sent for trial upon
+the Merstham tramroad; but, anxious though Stephenson was respecting its
+extended employment, he was too cautious to risk an experiment which
+might only bring discredit upon the engine; and the Merstham road being
+only laid with cast-iron plates, which would not bear its weight, the
+invitation was declined.
+
+It turned out that the first survey of the Liverpool and Manchester line
+was very imperfect, and it was determined to have a second and more
+complete one made in the following year.  Robert Stephenson was sent over
+by his father to Liverpool to assist in this survey.  He was present with
+Mr. James on the occasion on which he tried to lay out the line across
+Chat Moss,—a proceeding which was not only difficult but dangerous.  The
+Moss was very wet at the time, and only its edges could be ventured on.
+Mr. James was a heavy, thick-set man; and one day, when endeavouring to
+obtain a stand for his theodolite, he felt himself suddenly sinking.  He
+immediately threw himself down, and rolled over and over until he reached
+firm ground again, in a sad mess.  Other attempts which he subsequently
+made to enter upon the Moss for the same purpose, were abandoned for the
+same reason—the want of a solid stand for the theodolite.
+
+On the 4th October, 1822, we find Mr. James writing to Mr. Sandars, “I
+came last night to send my aid, Robert Stephenson, to his father, and
+to-morrow I shall pay off Evans and Hamilton, two other assistants.  I
+have now only Messrs. Padley and Clarke to finish the copy of plans for
+Parliament, which will be done in about a week or nine days’ time.”  It
+would appear however, that, notwithstanding all his exertions, Mr. James
+was unable to complete his plans and estimates in time for the ensuing
+Session; and another year was thus lost.  The Railroad Committee became
+impatient at the delay.  Mr. James’s financial embarrassments reached
+their climax; and, what with illness and debt, he was no longer in a
+position to fulfil his promises to the Committee.  They were, therefore,
+under the necessity of calling to their aid some other engineer.
+
+Mr. Sandars had by this time visited George Stephenson at Killingworth,
+and, like all who came within reach of his personal influence, was
+charmed with him at first sight.  The energy which he had displayed in
+carrying on the works of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, now
+approaching completion; his readiness to face difficulties, and his
+practical ability in overcoming them; the enthusiasm which he displayed
+on the subject of railways and railway locomotion,—concurred in
+satisfying Mr. Sandars that he was, of all men, the best calculated to
+help forward the Liverpool undertaking at this juncture.  On his return
+he stated this opinion to the Committee, who approved his recommendation,
+and George Stephenson was unanimously appointed engineer of the projected
+railway.
+
+It will be observed that Mr. Sandars had held to his original purpose
+with great determination and perseverance, and he gradually succeeded in
+enlisting on his side an increasing number of influential merchants and
+manufacturers both at Liverpool and Manchester.  Early in 1824 he
+published a pamphlet, in which he strongly urged the great losses and
+interruptions to the trade of the district by the delays in the
+forwarding of merchandise; and in the same year he had a Public
+Declaration drawn up, and signed by upwards of 150 of the principal
+merchants of Liverpool, setting forth that they considered “the present
+establishments for the transport of goods quite inadequate, and that a
+new line of conveyance has become absolutely necessary to conduct the
+increasing trade of the country with speed, certainty, and economy.”
+
+A public meeting was then held to consider the best plan to be adopted,
+and resolutions were passed in favour of a railroad.  A committee was
+appointed to take the necessary measures; but, as if reluctant to enter
+upon their arduous struggle with the “vested interests,” they first
+waited on Mr. Bradshaw, the Duke of Bridgewater’s canal agent, in the
+hope of persuading him to increase the means of conveyance, as well as to
+reduce the charges; but they were met by an unqualified refusal.  They
+suggested the expediency of a railway, and invited Mr. Bradshaw to become
+a proprietor of shares in it.  But his reply was—“All or none!”  The
+canal proprietors, confident in their imagined security, ridiculed the
+proposed railway as a chimera.  It had been spoken about years before,
+and nothing had come of it then: it would be the same now.
+
+In order to form a better opinion as to the practicability of the
+railroad, a deputation of gentlemen interested in the project proceeded
+to Killingworth, to inspect the engines which had been so long in use
+there.  They first went to Darlington, where they found the works of the
+Stockton line in progress, though still unfinished.  Proceeding next to
+Killingworth with Mr. Stephenson, they there witnessed the performances
+of his locomotive engines.  The result of their visit was, on the whole,
+so satisfactory, that on their report being delivered to the committee at
+Liverpool, it was finally determined to form a company of proprietors for
+the construction of a double line of railway between Liverpool and
+Manchester.
+
+The first prospectus of the scheme was dated the 29th October, 1824, and
+had attached to it the names of the leading merchants of Liverpool and
+Manchester.  It was a modest document, very unlike the inflated balloons
+which were sent up by railway speculators in succeeding years.  It set
+forth as its main object the establishment of a safe and cheap mode of
+transit for merchandise, by which the conveyance of goods between the two
+towns would be effected in 5 or 6 hours (instead of 36 hours by the
+canal), whilst the charges would be reduced one-third.  On looking at the
+prospectus now, it is curious to note that, while the advantages
+anticipated from the carriage of merchandise were strongly insisted upon,
+the conveyance of passengers—which proved to be the chief source of
+profit—was only very cautiously referred to.  “As a cheap and expeditious
+means of conveyance for travellers,” says the prospectus in conclusion,
+“the railway holds out the fair prospect of a public accommodation, the
+magnitude and importance of which cannot be immediately ascertained.”
+The estimated expense of forming the line was set down at £400,000,—a sum
+which was eventually found quite inadequate.  The subscription list when
+opened was filled up without difficulty.
+
+While the project was still under discussion, its promoters, desirous of
+removing the doubts which existed as to the employment of steam power on
+the proposed railway, sent a second deputation to Killingworth for the
+purpose of again observing the action of Stephenson’s engines.  The
+cautious projectors of the railway were not yet quite satisfied; and a
+third journey was made to Killingworth, in January, 1825, by several
+gentlemen of the committee, accompanied by practical engineers, for the
+purpose of being personal eye-witnesses of what steam-carriages were able
+to perform upon a railway.  There they saw a train, consisting of a
+locomotive and loaded waggons, weighing in all 54 tons, travelling at the
+average rate of about 7 miles an hour, the greatest speed being about 9½
+miles an hour.  But when the engine was run with only one waggon attached
+containing twenty gentlemen, five of whom were engineers, the speed
+attained was from 10 to 12 miles an hour.
+
+In the mean time the survey was proceeded with, in the face of great
+opposition from the proprietors of the lands through which the railway
+was intended to pass.  The prejudices of the farming and labouring
+classes were strongly excited against the persons employed upon the
+ground, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the levels could be
+taken.  At one place, Stephenson was driven off the ground by the
+keepers, and threatened to be ducked in the pond if found there again.
+The farmers also turned out their men to watch the surveying party, and
+prevent them entering upon any lands where they had the power of driving
+them off.
+
+One of the proprietors declared that he would order his game-keepers to
+shoot or apprehend any persons attempting a survey over his property.
+But one moonlight night a survey was obtained by the following ruse.
+Some men, under the orders of the surveying party, were set to fire off
+guns in a particular quarter; on which all the game-keepers on the watch
+made off in that direction, and they were drawn away to such a distance
+in pursuit of the supposed poachers, as to enable a rapid survey to be
+made during their absence.
+
+When the canal companies found that the Liverpool merchants were
+determined to proceed with their scheme—that they had completed their
+survey, and were ready to apply to Parliament for an Act to enable them
+to form the railway—they at last reluctantly, and with a bad grace, made
+overtures of conciliation.  They promised to employ steam-vessels both on
+the Mersey and on the Canal.  One of the companies offered to reduce its
+length by three miles, at a considerable outlay.  At the same time they
+made a show of lowering their rates.  But it was too late; for the
+project of the railway had now gone so far that the promoters (who might
+have been conciliated by such overtures at an earlier period) felt they
+were fully committed to it, and that now they could not well draw back.
+Besides, the remedies offered by the canal companies could only have had
+the effect of staving off the difficulty for a brief season,—the absolute
+necessity of forming a new line of communication between Liverpool and
+Manchester becoming more urgent from year to year.  Arrangements were
+therefore made for proceeding with the bill in the parliamentary session
+of 1825.
+
+On this becoming known, the canal companies prepared to resist the
+measure tooth and nail.  The public were appealed to on the subject;
+pamphlets were written and newspapers were hired to revile the railway.
+It was declared that its formation would prevent cows grazing and hens
+laying.  The poisoned air from the locomotives would kill birds as they
+flew over them, and render the preservation of pheasants and foxes no
+longer possible.  Householders adjoining the projected line were told
+that their houses would be burnt up by the fire thrown from the
+engine-chimneys; while the air around would be polluted by clouds of
+smoke.  There would no longer be any use for horses; and if railways
+extended, the species would become extinguished, and oats and hay be
+rendered unsaleable commodities.  Travelling by rail would be highly
+dangerous, and country inns would be ruined.  Boilers would burst and
+blow passengers to atoms.  But there was always this consolation to wind
+up with—that the weight of the locomotive would completely prevent its
+moving, and that railways, even if made, could _never_ be worked by
+steam-power.
+
+Indeed, when Mr. Stephenson, at the interviews with counsel, held
+previous to the Liverpool and Manchester bill going into Committee of the
+House of Commons, confidently stated his expectation of being able to
+impel his locomotive at the rate of 20 miles an hour, Mr. William
+Brougham, who was retained by the promoters to conduct their case,
+frankly told him that if he did not moderate his views, and bring his
+engine within a _reasonable_ speed, he would “inevitably damn the whole
+thing, and be himself regarded as a maniac fit only for Bedlam.”
+
+The idea thrown out by Stephenson, of travelling at a rate of speed
+double that of the fastest mail-coach, appeared at the time so
+preposterous that he was unable to find any engineer who would risk his
+reputation in supporting such “absurd views.”  Speaking of his isolation
+at the time, he subsequently observed, at a public meeting of railway men
+in Manchester: “He remembered the time when he had very few supporters in
+bringing out the railway system—when he sought England over for an
+engineer to support him in his evidence before Parliament, and could find
+only one man, James Walker, but was afraid to call that gentleman,
+because he knew nothing about railways.  He had then no one to tell his
+tale to but Mr. Sandars, of Liverpool, who did listen to him, and kept
+his spirits up; and his schemes had at length been carried out only by
+dint of sheer perseverance.”
+
+George Stephenson’s idea was at that time regarded as but the dream of a
+chimerical projector.  It stood before the public friendless, struggling
+hard to gain a footing, scarcely daring to lift itself into notice for
+fear of ridicule.  The civil engineers generally rejected the notion of a
+Locomotive Railway; and when no leading man of the day could be found to
+stand forward in support of the Killingworth mechanic, its chances of
+success must indeed have been pronounced but small.
+
+When such was the hostility of the civil engineers, no wonder the
+reviewers were puzzled.  The ‘Quarterly,’ in an able article in support
+of the projected Liverpool and Manchester Railway,—while admitting its
+absolute necessity, and insisting that there was no choice left but a
+railroad, on which the journey between Liverpool and Manchester, whether
+performed by horses or engines, would always be accomplished “within the
+day,”—nevertheless scouted the idea of travelling at a greater speed than
+eight or nine miles an hour.  Adverting to a project for forming a
+railway to Woolwich, by which passengers were to be drawn by locomotive
+engines, moving with twice the velocity of ordinary coaches, the reviewer
+observed:—“What can be more palpably absurd and ridiculous than the
+prospect held out of locomotives travelling _twice as fast_ as
+stagecoaches!  We would as soon expect the people of Woolwich to suffer
+themselves to be fired off upon one of Congreve’s ricochet rockets, as
+trust themselves to the mercy of such a machine going at such a rate.  We
+will back old Father Thames against the Woolwich Railway for any sum.  We
+trust that Parliament will, in all railways it may sanction, limit the
+speed to _eight or nine miles an hour_, which we entirely agree with Mr.
+Sylvester is as great as can be ventured on with safety.”
+
+At length the survey was completed, the plans were deposited, the
+requisite preliminary arrangements were made, and the promoters of the
+scheme applied to Parliament for the necessary powers to construct the
+railway.  The Bill went into Committee of the Commons on the 21st of
+March, 1825.  There was an extraordinary array of legal talent on the
+occasion, but especially on the side of the opponents to the measure;
+their counsel including Mr. (afterwards Baron) Alderson, Mr. (afterwards
+Baron) Parke, Mr. Harrison, and Mr. Erle.  The counsel for the bill were
+Mr. Adam, Mr. Serjeant Spankie, Mr. William Brougham, and Mr. Joy.
+
+Evidence was taken at great length as to the difficulties and delays in
+forwarding raw material of all kinds from Liverpool to Manchester, as
+also in the conveyance of manufactured goods from Manchester to
+Liverpool.  The evidence adduced in support of the bill on these grounds
+was overwhelming.  The utter inadequacy of the existing modes of
+conveyance to carry on satisfactorily the large and rapidly-growing trade
+between the two towns was fully proved.  But then came the gist of the
+promoter’s case—the evidence to prove the practicability of a railroad to
+be worked by locomotive power.  Mr. Adam, in his opening speech, referred
+to the cases of the Hetton and the Killingworth railroads, where heavy
+goods were safely and economically transported by means of locomotive
+engines.  “None of the tremendous consequences,” he observed, “have
+ensued from the use of steam in land carriage that have been stated.  The
+horses have not started, nor the cows ceased to give their milk, nor have
+ladies miscarried at the sight of these things going forward at the rate
+of four miles and a half an hour.”  Notwithstanding the petition of two
+ladies alleging the great danger to be apprehended from the bursting of
+the locomotive boilers, he urged the safety of the high-pressure engine
+when the boilers were constructed of wrought-iron; and as to the rate at
+which they could travel, he expressed his full conviction that such
+engines “could supply force to drive a carriage at the rate of five or
+six miles an hour.”
+
+The taking of the evidence as to the impediments thrown in the way of
+trade and commerce by the existing system extended over a month, and it
+was the 21st of April before the Committee went into the engineering
+evidence, which was the vital part of the question.
+
+On the 25th George Stephenson was called into the witness-box.  It was
+his first appearance before a Committee of the House of Commons, and he
+well knew what he had to expect.  He was aware that the whole force of
+the opposition was to be directed against him; and if they could break
+down his evidence, the canal monopoly might yet be upheld for a time.
+Many years afterwards, when looking back at his position on this trying
+occasion, he said:—“When I went to Liverpool to plan a line from thence
+to Manchester, I pledged myself to the directors to attain a speed of 10
+miles an hour.  I said I had no doubt the locomotive might be made to go
+much faster, but that we had better be moderate at the beginning.  The
+directors said I was quite right; for that if, when they went to
+Parliament, I talked of going at a greater rate than 10 miles an hour, I
+should put a cross upon the concern.  It was not an easy task for me to
+keep the engine down to 10 miles an hour, but it must be done, and I did
+my best.  I had to place myself in that most unpleasant of all
+positions—the witness-box of a Parliamentary Committee.  I was not long
+in it, before I began to wish for a hole to creep out at!  I could not
+find words to satisfy either the Committee or myself.  I was subjected to
+the cross-examination of eight or ten barristers, purposely, as far as
+possible, to bewilder me.  Some member of the Committee asked if I was a
+foreigner, and another hinted that I was mad.  But I put up with every
+rebuff, and went on with my plans, determined not to be put down.”
+
+Mr. Stephenson stood before the Committee to prove what the public
+opinion of that day held to be impossible.  The self-taught mechanic had
+to demonstrate the practicability of accomplishing that which the most
+distinguished engineers of the time regarded as impracticable.  Clear
+though the subject was to himself, and familiar as he was with the powers
+of the locomotive, it was no easy task for him to bring home his
+convictions, or even to convey his meaning, to the less informed minds of
+his hearers.  In his strong Northumbrian dialect, he struggled for
+utterance, in the face of the sneers, interruptions, and ridicule of the
+opponents of the measure, and even of the Committee, some of whom shook
+their heads and whispered doubts as to his sanity, when he energetically
+avowed that he could make the locomotive go at the rate of 12 miles an
+hour!  It was so grossly in the teeth of all the experience of honourable
+members, that the man “must certainly be labouring under a delusion!”
+
+And yet his large experience of railways and locomotives, as described by
+himself to the Committee, entitled this “untaught, inarticulate genius,”
+as he has so well been styled, to speak with confidence on such a
+subject.  Beginning with his experience as a brakesman at Killingworth in
+1803, he went on to state that he was appointed to take the entire charge
+of the steam-engines in 1813, and had superintended the railroads
+connected with the numerous collieries of the Grand Allies from that time
+downwards.  He had laid down or superintended the railways at Burradon,
+Mount Moor, Springwell, Bedlington, Hetton, and Darlington, besides
+improving those at Killingworth, South Moor, and Derwent Crook.  He had
+constructed fifty-five steam-engines, of which sixteen were locomotives.
+Some of these had been sent to France.  The engines constructed by him
+for the working of the Killingworth Railroad, eleven years before, had
+continued steadily at work ever since, and fulfilled his most sanguine
+expectations.  He was prepared to prove the safety of working
+high-pressure locomotives on a railroad, and the superiority of this mode
+of transporting goods over all others.  As to speed, he said he had
+recommended 8 miles an hour with 20 tons, and 4 miles an hour with 40
+tons; but he was quite confident that much more might be done.  Indeed,
+he had no doubt they might go at the rate of 12 miles.  As to the charge
+that locomotives on a railroad would so terrify the horses in the
+neighbourhood, that to travel on horseback or to plough the adjoining
+fields would be rendered highly dangerous, the witness said that horses
+learnt to take no notice of them, though there _were_ horses that would
+shy at a wheelbarrow.  A mail-coach was likely to be more shied at by
+horses than a locomotive.  In the neighbourhood of Killingworth, the
+cattle in the fields went on grazing while the engines passed them, and
+the farmers made no complaints.
+
+Mr. Alderson, who had carefully studied the subject, and was well skilled
+in practical science, subjected the witness to a protracted and severe
+cross-examination as to the speed and power of the locomotive, the stroke
+of the piston, the slipping of the wheels upon the rails, and various
+other points of detail.  Mr. Stephenson insisted that no slipping took
+place, as attempted to be extorted from him by the counsel.  He said, “It
+is impossible for slipping to take place so long as the adhesive weight
+of the wheel upon the rail is greater than the weight to be dragged after
+it.”  As to accidents, Stephenson said he knew of none that had occurred
+with his engines.  There had been one, he was told, at the Middleton
+Colliery, near Leeds, with a Blenkinsop engine.  The driver had been in
+liquor, and put a considerable load on the safety-valve, so that upon
+going forward the engine blew up and the man was killed.  But he added,
+if proper precautions had been used with that boiler, the accident could
+not have happened.  The following cross-examination occurred in reference
+to the question of speed:—
+
+“Of course,” he was asked, “when a body is moving upon a road, the
+greater the velocity the greater the momentum that is generated?”
+“Certainly.”—“What would be the momentum of 40 tons moving at the rate of
+12 miles an hour?”  “It would be very great.”—“Have you seen a railroad
+that would stand that?”  “Yes.”—“Where?”  “Any railroad that would bear
+going 4 miles an hour: I mean to say, that if it would bear the weight at
+4 miles an hour, it would bear it at 12.”—“Taking it at 4 miles an hour,
+do you mean to say that it would not require a stronger railway to carry
+the same weight 12 miles an hour?”  “I will give an answer to that.  I
+dare say every person has been over ice when skating, or seen persons go
+over, and they know that it would bear them better at a greater velocity
+than it would if they went slower; when they go quick, the weight in a
+measure ceases.”—“Is not that upon the hypothesis that the railroad is
+perfect?”  “It is; and I mean to make it perfect.”
+
+It is not necessary to state that to have passed the ordeal of so severe
+a cross-examination scatheless, needed no small amount of courage,
+intelligence, and ready shrewdness on the part of the witness.  Nicholas
+Wood, who was present on the occasion, has since stated that the point on
+which Stephenson was hardest pressed was that of speed.  “I believe,” he
+says, “that it would have lost the Company their bill if he had gone
+beyond 8 or 9 miles an hour.  If he had stated his intention of going 12
+or 15 miles an hour, not a single person would have believed it to be
+practicable.”
+
+The Committee also seem to have entertained considerable alarm as to the
+high rate of speed which had been spoken of, and proceeded to examine the
+witness further on the subject.  They supposed the case of the engine
+being upset when going at 9 miles an hour, and asked what, in such a
+case, would become of the cargo astern.  To which the witness replied
+that it would not be upset.  One of the members of the Committee pressed
+the witness a little further.  He put the following case:—“Suppose, now,
+one of these engines to be going along a railroad at the rate of 9 or 10
+miles an hour, and that a cow were to stray upon the line and get in the
+way of the engine; would not that, think you, be a very awkward
+circumstance?”  “Yes,” replied the witness, with a twinkle in his eye,
+“very awkward—_for the coo_!”  The honourable member did not proceed
+further with his cross-examination; to use a railway phrase, he was
+“shunted.”  Another asked if animals would not be very much frightened by
+the engine passing them, especially by the glare of the red-hot chimney?
+“But how would they know that it wasn’t painted?” said the witness.
+
+On the following day, the engineer was subjected to a very severe
+examination.  On that part of the scheme with which he was most
+practically conversant, his evidence was clear and conclusive.  Now, he
+had to give evidence on the plans made by his surveyors, and the
+estimates which had been founded on such plans.  So long as he was
+confined to locomotive engines and iron railroads, with the minutest
+details of which he was more familiar than any man living, he felt at
+home, and in his element.  But when the designs of bridges and the cost
+of constructing them had to be gone into, the subject being in a great
+measure new to him, his evidence was much less satisfactory.
+
+Mr. Alderson cross-examined him at great length on the plans of the
+bridges, the tunnels, the crossings of the roads and streets, and the
+details of the survey, which, it soon clearly appeared, were in some
+respects seriously at fault.  It seems that, after the plans had been
+deposited, Stephenson found that a much more favourable line might be
+made; and he made his estimates accordingly, supposing that Parliament
+would not confine the Company to the precise plan which had been
+deposited.  This was felt to be a serious blot in the parliamentary case,
+and one very difficult to be got over.
+
+For three entire days was our engineer subjected to this
+cross-examination.  He held his ground bravely, and defended the plans
+and estimates with remarkable ability and skill; but it was clear they
+were imperfect, and the result was on the whole damaging to the measure.
+
+The case of the opponents was next gone into, in the course of which the
+counsel indulged in strong vituperation against the witnesses for the
+bill.  One of them spoke of the utter impossiblity of making a railway
+upon so treacherous a material as Chat Moss, which was declared to be an
+immense mass of pulp, and nothing else.  “It actually,” said Mr.
+Harrison, “rises in height, from the rain swelling it like a sponge, and
+sinks again in dry weather; and if a boring instrument is put into it, it
+sinks immediately by its own weight.  The making of an embankment out of
+this pulpy, wet moss, is no very easy task.  Who but Mr. Stephenson would
+have thought of entering into Chat Moss, carrying it out almost like wet
+dung?  It is ignorance almost inconceivable.  It is perfect madness, in a
+person called upon to speak on a scientific subject, to propose such a
+plan.  Every part of this scheme shows that this man has applied himself
+to a subject of which he has no knowledge, and to which he has no science
+to apply.”  Then adverting to the proposal to work the intended line by
+means of locomotives, the learned gentleman proceeded: “When we set out
+with the original prospectus, we were to gallop, I know not at what rate;
+I believe it was at the rate of 12 miles an hour.  My learned friend, Mr.
+Adam, contemplated—possibly alluding to Ireland—that some of the Irish
+members would arrive in the waggons to a division.  My learned friend
+says that they would go at the rate of 12 miles an hour with the aid of
+the devil in the form of a locomotive, sitting as postilion on the fore
+horse, and an honourable member sitting behind him to stir up the fire,
+and keep it at full speed.  But the speed at which these locomotive
+engines are to go has slackened: Mr. Adam does not go faster now than 5
+miles an hour.  The learned serjeant (Spankie) says he should like to
+have 7, but he would be content to go 6.  I will show he cannot go 6; and
+probably, for any practical purposes, I may be able to show that I can
+keep up with him _by the canal_. . . .  Locomotive engines are liable to
+be operated upon by the weather.  You are told they are affected by rain,
+and an attempt has been made to cover them; but the wind will affect
+them; and any gale of wind which would affect the traffic on the Mersey
+would render it _impossible_ to set off a locomotive engine, either by
+poking of the fire, or keeping up the pressure of the steam till the
+boiler was ready to burst.”  How amusing it now is to read these
+extraordinary views as to the formation of a railway over Chat Moss, and
+the impossibility of starting a locomotive engine in the face of a gale
+of wind!
+
+Evidence was called to show that the house property passed by the
+proposed railway would be greatly deteriorated—in some places almost
+destroyed; that the locomotive engines would be terrible nuisances, in
+consequence of the fire and smoke vomited forth by them; and that the
+value of land in the neighbourhood of Manchester alone would be
+deteriorated by no less than £20,000!  Evidence was also given at great
+length showing the utter impossibility of forming a road of any kind upon
+Chat Moss.  A Manchester builder, who was examined, could not imagine the
+feat possible, unless by arching it across in the manner of a viaduct
+from one side to the other.  It was the old story of “nothing like
+leather.”  But the opposition mainly relied upon the evidence of the
+leading engineers—not like Stephenson, self-taught men, but regular
+professionals.  One of these, Mr. Francis Giles, C.E., had been
+twenty-two years an engineer, and could speak with some authority.  His
+testimony was mainly directed to the utter impossibility of forming a
+railway over Chat Moss.  “_No engineer in his senses_,” said he, “would
+go through Chat Moss if he wanted to make a railroad from Liverpool to
+Manchester. . . .  In my judgment _a railroad certainly cannot be safely
+made over Chat Moss without going to the bottom __of the Moss_.  The soil
+ought all to be taken out, undoubtedly; in doing which, it will not be
+practicable to approach each end of the cutting, as you make it, with the
+carriages.  No carriages would stand upon the Moss short of the bottom.
+My estimate for the whole cutting and embankment over Chat Moss is
+£270,000 nearly, at those quantities and those prices which are decidedly
+correct . . . It will be necessary to take this Moss completely out at
+the bottom, in order to make a solid road.”
+
+When the engineers had given their evidence, Mr. Alderson summed up in a
+speech which extended over two days.  He declared Mr. Stephenson’s plan
+to be “the most absurd scheme that ever entered into the head of man to
+conceive.  My learned friends,” said he, “almost endeavoured to stop my
+examination; they wished me to put in the plan, but I had rather have the
+exhibition of Mr. Stephenson in that box.  I say he never had a plan—I
+believe he never had one—I do not believe he is capable of making one.
+His is a mind perpetually fluctuating between opposite difficulties: he
+neither knows whether he is to make bridges over roads or rivers, of one
+size or of another; or to make embankments, or cuttings, or inclined
+planes, or in what way the thing is to be carried into effect.  Whenever
+a difficulty is pressed, as in the case of a tunnel, he gets out of it at
+one end, and when you try to catch him at that, he gets out at the
+other.”  Mr. Alderson proceeded to declaim against the gross ignorance of
+this so-called engineer, who proposed to make “impossible ditches by the
+side of an impossible railway” upon Chat Moss; “I care not,” he said,
+“whether Mr. Giles is right or wrong in his estimate, for whether it be
+effected by means of piers raised up all the way for four miles through
+Chat Moss, whether they are to support it on beams of wood or by erecting
+masonry, or whether Mr. Giles shall put a solid bank of earth through
+it,—in all these schemes there is not one found like that of Mr.
+Stephenson’s, namely, to cut impossible drains on the side of this road;
+and it is sufficient for me to suggest and to show, that this scheme of
+Mr. Stephenson’s is impossible or impracticable, and that no other
+scheme, if they proceed upon this line, can be suggested which will not
+produce enormous expense.  I think that has been irrefragably made out.
+Every one knows Chat Moss—every one knows that the iron sinks immediately
+on its being put upon the surface.  I have heard of culverts, which have
+been put upon the Moss, which, after having been surveyed the day before,
+have the next morning disappeared; and that a house (a poet’s house, who
+may be supposed in the habit of building castles even in the air), story
+after story, as fast as one is added, the lower one sinks!  There is
+nothing, it appears, except long sedgy grass, and a little soil to
+prevent its sinking into the shades of eternal night.  I have now done,
+sir, with Chat Moss, and there I leave this railroad.”
+
+The case of the principal petitioners against the bill occupied many more
+days, and on its conclusion the committee proceeded to divide on the
+preamble, which was carried by a majority of only _one_—37 voting for it,
+and 36 against it.  The clauses were next considered, and on a division
+the first clause, empowering the Company to make the railway, was lost by
+a majority of 19 to 13.  In like manner, the next clause, empowering the
+Company to take land, was lost; on which the bill was withdrawn.
+
+Thus ended this memorable contest, which had extended over two
+months—carried on throughout with great pertinacity and skill, especially
+on the part of the opposition, who left no stone unturned to defeat the
+measure.  The want of a third line of communication between Liverpool and
+Manchester had been clearly proved; but the engineering evidence in
+support of the proposed railway having been thrown almost entirely upon
+Stephenson, who fought this, the most important part of the battle,
+single-handed, was not brought out so clearly as it would have been, had
+he secured more efficient engineering assistance—which he was not able to
+do, as the principal engineers of that day were against the locomotive
+railway.  The obstacles thrown in the way of the survey by the landowners
+and canal companies, by which the plans were rendered exceedingly
+imperfect, also tended in a great measure to defeat the bill.
+
+The rejection of the bill was probably the most severe trial George
+Stephenson underwent in the whole course of his life.  The circumstances
+connected with the defeat of the measure, the errors in the levels, his
+rigid cross-examination, followed by the fact of his being superseded by
+another engineer, all told fearfully upon him, and for some time he was
+as much weighed down as if a personal calamity of the most serious kind
+had befallen him.
+
+Stephenson had been so terribly abused by the leading counsel for the
+opposition in the course of the proceedings before the
+Committee—stigmatised by them as an ignoramus, a fool, and a maniac—that
+even his friends seem for a time to have lost faith in him and in the
+locomotive system, whose efficiency he nevertheless continued to uphold.
+Things never looked blacker for the success of the railway system than at
+the close of this great parliamentary struggle.  And yet it was on the
+very eve of its triumph.
+
+The Committee of Directors appointed to watch the measure in Parliament
+were so determined to press on the project of a railway, even though it
+should have to be worked merely by horse-power, that the bill had
+scarcely been thrown out ere they met in London to consider their next
+step.  They called their parliamentary friends together to consult as to
+future proceedings; and the result was that they went back to Liverpool
+determined to renew their application to Parliament in the ensuing
+session.
+
+It was not considered desirable to employ Mr. Stephenson in making the
+new survey.  He had not as yet established his reputation as an engineer
+beyond the boundaries of his own district; and the promoters of the bill
+had doubtless felt the disadvantages of this in the course of their
+parliamentary struggle.  They therefore resolved now to employ engineers
+of the highest established reputation, as well as the best surveyors that
+could be obtained.  In accordance with these views they engaged Messrs.
+George and John Rennie to be the engineers of the railway; and Mr.
+Charles Vignolles was appointed to prepare the plans and sections.  The
+line which was eventually adopted differed somewhat from that surveyed by
+Mr. Stephenson.  The principal parks and game-preserves of the district
+were carefully avoided.  The promoters thus hoped to get rid of the
+opposition of the most influential of the resident landowners.  The
+crossing of certain of the streets of Liverpool was also avoided, and the
+entrance contrived by means of a tunnel and an inclined plane.  The new
+line stopped short of the river Irwell at the Manchester end, by which
+the objections grounded on an illegal interruption to the canal or river
+traffic were in some measure removed.  The opposition of the Duke of
+Bridgewater’s trustees was also got rid of, and the Marquis of Stafford
+became a subscriber for a thousand shares.  With reference to the use of
+the locomotive engine, the promoters, remembering with what effect the
+objections to it had been urged by the opponents of the bill, intimated,
+in their second prospectus, that “as a guarantee of their good faith
+towards the public they will not require any clause empowering them to
+use it; or they will submit to such restrictions in the employment of it
+as Parliament may impose.”
+
+The survey of the new line having been completed, the plans were
+deposited, the standing orders duly complied with, and the bill went
+before Parliament.  The same counsel appeared for the promoters, but the
+examination of witnesses was not nearly so protracted as on the previous
+occasion.  The preamble was declared proved by a majority of 43 to 18.
+On the third reading in the House of Commons, an animated, and what now
+appears a very amusing discussion took place.  The Hon. Edward Stanley
+moved that the bill be read that day six months; and in his speech he
+undertook to prove that the railway trains would take _ten hours_ on the
+journey, and that they could only be worked by horses.  Sir Isaac Coffin
+seconded the motion, and in doing so denounced the project as a most
+flagrant imposition.  He would not consent to see widows’ premises
+invaded; and “What, he would like to know, was to be done with all those
+who had advanced money in making and repairing turnpike-roads?  What was
+to become of coach-makers and harness-makers, coach-masters and coachmen,
+inn-keepers, horse-breeders, and horse-dealers?  Was the house aware of
+the smoke and the noise, the hiss and the whirl, which locomotive
+engines, passing at the rate of 10 or 12 miles an hour, would occasion?
+Neither the cattle ploughing in the fields or grazing in the meadows
+could behold them without dismay.  Iron would be raised in price 100 per
+cent., or more probably exhausted altogether!  It would be the greatest
+nuisance, the most complete disturbance of quiet and comfort in all parts
+of the kingdom, that the ingenuity of man could invent!”
+
+Mr. Huskisson and other speakers, though unable to reply to such
+arguments as these, strongly supported the bill; and it was carried on
+the third reading by a majority of 88 to 41.  The bill passed the House
+of Lords almost unanimously, its only opponents being the Earl of Derby
+and his relative the Earl of Wilton.
+
+                    [Picture: Surveying on Chat Moss]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+CHAT MOSS—CONSTRUCTION OF THE RAILWAY.
+
+
+The appointment of principal engineer to the railway was taken into
+consideration at the first meeting of the directors held at Liverpool
+subsequent to the passing of the Act.  The magnitude of the proposed
+works, and the vast consequences involved in their experiment, were
+deeply impressed upon their minds; and they resolved to secure the
+services of a resident engineer of proved experience and ability.  Their
+attention was naturally directed to Mr. Stephenson; at the same time they
+desired to have the benefit of the Messrs. Rennie’s professional
+assistance in superintending the works.  Mr. George Rennie had an
+interview with the Board on the subject, at which he proposed to
+undertake the chief superintendence, making six visits in each year, and
+stipulating that he should have the appointment of the resident engineer.
+But the responsibility attaching to the direction in the matter of the
+efficient carrying on of the works, would not admit of their being
+influenced by ordinary punctilios on the occasion; and they accordingly
+declined this proposal, and proceeded to appoint Mr. Stephenson their
+principal engineer at a salary of £1000 per annum.
+
+He at once removed his residence to Liverpool, and made arrangements to
+commence the works.  He began with the “impossible thing”—to do that
+which the most distinguished engineers of the day had declared that “no
+man in his senses would undertake to do”—namely, to make the road over
+Chat Moss!  It was indeed a most formidable undertaking; and the project
+of carrying a railway along, under, or over such a material as that of
+which it consisted, would certainly never have occurred to an ordinary
+mind.  Michael Drayton supposed the Moss to have had its origin at the
+Deluge.  Nothing more impassable could have been imagined than that
+dreary waste; and Mr. Giles only spoke the popular feeling of the day
+when he declared that no carriage could stand on it “short of the
+bottom.”  In this bog, singular to say, Mr. Roscoe, the accomplished
+historian of the Medicis, buried his fortune in the hopeless attempt to
+cultivate a portion of it which he had bought.
+
+Chat Moss is an immense peat bog of about twelve square miles in extent.
+Unlike the bogs or swamps of Cambridge and Lincolnshire, which consist
+principally of soft mud or silt, this bog is a vast mass of spongy
+vegetable pulp, the result of the growth and decay of ages.  The spagni,
+or bog-mosses, cover the entire area; one year’s growth rising over
+another,—the older growths not entirely decaying, but remaining partially
+preserved by the antiseptic properties peculiar to peat.  Hence the
+remarkable fact that, although a semifluid mass, the surface of Chat Moss
+rises above the level of the surrounding country.  Like a turtle’s back,
+it declines from the summit in every direction, having from thirty to
+forty feet gradual slope to the solid land on all sides.  From the
+remains of trees, chiefly alder and birch, which have been dug out of it,
+and which must have previously flourished upon the surface of soil now
+deeply submerged, it is probable that the sand and clay base on which the
+bog rests is saucer-shaped, and so retains the entire mass in position.
+In rainy weather, such is its capacity for water that it sensibly swells,
+and rises in those parts where the moss is the deepest.  This occurs
+through the capillary attraction of the fibres of the submerged moss,
+which is from 20 to 30 feet in depth, whilst the growing plants
+effectually check evaporation from the surface.  This peculiar character
+of the Moss has presented an insuperable difficulty in the way of
+reclaiming it by any system of extensive drainage—such as by sinking
+shafts, and pumping up the water by steam power, as has been proposed.
+Supposing a shaft of 30 feet deep to be sunk, it has been calculated that
+this would only be effectual for draining a circle of about 100 yards,
+the water running down an incline of about 5 to 1; for it was found in
+the course of draining the bog, that a ditch 3 feet deep only served to
+drain a space of less than 5 yards on each side, and two ditches of this
+depth, 10 yards apart, left a portion of the Moss between them scarcely
+affected by the drains.
+
+The three resident engineers selected by Mr. Stephenson to superintend
+the construction of the line, were Joseph Locke, William Allcard, and
+John Dixon.  The last was appointed to that portion which lay across the
+Moss, neither of the other two envying his lot.  On Mr. Dixon’s arrival,
+about July, 1826, Mr. Locke proceeded to show him over the length he was
+to take charge of, and to instal him in office.  When they reached Chat
+Moss, Mr. Dixon found that the line had already been staked out and the
+levels taken in detail by the aid of planks laid upon the bog.  The
+cutting of the drains along each side of the proposed road had also been
+commenced; but the soft pulpy stuff had up to this time flowed into the
+drains and filled them up as fast as they were cut.  Proceeding across
+the Moss, on the first day’s inspection, the new resident, when about
+halfway over, slipped off the plank on which he walked, and sank to his
+knees in the bog.  Struggling only sent him the deeper, and he might have
+disappeared altogether, but for the workmen, who hastened to his
+assistance upon planks, and rescued him from his perilous position.  Much
+disheartened, he desired to return, and even thought of giving up the
+job; but Mr. Locke assured him that the worst part was now past; so the
+new resident plucked up heart again, and both floundered on until they
+reached the further edge of the Moss, wet and plastered over with
+bog-sludge.  Mr. Dixon’s companions endeavoured to comfort him by the
+assurance that he might avoid similar perils, by walking upon “pattens,”
+or boards fastened to the soles of his feet, as they had done when taking
+the levels, and as the workmen did when engaged in making drains in the
+softest parts of the Moss.  The resident engineer was sorely puzzled in
+the outset by the problem of constructing a road for heavy locomotives,
+with trains of passengers and goods, upon a bog which he had found
+incapable of supporting his own weight!
+
+Mr. Stephenson’s idea was, that such a road might be made to _float_ upon
+the bog, simply by means of a sufficient extension of the bearing
+surface.  As a ship, or a raft, capable of sustaining heavy loads floated
+in water, so in his opinion, might a light road be floated upon a bog,
+which was of considerably greater consistency than water.  Long before
+the railway was thought of, Mr. Roscoe had adopted the remarkable
+expedient of fitting his plough-horses with flat wooden soles or pattens,
+to enable them to walk upon the Moss land which he had brought into
+cultivation.  These pattens were fitted on by means of a screw apparatus,
+which met in front of the foot and was easily fastened.  The mode by
+which these pattens served to sustain the horse is capable of easy
+explanation, and it will be observed that the _rationale_ likewise
+explains the floating of a railway train.  The foot of an ordinary
+farm-horse presents a base of about five inches diameter, but if this
+base be enlarged to seven inches—the circles being to each other as the
+squares of the diameters—it will be found that, by this slight
+enlargement of the base, a circle of nearly double the area has been
+secured; and consequently the pressure of the foot upon every unit of
+ground upon which the horse stands has been reduced one half.  In fact,
+this contrivance has an effect tantamount to setting the horse upon eight
+feet instead of four.
+
+Apply the same reasoning to the ponderous locomotive, and it will be
+found, that even such a machine may be made to stand upon a bog, by means
+of a similar extension of the bearing surface.  Suppose the engine to be
+20 feet long and 5 feet wide, thus covering a surface of 100 square feet,
+and, provided the bearing has been extended by means of cross sleepers
+supported on a matting of heath and branches of trees covered with a few
+inches of gravel, the pressure of an engine of 20 tons will be only equal
+to about 3 pounds per inch over the whole surface on which it stands.
+Such was George Stephenson’s idea in contriving his floating
+road—something like an elongated raft across the Moss; and we shall see
+that he steadily kept it in view in carrying the work into execution.
+
+The first thing done was to form a footpath of ling or heather along the
+proposed road, on which a man might walk without risk of sinking.  A
+single line of temporary railway was then laid down, formed of ordinary
+cross-bars about 3 feet long and an inch square, with holes punched
+through them at the ends and nailed down to temporary sleepers.  Along
+this way ran the waggons in which were conveyed the materials requisite
+to form the permanent road.  These waggons carried about a ton each, and
+they were propelled by boys running behind them along the narrow iron
+rails.  The boys became so expert that they would run the 4 miles across
+at the rate of 7 or 8 miles an hour without missing a step; if they had
+done so, they would have sunk in many places up to their middle.  A
+comparatively slight extension of the bearing surface being found
+sufficient to enable the bog to bear this temporary line, the
+circumstance was a source of increased confidence and hope to our
+engineer in proceeding with the formation of the permanent roadway
+alongside.
+
+The digging of drains had been proceeding for some time along each side
+of the intended line; but they filled up almost as soon as dug, the sides
+flowing in, and the bottom rising up.  It was only in some of the drier
+parts of the bog that a depth of three or four feet could be reached.
+The surface-ground between the drains, containing the intertwined roots
+of heather and long grass, was left untouched, and upon this was spread
+branches of trees and hedge-cuttings.  In the softest places, rude gates
+or hurdles, some 8 or 9 feet long by 4 feet wide, interwoven with
+heather, were laid in double thicknesses, their ends overlapping each
+other; and upon this floating bed was spread a thin layer of gravel, on
+which the sleepers, chairs, and rails were laid in the usual manner.
+Such was the mode in which the road was formed upon the Moss.
+
+It was found, however, after the permanent way had been thus laid, that
+there was a tendency to sinking at those parts where the bog was softest.
+In ordinary cases, where a bank subsides, the sleepers are packed up with
+ballast or gravel; but in this case the ballast was dug away and removed
+in order to lighten the road, and the sleepers were packed instead with
+cakes of dry turf or bundles of heath.  By these expedients the subsided
+parts were again floated up to the level, and an approach was made
+towards a satisfactory road.  But the most formidable difficulties were
+encountered at the centre and towards the edges of the Moss; and it
+required no small degree of ingenuity and perseverance on the part of the
+engineer successfully to overcome them.
+
+The Moss, as already observed, was highest in the centre, and it there
+presented a sort of hunchback with a rising and falling gradient.  At
+that point it was found necessary to cut deeper drains in order to
+consolidate the ground between them on which the road was to be formed.
+But, as at other places, the deeper the cutting the more rapid was the
+flow of fluid bog into the drain, the bottom rising up almost as fast as
+it was removed.  To meet this emergency, numbers of empty tar-barrels
+were brought from Liverpool; and as soon as a few yards of drain were
+dug, the barrels were laid down end to end, firmly fixed to each other by
+strong slabs laid over the joints, and nailed.  They were then covered
+over with clay, and thus formed an underground sewer of wood instead of
+bricks.  This expedient was found to answer the purpose intended, and the
+road across the centre of the Moss having been so prepared, it was then
+laid with the permanent materials.
+
+The greatest difficulty was, however, experienced in forming an
+embankment upon the edge of the bog at the Manchester end.  Moss as dry
+as it could be cut, was brought up in small waggons, by men and boys, and
+emptied so as to form an embankment; but the bank had scarcely been
+raised three or four feet in height, when the stuff broke through the
+heathery surface of the bog and sank out of sight.  More moss was brought
+up and emptied with no better result; and for weeks the filling was
+continued without any visible embankment having been made.  It was the
+duty of the resident engineer to proceed to Liverpool every fortnight to
+obtain the wages for the workmen employed under him; and on these
+occasions he was required to colour up, on a section drawn to a working
+scale suspended against the wall of the directors’ room, the amount of
+excavation and embankment from time to time executed.  But on many of
+these occasions, Mr. Dixon had no progress whatever to show for the money
+expended on the Chat Moss embankment.  Sometimes, indeed, the visible
+work done was _less_ than it had appeared a fortnight or a month before!
+
+The directors now became seriously alarmed, and feared that the evil
+prognostications of the eminent engineers were about to be fulfilled.
+The resident engineer was even called upon to supply an estimate of the
+cost of forming an embankment of solid stuff throughout, as also of the
+cost of piling the roadway, and in effect constructing a four mile
+viaduct of timber across the Moss, from twenty to thirty feet high from
+the foundation.  The expense appalled the directors, and the question
+arose, whether the work was to be proceeded with or _abandoned_!
+
+Mr. Stephenson afterwards described the alarming position of affairs at a
+public dinner at Birmingham (23rd December, 1837), on the occasion of a
+piece of plate being presented to his son, upon the completion of the
+London and Birmingham Railway.  He related the anecdote, he said, for the
+purpose of impressing upon the minds of those who heard him the necessity
+of perseverance.
+
+“After working for weeks and weeks,” said he, “in filling in materials to
+form the road, there did not yet appear to be the least sign of our being
+able to raise the solid embankment one single inch; in short we went on
+filling in without the slightest apparent effect.  Even my assistants
+began to feel uneasy, and to doubt of the success of the scheme.  The
+directors, too, spoke of it as a hopeless task: and at length they became
+seriously alarmed, so much so, indeed, that a board meeting was held on
+Chat Moss to decide whether I should proceed any further.  They had
+previously taken the opinion of other engineers, who reported
+unfavourably.  There was no help for it, however, but to go on.  An
+immense outlay had been incurred; and great loss would have been
+occasioned had the scheme been then abandoned, and the line taken by
+another route.  So the directors were _compelled_ to allow me to go on
+with my plans, of the ultimate success of which I myself never for one
+moment doubted.”
+
+During the progress of this part of the works, the Worsley and Trafford
+men, who lived near the Moss, and plumed themselves upon their practical
+knowledge of bog-work, declared the completion of the road to be utterly
+impracticable.  “If you knew as much about Chat Moss as we do,” they
+said, “you would never have entered on so rash an undertaking; and depend
+upon it, all you have done and are doing will prove abortive.  You must
+give up the idea of a floating railway, and either fill the Moss hard
+from the bottom, or deviate so as to avoid it altogether.”  Such were the
+conclusions of science and experience.
+
+In the midst of all these alarms and prophecies of failure, Stephenson
+never lost heart, but held to his purpose.  His motto was “Persevere!”
+“You must go on filling in,” he said; “there is no other help for it.
+The stuff emptied in is doing its work out of sight, and if you will but
+have patience, it will soon begin to show.”  And so the filling in went
+on; several hundreds of men and boys were employed to skin the Moss all
+round for many thousand yards, by means of sharp spades, called by the
+turf cutters “tommy-spades;” and the dried cakes of turf were afterwards
+used to form the embankment, until at length as the stuff sank and rested
+upon the bottom, the bank gradually rose above the surface, and slowly
+advanced onwards, declining in height and consequently in weight, until
+it became joined to the floating road already laid upon the Moss.  In the
+course of forming the embankment, the pressure of the bog turf tipped out
+of the waggons caused a copious stream of bog-water to flow from the end
+of it, in colour resembling Barclay’s double stout; and when completed,
+the bank looked like a long ridge of tightly pressed tobacco-leaf.  The
+compression of the turf may be imagined from the fact that 670,000 cubic
+yards of raw moss formed only 277,000 cubic yards of embankment at the
+completion of the work.
+
+At the western, or Liverpool end of the Chat Moss, there was a like
+embankment; but, as the ground there was solid, little difficulty was
+experienced in forming it, beyond the loss of substance caused by the
+oozing out of the water held by the moss-earth.
+
+At another part of the Liverpool and Manchester line, Parr Moss was
+crossed by an embankment about 1½ mile in extent.  In the immediate
+neighbourhood was found a large excess of cutting, which it would have
+been necessary to “put out in spoil-banks” (according to the technical
+phrase); but the surplus clay, stone, and shale, were tipped, waggon
+after waggon, into Parr Moss, until a solid but concealed embankment,
+from fifteen to twenty-five feet high, was formed, although to the eye it
+appears to be laid upon the level of the adjoining surface, as at Chat
+Moss.
+
+The road across Chat Moss was finished by the 1st January, 1830, when the
+first experimental train of passengers passed over it, drawn by the
+“Rocket;” and it turned out that, instead of being the most expensive
+part of the line, it was about the cheapest.  The total cost of forming
+the line over the Moss was £28,000, whereas Mr. Giles’s estimate was
+£270,000!  It also proved to be one of the best portions of the railway.
+Being a floating road, it was smooth and easy to run upon, just as Dr.
+Arnott’s water-bed is soft and easy to lie upon—the pressure being equal
+at all points.  There was, and still is, a sort of springiness in the
+road over the Moss, such as is felt in passing along a suspended bridge;
+and those who looked along the line as a train passed over it, said they
+could observe a waviness, such as precedes and follows a skater upon ice.
+
+During the progress of these works the most ridiculous rumours were set
+afloat.  The drivers of the stage-coaches who feared for their calling,
+brought the alarming intelligence into Manchester from time to time, that
+“Chat Moss was blown up!”  “Hundreds of men and horses had sunk; and the
+works were completely abandoned!”  The engineer himself was declared to
+have been swallowed up in the Serbonian bog; and “railways were at an end
+for ever!”
+
+In the construction of the railway, Mr. Stephenson’s capacity for
+organising and directing the labours of a large number of workmen of all
+kinds eminently displayed itself.  A vast quantity of ballast-waggons had
+to be constructed, and implements and materials collected, before the
+army of necessary labourers could be efficiently employed at the various
+points of the line.  There were not at that time, as there are now, large
+contractors possessed of railway plant, capable of executing earth-works
+on a large scale.  The first railway engineer had not only to contrive
+the plant, but to organise and direct the labour.  The labourers
+themselves had to be trained to their work; and it was on the Liverpool
+and Manchester line that Mr. Stephenson organised the staff of that
+mighty band of railway navvies, whose handiworks will be the wonder and
+admiration of succeeding generations.  Looking at their gigantic traces,
+the men of some future age may be found to declare of the engineer and of
+his workmen, that “there were giants in those days.”
+
+Although the works of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway are of a much
+less formidable character than those of many lines that have since been
+constructed, they were then regarded as of the most stupendous
+description.  In deed, the like of them had not before been executed in
+England.  It had been our engineer’s original intention carry the railway
+from the north end of Liverpool, round the red-sandstone ridge on which
+the upper part of the town is built, and also round the higher rise of
+the coal formation at Rainhill, by following the natural levels.  But the
+opposition of the landowners having forced the line more to the south, it
+was rendered necessary to cut through the hills, and go over the high
+grounds instead of round them.  The first consequence of this alteration
+in the plans was the necessity for constructing a tunnel under the town
+of Liverpool 1½ mile in length; the second, a long and deep cutting
+through the red-sandstone rock at Olive Mount; and the third and most
+serious of all, was the necessity for surmounting the Whiston and Sutton
+hills by inclined planes of 1 in 96.  The line was also, by the same
+forced deviation, prevented passing through the Lancashire coal-field,
+and the engineer was compelled to carry it across the Sankey valley, at a
+point where the waters of the brook had dug out an excessively deep
+channel through the marl-beds of the district.
+
+The principal difficulty was experienced in pushing on the works
+connected with the formation of the tunnel under Liverpool, 2200 yards in
+length.  The blasting and hewing of the rock were vigorously carried on
+night and day; and the engineer’s practical experience in the collieries
+here proved of great use to him.  Many obstacles had to be encountered
+and overcome in the formation of the tunnel, the rock varying in hardness
+and texture at different parts.  In some places the miners were deluged
+by water, which surged from the soft blue shale found at the lowest level
+of the tunnel.  In other places, beds of wet sand were cut through; and
+there careful propping and pinning were necessary to prevent the roof
+from tumbling in, until the masonry to support it could be erected.  On
+one occasion, while the engineer was absent from Liverpool, a mass of
+loose moss-earth and sand fell from the roof, which had been
+insufficiently propped.  The miners withdrew from the work; and on
+Stephenson’s return, he found them in a refractory state, refusing to
+re-enter the tunnel.  He induced them, however, by his example, to return
+to their labours; and when the roof had been secured, the work went on
+again as before.  When there was danger, he was always ready to share it
+with the men; and gathering confidence from his fearlessness, they
+proceeded vigorously with the undertaking, boring and mining their way
+towards the light.
+
+                      [Picture: Olive Mount Cutting]
+
+The Olive Mount cutting was the first extensive stone cutting executed on
+any railway, and to this day it is one of the most formidable.  It is
+about two miles long, and in some parts 80 feet deep.  It is a narrow
+ravine or defile cut out of the solid rock; and not less than 480,000
+cubic yards of stone were removed from it.  Mr. Vignolles, afterwards
+describing it, said it looked as if it had been dug out by giants.
+
+The crossing of so many roads and streams involved the necessity for
+constructing an unusual number of bridges.  There were not fewer than 63,
+under or over the railway, on the 30 miles between Liverpool and
+Manchester.  Up to this time, bridges had been applied generally to high
+roads where inclined approaches were of comparatively small importance,
+and in determining the rise of his arch the engineer selected any headway
+he thought proper.  Every consideration was indeed made subsidiary to
+constructing the bridge itself, and the completion of one large structure
+of this sort was regarded as an epoch in engineering history.  Yet here,
+in the course of a few years, no fewer than 63 bridges were constructed
+on one line of railway!  Mr. Stephenson early found that the ordinary
+arch was inapplicable in certain cases, where the headway was limited,
+and yet the level of the railway must be preserved.  In such cases he
+employed simple cast-iron beams, by which he safely bridged gaps of
+moderate width, economizing headway, and introducing the use of a new
+material of the greatest possible value to the railway engineer.  The
+bridges of masonry upon the line were of many kinds; several of them
+askew bridges, and others, such as those at Newton and over the Irwell at
+Manchester, straight and of considerable dimensions; but the principal
+piece of masonry was the Sankey viaduct.
+
+                        [Picture: Sankey Viaduct]
+
+This fine work is principally of brick, with stone facings.  It consists
+of nine arches of fifty feet span each.  The massive piers are supported
+on two hundred piles driven deep into the soil; and they rise to a great
+height,—the coping of the parapet being seventy feet above the level of
+the valley, in which flow the Sankey brook and canal.  Its total cost was
+about £45,000.
+
+By the end of 1828 the directors found they had expended £460,000 on the
+works, and that they were still far from completion.  They looked at the
+loss of interest on this large investment, and began to grumble at the
+delay.  They desired to see their capital becoming productive; and in the
+spring of 1829 they urged the engineer to push on the works with
+increased vigour.  Mr. Cropper, one of the directors, who took an active
+interest in their progress, said to Stephenson one day, “Now, George,
+thou must get on with the railway, and have it finished without further
+delay; thou must really have it ready for opening by the first day of
+January next.”  “Consider the heavy character of the works, sir, and how
+much we have been delayed by the want of money, not to speak of the
+wetness of the weather: it is impossible.”  “Impossible!” rejoined
+Cropper; “I wish I could get Napoleon to thee—he would tell thee there is
+no such word as ‘impossible’ in the vocabulary.”  “Tush!” exclaimed
+Stephenson, with warmth; “don’t speak to me about Napoleon!  Give me men,
+money, and materials, and I will do what Napoleon couldn’t do—drive a
+railway from Liverpool to Manchester over Chat Moss!”
+
+The works made rapid progress in the course of the year 1829.  Double
+sets of labourers were employed on Chat Moss and at other points, by
+night and day, the night shifts working by torch and fire light; and at
+length, the work advancing at all points, the directors saw their way to
+the satisfactory completion of the undertaking.
+
+It may well be supposed that Mr. Stephenson’s time was fully occupied in
+superintending the extensive, and for the most part novel works,
+connected with the railway, and that even his extraordinary powers of
+labour and endurance were taxed to the utmost during the four years that
+they were in progress.  Almost every detail in the plans was directed and
+arranged by himself.  Every bridge, from the simplest to the most
+complicated, including the then novel structure of the “skew bridge,”
+iron girders, siphons, fixed engines, and the machinery for working the
+tunnel at the Liverpool end, had to be thought out by his own head, and
+reduced to definite plans under his own eyes.  Besides all this, he had
+to design the working plant in anticipation of the opening of the
+railway.  He must be prepared with waggons, trucks, and carriages,
+himself superintending their manufacture.  The permanent road,
+turntables, switches, and crossings,—in short, the entire structure and
+machinery of the line, from the turning of the first sod to the running
+of the first train of carriages upon the railway,—were executed under his
+immediate supervision.  And it was in the midst of this vast accumulation
+of work and responsibility that the battle of the locomotive engine had
+to be fought,—a battle, not merely against material difficulties, but
+against the still more trying obstructions of deeply-rooted mistrust and
+prejudice on the part of a considerable minority of the directors.
+
+He had no staff of experienced assistants,—not even a staff of
+draughtsmen in his office,—but only a few pupils learning their business;
+and he was frequently without even their help.  The time of his
+engineering inspectors was fully occupied in the actual superintendence
+of the works at different parts of the line; and he took care to direct
+all their more important operations in person.  The principal draughtsman
+was Mr. Thomas Gooch, a pupil he had brought with him from Newcastle.  “I
+may say,” writes Mr. Gooch, “that nearly the whole of the working and
+other drawings, as well as the various land-plans for the railway, were
+drawn by my own hand.  They were done at the Company’s office in Clayton
+Square during the day, from instructions supplied in the evenings by Mr.
+Stephenson, either by word of mouth, or by little rough hand-sketches on
+letter-paper.  The evenings were also generally devoted to my duties as
+secretary, in writing (mostly from his own dictation) his letters and
+reports, or in making calculations and estimates.  The mornings before
+breakfast were not unfrequently spent by me in visiting and lending a
+helping hand in the tunnel and other works near Liverpool,—the untiring
+zeal and perseverance of George Stephenson never for an instant flagging
+and inspiring with a like enthusiasm all who were engaged under him in
+carrying forward the works.” {189}
+
+The usual routine of his life at this time—if routine it might be
+called—was, to rise early, by sunrise in summer and before it in winter,
+and thus “break the back of the day’s work” by mid-day.  While the tunnel
+under Liverpool was in progress, one of his first duties in a morning
+before breakfast was to go over the various shafts, clothed in a suitable
+dress, and inspect their progress at different points; on other days he
+would visit the extensive workshops at Edgehill, where most of the
+“plant” for the line was in course of manufacture.  Then, returning to
+his house, in Upper Parliament Street, Windsor, after a hurried
+breakfast, he would ride along the works to inspect their progress, and
+push them on with greater energy where needful.  On other days he would
+prepare for the much less congenial engagement of meeting the Board,
+which was often a cause of great anxiety and pain to him; for it was
+difficult to satisfy men of all tempers, and some of these not of the
+most generous sort.  On such occasions he might be seen with his
+right-hand thumb thrust through the topmost button-hole of his
+coat-breast, vehemently hitching his right shoulder, as was his habit
+when labouring under any considerable excitement.  Occasionally he would
+take an early ride before breakfast, to inspect the progress of the
+Sankey viaduct.  He had a favourite horse, brought by him from Newcastle,
+called “Bobby,”—so tractable that, with his rider on his back, he would
+walk up to a locomotive with the steam blowing off, and put his nose
+against it without shying.  “Bobby,” saddled and bridled, was brought to
+Mr. Stephenson’s door betimes in the morning; and mounting him, he would
+ride the fifteen miles to Sankey, putting up at a little public house
+which then stood upon the banks of the canal.  There he had his breakfast
+of “crowdie,” which he made with his own hands.  It consisted of oatmeal
+stirred into a basin of hot water,—a sort of porridge,—which was supped
+with cold sweet milk.  After this frugal breakfast, he would go upon the
+works, and remain there, riding from point to point for the greater part
+of the day.  When he returned before mid-day, he examined the pay-sheets
+in the different departments, sent in by the assistant engineers, or by
+the foremen of the workshops.  To all these he gave his most careful
+personal attention, requiring when necessary a full explanation of the
+items.
+
+After a late dinner, which occupied very short time and was always of a
+plain and frugal description, he disposed of his correspondence, or
+prepared sketches of drawings, and gave instructions as to their
+completion.  He would occasionally refresh himself for this evening work
+by a short doze, which, however, he would never admit had exceeded the
+limits of “winking,” to use his own term.  Mr. Frederick Swanwick, who
+officiated as his secretary, after the appointment of Mr. Gooch as
+Resident Engineer to the Bolton and Leigh Railway, has informed us that
+he then remarked—what in after years he could better appreciate—the
+clear, terse, and vigorous style of Mr. Stephenson’s dictation.  There
+was nothing superfluous in it; but it was close, direct, and to the
+point,—in short, thoroughly businesslike.  And if, in passing through the
+pen of the amanuensis, his meaning happened in any way to be distorted or
+modified, it did not fail to escape his detection, though he was always
+tolerant of any liberties taken with his own form of expression, so long
+as the words written down conveyed his real meaning.
+
+His letters and reports written, and his sketches of drawings made and
+explained, the remainder of the evening was usually devoted to
+conversation with his wife and those of his pupils who lived under his
+roof, and constituted, as it were, part of the family.  He then delighted
+to test the knowledge of his young companions, and to question them upon
+the principles of mechanics.  If they were not quite “up to the mark” on
+any point, there was no escaping detection by evasive or specious
+explanations.  These always brought out the verdict, “Ah! you know nought
+about it now; but think it over again, and tell me when you understand
+it.”  If there were even partial success in the reply, it was at once
+acknowledged, and a full explanation given, to which the master would add
+illustrative examples for the purpose of impressing the principle more
+deeply upon the pupil’s mind.
+
+It was not so much his object and purpose to “cram” the minds of the
+young men committed to his charge with the _results_ of knowledge, as to
+stimulate them to educate themselves—to induce them to develop their
+mental and moral powers by the exercise of their own free energies, and
+thus acquire that habit of self-thinking and self-reliance which is the
+spring of all true manly action.  In a word, he sought to bring out and
+invigorate the _character_ of his pupils.  He felt that he himself had
+been made stronger and better through his encounters with difficulty; and
+he would not have the road of knowledge made too smooth and easy for
+them.  “Learn for yourselves,—think for yourselves,” he would say:—“make
+yourselves masters of principles,—persevere,—be industrious,—and there is
+then no fear of you.”  And not the least emphatic proof of the soundness
+of this system of education, as conducted by Mr. Stephenson, was afforded
+by the after history of these pupils themselves.  There was not one of
+those trained under his eye who did not rise to eminent usefulness and
+distinction as an engineer.  He sent them forth into the world braced
+with the spirit of manly self-help—inspired by his own noble example; and
+they repeated in their after career the lessons of earnest effort and
+persistent industry which his daily life had taught them.
+
+Stephenson’s evenings at home were not, however, exclusively devoted
+either to business or to the graver exercises above referred to.  He
+would often indulge in cheerful conversation and anecdote, falling back
+from time to time upon the struggles and difficulties of his early life.
+The not unfrequent winding up of his story addressed to the young men
+about him, was, “Ah! ye young fellows don’t know what _wark_ is in these
+days!”  Mr. Swanwick takes pleasure in recalling to mind how seldom, if
+ever, a cross or captious word, or an angry look, marred the enjoyment of
+those evenings.  The presence of Mrs. Stephenson gave them an additional
+charm: amiable, kind-hearted, and intelligent, she shared quietly in the
+pleasure of the party; and the atmosphere of comfort which always
+pervaded her home contributed in no small degree to render it a centre of
+cheerful, hopeful intercourse, and of earnest, honest industry.  She was
+a wife who well deserved, what she through life retained, the strong and
+unremitting affection of her husband.
+
+When Mr. Stephenson retired for the night, it was not always that he
+permitted himself to sink into slumber.  Like Brindley, he worked out
+many a difficult problem in bed; and for hours he would turn over in his
+mind and study how to overcome some obstacle, or to mature some project,
+on which his thoughts were bent.  Some remark inadvertently dropped by
+him at the breakfast-table in the morning, served to show that he had
+been stealing some hours from the past night in reflection and study.
+Yet he would rise at his accustomed early hour, and there was no
+abatement of his usual energy in carrying on the business of the day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+ROBERT STEPHENSON’S RESIDENCE IN COLOMBIA, AND RETURN—THE BATTLE OF THE
+LOCOMOTIVE—“THE ROCKET.”
+
+
+We return to the career of Robert Stephenson, who had been absent from
+England during the construction of the Liverpool railway, but was shortly
+about to join his father and take part in “the battle of the locomotive,”
+which was now impending.
+
+On his return from Edinburgh College in the summer of 1823, he had
+assisted in the survey of the Stockton and Darlington line; and when the
+Locomotive Engine Works were started in Forth Street, Newcastle, he took
+an active part in that concern.  “The factory,” he says, “was in active
+operation early in 1824; I left England for Colombia in June of that
+year, having finished drawing the designs of the Brusselton stationary
+engines for the Stockton and Darlington Railway before I left.” {193}
+
+Speculation was very rife at the time; and amongst the most promising
+adventures were the companies organised for the purpose of working the
+gold and silver mines of South America.  Great difficulty was experienced
+in finding mining engineers capable of carrying out those projects, and
+young men of even the most moderate experience were eagerly sought after.
+The Columbian Mining Association of London offered an engagement to young
+Stephenson, to go out to Mariquita and take charge of the engineering
+operations of that company.  Robert was himself desirous of accepting it,
+but his father said it would first be necessary to ascertain whether the
+proposed change would be for his good.  His health had been very delicate
+for some time, partly occasioned by his rapid growth, but principally
+because of his close application to work and study.  Father and son
+together called upon Dr. Headlam, the eminent physician of Newcastle, to
+consult him on the subject.  During the examination which ensued, Robert
+afterwards used to say that he felt as if he were upon trial for life or
+death.  To his great relief, the doctor pronounced that a temporary
+residence in a warm climate was the very thing likely to be most
+beneficial to him.  The appointment was accordingly accepted, and, before
+many weeks had passed, Robert Stephenson set sail for South America.
+
+After a tolerably prosperous voyage he landed at La Guayra, on the north
+coast of Venezuela, on the 23rd July, from thence proceeding to Caraccas,
+the capital of the district, about 15 miles inland.  There he remained
+for two months, unable to proceed in consequence of the wretched state of
+the roads in the interior.  He contrived, however, to make occasional
+excursions in the neighbourhood, with an eye to the mining business on
+which he had come.  About the beginning of October he set out for Bogota,
+the capital of Columbia or New Granada.  The distance was about 1200
+miles, through a very difficult region, and it was performed entirely
+upon mule-back after the fashion of the country.
+
+In the course of the journey Robert visited many of the districts
+reported to be rich in minerals, but he met with few traces except of
+copper, iron, and coal, with occasional indications of gold and silver.
+He found the people ready to furnish information, which, however, when
+tested, usually proved worthless.  A guide whom he employed for weeks,
+kept him buoyed up with the hope of richer mining quarters than he had
+yet seen; but when he professed to be able to show him mines of “brass,
+steel, alcohol, and pinchbeck,” Stephenson discovered him to be an
+incorrigible rogue, and immediately dismissed him.  At length our
+traveller reached Bogota, and after an interview with Mr. Illingworth,
+the commercial manager of the mining Company, he proceeded to Honda,
+crossed the Magdalena, and shortly after reached the site of his intended
+operations on the eastern slopes of the Andes.
+
+Mr. Stephenson used afterwards to speak in glowing terms of this his
+first mule-journey in South America.  Everything was entirely new to him.
+The variety and beauty of the indigenous plants, the luxurious tropical
+vegetation, the appearance, manners, and dress of the people, and the
+mode of travelling, were altogether different from everything he had
+before seen.  His own travelling garb also must have been strange even to
+himself.  “My hat,” he says, “was of plaited grass, with a crown nine
+inches in height, surrounded by a brim of six inches; a white cotton
+suit; and a _ruana_ of blue and crimson plaid, with a hole in the centre
+for the head to pass through.  This cloak is admirably adapted for the
+purpose, amply covering the rider and mule, and at night answering the
+purpose of a blanket in the net-hammock, which is made from fibres of the
+aloe, and which every traveller carries before him on his mule, and
+suspends to the trees or in houses, as occasion may require.”  The part
+of the journey which seems to have made the most lasting impression on
+his mind was that between Bogota and the mining district in the
+neighbourhood of Mariquita.  As he ascended the slopes of the
+mountain-range, and reached the first step of the table-land, he was
+struck beyond expression with the noble view of the valley of the
+Magdalena behind him, so vast that he failed in attempting to define the
+point at which the course of the river blended with the horizon.  Like
+all travellers in the district, he noted the remarkable changes of
+climate and vegetation, as he rose from the burning plains towards the
+fresh breath of the mountains.  From an atmosphere as hot as that of an
+oven he passed into delicious cool air; until, in his onward and upward
+journey, a still more temperate region was reached, the very perfection
+of climate.  Before him rose the majestic Cordilleras, forming a rampart
+against the western skies, at certain times of the day looking black,
+sharp, and, at their summit, almost as even as a wall.
+
+Our engineer took up his abode for a time at Mariquita, a fine old city,
+though then greatly decayed.  During the period of the Spanish dominion,
+it was an important place, most of the gold and silver convoys passing
+through it on their way to Cartagena, there to be shipped in galleons for
+Europe.  The mountainous country to the west was rich in silver, gold,
+and other metals, and it was Mr. Stephenson’s object to select the best
+site for commencing operations for the Company.  With this object he
+“prospected” about in all directions, visiting long-abandoned mines, and
+analysing specimens obtained from many quarters.  The mines eventually
+fixed upon as the scene of his operations were those of La Manta and
+Santa Anna, long before worked by the Spaniards, though, in consequence
+of the luxuriance and rapidity of the vegetation, all traces of the old
+workings had become completely overgrown and lost.  Everything had to be
+begun anew.  Roads had to be cut to the mines, machinery to be erected,
+and the ground opened up, in course of which some of the old adits were
+hit upon.  The native peons or labourers were not accustomed to work, and
+at first they usually contrived to desert when they were not watched, so
+that very little progress could be made until the arrival of the expected
+band of miners from England.  The authorities were by no means helpful,
+and the engineer was driven to an old expedient with the object of
+overcoming this difficulty.  “We endeavour all we can,” he says, in one
+of his letters, “to make ourselves popular, and this we find most
+effectually accomplished by ‘regaling the venal beasts.’” {196}  He also
+gave a ball at Mariquita, which passed off with _éclat_, the governor
+from Honda, with a host of friends, honouring it with their presence.  It
+was, indeed, necessary to “make a party” in this way, as other schemers
+were already trying to undermine the Colombian company in influential
+directions.  The engineer did not exaggerate when he said, “The
+uncertainty of transacting business in this country is perplexing beyond
+description.”
+
+At last, his party of miners arrived from England, but they gave him even
+more trouble than the peons had done.  They were rough, drunken, and
+sometimes altogether ungovernable.  He set them to work at the Santa Anna
+mine without delay, and at the same time took up his abode amongst them,
+“to keep them,” he said, “if possible, from indulging in the detestable
+vice of drunkenness, which, if not put a stop to, will eventually destroy
+themselves, and involve the mining association in ruin.”  To add to his
+troubles, the captain of the miners displayed a very hostile and
+insubordinate spirit, quarrelled and fought with the men, and was
+insolent to the engineer himself.  The captain and his gang, being
+Cornish men, told Robert to his face, that because he was a North-country
+man, and not born in Cornwall it was impossible he should know anything
+of mining.  Disease also fell upon him,—first fever, and then visceral
+derangement, followed by a return of his “old complaint, a feeling of
+oppression in the breast.”  No wonder that in the midst of these troubles
+he should longingly speak of returning to his native land.  But he stuck
+to his post and his duty, kept up his courage, and by a mixture of
+mildness and firmness, and the display of great coolness of judgment, he
+contrived to keep the men to their work, and gradually to carry forward
+the enterprise which he had undertaken.  By the beginning of July, 1826,
+we find that quietness and order had been restored, and the works were
+proceeding more satisfactorily, though the yield of silver was not as yet
+very promising.  Mr. Stephenson calculated that at least three years’
+diligent and costly operations would be needed to render the mines
+productive.
+
+In the mean time he removed to the dwelling which had been erected for
+his accommodation at Santa Anna.  It was a structure speedily raised
+after the fashion of the country.
+
+           [Picture: Robert Stephenson’s Cottage at Santa Anna]
+
+The walls were of split and flattened bamboo, tied together with the long
+fibres of a dried climbing plant; the roof was of palm-leaves, and the
+ceiling of reeds.  When an earthquake shook the district—for earthquakes
+were frequent—the inmates of such a fabric merely felt as if shaken in a
+basket, without sustaining any harm.  In front of the cottage lay a woody
+ravine, extending almost to the base of the Andes, gorgeously clothed in
+primeval vegetation—magnolias, palms, bamboos, tree-ferns, acacias,
+cedars; and, towering over all, the great almendrons, with their smooth,
+silvery stems, bearing aloft noble clusters of pure white blossom.  The
+forest was haunted by myriads of gay insects, butterflies with wings of
+dazzling lustre, birds of brilliant plumage, humming-birds, golden
+orioles, toucans, and a host of solitary warblers.  But the glorious
+sunsets seen from his cottage-porch more than all astonished and
+delighted the young engineer; and he was accustomed to say that, after
+having witnessed them, he was reluctant to accuse the ancient Peruvians
+of idolatry.
+
+But all these natural beauties failed to reconcile him to the harassing
+difficulties of his situation, which continued to increase rather than
+diminish.  He was hampered by the action of the Board at home, who gave
+ear to hostile criticisms on his reports; and, although they afterwards
+made handsome acknowledgment of his services, he felt his position to be
+altogether unsatisfactory.  He therefore determined to leave at the
+expiry of his three years engagement, and communicated his decision to
+the directors accordingly.  On receiving his letter, the Board, through
+Mr. Richardson, of Lombard street, one of the directors, communicated
+with his father at Newcastle, representing that if he would allow his son
+to remain in Colombia the Company would make it “worth his while.”  To
+this the father gave a decided negative, and intimated that he himself
+needed his son’s assistance, and that he must return at the expiry of his
+three years’ term,—a decision, writes Robert, “at which I feel much
+gratified, as it is clear that he is as anxious to have me back in
+England as I am to get there.” {199}  At the same time, Edward Pease, a
+principal partner in the Newcastle firm, privately wrote Robert to the
+following effect, urging his return home:—“I can assure thee that thy
+business at Newcastle, as well as thy father’s engineering, have suffered
+very much from thy absence, and, unless thou soon return, the former will
+be given up, as Mr. Longridge is not able to give it that attention it
+requires; and what is done is not done with credit to the house.”  The
+idea of the manufactory being given up, which Robert had laboured so hard
+to establish before leaving England, was painful to him in the extreme,
+and he wrote to the manager of the Company, strongly urging that
+arrangements should be made for him to leave without delay.  In the mean
+time he was again laid prostrate by another violent attack of aguish
+fever; and when able to write in June, 1827, he expressed himself as
+“completely wearied and worn down with vexation.”
+
+At length, when he was sufficiently recovered from his attack and able to
+travel, he set out on his voyage homeward in the beginning of August.  At
+Mompox, on his way down the river Magdalena, he met Mr. Bodmer, his
+successor, with a fresh party of miners from England, on their way up the
+country to the quarters which he had just quitted.  Next day, six hours
+after leaving Mompox, a steamboat was met ascending the river, with
+Bolivar the Liberator on board, on his way to St. Bogota; and it was a
+mortification to our engineer that he had only a passing sight of that
+distinguished person.  It was his intention, on leaving Mariquita, to
+visit the Isthmus of Panama on his way home, for the purpose of inquiring
+into the practicability of cutting a canal to unite the Atlantic and
+Pacific—a project which then formed the subject of considerable public
+discussion; but his presence being so anxiously desired at home, he
+determined to proceed to New York without delay.
+
+Arrived at the port of Cartagena, he had to wait some time for a ship.
+The delay was very irksome to him, the more so as the city was then
+desolated by the ravages of the yellow fever.  While sitting one day in
+the large, bare, comfortless public room at the miserable hotel at which
+he put up, he observed two strangers, whom he at once perceived to be
+English.  One of the strangers was a tall, gaunt man, shrunken and
+hollow-looking, shabbily dressed, and apparently poverty-stricken.  On
+making inquiry, he found it was Trevithick, the builder of the first
+railroad locomotive!  He was returning home from the gold-mines of Peru
+penniless.  He had left England in 1816, with powerful steam-engines,
+intended for the drainage and working of the Peruvian mines.  He met with
+almost a royal reception on his landing at Lima.  A guard of honour was
+appointed to attend him, and it was even proposed to erect a statue of
+Don Ricardo Trevithick in solid silver.  It was given forth in Cornwall
+that his emoluments amounted to £100,000 a year, {201} and that he was
+making a gigantic fortune.  Great, therefore, was Robert Stephenson’s
+surprise to find this potent Don Ricardo in the inn at Cartagena, reduced
+almost to his last shilling, and unable to proceed further.  He had
+indeed realised the truth of the Spanish proverb, that “a silver-mine
+brings misery, a gold-mine ruin.”  He and his friend had lost everything
+in their journey across the country from Peru.  They had forded rivers
+and wandered through forests, leaving all their baggage behind them, and
+had reached thus far with little more than the clothes upon their backs.
+Almost the only remnant of precious metal saved by Trevithick was a pair
+of silver spurs, which he took back with him to Cornwall.  Robert
+Stephenson lent him £50 to enable him to reach England; and though he was
+afterwards heard of as an inventor there, he had no further part in the
+ultimate triumph of the locomotive.
+
+But Trevithick’s misadventures on this occasion had not yet ended, for
+before he reached New York he was wrecked, and Robert Stephenson with
+him.  The following is the account of the voyage, “big with adventures,”
+as given by the latter in a letter to his friend Illingworth:—“At first
+we had very little foul weather, and indeed were for several days
+becalmed amongst the islands, which was so far fortunate, for a few
+degrees further north the most tremendous gales were blowing, and they
+appear (from our future information) to have wrecked every vessel exposed
+to their violence.  We had two examples of the effects of the hurricane;
+for, as we sailed north we took on board the remains of two crews found
+floating about on dismantled hulls.  The one had been nine days without
+food of any kind, except the carcasses of two of their companions who had
+died a day or two previously from fatigue and hunger.  The other crew had
+been driven about for six days, and were not so dejected, but reduced to
+such a weak state that they were obliged to be drawn on board our vessel
+by ropes.  A brig bound for Havannah took part of the men, and we took
+the remainder.  To attempt any description of my feelings on witnessing
+such scenes would be in vain.  You will not be surprised to learn that I
+felt somewhat uneasy at the thought that we were so far from England, and
+that I also might possibly suffer similar shipwreck; but I consoled
+myself with the hope that fate would be more kind to us.  It was not so
+much so, however, as I had flattered myself; for on voyaging towards New
+York, after we had made the land, we ran aground about midnight.  The
+vessel soon filled with water, and, being surrounded by the breaking
+surf, the ship was soon split up, and before morning our situation became
+perilous.  Masts and all were cut away to prevent the hull rocking; but
+all we could do was of no avail.  About 8 o’clock on the following
+morning, after a most miserable night, we were taken off the wreck, and
+were so fortunate as to reach the shore.  I saved my minerals, but Empson
+lost part of his botanical collection.  Upon the whole, we got off well;
+and, had I not been on the American side of the Atlantic, I ‘guess’ I
+would not have gone to sea again.”
+
+After a short tour in the United States and Canada, Robert Stephenson and
+his friend took ship for Liverpool, where they arrived at the end of
+November, and at once proceeded to Newcastle.  The factory was by no
+means in a prosperous state.  During the time Robert had been in America
+it had been carried on at a loss; and Edward Pease, much disheartened,
+wished to retire, but George Stephenson was unable to buy him out, and
+the establishment had to be carried on in the hope that the locomotive
+might yet be established in public estimation as a practical and
+economical working power.  Robert Stephenson immediately instituted a
+rigid inquiry into the working of the concern, unravelled the accounts,
+which had fallen into confusion during his father’s absence at Liverpool;
+and he soon succeeded in placing the affairs of the factory in a more
+healthy condition.  In all this he had the hearty support of his father,
+as well as of the other partners.
+
+The works of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway were now approaching
+completion.  But, singular to say, the directors had not yet decided as
+to the tractive power to be employed in working the line when opened for
+traffic.  The differences of opinion among them were so great as
+apparently to be irreconcilable.  It was necessary, however, that they
+should come to some decision without further loss of time; and many Board
+meetings were accordingly held to discuss the subject.  The old-fashioned
+and well-tried system of horse haulage was not without its advocates;
+but, looking at the large amount of traffic which there was to be
+conveyed, and at the probable delay in the transit from station to
+station if this method were adopted, the directors, after a visit made by
+them to the Northumberland and Durham railways in 1828, came to the
+conclusion that the employment of horse power was inadmissible.
+
+Fixed engines had many advocates; the locomotive very few: it stood as
+yet almost in a minority of one—George Stephenson.  The prejudice against
+the employment of the latter power had even increased since the Liverpool
+and Manchester Bill underwent its first ordeal in the House of Commons.
+In proof of this, we may mention that the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway
+Act was conceded in 1829, on the express condition that it should _not_
+be worked by locomotives, but by horses only.
+
+Grave doubts existed as to the practicability of working a large traffic
+by means of travelling engines.  The most celebrated engineers offered no
+opinion on the subject.  They did not believe in the locomotive, and
+would scarcely take the trouble to examine it.  The ridicule with which
+George Stephenson had been assailed by the barristers before the
+Parliamentary Committee had not been altogether distasteful to them.
+Perhaps they did not relish the idea of a man who had picked up his
+experience in Newcastle coal-pits appearing in the capacity of a leading
+engineer before Parliament, and attempting to establish a new system of
+internal communication in the country.  The directors could not disregard
+the adverse and conflicting views of the professional men whom they
+consulted.  But Mr. Stephenson had so repeatedly and earnestly urged upon
+them the propriety of making a trial of the locomotive before coming to
+any decision against it, that they at length authorised him to proceed
+with the construction of one of his engines by way of experiment.  In
+their report to the proprietors at their annual meeting on, the 27th
+March, 1828, they state that they had, after due consideration,
+authorised the engineer “to prepare a locomotive engine, which, from the
+nature of its construction and from the experiments already made, he is
+of opinion will be effective for the purposes of the Company, without
+proving an annoyance to the public.”  The locomotive thus ordered was
+placed upon the line in 1829, and was found of great service in drawing
+the waggons full of marl from the two great cuttings.
+
+In the mean time the discussion proceeded as to the kind of power to be
+permanently employed for the working of the railway.  The directors were
+inundated with schemes of all sorts for facilitating locomotion.  The
+projectors of England, France, and America, seemed to be let loose upon
+them.  There were plans for working the waggons along the line by water
+power.  Some proposed hydrogen, and others carbonic acid gas.
+Atmospheric pressure had its eager advocates.  And various kinds of fixed
+and locomotive steam-power were suggested.  Thomas Gray urged his plan of
+a greased road with cog rails; and Messrs. Vignolles and Ericsson
+recommended the adoption of a central friction rail, against which two
+horizontal rollers under the locomotive, pressing upon the sides of this
+rail, were to afford the means of ascending the inclined planes.  The
+directors felt themselves quite unable to choose from amidst this
+multitude of projects.  The engineer expressed himself as decidedly as
+heretofore in favour of smooth rails and locomotive engines, which, he
+was confident, would be found the most economical and by far the most
+convenient moving power that could be employed.  The Stockton and
+Darlington Railway being now at work, another deputation went down
+personally to inspect the fixed and locomotive engines on that line, as
+well as at Hetton and Killingworth.  They returned to Liverpool with much
+information; but their testimony as to the relative merits of the two
+kinds of engines was so contradictory, that the directors were as far
+from a decision as ever.
+
+They then resolved to call to their aid two professional engineers of
+high standing, who should visit the Darlington and Newcastle railways,
+carefully examine both modes of working—the fixed and the locomotive,—and
+report to them fully on the subject.  The gentlemen selected were Mr.
+Walker of Limehouse, and Mr. Rastrick of Stourbridge.  After carefully
+examining the modes of working the northern railways, they made their
+report to the directors in the spring of 1829.  They concurred in the
+opinion that the cost of an establishment of fixed engines would be
+somewhat greater than that of locomotives to do the same work; but
+thought the annual charge would be less if the former were adopted.  They
+calculated that the cost of moving a ton of goods thirty miles by fixed
+engines would be 6.40d., and by locomotives, 8.36d.,—assuming a
+profitable traffic to be obtained both ways.  At the same time it was
+admitted that there appeared more ground for expecting improvements in
+the construction and working of locomotives than of stationary engines.
+On the whole, however, and looking especially at the computed annual
+charge of working the road on the two systems on a large scale, the two
+reporting engineers were of opinion that fixed engines were preferable,
+and accordingly recommended their adoption.  And, in order to carry the
+system recommended by them into effect, they proposed to divide the
+railroad between Liverpool and Manchester into nineteen stages of about a
+mile and a half each, with twenty-one engines fixed at the different
+points to work the trains forward.
+
+Such was the result, so far, of George Stephenson’s labours.  Two of the
+best practical engineers of the day concurred in reporting substantially
+in favour of the employment of fixed engines.  Not a single professional
+man of eminence supported the engineer in his preference for locomotive
+over fixed engine power.  He had scarcely an adherent, and the locomotive
+system seemed on the eve of being abandoned.  Still he did not despair.
+With the profession as well as public opinion against him—for the most
+frightful stories were abroad respecting the dangers, the unsightliness,
+and the nuisance which the locomotive would create—Stephenson held to his
+purpose.  Even in this, apparently the darkest hour of the locomotive, he
+did not hesitate to declare that locomotive railroads would, before many
+years had passed, be “the great highways of the world.”
+
+He urged his views upon the directors in all ways, and, as some of them
+thought, at all seasons.  He pointed out the greater convenience of
+locomotive power for the purposes of a public highway, likening it to a
+series of short unconnected chains, any one of which could be removed and
+another substituted without interruption to the traffic; whereas the
+fixed engine system might be regarded in the light of a continuous chain
+extending between the two termini, the failure of any link of which would
+derange the whole. {206}  He represented to the Board that the locomotive
+was yet capable of great improvements, if proper inducements were held
+out to inventors and machinists to make them; and he pledged himself
+that, if time were given him, he would construct an engine that should
+satisfy their requirements, and prove itself capable of working heavy
+loads along the railway with speed, regularity and safety.  At length,
+influenced by his persistent earnestness not less than by his arguments,
+the directors, at the suggestion of Mr. Harrison, determined to offer a
+prize of £500 for the best locomotive engine, which, on a certain day,
+should be produced on the railway, and perform certain specified
+conditions in the most satisfactory manner. {207}
+
+It was now felt that the fate of railways in a great measure depended
+upon the issue of this appeal to the mechanical genius of England.  When
+the advertisement of the prize for the best locomotive was published,
+scientific men began more particularly to direct their attention to the
+new power which was thus struggling into existence.  In the mean time
+public opinion on the subject of railway working remained suspended, and
+the progress of the undertaking was watched with intense interest.
+
+During the progress of the discussion with reference to the kind of power
+to be employed, Mr. Stephenson was in constant communication with his son
+Robert, who made frequent visits to Liverpool for the purpose of
+assisting his father in the preparation of his reports to the Board on
+the subject.  They had also many conversations as to the best mode of
+increasing the powers and perfecting the mechanism of the locomotive.
+These became more frequent and interesting, when the prize was offered
+for the best locomotive, and the working plans of the engine which they
+proposed to construct came to be settled.
+
+One of the most important considerations in the new engine was the
+arrangement of the boiler and the extension of its heating surface to
+enable steam enough to be raised rapidly and continuously, for the
+purpose of maintaining high rates of speed,—the effect of high-pressure
+engines being ascertained to depend mainly upon the quantity of steam
+which the boiler can generate, and upon its degree of elasticity when
+produced.  The quantity of steam so generated, it will be obvious, must
+depend chiefly upon the quantity of fuel consumed in the furnace, and by
+necessary consequence, upon the high rate of temperature maintained
+there.
+
+It will be remembered that in Stephenson’s first Killingworth engines he
+invented and applied the ingenious method of stimulating combustion in
+the furnace, by throwing the waste steam into the chimney after
+performing its office in the cylinders, thus accelerating the ascent of
+the current of air, greatly increasing the draught, and consequently the
+temperature of the fire.  This plan was adopted by him, as we have
+already seen, as early as 1815; and it was so successful that he himself
+attributed to it the greater economy of the locomotive as compared with
+horse power.  Hence the continuance of its use upon the Killingworth
+Railway.
+
+Though the adoption of the steam-blast greatly quickened combustion and
+contributed to the rapid production of high-pressure steam, the limited
+amount of heating surface presented to the fire was still felt to be an
+obstacle to the complete success of the locomotive engine.  Mr.
+Stephenson endeavoured to overcome this by lengthening the boilers and
+increasing the surface presented by the flue-tubes.  The “Lancashire
+Witch,” which he built for the Bolton and Leigh Railway, and used in
+forming the Liverpool and Manchester Railway embankments, was constructed
+with a double tube, each of which contained a fire and passed
+longitudinally through the boiler.  But this arrangement necessarily led
+to a considerable increase in the weight of the engine, which amounted to
+about twelve tons; and as six tons was the limit allowed for engines
+admitted to the Liverpool competition, it was clear that the time was
+come when the Killingworth locomotive must undergo a further important
+modification.
+
+For many years previous to this period, ingenious mechanics had been
+engaged in attempting to solve the problem of the best and most
+economical boiler for the production of high-pressure steam.  As early as
+1803, Mr. Woolf patented a tubular boiler, which was extensively employed
+at the Cornish mines, and was found greatly to facilitate the production
+of steam, by the extension of the heating surface.  The ingenious
+Trevithick, in his patent of 1815, seems also to have entertained the
+idea of employing a boiler constructed of “small perpendicular tubes,”
+with the same object of increasing the heating surface.  These tubes were
+to be closed at the bottom, and open into a common reservoir, from which
+they were to receive their water, and where the steam of all the tubes
+was to be united.
+
+About the same time George Stephenson was trying the effect of
+introducing small tubes in the boilers of his locomotives, with the
+object of increasing their evaporative power.  Thus, in 1829, he sent to
+France two engines constructed at the Newcastle works for the Lyons and
+St. Etienne Railway, in the boilers of which tubes were placed containing
+water.  The heating surface was thus found to be materially increased;
+but the expedient was not successful, for the tubes, becoming furred with
+deposit, shortly burned out and were removed.  It was then that M.
+Seguin, the engineer of the railway, pursuing the same idea, adopted his
+plan of employing horizontal tubes through which the heated air passed in
+streamlets.  Mr. Henry Booth, the secretary of the Liverpool and
+Manchester Railway, without any knowledge of M. Seguin’s proceedings,
+next devised his plan of a tubular boiler, which he brought under the
+notice of Mr. Stephenson, who at once adopted it, and settled the mode in
+which the fire-box and tubes were to be mutually arranged and connected.
+This plan was adopted in the construction of the celebrated “Rocket”
+engine, the building of which was immediately proceeded with at the
+Newcastle works.
+
+The principal circumstances connected with the construction of the
+“Rocket,” as described by Robert Stephenson to the author, may be briefly
+stated.  The tubular principle was adopted in a more complete manner than
+had yet been attempted.  Twenty-five copper tubes, each three inches in
+diameter, extended from one end of the boiler to the other, the heated
+air passing through them on its way to the chimney; and the tubes being
+surrounded by the water of the boiler, it will be obvious that a large
+extension of the _heating surface_ was thus effectually secured.  The
+principal difficulty was in fitting the copper tubes within the boiler so
+as to prevent leakage.  They were made by a Newcastle coppersmith, and
+soldered to brass screws which were screwed into the boiler ends,
+standing out in great knobs.  When the tubes were thus fitted, and the
+boiler was filled with water, hydraulic pressure was applied; but the
+water squirted out at every joint, and the factory floor was soon
+flooded.  Robert went home in despair; and in the first moment of grief,
+he wrote to his father that the whole thing was a failure.  By return of
+post came a letter from his father, telling him that despair was not to
+be thought of—that he must “try again;” and he suggested a mode of
+overcoming the difficulty, which his son had already anticipated and
+proceeded to adopt.  It was, to bore clean holes in the boiler ends, fit
+in the smooth copper tubes as tightly as possible, solder up, and then
+raise the steam.  This plan succeeded perfectly, the expansion of the
+copper tubes completely filling up all interstices, and producing a
+perfectly watertight boiler, capable of withstanding extreme internal
+pressure.
+
+The mode of employing the steam-blast for the purpose of increasing the
+draught in the chimney, was also the subject of numerous experiments.
+When the engine was first tried, it was thought that the blast in the
+chimney was not strong enough to keep up the intensity of the fire in the
+furnace, so as to produce high-pressure steam in sufficient quantity.
+The expedient was therefore adopted of hammering the copper tubes at the
+point at which they entered the chimney, whereby the blast was
+considerably sharpened; and on a further trial it was found that the
+draught was increased to such an extent as to enable abundance of steam
+to be raised.  The rationale of the blast may be simply explained by
+referring to the effect of contracting the pipe of a water-hose, by which
+the force of the jet of water is proportionately increased.  Widen the
+nozzle of the pipe, and the force is in like manner diminished.  So is it
+with the steam-blast in the chimney of the locomotive.
+
+Doubts were, however, expressed whether the greater draught secured by
+the contraction of the blast-pipe was not counterbalanced in some degree
+by the negative pressure upon the piston.  A series of experiments was
+made with pipes of different diameters; the amount of vacuum produced
+being determined by a glass tube open at both ends, which was fixed to
+the bottom of the smoke-box, and descended into a bucket of water.  As
+the rarefaction took place, the water would of course rise in the tube;
+and the height to which it rose above the surface of the water in the
+bucket was made the measure of the amount of rarefaction.  These
+experiments proved that a considerable increase of draught was obtained
+by the contraction of the orifice; accordingly, the two blast-pipes
+opening from the cylinders into either side of the “Rocket” chimney, and
+turned up within it, were contracted slightly below the area of the
+steam-ports; and before the engine left the factory, the water rose in
+the glass tube three inches above the water in the bucket.
+
+                         [Picture: The “Rocket”]
+
+The other arrangements of the “Rocket” were briefly these:—the boiler was
+cylindrical with flat ends, 6 feet in length, and 3 feet 4 inches in
+diameter.  The upper half of the boiler was used as a reservoir for the
+steam, the lower half being filled with water.  Through the lower part,
+25 copper tubes of 3 inches diameter extended, which were open to the
+fire-box at one end, and to the chimney at the other.  The fire-box, or
+furnace, 2 feet wide and 3 feet high, was attached immediately behind the
+boiler, and was also surrounded with water.  The cylinders of the engine
+were placed on each side of the boiler, in an oblique position, one end
+being nearly level with the top of the boiler at its after end, and the
+other pointing towards the centre of the foremost or driving pair of
+wheels, with which the connection was directly made from the piston-rod,
+to a pin on the outside of the wheel.  The engine, together with its load
+of water, weighed only 4¼ tons, and was supported on four wheels, not
+coupled.  The tender was four-wheeled, and similar in shape to a
+waggon,—the foremost part holding the fuel, and the hind part a
+water-cask.
+
+When the “Rocket” was finished, it was placed upon the Killingworth
+railway for the purpose of experiment.  The new boiler arrangement was
+found perfectly successful.  The steam was raised rapidly and
+continuously, and in a quantity which then appeared marvellous.  The same
+evening Robert despatched a letter to his father at Liverpool, informing
+him, to his great joy, that the “Rocket” was “all right,” and would be in
+complete working trim by the day of trial.  The engine was shortly after
+sent by waggon to Carlisle, and thence shipped for Liverpool.
+
+The time so much longed for by George Stephenson had now arrived, when
+the merit of the passenger locomotive was to be put to a public test.  He
+had fought the battle for it until now almost single-handed.  Engrossed
+by his daily labours and anxieties, and harassed by difficulties and
+discouragements which would have crushed the spirit of a less resolute
+man, he had held firmly to his purpose through good and through evil
+report.  The hostility which he experienced from some of the directors
+opposed to the adoption of the locomotive, was the circumstance that
+caused him the greatest grief of all; for where he had looked for
+encouragement, he found only carping and opposition.  But his pluck never
+failed him; and now the “Rocket” was upon the ground,—to prove, to use
+his own words, “whether he was a man of his word or not.”
+
+Great interest was felt at Liverpool, as well as throughout the country,
+in the approaching competition.  Engineers, scientific men, and
+mechanics, arrived from all quarters to witness the novel display of
+mechanical ingenuity on which such great results depended.  The public
+generally were no indifferent spectators either.  The inhabitants of
+Liverpool, Manchester, and the adjacent towns felt that the successful
+issue of the experiment would confer upon them individual benefits and
+local advantages almost incalculable, whilst populations at a distance
+waited for the result with almost equal interest.
+
+On the day appointed for the great competition of locomotives at
+Rainhill, the following engines were entered for the prize:—
+
+1.  Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson’s “Novelty.” {214}
+
+2.  Mr. Timothy Hackworth’s “Sanspareil.”
+
+3.  Messrs. R. Stephenson and Co.’s “Rocket.”
+
+4.  Mr. Burstall’s “Perseverance.”
+
+Another engine was entered by Mr. Brandreth of Liverpool—the “Cycloped,”
+weighing 3 tons, worked by a horse in a frame, but it could not be
+admitted to the competition.  The above were the only four exhibited, out
+of a considerable number of engines constructed in different parts of the
+country in anticipation of this contest, many of which could not be
+satisfactorily completed by the day of trial.
+
+The ground on which the engines were to be tried was a level piece of
+railroad, about two miles in length.  Each was required to make twenty
+trips, or equal to a journey of 70 miles, in the course of the day; and
+the average rate of travelling was to be not under 10 miles an hour.  It
+was determined that, to avoid confusion, each engine should be tried
+separately, and on different days.
+
+              [Picture: Locomotive competition at Rainhill]
+
+The day fixed for the competition was the 1st of October, but to allow
+sufficient time to get the locomotives into good working order, the
+directors extended it to the 6th.  On the morning of the 6th, the ground
+at Rainhill presented a lively appearance, and there was as much
+excitement as if the St. Leger were about to be run.  Many thousand
+spectators looked on, amongst whom were some of the first engineers and
+mechanicians of the day.  A stand was provided for the ladies; the
+“beauty and fashion” of the neighbourhood were present, and the side of
+the railroad was lined with carriages of all descriptions.
+
+It was quite characteristic of the Stephensons, that, although their
+engine did not stand first on the list for trial, it was the first that
+was ready; and it was accordingly ordered out by the judges for an
+experimental trip.  Yet the “Rocket” was by no means “the favourite” with
+either the judges or the spectators.  A majority of the judges was
+strongly predisposed in favour of the “Novelty,” and nine-tenths of those
+present were against the “Rocket” because of its appearance.  Nearly
+every person favoured some other engine, so that there was nothing for
+the “Rocket” but the practical test.  The first trip which it made was
+quite successful.  It ran about 12 miles, without interruption, in about
+53 minutes.
+
+The “Novelty” was next called out.  It was a light engine, very compact
+in appearance, carrying the water and fuel upon the same wheels as the
+engine.  The weight of the whole was only 3 tons and 1 hundredweight.  A
+peculiarity of this engine was that the air was driven or forced through
+the fire by means of bellows.  The day being now far advanced, and some
+dispute having arisen as to the method of assigning the proper load for
+the “Novelty,” no particular experiment was made, further than that the
+engine traversed the line by way of exhibition, occasionally moving at
+the rate of 24 miles an hour.  The “Sanspareil,” constructed by Mr.
+Timothy Hackworth, was next exhibited; but no particular experiment was
+made with it on this day.
+
+The contest was postponed until the following day, but before the judges
+arrived on the ground, the bellows for creating the blast in the
+“Novelty” gave way, and it was found incapable of going through its
+performance.  A defect was also detected in the boiler of the
+“Sanspareil;” and some further time was allowed to get it repaired.  The
+large number of spectators who had assembled to witness the contest were
+greatly disappointed at this postponement; but, to lessen it, Stephenson
+again brought out the “Rocket,” and, attaching to it a coach containing
+thirty persons, he ran them along the line at the rate of from 24 to 30
+miles an hour, much to their gratification and amazement.  Before
+separating, the judges ordered the engine to be in readiness by eight
+o’clock on the following morning, to go through its definitive trial
+according to the prescribed conditions.
+
+On the morning of the 8th October, the “Rocket” was again ready for the
+contest.  The engine was taken to the extremity of the stage, the
+fire-box was filled with coke, the fire lighted, and the steam raised
+until it lifted the safety-valve loaded to a pressure of 50 pounds to the
+square inch.  This proceeding occupied fifty-seven minutes.  The engine
+then started on its journey, dragging after it about 13 tons weight in
+waggons, and made the first ten trips backwards and forwards along the
+two miles of road, running the 35 miles, including stoppages, in one hour
+and 48 minutes.  The second ten trips were in like manner performed in 2
+hours and 3 minutes.  The maximum velocity attained during the trial trip
+was 29 miles an hour, or about three times the speed that one of the
+judges of the competition had declared to be the limit of possibility.
+The average speed at which the whole of the journeys were performed was
+15 miles an hour, or 5 miles beyond the rate specified in the conditions
+published by the Company.  The entire performance excited the greatest
+astonishment amongst the assembled spectators; the directors felt
+confident that their enterprise was now on the eve of success; and George
+Stephenson rejoiced to think that in spite of all false prophets and
+fickle counsellors, the locomotive system was now safe.  When the
+“Rocket,” having performed all the conditions of the contest, arrived at
+the “grand stand” at the close of its day’s successful run, Mr.
+Cropper—one of the directors favourable to the fixed-engine system—lifted
+up his hands, and exclaimed, “Now has George Stephenson at last delivered
+himself!”
+
+Neither the “Novelty” nor the “Sanspareil” was ready for trial until the
+10th, on the morning of which day an advertisement appeared, stating that
+the former engine was to be tried on that day, when it would perform more
+work than any engine upon the ground.  The weight of the carriages
+attached to it was only about 7 tons.  The engine passed the first post
+in good style; but in returning, the pipe from the forcing-pump burst and
+put an end to the trial.  The pipe was afterwards repaired, and the
+engine made several trips by itself, in which it was said to have gone at
+the rate of from 24 to 28 miles an hour.
+
+The “Sanspareil” was not ready until the 13th; and when its boiler and
+tender were filled with water, it was found to weigh 4 cwt. beyond the
+weight specified in the published conditions as the limit of four-wheeled
+engines; nevertheless the judges allowed it to run on the same footing as
+the other engines, to enable them to ascertain whether its merits
+entitled it to favourable consideration.  It travelled at the average
+speed of about 14 miles an hour, with its load attached; but at the
+eighth trip the cold-water pump got wrong, and the engine could proceed
+no further.
+
+It was determined to award the premium to the successful engine on the
+following day, the 14th, on which occasion there was an unusual
+assemblage of spectators.  The owners of the “Novelty” pleaded for
+another trial; and it was conceded.  But again it broke down.  The owner
+of the “Sanspareil” also requested the opportunity for making another
+trial of his engine.  But the judges had now had enough of failures; and
+they declined, on the ground that not only was the engine above the
+stipulated weight, but that it was constructed on a plan which they could
+not recommend for adoption by the directors of the Company.  One of the
+principal practical objections to this locomotive was the enormous
+quantity of coke consumed or wasted by it—about 692 lbs. per hour when
+travelling—caused by the sharpness of the steam-blast in the chimney,
+which blew a large proportion of the burning coke into the air.
+
+The “Perseverance” was found unable to move at more than five or six
+miles an hour; and it was withdrawn from the contest at an early period.
+The “Rocket” was thus the only engine that had performed, and more than
+performed, all the stipulated conditions; and its owners were declared to
+be fully entitled to the prize of £500, which was awarded to the Messrs.
+Stephenson and Booth accordingly.  And further, to show that the engine
+had been working quite within its powers, Mr. Stephenson ordered it to be
+brought upon the ground and detached from all incumbrances, when, in
+making two trips, it was found to travel at the astonishing rate of 35
+miles an hour.
+
+The “Rocket” had thus eclipsed the performances of all locomotive engines
+that had yet been constructed, and outstripped even the sanguine
+expectations of its constructors.  It satisfactorily answered the report
+of Messrs. Walker and Rastrick; and established the efficiency of the
+locomotive for working the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and indeed
+all future railways.  The “Rocket” showed that a new power had been born
+into the world, full of activity and strength, with boundless capability
+of work.  It was the simple but admirable contrivance of the steam-blast,
+and its combination with the multitubular boiler, that at once gave the
+locomotive a vigorous life, and secured the triumph of the railway
+system. {219}  It has been well observed, that this wonderful ability to
+increase and multiply its powers of performance with the emergency that
+demands them, has made this giant engine the noblest creation of human
+wit, the very lion among machines.  The success of the Rainhill
+experiment, as judged by the public, may be inferred from the fact that
+the shares of the Company immediately rose ten per cent., and nothing
+more was heard of the proposed twenty-one fixed engines, engine-houses,
+ropes, etc.  All this cumbersome apparatus was thenceforward effectually
+disposed of.
+
+Very different now was the tone of those directors who had distinguished
+themselves by the persistency of their opposition to Mr. Stephenson’s
+plans.  Coolness gave way to eulogy, and hostility to unbounded offers of
+friendship—after the manner of many men who run to the help of the
+strong.  Deeply though the engineer had felt aggrieved by the conduct
+pursued towards him during this eventful struggle, by some from whom
+forbearance was to have been expected, he never entertained towards them
+in after life any angry feelings; on the contrary, he forgave all.  But
+though the directors afterwards passed unanimous resolutions eulogising
+“the great skill and unwearied energy” of their engineer, he himself,
+when speaking confidentially to those with whom he was most intimate,
+could not help pointing out the difference between his “foul-weather and
+fair-weather friends.”  Mr. Gooch says of him that though naturally most
+cheerful and kind-hearted in his disposition, the anxiety and pressure
+which weighed upon his mind during the construction of the railway, had
+the effect of making him occasionally impatient and irritable, like a
+spirited horse touched by the spur; though his original good-nature from
+time to time shone through it all.  When the line had been brought to a
+successful completion, a very marked change in him became visible.  The
+irritability passed away, and when difficulties and vexations arose they
+were treated by him as matters of course, and with perfect composure and
+cheerfulness.
+
+                      [Picture: Railway versus Road]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+OPENING OF THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY, AND EXTENSION OF THE
+RAILWAY SYSTEM.
+
+
+The directors of the Railway now began to see daylight; and they derived
+encouragement from the skilful manner in which their engineer had
+overcome the principal difficulties of the undertaking.  He had formed a
+solid road over Chat Moss, and thus achieved one “impossibility;” and he
+had constructed a locomotive that could run at a speed of 30 miles an
+hour, thus vanquishing a still more formidable difficulty.
+
+A single line of way was completed over Chat Moss by the 1st of January,
+1830; and on that day, the “Rocket” with a carriage full of directors,
+engineers, and their friends, passed along the greater part of the road
+between Liverpool and Manchester.  Mr. Stephenson continued to direct his
+close attention to the improvement of the details of the locomotive,
+every successive trial of which proved more satisfactory.  In this
+department he had the benefit of the able and unremitting assistance of
+his son, who, in the workshops at Newcastle, directly superintended the
+construction of the new engines required for the public working of the
+railway.  He did not by any means rest satisfied with the success,
+decided though it was, which had been achieved by the “Rocket.”  He
+regarded it but in the light of a successful experiment; and every
+succeeding engine placed upon the railway exhibited some improvement on
+its predecessors.  The arrangement of the parts, and the weight and
+proportions of the engines, were altered, as the experience of each
+successive day, or week, or month, suggested; and it was soon found that
+the performances of the “Rocket” on the day of trial had been greatly
+within the powers of the locomotive.
+
+The first entire trip between Liverpool and Manchester was performed on
+the 14th of June, 1830, on the occasion of a Board meeting being held at
+the latter town.  The train was on this occasion drawn by the “Arrow,”
+one of the new locomotives, in which the most recent improvements had
+been adopted.  Mr. Stephenson himself drove the engine, and Captain
+Scoresby, the circumpolar navigator, stood beside him on the foot-plate,
+and minuted the speed of the train.  A great concourse of people
+assembled at both termini, as well as along the line, to witness the
+novel spectacle of a train of carriages dragged by an engine at a speed
+of 17 miles an hour.  On the return journey to Liverpool in the evening,
+the “Arrow” crossed Chat Moss at a speed of nearly 27 miles an hour,
+reaching its destination in about an hour and a half.
+
+In the mean time Mr. Stephenson and his assistants were diligently
+occupied in making the necessary preliminary arrangements for the conduct
+of the traffic against the time when the line should be ready for
+opening.  The experiments made with the object of carrying on the
+passenger traffic at quick velocities were of an especially harassing and
+anxious character.  Every week, for nearly three months before the
+opening, trial trips were made to Newton and back, generally with two or
+three trains following each other, and carrying altogether from 200 to
+300 persons.  These trips were usually made on Saturday afternoons, when
+the works could be more conveniently stopped and the line cleared.  In
+these experiments Mr. Stephenson had the able assistance of Mr. Henry
+Booth, the secretary of the Company, who contrived many of the
+arrangements in the rolling stock, not the least valuable of which was
+his invention of the coupling screw, still in use on all passenger
+railways.
+
+At length the line was finished, and ready for the public ceremony of the
+opening, which took place on the 15th September, 1830, and attracted a
+vast number of spectators.  The completion of the railway was justly
+regarded as an important national event, and the opening was celebrated
+accordingly.  The Duke of Wellington, then Prime Minister, Sir Robert
+Peel, and Mr. Huskisson, one of the members for Liverpool, were among the
+number of distinguished public personages present.
+
+Eight locomotive engines, constructed at the Stephenson works, had been
+delivered and placed upon the line, the whole of which had been tried and
+tested weeks before, with perfect success.  The several trains of
+carriages accommodated in all about six hundred persons.  The procession
+was cheered in its progress by thousands of spectators—through the deep
+ravine of Olive Mount; up the Sutton incline; over the great Sankey
+viaduct, beneath which a great multitude of persons had
+assembled,—carriages filling the narrow lanes, and barges crowding the
+river; the people below gazing with wonder and admiration at the trains
+which sped along the line, far above their heads, at the rate of some 24
+miles an hour.
+
+At Parkside, about 17 miles from Liverpool, the engines stopped to take
+in water.  Here a deplorable accident occurred to one of the illustrious
+visitors, which threw a deep shadow over the subsequent proceedings of
+the day.  The “Northumbrian” engine, with the carriage containing the
+Duke of Wellington, was drawn up on one line, in order that the whole of
+the trains on the other line might pass in review before him and his
+party.  Mr. Huskisson had alighted from the carriage, and was standing on
+the opposite road, along which the “Rocket” was observed rapidly coming
+up.  At this moment the Duke of Wellington, between whom and Mr.
+Huskisson some coolness had existed, made a sign of recognition, and held
+out his hand.  A hurried but friendly grasp was given; and before it was
+loosened there was a general cry from the bystanders of “Get in, get in!”
+Flurried and confused, Mr. Huskisson endeavoured to get round the open
+door of the carriage, which projected over the opposite rail; but in so
+doing he was struck down by the “Rocket,” and falling with his leg
+doubled across the rail, the limb was instantly crushed.  His first
+words, on being raised, were, “I have met my death,” which unhappily
+proved true, for he expired that same evening in the parsonage of Eccles.
+It was cited at the time as a remarkable fact, that the “Northumbrian”
+engine, driven by George Stephenson himself, conveyed the wounded body of
+the unfortunate gentleman a distance of about 15 miles in 25 minutes, or
+at the rate of 36 miles an hour.  This incredible speed burst upon the
+world with the effect of a new and unlooked-for phenomenon.
+
+The accident threw a gloom over the rest of the day’s proceedings.  The
+Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel expressed a wish that the
+procession should return to Liverpool.  It was, however, represented to
+them that a vast concourse of people had assembled at Manchester to
+witness the arrival of the trains; that report would exaggerate the
+mischief, if they did not complete the journey; and that a false panic on
+that day might seriously affect future railway travelling and the value
+of the Company’s property.  The party consented accordingly to proceed to
+Manchester, but on the understanding that they should return as soon as
+possible, and refrain from further festivity.
+
+As the trains approached Manchester, crowds of people were found covering
+the banks, the slopes of the cuttings, and even the railway itself.  The
+multitude, become impatient and excited by the rumours which reached
+them, had outflanked the military, and all order was at an end.  The
+people clambered about the carriages, holding on by the door-handles, and
+many were tumbled over; but, happily no fatal accident occurred.  At the
+Manchester station, the political element began to display itself;
+placards about “Peterloo,” etc., were exhibited, and brickbats were
+thrown at the carriage containing the Duke.  On the carriages coming to a
+stand in the Manchester station the Duke did not descend, but remained
+seated, shaking hands with the women and children who were pushed forward
+by the crowd.  Shortly after, the trains returned to Liverpool, which
+they reached, after considerable interruptions, in the dark, at a late
+hour.
+
+On the following morning the railway was opened for public traffic.  The
+first train of 140 passengers was booked and sent on to Manchester,
+reaching it in the allotted period of two hours; and from that time the
+traffic has regularly proceeded from day to day until now.
+
+It is scarcely necessary that we should speak at any length of the
+commercial results of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.  Suffice it
+to say that its success was complete and decisive.  The anticipations of
+its projectors were, however, in many respects at fault.  They had based
+their calculations almost entirely on the heavy merchandise traffic—such
+as coal, cotton, and timber,—relying little upon passengers; whereas the
+receipts derived from the conveyance of passengers far exceeded those
+derived from merchandise of all kinds, which, for a time continued a
+subordinate branch of the traffic.
+
+For some time after the public opening of the line, Mr. Stephenson’s
+ingenuity continued to be employed in devising improved methods for
+securing the safety and comfort of the travelling public.  Few are aware
+of the thousand minute details which have to be arranged—the forethought
+and contrivance that have to be exercised—to enable the traveller by
+railway to accomplish his journey in safety.  After the difficulties of
+constructing a level road over bogs, across valleys, and through deep
+cuttings, have been overcome, the maintenance of the way has to be
+provided for with continuous care.  Every rail with its fastenings must
+be complete, to prevent risk of accident; and the road must be kept
+regularly ballasted up to the level, to diminish the jolting of vehicles
+passing over it at high speeds.  Then the stations must be protected by
+signals observable from such a distance as to enable the train to be
+stopped in event of an obstacle, such as a stopping or shunting train
+being in the way.  For some years the signals employed on the Liverpool
+railway were entirely given by men with flags of different colours
+stationed along the line; there were no fixed signals, nor electric
+telegraphs; but the traffic was nevertheless worked quite as safely as
+under the more elaborate and complicated system of telegraphing which has
+since been established.
+
+From an early period it became obvious that the iron road as originally
+laid down was far too weak for the heavy traffic which it had to carry.
+The line was at first laid with fish-bellied rails weighing thirty-five
+pounds to the yard, calculated only for horse-traffic, or, at most, for
+engines like the “Rocket,” of very light weight.  But as the power and
+the weight of the locomotives were increased, it was found that such
+rails were quite insufficient for the safe conduct of the traffic, and it
+therefore became necessary to re-lay the road with heavier and stronger
+rails at considerably increased expense.
+
+The details of the carrying stock had in like manner to be settled by
+experience.  Everything had, as it were, to be begun from the beginning.
+The coal-waggon, it is true, served in some degree as a model for the
+railway-truck; but the railway passenger-carriage was an entirely novel
+structure.  It had to be mounted upon strong framing, of a peculiar kind,
+supported on springs to prevent jolting.  Then there was the necessity
+for contriving some method of preventing hard bumping of the
+carriage-ends when the train was pulled up; and hence the contrivance of
+buffer-springs and spring frames.  For the purpose of stopping the train,
+brakes on an improved plan were also contrived, with new modes of
+lubricating the carriage-axles, on which the wheels revolved at an
+unusually high velocity.  In all these arrangements, Mr. Stephenson’s
+inventiveness was kept constantly on the stretch; and though many
+improvements in detail have been effected since his time, the foundations
+were then laid by him of the present system of conducting railway
+traffic.  As an illustration of the inventive ingenuity which he
+displayed in providing for the working of the Liverpool line, we may
+mention his contrivance of the Self-acting Brake.  He early entertained
+the idea that the momentum of the running train might itself be made
+available for the purpose of checking its speed.  He proposed to fit each
+carriage with a brake which should be called into action immediately on
+the locomotive at the head of the train being pulled up.  The impetus of
+the carriages carrying them forward, the buffer-springs would be driven
+home and, at the same time, by a simple arrangement of the mechanism, the
+brakes would be called into simultaneous action; thus the wheels would be
+brought into a state of sledge, and the train speedily stopped.  This
+plan was adopted by Mr. Stephenson before he left the Liverpool and
+Manchester Railway, though it was afterwards discontinued; but it is a
+remarkable fact, that this identical plan, with the addition of a
+centrifugal apparatus, has quite recently been revived by M. Guérin, a
+French engineer, and extensively employed on foreign railways, as the
+best method of stopping railway trains in the most efficient manner and
+in the shortest time.
+
+Finally, Mr. Stephenson had to attend to the improvement of the power and
+speed of the locomotive—always the grand object of his study,—with a view
+to economy as well as regularity of working.  In the “Planet” engine,
+delivered upon the line immediately subsequent to the public opening, all
+the improvements which had up to that time been contrived by him and his
+son were introduced in combination—the blast-pipe, the tubular boiler,
+horizontal cylinders inside the smoke-box, the cranked axle, and the
+fire-box firmly fixed to the boiler.  The first load of goods conveyed
+from Liverpool to Manchester by the “Planet” was 80 tons in weight, and
+the engine performed the journey against a strong head wind in 2½ hours.
+On another occasion, the same engine brought up a cargo of voters from
+Manchester to Liverpool, during a contested election, within a space of
+sixty minutes!  The “Samson,” delivered in the following year, exhibited
+still further improvements, the most important of which was that of
+_coupling_ the fore and hind wheels of the engine.  By this means, the
+adhesion of the wheels on the rails was more effectually secured, and
+thus the full hauling power of the locomotive was made available.  The
+“Samson,” shortly after it was placed upon the line, dragged after it a
+train of waggons weighing 150 tons at a speed of about 20 miles an hour;
+the consumption of coke being reduced to only about a third of a pound
+per ton per mile.
+
+The success of the Liverpool and Manchester experiment naturally excited
+great interest.  People flocked to Lancashire from all quarters to see
+the steam-coach running upon a railway at three times the speed of a
+mailcoach, and to enjoy the excitement of actually travelling in the wake
+of an engine at that incredible velocity.  The travellers returned to
+their respective districts full of the wonders of the locomotive,
+considering it to be the greatest marvel of the age.  Railways are
+familiar enough objects now, and our children who grow up in their midst
+may think little of them; but thirty years since it was an event in one’s
+life to see a locomotive, and to travel for the first time upon a public
+railroad.
+
+The practicability of railway locomotion being now proved, and its great
+social and commercial advantages ascertained, the general extension of
+the system was merely a question of time, money, and labour.  Although
+the legislature took no initiative step in the direction of railway
+extension, the public spirit and enterprise of the country did not fail
+it at this juncture.  The English people, though they may be defective in
+their capacity for organization, are strong in individualism; and not
+improbably their admirable qualities in the latter respect detract from
+their efficiency in the former.  Thus, in all times, their greatest
+enterprises have not been planned by officialism and carried out upon any
+regular system, but have sprung, like their constitution, their laws, and
+their entire industrial arrangements, from the force of circumstances and
+the individual energies of the people.
+
+The mode of action in the case of railway extension, was characteristic
+and national.  The execution of the new lines was undertaken entirely by
+joint-stock associations of proprietors, after the manner of the Stockton
+and Darlington, and Liverpool and Manchester companies.  These
+associations are conformable to our national habits, and fit well into
+our system of laws.  They combine the power of vast resources with
+individual watchfulness and motives of self-interest; and by their means
+gigantic undertakings, which otherwise would be impossible to any but
+kings and emperors with great national resources at command, were carried
+out by the co-operation of private persons.  And the results of this
+combination of means and of enterprise have been truly marvellous.
+Within the life of the present generation, the private citizens of
+England engaged in railway extension have, in the face of Government
+obstructions, and without taking a penny from the public purse, executed
+a system of communications involving works of the most gigantic kind,
+which, in their total mass, their cost, and their public utility, far
+exceed the most famous national undertakings of any age or country.
+
+Mr. Stephenson was of course, actively engaged in the construction of the
+numerous railways now projected by the joint-stock companies.  The desire
+for railway extension principally pervaded the manufacturing districts,
+especially after the successful opening of the Liverpool and Manchester
+line.  The commercial classes of the larger towns soon became eager for a
+participation in the good which they had so recently derided.  Railway
+projects were set on foot in great numbers, and Manchester became a
+centre from which main lines and branches were started in all directions.
+The interest, however, which attaches to these later schemes is of a much
+less absorbing kind than that which belongs to the earlier history of the
+railway and the steps by which it was mainly established.  We naturally
+sympathise more keenly with the early struggles of a great principle, its
+trials and its difficulties, than with its after stages of success; and,
+however gratified and astonished we may be at its consequences, the
+interest is in a great measure gone when its triumph has become a matter
+of certainty.
+
+The commercial results of the Liverpool and Manchester line were so
+satisfactory, and indeed so greatly exceeded the expectations of its
+projectors, that many of the abandoned projects of the speculative year
+1825 were forthwith revived.  An abundant crop of engineers sprang up,
+ready to execute railways of any extent.  Now that the Liverpool and
+Manchester line had been made, and the practicability of working it by
+locomotive power had been proved, it was as easy for engineers to make
+railways and to work them, as it was for navigators to find America after
+Columbus had made the first voyage.  Mr. Francis Giles attached himself
+to the Newcastle and Carlisle and London and Southampton projects.  Mr.
+Brunel appeared as engineer of the line projected between London and
+Bristol; and Mr. Braithwaite, the builder of the “Novelty” engine, acted
+in the same capacity for a railway from London to Colchester.
+
+The first lines constructed subsequent to the opening of the Liverpool
+and Manchester Railway, were mostly in connection with it, and
+principally in the county of Lancaster.  Thus a branch was formed from
+Bolton to Leigh, and another from Leigh to Kenyon, where it formed a
+junction with the main line between Liverpool and Manchester.  Branches
+to Wigan on the north, and to Runcorn Gap and Warrington on the south of
+the same line, were also formed.  A continuation of the latter, as far
+south as Birmingham, was shortly after projected under the name of the
+Grand Junction Railway.
+
+The last mentioned line was projected as early as the year 1824, when the
+Liverpool and Manchester scheme was under discussion, and Mr. Stephenson
+then published a report on the subject.  The plans were deposited, but
+the bill was thrown out through the opposition of the landowners and
+canal proprietors.  When engaged in making the survey, Stephenson called
+upon some of the landowners in the neighbourhood of Nantwich to obtain
+their assent, and was greatly disgusted to learn that the agents of the
+canal companies had been before him, and described the locomotive to the
+farmers as a most frightful machine, emitting a breath as poisonous as
+the fabled dragon of old; and telling them that if a bird flew over the
+district where one of these engines passed, it would inevitably drop down
+dead!  The application for the bill was renewed in 1826, and again
+failed; and at length it was determined to wait the issue of the
+Liverpool and Manchester experiment.  The act was eventually obtained in
+1833.
+
+When it was proposed to extend the advantages of railways to the
+population of the midland and southern counties of England, an immense
+amount of alarm was created in the minds of the country gentlemen.  They
+did not relish the idea of private individuals, principally resident in
+the manufacturing districts, invading their domains; and they everywhere
+rose up in arms against the “new-fangled roads.”  Colonel Sibthorpe
+openly declared his hatred of the “infernal railroads,” and said that he
+“would rather meet a highwayman, or see a burglar on his premises, than
+an engineer!”  The impression which prevailed in the rural districts was,
+that fox-covers and game-preserves would be seriously prejudiced by the
+formation of railroads; that agricultural communications would be
+destroyed, land thrown out of cultivation, landowners and farmers reduced
+to beggary, the poor-rates increased through the number of persons thrown
+out of employment by the railways,—and all this in order that Liverpool,
+Manchester, and Birmingham shopkeepers and manufacturers might establish
+a monstrous monopoly in railway traffic.
+
+The inhabitants of even some of the large towns were thrown into a state
+of consternation by the proposal to provide them with the accommodation
+of a railway.  The line from London to Birmingham would naturally have
+passed close to the handsome town of Northampton, and was so projected;
+but the inhabitants of the shire, urged on by the local press, and
+excited by men of influence and education, opposed the project, and
+succeeded in forcing the promoters, in their survey of the line, to pass
+the town at a distance.  When the first railway through Kent was
+projected, the line was laid out so as to pass by Maidstone, the county
+town.  But it had not a single supporter amongst the townspeople, whilst
+the landowners for many miles round combined to oppose it.  In like
+manner, the line projected from London to Bristol was strongly denounced
+by the inhabitants of the intermediate districts; and when the first bill
+was thrown out, Eton assembled under the presidency of the Marquis of
+Chandos to congratulate the country upon its defeat.
+
+During the time that the works of the Liverpool and Manchester line were
+in progress, our engineer was consulted respecting a short railway
+proposed to be formed between Leicester and Swannington, for the purpose
+of opening up a communication between the town of Leicester and the
+coal-fields in the western part of the county.  The projector of this
+undertaking had some difficulty in getting the requisite capital
+subscribed for, the Leicester townspeople who had money being for the
+most part interested in canals.  George Stephenson was invited to come
+upon the ground and survey the line.  He did so, and then the projector
+told him of the difficulty he had in finding subscribers to the concern.
+“Give me a sheet,” said Stephenson, “and I will raise the money for you
+in Liverpool.”  The engineer was as good as his word, and in a short time
+the sheet was returned with the subscription complete.  Mr. Stephenson
+was then asked to undertake the office of engineer for the line, but his
+answer was that he had thirty miles of railway in hand, which were enough
+for any engineer to attend to properly.  Was there any person he could
+recommend?  “Well,” said he, “I think my son Robert is competent to
+undertake the thing.”  Would Mr. Stephenson be answerable for him?  “Oh,
+yes, certainly.”  And Robert Stephenson, at twenty-seven years of age,
+was installed engineer of the line accordingly.
+
+           [Picture: Map of Leicester and Swannington Railway]
+
+The requisite Parliamentary powers having been obtained, Robert
+Stephenson proceeded with the construction of the railway, about 16 miles
+in length, towards the end of 1830.  The works were comparatively easy,
+excepting at the Leicester end, where the young engineer encountered his
+first stiff bit of tunnelling.  The line passed underground for 1¾ mile,
+and 500 yards of its course lay in loose dry running sand.  The presence
+of this material rendered it necessary for the engineer first to
+construct a wooden tunnel to support the soil while the brickwork was
+being executed.  This proved sufficient, and the whole was brought to a
+successful termination within a reasonable time.  While the works were in
+progress, Robert kept up a regular correspondence with his father at
+Liverpool, consulting him on all points in which his greater experience
+was likely to be of service.  Like his father, Robert was very observant,
+and always ready to seize opportunity by the forelock.  It happened that
+the estate of Snibston, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, was advertised for sale;
+and the young engineer’s experience as a coal-viewer and practical
+geologist suggested to his mind that coal was most probably to be found
+underneath.  He communicated his views to his father on the subject.  The
+estate lay in the immediate neighbourhood of the railway; and if the
+conjecture proved correct, the finding of coal would necessarily greatly
+enhance its value.  He accordingly requested his father to come over to
+Snibston and look at the property, which he did; and after a careful
+inspection of the ground, he arrived at the same conclusion as his son.
+
+The large manufacturing town of Leicester, about fourteen miles distant,
+had up to that time been exclusively supplied with coal brought by canal
+from Derbyshire; and Mr. Stephenson saw that the railway under
+construction from Swannington to Leicester, would furnish him with a
+ready market for any coals which he might find at Snibston.  Having
+induced two of his Liverpool friends to join him in the venture, the
+Snibston estate was purchased in 1831: and shortly after, Stephenson
+removed his home from Liverpool to Alton Grange, for the purpose of
+superintending the sinking of the pit.  He travelled thither by gig with
+his wife,—his favourite horse “Bobby” performing the journey by easy
+stages.
+
+Sinking operations were immediately begun, and proceeded satisfactorily
+until the old enemy, water, burst in upon the workmen, and threatened to
+drown them out.  But by means of efficient pumping-engines, and the
+skilful casing of the shaft with segments of cast-iron—a process called
+“tubbing,” {234} which Mr. Stephenson was the first to adopt in the
+Midland Counties—it was eventually made water-tight, and the sinking
+proceeded.  When a depth of 166 feet had been reached, a still more
+formidable difficulty presented itself—one which had baffled former
+sinkers in the neighbourhood, and deterred them from further operations.
+This was a remarkable bed of whinstone or green-stone, which had
+originally been poured out as a sheet of burning lava over the denuded
+surface of the coal measures; indeed it was afterwards found that it had
+turned to cinders one part of the seam of coal with which it had come in
+contact.  The appearance of this bed of solid rock was so unusual a
+circumstance in coal mining, that some experienced sinkers urged
+Stephenson to proceed no further, believing the occurrence of the dyke at
+that point to be altogether fatal to his enterprise.  But, with his faith
+still firm in the existence of coal underneath, he fell back on his old
+motto of “Persevere.”  He determined to go on boring; and down through
+the solid rock he went until, twenty-two feet lower, he came upon the
+coal measures.  In the mean time, however, lest the boring at that point
+should prove unsuccessful, he had commenced sinking another pair of
+shafts about a quarter of a mile west of the “fault;” and after about
+nine months’ labour he reached the principal seam, called the “main
+coal.”
+
+The works were then opened out on a large scale, and Mr. Stephenson had
+the pleasure and good fortune to send the first train of main coal to
+Leicester by railway.  The price was immediately reduced to about 8s. a
+ton, effecting a pecuniary saving to the inhabitants of the town of about
+£40,000 per annum, or equivalent to the whole amount then collected in
+Government taxes and local rates, besides giving an impetus to the
+manufacturing prosperity of the place, which has continued down to the
+present day.  The correct principles upon which the mining operations at
+Snibston were conducted offered a salutary example to the neighbouring
+colliery owners.  The numerous improvements there introduced were freely
+exhibited to all, and they were afterwards reproduced in many forms all
+over the Midland Counties, greatly to the advantage of the mining
+interest.
+
+Nor was Mr. Stephenson less attentive to the comfort and well-being of
+those immediately dependent upon him—the workpeople of the Snibston
+colliery and their families.  Unlike many of those large employers who
+have “sprung from the ranks,” he was one of the kindest and most
+indulgent of masters.  He would have a fair day’s work for a fair day’s
+wages; but he never forgot that the employer had his duties as well as
+his rights.  First of all, he attended to the proper home accommodation
+of his workpeople.  He erected a village of comfortable cottages, each
+provided with a snug little garden.  He was also instrumental in erecting
+a church adjacent to the works, as well as Church schools for the
+education of the colliers’ children; and with that broad catholicity of
+sentiment which distinguished him, he further provided a chapel and a
+school-house for the use of the Dissenting portion of the colliers and
+their families—an example of benevolent liberality which was not without
+a salutary influence upon the neighbouring employers.
+
+              [Picture: Stephenson’s House at Alton Grange]
+
+                       [Picture: Robert Stephenson]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+ROBERT STEPHENSON CONSTRUCTS THE LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY.
+
+
+Of the numerous extensive projects which followed close upon the
+completion of the Liverpool and Manchester line, and the Locomotive
+triumph at Rainhill, that of a railway between London and Birmingham was
+the most important.  The scheme originated at the latter place in 1830.
+Two committees were formed, and two plans were proposed.  One was of a
+line to London by way of Oxford, and the other by way of Coventry.  The
+simple object of the promoters of both schemes being to secure the
+advantages of railway communication with the metropolis, they wisely
+determined to combine their strength to secure it.  They then resolved to
+call George Stephenson to their aid, and requested him to advise them as
+to the two schemes which were before them.  After a careful examination
+of the country, Mr. Stephenson reported in favour of the Coventry route,
+when the Lancashire gentlemen, who were the principal subscribers to the
+project, having every confidence in his judgment, supported his decision,
+and the line recommended by him was adopted accordingly.
+
+At the meeting of the promoters held at Birmingham to determine on the
+appointment of the engineer for the railway, there was a strong party in
+favour of associating with Mr. Stephenson a gentleman with whom he had
+been brought into serious collision in the course of the Liverpool and
+Manchester undertaking.  When the offer was made to him that he should be
+joint engineer with the other, he requested leave to retire and consider
+the proposal with his son.  The father was in favour of accepting it.
+His struggle heretofore had been so hard that he could not bear the idea
+of missing so promising an opportunity of professional advancement.  But
+the son, foreseeing the jealousies and heartburnings which the joint
+engineership would most probably create, recommended his father to
+decline the connection.  George adopted the suggestion, and returning to
+the Committee, he announced to them his decision; on which the promoters
+decided to appoint him the engineer of the undertaking in conjunction
+with his son.
+
+This line, like the Liverpool and Manchester, was very strongly opposed,
+especially by the landowners.  Numerous pamphlets were published, calling
+on the public to “beware of the bubbles,” and holding up the promoters of
+railways to ridicule.  They were compared to St. John Long and similar
+quacks, and pronounced fitter for Bedlam than to be left at large.  The
+canal proprietors, landowners, and road trustees, made common cause
+against them.  The failure of railways was confidently predicted—indeed,
+it was elaborately attempted to be proved that they had failed; and it
+was industriously spread abroad that the locomotive engines, having been
+found useless and highly dangerous on the Liverpool and Manchester line,
+were immediately to be abandoned in favour of horses—a rumour which the
+directors of the Company thought it necessary publicly to contradict.
+
+Public meetings were held in all the counties through which the line
+would pass between London and Birmingham, at which the project was
+denounced, and strong resolutions against it were passed.  The attempt
+was made to conciliate the landlords by explanations, but all such
+efforts proved futile, the owners of nearly seven-eighths of the land
+being returned as dissentients.  “I remember,” said Robert Stephenson,
+describing the opposition, “that we called one day on Sir Astley Cooper,
+the eminent surgeon, in the hope of overcoming his aversion to the
+railway.  He was one of our most inveterate and influential opponents.
+His country house at Berkhampstead was situated near the intended line,
+which passed through part of his property.  We found a courtly,
+fine-looking old gentleman, of very stately manners, who received us
+kindly and heard all we had to say in favour of the project.  But he was
+quite inflexible in his opposition to it.  No deviation or improvement
+that we could suggest had any effect in conciliating him.  He was opposed
+to railways generally, and to this in particular.  ‘Your scheme,’ said
+he, ‘is preposterous in the extreme.  It is of so extravagant a
+character, as to be positively absurd.  Then look at the recklessness of
+your proceedings!  You are proposing to cut up our estates in all
+directions for the purpose of making an unnecessary road.  Do you think
+for one moment of the destruction of property involved by it?  Why,
+gentlemen, if this sort of thing be permitted to go on, you will in a
+very few years _destroy the noblesse_!’  We left the honourable baronet
+without having produced the slightest effect upon him, excepting perhaps,
+it might be, increased exasperation against our scheme.  1 could not help
+observing to my companions as we left the house, ‘Well, it is really
+provoking to find one who has been made a “Sir” for cutting that wen out
+of George the Fourth’s neck, charging us with contemplating the
+destruction of the _noblesse_, because we propose to confer upon him the
+benefits of a railroad.’“
+
+Such being the opposition of the owners of land, it was with the greatest
+difficulty that an accurate survey of the line could be made.  At one
+point the vigilance of the landowners and their servants was such, that
+the surveyors were effectually prevented taking the levels by the light
+of day; and it was only at length accomplished at night by means of dark
+lanterns.  There was one clergyman, who made such alarming demonstrations
+of his opposition, that the extraordinary expedient was resorted to of
+surveying his property during the time he was engaged in the pulpit.
+This was managed by having a strong force of surveyors in readiness to
+commence their operations, who entered the clergyman’s grounds on one
+side the moment they saw him fairly off them on the other.  By a
+well-organised and systematic arrangement each man concluded his allotted
+task just as the reverend gentleman concluded his sermon; so that, before
+he left the church, the deed was done, and the sinners had all decamped.
+Similar opposition was offered at many other points, but ineffectually.
+The laborious application of Robert Stephenson was such, that in
+examining the country to ascertain the best line, he walked the whole
+distance between London and Birmingham upwards of twenty times.
+
+When the bill went before the Committee of the Commons in 1832, a
+formidable array of evidence was produced.  All the railway experience of
+the day was brought to bear in support of the measure, and all that
+interested opposition could do was set in motion against it.  The
+necessity for an improved mode of communication between London and
+Birmingham was clearly demonstrated; and the engineering evidence was
+regarded as quite satisfactory.  Not a single fact was proved against the
+utility of the measure, and the bill passed the Committee, and afterwards
+the third reading in the Commons, by large majorities.
+
+It was then sent to the Lords, and went into Committee, when a similar
+mass of testimony was again gone through.  But it had been evident, from
+the opening of the proceedings, that the fate of the bill had been
+determined before even a word of the evidence had been heard.  At that
+time the committees were open to all peers; and the promoters of the bill
+found, to their dismay, many of the lords who were avowed opponents of
+the measure as landowners, sitting as judges to decide its fate.  Their
+principal object seemed to be, to bring the proceedings to a termination
+as quickly as possible.  An attempt at negotiation was indeed made in the
+course of the proceedings in committee, but failed, and the bill was
+thrown out.
+
+As the result had been foreseen, measures were taken to neutralise the
+effect of this decision as regarded future operations.  Not less than
+£32,000 had been expended in preliminary and parliamentary expenses up to
+this stage; but the promoters determined not to look back, and forthwith
+made arrangements for prosecuting the bill in the next session.  Strange
+to say, the bill then passed both Houses silently and almost without
+opposition.  The mystery was afterwards solved by the appearance of a
+circular issued by the directors of the company, in which it was stated,
+that they had opened “negotiations” with the most influential of their
+opponents; that “these measures had been successful to a greater extent
+than they had ventured to anticipate; and the most active and formidable
+had been conciliated.”  An instructive commentary on the mode by which
+these noble lords and influential landed proprietors had been
+“conciliated,” was the simple fact that the estimate for land was nearly
+trebled, and that the owners were paid about £750,000 for what had been
+originally estimated at £250,000.
+
+The landowners having thus been “conciliated,” the promoters of the
+measure were permitted to proceed with the formation of their great
+highway.  Robert Stephenson was, with the sanction of his father,
+appointed sole engineer; and steps were at once taken by him to make the
+working survey, to prepare the working drawings, and arrange for the
+construction of the railway.  Eighty miles of the road were shortly under
+contract, having been let within the estimates; and the works were in
+satisfactory progress by the beginning of 1834.
+
+The difficulties encountered in their construction were very great; the
+most formidable of them originating in the character of the works
+themselves.  Extensive tunnels had to be driven through unknown strata,
+and miles of underground excavation had to be carried out in order to
+form a level road from valley to valley, under the intervening ridges.
+This kind of work was the newest of all to the contractors of that day.
+Robert Stephenson’s experience in the collieries of the North rendered
+him well fitted to grapple with such difficulties; yet even he, with all
+his practical knowledge, could scarcely have foreseen the serious
+obstacles which he was called upon to encounter in executing the
+formidable cuttings, embankments, and tunnels of the London and
+Birmingham Railway.  It would be an uninteresting, as it would be a
+fruitless task, to attempt to describe the works in detail; but a general
+outline of their extraordinary character and extent may not be out of
+place.
+
+                       [Picture: Rugby to Watford]
+
+The length of railway to be constructed between London and Birmingham was
+112½ miles.  The line crossed a series of low-lying districts separated
+from each other by considerable ridges of hills; and it was the object of
+the engineer to cross the valleys at as high, and the hills at as low,
+elevations as possible.  The high ground was therefore cut down and the
+“stuff” led into embankments, in some places of great height and extent,
+so as to form a road upon as level a plane as was considered practicable
+for the working of the locomotive engine.  In some places, the high
+grounds were passed in open cuttings, whilst in others it was necessary
+to bore through them in tunnels with deep cuttings at each end.
+
+The most formidable excavations on the line are those at Tring, Denbigh
+Hall, and Blisworth.  The Tring cutting is an immense chasm across the
+great chalk ridge of Ivinghoe.  It is 2½ miles long, and for ¼ of a mile
+is 57 feet deep.  A million and a half cubic yards of chalk and earth
+were taken out of this cutting by means of horse-runs and deposited in
+spoil banks; besides the immense quantity run into the embankment north
+of the cutting, forming a solid mound nearly 6 miles long and about 30
+feet high.  Passing over the Denbigh Hall cutting, and the Wolverton
+embankment of 1½ mile in length across the valley of the Ouse, we come to
+the excavation at Blisworth, a brief description of which will give the
+reader an idea of one of the most difficult kinds of railway work.
+
+                       [Picture: Blisworth Cutting]
+
+The Blisworth Cutting is one of the longest and deepest grooves cut in
+the solid earth.  It is 1½ mile long, in some places 65 feet deep,
+passing through earth, stiff clay, and hard rock.  Not less than a
+million cubic yards of these materials were dug, quarried, and blasted
+out of it.  One-third of the cutting was stone, and beneath the stone lay
+a thick bed of clay, under which were found beds of loose shale so full
+of water that almost constant pumping was necessary at many points to
+enable the works to proceed.  For a year and a half the contractor went
+on fruitlessly contending with these difficulties, and at length he was
+compelled to abandon the adventure.  The engineer then took the works in
+hand for the Company, and they were vigorously proceeded with.
+Steam-engines were set to work to pump out the water; two locomotives
+were put on, one at each end of the cutting, to drag away the excavated
+rock and clay; and 800 men and boys were employed along the work, in
+digging, wheeling, and blasting, besides a large number of horses.  Some
+idea of the extent of the blasting operations may be formed from the fact
+that 25 barrels of gunpowder were used weekly; the total quantity
+exploded in forming this one cutting being about 3,000 barrels.
+Considerable difficulty was experienced in supporting the bed of rock cut
+through, which overlaid the clay and shale along each side of the
+cutting.  It was found necessary to hold it up by strong retaining walls,
+to prevent the clay bed from bulging out, and these walls were further
+supported by a strong invert,—that is, an arch placed in an inverted
+position under the road,—thus binding together the walls on both sides.
+Behind the retaining walls, a drift or horizontal drain was provided to
+enable the water to run off, and occasional openings were left in the
+walls themselves for the same purpose.  The work was at length brought to
+a successful completion, but the extraordinary difficulties encountered
+in forming the cutting had the effect of greatly increasing the cost of
+this portion of the railway.
+
+The Tunnels on the line are eight in number, their total length being
+7336 yards.  The first high ground encountered was Primrose Hill, where
+the stiff London clay was passed through for a distance of about 1164
+yards.  The clay was close, compact, and dry, more difficult to work than
+stone itself.  It was entirely free from water; but the absorbing
+properties of the clay were such that when exposed to the air it swelled
+out rapidly.  Hence an unusual thickness of brick lining was found
+necessary; and the engineer afterwards informed the author that for some
+time he entertained an apprehension lest the pressure should force in the
+brickwork altogether.  It was so great that it made the face of the
+bricks to fly off in minute chips which covered his clothes whilst he was
+inspecting the work.  The materials used in the building were, however,
+of excellent quality; and the tunnel was happily brought to a completion
+without any accident.
+
+At Watford the chalk ridge was penetrated by a tunnel about 1800 yards
+long; and at Northchurch, Lindslade, and Stowe Hill, there were other
+tunnels of minor extent.  But the chief difficulty of the undertaking was
+the execution of that under the Kilsby ridge.  Though not the largest,
+this is in many respects one of the most interesting works of the kind in
+England.  It is about 2400 yards long, and runs at an average depth of
+about 160 feet below the surface.  The ridge under which it extends is of
+considerable extent, the famous battle of Naseby having been fought upon
+one of the spurs of the same high ground about seven miles to the
+eastward.
+
+Previous to the letting of the contract, the character of the underground
+soil was examined by trial-shafts.  The tests indicated that it consisted
+of shale of the lower oolite, and the works were let accordingly.  But
+they had scarcely been commenced when it was discovered that, at an
+interval between the two trial-shafts which had been sunk, about 200
+yards from the south end of the tunnel, there existed an extensive
+quicksand under a bed of clay 40 feet thick, which the borings had
+escaped in the most singular manner.  At the bottom of one of these
+shafts the excavation and building of the tunnel were proceeding, when
+the roof at one part suddenly gave way, a deluge of water burst in, and
+the party of workmen with the utmost difficulty escaped with their lives.
+They were only saved by means of a raft, on which they were towed by one
+of the engineers swimming with the rope in his mouth to the lower end of
+the shaft, out of which they were safely lifted to the daylight.  The
+works were of course at that point immediately stopped.
+
+                 [Picture: The Shafts over Kilsby Tunnel]
+
+The contractor, who had undertaken the construction of the tunnel, was so
+overwhelmed by the calamity, that, though he was relieved by the Company
+from his engagement, he took to his bed and shortly after died.
+Pumping-engines were then erected for the purpose of draining off the
+water, but for a long time it prevailed, and sometimes even rose in the
+shaft.  The question then presented itself, whether in the face of so
+formidable a difficulty, the works should be proceeded with or abandoned.
+Robert Stephenson sent over to Alton Grange for his father, and the two
+took serious counsel together.  George was in favour of pumping out the
+water from the top by powerful engines erected over each shaft, until the
+water was mastered.  Robert concurred in that view, and although other
+engineers pronounced strongly against the practicability of the scheme
+and advised its abandonment, the directors authorised him to proceed; and
+powerful steam-engines were ordered to be constructed and delivered
+without loss of time.
+
+In the mean time, Robert suggested to his father the expediency of
+running a drift along the heading from the south end of the tunnel, with
+the view of draining off the water in that way.  George said he thought
+it would scarcely answer, but that it was worth a trial, at all events
+until the pumping-engines were got ready.  Robert accordingly gave orders
+for the drift to be proceeded with.  The excavators were immediately set
+to work; and they were very soon close upon the sand bed.  One day, when
+the engineer, his assistants, and the workmen were clustered about the
+open entrance of the drift-way, they heard a sudden roar as of distant
+thunder.  It was hoped that the water had burst in—for all the workmen
+were out of the drift,—and that the sand bed would now drain itself off
+in a natural way.  Instead of which, very little water made its
+appearance; and on examining the inner end of the drift, it was found
+that the loud noise had been caused by the sudden discharge into it of an
+immense mass of sand, which had completely choked up the passage, and
+prevented the water from flowing away.
+
+The engineer now found that there was nothing for it but to sink numerous
+additional shafts over the line of the tunnel at the points at which it
+crossed the quicksand, and endeavour to master the water by sheer force
+of engines and pumps.  The engines erected, possessed an aggregate power
+of 160 horses; and they went on pumping for eight successive months,
+emptying out an almost incredible quantity of water.  It was found that
+the water, with which the bed of sand extending over many miles was
+charged, was to a certain degree held back by the particles of the sand
+itself, and that it could only percolate through at a certain average
+rate.  It appeared in its flow to take a slanting direction to the
+suction of the pumps, the angle of inclination depending upon the
+coarseness or fineness of the sand, and regulating the time of the flow.
+Hence the distribution of the pumping power at short intervals along the
+line of the tunnel had a much greater effect than the concentration of
+that power at any one spot.  It soon appeared that the water had found
+its master.  Protected by the pumps, which cleared a space for the
+engineering operations—carried on in the midst, as it were, of two almost
+perpendicular walls of water and sand on either side—the workmen
+proceeded with the building of the tunnel at numerous points.  Every
+exertion was used to wall in the dangerous parts as quickly as possible;
+the excavators and bricklayers labouring night and day until the work was
+finished.  Even while under the protection of the immense pumping power
+above described, it often happened that the bricks were scarcely covered
+with cement ready for the setting, ere they were washed quite clean by
+the streams of water which poured from overhead.  The men were
+accordingly under the necessity of holding over their work large whisks
+of straw and other appliances to protect the bricks and cement at the
+moment of setting.
+
+The quantity of water pumped out of the sand bed during eight months of
+incessant pumping, averaged 2,000 gallons per minute, raised from an
+average depth of 120 feet.  It is difficult to form an adequate idea of
+the bulk of the water thus raised, but it may be stated that if allowed
+to flow for three hours only, it would fill a lake one acre square to the
+depth of one foot, and if allowed to flow for one entire day it would
+fill the lake to over eight feet in depth, or sufficient to float vessels
+of 100 tons burthen.  The water pumped out of the tunnel while the work
+was in progress would be nearly equivalent to the contents of the Thames
+at high water, between London and Woolwich.  It is a curious circumstance
+that notwithstanding the quantity thus removed, the level of the surface
+of the water in the tunnel was only lowered about 2½ to 3 inches per
+week, proving the vast area of the quicksand, which probably extended
+along the entire ridge of land under which the railway passed.
+
+The cost of the line was greatly increased by the difficulties
+encountered at Kilsby.  The original estimate for the tunnel was only
+£99,000; but before it was finished it had cost more than £100 per lineal
+yard forward, or a total of nearly £300,000.  The expenditure on the
+other parts of the line also greatly exceeded the amount first set down
+by the engineer; and before the works were finished it was more than
+doubled.  The land cost three times more than the estimate; and the
+claims for compensation were enormous.  Although the contracts were let
+within the estimates, very few of the contractors were able to complete
+them without the assistance of the Company, and many became bankrupt.
+
+The magnitude of the works, which were unprecedented in England, was one
+of the most remarkable features in the undertaking.  The following
+striking comparison has been made between this railway and one of the
+greatest works of ancient times.  The Great Pyramid of Egypt was,
+according to Diodorus Siculus, constructed by 300,000—according to
+Herodotus, by 100,000—men.  It required for its execution twenty years,
+and the labour expended upon it has been estimated as equivalent to
+lifting 15,733,000,000 of cubic feet of stone one foot high.  Whereas, if
+the labour expended in constructing the London and Birmingham Railway be
+in like manner reduced to one common denomination the result is
+25,000,000,000 of cubic feet _more_ than was lifted for the Great
+Pyramid; and yet the English work was performed by about 20,000 men in
+less than five years.  And whilst the Egyptian work was executed by a
+powerful monarch concentrating upon it the labour and capital of a great
+nation, the English railway was constructed, in the face of every
+conceivable obstruction and difficulty, by a company of private
+individuals out of their own resources, without the aid of Government or
+the contribution of one farthing of public money.
+
+The labourers who executed this formidable work were in many respects a
+remarkable class.  The “railway navvies,” as they are called, were men
+drawn by the attraction of good wages from all parts of the kingdom; and
+they were ready for any sort of hard work.  Some of the best came from
+the fen districts of Lincoln and Cambridge, where they had been trained
+to execute works of excavation and embankment.  These old practitioners
+formed a nucleus of skilled manipulation and aptitude, which rendered
+them of indispensable utility in the immense undertakings of the period.
+Their expertness in all sorts of earthwork, in embanking, boring, and
+well-sinking—their practical knowledge of the nature of soils and rocks,
+the tenacity of clays, and the porosity of certain stratifications—were
+very great; and, rough-looking though they were, many of them were as
+important in their own department as the contractor or the engineer.
+
+During the railway-making period the navvy wandered about from one public
+work to another—apparently belonging to no country and having no home.
+He usually wore a white felt hat with the brim turned up, a velveteen or
+jean square-tailed coat, a scarlet plush waistcoat with little black
+spots, and a bright-coloured kerchief round his herculean neck, when, as
+often happened, it was not left entirely bare.  His corduroy breeches
+were retained in position by a leathern strap round the waist, and were
+tied and buttoned at the knee, displaying beneath a solid calf and foot
+encased in strong high-laced boots.  Joining together in a “butty gang,”
+some ten or twelve of these men would take a contract to cut out and
+remove so much “dirt”—as they denominated earth-cutting—fixing their
+price according to the character of the “stuff,” and the distance to
+which it had to be wheeled and tipped.  The contract taken, every man put
+himself on his mettle; if any was found skulking, or not putting forth
+his full working power, he was ejected from the gang.  Their powers of
+endurance were extraordinary.  In times of emergency they would work for
+12 and even 16 hours, with only short intervals for meals.  The quantity
+of flesh-meat which they consumed was something enormous; but it was to
+their bones and muscles what coke is to the locomotive—the means of
+keeping up the steam.  They displayed great pluck, and seemed to
+disregard peril.  Indeed the most dangerous sort of labour—such as
+working horse-barrow runs, in which accidents are of constant
+occurrence—has always been most in request amongst them, the danger
+seeming to be one of its chief recommendations.
+
+Working, eating, drinking, and sleeping together, and daily exposed to
+the same influences, these railway labourers soon presented a distinct
+and well-defined character, strongly marking them from the population of
+the districts in which they laboured.  Reckless alike of their lives as
+of their earnings, the navvies worked hard and lived hard.  For their
+lodging, a hut of turf would content them; and, in their hours of
+leisure, the meanest public-house would serve for their parlour.
+Unburdened, as they usually were, by domestic ties, unsoftened by family
+affection, and without much moral or religious training, the navvies came
+to be distinguished by a sort of savage manners, which contrasted
+strangely with those of the surrounding population.  Yet, ignorant and
+violent though they might be, they were usually good-hearted fellows in
+the main—frank and openhanded with their comrades, and ready to share
+their last penny with those in distress.  Their pay-nights were often a
+saturnalia of riot and disorder, dreaded by the inhabitants of the
+villages along the line of works.  The irruption of such men into the
+quiet hamlet of Kilsby must, indeed, have produced a very startling
+effect on the recluse inhabitants of the place.  Robert Stephenson used
+to tell a story of the clergyman of the parish waiting upon the foreman
+of one of the gangs to expostulate with him as to the shocking
+impropriety of his men working during Sunday.  But the head navvy merely
+hitched up his trousers, and said, “Why, Soondays hain’t cropt out here
+yet!”  In short, the navvies were little better than heathens, and the
+village of Kilsby was not restored to its wonted quiet until the
+tunnel-works were finished, and the engines and scaffoldings removed,
+leaving only the immense masses of _débris_ around the line of shafts
+which extend along the top of the tunnel.
+
+In illustration of the extraordinary working energy and powers of
+endurance of the English navvies, we may mention that when railway-making
+extended to France, the English contractors for the works took with them
+gangs of English navvies, with the usual plant, which included
+wheelbarrows.  These the English navvy was accustomed to run out rapidly
+and continuously, piled so high with “stuff” that he could barely see
+over the summit of his load, the gang-board along which he wheeled his
+barrow.  While he thus easily ran out some 3 or 4 cwt. at a time, the
+French navvy was contented with half the weight.  Indeed, the French
+navvies on one occasion struck work because of the size of the English
+barrows, and there was an _émeute_ on the Rouen Railway, which was only
+quelled by the aid of the military.  The consequence was that the big
+barrows were abandoned to the English workmen, who earned nearly double
+the wages of the Frenchmen.  The manner in which they stood to their work
+was matter of great surprise and wonderment to the French countrypeople,
+who came crowding round them in their blouses, and, after gazing
+admiringly at their expert handling of the pick and mattock, and the
+immense loads of “dirt” which they wheeled out, would exclaim to each
+other, “_Mon Dieu_, _voila_! _voila ces Anglais_, _comme ils
+travaillent_!”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+MANCHESTER AND LEEDS, AND MIDLAND RAILWAYS—STEPHENSON’S LIFE AT
+ALTON—VISIT TO BELGIUM—GENERAL EXTENSION OF RAILWAYS AND THEIR RESULTS.
+
+
+The rapidity with which railways were carried out, when the spirit of the
+country became roused, was indeed remarkable.  This was doubtless in some
+measure owing to the increased force of the current of speculation at the
+time, but chiefly to the desire which the public began to entertain for
+the general extension of the system.  It was even proposed to fill up the
+canals, and convert them into railways.  The new roads became the topic
+of conversation in all circles; they were felt to give a new value to
+time; their vast capabilities for “business” peculiarly recommended them
+to the trading classes; whilst the friends of “progress” dilated on the
+great benefits they would eventually confer upon mankind at large.  It
+began to be seen that Edward Pease had not been exaggerating when he
+said, “Let the country but make the railroads, and the railroads will
+make the country!”  They also came to be regarded as inviting objects of
+investment to the thrifty, and a safe outlet for the accumulations of
+inert men of capital.  Thus new avenues of iron road were soon in course
+of formation, branching in all directions, so that the country promised
+in a wonderfully short time to become wrapped in one vast network of
+iron.
+
+In 1836 the Grand Junction Railway was under construction between
+Warrington and Birmingham—the northern part by Mr. Stephenson, and the
+southern by Mr. Rastrick.  The works on that line embraced heavy
+cuttings, long embankments, and numerous viaducts; but none of these are
+worthy of any special description.  Perhaps the finest piece of masonry
+on the railway is the Dutton Viaduct across the valley of the Weaver.  It
+consists of twenty arches of 60 feet span, springing 16 feet from the
+perpendicular shaft of each pier, and 60 feet in height from the crown of
+the arches to the level of the river.  The foundations of the piers were
+built on piles driven 20 feet deep.  The structure has a solid and
+majestic appearance, and is perhaps the finest of George Stephenson’s
+viaducts.
+
+                      [Picture: The Dutton Viaduct]
+
+The Manchester and Leeds line was in progress at the same time—an
+important railway connecting the principal manufacturing towns of
+Yorkshire and Lancashire.  An attempt was made to obtain the Act as early
+as 1831; but its promoters were defeated by the powerful opposition of
+the landowners aided by the canal companies, and the project was not
+revived for several years.  The line was somewhat circuitous, and the
+works were heavy; but on the whole the gradients were favourable, and it
+had the advantage of passing through a district full of manufacturing
+towns and villages, teeming hives of population, industry, and
+enterprise.  The Act authorising the construction of the railway was
+obtained in 1836; it was greatly amended in the succeeding year, and the
+first ground was broken on the 18th August, 1837.
+
+In conducting this project to an issue, the engineer had the usual
+opposition and prejudices to encounter.  Predictions were confidently
+made in many quarters that the line could never succeed.  It was declared
+that the utmost engineering skill could not construct a railway through
+such a country of hills and hard rocks; and it was maintained that, even
+if the railroad were practicable, it could only be made at a ruinous
+cost.
+
+During the progress of the works, as the Summit Tunnel, near
+Littleborough, was approaching completion, the rumour was spread abroad
+in Manchester that the tunnel had fallen in and buried a number of the
+workmen.  The last arch had been keyed in, and the work was all but
+finished, when the accident occurred which was thus exaggerated by the
+lying tongue of rumour.  An invert had given way through the irregular
+pressure of the surrounding earth and rock at a part of the tunnel where
+a “fault” had occurred in the strata.  A party of the directors
+accompanied the engineer to inspect the scene of the accident.  They
+entered the tunnel’s mouth preceded by upwards of fifty navvies, each
+bearing a torch.
+
+After walking a distance of about half a mile, the inspecting party
+arrived at the scene of the “frightful accident,” about which so much
+alarm had been spread.  All that was visible was a certain unevenness of
+the ground, which had been forced up by the invert under it giving way;
+thus the ballast had been loosened, the drain running along the centre of
+the road had been displaced, and small pools of water stood about.  But
+the whole of the walls and the roof were still as perfect as at any other
+part of the tunnel.
+
+         [Picture: Entrance to the Summit Tunnel, Littleborough]
+
+The engineer explained the cause of the accident; the blue shale, he
+said, through which the excavation passed at that point, was considered
+so hard and firm, as to render it unnecessary to build the invert very
+strong there.  But shale is always a deceptive material.  Subjected to
+the influence of the atmosphere, it gives but a treacherous support.  In
+this case, falling away like quicklime, it had left the lip of the invert
+alone to support the pressure of the arch above, and hence its springing
+inwards and upwards.  Mr. Stephenson directed the attention of the
+visitors to the completeness of the arch overhead, where not the
+slightest fracture or yielding could be detected.  Speaking of the work,
+in the course of the same day, he said, “I will stake my character and my
+head, if that tunnel ever give way, so as to cause danger to any of the
+public passing through it.  Taking it as a whole, I don’t think there is
+such another piece of work in the world.  It is the greatest work that
+has yet been done of this kind, and there has been less repairing than is
+usual,—though an engineer might well be beaten in his calculations, for
+he cannot beforehand see into those little fractured parts of the earth
+he may meet with.”  As Stephenson had promised, the invert was put in;
+and the tunnel was made perfectly safe.
+
+The construction of this subterranean road employed the labour of above a
+thousand men for nearly four years.  Besides excavating the arch out of a
+solid rock, they used 23,000,000 of bricks, and 8000 tons of Roman cement
+in the building of the tunnel.  Thirteen stationary engines, and about
+100 horses, were also employed in drawing the earth and stone out of the
+shafts.  Its entire length is 2869 yards, or nearly 1¾ mile—exceeding the
+famous Kilsby Tunnel by 471 yards.
+
+The Midland Railway was a favourite line of Mr. Stephenson’s for several
+reasons.  It passed through a rich mining district, in which it opened up
+many valuable coalfields, and it formed part of the great main line of
+communication between London and Edinburgh.  The Act was obtained in
+1836, and the first ground was broken in February, 1837.
+
+Although the Midland Railway was only one of the many great works of the
+same kind executed at that time, it was almost enough of itself to be the
+achievement of a life.  Compare it, for example with Napoleon’s military
+road over the Simplon, and it will at once be seen how greatly it excels
+that work, not only in the constructive skill displayed in it, but also
+in its cost and magnitude, and the amount of labour employed in its
+formation.  The road of the Simplon is 45 miles in length; the North
+Midland Railway is 72½ miles.  The former has 50 bridges and 5 tunnels,
+measuring together 1338 feet in length; the latter has 200 bridges and 7
+tunnels, measuring together 11,400 feet, or about 2¼ miles.  The former
+cost about £720,000 sterling, the latter above £3,000,000.  Napoleon’s
+grand military road was constructed in six years, at the public cost of
+the two great kingdoms of France and Italy; while Stephenson’s railway
+was formed in about three years, by a company of private merchants and
+capitalists out of their own funds, and under their own superintendence.
+
+It is scarcely necessary that we should give any account in detail of the
+North Midland works.  The making of one tunnel so much resembles the
+making of another,—the building of bridges and viaducts, no matter how
+extensive, so much resembles the building of others,—the cutting out of
+“dirt,” the blasting of rocks, and the wheeling of excavation into
+embankments, is so much a matter of mere time and hard work,—that is
+quite unnecessary for us to detain the reader by any attempt at their
+description.  Of course there were the usual difficulties to encounter
+and overcome,—but the railway engineer regarded these as mere matters of
+course, and would probably have been disappointed if they had not
+presented themselves.
+
+On the Midland, as on other lines, water was the great enemy to be fought
+against,—water in the Claycross and other tunnels,—water in the boggy or
+sandy foundations of bridges,—and water in cuttings and embankments.  As
+an illustration of the difficulties of bridge building, we may mention
+the case of the five-arch bridge over the Derwent, where it took two
+years’ work, night and day, to get in the foundations of the piers alone.
+Another curious illustration of the mischief done by water in cuttings
+may be briefly mentioned.  At a part of the North Midland Line, near
+Ambergate, it was necessary to pass along a hillside in a cutting a few
+yards deep.  As the cutting proceeded, a seam of shale was cut across,
+lying at an inclination of 6 to 1; and shortly after, the water getting
+behind the bed of shale, the whole mass of earth along the hill above
+began to move down across the line of excavation.  The accident
+completely upset the estimates of the contractor, who, instead of 50,000
+cubic yards, found that he had about 500,000 to remove; the execution of
+this part of the railway occupying fifteen months instead of two.
+
+        [Picture: Land-slip on North Midland Line, near Ambergate]
+
+The Oakenshaw cutting near Wakefield was also of a very formidable
+character.  About 600,000 yards of rock shale and bind were quarried out
+of it, and led to form the adjoining Oakenshaw embankment.  The Normanton
+cutting was almost as heavy, requiring the removal of 400,000 yards of
+the same kind of excavation into embankment and spoil.  But the progress
+of the works on the line was so rapid in 1839, that not less than 450,000
+cubic yards of excavation were removed monthly.
+
+                  [Picture: Bullbridge, near Ambergate]
+
+As a curiosity in construction, we may also mention a very delicate piece
+of work executed on the same railway at Bullbridge in Derbyshire, where
+the line at the same point passes _over_ a bridge which here spans the
+river Amber, and _under_ the bed of the Cromford Canal.  Water, bridge;
+railway, and canal, were thus piled one above the other, four stories
+high; such another curious complication probably not existing.  In order
+to prevent the possibility of the waters of the canal breaking in upon
+the works of the railroad, Mr. Stephenson had an iron trough made, 150
+feet long, of the width of the canal, and exactly fitting the bottom.  It
+was brought to the spot in three pieces, which were firmly welded
+together, and the trough was then floated into its place and sunk; the
+whole operation being completed without in the least interfering with the
+navigation of the canal.  The railway works underneath were then
+proceeded with and finished.
+
+Another line of the same series constructed by George Stephenson, was the
+York and North Midland, extending from Normanton—a point on the Midland
+Railway—to York; but it was a line of easy formation, traversing a
+comparatively level country.
+
+During the time that our engineer was engaged in superintending the
+execution of these undertakings, he was occupied upon other projected
+railways in various parts of the country.  He surveyed several lines in
+the neighbourhood of Glasgow, and afterwards routes along the east coast
+from Newcastle to Edinburgh, with the view of completing the main line of
+communication with London.  When out on foot in the fields, on these
+occasions, he was ever foremost in the march; and he delighted to test
+the prowess of his companions by a good jump at any hedge or ditch that
+lay in their way.  His companions used to remark his singular quickness
+of observation.  Nothing escaped his attention—the trees, the crops, the
+birds, or the farmer’s stock; and he was usually full of lively
+conversation, everything in nature affording him an opportunity for
+making some striking remark, or propounding some ingenious theory.  When
+taking a flying survey of a new line, his keen observation proved very
+useful to him, for he rapidly noted the general configuration of the
+country, and inferred its geological structure.  He afterwards remarked
+to a friend, “I have planned many a railway travelling along in a
+postchaise, and following the natural line of the country.”  And it was
+remarkable that his first impressions of the direction to be taken almost
+invariably proved correct; and there are few of the lines surveyed and
+recommended by him which have not been executed, either during his
+lifetime or since.  As an illustration of his quick and shrewd
+observation on such occasions, we may mention that when employed to lay
+out a line to connect Manchester, through Macclesfield, with the
+Potteries, the gentleman who accompanied him on the journey of inspection
+cautioned him to provide large accommodation for carrying off the water,
+observing—“You must not judge by the appearance of the brooks; for after
+heavy rains these hills pour down volumes of _water_, of which you can
+have no conception.”  “Pooh! pooh! _don’t I see your bridges_?” replied
+the engineer.  He had noted the details of each as he passed along.
+
+Among the other projects which occupied his attention about the same
+time, were the projected lines between Chester and Holyhead, between
+Leeds and Bradford, and between Lancaster and Maryport by the western
+coast.  This latter was intended to form part of a west-coast line to
+Scotland; Stephenson favouring it partly because of the flatness of the
+gradients, and also because it could be formed at comparatively small
+cost, whilst it would open out a valuable iron-mining district, from
+which a large traffic in ironstone was expected.  One of its collateral
+advantages, in the engineer’s opinion, was, that by forming the railway
+directly across Morecambe Bay, on the north-west coast of Lancashire, a
+large tract of valuable land might be reclaimed from the sea, the sale of
+which would considerably reduce the cost of the works.  He estimated that
+by means of a solid embankment across the bay, not less than 40,000 acres
+of rich alluvial land would be gained.  He proposed to carry the road
+across the ten miles of sands which lie between Poulton, near Lancaster,
+and Humphrey Head on the opposite coast, forming the line in a segment of
+a circle of five miles’ radius.  His plan was to drive in piles across
+the entire length, forming a solid fence of stone blocks on the land side
+for the purpose of retaining the sand and silt brought down by the rivers
+from the interior.  The embankment would then be raised from time to time
+as the deposit accumulated, until the land was filled up to high-water
+mark; provision being made by means of sufficient arches, for the flow of
+the river waters into the bay.  The execution of the railway after this
+plan would, however, have occupied more years than the promoters of the
+West Coast line were disposed to wait; and eventually Mr. Locke’s more
+direct but uneven line by Shap Fell was adopted.  A railway has since
+been carried across the head of the bay; and it is not improbable that
+Stephenson’s larger scheme of reclaiming the vast tract of land now left
+bare at each receding tide, may yet be carried out.
+
+While occupied in carrying out the great railway undertakings which we
+have above so briefly described, Mr. Stephenson’s home continued, for the
+greater part of the time, to be at Alton Grange, near Leicester.  But he
+was so much occupied in travelling about from one committee of directors
+to another—one week in England, another in Scotland, and probably the
+next in Ireland,—that he often did not see his home for weeks together.
+He had also to make frequent inspections of the various important and
+difficult works in progress, especially on the Midland and Manchester and
+Leeds lines; besides occasionally going to Newcastle to see how the
+locomotive works were going on there.  During the three years ending in
+1837—perhaps the busiest years of his life {263}—he travelled by
+postchaise alone upwards of 20,000 miles, and yet not less than six
+months out of the three years were spent in London.  Hence there is
+comparatively little to record of Mr. Stephenson’s private life at this
+period; during which he had scarcely a moment that he could call his own.
+
+His correspondence increased so much, that he found it necessary to
+engage a private secretary, who accompanied him on his journeys.  He was
+himself exceedingly averse to writing letters.  The comparatively
+advanced age at which ho learnt the art of writing, and the nature of his
+duties while engaged at the Killingworth colliery, precluded that
+facility in correspondence which only constant practice can give.  He
+gradually, however, acquired great facility in dictation, and possessed
+the power of labouring continuously at this work; the gentleman who acted
+as his secretary in 1835, having informed us that during his busy season
+he one day dictated not fewer than 37 letters, several of them embodying
+the results of much close thinking and calculation.  On another occasion,
+he dictated reports and letters for twelve continuous hours, until his
+secretary was ready to drop off his chair from sheer exhaustion, and at
+length he pleaded for a suspension of the labour.  This great mass of
+correspondence, although closely bearing on the subjects under
+discussion, was not, however, of a kind to supply the biographer with
+matter for quotation, or give that insight into the life and character of
+the writer which the letters of literary men so often furnish.  They
+were, for the most part, letters of mere business, relating to works in
+progress, parliamentary contests, new surveys, estimates of cost, and
+railway policy,—curt, and to the point; in short, the letters of a man
+every moment of whose time was precious.  He was also frequently called
+upon to inspect and report upon colliery works, salt works, brass and
+copper works, and such like, in addition to his own colliery and railway
+business.  And occasionally he would run up to London, for the purpose of
+attending in person to the preparation and deposit of the plans and
+sections of the projected undertakings of which he had been appointed
+engineer.
+
+Fortunately Stephenson possessed a facility of sleeping, which enabled
+him to pass through this enormous amount of fatigue and labour without
+injury to his health.  He had been trained in a hard school, and could
+bear with ease conditions which, to men more softly nurtured, would have
+been the extreme of physical discomfort.  Many, many nights he snatched
+his sleep while travelling in his chaise; and at break of day he would be
+at work, surveying until dark, and this for weeks in succession.  His
+whole powers seemed to be under the control of his will, for he could
+wake at any hour, and go to work at once.  It was difficult for
+secretaries and assistants to keep up with such a man.
+
+It is pleasant to record that in the midst of these engrossing
+occupations, his heart remained as soft and loving as ever.  In
+spring-time he would not be debarred of his boyish pursuit of
+bird-nesting; but would go rambling along the hedges spying for nests.
+In the autumn he went nutting, and when he could snatch a few minutes he
+indulged in his old love of gardening.  His uniform kindness and good
+temper, and his communicative, intelligent disposition, made him a great
+favourite with the neighbouring farmers, to whom he would volunteer much
+valuable advice on agricultural operations, drainage, ploughing, and
+labour-saving processes.  Sometimes he took a long rural ride on his
+favourite “Bobby,” now growing old, but as fond of his master as ever.
+Towards the end of his life, “Bobby” lived in clover, its master’s pet,
+doing no work; and he died at Tapton, in 1845, more than twenty years
+old.
+
+During one of George’s brief sojourns at the Grange, he found time to
+write to his son a touching account of a pair of robins that had built
+their nest within one of the upper chambers of the house.  One day he
+observed a robin fluttering outside the windows, and beating its wings
+against the panes, as if eager to gain admission.  He went up stairs, and
+there found, in a retired part of one of the rooms, a robin’s nest, with
+one of the parent birds sitting over three or four young—all dead.  The
+excluded bird outside still beat against the panes; and on the window
+being let down, it flew into the room, but was so exhausted that it
+dropped upon the floor.  Mr. Stephenson took up the bird, carried it down
+stairs, had it warmed and fed.  The poor robin revived, and for a time
+was one of his pets.  But it shortly died too, as if unable to recover
+from the privations it had endured during its three days’ fluttering and
+beating at the windows.  It appeared that the room had been unoccupied,
+and, the sash having been let down, the robins had taken the opportunity
+of building their nest within it; but the servant having closed the
+window again, the calamity befel the birds which so strongly excited Mr.
+Stephenson’s sympathies.  An incident such as this, trifling though it
+may seem, gives the true key to the heart of the man.
+
+The amount of their Parliamentary business having greatly increased with
+the projection of new lines of railway, the Stephensons found it
+necessary to set up an office in London in 1836.  George’s first office
+was at 9, Duke Street, Westminster, from whence he removed in the
+following year to 30½, Great George-street.  That office was the busy
+scene of railway politics for several years.  There consultations were
+held, schemes were matured, deputations were received, and many
+projectors called upon our engineer for the purpose of submitting to him
+their plans of railways and railway working.  His private secretary at
+the time has informed us that at the end of the first Parliamentary
+session in which he had been engaged as engineer for more companies than
+one, it became necessary for him to give instructions as to the
+preparation of the accounts to be rendered to the respective companies.
+In the simplicity of his heart, he directed Mr. Binns to take his full
+time at the rate of ten guineas a day, and charge the railway companies
+in the proportion in which he had been actually employed on their
+respective business during each day.  When Robert heard of this
+instruction, he went directly to his father and expostulated with him
+against this unprofessional course; and, other influences being brought
+to bear upon him, George at length reluctantly consented to charge as
+other engineers did, an entire day’s fee to each of the Companies for
+which he was concerned whilst their business was going forward; but he
+cut down the number of days charged for and reduced the daily amount from
+ten to seven guineas.
+
+Besides his journeys at home, Mr. Stephenson was on more than one
+occasion called abroad on railway business.  Thus, at the desire of King
+Leopold, he made several visits to Belgium to assist the Belgian
+engineers in laying out the national lines of that kingdom.  That
+enlightened monarch at an early period discerned the powerful
+instrumentality of railways in developing a country’s resources, and he
+determined at the earliest possible period to adopt them as the great
+high-roads of the nation.  The country, being rich in coal and minerals,
+had great manufacturing capabilities.  It had good ports, fine navigable
+rivers, abundant canals, and a teeming, industrious population.  Leopold
+perceived that railways were eminently calculated to bring the industry
+of the country into full play, and to render the riches of the provinces
+available to the rest of the kingdom.  He therefore openly declared
+himself the promoter of public railways throughout Belgium.  A system of
+lines was projected, at his instance, connecting Brussels with the chief
+towns and cities of the kingdom; extending from Ostend eastward to the
+Prussian frontier, and from Antwerp southward to the French frontier.
+
+Mr. Stephenson and his son, as the leading railway-engineers of England,
+were consulted by the King on the best mode of carrying out his important
+plans, as early as 1835.  In the course of that year they visited
+Belgium, and had several interesting conferences with Leopold and his
+ministers on the subject of the proposed railways.  The King then
+appointed George Stephenson by royal ordinance a Knight of the Order of
+Leopold.  At the invitation of the monarch, Mr. Stephenson made a second
+visit to Belgium in 1837, on the occasion of the public opening of the
+line from Brussels to Ghent.  At Brussels there was a public procession,
+and another at Ghent on the arrival of the train.  Stephenson and his
+party accompanied it to the Public Hall, there to dine with the chief
+Ministers of State, the municipal authorities, and about five hundred of
+the principal inhabitants of the city; the English Ambassador being also
+present.  After the King’s health and a few others had been drunk, that
+of Mr. Stephenson was proposed; on which the whole assembly rose up,
+amidst great excitement and loud applause, and made their way to where he
+sat, in order to jingle glasses with him, greatly to his own amazement.
+On the day following, our engineer dined with the King and Queen at their
+own table at Laaken, by special invitation; afterwards accompanying his
+Majesty and suite to a public ball given by the municipality of Brussels,
+in honour of the opening of the line to Ghent, as well as of their
+distinguished English guest.  On entering the room, the general and
+excited inquiry was, “Which is Stephenson?”  The English engineer had not
+before imagined that he was esteemed to be so great a man.
+
+The London and Birmingham Railway having been completed in September,
+1838, after being about five years in progress, the great main system of
+railway communication between London, Liverpool, and Manchester was then
+opened to the public.  For some months previously, the line had been
+partially opened, coaches performing the journey between Denbigh Hall
+(near Wolverton) and Rugby,—the works of the Kilsby tunnel being still
+incomplete.  It was already amusing to hear the complaints of the
+travellers about the slowness of the coaches as compared with the
+railway, though the coaches travelled at the speed of eleven miles an
+hour.  The comparison of comfort was also greatly to the disparagement of
+the coaches.  Then the railway train could accommodate any quantity,
+whilst the road conveyances were limited; and when a press of travellers
+occurred—as on the occasion of the Queen’s coronation—the greatest
+inconvenience was experienced, and as much as £10 was paid for a seat on
+a donkey-chaise between Rugby and Denbigh.  On the opening of the railway
+throughout, of course all this inconvenience and delay was brought to an
+end.
+
+Numerous other openings of railways constructed by Mr. Stephenson took
+place about the same time.  The Birmingham and Derby line was opened for
+traffic in August, 1839; the Sheffield and Rotherham in November, 1839;
+and in the course of the following year, the Midland, the York and North
+Midland, the Chester and Crewe, the Chester and Birkenhead, the
+Manchester and Birmingham, the Manchester and Leeds, and the Maryport and
+Carlisle railways, were all publicly opened in whole or in part.  Thus
+321 miles of railway (exclusive of the London and Birmingham) constructed
+under Mr. Stephenson’s superintendence, at a cost of upwards of eleven
+millions sterling, were, in the course of about two years, added to the
+traffic accommodation of the country.
+
+The ceremonies which accompanied the public opening of these lines were
+often of an interesting character.  The adjoining population held general
+holiday; bands played, banners waved, and assembled thousands cheered the
+passing trains amidst the occasional booming of cannon.  The proceedings
+were usually wound up by a public dinner; and in the course of the
+speeches which followed, Mr. Stephenson would revert to his favourite
+topic—the difficulties which he had early encountered in the promotion of
+the railway system, and in establishing the superiority of the
+locomotive.  On such occasions he always took great pleasure in alluding
+to the services rendered to himself and the public by the young men
+brought up under his eye—his pupils at first, and afterwards his
+assistants.  No great master ever possessed a more devoted band of
+assistants and fellow-workers than he did.  It was one of the most marked
+evidences of his own admirable tact and judgment that he selected, with
+such undeviating correctness, the men best fitted to carry out his plans.
+Indeed, the ability to accomplish great things, and to carry grand ideas
+into practical effect, depends in no small measure on that intuitive
+knowledge of character, which Stephenson possessed in so remarkable a
+degree.
+
+At the dinner at York, which followed the partial opening of the York and
+North Midland Railway, Mr. Stephenson said, “he was sure they would
+appreciate his feelings when he told them, that when he first began
+railway business his hair was black, although it was now grey; and that
+he began his life’s labour as but a poor ploughboy.  About thirty years
+since, he had applied himself to the study of how to generate high
+velocities by mechanical means.  He thought he had solved that problem;
+and they had for themselves seen, that day, what perseverance had brought
+him too.  He was, on that occasion, only too happy to have an opportunity
+of acknowledging that he had, in the latter portion of his career,
+received much most valuable assistance, particularly from young men
+brought up in his manufactory.  Whenever talent showed itself in a young
+man he had always given that talent encouragement where he could, and he
+would continue to do so.”
+
+That this was no exaggerated statement is amply proved by many facts
+which redound to Mr. Stephenson’s credit.  He was no niggard of
+encouragement and praise when he saw honest industry struggling for a
+footing.  Many were the young men whom, in the course of his useful
+career, he took by the hand and led steadily up to honour and emolument,
+simply because he had noted their zeal, diligence, and integrity.  One
+youth excited his interest while working as a common carpenter on the
+Liverpool and Manchester line; and before many years had passed, he was
+recognised as an engineer of distinction.  Another young man he found
+industriously working away at his bye-hours, and, admiring his diligence,
+engaged him for his private secretary, the gentleman shortly after rising
+to a position of eminent influence and usefulness.  Indeed, nothing gave
+Mr. Stephenson greater pleasure than in this way to help on any deserving
+youth who came under his observation, and, in his own expressive phrase,
+to “make a man of him.”
+
+The openings of the great main lines of railroad communication shortly
+proved the fallaciousness of the numerous rash prophecies which had been
+promulgated by the opponents of railways.  The proprietors of the canals
+were astounded by the fact that, notwithstanding the immense traffic
+conveyed by rail, their own traffic and receipts continued to increase;
+and that, in common with other interests, they fully shared in the
+expansion of trade and commerce which had been so effectually promoted by
+the extension of the railway system.  The cattle-owners were equally
+amazed to find the price of horse-flesh increasing with the extension of
+railways, and that the number of coaches running to and from the new
+railway stations gave employment to a greater number of horses than under
+the old stage-coach system.  Those who had prophesied the decay of the
+metropolis, and the ruin of the suburban cabbage-growers, in consequence
+of the approach of railways to London, were also disappointed; for, while
+the new roads let citizens out of London, they let country-people in.
+Their action, in this respect, was centripetal as well as centrifugal.
+Tens of thousands who had never seen the metropolis could now visit it
+expeditiously and cheaply; and Londoners who had never visited the
+country, or but rarely, were enabled, at little cost of time or money, to
+see green fields and clear blue skies, far from the smoke and bustle of
+town.  If the dear suburban-grown cabbages became depreciated in value,
+there were truck-loads of fresh-grown country cabbages to make amends for
+the loss: in this case, the “partial evil” was a far more general good.
+The food of the metropolis became rapidly improved, especially in the
+supply of wholesome meat and vegetables.  And then the price of coals—an
+article which, in this country, is as indispensable as daily food to all
+classes—was greatly reduced.  What a blessing to the metropolitan poor is
+described in this single fact!
+
+The prophecies of ruin and disaster to landlords and farmers were equally
+confounded by the openings of the railways.  The agricultural
+communications, so far from being “destroyed,” as had been predicted,
+were immensely improved.  The farmers were enabled to buy their coals,
+lime, and manure for less money, while they obtained a readier access to
+the best markets for their stock and farm-produce.  Notwithstanding the
+predictions to the contrary, their cows gave milk as before, their sheep
+fed and fattened, and even skittish horses ceased to shy at the passing
+locomotive.  The smoke of the engines did not obscure the sky, nor were
+farmyards burnt up by the fire thrown from the locomotives.  The farming
+classes were not reduced to beggary; on the contrary, they soon felt
+that, so far from having anything to dread, they had very much good to
+expect from the extension of railways.
+
+Landlords also found that they could get higher rents for farms situated
+near a railway than at a distance from one.  Hence they became clamorous
+for “sidings.”  They felt it to be a grievance to be placed at a distance
+from a station.  After a railway had been once opened, not a landlord
+would consent to have the line taken from him.  Owners who had fought the
+promoters before Parliament, and compelled them to pass their domains at
+a distance, at a vastly-increased expense in tunnels and deviations, now
+petitioned for branches and nearer station accommodation.  Those who held
+property near towns, and had extorted large sums as compensation for the
+anticipated deterioration in the value of their building land, found a
+new demand for it springing up at greatly advanced prices.  Land was now
+advertised for sale, with the attraction of being “near a railway
+station.”
+
+The prediction that, even if railways were made, the public would not use
+them, was also completely falsified by the results.  The ordinary mode of
+fast travelling for the middle classes had heretofore been by mail-coach
+and stage-coach.  Those who could not afford to pay the high prices
+charged for such conveyances went by waggon, and the poorer classes
+trudged on foot.  George Stephenson was wont to say that he hoped to see
+the day when it would be cheaper for a poor man to travel by railway than
+to walk, and not many years passed before his expectation was fulfilled.
+In no country in the world is time worth more money than in England; and
+by saving time—the criterion of distance—the railway proved a great
+benefactor to men of industry in all classes.
+
+It was some time before the more opulent, who could afford to post to
+town in aristocratic style, became reconciled to railway travelling.  In
+the opinion of many, it was only another illustration of the levelling
+tendencies of the age.  It put an end to that gradation of rank in
+travelling which was one of the few things left by which the nobleman
+could be distinguished from the Manchester manufacturer and bagman.  But
+to younger sons of noble families the convenience and cheapness of the
+railway did not fail to recommend itself.  One of these, whose eldest
+brother had just succeeded to an earldom, said one day to a railway
+manager: “I like railways—they just suit young fellows like me with
+‘nothing per annum paid quarterly.’  You know we can’t afford to post,
+and it used to be deuced annoying to me, as I was jogging along on the
+box-seat of the stage-coach, to see the little Earl go by drawn by his
+four posters, and just look up at me and give me a nod.  But now, with
+railways, it’s different.  It’s true, he may take a first-class ticket,
+while I can only afford a second-class one, but _we both go the same
+pace_.”
+
+For a time, however, many of the old families sent forward their servants
+and luggage by railroad, and condemned themselves to jog along the old
+highway in the accustomed family chariot, dragged by country post-horses.
+But the superior comfort of the railway shortly recommended itself to
+even the oldest families; posting went out of date; post-horses were with
+difficulty to be had along even the great high-roads; and nobles and
+servants, manufacturers and peasants, alike shared in the comfort, the
+convenience, and the despatch of railway travelling.  The late Dr.
+Arnold, of Rugby, regarded the opening of the London and Birmingham line
+as another great step accomplished in the march of civilisation.  “I
+rejoice to see it,” he said, as he stood on one of the bridges over the
+railway, and watched the train flashing along under him, and away through
+the distant hedgerows—“I rejoice to see it, and to think that feudality
+is gone for ever: it is so great a blessing to think that any one evil is
+really extinct.”
+
+It was long before the late Duke of Wellington would trust himself behind
+a locomotive.  The fatal accident to Mr. Huskisson, which had happened
+before his eyes, contributed to prejudice him strongly against railways,
+and it was not until the year 1843 that he performed his first trip on
+the South-Western Railway, in attendance upon her Majesty.  Prince Albert
+had for some time been accustomed to travel by railway alone, but in 1842
+the Queen began to make use of the same mode of conveyance between
+Windsor and London.  Even Colonel Sibthorpe was eventually compelled to
+acknowledge its utility.  For a time he continued to post to and from the
+country as before.  Then he compromised the matter by taking a railway
+ticket for the long journey, and posting only a stage or two nearest
+town; until, at length, he undisguisedly committed himself, like other
+people, to the express train, and performed the journey throughout upon
+what he had formerly denounced as “the infernal railroad.”
+
+                [Picture: Coalville and Snibston Colliery]
+
+                [Picture: Tapton House, near Chesterfield]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+GEORGE STEPHENSON’S COAL MINES—APPEARS AT MECHANICS’ INSTITUTES—HIS
+OPINION ON RAILWAY SPEEDS—ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEM—RAILWAY MANIA—VISITS TO
+BELGIUM AND SPAIN.
+
+
+While George Stephenson was engaged in carrying on the works of the
+Midland Railway in the neighbourhood of Chesterfield, several seams of
+coal were cut through in the Claycross Tunnel, and it occurred to him
+that if mines were opened out there, the railway would provide the means
+of a ready sale for the article in the midland counties, and as far south
+as even the metropolis itself.
+
+At a time when everybody else was sceptical as to the possibility of
+coals being carried from the midland counties to London, and sold there
+at a price to compete with those which were seaborne, he declared his
+firm conviction that the time was fast approaching when the London market
+would be regularly supplied with north-country coals led by railway.  One
+of the greatest advantages of railways, in his opinion was that they
+would bring iron and coal, the staple products of the country, to the
+doors of all England.  “The strength of Britain,” he would say, “lies in
+her iron and coal beds; and the locomotive is destined, above all other
+agencies, to bring it forth.  The Lord Chancellor now sits upon a bag of
+wool; but wool has long ceased to be emblematical of the staple commodity
+of England.  He ought rather to sit upon a bag of coals, though it might
+not prove quite so comfortable a seat.  Then think of the Lord Chancellor
+being addressed as the noble and learned lord _on the coal-sack_!  I am
+afraid it wouldn’t answer, after all.”
+
+To one gentleman he said: “We want from the coal-mining, the
+iron-producing and manufacturing districts, a great railway for the
+carriage of these valuable products.  We want, if I may so say, a stream
+of steam running directly through the country, from the North to London,
+and from other similar districts to London.  Speed is not so much an
+object as utility and cheapness.  It will not do to mix up the heavy
+merchandise and coal trains with the passenger trains.  Coal and most
+kinds of goods can wait; but passengers will not.  A less perfect road
+and less expensive works will do well enough for coal trains, if run at a
+low speed; and if the line be flat, it is not of much consequence whether
+it be direct or not.  Whenever you put passenger trains on a line, all
+the other trains must be run at high speeds to keep out of their way.
+But coal trains run at high speeds pull the road to pieces, besides
+causing large expenditure in locomotive power; and I doubt very much
+whether they will pay after all; but a succession of long coal trains, if
+run at from ten to fourteen miles an hour, would pay very well.  Thus the
+Stockton and Darlington Company made a larger profit when running coal at
+low speeds at a halfpenny a ton per mile, than they have been able to do
+since they put on their fast passenger trains, when everything must needs
+be run faster, and a much larger proportion of the gross receipts is
+absorbed by working expenses.”
+
+In advocating these views, Mr. Stephenson was considerably ahead of his
+time; and although he did not live to see his anticipations fully
+realised as to the supply of the London coal-market, he was nevertheless
+the first to point out, and to some extent to prove, the practicability
+of establishing a profitable coal trade by railway between the northern
+counties and the metropolis.  So long, however, as the traffic was
+conducted on main passenger lines at comparatively high speeds, it was
+found that the expenditure on tear and wear of road and locomotive
+power,—not to mention the increased risk of carrying on the first-class
+passenger traffic with which it was mixed up,—necessarily left a very
+small margin of profit; and hence Mr. Stephenson was in the habit of
+urging the propriety of constructing a railway which should be
+exclusively devoted to goods and mineral traffic run at low speeds as the
+only condition on which a large railway traffic of that sort could be
+profitably conducted.
+
+Having induced some of his Liverpool friends to join him in a coal-mining
+adventure at Chesterfield, a lease was taken of the Claycross estate,
+then for sale, and operations were shortly after begun.  At a subsequent
+period Mr. Stephenson extended his coal-mining operations in the same
+neighbourhood; and in 1841 he himself entered into a contract with owners
+of land in adjoining townships for the working of the coal thereunder;
+and pits were opened on the Tapton estate on an extensive scale.  About
+the same time he erected great lime-works, close to the Ambergate station
+of the Midland Railway, from which, when in full operation he was able to
+turn out upwards of 200 tons a day.  The limestone was brought on a
+tramway from the village of Crich, 2 or 3 miles distant, the coal being
+supplied from his adjoining Claycross colliery.  The works were on a
+scale such as had not before been attempted by any private individual
+engaged in a similar trade; and we believe they proved very successful.
+
+                    [Picture: Lime Works at Ambergate]
+
+Tapton House was included in the lease of one of the collieries, and as
+it was conveniently situated—being, as it were, a central point on the
+Midland Railway, from which he could readily proceed north or south, on
+his journeys of inspection of the various lines then under construction
+in the midland and northern counties,—he took up his residence there, and
+it continued his home until the close of his life.
+
+Tapton House is a large roomy brick mansion, beautifully situated amidst
+woods, upon a commanding eminence, about a mile to the north-east of the
+town of Chesterfield.  Green fields dotted with fine trees slope away
+from the house in all directions.  The surrounding country is undulating
+and highly picturesque.  North and south the eye ranges over a vast
+extent of lovely scenery; and on the west, looking over the town of
+Chesterfield, with its church and crooked spire, the extensive range of
+the Derbyshire hills bounds the distance.  The Midland Railway skirts the
+western edge of the park in a deep rock cutting, and the shrill whistle
+of the locomotive sounds near at hand as the trains speed past.  The
+gardens and pleasure-grounds adjoining the house were in a very neglected
+state when Mr. Stephenson first went to Tapton; and he promised himself,
+when he had secured rest and leisure from business, that he would put a
+new face upon both.  The first improvement he made was cutting a woodland
+footpath up the hill-side, by which he at the same time added a beautiful
+feature to the park, and secured a shorter road to the Chesterfield
+station.  But it was some years before he found time to carry into effect
+his contemplated improvements in the adjoining gardens and
+pleasure-grounds.  He had so long been accustomed to laborious pursuits,
+and felt himself still so full of work, that he could not at once settle
+down into the habit of quietly enjoying the fruits of his industry.
+
+He had no difficulty in usefully employing his time.  Besides directing
+the mining operations at Claycross, the establishment of the lime-kilns
+at Ambergate, and the construction of the extensive railways still in
+progress, he occasionally paid visits to Newcastle, where his locomotive
+manufactory was now in full work, and the proprietors were reaping the
+advantages of his early foresight in an abundant measure of prosperity.
+One of his most interesting visits to the place was in 1838, on the
+occasion of the meeting of the British Association there, when he acted
+as one of the Vice-Presidents in the section of Mechanical Science.
+Extraordinary changes had occurred in his own fortunes, as well as in the
+face of the country, since he had first appeared before a scientific body
+in Newcastle—the members of the Literary and Philosophical Institute—to
+submit his safety-lamp for their examination.  Twenty-three years had
+passed over his head, full of honest work, of manful struggle; and the
+humble “colliery engine-wright of the name of Stephenson” had achieved an
+almost worldwide reputation as a public benefactor.  His fellow-townsmen,
+therefore, could not hesitate to recognise his merits and do honour to
+his name.  During the sittings of the Association, Mr. Stephenson took
+the opportunity of paying a visit to Killingworth, accompanied by some of
+the distinguished _savans_ whom he numbered amongst his friends.  He
+there pointed out to them, with a degree of honest pride, the cottage in
+which he had lived for so many years, showed what parts of it had been
+his own handiwork, and told them the story of the sun-dial over the door,
+describing the study and the labour it had cost him and his son to
+calculate its dimensions, and fix it in its place.  The dial had been
+serenely numbering the hours through the busy years that had elapsed
+since that humble dwelling had been his home; during which the
+Killingworth locomotive had become a great working power, and its
+contriver had established the railway system, which was now rapidly
+becoming extended in all parts of the world.
+
+About the same time, his services were very much in request at the
+meetings of Mechanics’ Institutes held throughout the northern counties.
+From an early period in his history, he had taken an active interest in
+these institutions.  While residing at Newcastle in 1824, shortly after
+his locomotive foundry had been started in Forth-street, he presided at a
+public meeting held in that town for the purpose of establishing a
+Mechanics’ Institute.  The meeting was held; but as George Stephenson was
+a man comparatively unknown even in Newcastle at that time, his name
+failed to secure “an influential attendance.”  Among those who addressed
+the meeting on the occasion was Joseph Locke, then his pupil, and
+afterwards his rival as an engineer.  The local papers scarcely noticed
+the proceedings; yet the Mechanics’ Institute was founded, and struggled
+into existence.  Years passed, and it was now felt to be an honour to
+secure Mr. Stephenson’s presence at any public meetings held for the
+promotion of popular education.  Among the Mechanics’ Institutes in his
+immediate neighbourhood at Tapton, were those of Belper and Chesterfield;
+and at their soirées he was a frequent and a welcome visitor.  On these
+occasions he loved to tell his auditors of the difficulties which had
+early beset him through want of knowledge, and of the means by which he
+had overcome them.  His grand text was—PERSEVERE; and there was manhood
+in the very word.
+
+On more than one occasion, the author had the pleasure of listening to
+George Stephenson’s homely but forcible addresses at the annual soirées
+of the Leeds Mechanics’ Institute.  He was always an immense favourite
+with his audiences there.  His personal appearance was greatly in his
+favour.  A handsome, ruddy, expressive face, lit up by bright dark-blue
+eyes, prepared one for his earnest words when he stood up to speak and
+the cheers had subsided which invariably hailed his rising.  He was not
+glib, but he was very impressive.  And who, so well as he, could serve as
+a guide to the working man in his endeavours after higher knowledge?  His
+early life had been all struggle—encounter with difficulty—groping in the
+dark after greater light, but always earnestly and perseveringly.  His
+words were therefore all the more weighty, since he spoke from the
+fulness of his own experience.
+
+Nor did he remain a mere inactive spectator of the improvements in
+railway working which increasing experience from day to day suggested.
+He continued to contrive improvements in the locomotive, and to mature
+his invention of the carriage-brake.  When examined before the Select
+Committee on Railways in 1841, his mind seems principally to have been
+impressed with the necessity which existed for adopting a system of self
+acting brakes; stating that, in his opinion, this was the most important
+arrangement that could be provided for increasing the safety of railway
+travelling.  “I believe,” he said, “that if self-acting brakes were put
+upon every carriage, scarcely any accident could take place.”  His plan
+consisted in employing the momentum of the running train to throw his
+proposed brakes into action, immediately on the moving power of the
+engine being checked.  He would also have these brakes under the control
+of the guard, by means of a connecting line running along the whole
+length of the train, by which they should at once be thrown out of gear
+when necessary.  At the same time he suggested, as an additional means of
+safety, that the signals of the line should be self-acting, and worked by
+the locomotives as they passed along the railway.  He considered the
+adoption of this plan of so much importance, that, with a view to the
+public safety, he would even have it enforced upon railway companies by
+the legislature.  At the same time he was of opinion that it was the
+interest of the companies themselves to adopt the plan, as it would save
+great tear and wear of engines, carriages, tenders, and brake-vans,
+besides greatly diminishing the risk of accidents upon railways.
+
+While before the same Committee, he took the opportunity of stating his
+views with reference to railway speed, about which wild ideas were then
+afloat—one gentleman of celebrity having publicly expressed the opinion
+that a speed of 100 miles an hour was practicable in railway travelling!
+Not many years had passed since George Stephenson had been pronounced
+insane for stating his conviction that 12 miles an hour could be
+performed by the locomotive; but now that he had established the fact,
+and greatly exceeded that speed, he was thought behind the age because he
+recommended the rate to be limited to 40 miles an hour.  He said: “I do
+not like either 40 or 50 miles an hour upon any line—I think it is an
+unnecessary speed; and if there is danger upon a railway, it is high
+velocity that creates it.  I should say no railway ought to exceed 40
+miles an hour on the most favourable gradient; but upon a curved line the
+speed ought not to exceed 24 or 25 miles an hour.”  He had, indeed,
+constructed for the Great Western Railway an engine capable of running 50
+miles an hour with a load, and 80 miles without one.  But he never was in
+favour of a hurricane speed of this sort, believing it could only be
+accomplished at an unnecessary increase both of danger and expense.
+
+“It is true,” he observed on other occasions, “I have said the locomotive
+engine _might_ be made to travel 100 miles an hour; but I always put a
+qualification on this, namely, as to what speed would best suit the
+public.  The public may, however, be unreasonable; and 50 or 60 miles an
+hour is an unreasonable speed.  Long before railway travelling became
+general, I said to my friends that there was no limit to the speed of the
+locomotive, _provided the works could be made to stand_.  But there are
+limits to the strength of iron, whether it be manufactured into rails or
+locomotives; and there is a point at which both rails and tyres must
+break.  Every increase of speed, by increasing the strain upon the road
+and the rolling stock, brings us nearer to that point.  At 30 miles a
+slighter road will do, and less perfect rolling stock may be run upon it
+with safety.  But if you increase the speed by say 10 miles, then
+everything must be greatly strengthened.  You must have heavier engines,
+heavier and better-fastened rails, and all your working expenses will be
+immediately increased.  I think I know enough of mechanics to know where
+to stop.  I know that a pound will weigh a pound, and that no more should
+be put upon an iron rail than it will bear.  If you could ensure perfect
+iron, perfect rails, and perfect locomotives, I grant 50 miles an hour or
+more might be run with safety on a level railway.  But then you must not
+forget that iron, even the best, will ‘tire,’ and with constant use will
+become more and more liable to break at the weakest point—perhaps where
+there is a secret flaw that the eye cannot detect.  Then look at the
+rubbishy rails now manufactured on the contract system—some of them
+little better than cast metal: indeed, I have seen rails break merely on
+being thrown from the truck on to the ground.  How is it possible for
+such rails to stand a 20 or 30 ton engine dashing over them at the speed
+of 50 miles an hour?  No, no,” he would conclude, “I am in favour of low
+speeds because they are safe, and because they are economical; and you
+may rely upon it that, beyond a certain point, with every increase of
+speed there is an increase in the element of danger.”
+
+When railways became the subject of popular discussion, many new and
+unsound theories were started with reference to them, which Stephenson
+opposed as calculated, in his opinion, to bring discredit on the
+locomotive system.  One of these was with reference to what were called
+“undulating lines.”  Among others, Dr. Lardner, who had originally been
+somewhat sceptical about the powers of the locomotive, now promulgated
+the idea that a railway constructed with rising and falling gradients
+would be practically as easy to work as a line perfectly level.  Mr.
+Badnell went even beyond him, for he held that an undulating railway was
+much better than a level one for purposes of working.  For a time, this
+theory found favour, and the “undulating system” was extensively adopted;
+but Mr. Stephenson never ceased to inveigh against it; and experience has
+amply proved that his judgment was correct.  His practice, from the
+beginning of his career until the end of it, was to secure a road as
+nearly as possible on a level, following the course of the valleys and
+the natural line of the country: preferring to go round a hill rather
+than to tunnel under it or carry his railway over it, and often making a
+considerable circuit to secure good, workable gradients.  He studied to
+lay out his lines so that long trains of minerals and merchandise, as
+well as passengers, might be hauled along them at the least possible
+expenditure of locomotive power.  He had long before ascertained, by
+careful experiments at Killingworth, that the engine expends half of its
+power in overcoming a rising gradient of 1 in 260, which is about 20 feet
+in the mile; and that when the gradient is so steep as 1 in 100, not less
+than three-fourths of its power is sacrificed in ascending the acclivity.
+He never forgot the valuable practical lesson taught him by the early
+trials which he had made and registered long before the advantages of
+railways had been recognised.  He saw clearly that the longer flat line
+must eventually prove superior to the shorter line of steep gradients as
+respected its paying qualities.  He urged that, after all, the power of
+the locomotive was but limited; and, although he and his son had done
+more than any other men to increase its working capacity, it provoked him
+to find that every improvement made in it was neutralised by the steep
+gradients which the new school of engineers were setting it to overcome.
+On one occasion, when Robert Stephenson stated before a Parliamentary
+Committee that every successive improvement in the locomotive was being
+rendered virtually nugatory by the difficult and almost impracticable
+gradients proposed on many of the new lines, his father, on his leaving
+the witness-box, went up to him, and said, “Robert, you never spoke truer
+words than those in all your life.”
+
+To this it must be added, that in urging these views Mr. Stephenson was
+strongly influenced by commercial considerations.  He had no desire to
+build up his reputation at the expense of railway shareholders, nor to
+obtain engineering _éclat_ by making “ducks and drakes” of their money.
+He was persuaded that, in order to secure the practical success of
+railways, they must be so laid out as not only to prove of decided public
+utility, but also to be worked economically and to the advantage of their
+proprietors.  They were not government roads, but private ventures—in
+fact, commercial speculations.  He therefore endeavoured to render them
+financially profitable; and he repeatedly declared that if he did not
+believe they could be “made to pay,” he would have nothing to do with
+them.  He was not influenced by the sordid consideration of what he could
+_make_ out of any company that employed him; indeed, in many cases he
+voluntarily gave up his claim to remuneration where the promoters of
+schemes which he thought praiseworthy had suffered serious loss.  Thus,
+when the first application was made to Parliament for the Chester and
+Birkenhead Railway Bill, the promoters were defeated.  They repeated
+their application, on the understanding that in event of their
+succeeding, the engineer and surveyor were to be paid their costs in
+respect of the defeated measure.  The Bill was successful, and to several
+parties their costs were paid.  Mr. Stephenson’s amounted to £800, and he
+very nobly said, “You have had an expensive career in Parliament; you
+have had a great struggle; you are a young Company; you cannot afford to
+pay me this amount of money.  I will reduce it to £200, and I will not
+ask you for that £200 until your shares are at £20 premium: for whatever
+may be the reverses you will go through, I am satisfied I shall live to
+see the day when your shares will be at £20 premium, and when I can
+legally and honourably claim that £200.”  We may add that the shares did
+eventually rise to the premium specified, and the engineer was no loser
+by his generous conduct in the transaction.
+
+Another novelty of the time, with which George Stephenson had to contend,
+was the substitution of atmospheric pressure for locomotive steam-power
+in the working of railways.  The idea of obtaining motion by means of
+atmospheric pressure is said to have originated with Denis Papin, more
+than 150 years ago; but it slept until revived in 1810 by Mr. Medhurst,
+who published a pamphlet to prove the practicability of carrying letters
+and goods by air.  In 1824, Mr. Vallance of Brighton took out a patent
+for projecting passengers through a tube large enough to contain a train
+of carriages; the tube being previously exhausted of its atmospheric air.
+The same idea was afterwards taken up, in 1835, by Mr. Pinkus, an
+ingenious American.  Scientific gentlemen, Dr. Lardner and Mr. Clegg
+amongst others, advocated the plan; and an association was formed to
+carry it into effect.  Shares were created, and £18,000 raised: and a
+model apparatus was exhibited in London.  Mr. Vignolles took his friend
+Stephenson to see the model; and after carefully examining it, he
+observed emphatically, “_It won’t do_: it is only the fixed engines and
+ropes over again, in another form; and, to tell you the truth, I don’t
+think this rope of wind will answer so well as the rope of wire did.”  He
+did not think the principle would stand the test of practice, and he
+objected to the mode of applying the principle.  After all, it was only a
+modification of the stationary-engine plan; and every day’s experience
+was proving that fixed engines could not compete with locomotives in
+point of efficiency and economy.  He stood by the locomotive engine; and
+subsequent experience proved that he was right.
+
+Messrs. Clegg and Samuda afterwards, in 1840, patented their plan of an
+atmospheric railway; and they publicly tested its working on an
+unfinished portion of the West London Railway.  The results of the
+experiment were so satisfactory, that the directors of the Dublin and
+Kingstown line adopted it between Kingstown and Dalkey.  The London and
+Croydon Company also adopted the atmospheric principle; and their line
+was opened in 1845.  The ordinary mode of applying the power was to lay
+between the line of rails a pipe, in which a large piston was inserted,
+and attached by a shaft to the framework of a carriage.  The propelling
+power was the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere acting against the
+piston in the tube on one side, a vacuum being created in the tube on the
+other side of the piston by the working of a stationary engine.  Great
+was the popularity of the atmospheric system; and still George Stephenson
+said “It won’t do: it’s but a gimcrack.”  Engineers of distinction said
+he was prejudiced, and that he looked upon the locomotive as a pet child
+of his own.  “Wait a little,” he replied, “and you will see that I am
+right.”  It was generally supposed that the locomotive system was about
+to be snuffed out.  “Not so fast,” said Stephenson.  “Let us wait to see
+if it will pay.”  He never believed it would.  It was ingenious, clever,
+scientific, and all that; but railways were commercial enterprises, not
+toys; and if the atmospheric railway could not work to a profit, it would
+not do.  Considered in this light, he even went so far as to call it “a
+great humbug.”  “Nothing will beat the locomotive,” said he, “for
+efficiency in all weathers, for economy in drawing loads of average
+weight, and for power and speed as occasion may require.”
+
+The atmospheric system was fairly and fully tried, and it was found
+wanting.  It was admitted to be an exceedingly elegant mode of applying
+power; its devices were very skilful, and its mechanism was most
+ingenious.  But it was costly, irregular in action, and, in particular
+kinds of weather, not to be depended upon.  At best, it was but a
+modification of the stationary-engine system, and experience proved it to
+be so expensive that it was shortly after entirely abandoned in favour of
+locomotive power. {288}
+
+One of the remarkable results of the system of railway locomotion which
+George Stephenson had by his persevering labours mainly contributed to
+establish, was the outbreak of the railway mania towards the close of his
+professional career.  The success of the first main lines of railway
+naturally led to their extension into many new districts; but a strongly
+speculative tendency soon began to display itself, which contained in it
+the elements of great danger.
+
+The extension of railways had, up to the year 1844, been mainly effected
+by men of the commercial classes, and the shareholders in them
+principally belonged to the manufacturing districts,—the capitalists of
+the metropolis as yet holding aloof, and prophesying disaster to all
+concerned in railway projects.  But when the lugubrious anticipations of
+the City men were found to be so entirely falsified by the results—when,
+after the lapse of years, it was ascertained that railway traffic rapidly
+increased and dividends steadily improved—a change came over the spirit
+of the London capitalists.  They then invested largely in railways, the
+shares in which became a leading branch of business on the Stock
+Exchange, and the prices of some rose to nearly double their original
+value.
+
+A stimulus was thus given to the projection of further lines, the shares
+in most of which came out at a premium, and became the subject of
+immediate traffic.  A reckless spirit of gambling set in, which
+completely changed the character and objects of railway enterprise.  The
+public outside the Stock Exchange became also infected, and many persons
+utterly ignorant of railways, knowing and caring nothing about their
+national uses, but hungering and thirsting after premiums, rushed eagerly
+into the vortex.  They applied for allotments, and subscribed for shares
+in lines, of the engineering character or probable traffic of which they
+knew nothing.  Provided they could but obtain allotments which they could
+sell at a premium, and put the profit—in many cases the only capital they
+possessed {289}—into their pocket, it was enough for them.  The mania was
+not confined to the precincts of the Stock Exchange, but infected all
+ranks.  It embraced merchants and manufacturers, gentry and shopkeepers,
+clerks in public offices, and loungers at the clubs.  Noble lords were
+pointed at as “stags;” there were even clergymen who were characterised
+as “bulls;” and amiable ladies who had the reputation of “bears,” in the
+share markets.  The few quiet men who remained uninfluenced by the
+speculation of the time were, in not a few cases, even reproached for
+doing injustice to their families, in declining to help themselves from
+the stores of wealth that were poured out on all sides.
+
+Folly and knavery were, for a time, completely in the ascendant.  The
+sharpers of society were let loose, and jobbers and schemers became more
+and more plentiful.  They threw out railway schemes as lures to catch the
+unwary.  They fed the mania with a constant succession of new projects.
+The railway papers became loaded with their advertisements.  The
+post-office was scarcely able to distribute the multitude of prospectuses
+and circulars which they issued.  For a time their popularity was
+immense.  They rose like froth into the upper heights of society, and the
+flunkey FitzPlushe, by virtue of his supposed wealth, sat amongst peers
+and was idolised.  Then was the harvest-time of scheming lawyers,
+parliamentary agents, engineers, surveyors, and traffic-takers, who were
+ready to take up any railway scheme however desperate, and to prove any
+amount of traffic even where none existed.  The traffic in the credulity
+of their dupes was, however, the great fact that mainly concerned them,
+and of the profitable character of which there could be no doubt.
+
+Mr. Stephenson was anxiously entreated to lend his name to prospectuses
+during the railway mania; but he invariably refused.  He held aloof from
+the headlong folly of the hour, and endeavoured to check it, but in vain.
+Had he been less scrupulous, and given his countenance to the numerous
+projects about which he was consulted, he might, without any trouble,
+have thus secured enormous gains; but he had no desire to accumulate a
+fortune without labour and without honour.  He himself never speculated
+in shares.  When he was satisfied as to the merits of any undertaking, he
+subscribed for a certain amount of capital in it, and held on, neither
+buying nor selling.  At a dinner of the Leeds and Bradford directors at
+Ben Rydding in October, 1844, before the mania had reached its height, he
+warned those present against the prevalent disposition towards railway
+speculation.  It was, he said, like walking upon a piece of ice with
+shallows and deeps; the shallows were frozen over, and they would carry,
+but it required great caution to get over the deeps.  He was satisfied
+that in the course of the next year many would step on to places not
+strong enough to carry them, and would get into the deeps; they would be
+taking shares, and afterwards be unable to pay the calls upon them.
+Yorkshiremen were reckoned clever men, and his advice to them was, to
+stick together and promote communication in their own neighbourhood,—not
+to go abroad with their speculations.  If any had done so, he advised
+them to get their money back as fast as they could, for if they did not
+they would not get it at all.  He informed the company, at the same time,
+of his earliest holding of railway shares; it was in the Stockton and
+Darlington Railway, and the number he held was _three_—“a very large
+capital for him to possess at the time.”  But a Stockton friend was
+anxious to possess a share, and he sold him _one_ at a premium of 33s.;
+he supposed he had been about the first man in England to sell a railway
+share at a premium.
+
+During 1845, his son’s offices in Great George-street, Westminster, were
+crowded with persons of various conditions seeking interviews, presenting
+very much the appearance of the levee of a minister of state.  The burly
+figure of Mr. Hudson, the “Railway King,” surrounded by an admiring group
+of followers, was often to be seen there; and a still more interesting
+person, in the estimation of many, was George Stephenson, dressed in
+black, his coat of somewhat old-fashioned cut, with square pockets in the
+tails.  He wore a white neckcloth, and a large bunch of seals was
+suspended from his watch-ribbon.  Altogether, he presented an appearance
+of health, intelligence, and good humour, that rejoiced one to look upon
+in that sordid, selfish and eventually ruinous saturnalia of railway
+speculation.
+
+Powers were granted by Parliament, in 1843, to construct not less than
+2883 miles of new railways in Britain, at an expenditure of about
+forty-four millions sterling!  Yet the mania was not appeased; for in the
+following session of 1846, applications were made to Parliament for
+powers to raise £389,000,000 sterling for the construction of further
+lines; and powers were actually conceded for forming 4790 miles
+(including 60 miles of tunnels), at a cost of about £120,000,000
+sterling.  During this session, Mr. Stephenson appeared as engineer for
+only one new line,—the Buxton, Macclesfield, Congleton, and Crewe
+Railway—a line in which, as a coal-owner, he was personally
+interested;—and of three branch-lines in connexion with existing
+companies for which he had long acted as engineer.  At the same time, all
+the leading professional men were fully occupied, some of them appearing
+as consulting engineers for upwards of thirty lines each!
+
+One of the features of the mania was the rage for “direct lines” which
+everywhere displayed itself.  There were “Direct Manchester,” “Direct
+Exeter,” “Direct York,” and, indeed, new direct lines between most of the
+large towns.  The Marquis of Bristol, speaking in favour of the “Direct
+Norwich and London” project, at a public meeting at Haverhill, said, “If
+necessary, they might _make a tunnel beneath his very drawing-room_,
+rather than be defeated in their undertaking!”  And the Rev. F.
+Litchfield, at a meeting in Banbury, on the subject of a line to that
+town, said “He had laid down for himself a limit to his approbation of
+railways,—at least of such as approached the neighbourhood with which he
+was connected,—and that limit was, that he did not wish them to approach
+any nearer to him than _to run through his bedroom_, _with the bedposts
+for a station_!”  How different was the spirit which influenced these
+noble lords and gentlemen but a few years before!
+
+The House of Commons became thoroughly influenced by the prevailing
+excitement.  Even the Board of Trade began to favour the views of the
+fast school of engineers.  In their “Report on the Lines projected in the
+Manchester and Leeds District,” they promulgated some remarkable views
+respecting gradients, declaring themselves in favour of the “undulating
+system.”  They there stated that lines of an undulating character “which
+have gradients of 1 in 70 or in 80 distributed over them in short
+lengths, may be positively _better_ lines, _i.e._, _more susceptible of
+cheap and expeditious working_, than others which have nothing steeper
+than 1 in 100 or 1 in 120!”  They concluded by reporting in favour of the
+line which exhibited the worst gradients and the sharpest curves, chiefly
+on the ground that it could be constructed for less money.
+
+Sir Robert Peel took occasion to advert to this Report in the House of
+Commons on the 4th of March following, as containing “a novel and highly
+important view on the subject of gradients, which, he was certain, never
+could have been taken by any Committee of the House of Commons, however
+intelligent;” and he might have added, that the more intelligent, the
+less likely they were to arrive at any such conclusion.  When Mr.
+Stephenson saw this report of the Premier’s speech in the newspapers of
+the following morning, he went forthwith to his son, and asked him to
+write a letter to Sir Robert Peel on the subject.  He saw clearly that if
+these views were adopted, the utility and economy of railways would be
+seriously curtailed.  “These members of Parliament,” said he, “are now as
+much disposed to exaggerate the powers of the locomotive, as they were to
+under-estimate them but a few years ago.”  Robert accordingly wrote a
+letter for his father’s signature, embodying the views which he so
+strongly entertained as to the importance of flat gradients, and
+referring to the experiments conducted by him many years before, in proof
+of the great loss of working power which was incurred on a line of steep
+as compared with easy gradients.  It was clear, from the tone of Sir
+Robert Peel’s speech in a subsequent debate, that he had carefully read
+and considered Mr. Stephenson’s practical observations on the subject;
+though it did not appear that he had come to any definite conclusion
+thereon, further than that he strongly approved of the Trent Valley
+Railway, by which Tamworth would be placed upon a direct main line of
+communication.
+
+The result of the labours of Parliament was a tissue of legislative
+bungling, involving enormous loss to the public.  Railway Bills were
+granted in heaps.  Two hundred and seventy-two additional Acts were
+passed in 1846.  Some authorised the construction of lines running almost
+parallel to existing railways, in order to afford the public “the
+benefits of unrestricted competition.”  Locomotive and atmospheric lines,
+broad-gauge and narrow-gauge lines, were granted without hesitation.
+Committees decided without judgment and without discrimination; it was a
+scramble for Bills, in which the most unscrupulous were the most
+successful.
+
+Amongst the many ill effects of the mania, one of the worst was that it
+introduced a low tone of morality into railway transactions.  The bad
+spirit which had been evoked by it unhappily extended to the commercial
+classes, and many of the most flagrant swindles of recent times had their
+origin in the year 1845.  Those who had suddenly gained large sums
+without labour, and also without honour, were too ready to enter upon
+courses of the wildest extravagance; and a false style of living shortly
+arose, the poisonous influence of which extended through all classes.
+Men began to look upon railways as instruments to job with.  Persons,
+sometimes possessing information respecting railways, but more frequently
+possessing none, got upon boards for the purpose of promoting their
+individual objects, often in a very unscrupulous manner; landowners, to
+promote branch lines through their property; speculators in shares, to
+trade upon the exclusive information which they obtained; whilst some
+directors were appointed through the influence mainly of solicitors,
+contractors, or engineers, who used them as tools to serve their own
+ends.  In this way the unfortunate proprietors were, in many cases,
+betrayed, and their property was shamefully squandered, much to the
+discredit of the railway system.
+
+While the mania was at its height in England, railways were also being
+extended abroad, and George Stephenson was requested on several occasions
+to give the benefit of his advice to the directors of foreign
+undertakings.  One of the most agreeable of these excursions was to
+Belgium in 1845.  His special object was to examine the proposed line of
+the Sambre and Meuse Railway, for which a concession had been granted by
+the Belgian legislature.  Arrived on the ground, he went carefully over
+the entire length of the proposed line, to Convins, the Forest of
+Ardennes, and Rocroi, across the French frontier; examining the bearings
+of the coal-field, the slate and marble quarries, and the numerous
+iron-mines in existence between the Sambre and the Meuse, as well as
+carefully exploring the ravines which extended through the district, in
+order to satisfy himself that the best possible route had been selected.
+Mr. Stephenson was delighted with the novelty of the journey, the beauty
+of the scenery, and the industry of the population.  His companions were
+entertained by his ample and varied stores of practical information on
+all subjects, and his conversation was full of reminiscences of his
+youth, on which he always delighted to dwell when in the society of his
+more intimate friends.  The journey was varied by a visit to the
+coal-mines near Jemappe, where Stephenson examined with interest the mode
+adopted by the Belgian miners of draining the pits, inspecting their
+engines and brakeing machines, so familiar to him in early life.
+
+The engineers of Belgium took the opportunity of Mr. Stephenson’s visit
+to their country to invite him to a magnificent banquet at Brussels.  The
+Public Hall, in which they entertained him, was gaily decorated with
+flags, prominent amongst which was the Union Jack, in honour of their
+distinguished guest.  A handsome marble pedestal, ornamented with his
+bust crowned with laurels, occupied one end of the room.  The chair was
+occupied by M. Massui, the Chief Director of the National Railways of
+Belgium; and the most eminent scientific men of the kingdom were present.
+Their reception of “the Father of railways” was of the most enthusiastic
+description.  Mr. Stephenson was greatly pleased with the entertainment.
+Not the least interesting incident of the evening was his observing, when
+the dinner was about half over, a model of a locomotive engine placed
+upon the centre table, under a triumphal arch.  Turning suddenly to his
+friend Sopwith, he exclaimed, “Do you see the ‘Rocket’?”  The compliment
+thus paid him, was perhaps more prized than all the encomiums of the
+evening.
+
+The next day (April 5th) King Leopold invited him to a private interview
+at the palace.  Accompanied by Mr. Sopwith, he proceeded to Laaken, and
+was very cordially received by His Majesty.  The king immediately entered
+into familiar conversation with him, discussing the railway project which
+had been the object of his visit to Belgium, and then the structure of
+the Belgian coal-fields,—his Majesty expressing his sense of the great
+importance of economy in a fuel which had become indispensable to the
+comfort and well-being of society, which was the basis of all
+manufactures, and the vital power of railway locomotion.  The subject was
+always a favourite one with Mr. Stephenson, and, encouraged by the king,
+he proceeded to describe to him the geological structure of Belgium, the
+original formation of coal, its subsequent elevation by volcanic forces,
+and the vast amount of denudation.  In describing the coal-beds he used
+his hat as a sort of model to illustrate his meaning; and the eyes of the
+king were fixed upon it as he proceeded with his interesting description.
+The conversation then passed to the rise and progress of trade and
+manufactures,—Mr. Stephenson pointing out how closely they everywhere
+followed the coal, being mainly dependent upon it, as it were, for their
+very existence.
+
+The king seemed greatly pleased with the interview, and at its close
+expressed himself obliged by the interesting information which the
+engineer had communicated.  Shaking hands cordially with both the
+gentlemen, and wishing them success in their important undertakings, he
+bade them adieu.  As they were leaving the palace Mr. Stephenson,
+bethinking him of the model by which he had just been illustrating the
+Belgian coal-fields, said to his friend, “By the bye, Sopwith, I was
+afraid the king would see the inside of my hat; it’s a shocking bad one!”
+Little could George Stephenson, when brakesman at a coal-pit, have dreamt
+that, in the course of his life, he should be admitted to an interview
+with a monarch, and describe to him the manner in which the geological
+foundations of his kingdom had been laid!
+
+Mr. Stephenson paid a second visit to Belgium in the course of the same
+year, on the business of the West Flanders Railway; and he had scarcely
+returned from it ere he made arrangements to proceed to Spain, for the
+purpose of examining and reporting upon a scheme then on foot for
+constructing “the Royal North of Spain Railway.”  A concession had been
+made by the Spanish Government of a line of railway from Madrid to the
+Bay of Biscay, and a numerous staff of engineers was engaged in surveying
+it.  The directors of the Company had declined making the necessary
+deposits until more favourable terms had been secured; and Sir Joshua
+Walmsley, on their part, was about to visit Spain and press the
+Government on the subject.  Mr. Stephenson, whom he consulted, was alive
+to the difficulties of the office which Sir Joshua was induced to
+undertake, and offered to be his companion and adviser on the
+occasion,—declining to receive any recompense beyond the simple expenses
+of the journey.  He could only arrange to be absent for six weeks, and
+set out from England about the middle of September, 1845.
+
+The party was joined at Paris by Mr. Mackenzie, the contractor for the
+Orleans and Tours Railway, then in course of construction, who took them
+over the works, and accompanied them as far as Tours.  They soon reached
+the great chain of the Pyrenees, and crossed over into Spain.  It was on
+a Sunday evening, after a long day’s toilsome journey through the
+mountains, that the party suddenly found themselves in one of those
+beautiful secluded valleys lying amidst the Western Pyrenees.  A small
+hamlet lay before them, consisting of some thirty or forty houses and a
+fine old church.  The sun was low on the horizon, and, under the wide
+porch, beneath the shadow of the church, were seated nearly all the
+inhabitants of the place.  They were dressed in their holiday attire.
+The bright bits of red and amber colour in the dresses of the women, and
+the gay sashes of the men, formed a striking picture, on which the
+travellers gazed in silent admiration.  It was something entirely novel
+and unexpected.  Beside the villagers sat two venerable old men, whose
+canonical hats indicated their quality as village pastors.  Two groups of
+young women and children were dancing outside the porch to the
+accompaniment of a simple pipe; and within a hundred yards of them, some
+of the youths of the village were disporting themselves in athletic
+exercises; the whole being carried on beneath the fostering care of the
+old church, and with the sanction of its ministers.  It was a beautiful
+scene, and deeply moved the travellers as they approached the principal
+group.  The villagers greeted them courteously, supplied their present
+wants, and pressed upon them some fine melons, brought from their
+adjoining gardens.  Mr. Stephenson used afterwards to look back upon that
+simple scene, and speak of it as one of the most charming pastorals he
+had ever witnessed.
+
+They shortly reached the site of the proposed railway, passing through
+Irun, St. Sebastian, St. Andero, and Bilbao, at which places they met
+deputations of the principal inhabitants who were interested in the
+subject of their journey.  At Raynosa Stephenson carefully examined the
+mountain passes and ravines through which a railway could be made.  He
+rose at break of day, and surveyed until the darkness set in; and
+frequently his resting-place at night was the floor of some miserable
+hovel.  He was thus laboriously occupied for ten days, after which he
+proceeded across the province of Old Castile towards Madrid, surveying as
+he went.  The proposed plan included the purchase of the Castile Canal;
+and that property was also surveyed.  He next proceeded to El Escorial,
+situated at the foot of the Guadarama mountains, through which he found
+that it would be necessary to construct two formidable tunnels; added to
+which he ascertained that the country between El Escorial and Madrid was
+of a very difficult and expensive character to work through.  Taking
+these circumstances into account, and looking at the expected traffic on
+the proposed line, Sir Joshua Walmsley, acting under the advice of Mr.
+Stephenson, offered to construct the line from Madrid to the Bay of
+Biscay, only on condition that the requisite land was given the Company
+for the purpose; that they should be allowed every facility for cutting
+such timber belonging the Crown as might be required for the purposes of
+the railway; and also that the materials required from abroad for the
+construction of the line should be admitted free of duty.  In return for
+these concessions the Company offered to clothe and feed several
+thousands of convicts while engaged in the execution of the earthworks.
+General Narvaez, afterwards Duke of Valencia, received Sir Joshua
+Walmsley and Mr. Stephenson on the subject of their proposition, and
+expressed his willingness to close with them; but it was necessary that
+other influential parties should give their concurrence before the scheme
+could be carried into effect.  The deputation waited ten days to receive
+the answer of the Spanish Government; but no answer of any kind was
+vouchsafed.  The authorities, indeed, invited them to be present at a
+Spanish bullfight, but that was not quite the business Mr. Stephenson had
+gone all the way to Spain to transact; and the offer was politely
+declined.  The result was, that Mr. Stephenson dissuaded his friend from
+making the necessary deposit at Madrid.  Besides, he had by this time
+formed an unfavourable opinion of the entire project, and considered that
+the traffic would not amount to one-eighth of the estimate.
+
+Mr. Stephenson was now anxious to be in England.  During the journey from
+Madrid he often spoke with affection of friends and relatives; and when
+apparently absorbed by other matters, he would revert to what he thought
+might then be passing at home.  Few incidents worthy of notice occurred
+on the journey homeward, but one may be mentioned.  While travelling in
+an open conveyance between Madrid and Vittoria, the driver urged his
+mules down hill at a dangerous pace.  He was requested to slacken speed;
+but suspecting his passengers to be afraid, he only flogged the brutes
+into a still more furious gallop.  Observing this, Mr. Stephenson coolly
+said, “Let us try him on the other tack; tell him to show us the fastest
+pace at which Spanish mules can go.”  The rogue of a driver, when he
+found his tricks of no avail, pulled up and proceeded at a more moderate
+speed for the rest of the journey.
+
+Urgent business required Mr. Stephenson’s presence in London on the last
+day of November.  They travelled therefore almost continuously, day and
+night; and the fatigue consequent on the journey, added to the privations
+voluntarily endured by the engineer while carrying on the survey among
+the Spanish mountains, began to tell seriously on his health.  By the
+time he reached Paris he was evidently ill, but he nevertheless
+determined on proceeding.  He reached Havre in time for the Southampton
+boat; but when on board, pleurisy developed itself, and it was necessary
+to bleed him freely.  During the voyage, he spent his time chiefly in
+dictating letters and reports to Sir Joshua Walmsley, who never left him,
+and whose kindness on the occasion he gratefully remembered.  His friend
+was struck by the clearness of his dictated composition, which exhibited
+a vigour and condensation which to him seemed marvellous.  After a few
+weeks’ rest at home, Mr. Stephenson gradually recovered, though his
+health remained severely shaken.
+
+             [Picture: Newcastle, from the High Level Bridge]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+ROBERT STEPHENSON’S CAREER—THE STEPHENSONS AND BRUNEL—EAST COAST ROUTE TO
+SCOTLAND—ROYAL BORDER BRIDGE, BERWICK—HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE, NEWCASTLE.
+
+
+The career of George Stephenson was drawing to a close.  He had for some
+time been gradually retiring from the more active pursuit of railway
+engineering, and confining himself to the promotion of only a few
+undertakings in which he took a more than ordinary personal interest.  In
+1840, when the extensive main lines in the Midland districts had been
+finished and opened for traffic, he publicly expressed his intention of
+withdrawing from the profession.  He had reached sixty, and, having spent
+the greater part of his life in very hard work, he naturally desired rest
+and retirement in his old age.  There was the less necessity for his
+continuing “in harness,” as Robert Stephenson was now in full career as a
+leading railway engineer, and his father had pleasure in handing over to
+him, with the sanction of the companies concerned, nearly all the railway
+appointments which he held.
+
+Robert Stephenson amply repaid his father’s care.  The sound education of
+which he had laid the foundations at school, improved by his subsequent
+culture, but more than all by his father’s example of application,
+industry, and thoroughness in all that he undertook, told powerfully in
+the formation of his character, not less than in the discipline of his
+intellect.  His father had early implanted in him habits of mental
+activity, familiarized him with the laws of mechanics, and carefully
+trained and stimulated his inventive faculties, the first great fruits of
+which, as we have seen, were exhibited in the triumph of the “Rocket” at
+Rainhill.  “I am fully conscious in my own mind,” said the son at a
+meeting of the Mechanical Engineers at Newcastle, in 1858, “how greatly
+my civil engineering has been regulated and influenced by the mechanical
+knowledge which I derived directly from my father; and the more my
+experience has advanced, the more convinced I have become that it is
+necessary to educate an engineer in the workshop.  That is, emphatically,
+the education which will render the engineer most intelligent, most
+useful, and the fullest of resources in times of difficulty.”
+
+Robert Stephenson was but twenty-six years old when the performances of
+the “Rocket” established the practicability of steam locomotion on
+railways.  He was shortly after appointed engineer of the Leicester and
+Swannington Railway; after which, at his father’s request, he was made
+joint engineer with himself in laying out the London and Birmingham
+Railway, and the execution of that line was afterwards entrusted to him
+as sole engineer.  The stability and excellence of the works of that
+railway, the difficulties which had been successfully overcome in the
+course of its construction, and the judgment which was displayed by
+Robert Stephenson throughout the whole conduct of the undertaking to its
+completion, established his reputation as an engineer; and his father
+could now look with confidence and with pride upon his son’s
+achievements.  From that time forward, father and son worked together as
+one man, each jealous of the other’s honour; and on the father’s
+retirement, it was generally recognized that, in the sphere of railways,
+Robert Stephenson was the foremost man, the safest guide, and the most
+active worker.
+
+Robert Stephenson was subsequently appointed engineer of the Eastern
+Counties, the Northern and Eastern, and the Blackwall railways, besides
+many lines in the midland and southern districts.  When the speculation
+of 1844 set in, his services were, of course, greatly in request.  Thus,
+in one session, we find him engaged as engineer for not fewer than 33 new
+schemes.  Projectors thought themselves fortunate who could secure his
+name, and he had only to propose his terms to obtain them.  The work
+which he performed at this period of his life was indeed enormous, and
+his income was large beyond any previous instance of engineering gain.
+But much of his labour was heavy hackwork of a very uninteresting
+character.  During the sittings of the committees of Parliament, almost
+every moment of his time was occupied in consultations, and in preparing
+evidence or in giving it.  The crowded, low-roofed committee-rooms of the
+old Houses of Parliament were altogether inadequate to accommodate the
+rush of perspiring projectors of bills, and even the lobbies were
+sometimes choked with them.  To have borne that noisome atmosphere and
+heat would have tested the constitutions of salamanders, and engineers
+were only human.  With brains kept in a state of excitement during the
+entire day, no wonder their nervous systems became unstrung.  Their only
+chance of refreshment was during an occasional rush to the bun and
+sandwich stand in the lobby, though sometimes even that resource failed
+them.  Then, with mind and body jaded—probably after undergoing a series
+of consultations upon many bills after the rising of the committees—the
+exhausted engineers would seek to stimulate nature by a late, perhaps a
+heavy, dinner.  What chance had any ordinary constitution of surviving
+such an ordeal?  The consequence was, that stomach, brain, and liver were
+alike irretrievably injured; and hence the men who bore the brunt of
+those struggles—Stephenson, Brunel, Locke, and Errington—have already all
+died, comparatively young men.
+
+In mentioning the name of Brunel, we are reminded of him as the principal
+rival and competitor of Robert Stephenson.  Both were the sons of
+distinguished men, and both inherited the fame and followed in the
+footsteps of their fathers.  The Stephensons were inventive, practical,
+and sagacious; the Brunels ingenious, imaginative, and daring.  The
+former were as thoroughly English in their characteristics as the latter
+were perhaps as thoroughly French.  The fathers and the sons were alike
+successful in their works, though not in the same degree.  Measured by
+practical and profitable results, the Stephensons were unquestionably the
+safer men to follow.
+
+Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel were destined often to come
+into collision in the course of their professional life.  Their
+respective railway districts “marched” with each other, and it became
+their business to invade or defend those districts, according as the
+policy of their respective boards might direct.  The gauge of 7 feet
+fixed by Mr. Brunel for the Great Western Railway, so entirely different
+from that of 4ft. 8½in. adopted by the Stephensons on the Northern and
+Midland lines, was from the first a great cause of contention.  But Mr.
+Brunel had always an aversion to follow any man’s lead; and that another
+engineer had fixed the gauge of a railway, or built a bridge, or designed
+an engine, in one way, was of itself often a sufficient reason with him
+for adopting an altogether different course.  Robert Stephenson, on his
+part, though less bold, was more practical, preferring to follow the old
+routes, and to tread in the safe steps of his father.
+
+Mr. Brunel, however, determined that the Great Western should be a
+giant’s road, and that travelling should be conducted upon it at double
+speed.  His ambition was to make the _best_ road that imagination could
+devise; whereas the main object of the Stephensons, both father and son,
+was to make a road that would _pay_.  Although, tried by the Stephenson
+test, Brunel’s magnificent road was a failure so far as the shareholders
+in the Great Western Company were concerned, the stimulus which his
+ambitious designs gave to mechanical invention at the time proved a
+general good.  The narrow-gauge engineers exerted themselves to quicken
+their locomotives to the utmost.  They improved and re-improved them; the
+machinery was simplified and perfected; outside cylinders gave place to
+inside; the steadier and more rapid and effective action of the engine
+was secured; and in a few years the highest speed on the narrow-gauge
+lines went up from 30 to about 50 miles an hour.  For this rapidity of
+progress we are in no small degree indebted to the stimulus imparted to
+the narrow-gauge engineers by Mr. Brunel.  And it is well for a country
+that it should possess men such as he, ready to dare the untried, and to
+venture boldly into new paths.  Individuals may suffer from the cost of
+the experiments; but the nation, which is an aggregate of individuals,
+gains, and so does the world at large.
+
+It was one of the characteristics of Brunel to believe in the success of
+the schemes for which he was professionally engaged as engineer; and he
+proved this by investing his savings largely in the Great Western
+Railway, in the South Devon atmospheric line, and in the Great Eastern
+steamship, with what results are well known.  Robert Stephenson, on the
+contrary, with characteristic caution, towards the latter years of his
+life avoided holding unguaranteed railway shares; and though he might
+execute magnificent structures, such as the Victoria Bridge across the
+St. Lawrence, he was careful not to embark any portion of his own fortune
+in the ordinary capital of these concerns.  In 1845, he shrewdly foresaw
+the inevitable crash that was about to follow the mania of that year; and
+while shares were still at a premium he took the opportunity of selling
+out all that he had.  He urged his father to do the same thing, but
+George’s reply was characteristic.  “No,” said he; “I took my shares for
+an investment, and not to speculate with, and I am not going to sell them
+now because folks have gone mad about railways.”  The consequence was,
+that he continued to hold the £60,000 which he had invested in the shares
+of various railways until his death, when they were at once sold out by
+his son, though at a great depreciation on their original cost.
+
+One of the hardest battles fought between the Stephensons and Brunel was
+for the railway between Newcastle and Berwick, forming part of the great
+East Coast route to Scotland.  As early as 1836, George Stephenson had
+surveyed two lines to connect Edinburgh with Newcastle: one by Berwick
+and Dunbar along the coast, and the other, more inland, by Carter Fell,
+up the vale of the Gala, to the northern capital; but both projects lay
+dormant for several years longer, until the completion of the Midland and
+other main lines as far north as Newcastle, had the effect of again
+reviving the subject of the extension of the route as far as Edinburgh.
+
+On the 18th of June, 1844, the Newcastle and Darlington line—an important
+link of the great main highway to the north—was completed and publicly
+opened, thus connecting the Thames and the Tyne by a continuous line of
+railway.  On that day the Stephensons, with a distinguished party of
+railway men, travelled by express train from London to Newcastle in about
+nine hours.  It was a great event, and was worthily celebrated.  The
+population of Newcastle held holiday; and a banquet given in the Assembly
+Rooms the same evening assumed the form of an ovation to George
+Stephenson and his son.  Thirty years before, in the capacity of a
+workman, he had been labouring at the construction of his first
+locomotive in the immediate neighbourhood.  By slow and laborious steps
+he had worked his way on, dragging the locomotive into notice, and
+raising himself in public estimation; until at length he had victoriously
+established the railway system, and went back amongst his townsmen to
+receive their greeting.
+
+After the opening of this railway, the project of the East Coast line
+from Newcastle to Berwick was revived; and George Stephenson, who had
+already identified himself with the question, and was intimately
+acquainted with every foot of the ground, was called upon to assist the
+promoters with his judgment and experience.  He again recommended as
+strongly as before the line he had previously surveyed; and on its being
+adopted by the local committee, the necessary steps were taken to have
+the scheme brought before Parliament in the ensuing session.  The East
+Coast line was not, however, to be allowed to pass without a fight.  On
+the contrary, it had to encounter as stout an opposition as the
+Stephensons had ever experienced.
+
+We have already stated that about this time the plan of substituting
+atmospheric pressure for locomotive steam-power in the working of
+railways, had become very popular.  Many eminent engineers supported the
+atmospheric system, and a strong party in Parliament, headed by the Prime
+Minister, were greatly disposed in its favour.  Mr. Brunel warmly
+espoused the atmospheric principle, and his persuasive manner, as well as
+his admitted scientific ability, unquestionably exercised considerable
+influence in determining the views of many leading members of both
+Houses.  Amongst others, Lord Howick, one of the members for
+Northumberland, adopted the new principle, and, possessing great local
+influence, he succeeded in forming a powerful confederacy of the landed
+gentry in favour of Brunel’s atmospheric railway through that county.
+
+George Stephenson could not brook the idea of seeing the locomotive, for
+which he had fought so many stout battles, pushed to one side, and that
+in the very county in which its great powers had been first developed.
+Nor did he relish the appearance of Mr. Brunel as the engineer of Lord
+Howick’s scheme, in opposition to the line which had occupied his
+thoughts and been the object of his strenuous advocacy for so many years.
+When Stephenson first met Brunel in Newcastle, he good-naturedly shook
+him by the collar, and asked “What business he had north of the Tyne?”
+George gave him to understand that they were to have a fair stand-up
+fight for the ground, and, shaking hands before the battle like
+Englishmen, they parted in good humour.  A public meeting was held at
+Newcastle in the following December, when, after a full discussion of the
+merits of the respective plans, Stephenson’s line was almost unanimously
+adopted as the best.
+
+The rival projects went before Parliament in 1845, and a severe contest
+ensued.  The display of ability and tactics on both sides was great.
+Robert Stephenson was examined at great length as to the merits of the
+locomotive line, and Brunel at equally great length as to the merits of
+the atmospheric system.  Mr. Brunel, in his evidence, said that after
+numerous experiments, he had arrived at the conclusion that the
+mechanical contrivance of the atmospheric system was perfectly
+applicable, and he believed that it would likewise be more economical in
+most cases than locomotive power.  “In short,” said he, “rapidity,
+comfort, safety, and economy, are its chief recommendations.”
+
+But the locomotive again triumphed.  The Stephenson Coast Line secured
+the approval of Parliament; and the shareholders in the Atmospheric
+Company were happily prevented investing their capital in what would
+unquestionably have proved a gigantic blunder.  For, less than three
+years later, the whole of the atmospheric tubes which had been laid down
+on other lines were pulled up and the materials sold—including Mr.
+Brunel’s immense tube on the South Devon Railway—to make way for the
+working of the locomotive engine.  George Stephenson’s first verdict of
+“It won’t do,” was thus conclusively confirmed.
+
+Robert Stephenson used afterwards to describe with great gusto an
+interview which took place between Lord Howick and his father, at his
+office in Great George Street, during the progress of the bill in
+Parliament.  His father was in the outer office, where he used to spend a
+good deal of his spare time; occasionally taking a quiet wrestle with a
+friend when nothing else was stirring. {309}  On the day in question,
+George was standing with his back to the fire, when Lord Howick called to
+see Robert.  Oh! thought George, he has come to try and talk Robert over
+about that atmospheric gimcrack; but I’ll tackle his Lordship.  “Come in,
+my Lord,” said he, “Robert’s busy; but I’ll answer your purpose quite as
+well; sit down here, if you please.”  George began, “Now, my Lord, I know
+very well what you have come about: it’s that atmospheric line in the
+north; I will show you in less than five minutes that it can never
+answer.”  “If Mr. Robert Stephenson is not at liberty, I can call again,”
+said his Lordship.  “He’s certainly occupied on important business just
+at present,” was George’s answer; “but I can tell you far better than he
+can what nonsense the atmospheric system is: Robert’s good-natured, you
+see, and if your Lordship were to get alongside of him you might talk him
+over; so you have been quite lucky in meeting with me.  Now, just look at
+the question of expense,”—and then he proceeded in his strong Doric to
+explain his views in detail, until Lord Howick could stand it no longer,
+and he rose and walked towards the door.  George followed him down
+stairs, to finish his demolition of the atmospheric system, and his
+parting words were, “You may take my word for it, my Lord, it will never
+answer.”  George afterwards told his son with glee of “the settler” he
+had given Lord Howick.
+
+So closely were the Stephensons identified with this measure, and so
+great was the personal interest which they were both known to take in its
+success, that, on the news of the triumph of the bill reaching Newcastle,
+a sort of general holiday took place, and the workmen belonging to the
+Stephenson Locomotive Factory, upwards of 800 in number, walked in
+procession through the principal streets of the town, accompanied with
+music and banners.
+
+It is unnecessary to enter into any description of the works on the
+Newcastle and Berwick Railway.  There are no fewer than 110 bridges of
+all sorts on the line—some under and some over it.  But by far the most
+formidable piece of masonry work on this railway is at its northern
+extremity, where it passes across the Tweed into Scotland, immediately
+opposite the formerly redoubtable castle of Berwick.  Not many centuries
+had passed since the district amidst which this bridge stands was the
+scene of almost constant warfare.  Berwick was regarded as the key of
+Scotland, and was fiercely fought for, sometimes held by a Scotch and
+sometimes by an English garrison.  Though strongly fortified, it was
+repeatedly taken by assault.  On its capture by Edward I., Boetius says
+17,000 persons were slain, so that its streets “ran with blood like a
+river.”  Within sight of the ramparts, a little to the west, is Halidon
+Hill, where a famous victory was gained by Edward III., over the Scottish
+army under Douglas; and there is scarcely a foot of ground in the
+neighbourhood but has been the scene of contention in days long past.  In
+the reigns of James I. and Charles I., a bridge of 15 arches was built
+across the Tweed at Berwick; and in our own day a railway-bridge of 28
+arches has been built a little above the old one, but at a much higher
+level.  The bridge built by the Kings, out of the national resources,
+cost £15,000, and occupied 24 years and 4 months in the building; the
+bridge built by the Railway Company, with funds drawn from private
+resources, cost £120,000, and was finished in 3 years and 4 months from
+the day of laying the foundation-stone.
+
+          [Picture: The Royal Border Bridge, Berwick-upon-Tweed]
+
+This important viaduct, built after the design of Robert Stephenson,
+consists of a series of 28 semicircular arches, each 61 feet 6 inches in
+span, the greatest height above the bed of the river being 126 feet.  The
+whole is built of ashlar, with a hearting of rubble; excepting the river
+parts of the arches, which are constructed with bricks laid in cement.
+The total length of the work is 2160 feet.  The foundations of the piers
+were got in by coffer-dams in the ordinary way, Nasmyth’s steam-hammer
+being extensively used in driving the piles.  The bearing piles, from
+which the foundations of the piers were built up, were each capable of
+carrying 70 tons.
+
+Another bridge, of still greater importance, necessary to complete the
+continuity of the East Coast route, was the masterwork erected by Robert
+Stephenson between the north and south banks of the Tyne at Newcastle,
+commonly known as the High Level Bridge.  Mr. R. W. Brandling, George
+Stephenson’s early friend, is entitled to the merit of originating the
+idea of this bridge as it was eventually carried out, with a central
+terminus for the northern railways in the Castle Garth.  The plan was
+first promulgated by him in 1841; and in the following year it was
+resolved that George Stephenson should be consulted as to the most
+advisable site for the proposed structure.  A prospectus of a High Level
+Bridge Company was issued in 1843, the names of George Stephenson and
+George Hudson appearing on the committee of management, Robert Stephenson
+being the consulting engineer.  The project was eventually taken up by
+the Newcastle and Darlington Railway Company, and an Act for the
+construction of the bridge was obtained in 1845.
+
+The rapid extension of railways had given an extraordinary stimulus to
+the art of bridge-building; the number of such structures erected in
+Great Britain alone, since 1830, having been above 25,000, or more than
+all that had before existed in the country.  Instead of the erection a
+single large bridge constituting, as formerly, an epoch in engineering,
+hundreds of extensive bridges of novel design were simultaneously
+constructed.  The necessity which existed for carrying rigid roads,
+capable of bearing heavy railway trains at high speeds, over extensive
+gaps free of support, rendered it obvious that the methods which had up
+to that time been employed for bridging space were altogether
+insufficient.  The railway engineer could not, like the ordinary road
+engineer, divert his road and make choice of the best point for crossing
+a river or a valley.  He must take such ground as lay in the line of his
+railway, be it bog, or mud, or shifting sand.  Navigable rivers and
+crowded thoroughfares had to be crossed without interruption to the
+existing traffic, sometimes by bridges at right angles to the river or
+road, sometimes by arches more or less oblique.  In many cases great
+difficulty arose from the limited nature of the headway; but, as the
+level of the original road must generally be preserved, and that of the
+railway was in a measure fixed and determined, it was necessary to modify
+the form and structure of the bridge, in almost every case, in order to
+comply with the public requirements.  Novel conditions were met by fresh
+inventions, and difficulties of the most unusual character were one after
+another successfully surmounted.  In executing these extraordinary works,
+iron has been throughout the sheet-anchor of the engineer.  In its
+different forms of cast or wrought iron, it offered a valuable resource,
+where rapidity of execution, great strength, and cheapness of
+construction in the first instance, were elements of prime importance;
+and by its skilful use, the railway architect was enabled to achieve
+results which thirty years ago would scarcely have been thought possible.
+
+In many of the early cast-iron bridges the old form of the arch was
+adopted, the stability of the structure depending wholly on compression,
+the only novel feature being the use of iron instead of stone.  But in a
+large proportion of cases, the arch, with the railroad over it, was found
+inapplicable in consequence of the limited headway which it provided.
+Hence it early occurred to George Stephenson, when constructing the
+Liverpool and Manchester Railway, to adopt the simple cast-iron beam for
+the crossing of several roads and canals along that line—this beam
+resembling in some measure the lintel of the early temples—the pressure
+on the abutments being purely vertical.  One of the earliest instances of
+this kind of bridge was that erected over Water Street, Manchester, in
+1829; after which, cast-iron girders, with their lower webs considerably
+larger than their upper, were ordinarily employed where the span was
+moderate; and wrought-iron tie rods below were added to give increased
+strength where the span was greater.
+
+The next step was the contrivance of arched beams or bowstring girders,
+firmly held together by horizontal ties to resist the thrust, instead of
+abutments.  Numerous excellent specimens of this description of bridge
+were erected by Robert Stephenson on the original London and Birmingham
+Railway; but by far the grandest work of the kind—perfect as a specimen
+of modern constructive skill—was the High Level Bridge, which we owe to
+the genius of the same engineer.
+
+The problem was, to throw a railway bridge across the deep ravine which
+lies between the towns of Newcastle and Gateshead, at the bottom of which
+flows the navigable river Tyne.  Along and up the sides of the valley—on
+the Newcastle bank especially—run streets of old-fashioned houses,
+clustered together in the strange forms peculiar to the older cities.
+The ravine is of great depth—so deep and so gloomy-looking towards dusk,
+that local tradition records that when the Duke of Cumberland arrived
+late in the evening at the brow of the hill overlooking the Tyne, on his
+way to Culloden, he exclaimed to his attendants, on looking down into the
+black gorge before him, “For God’s sake, don’t think of taking me down
+that coal-pit at this time of night!”  The road down the Gateshead High
+Street is almost as steep as the roof of a house, and up the Newcastle
+Side, as the street there is called, it is little better.  During many
+centuries the traffic north and south passed along this dangerous and
+difficult route, over the old bridge which crosses the river in the
+bottom of the valley.  For about 30 years the Newcastle Corporation had
+discussed various methods of improving the communication between the
+towns; and the discussion might have gone on for 30 years more, but for
+the advent of railways, when the skill and enterprise to which they gave
+birth speedily solved the difficulty and bridged the ravine.  The local
+authorities adroitly took advantage of the opportunity, and insisted on
+the provision of a road for ordinary vehicles and foot passengers in
+addition to the railroad.  In this circumstance originated one of the
+striking peculiarities of the High Level Bridge, which serves two
+purposes, being a railway above and a carriage roadway underneath.
+
+The breadth of the river at the point of crossing is 515 feet, but the
+length of the bridge and viaduct between the Gateshead station and the
+terminus on the Newcastle side is about 4000 feet.  It springs from
+Pipewell Gate Bank, on the south, directly across to Castle Garth, where,
+nearly fronting the bridge, stands the fine old Norman keep of the _New_
+Castle, now nearly 800 years old, and a little beyond it is the spire of
+St. Nicholas Church, with its light and graceful Gothic crown; the whole
+forming a grand architectural group of unusual historic interest.  The
+bridge passes completely over the roofs of the houses which fill both
+sides of the valley; and the extraordinary height of the upper parapet,
+which is about 130 feet above the bed of the river, offers a prospect to
+the passing traveller the like of which is perhaps nowhere else to be
+seen.  Far below are the queer chares and closes, the wynds and lanes of
+old Newcastle; the water is crowded with pudgy, black, coal keels; and,
+when there is a partial dispersion of the great smoke clouds which
+usually obscure the sky, the funnels of steamers and the masts of
+shipping may be seen far down the river.  The old bridge lies so far
+beneath that the passengers crossing it seem like so many bees passing to
+and fro.
+
+The first difficulty encountered in building the bridge was in securing a
+solid foundation for the piers.  The dimensions of the piles to be driven
+were so huge, that the engineer found it necessary to employ some
+extraordinary means for the purpose.  He called Nasmyth’s Titanic
+steam-hammer to his aid—the first occasion, we believe, on which this
+prodigious power was employed in bridge pile-driving.  A temporary
+staging was erected for the steam-engine and hammer apparatus, which
+rested on two keels, and, notwithstanding the newness and stiffness of
+the machinery, the first pile was driven on the 6th October, 1846, to a
+depth of 32 feet, in four minutes.  Two hammers of 30 cwt. each were kept
+in regular use, making from 60 to 70 strokes a minute; and the results
+were astounding to those who had been accustomed to the old style of
+pile-driving by means of the ordinary pile-frame, consisting of slide,
+ram, and monkey.  By the old system, the pile was driven by a
+comparatively small mass of iron descending with great velocity from a
+considerable height—the velocity being in excess and the mass deficient,
+and calculated, like the momentum of a cannon-ball, rather for
+destructive than impulsive action.  In the case of the steam pile-driver,
+on the contrary, the whole weight of a heavy mass is delivered rapidly
+upon a driving-block of several tons weight placed directly over the head
+of the pile, the weight never ceasing, and the blows being repeated at
+the rate of a blow a second, until the pile is driven home.  It is a
+curious fact, that the rapid strokes of the steam-hammer evolved so much
+heat, that on many occasions the pile-head burst into flames during the
+process of driving.  The elastic force of steam is the power that lifts
+the ram, the escape permitting its entire force to fall upon the head of
+the driving block; while the steam above the piston on the upper part of
+the cylinder, acting as a buffer or recoil-spring, materially enhances
+the effect of the downward blow.  As soon as one pile was driven, the
+traveller, hovering overhead, presented another, and down it went into
+the solid bed of the river, with almost as much ease as a lady sticks
+pins into a cushion.  By the aid of this powerful machine, pile-driving,
+formerly among the most costly and tedious of engineering operations,
+became easy, rapid, and comparatively economical.
+
+When the piles had been driven and the coffer-dams formed and puddled,
+the water within the enclosed spaces was pumped out by the aid of
+powerful engines, so as, if possible, to lay bare the bed of the river.
+Considerable difficulty was experienced in getting in the foundations of
+the middle pier, in consequence of the water forcing itself through the
+quicksand beneath as fast as it was removed, This fruitless labour went
+on for months, and many expedients were tried.  Chalk was thrown in in
+large quantities outside the piling, but without effect.  Cement concrete
+was at last put within the coffer-dam, until it set, and the bottom was
+then found to be secure.  A bed of concrete was laid up to the level of
+the heads of the piles, the foundation course of stone blocks being
+commenced about two feet below low water, and the building proceeded
+without further difficulty.  It may serve to give an idea of the
+magnitude of the work, when we state that 400,000 cubic feet of ashlar,
+rubble, and concrete were worked up in the piers, and 450,000 cubic feet
+in the land-arches and approaches.
+
+The most novel feature of the structure is the use of cast and wrought
+iron in forming the double bridge, which admirably combines the two
+principles of the arch and suspension; the railway being carried over the
+back of the ribbed arches in the usual manner, while the carriage-road
+and footpaths, forming a long gallery or aisle, are suspended from these
+arches by wrought-iron vertical rods, with horizontal tie-bars to resist
+the thrust.  The suspension-bolts are enclosed within spandril pillars of
+cast iron, which give great stiffness to the superstructure.  This system
+of longitudinal and vertical bracing has been much admired, for it not
+only accomplishes the primary object of securing rigidity in the roadway,
+but at the same time, by its graceful arrangement, heightens the beauty
+of the structure.  The arches consist of four main ribs, disposed in
+pairs with a clear distance between the two inner arches of 20 feet 4
+inches, forming the carriage-road, while between each of the inner and
+outer ribs there is a space of 6 feet 2 inches, constituting the
+footpaths.  Each arch is cast in five separate lengths or segments,
+strongly bolted together.  The ribs spring from horizontal plates of cast
+iron, bedded and secured on the stone piers.  All the abutting joints
+were carefully executed by machinery, the fitting being of the most
+perfect kind.  In order to provide for the expansion and contraction of
+the iron arching, and to preserve the equilibrium of the piers without
+disturbance or racking of the other parts of the bridge, it was arranged
+that the ribs of every two adjoining arches resting on the same pier
+should be secured to the springing-plates by keys and joggles; whilst on
+the next piers on either side, the ribs remained free and were at liberty
+to expand or contract according to temperature—a space being left for the
+purpose.  Hence each arch is complete and independent in itself, the
+piers having simply to sustain their vertical pressure.  There are six
+arches of 125 feet span each; the two approaches to the bridge being
+formed of cast-iron pillars and bearers in keeping with the arches.
+
+            [Picture: High Level Bridge—Elevation of one Arch]
+
+The result is a bridge that for massive solidity may be pronounced
+unrivalled.  It is perhaps the most magnificent and striking of all the
+bridges to which railways have given birth, and has been worthily styled
+“the King of railway structures.”  It is a monument of the highest
+engineering skill of our time, with the impress of power grandly stamped
+upon it.  It will also be observed, from the drawing placed as the
+frontispiece of this book, that the High Level Bridge forms a very fine
+object in a picture of great interest, full of striking architectural
+variety and beauty.  The bridge was opened on the 15th August, 1849, and
+a few days after the royal train passed over it, halting for a few
+minutes to enable her Majesty to survey the wonderful scene below.  In
+the course of the following year the Queen opened the extensive stone
+viaduct across the Tweed, above described, by which the last link was
+completed of the continuous line of railway between London and Edinburgh.
+Over the entrance to the Berwick station, occupying the site of the once
+redoubtable Border fortress, so often the deadly battle-ground of the
+ancient Scots and English, was erected an arch under which the royal
+train passed, bearing in large letters of gold the appropriate words,
+“_The last act of the Union_.”
+
+The warders at Berwick no longer look out from the castle walls to descry
+the glitter of Southron spears.  The bell-tower, from which the alarm was
+sounded of old, though still standing, is deserted; the only bell heard
+within the precincts of the old castle being the railway porter’s bell
+announcing the arrival and departure of trains.  You see the Scotch
+express pass along the bridge and speed southward on the wings of steam.
+But no alarm spreads along the border now.  Northumbrian beeves are safe.
+Chevy-Chase and Otterburn are quiet sheep-pastures.  The only men at arms
+on the battlements of Alnwick Castle are of stone.  Bamborough Castle has
+become an asylum for shipwrecked mariners, and the Norman Keep at
+Newcastle has been converted into a Museum of Antiquities.  The railway
+has indeed consummated the Union.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+ROBERT STEPHENSON’S TUBULAR BRIDGES AT MENAI AND CONWAY.
+
+
+We have now to describe briefly another great undertaking, begun by
+George Stephenson, and taken up and completed by his son, in the course
+of which the latter carried out some of his greatest works—we mean the
+Chester and Holyhead Railway, completing the railway connection with
+Dublin, as the Newcastle and Berwick line completed the connection with
+Edinburgh.  It will thus be seen how closely Telford was followed by the
+Stephensons in perfecting the highways of their respective epochs; the
+former by means of turnpike-roads, and the latter by means of railways.
+
+George Stephenson surveyed a line from Chester to Holyhead in 1838, and
+at the same time reported on the line through North Wales to Port
+Dynllaen, proposed by the Irish Railway Commissioners.  His advice was
+strongly in favour of adopting the line to Holyhead, as less costly and
+presenting better gradients.  A public meeting was held at Chester, in
+January, 1839, in support of the latter measure, at which he was present
+to give explanations.  Mr. Uniacke, the Mayor, in opening the
+proceedings, said that Mr. Stephenson was present, ready to answer any
+questions which might be put to him on the subject; and it was
+judiciously remarked that “it would be better that he should be asked
+questions than required to make a speech; for, though a very good
+engineer, he was a bad speaker.”  One of the questions then put to Mr.
+Stephenson related to the mode by which he proposed to haul the passenger
+carriages over the Menai Suspension Bridge by horse power; and he was
+asked whether he knew the pressure the bridge was capable of sustaining.
+His answer was, that “he had not yet made any calculations; but he
+proposed getting data which would enable him to arrive at an accurate
+calculation of the actual strain upon the bridge during the late gale.
+He had, however, no hesitation in saying that it was more than twenty
+times as much as the strain of a train of carriages and a locomotive
+engine.  The only reason why he proposed to convey the carriages over by
+horses, was in order that he might, by distributing the weight, not
+increase the wavy motion.  All the train would be on at once; but
+distributed.  This he thought better than passing them, linked together,
+by a locomotive engine.”  It will thus be observed that the
+practicability of throwing a rigid railway bridge across the Straits had
+not yet been contemplated.
+
+The Dublin Chamber of Commerce passed resolutions in favour of
+Stephenson’s line, after hearing his explanation of its essential
+features.  The project, after undergoing much discussion, was at length
+embodied in an Act passed in 1844; and the work was brought to a
+successful completion by his son, with several important modifications,
+including the grand original feature of the tubular bridges across the
+Menai Straits and the estuary of the Conway.  Excepting these great
+works, the construction of this line presented no unusual features;
+though the remarkable terrace cut for the accommodation of the railway
+under the steep slope of Penmaen Mawr is worthy of a passing notice.
+
+About midway between Conway and Bangor, Penmaen Mawr forms a bold and
+almost precipitous headland, at the base of which, in rough weather, the
+ocean dashes with great fury.  There was not space enough between the
+mountain and the strand for the passage of the railway; hence in some
+places the rock had to be blasted to form a terrace, and in others
+sea-walls had to be built up to the proper level, on which to form an
+embankment of sufficient width to enable the road to be laid.  [Picture:
+Penmaen Mawr.  (By Percival Skelton.)] A tunnel 10½ chains in length was
+cut through the headland itself; and on its east and west sides the line
+was formed by a terrace cut out of the cliff, and by embankments
+protected by sea walls; the terrace being three times interrupted by
+embankments in its course of about 1¼ mile.  The road lies so close under
+the steep mountain face, that it was even found necessary at certain
+places to protect it against possible accidents from falling stones, by
+means of a covered way.  The terrace on the east side of the headland
+was, however, in some measure protected against the roll of the sea by
+the mass of stone run out from the tunnel, and forming a deep shingle
+bank in front of the wall.
+
+The part of the work which lies on the westward of the headland
+penetrated by the tunnel, was exposed to the full force of the sea; and
+the formation of the road at that point was attended with great
+difficulty.  While the sea wall was still in progress, its strength was
+severely tried by a strong north-westerly gale, which blew in October,
+1846, with a spring tide of 17 feet.  On the following morning it was
+found that a large portion of the rubble was irreparably injured, and 200
+yards of the wall were then replaced by an open viaduct, with the piers
+placed edgeways to the sea, the openings between them being spanned by
+ten cast-iron girders each 42 feet long.  This accident induced the
+engineer to alter the contour of the sea wall, so that it should present
+a diminished resistance to the force of the waves.  But the sea repeated
+its assaults, and made further havoc with the work; entailing heavy
+expenses and a complete reorganisation of the contract.  Increased
+solidity was then given to the masonry, and the face of the wall
+underwent further change.  At some points outworks were constructed, and
+piles were driven into the beach about 15 feet from the base of the wall,
+for the purpose of protecting its foundations and breaking the force of
+the waves.  The work was at length finished after about three years’
+anxious labour; but Mr. Stephenson confessed that if a long tunnel had
+been made in the first instance through the solid rock of Penmaen Mawr, a
+saving of from £25,000 to £30,000 would have been effected.  He also said
+he had arrived at the conclusion that in railway works engineers should
+endeavour as far as possible to avoid the necessity of contending with
+the sea; {324} but if he were ever again compelled to go within its
+reach, he would adopt, instead of retaining walls, an open viaduct,
+placing all the piers edgeways to the force of the sea, and allowing the
+waves to break upon a natural slope of beach.  He was ready enough to
+admit the errors he had committed in the original design of this work;
+but he said he had always gained more information from studying the
+causes of failures and endeavouring to surmount them than he had done
+from easily-won successes.  Whilst many of the latter had been forgotten,
+the former were indelibly fixed in his memory.
+
+But by far the greatest difficulty which Robert Stephenson had to
+encounter in executing this railway, was in carrying it across the
+Straits of Menai and the estuary of the Conway, where, like his
+predecessor Telford when forming his high road through North Wales, he
+was under the necessity of resorting to new and altogether untried
+methods of bridge construction.  At Menai the waters of the Irish Sea are
+perpetually vibrating along the precipitous shores of the strait; rising
+and falling from 20 to 25 feet at each successive tide; the width and
+depth of the channel being such as to render it available for navigation
+by the largest ships.  The problem was, to throw a bridge across this
+wide chasm—a bridge of unusual span and dimensions—of such strength as to
+be capable of bearing the heaviest loads at high speeds, and at such a
+uniform height throughout as not in any way to interfere with the
+navigation of the Strait.  From an early period, Mr. Stephenson had fixed
+upon the spot where the Britannia Rock occurs, nearly in the middle of
+the channel, as the most eligible point for crossing; the water-width
+from shore to shore at high water there being about 1100 feet.  His first
+idea was to construct the bridge of two cast-iron arches, each of 350
+feet span.  There was no novelty in this idea; for, as early as the year
+1801, Mr. Rennie prepared a design of a cast-iron bridge across the
+Strait at the Swilly rocks, the great centre arch of which was to be 450
+feet span; and at a later period, in 1810, Telford submitted a design of
+a similar bridge at Inys-y-Moch, with a single cast-iron arch of 500
+feet.  But the same objections which led to the rejection of Rennie’s and
+Telford’s designs, proved fatal to Robert Stephenson’s, and his
+iron-arched railway bridge was rejected by the Admiralty.  The navigation
+of the Strait was under no circumstances to be interfered with; and even
+the erection of scaffolding from below, to support the bridge during
+construction, was not to be permitted.  The idea of a suspension bridge
+was dismissed as inapplicable; a degree of rigidity and strength, greater
+than could be secured by any bridge constructed on the principle of
+suspension, being considered an indispensable condition of the proposed
+structure.
+
+                       [Picture: Britannia Bridge]
+
+Various other plans were suggested; but the whole question remained
+unsettled even down to the time when the Company went before Parliament,
+in 1844, for power to construct the proposed bridges.  No existing kind
+of structure seemed to be capable of bearing the fearful extension to
+which rigid bridges of the necessary spans would be subjected; and some
+new expedient of engineering therefore became necessary.
+
+Mr. Stephenson was then led to reconsider a design which he had made in
+1841 for a road bridge over the river Lea at Ware, with a span of 50
+feet,—the conditions only admitting of a platform 18 or 20 inches thick.
+For this purpose a wrought-iron platform was designed, consisting of a
+series of simple cells, formed of boiler-plates riveted together with
+angle-iron.  The bridge was not, however, carried out after this design,
+but was made of separate wrought-iron girders composed of riveted plates.
+Recurring to his first idea of this bridge, Mr. Stephenson thought that a
+stiff platform might be constructed, with sides of strongly trussed
+frame-work of wrought-iron, braced together at top and bottom with plates
+of like material riveted together with angle-iron; and that such platform
+might be suspended by strong chains on either side to give it increased
+security.  “It was now,” says Mr. Stephenson, “that I came to regard the
+tubular platform as a beam, and that the chains should be looked upon as
+auxiliaries.”  It appeared, nevertheless, that without a system of
+diagonal struts inside, which of course would have prevented the passage
+of trains _through_ it, this kind of structure was ill-suited for
+maintaining its form, and would be very liable to become lozenge-shaped.
+Besides, the rectangular figure was deemed objectionable, from the large
+surface which it presented to the wind.
+
+It then occurred to him that circular or elliptical tubes might better
+answer the intended purpose; and in March, 1845, he gave instructions to
+two of his assistants to prepare drawings of such a structure, the tubes
+being made with a double thickness of plate at top and bottom.  The
+results of the calculations made as to the strength of such a tube, were
+considered so satisfactory, that Mr. Stephenson says he determined to
+fall back on a bridge of this description, on the rejection of his design
+of the two cast-iron arches by the Parliamentary Committee.  Indeed, it
+became evident that a tubular wrought-iron beam was the only structure
+which combined the necessary strength and stability for a railway, with
+the conditions deemed essential for the protection of the navigation.  “I
+stood,” says Mr. Stephenson, “on the verge of a responsibility from
+which, I confess, I had nearly shrunk.  The construction of a tubular
+beam of such gigantic dimensions, on a platform elevated and supported by
+chains at such a height, did at first present itself as a difficulty of a
+very formidable nature.  Reflection, however, satisfied me that the
+principles upon which the idea was founded were nothing more than an
+extension of those daily in use in the profession of the engineer.  The
+method, moreover, of calculating the strength of the structure which I
+had adopted, was of the simplest and most elementary character; and
+whatever might be the form of the tube, the principle on which the
+calculations were founded was equally applicable, and could not fail to
+lead to equally accurate results.” {327}  Mr. Stephenson accordingly
+announced to the directors of the railway that he was prepared to carry
+out a bridge of this general description, and they adopted his views,
+though not without considerable misgivings.
+
+While the engineer’s mind was still occupied with the subject, an
+accident occurred to the _Prince of Wales_ iron steamship, at Blackwall,
+which singularly corroborated his views as to the strength of
+wrought-iron beams of large dimensions.  When this vessel was being
+launched, the cleet on the bow gave way, in consequence of the bolts
+breaking, and let the vessel down so that the bilge came in contact with
+the wharf, and she remained suspended between the water and the wharf for
+a length of about 110 feet, but without any injury to the plates of the
+ship; satisfactorily proving the great strength of this form of
+construction.  Thus, Mr. Stephenson became gradually confirmed in his
+opinion that the most feasible method of bridging the strait at Menai and
+the river at Conway was by means of a hollow beam of wrought-iron.  As
+the time was approaching for giving evidence before Parliament on the
+subject, it was necessary for him to settle some definite plan for
+submission to the committee.  “My late revered father,” says he, “having
+always taken a deep interest in the various proposals which had been
+considered for carrying a railway across the Menai Straits, requested me
+to explain fully to him the views which led me to suggest the use of a
+tube, and also the nature of the calculations I had made in reference to
+it.  It was during this personal conference that Mr. William Fairbairn
+accidentally called upon me, to whom I also explained the principles of
+the structure I had proposed.  He at once acquiesced in their truth, and
+expressed confidence in the feasibility of my project, giving me at the
+same time some facts relative to the remarkable strength of iron
+steamships, and invited me to his works at Millwall, to examine the
+construction of an iron steamship which was then in progress.”  The date
+of this consultation was early in April, 1845, and Mr. Fairbairn states
+that, on that occasion, “Mr. Stephenson asked whether such a design was
+practicable, and whether I could accomplish it: and it was ultimately
+arranged that the subject should be investigated experimentally, to
+determine not only the value of Mr. Stephenson’s original conception (of
+a circular or egg-shaped wrought-iron tube, supported by chains), but
+that of any other tubular form of bridge which might present itself in
+the prosecution of my researches.  The matter was placed unreservedly in
+my hands; the entire conduct of the investigation was entrusted to me;
+and, as an experimenter, I was to be left free to exercise my own
+discretion in the investigation of whatever forms or conditions of the
+structure might appear to me best calculated to secure a safe passage
+across the Straits.” {329a}  Mr. Fairbairn then proceeded to construct a
+number of experimental models for the purpose of testing the strength of
+tubes of different forms.  The short period which elapsed, however,
+before the bill was in committee, did not admit of much progress being
+made with those experiments; but from the evidence in chief given by Mr.
+Stephenson on the subject, on the 5th May following, it appears that the
+idea which prevailed in his mind was that of a bridge with openings of
+450 feet (afterwards increased to 460 feet); with a roadway formed of a
+hollow wrought-iron beam, about 25 feet in diameter, presenting a rigid
+platform, suspended by chains.  At the same time, he expressed the
+confident opinion that a tube of wrought iron would possess sufficient
+strength and rigidity to support a railway train running inside of it
+without the help of the chains.
+
+While the bill was still in progress, Mr. Fairbairn proceeded with his
+experiments.  He first tested tubes of a cylindrical form, in consequence
+of the favourable opinion entertained by Mr. Stephenson of the tubes in
+that shape, extending them subsequently to those of an elliptical form.
+{329b}  He found tubes thus shaped more or less defective, and proceeded
+to test those of a rectangular kind.  After the bill had received the
+royal assent on the 30th June, 1845, the directors of the company, with
+great liberality, voted a sum for the purpose of enabling the experiments
+to be prosecuted, and upwards of £6000 were thus expended to make the
+assurance of their engineer doubly sure.  Mr. Fairbairn’s tests were of
+the most elaborate and eventually conclusive character, bringing to light
+many new and important facts of great practical value.  The due
+proportions and thicknesses of the top, bottom, and sides of the tubes
+were arrived at after a vast number of trials; one of the results of the
+experiments being the adoption of Mr. Fairbairn’s invention of
+rectangular hollow cells in the top of the beam for the purpose of giving
+it the requisite degree of strength.  About the end of August it was
+thought desirable to obtain the assistance of a mathematician, who should
+prepare a formula by which the strength of a full-sized tube might be
+calculated from the results of the experiments made with tubes of smaller
+dimensions.  Professor Hodgkinson was accordingly called in, and he
+proceeded to verify and confirm the experiments which Mr. Fairbairn had
+made, and afterwards reduced them to the required formula.
+
+Mr. Stephenson’s time was so much engrossed with his extensive
+engineering business that he was in a great measure precluded from
+devoting himself to the consideration of the practical details.  The
+results of the experiments were communicated to him from time to time,
+and were regarded by him as exceedingly satisfactory.  It would appear,
+however, that while Mr. Fairbairn urged the rigidity and strength of the
+tubes without the aid of chains, Mr. Stephenson had not quite made up his
+mind upon the point.  Mr. Hodgkinson, also, was strongly inclined to
+retain them.  Mr. Fairbairn held that it was quite practicable to make
+the tubes “sufficiently strong to sustain not only their own weight, but,
+in addition to that load, 2000 tons equally distributed over the surface
+of the platform,—a load ten times greater than they will ever be called
+upon to support.”
+
+It was thoroughly characteristic of Mr. Stephenson, and of the caution
+with which he proceeded in every step of this great undertaking—probing
+every inch of the ground before he set down his foot upon it—that he
+should, early in 1856, (_sic_) have appointed his able assistant, Mr.
+Edwin Clark, to scrutinise carefully the results of every experiment, and
+subject them to a separate and independent analysis before finally
+deciding upon the form or dimensions of the structure, or upon any mode
+of procedure connected with it.  At length Mr. Stephenson became
+satisfied that the use of auxiliary chains was unnecessary, and that the
+tubular bridge might be made of such strength as to be entirely
+self-supporting.
+
+While these important discussions were in progress, measures were taken
+to proceed with the masonry of the bridges simultaneously at Conway and
+the Menai Straits.  The foundation-stone of the Britannia Bridge was laid
+on the 10th April, 1846; and on the 12th May following that of the Conway
+Bridge was laid.  Suitable platforms and workshops were also erected for
+proceeding with the punching, fitting, and riveting of the tubes; and
+when these operations were in full progress, the neighbourhood of the
+Conway and Britannia Bridges presented scenes of extraordinary bustle and
+industry.  About 1500 men were employed on the Britannia Bridge alone,
+and they mostly lived upon the ground in wooden cottages erected for the
+occasion.  The iron plates were brought in ship-loads from Liverpool,
+Anglesey marble from Penmon, and red sandstone from Runcorn, in Cheshire,
+as wind and tide, and shipping and convenience, might determine.  There
+was an unremitting clank of hammers, grinding of machinery, and blasting
+of rock, going on from morning till night.  In fitting the Britannia
+tubes together, not less than 2,000,000 of bolts were riveted, weighing
+some 900 tons.
+
+The Britannia Bridge consists of two independent continuous tubular
+beams, each 1511 feet in length, and each weighing 4680 tons, independent
+of the cast-iron frames inserted at their bearings on the masonry of the
+towers.  These immense beams are supported at five places, namely, on the
+abutments and on three towers, the central of which is known as the Great
+Britannia Tower, 230 feet high, built on a rock in the middle of the
+Strait.  The side towers are 18 feet less in height than the central one,
+and the abutment 35 feet lower than the side towers.  The design of the
+masonry is such as to accord with the form of the tubes, being somewhat
+of an Egyptian character, massive and gigantic rather than beautiful, but
+bearing the unmistakable impress of power.
+
+The bridge has four spans,—two of 460 feet over the water, and two of 230
+feet over the land.  The weight of the larger spans, at the points where
+the tubes repose on the masonry, is not less than 1587 tons.  On the
+centre tower the tubes rest solid; but on the land towers and abutments
+they lie on roller-beds, so as to allow of expansion and contraction.
+The road within each tube is 15 feet wide, and the height varies from 23
+feet at the ends to 30 feet at the centre.  To give an idea of the vast
+size of the tubes by comparison with other structures, it may be
+mentioned that each length constituting the main spans is twice as long
+as London Monument is high; and if it could be set on end in St. Paul’s
+Churchyard, it would reach nearly 100 feet above the cross.
+
+The Conway Bridge is, in most respects, similar to the Britannia,
+consisting of two tubes, of 400 feet span, placed side by side, each
+weighing 1180 tons.  The principle adopted in the construction of the
+tubes, and the mode of floating and raising them, were nearly the same as
+at the Britannia Bridge, though the general arrangement of the plates is
+in many respects different.
+
+It was determined to construct the shorter outer tubes of the Britannia
+Bridge on scaffoldings in the positions in which they were permanently to
+remain, and to erect the larger tubes upon wooden platforms at
+high-water-mark on the Caernarvon shore, from whence they were to be
+floated in pontoons.
+
+The floating of the tubes on pontoons, from the places where they had
+been constructed, to the recesses in the masonry of the towers, up which
+they were to be hoisted to the positions they were permanently to occupy,
+was an anxious and exciting operation.  The first part of this process
+was performed at Conway, where Mr. Stephenson directed it in person,
+assisted by Captain Claxton, Mr. Brunel, and other engineering friends.
+On the 6th March, 1848, the pontoons bearing the first great tube of the
+up-line were floated round quietly and majestically into their place
+between the towers in about twenty minutes.  Unfortunately, one of the
+sets of pontoons had become slightly slued by the stream, by which the
+Conway end of the tube was prevented from being brought home; and five
+anxious days to all concerned intervened before it could be set in its
+place.  In the mean time, the presses and raising machinery had been
+fitted in the towers above, and the lifting process was begun on the 8th
+April, when the immense mass was raised 8 feet, at the rate of about 2
+inches a minute.  On the 16th, the tube had been raised and finally
+lowered into its permanent bed; the rails were laid along it; and, on the
+18th, Mr. Stephenson passed through with the first locomotive.  The
+second tube was proceeded with on the removal of the first from the
+platform, and was completed and floated in seven months.  The rapidity
+with which this second tube was constructed was in no small degree owing
+to the Jacquard punching-machine, contrived for the purpose by Mr.
+Roberts of Manchester.  This tube was finally fixed in its permanent bed
+on the 2nd of January, 1849.
+
+                     [Picture: Conway Tubular Bridge]
+
+The floating and fixing of the great Britannia tubes was a still more
+formidable enterprise, though the experience gained at Conway rendered it
+easy compared with what it otherwise would have been.  Mr. Stephenson
+superintended the operation of floating the first in person, giving the
+arranged signals from the top of the tube on which he was mounted, the
+active part of the business being performed by a numerous corps of
+sailors, under the immediate direction of Captain Claxton.  Thousands of
+spectators lined the shores of the Strait on the evening of the 19th
+June, 1849.  On the land attachments being cut, the pontoons began to
+float off; but one of the capstans having given way from excessive
+strain, the tube was brought home again for the night.  By next morning
+the defective capstan was restored, and all was in readiness for another
+trial.  At half-past seven in the evening the tube was afloat, and the
+pontoons swung out into the current like a monster pendulum, held steady
+by the shore guide-lines, but increasing in speed to almost a fearful
+extent as they neared their destined place between the piers.  “The
+success of this operation,” says Mr. Clark, “depended mainly on properly
+striking the ‘butt’ beneath the Anglesey tower, on which, as upon a
+centre, the tube was to be veered round into its position across the
+opening.  This position was determined by a 12-inch line, which was to be
+paid out to a fixed mark from the Llanfair capstan.  The coils of the
+rope unfortunately over-rode each other upon this capstan, so that it
+could not be paid out.  In resisting the motion of the tube, the capstan
+was bodily dragged out of the platform by the action of the palls, and
+the tube was in imminent danger of being carried away by the stream, or
+the pontoons crushed upon the rocks.  The men at the capstan were all
+knocked down, and some of them thrown into the water, though they made
+every exertion to arrest the motion of the capstan-bars.  In this dilemma
+Mr. Rolfe, who had charge of the capstan, with great presence of mind,
+called the visitors on shore to his assistance; and handing out the spare
+coil of the 12-inch line into the field at the back of the capstan, it
+was carried with great rapidity up the field, and a crowd of people, men,
+women, and children, holding on to this huge cable, arresting the
+progress of the tube, which was at length brought safely against the butt
+and veered round.  The Britannia end was then drawn into the recess of
+the masonry by a chain passing through the tower to a crab on the far
+side.  The violence of the tide abated, though the wind increased, and
+the Anglesey end was drawn into its place beneath the corbelling in the
+masonry; and as the tide went down, the pontoons deposited their valuable
+cargo on the welcome shelf at each end.  The successful issue was greeted
+by cannon from the shore and the hearty cheers of many thousands of
+spectators, whose sympathy and anxiety were but too clearly indicated by
+the unbroken silence with which the whole operation had been
+accompanied.” {335}  By midnight all the pontoons had been got clear of
+the tube, which now hung suspended over the waters of the Strait by its
+two ends, which rested upon the edges cut in the rock for the purpose at
+the base of the Britannia and Anglesey towers respectively, up which the
+tube had now to be lifted by hydraulic power to its permanent place near
+the summit.  The accuracy with which the gigantic beam had been
+constructed may be inferred from the fact that, after passing into its
+place, a clear space remained between the iron plating and the rock
+outside of it of only about three-quarters of an inch!
+
+Mr. Stephenson’s anxiety was, of course, very great up to the time of
+performing this trying operation.  When he had got the first tube floated
+at Conway, and saw all safe, he said to Captain Moorsom, “Now I shall go
+to bed.”  But the Britannia Bridge was a still more difficult enterprise,
+and cost him many a sleepless night.  Afterwards describing his feelings
+to his friend Mr. Gooch, he said: “It was a most anxious and harassing
+time with me.  Often at night I would lie tossing about, seeking sleep in
+vain.  The tubes filled my head.  I went to bed with them and got up with
+them.  In the grey of the morning, when I looked across the Square, {336}
+it seemed an immense distance across to the houses on the opposite side.
+It was nearly the same length as the span of my tubular bridge!”  When
+the first tube had been floated, a friend observed to him, “This great
+work has made you ten years older.”  “I have not slept sound,” he
+replied, “for three weeks.”  Sir F. Head, however relates, that when he
+revisited the spot on the following morning, he observed, sitting on a
+platform overlooking the suspended tube, a gentleman, reclining entirely
+by himself, smoking a cigar, and gazing, as if indolently, at the aërial
+gallery beneath him.  It was the engineer himself, contemplating his new
+born child.  He had strolled down from the neighbouring village, after
+his first sound and refreshing sleep for weeks, to behold in sunshine and
+solitude, that which during a weary period of gestation had been either
+mysteriously moving in his brain, or, like a vision—sometimes of good
+omen, and sometimes of evil—had, by night as well as by day, been
+flitting across his mind.
+
+The next process was the lifting of the tube into its place, which was
+performed very deliberately and cautiously.  It was raised by powerful
+hydraulic presses, only a few feet at a time, and carefully under-built,
+before being raised to a farther height.  When it had been got up by
+successive stages of this kind to about 24 feet, an extraordinary
+accident occurred, during Mr. Stephenson’s absence in London, which he
+afterwards described to the author in as nearly as possible the following
+words:—“In a work of such novelty and magnitude, you may readily imagine
+how anxious I was that every possible contingency should be provided for.
+Where one chain or rope was required, I provided two.  I was not
+satisfied with ‘enough:’ I must have absolute security, as far as that
+was possible.  I knew the consequences of failure would be most
+disastrous to the Company, and that the wisest economy was to provide for
+all contingencies at whatever cost.  When the first tube at the Britannia
+had been successfully floated between the piers, ready for being raised,
+my young engineers were very much elated; and when the hoisting apparatus
+had been fixed, they wrote to me saying,—‘We are now all ready for
+raising her: we could do it in a day, or in two at the most.  But my
+reply was, ‘No: you must only raise the tube inch by inch, and you must
+build up under it as you rise.  Every inch must be made good.  Nothing
+must be left to chance or good luck.’  And fortunate it was that I
+insisted upon this cautious course being pursued; for, one day, while the
+hydraulic presses were at work, the bottom of one of them burst clean
+away!  The crosshead and the chains, weighing more than 50 tons,
+descended with a fearful crash upon the press, and the tube itself fell
+down upon the packing beneath.  Though the fall of the tube was not more
+than nine inches, it crushed solid castings, weighing tons, as if they
+had been nuts.  The tube itself was slightly strained and deflected,
+though it still remained sufficiently serviceable.  But it was a
+tremendous test to which it was put, for a weight of upwards of 5000 tons
+falling even a few inches must be admitted to be a very serious matter.
+That it stood so well was extraordinary.  Clark immediately wrote me an
+account of the circumstance, in which he said, ‘Thank God, you have been
+so obstinate.  For if this accident had occurred without a bed for the
+end of the tube to fall on, the whole would now have been lying across
+the bottom of the Straits.’  Five thousand pounds extra expense was
+caused by this accident, slight though it might seem.  But careful
+provision was made against future failure; a new and improved cylinder
+was provided: and the work was very soon advancing satisfactorily towards
+completion.”
+
+When the Queen first visited the Britannia Bridge, on her return from the
+North in 1852, Robert Stephenson accompanied Her Majesty and Prince
+Albert over the works, explaining the principles on which the bridge had
+been built, and the difficulties which had attended its erection.  He
+conducted the Royal party to near the margin of the sea, and, after
+describing to them the incident of the fall of the tube, and the reason
+of its preservation, he pointed with pardonable pride to a pile of stones
+which the workmen had there raised to commemorate the event.  While
+nearly all the other marks of the work during its progress had been
+obliterated, that cairn had been left standing in commemoration of the
+caution and foresight of their chief.
+
+The floating and raising of the remaining tubes need not be described in
+detail.  The second was floated on the 3rd December, and set in its
+permanent place on the 7th January, 1850.  The others were floated and
+raised in due course.  On the 5th March, Mr. Stephenson put the last
+rivet in the last tube, and passed through the completed bridge,
+accompanied by about a thousand persons, drawn by three locomotives.  The
+bridge was opened for public traffic on the 18th March.  The cost of the
+whole work was £234,450.
+
+         [Picture: The Britannia Bridge.  (By Percival Skelton)]
+
+The Britannia Bridge is one of the most remarkable monuments of the
+enterprise and skill of the present century.  Robert Stephenson was the
+master spirit of the undertaking.  To him belongs the merit of first
+seizing the ideal conception of the structure best adapted to meet the
+necessities of the case; and of selecting the best men to work out his
+idea, himself watching, controlling, and testing every result, by
+independent check and counter-check.  And finally, he organised and
+directed, through his assistants, the vast band of skilled workmen and
+labourers who were for so many years occupied in carrying his magnificent
+original conception to a successful practical issue.  As he himself said
+of the work,—“The true and accurate calculation of all the conditions and
+elements essential to the safety of the bridge had been a source not only
+of mental but of bodily toil; including, as it did, a combination of
+abstract thought and well-considered experiment adequate to the magnitude
+of the project.”
+
+The Britannia Bridge was the result of a vast combination of skill and
+industry.  But for the perfection of our tools and the ability of our
+mechanics to use them to the greatest advantage; but for the matured
+powers of the steam-engine; but for the improvements in the iron
+manufacture, which enabled blooms to be puddled of sizes before deemed
+impracticable, and plates and bars of immense size to be rolled and
+forged; but for these, the Britannia Bridge would have been designed in
+vain.  Thus, it was not the product of the genius of the railway engineer
+alone, but of the collective mechanical genius of the English nation.
+
+            [Picture: Conway Bridge.—Floating the First Tube]
+
+                    [Picture: View in Tapton Gardens]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+GEORGE STEPHENSON’S CLOSING YEARS—ILLNESS AND DEATH.
+
+
+In describing the completion of the series of great works detailed in the
+preceding chapter, we have somewhat anticipated the closing years of
+George Stephenson’s life.  He could not fail to take an anxious interest
+in the success of his son’s designs, and he accordingly paid many visits
+to Conway and to Menai, during the progress of the works.  He was present
+on the occasion of the floating and raising of the first Conway tube, and
+there witnessed a clear proof of the soundness of Robert’s judgment as to
+the efficiency and strength of the tubular bridge, of which he had at
+first expressed some doubts; but before the like test could be applied at
+the Britannia Bridge, George Stephenson’s mortal anxieties were at an
+end, for he had then ceased from all his labours.
+
+Towards the close of his life, George Stephenson almost entirely withdrew
+from the active pursuit of his profession; he devoted himself chiefly to
+his extensive collieries and lime-works, taking a local interest only in
+such projected railways as were calculated to open up new markets for
+their products.
+
+At home he lived the life of a country gentleman, enjoying his garden and
+grounds, and indulging his love of nature, which, through all his busy
+life, had never left him.  It was not until the year 1845 that he took an
+active interest in horticultural pursuits.  Then he began to build new
+melon-houses, pineries, and vineries, of great extent; and he now seemed
+as eager to excel all other growers of exotic plants in his
+neighbourhood, as he had been to surpass the villagers of Killingworth in
+the production of gigantic cabbages and cauliflowers some thirty years
+before.  He had a pine-house built 68 feet in length and a pinery 140
+feet.  Workmen were constantly employed in enlarging them, until at
+length he had no fewer than ten glass forcing-houses, heated with hot
+water, which he was one of the first in that neighbourhood to make use of
+for such a purpose.  He did not take so much pleasure in flowers as in
+fruits.  At one of the county agricultural meetings, he said that he
+intended yet to grow pineapples at Tapton as big as pumpkins.  The only
+man to whom he would “knock under” was his friend Paxton, the gardener to
+the Duke of Devonshire; and he was so old in the service, and so skilful,
+that he could scarcely hope to beat him.  Yet his “Queen” pines did take
+the first prize at a competition with the Duke,—though this was not until
+shortly after his death, when the plants had become more fully grown.
+His grapes also took the first prize at Rotherham, at a competition open
+to all England.  He was extremely successful in producing melons, having
+invented a method of suspending them in baskets of wire gauze, which, by
+relieving the stalk from tension, allowed nutrition to proceed more
+freely, and better enabled the fruit to grow and ripen.
+
+He took much pride also in his growth of cucumbers.  He raised them very
+fine and large, but he could not make them grow straight.  Place them as
+he would, notwithstanding all his propping of them, and humouring them by
+modifying the application of heat and the admission of light for the
+purpose of effecting his object, they would still insist on growing
+crooked in their own way.  At last he had a number of glass cylinders
+made at Newcastle, for the purpose of an experiment; into these the
+growing cucumbers were inserted, and then he succeeded in growing them
+perfectly straight.  Carrying one of the new products into his house one
+day, and exhibiting it to a party of visitors, he told them of the
+expedient he had adopted, and added gleefully, “I think I have bothered
+them noo!”
+
+Mr. Stephenson also carried on farming operations with some success.  He
+experimented on manure, and fed cattle after methods of his own.  He was
+very particular as to breed and build in stock-breeding.  “You see, sir,”
+he said to one gentleman, “I like to see the _coo’s_ back at a gradient
+something like this” (drawing an imaginary line with his hand), “and then
+the ribs or girders will carry more flesh than if they were so—or so.”
+When he attended the county agricultural meetings, which he frequently
+did, he was accustomed to take part in the discussions, and he brought
+the same vigorous practical mind to bear upon questions of tillage,
+drainage, and farm economy, which he had been accustomed to exercise on
+mechanical and engineering matters.
+
+All his early affection for birds and animals revived.  He had favourite
+dogs, and cows, and horses; and again he began to keep rabbits, and to
+pride himself on the beauty of his breed.  There was not a bird’s nest
+upon the grounds that he did not know of; and from day to day he went
+round watching the progress which the birds made with their building,
+carefully guarding them from injury.  No one was more minutely acquainted
+with the habits of British birds, the result of a long, loving, and close
+observation of nature.
+
+At Tapton he remembered the failure of his early experiment in hatching
+birds’ eggs by heat, and he now performed it successfully, being able to
+secure a proper apparatus for maintaining a uniform temperature.  He was
+also curious about the breeding and fattening of fowls; and when his
+friend Edward Pease of Darlington visited him at Tapton, he explained a
+method which he had invented for fattening chickens in half the usual
+time.
+
+Mrs. Stephenson tried to keep bees, but found they would not thrive at
+Tapton.  Many hives perished, and there was no case of success.  The
+cause of failure was a puzzle to the engineer; but one day his acute
+powers of observation enabled him to unravel it.  At the foot of the hill
+on which Tapton House stands, he saw some bees trying to rise up from
+amongst the grass, laden with honey and wax.  They were already
+exhausted, as if with long flying; and then it occurred to him that the
+height at which the house stood above the bees’ feeding-ground rendered
+it difficult for them to reach their hives when heavy laden, and hence
+they sank exhausted.  He afterwards incidentally mentioned the
+circumstance to Mr. Jesse the naturalist, who concurred in his view as to
+the cause of failure, and was much struck by the keen observation which
+had led to its solution.
+
+Mr. Stephenson had none of the in-door habits of the student.  He read
+very little; for reading is a habit which is generally acquired in youth;
+and his youth and manhood had been for the most part spent in hard work.
+Books wearied him, and sent him to sleep.  Novels excited his feelings
+too much, and he avoided them, though he would occasionally read through
+a philosophical book on a subject in which he felt particularly
+interested.  He wrote very few letters with his own hand; nearly all his
+letters were dictated, and he avoided even dictation when he could.  His
+greatest pleasure was in conversation, from which he gathered most of his
+imparted information.
+
+It was his practice, when about to set out on a journey by railway, to
+walk along the train before it started, and look into the carriages to
+see if he could find “a conversable face.”  On one of these occasions, at
+the Euston Station, he discovered in a carriage a very handsome, manly,
+and intelligent face, which he afterwards found was that of the late Lord
+Denman.  He was on his way down to his seat at Stony Middleton, in
+Derbyshire.  Mr. Stephenson entered the carriage, and the two were
+shortly engaged in interesting conversation.  It turned upon chronometry
+and horology, and the engineer amazed his lordship by the extent of his
+knowledge on the subject, in which he displayed as much minute
+information, even down to the latest improvements in watchmaking, as if
+he had been bred a watchmaker and lived by the trade.  Lord Denman was
+curious to know how a man whose time must have been mainly engrossed by
+engineering, had gathered so much knowledge on a subject quite out of his
+own line, and he asked the question.  “I learnt clockmaking and
+watchmaking,” was the answer, “while a working man at Killingworth, when
+I made a little money in my spare hours, by cleaning the pitmen’s clocks
+and watches; and since then I have kept up my information on the
+subject.”  This led to further questions, and then Mr. Stephenson told
+Lord Denman the interesting story of his life, which held him entranced
+during the remainder of the journey.
+
+Many of his friends readily accepted invitations to Tapton House to enjoy
+his hospitality, which never failed.  With them he would “fight his
+battles o’er again,” reverting to his battle for the locomotive; and he
+was never tired of telling, nor were his auditors of listening to, the
+lively anecdotes with which he was accustomed to illustrate the struggles
+of his early career.  Whilst walking in the woods or through the grounds,
+he would arrest his friend’s attention by allusion to some simple
+object,—such as a leaf, a blade of grass, a bit of bark, a nest of birds,
+or an ant carrying its eggs across the path,—and descant in glowing terms
+upon the creative power of the Divine Mechanician, whose contrivances
+were so exhaustless and so wonderful.  This was a theme upon which he was
+often accustomed to dwell in reverential admiration, when in the society
+of his more intimate friends.
+
+One night, when walking under the stars, and gazing up into the field of
+suns, each the probable centre of a system, forming the Milky Way, a
+friend said to him, “What an insignificant creature is man in sight of so
+immense a creation as that!”  “Yes!” was his reply; “but how wonderful a
+creature also is man, to be able to think and reason, and even in some
+measure to comprehend works so infinite!”
+
+A microscope, which he had brought down to Tapton, was a source of
+immense enjoyment to him; and he was never tired of contemplating the
+minute wonders which it revealed.  One evening, when some friends were
+visiting him, he induced them each to puncture their skin so as to draw
+blood, in order that he might examine the globules through the
+microscope.  One of the gentlemen present was a teetotaller, and Mr.
+Stephenson pronounced his blood to be the most lively of the whole.  He
+had a theory of his own about the movement of the globules in the blood,
+which has since become familiar.  It was, that they were respectively
+charged with electricity, positive at one end and negative at the other,
+and that thus they attracted and repelled each other, causing a
+circulation.  No sooner did he observe anything new, than he immediately
+set about devising a reason for it.  His training in mechanics, his
+practical familiarity with matter in all its forms, and the strong bent
+of his mind, led him first of all to seek for a mechanical explanation.
+And yet he was ready to admit that there was a something in the principle
+of _life_—so mysterious and inexplicable—which baffled mechanics, and
+seemed to dominate over and control them.  He did not care much, either,
+for abstruse mechanics, but only for the experimental and practical, as
+is usually the case with those whose knowledge has been self-acquired.
+
+Even at his advanced age, the spirit of frolic had not left him.  When
+proceeding from Chesterfield station to Tapton House with his friends, he
+would almost invariably challenge them to a race up the steep path,
+partly formed of stone steps, along the hill side.  And he would
+struggle, as of old, to keep the front place, though by this time his
+“wind” had greatly failed.  He would occasionally invite an old friend to
+take a quiet wrestle with him on the lawn, to keep up his skill, and
+perhaps to try some new “knack” of throwing.  In the evening, he would
+sometimes indulge his visitors by reciting the old pastoral of “Damon and
+Phyllis,” or singing his favourite song of “John Anderson my Joe.”  But
+his greatest glory amongst those with whom he was most intimate, was a
+“crowdie!”  “Let’s have a crowdie night,” he would say; and forthwith a
+kettle of boiling water was ordered in, with a basin of oatmeal.  Taking
+a large bowl, containing a sufficiency of hot water, and placing it
+between his knees, he poured in oatmeal with one hand, and stirred the
+mixture vigorously with the other.  When enough meal had been added, and
+the stirring was completed, the crowdie was made.  It was then supped
+with new milk, and Stephenson generally pronounced it “capital!”  It was
+the diet to which he had been accustomed when a working man, and all the
+dainties with which he had become familiar in recent years had not
+spoiled his simple tastes.  To enjoy crowdie at his age, besides,
+indicated that he still possessed that quality on which no doubt much of
+his practical success in life had depended,—a strong and healthy
+digestion.
+
+He would also frequently invite to his house the humbler companions of
+his early life, and take pleasure in talking over old times with them.
+He never assumed any of the bearings of a great man on such occasions,
+but treated the visitors with the same friendliness and respect as if
+they had been his equals, sending them away pleased with themselves and
+delighted with him.  At other times, needy men who had known him in youth
+would knock at his door, and they were never refused access.  But if he
+had heard of any misconduct on their part he would rate them soundly.
+One who knew him intimately in private life has seen him exhorting such
+backsliders, and denouncing their misconduct and imprudence with the
+tears streaming down his cheeks.  And he would generally conclude by
+opening his purse, and giving them the help which they needed “to make a
+fresh start in the world.”
+
+Mr. Stephenson’s life at Tapton during his latter years was occasionally
+diversified with a visit to London.  His engineering business having
+become limited, he generally went there for the purpose of visiting
+friends, or “to see what there was fresh going on.”  He found a new race
+of engineers springing up on all hands—men who knew him not; and his
+London journeys gradually ceased to yield him pleasure.  A friend used to
+take him to the opera, but by the end of the first act, he was generally
+in a profound slumber.  Yet on one occasion he enjoyed a visit to the
+Haymarket with a party of friends on his birthday, to see T. P. Cooke, in
+“Black-eyed Susan;”—if that can be called enjoyment which kept him in a
+state of tears during half the performance.  At other times he visited
+Newcastle, which always gave him great pleasure.  He would, on such
+occasions, go out to Killingworth and seek up old friends, and if the
+people whom he knew were too retiring, and shrunk into their cottages, he
+went and sought them there.  Striking the floor with his stick, and
+holding his noble person upright, he would say, in his own kind way,
+“Well, and how’s all here to-day?”  To the last he had always a warm
+heart for Newcastle and its neighbourhood.
+
+Sir Robert Peel, on more than one occasion, invited George Stephenson to
+his mansion at Drayton, where he was accustomed to assemble round him men
+of the highest distinction in art, science, and legislation, during the
+intervals of his parliamentary life.  The first invitation was
+respectfully declined.  Sir Robert invited him a second time, and a
+second time he declined: “I have no great ambition,” he said, “to mix in
+fine company, and perhaps should feel out of my element amongst such high
+folks.”  But Sir Robert a third time pressed him to come down to Tamworth
+early in January, 1845, when he would meet Buckland, Follett, and others
+well known to both.  “Well, Sir Robert,” said he, “I feel your kindness
+very much, and can no longer refuse: I will come down and join your
+party.”
+
+Mr. Stephenson’s strong powers of observation, together with his native
+humour and shrewdness, imparted to his conversation at all times much
+vigour and originality, and made him, to young and old, a delightful
+companion.  Though mainly an engineer, he was also a profound thinker on
+many scientific questions: and there was scarcely a subject of
+speculation, or a department of recondite science, on which he had not
+employed his faculties in such a way as to have formed large and original
+views.  At Drayton, the conversation usually turned upon such topics, and
+Mr. Stephenson freely joined in it.  On one occasion, an animated
+discussion took place between himself and Dr. Buckland on one of his
+favourite theories as to the formation of coal.  But the result was, that
+Dr. Buckland, a much greater master of tongue-fence than Mr. Stephenson,
+completely silenced him.  Next morning, before breakfast, when he was
+walking in the grounds, deeply pondering, Sir William Follett came up and
+asked what he was thinking about?  “Why, Sir William, I am thinking over
+that argument I had with Buckland last night; I know I am right, and that
+if I had only the command of words which he has, I’d have beaten him.”
+“Let me know all about it,” said Sir William, “and I’ll see what I can do
+for you.”  The two sat down in an arbour, and the astute lawyer made
+himself thoroughly acquainted with the points of the case; entering into
+it with all the zeal of an advocate about to plead the dearest interests
+of his client.  After he had mastered the subject, Sir William rose up,
+rubbing his hands with glee, and said, “Now I am ready for him.”  Sir
+Robert Peel was made acquainted with the plot, and adroitly introduced
+the subject of the controversy after dinner.  The result was, that in the
+argument which followed, the man of science was overcome by the man of
+law; and Sir William Follett had at all points the mastery over Dr.
+Buckland.  “What do _you_ say, Mr. Stephenson?” asked Sir Robert,
+laughing.  “Why,” said he, “I will only say this, that of all the powers
+above and under the earth, there seems to me to be no power so great as
+the gift of the gab.” {350}
+
+One Sunday, when the party had just returned from church, they were
+standing together on the terrace near the Hall, and observed in the
+distance a railway-train flashing along, tossing behind its long white
+plume of steam.  “Now, Buckland,” said Stephenson, “I have a poser for
+you.  Can you tell me what is the power that is driving that train?”
+“Well,” said the other, “I suppose it is one of your big engines.”  “But
+what drives the engine?”  “Oh, very likely a canny Newcastle driver.”
+“What do you say to the light of the sun?”  “How can that be?” asked the
+doctor.  “It is nothing else,” said the engineer, “it is light bottled up
+in the earth for tens of thousands of years,—light, absorbed by plants
+and vegetables, being necessary for the condensation of carbon during the
+process of their growth, if it be not carbon in another form,—and now,
+after being buried in the earth for long ages in fields of coal, that
+latent light is again brought forth and liberated, made to work as in
+that locomotive, for great human purposes.”
+
+During the same visit, Mr. Stephenson, one evening repeated his
+experiment with blood drawn from the finger, submitting it to the
+microscope in order to show the curious circulation of the globules.  He
+set the example by pricking his own thumb; and the other guests, by
+turns, in like manner, gave up a small portion of their blood for the
+purpose of ascertaining the comparative livelinesss of their circulation.
+When Sir Robert Peel’s turn came, Mr. Stephenson said he was curious to
+know “how the blood globules of a great politician would conduct
+themselves.”  Sir Robert held forth his finger for the purpose of being
+pricked; but once, and again, he sensitively shrunk back, and at length
+the experiment, so far as he was concerned, was abandoned.  Sir Robert
+Peel’s sensitiveness to pain was extreme, and yet he was destined, a few
+years after, to die a death of the most distressing agony.
+
+In 1847, the year before his death, Mr. Stephenson was again invited to
+join a distinguished party at Drayton Manor, and to assist in the
+ceremony of formally opening the Trent Valley Railway, which had been
+originally designed and laid out by himself many years before.  The first
+sod of the railway had been cut by the Prime Minister, in November, 1845,
+during the time when Mr. Stephenson was abroad on the business of the
+Spanish railway.  The formal opening took place on the 26th June, 1847,
+the line having thus been constructed in less than two years.
+
+What a change had come over the spirit of the landed gentry since the
+time when George Stephenson had first projected a railway through that
+district!  Then they were up in arms against him, characterising him as
+the devastator and spoiler of their estates; now he was hailed as one of
+the greatest benefactors of the age.  Sir Robert Peel, the chief
+political personage in England, welcomed him as a guest and friend, and
+spoke of him as the chief among practical philosophers.  A dozen members
+of Parliament, seven baronets, with all the landed magnates of the
+district, assembled to celebrate the opening of the railway.  The clergy
+were there to bless the enterprise, and to bid all hail to railway
+progress, as “enabling them to carry on with greater facility those
+operations in connexion with religion which were calculated to be so
+beneficial to the country.”  The army, speaking through the mouth of
+General A’Court, acknowledged the vast importance of railways, as tending
+to improve the military defences of the country.  And representatives
+from eight corporations were there to acknowledge the great benefits
+which railways had conferred upon the merchants, tradesmen, and working
+classes of their respective towns and cities.
+
+In the spring of 1848 Mr. Stephenson was invited to Whittington House,
+near Chesterfield, the residence of his friend and former pupil, Mr.
+Swanwick, to meet the distinguished American, Emerson.  Upon being
+introduced, they did not immediately engage in conversation; but
+presently Stephenson jumped up, took Emerson by the collar, and giving
+him one of his friendly shakes, asked how it was that in England we could
+always tell an American?  This led to an interesting conversation, in the
+course of which Emerson said how much he had been everywhere struck by
+the haleness and comeliness of the English men and women; and then they
+diverged into a further discussion of the influences which air, climate,
+moisture, soil, and other conditions exercised upon the physical and
+moral development of a people.  The conversation was next directed to the
+subject of electricity, upon which Stephenson launched out
+enthusiastically, explaining his views by several simple and striking
+illustrations.  From thence it gradually turned to the events of his own
+life, which he related in so graphic a manner as completely to rivet the
+attention of the American.  Afterwards Emerson said, “that it was worth
+crossing the Atlantic to have seen Stephenson alone; he had such native
+force of character and vigour of intellect.”
+
+The rest of Mr. Stephenson’s days were spent quietly at Tapton, amongst
+his dogs, his rabbits, and his birds.  When not engaged about the works
+connected with his collieries, he was occupied in horticulture and
+farming.  He continued proud of his flowers, his fruits, and his crops;
+and the old spirit of competition was still strong within him.  Although
+he had for some time been in delicate health, and his hand shook from
+nervous affection, he appeared to possess a sound constitution.  Emerson
+had observed of him that he had the lives of many men in him.  But
+perhaps the American spoke figuratively, in reference to his vast stores
+of experience.  It appeared that he had never completely recovered from
+the attack of pleurisy which seized him during his return from Spain.  As
+late, however, as the 26th July, 1848, he felt himself sufficiently well
+to be able to attend a meeting of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers
+at Birmingham, and to read to the members his paper “On the Fallacies of
+the Rotatory Engine.”  It was his last appearance before them.  Shortly
+after his return to Tapton, he had an attack of intermittent fever, from
+which he seemed to be recovering, when a sudden effusion of blood from
+the lungs carried him off, on the 12th August, 1848, in the sixty-seventh
+year of his age.  When all was over, Robert wrote to Edward Pease, “With
+deep pain I inform you, as one of his oldest friends, of the death of my
+dear father this morning at 12 o’clock, after about ten days’ illness
+from severe fever.”  Mr. Starbuck, who was also present, wrote, “The
+favourable symptoms of yesterday morning were towards evening followed by
+a serious change for the worse.  This continued during the night, and
+early this morning it became evident that he was sinking.  At a few
+minutes before 12 to-day he breathed his last.  All that the most devoted
+and unremitting care of Mrs. Stephenson {354} and the skill of medicine
+could accomplish, has been done, but in vain.”
+
+George Stephenson’s remains were followed to the grave by a large body of
+his workpeople, by whom he was greatly admired and beloved.  They
+remembered him as a kind master, who was ever ready actively to promote
+all measures for their moral, physical, and mental improvement.  The
+inhabitants of Chesterfield evinced their respect for the deceased by
+suspending business, closing their shops, and joining in the funeral
+procession, which was headed by the corporation of the town.  Many of the
+surrounding gentry also attended.  The body was interred in Trinity
+Church, Chesterfield, where a simple tablet marks the great engineer’s
+last resting-place.
+
+The statue of George Stephenson, which the Liverpool and Manchester and
+Grand Junction Companies had commissioned, was on its way to England when
+his death occurred; and it served for a monument, though his best
+monument will always be his works.  The statue referred to was placed in
+St. George’s Hall, Liverpool.  A full-length statue of him, by Bailey,
+was also erected a few years later, in the noble vestibule of the London
+and North-Western Station, in Euston Square.  A subscription for the
+purpose was set on foot by the Society of Mechanical Engineers, of which
+he had been the founder and president.  A few advertisements were
+inserted in the newspapers, inviting subscriptions; and it is a notable
+fact that the voluntary offerings included an average of two shillings
+each from 3150 working men, who embraced this opportunity of doing honour
+to their distinguished fellow workman.
+
+                 [Picture: Trinity Church, Chesterfield]
+
+But unquestionably the finest and most appropriate statue to the memory
+of George Stephenson is that erected in 1862, after the design of John
+Lough, at Newcastle-upon Tyne.  It is in the immediate neighbourhood of
+the Literary and Philosophical Institute, to which both George and his
+son Robert were so much indebted in their early years; close to the great
+Stephenson locomotive foundry established by the shrewdness of the
+father; and in the vicinity of the High Level Bridge, one of the grandest
+products of the genius of the son.  The head of Stephenson, as expressed
+in this noble work, is massive, characteristic, and faithful; and the
+attitude of the figure is simple yet manly and energetic.  It stands on a
+pedestal, at the respective corners of which are sculptured the recumbent
+figures of a pitman, a mechanic, an engine-driver, and a plate-layer.
+The statue appropriately stands in a very thoroughfare of working-men,
+thousands of whom see it daily as they pass to and from their work; and
+we can imagine them, as they look up to Stephenson’s manly figure,
+applying to it the words addressed by Robert Nicoll to Robert Burns, with
+perhaps still greater appropriateness:—
+
+    “Before the proudest of the earth
+       We stand, with an uplifted brow;
+    Like us, thou wast a toiling man,—
+       And we are noble, now!”
+
+The portrait prefixed to this volume gives a good indication of George
+Stephenson’s shrewd, kind, honest, manly face.  His fair, clear
+countenance was ruddy, and seemingly glowed with health.  The forehead
+was large and high, projecting over the eyes, and there was that massive
+breadth across the lower part which is usually observed in men of eminent
+constructive skill.  The mouth was firmly marked, and shrewdness and
+humour lurked there as well as in the keen grey eye.  His frame was
+compact, well-knit, and rather spare.  His hair became grey at an early
+age, and towards the close of his life it was of a pure silky whiteness.
+He dressed neatly in black, wearing a white neckcloth; and his face, his
+person, and his deportment at once arrested attention, and marked the
+Gentleman.
+
+            [Picture: Tablet in Trinity Church, Chesterfield]
+
+                   [Picture: Victoria Bridge, Montreal]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+ROBERT STEPHENSON’S VICTORIA BRIDGE, LOWER CANADA—ILLNESS AND
+DEATH—STEPHENSON CHARACTERISTICS.
+
+
+George Stephenson bequeathed to his son his valuable collieries, his
+share in the engine manufactory at Newcastle, and his large accumulation
+of savings, which, together with the fortune he had himself amassed by
+railway work, gave Robert the position of an engineer millionaire—the
+first of his order.  He continued, however, to live in a quiet style; and
+although he bought occasional pictures and statues, and indulged in the
+luxury of a yacht, he did not live up to his income, which went on
+rapidly accumulating until his death.
+
+There was no longer the necessity for applying himself to the laborious
+business of a parliamentary engineer, in which he had now been occupied
+for some fifteen years.  Shortly after his father’s death, Edward Pease
+strongly recommended him to give up the more harassing work of his
+profession; and his reply (15th June, 1850) was as follows:—“The
+suggestion which your kind note contains is quite in accordance with my
+own feelings and intentions respecting retirement; but I find it a very
+difficult matter to bring to a close so complicated a connexion in
+business as that which has been established by twenty-five years of
+active and arduous professional duty.  Comparative retirement is,
+however, my intention; and I trust that your prayer for the Divine
+blessing to grant me happiness and quiet comfort will be fulfilled.  I
+cannot but feel deeply grateful to the Great Disposer of events for the
+success which has hitherto attended my exertions in life; and I trust
+that the future will also be marked by a continuance of His mercies.”
+
+Although Robert Stephenson, in conformity with this expressed intention,
+for the most part declined to undertake new business, he did not
+altogether lay aside his harness; and he lived to repeat his tubular
+bridges both in Lower Canada and in Egypt.  The success of the tubular
+system, as adopted at Menai and Conway, was such as to recommend it for
+adoption wherever great span was required; and the peculiar circumstances
+connected with the navigation of the St. Lawrence and the Nile, may be
+said to have compelled its adoption in carrying railways across those
+great rivers.
+
+The Victoria Bridge, of which Robert Stephenson was the designer and
+chief engineer, is, without exception, the greatest work of the kind in
+the world.  For gigantic proportions and vast length and strength there
+is nothing to compare with it in ancient or modern times.  The entire
+bridge, with its approaches, is only about sixty yards short of _two
+miles_, being five times longer than the Britannia across the Menai
+Straits, seven and a half times longer than Waterloo Bridge, and more
+than ten times longer than the new Chelsea Bridge across the Thames!  It
+has not less than twenty-four spans of 242 feet each, and one great
+central span—itself an immense bridge—of 330 feet.  The road is carried
+within iron tubes 60 feet above the level of the St. Lawrence, which runs
+beneath at a speed of about ten miles an hour, and in winter brings down
+the ice of two thousand square miles of lakes and rivers, with their
+numerous tributaries.  The weight of iron in the tubes is about ten
+thousand tons, supported on massive piers, which contain, some six, and
+others ten thousand tons of solid masonry.
+
+So gigantic a work, involving so heavy an expenditure—about
+£1,300,000—was not projected without sufficient cause.  The Grand Trunk
+Railway of Canada, upwards of 1200 miles in length, traverses British
+North America from the shores of the Atlantic to the rich prairie country
+of the Far West.  It opens up a vast extent of fertile territory for
+future immigration, and provides a ready means for transporting the
+varied products of the Western States to the seaboard.  So long as the
+St. Lawrence was relied upon, the inhabitants along the Great Valley were
+precluded from communication with each other for nearly six months of the
+year, during which the navigation was closed by the ice.
+
+The Grand Trunk Railway was designed to furnish a line of communication
+through this great district at all seasons; following the course of the
+St. Lawrence along its north bank, and uniting the principal towns of
+Canada.  But stopping short on the north shore, it was still an
+incomplete work; unconnected, except by a dangerous and often
+impracticable ferry, with Montreal, the capital of the province, and shut
+off from connection with the United States, as well as with the coast to
+which the commerce of Canada naturally tends.  Without a bridge at
+Montreal, therefore, it was felt that the system of Canadian railway
+communication would have been incomplete, and the benefits of the Grand
+Trunk Railway in a great measure nugatory.
+
+As early as 1846 the construction of a bridge across the St. Lawrence at
+Montreal was strongly advocated by the local press for the purpose of
+directly connecting that city with the then projected Atlantic and St.
+Lawrence Railway.  A survey of the bridge was made, and the scheme was
+reported to be practicable.  A period of colonial depression, however,
+intervened, and although the project was not lost sight of, it was not
+until 1852, when the Grand Trunk Railway Company began their operations,
+that there seemed to be any reasonable prospect of its being carried out.
+In that year, Mr. A. M. Ross—who had superintended, under Robert
+Stephenson, the construction of the tubular bridge over the
+Conway—visited Canada, and inspected the site of the proposed bridge,
+when he readily arrived at the conclusion that a like structure was
+suitable for the crossing of the St. Lawrence.  He returned to England to
+confer with Robert Stephenson on the subject, and the result was the plan
+of the Victoria Bridge, of which Robert Stephenson was the designer, and
+Mr. A. M. Ross the joint and resident engineer.
+
+The particular kind of structure to be adopted, however, formed the
+subject of much preliminary discussion.  Even after the design of a
+tubular bridge had been adopted, and the piers were commenced, the plan
+was made the subject of severe criticism, on the ground of its alleged
+excessive cost.  It therefore became necessary for Mr. Stephenson to
+vindicate the propriety of his design in a report to the directors of the
+railway, in which he satisfactorily proved that as respected strength,
+efficiency, and economy, with a view to permanency, the plan of the
+Victoria Bridge was unimpeachable.  There were various methods proposed
+for spanning the St. Lawrence.  The suspension bridge, such as that over
+the river Niagara, was found inapplicable for several reasons, but
+chiefly because of its defective rigidity, which greatly limited the
+speed and weight of the trains, and consequently the amount of traffic
+which could be passed over such a bridge.  Thus, taking the length of the
+Victoria Bridge into account, it was found that not more than 20 trains
+could pass within the 24 hours, a number insufficient for the
+accommodation of the anticipated traffic.  To introduce such an amount of
+material into the suspension bridge as would supply increased rigidity,
+would only be approximating to the original beam, and neutralizing any
+advantages in point of cheapness which might be derivable from this form
+of structure, without securing the essential stiffness and strength.
+Iron arches were also considered inapplicable, because of the large
+headway required for the passage of the ice in winter, and the necessity
+which existed for keeping the springing of the arches clear of the
+water-line.  This would have involved the raising of the entire road, and
+a largely increased expenditure on the upper works.  The question was
+therefore reduced to the consideration of the kind of _horizontal beam_
+or _girder_ to be employed.
+
+Horizontal girders are of three kinds.  The _Tubular_ is constructed of
+riveted rectangular boiler plates.  Where the span is large, the road
+passes within the tube; where the span is comparatively small, the
+roadway is supported by two or more rectangular beams.  Next there is the
+_Lattice_ girder, borrowed from the loose rough timber bridges of the
+American engineers, consisting of a top and bottom flange connected by a
+number of flat iron bars, riveted across each other at a certain angle,
+the roadway resting on the top, or being suspended at the bottom between
+the lattice on either side.  Bridges on the same construction are now
+extensively used for crossing the broad rivers of India, and are
+especially designed with a view to their easy transport and erection.
+The _Trellis_ or Warren girder is a modification of the same plan,
+consisting of a top and bottom flange, with a connecting web of diagonal
+flat bars, forming a complete system of triangulation—hence the name of
+“Triangular girder,” by which it is generally known.  The merit of this
+form consists in its comparative rigidity, strength, lightness, and
+economy of material These bridges are also extensively employed in
+spanning the rivers of India.  One of the best specimens is the Crumlin
+viaduct, 200 feet high at one point, which spans the river and valley of
+the Ebbw near the village of Crumlin in South Wales.  This viaduct is
+about a third of a mile long, divided into two parts by a ridge of hills
+which runs through the centre of the valley—each part forming a separate
+viaduct, the one of seven equal spans of 150 feet, the other of three
+spans of the same diameter.  The bridge has been very skilfully designed
+and constructed, and, by reason of its great dimensions and novel
+arrangements, is entitled to be regarded as one of the most remarkable
+engineering works of the day.
+
+“In calculating the strength of these different classes of girders,” Mr.
+Stephenson observed, “one ruling principle appertains, and is common to
+all of them.  Primarily and essentially, the ultimate strength is
+considered to exist in the top and bottom,—the former being exposed to a
+compression force by the action of the load, and the latter to a force of
+tension; therefore, whatever be the class or denomination of girders,
+they must all be alike in amount of effective material in these members,
+if their spans and depths are the same, and they have to sustain the same
+amount of load.  Hence, the question of comparative merit amongst the
+different classes of construction of beams or girders is really narrowed
+to the method of connecting the top and bottom _webs_, so called.”  In
+the tubular system the connexion is effected by continuous boiler plates
+riveted together; and in the lattice and trellis bridges by flat iron
+bars, more or less numerous, forming a series of struts and ties.  Those
+engineers who advocate the employment of the latter form of construction,
+set forth as its principal advantage the saving of material which is
+effected by employing bars instead of iron plates; whereas Mr. Stephenson
+and his followers urge, that in point of economy the boiler plate side is
+equal to the bars, whilst in point of effective strength and rigidity it
+is decidedly superior.  To show the comparative economy of material, he
+contrasted the lattice girder bridge over the river Trent, on the Great
+Northern Railway near Newark, with the tubes of the Victoria Bridge.  In
+the former case, where the span is 240½ feet, and the bridge 13 feet
+wide, the weight including bearings is 292 tons; in the latter, where the
+span is 242 feet, the width of the tube 16 feet, the weight including
+bearings is 275 tons, showing a balance in favour of the Victoria Tube of
+17 tons.  The comparison between the Newark Dyke Bridge and the Tubular
+Bridge over the river Aire is equally favourable to the latter; and no
+one can have travelled over the Great Northern line to York without
+noting that, as respects rigidity under the passing train, the Tubular
+Bridge is decidedly superior.  It is ascertained that the deflection
+caused by a passing load is considerably greater in the former case; and
+Mr. Stephenson was also of opinion that the sides of all trellis or
+lattice girders are useless, except for the purpose of connecting the top
+and bottom, and keeping them in their position.  They depend upon their
+connexion with the top and bottom webs for their own support; and since
+they could not sustain their shape, but would collapse immediately on
+their being disconnected from their top and bottom members, it is evident
+that they add to the strain upon them, and consequently to that extent
+reduce the ultimate strength of the beams.  “I admit,” he added, “that
+there is no formula for valuing the _solid_ sides for strains, and that
+at present we only ascribe to them the value or use of connecting the top
+and bottom; yet we are aware that, from their continuity and solidity,
+they are of value to resist horizontal and many other strains,
+independently of the top and bottom, by which they add very much to the
+stiffness of the beam; and the fact of their containing more material
+than is necessary to connect the top and bottom webs, has by no means
+been fairly established.”  Another important advantage of the Tubular
+bridge over the Trellis or Lattice structure, consists in its greater
+safety in event of a train running off the line,—a contingency which has
+more than once occurred on a tubular bridge without detriment, whereas in
+event of such an accident occurring on a Trellis or Lattice bridge, it
+must infallibly be destroyed.  Where the proposed bridge is of the
+unusual length of a mile and a quarter, it is obvious that this
+consideration must have had no small weight with the directors, who
+eventually decided on proceeding with the Tubular Bridge according to Mr.
+Stephenson’s original design.
+
+From the first projection of the Victoria Bridge, the difficulties of
+executing such a work across a wide river, down which an avalanche of ice
+rushes to the sea every spring, were pronounced almost insurmountable by
+those best acquainted with the locality.  The ice of two thousand miles
+of inland lakes and upper rivers, besides their tributaries, is then
+poured down stream, and, in the neighbourhood of Montreal especially, it
+is often piled up to the height of from forty to fifty feet, placing the
+surrounding country under water, and doing severe damage to the massive
+stone buildings along the noble river front of the city.  To resist so
+prodigious a pressure, it was necessary that the piers of the proposed
+bridge should be of the most solid and massive description.  Their
+foundations are placed in the solid rock; for none of the artificial
+methods of obtaining foundations, suggested by some engineers for
+cheapness’ sake, were found practicable in this case.  Where the force
+exercised against the piers was likely to be so great, it was felt that
+timber ice-breakers, timber or cast-iron piling, or even rubble-work,
+would have proved but temporary expedients.  The two centre piers are
+eighteen feet wide, and the remaining twenty-two piers fifteen feet; to
+arrest and break the ice, an inclined plane, composed of great blocks of
+stone, was added to the up-river side of each pier—each block weighing
+from seven to ten tons, and the whole were firmly clamped together with
+iron rivets.
+
+To convey some idea of the immense force which these piers are required
+to resist, we may briefly describe the breaking up of the ice in March,
+1858, while the bridge was under construction.  Fourteen out of the
+twenty-four piers were then finished, together with the formidable
+abutments and approaches to the bridge.  The ice in the river began to
+show signs of weakness on the 29th March, but it was not until the 31st
+that a general movement became observable, which continued for an hour,
+when it suddenly stopped, and the water rose rapidly.  On the following
+day, at noon, a grand movement commenced; the waters rose about four feet
+in two minutes, up to a level with many of the Montreal streets.  The
+fields of ice at the same time were suddenly elevated to an incredible
+height; and so overwhelming were they in appearance, that crowds of the
+townspeople, who had assembled on the quay to watch the progress of the
+flood, ran for their lives.  This movement lasted about twenty minutes,
+during which the jammed ice destroyed several portions of the quay-wall,
+grinding the hardest blocks to atoms.  The embanked approaches to the
+Victoria Bridge had tremendous forces to resist.  In the full channel of
+the stream, the ice in its passage between the piers was broken up by the
+force of the blow immediately on its coming in contact with the
+cutwaters.  Sometimes thick sheets of ice were seen to rise up and rear
+on end against the piers, but by the force of the current they were
+speedily made to roll over into the stream, and in a moment after were
+out of sight.  For the two next days the river was still high, until on
+the 4th April the waters seemed suddenly to give way, and by the
+following day the river was flowing clear and smooth as a millpond,
+nothing of winter remaining except the masses of bordage ice which were
+strewn along the shores of the stream.  On examination of the piers of
+the bridge, it was found that they had admirably resisted the tremendous
+pressure; and though the timber “cribwork” erected to facilitate the
+placing of floating pontoons to form the dams, was found considerably
+disturbed and in some places seriously damaged, the piers, with the
+exception of one or two heavy stone blocks, which were still unfinished,
+escaped uninjured.  One heavy block of many tons’ weight was carried to a
+considerable distance, and must have been torn out of its place by sheer
+force, as several of the broken fragments were found left in the pier.
+
+The works in connection with the Victoria Bridge were begun on the 22nd
+July, 1854, when the first stone was laid, and continued uninterruptedly
+during a period of 5½ years, until the 17th December, 1859, when the
+bridge was finished and taken off the contractor’s hands.  It was
+formally opened for traffic early in 1860; though Robert Stephenson did
+not live to see its completion.
+
+The tubular system was also applied by the same engineer, in a modified
+form, in the two bridges across the Nile, near Damietta in Lower Egypt.
+That near Benha contains eight spans or openings of 80 feet each, and two
+centre spans, formed by one of the largest swing bridges ever
+constructed,—the total length of the swing-beam being 157 feet,—a clear
+water-way of 60 feet being provided on either side of the centre pier.
+The only novelty in these bridges consisted in the road being carried
+_upon_ the tubes instead of within them; their erection being carried out
+in the usual manner, by means of workmen, materials, and plant sent out
+from England.
+
+During the later years of his life, Mr. Stephenson took considerable
+interest in public affairs and in scientific investigations.  In 1847 he
+entered the House of Commons as member for Whitby; but he does not seem
+to have been very devoted in his attendance, and only appeared on
+divisions when there was a “whip” of the party to which he belonged.  He
+was a member of the Sanitary and Sewage Commissions, and of the
+Commission which sat on Westminster Bridge.  The last occasions on which
+he addressed the House were on the Suez Canal and the cleansing of the
+Serpentine.  He pronounced the Suez Canal to be an impracticable scheme.
+“I have surveyed the line,” said he, “I have travelled the whole distance
+on foot, and I declare there is no fall between the two seas.  Honourable
+members talk about a canal.  A canal is impossible—the thing would only
+be a ditch.”
+
+Besides constructing the railway between Alexandria and Cairo, he was
+consulted, like his father, by the King of Belgium, as to the railways of
+that country; and he was made Knight of the Order of Leopold because of
+the improvements which he had made in locomotive engines, so much to the
+advantage of the Belgian system of inland transit.  He was consulted by
+the King of Sweden as to the railway between Christiana and Lake Miösen,
+and in consideration of his services was decorated with the Grand Cross
+of the Order of St. Olaf.  He also visited Switzerland, Piedmont, and
+Denmark, to advise as to the system of railway communication best suited
+for those countries.  At the Paris Exhibition of 1855 the Emperor of
+France decorated him with the Legion of Honour in consideration of his
+public services; and at home the University of Oxford made him a Doctor
+of Civil Laws.  In 1855 he was elected President of the Institute of
+Civil Engineers, which office he held with honour and filled with
+distinguished ability for two years, giving place to his friend Mr. Locke
+at the end of 1857.
+
+Mr. Stephenson was frequently called upon to act as arbitrator between
+contractors and railway companies, or between one company and
+another,—great value being attached to his opinion on account of his
+weighty judgment, his great experience, and his upright character, and we
+believe his decisions were invariably stamped by the qualities of
+impartiality and justice.  He was always ready to lend a helping hand to
+a friend, and no petty jealousy stood between him and his rivals in the
+engineering world.  The author remembers being with Mr. Stephenson one
+evening at his house in Gloucester Square, when a note was put into his
+hands from his friend Brunel, then engaged in his first fruitless efforts
+to launch the _Great Eastern_.  It was to ask Stephenson to come down to
+Blackwall early next morning, and give him the benefit of his judgment.
+Shortly after six next morning Stephenson was in Scott Russell’s
+building-yard, and he remained there until dusk.  About midday, while
+superintending the launching operations, the baulk of timber on which he
+stood canted up, and he fell up to his middle in the Thames mud.  He was
+dressed as usual, without great-coat (though the day was bitter cold),
+and with only thin boots upon his feet.  He was urged to leave the yard,
+and change his dress, or at least dry himself; but with his usual
+disregard of health, he replied, “Oh, never mind me—I’m quite used to
+this sort of thing;” and he went paddling about in the mud, smoking his
+cigar, until almost dark, when the day’s work was brought to an end.  The
+result of this exposure was an attack of inflammation of the lungs, which
+kept him to his bed for a fortnight.
+
+He was habitually careless of his health, and perhaps he indulged in
+narcotics to a prejudicial extent.  Hence he often became “hipped” and
+sometimes ill.  When Mr. Sopwith accompanied him to Egypt in the
+_Titania_, in 1856, he succeeded in persuading Mr. Stephenson to limit
+his indulgence in cigars and stimulants, and the consequence was that by
+the end of the voyage he felt himself, as he said, “quite a new man.”
+Arrived at Marseilles, he telegraphed from thence a message to Great
+George Street, prescribing certain stringent and salutary rules for
+observance in the office there on his return.  But he was of a facile,
+social disposition, and the old associations proved too strong for him.
+When he sailed for Norway, in the autumn of 1859, though then ailing in
+health, he looked a man who had still plenty of life in him.  By the time
+he returned, his fatal illness had seized him.  He was attacked by
+congestion of the liver, which first developed itself in jaundice, and
+then ran into dropsy, of which he died on the 12th October, in the
+fifty-sixth year of his age. {368}  He was buried by the side of Telford
+in Westminster Abbey, amidst the departed great men of his country, and
+was attended to his resting-place by many of the intimate friends of his
+boyhood and his manhood.  Among those who assembled round his grave were
+some of the greatest men of thought and action in England, who embraced
+the sad occasion to pay the last mark of their respect to this
+illustrious son of one of England’s greatest working men.
+
+     [Picture: Robert Stephenson’s Burial-place in Westminster Abbey]
+
+It would be out of keeping with the subject thus drawn to a conclusion,
+to pronounce any panegyric on the character and achievements of George
+and Robert Stephenson.  These for the most part speak for themselves.
+Both were emphatically true men, exhibiting in their lives many sterling
+qualities.  No beginning could have been less promising than that of the
+elder Stephenson.  Born in a poor condition, yet rich in spirit, he was
+from the first compelled to rely upon himself; and every step of advance
+which he made was conquered by patient labour.  Whether working as a
+brakesman or an engineer, his mind was always full of the work in hand.
+He gave himself thoroughly up to it.  Like the painter, he might say that
+he had become great “by neglecting nothing.”  Whatever he was engaged
+upon, he was as careful of the details as if each were itself the whole.
+He did all thoroughly and honestly.  There was no “scamping” with him.
+When a workman he put his brains and labour into his work; and when a
+master he put his conscience and character into it.  He would have no
+slop-work executed merely for the sake of profit.  The materials must be
+as genuine as the workmanship was skilful.  The structures which he
+designed and executed were distinguished for their thoroughness and
+solidity; his locomotives were famous for their durability and excellent
+working qualities.  The engines which he sent to the United States in
+1832 are still in good condition; and even the engines built by him for
+the Killingworth Colliery, upwards of thirty years ago, are working
+steadily there to this day.  All his work was honest, representing the
+actual character of the man.
+
+He was ready to turn his hand to anything—shoes and clocks, railways and
+locomotives.  He contrived his safety-lamp with the object of saving
+pitmen’s lives, and perilled his own life in testing it.  Whatever work
+was nearest him, he turned to and did it.  With him to resolve was to do.
+Many men knew far more than he; but none were more ready forthwith to
+apply what he did know to practical purposes.  It was while working at
+Willington as a brakes-man, that he first learnt how best to handle a
+spade in throwing ballast out of the ships’ holds.  This casual
+employment seems to have left upon his mind the strongest impression of
+what “hard work” was; and he often used to revert to it, and say to the
+young men about him, “Ah, ye lads! there’s none o’ ye know what _wark_
+is.”  Mr. Gooch says he was proud of the dexterity in handling a spade
+which he had thus acquired, and that he has frequently seen him take the
+shovel from a labourer in some railway cutting, and show him how to use
+it more deftly in filling waggons of earth, gravel, or sand.  Sir Joshua
+Walmsley has also informed us, that, when examining the works of the
+Orleans and Tours Railway, Mr. Stephenson, seeing a large number of
+excavators filling and wheeling sand in a cutting, at a great waste of
+time and labour, went up to the men and said he would show them how to
+fill their barrows in half the time.  He showed them the proper position
+in which to stand so as to exercise the greatest amount of power with the
+least expenditure of strength; and he filled the barrow with comparative
+ease again and again in their presence, to the great delight of the
+workmen.  When passing through his own workshops, he would point out to
+his men how to save labour, and to get through their work skilfully and
+with ease.  His energy imparted itself to others, quickening and
+influencing them as strong characters always do—flowing down into theirs,
+and bringing out their best powers.
+
+His deportment towards the workmen employed under him was familiar, yet
+firm and consistent.  As he respected their manhood, so did they respect
+his masterhood.  Although he comported himself towards his men as if they
+occupied very much the same level as himself, he yet possessed that
+peculiar capacity for governing which enabled him always to preserve
+among them the strictest discipline, and to secure their cheerful and
+hearty services.  Mr. Ingham, M.P. for South Shields, on going over the
+workshops at Newcastle, was particularly struck with this quality of the
+master in his bearing towards his men.  “There was nothing,” said he, “of
+undue familiarity in their intercourse, but they spoke to each other as
+man to man; and nothing seemed to please the master more than to point
+out illustrations of the ingenuity of his artisans.  He took up a rivet,
+and expatiated on the skill with which it had been fashioned by the
+workman’s hand—its perfectness and truth.  He was always proud of his
+workmen and his pupils; and, while indifferent and careless as to what
+might be said of himself, he fired up in a moment if disparagement were
+thrown upon any one whom he had taught or trained.”
+
+In manner, George Stephenson was simple, modest, and unassuming, but
+always manly.  He was frank and social in spirit.  When a humble workman,
+he had carefully preserved his sense of self-respect.  His companions
+looked up to him, and his example was worth even more to many of them
+than books or schools.  His devoted love of knowledge made his poverty
+respectable, and adorned his humble calling.  When he rose to a more
+elevated station, and associated with men of the highest position and
+influence in Britain, he took his place amongst them with perfect
+self-possession.  They wondered at the quiet ease and simple dignity of
+his deportment; and men in the best ranks of life have said of him that
+“He was one of Nature’s gentlemen.”
+
+Probably no military chiefs were ever more beloved by their soldiers than
+were both father and son by the army of men who, under their guidance,
+worked at labours of profit, made labours of love by their earnest will
+and purpose.  True leaders of men and lords of industry, they were always
+ready to recognise and encourage talent in those who worked for and with
+them.  Thus it was pleasant, at the openings of the Stephenson lines, to
+hear the chief engineers attributing the successful completion of the
+works to their able assistants; whilst the assistants, on the other hand,
+ascribed the glory to their chiefs.
+
+Mr. Stephenson, though a thrifty and frugal man, was essentially
+unsordid.  His rugged path in early life made him careful of his
+resources.  He never saved to hoard, but saved for a purpose, such as the
+maintenance of his parents or the education of his son.  In later years
+he became a prosperous and even a wealthy man; but riches never closed
+his heart, nor stole away the elasticity of his soul.  He enjoyed life
+cheerfully, because hopefully.  When he entered upon a commercial
+enterprise, whether for others or for himself, he looked carefully at the
+ways and means.  Unless they would “pay,” he held back.  “He would have
+nothing to do,” he declared, “with stock-jobbing speculations.”  His
+refusal to sell his name to the schemes of the railway mania—his survey
+of the Spanish lines without remuneration—his offer to postpone his claim
+for payment from a poor company until their affairs became more
+prosperous—are instances of the unsordid spirit in which he acted.
+
+Another marked feature in Mr. Stephenson’s character was his patience.
+Notwithstanding the strength of his convictions as to the great uses to
+which the locomotive might be applied, he waited long and patiently for
+the opportunity of bringing it into notice; and for years after he had
+completed an efficient engine he went on quietly devoting himself to the
+ordinary work of the colliery.  He made no noise nor stir about his
+locomotive, but allowed another to take credit for the experiments on
+velocity and friction made with it by himself upon the Killingworth
+railroad.
+
+By patient industry and laborious contrivance, he was enabled, with the
+powerful help of his son, to do for the locomotive what James Watt had
+done for the condensing engine.  He found it clumsy and inefficient; and
+he made it powerful, efficient, and useful.  Both have been described as
+the improvers of their respective engines; but, as to all that is
+admirable in their structure or vast in their utility, they are rather
+entitled to be described as their Inventors.  While the invention of Watt
+increased the power, and at the same time so regulated the action of the
+steam-engine, as to make it capable of being applied alike to the hardest
+work and to the finest manufactures, the invention of Stephenson gave an
+effective power to the locomotive, which enabled it to perform the work
+of teams of the most powerful horses, and to outstrip the speed of the
+fleetest.  Watt’s invention exercised a wonderfully quickening influence
+on every branch of industry, and multiplied a thousand-fold the amount of
+manufactured productions; and Stephenson’s enabled these to be
+distributed with an economy and despatch such as had never before been
+thought possible.  They have both tended to increase indefinitely the
+mass of human comforts and enjoyments, and to render them cheap and
+accessible to all.  But Stephenson’s invention, by the influence which it
+is daily exercising upon the civilisation of the world, is even more
+remarkable than that of Watt, and is calculated to have still more
+important consequences.  In this respect, it is to be regarded as the
+grandest application of steam power that has yet been discovered.
+
+The Locomotive, like the condensing engine, exhibits the realisation of
+various capital, but wholly distinct, ideas, promulgated by many
+ingenious inventors.  Stephenson, like Watt, exhibited a power of
+selection, combination, and invention of his own, by which—while availing
+himself of all that had been done before him, and superadding the many
+skilful contrivances devised by himself—he was at length enabled to bring
+his engine into a condition of marvellous power and efficiency.  He
+gathered together the scattered threads of ingenuity which already
+existed, and combined them into one firm and complete fabric of his own.
+He realised the plans which others had imperfectly formed; and was the
+first to construct, what so many others had unsuccessfully attempted, the
+practical and economical working locomotive.
+
+Mr. Stephenson’s close and accurate observation provided him with a
+fulness of information on many subjects, which often appeared surprising
+to those who had devoted to them a special study.  On one occasion the
+accuracy of his knowledge of birds came out in a curious way at a
+convivial meeting of railway men in London.  The engineers and railway
+directors present knew each other as railway men and nothing more.  The
+talk had been all of railways and railway politics.  Mr. Stephenson was a
+great talker on those subjects, and was generally allowed, from the
+interest of his conversation and the extent of his experience, to take
+the lead.  At length one of the party broke in with “Come now,
+Stephenson, we have had nothing but railways; cannot we have a change and
+try if we can talk a little about something else?”  “Well,” said Mr.
+Stephenson, “I’ll give you a wide range of subjects; what shall it be
+about?”  “Say _birds’ nests_!” rejoined the other, who prided himself on
+his special knowledge of this subject.  “Then birds’ nests be it.”  A
+long and animated conversation ensued: the bird-nesting of his boyhood,
+the blackbird’s nest which his father had held him up in his arms to look
+at when a child at Wylam, the hedges in which he had found the thrush’s
+and the linnet’s nests, the mossy bank where the robin built, the cleft
+in the branch of the young tree where the chaffinch had reared its
+dwelling—all rose up clear in his mind’s eye, and led him back to the
+scenes of his boyhood at Callerton and Dewley Burn.  The colour and
+number of the bird’s eggs, the period of their incubation, the materials
+employed by them for the walls and lining of their nests, were described
+by him so vividly, and illustrated by such graphic anecdotes, that one of
+the party remarked that, if George Stephenson had not been the greatest
+engineer of his day, he might have been one of the greatest naturalists.
+
+His powers of conversation were very great.  He was so thoughtful, so
+original, and so suggestive.  There was scarcely a department of science
+on which he had not formed some novel and sometimes daring theory.  Thus
+Mr. Gooch, his pupil, who lived with him when at Liverpool, informs us
+that when sitting over the fire, he would frequently broach his favourite
+theory of the sun’s light and heat being the original source of the light
+and heat given forth by the burning coal.  “It fed the plants of which
+that coal is made,” he would say, “and has been bottled up in the earth
+ever since, to be given out again now for the use of man.”  His son
+Robert once said of him, “My father flashed his bull’s eye full upon a
+subject, and brought it out in its most vivid light in an instant: his
+strong common sense, and his varied experience operating upon a
+thoughtful mind, were his most powerful illuminators.”
+
+Mr. Stephenson had once a conversation with a watchmaker, whom he
+astonished by the extent and minuteness of his knowledge as to the parts
+of a watch.  The watchmaker knew him to be an eminent engineer, and asked
+him how he had acquired so extensive a knowledge of a branch of business
+so much out of his sphere.  “It is very easy to be explained,” said Mr.
+Stephenson; “I worked long at watch-cleaning myself, and when I was at a
+loss, I was never ashamed to ask for information.”
+
+Towards the close of his life he frequently went down to Newcastle, and
+visited the scenes of his boyhood.  “I have been to Callerton,” said he
+one day to a friend, “and seen the fields in which I used to pull turnips
+at twopence a day; and many a cold finger, I can tell you, I had.”
+
+His hand was open to his former fellow-workmen whom old age had left in
+poverty.  To poor Robert Gray, of Newburn, who acted as his bridesman on
+his marriage to Fanny Henderson, he left a pension for life.  He would
+slip a five-pound note into the hand of a poor man or a widow in such a
+way as not to offend their delicacy, but to make them feel as if the
+obligation were all on his side.  When Farmer Paterson, who married a
+sister of George’s first wife, Fanny Henderson, died and left a large
+young family fatherless, poverty stared them in the face.  “But ye ken,”
+said our informant, “_George struck in fayther for them_.”  And perhaps
+the providential character of the act could not have been more
+graphically expressed than in these simple words.
+
+On his visit to Newcastle, he would frequently meet the friends of his
+early days, occupying very nearly the same station, whilst he had
+meanwhile risen to almost world-wide fame.  But he was no less hearty in
+his greeting of them than if their relative position had continued the
+same.  Thus, one day, after shaking hands with Mr. Brandling on alighting
+from his carriage, he proceeded to shake hands with his coachman, Anthony
+Wigham, a still older friend, though he only sat on the box.
+
+Robert Stephenson inherited his father’s kindly spirit and benevolent
+disposition.  He almost worshipped his father’s memory, and was ever
+ready to attribute to him the chief merit of his own achievements as an
+engineer.  “It was his thorough training,” we once heard him say, “his
+example, and his character, which made me the man I am.”  On a more
+public occasion he said, “It is my great pride to remember, that whatever
+may have been done, and however extensive may have been my own connection
+with railway development, all I know and all I have done is primarily due
+to the parent whose memory I cherish and revere.” {377}  To Mr. Lough,
+the sculptor, he said he had never had but two loves—one for his father,
+the other for his wife.
+
+Like his father, he was eminently practical, and yet always open to the
+influence and guidance of correct theory.  His main consideration in
+laying out his lines of railway was what would best answer the intended
+purpose, or, to use his own words, to secure the maximum of result with
+the minimum of means.  He was pre-eminently a safe man, because cautious,
+tentative, and experimental; following closely the lines of conduct
+trodden by his father, and often quoting his maxims.
+
+In society Robert Stephenson was simple, unobtrusive, and modest; but
+charming and even fascinating in an eminent degree.  Sir John Lawrence
+has said of him that he was, of all others, the man he most delighted to
+meet in England—he was so manly, yet gentle, and withal so great.  While
+admired and beloved by men of such calibre, he was equally a favourite
+with women and children.  He put himself upon the level of all, and
+charmed them no less by his inexpressible kindliness of manner than by
+his simple yet impressive conversation.
+
+His great wealth enabled him to perform many generous acts in a right
+noble and yet modest manner, not letting his right hand know what his
+left hand did.  Of the numerous kindly acts of his which have been made
+public, we may mention the graceful manner in which he repaid the
+obligations which both himself and his father owed to the Newcastle
+Literary and Philosophical Institute, when working together as humble
+experimenters in their cottage at Killingworth.  The Institute was
+struggling under a debt of £6200 which seriously impaired its usefulness
+as an educational agency.  Robert Stephenson offered to pay one-half of
+the sum, provided the local supporters of the Institute would raise the
+remainder; and conditional also on the annual subscription being reduced
+from two guineas to one, in order that the usefulness of the institution
+might be extended.  The generous offer was accepted, and the debt
+extinguished.
+
+Both father and son were offered knighthood, and both declined it.
+During the summer of 1847, George Stephenson was invited to offer himself
+as a candidate for the representation of South Shields in Parliament.
+But his politics were at best of a very undefined sort; indeed his life
+had been so much occupied with subjects of a practical character, that he
+had scarcely troubled himself to form any decided opinion on the party
+political topics of the day, and to stand the cross fire of the electors
+on the hustings might have been found an even more distressing ordeal
+than the cross-questioning of the barristers in the Committees of the
+House of Commons.  “Politics,” he used to say, “are all matters of
+theory—there is no stability in them: they shift about like the sands of
+the sea: and I should feel quite out of my element amongst them.”  He had
+accordingly the good sense respectfully to decline the honour of
+contesting the representation of South Shields.
+
+We have, however, been informed by Sir Joseph Paxton, that although
+George Stephenson held no strong opinions on political questions
+generally, there was one question on which he entertained a decided
+conviction, and that was the question of Free-trade.  The words used by
+him on one occasion to Sir Joseph were very strong.  “England,” said he,
+“is, and must be a shopkeeper; and our docks and harbours are only so
+many wholesale shops, the doors of which should always be kept wide
+open.”  It is curious that his son Robert should have taken precisely the
+opposite view of this question, and acted throughout with the most rigid
+party amongst the protectionists, supporting the Navigation Laws and
+opposing Free Trade.
+
+But Robert Stephenson will be judged in after times by his achievements
+as an engineer, rather than by his acts as a politician; and happily
+these last were far outweighed in value by the immense practical services
+which he rendered to trade, commerce, and civilisation, through the
+facilities which the railways constructed by him afforded for free
+intercommunication between men in all parts of the world.  Speaking in
+the midst of his friends at Newcastle, in 1850, he observed:—
+
+“It seems to me but as yesterday that I was engaged as an assistant in
+laying out the Stockton and Darlington Railway.  Since then, the
+Liverpool and Manchester and a hundred other great works have sprung into
+existence.  As I look back upon these stupendous undertakings,
+accomplished in so short a time, it seems as though we had realised in
+our generation the fabled powers of the magician’s wand.  Hills have been
+cut down and valleys filled up; and when these simple expedients have not
+sufficed, high and magnificent viaducts have been raised, and if
+mountains stood in the way, tunnels of unexampled magnitude have pierced
+them through, bearing their triumphant attestation to the indomitable
+energy of the nation, and the unrivalled skill of our artisans.”
+
+As respects the immense advantages of railways to mankind, there cannot
+be two opinions.  They exhibit, probably, the grandest organisation of
+capital and labour that the world has yet seen.  Although they have
+unhappily occasioned great loss to many, the loss has been that of
+individuals; whilst, as a national system, the gain has already been
+enormous.  As tending to multiply and spread abroad the conveniences of
+life, opening up new fields of industry, bringing nations nearer to each
+other, and thus promoting the great ends of civilisation, the founding of
+the railway system by George Stephenson and his son must be regarded as
+one of the most important events, if not the very greatest, in the first
+half of this nineteenth century.
+
+       [Picture: The Stephenson Memorial Schools, Willington Quay]
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+ACCIDENTS in coal-mines, 89, 119.
+
+Adam, Mr., counsel for Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 160, 166.
+
+Alderson, Mr. (afterwards Baron), 160, 163, 165, 168.
+
+Alton Grange, G. Stephenson’s residence at, 234–6, 263.
+
+Ambergate Railway slip, 259; Lime-works, 278.
+
+Anna, Santa, mines at, 196.
+
+Arnold, Dr., on Railways, 273.
+
+Ashby-de-la-Zouch, 233.
+
+Atmospheric Railway system, 286, 308.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+BEAUMONT, Mr., his wooden waggon-ways, 5.
+
+Belgium, G. Stephenson’s visit to, 296.
+
+Benton Colliery and village, 44, 47, 51, 61.
+
+Berwick Royal Border Bridge, 311.
+
+Birds and bird-nesting, 15, 17, 25, 58, 353, 375.
+
+Birmingham and Derby Railway, 268.
+
+Bishop Auckland coal-field, 123.
+
+Black Callerton, 18, 26, 29, 32.
+
+Blackett, Mr., Wylam, 13, 74.
+
+Blast, invention of the Steam, 85, 208, 211.
+
+Blenkinsop’s Locomotive, 72, 80.
+
+Blisworth Cutting, 243.
+
+Boiler, multi-tubular, 210.
+
+Booth, Henry, Liverpool, 210, 222.
+
+Bradshaw, Mr., opposes Liverpool and Manchester line, 155.
+
+Braithwaite, Isaac, Locomotive, 214, 230.
+
+Brakeing coal-engine, 27, 36, 40.
+
+Brandling, Messrs., 105, 312.
+
+Brandreth’s Locomotive, “Cycloped,” 214.
+
+Bridges, Railway, on Liverpool line, 185;
+      improved bridges, 310–19;
+      tubular bridges, 326–40, 360.
+
+Bridgewater Canal monopoly, 147, 157.
+
+Britannia Tubular Bridge, 339.
+
+British Association Meeting at Newcastle, 279.
+
+Brougham, Mr. William, counsel on Liverpool and Manchester Bill, 158,
+160.
+
+Bruce’s School, Newcastle, 53, 59.
+
+Brunel, I. K., 230, 304, 367.
+
+Brunton’s Locomotive, 73.
+
+Brussels, railway celebrations at, 267.
+
+Brusselton incline, 135.
+
+Buckland, Dr., 350.
+
+Bullbridge, Ambergate, 260.
+
+Burstall’s Locomotive, “Perseverance,” 214, 218.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+CALLERTON Colliery and village, 18, 26, 29, 32.
+
+Canal opposition to Railways, 146, 157, 238.
+
+Cartagena, R. Stephenson at, 200.
+
+Chapman’s Locomotive, 73.
+
+Characteristics of the Stephensons, 368–80.
+
+Chat Moss, William James’s attempted Survey, 151;
+     Mr. Harrison’s speech, 166;
+      evidence of Francis Giles, C.E., 167;
+      Mr. Alderson’s speech, 168;
+      description of, 174;
+      construction of Railway over, 177.
+
+Chester and Birkenhead Railway, 286.
+
+Chester and Holyhead Railway, 320.
+
+Chesterfield, 279, 283.
+
+Clanny, Dr., his safety-lamp, 92.
+
+Clark, Edwin, C.E., 331, 335, 338.
+
+Clay Cross Colliery, G. Stephenson leases, 277.
+
+Clegg and Samuda’s Atmospheric Railway, 287.
+
+Clephan, Mr., description of first railway traffic, 140.
+
+Cleveland, Duke of, and Stockton and Darlington Railway, 125.
+
+Clock-mending and cleaning, 35, 51, 345.
+
+Coach, first railway, 139.
+
+Coal trade, 3, 11;
+      staiths, 10;
+      haulage, early expedients for, 5, 7, 63, 143;
+      traffic by Railway, 138, 276;
+      mining, George Stephenson’s adventures in, 234, 277;
+      theory of formation of, 351.
+
+Coalbrookdale, rails early cast at, 6.
+
+Coe, Wm., fellow workman of G. Stephenson, 21, 26, 31.
+
+Coffin, Sir I., 172.
+
+Colliery districts, 1–4;
+      machinery and workmen, 7–11.
+
+Colombia, mining association of, 193;
+      Robert Stephenson’s residence in, 196.
+
+Contractors, railway, 229, 249.
+
+Conway, tubular bridge at, 334.
+
+Cooper, Sir Astley, Robert Stephenson’s interview with, 238.
+
+Crich Lime-works, Ambergate, 278.
+
+Cropper, Isaac, Liverpool, 187, 217.
+
+Cugnot’s steam-carriage, 64–6.
+
+Curr, John, his cast-iron Railway at Sheffield, 6.
+
+Cuttings, railway,
+      Tring, 242;
+      Blisworth, 243;
+      Ambergate, 259;
+      Oakenshaw and Normanton, 259.
+
+“Cycloped” Locomotive, 214.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+DARLINGTON and Stockton Railway, 123, 136.
+
+Davy, Sir Humphry,
+      his description of Trevithick’s steam-carriage, 68;
+      his paper on fire-damp in mines, 92;
+      his safety-lamp, 101–3;
+      testimonial, 104.
+
+Denman, Lord, 345.
+
+Derby, Earl of, 172.
+
+Dewley Burn Colliery, 16.
+
+Direct lines, mania for, 292.
+
+Dixon, John, C.E.,
+      assists in survey of Stockton and Darlington line, 136;
+      assistant engineer, Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 175–9.
+
+Dodds, Ralph, Killingworth, 42–4, 50, 86.
+
+Drayton Manor, George Stephenson’s visit to, 349.
+
+Dutton Viaduct, 254.
+
+Durham, Earl of, _See_ Lambton.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+EAST COAST Railway to Scotland, 306–9.
+
+Edgworth, Mr.,
+      sailing-waggons, 63;
+      advocacy of Railways, 148.
+
+Edinburgh University, Robert Stephenson at, 121.
+
+Education,
+      George Stephenson’s self-education, 24, 47;
+      Robert Stephenson’s, 50, 121;
+      George Stephenson’s ideas of, 191, 281.
+
+Egg-hatching by artificial heat, 23, 344.
+
+Egyptian Tubular Bridges, Robert Stephenson’s, 357.
+
+Emerson, George Stephenson’s meeting with, 353.
+
+Emigration, George Stephenson contemplates, 40, 116.
+
+Engine, study of, 22, 62, 78, 80.
+
+Ericsson, Mr., engineer, 204, 214.
+
+Estimates, railway, 165, 249.
+
+“Experiment,” the first railway coach, 139.
+
+Explosion of fire-damp, 89.
+
+Evans’s steam-carriage, 65.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+FAIRBAIRN, Wm., C.E., 28;
+      at Percy Main Colliery, 34;
+      experiments on iron tubes, 328–30.
+
+Fire-damp, explosions of, 89.
+
+Fixed-engine power, 118, 129, 135, 203, 205.
+
+Floating road, Chat Moss, 176.
+
+Floating Conway and Britannia Tubes, 332.
+
+Follett, Sir Wm., 350.
+
+Forth-street Works, Newcastle, 132, 193.
+
+Foster, Jonathan, Wylam. 75, 77, 80, 310.
+
+Franklin’s lightning experiment repeated by Robert Stephenson, 56.
+
+Free trade, George Stephenson’s views on, 379.
+
+Friction on common roads and Railways, 113.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+GARDENING, George Stephenson’s pursuits in, 58, 342.
+
+Gateshead, 4, 314.
+
+Gauge of Railways, 134, 304.
+
+“Geordy” safety-lamp, invention of, 93.
+
+Giles, Francis, C.E., 167, 174, 230.
+
+Gooch, F. L., C.E., 188, 190, 220, 336, 371.
+
+Gradients, George Stephenson’s views on, 115, 284.
+
+Grand Allies, Killingworth, 41, 46.
+      ,,        Junction Railway, 230, 253.
+      ,,        Trunk Railway, Canada, 359.
+
+Gray, Robert, 24, 36, 376.
+
+Gray, Thomas, 148.
+
+Great Western Railway, 230, 232, 304.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+HACKWORTH, Timothy, his engine “Sanspareil,” 214, 216, 218.
+
+Half-lap joint, G. Stephenson’s, 111.
+
+Harrison, Mr., barrister, 160, 166.
+
+Hawthorn, Robert, C.E., 22.
+
+Heating surface in Locomotives, 208, 209.
+
+Hedley, William, Wylam, 77.
+
+Henderson, Fanny, 32.
+
+Heppel, Kit, 42, 45.
+
+Hetton Railway, 117.
+
+High Level Bridge, Newcastle, 2, 312.
+      ,,     Street House, Wylam, 14.
+
+Holyhead, Railway to, 320.
+
+Howick, Lord, and the Northumberland Atmospheric Railway, 307, 309.
+
+Hudson, George, the Railway King, 291, 312.
+
+Huskisson, Mr., M.P.,
+      and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 172;
+      killed at its opening, 223.
+
+Hydraulic presses at the Britannia Bridge, 237.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+INCLINES, self-acting, 9, 61.
+
+Iron railway bridges, 312, 325.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+JAMES, William,
+      surveys a line between Liverpool and Manchester, 150;
+      visits Killingworth, 151;
+      superseded by George Stephenson, 154.
+
+Jameson, Professor, Edinburgh, 122.
+
+Jessop, William, C.E., 6.
+
+Jolly’s Close, Newburn, 20, 24.
+
+Jones, Rees, on Trevithick’s Locomotive, 71.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+KEELMEN of the Tyne, 10–11.
+
+Killingworth,
+      West Moor, 31, 36, 38, 40;
+      High Pit, 41;
+      colliery explosions and mining, 89;
+      Locomotive, 84, 88;
+      the underground machinery, 109.
+
+Kilsby Tunnel, 245.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+LAMBTON, Mr. (Earl of Durham), 137.
+
+Lamp, safety, invention of, 93.
+
+Last-making competition, 59.
+
+Lardner, Dr., and Railways, 284, 286.
+
+Lattice Girder Bridges, 361.
+
+Leeds Mechanics’ Institute, George Stephenson’s Speech at, 281.
+
+Leicester and Swannington Railway, 232.
+
+Lemington Coal-staith, 74.
+
+Leopold, King of the Belgians, and Railways, 266;
+      George Stephenson’s interviews with, 268, 296.
+
+Level Railways, advantages of, 115, 284.
+
+Liddell, Sir T. (Lord Ravensworth), 46, 62.
+
+Lime-works at Ambergate, George Stephenson’s, 278.
+
+Literary and Philosophical Institute, Newcastle, 53, 102, 280, 378.
+
+Littleborough Tunnel, 255.
+
+Liverpool and Manchester Railway projected, 147;
+      surveyed by Wm. James, 150;
+      the survey opposed, 151;
+      George Stephenson engaged, 154;
+      prospectus issued, 155;
+      deputations visit Killingworth, 151, 154–5;
+      opposition of the land-owners and canal companies, 156–7;
+      the bill in committee, 160;
+      rejected, 169;
+      scheme prosecuted, 170;
+      Messrs. Rennie appointed engineers, 171;
+      the bill passed, 172;
+      George Stephenson again engaged as engineer, 173;
+      construction of the line across Chat Moss, 176;
+      discussions as to the working power to be employed, 203;
+      George Stephenson advocates the Locomotive, 201;
+      prize of £500 for best engine, 207;
+      won by Stephenson’s “Rocket,” 218;
+      public opening of the line, 222;
+      results of the traffic, 228.
+
+Locke, Mr. Joseph, C.E., 26, 175, 367.
+
+“Locomotion” engine, No. I, Darlington, 135, 142.
+
+Locomotive engine, invention of, 7;
+      Robison and Watt’s idea, Cugnot’s steam-carriage, 64;
+      Evans and Symington’s, 65;
+      Murdock’s model, 66;
+      Trevithick’s steam-carriage, 67;
+      his tram engine, 69, 74;
+      Blenkinsop’s engine, 72;
+      Chapman and Brunton’s engines, 73;
+      Blackett’s Wylam engine, 74;
+      Kenton and Coxlodge engine, 80;
+      Stephenson’s Killingworth locomotive, 81, 86;
+      Stockton and Darlington locomotives, 135;
+      prize at Liverpool for the best engine, 207;
+      won by the “Rocket,” 218;
+      the “Arrow,” 222;
+      further improvements, 226.
+
+Locomotive manufactory, Stephenson’s, at Newcastle, 132, 193, 199, 310.
+
+Long Benton. _See_ Benton.
+
+London and Birmingham Railway projected, 237;
+      the Stephensons appointed engineers, 238;
+      opposition to the Bill, Sir Astley Cooper, 239;
+      the Bill rejected, 240;
+      Bill passed, 241;
+      the works, 242;
+      Tring Cutting, 244;
+      Blisworth Cutting, 243;
+      Primrose Hill Tunnel, 244;
+      Kilsby Tunnel, 245;
+      magnitude of the works, 249.
+
+Losh, Mr., Newcastle, 111, 152.
+
+Lough’s statue of George Stephenson, 355.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+MANCHESTER and Leeds Railway 254;
+      the Act obtained, 255;
+      construction of summit tunnel, 256;
+      magnitude of the works, 257.
+
+Manchester, trade with Liverpool, increase of, 146, 154.
+
+Mania, the Railway, 288.
+
+Maps, Newcastle district, 2;
+      Stockton and Darlington Railway, 123;
+      Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 150;
+      Leicester and Swannington Railway, 233;
+      London and Birmingham Railway, 242;
+      Menai Strait, 325.
+
+Mariquita, Robert Stephenson at, 196.
+
+Mechanical Engineers, Society of, 353.
+
+Mechanics’ Institutes, George Stephenson’s interest in, 280.
+
+Menai Suspension Bridge, 320;
+      Railway Bridge, 331.
+
+Merstham Tram-road, 153.
+
+Microscope, George Stephenson’s, 346.
+
+Middlesborough-on-Tees, 144.
+
+Middleton Railway, Leeds, 72, 148.
+
+Midland Railway, 257.
+
+Militia, G. Stephenson, drawn for, 40.
+
+Mining, coal, 3, 7, 92;
+      in South America, 197.
+
+Montrose, G. Stephenson at, 38.
+
+Moodie, underviewer at Killingworth, 94–7, 119.
+
+Morecambe Bay, proposed reclamation of, 262.
+
+Morton-on-the-Marsh Railway, 153.
+
+Multitubular boiler, 208.
+
+Murdock’s model Locomotive, 66.
+
+Murray, Mathew, Leeds, 72.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+NASMYTH’S steam hammer, 312, 316.
+
+Navvies, railway, 250–52.
+
+Nelson, the fighting pitman 29.
+
+Newburn Colliery, 20, 22.
+
+Newcastle and Berwick Railway, 306.
+   ,,   and Carlisle Railway, 12, 203.
+   ,,   and Darlington Railway, 306.
+
+Newcastle-on-Tyne in ancient times, 1–3;
+      Literary and Philosophical Institute, 378;
+      Stephenson, jubilees at, 206, 310;
+      High Level Bridge, 312;
+      George Stephenson’s statue, 354.
+
+Newcomen’s atmospheric engine, 8, 41.
+
+Nile, R. Stephenson’s tubular bridges over, 357.
+
+North Midland Railway, 257, 261.
+
+North, Roger, description of early tram-roads, 5.
+
+Northampton, opposition of to Railways, 232.
+
+Northumberland Atmospheric Railway, 337.
+
+“Novelty,” Locomotive, 214, 216, 218, 230.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+OLIVE MOUNT Cutting, Liverpool, 185.
+
+Openings of Railways,
+      Hetton, 118;
+      Stockton and Darlington, 136;
+      Middlesborough, 143;
+      Liverpool and Manchester, 222;
+      London and Birmingham, 268;
+      Birmingham and Derby, 268;
+      East Coast route to Scotland, 319;
+      Britannia Bridge, 339;
+      Trent Valley, 352.
+
+Organization of labour, G. Stephenson’s, 182, 222, 225.
+
+Outram, Benj., Little Eaton, 6.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+PARLIAMENT and Railways, 292, 294.
+
+Parr Moss, Railway across, 181.
+
+Passenger traffic of early Railways, 138, 156, 160.
+
+Paxton, Sir Joseph, 378.
+
+Pease, Edward,
+      projects the Stockton and Darlington Railway, 123;
+      first interview with George Stephenson, 156;
+      visits Killingworth, 129;
+      joins Stephenson in Locomotive Manufactory, 132, 199, 202;
+      Stephenson’s esteem and gratitude, 145;
+      letters to Robert Stephenson, 199, 253, 357.
+
+Peel, Sir Robert, 224, 293.
+
+Penmaen Mawr, Railway under, 321.
+
+Permanent way of Railroads, 110.
+
+Perpetual motion, George Stephenson studies, 34, 48.
+
+“Perseverance.” Burstall’s Locomotive, 214, 218.
+
+Phillips, Sir R., speculations on Railways, 148.
+
+Pile-driving by steam, 312, 316.
+
+Pitmen, Northumbrian, 8.
+
+“Planet” Locomotive, 229.
+
+Plugman, duties of, 22.
+
+Politics, George and Robert Stephenson’s, 378–9.
+
+Primrose Hill Tunnel, 244.
+
+Prophecies of railway failure, 158, 166, 172.
+
+Pumping-engines, George Stephenson’s skill in, 38, 41, 44, 247.
+
+Pupils, George Stephenson’s, 190–2, 269.
+
+Pyrenean Pastoral, 298.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+‘QUARTERLY,’ the, on railway speed, 159.
+
+Queen, the, her first use of the Railway, 274;
+      opens the High Level and Royal Border Bridges, 319;
+      visits the Britannia Bridge, 338.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+RAILS, cast and wrought iron, 6, 133.
+
+Railways,
+      early, 5–7;
+      Merthyr Tydfil (Pen-y-darran), 69, 71;
+      Middleton, Leeds, 72;
+      Wylam, 74;
+      Killingworth, 84, 116;
+      Hetton, 118;
+      Stockton and Darlington, 123;
+      Liverpool and Manchester, 222;
+      Grand Junction, 230, 253;
+      Great Western, and Leicester and Swannington, 232;
+      London and Birmingham, 237;
+      Navvies, 250;
+      Manchester and Leeds, 254;
+      Midland, 257;
+      York and North Midland, 261;
+      travelling, 270–4;
+      undulating, 284;
+      atmospheric, 286;
+      Chester and Birkenhead, 286;
+      mania, 288;
+      Newcastle and Berwick, and Newcastle and Darlington, 306;
+      South Devon, 308;
+      Chester and Holyhead, 320;
+      Trent Valley, 352.
+
+Rainhill, locomotive competition at, 215.
+
+Rastrick, Mr., C.E., 219, 253.
+
+Ravensworth, Earl of, 46, 82.
+
+Rennie, Messrs., C.E., 123, 171, 173, 325.
+
+Road locomotion,
+      Cugnot’s steam-carriage, 64;
+      Evans and Symington’s, 65;
+      Trevithick’s, 67;
+      George Stephenson on, 113.
+
+Robertson, Andrew, schoolmaster, 24, 28.
+
+Robins, anecdote of George Stephenson and the, 265.
+
+Robison, Dr., his idea of a Locomotive, 64.
+
+“Rocket,” the,
+      its construction, 210;
+      arrangements of, 212;
+      wins the prize of £500, 218.
+
+Roscoe, Mr., his farm on Chat Moss, 169, 174, 176.
+
+Ross, A. M., Engineer, 360.
+
+Royal Border Bridge, Berwick, 311.
+
+Rutter’s School, Benton, 50, 55.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+SAFETY-LAMP, Dr. Clanny’s, 92;
+      Stephenson’s first lamp, 94;
+      second lamp, 99;
+      third lamp, 100;
+      Sir H. Davy’s paper, 92;
+      his lamp, 101;
+      the safety-lamp controversy, 102;
+      the Davy and Stephenson testimonials, 104–6;
+      comparative merits of the Davy and “Geordy” lamps, 107–8.
+
+Sailing-waggons on tram-roads, 63.
+
+“Samson” Locomotive, 227.
+
+Sandars, Joseph, Liverpool, 147, 149, 154.
+
+Sankey Viaduct, 185.
+
+“Sanspareil” Locomotive, Tim Hackworth’s, 214, 216, 218.
+
+Sea, the force of, 321, 323.
+
+Seguin, Mr., C.E., his tubular boiler, 210.
+
+Self-acting incline, 61.
+
+Sibthorpe, Colonel, on Railways, 231, 274.
+
+Simplon Road, Midland Railway compared with, 257.
+
+Snibston Colliery purchased by George Stephenson, 234.
+
+Sopwith, Mr., C.E., 96, 297.
+
+Spanish Railway, George Stephenson’s survey of, 298.
+
+Speed, railway,
+      on Middleton Railway, 72;
+      Wylam, 80;
+      Killingworth, 85, 156;
+      Coxlodge, 80;
+      Stockton and Darlington, 143;
+      G. Stephenson before Committee of House of Commons on, 282.
+
+Speed of engines tried at Rainhill, 214–19;
+      of the “Northumbrian,” 224;
+      George Stephenson’s views on, 282.
+
+Spur-gear, locomotive, 83.
+
+Staiths, coal, 10.
+
+Stationary-engine power, 118, 129, 135, 203, 205.
+
+Statues of George Stephenson, 354.
+
+Steam-blast, invention of, 85, 208–11.
+
+Steam-springs, G. Stephenson’s, 112.
+
+Stephenson family, the, 15, 17, 19, 21, 39;
+     “Old Bob,” 14, 15, 39, 55.
+
+Stephenson, George, birth and parentage, 13, 15;
+      employed as herd-boy, makes clay engines, 16, 17;
+      plough-boy; drives the gin-horse, 18;
+      assistant-fireman, 19;
+      fireman, 21;
+      engineman—study of the steam-engine, 22;
+      his schoolmasters, 24, 48, 60;
+      learns to brake an engine, 26;
+      duties as brakesman, 27;
+      soles shoes, 28;
+      saves his first guinea, 29;
+      fights with a pitman, 30;
+      marries Fanny Henderson, 33;
+      heaves ballast, 34;
+      cleans clocks, 35;
+      death of his wife, 36;
+      goes to Scotland, 37;
+      returns home, 38;
+      brakesman at West Moor, Killingworth, 39;
+      drawn for the militia, 40;
+      takes a brakeing contract, 41;
+      cures pumping-engine, 42;
+      engine-wright to the colliery, 46;
+      evenings with John Wigham, 48;
+      education of his son, 50–4;
+      cottage at West Moor, 57;
+      the sun-dial, 60;
+      erects winding and pumping engines, 61;
+      study of locomotive, 62;
+      makes his first travelling-engine, 82;
+      invents the steam-blast, 85;
+      second locomotive, 85;
+      fire in the main, personal courage, 90;
+      invents and tests his safety-lamps, 93, 102;
+      the Stephenson testimonial, 105;
+      further improvements in the Killingworth locomotive, 110;
+      constructs the Hetton Railway, 117;
+      surveys and constructs the Stockton and Darlington Railway, 128;
+      his second wife, 129;
+      starts a Locomotive Manufactory, 132;
+      appointed engineer of the Liverpool and Manchester line, 154;
+      examined before Parliamentary Committee, 162;
+      the Railway across Chat Moss, 173–86, 192;
+      life at home, 190;
+      the “Rocket” constructed, 210;
+      public opening of Liverpool and Manchester line, 223;
+      engineer of Grand Junction, 230;
+      purchases Snibston Colliery, and removes to Alton Grange, 234;
+      appointed joint engineer of London and Birmingham Railway, 237;
+      engineer of Manchester and Leeds Railway, 253;
+      of Midland Railway, 257;
+      of York and North Midland Railway, 261;
+      life at Alton Grange, 263;
+      visit to Belgium and interviews with King Leopold, 267;
+      takes lease of Clayross Colliery, 277;
+      lime-works at Ambergate, residence at Tapton House, 278;
+      appearance at Mechanics’ Institutes, 280;
+      opinions of railway speed, 282;
+      views as to atmospheric system of working, 287;
+      opposes the railway mania, 290;
+      again visits Belgium, 295;
+      visit to Spain, 297;
+      retires from the profession of engineering, 301;
+      Newcastle and Berwick Railway, and Chester and Holyhead Railway,
+307;
+      habits, conversation, etc., 343;
+      theory of coal formation, 351;
+      meeting with Emerson, 352;
+      illness and death, 354;
+      characteristics, 368.
+
+Stephenson, Robert,
+      his birth, death of his mother, 36;
+      his father’s care for his education, 50;
+      is put to Rutter’s school, Benton, 50;
+      sent to Bruce’s school, Newcastle, 52;
+      evenings with his father, 54;
+      his boyish tricks, 55;
+      repeats Franklin’s lightning experiment, 56;
+      his father’s assistant, 50, 53;
+      gives lessons to the pitmen’s sons, 60;
+      calculates the latitude for a sundial at Killingworth, 60;
+      his recollections of the trial of the first safety-lamp, 94;
+      apprenticed to a coal viewer, 119;
+      sent to college at Edinburgh, 121;
+      assists in survey of Stockton and Darlington Railway, 128;
+      assists in survey of Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 153;
+      leaves England for Colombia, 193;
+      residence at Mariquita, 196;
+      resigns his situation as mining engineer, 199;
+      rencontre with Trevithick at Cartagena, 200;
+      shipwreck, 201;
+      return to Newcastle, 202;
+      pamphlet on the locomotive engine, 206;
+      discussions with his father as to the locomotive, 208;
+      constructs the “Rocket,” 210;
+      wins the prize, 218;
+      improvements in the locomotive, 221;
+      appointed engineer of Leicester and Swannington Railway, 232;
+      his first tunnel, 233;
+      finds coal at Snibston, 234;
+      appointed joint engineer of London and Birmingham Railway, 237;
+      construction of the works, 242;
+      overcomes the difficulties of the Kilsby Tunnel, 248;
+      letter to Sir Robert Peel on “undulating railways,” 293;
+      his extensive employment, 302–3;
+      the competitor of Brunel, 304;
+      engineer of Newcastle and Berwick Railway, 306;
+      engineer of Royal Border Bridge, Berwick, 311;
+      engineer of High Level Bridge, Newcastle, 312;
+      engineer of Chester and Holyhead Railway, 320;
+      constructs the Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges, 324;
+      succeeds to his father’s wealth, and arranges to retire from
+business, 357;
+      designs tubular bridges for Canada and Egypt, 357;
+      member of Parliament, foreign honours, 366;
+      death, 368;
+      character, 377.
+
+Stock Exchange and railway speculation, 289.
+
+Stockton and Darlington Railway,
+      projected, promoted by Edward Pease, 123;
+      act passed, 125;
+      re-surveyed by G. Stephenson, 128;
+      opening of the Railway, 136;
+      the coal traffic, 138;
+      the first passenger coach, 139;
+      coaching companies, 140;
+      increase of the traffic, 141;
+      town of Middlesborough, 144.
+
+Strathmore, Earl of, 46, 105.
+
+Sun-dial at Killingworth, 60, 280.
+
+Swanwick, Frederick, C.E., 190, 192, 352.
+
+Symington, Wm., steam-carriage, 65.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+TAPTON HOUSE, Chesterfield, 278, 341.
+
+Tram-roads,
+      early, 5;
+      Croydon and Merstham, 147.
+
+Travelling by Railway, 160.
+
+Trevithick, Richard, C.E.,
+      his steam-carriage, 67;
+      his train-engine, and substitute for steam-blast, 70;
+      rencontre with Robert Stephenson at Cartagena, 200.
+
+Trent Valley Railway, 352.
+
+Trellis girder bridges, 360.
+
+Tring Cutting, 242.
+
+Tubular boilers, 209.
+
+Tubular bridges, 334, 339, 360.
+
+Tunnels, railway,
+      Liverpool, 183;
+      Primrose Hill, 244;
+      Kilsby, 245;
+      Watford, 245;
+      Littleborough, 255.
+
+Tyne, the, at Newcastle, 3, 10, 11, 315.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+VIADUCTS,
+      Sankey, 185;
+      Dutton, 254;
+      Berwick, 311;
+      Newcastle, 312.
+
+Victoria Bridge, Montreal, 357–66.
+
+Vignolles, Mr., C.E., 171, 185, 204.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+WAGGON-ROADS, early, 4–7, 16, 63.
+
+Walker, James, C.E., 159.
+
+Wallsend, Newcastle, 1, 33.
+
+Walmsley, Sir Joshua, 297, 299, 371.
+
+Wandsworth and Croydon Tramway, 69, 147.
+
+Watford Tunnel, 245.
+
+Watt, James, and the Locomotive, 64.
+
+Way-leaves for waggon roads, 5.
+
+Wellington, Duke of, and Railways, 223, 274.
+
+West Moor, Killingworth, 37, 40, 91, 108.
+
+Whitehaven, early Railroad at, 6.
+
+Wigham, John, Stephenson’s teacher, 48–9.
+
+Willington Quay, 28, 31–6.
+
+Wilton, Earl of, 172.
+
+Wood, Nicholas,
+      prepares drawing of safety-lamp, 94;
+      is present at its trial, 95;
+      assists at experiments on fire-damp, 98;
+      appears with Stephenson before Newcastle Institute, 102;
+      opinion of the “Geordy” lamp, 108;
+      experiments with Stephenson on friction, 117;
+      accident in pit, 119;
+      visits Edward Pease with G. Stephenson, 126.
+
+Woolf’s tubular boilers, 209.
+
+Wylam Colliery and village, 12–14.
+      ,,       waggon-way, 74, 78.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+YORK and North Midland Railway, 261.
+
+Young, Arthur, description of early waggon-roads, 5.
+
+
+
+
+NOTES.
+
+
+{4}  In the Newcastle dialect, a chare is a narrow street or lane.  At
+the local assizes some years since, one of the witnesses in a criminal
+trial swore that “_he saw three men come out of the foot of a chare_.”
+The judge cautioned the jury not to pay any regard to the man’s evidence,
+as he must be insane.  A little explanation by the foreman, however,
+satisfied his lordship that the original statement was correct.
+
+{5}  ‘Six Months’ Tour,’ vol. iii. 9
+
+{26}  Father of Mr. Locke, M.P., the engineer.  He afterwards removed to
+Barnsley, in Yorkshire.
+
+{33}  The Stephenson Memorial Schools have since been erected on the site
+of the old cottage at Willington Quay represented in the engraving at the
+head of this chapter.
+
+{38}  This incident was related by Robert Stephenson during a voyage to
+the north of Scotland in 1857, when off Montrose, on board his yacht
+_Titania_; and the reminiscence was communicated to the author by the
+late Mr. William Kell of Gateshead, who was present, at Mr. Stephenson’s
+request, as being worthy of insertion in his father’s biography.
+
+{52}  Speech at Newcastle, on the 18th of June, 1844, at the meeting held
+in celebration of the opening of the Newcastle and Darlington Railway.
+
+{57}  Robert Stephenson was perhaps, prouder of this little boyish
+experiment than he was of many of his subsequent achievements.  Not
+having been quite accurately stated in the first edition of this book,
+Mr. Stephenson noted the correction for the second, and wrote the author
+(Sept. 18th, 1857) as follows:—“In the kite experiment, will you say,
+that the copper-wire was insulated by a few feet of silk cord; without
+this, the experiment cannot be made.”
+
+{70}  Mr. Zerah Colburn, in his excellent work on ‘Locomotive Engineering
+and the Mechanism of Railways,’ points out that Mr. Davies Gilbert noted
+the effect of the discharge of the waste steam up the chimney of
+Trevithick’s engine in increasing the draught, and wrote a letter to
+‘Nicholson’s Journal’ (Sept. 1805) on the subject. Mr. Nicholson himself
+proceeded to investigate the subject, and in 1806 he took out a patent
+for “steam-blasting apparatus,” applicable to fixed engines. Trevithick
+himself, however, could not have had much faith in the steam-blast for
+locomotive purposes, or else he would not have taken out his patent for
+urging the fire by means of fanners.  But the fact is, that while the
+speed of the locomotive was only four or five miles an hour, the blast
+was scarcely needed. It was only when high speeds were adopted that
+artificial methods of urging the fire became necessary, and that the full
+importance of the invention was recognised.  Like many other inventions,
+stimulated if not originated by necessity, the steam-blast was certainly
+reinvented, if not invented, by George Stephenson.
+
+{71}  ‘Mining Journal,’  9th September, 1858.
+
+{73}  Other machines, with legs, were patented in the following year by
+Lewis Gompertz and by Thomas Tindall. In Tindall’s specification it is
+provided that the power of the engine is to be assisted by a _horizontal
+windmill_; and the four pushers, or legs, are to be caused to come
+successively in contact with the ground, and impel the carriage!
+
+{82}  Speech at the opening of the Newcastle and Darlington Railway, June
+18, 1844.
+
+{95}  The Editor of the ‘Athenæum’ having (Nov. 8th, 1862) characterized
+the author’s account of this affair as “perfectly untrue” and a
+“fiction,” it becomes necessary to say a few words in explanation of it.
+The Editor of the ‘Athenæum’ quotes in support of his statement a passage
+from Mr. Nicholas Wood, who, however does not say that the anecdote is
+“perfectly untrue,” but merely that “the danger was _not quite so great_
+as is represented:” he adds that “at most an explosion might have burnt
+the hands of the operator, but would not extend a few feet from the
+blower.”  However that may be, we were not without good authority for
+making the original statement.  The facts were verbally communicated to
+the author in the first place by Robert Stephenson, to whom the chapter
+was afterwards read in MS., in the presence of Mr. Sopwith, F.R.S. at Mr.
+Stephenson’s house in Gloucester Square, and received his entire
+approval.  But at the time at which Mr. Stephenson communicated the
+verbal information, he also handed a little book with his name written in
+it, still in the author’s possession, saying, “Read that, you will find
+it all there.”  We have again referred to the little book which contains,
+among other things, a pamphlet, entitled _Report on the Claims of Mr.
+George Stephenson relative to the Invention of his Safety Lamp_.  _By the
+Committee appointed at a Meeting holden in Newcastle_, _on this 1st of
+November_, _1817_.  _With an Appendix containing the Evidence_.  Among
+the witnesses examined were George Stephenson, Nicholas Wood, and John
+Moodie, and their evidence is given in the pamphlet. We quote that of
+Stephenson and Moodie, which was not contradicted, but in all material
+points confirmed by Wood, and was published, we believe, with his
+sanction. George Stephenson said, that he tried the first lamp “in a part
+of the mine where the air was highly explosive. Nicholas Wood and John
+Moodie were his companions when the trial was made. They became
+frightened when they came within hearing of the blower, and would not go
+any further.  Mr. Stephenson went alone with the lamp to the mouth of the
+blower,” etc.  This evidence was confirmed by John Moodie, who said the
+air of the place where the experiment was about to be tried was such,
+that, if a lighted candle had been introduced, an explosion would have
+taken place that would have been “extremely dangerous.”  “Told Stephenson
+it was foul, and hinted at the danger; nevertheless, Stephenson _would_
+try the lamp, confiding in its safety. Stephenson took the lamp and went
+with it into the place in which Moodie had been, and Moodie and Wood,
+apprehensive of the danger, retired to a greater distance,” etc.  The
+other details of the statement made in the text, are fully borne out by
+the published evidence, the accuracy of which, so far as the author is
+aware, has never before been called in question.
+
+{105}  The tankard bore the following inscription—“This piece of plate,
+purchased with a part of the sum of £1000, a subscription raised for the
+remuneration of Mr. GEORGE STEPHENSON for having discovered the fact that
+inflamed fire-damp will not pass through tubes and apertures of small
+dimensions, and having been _the first_ to apply that principle in the
+construction of a safety-lamp calculated for the preservation of human
+life in situations formerly of the greatest danger, was presented to him
+at a general meeting of the subscribers, Charles John Brandling, Esq., in
+the Chair.  January 12th, 1818.”
+
+{107}  The accident above referred to was described in the ‘Barnsley
+Times,’ a copy of which, containing the account, Robert Stephenson
+forwarded to the author, with the observation that “it is evidently
+written by a practical miner, and is, I think, worthy of record in my
+father’s Life.”
+
+{125}  Mr. Pease died at Darlington, on the 31st of July, 1858, aged
+ninety two.
+
+{129}  The story has been told that George was a former suitor of Miss
+Hindmarsh, while occupying the position of a humble workman at Black
+Callerton, but that having been rejected by her, he made love to and
+married Fanny Henderson; and that long after the death of the latter,
+when he had become a comparatively thriving man, he again made up to Miss
+Hindmarsh, and was on the second occasion accepted.  This is the popular
+story, and different versions of it are current.  Desirous of
+ascertaining the facts, the author called on Thomas Hindmarsh, Mrs.
+Stephenson’s brother, who assured him that George knew nothing of his
+sister until he (Hindmarsh) introduced him to her, at George’s express
+request, about the year 1818 or 1819.  The author was himself originally
+attracted by the much more romantic version of the story, and gave
+publicity to it many years since; but after Mr. Hindmarsh’s explicit
+statement, he thought fit to adopt the soberer, and perhaps, the truer
+view.
+
+{130}  The first clause in any railway act, empowering the employment of
+locomotive engines for the working of passenger traffic.
+
+{131}  This incident, communicated to the author by the late Edward
+Pease, has since been made the subject of a fine picture by Mr. A.
+Rankley, A.R.A., exhibited at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1861.
+
+{144}  Middlesborough does not furnish the only instance of the
+extraordinary increase of population in certain localities, occasioned by
+railways.  Hartlepool, in the same neighbourhood, has in thirty years
+increased from 1330 to above 15,000; and Stockton-on-Tees from 7763 to
+above 16,000.  In 1831 Crewe was a little village with 295 inhabitants;
+it now numbers upwards of 10,000.  Rugby and Swindon have quadrupled
+their population in the same time.  The railway has been the making of
+Southampton, and added 30,000 to its formerly small number of
+inhabitants.  In like manner the railway has taken London to the
+sea-side, and increased the population of Brighton from 40,000 to nearly
+100,000.  That of Folkestone has been trebled.  New and populous suburbs
+have sprung up all round London.  The population of Stratford-le-Bow and
+West Ham was 11,580 in 1831; it is now nearly 40,000.  Reigate has been
+trebled in size, and Redhill has been created by the railway.
+Blackheath, Forest Hill, Sydenham, New Cross, Wimbledon, and a number of
+populous places round London, may almost be said to have sprung into
+existence since the extension of railways to them within the last thirty
+years.
+
+{147}  Lives of the Engineers, vol. i. p. 371.
+
+{189}  Mr. Gooch’s letter to the author, December 13th, 1861.  Referring
+to the preparations of the plans and drawings, Mr. Gooch adds, “When we
+consider the extensive sets of drawings which most engineers have since
+found it right to adopt in carrying out similar works, it is not the
+least surprising feature in George Stephenson’s early professional
+career, that he should have been able to confine himself to so limited a
+number as that which could be supplied by the hands of one person in
+carrying out the construction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway;
+and this may still be said, after full allowance is made for the
+alteration of system involved by the adoption of the large contract
+system.”
+
+{193}  Letter to the author.
+
+{196}  Letter to Mr. Illingworth.  September 25th, 1825.
+
+{199}  Letter to Mr. Illingworth.  April 9th, 1827.
+
+{201}  ‘Geological Transactions of Cornwall.’  i. 222.
+
+{206}  The arguments used by Mr. Stephenson with the directors, in favour
+of the locomotive engine, were afterwards collected and published in 1830
+by Robert Stephenson and Joseph Locke, as “compiled from the Reports of
+Mr. George Stephenson.”  The pamphlet was entitled, ‘Observations on the
+Comparative Merits of Locomotive and Fixed Engines.’  Robert Stephenson,
+speaking of the authorship many years after, said, “I believe I furnished
+the facts and the arguments, and Locke put them into shape.  Locke was a
+very flowery writer, whereas my style was rather bald and unattractive;
+so he was the editor of the pamphlet, which excited a good deal of
+attention amongst engineers at the time.”
+
+{207}  The conditions were these:—
+
+1.  The engine must effectually consume its own smoke.
+
+2.  The engine, if of six tons weight, must be able to draw after it, day
+by day, twenty tons weight (including the tender and water-tank) at _ten
+miles_ an hour, with a pressure of steam on the boiler not exceeding
+fifty pounds to the square inch.
+
+3.  The boiler must have two safety-valves, neither of which must be
+fastened down, and one of them be completely out of the control of the
+engineman.
+
+4.  The engine and boiler must be supported on springs, and rest on six
+wheels, the height of the whole not exceeding fifteen feet to the top of
+the chimney.
+
+5.  The engine, with water, must not weigh more than six tons; but an
+engine of less weight would be preferred on its drawing a proportionate
+load behind it; if only four and a half tons, then it might be put on
+only four wheels.  The Company to be at liberty to test the boiler, etc.,
+by a pressure of one hundred and fifty pounds to the square inch.
+
+6.  A mercurial gauge must be affixed to the machine, showing the steam
+pressure above forty-five pounds per square inch.
+
+7.  The engine must be delivered, complete and ready for trial, at the
+Liverpool end of the railway, not later than the 1st of October, 1829.
+
+8.  The price of the engine must not exceed £550.
+
+{214}  The inventor of this engine was a Swede, who afterwards proceeded
+to the United States, and there achieved considerable distinction as an
+engineer.  His Caloric Engine has so far proved a failure, but his iron
+cupola vessel, the “Monitor,” must be admitted to have been a remarkable
+success in its way.
+
+{219}  The “Rocket” is now to be seen at the Museum of Patents at
+Kensington, where it is carefully preserved.
+
+{234}  Tubbing is now adopted in many cases as a substitute for
+brick-walling.  The tubbing consists of short portions of cast-iron
+cylinder fixed in segments.  Each weighs about 4½ cwt., is about 3 or 4
+feet long, and about ⅜ of an inch thick.  These pieces are fitted closely
+together, length under length, and form an impermeable wall along the
+side of the pit.
+
+{263}  During this period he was engaged on the North Midland, extending
+from Derby to Leeds; the York and North Midland, from Normanton to York;
+the Manchester and Leeds; the Birmingham and Derby, and the Sheffield and
+Rotherham Railways; the whole of these, of which he was principal
+engineer, having been authorised in 1836.  In that session alone, powers
+were obtained for the construction of 214 miles of new railways under his
+direction, at an expenditure of upwards of five millions sterling.
+
+{288}  The question of the specific merits of the atmospheric as compared
+with the fixed engine and locomotive systems, will be found fully
+discussed in Robert Stephenson’s able ‘Report on the Atmospheric Railway
+System,’ 1844, in which he gives the result of numerous observations and
+experiments made by him on the Kingstown Atmospheric Railway, with the
+object of ascertaining whether the new power would be applicable for the
+working of the Chester and Holyhead Railway, then under construction.
+His opinion was decidedly against the atmospheric system.
+
+{289}  The Marquis of Clanricarde brought under the notice of the House
+of Lords, in 1845, that one Charles Guernsey, the son of a charwoman, and
+a clerk in a broker’s office, at 12s. a week, had his name down as a
+subscriber for shares in the London and York line, for £52,000.
+Doubtless he had been made useful for the purpose by the brokers, his
+employers.
+
+{309}  “When my father came about the office,” said Robert, “he sometimes
+did not well know what to do with himself.  So he used to invite Bidder
+to have a wrestle with him, for old acquaintance’ sake.  And the two
+wrestled together so often, and had so many ‘falls’ (sometimes I thought
+they would bring the house down between them), that they broke half the
+chairs in my outer office.  I remember once sending my father in a
+joiner’s bill of about £2. 10s. for mending broken chairs.”
+
+{324}  The simple fact that in a heavy storm the force of impact of the
+waves is from one and a-half to two tons per square foot, must
+necessarily dictate the greatest possible caution in approaching so
+formidable an element.  Mr. R. Stevenson (Edinburgh) registered a force
+of three tons per square foot at Skerryvore, during a gale in the
+Atlantic, when the waves were supposed to run twenty feet high.
+
+{327}  Robert Stephenson’s narrative in Clark’s ‘Britannia and Conway
+Tubular Bridges,’ vol. i. p. 27.
+
+{329a}  ‘Account of the Construction of the Britannia and Conway Tubular
+Bridges.’  By W. Fairbairn, C.E. London, 1849.
+
+{329b}  Mr. Stephenson continued to hold that the elliptical tube was the
+right idea, and that sufficient justice had not been done to it.  A year
+or two before his death Mr. Stephenson remarked to the author, that had
+the same arrangement for stiffening been adopted to which the oblong
+rectangular tubes owe a great part of their strength, a very different
+result would have been obtained.
+
+{335}  ‘The Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges.’  By Edwin Clark.  Vol.
+II, pp. 683–4.
+
+{336}  No. 34, Gloucester Square, Hyde Park, where he lived.
+
+{350}  The above anecdote is given on the authority of Mr. Sopwith.
+F.R.S.
+
+{354}  The second Mrs. Stephenson having died in 1845, George married a
+third time in 1848, about six months before his death.  The third Mrs.
+Stephenson had for some time been his housekeeper.
+
+{368}  In 1829 Robert Stephenson married Frances, daughter of John
+Sanderson, merchant, London; but she died in 1842, without issue, and Mr.
+Stephenson did not marry again.  Until the close of his life, Robert
+Stephenson was accustomed twice in every year to visit his wife’s grave
+in Hampstead churchyard.
+
+{377}  Address as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers,
+January, 1856.
+
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS***
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+
+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lives of the Engineers, by Samuel Smiles
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Lives of the Engineers
+       The Locomotive.  George and Robert Stephenson
+
+
+Author: Samuel Smiles
+
+
+
+Release Date: January 5, 2009  [eBook #27710]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS***
+</pre>
+<p>This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/fp.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"George Stephenson"
+title=
+"George Stephenson"
+src="images/fp.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h1><!-- page i--><a name="pagei"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+i</span>LIVES<br />
+<span class="smcap">of the</span><br />
+ENGINEERS.</h1>
+<p style="text-align: center">THE LOCOMOTIVE.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">GEORGE AND ROBERT STEPHENSON.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">BY SAMUEL SMILES,<br />
+<span class="smcap">author of</span> &lsquo;<span
+class="smcap">character</span>,&rsquo; &lsquo;<span
+class="smcap">self-help</span>,&rsquo; <span
+class="smcap">etc.</span></p>
+<blockquote><p>&ldquo;Bid Harbours open, Public Ways extend;<br
+/>
+Bid Temples, worthier of God, ascend;<br />
+Bid the broad Arch the dang&rsquo;rous flood contain,<br />
+The Mole projected break the roaring main,<br />
+Back to his bounds their subject sea command,<br />
+And roll obedient rivers through the land.<br />
+These honours, Peace to happy Britain brings;<br />
+These are imperial works, and worthy kings.&rdquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Pope</span>.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p style="text-align: center"><i>A NEW AND REVISED
+EDITION</i>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p style="text-align: center">LONDON:<br />
+JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET<br />
+1879.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><i>The right of Translation is
+reserved</i>.</p>
+<h2><!-- page iii--><a name="pageiii"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. iii</span>INTRODUCTION.</h2>
+<p>Since the appearance of this book in its original form, some
+seventeen years since, the construction of Railways has continued
+to make extraordinary progress.&nbsp; Although Great Britain,
+first in the field, had then, after about twenty-five
+years&rsquo; work, expended nearly 300 millions sterling in the
+construction of 8300 miles of railway, it has, during the last
+seventeen years, expended about 288 millions more in constructing
+7780 additional miles.</p>
+<p>But the construction of railways has proceeded with equal
+rapidity on the Continent.&nbsp; France, Germany, Spain, Sweden,
+Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, have largely added to their
+railway mileage.&nbsp; Austria is actively engaged in carrying
+new lines across the plains of Hungary, which Turkey is preparing
+to meet by lines carried up the valley of the Lower Danube.&nbsp;
+Russia is also occupied with extensive schemes for connecting
+Petersburg and Moscow with her ports in the Black Sea on the one
+hand, and with the frontier towns of her Asiatic empire on the
+other.</p>
+<p>Italy is employing her new-born liberty in vigorously
+extending railways throughout her dominions.&nbsp; A direct line
+of communication has already been opened between France and
+Italy, through the Mont Cenis Tunnel; while <!-- page iv--><a
+name="pageiv"></a><span class="pagenum">p. iv</span>another has
+been opened between Germany and Italy through the Brenner
+Pass,&mdash;so that the entire journey may now be made by two
+different railway routes (excepting only the short sea-passage
+across the English Channel) from London to Brindisi, situated in
+the south-eastern extremity of the Italian peninsula.</p>
+<p>During the last sixteen years, nearly the whole of the Indian
+railways have been made.&nbsp; When Edmund Burke, in 1783,
+arraigned the British Government for their neglect of India in
+his speech on Mr. Fox&rsquo;s Bill, he said: &ldquo;England has
+built no bridges, made no high roads, cut no navigations, dug out
+no reservoirs. . . .&nbsp; Were we to be driven out of India this
+day, nothing would remain to tell that it had been possessed,
+during the inglorious period of our dominion, by anything better
+than the ourang-outang or the tiger.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But that reproach no longer exists.&nbsp; Some of the greatest
+bridges erected in modern times&mdash;such as those over the Sone
+near Patna, and over the Jumna at Allahabad&mdash;have been
+erected in connection with the Indian railways.&nbsp; More than
+5000 miles are now at work, and they have been constructed at an
+expenditure of about &pound;88,000,000 of British capital,
+guaranteed by the British Government.&nbsp; The Indian railways
+connect the capitals of the three Presidencies&mdash;uniting
+Bombay with Madras on the south, and with Calcutta on the
+north-east&mdash;while a great main line, 2200 miles in extent,
+passing through the north-western provinces, and connecting
+Calcutta with Lucknow, Delhi, Lahore, Moultan, and Kurrachee,
+unites the mouths of the Hooghly in the Bay of Bengal with those
+of the Indus in the Arabian Sea.</p>
+<p><!-- page v--><a name="pagev"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+v</span>When the first edition of this work appeared, in the
+beginning of 1857, the Canadian system of railways was but in its
+infancy.&nbsp; The Grand Trunk was only begun, and the Victoria
+Bridge&mdash;the greatest of all railway structures&mdash;was not
+half erected.&nbsp; The Colony of Canada has now more than 3000
+miles in active operation along the great valley of the St.
+Lawrence, connecting Rivi&egrave;re du Loup at the mouth of that
+river, and the harbour of Portland in the State of Maine,
+<i>vi&acirc;</i> Montreal and Toronto, with Sarnia on Lake Huron,
+and with Windsor, opposite Detroit in the State of
+Michigan.&nbsp; During the same time the Australian Colonies have
+been actively engaged in providing themselves with railways, many
+of which are at work, and others are in course of
+formation.&nbsp; The Cape of Good Hope has several lines open,
+and others making.&nbsp; France has constructed about 400 miles
+in Algeria; while the Pasha of Egypt is the proprietor of 360
+miles in operation across the Egyptian desert.&nbsp; The Japanese
+are also making railroads.</p>
+<p>But in no country has railway construction been prosecuted
+with greater vigour than in the United States.&nbsp; There the
+railway furnishes not only the means of intercommunication
+between already established settlements, as in the Old World; but
+it is regarded as the pioneer of colonization, and as
+instrumental in opening up new and fertile territories of vast
+extent in the west,&mdash;the food-grounds of future
+nations.&nbsp; Hence railway construction in that country was
+scarcely interrupted even by the great Civil War,&mdash;at the
+commencement of which Mr. Seward publicly expressed the opinion
+that &ldquo;physical bonds&mdash;such as highways, railroads,
+rivers, and canals&mdash;are vastly <!-- page vi--><a
+name="pagevi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. vi</span>more powerful
+for holding civil communities together than any mere covenants,
+though written on parchment or engraved on iron.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The people of the United States were the first to follow the
+example of England, after the practicability of steam locomotion
+had been proved on the Stockton and Darlington, and Liverpool and
+Manchester Railways.&nbsp; The first sod of the Baltimore and
+Ohio Railway was cut on the 4th of July, 1828, and the line was
+completed and opened for traffic in the following year, when it
+was worked partly by horse-power, and partly by a locomotive
+built at Baltimore, which is still preserved in the
+Company&rsquo;s workshops.&nbsp; In 1830, the Hudson and Mohawk
+Railway was begun, while other lines were under construction in
+Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New Jersey; and in the course of
+ten years, 1843 miles were finished and in operation.&nbsp; In
+ten more years, 8827 miles were at work; at the end of 1864,
+35,000 miles; and at the 31st of December, 1873, not less than
+70,651 miles were in operation, of which 3916 had been made
+during that year.&nbsp; One of the most extensive trunk-lines is
+the Great Pacific Railroad, connecting the lines in the valleys
+of the Mississippi and the Missouri with the city of San
+Francisco on the shores of the Pacific, by means of which it is
+possible to make the journey from England to Hong Kong, via New
+York, in little more than a month.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p>The results of the working of railways have been in many
+respects different from those anticipated by their
+projectors.&nbsp; One of the most unexpected has been the growth
+of an immense passenger-traffic.&nbsp; The Stockton <!-- page
+vii--><a name="pagevii"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+vii</span>and Darlington line was projected as a coal line only,
+and the Liverpool and Manchester as a merchandise line.&nbsp;
+Passengers were not taken into account as a source of revenue,
+for at the time of their projection, it was not believed that
+people would trust themselves to be drawn upon a railway by an
+&ldquo;explosive machine,&rdquo; as the locomotive was described
+to be.&nbsp; Indeed, a writer of eminence declared that he would
+as soon think of being fired off on a ricochet rocket, as travel
+on a railway at twice the speed of the old stagecoaches.&nbsp; So
+great was the alarm which existed as to the locomotive, that the
+Liverpool and Manchester Committee pledged themselves in their
+second prospectus, issued in 1825, &ldquo;not to require any
+clause empowering its use;&rdquo; and as late as 1829, the
+Newcastle and Carlisle Act was conceded on the express condition
+that the line should not be worked by locomotives, but by horses
+only.</p>
+<p>Nevertheless, the Liverpool and Manchester Company obtained
+powers to make and work their railway without any such
+restriction; and when the line was made and opened, a locomotive
+passenger train was advertised to be run upon it, by way of
+experiment.&nbsp; Greatly to the surprise of the directors, more
+passengers presented themselves as travellers by the train than
+could conveniently be carried.</p>
+<p>The first arrangements as to passenger-traffic were of a very
+primitive character, being mainly copied from the old stage-coach
+system.&nbsp; The passengers were &ldquo;booked&rdquo; at the
+railway office, and their names were entered in a way-bill which
+was given to the guard when the train started.&nbsp; Though the
+usual stage-coach bugleman could not conveniently accompany the
+passengers, the trains <!-- page viii--><a
+name="pageviii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. viii</span>were at
+first played out of the terminal stations by a lively tune
+performed by a trumpeter at the end of the platform; and this
+continued to be done at the Manchester Station until a
+comparatively recent date.</p>
+<p>But the number of passengers carried by the Liverpool and
+Manchester line was so unexpectedly great, that it was very soon
+found necessary to remodel the entire system.&nbsp; Tickets were
+introduced, by which a great saving of time was effected.&nbsp;
+More roomy and commodious carriages were provided, the original
+first-class compartments being seated for four passengers
+only.&nbsp; Everything was found to have been in the first
+instance made too light and too slight.&nbsp; The prize
+&lsquo;Rocket,&rsquo; which weighed only 4&frac12; tons when
+loaded with its coke and water, was found quite unsuited for
+drawing the increasingly heavy loads of passengers.&nbsp; There
+was also this essential difference between the old stage-coach
+and the new railway train, that, whereas the former was
+&ldquo;full&rdquo; with six inside and ten outside, the latter
+must be able to accommodate whatever number of passengers came to
+be carried.&nbsp; Hence heavier and more powerful engines, and
+larger and more substantial carriages were from time to time
+added to the carrying stock of the railway.</p>
+<p>The speed of the trains was also increased.&nbsp; The first
+locomotives used in hauling coal-trains ran at from four to six
+miles an hour.&nbsp; On the Stockton and Darlington line the
+speed was increased to about ten miles an hour; and on the
+Liverpool and Manchester line the first passenger-trains were run
+at the average speed of seventeen miles an hour, which at that
+time was considered very fast.&nbsp; But this was not
+enough.&nbsp; When the London and <!-- page ix--><a
+name="pageix"></a><span class="pagenum">p. ix</span>Birmingham
+line was opened, the mail-trains were run at twenty-three miles
+an hour; and gradually the speed went up, until now the fast
+trains are run at from fifty to sixty miles an hour,&mdash;the
+pistons in the cylinders, at sixty miles, travelling at the
+inconceivable rapidity of 800 feet per minute!</p>
+<p>To bear the load of heavy engines run at high speeds, a much
+stronger and heavier road was found necessary; and shortly after
+the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester line, it was entirely
+relaid with stronger materials.&nbsp; Now that express
+passenger-engines are from thirty to thirty-five tons each, the
+weight of the rails has been increased from 35 lbs. to 75 lbs. or
+86 lbs. to the yard.&nbsp; Stone blocks have given place to
+wooden sleepers; rails with loose ends resting on the chairs, to
+rails with their ends firmly &ldquo;fished&rdquo; together; and
+in many places, where the traffic is unusually heavy, iron rails
+have been replaced by those of steel.</p>
+<p>And now see the enormous magnitude to which railway
+passenger-traffic has grown.&nbsp; In the year 1873, 401,465,086
+passengers were carried by day tickets in Great Britain
+alone.&nbsp; But this was not all.&nbsp; For in that year 257,470
+periodical tickets were issued by the different railways; and
+assuming half of them to be annual, one-fourth half-yearly, and
+the remainder quarterly tickets, and that their holders made only
+five journeys each way weekly, this would give an additional
+number of 47,024,000 journeys, or a total of 448,489,086
+passengers carried in Great Britain in one year.</p>
+<p>It is difficult to grasp the idea of the enormous number of
+persons represented by these figures.&nbsp; The mind is <!-- page
+x--><a name="pagex"></a><span class="pagenum">p. x</span>merely
+bewildered by them, and can form no adequate notion of their
+magnitude.&nbsp; To reckon them singly would occupy twenty-five
+years, counting at the rate of one a second for twelve hours
+every day.&nbsp; Or take another illustration.&nbsp; Supposing
+every man, woman, and child in Great Britain to make ten journeys
+by rail yearly, the number would greatly fall short of the
+passengers carried in 1873.</p>
+<p>Mr. Porter, in his &lsquo;Progress of the Nation,&rsquo;
+estimated that thirty millions of passengers, or about eighty-two
+thousand a day, travelled by coaches in Great Britain in 1834, an
+average distance of twelve miles each, at an average cost of 5s.
+a passenger, or at the rate of 5d. a mile; whereas above 448
+millions are now carried by railway an average distance of
+8&frac12; miles each, at an average cost of 1s. 1&frac12;d. per
+passenger, or about three halfpence per mile, in considerably
+less than one-fourth of the time.</p>
+<p>But besides the above number of passengers, over one hundred
+and sixty-two million tons of minerals and merchandise were
+carried by railway in the United Kingdom in 1873, besides mails,
+cattle, parcels, and other traffic.&nbsp; The distance run by
+passenger and goods trains in the year was 162,561,304 miles; to
+accomplish which it is estimated that four miles of railway must
+have been covered by running trains during every second all the
+year round.</p>
+<p>To perform this service, there were, in 1873, 11,255
+locomotives at work in the United Kingdom, consuming about four
+million tons of coal and coke, and flashing into the air every
+minute some forty tons of water in the form of steam in a high
+state of elasticity.&nbsp; There were also <!-- page xi--><a
+name="pagexi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xi</span>24,644
+passenger-carriages, 9128 vans and breaks attached to
+passenger-trains, and 329,163 trucks, waggons, and other vehicles
+appropriated to merchandise.&nbsp; Buckled together, buffer to
+buffer, the locomotives and tenders would extend from London to
+Peterborough; while the carrying vehicles, joined together, would
+form two trains occupying a double line of railway extending from
+London to beyond Inverness.</p>
+<p>A notable feature in the growth of railway traffic of late
+years has been the increase in the number of third-class
+passengers, compared with first and second class.&nbsp; Sixteen
+years since, the third-class passengers constituted only about
+one-third; ten years later, they were about one-half; whereas now
+they form more than three-fourths of the whole number
+carried.&nbsp; In 1873, there were about 23 million first-class
+passengers, 62 million second-class, and not less than 306
+million third-class.&nbsp; Thus George Stephenson&rsquo;s
+prediction, &ldquo;that the time would come when it would be
+cheaper for a working man to make a journey by railway than to
+walk on foot,&rdquo; is already verified.</p>
+<p>The degree of safety with which this great traffic has been
+conducted is not the least remarkable of its features.&nbsp; Of
+course, so long as railways are worked by men they will be liable
+to the imperfections belonging to all things human.&nbsp; Though
+their machinery may be perfect and their organisation as complete
+as skill and forethought can make it, workmen will at times be
+forgetful and listless; and a moment&rsquo;s carelessness may
+lead to the most disastrous results.&nbsp; Yet, taking all
+circumstances into account, the wonder is, that travelling by
+<!-- page xii--><a name="pagexii"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xii</span>railway at high speed should have been rendered
+comparatively so safe.</p>
+<p>To be struck by lightning is one of the rarest of all causes
+of death; yet more persons are killed by lightning in Great
+Britain than are killed on railways from causes beyond their own
+control.&nbsp; Most persons would consider the probability of
+their dying by hanging to be extremely remote; yet, according to
+the Registrar-General&rsquo;s returns, it is considerably greater
+than that of being killed by railway accident.</p>
+<p>The remarkable safety with which railway traffic is on the
+whole conducted, is due to constant watchfulness and
+highly-applied skill.&nbsp; The men who work the railways are for
+the most part the picked men of the country, and every railway
+station may be regarded as a practical school of industry,
+attention, and punctuality.</p>
+<p>Few are aware of the complicated means and agencies that are
+in constant operation on railways day and night, to ensure the
+safety of the passengers to their journey&rsquo;s end.&nbsp; The
+road is under a system of continuous inspection.&nbsp; The
+railway is watched by foremen, with &ldquo;gangs&rdquo; of men
+under them, in lengths varying from twelve to five miles,
+according to circumstances.&nbsp; Their continuous duty is to see
+that the rails and chairs are sound, their fastenings complete,
+and the line clear of all obstructions.</p>
+<p>Then, at all the junctions, sidings, and crossings, pointsmen
+are stationed, with definite instructions as to the duties to be
+performed by them.&nbsp; At these places, signals are provided,
+worked from the station platforms, or from special signal boxes,
+for the purpose of protecting the stopping or passing
+trains.&nbsp; When the first railways <!-- page xiii--><a
+name="pagexiii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xiii</span>were
+opened, the signals were of a very simple kind.&nbsp; The station
+men gave them with their arms stretched out in different
+positions; then flags of different colours were used; next fixed
+signals, with arms or discs of rectangular or triangular
+shape.&nbsp; These were followed by a complete system of
+semaphore signals, near and distant, protecting all junctions,
+sidings, and crossings.</p>
+<p>When Government inspectors were first appointed by the Board
+of Trade to examine and report upon the working of railways, they
+were alarmed by the number of trains following each other at some
+stations, in what then seemed to be a very rapid
+succession.&nbsp; A passage from a Report written in 1840 by Sir
+Frederick Smith, as to the traffic at &ldquo;Taylor&rsquo;s
+Junction,&rdquo; on the York and North Midland Railway, contrasts
+curiously with the railway life and activity of the present
+day:&mdash;&ldquo;Here,&rdquo; wrote the alarmed Inspector,
+&ldquo;the passenger trains from York as well as Leeds and Selby,
+meet four times a day.&nbsp; No less than 23 passenger-trains
+stop at or pass this station in the 21 hours&mdash;an amount of
+traffic requiring not only the utmost perfect arrangements on the
+part of the management, but the utmost vigilance and energy in
+the servants of the Company employed at this place.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Contrast this with the state of things now.&nbsp; On the
+Metropolitan Line, 667 trains pass a given point in one direction
+or the other during the eighteen hours of the working day, or an
+average of 36 trains an hour.&nbsp; At the Cannon Street Station
+of the South-Eastern Railway, 627 trains pass in and out daily,
+many of them crossing each other&rsquo;s tracks under the
+protection of the station-signals.&nbsp; Forty-five trains run in
+and out between 9 and <!-- page xiv--><a name="pagexiv"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. xiv</span>10 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span>,
+and an equal number between 4 and 5 <span
+class="smcap">p.m.</span>&nbsp; Again, at the Clapham Junction,
+near London, about 700 trains pass or stop daily; and though to
+the casual observer the succession of trains coming and going,
+running and stopping, coupling and shunting, appears a scene of
+inextricable confusion and danger, the whole is clearly
+intelligible to the signalmen in their boxes, who work the trains
+in and out with extraordinary precision and regularity.</p>
+<p>The inside of a signal-box reminds one of a pianoforte on a
+large scale, the lever-handles corresponding with the keys of the
+instrument; and, to an uninstructed person, to work the one would
+be as difficult as to play a tune on the other.&nbsp; The
+signal-box outside Cannon Street Station contains 67
+lever-handles, by means of which the signalmen are enabled at the
+same moment to communicate with the drivers of all the engines on
+the line within an area of 800 yards.&nbsp; They direct by signs,
+which are quite as intelligible as words, the drivers of the
+trains starting from inside the station, as well as those of the
+trains arriving from outside.&nbsp; By pulling a lever-handle, a
+distant signal, perhaps out of sight, is set some hundred yards
+off, which the approaching driver&mdash;reading it quickly as he
+comes along&mdash;at once interprets, and stops or advances as
+the signal may direct.</p>
+<p>The precision and accuracy of the signal-machinery employed at
+important stations and junctions have of late years been much
+improved by an ingenious contrivance, by means of which the
+setting of the signal prepares the road for the coming
+train.&nbsp; When the signal is set at &ldquo;Danger,&rdquo; the
+points are at the same time worked, and <!-- page xv--><a
+name="pagexv"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xv</span>the road is
+&ldquo;locked&rdquo; against it; and when at
+&ldquo;Safety,&rdquo; the road is open,&mdash;the signal and the
+points exactly corresponding.</p>
+<p>The Electric Telegraph has also been found a valuable
+auxiliary in ensuring the safe working of large railway
+traffics.&nbsp; Though the locomotive may run at 60 miles an
+hour, electricity, when at its fastest, travels at the rate of
+288,000 miles a second, and is therefore always able to herald
+the coming train.&nbsp; The electric telegraph may, indeed, be
+regarded as the nervous system of the railway.&nbsp; By its means
+the whole line is kept throbbing with intelligence.&nbsp; The
+method of working the electric signals varies on different lines;
+but the usual practice is, to divide a line into so many lengths,
+each protected by its signal-stations,&mdash;the fundamental law
+of telegraph-working being, that two engines are not to be
+allowed to run on the same line between two signal-stations at
+the same time.</p>
+<p>When a train passes one of such stations, it is immediately
+signalled on&mdash;usually by electric signal-bells&mdash;to the
+station in advance, and that interval of railway is
+&ldquo;blocked&rdquo; until the signal has been received from the
+station in advance that the train has passed it.&nbsp; Thus an
+interval of space is always secured between trains following each
+other, which are thereby alike protected before and behind.&nbsp;
+And thus, when a train starts on a journey, it may be of hundreds
+of miles, it is signalled on from station to station&mdash;it
+&ldquo;lives along the line,&rdquo;&mdash;until at length it
+reaches its destination and the last signal of &ldquo;train
+in&rdquo; is given.&nbsp; By this means an immense number of
+trains can be worked with regularity and safety.&nbsp; On <!--
+page xvi--><a name="pagexvi"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xvi</span>the South-Eastern Railway, where the system has been
+brought to a state of high efficiency, it is no unusual thing
+during Easter week to send 600,000 passengers through the London
+Bridge Station alone; and on some days as many as 1200 trains
+a-day.</p>
+<p>While such are the expedients adopted to ensure safety, others
+equally ingenious are adopted to ensure speed.&nbsp; In the case
+of express and mail trains, the frequent stopping of the engines
+to take in a fresh supply of water occasions a considerable loss
+of time on a long journey, each stoppage for this purpose
+occupying from ten to fifteen minutes.&nbsp; To avoid such
+stoppages, larger tenders have been provided, capable of carrying
+as much as 2000 gallons of water each.&nbsp; But as a
+considerable time is occupied in filling these, a plan has been
+contrived by Mr. Ramsbottom, the Locomotive Engineer of the
+London and North-Western Railway, by which the engines are made
+to <i>feed themselves</i> while running at full speed!&nbsp; The
+plan is as follows:&mdash;An open trough, about 440 feet long, is
+laid longitudinally between the rails.&nbsp; Into this trough,
+which is filled with water, a dip-pipe or scoop attached to the
+bottom of the tender of the running train is lowered; and, at a
+speed of 50 miles an hour, as much as 1070 gallons of water are
+scooped up in the course of a few minutes.&nbsp; The first of
+such troughs was laid down between Chester and Holyhead, to
+enable the Express Mail to run the distance of 841 miles in two
+hours and five minutes without stopping; and similar troughs have
+since been laid down at Bushey near London, at Castlethorpe near
+Wolverton, and at Parkside near Liverpool.&nbsp; At these four
+troughs about 130,000 gallons of water are scooped up daily.</p>
+<p><!-- page xvii--><a name="pagexvii"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. xvii</span>Wherever railways have been made,
+new towns have sprung up, and old towns and cities been quickened
+into new life.&nbsp; When the first English lines were projected,
+great were the prophecies of disaster to the inhabitants of the
+districts through which they were proposed to be forced.&nbsp;
+Such fears have long since been dispelled in this country.&nbsp;
+The same prejudices existed in France.&nbsp; When the railway
+from Paris to Marseilles was laid out so as to pass through
+Lyons, a local prophet predicted that if the line were made the
+city would be ruined&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Ville travers&eacute;e</i>,
+<i>ville perdue</i>;&rdquo; while a local priest denounced the
+locomotive and the electric telegraph as heralding <i>the reign
+of Antichrist</i>.&nbsp; But such nonsense is no longer
+uttered.&nbsp; Now it is the city without the railway that is
+regarded as the &ldquo;city lost;&rdquo; for it is in a measure
+shut out from the rest of the world, and left outside the pale of
+civilisation.</p>
+<p>Perhaps the most striking of all the illustrations that could
+be offered of the extent to which railways facilitate the
+locomotion, the industry, and the subsistence of the population
+of large towns and cities, is afforded by the working of the
+railway system in connection with the capital of Great
+Britain.</p>
+<p>The extension of railways to London has been of comparatively
+recent date; the whole of the lines connecting it with the
+provinces and terminating at its outskirts, having been opened
+during the last thirty years, while the lines inside London have
+for the most part been opened within the last sixteen years.</p>
+<p>The first London line was the Greenwich Railway, part of which
+was opened for traffic to Deptford in February 1836.&nbsp; The
+working of this railway was first exhibited as <!-- page
+xviii--><a name="pagexviii"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xviii</span>a show, and the usual attractions were employed to
+make it &ldquo;draw.&rdquo;&nbsp; A band of musicians in the garb
+of the Beef-eaters was stationed at the London end, and another
+band at Deptford.&nbsp; For cheapness&rsquo; sake the Deptford
+band was shortly superseded by a large barrel-organ, which played
+in the passengers; but, when the traffic became established, the
+barrel organ, as well as the beef-eater band at the London end,
+were both discontinued.&nbsp; The whole length of the line was
+lit up at night by a row of lamps on either side like a street,
+as if to enable the locomotives or the passengers to see their
+way in the dark; but these lamps also were eventually
+discontinued as unnecessary.</p>
+<p>As a show, the Greenwich Railway proved tolerably
+successful.&nbsp; During the first eleven months it carried
+456,750 passengers, or an average of about 1300 a-day.&nbsp; But
+the railway having been found more convenient to the public than
+either the river boats or the omnibuses, the number of passengers
+rapidly increased.&nbsp; When the Croydon, Brighton, and
+South-Eastern Railways began to pour their streams of traffic
+over the Greenwich viaduct, its accommodation was found much too
+limited; and it was widened from time to time, until now nine
+lines of railway are laid side by side, over which more than
+twenty millions of passengers are carried yearly, or an average
+of about 60,000 a day all the year round.</p>
+<p>Since the partial opening of the Greenwich Railway in 1836, a
+large extent of railways has been constructed in and about the
+metropolis, and convenient stations have been established almost
+in the heart of the City.&nbsp; Sixteen of these stations are
+within a circle of half a mile radius from the Mansion House, and
+above three hundred stations <!-- page xix--><a
+name="pagexix"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xix</span>are in
+actual use within about five miles of Charing Cross.</p>
+<p>To accommodate this vast traffic, not fewer than 3600 local
+trains are run in and out daily, besides 340 trains which depart
+to and arrive from distant places, north, south, east, and
+west.&nbsp; In the morning hours, between 8.30 and 10.30, when
+business men are proceeding inwards to their offices and
+counting-houses, and in the afternoon between four and six, when
+they are returning outwards to their homes, as many as two
+thousand stoppages are made in the hour, within the metropolitan
+district, for the purpose of taking up and setting down
+passengers, while about two miles of railway are covered by the
+running trains.</p>
+<p>One of the remarkable effects of railways has been to extend
+the residential area of all large towns and cities.&nbsp; This is
+especially notable in the case of London.&nbsp; Before the
+introduction of railways, the residential area of the metropolis
+was limited by the time occupied by business men in making the
+journey outwards and inwards daily; and it was for the most part
+bounded by Bow on the east, by Hampstead and Highgate on the
+north, by Paddington and Kensington on the west, and by Clapham
+and Brixton on the south.&nbsp; But now that stations have been
+established near the centre of the city, and places so distant as
+Waltham, Barnet, Watford, Hanwell, Richmond, Epsom, Croydon,
+Reigate, and Erith, can be more quickly reached by rail than the
+old suburban quarters were by omnibus, the metropolis has become
+extended in all directions along its railway lines, and the
+population of London, instead of living in the City or its
+immediate vicinity, as formerly, <!-- page xx--><a
+name="pagexx"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xx</span>have come to
+occupy a residential area of not less than six hundred square
+miles!</p>
+<p>The number of new towns which have consequently sprung into
+existence near London within the last twenty years has been very
+great; towns numbering from ten to twenty thousand inhabitants,
+which before were but villages,&mdash;if, indeed, they
+existed.&nbsp; This has especially been the case along the lines
+south of the Thames, principally in consequence of the termini of
+those lines being more conveniently situated for city men of
+business.&nbsp; Hence the rapid growth of the suburban towns up
+and down the river, from Richmond and Staines on the west, to
+Erith and Gravesend on the east, and the hives of population
+which have settled on the high grounds south of the Thames, in
+the neighbourhood of Norwood and the Crystal Palace, rapidly
+spreading over the Surrey Downs, from Wimbledon to Guildford, and
+from Bromley to Croydon, Epsom, and Dorking.&nbsp; And now that
+the towns on the south and south-east coast can be reached by
+city men in little more time than it takes to travel to Clapham
+or Bayswater by omnibus, such places have become as it were parts
+of the great metropolis, and Brighton and Hastings are but the
+marine suburbs of London.</p>
+<p>The improved state of the communications of the City with the
+country has had a marked effect upon its population.&nbsp; While
+the action of the railways has been to add largely to the number
+of persons living in London, it has also been accompanied by
+their dispersion over a much larger area.&nbsp; Thus the
+population of the central parts of London is constantly
+decreasing, whereas that of the suburban districts is as
+constantly increasing.&nbsp; The population <!-- page xxi--><a
+name="pagexxi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxi</span>of the City
+fell off more than 10,000 between 1851 and 1861; and during the
+same period, that of Holborn, the Strand, St.
+Martin&rsquo;s-in-the-Fields, St. James&rsquo;s, Westminster,
+East and West London, showed a considerable decrease.&nbsp; But,
+as regards the whole mass of the metropolitan population, the
+increase has been enormous.&nbsp; Thus, starting from 1801, when
+the population of London was 958,863, we find it increasing in
+each decennial period at the rate of between two and three
+hundred thousand, until the year 1841, when it amounted to
+1,948,369.&nbsp; Railways had by that time reached London, after
+which its population increased at nearly double the former
+ratio.&nbsp; In the ten years ending 1851, the increase was
+513,867; and in the ten years ending 1861, 441,753: until now, to
+quote the words of the Registrar-General in a recent annual
+Report, &ldquo;the population within the registration limits is
+by estimate 2,993,513; but beyond this central mass there is a
+ring of life growing rapidly, and extending along railway lines
+over a circle of fifteen miles from Charing Cross.&nbsp; The
+population within that circle, patrolled by the metropolitan
+police, is about 3,463,771&rdquo;!</p>
+<p>The aggregation of so vast a number of persons within so
+comparatively limited an area&mdash;the immense quantity of food
+required for their daily sustenance, as well as of fuel,
+clothing, and other necessaries&mdash;would be attended with no
+small inconvenience and danger, but for the facilities again
+provided by the railways.&nbsp; The provisioning of a garrison of
+even four thousand men is considered a formidable affair; how
+much more so the provisioning of nearly four millions of
+people!</p>
+<p>The whole mystery is explained by the admirable <!-- page
+xxii--><a name="pagexxii"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xxii</span>organisation of the railway service, and the
+regularity and despatch with which it is conducted.&nbsp; We are
+enabled by the courtesy of the General Managers of the London
+railways to bring together the following brief summary of facts
+relating to the food supply of London, which will probably be
+regarded by most readers as of a very remarkable character.</p>
+<p>Generally speaking, the railways to the south of the Thames
+contribute comparatively little towards the feeding of
+London.&nbsp; They are, for the most part passenger and
+residential lines, traversing a limited and not very fertile
+district bounded by the sea-coast; and, excepting in fruit and
+vegetables, milk and hops, they probably carry more food from
+London than they bring to it.&nbsp; The principal supplies of
+grain, flour, potatoes, and fish, are brought by railway from the
+eastern counties of England and Scotland; and of cattle and
+sheep, beef and mutton, from the grazing counties of the west and
+north-west of Britain, as far as the Highlands of Scotland, which
+have, through the instrumentality of railways, become part of the
+great grazing grounds of the metropolis.</p>
+<p>Take first &ldquo;the staff of life&rdquo;&mdash;bread and its
+constituents.&nbsp; Of wheat, not less than 222,080 quarters were
+brought into London by railway in 1867, besides what was brought
+by sea; of oats 151,757 quarters; of barley 70,282 quarters; of
+beans and peas 51,448 quarters.&nbsp; Of the wheat and barley, by
+far the largest proportion is brought by the Great Eastern
+Railway, which delivers in London in one year 155,000 quarters of
+wheat and 45,500 quarters of barley, besides 600,429 quarters
+more in the form of malt.&nbsp; The largest quantity of oats is
+brought by the Great <!-- page xxiii--><a
+name="pagexxiii"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xxiii</span>Northern Railway, principally from the north of
+England and the East of Scotland,&mdash;the quantity delivered by
+that Company in 1867 having been 97,500 quarters, besides 24,664
+quarters of wheat, 5560 quarters of barley, and 103,917 quarters
+of malt.&nbsp; Again, of 1,250,566 sacks of flour and meal
+delivered in London in one year, the Great Eastern brings 654,000
+sacks, the Great Northern 232,022 sacks, and the Great Western
+136,312 sacks; the principal contribution of the London and
+North-Western Railway towards the London bread-stores being
+100,760 boxes of American flour, besides 24,300 sacks of
+English.&nbsp; The total quantity of malt delivered at the London
+railway stations in 1867 was thirteen hundred thousand sacks.</p>
+<p>Next, as to flesh meat.&nbsp; In 1867, not fewer than 172,300
+head of cattle were brought to London by railway,&mdash;though
+this was considerably less than the number carried before the
+cattle-plague, the Great Eastern Railway alone having carried
+44,672 less than in 1864.&nbsp; But this loss has since been more
+than made up by the increased quantities of fresh beef, mutton,
+and other kinds of meat imported in lieu of the live
+animals.&nbsp; The principal supplies of cattle are brought, as
+we have said, by the Western, Northern, and Eastern lines: by the
+Great Western from the western counties and Ireland; by the
+London and North-Western, the Midland, and the Great Northern
+from the northern counties and from Scotland; and by the Great
+Eastern from the eastern counties and from the ports of Harwich
+and Lowestoft.</p>
+<p>In 1867, also, 1,147,609 sheep were brought to London by
+railway, of which the Great Eastern delivered not less <!-- page
+xxiv--><a name="pagexxiv"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xxiv</span>than 265,371 head.&nbsp; The London and North-Western
+and Great Northern between them brought 390,000 head from the
+northern English counties, with a large proportion from the
+Scotch Highlands.&nbsp; While the Great Western brought up
+130,000 head from the Welsh mountains and from the rich grazing
+districts of Wilts, Gloucester, Somerset, and Devon.&nbsp;
+Another important freight of the London and North-Western Railway
+consists of pigs, of which they delivered 54,700 in London,
+principally Irish; while the Great Eastern brought up 27,500 of
+the same animal, partly foreign.</p>
+<p>While the cattle-plague had the effect of greatly reducing the
+number of live stock brought into London yearly, it gave a
+considerable impetus to the Fresh Meat traffic.&nbsp; Thus, in
+addition to the above large numbers of cattle and sheep delivered
+in London in 1867, the railways brought 76,175 tons of meat,
+which&mdash;taking the meat of an average beast at 800 lbs., and
+of an average sheep at 64 lbs.&mdash;would be equivalent to about
+112,000 more cattle, and 1,267,500 more sheep.&nbsp; The Great
+Northern brought the largest quantity; next the London and
+North-Western;&mdash;these two Companies having brought up
+between them, from distances as remote as Aberdeen and Inverness,
+about 42,000 tons of fresh meat in 1867, at an average freight of
+about &frac12;d. a lb.</p>
+<p>Again as regards Fish, of which six-tenths of the whole
+quantity consumed in London is now brought by rail.&nbsp; The
+Great Eastern and the Great Northern are by far the largest
+importers of this article, and justify their claim to be regarded
+as the great food lines of London.&nbsp; Of the 61,358 tons of
+fish brought by railway in 1867, not less <!-- page xxv--><a
+name="pagexxv"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxv</span>than 24,500
+tons were delivered by the former, and 22,000 tons, brought from
+much longer distances, by the latter Company.&nbsp; The London
+and North-Western brought about 6000 tons, the principal part of
+which was salmon from Scotland and Ireland.&nbsp; The Great
+Western also brought about 4000 tons, partly salmon, but the
+greater part mackerel from the south-west coast.&nbsp; During the
+mackerel season, as much as a hundred tons at a time are brought
+into the Paddington Station by express fish-train from
+Cornwall.</p>
+<p>The Great Eastern and Great Northern Companies are also the
+principal carriers of turkeys, geese, fowls, and game; the
+quantity delivered in London by the former Company having been
+5042 tons.&nbsp; In Christmas week no fewer than 30,000 turkeys
+and geese were delivered at the Bishopsgate Station, besides
+about 300 tons of poultry, 10,000 barrels of beer, and immense
+quantities of fish, oysters, and other kinds of food.&nbsp; As
+much as 1600 tons of poultry and game were brought last year by
+the South-Western Railway; 600 tons by the Great Northern
+Railway; and 130 tons of turkeys, geese, and fowls, by the
+London, Chatham and Dover line, principally from France.</p>
+<p>Of miscellaneous articles, the Great Northern and the Midland
+each brought about 3000 tons of cheese, the South-Western 2600
+tons, and the London and North-Western 10,034 cheeses in number;
+while the South-Western and Brighton lines brought a splendid
+contribution to the London breakfast-table in the shape of 11,259
+<i>tons</i> of French eggs; these two Companies delivering
+between them an average of more than three millions of <!-- page
+xxvi--><a name="pagexxvi"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xxvi</span>eggs a week all the year round!&nbsp; The same
+Companies delivered in London 14,819 tons of butter, for the most
+part the produce of the farms of Normandy,&mdash;the greater
+cleanness and neatness with which the Normandy butter is prepared
+for market rendering it a favourite both with dealers and
+consumers of late years compared with Irish butter.&nbsp; The
+London, Chatham and Dover Company also brought from Calais 96
+tons of eggs.</p>
+<p>Next, as to the potatoes, vegetables, and fruit, brought by
+rail.&nbsp; Forty years since, the inhabitants of London relied
+for their supply of vegetables on the garden-grounds in the
+immediate neighbourhood of the metropolis, and the consequence
+was that they were both very dear and limited in quantity.&nbsp;
+But railways, while they have extended the grazing-grounds of
+London as far as the Highlands, have at the same time extended
+the garden-grounds of London into all the adjoining
+counties&mdash;into East Kent, Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, the
+vale of Gloucester, and even as far as Penzance in
+Cornwall.&nbsp; The London, Chatham and Dover, one of the
+youngest of our main lines, brought up from East Kent in 1867
+5279 tons of potatoes, 1046 tons of vegetables, and 5386 tons of
+fruit, besides 542 tons of vegetables from France.&nbsp; The
+South-Eastern brought 25,163 tons of the same produce.&nbsp; The
+Great Eastern brought from the eastern counties 21,315 tons of
+potatoes, and 3596 tons of vegetables and fruit; while the Great
+Northern brought no less than 78,505 tons of potatoes&mdash;a
+large part of them from the east of Scotland&mdash;and 3768 tons
+of vegetables and fruit.&nbsp; About 6000 tons of early potatoes
+were brought from Cornwall, with about 5000 tons of broccoli, and
+the quantities are steadily <!-- page xxvii--><a
+name="pagexxvii"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xxvii</span>increasing.&nbsp; &ldquo;Truly London hath a large
+belly,&rdquo; said old Fuller, two hundred years since.&nbsp; But
+how much more capacious is it now!</p>
+<p>One of the most striking illustrations of the utility of
+railways in contributing to the supply of wholesome articles of
+food to the population of large cities, is to be found in the
+rapid growth of the traffic in Milk.&nbsp; Readers of newspapers
+may remember the descriptions published some years since of the
+horrid dens in which London cows were penned, and of the odious
+compound sold by the name of milk, of which the least deleterious
+ingredient in it was supplied by the &ldquo;cow with the iron
+tail.&rdquo;&nbsp; That state of affairs is now completely
+changed.&nbsp; What with the greatly improved state of the London
+dairies and the better quality of the milk supplied by them,
+together with the large quantities brought by railway from a
+range of a hundred miles and more all round London, even the
+poorest classes in the metropolis are now enabled to obtain as
+wholesome a supply of the article as the inhabitants of most
+country towns.</p>
+<p>These great streams of food, which we have thus so summarily
+described, flow into London so continuously and uninterruptedly,
+that comparatively few persons are aware of the magnitude and
+importance of the process thus daily going forward.&nbsp; Though
+gathered from an immense extent of country&mdash;embracing
+England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland&mdash;the influx is so
+unintermitted that it is relied upon with as much certainty as if
+it only came from the counties immediately adjoining
+London.&nbsp; The express meat-train from Aberdeen arrives in
+town as punctually as the Clapham omnibus, and the express <!--
+page xxviii--><a name="pagexxviii"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xxviii</span>milk-train from Aylesbury is as regular in its
+delivery as the penny post.&nbsp; Indeed London now depends so
+much upon railways for its subsistence, that it may be said to be
+fed by them from day to day, having never more than a few
+days&rsquo; food in stock.&nbsp; And the supply is so regular and
+continuous, that the possibility of its being interrupted never
+for a moment occurs to any one.&nbsp; Yet in these days of
+strikes amongst workmen, such a contingency is quite within the
+limits of possibility.&nbsp; Another contingency, which might
+arise during a state of war, is probably still more remote.&nbsp;
+But were it possible for a war to occur between England and a
+combination of foreign powers possessed of stronger ironclads
+than ours, and that they were able to ram our ships back into
+port and land an enemy of overpowering force on the Essex coast,
+it would be sufficient for them to occupy or cut the railways
+leading from the north, to starve London into submission in less
+than a fortnight.</p>
+<p>Besides supplying London with food, railways have also been
+instrumental in ensuring the more regular and economical supply
+of fuel,&mdash;a matter of almost as vital importance to the
+population in a climate such as that of England.&nbsp; So long as
+the market was supplied with coal brought by sea in sailing
+ships, fuel in winter often rose to a famine price, especially
+during long-continued easterly winds.&nbsp; But now that railways
+are in full work, the price is almost as steady in winter as in
+summer, and (but for strikes) the supply is more regular at all
+seasons.</p>
+<p>But the carriage of food and fuel to London forms but a small
+part of the merchandise traffic carried by railway.&nbsp; Above
+600,000 tons of goods of various kinds yearly pass <!-- page
+xxix--><a name="pagexxix"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xxix</span>through one station only, that of the London and
+North-Western Company, at Camden Town; and sometimes as many as
+20,000 parcels daily.&nbsp; Every other metropolitan station is
+similarly alive with traffic inwards and outwards, London having
+since the introduction of railways become more than ever a great
+distributive centre, to which merchandise of all kinds converges,
+and from which it is distributed to all parts of the
+country.&nbsp; Mr. Bazley, M.P., stated at a late public meeting
+at Manchester, that it would probably require ten millions of
+horses to convey by road the merchandise traffic which is now
+annually carried by railway.</p>
+<p>Railways have also proved of great value in connection with
+the Cheap Postage system.&nbsp; By their means it has become
+possible to carry letters, newspapers, books and post parcels, in
+any quantity, expeditiously, and cheaply.&nbsp; The Liverpool and
+Manchester line was no sooner opened in 1830, than the Post
+Office authorities recognised its utility, and used it for
+carrying the mails between the two towns.&nbsp; When the London
+and Birmingham line was opened eight years later, mail trains
+were at once put on,&mdash;the directors undertaking to perform
+the distance of 113 miles within 5 hours by day and 5&frac12;
+hours by night.&nbsp; As additional lines were opened, the old
+four-horse mail coaches were gradually discontinued, until in
+1858, the last of them, the &ldquo;Derby Dilly,&rdquo; which ran
+between Manchester and Derby, was taken off on the opening of the
+Midland line to Rowsley.</p>
+<p>The increased accommodation provided by railways was found of
+essential importance, more particularly after the adoption of the
+Cheap Postage system; and that such <!-- page xxx--><a
+name="pagexxx"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xxx</span>accommodation was needed will be obvious from the
+extraordinary increase which has taken place in the number of
+letters and packets sent by post.&nbsp; Thus, in 1839, the number
+of chargeable letters carried was only 76 millions, and of
+newspapers 44&frac12; millions; whereas, in 1865, the numbers of
+letters had increased to 720 millions, and in 1867 to 775
+millions, or more than ten-fold, while the number of newspapers,
+books, samples and patterns (a new branch of postal business
+began in 1864) had increased, in 1865, to 98&frac12;
+millions.</p>
+<p>To accommodate this largely-increasing traffic, the bulk of
+which is carried by railway, the mileage run by mail trains in
+the United Kingdom has increased from 25,000 miles a day in 1854
+(the first year of which we have any return of the mileage run)
+to 60,000 miles a day in 1867, or an increase of 240 per
+cent.&nbsp; The Post Office expenditure on railway service has
+also increased, but not in like proportion, having been
+&pound;364,000 in the former year, and &pound;559,575 in the
+latter, or an increase of 154 per cent.&nbsp; The revenue, gross
+and net, has increased still more rapidly.&nbsp; In 1841, the
+first complete year of the Cheap Postage system, the gross
+revenue was &pound;1,359,466 and the net revenue &pound;500,789;
+in 1854, the gross revenue was &pound;2,574,407, and the net
+revenue &pound;1,173,723; and in 1867, the gross revenue was
+&pound;4,548,129, and the net revenue &pound;2,127,125, being an
+increase of 420 per cent. compared with 1841, and of 180 per
+cent. compared with 1854.&nbsp; How much of this net increase
+might fairly be credited to the Railway Postal service we shall
+not pretend to say; but assuredly the proportion must be very
+considerable.</p>
+<p>One of the great advantages of railways in connection <!--
+page xxxi--><a name="pagexxxi"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xxxi</span>with the postal service is the greatly increased
+frequency of communication which they provide between all the
+large towns.&nbsp; Thus Liverpool has now six deliveries of
+Manchester letters daily; while every large town in the kingdom
+has two or more deliveries of London letters daily.&nbsp; In
+1863, 393 towns had two mails daily from London; 50 had three
+mails daily; 7 had four mails a day <i>from</i> London, and 15
+had four mails a day <i>to</i> London; while 3 towns had five
+mails a day <i>from</i> London, and 6 had five mails a day
+<i>to</i> London.</p>
+<p>Another feature of the railway mail train, as of the passenger
+train, is its capacity to carry any quantity of letters and post
+parcels that may require to be carried.&nbsp; In 1838, the
+aggregate weight of all the evening mails despatched from London
+by twenty-eight mail coaches was 4 tons 6 cwt., or an average of
+about 3&frac14; cwt. each, though the maximum contract weight was
+15 cwt.&nbsp; The mails now are necessarily much heavier, the
+number of letters and packets having, as we have seen, increased
+more than ten-fold since 1839.&nbsp; But it is not the ordinary
+so much as the extraordinary mails that are of considerable
+weight,&mdash;more particularly the American, the Continental,
+and the Australian mails.&nbsp; It is no unusual thing, we are
+informed, for the last-mentioned mail to weigh as much as 40
+tons.&nbsp; How many of the old mail coaches it would take to
+carry such a mail the 79 miles journey to Southampton, with a
+relay of four horses every five or seven miles, is a problem for
+the arithmetician to solve.&nbsp; But even supposing each coach
+to be loaded to the maximum weight of 15 cwt. per coach, it would
+require about sixty vehicles and about 1700 horses to carry the
+40 tons, besides the coachman and guards.</p>
+<p><!-- page xxxii--><a name="pagexxxii"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. xxxii</span>Whatever may be said of the
+financial management of railways, there can be no doubt as to the
+great benefits conferred by them on the public wherever
+made.&nbsp; Even those railways which have exhibited the most
+&ldquo;frightful examples&rdquo; of financing and jobbing, have
+been found to prove of unquestionable public convenience and
+utility.&nbsp; And notwithstanding all the faults and
+imperfections that have been alleged against railways, we think
+that they must, nevertheless, be recognised as by far the most
+valuable means of communication between men and nations that has
+yet been given to the world.</p>
+<p>The author&rsquo;s object in publishing this book in its
+original form, was to describe, in connection with the
+&lsquo;Life of George Stephenson,&rsquo; the origin and progress
+of the railway system,&mdash;to show by what moral and material
+agencies its founders were enabled to carry their ideas into
+effect, and work out results which even then were of a remarkable
+character, though they have since, as above described, become so
+much more extraordinary.&nbsp; The favour with which successive
+editions of the book have been received, has justified the author
+in his anticipation that such a narrative would prove of general,
+if not of permanent interest.</p>
+<p>The book was written with the concurrence and assistance of
+Robert Stephenson, who also supplied the necessary particulars
+relating to himself.&nbsp; Such portions of these were
+accordingly embodied in the narrative as could with propriety be
+published during his lifetime, and the remaining portions have
+since been added, with the object of rendering more complete the
+record of the son&rsquo;s life as well as of the early history of
+the Railway system.</p>
+<h2><!-- page xxxiii--><a name="pagexxxiii"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. xxxiii</span>CONTENTS</h2>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER I.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Newcastle and
+the Great Northern Coal-Fields</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The colliery districts of the
+North&mdash;Newcastle-upon-Tyne in ancient times&mdash;The Roman
+settlement&mdash;Social insecurity in the Middle
+Ages&mdash;Northumberland roads&mdash;The coal-trade&mdash;Modern
+Newcastle&mdash;Coal haulage&mdash;Early waggon-roads,
+tram-roads, and railways&mdash;Machinery of
+coal-mines&mdash;Newcomen&rsquo;s fire-engine&mdash;The colliers,
+their character and habits&mdash;Coal-staiths&mdash;The
+keelmen</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>Pages <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page1">1</a></span>&ndash;11</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER II.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Wylam and
+Dewley Burn</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">George
+Stephenson&rsquo;s Early Years</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Wylam Colliery and village&mdash;George Stephenson&rsquo;s
+birth-place&mdash;His parents&mdash;The Stephenson
+family&mdash;Old Robert Stephenson&mdash;George&rsquo;s
+boyhood&mdash;Dewley Burn Colliery&mdash;Sister Nell&rsquo;s
+bonnet&mdash;Employed as a herd-boy&mdash;Makes clay
+engines&mdash;Follows the plough&mdash;Employed as
+corf-bitter&mdash;Drives the gin-horse&mdash;Black Callerton
+Colliery&mdash;Love of animals&mdash;Made
+assistant-fireman&mdash;Old Robert and family shift their
+home&mdash;Jolly&rsquo;s Close, Newburn&mdash;Family
+earnings&mdash;George as fireman&mdash;His athletic
+feats&mdash;Throckley Bridge&mdash;&ldquo;A made man for
+life!&rdquo;&mdash;Appointed engineman&mdash;Studies his
+engine&mdash;Experiments in egg-hatching&mdash;Puts himself to
+school, and learns to read&mdash;His schoolmasters&mdash;Progress
+in arithmetic&mdash;His dog&mdash;Learns to brake&mdash;Brakesman
+at Black Callerton&mdash;Duties of brakesman&mdash;Begins
+shoe-making&mdash;Fanny Henderson&mdash;Saves his first
+guinea&mdash;Fight with a pitman</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page12">12</a></span>&ndash;30</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center"><!-- page
+xxxiv--><a name="pagexxxiv"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xxxiv</span>CHAPTER III.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Engineman at
+Willington Quay and Killingworth</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Sobriety and
+studiousness&mdash;Inventiveness&mdash;Removes to Willington
+Quay&mdash;Marries Fanny Henderson&mdash;Their cottage at
+Willington&mdash;Attempts at perpetual motion&mdash;William
+Fairbairn and George
+Stephenson&mdash;Ballast-heaving&mdash;Chimney on fire, and
+clock-cleaning&mdash;Birth of Robert Stephenson&mdash;George
+removes to West Moor, Killingworth&mdash;Death of his
+wife&mdash;Engineman at Montrose, Scotland&mdash;His
+pump-boot&mdash;Saves money&mdash;His return to
+Killingworth&mdash;Brakesman at West Moor&mdash;Is drawn for the
+Militia&mdash;Thinks of emigrating to America&mdash;Takes a
+contract for brakeing engines&mdash;Improves the
+winding-engine&mdash;Cures a pumping-engine&mdash;Becomes famous
+as an engine-doctor&mdash;Appointed engine-wright of a
+colliery</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page31">31</a></span>&ndash;46</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER IV.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">The Stephensons
+at Killingworth</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Education and
+Self-Education of Father and Son</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>George Stephenson&rsquo;s self-improvement&mdash;John
+Wigham&mdash;Studies in Natural
+Philosophy&mdash;Sobriety&mdash;Education of Robert
+Stephenson&mdash;Sent to Rutter&rsquo;s school,
+Benton&mdash;Bruce&rsquo;s school, Newcastle&mdash;Literary and
+Philosophical Institute&mdash;George educates his son in
+Mechanics&mdash;Ride to Killingworth&mdash;Robert&rsquo;s boyish
+tricks&mdash;Repeats the Franklin
+kite-experiment&mdash;Stephenson&rsquo;s cottage, West
+Moor&mdash;Odd mechanical expedients&mdash;Competition in
+last-making&mdash;Father and son make a sun-dial&mdash;Colliery
+improvements&mdash;Stephenson&rsquo;s mechanical expertness</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page47">47</a></span>&ndash;62</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER V.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Early History
+of the Locomotive</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">George
+Stephenson begins its Improvement</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Various expedients for
+coal-haulage&mdash;Sailing-waggons&mdash;Mr. Edgworth&rsquo;s
+experiments&mdash;Cugnot&rsquo;s first locomotive
+steam-carriage&mdash;Murdock&rsquo;s model
+locomotive&mdash;Trevithick&rsquo;s steam-carriage and
+tram-engine&mdash;Blenkinsop&rsquo;s engine&mdash;Chapman and
+Brunton&rsquo;s locomotives&mdash;The Wylam waggon-way&mdash;Mr.
+Blackett&rsquo;s experiments&mdash;Jonathan <!-- page xxxv--><a
+name="pagexxxv"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xxxv</span>Foster&mdash;William Hedley&mdash;The Wylam
+engine&mdash;Stephenson determines to build a
+locomotive&mdash;Lord Ravensworth&mdash;The first Killingworth
+engine described&mdash;The steam-blast
+invented&mdash;Stephenson&rsquo;s second locomotive</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page63">63</a></span>&ndash;88</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER VI.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Invention of
+the</span> &ldquo;<span class="smcap">Geordy</span>&rdquo; <span
+class="smcap">Safety-Lamp</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Frequency of colliery explosions&mdash;Accident in the
+Killingworth Pit&mdash;Stephenson&rsquo;s heroic conduct&mdash;A
+safety-lamp described&mdash;Dr. Clanny&rsquo;s
+lamp&mdash;Stephenson&rsquo;s experiments on
+fire-damp&mdash;Designs a lamp, and tests it in the
+pit&mdash;Cottage experiments with
+coal-gas&mdash;Stephenson&rsquo;s second and third
+lamps&mdash;The Stephenson and Davy controversy&mdash;Scene at
+the Newcastle Institute&mdash;The Davy testimonial&mdash;The
+Stephenson testimonial&mdash;Merits of the &ldquo;Geordy&rdquo;
+lamp</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page89">89</a></span>&ndash;108</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER VII.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">George
+Stephenson&rsquo;s further Improvements in the
+Locomotive</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Hetton
+Railway</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Robert Stephenson as
+Viewer&rsquo;s Apprentice and Student</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Killingworth mine machinery&mdash;Stephenson improves
+his locomotive&mdash;Strengthens the road&mdash;His
+patent&mdash;His steam-springs&mdash;Experiments on
+friction&mdash;Steam-locomotion on common roads&mdash;Early
+neglect of the locomotive&mdash;Stephenson again thinks of
+emigration&mdash;Constructs the Hetton Railway&mdash;The working
+power employed&mdash;Robert Stephenson viewer&rsquo;s
+apprentice&mdash;His pursuits at Killingworth&mdash;His father
+sends him to Edinburgh University&mdash;His application to the
+studies of Chemistry, Natural History, and Natural
+Philosophy&mdash;His MS. volumes of Lectures&mdash;Geological
+tour with Professor Jameson in the Highlands</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page109">109</a></span>&ndash;122</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER VIII.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">George
+Stephenson Engineer of the Stockton and Darlington
+Railway</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Bishop Auckland Coal-field&mdash;Edward Pease projects
+a railway from Witton to Stockton&mdash;The Bill
+rejected&mdash;The line re-surveyed, <!-- page xxxvi--><a
+name="pagexxxvi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxxvi</span>and the
+Act obtained&mdash;George Stephenson&rsquo;s visit to Edward
+Pease&mdash;Appointed engineer of the railway&mdash;Again surveys
+the line&mdash;Mr. Pease visits Killingworth&mdash;The Newcastle
+locomotive works projected&mdash;The railway
+constructed&mdash;Locomotives ordered&mdash;Stephenson&rsquo;s
+anticipations as to railways&mdash;Public opening of the
+line&mdash;The coal traffic&mdash;The first railway
+passenger-coach&mdash;The coaching traffic described&mdash;The
+&ldquo;Locomotion&rdquo; engine&mdash;Race with
+stage-coach&mdash;Commercial results of the Stockton and
+Darlington Railway&mdash;The town of Middlesborough created</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page123">123</a></span>&ndash;145</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER IX.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">The Liverpool
+and Manchester Railway projected</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Insufficient communications between Manchester and
+Liverpool&mdash;The canal monopoly&mdash;A tramroad
+projected&mdash;Joseph Sanders&mdash;Sir R. Phillip&rsquo;s
+speculations as to railways&mdash;Thomas Gray&mdash;William James
+surveys a line between Liverpool and Manchester&mdash;Opposition
+to the survey&mdash;Mr. James&rsquo;s visits to
+Killingworth&mdash;Robert Stephenson assists in the
+survey&mdash;George Stephenson appointed engineer&mdash;The first
+prospectus&mdash;Stephenson&rsquo;s survey opposed&mdash;The
+canal companies&mdash;Speculations as to railway
+speed&mdash;Stephenson&rsquo;s notions thought
+extravagant&mdash;Article in the
+&lsquo;Quarterly&rsquo;&mdash;The Bill before
+Parliament&mdash;The Evidence&mdash;George Stephenson in the
+witness box&mdash;Examined as to speed&mdash;His
+cross-examination&mdash;The survey found defective&mdash;Mr.
+Harrison&rsquo;s speech&mdash;Evidence of opposing
+engineers&mdash;Mr. Alderson&rsquo;s speech&mdash;The Bill
+withdrawn&mdash;Stephenson&rsquo;s vexation&mdash;The scheme
+prosecuted&mdash;The line re-surveyed&mdash;Sir Isaac
+Coffin&rsquo;s speech&mdash;The Act passed</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page146">146</a></span>&ndash;172</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER X.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Chat
+Moss</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Construction of the
+Liverpool and Manchester Railway</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>George Stephenson appointed engineer&mdash;Chat Moss
+described&mdash;The resident engineers&mdash;Mr. Dixon&rsquo;s
+visit of inspection&mdash;Stephenson&rsquo;s theory of a floating
+road&mdash;Operations begun&mdash;Tar-barrel drains&mdash;The
+embankment sinks in the Moss&mdash;Proposed abandonment of the
+work&mdash;Stephenson perseveres&mdash;The obstacles
+conquered&mdash;Road <!-- page xxxvii--><a
+name="pagexxxvii"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xxxvii</span>across Parr Moss&mdash;The road
+formed&mdash;Stephenson&rsquo;s organization of labour&mdash;The
+Liverpool Tunnel&mdash;Olive Mount Cutting&mdash;Sankey
+Viaduct&mdash;Stephenson and Cropper&mdash;Stephenson&rsquo;s
+labours&mdash;Pupils and assistants&mdash;His daily
+life&mdash;Practical education&mdash;Evenings at home</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page173">173</a></span>&ndash;192</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XI.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Robert
+Stephenson&rsquo;s Residence in Colombia and
+Return</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Battle of the
+Locomotive</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The</span>
+&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Rocket</span>.&rdquo;</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Robert Stephenson mining engineer in Colombia&mdash;Mule
+journey to Bogota&mdash;Mariquita&mdash;Silver
+mining&mdash;Difficulties with the Cornishmen&mdash;His cottage
+at Santa Anna&mdash;Longs to return home&mdash;Resigns his
+post&mdash;Meeting with Trevithick&mdash;Voyage to New York, and
+shipwreck&mdash;Returns to Newcastle, and takes charge of the
+factory&mdash;The working power of the Liverpool and Manchester
+Railway&mdash;Fixed engines and locomotives, and their respective
+advocates&mdash;Walker and Rastrick&rsquo;s report&mdash;A prize
+offered for the best locomotive&mdash;Conferences of the
+Stephensons&mdash;Boiler arrangements and heating
+surface&mdash;Mr. Booth&rsquo;s contrivance&mdash;Building of the
+&ldquo;Rocket&rdquo;&mdash;The competition of engines at
+Rainhill&mdash;The &ldquo;Novelty&rdquo; and
+&ldquo;Sanspareil&rdquo;&mdash;Triumph of the
+&ldquo;Rocket,&rdquo; and its destination</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page193">193</a></span>&ndash;220</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XII.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Opening of the
+Liverpool and Manchester Railway</span>, <span class="smcap">and
+Extension of the Railway System</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The railway finished&mdash;The traffic arrangements
+organized&mdash;Public opening of the line&mdash;Accident to Mr.
+Huskisson&mdash;Arrival of the trains at Manchester&mdash;The
+traffic results&mdash;Improvement of the road and rolling
+stock&mdash;Improvements in the locomotive&mdash;The railway a
+wonder&mdash;Extension of the railway system&mdash;Joint-stock
+railway companies&mdash;New lines projected&mdash;New
+engineers&mdash;The Grand Junction&mdash;Public opposition to
+railways&mdash;Robert Stephenson engineer to the Leicester and
+Swannington Railway&mdash;George Stephenson removes to
+Snibston&mdash;Sinks for and gets coal&mdash;Stimulates local
+enterprise&mdash;His liberality</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page221">221</a></span>&ndash;236</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center"><!-- page
+xxxviii--><a name="pagexxxviii"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xxxviii</span>CHAPTER XIII.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Robert
+Stephenson constructs the London and Birmingham
+Railway</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The line projected&mdash;George and Robert Stephenson
+appointed engineers&mdash;Opposition&mdash;Hostile pamphlets and
+public meetings&mdash;Robert Stephenson and Sir Astley
+Cooper&mdash;The survey obstructed&mdash;The opposing
+clergyman&mdash;The Bill in Parliament&mdash;Thrown out in the
+Lords&mdash;Proprietors conciliated, and the Act
+obtained&mdash;The works let in contracts&mdash;The difficulties
+of the undertaking&mdash;The line described&mdash;Blisworth
+Cutting&mdash;Primrose Hill Tunnel&mdash;Kilsby Tunnel&mdash;Its
+construction described&mdash;Cost of the Railway greatly
+increased&mdash;Failure of contractors&mdash;Magnitude of the
+works&mdash;Railway navvies</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page237">237</a></span>&ndash;252</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XIV.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Manchester and
+Leeds</span>, <span class="smcap">and Midland
+Railways</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Stephenson&rsquo;s Life
+at Alton</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Visit to
+Belgium</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">General Extension of
+Railways and their Results</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Projection of new lines&mdash;Dutton Viaduct, Grand
+Junction&mdash;The Manchester and Leeds&mdash;Summit Tunnel,
+Littleborough&mdash;Magnitude of the work&mdash;The Midland
+Railway&mdash;The works compared with the Simplon road&mdash;Slip
+near Ambergate&mdash;Bull Bridge&mdash;The York and North
+Midland&mdash;George Stephenson on his surveys&mdash;His quick
+observation&mdash;Travelling and correspondence&mdash;Life at
+Alton Grange&mdash;The Stephensons&rsquo; London
+office&mdash;Visits to Belgium&mdash;Interviews with the
+King&mdash;Public openings of English
+railways&mdash;Stephenson&rsquo;s pupils and
+assistants&mdash;Prophecies falsified concerning
+railways&mdash;Their advantageous results</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page253">253</a></span>&ndash;274</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XV.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">George
+Stephenson&rsquo;s Coal Mines</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">The Atmospheric System</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Railway Mania</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Visits to Belgium and Spain</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>George Stephenson on railways and
+coal-traffic&mdash;Leases the Claycross estate, and sinks for
+coal&mdash;His extensive lime-works&mdash;Removes to Tapton
+House&mdash;British Association at Newcastle&mdash;<!-- page
+xxxix--><a name="pagexxxix"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xxxix</span>Appears at Mechanics&rsquo; Institutes&mdash;Speech
+at Leeds&mdash;His self-acting brake&mdash;His views of railway
+speed&mdash;Theory of &ldquo;undulating
+lines&rdquo;&mdash;Chester and Birkenhead
+Company&mdash;Stephenson&rsquo;s liberality&mdash;Atmospheric
+railways projected&mdash;Stephenson opposes the principle of
+working&mdash;The railway mania&mdash;Stephenson resists, and
+warns against it&mdash;George Hudson, &ldquo;Railway
+King&rdquo;&mdash;Parliament and the
+mania&mdash;Stephenson&rsquo;s letter to Sir R. Peel&mdash;Again
+visits Belgium&mdash;Interviews with King Leopold&mdash;Journey
+into Spain</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page275">275</a></span>&ndash;300</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XVI.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Robert
+Stephenson&rsquo;s Career</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The
+Stephensons and Brunel</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">East
+Coast Route to Scotland</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Royal
+Border Bridge</span>, <span
+class="smcap">Berwick</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">High Level
+Bridge</span>, <span class="smcap">Newcastle</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>George Stephenson&rsquo;s retirement&mdash;Robert&rsquo;s
+employment as Parliamentary Engineer&mdash;His rival
+Brunel&mdash;The Great Western Railway&mdash;The width of
+gauge&mdash;Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s caution as to
+investments&mdash;The Newcastle and Berwick Railway&mdash;Contest
+in Parliament&mdash;George Stephenson&rsquo;s interview with Lord
+Howick&mdash;Royal Border Bridge, Berwick&mdash;Progress of
+iron-bridge building&mdash;Robert Stephenson constructs the High
+Level Bridge, Newcastle&mdash;Pile-driving by
+steam&mdash;Characteristics of the structure&mdash;Through
+railway to Scotland completed</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page301">301</a></span>&ndash;319</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XVII.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Robert
+Stephenson&rsquo;s Tubular Bridges at Menai and
+Conway</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>George Stephenson surveys a line from Chester to
+Holyhead&mdash;Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s construction of the
+works at Penmaen Mawr&mdash;Crossing of the Menai
+Strait&mdash;Various plans proposed&mdash;A tubular beam
+determined on&mdash;Strength of wrought-iron tubes&mdash;Mr.
+William Fairbairn consulted&mdash;His experiments&mdash;The
+design settled&mdash;The Britannia Bridge described&mdash;The
+Conway Bridge&mdash;Floating of the tubes&mdash;Lifting of the
+tubes&mdash;Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s anxieties&mdash;Bursting of
+the Hydraulic Press&mdash;The works completed&mdash;Merits of the
+Britannia and Conway Bridges</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page320">320</a></span>&ndash;340</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center"><!-- page xl--><a
+name="pagexl"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xl</span>CHAPTER
+XVIII.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">George
+Stephenson&rsquo;s Closing Years</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Illness and Death</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>George Stephenson&rsquo;s Life at Tapton&mdash;Experiments
+in Horticulture, Gardening, and Farming&mdash;Affection for
+animals&mdash;Bird-hatching and bee-keeping&mdash;Reading and
+conversation&mdash;Rencontre with Lord Denman&mdash;Hospitality
+at Tapton&mdash;Experiments with the
+microscope&mdash;Frolics&mdash;&ldquo;A crowdie
+night&rdquo;&mdash;Visits to London&mdash;Visit to Sir Robert
+Peel at Drayton Manor&mdash;Encounter with Dr.
+Buckland&mdash;Coal formed by the sun&rsquo;s light&mdash;Opening
+of the Trent Valley Railway&mdash;Meeting with
+Emerson&mdash;Illness, death, and funeral&mdash;Memorial
+Statues</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page341">341</a></span>&ndash;356</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XIX.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Robert
+Stephenson&rsquo;s Victoria Bridge</span>, <span
+class="smcap">Lower Canada</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Illness and Death</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Stephenson Characteristics</span>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s inheritances&mdash;Gradual
+retirement from the profession of engineer&mdash;His last great
+works&mdash;Tubular Bridges over the St. Lawrence and the
+Nile&mdash;The Grand Trunk Railway, Canada&mdash;Necessity for a
+great railway bridge near Montreal&mdash;Discussion as to the
+plan&mdash;Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s report&mdash;A tubular
+bridge determined on&mdash;Massiveness of the
+piers&mdash;Ice-floods in the St. Lawrence&mdash;Victoria Bridge
+constructed and completed&mdash;Tubular bridges in
+Egypt&mdash;The Suez Canal&mdash;Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s
+employment as arbitrator&mdash;Assists Brunel at launching of the
+&ldquo;Great Eastern&rdquo;&mdash;Regardlessness of
+health&mdash;Death and Funeral&mdash;Characteristics of the
+Stephensons and resum&eacute; of their history&mdash;Politics of
+father and son&mdash;Services rendered to civilization by the
+Stephensons</p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page357">357</a></span>&ndash;380</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">Index</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page381">381</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<h2><!-- page xli--><a name="pagexli"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. xli</span>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&nbsp;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span
+class="smcap">Page</span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Portrait of George Stephenson <i>to face title
+page</i></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">&nbsp;</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>High Level Bridge, <i>to face</i></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">1</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Map of Newcastle District</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">2</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Flange rail</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">6</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Coal-staith on the Tyne</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">10</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Coal waggons</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">11</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Wylam Colliery and village</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">12</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>High Street House, Wylam&mdash;George Stephenson&rsquo;s
+birthplace</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">14</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Newburn on the Tyne</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">20</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Colliery Whimsey</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">30</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Stephenson&rsquo;s Cottage, Willington Quay</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">31</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>West Moor Colliery</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">37</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Killingworth High Pit</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">46</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Glebe Farm House, Benton</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">47</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Rutter&rsquo;s School House, Long Benton</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">51</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Bruce&rsquo;s School, Newcastle</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">53</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Stephenson&rsquo;s Cottage, West Moor</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">57</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Sun-dial at Killingworth</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">60</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Colliers&rsquo; Cottages at Long Benton</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">62</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Cugnot&rsquo;s Engine</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">64</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Section of Murdock&rsquo;s Model Locomotive</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">66</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Trevithick&rsquo;s high-pressure Tram-Engine</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">70</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Improved Wylam Engine</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">78</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Spur-gear</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">83</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Pit-head, West Moor</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">91</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Davy&rsquo;s and Stephenson&rsquo;s Safety-lamps</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">101</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>West Moor Pit, Killingworth</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">108</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Half-lap joint</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">111</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Old Killingworth Locomotive</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">113</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Map of Stockton and Darlington Railway</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">123</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Portrait of Edward Pease</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">124</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The first Railway Coach</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">139</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The No. 1 Engine at Darlington</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">142</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Middlesborough-on-Tees</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">145</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Map of Liverpool and Manchester Railway (Western Part)</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">150</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+
+<td><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;,,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+(Eastern part)</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">151</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Surveying on Chat Moss</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">172</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Olive Mount Cutting</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">184</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Sankey Viaduct</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">186</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s Cottage at Santa Anna</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">198</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">212</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Locomotive competition, Rainhill</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">215</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Railway <i>versus</i> Road</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">220</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Map of Leicester and Swannington Railway</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">233</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Stephenson&rsquo;s House at Alton Grange</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">236</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Portrait of Robert Stephenson, <i>to face</i></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">237</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Map of London and Birmingham Railway (Rugby to
+Watford)</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">242</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Blisworth Cutting</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">243</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Shafts over Kilsby Tunnel</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">246</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Dutton Viaduct</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">254</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Entrance to Summit Tunnel, Lancashire and Yorkshire
+Railway</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">256</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Land-slip, near Ambergate, North Midland Railway</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">259</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Bullbridge, near Ambergate</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">260</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Coalville and Snibston Colliery</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">274</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Tapton House, near Chesterfield</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">275</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Lime-works at Ambergate</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">278</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Newcastle, from the High Level Bridge</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">301</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Royal Border Bridge, Berwick-upon-Tweed</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">311</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>High Level Bridge&mdash;Elevation of one Arch</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">318</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Penmaen Mawr</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">322</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Map of Menai Straits</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">325</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Conway Tubular Bridge</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">334</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Britannia Bridge</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">339</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Conway Bridge&mdash;Floating the first Tube</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">340</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>View in Tapton Gardens</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">341</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Pathway to Tapton House</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">347</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Trinity Church, Chesterfield</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">355</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Tablet in Trinity Church, Chesterfield</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">356</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Victoria Bridge, Montreal</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">357</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s Burial-place in Westminster
+Abbey</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">369</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Stephenson Memorial Schools, Willington Quay</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">380</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p1.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the High-level Bridge"
+title=
+"Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the High-level Bridge"
+src="images/p1.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2><!-- page 1--><a name="page1"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+1</span>CHAPTER I.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Newcastle and the Great Northern
+Coal-Field</span>.</h2>
+<p>In no quarter of England have greater changes been wrought by
+the successive advances made in the practical science of
+engineering than in the extensive colliery districts of the
+North, of which Newcastle-upon-Tyne is the centre and the
+capital.</p>
+<p>In ancient times the Romans planted a colony at Newcastle,
+throwing a bridge across the Tyne near the site of the low-level
+bridge shown in the prefixed engraving, and erecting a strong
+fortification above it on the high ground now occupied by the
+Central Railway Station.&nbsp; North and north-west lay a wild
+country, abounding in moors, mountains, and morasses, but
+occupied to a certain extent by fierce and barbarous
+tribes.&nbsp; To defend the young colony against their ravages, a
+strong wall was built by the Romans, extending from Wallsend on
+the north bank of the Tyne, a few miles below Newcastle, across
+the country to Burgh-upon-Sands on the Solway Firth.&nbsp; The
+remains of the wall are still to be traced in the less populous
+hill-districts of Northumberland.&nbsp; In the neighbourhood of
+Newcastle they have been gradually effaced by the works of
+succeeding generations, though the &ldquo;Wallsend&rdquo; coal
+<!-- page 2--><a name="page2"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+2</span>consumed in our household fires still serves to remind us
+of the great Roman work.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p2.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Map of Newcastle District"
+title=
+"Map of Newcastle District"
+src="images/p2.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>After the withdrawal of the Romans, Northumbria became planted
+by immigrant Saxons from North Germany and Norsemen from
+Scandinavia, whose Eorls or Earls made Newcastle their principal
+seat.&nbsp; Then came the Normans, from whose <i>New</i> Castle,
+built some eight hundred years since, the town derived its
+present name.&nbsp; The keep of this venerable structure, black
+with age and smoke, still stands entire at the northern end of
+the noble high-level bridge&mdash;the utilitarian work of modern
+times thus confronting the warlike relic of the older
+civilisation.</p>
+<p>The nearness of Newcastle to the Scotch Border was a great
+hindrance to its security and progress in the middle ages of
+English history.&nbsp; Indeed, the district between it and
+Berwick continued to be ravaged by moss-troopers long after the
+union of the Crowns.&nbsp; The gentry lived in their strong Peel
+castles; even the larger farm-houses were fortified; and
+bloodhounds were trained for the purpose of tracking the
+cattle-reavers to their retreats in the hills.&nbsp; The Judges
+of Assize rode from Carlisle to Newcastle guarded by an escort
+armed to the teeth.&nbsp; A tribute called <!-- page 3--><a
+name="page3"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 3</span>&ldquo;dagger
+and protection money&rdquo; was annually paid by the Sheriff of
+Newcastle for the purpose of providing daggers and other weapons
+for the escort; and, though the need of such protection has long
+since ceased, the tribute continues to be paid in broad gold
+pieces of the time of Charles the First.</p>
+<p>Until about the middle of last century the roads across
+Northumberland were little better than horse-tracks, and not many
+years since the primitive agricultural cart with solid wooden
+wheels was almost as common in the western parts of the county as
+it is in Spain now.&nbsp; The tract of the old Roman road
+continued to be the most practicable route between Newcastle and
+Carlisle, the traffic between the two towns having been carried
+along it upon packhorses until a comparatively recent period.</p>
+<p>Since that time great changes have taken place on the
+Tyne.&nbsp; When wood for firing became scarce and dear, and the
+forests of the South of England were found inadequate to supply
+the increasing demand for fuel, attention was turned to the rich
+stores of coal lying underground in the neighbourhood of
+Newcastle and Durham.&nbsp; It then became an article of
+increasing export, and &ldquo;seacoal&rdquo; fires gradually
+supplanted those of wood.&nbsp; Hence an old writer described
+Newcastle as &ldquo;the Eye of the North, and the Hearth that
+warmeth the South parts of this kingdom with Fire.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Fuel has become the staple product of the district, the quantity
+exported increasing from year to year, until the coal raised from
+these northern mines amounts to upwards of sixteen millions of
+tons a year, of which not less than nine millions are annually
+conveyed away by sea.</p>
+<p>Newcastle has in the mean time spread in all directions far
+beyond its ancient boundaries.&nbsp; From a walled medi&aelig;val
+town of monks and merchants, it has been converted into a busy
+centre of commerce and manufactures inhabited by nearly 100,000
+people.&nbsp; It is no longer a Border fortress&mdash;a
+&ldquo;shield and defence against the invasions and frequent
+insults of the Scots,&rdquo; as described in ancient
+charters&mdash;but <!-- page 4--><a name="page4"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 4</span>a busy centre of peaceful industry,
+and the outlet for a vast amount of steam-power, which is
+exported in the form of coal to all parts of the world.&nbsp;
+Newcastle is in many respects a town of singular and curious
+interest, especially in its older parts, which are full of
+crooked lanes and narrow streets, wynds, and chares, <a
+name="citation4"></a><a href="#footnote4"
+class="citation">[4]</a> formed by tall, antique houses, rising
+tier above tier along the steep northern bank of the Tyne, as the
+similarly precipitous streets of Gateshead crowd the opposite
+shore.</p>
+<p>All over the coal region, which extends from the Coquet to the
+Tees, about fifty miles from north to south, the surface of the
+soil exhibits the signs of extensive underground workings.&nbsp;
+As you pass through the country at night, the earth looks as if
+it were bursting with fire at many points; the blaze of
+coke-ovens, iron-furnaces, and coal-heaps reddening the sky to
+such a distance that the horizon seems to be a glowing belt of
+fire.</p>
+<p>From the necessity which existed for facilitating the
+transport of coals from the pits to the shipping places, it is
+easy to understand how the railway and the locomotive should have
+first found their home in such a district as we have thus briefly
+described.&nbsp; At an early period the coal was carried to the
+boats in panniers, or in sacks upon horses&rsquo; backs.&nbsp;
+Then carts were used, to facilitate the progress of which
+tramways of flag-stone were laid down.&nbsp; This led to the
+enlargement of the vehicle, which became known as a waggon, and
+it was mounted on four wheels instead of two.&nbsp; A local
+writer about the middle of the seventeenth century says,
+&ldquo;Many thousand people are engaged in this trade of coals;
+many live by working of <!-- page 5--><a name="page5"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 5</span>them in the pits; and many live by
+conveying them in waggons and wains to the river Tyne.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Still further to facilitate the haulage of the waggons, pieces
+of planking were laid parallel upon wooden sleepers, or imbedded
+in the ordinary track, by which friction was still further
+diminished.&nbsp; It is said that these wooden rails were first
+employed by one Beaumont, about 1630; and on a road thus laid, a
+single horse was capable of drawing a large loaded waggon from
+the coal-pit to the shipping staith.&nbsp; Roger North, in 1676,
+found the practice had become extensively adopted, and he speaks
+of the large sums then paid for way-leaves; that is, the
+permission granted by the owners of lands lying between the
+coal-pit and the river-side to lay down a tramway between the one
+and the other.&nbsp; A century later, Arthur Young observed that
+not only had these roads become greatly multiplied, but important
+works had been constructed to carry them along upon the same
+level.&nbsp; &ldquo;The coal-waggon roads from the pits to the
+water,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;are great works, carried over all
+sorts of inequalities of ground, so far as the distance of nine
+or ten miles.&nbsp; The tracks of the wheels are marked with
+pieces of wood let into the road for the wheels of the waggons to
+run on, by which one horse is enabled to draw, and that with
+ease, fifty or sixty bushels of coals.&rdquo; <a
+name="citation5"></a><a href="#footnote5"
+class="citation">[5]</a></p>
+<p>Similar waggon-roads were laid down in the coal districts of
+Wales, Cumberland, and Scotland.&nbsp; At the time of the Scotch
+rebellion in 1745, a tramroad existed between the Tranent
+coal-pits and the small harbour of Cockenzie in East Lothian; and
+a portion of the line was selected by General Cope as a position
+for his cannon at the battle of Prestonpans.</p>
+<p>In these rude wooden tracks we find the germ of the modern
+railroad.&nbsp; Improvements were gradually made in them.&nbsp;
+Thus, at some collieries, thin plates of iron were nailed upon
+their upper surface, for the purpose of <!-- page 6--><a
+name="page6"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 6</span>protecting the
+parts most exposed to friction.&nbsp; Cast-iron rails were also
+tried, the wooden rails having been found liable to rot.&nbsp;
+The first rails of this kind are supposed to have been used at
+Whitehaven as early as 1738.&nbsp; This cast-iron road was
+denominated a &ldquo;plate-way,&rdquo; from the plate-like form
+in which the rails were cast.&nbsp; In 1767, as appears from the
+books of the Coalbrookdale Iron Works, in Shropshire, five or six
+tons of rails were cast, as an experiment, on the suggestion of
+Mr. Reynolds, one of the partners; and they were shortly after
+laid down to form a road.</p>
+<p>In 1776, a cast-iron tramway, nailed to wooden sleepers, was
+laid down at the Duke of Norfolk&rsquo;s colliery near
+Sheffield.&nbsp; The person who designed and constructed this
+coal line was Mr. John Curr, whose son has erroneously claimed
+for him the invention of the cast-iron railway.&nbsp; He
+certainly adopted it early, and thereby met the fate of men
+before their age; for his plan was opposed by the labouring
+people of the colliery, who got up a riot in which they tore up
+the road and burnt the coal-staith, whilst Mr. Curr fled into a
+neighbouring wood for concealment, and lay there <i>perdu</i> for
+three days and nights, to escape the fury of the populace.&nbsp;
+The plates of these early tramways had a ledge cast on their edge
+to guide the wheel along the road, after the manner shown in the
+annexed cut.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p6.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Flange rail"
+title=
+"Flange rail"
+src="images/p6.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>In 1789, Mr. William Jessop constructed a railway at
+Loughborough, in Leicestershire, and there introduced the
+cast-iron edge-rail, with flanches cast upon the tire of the
+waggon-wheels to keep them on the track, instead of having the
+margin or flanch cast upon the rail itself; and this plan was
+shortly after adopted in other places.&nbsp; In 1800, Mr.
+Benjamin Outram, of Little Eaton, in Derbyshire (father of <!--
+page 7--><a name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 7</span>the
+distinguished General Outram), used stone props instead of timber
+for supporting the ends or joinings of the rails.&nbsp; Thus the
+use of railroads, in various forms, gradually extended, until
+they were found in general use all over the mining districts.</p>
+<p>Such was the growth of the railway, which, it will be
+observed, originated in necessity, and was modified according to
+experience; progress in this, as in all departments of mechanics,
+having been effected by the exertions of many men, one generation
+entering upon the labours of that which preceded it, and carrying
+them onward to further stages of improvement.&nbsp; We shall
+afterwards find that the invention of the locomotive was made by
+like successive steps.&nbsp; It was not the invention of one man,
+but of a succession of men, each working at the proper hour, and
+according to the needs of that hour; one inventor interpreting
+only the first word of the problem which his successors were to
+solve after long and laborious efforts and experiments.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;The locomotive is not the invention of one man,&rdquo;
+said Robert Stephenson at Newcastle, &ldquo;but of a nation of
+mechanical engineers.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The same circumstances which led to the rapid extension of
+railways in the coal districts of the north tended to direct the
+attention of the mining engineers to the early development of the
+powers of the steam-engine as a useful instrument of motive
+power.&nbsp; The necessity which existed for a more effective
+method of hauling the coals from the pits to the shipping places
+was constantly present to many minds; and the daily pursuits of a
+large class of mechanics occupied in the management of steam
+power, by which the coal was raised from the pits, and the mines
+were pumped clear of water, had the effect of directing their
+attention to the same agency as the best means for accomplishing
+that object.</p>
+<p>Among the upper-ground workmen employed at the coal-pits, the
+principal are the firemen, enginemen, and brakes-men, who fire
+and work the engines, and superintend the <!-- page 8--><a
+name="page8"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 8</span>machinery by
+means of which the collieries are worked.&nbsp; Previous to the
+introduction of the steam-engine the usual machine employed for
+the purpose was what is called a &ldquo;gin.&rdquo;&nbsp; The gin
+consists of a large drum placed horizontally, round which ropes
+attached to buckets and corves are wound, which are thus drawn up
+or sent down the shafts by a horse travelling in a circular track
+or &ldquo;gin race.&rdquo;&nbsp; This method was employed for
+drawing up both coals and water, and it is still used for the
+same purpose in small collieries; but where the quantity of water
+to be raised is great, pumps worked by steam power are called
+into requisition.</p>
+<p>Newcomen&rsquo;s atmospheric engine was first made use of to
+work the pumps; and it continued to be so employed long after the
+more powerful and economical condensing engine of Watt had been
+invented.&nbsp; In the Newcomen or &ldquo;fire engine,&rdquo; as
+it was called, the power is produced by the pressure of the
+atmosphere forcing down the piston in the cylinder, on a vacuum
+being produced within it by condensation of the contained steam
+by means of cold water injection.&nbsp; The piston-rod is
+attached to one end of a lever, whilst the pump-rod works in
+connexion with the other,&mdash;the hydraulic action employed to
+raise the water being exactly similar to that of a common
+sucking-pump.</p>
+<p>The working of a Newcomen engine was a clumsy and apparently a
+very painful process, accompanied by an extraordinary amount of
+wheezing, sighing, creaking, and bumping.&nbsp; When the pump
+descended, there was heard a plunge, a heavy sigh, and a loud
+bump: then, as it rose, and the sucker began to act, there was
+heard a croak, a wheeze, another bump, and then a strong rush of
+water as it was lifted and poured out.&nbsp; Where engines of a
+more powerful and improved description are used, the quantity of
+water raised is enormous&mdash;as much as a million and a half
+gallons in the twenty-four hours.</p>
+<p>The pitmen, or &ldquo;the lads belaw,&rdquo; who work out the
+coal below ground, are a peculiar class, quite distinct from <!--
+page 9--><a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 9</span>the
+workmen on the surface.&nbsp; They are a people with peculiar
+habits, manners, and character, as much as fishermen and sailors,
+to whom, indeed, they bear, in some respects, a considerable
+resemblance.&nbsp; Some fifty years since they were a much
+rougher and worse educated class than they are now; hard workers,
+but very wild and uncouth; much given to &ldquo;steeks,&rdquo; or
+strikes; and distinguished, in their hours of leisure and on
+pay-nights, for their love of cock-fighting, dog-fighting, hard
+drinking, and cuddy races.&nbsp; The pay-night was a fortnightly
+saturnalia, in which the pitman&rsquo;s character was fully
+brought out, especially when the &ldquo;yel&rdquo; was
+good.&nbsp; Though earning much higher wages than the ordinary
+labouring population of the upper soil, the latter did not mix
+nor intermarry with them; so that they were left to form their
+own communities, and hence their marked peculiarities as a
+class.&nbsp; Indeed, a sort of traditional disrepute seems long
+to have clung to the pitmen, arising perhaps from the nature of
+their employment, and from the circumstance that the colliers
+were among the last classes enfranchised in England, as they were
+certainly the last in Scotland, where they continued bondmen down
+to the end of last century.&nbsp; The last thirty years, however,
+have worked a great improvement in the moral condition of the
+Northumbrian pitmen; the abolition of the twelve months&rsquo;
+bond to the mine, and the substitution of a month&rsquo;s notice
+previous to leaving, having given them greater freedom and
+opportunity for obtaining employment; and day-schools and
+Sunday-schools, together with the important influences of
+railways, have brought them fully up to a level with the other
+classes of the labouring population.</p>
+<p>The coals, when raised from the pits, are emptied into the
+waggons placed alongside, from whence they are sent along the
+rails to the staiths erected by the river-side, the waggons
+sometimes descending by their own gravity along inclined planes,
+the waggoner standing behind to check the speed by means of a
+convoy or wooden brake bearing upon the rims <!-- page 10--><a
+name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 10</span>of the
+wheels.&nbsp; Arrived at the staiths, the waggons are emptied at
+once into the ships waiting alongside for cargo.&nbsp; Any one
+who has sailed down the Tyne from Newcastle Bridge cannot but
+have been struck with the appearance of the immense staiths,
+constructed of timber, which are erected at short distances from
+each other on both sides of the river.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p10.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Coal-Staith on the Tyne"
+title=
+"Coal-Staith on the Tyne"
+src="images/p10.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>But a great deal of the coal shipped from the Tyne comes from
+above-bridge, where sea-going craft cannot reach, and is floated
+down the river in &ldquo;keels,&rdquo; in which the coals are
+sometimes piled up according to convenience when large, or, when
+the coal is small or tender, it is conveyed in tubs to prevent
+breakage.&nbsp; These keels are of a very ancient
+model,&mdash;perhaps the oldest extant in England: they are even
+said to be of the same build as those in which the Norsemen
+navigated the Tyne centuries ago.&nbsp; The keel is a tubby,
+grimy-looking craft, rounded fore and aft, with a single large
+square sail, which the keel-bullies, as the Tyne watermen are
+called, manage with great dexterity; <!-- page 11--><a
+name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 11</span>the vessel
+being guided by the aid of the &ldquo;swape,&rdquo; or great oar,
+which is used as a kind of rudder at the stern of the
+vessel.&nbsp; These keelmen are an exceedingly hardy class of
+workmen, not by any means so quarrelsome as their designation of
+&ldquo;bully&rdquo; would imply&mdash;the word being merely
+derived from the obsolete term &ldquo;boolie,&rdquo; or beloved,
+an appellation still in familiar use amongst brother workers in
+the coal districts.&nbsp; One of the most curious sights upon the
+Tyne is the fleet of hundreds of these black-sailed, black-hulled
+keels, bringing down at each tide their black cargoes for the
+ships at anchor in the deep water at Shields and other parts of
+the river below Newcastle.</p>
+<p>These preliminary observations will perhaps be sufficient to
+explain the meaning of many of the occupations alluded to, and
+the phrases employed, in the course of the following narrative,
+some of which might otherwise have been comparatively
+unintelligible to the general reader.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p11.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Coal Waggons"
+title=
+"Coal Waggons"
+src="images/p11.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 12--><a
+name="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 12</span>
+<a href="images/p12.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Wylam Colliery and Village"
+title=
+"Wylam Colliery and Village"
+src="images/p12.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER II.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Wylam and Dewley Burn</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">George Stephenson&rsquo;s Early Years</span>.</h2>
+<p>The colliery village of Wylam is situated on the north bank of
+the Tyne, about eight miles west of Newcastle.&nbsp; The
+Newcastle and Carlisle railway runs along the opposite bank; and
+the traveller by that line sees the usual signs of a colliery in
+the unsightly pumping-engines surrounded by heaps of ashes,
+coal-dust, and slag; whilst a neighbouring iron-furnace in full
+blast throws out dense smoke and loud <!-- page 13--><a
+name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 13</span>jets of steam
+by day and lurid flames at night.&nbsp; These works form the
+nucleus of the village, which is almost entirely occupied by
+coal-miners and iron-furnacemen.&nbsp; The place is remarkable
+for its large population, but not for its cleanness or neatness
+as a village; the houses, as in most colliery villages, being the
+property of the owners or lessees, who employ them in temporarily
+accommodating the workpeople, against whose earnings there is a
+weekly set-off for house and coals.&nbsp; About the end of last
+century the estate of which Wylam forms part, belonged to Mr.
+Blackett, a gentleman of considerable celebrity in coal-mining,
+then more generally known as the proprietor of the
+&lsquo;Globe&rsquo; newspaper.</p>
+<p>There is nothing to interest one in the village itself.&nbsp;
+But a few hundred yards from its eastern extremity stands a
+humble detached dwelling, which will be interesting to many as
+the birthplace of one of the most remarkable men of our
+times&mdash;George Stephenson, the Railway Engineer.&nbsp; It is
+a common two-storied, red-tiled, rubble house, portioned off into
+four labourers&rsquo; apartments.&nbsp; It is known by the name
+of High Street House, and was originally so called because it
+stands by the side of what used to be the old riding post road or
+street between Newcastle and Hexham, along which the post was
+carried on horseback within the memory of persons living.</p>
+<p>The lower room in the west end of this house was the home of
+the Stephenson family; and there George Stephenson was born, the
+second of a family of six children, on the 9th of June,
+1781.&nbsp; The apartment is now, what it was then, an ordinary
+labourer&rsquo;s dwelling,&mdash;its walls are unplastered, its
+floor is of clay, and the bare rafters are exposed overhead.</p>
+<p>Robert Stephenson, or &ldquo;Old Bob,&rdquo; as the neighbours
+familiarly called him, and his wife Mabel, were a respectable
+couple, careful and hard-working.&nbsp; It is said that Robert
+Stephenson&rsquo;s father was a Scotchman, and came into England
+as a gentleman&rsquo;s servant.&nbsp; Mabel, his wife, was <!--
+page 14--><a name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+14</span>the daughter of Robert Carr, a dyer at Ovingham.&nbsp;
+When first married, they lived at Walbottle, a village situated
+between Wylam and Newcastle, afterwards removing to Wylam, where
+Robert was employed as fireman of the old pumping engine at that
+colliery.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p14.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"High-street House, Wylam, the Birthplace of George Stephenson"
+title=
+"High-street House, Wylam, the Birthplace of George Stephenson"
+src="images/p14.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>An old Wylam collier, who remembered George Stephenson&rsquo;s
+father, thus described him:&mdash;&ldquo;Geordie&rsquo;s fayther
+war like a peer o&rsquo; deals nailed thegither, an&rsquo; a bit
+o&rsquo; flesh i&rsquo; th&rsquo; inside; he war as queer as
+Dick&rsquo;s hatband&mdash;went thrice aboot, an&rsquo;
+wudn&rsquo;t tie.&nbsp; His wife Mabel war a delicat&rsquo;
+boddie, an&rsquo; varry flighty.&nbsp; Thay war an honest family,
+but sair hadden doon i&rsquo; th&rsquo; world.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Indeed, the earnings of old Robert did not amount to more than
+twelve shillings a week; and, as there were six children to
+maintain, the family, during their stay at Wylam, were
+necessarily in very straitened circumstances.&nbsp; The
+father&rsquo;s wages <!-- page 15--><a name="page15"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 15</span>being barely sufficient, even with
+the most rigid economy, for the sustenance of the household,
+there was little to spare for clothing, and nothing for
+education, so none of the children were sent to school.</p>
+<p>Old Robert was a general favourite in the village, especially
+amongst the children, whom he was accustomed to draw about him
+whilst tending the engine-fire, and feast their young
+imaginations with tales of Sinbad the Sailor and Robinson Crusoe,
+besides others of his own invention; so that &ldquo;Bob&rsquo;s
+engine-fire&rdquo; came to be the most popular resort in the
+village.&nbsp; Another feature in his character, by which he was
+long remembered, was his affection for birds and animals; and he
+had many tame favourites of both sorts, which were as fond of
+resorting to his engine-fire as the boys and girls
+themselves.&nbsp; In the winter time he had usually a flock of
+tame robins about him; and they would come hopping familiarly to
+his feet to pick up the crumbs which he had saved for them out of
+his humble dinner.&nbsp; At his cottage he was rarely without one
+or more tame blackbirds, which flew about the house, or in and
+out at the door.&nbsp; In summer-time he would go a-birdnesting
+with his children; and one day he took his little son George to
+see a blackbird&rsquo;s nest for the first time.&nbsp; Holding
+him up in his arms, he let the wondering boy peep down, through
+the branches held aside for the purpose, into a nest full of
+young birds&mdash;a sight which the boy never forgot, but used to
+speak of with delight to his intimate friends when he himself had
+grown an old man.</p>
+<p>The boy George led the ordinary life of working-people&rsquo;s
+children.&nbsp; He played about the doors; went birdnesting when
+he could; and ran errands to the village.&nbsp; He was also an
+eager listener, with the other children, to his father&rsquo;s
+curious tales; and he early imbibed from him that affection for
+birds and animals which continued throughout his life.&nbsp; In
+course of time he was promoted to the office of carrying his
+father&rsquo;s dinner to him while at work, and it was on such
+occasions his great delight to see <!-- page 16--><a
+name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 16</span>the robins
+fed.&nbsp; At home he helped to nurse, and that with a careful
+hand, his younger brothers and sisters.&nbsp; One of his duties
+was to see that the other children were kept out of the way of
+the chaldron waggons, which were then dragged by horses along the
+wooden tramroad immediately in front of the cottage-door.&nbsp;
+This waggon-way was the first in the northern district on which
+the experiment of a locomotive engine was tried.&nbsp; But at the
+time of which we speak, the locomotive had scarcely been dreamt
+of in England as a practicable working power; horses only were
+used to haul the coal; and one of the first sights with which the
+boy was familiar was the coal-waggons dragged by them along the
+wooden railway at Wylam.</p>
+<p>Thus eight years passed; after which, the coal having been
+worked out, the old engine, which had grown &ldquo;dismal to look
+at,&rdquo; as one of the workmen described it, was pulled down;
+and then Robert, having obtained employment as a fireman at the
+Dewley Burn Colliery, removed with his family to that
+place.&nbsp; Dewley Burn, at this day, consists of a few
+old-fashioned low-roofed cottages standing on either side of a
+babbling little stream.&nbsp; They are connected by a rustic
+wooden bridge, which spans the rift in front of the doors.&nbsp;
+In the central one-roomed cottage of this group, on the right
+bank, Robert Stephenson lived for a time with his family; the pit
+at which he worked standing in the rear of the cottages.</p>
+<p>Young though he was, George was now of an age to be able to
+contribute something towards the family maintenance; for in a
+poor man&rsquo;s house, every child is a burden until his little
+hands can be turned to profitable account.&nbsp; That the boy was
+shrewd and active, and possessed of a ready mother wit, will be
+evident enough from the following incident.&nbsp; One day his
+sister Nell went into Newcastle to buy a bonnet; and Geordie went
+with her &ldquo;for company.&rdquo;&nbsp; At a draper&rsquo;s
+shop in the Bigg Market, Nell found a &ldquo;chip&rdquo; quite to
+her mind, but on pricing it, alas! it was found to be fifteen
+pence beyond her means, and she left <!-- page 17--><a
+name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 17</span>the shop very
+much disappointed.&nbsp; But Geordie said, &ldquo;Never heed,
+Nell; see if I canna win siller enough to buy the bonnet; stand
+ye there, till I come back.&rdquo;&nbsp; Away ran the boy and
+disappeared amidst the throng of the market, leaving the girl to
+wait his return.&nbsp; Long and long she waited, until it grew
+dusk, and the market people had nearly all left.&nbsp; She had
+begun to despair, and fears crossed her mind that Geordie must
+have been run over and killed; when at last up he came running,
+almost breathless.&nbsp; &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve gotten the siller for
+the bonnet, Nell!&rdquo; cried he.&nbsp; &ldquo;Eh
+Geordie!&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;but hoo hae ye gotten
+it?&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Haudin the gentlemen&rsquo;s
+horses!&rdquo; was the exultant reply.&nbsp; The bonnet was
+forthwith bought, and the two returned to Dewley happy.</p>
+<p>George&rsquo;s first regular employment was of a very humble
+sort.&nbsp; A widow, named Grace Ainslie, then occupied the
+neighbouring farmhouse of Dewley.&nbsp; She kept a number of
+cows, and had the privilege of grazing them along the
+waggon-road.&nbsp; She needed a boy to herd the cows, to keep
+them out of the way of the waggons, and prevent their straying or
+trespassing on the neighbours&rsquo; &ldquo;liberties;&rdquo; the
+boy&rsquo;s duty was also to bar the gates at night after all the
+waggons had passed.&nbsp; George petitioned for this post, and,
+to his great joy, he was appointed at the wage of twopence a
+day.</p>
+<p>It was light employment, and he had plenty of spare time on
+his hands, which he spent in birdnesting, making whistles out of
+reeds and scrannel straws, and erecting Lilliputian mills in the
+little water-streams that ran into the Dewley bog.&nbsp; But his
+favourite amusement at this early age was erecting clay engines
+in conjunction with his chosen playmate, Bill Thirlwall.&nbsp;
+The place is still pointed out where the future engineers made
+their first essays in modelling.&nbsp; The boys found the clay
+for their engines in the adjoining bog, and the hemlocks which
+grew about supplied them with imaginary steam-pipes.&nbsp; They
+even proceeded to make a miniature winding-machine in <!-- page
+18--><a name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+18</span>connexion with their engine, and the apparatus was
+erected upon a bench in front of the Thirlwalls&rsquo;
+cottage.&nbsp; The corves were made out of hollowed corks; the
+ropes were supplied by twine; and a few bits of wood gleaned from
+the refuse of the carpenter&rsquo;s shop completed their
+materials.&nbsp; With this apparatus the boys made a show of
+sending the corves down the pit and drawing them up again, much
+to the marvel of the pitmen.&nbsp; But some mischievous person
+about the place seized the opportunity early one morning of
+smashing the fragile machinery, much to the grief of the young
+engineers.</p>
+<p>As Stephenson grew older and abler to work, he was set to lead
+the horses when ploughing, though scarce big enough to stride
+across the furrows; and he used afterwards to say that he rode to
+his work in the mornings at an hour when most other children of
+his age were asleep in their beds.&nbsp; He was also employed to
+hoe turnips, and do similar farm-work, for which he was paid the
+advanced wage of fourpence a day.&nbsp; But his highest ambition
+was to be taken on at the colliery where his father worked; and
+he shortly joined his elder brother James there as a
+&ldquo;corf-bitter,&rdquo; or &ldquo;picker,&rdquo; to clear the
+coal of stones, bats, and dross.&nbsp; His wages were then
+advanced to sixpence a day, and afterwards to eightpence when he
+was set to drive the gin-horse.</p>
+<p>Shortly after, George went to Black Callerton to drive the gin
+there; and as that colliery lies about two miles across the
+fields from Dewley Burn, he walked that distance early in the
+morning to his work, returning home late in the evening.&nbsp;
+One of the old residents at Black Callerton, who remembered him
+at that time, described him to the author as &ldquo;a grit
+growing lad, with bare legs an&rsquo; feet;&rdquo; adding that he
+was &ldquo;very quick-witted and full of fun and tricks: indeed,
+there was nothing under the sun but he tried to
+imitate.&rdquo;&nbsp; He was usually foremost also in the sports
+and pastimes of youth.</p>
+<p>Among his first strongly-developed tastes was the love <!--
+page 19--><a name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+19</span>of birds and animals, which he inherited from his
+father.&nbsp; Blackbirds were his special favourites.&nbsp; The
+hedges between Dewley and Black Callerton were capital
+bird-nesting places; and there was not a nest there that he did
+not know of.&nbsp; When the young birds were old enough, he would
+bring them home with him, feed them, and teach them to fly about
+the cottage unconfined by cages.&nbsp; One of his blackbirds
+became so tame, that, after flying about the doors all day, and
+in and out of the cottage, it would take up its roost upon the
+bed-head at night.&nbsp; And most singular of all, the bird would
+disappear in the spring and summer months, when it was supposed
+to go into the woods to pair and rear its young, after which it
+would reappear at the cottage, and resume its social habits
+during the winter.&nbsp; This went on for several years.&nbsp;
+George had also a stock of tame rabbits, for which he built a
+little house behind the cottage, and for many years he continued
+to pride himself upon the superiority of his breed.</p>
+<p>After he had driven the gin for some time at Dewley and Black
+Callerton, he was taken on as an assistant to his father in
+firing the engine at Dewley.&nbsp; This was a step of promotion
+which he had anxiously desired, his only fear being lest he
+should be found too young for the work.&nbsp; Indeed, he used
+afterwards to relate how he was wont to hide himself when the
+owner of the colliery went round, in case he should be thought
+too little a boy to earn the wages paid him.&nbsp; Since he had
+modelled his clay engines in the bog, his young ambition was to
+be an engineman; and to be an assistant fireman was the first
+step towards this position.&nbsp; Great therefore was his joy
+when, at about fourteen years of age, he was appointed
+assistant-fireman, at the wage of a shilling a day.</p>
+<p>But the coal at Dewley Burn being at length worked out, the
+pit was ordered to be &ldquo;laid in,&rdquo; and old Robert and
+his family were again under the necessity of shifting their home;
+for, to use the common phrase, they must &ldquo;follow the
+wark.&rdquo;&nbsp; They removed accordingly to a place <!-- page
+20--><a name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+20</span>called Jolly&rsquo;s Close, a few miles to the south,
+close behind the village of Newburn, where another coal-mine
+belonging to the Duke of Northumberland, called &ldquo;the
+Duke&rsquo;s Winnin,&rdquo; had recently been opened out.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p20.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Newburn on the Tyne"
+title=
+"Newburn on the Tyne"
+src="images/p20.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>One of the old persons in the neighbourhood, who knew the
+family well, describes the dwelling in which they lived as a poor
+cottage of only one room, in which the father, mother, four sons,
+and two daughters, lived and slept.&nbsp; It was crowded with
+three low-poled beds.&nbsp; The one apartment served for parlour,
+kitchen, sleeping-room, and all.</p>
+<p>The children of the Stephenson family were now growing apace,
+and several of them were old enough to be able to earn money at
+various kinds of colliery work.&nbsp; James and George, the two
+eldest sons, worked as assistant-firemen; <!-- page 21--><a
+name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 21</span>and the
+younger boys worked as wheelers or pickers on the
+bank-tops.&nbsp; The two girls helped their mother with the
+household work.</p>
+<p>Other workings of the coal were opened out in the
+neighbourhood; and to one of these George was removed as fireman
+on his own account.&nbsp; This was called the &ldquo;Mid Mill
+Winnin,&rdquo; where he had for his mate a young man named
+Coe.&nbsp; They worked together there for about two years, by
+twelve-hour shifts, George firing the engine at the wage of a
+shilling a day.&nbsp; He was now fifteen years old.&nbsp; His
+ambition was as yet limited to attaining the standing of a full
+workman, at a man&rsquo;s wages; and with that view he
+endeavoured to attain such a knowledge of his engine as would
+eventually lead to his employment as an engineman, with its
+accompanying advantage of higher pay.&nbsp; He was a steady,
+sober, hard-working young man, but nothing more in the estimation
+of his fellow-workmen.</p>
+<p>One of his favourite pastimes in by-hours was trying feats of
+strength with his companions.&nbsp; Although in frame he was not
+particularly robust, yet he was big and bony, and considered very
+strong for his age.&nbsp; At throwing the hammer George had no
+compeer.&nbsp; At lifting heavy weights off the ground from
+between his feet, by means of a bar of iron passed through
+them&mdash;placing the bar against his knees as a fulcrum, and
+then straightening his spine and lifting them sheer up&mdash;he
+was also very successful.&nbsp; On one occasion he lifted as much
+as sixty stones weight&mdash;a striking indication of his
+strength of bone and muscle.</p>
+<p>When the pit at Mid Mill was closed, George and his companion
+Coe were sent to work another pumping-engine erected near
+Throckley Bridge, where they continued for some months.&nbsp; It
+was while working at this place that his wages were raised to
+12s. a week&mdash;an event to him of great importance.&nbsp; On
+coming out of the foreman&rsquo;s office that Saturday evening on
+which he received the advance, he announced the fact to his
+fellow-workmen, adding triumphantly &ldquo;I am now a made man
+for life!&rdquo;</p>
+<p><!-- page 22--><a name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+22</span>The pit opened at Newburn, at which old Robert
+Stephenson worked, proving a failure, it was closed; and a new
+pit was sunk at Water-row, on a strip of land lying between the
+Wylam waggon-way and the river Tyne, about half a mile west of
+Newburn Church.&nbsp; A pumping engine was erected there by
+Robert Hawthorn, the Duke&rsquo;s engineer; and old Stephenson
+went to work it as fireman, his son George acting as the
+engineman or plugman.&nbsp; At that time he was about seventeen
+years old&mdash;a very youthful age at which to fill so
+responsible a post.&nbsp; He had thus already got ahead of his
+father in his station as a workman; for the plugman holds a
+higher grade than the fireman, requiring more practical knowledge
+and skill, and usually receiving higher wages.</p>
+<p>George&rsquo;s duty as plugman was to watch the engine, to see
+that it kept well in work, and that the pumps were efficient in
+drawing the water.&nbsp; When the water-level in the pit was
+lowered, and the suction became incomplete through the exposure
+of the suction-holes, it was then his duty to proceed to the
+bottom of the shaft and plug the tube so that the pump should
+draw: hence the designation of &ldquo;plugman.&rdquo;&nbsp; If a
+stoppage in the engine took place through any defect which he was
+incapable of remedying, it was for him to call in the aid of the
+chief engineer to set it to rights.</p>
+<p>But from the time when George Stephenson was appointed
+fireman, and more particularly afterwards as engineman, he
+applied himself so assiduously and so successfully to the study
+of the engine and its gearing&mdash;taking the machine to pieces
+in his leisure hours for the purpose of cleaning and
+understanding its various parts&mdash;that he soon acquired a
+thorough practical knowledge of its construction and mode of
+working, and very rarely needed to call the engineer of the
+colliery to his aid.&nbsp; His engine became a sort of pet with
+him, and he was never wearied of watching and inspecting it with
+admiration.</p>
+<p>Though eighteen years old, like many of his fellow-<!-- page
+23--><a name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+23</span>workmen, Stephenson had not yet learnt to read.&nbsp;
+All that he could do was to get some one to read for him by his
+engine fire, out of any book or stray newspaper which found its
+way into the neighbourhood.&nbsp; Buonaparte was then overrunning
+Italy, and astounding Europe by his brilliant succession of
+victories; and there was no more eager auditor of his exploits,
+as read from the newspaper accounts, than the young engineman at
+the Water-row Pit.</p>
+<p>There were also numerous stray bits of information and
+intelligence contained in these papers, which excited
+Stephenson&rsquo;s interest.&nbsp; One of these related to the
+Egyptian method of hatching birds&rsquo; eggs by means of
+artificial heat.&nbsp; Curious about everything relating to
+birds, he determined to test it by experiment.&nbsp; It was
+spring time, and he forthwith went a birdnesting in the adjoining
+woods and hedges.&nbsp; He gathered a collection of eggs of
+various sorts, set them in flour in a warm place in the
+engine-house, covering the whole with wool, and then waited the
+issue.&nbsp; The heat was kept as steady as possible, and the
+eggs were carefully turned every twelve hours, but though they
+chipped, and some of them exhibited well-grown chicks, they never
+hatched.&nbsp; The experiment failed, but the incident shows that
+the inquiring mind of the youth was fairly at work.</p>
+<p>Modelling of engines in clay continued to be another of his
+favourite occupations.&nbsp; He made models of engines which he
+had seen, and of others which were described to him.&nbsp; These
+attempts were an improvement upon his first trials at Dewley Burn
+bog, when occupied there as a herd-boy.&nbsp; He was, however,
+anxious to know something of the wonderful engines of Boulton and
+Watt, and was told that they were to be found fully described in
+books, which he must search for information as to their
+construction, action and uses.&nbsp; But, alas! Stephenson could
+not read; he had not yet learnt even his letters.</p>
+<p>Thus he shortly found, when gazing wistfully in the direction
+of knowledge, that to advance further as a skilled <!-- page
+24--><a name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+24</span>workman, he must master this wonderful art of
+reading&mdash;the key to so many other arts.&nbsp; Only thus
+could he gain an access to books, the depositories of the wisdom
+and experience of the past.&nbsp; Although a grown man, and doing
+the work of a man, he was not ashamed to confess his ignorance,
+and go to school, big as he was, to learn his letters.&nbsp;
+Perhaps, too, he foresaw that, in laying out a little of his
+spare earnings for this purpose, he was investing money
+judiciously, and that, in every hour he spent at school, he was
+really working for better wages.</p>
+<p>His first schoolmaster was Robin Cowens, a poor teacher in the
+village of Walbottle.&nbsp; He kept a night-school, which was
+attended by a few of the colliers and labourers&rsquo; sons in
+the neighbourhood.&nbsp; George took lessons in spelling and
+reading three nights in the week.&nbsp; Robin Cowen&rsquo;s
+teaching cost threepence a week; and though it was not very good,
+yet George, being hungry for knowledge and eager to acquire it,
+soon learnt to read.&nbsp; He also practised
+&ldquo;pothooks,&rdquo; and at the age of nineteen he was proud
+to be able to write his own name.</p>
+<p>A Scotch dominie, named Andrew Robertson, set up a
+night-school in the village of Newburn, in the winter of
+1799.&nbsp; It was more convenient for George to attend this
+school, as it was nearer to his work, and only a few
+minutes&rsquo; walk from Jolly&rsquo;s Close.&nbsp; Besides,
+Andrew had the reputation of being a skilled arithmetician; and
+this branch of knowledge Stephenson was very desirous of
+acquiring.&nbsp; He accordingly began taking lessons from him,
+paying fourpence a week.&nbsp; Robert Gray, the junior fireman at
+the Water-row Pit, began arithmetic at the same time; and Gray
+afterwards told the author that George learnt
+&ldquo;figuring&rdquo; so much faster than he did, that he could
+not make out how it was&mdash;&ldquo;he took to figures so
+wonderful.&rdquo;&nbsp; Although the two started together from
+the same point, at the end of the winter George had mastered
+&ldquo;reduction,&rdquo; while Robert Gray was still struggling
+with the difficulties of simple division.&nbsp; But
+George&rsquo;s secret was his <!-- page 25--><a
+name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+25</span>perseverance.&nbsp; He worked out the sums in his
+bye-hours, improving every minute of his spare time by the
+engine-fire, and studying there the arithmetical problems set for
+him upon his slate by the master.&nbsp; In the evenings he took
+to Robertson the sums which he had &ldquo;worked,&rdquo; and new
+ones were &ldquo;set&rdquo; for him to study out the following
+day.&nbsp; Thus his progress was rapid, and, with a willing heart
+and mind, he soon became well advanced in arithmetic.&nbsp;
+Indeed, Andrew Robertson became very proud of his scholar; and
+shortly after, when the Water-row Pit was closed, and George
+removed to Black Callerton to work there, the poor schoolmaster,
+not having a very extensive connexion in Newburn, went with his
+pupils, and set up his night-school at Black Callerton, where he
+continued his lessons.</p>
+<p>George still found time to attend to his favourite animals
+while working at the Water-row Pit.&nbsp; Like his father, he
+used to tempt the robin-redbreasts to hop and fly about him at
+the engine-fire, by the bait of bread-crumbs saved from his
+dinner.&nbsp; But his chief favourite was his dog&mdash;so
+sagacious that he almost daily carried George&rsquo;s dinner to
+him at the pit.&nbsp; The tin containing the meal was suspended
+from the dog&rsquo;s neck, and, thus laden, he proceeded
+faithfully from Jolly&rsquo;s Close to Water-row Pit, quite
+through the village of Newburn.&nbsp; He turned neither to left
+nor right, nor heeded the barking of curs at his heels.&nbsp; But
+his course was not unattended with perils.&nbsp; One day the big
+strange dog of a passing butcher espying the engineman&rsquo;s
+messenger with the tin can about his neck, ran after and fell
+upon him.&nbsp; There was a terrible tussle and worrying, which
+lasted for a brief while, and, shortly after, the dog&rsquo;s
+master, anxious for his dinner, saw his faithful servant
+approaching, bleeding but triumphant.&nbsp; The tin can was still
+round his neck, but the dinner had been spilt in the
+struggle.&nbsp; Though George went without his dinner that day,
+he was prouder of his dog than ever when the circumstances of the
+combat were related to him by the villagers who had seen it.</p>
+<p>It was while working at the Water-row Pit that <!-- page
+26--><a name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+26</span>Stephenson learnt the art of brakeing an engine.&nbsp;
+This being one of the higher departments of colliery labour, and
+among the best paid, George was very anxious to learn it.&nbsp; A
+small winding-engine having been put up for the purpose of
+drawing the coals from the pit, Bill Coe, his friend and
+fellow-workman, was appointed the brakesman.&nbsp; He frequently
+allowed George to try his hand at the machine, and instructed him
+how to proceed.&nbsp; Coe was, however, opposed in this by
+several of the other workmen&mdash;one of whom, a banksman named
+William Locke, <a name="citation26"></a><a href="#footnote26"
+class="citation">[26]</a> went so far as to stop the working of
+the pit because Stephenson had been called in to the brake.&nbsp;
+But one day as Mr. Charles Nixon, the manager of the pit, was
+observed approaching, Coe adopted an expedient which put a stop
+to the opposition.&nbsp; He called upon Stephenson to &ldquo;come
+into the brake-house, and take hold of the machine.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Locke, as usual, sat down, and the working of the pit was
+stopped.&nbsp; When requested by the manager to give an
+explanation, he said that &ldquo;young Stephenson couldn&rsquo;t
+brake, and, what was more, never would learn, he was so
+clumsy.&rdquo;&nbsp; Mr. Nixon, however, ordered Locke to go on
+with the work, which he did; and Stephenson, after some further
+practice, acquired the art of brakeing.</p>
+<p>After working at the Water-row Pit and at other engines near
+Newburn for about three years, George and Coe went to Black
+Callerton early in 1801.&nbsp; Though only twenty years of age,
+his employers thought so well of him that they appointed him to
+the responsible office of brakesman at the Dolly Pit.&nbsp; For
+convenience&rsquo; sake, he took lodgings at a small
+farmer&rsquo;s in the village, finding his own victuals, and
+paying so much a week for lodging and attendance.&nbsp; In the
+locality this was called &ldquo;picklin in his awn poke
+neuk.&rdquo;&nbsp; It not unfrequently happens that the young
+workman about the collieries, when selecting a lodging, contrives
+to pitch his tent where the daughter of the house ultimately <!--
+page 27--><a name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+27</span>becomes his wife.&nbsp; This is often the real
+attraction that draws the youth from home, though a very
+different one may be pretended.</p>
+<p>George Stephenson&rsquo;s duties as brakesman may be briefly
+described.&nbsp; The work was somewhat monotonous, and consisted
+in superintending the working of the engine and machinery by
+means of which the coals were drawn out of the pit.&nbsp;
+Brakesman are almost invariably selected from those who have had
+considerable experience as engine-firemen, and borne a good
+character for steadiness, punctuality, watchfulness, and
+&ldquo;mother wit.&rdquo;&nbsp; In George Stephenson&rsquo;s day
+the coals were drawn out of the pit in corves, or large baskets
+made of hazel rods.&nbsp; The corves were placed together in a
+cage, between which and the pit-ropes there was usually from
+fifteen to twenty feet of chain.&nbsp; The approach of the corves
+towards the pit mouth was signalled by a bell, brought into
+action by a piece of mechanism worked from the shaft of the
+engine.&nbsp; When the bell sounded, the brakesman checked the
+speed, by taking hold of the hand-gear connected with the
+steam-valves, which were so arranged that by their means he could
+regulate the speed of the engine, and stop or set it in motion
+when required.&nbsp; Connected with the fly-wheel was a powerful
+wooden brake, acting by pressure against its rim, something like
+the brake of a railway-carriage against its wheels.&nbsp; On
+catching sight of the chain attached to the ascending corve-cage,
+the brakesman, by pressing his foot upon a foot-step near him,
+was enabled, with great precision, to stop the revolutions of the
+wheel, and arrest the ascent of the corves at the pit mouth, when
+they were forthwith landed on the &ldquo;settle
+board.&rdquo;&nbsp; On the full corves being replaced by empty
+ones, it was then the duty of the brakesman to reverse the
+engine, and send the corves down the pit to be filled again.</p>
+<p>The monotony of George Stephenson&rsquo;s occupation as a
+brakesman was somewhat varied by the change which he made, in his
+turn, from the day to the night shift.&nbsp; His duty, on the
+latter occasions, consisted chiefly in sending <!-- page 28--><a
+name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 28</span>men and
+materials into the mine, and in drawing other men and materials
+out.&nbsp; Most of the workmen enter the pit during the night
+shift, and leave it in the latter part of the day, whilst
+coal-drawing is proceeding.&nbsp; The requirements of the work at
+night are such, that the brakesman has a good deal of spare time
+on his hands, which he is at liberty to employ in his own
+way.&nbsp; From an early period, George was accustomed to employ
+those vacant night hours in working the sums set for him by
+Andrew Robertson upon his slate, practising writing in his
+copy-book, and mending the shoes of his fellow-workmen.&nbsp; His
+wages while working at the Dolly Pit amounted to from &pound;1
+15s. to &pound;2 in the fortnight; but he gradually added to them
+as he became more expert at shoe-mending, and afterwards at
+shoe-making.</p>
+<p>Probably he was stimulated to take in hand this extra work by
+the attachment he had by this time formed for a young woman named
+Fanny Henderson, who officiated as servant in the small
+farmer&rsquo;s house in which he lodged.&nbsp; We have been
+informed that the personal attractions of Fanny, though these
+were considerable, were the least of her charms.&nbsp; Mr.
+William Fairbairn, who afterwards saw her in her home at
+Willington Quay, describes her as a very comely woman.&nbsp; But
+her temper was one of the sweetest; and those who knew her were
+accustomed to speak of the charming modesty of her demeanour, her
+kindness of disposition, and withal her sound good sense.</p>
+<p>Amongst his various mendings of old shoes at Callerton.&nbsp;
+George was on one occasion favoured with the shoes of his
+sweetheart to sole.&nbsp; One can imagine the pleasure with which
+he would linger over such a piece of work, and the pride with
+which he would execute it.&nbsp; A friend of his, still living,
+relates that, after he had finished the shoes, he carried them
+about with him in his pocket on the Sunday afternoon, and that
+from time to time he would pull them out and hold them up,
+exclaiming, &ldquo;what a capital job he had made of
+them!&rdquo;</p>
+<p><!-- page 29--><a name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+29</span>Out of his earnings by shoe-mending at Callerton, George
+contrived to save his first guinea.&nbsp; The first guinea saved
+by a working man is no trivial thing.&nbsp; If, as in
+Stephenson&rsquo;s case, it has been the result of prudent
+self-denial, of extra labour at bye-hours, and of the honest
+resolution to save and economise for worthy purposes, the first
+guinea saved is an earnest of better things.&nbsp; When
+Stephenson had saved this guinea he was not a little elated at
+the achievement, and expressed the opinion to a friend, who many
+years after reminded him of it, that he was &ldquo;now a rich
+man.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Not long after he began to work at Black Callerton as
+brakesman, he had a quarrel with a pitman named Ned Nelson, a
+roistering bully, who was the terror of the village.&nbsp; Nelson
+was a great fighter; and it was therefore considered dangerous to
+quarrel with him.&nbsp; Stephenson was so unfortunate as not to
+be able to please this pitman by the way in which he drew him out
+of the pit; and Nelson swore at him grossly because of the
+alleged clumsiness of his brakeing.&nbsp; George defended
+himself, and appealed to the testimony of the other
+workmen.&nbsp; But Nelson had not been accustomed to
+George&rsquo;s style of self-assertion; and, after a great deal
+of abuse, he threatened to kick the brakesman, who defied him to
+do so.&nbsp; Nelson ended by challenging Stephenson to a pitched
+battle; and the latter accepted the challenge, when a day was
+fixed on which the fight was to come off.</p>
+<p>Great was the excitement at Black Callerton when it was known
+that George Stephenson had accepted Nelson&rsquo;s
+challenge.&nbsp; Everybody said he would be killed.&nbsp; The
+villagers, the young men, and especially the boys of the place,
+with whom George was a great favourite, all wished that he might
+beat Nelson, but they scarcely dared to say so.&nbsp; They came
+about him while he was at work in the engine-house to inquire if
+it was really true that he was &ldquo;goin to fight
+Nelson?&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Ay; never fear for me; I&rsquo;ll
+fight him.&rdquo;&nbsp; And fight him he did.&nbsp; For some days
+previous to <!-- page 30--><a name="page30"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 30</span>the appointed day of battle, Nelson
+went entirely off work for the purpose of keeping himself fresh
+and strong, whereas Stephenson went on doing his daily work as
+usual, and appeared not in the least disconcerted by the prospect
+of the affair.&nbsp; So, on the evening appointed, after George
+had done his day&rsquo;s labour, he went into the Dolly Pit
+Field, where his already exulting rival was ready to meet
+him.&nbsp; George stripped, and &ldquo;went in&rdquo; like a
+practised pugilist&mdash;though it was his first and last
+fight.&nbsp; After a few rounds, George&rsquo;s wiry muscles and
+practised strength enabled him severely to punish his adversary,
+and to secure an easy victory.</p>
+<p>This circumstance is related in illustration of
+Stephenson&rsquo;s personal pluck and courage; and it was
+thoroughly characteristic of the man.&nbsp; He was no pugilist,
+and the very reverse of quarrelsome.&nbsp; But he would not be
+put down by the bully of the colliery, and he fought him.&nbsp;
+There his pugilism ended; they afterwards shook hands, and
+continued good friends.&nbsp; In after life, Stephenson&rsquo;s
+mettle was often as hardly tried, though in a different way; and
+he did not fail to exhibit the same resolute courage in
+contending with the bullies of the railway world, as he showed in
+his encounter with Ned Nelson, the fighting pitman of
+Callerton.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p30.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Colliery Whimsey"
+title=
+"Colliery Whimsey"
+src="images/p30.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 31--><a
+name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 31</span>
+<a href="images/p31.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Stephenson&rsquo;s Cottage at Wallington Quay"
+title=
+"Stephenson&rsquo;s Cottage at Wallington Quay"
+src="images/p31.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER III.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Engineman at Willington Quay and
+Killingworth</span>.</h2>
+<p>George Stephenson had now acquired the character of an expert
+workman.&nbsp; He was diligent and observant while at work, and
+sober and studious when the day&rsquo;s work was over.&nbsp; His
+friend Coe described him to the author as &ldquo;a standing
+example of manly character.&rdquo;&nbsp; On pay-Saturday
+afternoons, when the pitmen held their fortnightly holiday,
+occupying themselves chiefly in cock-fighting and dog-fighting in
+the adjoining fields, followed by adjournments <!-- page 32--><a
+name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 32</span>to the
+&ldquo;yel-house,&rdquo; George was accustomed to take his engine
+to pieces, for the purpose of obtaining &ldquo;insight,&rdquo;
+and he cleaned all the parts and put the machine in thorough
+working order before leaving it.</p>
+<p>In the evenings he improved himself in the arts of reading and
+writing, and occasionally took a turn at modelling.&nbsp; It was
+at Callerton, his son Robert informed us, that he began to try
+his hand at original invention; and for some time he applied his
+attention to a machine of the nature of an engine-brake, which
+reversed itself by its own action.&nbsp; But nothing came of the
+contrivance, and it was eventually thrown aside as useless.&nbsp;
+Yet not altogether so; for even the highest skill must undergo
+the inevitable discipline of experiment, and submit to the
+wholesome correction of occasional failure.</p>
+<p>After working at Callerton for about two years, he received an
+offer to take charge of the engine on Willington Ballast Hill at
+an advanced wage.&nbsp; He determined to accept it, and at the
+same time to marry Fanny Henderson, and begin housekeeping on his
+own account.&nbsp; Though he was only twenty-one years old, he
+had contrived, by thrift, steadiness, and industry, to save as
+much money as enabled him to take a cottage-dwelling at
+Willington Quay, and furnish it in a humble but comfortable style
+for the reception of his bride.</p>
+<p>Willington Quay lies on the north bank of the Tyne, about six
+miles below Newcastle.&nbsp; It consists of a line of houses
+straggling along the river-side; and high behind it towers up the
+huge mound of ballast emptied out of the ships which resort to
+the quay for their cargoes of coal for the London market.&nbsp;
+The ballast is thrown out of the ships&rsquo; holds into waggons
+laid alongside, which are run up to the summit of the Ballast
+Hill, and emptied out there.&nbsp; At the foot of the great mound
+of shot rubbish was the fixed engine of which George Stephenson
+acted as brakesman.</p>
+<p>The cottage in which he took up his abode was a small
+two-storied dwelling, standing a little back from the quay <!--
+page 33--><a name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+33</span>with a bit of garden ground in front. <a
+name="citation33"></a><a href="#footnote33"
+class="citation">[33]</a>&nbsp; The Stephenson family occupied
+the upper room in the west end of the cottage.&nbsp; Close behind
+rose the Ballast Hill.</p>
+<p>When the cottage dwelling had been made snug, and was ready
+for occupation, the marriage took place.&nbsp; It was celebrated
+in Newburn Church, on the 28th of November, 1802.&nbsp; After the
+ceremony, George, with his newly-wedded wife, proceeded to the
+house of his father at Jolly&rsquo;s Close.&nbsp; The old man was
+now becoming infirm, and, though he still worked as an
+engine-fireman, contrived with difficulty &ldquo;to keep his head
+above water.&rdquo;&nbsp; When the visit had been paid, the
+bridal party set out for their new home at Willington Quay,
+whither they went in a manner quite common before travelling by
+railway came into use.&nbsp; Two farm horses, borrowed from a
+neighbouring farmer, were each provided with a saddle and
+pillion, and George having mounted one, his wife seated herself
+behind him, holding on by his waist.&nbsp; The bridesman and
+bridesmaid in like manner mounted the other horse; and in this
+wise the wedding party rode across the country, passing through
+the old streets of Newcastle, and then by Wallsend to Willington
+Quay&mdash;a ride of about fifteen miles.</p>
+<p>George Stephenson&rsquo;s daily life at Willington was that of
+a steady workman.&nbsp; By the manner, however, in which he
+continued to improve his spare hours in the evening, he was
+silently and surely paving the way for being something more than
+a manual labourer.&nbsp; He set himself to study diligently the
+principles of mechanics, and to master the laws by which his
+engine worked.&nbsp; For a workman, he was even at that time more
+than ordinarily speculative&mdash;often taking up strange
+theories, and trying to sift out the truth that was in
+them.&nbsp; While sitting by his wife&rsquo;s side in his
+cottage-dwelling in the winter evenings, he was <!-- page 34--><a
+name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 34</span>usually
+occupied in studying mechanical subjects, or in modelling
+experimental machines.&nbsp; Amongst his various speculations
+while at Willington, he tried to discover a means of Perpetual
+Motion.&nbsp; Although he failed, as so many others had done
+before him, the very efforts he made tended to whet his inventive
+faculties, and to call forth his dormant powers.&nbsp; He went so
+far as to construct the model of a machine for the purpose.&nbsp;
+It consisted of a wooden wheel, the periphery of which was
+furnished with glass tubes filled with quicksilver; as the wheel
+rotated, the quicksilver poured itself down into the lower tubes,
+and thus a sort of self-acting motion was kept up in the
+apparatus, which, however, did not prove to be perpetual.&nbsp;
+Where he had first obtained the idea of this
+machine&mdash;whether from conversation or reading, is not known;
+but his son Robert was of opinion that he had heard of the
+apparatus of this kind described in the &ldquo;History of
+Inventions.&rdquo;&nbsp; As he had then no access to books, and
+indeed could barely read with ease, it is probable that he had
+been told of the contrivance, and set about testing its value
+according to his own methods.</p>
+<p>Much of his spare time continued to be occupied by labour more
+immediately profitable, regarded in a pecuniary point of
+view.&nbsp; In the evenings, after his day&rsquo;s labour at his
+engine, he would occasionally employ himself for an hour or two
+in casting ballast out of the collier ships, by which means he
+was enabled to earn a few extra shillings weekly.&nbsp; Mr.
+William Fairbairn of Manchester has informed us that while
+Stephenson was employed at Willington, he himself was working in
+the neighbourhood as an engine apprentice at the Percy Main
+Colliery.&nbsp; He was very fond of George, who was a fine,
+hearty fellow, besides being a capital workman.&nbsp; In the
+summer evenings young Fairbairn was accustomed to go down to the
+Quay to see his friend, and on such occasions he would frequently
+take charge of George&rsquo;s engine while he took a turn at
+heaving ballast out of the ships&rsquo; holds.&nbsp; It is
+pleasant to think of <!-- page 35--><a name="page35"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 35</span>the future President of the British
+Association thus helping the future Railway Engineer to earn a
+few extra shillings by overwork in the evenings, at a time when
+both occupied the rank of humble working men in an obscure
+northern village.</p>
+<p>Mr. Fairbairn was also a frequent visitor at George&rsquo;s
+cottage on the Quay, where, though there was no luxury, there was
+comfort, cleanliness, and a pervading spirit of industry.&nbsp;
+Even at home George was never for a moment idle.&nbsp; When there
+was no ballast to heave out at the Quay he took in shoes to mend;
+and from mending he proceeded to making them, as well as
+shoe-lasts, in which he was admitted to be very expert.</p>
+<p>But an accident occurred in Stephenson&rsquo;s household about
+this time, which had the effect of directing his industry into a
+new and still more profitable channel.&nbsp; The cottage chimney
+took fire one day in his absence, when the alarmed neighbours,
+rushing in, threw quantities of water upon the flames; and some,
+in their zeal, even mounted the ridge of the house, and poured
+buckets of water down the chimney.&nbsp; The fire was soon put
+out, but the house was thoroughly soaked.&nbsp; When George came
+home he found everything in disorder, and his new furniture
+covered with soot.&nbsp; The eight-day clock, which hung against
+the wall&mdash;one of the most highly-prized articles in the
+house&mdash;was much damaged by the steam with which the room had
+been filled; and its wheels were so clogged by the dust and soot
+that it was brought to a complete standstill.&nbsp; George was
+always ready to turn his hand to anything, and his ingenuity,
+never at fault, immediately set to work to repair the unfortunate
+clock.&nbsp; He was advised to send it to the clockmaker, but
+that would cost money; and he declared that he would repair it
+himself&mdash;at least he would try.&nbsp; The clock was
+accordingly taken to pieces and cleaned; the tools which he had
+been accumulating for the purpose of constructing his Perpetual
+Motion machine, enabled him to do this readily; and he succeeded
+so well that, shortly after, the neighbours sent <!-- page
+36--><a name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 36</span>him
+their clocks to clean, and he soon became one of the most famous
+clock-doctors in the neighbourhood.</p>
+<p>It was while living at Willington Quay that George
+Stephenson&rsquo;s only son was born, on the 16th of October,
+1803.&nbsp; The child was a great favourite with his father, and
+added much to the happiness of his evening hours.&nbsp;
+George&rsquo;s &ldquo;philoprogenitiveness,&rdquo; as
+phrenologists call it, had been exercised hitherto upon birds,
+dogs, rabbits, and even the poor old gin-horses which he had
+driven at the Callerton Pit; but in his boy he now found a much
+more genial object for the exercise of his affection.</p>
+<p>The christening took place in the school-house at Wallsend,
+the old parish church being at the time in so dilapidated a
+condition from the &ldquo;creeping&rdquo; or subsidence of the
+ground, consequent upon the excavation of the coal, that it was
+considered dangerous to enter it.&nbsp; On this occasion, Robert
+Gray and Anne Henderson, who had officiated as bridesman and
+bridesmaid at the wedding, came over again to Willington, and
+stood godfather and godmother to little Robert,&mdash;so named
+after his grandfather.</p>
+<p>After working for several years more as a brakesman at the
+Willington machine, George Stephenson was induced to leave his
+situation there for a similar one at the West Moor Colliery,
+Killingworth.&nbsp; It was not without considerable persuasion
+that he was induced to leave the Quay, as he knew that he should
+thereby give up the chance of earning extra money by casting
+ballast from the keels.&nbsp; At last, however, he consented, in
+the hope of making up the loss in some other way.</p>
+<p>The village of Killingworth lies about seven miles north of
+Newcastle, and is one of the best-known collieries in that
+neighbourhood.&nbsp; The workings of the coal are of vast extent,
+and give employment to a large number of work-people.&nbsp; To
+this place Stephenson first came as a brakesman about the
+beginning of 1805.&nbsp; He had not been long in his new place,
+ere his wife died (in 1806), shortly after giving birth to a
+daughter, who survived the mother only a <!-- page 37--><a
+name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 37</span>few
+months.&nbsp; George deeply felt the loss of his wife, for they
+had been very happy together.&nbsp; Their lot had been sweetened
+by daily successful toil.&nbsp; The husband was sober and
+hard-working, and his wife made his hearth so bright and his home
+so snug, that no attraction could draw him from her side in the
+evening hours.&nbsp; But this domestic happiness was all to pass
+away; and George felt as one that had thenceforth to tread the
+journey of life alone.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p37.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"West Moor Colliery"
+title=
+"West Moor Colliery"
+src="images/p37.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Shortly after this event, while his grief was still fresh, he
+received an invitation from some gentlemen concerned in large
+spinning works near Montrose in Scotland, to proceed thither and
+superintend the working of one of Boulton and Watt&rsquo;s
+engines.&nbsp; He accepted the offer, and made arrangements to
+leave Killingworth for a time.</p>
+<p><!-- page 38--><a name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+38</span>Having left his little boy in good keeping, he set out
+upon his long journey to Scotland on foot, with his kit upon his
+back.&nbsp; While working at Montrose he gave a striking proof of
+that practical ability in contrivance for which he was afterwards
+so distinguished.&nbsp; It appears that the water required for
+the purposes of his engine, as well as for the use of the works,
+was pumped from a considerable depth, being supplied from the
+adjacent extensive sand strata.&nbsp; The pumps frequently got
+choked by the sand drawn in at the bottom of the well through the
+snore-holes, or apertures through which the water to be raised is
+admitted.&nbsp; The barrels soon became worn, and the bucket and
+clack leathers destroyed, so that it became necessary to devise a
+remedy; and with this object the engineman proceeded to adopt the
+following simple but original expedient.&nbsp; He had a wooden
+box or boot made, twelve feet high, which he placed in the sump
+or well, and into this he inserted the lower end of the
+pump.&nbsp; The result was, that the water flowed clear from the
+outer part of the well over into the boot, and being drawn up
+without any admixture of sand, the difficulty was thus conquered.
+<a name="citation38"></a><a href="#footnote38"
+class="citation">[38]</a></p>
+<p>Being paid good wages, Stephenson contrived, during the year
+he worked at Montrose, to save a sum of &pound;28, which he took
+back with him to Killingworth.&nbsp; Longing to get back to his
+kindred, his heart yearning for the son whom he had left behind,
+our engineman took leave of his employers, and trudged back to
+Northumberland on foot as he had gone.&nbsp; While on his journey
+southward he arrived late one evening, footsore and wearied, at
+the door of a small farmer&rsquo;s cottage, at which he knocked,
+and requested shelter for the night.&nbsp; It was refused, and
+then he entreated <!-- page 39--><a name="page39"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 39</span>that, being tired, and unable to
+proceed further, the farmer would permit him to lie down in the
+outhouse, for that a little clean straw would serve him.&nbsp;
+The farmer&rsquo;s wife appeared at the door, looked at the
+traveller, then retiring with her husband, the two confabulated a
+little apart, and finally they invited Stephenson into the
+cottage.&nbsp; Always full of conversation and anecdote, he soon
+made himself at home in the farmer&rsquo;s family, and spent with
+them a few pleasant hours.&nbsp; He was hospitably entertained
+for the night, and when he left the cottage in the morning, he
+pressed them to make some charge for his lodging, but they
+refused to accept any recompense.&nbsp; They only asked him to
+remember them kindly, and if he ever came that way, to be sure
+and call again.&nbsp; Many years after, when Stephenson had
+become a thriving man, he did not forget the humble pair who had
+succoured and entertained him on his way; he sought their cottage
+again, when age had silvered their hair; and when he left the
+aged couple, they may have been reminded of the old saying that
+we may sometimes &ldquo;entertain angels unawares.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Reaching home, Stephenson found that his father had met with a
+serious accident at the Blucher Pit, which had reduced him to
+great distress and poverty.&nbsp; While engaged in the inside of
+an engine, making some repairs, a fellow-workman accidentally let
+in the steam upon him.&nbsp; The blast struck him full in the
+face; he was terribly scorched, and his eyesight was
+irretrievably lost.&nbsp; The helpless and infirm man had
+struggled for a time with poverty; his sons who were at home,
+poor as himself, were little able to help him, while George was
+at a distance in Scotland.&nbsp; On his return, however, with his
+savings in his pocket, his first step was to pay off his
+father&rsquo;s debts, amounting to about &pound;15; and shortly
+after he removed the aged pair from Jolly&rsquo;s Close to a
+comfortable cottage adjoining the tramroad near the West Moor at
+Killingworth, where the old man lived for many years, supported
+entirely by his son.</p>
+<p>Stephenson was again taken on as a brakesman at the <!-- page
+40--><a name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 40</span>West
+Moor Pit.&nbsp; He does not seem to have been very hopeful as to
+his prospects in life about this time (1807&ndash;8).&nbsp;
+Indeed the condition of the working class generally was very
+discouraging.&nbsp; England was engaged in a great war, which
+pressed upon the industry, and severely tried the resources, of
+the country.&nbsp; There was a constant demand for men to fill
+the army.&nbsp; The working people were also liable to be pressed
+for the navy, or drawn for the militia; and though they could not
+fail to be discontented under such circumstances, they scarcely
+dared even to mutter their discontent to their neighbours.</p>
+<p>Stephenson was drawn for the militia: he must therefore either
+quit his work and go a-soldiering, or find a substitute.&nbsp; He
+adopted the latter course, and borrowed &pound;6, which, with the
+remainder of his savings, enabled him to provide a militiaman to
+serve in his stead.&nbsp; Thus the whole of his hard-won earnings
+were swept away at a stroke.&nbsp; He was almost in despair, and
+contemplated the idea of leaving the country, and emigrating to
+the United States.&nbsp; Although a voyage thither was then a
+much more formidable thing for a working man to accomplish than a
+voyage to Australia is now, he seriously entertained the project,
+and had all but made up his mind to go.&nbsp; His sister Ann,
+with her husband, emigrated about that time, but George could not
+raise the requisite money, and they departed without him.&nbsp;
+After all, it went sore against his heart to leave his home and
+his kindred, the scenes of his youth and the friends of his
+boyhood; and he struggled long with the idea, brooding over it in
+sorrow.&nbsp; Speaking afterwards to a friend of his thoughts at
+the time, he said: &ldquo;You know the road from my house at the
+West Moor to Killingworth.&nbsp; I remember once when I went
+along that road I wept bitterly, for I knew not where my lot in
+life would be cast.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In 1808, Stephenson, with two other brakesmen, took a small
+contract under the colliery lessees for brakeing the engines at
+the West Moor Pit.&nbsp; The brakesmen found the <!-- page
+41--><a name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 41</span>oil
+and tallow; they divided the work amongst them, and were paid so
+much per score for their labour.&nbsp; It was the interest of the
+brakesmen to economise the working as much as possible, and
+George no sooner entered upon the contract than he proceeded to
+devise ways and means of making it &ldquo;pay.&rdquo;&nbsp; He
+observed that the ropes which, at other pits in the
+neighbourhood, lasted about three months, at the West Moor Pit
+became worn out in about a month.&nbsp; He immediately set about
+ascertaining the cause of the defect; and finding it to be
+occasioned by excessive friction, he proceeded, with the sanction
+of the head engine-wright and the colliery owners, to shift the
+pulley-wheels and re-arrange the gearing, which had the effect of
+greatly diminishing the tear and wear, besides allowing the work
+of the colliery to proceed without interruption.</p>
+<p>About the same time he attempted an improvement in the
+winding-engine which he worked, by placing a valve between the
+air-pump and condenser.&nbsp; This expedient, although it led to
+no practical result, showed that his mind was actively engaged in
+studying new mechanical adaptations.&nbsp; It continued to be his
+regular habit, on Saturdays, to take his engine to pieces, for
+the purpose, at the same time, of familiarising himself with its
+action, and of placing it in a state of thorough working
+order.&nbsp; By mastering its details, he was enabled, as
+opportunity occurred, to turn to practical account the knowledge
+he thus diligently and patiently acquired.</p>
+<p>Such an opportunity was not long in presenting itself.&nbsp;
+In the year 1810, a new pit was sunk by the &ldquo;Grand
+Allies&rdquo; (the lessees of the mines) at the village of
+Killingworth, now known as the Killingworth High Pit.&nbsp; An
+atmospheric or Newcomen engine, made by Smeaton, was fixed there
+for the purpose of pumping out the water from the shaft; but
+somehow it failed to clear the pit.&nbsp; As one of the workmen
+has since described the circumstance&mdash;&ldquo;She
+couldn&rsquo;t keep her jack-head in water: all the enginemen in
+the neighbourhood were tried, as well as Crowther <!-- page
+42--><a name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 42</span>of
+the Ouseburn, but they were clean bet.&rdquo;&nbsp; The engine
+had been fruitlessly pumping for nearly twelve months, and began
+to be spoken of as a total failure.&nbsp; Stephenson had gone to
+look at it when in course of erection, and then observed to the
+over-man that he thought it was defective; he also gave it as his
+opinion that, if there were much water in the mine, the engine
+would never keep it under.&nbsp; Of course, as he was only a
+brakesman, his opinion was considered to be worth very little on
+such a point.&nbsp; He continued, however, to make frequent
+visits to the engine, to see &ldquo;how she was getting
+on.&rdquo;&nbsp; From the bank-head where he worked his brake he
+could see the chimney smoking at the High Pit; and as the men
+were passing to and from their work, he would call out and
+inquire &ldquo;if they had gotten to the bottom yet?&rdquo;&nbsp;
+And the reply was always to the same effect&mdash;the pumping
+made no progress, and the workmen were still &ldquo;drowned
+out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>One Saturday afternoon he went over to the High Pit to examine
+the engine more carefully than he had yet done.&nbsp; He had been
+turning the subject over thoughtfully in his mind; and seemed to
+have satisfied himself as to the cause of the failure.&nbsp; Kit
+Heppel, one of the sinkers, asked him, &ldquo;Weel, George, what
+do you mak&rsquo; o&rsquo; her?&nbsp; Do you think you could do
+anything to improve her?&rdquo;&nbsp; Said George, &ldquo;I could
+alter her, man, and make her draw: in a week&rsquo;s time I could
+send you to the bottom.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Forthwith Heppel reported this conversation to Ralph Dodds,
+the head viewer, who, being now quite in despair, and hopeless of
+succeeding with the engine, determined to give George&rsquo;s
+skill a trial.&nbsp; At the worst he could only fail, as the rest
+had done.&nbsp; In the evening, Dodds went in search of
+Stephenson, and met him on the road, dressed in his
+Sunday&rsquo;s suit, on the way to &ldquo;the preaching&rdquo; in
+the Methodist Chapel, which he attended.&nbsp; &ldquo;Well,
+George,&rdquo; said Dodds, &ldquo;they tell me that you think you
+can put the engine at the High Pit to rights.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Yes, sir,&rdquo; said George.&nbsp; &ldquo;I think I
+could.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;If that&rsquo;s the case, I&rsquo;ll
+give you a fair <!-- page 43--><a name="page43"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 43</span>trial, and you must set to work
+immediately.&nbsp; We are clean drowned out, and cannot get a
+stop further.&nbsp; The engineers hereabouts are all bet; and if
+you really succeed in accomplishing what they cannot do, you may
+depend upon it I will make you a man for life.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Stephenson began his operations early next morning.&nbsp; The
+only condition that he made, before setting to work, was that he
+should select his own workmen.&nbsp; There was, as he knew, a
+good deal of jealousy amongst the &ldquo;regular&rdquo; men that
+a colliery brakesman should pretend to know more about their
+engine than they themselves did, and attempt to remedy defects
+which the most skilled men of their craft, including the engineer
+of the colliery, had failed to do.&nbsp; But George made the
+condition a <i>sine qu&acirc; non</i>.&nbsp; &ldquo;The
+workmen,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;must either be all Whigs or all
+Tories.&rdquo;&nbsp; There was no help for it, so Dodds ordered
+the old hands to stand aside.&nbsp; The men grumbled, but gave
+way; and then George and his party went in.</p>
+<p>The engine was taken entirely to pieces.&nbsp; The cistern
+containing the injection water was raised ten feet; the injection
+cock, being too small, was enlarged to nearly double its former
+size, and it was so arranged that it should be shut off quickly
+at the beginning of the stroke.&nbsp; These and other alterations
+were necessarily performed in a rough way, but, as the result
+proved, on true principles.&nbsp; Stephenson also, finding that
+the boiler would bear a greater pressure than five pounds to the
+inch, determined to work it at a pressure of ten pounds, though
+this was contrary to the directions of both Newcomen and
+Smeaton.&nbsp; The necessary alterations were made in about three
+days, and many persons came to see the engine start, including
+the men who had put her up.&nbsp; The pit being nearly full of
+water, she had little to do on starting, and, to use
+George&rsquo;s words, &ldquo;came bounce into the
+house.&rdquo;&nbsp; Dodds exclaimed, &ldquo;Why, she was better
+as she was; now, she will knock the house down.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+After a short time, however, the engine got fairly to work, and
+by ten o&rsquo;clock that night the water was <!-- page 44--><a
+name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 44</span>lower in the
+pit than it had ever been before.&nbsp; It was kept pumping all
+Thursday, and by the Friday afternoon the pit was cleared of
+water, and the workmen were &ldquo;sent to the bottom,&rdquo; as
+Stephenson had promised.&nbsp; Thus the alterations effected in
+the pumping apparatus proved completely successful.</p>
+<p>Dodds was particularly gratified with the manner in which the
+job had been done, and he made Stephenson a present of ten
+pounds, which, though very inadequate when compared with the
+value of the work performed, was accepted with gratitude.&nbsp;
+George was proud of the gift as the first marked recognition of
+his skill as a workman; and he used afterwards to say that it was
+the biggest sum of money he had up to that time earned in one
+lump.&nbsp; Ralph Dodds, however, did more than this.&nbsp; He
+released the brakesman from the handles of his engine at West
+Moot, and appointed him engineman at the High Pit, at good wages,
+during the time the pit was sinking,&mdash;the job lasting for
+about a year; and he also kept him in mind for further
+advancement.</p>
+<p>Stephenson&rsquo;s skill as an engine-doctor soon became
+noised abroad, and he was called upon to prescribe remedies for
+all the old, wheezy, and ineffective pumping-machines in the
+neighbourhood.&nbsp; In this capacity he soon left the
+&ldquo;regular&rdquo; men far behind, though they in their turn
+were very mach disposed to treat the Killingworth brakesman as no
+better than a quack.&nbsp; Nevertheless, his practice was really
+founded upon a close study of the principles of mechanics, and on
+an intimate practical acquaintance with the details of the
+pumping-engine.</p>
+<p>Another of his smaller achievements in the same line is still
+told by the people of the district.&nbsp; At the corner of the
+road leading to Long Benton, there was a quarry from which a
+peculiar and scarce kind of ochre was taken.&nbsp; In the course
+of working it out, the water had collected in considerable
+quantities; and there being no means of draining it off, it
+accumulated to such an extent that the further working of <!--
+page 45--><a name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+45</span>the ochre was almost entirely stopped.&nbsp; Ordinary
+pumps were tried, and failed; and then a windmill was tried, and
+failed too.&nbsp; On this, George was asked what ought to be done
+to clear the quarry of the water.&nbsp; He said, &ldquo;he would
+set up for them an engine little bigger than a kail-pot, that
+would clear them out in a week.&rdquo;&nbsp; And he did so.&nbsp;
+A little engine was speedily erected, by means of which the
+quarry was pumped dry in the course of a few days.&nbsp; Thus his
+skill as a pump-doctor soon became the marvel of the
+district.</p>
+<p>In elastic muscular vigour, Stephenson was now in his prime,
+and he still continued to be zealous in measuring his strength
+and agility with his fellow workmen.&nbsp; The competitive
+element in his nature was always strong; and his success in these
+feats of rivalry was certainly remarkable.&nbsp; Few, if any,
+could lift such weights, throw the hammer and putt the stone so
+far, or cover so great a space at a standing or running
+leap.&nbsp; One day, between the engine hour and the rope-rolling
+hour, Kit Heppel challenged him to leap from one high wall to
+another, with a deep gap between.&nbsp; To Heppel&rsquo;s
+surprise and dismay, George took the standing leap, and cleared
+the eleven feet at a bound.&nbsp; Had his eye been less accurate,
+or his limbs less agile and sure, the feat must have cost him his
+life.</p>
+<p>But so full of redundant muscular vigour was he, that leaping,
+putting, or throwing the hammer were not enough for him.&nbsp; He
+was also ambitious of riding on horseback, and, as he had not yet
+been promoted to an office enabling him to keep a horse of his
+own, he sometimes borrowed one of the gin-horses for a
+ride.&nbsp; On one of these occasions, he brought the animal back
+reeking; when Tommy Mitcheson, the bank horse-keeper, a
+rough-spoken fellow, exclaimed to him: &ldquo;Set such fellows as
+you on horseback, and you&rsquo;ll soon ride to the
+De&rsquo;il.&rdquo;&nbsp; But Tommy Mitcheson lived to tell the
+joke, and to confess that, after all, there had been a better
+issue to George&rsquo;s horsemanship than that which he
+predicted.</p>
+<p><!-- page 46--><a name="page46"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+46</span>Old Cree, the engine-wright at Killingworth High Pit,
+having been killed by an accident, George Stephenson was, in
+1812, appointed engine-wright of the colliery at the salary of
+&pound;100 a year.&nbsp; He was also allowed the use of a
+galloway to ride upon in his visits of inspection to the
+collieries leased by the &ldquo;Grand Allies&rdquo; in that
+neighbourhood.&nbsp; The &ldquo;Grand Allies&rdquo; were a
+company of gentlemen, consisting of Sir Thomas Liddell
+(afterwards Lord Ravensworth), the Earl of Strathmore, and Mr.
+Stuart Wortley (afterwards Lord Wharncliffe), the lessees of the
+Killingworth collieries.&nbsp; Having been informed of the merits
+of Stephenson, of his indefatigable industry, and the skill which
+he had displayed in the repairs of the pumping-engines, they
+readily acceded to Mr. Dodds&rsquo; recommendation that he should
+be appointed the colliery engine-wright; and, as we shall
+afterwards find, they continued to honour him by distinguished
+marks of their approval.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p46.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Killingworth High Pit"
+title=
+"Killingworth High Pit"
+src="images/p46.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 47--><a
+name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 47</span>
+<a href="images/p47.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Glebe Farm House, Benton"
+title=
+"Glebe Farm House, Benton"
+src="images/p47.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV.<br />
+<span class="smcap">The Stephensons at
+Killingworth</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Education and
+Self-Education of Father and Son</span>.</h2>
+<p>George Stephenson had now been diligently employed for several
+years in the work of self-improvement, and he experienced the
+usual results in increasing mental strength, capability, and
+skill.&nbsp; Perhaps the secret of every man&rsquo;s best success
+is to be found in the alacrity and industry with which he takes
+advantage of the opportunities which present themselves for
+well-doing.&nbsp; Our engineman was an eminent illustration of
+the importance of cultivating this habit of life.&nbsp; Every
+spare moment was laid under contribution by him, either for the
+purpose of adding to his earnings, or to his knowledge.&nbsp; He
+missed no opportunity of extending his observations, especially
+in his own department of <!-- page 48--><a
+name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 48</span>work, ever
+aiming at improvement, and trying to turn all that he did know to
+useful practical account.</p>
+<p>He continued his attempts to solve the mystery of Perpetual
+Motion, and contrived several model machines with the object of
+embodying his ideas in a practical working shape.&nbsp; He
+afterwards used to lament the time he had lost in these futile
+efforts, and said that if he had enjoyed the opportunity which
+most young men now have, of learning from books what previous
+experimenters had accomplished, he would have been spared much
+labour and mortification.&nbsp; Not being acquainted with what
+other mechanics had done, he groped his way in pursuit of some
+idea originated by his own independent thinking and observation;
+and, when he had brought it into some definite form, lo! he found
+that his supposed invention had long been known and recorded in
+scientific books.&nbsp; Often he thought he had hit upon
+discoveries, which he subsequently found were but old and
+exploded fallacies.&nbsp; Yet his very struggle to overcome the
+difficulties which lay in his way, was of itself an education of
+the best sort.&nbsp; By wrestling with them, he strengthened his
+judgment and sharpened his skill, stimulating and cultivating his
+inventiveness and mechanical ingenuity.&nbsp; Being very much in
+earnest, he was compelled to consider the subject of his special
+inquiry in all its relations; and thus he gradually acquired
+practical ability even through his very efforts after the
+impracticable.</p>
+<p>Many of his evenings were now spent in the society of John
+Wigham, whose father occupied the Glebe Farm at Benton, close at
+hand.&nbsp; John was a fair penman and a sound arithmetician, and
+Stephenson sought his society chiefly for the purpose of
+improving himself in writing and &ldquo;figures.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Under Andrew Robertson, he had never quite mastered the Rule of
+Three, and it was only when Wigham took him in hand that he made
+much progress in the higher branches of arithmetic.&nbsp; He
+generally took his slate with him to the Wighams&rsquo; cottage,
+when he had his sums set, that he might work them out while
+tending his engine on <!-- page 49--><a name="page49"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 49</span>the following day.&nbsp; When too
+busy to be able to call upon Wigham, he sent the slate to have
+the former sums corrected and new ones set.&nbsp; Sometimes also,
+at leisure moments, he was enabled to do a little
+&ldquo;figuring&rdquo; with chalk upon the sides of the
+coal-waggons.&nbsp; So much patient perseverance could not but
+eventually succeed; and by dint of practice and study, Stephenson
+was enabled to master successively the various rules of
+arithmetic.</p>
+<p>John Wigham was of great use to his pupil in many ways.&nbsp;
+He was a good talker, fond of argument, an extensive reader as
+country reading went in those days, and a very suggestive
+thinker.&nbsp; Though his store of information might be
+comparatively small when measured with that of more
+highly-cultivated minds, much of it was entirely new to
+Stephenson, who regarded him as a very clever and ingenious
+person.&nbsp; Wigham taught him to draw plans and sections;
+though in this branch Stephenson proved so apt that he soon
+surpassed his master.&nbsp; A volume of &lsquo;Ferguson&rsquo;s
+Lectures on Mechanics,&rsquo; which fell into their hands, was a
+great treasure to both the students.&nbsp; One who remembers
+their evening occupations says he used to wonder what they meant
+by weighing the air and water in so odd a way.&nbsp; They were
+trying the specific gravities of objects; and the devices which
+they employed, the mechanical shifts to which they were put, were
+often of the rudest kind.&nbsp; In these evening entertainments,
+the mechanical contrivances were supplied by Stephenson, whilst
+Wigham found the scientific rationale.&nbsp; The opportunity thus
+afforded to the former of cultivating his mind by contact with
+one wiser than himself proved of great value, and in after-life
+Stephenson gratefully remembered the assistance which, when a
+humble workman, he had derived from John Wigham, the
+farmer&rsquo;s son.</p>
+<p>His leisure moments thus carefully improved, it will be
+inferred that Stephenson continued a sober man.&nbsp; Though his
+notions were never extreme on this point, he was systematically
+temperate.&nbsp; It appears that on the invitation <!-- page
+50--><a name="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 50</span>of
+his master, he had, on one or two occasions, been induced to join
+him in a forenoon glass of ale in the public-house of the
+village.&nbsp; But one day, about noon, when Dodds had got him as
+far as the public-house door, on his invitation to &ldquo;come in
+and take a glass o&rsquo; yel,&rdquo; Stephenson made a dead
+stop, and said, firmly, &ldquo;No, sir, you must excuse me; I
+have made a resolution to drink no more at this time of
+day.&rdquo;&nbsp; And he went back.&nbsp; He desired to retain
+the character of a steady workman; and the instances of men about
+him who had made shipwreck of their character through
+intemperance, were then, as now, unhappily but too frequent.</p>
+<p>But another consideration besides his own self-improvement had
+already begun to exercise an important influence on his
+life.&nbsp; This was the training and education of his son
+Robert, now growing up an active, intelligent boy, as full of fun
+and tricks as his father had been.&nbsp; When a little fellow,
+scarcely able to reach so high as to put a clock-head on when
+placed upon the table, his father would make him mount a chair
+for the purpose; and to &ldquo;help father&rdquo; was the
+proudest work which the boy then, and ever after, could take part
+in.&nbsp; When the little engine was set up at the Ochre Quarry
+to pump it dry, Robert was scarcely absent for an hour.&nbsp; He
+watched the machine very eagerly when it was set to work; and he
+was very much annoyed at the fire burning away the grates.&nbsp;
+The man who fired the engine was a sort of wag, and thinking to
+get a laugh at the boy, he said, &ldquo;Those bars are getting
+varra bad, Robert; I think we main cut up some of that hard wood,
+and put it in instead.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;What would be the use
+of that, you fool?&rdquo; said the boy quickly.&nbsp; &ldquo;You
+would no sooner have put them in than they would be burnt out
+again!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>So soon as Robert was of proper age, his father sent him over
+to the road-side school at Long Benton, kept by Rutter, the
+parish clerk.&nbsp; But the education which Rutter could give was
+of a very limited kind, scarcely extending beyond the primer and
+pothooks.&nbsp; While working as a brakesman on the pit-head at
+Killingworth, the father had often <!-- page 51--><a
+name="page51"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 51</span>bethought him
+of the obstructions he had himself encountered in life through
+his want of schooling; and he formed the noble determination that
+no labour, nor pains, nor self-denial on his part should be
+spared to furnish his son with the best education that it was in
+his power to bestow.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p51.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Rutter&rsquo;s School House, Long Benton"
+title=
+"Rutter&rsquo;s School House, Long Benton"
+src="images/p51.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>It is true his earnings were comparatively small at that
+time.&nbsp; He was still maintaining his infirm parents; and the
+cost of living continued excessive.&nbsp; But he fell back upon
+his old expedient of working up his spare time in the evenings at
+home, or during the night shifts when it was his turn to tend the
+engine, in mending and making shoes, cleaning clocks and watches,
+making shoe-lasts for the shoe-makers of the neighbourhood, and
+cutting out the pitmen&rsquo;s clothes for their wives; and we
+have been told that to this <!-- page 52--><a
+name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 52</span>day there are
+clothes worn at Killingworth made after &ldquo;Geordy
+Steevie&rsquo;s cut.&rdquo;&nbsp; To give his own
+words:&mdash;&ldquo;In the earlier period of my career,&rdquo;
+said he, &ldquo;when Robert was a little boy, I saw how deficient
+I was in education, and I made up my mind that he should not
+labour under the same defect, but that I would put him to a good
+school, and give him a liberal training.&nbsp; I was, however, a
+poor man; and how do you think I managed?&nbsp; I betook myself
+to mending my neighbours&rsquo; clocks and watches at nights,
+after my daily labour was done, and thus I procured the means of
+educating my son.&rdquo; <a name="citation52"></a><a
+href="#footnote52" class="citation">[52]</a></p>
+<p>Carrying out the resolution as to his boy&rsquo;s education,
+Robert was sent to Mr. Bruce&rsquo;s school in Percy Street,
+Newcastle, at Midsummer, 1815, when he was about twelve years
+old.&nbsp; His father bought for him a donkey, on which he rode
+into Newcastle and back daily; and there are many still living
+who remember the little boy, dressed in his suit of homely grey
+stuff, cut out by his father, cantering along to school upon the
+&ldquo;cuddy,&rdquo; with his wallet of provisions for the day
+and his bag of books slung over his shoulder.</p>
+<p>When Robert went to Mr. Bruce&rsquo;s school, he was a shy,
+unpolished country lad, speaking the broad dialect of the pitmen;
+and the other boys would occasionally tease him, for the purpose
+of provoking an outburst of his Killingworth Doric.&nbsp; As the
+shyness got rubbed off, his love of fun began to show itself, and
+he was found able enough to hold his own amongst the other
+boys.&nbsp; As a scholar he was steady and diligent, and his
+master was accustomed to hold him up to the laggards of the
+school as an example of good conduct and industry.&nbsp; But his
+progress, though satisfactory, was by no means
+extraordinary.&nbsp; He used in after-life to pride himself on
+his achievements in mensuration, though another boy, John Taylor,
+beat him at arithmetic.&nbsp; He also made <!-- page 53--><a
+name="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 53</span>considerable
+progress in mathematics; and in a letter written to the son of
+his teacher, many years after, he said, &ldquo;It was to Mr.
+Bruce&rsquo;s tuition and methods of modelling the mind that I
+attribute much of my success as an engineer; for it was from him
+that I derived my taste for mathematical pursuits and the
+facility I possess of applying this kind of knowledge to
+practical purposes and modifying it according to
+circumstances.&rdquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p53.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Bruce&rsquo;s School, Newcastle"
+title=
+"Bruce&rsquo;s School, Newcastle"
+src="images/p53.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>During the time Robert attended school at Newcastle, his
+father made the boy&rsquo;s education instrumental to his
+own.&nbsp; Robert was accustomed to spend some of his spare time
+at the rooms of the Literary and Philosophical Institute; and
+when he went home in the evening, he would recount to his father
+the results of his reading.&nbsp; Sometimes <!-- page 54--><a
+name="page54"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 54</span>he was
+allowed to take with him to Killingworth a volume of the
+&lsquo;Repertory of Arts and Sciences,&rsquo; which father and
+son studied together.&nbsp; But many of the most valuable works
+belonging to the Newcastle Library were not lent out; these
+Robert was instructed to read and study, and bring away with him
+descriptions and sketches for his father&rsquo;s
+information.&nbsp; His father also practised him in reading plans
+and drawings without reference to the written descriptions.&nbsp;
+He used to observe that &ldquo;A good plan should always explain
+itself;&rdquo; and, placing a drawing of an engine or machine
+before the youth, would say, &ldquo;There, now, describe that to
+me&mdash;the arrangement and the action.&rdquo;&nbsp; Thus he
+taught him to read a drawing as easily as he would read a page of
+a book.&nbsp; Both father and son profited by this excellent
+practice, which enabled them to apprehend with the greatest
+facility the details of even the most difficult and complicated
+mechanical drawing.</p>
+<p>While Robert went on with his lessons in the evenings, his
+father was usually occupied with his watch and clock cleaning; or
+in contriving models of pumping-engines; or endeavouring to
+embody in a tangible shape the mechanical inventions which he
+found described in the odd volumes on Mechanics which fell in his
+way.&nbsp; This daily and unceasing example of industry and
+application, in the person of a loving and beloved father,
+imprinted itself deeply upon the boy&rsquo;s heart in characters
+never to be effaced.&nbsp; A spirit of self-improvement was thus
+early and carefully planted and fostered in Robert&rsquo;s mind,
+which continued to influence him through life; and to the close
+of his career, he was proud to confess that if his professional
+success had been great, it was mainly to the example and training
+of his father that he owed it.</p>
+<p>Robert was not, however, exclusively devoted to study, but,
+like most boys full of animal spirits, he was very fond of fun
+and play, and sometimes of mischief.&nbsp; Dr. Bruce relates that
+an old Killingworth labourer, when asked by Robert, on one of his
+last visits to Newcastle, if he <!-- page 55--><a
+name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 55</span>remembered
+him, replied with emotion, &ldquo;Ay, indeed!&nbsp; Haven&rsquo;t
+I paid your head many a time when you came with your
+father&rsquo;s bait, for you were always a sad hempy?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The author had the pleasure, in the year 1854, of accompanying
+Robert Stephenson on a visit to his old home and haunts at
+Killingworth.&nbsp; He had so often travelled the road upon his
+donkey to and from school, that every foot of it was familiar to
+him; and each turn in it served to recall to mind some incident
+of his boyish days.&nbsp; His eyes glistened when he came in
+sight of Killingworth pit-head.&nbsp; Pointing to a humble
+red-tiled house by the road-side at Benton, he said, &ldquo;You
+see that house&mdash;that was Rutter&rsquo;s, where I learnt my A
+B C, and made a beginning of my school learning.&nbsp; And
+there,&rdquo; pointing to a colliery chimney on the left,
+&ldquo;there is Long Benton, where my father put up his first
+pumping-engine; and a great success it was.&nbsp; And this humble
+clay-floored cottage you see here, is where my grandfather lived
+till the close of his life.&nbsp; Many a time have I ridden
+straight into the house, mounted on my cuddy, and called upon
+grandfather to admire his points.&nbsp; I remember the old man
+feeling the animal all over&mdash;he was then quite
+blind&mdash;after which he would dilate upon the shape of his
+ears, fetlocks, and quarters, and usually end by pronouncing him
+to be a &lsquo;real blood.&rsquo;&nbsp; I was a great favourite
+with the old man, who continued very fond of animals, and
+cheerful to the last; and I believe nothing gave him greater
+pleasure than a visit from me and my cuddy.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>On the way from Benton to High Killingworth, Mr. Stephenson
+pointed to a corner of the road where he had once played a boyish
+trick upon a Killingworth collier.&nbsp; &ldquo;Straker,&rdquo;
+said he, &ldquo;was a great bully, a coarse, swearing fellow, and
+a perfect tyrant amongst the women and children.&nbsp; He would
+go tearing into old Nanny the huxter&rsquo;s shop in the village,
+and demand in a savage voice, &lsquo;What&rsquo;s ye&rsquo;r best
+ham the pund?&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;What&rsquo;s floor the
+hunder?&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;What d&rsquo;ye ax for prime
+bacon?&rsquo;&mdash;his questions <!-- page 56--><a
+name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 56</span>often ending
+with the miserable order, accompanied with a tremendous oath, of
+&lsquo;Gie&rsquo;s a penny rrow (roll) an&rsquo; a baubee
+herrin!&rsquo;&nbsp; The poor woman was usually set &lsquo;all of
+a shake&rsquo; by a visit from this fellow.&nbsp; He was also a
+great boaster, and used to crow over the robbers whom he had put
+to flight; mere men in buckram, as everybody knew.&nbsp; We
+boys,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;believed him to be a great
+coward, and determined to play him a trick.&nbsp; Two other boys
+joined me in waylaying Straker one night at that corner,&rdquo;
+pointing to it.&nbsp; &ldquo;We sprang out and called upon him,
+in as gruff voices as we could assume, to &lsquo;stand and
+deliver!&rsquo;&nbsp; He dropped down upon his knees in the dirt,
+declaring he was a poor man, with a sma&rsquo; family, asking for
+&lsquo;mercy,&rsquo; and imploring us, as &lsquo;gentlemen, for
+God&rsquo;s sake, t&rsquo; let him a-be!&rsquo;&nbsp; We
+couldn&rsquo;t stand this any longer, and set up a shout of
+laughter.&nbsp; Recognizing our boys&rsquo; voices, he sprang to
+his feet and rattled out a volley of oaths; on which we cut
+through the hedge, and heard him shortly after swearing his way
+along the road to the yel-house.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>On another occasion, Robert played a series of tricks of a
+somewhat different character.&nbsp; Like his father, he was very
+fond of reducing his scientific reading to practice; and after
+studying Franklin&rsquo;s description of the lightning
+experiment, he proceeded to expend his store of Saturday pennies
+in purchasing about half a mile of copper wire at a
+brazier&rsquo;s shop in Newcastle.&nbsp; Having prepared his
+kite, he sent it up in the field opposite his father&rsquo;s
+door, and bringing the wire, insulated by means of a few feet of
+silk cord, over the backs of some of Farmer Wigham&rsquo;s cows,
+he soon had them skipping about the field in all directions with
+their tails up.&nbsp; One day he had his kite flying at the
+cottage-door as his father&rsquo;s galloway was hanging by the
+bridle to the paling, waiting for the master to mount.&nbsp;
+Bringing the end of the wire just over the pony&rsquo;s crupper,
+so smart an electric shock was given it, that the brute was
+almost knocked down.&nbsp; At this juncture the father issued
+from the door, riding-whip in hand, and was witness to the
+scientific trick just played off upon his galloway.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Ah! you mischievous scoondrel!&rdquo; cried he to the boy,
+who ran off.&nbsp; He inwardly chuckled with pride, nevertheless,
+at Robert&rsquo;s successful experiment. <a
+name="citation57"></a><a href="#footnote57"
+class="citation">[57]</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 57--><a
+name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 57</span>
+<a href="images/p57.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Stephenson&rsquo;s Cottage, West Moor"
+title=
+"Stephenson&rsquo;s Cottage, West Moor"
+src="images/p57.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>At this time, and for many years after, Stephenson dwelt in a
+cottage standing by the side of the road leading from the West
+Moor colliery to Killingworth.&nbsp; The railway from the West
+Moor Pit crosses this road close by the east end of the
+cottage.&nbsp; The dwelling originally consisted of but one
+apartment on the ground-floor, with the garret <!-- page 58--><a
+name="page58"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 58</span>over-head, to
+which access was obtained by means of a step-ladder.&nbsp; But
+with his own hands Stephenson built an oven, and in the course of
+time he added rooms to the cottage, until it became a comfortable
+four-roomed dwelling, in which he lived as long as he remained at
+Killingworth.</p>
+<p>He continued as fond of birds and animals as ever, and seemed
+to have the power of attaching them to him in a remarkable
+degree.&nbsp; He had a blackbird at Killingworth so fond of him
+that it would fly about the cottage, and on holding out his
+finger, would come and perch upon it.&nbsp; A cage was built for
+&ldquo;blackie&rdquo; in the partition between the passage and
+the room, a square of glass forming its outer wall; and Robert
+used afterwards to take pleasure in describing the oddity of the
+bird, imitating the manner in which it would cock its head on his
+father&rsquo;s entering the house, and follow him with its eye
+into the inner apartment.</p>
+<p>Neighbours were accustomed to call at the cottage and have
+their clocks and watches set to rights when they went
+wrong.&nbsp; One day, after looking at the works of a watch left
+by a pitman&rsquo;s wife, George handed it to his son; &ldquo;Put
+her in the oven, Robert,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;for a quarter of
+an hour or so.&rdquo;&nbsp; It seemed an odd way of repairing a
+watch; nevertheless, the watch was put into the oven, and at the
+end of the appointed time it was taken out, going all
+right.&nbsp; The wheels had merely got clogged by the oil
+congealed by the cold; which at once explains the rationale of
+the remedy adopted.</p>
+<p>There was a little garden attached to the cottage, in which,
+while a workman, Stephenson took a pride in growing gigantic
+leeks and astounding cabbages.&nbsp; There was great competition
+amongst the villagers in the growth of vegetables, all of whom he
+excelled, excepting one of his neighbours, whose cabbages
+sometimes outshone his.&nbsp; In the protection of his
+garden-crops from the ravages of the birds, he invented a strange
+sort of &ldquo;fley-craw,&rdquo; which moved its arms with the
+wind; and he fastened his <!-- page 59--><a
+name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 59</span>garden-door
+by means of a piece of ingenious mechanism, so that no one but
+himself could enter it.&nbsp; His cottage was quite a
+curiosity-shop of models of engines, self-acting planes, and
+perpetual-motion machines.&nbsp; The last-named contrivances,
+however, were only unsuccessful attempts to solve a problem which
+had effectually baffled hundreds of preceding inventors.&nbsp;
+His odd and eccentric contrivances often excited great wonder
+amongst the Killingworth villagers.&nbsp; He won the
+women&rsquo;s admiration by connecting their cradles with the
+smoke-jack, and making them self-acting.&nbsp; Then he astonished
+the pitmen by attaching an alarum to the clock of the watchman
+whose duty it was to call them betimes in the morning.&nbsp; He
+also contrived a wonderful lamp which burned under water, with
+which he was afterwards wont to amuse the Brandling family at
+Gosforth,&mdash;going into the fish-pond at night, lamp in hand,
+attracting and catching the fish, which rushed wildly towards the
+flame.</p>
+<p>Dr. Bruce tells of a competition which Stephenson had with the
+joiner at Killingworth, as to which of them could make the best
+shoe-last; and when the former had done his work, either for the
+humour of the thing, or to secure fair play from the appointed
+judge, he took it to the Morrisons in Newcastle, and got them to
+put their stamp upon it.&nbsp; So that it is possible the
+Killingworth brakesman, afterwards the inventor of the safety
+lamp and the originator of the railway system, and John Morrison,
+the last-maker, afterwards the translator of the Scriptures into
+the Chinese language, may have confronted each other in solemn
+contemplation over the successful last, which won the verdict
+coveted by its maker.</p>
+<p>Sometimes he would endeavour to impart to his fellow-workmen
+the results of his scientific reading.&nbsp; Everything that he
+learnt from books was so new and so wonderful to him, that he
+regarded the facts he drew from them in the light of discoveries,
+as if they had been made but yesterday.&nbsp; Once he tried to
+explain to some of the pitmen how the earth was round, and kept
+turning round.&nbsp; But his auditors <!-- page 60--><a
+name="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 60</span>flatly
+declared the thing to be impossible, as it was clear that
+&ldquo;at the bottom side they must fall off!&rdquo;&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said George, &ldquo;you don&rsquo;t quite
+understand it yet.&rdquo;&nbsp; His son Robert also early
+endeavoured to communicate to others the information which he had
+gathered at school; and Dr. Bruce has related that, when visiting
+Killingworth on one occasion, he found him engaged in teaching
+algebra to such of the pitmen&rsquo;s boys as would become his
+pupils.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p60.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Sundial"
+title=
+"The Sundial"
+src="images/p60.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>While Robert was still at school, his father proposed to him
+during the holidays that he should construct a sun-dial, to be
+placed over their cottage-door at West Moor.&nbsp; &ldquo;I
+expostulated with him at first,&rdquo; said Robert, &ldquo;that I
+had not learnt sufficient astronomy and mathematics to enable me
+to make the necessary calculations.&nbsp; But he would have no
+denial.&nbsp; &lsquo;The thing is to be done,&rsquo; said he;
+&lsquo;so just set about it at once.&rsquo;&nbsp; Well; we got a
+&lsquo;Ferguson&rsquo;s Astronomy,&rsquo; and studied the subject
+together.&nbsp; Many a sore head I had while making the necessary
+calculations to adapt the dial to the latitude of
+Killingworth.&nbsp; But at length it was fairly drawn out on
+paper, and then my father got a stone, and we hewed, and carved,
+and polished it, until we made a very respectable dial of it; and
+there it is, you see,&rdquo; pointing to it over the
+cottage-door, &ldquo;still quietly numbering the hours when the
+sun is shining.&nbsp; I assure you, not a little was thought of
+that piece of work by the pitmen when it was put up, and began to
+tell its tale of time.&rdquo;&nbsp; The date carved upon the dial
+is &ldquo;August 11th, MDCCCXVI.&rdquo;&nbsp; Both <!-- page
+61--><a name="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+61</span>father and son were in after-life very proud of the
+joint production.&nbsp; Many years after, George took a party of
+savans, when attending the meeting of the British Association at
+Newcastle, over to Killingworth to see the pits, and he did not
+fail to direct their attention to the sun-dial; and Robert, on
+the last visit which he made to the place, a short time before
+his death, took a friend into the cottage, and pointed out to him
+the very desk, still there, at which he had sat while making his
+calculations of the latitude of Killingworth.</p>
+<p>From the time of his appointment as engineer at the
+Killingworth Pit, George Stephenson was in a measure relieved
+from the daily routine of manual labour, having, as we have seen,
+advanced himself to the grade of a higher class workman.&nbsp;
+But he had not ceased to be a worker, though he employed his
+industry in a different way.&nbsp; It might, indeed, be inferred
+that he had now the command of greater leisure; but his spare
+hours were as much as ever given to work, either necessary or
+self-imposed.&nbsp; So far as regarded his social position, he
+had already reached the summit of his ambition; and when he had
+got his hundred a year, and his dun galloway to ride on, he said
+he never wanted to be any higher.&nbsp; When Robert Whetherly
+offered to give him an old gig, his travelling having so much
+increased of late, he accepted it with great reluctance,
+observing, that he should be ashamed to get into it,
+&ldquo;people would think him so proud.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When the High Pit had been sunk, and the coal was ready for
+working, Stephenson erected his first winding-engine to draw the
+coals out of the pit, and also a pumping-engine for Long Benton
+Colliery, both of which proved quite successful.&nbsp; Amongst
+other works of this time, he projected and laid down a
+self-acting incline along the declivity which fell towards the
+coal-loading place near Willington, where he had officiated as
+brakesman; and he so arranged it, that the full waggons
+descending drew the empty waggons up the railroad.&nbsp; This was
+one of the first self-acting inclines laid down in the
+district.</p>
+<p><!-- page 62--><a name="page62"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+62</span>Stephenson had now much better opportunities than
+hitherto for improving himself in mechanics.&nbsp; His familiar
+acquaintance with the steam-engine proved of great value to
+him.&nbsp; His shrewd insight, and his intimate practical
+acquaintance with its mechanism, enabled him to apprehend, as if
+by intuition, its most abstruse and difficult combinations.&nbsp;
+The practical study which he had given to it when a workman, and
+the patient manner in which he had groped his way through all the
+details of the machine, gave him the power of a master in dealing
+with it as applied to colliery purposes.</p>
+<p>Sir Thomas Liddell was frequently about the works, and took
+pleasure in giving every encouragement to the engine-wright in
+his efforts after improvement.&nbsp; The subject of the
+locomotive engine was already closely occupying
+Stephenson&rsquo;s attention; although it was still regarded as a
+curious and costly toy, of comparatively little real use.&nbsp;
+But he had at an early period detected its practical value, and
+formed an adequate conception of the might which as yet slumbered
+within it; and he now bent his entire faculties to the
+development of its extraordinary powers.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p62.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Colliers&rsquo; Cottages at Long Benton"
+title=
+"Colliers&rsquo; Cottages at Long Benton"
+src="images/p62.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2><!-- page 63--><a name="page63"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+63</span>CHAPTER V.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Early History of the
+Locomotive</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">George Stephenson
+begins its Improvement</span>.</h2>
+<p>The rapid increase in the coal-trade of the Tyne about the
+beginning of the present century had the effect of stimulating
+the ingenuity of mechanics, and encouraging them to devise
+improved methods of transporting the coal from the pits to the
+shipping places.&nbsp; From our introductory chapter, it will
+have been observed that the improvements which had thus far been
+effected were confined almost entirely to the road.&nbsp; The
+railway waggons still continued to be drawn by horses.&nbsp; By
+improving and flattening the tramway, considerable economy in
+horse-power had indeed been secured; but unless some more
+effective method of mechanical traction could be devised, it was
+clear that railway improvement had almost reached its limits.</p>
+<p>Many expedients had been tried with this object.&nbsp; One of
+the earliest was that of hoisting sails upon the waggons, and
+driving them along the waggon-way, as a ship is driven through
+the water by the wind.&nbsp; This method seems to have been
+employed by Sir Humphrey Mackworth, an ingenious coal-miner at
+Neath in Glamorganshire, about the end of the seventeenth
+century.</p>
+<p>After having been lost sight of for more than a century, the
+same plan of impelling carriages was revived by Richard Lovell
+Edgworth, with the addition of a portable railway, since revived
+also, in Boydell&rsquo;s patent.&nbsp; But although Mr. Edgworth
+devoted himself to the subject for many years, he failed in
+securing the adoption of his sailing carriage.&nbsp; It is indeed
+quite clear that a power so uncertain as wind could never be
+relied on for ordinary traffic, and <!-- page 64--><a
+name="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 64</span>Mr.
+Edgworth&rsquo;s project was consequently left to repose in the
+limbo of the Patent Office, with thousands of other equally
+useless though ingenious contrivances.</p>
+<p>A much more favourite scheme was the application of steam
+power for the purpose of carriage traction.&nbsp; Savery, the
+inventor of the working steam-engine, was the first to propose
+its employment to propel vehicles along the common roads; and in
+1759 Dr. Robison, then a young man studying at Glasgow College,
+threw out the same idea to his friend James Watt; but the scheme
+was not matured.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p64.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Cugnot&rsquo;s Engine"
+title=
+"Cugnot&rsquo;s Engine"
+src="images/p64.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The first locomotive steam-carriage was built at Paris by the
+French engineer Cugnot, a native of Lorraine.&nbsp; It is said to
+have been invented for the purpose of dragging cannon into the
+field independent of horses.&nbsp; The original model of this
+machine was made in 1763.&nbsp; Count Saxe was so much pleased
+with it, that on his recommendation a full-sized engine was
+constructed at the cost of the French monarch; and in 1769 it was
+tried in the presence of the Duc de Choiseul, Minister of War,
+General Gribeauval, and other officers.&nbsp; At one of the
+experiments it ran with such force as to knock down a wall in its
+way.&nbsp; But the new vehicle, loaded with four persons, could
+not travel faster than two and a half miles an hour.&nbsp; The
+boiler was insufficient in size, and it could only work for about
+fifteen minutes; after which it was necessary to wait until the
+steam had again risen to a sufficient pressure.&nbsp; To remedy
+this defect, Cugnot constructed a new machine in 1770, <!-- page
+65--><a name="page65"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 65</span>the
+working of which was more satisfactory.&nbsp; It was composed of
+two parts&mdash;the fore part consisting of a small steam-engine,
+formed of a round copper boiler, with a furnace inside, provided
+with two small chimneys and two single-acting brass steam
+cylinders, whose pistons acted alternately upon the single
+driving-wheel.&nbsp; The hinder part consisted merely of a rude
+carriage on two wheels to carry the load, furnished with a seat
+in front for the conductor.&nbsp; This engine was tried in the
+streets of Paris; but when passing near where the Madeleine now
+stands, it overbalanced itself on turning a corner, and fell over
+with a crash; after which, its employment being thought
+dangerous, it was locked up in the arsenal to prevent further
+mischief.&nbsp; The machine is, however, still to be seen in the
+collection of the Conservatoire des Arts et M&eacute;tiers at
+Paris.&nbsp; It has very much the look of a long brewer&rsquo;s
+cart, with the addition of the circular boiler hung on at one
+end.&nbsp; Rough though it looks, it was a highly creditable
+piece of work, considering the period at which it was executed;
+and as the first actual machine constructed for the purpose of
+travelling on ordinary roads by the power of steam, it is
+certainly a most curious and interesting mechanical relic, well
+worthy of preservation.</p>
+<p>But though Cugnot&rsquo;s road locomotive remained locked up
+from public sight, the subject was not dead; for we find
+inventors employing themselves from time to time in attempting to
+solve the problem of steam locomotion in places far remote from
+Paris.&nbsp; The idea had taken root in the minds of inventors,
+and was striving to grow into a reality.&nbsp; Thus Oliver Evans,
+the American, invented a steam carriage in 1772 to travel on
+common roads; in 1787 he obtained from the State of Maryland an
+exclusive right to make and use steam-carriages, but his
+invention never came into use.&nbsp; Then, in 1784, William
+Symington, one of the early inventors of the steamboat, was
+similarly occupied in Scotland in endeavouring to develop the
+latent powers of the steam-carriage.&nbsp; He had a working model
+of one <!-- page 66--><a name="page66"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 66</span>constructed, which he exhibited in
+1786 to the professors of Edinburgh College; but the state of the
+Scotch roads was then so bad that he found it impracticable to
+proceed further with his scheme, which he shortly after abandoned
+in favour of steam navigation.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p66.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Section of Murdock&rsquo;s Model"
+title=
+"Section of Murdock&rsquo;s Model"
+src="images/p66.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The same year in which Symington was occupied upon his
+steam-carriage, William Murdock, the friend and assistant of
+Watt, constructed his model of a locomotive at the opposite end
+of the island&mdash;at Redruth in Cornwall.&nbsp; His model was
+of small dimensions, standing little more than a foot high; and
+it was until recently in the possession of the son of the
+inventor, at whose house we saw it a few years ago.&nbsp; The
+annexed section will give an idea of the arrangements of this
+machine.</p>
+<p>It acted on the high-pressure principle, and, like
+Cugnot&rsquo;s engine, ran upon three wheels, the boiler being
+heated by a spirit-lamp.&nbsp; Small though the machine was, it
+went so fast on one occasion that it fairly outran its
+inventor.&nbsp; It seems that one night after returning from his
+duties at the Redruth mine, Murdock determined to try the working
+of his model locomotive.&nbsp; For this purpose he had recourse
+to the walk leading to the church, about a mile from the
+town.&nbsp; It was rather narrow, and was bounded on each side by
+high hedges.&nbsp; The night was dark, and Murdock set out alone
+to try his experiment.&nbsp; Having lit his lamp, the water
+boiled speedily, and off started the engine with the inventor
+after it.&nbsp; He soon heard distant shouts of terror.&nbsp; It
+was too dark to perceive objects; but he found, on following up
+the machine, that the cries proceeded from the worthy pastor of
+the parish, who, going towards the town, was met on this lonely
+road by the hissing and fiery little <!-- page 67--><a
+name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 67</span>monster,
+which he subsequently declared he had taken to be the Evil One
+<i>in propri&aacute; person&acirc;</i>.&nbsp; No further steps
+were, however, taken by Murdock to embody his idea of a
+locomotive carriage in a more practical form.</p>
+<p>The idea was next taken up by Murdock&rsquo;s pupil, Richard
+Trevithick, who resolved on building a steam-carriage adapted for
+common roads as well as railways.&nbsp; He took out a patent to
+secure the right of his invention in 1802.&nbsp; Andrew Vivian,
+his cousin, joined with him in the patent&mdash;Vivian finding
+the money, and Trevithick the brains.&nbsp; The steam-carriage
+built on this patent presented the appearance of an ordinary
+stage-coach on four wheels.&nbsp; The engine had one horizontal
+cylinder, which, together with the boiler and the furnace-box,
+was placed in the rear of the hind axle.&nbsp; The motion of the
+piston was transmitted to a separate crank-axle, from which,
+through the medium of spur-gear, the axle of the driving-wheel
+(which was mounted with a fly-wheel) derived its motion.&nbsp;
+The steam-cocks and the force-pump, as also the bellows used for
+the purpose of quickening combustion in the furnace, were worked
+off the same crank-axle.</p>
+<p>John Petherick, of Camborne, has related that he remembers
+this first English steam-coach passing along the principal street
+of his native town.&nbsp; Considerable difficulty was experienced
+in keeping up the pressure of steam; but when there was pressure
+enough, Trevithick would call upon the people to &ldquo;jump
+up,&rdquo; so as to create a load upon the engine.&nbsp; It was
+soon covered with men attracted by the novelty, nor did their
+number seem to make any difference in the speed of the engine so
+long as there was steam enough; but it was constantly running
+short, and the horizontal bellows failed to keep it up.</p>
+<p>This road-locomotive of Trevithick&rsquo;s was one of the
+first high-pressure working engines constructed on the principle
+of moving a piston by the elasticity of steam against the
+pressure only of the atmosphere.&nbsp; Such an engine had been
+described by Leopold, though in his apparatus it was <!-- page
+68--><a name="page68"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+68</span>proposed that the pressure should act only on one side
+of the piston.&nbsp; In Trevithick&rsquo;s engine the piston was
+not only raised, but was also depressed by the action of the
+steam, being in this respect an entirely original invention, and
+of great merit.&nbsp; The steam was admitted from the boiler
+under the piston moving in a cylinder, impelling it upward.&nbsp;
+When the motion had reached its limit, the communication between
+the piston and the under side was shut off, and the steam allowed
+to escape into the atmosphere.&nbsp; A passage being then opened
+between the boiler and the upper side of the piston, which was
+pressed downwards, the steam was again allowed to escape as
+before.&nbsp; Thus the power of the engine was equal to the
+difference between the pressure of the atmosphere and the
+elasticity of the steam in the boiler.</p>
+<p>This steam-carriage excited considerable interest in the
+remote district near the Land&rsquo;s End where it had been
+erected.&nbsp; Being so far removed from the great movements and
+enterprise of the commercial world, Trevithick and Vivian
+determined upon exhibiting their machine in the metropolis.&nbsp;
+They accordingly set out with it to Plymouth, whence it was
+conveyed by sea to London.</p>
+<p>The carriage safely reached the metropolis, and excited much
+public interest.&nbsp; It also attracted the notice of scientific
+men, amongst others of Mr. Davies Gilbert, President of the Royal
+Society, and Sir Humphry Davy, both Cornishmen like Trevithick,
+who went to see the private performances of the engine, and were
+greatly pleased with it.&nbsp; Writing to a Cornish friend
+shortly after its arrival in town, Sir Humphry said: &ldquo;I
+shall soon hope to hear that the roads of England are the haunts
+of Captain Trevithick&rsquo;s dragons&mdash;a characteristic
+name.&rdquo;&nbsp; The machine was afterwards publicly exhibited
+in an enclosed piece of ground near Euston Square, where the
+London and North-Western Station now stands, and it dragged
+behind it a wheel-carriage full of passengers.&nbsp; On the
+second day of the performance, crowds flocked to see it; but
+Trevithick, <!-- page 69--><a name="page69"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 69</span>in one of his odd freaks, shut up the
+place, and shortly after removed the engine.&nbsp; It is,
+however, probable that the inventor came to the conclusion that
+the state of the roads at that time was such as to preclude its
+coming into general use for purposes of ordinary traffic.</p>
+<p>While the steam-carriage was being exhibited, a gentleman was
+laying heavy wagers as to the weight which could be hauled by a
+single horse on the Wandsworth and Croydon iron tramway; and the
+number and weight of waggons drawn by the horse were something
+surprising.&nbsp; Trevithick very probably put the two things
+together&mdash;the steam-horse and the iron-way&mdash;and kept
+the performance in mind when he proceeded to construct his second
+or railway locomotive.&nbsp; The idea was not, however, entirely
+new to him; for, although his first engine had been constructed
+with a view to its employment upon common roads, the
+specification of his patent distinctly alludes to the application
+of his engine to travelling on railroads.&nbsp; Having been
+employed at the iron-works of Pen-y-darran, in South Wales, to
+erect a forge engine for the Company, a convenient opportunity
+presented itself, on the completion of this work, for carrying
+out his design of a locomotive to haul the minerals along the
+Pen-y-darran tramway.&nbsp; Such an engine was erected by him in
+1803, in the blacksmiths&rsquo; shop at the Company&rsquo;s
+works, and it was finished and ready for trial before the end of
+the year.</p>
+<p>The boiler of this second engine was cylindrical in form, flat
+at the ends, and made of wrought iron.&nbsp; The furnace and flue
+were inside the boiler, within which the single cylinder, eight
+inches in diameter and four feet six inches stroke, was placed
+horizontally.&nbsp; As in the first engine, the motion of the
+wheels was produced by spur gear, to which was also added a
+fly-wheel on one side, to secure a rotatory motion in the crank
+at the end of each stroke of the piston in the single
+cylinder.&nbsp; The waste steam was thrown into the chimney
+through a tube inserted into it at right angles; but it will be
+obvious that this arrangement was not calculated <!-- page
+70--><a name="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 70</span>to
+produce any result in the way of a steam-blast in the
+chimney.&nbsp; In fact, the waste steam seems to have been turned
+into the chimney in order to get rid of the nuisance caused by
+throwing the jet directly into the air.&nbsp; Trevithick was here
+hovering on the verge of a great discovery; but that he was not
+aware of the action of the blast in contributing to increase the
+draught and thus quicken combustion, is clear from the fact that
+he employed bellows for this special purpose; and at a much later
+date (1815) he took out a patent which included a method of
+urging the fire by means of fanners. <a name="citation70"></a><a
+href="#footnote70" class="citation">[70]</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p70.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Trevithick&rsquo;s High Pressure Tram-Engine"
+title=
+"Trevithick&rsquo;s High Pressure Tram-Engine"
+src="images/p70.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p><!-- page 71--><a name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+71</span>At the first trial of this engine it succeeded in
+dragging after it several waggons, containing ten tons of
+bar-iron, at the rate of about five miles an hour.&nbsp; Rees
+Jones, who worked at the fitting of the engine, and remembers its
+performances, says, &ldquo;She was used for bringing down metal
+from the furnaces to the Old Forge.&nbsp; She worked very well;
+but frequently, from her weight, broke the tram-plates and the
+hooks between the trams.&nbsp; After working for some time in
+this way, she took a load of iron from Pen-y-darran down the
+Basin-road, upon which road she was intended to work.&nbsp; On
+the journey she broke a great many of the tram-plates, and before
+reaching the basin ran off the road, and had to be brought back
+to Pen-y-darran by horses.&nbsp; The engine was never after used
+as a locomotive.&rdquo; <a name="citation71"></a><a
+href="#footnote71" class="citation">[71]</a></p>
+<p>It seems to have been felt that unless the road were entirely
+reconstructed so as to bear the heavy weight of the
+locomotive&mdash;so much greater than that of the tram-waggons,
+to carry which the original rails had been laid down&mdash;the
+regular employment of Trevithick&rsquo;s high-pressure
+tram-engine was altogether impracticable; and as the owners of
+the works were not prepared to incur so serious a cost, it was
+determined to take the locomotive off the road, and employ it as
+an engine for other purposes.&nbsp; It was accordingly
+dismounted, and used for some time after as a pumping-engine, for
+which purpose it was found well adapted.&nbsp; Trevithick himself
+seems from this time to have taken no further steps to bring the
+locomotive into general use.&nbsp; We find him, shortly after,
+engaged upon schemes of a more promising character, abandoning
+the engine to other <!-- page 72--><a name="page72"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 72</span>mechanical inventors, though little
+improvement was made in it for several years.&nbsp; An imaginary
+difficulty seems to have tended, amongst other obstacles, to
+prevent its adoption; viz., the idea that, if a heavy weight were
+placed behind the engine, the &ldquo;grip&rdquo; or
+&ldquo;bite&rdquo; of its smooth wheels upon the equally smooth
+iron rail, must necessarily be so slight that they would whirl
+round upon it, and, consequently, that the machine would not make
+progress.&nbsp; Hence Trevithick, in his patent, provided that
+the periphery of the driving-wheels should be made rough by the
+projection of bolts or cross-grooves, so that the adhesion of the
+wheels to the road might be secured.</p>
+<p>Following up the presumed necessity for a more effectual
+adhesion between the wheels and the rails, Mr. Blenkinsop of
+Leeds, in 1811, took out a patent for a racked or tooth-rail laid
+along one side of the road, into which the toothed-wheel of his
+locomotive worked as pinions work into a rack.&nbsp; The boiler
+of his engine was supported by a carriage with four wheels
+without teeth, and rested immediately upon the axles.&nbsp; These
+wheels were entirely independent of the working parts of the
+engine, and therefore merely supported its weight upon the rails,
+the progress being effected by means of the cogged-wheel working
+into the cogged-rail.&nbsp; The engine had two cylinders, instead
+of one as in Trevithick&rsquo;s engine.&nbsp; The invention of
+the double cylinder was due to Matthew Murray, of Leeds, one of
+the best mechanical engineers of his time; Mr. Blenkinsop, who
+was not a mechanic, having consulted him as to all the practical
+arrangements.&nbsp; The connecting-rods gave the motion to two
+pinions by cranks at right angles to each other; these pinions
+communicating the motion to the wheel which worked into the
+cogged-rail.</p>
+<p>Mr. Blenkinsop&rsquo;s engines began running on the railway
+from the Middleton Collieries to Leeds, about 3&frac12; miles, on
+the 12th of August, 1812.&nbsp; They continued for many years to
+be one of the principal curiosities of the place, and were
+visited by strangers from all parts.&nbsp; In 1816, the <!-- page
+73--><a name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 73</span>Grand
+Duke Nicholas (afterwards Emperor) of Russia observed the working
+of Blenkinsop&rsquo;s locomotive with curious interest and
+admiration.&nbsp; An engine dragged as many as thirty
+coal-waggons at a speed of about 3&frac14; miles per hour.&nbsp;
+These engines continued for many years to be thus employed in the
+haulage of coal, and furnished the first instance of the regular
+employment of locomotive power for commercial purposes.</p>
+<p>The Messrs. Chapman, of Newcastle, in 1812, endeavoured to
+overcome the same fictitious difficulty of the want of adhesion
+between the wheel and the rail, by patenting a locomotive to work
+along the road by means of a chain stretched from one end of it
+to the other.&nbsp; This chain was passed once round a grooved
+barrel-wheel under the centre of the engine: so that, when the
+wheel turned, the locomotive, as it were, dragged itself along
+the railway.&nbsp; An engine, constructed after this plan, was
+tried on the Heaton Railway, near Newcastle; but it was so clumsy
+in its action, there was so great a loss of power by friction,
+and it was found to be so expensive and difficult to keep in
+repair, that it was soon abandoned.&nbsp; Another remarkable
+expedient was adopted by Mr. Brunton, of the Butterley Works,
+Derbyshire, who, in 1813, patented his Mechanical Traveller, to
+go <i>upon legs</i> working alternately like those of a horse. <a
+name="citation73"></a><a href="#footnote73"
+class="citation">[73]</a>&nbsp; But this engine never got beyond
+the experimental state, for, at its very first trial, the driver,
+to make sure of a good start, overloaded the safety-valve, when
+the boiler burst and killed a number of the bystanders, wounding
+many more.&nbsp; These, and other contrivances with the same
+object, projected about the same time, show that invention was
+actively at work, and that many minds were anxiously <!-- page
+74--><a name="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+74</span>labouring to solve the important problem of locomotive
+traction upon railways.</p>
+<p>But the difficulties contended with by these early inventors,
+and the step-by-step progress which they made, will probably be
+best illustrated by the experiments conducted by Mr. Blackett, of
+Wylam, which are all the more worthy of notice, as the
+persevering efforts of this gentleman in a great measure paved
+the way for the labours of George Stephenson, who, shortly after,
+took up the question of steam locomotion, and brought it to a
+successful issue.</p>
+<p>The Wylam waggon-way is one of the oldest in the north of
+England.&nbsp; Down to the year 1807 it was formed of wooden
+spars or rails, laid down between the colliery at
+Wylam&mdash;where old Robert Stephenson had worked&mdash;and the
+village of Lemington, some four miles down the Tyne, where the
+coals were loaded into keels or barges, and floated down past
+Newcastle, to be shipped for London.&nbsp; Each chaldron-waggon
+had a man in charge of it, and was originally drawn by one
+horse.&nbsp; The rate at which the waggons were hauled was so
+slow that only two journeys were performed by each man and horse
+in one day, and three on the day following.&nbsp; This primitive
+waggon-way passed, as before stated, close in front of the
+cottage in which George Stephenson was born; and one of the
+earliest sights which met his infant eyes was this wooden
+tramroad worked by horses.</p>
+<p>Mr. Blackett was the first colliery owner in the North who
+took an active interest in the locomotive.&nbsp; Having formed
+the acquaintance of Trevithick in London, and inspected the
+performances of his engine, he determined to repeat the
+Pen-y-darran experiment upon the Wylam waggon-way.&nbsp; He
+accordingly obtained from Trevithick, in October, 1804, a plan of
+his engine, provided with &ldquo;friction-wheels,&rdquo; and
+employed Mr. John Whinfield, of Pipewellgate, Gateshead, to
+construct it at his foundry there.&nbsp; The engine was
+constructed under the superintendence of one John Steele, an
+ingenious mechanic who had been in <!-- page 75--><a
+name="page75"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 75</span>Wales, and
+worked under Trevithick in fitting the engine at
+Pen-y-darran.&nbsp; When the Gateshead locomotive was finished, a
+temporary way was laid down in the works, on which it was run
+backwards and forwards many times.&nbsp; For some reason,
+however&mdash;it is said because the engine was deemed too light
+for drawing the coal-trains&mdash;it never left the works, but
+was dismounted from the wheels, and set to blow the cupola of the
+foundry, in which service it long continued to be employed.</p>
+<p>Several years elapsed before Mr. Blackett took any further
+steps to carry out his idea.&nbsp; The final abandonment of
+Trevithick&rsquo;s locomotive at Pen-y-darran perhaps contributed
+to deter him from proceeding further; but he had the wooden
+tramway taken up in 1808, and a plate-way of cast-iron laid down
+instead&mdash;a single line furnished with sidings to enable the
+laden waggons to pass the empty ones.&nbsp; The new iron road
+proved so much smoother than the old wooden one, that a single
+horse, instead of drawing one, was now enabled to draw two, or
+even three, laden waggons.</p>
+<p>Encouraged by the success of Mr. Blenkinsop&rsquo;s experiment
+at Leeds, Mr. Blackett determined to follow his example; and in
+1812 he ordered a second engine, to work with a toothed
+driving-wheel upon a rack-rail.&nbsp; This locomotive was
+constructed by Thomas Waters, of Gateshead, under the
+superintendence of Jonathan Foster, Mr. Blackett&rsquo;s
+principal engine-wright.&nbsp; It was a combination of
+Trevithick&rsquo;s and Blenkinsop&rsquo;s engines; but it was of
+a more awkward construction than either.&nbsp; The boiler was of
+cast-iron.&nbsp; The engine was provided with a single cylinder
+six inches in diameter, with a fly-wheel working at one side to
+carry the crank over the dead points.&nbsp; Jonathan Foster
+described it to the author in 1854, as &ldquo;a strange machine,
+with lots of pumps, cog-wheels, and plugs, requiring constant
+attention while at work.&rdquo;&nbsp; The weight of the whole was
+about six tons.</p>
+<p>When finished, it was conveyed to Wylam on a waggon, <!-- page
+76--><a name="page76"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 76</span>and
+there mounted upon a wooden frame supported by four pairs of
+wheels, which had been constructed for its reception.&nbsp; A
+barrel of water, placed on another frame upon wheels, was
+attached to it as a tender.&nbsp; After a great deal of labour,
+the cumbrous machine was got upon the road.&nbsp; At first it
+would not move an inch.&nbsp; Its maker, Tommy Waters, became
+impatient, and at length enraged, and taking hold of the lever of
+the safety valve, declared in his desperation, that &ldquo;either
+<i>she</i> or <i>he</i> should go.&rdquo;&nbsp; At length the
+machinery was set in motion, on which, as Jonathan Foster
+described to the author &ldquo;she flew all to pieces, and it was
+the biggest wonder i&rsquo; the world that we were not all blewn
+up.&rdquo;&nbsp; The incompetent and useless engine was declared
+to be a failure; it was shortly after dismounted and sold; and
+Mr. Blackett&rsquo;s praiseworthy efforts thus far proved in
+vain.</p>
+<p>He was still, however, desirous of testing the practicability
+of employing locomotive power in working the coal down to
+Lemington, and he determined on another trial.&nbsp; He
+accordingly directed his engine-wright to proceed with the
+building of a third engine in the Wylam workshops.&nbsp; This new
+locomotive had a single 8-inch cylinder, was provided with a
+fly-wheel like its predecessor, and the driving-wheel was cogged
+on one side to enable it to travel in the rack-rail laid along
+the road.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; It sometimes
+took six hours to perform the journey of five miles.&nbsp; Its
+weight was found too great for the road, and the cast-iron plates
+were constantly breaking.&nbsp; It was also very apt to get off
+the rack-rail, and then it stood still.&nbsp; The driver was one
+day asked how he got on?&nbsp; &ldquo;Get on?&rdquo; said he,
+&ldquo;we don&rsquo;t get on; we only get off!&rdquo;&nbsp; On
+such occasions, horses had to be sent to drag the waggons as
+before, and others to haul the engine back to the
+work-shops.&nbsp; It was constantly getting out of order; its
+plugs, <!-- page 77--><a name="page77"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 77</span>pumps, or cranks, got wrong; it was
+under repair as often as at work; at length it became so cranky
+that the horses were usually sent out after it to drag it when it
+gave up; and the workmen generally declared it to be a
+&ldquo;perfect plague.&rdquo;&nbsp; Mr. Blackett did not obtain
+credit amongst his neighbours for these experiments.&nbsp; Many
+laughed at his machines, regarding them only in the light of
+crotchets,&mdash;frequently quoting the proverb that &ldquo;a
+fool and his money are soon parted.&rdquo;&nbsp; Others regarded
+them as absurd innovations on the established method of hauling
+coal; and pronounced that they would &ldquo;never
+answer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Notwithstanding, however, the comparative failure of this
+second locomotive, Mr. Blackett persevered with his
+experiments.&nbsp; He was zealously assisted by Jonathan Foster
+the engine-wright, and William Hedley, the viewer of the
+colliery, a highly ingenious person, who proved of great use in
+carrying out the experiments to a successful issue.&nbsp; One of
+the chief causes of failure being the rack-rail, the idea
+occurred to Mr. Hedley that it might be possible to secure
+adhesion enough between the wheel and the rail by the mere weight
+of the engine, and he proceeded to make a series of experiments
+for the purpose of determining this problem.&nbsp; He had a frame
+placed on four wheels, and fitted up with windlasses attached by
+gearing to the several wheels.&nbsp; The frame having been
+properly weighted, six men were set to work the windlasses; when
+it was found that the adhesion of the smooth wheels on the smooth
+rails was quite sufficient to enable them to propel the machine
+without slipping.&nbsp; Having found the proportion which the
+power bore to the weight, he demonstrated by successive
+experiments that the weight of the engine would of itself produce
+sufficient adhesion to enable it to draw upon a smooth railroad
+the requisite number of waggons in all kinds of weather.&nbsp;
+And thus was the fallacy which had heretofore prevailed on this
+subject completely exploded, and it was satisfactorily proved
+that rack-rails, toothed wheels, endless chains, and legs, were
+alike unnecessary for <!-- page 78--><a name="page78"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 78</span>the efficient traction of loaded
+waggons upon a moderately level road.</p>
+<p>From this time forward considerably less difficulty was
+experienced in working the coal trains upon the Wylam
+tramroad.&nbsp; At length the rack-rail was dispensed with.&nbsp;
+The road was laid with heavier rails; the working of the old
+engine was improved; and a new engine was shortly after built and
+placed upon the road, still on eight wheels, driven by seven
+rack-wheels working inside them&mdash;with a wrought-iron boiler
+through which the flue was returned so as largely to increase the
+heating surface, and thus give increased power to the engine.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p78.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Improved Wylam Engine"
+title=
+"Improved Wylam Engine"
+src="images/p78.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>As may readily be imagined, the jets of steam from the piston,
+blowing off into the air at high pressure while the engine was in
+motion, caused considerable annoyance to horses passing along the
+Wylam road, at that time a public <!-- page 79--><a
+name="page79"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+79</span>highway.&nbsp; The nuisance was felt to be almost
+intolerable, and a neighbouring gentleman threatened to have it
+put down.&nbsp; To diminish the noise as much as possible, Mr.
+Blackett gave orders that so soon as any horse, or horses, came
+in sight, the locomotive was to be stopped, and the frightful
+blast of the engine thus suspended until the passing animals had
+got out of hearing.&nbsp; Much interruption was thus caused to
+the working of the railway, and it excited considerable
+dissatisfaction amongst the workmen.&nbsp; The following plan was
+adopted to abate the nuisance: a reservoir was provided
+immediately behind the chimney (as shown in the preceding cut)
+into which the waste steam was thrown after it had performed its
+office in the cylinder; and from this reservoir, the steam
+gradually escaped into the atmosphere without noise.</p>
+<p>While Mr. Blackett was thus experimenting and building
+locomotives at Wylam, George Stephenson was anxiously studying
+the same subject at Killingworth.&nbsp; He was no sooner
+appointed engine-wright of the collieries than his attention was
+directed to the means of more economically hauling the coal from
+the pits to the river-side.&nbsp; We have seen that one of the
+first important improvements which he made, after being placed in
+charge of the colliery machinery, was to apply the surplus power
+of a pumping steam-engine, fixed underground, to drawing the
+coals out of the deeper workings of the Killingworth
+mines,&mdash;by which he succeeded in effecting a large reduction
+in the expenditure on manual and horse labour.</p>
+<p>The coals, when brought above ground, had next to be
+laboriously dragged by horses to the shipping staiths on the
+Tyne, several miles distant.&nbsp; The adoption of a tramroad, it
+is true, had tended to facilitate their transit.&nbsp;
+Nevertheless the haulage was both tedious and costly.&nbsp; With
+the view of economising labour, Stephenson laid down inclined
+planes where the nature of the ground would admit of this
+expedient.&nbsp; Thus, a train of full waggons let down the
+incline by means of a rope running over wheels laid along <!--
+page 80--><a name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+80</span>the tramroad, the other end of which was attached to a
+train of empty waggons placed at the bottom of the parallel road
+on the same incline, dragged them up by the simple power of
+gravity.&nbsp; But this applied only to a comparatively small
+part of the road.&nbsp; An economical method of working the coal
+trains, instead of by horses,&mdash;the keep of which was at that
+time very costly, from the high price of corn,&mdash;was still a
+great desideratum; and the best practical minds in the collieries
+were actively engaged in the attempt to solve the problem.</p>
+<p>In the first place Stephenson resolved to make himself
+thoroughly acquainted with what had already been done.&nbsp; Mr.
+Blackett&rsquo;s engines were working daily at Wylam, past the
+cottage where he had been born; and thither he frequently went to
+inspect the improvements made by Mr. Blackett from time to time
+both in the locomotive and in the plateway along which it
+worked.&nbsp; Jonathan Foster informed us that, after one of
+these visits, Stephenson declared to him his conviction that a
+much more effective engine might be made, that should work more
+steadily and draw the load more effectively.</p>
+<p>He had also the advantage, about the same time, of seeing one
+of Blenkinsop&rsquo;s Leeds engines, which was placed on the
+tramway leading from the collieries of Kenton and Coxlodge, on
+the 2nd September, 1813.&nbsp; This locomotive drew sixteen
+chaldron waggons containing an aggregate weight of seventy tons,
+at the rate of about three miles an hour.&nbsp; George Stephenson
+and several of the Killingworth men were amongst the crowd of
+spectators that day; and after examining the engine and observing
+its performances, he observed to his companions, that &ldquo;he
+thought he could make a better engine than that, to go upon
+legs.&rdquo;&nbsp; Probably he had heard of the invention of
+Brunton, whose patent had by this time been published, and proved
+the subject of much curious speculation in the colliery
+districts.&nbsp; Certain it is, that, shortly after the
+inspection of the Coxlodge engine, he contemplated the
+construction of a new <!-- page 81--><a name="page81"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 81</span>locomotive, which was to surpass all
+that had preceded it.&nbsp; He observed that those engines which
+had been constructed up to this time, however ingenious in their
+arrangements, had proved practical failures.&nbsp; Mr.
+Blackett&rsquo;s was as yet both clumsy and expensive.&nbsp;
+Chapman&rsquo;s had been removed from the Heaton tramway in 1812,
+and was regarded as a total failure.&nbsp; And the Blenkinsop
+engine at Coxlodge was found very unsteady and costly in its
+working; besides, it pulled the rails to pieces, the entire
+strain being upon the rack-rail on one side of the road.&nbsp;
+The boiler, however, having soon after blown up, there was an end
+of that engine; and the colliery owners did not feel encouraged
+to try any further experiment.</p>
+<p>An efficient and economical working locomotive, therefore,
+still remained to be invented; and to accomplish this object Mr.
+Stephenson now applied himself.&nbsp; Profiting by what his
+predecessors had done, warned by their failures and encouraged by
+their partial successes, he commenced his labours.&nbsp; There
+was still wanting the man who should accomplish for the
+locomotive what James Watt had done for the steam-engine, and
+combine in a complete form the best points in the separate plans
+of others, embodying with them such original inventions and
+adaptations of his own as to entitle him to the merit of
+inventing the working locomotive, in the same manner as James
+Watt is to be regarded as the inventor of the working
+condensing-engine.&nbsp; This was the great work upon which
+George Stephenson now entered, though probably without any
+adequate idea of the ultimate importance of his labours to
+society and civilization.</p>
+<p>He proceeded to bring the subject of constructing a
+&ldquo;Travelling Engine,&rdquo; as he then denominated the
+locomotive, under the notice of the lessees of the Killingworth
+Colliery, in the year 1813.&nbsp; Lord Ravensworth, the principal
+partner, had already formed a very favourable opinion of the new
+engine-wright, from the improvements which he had effected in the
+colliery engines, both above and below <!-- page 82--><a
+name="page82"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 82</span>ground; and,
+after considering the matter, and hearing Stephenson&rsquo;s
+explanations, he authorised him to proceed with the construction
+of a locomotive,&mdash;though his lordship was, by some, called a
+fool for advancing money for such a purpose.&nbsp; &ldquo;The
+first locomotive that I made,&rdquo; said Stephenson, many years
+after, <a name="citation82"></a><a href="#footnote82"
+class="citation">[82]</a> when speaking of his early career at a
+public meeting in Newcastle, &ldquo;was at Killingworth Colliery,
+and with Lord Ravensworth&rsquo;s money.&nbsp; Yes; Lord
+Ravensworth and partners were the first to entrust me, thirty-two
+years since, with money to make a locomotive engine.&nbsp; I said
+to my friends, there was no limit to the speed of such an engine,
+if the works could be made to stand.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Our engine-wright had, however, many obstacles to encounter
+before he could get fairly to work with the erection of his
+locomotive.&nbsp; His chief difficulty was in finding workmen
+sufficiently skilled in mechanics, and in the use of tools, to
+follow his instructions and embody his designs in a practical
+shape.&nbsp; The tools then in use about the collieries were rude
+and clumsy; and there were no such facilities as now exist for
+turning out machinery of an entirely new character.&nbsp;
+Stephenson was under the necessity of working with such men and
+tools as were at his command; and he had in a great measure to
+train and instruct the workmen himself.&nbsp; The engine was
+built in the workshops at the West Moor, the leading mechanic
+employed being the colliery blacksmith, an excellent workman in
+his way, though quite new to the work now entrusted to him.</p>
+<p>In this first locomotive constructed at Killingworth,
+Stephenson to some extent followed the plan of Blenkinsop&rsquo;s
+engine.&nbsp; The boiler was cylindrical, of wrought iron, 8 feet
+in length and 34 inches in diameter, with an internal flue-tube
+20 inches wide passing through it.&nbsp; The engine <!-- page
+83--><a name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 83</span>had
+two vertical cylinders of 8 inches diameter, and 2 feet stroke,
+let into the boiler, working the propelling gear with cross heads
+and connecting rods.&nbsp; The power of the two cylinders was
+combined by means of spurwheels, which communicated the motive
+power to the wheels supporting the engine on the rail, instead
+of, as in Blenkinsop&rsquo;s engine, to cogwheels which acted on
+the cogged rail independent of the four supporting wheels.&nbsp;
+The engine thus worked upon what is termed the second
+motion.&nbsp; The chimney was of wrought iron, round which was a
+chamber extending back to the feed-pumps, for the purpose of
+heating the water previous to its injection into the
+boiler.&nbsp; The engine had no springs, and was mounted on a
+wooden frame supported on four wheels.&nbsp; In order to
+neutralise as much as possible the jolts and shocks which such an
+engine would necessarily encounter from the obstacles and
+inequalities of the then very imperfect plateway, the
+water-barrel which served for a tender was fixed to the end of a
+lever and weighted, the other end of the lever being connected
+with the frame of the locomotive carriage.&nbsp; By this means
+the weight of the two was more equally distributed, though the
+contrivance did not by any means compensate for the absence of
+springs.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p83.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Spur-gear"
+title=
+"The Spur-gear"
+src="images/p83.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The wheels of the locomotive were all smooth, Mr. Stephenson
+having satisfied himself by experiment that the adhesion between
+the wheels of a loaded engine and the rail would be sufficient
+for the purpose of traction.&nbsp; Robert Stephenson informed us
+that his father caused a number of workmen to mount upon the
+wheels of a waggon moderately loaded, and throw their entire
+weight upon the spokes on one side, when he found that the waggon
+could thus be easily propelled forward without the wheels
+slipping.&nbsp; This, together with other experiments, satisfied
+him <!-- page 84--><a name="page84"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+84</span>of the expediency of adopting smooth wheels on his
+engine, and it was so finished accordingly.</p>
+<p>The engine was, after much labour and anxiety, and frequent
+alterations of parts, at length brought to completion, having
+been about ten months in hand.&nbsp; It was placed upon the
+Killingworth Railway on the 25th July, 1814; and its powers were
+tried on the same day.&nbsp; On an ascending gradient of 1 in
+450, the engine succeeded in drawing after it eight loaded
+carriages of thirty tons&rsquo; weight at about four miles an
+hour; and for some time after it continued regularly at work.</p>
+<p>Although a considerable advance upon previous locomotives,
+&ldquo;Blutcher&rdquo; (as the engine was popularly called) was
+nevertheless a somewhat cumbrous and clumsy machine.&nbsp; The
+parts were huddled together.&nbsp; The boiler constituted the
+principal feature; and being the foundation of the other parts,
+it was made to do duty not only as a generator of steam, but also
+as a basis for the fixings of the machinery and for the bearings
+of the wheels and axles.&nbsp; The want of springs was seriously
+felt; and the progress of the engine was a succession of jolts,
+causing considerable derangement to the machinery.&nbsp; The mode
+of communicating the motive power to the wheels by means of the
+spur-gear also caused frequent jerks, each cylinder alternately
+propelling or becoming propelled by the other, as the pressure of
+the one upon the wheels became greater or less than the pressure
+of the other; and when the teeth of the cogwheels became at all
+worn, a rattling noise was produced during the travelling of the
+engine.</p>
+<p>As the principal test of the success of the locomotive was its
+economy as compared with horse power, careful calculations were
+made with the view of ascertaining this important point.&nbsp;
+The result was, that it was found the working of the engine was
+at first barely economical; and at the end of the year the steam
+power and the horse power were ascertained to be as nearly as
+possible upon a par in point of cost.&nbsp; The fate of the
+locomotive in a great <!-- page 85--><a name="page85"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 85</span>measure depended on this very
+engine.&nbsp; Its speed was not beyond that of a horse&rsquo;s
+walk, and the heating surface presented to the fire being
+comparatively small, sufficient steam could not be raised to
+enable it to accomplish more on an average than about four miles
+an hour.&nbsp; The result was anything but decisive; and the
+locomotive might have been condemned as useless, had not our
+engineer at this juncture applied the steam-blast, and by its
+means carried his experiment to a triumphant issue.</p>
+<p>The steam, after performing its duty in the cylinders, was at
+first allowed to escape into the open atmosphere with a hissing
+blast, to the terror of horses and cattle.&nbsp; It was
+complained of as a nuisance; and an action at law against the
+colliery lessees was threatened unless it was stopped.&nbsp;
+Stephenson&rsquo;s attention had been drawn to the much greater
+velocity with which the steam issued from the exit pipe compared
+with that at which the smoke escaped from the chimney.&nbsp; He
+conceived that, by conveying the eduction steam into the chimney,
+by means of a small pipe, after it had performed its office in
+the cylinders, allowing it to escape in a vertical direction, its
+velocity would be imparted to the smoke from the fire, or to the
+ascending current of air in the chimney, thereby increasing the
+draft, and consequently the intensity of combustion in the
+furnace.</p>
+<p>The experiment was no sooner made than the power of the engine
+was at once more than doubled; combustion was stimulated by the
+blast; consequently the capability of the boiler to generate
+steam was greatly increased, and the effective power of the
+engine augmented in precisely the same proportion, without in any
+way adding to its weight.&nbsp; This simple but beautiful
+expedient was really fraught with the most important consequences
+to railway communication; and it is not too much to say that the
+success of the locomotive has in a great measure been the result
+of its adoption.&nbsp; Without the steam-blast, by means of which
+the intensity of combustion is maintained at its highest point,
+producing a correspondingly rapid evolution of steam, high <!--
+page 86--><a name="page86"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+86</span>rates of speed could not have been kept up; the
+advantages of the multi-tubular boiler (afterwards invented)
+could never have been fairly tested; and locomotives might still
+have been dragging themselves unwieldily along at little more
+than five or six miles an hour.</p>
+<p>The steam-blast had scarcely been adopted, with so decided a
+success, when Stephenson, observing the numerous defects in his
+engine, and profiting by the experience which he had already
+acquired, determined to construct a second engine, in which to
+embody his improvements in their best form.&nbsp; Careful and
+cautious observation of the working of his locomotive had
+convinced him that the complication arising out of the action of
+the two cylinders being combined by spur-wheels would prevent its
+coming into practical use.&nbsp; He accordingly directed his
+attention to an entire change in the construction and mechanical
+arrangements of the machine; and in the following year,
+conjointly with Mr. Dodds, who provided the necessary funds, he
+took out a patent, dated the 28th of February, 1815, for an
+engine which combined in a remarkable degree the essential
+requisites of an economical locomotive; that is to say, few
+parts, simplicity in their action, and directness in the mode by
+which the power was communicated to the wheels supporting the
+engine.</p>
+<p>This locomotive, like the first, had two vertical cylinders,
+which communicated <i>directly</i> with each pair of the four
+wheels that supported the engine, by means of a cross head and a
+pair of connecting rods.&nbsp; But in attempting to establish a
+direct communication between the cylinders and the wheels that
+rolled upon the rails, considerable difficulties presented
+themselves.&nbsp; The ordinary joints could not be employed to
+unite the parts of the engine, which was a rigid mass, with the
+wheels lolling upon the irregular surface of the rails; for it
+was evident that the two rails of the line of way&mdash;more
+especially in those early days of imperfect construction of the
+permanent road&mdash;could not always be maintained at the same
+level,&mdash;that the wheel at <!-- page 87--><a
+name="page87"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 87</span>one end of
+the axle might be depressed into one part of the line which had
+subsided, whilst the other wheel would be comparatively elevated;
+and in such a position of the axle and wheels, it was obvious
+that a rigid communication between the cross head and the wheels
+was impracticable.&nbsp; Hence it became necessary to form a
+joint at the top of the piston-rod where it united with the cross
+head, so as to permit the cross head to preserve complete
+parallelism with the axle of the wheels with which it was in
+communication.</p>
+<p>In order to obtain that degree of flexibility combined with
+direct action, which was essential for ensuring power and
+avoiding needless friction and jars from irregularities in the
+road, Stephenson made use of the &ldquo;ball and socket&rdquo;
+joint for effecting a union between the ends of the cross heads
+where they united with the connecting rods, and between the ends
+of the connecting rods where they were united with the crank-pins
+attached to each driving-wheel.&nbsp; By this arrangement the
+parallelism between the cross head and the axle was at all times
+maintained and preserved, without producing any serious jar or
+friction on any part of the machine.&nbsp; Another important
+point was, to combine each pair of wheels by means of some simple
+mechanism instead of by the cogwheels which had formerly been
+used.&nbsp; And, with this object, Stephenson made cranks in each
+axle at right angles to each other, with rods communicating
+horizontally between them.</p>
+<p>A locomotive was constructed upon this plan in 1815, and was
+found to answer extremely well.&nbsp; But at that period the
+mechanical skill of the country was not equal to forging cranked
+axles of the soundness and strength necessary to stand the jars
+incident to locomotive work.&nbsp; Stephenson was accordingly
+compelled to fall back upon a substitute, which, although less
+simple and efficient, was within the mechanical capabilities of
+the workmen of that day, in respect of construction as well as
+repair.&nbsp; He adopted a chain which rolled over indented
+wheels placed on the <!-- page 88--><a name="page88"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 88</span>centre of each axle, and was so
+arranged that the two pairs of wheels were effectually coupled
+and made to keep pace with each other.&nbsp; The chain, however,
+after a few years&rsquo; use, became stretched; and then the
+engines were liable to irregularity in their working, especially
+in changing from working back to working forward again.&nbsp;
+Eventually the chain was laid aside, and the front and hind
+wheels were united by rods on the outside, instead of by rods and
+crank axles inside, as specified in the original patent.&nbsp;
+This expedient completely answered the purpose required, without
+involving any expensive or difficult workmanship.</p>
+<p>Thus, in 1815, by dint of patient and persevering
+labour,&mdash;by careful observation of the works of others, and
+never neglecting to avail himself of their
+suggestions,&mdash;Stephenson succeeded in manufacturing an
+engine which included the following important improvements on all
+previous attempts in the same direction:&mdash;viz., simple and
+direct communication between the cylinders and the wheels rolling
+upon the rails; joint adhesion of all the wheels, attained by the
+use of horizontal connecting-rods; and finally, a beautiful
+method of exciting the combustion of the fuel by employing the
+waste steam, which had formerly been allowed to escape uselessly
+into the air.&nbsp; Although many improvements in detail were
+afterwards introduced in the locomotive by George Stephenson
+himself, as well as by his equally distinguished son, it is
+perhaps not too much to say that this engine, as a mechanical
+contrivance, contained the germ of all that has since been
+effected.&nbsp; It may in fact be regarded as the type of the
+present locomotive engine.</p>
+<h2><!-- page 89--><a name="page89"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+89</span>CHAPTER VI.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Invention of the</span> &ldquo;<span
+class="smcap">Geordy</span>&rdquo; <span
+class="smcap">Safety-Lamp</span>.</h2>
+<p>Explosions of fire-damp were unusually frequent in the coal
+mines of Northumberland and Durham about the time when George
+Stephenson was engaged in the construction of his first
+locomotives.&nbsp; These explosions were often attended with
+fearful loss of life and dreadful suffering to the
+workpeople.&nbsp; Killingworth Colliery was not free from such
+deplorable calamities; and during the time that Stephenson was
+employed as a brakesman at the West Moor, several
+&ldquo;blasts&rdquo; took place in the pit, by which many workmen
+were scorched and killed, and the owners of the colliery
+sustained heavy losses.&nbsp; One of the most serious of these
+accidents occurred in 1806, not long after he had been appointed
+brakesman, by which 10 persons were killed.&nbsp; Stephenson was
+working at the mouth of the pit at the time, and the
+circumstances connected with the accident made a deep impression
+on his mind.</p>
+<p>Another explosion took place in the same pit in 1809, by which
+12 persons lost their lives.&nbsp; The blast did not reach the
+shaft as in the former case; the unfortunate persons in the pit
+having been suffocated by the after-damp.&nbsp; More calamitous
+still were the explosions which took place in the neighbouring
+collieries; one of the worst being that of 1812, in the Felling
+Pit, near Gateshead, by which no fewer than 90 men and boys were
+suffocated or burnt to death.&nbsp; And a similar accident
+occurred in the same pit in the year following, by which 22
+persons perished.</p>
+<p>It was natural that George Stephenson should devote his
+attention to the causes of these deplorable accidents, and to the
+means by which they might if possible be prevented.&nbsp; <!--
+page 90--><a name="page90"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+90</span>His daily occupation led him to think much and deeply on
+the subject.&nbsp; As engine-wright of a colliery so extensive as
+that of Killingworth, where there were nearly 160 miles of
+gallery excavation, in which he personally superintended the
+working of the inclined planes along which the coals were sent to
+the pit entrance, he was necessarily very often underground, and
+brought face to face with the dangers of fire-damp.&nbsp; From
+fissures in the roofs of the galleries, carburetted hydrogen gas
+was constantly flowing; in some of the more dangerous places it
+might be heard escaping from the crevices of the coal with a
+hissing noise.&nbsp; Ventilation, firing, and all conceivable
+modes of drawing out the foul air had been adopted, and the more
+dangerous parts of the galleries were built up.&nbsp; Still the
+danger could not be wholly prevented.&nbsp; The miners must
+necessarily guide their steps through the extensive underground
+ways with lighted lamps or candles, the naked flame of which,
+coming in contact with the inflammable air, daily exposed them
+and their fellow-workers in the pit to the risk of death in one
+of its most dreadful forms.</p>
+<p>One day, in 1814, a workman hurried into Stephenson&rsquo;s
+cottage with the startling information that the deepest main of
+the colliery was on fire!&nbsp; He immediately hastened to the
+pit-head, about a hundred yards off, whither the women and
+children of the colliery were running, with wildness and terror
+depicted in every face.&nbsp; In a commanding voice Stephenson
+ordered the engineman to lower him down the shaft in the
+corve.&nbsp; There was peril, it might be death, before him, but
+he must go.</p>
+<p>He was soon at the bottom, and in the midst of the men, who
+were paralysed by the danger which threatened the lives of all in
+the pit.&nbsp; Leaping from the corve on its touching the ground,
+he called out; &ldquo;Are there six men among you who have
+courage to follow me?&nbsp; If so, come, and we will put the fire
+out.&rdquo;&nbsp; The Killingworth pitmen had the most perfect
+confidence in their engine-wright, and they readily volunteered
+to follow him.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 91--><a
+name="page91"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 91</span>
+<a href="images/p91.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Pit Head, West Moor"
+title=
+"The Pit Head, West Moor"
+src="images/p91.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Silence succeeded the frantic tumult of the previous minute,
+and the men set to work with a will.&nbsp; In every mine, bricks,
+mortar, and tools enough are at hand, and by Stephenson&rsquo;s
+direction the materials were forthwith carried to the required
+spot, where, in a very short time a wall was raised at the
+entrance to the main, he himself taking the most active part in
+the work.&nbsp; The atmospheric air was by this means excluded,
+the fire was extinguished, the people were saved from death, and
+the mine was preserved.</p>
+<p>This anecdote of Stephenson was related to the writer, near
+the pit-mouth, by one of the men who had been present and helped
+to build up the brick wall by which the fire was stayed, though
+several workmen were suffocated.&nbsp; He related that, when down
+the pit some days after, seeking out the dead bodies, the cause
+of the accident was the subject of conversation, and Stephenson
+was asked, &ldquo;Can nothing be done to prevent such awful
+occurrences?&rdquo;&nbsp; His reply was that he thought something
+might be done.&nbsp; <!-- page 92--><a name="page92"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 92</span>&ldquo;Then,&rdquo; said the other,
+&ldquo;the sooner you start the better; for the price of
+coal-mining now is <i>pitmen&rsquo;s lives</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Fifty years since, many of the best pits were so full of the
+inflammable gas given forth by the coal, that they could not be
+worked without the greatest danger; and for this reason some were
+altogether abandoned, The rudest possible methods were adopted of
+producing light sufficient to enable the pitmen to work by.&nbsp;
+The phosphorescence of decayed fish-skins was tried; but this,
+though safe, was very inefficient.&nbsp; The most common method
+employed was what was called a steel mill, the notched wheel of
+which, being made to revolve against a flint, struck a succession
+of sparks, which scarcely served to do more than make the
+darkness visible.&nbsp; A boy carried the apparatus after the
+miner, working the wheel, and by the imperfect light thus given
+forth he plied his dangerous trade.&nbsp; Candles were only used
+in those parts of the pit where gas was not abundant.&nbsp; Under
+this rude system not more than one-third of the coal could be
+worked; and two-thirds were left.</p>
+<p>What the workmen, not less than the coal-owners, eagerly
+desired was, a lamp that should give forth sufficient light,
+without communicating flame to the inflammable gas which
+accumulated in certain parts of the pit.&nbsp; Something had
+already been attempted towards the invention of such a lamp by
+Dr. Clanny, of Sunderland, who, in 1813, contrived an apparatus
+to which he gave air from the mine through water, by means of
+bellows.&nbsp; This lamp went out of itself in inflammable
+gas.&nbsp; It was found, however, too unwieldy to be used by the
+miners for the purposes of their work, and did not come into
+general use.&nbsp; A committee of gentlemen was formed to
+investigate the causes of the explosions, and to devise, if
+possible, some means of preventing them.&nbsp; At the invitation
+of that Committee, Sir Humphry Davy, then in the full zenith of
+his reputation, was requested to turn his attention to the
+subject.&nbsp; He accordingly visited the collieries near
+Newcastle on the 24th of August, 1815; and on the 9th of November
+following, he read before the Royal <!-- page 93--><a
+name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 93</span>Society of
+London his celebrated paper &ldquo;On the Fire-Damp of Coal
+Mines, and on Methods of lighting the Mine so as to prevent its
+explosion.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But a humbler though not less diligent and original thinker
+had been at work before him, and had already practically solved
+the problem of the Safety-Lamp.&nbsp; Stephenson was of course
+well aware of the anxiety which prevailed in the colliery
+districts as to the invention of a lamp which should give light
+enough for the miners to work by without exploding the
+fire-damp.&nbsp; The painful incidents above described only
+served to quicken his eagerness to master the difficulty.</p>
+<p>For several years he had been engaged, in his own rude way, in
+making experiments with the fire-damp in the Killingworth
+mine.&nbsp; The pitmen used to expostulate with him on these
+occasions, believing his experiments to be fraught with
+danger.&nbsp; One of the sinkers, observing him holding up
+lighted candles to the windward of the &ldquo;blower&rdquo; or
+fissure from which the inflammable gas escaped, entreated him to
+desist; but Stephenson&rsquo;s answer was, that &ldquo;he was
+busy with a plan by which he hoped to make his experiments useful
+for preserving men&rsquo;s lives.&rdquo;&nbsp; On these occasions
+the miners usually got out of the way before he lit the gas.</p>
+<p>In 1815, although he was very much occupied with the business
+of the collieries and the improvement of his locomotive engine,
+he was also busily engaged in making experiments upon inflammable
+gas in the Killingworth pit.&nbsp; According to the explanation
+afterwards given by him, he imagined that if he could construct a
+lamp with a chimney so arranged as to cause a strong current, it
+would not fire at the top of the chimney; as the burnt air would
+ascend with such a velocity as to prevent the inflammable air of
+the pit from descending towards the flame; and such a lamp, he
+thought, might be taken into a dangerous atmosphere without risk
+of exploding.</p>
+<p>Such was Stephenson&rsquo;s theory when he proceeded to <!--
+page 94--><a name="page94"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+94</span>embody his idea of a miner&rsquo;s safety-lamp in a
+practical form.&nbsp; In the month of August, 1815, he requested
+his friend Nicholas Wood, the head viewer, to prepare a drawing
+of a lamp according to the description which he gave him.&nbsp;
+After several evenings&rsquo; careful deliberations, the drawing
+was made, and shown to several of the head men about the
+works.</p>
+<p>Stephenson proceeded to order a lamp to be made by a Newcastle
+tinman, according to his plan; and at the same time he directed a
+glass to be made for the lamp at the Northumberland Glass
+House.&nbsp; Both were received by him from the makers on the
+21st October, and the lamp was taken to Killingworth for the
+purpose of immediate experiment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I remember that evening as distinctly as if it had been
+but yesterday,&rdquo; said Robert Stephenson, describing the
+circumstances to the author in 1857: &ldquo;Moodie came to our
+cottage about dusk, and asked, &lsquo;if father had got back yet
+with the lamp?&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;No.&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;Then
+I&rsquo;ll wait till he comes,&rsquo; said Moodie, &lsquo;he
+can&rsquo;t be long now.&rsquo;&nbsp; In about half-an-hour, in
+came my father, his face all radiant.&nbsp; He had the lamp with
+him!&nbsp; It was at once uncovered, and shown to Moodie.&nbsp;
+Then it was filled with oil, trimmed, and lighted.&nbsp; All was
+ready, only the head viewer hadn&rsquo;t arrived.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Run over to Benton for Nichol, Robert,&rsquo; said my
+father to me, &lsquo;and ask him to come directly; say
+we&rsquo;re going down the pit to try the lamp.&rsquo;&nbsp; By
+this time it was quite dark; and off I ran to bring Nicholas
+Wood.&nbsp; His house was at Benton, about a mile off.&nbsp;
+There was a short cut through the Churchyard, but just as I was
+about to pass the wicket, I saw what I thought was a white figure
+moving about amongst the grave-stones.&nbsp; I took it for a
+ghost!&nbsp; My heart fluttered, and I was in a great fright, but
+to Wood&rsquo;s house I must get, so I made the circuit of the
+Churchyard; and when I got round to the other side I looked, and
+lo! the figure was still there.&nbsp; But what do you think it
+was?&nbsp; Only the grave-digger, plying his work at that late
+hour by <!-- page 95--><a name="page95"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 95</span>the light of his lanthorn set upon
+one of the gravestones!&nbsp; I found Wood at home, and in a few
+minutes he was mounted and off to my father&rsquo;s.&nbsp; When I
+got back, I was told they had just left&mdash;it was then about
+eleven&mdash;and gone down the shaft to try the lamp in one of
+the most dangerous parts of the mine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Arrived at the bottom of the shaft with the lamp, the party
+directed their steps towards one of the foulest galleries in the
+pit, where the explosive gas was issuing through a blower in the
+roof of the mine with a loud hissing noise.&nbsp; By erecting
+some deal boarding round that part of the gallery into which the
+gas was escaping, the air was made more foul for the purpose of
+the experiment.&nbsp; After waiting about an hour, Moodie, whose
+practical experience of fire-damp in pits was greater than that
+of either Stephenson or Wood, was requested to go into the place
+which had thus been made foul; and, having done so, he returned,
+and told them that the smell of the air was such, that if a
+lighted candle were now introduced, an explosion must inevitably
+take place.&nbsp; He cautioned Stephenson as to the danger both
+to themselves and to the pit, if the gas took fire.&nbsp; But
+Stephenson declared his confidence in the safety of his lamp,
+and, having lit the wick, he boldly proceeded with it towards the
+explosive air.&nbsp; The others, more timid and doubtful, hung
+back when they came within hearing of the blower; and
+apprehensive of the danger, they retired into a safe place, out
+of sight of the lamp, which gradually disappeared with its bearer
+in the recesses of the mine. <a name="citation95"></a><a
+href="#footnote95" class="citation">[95]</a></p>
+<p><!-- page 96--><a name="page96"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+96</span>Advancing to the place of danger, and entering within
+the fouled air, his lighted lamp in hand, Stephenson held it
+finally out, in the full current of the blower, and within a few
+inches of its mouth.&nbsp; Thus exposed, the flame of the lamp at
+first increased, then flickered, and then went out; but there was
+no explosion of the gas.&nbsp; Returning to his companions, who
+were still at a distance, he told them what had occurred.&nbsp;
+Having now acquired somewhat more confidence, they advanced with
+him to a point from which they could observe him repeat his
+experiment, but still at a safe distance.&nbsp; They saw that
+<!-- page 97--><a name="page97"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+97</span>when the lighted lamp was held within the explosive
+mixture, there was a great flame; the lamp became almost full of
+fire; and then it smothered out.&nbsp; Again returning to his
+companions, he relighted the lamp, and repeated the experiment
+several times with the same result.&nbsp; At length Wood and
+Moodie ventured to advance close to the fouled part of the pit;
+and, in making some of the later trials, Mr. Wood himself held up
+the lighted lamp to the blower.</p>
+<p>Before leaving the pit, Stephenson expressed his opinion that
+by an alteration of the lamp which he then contemplated, he could
+make it burn better; this was by a change in the slide through
+which the air was admitted into the lower part, under the
+flame.&nbsp; After making some experiments on the air collected
+at the blower, by bladders which were mounted with tubes of
+various diameters, he satisfied himself that, when the tube was
+reduced to a certain diameter, the foul air would not pass
+through; and he fashioned his slide accordingly, reducing the
+diameter of the tube until he conceived it was quite safe.&nbsp;
+In about a fortnight the experiments were repeated, in a place
+purposely made foul as before; on this occasion a larger number
+of persons ventured to witness them, and they again proved
+successful.&nbsp; The lamp was not yet, however, so efficient as
+the inventor desired.&nbsp; It required, he observed, to be kept
+very steady when burning in the inflammable gas, otherwise it was
+liable to go out, in consequence, as he imagined, of the contact
+of the burnt air (as he then called it), or azotic gas, which
+lodged round the exterior of the flame.&nbsp; If the lamp was
+moved horizontally, the azote came in contact with the flame and
+extinguished it.&nbsp; &ldquo;It struck me,&rdquo; said he,
+&ldquo;that if I put more tubes in, I should discharge the
+poisonous matter that hung round the flame, by admitting the air
+to its exterior part.&rdquo;&nbsp; Although he had then no access
+to scientific books, nor intercourse with scientific men, nor
+anything that could assist him in his investigation, besides his
+own indefatigable spirit of inquiry, he contrived a rude
+apparatus by which he tested the explosive properties of the gas
+and <!-- page 98--><a name="page98"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+98</span>the velocity of current (for this was the direction of
+his inquiries) necessary to enable the explosive gas to pass
+through tubes of different diameters.&nbsp; In making these
+experiments in his humble cottage at the West Moor, Nicholas Wood
+and George&rsquo;s son Robert usually acted as his assistants,
+and sometimes the gentlemen of the neighbourhood interested in
+coal-mining attended as spectators.</p>
+<p>These experiments were not performed without risk, for on one
+occasion the experimenting party had nearly blown off the roof of
+the cottage.&nbsp; One of these &ldquo;blows up&rdquo; was
+described by Stephenson himself before the Committee on Accidents
+in Coal Mines, in 1835: &ldquo;I made several experiments,&rdquo;
+said he, &ldquo;as to the velocity required in tubes of different
+diameters, to prevent explosion from fire-damp.&nbsp; We made the
+mixtures in all proportions of light carburetted hydrogen with
+atmospheric air in the receiver, and we found by the experiments
+that when a current of the most explosive mixture that we could
+make was forced up a tube 4/10 of an inch in diameter, the
+necessary current was 9 inches in a second to prevent its coming
+down that tube.&nbsp; These experiments were repeated several
+times.&nbsp; We had two or three blows up in making the
+experiments, by the flame getting down into the receiver, though
+we had a piece of very fine wire-gauze put at the bottom of the
+pipe, between the receiver and the pipe through which we were
+forcing the current.&nbsp; In one of these experiments I was
+watching the flame in the tube, my son was taking the vibrations
+of the pendulum of the clock, and Mr. Wood was attending to give
+me the column of water as I called for it, to keep the current up
+to a certain point.&nbsp; As I saw the flame descending in the
+tube I called for more water, and Wood unfortunately turned the
+cock the wrong way, the current ceased, the flame went down the
+tube, and all our implements were blown to pieces, which at the
+time we were not very able to replace.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Stephenson followed up those experiments by others of a
+similar kind, with the view of ascertaining whether <!-- page
+99--><a name="page99"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+99</span>ordinary flame would pass through tubes of a small
+diameter and with this object he filed off the barrels of several
+small keys.&nbsp; Placing these together, he held them
+perpendicularly over a strong flame, and ascertained that it did
+not pass upward.&nbsp; This was a further proof to him of the
+soundness of the course he was pursuing.</p>
+<p>In order to correct the defect of his first lamp he resolved
+to alter it so as to admit the air to the flame by several tubes
+of reduced diameter, instead of by a single tube.&nbsp; He
+inferred that a sufficient quantity of air would thus be
+introduced into the lamp for the purposes of combustion, while
+the smallness of the apertures would still prevent the explosive
+gas passing downwards, at the same time that the &ldquo;burnt
+air&rdquo; (the cause, in his opinion, of the lamp going out)
+would be more effectually dislodged.&nbsp; He accordingly took
+the lamp to a tinman in Newcastle, and had it altered so that the
+air was admitted by three small tubes inserted in the bottom of
+the lamp, the openings of which were placed on the outside of the
+burner, instead of having (as in the original lamp) the one tube
+opening directly under the flame.</p>
+<p>This second or altered lamp was tried in the Killingworth pit
+on the 4th November, and was found to burn better than the first,
+and to be perfectly safe.&nbsp; But as it did not yet come quite
+up to the inventor&rsquo;s expectations, he proceeded to contrive
+a third lamp, in which he proposed to surround the oil vessel
+with a number of capillary tubes.&nbsp; Then it struck him, that
+if he cut off the middle of the tubes, or made holes in metal
+plates, placed at a distance from each other, equal to the length
+of the tubes, the air would get in better, and the effect in
+preventing explosion would be the same.</p>
+<p>He was encouraged to persevere in the completion of his
+safety-lamp by the occurrence of several fatal accidents about
+this time in the Killingworth pit.&nbsp; On the 9th November a
+boy was killed by a blast in the <i>A</i> pit, at the very place
+where Stephenson had made the experiments <!-- page 100--><a
+name="page100"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 100</span>with his
+first lamp; and, when told of the accident, he observed that if
+the boy had been provided with his lamp, his life would have been
+saved.&nbsp; On the 20th November he went over to Newcastle to
+order his third lamp from a plumber in that town.&nbsp; The
+plumber referred him to his clerk, whom Stephenson invited to
+join him at a neighbouring public-house, where they might quietly
+talk over the matter, and finally settle the plan of the new
+lamp.&nbsp; They adjourned to the &ldquo;Newcastle Arms,&rdquo;
+near the present High Level Bridge, where they had some ale, and
+a design of the lamp was drawn in pencil upon a half-sheet of
+foolscap, with a rough specification subjoined.&nbsp; The sketch,
+when shown to us by Robert Stephenson some years since, still
+bore the marks of the ale.&nbsp; It was a very rude design, but
+sufficient to work from.&nbsp; It was immediately placed in the
+hands of the workmen, finished in the course of a few days, and
+experimentally tested in the Killingworth pit like the previous
+lamps, on the 30th November.&nbsp; At that time neither
+Stephenson nor Wood had heard of Sir Humphry Davy&rsquo;s
+experiments nor of the lamp which that gentleman proposed to
+construct.</p>
+<p>An angry controversy afterwards took place as to the
+respective merits of George Stephenson and Sir Humphry Davy in
+respect of the invention of the safety-lamp.&nbsp; A committee
+was formed on both sides, and the facts were stated in various
+ways.&nbsp; It is perfectly clear, however, that Stephenson had
+ascertained <i>the fact</i> that flame will not pass through
+tubes of a certain diameter&mdash;the principle on which the
+safety-lamp is constructed&mdash;before Sir Humphry Davy had
+formed any definite idea on the subject, or invented the model
+lamp afterwards exhibited by him before the Royal Society.&nbsp;
+Stephenson had actually constructed a lamp on such a principle,
+and proved its safety, before Sir Humphry had communicated his
+views on the subject to any person; and by the time that the
+first public intimation had been given of his discovery,
+Stephenson&rsquo;s second lamp had been constructed and tested in
+like manner in the <!-- page 101--><a name="page101"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 101</span>Killingworth pit.&nbsp; The
+<i>first</i> was tried on the 21st October, 1815; the
+<i>second</i> was tried on the 4th November; but it was not until
+the 9th November that Sir Humphry Davy presented his first lamp
+to the public.&nbsp; And by the 30th of the same month, as we
+have seen, Stephenson had constructed and tested his <i>third</i>
+safety-lamp.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p101.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Davy&rsquo;s and Stephenson&rsquo;s Safety Lamps"
+title=
+"Davy&rsquo;s and Stephenson&rsquo;s Safety Lamps"
+src="images/p101.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Stephenson&rsquo;s theory of the &ldquo;burnt air&rdquo; and
+the &ldquo;draught&rdquo; was no doubt wrong; but his lamp was
+right, and that was the great fact which mainly concerned
+him.&nbsp; Torricelli did not know the rationale of his tube, nor
+Otto G&uuml;rike that of his air-pump; yet no one thinks of
+denying them the merit of their inventions on that account.&nbsp;
+The discoveries of Volta and Galvani were in like manner
+independent of theory; the greatest discoveries consisting in
+bringing to light certain grand facts, on which theories are
+afterwards framed.&nbsp; Our inventor had been pursuing the
+Baconian <!-- page 102--><a name="page102"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 102</span>method, though he did not think of
+that, but of inventing a safe lamp, which he knew could only be
+done through the process of repeated experiment.&nbsp; He
+experimented upon the fire-damp at the blowers in the mine, and
+also by means of the apparatus which was blown up in his cottage,
+as above described by himself.&nbsp; By experiment he distinctly
+ascertained that the explosion of fire-damp could not pass
+through small tubes; and he also did what had not before been
+done by any inventor&mdash;he constructed a lamp on this
+principle, and repeatedly proved its safety at the risk of his
+life.&nbsp; At the same time, there is no doubt that it was to
+Sir Humphry Davy that the merit belonged of having pointed out
+the true law on which the safety-lamp is constructed.</p>
+<p>The subject of this important invention excited so much
+interest in the northern mining districts, and Stephenson&rsquo;s
+numerous friends considered his lamp so completely
+successful&mdash;having stood the test of repeated
+experiments&mdash;that they urged him to bring his invention
+before the Philosophical and Literary Society of Newcastle, of
+whose apparatus he had availed himself in the course of his
+experiments on fire-damp.&nbsp; After much persuasion he
+consented, and a meeting was appointed for the purpose of
+receiving his explanations, on the evening of the 5th December,
+1815.&nbsp; Stephenson was at that time so diffident in manner
+and unpractised in speech, that he took with him his friend
+Nicholas Wood, to act as his interpreter and expositor on the
+occasion.&nbsp; From eighty to a hundred of the most intelligent
+members of the society were present at the meeting, when Mr. Wood
+stood forward to expound the principles on which the lamp had
+been formed, and to describe the details of its
+construction.&nbsp; Several questions were put, to which Mr. Wood
+proceeded to give replies to the best of his knowledge.&nbsp; But
+Stephenson, who up to that time had stood behind Wood, screened
+from notice, observing that the explanations given were not quite
+correct, could no longer control his reserve, and, standing
+forward, he proceeded in his strong Northumbrian dialect, to
+describe the lamp, down to its <!-- page 103--><a
+name="page103"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 103</span>minutest
+details.&nbsp; He then produced several bladders full of
+carburetted hydrogen, which he had collected from the blowers in
+the Killingworth mine, and proved the safety of his lamp by
+numerous experiments with the gas, repeated in various ways; his
+earnest and impressive manner exciting in the minds of his
+auditors the liveliest interest both in the inventor and his
+invention.</p>
+<p>Shortly after, Sir H. Davy&rsquo;s model lamp was received and
+exhibited to the coal-miners at Newcastle, on which occasion the
+observation was made by several gentlemen, &ldquo;Why, it is the
+same as Stephenson&rsquo;s!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Notwithstanding Stephenson&rsquo;s claim to be regarded as the
+first inventor of the Tube Safety-lamp, his merits do not seem to
+have been generally recognised; and Sir Humphry Davy carried off
+the larger share of the <i>&eacute;clat</i> which attached to the
+discovery.&nbsp; What chance had the unknown workman of
+Killingworth with so distinguished a competitor?&nbsp; The one
+was as yet but a colliery engine-wright, scarce raised above the
+manual-labour class, pursuing his experiments in obscurity, with
+a view only to usefulness; the other was the scientific prodigy
+of his day, the most brilliant of lecturers, and the most popular
+of philosophers.</p>
+<p>No small indignation was expressed by the friends of Sir
+Humphry Davy at Stephenson&rsquo;s &ldquo;presumption&rdquo; in
+laying claim to the invention of the safety-lamp.&nbsp; In 1831
+Dr. Paris, in his &lsquo;Life of Sir Humphry Davy,&rsquo; thus
+wrote:&mdash;&ldquo;It will hereafter be scarcely believed that
+an invention so eminently scientific, and which could never have
+been derived but from the sterling treasury of science, should
+have been claimed on behalf of an engine-wright of Killingworth,
+of the name of Stephenson&mdash;a person not even possessing a
+knowledge of the elements of chemistry.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But Stephenson was far above claiming for himself any
+invention not his own.&nbsp; He had already accomplished a far
+greater feat than the making of a safety-lamp&mdash;he had
+constructed a successful locomotive, which was to be seen in
+daily work on the Killingworth railway.&nbsp; By the <!-- page
+104--><a name="page104"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+104</span>improvements he had made in the engine, he might almost
+be said to have <i>invented</i> it; but no one&mdash;not even the
+philosophers&mdash;detected the significance of that wonderful
+machine.&nbsp; What railways were to become, rested in a great
+measure with that &ldquo;engine-wright of Killingworth, of the
+name of Stephenson,&rdquo; though he was scarcely known as yet
+beyond the bounds of his own district.</p>
+<p>As to the value of the invention of the safety-lamp there
+could be no doubt; and the colliery owners of Durham and
+Northumberland, to testify their sense of its importance,
+determined to present a testimonial to its inventor.&nbsp; The
+friends of Sir H. Davy met in August, 1816, to take steps for
+raising a subscription for the purpose.&nbsp; The advertised
+object of the meeting was to present him with a reward for
+&ldquo;the invention of <i>his</i> safety-lamp.&rdquo;&nbsp; To
+this no objection could be taken; for though the principle on
+which the safety-lamps of Stephenson and Davy were constructed
+was the same; and although Stephenson&rsquo;s lamp was,
+unquestionably, the first successful lamp that had been
+constructed on such principle, and proved to be
+efficient,&mdash;yet Sir H. Davy did invent a safety-lamp, no
+doubt quite independent of all that Stephenson had done; and
+having directed his careful attention to the subject, and
+elucidated the true theory of explosion of carburetted hydrogen,
+he was entitled to all praise and reward for his labours.&nbsp;
+But when the meeting of coal-owners proposed to raise a
+subscription for the purpose of presenting Sir H. Davy with a
+reward for &ldquo;his invention of <i>the</i> safety-lamp,&rdquo;
+the case was entirely altered; and Stephenson&rsquo;s friends
+then proceeded to assert his claims to be regarded as its first
+inventor.</p>
+<p>Many meetings took place on the subject, and much discussion
+ensued, the result of which was that a sum of &pound;2000 was
+presented to Sir Humphry Davy as &ldquo;the inventor of the
+safety-lamp;&rdquo; but, at the same time, a purse of 100 guineas
+was voted to George Stephenson, in consideration of what he had
+done in the same direction.&nbsp; This result was, however very
+unsatisfactory to Stephenson, as well as to his friends, <!--
+page 105--><a name="page105"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+105</span>and Mr. Brandling, of Gosforth, suggested to him that,
+the subject being now fairly before the public, he should publish
+a statement of the facts on which his claim was founded.</p>
+<p>This was not at all in George&rsquo;s line.&nbsp; He had never
+appeared in print; and it seemed to him a more formidable thing
+to write a letter for &ldquo;the papers&rdquo; than to invent a
+safety-lamp or design a locomotive.&nbsp; However, he called to
+his aid his son Robert, set him down before a sheet of foolscap,
+and told him to &ldquo;put down there just what I tell
+you.&rdquo;&nbsp; The composition of this letter, as we were
+informed by the writer of it, occupied more evenings than one;
+and when it was at length finished, after many corrections, and
+fairly copied out, the father and son set out&mdash;the latter
+dressed in his Sunday&rsquo;s round jacket&mdash;to lay the joint
+production before Mr. Brandling, at Gosforth House.&nbsp;
+Glancing over the letter, Mr. Brandling said, &ldquo;George, this
+will never do.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;It is all true, sir,&rdquo;
+was the reply.&nbsp; &ldquo;That may be; but it is badly
+written.&rdquo;&nbsp; Robert blushed, for he thought the
+penmanship was called in question, and he had written his
+best.&nbsp; Mr. Brandling, however, revised the letter, which was
+shortly after published in the local journals.</p>
+<p>Stephenson&rsquo;s friends, fully satisfied of his claims to
+priority as the inventor of the safety-lamp used in the
+Killingworth and other collieries, held a public meeting for the
+purpose of presenting him with a reward &ldquo;for the valuable
+service he had thus rendered to mankind.&rdquo;&nbsp; A
+subscription was immediately commenced with this object, and a
+committee was formed, consisting of the Earl of Strathmore, C. J.
+Brandling, and others.&nbsp; The subscriptions, when collected,
+amounted to &pound;1000.&nbsp; Part of the money was devoted to
+the purchase of a silver tankard, which was presented to the
+inventor, together with the balance of the subscription, at a
+public dinner given in the Assembly Rooms at Newcastle. <a
+name="citation105"></a><a href="#footnote105"
+class="citation">[105]</a>&nbsp; But what gave Stephenson even
+<!-- page 106--><a name="page106"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+106</span>greater pleasure than the silver tankard and purse of
+sovereigns was the gift of a silver watch, purchased by small
+subscriptions amongst the colliers themselves, and presented by
+them as a token of their personal esteem and regard for him, as
+well as of their gratitude for the perseverance and skill with
+which he had prosecuted his valuable and lifesaving invention to
+a successful issue.</p>
+<p>However great the merits of Stephenson in connexion with the
+invention of the tube safety-lamp, they cannot be regarded as
+detracting from the reputation of Sir Humphry Davy.&nbsp; His
+inquiries into the explosive properties of carburetted hydrogen
+gas were quite original; and his discovery of the fact that
+explosion will not pass through tubes of a certain diameter was
+made independently of all that Stephenson had done in
+verification of the same fact.&nbsp; It even appears that Mr.
+Smithson Tennant and Dr. Wollaston had observed the same fact
+several years before, though neither Stephenson nor Davy knew it
+while they were prosecuting their experiments.&nbsp; Sir Humphry
+Davy&rsquo;s subsequent modification of the tube-lamp, by which,
+while diminishing the diameter, he in the same ratio shortened
+the tubes without danger, and in the form of wire-gauze enveloped
+the safety-lamp by a multiplicity of tubes, was a beautiful
+application of the true theory which he had formed upon the
+subject.</p>
+<p>The increased number of accidents which have occurred from
+explosions in coal-mines since the general introduction of the
+Davy lamp, have led to considerable doubts as to its safety, and
+to inquiries as to the means by which it may be further improved;
+for experience has shown that, under certain circumstances, the
+Davy lamp is <i>not</i> safe.&nbsp; <!-- page 107--><a
+name="page107"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 107</span>Stephenson
+was himself of opinion that the modification of his own and Sir
+Humphry Davy&rsquo;s lamp, combining the glass cylinder with the
+wire-gauze, was the most secure; at the same time it must be
+admitted that the Davy and the Geordy lamps alike failed to stand
+the severe tests to which they were submitted by Dr. Pereira,
+before the Committee on Accidents in Mines.&nbsp; Indeed, Dr.
+Pereira did not hesitate to say, that when exposed to a current
+of explosive gas the Davy lamp is &ldquo;decidedly unsafe,&rdquo;
+and that the experiments by which its safety had been
+&ldquo;demonstrated&rdquo; in the lecture-room had proved
+entirely &ldquo;fallacious.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It is worthy of remark, that under circumstances in which the
+wire-gauze of the Davy lamp becomes red-hot from the high
+explosiveness of the gas, the Geordy lamp is extinguished; and we
+cannot but think that this fact testifies to the decidedly
+superior safety of the Geordy.&nbsp; An accident occurred in the
+Oaks colliery Pit at Barnsley, on the 20th August, 1857, which
+strikingly exemplified the respective qualities of the
+lamps.&nbsp; A sudden outburst of gas took place from the floor
+of the mine, along a distance of fifty yards.&nbsp; Fortunately
+the men working in the pit at the time were all supplied with
+safety-lamps&mdash;the hewers with Stephenson&rsquo;s, and the
+hurriers with Davy&rsquo;s.&nbsp; Upon this occasion, the whole
+of the Stephenson&rsquo;s lamps, over a space of five hundred
+yards, were extinguished almost instantaneously; whereas the Davy
+lamps were filled with fire, and became red-hot&mdash;so much so,
+that several of the men using them had their hands burnt by the
+gauze.&nbsp; Had a strong current of air been blowing through the
+gallery at the time, an explosion would most probably have taken
+place&mdash;an accident which, it will be observed, could not,
+under such circumstances, occur from the use of the Geordy, which
+is immediately extinguished as soon as the air becomes explosive.
+<a name="citation107"></a><a href="#footnote107"
+class="citation">[107]</a></p>
+<p><!-- page 108--><a name="page108"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+108</span>Nicholas Wood, a good judge, has said of the two
+inventions, &ldquo;Priority has been claimed for each of
+them&mdash;I believe the inventions to be parallel.&nbsp; By
+different roads they both arrived at the same result.&nbsp;
+Stephenson&rsquo;s is the superior lamp.&nbsp; Davy&rsquo;s is
+safe&mdash;Stephenson&rsquo;s is safer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When the question of priority was under discussion at the
+studio of Mr. Lough, the sculptor, in 1857, Sir Matthew White
+Ridley asked Robert Stephenson, who was present, for his opinion
+on the subject.&nbsp; His answer was, &ldquo;I am not exactly the
+person to give an unbiassed opinion; but, as you ask me frankly,
+I will as frankly say, that if George Stephenson had never lived,
+Sir Humphry Davy could and most probably would have invented the
+safety-lamp; but again, if Sir Humphry Davy had never lived,
+George Stephenson certainly would have invented the safety-lamp,
+as I believe he did, independent of all that Sir Humphry Davy had
+ever done in the matter.&rdquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p108.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"West Moor Pit, Killingworth"
+title=
+"West Moor Pit, Killingworth"
+src="images/p108.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2><!-- page 109--><a name="page109"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 109</span>CHAPTER VII.<br />
+<span class="smcap">George Stephenson&rsquo;s further
+Improvements in the Locomotive</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">The Hetton Railway</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Robert Stephenson as Viewer&rsquo;s Apprentice and
+Student</span>.</h2>
+<p>Stephenson&rsquo;s experiments on fire-damp, and his labours
+in connexion with the invention of the safety-lamp, occupied but
+a small portion of his time, which was necessarily devoted for
+the most part to the ordinary business of the colliery.&nbsp;
+From the day of his appointment as engine-wright, one of the
+subjects which particularly occupied his attention was the best
+practical method of winning and raising the coal.&nbsp; He was
+one of the first to introduce steam machinery underground with
+the latter object.&nbsp; Indeed, the Killingworth mines came to
+be regarded as the models of the district; the working
+arrangements generally being conducted in a skilful and efficient
+manner, reflecting the highest credit on the colliery
+engineer.</p>
+<p>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.&nbsp; Every day&rsquo;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.&nbsp; He even went so
+far as to say that the locomotive would yet supersede every other
+traction-power for drawing heavy loads.&nbsp; Many still regarded
+his travelling engine as little better than a curious toy; and
+some, shaking their heads, predicted for it &ldquo;a terrible
+blow-up some day.&rdquo;&nbsp; Nevertheless, it was daily
+performing its work with regularity, dragging the coal-waggons
+between the colliery and the staiths, and <!-- page 110--><a
+name="page110"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 110</span>saving the
+labour of many men and horses.&nbsp; There was not, however, so
+marked a saving in haulage as to induce the colliery masters to
+adopt locomotive power generally as a substitute for
+horses.&nbsp; How it could be improved and rendered more
+efficient as well as economical, was constantly present to
+Stephenson&rsquo;s mind.</p>
+<p>At an early period of his labours, or about the time when he
+had completed his second locomotive, he began to direct his
+particular attention to the state of the Road; as he perceived
+that the extended use of the locomotive must necessarily depend
+in a great measure upon the perfection, solidity, continuity, and
+smoothness of the way along which the engine travelled.&nbsp;
+Even at that early period, he was in the habit of regarding the
+road and the locomotive as one machine, speaking of the rail and
+the wheel as &ldquo;man and wife.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>All railways were at that time laid in a careless and loose
+manner, and great inequalities of level were allowed to occur
+without much attention being paid to repairs.&nbsp; The
+consequence was a great loss of power, as well as much tear and
+wear of the machinery, by the frequent jolts and blows of the
+wheels against the rails.&nbsp; His first object therefore was,
+to remove the inequalities produced by the imperfect junction
+between rail and rail.&nbsp; At that time, (in 1816) the rails
+were made of cast iron, each rail being about three feet long;
+and sufficient care was not taken to maintain the points of
+junction on the same level.&nbsp; The chairs, or cast-iron
+pedestals into which the rails were inserted, were flat at the
+bottom; so that, whenever any disturbance took place in the stone
+blocks or sleepers supporting them, the flat base of the chair
+upon which the rails rested being tilted by unequal subsidence,
+the end of one rail became depressed, whilst that of the other
+was elevated.&nbsp; Hence constant jolts and shocks, the reaction
+of which very often caused the fracture of the rails, and
+occasionally threw the engine off the road.</p>
+<p>To remedy this imperfection Mr. Stephenson devised a <!-- page
+111--><a name="page111"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+111</span>new chair, with an entirely new mode of fixing the
+rails therein.&nbsp; Instead of adopting the <i>butt-joint</i>
+which had hitherto been used in all cast-iron rails, he adopted
+the <i>half-lap joint</i>, by which means the rails extended a
+certain distance over each other at the ends, like a
+scarf-joint.&nbsp; These ends, instead of resting upon the flat
+chair, were made to rest upon the apex of a curve forming the
+bottom of the chair.&nbsp; The supports were also extended from
+three feet to three feet nine inches or four feet apart.&nbsp;
+These rails were accordingly substituted for the old cast-iron
+plates on the Killingworth Colliery Railway, and they were found
+to be a very great improvement upon the previous system, adding
+both to the efficiency of the horse-power, still employed in
+working the railway, and to the smooth action of the locomotive
+engine, but more particularly increasing the efficiency of the
+latter.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p111.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Half-lap Joint"
+title=
+"Half-lap Joint"
+src="images/p111.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>This improved form of rail and chair was embodied in a patent
+taken out in the joint names of Mr. Losh, of Newcastle,
+iron-founder, and of Mr. Stephenson, bearing date 30th September,
+1816.&nbsp; Mr. Losh being a wealthy, enterprising
+iron-manufacturer, and having confidence in George Stephenson and
+his improvements, found the money for the purpose of taking out
+the patent, which, in those days, was a very costly as well as
+troublesome affair.</p>
+<p>The specification of the same patent also described various
+important improvements in the locomotive itself.&nbsp; The wheels
+of the engine were improved, being altered from cast to malleable
+iron, in whole or in part, by which they were made lighter as
+well as more durable and safe.&nbsp; But the most ingenious and
+original contrivance embodied in this patent was the substitute
+for springs which Mr. Stephenson invented.&nbsp; He contrived
+that the steam generated <!-- page 112--><a
+name="page112"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 112</span>in the
+boiler should perform this important office.&nbsp; The method by
+which this was effected displayed such genuine mechanical genius,
+that we would particularly call attention to the device, which
+was the more remarkable, as it was contrived long before the
+possibility of steam locomotion had become an object of general
+inquiry or of public interest.</p>
+<p>It has already been observed that up to, and indeed after, the
+period of which we speak, there was no such class of skilled
+mechanics, nor were there any such machines and tools in use, as
+are now available to inventors and manufacturers.&nbsp; Although
+skilled workmen were in course of gradual training in a few of
+the larger manufacturing towns, they did not, at the date of
+Stephenson&rsquo;s patent, exist in any considerable numbers, nor
+was there then any class of mechanics capable of constructing
+springs of sufficient strength and elasticity to support
+locomotive engines of ten tons weight.</p>
+<p>In order to avoid the dangers arising from the inequalities of
+the road, Stephenson so arranged the boiler of his new patent
+locomotive that it was supported upon the frame of the engine by
+four cylinders, which opened into the interior of the
+boiler.&nbsp; These cylinders were occupied by pistons with rods,
+which passed downwards and pressed upon the upper side of the
+axles.&nbsp; The cylinders opening into the interior of the
+boiler, allowed the pressure of steam to be applied to the upper
+side of the piston; and the pressure being nearly equivalent to
+one-fourth of the weight of the engine, each axle, whatever might
+be its position, had at all times nearly the same amount of
+weight to bear, and consequently the entire weight was pretty
+equally distributed amongst the four wheels of the
+locomotive.&nbsp; Thus the four floating pistons were ingeniously
+made to serve the purpose of springs in equalising the weight,
+and in softening the jerks of the machine; the weight of which,
+it must also be observed, had been increased, on a road
+originally calculated to bear a considerably lighter description
+of carriage.&nbsp; This mode of supporting the engine remained in
+use until the <!-- page 113--><a name="page113"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 113</span>progress of spring-making had so far
+advanced that steel springs could be manufactured of sufficient
+strength to bear the weight of locomotive engines.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p113.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Old Killingworth Locomotive, still in use"
+title=
+"Old Killingworth Locomotive, still in use"
+src="images/p113.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The result of the actual working of the new locomotive on the
+improved road amply justified the promises held forth in the
+specification.&nbsp; The traffic was conducted with greater
+regularity and economy, and the superiority of the engine, as
+compared with horse traction, became still more marked.&nbsp; It
+is a fact worthy of notice, that the identical engines
+constructed in 1816 after the plan above described are to this
+day to be seen in regular useful work upon the Killingworth
+Railway, conveying heavy coal-trains at the speed of between five
+and six miles an hour, probably as economically as any of the
+more perfect locomotives now in use.</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s endeavours having been attended with
+<!-- page 114--><a name="page114"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+114</span>such marked success in the adaptation of locomotive
+power to railways, his attention was called by many of his
+friends, about the year 1818, to the application of steam to
+travelling on common roads.&nbsp; It was from this point that the
+locomotive started, Trevithick&rsquo;s first engine having been
+constructed with this special object.&nbsp; Stephenson&rsquo;s
+friends having observed how far behind he had left the original
+projector of the locomotive in its application to railroads,
+perhaps naturally inferred that he would be equally successful in
+applying it to the purpose for which Trevithick and Vivian had
+intended their first engine.&nbsp; But the accuracy with which he
+estimated the resistance to which loads were exposed on railways,
+arising from friction and gravity, led him at a very early stage
+to reject the idea of ever applying steam power economically to
+common-road travelling.&nbsp; In October, 1818, he made a series
+of careful experiments in conjunction with Nicholas Wood, on the
+resistance to which carriages were exposed on railways, testing
+the results by means of a dynamometer of his own
+construction.&nbsp; The series of practical observations made by
+means of this instrument were interesting, as the first
+systematic attempt to determine the precise amount of resistance
+to carriages moving along railways.&nbsp; It was then for the
+first time ascertained by experiment that the friction was a
+constant quantity at all velocities.&nbsp; Although this theory
+had long before been developed by Vince and Coulomb, and was well
+known to scientific men as an established truth, yet, at the time
+when Stephenson made his experiments, the deductions of
+philosophers on the subject were neither believed in nor acted
+upon by practical engineers.</p>
+<p>He ascertained that the resistances to traction were mainly
+three; the first being upon the axles of the carriages, the
+second, or rolling resistance, being between the circumference of
+the wheel and the surface of the rail, and the third being the
+resistance of gravity.&nbsp; The amount of friction and gravity
+he could accurately ascertain; but the <!-- page 115--><a
+name="page115"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 115</span>rolling
+resistance was a matter of greater difficulty, being subject to
+much variation.&nbsp; He satisfied himself, however, that it was
+so great when the surface presented to the wheel was of a rough
+character, that the idea of working steam carriages economically
+on common roads was dismissed by him as entirely
+impracticable.&nbsp; Taking it as 10 lbs to a ton weight on a
+level railway, it became obvious to him that so small a rise as 1
+in 100 would diminish the useful effort of a locomotive by
+upwards of 50 per cent.&nbsp; This was demonstrated by repeated
+experiments, and the important fact, thus rooted in his mind, was
+never lost sight of in the course of his future railway
+career.</p>
+<p>It was owing in a great measure to these painstaking
+experiments that he early became convinced of the vital
+importance, in an economical point of view, of reducing the
+country through which a railway was intended to pass as nearly as
+possible to a level.&nbsp; Where, as in the first coal railways
+of Northumberland and Durham, the load was nearly all one
+way,&mdash;that is, from the colliery to the
+shipping-place,&mdash;it was an advantage to have an inclination
+in that direction.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; But when the loads were both ways, he deemed it of
+great importance that the railroad should be constructed as
+nearly as possible on a level.</p>
+<p>These views, thus early entertained, originated in
+Stephenson&rsquo;s mind the peculiar character of railroad works
+as distinguished from other roads; for, in railways, he early
+contended that large sums would be wisely expended in perforating
+barriers of hills with long tunnels, and in raising the lower
+levels with the excess cut down from the adjacent high
+ground.&nbsp; In proportion as these views forced themselves upon
+his mind and were corroborated by his daily experience, he became
+more and more convinced of the hopelessness of applying steam
+locomotion to common roads; for every argument in favour of a
+level railway was, in his <!-- page 116--><a
+name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 116</span>view, an
+argument against the rough and hilly course of a common road.</p>
+<p>Although Stephenson&rsquo;s locomotive engines were in daily
+use for many years on the Killingworth Railway, they excited
+comparatively little interest.&nbsp; They were no longer
+experimental, but had become an established tractive power.&nbsp;
+The experience of years had proved that they worked more
+steadily, drew heavier loads, and were, on the whole,
+considerably more economical than horses.&nbsp; Nevertheless
+eight years passed before another locomotive railway was
+constructed and opened for the purposes of coal or other
+traffic.</p>
+<p>Stephenson had no means of bringing his important invention
+prominently under the notice of the public.&nbsp; He himself knew
+well its importance, and he already anticipated its eventual
+general adoption; but being an unlettered man, he could not give
+utterance to the thoughts which brooded within him on the
+subject.&nbsp; Killingworth Colliery lay far from London, the
+centre of scientific life in England.&nbsp; It was visited by no
+savans nor literary men, who might have succeeded in introducing
+to notice the wonderful machine of Stephenson.&nbsp; Even the
+local chroniclers seem to have taken no notice of the
+Killingworth Railway.</p>
+<p>There seemed, indeed, to be so small a prospect of introducing
+the locomotive into general use, that Stephenson,&mdash;perhaps
+feeling the capabilities within him,&mdash;again recurred to his
+old idea of emigrating to the United States.&nbsp; Before joining
+Mr. Burrel as partner in a small foundry at Forth Banks,
+Newcastle, he had thrown out to him the suggestion that it would
+be a good speculation for them to emigrate to North America, and
+introduce steamboats upon the great inland lakes there.&nbsp; The
+first steamers were then plying upon the Tyne before his eyes;
+and he saw in them the germ of a great revolution in
+navigation.&nbsp; It occurred to him that North America presented
+the finest field for trying their wonderful powers.&nbsp; He was
+an engineer, his partner was an iron-founder; and between them he
+thought they might strike out a path to fortune in the <!-- page
+117--><a name="page117"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+117</span>mighty West.&nbsp; Fortunately, this idea remained a
+mere speculation so far as Stephenson was concerned: and it was
+left to others to do what he had dreamt of achieving.&nbsp; After
+all his patient waiting, his skill, industry, and perseverance
+were at length about to bear fruit.</p>
+<p>In 1819 the owners of the Hetton Colliery, in the county of
+Durham, determined to have their waggon-way altered to a
+locomotive railroad.&nbsp; The result of the working of the
+Killingworth Railway had been so satisfactory, that they resolved
+to adopt the same system.&nbsp; One reason why an experiment so
+long continued and so successful as that at Killingworth should
+have been so slow in producing results, perhaps was, that to lay
+down a railway and furnish it with locomotives, or fixed engines
+where necessary, required a very large capital, beyond the means
+of ordinary coal-owners; whilst the small amount of interest felt
+in railways by the general public, and the supposed
+impracticability of working them to a profit, as yet prevented
+ordinary capitalists from venturing their money in the promotion
+of such undertakings.&nbsp; The Hetton Coal Company were,
+however, possessed of adequate means; and the local reputation of
+the Killingworth engine-wright pointed him out as the man best
+calculated to lay out their line, and superintend their
+works.&nbsp; They accordingly invited him to act as the engineer
+of the proposed railway, which was to be the longest locomotive
+line that had, up to that time, been constructed.&nbsp; It
+extended from the Hetton Colliery, situated about two miles south
+of Houghton-le-Spring, in the county of Durham, to the
+shipping-places on the banks of the Wear, near Sunderland.&nbsp;
+Its length was about eight miles; and in its course it crossed
+Warden Law, one of the highest hills in the district.&nbsp; The
+character of the country forbade the construction of a flat line,
+or one of comparatively easy gradients, except by the expenditure
+of a much larger capital than was placed at the engineer&rsquo;s
+disposal.&nbsp; Heavy works could not be executed; it was
+therefore necessary to form the line with but little deviation
+from the natural <!-- page 118--><a name="page118"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 118</span>conformation of the district which
+it traversed, and also to adapt the mechanical methods employed
+for its working to the character of the gradients, which in some
+places were necessarily heavy.</p>
+<p>Although Stephenson had, with every step made towards its
+increased utility, become more and more identified with the
+success of the locomotive engine, he did not allow his enthusiasm
+to carry him away into costly mistakes.&nbsp; He carefully drew
+the line between the cases in which the locomotive could be
+usefully employed, and those in which stationary engines were
+calculated to be more economical.&nbsp; This led him, as in the
+instance of the Hetton Railway, to execute lines through and over
+rough countries, where gradients within the powers of the
+locomotive engine of that day could not be secured, employing in
+their stead stationary engines where locomotives were not
+practicable.&nbsp; In the present case, this course was adopted
+by him most successfully.&nbsp; On the original Hetton line,
+there were five self-acting inclines,&mdash;the full waggons
+drawing the empty ones up,&mdash;and two inclines worked by fixed
+reciprocating engines of sixty horse power each.&nbsp; The
+locomotive travelling engine, or &ldquo;the iron horse,&rdquo; as
+the people of the neighbourhood then styled it, did the
+rest.&nbsp; On the day of the opening of the Hetton Railway, the
+18th November, 1822, crowds of spectators assembled from all
+parts to witness the first operations of this ingenious and
+powerful machinery, which was entirely successful.&nbsp; On that
+day five of Stephenson&rsquo;s locomotives were at work upon the
+railway, under the direction of his brother Robert; and the first
+shipment of coal was then made by the Hetton Company, at their
+new staiths on the Wear.&nbsp; The speed at which the locomotives
+travelled was about 4 miles an hour, and each engine dragged
+after it a train of 17 waggons, weighing about 64 tons.</p>
+<p>While thus advancing step by step,&mdash;attending to the
+business of the Killingworth Colliery, and laying out railways in
+the neighbourhood,&mdash;he was carefully watching <!-- page
+119--><a name="page119"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+119</span>over the education of his son.&nbsp; We have already
+seen that Robert was sent to Bruce&rsquo;s school at Newcastle,
+where he remained about four years.&nbsp; He left it in the
+summer of 1819, and was then put apprentice to Mr. Nicholas Wood,
+the head viewer at Killingworth, to learn the business of the
+colliery.&nbsp; He served in that capacity for about three years,
+during which time he became familiar with most departments of
+underground work.&nbsp; The occupation was not unattended with
+peril, as the following incident will show.&nbsp; Though the use
+of the Geordy lamp had become general in the Killingworth pits,
+and the workmen were bound, under a penalty of half-a-crown, not
+to use a naked candle, it was difficult to enforce the rule, and
+even the masters themselves occasionally broke it.&nbsp; One day
+Nicholas Wood, the head viewer, Moodie the under viewer, and
+Robert Stephenson, were proceeding along one of the galleries,
+Wood with a naked candle in his hand, and Robert following him
+with a lamp.&nbsp; They came to a place where a fall of stones
+from the roof had taken place, on which Wood, who was first,
+proceeded to clamber over the stones, holding high the naked
+candle.&nbsp; He had nearly reached the summit of the heap, when
+the fire-damp, which had accumulated in the hollow of the roof,
+exploded, and instantly the whole party were blown down, and the
+lights extinguished.&nbsp; They were a mile from the shaft, and
+quite in the dark.&nbsp; There was a rush of the workpeople from
+all quarters towards the shaft, for it was feared that the fire
+might extend to more dangerous parts of the pit, where, if the
+gas had exploded, every soul in the mine must inevitably have
+perished.&nbsp; Robert Stephenson and Moodie, on the first
+impulse, ran back at full speed along the dark gallery leading to
+the shaft, coming into collision, on their way, with the hind
+quarters of a horse stunned by the explosion.&nbsp; When they had
+gone halfway, Moodie halted, and bethought him of Nicholas
+Wood.&nbsp; &ldquo;Stop, laddie!&rdquo; said he to Robert,
+&ldquo;stop; we maun gang back, and seek the
+maister.&rdquo;&nbsp; So they retraced their steps.&nbsp;
+Happily, no further explosion had <!-- page 120--><a
+name="page120"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 120</span>taken
+place.&nbsp; They found the master lying on the heap of stones,
+stunned and bruised, with his hands severely burnt.&nbsp; They
+led him to the bottom of the shaft; and he took care afterwards
+not to venture into the dangerous parts of the mine without the
+protection of a Geordy lamp.</p>
+<p>The time that Robert spent at Killingworth as viewer&rsquo;s
+apprentice was of advantage both to his father and himself.&nbsp;
+The evenings were generally devoted to reading and study, the two
+from this time working together as friends and
+co-labourers.&nbsp; One who used to drop in at the cottage of an
+evening, well remembers the animated and eager discussions which
+on some occasions took place, more especially with reference to
+the growing powers of the locomotive engine.&nbsp; The son was
+even more enthusiastic than the father on this subject.&nbsp;
+Robert would suggest numerous alterations and improvements in
+details.&nbsp; His father, on the contrary, would offer every
+possible objection, defending the existing
+arrangements,&mdash;proud, nevertheless of his son&rsquo;s
+suggestions, and often warmed and excited by his brilliant
+anticipations of the ultimate triumph of the locomotive.</p>
+<p>These discussions probably had considerable influence in
+inducing Stephenson to take the next important step in the
+education of his son.&nbsp; Although Robert, who was only
+nineteen years of age, was doing well, and was certain at the
+expiration of his apprenticeship to rise to a higher position,
+his father was not satisfied with the amount of instruction which
+he had as yet given him.&nbsp; Remembering the disadvantages
+under which he had himself laboured through his ignorance of
+practical chemistry during his investigations connected with the
+safety-lamp, more especially with reference to the properties of
+gas, as well as in the course of his experiments with the object
+of improving the locomotive engine, he determined to furnish his
+son with as complete a scientific culture as his means would
+afford.&nbsp; He also believed that a proper training in
+technical science was indispensable to success in the higher
+walks of the engineer&rsquo;s profession; and he determined to
+give to his son that kind <!-- page 121--><a
+name="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 121</span>and degree
+of education which he so much desired for himself.&nbsp; He would
+thus, he knew, secure a hearty and generous co-worker in the
+elaboration of the great ideas now looming before him, and with
+their united practical and scientific knowledge he probably felt
+that they would be equal to any enterprise.</p>
+<p>He accordingly took Robert from his labours as under-viewer in
+the West Moor Pit, and in October, 1822, sent him to the
+Edinburgh University, there being then no college in England
+accessible to persons of moderate means, for purposes of
+scientific culture.&nbsp; Robert was furnished with letters of
+introduction to several men of literary eminence in Edinburgh;
+his father&rsquo;s reputation in connexion with the safety-lamp
+being of service to him in this respect.&nbsp; He lodged in
+Drummond Street, in the immediate vicinity of the college, and
+attended the Chemical Lectures of Dr. Hope, the Natural
+Philosophy Lectures of Sir John Leslie, and the Natural History
+Class of Professor Jameson.&nbsp; He also devoted several
+evenings in each week to the study of practical Chemistry under
+Dr. John Murray, himself one of the numerous designers of a
+safety-lamp.&nbsp; He took careful notes of all the lectures,
+which he copied out at night before he went to bed; so that, when
+he returned to Killingworth, he might read them over to his
+father.&nbsp; He afterwards had the notes bound up, and placed in
+his library.&nbsp; Long years after, when conversing with Thomas
+Harrison, C.E., at his house in Gloucester Square, he rose from
+his seat and took down a volume from the shelves.&nbsp; Mr.
+Harrison observed that the book was in MS., neatly written
+out.&nbsp; &ldquo;What have we here?&rdquo; he asked.&nbsp; The
+answer was&mdash;&ldquo;When I went to college, I knew the
+difficulty my father had in collecting the funds to send me
+there.&nbsp; Before going I studied short-hand; while at
+Edinburgh, I took down verbatim every lecture; and in the
+evenings, before I went to bed, I transcribed those lectures word
+for word.&nbsp; You see the result in that range of
+books.&rdquo;</p>
+<p><!-- page 122--><a name="page122"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+122</span>One of the practical sciences in the study of which
+Robert Stephenson took special interest while at Edinburgh was
+that of geology.&nbsp; The situation of the city, in the midst of
+a district of highly interesting geological formation, easily
+accessible to pedestrians, is indeed most favourable to the
+pursuit of such a study; and it was the practice of Professor
+Jameson frequently to head a band of his pupils, armed with
+hammers, chisels, and clinometers, and take them with him on a
+long ramble into the country, for the purpose of teaching them
+habits of observation and reading to them from the open book of
+Nature itself.&nbsp; At the close of this session, the professor
+took with him a select body of his pupils on an excursion along
+the Great Glen of the Highlands, in the line of the Caledonian
+Canal, and Robert formed one of the party.&nbsp; They passed
+under the shadow of Ben Nevis, examined the famous old
+sea-margins known as the &ldquo;parallel roads of Glen
+Roy,&rdquo; and extended their journey as far as Inverness; the
+professor teaching the young men as they travelled how to observe
+in a mountain country.&nbsp; Not long before his death, Robert
+Stephenson spoke in glowing terms of the great pleasure and
+benefit which he had derived from that interesting
+excursion.&nbsp; &ldquo;I have travelled far, and enjoyed
+much,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;but that delightful botanical and
+geological journey I shall never forget; and I am just about to
+start in the <i>Titania</i> for a trip round the east coast of
+Scotland, returning south through the Caledonian Canal, to
+refresh myself with the recollection of that first and brightest
+tour of my life.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Towards the end of the summer of 1822 the young student
+returned to Killingworth to re-enter upon the active business of
+life.&nbsp; The six months&rsquo; study had cost his father
+&pound;80; but he was amply repaid by the better scientific
+culture which his son had acquired, and the evidence of ability
+and industry which he was enabled to exhibit in a prize for
+mathematics which he had won at the University.</p>
+<h2><!-- page 123--><a name="page123"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 123</span>CHAPTER VIII.<br />
+<span class="smcap">George Stephenson Engineer of the Stockton
+and Darlington Railway</span>.</h2>
+<p>The district west of Darlington, in Durham, is one of the
+richest mineral fields of the North.&nbsp; Vast stores of coal
+underlie the Bishop Auckland Valley; and from an early period new
+and good roads to market were felt to be exceedingly
+desirable.&nbsp; As yet it remained almost a closed field, the
+cost of transport of the coal in carts, or on horses&rsquo; or
+donkeys&rsquo; backs, greatly limiting the sale.&nbsp; Long ago,
+in the days of canal formations, Brindley was consulted about a
+canal; afterwards, in 1812, a tramroad was surveyed by Rennie;
+and eventually, in 1817, a railway was projected from Darlington
+to Stockton-on-Tees.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p123.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Map of Stockton and Darlington Railway"
+title=
+"Map of Stockton and Darlington Railway"
+src="images/p123.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Of this railway Edward Pease was the projector.&nbsp; A
+thoughtful and sagacious man, ready in resources, possessed of
+indomitable energy and perseverance, he was eminently <!-- page
+124--><a name="page124"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+124</span>qualified to undertake what appeared to many the
+hopeless enterprise of obtaining an Act for a railway through
+such an unpromising district.&nbsp; One who knew him in 1818
+said, &ldquo;he was a man who could see a hundred years
+ahead.&rdquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p124.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Edward Pease"
+title=
+"Edward Pease"
+src="images/p124.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: center">When the writer last saw him, in
+the autumn of 1854, Mr. Pease was in his eighty-eighth year; yet
+he still possessed the hopefulness and mental vigour of a man in
+his prime.&nbsp; Hale and hearty, and full of reminiscences of
+the past, he continued to take an active interest in all measures
+calculated to render men happier and better.&nbsp; Still sound in
+health, his eye had not lost its brilliancy, nor his cheek its
+colour; <!-- page 125--><a name="page125"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 125</span>and there was an elasticity in his
+step which younger men might have envied. <a
+name="citation125"></a><a href="#footnote125"
+class="citation">[125]</a></p>
+<p>In getting up a company for surveying and forming a railway,
+Mr. Pease had great difficulties to encounter.&nbsp; The people
+of the neighbourhood spoke of it as a ridiculous undertaking, and
+predicted that it would be ruinous to all concerned.&nbsp; Even
+those most interested in the opening of new markets for their
+coal, were indifferent, if not actually hostile.&nbsp; The
+Stockton merchants and shipowners, whom it was calculated so
+greatly to benefit, gave the project no support; and not twenty
+shares were subscribed for in the whole town.&nbsp; Mr. Pease
+nevertheless persevered; and he induced many of his friends and
+relations to subscribe the capital required.</p>
+<p>The necessary preliminary steps were taken in 1818 to apply
+for an act to authorise the construction of a tramroad from
+Witton to Stockton.&nbsp; The measure was however, strongly
+opposed by the Duke of Cleveland, because the proposed line
+passed close by one of his fox covers; and the bill was
+rejected.&nbsp; A new survey was then made, avoiding the
+Duke&rsquo;s cover; and in 1819 a renewed application was made to
+Parliament.&nbsp; The promoters were this time successful, and
+the royal assent was given to the first Stockton and Darlington
+Railway Act on the 19th April, 1821.</p>
+<p>The projectors did not originally contemplate the employment
+of locomotives.&nbsp; The Act provided for the making and
+maintaining of tramroads for the passage &ldquo;of waggons and
+other carriages&rdquo; &ldquo;<i>with men and horses</i> or
+otherwise,&rdquo; and a further clause made provision for damages
+done in course of traffic by the &ldquo;waggoners.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+The public were to be free &ldquo;to use with horses, cattle and
+carriages,&rdquo; the roads formed by the company, on payment of
+the authorised rates, &ldquo;between the hours of seven in the
+morning and six in the evening,&rdquo; during winter;
+&ldquo;between six in the morning and <!-- page 126--><a
+name="page126"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 126</span>eight in
+the evening,&rdquo; in two of the spring and autumn months; and
+&ldquo;between five in the morning and ten in the evening,&rdquo;
+in the summer months of May, June, July, and August.&nbsp; From
+this it will be obvious that the projectors of the line had
+themselves at first no very large conceptions as to the scope of
+their project.</p>
+<p>One day, in the spring of 1821, two strangers knocked at the
+door of Mr. Pease&rsquo;s house in Darlington; and the message
+was brought to him that some persons from Killingworth wanted to
+speak with him.&nbsp; They were invited in, on which one of the
+visitors introduced himself as Nicholas Wood, viewer at
+Killingworth, and then turning to his companion, he introduced
+him as George Stephenson, engine-wright, of the same place.</p>
+<p>Mr. Pease entered into conversation with his visitors, and was
+soon told their object.&nbsp; Stephenson had heard of the passing
+of the Stockton and Darlington Act, and desiring to increase his
+railway experience, and also to employ in some larger field the
+practical knowledge he had already gained, he determined to visit
+the known projector of the undertaking, with the view of being
+employed to carry it out.&nbsp; He had brought with him his
+friend Wood, for the purpose at the same time of relieving his
+diffidence, and supporting his application.</p>
+<p>Mr. Pease liked the appearance of his visitor: &ldquo;there
+was,&rdquo; as he afterwards remarked when speaking of
+Stephenson, &ldquo;such an honest, sensible look about him, and
+he seemed so modest and unpretending.&nbsp; He spoke in the
+strong Northumbrian dialect of his district, and described
+himself as &lsquo;only the engine-wright at Killingworth;
+that&rsquo;s what he was.&rsquo;&ldquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Pease soon saw that our engineer was the very man for his
+purpose.&nbsp; The whole plans of the railway were still in an
+undetermined state, and Mr. Pease was therefore glad to have the
+opportunity of profiting by Stephenson&rsquo;s experience.&nbsp;
+In the course of their conversation, the latter strongly
+recommended a <i>railway</i> in preference to a <!-- page
+127--><a name="page127"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+127</span>tramroad.&nbsp; They also discussed the kind of
+tractive power to be employed: Mr. Pease stating that the company
+had based their whole calculations on the employment of
+<i>horse</i> power.&nbsp; &ldquo;I was so satisfied,&rdquo; said
+he afterwards, &ldquo;that a horse upon an iron road would draw
+ten tons for one ton on a common road, that I felt sure that
+before long the railway would become the King&rsquo;s
+highway.&rdquo;&nbsp; But Mr. Pease was scarcely prepared for the
+bold assertion made by his visitor, that the locomotive engine
+with which he had been working the Killingworth Railway for many
+years past was worth fifty horses, and that engines made after a
+similar plan would yet entirely supersede all horse power upon
+railroads.&nbsp; Stephenson was daily becoming more positive as
+to the superiority of his locomotive; and hence he strongly urged
+Mr. Pease to adopt it.&nbsp; &ldquo;Come over to
+Killingworth,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and see what my engines can
+do; seeing is believing, sir.&rdquo;&nbsp; Mr. Pease accordingly
+promised that on some early day he would go over to Killingworth,
+and take a look at the wonderful machine that was to supersede
+horses.&nbsp; The result of the interview was, that Mr. Pease
+promised to bring Stephenson&rsquo;s application for the
+appointment of engineer before the Directors, and to support it
+with his influence; whereon the two visitors prepared to take
+their leave, informing Mr. Pease that they intended to return to
+Newcastle &ldquo;by nip;&rdquo; that is, they expected to get a
+smuggled lift on the stage-coach, by tipping Jehu,&mdash;for in
+those days the stage coachmen regarded all casual roadside
+passengers as their proper perquisites.&nbsp; They had, however,
+been so much engrossed by their conversation, that the lapse of
+time was forgotten, and when Stephenson and his friend made
+enquiries about the return coach, they found the last had left;
+and they had to walk the 18 miles to Durham on their way back to
+Newcastle.</p>
+<p>Mr. Pease having made further inquiries respecting
+Stephenson&rsquo;s character and qualifications, and having
+received a very strong recommendation of him as the right man for
+the intended work, he brought the subject of his <!-- page
+128--><a name="page128"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+128</span>application before the directors of the Stockton and
+Darlington Company.&nbsp; They resolved to adopt his
+recommendation that a railway be formed instead of a tramroad;
+and they further requested Mr. Pease to write to Stephenson,
+desiring him to undertake a re-survey of the line at the earliest
+practicable period.</p>
+<p>A man was despatched on a horse with the letter, and when he
+reached Killingworth he made diligent enquiry after the person
+named upon the address, &ldquo;George Stephenson, Esquire,
+Engineer.&rdquo;&nbsp; No such person was known in the
+village.&nbsp; It is said that the man was on the point of giving
+up all further search, when the happy thought struck some of the
+colliers&rsquo; wives who had gathered about him, that it must be
+&ldquo;Geordie the engine-wright&rdquo; the man was in search of;
+and to Geordie&rsquo;s cottage he accordingly went, found him at
+home, and delivered the letter.</p>
+<p>About the end of September, Stephenson went carefully over the
+line of the proposed railway, for the purpose of suggesting such
+improvements and deviations as he might consider desirable.&nbsp;
+He was accompanied by an assistant and a chainman,&mdash;his son
+Robert entering the figures while his father took the
+sights.&nbsp; After being engaged in the work at intervals for
+about six weeks, Stephenson reported the result of his survey to
+the Board of Directors, and showed that by certain deviations, a
+line shorter by about three miles might be constructed at a
+considerable saving in expense, while at the same time more
+favourable gradients&mdash;an important consideration&mdash;would
+be secured.</p>
+<p>It was, however, determined in the first place to proceed with
+the works at those parts of the line where no deviation was
+proposed; and the first rail of the Stockton and Darlington
+Railway was laid with considerable ceremony, near Stockton, on
+the 23rd May, 1822.</p>
+<p>It is worthy of note that Stephenson, in making his first
+estimate of the cost of forming the railway according to the
+Instructions of the directors, set down, as part of the cost,
+&pound;6200 for stationary engines, not mentioning locomotives at
+all.&nbsp; <!-- page 129--><a name="page129"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 129</span>The directors as yet confined their
+views to the employment only of horses for the haulage of the
+coals, and of fixed engines and ropes where horse-power was not
+applicable.&nbsp; The whole question of steam locomotive power
+was, in the estimation of the public, as well as of practical and
+scientific men, as yet in doubt.&nbsp; The confident
+anticipations of George Stephenson, as to the eventual success of
+locomotive engines, were regarded as mere speculations; and when
+he gave utterance to his views, as he frequently took the
+opportunity of doing, it even had the effect of shaking the
+confidence of some of his friends in the solidity of his judgment
+and his practical qualities as an engineer.</p>
+<p>When Mr. Pease discussed the question with Stephenson, his
+remark was, &ldquo;Come over and see my engines at Killingworth,
+and satisfy yourself as to the efficiency of the
+locomotive.&nbsp; I will show you the colliery books, that you
+may ascertain for yourself the actual cost of working.&nbsp; And
+I must tell you that the economy of the locomotive engine is no
+longer a matter of theory, but a matter of fact.&rdquo;&nbsp; So
+confident was the tone in which Stephenson spoke of the success
+of his engines, and so important were the consequences involved
+in arriving at a correct conclusion on the subject, that Mr.
+Pease at length resolved upon paying a visit to Killingworth in
+the summer of 1822, to see with his own eyes the wonderful new
+power so much vaunted by the engineer.</p>
+<p>When Mr. Pease arrived at Killingworth village, he inquired
+for George Stephenson, and was told that he must go over to the
+West Moor, and seek for a cottage by the roadside, with a dial
+over the door&mdash;&ldquo;that was where George Stephenson
+lived.&rdquo;&nbsp; They soon found the house with the dial; and
+on knocking, the door was opened by Mrs. Stephenson&mdash;his
+second wife (Elizabeth Hindmarsh), the daughter of a farmer at
+Black Callerton, whom he had married in 1820. <a
+name="citation129"></a><a href="#footnote129"
+class="citation">[129]</a>&nbsp; Her husband, she said, was not
+in the <!-- page 130--><a name="page130"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 130</span>house at present, but she would send
+for him to the colliery.&nbsp; And in a short time Stephenson
+appeared before them in his working dress, just as he had come
+out of the pit.</p>
+<p>He very soon had his locomotive brought up to the crossing
+close by the end of the cottage,&mdash;made the gentlemen mount
+it, and showed them its paces.&nbsp; Harnessing it to a train of
+loaded waggons, he ran it along the railroad, and so thoroughly
+satisfied his visitors of its power and capabilities, that from
+that day Edward Pease was a declared supporter of the locomotive
+engine.&nbsp; In preparing the Amended Stockton and Darlington
+Act, at Stephenson&rsquo;s urgent request Mr. Pease had a clause
+inserted, taking power to work the railway by means of locomotive
+engines, and to employ them for the haulage of passengers as well
+as of merchandise. <a name="citation130"></a><a
+href="#footnote130" class="citation">[130]</a>&nbsp; The Act was
+obtained in 1823, on which Stephenson was appointed the
+company&rsquo;s engineer at a salary of &pound;300 per annum; and
+it was determined that the line should be constructed and opened
+for traffic as soon as practicable.</p>
+<p>He at once proceeded, accompanied by his assistants, with the
+working survey of the line, laying out every foot of the ground
+himself.&nbsp; Railway surveying was as yet in its infancy, and
+was slow and difficult work.&nbsp; It afterwards became a
+separate branch of railway business, and was entrusted to a
+special staff.&nbsp; Indeed on no subsequent line did George
+Stephenson take the sights through the spirit <!-- page 131--><a
+name="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 131</span>level with
+his own hands and eyes as he did on this railway.&nbsp; He
+started very early&mdash;dressed in a blue tailed coat, breeches,
+and top-boots&mdash;and surveyed until dusk.&nbsp; He was not at
+any time particular as to his living; and during the survey, he
+took his chance of getting a little milk and bread at some
+cottager&rsquo;s house along the line, or occasionally joined in
+a homely dinner at some neighbouring farmhouse.&nbsp; The country
+people were accustomed to give him a hearty welcome when he
+appeared at their door; for he was always full of cheery and
+homely talk, and, when there were children about the house, he
+had plenty of humorous chat for them as well as for their
+seniors.</p>
+<p>After the day&rsquo;s work was over, George would drop in at
+Mr. Pease&rsquo;s, to talk over the progress of the survey, and
+discuss various matters connected with the railway.&nbsp; Mr.
+Pease&rsquo;s daughters were usually present; and on one
+occasion, finding the young ladies learning the art of
+embroidery, he volunteered to instruct them. <a
+name="citation131"></a><a href="#footnote131"
+class="citation">[131]</a>&nbsp; &ldquo;I know all about
+it,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;and you will wonder how I learnt
+it.&nbsp; I will tell you.&nbsp; When I was a brakesman at
+Killingworth, I learnt the art of embroidery while working the
+pitmen&rsquo;s buttonholes by the engine fire at
+nights.&rdquo;&nbsp; He was never ashamed, but on the contrary
+rather proud, of reminding his friends of these humble pursuits
+of his early life.&nbsp; Mr. Pease&rsquo;s family were greatly
+pleased with his conversation, which was always amusing and
+instructive; full of all sorts of experience, gathered in the
+oddest and most out-of-the-way places.&nbsp; Even at that early
+period, before he mixed in the society of educated persons, there
+was a dash of speculativeness in his remarks, which gave a high
+degree of originality to his conversation; and he would
+sometimes, in a casual remark, throw a flash of light upon a
+subject, which called up a train of pregnant suggestions.</p>
+<p><!-- page 132--><a name="page132"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+132</span>One of the most important subjects of discussion at
+these meetings with Mr. Pease, was the establishment of a
+manufactory at Newcastle for the building of locomotive
+engines.&nbsp; Up to this time all the locomotives constructed
+after Stephenson&rsquo;s designs, had been made by ordinary
+mechanics working among the collieries in the North of
+England.&nbsp; But he had long felt that the accuracy and style
+of their workmanship admitted of great improvement, and that upon
+this the more perfect action of the locomotive engine, and its
+general adoption, in a great measure depended.&nbsp; One great
+object that he had in view in establishing the proposed factory
+was, to concentrate a number of good workmen, for the purpose of
+carrying out the improvements in detail which he was constantly
+making in his engine.&nbsp; He felt hampered by the want of
+efficient help from skilled mechanics, who could work out in a
+practical form the ideas of which his busy mind was always so
+prolific.&nbsp; Doubtless, too, he believed that the manufactory
+would prove a remunerative investment, and that, on the general
+adoption of the railway system which he anticipated, he would
+derive solid advantages from the fact of his establishment being
+the only one of the kind for the special construction of
+locomotive engines.</p>
+<p>Mr. Pease approved of his design, and strongly recommended him
+to carry it into effect.&nbsp; But there was the question of
+means; and Stephenson did not think he had capital enough for the
+purpose.&nbsp; He told Mr. Pease that he could advance
+&pound;1000&mdash;the amount of the testimonial presented by the
+coal-owners for his safety-lamp invention, which he had still
+left untouched; but he did not think this sufficient for the
+purpose, and he thought that he should require at least another
+&pound;1000.&nbsp; Mr. Pease had been very much struck with the
+successful performances of the Killingworth engine; and being an
+accurate judge of character, he believed that he could not go far
+wrong in linking a portion of his fortune with the energy and
+industry of George Stephenson.&nbsp; He consulted his friend
+Thomas <!-- page 133--><a name="page133"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 133</span>Richardson in the matter; and the
+two consented to advance &pound;500 each for the purpose of
+establishing the engine factory at Newcastle.&nbsp; A piece of
+land was accordingly purchased in Forth Street, in August, 1823,
+on which a small building was erected&mdash;the nucleus of the
+gigantic establishment which was afterwards formed around it; and
+active operations were begun early in 1824.</p>
+<p>While the Stockton and Darlington Railway works were in
+progress, our engineer had many interesting discussions with Mr.
+Pease, on points connected with its construction and working, the
+determination of which in a great measure affected the formation
+and working of all future railways.&nbsp; The most important
+points were these:</p>
+<p>1.&nbsp; The comparative merits of cast and wrought iron
+rails.</p>
+<p>2.&nbsp; The gauge of the railway.</p>
+<p>3.&nbsp; The employment of horse or engine power in working
+it, when ready for traffic.</p>
+<p>The kind of rails to be laid down to form the permanent road
+was a matter of considerable importance.&nbsp; A wooden tramroad
+had been contemplated when the first Act was applied for; but
+Stephenson having advised that an iron road should be laid down,
+he was instructed to draw up a specification of the rails.&nbsp;
+He went before the directors to discuss with them the kind of
+material to be specified.&nbsp; He was himself interested in the
+patent for cast-iron rails, which he had taken out in conjunction
+with Mr. Losh in 1816; and, of course, it was to his interest
+that his articles should be used.&nbsp; But when requested to
+give his opinion on the subject, he frankly said to the
+directors, &ldquo;Well, gentlemen, to tell you the truth,
+although it would put &pound;500 in my pocket to specify my own
+patent rails, I cannot do so after the experience I have
+had.&nbsp; If you take my advice, you will not lay down a single
+cast-iron rail.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Why?&rdquo; asked the
+directors.&nbsp; &ldquo;Because they will not stand the weight,
+and you will be at no end of expense for repairs and
+relays.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;What kind of road, then,&rdquo; he
+was asked, &ldquo;would you recommend?&rdquo;&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Malleable rails, certainly,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;and I
+can recommend them with the <!-- page 134--><a
+name="page134"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 134</span>more
+confidence from the fact that at Killingworth we have had some
+Swedish bars laid down&mdash;nailed to wooden sleepers&mdash;for
+a period of fourteen years, the waggons passing over them daily;
+and there they are, in use yet, whereas the cast rails are
+constantly giving way.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The price of malleable rails was, however, so high&mdash;being
+then worth about &pound;12 per ton as compared with cast-iron
+rails at about &pound;5 10s.&mdash;and the saving of expense was
+so important a consideration with the subscribers, that
+Stephenson was directed to provide, in the specification, that
+only one-half of the rails required&mdash;or about 800
+tons&mdash;should be of malleable iron, and the remainder of
+cast-iron.&nbsp; The malleable rails were of the kind called
+&ldquo;fish-bellied,&rdquo; and weighed 28 lbs. to the yard,
+being 2&frac14; inches broad at the top, with the upper flange
+&frac34; inch thick.&nbsp; They were only 2 inches in depth at
+the points at which they rested on the chairs, and 3&frac14;
+inches in the middle or bellied part.</p>
+<p>When forming the road, the proper gauge had also to be
+determined.&nbsp; What width was this to be?&nbsp; The gauge of
+the first tramroad laid down had virtually settled the
+point.&nbsp; The gauge of wheels of the common vehicles of the
+country&mdash;of the carts and waggons employed on common roads,
+which were first used on the tramroads&mdash;was about 4 feet
+8&frac12; inches.&nbsp; And so the first tramroads were laid down
+of this gauge.&nbsp; The tools and machinery for constructing
+coal-waggons and locomotives were formed with this gauge in
+view.&nbsp; The Wylam waggon-way, afterwards the Wylam plate-way,
+the Killingworth railroad, and the Hetton rail road, were as
+nearly as possible on the same gauge.&nbsp; Some of the
+earth-waggons used to form the Stockton and Darlington road were
+brought from the Hetton railway; and others which were specially
+constructed were formed of the same dimensions, these being
+intended to be afterwards employed in the working of the
+traffic.</p>
+<p>As the period drew near for the opening of the line, the
+question of the tractive power to be employed was anxiously <!--
+page 135--><a name="page135"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+135</span>discussed.&nbsp; At the Brusselton incline, fixed
+engines must necessarily be made use of; but with respect to the
+mode of working the railway generally, it was decided that horses
+were to be largely employed, and arrangements were made for their
+purchase.&nbsp; The influence of Mr. Pease also secured that a
+fair trial should be given to the experiment of working the
+traffic by locomotive power; and three engines were ordered from
+the firm of Stephenson and Co., Newcastle, which were put in hand
+forthwith, in anticipation of the opening of the railway.&nbsp;
+These were constructed after Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s most matured
+designs, and embodied all the improvements which he had contrived
+up to that time.&nbsp; No. I. engine, the
+&ldquo;Locomotion,&rdquo; which was first delivered, weighed
+about eight tons.&nbsp; It had one large flue or tube through the
+boiler, by which the heated air passed direct from the furnace at
+one end, lined with fire-bricks, to the chimney at the
+other.&nbsp; The combustion in the furnace was quickened by the
+adoption of the steam-blast in the chimney.&nbsp; The heat raised
+was sometimes so great, and it was so imperfectly abstracted by
+the surrounding water, that the chimney became almost
+red-hot.&nbsp; Such engines, when put to their speed, were found
+capable of running at the rate of from twelve to sixteen miles an
+hour; but they were better adapted for the heavy work of hauling
+coal-trains at low speeds&mdash;for which, indeed, they were
+specially constructed&mdash;than for running at the higher speeds
+afterwards adopted.&nbsp; Nor was it contemplated by the
+directors as possible, at the time when they were ordered, that
+locomotives could be made available for the purposes of passenger
+travelling.&nbsp; Besides, the Stockton and Darlington Railway
+did not run through a district in which passengers were supposed
+to be likely to constitute any considerable portion of the
+traffic.</p>
+<p>We may easily imagine the anxiety felt by Mr. Stephenson
+during the progress of the works towards completion, and his
+mingled hopes and doubts (though his doubts were but few) as to
+the issue of this great experiment.&nbsp; When <!-- page 136--><a
+name="page136"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 136</span>the
+formation of the line near Stockton was well advanced, Mr.
+Stephenson one day, accompanied by his son Robert and John Dixon,
+made a journey of inspection of the works.&nbsp; The party
+reached Stockton, and proceeded to dine at one of the inns
+there.&nbsp; After dinner, Stephenson ventured on the very
+unusual measure of ordering in a bottle of wine, to drink success
+to the railway.&nbsp; John Dixon relates with pride the utterance
+of the master on the occasion.&nbsp; &ldquo;Now, lads,&rdquo;
+said he to the two young men, &ldquo;I venture to tell you that I
+think you will live to see the day when railways will supersede
+almost all other methods of conveyance in this country&mdash;when
+mail-coaches will go by railway, and railroads will become the
+great highway for the king and all his subjects.&nbsp; The time
+is coming when it will be cheaper for a working man to travel
+upon a railway than to walk on foot.&nbsp; I know there are great
+and almost insurmountable difficulties to be encountered; but
+what I have said will come to pass as sure as you live.&nbsp; I
+only wish I may live to see the day, though that I can scarcely
+hope for, as I know how slow all human progress is, and with what
+difficulty I have been able to get the locomotive thus far
+adopted, notwithstanding my more than ten years&rsquo; successful
+experiment at Killingworth.&rdquo;&nbsp; The result, however,
+outstripped even the most sanguine anticipations of Stephenson;
+and his son Robert, shortly after his return from America in
+1827, saw his father&rsquo;s locomotive generally employed as the
+tractive power on railways.</p>
+<p>The Stockton and Darlington line was opened for traffic on the
+27th September, 1825.&nbsp; An immense concourse of people
+assembled from all parts to witness the ceremony of opening this
+first public railway.&nbsp; The powerful opposition which the
+project had encountered, the threats which were still uttered
+against the company by the road-trustees and others, who declared
+that they would yet prevent the line being worked, and perhaps
+the general unbelief as to its success which still prevailed,
+tended to excite the curiosity of the public as to the
+result.&nbsp; Some went to rejoice at the <!-- page 137--><a
+name="page137"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 137</span>opening,
+some to see the &ldquo;bubble burst;&rdquo; and there were many
+prophets of evil who would not miss the blowing up of the boasted
+travelling engine.&nbsp; The opening was, however,
+auspicious.&nbsp; The proceedings commenced at Brusselton
+Incline, about nine miles above Darlington, where the fixed
+engine drew a train of loaded waggons up the incline from the
+west, and lowered them on the east side.&nbsp; At the foot of the
+incline a locomotive was in readiness to receive them, Stephenson
+himself driving the engine.&nbsp; The train consisted of six
+waggons loaded with coals and flour; after these was the
+passenger-coach, filled with the directors and their friends, and
+then twenty-one waggons fitted up with temporary seats for
+passengers; and lastly came six waggon-loads of coals, making in
+all a train of thirty-eight vehicles.&nbsp; The local chronicler
+of the day almost went beside himself in describing the
+extraordinary event:&mdash;&ldquo;The signal being given,&rdquo;
+he says, &ldquo;the engine started off with this immense train of
+carriages; and such was its velocity, that in some parts the
+speed was frequently 12 miles an hour!&rdquo;&nbsp; By the time
+it reached Stockton there were about 600 persons in the train or
+hanging on to the waggons, which must have gone at a safe and
+steady pace of from four to six miles an hour from
+Darlington.&nbsp; &ldquo;The arrival at Stockton,&rdquo; it is
+added, &ldquo;excited a deep interest and admiration.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The working of the line then commenced, and the results were
+such as to surprise even the most sanguine of its
+projectors.&nbsp; The traffic upon which they had formed their
+estimates of profit proved to be small in comparison with that
+which flowed in upon them which they had never dreamt of.&nbsp;
+Thus, what the company had principally relied upon for their
+receipts was the carriage of coals for land sale at the stations
+along the line, whereas the haulage of coals to the seaports for
+exportation to the London market was not contemplated as
+possible.&nbsp; When the bill was before Parliament, Mr. Lambton
+(afterwards Earl of Durham) succeeded in getting a clause
+inserted, limiting <!-- page 138--><a name="page138"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 138</span>the charge for the haulage of all
+coal to Stockton-on-Tees for the purpose of shipment to
+&frac12;d. per ton per mile; whereas a rate of 4d. per ton was
+allowed to be taken for all coals led upon the railway for land
+sale.&nbsp; Mr. Lambton&rsquo;s object in enforcing the low rate
+of &frac12;d. was to protect his own trade in coal exported from
+Sunderland and the northern ports.&nbsp; He believed, in common
+with everybody else, that the &frac12;d. rate would effectually
+secure him against competition on the part of the Company; for it
+was not considered possible to lead coals at that price, and the
+proprietors of the railway themselves considered that such a rate
+would be utterly ruinous.&nbsp; The projectors never contemplated
+sending more than 10,000 tons a year to Stockton, and those only
+for shipment as ballast; they looked for their profits almost
+exclusively to the land sale.&nbsp; The result, however, was as
+surprising to them as it must have been to Mr. Lambton.&nbsp; The
+&frac12;d. rate which was forced upon them, instead of being
+ruinous, proved the vital element in the success of the
+railway.&nbsp; In the course of a few years, the annual shipment
+of coal, led by the Stockton and Darlington Railway to Stockton
+and Middlesborough, was more than 500,000 tons; and it has since
+far exceeded this amount.&nbsp; Instead of being, as anticipated,
+a subordinate branch of traffic, it proved, in fact, the main
+traffic, while the land sale was merely subsidiary.</p>
+<p>The anticipations of the company as to passenger traffic were
+in like manner more than realised.&nbsp; At first, passengers
+were not thought of; and it was only while the works were in
+progress that the starting of a passenger coach was seriously
+contemplated.&nbsp; The number of persons travelling between the
+two towns was very small; and it was not known whether these
+would risk their persons upon the iron road.&nbsp; It was
+determined, however, to make trial of a railway coach; and Mr.
+Stephenson was authorised to have one built at Newcastle, at the
+cost of the company.&nbsp; This was done accordingly; and the
+first railway passenger carriage was built after our
+engineer&rsquo;s design.&nbsp; It was, <!-- page 139--><a
+name="page139"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 139</span>however, a
+very modest, and indeed a somewhat uncouth machine, more
+resembling the caravans still to be seen at country fairs
+containing the &ldquo;Giant and the Dwarf&rdquo; and other
+wonders of the world, than a passenger-coach of any extant
+form.&nbsp; A row of seats ran along each side of the interior,
+and a long deal table was fixed in the centre; the access being
+by means of a door at the back end, in the manner of an
+omnibus.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p139.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The First Railway Coach"
+title=
+"The First Railway Coach"
+src="images/p139.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>This coach arrived from Newcastle the day before the opening,
+and formed part of the railway procession above described.&nbsp;
+Mr. Stephenson was consulted as to the name of the coach, and he
+at once suggested &ldquo;The Experiment;&rdquo; and by this name
+it was called.&nbsp; The Company&rsquo;s arms were afterwards
+painted on her side, with the motto &ldquo;Periculum privatum
+utilitas publica.&rdquo;&nbsp; Such was the sole
+passenger-carrying stock of the Stockton and Darlington Company
+in the year 1825.&nbsp; But the &ldquo;Experiment&rdquo; proved
+the forerunner of a mighty traffic: and long time did not elapse
+before it was displaced, not only by improved <!-- page 140--><a
+name="page140"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 140</span>coaches
+(still drawn by horses), but afterwards by long trains of
+passenger-carriages drawn by locomotive engines.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The Experiment&rdquo; was fairly started as a
+passenger-coach on the 10th October, 1825, a fortnight after the
+opening of the line.&nbsp; It was drawn by one horse, and
+performed a journey daily each way between the two towns,
+accomplishing the distance of twelve miles in about two
+hours.&nbsp; The fare charged was a shilling without distinction
+of class; and each passenger was allowed fourteen pounds of
+luggage free.&nbsp; &ldquo;The Experiment&rdquo; was not,
+however, worked by the company, but was let to contractors who
+worked it under an arrangement whereby toll was paid for the use
+of the line, rent of booking-cabins, etc.</p>
+<p>The speculation answered so well, that several private
+coaching companies were shortly after got up by innkeepers at
+Darlington and Stockton, for the purpose of running other coaches
+upon the railroad; and an active competition for passenger
+traffic sprang up.&nbsp; &ldquo;The Experiment&rdquo; being found
+too heavy for one horse to draw, besides being found an
+uncomfortable machine, was banished to the coal district.&nbsp;
+Its place was then supplied by other and better
+vehicles,&mdash;though they were no other than old stage-coach
+bodies purchased by the company, and each mounted upon an
+underframe with flange-wheels.&nbsp; These were let on hire to
+the coaching companies, who horsed and managed them under an
+arrangement as to tolls, in like manner as the
+&ldquo;Experiment&rdquo; had been worked.&nbsp; Now began the
+distinction of inside and outside passengers, equivalent to first
+and second class, paying different fares.&nbsp; The competition
+with each other upon the railway, and with the ordinary
+stagecoaches upon the road, soon brought up the speed, which was
+increased to ten miles an hour&mdash;the mail-coach rate of
+travelling in those days, and considered very fast.</p>
+<p>Mr. Clephan, a native of the district, has described some of
+the curious features of the competition between the rival coach
+companies:&mdash;&ldquo;There were two separate coach companies
+in Stockton, and amusing collisions sometimes occurred <!-- page
+141--><a name="page141"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+141</span>between the drivers&mdash;who found on the rail a novel
+element for contention.&nbsp; Coaches cannot pass each other on
+the rail as on the road; and, as the line was single, with four
+sidings in the mile, when two coaches met, or two trains, or
+coach and train, the question arose which of the drivers must go
+back?&nbsp; This was not always settled in silence.&nbsp; As to
+trains, it came to be a sort of understanding that empty should
+give way to loaded waggons; and as to trains and coaches, that
+the passengers should have preference over coals; while coaches,
+when they met, must quarrel it out.&nbsp; At length, midway
+between sidings, a post was erected, and a rule was laid down
+that he who had passed the pillar must go on, and the
+&lsquo;coming man&rsquo; go back.&nbsp; At the Goose Pool and
+Early Nook, it was common for these coaches to stop; and there,
+as Jonathan would say, passengers and coachmen
+&lsquo;liquored.&rsquo;&nbsp; One coach, introduced by an
+innkeeper, was a compound of two mourning-coaches,&mdash;an
+approximation to the real railway-coach, which still adheres,
+with multiplying exceptions, to the stage-coach type.&nbsp; One
+Dixon, who drove the &lsquo;Experiment&rsquo; between Darlington
+and Shildon, is the inventor of carriage-lighting on the
+rail.&nbsp; On a dark winter night, having compassion on his
+passengers, he would buy a penny candle, and place it lighted
+amongst them on the table of the
+&lsquo;Experiment&rsquo;&mdash;the first railway-coach (which, by
+the way, ended its days at Shildon as a railway cabin), being
+also the first coach on the rail (first, second, and third class
+jammed all into one) that indulged its customers with light in
+darkness.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The traffic of all sorts increased so steadily and so rapidly
+that considerable difficulty was experienced in working it
+satisfactorily.&nbsp; It had been provided by the first Stockton
+and Darlington Act that the line should be free to all parties
+who chose to use it at certain prescribed rates, and that any
+person might put horses and waggons on the railway, and carry for
+himself.&nbsp; But this arrangement led to increasing confusion
+and difficulty, and could not continue in the face of a large and
+rapidly-increasing traffic.&nbsp; The <!-- page 142--><a
+name="page142"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 142</span>goods
+trains got so long that the carriers found it necessary to call
+in the aid of the locomotive engine to help them on their
+way.&nbsp; Then mixed trains of passengers and merchandise began
+to run; and the result was that the railway company found it
+necessary to take the entire charge and working of the
+traffic.&nbsp; In course of time new coaches were specially built
+for the better accommodation of the public, until at length
+regular passenger-trains were run, drawn by the locomotive
+engine,&mdash;though this was not until after the Liverpool and
+Manchester Company had established this as a distinct branch of
+their traffic.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p142.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The No. I. Engine at Darlington"
+title=
+"The No. I. Engine at Darlington"
+src="images/p142.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The three Stephenson locomotives were from the first regularly
+employed to work the coal trains; and their proved efficiency for
+this purpose led to the gradual increase of the locomotive
+power.&nbsp; The speed of the engines&mdash;slow though it seems
+now&mdash;was in those days regarded as something
+marvellous.&nbsp; A race actually came off between No. I. <!--
+page 143--><a name="page143"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+143</span>engine, the &ldquo;Locomotion,&rdquo; and one of the
+stage-coaches travelling from Darlington to Stockton by the
+ordinary road; and it was regarded as a great triumph of
+mechanical skill that the locomotive reached Stockton first,
+beating the stage-coach by about a hundred yards!&nbsp; The same
+engine continued in good working order in the year 1846, when it
+headed the railway procession on the opening of the
+Middlesborough and Redcar Railway, travelling at the rate of
+about fourteen miles an hour.&nbsp; This engine, the first that
+travelled upon the first public railway, has recently been placed
+upon a pedestal in front of the railway station at
+Darlington.</p>
+<p>For some years, however, the principal haulage of the line was
+performed by horses.&nbsp; The inclination of the gradients being
+towards the sea, this was perhaps the cheapest mode of traction,
+so long as the traffic was not very large.&nbsp; The horse drew
+the train along the level road, until, on reaching a descending
+gradient, down which the train ran by its own gravity, the animal
+was unharnessed, and, when loose, he wheeled round to the other
+end of the waggons, to which a &ldquo;dandy-cart&rdquo; was
+attached, its bottom being only a few inches from the rail.&nbsp;
+Bringing his step into unison with the speed of the train, the
+horse learnt to leap nimbly into his place in this waggon, which
+was usually fitted with a well-filled hay-rack.</p>
+<p>The details of the working were gradually perfected by
+experience, the projectors of the line being scarcely conscious
+at first of the importance and significance of the work which
+they had taken in hand, and little thinking that they were laying
+the foundations of a system which was yet to revolutionise the
+internal communications of the world, and confer the greatest
+blessings on mankind.&nbsp; It is important to note that the
+commercial results of the enterprise were considered satisfactory
+from the opening of the railway.&nbsp; Besides conferring a great
+public benefit upon the inhabitants of the district and throwing
+open entirely new markets for coal, the profits derived from the
+traffic <!-- page 144--><a name="page144"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 144</span>created by the railway yielded
+increasing dividends to those who had risked their capital in the
+undertaking, and thus held forth an encouragement to the
+projectors of railways generally, which was not without an
+important effect in stimulating the projection of similar
+enterprises in other districts.&nbsp; These results, as displayed
+in the annual dividends, must have been eminently encouraging to
+the astute commercial men of Liverpool and Manchester, who were
+then engaged in the prosecution of their railway.&nbsp; Indeed,
+the commercial success of the Stockton and Darlington Company may
+be justly characterised as the turning-point of the railway
+system.</p>
+<p>Before leaving this subject, we cannot avoid alluding to one
+of its most remarkable and direct results&mdash;the creation of
+the town of Middlesborough-on-Tees.&nbsp; When the railway was
+opened in 1825, the site of this future metropolis of Cleveland
+was occupied by one solitary farmhouse and its
+outbuildings.&nbsp; All round was pasture-land or mud-banks;
+scarcely another house was within sight.&nbsp; In 1829 some of
+the principal proprietors of the railway joined in the purchase
+of about 500 or 600 acres of land five miles below
+Stockton&mdash;the site of the modern Middlesborough&mdash;for
+the purpose of there forming a new seaport for the shipment of
+coals brought to the Tees by the railway.&nbsp; The line was
+accordingly extended thither; docks were excavated; a town sprang
+up; churches, chapels, and schools were built, with a
+custom-house, mechanics&rsquo; institute, banks, shipbuilding
+yards, and iron-factories.&nbsp; In ten years a busy population
+of some 6000 persons (since increased to about 23,000) occupied
+the site of the original farmhouse. <a name="citation144"></a><a
+href="#footnote144" class="citation">[144]</a>&nbsp; More
+recently, the discovery <!-- page 145--><a
+name="page145"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 145</span>of vast
+stores of ironstone in the Cleveland Hills, closely adjoining
+Middlesborough, has tended still more rapidly to augment the
+population and increase the commercial importance of the
+place.</p>
+<p>It is pleasing to relate, in connexion with this great
+work&mdash;the Stockton and Darlington Railway, projected by
+Edward Pease and executed by George Stephenson&mdash;that when
+Mr. Stephenson became a prosperous and a celebrated man, he did
+not forget the friend who had taken him by the hand, and helped
+him on in his early days.&nbsp; He continued to remember Mr.
+Pease with gratitude and affection, and that gentleman, to the
+close of his life, was proud to exhibit a handsome gold watch,
+received as a gift from his celebrated
+<i>prot&eacute;g&eacute;</i>, bearing these
+words;&mdash;&ldquo;Esteem and gratitude: from George Stephenson
+to Edward Pease.&rdquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p145.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Middlesborough-on-Tees"
+title=
+"Middlesborough-on-Tees"
+src="images/p145.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2><!-- page 146--><a name="page146"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 146</span>CHAPTER IX.<br />
+<span class="smcap">The Liverpool and Manchester Railway
+projected</span>.</h2>
+<p>The rapid growth of the trade and manufactures of South
+Lancashire gave rise, about the year 1821, to the project of a
+tramroad for the conveyance of goods between Liverpool and
+Manchester.&nbsp; Since the construction of the Bridgewater Canal
+by Brindley, some fifty years before, the increase in the
+business transacted between the two towns had become quite
+marvellous.&nbsp; The steam-engine, the spinning-jenny, and the
+canal, working together, had accumulated in one focus a vast
+aggregate of population, manufactures, and trade.</p>
+<p>Such was the expansion of business caused by the inventions to
+which we have referred, that the navigation was found altogether
+inadequate to accommodate the traffic, which completely outgrew
+all the Canal Companies&rsquo; appliances of wharves, boats, and
+horses.&nbsp; Cotton lay at Liverpool for weeks together, waiting
+to be removed; and it occupied a longer time to transport the
+cargoes from Liverpool to Manchester than it had done to bring
+them across the Atlantic from the United States to England.&nbsp;
+Carts and waggons were tried, but proved altogether
+insufficient.&nbsp; Sometimes manufacturing operations had to be
+suspended altogether, and during a frost, when the canals were
+frozen up, the communication was entirely stopped.&nbsp; The
+consequences were often disastrous, alike to operatives,
+merchants, and manufacturers.</p>
+<p>Expostulation with the Canal Companies was of no use.&nbsp;
+They were overcrowded with business at their own prices, and
+disposed to be very dictatorial.&nbsp; When the Duke first
+constructed his canal, he had to encounter the fierce opposition
+of the Irwell and Mersey Navigation, whose monopoly <!-- page
+147--><a name="page147"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+147</span>his new line of water conveyance threatened to
+interfere with. <a name="citation147"></a><a href="#footnote147"
+class="citation">[147]</a>&nbsp; But the innovation of one
+generation often becomes the obstruction of the next.&nbsp; The
+Duke&rsquo;s agents would scarcely listen to the remonstrances of
+the Liverpool merchants and Manchester manufacturers, and the
+Bridgewater Canal was accordingly, in its turn, denounced as a
+monopoly.</p>
+<p>Under these circumstances, any new mode of transit between the
+two towns which offered a reasonable prospect of relief was
+certain to receive a cordial welcome.&nbsp; The scheme of a
+tramroad was, however, so new and comparatively untried, that it
+is not surprising that the parties interested should have
+hesitated before committing themselves to it.&nbsp; Mr. Sandars,
+a Liverpool merchant, was amongst the first to broach the
+subject.&nbsp; He had suffered in his business, in common with
+many others, from the insufficiency of the existing modes of
+communication, and was ready to give consideration to any plan
+presenting elements of practical efficiency which proposed a
+remedy for the generally admitted grievance.&nbsp; Having caused
+inquiry to be made as to the success which had attended the
+haulage of heavy coal-trains by locomotive power on the northern
+railways, he was led to the opinion that the same means might be
+equally efficient in conducting the increasing traffic in
+merchandise between Liverpool and Manchester.&nbsp; He ventilated
+the subject amongst his friends, and about the beginning of 1821
+a committee was formed for the purpose of bringing the scheme of
+a railroad before the public.</p>
+<p>The novel project having become noised abroad, attracted the
+attention of the friends of railways in other quarters.&nbsp;
+Tramroads were by no means new expedients for the transit of
+heavy articles.&nbsp; The Croydon and Wandsworth Railway, laid
+down by William Jessop as early as the year 1801, had been
+regularly used for the conveyance of lime and stone in waggons
+hauled by mules or donkeys from <!-- page 148--><a
+name="page148"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 148</span>Merstham to
+London.&nbsp; The sight of this humble railroad in 1813 led Sir
+Richard Phillips in his &lsquo;Morning Walk to Kew&rsquo; to
+anticipate the great advantages which would be derived by the
+nation from the general adoption of Blenkinsop&rsquo;s engine for
+the conveyance of mails and passengers at ten or even fifteen
+miles an hour.&nbsp; In the same year we find Mr. Lovell
+Edgworth, who had for fifty years been advocating the superiority
+of tram or rail roads over common roads, writing to James Watt
+(7th August, 1813): &ldquo;I have always thought that steam would
+become the universal lord, and that we should in time scorn
+post-horses; an iron railroad would be a cheaper thing than a
+road upon the common construction.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Thomas Gray, of Nottingham, was another speculator on the same
+subject.&nbsp; Though he was no mechanic nor inventor, he had an
+enthusiastic belief in the powers of the railroad system.&nbsp;
+Being a native of Leeds, he had, when a boy, seen
+Blenkinsop&rsquo;s locomotive at work on the Middleton cogged
+railroad, and from an early period he seems to have entertained
+almost as sanguine views on the subject as Sir Richard
+Phillips.&nbsp; It would appear that Gray was residing in
+Brussels in 1816, when the project of a canal from Charleroi, for
+the purpose of connecting Holland with the mining districts of
+Belgium, was the subject of discussion; and, in conversation with
+Mr. John Cockerill and others, he took the opportunity of
+advocating the superior advantages of a railway.&nbsp; He was
+absorbed for some time with the preparation of a pamphlet on the
+subject.&nbsp; He shut himself up, secluded from his wife and
+relations, declining to give them any information as to his
+mysterious studies, beyond the assurance that his scheme
+&ldquo;would revolutionise the whole face of the material world
+and of society.&rdquo;&nbsp; In 1820 Mr. Gray published the
+result of his studies in his &lsquo;Observations on a General
+Iron Railway,&rsquo; in which, with great cogency, he urged the
+superiority of a locomotive railway over common roads and canals,
+pointing out, at the same time, the advantages to all classes of
+<!-- page 149--><a name="page149"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+149</span>the community of this mode of conveyance for
+merchandise and persons.&nbsp; In this book Mr. Gray suggested a
+railway between Manchester and Liverpool, &ldquo;which,&rdquo; he
+observed, &ldquo;would employ many thousands of the distressed
+population of Lancashire.&rdquo;&nbsp; The treatise must have met
+with a ready sale, as we find that two years later it had passed
+into a fourth edition.&nbsp; In 1822 Mr. Gray added diagrams to
+the book, showing, in one, suggested lines of railway connecting
+the principal towns of England, and in another, the principal
+towns of Ireland.</p>
+<p>These speculations show that the subject of railways was
+gradually becoming familiar to the public mind, and that
+thoughtful men were anticipating with confidence the adoption of
+steam-power for the purposes of railway traction.&nbsp; At the
+same time, a still more profitable class of labourers was at
+work&mdash;first, men like Stephenson, who were engaged in
+improving the locomotive and making it a practicable and
+economical working power; and next, those like Edward Pease of
+Darlington, and Joseph Sandars of Liverpool, who were organising
+the means of laying down the railways.&nbsp; Mr. William James,
+of West Bromwich, belonged to the active class of
+projectors.&nbsp; He was a man of considerable social influence,
+of an active temperament, and had from an early period taken a
+warm interest in the formation of tramroads.&nbsp; Acting as
+land-agent for gentlemen of property in the mining districts, he
+had laid down several tramroads in the neighbourhood of
+Birmingham, Gloucester, and Bristol; and he published many
+pamphlets urging their formation in other places.&nbsp; At one
+period of his life he was a large iron-manufacturer.&nbsp; The
+times, however, went against him.&nbsp; It was thought he was too
+bold, some considered him even reckless, in his speculations; and
+he lost almost his entire fortune.&nbsp; He continued to follow
+the business of a land-agent, and it was while engaged in making
+a survey for one of his clients in the neighbourhood of Liverpool
+early in 1821, that he first heard of the project of a railway
+between that town and Manchester.&nbsp; <!-- page 150--><a
+name="page150"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 150</span>He at once
+called upon Mr. Sandars, and offered his services as surveyor of
+the proposed line, and his offer was accepted.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p150.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Map of Liverpool and Manchester Railway.  (Western Part.)"
+title=
+"Map of Liverpool and Manchester Railway.  (Western Part.)"
+src="images/p150.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p151.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Map of Liverpool and Manchester Railway.  (Eastern Part.)"
+title=
+"Map of Liverpool and Manchester Railway.  (Eastern Part.)"
+src="images/p151.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>A trial survey was then begun, but it was conducted with great
+difficulty, the inhabitants of the district entertaining the most
+violent prejudices against the scheme. In some places Mr. James
+and his surveying party even encountered personal violence. The
+farmers stationed men at the field-gates with pitchforks, and
+sometimes with guns, to drive them back. At St. Helen&rsquo;s,
+one of the chainmen was laid hold of by a mob of colliers, and
+threatened to be hurled down a coal-pit. A number of men, women,
+and children, collected and ran after the surveyors wherever they
+made their appearance, bawling nicknames and throwing stones at
+them. As one of the chainmen was climbing over a gate one day, a
+labourer made at him with a pitchfork, and ran it through his
+clothes into his back; other watchers running up, the chainman,
+who was more stunned than hurt, took to his heels and fled. But
+that mysterious-looking instrument&mdash;-the
+theodolite-&mdash;most excited the fury of the natives, who
+concentrated on the man who carried <!-- page 151--><a
+name="page151"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 151</span>it their
+fiercest execrations and most offensive nicknames.</p>
+<p>A powerful fellow, a noted bruiser, was hired by the surveyors
+to carry the instrument, with a view to its protection against
+all assailants; but one day an equally powerful fellow, a St.
+Helen&rsquo;s collier, cock of the walk in his neighbourhood,
+made up to the theodolite bearer to wrest it from him by sheer
+force.&nbsp; A battle took place, the collier was soundly
+pummelled, but the natives poured in volleys of stones upon the
+surveyors and their instruments, and the theodolite was smashed
+to pieces.</p>
+<p>An outline-survey having at length been made, notices were
+published of an intended application to Parliament.&nbsp; In the
+mean time Mr. James proceeded to Killingworth to see
+Stephenson&rsquo;s locomotives at work.&nbsp; Stephenson was not
+at home at the time, but James saw his engines, and was very much
+struck by their power and efficiency.&nbsp; He saw at a glance
+the magnificent uses to which the locomotive might be
+applied.&nbsp; &ldquo;Here,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;is an engine
+that will, before long, effect a complete revolution in
+society.&rdquo;&nbsp; Returning to Moreton-in-the-Marsh, he wrote
+to Mr. Losh <!-- page 152--><a name="page152"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 152</span>(Stephenson&rsquo;s partner in the
+patent) expressing his admiration of the Killingworth
+engine.&nbsp; &ldquo;It is,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;the greatest
+wonder of the age, and the forerunner, as I firmly believe, of
+the most important changes in the internal communications of the
+kingdom.&rdquo;&nbsp; Shortly after, Mr. James, accompanied by
+his two sons, made a second journey to Killingworth, where he met
+both Losh and Stephenson.&nbsp; The visitors were at once taken
+to where the locomotive was working, and invited to mount
+it.&nbsp; The uncouth and extraordinary appearance of the
+machine, as it came snorting along, was somewhat alarming to the
+youths, who expressed their fears lest it should burst; and they
+were with some difficulty induced to mount.</p>
+<p>The engine went through its usual performances, dragging a
+heavy load of coal-waggons at about six miles an hour, with
+apparent ease, at which Mr. James expressed his extreme
+satisfaction, and declared to Mr. Losh his opinion that
+Stephenson &ldquo;was the greatest practical genius of the
+age,&rdquo; and that, &ldquo;if he developed the full powers of
+that engine (the locomotive), his fame in the world would rank
+equal with that of Watt.&rdquo;&nbsp; Mr. James informed
+Stephenson and Losh of his survey of the proposed tramroad
+between Liverpool and Manchester, and did not hesitate to state
+that he would thenceforward advocate the construction of a
+locomotive railroad instead of the tramroad which had originally
+been proposed.</p>
+<p>Stephenson and Losh were naturally desirous of enlisting
+James&rsquo;s good services on behalf of their patent locomotive,
+for as yet it had proved comparatively unproductive.&nbsp; They
+believed that he might be able so to advocate it in influential
+quarters as to ensure its more extensive adoption, and with this
+object they proposed to give him an interest in the patent.&nbsp;
+Accordingly they assigned him one-fourth of any profits which
+might be derived from the use of the patent locomotive on any
+railways constructed south of a line drawn across England from
+Liverpool to Hull.&nbsp; The arrangement, however, led to no
+beneficial results.&nbsp; Mr. <!-- page 153--><a
+name="page153"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 153</span>James
+endeavoured to introduce the engine on the Moreton-on-Marsh
+Railway; but it was opposed by the engineer of the line, and the
+attempt failed.&nbsp; He next urged that a locomotive should be
+sent for trial upon the Merstham tramroad; but, anxious though
+Stephenson was respecting its extended employment, he was too
+cautious to risk an experiment which might only bring discredit
+upon the engine; and the Merstham road being only laid with
+cast-iron plates, which would not bear its weight, the invitation
+was declined.</p>
+<p>It turned out that the first survey of the Liverpool and
+Manchester line was very imperfect, and it was determined to have
+a second and more complete one made in the following year.&nbsp;
+Robert Stephenson was sent over by his father to Liverpool to
+assist in this survey.&nbsp; He was present with Mr. James on the
+occasion on which he tried to lay out the line across Chat
+Moss,&mdash;a proceeding which was not only difficult but
+dangerous.&nbsp; The Moss was very wet at the time, and only its
+edges could be ventured on.&nbsp; Mr. James was a heavy,
+thick-set man; and one day, when endeavouring to obtain a stand
+for his theodolite, he felt himself suddenly sinking.&nbsp; He
+immediately threw himself down, and rolled over and over until he
+reached firm ground again, in a sad mess.&nbsp; Other attempts
+which he subsequently made to enter upon the Moss for the same
+purpose, were abandoned for the same reason&mdash;the want of a
+solid stand for the theodolite.</p>
+<p>On the 4th October, 1822, we find Mr. James writing to Mr.
+Sandars, &ldquo;I came last night to send my aid, Robert
+Stephenson, to his father, and to-morrow I shall pay off Evans
+and Hamilton, two other assistants.&nbsp; I have now only Messrs.
+Padley and Clarke to finish the copy of plans for Parliament,
+which will be done in about a week or nine days&rsquo;
+time.&rdquo;&nbsp; It would appear however, that, notwithstanding
+all his exertions, Mr. James was unable to complete his plans and
+estimates in time for the ensuing Session; and another year was
+thus lost.&nbsp; The Railroad Committee <!-- page 154--><a
+name="page154"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 154</span>became
+impatient at the delay.&nbsp; Mr. James&rsquo;s financial
+embarrassments reached their climax; and, what with illness and
+debt, he was no longer in a position to fulfil his promises to
+the Committee.&nbsp; They were, therefore, under the necessity of
+calling to their aid some other engineer.</p>
+<p>Mr. Sandars had by this time visited George Stephenson at
+Killingworth, and, like all who came within reach of his personal
+influence, was charmed with him at first sight.&nbsp; The energy
+which he had displayed in carrying on the works of the Stockton
+and Darlington Railway, now approaching completion; his readiness
+to face difficulties, and his practical ability in overcoming
+them; the enthusiasm which he displayed on the subject of
+railways and railway locomotion,&mdash;concurred in satisfying
+Mr. Sandars that he was, of all men, the best calculated to help
+forward the Liverpool undertaking at this juncture.&nbsp; On his
+return he stated this opinion to the Committee, who approved his
+recommendation, and George Stephenson was unanimously appointed
+engineer of the projected railway.</p>
+<p>It will be observed that Mr. Sandars had held to his original
+purpose with great determination and perseverance, and he
+gradually succeeded in enlisting on his side an increasing number
+of influential merchants and manufacturers both at Liverpool and
+Manchester.&nbsp; Early in 1824 he published a pamphlet, in which
+he strongly urged the great losses and interruptions to the trade
+of the district by the delays in the forwarding of merchandise;
+and in the same year he had a Public Declaration drawn up, and
+signed by upwards of 150 of the principal merchants of Liverpool,
+setting forth that they considered &ldquo;the present
+establishments for the transport of goods quite inadequate, and
+that a new line of conveyance has become absolutely necessary to
+conduct the increasing trade of the country with speed,
+certainty, and economy.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A public meeting was then held to consider the best plan to be
+adopted, and resolutions were passed in favour of a
+railroad.&nbsp; A committee was appointed to take the necessary
+<!-- page 155--><a name="page155"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+155</span>measures; but, as if reluctant to enter upon their
+arduous struggle with the &ldquo;vested interests,&rdquo; they
+first waited on Mr. Bradshaw, the Duke of Bridgewater&rsquo;s
+canal agent, in the hope of persuading him to increase the means
+of conveyance, as well as to reduce the charges; but they were
+met by an unqualified refusal.&nbsp; They suggested the
+expediency of a railway, and invited Mr. Bradshaw to become a
+proprietor of shares in it.&nbsp; But his reply
+was&mdash;&ldquo;All or none!&rdquo;&nbsp; The canal proprietors,
+confident in their imagined security, ridiculed the proposed
+railway as a chimera.&nbsp; It had been spoken about years
+before, and nothing had come of it then: it would be the same
+now.</p>
+<p>In order to form a better opinion as to the practicability of
+the railroad, a deputation of gentlemen interested in the project
+proceeded to Killingworth, to inspect the engines which had been
+so long in use there.&nbsp; They first went to Darlington, where
+they found the works of the Stockton line in progress, though
+still unfinished.&nbsp; Proceeding next to Killingworth with Mr.
+Stephenson, they there witnessed the performances of his
+locomotive engines.&nbsp; The result of their visit was, on the
+whole, so satisfactory, that on their report being delivered to
+the committee at Liverpool, it was finally determined to form a
+company of proprietors for the construction of a double line of
+railway between Liverpool and Manchester.</p>
+<p>The first prospectus of the scheme was dated the 29th October,
+1824, and had attached to it the names of the leading merchants
+of Liverpool and Manchester.&nbsp; It was a modest document, very
+unlike the inflated balloons which were sent up by railway
+speculators in succeeding years.&nbsp; It set forth as its main
+object the establishment of a safe and cheap mode of transit for
+merchandise, by which the conveyance of goods between the two
+towns would be effected in 5 or 6 hours (instead of 36 hours by
+the canal), whilst the charges would be reduced one-third.&nbsp;
+On looking at the prospectus now, it is curious to note that,
+while the advantages anticipated from the carriage of merchandise
+<!-- page 156--><a name="page156"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+156</span>were strongly insisted upon, the conveyance of
+passengers&mdash;which proved to be the chief source of
+profit&mdash;was only very cautiously referred to.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;As a cheap and expeditious means of conveyance for
+travellers,&rdquo; says the prospectus in conclusion, &ldquo;the
+railway holds out the fair prospect of a public accommodation,
+the magnitude and importance of which cannot be immediately
+ascertained.&rdquo;&nbsp; The estimated expense of forming the
+line was set down at &pound;400,000,&mdash;a sum which was
+eventually found quite inadequate.&nbsp; The subscription list
+when opened was filled up without difficulty.</p>
+<p>While the project was still under discussion, its promoters,
+desirous of removing the doubts which existed as to the
+employment of steam power on the proposed railway, sent a second
+deputation to Killingworth for the purpose of again observing the
+action of Stephenson&rsquo;s engines.&nbsp; The cautious
+projectors of the railway were not yet quite satisfied; and a
+third journey was made to Killingworth, in January, 1825, by
+several gentlemen of the committee, accompanied by practical
+engineers, for the purpose of being personal eye-witnesses of
+what steam-carriages were able to perform upon a railway.&nbsp;
+There they saw a train, consisting of a locomotive and loaded
+waggons, weighing in all 54 tons, travelling at the average rate
+of about 7 miles an hour, the greatest speed being about
+9&frac12; miles an hour.&nbsp; But when the engine was run with
+only one waggon attached containing twenty gentlemen, five of
+whom were engineers, the speed attained was from 10 to 12 miles
+an hour.</p>
+<p>In the mean time the survey was proceeded with, in the face of
+great opposition from the proprietors of the lands through which
+the railway was intended to pass.&nbsp; The prejudices of the
+farming and labouring classes were strongly excited against the
+persons employed upon the ground, and it was with the greatest
+difficulty that the levels could be taken.&nbsp; At one place,
+Stephenson was driven off the ground by the keepers, and
+threatened to be ducked <!-- page 157--><a
+name="page157"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 157</span>in the pond
+if found there again.&nbsp; The farmers also turned out their men
+to watch the surveying party, and prevent them entering upon any
+lands where they had the power of driving them off.</p>
+<p>One of the proprietors declared that he would order his
+game-keepers to shoot or apprehend any persons attempting a
+survey over his property.&nbsp; But one moonlight night a survey
+was obtained by the following ruse.&nbsp; Some men, under the
+orders of the surveying party, were set to fire off guns in a
+particular quarter; on which all the game-keepers on the watch
+made off in that direction, and they were drawn away to such a
+distance in pursuit of the supposed poachers, as to enable a
+rapid survey to be made during their absence.</p>
+<p>When the canal companies found that the Liverpool merchants
+were determined to proceed with their scheme&mdash;that they had
+completed their survey, and were ready to apply to Parliament for
+an Act to enable them to form the railway&mdash;they at last
+reluctantly, and with a bad grace, made overtures of
+conciliation.&nbsp; They promised to employ steam-vessels both on
+the Mersey and on the Canal.&nbsp; One of the companies offered
+to reduce its length by three miles, at a considerable
+outlay.&nbsp; At the same time they made a show of lowering their
+rates.&nbsp; But it was too late; for the project of the railway
+had now gone so far that the promoters (who might have been
+conciliated by such overtures at an earlier period) felt they
+were fully committed to it, and that now they could not well draw
+back.&nbsp; Besides, the remedies offered by the canal companies
+could only have had the effect of staving off the difficulty for
+a brief season,&mdash;the absolute necessity of forming a new
+line of communication between Liverpool and Manchester becoming
+more urgent from year to year.&nbsp; Arrangements were therefore
+made for proceeding with the bill in the parliamentary session of
+1825.</p>
+<p>On this becoming known, the canal companies prepared to resist
+the measure tooth and nail.&nbsp; The public were <!-- page
+158--><a name="page158"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+158</span>appealed to on the subject; pamphlets were written and
+newspapers were hired to revile the railway.&nbsp; It was
+declared that its formation would prevent cows grazing and hens
+laying.&nbsp; The poisoned air from the locomotives would kill
+birds as they flew over them, and render the preservation of
+pheasants and foxes no longer possible.&nbsp; Householders
+adjoining the projected line were told that their houses would be
+burnt up by the fire thrown from the engine-chimneys; while the
+air around would be polluted by clouds of smoke.&nbsp; There
+would no longer be any use for horses; and if railways extended,
+the species would become extinguished, and oats and hay be
+rendered unsaleable commodities.&nbsp; Travelling by rail would
+be highly dangerous, and country inns would be ruined.&nbsp;
+Boilers would burst and blow passengers to atoms.&nbsp; But there
+was always this consolation to wind up with&mdash;that the weight
+of the locomotive would completely prevent its moving, and that
+railways, even if made, could <i>never</i> be worked by
+steam-power.</p>
+<p>Indeed, when Mr. Stephenson, at the interviews with counsel,
+held previous to the Liverpool and Manchester bill going into
+Committee of the House of Commons, confidently stated his
+expectation of being able to impel his locomotive at the rate of
+20 miles an hour, Mr. William Brougham, who was retained by the
+promoters to conduct their case, frankly told him that if he did
+not moderate his views, and bring his engine within a
+<i>reasonable</i> speed, he would &ldquo;inevitably damn the
+whole thing, and be himself regarded as a maniac fit only for
+Bedlam.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The idea thrown out by Stephenson, of travelling at a rate of
+speed double that of the fastest mail-coach, appeared at the time
+so preposterous that he was unable to find any engineer who would
+risk his reputation in supporting such &ldquo;absurd
+views.&rdquo;&nbsp; Speaking of his isolation at the time, he
+subsequently observed, at a public meeting of railway men in
+Manchester: &ldquo;He remembered the time when he had very few
+supporters in bringing out the railway system&mdash;<!-- page
+159--><a name="page159"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+159</span>when he sought England over for an engineer to support
+him in his evidence before Parliament, and could find only one
+man, James Walker, but was afraid to call that gentleman, because
+he knew nothing about railways.&nbsp; He had then no one to tell
+his tale to but Mr. Sandars, of Liverpool, who did listen to him,
+and kept his spirits up; and his schemes had at length been
+carried out only by dint of sheer perseverance.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>George Stephenson&rsquo;s idea was at that time regarded as
+but the dream of a chimerical projector.&nbsp; It stood before
+the public friendless, struggling hard to gain a footing,
+scarcely daring to lift itself into notice for fear of
+ridicule.&nbsp; The civil engineers generally rejected the notion
+of a Locomotive Railway; and when no leading man of the day could
+be found to stand forward in support of the Killingworth
+mechanic, its chances of success must indeed have been pronounced
+but small.</p>
+<p>When such was the hostility of the civil engineers, no wonder
+the reviewers were puzzled.&nbsp; The &lsquo;Quarterly,&rsquo; in
+an able article in support of the projected Liverpool and
+Manchester Railway,&mdash;while admitting its absolute necessity,
+and insisting that there was no choice left but a railroad, on
+which the journey between Liverpool and Manchester, whether
+performed by horses or engines, would always be accomplished
+&ldquo;within the day,&rdquo;&mdash;nevertheless scouted the idea
+of travelling at a greater speed than eight or nine miles an
+hour.&nbsp; Adverting to a project for forming a railway to
+Woolwich, by which passengers were to be drawn by locomotive
+engines, moving with twice the velocity of ordinary coaches, the
+reviewer observed:&mdash;&ldquo;What can be more palpably absurd
+and ridiculous than the prospect held out of locomotives
+travelling <i>twice as fast</i> as stagecoaches!&nbsp; We would
+as soon expect the people of Woolwich to suffer themselves to be
+fired off upon one of Congreve&rsquo;s ricochet rockets, as trust
+themselves to the mercy of such a machine going at such a
+rate.&nbsp; We will back old Father Thames against the Woolwich
+Railway for any sum.&nbsp; We <!-- page 160--><a
+name="page160"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 160</span>trust that
+Parliament will, in all railways it may sanction, limit the speed
+to <i>eight or nine miles an hour</i>, which we entirely agree
+with Mr. Sylvester is as great as can be ventured on with
+safety.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>At length the survey was completed, the plans were deposited,
+the requisite preliminary arrangements were made, and the
+promoters of the scheme applied to Parliament for the necessary
+powers to construct the railway.&nbsp; The Bill went into
+Committee of the Commons on the 21st of March, 1825.&nbsp; There
+was an extraordinary array of legal talent on the occasion, but
+especially on the side of the opponents to the measure; their
+counsel including Mr. (afterwards Baron) Alderson, Mr.
+(afterwards Baron) Parke, Mr. Harrison, and Mr. Erle.&nbsp; The
+counsel for the bill were Mr. Adam, Mr. Serjeant Spankie, Mr.
+William Brougham, and Mr. Joy.</p>
+<p>Evidence was taken at great length as to the difficulties and
+delays in forwarding raw material of all kinds from Liverpool to
+Manchester, as also in the conveyance of manufactured goods from
+Manchester to Liverpool.&nbsp; The evidence adduced in support of
+the bill on these grounds was overwhelming.&nbsp; The utter
+inadequacy of the existing modes of conveyance to carry on
+satisfactorily the large and rapidly-growing trade between the
+two towns was fully proved.&nbsp; But then came the gist of the
+promoter&rsquo;s case&mdash;the evidence to prove the
+practicability of a railroad to be worked by locomotive
+power.&nbsp; Mr. Adam, in his opening speech, referred to the
+cases of the Hetton and the Killingworth railroads, where heavy
+goods were safely and economically transported by means of
+locomotive engines.&nbsp; &ldquo;None of the tremendous
+consequences,&rdquo; he observed, &ldquo;have ensued from the use
+of steam in land carriage that have been stated.&nbsp; The horses
+have not started, nor the cows ceased to give their milk, nor
+have ladies miscarried at the sight of these things going forward
+at the rate of four miles and a half an hour.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Notwithstanding the petition of two ladies alleging the great
+danger to be apprehended <!-- page 161--><a
+name="page161"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 161</span>from the
+bursting of the locomotive boilers, he urged the safety of the
+high-pressure engine when the boilers were constructed of
+wrought-iron; and as to the rate at which they could travel, he
+expressed his full conviction that such engines &ldquo;could
+supply force to drive a carriage at the rate of five or six miles
+an hour.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The taking of the evidence as to the impediments thrown in the
+way of trade and commerce by the existing system extended over a
+month, and it was the 21st of April before the Committee went
+into the engineering evidence, which was the vital part of the
+question.</p>
+<p>On the 25th George Stephenson was called into the
+witness-box.&nbsp; It was his first appearance before a Committee
+of the House of Commons, and he well knew what he had to
+expect.&nbsp; He was aware that the whole force of the opposition
+was to be directed against him; and if they could break down his
+evidence, the canal monopoly might yet be upheld for a
+time.&nbsp; Many years afterwards, when looking back at his
+position on this trying occasion, he said:&mdash;&ldquo;When I
+went to Liverpool to plan a line from thence to Manchester, I
+pledged myself to the directors to attain a speed of 10 miles an
+hour.&nbsp; I said I had no doubt the locomotive might be made to
+go much faster, but that we had better be moderate at the
+beginning.&nbsp; The directors said I was quite right; for that
+if, when they went to Parliament, I talked of going at a greater
+rate than 10 miles an hour, I should put a cross upon the
+concern.&nbsp; It was not an easy task for me to keep the engine
+down to 10 miles an hour, but it must be done, and I did my
+best.&nbsp; I had to place myself in that most unpleasant of all
+positions&mdash;the witness-box of a Parliamentary
+Committee.&nbsp; I was not long in it, before I began to wish for
+a hole to creep out at!&nbsp; I could not find words to satisfy
+either the Committee or myself.&nbsp; I was subjected to the
+cross-examination of eight or ten barristers, purposely, as far
+as possible, to bewilder me.&nbsp; Some member of the Committee
+asked if I was a foreigner, and another hinted that I was
+mad.&nbsp; But I put up with every rebuff, and <!-- page 162--><a
+name="page162"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 162</span>went on
+with my plans, determined not to be put down.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson stood before the Committee to prove what the
+public opinion of that day held to be impossible.&nbsp; The
+self-taught mechanic had to demonstrate the practicability of
+accomplishing that which the most distinguished engineers of the
+time regarded as impracticable.&nbsp; Clear though the subject
+was to himself, and familiar as he was with the powers of the
+locomotive, it was no easy task for him to bring home his
+convictions, or even to convey his meaning, to the less informed
+minds of his hearers.&nbsp; In his strong Northumbrian dialect,
+he struggled for utterance, in the face of the sneers,
+interruptions, and ridicule of the opponents of the measure, and
+even of the Committee, some of whom shook their heads and
+whispered doubts as to his sanity, when he energetically avowed
+that he could make the locomotive go at the rate of 12 miles an
+hour!&nbsp; It was so grossly in the teeth of all the experience
+of honourable members, that the man &ldquo;must certainly be
+labouring under a delusion!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And yet his large experience of railways and locomotives, as
+described by himself to the Committee, entitled this
+&ldquo;untaught, inarticulate genius,&rdquo; as he has so well
+been styled, to speak with confidence on such a subject.&nbsp;
+Beginning with his experience as a brakesman at Killingworth in
+1803, he went on to state that he was appointed to take the
+entire charge of the steam-engines in 1813, and had superintended
+the railroads connected with the numerous collieries of the Grand
+Allies from that time downwards.&nbsp; He had laid down or
+superintended the railways at Burradon, Mount Moor, Springwell,
+Bedlington, Hetton, and Darlington, besides improving those at
+Killingworth, South Moor, and Derwent Crook.&nbsp; He had
+constructed fifty-five steam-engines, of which sixteen were
+locomotives.&nbsp; Some of these had been sent to France.&nbsp;
+The engines constructed by him for the working of the
+Killingworth Railroad, eleven years before, had continued
+steadily at work ever since, <!-- page 163--><a
+name="page163"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 163</span>and
+fulfilled his most sanguine expectations.&nbsp; He was prepared
+to prove the safety of working high-pressure locomotives on a
+railroad, and the superiority of this mode of transporting goods
+over all others.&nbsp; As to speed, he said he had recommended 8
+miles an hour with 20 tons, and 4 miles an hour with 40 tons; but
+he was quite confident that much more might be done.&nbsp;
+Indeed, he had no doubt they might go at the rate of 12
+miles.&nbsp; As to the charge that locomotives on a railroad
+would so terrify the horses in the neighbourhood, that to travel
+on horseback or to plough the adjoining fields would be rendered
+highly dangerous, the witness said that horses learnt to take no
+notice of them, though there <i>were</i> horses that would shy at
+a wheelbarrow.&nbsp; A mail-coach was likely to be more shied at
+by horses than a locomotive.&nbsp; In the neighbourhood of
+Killingworth, the cattle in the fields went on grazing while the
+engines passed them, and the farmers made no complaints.</p>
+<p>Mr. Alderson, who had carefully studied the subject, and was
+well skilled in practical science, subjected the witness to a
+protracted and severe cross-examination as to the speed and power
+of the locomotive, the stroke of the piston, the slipping of the
+wheels upon the rails, and various other points of detail.&nbsp;
+Mr. Stephenson insisted that no slipping took place, as attempted
+to be extorted from him by the counsel.&nbsp; He said, &ldquo;It
+is impossible for slipping to take place so long as the adhesive
+weight of the wheel upon the rail is greater than the weight to
+be dragged after it.&rdquo;&nbsp; As to accidents, Stephenson
+said he knew of none that had occurred with his engines.&nbsp;
+There had been one, he was told, at the Middleton Colliery, near
+Leeds, with a Blenkinsop engine.&nbsp; The driver had been in
+liquor, and put a considerable load on the safety-valve, so that
+upon going forward the engine blew up and the man was
+killed.&nbsp; But he added, if proper precautions had been used
+with that boiler, the accident could not have happened.&nbsp; The
+following cross-examination occurred in reference to the question
+of speed:&mdash;</p>
+<p><!-- page 164--><a name="page164"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+164</span>&ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; he was asked, &ldquo;when a
+body is moving upon a road, the greater the velocity the greater
+the momentum that is generated?&rdquo;&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Certainly.&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;What would be the momentum
+of 40 tons moving at the rate of 12 miles an hour?&rdquo;&nbsp;
+&ldquo;It would be very great.&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;Have you seen
+a railroad that would stand that?&rdquo;&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;Where?&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Any
+railroad that would bear going 4 miles an hour: I mean to say,
+that if it would bear the weight at 4 miles an hour, it would
+bear it at 12.&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;Taking it at 4 miles an hour,
+do you mean to say that it would not require a stronger railway
+to carry the same weight 12 miles an hour?&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;I
+will give an answer to that.&nbsp; I dare say every person has
+been over ice when skating, or seen persons go over, and they
+know that it would bear them better at a greater velocity than it
+would if they went slower; when they go quick, the weight in a
+measure ceases.&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;Is not that upon the
+hypothesis that the railroad is perfect?&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;It
+is; and I mean to make it perfect.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It is not necessary to state that to have passed the ordeal of
+so severe a cross-examination scatheless, needed no small amount
+of courage, intelligence, and ready shrewdness on the part of the
+witness.&nbsp; Nicholas Wood, who was present on the occasion,
+has since stated that the point on which Stephenson was hardest
+pressed was that of speed.&nbsp; &ldquo;I believe,&rdquo; he
+says, &ldquo;that it would have lost the Company their bill if he
+had gone beyond 8 or 9 miles an hour.&nbsp; If he had stated his
+intention of going 12 or 15 miles an hour, not a single person
+would have believed it to be practicable.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Committee also seem to have entertained considerable alarm
+as to the high rate of speed which had been spoken of, and
+proceeded to examine the witness further on the subject.&nbsp;
+They supposed the case of the engine being upset when going at 9
+miles an hour, and asked what, in such a case, would become of
+the cargo astern.&nbsp; To which the witness replied that it
+would not be upset.&nbsp; One of the members of the Committee
+pressed the witness a little <!-- page 165--><a
+name="page165"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+165</span>further.&nbsp; He put the following
+case:&mdash;&ldquo;Suppose, now, one of these engines to be going
+along a railroad at the rate of 9 or 10 miles an hour, and that a
+cow were to stray upon the line and get in the way of the engine;
+would not that, think you, be a very awkward
+circumstance?&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied the
+witness, with a twinkle in his eye, &ldquo;very
+awkward&mdash;<i>for the coo</i>!&rdquo;&nbsp; The honourable
+member did not proceed further with his cross-examination; to use
+a railway phrase, he was &ldquo;shunted.&rdquo;&nbsp; Another
+asked if animals would not be very much frightened by the engine
+passing them, especially by the glare of the red-hot
+chimney?&nbsp; &ldquo;But how would they know that it
+wasn&rsquo;t painted?&rdquo; said the witness.</p>
+<p>On the following day, the engineer was subjected to a very
+severe examination.&nbsp; On that part of the scheme with which
+he was most practically conversant, his evidence was clear and
+conclusive.&nbsp; Now, he had to give evidence on the plans made
+by his surveyors, and the estimates which had been founded on
+such plans.&nbsp; So long as he was confined to locomotive
+engines and iron railroads, with the minutest details of which he
+was more familiar than any man living, he felt at home, and in
+his element.&nbsp; But when the designs of bridges and the cost
+of constructing them had to be gone into, the subject being in a
+great measure new to him, his evidence was much less
+satisfactory.</p>
+<p>Mr. Alderson cross-examined him at great length on the plans
+of the bridges, the tunnels, the crossings of the roads and
+streets, and the details of the survey, which, it soon clearly
+appeared, were in some respects seriously at fault.&nbsp; It
+seems that, after the plans had been deposited, Stephenson found
+that a much more favourable line might be made; and he made his
+estimates accordingly, supposing that Parliament would not
+confine the Company to the precise plan which had been
+deposited.&nbsp; This was felt to be a serious blot in the
+parliamentary case, and one very difficult to be got over.</p>
+<p>For three entire days was our engineer subjected to <!-- page
+166--><a name="page166"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+166</span>this cross-examination.&nbsp; He held his ground
+bravely, and defended the plans and estimates with remarkable
+ability and skill; but it was clear they were imperfect, and the
+result was on the whole damaging to the measure.</p>
+<p>The case of the opponents was next gone into, in the course of
+which the counsel indulged in strong vituperation against the
+witnesses for the bill.&nbsp; One of them spoke of the utter
+impossiblity of making a railway upon so treacherous a material
+as Chat Moss, which was declared to be an immense mass of pulp,
+and nothing else.&nbsp; &ldquo;It actually,&rdquo; said Mr.
+Harrison, &ldquo;rises in height, from the rain swelling it like
+a sponge, and sinks again in dry weather; and if a boring
+instrument is put into it, it sinks immediately by its own
+weight.&nbsp; The making of an embankment out of this pulpy, wet
+moss, is no very easy task.&nbsp; Who but Mr. Stephenson would
+have thought of entering into Chat Moss, carrying it out almost
+like wet dung?&nbsp; It is ignorance almost inconceivable.&nbsp;
+It is perfect madness, in a person called upon to speak on a
+scientific subject, to propose such a plan.&nbsp; Every part of
+this scheme shows that this man has applied himself to a subject
+of which he has no knowledge, and to which he has no science to
+apply.&rdquo;&nbsp; Then adverting to the proposal to work the
+intended line by means of locomotives, the learned gentleman
+proceeded: &ldquo;When we set out with the original prospectus,
+we were to gallop, I know not at what rate; I believe it was at
+the rate of 12 miles an hour.&nbsp; My learned friend, Mr. Adam,
+contemplated&mdash;possibly alluding to Ireland&mdash;that some
+of the Irish members would arrive in the waggons to a
+division.&nbsp; My learned friend says that they would go at the
+rate of 12 miles an hour with the aid of the devil in the form of
+a locomotive, sitting as postilion on the fore horse, and an
+honourable member sitting behind him to stir up the fire, and
+keep it at full speed.&nbsp; But the speed at which these
+locomotive engines are to go has slackened: Mr. Adam does not go
+faster now than 5 miles an hour.&nbsp; The learned serjeant
+(Spankie) says he should like to have 7, but he <!-- page
+167--><a name="page167"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+167</span>would be content to go 6.&nbsp; I will show he cannot
+go 6; and probably, for any practical purposes, I may be able to
+show that I can keep up with him <i>by the canal</i>. . . .&nbsp;
+Locomotive engines are liable to be operated upon by the
+weather.&nbsp; You are told they are affected by rain, and an
+attempt has been made to cover them; but the wind will affect
+them; and any gale of wind which would affect the traffic on the
+Mersey would render it <i>impossible</i> to set off a locomotive
+engine, either by poking of the fire, or keeping up the pressure
+of the steam till the boiler was ready to burst.&rdquo;&nbsp; How
+amusing it now is to read these extraordinary views as to the
+formation of a railway over Chat Moss, and the impossibility of
+starting a locomotive engine in the face of a gale of wind!</p>
+<p>Evidence was called to show that the house property passed by
+the proposed railway would be greatly deteriorated&mdash;in some
+places almost destroyed; that the locomotive engines would be
+terrible nuisances, in consequence of the fire and smoke vomited
+forth by them; and that the value of land in the neighbourhood of
+Manchester alone would be deteriorated by no less than
+&pound;20,000!&nbsp; Evidence was also given at great length
+showing the utter impossibility of forming a road of any kind
+upon Chat Moss.&nbsp; A Manchester builder, who was examined,
+could not imagine the feat possible, unless by arching it across
+in the manner of a viaduct from one side to the other.&nbsp; It
+was the old story of &ldquo;nothing like leather.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+But the opposition mainly relied upon the evidence of the leading
+engineers&mdash;not like Stephenson, self-taught men, but regular
+professionals.&nbsp; One of these, Mr. Francis Giles, C.E., had
+been twenty-two years an engineer, and could speak with some
+authority.&nbsp; His testimony was mainly directed to the utter
+impossibility of forming a railway over Chat Moss.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;<i>No engineer in his senses</i>,&rdquo; said he,
+&ldquo;would go through Chat Moss if he wanted to make a railroad
+from Liverpool to Manchester. . . .&nbsp; In my judgment <i>a
+railroad certainly cannot be safely made over Chat Moss without
+going to the bottom </i><!-- page 168--><a
+name="page168"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 168</span><i>of the
+Moss</i>.&nbsp; The soil ought all to be taken out, undoubtedly;
+in doing which, it will not be practicable to approach each end
+of the cutting, as you make it, with the carriages.&nbsp; No
+carriages would stand upon the Moss short of the bottom.&nbsp; My
+estimate for the whole cutting and embankment over Chat Moss is
+&pound;270,000 nearly, at those quantities and those prices which
+are decidedly correct . . . It will be necessary to take this
+Moss completely out at the bottom, in order to make a solid
+road.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When the engineers had given their evidence, Mr. Alderson
+summed up in a speech which extended over two days.&nbsp; He
+declared Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s plan to be &ldquo;the most absurd
+scheme that ever entered into the head of man to conceive.&nbsp;
+My learned friends,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;almost endeavoured to
+stop my examination; they wished me to put in the plan, but I had
+rather have the exhibition of Mr. Stephenson in that box.&nbsp; I
+say he never had a plan&mdash;I believe he never had one&mdash;I
+do not believe he is capable of making one.&nbsp; His is a mind
+perpetually fluctuating between opposite difficulties: he neither
+knows whether he is to make bridges over roads or rivers, of one
+size or of another; or to make embankments, or cuttings, or
+inclined planes, or in what way the thing is to be carried into
+effect.&nbsp; Whenever a difficulty is pressed, as in the case of
+a tunnel, he gets out of it at one end, and when you try to catch
+him at that, he gets out at the other.&rdquo;&nbsp; Mr. Alderson
+proceeded to declaim against the gross ignorance of this
+so-called engineer, who proposed to make &ldquo;impossible
+ditches by the side of an impossible railway&rdquo; upon Chat
+Moss; &ldquo;I care not,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;whether Mr. Giles
+is right or wrong in his estimate, for whether it be effected by
+means of piers raised up all the way for four miles through Chat
+Moss, whether they are to support it on beams of wood or by
+erecting masonry, or whether Mr. Giles shall put a solid bank of
+earth through it,&mdash;in all these schemes there is not one
+found like that of Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s, namely, to cut
+impossible drains on the side of this road; and it is sufficient
+for me <!-- page 169--><a name="page169"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 169</span>to suggest and to show, that this
+scheme of Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s is impossible or impracticable,
+and that no other scheme, if they proceed upon this line, can be
+suggested which will not produce enormous expense.&nbsp; I think
+that has been irrefragably made out.&nbsp; Every one knows Chat
+Moss&mdash;every one knows that the iron sinks immediately on its
+being put upon the surface.&nbsp; I have heard of culverts, which
+have been put upon the Moss, which, after having been surveyed
+the day before, have the next morning disappeared; and that a
+house (a poet&rsquo;s house, who may be supposed in the habit of
+building castles even in the air), story after story, as fast as
+one is added, the lower one sinks!&nbsp; There is nothing, it
+appears, except long sedgy grass, and a little soil to prevent
+its sinking into the shades of eternal night.&nbsp; I have now
+done, sir, with Chat Moss, and there I leave this
+railroad.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The case of the principal petitioners against the bill
+occupied many more days, and on its conclusion the committee
+proceeded to divide on the preamble, which was carried by a
+majority of only <i>one</i>&mdash;37 voting for it, and 36
+against it.&nbsp; The clauses were next considered, and on a
+division the first clause, empowering the Company to make the
+railway, was lost by a majority of 19 to 13.&nbsp; In like
+manner, the next clause, empowering the Company to take land, was
+lost; on which the bill was withdrawn.</p>
+<p>Thus ended this memorable contest, which had extended over two
+months&mdash;carried on throughout with great pertinacity and
+skill, especially on the part of the opposition, who left no
+stone unturned to defeat the measure.&nbsp; The want of a third
+line of communication between Liverpool and Manchester had been
+clearly proved; but the engineering evidence in support of the
+proposed railway having been thrown almost entirely upon
+Stephenson, who fought this, the most important part of the
+battle, single-handed, was not brought out so clearly as it would
+have been, had he secured more efficient engineering
+assistance&mdash;which he was not able to do, as the principal
+engineers of that day <!-- page 170--><a name="page170"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 170</span>were against the locomotive
+railway.&nbsp; The obstacles thrown in the way of the survey by
+the landowners and canal companies, by which the plans were
+rendered exceedingly imperfect, also tended in a great measure to
+defeat the bill.</p>
+<p>The rejection of the bill was probably the most severe trial
+George Stephenson underwent in the whole course of his
+life.&nbsp; The circumstances connected with the defeat of the
+measure, the errors in the levels, his rigid cross-examination,
+followed by the fact of his being superseded by another engineer,
+all told fearfully upon him, and for some time he was as much
+weighed down as if a personal calamity of the most serious kind
+had befallen him.</p>
+<p>Stephenson had been so terribly abused by the leading counsel
+for the opposition in the course of the proceedings before the
+Committee&mdash;stigmatised by them as an ignoramus, a fool, and
+a maniac&mdash;that even his friends seem for a time to have lost
+faith in him and in the locomotive system, whose efficiency he
+nevertheless continued to uphold.&nbsp; Things never looked
+blacker for the success of the railway system than at the close
+of this great parliamentary struggle.&nbsp; And yet it was on the
+very eve of its triumph.</p>
+<p>The Committee of Directors appointed to watch the measure in
+Parliament were so determined to press on the project of a
+railway, even though it should have to be worked merely by
+horse-power, that the bill had scarcely been thrown out ere they
+met in London to consider their next step.&nbsp; They called
+their parliamentary friends together to consult as to future
+proceedings; and the result was that they went back to Liverpool
+determined to renew their application to Parliament in the
+ensuing session.</p>
+<p>It was not considered desirable to employ Mr. Stephenson in
+making the new survey.&nbsp; He had not as yet established his
+reputation as an engineer beyond the boundaries of his own
+district; and the promoters of the bill had doubtless felt the
+disadvantages of this in the course of their parliamentary
+struggle.&nbsp; They therefore resolved now to employ <!-- page
+171--><a name="page171"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+171</span>engineers of the highest established reputation, as
+well as the best surveyors that could be obtained.&nbsp; In
+accordance with these views they engaged Messrs. George and John
+Rennie to be the engineers of the railway; and Mr. Charles
+Vignolles was appointed to prepare the plans and sections.&nbsp;
+The line which was eventually adopted differed somewhat from that
+surveyed by Mr. Stephenson.&nbsp; The principal parks and
+game-preserves of the district were carefully avoided.&nbsp; The
+promoters thus hoped to get rid of the opposition of the most
+influential of the resident landowners.&nbsp; The crossing of
+certain of the streets of Liverpool was also avoided, and the
+entrance contrived by means of a tunnel and an inclined
+plane.&nbsp; The new line stopped short of the river Irwell at
+the Manchester end, by which the objections grounded on an
+illegal interruption to the canal or river traffic were in some
+measure removed.&nbsp; The opposition of the Duke of
+Bridgewater&rsquo;s trustees was also got rid of, and the Marquis
+of Stafford became a subscriber for a thousand shares.&nbsp; With
+reference to the use of the locomotive engine, the promoters,
+remembering with what effect the objections to it had been urged
+by the opponents of the bill, intimated, in their second
+prospectus, that &ldquo;as a guarantee of their good faith
+towards the public they will not require any clause empowering
+them to use it; or they will submit to such restrictions in the
+employment of it as Parliament may impose.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The survey of the new line having been completed, the plans
+were deposited, the standing orders duly complied with, and the
+bill went before Parliament.&nbsp; The same counsel appeared for
+the promoters, but the examination of witnesses was not nearly so
+protracted as on the previous occasion.&nbsp; The preamble was
+declared proved by a majority of 43 to 18.&nbsp; On the third
+reading in the House of Commons, an animated, and what now
+appears a very amusing discussion took place.&nbsp; The Hon.
+Edward Stanley moved that the bill be read that day six months;
+and in his speech he undertook to prove that the railway trains
+would take <!-- page 172--><a name="page172"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 172</span><i>ten hours</i> on the journey, and
+that they could only be worked by horses.&nbsp; Sir Isaac Coffin
+seconded the motion, and in doing so denounced the project as a
+most flagrant imposition.&nbsp; He would not consent to see
+widows&rsquo; premises invaded; and &ldquo;What, he would like to
+know, was to be done with all those who had advanced money in
+making and repairing turnpike-roads?&nbsp; What was to become of
+coach-makers and harness-makers, coach-masters and coachmen,
+inn-keepers, horse-breeders, and horse-dealers?&nbsp; Was the
+house aware of the smoke and the noise, the hiss and the whirl,
+which locomotive engines, passing at the rate of 10 or 12 miles
+an hour, would occasion?&nbsp; Neither the cattle ploughing in
+the fields or grazing in the meadows could behold them without
+dismay.&nbsp; Iron would be raised in price 100 per cent., or
+more probably exhausted altogether!&nbsp; It would be the
+greatest nuisance, the most complete disturbance of quiet and
+comfort in all parts of the kingdom, that the ingenuity of man
+could invent!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Huskisson and other speakers, though unable to reply to
+such arguments as these, strongly supported the bill; and it was
+carried on the third reading by a majority of 88 to 41.&nbsp; The
+bill passed the House of Lords almost unanimously, its only
+opponents being the Earl of Derby and his relative the Earl of
+Wilton.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p172.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Surveying on Chat Moss"
+title=
+"Surveying on Chat Moss"
+src="images/p172.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2><!-- page 173--><a name="page173"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 173</span>CHAPTER X.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Chat Moss</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Construction of the Railway</span>.</h2>
+<p>The appointment of principal engineer to the railway was taken
+into consideration at the first meeting of the directors held at
+Liverpool subsequent to the passing of the Act.&nbsp; The
+magnitude of the proposed works, and the vast consequences
+involved in their experiment, were deeply impressed upon their
+minds; and they resolved to secure the services of a resident
+engineer of proved experience and ability.&nbsp; Their attention
+was naturally directed to Mr. Stephenson; at the same time they
+desired to have the benefit of the Messrs. Rennie&rsquo;s
+professional assistance in superintending the works.&nbsp; Mr.
+George Rennie had an interview with the Board on the subject, at
+which he proposed to undertake the chief superintendence, making
+six visits in each year, and stipulating that he should have the
+appointment of the resident engineer.&nbsp; But the
+responsibility attaching to the direction in the matter of the
+efficient carrying on of the works, would not admit of their
+being influenced by ordinary punctilios on the occasion; and they
+accordingly declined this proposal, and proceeded to appoint Mr.
+Stephenson their principal engineer at a salary of &pound;1000
+per annum.</p>
+<p>He at once removed his residence to Liverpool, and made
+arrangements to commence the works.&nbsp; He began with the
+&ldquo;impossible thing&rdquo;&mdash;to do that which the most
+distinguished engineers of the day had declared that &ldquo;no
+man in his senses would undertake to do&rdquo;&mdash;namely, to
+make the road over Chat Moss!&nbsp; It was indeed a most
+formidable undertaking; and the project of carrying a railway
+along, under, or over such a material as that of which it
+consisted, <!-- page 174--><a name="page174"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 174</span>would certainly never have occurred
+to an ordinary mind.&nbsp; Michael Drayton supposed the Moss to
+have had its origin at the Deluge.&nbsp; Nothing more impassable
+could have been imagined than that dreary waste; and Mr. Giles
+only spoke the popular feeling of the day when he declared that
+no carriage could stand on it &ldquo;short of the
+bottom.&rdquo;&nbsp; In this bog, singular to say, Mr. Roscoe,
+the accomplished historian of the Medicis, buried his fortune in
+the hopeless attempt to cultivate a portion of it which he had
+bought.</p>
+<p>Chat Moss is an immense peat bog of about twelve square miles
+in extent.&nbsp; Unlike the bogs or swamps of Cambridge and
+Lincolnshire, which consist principally of soft mud or silt, this
+bog is a vast mass of spongy vegetable pulp, the result of the
+growth and decay of ages.&nbsp; The spagni, or bog-mosses, cover
+the entire area; one year&rsquo;s growth rising over
+another,&mdash;the older growths not entirely decaying, but
+remaining partially preserved by the antiseptic properties
+peculiar to peat.&nbsp; Hence the remarkable fact that, although
+a semifluid mass, the surface of Chat Moss rises above the level
+of the surrounding country.&nbsp; Like a turtle&rsquo;s back, it
+declines from the summit in every direction, having from thirty
+to forty feet gradual slope to the solid land on all sides.&nbsp;
+From the remains of trees, chiefly alder and birch, which have
+been dug out of it, and which must have previously flourished
+upon the surface of soil now deeply submerged, it is probable
+that the sand and clay base on which the bog rests is
+saucer-shaped, and so retains the entire mass in position.&nbsp;
+In rainy weather, such is its capacity for water that it sensibly
+swells, and rises in those parts where the moss is the
+deepest.&nbsp; This occurs through the capillary attraction of
+the fibres of the submerged moss, which is from 20 to 30 feet in
+depth, whilst the growing plants effectually check evaporation
+from the surface.&nbsp; This peculiar character of the Moss has
+presented an insuperable difficulty in the way of reclaiming it
+by any system of extensive drainage&mdash;such as by sinking
+shafts, and pumping up the water by steam power, as has been
+proposed.&nbsp; <!-- page 175--><a name="page175"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 175</span>Supposing a shaft of 30 feet deep to
+be sunk, it has been calculated that this would only be effectual
+for draining a circle of about 100 yards, the water running down
+an incline of about 5 to 1; for it was found in the course of
+draining the bog, that a ditch 3 feet deep only served to drain a
+space of less than 5 yards on each side, and two ditches of this
+depth, 10 yards apart, left a portion of the Moss between them
+scarcely affected by the drains.</p>
+<p>The three resident engineers selected by Mr. Stephenson to
+superintend the construction of the line, were Joseph Locke,
+William Allcard, and John Dixon.&nbsp; The last was appointed to
+that portion which lay across the Moss, neither of the other two
+envying his lot.&nbsp; On Mr. Dixon&rsquo;s arrival, about July,
+1826, Mr. Locke proceeded to show him over the length he was to
+take charge of, and to instal him in office.&nbsp; When they
+reached Chat Moss, Mr. Dixon found that the line had already been
+staked out and the levels taken in detail by the aid of planks
+laid upon the bog.&nbsp; The cutting of the drains along each
+side of the proposed road had also been commenced; but the soft
+pulpy stuff had up to this time flowed into the drains and filled
+them up as fast as they were cut.&nbsp; Proceeding across the
+Moss, on the first day&rsquo;s inspection, the new resident, when
+about halfway over, slipped off the plank on which he walked, and
+sank to his knees in the bog.&nbsp; Struggling only sent him the
+deeper, and he might have disappeared altogether, but for the
+workmen, who hastened to his assistance upon planks, and rescued
+him from his perilous position.&nbsp; Much disheartened, he
+desired to return, and even thought of giving up the job; but Mr.
+Locke assured him that the worst part was now past; so the new
+resident plucked up heart again, and both floundered on until
+they reached the further edge of the Moss, wet and plastered over
+with bog-sludge.&nbsp; Mr. Dixon&rsquo;s companions endeavoured
+to comfort him by the assurance that he might avoid similar
+perils, by walking upon &ldquo;pattens,&rdquo; or boards fastened
+to the soles of his feet, as they had done when taking the
+levels, and as <!-- page 176--><a name="page176"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 176</span>the workmen did when engaged in
+making drains in the softest parts of the Moss.&nbsp; The
+resident engineer was sorely puzzled in the outset by the problem
+of constructing a road for heavy locomotives, with trains of
+passengers and goods, upon a bog which he had found incapable of
+supporting his own weight!</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s idea was, that such a road might be
+made to <i>float</i> upon the bog, simply by means of a
+sufficient extension of the bearing surface.&nbsp; As a ship, or
+a raft, capable of sustaining heavy loads floated in water, so in
+his opinion, might a light road be floated upon a bog, which was
+of considerably greater consistency than water.&nbsp; Long before
+the railway was thought of, Mr. Roscoe had adopted the remarkable
+expedient of fitting his plough-horses with flat wooden soles or
+pattens, to enable them to walk upon the Moss land which he had
+brought into cultivation.&nbsp; These pattens were fitted on by
+means of a screw apparatus, which met in front of the foot and
+was easily fastened.&nbsp; The mode by which these pattens served
+to sustain the horse is capable of easy explanation, and it will
+be observed that the <i>rationale</i> likewise explains the
+floating of a railway train.&nbsp; The foot of an ordinary
+farm-horse presents a base of about five inches diameter, but if
+this base be enlarged to seven inches&mdash;the circles being to
+each other as the squares of the diameters&mdash;it will be found
+that, by this slight enlargement of the base, a circle of nearly
+double the area has been secured; and consequently the pressure
+of the foot upon every unit of ground upon which the horse stands
+has been reduced one half.&nbsp; In fact, this contrivance has an
+effect tantamount to setting the horse upon eight feet instead of
+four.</p>
+<p>Apply the same reasoning to the ponderous locomotive, and it
+will be found, that even such a machine may be made to stand upon
+a bog, by means of a similar extension of the bearing
+surface.&nbsp; Suppose the engine to be 20 feet long and 5 feet
+wide, thus covering a surface of 100 square feet, and, provided
+the bearing has been extended by means of <!-- page 177--><a
+name="page177"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 177</span>cross
+sleepers supported on a matting of heath and branches of trees
+covered with a few inches of gravel, the pressure of an engine of
+20 tons will be only equal to about 3 pounds per inch over the
+whole surface on which it stands.&nbsp; Such was George
+Stephenson&rsquo;s idea in contriving his floating
+road&mdash;something like an elongated raft across the Moss; and
+we shall see that he steadily kept it in view in carrying the
+work into execution.</p>
+<p>The first thing done was to form a footpath of ling or heather
+along the proposed road, on which a man might walk without risk
+of sinking.&nbsp; A single line of temporary railway was then
+laid down, formed of ordinary cross-bars about 3 feet long and an
+inch square, with holes punched through them at the ends and
+nailed down to temporary sleepers.&nbsp; Along this way ran the
+waggons in which were conveyed the materials requisite to form
+the permanent road.&nbsp; These waggons carried about a ton each,
+and they were propelled by boys running behind them along the
+narrow iron rails.&nbsp; The boys became so expert that they
+would run the 4 miles across at the rate of 7 or 8 miles an hour
+without missing a step; if they had done so, they would have sunk
+in many places up to their middle.&nbsp; A comparatively slight
+extension of the bearing surface being found sufficient to enable
+the bog to bear this temporary line, the circumstance was a
+source of increased confidence and hope to our engineer in
+proceeding with the formation of the permanent roadway
+alongside.</p>
+<p>The digging of drains had been proceeding for some time along
+each side of the intended line; but they filled up almost as soon
+as dug, the sides flowing in, and the bottom rising up.&nbsp; It
+was only in some of the drier parts of the bog that a depth of
+three or four feet could be reached.&nbsp; The surface-ground
+between the drains, containing the intertwined roots of heather
+and long grass, was left untouched, and upon this was spread
+branches of trees and hedge-cuttings.&nbsp; In the softest
+places, rude gates or hurdles, some 8 or 9 feet long by 4 feet
+wide, interwoven with <!-- page 178--><a name="page178"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 178</span>heather, were laid in double
+thicknesses, their ends overlapping each other; and upon this
+floating bed was spread a thin layer of gravel, on which the
+sleepers, chairs, and rails were laid in the usual manner.&nbsp;
+Such was the mode in which the road was formed upon the Moss.</p>
+<p>It was found, however, after the permanent way had been thus
+laid, that there was a tendency to sinking at those parts where
+the bog was softest.&nbsp; In ordinary cases, where a bank
+subsides, the sleepers are packed up with ballast or gravel; but
+in this case the ballast was dug away and removed in order to
+lighten the road, and the sleepers were packed instead with cakes
+of dry turf or bundles of heath.&nbsp; By these expedients the
+subsided parts were again floated up to the level, and an
+approach was made towards a satisfactory road.&nbsp; But the most
+formidable difficulties were encountered at the centre and
+towards the edges of the Moss; and it required no small degree of
+ingenuity and perseverance on the part of the engineer
+successfully to overcome them.</p>
+<p>The Moss, as already observed, was highest in the centre, and
+it there presented a sort of hunchback with a rising and falling
+gradient.&nbsp; At that point it was found necessary to cut
+deeper drains in order to consolidate the ground between them on
+which the road was to be formed.&nbsp; But, as at other places,
+the deeper the cutting the more rapid was the flow of fluid bog
+into the drain, the bottom rising up almost as fast as it was
+removed.&nbsp; To meet this emergency, numbers of empty
+tar-barrels were brought from Liverpool; and as soon as a few
+yards of drain were dug, the barrels were laid down end to end,
+firmly fixed to each other by strong slabs laid over the joints,
+and nailed.&nbsp; They were then covered over with clay, and thus
+formed an underground sewer of wood instead of bricks.&nbsp; This
+expedient was found to answer the purpose intended, and the road
+across the centre of the Moss having been so prepared, it was
+then laid with the permanent materials.</p>
+<p>The greatest difficulty was, however, experienced in forming
+<!-- page 179--><a name="page179"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+179</span>an embankment upon the edge of the bog at the
+Manchester end.&nbsp; Moss as dry as it could be cut, was brought
+up in small waggons, by men and boys, and emptied so as to form
+an embankment; but the bank had scarcely been raised three or
+four feet in height, when the stuff broke through the heathery
+surface of the bog and sank out of sight.&nbsp; More moss was
+brought up and emptied with no better result; and for weeks the
+filling was continued without any visible embankment having been
+made.&nbsp; It was the duty of the resident engineer to proceed
+to Liverpool every fortnight to obtain the wages for the workmen
+employed under him; and on these occasions he was required to
+colour up, on a section drawn to a working scale suspended
+against the wall of the directors&rsquo; room, the amount of
+excavation and embankment from time to time executed.&nbsp; But
+on many of these occasions, Mr. Dixon had no progress whatever to
+show for the money expended on the Chat Moss embankment.&nbsp;
+Sometimes, indeed, the visible work done was <i>less</i> than it
+had appeared a fortnight or a month before!</p>
+<p>The directors now became seriously alarmed, and feared that
+the evil prognostications of the eminent engineers were about to
+be fulfilled.&nbsp; The resident engineer was even called upon to
+supply an estimate of the cost of forming an embankment of solid
+stuff throughout, as also of the cost of piling the roadway, and
+in effect constructing a four mile viaduct of timber across the
+Moss, from twenty to thirty feet high from the foundation.&nbsp;
+The expense appalled the directors, and the question arose,
+whether the work was to be proceeded with or
+<i>abandoned</i>!</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson afterwards described the alarming position of
+affairs at a public dinner at Birmingham (23rd December, 1837),
+on the occasion of a piece of plate being presented to his son,
+upon the completion of the London and Birmingham Railway.&nbsp;
+He related the anecdote, he said, for the purpose of impressing
+upon the minds of those who heard him the necessity of
+perseverance.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;After working for weeks and weeks,&rdquo; said he,
+&ldquo;in filling <!-- page 180--><a name="page180"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 180</span>in materials to form the road, there
+did not yet appear to be the least sign of our being able to
+raise the solid embankment one single inch; in short we went on
+filling in without the slightest apparent effect.&nbsp; Even my
+assistants began to feel uneasy, and to doubt of the success of
+the scheme.&nbsp; The directors, too, spoke of it as a hopeless
+task: and at length they became seriously alarmed, so much so,
+indeed, that a board meeting was held on Chat Moss to decide
+whether I should proceed any further.&nbsp; They had previously
+taken the opinion of other engineers, who reported
+unfavourably.&nbsp; There was no help for it, however, but to go
+on.&nbsp; An immense outlay had been incurred; and great loss
+would have been occasioned had the scheme been then abandoned,
+and the line taken by another route.&nbsp; So the directors were
+<i>compelled</i> to allow me to go on with my plans, of the
+ultimate success of which I myself never for one moment
+doubted.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>During the progress of this part of the works, the Worsley and
+Trafford men, who lived near the Moss, and plumed themselves upon
+their practical knowledge of bog-work, declared the completion of
+the road to be utterly impracticable.&nbsp; &ldquo;If you knew as
+much about Chat Moss as we do,&rdquo; they said, &ldquo;you would
+never have entered on so rash an undertaking; and depend upon it,
+all you have done and are doing will prove abortive.&nbsp; You
+must give up the idea of a floating railway, and either fill the
+Moss hard from the bottom, or deviate so as to avoid it
+altogether.&rdquo;&nbsp; Such were the conclusions of science and
+experience.</p>
+<p>In the midst of all these alarms and prophecies of failure,
+Stephenson never lost heart, but held to his purpose.&nbsp; His
+motto was &ldquo;Persevere!&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;You must go on
+filling in,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;there is no other help for
+it.&nbsp; The stuff emptied in is doing its work out of sight,
+and if you will but have patience, it will soon begin to
+show.&rdquo;&nbsp; And so the filling in went on; several
+hundreds of men and boys were employed to skin the Moss all round
+for many thousand yards, by means of sharp spades, called by the
+turf cutters &ldquo;tommy-spades;&rdquo; <!-- page 181--><a
+name="page181"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 181</span>and the
+dried cakes of turf were afterwards used to form the embankment,
+until at length as the stuff sank and rested upon the bottom, the
+bank gradually rose above the surface, and slowly advanced
+onwards, declining in height and consequently in weight, until it
+became joined to the floating road already laid upon the
+Moss.&nbsp; In the course of forming the embankment, the pressure
+of the bog turf tipped out of the waggons caused a copious stream
+of bog-water to flow from the end of it, in colour resembling
+Barclay&rsquo;s double stout; and when completed, the bank looked
+like a long ridge of tightly pressed tobacco-leaf.&nbsp; The
+compression of the turf may be imagined from the fact that
+670,000 cubic yards of raw moss formed only 277,000 cubic yards
+of embankment at the completion of the work.</p>
+<p>At the western, or Liverpool end of the Chat Moss, there was a
+like embankment; but, as the ground there was solid, little
+difficulty was experienced in forming it, beyond the loss of
+substance caused by the oozing out of the water held by the
+moss-earth.</p>
+<p>At another part of the Liverpool and Manchester line, Parr
+Moss was crossed by an embankment about 1&frac12; mile in
+extent.&nbsp; In the immediate neighbourhood was found a large
+excess of cutting, which it would have been necessary to
+&ldquo;put out in spoil-banks&rdquo; (according to the technical
+phrase); but the surplus clay, stone, and shale, were tipped,
+waggon after waggon, into Parr Moss, until a solid but concealed
+embankment, from fifteen to twenty-five feet high, was formed,
+although to the eye it appears to be laid upon the level of the
+adjoining surface, as at Chat Moss.</p>
+<p>The road across Chat Moss was finished by the 1st January,
+1830, when the first experimental train of passengers passed over
+it, drawn by the &ldquo;Rocket;&rdquo; and it turned out that,
+instead of being the most expensive part of the line, it was
+about the cheapest.&nbsp; The total cost of forming the line over
+the Moss was &pound;28,000, whereas Mr. Giles&rsquo;s estimate
+was &pound;270,000!&nbsp; It also proved to be one of the best
+portions <!-- page 182--><a name="page182"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 182</span>of the railway.&nbsp; Being a
+floating road, it was smooth and easy to run upon, just as Dr.
+Arnott&rsquo;s water-bed is soft and easy to lie upon&mdash;the
+pressure being equal at all points.&nbsp; There was, and still
+is, a sort of springiness in the road over the Moss, such as is
+felt in passing along a suspended bridge; and those who looked
+along the line as a train passed over it, said they could observe
+a waviness, such as precedes and follows a skater upon ice.</p>
+<p>During the progress of these works the most ridiculous rumours
+were set afloat.&nbsp; The drivers of the stage-coaches who
+feared for their calling, brought the alarming intelligence into
+Manchester from time to time, that &ldquo;Chat Moss was blown
+up!&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Hundreds of men and horses had sunk; and
+the works were completely abandoned!&rdquo;&nbsp; The engineer
+himself was declared to have been swallowed up in the Serbonian
+bog; and &ldquo;railways were at an end for ever!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In the construction of the railway, Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s
+capacity for organising and directing the labours of a large
+number of workmen of all kinds eminently displayed itself.&nbsp;
+A vast quantity of ballast-waggons had to be constructed, and
+implements and materials collected, before the army of necessary
+labourers could be efficiently employed at the various points of
+the line.&nbsp; There were not at that time, as there are now,
+large contractors possessed of railway plant, capable of
+executing earth-works on a large scale.&nbsp; The first railway
+engineer had not only to contrive the plant, but to organise and
+direct the labour.&nbsp; The labourers themselves had to be
+trained to their work; and it was on the Liverpool and Manchester
+line that Mr. Stephenson organised the staff of that mighty band
+of railway navvies, whose handiworks will be the wonder and
+admiration of succeeding generations.&nbsp; Looking at their
+gigantic traces, the men of some future age may be found to
+declare of the engineer and of his workmen, that &ldquo;there
+were giants in those days.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Although the works of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway are
+of a much less formidable character than those <!-- page 183--><a
+name="page183"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 183</span>of many
+lines that have since been constructed, they were then regarded
+as of the most stupendous description.&nbsp; In deed, the like of
+them had not before been executed in England.&nbsp; It had been
+our engineer&rsquo;s original intention carry the railway from
+the north end of Liverpool, round the red-sandstone ridge on
+which the upper part of the town is built, and also round the
+higher rise of the coal formation at Rainhill, by following the
+natural levels.&nbsp; But the opposition of the landowners having
+forced the line more to the south, it was rendered necessary to
+cut through the hills, and go over the high grounds instead of
+round them.&nbsp; The first consequence of this alteration in the
+plans was the necessity for constructing a tunnel under the town
+of Liverpool 1&frac12; mile in length; the second, a long and
+deep cutting through the red-sandstone rock at Olive Mount; and
+the third and most serious of all, was the necessity for
+surmounting the Whiston and Sutton hills by inclined planes of 1
+in 96.&nbsp; The line was also, by the same forced deviation,
+prevented passing through the Lancashire coal-field, and the
+engineer was compelled to carry it across the Sankey valley, at a
+point where the waters of the brook had dug out an excessively
+deep channel through the marl-beds of the district.</p>
+<p>The principal difficulty was experienced in pushing on the
+works connected with the formation of the tunnel under Liverpool,
+2200 yards in length.&nbsp; The blasting and hewing of the rock
+were vigorously carried on night and day; and the
+engineer&rsquo;s practical experience in the collieries here
+proved of great use to him.&nbsp; Many obstacles had to be
+encountered and overcome in the formation of the tunnel, the rock
+varying in hardness and texture at different parts.&nbsp; In some
+places the miners were deluged by water, which surged from the
+soft blue shale found at the lowest level of the tunnel.&nbsp; In
+other places, beds of wet sand were cut through; and there
+careful propping and pinning were necessary to prevent the roof
+from tumbling in, until the masonry to support it could be
+erected.&nbsp; On one occasion, <!-- page 184--><a
+name="page184"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 184</span>while the
+engineer was absent from Liverpool, a mass of loose moss-earth
+and sand fell from the roof, which had been insufficiently
+propped.&nbsp; The miners withdrew from the work; and on
+Stephenson&rsquo;s return, he found them in a refractory state,
+refusing to re-enter the tunnel.&nbsp; He induced them, however,
+by his example, to return to their labours; and when the roof had
+been secured, the work went on again as before.&nbsp; When there
+was danger, he was <!-- page 185--><a name="page185"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 185</span>always ready to share it with the
+men; and gathering confidence from his fearlessness, they
+proceeded vigorously with the undertaking, boring and mining
+their way towards the light.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p184.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Olive Mount Cutting"
+title=
+"Olive Mount Cutting"
+src="images/p184.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The Olive Mount cutting was the first extensive stone cutting
+executed on any railway, and to this day it is one of the most
+formidable.&nbsp; It is about two miles long, and in some parts
+80 feet deep.&nbsp; It is a narrow ravine or defile cut out of
+the solid rock; and not less than 480,000 cubic yards of stone
+were removed from it.&nbsp; Mr. Vignolles, afterwards describing
+it, said it looked as if it had been dug out by giants.</p>
+<p>The crossing of so many roads and streams involved the
+necessity for constructing an unusual number of bridges.&nbsp;
+There were not fewer than 63, under or over the railway, on the
+30 miles between Liverpool and Manchester.&nbsp; Up to this time,
+bridges had been applied generally to high roads where inclined
+approaches were of comparatively small importance, and in
+determining the rise of his arch the engineer selected any
+headway he thought proper.&nbsp; Every consideration was indeed
+made subsidiary to constructing the bridge itself, and the
+completion of one large structure of this sort was regarded as an
+epoch in engineering history.&nbsp; Yet here, in the course of a
+few years, no fewer than 63 bridges were constructed on one line
+of railway!&nbsp; Mr. Stephenson early found that the ordinary
+arch was inapplicable in certain cases, where the headway was
+limited, and yet the level of the railway must be
+preserved.&nbsp; In such cases he employed simple cast-iron
+beams, by which he safely bridged gaps of moderate width,
+economizing headway, and introducing the use of a new material of
+the greatest possible value to the railway engineer.&nbsp; The
+bridges of masonry upon the line were of many kinds; several of
+them askew bridges, and others, such as those at Newton and over
+the Irwell at Manchester, straight and of considerable
+dimensions; but the principal piece of masonry was the Sankey
+viaduct.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 186--><a
+name="page186"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 186</span>
+<a href="images/p186.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Sankey Viaduct"
+title=
+"Sankey Viaduct"
+src="images/p186.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>This fine work is principally of brick, with stone
+facings.&nbsp; It consists of nine arches of fifty feet span
+each.&nbsp; The massive piers are supported on two hundred piles
+driven deep into the soil; and they rise to a great
+height,&mdash;the coping of the parapet being seventy feet above
+the level of the valley, in which flow the Sankey brook and
+canal.&nbsp; Its total cost was about &pound;45,000.</p>
+<p>By the end of 1828 the directors found they had expended
+&pound;460,000 on the works, and that they were still far from
+completion.&nbsp; They looked at the loss of interest on this
+<!-- page 187--><a name="page187"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+187</span>large investment, and began to grumble at the
+delay.&nbsp; They desired to see their capital becoming
+productive; and in the spring of 1829 they urged the engineer to
+push on the works with increased vigour.&nbsp; Mr. Cropper, one
+of the directors, who took an active interest in their progress,
+said to Stephenson one day, &ldquo;Now, George, thou must get on
+with the railway, and have it finished without further delay;
+thou must really have it ready for opening by the first day of
+January next.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Consider the heavy character of
+the works, sir, and how much we have been delayed by the want of
+money, not to speak of the wetness of the weather: it is
+impossible.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Impossible!&rdquo; rejoined
+Cropper; &ldquo;I wish I could get Napoleon to thee&mdash;he
+would tell thee there is no such word as &lsquo;impossible&rsquo;
+in the vocabulary.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Tush!&rdquo; exclaimed
+Stephenson, with warmth; &ldquo;don&rsquo;t speak to me about
+Napoleon!&nbsp; Give me men, money, and materials, and I will do
+what Napoleon couldn&rsquo;t do&mdash;drive a railway from
+Liverpool to Manchester over Chat Moss!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The works made rapid progress in the course of the year
+1829.&nbsp; Double sets of labourers were employed on Chat Moss
+and at other points, by night and day, the night shifts working
+by torch and fire light; and at length, the work advancing at all
+points, the directors saw their way to the satisfactory
+completion of the undertaking.</p>
+<p>It may well be supposed that Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s time was
+fully occupied in superintending the extensive, and for the most
+part novel works, connected with the railway, and that even his
+extraordinary powers of labour and endurance were taxed to the
+utmost during the four years that they were in progress.&nbsp;
+Almost every detail in the plans was directed and arranged by
+himself.&nbsp; Every bridge, from the simplest to the most
+complicated, including the then novel structure of the
+&ldquo;skew bridge,&rdquo; iron girders, siphons, fixed engines,
+and the machinery for working the tunnel at the Liverpool end,
+had to be thought out by his own head, and reduced to definite
+plans under his own eyes.&nbsp; Besides all <!-- page 188--><a
+name="page188"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 188</span>this, he
+had to design the working plant in anticipation of the opening of
+the railway.&nbsp; He must be prepared with waggons, trucks, and
+carriages, himself superintending their manufacture.&nbsp; The
+permanent road, turntables, switches, and crossings,&mdash;in
+short, the entire structure and machinery of the line, from the
+turning of the first sod to the running of the first train of
+carriages upon the railway,&mdash;were executed under his
+immediate supervision.&nbsp; And it was in the midst of this vast
+accumulation of work and responsibility that the battle of the
+locomotive engine had to be fought,&mdash;a battle, not merely
+against material difficulties, but against the still more trying
+obstructions of deeply-rooted mistrust and prejudice on the part
+of a considerable minority of the directors.</p>
+<p>He had no staff of experienced assistants,&mdash;not even a
+staff of draughtsmen in his office,&mdash;but only a few pupils
+learning their business; and he was frequently without even their
+help.&nbsp; The time of his engineering inspectors was fully
+occupied in the actual superintendence of the works at different
+parts of the line; and he took care to direct all their more
+important operations in person.&nbsp; The principal draughtsman
+was Mr. Thomas Gooch, a pupil he had brought with him from
+Newcastle.&nbsp; &ldquo;I may say,&rdquo; writes Mr. Gooch,
+&ldquo;that nearly the whole of the working and other drawings,
+as well as the various land-plans for the railway, were drawn by
+my own hand.&nbsp; They were done at the Company&rsquo;s office
+in Clayton Square during the day, from instructions supplied in
+the evenings by Mr. Stephenson, either by word of mouth, or by
+little rough hand-sketches on letter-paper.&nbsp; The evenings
+were also generally devoted to my duties as secretary, in writing
+(mostly from his own dictation) his letters and reports, or in
+making calculations and estimates.&nbsp; The mornings before
+breakfast were not unfrequently spent by me in visiting and
+lending a helping hand in the tunnel and other works near
+Liverpool,&mdash;the untiring zeal and perseverance of George
+Stephenson never for an instant flagging <!-- page 189--><a
+name="page189"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 189</span>and
+inspiring with a like enthusiasm all who were engaged under him
+in carrying forward the works.&rdquo; <a
+name="citation189"></a><a href="#footnote189"
+class="citation">[189]</a></p>
+<p>The usual routine of his life at this time&mdash;if routine it
+might be called&mdash;was, to rise early, by sunrise in summer
+and before it in winter, and thus &ldquo;break the back of the
+day&rsquo;s work&rdquo; by mid-day.&nbsp; While the tunnel under
+Liverpool was in progress, one of his first duties in a morning
+before breakfast was to go over the various shafts, clothed in a
+suitable dress, and inspect their progress at different points;
+on other days he would visit the extensive workshops at Edgehill,
+where most of the &ldquo;plant&rdquo; for the line was in course
+of manufacture.&nbsp; Then, returning to his house, in Upper
+Parliament Street, Windsor, after a hurried breakfast, he would
+ride along the works to inspect their progress, and push them on
+with greater energy where needful.&nbsp; On other days he would
+prepare for the much less congenial engagement of meeting the
+Board, which was often a cause of great anxiety and pain to him;
+for it was difficult to satisfy men of all tempers, and some of
+these not of the most generous sort.&nbsp; On such occasions he
+might be seen with his right-hand thumb thrust through the
+topmost button-hole of his coat-breast, vehemently hitching his
+right shoulder, as was his habit when labouring under any
+considerable excitement.&nbsp; Occasionally he would take an
+early ride before breakfast, to inspect the progress of the
+Sankey viaduct.&nbsp; He had a favourite horse, brought by him
+from Newcastle, called &ldquo;Bobby,&rdquo;&mdash;so tractable
+that, with his <!-- page 190--><a name="page190"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 190</span>rider on his back, he would walk up
+to a locomotive with the steam blowing off, and put his nose
+against it without shying.&nbsp; &ldquo;Bobby,&rdquo; saddled and
+bridled, was brought to Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s door betimes in
+the morning; and mounting him, he would ride the fifteen miles to
+Sankey, putting up at a little public house which then stood upon
+the banks of the canal.&nbsp; There he had his breakfast of
+&ldquo;crowdie,&rdquo; which he made with his own hands.&nbsp; It
+consisted of oatmeal stirred into a basin of hot water,&mdash;a
+sort of porridge,&mdash;which was supped with cold sweet
+milk.&nbsp; After this frugal breakfast, he would go upon the
+works, and remain there, riding from point to point for the
+greater part of the day.&nbsp; When he returned before mid-day,
+he examined the pay-sheets in the different departments, sent in
+by the assistant engineers, or by the foremen of the
+workshops.&nbsp; To all these he gave his most careful personal
+attention, requiring when necessary a full explanation of the
+items.</p>
+<p>After a late dinner, which occupied very short time and was
+always of a plain and frugal description, he disposed of his
+correspondence, or prepared sketches of drawings, and gave
+instructions as to their completion.&nbsp; He would occasionally
+refresh himself for this evening work by a short doze, which,
+however, he would never admit had exceeded the limits of
+&ldquo;winking,&rdquo; to use his own term.&nbsp; Mr. Frederick
+Swanwick, who officiated as his secretary, after the appointment
+of Mr. Gooch as Resident Engineer to the Bolton and Leigh
+Railway, has informed us that he then remarked&mdash;what in
+after years he could better appreciate&mdash;the clear, terse,
+and vigorous style of Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s dictation.&nbsp;
+There was nothing superfluous in it; but it was close, direct,
+and to the point,&mdash;in short, thoroughly businesslike.&nbsp;
+And if, in passing through the pen of the amanuensis, his meaning
+happened in any way to be distorted or modified, it did not fail
+to escape his detection, though he was always tolerant of any
+liberties taken with his own form of expression, so long as the
+words written down conveyed his real meaning.</p>
+<p><!-- page 191--><a name="page191"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+191</span>His letters and reports written, and his sketches of
+drawings made and explained, the remainder of the evening was
+usually devoted to conversation with his wife and those of his
+pupils who lived under his roof, and constituted, as it were,
+part of the family.&nbsp; He then delighted to test the knowledge
+of his young companions, and to question them upon the principles
+of mechanics.&nbsp; If they were not quite &ldquo;up to the
+mark&rdquo; on any point, there was no escaping detection by
+evasive or specious explanations.&nbsp; These always brought out
+the verdict, &ldquo;Ah! you know nought about it now; but think
+it over again, and tell me when you understand it.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+If there were even partial success in the reply, it was at once
+acknowledged, and a full explanation given, to which the master
+would add illustrative examples for the purpose of impressing the
+principle more deeply upon the pupil&rsquo;s mind.</p>
+<p>It was not so much his object and purpose to
+&ldquo;cram&rdquo; the minds of the young men committed to his
+charge with the <i>results</i> of knowledge, as to stimulate them
+to educate themselves&mdash;to induce them to develop their
+mental and moral powers by the exercise of their own free
+energies, and thus acquire that habit of self-thinking and
+self-reliance which is the spring of all true manly action.&nbsp;
+In a word, he sought to bring out and invigorate the
+<i>character</i> of his pupils.&nbsp; He felt that he himself had
+been made stronger and better through his encounters with
+difficulty; and he would not have the road of knowledge made too
+smooth and easy for them.&nbsp; &ldquo;Learn for
+yourselves,&mdash;think for yourselves,&rdquo; he would
+say:&mdash;&ldquo;make yourselves masters of
+principles,&mdash;persevere,&mdash;be industrious,&mdash;and
+there is then no fear of you.&rdquo;&nbsp; And not the least
+emphatic proof of the soundness of this system of education, as
+conducted by Mr. Stephenson, was afforded by the after history of
+these pupils themselves.&nbsp; There was not one of those trained
+under his eye who did not rise to eminent usefulness and
+distinction as an engineer.&nbsp; He sent them forth into the
+world braced with the spirit of manly self-help&mdash;inspired by
+his own noble example; and <!-- page 192--><a
+name="page192"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 192</span>they
+repeated in their after career the lessons of earnest effort and
+persistent industry which his daily life had taught them.</p>
+<p>Stephenson&rsquo;s evenings at home were not, however,
+exclusively devoted either to business or to the graver exercises
+above referred to.&nbsp; He would often indulge in cheerful
+conversation and anecdote, falling back from time to time upon
+the struggles and difficulties of his early life.&nbsp; The not
+unfrequent winding up of his story addressed to the young men
+about him, was, &ldquo;Ah! ye young fellows don&rsquo;t know what
+<i>wark</i> is in these days!&rdquo;&nbsp; Mr. Swanwick takes
+pleasure in recalling to mind how seldom, if ever, a cross or
+captious word, or an angry look, marred the enjoyment of those
+evenings.&nbsp; The presence of Mrs. Stephenson gave them an
+additional charm: amiable, kind-hearted, and intelligent, she
+shared quietly in the pleasure of the party; and the atmosphere
+of comfort which always pervaded her home contributed in no small
+degree to render it a centre of cheerful, hopeful intercourse,
+and of earnest, honest industry.&nbsp; She was a wife who well
+deserved, what she through life retained, the strong and
+unremitting affection of her husband.</p>
+<p>When Mr. Stephenson retired for the night, it was not always
+that he permitted himself to sink into slumber.&nbsp; Like
+Brindley, he worked out many a difficult problem in bed; and for
+hours he would turn over in his mind and study how to overcome
+some obstacle, or to mature some project, on which his thoughts
+were bent.&nbsp; Some remark inadvertently dropped by him at the
+breakfast-table in the morning, served to show that he had been
+stealing some hours from the past night in reflection and
+study.&nbsp; Yet he would rise at his accustomed early hour, and
+there was no abatement of his usual energy in carrying on the
+business of the day.</p>
+<h2><!-- page 193--><a name="page193"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 193</span>CHAPTER XI.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s Residence in
+Colombia</span>, <span class="smcap">and
+Return</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Battle of the
+Locomotive</span>&mdash;&ldquo;<span class="smcap">The
+Rocket</span>.&rdquo;</h2>
+<p>We return to the career of Robert Stephenson, who had been
+absent from England during the construction of the Liverpool
+railway, but was shortly about to join his father and take part
+in &ldquo;the battle of the locomotive,&rdquo; which was now
+impending.</p>
+<p>On his return from Edinburgh College in the summer of 1823, he
+had assisted in the survey of the Stockton and Darlington line;
+and when the Locomotive Engine Works were started in Forth
+Street, Newcastle, he took an active part in that concern.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;The factory,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;was in active
+operation early in 1824; I left England for Colombia in June of
+that year, having finished drawing the designs of the Brusselton
+stationary engines for the Stockton and Darlington Railway before
+I left.&rdquo; <a name="citation193"></a><a href="#footnote193"
+class="citation">[193]</a></p>
+<p>Speculation was very rife at the time; and amongst the most
+promising adventures were the companies organised for the purpose
+of working the gold and silver mines of South America.&nbsp;
+Great difficulty was experienced in finding mining engineers
+capable of carrying out those projects, and young men of even the
+most moderate experience were eagerly sought after.&nbsp; The
+Columbian Mining Association of London offered an engagement to
+young Stephenson, to go out to Mariquita and take charge of the
+engineering operations of that company.&nbsp; Robert was himself
+desirous of accepting it, but his father said it would first be
+necessary to ascertain whether the proposed change would be for
+his <!-- page 194--><a name="page194"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 194</span>good.&nbsp; His health had been very
+delicate for some time, partly occasioned by his rapid growth,
+but principally because of his close application to work and
+study.&nbsp; Father and son together called upon Dr. Headlam, the
+eminent physician of Newcastle, to consult him on the
+subject.&nbsp; During the examination which ensued, Robert
+afterwards used to say that he felt as if he were upon trial for
+life or death.&nbsp; To his great relief, the doctor pronounced
+that a temporary residence in a warm climate was the very thing
+likely to be most beneficial to him.&nbsp; The appointment was
+accordingly accepted, and, before many weeks had passed, Robert
+Stephenson set sail for South America.</p>
+<p>After a tolerably prosperous voyage he landed at La Guayra, on
+the north coast of Venezuela, on the 23rd July, from thence
+proceeding to Caraccas, the capital of the district, about 15
+miles inland.&nbsp; There he remained for two months, unable to
+proceed in consequence of the wretched state of the roads in the
+interior.&nbsp; He contrived, however, to make occasional
+excursions in the neighbourhood, with an eye to the mining
+business on which he had come.&nbsp; About the beginning of
+October he set out for Bogota, the capital of Columbia or New
+Granada.&nbsp; The distance was about 1200 miles, through a very
+difficult region, and it was performed entirely upon mule-back
+after the fashion of the country.</p>
+<p>In the course of the journey Robert visited many of the
+districts reported to be rich in minerals, but he met with few
+traces except of copper, iron, and coal, with occasional
+indications of gold and silver.&nbsp; He found the people ready
+to furnish information, which, however, when tested, usually
+proved worthless.&nbsp; A guide whom he employed for weeks, kept
+him buoyed up with the hope of richer mining quarters than he had
+yet seen; but when he professed to be able to show him mines of
+&ldquo;brass, steel, alcohol, and pinchbeck,&rdquo; Stephenson
+discovered him to be an incorrigible rogue, and immediately
+dismissed him.&nbsp; At length our traveller reached Bogota, and
+after an interview with Mr. <!-- page 195--><a
+name="page195"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+195</span>Illingworth, the commercial manager of the mining
+Company, he proceeded to Honda, crossed the Magdalena, and
+shortly after reached the site of his intended operations on the
+eastern slopes of the Andes.</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson used afterwards to speak in glowing terms of
+this his first mule-journey in South America.&nbsp; Everything
+was entirely new to him.&nbsp; The variety and beauty of the
+indigenous plants, the luxurious tropical vegetation, the
+appearance, manners, and dress of the people, and the mode of
+travelling, were altogether different from everything he had
+before seen.&nbsp; His own travelling garb also must have been
+strange even to himself.&nbsp; &ldquo;My hat,&rdquo; he says,
+&ldquo;was of plaited grass, with a crown nine inches in height,
+surrounded by a brim of six inches; a white cotton suit; and a
+<i>ruana</i> of blue and crimson plaid, with a hole in the centre
+for the head to pass through.&nbsp; This cloak is admirably
+adapted for the purpose, amply covering the rider and mule, and
+at night answering the purpose of a blanket in the net-hammock,
+which is made from fibres of the aloe, and which every traveller
+carries before him on his mule, and suspends to the trees or in
+houses, as occasion may require.&rdquo;&nbsp; The part of the
+journey which seems to have made the most lasting impression on
+his mind was that between Bogota and the mining district in the
+neighbourhood of Mariquita.&nbsp; As he ascended the slopes of
+the mountain-range, and reached the first step of the table-land,
+he was struck beyond expression with the noble view of the valley
+of the Magdalena behind him, so vast that he failed in attempting
+to define the point at which the course of the river blended with
+the horizon.&nbsp; Like all travellers in the district, he noted
+the remarkable changes of climate and vegetation, as he rose from
+the burning plains towards the fresh breath of the
+mountains.&nbsp; From an atmosphere as hot as that of an oven he
+passed into delicious cool air; until, in his onward and upward
+journey, a still more temperate region was reached, the very
+perfection of climate.&nbsp; Before him rose the majestic <!--
+page 196--><a name="page196"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+196</span>Cordilleras, forming a rampart against the western
+skies, at certain times of the day looking black, sharp, and, at
+their summit, almost as even as a wall.</p>
+<p>Our engineer took up his abode for a time at Mariquita, a fine
+old city, though then greatly decayed.&nbsp; During the period of
+the Spanish dominion, it was an important place, most of the gold
+and silver convoys passing through it on their way to Cartagena,
+there to be shipped in galleons for Europe.&nbsp; The mountainous
+country to the west was rich in silver, gold, and other metals,
+and it was Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s object to select the best site
+for commencing operations for the Company.&nbsp; With this object
+he &ldquo;prospected&rdquo; about in all directions, visiting
+long-abandoned mines, and analysing specimens obtained from many
+quarters.&nbsp; The mines eventually fixed upon as the scene of
+his operations were those of La Manta and Santa Anna, long before
+worked by the Spaniards, though, in consequence of the luxuriance
+and rapidity of the vegetation, all traces of the old workings
+had become completely overgrown and lost.&nbsp; Everything had to
+be begun anew.&nbsp; Roads had to be cut to the mines, machinery
+to be erected, and the ground opened up, in course of which some
+of the old adits were hit upon.&nbsp; The native peons or
+labourers were not accustomed to work, and at first they usually
+contrived to desert when they were not watched, so that very
+little progress could be made until the arrival of the expected
+band of miners from England.&nbsp; The authorities were by no
+means helpful, and the engineer was driven to an old expedient
+with the object of overcoming this difficulty.&nbsp; &ldquo;We
+endeavour all we can,&rdquo; he says, in one of his letters,
+&ldquo;to make ourselves popular, and this we find most
+effectually accomplished by &lsquo;regaling the venal
+beasts.&rsquo;&rdquo; <a name="citation196"></a><a
+href="#footnote196" class="citation">[196]</a>&nbsp; He also gave
+a ball at Mariquita, which passed off with <i>&eacute;clat</i>,
+the governor from Honda, with a host of friends, honouring it
+with their presence.&nbsp; It was, indeed, necessary to
+&ldquo;make a party&rdquo; in this way, <!-- page 197--><a
+name="page197"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 197</span>as other
+schemers were already trying to undermine the Colombian company
+in influential directions.&nbsp; The engineer did not exaggerate
+when he said, &ldquo;The uncertainty of transacting business in
+this country is perplexing beyond description.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>At last, his party of miners arrived from England, but they
+gave him even more trouble than the peons had done.&nbsp; They
+were rough, drunken, and sometimes altogether ungovernable.&nbsp;
+He set them to work at the Santa Anna mine without delay, and at
+the same time took up his abode amongst them, &ldquo;to keep
+them,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;if possible, from indulging in the
+detestable vice of drunkenness, which, if not put a stop to, will
+eventually destroy themselves, and involve the mining association
+in ruin.&rdquo;&nbsp; To add to his troubles, the captain of the
+miners displayed a very hostile and insubordinate spirit,
+quarrelled and fought with the men, and was insolent to the
+engineer himself.&nbsp; The captain and his gang, being Cornish
+men, told Robert to his face, that because he was a North-country
+man, and not born in Cornwall it was impossible he should know
+anything of mining.&nbsp; Disease also fell upon him,&mdash;first
+fever, and then visceral derangement, followed by a return of his
+&ldquo;old complaint, a feeling of oppression in the
+breast.&rdquo;&nbsp; No wonder that in the midst of these
+troubles he should longingly speak of returning to his native
+land.&nbsp; But he stuck to his post and his duty, kept up his
+courage, and by a mixture of mildness and firmness, and the
+display of great coolness of judgment, he contrived to keep the
+men to their work, and gradually to carry forward the enterprise
+which he had undertaken.&nbsp; By the beginning of July, 1826, we
+find that quietness and order had been restored, and the works
+were proceeding more satisfactorily, though the yield of silver
+was not as yet very promising.&nbsp; Mr. Stephenson calculated
+that at least three years&rsquo; diligent and costly operations
+would be needed to render the mines productive.</p>
+<p>In the mean time he removed to the dwelling which had been
+erected for his accommodation at Santa Anna.&nbsp; It was <!--
+page 198--><a name="page198"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+198</span>a structure speedily raised after the fashion of the
+country.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p198.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s Cottage at Santa Anna"
+title=
+"Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s Cottage at Santa Anna"
+src="images/p198.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The walls were of split and flattened bamboo, tied together
+with the long fibres of a dried climbing plant; the roof was of
+palm-leaves, and the ceiling of reeds.&nbsp; When an earthquake
+shook the district&mdash;for earthquakes were frequent&mdash;the
+inmates of such a fabric merely felt as if shaken in a basket,
+without sustaining any harm.&nbsp; In front of the cottage lay a
+woody ravine, extending almost to the base of the Andes,
+gorgeously clothed in primeval vegetation&mdash;magnolias, palms,
+bamboos, tree-ferns, acacias, cedars; and, towering over all, the
+great almendrons, with their smooth, silvery stems, bearing aloft
+noble clusters of pure white blossom.&nbsp; The forest was
+haunted by myriads of gay insects, butterflies with wings of
+dazzling lustre, birds of brilliant plumage, humming-birds,
+golden orioles, toucans, and a <!-- page 199--><a
+name="page199"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 199</span>host of
+solitary warblers.&nbsp; But the glorious sunsets seen from his
+cottage-porch more than all astonished and delighted the young
+engineer; and he was accustomed to say that, after having
+witnessed them, he was reluctant to accuse the ancient Peruvians
+of idolatry.</p>
+<p>But all these natural beauties failed to reconcile him to the
+harassing difficulties of his situation, which continued to
+increase rather than diminish.&nbsp; He was hampered by the
+action of the Board at home, who gave ear to hostile criticisms
+on his reports; and, although they afterwards made handsome
+acknowledgment of his services, he felt his position to be
+altogether unsatisfactory.&nbsp; He therefore determined to leave
+at the expiry of his three years engagement, and communicated his
+decision to the directors accordingly.&nbsp; On receiving his
+letter, the Board, through Mr. Richardson, of Lombard street, one
+of the directors, communicated with his father at Newcastle,
+representing that if he would allow his son to remain in Colombia
+the Company would make it &ldquo;worth his while.&rdquo;&nbsp; To
+this the father gave a decided negative, and intimated that he
+himself needed his son&rsquo;s assistance, and that he must
+return at the expiry of his three years&rsquo; term,&mdash;a
+decision, writes Robert, &ldquo;at which I feel much gratified,
+as it is clear that he is as anxious to have me back in England
+as I am to get there.&rdquo; <a name="citation199"></a><a
+href="#footnote199" class="citation">[199]</a>&nbsp; At the same
+time, Edward Pease, a principal partner in the Newcastle firm,
+privately wrote Robert to the following effect, urging his return
+home:&mdash;&ldquo;I can assure thee that thy business at
+Newcastle, as well as thy father&rsquo;s engineering, have
+suffered very much from thy absence, and, unless thou soon
+return, the former will be given up, as Mr. Longridge is not able
+to give it that attention it requires; and what is done is not
+done with credit to the house.&rdquo;&nbsp; The idea of the
+manufactory being given up, which Robert had laboured so hard to
+establish before leaving England, was painful to him in the
+extreme, and he wrote to the <!-- page 200--><a
+name="page200"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 200</span>manager of
+the Company, strongly urging that arrangements should be made for
+him to leave without delay.&nbsp; In the mean time he was again
+laid prostrate by another violent attack of aguish fever; and
+when able to write in June, 1827, he expressed himself as
+&ldquo;completely wearied and worn down with vexation.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>At length, when he was sufficiently recovered from his attack
+and able to travel, he set out on his voyage homeward in the
+beginning of August.&nbsp; At Mompox, on his way down the river
+Magdalena, he met Mr. Bodmer, his successor, with a fresh party
+of miners from England, on their way up the country to the
+quarters which he had just quitted.&nbsp; Next day, six hours
+after leaving Mompox, a steamboat was met ascending the river,
+with Bolivar the Liberator on board, on his way to St. Bogota;
+and it was a mortification to our engineer that he had only a
+passing sight of that distinguished person.&nbsp; It was his
+intention, on leaving Mariquita, to visit the Isthmus of Panama
+on his way home, for the purpose of inquiring into the
+practicability of cutting a canal to unite the Atlantic and
+Pacific&mdash;a project which then formed the subject of
+considerable public discussion; but his presence being so
+anxiously desired at home, he determined to proceed to New York
+without delay.</p>
+<p>Arrived at the port of Cartagena, he had to wait some time for
+a ship.&nbsp; The delay was very irksome to him, the more so as
+the city was then desolated by the ravages of the yellow
+fever.&nbsp; While sitting one day in the large, bare,
+comfortless public room at the miserable hotel at which he put
+up, he observed two strangers, whom he at once perceived to be
+English.&nbsp; One of the strangers was a tall, gaunt man,
+shrunken and hollow-looking, shabbily dressed, and apparently
+poverty-stricken.&nbsp; On making inquiry, he found it was
+Trevithick, the builder of the first railroad locomotive!&nbsp;
+He was returning home from the gold-mines of Peru
+penniless.&nbsp; He had left England in 1816, with powerful
+steam-engines, intended for the drainage and working of the <!--
+page 201--><a name="page201"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+201</span>Peruvian mines.&nbsp; He met with almost a royal
+reception on his landing at Lima.&nbsp; A guard of honour was
+appointed to attend him, and it was even proposed to erect a
+statue of Don Ricardo Trevithick in solid silver.&nbsp; It was
+given forth in Cornwall that his emoluments amounted to
+&pound;100,000 a year, <a name="citation201"></a><a
+href="#footnote201" class="citation">[201]</a> and that he was
+making a gigantic fortune.&nbsp; Great, therefore, was Robert
+Stephenson&rsquo;s surprise to find this potent Don Ricardo in
+the inn at Cartagena, reduced almost to his last shilling, and
+unable to proceed further.&nbsp; He had indeed realised the truth
+of the Spanish proverb, that &ldquo;a silver-mine brings misery,
+a gold-mine ruin.&rdquo;&nbsp; He and his friend had lost
+everything in their journey across the country from Peru.&nbsp;
+They had forded rivers and wandered through forests, leaving all
+their baggage behind them, and had reached thus far with little
+more than the clothes upon their backs.&nbsp; Almost the only
+remnant of precious metal saved by Trevithick was a pair of
+silver spurs, which he took back with him to Cornwall.&nbsp;
+Robert Stephenson lent him &pound;50 to enable him to reach
+England; and though he was afterwards heard of as an inventor
+there, he had no further part in the ultimate triumph of the
+locomotive.</p>
+<p>But Trevithick&rsquo;s misadventures on this occasion had not
+yet ended, for before he reached New York he was wrecked, and
+Robert Stephenson with him.&nbsp; The following is the account of
+the voyage, &ldquo;big with adventures,&rdquo; as given by the
+latter in a letter to his friend Illingworth:&mdash;&ldquo;At
+first we had very little foul weather, and indeed were for
+several days becalmed amongst the islands, which was so far
+fortunate, for a few degrees further north the most tremendous
+gales were blowing, and they appear (from our future information)
+to have wrecked every vessel exposed to their violence.&nbsp; We
+had two examples of the effects of the hurricane; for, as we
+sailed north we took on board the remains of two crews found
+floating about on dismantled hulls.&nbsp; The one had been nine
+days without food of any <!-- page 202--><a
+name="page202"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 202</span>kind,
+except the carcasses of two of their companions who had died a
+day or two previously from fatigue and hunger.&nbsp; The other
+crew had been driven about for six days, and were not so
+dejected, but reduced to such a weak state that they were obliged
+to be drawn on board our vessel by ropes.&nbsp; A brig bound for
+Havannah took part of the men, and we took the remainder.&nbsp;
+To attempt any description of my feelings on witnessing such
+scenes would be in vain.&nbsp; You will not be surprised to learn
+that I felt somewhat uneasy at the thought that we were so far
+from England, and that I also might possibly suffer similar
+shipwreck; but I consoled myself with the hope that fate would be
+more kind to us.&nbsp; It was not so much so, however, as I had
+flattered myself; for on voyaging towards New York, after we had
+made the land, we ran aground about midnight.&nbsp; The vessel
+soon filled with water, and, being surrounded by the breaking
+surf, the ship was soon split up, and before morning our
+situation became perilous.&nbsp; Masts and all were cut away to
+prevent the hull rocking; but all we could do was of no
+avail.&nbsp; About 8 o&rsquo;clock on the following morning,
+after a most miserable night, we were taken off the wreck, and
+were so fortunate as to reach the shore.&nbsp; I saved my
+minerals, but Empson lost part of his botanical collection.&nbsp;
+Upon the whole, we got off well; and, had I not been on the
+American side of the Atlantic, I &lsquo;guess&rsquo; I would not
+have gone to sea again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>After a short tour in the United States and Canada, Robert
+Stephenson and his friend took ship for Liverpool, where they
+arrived at the end of November, and at once proceeded to
+Newcastle.&nbsp; The factory was by no means in a prosperous
+state.&nbsp; During the time Robert had been in America it had
+been carried on at a loss; and Edward Pease, much disheartened,
+wished to retire, but George Stephenson was unable to buy him
+out, and the establishment had to be carried on in the hope that
+the locomotive might yet be established in public estimation as a
+practical and economical working power.&nbsp; Robert Stephenson
+<!-- page 203--><a name="page203"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+203</span>immediately instituted a rigid inquiry into the working
+of the concern, unravelled the accounts, which had fallen into
+confusion during his father&rsquo;s absence at Liverpool; and he
+soon succeeded in placing the affairs of the factory in a more
+healthy condition.&nbsp; In all this he had the hearty support of
+his father, as well as of the other partners.</p>
+<p>The works of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway were now
+approaching completion.&nbsp; But, singular to say, the directors
+had not yet decided as to the tractive power to be employed in
+working the line when opened for traffic.&nbsp; The differences
+of opinion among them were so great as apparently to be
+irreconcilable.&nbsp; It was necessary, however, that they should
+come to some decision without further loss of time; and many
+Board meetings were accordingly held to discuss the
+subject.&nbsp; The old-fashioned and well-tried system of horse
+haulage was not without its advocates; but, looking at the large
+amount of traffic which there was to be conveyed, and at the
+probable delay in the transit from station to station if this
+method were adopted, the directors, after a visit made by them to
+the Northumberland and Durham railways in 1828, came to the
+conclusion that the employment of horse power was
+inadmissible.</p>
+<p>Fixed engines had many advocates; the locomotive very few: it
+stood as yet almost in a minority of one&mdash;George
+Stephenson.&nbsp; The prejudice against the employment of the
+latter power had even increased since the Liverpool and
+Manchester Bill underwent its first ordeal in the House of
+Commons.&nbsp; In proof of this, we may mention that the
+Newcastle and Carlisle Railway Act was conceded in 1829, on the
+express condition that it should <i>not</i> be worked by
+locomotives, but by horses only.</p>
+<p>Grave doubts existed as to the practicability of working a
+large traffic by means of travelling engines.&nbsp; The most
+celebrated engineers offered no opinion on the subject.&nbsp;
+They did not believe in the locomotive, and would scarcely take
+the trouble to examine it.&nbsp; The ridicule with which George
+Stephenson had been assailed by the barristers <!-- page 204--><a
+name="page204"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 204</span>before the
+Parliamentary Committee had not been altogether distasteful to
+them.&nbsp; Perhaps they did not relish the idea of a man who had
+picked up his experience in Newcastle coal-pits appearing in the
+capacity of a leading engineer before Parliament, and attempting
+to establish a new system of internal communication in the
+country.&nbsp; The directors could not disregard the adverse and
+conflicting views of the professional men whom they
+consulted.&nbsp; But Mr. Stephenson had so repeatedly and
+earnestly urged upon them the propriety of making a trial of the
+locomotive before coming to any decision against it, that they at
+length authorised him to proceed with the construction of one of
+his engines by way of experiment.&nbsp; In their report to the
+proprietors at their annual meeting on, the 27th March, 1828,
+they state that they had, after due consideration, authorised the
+engineer &ldquo;to prepare a locomotive engine, which, from the
+nature of its construction and from the experiments already made,
+he is of opinion will be effective for the purposes of the
+Company, without proving an annoyance to the public.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+The locomotive thus ordered was placed upon the line in 1829, and
+was found of great service in drawing the waggons full of marl
+from the two great cuttings.</p>
+<p>In the mean time the discussion proceeded as to the kind of
+power to be permanently employed for the working of the
+railway.&nbsp; The directors were inundated with schemes of all
+sorts for facilitating locomotion.&nbsp; The projectors of
+England, France, and America, seemed to be let loose upon
+them.&nbsp; There were plans for working the waggons along the
+line by water power.&nbsp; Some proposed hydrogen, and others
+carbonic acid gas.&nbsp; Atmospheric pressure had its eager
+advocates.&nbsp; And various kinds of fixed and locomotive
+steam-power were suggested.&nbsp; Thomas Gray urged his plan of a
+greased road with cog rails; and Messrs. Vignolles and Ericsson
+recommended the adoption of a central friction rail, against
+which two horizontal rollers under the locomotive, pressing upon
+the sides of this rail, <!-- page 205--><a
+name="page205"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 205</span>were to
+afford the means of ascending the inclined planes.&nbsp; The
+directors felt themselves quite unable to choose from amidst this
+multitude of projects.&nbsp; The engineer expressed himself as
+decidedly as heretofore in favour of smooth rails and locomotive
+engines, which, he was confident, would be found the most
+economical and by far the most convenient moving power that could
+be employed.&nbsp; The Stockton and Darlington Railway being now
+at work, another deputation went down personally to inspect the
+fixed and locomotive engines on that line, as well as at Hetton
+and Killingworth.&nbsp; They returned to Liverpool with much
+information; but their testimony as to the relative merits of the
+two kinds of engines was so contradictory, that the directors
+were as far from a decision as ever.</p>
+<p>They then resolved to call to their aid two professional
+engineers of high standing, who should visit the Darlington and
+Newcastle railways, carefully examine both modes of
+working&mdash;the fixed and the locomotive,&mdash;and report to
+them fully on the subject.&nbsp; The gentlemen selected were Mr.
+Walker of Limehouse, and Mr. Rastrick of Stourbridge.&nbsp; After
+carefully examining the modes of working the northern railways,
+they made their report to the directors in the spring of
+1829.&nbsp; They concurred in the opinion that the cost of an
+establishment of fixed engines would be somewhat greater than
+that of locomotives to do the same work; but thought the annual
+charge would be less if the former were adopted.&nbsp; They
+calculated that the cost of moving a ton of goods thirty miles by
+fixed engines would be 6.40d., and by locomotives,
+8.36d.,&mdash;assuming a profitable traffic to be obtained both
+ways.&nbsp; At the same time it was admitted that there appeared
+more ground for expecting improvements in the construction and
+working of locomotives than of stationary engines.&nbsp; On the
+whole, however, and looking especially at the computed annual
+charge of working the road on the two systems on a large scale,
+the two reporting engineers were of opinion that fixed engines
+were preferable, and accordingly recommended their
+adoption.&nbsp; And, in <!-- page 206--><a
+name="page206"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 206</span>order to
+carry the system recommended by them into effect, they proposed
+to divide the railroad between Liverpool and Manchester into
+nineteen stages of about a mile and a half each, with twenty-one
+engines fixed at the different points to work the trains
+forward.</p>
+<p>Such was the result, so far, of George Stephenson&rsquo;s
+labours.&nbsp; Two of the best practical engineers of the day
+concurred in reporting substantially in favour of the employment
+of fixed engines.&nbsp; Not a single professional man of eminence
+supported the engineer in his preference for locomotive over
+fixed engine power.&nbsp; He had scarcely an adherent, and the
+locomotive system seemed on the eve of being abandoned.&nbsp;
+Still he did not despair.&nbsp; With the profession as well as
+public opinion against him&mdash;for the most frightful stories
+were abroad respecting the dangers, the unsightliness, and the
+nuisance which the locomotive would create&mdash;Stephenson held
+to his purpose.&nbsp; Even in this, apparently the darkest hour
+of the locomotive, he did not hesitate to declare that locomotive
+railroads would, before many years had passed, be &ldquo;the
+great highways of the world.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He urged his views upon the directors in all ways, and, as
+some of them thought, at all seasons.&nbsp; He pointed out the
+greater convenience of locomotive power for the purposes of a
+public highway, likening it to a series of short unconnected
+chains, any one of which could be removed and another substituted
+without interruption to the traffic; whereas the fixed engine
+system might be regarded in the light of a continuous chain
+extending between the two termini, the failure of any link of
+which would derange the whole. <a name="citation206"></a><a
+href="#footnote206" class="citation">[206]</a>&nbsp; He
+represented to the Board that the locomotive <!-- page 207--><a
+name="page207"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 207</span>was yet
+capable of great improvements, if proper inducements were held
+out to inventors and machinists to make them; and he pledged
+himself that, if time were given him, he would construct an
+engine that should satisfy their requirements, and prove itself
+capable of working heavy loads along the railway with speed,
+regularity and safety.&nbsp; At length, influenced by his
+persistent earnestness not less than by his arguments, the
+directors, at the suggestion of Mr. Harrison, determined to offer
+a prize of &pound;500 for the best locomotive engine, which, on a
+certain day, should be produced on the railway, and perform
+certain specified conditions in the most satisfactory manner. <a
+name="citation207"></a><a href="#footnote207"
+class="citation">[207]</a></p>
+<p>It was now felt that the fate of railways in a great measure
+depended upon the issue of this appeal to the mechanical genius
+of England.&nbsp; When the advertisement of the prize for the
+best locomotive was published, scientific men began more
+particularly to direct their attention to the new power which was
+thus struggling into existence.&nbsp; In the mean time public
+opinion on the subject of railway <!-- page 208--><a
+name="page208"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 208</span>working
+remained suspended, and the progress of the undertaking was
+watched with intense interest.</p>
+<p>During the progress of the discussion with reference to the
+kind of power to be employed, Mr. Stephenson was in constant
+communication with his son Robert, who made frequent visits to
+Liverpool for the purpose of assisting his father in the
+preparation of his reports to the Board on the subject.&nbsp;
+They had also many conversations as to the best mode of
+increasing the powers and perfecting the mechanism of the
+locomotive.&nbsp; These became more frequent and interesting,
+when the prize was offered for the best locomotive, and the
+working plans of the engine which they proposed to construct came
+to be settled.</p>
+<p>One of the most important considerations in the new engine was
+the arrangement of the boiler and the extension of its heating
+surface to enable steam enough to be raised rapidly and
+continuously, for the purpose of maintaining high rates of
+speed,&mdash;the effect of high-pressure engines being
+ascertained to depend mainly upon the quantity of steam which the
+boiler can generate, and upon its degree of elasticity when
+produced.&nbsp; The quantity of steam so generated, it will be
+obvious, must depend chiefly upon the quantity of fuel consumed
+in the furnace, and by necessary consequence, upon the high rate
+of temperature maintained there.</p>
+<p>It will be remembered that in Stephenson&rsquo;s first
+Killingworth engines he invented and applied the ingenious method
+of stimulating combustion in the furnace, by throwing the waste
+steam into the chimney after performing its office in the
+cylinders, thus accelerating the ascent of the current of air,
+greatly increasing the draught, and consequently the temperature
+of the fire.&nbsp; This plan was adopted by him, as we have
+already seen, as early as 1815; and it was so successful that he
+himself attributed to it the greater economy of the locomotive as
+compared with horse power.&nbsp; Hence the continuance of its use
+upon the Killingworth Railway.</p>
+<p><!-- page 209--><a name="page209"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+209</span>Though the adoption of the steam-blast greatly
+quickened combustion and contributed to the rapid production of
+high-pressure steam, the limited amount of heating surface
+presented to the fire was still felt to be an obstacle to the
+complete success of the locomotive engine.&nbsp; Mr. Stephenson
+endeavoured to overcome this by lengthening the boilers and
+increasing the surface presented by the flue-tubes.&nbsp; The
+&ldquo;Lancashire Witch,&rdquo; which he built for the Bolton and
+Leigh Railway, and used in forming the Liverpool and Manchester
+Railway embankments, was constructed with a double tube, each of
+which contained a fire and passed longitudinally through the
+boiler.&nbsp; But this arrangement necessarily led to a
+considerable increase in the weight of the engine, which amounted
+to about twelve tons; and as six tons was the limit allowed for
+engines admitted to the Liverpool competition, it was clear that
+the time was come when the Killingworth locomotive must undergo a
+further important modification.</p>
+<p>For many years previous to this period, ingenious mechanics
+had been engaged in attempting to solve the problem of the best
+and most economical boiler for the production of high-pressure
+steam.&nbsp; As early as 1803, Mr. Woolf patented a tubular
+boiler, which was extensively employed at the Cornish mines, and
+was found greatly to facilitate the production of steam, by the
+extension of the heating surface.&nbsp; The ingenious Trevithick,
+in his patent of 1815, seems also to have entertained the idea of
+employing a boiler constructed of &ldquo;small perpendicular
+tubes,&rdquo; with the same object of increasing the heating
+surface.&nbsp; These tubes were to be closed at the bottom, and
+open into a common reservoir, from which they were to receive
+their water, and where the steam of all the tubes was to be
+united.</p>
+<p>About the same time George Stephenson was trying the effect of
+introducing small tubes in the boilers of his locomotives, with
+the object of increasing their evaporative power.&nbsp; Thus, in
+1829, he sent to France two engines constructed at the Newcastle
+works for the Lyons and St. <!-- page 210--><a
+name="page210"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 210</span>Etienne
+Railway, in the boilers of which tubes were placed containing
+water.&nbsp; The heating surface was thus found to be materially
+increased; but the expedient was not successful, for the tubes,
+becoming furred with deposit, shortly burned out and were
+removed.&nbsp; It was then that M. Seguin, the engineer of the
+railway, pursuing the same idea, adopted his plan of employing
+horizontal tubes through which the heated air passed in
+streamlets.&nbsp; Mr. Henry Booth, the secretary of the Liverpool
+and Manchester Railway, without any knowledge of M.
+Seguin&rsquo;s proceedings, next devised his plan of a tubular
+boiler, which he brought under the notice of Mr. Stephenson, who
+at once adopted it, and settled the mode in which the fire-box
+and tubes were to be mutually arranged and connected.&nbsp; This
+plan was adopted in the construction of the celebrated
+&ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; engine, the building of which was
+immediately proceeded with at the Newcastle works.</p>
+<p>The principal circumstances connected with the construction of
+the &ldquo;Rocket,&rdquo; as described by Robert Stephenson to
+the author, may be briefly stated.&nbsp; The tubular principle
+was adopted in a more complete manner than had yet been
+attempted.&nbsp; Twenty-five copper tubes, each three inches in
+diameter, extended from one end of the boiler to the other, the
+heated air passing through them on its way to the chimney; and
+the tubes being surrounded by the water of the boiler, it will be
+obvious that a large extension of the <i>heating surface</i> was
+thus effectually secured.&nbsp; The principal difficulty was in
+fitting the copper tubes within the boiler so as to prevent
+leakage.&nbsp; They were made by a Newcastle coppersmith, and
+soldered to brass screws which were screwed into the boiler ends,
+standing out in great knobs.&nbsp; When the tubes were thus
+fitted, and the boiler was filled with water, hydraulic pressure
+was applied; but the water squirted out at every joint, and the
+factory floor was soon flooded.&nbsp; Robert went home in
+despair; and in the first moment of grief, he wrote to his father
+that the whole thing was a failure.&nbsp; By return of post came
+a letter from <!-- page 211--><a name="page211"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 211</span>his father, telling him that despair
+was not to be thought of&mdash;that he must &ldquo;try
+again;&rdquo; and he suggested a mode of overcoming the
+difficulty, which his son had already anticipated and proceeded
+to adopt.&nbsp; It was, to bore clean holes in the boiler ends,
+fit in the smooth copper tubes as tightly as possible, solder up,
+and then raise the steam.&nbsp; This plan succeeded perfectly,
+the expansion of the copper tubes completely filling up all
+interstices, and producing a perfectly watertight boiler, capable
+of withstanding extreme internal pressure.</p>
+<p>The mode of employing the steam-blast for the purpose of
+increasing the draught in the chimney, was also the subject of
+numerous experiments.&nbsp; When the engine was first tried, it
+was thought that the blast in the chimney was not strong enough
+to keep up the intensity of the fire in the furnace, so as to
+produce high-pressure steam in sufficient quantity.&nbsp; The
+expedient was therefore adopted of hammering the copper tubes at
+the point at which they entered the chimney, whereby the blast
+was considerably sharpened; and on a further trial it was found
+that the draught was increased to such an extent as to enable
+abundance of steam to be raised.&nbsp; The rationale of the blast
+may be simply explained by referring to the effect of contracting
+the pipe of a water-hose, by which the force of the jet of water
+is proportionately increased.&nbsp; Widen the nozzle of the pipe,
+and the force is in like manner diminished.&nbsp; So is it with
+the steam-blast in the chimney of the locomotive.</p>
+<p>Doubts were, however, expressed whether the greater draught
+secured by the contraction of the blast-pipe was not
+counterbalanced in some degree by the negative pressure upon the
+piston.&nbsp; A series of experiments was made with pipes of
+different diameters; the amount of vacuum produced being
+determined by a glass tube open at both ends, which was fixed to
+the bottom of the smoke-box, and descended into a bucket of
+water.&nbsp; As the rarefaction took place, the water would of
+course rise in the tube; and the height to which it rose above
+the surface <!-- page 212--><a name="page212"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 212</span>of the water in the bucket was made
+the measure of the amount of rarefaction.&nbsp; These experiments
+proved that a considerable increase of draught was obtained by
+the contraction of the orifice; accordingly, the two blast-pipes
+opening from the cylinders into either side of the
+&ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; chimney, and turned up within it, were
+contracted slightly below the area of the steam-ports; and before
+the engine left the factory, the water rose in the glass tube
+three inches above the water in the bucket.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p212.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo;"
+title=
+"The &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo;"
+src="images/p212.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The other arrangements of the &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; were
+briefly these:&mdash;the boiler was cylindrical with flat ends, 6
+feet in length, and 3 feet 4 inches in diameter.&nbsp; The upper
+half of the boiler was used as a reservoir for the steam, the
+lower half being filled with water.&nbsp; Through the lower part,
+25 copper tubes of 3 inches diameter extended, which were open to
+the fire-box at one end, and to the chimney at the other.&nbsp;
+The fire-box, or furnace, 2 feet wide and 3 <!-- page 213--><a
+name="page213"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 213</span>feet high,
+was attached immediately behind the boiler, and was also
+surrounded with water.&nbsp; The cylinders of the engine were
+placed on each side of the boiler, in an oblique position, one
+end being nearly level with the top of the boiler at its after
+end, and the other pointing towards the centre of the foremost or
+driving pair of wheels, with which the connection was directly
+made from the piston-rod, to a pin on the outside of the
+wheel.&nbsp; The engine, together with its load of water, weighed
+only 4&frac14; tons, and was supported on four wheels, not
+coupled.&nbsp; The tender was four-wheeled, and similar in shape
+to a waggon,&mdash;the foremost part holding the fuel, and the
+hind part a water-cask.</p>
+<p>When the &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; was finished, it was placed upon
+the Killingworth railway for the purpose of experiment.&nbsp; The
+new boiler arrangement was found perfectly successful.&nbsp; The
+steam was raised rapidly and continuously, and in a quantity
+which then appeared marvellous.&nbsp; The same evening Robert
+despatched a letter to his father at Liverpool, informing him, to
+his great joy, that the &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; was &ldquo;all
+right,&rdquo; and would be in complete working trim by the day of
+trial.&nbsp; The engine was shortly after sent by waggon to
+Carlisle, and thence shipped for Liverpool.</p>
+<p>The time so much longed for by George Stephenson had now
+arrived, when the merit of the passenger locomotive was to be put
+to a public test.&nbsp; He had fought the battle for it until now
+almost single-handed.&nbsp; Engrossed by his daily labours and
+anxieties, and harassed by difficulties and discouragements which
+would have crushed the spirit of a less resolute man, he had held
+firmly to his purpose through good and through evil report.&nbsp;
+The hostility which he experienced from some of the directors
+opposed to the adoption of the locomotive, was the circumstance
+that caused him the greatest grief of all; for where he had
+looked for encouragement, he found only carping and
+opposition.&nbsp; But his pluck never failed him; and now the
+&ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; was upon the <!-- page 214--><a
+name="page214"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+214</span>ground,&mdash;to prove, to use his own words,
+&ldquo;whether he was a man of his word or not.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Great interest was felt at Liverpool, as well as throughout
+the country, in the approaching competition.&nbsp; Engineers,
+scientific men, and mechanics, arrived from all quarters to
+witness the novel display of mechanical ingenuity on which such
+great results depended.&nbsp; The public generally were no
+indifferent spectators either.&nbsp; The inhabitants of
+Liverpool, Manchester, and the adjacent towns felt that the
+successful issue of the experiment would confer upon them
+individual benefits and local advantages almost incalculable,
+whilst populations at a distance waited for the result with
+almost equal interest.</p>
+<p>On the day appointed for the great competition of locomotives
+at Rainhill, the following engines were entered for the
+prize:&mdash;</p>
+<p>1.&nbsp; Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson&rsquo;s
+&ldquo;Novelty.&rdquo; <a name="citation214"></a><a
+href="#footnote214" class="citation">[214]</a></p>
+<p>2.&nbsp; Mr. Timothy Hackworth&rsquo;s
+&ldquo;Sanspareil.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>3.&nbsp; Messrs. R. Stephenson and Co.&rsquo;s
+&ldquo;Rocket.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>4.&nbsp; Mr. Burstall&rsquo;s &ldquo;Perseverance.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Another engine was entered by Mr. Brandreth of
+Liverpool&mdash;the &ldquo;Cycloped,&rdquo; weighing 3 tons,
+worked by a horse in a frame, but it could not be admitted to the
+competition.&nbsp; The above were the only four exhibited, out of
+a considerable number of engines constructed in different parts
+of the country in anticipation of this contest, many of which
+could not be satisfactorily completed by the day of trial.</p>
+<p>The ground on which the engines were to be tried was a level
+piece of railroad, about two miles in length.&nbsp; Each was
+required to make twenty trips, or equal to a journey <!-- page
+215--><a name="page215"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 215</span>of
+70 miles, in the course of the day; and the average rate of
+travelling was to be not under 10 miles an hour.&nbsp; It was
+determined that, to avoid confusion, each engine should be tried
+separately, and on different days.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p215.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Locomotive competition at Rainhill"
+title=
+"Locomotive competition at Rainhill"
+src="images/p215.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The day fixed for the competition was the 1st of October, but
+to allow sufficient time to get the locomotives into good working
+order, the directors extended it to the 6th.&nbsp; On the morning
+of the 6th, the ground at Rainhill presented a lively appearance,
+and there was as much excitement as if the St. Leger were about
+to be run.&nbsp; Many thousand spectators looked on, amongst whom
+were some of the first engineers and mechanicians of the
+day.&nbsp; A stand was provided for the ladies; the &ldquo;beauty
+and fashion&rdquo; of the neighbourhood were present, and the
+side of the railroad was lined with carriages of all
+descriptions.</p>
+<p>It was quite characteristic of the Stephensons, that, although
+their engine did not stand first on the list for trial, it was
+the first that was ready; and it was accordingly ordered out by
+the judges for an experimental trip.&nbsp; Yet the
+&ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; was by no means &ldquo;the favourite&rdquo;
+with either the judges or the spectators.&nbsp; A majority of the
+judges was <!-- page 216--><a name="page216"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 216</span>strongly predisposed in favour of
+the &ldquo;Novelty,&rdquo; and nine-tenths of those present were
+against the &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; because of its appearance.&nbsp;
+Nearly every person favoured some other engine, so that there was
+nothing for the &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; but the practical
+test.&nbsp; The first trip which it made was quite
+successful.&nbsp; It ran about 12 miles, without interruption, in
+about 53 minutes.</p>
+<p>The &ldquo;Novelty&rdquo; was next called out.&nbsp; It was a
+light engine, very compact in appearance, carrying the water and
+fuel upon the same wheels as the engine.&nbsp; The weight of the
+whole was only 3 tons and 1 hundredweight.&nbsp; A peculiarity of
+this engine was that the air was driven or forced through the
+fire by means of bellows.&nbsp; The day being now far advanced,
+and some dispute having arisen as to the method of assigning the
+proper load for the &ldquo;Novelty,&rdquo; no particular
+experiment was made, further than that the engine traversed the
+line by way of exhibition, occasionally moving at the rate of 24
+miles an hour.&nbsp; The &ldquo;Sanspareil,&rdquo; constructed by
+Mr. Timothy Hackworth, was next exhibited; but no particular
+experiment was made with it on this day.</p>
+<p>The contest was postponed until the following day, but before
+the judges arrived on the ground, the bellows for creating the
+blast in the &ldquo;Novelty&rdquo; gave way, and it was found
+incapable of going through its performance.&nbsp; A defect was
+also detected in the boiler of the &ldquo;Sanspareil;&rdquo; and
+some further time was allowed to get it repaired.&nbsp; The large
+number of spectators who had assembled to witness the contest
+were greatly disappointed at this postponement; but, to lessen
+it, Stephenson again brought out the &ldquo;Rocket,&rdquo; and,
+attaching to it a coach containing thirty persons, he ran them
+along the line at the rate of from 24 to 30 miles an hour, much
+to their gratification and amazement.&nbsp; Before separating,
+the judges ordered the engine to be in readiness by eight
+o&rsquo;clock on the following morning, to go through its
+definitive trial according to the prescribed conditions.</p>
+<p>On the morning of the 8th October, the &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo;
+was <!-- page 217--><a name="page217"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 217</span>again ready for the contest.&nbsp;
+The engine was taken to the extremity of the stage, the fire-box
+was filled with coke, the fire lighted, and the steam raised
+until it lifted the safety-valve loaded to a pressure of 50
+pounds to the square inch.&nbsp; This proceeding occupied
+fifty-seven minutes.&nbsp; The engine then started on its
+journey, dragging after it about 13 tons weight in waggons, and
+made the first ten trips backwards and forwards along the two
+miles of road, running the 35 miles, including stoppages, in one
+hour and 48 minutes.&nbsp; The second ten trips were in like
+manner performed in 2 hours and 3 minutes.&nbsp; The maximum
+velocity attained during the trial trip was 29 miles an hour, or
+about three times the speed that one of the judges of the
+competition had declared to be the limit of possibility.&nbsp;
+The average speed at which the whole of the journeys were
+performed was 15 miles an hour, or 5 miles beyond the rate
+specified in the conditions published by the Company.&nbsp; The
+entire performance excited the greatest astonishment amongst the
+assembled spectators; the directors felt confident that their
+enterprise was now on the eve of success; and George Stephenson
+rejoiced to think that in spite of all false prophets and fickle
+counsellors, the locomotive system was now safe.&nbsp; When the
+&ldquo;Rocket,&rdquo; having performed all the conditions of the
+contest, arrived at the &ldquo;grand stand&rdquo; at the close of
+its day&rsquo;s successful run, Mr. Cropper&mdash;one of the
+directors favourable to the fixed-engine system&mdash;lifted up
+his hands, and exclaimed, &ldquo;Now has George Stephenson at
+last delivered himself!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Neither the &ldquo;Novelty&rdquo; nor the
+&ldquo;Sanspareil&rdquo; was ready for trial until the 10th, on
+the morning of which day an advertisement appeared, stating that
+the former engine was to be tried on that day, when it would
+perform more work than any engine upon the ground.&nbsp; The
+weight of the carriages attached to it was only about 7
+tons.&nbsp; The engine passed the first post in good style; but
+in returning, the pipe from the forcing-pump burst and put an end
+to the trial.&nbsp; The pipe was afterwards repaired, and the
+engine <!-- page 218--><a name="page218"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 218</span>made several trips by itself, in
+which it was said to have gone at the rate of from 24 to 28 miles
+an hour.</p>
+<p>The &ldquo;Sanspareil&rdquo; was not ready until the 13th; and
+when its boiler and tender were filled with water, it was found
+to weigh 4 cwt. beyond the weight specified in the published
+conditions as the limit of four-wheeled engines; nevertheless the
+judges allowed it to run on the same footing as the other
+engines, to enable them to ascertain whether its merits entitled
+it to favourable consideration.&nbsp; It travelled at the average
+speed of about 14 miles an hour, with its load attached; but at
+the eighth trip the cold-water pump got wrong, and the engine
+could proceed no further.</p>
+<p>It was determined to award the premium to the successful
+engine on the following day, the 14th, on which occasion there
+was an unusual assemblage of spectators.&nbsp; The owners of the
+&ldquo;Novelty&rdquo; pleaded for another trial; and it was
+conceded.&nbsp; But again it broke down.&nbsp; The owner of the
+&ldquo;Sanspareil&rdquo; also requested the opportunity for
+making another trial of his engine.&nbsp; But the judges had now
+had enough of failures; and they declined, on the ground that not
+only was the engine above the stipulated weight, but that it was
+constructed on a plan which they could not recommend for adoption
+by the directors of the Company.&nbsp; One of the principal
+practical objections to this locomotive was the enormous quantity
+of coke consumed or wasted by it&mdash;about 692 lbs. per hour
+when travelling&mdash;caused by the sharpness of the steam-blast
+in the chimney, which blew a large proportion of the burning coke
+into the air.</p>
+<p>The &ldquo;Perseverance&rdquo; was found unable to move at
+more than five or six miles an hour; and it was withdrawn from
+the contest at an early period.&nbsp; The &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo;
+was thus the only engine that had performed, and more than
+performed, all the stipulated conditions; and its owners were
+declared to be fully entitled to the prize of &pound;500, which
+was awarded to the Messrs. Stephenson and Booth <!-- page
+219--><a name="page219"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+219</span>accordingly.&nbsp; And further, to show that the engine
+had been working quite within its powers, Mr. Stephenson ordered
+it to be brought upon the ground and detached from all
+incumbrances, when, in making two trips, it was found to travel
+at the astonishing rate of 35 miles an hour.</p>
+<p>The &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; had thus eclipsed the performances of
+all locomotive engines that had yet been constructed, and
+outstripped even the sanguine expectations of its
+constructors.&nbsp; It satisfactorily answered the report of
+Messrs. Walker and Rastrick; and established the efficiency of
+the locomotive for working the Liverpool and Manchester Railway,
+and indeed all future railways.&nbsp; The &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo;
+showed that a new power had been born into the world, full of
+activity and strength, with boundless capability of work.&nbsp;
+It was the simple but admirable contrivance of the steam-blast,
+and its combination with the multitubular boiler, that at once
+gave the locomotive a vigorous life, and secured the triumph of
+the railway system. <a name="citation219"></a><a
+href="#footnote219" class="citation">[219]</a>&nbsp; It has been
+well observed, that this wonderful ability to increase and
+multiply its powers of performance with the emergency that
+demands them, has made this giant engine the noblest creation of
+human wit, the very lion among machines.&nbsp; The success of the
+Rainhill experiment, as judged by the public, may be inferred
+from the fact that the shares of the Company immediately rose ten
+per cent., and nothing more was heard of the proposed twenty-one
+fixed engines, engine-houses, ropes, etc.&nbsp; All this
+cumbersome apparatus was thenceforward effectually disposed
+of.</p>
+<p>Very different now was the tone of those directors who had
+distinguished themselves by the persistency of their opposition
+to Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s plans.&nbsp; Coolness gave way to
+eulogy, and hostility to unbounded offers of
+friendship&mdash;after the manner of many men who run to the help
+of the strong.&nbsp; Deeply though the engineer had felt
+aggrieved by <!-- page 220--><a name="page220"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 220</span>the conduct pursued towards him
+during this eventful struggle, by some from whom forbearance was
+to have been expected, he never entertained towards them in after
+life any angry feelings; on the contrary, he forgave all.&nbsp;
+But though the directors afterwards passed unanimous resolutions
+eulogising &ldquo;the great skill and unwearied energy&rdquo; of
+their engineer, he himself, when speaking confidentially to those
+with whom he was most intimate, could not help pointing out the
+difference between his &ldquo;foul-weather and fair-weather
+friends.&rdquo;&nbsp; Mr. Gooch says of him that though naturally
+most cheerful and kind-hearted in his disposition, the anxiety
+and pressure which weighed upon his mind during the construction
+of the railway, had the effect of making him occasionally
+impatient and irritable, like a spirited horse touched by the
+spur; though his original good-nature from time to time shone
+through it all.&nbsp; When the line had been brought to a
+successful completion, a very marked change in him became
+visible.&nbsp; The irritability passed away, and when
+difficulties and vexations arose they were treated by him as
+matters of course, and with perfect composure and
+cheerfulness.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p220.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Railway versus Road"
+title=
+"Railway versus Road"
+src="images/p220.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2><!-- page 221--><a name="page221"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 221</span>CHAPTER XII.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester
+Railway</span>, <span class="smcap">and Extension of the Railway
+System</span>.</h2>
+<p>The directors of the Railway now began to see daylight; and
+they derived encouragement from the skilful manner in which their
+engineer had overcome the principal difficulties of the
+undertaking.&nbsp; He had formed a solid road over Chat Moss, and
+thus achieved one &ldquo;impossibility;&rdquo; and he had
+constructed a locomotive that could run at a speed of 30 miles an
+hour, thus vanquishing a still more formidable difficulty.</p>
+<p>A single line of way was completed over Chat Moss by the 1st
+of January, 1830; and on that day, the &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; with
+a carriage full of directors, engineers, and their friends,
+passed along the greater part of the road between Liverpool and
+Manchester.&nbsp; Mr. Stephenson continued to direct his close
+attention to the improvement of the details of the locomotive,
+every successive trial of which proved more satisfactory.&nbsp;
+In this department he had the benefit of the able and unremitting
+assistance of his son, who, in the workshops at Newcastle,
+directly superintended the construction of the new engines
+required for the public working of the railway.&nbsp; He did not
+by any means rest satisfied with the success, decided though it
+was, which had been achieved by the &ldquo;Rocket.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+He regarded it but in the light of a successful experiment; and
+every succeeding engine placed upon the railway exhibited some
+improvement on its predecessors.&nbsp; The arrangement of the
+parts, and the weight and proportions of the engines, were
+altered, as the experience of each successive day, or week, or
+month, suggested; and it was soon found that the performances of
+the <!-- page 222--><a name="page222"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 222</span>&ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; on the day of
+trial had been greatly within the powers of the locomotive.</p>
+<p>The first entire trip between Liverpool and Manchester was
+performed on the 14th of June, 1830, on the occasion of a Board
+meeting being held at the latter town.&nbsp; The train was on
+this occasion drawn by the &ldquo;Arrow,&rdquo; one of the new
+locomotives, in which the most recent improvements had been
+adopted.&nbsp; Mr. Stephenson himself drove the engine, and
+Captain Scoresby, the circumpolar navigator, stood beside him on
+the foot-plate, and minuted the speed of the train.&nbsp; A great
+concourse of people assembled at both termini, as well as along
+the line, to witness the novel spectacle of a train of carriages
+dragged by an engine at a speed of 17 miles an hour.&nbsp; On the
+return journey to Liverpool in the evening, the
+&ldquo;Arrow&rdquo; crossed Chat Moss at a speed of nearly 27
+miles an hour, reaching its destination in about an hour and a
+half.</p>
+<p>In the mean time Mr. Stephenson and his assistants were
+diligently occupied in making the necessary preliminary
+arrangements for the conduct of the traffic against the time when
+the line should be ready for opening.&nbsp; The experiments made
+with the object of carrying on the passenger traffic at quick
+velocities were of an especially harassing and anxious
+character.&nbsp; Every week, for nearly three months before the
+opening, trial trips were made to Newton and back, generally with
+two or three trains following each other, and carrying altogether
+from 200 to 300 persons.&nbsp; These trips were usually made on
+Saturday afternoons, when the works could be more conveniently
+stopped and the line cleared.&nbsp; In these experiments Mr.
+Stephenson had the able assistance of Mr. Henry Booth, the
+secretary of the Company, who contrived many of the arrangements
+in the rolling stock, not the least valuable of which was his
+invention of the coupling screw, still in use on all passenger
+railways.</p>
+<p>At length the line was finished, and ready for the public
+ceremony of the opening, which took place on the <!-- page
+223--><a name="page223"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+223</span>15th September, 1830, and attracted a vast number of
+spectators.&nbsp; The completion of the railway was justly
+regarded as an important national event, and the opening was
+celebrated accordingly.&nbsp; The Duke of Wellington, then Prime
+Minister, Sir Robert Peel, and Mr. Huskisson, one of the members
+for Liverpool, were among the number of distinguished public
+personages present.</p>
+<p>Eight locomotive engines, constructed at the Stephenson works,
+had been delivered and placed upon the line, the whole of which
+had been tried and tested weeks before, with perfect
+success.&nbsp; The several trains of carriages accommodated in
+all about six hundred persons.&nbsp; The procession was cheered
+in its progress by thousands of spectators&mdash;through the deep
+ravine of Olive Mount; up the Sutton incline; over the great
+Sankey viaduct, beneath which a great multitude of persons had
+assembled,&mdash;carriages filling the narrow lanes, and barges
+crowding the river; the people below gazing with wonder and
+admiration at the trains which sped along the line, far above
+their heads, at the rate of some 24 miles an hour.</p>
+<p>At Parkside, about 17 miles from Liverpool, the engines
+stopped to take in water.&nbsp; Here a deplorable accident
+occurred to one of the illustrious visitors, which threw a deep
+shadow over the subsequent proceedings of the day.&nbsp; The
+&ldquo;Northumbrian&rdquo; engine, with the carriage containing
+the Duke of Wellington, was drawn up on one line, in order that
+the whole of the trains on the other line might pass in review
+before him and his party.&nbsp; Mr. Huskisson had alighted from
+the carriage, and was standing on the opposite road, along which
+the &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; was observed rapidly coming up.&nbsp; At
+this moment the Duke of Wellington, between whom and Mr.
+Huskisson some coolness had existed, made a sign of recognition,
+and held out his hand.&nbsp; A hurried but friendly grasp was
+given; and before it was loosened there was a general cry from
+the bystanders of &ldquo;Get in, get in!&rdquo;&nbsp; Flurried
+and confused, Mr. Huskisson endeavoured to get round the open
+door of the carriage, <!-- page 224--><a name="page224"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 224</span>which projected over the opposite
+rail; but in so doing he was struck down by the
+&ldquo;Rocket,&rdquo; and falling with his leg doubled across the
+rail, the limb was instantly crushed.&nbsp; His first words, on
+being raised, were, &ldquo;I have met my death,&rdquo; which
+unhappily proved true, for he expired that same evening in the
+parsonage of Eccles.&nbsp; It was cited at the time as a
+remarkable fact, that the &ldquo;Northumbrian&rdquo; engine,
+driven by George Stephenson himself, conveyed the wounded body of
+the unfortunate gentleman a distance of about 15 miles in 25
+minutes, or at the rate of 36 miles an hour.&nbsp; This
+incredible speed burst upon the world with the effect of a new
+and unlooked-for phenomenon.</p>
+<p>The accident threw a gloom over the rest of the day&rsquo;s
+proceedings.&nbsp; The Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel
+expressed a wish that the procession should return to
+Liverpool.&nbsp; It was, however, represented to them that a vast
+concourse of people had assembled at Manchester to witness the
+arrival of the trains; that report would exaggerate the mischief,
+if they did not complete the journey; and that a false panic on
+that day might seriously affect future railway travelling and the
+value of the Company&rsquo;s property.&nbsp; The party consented
+accordingly to proceed to Manchester, but on the understanding
+that they should return as soon as possible, and refrain from
+further festivity.</p>
+<p>As the trains approached Manchester, crowds of people were
+found covering the banks, the slopes of the cuttings, and even
+the railway itself.&nbsp; The multitude, become impatient and
+excited by the rumours which reached them, had outflanked the
+military, and all order was at an end.&nbsp; The people clambered
+about the carriages, holding on by the door-handles, and many
+were tumbled over; but, happily no fatal accident occurred.&nbsp;
+At the Manchester station, the political element began to display
+itself; placards about &ldquo;Peterloo,&rdquo; etc., were
+exhibited, and brickbats were thrown at the carriage containing
+the Duke.&nbsp; On the carriages coming to a stand in the
+Manchester station the Duke did not descend, but remained seated,
+shaking hands with the <!-- page 225--><a
+name="page225"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 225</span>women and
+children who were pushed forward by the crowd.&nbsp; Shortly
+after, the trains returned to Liverpool, which they reached,
+after considerable interruptions, in the dark, at a late
+hour.</p>
+<p>On the following morning the railway was opened for public
+traffic.&nbsp; The first train of 140 passengers was booked and
+sent on to Manchester, reaching it in the allotted period of two
+hours; and from that time the traffic has regularly proceeded
+from day to day until now.</p>
+<p>It is scarcely necessary that we should speak at any length of
+the commercial results of the Liverpool and Manchester
+Railway.&nbsp; Suffice it to say that its success was complete
+and decisive.&nbsp; The anticipations of its projectors were,
+however, in many respects at fault.&nbsp; They had based their
+calculations almost entirely on the heavy merchandise
+traffic&mdash;such as coal, cotton, and timber,&mdash;relying
+little upon passengers; whereas the receipts derived from the
+conveyance of passengers far exceeded those derived from
+merchandise of all kinds, which, for a time continued a
+subordinate branch of the traffic.</p>
+<p>For some time after the public opening of the line, Mr.
+Stephenson&rsquo;s ingenuity continued to be employed in devising
+improved methods for securing the safety and comfort of the
+travelling public.&nbsp; Few are aware of the thousand minute
+details which have to be arranged&mdash;the forethought and
+contrivance that have to be exercised&mdash;to enable the
+traveller by railway to accomplish his journey in safety.&nbsp;
+After the difficulties of constructing a level road over bogs,
+across valleys, and through deep cuttings, have been overcome,
+the maintenance of the way has to be provided for with continuous
+care.&nbsp; Every rail with its fastenings must be complete, to
+prevent risk of accident; and the road must be kept regularly
+ballasted up to the level, to diminish the jolting of vehicles
+passing over it at high speeds.&nbsp; Then the stations must be
+protected by signals observable from such a distance as to enable
+the train to be stopped in event of an obstacle, such as a
+stopping or shunting train being in the <!-- page 226--><a
+name="page226"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 226</span>way.&nbsp;
+For some years the signals employed on the Liverpool railway were
+entirely given by men with flags of different colours stationed
+along the line; there were no fixed signals, nor electric
+telegraphs; but the traffic was nevertheless worked quite as
+safely as under the more elaborate and complicated system of
+telegraphing which has since been established.</p>
+<p>From an early period it became obvious that the iron road as
+originally laid down was far too weak for the heavy traffic which
+it had to carry.&nbsp; The line was at first laid with
+fish-bellied rails weighing thirty-five pounds to the yard,
+calculated only for horse-traffic, or, at most, for engines like
+the &ldquo;Rocket,&rdquo; of very light weight.&nbsp; But as the
+power and the weight of the locomotives were increased, it was
+found that such rails were quite insufficient for the safe
+conduct of the traffic, and it therefore became necessary to
+re-lay the road with heavier and stronger rails at considerably
+increased expense.</p>
+<p>The details of the carrying stock had in like manner to be
+settled by experience.&nbsp; Everything had, as it were, to be
+begun from the beginning.&nbsp; The coal-waggon, it is true,
+served in some degree as a model for the railway-truck; but the
+railway passenger-carriage was an entirely novel structure.&nbsp;
+It had to be mounted upon strong framing, of a peculiar kind,
+supported on springs to prevent jolting.&nbsp; Then there was the
+necessity for contriving some method of preventing hard bumping
+of the carriage-ends when the train was pulled up; and hence the
+contrivance of buffer-springs and spring frames.&nbsp; For the
+purpose of stopping the train, brakes on an improved plan were
+also contrived, with new modes of lubricating the carriage-axles,
+on which the wheels revolved at an unusually high velocity.&nbsp;
+In all these arrangements, Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s inventiveness
+was kept constantly on the stretch; and though many improvements
+in detail have been effected since his time, the foundations were
+then laid by him of the present system of conducting railway
+traffic.&nbsp; As an illustration of the inventive <!-- page
+227--><a name="page227"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+227</span>ingenuity which he displayed in providing for the
+working of the Liverpool line, we may mention his contrivance of
+the Self-acting Brake.&nbsp; He early entertained the idea that
+the momentum of the running train might itself be made available
+for the purpose of checking its speed.&nbsp; He proposed to fit
+each carriage with a brake which should be called into action
+immediately on the locomotive at the head of the train being
+pulled up.&nbsp; The impetus of the carriages carrying them
+forward, the buffer-springs would be driven home and, at the same
+time, by a simple arrangement of the mechanism, the brakes would
+be called into simultaneous action; thus the wheels would be
+brought into a state of sledge, and the train speedily
+stopped.&nbsp; This plan was adopted by Mr. Stephenson before he
+left the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, though it was
+afterwards discontinued; but it is a remarkable fact, that this
+identical plan, with the addition of a centrifugal apparatus, has
+quite recently been revived by M. Gu&eacute;rin, a French
+engineer, and extensively employed on foreign railways, as the
+best method of stopping railway trains in the most efficient
+manner and in the shortest time.</p>
+<p>Finally, Mr. Stephenson had to attend to the improvement of
+the power and speed of the locomotive&mdash;always the grand
+object of his study,&mdash;with a view to economy as well as
+regularity of working.&nbsp; In the &ldquo;Planet&rdquo; engine,
+delivered upon the line immediately subsequent to the public
+opening, all the improvements which had up to that time been
+contrived by him and his son were introduced in
+combination&mdash;the blast-pipe, the tubular boiler, horizontal
+cylinders inside the smoke-box, the cranked axle, and the
+fire-box firmly fixed to the boiler.&nbsp; The first load of
+goods conveyed from Liverpool to Manchester by the
+&ldquo;Planet&rdquo; was 80 tons in weight, and the engine
+performed the journey against a strong head wind in 2&frac12;
+hours.&nbsp; On another occasion, the same engine brought up a
+cargo of voters from Manchester to Liverpool, during a contested
+election, within a space of sixty minutes!&nbsp; The
+&ldquo;Samson,&rdquo; delivered in the following <!-- page
+228--><a name="page228"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+228</span>year, exhibited still further improvements, the most
+important of which was that of <i>coupling</i> the fore and hind
+wheels of the engine.&nbsp; By this means, the adhesion of the
+wheels on the rails was more effectually secured, and thus the
+full hauling power of the locomotive was made available.&nbsp;
+The &ldquo;Samson,&rdquo; shortly after it was placed upon the
+line, dragged after it a train of waggons weighing 150 tons at a
+speed of about 20 miles an hour; the consumption of coke being
+reduced to only about a third of a pound per ton per mile.</p>
+<p>The success of the Liverpool and Manchester experiment
+naturally excited great interest.&nbsp; People flocked to
+Lancashire from all quarters to see the steam-coach running upon
+a railway at three times the speed of a mailcoach, and to enjoy
+the excitement of actually travelling in the wake of an engine at
+that incredible velocity.&nbsp; The travellers returned to their
+respective districts full of the wonders of the locomotive,
+considering it to be the greatest marvel of the age.&nbsp;
+Railways are familiar enough objects now, and our children who
+grow up in their midst may think little of them; but thirty years
+since it was an event in one&rsquo;s life to see a locomotive,
+and to travel for the first time upon a public railroad.</p>
+<p>The practicability of railway locomotion being now proved, and
+its great social and commercial advantages ascertained, the
+general extension of the system was merely a question of time,
+money, and labour.&nbsp; Although the legislature took no
+initiative step in the direction of railway extension, the public
+spirit and enterprise of the country did not fail it at this
+juncture.&nbsp; The English people, though they may be defective
+in their capacity for organization, are strong in individualism;
+and not improbably their admirable qualities in the latter
+respect detract from their efficiency in the former.&nbsp; Thus,
+in all times, their greatest enterprises have not been planned by
+officialism and carried out upon any regular system, but have
+sprung, like their constitution, their laws, and their entire
+industrial arrangements, from <!-- page 229--><a
+name="page229"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 229</span>the force
+of circumstances and the individual energies of the people.</p>
+<p>The mode of action in the case of railway extension, was
+characteristic and national.&nbsp; The execution of the new lines
+was undertaken entirely by joint-stock associations of
+proprietors, after the manner of the Stockton and Darlington, and
+Liverpool and Manchester companies.&nbsp; These associations are
+conformable to our national habits, and fit well into our system
+of laws.&nbsp; They combine the power of vast resources with
+individual watchfulness and motives of self-interest; and by
+their means gigantic undertakings, which otherwise would be
+impossible to any but kings and emperors with great national
+resources at command, were carried out by the co-operation of
+private persons.&nbsp; And the results of this combination of
+means and of enterprise have been truly marvellous.&nbsp; Within
+the life of the present generation, the private citizens of
+England engaged in railway extension have, in the face of
+Government obstructions, and without taking a penny from the
+public purse, executed a system of communications involving works
+of the most gigantic kind, which, in their total mass, their
+cost, and their public utility, far exceed the most famous
+national undertakings of any age or country.</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson was of course, actively engaged in the
+construction of the numerous railways now projected by the
+joint-stock companies.&nbsp; The desire for railway extension
+principally pervaded the manufacturing districts, especially
+after the successful opening of the Liverpool and Manchester
+line.&nbsp; The commercial classes of the larger towns soon
+became eager for a participation in the good which they had so
+recently derided.&nbsp; Railway projects were set on foot in
+great numbers, and Manchester became a centre from which main
+lines and branches were started in all directions.&nbsp; The
+interest, however, which attaches to these later schemes is of a
+much less absorbing kind than that which belongs to the earlier
+history of the railway and the steps by which it was mainly
+established.&nbsp; We naturally sympathise more <!-- page
+230--><a name="page230"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+230</span>keenly with the early struggles of a great principle,
+its trials and its difficulties, than with its after stages of
+success; and, however gratified and astonished we may be at its
+consequences, the interest is in a great measure gone when its
+triumph has become a matter of certainty.</p>
+<p>The commercial results of the Liverpool and Manchester line
+were so satisfactory, and indeed so greatly exceeded the
+expectations of its projectors, that many of the abandoned
+projects of the speculative year 1825 were forthwith
+revived.&nbsp; An abundant crop of engineers sprang up, ready to
+execute railways of any extent.&nbsp; Now that the Liverpool and
+Manchester line had been made, and the practicability of working
+it by locomotive power had been proved, it was as easy for
+engineers to make railways and to work them, as it was for
+navigators to find America after Columbus had made the first
+voyage.&nbsp; Mr. Francis Giles attached himself to the Newcastle
+and Carlisle and London and Southampton projects.&nbsp; Mr.
+Brunel appeared as engineer of the line projected between London
+and Bristol; and Mr. Braithwaite, the builder of the
+&ldquo;Novelty&rdquo; engine, acted in the same capacity for a
+railway from London to Colchester.</p>
+<p>The first lines constructed subsequent to the opening of the
+Liverpool and Manchester Railway, were mostly in connection with
+it, and principally in the county of Lancaster.&nbsp; Thus a
+branch was formed from Bolton to Leigh, and another from Leigh to
+Kenyon, where it formed a junction with the main line between
+Liverpool and Manchester.&nbsp; Branches to Wigan on the north,
+and to Runcorn Gap and Warrington on the south of the same line,
+were also formed.&nbsp; A continuation of the latter, as far
+south as Birmingham, was shortly after projected under the name
+of the Grand Junction Railway.</p>
+<p>The last mentioned line was projected as early as the year
+1824, when the Liverpool and Manchester scheme was under
+discussion, and Mr. Stephenson then published a report on the
+subject.&nbsp; The plans were deposited, but the bill was thrown
+out through the opposition of the landowners <!-- page 231--><a
+name="page231"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 231</span>and canal
+proprietors.&nbsp; When engaged in making the survey, Stephenson
+called upon some of the landowners in the neighbourhood of
+Nantwich to obtain their assent, and was greatly disgusted to
+learn that the agents of the canal companies had been before him,
+and described the locomotive to the farmers as a most frightful
+machine, emitting a breath as poisonous as the fabled dragon of
+old; and telling them that if a bird flew over the district where
+one of these engines passed, it would inevitably drop down
+dead!&nbsp; The application for the bill was renewed in 1826, and
+again failed; and at length it was determined to wait the issue
+of the Liverpool and Manchester experiment.&nbsp; The act was
+eventually obtained in 1833.</p>
+<p>When it was proposed to extend the advantages of railways to
+the population of the midland and southern counties of England,
+an immense amount of alarm was created in the minds of the
+country gentlemen.&nbsp; They did not relish the idea of private
+individuals, principally resident in the manufacturing districts,
+invading their domains; and they everywhere rose up in arms
+against the &ldquo;new-fangled roads.&rdquo;&nbsp; Colonel
+Sibthorpe openly declared his hatred of the &ldquo;infernal
+railroads,&rdquo; and said that he &ldquo;would rather meet a
+highwayman, or see a burglar on his premises, than an
+engineer!&rdquo;&nbsp; The impression which prevailed in the
+rural districts was, that fox-covers and game-preserves would be
+seriously prejudiced by the formation of railroads; that
+agricultural communications would be destroyed, land thrown out
+of cultivation, landowners and farmers reduced to beggary, the
+poor-rates increased through the number of persons thrown out of
+employment by the railways,&mdash;and all this in order that
+Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham shopkeepers and
+manufacturers might establish a monstrous monopoly in railway
+traffic.</p>
+<p>The inhabitants of even some of the large towns were thrown
+into a state of consternation by the proposal to provide them
+with the accommodation of a railway.&nbsp; The line from London
+to Birmingham would naturally have passed <!-- page 232--><a
+name="page232"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 232</span>close to
+the handsome town of Northampton, and was so projected; but the
+inhabitants of the shire, urged on by the local press, and
+excited by men of influence and education, opposed the project,
+and succeeded in forcing the promoters, in their survey of the
+line, to pass the town at a distance.&nbsp; When the first
+railway through Kent was projected, the line was laid out so as
+to pass by Maidstone, the county town.&nbsp; But it had not a
+single supporter amongst the townspeople, whilst the landowners
+for many miles round combined to oppose it.&nbsp; In like manner,
+the line projected from London to Bristol was strongly denounced
+by the inhabitants of the intermediate districts; and when the
+first bill was thrown out, Eton assembled under the presidency of
+the Marquis of Chandos to congratulate the country upon its
+defeat.</p>
+<p>During the time that the works of the Liverpool and Manchester
+line were in progress, our engineer was consulted respecting a
+short railway proposed to be formed between Leicester and
+Swannington, for the purpose of opening up a communication
+between the town of Leicester and the coal-fields in the western
+part of the county.&nbsp; The projector of this undertaking had
+some difficulty in getting the requisite capital subscribed for,
+the Leicester townspeople who had money being for the most part
+interested in canals.&nbsp; George Stephenson was invited to come
+upon the ground and survey the line.&nbsp; He did so, and then
+the projector told him of the difficulty he had in finding
+subscribers to the concern.&nbsp; &ldquo;Give me a sheet,&rdquo;
+said Stephenson, &ldquo;and I will raise the money for you in
+Liverpool.&rdquo;&nbsp; The engineer was as good as his word, and
+in a short time the sheet was returned with the subscription
+complete.&nbsp; Mr. Stephenson was then asked to undertake the
+office of engineer for the line, but his answer was that he had
+thirty miles of railway in hand, which were enough for any
+engineer to attend to properly.&nbsp; Was there any person he
+could recommend?&nbsp; &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I
+think my son Robert is competent to undertake the
+thing.&rdquo;&nbsp; Would Mr. <!-- page 233--><a
+name="page233"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 233</span>Stephenson
+be answerable for him?&nbsp; &ldquo;Oh, yes,
+certainly.&rdquo;&nbsp; And Robert Stephenson, at twenty-seven
+years of age, was installed engineer of the line accordingly.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p233.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Map of Leicester and Swannington Railway"
+title=
+"Map of Leicester and Swannington Railway"
+src="images/p233.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The requisite Parliamentary powers having been obtained,
+Robert Stephenson proceeded with the construction of the railway,
+about 16 miles in length, towards the end of 1830.&nbsp; The
+works were comparatively easy, excepting at the Leicester end,
+where the young engineer encountered his first stiff bit of
+tunnelling.&nbsp; The line passed underground for 1&frac34; mile,
+and 500 yards of its course lay in loose dry running sand.&nbsp;
+The presence of this material rendered it necessary for the
+engineer first to construct a wooden tunnel to support the soil
+while the brickwork was being executed.&nbsp; This proved
+sufficient, and the whole was brought to a successful termination
+within a reasonable time.&nbsp; While the works were in progress,
+Robert kept up a regular correspondence with his father at
+Liverpool, consulting him on all points in which his greater
+experience was likely to be of service.&nbsp; Like his father,
+Robert was very observant, and always ready to seize opportunity
+by the forelock.&nbsp; It happened that the estate of Snibston,
+near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, was advertised for sale; and the young
+engineer&rsquo;s experience as <!-- page 234--><a
+name="page234"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 234</span>a
+coal-viewer and practical geologist suggested to his mind that
+coal was most probably to be found underneath.&nbsp; He
+communicated his views to his father on the subject.&nbsp; The
+estate lay in the immediate neighbourhood of the railway; and if
+the conjecture proved correct, the finding of coal would
+necessarily greatly enhance its value.&nbsp; He accordingly
+requested his father to come over to Snibston and look at the
+property, which he did; and after a careful inspection of the
+ground, he arrived at the same conclusion as his son.</p>
+<p>The large manufacturing town of Leicester, about fourteen
+miles distant, had up to that time been exclusively supplied with
+coal brought by canal from Derbyshire; and Mr. Stephenson saw
+that the railway under construction from Swannington to
+Leicester, would furnish him with a ready market for any coals
+which he might find at Snibston.&nbsp; Having induced two of his
+Liverpool friends to join him in the venture, the Snibston estate
+was purchased in 1831: and shortly after, Stephenson removed his
+home from Liverpool to Alton Grange, for the purpose of
+superintending the sinking of the pit.&nbsp; He travelled thither
+by gig with his wife,&mdash;his favourite horse
+&ldquo;Bobby&rdquo; performing the journey by easy stages.</p>
+<p>Sinking operations were immediately begun, and proceeded
+satisfactorily until the old enemy, water, burst in upon the
+workmen, and threatened to drown them out.&nbsp; But by means of
+efficient pumping-engines, and the skilful casing of the shaft
+with segments of cast-iron&mdash;a process called
+&ldquo;tubbing,&rdquo; <a name="citation234"></a><a
+href="#footnote234" class="citation">[234]</a> which Mr.
+Stephenson was the first to adopt in the Midland
+Counties&mdash;it was eventually made water-tight, and the
+sinking proceeded.&nbsp; When a depth of <!-- page 235--><a
+name="page235"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 235</span>166 feet
+had been reached, a still more formidable difficulty presented
+itself&mdash;one which had baffled former sinkers in the
+neighbourhood, and deterred them from further operations.&nbsp;
+This was a remarkable bed of whinstone or green-stone, which had
+originally been poured out as a sheet of burning lava over the
+denuded surface of the coal measures; indeed it was afterwards
+found that it had turned to cinders one part of the seam of coal
+with which it had come in contact.&nbsp; The appearance of this
+bed of solid rock was so unusual a circumstance in coal mining,
+that some experienced sinkers urged Stephenson to proceed no
+further, believing the occurrence of the dyke at that point to be
+altogether fatal to his enterprise.&nbsp; But, with his faith
+still firm in the existence of coal underneath, he fell back on
+his old motto of &ldquo;Persevere.&rdquo;&nbsp; He determined to
+go on boring; and down through the solid rock he went until,
+twenty-two feet lower, he came upon the coal measures.&nbsp; In
+the mean time, however, lest the boring at that point should
+prove unsuccessful, he had commenced sinking another pair of
+shafts about a quarter of a mile west of the &ldquo;fault;&rdquo;
+and after about nine months&rsquo; labour he reached the
+principal seam, called the &ldquo;main coal.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The works were then opened out on a large scale, and Mr.
+Stephenson had the pleasure and good fortune to send the first
+train of main coal to Leicester by railway.&nbsp; The price was
+immediately reduced to about 8s. a ton, effecting a pecuniary
+saving to the inhabitants of the town of about &pound;40,000 per
+annum, or equivalent to the whole amount then collected in
+Government taxes and local rates, besides giving an impetus to
+the manufacturing prosperity of the place, which has continued
+down to the present day.&nbsp; The correct principles upon which
+the mining operations at Snibston were conducted offered a
+salutary example to the neighbouring colliery owners.&nbsp; The
+numerous improvements there introduced were freely exhibited to
+all, and they were afterwards reproduced in many forms all over
+the Midland Counties, greatly to the advantage of the mining
+interest.</p>
+<p><!-- page 236--><a name="page236"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+236</span>Nor was Mr. Stephenson less attentive to the comfort
+and well-being of those immediately dependent upon him&mdash;the
+workpeople of the Snibston colliery and their families.&nbsp;
+Unlike many of those large employers who have &ldquo;sprung from
+the ranks,&rdquo; he was one of the kindest and most indulgent of
+masters.&nbsp; He would have a fair day&rsquo;s work for a fair
+day&rsquo;s wages; but he never forgot that the employer had his
+duties as well as his rights.&nbsp; First of all, he attended to
+the proper home accommodation of his workpeople.&nbsp; He erected
+a village of comfortable cottages, each provided with a snug
+little garden.&nbsp; He was also instrumental in erecting a
+church adjacent to the works, as well as Church schools for the
+education of the colliers&rsquo; children; and with that broad
+catholicity of sentiment which distinguished him, he further
+provided a chapel and a school-house for the use of the
+Dissenting portion of the colliers and their families&mdash;an
+example of benevolent liberality which was not without a salutary
+influence upon the neighbouring employers.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p236.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Stephenson&rsquo;s House at Alton Grange"
+title=
+"Stephenson&rsquo;s House at Alton Grange"
+src="images/p236.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 237--><a
+name="page237"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 237</span>
+<a href="images/p237.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Robert Stephenson"
+title=
+"Robert Stephenson"
+src="images/p237.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Robert Stephenson constructs the London and
+Birmingham Railway</span>.</h2>
+<p>Of the numerous extensive projects which followed close upon
+the completion of the Liverpool and Manchester line, and the
+Locomotive triumph at Rainhill, that of a railway between London
+and Birmingham was the most important.&nbsp; The scheme
+originated at the latter place in 1830.&nbsp; Two committees were
+formed, and two plans were proposed.&nbsp; One was of a line to
+London by way of Oxford, and the other by way of Coventry.&nbsp;
+The simple object of the promoters of both schemes being to
+secure the advantages of railway communication with the
+metropolis, they wisely determined to combine their strength to
+secure it.&nbsp; They then resolved to call George Stephenson to
+their aid, and requested him to advise them as to the two schemes
+which were before them.&nbsp; After a careful examination of the
+country, Mr. Stephenson reported in favour of the Coventry route,
+when the Lancashire gentlemen, who were the principal subscribers
+to the project, having every confidence in his judgment,
+supported his decision, and the line recommended by him was
+adopted accordingly.</p>
+<p>At the meeting of the promoters held at Birmingham to
+determine on the appointment of the engineer for the railway,
+there was a strong party in favour of associating with Mr.
+Stephenson a gentleman with whom he had been brought into serious
+collision in the course of the Liverpool and Manchester
+undertaking.&nbsp; When the offer was made to him that he should
+be joint engineer with the other, he requested leave to retire
+and consider the proposal with his son.&nbsp; The father was in
+favour of accepting it.&nbsp; His struggle heretofore had been so
+hard that he could not bear the <!-- page 238--><a
+name="page238"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 238</span>idea of
+missing so promising an opportunity of professional
+advancement.&nbsp; But the son, foreseeing the jealousies and
+heartburnings which the joint engineership would most probably
+create, recommended his father to decline the connection.&nbsp;
+George adopted the suggestion, and returning to the Committee, he
+announced to them his decision; on which the promoters decided to
+appoint him the engineer of the undertaking in conjunction with
+his son.</p>
+<p>This line, like the Liverpool and Manchester, was very
+strongly opposed, especially by the landowners.&nbsp; Numerous
+pamphlets were published, calling on the public to &ldquo;beware
+of the bubbles,&rdquo; and holding up the promoters of railways
+to ridicule.&nbsp; They were compared to St. John Long and
+similar quacks, and pronounced fitter for Bedlam than to be left
+at large.&nbsp; The canal proprietors, landowners, and road
+trustees, made common cause against them.&nbsp; The failure of
+railways was confidently predicted&mdash;indeed, it was
+elaborately attempted to be proved that they had failed; and it
+was industriously spread abroad that the locomotive engines,
+having been found useless and highly dangerous on the Liverpool
+and Manchester line, were immediately to be abandoned in favour
+of horses&mdash;a rumour which the directors of the Company
+thought it necessary publicly to contradict.</p>
+<p>Public meetings were held in all the counties through which
+the line would pass between London and Birmingham, at which the
+project was denounced, and strong resolutions against it were
+passed.&nbsp; The attempt was made to conciliate the landlords by
+explanations, but all such efforts proved futile, the owners of
+nearly seven-eighths of the land being returned as
+dissentients.&nbsp; &ldquo;I remember,&rdquo; said Robert
+Stephenson, describing the opposition, &ldquo;that we called one
+day on Sir Astley Cooper, the eminent surgeon, in the hope of
+overcoming his aversion to the railway.&nbsp; He was one of our
+most inveterate and influential opponents.&nbsp; His country
+house at Berkhampstead was situated near the intended line, which
+passed through part of his property.&nbsp; We found a courtly,
+fine-looking old gentleman, of very <!-- page 239--><a
+name="page239"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 239</span>stately
+manners, who received us kindly and heard all we had to say in
+favour of the project.&nbsp; But he was quite inflexible in his
+opposition to it.&nbsp; No deviation or improvement that we could
+suggest had any effect in conciliating him.&nbsp; He was opposed
+to railways generally, and to this in particular.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Your scheme,&rsquo; said he, &lsquo;is preposterous in the
+extreme.&nbsp; It is of so extravagant a character, as to be
+positively absurd.&nbsp; Then look at the recklessness of your
+proceedings!&nbsp; You are proposing to cut up our estates in all
+directions for the purpose of making an unnecessary road.&nbsp;
+Do you think for one moment of the destruction of property
+involved by it?&nbsp; Why, gentlemen, if this sort of thing be
+permitted to go on, you will in a very few years <i>destroy the
+noblesse</i>!&rsquo;&nbsp; We left the honourable baronet without
+having produced the slightest effect upon him, excepting perhaps,
+it might be, increased exasperation against our scheme.&nbsp; 1
+could not help observing to my companions as we left the house,
+&lsquo;Well, it is really provoking to find one who has been made
+a &ldquo;Sir&rdquo; for cutting that wen out of George the
+Fourth&rsquo;s neck, charging us with contemplating the
+destruction of the <i>noblesse</i>, because we propose to confer
+upon him the benefits of a railroad.&rsquo;&ldquo;</p>
+<p>Such being the opposition of the owners of land, it was with
+the greatest difficulty that an accurate survey of the line could
+be made.&nbsp; At one point the vigilance of the landowners and
+their servants was such, that the surveyors were effectually
+prevented taking the levels by the light of day; and it was only
+at length accomplished at night by means of dark lanterns.&nbsp;
+There was one clergyman, who made such alarming demonstrations of
+his opposition, that the extraordinary expedient was resorted to
+of surveying his property during the time he was engaged in the
+pulpit.&nbsp; This was managed by having a strong force of
+surveyors in readiness to commence their operations, who entered
+the clergyman&rsquo;s grounds on one side the moment they saw him
+fairly off them on the other.&nbsp; By a well-organised and
+systematic arrangement each man concluded his allotted <!-- page
+240--><a name="page240"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+240</span>task just as the reverend gentleman concluded his
+sermon; so that, before he left the church, the deed was done,
+and the sinners had all decamped.&nbsp; Similar opposition was
+offered at many other points, but ineffectually.&nbsp; The
+laborious application of Robert Stephenson was such, that in
+examining the country to ascertain the best line, he walked the
+whole distance between London and Birmingham upwards of twenty
+times.</p>
+<p>When the bill went before the Committee of the Commons in
+1832, a formidable array of evidence was produced.&nbsp; All the
+railway experience of the day was brought to bear in support of
+the measure, and all that interested opposition could do was set
+in motion against it.&nbsp; The necessity for an improved mode of
+communication between London and Birmingham was clearly
+demonstrated; and the engineering evidence was regarded as quite
+satisfactory.&nbsp; Not a single fact was proved against the
+utility of the measure, and the bill passed the Committee, and
+afterwards the third reading in the Commons, by large
+majorities.</p>
+<p>It was then sent to the Lords, and went into Committee, when a
+similar mass of testimony was again gone through.&nbsp; But it
+had been evident, from the opening of the proceedings, that the
+fate of the bill had been determined before even a word of the
+evidence had been heard.&nbsp; At that time the committees were
+open to all peers; and the promoters of the bill found, to their
+dismay, many of the lords who were avowed opponents of the
+measure as landowners, sitting as judges to decide its
+fate.&nbsp; Their principal object seemed to be, to bring the
+proceedings to a termination as quickly as possible.&nbsp; An
+attempt at negotiation was indeed made in the course of the
+proceedings in committee, but failed, and the bill was thrown
+out.</p>
+<p>As the result had been foreseen, measures were taken to
+neutralise the effect of this decision as regarded future
+operations.&nbsp; Not less than &pound;32,000 had been expended
+in preliminary and parliamentary expenses up to this stage; but
+the promoters determined not to look back, and <!-- page 241--><a
+name="page241"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 241</span>forthwith
+made arrangements for prosecuting the bill in the next
+session.&nbsp; Strange to say, the bill then passed both Houses
+silently and almost without opposition.&nbsp; The mystery was
+afterwards solved by the appearance of a circular issued by the
+directors of the company, in which it was stated, that they had
+opened &ldquo;negotiations&rdquo; with the most influential of
+their opponents; that &ldquo;these measures had been successful
+to a greater extent than they had ventured to anticipate; and the
+most active and formidable had been conciliated.&rdquo;&nbsp; An
+instructive commentary on the mode by which these noble lords and
+influential landed proprietors had been
+&ldquo;conciliated,&rdquo; was the simple fact that the estimate
+for land was nearly trebled, and that the owners were paid about
+&pound;750,000 for what had been originally estimated at
+&pound;250,000.</p>
+<p>The landowners having thus been &ldquo;conciliated,&rdquo; the
+promoters of the measure were permitted to proceed with the
+formation of their great highway.&nbsp; Robert Stephenson was,
+with the sanction of his father, appointed sole engineer; and
+steps were at once taken by him to make the working survey, to
+prepare the working drawings, and arrange for the construction of
+the railway.&nbsp; Eighty miles of the road were shortly under
+contract, having been let within the estimates; and the works
+were in satisfactory progress by the beginning of 1834.</p>
+<p>The difficulties encountered in their construction were very
+great; the most formidable of them originating in the character
+of the works themselves.&nbsp; Extensive tunnels had to be driven
+through unknown strata, and miles of underground excavation had
+to be carried out in order to form a level road from valley to
+valley, under the intervening ridges.&nbsp; This kind of work was
+the newest of all to the contractors of that day.&nbsp; Robert
+Stephenson&rsquo;s experience in the collieries of the North
+rendered him well fitted to grapple with such difficulties; yet
+even he, with all his practical knowledge, could scarcely have
+foreseen the serious obstacles which he was called upon to
+encounter in executing <!-- page 242--><a
+name="page242"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 242</span>the
+formidable cuttings, embankments, and tunnels of the London and
+Birmingham Railway.&nbsp; It would be an uninteresting, as it
+would be a fruitless task, to attempt to describe the works in
+detail; but a general outline of their extraordinary character
+and extent may not be out of place.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p242.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Rugby to Watford"
+title=
+"Rugby to Watford"
+src="images/p242.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The length of railway to be constructed between London and
+Birmingham was 112&frac12; miles.&nbsp; The line crossed a series
+of low-lying districts separated from each other by considerable
+ridges of hills; and it was the object of the engineer to cross
+the valleys at as high, and the hills at as low, elevations as
+possible.&nbsp; The high ground was therefore cut down and the
+&ldquo;stuff&rdquo; led into embankments, in some places of great
+height and extent, so as to form a road upon as level a plane as
+was considered practicable for the working of the locomotive
+engine.&nbsp; In some places, the high grounds were passed in
+open cuttings, whilst in others it was necessary to bore through
+them in tunnels with deep cuttings at each end.</p>
+<p>The most formidable excavations on the line are those at
+Tring, Denbigh Hall, and Blisworth.&nbsp; The Tring cutting is an
+immense chasm across the great chalk ridge of Ivinghoe.&nbsp; It
+is 2&frac12; miles long, and for &frac14; of a mile is 57 feet
+deep.&nbsp; A million and a half cubic yards of chalk and earth
+were taken out of this cutting by means of horse-runs and <!--
+page 243--><a name="page243"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+243</span>deposited in spoil banks; besides the immense quantity
+run into the embankment north of the cutting, forming a solid
+mound nearly 6 miles long and about 30 feet high.&nbsp; Passing
+over the Denbigh Hall cutting, and the Wolverton embankment of
+1&frac12; mile in length across the valley of the Ouse, we come
+to the excavation at Blisworth, a brief description of which will
+give the reader an idea of one of the most difficult kinds of
+railway work.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p243.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Blisworth Cutting"
+title=
+"Blisworth Cutting"
+src="images/p243.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The Blisworth Cutting is one of the longest and deepest
+grooves cut in the solid earth.&nbsp; It is 1&frac12; mile long,
+in some places 65 feet deep, passing through earth, stiff clay,
+and hard rock.&nbsp; Not less than a million cubic yards of these
+materials were dug, quarried, and blasted out of it.&nbsp;
+One-third of the cutting was stone, and beneath the stone lay a
+<!-- page 244--><a name="page244"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+244</span>thick bed of clay, under which were found beds of loose
+shale so full of water that almost constant pumping was necessary
+at many points to enable the works to proceed.&nbsp; For a year
+and a half the contractor went on fruitlessly contending with
+these difficulties, and at length he was compelled to abandon the
+adventure.&nbsp; The engineer then took the works in hand for the
+Company, and they were vigorously proceeded with.&nbsp;
+Steam-engines were set to work to pump out the water; two
+locomotives were put on, one at each end of the cutting, to drag
+away the excavated rock and clay; and 800 men and boys were
+employed along the work, in digging, wheeling, and blasting,
+besides a large number of horses.&nbsp; Some idea of the extent
+of the blasting operations may be formed from the fact that 25
+barrels of gunpowder were used weekly; the total quantity
+exploded in forming this one cutting being about 3,000
+barrels.&nbsp; Considerable difficulty was experienced in
+supporting the bed of rock cut through, which overlaid the clay
+and shale along each side of the cutting.&nbsp; It was found
+necessary to hold it up by strong retaining walls, to prevent the
+clay bed from bulging out, and these walls were further supported
+by a strong invert,&mdash;that is, an arch placed in an inverted
+position under the road,&mdash;thus binding together the walls on
+both sides.&nbsp; Behind the retaining walls, a drift or
+horizontal drain was provided to enable the water to run off, and
+occasional openings were left in the walls themselves for the
+same purpose.&nbsp; The work was at length brought to a
+successful completion, but the extraordinary difficulties
+encountered in forming the cutting had the effect of greatly
+increasing the cost of this portion of the railway.</p>
+<p>The Tunnels on the line are eight in number, their total
+length being 7336 yards.&nbsp; The first high ground encountered
+was Primrose Hill, where the stiff London clay was passed through
+for a distance of about 1164 yards.&nbsp; The clay was close,
+compact, and dry, more difficult to work than stone itself.&nbsp;
+It was entirely free from water; but the absorbing properties of
+the clay were such that when <!-- page 245--><a
+name="page245"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 245</span>exposed to
+the air it swelled out rapidly.&nbsp; Hence an unusual thickness
+of brick lining was found necessary; and the engineer afterwards
+informed the author that for some time he entertained an
+apprehension lest the pressure should force in the brickwork
+altogether.&nbsp; It was so great that it made the face of the
+bricks to fly off in minute chips which covered his clothes
+whilst he was inspecting the work.&nbsp; The materials used in
+the building were, however, of excellent quality; and the tunnel
+was happily brought to a completion without any accident.</p>
+<p>At Watford the chalk ridge was penetrated by a tunnel about
+1800 yards long; and at Northchurch, Lindslade, and Stowe Hill,
+there were other tunnels of minor extent.&nbsp; But the chief
+difficulty of the undertaking was the execution of that under the
+Kilsby ridge.&nbsp; Though not the largest, this is in many
+respects one of the most interesting works of the kind in
+England.&nbsp; It is about 2400 yards long, and runs at an
+average depth of about 160 feet below the surface.&nbsp; The
+ridge under which it extends is of considerable extent, the
+famous battle of Naseby having been fought upon one of the spurs
+of the same high ground about seven miles to the eastward.</p>
+<p>Previous to the letting of the contract, the character of the
+underground soil was examined by trial-shafts.&nbsp; The tests
+indicated that it consisted of shale of the lower oolite, and the
+works were let accordingly.&nbsp; But they had scarcely been
+commenced when it was discovered that, at an interval between the
+two trial-shafts which had been sunk, about 200 yards from the
+south end of the tunnel, there existed an extensive quicksand
+under a bed of clay 40 feet thick, which the borings had escaped
+in the most singular manner.&nbsp; At the bottom of one of these
+shafts the excavation and building of the tunnel were proceeding,
+when the roof at one part suddenly gave way, a deluge of water
+burst in, and the party of workmen with the utmost difficulty
+escaped with their lives.&nbsp; They were only saved by means of
+a raft, on which they were towed by one of the engineers <!--
+page 246--><a name="page246"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+246</span>swimming with the rope in his mouth to the lower end of
+the shaft, out of which they were safely lifted to the
+daylight.&nbsp; The works were of course at that point
+immediately stopped.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p246.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Shafts over Kilsby Tunnel"
+title=
+"The Shafts over Kilsby Tunnel"
+src="images/p246.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The contractor, who had undertaken the construction of the
+tunnel, was so overwhelmed by the calamity, that, though he was
+relieved by the Company from his engagement, he took to his bed
+and shortly after died.&nbsp; Pumping-engines were then erected
+for the purpose of draining off the water, but for a long time it
+prevailed, and sometimes even rose in the shaft.&nbsp; The
+question then presented itself, whether in the face of so
+formidable a difficulty, the works should be proceeded with or
+abandoned.&nbsp; Robert Stephenson sent over to Alton Grange for
+his father, and the two took serious counsel together.&nbsp;
+George was in favour of <!-- page 247--><a
+name="page247"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 247</span>pumping out
+the water from the top by powerful engines erected over each
+shaft, until the water was mastered.&nbsp; Robert concurred in
+that view, and although other engineers pronounced strongly
+against the practicability of the scheme and advised its
+abandonment, the directors authorised him to proceed; and
+powerful steam-engines were ordered to be constructed and
+delivered without loss of time.</p>
+<p>In the mean time, Robert suggested to his father the
+expediency of running a drift along the heading from the south
+end of the tunnel, with the view of draining off the water in
+that way.&nbsp; George said he thought it would scarcely answer,
+but that it was worth a trial, at all events until the
+pumping-engines were got ready.&nbsp; Robert accordingly gave
+orders for the drift to be proceeded with.&nbsp; The excavators
+were immediately set to work; and they were very soon close upon
+the sand bed.&nbsp; One day, when the engineer, his assistants,
+and the workmen were clustered about the open entrance of the
+drift-way, they heard a sudden roar as of distant thunder.&nbsp;
+It was hoped that the water had burst in&mdash;for all the
+workmen were out of the drift,&mdash;and that the sand bed would
+now drain itself off in a natural way.&nbsp; Instead of which,
+very little water made its appearance; and on examining the inner
+end of the drift, it was found that the loud noise had been
+caused by the sudden discharge into it of an immense mass of
+sand, which had completely choked up the passage, and prevented
+the water from flowing away.</p>
+<p>The engineer now found that there was nothing for it but to
+sink numerous additional shafts over the line of the tunnel at
+the points at which it crossed the quicksand, and endeavour to
+master the water by sheer force of engines and pumps.&nbsp; The
+engines erected, possessed an aggregate power of 160 horses; and
+they went on pumping for eight successive months, emptying out an
+almost incredible quantity of water.&nbsp; It was found that the
+water, with which the bed of sand extending over many miles was
+charged, was to a certain degree held back by the particles of
+the sand <!-- page 248--><a name="page248"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 248</span>itself, and that it could only
+percolate through at a certain average rate.&nbsp; It appeared in
+its flow to take a slanting direction to the suction of the
+pumps, the angle of inclination depending upon the coarseness or
+fineness of the sand, and regulating the time of the flow.&nbsp;
+Hence the distribution of the pumping power at short intervals
+along the line of the tunnel had a much greater effect than the
+concentration of that power at any one spot.&nbsp; It soon
+appeared that the water had found its master.&nbsp; Protected by
+the pumps, which cleared a space for the engineering
+operations&mdash;carried on in the midst, as it were, of two
+almost perpendicular walls of water and sand on either
+side&mdash;the workmen proceeded with the building of the tunnel
+at numerous points.&nbsp; Every exertion was used to wall in the
+dangerous parts as quickly as possible; the excavators and
+bricklayers labouring night and day until the work was
+finished.&nbsp; Even while under the protection of the immense
+pumping power above described, it often happened that the bricks
+were scarcely covered with cement ready for the setting, ere they
+were washed quite clean by the streams of water which poured from
+overhead.&nbsp; The men were accordingly under the necessity of
+holding over their work large whisks of straw and other
+appliances to protect the bricks and cement at the moment of
+setting.</p>
+<p>The quantity of water pumped out of the sand bed during eight
+months of incessant pumping, averaged 2,000 gallons per minute,
+raised from an average depth of 120 feet.&nbsp; It is difficult
+to form an adequate idea of the bulk of the water thus raised,
+but it may be stated that if allowed to flow for three hours
+only, it would fill a lake one acre square to the depth of one
+foot, and if allowed to flow for one entire day it would fill the
+lake to over eight feet in depth, or sufficient to float vessels
+of 100 tons burthen.&nbsp; The water pumped out of the tunnel
+while the work was in progress would be nearly equivalent to the
+contents of the Thames at high water, between London and
+Woolwich.&nbsp; It is a curious circumstance that notwithstanding
+the quantity <!-- page 249--><a name="page249"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 249</span>thus removed, the level of the
+surface of the water in the tunnel was only lowered about
+2&frac12; to 3 inches per week, proving the vast area of the
+quicksand, which probably extended along the entire ridge of land
+under which the railway passed.</p>
+<p>The cost of the line was greatly increased by the difficulties
+encountered at Kilsby.&nbsp; The original estimate for the tunnel
+was only &pound;99,000; but before it was finished it had cost
+more than &pound;100 per lineal yard forward, or a total of
+nearly &pound;300,000.&nbsp; The expenditure on the other parts
+of the line also greatly exceeded the amount first set down by
+the engineer; and before the works were finished it was more than
+doubled.&nbsp; The land cost three times more than the estimate;
+and the claims for compensation were enormous.&nbsp; Although the
+contracts were let within the estimates, very few of the
+contractors were able to complete them without the assistance of
+the Company, and many became bankrupt.</p>
+<p>The magnitude of the works, which were unprecedented in
+England, was one of the most remarkable features in the
+undertaking.&nbsp; The following striking comparison has been
+made between this railway and one of the greatest works of
+ancient times.&nbsp; The Great Pyramid of Egypt was, according to
+Diodorus Siculus, constructed by 300,000&mdash;according to
+Herodotus, by 100,000&mdash;men.&nbsp; It required for its
+execution twenty years, and the labour expended upon it has been
+estimated as equivalent to lifting 15,733,000,000 of cubic feet
+of stone one foot high.&nbsp; Whereas, if the labour expended in
+constructing the London and Birmingham Railway be in like manner
+reduced to one common denomination the result is 25,000,000,000
+of cubic feet <i>more</i> than was lifted for the Great Pyramid;
+and yet the English work was performed by about 20,000 men in
+less than five years.&nbsp; And whilst the Egyptian work was
+executed by a powerful monarch concentrating upon it the labour
+and capital of a great nation, the English railway was
+constructed, in the face of every conceivable obstruction and
+difficulty, by a <!-- page 250--><a name="page250"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 250</span>company of private individuals out
+of their own resources, without the aid of Government or the
+contribution of one farthing of public money.</p>
+<p>The labourers who executed this formidable work were in many
+respects a remarkable class.&nbsp; The &ldquo;railway
+navvies,&rdquo; as they are called, were men drawn by the
+attraction of good wages from all parts of the kingdom; and they
+were ready for any sort of hard work.&nbsp; Some of the best came
+from the fen districts of Lincoln and Cambridge, where they had
+been trained to execute works of excavation and embankment.&nbsp;
+These old practitioners formed a nucleus of skilled manipulation
+and aptitude, which rendered them of indispensable utility in the
+immense undertakings of the period.&nbsp; Their expertness in all
+sorts of earthwork, in embanking, boring, and
+well-sinking&mdash;their practical knowledge of the nature of
+soils and rocks, the tenacity of clays, and the porosity of
+certain stratifications&mdash;were very great; and, rough-looking
+though they were, many of them were as important in their own
+department as the contractor or the engineer.</p>
+<p>During the railway-making period the navvy wandered about from
+one public work to another&mdash;apparently belonging to no
+country and having no home.&nbsp; He usually wore a white felt
+hat with the brim turned up, a velveteen or jean square-tailed
+coat, a scarlet plush waistcoat with little black spots, and a
+bright-coloured kerchief round his herculean neck, when, as often
+happened, it was not left entirely bare.&nbsp; His corduroy
+breeches were retained in position by a leathern strap round the
+waist, and were tied and buttoned at the knee, displaying beneath
+a solid calf and foot encased in strong high-laced boots.&nbsp;
+Joining together in a &ldquo;butty gang,&rdquo; some ten or
+twelve of these men would take a contract to cut out and remove
+so much &ldquo;dirt&rdquo;&mdash;as they denominated
+earth-cutting&mdash;fixing their price according to the character
+of the &ldquo;stuff,&rdquo; and the distance to which it had to
+be wheeled and tipped.&nbsp; The contract taken, every man put
+himself on his mettle; if any <!-- page 251--><a
+name="page251"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 251</span>was found
+skulking, or not putting forth his full working power, he was
+ejected from the gang.&nbsp; Their powers of endurance were
+extraordinary.&nbsp; In times of emergency they would work for 12
+and even 16 hours, with only short intervals for meals.&nbsp; The
+quantity of flesh-meat which they consumed was something
+enormous; but it was to their bones and muscles what coke is to
+the locomotive&mdash;the means of keeping up the steam.&nbsp;
+They displayed great pluck, and seemed to disregard peril.&nbsp;
+Indeed the most dangerous sort of labour&mdash;such as working
+horse-barrow runs, in which accidents are of constant
+occurrence&mdash;has always been most in request amongst them,
+the danger seeming to be one of its chief recommendations.</p>
+<p>Working, eating, drinking, and sleeping together, and daily
+exposed to the same influences, these railway labourers soon
+presented a distinct and well-defined character, strongly marking
+them from the population of the districts in which they
+laboured.&nbsp; Reckless alike of their lives as of their
+earnings, the navvies worked hard and lived hard.&nbsp; For their
+lodging, a hut of turf would content them; and, in their hours of
+leisure, the meanest public-house would serve for their
+parlour.&nbsp; Unburdened, as they usually were, by domestic
+ties, unsoftened by family affection, and without much moral or
+religious training, the navvies came to be distinguished by a
+sort of savage manners, which contrasted strangely with those of
+the surrounding population.&nbsp; Yet, ignorant and violent
+though they might be, they were usually good-hearted fellows in
+the main&mdash;frank and openhanded with their comrades, and
+ready to share their last penny with those in distress.&nbsp;
+Their pay-nights were often a saturnalia of riot and disorder,
+dreaded by the inhabitants of the villages along the line of
+works.&nbsp; The irruption of such men into the quiet hamlet of
+Kilsby must, indeed, have produced a very startling effect on the
+recluse inhabitants of the place.&nbsp; Robert Stephenson used to
+tell a story of the clergyman of the parish waiting upon the
+foreman of one of the gangs to expostulate with him as to the
+shocking <!-- page 252--><a name="page252"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 252</span>impropriety of his men working
+during Sunday.&nbsp; But the head navvy merely hitched up his
+trousers, and said, &ldquo;Why, Soondays hain&rsquo;t cropt out
+here yet!&rdquo;&nbsp; In short, the navvies were little better
+than heathens, and the village of Kilsby was not restored to its
+wonted quiet until the tunnel-works were finished, and the
+engines and scaffoldings removed, leaving only the immense masses
+of <i>d&eacute;bris</i> around the line of shafts which extend
+along the top of the tunnel.</p>
+<p>In illustration of the extraordinary working energy and powers
+of endurance of the English navvies, we may mention that when
+railway-making extended to France, the English contractors for
+the works took with them gangs of English navvies, with the usual
+plant, which included wheelbarrows.&nbsp; These the English navvy
+was accustomed to run out rapidly and continuously, piled so high
+with &ldquo;stuff&rdquo; that he could barely see over the summit
+of his load, the gang-board along which he wheeled his
+barrow.&nbsp; While he thus easily ran out some 3 or 4 cwt. at a
+time, the French navvy was contented with half the weight.&nbsp;
+Indeed, the French navvies on one occasion struck work because of
+the size of the English barrows, and there was an
+<i>&eacute;meute</i> on the Rouen Railway, which was only quelled
+by the aid of the military.&nbsp; The consequence was that the
+big barrows were abandoned to the English workmen, who earned
+nearly double the wages of the Frenchmen.&nbsp; The manner in
+which they stood to their work was matter of great surprise and
+wonderment to the French countrypeople, who came crowding round
+them in their blouses, and, after gazing admiringly at their
+expert handling of the pick and mattock, and the immense loads of
+&ldquo;dirt&rdquo; which they wheeled out, would exclaim to each
+other, &ldquo;<i>Mon Dieu</i>, <i>voila</i>! <i>voila ces
+Anglais</i>, <i>comme ils travaillent</i>!&rdquo;</p>
+<h2><!-- page 253--><a name="page253"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 253</span>CHAPTER XIV.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Manchester and Leeds</span>, <span
+class="smcap">and Midland Railways</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Stephenson&rsquo;s Life at Alton</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Visit to Belgium</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">General Extension of Railways and their
+Results</span>.</h2>
+<p>The rapidity with which railways were carried out, when the
+spirit of the country became roused, was indeed remarkable.&nbsp;
+This was doubtless in some measure owing to the increased force
+of the current of speculation at the time, but chiefly to the
+desire which the public began to entertain for the general
+extension of the system.&nbsp; It was even proposed to fill up
+the canals, and convert them into railways.&nbsp; The new roads
+became the topic of conversation in all circles; they were felt
+to give a new value to time; their vast capabilities for
+&ldquo;business&rdquo; peculiarly recommended them to the trading
+classes; whilst the friends of &ldquo;progress&rdquo; dilated on
+the great benefits they would eventually confer upon mankind at
+large.&nbsp; It began to be seen that Edward Pease had not been
+exaggerating when he said, &ldquo;Let the country but make the
+railroads, and the railroads will make the country!&rdquo;&nbsp;
+They also came to be regarded as inviting objects of investment
+to the thrifty, and a safe outlet for the accumulations of inert
+men of capital.&nbsp; Thus new avenues of iron road were soon in
+course of formation, branching in all directions, so that the
+country promised in a wonderfully short time to become wrapped in
+one vast network of iron.</p>
+<p>In 1836 the Grand Junction Railway was under construction
+between Warrington and Birmingham&mdash;the northern part by Mr.
+Stephenson, and the southern by Mr. Rastrick.&nbsp; The works on
+that line embraced heavy cuttings, long embankments, and numerous
+viaducts; but none of these <!-- page 254--><a
+name="page254"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 254</span>are worthy
+of any special description.&nbsp; Perhaps the finest piece of
+masonry on the railway is the Dutton Viaduct across the valley of
+the Weaver.&nbsp; It consists of twenty arches of 60 feet span,
+springing 16 feet from the perpendicular shaft of each pier, and
+60 feet in height from the crown of the arches to the level of
+the river.&nbsp; The foundations of the piers were built on piles
+driven 20 feet deep.&nbsp; The structure has a solid and majestic
+appearance, and is perhaps the finest of George
+Stephenson&rsquo;s viaducts.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p254.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Dutton Viaduct"
+title=
+"The Dutton Viaduct"
+src="images/p254.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The Manchester and Leeds line was in progress at the same
+time&mdash;an important railway connecting the principal
+manufacturing towns of Yorkshire and Lancashire.&nbsp; An attempt
+was made to obtain the Act as early as 1831; but its promoters
+were defeated by the powerful opposition of the landowners aided
+by the canal companies, and the project was not revived for
+several years.&nbsp; The line was somewhat circuitous, and the
+works were heavy; but on the whole the gradients were favourable,
+and it had the <!-- page 255--><a name="page255"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 255</span>advantage of passing through a
+district full of manufacturing towns and villages, teeming hives
+of population, industry, and enterprise.&nbsp; The Act
+authorising the construction of the railway was obtained in 1836;
+it was greatly amended in the succeeding year, and the first
+ground was broken on the 18th August, 1837.</p>
+<p>In conducting this project to an issue, the engineer had the
+usual opposition and prejudices to encounter.&nbsp; Predictions
+were confidently made in many quarters that the line could never
+succeed.&nbsp; It was declared that the utmost engineering skill
+could not construct a railway through such a country of hills and
+hard rocks; and it was maintained that, even if the railroad were
+practicable, it could only be made at a ruinous cost.</p>
+<p>During the progress of the works, as the Summit Tunnel, near
+Littleborough, was approaching completion, the rumour was spread
+abroad in Manchester that the tunnel had fallen in and buried a
+number of the workmen.&nbsp; The last arch had been keyed in, and
+the work was all but finished, when the accident occurred which
+was thus exaggerated by the lying tongue of rumour.&nbsp; An
+invert had given way through the irregular pressure of the
+surrounding earth and rock at a part of the tunnel where a
+&ldquo;fault&rdquo; had occurred in the strata.&nbsp; A party of
+the directors accompanied the engineer to inspect the scene of
+the accident.&nbsp; They entered the tunnel&rsquo;s mouth
+preceded by upwards of fifty navvies, each bearing a torch.</p>
+<p>After walking a distance of about half a mile, the inspecting
+party arrived at the scene of the &ldquo;frightful
+accident,&rdquo; about which so much alarm had been spread.&nbsp;
+All that was visible was a certain unevenness of the ground,
+which had been forced up by the invert under it giving way; thus
+the ballast had been loosened, the drain running along the centre
+of the road had been displaced, and small pools of water stood
+about.&nbsp; But the whole of the walls and the roof were still
+as perfect as at any other part of the tunnel.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 256--><a
+name="page256"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 256</span>
+<a href="images/p256.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Entrance to the Summit Tunnel, Littleborough"
+title=
+"Entrance to the Summit Tunnel, Littleborough"
+src="images/p256.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The engineer explained the cause of the accident; the blue
+shale, he said, through which the excavation passed at that
+point, was considered so hard and firm, as to render it
+unnecessary to build the invert very strong there.&nbsp; But
+shale is always a deceptive material.&nbsp; Subjected to the
+influence of the atmosphere, it gives but a treacherous
+support.&nbsp; In this case, falling away like quicklime, it had
+left the lip of the invert alone to support the pressure of the
+arch above, and hence its springing inwards and upwards.&nbsp;
+Mr. Stephenson directed the attention of the visitors to the
+completeness of the arch overhead, where not the slightest
+fracture or yielding could be detected.&nbsp; Speaking of the
+work, in the course of the same day, he said, &ldquo;I will stake
+my character and my head, if that tunnel ever give way, so as to
+cause danger to any of the public passing through it.&nbsp; <!--
+page 257--><a name="page257"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+257</span>Taking it as a whole, I don&rsquo;t think there is such
+another piece of work in the world.&nbsp; It is the greatest work
+that has yet been done of this kind, and there has been less
+repairing than is usual,&mdash;though an engineer might well be
+beaten in his calculations, for he cannot beforehand see into
+those little fractured parts of the earth he may meet
+with.&rdquo;&nbsp; As Stephenson had promised, the invert was put
+in; and the tunnel was made perfectly safe.</p>
+<p>The construction of this subterranean road employed the labour
+of above a thousand men for nearly four years.&nbsp; Besides
+excavating the arch out of a solid rock, they used 23,000,000 of
+bricks, and 8000 tons of Roman cement in the building of the
+tunnel.&nbsp; Thirteen stationary engines, and about 100 horses,
+were also employed in drawing the earth and stone out of the
+shafts.&nbsp; Its entire length is 2869 yards, or nearly
+1&frac34; mile&mdash;exceeding the famous Kilsby Tunnel by 471
+yards.</p>
+<p>The Midland Railway was a favourite line of Mr.
+Stephenson&rsquo;s for several reasons.&nbsp; It passed through a
+rich mining district, in which it opened up many valuable
+coalfields, and it formed part of the great main line of
+communication between London and Edinburgh.&nbsp; The Act was
+obtained in 1836, and the first ground was broken in February,
+1837.</p>
+<p>Although the Midland Railway was only one of the many great
+works of the same kind executed at that time, it was almost
+enough of itself to be the achievement of a life.&nbsp; Compare
+it, for example with Napoleon&rsquo;s military road over the
+Simplon, and it will at once be seen how greatly it excels that
+work, not only in the constructive skill displayed in it, but
+also in its cost and magnitude, and the amount of labour employed
+in its formation.&nbsp; The road of the Simplon is 45 miles in
+length; the North Midland Railway is 72&frac12; miles.&nbsp; The
+former has 50 bridges and 5 tunnels, measuring together 1338 feet
+in length; the latter has 200 bridges and 7 tunnels, measuring
+together 11,400 feet, or about 2&frac14; miles.&nbsp; The former
+cost about &pound;720,000 <!-- page 258--><a
+name="page258"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 258</span>sterling,
+the latter above &pound;3,000,000.&nbsp; Napoleon&rsquo;s grand
+military road was constructed in six years, at the public cost of
+the two great kingdoms of France and Italy; while
+Stephenson&rsquo;s railway was formed in about three years, by a
+company of private merchants and capitalists out of their own
+funds, and under their own superintendence.</p>
+<p>It is scarcely necessary that we should give any account in
+detail of the North Midland works.&nbsp; The making of one tunnel
+so much resembles the making of another,&mdash;the building of
+bridges and viaducts, no matter how extensive, so much resembles
+the building of others,&mdash;the cutting out of
+&ldquo;dirt,&rdquo; the blasting of rocks, and the wheeling of
+excavation into embankments, is so much a matter of mere time and
+hard work,&mdash;that is quite unnecessary for us to detain the
+reader by any attempt at their description.&nbsp; Of course there
+were the usual difficulties to encounter and overcome,&mdash;but
+the railway engineer regarded these as mere matters of course,
+and would probably have been disappointed if they had not
+presented themselves.</p>
+<p>On the Midland, as on other lines, water was the great enemy
+to be fought against,&mdash;water in the Claycross and other
+tunnels,&mdash;water in the boggy or sandy foundations of
+bridges,&mdash;and water in cuttings and embankments.&nbsp; As an
+illustration of the difficulties of bridge building, we may
+mention the case of the five-arch bridge over the Derwent, where
+it took two years&rsquo; work, night and day, to get in the
+foundations of the piers alone.&nbsp; Another curious
+illustration of the mischief done by water in cuttings may be
+briefly mentioned.&nbsp; At a part of the North Midland Line,
+near Ambergate, it was necessary to pass along a hillside in a
+cutting a few yards deep.&nbsp; As the cutting proceeded, a seam
+of shale was cut across, lying at an inclination of 6 to 1; and
+shortly after, the water getting behind the bed of shale, the
+whole mass of earth along the hill above began to move down
+across the line of excavation.&nbsp; The accident completely
+upset the estimates of the contractor, who, instead of 50,000
+cubic yards, found that he had about <!-- page 259--><a
+name="page259"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 259</span>500,000 to
+remove; the execution of this part of the railway occupying
+fifteen months instead of two.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p259.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Land-slip on North Midland Line, near Ambergate"
+title=
+"Land-slip on North Midland Line, near Ambergate"
+src="images/p259.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The Oakenshaw cutting near Wakefield was also of a very
+formidable character.&nbsp; About 600,000 yards of rock shale and
+bind were quarried out of it, and led to form the adjoining
+Oakenshaw embankment.&nbsp; The Normanton cutting was almost as
+heavy, requiring the removal of 400,000 yards of the same kind of
+excavation into embankment and spoil.&nbsp; But the progress of
+the works on the line was so rapid in 1839, that not less than
+450,000 cubic yards of excavation were removed monthly.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 260--><a
+name="page260"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 260</span>
+<a href="images/p260.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Bullbridge, near Ambergate"
+title=
+"Bullbridge, near Ambergate"
+src="images/p260.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>As a curiosity in construction, we may also mention a very
+delicate piece of work executed on the same railway at Bullbridge
+in Derbyshire, where the line at the same point passes
+<i>over</i> a bridge which here spans the river Amber, and
+<i>under</i> the bed of the Cromford Canal.&nbsp; Water, bridge;
+railway, and canal, were thus piled one above the other, four
+stories high; such another curious complication probably not
+existing.&nbsp; In order to prevent the possibility of the waters
+of the canal breaking in upon the works of the railroad, Mr.
+Stephenson had an iron trough made, 150 feet long, of the width
+of the canal, and exactly fitting the bottom.&nbsp; It was
+brought to the spot in three pieces, which were firmly welded
+together, and the trough was then floated into its place and
+sunk; the whole operation being completed without in the least
+interfering with the navigation of the canal.&nbsp; The railway
+works underneath were then proceeded with and finished.</p>
+<p><!-- page 261--><a name="page261"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+261</span>Another line of the same series constructed by George
+Stephenson, was the York and North Midland, extending from
+Normanton&mdash;a point on the Midland Railway&mdash;to York; but
+it was a line of easy formation, traversing a comparatively level
+country.</p>
+<p>During the time that our engineer was engaged in
+superintending the execution of these undertakings, he was
+occupied upon other projected railways in various parts of the
+country.&nbsp; He surveyed several lines in the neighbourhood of
+Glasgow, and afterwards routes along the east coast from
+Newcastle to Edinburgh, with the view of completing the main line
+of communication with London.&nbsp; When out on foot in the
+fields, on these occasions, he was ever foremost in the march;
+and he delighted to test the prowess of his companions by a good
+jump at any hedge or ditch that lay in their way.&nbsp; His
+companions used to remark his singular quickness of
+observation.&nbsp; Nothing escaped his attention&mdash;the trees,
+the crops, the birds, or the farmer&rsquo;s stock; and he was
+usually full of lively conversation, everything in nature
+affording him an opportunity for making some striking remark, or
+propounding some ingenious theory.&nbsp; When taking a flying
+survey of a new line, his keen observation proved very useful to
+him, for he rapidly noted the general configuration of the
+country, and inferred its geological structure.&nbsp; He
+afterwards remarked to a friend, &ldquo;I have planned many a
+railway travelling along in a postchaise, and following the
+natural line of the country.&rdquo;&nbsp; And it was remarkable
+that his first impressions of the direction to be taken almost
+invariably proved correct; and there are few of the lines
+surveyed and recommended by him which have not been executed,
+either during his lifetime or since.&nbsp; As an illustration of
+his quick and shrewd observation on such occasions, we may
+mention that when employed to lay out a line to connect
+Manchester, through Macclesfield, with the Potteries, the
+gentleman who accompanied him on the journey of inspection
+cautioned him to provide large accommodation for carrying off the
+water, <!-- page 262--><a name="page262"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 262</span>observing&mdash;&ldquo;You must not
+judge by the appearance of the brooks; for after heavy rains
+these hills pour down volumes of <i>water</i>, of which you can
+have no conception.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Pooh! pooh!
+<i>don&rsquo;t I see your bridges</i>?&rdquo; replied the
+engineer.&nbsp; He had noted the details of each as he passed
+along.</p>
+<p>Among the other projects which occupied his attention about
+the same time, were the projected lines between Chester and
+Holyhead, between Leeds and Bradford, and between Lancaster and
+Maryport by the western coast.&nbsp; This latter was intended to
+form part of a west-coast line to Scotland; Stephenson favouring
+it partly because of the flatness of the gradients, and also
+because it could be formed at comparatively small cost, whilst it
+would open out a valuable iron-mining district, from which a
+large traffic in ironstone was expected.&nbsp; One of its
+collateral advantages, in the engineer&rsquo;s opinion, was, that
+by forming the railway directly across Morecambe Bay, on the
+north-west coast of Lancashire, a large tract of valuable land
+might be reclaimed from the sea, the sale of which would
+considerably reduce the cost of the works.&nbsp; He estimated
+that by means of a solid embankment across the bay, not less than
+40,000 acres of rich alluvial land would be gained.&nbsp; He
+proposed to carry the road across the ten miles of sands which
+lie between Poulton, near Lancaster, and Humphrey Head on the
+opposite coast, forming the line in a segment of a circle of five
+miles&rsquo; radius.&nbsp; His plan was to drive in piles across
+the entire length, forming a solid fence of stone blocks on the
+land side for the purpose of retaining the sand and silt brought
+down by the rivers from the interior.&nbsp; The embankment would
+then be raised from time to time as the deposit accumulated,
+until the land was filled up to high-water mark; provision being
+made by means of sufficient arches, for the flow of the river
+waters into the bay.&nbsp; The execution of the railway after
+this plan would, however, have occupied more years than the
+promoters of the West Coast line were disposed to wait; and
+eventually Mr. Locke&rsquo;s more direct but uneven line by Shap
+Fell was <!-- page 263--><a name="page263"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 263</span>adopted.&nbsp; A railway has since
+been carried across the head of the bay; and it is not improbable
+that Stephenson&rsquo;s larger scheme of reclaiming the vast
+tract of land now left bare at each receding tide, may yet be
+carried out.</p>
+<p>While occupied in carrying out the great railway undertakings
+which we have above so briefly described, Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s
+home continued, for the greater part of the time, to be at Alton
+Grange, near Leicester.&nbsp; But he was so much occupied in
+travelling about from one committee of directors to
+another&mdash;one week in England, another in Scotland, and
+probably the next in Ireland,&mdash;that he often did not see his
+home for weeks together.&nbsp; He had also to make frequent
+inspections of the various important and difficult works in
+progress, especially on the Midland and Manchester and Leeds
+lines; besides occasionally going to Newcastle to see how the
+locomotive works were going on there.&nbsp; During the three
+years ending in 1837&mdash;perhaps the busiest years of his life
+<a name="citation263"></a><a href="#footnote263"
+class="citation">[263]</a>&mdash;he travelled by postchaise alone
+upwards of 20,000 miles, and yet not less than six months out of
+the three years were spent in London.&nbsp; Hence there is
+comparatively little to record of Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s private
+life at this period; during which he had scarcely a moment that
+he could call his own.</p>
+<p>His correspondence increased so much, that he found it
+necessary to engage a private secretary, who accompanied him on
+his journeys.&nbsp; He was himself exceedingly averse to writing
+letters.&nbsp; The comparatively advanced age at which ho learnt
+the art of writing, and the nature of his duties while engaged at
+the Killingworth colliery, precluded that facility in
+correspondence which only constant practice can <!-- page
+264--><a name="page264"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+264</span>give.&nbsp; He gradually, however, acquired great
+facility in dictation, and possessed the power of labouring
+continuously at this work; the gentleman who acted as his
+secretary in 1835, having informed us that during his busy season
+he one day dictated not fewer than 37 letters, several of them
+embodying the results of much close thinking and
+calculation.&nbsp; On another occasion, he dictated reports and
+letters for twelve continuous hours, until his secretary was
+ready to drop off his chair from sheer exhaustion, and at length
+he pleaded for a suspension of the labour.&nbsp; This great mass
+of correspondence, although closely bearing on the subjects under
+discussion, was not, however, of a kind to supply the biographer
+with matter for quotation, or give that insight into the life and
+character of the writer which the letters of literary men so
+often furnish.&nbsp; They were, for the most part, letters of
+mere business, relating to works in progress, parliamentary
+contests, new surveys, estimates of cost, and railway
+policy,&mdash;curt, and to the point; in short, the letters of a
+man every moment of whose time was precious.&nbsp; He was also
+frequently called upon to inspect and report upon colliery works,
+salt works, brass and copper works, and such like, in addition to
+his own colliery and railway business.&nbsp; And occasionally he
+would run up to London, for the purpose of attending in person to
+the preparation and deposit of the plans and sections of the
+projected undertakings of which he had been appointed
+engineer.</p>
+<p>Fortunately Stephenson possessed a facility of sleeping, which
+enabled him to pass through this enormous amount of fatigue and
+labour without injury to his health.&nbsp; He had been trained in
+a hard school, and could bear with ease conditions which, to men
+more softly nurtured, would have been the extreme of physical
+discomfort.&nbsp; Many, many nights he snatched his sleep while
+travelling in his chaise; and at break of day he would be at
+work, surveying until dark, and this for weeks in
+succession.&nbsp; His whole powers seemed to be under the control
+of his will, for he could wake at any hour, and go to work at
+once.&nbsp; <!-- page 265--><a name="page265"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 265</span>It was difficult for secretaries and
+assistants to keep up with such a man.</p>
+<p>It is pleasant to record that in the midst of these engrossing
+occupations, his heart remained as soft and loving as ever.&nbsp;
+In spring-time he would not be debarred of his boyish pursuit of
+bird-nesting; but would go rambling along the hedges spying for
+nests.&nbsp; In the autumn he went nutting, and when he could
+snatch a few minutes he indulged in his old love of
+gardening.&nbsp; His uniform kindness and good temper, and his
+communicative, intelligent disposition, made him a great
+favourite with the neighbouring farmers, to whom he would
+volunteer much valuable advice on agricultural operations,
+drainage, ploughing, and labour-saving processes.&nbsp; Sometimes
+he took a long rural ride on his favourite &ldquo;Bobby,&rdquo;
+now growing old, but as fond of his master as ever.&nbsp; Towards
+the end of his life, &ldquo;Bobby&rdquo; lived in clover, its
+master&rsquo;s pet, doing no work; and he died at Tapton, in
+1845, more than twenty years old.</p>
+<p>During one of George&rsquo;s brief sojourns at the Grange, he
+found time to write to his son a touching account of a pair of
+robins that had built their nest within one of the upper chambers
+of the house.&nbsp; One day he observed a robin fluttering
+outside the windows, and beating its wings against the panes, as
+if eager to gain admission.&nbsp; He went up stairs, and there
+found, in a retired part of one of the rooms, a robin&rsquo;s
+nest, with one of the parent birds sitting over three or four
+young&mdash;all dead.&nbsp; The excluded bird outside still beat
+against the panes; and on the window being let down, it flew into
+the room, but was so exhausted that it dropped upon the
+floor.&nbsp; Mr. Stephenson took up the bird, carried it down
+stairs, had it warmed and fed.&nbsp; The poor robin revived, and
+for a time was one of his pets.&nbsp; But it shortly died too, as
+if unable to recover from the privations it had endured during
+its three days&rsquo; fluttering and beating at the
+windows.&nbsp; It appeared that the room had been unoccupied,
+and, the sash having been let down, the robins had taken the
+opportunity of building their nest <!-- page 266--><a
+name="page266"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 266</span>within it;
+but the servant having closed the window again, the calamity
+befel the birds which so strongly excited Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s
+sympathies.&nbsp; An incident such as this, trifling though it
+may seem, gives the true key to the heart of the man.</p>
+<p>The amount of their Parliamentary business having greatly
+increased with the projection of new lines of railway, the
+Stephensons found it necessary to set up an office in London in
+1836.&nbsp; George&rsquo;s first office was at 9, Duke Street,
+Westminster, from whence he removed in the following year to
+30&frac12;, Great George-street.&nbsp; That office was the busy
+scene of railway politics for several years.&nbsp; There
+consultations were held, schemes were matured, deputations were
+received, and many projectors called upon our engineer for the
+purpose of submitting to him their plans of railways and railway
+working.&nbsp; His private secretary at the time has informed us
+that at the end of the first Parliamentary session in which he
+had been engaged as engineer for more companies than one, it
+became necessary for him to give instructions as to the
+preparation of the accounts to be rendered to the respective
+companies.&nbsp; In the simplicity of his heart, he directed Mr.
+Binns to take his full time at the rate of ten guineas a day, and
+charge the railway companies in the proportion in which he had
+been actually employed on their respective business during each
+day.&nbsp; When Robert heard of this instruction, he went
+directly to his father and expostulated with him against this
+unprofessional course; and, other influences being brought to
+bear upon him, George at length reluctantly consented to charge
+as other engineers did, an entire day&rsquo;s fee to each of the
+Companies for which he was concerned whilst their business was
+going forward; but he cut down the number of days charged for and
+reduced the daily amount from ten to seven guineas.</p>
+<p>Besides his journeys at home, Mr. Stephenson was on more than
+one occasion called abroad on railway business.&nbsp; Thus, at
+the desire of King Leopold, he made several visits to Belgium to
+assist the Belgian engineers in laying out the <!-- page 267--><a
+name="page267"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 267</span>national
+lines of that kingdom.&nbsp; That enlightened monarch at an early
+period discerned the powerful instrumentality of railways in
+developing a country&rsquo;s resources, and he determined at the
+earliest possible period to adopt them as the great high-roads of
+the nation.&nbsp; The country, being rich in coal and minerals,
+had great manufacturing capabilities.&nbsp; It had good ports,
+fine navigable rivers, abundant canals, and a teeming,
+industrious population.&nbsp; Leopold perceived that railways
+were eminently calculated to bring the industry of the country
+into full play, and to render the riches of the provinces
+available to the rest of the kingdom.&nbsp; He therefore openly
+declared himself the promoter of public railways throughout
+Belgium.&nbsp; A system of lines was projected, at his instance,
+connecting Brussels with the chief towns and cities of the
+kingdom; extending from Ostend eastward to the Prussian frontier,
+and from Antwerp southward to the French frontier.</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson and his son, as the leading railway-engineers
+of England, were consulted by the King on the best mode of
+carrying out his important plans, as early as 1835.&nbsp; In the
+course of that year they visited Belgium, and had several
+interesting conferences with Leopold and his ministers on the
+subject of the proposed railways.&nbsp; The King then appointed
+George Stephenson by royal ordinance a Knight of the Order of
+Leopold.&nbsp; At the invitation of the monarch, Mr. Stephenson
+made a second visit to Belgium in 1837, on the occasion of the
+public opening of the line from Brussels to Ghent.&nbsp; At
+Brussels there was a public procession, and another at Ghent on
+the arrival of the train.&nbsp; Stephenson and his party
+accompanied it to the Public Hall, there to dine with the chief
+Ministers of State, the municipal authorities, and about five
+hundred of the principal inhabitants of the city; the English
+Ambassador being also present.&nbsp; After the King&rsquo;s
+health and a few others had been drunk, that of Mr. Stephenson
+was proposed; on which the whole assembly rose up, amidst great
+excitement and loud applause, and made their way to <!-- page
+268--><a name="page268"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+268</span>where he sat, in order to jingle glasses with him,
+greatly to his own amazement.&nbsp; On the day following, our
+engineer dined with the King and Queen at their own table at
+Laaken, by special invitation; afterwards accompanying his
+Majesty and suite to a public ball given by the municipality of
+Brussels, in honour of the opening of the line to Ghent, as well
+as of their distinguished English guest.&nbsp; On entering the
+room, the general and excited inquiry was, &ldquo;Which is
+Stephenson?&rdquo;&nbsp; The English engineer had not before
+imagined that he was esteemed to be so great a man.</p>
+<p>The London and Birmingham Railway having been completed in
+September, 1838, after being about five years in progress, the
+great main system of railway communication between London,
+Liverpool, and Manchester was then opened to the public.&nbsp;
+For some months previously, the line had been partially opened,
+coaches performing the journey between Denbigh Hall (near
+Wolverton) and Rugby,&mdash;the works of the Kilsby tunnel being
+still incomplete.&nbsp; It was already amusing to hear the
+complaints of the travellers about the slowness of the coaches as
+compared with the railway, though the coaches travelled at the
+speed of eleven miles an hour.&nbsp; The comparison of comfort
+was also greatly to the disparagement of the coaches.&nbsp; Then
+the railway train could accommodate any quantity, whilst the road
+conveyances were limited; and when a press of travellers
+occurred&mdash;as on the occasion of the Queen&rsquo;s
+coronation&mdash;the greatest inconvenience was experienced, and
+as much as &pound;10 was paid for a seat on a donkey-chaise
+between Rugby and Denbigh.&nbsp; On the opening of the railway
+throughout, of course all this inconvenience and delay was
+brought to an end.</p>
+<p>Numerous other openings of railways constructed by Mr.
+Stephenson took place about the same time.&nbsp; The Birmingham
+and Derby line was opened for traffic in August, 1839; the
+Sheffield and Rotherham in November, 1839; and in the course of
+the following year, the Midland, the York and <!-- page 269--><a
+name="page269"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 269</span>North
+Midland, the Chester and Crewe, the Chester and Birkenhead, the
+Manchester and Birmingham, the Manchester and Leeds, and the
+Maryport and Carlisle railways, were all publicly opened in whole
+or in part.&nbsp; Thus 321 miles of railway (exclusive of the
+London and Birmingham) constructed under Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s
+superintendence, at a cost of upwards of eleven millions
+sterling, were, in the course of about two years, added to the
+traffic accommodation of the country.</p>
+<p>The ceremonies which accompanied the public opening of these
+lines were often of an interesting character.&nbsp; The adjoining
+population held general holiday; bands played, banners waved, and
+assembled thousands cheered the passing trains amidst the
+occasional booming of cannon.&nbsp; The proceedings were usually
+wound up by a public dinner; and in the course of the speeches
+which followed, Mr. Stephenson would revert to his favourite
+topic&mdash;the difficulties which he had early encountered in
+the promotion of the railway system, and in establishing the
+superiority of the locomotive.&nbsp; On such occasions he always
+took great pleasure in alluding to the services rendered to
+himself and the public by the young men brought up under his
+eye&mdash;his pupils at first, and afterwards his
+assistants.&nbsp; No great master ever possessed a more devoted
+band of assistants and fellow-workers than he did.&nbsp; It was
+one of the most marked evidences of his own admirable tact and
+judgment that he selected, with such undeviating correctness, the
+men best fitted to carry out his plans.&nbsp; Indeed, the ability
+to accomplish great things, and to carry grand ideas into
+practical effect, depends in no small measure on that intuitive
+knowledge of character, which Stephenson possessed in so
+remarkable a degree.</p>
+<p>At the dinner at York, which followed the partial opening of
+the York and North Midland Railway, Mr. Stephenson said,
+&ldquo;he was sure they would appreciate his feelings when he
+told them, that when he first began railway business his hair was
+black, although it was now grey; and <!-- page 270--><a
+name="page270"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 270</span>that he
+began his life&rsquo;s labour as but a poor ploughboy.&nbsp;
+About thirty years since, he had applied himself to the study of
+how to generate high velocities by mechanical means.&nbsp; He
+thought he had solved that problem; and they had for themselves
+seen, that day, what perseverance had brought him too.&nbsp; He
+was, on that occasion, only too happy to have an opportunity of
+acknowledging that he had, in the latter portion of his career,
+received much most valuable assistance, particularly from young
+men brought up in his manufactory.&nbsp; Whenever talent showed
+itself in a young man he had always given that talent
+encouragement where he could, and he would continue to do
+so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>That this was no exaggerated statement is amply proved by many
+facts which redound to Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s credit.&nbsp; He
+was no niggard of encouragement and praise when he saw honest
+industry struggling for a footing.&nbsp; Many were the young men
+whom, in the course of his useful career, he took by the hand and
+led steadily up to honour and emolument, simply because he had
+noted their zeal, diligence, and integrity.&nbsp; One youth
+excited his interest while working as a common carpenter on the
+Liverpool and Manchester line; and before many years had passed,
+he was recognised as an engineer of distinction.&nbsp; Another
+young man he found industriously working away at his bye-hours,
+and, admiring his diligence, engaged him for his private
+secretary, the gentleman shortly after rising to a position of
+eminent influence and usefulness.&nbsp; Indeed, nothing gave Mr.
+Stephenson greater pleasure than in this way to help on any
+deserving youth who came under his observation, and, in his own
+expressive phrase, to &ldquo;make a man of him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The openings of the great main lines of railroad communication
+shortly proved the fallaciousness of the numerous rash prophecies
+which had been promulgated by the opponents of railways.&nbsp;
+The proprietors of the canals were astounded by the fact that,
+notwithstanding the immense traffic conveyed by rail, their own
+traffic and receipts <!-- page 271--><a name="page271"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 271</span>continued to increase; and that, in
+common with other interests, they fully shared in the expansion
+of trade and commerce which had been so effectually promoted by
+the extension of the railway system.&nbsp; The cattle-owners were
+equally amazed to find the price of horse-flesh increasing with
+the extension of railways, and that the number of coaches running
+to and from the new railway stations gave employment to a greater
+number of horses than under the old stage-coach system.&nbsp;
+Those who had prophesied the decay of the metropolis, and the
+ruin of the suburban cabbage-growers, in consequence of the
+approach of railways to London, were also disappointed; for,
+while the new roads let citizens out of London, they let
+country-people in.&nbsp; Their action, in this respect, was
+centripetal as well as centrifugal.&nbsp; Tens of thousands who
+had never seen the metropolis could now visit it expeditiously
+and cheaply; and Londoners who had never visited the country, or
+but rarely, were enabled, at little cost of time or money, to see
+green fields and clear blue skies, far from the smoke and bustle
+of town.&nbsp; If the dear suburban-grown cabbages became
+depreciated in value, there were truck-loads of fresh-grown
+country cabbages to make amends for the loss: in this case, the
+&ldquo;partial evil&rdquo; was a far more general good.&nbsp; The
+food of the metropolis became rapidly improved, especially in the
+supply of wholesome meat and vegetables.&nbsp; And then the price
+of coals&mdash;an article which, in this country, is as
+indispensable as daily food to all classes&mdash;was greatly
+reduced.&nbsp; What a blessing to the metropolitan poor is
+described in this single fact!</p>
+<p>The prophecies of ruin and disaster to landlords and farmers
+were equally confounded by the openings of the railways.&nbsp;
+The agricultural communications, so far from being
+&ldquo;destroyed,&rdquo; as had been predicted, were immensely
+improved.&nbsp; The farmers were enabled to buy their coals,
+lime, and manure for less money, while they obtained a readier
+access to the best markets for their stock and
+farm-produce.&nbsp; Notwithstanding the <!-- page 272--><a
+name="page272"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 272</span>predictions
+to the contrary, their cows gave milk as before, their sheep fed
+and fattened, and even skittish horses ceased to shy at the
+passing locomotive.&nbsp; The smoke of the engines did not
+obscure the sky, nor were farmyards burnt up by the fire thrown
+from the locomotives.&nbsp; The farming classes were not reduced
+to beggary; on the contrary, they soon felt that, so far from
+having anything to dread, they had very much good to expect from
+the extension of railways.</p>
+<p>Landlords also found that they could get higher rents for
+farms situated near a railway than at a distance from one.&nbsp;
+Hence they became clamorous for &ldquo;sidings.&rdquo;&nbsp; They
+felt it to be a grievance to be placed at a distance from a
+station.&nbsp; After a railway had been once opened, not a
+landlord would consent to have the line taken from him.&nbsp;
+Owners who had fought the promoters before Parliament, and
+compelled them to pass their domains at a distance, at a
+vastly-increased expense in tunnels and deviations, now
+petitioned for branches and nearer station accommodation.&nbsp;
+Those who held property near towns, and had extorted large sums
+as compensation for the anticipated deterioration in the value of
+their building land, found a new demand for it springing up at
+greatly advanced prices.&nbsp; Land was now advertised for sale,
+with the attraction of being &ldquo;near a railway
+station.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The prediction that, even if railways were made, the public
+would not use them, was also completely falsified by the
+results.&nbsp; The ordinary mode of fast travelling for the
+middle classes had heretofore been by mail-coach and
+stage-coach.&nbsp; Those who could not afford to pay the high
+prices charged for such conveyances went by waggon, and the
+poorer classes trudged on foot.&nbsp; George Stephenson was wont
+to say that he hoped to see the day when it would be cheaper for
+a poor man to travel by railway than to walk, and not many years
+passed before his expectation was fulfilled.&nbsp; In no country
+in the world is time worth more money than in England; and by
+saving time&mdash;the criterion <!-- page 273--><a
+name="page273"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 273</span>of
+distance&mdash;the railway proved a great benefactor to men of
+industry in all classes.</p>
+<p>It was some time before the more opulent, who could afford to
+post to town in aristocratic style, became reconciled to railway
+travelling.&nbsp; In the opinion of many, it was only another
+illustration of the levelling tendencies of the age.&nbsp; It put
+an end to that gradation of rank in travelling which was one of
+the few things left by which the nobleman could be distinguished
+from the Manchester manufacturer and bagman.&nbsp; But to younger
+sons of noble families the convenience and cheapness of the
+railway did not fail to recommend itself.&nbsp; One of these,
+whose eldest brother had just succeeded to an earldom, said one
+day to a railway manager: &ldquo;I like railways&mdash;they just
+suit young fellows like me with &lsquo;nothing per annum paid
+quarterly.&rsquo;&nbsp; You know we can&rsquo;t afford to post,
+and it used to be deuced annoying to me, as I was jogging along
+on the box-seat of the stage-coach, to see the little Earl go by
+drawn by his four posters, and just look up at me and give me a
+nod.&nbsp; But now, with railways, it&rsquo;s different.&nbsp;
+It&rsquo;s true, he may take a first-class ticket, while I can
+only afford a second-class one, but <i>we both go the same
+pace</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>For a time, however, many of the old families sent forward
+their servants and luggage by railroad, and condemned themselves
+to jog along the old highway in the accustomed family chariot,
+dragged by country post-horses.&nbsp; But the superior comfort of
+the railway shortly recommended itself to even the oldest
+families; posting went out of date; post-horses were with
+difficulty to be had along even the great high-roads; and nobles
+and servants, manufacturers and peasants, alike shared in the
+comfort, the convenience, and the despatch of railway
+travelling.&nbsp; The late Dr. Arnold, of Rugby, regarded the
+opening of the London and Birmingham line as another great step
+accomplished in the march of civilisation.&nbsp; &ldquo;I rejoice
+to see it,&rdquo; he said, as he stood on one of the bridges over
+the railway, and watched the train flashing along under him, and
+away through the <!-- page 274--><a name="page274"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 274</span>distant hedgerows&mdash;&ldquo;I
+rejoice to see it, and to think that feudality is gone for ever:
+it is so great a blessing to think that any one evil is really
+extinct.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was long before the late Duke of Wellington would trust
+himself behind a locomotive.&nbsp; The fatal accident to Mr.
+Huskisson, which had happened before his eyes, contributed to
+prejudice him strongly against railways, and it was not until the
+year 1843 that he performed his first trip on the South-Western
+Railway, in attendance upon her Majesty.&nbsp; Prince Albert had
+for some time been accustomed to travel by railway alone, but in
+1842 the Queen began to make use of the same mode of conveyance
+between Windsor and London.&nbsp; Even Colonel Sibthorpe was
+eventually compelled to acknowledge its utility.&nbsp; For a time
+he continued to post to and from the country as before.&nbsp;
+Then he compromised the matter by taking a railway ticket for the
+long journey, and posting only a stage or two nearest town;
+until, at length, he undisguisedly committed himself, like other
+people, to the express train, and performed the journey
+throughout upon what he had formerly denounced as &ldquo;the
+infernal railroad.&rdquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p274.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Coalville and Snibston Colliery"
+title=
+"Coalville and Snibston Colliery"
+src="images/p274.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 275--><a
+name="page275"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 275</span>
+<a href="images/p275.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Tapton House, near Chesterfield"
+title=
+"Tapton House, near Chesterfield"
+src="images/p275.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XV.<br />
+<span class="smcap">George Stephenson&rsquo;s Coal
+Mines</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Appears at
+Mechanics&rsquo; Institutes</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">His
+Opinion on Railway Speeds</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Atmospheric System</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Railway Mania</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Visits to Belgium and Spain</span>.</h2>
+<p>While George Stephenson was engaged in carrying on the works
+of the Midland Railway in the neighbourhood of Chesterfield,
+several seams of coal were cut through in the Claycross Tunnel,
+and it occurred to him that if mines were opened out there, the
+railway would provide the means of a ready sale for the article
+in the midland counties, and as far south as even the metropolis
+itself.</p>
+<p>At a time when everybody else was sceptical as to the <!--
+page 276--><a name="page276"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+276</span>possibility of coals being carried from the midland
+counties to London, and sold there at a price to compete with
+those which were seaborne, he declared his firm conviction that
+the time was fast approaching when the London market would be
+regularly supplied with north-country coals led by railway.&nbsp;
+One of the greatest advantages of railways, in his opinion was
+that they would bring iron and coal, the staple products of the
+country, to the doors of all England.&nbsp; &ldquo;The strength
+of Britain,&rdquo; he would say, &ldquo;lies in her iron and coal
+beds; and the locomotive is destined, above all other agencies,
+to bring it forth.&nbsp; The Lord Chancellor now sits upon a bag
+of wool; but wool has long ceased to be emblematical of the
+staple commodity of England.&nbsp; He ought rather to sit upon a
+bag of coals, though it might not prove quite so comfortable a
+seat.&nbsp; Then think of the Lord Chancellor being addressed as
+the noble and learned lord <i>on the coal-sack</i>!&nbsp; I am
+afraid it wouldn&rsquo;t answer, after all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>To one gentleman he said: &ldquo;We want from the coal-mining,
+the iron-producing and manufacturing districts, a great railway
+for the carriage of these valuable products.&nbsp; We want, if I
+may so say, a stream of steam running directly through the
+country, from the North to London, and from other similar
+districts to London.&nbsp; Speed is not so much an object as
+utility and cheapness.&nbsp; It will not do to mix up the heavy
+merchandise and coal trains with the passenger trains.&nbsp; Coal
+and most kinds of goods can wait; but passengers will not.&nbsp;
+A less perfect road and less expensive works will do well enough
+for coal trains, if run at a low speed; and if the line be flat,
+it is not of much consequence whether it be direct or not.&nbsp;
+Whenever you put passenger trains on a line, all the other trains
+must be run at high speeds to keep out of their way.&nbsp; But
+coal trains run at high speeds pull the road to pieces, besides
+causing large expenditure in locomotive power; and I doubt very
+much whether they will pay after all; but a succession of long
+coal trains, if run at from ten to fourteen miles an hour, would
+pay very well.&nbsp; Thus the Stockton <!-- page 277--><a
+name="page277"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 277</span>and
+Darlington Company made a larger profit when running coal at low
+speeds at a halfpenny a ton per mile, than they have been able to
+do since they put on their fast passenger trains, when everything
+must needs be run faster, and a much larger proportion of the
+gross receipts is absorbed by working expenses.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In advocating these views, Mr. Stephenson was considerably
+ahead of his time; and although he did not live to see his
+anticipations fully realised as to the supply of the London
+coal-market, he was nevertheless the first to point out, and to
+some extent to prove, the practicability of establishing a
+profitable coal trade by railway between the northern counties
+and the metropolis.&nbsp; So long, however, as the traffic was
+conducted on main passenger lines at comparatively high speeds,
+it was found that the expenditure on tear and wear of road and
+locomotive power,&mdash;not to mention the increased risk of
+carrying on the first-class passenger traffic with which it was
+mixed up,&mdash;necessarily left a very small margin of profit;
+and hence Mr. Stephenson was in the habit of urging the propriety
+of constructing a railway which should be exclusively devoted to
+goods and mineral traffic run at low speeds as the only condition
+on which a large railway traffic of that sort could be profitably
+conducted.</p>
+<p>Having induced some of his Liverpool friends to join him in a
+coal-mining adventure at Chesterfield, a lease was taken of the
+Claycross estate, then for sale, and operations were shortly
+after begun.&nbsp; At a subsequent period Mr. Stephenson extended
+his coal-mining operations in the same neighbourhood; and in 1841
+he himself entered into a contract with owners of land in
+adjoining townships for the working of the coal thereunder; and
+pits were opened on the Tapton estate on an extensive
+scale.&nbsp; About the same time he erected great lime-works,
+close to the Ambergate station of the Midland Railway, from
+which, when in full operation he was able to turn out upwards of
+200 tons a day.&nbsp; The limestone was brought on a tramway from
+the village of <!-- page 278--><a name="page278"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 278</span>Crich, 2 or 3 miles distant, the
+coal being supplied from his adjoining Claycross colliery.&nbsp;
+The works were on a scale such as had not before been attempted
+by any private individual engaged in a similar trade; and we
+believe they proved very successful.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p278.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Lime Works at Ambergate"
+title=
+"Lime Works at Ambergate"
+src="images/p278.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Tapton House was included in the lease of one of the
+collieries, and as it was conveniently situated&mdash;being, as
+it were, a central point on the Midland Railway, from which he
+could readily proceed north or south, on his journeys of
+inspection of the various lines then under construction in the
+midland and northern counties,&mdash;he took up his residence
+there, and it continued his home until the close of his life.</p>
+<p>Tapton House is a large roomy brick mansion, beautifully
+situated amidst woods, upon a commanding eminence, about a mile
+to the north-east of the town of Chesterfield.&nbsp; Green fields
+dotted with fine trees slope away from the <!-- page 279--><a
+name="page279"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 279</span>house in
+all directions.&nbsp; The surrounding country is undulating and
+highly picturesque.&nbsp; North and south the eye ranges over a
+vast extent of lovely scenery; and on the west, looking over the
+town of Chesterfield, with its church and crooked spire, the
+extensive range of the Derbyshire hills bounds the
+distance.&nbsp; The Midland Railway skirts the western edge of
+the park in a deep rock cutting, and the shrill whistle of the
+locomotive sounds near at hand as the trains speed past.&nbsp;
+The gardens and pleasure-grounds adjoining the house were in a
+very neglected state when Mr. Stephenson first went to Tapton;
+and he promised himself, when he had secured rest and leisure
+from business, that he would put a new face upon both.&nbsp; The
+first improvement he made was cutting a woodland footpath up the
+hill-side, by which he at the same time added a beautiful feature
+to the park, and secured a shorter road to the Chesterfield
+station.&nbsp; But it was some years before he found time to
+carry into effect his contemplated improvements in the adjoining
+gardens and pleasure-grounds.&nbsp; He had so long been
+accustomed to laborious pursuits, and felt himself still so full
+of work, that he could not at once settle down into the habit of
+quietly enjoying the fruits of his industry.</p>
+<p>He had no difficulty in usefully employing his time.&nbsp;
+Besides directing the mining operations at Claycross, the
+establishment of the lime-kilns at Ambergate, and the
+construction of the extensive railways still in progress, he
+occasionally paid visits to Newcastle, where his locomotive
+manufactory was now in full work, and the proprietors were
+reaping the advantages of his early foresight in an abundant
+measure of prosperity.&nbsp; One of his most interesting visits
+to the place was in 1838, on the occasion of the meeting of the
+British Association there, when he acted as one of the
+Vice-Presidents in the section of Mechanical Science.&nbsp;
+Extraordinary changes had occurred in his own fortunes, as well
+as in the face of the country, since he had first appeared before
+a scientific body in Newcastle&mdash;the <!-- page 280--><a
+name="page280"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 280</span>members of
+the Literary and Philosophical Institute&mdash;to submit his
+safety-lamp for their examination.&nbsp; Twenty-three years had
+passed over his head, full of honest work, of manful struggle;
+and the humble &ldquo;colliery engine-wright of the name of
+Stephenson&rdquo; had achieved an almost worldwide reputation as
+a public benefactor.&nbsp; His fellow-townsmen, therefore, could
+not hesitate to recognise his merits and do honour to his
+name.&nbsp; During the sittings of the Association, Mr.
+Stephenson took the opportunity of paying a visit to
+Killingworth, accompanied by some of the distinguished
+<i>savans</i> whom he numbered amongst his friends.&nbsp; He
+there pointed out to them, with a degree of honest pride, the
+cottage in which he had lived for so many years, showed what
+parts of it had been his own handiwork, and told them the story
+of the sun-dial over the door, describing the study and the
+labour it had cost him and his son to calculate its dimensions,
+and fix it in its place.&nbsp; The dial had been serenely
+numbering the hours through the busy years that had elapsed since
+that humble dwelling had been his home; during which the
+Killingworth locomotive had become a great working power, and its
+contriver had established the railway system, which was now
+rapidly becoming extended in all parts of the world.</p>
+<p>About the same time, his services were very much in request at
+the meetings of Mechanics&rsquo; Institutes held throughout the
+northern counties.&nbsp; From an early period in his history, he
+had taken an active interest in these institutions.&nbsp; While
+residing at Newcastle in 1824, shortly after his locomotive
+foundry had been started in Forth-street, he presided at a public
+meeting held in that town for the purpose of establishing a
+Mechanics&rsquo; Institute.&nbsp; The meeting was held; but as
+George Stephenson was a man comparatively unknown even in
+Newcastle at that time, his name failed to secure &ldquo;an
+influential attendance.&rdquo;&nbsp; Among those who addressed
+the meeting on the occasion was Joseph Locke, then his pupil, and
+afterwards his rival as an engineer.&nbsp; The local papers
+scarcely noticed the <!-- page 281--><a name="page281"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 281</span>proceedings; yet the
+Mechanics&rsquo; Institute was founded, and struggled into
+existence.&nbsp; Years passed, and it was now felt to be an
+honour to secure Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s presence at any public
+meetings held for the promotion of popular education.&nbsp; Among
+the Mechanics&rsquo; Institutes in his immediate neighbourhood at
+Tapton, were those of Belper and Chesterfield; and at their
+soir&eacute;es he was a frequent and a welcome visitor.&nbsp; On
+these occasions he loved to tell his auditors of the difficulties
+which had early beset him through want of knowledge, and of the
+means by which he had overcome them.&nbsp; His grand text
+was&mdash;<span class="smcap">Persevere</span>; and there was
+manhood in the very word.</p>
+<p>On more than one occasion, the author had the pleasure of
+listening to George Stephenson&rsquo;s homely but forcible
+addresses at the annual soir&eacute;es of the Leeds
+Mechanics&rsquo; Institute.&nbsp; He was always an immense
+favourite with his audiences there.&nbsp; His personal appearance
+was greatly in his favour.&nbsp; A handsome, ruddy, expressive
+face, lit up by bright dark-blue eyes, prepared one for his
+earnest words when he stood up to speak and the cheers had
+subsided which invariably hailed his rising.&nbsp; He was not
+glib, but he was very impressive.&nbsp; And who, so well as he,
+could serve as a guide to the working man in his endeavours after
+higher knowledge?&nbsp; His early life had been all
+struggle&mdash;encounter with difficulty&mdash;groping in the
+dark after greater light, but always earnestly and
+perseveringly.&nbsp; His words were therefore all the more
+weighty, since he spoke from the fulness of his own
+experience.</p>
+<p>Nor did he remain a mere inactive spectator of the
+improvements in railway working which increasing experience from
+day to day suggested.&nbsp; He continued to contrive improvements
+in the locomotive, and to mature his invention of the
+carriage-brake.&nbsp; When examined before the Select Committee
+on Railways in 1841, his mind seems principally to have been
+impressed with the necessity which existed for adopting a system
+of self acting brakes; stating that, in his opinion, this was the
+most important arrangement that <!-- page 282--><a
+name="page282"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 282</span>could be
+provided for increasing the safety of railway travelling.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;I believe,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that if self-acting
+brakes were put upon every carriage, scarcely any accident could
+take place.&rdquo;&nbsp; His plan consisted in employing the
+momentum of the running train to throw his proposed brakes into
+action, immediately on the moving power of the engine being
+checked.&nbsp; He would also have these brakes under the control
+of the guard, by means of a connecting line running along the
+whole length of the train, by which they should at once be thrown
+out of gear when necessary.&nbsp; At the same time he suggested,
+as an additional means of safety, that the signals of the line
+should be self-acting, and worked by the locomotives as they
+passed along the railway.&nbsp; He considered the adoption of
+this plan of so much importance, that, with a view to the public
+safety, he would even have it enforced upon railway companies by
+the legislature.&nbsp; At the same time he was of opinion that it
+was the interest of the companies themselves to adopt the plan,
+as it would save great tear and wear of engines, carriages,
+tenders, and brake-vans, besides greatly diminishing the risk of
+accidents upon railways.</p>
+<p>While before the same Committee, he took the opportunity of
+stating his views with reference to railway speed, about which
+wild ideas were then afloat&mdash;one gentleman of celebrity
+having publicly expressed the opinion that a speed of 100 miles
+an hour was practicable in railway travelling!&nbsp; Not many
+years had passed since George Stephenson had been pronounced
+insane for stating his conviction that 12 miles an hour could be
+performed by the locomotive; but now that he had established the
+fact, and greatly exceeded that speed, he was thought behind the
+age because he recommended the rate to be limited to 40 miles an
+hour.&nbsp; He said: &ldquo;I do not like either 40 or 50 miles
+an hour upon any line&mdash;I think it is an unnecessary speed;
+and if there is danger upon a railway, it is high velocity that
+creates it.&nbsp; I should say no railway ought to exceed 40
+miles an hour on the most favourable gradient; but upon a curved
+line <!-- page 283--><a name="page283"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 283</span>the speed ought not to exceed 24 or
+25 miles an hour.&rdquo;&nbsp; He had, indeed, constructed for
+the Great Western Railway an engine capable of running 50 miles
+an hour with a load, and 80 miles without one.&nbsp; But he never
+was in favour of a hurricane speed of this sort, believing it
+could only be accomplished at an unnecessary increase both of
+danger and expense.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; he observed on other occasions,
+&ldquo;I have said the locomotive engine <i>might</i> be made to
+travel 100 miles an hour; but I always put a qualification on
+this, namely, as to what speed would best suit the public.&nbsp;
+The public may, however, be unreasonable; and 50 or 60 miles an
+hour is an unreasonable speed.&nbsp; Long before railway
+travelling became general, I said to my friends that there was no
+limit to the speed of the locomotive, <i>provided the works could
+be made to stand</i>.&nbsp; But there are limits to the strength
+of iron, whether it be manufactured into rails or locomotives;
+and there is a point at which both rails and tyres must
+break.&nbsp; Every increase of speed, by increasing the strain
+upon the road and the rolling stock, brings us nearer to that
+point.&nbsp; At 30 miles a slighter road will do, and less
+perfect rolling stock may be run upon it with safety.&nbsp; But
+if you increase the speed by say 10 miles, then everything must
+be greatly strengthened.&nbsp; You must have heavier engines,
+heavier and better-fastened rails, and all your working expenses
+will be immediately increased.&nbsp; I think I know enough of
+mechanics to know where to stop.&nbsp; I know that a pound will
+weigh a pound, and that no more should be put upon an iron rail
+than it will bear.&nbsp; If you could ensure perfect iron,
+perfect rails, and perfect locomotives, I grant 50 miles an hour
+or more might be run with safety on a level railway.&nbsp; But
+then you must not forget that iron, even the best, will
+&lsquo;tire,&rsquo; and with constant use will become more and
+more liable to break at the weakest point&mdash;perhaps where
+there is a secret flaw that the eye cannot detect.&nbsp; Then
+look at the rubbishy rails now manufactured on the contract
+system&mdash;some of them <!-- page 284--><a
+name="page284"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 284</span>little
+better than cast metal: indeed, I have seen rails break merely on
+being thrown from the truck on to the ground.&nbsp; How is it
+possible for such rails to stand a 20 or 30 ton engine dashing
+over them at the speed of 50 miles an hour?&nbsp; No, no,&rdquo;
+he would conclude, &ldquo;I am in favour of low speeds because
+they are safe, and because they are economical; and you may rely
+upon it that, beyond a certain point, with every increase of
+speed there is an increase in the element of danger.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When railways became the subject of popular discussion, many
+new and unsound theories were started with reference to them,
+which Stephenson opposed as calculated, in his opinion, to bring
+discredit on the locomotive system.&nbsp; One of these was with
+reference to what were called &ldquo;undulating
+lines.&rdquo;&nbsp; Among others, Dr. Lardner, who had originally
+been somewhat sceptical about the powers of the locomotive, now
+promulgated the idea that a railway constructed with rising and
+falling gradients would be practically as easy to work as a line
+perfectly level.&nbsp; Mr. Badnell went even beyond him, for he
+held that an undulating railway was much better than a level one
+for purposes of working.&nbsp; For a time, this theory found
+favour, and the &ldquo;undulating system&rdquo; was extensively
+adopted; but Mr. Stephenson never ceased to inveigh against it;
+and experience has amply proved that his judgment was
+correct.&nbsp; His practice, from the beginning of his career
+until the end of it, was to secure a road as nearly as possible
+on a level, following the course of the valleys and the natural
+line of the country: preferring to go round a hill rather than to
+tunnel under it or carry his railway over it, and often making a
+considerable circuit to secure good, workable gradients.&nbsp; He
+studied to lay out his lines so that long trains of minerals and
+merchandise, as well as passengers, might be hauled along them at
+the least possible expenditure of locomotive power.&nbsp; He had
+long before ascertained, by careful experiments at Killingworth,
+that the engine expends half of its power in overcoming a rising
+gradient of 1 in 260, which is about <!-- page 285--><a
+name="page285"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 285</span>20 feet in
+the mile; and that when the gradient is so steep as 1 in 100, not
+less than three-fourths of its power is sacrificed in ascending
+the acclivity.&nbsp; He never forgot the valuable practical
+lesson taught him by the early trials which he had made and
+registered long before the advantages of railways had been
+recognised.&nbsp; He saw clearly that the longer flat line must
+eventually prove superior to the shorter line of steep gradients
+as respected its paying qualities.&nbsp; He urged that, after
+all, the power of the locomotive was but limited; and, although
+he and his son had done more than any other men to increase its
+working capacity, it provoked him to find that every improvement
+made in it was neutralised by the steep gradients which the new
+school of engineers were setting it to overcome.&nbsp; On one
+occasion, when Robert Stephenson stated before a Parliamentary
+Committee that every successive improvement in the locomotive was
+being rendered virtually nugatory by the difficult and almost
+impracticable gradients proposed on many of the new lines, his
+father, on his leaving the witness-box, went up to him, and said,
+&ldquo;Robert, you never spoke truer words than those in all your
+life.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>To this it must be added, that in urging these views Mr.
+Stephenson was strongly influenced by commercial
+considerations.&nbsp; He had no desire to build up his reputation
+at the expense of railway shareholders, nor to obtain engineering
+<i>&eacute;clat</i> by making &ldquo;ducks and drakes&rdquo; of
+their money.&nbsp; He was persuaded that, in order to secure the
+practical success of railways, they must be so laid out as not
+only to prove of decided public utility, but also to be worked
+economically and to the advantage of their proprietors.&nbsp;
+They were not government roads, but private ventures&mdash;in
+fact, commercial speculations.&nbsp; He therefore endeavoured to
+render them financially profitable; and he repeatedly declared
+that if he did not believe they could be &ldquo;made to
+pay,&rdquo; he would have nothing to do with them.&nbsp; He was
+not influenced by the sordid consideration of what he could
+<i>make</i> out of any company that employed him; indeed, in <!--
+page 286--><a name="page286"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+286</span>many cases he voluntarily gave up his claim to
+remuneration where the promoters of schemes which he thought
+praiseworthy had suffered serious loss.&nbsp; Thus, when the
+first application was made to Parliament for the Chester and
+Birkenhead Railway Bill, the promoters were defeated.&nbsp; They
+repeated their application, on the understanding that in event of
+their succeeding, the engineer and surveyor were to be paid their
+costs in respect of the defeated measure.&nbsp; The Bill was
+successful, and to several parties their costs were paid.&nbsp;
+Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s amounted to &pound;800, and he very nobly
+said, &ldquo;You have had an expensive career in Parliament; you
+have had a great struggle; you are a young Company; you cannot
+afford to pay me this amount of money.&nbsp; I will reduce it to
+&pound;200, and I will not ask you for that &pound;200 until your
+shares are at &pound;20 premium: for whatever may be the reverses
+you will go through, I am satisfied I shall live to see the day
+when your shares will be at &pound;20 premium, and when I can
+legally and honourably claim that &pound;200.&rdquo;&nbsp; We may
+add that the shares did eventually rise to the premium specified,
+and the engineer was no loser by his generous conduct in the
+transaction.</p>
+<p>Another novelty of the time, with which George Stephenson had
+to contend, was the substitution of atmospheric pressure for
+locomotive steam-power in the working of railways.&nbsp; The idea
+of obtaining motion by means of atmospheric pressure is said to
+have originated with Denis Papin, more than 150 years ago; but it
+slept until revived in 1810 by Mr. Medhurst, who published a
+pamphlet to prove the practicability of carrying letters and
+goods by air.&nbsp; In 1824, Mr. Vallance of Brighton took out a
+patent for projecting passengers through a tube large enough to
+contain a train of carriages; the tube being previously exhausted
+of its atmospheric air.&nbsp; The same idea was afterwards taken
+up, in 1835, by Mr. Pinkus, an ingenious American.&nbsp;
+Scientific gentlemen, Dr. Lardner and Mr. Clegg amongst others,
+advocated the plan; and an association was formed to carry it
+into effect.&nbsp; Shares were <!-- page 287--><a
+name="page287"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 287</span>created,
+and &pound;18,000 raised: and a model apparatus was exhibited in
+London.&nbsp; Mr. Vignolles took his friend Stephenson to see the
+model; and after carefully examining it, he observed
+emphatically, &ldquo;<i>It won&rsquo;t do</i>: it is only the
+fixed engines and ropes over again, in another form; and, to tell
+you the truth, I don&rsquo;t think this rope of wind will answer
+so well as the rope of wire did.&rdquo;&nbsp; He did not think
+the principle would stand the test of practice, and he objected
+to the mode of applying the principle.&nbsp; After all, it was
+only a modification of the stationary-engine plan; and every
+day&rsquo;s experience was proving that fixed engines could not
+compete with locomotives in point of efficiency and
+economy.&nbsp; He stood by the locomotive engine; and subsequent
+experience proved that he was right.</p>
+<p>Messrs. Clegg and Samuda afterwards, in 1840, patented their
+plan of an atmospheric railway; and they publicly tested its
+working on an unfinished portion of the West London
+Railway.&nbsp; The results of the experiment were so
+satisfactory, that the directors of the Dublin and Kingstown line
+adopted it between Kingstown and Dalkey.&nbsp; The London and
+Croydon Company also adopted the atmospheric principle; and their
+line was opened in 1845.&nbsp; The ordinary mode of applying the
+power was to lay between the line of rails a pipe, in which a
+large piston was inserted, and attached by a shaft to the
+framework of a carriage.&nbsp; The propelling power was the
+ordinary pressure of the atmosphere acting against the piston in
+the tube on one side, a vacuum being created in the tube on the
+other side of the piston by the working of a stationary
+engine.&nbsp; Great was the popularity of the atmospheric system;
+and still George Stephenson said &ldquo;It won&rsquo;t do:
+it&rsquo;s but a gimcrack.&rdquo;&nbsp; Engineers of distinction
+said he was prejudiced, and that he looked upon the locomotive as
+a pet child of his own.&nbsp; &ldquo;Wait a little,&rdquo; he
+replied, &ldquo;and you will see that I am right.&rdquo;&nbsp; It
+was generally supposed that the locomotive system was about to be
+snuffed out.&nbsp; &ldquo;Not so fast,&rdquo; said
+Stephenson.&nbsp; &ldquo;Let us wait to see if it will
+pay.&rdquo;&nbsp; He never <!-- page 288--><a
+name="page288"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 288</span>believed it
+would.&nbsp; It was ingenious, clever, scientific, and all that;
+but railways were commercial enterprises, not toys; and if the
+atmospheric railway could not work to a profit, it would not
+do.&nbsp; Considered in this light, he even went so far as to
+call it &ldquo;a great humbug.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Nothing will
+beat the locomotive,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;for efficiency in all
+weathers, for economy in drawing loads of average weight, and for
+power and speed as occasion may require.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The atmospheric system was fairly and fully tried, and it was
+found wanting.&nbsp; It was admitted to be an exceedingly elegant
+mode of applying power; its devices were very skilful, and its
+mechanism was most ingenious.&nbsp; But it was costly, irregular
+in action, and, in particular kinds of weather, not to be
+depended upon.&nbsp; At best, it was but a modification of the
+stationary-engine system, and experience proved it to be so
+expensive that it was shortly after entirely abandoned in favour
+of locomotive power. <a name="citation288"></a><a
+href="#footnote288" class="citation">[288]</a></p>
+<p>One of the remarkable results of the system of railway
+locomotion which George Stephenson had by his persevering labours
+mainly contributed to establish, was the outbreak of the railway
+mania towards the close of his professional career.&nbsp; The
+success of the first main lines of railway naturally led to their
+extension into many new districts; but a strongly speculative
+tendency soon began to display itself, which contained in it the
+elements of great danger.</p>
+<p>The extension of railways had, up to the year 1844, been
+mainly effected by men of the commercial classes, and the
+shareholders in them principally belonged to the manufacturing
+districts,&mdash;the capitalists of the metropolis as yet <!--
+page 289--><a name="page289"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+289</span>holding aloof, and prophesying disaster to all
+concerned in railway projects.&nbsp; But when the lugubrious
+anticipations of the City men were found to be so entirely
+falsified by the results&mdash;when, after the lapse of years, it
+was ascertained that railway traffic rapidly increased and
+dividends steadily improved&mdash;a change came over the spirit
+of the London capitalists.&nbsp; They then invested largely in
+railways, the shares in which became a leading branch of business
+on the Stock Exchange, and the prices of some rose to nearly
+double their original value.</p>
+<p>A stimulus was thus given to the projection of further lines,
+the shares in most of which came out at a premium, and became the
+subject of immediate traffic.&nbsp; A reckless spirit of gambling
+set in, which completely changed the character and objects of
+railway enterprise.&nbsp; The public outside the Stock Exchange
+became also infected, and many persons utterly ignorant of
+railways, knowing and caring nothing about their national uses,
+but hungering and thirsting after premiums, rushed eagerly into
+the vortex.&nbsp; They applied for allotments, and subscribed for
+shares in lines, of the engineering character or probable traffic
+of which they knew nothing.&nbsp; Provided they could but obtain
+allotments which they could sell at a premium, and put the
+profit&mdash;in many cases the only capital they possessed <a
+name="citation289"></a><a href="#footnote289"
+class="citation">[289]</a>&mdash;into their pocket, it was enough
+for them.&nbsp; The mania was not confined to the precincts of
+the Stock Exchange, but infected all ranks.&nbsp; It embraced
+merchants and manufacturers, gentry and shopkeepers, clerks in
+public offices, and loungers at the clubs.&nbsp; Noble lords were
+pointed at as &ldquo;stags;&rdquo; there were even clergymen who
+were characterised as &ldquo;bulls;&rdquo; and amiable ladies who
+had the reputation of <!-- page 290--><a name="page290"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 290</span>&ldquo;bears,&rdquo; in the share
+markets.&nbsp; The few quiet men who remained uninfluenced by the
+speculation of the time were, in not a few cases, even reproached
+for doing injustice to their families, in declining to help
+themselves from the stores of wealth that were poured out on all
+sides.</p>
+<p>Folly and knavery were, for a time, completely in the
+ascendant.&nbsp; The sharpers of society were let loose, and
+jobbers and schemers became more and more plentiful.&nbsp; They
+threw out railway schemes as lures to catch the unwary.&nbsp;
+They fed the mania with a constant succession of new
+projects.&nbsp; The railway papers became loaded with their
+advertisements.&nbsp; The post-office was scarcely able to
+distribute the multitude of prospectuses and circulars which they
+issued.&nbsp; For a time their popularity was immense.&nbsp; They
+rose like froth into the upper heights of society, and the
+flunkey FitzPlushe, by virtue of his supposed wealth, sat amongst
+peers and was idolised.&nbsp; Then was the harvest-time of
+scheming lawyers, parliamentary agents, engineers, surveyors, and
+traffic-takers, who were ready to take up any railway scheme
+however desperate, and to prove any amount of traffic even where
+none existed.&nbsp; The traffic in the credulity of their dupes
+was, however, the great fact that mainly concerned them, and of
+the profitable character of which there could be no doubt.</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson was anxiously entreated to lend his name to
+prospectuses during the railway mania; but he invariably
+refused.&nbsp; He held aloof from the headlong folly of the hour,
+and endeavoured to check it, but in vain.&nbsp; Had he been less
+scrupulous, and given his countenance to the numerous projects
+about which he was consulted, he might, without any trouble, have
+thus secured enormous gains; but he had no desire to accumulate a
+fortune without labour and without honour.&nbsp; He himself never
+speculated in shares.&nbsp; When he was satisfied as to the
+merits of any undertaking, he subscribed for a certain amount of
+capital in it, and held on, neither buying nor selling.&nbsp; At
+a dinner of the Leeds and Bradford directors at Ben Rydding in
+October, 1844, <!-- page 291--><a name="page291"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 291</span>before the mania had reached its
+height, he warned those present against the prevalent disposition
+towards railway speculation.&nbsp; It was, he said, like walking
+upon a piece of ice with shallows and deeps; the shallows were
+frozen over, and they would carry, but it required great caution
+to get over the deeps.&nbsp; He was satisfied that in the course
+of the next year many would step on to places not strong enough
+to carry them, and would get into the deeps; they would be taking
+shares, and afterwards be unable to pay the calls upon
+them.&nbsp; Yorkshiremen were reckoned clever men, and his advice
+to them was, to stick together and promote communication in their
+own neighbourhood,&mdash;not to go abroad with their
+speculations.&nbsp; If any had done so, he advised them to get
+their money back as fast as they could, for if they did not they
+would not get it at all.&nbsp; He informed the company, at the
+same time, of his earliest holding of railway shares; it was in
+the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and the number he held was
+<i>three</i>&mdash;&ldquo;a very large capital for him to possess
+at the time.&rdquo;&nbsp; But a Stockton friend was anxious to
+possess a share, and he sold him <i>one</i> at a premium of 33s.;
+he supposed he had been about the first man in England to sell a
+railway share at a premium.</p>
+<p>During 1845, his son&rsquo;s offices in Great George-street,
+Westminster, were crowded with persons of various conditions
+seeking interviews, presenting very much the appearance of the
+levee of a minister of state.&nbsp; The burly figure of Mr.
+Hudson, the &ldquo;Railway King,&rdquo; surrounded by an admiring
+group of followers, was often to be seen there; and a still more
+interesting person, in the estimation of many, was George
+Stephenson, dressed in black, his coat of somewhat old-fashioned
+cut, with square pockets in the tails.&nbsp; He wore a white
+neckcloth, and a large bunch of seals was suspended from his
+watch-ribbon.&nbsp; Altogether, he presented an appearance of
+health, intelligence, and good humour, that rejoiced one to look
+upon in that sordid, selfish and eventually ruinous saturnalia of
+railway speculation.</p>
+<p>Powers were granted by Parliament, in 1843, to construct <!--
+page 292--><a name="page292"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+292</span>not less than 2883 miles of new railways in Britain, at
+an expenditure of about forty-four millions sterling!&nbsp; Yet
+the mania was not appeased; for in the following session of 1846,
+applications were made to Parliament for powers to raise
+&pound;389,000,000 sterling for the construction of further
+lines; and powers were actually conceded for forming 4790 miles
+(including 60 miles of tunnels), at a cost of about
+&pound;120,000,000 sterling.&nbsp; During this session, Mr.
+Stephenson appeared as engineer for only one new line,&mdash;the
+Buxton, Macclesfield, Congleton, and Crewe Railway&mdash;a line
+in which, as a coal-owner, he was personally
+interested;&mdash;and of three branch-lines in connexion with
+existing companies for which he had long acted as engineer.&nbsp;
+At the same time, all the leading professional men were fully
+occupied, some of them appearing as consulting engineers for
+upwards of thirty lines each!</p>
+<p>One of the features of the mania was the rage for
+&ldquo;direct lines&rdquo; which everywhere displayed
+itself.&nbsp; There were &ldquo;Direct Manchester,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Direct Exeter,&rdquo; &ldquo;Direct York,&rdquo; and,
+indeed, new direct lines between most of the large towns.&nbsp;
+The Marquis of Bristol, speaking in favour of the &ldquo;Direct
+Norwich and London&rdquo; project, at a public meeting at
+Haverhill, said, &ldquo;If necessary, they might <i>make a tunnel
+beneath his very drawing-room</i>, rather than be defeated in
+their undertaking!&rdquo;&nbsp; And the Rev. F. Litchfield, at a
+meeting in Banbury, on the subject of a line to that town, said
+&ldquo;He had laid down for himself a limit to his approbation of
+railways,&mdash;at least of such as approached the neighbourhood
+with which he was connected,&mdash;and that limit was, that he
+did not wish them to approach any nearer to him than <i>to run
+through his bedroom</i>, <i>with the bedposts for a
+station</i>!&rdquo;&nbsp; How different was the spirit which
+influenced these noble lords and gentlemen but a few years
+before!</p>
+<p>The House of Commons became thoroughly influenced by the
+prevailing excitement.&nbsp; Even the Board of Trade began to
+favour the views of the fast school of engineers.&nbsp; In their
+&ldquo;Report on the Lines projected in the Manchester and <!--
+page 293--><a name="page293"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+293</span>Leeds District,&rdquo; they promulgated some remarkable
+views respecting gradients, declaring themselves in favour of the
+&ldquo;undulating system.&rdquo;&nbsp; They there stated that
+lines of an undulating character &ldquo;which have gradients of 1
+in 70 or in 80 distributed over them in short lengths, may be
+positively <i>better</i> lines, <i>i.e.</i>, <i>more susceptible
+of cheap and expeditious working</i>, than others which have
+nothing steeper than 1 in 100 or 1 in 120!&rdquo;&nbsp; They
+concluded by reporting in favour of the line which exhibited the
+worst gradients and the sharpest curves, chiefly on the ground
+that it could be constructed for less money.</p>
+<p>Sir Robert Peel took occasion to advert to this Report in the
+House of Commons on the 4th of March following, as containing
+&ldquo;a novel and highly important view on the subject of
+gradients, which, he was certain, never could have been taken by
+any Committee of the House of Commons, however
+intelligent;&rdquo; and he might have added, that the more
+intelligent, the less likely they were to arrive at any such
+conclusion.&nbsp; When Mr. Stephenson saw this report of the
+Premier&rsquo;s speech in the newspapers of the following
+morning, he went forthwith to his son, and asked him to write a
+letter to Sir Robert Peel on the subject.&nbsp; He saw clearly
+that if these views were adopted, the utility and economy of
+railways would be seriously curtailed.&nbsp; &ldquo;These members
+of Parliament,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;are now as much disposed to
+exaggerate the powers of the locomotive, as they were to
+under-estimate them but a few years ago.&rdquo;&nbsp; Robert
+accordingly wrote a letter for his father&rsquo;s signature,
+embodying the views which he so strongly entertained as to the
+importance of flat gradients, and referring to the experiments
+conducted by him many years before, in proof of the great loss of
+working power which was incurred on a line of steep as compared
+with easy gradients.&nbsp; It was clear, from the tone of Sir
+Robert Peel&rsquo;s speech in a subsequent debate, that he had
+carefully read and considered Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s practical
+observations on the subject; though it did not appear that he had
+come <!-- page 294--><a name="page294"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 294</span>to any definite conclusion thereon,
+further than that he strongly approved of the Trent Valley
+Railway, by which Tamworth would be placed upon a direct main
+line of communication.</p>
+<p>The result of the labours of Parliament was a tissue of
+legislative bungling, involving enormous loss to the
+public.&nbsp; Railway Bills were granted in heaps.&nbsp; Two
+hundred and seventy-two additional Acts were passed in
+1846.&nbsp; Some authorised the construction of lines running
+almost parallel to existing railways, in order to afford the
+public &ldquo;the benefits of unrestricted
+competition.&rdquo;&nbsp; Locomotive and atmospheric lines,
+broad-gauge and narrow-gauge lines, were granted without
+hesitation.&nbsp; Committees decided without judgment and without
+discrimination; it was a scramble for Bills, in which the most
+unscrupulous were the most successful.</p>
+<p>Amongst the many ill effects of the mania, one of the worst
+was that it introduced a low tone of morality into railway
+transactions.&nbsp; The bad spirit which had been evoked by it
+unhappily extended to the commercial classes, and many of the
+most flagrant swindles of recent times had their origin in the
+year 1845.&nbsp; Those who had suddenly gained large sums without
+labour, and also without honour, were too ready to enter upon
+courses of the wildest extravagance; and a false style of living
+shortly arose, the poisonous influence of which extended through
+all classes.&nbsp; Men began to look upon railways as instruments
+to job with.&nbsp; Persons, sometimes possessing information
+respecting railways, but more frequently possessing none, got
+upon boards for the purpose of promoting their individual
+objects, often in a very unscrupulous manner; landowners, to
+promote branch lines through their property; speculators in
+shares, to trade upon the exclusive information which they
+obtained; whilst some directors were appointed through the
+influence mainly of solicitors, contractors, or engineers, who
+used them as tools to serve their own ends.&nbsp; In this way the
+unfortunate proprietors were, in many cases, betrayed, and their
+<!-- page 295--><a name="page295"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+295</span>property was shamefully squandered, much to the
+discredit of the railway system.</p>
+<p>While the mania was at its height in England, railways were
+also being extended abroad, and George Stephenson was requested
+on several occasions to give the benefit of his advice to the
+directors of foreign undertakings.&nbsp; One of the most
+agreeable of these excursions was to Belgium in 1845.&nbsp; His
+special object was to examine the proposed line of the Sambre and
+Meuse Railway, for which a concession had been granted by the
+Belgian legislature.&nbsp; Arrived on the ground, he went
+carefully over the entire length of the proposed line, to
+Convins, the Forest of Ardennes, and Rocroi, across the French
+frontier; examining the bearings of the coal-field, the slate and
+marble quarries, and the numerous iron-mines in existence between
+the Sambre and the Meuse, as well as carefully exploring the
+ravines which extended through the district, in order to satisfy
+himself that the best possible route had been selected.&nbsp; Mr.
+Stephenson was delighted with the novelty of the journey, the
+beauty of the scenery, and the industry of the population.&nbsp;
+His companions were entertained by his ample and varied stores of
+practical information on all subjects, and his conversation was
+full of reminiscences of his youth, on which he always delighted
+to dwell when in the society of his more intimate friends.&nbsp;
+The journey was varied by a visit to the coal-mines near Jemappe,
+where Stephenson examined with interest the mode adopted by the
+Belgian miners of draining the pits, inspecting their engines and
+brakeing machines, so familiar to him in early life.</p>
+<p>The engineers of Belgium took the opportunity of Mr.
+Stephenson&rsquo;s visit to their country to invite him to a
+magnificent banquet at Brussels.&nbsp; The Public Hall, in which
+they entertained him, was gaily decorated with flags, prominent
+amongst which was the Union Jack, in honour of their
+distinguished guest.&nbsp; A handsome marble pedestal, ornamented
+with his bust crowned with laurels, occupied one end of the
+room.&nbsp; The chair was occupied by M. Massui, <!-- page
+296--><a name="page296"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+296</span>the Chief Director of the National Railways of Belgium;
+and the most eminent scientific men of the kingdom were
+present.&nbsp; Their reception of &ldquo;the Father of
+railways&rdquo; was of the most enthusiastic description.&nbsp;
+Mr. Stephenson was greatly pleased with the entertainment.&nbsp;
+Not the least interesting incident of the evening was his
+observing, when the dinner was about half over, a model of a
+locomotive engine placed upon the centre table, under a triumphal
+arch.&nbsp; Turning suddenly to his friend Sopwith, he exclaimed,
+&ldquo;Do you see the &lsquo;Rocket&rsquo;?&rdquo;&nbsp; The
+compliment thus paid him, was perhaps more prized than all the
+encomiums of the evening.</p>
+<p>The next day (April 5th) King Leopold invited him to a private
+interview at the palace.&nbsp; Accompanied by Mr. Sopwith, he
+proceeded to Laaken, and was very cordially received by His
+Majesty.&nbsp; The king immediately entered into familiar
+conversation with him, discussing the railway project which had
+been the object of his visit to Belgium, and then the structure
+of the Belgian coal-fields,&mdash;his Majesty expressing his
+sense of the great importance of economy in a fuel which had
+become indispensable to the comfort and well-being of society,
+which was the basis of all manufactures, and the vital power of
+railway locomotion.&nbsp; The subject was always a favourite one
+with Mr. Stephenson, and, encouraged by the king, he proceeded to
+describe to him the geological structure of Belgium, the original
+formation of coal, its subsequent elevation by volcanic forces,
+and the vast amount of denudation.&nbsp; In describing the
+coal-beds he used his hat as a sort of model to illustrate his
+meaning; and the eyes of the king were fixed upon it as he
+proceeded with his interesting description.&nbsp; The
+conversation then passed to the rise and progress of trade and
+manufactures,&mdash;Mr. Stephenson pointing out how closely they
+everywhere followed the coal, being mainly dependent upon it, as
+it were, for their very existence.</p>
+<p>The king seemed greatly pleased with the interview, and at its
+close expressed himself obliged by the <!-- page 297--><a
+name="page297"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 297</span>interesting
+information which the engineer had communicated.&nbsp; Shaking
+hands cordially with both the gentlemen, and wishing them success
+in their important undertakings, he bade them adieu.&nbsp; As
+they were leaving the palace Mr. Stephenson, bethinking him of
+the model by which he had just been illustrating the Belgian
+coal-fields, said to his friend, &ldquo;By the bye, Sopwith, I
+was afraid the king would see the inside of my hat; it&rsquo;s a
+shocking bad one!&rdquo;&nbsp; Little could George Stephenson,
+when brakesman at a coal-pit, have dreamt that, in the course of
+his life, he should be admitted to an interview with a monarch,
+and describe to him the manner in which the geological
+foundations of his kingdom had been laid!</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson paid a second visit to Belgium in the course of
+the same year, on the business of the West Flanders Railway; and
+he had scarcely returned from it ere he made arrangements to
+proceed to Spain, for the purpose of examining and reporting upon
+a scheme then on foot for constructing &ldquo;the Royal North of
+Spain Railway.&rdquo;&nbsp; A concession had been made by the
+Spanish Government of a line of railway from Madrid to the Bay of
+Biscay, and a numerous staff of engineers was engaged in
+surveying it.&nbsp; The directors of the Company had declined
+making the necessary deposits until more favourable terms had
+been secured; and Sir Joshua Walmsley, on their part, was about
+to visit Spain and press the Government on the subject.&nbsp; Mr.
+Stephenson, whom he consulted, was alive to the difficulties of
+the office which Sir Joshua was induced to undertake, and offered
+to be his companion and adviser on the occasion,&mdash;declining
+to receive any recompense beyond the simple expenses of the
+journey.&nbsp; He could only arrange to be absent for six weeks,
+and set out from England about the middle of September, 1845.</p>
+<p>The party was joined at Paris by Mr. Mackenzie, the contractor
+for the Orleans and Tours Railway, then in course of
+construction, who took them over the works, and accompanied them
+as far as Tours.&nbsp; They soon reached the <!-- page 298--><a
+name="page298"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 298</span>great chain
+of the Pyrenees, and crossed over into Spain.&nbsp; It was on a
+Sunday evening, after a long day&rsquo;s toilsome journey through
+the mountains, that the party suddenly found themselves in one of
+those beautiful secluded valleys lying amidst the Western
+Pyrenees.&nbsp; A small hamlet lay before them, consisting of
+some thirty or forty houses and a fine old church.&nbsp; The sun
+was low on the horizon, and, under the wide porch, beneath the
+shadow of the church, were seated nearly all the inhabitants of
+the place.&nbsp; They were dressed in their holiday attire.&nbsp;
+The bright bits of red and amber colour in the dresses of the
+women, and the gay sashes of the men, formed a striking picture,
+on which the travellers gazed in silent admiration.&nbsp; It was
+something entirely novel and unexpected.&nbsp; Beside the
+villagers sat two venerable old men, whose canonical hats
+indicated their quality as village pastors.&nbsp; Two groups of
+young women and children were dancing outside the porch to the
+accompaniment of a simple pipe; and within a hundred yards of
+them, some of the youths of the village were disporting
+themselves in athletic exercises; the whole being carried on
+beneath the fostering care of the old church, and with the
+sanction of its ministers.&nbsp; It was a beautiful scene, and
+deeply moved the travellers as they approached the principal
+group.&nbsp; The villagers greeted them courteously, supplied
+their present wants, and pressed upon them some fine melons,
+brought from their adjoining gardens.&nbsp; Mr. Stephenson used
+afterwards to look back upon that simple scene, and speak of it
+as one of the most charming pastorals he had ever witnessed.</p>
+<p>They shortly reached the site of the proposed railway, passing
+through Irun, St. Sebastian, St. Andero, and Bilbao, at which
+places they met deputations of the principal inhabitants who were
+interested in the subject of their journey.&nbsp; At Raynosa
+Stephenson carefully examined the mountain passes and ravines
+through which a railway could be made.&nbsp; He rose at break of
+day, and surveyed until the darkness set in; and frequently his
+resting-place <!-- page 299--><a name="page299"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 299</span>at night was the floor of some
+miserable hovel.&nbsp; He was thus laboriously occupied for ten
+days, after which he proceeded across the province of Old Castile
+towards Madrid, surveying as he went.&nbsp; The proposed plan
+included the purchase of the Castile Canal; and that property was
+also surveyed.&nbsp; He next proceeded to El Escorial, situated
+at the foot of the Guadarama mountains, through which he found
+that it would be necessary to construct two formidable tunnels;
+added to which he ascertained that the country between El
+Escorial and Madrid was of a very difficult and expensive
+character to work through.&nbsp; Taking these circumstances into
+account, and looking at the expected traffic on the proposed
+line, Sir Joshua Walmsley, acting under the advice of Mr.
+Stephenson, offered to construct the line from Madrid to the Bay
+of Biscay, only on condition that the requisite land was given
+the Company for the purpose; that they should be allowed every
+facility for cutting such timber belonging the Crown as might be
+required for the purposes of the railway; and also that the
+materials required from abroad for the construction of the line
+should be admitted free of duty.&nbsp; In return for these
+concessions the Company offered to clothe and feed several
+thousands of convicts while engaged in the execution of the
+earthworks.&nbsp; General Narvaez, afterwards Duke of Valencia,
+received Sir Joshua Walmsley and Mr. Stephenson on the subject of
+their proposition, and expressed his willingness to close with
+them; but it was necessary that other influential parties should
+give their concurrence before the scheme could be carried into
+effect.&nbsp; The deputation waited ten days to receive the
+answer of the Spanish Government; but no answer of any kind was
+vouchsafed.&nbsp; The authorities, indeed, invited them to be
+present at a Spanish bullfight, but that was not quite the
+business Mr. Stephenson had gone all the way to Spain to
+transact; and the offer was politely declined.&nbsp; The result
+was, that Mr. Stephenson dissuaded his friend from making the
+necessary deposit at Madrid.&nbsp; Besides, he had by this time
+formed an <!-- page 300--><a name="page300"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 300</span>unfavourable opinion of the entire
+project, and considered that the traffic would not amount to
+one-eighth of the estimate.</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson was now anxious to be in England.&nbsp; During
+the journey from Madrid he often spoke with affection of friends
+and relatives; and when apparently absorbed by other matters, he
+would revert to what he thought might then be passing at
+home.&nbsp; Few incidents worthy of notice occurred on the
+journey homeward, but one may be mentioned.&nbsp; While
+travelling in an open conveyance between Madrid and Vittoria, the
+driver urged his mules down hill at a dangerous pace.&nbsp; He
+was requested to slacken speed; but suspecting his passengers to
+be afraid, he only flogged the brutes into a still more furious
+gallop.&nbsp; Observing this, Mr. Stephenson coolly said,
+&ldquo;Let us try him on the other tack; tell him to show us the
+fastest pace at which Spanish mules can go.&rdquo;&nbsp; The
+rogue of a driver, when he found his tricks of no avail, pulled
+up and proceeded at a more moderate speed for the rest of the
+journey.</p>
+<p>Urgent business required Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s presence in
+London on the last day of November.&nbsp; They travelled
+therefore almost continuously, day and night; and the fatigue
+consequent on the journey, added to the privations voluntarily
+endured by the engineer while carrying on the survey among the
+Spanish mountains, began to tell seriously on his health.&nbsp;
+By the time he reached Paris he was evidently ill, but he
+nevertheless determined on proceeding.&nbsp; He reached Havre in
+time for the Southampton boat; but when on board, pleurisy
+developed itself, and it was necessary to bleed him freely.&nbsp;
+During the voyage, he spent his time chiefly in dictating letters
+and reports to Sir Joshua Walmsley, who never left him, and whose
+kindness on the occasion he gratefully remembered.&nbsp; His
+friend was struck by the clearness of his dictated composition,
+which exhibited a vigour and condensation which to him seemed
+marvellous.&nbsp; After a few weeks&rsquo; rest at home, Mr.
+Stephenson gradually recovered, though his health remained
+severely shaken.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 301--><a
+name="page301"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 301</span>
+<a href="images/p301.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Newcastle, from the High Level Bridge"
+title=
+"Newcastle, from the High Level Bridge"
+src="images/p301.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s
+Career</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Stephensons and
+Brunel</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">East Coast Route to
+Scotland</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Royal Border
+Bridge</span>, <span class="smcap">Berwick</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">High Level Bridge</span>, <span
+class="smcap">Newcastle</span>.</h2>
+<p>The career of George Stephenson was drawing to a close.&nbsp;
+He had for some time been gradually retiring from the more active
+pursuit of railway engineering, and confining himself to the
+promotion of only a few undertakings in which he took a more than
+ordinary personal interest.&nbsp; In 1840, when the extensive
+main lines in the Midland districts had been finished and opened
+for traffic, he publicly expressed his intention of withdrawing
+from the profession.&nbsp; He had reached sixty, and, having
+spent the greater part of his life in very hard work, he
+naturally desired rest and retirement in his old age.&nbsp; There
+was the less necessity for his continuing &ldquo;in
+harness,&rdquo; as Robert <!-- page 302--><a
+name="page302"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 302</span>Stephenson
+was now in full career as a leading railway engineer, and his
+father had pleasure in handing over to him, with the sanction of
+the companies concerned, nearly all the railway appointments
+which he held.</p>
+<p>Robert Stephenson amply repaid his father&rsquo;s care.&nbsp;
+The sound education of which he had laid the foundations at
+school, improved by his subsequent culture, but more than all by
+his father&rsquo;s example of application, industry, and
+thoroughness in all that he undertook, told powerfully in the
+formation of his character, not less than in the discipline of
+his intellect.&nbsp; His father had early implanted in him habits
+of mental activity, familiarized him with the laws of mechanics,
+and carefully trained and stimulated his inventive faculties, the
+first great fruits of which, as we have seen, were exhibited in
+the triumph of the &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; at Rainhill.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;I am fully conscious in my own mind,&rdquo; said the son
+at a meeting of the Mechanical Engineers at Newcastle, in 1858,
+&ldquo;how greatly my civil engineering has been regulated and
+influenced by the mechanical knowledge which I derived directly
+from my father; and the more my experience has advanced, the more
+convinced I have become that it is necessary to educate an
+engineer in the workshop.&nbsp; That is, emphatically, the
+education which will render the engineer most intelligent, most
+useful, and the fullest of resources in times of
+difficulty.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Robert Stephenson was but twenty-six years old when the
+performances of the &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; established the
+practicability of steam locomotion on railways.&nbsp; He was
+shortly after appointed engineer of the Leicester and Swannington
+Railway; after which, at his father&rsquo;s request, he was made
+joint engineer with himself in laying out the London and
+Birmingham Railway, and the execution of that line was afterwards
+entrusted to him as sole engineer.&nbsp; The stability and
+excellence of the works of that railway, the difficulties which
+had been successfully overcome in the course of its construction,
+and the judgment which was displayed by Robert Stephenson
+throughout the whole conduct <!-- page 303--><a
+name="page303"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 303</span>of the
+undertaking to its completion, established his reputation as an
+engineer; and his father could now look with confidence and with
+pride upon his son&rsquo;s achievements.&nbsp; From that time
+forward, father and son worked together as one man, each jealous
+of the other&rsquo;s honour; and on the father&rsquo;s
+retirement, it was generally recognized that, in the sphere of
+railways, Robert Stephenson was the foremost man, the safest
+guide, and the most active worker.</p>
+<p>Robert Stephenson was subsequently appointed engineer of the
+Eastern Counties, the Northern and Eastern, and the Blackwall
+railways, besides many lines in the midland and southern
+districts.&nbsp; When the speculation of 1844 set in, his
+services were, of course, greatly in request.&nbsp; Thus, in one
+session, we find him engaged as engineer for not fewer than 33
+new schemes.&nbsp; Projectors thought themselves fortunate who
+could secure his name, and he had only to propose his terms to
+obtain them.&nbsp; The work which he performed at this period of
+his life was indeed enormous, and his income was large beyond any
+previous instance of engineering gain.&nbsp; But much of his
+labour was heavy hackwork of a very uninteresting
+character.&nbsp; During the sittings of the committees of
+Parliament, almost every moment of his time was occupied in
+consultations, and in preparing evidence or in giving it.&nbsp;
+The crowded, low-roofed committee-rooms of the old Houses of
+Parliament were altogether inadequate to accommodate the rush of
+perspiring projectors of bills, and even the lobbies were
+sometimes choked with them.&nbsp; To have borne that noisome
+atmosphere and heat would have tested the constitutions of
+salamanders, and engineers were only human.&nbsp; With brains
+kept in a state of excitement during the entire day, no wonder
+their nervous systems became unstrung.&nbsp; Their only chance of
+refreshment was during an occasional rush to the bun and sandwich
+stand in the lobby, though sometimes even that resource failed
+them.&nbsp; Then, with mind and body jaded&mdash;probably after
+undergoing a series of consultations upon many bills after the
+rising of the committees<!-- page 304--><a
+name="page304"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 304</span>&mdash;the
+exhausted engineers would seek to stimulate nature by a late,
+perhaps a heavy, dinner.&nbsp; What chance had any ordinary
+constitution of surviving such an ordeal?&nbsp; The consequence
+was, that stomach, brain, and liver were alike irretrievably
+injured; and hence the men who bore the brunt of those
+struggles&mdash;Stephenson, Brunel, Locke, and
+Errington&mdash;have already all died, comparatively young
+men.</p>
+<p>In mentioning the name of Brunel, we are reminded of him as
+the principal rival and competitor of Robert Stephenson.&nbsp;
+Both were the sons of distinguished men, and both inherited the
+fame and followed in the footsteps of their fathers.&nbsp; The
+Stephensons were inventive, practical, and sagacious; the Brunels
+ingenious, imaginative, and daring.&nbsp; The former were as
+thoroughly English in their characteristics as the latter were
+perhaps as thoroughly French.&nbsp; The fathers and the sons were
+alike successful in their works, though not in the same
+degree.&nbsp; Measured by practical and profitable results, the
+Stephensons were unquestionably the safer men to follow.</p>
+<p>Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel were destined
+often to come into collision in the course of their professional
+life.&nbsp; Their respective railway districts
+&ldquo;marched&rdquo; with each other, and it became their
+business to invade or defend those districts, according as the
+policy of their respective boards might direct.&nbsp; The gauge
+of 7 feet fixed by Mr. Brunel for the Great Western Railway, so
+entirely different from that of 4ft. 8&frac12;in. adopted by the
+Stephensons on the Northern and Midland lines, was from the first
+a great cause of contention.&nbsp; But Mr. Brunel had always an
+aversion to follow any man&rsquo;s lead; and that another
+engineer had fixed the gauge of a railway, or built a bridge, or
+designed an engine, in one way, was of itself often a sufficient
+reason with him for adopting an altogether different
+course.&nbsp; Robert Stephenson, on his part, though less bold,
+was more practical, preferring to follow the old routes, and to
+tread in the safe steps of his father.</p>
+<p>Mr. Brunel, however, determined that the Great Western <!--
+page 305--><a name="page305"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+305</span>should be a giant&rsquo;s road, and that travelling
+should be conducted upon it at double speed.&nbsp; His ambition
+was to make the <i>best</i> road that imagination could devise;
+whereas the main object of the Stephensons, both father and son,
+was to make a road that would <i>pay</i>.&nbsp; Although, tried
+by the Stephenson test, Brunel&rsquo;s magnificent road was a
+failure so far as the shareholders in the Great Western Company
+were concerned, the stimulus which his ambitious designs gave to
+mechanical invention at the time proved a general good.&nbsp; The
+narrow-gauge engineers exerted themselves to quicken their
+locomotives to the utmost.&nbsp; They improved and re-improved
+them; the machinery was simplified and perfected; outside
+cylinders gave place to inside; the steadier and more rapid and
+effective action of the engine was secured; and in a few years
+the highest speed on the narrow-gauge lines went up from 30 to
+about 50 miles an hour.&nbsp; For this rapidity of progress we
+are in no small degree indebted to the stimulus imparted to the
+narrow-gauge engineers by Mr. Brunel.&nbsp; And it is well for a
+country that it should possess men such as he, ready to dare the
+untried, and to venture boldly into new paths.&nbsp; Individuals
+may suffer from the cost of the experiments; but the nation,
+which is an aggregate of individuals, gains, and so does the
+world at large.</p>
+<p>It was one of the characteristics of Brunel to believe in the
+success of the schemes for which he was professionally engaged as
+engineer; and he proved this by investing his savings largely in
+the Great Western Railway, in the South Devon atmospheric line,
+and in the Great Eastern steamship, with what results are well
+known.&nbsp; Robert Stephenson, on the contrary, with
+characteristic caution, towards the latter years of his life
+avoided holding unguaranteed railway shares; and though he might
+execute magnificent structures, such as the Victoria Bridge
+across the St. Lawrence, he was careful not to embark any portion
+of his own fortune in the ordinary capital of these
+concerns.&nbsp; In 1845, he shrewdly foresaw the inevitable crash
+that was <!-- page 306--><a name="page306"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 306</span>about to follow the mania of that
+year; and while shares were still at a premium he took the
+opportunity of selling out all that he had.&nbsp; He urged his
+father to do the same thing, but George&rsquo;s reply was
+characteristic.&nbsp; &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;I took my
+shares for an investment, and not to speculate with, and I am not
+going to sell them now because folks have gone mad about
+railways.&rdquo;&nbsp; The consequence was, that he continued to
+hold the &pound;60,000 which he had invested in the shares of
+various railways until his death, when they were at once sold out
+by his son, though at a great depreciation on their original
+cost.</p>
+<p>One of the hardest battles fought between the Stephensons and
+Brunel was for the railway between Newcastle and Berwick, forming
+part of the great East Coast route to Scotland.&nbsp; As early as
+1836, George Stephenson had surveyed two lines to connect
+Edinburgh with Newcastle: one by Berwick and Dunbar along the
+coast, and the other, more inland, by Carter Fell, up the vale of
+the Gala, to the northern capital; but both projects lay dormant
+for several years longer, until the completion of the Midland and
+other main lines as far north as Newcastle, had the effect of
+again reviving the subject of the extension of the route as far
+as Edinburgh.</p>
+<p>On the 18th of June, 1844, the Newcastle and Darlington
+line&mdash;an important link of the great main highway to the
+north&mdash;was completed and publicly opened, thus connecting
+the Thames and the Tyne by a continuous line of railway.&nbsp; On
+that day the Stephensons, with a distinguished party of railway
+men, travelled by express train from London to Newcastle in about
+nine hours.&nbsp; It was a great event, and was worthily
+celebrated.&nbsp; The population of Newcastle held holiday; and a
+banquet given in the Assembly Rooms the same evening assumed the
+form of an ovation to George Stephenson and his son.&nbsp; Thirty
+years before, in the capacity of a workman, he had been labouring
+at the construction of his first locomotive in the immediate
+neighbourhood.&nbsp; By slow and laborious steps he had worked
+his way <!-- page 307--><a name="page307"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 307</span>on, dragging the locomotive into
+notice, and raising himself in public estimation; until at length
+he had victoriously established the railway system, and went back
+amongst his townsmen to receive their greeting.</p>
+<p>After the opening of this railway, the project of the East
+Coast line from Newcastle to Berwick was revived; and George
+Stephenson, who had already identified himself with the question,
+and was intimately acquainted with every foot of the ground, was
+called upon to assist the promoters with his judgment and
+experience.&nbsp; He again recommended as strongly as before the
+line he had previously surveyed; and on its being adopted by the
+local committee, the necessary steps were taken to have the
+scheme brought before Parliament in the ensuing session.&nbsp;
+The East Coast line was not, however, to be allowed to pass
+without a fight.&nbsp; On the contrary, it had to encounter as
+stout an opposition as the Stephensons had ever experienced.</p>
+<p>We have already stated that about this time the plan of
+substituting atmospheric pressure for locomotive steam-power in
+the working of railways, had become very popular.&nbsp; Many
+eminent engineers supported the atmospheric system, and a strong
+party in Parliament, headed by the Prime Minister, were greatly
+disposed in its favour.&nbsp; Mr. Brunel warmly espoused the
+atmospheric principle, and his persuasive manner, as well as his
+admitted scientific ability, unquestionably exercised
+considerable influence in determining the views of many leading
+members of both Houses.&nbsp; Amongst others, Lord Howick, one of
+the members for Northumberland, adopted the new principle, and,
+possessing great local influence, he succeeded in forming a
+powerful confederacy of the landed gentry in favour of
+Brunel&rsquo;s atmospheric railway through that county.</p>
+<p>George Stephenson could not brook the idea of seeing the
+locomotive, for which he had fought so many stout battles, pushed
+to one side, and that in the very county in which its great
+powers had been first developed.&nbsp; Nor did he relish the
+appearance of Mr. Brunel as the engineer of Lord <!-- page
+308--><a name="page308"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+308</span>Howick&rsquo;s scheme, in opposition to the line which
+had occupied his thoughts and been the object of his strenuous
+advocacy for so many years.&nbsp; When Stephenson first met
+Brunel in Newcastle, he good-naturedly shook him by the collar,
+and asked &ldquo;What business he had north of the
+Tyne?&rdquo;&nbsp; George gave him to understand that they were
+to have a fair stand-up fight for the ground, and, shaking hands
+before the battle like Englishmen, they parted in good
+humour.&nbsp; A public meeting was held at Newcastle in the
+following December, when, after a full discussion of the merits
+of the respective plans, Stephenson&rsquo;s line was almost
+unanimously adopted as the best.</p>
+<p>The rival projects went before Parliament in 1845, and a
+severe contest ensued.&nbsp; The display of ability and tactics
+on both sides was great.&nbsp; Robert Stephenson was examined at
+great length as to the merits of the locomotive line, and Brunel
+at equally great length as to the merits of the atmospheric
+system.&nbsp; Mr. Brunel, in his evidence, said that after
+numerous experiments, he had arrived at the conclusion that the
+mechanical contrivance of the atmospheric system was perfectly
+applicable, and he believed that it would likewise be more
+economical in most cases than locomotive power.&nbsp; &ldquo;In
+short,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;rapidity, comfort, safety, and
+economy, are its chief recommendations.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But the locomotive again triumphed.&nbsp; The Stephenson Coast
+Line secured the approval of Parliament; and the shareholders in
+the Atmospheric Company were happily prevented investing their
+capital in what would unquestionably have proved a gigantic
+blunder.&nbsp; For, less than three years later, the whole of the
+atmospheric tubes which had been laid down on other lines were
+pulled up and the materials sold&mdash;including Mr.
+Brunel&rsquo;s immense tube on the South Devon Railway&mdash;to
+make way for the working of the locomotive engine.&nbsp; George
+Stephenson&rsquo;s first verdict of &ldquo;It won&rsquo;t
+do,&rdquo; was thus conclusively confirmed.</p>
+<p>Robert Stephenson used afterwards to describe with great gusto
+an interview which took place between Lord <!-- page 309--><a
+name="page309"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 309</span>Howick and
+his father, at his office in Great George Street, during the
+progress of the bill in Parliament.&nbsp; His father was in the
+outer office, where he used to spend a good deal of his spare
+time; occasionally taking a quiet wrestle with a friend when
+nothing else was stirring. <a name="citation309"></a><a
+href="#footnote309" class="citation">[309]</a>&nbsp; On the day
+in question, George was standing with his back to the fire, when
+Lord Howick called to see Robert.&nbsp; Oh! thought George, he
+has come to try and talk Robert over about that atmospheric
+gimcrack; but I&rsquo;ll tackle his Lordship.&nbsp; &ldquo;Come
+in, my Lord,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;Robert&rsquo;s busy; but
+I&rsquo;ll answer your purpose quite as well; sit down here, if
+you please.&rdquo;&nbsp; George began, &ldquo;Now, my Lord, I
+know very well what you have come about: it&rsquo;s that
+atmospheric line in the north; I will show you in less than five
+minutes that it can never answer.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;If Mr.
+Robert Stephenson is not at liberty, I can call again,&rdquo;
+said his Lordship.&nbsp; &ldquo;He&rsquo;s certainly occupied on
+important business just at present,&rdquo; was George&rsquo;s
+answer; &ldquo;but I can tell you far better than he can what
+nonsense the atmospheric system is: Robert&rsquo;s good-natured,
+you see, and if your Lordship were to get alongside of him you
+might talk him over; so you have been quite lucky in meeting with
+me.&nbsp; Now, just look at the question of
+expense,&rdquo;&mdash;and then he proceeded in his strong Doric
+to explain his views in detail, until Lord Howick could stand it
+no longer, and he rose and walked towards the door.&nbsp; George
+followed him down stairs, to finish his demolition of the
+atmospheric system, and his parting words were, &ldquo;You may
+take my word for it, my Lord, it will never answer.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+George afterwards told his son with glee of &ldquo;the
+settler&rdquo; he had given Lord Howick.</p>
+<p><!-- page 310--><a name="page310"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+310</span>So closely were the Stephensons identified with this
+measure, and so great was the personal interest which they were
+both known to take in its success, that, on the news of the
+triumph of the bill reaching Newcastle, a sort of general holiday
+took place, and the workmen belonging to the Stephenson
+Locomotive Factory, upwards of 800 in number, walked in
+procession through the principal streets of the town, accompanied
+with music and banners.</p>
+<p>It is unnecessary to enter into any description of the works
+on the Newcastle and Berwick Railway.&nbsp; There are no fewer
+than 110 bridges of all sorts on the line&mdash;some under and
+some over it.&nbsp; But by far the most formidable piece of
+masonry work on this railway is at its northern extremity, where
+it passes across the Tweed into Scotland, immediately opposite
+the formerly redoubtable castle of Berwick.&nbsp; Not many
+centuries had passed since the district amidst which this bridge
+stands was the scene of almost constant warfare.&nbsp; Berwick
+was regarded as the key of Scotland, and was fiercely fought for,
+sometimes held by a Scotch and sometimes by an English
+garrison.&nbsp; Though strongly fortified, it was repeatedly
+taken by assault.&nbsp; On its capture by Edward I., Boetius says
+17,000 persons were slain, so that its streets &ldquo;ran with
+blood like a river.&rdquo;&nbsp; Within sight of the ramparts, a
+little to the west, is Halidon Hill, where a famous victory was
+gained by Edward III., over the Scottish army under Douglas; and
+there is scarcely a foot of ground in the neighbourhood but has
+been the scene of contention in days long past.&nbsp; In the
+reigns of James I. and Charles I., a bridge of 15 arches was
+built across the Tweed at Berwick; and in our own day a
+railway-bridge of 28 arches has been built a little above the old
+one, but at a much higher level.&nbsp; The bridge built by the
+Kings, out of the national resources, cost &pound;15,000, and
+occupied 24 years and 4 months in the building; the bridge built
+by the Railway Company, with funds drawn from private resources,
+cost &pound;120,000, and was finished in 3 years and 4 months
+from the day of laying the foundation-stone.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 311--><a
+name="page311"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 311</span>
+<a href="images/p311.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Royal Border Bridge, Berwick-upon-Tweed"
+title=
+"The Royal Border Bridge, Berwick-upon-Tweed"
+src="images/p311.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p><!-- page 312--><a name="page312"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+312</span>This important viaduct, built after the design of
+Robert Stephenson, consists of a series of 28 semicircular
+arches, each 61 feet 6 inches in span, the greatest height above
+the bed of the river being 126 feet.&nbsp; The whole is built of
+ashlar, with a hearting of rubble; excepting the river parts of
+the arches, which are constructed with bricks laid in
+cement.&nbsp; The total length of the work is 2160 feet.&nbsp;
+The foundations of the piers were got in by coffer-dams in the
+ordinary way, Nasmyth&rsquo;s steam-hammer being extensively used
+in driving the piles.&nbsp; The bearing piles, from which the
+foundations of the piers were built up, were each capable of
+carrying 70 tons.</p>
+<p>Another bridge, of still greater importance, necessary to
+complete the continuity of the East Coast route, was the
+masterwork erected by Robert Stephenson between the north and
+south banks of the Tyne at Newcastle, commonly known as the High
+Level Bridge.&nbsp; Mr. R. W. Brandling, George
+Stephenson&rsquo;s early friend, is entitled to the merit of
+originating the idea of this bridge as it was eventually carried
+out, with a central terminus for the northern railways in the
+Castle Garth.&nbsp; The plan was first promulgated by him in
+1841; and in the following year it was resolved that George
+Stephenson should be consulted as to the most advisable site for
+the proposed structure.&nbsp; A prospectus of a High Level Bridge
+Company was issued in 1843, the names of George Stephenson and
+George Hudson appearing on the committee of management, Robert
+Stephenson being the consulting engineer.&nbsp; The project was
+eventually taken up by the Newcastle and Darlington Railway
+Company, and an Act for the construction of the bridge was
+obtained in 1845.</p>
+<p>The rapid extension of railways had given an extraordinary
+stimulus to the art of bridge-building; the number of such
+structures erected in Great Britain alone, since 1830, having
+been above 25,000, or more than all that had before existed in
+the country.&nbsp; Instead of the erection a single large bridge
+constituting, as formerly, an epoch <!-- page 313--><a
+name="page313"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 313</span>in
+engineering, hundreds of extensive bridges of novel design were
+simultaneously constructed.&nbsp; The necessity which existed for
+carrying rigid roads, capable of bearing heavy railway trains at
+high speeds, over extensive gaps free of support, rendered it
+obvious that the methods which had up to that time been employed
+for bridging space were altogether insufficient.&nbsp; The
+railway engineer could not, like the ordinary road engineer,
+divert his road and make choice of the best point for crossing a
+river or a valley.&nbsp; He must take such ground as lay in the
+line of his railway, be it bog, or mud, or shifting sand.&nbsp;
+Navigable rivers and crowded thoroughfares had to be crossed
+without interruption to the existing traffic, sometimes by
+bridges at right angles to the river or road, sometimes by arches
+more or less oblique.&nbsp; In many cases great difficulty arose
+from the limited nature of the headway; but, as the level of the
+original road must generally be preserved, and that of the
+railway was in a measure fixed and determined, it was necessary
+to modify the form and structure of the bridge, in almost every
+case, in order to comply with the public requirements.&nbsp;
+Novel conditions were met by fresh inventions, and difficulties
+of the most unusual character were one after another successfully
+surmounted.&nbsp; In executing these extraordinary works, iron
+has been throughout the sheet-anchor of the engineer.&nbsp; In
+its different forms of cast or wrought iron, it offered a
+valuable resource, where rapidity of execution, great strength,
+and cheapness of construction in the first instance, were
+elements of prime importance; and by its skilful use, the railway
+architect was enabled to achieve results which thirty years ago
+would scarcely have been thought possible.</p>
+<p>In many of the early cast-iron bridges the old form of the
+arch was adopted, the stability of the structure depending wholly
+on compression, the only novel feature being the use of iron
+instead of stone.&nbsp; But in a large proportion of cases, the
+arch, with the railroad over it, was found inapplicable in
+consequence of the limited headway which it provided.&nbsp; <!--
+page 314--><a name="page314"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+314</span>Hence it early occurred to George Stephenson, when
+constructing the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, to adopt the
+simple cast-iron beam for the crossing of several roads and
+canals along that line&mdash;this beam resembling in some measure
+the lintel of the early temples&mdash;the pressure on the
+abutments being purely vertical.&nbsp; One of the earliest
+instances of this kind of bridge was that erected over Water
+Street, Manchester, in 1829; after which, cast-iron girders, with
+their lower webs considerably larger than their upper, were
+ordinarily employed where the span was moderate; and wrought-iron
+tie rods below were added to give increased strength where the
+span was greater.</p>
+<p>The next step was the contrivance of arched beams or bowstring
+girders, firmly held together by horizontal ties to resist the
+thrust, instead of abutments.&nbsp; Numerous excellent specimens
+of this description of bridge were erected by Robert Stephenson
+on the original London and Birmingham Railway; but by far the
+grandest work of the kind&mdash;perfect as a specimen of modern
+constructive skill&mdash;was the High Level Bridge, which we owe
+to the genius of the same engineer.</p>
+<p>The problem was, to throw a railway bridge across the deep
+ravine which lies between the towns of Newcastle and Gateshead,
+at the bottom of which flows the navigable river Tyne.&nbsp;
+Along and up the sides of the valley&mdash;on the Newcastle bank
+especially&mdash;run streets of old-fashioned houses, clustered
+together in the strange forms peculiar to the older cities.&nbsp;
+The ravine is of great depth&mdash;so deep and so gloomy-looking
+towards dusk, that local tradition records that when the Duke of
+Cumberland arrived late in the evening at the brow of the hill
+overlooking the Tyne, on his way to Culloden, he exclaimed to his
+attendants, on looking down into the black gorge before him,
+&ldquo;For God&rsquo;s sake, don&rsquo;t think of taking me down
+that coal-pit at this time of night!&rdquo;&nbsp; The road down
+the Gateshead High Street is almost as steep as the roof of a
+house, and up the Newcastle <!-- page 315--><a
+name="page315"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 315</span>Side, as
+the street there is called, it is little better.&nbsp; During
+many centuries the traffic north and south passed along this
+dangerous and difficult route, over the old bridge which crosses
+the river in the bottom of the valley.&nbsp; For about 30 years
+the Newcastle Corporation had discussed various methods of
+improving the communication between the towns; and the discussion
+might have gone on for 30 years more, but for the advent of
+railways, when the skill and enterprise to which they gave birth
+speedily solved the difficulty and bridged the ravine.&nbsp; The
+local authorities adroitly took advantage of the opportunity, and
+insisted on the provision of a road for ordinary vehicles and
+foot passengers in addition to the railroad.&nbsp; In this
+circumstance originated one of the striking peculiarities of the
+High Level Bridge, which serves two purposes, being a railway
+above and a carriage roadway underneath.</p>
+<p>The breadth of the river at the point of crossing is 515 feet,
+but the length of the bridge and viaduct between the Gateshead
+station and the terminus on the Newcastle side is about 4000
+feet.&nbsp; It springs from Pipewell Gate Bank, on the south,
+directly across to Castle Garth, where, nearly fronting the
+bridge, stands the fine old Norman keep of the <i>New</i> Castle,
+now nearly 800 years old, and a little beyond it is the spire of
+St. Nicholas Church, with its light and graceful Gothic crown;
+the whole forming a grand architectural group of unusual historic
+interest.&nbsp; The bridge passes completely over the roofs of
+the houses which fill both sides of the valley; and the
+extraordinary height of the upper parapet, which is about 130
+feet above the bed of the river, offers a prospect to the passing
+traveller the like of which is perhaps nowhere else to be
+seen.&nbsp; Far below are the queer chares and closes, the wynds
+and lanes of old Newcastle; the water is crowded with pudgy,
+black, coal keels; and, when there is a partial dispersion of the
+great smoke clouds which usually obscure the sky, the funnels of
+steamers and the masts of shipping may be seen far down the
+river.&nbsp; The old bridge lies so far beneath that <!-- page
+316--><a name="page316"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+316</span>the passengers crossing it seem like so many bees
+passing to and fro.</p>
+<p>The first difficulty encountered in building the bridge was in
+securing a solid foundation for the piers.&nbsp; The dimensions
+of the piles to be driven were so huge, that the engineer found
+it necessary to employ some extraordinary means for the
+purpose.&nbsp; He called Nasmyth&rsquo;s Titanic steam-hammer to
+his aid&mdash;the first occasion, we believe, on which this
+prodigious power was employed in bridge pile-driving.&nbsp; A
+temporary staging was erected for the steam-engine and hammer
+apparatus, which rested on two keels, and, notwithstanding the
+newness and stiffness of the machinery, the first pile was driven
+on the 6th October, 1846, to a depth of 32 feet, in four
+minutes.&nbsp; Two hammers of 30 cwt. each were kept in regular
+use, making from 60 to 70 strokes a minute; and the results were
+astounding to those who had been accustomed to the old style of
+pile-driving by means of the ordinary pile-frame, consisting of
+slide, ram, and monkey.&nbsp; By the old system, the pile was
+driven by a comparatively small mass of iron descending with
+great velocity from a considerable height&mdash;the velocity
+being in excess and the mass deficient, and calculated, like the
+momentum of a cannon-ball, rather for destructive than impulsive
+action.&nbsp; In the case of the steam pile-driver, on the
+contrary, the whole weight of a heavy mass is delivered rapidly
+upon a driving-block of several tons weight placed directly over
+the head of the pile, the weight never ceasing, and the blows
+being repeated at the rate of a blow a second, until the pile is
+driven home.&nbsp; It is a curious fact, that the rapid strokes
+of the steam-hammer evolved so much heat, that on many occasions
+the pile-head burst into flames during the process of
+driving.&nbsp; The elastic force of steam is the power that lifts
+the ram, the escape permitting its entire force to fall upon the
+head of the driving block; while the steam above the piston on
+the upper part of the cylinder, acting as a buffer or
+recoil-spring, materially enhances the effect of the downward
+<!-- page 317--><a name="page317"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+317</span>blow.&nbsp; As soon as one pile was driven, the
+traveller, hovering overhead, presented another, and down it went
+into the solid bed of the river, with almost as much ease as a
+lady sticks pins into a cushion.&nbsp; By the aid of this
+powerful machine, pile-driving, formerly among the most costly
+and tedious of engineering operations, became easy, rapid, and
+comparatively economical.</p>
+<p>When the piles had been driven and the coffer-dams formed and
+puddled, the water within the enclosed spaces was pumped out by
+the aid of powerful engines, so as, if possible, to lay bare the
+bed of the river.&nbsp; Considerable difficulty was experienced
+in getting in the foundations of the middle pier, in consequence
+of the water forcing itself through the quicksand beneath as fast
+as it was removed, This fruitless labour went on for months, and
+many expedients were tried.&nbsp; Chalk was thrown in in large
+quantities outside the piling, but without effect.&nbsp; Cement
+concrete was at last put within the coffer-dam, until it set, and
+the bottom was then found to be secure.&nbsp; A bed of concrete
+was laid up to the level of the heads of the piles, the
+foundation course of stone blocks being commenced about two feet
+below low water, and the building proceeded without further
+difficulty.&nbsp; It may serve to give an idea of the magnitude
+of the work, when we state that 400,000 cubic feet of ashlar,
+rubble, and concrete were worked up in the piers, and 450,000
+cubic feet in the land-arches and approaches.</p>
+<p>The most novel feature of the structure is the use of cast and
+wrought iron in forming the double bridge, which admirably
+combines the two principles of the arch and suspension; the
+railway being carried over the back of the ribbed arches in the
+usual manner, while the carriage-road and footpaths, forming a
+long gallery or aisle, are suspended from these arches by
+wrought-iron vertical rods, with horizontal tie-bars to resist
+the thrust.&nbsp; The suspension-bolts are enclosed within
+spandril pillars of cast iron, which give great stiffness to the
+superstructure.&nbsp; This system of <!-- page 318--><a
+name="page318"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+318</span>longitudinal and vertical bracing has been much
+admired, for it not only accomplishes the primary object of
+securing rigidity in the roadway, but at the same time, by its
+graceful arrangement, heightens the beauty of the
+structure.&nbsp; The arches consist of four main ribs, disposed
+in pairs with a clear distance between the two inner arches of 20
+feet 4 inches, forming the carriage-road, while between each of
+the inner and outer ribs there is a space of 6 feet 2 inches,
+constituting the footpaths.&nbsp; Each arch is cast in five
+separate lengths or segments, strongly bolted together.&nbsp; The
+ribs spring from horizontal plates of cast iron, bedded and
+secured on the stone piers.&nbsp; All the abutting joints were
+carefully executed by machinery, the fitting being of the most
+perfect kind.&nbsp; In order to provide for the expansion and
+contraction of the iron arching, and to preserve the equilibrium
+of the piers without disturbance or racking of the other parts of
+the bridge, it was arranged that the ribs of every two adjoining
+arches resting on the same pier should be secured to the
+springing-plates by keys and joggles; whilst on the next piers on
+either side, the ribs remained free and were at liberty to expand
+or contract according to temperature&mdash;a space being left for
+the purpose.&nbsp; Hence each arch is complete and independent in
+itself, the piers having simply to sustain their vertical
+pressure.&nbsp; There are six arches of 125 feet span each; the
+two approaches to the bridge being formed of cast-iron pillars
+and bearers in keeping with the arches.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p318.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"High Level Bridge&mdash;Elevation of one Arch"
+title=
+"High Level Bridge&mdash;Elevation of one Arch"
+src="images/p318.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The result is a bridge that for massive solidity may be <!--
+page 319--><a name="page319"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+319</span>pronounced unrivalled.&nbsp; It is perhaps the most
+magnificent and striking of all the bridges to which railways
+have given birth, and has been worthily styled &ldquo;the King of
+railway structures.&rdquo;&nbsp; It is a monument of the highest
+engineering skill of our time, with the impress of power grandly
+stamped upon it.&nbsp; It will also be observed, from the drawing
+placed as the frontispiece of this book, that the High Level
+Bridge forms a very fine object in a picture of great interest,
+full of striking architectural variety and beauty.&nbsp; The
+bridge was opened on the 15th August, 1849, and a few days after
+the royal train passed over it, halting for a few minutes to
+enable her Majesty to survey the wonderful scene below.&nbsp; In
+the course of the following year the Queen opened the extensive
+stone viaduct across the Tweed, above described, by which the
+last link was completed of the continuous line of railway between
+London and Edinburgh.&nbsp; Over the entrance to the Berwick
+station, occupying the site of the once redoubtable Border
+fortress, so often the deadly battle-ground of the ancient Scots
+and English, was erected an arch under which the royal train
+passed, bearing in large letters of gold the appropriate words,
+&ldquo;<i>The last act of the Union</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The warders at Berwick no longer look out from the castle
+walls to descry the glitter of Southron spears.&nbsp; The
+bell-tower, from which the alarm was sounded of old, though still
+standing, is deserted; the only bell heard within the precincts
+of the old castle being the railway porter&rsquo;s bell
+announcing the arrival and departure of trains.&nbsp; You see the
+Scotch express pass along the bridge and speed southward on the
+wings of steam.&nbsp; But no alarm spreads along the border
+now.&nbsp; Northumbrian beeves are safe.&nbsp; Chevy-Chase and
+Otterburn are quiet sheep-pastures.&nbsp; The only men at arms on
+the battlements of Alnwick Castle are of stone.&nbsp; Bamborough
+Castle has become an asylum for shipwrecked mariners, and the
+Norman Keep at Newcastle has been converted into a Museum of
+Antiquities.&nbsp; The railway has indeed consummated the
+Union.</p>
+<h2><!-- page 320--><a name="page320"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 320</span>CHAPTER XVII.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s Tubular Bridges at
+Menai and Conway</span>.</h2>
+<p>We have now to describe briefly another great undertaking,
+begun by George Stephenson, and taken up and completed by his
+son, in the course of which the latter carried out some of his
+greatest works&mdash;we mean the Chester and Holyhead Railway,
+completing the railway connection with Dublin, as the Newcastle
+and Berwick line completed the connection with Edinburgh.&nbsp;
+It will thus be seen how closely Telford was followed by the
+Stephensons in perfecting the highways of their respective
+epochs; the former by means of turnpike-roads, and the latter by
+means of railways.</p>
+<p>George Stephenson surveyed a line from Chester to Holyhead in
+1838, and at the same time reported on the line through North
+Wales to Port Dynllaen, proposed by the Irish Railway
+Commissioners.&nbsp; His advice was strongly in favour of
+adopting the line to Holyhead, as less costly and presenting
+better gradients.&nbsp; A public meeting was held at Chester, in
+January, 1839, in support of the latter measure, at which he was
+present to give explanations.&nbsp; Mr. Uniacke, the Mayor, in
+opening the proceedings, said that Mr. Stephenson was present,
+ready to answer any questions which might be put to him on the
+subject; and it was judiciously remarked that &ldquo;it would be
+better that he should be asked questions than required to make a
+speech; for, though a very good engineer, he was a bad
+speaker.&rdquo;&nbsp; One of the questions then put to Mr.
+Stephenson related to the mode by which he proposed to haul the
+passenger carriages over the Menai Suspension Bridge by <!-- page
+321--><a name="page321"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+321</span>horse power; and he was asked whether he knew the
+pressure the bridge was capable of sustaining.&nbsp; His answer
+was, that &ldquo;he had not yet made any calculations; but he
+proposed getting data which would enable him to arrive at an
+accurate calculation of the actual strain upon the bridge during
+the late gale.&nbsp; He had, however, no hesitation in saying
+that it was more than twenty times as much as the strain of a
+train of carriages and a locomotive engine.&nbsp; The only reason
+why he proposed to convey the carriages over by horses, was in
+order that he might, by distributing the weight, not increase the
+wavy motion.&nbsp; All the train would be on at once; but
+distributed.&nbsp; This he thought better than passing them,
+linked together, by a locomotive engine.&rdquo;&nbsp; It will
+thus be observed that the practicability of throwing a rigid
+railway bridge across the Straits had not yet been
+contemplated.</p>
+<p>The Dublin Chamber of Commerce passed resolutions in favour of
+Stephenson&rsquo;s line, after hearing his explanation of its
+essential features.&nbsp; The project, after undergoing much
+discussion, was at length embodied in an Act passed in 1844; and
+the work was brought to a successful completion by his son, with
+several important modifications, including the grand original
+feature of the tubular bridges across the Menai Straits and the
+estuary of the Conway.&nbsp; Excepting these great works, the
+construction of this line presented no unusual features; though
+the remarkable terrace cut for the accommodation of the railway
+under the steep slope of Penmaen Mawr is worthy of a passing
+notice.</p>
+<p>About midway between Conway and Bangor, Penmaen Mawr forms a
+bold and almost precipitous headland, at the base of which, in
+rough weather, the ocean dashes with great fury.&nbsp; There was
+not space enough between the mountain and the strand for the
+passage of the railway; hence in some places the rock had to be
+blasted to form a terrace, and in others sea-walls had to be
+built up to the proper level, on which to form an embankment of
+sufficient <!-- page 322--><a name="page322"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 322</span>width to enable the road to be
+laid.&nbsp; 
+<a href="images/p322.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Penmaen Mawr.  (By Percival Skelton.)"
+title=
+"Penmaen Mawr.  (By Percival Skelton.)"
+src="images/p322.jpg" />
+</a> A tunnel 10&frac12; chains in length was cut through the
+headland itself; and on its east and west sides the line was
+formed by a terrace cut out of the cliff, and by embankments
+protected by sea walls; the terrace being three times interrupted
+by <!-- page 323--><a name="page323"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+323</span>embankments in its course of about 1&frac14;
+mile.&nbsp; The road lies so close under the steep mountain face,
+that it was even found necessary at certain places to protect it
+against possible accidents from falling stones, by means of a
+covered way.&nbsp; The terrace on the east side of the headland
+was, however, in some measure protected against the roll of the
+sea by the mass of stone run out from the tunnel, and forming a
+deep shingle bank in front of the wall.</p>
+<p>The part of the work which lies on the westward of the
+headland penetrated by the tunnel, was exposed to the full force
+of the sea; and the formation of the road at that point was
+attended with great difficulty.&nbsp; While the sea wall was
+still in progress, its strength was severely tried by a strong
+north-westerly gale, which blew in October, 1846, with a spring
+tide of 17 feet.&nbsp; On the following morning it was found that
+a large portion of the rubble was irreparably injured, and 200
+yards of the wall were then replaced by an open viaduct, with the
+piers placed edgeways to the sea, the openings between them being
+spanned by ten cast-iron girders each 42 feet long.&nbsp; This
+accident induced the engineer to alter the contour of the sea
+wall, so that it should present a diminished resistance to the
+force of the waves.&nbsp; But the sea repeated its assaults, and
+made further havoc with the work; entailing heavy expenses and a
+complete reorganisation of the contract.&nbsp; Increased solidity
+was then given to the masonry, and the face of the wall underwent
+further change.&nbsp; At some points outworks were constructed,
+and piles were driven into the beach about 15 feet from the base
+of the wall, for the purpose of protecting its foundations and
+breaking the force of the waves.&nbsp; The work was at length
+finished after about three years&rsquo; anxious labour; but Mr.
+Stephenson confessed that if a long tunnel had been made in the
+first instance through the solid rock of Penmaen Mawr, a saving
+of from &pound;25,000 to &pound;30,000 would have been
+effected.&nbsp; He also said he had arrived at the conclusion
+that in railway works engineers should endeavour as far as
+possible to avoid the necessity of contending with <!-- page
+324--><a name="page324"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+324</span>the sea; <a name="citation324"></a><a
+href="#footnote324" class="citation">[324]</a> but if he were
+ever again compelled to go within its reach, he would adopt,
+instead of retaining walls, an open viaduct, placing all the
+piers edgeways to the force of the sea, and allowing the waves to
+break upon a natural slope of beach.&nbsp; He was ready enough to
+admit the errors he had committed in the original design of this
+work; but he said he had always gained more information from
+studying the causes of failures and endeavouring to surmount them
+than he had done from easily-won successes.&nbsp; Whilst many of
+the latter had been forgotten, the former were indelibly fixed in
+his memory.</p>
+<p>But by far the greatest difficulty which Robert Stephenson had
+to encounter in executing this railway, was in carrying it across
+the Straits of Menai and the estuary of the Conway, where, like
+his predecessor Telford when forming his high road through North
+Wales, he was under the necessity of resorting to new and
+altogether untried methods of bridge construction.&nbsp; At Menai
+the waters of the Irish Sea are perpetually vibrating along the
+precipitous shores of the strait; rising and falling from 20 to
+25 feet at each successive tide; the width and depth of the
+channel being such as to render it available for navigation by
+the largest ships.&nbsp; The problem was, to throw a bridge
+across this wide chasm&mdash;a bridge of unusual span and
+dimensions&mdash;of such strength as to be capable of bearing the
+heaviest loads at high speeds, and at such a uniform height
+throughout as not in any way to interfere with the navigation of
+the Strait.&nbsp; From an early period, Mr. Stephenson had fixed
+upon the spot where the Britannia Rock occurs, nearly in the
+middle of the channel, as the most eligible point for crossing;
+the water-width from shore to shore at high <!-- page 325--><a
+name="page325"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 325</span>water there
+being about 1100 feet.&nbsp; His first idea was to construct the
+bridge of two cast-iron arches, each of 350 feet span.&nbsp;
+There was no novelty in this idea; for, as early as the year
+1801, Mr. Rennie prepared a design of a cast-iron bridge across
+the Strait at the Swilly rocks, the great centre arch of which
+was to be 450 feet span; and at a later period, in 1810, Telford
+submitted a design of a similar bridge at Inys-y-Moch, with a
+single cast-iron arch of 500 feet.&nbsp; But the same objections
+which led to the rejection of Rennie&rsquo;s and Telford&rsquo;s
+designs, proved fatal to Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s, and his
+iron-arched railway bridge was rejected by the Admiralty.&nbsp;
+The navigation of the Strait was under no circumstances to be
+interfered with; and even the erection of scaffolding from below,
+to support the bridge during construction, was not to be
+permitted.&nbsp; The idea of a suspension bridge was dismissed as
+inapplicable; a degree of rigidity and strength, greater than
+could be secured by any bridge constructed on the principle of
+suspension, being considered an indispensable condition of the
+proposed structure.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p325.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Britannia Bridge"
+title=
+"Britannia Bridge"
+src="images/p325.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p><!-- page 326--><a name="page326"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+326</span>Various other plans were suggested; but the whole
+question remained unsettled even down to the time when the
+Company went before Parliament, in 1844, for power to construct
+the proposed bridges.&nbsp; No existing kind of structure seemed
+to be capable of bearing the fearful extension to which rigid
+bridges of the necessary spans would be subjected; and some new
+expedient of engineering therefore became necessary.</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson was then led to reconsider a design which he
+had made in 1841 for a road bridge over the river Lea at Ware,
+with a span of 50 feet,&mdash;the conditions only admitting of a
+platform 18 or 20 inches thick.&nbsp; For this purpose a
+wrought-iron platform was designed, consisting of a series of
+simple cells, formed of boiler-plates riveted together with
+angle-iron.&nbsp; The bridge was not, however, carried out after
+this design, but was made of separate wrought-iron girders
+composed of riveted plates.&nbsp; Recurring to his first idea of
+this bridge, Mr. Stephenson thought that a stiff platform might
+be constructed, with sides of strongly trussed frame-work of
+wrought-iron, braced together at top and bottom with plates of
+like material riveted together with angle-iron; and that such
+platform might be suspended by strong chains on either side to
+give it increased security.&nbsp; &ldquo;It was now,&rdquo; says
+Mr. Stephenson, &ldquo;that I came to regard the tubular platform
+as a beam, and that the chains should be looked upon as
+auxiliaries.&rdquo;&nbsp; It appeared, nevertheless, that without
+a system of diagonal struts inside, which of course would have
+prevented the passage of trains <i>through</i> it, this kind of
+structure was ill-suited for maintaining its form, and would be
+very liable to become lozenge-shaped.&nbsp; Besides, the
+rectangular figure was deemed objectionable, from the large
+surface which it presented to the wind.</p>
+<p>It then occurred to him that circular or elliptical tubes
+might better answer the intended purpose; and in March, 1845, he
+gave instructions to two of his assistants to prepare drawings of
+such a structure, the tubes being made <!-- page 327--><a
+name="page327"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 327</span>with a
+double thickness of plate at top and bottom.&nbsp; The results of
+the calculations made as to the strength of such a tube, were
+considered so satisfactory, that Mr. Stephenson says he
+determined to fall back on a bridge of this description, on the
+rejection of his design of the two cast-iron arches by the
+Parliamentary Committee.&nbsp; Indeed, it became evident that a
+tubular wrought-iron beam was the only structure which combined
+the necessary strength and stability for a railway, with the
+conditions deemed essential for the protection of the
+navigation.&nbsp; &ldquo;I stood,&rdquo; says Mr. Stephenson,
+&ldquo;on the verge of a responsibility from which, I confess, I
+had nearly shrunk.&nbsp; The construction of a tubular beam of
+such gigantic dimensions, on a platform elevated and supported by
+chains at such a height, did at first present itself as a
+difficulty of a very formidable nature.&nbsp; Reflection,
+however, satisfied me that the principles upon which the idea was
+founded were nothing more than an extension of those daily in use
+in the profession of the engineer.&nbsp; The method, moreover, of
+calculating the strength of the structure which I had adopted,
+was of the simplest and most elementary character; and whatever
+might be the form of the tube, the principle on which the
+calculations were founded was equally applicable, and could not
+fail to lead to equally accurate results.&rdquo; <a
+name="citation327"></a><a href="#footnote327"
+class="citation">[327]</a>&nbsp; Mr. Stephenson accordingly
+announced to the directors of the railway that he was prepared to
+carry out a bridge of this general description, and they adopted
+his views, though not without considerable misgivings.</p>
+<p>While the engineer&rsquo;s mind was still occupied with the
+subject, an accident occurred to the <i>Prince of Wales</i> iron
+steamship, at Blackwall, which singularly corroborated his views
+as to the strength of wrought-iron beams of large
+dimensions.&nbsp; When this vessel was being launched, the cleet
+on the bow gave way, in consequence of the bolts <!-- page
+328--><a name="page328"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+328</span>breaking, and let the vessel down so that the bilge
+came in contact with the wharf, and she remained suspended
+between the water and the wharf for a length of about 110 feet,
+but without any injury to the plates of the ship; satisfactorily
+proving the great strength of this form of construction.&nbsp;
+Thus, Mr. Stephenson became gradually confirmed in his opinion
+that the most feasible method of bridging the strait at Menai and
+the river at Conway was by means of a hollow beam of
+wrought-iron.&nbsp; As the time was approaching for giving
+evidence before Parliament on the subject, it was necessary for
+him to settle some definite plan for submission to the
+committee.&nbsp; &ldquo;My late revered father,&rdquo; says he,
+&ldquo;having always taken a deep interest in the various
+proposals which had been considered for carrying a railway across
+the Menai Straits, requested me to explain fully to him the views
+which led me to suggest the use of a tube, and also the nature of
+the calculations I had made in reference to it.&nbsp; It was
+during this personal conference that Mr. William Fairbairn
+accidentally called upon me, to whom I also explained the
+principles of the structure I had proposed.&nbsp; He at once
+acquiesced in their truth, and expressed confidence in the
+feasibility of my project, giving me at the same time some facts
+relative to the remarkable strength of iron steamships, and
+invited me to his works at Millwall, to examine the construction
+of an iron steamship which was then in progress.&rdquo;&nbsp; The
+date of this consultation was early in April, 1845, and Mr.
+Fairbairn states that, on that occasion, &ldquo;Mr. Stephenson
+asked whether such a design was practicable, and whether I could
+accomplish it: and it was ultimately arranged that the subject
+should be investigated experimentally, to determine not only the
+value of Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s original conception (of a
+circular or egg-shaped wrought-iron tube, supported by chains),
+but that of any other tubular form of bridge which might present
+itself in the prosecution of my researches.&nbsp; The matter was
+placed unreservedly in my hands; the entire conduct of the
+investigation was entrusted to me; and, as <!-- page 329--><a
+name="page329"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 329</span>an
+experimenter, I was to be left free to exercise my own discretion
+in the investigation of whatever forms or conditions of the
+structure might appear to me best calculated to secure a safe
+passage across the Straits.&rdquo; <a name="citation329a"></a><a
+href="#footnote329a" class="citation">[329a]</a>&nbsp; Mr.
+Fairbairn then proceeded to construct a number of experimental
+models for the purpose of testing the strength of tubes of
+different forms.&nbsp; The short period which elapsed, however,
+before the bill was in committee, did not admit of much progress
+being made with those experiments; but from the evidence in chief
+given by Mr. Stephenson on the subject, on the 5th May following,
+it appears that the idea which prevailed in his mind was that of
+a bridge with openings of 450 feet (afterwards increased to 460
+feet); with a roadway formed of a hollow wrought-iron beam, about
+25 feet in diameter, presenting a rigid platform, suspended by
+chains.&nbsp; At the same time, he expressed the confident
+opinion that a tube of wrought iron would possess sufficient
+strength and rigidity to support a railway train running inside
+of it without the help of the chains.</p>
+<p>While the bill was still in progress, Mr. Fairbairn proceeded
+with his experiments.&nbsp; He first tested tubes of a
+cylindrical form, in consequence of the favourable opinion
+entertained by Mr. Stephenson of the tubes in that shape,
+extending them subsequently to those of an elliptical form. <a
+name="citation329b"></a><a href="#footnote329b"
+class="citation">[329b]</a>&nbsp; He found tubes thus shaped more
+or less defective, and proceeded to test those of a rectangular
+kind.&nbsp; After the bill had received the royal assent on the
+30th June, 1845, the directors of the company, with great
+liberality, voted a sum for the purpose of enabling the
+experiments to be <!-- page 330--><a name="page330"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 330</span>prosecuted, and upwards of
+&pound;6000 were thus expended to make the assurance of their
+engineer doubly sure.&nbsp; Mr. Fairbairn&rsquo;s tests were of
+the most elaborate and eventually conclusive character, bringing
+to light many new and important facts of great practical
+value.&nbsp; The due proportions and thicknesses of the top,
+bottom, and sides of the tubes were arrived at after a vast
+number of trials; one of the results of the experiments being the
+adoption of Mr. Fairbairn&rsquo;s invention of rectangular hollow
+cells in the top of the beam for the purpose of giving it the
+requisite degree of strength.&nbsp; About the end of August it
+was thought desirable to obtain the assistance of a
+mathematician, who should prepare a formula by which the strength
+of a full-sized tube might be calculated from the results of the
+experiments made with tubes of smaller dimensions.&nbsp;
+Professor Hodgkinson was accordingly called in, and he proceeded
+to verify and confirm the experiments which Mr. Fairbairn had
+made, and afterwards reduced them to the required formula.</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s time was so much engrossed with his
+extensive engineering business that he was in a great measure
+precluded from devoting himself to the consideration of the
+practical details.&nbsp; The results of the experiments were
+communicated to him from time to time, and were regarded by him
+as exceedingly satisfactory.&nbsp; It would appear, however, that
+while Mr. Fairbairn urged the rigidity and strength of the tubes
+without the aid of chains, Mr. Stephenson had not quite made up
+his mind upon the point.&nbsp; Mr. Hodgkinson, also, was strongly
+inclined to retain them.&nbsp; Mr. Fairbairn held that it was
+quite practicable to make the tubes &ldquo;sufficiently strong to
+sustain not only their own weight, but, in addition to that load,
+2000 tons equally distributed over the surface of the
+platform,&mdash;a load ten times greater than they will ever be
+called upon to support.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was thoroughly characteristic of Mr. Stephenson, and of the
+caution with which he proceeded in every step of <!-- page
+331--><a name="page331"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+331</span>this great undertaking&mdash;probing every inch of the
+ground before he set down his foot upon it&mdash;that he should,
+early in 1856, (<i>sic</i>) have appointed his able assistant,
+Mr. Edwin Clark, to scrutinise carefully the results of every
+experiment, and subject them to a separate and independent
+analysis before finally deciding upon the form or dimensions of
+the structure, or upon any mode of procedure connected with
+it.&nbsp; At length Mr. Stephenson became satisfied that the use
+of auxiliary chains was unnecessary, and that the tubular bridge
+might be made of such strength as to be entirely
+self-supporting.</p>
+<p>While these important discussions were in progress, measures
+were taken to proceed with the masonry of the bridges
+simultaneously at Conway and the Menai Straits.&nbsp; The
+foundation-stone of the Britannia Bridge was laid on the 10th
+April, 1846; and on the 12th May following that of the Conway
+Bridge was laid.&nbsp; Suitable platforms and workshops were also
+erected for proceeding with the punching, fitting, and riveting
+of the tubes; and when these operations were in full progress,
+the neighbourhood of the Conway and Britannia Bridges presented
+scenes of extraordinary bustle and industry.&nbsp; About 1500 men
+were employed on the Britannia Bridge alone, and they mostly
+lived upon the ground in wooden cottages erected for the
+occasion.&nbsp; The iron plates were brought in ship-loads from
+Liverpool, Anglesey marble from Penmon, and red sandstone from
+Runcorn, in Cheshire, as wind and tide, and shipping and
+convenience, might determine.&nbsp; There was an unremitting
+clank of hammers, grinding of machinery, and blasting of rock,
+going on from morning till night.&nbsp; In fitting the Britannia
+tubes together, not less than 2,000,000 of bolts were riveted,
+weighing some 900 tons.</p>
+<p>The Britannia Bridge consists of two independent continuous
+tubular beams, each 1511 feet in length, and each weighing 4680
+tons, independent of the cast-iron frames inserted at their
+bearings on the masonry of the towers.&nbsp; These immense beams
+are supported at five places, namely, <!-- page 332--><a
+name="page332"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 332</span>on the
+abutments and on three towers, the central of which is known as
+the Great Britannia Tower, 230 feet high, built on a rock in the
+middle of the Strait.&nbsp; The side towers are 18 feet less in
+height than the central one, and the abutment 35 feet lower than
+the side towers.&nbsp; The design of the masonry is such as to
+accord with the form of the tubes, being somewhat of an Egyptian
+character, massive and gigantic rather than beautiful, but
+bearing the unmistakable impress of power.</p>
+<p>The bridge has four spans,&mdash;two of 460 feet over the
+water, and two of 230 feet over the land.&nbsp; The weight of the
+larger spans, at the points where the tubes repose on the
+masonry, is not less than 1587 tons.&nbsp; On the centre tower
+the tubes rest solid; but on the land towers and abutments they
+lie on roller-beds, so as to allow of expansion and
+contraction.&nbsp; The road within each tube is 15 feet wide, and
+the height varies from 23 feet at the ends to 30 feet at the
+centre.&nbsp; To give an idea of the vast size of the tubes by
+comparison with other structures, it may be mentioned that each
+length constituting the main spans is twice as long as London
+Monument is high; and if it could be set on end in St.
+Paul&rsquo;s Churchyard, it would reach nearly 100 feet above the
+cross.</p>
+<p>The Conway Bridge is, in most respects, similar to the
+Britannia, consisting of two tubes, of 400 feet span, placed side
+by side, each weighing 1180 tons.&nbsp; The principle adopted in
+the construction of the tubes, and the mode of floating and
+raising them, were nearly the same as at the Britannia Bridge,
+though the general arrangement of the plates is in many respects
+different.</p>
+<p>It was determined to construct the shorter outer tubes of the
+Britannia Bridge on scaffoldings in the positions in which they
+were permanently to remain, and to erect the larger tubes upon
+wooden platforms at high-water-mark on the Caernarvon shore, from
+whence they were to be floated in pontoons.</p>
+<p>The floating of the tubes on pontoons, from the places <!--
+page 333--><a name="page333"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+333</span>where they had been constructed, to the recesses in the
+masonry of the towers, up which they were to be hoisted to the
+positions they were permanently to occupy, was an anxious and
+exciting operation.&nbsp; The first part of this process was
+performed at Conway, where Mr. Stephenson directed it in person,
+assisted by Captain Claxton, Mr. Brunel, and other engineering
+friends.&nbsp; On the 6th March, 1848, the pontoons bearing the
+first great tube of the up-line were floated round quietly and
+majestically into their place between the towers in about twenty
+minutes.&nbsp; Unfortunately, one of the sets of pontoons had
+become slightly slued by the stream, by which the Conway end of
+the tube was prevented from being brought home; and five anxious
+days to all concerned intervened before it could be set in its
+place.&nbsp; In the mean time, the presses and raising machinery
+had been fitted in the towers above, and the lifting process was
+begun on the 8th April, when the immense mass was raised 8 feet,
+at the rate of about 2 inches a minute.&nbsp; On the 16th, the
+tube had been raised and finally lowered into its permanent bed;
+the rails were laid along it; and, on the 18th, Mr. Stephenson
+passed through with the first locomotive.&nbsp; The second tube
+was proceeded with on the removal of the first from the platform,
+and was completed and floated in seven months.&nbsp; The rapidity
+with which this second tube was constructed was in no small
+degree owing to the Jacquard punching-machine, contrived for the
+purpose by Mr. Roberts of Manchester.&nbsp; This tube was finally
+fixed in its permanent bed on the 2nd of January, 1849.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p334.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Conway Tubular Bridge"
+title=
+"Conway Tubular Bridge"
+src="images/p334.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The floating and fixing of the great Britannia tubes was a
+still more formidable enterprise, though the experience gained at
+Conway rendered it easy compared with what it otherwise would
+have been.&nbsp; Mr. Stephenson superintended the operation of
+floating the first in person, giving the arranged signals from
+the top of the tube on which he was mounted, the active part of
+the business being performed by a numerous corps of sailors,
+under the immediate <!-- page 334--><a name="page334"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 334</span>direction of Captain Claxton.&nbsp;
+Thousands of spectators lined the shores of the Strait on the
+evening of the 19th June, 1849.&nbsp; On the land attachments
+being cut, the pontoons began to float off; but one of the
+capstans having given way from excessive strain, the tube was
+brought home again for the night.&nbsp; By next morning the
+defective capstan was restored, and all was in readiness for
+another trial.&nbsp; At half-past seven in the evening the tube
+was afloat, and the pontoons swung out into the current like a
+monster pendulum, held steady by the shore guide-lines, but
+increasing in speed to almost a fearful extent as they <!-- page
+335--><a name="page335"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+335</span>neared their destined place between the piers.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;The success of this operation,&rdquo; says Mr. Clark,
+&ldquo;depended mainly on properly striking the
+&lsquo;butt&rsquo; beneath the Anglesey tower, on which, as upon
+a centre, the tube was to be veered round into its position
+across the opening.&nbsp; This position was determined by a
+12-inch line, which was to be paid out to a fixed mark from the
+Llanfair capstan.&nbsp; The coils of the rope unfortunately
+over-rode each other upon this capstan, so that it could not be
+paid out.&nbsp; In resisting the motion of the tube, the capstan
+was bodily dragged out of the platform by the action of the
+palls, and the tube was in imminent danger of being carried away
+by the stream, or the pontoons crushed upon the rocks.&nbsp; The
+men at the capstan were all knocked down, and some of them thrown
+into the water, though they made every exertion to arrest the
+motion of the capstan-bars.&nbsp; In this dilemma Mr. Rolfe, who
+had charge of the capstan, with great presence of mind, called
+the visitors on shore to his assistance; and handing out the
+spare coil of the 12-inch line into the field at the back of the
+capstan, it was carried with great rapidity up the field, and a
+crowd of people, men, women, and children, holding on to this
+huge cable, arresting the progress of the tube, which was at
+length brought safely against the butt and veered round.&nbsp;
+The Britannia end was then drawn into the recess of the masonry
+by a chain passing through the tower to a crab on the far
+side.&nbsp; The violence of the tide abated, though the wind
+increased, and the Anglesey end was drawn into its place beneath
+the corbelling in the masonry; and as the tide went down, the
+pontoons deposited their valuable cargo on the welcome shelf at
+each end.&nbsp; The successful issue was greeted by cannon from
+the shore and the hearty cheers of many thousands of spectators,
+whose sympathy and anxiety were but too clearly indicated by the
+unbroken silence with which the whole operation had been
+accompanied.&rdquo; <a name="citation335"></a><a
+href="#footnote335" class="citation">[335]</a>&nbsp; By <!-- page
+336--><a name="page336"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+336</span>midnight all the pontoons had been got clear of the
+tube, which now hung suspended over the waters of the Strait by
+its two ends, which rested upon the edges cut in the rock for the
+purpose at the base of the Britannia and Anglesey towers
+respectively, up which the tube had now to be lifted by hydraulic
+power to its permanent place near the summit.&nbsp; The accuracy
+with which the gigantic beam had been constructed may be inferred
+from the fact that, after passing into its place, a clear space
+remained between the iron plating and the rock outside of it of
+only about three-quarters of an inch!</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s anxiety was, of course, very great up
+to the time of performing this trying operation.&nbsp; When he
+had got the first tube floated at Conway, and saw all safe, he
+said to Captain Moorsom, &ldquo;Now I shall go to
+bed.&rdquo;&nbsp; But the Britannia Bridge was a still more
+difficult enterprise, and cost him many a sleepless night.&nbsp;
+Afterwards describing his feelings to his friend Mr. Gooch, he
+said: &ldquo;It was a most anxious and harassing time with
+me.&nbsp; Often at night I would lie tossing about, seeking sleep
+in vain.&nbsp; The tubes filled my head.&nbsp; I went to bed with
+them and got up with them.&nbsp; In the grey of the morning, when
+I looked across the Square, <a name="citation336"></a><a
+href="#footnote336" class="citation">[336]</a> it seemed an
+immense distance across to the houses on the opposite side.&nbsp;
+It was nearly the same length as the span of my tubular
+bridge!&rdquo;&nbsp; When the first tube had been floated, a
+friend observed to him, &ldquo;This great work has made you ten
+years older.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;I have not slept sound,&rdquo;
+he replied, &ldquo;for three weeks.&rdquo;&nbsp; Sir F. Head,
+however relates, that when he revisited the spot on the following
+morning, he observed, sitting on a platform overlooking the
+suspended tube, a gentleman, reclining entirely by himself,
+smoking a cigar, and gazing, as if indolently, at the a&euml;rial
+gallery beneath him.&nbsp; It was the engineer himself,
+contemplating his new born child.&nbsp; He had strolled down from
+<!-- page 337--><a name="page337"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+337</span>the neighbouring village, after his first sound and
+refreshing sleep for weeks, to behold in sunshine and solitude,
+that which during a weary period of gestation had been either
+mysteriously moving in his brain, or, like a
+vision&mdash;sometimes of good omen, and sometimes of
+evil&mdash;had, by night as well as by day, been flitting across
+his mind.</p>
+<p>The next process was the lifting of the tube into its place,
+which was performed very deliberately and cautiously.&nbsp; It
+was raised by powerful hydraulic presses, only a few feet at a
+time, and carefully under-built, before being raised to a farther
+height.&nbsp; When it had been got up by successive stages of
+this kind to about 24 feet, an extraordinary accident occurred,
+during Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s absence in London, which he
+afterwards described to the author in as nearly as possible the
+following words:&mdash;&ldquo;In a work of such novelty and
+magnitude, you may readily imagine how anxious I was that every
+possible contingency should be provided for.&nbsp; Where one
+chain or rope was required, I provided two.&nbsp; I was not
+satisfied with &lsquo;enough:&rsquo; I must have absolute
+security, as far as that was possible.&nbsp; I knew the
+consequences of failure would be most disastrous to the Company,
+and that the wisest economy was to provide for all contingencies
+at whatever cost.&nbsp; When the first tube at the Britannia had
+been successfully floated between the piers, ready for being
+raised, my young engineers were very much elated; and when the
+hoisting apparatus had been fixed, they wrote to me
+saying,&mdash;&lsquo;We are now all ready for raising her: we
+could do it in a day, or in two at the most.&nbsp; But my reply
+was, &lsquo;No: you must only raise the tube inch by inch, and
+you must build up under it as you rise.&nbsp; Every inch must be
+made good.&nbsp; Nothing must be left to chance or good
+luck.&rsquo;&nbsp; And fortunate it was that I insisted upon this
+cautious course being pursued; for, one day, while the hydraulic
+presses were at work, the bottom of one of them burst clean
+away!&nbsp; The crosshead and the chains, weighing more than 50
+tons, descended with a fearful crash upon the press, and the tube
+itself fell down upon the packing <!-- page 338--><a
+name="page338"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+338</span>beneath.&nbsp; Though the fall of the tube was not more
+than nine inches, it crushed solid castings, weighing tons, as if
+they had been nuts.&nbsp; The tube itself was slightly strained
+and deflected, though it still remained sufficiently
+serviceable.&nbsp; But it was a tremendous test to which it was
+put, for a weight of upwards of 5000 tons falling even a few
+inches must be admitted to be a very serious matter.&nbsp; That
+it stood so well was extraordinary.&nbsp; Clark immediately wrote
+me an account of the circumstance, in which he said, &lsquo;Thank
+God, you have been so obstinate.&nbsp; For if this accident had
+occurred without a bed for the end of the tube to fall on, the
+whole would now have been lying across the bottom of the
+Straits.&rsquo;&nbsp; Five thousand pounds extra expense was
+caused by this accident, slight though it might seem.&nbsp; But
+careful provision was made against future failure; a new and
+improved cylinder was provided: and the work was very soon
+advancing satisfactorily towards completion.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When the Queen first visited the Britannia Bridge, on her
+return from the North in 1852, Robert Stephenson accompanied Her
+Majesty and Prince Albert over the works, explaining the
+principles on which the bridge had been built, and the
+difficulties which had attended its erection.&nbsp; He conducted
+the Royal party to near the margin of the sea, and, after
+describing to them the incident of the fall of the tube, and the
+reason of its preservation, he pointed with pardonable pride to a
+pile of stones which the workmen had there raised to commemorate
+the event.&nbsp; While nearly all the other marks of the work
+during its progress had been obliterated, that cairn had been
+left standing in commemoration of the caution and foresight of
+their chief.</p>
+<p>The floating and raising of the remaining tubes need not be
+described in detail.&nbsp; The second was floated on the 3rd
+December, and set in its permanent place on the 7th January,
+1850.&nbsp; The others were floated and raised in due
+course.&nbsp; On the 5th March, Mr. Stephenson put the last rivet
+in the <!-- page 339--><a name="page339"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 339</span>last tube, and passed through the
+completed bridge, accompanied by about a thousand persons, drawn
+by three locomotives.&nbsp; The bridge was opened for public
+traffic on the 18th March.&nbsp; The cost of the whole work was
+&pound;234,450.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p339.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Britannia Bridge.  (By Percival Skelton)"
+title=
+"The Britannia Bridge.  (By Percival Skelton)"
+src="images/p339.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The Britannia Bridge is one of the most remarkable monuments
+of the enterprise and skill of the present century.&nbsp; Robert
+Stephenson was the master spirit of the undertaking.&nbsp; To him
+belongs the merit of first seizing the ideal <!-- page 340--><a
+name="page340"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 340</span>conception
+of the structure best adapted to meet the necessities of the
+case; and of selecting the best men to work out his idea, himself
+watching, controlling, and testing every result, by independent
+check and counter-check.&nbsp; And finally, he organised and
+directed, through his assistants, the vast band of skilled
+workmen and labourers who were for so many years occupied in
+carrying his magnificent original conception to a successful
+practical issue.&nbsp; As he himself said of the
+work,&mdash;&ldquo;The true and accurate calculation of all the
+conditions and elements essential to the safety of the bridge had
+been a source not only of mental but of bodily toil; including,
+as it did, a combination of abstract thought and well-considered
+experiment adequate to the magnitude of the project.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Britannia Bridge was the result of a vast combination of
+skill and industry.&nbsp; But for the perfection of our tools and
+the ability of our mechanics to use them to the greatest
+advantage; but for the matured powers of the steam-engine; but
+for the improvements in the iron manufacture, which enabled
+blooms to be puddled of sizes before deemed impracticable, and
+plates and bars of immense size to be rolled and forged; but for
+these, the Britannia Bridge would have been designed in
+vain.&nbsp; Thus, it was not the product of the genius of the
+railway engineer alone, but of the collective mechanical genius
+of the English nation.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p340.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Conway Bridge.&mdash;Floating the First Tube"
+title=
+"Conway Bridge.&mdash;Floating the First Tube"
+src="images/p340.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 341--><a
+name="page341"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 341</span>
+<a href="images/p341.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"View in Tapton Gardens"
+title=
+"View in Tapton Gardens"
+src="images/p341.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.<br />
+<span class="smcap">George Stephenson&rsquo;s Closing
+Years</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Illness and
+Death</span>.</h2>
+<p>In describing the completion of the series of great works
+detailed in the preceding chapter, we have somewhat anticipated
+the closing years of George Stephenson&rsquo;s life.&nbsp; He
+could not fail to take an anxious interest in the success of his
+son&rsquo;s designs, and he accordingly paid many visits to
+Conway and to Menai, during the progress of the works.&nbsp; He
+was present on the occasion of the floating and raising of the
+first Conway tube, and there witnessed a clear proof of the
+soundness of Robert&rsquo;s judgment as to the efficiency and
+strength of the tubular bridge, of which he had at first
+expressed some doubts; but before the like test could be applied
+at the Britannia Bridge, George Stephenson&rsquo;s mortal
+anxieties were at an end, for he had then ceased from all his
+labours.</p>
+<p>Towards the close of his life, George Stephenson almost
+entirely withdrew from the active pursuit of his profession; <!--
+page 342--><a name="page342"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+342</span>he devoted himself chiefly to his extensive collieries
+and lime-works, taking a local interest only in such projected
+railways as were calculated to open up new markets for their
+products.</p>
+<p>At home he lived the life of a country gentleman, enjoying his
+garden and grounds, and indulging his love of nature, which,
+through all his busy life, had never left him.&nbsp; It was not
+until the year 1845 that he took an active interest in
+horticultural pursuits.&nbsp; Then he began to build new
+melon-houses, pineries, and vineries, of great extent; and he now
+seemed as eager to excel all other growers of exotic plants in
+his neighbourhood, as he had been to surpass the villagers of
+Killingworth in the production of gigantic cabbages and
+cauliflowers some thirty years before.&nbsp; He had a pine-house
+built 68 feet in length and a pinery 140 feet.&nbsp; Workmen were
+constantly employed in enlarging them, until at length he had no
+fewer than ten glass forcing-houses, heated with hot water, which
+he was one of the first in that neighbourhood to make use of for
+such a purpose.&nbsp; He did not take so much pleasure in flowers
+as in fruits.&nbsp; At one of the county agricultural meetings,
+he said that he intended yet to grow pineapples at Tapton as big
+as pumpkins.&nbsp; The only man to whom he would &ldquo;knock
+under&rdquo; was his friend Paxton, the gardener to the Duke of
+Devonshire; and he was so old in the service, and so skilful,
+that he could scarcely hope to beat him.&nbsp; Yet his
+&ldquo;Queen&rdquo; pines did take the first prize at a
+competition with the Duke,&mdash;though this was not until
+shortly after his death, when the plants had become more fully
+grown.&nbsp; His grapes also took the first prize at Rotherham,
+at a competition open to all England.&nbsp; He was extremely
+successful in producing melons, having invented a method of
+suspending them in baskets of wire gauze, which, by relieving the
+stalk from tension, allowed nutrition to proceed more freely, and
+better enabled the fruit to grow and ripen.</p>
+<p>He took much pride also in his growth of cucumbers.&nbsp; He
+raised them very fine and large, but he could not make <!-- page
+343--><a name="page343"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+343</span>them grow straight.&nbsp; Place them as he would,
+notwithstanding all his propping of them, and humouring them by
+modifying the application of heat and the admission of light for
+the purpose of effecting his object, they would still insist on
+growing crooked in their own way.&nbsp; At last he had a number
+of glass cylinders made at Newcastle, for the purpose of an
+experiment; into these the growing cucumbers were inserted, and
+then he succeeded in growing them perfectly straight.&nbsp;
+Carrying one of the new products into his house one day, and
+exhibiting it to a party of visitors, he told them of the
+expedient he had adopted, and added gleefully, &ldquo;I think I
+have bothered them noo!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson also carried on farming operations with some
+success.&nbsp; He experimented on manure, and fed cattle after
+methods of his own.&nbsp; He was very particular as to breed and
+build in stock-breeding.&nbsp; &ldquo;You see, sir,&rdquo; he
+said to one gentleman, &ldquo;I like to see the
+<i>coo&rsquo;s</i> back at a gradient something like this&rdquo;
+(drawing an imaginary line with his hand), &ldquo;and then the
+ribs or girders will carry more flesh than if they were
+so&mdash;or so.&rdquo;&nbsp; When he attended the county
+agricultural meetings, which he frequently did, he was accustomed
+to take part in the discussions, and he brought the same vigorous
+practical mind to bear upon questions of tillage, drainage, and
+farm economy, which he had been accustomed to exercise on
+mechanical and engineering matters.</p>
+<p>All his early affection for birds and animals revived.&nbsp;
+He had favourite dogs, and cows, and horses; and again he began
+to keep rabbits, and to pride himself on the beauty of his
+breed.&nbsp; There was not a bird&rsquo;s nest upon the grounds
+that he did not know of; and from day to day he went round
+watching the progress which the birds made with their building,
+carefully guarding them from injury.&nbsp; No one was more
+minutely acquainted with the habits of British birds, the result
+of a long, loving, and close observation of nature.</p>
+<p><!-- page 344--><a name="page344"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+344</span>At Tapton he remembered the failure of his early
+experiment in hatching birds&rsquo; eggs by heat, and he now
+performed it successfully, being able to secure a proper
+apparatus for maintaining a uniform temperature.&nbsp; He was
+also curious about the breeding and fattening of fowls; and when
+his friend Edward Pease of Darlington visited him at Tapton, he
+explained a method which he had invented for fattening chickens
+in half the usual time.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Stephenson tried to keep bees, but found they would not
+thrive at Tapton.&nbsp; Many hives perished, and there was no
+case of success.&nbsp; The cause of failure was a puzzle to the
+engineer; but one day his acute powers of observation enabled him
+to unravel it.&nbsp; At the foot of the hill on which Tapton
+House stands, he saw some bees trying to rise up from amongst the
+grass, laden with honey and wax.&nbsp; They were already
+exhausted, as if with long flying; and then it occurred to him
+that the height at which the house stood above the bees&rsquo;
+feeding-ground rendered it difficult for them to reach their
+hives when heavy laden, and hence they sank exhausted.&nbsp; He
+afterwards incidentally mentioned the circumstance to Mr. Jesse
+the naturalist, who concurred in his view as to the cause of
+failure, and was much struck by the keen observation which had
+led to its solution.</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson had none of the in-door habits of the
+student.&nbsp; He read very little; for reading is a habit which
+is generally acquired in youth; and his youth and manhood had
+been for the most part spent in hard work.&nbsp; Books wearied
+him, and sent him to sleep.&nbsp; Novels excited his feelings too
+much, and he avoided them, though he would occasionally read
+through a philosophical book on a subject in which he felt
+particularly interested.&nbsp; He wrote very few letters with his
+own hand; nearly all his letters were dictated, and he avoided
+even dictation when he could.&nbsp; His greatest pleasure was in
+conversation, from which he gathered most of his imparted
+information.</p>
+<p>It was his practice, when about to set out on a journey by
+<!-- page 345--><a name="page345"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+345</span>railway, to walk along the train before it started, and
+look into the carriages to see if he could find &ldquo;a
+conversable face.&rdquo;&nbsp; On one of these occasions, at the
+Euston Station, he discovered in a carriage a very handsome,
+manly, and intelligent face, which he afterwards found was that
+of the late Lord Denman.&nbsp; He was on his way down to his seat
+at Stony Middleton, in Derbyshire.&nbsp; Mr. Stephenson entered
+the carriage, and the two were shortly engaged in interesting
+conversation.&nbsp; It turned upon chronometry and horology, and
+the engineer amazed his lordship by the extent of his knowledge
+on the subject, in which he displayed as much minute information,
+even down to the latest improvements in watchmaking, as if he had
+been bred a watchmaker and lived by the trade.&nbsp; Lord Denman
+was curious to know how a man whose time must have been mainly
+engrossed by engineering, had gathered so much knowledge on a
+subject quite out of his own line, and he asked the
+question.&nbsp; &ldquo;I learnt clockmaking and
+watchmaking,&rdquo; was the answer, &ldquo;while a working man at
+Killingworth, when I made a little money in my spare hours, by
+cleaning the pitmen&rsquo;s clocks and watches; and since then I
+have kept up my information on the subject.&rdquo;&nbsp; This led
+to further questions, and then Mr. Stephenson told Lord Denman
+the interesting story of his life, which held him entranced
+during the remainder of the journey.</p>
+<p>Many of his friends readily accepted invitations to Tapton
+House to enjoy his hospitality, which never failed.&nbsp; With
+them he would &ldquo;fight his battles o&rsquo;er again,&rdquo;
+reverting to his battle for the locomotive; and he was never
+tired of telling, nor were his auditors of listening to, the
+lively anecdotes with which he was accustomed to illustrate the
+struggles of his early career.&nbsp; Whilst walking in the woods
+or through the grounds, he would arrest his friend&rsquo;s
+attention by allusion to some simple object,&mdash;such as a
+leaf, a blade of grass, a bit of bark, a nest of birds, or an ant
+carrying its eggs across the path,&mdash;and descant in glowing
+terms upon the creative power of the Divine Mechanician, <!--
+page 346--><a name="page346"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+346</span>whose contrivances were so exhaustless and so
+wonderful.&nbsp; This was a theme upon which he was often
+accustomed to dwell in reverential admiration, when in the
+society of his more intimate friends.</p>
+<p>One night, when walking under the stars, and gazing up into
+the field of suns, each the probable centre of a system, forming
+the Milky Way, a friend said to him, &ldquo;What an insignificant
+creature is man in sight of so immense a creation as
+that!&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; was his reply; &ldquo;but
+how wonderful a creature also is man, to be able to think and
+reason, and even in some measure to comprehend works so
+infinite!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A microscope, which he had brought down to Tapton, was a
+source of immense enjoyment to him; and he was never tired of
+contemplating the minute wonders which it revealed.&nbsp; One
+evening, when some friends were visiting him, he induced them
+each to puncture their skin so as to draw blood, in order that he
+might examine the globules through the microscope.&nbsp; One of
+the gentlemen present was a teetotaller, and Mr. Stephenson
+pronounced his blood to be the most lively of the whole.&nbsp; He
+had a theory of his own about the movement of the globules in the
+blood, which has since become familiar.&nbsp; It was, that they
+were respectively charged with electricity, positive at one end
+and negative at the other, and that thus they attracted and
+repelled each other, causing a circulation.&nbsp; No sooner did
+he observe anything new, than he immediately set about devising a
+reason for it.&nbsp; His training in mechanics, his practical
+familiarity with matter in all its forms, and the strong bent of
+his mind, led him first of all to seek for a mechanical
+explanation.&nbsp; And yet he was ready to admit that there was a
+something in the principle of <i>life</i>&mdash;so mysterious and
+inexplicable&mdash;which baffled mechanics, and seemed to
+dominate over and control them.&nbsp; He did not care much,
+either, for abstruse mechanics, but only for the experimental and
+practical, as is usually the case with those whose knowledge has
+been self-acquired.</p>
+<p>Even at his advanced age, the spirit of frolic had not left
+<!-- page 347--><a name="page347"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+347</span>him.&nbsp; When proceeding from Chesterfield station to
+Tapton House with his friends, he would almost invariably
+challenge them to a race up the steep path, partly formed of
+stone steps, along the hill side.&nbsp; And he would struggle, as
+of old, to keep the front place, though by this time his
+&ldquo;wind&rdquo; had greatly failed.&nbsp; He would
+occasionally invite an old friend to take a quiet wrestle with
+him on the lawn, to keep up his skill, and perhaps to try some
+new &ldquo;knack&rdquo; of throwing.&nbsp; In the evening, he
+would sometimes indulge his visitors by reciting the old pastoral
+of &ldquo;Damon and Phyllis,&rdquo; or singing his favourite song
+of &ldquo;John Anderson my Joe.&rdquo;&nbsp; But his greatest
+glory amongst those with whom he was most intimate, was a
+&ldquo;crowdie!&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s have a crowdie
+night,&rdquo; he would say; and forthwith a kettle of boiling
+water was ordered in, with a basin of oatmeal.&nbsp; Taking a
+large bowl, containing a sufficiency of hot water, and placing it
+between his knees, he poured in oatmeal with one hand, and
+stirred the mixture vigorously with the other.&nbsp; When enough
+meal had been added, and the stirring was completed, the crowdie
+was made.&nbsp; It was then supped <!-- page 348--><a
+name="page348"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 348</span>with new
+milk, and Stephenson generally pronounced it
+&ldquo;capital!&rdquo;&nbsp; It was the diet to which he had been
+accustomed when a working man, and all the dainties with which he
+had become familiar in recent years had not spoiled his simple
+tastes.&nbsp; To enjoy crowdie at his age, besides, indicated
+that he still possessed that quality on which no doubt much of
+his practical success in life had depended,&mdash;a strong and
+healthy digestion.</p>
+<p>He would also frequently invite to his house the humbler
+companions of his early life, and take pleasure in talking over
+old times with them.&nbsp; He never assumed any of the bearings
+of a great man on such occasions, but treated the visitors with
+the same friendliness and respect as if they had been his equals,
+sending them away pleased with themselves and delighted with
+him.&nbsp; At other times, needy men who had known him in youth
+would knock at his door, and they were never refused
+access.&nbsp; But if he had heard of any misconduct on their part
+he would rate them soundly.&nbsp; One who knew him intimately in
+private life has seen him exhorting such backsliders, and
+denouncing their misconduct and imprudence with the tears
+streaming down his cheeks.&nbsp; And he would generally conclude
+by opening his purse, and giving them the help which they needed
+&ldquo;to make a fresh start in the world.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s life at Tapton during his latter years
+was occasionally diversified with a visit to London.&nbsp; His
+engineering business having become limited, he generally went
+there for the purpose of visiting friends, or &ldquo;to see what
+there was fresh going on.&rdquo;&nbsp; He found a new race of
+engineers springing up on all hands&mdash;men who knew him not;
+and his London journeys gradually ceased to yield him
+pleasure.&nbsp; A friend used to take him to the opera, but by
+the end of the first act, he was generally in a profound
+slumber.&nbsp; Yet on one occasion he enjoyed a visit to the
+Haymarket with a party of friends on his birthday, to see T. P.
+Cooke, in &ldquo;Black-eyed Susan;&rdquo;&mdash;if that can be
+called enjoyment which kept him in a state of tears during <!--
+page 349--><a name="page349"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+349</span>half the performance.&nbsp; At other times he visited
+Newcastle, which always gave him great pleasure.&nbsp; He would,
+on such occasions, go out to Killingworth and seek up old
+friends, and if the people whom he knew were too retiring, and
+shrunk into their cottages, he went and sought them there.&nbsp;
+Striking the floor with his stick, and holding his noble person
+upright, he would say, in his own kind way, &ldquo;Well, and
+how&rsquo;s all here to-day?&rdquo;&nbsp; To the last he had
+always a warm heart for Newcastle and its neighbourhood.</p>
+<p>Sir Robert Peel, on more than one occasion, invited George
+Stephenson to his mansion at Drayton, where he was accustomed to
+assemble round him men of the highest distinction in art,
+science, and legislation, during the intervals of his
+parliamentary life.&nbsp; The first invitation was respectfully
+declined.&nbsp; Sir Robert invited him a second time, and a
+second time he declined: &ldquo;I have no great ambition,&rdquo;
+he said, &ldquo;to mix in fine company, and perhaps should feel
+out of my element amongst such high folks.&rdquo;&nbsp; But Sir
+Robert a third time pressed him to come down to Tamworth early in
+January, 1845, when he would meet Buckland, Follett, and others
+well known to both.&nbsp; &ldquo;Well, Sir Robert,&rdquo; said
+he, &ldquo;I feel your kindness very much, and can no longer
+refuse: I will come down and join your party.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s strong powers of observation, together
+with his native humour and shrewdness, imparted to his
+conversation at all times much vigour and originality, and made
+him, to young and old, a delightful companion.&nbsp; Though
+mainly an engineer, he was also a profound thinker on many
+scientific questions: and there was scarcely a subject of
+speculation, or a department of recondite science, on which he
+had not employed his faculties in such a way as to have formed
+large and original views.&nbsp; At Drayton, the conversation
+usually turned upon such topics, and Mr. Stephenson freely joined
+in it.&nbsp; On one occasion, an animated discussion took place
+between himself and Dr. Buckland on one of his favourite theories
+as to the <!-- page 350--><a name="page350"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 350</span>formation of coal.&nbsp; But the
+result was, that Dr. Buckland, a much greater master of
+tongue-fence than Mr. Stephenson, completely silenced him.&nbsp;
+Next morning, before breakfast, when he was walking in the
+grounds, deeply pondering, Sir William Follett came up and asked
+what he was thinking about?&nbsp; &ldquo;Why, Sir William, I am
+thinking over that argument I had with Buckland last night; I
+know I am right, and that if I had only the command of words
+which he has, I&rsquo;d have beaten him.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Let
+me know all about it,&rdquo; said Sir William, &ldquo;and
+I&rsquo;ll see what I can do for you.&rdquo;&nbsp; The two sat
+down in an arbour, and the astute lawyer made himself thoroughly
+acquainted with the points of the case; entering into it with all
+the zeal of an advocate about to plead the dearest interests of
+his client.&nbsp; After he had mastered the subject, Sir William
+rose up, rubbing his hands with glee, and said, &ldquo;Now I am
+ready for him.&rdquo;&nbsp; Sir Robert Peel was made acquainted
+with the plot, and adroitly introduced the subject of the
+controversy after dinner.&nbsp; The result was, that in the
+argument which followed, the man of science was overcome by the
+man of law; and Sir William Follett had at all points the mastery
+over Dr. Buckland.&nbsp; &ldquo;What do <i>you</i> say, Mr.
+Stephenson?&rdquo; asked Sir Robert, laughing.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I will only say this, that of
+all the powers above and under the earth, there seems to me to be
+no power so great as the gift of the gab.&rdquo; <a
+name="citation350"></a><a href="#footnote350"
+class="citation">[350]</a></p>
+<p>One Sunday, when the party had just returned from church, they
+were standing together on the terrace near the Hall, and observed
+in the distance a railway-train flashing along, tossing behind
+its long white plume of steam.&nbsp; &ldquo;Now, Buckland,&rdquo;
+said Stephenson, &ldquo;I have a poser for you.&nbsp; Can you
+tell me what is the power that is driving that
+train?&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the other, &ldquo;I
+suppose it is one of your big engines.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;But
+what drives the engine?&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Oh, very likely a
+canny Newcastle driver.&rdquo;&nbsp; <!-- page 351--><a
+name="page351"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 351</span>&ldquo;What
+do you say to the light of the sun?&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;How can
+that be?&rdquo; asked the doctor.&nbsp; &ldquo;It is nothing
+else,&rdquo; said the engineer, &ldquo;it is light bottled up in
+the earth for tens of thousands of years,&mdash;light, absorbed
+by plants and vegetables, being necessary for the condensation of
+carbon during the process of their growth, if it be not carbon in
+another form,&mdash;and now, after being buried in the earth for
+long ages in fields of coal, that latent light is again brought
+forth and liberated, made to work as in that locomotive, for
+great human purposes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>During the same visit, Mr. Stephenson, one evening repeated
+his experiment with blood drawn from the finger, submitting it to
+the microscope in order to show the curious circulation of the
+globules.&nbsp; He set the example by pricking his own thumb; and
+the other guests, by turns, in like manner, gave up a small
+portion of their blood for the purpose of ascertaining the
+comparative livelinesss of their circulation.&nbsp; When Sir
+Robert Peel&rsquo;s turn came, Mr. Stephenson said he was curious
+to know &ldquo;how the blood globules of a great politician would
+conduct themselves.&rdquo;&nbsp; Sir Robert held forth his finger
+for the purpose of being pricked; but once, and again, he
+sensitively shrunk back, and at length the experiment, so far as
+he was concerned, was abandoned.&nbsp; Sir Robert Peel&rsquo;s
+sensitiveness to pain was extreme, and yet he was destined, a few
+years after, to die a death of the most distressing agony.</p>
+<p>In 1847, the year before his death, Mr. Stephenson was again
+invited to join a distinguished party at Drayton Manor, and to
+assist in the ceremony of formally opening the Trent Valley
+Railway, which had been originally designed and laid out by
+himself many years before.&nbsp; The first sod of the railway had
+been cut by the Prime Minister, in November, 1845, during the
+time when Mr. Stephenson was abroad on the business of the
+Spanish railway.&nbsp; The formal opening took place on the 26th
+June, 1847, the line having thus been constructed in less than
+two years.</p>
+<p>What a change had come over the spirit of the landed <!-- page
+352--><a name="page352"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+352</span>gentry since the time when George Stephenson had first
+projected a railway through that district!&nbsp; Then they were
+up in arms against him, characterising him as the devastator and
+spoiler of their estates; now he was hailed as one of the
+greatest benefactors of the age.&nbsp; Sir Robert Peel, the chief
+political personage in England, welcomed him as a guest and
+friend, and spoke of him as the chief among practical
+philosophers.&nbsp; A dozen members of Parliament, seven
+baronets, with all the landed magnates of the district, assembled
+to celebrate the opening of the railway.&nbsp; The clergy were
+there to bless the enterprise, and to bid all hail to railway
+progress, as &ldquo;enabling them to carry on with greater
+facility those operations in connexion with religion which were
+calculated to be so beneficial to the country.&rdquo;&nbsp; The
+army, speaking through the mouth of General A&rsquo;Court,
+acknowledged the vast importance of railways, as tending to
+improve the military defences of the country.&nbsp; And
+representatives from eight corporations were there to acknowledge
+the great benefits which railways had conferred upon the
+merchants, tradesmen, and working classes of their respective
+towns and cities.</p>
+<p>In the spring of 1848 Mr. Stephenson was invited to
+Whittington House, near Chesterfield, the residence of his friend
+and former pupil, Mr. Swanwick, to meet the distinguished
+American, Emerson.&nbsp; Upon being introduced, they did not
+immediately engage in conversation; but presently Stephenson
+jumped up, took Emerson by the collar, and giving him one of his
+friendly shakes, asked how it was that in England we could always
+tell an American?&nbsp; This led to an interesting conversation,
+in the course of which Emerson said how much he had been
+everywhere struck by the haleness and comeliness of the English
+men and women; and then they diverged into a further discussion
+of the influences which air, climate, moisture, soil, and other
+conditions exercised upon the physical and moral development of a
+people.&nbsp; The conversation was next directed to the subject
+of electricity, <!-- page 353--><a name="page353"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 353</span>upon which Stephenson launched out
+enthusiastically, explaining his views by several simple and
+striking illustrations.&nbsp; From thence it gradually turned to
+the events of his own life, which he related in so graphic a
+manner as completely to rivet the attention of the
+American.&nbsp; Afterwards Emerson said, &ldquo;that it was worth
+crossing the Atlantic to have seen Stephenson alone; he had such
+native force of character and vigour of intellect.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The rest of Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s days were spent quietly at
+Tapton, amongst his dogs, his rabbits, and his birds.&nbsp; When
+not engaged about the works connected with his collieries, he was
+occupied in horticulture and farming.&nbsp; He continued proud of
+his flowers, his fruits, and his crops; and the old spirit of
+competition was still strong within him.&nbsp; Although he had
+for some time been in delicate health, and his hand shook from
+nervous affection, he appeared to possess a sound
+constitution.&nbsp; Emerson had observed of him that he had the
+lives of many men in him.&nbsp; But perhaps the American spoke
+figuratively, in reference to his vast stores of
+experience.&nbsp; It appeared that he had never completely
+recovered from the attack of pleurisy which seized him during his
+return from Spain.&nbsp; As late, however, as the 26th July,
+1848, he felt himself sufficiently well to be able to attend a
+meeting of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers at Birmingham,
+and to read to the members his paper &ldquo;On the Fallacies of
+the Rotatory Engine.&rdquo;&nbsp; It was his last appearance
+before them.&nbsp; Shortly after his return to Tapton, he had an
+attack of intermittent fever, from which he seemed to be
+recovering, when a sudden effusion of blood from the lungs
+carried him off, on the 12th August, 1848, in the sixty-seventh
+year of his age.&nbsp; When all was over, Robert wrote to Edward
+Pease, &ldquo;With deep pain I inform you, as one of his oldest
+friends, of the death of my dear father this morning at 12
+o&rsquo;clock, after about ten days&rsquo; illness from severe
+fever.&rdquo;&nbsp; Mr. Starbuck, who was also present, wrote,
+&ldquo;The favourable symptoms of yesterday morning were <!--
+page 354--><a name="page354"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+354</span>towards evening followed by a serious change for the
+worse.&nbsp; This continued during the night, and early this
+morning it became evident that he was sinking.&nbsp; At a few
+minutes before 12 to-day he breathed his last.&nbsp; All that the
+most devoted and unremitting care of Mrs. Stephenson <a
+name="citation354"></a><a href="#footnote354"
+class="citation">[354]</a> and the skill of medicine could
+accomplish, has been done, but in vain.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>George Stephenson&rsquo;s remains were followed to the grave
+by a large body of his workpeople, by whom he was greatly admired
+and beloved.&nbsp; They remembered him as a kind master, who was
+ever ready actively to promote all measures for their moral,
+physical, and mental improvement.&nbsp; The inhabitants of
+Chesterfield evinced their respect for the deceased by suspending
+business, closing their shops, and joining in the funeral
+procession, which was headed by the corporation of the
+town.&nbsp; Many of the surrounding gentry also attended.&nbsp;
+The body was interred in Trinity Church, Chesterfield, where a
+simple tablet marks the great engineer&rsquo;s last
+resting-place.</p>
+<p>The statue of George Stephenson, which the Liverpool and
+Manchester and Grand Junction Companies had commissioned, was on
+its way to England when his death occurred; and it served for a
+monument, though his best monument will always be his
+works.&nbsp; The statue referred to was placed in St.
+George&rsquo;s Hall, Liverpool.&nbsp; A full-length statue of
+him, by Bailey, was also erected a few years later, in the noble
+vestibule of the London and North-Western Station, in Euston
+Square.&nbsp; A subscription for the purpose was set on foot by
+the Society of Mechanical Engineers, of which he had been the
+founder and president.&nbsp; A few advertisements were inserted
+in the newspapers, inviting subscriptions; and it is a notable
+fact that the voluntary offerings included an average of two
+shillings each from <!-- page 355--><a name="page355"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 355</span>3150 working men, who embraced this
+opportunity of doing honour to their distinguished fellow
+workman.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p355.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Trinity Church, Chesterfield"
+title=
+"Trinity Church, Chesterfield"
+src="images/p355.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>But unquestionably the finest and most appropriate statue to
+the memory of George Stephenson is that erected in 1862, after
+the design of John Lough, at Newcastle-upon Tyne.&nbsp; It is in
+the immediate neighbourhood of the Literary and Philosophical
+Institute, to which both George and his son Robert were so much
+indebted in their early years; close to the great Stephenson
+locomotive foundry established by the shrewdness of the father;
+and in the vicinity of the High Level Bridge, one of the grandest
+products of the genius of the son.&nbsp; The head of Stephenson,
+as expressed in this noble work, is massive, characteristic, and
+faithful; and the attitude of the figure is simple yet manly and
+energetic.&nbsp; It stands on a pedestal, at the respective
+corners of which are sculptured the recumbent figures of a
+pitman, a mechanic, an engine-driver, and a plate-layer.&nbsp;
+The statue <!-- page 356--><a name="page356"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 356</span>appropriately stands in a very
+thoroughfare of working-men, thousands of whom see it daily as
+they pass to and from their work; and we can imagine them, as
+they look up to Stephenson&rsquo;s manly figure, applying to it
+the words addressed by Robert Nicoll to Robert Burns, with
+perhaps still greater appropriateness:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>&ldquo;Before the proudest of the earth<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; We stand, with an uplifted brow;<br />
+Like us, thou wast a toiling man,&mdash;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; And we are noble, now!&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The portrait prefixed to this volume gives a good indication
+of George Stephenson&rsquo;s shrewd, kind, honest, manly
+face.&nbsp; His fair, clear countenance was ruddy, and seemingly
+glowed with health.&nbsp; The forehead was large and high,
+projecting over the eyes, and there was that massive breadth
+across the lower part which is usually observed in men of eminent
+constructive skill.&nbsp; The mouth was firmly marked, and
+shrewdness and humour lurked there as well as in the keen grey
+eye.&nbsp; His frame was compact, well-knit, and rather
+spare.&nbsp; His hair became grey at an early age, and towards
+the close of his life it was of a pure silky whiteness.&nbsp; He
+dressed neatly in black, wearing a white neckcloth; and his face,
+his person, and his deportment at once arrested attention, and
+marked the Gentleman.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p356.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Tablet in Trinity Church, Chesterfield"
+title=
+"Tablet in Trinity Church, Chesterfield"
+src="images/p356.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 357--><a
+name="page357"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 357</span>
+<a href="images/p357.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Victoria Bridge, Montreal"
+title=
+"Victoria Bridge, Montreal"
+src="images/p357.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIX.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s Victoria
+Bridge</span>, <span class="smcap">Lower
+Canada</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Illness and
+Death</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Stephenson
+Characteristics</span>.</h2>
+<p>George Stephenson bequeathed to his son his valuable
+collieries, his share in the engine manufactory at Newcastle, and
+his large accumulation of savings, which, together with the
+fortune he had himself amassed by railway work, gave Robert the
+position of an engineer millionaire&mdash;the first of his
+order.&nbsp; He continued, however, to live in a quiet style; and
+although he bought occasional pictures and statues, and indulged
+in the luxury of a yacht, he did not live up to his income, which
+went on rapidly accumulating until his death.</p>
+<p>There was no longer the necessity for applying himself to the
+laborious business of a parliamentary engineer, in which he had
+now been occupied for some fifteen years.&nbsp; Shortly after his
+father&rsquo;s death, Edward Pease strongly recommended him to
+give up the more harassing work of his profession; and his reply
+(15th June, 1850) was as <!-- page 358--><a
+name="page358"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+358</span>follows:&mdash;&ldquo;The suggestion which your kind
+note contains is quite in accordance with my own feelings and
+intentions respecting retirement; but I find it a very difficult
+matter to bring to a close so complicated a connexion in business
+as that which has been established by twenty-five years of active
+and arduous professional duty.&nbsp; Comparative retirement is,
+however, my intention; and I trust that your prayer for the
+Divine blessing to grant me happiness and quiet comfort will be
+fulfilled.&nbsp; I cannot but feel deeply grateful to the Great
+Disposer of events for the success which has hitherto attended my
+exertions in life; and I trust that the future will also be
+marked by a continuance of His mercies.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Although Robert Stephenson, in conformity with this expressed
+intention, for the most part declined to undertake new business,
+he did not altogether lay aside his harness; and he lived to
+repeat his tubular bridges both in Lower Canada and in
+Egypt.&nbsp; The success of the tubular system, as adopted at
+Menai and Conway, was such as to recommend it for adoption
+wherever great span was required; and the peculiar circumstances
+connected with the navigation of the St. Lawrence and the Nile,
+may be said to have compelled its adoption in carrying railways
+across those great rivers.</p>
+<p>The Victoria Bridge, of which Robert Stephenson was the
+designer and chief engineer, is, without exception, the greatest
+work of the kind in the world.&nbsp; For gigantic proportions and
+vast length and strength there is nothing to compare with it in
+ancient or modern times.&nbsp; The entire bridge, with its
+approaches, is only about sixty yards short of <i>two miles</i>,
+being five times longer than the Britannia across the Menai
+Straits, seven and a half times longer than Waterloo Bridge, and
+more than ten times longer than the new Chelsea Bridge across the
+Thames!&nbsp; It has not less than twenty-four spans of 242 feet
+each, and one great central span&mdash;itself an immense
+bridge&mdash;of 330 feet.&nbsp; The road is carried within iron
+tubes 60 feet above the level of <!-- page 359--><a
+name="page359"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 359</span>the St.
+Lawrence, which runs beneath at a speed of about ten miles an
+hour, and in winter brings down the ice of two thousand square
+miles of lakes and rivers, with their numerous tributaries.&nbsp;
+The weight of iron in the tubes is about ten thousand tons,
+supported on massive piers, which contain, some six, and others
+ten thousand tons of solid masonry.</p>
+<p>So gigantic a work, involving so heavy an
+expenditure&mdash;about &pound;1,300,000&mdash;was not projected
+without sufficient cause.&nbsp; The Grand Trunk Railway of
+Canada, upwards of 1200 miles in length, traverses British North
+America from the shores of the Atlantic to the rich prairie
+country of the Far West.&nbsp; It opens up a vast extent of
+fertile territory for future immigration, and provides a ready
+means for transporting the varied products of the Western States
+to the seaboard.&nbsp; So long as the St. Lawrence was relied
+upon, the inhabitants along the Great Valley were precluded from
+communication with each other for nearly six months of the year,
+during which the navigation was closed by the ice.</p>
+<p>The Grand Trunk Railway was designed to furnish a line of
+communication through this great district at all seasons;
+following the course of the St. Lawrence along its north bank,
+and uniting the principal towns of Canada.&nbsp; But stopping
+short on the north shore, it was still an incomplete work;
+unconnected, except by a dangerous and often impracticable ferry,
+with Montreal, the capital of the province, and shut off from
+connection with the United States, as well as with the coast to
+which the commerce of Canada naturally tends.&nbsp; Without a
+bridge at Montreal, therefore, it was felt that the system of
+Canadian railway communication would have been incomplete, and
+the benefits of the Grand Trunk Railway in a great measure
+nugatory.</p>
+<p>As early as 1846 the construction of a bridge across the St.
+Lawrence at Montreal was strongly advocated by the local press
+for the purpose of directly connecting that city with the then
+projected Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railway.&nbsp; A survey of
+the bridge was made, and the <!-- page 360--><a
+name="page360"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 360</span>scheme was
+reported to be practicable.&nbsp; A period of colonial
+depression, however, intervened, and although the project was not
+lost sight of, it was not until 1852, when the Grand Trunk
+Railway Company began their operations, that there seemed to be
+any reasonable prospect of its being carried out.&nbsp; In that
+year, Mr. A. M. Ross&mdash;who had superintended, under Robert
+Stephenson, the construction of the tubular bridge over the
+Conway&mdash;visited Canada, and inspected the site of the
+proposed bridge, when he readily arrived at the conclusion that a
+like structure was suitable for the crossing of the St.
+Lawrence.&nbsp; He returned to England to confer with Robert
+Stephenson on the subject, and the result was the plan of the
+Victoria Bridge, of which Robert Stephenson was the designer, and
+Mr. A. M. Ross the joint and resident engineer.</p>
+<p>The particular kind of structure to be adopted, however,
+formed the subject of much preliminary discussion.&nbsp; Even
+after the design of a tubular bridge had been adopted, and the
+piers were commenced, the plan was made the subject of severe
+criticism, on the ground of its alleged excessive cost.&nbsp; It
+therefore became necessary for Mr. Stephenson to vindicate the
+propriety of his design in a report to the directors of the
+railway, in which he satisfactorily proved that as respected
+strength, efficiency, and economy, with a view to permanency, the
+plan of the Victoria Bridge was unimpeachable.&nbsp; There were
+various methods proposed for spanning the St. Lawrence.&nbsp; The
+suspension bridge, such as that over the river Niagara, was found
+inapplicable for several reasons, but chiefly because of its
+defective rigidity, which greatly limited the speed and weight of
+the trains, and consequently the amount of traffic which could be
+passed over such a bridge.&nbsp; Thus, taking the length of the
+Victoria Bridge into account, it was found that not more than 20
+trains could pass within the 24 hours, a number insufficient for
+the accommodation of the anticipated traffic.&nbsp; To introduce
+such an amount of material into the suspension bridge as would
+supply increased <!-- page 361--><a name="page361"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 361</span>rigidity, would only be
+approximating to the original beam, and neutralizing any
+advantages in point of cheapness which might be derivable from
+this form of structure, without securing the essential stiffness
+and strength.&nbsp; Iron arches were also considered
+inapplicable, because of the large headway required for the
+passage of the ice in winter, and the necessity which existed for
+keeping the springing of the arches clear of the
+water-line.&nbsp; This would have involved the raising of the
+entire road, and a largely increased expenditure on the upper
+works.&nbsp; The question was therefore reduced to the
+consideration of the kind of <i>horizontal beam</i> or
+<i>girder</i> to be employed.</p>
+<p>Horizontal girders are of three kinds.&nbsp; The
+<i>Tubular</i> is constructed of riveted rectangular boiler
+plates.&nbsp; Where the span is large, the road passes within the
+tube; where the span is comparatively small, the roadway is
+supported by two or more rectangular beams.&nbsp; Next there is
+the <i>Lattice</i> girder, borrowed from the loose rough timber
+bridges of the American engineers, consisting of a top and bottom
+flange connected by a number of flat iron bars, riveted across
+each other at a certain angle, the roadway resting on the top, or
+being suspended at the bottom between the lattice on either
+side.&nbsp; Bridges on the same construction are now extensively
+used for crossing the broad rivers of India, and are especially
+designed with a view to their easy transport and erection.&nbsp;
+The <i>Trellis</i> or Warren girder is a modification of the same
+plan, consisting of a top and bottom flange, with a connecting
+web of diagonal flat bars, forming a complete system of
+triangulation&mdash;hence the name of &ldquo;Triangular
+girder,&rdquo; by which it is generally known.&nbsp; The merit of
+this form consists in its comparative rigidity, strength,
+lightness, and economy of material These bridges are also
+extensively employed in spanning the rivers of India.&nbsp; One
+of the best specimens is the Crumlin viaduct, 200 feet high at
+one point, which spans the river and valley of the Ebbw near the
+village of Crumlin in South Wales.&nbsp; This viaduct is about a
+third of a mile <!-- page 362--><a name="page362"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 362</span>long, divided into two parts by a
+ridge of hills which runs through the centre of the
+valley&mdash;each part forming a separate viaduct, the one of
+seven equal spans of 150 feet, the other of three spans of the
+same diameter.&nbsp; The bridge has been very skilfully designed
+and constructed, and, by reason of its great dimensions and novel
+arrangements, is entitled to be regarded as one of the most
+remarkable engineering works of the day.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;In calculating the strength of these different classes
+of girders,&rdquo; Mr. Stephenson observed, &ldquo;one ruling
+principle appertains, and is common to all of them.&nbsp;
+Primarily and essentially, the ultimate strength is considered to
+exist in the top and bottom,&mdash;the former being exposed to a
+compression force by the action of the load, and the latter to a
+force of tension; therefore, whatever be the class or
+denomination of girders, they must all be alike in amount of
+effective material in these members, if their spans and depths
+are the same, and they have to sustain the same amount of
+load.&nbsp; Hence, the question of comparative merit amongst the
+different classes of construction of beams or girders is really
+narrowed to the method of connecting the top and bottom
+<i>webs</i>, so called.&rdquo;&nbsp; In the tubular system the
+connexion is effected by continuous boiler plates riveted
+together; and in the lattice and trellis bridges by flat iron
+bars, more or less numerous, forming a series of struts and
+ties.&nbsp; Those engineers who advocate the employment of the
+latter form of construction, set forth as its principal advantage
+the saving of material which is effected by employing bars
+instead of iron plates; whereas Mr. Stephenson and his followers
+urge, that in point of economy the boiler plate side is equal to
+the bars, whilst in point of effective strength and rigidity it
+is decidedly superior.&nbsp; To show the comparative economy of
+material, he contrasted the lattice girder bridge over the river
+Trent, on the Great Northern Railway near Newark, with the tubes
+of the Victoria Bridge.&nbsp; In the former case, where the span
+is 240&frac12; feet, and the bridge 13 feet wide, the weight
+including bearings is 292 tons; <!-- page 363--><a
+name="page363"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 363</span>in the
+latter, where the span is 242 feet, the width of the tube 16
+feet, the weight including bearings is 275 tons, showing a
+balance in favour of the Victoria Tube of 17 tons.&nbsp; The
+comparison between the Newark Dyke Bridge and the Tubular Bridge
+over the river Aire is equally favourable to the latter; and no
+one can have travelled over the Great Northern line to York
+without noting that, as respects rigidity under the passing
+train, the Tubular Bridge is decidedly superior.&nbsp; It is
+ascertained that the deflection caused by a passing load is
+considerably greater in the former case; and Mr. Stephenson was
+also of opinion that the sides of all trellis or lattice girders
+are useless, except for the purpose of connecting the top and
+bottom, and keeping them in their position.&nbsp; They depend
+upon their connexion with the top and bottom webs for their own
+support; and since they could not sustain their shape, but would
+collapse immediately on their being disconnected from their top
+and bottom members, it is evident that they add to the strain
+upon them, and consequently to that extent reduce the ultimate
+strength of the beams.&nbsp; &ldquo;I admit,&rdquo; he added,
+&ldquo;that there is no formula for valuing the <i>solid</i>
+sides for strains, and that at present we only ascribe to them
+the value or use of connecting the top and bottom; yet we are
+aware that, from their continuity and solidity, they are of value
+to resist horizontal and many other strains, independently of the
+top and bottom, by which they add very much to the stiffness of
+the beam; and the fact of their containing more material than is
+necessary to connect the top and bottom webs, has by no means
+been fairly established.&rdquo;&nbsp; Another important advantage
+of the Tubular bridge over the Trellis or Lattice structure,
+consists in its greater safety in event of a train running off
+the line,&mdash;a contingency which has more than once occurred
+on a tubular bridge without detriment, whereas in event of such
+an accident occurring on a Trellis or Lattice bridge, it must
+infallibly be destroyed.&nbsp; Where the proposed bridge is of
+the unusual length of a mile and a quarter, it is obvious <!--
+page 364--><a name="page364"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+364</span>that this consideration must have had no small weight
+with the directors, who eventually decided on proceeding with the
+Tubular Bridge according to Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s original
+design.</p>
+<p>From the first projection of the Victoria Bridge, the
+difficulties of executing such a work across a wide river, down
+which an avalanche of ice rushes to the sea every spring, were
+pronounced almost insurmountable by those best acquainted with
+the locality.&nbsp; The ice of two thousand miles of inland lakes
+and upper rivers, besides their tributaries, is then poured down
+stream, and, in the neighbourhood of Montreal especially, it is
+often piled up to the height of from forty to fifty feet, placing
+the surrounding country under water, and doing severe damage to
+the massive stone buildings along the noble river front of the
+city.&nbsp; To resist so prodigious a pressure, it was necessary
+that the piers of the proposed bridge should be of the most solid
+and massive description.&nbsp; Their foundations are placed in
+the solid rock; for none of the artificial methods of obtaining
+foundations, suggested by some engineers for cheapness&rsquo;
+sake, were found practicable in this case.&nbsp; Where the force
+exercised against the piers was likely to be so great, it was
+felt that timber ice-breakers, timber or cast-iron piling, or
+even rubble-work, would have proved but temporary
+expedients.&nbsp; The two centre piers are eighteen feet wide,
+and the remaining twenty-two piers fifteen feet; to arrest and
+break the ice, an inclined plane, composed of great blocks of
+stone, was added to the up-river side of each pier&mdash;each
+block weighing from seven to ten tons, and the whole were firmly
+clamped together with iron rivets.</p>
+<p>To convey some idea of the immense force which these piers are
+required to resist, we may briefly describe the breaking up of
+the ice in March, 1858, while the bridge was under
+construction.&nbsp; Fourteen out of the twenty-four piers were
+then finished, together with the formidable abutments and
+approaches to the bridge.&nbsp; The ice in the <!-- page 365--><a
+name="page365"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 365</span>river began
+to show signs of weakness on the 29th March, but it was not until
+the 31st that a general movement became observable, which
+continued for an hour, when it suddenly stopped, and the water
+rose rapidly.&nbsp; On the following day, at noon, a grand
+movement commenced; the waters rose about four feet in two
+minutes, up to a level with many of the Montreal streets.&nbsp;
+The fields of ice at the same time were suddenly elevated to an
+incredible height; and so overwhelming were they in appearance,
+that crowds of the townspeople, who had assembled on the quay to
+watch the progress of the flood, ran for their lives.&nbsp; This
+movement lasted about twenty minutes, during which the jammed ice
+destroyed several portions of the quay-wall, grinding the hardest
+blocks to atoms.&nbsp; The embanked approaches to the Victoria
+Bridge had tremendous forces to resist.&nbsp; In the full channel
+of the stream, the ice in its passage between the piers was
+broken up by the force of the blow immediately on its coming in
+contact with the cutwaters.&nbsp; Sometimes thick sheets of ice
+were seen to rise up and rear on end against the piers, but by
+the force of the current they were speedily made to roll over
+into the stream, and in a moment after were out of sight.&nbsp;
+For the two next days the river was still high, until on the 4th
+April the waters seemed suddenly to give way, and by the
+following day the river was flowing clear and smooth as a
+millpond, nothing of winter remaining except the masses of
+bordage ice which were strewn along the shores of the
+stream.&nbsp; On examination of the piers of the bridge, it was
+found that they had admirably resisted the tremendous pressure;
+and though the timber &ldquo;cribwork&rdquo; erected to
+facilitate the placing of floating pontoons to form the dams, was
+found considerably disturbed and in some places seriously
+damaged, the piers, with the exception of one or two heavy stone
+blocks, which were still unfinished, escaped uninjured.&nbsp; One
+heavy block of many tons&rsquo; weight was carried to a
+considerable distance, and must have been torn out of its <!--
+page 366--><a name="page366"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+366</span>place by sheer force, as several of the broken
+fragments were found left in the pier.</p>
+<p>The works in connection with the Victoria Bridge were begun on
+the 22nd July, 1854, when the first stone was laid, and continued
+uninterruptedly during a period of 5&frac12; years, until the
+17th December, 1859, when the bridge was finished and taken off
+the contractor&rsquo;s hands.&nbsp; It was formally opened for
+traffic early in 1860; though Robert Stephenson did not live to
+see its completion.</p>
+<p>The tubular system was also applied by the same engineer, in a
+modified form, in the two bridges across the Nile, near Damietta
+in Lower Egypt.&nbsp; That near Benha contains eight spans or
+openings of 80 feet each, and two centre spans, formed by one of
+the largest swing bridges ever constructed,&mdash;the total
+length of the swing-beam being 157 feet,&mdash;a clear water-way
+of 60 feet being provided on either side of the centre
+pier.&nbsp; The only novelty in these bridges consisted in the
+road being carried <i>upon</i> the tubes instead of within them;
+their erection being carried out in the usual manner, by means of
+workmen, materials, and plant sent out from England.</p>
+<p>During the later years of his life, Mr. Stephenson took
+considerable interest in public affairs and in scientific
+investigations.&nbsp; In 1847 he entered the House of Commons as
+member for Whitby; but he does not seem to have been very devoted
+in his attendance, and only appeared on divisions when there was
+a &ldquo;whip&rdquo; of the party to which he belonged.&nbsp; He
+was a member of the Sanitary and Sewage Commissions, and of the
+Commission which sat on Westminster Bridge.&nbsp; The last
+occasions on which he addressed the House were on the Suez Canal
+and the cleansing of the Serpentine.&nbsp; He pronounced the Suez
+Canal to be an impracticable scheme.&nbsp; &ldquo;I have surveyed
+the line,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I have travelled the whole
+distance on foot, and I declare there is no fall between the two
+seas.&nbsp; Honourable members talk about a canal.&nbsp; A canal
+is impossible&mdash;the thing would only be a ditch.&rdquo;</p>
+<p><!-- page 367--><a name="page367"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+367</span>Besides constructing the railway between Alexandria and
+Cairo, he was consulted, like his father, by the King of Belgium,
+as to the railways of that country; and he was made Knight of the
+Order of Leopold because of the improvements which he had made in
+locomotive engines, so much to the advantage of the Belgian
+system of inland transit.&nbsp; He was consulted by the King of
+Sweden as to the railway between Christiana and Lake Mi&ouml;sen,
+and in consideration of his services was decorated with the Grand
+Cross of the Order of St. Olaf.&nbsp; He also visited
+Switzerland, Piedmont, and Denmark, to advise as to the system of
+railway communication best suited for those countries.&nbsp; At
+the Paris Exhibition of 1855 the Emperor of France decorated him
+with the Legion of Honour in consideration of his public
+services; and at home the University of Oxford made him a Doctor
+of Civil Laws.&nbsp; In 1855 he was elected President of the
+Institute of Civil Engineers, which office he held with honour
+and filled with distinguished ability for two years, giving place
+to his friend Mr. Locke at the end of 1857.</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson was frequently called upon to act as arbitrator
+between contractors and railway companies, or between one company
+and another,&mdash;great value being attached to his opinion on
+account of his weighty judgment, his great experience, and his
+upright character, and we believe his decisions were invariably
+stamped by the qualities of impartiality and justice.&nbsp; He
+was always ready to lend a helping hand to a friend, and no petty
+jealousy stood between him and his rivals in the engineering
+world.&nbsp; The author remembers being with Mr. Stephenson one
+evening at his house in Gloucester Square, when a note was put
+into his hands from his friend Brunel, then engaged in his first
+fruitless efforts to launch the <i>Great Eastern</i>.&nbsp; It
+was to ask Stephenson to come down to Blackwall early next
+morning, and give him the benefit of his judgment.&nbsp; Shortly
+after six next morning Stephenson was in Scott Russell&rsquo;s
+building-yard, and he <!-- page 368--><a name="page368"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 368</span>remained there until dusk.&nbsp;
+About midday, while superintending the launching operations, the
+baulk of timber on which he stood canted up, and he fell up to
+his middle in the Thames mud.&nbsp; He was dressed as usual,
+without great-coat (though the day was bitter cold), and with
+only thin boots upon his feet.&nbsp; He was urged to leave the
+yard, and change his dress, or at least dry himself; but with his
+usual disregard of health, he replied, &ldquo;Oh, never mind
+me&mdash;I&rsquo;m quite used to this sort of thing;&rdquo; and
+he went paddling about in the mud, smoking his cigar, until
+almost dark, when the day&rsquo;s work was brought to an
+end.&nbsp; The result of this exposure was an attack of
+inflammation of the lungs, which kept him to his bed for a
+fortnight.</p>
+<p>He was habitually careless of his health, and perhaps he
+indulged in narcotics to a prejudicial extent.&nbsp; Hence he
+often became &ldquo;hipped&rdquo; and sometimes ill.&nbsp; When
+Mr. Sopwith accompanied him to Egypt in the <i>Titania</i>, in
+1856, he succeeded in persuading Mr. Stephenson to limit his
+indulgence in cigars and stimulants, and the consequence was that
+by the end of the voyage he felt himself, as he said,
+&ldquo;quite a new man.&rdquo;&nbsp; Arrived at Marseilles, he
+telegraphed from thence a message to Great George Street,
+prescribing certain stringent and salutary rules for observance
+in the office there on his return.&nbsp; But he was of a facile,
+social disposition, and the old associations proved too strong
+for him.&nbsp; When he sailed for Norway, in the autumn of 1859,
+though then ailing in health, he looked a man who had still
+plenty of life in him.&nbsp; By the time he returned, his fatal
+illness had seized him.&nbsp; He was attacked by congestion of
+the liver, which first developed itself in jaundice, and then ran
+into dropsy, of which he died on the 12th October, in the
+fifty-sixth year of his age. <a name="citation368"></a><a
+href="#footnote368" class="citation">[368]</a>&nbsp; He was
+buried by the side of Telford in <!-- page 369--><a
+name="page369"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 369</span>Westminster
+Abbey, amidst the departed great men of his country, and was
+attended to his resting-place by many of the intimate friends of
+his boyhood and his manhood.&nbsp; Among those who assembled
+round his grave were some of the greatest men of thought and
+action in England, who embraced the sad occasion to pay the last
+mark of their respect to this illustrious son of one of
+England&rsquo;s greatest working men.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p369.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s Burial-place in Westminster Abbey"
+title=
+"Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s Burial-place in Westminster Abbey"
+src="images/p369.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p><!-- page 370--><a name="page370"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+370</span>It would be out of keeping with the subject thus drawn
+to a conclusion, to pronounce any panegyric on the character and
+achievements of George and Robert Stephenson.&nbsp; These for the
+most part speak for themselves.&nbsp; Both were emphatically true
+men, exhibiting in their lives many sterling qualities.&nbsp; No
+beginning could have been less promising than that of the elder
+Stephenson.&nbsp; Born in a poor condition, yet rich in spirit,
+he was from the first compelled to rely upon himself; and every
+step of advance which he made was conquered by patient
+labour.&nbsp; Whether working as a brakesman or an engineer, his
+mind was always full of the work in hand.&nbsp; He gave himself
+thoroughly up to it.&nbsp; Like the painter, he might say that he
+had become great &ldquo;by neglecting nothing.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Whatever he was engaged upon, he was as careful of the details as
+if each were itself the whole.&nbsp; He did all thoroughly and
+honestly.&nbsp; There was no &ldquo;scamping&rdquo; with
+him.&nbsp; When a workman he put his brains and labour into his
+work; and when a master he put his conscience and character into
+it.&nbsp; He would have no slop-work executed merely for the sake
+of profit.&nbsp; The materials must be as genuine as the
+workmanship was skilful.&nbsp; The structures which he designed
+and executed were distinguished for their thoroughness and
+solidity; his locomotives were famous for their durability and
+excellent working qualities.&nbsp; The engines which he sent to
+the United States in 1832 are still in good condition; and even
+the engines built by him for the Killingworth Colliery, upwards
+of thirty years ago, are working steadily there to this
+day.&nbsp; All his work was honest, representing the actual
+character of the man.</p>
+<p>He was ready to turn his hand to anything&mdash;shoes and
+clocks, railways and locomotives.&nbsp; He contrived his
+safety-lamp with the object of saving pitmen&rsquo;s lives, and
+perilled his own life in testing it.&nbsp; Whatever work was
+nearest him, he turned to and did it.&nbsp; With him to resolve
+was to do.&nbsp; Many men knew far more than he; but none were
+more <!-- page 371--><a name="page371"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 371</span>ready forthwith to apply what he did
+know to practical purposes.&nbsp; It was while working at
+Willington as a brakes-man, that he first learnt how best to
+handle a spade in throwing ballast out of the ships&rsquo;
+holds.&nbsp; This casual employment seems to have left upon his
+mind the strongest impression of what &ldquo;hard work&rdquo;
+was; and he often used to revert to it, and say to the young men
+about him, &ldquo;Ah, ye lads! there&rsquo;s none o&rsquo; ye
+know what <i>wark</i> is.&rdquo;&nbsp; Mr. Gooch says he was
+proud of the dexterity in handling a spade which he had thus
+acquired, and that he has frequently seen him take the shovel
+from a labourer in some railway cutting, and show him how to use
+it more deftly in filling waggons of earth, gravel, or
+sand.&nbsp; Sir Joshua Walmsley has also informed us, that, when
+examining the works of the Orleans and Tours Railway, Mr.
+Stephenson, seeing a large number of excavators filling and
+wheeling sand in a cutting, at a great waste of time and labour,
+went up to the men and said he would show them how to fill their
+barrows in half the time.&nbsp; He showed them the proper
+position in which to stand so as to exercise the greatest amount
+of power with the least expenditure of strength; and he filled
+the barrow with comparative ease again and again in their
+presence, to the great delight of the workmen.&nbsp; When passing
+through his own workshops, he would point out to his men how to
+save labour, and to get through their work skilfully and with
+ease.&nbsp; His energy imparted itself to others, quickening and
+influencing them as strong characters always do&mdash;flowing
+down into theirs, and bringing out their best powers.</p>
+<p>His deportment towards the workmen employed under him was
+familiar, yet firm and consistent.&nbsp; As he respected their
+manhood, so did they respect his masterhood.&nbsp; Although he
+comported himself towards his men as if they occupied very much
+the same level as himself, he yet possessed that peculiar
+capacity for governing which enabled him always to preserve among
+them the strictest discipline, and to secure their cheerful and
+hearty services.&nbsp; <!-- page 372--><a
+name="page372"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 372</span>Mr. Ingham,
+M.P. for South Shields, on going over the workshops at Newcastle,
+was particularly struck with this quality of the master in his
+bearing towards his men.&nbsp; &ldquo;There was nothing,&rdquo;
+said he, &ldquo;of undue familiarity in their intercourse, but
+they spoke to each other as man to man; and nothing seemed to
+please the master more than to point out illustrations of the
+ingenuity of his artisans.&nbsp; He took up a rivet, and
+expatiated on the skill with which it had been fashioned by the
+workman&rsquo;s hand&mdash;its perfectness and truth.&nbsp; He
+was always proud of his workmen and his pupils; and, while
+indifferent and careless as to what might be said of himself, he
+fired up in a moment if disparagement were thrown upon any one
+whom he had taught or trained.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In manner, George Stephenson was simple, modest, and
+unassuming, but always manly.&nbsp; He was frank and social in
+spirit.&nbsp; When a humble workman, he had carefully preserved
+his sense of self-respect.&nbsp; His companions looked up to him,
+and his example was worth even more to many of them than books or
+schools.&nbsp; His devoted love of knowledge made his poverty
+respectable, and adorned his humble calling.&nbsp; When he rose
+to a more elevated station, and associated with men of the
+highest position and influence in Britain, he took his place
+amongst them with perfect self-possession.&nbsp; They wondered at
+the quiet ease and simple dignity of his deportment; and men in
+the best ranks of life have said of him that &ldquo;He was one of
+Nature&rsquo;s gentlemen.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Probably no military chiefs were ever more beloved by their
+soldiers than were both father and son by the army of men who,
+under their guidance, worked at labours of profit, made labours
+of love by their earnest will and purpose.&nbsp; True leaders of
+men and lords of industry, they were always ready to recognise
+and encourage talent in those who worked for and with them.&nbsp;
+Thus it was pleasant, at the openings of the Stephenson lines, to
+hear the chief engineers attributing the successful completion of
+the works to their able <!-- page 373--><a
+name="page373"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 373</span>assistants;
+whilst the assistants, on the other hand, ascribed the glory to
+their chiefs.</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson, though a thrifty and frugal man, was
+essentially unsordid.&nbsp; His rugged path in early life made
+him careful of his resources.&nbsp; He never saved to hoard, but
+saved for a purpose, such as the maintenance of his parents or
+the education of his son.&nbsp; In later years he became a
+prosperous and even a wealthy man; but riches never closed his
+heart, nor stole away the elasticity of his soul.&nbsp; He
+enjoyed life cheerfully, because hopefully.&nbsp; When he entered
+upon a commercial enterprise, whether for others or for himself,
+he looked carefully at the ways and means.&nbsp; Unless they
+would &ldquo;pay,&rdquo; he held back.&nbsp; &ldquo;He would have
+nothing to do,&rdquo; he declared, &ldquo;with stock-jobbing
+speculations.&rdquo;&nbsp; His refusal to sell his name to the
+schemes of the railway mania&mdash;his survey of the Spanish
+lines without remuneration&mdash;his offer to postpone his claim
+for payment from a poor company until their affairs became more
+prosperous&mdash;are instances of the unsordid spirit in which he
+acted.</p>
+<p>Another marked feature in Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s character was
+his patience.&nbsp; Notwithstanding the strength of his
+convictions as to the great uses to which the locomotive might be
+applied, he waited long and patiently for the opportunity of
+bringing it into notice; and for years after he had completed an
+efficient engine he went on quietly devoting himself to the
+ordinary work of the colliery.&nbsp; He made no noise nor stir
+about his locomotive, but allowed another to take credit for the
+experiments on velocity and friction made with it by himself upon
+the Killingworth railroad.</p>
+<p>By patient industry and laborious contrivance, he was enabled,
+with the powerful help of his son, to do for the locomotive what
+James Watt had done for the condensing engine.&nbsp; He found it
+clumsy and inefficient; and he made it powerful, efficient, and
+useful.&nbsp; Both have been described as the improvers of their
+respective engines; but, as to all that is admirable in their
+structure or vast in their utility, they are rather entitled to
+be described as their Inventors.&nbsp; <!-- page 374--><a
+name="page374"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 374</span>While the
+invention of Watt increased the power, and at the same time so
+regulated the action of the steam-engine, as to make it capable
+of being applied alike to the hardest work and to the finest
+manufactures, the invention of Stephenson gave an effective power
+to the locomotive, which enabled it to perform the work of teams
+of the most powerful horses, and to outstrip the speed of the
+fleetest.&nbsp; Watt&rsquo;s invention exercised a wonderfully
+quickening influence on every branch of industry, and multiplied
+a thousand-fold the amount of manufactured productions; and
+Stephenson&rsquo;s enabled these to be distributed with an
+economy and despatch such as had never before been thought
+possible.&nbsp; They have both tended to increase indefinitely
+the mass of human comforts and enjoyments, and to render them
+cheap and accessible to all.&nbsp; But Stephenson&rsquo;s
+invention, by the influence which it is daily exercising upon the
+civilisation of the world, is even more remarkable than that of
+Watt, and is calculated to have still more important
+consequences.&nbsp; In this respect, it is to be regarded as the
+grandest application of steam power that has yet been
+discovered.</p>
+<p>The Locomotive, like the condensing engine, exhibits the
+realisation of various capital, but wholly distinct, ideas,
+promulgated by many ingenious inventors.&nbsp; Stephenson, like
+Watt, exhibited a power of selection, combination, and invention
+of his own, by which&mdash;while availing himself of all that had
+been done before him, and superadding the many skilful
+contrivances devised by himself&mdash;he was at length enabled to
+bring his engine into a condition of marvellous power and
+efficiency.&nbsp; He gathered together the scattered threads of
+ingenuity which already existed, and combined them into one firm
+and complete fabric of his own.&nbsp; He realised the plans which
+others had imperfectly formed; and was the first to construct,
+what so many others had unsuccessfully attempted, the practical
+and economical working locomotive.</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s close and accurate observation provided
+him with a fulness of information on many subjects, which <!--
+page 375--><a name="page375"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+375</span>often appeared surprising to those who had devoted to
+them a special study.&nbsp; On one occasion the accuracy of his
+knowledge of birds came out in a curious way at a convivial
+meeting of railway men in London.&nbsp; The engineers and railway
+directors present knew each other as railway men and nothing
+more.&nbsp; The talk had been all of railways and railway
+politics.&nbsp; Mr. Stephenson was a great talker on those
+subjects, and was generally allowed, from the interest of his
+conversation and the extent of his experience, to take the
+lead.&nbsp; At length one of the party broke in with &ldquo;Come
+now, Stephenson, we have had nothing but railways; cannot we have
+a change and try if we can talk a little about something
+else?&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Mr. Stephenson,
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll give you a wide range of subjects; what shall
+it be about?&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Say <i>birds&rsquo;
+nests</i>!&rdquo; rejoined the other, who prided himself on his
+special knowledge of this subject.&nbsp; &ldquo;Then birds&rsquo;
+nests be it.&rdquo;&nbsp; A long and animated conversation
+ensued: the bird-nesting of his boyhood, the blackbird&rsquo;s
+nest which his father had held him up in his arms to look at when
+a child at Wylam, the hedges in which he had found the
+thrush&rsquo;s and the linnet&rsquo;s nests, the mossy bank where
+the robin built, the cleft in the branch of the young tree where
+the chaffinch had reared its dwelling&mdash;all rose up clear in
+his mind&rsquo;s eye, and led him back to the scenes of his
+boyhood at Callerton and Dewley Burn.&nbsp; The colour and number
+of the bird&rsquo;s eggs, the period of their incubation, the
+materials employed by them for the walls and lining of their
+nests, were described by him so vividly, and illustrated by such
+graphic anecdotes, that one of the party remarked that, if George
+Stephenson had not been the greatest engineer of his day, he
+might have been one of the greatest naturalists.</p>
+<p>His powers of conversation were very great.&nbsp; He was so
+thoughtful, so original, and so suggestive.&nbsp; There was
+scarcely a department of science on which he had not formed some
+novel and sometimes daring theory.&nbsp; Thus Mr. Gooch, his
+pupil, who lived with him when at <!-- page 376--><a
+name="page376"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 376</span>Liverpool,
+informs us that when sitting over the fire, he would frequently
+broach his favourite theory of the sun&rsquo;s light and heat
+being the original source of the light and heat given forth by
+the burning coal.&nbsp; &ldquo;It fed the plants of which that
+coal is made,&rdquo; he would say, &ldquo;and has been bottled up
+in the earth ever since, to be given out again now for the use of
+man.&rdquo;&nbsp; His son Robert once said of him, &ldquo;My
+father flashed his bull&rsquo;s eye full upon a subject, and
+brought it out in its most vivid light in an instant: his strong
+common sense, and his varied experience operating upon a
+thoughtful mind, were his most powerful illuminators.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Stephenson had once a conversation with a watchmaker, whom
+he astonished by the extent and minuteness of his knowledge as to
+the parts of a watch.&nbsp; The watchmaker knew him to be an
+eminent engineer, and asked him how he had acquired so extensive
+a knowledge of a branch of business so much out of his
+sphere.&nbsp; &ldquo;It is very easy to be explained,&rdquo; said
+Mr. Stephenson; &ldquo;I worked long at watch-cleaning myself,
+and when I was at a loss, I was never ashamed to ask for
+information.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Towards the close of his life he frequently went down to
+Newcastle, and visited the scenes of his boyhood.&nbsp; &ldquo;I
+have been to Callerton,&rdquo; said he one day to a friend,
+&ldquo;and seen the fields in which I used to pull turnips at
+twopence a day; and many a cold finger, I can tell you, I
+had.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>His hand was open to his former fellow-workmen whom old age
+had left in poverty.&nbsp; To poor Robert Gray, of Newburn, who
+acted as his bridesman on his marriage to Fanny Henderson, he
+left a pension for life.&nbsp; He would slip a five-pound note
+into the hand of a poor man or a widow in such a way as not to
+offend their delicacy, but to make them feel as if the obligation
+were all on his side.&nbsp; When Farmer Paterson, who married a
+sister of George&rsquo;s first wife, Fanny Henderson, died and
+left a large young family fatherless, poverty stared them in the
+face.&nbsp; &ldquo;But ye ken,&rdquo; said our informant,
+&ldquo;<i>George struck in fayther for them</i>.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+<!-- page 377--><a name="page377"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+377</span>And perhaps the providential character of the act could
+not have been more graphically expressed than in these simple
+words.</p>
+<p>On his visit to Newcastle, he would frequently meet the
+friends of his early days, occupying very nearly the same
+station, whilst he had meanwhile risen to almost world-wide
+fame.&nbsp; But he was no less hearty in his greeting of them
+than if their relative position had continued the same.&nbsp;
+Thus, one day, after shaking hands with Mr. Brandling on
+alighting from his carriage, he proceeded to shake hands with his
+coachman, Anthony Wigham, a still older friend, though he only
+sat on the box.</p>
+<p>Robert Stephenson inherited his father&rsquo;s kindly spirit
+and benevolent disposition.&nbsp; He almost worshipped his
+father&rsquo;s memory, and was ever ready to attribute to him the
+chief merit of his own achievements as an engineer.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;It was his thorough training,&rdquo; we once heard him
+say, &ldquo;his example, and his character, which made me the man
+I am.&rdquo;&nbsp; On a more public occasion he said, &ldquo;It
+is my great pride to remember, that whatever may have been done,
+and however extensive may have been my own connection with
+railway development, all I know and all I have done is primarily
+due to the parent whose memory I cherish and revere.&rdquo; <a
+name="citation377"></a><a href="#footnote377"
+class="citation">[377]</a>&nbsp; To Mr. Lough, the sculptor, he
+said he had never had but two loves&mdash;one for his father, the
+other for his wife.</p>
+<p>Like his father, he was eminently practical, and yet always
+open to the influence and guidance of correct theory.&nbsp; His
+main consideration in laying out his lines of railway was what
+would best answer the intended purpose, or, to use his own words,
+to secure the maximum of result with the minimum of means.&nbsp;
+He was pre-eminently a safe man, because cautious, tentative, and
+experimental; following closely the lines of conduct trodden by
+his father, and often quoting his maxims.</p>
+<p><!-- page 378--><a name="page378"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+378</span>In society Robert Stephenson was simple, unobtrusive,
+and modest; but charming and even fascinating in an eminent
+degree.&nbsp; Sir John Lawrence has said of him that he was, of
+all others, the man he most delighted to meet in England&mdash;he
+was so manly, yet gentle, and withal so great.&nbsp; While
+admired and beloved by men of such calibre, he was equally a
+favourite with women and children.&nbsp; He put himself upon the
+level of all, and charmed them no less by his inexpressible
+kindliness of manner than by his simple yet impressive
+conversation.</p>
+<p>His great wealth enabled him to perform many generous acts in
+a right noble and yet modest manner, not letting his right hand
+know what his left hand did.&nbsp; Of the numerous kindly acts of
+his which have been made public, we may mention the graceful
+manner in which he repaid the obligations which both himself and
+his father owed to the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical
+Institute, when working together as humble experimenters in their
+cottage at Killingworth.&nbsp; The Institute was struggling under
+a debt of &pound;6200 which seriously impaired its usefulness as
+an educational agency.&nbsp; Robert Stephenson offered to pay
+one-half of the sum, provided the local supporters of the
+Institute would raise the remainder; and conditional also on the
+annual subscription being reduced from two guineas to one, in
+order that the usefulness of the institution might be
+extended.&nbsp; The generous offer was accepted, and the debt
+extinguished.</p>
+<p>Both father and son were offered knighthood, and both declined
+it.&nbsp; During the summer of 1847, George Stephenson was
+invited to offer himself as a candidate for the representation of
+South Shields in Parliament.&nbsp; But his politics were at best
+of a very undefined sort; indeed his life had been so much
+occupied with subjects of a practical character, that he had
+scarcely troubled himself to form any decided opinion on the
+party political topics of the day, and to stand the cross fire of
+the electors on the hustings might have been found an even more
+distressing ordeal <!-- page 379--><a name="page379"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 379</span>than the cross-questioning of the
+barristers in the Committees of the House of Commons.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Politics,&rdquo; he used to say, &ldquo;are all matters of
+theory&mdash;there is no stability in them: they shift about like
+the sands of the sea: and I should feel quite out of my element
+amongst them.&rdquo;&nbsp; He had accordingly the good sense
+respectfully to decline the honour of contesting the
+representation of South Shields.</p>
+<p>We have, however, been informed by Sir Joseph Paxton, that
+although George Stephenson held no strong opinions on political
+questions generally, there was one question on which he
+entertained a decided conviction, and that was the question of
+Free-trade.&nbsp; The words used by him on one occasion to Sir
+Joseph were very strong.&nbsp; &ldquo;England,&rdquo; said he,
+&ldquo;is, and must be a shopkeeper; and our docks and harbours
+are only so many wholesale shops, the doors of which should
+always be kept wide open.&rdquo;&nbsp; It is curious that his son
+Robert should have taken precisely the opposite view of this
+question, and acted throughout with the most rigid party amongst
+the protectionists, supporting the Navigation Laws and opposing
+Free Trade.</p>
+<p>But Robert Stephenson will be judged in after times by his
+achievements as an engineer, rather than by his acts as a
+politician; and happily these last were far outweighed in value
+by the immense practical services which he rendered to trade,
+commerce, and civilisation, through the facilities which the
+railways constructed by him afforded for free intercommunication
+between men in all parts of the world.&nbsp; Speaking in the
+midst of his friends at Newcastle, in 1850, he
+observed:&mdash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It seems to me but as yesterday that I was engaged as
+an assistant in laying out the Stockton and Darlington
+Railway.&nbsp; Since then, the Liverpool and Manchester and a
+hundred other great works have sprung into existence.&nbsp; As I
+look back upon these stupendous undertakings, accomplished in so
+short a time, it seems as though we had realised in our
+generation the fabled powers of the magician&rsquo;s wand.&nbsp;
+Hills have been cut down and valleys filled <!-- page 380--><a
+name="page380"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 380</span>up; and
+when these simple expedients have not sufficed, high and
+magnificent viaducts have been raised, and if mountains stood in
+the way, tunnels of unexampled magnitude have pierced them
+through, bearing their triumphant attestation to the indomitable
+energy of the nation, and the unrivalled skill of our
+artisans.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>As respects the immense advantages of railways to mankind,
+there cannot be two opinions.&nbsp; They exhibit, probably, the
+grandest organisation of capital and labour that the world has
+yet seen.&nbsp; Although they have unhappily occasioned great
+loss to many, the loss has been that of individuals; whilst, as a
+national system, the gain has already been enormous.&nbsp; As
+tending to multiply and spread abroad the conveniences of life,
+opening up new fields of industry, bringing nations nearer to
+each other, and thus promoting the great ends of civilisation,
+the founding of the railway system by George Stephenson and his
+son must be regarded as one of the most important events, if not
+the very greatest, in the first half of this nineteenth
+century.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p380.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Stephenson Memorial Schools, Willington Quay"
+title=
+"The Stephenson Memorial Schools, Willington Quay"
+src="images/p380.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2><!-- page 381--><a name="page381"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 381</span>INDEX.</h2>
+<p><span class="smcap">Accidents</span> in coal-mines, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page89">89</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page119">119</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Adam, Mr., counsel for Liverpool and Manchester Railway, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page160">160</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page166">166</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Alderson, Mr. (afterwards Baron), <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page160">160</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page163">163</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page165">165</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page168">168</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Alton Grange, G. Stephenson&rsquo;s residence at, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page234">234</a></span>&ndash;6,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page263">263</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Ambergate Railway slip, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page259">259</a></span>; Lime-works, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page278">278</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Anna, Santa, mines at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page196">196</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Arnold, Dr., on Railways, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page273">273</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Ashby-de-la-Zouch, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page233">233</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Atmospheric Railway system, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page286">286</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page308">308</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Beaumont</span>, Mr., his wooden
+waggon-ways, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page5">5</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Belgium, G. Stephenson&rsquo;s visit to, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page296">296</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Benton Colliery and village, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page44">44</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page47">47</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page51">51</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page61">61</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Berwick Royal Border Bridge, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page311">311</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Birds and bird-nesting, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page15">15</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page17">17</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page25">25</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page58">58</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page353">353</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page375">375</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Birmingham and Derby Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page268">268</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Bishop Auckland coal-field, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page123">123</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Black Callerton, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page18">18</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page26">26</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page29">29</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page32">32</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Blackett, Mr., Wylam, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page13">13</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page74">74</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Blast, invention of the Steam, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page85">85</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page208">208</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page211">211</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Blenkinsop&rsquo;s Locomotive, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page72">72</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page80">80</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Blisworth Cutting, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page243">243</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Boiler, multi-tubular, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page210">210</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Booth, Henry, Liverpool, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page210">210</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page222">222</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Bradshaw, Mr., opposes Liverpool and Manchester line, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page155">155</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Braithwaite, Isaac, Locomotive, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page214">214</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page230">230</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Brakeing coal-engine, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page27">27</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page36">36</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page40">40</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Brandling, Messrs., <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page105">105</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page312">312</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Brandreth&rsquo;s Locomotive, &ldquo;Cycloped,&rdquo; <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page214">214</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Bridges, Railway, on Liverpool line, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page185">185</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; improved bridges, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page310">310</a></span>&ndash;19;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; tubular bridges, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page326">326</a></span>&ndash;40,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page360">360</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Bridgewater Canal monopoly, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page147">147</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page157">157</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Britannia Tubular Bridge, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page339">339</a></span>.</p>
+<p>British Association Meeting at Newcastle, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page279">279</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Brougham, Mr. William, counsel on Liverpool and Manchester
+Bill, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page158">158</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page160">160</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Bruce&rsquo;s School, Newcastle, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page53">53</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page59">59</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Brunel, I. K., <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page230">230</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page304">304</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page367">367</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Brunton&rsquo;s Locomotive, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page73">73</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Brussels, railway celebrations at, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page267">267</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Brusselton incline, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page135">135</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Buckland, Dr., <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page350">350</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Bullbridge, Ambergate, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page260">260</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Burstall&rsquo;s Locomotive, &ldquo;Perseverance,&rdquo; <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page214">214</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page218">218</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Callerton</span> Colliery and village,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page18">18</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page26">26</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page29">29</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page32">32</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Canal opposition to Railways, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page146">146</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page157">157</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page238">238</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Cartagena, R. Stephenson at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page200">200</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Chapman&rsquo;s Locomotive, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page73">73</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Characteristics of the Stephensons, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page368">368</a></span>&ndash;80.</p>
+<p>Chat Moss, William James&rsquo;s attempted Survey, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page151">151</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mr. Harrison&rsquo;s speech, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page166">166</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; evidence of Francis Giles, C.E.,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page167">167</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mr. Alderson&rsquo;s speech, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page168">168</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; description of, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page174">174</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; construction of Railway over,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page177">177</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Chester and Birkenhead Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page286">286</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Chester and Holyhead Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page320">320</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Chesterfield, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page279">279</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page283">283</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Clanny, Dr., his safety-lamp, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page92">92</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Clark, Edwin, C.E., <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page331">331</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page335">335</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page338">338</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Clay Cross Colliery, G. Stephenson leases, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page277">277</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Clegg and Samuda&rsquo;s Atmospheric Railway, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page287">287</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Clephan, Mr., description of first railway traffic, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page140">140</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Cleveland, Duke of, and Stockton and Darlington Railway, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page125">125</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Clock-mending and cleaning, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page35">35</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page51">51</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page345">345</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Coach, first railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page139">139</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Coal trade, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page3">3</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page11">11</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; staiths, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page10">10</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; haulage, early expedients for,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page5">5</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page7">7</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page63">63</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page143">143</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; traffic by Railway, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page138">138</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page276">276</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; mining, George Stephenson&rsquo;s
+adventures in, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page234">234</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page277">277</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; theory of formation of, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page351">351</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Coalbrookdale, rails early cast at, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page6">6</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Coe, Wm., fellow workman of G. Stephenson, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page21">21</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page26">26</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page31">31</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Coffin, Sir I., <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page172">172</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Colliery districts, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page1">1</a></span>&ndash;4;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; machinery and workmen, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page7">7</a></span>&ndash;11.</p>
+<p>Colombia, mining association of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page193">193</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s
+residence in, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page196">196</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Contractors, railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page229">229</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page249">249</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Conway, tubular bridge at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page334">334</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Cooper, Sir Astley, Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s interview with,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page238">238</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Crich Lime-works, Ambergate, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page278">278</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Cropper, Isaac, Liverpool, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page187">187</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page217">217</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Cugnot&rsquo;s steam-carriage, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page64">64</a></span>&ndash;6.</p>
+<p>Curr, John, his cast-iron Railway at Sheffield, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page6">6</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Cuttings, railway,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tring, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page242">242</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Blisworth, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page243">243</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ambergate, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page259">259</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Oakenshaw and Normanton, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page259">259</a></span>.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Cycloped&rdquo; Locomotive, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page214">214</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Darlington</span> and Stockton Railway,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page123">123</a></span>,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page136">136</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Davy, Sir Humphry,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; his description of
+Trevithick&rsquo;s steam-carriage, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page68">68</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; his paper on fire-damp in mines,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page92">92</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; his safety-lamp, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page101">101</a></span>&ndash;3;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; testimonial, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page104">104</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Denman, Lord, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page345">345</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Derby, Earl of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page172">172</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Dewley Burn Colliery, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page16">16</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Direct lines, mania for, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page292">292</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Dixon, John, C.E.,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; assists in survey of Stockton and
+Darlington line, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page136">136</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; assistant engineer, Liverpool and
+Manchester Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page175">175</a></span>&ndash;9.</p>
+<p>Dodds, Ralph, Killingworth, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page42">42</a></span>&ndash;4, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page50">50</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page86">86</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Drayton Manor, George Stephenson&rsquo;s visit to, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page349">349</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Dutton Viaduct, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page254">254</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Durham, Earl of, <i>See</i> Lambton.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">East Coast</span> Railway to Scotland,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page306">306</a></span>&ndash;9.</p>
+<p>Edgworth, Mr.,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; sailing-waggons, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page63">63</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; advocacy of Railways, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page148">148</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Edinburgh University, Robert Stephenson at, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page121">121</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Education,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; George Stephenson&rsquo;s
+self-education, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page24">24</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page47">47</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page50">50</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page121">121</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; George Stephenson&rsquo;s ideas
+of, <span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page191">191</a></span>,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page281">281</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Egg-hatching by artificial heat, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page23">23</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page344">344</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Egyptian Tubular Bridges, Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page357">357</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Emerson, George Stephenson&rsquo;s meeting with, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page353">353</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Emigration, George Stephenson contemplates, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page40">40</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page116">116</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Engine, study of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page22">22</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page62">62</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page78">78</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page80">80</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Ericsson, Mr., engineer, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page204">204</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page214">214</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Estimates, railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page165">165</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page249">249</a></span>.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Experiment,&rdquo; the first railway coach, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page139">139</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Explosion of fire-damp, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page89">89</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Evans&rsquo;s steam-carriage, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page65">65</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Fairbairn</span>, Wm., C.E., <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page28">28</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; at Percy Main Colliery, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page34">34</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; experiments on iron tubes, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page328">328</a></span>&ndash;30.</p>
+<p>Fire-damp, explosions of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page89">89</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Fixed-engine power, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page118">118</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page129">129</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page135">135</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page203">203</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page205">205</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Floating road, Chat Moss, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page176">176</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Floating Conway and Britannia Tubes, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page332">332</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Follett, Sir Wm., <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page350">350</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Forth-street Works, Newcastle, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page132">132</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page193">193</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Foster, Jonathan, Wylam. <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page75">75</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page77">77</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page80">80</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page310">310</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Franklin&rsquo;s lightning experiment repeated by Robert
+Stephenson, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page56">56</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Free trade, George Stephenson&rsquo;s views on, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page379">379</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Friction on common roads and Railways, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page113">113</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Gardening</span>, George
+Stephenson&rsquo;s pursuits in, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page58">58</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page342">342</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Gateshead, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page4">4</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page314">314</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Gauge of Railways, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page134">134</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page304">304</a></span>.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Geordy&rdquo; safety-lamp, invention of, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page93">93</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Giles, Francis, C.E., <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page167">167</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page174">174</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page230">230</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Gooch, F. L., C.E., <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page188">188</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page190">190</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page220">220</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page336">336</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page371">371</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Gradients, George Stephenson&rsquo;s views on, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page115">115</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page284">284</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Grand Allies, Killingworth, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page41">41</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page46">46</a></span>.<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+,,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Junction Railway,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page230">230</a></span>,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page253">253</a></span>.<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+,,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trunk Railway,
+Canada, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page359">359</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Gray, Robert, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page24">24</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page36">36</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page376">376</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Gray, Thomas, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page148">148</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Great Western Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page230">230</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page232">232</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page304">304</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Hackworth</span>, Timothy, his engine
+&ldquo;Sanspareil,&rdquo; <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page214">214</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page216">216</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page218">218</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Half-lap joint, G. Stephenson&rsquo;s, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page111">111</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Harrison, Mr., barrister, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page160">160</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page166">166</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Hawthorn, Robert, C.E., <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page22">22</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Heating surface in Locomotives, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page208">208</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page209">209</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Hedley, William, Wylam, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page77">77</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Henderson, Fanny, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page32">32</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Heppel, Kit, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page42">42</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page45">45</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Hetton Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page117">117</a></span>.</p>
+<p>High Level Bridge, Newcastle, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page2">2</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page312">312</a></span>.<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ,,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Street
+House, Wylam, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page14">14</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Holyhead, Railway to, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page320">320</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Howick, Lord, and the Northumberland Atmospheric Railway,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page307">307</a></span>,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page309">309</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Hudson, George, the Railway King, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page291">291</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page312">312</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Huskisson, Mr., M.P.,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; and the Liverpool and Manchester
+Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page172">172</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; killed at its opening, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page223">223</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Hydraulic presses at the Britannia Bridge, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page237">237</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Inclines</span>, self-acting, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page9">9</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page61">61</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Iron railway bridges, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page312">312</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page325">325</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">James</span>, William,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; surveys a line between Liverpool
+and Manchester, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page150">150</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; visits Killingworth, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page151">151</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; superseded by George Stephenson,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page154">154</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Jameson, Professor, Edinburgh, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page122">122</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Jessop, William, C.E., <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page6">6</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Jolly&rsquo;s Close, Newburn, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page20">20</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page24">24</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Jones, Rees, on Trevithick&rsquo;s Locomotive, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page71">71</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Keelmen</span> of the Tyne, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page10">10</a></span>&ndash;11.</p>
+<p>Killingworth,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; West Moor, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page31">31</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page36">36</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page38">38</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page40">40</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; High Pit, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page41">41</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; colliery explosions and mining,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page89">89</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Locomotive, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page84">84</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page88">88</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the underground machinery, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page109">109</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Kilsby Tunnel, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page245">245</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Lambton</span>, Mr. (Earl of Durham),
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page137">137</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Lamp, safety, invention of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page93">93</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Last-making competition, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page59">59</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Lardner, Dr., and Railways, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page284">284</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page286">286</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Lattice Girder Bridges, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page361">361</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Leeds Mechanics&rsquo; Institute, George Stephenson&rsquo;s
+Speech at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page281">281</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Leicester and Swannington Railway, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page232">232</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Lemington Coal-staith, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page74">74</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Leopold, King of the Belgians, and Railways, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page266">266</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; George Stephenson&rsquo;s
+interviews with, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page268">268</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page296">296</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Level Railways, advantages of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page115">115</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page284">284</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Liddell, Sir T. (Lord Ravensworth), <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page46">46</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page62">62</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Lime-works at Ambergate, George Stephenson&rsquo;s, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page278">278</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Literary and Philosophical Institute, Newcastle, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page53">53</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page102">102</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page280">280</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page378">378</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Littleborough Tunnel, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page255">255</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Liverpool and Manchester Railway projected, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page147">147</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; surveyed by Wm. James, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page150">150</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the survey opposed, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page151">151</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; George Stephenson engaged, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page154">154</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; prospectus issued, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page155">155</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; deputations visit Killingworth,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page151">151</a></span>,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page154">154</a></span>&ndash;5;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; opposition of the land-owners and
+canal companies, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page156">156</a></span>&ndash;7;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the bill in committee, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page160">160</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; rejected, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page169">169</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; scheme prosecuted, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page170">170</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Messrs. Rennie appointed
+engineers, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page171">171</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the bill passed, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page172">172</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; George Stephenson again engaged as
+engineer, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page173">173</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; construction of the line across
+Chat Moss, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page176">176</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; discussions as to the working
+power to be employed, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page203">203</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; George Stephenson advocates the
+Locomotive, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page201">201</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; prize of &pound;500 for best
+engine, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page207">207</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; won by Stephenson&rsquo;s
+&ldquo;Rocket,&rdquo; <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page218">218</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; public opening of the line, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page222">222</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; results of the traffic, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page228">228</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Locke, Mr. Joseph, C.E., <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page26">26</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page175">175</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page367">367</a></span>.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Locomotion&rdquo; engine, No. I, Darlington, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page135">135</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page142">142</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Locomotive engine, invention of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page7">7</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Robison and Watt&rsquo;s idea,
+Cugnot&rsquo;s steam-carriage, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page64">64</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Evans and Symington&rsquo;s, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page65">65</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Murdock&rsquo;s model, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page66">66</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trevithick&rsquo;s steam-carriage,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page67">67</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; his tram engine, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page69">69</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page74">74</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Blenkinsop&rsquo;s engine, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page72">72</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Chapman and Brunton&rsquo;s
+engines, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page73">73</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Blackett&rsquo;s Wylam engine,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page74">74</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kenton and Coxlodge engine, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page80">80</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Stephenson&rsquo;s Killingworth
+locomotive, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page81">81</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page86">86</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Stockton and Darlington
+locomotives, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page135">135</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; prize at Liverpool for the best
+engine, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page207">207</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; won by the &ldquo;Rocket,&rdquo;
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page218">218</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the &ldquo;Arrow,&rdquo; <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page222">222</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; further improvements, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page226">226</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Locomotive manufactory, Stephenson&rsquo;s, at Newcastle,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page132">132</a></span>,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page193">193</a></span>,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page199">199</a></span>,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page310">310</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Long Benton. <i>See</i> Benton.</p>
+<p>London and Birmingham Railway projected, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page237">237</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the Stephensons appointed
+engineers, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page238">238</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; opposition to the Bill, Sir Astley
+Cooper, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page239">239</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the Bill rejected, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page240">240</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Bill passed, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page241">241</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the works, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page242">242</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tring Cutting, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page244">244</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Blisworth Cutting, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page243">243</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Primrose Hill Tunnel, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page244">244</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kilsby Tunnel, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page245">245</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; magnitude of the works, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page249">249</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Losh, Mr., Newcastle, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page111">111</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page152">152</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Lough&rsquo;s statue of George Stephenson, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page355">355</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Manchester</span> and Leeds Railway <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page254">254</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the Act obtained, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page255">255</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; construction of summit tunnel,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page256">256</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; magnitude of the works, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page257">257</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Manchester, trade with Liverpool, increase of, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page146">146</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page154">154</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Mania, the Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page288">288</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Maps, Newcastle district, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page2">2</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Stockton and Darlington Railway,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page123">123</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Liverpool and Manchester Railway,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page150">150</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Leicester and Swannington Railway,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page233">233</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; London and Birmingham Railway,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page242">242</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Menai Strait, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page325">325</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Mariquita, Robert Stephenson at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page196">196</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Mechanical Engineers, Society of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page353">353</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Mechanics&rsquo; Institutes, George Stephenson&rsquo;s
+interest in, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page280">280</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Menai Suspension Bridge, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page320">320</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Railway Bridge, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page331">331</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Merstham Tram-road, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page153">153</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Microscope, George Stephenson&rsquo;s, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page346">346</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Middlesborough-on-Tees, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page144">144</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Middleton Railway, Leeds, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page72">72</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page148">148</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Midland Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page257">257</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Militia, G. Stephenson, drawn for, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page40">40</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Mining, coal, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page3">3</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page7">7</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page92">92</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; in South America, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page197">197</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Montrose, G. Stephenson at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page38">38</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Moodie, underviewer at Killingworth, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page94">94</a></span>&ndash;7,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page119">119</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Morecambe Bay, proposed reclamation of, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page262">262</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Morton-on-the-Marsh Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page153">153</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Multitubular boiler, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page208">208</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Murdock&rsquo;s model Locomotive, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page66">66</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Murray, Mathew, Leeds, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page72">72</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Nasmyth&rsquo;s</span> steam hammer, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page312">312</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page316">316</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Navvies, railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page250">250</a></span>&ndash;52.</p>
+<p>Nelson, the fighting pitman <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page29">29</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Newburn Colliery, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page20">20</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page22">22</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Newcastle and Berwick Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page306">306</a></span>.<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; ,,&nbsp;&nbsp; and Carlisle Railway, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page12">12</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page203">203</a></span>.<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; ,,&nbsp;&nbsp; and Darlington Railway, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page306">306</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Newcastle-on-Tyne in ancient times, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page1">1</a></span>&ndash;3;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Literary and Philosophical
+Institute, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page378">378</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Stephenson, jubilees at, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page206">206</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page310">310</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; High Level Bridge, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page312">312</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; George Stephenson&rsquo;s statue,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page354">354</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Newcomen&rsquo;s atmospheric engine, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page8">8</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page41">41</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Nile, R. Stephenson&rsquo;s tubular bridges over, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page357">357</a></span>.</p>
+<p>North Midland Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page257">257</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page261">261</a></span>.</p>
+<p>North, Roger, description of early tram-roads, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page5">5</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Northampton, opposition of to Railways, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page232">232</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Northumberland Atmospheric Railway, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page337">337</a></span>.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Novelty,&rdquo; Locomotive, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page214">214</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page216">216</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page218">218</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page230">230</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Olive Mount</span> Cutting, Liverpool,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page185">185</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Openings of Railways,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Hetton, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page118">118</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Stockton and Darlington, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page136">136</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Middlesborough, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page143">143</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Liverpool and Manchester, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page222">222</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; London and Birmingham, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page268">268</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Birmingham and Derby, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page268">268</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; East Coast route to Scotland,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page319">319</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Britannia Bridge, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page339">339</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trent Valley, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page352">352</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Organization of labour, G. Stephenson&rsquo;s, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page182">182</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page222">222</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page225">225</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Outram, Benj., Little Eaton, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page6">6</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Parliament</span> and Railways, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page292">292</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page294">294</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Parr Moss, Railway across, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page181">181</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Passenger traffic of early Railways, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page138">138</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page156">156</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page160">160</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Paxton, Sir Joseph, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page378">378</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Pease, Edward,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; projects the Stockton and
+Darlington Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page123">123</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; first interview with George
+Stephenson, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page156">156</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; visits Killingworth, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page129">129</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; joins Stephenson in Locomotive
+Manufactory, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page132">132</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page199">199</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page202">202</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Stephenson&rsquo;s esteem and
+gratitude, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page145">145</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; letters to Robert Stephenson,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page199">199</a></span>,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page253">253</a></span>,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page357">357</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Peel, Sir Robert, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page224">224</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page293">293</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Penmaen Mawr, Railway under, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page321">321</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Permanent way of Railroads, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page110">110</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Perpetual motion, George Stephenson studies, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page34">34</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page48">48</a></span>.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Perseverance.&rdquo; Burstall&rsquo;s Locomotive, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page214">214</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page218">218</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Phillips, Sir R., speculations on Railways, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page148">148</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Pile-driving by steam, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page312">312</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page316">316</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Pitmen, Northumbrian, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page8">8</a></span>.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Planet&rdquo; Locomotive, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page229">229</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Plugman, duties of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page22">22</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Politics, George and Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page378">378</a></span>&ndash;9.</p>
+<p>Primrose Hill Tunnel, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page244">244</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Prophecies of railway failure, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page158">158</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page166">166</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page172">172</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Pumping-engines, George Stephenson&rsquo;s skill in, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page38">38</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page41">41</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page44">44</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page247">247</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Pupils, George Stephenson&rsquo;s, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page190">190</a></span>&ndash;2,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page269">269</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Pyrenean Pastoral, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page298">298</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p>&lsquo;<span class="smcap">Quarterly</span>,&rsquo; the, on
+railway speed, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page159">159</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Queen, the, her first use of the Railway, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page274">274</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; opens the High Level and Royal
+Border Bridges, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page319">319</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; visits the Britannia Bridge, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page338">338</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Rails</span>, cast and wrought iron, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page6">6</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page133">133</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Railways,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; early, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page5">5</a></span>&ndash;7;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Merthyr Tydfil (Pen-y-darran),
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page69">69</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page71">71</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Middleton, Leeds, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page72">72</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Wylam, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page74">74</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Killingworth, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page84">84</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page116">116</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Hetton, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page118">118</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Stockton and Darlington, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page123">123</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Liverpool and Manchester, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page222">222</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Grand Junction, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page230">230</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page253">253</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Great Western, and Leicester and
+Swannington, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page232">232</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; London and Birmingham, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page237">237</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Navvies, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page250">250</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Manchester and Leeds, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page254">254</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Midland, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page257">257</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; York and North Midland, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page261">261</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; travelling, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page270">270</a></span>&ndash;4;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; undulating, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page284">284</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; atmospheric, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page286">286</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Chester and Birkenhead, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page286">286</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; mania, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page288">288</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Newcastle and Berwick, and
+Newcastle and Darlington, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page306">306</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; South Devon, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page308">308</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Chester and Holyhead, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page320">320</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trent Valley, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page352">352</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Rainhill, locomotive competition at, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page215">215</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Rastrick, Mr., C.E., <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page219">219</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page253">253</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Ravensworth, Earl of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page46">46</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page82">82</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Rennie, Messrs., C.E., <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page123">123</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page171">171</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page173">173</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page325">325</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Road locomotion,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Cugnot&rsquo;s steam-carriage,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page64">64</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Evans and Symington&rsquo;s, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page65">65</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trevithick&rsquo;s, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page67">67</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; George Stephenson on, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page113">113</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Robertson, Andrew, schoolmaster, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page24">24</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page28">28</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Robins, anecdote of George Stephenson and the, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page265">265</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Robison, Dr., his idea of a Locomotive, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page64">64</a></span>.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Rocket,&rdquo; the,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; its construction, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page210">210</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; arrangements of, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page212">212</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; wins the prize of &pound;500,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page218">218</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Roscoe, Mr., his farm on Chat Moss, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page169">169</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page174">174</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page176">176</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Ross, A. M., Engineer, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page360">360</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Royal Border Bridge, Berwick, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page311">311</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Rutter&rsquo;s School, Benton, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page50">50</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page55">55</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Safety-Lamp</span>, Dr. Clanny&rsquo;s,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page92">92</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Stephenson&rsquo;s first lamp,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page94">94</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; second lamp, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page99">99</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; third lamp, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page100">100</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sir H. Davy&rsquo;s paper, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page92">92</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; his lamp, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page101">101</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the safety-lamp controversy, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page102">102</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the Davy and Stephenson
+testimonials, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page104">104</a></span>&ndash;6;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; comparative merits of the Davy and
+&ldquo;Geordy&rdquo; lamps, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page107">107</a></span>&ndash;8.</p>
+<p>Sailing-waggons on tram-roads, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page63">63</a></span>.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Samson&rdquo; Locomotive, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page227">227</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Sandars, Joseph, Liverpool, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page147">147</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page149">149</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page154">154</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Sankey Viaduct, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page185">185</a></span>.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Sanspareil&rdquo; Locomotive, Tim Hackworth&rsquo;s,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page214">214</a></span>,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page216">216</a></span>,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page218">218</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Sea, the force of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page321">321</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page323">323</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Seguin, Mr., C.E., his tubular boiler, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page210">210</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Self-acting incline, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page61">61</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Sibthorpe, Colonel, on Railways, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page231">231</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page274">274</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Simplon Road, Midland Railway compared with, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page257">257</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Snibston Colliery purchased by George Stephenson, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page234">234</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Sopwith, Mr., C.E., <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page96">96</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page297">297</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Spanish Railway, George Stephenson&rsquo;s survey of, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page298">298</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Speed, railway,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; on Middleton Railway, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page72">72</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Wylam, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page80">80</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Killingworth, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page85">85</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page156">156</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Coxlodge, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page80">80</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Stockton and Darlington, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page143">143</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; G. Stephenson before Committee of
+House of Commons on, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page282">282</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Speed of engines tried at Rainhill, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page214">214</a></span>&ndash;19;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; of the &ldquo;Northumbrian,&rdquo;
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page224">224</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; George Stephenson&rsquo;s views
+on, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page282">282</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Spur-gear, locomotive, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page83">83</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Staiths, coal, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page10">10</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Stationary-engine power, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page118">118</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page129">129</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page135">135</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page203">203</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page205">205</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Statues of George Stephenson, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page354">354</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Steam-blast, invention of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page85">85</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page208">208</a></span>&ndash;11.</p>
+<p>Steam-springs, G. Stephenson&rsquo;s, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page112">112</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Stephenson family, the, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page15">15</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page17">17</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page19">19</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page21">21</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page39">39</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &ldquo;Old Bob,&rdquo; <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page14">14</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page15">15</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page39">39</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page55">55</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Stephenson, George, birth and parentage, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page13">13</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page15">15</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; employed as herd-boy, makes clay
+engines, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page16">16</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page17">17</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; plough-boy; drives the gin-horse,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page18">18</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; assistant-fireman, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page19">19</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; fireman, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page21">21</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; engineman&mdash;study of the
+steam-engine, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page22">22</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; his schoolmasters, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page24">24</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page48">48</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page60">60</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; learns to brake an engine, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page26">26</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; duties as brakesman, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page27">27</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; soles shoes, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page28">28</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; saves his first guinea, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page29">29</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; fights with a pitman, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page30">30</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; marries Fanny Henderson, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page33">33</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; heaves ballast, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page34">34</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; cleans clocks, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page35">35</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; death of his wife, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page36">36</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; goes to Scotland, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page37">37</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; returns home, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page38">38</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; brakesman at West Moor,
+Killingworth, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page39">39</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; drawn for the militia, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page40">40</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; takes a brakeing contract, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page41">41</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; cures pumping-engine, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page42">42</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; engine-wright to the colliery,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page46">46</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; evenings with John Wigham, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page48">48</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; education of his son, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page50">50</a></span>&ndash;4;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; cottage at West Moor, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page57">57</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the sun-dial, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page60">60</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; erects winding and pumping
+engines, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page61">61</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; study of locomotive, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page62">62</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; makes his first travelling-engine,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page82">82</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; invents the steam-blast, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page85">85</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; second locomotive, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page85">85</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; fire in the main, personal
+courage, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page90">90</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; invents and tests his
+safety-lamps, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page93">93</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page102">102</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the Stephenson testimonial, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page105">105</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; further improvements in the
+Killingworth locomotive, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page110">110</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; constructs the Hetton Railway,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page117">117</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; surveys and constructs the
+Stockton and Darlington Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page128">128</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; his second wife, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page129">129</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; starts a Locomotive Manufactory,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page132">132</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; appointed engineer of the
+Liverpool and Manchester line, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page154">154</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; examined before Parliamentary
+Committee, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page162">162</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the Railway across Chat Moss,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page173">173</a></span>&ndash;86, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page192">192</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; life at home, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page190">190</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo;
+constructed, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page210">210</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; public opening of Liverpool and
+Manchester line, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page223">223</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; engineer of Grand Junction, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page230">230</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; purchases Snibston Colliery, and
+removes to Alton Grange, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page234">234</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; appointed joint engineer of London
+and Birmingham Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page237">237</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; engineer of Manchester and Leeds
+Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page253">253</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; of Midland Railway, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page257">257</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; of York and North Midland Railway,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page261">261</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; life at Alton Grange, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page263">263</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; visit to Belgium and interviews
+with King Leopold, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page267">267</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; takes lease of Clayross Colliery,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page277">277</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; lime-works at Ambergate, residence
+at Tapton House, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page278">278</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; appearance at Mechanics&rsquo;
+Institutes, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page280">280</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; opinions of railway speed, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page282">282</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; views as to atmospheric system of
+working, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page287">287</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; opposes the railway mania, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page290">290</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; again visits Belgium, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page295">295</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; visit to Spain, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page297">297</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; retires from the profession of
+engineering, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page301">301</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Newcastle and Berwick Railway, and
+Chester and Holyhead Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page307">307</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; habits, conversation, etc., <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page343">343</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; theory of coal formation, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page351">351</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; meeting with Emerson, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page352">352</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; illness and death, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page354">354</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; characteristics, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page368">368</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Stephenson, Robert,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; his birth, death of his mother,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page36">36</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; his father&rsquo;s care for his
+education, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page50">50</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; is put to Rutter&rsquo;s school,
+Benton, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page50">50</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; sent to Bruce&rsquo;s school,
+Newcastle, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page52">52</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; evenings with his father, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page54">54</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; his boyish tricks, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page55">55</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; repeats Franklin&rsquo;s lightning
+experiment, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page56">56</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; his father&rsquo;s assistant,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page50">50</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page53">53</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; gives lessons to the
+pitmen&rsquo;s sons, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page60">60</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; calculates the latitude for a
+sundial at Killingworth, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page60">60</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; his recollections of the trial of
+the first safety-lamp, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page94">94</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; apprenticed to a coal viewer,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page119">119</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; sent to college at Edinburgh,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page121">121</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; assists in survey of Stockton and
+Darlington Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page128">128</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; assists in survey of Liverpool and
+Manchester Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page153">153</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; leaves England for Colombia, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page193">193</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; residence at Mariquita, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page196">196</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; resigns his situation as mining
+engineer, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page199">199</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; rencontre with Trevithick at
+Cartagena, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page200">200</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; shipwreck, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page201">201</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; return to Newcastle, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page202">202</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; pamphlet on the locomotive engine,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page206">206</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; discussions with his father as to
+the locomotive, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page208">208</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; constructs the
+&ldquo;Rocket,&rdquo; <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page210">210</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; wins the prize, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page218">218</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; improvements in the locomotive,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page221">221</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; appointed engineer of Leicester
+and Swannington Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page232">232</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; his first tunnel, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page233">233</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; finds coal at Snibston, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page234">234</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; appointed joint engineer of London
+and Birmingham Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page237">237</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; construction of the works, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page242">242</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; overcomes the difficulties of the
+Kilsby Tunnel, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page248">248</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; letter to Sir Robert Peel on
+&ldquo;undulating railways,&rdquo; <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page293">293</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; his extensive employment, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page302">302</a></span>&ndash;3;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the competitor of Brunel, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page304">304</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; engineer of Newcastle and Berwick
+Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page306">306</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; engineer of Royal Border Bridge,
+Berwick, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page311">311</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; engineer of High Level Bridge,
+Newcastle, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page312">312</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; engineer of Chester and Holyhead
+Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page320">320</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; constructs the Britannia and
+Conway Tubular Bridges, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page324">324</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; succeeds to his father&rsquo;s
+wealth, and arranges to retire from business, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page357">357</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; designs tubular bridges for Canada
+and Egypt, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page357">357</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; member of Parliament, foreign
+honours, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page366">366</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; death, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page368">368</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; character, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page377">377</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Stock Exchange and railway speculation, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page289">289</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Stockton and Darlington Railway,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; projected, promoted by Edward
+Pease, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page123">123</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; act passed, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page125">125</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; re-surveyed by G. Stephenson,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page128">128</a></span>;<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; opening of the Railway, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page136">136</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the coal traffic, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page138">138</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the first passenger coach, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page139">139</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; coaching companies, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page140">140</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; increase of the traffic, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page141">141</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; town of Middlesborough, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page144">144</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Strathmore, Earl of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page46">46</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page105">105</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Sun-dial at Killingworth, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page60">60</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page280">280</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Swanwick, Frederick, C.E., <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page190">190</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page192">192</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page352">352</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Symington, Wm., steam-carriage, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page65">65</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Tapton House</span>, Chesterfield, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page278">278</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page341">341</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Tram-roads,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; early, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page5">5</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Croydon and Merstham, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page147">147</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Travelling by Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page160">160</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Trevithick, Richard, C.E.,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; his steam-carriage, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page67">67</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; his train-engine, and substitute
+for steam-blast, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page70">70</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; rencontre with Robert Stephenson
+at Cartagena, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page200">200</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Trent Valley Railway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page352">352</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Trellis girder bridges, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page360">360</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Tring Cutting, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page242">242</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Tubular boilers, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page209">209</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Tubular bridges, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page334">334</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page339">339</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page360">360</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Tunnels, railway,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Liverpool, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page183">183</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Primrose Hill, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page244">244</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kilsby, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page245">245</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Watford, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page245">245</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Littleborough, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page255">255</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Tyne, the, at Newcastle, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page3">3</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page10">10</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page11">11</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page315">315</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Viaducts</span>,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sankey, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page185">185</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Dutton, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page254">254</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Berwick, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page311">311</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Newcastle, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page312">312</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Victoria Bridge, Montreal, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page357">357</a></span>&ndash;66.</p>
+<p>Vignolles, Mr., C.E., <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page171">171</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page185">185</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page204">204</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Waggon-Roads</span>, early, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page4">4</a></span>&ndash;7, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page16">16</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page63">63</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Walker, James, C.E., <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page159">159</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Wallsend, Newcastle, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page1">1</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page33">33</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Walmsley, Sir Joshua, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page297">297</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page299">299</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page371">371</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Wandsworth and Croydon Tramway, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page69">69</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page147">147</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Watford Tunnel, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page245">245</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Watt, James, and the Locomotive, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page64">64</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Way-leaves for waggon roads, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page5">5</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Wellington, Duke of, and Railways, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page223">223</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page274">274</a></span>.</p>
+<p>West Moor, Killingworth, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page37">37</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page40">40</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page91">91</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page108">108</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Whitehaven, early Railroad at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page6">6</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Wigham, John, Stephenson&rsquo;s teacher, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page48">48</a></span>&ndash;9.</p>
+<p>Willington Quay, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page28">28</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page31">31</a></span>&ndash;6.</p>
+<p>Wilton, Earl of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page172">172</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Wood, Nicholas,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; prepares drawing of safety-lamp,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page94">94</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; is present at its trial, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page95">95</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; assists at experiments on
+fire-damp, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page98">98</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; appears with Stephenson before
+Newcastle Institute, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page102">102</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; opinion of the
+&ldquo;Geordy&rdquo; lamp, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page108">108</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; experiments with Stephenson on
+friction, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page117">117</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; accident in pit, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page119">119</a></span>;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; visits Edward Pease with G.
+Stephenson, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page126">126</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Woolf&rsquo;s tubular boilers, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page209">209</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Wylam Colliery and village, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page12">12</a></span>&ndash;14.<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+,,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; waggon-way, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page74">74</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page78">78</a></span>.</p>
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">York</span> and North Midland Railway,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page261">261</a></span>.</p>
+<p>Young, Arthur, description of early waggon-roads, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page5">5</a></span>.</p>
+<h2>NOTES.</h2>
+<p><a name="footnote4"></a><a href="#citation4"
+class="footnote">[4]</a>&nbsp; In the Newcastle dialect, a chare
+is a narrow street or lane.&nbsp; At the local assizes some years
+since, one of the witnesses in a criminal trial swore that
+&ldquo;<i>he saw three men come out of the foot of a
+chare</i>.&rdquo;&nbsp; The judge cautioned the jury not to pay
+any regard to the man&rsquo;s evidence, as he must be
+insane.&nbsp; A little explanation by the foreman, however,
+satisfied his lordship that the original statement was
+correct.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote5"></a><a href="#citation5"
+class="footnote">[5]</a>&nbsp; &lsquo;Six Months&rsquo;
+Tour,&rsquo; vol. iii. 9</p>
+<p><a name="footnote26"></a><a href="#citation26"
+class="footnote">[26]</a>&nbsp; Father of Mr. Locke, M.P., the
+engineer.&nbsp; He afterwards removed to Barnsley, in
+Yorkshire.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote33"></a><a href="#citation33"
+class="footnote">[33]</a>&nbsp; The Stephenson Memorial Schools
+have since been erected on the site of the old cottage at
+Willington Quay represented in the engraving at the head of this
+chapter.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote38"></a><a href="#citation38"
+class="footnote">[38]</a>&nbsp; This incident was related by
+Robert Stephenson during a voyage to the north of Scotland in
+1857, when off Montrose, on board his yacht <i>Titania</i>; and
+the reminiscence was communicated to the author by the late Mr.
+William Kell of Gateshead, who was present, at Mr.
+Stephenson&rsquo;s request, as being worthy of insertion in his
+father&rsquo;s biography.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote52"></a><a href="#citation52"
+class="footnote">[52]</a>&nbsp; Speech at Newcastle, on the 18th
+of June, 1844, at the meeting held in celebration of the opening
+of the Newcastle and Darlington Railway.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote57"></a><a href="#citation57"
+class="footnote">[57]</a>&nbsp; Robert Stephenson was perhaps,
+prouder of this little boyish experiment than he was of many of
+his subsequent achievements.&nbsp; Not having been quite
+accurately stated in the first edition of this book, Mr.
+Stephenson noted the correction for the second, and wrote the
+author (Sept. 18th, 1857) as follows:&mdash;&ldquo;In the kite
+experiment, will you say, that the copper-wire was insulated by a
+few feet of silk cord; without this, the experiment cannot be
+made.&rdquo;</p>
+<p><a name="footnote70"></a><a href="#citation70"
+class="footnote">[70]</a>&nbsp; Mr. Zerah Colburn, in his
+excellent work on &lsquo;Locomotive Engineering and the Mechanism
+of Railways,&rsquo; points out that Mr. Davies Gilbert noted the
+effect of the discharge of the waste steam up the chimney of
+Trevithick&rsquo;s engine in increasing the draught, and wrote a
+letter to &lsquo;Nicholson&rsquo;s Journal&rsquo; (Sept. 1805) on
+the subject. Mr. Nicholson himself proceeded to investigate the
+subject, and in 1806 he took out a patent for
+&ldquo;steam-blasting apparatus,&rdquo; applicable to fixed
+engines. Trevithick himself, however, could not have had much
+faith in the steam-blast for locomotive purposes, or else he
+would not have taken out his patent for urging the fire by means
+of fanners.&nbsp; But the fact is, that while the speed of the
+locomotive was only four or five miles an hour, the blast was
+scarcely needed. It was only when high speeds were adopted that
+artificial methods of urging the fire became necessary, and that
+the full importance of the invention was recognised.&nbsp; Like
+many other inventions, stimulated if not originated by necessity,
+the steam-blast was certainly reinvented, if not invented, by
+George Stephenson.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote71"></a><a href="#citation71"
+class="footnote">[71]</a>&nbsp; &lsquo;Mining
+Journal,&rsquo;&nbsp; 9th September, 1858.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote73"></a><a href="#citation73"
+class="footnote">[73]</a>&nbsp; Other machines, with legs, were
+patented in the following year by Lewis Gompertz and by Thomas
+Tindall. In Tindall&rsquo;s specification it is provided that the
+power of the engine is to be assisted by a <i>horizontal
+windmill</i>; and the four pushers, or legs, are to be caused to
+come successively in contact with the ground, and impel the
+carriage!</p>
+<p><a name="footnote82"></a><a href="#citation82"
+class="footnote">[82]</a>&nbsp; Speech at the opening of the
+Newcastle and Darlington Railway, June 18, 1844.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote95"></a><a href="#citation95"
+class="footnote">[95]</a>&nbsp; The Editor of the
+&lsquo;Athen&aelig;um&rsquo; having (Nov. 8th, 1862)
+characterized the author&rsquo;s account of this affair as
+&ldquo;perfectly untrue&rdquo; and a &ldquo;fiction,&rdquo; it
+becomes necessary to say a few words in explanation of it. The
+Editor of the &lsquo;Athen&aelig;um&rsquo; quotes in support of
+his statement a passage from Mr. Nicholas Wood, who, however does
+not say that the anecdote is &ldquo;perfectly untrue,&rdquo; but
+merely that &ldquo;the danger was <i>not quite so great</i> as is
+represented:&rdquo; he adds that &ldquo;at most an explosion
+might have burnt the hands of the operator, but would not extend
+a few feet from the blower.&rdquo;&nbsp; However that may be, we
+were not without good authority for making the original
+statement.&nbsp; The facts were verbally communicated to the
+author in the first place by Robert Stephenson, to whom the
+chapter was afterwards read in MS., in the presence of Mr.
+Sopwith, F.R.S. at Mr. Stephenson&rsquo;s house in Gloucester
+Square, and received his entire approval.&nbsp; But at the time
+at which Mr. Stephenson communicated the verbal information, he
+also handed a little book with his name written in it, still in
+the author&rsquo;s possession, saying, &ldquo;Read that, you will
+find it all there.&rdquo;&nbsp; We have again referred to the
+little book which contains, among other things, a pamphlet,
+entitled <i>Report on the Claims of Mr. George Stephenson
+relative to the Invention of his Safety Lamp</i>.&nbsp; <i>By the
+Committee appointed at a Meeting holden in Newcastle</i>, <i>on
+this 1st of November</i>, <i>1817</i>.&nbsp; <i>With an Appendix
+containing the Evidence</i>.&nbsp; Among the witnesses examined
+were George Stephenson, Nicholas Wood, and John Moodie, and their
+evidence is given in the pamphlet. We quote that of Stephenson
+and Moodie, which was not contradicted, but in all material
+points confirmed by Wood, and was published, we believe, with his
+sanction. George Stephenson said, that he tried the first lamp
+&ldquo;in a part of the mine where the air was highly explosive.
+Nicholas Wood and John Moodie were his companions when the trial
+was made. They became frightened when they came within hearing of
+the blower, and would not go any further.&nbsp; Mr. Stephenson
+went alone with the lamp to the mouth of the blower,&rdquo;
+etc.&nbsp; This evidence was confirmed by John Moodie, who said
+the air of the place where the experiment was about to be tried
+was such, that, if a lighted candle had been introduced, an
+explosion would have taken place that would have been
+&ldquo;extremely dangerous.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Told Stephenson
+it was foul, and hinted at the danger; nevertheless, Stephenson
+<i>would</i> try the lamp, confiding in its safety. Stephenson
+took the lamp and went with it into the place in which Moodie had
+been, and Moodie and Wood, apprehensive of the danger, retired to
+a greater distance,&rdquo; etc.&nbsp; The other details of the
+statement made in the text, are fully borne out by the published
+evidence, the accuracy of which, so far as the author is aware,
+has never before been called in question.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote105"></a><a href="#citation105"
+class="footnote">[105]</a>&nbsp; The tankard bore the following
+inscription&mdash;&ldquo;This piece of plate, purchased with a
+part of the sum of &pound;1000, a subscription raised for the
+remuneration of Mr. <span class="smcap">George Stephenson</span>
+for having discovered the fact that inflamed fire-damp will not
+pass through tubes and apertures of small dimensions, and having
+been <i>the first</i> to apply that principle in the construction
+of a safety-lamp calculated for the preservation of human life in
+situations formerly of the greatest danger, was presented to him
+at a general meeting of the subscribers, Charles John Brandling,
+Esq., in the Chair.&nbsp; January 12th, 1818.&rdquo;</p>
+<p><a name="footnote107"></a><a href="#citation107"
+class="footnote">[107]</a>&nbsp; The accident above referred to
+was described in the &lsquo;Barnsley Times,&rsquo; a copy of
+which, containing the account, Robert Stephenson forwarded to the
+author, with the observation that &ldquo;it is evidently written
+by a practical miner, and is, I think, worthy of record in my
+father&rsquo;s Life.&rdquo;</p>
+<p><a name="footnote125"></a><a href="#citation125"
+class="footnote">[125]</a>&nbsp; Mr. Pease died at Darlington, on
+the 31st of July, 1858, aged ninety two.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote129"></a><a href="#citation129"
+class="footnote">[129]</a>&nbsp; The story has been told that
+George was a former suitor of Miss Hindmarsh, while occupying the
+position of a humble workman at Black Callerton, but that having
+been rejected by her, he made love to and married Fanny
+Henderson; and that long after the death of the latter, when he
+had become a comparatively thriving man, he again made up to Miss
+Hindmarsh, and was on the second occasion accepted.&nbsp; This is
+the popular story, and different versions of it are
+current.&nbsp; Desirous of ascertaining the facts, the author
+called on Thomas Hindmarsh, Mrs. Stephenson&rsquo;s brother, who
+assured him that George knew nothing of his sister until he
+(Hindmarsh) introduced him to her, at George&rsquo;s express
+request, about the year 1818 or 1819.&nbsp; The author was
+himself originally attracted by the much more romantic version of
+the story, and gave publicity to it many years since; but after
+Mr. Hindmarsh&rsquo;s explicit statement, he thought fit to adopt
+the soberer, and perhaps, the truer view.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote130"></a><a href="#citation130"
+class="footnote">[130]</a>&nbsp; The first clause in any railway
+act, empowering the employment of locomotive engines for the
+working of passenger traffic.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote131"></a><a href="#citation131"
+class="footnote">[131]</a>&nbsp; This incident, communicated to
+the author by the late Edward Pease, has since been made the
+subject of a fine picture by Mr. A. Rankley, A.R.A., exhibited at
+the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1861.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote144"></a><a href="#citation144"
+class="footnote">[144]</a>&nbsp; Middlesborough does not furnish
+the only instance of the extraordinary increase of population in
+certain localities, occasioned by railways.&nbsp; Hartlepool, in
+the same neighbourhood, has in thirty years increased from 1330
+to above 15,000; and Stockton-on-Tees from 7763 to above
+16,000.&nbsp; In 1831 Crewe was a little village with 295
+inhabitants; it now numbers upwards of 10,000.&nbsp; Rugby and
+Swindon have quadrupled their population in the same time.&nbsp;
+The railway has been the making of Southampton, and added 30,000
+to its formerly small number of inhabitants.&nbsp; In like manner
+the railway has taken London to the sea-side, and increased the
+population of Brighton from 40,000 to nearly 100,000.&nbsp; That
+of Folkestone has been trebled.&nbsp; New and populous suburbs
+have sprung up all round London.&nbsp; The population of
+Stratford-le-Bow and West Ham was 11,580 in 1831; it is now
+nearly 40,000.&nbsp; Reigate has been trebled in size, and
+Redhill has been created by the railway.&nbsp; Blackheath, Forest
+Hill, Sydenham, New Cross, Wimbledon, and a number of populous
+places round London, may almost be said to have sprung into
+existence since the extension of railways to them within the last
+thirty years.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote147"></a><a href="#citation147"
+class="footnote">[147]</a>&nbsp; Lives of the Engineers, vol. i.
+p. 371.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote189"></a><a href="#citation189"
+class="footnote">[189]</a>&nbsp; Mr. Gooch&rsquo;s letter to the
+author, December 13th, 1861.&nbsp; Referring to the preparations
+of the plans and drawings, Mr. Gooch adds, &ldquo;When we
+consider the extensive sets of drawings which most engineers have
+since found it right to adopt in carrying out similar works, it
+is not the least surprising feature in George Stephenson&rsquo;s
+early professional career, that he should have been able to
+confine himself to so limited a number as that which could be
+supplied by the hands of one person in carrying out the
+construction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway; and this
+may still be said, after full allowance is made for the
+alteration of system involved by the adoption of the large
+contract system.&rdquo;</p>
+<p><a name="footnote193"></a><a href="#citation193"
+class="footnote">[193]</a>&nbsp; Letter to the author.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote196"></a><a href="#citation196"
+class="footnote">[196]</a>&nbsp; Letter to Mr. Illingworth.&nbsp;
+September 25th, 1825.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote199"></a><a href="#citation199"
+class="footnote">[199]</a>&nbsp; Letter to Mr. Illingworth.&nbsp;
+April 9th, 1827.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote201"></a><a href="#citation201"
+class="footnote">[201]</a>&nbsp; &lsquo;Geological Transactions
+of Cornwall.&rsquo;&nbsp; i. 222.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote206"></a><a href="#citation206"
+class="footnote">[206]</a>&nbsp; The arguments used by Mr.
+Stephenson with the directors, in favour of the locomotive
+engine, were afterwards collected and published in 1830 by Robert
+Stephenson and Joseph Locke, as &ldquo;compiled from the Reports
+of Mr. George Stephenson.&rdquo;&nbsp; The pamphlet was entitled,
+&lsquo;Observations on the Comparative Merits of Locomotive and
+Fixed Engines.&rsquo;&nbsp; Robert Stephenson, speaking of the
+authorship many years after, said, &ldquo;I believe I furnished
+the facts and the arguments, and Locke put them into shape.&nbsp;
+Locke was a very flowery writer, whereas my style was rather bald
+and unattractive; so he was the editor of the pamphlet, which
+excited a good deal of attention amongst engineers at the
+time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p><a name="footnote207"></a><a href="#citation207"
+class="footnote">[207]</a>&nbsp; The conditions were
+these:&mdash;</p>
+<p>1.&nbsp; The engine must effectually consume its own
+smoke.</p>
+<p>2.&nbsp; The engine, if of six tons weight, must be able to
+draw after it, day by day, twenty tons weight (including the
+tender and water-tank) at <i>ten miles</i> an hour, with a
+pressure of steam on the boiler not exceeding fifty pounds to the
+square inch.</p>
+<p>3.&nbsp; The boiler must have two safety-valves, neither of
+which must be fastened down, and one of them be completely out of
+the control of the engineman.</p>
+<p>4.&nbsp; The engine and boiler must be supported on springs,
+and rest on six wheels, the height of the whole not exceeding
+fifteen feet to the top of the chimney.</p>
+<p>5.&nbsp; The engine, with water, must not weigh more than six
+tons; but an engine of less weight would be preferred on its
+drawing a proportionate load behind it; if only four and a half
+tons, then it might be put on only four wheels.&nbsp; The Company
+to be at liberty to test the boiler, etc., by a pressure of one
+hundred and fifty pounds to the square inch.</p>
+<p>6.&nbsp; A mercurial gauge must be affixed to the machine,
+showing the steam pressure above forty-five pounds per square
+inch.</p>
+<p>7.&nbsp; The engine must be delivered, complete and ready for
+trial, at the Liverpool end of the railway, not later than the
+1st of October, 1829.</p>
+<p>8.&nbsp; The price of the engine must not exceed
+&pound;550.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote214"></a><a href="#citation214"
+class="footnote">[214]</a>&nbsp; The inventor of this engine was
+a Swede, who afterwards proceeded to the United States, and there
+achieved considerable distinction as an engineer.&nbsp; His
+Caloric Engine has so far proved a failure, but his iron cupola
+vessel, the &ldquo;Monitor,&rdquo; must be admitted to have been
+a remarkable success in its way.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote219"></a><a href="#citation219"
+class="footnote">[219]</a>&nbsp; The &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; is now
+to be seen at the Museum of Patents at Kensington, where it is
+carefully preserved.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote234"></a><a href="#citation234"
+class="footnote">[234]</a>&nbsp; Tubbing is now adopted in many
+cases as a substitute for brick-walling.&nbsp; The tubbing
+consists of short portions of cast-iron cylinder fixed in
+segments.&nbsp; Each weighs about 4&frac12; cwt., is about 3 or 4
+feet long, and about &#8540; of an inch thick.&nbsp; These pieces
+are fitted closely together, length under length, and form an
+impermeable wall along the side of the pit.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote263"></a><a href="#citation263"
+class="footnote">[263]</a>&nbsp; During this period he was
+engaged on the North Midland, extending from Derby to Leeds; the
+York and North Midland, from Normanton to York; the Manchester
+and Leeds; the Birmingham and Derby, and the Sheffield and
+Rotherham Railways; the whole of these, of which he was principal
+engineer, having been authorised in 1836.&nbsp; In that session
+alone, powers were obtained for the construction of 214 miles of
+new railways under his direction, at an expenditure of upwards of
+five millions sterling.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote288"></a><a href="#citation288"
+class="footnote">[288]</a>&nbsp; The question of the specific
+merits of the atmospheric as compared with the fixed engine and
+locomotive systems, will be found fully discussed in Robert
+Stephenson&rsquo;s able &lsquo;Report on the Atmospheric Railway
+System,&rsquo; 1844, in which he gives the result of numerous
+observations and experiments made by him on the Kingstown
+Atmospheric Railway, with the object of ascertaining whether the
+new power would be applicable for the working of the Chester and
+Holyhead Railway, then under construction.&nbsp; His opinion was
+decidedly against the atmospheric system.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote289"></a><a href="#citation289"
+class="footnote">[289]</a>&nbsp; The Marquis of Clanricarde
+brought under the notice of the House of Lords, in 1845, that one
+Charles Guernsey, the son of a charwoman, and a clerk in a
+broker&rsquo;s office, at 12s. a week, had his name down as a
+subscriber for shares in the London and York line, for
+&pound;52,000.&nbsp; Doubtless he had been made useful for the
+purpose by the brokers, his employers.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote309"></a><a href="#citation309"
+class="footnote">[309]</a>&nbsp; &ldquo;When my father came about
+the office,&rdquo; said Robert, &ldquo;he sometimes did not well
+know what to do with himself.&nbsp; So he used to invite Bidder
+to have a wrestle with him, for old acquaintance&rsquo;
+sake.&nbsp; And the two wrestled together so often, and had so
+many &lsquo;falls&rsquo; (sometimes I thought they would bring
+the house down between them), that they broke half the chairs in
+my outer office.&nbsp; I remember once sending my father in a
+joiner&rsquo;s bill of about &pound;2. 10s. for mending broken
+chairs.&rdquo;</p>
+<p><a name="footnote324"></a><a href="#citation324"
+class="footnote">[324]</a>&nbsp; The simple fact that in a heavy
+storm the force of impact of the waves is from one and a-half to
+two tons per square foot, must necessarily dictate the greatest
+possible caution in approaching so formidable an element.&nbsp;
+Mr. R. Stevenson (Edinburgh) registered a force of three tons per
+square foot at Skerryvore, during a gale in the Atlantic, when
+the waves were supposed to run twenty feet high.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote327"></a><a href="#citation327"
+class="footnote">[327]</a>&nbsp; Robert Stephenson&rsquo;s
+narrative in Clark&rsquo;s &lsquo;Britannia and Conway Tubular
+Bridges,&rsquo; vol. i. p. 27.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote329a"></a><a href="#citation329a"
+class="footnote">[329a]</a>&nbsp; &lsquo;Account of the
+Construction of the Britannia and Conway Tubular
+Bridges.&rsquo;&nbsp; By W. Fairbairn, C.E. London, 1849.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote329b"></a><a href="#citation329b"
+class="footnote">[329b]</a>&nbsp; Mr. Stephenson continued to
+hold that the elliptical tube was the right idea, and that
+sufficient justice had not been done to it.&nbsp; A year or two
+before his death Mr. Stephenson remarked to the author, that had
+the same arrangement for stiffening been adopted to which the
+oblong rectangular tubes owe a great part of their strength, a
+very different result would have been obtained.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote335"></a><a href="#citation335"
+class="footnote">[335]</a>&nbsp; &lsquo;The Britannia and Conway
+Tubular Bridges.&rsquo;&nbsp; By Edwin Clark.&nbsp; Vol. II, pp.
+683&ndash;4.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote336"></a><a href="#citation336"
+class="footnote">[336]</a>&nbsp; No. 34, Gloucester Square, Hyde
+Park, where he lived.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote350"></a><a href="#citation350"
+class="footnote">[350]</a>&nbsp; The above anecdote is given on
+the authority of Mr. Sopwith. F.R.S.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote354"></a><a href="#citation354"
+class="footnote">[354]</a>&nbsp; The second Mrs. Stephenson
+having died in 1845, George married a third time in 1848, about
+six months before his death.&nbsp; The third Mrs. Stephenson had
+for some time been his housekeeper.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote368"></a><a href="#citation368"
+class="footnote">[368]</a>&nbsp; In 1829 Robert Stephenson
+married Frances, daughter of John Sanderson, merchant, London;
+but she died in 1842, without issue, and Mr. Stephenson did not
+marry again.&nbsp; Until the close of his life, Robert Stephenson
+was accustomed twice in every year to visit his wife&rsquo;s
+grave in Hampstead churchyard.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote377"></a><a href="#citation377"
+class="footnote">[377]</a>&nbsp; Address as President of the
+Institution of Civil Engineers, January, 1856.</p>
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS***</p>
+<pre>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lives of the Engineers, by Samuel Smiles
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Lives of the Engineers
+       The Locomotive.  George and Robert Stephenson
+
+
+Author: Samuel Smiles
+
+
+
+Release Date: January 5, 2009  [eBook #27710]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS***
+
+
+This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler.
+
+                       [Picture: George Stephenson]
+
+
+
+
+
+                                  LIVES
+                                  OF THE
+                                ENGINEERS.
+
+
+                             THE LOCOMOTIVE.
+
+                      GEORGE AND ROBERT STEPHENSON.
+
+                            BY SAMUEL SMILES,
+                 AUTHOR OF 'CHARACTER,' 'SELF-HELP,' ETC.
+
+    "Bid Harbours open, Public Ways extend;
+    Bid Temples, worthier of God, ascend;
+    Bid the broad Arch the dang'rous flood contain,
+    The Mole projected break the roaring main,
+    Back to his bounds their subject sea command,
+    And roll obedient rivers through the land.
+    These honours, Peace to happy Britain brings;
+    These are imperial works, and worthy kings."
+
+                                                                     POPE.
+
+                       _A NEW AND REVISED EDITION_.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                                 LONDON:
+                      JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
+                                  1879.
+
+                 _The right of Translation is reserved_.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+Since the appearance of this book in its original form, some seventeen
+years since, the construction of Railways has continued to make
+extraordinary progress.  Although Great Britain, first in the field, had
+then, after about twenty-five years' work, expended nearly 300 millions
+sterling in the construction of 8300 miles of railway, it has, during the
+last seventeen years, expended about 288 millions more in constructing
+7780 additional miles.
+
+But the construction of railways has proceeded with equal rapidity on the
+Continent.  France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland,
+Holland, have largely added to their railway mileage.  Austria is
+actively engaged in carrying new lines across the plains of Hungary,
+which Turkey is preparing to meet by lines carried up the valley of the
+Lower Danube.  Russia is also occupied with extensive schemes for
+connecting Petersburg and Moscow with her ports in the Black Sea on the
+one hand, and with the frontier towns of her Asiatic empire on the other.
+
+Italy is employing her new-born liberty in vigorously extending railways
+throughout her dominions.  A direct line of communication has already
+been opened between France and Italy, through the Mont Cenis Tunnel;
+while another has been opened between Germany and Italy through the
+Brenner Pass,--so that the entire journey may now be made by two
+different railway routes (excepting only the short sea-passage across the
+English Channel) from London to Brindisi, situated in the south-eastern
+extremity of the Italian peninsula.
+
+During the last sixteen years, nearly the whole of the Indian railways
+have been made.  When Edmund Burke, in 1783, arraigned the British
+Government for their neglect of India in his speech on Mr. Fox's Bill, he
+said: "England has built no bridges, made no high roads, cut no
+navigations, dug out no reservoirs. . . .  Were we to be driven out of
+India this day, nothing would remain to tell that it had been possessed,
+during the inglorious period of our dominion, by anything better than the
+ourang-outang or the tiger."
+
+But that reproach no longer exists.  Some of the greatest bridges erected
+in modern times--such as those over the Sone near Patna, and over the
+Jumna at Allahabad--have been erected in connection with the Indian
+railways.  More than 5000 miles are now at work, and they have been
+constructed at an expenditure of about 88,000,000 pounds of British
+capital, guaranteed by the British Government.  The Indian railways
+connect the capitals of the three Presidencies--uniting Bombay with
+Madras on the south, and with Calcutta on the north-east--while a great
+main line, 2200 miles in extent, passing through the north-western
+provinces, and connecting Calcutta with Lucknow, Delhi, Lahore, Moultan,
+and Kurrachee, unites the mouths of the Hooghly in the Bay of Bengal with
+those of the Indus in the Arabian Sea.
+
+When the first edition of this work appeared, in the beginning of 1857,
+the Canadian system of railways was but in its infancy.  The Grand Trunk
+was only begun, and the Victoria Bridge--the greatest of all railway
+structures--was not half erected.  The Colony of Canada has now more than
+3000 miles in active operation along the great valley of the St.
+Lawrence, connecting Riviere du Loup at the mouth of that river, and the
+harbour of Portland in the State of Maine, _via_ Montreal and Toronto,
+with Sarnia on Lake Huron, and with Windsor, opposite Detroit in the
+State of Michigan.  During the same time the Australian Colonies have
+been actively engaged in providing themselves with railways, many of
+which are at work, and others are in course of formation.  The Cape of
+Good Hope has several lines open, and others making.  France has
+constructed about 400 miles in Algeria; while the Pasha of Egypt is the
+proprietor of 360 miles in operation across the Egyptian desert.  The
+Japanese are also making railroads.
+
+But in no country has railway construction been prosecuted with greater
+vigour than in the United States.  There the railway furnishes not only
+the means of intercommunication between already established settlements,
+as in the Old World; but it is regarded as the pioneer of colonization,
+and as instrumental in opening up new and fertile territories of vast
+extent in the west,--the food-grounds of future nations.  Hence railway
+construction in that country was scarcely interrupted even by the great
+Civil War,--at the commencement of which Mr. Seward publicly expressed
+the opinion that "physical bonds--such as highways, railroads, rivers,
+and canals--are vastly more powerful for holding civil communities
+together than any mere covenants, though written on parchment or engraved
+on iron."
+
+The people of the United States were the first to follow the example of
+England, after the practicability of steam locomotion had been proved on
+the Stockton and Darlington, and Liverpool and Manchester Railways.  The
+first sod of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway was cut on the 4th of July,
+1828, and the line was completed and opened for traffic in the following
+year, when it was worked partly by horse-power, and partly by a
+locomotive built at Baltimore, which is still preserved in the Company's
+workshops.  In 1830, the Hudson and Mohawk Railway was begun, while other
+lines were under construction in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New
+Jersey; and in the course of ten years, 1843 miles were finished and in
+operation.  In ten more years, 8827 miles were at work; at the end of
+1864, 35,000 miles; and at the 31st of December, 1873, not less than
+70,651 miles were in operation, of which 3916 had been made during that
+year.  One of the most extensive trunk-lines is the Great Pacific
+Railroad, connecting the lines in the valleys of the Mississippi and the
+Missouri with the city of San Francisco on the shores of the Pacific, by
+means of which it is possible to make the journey from England to Hong
+Kong, via New York, in little more than a month.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+The results of the working of railways have been in many respects
+different from those anticipated by their projectors.  One of the most
+unexpected has been the growth of an immense passenger-traffic.  The
+Stockton and Darlington line was projected as a coal line only, and the
+Liverpool and Manchester as a merchandise line.  Passengers were not
+taken into account as a source of revenue, for at the time of their
+projection, it was not believed that people would trust themselves to be
+drawn upon a railway by an "explosive machine," as the locomotive was
+described to be.  Indeed, a writer of eminence declared that he would as
+soon think of being fired off on a ricochet rocket, as travel on a
+railway at twice the speed of the old stagecoaches.  So great was the
+alarm which existed as to the locomotive, that the Liverpool and
+Manchester Committee pledged themselves in their second prospectus,
+issued in 1825, "not to require any clause empowering its use;" and as
+late as 1829, the Newcastle and Carlisle Act was conceded on the express
+condition that the line should not be worked by locomotives, but by
+horses only.
+
+Nevertheless, the Liverpool and Manchester Company obtained powers to
+make and work their railway without any such restriction; and when the
+line was made and opened, a locomotive passenger train was advertised to
+be run upon it, by way of experiment.  Greatly to the surprise of the
+directors, more passengers presented themselves as travellers by the
+train than could conveniently be carried.
+
+The first arrangements as to passenger-traffic were of a very primitive
+character, being mainly copied from the old stage-coach system.  The
+passengers were "booked" at the railway office, and their names were
+entered in a way-bill which was given to the guard when the train
+started.  Though the usual stage-coach bugleman could not conveniently
+accompany the passengers, the trains were at first played out of the
+terminal stations by a lively tune performed by a trumpeter at the end of
+the platform; and this continued to be done at the Manchester Station
+until a comparatively recent date.
+
+But the number of passengers carried by the Liverpool and Manchester line
+was so unexpectedly great, that it was very soon found necessary to
+remodel the entire system.  Tickets were introduced, by which a great
+saving of time was effected.  More roomy and commodious carriages were
+provided, the original first-class compartments being seated for four
+passengers only.  Everything was found to have been in the first instance
+made too light and too slight.  The prize 'Rocket,' which weighed only
+4.5 tons when loaded with its coke and water, was found quite unsuited
+for drawing the increasingly heavy loads of passengers.  There was also
+this essential difference between the old stage-coach and the new railway
+train, that, whereas the former was "full" with six inside and ten
+outside, the latter must be able to accommodate whatever number of
+passengers came to be carried.  Hence heavier and more powerful engines,
+and larger and more substantial carriages were from time to time added to
+the carrying stock of the railway.
+
+The speed of the trains was also increased.  The first locomotives used
+in hauling coal-trains ran at from four to six miles an hour.  On the
+Stockton and Darlington line the speed was increased to about ten miles
+an hour; and on the Liverpool and Manchester line the first
+passenger-trains were run at the average speed of seventeen miles an
+hour, which at that time was considered very fast.  But this was not
+enough.  When the London and Birmingham line was opened, the mail-trains
+were run at twenty-three miles an hour; and gradually the speed went up,
+until now the fast trains are run at from fifty to sixty miles an
+hour,--the pistons in the cylinders, at sixty miles, travelling at the
+inconceivable rapidity of 800 feet per minute!
+
+To bear the load of heavy engines run at high speeds, a much stronger and
+heavier road was found necessary; and shortly after the opening of the
+Liverpool and Manchester line, it was entirely relaid with stronger
+materials.  Now that express passenger-engines are from thirty to
+thirty-five tons each, the weight of the rails has been increased from 35
+lbs. to 75 lbs. or 86 lbs. to the yard.  Stone blocks have given place to
+wooden sleepers; rails with loose ends resting on the chairs, to rails
+with their ends firmly "fished" together; and in many places, where the
+traffic is unusually heavy, iron rails have been replaced by those of
+steel.
+
+And now see the enormous magnitude to which railway passenger-traffic has
+grown.  In the year 1873, 401,465,086 passengers were carried by day
+tickets in Great Britain alone.  But this was not all.  For in that year
+257,470 periodical tickets were issued by the different railways; and
+assuming half of them to be annual, one-fourth half-yearly, and the
+remainder quarterly tickets, and that their holders made only five
+journeys each way weekly, this would give an additional number of
+47,024,000 journeys, or a total of 448,489,086 passengers carried in
+Great Britain in one year.
+
+It is difficult to grasp the idea of the enormous number of persons
+represented by these figures.  The mind is merely bewildered by them, and
+can form no adequate notion of their magnitude.  To reckon them singly
+would occupy twenty-five years, counting at the rate of one a second for
+twelve hours every day.  Or take another illustration.  Supposing every
+man, woman, and child in Great Britain to make ten journeys by rail
+yearly, the number would greatly fall short of the passengers carried in
+1873.
+
+Mr. Porter, in his 'Progress of the Nation,' estimated that thirty
+millions of passengers, or about eighty-two thousand a day, travelled by
+coaches in Great Britain in 1834, an average distance of twelve miles
+each, at an average cost of 5s. a passenger, or at the rate of 5d. a
+mile; whereas above 448 millions are now carried by railway an average
+distance of 8.5 miles each, at an average cost of 1s. 1.5d. per
+passenger, or about three halfpence per mile, in considerably less than
+one-fourth of the time.
+
+But besides the above number of passengers, over one hundred and
+sixty-two million tons of minerals and merchandise were carried by
+railway in the United Kingdom in 1873, besides mails, cattle, parcels,
+and other traffic.  The distance run by passenger and goods trains in the
+year was 162,561,304 miles; to accomplish which it is estimated that four
+miles of railway must have been covered by running trains during every
+second all the year round.
+
+To perform this service, there were, in 1873, 11,255 locomotives at work
+in the United Kingdom, consuming about four million tons of coal and
+coke, and flashing into the air every minute some forty tons of water in
+the form of steam in a high state of elasticity.  There were also 24,644
+passenger-carriages, 9128 vans and breaks attached to passenger-trains,
+and 329,163 trucks, waggons, and other vehicles appropriated to
+merchandise.  Buckled together, buffer to buffer, the locomotives and
+tenders would extend from London to Peterborough; while the carrying
+vehicles, joined together, would form two trains occupying a double line
+of railway extending from London to beyond Inverness.
+
+A notable feature in the growth of railway traffic of late years has been
+the increase in the number of third-class passengers, compared with first
+and second class.  Sixteen years since, the third-class passengers
+constituted only about one-third; ten years later, they were about
+one-half; whereas now they form more than three-fourths of the whole
+number carried.  In 1873, there were about 23 million first-class
+passengers, 62 million second-class, and not less than 306 million
+third-class.  Thus George Stephenson's prediction, "that the time would
+come when it would be cheaper for a working man to make a journey by
+railway than to walk on foot," is already verified.
+
+The degree of safety with which this great traffic has been conducted is
+not the least remarkable of its features.  Of course, so long as railways
+are worked by men they will be liable to the imperfections belonging to
+all things human.  Though their machinery may be perfect and their
+organisation as complete as skill and forethought can make it, workmen
+will at times be forgetful and listless; and a moment's carelessness may
+lead to the most disastrous results.  Yet, taking all circumstances into
+account, the wonder is, that travelling by railway at high speed should
+have been rendered comparatively so safe.
+
+To be struck by lightning is one of the rarest of all causes of death;
+yet more persons are killed by lightning in Great Britain than are killed
+on railways from causes beyond their own control.  Most persons would
+consider the probability of their dying by hanging to be extremely
+remote; yet, according to the Registrar-General's returns, it is
+considerably greater than that of being killed by railway accident.
+
+The remarkable safety with which railway traffic is on the whole
+conducted, is due to constant watchfulness and highly-applied skill.  The
+men who work the railways are for the most part the picked men of the
+country, and every railway station may be regarded as a practical school
+of industry, attention, and punctuality.
+
+Few are aware of the complicated means and agencies that are in constant
+operation on railways day and night, to ensure the safety of the
+passengers to their journey's end.  The road is under a system of
+continuous inspection.  The railway is watched by foremen, with "gangs"
+of men under them, in lengths varying from twelve to five miles,
+according to circumstances.  Their continuous duty is to see that the
+rails and chairs are sound, their fastenings complete, and the line clear
+of all obstructions.
+
+Then, at all the junctions, sidings, and crossings, pointsmen are
+stationed, with definite instructions as to the duties to be performed by
+them.  At these places, signals are provided, worked from the station
+platforms, or from special signal boxes, for the purpose of protecting
+the stopping or passing trains.  When the first railways were opened, the
+signals were of a very simple kind.  The station men gave them with their
+arms stretched out in different positions; then flags of different
+colours were used; next fixed signals, with arms or discs of rectangular
+or triangular shape.  These were followed by a complete system of
+semaphore signals, near and distant, protecting all junctions, sidings,
+and crossings.
+
+When Government inspectors were first appointed by the Board of Trade to
+examine and report upon the working of railways, they were alarmed by the
+number of trains following each other at some stations, in what then
+seemed to be a very rapid succession.  A passage from a Report written in
+1840 by Sir Frederick Smith, as to the traffic at "Taylor's Junction," on
+the York and North Midland Railway, contrasts curiously with the railway
+life and activity of the present day:--"Here," wrote the alarmed
+Inspector, "the passenger trains from York as well as Leeds and Selby,
+meet four times a day.  No less than 23 passenger-trains stop at or pass
+this station in the 21 hours--an amount of traffic requiring not only the
+utmost perfect arrangements on the part of the management, but the utmost
+vigilance and energy in the servants of the Company employed at this
+place."
+
+Contrast this with the state of things now.  On the Metropolitan Line,
+667 trains pass a given point in one direction or the other during the
+eighteen hours of the working day, or an average of 36 trains an hour.
+At the Cannon Street Station of the South-Eastern Railway, 627 trains
+pass in and out daily, many of them crossing each other's tracks under
+the protection of the station-signals.  Forty-five trains run in and out
+between 9 and 10 A.M., and an equal number between 4 and 5 P.M.  Again,
+at the Clapham Junction, near London, about 700 trains pass or stop
+daily; and though to the casual observer the succession of trains coming
+and going, running and stopping, coupling and shunting, appears a scene
+of inextricable confusion and danger, the whole is clearly intelligible
+to the signalmen in their boxes, who work the trains in and out with
+extraordinary precision and regularity.
+
+The inside of a signal-box reminds one of a pianoforte on a large scale,
+the lever-handles corresponding with the keys of the instrument; and, to
+an uninstructed person, to work the one would be as difficult as to play
+a tune on the other.  The signal-box outside Cannon Street Station
+contains 67 lever-handles, by means of which the signalmen are enabled at
+the same moment to communicate with the drivers of all the engines on the
+line within an area of 800 yards.  They direct by signs, which are quite
+as intelligible as words, the drivers of the trains starting from inside
+the station, as well as those of the trains arriving from outside.  By
+pulling a lever-handle, a distant signal, perhaps out of sight, is set
+some hundred yards off, which the approaching driver--reading it quickly
+as he comes along--at once interprets, and stops or advances as the
+signal may direct.
+
+The precision and accuracy of the signal-machinery employed at important
+stations and junctions have of late years been much improved by an
+ingenious contrivance, by means of which the setting of the signal
+prepares the road for the coming train.  When the signal is set at
+"Danger," the points are at the same time worked, and the road is
+"locked" against it; and when at "Safety," the road is open,--the signal
+and the points exactly corresponding.
+
+The Electric Telegraph has also been found a valuable auxiliary in
+ensuring the safe working of large railway traffics.  Though the
+locomotive may run at 60 miles an hour, electricity, when at its fastest,
+travels at the rate of 288,000 miles a second, and is therefore always
+able to herald the coming train.  The electric telegraph may, indeed, be
+regarded as the nervous system of the railway.  By its means the whole
+line is kept throbbing with intelligence.  The method of working the
+electric signals varies on different lines; but the usual practice is, to
+divide a line into so many lengths, each protected by its
+signal-stations,--the fundamental law of telegraph-working being, that
+two engines are not to be allowed to run on the same line between two
+signal-stations at the same time.
+
+When a train passes one of such stations, it is immediately signalled
+on--usually by electric signal-bells--to the station in advance, and that
+interval of railway is "blocked" until the signal has been received from
+the station in advance that the train has passed it.  Thus an interval of
+space is always secured between trains following each other, which are
+thereby alike protected before and behind.  And thus, when a train starts
+on a journey, it may be of hundreds of miles, it is signalled on from
+station to station--it "lives along the line,"--until at length it
+reaches its destination and the last signal of "train in" is given.  By
+this means an immense number of trains can be worked with regularity and
+safety.  On the South-Eastern Railway, where the system has been brought
+to a state of high efficiency, it is no unusual thing during Easter week
+to send 600,000 passengers through the London Bridge Station alone; and
+on some days as many as 1200 trains a-day.
+
+While such are the expedients adopted to ensure safety, others equally
+ingenious are adopted to ensure speed.  In the case of express and mail
+trains, the frequent stopping of the engines to take in a fresh supply of
+water occasions a considerable loss of time on a long journey, each
+stoppage for this purpose occupying from ten to fifteen minutes.  To
+avoid such stoppages, larger tenders have been provided, capable of
+carrying as much as 2000 gallons of water each.  But as a considerable
+time is occupied in filling these, a plan has been contrived by Mr.
+Ramsbottom, the Locomotive Engineer of the London and North-Western
+Railway, by which the engines are made to _feed themselves_ while running
+at full speed!  The plan is as follows:--An open trough, about 440 feet
+long, is laid longitudinally between the rails.  Into this trough, which
+is filled with water, a dip-pipe or scoop attached to the bottom of the
+tender of the running train is lowered; and, at a speed of 50 miles an
+hour, as much as 1070 gallons of water are scooped up in the course of a
+few minutes.  The first of such troughs was laid down between Chester and
+Holyhead, to enable the Express Mail to run the distance of 841 miles in
+two hours and five minutes without stopping; and similar troughs have
+since been laid down at Bushey near London, at Castlethorpe near
+Wolverton, and at Parkside near Liverpool.  At these four troughs about
+130,000 gallons of water are scooped up daily.
+
+Wherever railways have been made, new towns have sprung up, and old towns
+and cities been quickened into new life.  When the first English lines
+were projected, great were the prophecies of disaster to the inhabitants
+of the districts through which they were proposed to be forced.  Such
+fears have long since been dispelled in this country.  The same
+prejudices existed in France.  When the railway from Paris to Marseilles
+was laid out so as to pass through Lyons, a local prophet predicted that
+if the line were made the city would be ruined--"_Ville traversee_,
+_ville perdue_;" while a local priest denounced the locomotive and the
+electric telegraph as heralding _the reign of Antichrist_.  But such
+nonsense is no longer uttered.  Now it is the city without the railway
+that is regarded as the "city lost;" for it is in a measure shut out from
+the rest of the world, and left outside the pale of civilisation.
+
+Perhaps the most striking of all the illustrations that could be offered
+of the extent to which railways facilitate the locomotion, the industry,
+and the subsistence of the population of large towns and cities, is
+afforded by the working of the railway system in connection with the
+capital of Great Britain.
+
+The extension of railways to London has been of comparatively recent
+date; the whole of the lines connecting it with the provinces and
+terminating at its outskirts, having been opened during the last thirty
+years, while the lines inside London have for the most part been opened
+within the last sixteen years.
+
+The first London line was the Greenwich Railway, part of which was opened
+for traffic to Deptford in February 1836.  The working of this railway
+was first exhibited as a show, and the usual attractions were employed to
+make it "draw."  A band of musicians in the garb of the Beef-eaters was
+stationed at the London end, and another band at Deptford.  For
+cheapness' sake the Deptford band was shortly superseded by a large
+barrel-organ, which played in the passengers; but, when the traffic
+became established, the barrel organ, as well as the beef-eater band at
+the London end, were both discontinued.  The whole length of the line was
+lit up at night by a row of lamps on either side like a street, as if to
+enable the locomotives or the passengers to see their way in the dark;
+but these lamps also were eventually discontinued as unnecessary.
+
+As a show, the Greenwich Railway proved tolerably successful.  During the
+first eleven months it carried 456,750 passengers, or an average of about
+1300 a-day.  But the railway having been found more convenient to the
+public than either the river boats or the omnibuses, the number of
+passengers rapidly increased.  When the Croydon, Brighton, and
+South-Eastern Railways began to pour their streams of traffic over the
+Greenwich viaduct, its accommodation was found much too limited; and it
+was widened from time to time, until now nine lines of railway are laid
+side by side, over which more than twenty millions of passengers are
+carried yearly, or an average of about 60,000 a day all the year round.
+
+Since the partial opening of the Greenwich Railway in 1836, a large
+extent of railways has been constructed in and about the metropolis, and
+convenient stations have been established almost in the heart of the
+City.  Sixteen of these stations are within a circle of half a mile
+radius from the Mansion House, and above three hundred stations are in
+actual use within about five miles of Charing Cross.
+
+To accommodate this vast traffic, not fewer than 3600 local trains are
+run in and out daily, besides 340 trains which depart to and arrive from
+distant places, north, south, east, and west.  In the morning hours,
+between 8.30 and 10.30, when business men are proceeding inwards to their
+offices and counting-houses, and in the afternoon between four and six,
+when they are returning outwards to their homes, as many as two thousand
+stoppages are made in the hour, within the metropolitan district, for the
+purpose of taking up and setting down passengers, while about two miles
+of railway are covered by the running trains.
+
+One of the remarkable effects of railways has been to extend the
+residential area of all large towns and cities.  This is especially
+notable in the case of London.  Before the introduction of railways, the
+residential area of the metropolis was limited by the time occupied by
+business men in making the journey outwards and inwards daily; and it was
+for the most part bounded by Bow on the east, by Hampstead and Highgate
+on the north, by Paddington and Kensington on the west, and by Clapham
+and Brixton on the south.  But now that stations have been established
+near the centre of the city, and places so distant as Waltham, Barnet,
+Watford, Hanwell, Richmond, Epsom, Croydon, Reigate, and Erith, can be
+more quickly reached by rail than the old suburban quarters were by
+omnibus, the metropolis has become extended in all directions along its
+railway lines, and the population of London, instead of living in the
+City or its immediate vicinity, as formerly, have come to occupy a
+residential area of not less than six hundred square miles!
+
+The number of new towns which have consequently sprung into existence
+near London within the last twenty years has been very great; towns
+numbering from ten to twenty thousand inhabitants, which before were but
+villages,--if, indeed, they existed.  This has especially been the case
+along the lines south of the Thames, principally in consequence of the
+termini of those lines being more conveniently situated for city men of
+business.  Hence the rapid growth of the suburban towns up and down the
+river, from Richmond and Staines on the west, to Erith and Gravesend on
+the east, and the hives of population which have settled on the high
+grounds south of the Thames, in the neighbourhood of Norwood and the
+Crystal Palace, rapidly spreading over the Surrey Downs, from Wimbledon
+to Guildford, and from Bromley to Croydon, Epsom, and Dorking.  And now
+that the towns on the south and south-east coast can be reached by city
+men in little more time than it takes to travel to Clapham or Bayswater
+by omnibus, such places have become as it were parts of the great
+metropolis, and Brighton and Hastings are but the marine suburbs of
+London.
+
+The improved state of the communications of the City with the country has
+had a marked effect upon its population.  While the action of the
+railways has been to add largely to the number of persons living in
+London, it has also been accompanied by their dispersion over a much
+larger area.  Thus the population of the central parts of London is
+constantly decreasing, whereas that of the suburban districts is as
+constantly increasing.  The population of the City fell off more than
+10,000 between 1851 and 1861; and during the same period, that of
+Holborn, the Strand, St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, St. James's,
+Westminster, East and West London, showed a considerable decrease.  But,
+as regards the whole mass of the metropolitan population, the increase
+has been enormous.  Thus, starting from 1801, when the population of
+London was 958,863, we find it increasing in each decennial period at the
+rate of between two and three hundred thousand, until the year 1841, when
+it amounted to 1,948,369.  Railways had by that time reached London,
+after which its population increased at nearly double the former ratio.
+In the ten years ending 1851, the increase was 513,867; and in the ten
+years ending 1861, 441,753: until now, to quote the words of the
+Registrar-General in a recent annual Report, "the population within the
+registration limits is by estimate 2,993,513; but beyond this central
+mass there is a ring of life growing rapidly, and extending along railway
+lines over a circle of fifteen miles from Charing Cross.  The population
+within that circle, patrolled by the metropolitan police, is about
+3,463,771"!
+
+The aggregation of so vast a number of persons within so comparatively
+limited an area--the immense quantity of food required for their daily
+sustenance, as well as of fuel, clothing, and other necessaries--would be
+attended with no small inconvenience and danger, but for the facilities
+again provided by the railways.  The provisioning of a garrison of even
+four thousand men is considered a formidable affair; how much more so the
+provisioning of nearly four millions of people!
+
+The whole mystery is explained by the admirable organisation of the
+railway service, and the regularity and despatch with which it is
+conducted.  We are enabled by the courtesy of the General Managers of the
+London railways to bring together the following brief summary of facts
+relating to the food supply of London, which will probably be regarded by
+most readers as of a very remarkable character.
+
+Generally speaking, the railways to the south of the Thames contribute
+comparatively little towards the feeding of London.  They are, for the
+most part passenger and residential lines, traversing a limited and not
+very fertile district bounded by the sea-coast; and, excepting in fruit
+and vegetables, milk and hops, they probably carry more food from London
+than they bring to it.  The principal supplies of grain, flour, potatoes,
+and fish, are brought by railway from the eastern counties of England and
+Scotland; and of cattle and sheep, beef and mutton, from the grazing
+counties of the west and north-west of Britain, as far as the Highlands
+of Scotland, which have, through the instrumentality of railways, become
+part of the great grazing grounds of the metropolis.
+
+Take first "the staff of life"--bread and its constituents.  Of wheat,
+not less than 222,080 quarters were brought into London by railway in
+1867, besides what was brought by sea; of oats 151,757 quarters; of
+barley 70,282 quarters; of beans and peas 51,448 quarters.  Of the wheat
+and barley, by far the largest proportion is brought by the Great Eastern
+Railway, which delivers in London in one year 155,000 quarters of wheat
+and 45,500 quarters of barley, besides 600,429 quarters more in the form
+of malt.  The largest quantity of oats is brought by the Great Northern
+Railway, principally from the north of England and the East of
+Scotland,--the quantity delivered by that Company in 1867 having been
+97,500 quarters, besides 24,664 quarters of wheat, 5560 quarters of
+barley, and 103,917 quarters of malt.  Again, of 1,250,566 sacks of flour
+and meal delivered in London in one year, the Great Eastern brings
+654,000 sacks, the Great Northern 232,022 sacks, and the Great Western
+136,312 sacks; the principal contribution of the London and North-Western
+Railway towards the London bread-stores being 100,760 boxes of American
+flour, besides 24,300 sacks of English.  The total quantity of malt
+delivered at the London railway stations in 1867 was thirteen hundred
+thousand sacks.
+
+Next, as to flesh meat.  In 1867, not fewer than 172,300 head of cattle
+were brought to London by railway,--though this was considerably less
+than the number carried before the cattle-plague, the Great Eastern
+Railway alone having carried 44,672 less than in 1864.  But this loss has
+since been more than made up by the increased quantities of fresh beef,
+mutton, and other kinds of meat imported in lieu of the live animals.
+The principal supplies of cattle are brought, as we have said, by the
+Western, Northern, and Eastern lines: by the Great Western from the
+western counties and Ireland; by the London and North-Western, the
+Midland, and the Great Northern from the northern counties and from
+Scotland; and by the Great Eastern from the eastern counties and from the
+ports of Harwich and Lowestoft.
+
+In 1867, also, 1,147,609 sheep were brought to London by railway, of
+which the Great Eastern delivered not less than 265,371 head.  The London
+and North-Western and Great Northern between them brought 390,000 head
+from the northern English counties, with a large proportion from the
+Scotch Highlands.  While the Great Western brought up 130,000 head from
+the Welsh mountains and from the rich grazing districts of Wilts,
+Gloucester, Somerset, and Devon.  Another important freight of the London
+and North-Western Railway consists of pigs, of which they delivered
+54,700 in London, principally Irish; while the Great Eastern brought up
+27,500 of the same animal, partly foreign.
+
+While the cattle-plague had the effect of greatly reducing the number of
+live stock brought into London yearly, it gave a considerable impetus to
+the Fresh Meat traffic.  Thus, in addition to the above large numbers of
+cattle and sheep delivered in London in 1867, the railways brought 76,175
+tons of meat, which--taking the meat of an average beast at 800 lbs., and
+of an average sheep at 64 lbs.--would be equivalent to about 112,000 more
+cattle, and 1,267,500 more sheep.  The Great Northern brought the largest
+quantity; next the London and North-Western;--these two Companies having
+brought up between them, from distances as remote as Aberdeen and
+Inverness, about 42,000 tons of fresh meat in 1867, at an average freight
+of about 0.5d. a lb.
+
+Again as regards Fish, of which six-tenths of the whole quantity consumed
+in London is now brought by rail.  The Great Eastern and the Great
+Northern are by far the largest importers of this article, and justify
+their claim to be regarded as the great food lines of London.  Of the
+61,358 tons of fish brought by railway in 1867, not less than 24,500 tons
+were delivered by the former, and 22,000 tons, brought from much longer
+distances, by the latter Company.  The London and North-Western brought
+about 6000 tons, the principal part of which was salmon from Scotland and
+Ireland.  The Great Western also brought about 4000 tons, partly salmon,
+but the greater part mackerel from the south-west coast.  During the
+mackerel season, as much as a hundred tons at a time are brought into the
+Paddington Station by express fish-train from Cornwall.
+
+The Great Eastern and Great Northern Companies are also the principal
+carriers of turkeys, geese, fowls, and game; the quantity delivered in
+London by the former Company having been 5042 tons.  In Christmas week no
+fewer than 30,000 turkeys and geese were delivered at the Bishopsgate
+Station, besides about 300 tons of poultry, 10,000 barrels of beer, and
+immense quantities of fish, oysters, and other kinds of food.  As much as
+1600 tons of poultry and game were brought last year by the South-Western
+Railway; 600 tons by the Great Northern Railway; and 130 tons of turkeys,
+geese, and fowls, by the London, Chatham and Dover line, principally from
+France.
+
+Of miscellaneous articles, the Great Northern and the Midland each
+brought about 3000 tons of cheese, the South-Western 2600 tons, and the
+London and North-Western 10,034 cheeses in number; while the
+South-Western and Brighton lines brought a splendid contribution to the
+London breakfast-table in the shape of 11,259 _tons_ of French eggs;
+these two Companies delivering between them an average of more than three
+millions of eggs a week all the year round!  The same Companies delivered
+in London 14,819 tons of butter, for the most part the produce of the
+farms of Normandy,--the greater cleanness and neatness with which the
+Normandy butter is prepared for market rendering it a favourite both with
+dealers and consumers of late years compared with Irish butter.  The
+London, Chatham and Dover Company also brought from Calais 96 tons of
+eggs.
+
+Next, as to the potatoes, vegetables, and fruit, brought by rail.  Forty
+years since, the inhabitants of London relied for their supply of
+vegetables on the garden-grounds in the immediate neighbourhood of the
+metropolis, and the consequence was that they were both very dear and
+limited in quantity.  But railways, while they have extended the
+grazing-grounds of London as far as the Highlands, have at the same time
+extended the garden-grounds of London into all the adjoining
+counties--into East Kent, Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, the vale of
+Gloucester, and even as far as Penzance in Cornwall.  The London, Chatham
+and Dover, one of the youngest of our main lines, brought up from East
+Kent in 1867 5279 tons of potatoes, 1046 tons of vegetables, and 5386
+tons of fruit, besides 542 tons of vegetables from France.  The
+South-Eastern brought 25,163 tons of the same produce.  The Great Eastern
+brought from the eastern counties 21,315 tons of potatoes, and 3596 tons
+of vegetables and fruit; while the Great Northern brought no less than
+78,505 tons of potatoes--a large part of them from the east of
+Scotland--and 3768 tons of vegetables and fruit.  About 6000 tons of
+early potatoes were brought from Cornwall, with about 5000 tons of
+broccoli, and the quantities are steadily increasing.  "Truly London hath
+a large belly," said old Fuller, two hundred years since.  But how much
+more capacious is it now!
+
+One of the most striking illustrations of the utility of railways in
+contributing to the supply of wholesome articles of food to the
+population of large cities, is to be found in the rapid growth of the
+traffic in Milk.  Readers of newspapers may remember the descriptions
+published some years since of the horrid dens in which London cows were
+penned, and of the odious compound sold by the name of milk, of which the
+least deleterious ingredient in it was supplied by the "cow with the iron
+tail."  That state of affairs is now completely changed.  What with the
+greatly improved state of the London dairies and the better quality of
+the milk supplied by them, together with the large quantities brought by
+railway from a range of a hundred miles and more all round London, even
+the poorest classes in the metropolis are now enabled to obtain as
+wholesome a supply of the article as the inhabitants of most country
+towns.
+
+These great streams of food, which we have thus so summarily described,
+flow into London so continuously and uninterruptedly, that comparatively
+few persons are aware of the magnitude and importance of the process thus
+daily going forward.  Though gathered from an immense extent of
+country--embracing England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland--the influx is
+so unintermitted that it is relied upon with as much certainty as if it
+only came from the counties immediately adjoining London.  The express
+meat-train from Aberdeen arrives in town as punctually as the Clapham
+omnibus, and the express milk-train from Aylesbury is as regular in its
+delivery as the penny post.  Indeed London now depends so much upon
+railways for its subsistence, that it may be said to be fed by them from
+day to day, having never more than a few days' food in stock.  And the
+supply is so regular and continuous, that the possibility of its being
+interrupted never for a moment occurs to any one.  Yet in these days of
+strikes amongst workmen, such a contingency is quite within the limits of
+possibility.  Another contingency, which might arise during a state of
+war, is probably still more remote.  But were it possible for a war to
+occur between England and a combination of foreign powers possessed of
+stronger ironclads than ours, and that they were able to ram our ships
+back into port and land an enemy of overpowering force on the Essex
+coast, it would be sufficient for them to occupy or cut the railways
+leading from the north, to starve London into submission in less than a
+fortnight.
+
+Besides supplying London with food, railways have also been instrumental
+in ensuring the more regular and economical supply of fuel,--a matter of
+almost as vital importance to the population in a climate such as that of
+England.  So long as the market was supplied with coal brought by sea in
+sailing ships, fuel in winter often rose to a famine price, especially
+during long-continued easterly winds.  But now that railways are in full
+work, the price is almost as steady in winter as in summer, and (but for
+strikes) the supply is more regular at all seasons.
+
+But the carriage of food and fuel to London forms but a small part of the
+merchandise traffic carried by railway.  Above 600,000 tons of goods of
+various kinds yearly pass through one station only, that of the London
+and North-Western Company, at Camden Town; and sometimes as many as
+20,000 parcels daily.  Every other metropolitan station is similarly
+alive with traffic inwards and outwards, London having since the
+introduction of railways become more than ever a great distributive
+centre, to which merchandise of all kinds converges, and from which it is
+distributed to all parts of the country.  Mr. Bazley, M.P., stated at a
+late public meeting at Manchester, that it would probably require ten
+millions of horses to convey by road the merchandise traffic which is now
+annually carried by railway.
+
+Railways have also proved of great value in connection with the Cheap
+Postage system.  By their means it has become possible to carry letters,
+newspapers, books and post parcels, in any quantity, expeditiously, and
+cheaply.  The Liverpool and Manchester line was no sooner opened in 1830,
+than the Post Office authorities recognised its utility, and used it for
+carrying the mails between the two towns.  When the London and Birmingham
+line was opened eight years later, mail trains were at once put on,--the
+directors undertaking to perform the distance of 113 miles within 5 hours
+by day and 5.5 hours by night.  As additional lines were opened, the old
+four-horse mail coaches were gradually discontinued, until in 1858, the
+last of them, the "Derby Dilly," which ran between Manchester and Derby,
+was taken off on the opening of the Midland line to Rowsley.
+
+The increased accommodation provided by railways was found of essential
+importance, more particularly after the adoption of the Cheap Postage
+system; and that such accommodation was needed will be obvious from the
+extraordinary increase which has taken place in the number of letters and
+packets sent by post.  Thus, in 1839, the number of chargeable letters
+carried was only 76 millions, and of newspapers 44.5 millions; whereas,
+in 1865, the numbers of letters had increased to 720 millions, and in
+1867 to 775 millions, or more than ten-fold, while the number of
+newspapers, books, samples and patterns (a new branch of postal business
+began in 1864) had increased, in 1865, to 98.5 millions.
+
+To accommodate this largely-increasing traffic, the bulk of which is
+carried by railway, the mileage run by mail trains in the United Kingdom
+has increased from 25,000 miles a day in 1854 (the first year of which we
+have any return of the mileage run) to 60,000 miles a day in 1867, or an
+increase of 240 per cent.  The Post Office expenditure on railway service
+has also increased, but not in like proportion, having been 364,000
+pounds in the former year, and 559,575 pounds in the latter, or an
+increase of 154 per cent.  The revenue, gross and net, has increased
+still more rapidly.  In 1841, the first complete year of the Cheap
+Postage system, the gross revenue was 1,359,466 pounds and the net
+revenue 500,789 pounds; in 1854, the gross revenue was 2,574,407 pounds,
+and the net revenue 1,173,723 pounds; and in 1867, the gross revenue was
+4,548,129 pounds, and the net revenue 2,127,125 pounds, being an increase
+of 420 per cent. compared with 1841, and of 180 per cent. compared with
+1854.  How much of this net increase might fairly be credited to the
+Railway Postal service we shall not pretend to say; but assuredly the
+proportion must be very considerable.
+
+One of the great advantages of railways in connection with the postal
+service is the greatly increased frequency of communication which they
+provide between all the large towns.  Thus Liverpool has now six
+deliveries of Manchester letters daily; while every large town in the
+kingdom has two or more deliveries of London letters daily.  In 1863, 393
+towns had two mails daily from London; 50 had three mails daily; 7 had
+four mails a day _from_ London, and 15 had four mails a day _to_ London;
+while 3 towns had five mails a day _from_ London, and 6 had five mails a
+day _to_ London.
+
+Another feature of the railway mail train, as of the passenger train, is
+its capacity to carry any quantity of letters and post parcels that may
+require to be carried.  In 1838, the aggregate weight of all the evening
+mails despatched from London by twenty-eight mail coaches was 4 tons 6
+cwt., or an average of about 3.25 cwt. each, though the maximum contract
+weight was 15 cwt.  The mails now are necessarily much heavier, the
+number of letters and packets having, as we have seen, increased more
+than ten-fold since 1839.  But it is not the ordinary so much as the
+extraordinary mails that are of considerable weight,--more particularly
+the American, the Continental, and the Australian mails.  It is no
+unusual thing, we are informed, for the last-mentioned mail to weigh as
+much as 40 tons.  How many of the old mail coaches it would take to carry
+such a mail the 79 miles journey to Southampton, with a relay of four
+horses every five or seven miles, is a problem for the arithmetician to
+solve.  But even supposing each coach to be loaded to the maximum weight
+of 15 cwt. per coach, it would require about sixty vehicles and about
+1700 horses to carry the 40 tons, besides the coachman and guards.
+
+Whatever may be said of the financial management of railways, there can
+be no doubt as to the great benefits conferred by them on the public
+wherever made.  Even those railways which have exhibited the most
+"frightful examples" of financing and jobbing, have been found to prove
+of unquestionable public convenience and utility.  And notwithstanding
+all the faults and imperfections that have been alleged against railways,
+we think that they must, nevertheless, be recognised as by far the most
+valuable means of communication between men and nations that has yet been
+given to the world.
+
+The author's object in publishing this book in its original form, was to
+describe, in connection with the 'Life of George Stephenson,' the origin
+and progress of the railway system,--to show by what moral and material
+agencies its founders were enabled to carry their ideas into effect, and
+work out results which even then were of a remarkable character, though
+they have since, as above described, become so much more extraordinary.
+The favour with which successive editions of the book have been received,
+has justified the author in his anticipation that such a narrative would
+prove of general, if not of permanent interest.
+
+The book was written with the concurrence and assistance of Robert
+Stephenson, who also supplied the necessary particulars relating to
+himself.  Such portions of these were accordingly embodied in the
+narrative as could with propriety be published during his lifetime, and
+the remaining portions have since been added, with the object of
+rendering more complete the record of the son's life as well as of the
+early history of the Railway system.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+                              CHAPTER I.
+
+            NEWCASTLE AND THE GREAT NORTHERN COAL-FIELDS.
+
+The colliery districts of the                          Pages 1-11
+North--Newcastle-upon-Tyne in ancient times--The
+Roman settlement--Social insecurity in the Middle
+Ages--Northumberland roads--The coal-trade--Modern
+Newcastle--Coal haulage--Early waggon-roads,
+tram-roads, and railways--Machinery of
+coal-mines--Newcomen's fire-engine--The colliers,
+their character and habits--Coal-staiths--The
+keelmen
+
+                             CHAPTER II.
+
+       WYLAM AND DEWLEY BURN--GEORGE STEPHENSON'S EARLY YEARS.
+
+Wylam Colliery and village--George Stephenson's        12-30
+birth-place--His parents--The Stephenson family--Old
+Robert Stephenson--George's boyhood--Dewley Burn
+Colliery--Sister Nell's bonnet--Employed as a
+herd-boy--Makes clay engines--Follows the
+plough--Employed as corf-bitter--Drives the
+gin-horse--Black Callerton Colliery--Love of
+animals--Made assistant-fireman--Old Robert and
+family shift their home--Jolly's Close,
+Newburn--Family earnings--George as fireman--His
+athletic feats--Throckley Bridge--"A made man for
+life!"--Appointed engineman--Studies his
+engine--Experiments in egg-hatching--Puts himself to
+school, and learns to read--His
+schoolmasters--Progress in arithmetic--His
+dog--Learns to brake--Brakesman at Black
+Callerton--Duties of brakesman--Begins
+shoe-making--Fanny Henderson--Saves his first
+guinea--Fight with a pitman
+
+                             CHAPTER III.
+
+            ENGINEMAN AT WILLINGTON QUAY AND KILLINGWORTH.
+
+Sobriety and studiousness--Inventiveness--Removes to   31-46
+Willington Quay--Marries Fanny Henderson--Their
+cottage at Willington--Attempts at perpetual
+motion--William Fairbairn and George
+Stephenson--Ballast-heaving--Chimney on fire, and
+clock-cleaning--Birth of Robert Stephenson--George
+removes to West Moor, Killingworth--Death of his
+wife--Engineman at Montrose, Scotland--His
+pump-boot--Saves money--His return to
+Killingworth--Brakesman at West Moor--Is drawn for
+the Militia--Thinks of emigrating to America--Takes
+a contract for brakeing engines--Improves the
+winding-engine--Cures a pumping-engine--Becomes
+famous as an engine-doctor--Appointed engine-wright
+of a colliery
+
+                             CHAPTER IV.
+
+   THE STEPHENSONS AT KILLINGWORTH--EDUCATION AND SELF-EDUCATION OF
+                           FATHER AND SON.
+
+George Stephenson's self-improvement--John             47-62
+Wigham--Studies in Natural
+Philosophy--Sobriety--Education of Robert
+Stephenson--Sent to Rutter's school, Benton--Bruce's
+school, Newcastle--Literary and Philosophical
+Institute--George educates his son in
+Mechanics--Ride to Killingworth--Robert's boyish
+tricks--Repeats the Franklin
+kite-experiment--Stephenson's cottage, West
+Moor--Odd mechanical expedients--Competition in
+last-making--Father and son make a
+sun-dial--Colliery improvements--Stephenson's
+mechanical expertness
+
+                              CHAPTER V.
+
+    EARLY HISTORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE--GEORGE STEPHENSON BEGINS ITS
+                             IMPROVEMENT.
+
+Various expedients for                                 63-88
+coal-haulage--Sailing-waggons--Mr. Edgworth's
+experiments--Cugnot's first locomotive
+steam-carriage--Murdock's model
+locomotive--Trevithick's steam-carriage and
+tram-engine--Blenkinsop's engine--Chapman and
+Brunton's locomotives--The Wylam waggon-way--Mr.
+Blackett's experiments--Jonathan Foster--William
+Hedley--The Wylam engine--Stephenson determines to
+build a locomotive--Lord Ravensworth--The first
+Killingworth engine described--The steam-blast
+invented--Stephenson's second locomotive
+
+                             CHAPTER VI.
+
+                INVENTION OF THE "GEORDY" SAFETY-LAMP.
+
+Frequency of colliery explosions--Accident in the      89-108
+Killingworth Pit--Stephenson's heroic conduct--A
+safety-lamp described--Dr. Clanny's
+lamp--Stephenson's experiments on fire-damp--Designs
+a lamp, and tests it in the pit--Cottage experiments
+with coal-gas--Stephenson's second and third
+lamps--The Stephenson and Davy controversy--Scene at
+the Newcastle Institute--The Davy testimonial--The
+Stephenson testimonial--Merits of the "Geordy" lamp
+
+                             CHAPTER VII.
+
+   GEORGE STEPHENSON'S FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN THE LOCOMOTIVE--THE
+HETTON RAILWAY--ROBERT STEPHENSON AS VIEWER'S APPRENTICE AND STUDENT.
+
+The Killingworth mine machinery--Stephenson improves   109-122
+his locomotive--Strengthens the road--His
+patent--His steam-springs--Experiments on
+friction--Steam-locomotion on common roads--Early
+neglect of the locomotive--Stephenson again thinks
+of emigration--Constructs the Hetton Railway--The
+working power employed--Robert Stephenson viewer's
+apprentice--His pursuits at Killingworth--His father
+sends him to Edinburgh University--His application
+to the studies of Chemistry, Natural History, and
+Natural Philosophy--His MS. volumes of
+Lectures--Geological tour with Professor Jameson in
+the Highlands
+
+                            CHAPTER VIII.
+
+  GEORGE STEPHENSON ENGINEER OF THE STOCKTON AND DARLINGTON RAILWAY.
+
+The Bishop Auckland Coal-field--Edward Pease           123-145
+projects a railway from Witton to Stockton--The Bill
+rejected--The line re-surveyed, and the Act
+obtained--George Stephenson's visit to Edward
+Pease--Appointed engineer of the railway--Again
+surveys the line--Mr. Pease visits Killingworth--The
+Newcastle locomotive works projected--The railway
+constructed--Locomotives ordered--Stephenson's
+anticipations as to railways--Public opening of the
+line--The coal traffic--The first railway
+passenger-coach--The coaching traffic described--The
+"Locomotion" engine--Race with
+stage-coach--Commercial results of the Stockton and
+Darlington Railway--The town of Middlesborough
+created
+
+                             CHAPTER IX.
+
+           THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY PROJECTED.
+
+Insufficient communications between Manchester and     146-172
+Liverpool--The canal monopoly--A tramroad
+projected--Joseph Sanders--Sir R. Phillip's
+speculations as to railways--Thomas Gray--William
+James surveys a line between Liverpool and
+Manchester--Opposition to the survey--Mr. James's
+visits to Killingworth--Robert Stephenson assists in
+the survey--George Stephenson appointed
+engineer--The first prospectus--Stephenson's survey
+opposed--The canal companies--Speculations as to
+railway speed--Stephenson's notions thought
+extravagant--Article in the 'Quarterly'--The Bill
+before Parliament--The Evidence--George Stephenson
+in the witness box--Examined as to speed--His
+cross-examination--The survey found defective--Mr.
+Harrison's speech--Evidence of opposing
+engineers--Mr. Alderson's speech--The Bill
+withdrawn--Stephenson's vexation--The scheme
+prosecuted--The line re-surveyed--Sir Isaac Coffin's
+speech--The Act passed
+
+                              CHAPTER X.
+
+   CHAT MOSS--CONSTRUCTION OF THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY.
+
+George Stephenson appointed engineer--Chat Moss        173-192
+described--The resident engineers--Mr. Dixon's visit
+of inspection--Stephenson's theory of a floating
+road--Operations begun--Tar-barrel drains--The
+embankment sinks in the Moss--Proposed abandonment
+of the work--Stephenson perseveres--The obstacles
+conquered--Road across Parr Moss--The road
+formed--Stephenson's organization of labour--The
+Liverpool Tunnel--Olive Mount Cutting--Sankey
+Viaduct--Stephenson and Cropper--Stephenson's
+labours--Pupils and assistants--His daily
+life--Practical education--Evenings at home
+
+                             CHAPTER XI.
+
+ ROBERT STEPHENSON'S RESIDENCE IN COLOMBIA AND RETURN--THE BATTLE OF
+                    THE LOCOMOTIVE--THE "ROCKET."
+
+Robert Stephenson mining engineer in Colombia--Mule    193-220
+journey to Bogota--Mariquita--Silver
+mining--Difficulties with the Cornishmen--His
+cottage at Santa Anna--Longs to return home--Resigns
+his post--Meeting with Trevithick--Voyage to New
+York, and shipwreck--Returns to Newcastle, and takes
+charge of the factory--The working power of the
+Liverpool and Manchester Railway--Fixed engines and
+locomotives, and their respective advocates--Walker
+and Rastrick's report--A prize offered for the best
+locomotive--Conferences of the Stephensons--Boiler
+arrangements and heating surface--Mr. Booth's
+contrivance--Building of the "Rocket"--The
+competition of engines at Rainhill--The "Novelty"
+and "Sanspareil"--Triumph of the "Rocket," and its
+destination
+
+                             CHAPTER XII.
+
+OPENING OF THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY, AND EXTENSION OF THE
+                           RAILWAY SYSTEM.
+
+The railway finished--The traffic arrangements         221-236
+organized--Public opening of the line--Accident to
+Mr. Huskisson--Arrival of the trains at
+Manchester--The traffic results--Improvement of the
+road and rolling stock--Improvements in the
+locomotive--The railway a wonder--Extension of the
+railway system--Joint-stock railway companies--New
+lines projected--New engineers--The Grand
+Junction--Public opposition to railways--Robert
+Stephenson engineer to the Leicester and Swannington
+Railway--George Stephenson removes to
+Snibston--Sinks for and gets coal--Stimulates local
+enterprise--His liberality
+
+                            CHAPTER XIII.
+
+   ROBERT STEPHENSON CONSTRUCTS THE LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY.
+
+The line projected--George and Robert Stephenson       237-252
+appointed engineers--Opposition--Hostile pamphlets
+and public meetings--Robert Stephenson and Sir
+Astley Cooper--The survey obstructed--The opposing
+clergyman--The Bill in Parliament--Thrown out in the
+Lords--Proprietors conciliated, and the Act
+obtained--The works let in contracts--The
+difficulties of the undertaking--The line
+described--Blisworth Cutting--Primrose Hill
+Tunnel--Kilsby Tunnel--Its construction
+described--Cost of the Railway greatly
+increased--Failure of contractors--Magnitude of the
+works--Railway navvies
+
+                             CHAPTER XIV.
+
+   MANCHESTER AND LEEDS, AND MIDLAND RAILWAYS--STEPHENSON'S LIFE AT
+   ALTON--VISIT TO BELGIUM--GENERAL EXTENSION OF RAILWAYS AND THEIR
+                               RESULTS.
+
+Projection of new lines--Dutton Viaduct, Grand         253-274
+Junction--The Manchester and Leeds--Summit Tunnel,
+Littleborough--Magnitude of the work--The Midland
+Railway--The works compared with the Simplon
+road--Slip near Ambergate--Bull Bridge--The York and
+North Midland--George Stephenson on his surveys--His
+quick observation--Travelling and
+correspondence--Life at Alton Grange--The
+Stephensons' London office--Visits to
+Belgium--Interviews with the King--Public openings
+of English railways--Stephenson's pupils and
+assistants--Prophecies falsified concerning
+railways--Their advantageous results
+
+                             CHAPTER XV.
+
+   GEORGE STEPHENSON'S COAL MINES--THE ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEM--RAILWAY
+                 MANIA--VISITS TO BELGIUM AND SPAIN.
+
+George Stephenson on railways and                      275-300
+coal-traffic--Leases the Claycross estate, and sinks
+for coal--His extensive lime-works--Removes to
+Tapton House--British Association at
+Newcastle--Appears at Mechanics' Institutes--Speech
+at Leeds--His self-acting brake--His views of
+railway speed--Theory of "undulating lines"--Chester
+and Birkenhead Company--Stephenson's
+liberality--Atmospheric railways
+projected--Stephenson opposes the principle of
+working--The railway mania--Stephenson resists, and
+warns against it--George Hudson, "Railway
+King"--Parliament and the mania--Stephenson's letter
+to Sir R. Peel--Again visits Belgium--Interviews
+with King Leopold--Journey into Spain
+
+                             CHAPTER XVI.
+
+  ROBERT STEPHENSON'S CAREER--THE STEPHENSONS AND BRUNEL--EAST COAST
+ ROUTE TO SCOTLAND--ROYAL BORDER BRIDGE, BERWICK--HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE,
+                              NEWCASTLE.
+
+George Stephenson's retirement--Robert's employment    301-319
+as Parliamentary Engineer--His rival Brunel--The
+Great Western Railway--The width of gauge--Robert
+Stephenson's caution as to investments--The
+Newcastle and Berwick Railway--Contest in
+Parliament--George Stephenson's interview with Lord
+Howick--Royal Border Bridge, Berwick--Progress of
+iron-bridge building--Robert Stephenson constructs
+the High Level Bridge, Newcastle--Pile-driving by
+steam--Characteristics of the structure--Through
+railway to Scotland completed
+
+                            CHAPTER XVII.
+
+       ROBERT STEPHENSON'S TUBULAR BRIDGES AT MENAI AND CONWAY.
+
+George Stephenson surveys a line from Chester to       320-340
+Holyhead--Robert Stephenson's construction of the
+works at Penmaen Mawr--Crossing of the Menai
+Strait--Various plans proposed--A tubular beam
+determined on--Strength of wrought-iron tubes--Mr.
+William Fairbairn consulted--His experiments--The
+design settled--The Britannia Bridge described--The
+Conway Bridge--Floating of the tubes--Lifting of the
+tubes--Robert Stephenson's anxieties--Bursting of
+the Hydraulic Press--The works completed--Merits of
+the Britannia and Conway Bridges
+
+                            CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+        GEORGE STEPHENSON'S CLOSING YEARS--ILLNESS AND DEATH.
+
+George Stephenson's Life at Tapton--Experiments in     341-356
+Horticulture, Gardening, and Farming--Affection for
+animals--Bird-hatching and bee-keeping--Reading and
+conversation--Rencontre with Lord
+Denman--Hospitality at Tapton--Experiments with the
+microscope--Frolics--"A crowdie night"--Visits to
+London--Visit to Sir Robert Peel at Drayton
+Manor--Encounter with Dr. Buckland--Coal formed by
+the sun's light--Opening of the Trent Valley
+Railway--Meeting with Emerson--Illness, death, and
+funeral--Memorial Statues
+
+                             CHAPTER XIX.
+
+    ROBERT STEPHENSON'S VICTORIA BRIDGE, LOWER CANADA--ILLNESS AND
+                  DEATH--STEPHENSON CHARACTERISTICS.
+
+Robert Stephenson's inheritances--Gradual retirement   357-380
+from the profession of engineer--His last great
+works--Tubular Bridges over the St. Lawrence and the
+Nile--The Grand Trunk Railway, Canada--Necessity for
+a great railway bridge near Montreal--Discussion as
+to the plan--Robert Stephenson's report--A tubular
+bridge determined on--Massiveness of the
+piers--Ice-floods in the St. Lawrence--Victoria
+Bridge constructed and completed--Tubular bridges in
+Egypt--The Suez Canal--Robert Stephenson's
+employment as arbitrator--Assists Brunel at
+launching of the "Great Eastern"--Regardlessness of
+health--Death and Funeral--Characteristics of the
+Stephensons and resume of their history--Politics of
+father and son--Services rendered to civilization by
+the Stephensons
+
+INDEX                                                  381
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+Portrait of George Stephenson _to face title page_
+High Level Bridge, _to face_                                         1
+Map of Newcastle District                                            2
+Flange rail                                                          6
+Coal-staith on the Tyne                                             10
+Coal waggons                                                        11
+Wylam Colliery and village                                          12
+High Street House, Wylam--George Stephenson's birthplace            14
+Newburn on the Tyne                                                 20
+Colliery Whimsey                                                    30
+Stephenson's Cottage, Willington Quay                               31
+West Moor Colliery                                                  37
+Killingworth High Pit                                               46
+Glebe Farm House, Benton                                            47
+Rutter's School House, Long Benton                                  51
+Bruce's School, Newcastle                                           53
+Stephenson's Cottage, West Moor                                     57
+Sun-dial at Killingworth                                            60
+Colliers' Cottages at Long Benton                                   62
+Cugnot's Engine                                                     64
+Section of Murdock's Model Locomotive                               66
+Trevithick's high-pressure Tram-Engine                              70
+Improved Wylam Engine                                               78
+Spur-gear                                                           83
+The Pit-head, West Moor                                             91
+Davy's and Stephenson's Safety-lamps                               101
+West Moor Pit, Killingworth                                        108
+Half-lap joint                                                     111
+Old Killingworth Locomotive                                        113
+Map of Stockton and Darlington Railway                             123
+Portrait of Edward Pease                                           124
+The first Railway Coach                                            139
+The No. 1 Engine at Darlington                                     142
+Middlesborough-on-Tees                                             145
+Map of Liverpool and Manchester Railway (Western Part)             150
+                   ,,                    (Eastern part)            151
+Surveying on Chat Moss                                             172
+Olive Mount Cutting                                                184
+Sankey Viaduct                                                     186
+Robert Stephenson's Cottage at Santa Anna                          198
+The "Rocket"                                                       212
+Locomotive competition, Rainhill                                   215
+Railway _versus_ Road                                              220
+Map of Leicester and Swannington Railway                           233
+Stephenson's House at Alton Grange                                 236
+Portrait of Robert Stephenson, _to face_                           237
+Map of London and Birmingham Railway (Rugby to Watford)            242
+Blisworth Cutting                                                  243
+Shafts over Kilsby Tunnel                                          246
+Dutton Viaduct                                                     254
+Entrance to Summit Tunnel, Lancashire and Yorkshire                256
+Railway
+Land-slip, near Ambergate, North Midland Railway                   259
+Bullbridge, near Ambergate                                         260
+Coalville and Snibston Colliery                                    274
+Tapton House, near Chesterfield                                    275
+Lime-works at Ambergate                                            278
+Newcastle, from the High Level Bridge                              301
+Royal Border Bridge, Berwick-upon-Tweed                            311
+High Level Bridge--Elevation of one Arch                           318
+Penmaen Mawr                                                       322
+Map of Menai Straits                                               325
+Conway Tubular Bridge                                              334
+Britannia Bridge                                                   339
+Conway Bridge--Floating the first Tube                             340
+View in Tapton Gardens                                             341
+Pathway to Tapton House                                            347
+Trinity Church, Chesterfield                                       355
+Tablet in Trinity Church, Chesterfield                             356
+The Victoria Bridge, Montreal                                      357
+Robert Stephenson's Burial-place in Westminster Abbey              369
+The Stephenson Memorial Schools, Willington Quay                   380
+
+         [Picture: Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the High-level Bridge]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+NEWCASTLE AND THE GREAT NORTHERN COAL-FIELD.
+
+
+In no quarter of England have greater changes been wrought by the
+successive advances made in the practical science of engineering than in
+the extensive colliery districts of the North, of which
+Newcastle-upon-Tyne is the centre and the capital.
+
+In ancient times the Romans planted a colony at Newcastle, throwing a
+bridge across the Tyne near the site of the low-level bridge shown in the
+prefixed engraving, and erecting a strong fortification above it on the
+high ground now occupied by the Central Railway Station.  North and
+north-west lay a wild country, abounding in moors, mountains, and
+morasses, but occupied to a certain extent by fierce and barbarous
+tribes.  To defend the young colony against their ravages, a strong wall
+was built by the Romans, extending from Wallsend on the north bank of the
+Tyne, a few miles below Newcastle, across the country to Burgh-upon-Sands
+on the Solway Firth.  The remains of the wall are still to be traced in
+the less populous hill-districts of Northumberland.  In the neighbourhood
+of Newcastle they have been gradually effaced by the works of succeeding
+generations, though the "Wallsend" coal consumed in our household fires
+still serves to remind us of the great Roman work.
+
+                   [Picture: Map of Newcastle District]
+
+After the withdrawal of the Romans, Northumbria became planted by
+immigrant Saxons from North Germany and Norsemen from Scandinavia, whose
+Eorls or Earls made Newcastle their principal seat.  Then came the
+Normans, from whose _New_ Castle, built some eight hundred years since,
+the town derived its present name.  The keep of this venerable structure,
+black with age and smoke, still stands entire at the northern end of the
+noble high-level bridge--the utilitarian work of modern times thus
+confronting the warlike relic of the older civilisation.
+
+The nearness of Newcastle to the Scotch Border was a great hindrance to
+its security and progress in the middle ages of English history.  Indeed,
+the district between it and Berwick continued to be ravaged by
+moss-troopers long after the union of the Crowns.  The gentry lived in
+their strong Peel castles; even the larger farm-houses were fortified;
+and bloodhounds were trained for the purpose of tracking the
+cattle-reavers to their retreats in the hills.  The Judges of Assize rode
+from Carlisle to Newcastle guarded by an escort armed to the teeth.  A
+tribute called "dagger and protection money" was annually paid by the
+Sheriff of Newcastle for the purpose of providing daggers and other
+weapons for the escort; and, though the need of such protection has long
+since ceased, the tribute continues to be paid in broad gold pieces of
+the time of Charles the First.
+
+Until about the middle of last century the roads across Northumberland
+were little better than horse-tracks, and not many years since the
+primitive agricultural cart with solid wooden wheels was almost as common
+in the western parts of the county as it is in Spain now.  The tract of
+the old Roman road continued to be the most practicable route between
+Newcastle and Carlisle, the traffic between the two towns having been
+carried along it upon packhorses until a comparatively recent period.
+
+Since that time great changes have taken place on the Tyne.  When wood
+for firing became scarce and dear, and the forests of the South of
+England were found inadequate to supply the increasing demand for fuel,
+attention was turned to the rich stores of coal lying underground in the
+neighbourhood of Newcastle and Durham.  It then became an article of
+increasing export, and "seacoal" fires gradually supplanted those of
+wood.  Hence an old writer described Newcastle as "the Eye of the North,
+and the Hearth that warmeth the South parts of this kingdom with Fire."
+Fuel has become the staple product of the district, the quantity exported
+increasing from year to year, until the coal raised from these northern
+mines amounts to upwards of sixteen millions of tons a year, of which not
+less than nine millions are annually conveyed away by sea.
+
+Newcastle has in the mean time spread in all directions far beyond its
+ancient boundaries.  From a walled mediaeval town of monks and merchants,
+it has been converted into a busy centre of commerce and manufactures
+inhabited by nearly 100,000 people.  It is no longer a Border fortress--a
+"shield and defence against the invasions and frequent insults of the
+Scots," as described in ancient charters--but a busy centre of peaceful
+industry, and the outlet for a vast amount of steam-power, which is
+exported in the form of coal to all parts of the world.  Newcastle is in
+many respects a town of singular and curious interest, especially in its
+older parts, which are full of crooked lanes and narrow streets, wynds,
+and chares, {4} formed by tall, antique houses, rising tier above tier
+along the steep northern bank of the Tyne, as the similarly precipitous
+streets of Gateshead crowd the opposite shore.
+
+All over the coal region, which extends from the Coquet to the Tees,
+about fifty miles from north to south, the surface of the soil exhibits
+the signs of extensive underground workings.  As you pass through the
+country at night, the earth looks as if it were bursting with fire at
+many points; the blaze of coke-ovens, iron-furnaces, and coal-heaps
+reddening the sky to such a distance that the horizon seems to be a
+glowing belt of fire.
+
+From the necessity which existed for facilitating the transport of coals
+from the pits to the shipping places, it is easy to understand how the
+railway and the locomotive should have first found their home in such a
+district as we have thus briefly described.  At an early period the coal
+was carried to the boats in panniers, or in sacks upon horses' backs.
+Then carts were used, to facilitate the progress of which tramways of
+flag-stone were laid down.  This led to the enlargement of the vehicle,
+which became known as a waggon, and it was mounted on four wheels instead
+of two.  A local writer about the middle of the seventeenth century says,
+"Many thousand people are engaged in this trade of coals; many live by
+working of them in the pits; and many live by conveying them in waggons
+and wains to the river Tyne."
+
+Still further to facilitate the haulage of the waggons, pieces of
+planking were laid parallel upon wooden sleepers, or imbedded in the
+ordinary track, by which friction was still further diminished.  It is
+said that these wooden rails were first employed by one Beaumont, about
+1630; and on a road thus laid, a single horse was capable of drawing a
+large loaded waggon from the coal-pit to the shipping staith.  Roger
+North, in 1676, found the practice had become extensively adopted, and he
+speaks of the large sums then paid for way-leaves; that is, the
+permission granted by the owners of lands lying between the coal-pit and
+the river-side to lay down a tramway between the one and the other.  A
+century later, Arthur Young observed that not only had these roads become
+greatly multiplied, but important works had been constructed to carry
+them along upon the same level.  "The coal-waggon roads from the pits to
+the water," he says, "are great works, carried over all sorts of
+inequalities of ground, so far as the distance of nine or ten miles.  The
+tracks of the wheels are marked with pieces of wood let into the road for
+the wheels of the waggons to run on, by which one horse is enabled to
+draw, and that with ease, fifty or sixty bushels of coals." {5}
+
+Similar waggon-roads were laid down in the coal districts of Wales,
+Cumberland, and Scotland.  At the time of the Scotch rebellion in 1745, a
+tramroad existed between the Tranent coal-pits and the small harbour of
+Cockenzie in East Lothian; and a portion of the line was selected by
+General Cope as a position for his cannon at the battle of Prestonpans.
+
+In these rude wooden tracks we find the germ of the modern railroad.
+Improvements were gradually made in them.  Thus, at some collieries, thin
+plates of iron were nailed upon their upper surface, for the purpose of
+protecting the parts most exposed to friction.  Cast-iron rails were also
+tried, the wooden rails having been found liable to rot.  The first rails
+of this kind are supposed to have been used at Whitehaven as early as
+1738.  This cast-iron road was denominated a "plate-way," from the
+plate-like form in which the rails were cast.  In 1767, as appears from
+the books of the Coalbrookdale Iron Works, in Shropshire, five or six
+tons of rails were cast, as an experiment, on the suggestion of Mr.
+Reynolds, one of the partners; and they were shortly after laid down to
+form a road.
+
+In 1776, a cast-iron tramway, nailed to wooden sleepers, was laid down at
+the Duke of Norfolk's colliery near Sheffield.  The person who designed
+and constructed this coal line was Mr. John Curr, whose son has
+erroneously claimed for him the invention of the cast-iron railway.  He
+certainly adopted it early, and thereby met the fate of men before their
+age; for his plan was opposed by the labouring people of the colliery,
+who got up a riot in which they tore up the road and burnt the
+coal-staith, whilst Mr. Curr fled into a neighbouring wood for
+concealment, and lay there _perdu_ for three days and nights, to escape
+the fury of the populace.  The plates of these early tramways had a ledge
+cast on their edge to guide the wheel along the road, after the manner
+shown in the annexed cut.
+
+                          [Picture: Flange rail]
+
+In 1789, Mr. William Jessop constructed a railway at Loughborough, in
+Leicestershire, and there introduced the cast-iron edge-rail, with
+flanches cast upon the tire of the waggon-wheels to keep them on the
+track, instead of having the margin or flanch cast upon the rail itself;
+and this plan was shortly after adopted in other places.  In 1800, Mr.
+Benjamin Outram, of Little Eaton, in Derbyshire (father of the
+distinguished General Outram), used stone props instead of timber for
+supporting the ends or joinings of the rails.  Thus the use of railroads,
+in various forms, gradually extended, until they were found in general
+use all over the mining districts.
+
+Such was the growth of the railway, which, it will be observed,
+originated in necessity, and was modified according to experience;
+progress in this, as in all departments of mechanics, having been
+effected by the exertions of many men, one generation entering upon the
+labours of that which preceded it, and carrying them onward to further
+stages of improvement.  We shall afterwards find that the invention of
+the locomotive was made by like successive steps.  It was not the
+invention of one man, but of a succession of men, each working at the
+proper hour, and according to the needs of that hour; one inventor
+interpreting only the first word of the problem which his successors were
+to solve after long and laborious efforts and experiments.  "The
+locomotive is not the invention of one man," said Robert Stephenson at
+Newcastle, "but of a nation of mechanical engineers."
+
+The same circumstances which led to the rapid extension of railways in
+the coal districts of the north tended to direct the attention of the
+mining engineers to the early development of the powers of the
+steam-engine as a useful instrument of motive power.  The necessity which
+existed for a more effective method of hauling the coals from the pits to
+the shipping places was constantly present to many minds; and the daily
+pursuits of a large class of mechanics occupied in the management of
+steam power, by which the coal was raised from the pits, and the mines
+were pumped clear of water, had the effect of directing their attention
+to the same agency as the best means for accomplishing that object.
+
+Among the upper-ground workmen employed at the coal-pits, the principal
+are the firemen, enginemen, and brakes-men, who fire and work the
+engines, and superintend the machinery by means of which the collieries
+are worked.  Previous to the introduction of the steam-engine the usual
+machine employed for the purpose was what is called a "gin."  The gin
+consists of a large drum placed horizontally, round which ropes attached
+to buckets and corves are wound, which are thus drawn up or sent down the
+shafts by a horse travelling in a circular track or "gin race."  This
+method was employed for drawing up both coals and water, and it is still
+used for the same purpose in small collieries; but where the quantity of
+water to be raised is great, pumps worked by steam power are called into
+requisition.
+
+Newcomen's atmospheric engine was first made use of to work the pumps;
+and it continued to be so employed long after the more powerful and
+economical condensing engine of Watt had been invented.  In the Newcomen
+or "fire engine," as it was called, the power is produced by the pressure
+of the atmosphere forcing down the piston in the cylinder, on a vacuum
+being produced within it by condensation of the contained steam by means
+of cold water injection.  The piston-rod is attached to one end of a
+lever, whilst the pump-rod works in connexion with the other,--the
+hydraulic action employed to raise the water being exactly similar to
+that of a common sucking-pump.
+
+The working of a Newcomen engine was a clumsy and apparently a very
+painful process, accompanied by an extraordinary amount of wheezing,
+sighing, creaking, and bumping.  When the pump descended, there was heard
+a plunge, a heavy sigh, and a loud bump: then, as it rose, and the sucker
+began to act, there was heard a croak, a wheeze, another bump, and then a
+strong rush of water as it was lifted and poured out.  Where engines of a
+more powerful and improved description are used, the quantity of water
+raised is enormous--as much as a million and a half gallons in the
+twenty-four hours.
+
+The pitmen, or "the lads belaw," who work out the coal below ground, are
+a peculiar class, quite distinct from the workmen on the surface.  They
+are a people with peculiar habits, manners, and character, as much as
+fishermen and sailors, to whom, indeed, they bear, in some respects, a
+considerable resemblance.  Some fifty years since they were a much
+rougher and worse educated class than they are now; hard workers, but
+very wild and uncouth; much given to "steeks," or strikes; and
+distinguished, in their hours of leisure and on pay-nights, for their
+love of cock-fighting, dog-fighting, hard drinking, and cuddy races.  The
+pay-night was a fortnightly saturnalia, in which the pitman's character
+was fully brought out, especially when the "yel" was good.  Though
+earning much higher wages than the ordinary labouring population of the
+upper soil, the latter did not mix nor intermarry with them; so that they
+were left to form their own communities, and hence their marked
+peculiarities as a class.  Indeed, a sort of traditional disrepute seems
+long to have clung to the pitmen, arising perhaps from the nature of
+their employment, and from the circumstance that the colliers were among
+the last classes enfranchised in England, as they were certainly the last
+in Scotland, where they continued bondmen down to the end of last
+century.  The last thirty years, however, have worked a great improvement
+in the moral condition of the Northumbrian pitmen; the abolition of the
+twelve months' bond to the mine, and the substitution of a month's notice
+previous to leaving, having given them greater freedom and opportunity
+for obtaining employment; and day-schools and Sunday-schools, together
+with the important influences of railways, have brought them fully up to
+a level with the other classes of the labouring population.
+
+The coals, when raised from the pits, are emptied into the waggons placed
+alongside, from whence they are sent along the rails to the staiths
+erected by the river-side, the waggons sometimes descending by their own
+gravity along inclined planes, the waggoner standing behind to check the
+speed by means of a convoy or wooden brake bearing upon the rims of the
+wheels.  Arrived at the staiths, the waggons are emptied at once into the
+ships waiting alongside for cargo.  Any one who has sailed down the Tyne
+from Newcastle Bridge cannot but have been struck with the appearance of
+the immense staiths, constructed of timber, which are erected at short
+distances from each other on both sides of the river.
+
+                    [Picture: Coal-Staith on the Tyne]
+
+But a great deal of the coal shipped from the Tyne comes from
+above-bridge, where sea-going craft cannot reach, and is floated down the
+river in "keels," in which the coals are sometimes piled up according to
+convenience when large, or, when the coal is small or tender, it is
+conveyed in tubs to prevent breakage.  These keels are of a very ancient
+model,--perhaps the oldest extant in England: they are even said to be of
+the same build as those in which the Norsemen navigated the Tyne
+centuries ago.  The keel is a tubby, grimy-looking craft, rounded fore
+and aft, with a single large square sail, which the keel-bullies, as the
+Tyne watermen are called, manage with great dexterity; the vessel being
+guided by the aid of the "swape," or great oar, which is used as a kind
+of rudder at the stern of the vessel.  These keelmen are an exceedingly
+hardy class of workmen, not by any means so quarrelsome as their
+designation of "bully" would imply--the word being merely derived from
+the obsolete term "boolie," or beloved, an appellation still in familiar
+use amongst brother workers in the coal districts.  One of the most
+curious sights upon the Tyne is the fleet of hundreds of these
+black-sailed, black-hulled keels, bringing down at each tide their black
+cargoes for the ships at anchor in the deep water at Shields and other
+parts of the river below Newcastle.
+
+These preliminary observations will perhaps be sufficient to explain the
+meaning of many of the occupations alluded to, and the phrases employed,
+in the course of the following narrative, some of which might otherwise
+have been comparatively unintelligible to the general reader.
+
+                         [Picture: Coal Waggons]
+
+                  [Picture: Wylam Colliery and Village]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+WYLAM AND DEWLEY BURN--GEORGE STEPHENSON'S EARLY YEARS.
+
+
+The colliery village of Wylam is situated on the north bank of the Tyne,
+about eight miles west of Newcastle.  The Newcastle and Carlisle railway
+runs along the opposite bank; and the traveller by that line sees the
+usual signs of a colliery in the unsightly pumping-engines surrounded by
+heaps of ashes, coal-dust, and slag; whilst a neighbouring iron-furnace
+in full blast throws out dense smoke and loud jets of steam by day and
+lurid flames at night.  These works form the nucleus of the village,
+which is almost entirely occupied by coal-miners and iron-furnacemen.
+The place is remarkable for its large population, but not for its
+cleanness or neatness as a village; the houses, as in most colliery
+villages, being the property of the owners or lessees, who employ them in
+temporarily accommodating the workpeople, against whose earnings there is
+a weekly set-off for house and coals.  About the end of last century the
+estate of which Wylam forms part, belonged to Mr. Blackett, a gentleman
+of considerable celebrity in coal-mining, then more generally known as
+the proprietor of the 'Globe' newspaper.
+
+There is nothing to interest one in the village itself.  But a few
+hundred yards from its eastern extremity stands a humble detached
+dwelling, which will be interesting to many as the birthplace of one of
+the most remarkable men of our times--George Stephenson, the Railway
+Engineer.  It is a common two-storied, red-tiled, rubble house, portioned
+off into four labourers' apartments.  It is known by the name of High
+Street House, and was originally so called because it stands by the side
+of what used to be the old riding post road or street between Newcastle
+and Hexham, along which the post was carried on horseback within the
+memory of persons living.
+
+The lower room in the west end of this house was the home of the
+Stephenson family; and there George Stephenson was born, the second of a
+family of six children, on the 9th of June, 1781.  The apartment is now,
+what it was then, an ordinary labourer's dwelling,--its walls are
+unplastered, its floor is of clay, and the bare rafters are exposed
+overhead.
+
+Robert Stephenson, or "Old Bob," as the neighbours familiarly called him,
+and his wife Mabel, were a respectable couple, careful and hard-working.
+It is said that Robert Stephenson's father was a Scotchman, and came into
+England as a gentleman's servant.  Mabel, his wife, was the daughter of
+Robert Carr, a dyer at Ovingham.  When first married, they lived at
+Walbottle, a village situated between Wylam and Newcastle, afterwards
+removing to Wylam, where Robert was employed as fireman of the old
+pumping engine at that colliery.
+
+ [Picture: High-street House, Wylam, the Birthplace of George Stephenson]
+
+An old Wylam collier, who remembered George Stephenson's father, thus
+described him:--"Geordie's fayther war like a peer o' deals nailed
+thegither, an' a bit o' flesh i' th' inside; he war as queer as Dick's
+hatband--went thrice aboot, an' wudn't tie.  His wife Mabel war a
+delicat' boddie, an' varry flighty.  Thay war an honest family, but sair
+hadden doon i' th' world."  Indeed, the earnings of old Robert did not
+amount to more than twelve shillings a week; and, as there were six
+children to maintain, the family, during their stay at Wylam, were
+necessarily in very straitened circumstances.  The father's wages being
+barely sufficient, even with the most rigid economy, for the sustenance
+of the household, there was little to spare for clothing, and nothing for
+education, so none of the children were sent to school.
+
+Old Robert was a general favourite in the village, especially amongst the
+children, whom he was accustomed to draw about him whilst tending the
+engine-fire, and feast their young imaginations with tales of Sinbad the
+Sailor and Robinson Crusoe, besides others of his own invention; so that
+"Bob's engine-fire" came to be the most popular resort in the village.
+Another feature in his character, by which he was long remembered, was
+his affection for birds and animals; and he had many tame favourites of
+both sorts, which were as fond of resorting to his engine-fire as the
+boys and girls themselves.  In the winter time he had usually a flock of
+tame robins about him; and they would come hopping familiarly to his feet
+to pick up the crumbs which he had saved for them out of his humble
+dinner.  At his cottage he was rarely without one or more tame
+blackbirds, which flew about the house, or in and out at the door.  In
+summer-time he would go a-birdnesting with his children; and one day he
+took his little son George to see a blackbird's nest for the first time.
+Holding him up in his arms, he let the wondering boy peep down, through
+the branches held aside for the purpose, into a nest full of young
+birds--a sight which the boy never forgot, but used to speak of with
+delight to his intimate friends when he himself had grown an old man.
+
+The boy George led the ordinary life of working-people's children.  He
+played about the doors; went birdnesting when he could; and ran errands
+to the village.  He was also an eager listener, with the other children,
+to his father's curious tales; and he early imbibed from him that
+affection for birds and animals which continued throughout his life.  In
+course of time he was promoted to the office of carrying his father's
+dinner to him while at work, and it was on such occasions his great
+delight to see the robins fed.  At home he helped to nurse, and that with
+a careful hand, his younger brothers and sisters.  One of his duties was
+to see that the other children were kept out of the way of the chaldron
+waggons, which were then dragged by horses along the wooden tramroad
+immediately in front of the cottage-door.  This waggon-way was the first
+in the northern district on which the experiment of a locomotive engine
+was tried.  But at the time of which we speak, the locomotive had
+scarcely been dreamt of in England as a practicable working power; horses
+only were used to haul the coal; and one of the first sights with which
+the boy was familiar was the coal-waggons dragged by them along the
+wooden railway at Wylam.
+
+Thus eight years passed; after which, the coal having been worked out,
+the old engine, which had grown "dismal to look at," as one of the
+workmen described it, was pulled down; and then Robert, having obtained
+employment as a fireman at the Dewley Burn Colliery, removed with his
+family to that place.  Dewley Burn, at this day, consists of a few
+old-fashioned low-roofed cottages standing on either side of a babbling
+little stream.  They are connected by a rustic wooden bridge, which spans
+the rift in front of the doors.  In the central one-roomed cottage of
+this group, on the right bank, Robert Stephenson lived for a time with
+his family; the pit at which he worked standing in the rear of the
+cottages.
+
+Young though he was, George was now of an age to be able to contribute
+something towards the family maintenance; for in a poor man's house,
+every child is a burden until his little hands can be turned to
+profitable account.  That the boy was shrewd and active, and possessed of
+a ready mother wit, will be evident enough from the following incident.
+One day his sister Nell went into Newcastle to buy a bonnet; and Geordie
+went with her "for company."  At a draper's shop in the Bigg Market, Nell
+found a "chip" quite to her mind, but on pricing it, alas! it was found
+to be fifteen pence beyond her means, and she left the shop very much
+disappointed.  But Geordie said, "Never heed, Nell; see if I canna win
+siller enough to buy the bonnet; stand ye there, till I come back."  Away
+ran the boy and disappeared amidst the throng of the market, leaving the
+girl to wait his return.  Long and long she waited, until it grew dusk,
+and the market people had nearly all left.  She had begun to despair, and
+fears crossed her mind that Geordie must have been run over and killed;
+when at last up he came running, almost breathless.  "I've gotten the
+siller for the bonnet, Nell!" cried he.  "Eh Geordie!" she said, "but hoo
+hae ye gotten it?"  "Haudin the gentlemen's horses!" was the exultant
+reply.  The bonnet was forthwith bought, and the two returned to Dewley
+happy.
+
+George's first regular employment was of a very humble sort.  A widow,
+named Grace Ainslie, then occupied the neighbouring farmhouse of Dewley.
+She kept a number of cows, and had the privilege of grazing them along
+the waggon-road.  She needed a boy to herd the cows, to keep them out of
+the way of the waggons, and prevent their straying or trespassing on the
+neighbours' "liberties;" the boy's duty was also to bar the gates at
+night after all the waggons had passed.  George petitioned for this post,
+and, to his great joy, he was appointed at the wage of twopence a day.
+
+It was light employment, and he had plenty of spare time on his hands,
+which he spent in birdnesting, making whistles out of reeds and scrannel
+straws, and erecting Lilliputian mills in the little water-streams that
+ran into the Dewley bog.  But his favourite amusement at this early age
+was erecting clay engines in conjunction with his chosen playmate, Bill
+Thirlwall.  The place is still pointed out where the future engineers
+made their first essays in modelling.  The boys found the clay for their
+engines in the adjoining bog, and the hemlocks which grew about supplied
+them with imaginary steam-pipes.  They even proceeded to make a miniature
+winding-machine in connexion with their engine, and the apparatus was
+erected upon a bench in front of the Thirlwalls' cottage.  The corves
+were made out of hollowed corks; the ropes were supplied by twine; and a
+few bits of wood gleaned from the refuse of the carpenter's shop
+completed their materials.  With this apparatus the boys made a show of
+sending the corves down the pit and drawing them up again, much to the
+marvel of the pitmen.  But some mischievous person about the place seized
+the opportunity early one morning of smashing the fragile machinery, much
+to the grief of the young engineers.
+
+As Stephenson grew older and abler to work, he was set to lead the horses
+when ploughing, though scarce big enough to stride across the furrows;
+and he used afterwards to say that he rode to his work in the mornings at
+an hour when most other children of his age were asleep in their beds.
+He was also employed to hoe turnips, and do similar farm-work, for which
+he was paid the advanced wage of fourpence a day.  But his highest
+ambition was to be taken on at the colliery where his father worked; and
+he shortly joined his elder brother James there as a "corf-bitter," or
+"picker," to clear the coal of stones, bats, and dross.  His wages were
+then advanced to sixpence a day, and afterwards to eightpence when he was
+set to drive the gin-horse.
+
+Shortly after, George went to Black Callerton to drive the gin there; and
+as that colliery lies about two miles across the fields from Dewley Burn,
+he walked that distance early in the morning to his work, returning home
+late in the evening.  One of the old residents at Black Callerton, who
+remembered him at that time, described him to the author as "a grit
+growing lad, with bare legs an' feet;" adding that he was "very
+quick-witted and full of fun and tricks: indeed, there was nothing under
+the sun but he tried to imitate."  He was usually foremost also in the
+sports and pastimes of youth.
+
+Among his first strongly-developed tastes was the love of birds and
+animals, which he inherited from his father.  Blackbirds were his special
+favourites.  The hedges between Dewley and Black Callerton were capital
+bird-nesting places; and there was not a nest there that he did not know
+of.  When the young birds were old enough, he would bring them home with
+him, feed them, and teach them to fly about the cottage unconfined by
+cages.  One of his blackbirds became so tame, that, after flying about
+the doors all day, and in and out of the cottage, it would take up its
+roost upon the bed-head at night.  And most singular of all, the bird
+would disappear in the spring and summer months, when it was supposed to
+go into the woods to pair and rear its young, after which it would
+reappear at the cottage, and resume its social habits during the winter.
+This went on for several years.  George had also a stock of tame rabbits,
+for which he built a little house behind the cottage, and for many years
+he continued to pride himself upon the superiority of his breed.
+
+After he had driven the gin for some time at Dewley and Black Callerton,
+he was taken on as an assistant to his father in firing the engine at
+Dewley.  This was a step of promotion which he had anxiously desired, his
+only fear being lest he should be found too young for the work.  Indeed,
+he used afterwards to relate how he was wont to hide himself when the
+owner of the colliery went round, in case he should be thought too little
+a boy to earn the wages paid him.  Since he had modelled his clay engines
+in the bog, his young ambition was to be an engineman; and to be an
+assistant fireman was the first step towards this position.  Great
+therefore was his joy when, at about fourteen years of age, he was
+appointed assistant-fireman, at the wage of a shilling a day.
+
+But the coal at Dewley Burn being at length worked out, the pit was
+ordered to be "laid in," and old Robert and his family were again under
+the necessity of shifting their home; for, to use the common phrase, they
+must "follow the wark."  They removed accordingly to a place called
+Jolly's Close, a few miles to the south, close behind the village of
+Newburn, where another coal-mine belonging to the Duke of Northumberland,
+called "the Duke's Winnin," had recently been opened out.
+
+                      [Picture: Newburn on the Tyne]
+
+One of the old persons in the neighbourhood, who knew the family well,
+describes the dwelling in which they lived as a poor cottage of only one
+room, in which the father, mother, four sons, and two daughters, lived
+and slept.  It was crowded with three low-poled beds.  The one apartment
+served for parlour, kitchen, sleeping-room, and all.
+
+The children of the Stephenson family were now growing apace, and several
+of them were old enough to be able to earn money at various kinds of
+colliery work.  James and George, the two eldest sons, worked as
+assistant-firemen; and the younger boys worked as wheelers or pickers on
+the bank-tops.  The two girls helped their mother with the household
+work.
+
+Other workings of the coal were opened out in the neighbourhood; and to
+one of these George was removed as fireman on his own account.  This was
+called the "Mid Mill Winnin," where he had for his mate a young man named
+Coe.  They worked together there for about two years, by twelve-hour
+shifts, George firing the engine at the wage of a shilling a day.  He was
+now fifteen years old.  His ambition was as yet limited to attaining the
+standing of a full workman, at a man's wages; and with that view he
+endeavoured to attain such a knowledge of his engine as would eventually
+lead to his employment as an engineman, with its accompanying advantage
+of higher pay.  He was a steady, sober, hard-working young man, but
+nothing more in the estimation of his fellow-workmen.
+
+One of his favourite pastimes in by-hours was trying feats of strength
+with his companions.  Although in frame he was not particularly robust,
+yet he was big and bony, and considered very strong for his age.  At
+throwing the hammer George had no compeer.  At lifting heavy weights off
+the ground from between his feet, by means of a bar of iron passed
+through them--placing the bar against his knees as a fulcrum, and then
+straightening his spine and lifting them sheer up--he was also very
+successful.  On one occasion he lifted as much as sixty stones weight--a
+striking indication of his strength of bone and muscle.
+
+When the pit at Mid Mill was closed, George and his companion Coe were
+sent to work another pumping-engine erected near Throckley Bridge, where
+they continued for some months.  It was while working at this place that
+his wages were raised to 12s. a week--an event to him of great
+importance.  On coming out of the foreman's office that Saturday evening
+on which he received the advance, he announced the fact to his
+fellow-workmen, adding triumphantly "I am now a made man for life!"
+
+The pit opened at Newburn, at which old Robert Stephenson worked, proving
+a failure, it was closed; and a new pit was sunk at Water-row, on a strip
+of land lying between the Wylam waggon-way and the river Tyne, about half
+a mile west of Newburn Church.  A pumping engine was erected there by
+Robert Hawthorn, the Duke's engineer; and old Stephenson went to work it
+as fireman, his son George acting as the engineman or plugman.  At that
+time he was about seventeen years old--a very youthful age at which to
+fill so responsible a post.  He had thus already got ahead of his father
+in his station as a workman; for the plugman holds a higher grade than
+the fireman, requiring more practical knowledge and skill, and usually
+receiving higher wages.
+
+George's duty as plugman was to watch the engine, to see that it kept
+well in work, and that the pumps were efficient in drawing the water.
+When the water-level in the pit was lowered, and the suction became
+incomplete through the exposure of the suction-holes, it was then his
+duty to proceed to the bottom of the shaft and plug the tube so that the
+pump should draw: hence the designation of "plugman."  If a stoppage in
+the engine took place through any defect which he was incapable of
+remedying, it was for him to call in the aid of the chief engineer to set
+it to rights.
+
+But from the time when George Stephenson was appointed fireman, and more
+particularly afterwards as engineman, he applied himself so assiduously
+and so successfully to the study of the engine and its gearing--taking
+the machine to pieces in his leisure hours for the purpose of cleaning
+and understanding its various parts--that he soon acquired a thorough
+practical knowledge of its construction and mode of working, and very
+rarely needed to call the engineer of the colliery to his aid.  His
+engine became a sort of pet with him, and he was never wearied of
+watching and inspecting it with admiration.
+
+Though eighteen years old, like many of his fellow-workmen, Stephenson
+had not yet learnt to read.  All that he could do was to get some one to
+read for him by his engine fire, out of any book or stray newspaper which
+found its way into the neighbourhood.  Buonaparte was then overrunning
+Italy, and astounding Europe by his brilliant succession of victories;
+and there was no more eager auditor of his exploits, as read from the
+newspaper accounts, than the young engineman at the Water-row Pit.
+
+There were also numerous stray bits of information and intelligence
+contained in these papers, which excited Stephenson's interest.  One of
+these related to the Egyptian method of hatching birds' eggs by means of
+artificial heat.  Curious about everything relating to birds, he
+determined to test it by experiment.  It was spring time, and he
+forthwith went a birdnesting in the adjoining woods and hedges.  He
+gathered a collection of eggs of various sorts, set them in flour in a
+warm place in the engine-house, covering the whole with wool, and then
+waited the issue.  The heat was kept as steady as possible, and the eggs
+were carefully turned every twelve hours, but though they chipped, and
+some of them exhibited well-grown chicks, they never hatched.  The
+experiment failed, but the incident shows that the inquiring mind of the
+youth was fairly at work.
+
+Modelling of engines in clay continued to be another of his favourite
+occupations.  He made models of engines which he had seen, and of others
+which were described to him.  These attempts were an improvement upon his
+first trials at Dewley Burn bog, when occupied there as a herd-boy.  He
+was, however, anxious to know something of the wonderful engines of
+Boulton and Watt, and was told that they were to be found fully described
+in books, which he must search for information as to their construction,
+action and uses.  But, alas! Stephenson could not read; he had not yet
+learnt even his letters.
+
+Thus he shortly found, when gazing wistfully in the direction of
+knowledge, that to advance further as a skilled workman, he must master
+this wonderful art of reading--the key to so many other arts.  Only thus
+could he gain an access to books, the depositories of the wisdom and
+experience of the past.  Although a grown man, and doing the work of a
+man, he was not ashamed to confess his ignorance, and go to school, big
+as he was, to learn his letters.  Perhaps, too, he foresaw that, in
+laying out a little of his spare earnings for this purpose, he was
+investing money judiciously, and that, in every hour he spent at school,
+he was really working for better wages.
+
+His first schoolmaster was Robin Cowens, a poor teacher in the village of
+Walbottle.  He kept a night-school, which was attended by a few of the
+colliers and labourers' sons in the neighbourhood.  George took lessons
+in spelling and reading three nights in the week.  Robin Cowen's teaching
+cost threepence a week; and though it was not very good, yet George,
+being hungry for knowledge and eager to acquire it, soon learnt to read.
+He also practised "pothooks," and at the age of nineteen he was proud to
+be able to write his own name.
+
+A Scotch dominie, named Andrew Robertson, set up a night-school in the
+village of Newburn, in the winter of 1799.  It was more convenient for
+George to attend this school, as it was nearer to his work, and only a
+few minutes' walk from Jolly's Close.  Besides, Andrew had the reputation
+of being a skilled arithmetician; and this branch of knowledge Stephenson
+was very desirous of acquiring.  He accordingly began taking lessons from
+him, paying fourpence a week.  Robert Gray, the junior fireman at the
+Water-row Pit, began arithmetic at the same time; and Gray afterwards
+told the author that George learnt "figuring" so much faster than he did,
+that he could not make out how it was--"he took to figures so wonderful."
+Although the two started together from the same point, at the end of the
+winter George had mastered "reduction," while Robert Gray was still
+struggling with the difficulties of simple division.  But George's secret
+was his perseverance.  He worked out the sums in his bye-hours, improving
+every minute of his spare time by the engine-fire, and studying there the
+arithmetical problems set for him upon his slate by the master.  In the
+evenings he took to Robertson the sums which he had "worked," and new
+ones were "set" for him to study out the following day.  Thus his
+progress was rapid, and, with a willing heart and mind, he soon became
+well advanced in arithmetic.  Indeed, Andrew Robertson became very proud
+of his scholar; and shortly after, when the Water-row Pit was closed, and
+George removed to Black Callerton to work there, the poor schoolmaster,
+not having a very extensive connexion in Newburn, went with his pupils,
+and set up his night-school at Black Callerton, where he continued his
+lessons.
+
+George still found time to attend to his favourite animals while working
+at the Water-row Pit.  Like his father, he used to tempt the
+robin-redbreasts to hop and fly about him at the engine-fire, by the bait
+of bread-crumbs saved from his dinner.  But his chief favourite was his
+dog--so sagacious that he almost daily carried George's dinner to him at
+the pit.  The tin containing the meal was suspended from the dog's neck,
+and, thus laden, he proceeded faithfully from Jolly's Close to Water-row
+Pit, quite through the village of Newburn.  He turned neither to left nor
+right, nor heeded the barking of curs at his heels.  But his course was
+not unattended with perils.  One day the big strange dog of a passing
+butcher espying the engineman's messenger with the tin can about his
+neck, ran after and fell upon him.  There was a terrible tussle and
+worrying, which lasted for a brief while, and, shortly after, the dog's
+master, anxious for his dinner, saw his faithful servant approaching,
+bleeding but triumphant.  The tin can was still round his neck, but the
+dinner had been spilt in the struggle.  Though George went without his
+dinner that day, he was prouder of his dog than ever when the
+circumstances of the combat were related to him by the villagers who had
+seen it.
+
+It was while working at the Water-row Pit that Stephenson learnt the art
+of brakeing an engine.  This being one of the higher departments of
+colliery labour, and among the best paid, George was very anxious to
+learn it.  A small winding-engine having been put up for the purpose of
+drawing the coals from the pit, Bill Coe, his friend and fellow-workman,
+was appointed the brakesman.  He frequently allowed George to try his
+hand at the machine, and instructed him how to proceed.  Coe was,
+however, opposed in this by several of the other workmen--one of whom, a
+banksman named William Locke, {26} went so far as to stop the working of
+the pit because Stephenson had been called in to the brake.  But one day
+as Mr. Charles Nixon, the manager of the pit, was observed approaching,
+Coe adopted an expedient which put a stop to the opposition.  He called
+upon Stephenson to "come into the brake-house, and take hold of the
+machine."  Locke, as usual, sat down, and the working of the pit was
+stopped.  When requested by the manager to give an explanation, he said
+that "young Stephenson couldn't brake, and, what was more, never would
+learn, he was so clumsy."  Mr. Nixon, however, ordered Locke to go on
+with the work, which he did; and Stephenson, after some further practice,
+acquired the art of brakeing.
+
+After working at the Water-row Pit and at other engines near Newburn for
+about three years, George and Coe went to Black Callerton early in 1801.
+Though only twenty years of age, his employers thought so well of him
+that they appointed him to the responsible office of brakesman at the
+Dolly Pit.  For convenience' sake, he took lodgings at a small farmer's
+in the village, finding his own victuals, and paying so much a week for
+lodging and attendance.  In the locality this was called "picklin in his
+awn poke neuk."  It not unfrequently happens that the young workman about
+the collieries, when selecting a lodging, contrives to pitch his tent
+where the daughter of the house ultimately becomes his wife.  This is
+often the real attraction that draws the youth from home, though a very
+different one may be pretended.
+
+George Stephenson's duties as brakesman may be briefly described.  The
+work was somewhat monotonous, and consisted in superintending the working
+of the engine and machinery by means of which the coals were drawn out of
+the pit.  Brakesman are almost invariably selected from those who have
+had considerable experience as engine-firemen, and borne a good character
+for steadiness, punctuality, watchfulness, and "mother wit."  In George
+Stephenson's day the coals were drawn out of the pit in corves, or large
+baskets made of hazel rods.  The corves were placed together in a cage,
+between which and the pit-ropes there was usually from fifteen to twenty
+feet of chain.  The approach of the corves towards the pit mouth was
+signalled by a bell, brought into action by a piece of mechanism worked
+from the shaft of the engine.  When the bell sounded, the brakesman
+checked the speed, by taking hold of the hand-gear connected with the
+steam-valves, which were so arranged that by their means he could
+regulate the speed of the engine, and stop or set it in motion when
+required.  Connected with the fly-wheel was a powerful wooden brake,
+acting by pressure against its rim, something like the brake of a
+railway-carriage against its wheels.  On catching sight of the chain
+attached to the ascending corve-cage, the brakesman, by pressing his foot
+upon a foot-step near him, was enabled, with great precision, to stop the
+revolutions of the wheel, and arrest the ascent of the corves at the pit
+mouth, when they were forthwith landed on the "settle board."  On the
+full corves being replaced by empty ones, it was then the duty of the
+brakesman to reverse the engine, and send the corves down the pit to be
+filled again.
+
+The monotony of George Stephenson's occupation as a brakesman was
+somewhat varied by the change which he made, in his turn, from the day to
+the night shift.  His duty, on the latter occasions, consisted chiefly in
+sending men and materials into the mine, and in drawing other men and
+materials out.  Most of the workmen enter the pit during the night shift,
+and leave it in the latter part of the day, whilst coal-drawing is
+proceeding.  The requirements of the work at night are such, that the
+brakesman has a good deal of spare time on his hands, which he is at
+liberty to employ in his own way.  From an early period, George was
+accustomed to employ those vacant night hours in working the sums set for
+him by Andrew Robertson upon his slate, practising writing in his
+copy-book, and mending the shoes of his fellow-workmen.  His wages while
+working at the Dolly Pit amounted to from 1 pounds 15s. to 2 pounds in
+the fortnight; but he gradually added to them as he became more expert at
+shoe-mending, and afterwards at shoe-making.
+
+Probably he was stimulated to take in hand this extra work by the
+attachment he had by this time formed for a young woman named Fanny
+Henderson, who officiated as servant in the small farmer's house in which
+he lodged.  We have been informed that the personal attractions of Fanny,
+though these were considerable, were the least of her charms.  Mr.
+William Fairbairn, who afterwards saw her in her home at Willington Quay,
+describes her as a very comely woman.  But her temper was one of the
+sweetest; and those who knew her were accustomed to speak of the charming
+modesty of her demeanour, her kindness of disposition, and withal her
+sound good sense.
+
+Amongst his various mendings of old shoes at Callerton.  George was on
+one occasion favoured with the shoes of his sweetheart to sole.  One can
+imagine the pleasure with which he would linger over such a piece of
+work, and the pride with which he would execute it.  A friend of his,
+still living, relates that, after he had finished the shoes, he carried
+them about with him in his pocket on the Sunday afternoon, and that from
+time to time he would pull them out and hold them up, exclaiming, "what a
+capital job he had made of them!"
+
+Out of his earnings by shoe-mending at Callerton, George contrived to
+save his first guinea.  The first guinea saved by a working man is no
+trivial thing.  If, as in Stephenson's case, it has been the result of
+prudent self-denial, of extra labour at bye-hours, and of the honest
+resolution to save and economise for worthy purposes, the first guinea
+saved is an earnest of better things.  When Stephenson had saved this
+guinea he was not a little elated at the achievement, and expressed the
+opinion to a friend, who many years after reminded him of it, that he was
+"now a rich man."
+
+Not long after he began to work at Black Callerton as brakesman, he had a
+quarrel with a pitman named Ned Nelson, a roistering bully, who was the
+terror of the village.  Nelson was a great fighter; and it was therefore
+considered dangerous to quarrel with him.  Stephenson was so unfortunate
+as not to be able to please this pitman by the way in which he drew him
+out of the pit; and Nelson swore at him grossly because of the alleged
+clumsiness of his brakeing.  George defended himself, and appealed to the
+testimony of the other workmen.  But Nelson had not been accustomed to
+George's style of self-assertion; and, after a great deal of abuse, he
+threatened to kick the brakesman, who defied him to do so.  Nelson ended
+by challenging Stephenson to a pitched battle; and the latter accepted
+the challenge, when a day was fixed on which the fight was to come off.
+
+Great was the excitement at Black Callerton when it was known that George
+Stephenson had accepted Nelson's challenge.  Everybody said he would be
+killed.  The villagers, the young men, and especially the boys of the
+place, with whom George was a great favourite, all wished that he might
+beat Nelson, but they scarcely dared to say so.  They came about him
+while he was at work in the engine-house to inquire if it was really true
+that he was "goin to fight Nelson?"  "Ay; never fear for me; I'll fight
+him."  And fight him he did.  For some days previous to the appointed day
+of battle, Nelson went entirely off work for the purpose of keeping
+himself fresh and strong, whereas Stephenson went on doing his daily work
+as usual, and appeared not in the least disconcerted by the prospect of
+the affair.  So, on the evening appointed, after George had done his
+day's labour, he went into the Dolly Pit Field, where his already
+exulting rival was ready to meet him.  George stripped, and "went in"
+like a practised pugilist--though it was his first and last fight.  After
+a few rounds, George's wiry muscles and practised strength enabled him
+severely to punish his adversary, and to secure an easy victory.
+
+This circumstance is related in illustration of Stephenson's personal
+pluck and courage; and it was thoroughly characteristic of the man.  He
+was no pugilist, and the very reverse of quarrelsome.  But he would not
+be put down by the bully of the colliery, and he fought him.  There his
+pugilism ended; they afterwards shook hands, and continued good friends.
+In after life, Stephenson's mettle was often as hardly tried, though in a
+different way; and he did not fail to exhibit the same resolute courage
+in contending with the bullies of the railway world, as he showed in his
+encounter with Ned Nelson, the fighting pitman of Callerton.
+
+                       [Picture: Colliery Whimsey]
+
+            [Picture: Stephenson's Cottage at Wallington Quay]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+ENGINEMAN AT WILLINGTON QUAY AND KILLINGWORTH.
+
+
+George Stephenson had now acquired the character of an expert workman.
+He was diligent and observant while at work, and sober and studious when
+the day's work was over.  His friend Coe described him to the author as
+"a standing example of manly character."  On pay-Saturday afternoons,
+when the pitmen held their fortnightly holiday, occupying themselves
+chiefly in cock-fighting and dog-fighting in the adjoining fields,
+followed by adjournments to the "yel-house," George was accustomed to
+take his engine to pieces, for the purpose of obtaining "insight," and he
+cleaned all the parts and put the machine in thorough working order
+before leaving it.
+
+In the evenings he improved himself in the arts of reading and writing,
+and occasionally took a turn at modelling.  It was at Callerton, his son
+Robert informed us, that he began to try his hand at original invention;
+and for some time he applied his attention to a machine of the nature of
+an engine-brake, which reversed itself by its own action.  But nothing
+came of the contrivance, and it was eventually thrown aside as useless.
+Yet not altogether so; for even the highest skill must undergo the
+inevitable discipline of experiment, and submit to the wholesome
+correction of occasional failure.
+
+After working at Callerton for about two years, he received an offer to
+take charge of the engine on Willington Ballast Hill at an advanced wage.
+He determined to accept it, and at the same time to marry Fanny
+Henderson, and begin housekeeping on his own account.  Though he was only
+twenty-one years old, he had contrived, by thrift, steadiness, and
+industry, to save as much money as enabled him to take a cottage-dwelling
+at Willington Quay, and furnish it in a humble but comfortable style for
+the reception of his bride.
+
+Willington Quay lies on the north bank of the Tyne, about six miles below
+Newcastle.  It consists of a line of houses straggling along the
+river-side; and high behind it towers up the huge mound of ballast
+emptied out of the ships which resort to the quay for their cargoes of
+coal for the London market.  The ballast is thrown out of the ships'
+holds into waggons laid alongside, which are run up to the summit of the
+Ballast Hill, and emptied out there.  At the foot of the great mound of
+shot rubbish was the fixed engine of which George Stephenson acted as
+brakesman.
+
+The cottage in which he took up his abode was a small two-storied
+dwelling, standing a little back from the quay with a bit of garden
+ground in front. {33}  The Stephenson family occupied the upper room in
+the west end of the cottage.  Close behind rose the Ballast Hill.
+
+When the cottage dwelling had been made snug, and was ready for
+occupation, the marriage took place.  It was celebrated in Newburn
+Church, on the 28th of November, 1802.  After the ceremony, George, with
+his newly-wedded wife, proceeded to the house of his father at Jolly's
+Close.  The old man was now becoming infirm, and, though he still worked
+as an engine-fireman, contrived with difficulty "to keep his head above
+water."  When the visit had been paid, the bridal party set out for their
+new home at Willington Quay, whither they went in a manner quite common
+before travelling by railway came into use.  Two farm horses, borrowed
+from a neighbouring farmer, were each provided with a saddle and pillion,
+and George having mounted one, his wife seated herself behind him,
+holding on by his waist.  The bridesman and bridesmaid in like manner
+mounted the other horse; and in this wise the wedding party rode across
+the country, passing through the old streets of Newcastle, and then by
+Wallsend to Willington Quay--a ride of about fifteen miles.
+
+George Stephenson's daily life at Willington was that of a steady
+workman.  By the manner, however, in which he continued to improve his
+spare hours in the evening, he was silently and surely paving the way for
+being something more than a manual labourer.  He set himself to study
+diligently the principles of mechanics, and to master the laws by which
+his engine worked.  For a workman, he was even at that time more than
+ordinarily speculative--often taking up strange theories, and trying to
+sift out the truth that was in them.  While sitting by his wife's side in
+his cottage-dwelling in the winter evenings, he was usually occupied in
+studying mechanical subjects, or in modelling experimental machines.
+Amongst his various speculations while at Willington, he tried to
+discover a means of Perpetual Motion.  Although he failed, as so many
+others had done before him, the very efforts he made tended to whet his
+inventive faculties, and to call forth his dormant powers.  He went so
+far as to construct the model of a machine for the purpose.  It consisted
+of a wooden wheel, the periphery of which was furnished with glass tubes
+filled with quicksilver; as the wheel rotated, the quicksilver poured
+itself down into the lower tubes, and thus a sort of self-acting motion
+was kept up in the apparatus, which, however, did not prove to be
+perpetual.  Where he had first obtained the idea of this machine--whether
+from conversation or reading, is not known; but his son Robert was of
+opinion that he had heard of the apparatus of this kind described in the
+"History of Inventions."  As he had then no access to books, and indeed
+could barely read with ease, it is probable that he had been told of the
+contrivance, and set about testing its value according to his own
+methods.
+
+Much of his spare time continued to be occupied by labour more
+immediately profitable, regarded in a pecuniary point of view.  In the
+evenings, after his day's labour at his engine, he would occasionally
+employ himself for an hour or two in casting ballast out of the collier
+ships, by which means he was enabled to earn a few extra shillings
+weekly.  Mr. William Fairbairn of Manchester has informed us that while
+Stephenson was employed at Willington, he himself was working in the
+neighbourhood as an engine apprentice at the Percy Main Colliery.  He was
+very fond of George, who was a fine, hearty fellow, besides being a
+capital workman.  In the summer evenings young Fairbairn was accustomed
+to go down to the Quay to see his friend, and on such occasions he would
+frequently take charge of George's engine while he took a turn at heaving
+ballast out of the ships' holds.  It is pleasant to think of the future
+President of the British Association thus helping the future Railway
+Engineer to earn a few extra shillings by overwork in the evenings, at a
+time when both occupied the rank of humble working men in an obscure
+northern village.
+
+Mr. Fairbairn was also a frequent visitor at George's cottage on the
+Quay, where, though there was no luxury, there was comfort, cleanliness,
+and a pervading spirit of industry.  Even at home George was never for a
+moment idle.  When there was no ballast to heave out at the Quay he took
+in shoes to mend; and from mending he proceeded to making them, as well
+as shoe-lasts, in which he was admitted to be very expert.
+
+But an accident occurred in Stephenson's household about this time, which
+had the effect of directing his industry into a new and still more
+profitable channel.  The cottage chimney took fire one day in his
+absence, when the alarmed neighbours, rushing in, threw quantities of
+water upon the flames; and some, in their zeal, even mounted the ridge of
+the house, and poured buckets of water down the chimney.  The fire was
+soon put out, but the house was thoroughly soaked.  When George came home
+he found everything in disorder, and his new furniture covered with soot.
+The eight-day clock, which hung against the wall--one of the most
+highly-prized articles in the house--was much damaged by the steam with
+which the room had been filled; and its wheels were so clogged by the
+dust and soot that it was brought to a complete standstill.  George was
+always ready to turn his hand to anything, and his ingenuity, never at
+fault, immediately set to work to repair the unfortunate clock.  He was
+advised to send it to the clockmaker, but that would cost money; and he
+declared that he would repair it himself--at least he would try.  The
+clock was accordingly taken to pieces and cleaned; the tools which he had
+been accumulating for the purpose of constructing his Perpetual Motion
+machine, enabled him to do this readily; and he succeeded so well that,
+shortly after, the neighbours sent him their clocks to clean, and he soon
+became one of the most famous clock-doctors in the neighbourhood.
+
+It was while living at Willington Quay that George Stephenson's only son
+was born, on the 16th of October, 1803.  The child was a great favourite
+with his father, and added much to the happiness of his evening hours.
+George's "philoprogenitiveness," as phrenologists call it, had been
+exercised hitherto upon birds, dogs, rabbits, and even the poor old
+gin-horses which he had driven at the Callerton Pit; but in his boy he
+now found a much more genial object for the exercise of his affection.
+
+The christening took place in the school-house at Wallsend, the old
+parish church being at the time in so dilapidated a condition from the
+"creeping" or subsidence of the ground, consequent upon the excavation of
+the coal, that it was considered dangerous to enter it.  On this
+occasion, Robert Gray and Anne Henderson, who had officiated as bridesman
+and bridesmaid at the wedding, came over again to Willington, and stood
+godfather and godmother to little Robert,--so named after his
+grandfather.
+
+After working for several years more as a brakesman at the Willington
+machine, George Stephenson was induced to leave his situation there for a
+similar one at the West Moor Colliery, Killingworth.  It was not without
+considerable persuasion that he was induced to leave the Quay, as he knew
+that he should thereby give up the chance of earning extra money by
+casting ballast from the keels.  At last, however, he consented, in the
+hope of making up the loss in some other way.
+
+The village of Killingworth lies about seven miles north of Newcastle,
+and is one of the best-known collieries in that neighbourhood.  The
+workings of the coal are of vast extent, and give employment to a large
+number of work-people.  To this place Stephenson first came as a
+brakesman about the beginning of 1805.  He had not been long in his new
+place, ere his wife died (in 1806), shortly after giving birth to a
+daughter, who survived the mother only a few months.  George deeply felt
+the loss of his wife, for they had been very happy together.  Their lot
+had been sweetened by daily successful toil.  The husband was sober and
+hard-working, and his wife made his hearth so bright and his home so
+snug, that no attraction could draw him from her side in the evening
+hours.  But this domestic happiness was all to pass away; and George felt
+as one that had thenceforth to tread the journey of life alone.
+
+                      [Picture: West Moor Colliery]
+
+Shortly after this event, while his grief was still fresh, he received an
+invitation from some gentlemen concerned in large spinning works near
+Montrose in Scotland, to proceed thither and superintend the working of
+one of Boulton and Watt's engines.  He accepted the offer, and made
+arrangements to leave Killingworth for a time.
+
+Having left his little boy in good keeping, he set out upon his long
+journey to Scotland on foot, with his kit upon his back.  While working
+at Montrose he gave a striking proof of that practical ability in
+contrivance for which he was afterwards so distinguished.  It appears
+that the water required for the purposes of his engine, as well as for
+the use of the works, was pumped from a considerable depth, being
+supplied from the adjacent extensive sand strata.  The pumps frequently
+got choked by the sand drawn in at the bottom of the well through the
+snore-holes, or apertures through which the water to be raised is
+admitted.  The barrels soon became worn, and the bucket and clack
+leathers destroyed, so that it became necessary to devise a remedy; and
+with this object the engineman proceeded to adopt the following simple
+but original expedient.  He had a wooden box or boot made, twelve feet
+high, which he placed in the sump or well, and into this he inserted the
+lower end of the pump.  The result was, that the water flowed clear from
+the outer part of the well over into the boot, and being drawn up without
+any admixture of sand, the difficulty was thus conquered. {38}
+
+Being paid good wages, Stephenson contrived, during the year he worked at
+Montrose, to save a sum of 28 pounds, which he took back with him to
+Killingworth.  Longing to get back to his kindred, his heart yearning for
+the son whom he had left behind, our engineman took leave of his
+employers, and trudged back to Northumberland on foot as he had gone.
+While on his journey southward he arrived late one evening, footsore and
+wearied, at the door of a small farmer's cottage, at which he knocked,
+and requested shelter for the night.  It was refused, and then he
+entreated that, being tired, and unable to proceed further, the farmer
+would permit him to lie down in the outhouse, for that a little clean
+straw would serve him.  The farmer's wife appeared at the door, looked at
+the traveller, then retiring with her husband, the two confabulated a
+little apart, and finally they invited Stephenson into the cottage.
+Always full of conversation and anecdote, he soon made himself at home in
+the farmer's family, and spent with them a few pleasant hours.  He was
+hospitably entertained for the night, and when he left the cottage in the
+morning, he pressed them to make some charge for his lodging, but they
+refused to accept any recompense.  They only asked him to remember them
+kindly, and if he ever came that way, to be sure and call again.  Many
+years after, when Stephenson had become a thriving man, he did not forget
+the humble pair who had succoured and entertained him on his way; he
+sought their cottage again, when age had silvered their hair; and when he
+left the aged couple, they may have been reminded of the old saying that
+we may sometimes "entertain angels unawares."
+
+Reaching home, Stephenson found that his father had met with a serious
+accident at the Blucher Pit, which had reduced him to great distress and
+poverty.  While engaged in the inside of an engine, making some repairs,
+a fellow-workman accidentally let in the steam upon him.  The blast
+struck him full in the face; he was terribly scorched, and his eyesight
+was irretrievably lost.  The helpless and infirm man had struggled for a
+time with poverty; his sons who were at home, poor as himself, were
+little able to help him, while George was at a distance in Scotland.  On
+his return, however, with his savings in his pocket, his first step was
+to pay off his father's debts, amounting to about 15 pounds; and shortly
+after he removed the aged pair from Jolly's Close to a comfortable
+cottage adjoining the tramroad near the West Moor at Killingworth, where
+the old man lived for many years, supported entirely by his son.
+
+Stephenson was again taken on as a brakesman at the West Moor Pit.  He
+does not seem to have been very hopeful as to his prospects in life about
+this time (1807-8).  Indeed the condition of the working class generally
+was very discouraging.  England was engaged in a great war, which pressed
+upon the industry, and severely tried the resources, of the country.
+There was a constant demand for men to fill the army.  The working people
+were also liable to be pressed for the navy, or drawn for the militia;
+and though they could not fail to be discontented under such
+circumstances, they scarcely dared even to mutter their discontent to
+their neighbours.
+
+Stephenson was drawn for the militia: he must therefore either quit his
+work and go a-soldiering, or find a substitute.  He adopted the latter
+course, and borrowed 6 pounds, which, with the remainder of his savings,
+enabled him to provide a militiaman to serve in his stead.  Thus the
+whole of his hard-won earnings were swept away at a stroke.  He was
+almost in despair, and contemplated the idea of leaving the country, and
+emigrating to the United States.  Although a voyage thither was then a
+much more formidable thing for a working man to accomplish than a voyage
+to Australia is now, he seriously entertained the project, and had all
+but made up his mind to go.  His sister Ann, with her husband, emigrated
+about that time, but George could not raise the requisite money, and they
+departed without him.  After all, it went sore against his heart to leave
+his home and his kindred, the scenes of his youth and the friends of his
+boyhood; and he struggled long with the idea, brooding over it in sorrow.
+Speaking afterwards to a friend of his thoughts at the time, he said:
+"You know the road from my house at the West Moor to Killingworth.  I
+remember once when I went along that road I wept bitterly, for I knew not
+where my lot in life would be cast."
+
+In 1808, Stephenson, with two other brakesmen, took a small contract
+under the colliery lessees for brakeing the engines at the West Moor Pit.
+The brakesmen found the oil and tallow; they divided the work amongst
+them, and were paid so much per score for their labour.  It was the
+interest of the brakesmen to economise the working as much as possible,
+and George no sooner entered upon the contract than he proceeded to
+devise ways and means of making it "pay."  He observed that the ropes
+which, at other pits in the neighbourhood, lasted about three months, at
+the West Moor Pit became worn out in about a month.  He immediately set
+about ascertaining the cause of the defect; and finding it to be
+occasioned by excessive friction, he proceeded, with the sanction of the
+head engine-wright and the colliery owners, to shift the pulley-wheels
+and re-arrange the gearing, which had the effect of greatly diminishing
+the tear and wear, besides allowing the work of the colliery to proceed
+without interruption.
+
+About the same time he attempted an improvement in the winding-engine
+which he worked, by placing a valve between the air-pump and condenser.
+This expedient, although it led to no practical result, showed that his
+mind was actively engaged in studying new mechanical adaptations.  It
+continued to be his regular habit, on Saturdays, to take his engine to
+pieces, for the purpose, at the same time, of familiarising himself with
+its action, and of placing it in a state of thorough working order.  By
+mastering its details, he was enabled, as opportunity occurred, to turn
+to practical account the knowledge he thus diligently and patiently
+acquired.
+
+Such an opportunity was not long in presenting itself.  In the year 1810,
+a new pit was sunk by the "Grand Allies" (the lessees of the mines) at
+the village of Killingworth, now known as the Killingworth High Pit.  An
+atmospheric or Newcomen engine, made by Smeaton, was fixed there for the
+purpose of pumping out the water from the shaft; but somehow it failed to
+clear the pit.  As one of the workmen has since described the
+circumstance--"She couldn't keep her jack-head in water: all the
+enginemen in the neighbourhood were tried, as well as Crowther of the
+Ouseburn, but they were clean bet."  The engine had been fruitlessly
+pumping for nearly twelve months, and began to be spoken of as a total
+failure.  Stephenson had gone to look at it when in course of erection,
+and then observed to the over-man that he thought it was defective; he
+also gave it as his opinion that, if there were much water in the mine,
+the engine would never keep it under.  Of course, as he was only a
+brakesman, his opinion was considered to be worth very little on such a
+point.  He continued, however, to make frequent visits to the engine, to
+see "how she was getting on."  From the bank-head where he worked his
+brake he could see the chimney smoking at the High Pit; and as the men
+were passing to and from their work, he would call out and inquire "if
+they had gotten to the bottom yet?"  And the reply was always to the same
+effect--the pumping made no progress, and the workmen were still "drowned
+out."
+
+One Saturday afternoon he went over to the High Pit to examine the engine
+more carefully than he had yet done.  He had been turning the subject
+over thoughtfully in his mind; and seemed to have satisfied himself as to
+the cause of the failure.  Kit Heppel, one of the sinkers, asked him,
+"Weel, George, what do you mak' o' her?  Do you think you could do
+anything to improve her?"  Said George, "I could alter her, man, and make
+her draw: in a week's time I could send you to the bottom."
+
+Forthwith Heppel reported this conversation to Ralph Dodds, the head
+viewer, who, being now quite in despair, and hopeless of succeeding with
+the engine, determined to give George's skill a trial.  At the worst he
+could only fail, as the rest had done.  In the evening, Dodds went in
+search of Stephenson, and met him on the road, dressed in his Sunday's
+suit, on the way to "the preaching" in the Methodist Chapel, which he
+attended.  "Well, George," said Dodds, "they tell me that you think you
+can put the engine at the High Pit to rights."  "Yes, sir," said George.
+"I think I could."  "If that's the case, I'll give you a fair trial, and
+you must set to work immediately.  We are clean drowned out, and cannot
+get a stop further.  The engineers hereabouts are all bet; and if you
+really succeed in accomplishing what they cannot do, you may depend upon
+it I will make you a man for life."
+
+Stephenson began his operations early next morning.  The only condition
+that he made, before setting to work, was that he should select his own
+workmen.  There was, as he knew, a good deal of jealousy amongst the
+"regular" men that a colliery brakesman should pretend to know more about
+their engine than they themselves did, and attempt to remedy defects
+which the most skilled men of their craft, including the engineer of the
+colliery, had failed to do.  But George made the condition a _sine qua
+non_.  "The workmen," said he, "must either be all Whigs or all Tories."
+There was no help for it, so Dodds ordered the old hands to stand aside.
+The men grumbled, but gave way; and then George and his party went in.
+
+The engine was taken entirely to pieces.  The cistern containing the
+injection water was raised ten feet; the injection cock, being too small,
+was enlarged to nearly double its former size, and it was so arranged
+that it should be shut off quickly at the beginning of the stroke.  These
+and other alterations were necessarily performed in a rough way, but, as
+the result proved, on true principles.  Stephenson also, finding that the
+boiler would bear a greater pressure than five pounds to the inch,
+determined to work it at a pressure of ten pounds, though this was
+contrary to the directions of both Newcomen and Smeaton.  The necessary
+alterations were made in about three days, and many persons came to see
+the engine start, including the men who had put her up.  The pit being
+nearly full of water, she had little to do on starting, and, to use
+George's words, "came bounce into the house."  Dodds exclaimed, "Why, she
+was better as she was; now, she will knock the house down."  After a
+short time, however, the engine got fairly to work, and by ten o'clock
+that night the water was lower in the pit than it had ever been before.
+It was kept pumping all Thursday, and by the Friday afternoon the pit was
+cleared of water, and the workmen were "sent to the bottom," as
+Stephenson had promised.  Thus the alterations effected in the pumping
+apparatus proved completely successful.
+
+Dodds was particularly gratified with the manner in which the job had
+been done, and he made Stephenson a present of ten pounds, which, though
+very inadequate when compared with the value of the work performed, was
+accepted with gratitude.  George was proud of the gift as the first
+marked recognition of his skill as a workman; and he used afterwards to
+say that it was the biggest sum of money he had up to that time earned in
+one lump.  Ralph Dodds, however, did more than this.  He released the
+brakesman from the handles of his engine at West Moot, and appointed him
+engineman at the High Pit, at good wages, during the time the pit was
+sinking,--the job lasting for about a year; and he also kept him in mind
+for further advancement.
+
+Stephenson's skill as an engine-doctor soon became noised abroad, and he
+was called upon to prescribe remedies for all the old, wheezy, and
+ineffective pumping-machines in the neighbourhood.  In this capacity he
+soon left the "regular" men far behind, though they in their turn were
+very mach disposed to treat the Killingworth brakesman as no better than
+a quack.  Nevertheless, his practice was really founded upon a close
+study of the principles of mechanics, and on an intimate practical
+acquaintance with the details of the pumping-engine.
+
+Another of his smaller achievements in the same line is still told by the
+people of the district.  At the corner of the road leading to Long
+Benton, there was a quarry from which a peculiar and scarce kind of ochre
+was taken.  In the course of working it out, the water had collected in
+considerable quantities; and there being no means of draining it off, it
+accumulated to such an extent that the further working of the ochre was
+almost entirely stopped.  Ordinary pumps were tried, and failed; and then
+a windmill was tried, and failed too.  On this, George was asked what
+ought to be done to clear the quarry of the water.  He said, "he would
+set up for them an engine little bigger than a kail-pot, that would clear
+them out in a week."  And he did so.  A little engine was speedily
+erected, by means of which the quarry was pumped dry in the course of a
+few days.  Thus his skill as a pump-doctor soon became the marvel of the
+district.
+
+In elastic muscular vigour, Stephenson was now in his prime, and he still
+continued to be zealous in measuring his strength and agility with his
+fellow workmen.  The competitive element in his nature was always strong;
+and his success in these feats of rivalry was certainly remarkable.  Few,
+if any, could lift such weights, throw the hammer and putt the stone so
+far, or cover so great a space at a standing or running leap.  One day,
+between the engine hour and the rope-rolling hour, Kit Heppel challenged
+him to leap from one high wall to another, with a deep gap between.  To
+Heppel's surprise and dismay, George took the standing leap, and cleared
+the eleven feet at a bound.  Had his eye been less accurate, or his limbs
+less agile and sure, the feat must have cost him his life.
+
+But so full of redundant muscular vigour was he, that leaping, putting,
+or throwing the hammer were not enough for him.  He was also ambitious of
+riding on horseback, and, as he had not yet been promoted to an office
+enabling him to keep a horse of his own, he sometimes borrowed one of the
+gin-horses for a ride.  On one of these occasions, he brought the animal
+back reeking; when Tommy Mitcheson, the bank horse-keeper, a rough-spoken
+fellow, exclaimed to him: "Set such fellows as you on horseback, and
+you'll soon ride to the De'il."  But Tommy Mitcheson lived to tell the
+joke, and to confess that, after all, there had been a better issue to
+George's horsemanship than that which he predicted.
+
+Old Cree, the engine-wright at Killingworth High Pit, having been killed
+by an accident, George Stephenson was, in 1812, appointed engine-wright
+of the colliery at the salary of 100 pounds a year.  He was also allowed
+the use of a galloway to ride upon in his visits of inspection to the
+collieries leased by the "Grand Allies" in that neighbourhood.  The
+"Grand Allies" were a company of gentlemen, consisting of Sir Thomas
+Liddell (afterwards Lord Ravensworth), the Earl of Strathmore, and Mr.
+Stuart Wortley (afterwards Lord Wharncliffe), the lessees of the
+Killingworth collieries.  Having been informed of the merits of
+Stephenson, of his indefatigable industry, and the skill which he had
+displayed in the repairs of the pumping-engines, they readily acceded to
+Mr. Dodds' recommendation that he should be appointed the colliery
+engine-wright; and, as we shall afterwards find, they continued to honour
+him by distinguished marks of their approval.
+
+                     [Picture: Killingworth High Pit]
+
+                   [Picture: Glebe Farm House, Benton]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+THE STEPHENSONS AT KILLINGWORTH--EDUCATION AND SELF-EDUCATION OF FATHER
+AND SON.
+
+
+George Stephenson had now been diligently employed for several years in
+the work of self-improvement, and he experienced the usual results in
+increasing mental strength, capability, and skill.  Perhaps the secret of
+every man's best success is to be found in the alacrity and industry with
+which he takes advantage of the opportunities which present themselves
+for well-doing.  Our engineman was an eminent illustration of the
+importance of cultivating this habit of life.  Every spare moment was
+laid under contribution by him, either for the purpose of adding to his
+earnings, or to his knowledge.  He missed no opportunity of extending his
+observations, especially in his own department of work, ever aiming at
+improvement, and trying to turn all that he did know to useful practical
+account.
+
+He continued his attempts to solve the mystery of Perpetual Motion, and
+contrived several model machines with the object of embodying his ideas
+in a practical working shape.  He afterwards used to lament the time he
+had lost in these futile efforts, and said that if he had enjoyed the
+opportunity which most young men now have, of learning from books what
+previous experimenters had accomplished, he would have been spared much
+labour and mortification.  Not being acquainted with what other mechanics
+had done, he groped his way in pursuit of some idea originated by his own
+independent thinking and observation; and, when he had brought it into
+some definite form, lo! he found that his supposed invention had long
+been known and recorded in scientific books.  Often he thought he had hit
+upon discoveries, which he subsequently found were but old and exploded
+fallacies.  Yet his very struggle to overcome the difficulties which lay
+in his way, was of itself an education of the best sort.  By wrestling
+with them, he strengthened his judgment and sharpened his skill,
+stimulating and cultivating his inventiveness and mechanical ingenuity.
+Being very much in earnest, he was compelled to consider the subject of
+his special inquiry in all its relations; and thus he gradually acquired
+practical ability even through his very efforts after the impracticable.
+
+Many of his evenings were now spent in the society of John Wigham, whose
+father occupied the Glebe Farm at Benton, close at hand.  John was a fair
+penman and a sound arithmetician, and Stephenson sought his society
+chiefly for the purpose of improving himself in writing and "figures."
+Under Andrew Robertson, he had never quite mastered the Rule of Three,
+and it was only when Wigham took him in hand that he made much progress
+in the higher branches of arithmetic.  He generally took his slate with
+him to the Wighams' cottage, when he had his sums set, that he might work
+them out while tending his engine on the following day.  When too busy to
+be able to call upon Wigham, he sent the slate to have the former sums
+corrected and new ones set.  Sometimes also, at leisure moments, he was
+enabled to do a little "figuring" with chalk upon the sides of the
+coal-waggons.  So much patient perseverance could not but eventually
+succeed; and by dint of practice and study, Stephenson was enabled to
+master successively the various rules of arithmetic.
+
+John Wigham was of great use to his pupil in many ways.  He was a good
+talker, fond of argument, an extensive reader as country reading went in
+those days, and a very suggestive thinker.  Though his store of
+information might be comparatively small when measured with that of more
+highly-cultivated minds, much of it was entirely new to Stephenson, who
+regarded him as a very clever and ingenious person.  Wigham taught him to
+draw plans and sections; though in this branch Stephenson proved so apt
+that he soon surpassed his master.  A volume of 'Ferguson's Lectures on
+Mechanics,' which fell into their hands, was a great treasure to both the
+students.  One who remembers their evening occupations says he used to
+wonder what they meant by weighing the air and water in so odd a way.
+They were trying the specific gravities of objects; and the devices which
+they employed, the mechanical shifts to which they were put, were often
+of the rudest kind.  In these evening entertainments, the mechanical
+contrivances were supplied by Stephenson, whilst Wigham found the
+scientific rationale.  The opportunity thus afforded to the former of
+cultivating his mind by contact with one wiser than himself proved of
+great value, and in after-life Stephenson gratefully remembered the
+assistance which, when a humble workman, he had derived from John Wigham,
+the farmer's son.
+
+His leisure moments thus carefully improved, it will be inferred that
+Stephenson continued a sober man.  Though his notions were never extreme
+on this point, he was systematically temperate.  It appears that on the
+invitation of his master, he had, on one or two occasions, been induced
+to join him in a forenoon glass of ale in the public-house of the
+village.  But one day, about noon, when Dodds had got him as far as the
+public-house door, on his invitation to "come in and take a glass o'
+yel," Stephenson made a dead stop, and said, firmly, "No, sir, you must
+excuse me; I have made a resolution to drink no more at this time of
+day."  And he went back.  He desired to retain the character of a steady
+workman; and the instances of men about him who had made shipwreck of
+their character through intemperance, were then, as now, unhappily but
+too frequent.
+
+But another consideration besides his own self-improvement had already
+begun to exercise an important influence on his life.  This was the
+training and education of his son Robert, now growing up an active,
+intelligent boy, as full of fun and tricks as his father had been.  When
+a little fellow, scarcely able to reach so high as to put a clock-head on
+when placed upon the table, his father would make him mount a chair for
+the purpose; and to "help father" was the proudest work which the boy
+then, and ever after, could take part in.  When the little engine was set
+up at the Ochre Quarry to pump it dry, Robert was scarcely absent for an
+hour.  He watched the machine very eagerly when it was set to work; and
+he was very much annoyed at the fire burning away the grates.  The man
+who fired the engine was a sort of wag, and thinking to get a laugh at
+the boy, he said, "Those bars are getting varra bad, Robert; I think we
+main cut up some of that hard wood, and put it in instead."  "What would
+be the use of that, you fool?" said the boy quickly.  "You would no
+sooner have put them in than they would be burnt out again!"
+
+So soon as Robert was of proper age, his father sent him over to the
+road-side school at Long Benton, kept by Rutter, the parish clerk.  But
+the education which Rutter could give was of a very limited kind,
+scarcely extending beyond the primer and pothooks.  While working as a
+brakesman on the pit-head at Killingworth, the father had often bethought
+him of the obstructions he had himself encountered in life through his
+want of schooling; and he formed the noble determination that no labour,
+nor pains, nor self-denial on his part should be spared to furnish his
+son with the best education that it was in his power to bestow.
+
+              [Picture: Rutter's School House, Long Benton]
+
+It is true his earnings were comparatively small at that time.  He was
+still maintaining his infirm parents; and the cost of living continued
+excessive.  But he fell back upon his old expedient of working up his
+spare time in the evenings at home, or during the night shifts when it
+was his turn to tend the engine, in mending and making shoes, cleaning
+clocks and watches, making shoe-lasts for the shoe-makers of the
+neighbourhood, and cutting out the pitmen's clothes for their wives; and
+we have been told that to this day there are clothes worn at Killingworth
+made after "Geordy Steevie's cut."  To give his own words:--"In the
+earlier period of my career," said he, "when Robert was a little boy, I
+saw how deficient I was in education, and I made up my mind that he
+should not labour under the same defect, but that I would put him to a
+good school, and give him a liberal training.  I was, however, a poor
+man; and how do you think I managed?  I betook myself to mending my
+neighbours' clocks and watches at nights, after my daily labour was done,
+and thus I procured the means of educating my son." {52}
+
+Carrying out the resolution as to his boy's education, Robert was sent to
+Mr. Bruce's school in Percy Street, Newcastle, at Midsummer, 1815, when
+he was about twelve years old.  His father bought for him a donkey, on
+which he rode into Newcastle and back daily; and there are many still
+living who remember the little boy, dressed in his suit of homely grey
+stuff, cut out by his father, cantering along to school upon the "cuddy,"
+with his wallet of provisions for the day and his bag of books slung over
+his shoulder.
+
+When Robert went to Mr. Bruce's school, he was a shy, unpolished country
+lad, speaking the broad dialect of the pitmen; and the other boys would
+occasionally tease him, for the purpose of provoking an outburst of his
+Killingworth Doric.  As the shyness got rubbed off, his love of fun began
+to show itself, and he was found able enough to hold his own amongst the
+other boys.  As a scholar he was steady and diligent, and his master was
+accustomed to hold him up to the laggards of the school as an example of
+good conduct and industry.  But his progress, though satisfactory, was by
+no means extraordinary.  He used in after-life to pride himself on his
+achievements in mensuration, though another boy, John Taylor, beat him at
+arithmetic.  He also made considerable progress in mathematics; and in a
+letter written to the son of his teacher, many years after, he said, "It
+was to Mr. Bruce's tuition and methods of modelling the mind that I
+attribute much of my success as an engineer; for it was from him that I
+derived my taste for mathematical pursuits and the facility I possess of
+applying this kind of knowledge to practical purposes and modifying it
+according to circumstances."
+
+                   [Picture: Bruce's School, Newcastle]
+
+During the time Robert attended school at Newcastle, his father made the
+boy's education instrumental to his own.  Robert was accustomed to spend
+some of his spare time at the rooms of the Literary and Philosophical
+Institute; and when he went home in the evening, he would recount to his
+father the results of his reading.  Sometimes he was allowed to take with
+him to Killingworth a volume of the 'Repertory of Arts and Sciences,'
+which father and son studied together.  But many of the most valuable
+works belonging to the Newcastle Library were not lent out; these Robert
+was instructed to read and study, and bring away with him descriptions
+and sketches for his father's information.  His father also practised him
+in reading plans and drawings without reference to the written
+descriptions.  He used to observe that "A good plan should always explain
+itself;" and, placing a drawing of an engine or machine before the youth,
+would say, "There, now, describe that to me--the arrangement and the
+action."  Thus he taught him to read a drawing as easily as he would read
+a page of a book.  Both father and son profited by this excellent
+practice, which enabled them to apprehend with the greatest facility the
+details of even the most difficult and complicated mechanical drawing.
+
+While Robert went on with his lessons in the evenings, his father was
+usually occupied with his watch and clock cleaning; or in contriving
+models of pumping-engines; or endeavouring to embody in a tangible shape
+the mechanical inventions which he found described in the odd volumes on
+Mechanics which fell in his way.  This daily and unceasing example of
+industry and application, in the person of a loving and beloved father,
+imprinted itself deeply upon the boy's heart in characters never to be
+effaced.  A spirit of self-improvement was thus early and carefully
+planted and fostered in Robert's mind, which continued to influence him
+through life; and to the close of his career, he was proud to confess
+that if his professional success had been great, it was mainly to the
+example and training of his father that he owed it.
+
+Robert was not, however, exclusively devoted to study, but, like most
+boys full of animal spirits, he was very fond of fun and play, and
+sometimes of mischief.  Dr. Bruce relates that an old Killingworth
+labourer, when asked by Robert, on one of his last visits to Newcastle,
+if he remembered him, replied with emotion, "Ay, indeed!  Haven't I paid
+your head many a time when you came with your father's bait, for you were
+always a sad hempy?"
+
+The author had the pleasure, in the year 1854, of accompanying Robert
+Stephenson on a visit to his old home and haunts at Killingworth.  He had
+so often travelled the road upon his donkey to and from school, that
+every foot of it was familiar to him; and each turn in it served to
+recall to mind some incident of his boyish days.  His eyes glistened when
+he came in sight of Killingworth pit-head.  Pointing to a humble
+red-tiled house by the road-side at Benton, he said, "You see that
+house--that was Rutter's, where I learnt my A B C, and made a beginning
+of my school learning.  And there," pointing to a colliery chimney on the
+left, "there is Long Benton, where my father put up his first
+pumping-engine; and a great success it was.  And this humble clay-floored
+cottage you see here, is where my grandfather lived till the close of his
+life.  Many a time have I ridden straight into the house, mounted on my
+cuddy, and called upon grandfather to admire his points.  I remember the
+old man feeling the animal all over--he was then quite blind--after which
+he would dilate upon the shape of his ears, fetlocks, and quarters, and
+usually end by pronouncing him to be a 'real blood.'  I was a great
+favourite with the old man, who continued very fond of animals, and
+cheerful to the last; and I believe nothing gave him greater pleasure
+than a visit from me and my cuddy."
+
+On the way from Benton to High Killingworth, Mr. Stephenson pointed to a
+corner of the road where he had once played a boyish trick upon a
+Killingworth collier.  "Straker," said he, "was a great bully, a coarse,
+swearing fellow, and a perfect tyrant amongst the women and children.  He
+would go tearing into old Nanny the huxter's shop in the village, and
+demand in a savage voice, 'What's ye'r best ham the pund?'  'What's floor
+the hunder?'  'What d'ye ax for prime bacon?'--his questions often ending
+with the miserable order, accompanied with a tremendous oath, of 'Gie's a
+penny rrow (roll) an' a baubee herrin!'  The poor woman was usually set
+'all of a shake' by a visit from this fellow.  He was also a great
+boaster, and used to crow over the robbers whom he had put to flight;
+mere men in buckram, as everybody knew.  We boys," he continued,
+"believed him to be a great coward, and determined to play him a trick.
+Two other boys joined me in waylaying Straker one night at that corner,"
+pointing to it.  "We sprang out and called upon him, in as gruff voices
+as we could assume, to 'stand and deliver!'  He dropped down upon his
+knees in the dirt, declaring he was a poor man, with a sma' family,
+asking for 'mercy,' and imploring us, as 'gentlemen, for God's sake, t'
+let him a-be!'  We couldn't stand this any longer, and set up a shout of
+laughter.  Recognizing our boys' voices, he sprang to his feet and
+rattled out a volley of oaths; on which we cut through the hedge, and
+heard him shortly after swearing his way along the road to the
+yel-house."
+
+On another occasion, Robert played a series of tricks of a somewhat
+different character.  Like his father, he was very fond of reducing his
+scientific reading to practice; and after studying Franklin's description
+of the lightning experiment, he proceeded to expend his store of Saturday
+pennies in purchasing about half a mile of copper wire at a brazier's
+shop in Newcastle.  Having prepared his kite, he sent it up in the field
+opposite his father's door, and bringing the wire, insulated by means of
+a few feet of silk cord, over the backs of some of Farmer Wigham's cows,
+he soon had them skipping about the field in all directions with their
+tails up.  One day he had his kite flying at the cottage-door as his
+father's galloway was hanging by the bridle to the paling, waiting for
+the master to mount.  Bringing the end of the wire just over the pony's
+crupper, so smart an electric shock was given it, that the brute was
+almost knocked down.  At this juncture the father issued from the door,
+riding-whip in hand, and was witness to the scientific trick just played
+off upon his galloway.  "Ah! you mischievous scoondrel!" cried he to the
+boy, who ran off.  He inwardly chuckled with pride, nevertheless, at
+Robert's successful experiment. {57}
+
+                [Picture: Stephenson's Cottage, West Moor]
+
+At this time, and for many years after, Stephenson dwelt in a cottage
+standing by the side of the road leading from the West Moor colliery to
+Killingworth.  The railway from the West Moor Pit crosses this road close
+by the east end of the cottage.  The dwelling originally consisted of but
+one apartment on the ground-floor, with the garret over-head, to which
+access was obtained by means of a step-ladder.  But with his own hands
+Stephenson built an oven, and in the course of time he added rooms to the
+cottage, until it became a comfortable four-roomed dwelling, in which he
+lived as long as he remained at Killingworth.
+
+He continued as fond of birds and animals as ever, and seemed to have the
+power of attaching them to him in a remarkable degree.  He had a
+blackbird at Killingworth so fond of him that it would fly about the
+cottage, and on holding out his finger, would come and perch upon it.  A
+cage was built for "blackie" in the partition between the passage and the
+room, a square of glass forming its outer wall; and Robert used
+afterwards to take pleasure in describing the oddity of the bird,
+imitating the manner in which it would cock its head on his father's
+entering the house, and follow him with its eye into the inner apartment.
+
+Neighbours were accustomed to call at the cottage and have their clocks
+and watches set to rights when they went wrong.  One day, after looking
+at the works of a watch left by a pitman's wife, George handed it to his
+son; "Put her in the oven, Robert," said he, "for a quarter of an hour or
+so."  It seemed an odd way of repairing a watch; nevertheless, the watch
+was put into the oven, and at the end of the appointed time it was taken
+out, going all right.  The wheels had merely got clogged by the oil
+congealed by the cold; which at once explains the rationale of the remedy
+adopted.
+
+There was a little garden attached to the cottage, in which, while a
+workman, Stephenson took a pride in growing gigantic leeks and astounding
+cabbages.  There was great competition amongst the villagers in the
+growth of vegetables, all of whom he excelled, excepting one of his
+neighbours, whose cabbages sometimes outshone his.  In the protection of
+his garden-crops from the ravages of the birds, he invented a strange
+sort of "fley-craw," which moved its arms with the wind; and he fastened
+his garden-door by means of a piece of ingenious mechanism, so that no
+one but himself could enter it.  His cottage was quite a curiosity-shop
+of models of engines, self-acting planes, and perpetual-motion machines.
+The last-named contrivances, however, were only unsuccessful attempts to
+solve a problem which had effectually baffled hundreds of preceding
+inventors.  His odd and eccentric contrivances often excited great wonder
+amongst the Killingworth villagers.  He won the women's admiration by
+connecting their cradles with the smoke-jack, and making them
+self-acting.  Then he astonished the pitmen by attaching an alarum to the
+clock of the watchman whose duty it was to call them betimes in the
+morning.  He also contrived a wonderful lamp which burned under water,
+with which he was afterwards wont to amuse the Brandling family at
+Gosforth,--going into the fish-pond at night, lamp in hand, attracting
+and catching the fish, which rushed wildly towards the flame.
+
+Dr. Bruce tells of a competition which Stephenson had with the joiner at
+Killingworth, as to which of them could make the best shoe-last; and when
+the former had done his work, either for the humour of the thing, or to
+secure fair play from the appointed judge, he took it to the Morrisons in
+Newcastle, and got them to put their stamp upon it.  So that it is
+possible the Killingworth brakesman, afterwards the inventor of the
+safety lamp and the originator of the railway system, and John Morrison,
+the last-maker, afterwards the translator of the Scriptures into the
+Chinese language, may have confronted each other in solemn contemplation
+over the successful last, which won the verdict coveted by its maker.
+
+Sometimes he would endeavour to impart to his fellow-workmen the results
+of his scientific reading.  Everything that he learnt from books was so
+new and so wonderful to him, that he regarded the facts he drew from them
+in the light of discoveries, as if they had been made but yesterday.
+Once he tried to explain to some of the pitmen how the earth was round,
+and kept turning round.  But his auditors flatly declared the thing to be
+impossible, as it was clear that "at the bottom side they must fall off!"
+"Ah!" said George, "you don't quite understand it yet."  His son Robert
+also early endeavoured to communicate to others the information which he
+had gathered at school; and Dr. Bruce has related that, when visiting
+Killingworth on one occasion, he found him engaged in teaching algebra to
+such of the pitmen's boys as would become his pupils.
+
+                          [Picture: The Sundial]
+
+While Robert was still at school, his father proposed to him during the
+holidays that he should construct a sun-dial, to be placed over their
+cottage-door at West Moor.  "I expostulated with him at first," said
+Robert, "that I had not learnt sufficient astronomy and mathematics to
+enable me to make the necessary calculations.  But he would have no
+denial.  'The thing is to be done,' said he; 'so just set about it at
+once.'  Well; we got a 'Ferguson's Astronomy,' and studied the subject
+together.  Many a sore head I had while making the necessary calculations
+to adapt the dial to the latitude of Killingworth.  But at length it was
+fairly drawn out on paper, and then my father got a stone, and we hewed,
+and carved, and polished it, until we made a very respectable dial of it;
+and there it is, you see," pointing to it over the cottage-door, "still
+quietly numbering the hours when the sun is shining.  I assure you, not a
+little was thought of that piece of work by the pitmen when it was put
+up, and began to tell its tale of time."  The date carved upon the dial
+is "August 11th, MDCCCXVI."  Both father and son were in after-life very
+proud of the joint production.  Many years after, George took a party of
+savans, when attending the meeting of the British Association at
+Newcastle, over to Killingworth to see the pits, and he did not fail to
+direct their attention to the sun-dial; and Robert, on the last visit
+which he made to the place, a short time before his death, took a friend
+into the cottage, and pointed out to him the very desk, still there, at
+which he had sat while making his calculations of the latitude of
+Killingworth.
+
+From the time of his appointment as engineer at the Killingworth Pit,
+George Stephenson was in a measure relieved from the daily routine of
+manual labour, having, as we have seen, advanced himself to the grade of
+a higher class workman.  But he had not ceased to be a worker, though he
+employed his industry in a different way.  It might, indeed, be inferred
+that he had now the command of greater leisure; but his spare hours were
+as much as ever given to work, either necessary or self-imposed.  So far
+as regarded his social position, he had already reached the summit of his
+ambition; and when he had got his hundred a year, and his dun galloway to
+ride on, he said he never wanted to be any higher.  When Robert Whetherly
+offered to give him an old gig, his travelling having so much increased
+of late, he accepted it with great reluctance, observing, that he should
+be ashamed to get into it, "people would think him so proud."
+
+When the High Pit had been sunk, and the coal was ready for working,
+Stephenson erected his first winding-engine to draw the coals out of the
+pit, and also a pumping-engine for Long Benton Colliery, both of which
+proved quite successful.  Amongst other works of this time, he projected
+and laid down a self-acting incline along the declivity which fell
+towards the coal-loading place near Willington, where he had officiated
+as brakesman; and he so arranged it, that the full waggons descending
+drew the empty waggons up the railroad.  This was one of the first
+self-acting inclines laid down in the district.
+
+Stephenson had now much better opportunities than hitherto for improving
+himself in mechanics.  His familiar acquaintance with the steam-engine
+proved of great value to him.  His shrewd insight, and his intimate
+practical acquaintance with its mechanism, enabled him to apprehend, as
+if by intuition, its most abstruse and difficult combinations.  The
+practical study which he had given to it when a workman, and the patient
+manner in which he had groped his way through all the details of the
+machine, gave him the power of a master in dealing with it as applied to
+colliery purposes.
+
+Sir Thomas Liddell was frequently about the works, and took pleasure in
+giving every encouragement to the engine-wright in his efforts after
+improvement.  The subject of the locomotive engine was already closely
+occupying Stephenson's attention; although it was still regarded as a
+curious and costly toy, of comparatively little real use.  But he had at
+an early period detected its practical value, and formed an adequate
+conception of the might which as yet slumbered within it; and he now bent
+his entire faculties to the development of its extraordinary powers.
+
+               [Picture: Colliers' Cottages at Long Benton]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+EARLY HISTORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE--GEORGE STEPHENSON BEGINS ITS
+IMPROVEMENT.
+
+
+The rapid increase in the coal-trade of the Tyne about the beginning of
+the present century had the effect of stimulating the ingenuity of
+mechanics, and encouraging them to devise improved methods of
+transporting the coal from the pits to the shipping places.  From our
+introductory chapter, it will have been observed that the improvements
+which had thus far been effected were confined almost entirely to the
+road.  The railway waggons still continued to be drawn by horses.  By
+improving and flattening the tramway, considerable economy in horse-power
+had indeed been secured; but unless some more effective method of
+mechanical traction could be devised, it was clear that railway
+improvement had almost reached its limits.
+
+Many expedients had been tried with this object.  One of the earliest was
+that of hoisting sails upon the waggons, and driving them along the
+waggon-way, as a ship is driven through the water by the wind.  This
+method seems to have been employed by Sir Humphrey Mackworth, an
+ingenious coal-miner at Neath in Glamorganshire, about the end of the
+seventeenth century.
+
+After having been lost sight of for more than a century, the same plan of
+impelling carriages was revived by Richard Lovell Edgworth, with the
+addition of a portable railway, since revived also, in Boydell's patent.
+But although Mr. Edgworth devoted himself to the subject for many years,
+he failed in securing the adoption of his sailing carriage.  It is indeed
+quite clear that a power so uncertain as wind could never be relied on
+for ordinary traffic, and Mr. Edgworth's project was consequently left to
+repose in the limbo of the Patent Office, with thousands of other equally
+useless though ingenious contrivances.
+
+A much more favourite scheme was the application of steam power for the
+purpose of carriage traction.  Savery, the inventor of the working
+steam-engine, was the first to propose its employment to propel vehicles
+along the common roads; and in 1759 Dr. Robison, then a young man
+studying at Glasgow College, threw out the same idea to his friend James
+Watt; but the scheme was not matured.
+
+                        [Picture: Cugnot's Engine]
+
+The first locomotive steam-carriage was built at Paris by the French
+engineer Cugnot, a native of Lorraine.  It is said to have been invented
+for the purpose of dragging cannon into the field independent of horses.
+The original model of this machine was made in 1763.  Count Saxe was so
+much pleased with it, that on his recommendation a full-sized engine was
+constructed at the cost of the French monarch; and in 1769 it was tried
+in the presence of the Duc de Choiseul, Minister of War, General
+Gribeauval, and other officers.  At one of the experiments it ran with
+such force as to knock down a wall in its way.  But the new vehicle,
+loaded with four persons, could not travel faster than two and a half
+miles an hour.  The boiler was insufficient in size, and it could only
+work for about fifteen minutes; after which it was necessary to wait
+until the steam had again risen to a sufficient pressure.  To remedy this
+defect, Cugnot constructed a new machine in 1770, the working of which
+was more satisfactory.  It was composed of two parts--the fore part
+consisting of a small steam-engine, formed of a round copper boiler, with
+a furnace inside, provided with two small chimneys and two single-acting
+brass steam cylinders, whose pistons acted alternately upon the single
+driving-wheel.  The hinder part consisted merely of a rude carriage on
+two wheels to carry the load, furnished with a seat in front for the
+conductor.  This engine was tried in the streets of Paris; but when
+passing near where the Madeleine now stands, it overbalanced itself on
+turning a corner, and fell over with a crash; after which, its employment
+being thought dangerous, it was locked up in the arsenal to prevent
+further mischief.  The machine is, however, still to be seen in the
+collection of the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers at Paris.  It has
+very much the look of a long brewer's cart, with the addition of the
+circular boiler hung on at one end.  Rough though it looks, it was a
+highly creditable piece of work, considering the period at which it was
+executed; and as the first actual machine constructed for the purpose of
+travelling on ordinary roads by the power of steam, it is certainly a
+most curious and interesting mechanical relic, well worthy of
+preservation.
+
+But though Cugnot's road locomotive remained locked up from public sight,
+the subject was not dead; for we find inventors employing themselves from
+time to time in attempting to solve the problem of steam locomotion in
+places far remote from Paris.  The idea had taken root in the minds of
+inventors, and was striving to grow into a reality.  Thus Oliver Evans,
+the American, invented a steam carriage in 1772 to travel on common
+roads; in 1787 he obtained from the State of Maryland an exclusive right
+to make and use steam-carriages, but his invention never came into use.
+Then, in 1784, William Symington, one of the early inventors of the
+steamboat, was similarly occupied in Scotland in endeavouring to develop
+the latent powers of the steam-carriage.  He had a working model of one
+constructed, which he exhibited in 1786 to the professors of Edinburgh
+College; but the state of the Scotch roads was then so bad that he found
+it impracticable to proceed further with his scheme, which he shortly
+after abandoned in favour of steam navigation.
+
+                  [Picture: Section of Murdock's Model]
+
+The same year in which Symington was occupied upon his steam-carriage,
+William Murdock, the friend and assistant of Watt, constructed his model
+of a locomotive at the opposite end of the island--at Redruth in
+Cornwall.  His model was of small dimensions, standing little more than a
+foot high; and it was until recently in the possession of the son of the
+inventor, at whose house we saw it a few years ago.  The annexed section
+will give an idea of the arrangements of this machine.
+
+It acted on the high-pressure principle, and, like Cugnot's engine, ran
+upon three wheels, the boiler being heated by a spirit-lamp.  Small
+though the machine was, it went so fast on one occasion that it fairly
+outran its inventor.  It seems that one night after returning from his
+duties at the Redruth mine, Murdock determined to try the working of his
+model locomotive.  For this purpose he had recourse to the walk leading
+to the church, about a mile from the town.  It was rather narrow, and was
+bounded on each side by high hedges.  The night was dark, and Murdock set
+out alone to try his experiment.  Having lit his lamp, the water boiled
+speedily, and off started the engine with the inventor after it.  He soon
+heard distant shouts of terror.  It was too dark to perceive objects; but
+he found, on following up the machine, that the cries proceeded from the
+worthy pastor of the parish, who, going towards the town, was met on this
+lonely road by the hissing and fiery little monster, which he
+subsequently declared he had taken to be the Evil One _in propria
+persona_.  No further steps were, however, taken by Murdock to embody his
+idea of a locomotive carriage in a more practical form.
+
+The idea was next taken up by Murdock's pupil, Richard Trevithick, who
+resolved on building a steam-carriage adapted for common roads as well as
+railways.  He took out a patent to secure the right of his invention in
+1802.  Andrew Vivian, his cousin, joined with him in the patent--Vivian
+finding the money, and Trevithick the brains.  The steam-carriage built
+on this patent presented the appearance of an ordinary stage-coach on
+four wheels.  The engine had one horizontal cylinder, which, together
+with the boiler and the furnace-box, was placed in the rear of the hind
+axle.  The motion of the piston was transmitted to a separate crank-axle,
+from which, through the medium of spur-gear, the axle of the
+driving-wheel (which was mounted with a fly-wheel) derived its motion.
+The steam-cocks and the force-pump, as also the bellows used for the
+purpose of quickening combustion in the furnace, were worked off the same
+crank-axle.
+
+John Petherick, of Camborne, has related that he remembers this first
+English steam-coach passing along the principal street of his native
+town.  Considerable difficulty was experienced in keeping up the pressure
+of steam; but when there was pressure enough, Trevithick would call upon
+the people to "jump up," so as to create a load upon the engine.  It was
+soon covered with men attracted by the novelty, nor did their number seem
+to make any difference in the speed of the engine so long as there was
+steam enough; but it was constantly running short, and the horizontal
+bellows failed to keep it up.
+
+This road-locomotive of Trevithick's was one of the first high-pressure
+working engines constructed on the principle of moving a piston by the
+elasticity of steam against the pressure only of the atmosphere.  Such an
+engine had been described by Leopold, though in his apparatus it was
+proposed that the pressure should act only on one side of the piston.  In
+Trevithick's engine the piston was not only raised, but was also
+depressed by the action of the steam, being in this respect an entirely
+original invention, and of great merit.  The steam was admitted from the
+boiler under the piston moving in a cylinder, impelling it upward.  When
+the motion had reached its limit, the communication between the piston
+and the under side was shut off, and the steam allowed to escape into the
+atmosphere.  A passage being then opened between the boiler and the upper
+side of the piston, which was pressed downwards, the steam was again
+allowed to escape as before.  Thus the power of the engine was equal to
+the difference between the pressure of the atmosphere and the elasticity
+of the steam in the boiler.
+
+This steam-carriage excited considerable interest in the remote district
+near the Land's End where it had been erected.  Being so far removed from
+the great movements and enterprise of the commercial world, Trevithick
+and Vivian determined upon exhibiting their machine in the metropolis.
+They accordingly set out with it to Plymouth, whence it was conveyed by
+sea to London.
+
+The carriage safely reached the metropolis, and excited much public
+interest.  It also attracted the notice of scientific men, amongst others
+of Mr. Davies Gilbert, President of the Royal Society, and Sir Humphry
+Davy, both Cornishmen like Trevithick, who went to see the private
+performances of the engine, and were greatly pleased with it.  Writing to
+a Cornish friend shortly after its arrival in town, Sir Humphry said: "I
+shall soon hope to hear that the roads of England are the haunts of
+Captain Trevithick's dragons--a characteristic name."  The machine was
+afterwards publicly exhibited in an enclosed piece of ground near Euston
+Square, where the London and North-Western Station now stands, and it
+dragged behind it a wheel-carriage full of passengers.  On the second day
+of the performance, crowds flocked to see it; but Trevithick, in one of
+his odd freaks, shut up the place, and shortly after removed the engine.
+It is, however, probable that the inventor came to the conclusion that
+the state of the roads at that time was such as to preclude its coming
+into general use for purposes of ordinary traffic.
+
+While the steam-carriage was being exhibited, a gentleman was laying
+heavy wagers as to the weight which could be hauled by a single horse on
+the Wandsworth and Croydon iron tramway; and the number and weight of
+waggons drawn by the horse were something surprising.  Trevithick very
+probably put the two things together--the steam-horse and the
+iron-way--and kept the performance in mind when he proceeded to construct
+his second or railway locomotive.  The idea was not, however, entirely
+new to him; for, although his first engine had been constructed with a
+view to its employment upon common roads, the specification of his patent
+distinctly alludes to the application of his engine to travelling on
+railroads.  Having been employed at the iron-works of Pen-y-darran, in
+South Wales, to erect a forge engine for the Company, a convenient
+opportunity presented itself, on the completion of this work, for
+carrying out his design of a locomotive to haul the minerals along the
+Pen-y-darran tramway.  Such an engine was erected by him in 1803, in the
+blacksmiths' shop at the Company's works, and it was finished and ready
+for trial before the end of the year.
+
+The boiler of this second engine was cylindrical in form, flat at the
+ends, and made of wrought iron.  The furnace and flue were inside the
+boiler, within which the single cylinder, eight inches in diameter and
+four feet six inches stroke, was placed horizontally.  As in the first
+engine, the motion of the wheels was produced by spur gear, to which was
+also added a fly-wheel on one side, to secure a rotatory motion in the
+crank at the end of each stroke of the piston in the single cylinder.
+The waste steam was thrown into the chimney through a tube inserted into
+it at right angles; but it will be obvious that this arrangement was not
+calculated to produce any result in the way of a steam-blast in the
+chimney.  In fact, the waste steam seems to have been turned into the
+chimney in order to get rid of the nuisance caused by throwing the jet
+directly into the air.  Trevithick was here hovering on the verge of a
+great discovery; but that he was not aware of the action of the blast in
+contributing to increase the draught and thus quicken combustion, is
+clear from the fact that he employed bellows for this special purpose;
+and at a much later date (1815) he took out a patent which included a
+method of urging the fire by means of fanners. {70}
+
+            [Picture: Trevithick's High Pressure Tram-Engine]
+
+At the first trial of this engine it succeeded in dragging after it
+several waggons, containing ten tons of bar-iron, at the rate of about
+five miles an hour.  Rees Jones, who worked at the fitting of the engine,
+and remembers its performances, says, "She was used for bringing down
+metal from the furnaces to the Old Forge.  She worked very well; but
+frequently, from her weight, broke the tram-plates and the hooks between
+the trams.  After working for some time in this way, she took a load of
+iron from Pen-y-darran down the Basin-road, upon which road she was
+intended to work.  On the journey she broke a great many of the
+tram-plates, and before reaching the basin ran off the road, and had to
+be brought back to Pen-y-darran by horses.  The engine was never after
+used as a locomotive." {71}
+
+It seems to have been felt that unless the road were entirely
+reconstructed so as to bear the heavy weight of the locomotive--so much
+greater than that of the tram-waggons, to carry which the original rails
+had been laid down--the regular employment of Trevithick's high-pressure
+tram-engine was altogether impracticable; and as the owners of the works
+were not prepared to incur so serious a cost, it was determined to take
+the locomotive off the road, and employ it as an engine for other
+purposes.  It was accordingly dismounted, and used for some time after as
+a pumping-engine, for which purpose it was found well adapted.
+Trevithick himself seems from this time to have taken no further steps to
+bring the locomotive into general use.  We find him, shortly after,
+engaged upon schemes of a more promising character, abandoning the engine
+to other mechanical inventors, though little improvement was made in it
+for several years.  An imaginary difficulty seems to have tended, amongst
+other obstacles, to prevent its adoption; viz., the idea that, if a heavy
+weight were placed behind the engine, the "grip" or "bite" of its smooth
+wheels upon the equally smooth iron rail, must necessarily be so slight
+that they would whirl round upon it, and, consequently, that the machine
+would not make progress.  Hence Trevithick, in his patent, provided that
+the periphery of the driving-wheels should be made rough by the
+projection of bolts or cross-grooves, so that the adhesion of the wheels
+to the road might be secured.
+
+Following up the presumed necessity for a more effectual adhesion between
+the wheels and the rails, Mr. Blenkinsop of Leeds, in 1811, took out a
+patent for a racked or tooth-rail laid along one side of the road, into
+which the toothed-wheel of his locomotive worked as pinions work into a
+rack.  The boiler of his engine was supported by a carriage with four
+wheels without teeth, and rested immediately upon the axles.  These
+wheels were entirely independent of the working parts of the engine, and
+therefore merely supported its weight upon the rails, the progress being
+effected by means of the cogged-wheel working into the cogged-rail.  The
+engine had two cylinders, instead of one as in Trevithick's engine.  The
+invention of the double cylinder was due to Matthew Murray, of Leeds, one
+of the best mechanical engineers of his time; Mr. Blenkinsop, who was not
+a mechanic, having consulted him as to all the practical arrangements.
+The connecting-rods gave the motion to two pinions by cranks at right
+angles to each other; these pinions communicating the motion to the wheel
+which worked into the cogged-rail.
+
+Mr. Blenkinsop's engines began running on the railway from the Middleton
+Collieries to Leeds, about 3.5 miles, on the 12th of August, 1812.  They
+continued for many years to be one of the principal curiosities of the
+place, and were visited by strangers from all parts.  In 1816, the Grand
+Duke Nicholas (afterwards Emperor) of Russia observed the working of
+Blenkinsop's locomotive with curious interest and admiration.  An engine
+dragged as many as thirty coal-waggons at a speed of about 3.25 miles per
+hour.  These engines continued for many years to be thus employed in the
+haulage of coal, and furnished the first instance of the regular
+employment of locomotive power for commercial purposes.
+
+The Messrs. Chapman, of Newcastle, in 1812, endeavoured to overcome the
+same fictitious difficulty of the want of adhesion between the wheel and
+the rail, by patenting a locomotive to work along the road by means of a
+chain stretched from one end of it to the other.  This chain was passed
+once round a grooved barrel-wheel under the centre of the engine: so
+that, when the wheel turned, the locomotive, as it were, dragged itself
+along the railway.  An engine, constructed after this plan, was tried on
+the Heaton Railway, near Newcastle; but it was so clumsy in its action,
+there was so great a loss of power by friction, and it was found to be so
+expensive and difficult to keep in repair, that it was soon abandoned.
+Another remarkable expedient was adopted by Mr. Brunton, of the Butterley
+Works, Derbyshire, who, in 1813, patented his Mechanical Traveller, to go
+_upon legs_ working alternately like those of a horse. {73}  But this
+engine never got beyond the experimental state, for, at its very first
+trial, the driver, to make sure of a good start, overloaded the
+safety-valve, when the boiler burst and killed a number of the
+bystanders, wounding many more.  These, and other contrivances with the
+same object, projected about the same time, show that invention was
+actively at work, and that many minds were anxiously labouring to solve
+the important problem of locomotive traction upon railways.
+
+But the difficulties contended with by these early inventors, and the
+step-by-step progress which they made, will probably be best illustrated
+by the experiments conducted by Mr. Blackett, of Wylam, which are all the
+more worthy of notice, as the persevering efforts of this gentleman in a
+great measure paved the way for the labours of George Stephenson, who,
+shortly after, took up the question of steam locomotion, and brought it
+to a successful issue.
+
+The Wylam waggon-way is one of the oldest in the north of England.  Down
+to the year 1807 it was formed of wooden spars or rails, laid down
+between the colliery at Wylam--where old Robert Stephenson had
+worked--and the village of Lemington, some four miles down the Tyne,
+where the coals were loaded into keels or barges, and floated down past
+Newcastle, to be shipped for London.  Each chaldron-waggon had a man in
+charge of it, and was originally drawn by one horse.  The rate at which
+the waggons were hauled was so slow that only two journeys were performed
+by each man and horse in one day, and three on the day following.  This
+primitive waggon-way passed, as before stated, close in front of the
+cottage in which George Stephenson was born; and one of the earliest
+sights which met his infant eyes was this wooden tramroad worked by
+horses.
+
+Mr. Blackett was the first colliery owner in the North who took an active
+interest in the locomotive.  Having formed the acquaintance of Trevithick
+in London, and inspected the performances of his engine, he determined to
+repeat the Pen-y-darran experiment upon the Wylam waggon-way.  He
+accordingly obtained from Trevithick, in October, 1804, a plan of his
+engine, provided with "friction-wheels," and employed Mr. John Whinfield,
+of Pipewellgate, Gateshead, to construct it at his foundry there.  The
+engine was constructed under the superintendence of one John Steele, an
+ingenious mechanic who had been in Wales, and worked under Trevithick in
+fitting the engine at Pen-y-darran.  When the Gateshead locomotive was
+finished, a temporary way was laid down in the works, on which it was run
+backwards and forwards many times.  For some reason, however--it is said
+because the engine was deemed too light for drawing the coal-trains--it
+never left the works, but was dismounted from the wheels, and set to blow
+the cupola of the foundry, in which service it long continued to be
+employed.
+
+Several years elapsed before Mr. Blackett took any further steps to carry
+out his idea.  The final abandonment of Trevithick's locomotive at
+Pen-y-darran perhaps contributed to deter him from proceeding further;
+but he had the wooden tramway taken up in 1808, and a plate-way of
+cast-iron laid down instead--a single line furnished with sidings to
+enable the laden waggons to pass the empty ones.  The new iron road
+proved so much smoother than the old wooden one, that a single horse,
+instead of drawing one, was now enabled to draw two, or even three, laden
+waggons.
+
+Encouraged by the success of Mr. Blenkinsop's experiment at Leeds, Mr.
+Blackett determined to follow his example; and in 1812 he ordered a
+second engine, to work with a toothed driving-wheel upon a rack-rail.
+This locomotive was constructed by Thomas Waters, of Gateshead, under the
+superintendence of Jonathan Foster, Mr. Blackett's principal
+engine-wright.  It was a combination of Trevithick's and Blenkinsop's
+engines; but it was of a more awkward construction than either.  The
+boiler was of cast-iron.  The engine was provided with a single cylinder
+six inches in diameter, with a fly-wheel working at one side to carry the
+crank over the dead points.  Jonathan Foster described it to the author
+in 1854, as "a strange machine, with lots of pumps, cog-wheels, and
+plugs, requiring constant attention while at work."  The weight of the
+whole was about six tons.
+
+When finished, it was conveyed to Wylam on a waggon, and there mounted
+upon a wooden frame supported by four pairs of wheels, which had been
+constructed for its reception.  A barrel of water, placed on another
+frame upon wheels, was attached to it as a tender.  After a great deal of
+labour, the cumbrous machine was got upon the road.  At first it would
+not move an inch.  Its maker, Tommy Waters, became impatient, and at
+length enraged, and taking hold of the lever of the safety valve,
+declared in his desperation, that "either _she_ or _he_ should go."  At
+length the machinery was set in motion, on which, as Jonathan Foster
+described to the author "she flew all to pieces, and it was the biggest
+wonder i' the world that we were not all blewn up."  The incompetent and
+useless engine was declared to be a failure; it was shortly after
+dismounted and sold; and Mr. Blackett's praiseworthy efforts thus far
+proved in vain.
+
+He was still, however, desirous of testing the practicability of
+employing locomotive power in working the coal down to Lemington, and he
+determined on another trial.  He accordingly directed his engine-wright
+to proceed with the building of a third engine in the Wylam workshops.
+This new locomotive had a single 8-inch cylinder, was provided with a
+fly-wheel like its predecessor, and the driving-wheel was cogged on one
+side to enable it to travel in the rack-rail laid along the road.  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.  It was also very apt to get off the rack-rail, and
+then it stood still.  The driver was one day asked how he got on?  "Get
+on?" said he, "we don't get on; we only get off!"  On such occasions,
+horses had to be sent to drag the waggons as before, and others to haul
+the engine back to the work-shops.  It was constantly getting out of
+order; its plugs, pumps, or cranks, got wrong; it was under repair as
+often as at work; at length it became so cranky that the horses were
+usually sent out after it to drag it when it gave up; and the workmen
+generally declared it to be a "perfect plague."  Mr. Blackett did not
+obtain credit amongst his neighbours for these experiments.  Many laughed
+at his machines, regarding them only in the light of
+crotchets,--frequently quoting the proverb that "a fool and his money are
+soon parted."  Others regarded them as absurd innovations on the
+established method of hauling coal; and pronounced that they would "never
+answer."
+
+Notwithstanding, however, the comparative failure of this second
+locomotive, Mr. Blackett persevered with his experiments.  He was
+zealously assisted by Jonathan Foster the engine-wright, and William
+Hedley, the viewer of the colliery, a highly ingenious person, who proved
+of great use in carrying out the experiments to a successful issue.  One
+of the chief causes of failure being the rack-rail, the idea occurred to
+Mr. Hedley that it might be possible to secure adhesion enough between
+the wheel and the rail by the mere weight of the engine, and he proceeded
+to make a series of experiments for the purpose of determining this
+problem.  He had a frame placed on four wheels, and fitted up with
+windlasses attached by gearing to the several wheels.  The frame having
+been properly weighted, six men were set to work the windlasses; when it
+was found that the adhesion of the smooth wheels on the smooth rails was
+quite sufficient to enable them to propel the machine without slipping.
+Having found the proportion which the power bore to the weight, he
+demonstrated by successive experiments that the weight of the engine
+would of itself produce sufficient adhesion to enable it to draw upon a
+smooth railroad the requisite number of waggons in all kinds of weather.
+And thus was the fallacy which had heretofore prevailed on this subject
+completely exploded, and it was satisfactorily proved that rack-rails,
+toothed wheels, endless chains, and legs, were alike unnecessary for the
+efficient traction of loaded waggons upon a moderately level road.
+
+From this time forward considerably less difficulty was experienced in
+working the coal trains upon the Wylam tramroad.  At length the rack-rail
+was dispensed with.  The road was laid with heavier rails; the working of
+the old engine was improved; and a new engine was shortly after built and
+placed upon the road, still on eight wheels, driven by seven rack-wheels
+working inside them--with a wrought-iron boiler through which the flue
+was returned so as largely to increase the heating surface, and thus give
+increased power to the engine.
+
+                     [Picture: Improved Wylam Engine]
+
+As may readily be imagined, the jets of steam from the piston, blowing
+off into the air at high pressure while the engine was in motion, caused
+considerable annoyance to horses passing along the Wylam road, at that
+time a public highway.  The nuisance was felt to be almost intolerable,
+and a neighbouring gentleman threatened to have it put down.  To diminish
+the noise as much as possible, Mr. Blackett gave orders that so soon as
+any horse, or horses, came in sight, the locomotive was to be stopped,
+and the frightful blast of the engine thus suspended until the passing
+animals had got out of hearing.  Much interruption was thus caused to the
+working of the railway, and it excited considerable dissatisfaction
+amongst the workmen.  The following plan was adopted to abate the
+nuisance: a reservoir was provided immediately behind the chimney (as
+shown in the preceding cut) into which the waste steam was thrown after
+it had performed its office in the cylinder; and from this reservoir, the
+steam gradually escaped into the atmosphere without noise.
+
+While Mr. Blackett was thus experimenting and building locomotives at
+Wylam, George Stephenson was anxiously studying the same subject at
+Killingworth.  He was no sooner appointed engine-wright of the collieries
+than his attention was directed to the means of more economically hauling
+the coal from the pits to the river-side.  We have seen that one of the
+first important improvements which he made, after being placed in charge
+of the colliery machinery, was to apply the surplus power of a pumping
+steam-engine, fixed underground, to drawing the coals out of the deeper
+workings of the Killingworth mines,--by which he succeeded in effecting a
+large reduction in the expenditure on manual and horse labour.
+
+The coals, when brought above ground, had next to be laboriously dragged
+by horses to the shipping staiths on the Tyne, several miles distant.
+The adoption of a tramroad, it is true, had tended to facilitate their
+transit.  Nevertheless the haulage was both tedious and costly.  With the
+view of economising labour, Stephenson laid down inclined planes where
+the nature of the ground would admit of this expedient.  Thus, a train of
+full waggons let down the incline by means of a rope running over wheels
+laid along the tramroad, the other end of which was attached to a train
+of empty waggons placed at the bottom of the parallel road on the same
+incline, dragged them up by the simple power of gravity.  But this
+applied only to a comparatively small part of the road.  An economical
+method of working the coal trains, instead of by horses,--the keep of
+which was at that time very costly, from the high price of corn,--was
+still a great desideratum; and the best practical minds in the collieries
+were actively engaged in the attempt to solve the problem.
+
+In the first place Stephenson resolved to make himself thoroughly
+acquainted with what had already been done.  Mr. Blackett's engines were
+working daily at Wylam, past the cottage where he had been born; and
+thither he frequently went to inspect the improvements made by Mr.
+Blackett from time to time both in the locomotive and in the plateway
+along which it worked.  Jonathan Foster informed us that, after one of
+these visits, Stephenson declared to him his conviction that a much more
+effective engine might be made, that should work more steadily and draw
+the load more effectively.
+
+He had also the advantage, about the same time, of seeing one of
+Blenkinsop's Leeds engines, which was placed on the tramway leading from
+the collieries of Kenton and Coxlodge, on the 2nd September, 1813.  This
+locomotive drew sixteen chaldron waggons containing an aggregate weight
+of seventy tons, at the rate of about three miles an hour.  George
+Stephenson and several of the Killingworth men were amongst the crowd of
+spectators that day; and after examining the engine and observing its
+performances, he observed to his companions, that "he thought he could
+make a better engine than that, to go upon legs."  Probably he had heard
+of the invention of Brunton, whose patent had by this time been
+published, and proved the subject of much curious speculation in the
+colliery districts.  Certain it is, that, shortly after the inspection of
+the Coxlodge engine, he contemplated the construction of a new
+locomotive, which was to surpass all that had preceded it.  He observed
+that those engines which had been constructed up to this time, however
+ingenious in their arrangements, had proved practical failures.  Mr.
+Blackett's was as yet both clumsy and expensive.  Chapman's had been
+removed from the Heaton tramway in 1812, and was regarded as a total
+failure.  And the Blenkinsop engine at Coxlodge was found very unsteady
+and costly in its working; besides, it pulled the rails to pieces, the
+entire strain being upon the rack-rail on one side of the road.  The
+boiler, however, having soon after blown up, there was an end of that
+engine; and the colliery owners did not feel encouraged to try any
+further experiment.
+
+An efficient and economical working locomotive, therefore, still remained
+to be invented; and to accomplish this object Mr. Stephenson now applied
+himself.  Profiting by what his predecessors had done, warned by their
+failures and encouraged by their partial successes, he commenced his
+labours.  There was still wanting the man who should accomplish for the
+locomotive what James Watt had done for the steam-engine, and combine in
+a complete form the best points in the separate plans of others,
+embodying with them such original inventions and adaptations of his own
+as to entitle him to the merit of inventing the working locomotive, in
+the same manner as James Watt is to be regarded as the inventor of the
+working condensing-engine.  This was the great work upon which George
+Stephenson now entered, though probably without any adequate idea of the
+ultimate importance of his labours to society and civilization.
+
+He proceeded to bring the subject of constructing a "Travelling Engine,"
+as he then denominated the locomotive, under the notice of the lessees of
+the Killingworth Colliery, in the year 1813.  Lord Ravensworth, the
+principal partner, had already formed a very favourable opinion of the
+new engine-wright, from the improvements which he had effected in the
+colliery engines, both above and below ground; and, after considering the
+matter, and hearing Stephenson's explanations, he authorised him to
+proceed with the construction of a locomotive,--though his lordship was,
+by some, called a fool for advancing money for such a purpose.  "The
+first locomotive that I made," said Stephenson, many years after, {82}
+when speaking of his early career at a public meeting in Newcastle, "was
+at Killingworth Colliery, and with Lord Ravensworth's money.  Yes; Lord
+Ravensworth and partners were the first to entrust me, thirty-two years
+since, with money to make a locomotive engine.  I said to my friends,
+there was no limit to the speed of such an engine, if the works could be
+made to stand."
+
+Our engine-wright had, however, many obstacles to encounter before he
+could get fairly to work with the erection of his locomotive.  His chief
+difficulty was in finding workmen sufficiently skilled in mechanics, and
+in the use of tools, to follow his instructions and embody his designs in
+a practical shape.  The tools then in use about the collieries were rude
+and clumsy; and there were no such facilities as now exist for turning
+out machinery of an entirely new character.  Stephenson was under the
+necessity of working with such men and tools as were at his command; and
+he had in a great measure to train and instruct the workmen himself.  The
+engine was built in the workshops at the West Moor, the leading mechanic
+employed being the colliery blacksmith, an excellent workman in his way,
+though quite new to the work now entrusted to him.
+
+In this first locomotive constructed at Killingworth, Stephenson to some
+extent followed the plan of Blenkinsop's engine.  The boiler was
+cylindrical, of wrought iron, 8 feet in length and 34 inches in diameter,
+with an internal flue-tube 20 inches wide passing through it.  The engine
+had two vertical cylinders of 8 inches diameter, and 2 feet stroke, let
+into the boiler, working the propelling gear with cross heads and
+connecting rods.  The power of the two cylinders was combined by means of
+spurwheels, which communicated the motive power to the wheels supporting
+the engine on the rail, instead of, as in Blenkinsop's engine, to
+cogwheels which acted on the cogged rail independent of the four
+supporting wheels.  The engine thus worked upon what is termed the second
+motion.  The chimney was of wrought iron, round which was a chamber
+extending back to the feed-pumps, for the purpose of heating the water
+previous to its injection into the boiler.  The engine had no springs,
+and was mounted on a wooden frame supported on four wheels.  In order to
+neutralise as much as possible the jolts and shocks which such an engine
+would necessarily encounter from the obstacles and inequalities of the
+then very imperfect plateway, the water-barrel which served for a tender
+was fixed to the end of a lever and weighted, the other end of the lever
+being connected with the frame of the locomotive carriage.  By this means
+the weight of the two was more equally distributed, though the
+contrivance did not by any means compensate for the absence of springs.
+
+                         [Picture: The Spur-gear]
+
+The wheels of the locomotive were all smooth, Mr. Stephenson having
+satisfied himself by experiment that the adhesion between the wheels of a
+loaded engine and the rail would be sufficient for the purpose of
+traction.  Robert Stephenson informed us that his father caused a number
+of workmen to mount upon the wheels of a waggon moderately loaded, and
+throw their entire weight upon the spokes on one side, when he found that
+the waggon could thus be easily propelled forward without the wheels
+slipping.  This, together with other experiments, satisfied him of the
+expediency of adopting smooth wheels on his engine, and it was so
+finished accordingly.
+
+The engine was, after much labour and anxiety, and frequent alterations
+of parts, at length brought to completion, having been about ten months
+in hand.  It was placed upon the Killingworth Railway on the 25th July,
+1814; and its powers were tried on the same day.  On an ascending
+gradient of 1 in 450, the engine succeeded in drawing after it eight
+loaded carriages of thirty tons' weight at about four miles an hour; and
+for some time after it continued regularly at work.
+
+Although a considerable advance upon previous locomotives, "Blutcher" (as
+the engine was popularly called) was nevertheless a somewhat cumbrous and
+clumsy machine.  The parts were huddled together.  The boiler constituted
+the principal feature; and being the foundation of the other parts, it
+was made to do duty not only as a generator of steam, but also as a basis
+for the fixings of the machinery and for the bearings of the wheels and
+axles.  The want of springs was seriously felt; and the progress of the
+engine was a succession of jolts, causing considerable derangement to the
+machinery.  The mode of communicating the motive power to the wheels by
+means of the spur-gear also caused frequent jerks, each cylinder
+alternately propelling or becoming propelled by the other, as the
+pressure of the one upon the wheels became greater or less than the
+pressure of the other; and when the teeth of the cogwheels became at all
+worn, a rattling noise was produced during the travelling of the engine.
+
+As the principal test of the success of the locomotive was its economy as
+compared with horse power, careful calculations were made with the view
+of ascertaining this important point.  The result was, that it was found
+the working of the engine was at first barely economical; and at the end
+of the year the steam power and the horse power were ascertained to be as
+nearly as possible upon a par in point of cost.  The fate of the
+locomotive in a great measure depended on this very engine.  Its speed
+was not beyond that of a horse's walk, and the heating surface presented
+to the fire being comparatively small, sufficient steam could not be
+raised to enable it to accomplish more on an average than about four
+miles an hour.  The result was anything but decisive; and the locomotive
+might have been condemned as useless, had not our engineer at this
+juncture applied the steam-blast, and by its means carried his experiment
+to a triumphant issue.
+
+The steam, after performing its duty in the cylinders, was at first
+allowed to escape into the open atmosphere with a hissing blast, to the
+terror of horses and cattle.  It was complained of as a nuisance; and an
+action at law against the colliery lessees was threatened unless it was
+stopped.  Stephenson's attention had been drawn to the much greater
+velocity with which the steam issued from the exit pipe compared with
+that at which the smoke escaped from the chimney.  He conceived that, by
+conveying the eduction steam into the chimney, by means of a small pipe,
+after it had performed its office in the cylinders, allowing it to escape
+in a vertical direction, its velocity would be imparted to the smoke from
+the fire, or to the ascending current of air in the chimney, thereby
+increasing the draft, and consequently the intensity of combustion in the
+furnace.
+
+The experiment was no sooner made than the power of the engine was at
+once more than doubled; combustion was stimulated by the blast;
+consequently the capability of the boiler to generate steam was greatly
+increased, and the effective power of the engine augmented in precisely
+the same proportion, without in any way adding to its weight.  This
+simple but beautiful expedient was really fraught with the most important
+consequences to railway communication; and it is not too much to say that
+the success of the locomotive has in a great measure been the result of
+its adoption.  Without the steam-blast, by means of which the intensity
+of combustion is maintained at its highest point, producing a
+correspondingly rapid evolution of steam, high rates of speed could not
+have been kept up; the advantages of the multi-tubular boiler (afterwards
+invented) could never have been fairly tested; and locomotives might
+still have been dragging themselves unwieldily along at little more than
+five or six miles an hour.
+
+The steam-blast had scarcely been adopted, with so decided a success,
+when Stephenson, observing the numerous defects in his engine, and
+profiting by the experience which he had already acquired, determined to
+construct a second engine, in which to embody his improvements in their
+best form.  Careful and cautious observation of the working of his
+locomotive had convinced him that the complication arising out of the
+action of the two cylinders being combined by spur-wheels would prevent
+its coming into practical use.  He accordingly directed his attention to
+an entire change in the construction and mechanical arrangements of the
+machine; and in the following year, conjointly with Mr. Dodds, who
+provided the necessary funds, he took out a patent, dated the 28th of
+February, 1815, for an engine which combined in a remarkable degree the
+essential requisites of an economical locomotive; that is to say, few
+parts, simplicity in their action, and directness in the mode by which
+the power was communicated to the wheels supporting the engine.
+
+This locomotive, like the first, had two vertical cylinders, which
+communicated _directly_ with each pair of the four wheels that supported
+the engine, by means of a cross head and a pair of connecting rods.  But
+in attempting to establish a direct communication between the cylinders
+and the wheels that rolled upon the rails, considerable difficulties
+presented themselves.  The ordinary joints could not be employed to unite
+the parts of the engine, which was a rigid mass, with the wheels lolling
+upon the irregular surface of the rails; for it was evident that the two
+rails of the line of way--more especially in those early days of
+imperfect construction of the permanent road--could not always be
+maintained at the same level,--that the wheel at one end of the axle
+might be depressed into one part of the line which had subsided, whilst
+the other wheel would be comparatively elevated; and in such a position
+of the axle and wheels, it was obvious that a rigid communication between
+the cross head and the wheels was impracticable.  Hence it became
+necessary to form a joint at the top of the piston-rod where it united
+with the cross head, so as to permit the cross head to preserve complete
+parallelism with the axle of the wheels with which it was in
+communication.
+
+In order to obtain that degree of flexibility combined with direct
+action, which was essential for ensuring power and avoiding needless
+friction and jars from irregularities in the road, Stephenson made use of
+the "ball and socket" joint for effecting a union between the ends of the
+cross heads where they united with the connecting rods, and between the
+ends of the connecting rods where they were united with the crank-pins
+attached to each driving-wheel.  By this arrangement the parallelism
+between the cross head and the axle was at all times maintained and
+preserved, without producing any serious jar or friction on any part of
+the machine.  Another important point was, to combine each pair of wheels
+by means of some simple mechanism instead of by the cogwheels which had
+formerly been used.  And, with this object, Stephenson made cranks in
+each axle at right angles to each other, with rods communicating
+horizontally between them.
+
+A locomotive was constructed upon this plan in 1815, and was found to
+answer extremely well.  But at that period the mechanical skill of the
+country was not equal to forging cranked axles of the soundness and
+strength necessary to stand the jars incident to locomotive work.
+Stephenson was accordingly compelled to fall back upon a substitute,
+which, although less simple and efficient, was within the mechanical
+capabilities of the workmen of that day, in respect of construction as
+well as repair.  He adopted a chain which rolled over indented wheels
+placed on the centre of each axle, and was so arranged that the two pairs
+of wheels were effectually coupled and made to keep pace with each other.
+The chain, however, after a few years' use, became stretched; and then
+the engines were liable to irregularity in their working, especially in
+changing from working back to working forward again.  Eventually the
+chain was laid aside, and the front and hind wheels were united by rods
+on the outside, instead of by rods and crank axles inside, as specified
+in the original patent.  This expedient completely answered the purpose
+required, without involving any expensive or difficult workmanship.
+
+Thus, in 1815, by dint of patient and persevering labour,--by careful
+observation of the works of others, and never neglecting to avail himself
+of their suggestions,--Stephenson succeeded in manufacturing an engine
+which included the following important improvements on all previous
+attempts in the same direction:--viz., simple and direct communication
+between the cylinders and the wheels rolling upon the rails; joint
+adhesion of all the wheels, attained by the use of horizontal
+connecting-rods; and finally, a beautiful method of exciting the
+combustion of the fuel by employing the waste steam, which had formerly
+been allowed to escape uselessly into the air.  Although many
+improvements in detail were afterwards introduced in the locomotive by
+George Stephenson himself, as well as by his equally distinguished son,
+it is perhaps not too much to say that this engine, as a mechanical
+contrivance, contained the germ of all that has since been effected.  It
+may in fact be regarded as the type of the present locomotive engine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+INVENTION OF THE "GEORDY" SAFETY-LAMP.
+
+
+Explosions of fire-damp were unusually frequent in the coal mines of
+Northumberland and Durham about the time when George Stephenson was
+engaged in the construction of his first locomotives.  These explosions
+were often attended with fearful loss of life and dreadful suffering to
+the workpeople.  Killingworth Colliery was not free from such deplorable
+calamities; and during the time that Stephenson was employed as a
+brakesman at the West Moor, several "blasts" took place in the pit, by
+which many workmen were scorched and killed, and the owners of the
+colliery sustained heavy losses.  One of the most serious of these
+accidents occurred in 1806, not long after he had been appointed
+brakesman, by which 10 persons were killed.  Stephenson was working at
+the mouth of the pit at the time, and the circumstances connected with
+the accident made a deep impression on his mind.
+
+Another explosion took place in the same pit in 1809, by which 12 persons
+lost their lives.  The blast did not reach the shaft as in the former
+case; the unfortunate persons in the pit having been suffocated by the
+after-damp.  More calamitous still were the explosions which took place
+in the neighbouring collieries; one of the worst being that of 1812, in
+the Felling Pit, near Gateshead, by which no fewer than 90 men and boys
+were suffocated or burnt to death.  And a similar accident occurred in
+the same pit in the year following, by which 22 persons perished.
+
+It was natural that George Stephenson should devote his attention to the
+causes of these deplorable accidents, and to the means by which they
+might if possible be prevented.  His daily occupation led him to think
+much and deeply on the subject.  As engine-wright of a colliery so
+extensive as that of Killingworth, where there were nearly 160 miles of
+gallery excavation, in which he personally superintended the working of
+the inclined planes along which the coals were sent to the pit entrance,
+he was necessarily very often underground, and brought face to face with
+the dangers of fire-damp.  From fissures in the roofs of the galleries,
+carburetted hydrogen gas was constantly flowing; in some of the more
+dangerous places it might be heard escaping from the crevices of the coal
+with a hissing noise.  Ventilation, firing, and all conceivable modes of
+drawing out the foul air had been adopted, and the more dangerous parts
+of the galleries were built up.  Still the danger could not be wholly
+prevented.  The miners must necessarily guide their steps through the
+extensive underground ways with lighted lamps or candles, the naked flame
+of which, coming in contact with the inflammable air, daily exposed them
+and their fellow-workers in the pit to the risk of death in one of its
+most dreadful forms.
+
+One day, in 1814, a workman hurried into Stephenson's cottage with the
+startling information that the deepest main of the colliery was on fire!
+He immediately hastened to the pit-head, about a hundred yards off,
+whither the women and children of the colliery were running, with
+wildness and terror depicted in every face.  In a commanding voice
+Stephenson ordered the engineman to lower him down the shaft in the
+corve.  There was peril, it might be death, before him, but he must go.
+
+He was soon at the bottom, and in the midst of the men, who were
+paralysed by the danger which threatened the lives of all in the pit.
+Leaping from the corve on its touching the ground, he called out; "Are
+there six men among you who have courage to follow me?  If so, come, and
+we will put the fire out."  The Killingworth pitmen had the most perfect
+confidence in their engine-wright, and they readily volunteered to follow
+him.
+
+                    [Picture: The Pit Head, West Moor]
+
+Silence succeeded the frantic tumult of the previous minute, and the men
+set to work with a will.  In every mine, bricks, mortar, and tools enough
+are at hand, and by Stephenson's direction the materials were forthwith
+carried to the required spot, where, in a very short time a wall was
+raised at the entrance to the main, he himself taking the most active
+part in the work.  The atmospheric air was by this means excluded, the
+fire was extinguished, the people were saved from death, and the mine was
+preserved.
+
+This anecdote of Stephenson was related to the writer, near the
+pit-mouth, by one of the men who had been present and helped to build up
+the brick wall by which the fire was stayed, though several workmen were
+suffocated.  He related that, when down the pit some days after, seeking
+out the dead bodies, the cause of the accident was the subject of
+conversation, and Stephenson was asked, "Can nothing be done to prevent
+such awful occurrences?"  His reply was that he thought something might
+be done.  "Then," said the other, "the sooner you start the better; for
+the price of coal-mining now is _pitmen's lives_."
+
+Fifty years since, many of the best pits were so full of the inflammable
+gas given forth by the coal, that they could not be worked without the
+greatest danger; and for this reason some were altogether abandoned, The
+rudest possible methods were adopted of producing light sufficient to
+enable the pitmen to work by.  The phosphorescence of decayed fish-skins
+was tried; but this, though safe, was very inefficient.  The most common
+method employed was what was called a steel mill, the notched wheel of
+which, being made to revolve against a flint, struck a succession of
+sparks, which scarcely served to do more than make the darkness visible.
+A boy carried the apparatus after the miner, working the wheel, and by
+the imperfect light thus given forth he plied his dangerous trade.
+Candles were only used in those parts of the pit where gas was not
+abundant.  Under this rude system not more than one-third of the coal
+could be worked; and two-thirds were left.
+
+What the workmen, not less than the coal-owners, eagerly desired was, a
+lamp that should give forth sufficient light, without communicating flame
+to the inflammable gas which accumulated in certain parts of the pit.
+Something had already been attempted towards the invention of such a lamp
+by Dr. Clanny, of Sunderland, who, in 1813, contrived an apparatus to
+which he gave air from the mine through water, by means of bellows.  This
+lamp went out of itself in inflammable gas.  It was found, however, too
+unwieldy to be used by the miners for the purposes of their work, and did
+not come into general use.  A committee of gentlemen was formed to
+investigate the causes of the explosions, and to devise, if possible,
+some means of preventing them.  At the invitation of that Committee, Sir
+Humphry Davy, then in the full zenith of his reputation, was requested to
+turn his attention to the subject.  He accordingly visited the collieries
+near Newcastle on the 24th of August, 1815; and on the 9th of November
+following, he read before the Royal Society of London his celebrated
+paper "On the Fire-Damp of Coal Mines, and on Methods of lighting the
+Mine so as to prevent its explosion."
+
+But a humbler though not less diligent and original thinker had been at
+work before him, and had already practically solved the problem of the
+Safety-Lamp.  Stephenson was of course well aware of the anxiety which
+prevailed in the colliery districts as to the invention of a lamp which
+should give light enough for the miners to work by without exploding the
+fire-damp.  The painful incidents above described only served to quicken
+his eagerness to master the difficulty.
+
+For several years he had been engaged, in his own rude way, in making
+experiments with the fire-damp in the Killingworth mine.  The pitmen used
+to expostulate with him on these occasions, believing his experiments to
+be fraught with danger.  One of the sinkers, observing him holding up
+lighted candles to the windward of the "blower" or fissure from which the
+inflammable gas escaped, entreated him to desist; but Stephenson's answer
+was, that "he was busy with a plan by which he hoped to make his
+experiments useful for preserving men's lives."  On these occasions the
+miners usually got out of the way before he lit the gas.
+
+In 1815, although he was very much occupied with the business of the
+collieries and the improvement of his locomotive engine, he was also
+busily engaged in making experiments upon inflammable gas in the
+Killingworth pit.  According to the explanation afterwards given by him,
+he imagined that if he could construct a lamp with a chimney so arranged
+as to cause a strong current, it would not fire at the top of the
+chimney; as the burnt air would ascend with such a velocity as to prevent
+the inflammable air of the pit from descending towards the flame; and
+such a lamp, he thought, might be taken into a dangerous atmosphere
+without risk of exploding.
+
+Such was Stephenson's theory when he proceeded to embody his idea of a
+miner's safety-lamp in a practical form.  In the month of August, 1815,
+he requested his friend Nicholas Wood, the head viewer, to prepare a
+drawing of a lamp according to the description which he gave him.  After
+several evenings' careful deliberations, the drawing was made, and shown
+to several of the head men about the works.
+
+Stephenson proceeded to order a lamp to be made by a Newcastle tinman,
+according to his plan; and at the same time he directed a glass to be
+made for the lamp at the Northumberland Glass House.  Both were received
+by him from the makers on the 21st October, and the lamp was taken to
+Killingworth for the purpose of immediate experiment.
+
+"I remember that evening as distinctly as if it had been but yesterday,"
+said Robert Stephenson, describing the circumstances to the author in
+1857: "Moodie came to our cottage about dusk, and asked, 'if father had
+got back yet with the lamp?'  'No.'  'Then I'll wait till he comes,' said
+Moodie, 'he can't be long now.'  In about half-an-hour, in came my
+father, his face all radiant.  He had the lamp with him!  It was at once
+uncovered, and shown to Moodie.  Then it was filled with oil, trimmed,
+and lighted.  All was ready, only the head viewer hadn't arrived.  'Run
+over to Benton for Nichol, Robert,' said my father to me, 'and ask him to
+come directly; say we're going down the pit to try the lamp.'  By this
+time it was quite dark; and off I ran to bring Nicholas Wood.  His house
+was at Benton, about a mile off.  There was a short cut through the
+Churchyard, but just as I was about to pass the wicket, I saw what I
+thought was a white figure moving about amongst the grave-stones.  I took
+it for a ghost!  My heart fluttered, and I was in a great fright, but to
+Wood's house I must get, so I made the circuit of the Churchyard; and
+when I got round to the other side I looked, and lo! the figure was still
+there.  But what do you think it was?  Only the grave-digger, plying his
+work at that late hour by the light of his lanthorn set upon one of the
+gravestones!  I found Wood at home, and in a few minutes he was mounted
+and off to my father's.  When I got back, I was told they had just
+left--it was then about eleven--and gone down the shaft to try the lamp
+in one of the most dangerous parts of the mine."
+
+Arrived at the bottom of the shaft with the lamp, the party directed
+their steps towards one of the foulest galleries in the pit, where the
+explosive gas was issuing through a blower in the roof of the mine with a
+loud hissing noise.  By erecting some deal boarding round that part of
+the gallery into which the gas was escaping, the air was made more foul
+for the purpose of the experiment.  After waiting about an hour, Moodie,
+whose practical experience of fire-damp in pits was greater than that of
+either Stephenson or Wood, was requested to go into the place which had
+thus been made foul; and, having done so, he returned, and told them that
+the smell of the air was such, that if a lighted candle were now
+introduced, an explosion must inevitably take place.  He cautioned
+Stephenson as to the danger both to themselves and to the pit, if the gas
+took fire.  But Stephenson declared his confidence in the safety of his
+lamp, and, having lit the wick, he boldly proceeded with it towards the
+explosive air.  The others, more timid and doubtful, hung back when they
+came within hearing of the blower; and apprehensive of the danger, they
+retired into a safe place, out of sight of the lamp, which gradually
+disappeared with its bearer in the recesses of the mine. {95}
+
+Advancing to the place of danger, and entering within the fouled air, his
+lighted lamp in hand, Stephenson held it finally out, in the full current
+of the blower, and within a few inches of its mouth.  Thus exposed, the
+flame of the lamp at first increased, then flickered, and then went out;
+but there was no explosion of the gas.  Returning to his companions, who
+were still at a distance, he told them what had occurred.  Having now
+acquired somewhat more confidence, they advanced with him to a point from
+which they could observe him repeat his experiment, but still at a safe
+distance.  They saw that when the lighted lamp was held within the
+explosive mixture, there was a great flame; the lamp became almost full
+of fire; and then it smothered out.  Again returning to his companions,
+he relighted the lamp, and repeated the experiment several times with the
+same result.  At length Wood and Moodie ventured to advance close to the
+fouled part of the pit; and, in making some of the later trials, Mr. Wood
+himself held up the lighted lamp to the blower.
+
+Before leaving the pit, Stephenson expressed his opinion that by an
+alteration of the lamp which he then contemplated, he could make it burn
+better; this was by a change in the slide through which the air was
+admitted into the lower part, under the flame.  After making some
+experiments on the air collected at the blower, by bladders which were
+mounted with tubes of various diameters, he satisfied himself that, when
+the tube was reduced to a certain diameter, the foul air would not pass
+through; and he fashioned his slide accordingly, reducing the diameter of
+the tube until he conceived it was quite safe.  In about a fortnight the
+experiments were repeated, in a place purposely made foul as before; on
+this occasion a larger number of persons ventured to witness them, and
+they again proved successful.  The lamp was not yet, however, so
+efficient as the inventor desired.  It required, he observed, to be kept
+very steady when burning in the inflammable gas, otherwise it was liable
+to go out, in consequence, as he imagined, of the contact of the burnt
+air (as he then called it), or azotic gas, which lodged round the
+exterior of the flame.  If the lamp was moved horizontally, the azote
+came in contact with the flame and extinguished it.  "It struck me," said
+he, "that if I put more tubes in, I should discharge the poisonous matter
+that hung round the flame, by admitting the air to its exterior part."
+Although he had then no access to scientific books, nor intercourse with
+scientific men, nor anything that could assist him in his investigation,
+besides his own indefatigable spirit of inquiry, he contrived a rude
+apparatus by which he tested the explosive properties of the gas and the
+velocity of current (for this was the direction of his inquiries)
+necessary to enable the explosive gas to pass through tubes of different
+diameters.  In making these experiments in his humble cottage at the West
+Moor, Nicholas Wood and George's son Robert usually acted as his
+assistants, and sometimes the gentlemen of the neighbourhood interested
+in coal-mining attended as spectators.
+
+These experiments were not performed without risk, for on one occasion
+the experimenting party had nearly blown off the roof of the cottage.
+One of these "blows up" was described by Stephenson himself before the
+Committee on Accidents in Coal Mines, in 1835: "I made several
+experiments," said he, "as to the velocity required in tubes of different
+diameters, to prevent explosion from fire-damp.  We made the mixtures in
+all proportions of light carburetted hydrogen with atmospheric air in the
+receiver, and we found by the experiments that when a current of the most
+explosive mixture that we could make was forced up a tube 4/10 of an inch
+in diameter, the necessary current was 9 inches in a second to prevent
+its coming down that tube.  These experiments were repeated several
+times.  We had two or three blows up in making the experiments, by the
+flame getting down into the receiver, though we had a piece of very fine
+wire-gauze put at the bottom of the pipe, between the receiver and the
+pipe through which we were forcing the current.  In one of these
+experiments I was watching the flame in the tube, my son was taking the
+vibrations of the pendulum of the clock, and Mr. Wood was attending to
+give me the column of water as I called for it, to keep the current up to
+a certain point.  As I saw the flame descending in the tube I called for
+more water, and Wood unfortunately turned the cock the wrong way, the
+current ceased, the flame went down the tube, and all our implements were
+blown to pieces, which at the time we were not very able to replace."
+
+Stephenson followed up those experiments by others of a similar kind,
+with the view of ascertaining whether ordinary flame would pass through
+tubes of a small diameter and with this object he filed off the barrels
+of several small keys.  Placing these together, he held them
+perpendicularly over a strong flame, and ascertained that it did not pass
+upward.  This was a further proof to him of the soundness of the course
+he was pursuing.
+
+In order to correct the defect of his first lamp he resolved to alter it
+so as to admit the air to the flame by several tubes of reduced diameter,
+instead of by a single tube.  He inferred that a sufficient quantity of
+air would thus be introduced into the lamp for the purposes of
+combustion, while the smallness of the apertures would still prevent the
+explosive gas passing downwards, at the same time that the "burnt air"
+(the cause, in his opinion, of the lamp going out) would be more
+effectually dislodged.  He accordingly took the lamp to a tinman in
+Newcastle, and had it altered so that the air was admitted by three small
+tubes inserted in the bottom of the lamp, the openings of which were
+placed on the outside of the burner, instead of having (as in the
+original lamp) the one tube opening directly under the flame.
+
+This second or altered lamp was tried in the Killingworth pit on the 4th
+November, and was found to burn better than the first, and to be
+perfectly safe.  But as it did not yet come quite up to the inventor's
+expectations, he proceeded to contrive a third lamp, in which he proposed
+to surround the oil vessel with a number of capillary tubes.  Then it
+struck him, that if he cut off the middle of the tubes, or made holes in
+metal plates, placed at a distance from each other, equal to the length
+of the tubes, the air would get in better, and the effect in preventing
+explosion would be the same.
+
+He was encouraged to persevere in the completion of his safety-lamp by
+the occurrence of several fatal accidents about this time in the
+Killingworth pit.  On the 9th November a boy was killed by a blast in the
+_A_ pit, at the very place where Stephenson had made the experiments with
+his first lamp; and, when told of the accident, he observed that if the
+boy had been provided with his lamp, his life would have been saved.  On
+the 20th November he went over to Newcastle to order his third lamp from
+a plumber in that town.  The plumber referred him to his clerk, whom
+Stephenson invited to join him at a neighbouring public-house, where they
+might quietly talk over the matter, and finally settle the plan of the
+new lamp.  They adjourned to the "Newcastle Arms," near the present High
+Level Bridge, where they had some ale, and a design of the lamp was drawn
+in pencil upon a half-sheet of foolscap, with a rough specification
+subjoined.  The sketch, when shown to us by Robert Stephenson some years
+since, still bore the marks of the ale.  It was a very rude design, but
+sufficient to work from.  It was immediately placed in the hands of the
+workmen, finished in the course of a few days, and experimentally tested
+in the Killingworth pit like the previous lamps, on the 30th November.
+At that time neither Stephenson nor Wood had heard of Sir Humphry Davy's
+experiments nor of the lamp which that gentleman proposed to construct.
+
+An angry controversy afterwards took place as to the respective merits of
+George Stephenson and Sir Humphry Davy in respect of the invention of the
+safety-lamp.  A committee was formed on both sides, and the facts were
+stated in various ways.  It is perfectly clear, however, that Stephenson
+had ascertained _the fact_ that flame will not pass through tubes of a
+certain diameter--the principle on which the safety-lamp is
+constructed--before Sir Humphry Davy had formed any definite idea on the
+subject, or invented the model lamp afterwards exhibited by him before
+the Royal Society.  Stephenson had actually constructed a lamp on such a
+principle, and proved its safety, before Sir Humphry had communicated his
+views on the subject to any person; and by the time that the first public
+intimation had been given of his discovery, Stephenson's second lamp had
+been constructed and tested in like manner in the Killingworth pit.  The
+_first_ was tried on the 21st October, 1815; the _second_ was tried on
+the 4th November; but it was not until the 9th November that Sir Humphry
+Davy presented his first lamp to the public.  And by the 30th of the same
+month, as we have seen, Stephenson had constructed and tested his _third_
+safety-lamp.
+
+             [Picture: Davy's and Stephenson's Safety Lamps]
+
+Stephenson's theory of the "burnt air" and the "draught" was no doubt
+wrong; but his lamp was right, and that was the great fact which mainly
+concerned him.  Torricelli did not know the rationale of his tube, nor
+Otto Gurike that of his air-pump; yet no one thinks of denying them the
+merit of their inventions on that account.  The discoveries of Volta and
+Galvani were in like manner independent of theory; the greatest
+discoveries consisting in bringing to light certain grand facts, on which
+theories are afterwards framed.  Our inventor had been pursuing the
+Baconian method, though he did not think of that, but of inventing a safe
+lamp, which he knew could only be done through the process of repeated
+experiment.  He experimented upon the fire-damp at the blowers in the
+mine, and also by means of the apparatus which was blown up in his
+cottage, as above described by himself.  By experiment he distinctly
+ascertained that the explosion of fire-damp could not pass through small
+tubes; and he also did what had not before been done by any inventor--he
+constructed a lamp on this principle, and repeatedly proved its safety at
+the risk of his life.  At the same time, there is no doubt that it was to
+Sir Humphry Davy that the merit belonged of having pointed out the true
+law on which the safety-lamp is constructed.
+
+The subject of this important invention excited so much interest in the
+northern mining districts, and Stephenson's numerous friends considered
+his lamp so completely successful--having stood the test of repeated
+experiments--that they urged him to bring his invention before the
+Philosophical and Literary Society of Newcastle, of whose apparatus he
+had availed himself in the course of his experiments on fire-damp.  After
+much persuasion he consented, and a meeting was appointed for the purpose
+of receiving his explanations, on the evening of the 5th December, 1815.
+Stephenson was at that time so diffident in manner and unpractised in
+speech, that he took with him his friend Nicholas Wood, to act as his
+interpreter and expositor on the occasion.  From eighty to a hundred of
+the most intelligent members of the society were present at the meeting,
+when Mr. Wood stood forward to expound the principles on which the lamp
+had been formed, and to describe the details of its construction.
+Several questions were put, to which Mr. Wood proceeded to give replies
+to the best of his knowledge.  But Stephenson, who up to that time had
+stood behind Wood, screened from notice, observing that the explanations
+given were not quite correct, could no longer control his reserve, and,
+standing forward, he proceeded in his strong Northumbrian dialect, to
+describe the lamp, down to its minutest details.  He then produced
+several bladders full of carburetted hydrogen, which he had collected
+from the blowers in the Killingworth mine, and proved the safety of his
+lamp by numerous experiments with the gas, repeated in various ways; his
+earnest and impressive manner exciting in the minds of his auditors the
+liveliest interest both in the inventor and his invention.
+
+Shortly after, Sir H. Davy's model lamp was received and exhibited to the
+coal-miners at Newcastle, on which occasion the observation was made by
+several gentlemen, "Why, it is the same as Stephenson's!"
+
+Notwithstanding Stephenson's claim to be regarded as the first inventor
+of the Tube Safety-lamp, his merits do not seem to have been generally
+recognised; and Sir Humphry Davy carried off the larger share of the
+_eclat_ which attached to the discovery.  What chance had the unknown
+workman of Killingworth with so distinguished a competitor?  The one was
+as yet but a colliery engine-wright, scarce raised above the
+manual-labour class, pursuing his experiments in obscurity, with a view
+only to usefulness; the other was the scientific prodigy of his day, the
+most brilliant of lecturers, and the most popular of philosophers.
+
+No small indignation was expressed by the friends of Sir Humphry Davy at
+Stephenson's "presumption" in laying claim to the invention of the
+safety-lamp.  In 1831 Dr. Paris, in his 'Life of Sir Humphry Davy,' thus
+wrote:--"It will hereafter be scarcely believed that an invention so
+eminently scientific, and which could never have been derived but from
+the sterling treasury of science, should have been claimed on behalf of
+an engine-wright of Killingworth, of the name of Stephenson--a person not
+even possessing a knowledge of the elements of chemistry."
+
+But Stephenson was far above claiming for himself any invention not his
+own.  He had already accomplished a far greater feat than the making of a
+safety-lamp--he had constructed a successful locomotive, which was to be
+seen in daily work on the Killingworth railway.  By the improvements he
+had made in the engine, he might almost be said to have _invented_ it;
+but no one--not even the philosophers--detected the significance of that
+wonderful machine.  What railways were to become, rested in a great
+measure with that "engine-wright of Killingworth, of the name of
+Stephenson," though he was scarcely known as yet beyond the bounds of his
+own district.
+
+As to the value of the invention of the safety-lamp there could be no
+doubt; and the colliery owners of Durham and Northumberland, to testify
+their sense of its importance, determined to present a testimonial to its
+inventor.  The friends of Sir H. Davy met in August, 1816, to take steps
+for raising a subscription for the purpose.  The advertised object of the
+meeting was to present him with a reward for "the invention of _his_
+safety-lamp."  To this no objection could be taken; for though the
+principle on which the safety-lamps of Stephenson and Davy were
+constructed was the same; and although Stephenson's lamp was,
+unquestionably, the first successful lamp that had been constructed on
+such principle, and proved to be efficient,--yet Sir H. Davy did invent a
+safety-lamp, no doubt quite independent of all that Stephenson had done;
+and having directed his careful attention to the subject, and elucidated
+the true theory of explosion of carburetted hydrogen, he was entitled to
+all praise and reward for his labours.  But when the meeting of
+coal-owners proposed to raise a subscription for the purpose of
+presenting Sir H. Davy with a reward for "his invention of _the_
+safety-lamp," the case was entirely altered; and Stephenson's friends
+then proceeded to assert his claims to be regarded as its first inventor.
+
+Many meetings took place on the subject, and much discussion ensued, the
+result of which was that a sum of 2000 pounds was presented to Sir
+Humphry Davy as "the inventor of the safety-lamp;" but, at the same time,
+a purse of 100 guineas was voted to George Stephenson, in consideration
+of what he had done in the same direction.  This result was, however very
+unsatisfactory to Stephenson, as well as to his friends, and Mr.
+Brandling, of Gosforth, suggested to him that, the subject being now
+fairly before the public, he should publish a statement of the facts on
+which his claim was founded.
+
+This was not at all in George's line.  He had never appeared in print;
+and it seemed to him a more formidable thing to write a letter for "the
+papers" than to invent a safety-lamp or design a locomotive.  However, he
+called to his aid his son Robert, set him down before a sheet of
+foolscap, and told him to "put down there just what I tell you."  The
+composition of this letter, as we were informed by the writer of it,
+occupied more evenings than one; and when it was at length finished,
+after many corrections, and fairly copied out, the father and son set
+out--the latter dressed in his Sunday's round jacket--to lay the joint
+production before Mr. Brandling, at Gosforth House.  Glancing over the
+letter, Mr. Brandling said, "George, this will never do."  "It is all
+true, sir," was the reply.  "That may be; but it is badly written."
+Robert blushed, for he thought the penmanship was called in question, and
+he had written his best.  Mr. Brandling, however, revised the letter,
+which was shortly after published in the local journals.
+
+Stephenson's friends, fully satisfied of his claims to priority as the
+inventor of the safety-lamp used in the Killingworth and other
+collieries, held a public meeting for the purpose of presenting him with
+a reward "for the valuable service he had thus rendered to mankind."  A
+subscription was immediately commenced with this object, and a committee
+was formed, consisting of the Earl of Strathmore, C. J. Brandling, and
+others.  The subscriptions, when collected, amounted to 1000 pounds.
+Part of the money was devoted to the purchase of a silver tankard, which
+was presented to the inventor, together with the balance of the
+subscription, at a public dinner given in the Assembly Rooms at
+Newcastle. {105}  But what gave Stephenson even greater pleasure than the
+silver tankard and purse of sovereigns was the gift of a silver watch,
+purchased by small subscriptions amongst the colliers themselves, and
+presented by them as a token of their personal esteem and regard for him,
+as well as of their gratitude for the perseverance and skill with which
+he had prosecuted his valuable and lifesaving invention to a successful
+issue.
+
+However great the merits of Stephenson in connexion with the invention of
+the tube safety-lamp, they cannot be regarded as detracting from the
+reputation of Sir Humphry Davy.  His inquiries into the explosive
+properties of carburetted hydrogen gas were quite original; and his
+discovery of the fact that explosion will not pass through tubes of a
+certain diameter was made independently of all that Stephenson had done
+in verification of the same fact.  It even appears that Mr. Smithson
+Tennant and Dr. Wollaston had observed the same fact several years
+before, though neither Stephenson nor Davy knew it while they were
+prosecuting their experiments.  Sir Humphry Davy's subsequent
+modification of the tube-lamp, by which, while diminishing the diameter,
+he in the same ratio shortened the tubes without danger, and in the form
+of wire-gauze enveloped the safety-lamp by a multiplicity of tubes, was a
+beautiful application of the true theory which he had formed upon the
+subject.
+
+The increased number of accidents which have occurred from explosions in
+coal-mines since the general introduction of the Davy lamp, have led to
+considerable doubts as to its safety, and to inquiries as to the means by
+which it may be further improved; for experience has shown that, under
+certain circumstances, the Davy lamp is _not_ safe.  Stephenson was
+himself of opinion that the modification of his own and Sir Humphry
+Davy's lamp, combining the glass cylinder with the wire-gauze, was the
+most secure; at the same time it must be admitted that the Davy and the
+Geordy lamps alike failed to stand the severe tests to which they were
+submitted by Dr. Pereira, before the Committee on Accidents in Mines.
+Indeed, Dr. Pereira did not hesitate to say, that when exposed to a
+current of explosive gas the Davy lamp is "decidedly unsafe," and that
+the experiments by which its safety had been "demonstrated" in the
+lecture-room had proved entirely "fallacious."
+
+It is worthy of remark, that under circumstances in which the wire-gauze
+of the Davy lamp becomes red-hot from the high explosiveness of the gas,
+the Geordy lamp is extinguished; and we cannot but think that this fact
+testifies to the decidedly superior safety of the Geordy.  An accident
+occurred in the Oaks colliery Pit at Barnsley, on the 20th August, 1857,
+which strikingly exemplified the respective qualities of the lamps.  A
+sudden outburst of gas took place from the floor of the mine, along a
+distance of fifty yards.  Fortunately the men working in the pit at the
+time were all supplied with safety-lamps--the hewers with Stephenson's,
+and the hurriers with Davy's.  Upon this occasion, the whole of the
+Stephenson's lamps, over a space of five hundred yards, were extinguished
+almost instantaneously; whereas the Davy lamps were filled with fire, and
+became red-hot--so much so, that several of the men using them had their
+hands burnt by the gauze.  Had a strong current of air been blowing
+through the gallery at the time, an explosion would most probably have
+taken place--an accident which, it will be observed, could not, under
+such circumstances, occur from the use of the Geordy, which is
+immediately extinguished as soon as the air becomes explosive. {107}
+
+Nicholas Wood, a good judge, has said of the two inventions, "Priority
+has been claimed for each of them--I believe the inventions to be
+parallel.  By different roads they both arrived at the same result.
+Stephenson's is the superior lamp.  Davy's is safe--Stephenson's is
+safer."
+
+When the question of priority was under discussion at the studio of Mr.
+Lough, the sculptor, in 1857, Sir Matthew White Ridley asked Robert
+Stephenson, who was present, for his opinion on the subject.  His answer
+was, "I am not exactly the person to give an unbiassed opinion; but, as
+you ask me frankly, I will as frankly say, that if George Stephenson had
+never lived, Sir Humphry Davy could and most probably would have invented
+the safety-lamp; but again, if Sir Humphry Davy had never lived, George
+Stephenson certainly would have invented the safety-lamp, as I believe he
+did, independent of all that Sir Humphry Davy had ever done in the
+matter."
+
+                  [Picture: West Moor Pit, Killingworth]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+GEORGE STEPHENSON'S FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN THE LOCOMOTIVE--THE HETTON
+RAILWAY--ROBERT STEPHENSON AS VIEWER'S APPRENTICE AND STUDENT.
+
+
+Stephenson's experiments on fire-damp, and his labours in connexion with
+the invention of the safety-lamp, occupied but a small portion of his
+time, which was necessarily devoted for the most part to the ordinary
+business of the colliery.  From the day of his appointment as
+engine-wright, one of the subjects which particularly occupied his
+attention was the best practical method of winning and raising the coal.
+He was one of the first to introduce steam machinery underground with the
+latter object.  Indeed, the Killingworth mines came to be regarded as the
+models of the district; the working arrangements generally being
+conducted in a skilful and efficient manner, reflecting the highest
+credit on the colliery engineer.
+
+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.  He even went so far as to say
+that the locomotive would yet supersede every other traction-power for
+drawing heavy loads.  Many still regarded his travelling engine as little
+better than a curious toy; and some, shaking their heads, predicted for
+it "a terrible blow-up some day."  Nevertheless, it was daily performing
+its work with regularity, dragging the coal-waggons between the colliery
+and the staiths, and saving the labour of many men and horses.  There was
+not, however, so marked a saving in haulage as to induce the colliery
+masters to adopt locomotive power generally as a substitute for horses.
+How it could be improved and rendered more efficient as well as
+economical, was constantly present to Stephenson's mind.
+
+At an early period of his labours, or about the time when he had
+completed his second locomotive, he began to direct his particular
+attention to the state of the Road; as he perceived that the extended use
+of the locomotive must necessarily depend in a great measure upon the
+perfection, solidity, continuity, and smoothness of the way along which
+the engine travelled.  Even at that early period, he was in the habit of
+regarding the road and the locomotive as one machine, speaking of the
+rail and the wheel as "man and wife."
+
+All railways were at that time laid in a careless and loose manner, and
+great inequalities of level were allowed to occur without much attention
+being paid to repairs.  The consequence was a great loss of power, as
+well as much tear and wear of the machinery, by the frequent jolts and
+blows of the wheels against the rails.  His first object therefore was,
+to remove the inequalities produced by the imperfect junction between
+rail and rail.  At that time, (in 1816) the rails were made of cast iron,
+each rail being about three feet long; and sufficient care was not taken
+to maintain the points of junction on the same level.  The chairs, or
+cast-iron pedestals into which the rails were inserted, were flat at the
+bottom; so that, whenever any disturbance took place in the stone blocks
+or sleepers supporting them, the flat base of the chair upon which the
+rails rested being tilted by unequal subsidence, the end of one rail
+became depressed, whilst that of the other was elevated.  Hence constant
+jolts and shocks, the reaction of which very often caused the fracture of
+the rails, and occasionally threw the engine off the road.
+
+To remedy this imperfection Mr. Stephenson devised a new chair, with an
+entirely new mode of fixing the rails therein.  Instead of adopting the
+_butt-joint_ which had hitherto been used in all cast-iron rails, he
+adopted the _half-lap joint_, by which means the rails extended a certain
+distance over each other at the ends, like a scarf-joint.  These ends,
+instead of resting upon the flat chair, were made to rest upon the apex
+of a curve forming the bottom of the chair.  The supports were also
+extended from three feet to three feet nine inches or four feet apart.
+These rails were accordingly substituted for the old cast-iron plates on
+the Killingworth Colliery Railway, and they were found to be a very great
+improvement upon the previous system, adding both to the efficiency of
+the horse-power, still employed in working the railway, and to the smooth
+action of the locomotive engine, but more particularly increasing the
+efficiency of the latter.
+
+                        [Picture: Half-lap Joint]
+
+This improved form of rail and chair was embodied in a patent taken out
+in the joint names of Mr. Losh, of Newcastle, iron-founder, and of Mr.
+Stephenson, bearing date 30th September, 1816.  Mr. Losh being a wealthy,
+enterprising iron-manufacturer, and having confidence in George
+Stephenson and his improvements, found the money for the purpose of
+taking out the patent, which, in those days, was a very costly as well as
+troublesome affair.
+
+The specification of the same patent also described various important
+improvements in the locomotive itself.  The wheels of the engine were
+improved, being altered from cast to malleable iron, in whole or in part,
+by which they were made lighter as well as more durable and safe.  But
+the most ingenious and original contrivance embodied in this patent was
+the substitute for springs which Mr. Stephenson invented.  He contrived
+that the steam generated in the boiler should perform this important
+office.  The method by which this was effected displayed such genuine
+mechanical genius, that we would particularly call attention to the
+device, which was the more remarkable, as it was contrived long before
+the possibility of steam locomotion had become an object of general
+inquiry or of public interest.
+
+It has already been observed that up to, and indeed after, the period of
+which we speak, there was no such class of skilled mechanics, nor were
+there any such machines and tools in use, as are now available to
+inventors and manufacturers.  Although skilled workmen were in course of
+gradual training in a few of the larger manufacturing towns, they did
+not, at the date of Stephenson's patent, exist in any considerable
+numbers, nor was there then any class of mechanics capable of
+constructing springs of sufficient strength and elasticity to support
+locomotive engines of ten tons weight.
+
+In order to avoid the dangers arising from the inequalities of the road,
+Stephenson so arranged the boiler of his new patent locomotive that it
+was supported upon the frame of the engine by four cylinders, which
+opened into the interior of the boiler.  These cylinders were occupied by
+pistons with rods, which passed downwards and pressed upon the upper side
+of the axles.  The cylinders opening into the interior of the boiler,
+allowed the pressure of steam to be applied to the upper side of the
+piston; and the pressure being nearly equivalent to one-fourth of the
+weight of the engine, each axle, whatever might be its position, had at
+all times nearly the same amount of weight to bear, and consequently the
+entire weight was pretty equally distributed amongst the four wheels of
+the locomotive.  Thus the four floating pistons were ingeniously made to
+serve the purpose of springs in equalising the weight, and in softening
+the jerks of the machine; the weight of which, it must also be observed,
+had been increased, on a road originally calculated to bear a
+considerably lighter description of carriage.  This mode of supporting
+the engine remained in use until the progress of spring-making had so far
+advanced that steel springs could be manufactured of sufficient strength
+to bear the weight of locomotive engines.
+
+           [Picture: Old Killingworth Locomotive, still in use]
+
+The result of the actual working of the new locomotive on the improved
+road amply justified the promises held forth in the specification.  The
+traffic was conducted with greater regularity and economy, and the
+superiority of the engine, as compared with horse traction, became still
+more marked.  It is a fact worthy of notice, that the identical engines
+constructed in 1816 after the plan above described are to this day to be
+seen in regular useful work upon the Killingworth Railway, conveying
+heavy coal-trains at the speed of between five and six miles an hour,
+probably as economically as any of the more perfect locomotives now in
+use.
+
+Mr. Stephenson's endeavours having been attended with such marked success
+in the adaptation of locomotive power to railways, his attention was
+called by many of his friends, about the year 1818, to the application of
+steam to travelling on common roads.  It was from this point that the
+locomotive started, Trevithick's first engine having been constructed
+with this special object.  Stephenson's friends having observed how far
+behind he had left the original projector of the locomotive in its
+application to railroads, perhaps naturally inferred that he would be
+equally successful in applying it to the purpose for which Trevithick and
+Vivian had intended their first engine.  But the accuracy with which he
+estimated the resistance to which loads were exposed on railways, arising
+from friction and gravity, led him at a very early stage to reject the
+idea of ever applying steam power economically to common-road travelling.
+In October, 1818, he made a series of careful experiments in conjunction
+with Nicholas Wood, on the resistance to which carriages were exposed on
+railways, testing the results by means of a dynamometer of his own
+construction.  The series of practical observations made by means of this
+instrument were interesting, as the first systematic attempt to determine
+the precise amount of resistance to carriages moving along railways.  It
+was then for the first time ascertained by experiment that the friction
+was a constant quantity at all velocities.  Although this theory had long
+before been developed by Vince and Coulomb, and was well known to
+scientific men as an established truth, yet, at the time when Stephenson
+made his experiments, the deductions of philosophers on the subject were
+neither believed in nor acted upon by practical engineers.
+
+He ascertained that the resistances to traction were mainly three; the
+first being upon the axles of the carriages, the second, or rolling
+resistance, being between the circumference of the wheel and the surface
+of the rail, and the third being the resistance of gravity.  The amount
+of friction and gravity he could accurately ascertain; but the rolling
+resistance was a matter of greater difficulty, being subject to much
+variation.  He satisfied himself, however, that it was so great when the
+surface presented to the wheel was of a rough character, that the idea of
+working steam carriages economically on common roads was dismissed by him
+as entirely impracticable.  Taking it as 10 lbs to a ton weight on a
+level railway, it became obvious to him that so small a rise as 1 in 100
+would diminish the useful effort of a locomotive by upwards of 50 per
+cent.  This was demonstrated by repeated experiments, and the important
+fact, thus rooted in his mind, was never lost sight of in the course of
+his future railway career.
+
+It was owing in a great measure to these painstaking experiments that he
+early became convinced of the vital importance, in an economical point of
+view, of reducing the country through which a railway was intended to
+pass as nearly as possible to a level.  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.  But when the loads were both ways, he deemed it of great
+importance that the railroad should be constructed as nearly as possible
+on a level.
+
+These views, thus early entertained, originated in Stephenson's mind the
+peculiar character of railroad works as distinguished from other roads;
+for, in railways, he early contended that large sums would be wisely
+expended in perforating barriers of hills with long tunnels, and in
+raising the lower levels with the excess cut down from the adjacent high
+ground.  In proportion as these views forced themselves upon his mind and
+were corroborated by his daily experience, he became more and more
+convinced of the hopelessness of applying steam locomotion to common
+roads; for every argument in favour of a level railway was, in his view,
+an argument against the rough and hilly course of a common road.
+
+Although Stephenson's locomotive engines were in daily use for many years
+on the Killingworth Railway, they excited comparatively little interest.
+They were no longer experimental, but had become an established tractive
+power.  The experience of years had proved that they worked more
+steadily, drew heavier loads, and were, on the whole, considerably more
+economical than horses.  Nevertheless eight years passed before another
+locomotive railway was constructed and opened for the purposes of coal or
+other traffic.
+
+Stephenson had no means of bringing his important invention prominently
+under the notice of the public.  He himself knew well its importance, and
+he already anticipated its eventual general adoption; but being an
+unlettered man, he could not give utterance to the thoughts which brooded
+within him on the subject.  Killingworth Colliery lay far from London,
+the centre of scientific life in England.  It was visited by no savans
+nor literary men, who might have succeeded in introducing to notice the
+wonderful machine of Stephenson.  Even the local chroniclers seem to have
+taken no notice of the Killingworth Railway.
+
+There seemed, indeed, to be so small a prospect of introducing the
+locomotive into general use, that Stephenson,--perhaps feeling the
+capabilities within him,--again recurred to his old idea of emigrating to
+the United States.  Before joining Mr. Burrel as partner in a small
+foundry at Forth Banks, Newcastle, he had thrown out to him the
+suggestion that it would be a good speculation for them to emigrate to
+North America, and introduce steamboats upon the great inland lakes
+there.  The first steamers were then plying upon the Tyne before his
+eyes; and he saw in them the germ of a great revolution in navigation.
+It occurred to him that North America presented the finest field for
+trying their wonderful powers.  He was an engineer, his partner was an
+iron-founder; and between them he thought they might strike out a path to
+fortune in the mighty West.  Fortunately, this idea remained a mere
+speculation so far as Stephenson was concerned: and it was left to others
+to do what he had dreamt of achieving.  After all his patient waiting,
+his skill, industry, and perseverance were at length about to bear fruit.
+
+In 1819 the owners of the Hetton Colliery, in the county of Durham,
+determined to have their waggon-way altered to a locomotive railroad.
+The result of the working of the Killingworth Railway had been so
+satisfactory, that they resolved to adopt the same system.  One reason
+why an experiment so long continued and so successful as that at
+Killingworth should have been so slow in producing results, perhaps was,
+that to lay down a railway and furnish it with locomotives, or fixed
+engines where necessary, required a very large capital, beyond the means
+of ordinary coal-owners; whilst the small amount of interest felt in
+railways by the general public, and the supposed impracticability of
+working them to a profit, as yet prevented ordinary capitalists from
+venturing their money in the promotion of such undertakings.  The Hetton
+Coal Company were, however, possessed of adequate means; and the local
+reputation of the Killingworth engine-wright pointed him out as the man
+best calculated to lay out their line, and superintend their works.  They
+accordingly invited him to act as the engineer of the proposed railway,
+which was to be the longest locomotive line that had, up to that time,
+been constructed.  It extended from the Hetton Colliery, situated about
+two miles south of Houghton-le-Spring, in the county of Durham, to the
+shipping-places on the banks of the Wear, near Sunderland.  Its length
+was about eight miles; and in its course it crossed Warden Law, one of
+the highest hills in the district.  The character of the country forbade
+the construction of a flat line, or one of comparatively easy gradients,
+except by the expenditure of a much larger capital than was placed at the
+engineer's disposal.  Heavy works could not be executed; it was therefore
+necessary to form the line with but little deviation from the natural
+conformation of the district which it traversed, and also to adapt the
+mechanical methods employed for its working to the character of the
+gradients, which in some places were necessarily heavy.
+
+Although Stephenson had, with every step made towards its increased
+utility, become more and more identified with the success of the
+locomotive engine, he did not allow his enthusiasm to carry him away into
+costly mistakes.  He carefully drew the line between the cases in which
+the locomotive could be usefully employed, and those in which stationary
+engines were calculated to be more economical.  This led him, as in the
+instance of the Hetton Railway, to execute lines through and over rough
+countries, where gradients within the powers of the locomotive engine of
+that day could not be secured, employing in their stead stationary
+engines where locomotives were not practicable.  In the present case,
+this course was adopted by him most successfully.  On the original Hetton
+line, there were five self-acting inclines,--the full waggons drawing the
+empty ones up,--and two inclines worked by fixed reciprocating engines of
+sixty horse power each.  The locomotive travelling engine, or "the iron
+horse," as the people of the neighbourhood then styled it, did the rest.
+On the day of the opening of the Hetton Railway, the 18th November, 1822,
+crowds of spectators assembled from all parts to witness the first
+operations of this ingenious and powerful machinery, which was entirely
+successful.  On that day five of Stephenson's locomotives were at work
+upon the railway, under the direction of his brother Robert; and the
+first shipment of coal was then made by the Hetton Company, at their new
+staiths on the Wear.  The speed at which the locomotives travelled was
+about 4 miles an hour, and each engine dragged after it a train of 17
+waggons, weighing about 64 tons.
+
+While thus advancing step by step,--attending to the business of the
+Killingworth Colliery, and laying out railways in the neighbourhood,--he
+was carefully watching over the education of his son.  We have already
+seen that Robert was sent to Bruce's school at Newcastle, where he
+remained about four years.  He left it in the summer of 1819, and was
+then put apprentice to Mr. Nicholas Wood, the head viewer at
+Killingworth, to learn the business of the colliery.  He served in that
+capacity for about three years, during which time he became familiar with
+most departments of underground work.  The occupation was not unattended
+with peril, as the following incident will show.  Though the use of the
+Geordy lamp had become general in the Killingworth pits, and the workmen
+were bound, under a penalty of half-a-crown, not to use a naked candle,
+it was difficult to enforce the rule, and even the masters themselves
+occasionally broke it.  One day Nicholas Wood, the head viewer, Moodie
+the under viewer, and Robert Stephenson, were proceeding along one of the
+galleries, Wood with a naked candle in his hand, and Robert following him
+with a lamp.  They came to a place where a fall of stones from the roof
+had taken place, on which Wood, who was first, proceeded to clamber over
+the stones, holding high the naked candle.  He had nearly reached the
+summit of the heap, when the fire-damp, which had accumulated in the
+hollow of the roof, exploded, and instantly the whole party were blown
+down, and the lights extinguished.  They were a mile from the shaft, and
+quite in the dark.  There was a rush of the workpeople from all quarters
+towards the shaft, for it was feared that the fire might extend to more
+dangerous parts of the pit, where, if the gas had exploded, every soul in
+the mine must inevitably have perished.  Robert Stephenson and Moodie, on
+the first impulse, ran back at full speed along the dark gallery leading
+to the shaft, coming into collision, on their way, with the hind quarters
+of a horse stunned by the explosion.  When they had gone halfway, Moodie
+halted, and bethought him of Nicholas Wood.  "Stop, laddie!" said he to
+Robert, "stop; we maun gang back, and seek the maister."  So they
+retraced their steps.  Happily, no further explosion had taken place.
+They found the master lying on the heap of stones, stunned and bruised,
+with his hands severely burnt.  They led him to the bottom of the shaft;
+and he took care afterwards not to venture into the dangerous parts of
+the mine without the protection of a Geordy lamp.
+
+The time that Robert spent at Killingworth as viewer's apprentice was of
+advantage both to his father and himself.  The evenings were generally
+devoted to reading and study, the two from this time working together as
+friends and co-labourers.  One who used to drop in at the cottage of an
+evening, well remembers the animated and eager discussions which on some
+occasions took place, more especially with reference to the growing
+powers of the locomotive engine.  The son was even more enthusiastic than
+the father on this subject.  Robert would suggest numerous alterations
+and improvements in details.  His father, on the contrary, would offer
+every possible objection, defending the existing arrangements,--proud,
+nevertheless of his son's suggestions, and often warmed and excited by
+his brilliant anticipations of the ultimate triumph of the locomotive.
+
+These discussions probably had considerable influence in inducing
+Stephenson to take the next important step in the education of his son.
+Although Robert, who was only nineteen years of age, was doing well, and
+was certain at the expiration of his apprenticeship to rise to a higher
+position, his father was not satisfied with the amount of instruction
+which he had as yet given him.  Remembering the disadvantages under which
+he had himself laboured through his ignorance of practical chemistry
+during his investigations connected with the safety-lamp, more especially
+with reference to the properties of gas, as well as in the course of his
+experiments with the object of improving the locomotive engine, he
+determined to furnish his son with as complete a scientific culture as
+his means would afford.  He also believed that a proper training in
+technical science was indispensable to success in the higher walks of the
+engineer's profession; and he determined to give to his son that kind and
+degree of education which he so much desired for himself.  He would thus,
+he knew, secure a hearty and generous co-worker in the elaboration of the
+great ideas now looming before him, and with their united practical and
+scientific knowledge he probably felt that they would be equal to any
+enterprise.
+
+He accordingly took Robert from his labours as under-viewer in the West
+Moor Pit, and in October, 1822, sent him to the Edinburgh University,
+there being then no college in England accessible to persons of moderate
+means, for purposes of scientific culture.  Robert was furnished with
+letters of introduction to several men of literary eminence in Edinburgh;
+his father's reputation in connexion with the safety-lamp being of
+service to him in this respect.  He lodged in Drummond Street, in the
+immediate vicinity of the college, and attended the Chemical Lectures of
+Dr. Hope, the Natural Philosophy Lectures of Sir John Leslie, and the
+Natural History Class of Professor Jameson.  He also devoted several
+evenings in each week to the study of practical Chemistry under Dr. John
+Murray, himself one of the numerous designers of a safety-lamp.  He took
+careful notes of all the lectures, which he copied out at night before he
+went to bed; so that, when he returned to Killingworth, he might read
+them over to his father.  He afterwards had the notes bound up, and
+placed in his library.  Long years after, when conversing with Thomas
+Harrison, C.E., at his house in Gloucester Square, he rose from his seat
+and took down a volume from the shelves.  Mr. Harrison observed that the
+book was in MS., neatly written out.  "What have we here?" he asked.  The
+answer was--"When I went to college, I knew the difficulty my father had
+in collecting the funds to send me there.  Before going I studied
+short-hand; while at Edinburgh, I took down verbatim every lecture; and
+in the evenings, before I went to bed, I transcribed those lectures word
+for word.  You see the result in that range of books."
+
+One of the practical sciences in the study of which Robert Stephenson
+took special interest while at Edinburgh was that of geology.  The
+situation of the city, in the midst of a district of highly interesting
+geological formation, easily accessible to pedestrians, is indeed most
+favourable to the pursuit of such a study; and it was the practice of
+Professor Jameson frequently to head a band of his pupils, armed with
+hammers, chisels, and clinometers, and take them with him on a long
+ramble into the country, for the purpose of teaching them habits of
+observation and reading to them from the open book of Nature itself.  At
+the close of this session, the professor took with him a select body of
+his pupils on an excursion along the Great Glen of the Highlands, in the
+line of the Caledonian Canal, and Robert formed one of the party.  They
+passed under the shadow of Ben Nevis, examined the famous old sea-margins
+known as the "parallel roads of Glen Roy," and extended their journey as
+far as Inverness; the professor teaching the young men as they travelled
+how to observe in a mountain country.  Not long before his death, Robert
+Stephenson spoke in glowing terms of the great pleasure and benefit which
+he had derived from that interesting excursion.  "I have travelled far,
+and enjoyed much," he said; "but that delightful botanical and geological
+journey I shall never forget; and I am just about to start in the
+_Titania_ for a trip round the east coast of Scotland, returning south
+through the Caledonian Canal, to refresh myself with the recollection of
+that first and brightest tour of my life."
+
+Towards the end of the summer of 1822 the young student returned to
+Killingworth to re-enter upon the active business of life.  The six
+months' study had cost his father 80 pounds; but he was amply repaid by
+the better scientific culture which his son had acquired, and the
+evidence of ability and industry which he was enabled to exhibit in a
+prize for mathematics which he had won at the University.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+GEORGE STEPHENSON ENGINEER OF THE STOCKTON AND DARLINGTON RAILWAY.
+
+
+The district west of Darlington, in Durham, is one of the richest mineral
+fields of the North.  Vast stores of coal underlie the Bishop Auckland
+Valley; and from an early period new and good roads to market were felt
+to be exceedingly desirable.  As yet it remained almost a closed field,
+the cost of transport of the coal in carts, or on horses' or donkeys'
+backs, greatly limiting the sale.  Long ago, in the days of canal
+formations, Brindley was consulted about a canal; afterwards, in 1812, a
+tramroad was surveyed by Rennie; and eventually, in 1817, a railway was
+projected from Darlington to Stockton-on-Tees.
+
+            [Picture: Map of Stockton and Darlington Railway]
+
+Of this railway Edward Pease was the projector.  A thoughtful and
+sagacious man, ready in resources, possessed of indomitable energy and
+perseverance, he was eminently qualified to undertake what appeared to
+many the hopeless enterprise of obtaining an Act for a railway through
+such an unpromising district.  One who knew him in 1818 said, "he was a
+man who could see a hundred years ahead."
+
+                         [Picture: Edward Pease]
+
+When the writer last saw him, in the autumn of 1854, Mr. Pease was in his
+  eighty-eighth year; yet he still possessed the hopefulness and mental
+vigour of a man in his prime.  Hale and hearty, and full of reminiscences
+   of the past, he continued to take an active interest in all measures
+ calculated to render men happier and better.  Still sound in health, his
+ eye had not lost its brilliancy, nor his cheek its colour; and there was
+   an elasticity in his step which younger men might have envied. {125}
+
+In getting up a company for surveying and forming a railway, Mr. Pease
+had great difficulties to encounter.  The people of the neighbourhood
+spoke of it as a ridiculous undertaking, and predicted that it would be
+ruinous to all concerned.  Even those most interested in the opening of
+new markets for their coal, were indifferent, if not actually hostile.
+The Stockton merchants and shipowners, whom it was calculated so greatly
+to benefit, gave the project no support; and not twenty shares were
+subscribed for in the whole town.  Mr. Pease nevertheless persevered; and
+he induced many of his friends and relations to subscribe the capital
+required.
+
+The necessary preliminary steps were taken in 1818 to apply for an act to
+authorise the construction of a tramroad from Witton to Stockton.  The
+measure was however, strongly opposed by the Duke of Cleveland, because
+the proposed line passed close by one of his fox covers; and the bill was
+rejected.  A new survey was then made, avoiding the Duke's cover; and in
+1819 a renewed application was made to Parliament.  The promoters were
+this time successful, and the royal assent was given to the first
+Stockton and Darlington Railway Act on the 19th April, 1821.
+
+The projectors did not originally contemplate the employment of
+locomotives.  The Act provided for the making and maintaining of
+tramroads for the passage "of waggons and other carriages" "_with men and
+horses_ or otherwise," and a further clause made provision for damages
+done in course of traffic by the "waggoners."  The public were to be free
+"to use with horses, cattle and carriages," the roads formed by the
+company, on payment of the authorised rates, "between the hours of seven
+in the morning and six in the evening," during winter; "between six in
+the morning and eight in the evening," in two of the spring and autumn
+months; and "between five in the morning and ten in the evening," in the
+summer months of May, June, July, and August.  From this it will be
+obvious that the projectors of the line had themselves at first no very
+large conceptions as to the scope of their project.
+
+One day, in the spring of 1821, two strangers knocked at the door of Mr.
+Pease's house in Darlington; and the message was brought to him that some
+persons from Killingworth wanted to speak with him.  They were invited
+in, on which one of the visitors introduced himself as Nicholas Wood,
+viewer at Killingworth, and then turning to his companion, he introduced
+him as George Stephenson, engine-wright, of the same place.
+
+Mr. Pease entered into conversation with his visitors, and was soon told
+their object.  Stephenson had heard of the passing of the Stockton and
+Darlington Act, and desiring to increase his railway experience, and also
+to employ in some larger field the practical knowledge he had already
+gained, he determined to visit the known projector of the undertaking,
+with the view of being employed to carry it out.  He had brought with him
+his friend Wood, for the purpose at the same time of relieving his
+diffidence, and supporting his application.
+
+Mr. Pease liked the appearance of his visitor: "there was," as he
+afterwards remarked when speaking of Stephenson, "such an honest,
+sensible look about him, and he seemed so modest and unpretending.  He
+spoke in the strong Northumbrian dialect of his district, and described
+himself as 'only the engine-wright at Killingworth; that's what he was.'"
+
+Mr. Pease soon saw that our engineer was the very man for his purpose.
+The whole plans of the railway were still in an undetermined state, and
+Mr. Pease was therefore glad to have the opportunity of profiting by
+Stephenson's experience.  In the course of their conversation, the latter
+strongly recommended a _railway_ in preference to a tramroad.  They also
+discussed the kind of tractive power to be employed: Mr. Pease stating
+that the company had based their whole calculations on the employment of
+_horse_ power.  "I was so satisfied," said he afterwards, "that a horse
+upon an iron road would draw ten tons for one ton on a common road, that
+I felt sure that before long the railway would become the King's
+highway."  But Mr. Pease was scarcely prepared for the bold assertion
+made by his visitor, that the locomotive engine with which he had been
+working the Killingworth Railway for many years past was worth fifty
+horses, and that engines made after a similar plan would yet entirely
+supersede all horse power upon railroads.  Stephenson was daily becoming
+more positive as to the superiority of his locomotive; and hence he
+strongly urged Mr. Pease to adopt it.  "Come over to Killingworth," said
+he, "and see what my engines can do; seeing is believing, sir."  Mr.
+Pease accordingly promised that on some early day he would go over to
+Killingworth, and take a look at the wonderful machine that was to
+supersede horses.  The result of the interview was, that Mr. Pease
+promised to bring Stephenson's application for the appointment of
+engineer before the Directors, and to support it with his influence;
+whereon the two visitors prepared to take their leave, informing Mr.
+Pease that they intended to return to Newcastle "by nip;" that is, they
+expected to get a smuggled lift on the stage-coach, by tipping Jehu,--for
+in those days the stage coachmen regarded all casual roadside passengers
+as their proper perquisites.  They had, however, been so much engrossed
+by their conversation, that the lapse of time was forgotten, and when
+Stephenson and his friend made enquiries about the return coach, they
+found the last had left; and they had to walk the 18 miles to Durham on
+their way back to Newcastle.
+
+Mr. Pease having made further inquiries respecting Stephenson's character
+and qualifications, and having received a very strong recommendation of
+him as the right man for the intended work, he brought the subject of his
+application before the directors of the Stockton and Darlington Company.
+They resolved to adopt his recommendation that a railway be formed
+instead of a tramroad; and they further requested Mr. Pease to write to
+Stephenson, desiring him to undertake a re-survey of the line at the
+earliest practicable period.
+
+A man was despatched on a horse with the letter, and when he reached
+Killingworth he made diligent enquiry after the person named upon the
+address, "George Stephenson, Esquire, Engineer."  No such person was
+known in the village.  It is said that the man was on the point of giving
+up all further search, when the happy thought struck some of the
+colliers' wives who had gathered about him, that it must be "Geordie the
+engine-wright" the man was in search of; and to Geordie's cottage he
+accordingly went, found him at home, and delivered the letter.
+
+About the end of September, Stephenson went carefully over the line of
+the proposed railway, for the purpose of suggesting such improvements and
+deviations as he might consider desirable.  He was accompanied by an
+assistant and a chainman,--his son Robert entering the figures while his
+father took the sights.  After being engaged in the work at intervals for
+about six weeks, Stephenson reported the result of his survey to the
+Board of Directors, and showed that by certain deviations, a line shorter
+by about three miles might be constructed at a considerable saving in
+expense, while at the same time more favourable gradients--an important
+consideration--would be secured.
+
+It was, however, determined in the first place to proceed with the works
+at those parts of the line where no deviation was proposed; and the first
+rail of the Stockton and Darlington Railway was laid with considerable
+ceremony, near Stockton, on the 23rd May, 1822.
+
+It is worthy of note that Stephenson, in making his first estimate of the
+cost of forming the railway according to the Instructions of the
+directors, set down, as part of the cost, 6200 pounds for stationary
+engines, not mentioning locomotives at all.  The directors as yet
+confined their views to the employment only of horses for the haulage of
+the coals, and of fixed engines and ropes where horse-power was not
+applicable.  The whole question of steam locomotive power was, in the
+estimation of the public, as well as of practical and scientific men, as
+yet in doubt.  The confident anticipations of George Stephenson, as to
+the eventual success of locomotive engines, were regarded as mere
+speculations; and when he gave utterance to his views, as he frequently
+took the opportunity of doing, it even had the effect of shaking the
+confidence of some of his friends in the solidity of his judgment and his
+practical qualities as an engineer.
+
+When Mr. Pease discussed the question with Stephenson, his remark was,
+"Come over and see my engines at Killingworth, and satisfy yourself as to
+the efficiency of the locomotive.  I will show you the colliery books,
+that you may ascertain for yourself the actual cost of working.  And I
+must tell you that the economy of the locomotive engine is no longer a
+matter of theory, but a matter of fact."  So confident was the tone in
+which Stephenson spoke of the success of his engines, and so important
+were the consequences involved in arriving at a correct conclusion on the
+subject, that Mr. Pease at length resolved upon paying a visit to
+Killingworth in the summer of 1822, to see with his own eyes the
+wonderful new power so much vaunted by the engineer.
+
+When Mr. Pease arrived at Killingworth village, he inquired for George
+Stephenson, and was told that he must go over to the West Moor, and seek
+for a cottage by the roadside, with a dial over the door--"that was where
+George Stephenson lived."  They soon found the house with the dial; and
+on knocking, the door was opened by Mrs. Stephenson--his second wife
+(Elizabeth Hindmarsh), the daughter of a farmer at Black Callerton, whom
+he had married in 1820. {129}  Her husband, she said, was not in the
+house at present, but she would send for him to the colliery.  And in a
+short time Stephenson appeared before them in his working dress, just as
+he had come out of the pit.
+
+He very soon had his locomotive brought up to the crossing close by the
+end of the cottage,--made the gentlemen mount it, and showed them its
+paces.  Harnessing it to a train of loaded waggons, he ran it along the
+railroad, and so thoroughly satisfied his visitors of its power and
+capabilities, that from that day Edward Pease was a declared supporter of
+the locomotive engine.  In preparing the Amended Stockton and Darlington
+Act, at Stephenson's urgent request Mr. Pease had a clause inserted,
+taking power to work the railway by means of locomotive engines, and to
+employ them for the haulage of passengers as well as of merchandise.
+{130}  The Act was obtained in 1823, on which Stephenson was appointed
+the company's engineer at a salary of 300 pounds per annum; and it was
+determined that the line should be constructed and opened for traffic as
+soon as practicable.
+
+He at once proceeded, accompanied by his assistants, with the working
+survey of the line, laying out every foot of the ground himself.  Railway
+surveying was as yet in its infancy, and was slow and difficult work.  It
+afterwards became a separate branch of railway business, and was
+entrusted to a special staff.  Indeed on no subsequent line did George
+Stephenson take the sights through the spirit level with his own hands
+and eyes as he did on this railway.  He started very early--dressed in a
+blue tailed coat, breeches, and top-boots--and surveyed until dusk.  He
+was not at any time particular as to his living; and during the survey,
+he took his chance of getting a little milk and bread at some cottager's
+house along the line, or occasionally joined in a homely dinner at some
+neighbouring farmhouse.  The country people were accustomed to give him a
+hearty welcome when he appeared at their door; for he was always full of
+cheery and homely talk, and, when there were children about the house, he
+had plenty of humorous chat for them as well as for their seniors.
+
+After the day's work was over, George would drop in at Mr. Pease's, to
+talk over the progress of the survey, and discuss various matters
+connected with the railway.  Mr. Pease's daughters were usually present;
+and on one occasion, finding the young ladies learning the art of
+embroidery, he volunteered to instruct them. {131}  "I know all about
+it," said he; "and you will wonder how I learnt it.  I will tell you.
+When I was a brakesman at Killingworth, I learnt the art of embroidery
+while working the pitmen's buttonholes by the engine fire at nights."  He
+was never ashamed, but on the contrary rather proud, of reminding his
+friends of these humble pursuits of his early life.  Mr. Pease's family
+were greatly pleased with his conversation, which was always amusing and
+instructive; full of all sorts of experience, gathered in the oddest and
+most out-of-the-way places.  Even at that early period, before he mixed
+in the society of educated persons, there was a dash of speculativeness
+in his remarks, which gave a high degree of originality to his
+conversation; and he would sometimes, in a casual remark, throw a flash
+of light upon a subject, which called up a train of pregnant suggestions.
+
+One of the most important subjects of discussion at these meetings with
+Mr. Pease, was the establishment of a manufactory at Newcastle for the
+building of locomotive engines.  Up to this time all the locomotives
+constructed after Stephenson's designs, had been made by ordinary
+mechanics working among the collieries in the North of England.  But he
+had long felt that the accuracy and style of their workmanship admitted
+of great improvement, and that upon this the more perfect action of the
+locomotive engine, and its general adoption, in a great measure depended.
+One great object that he had in view in establishing the proposed factory
+was, to concentrate a number of good workmen, for the purpose of carrying
+out the improvements in detail which he was constantly making in his
+engine.  He felt hampered by the want of efficient help from skilled
+mechanics, who could work out in a practical form the ideas of which his
+busy mind was always so prolific.  Doubtless, too, he believed that the
+manufactory would prove a remunerative investment, and that, on the
+general adoption of the railway system which he anticipated, he would
+derive solid advantages from the fact of his establishment being the only
+one of the kind for the special construction of locomotive engines.
+
+Mr. Pease approved of his design, and strongly recommended him to carry
+it into effect.  But there was the question of means; and Stephenson did
+not think he had capital enough for the purpose.  He told Mr. Pease that
+he could advance 1000 pounds--the amount of the testimonial presented by
+the coal-owners for his safety-lamp invention, which he had still left
+untouched; but he did not think this sufficient for the purpose, and he
+thought that he should require at least another 1000 pounds.  Mr. Pease
+had been very much struck with the successful performances of the
+Killingworth engine; and being an accurate judge of character, he
+believed that he could not go far wrong in linking a portion of his
+fortune with the energy and industry of George Stephenson.  He consulted
+his friend Thomas Richardson in the matter; and the two consented to
+advance 500 pounds each for the purpose of establishing the engine
+factory at Newcastle.  A piece of land was accordingly purchased in Forth
+Street, in August, 1823, on which a small building was erected--the
+nucleus of the gigantic establishment which was afterwards formed around
+it; and active operations were begun early in 1824.
+
+While the Stockton and Darlington Railway works were in progress, our
+engineer had many interesting discussions with Mr. Pease, on points
+connected with its construction and working, the determination of which
+in a great measure affected the formation and working of all future
+railways.  The most important points were these:
+
+1.  The comparative merits of cast and wrought iron rails.
+
+2.  The gauge of the railway.
+
+3.  The employment of horse or engine power in working it, when ready for
+traffic.
+
+The kind of rails to be laid down to form the permanent road was a matter
+of considerable importance.  A wooden tramroad had been contemplated when
+the first Act was applied for; but Stephenson having advised that an iron
+road should be laid down, he was instructed to draw up a specification of
+the rails.  He went before the directors to discuss with them the kind of
+material to be specified.  He was himself interested in the patent for
+cast-iron rails, which he had taken out in conjunction with Mr. Losh in
+1816; and, of course, it was to his interest that his articles should be
+used.  But when requested to give his opinion on the subject, he frankly
+said to the directors, "Well, gentlemen, to tell you the truth, although
+it would put 500 pounds in my pocket to specify my own patent rails, I
+cannot do so after the experience I have had.  If you take my advice, you
+will not lay down a single cast-iron rail."  "Why?" asked the directors.
+"Because they will not stand the weight, and you will be at no end of
+expense for repairs and relays."  "What kind of road, then," he was
+asked, "would you recommend?"  "Malleable rails, certainly," said he;
+"and I can recommend them with the more confidence from the fact that at
+Killingworth we have had some Swedish bars laid down--nailed to wooden
+sleepers--for a period of fourteen years, the waggons passing over them
+daily; and there they are, in use yet, whereas the cast rails are
+constantly giving way."
+
+The price of malleable rails was, however, so high--being then worth
+about 12 pounds per ton as compared with cast-iron rails at about 5
+pounds 10s.--and the saving of expense was so important a consideration
+with the subscribers, that Stephenson was directed to provide, in the
+specification, that only one-half of the rails required--or about 800
+tons--should be of malleable iron, and the remainder of cast-iron.  The
+malleable rails were of the kind called "fish-bellied," and weighed 28
+lbs. to the yard, being 2.25 inches broad at the top, with the upper
+flange 0.75 inch thick.  They were only 2 inches in depth at the points
+at which they rested on the chairs, and 3.25 inches in the middle or
+bellied part.
+
+When forming the road, the proper gauge had also to be determined.  What
+width was this to be?  The gauge of the first tramroad laid down had
+virtually settled the point.  The gauge of wheels of the common vehicles
+of the country--of the carts and waggons employed on common roads, which
+were first used on the tramroads--was about 4 feet 8.5 inches.  And so
+the first tramroads were laid down of this gauge.  The tools and
+machinery for constructing coal-waggons and locomotives were formed with
+this gauge in view.  The Wylam waggon-way, afterwards the Wylam
+plate-way, the Killingworth railroad, and the Hetton rail road, were as
+nearly as possible on the same gauge.  Some of the earth-waggons used to
+form the Stockton and Darlington road were brought from the Hetton
+railway; and others which were specially constructed were formed of the
+same dimensions, these being intended to be afterwards employed in the
+working of the traffic.
+
+As the period drew near for the opening of the line, the question of the
+tractive power to be employed was anxiously discussed.  At the Brusselton
+incline, fixed engines must necessarily be made use of; but with respect
+to the mode of working the railway generally, it was decided that horses
+were to be largely employed, and arrangements were made for their
+purchase.  The influence of Mr. Pease also secured that a fair trial
+should be given to the experiment of working the traffic by locomotive
+power; and three engines were ordered from the firm of Stephenson and
+Co., Newcastle, which were put in hand forthwith, in anticipation of the
+opening of the railway.  These were constructed after Mr. Stephenson's
+most matured designs, and embodied all the improvements which he had
+contrived up to that time.  No. I. engine, the "Locomotion," which was
+first delivered, weighed about eight tons.  It had one large flue or tube
+through the boiler, by which the heated air passed direct from the
+furnace at one end, lined with fire-bricks, to the chimney at the other.
+The combustion in the furnace was quickened by the adoption of the
+steam-blast in the chimney.  The heat raised was sometimes so great, and
+it was so imperfectly abstracted by the surrounding water, that the
+chimney became almost red-hot.  Such engines, when put to their speed,
+were found capable of running at the rate of from twelve to sixteen miles
+an hour; but they were better adapted for the heavy work of hauling
+coal-trains at low speeds--for which, indeed, they were specially
+constructed--than for running at the higher speeds afterwards adopted.
+Nor was it contemplated by the directors as possible, at the time when
+they were ordered, that locomotives could be made available for the
+purposes of passenger travelling.  Besides, the Stockton and Darlington
+Railway did not run through a district in which passengers were supposed
+to be likely to constitute any considerable portion of the traffic.
+
+We may easily imagine the anxiety felt by Mr. Stephenson during the
+progress of the works towards completion, and his mingled hopes and
+doubts (though his doubts were but few) as to the issue of this great
+experiment.  When the formation of the line near Stockton was well
+advanced, Mr. Stephenson one day, accompanied by his son Robert and John
+Dixon, made a journey of inspection of the works.  The party reached
+Stockton, and proceeded to dine at one of the inns there.  After dinner,
+Stephenson ventured on the very unusual measure of ordering in a bottle
+of wine, to drink success to the railway.  John Dixon relates with pride
+the utterance of the master on the occasion.  "Now, lads," said he to the
+two young men, "I venture to tell you that I think you will live to see
+the day when railways will supersede almost all other methods of
+conveyance in this country--when mail-coaches will go by railway, and
+railroads will become the great highway for the king and all his
+subjects.  The time is coming when it will be cheaper for a working man
+to travel upon a railway than to walk on foot.  I know there are great
+and almost insurmountable difficulties to be encountered; but what I have
+said will come to pass as sure as you live.  I only wish I may live to
+see the day, though that I can scarcely hope for, as I know how slow all
+human progress is, and with what difficulty I have been able to get the
+locomotive thus far adopted, notwithstanding my more than ten years'
+successful experiment at Killingworth."  The result, however, outstripped
+even the most sanguine anticipations of Stephenson; and his son Robert,
+shortly after his return from America in 1827, saw his father's
+locomotive generally employed as the tractive power on railways.
+
+The Stockton and Darlington line was opened for traffic on the 27th
+September, 1825.  An immense concourse of people assembled from all parts
+to witness the ceremony of opening this first public railway.  The
+powerful opposition which the project had encountered, the threats which
+were still uttered against the company by the road-trustees and others,
+who declared that they would yet prevent the line being worked, and
+perhaps the general unbelief as to its success which still prevailed,
+tended to excite the curiosity of the public as to the result.  Some went
+to rejoice at the opening, some to see the "bubble burst;" and there were
+many prophets of evil who would not miss the blowing up of the boasted
+travelling engine.  The opening was, however, auspicious.  The
+proceedings commenced at Brusselton Incline, about nine miles above
+Darlington, where the fixed engine drew a train of loaded waggons up the
+incline from the west, and lowered them on the east side.  At the foot of
+the incline a locomotive was in readiness to receive them, Stephenson
+himself driving the engine.  The train consisted of six waggons loaded
+with coals and flour; after these was the passenger-coach, filled with
+the directors and their friends, and then twenty-one waggons fitted up
+with temporary seats for passengers; and lastly came six waggon-loads of
+coals, making in all a train of thirty-eight vehicles.  The local
+chronicler of the day almost went beside himself in describing the
+extraordinary event:--"The signal being given," he says, "the engine
+started off with this immense train of carriages; and such was its
+velocity, that in some parts the speed was frequently 12 miles an hour!"
+By the time it reached Stockton there were about 600 persons in the train
+or hanging on to the waggons, which must have gone at a safe and steady
+pace of from four to six miles an hour from Darlington.  "The arrival at
+Stockton," it is added, "excited a deep interest and admiration."
+
+The working of the line then commenced, and the results were such as to
+surprise even the most sanguine of its projectors.  The traffic upon
+which they had formed their estimates of profit proved to be small in
+comparison with that which flowed in upon them which they had never
+dreamt of.  Thus, what the company had principally relied upon for their
+receipts was the carriage of coals for land sale at the stations along
+the line, whereas the haulage of coals to the seaports for exportation to
+the London market was not contemplated as possible.  When the bill was
+before Parliament, Mr. Lambton (afterwards Earl of Durham) succeeded in
+getting a clause inserted, limiting the charge for the haulage of all
+coal to Stockton-on-Tees for the purpose of shipment to 0.5d. per ton per
+mile; whereas a rate of 4d. per ton was allowed to be taken for all coals
+led upon the railway for land sale.  Mr. Lambton's object in enforcing
+the low rate of 0.5d. was to protect his own trade in coal exported from
+Sunderland and the northern ports.  He believed, in common with everybody
+else, that the 0.5d. rate would effectually secure him against
+competition on the part of the Company; for it was not considered
+possible to lead coals at that price, and the proprietors of the railway
+themselves considered that such a rate would be utterly ruinous.  The
+projectors never contemplated sending more than 10,000 tons a year to
+Stockton, and those only for shipment as ballast; they looked for their
+profits almost exclusively to the land sale.  The result, however, was as
+surprising to them as it must have been to Mr. Lambton.  The 0.5d. rate
+which was forced upon them, instead of being ruinous, proved the vital
+element in the success of the railway.  In the course of a few years, the
+annual shipment of coal, led by the Stockton and Darlington Railway to
+Stockton and Middlesborough, was more than 500,000 tons; and it has since
+far exceeded this amount.  Instead of being, as anticipated, a
+subordinate branch of traffic, it proved, in fact, the main traffic,
+while the land sale was merely subsidiary.
+
+The anticipations of the company as to passenger traffic were in like
+manner more than realised.  At first, passengers were not thought of; and
+it was only while the works were in progress that the starting of a
+passenger coach was seriously contemplated.  The number of persons
+travelling between the two towns was very small; and it was not known
+whether these would risk their persons upon the iron road.  It was
+determined, however, to make trial of a railway coach; and Mr. Stephenson
+was authorised to have one built at Newcastle, at the cost of the
+company.  This was done accordingly; and the first railway passenger
+carriage was built after our engineer's design.  It was, however, a very
+modest, and indeed a somewhat uncouth machine, more resembling the
+caravans still to be seen at country fairs containing the "Giant and the
+Dwarf" and other wonders of the world, than a passenger-coach of any
+extant form.  A row of seats ran along each side of the interior, and a
+long deal table was fixed in the centre; the access being by means of a
+door at the back end, in the manner of an omnibus.
+
+                    [Picture: The First Railway Coach]
+
+This coach arrived from Newcastle the day before the opening, and formed
+part of the railway procession above described.  Mr. Stephenson was
+consulted as to the name of the coach, and he at once suggested "The
+Experiment;" and by this name it was called.  The Company's arms were
+afterwards painted on her side, with the motto "Periculum privatum
+utilitas publica."  Such was the sole passenger-carrying stock of the
+Stockton and Darlington Company in the year 1825.  But the "Experiment"
+proved the forerunner of a mighty traffic: and long time did not elapse
+before it was displaced, not only by improved coaches (still drawn by
+horses), but afterwards by long trains of passenger-carriages drawn by
+locomotive engines.
+
+"The Experiment" was fairly started as a passenger-coach on the 10th
+October, 1825, a fortnight after the opening of the line.  It was drawn
+by one horse, and performed a journey daily each way between the two
+towns, accomplishing the distance of twelve miles in about two hours.
+The fare charged was a shilling without distinction of class; and each
+passenger was allowed fourteen pounds of luggage free.  "The Experiment"
+was not, however, worked by the company, but was let to contractors who
+worked it under an arrangement whereby toll was paid for the use of the
+line, rent of booking-cabins, etc.
+
+The speculation answered so well, that several private coaching companies
+were shortly after got up by innkeepers at Darlington and Stockton, for
+the purpose of running other coaches upon the railroad; and an active
+competition for passenger traffic sprang up.  "The Experiment" being
+found too heavy for one horse to draw, besides being found an
+uncomfortable machine, was banished to the coal district.  Its place was
+then supplied by other and better vehicles,--though they were no other
+than old stage-coach bodies purchased by the company, and each mounted
+upon an underframe with flange-wheels.  These were let on hire to the
+coaching companies, who horsed and managed them under an arrangement as
+to tolls, in like manner as the "Experiment" had been worked.  Now began
+the distinction of inside and outside passengers, equivalent to first and
+second class, paying different fares.  The competition with each other
+upon the railway, and with the ordinary stagecoaches upon the road, soon
+brought up the speed, which was increased to ten miles an hour--the
+mail-coach rate of travelling in those days, and considered very fast.
+
+Mr. Clephan, a native of the district, has described some of the curious
+features of the competition between the rival coach companies:--"There
+were two separate coach companies in Stockton, and amusing collisions
+sometimes occurred between the drivers--who found on the rail a novel
+element for contention.  Coaches cannot pass each other on the rail as on
+the road; and, as the line was single, with four sidings in the mile,
+when two coaches met, or two trains, or coach and train, the question
+arose which of the drivers must go back?  This was not always settled in
+silence.  As to trains, it came to be a sort of understanding that empty
+should give way to loaded waggons; and as to trains and coaches, that the
+passengers should have preference over coals; while coaches, when they
+met, must quarrel it out.  At length, midway between sidings, a post was
+erected, and a rule was laid down that he who had passed the pillar must
+go on, and the 'coming man' go back.  At the Goose Pool and Early Nook,
+it was common for these coaches to stop; and there, as Jonathan would
+say, passengers and coachmen 'liquored.'  One coach, introduced by an
+innkeeper, was a compound of two mourning-coaches,--an approximation to
+the real railway-coach, which still adheres, with multiplying exceptions,
+to the stage-coach type.  One Dixon, who drove the 'Experiment' between
+Darlington and Shildon, is the inventor of carriage-lighting on the rail.
+On a dark winter night, having compassion on his passengers, he would buy
+a penny candle, and place it lighted amongst them on the table of the
+'Experiment'--the first railway-coach (which, by the way, ended its days
+at Shildon as a railway cabin), being also the first coach on the rail
+(first, second, and third class jammed all into one) that indulged its
+customers with light in darkness."
+
+The traffic of all sorts increased so steadily and so rapidly that
+considerable difficulty was experienced in working it satisfactorily.  It
+had been provided by the first Stockton and Darlington Act that the line
+should be free to all parties who chose to use it at certain prescribed
+rates, and that any person might put horses and waggons on the railway,
+and carry for himself.  But this arrangement led to increasing confusion
+and difficulty, and could not continue in the face of a large and
+rapidly-increasing traffic.  The goods trains got so long that the
+carriers found it necessary to call in the aid of the locomotive engine
+to help them on their way.  Then mixed trains of passengers and
+merchandise began to run; and the result was that the railway company
+found it necessary to take the entire charge and working of the traffic.
+In course of time new coaches were specially built for the better
+accommodation of the public, until at length regular passenger-trains
+were run, drawn by the locomotive engine,--though this was not until
+after the Liverpool and Manchester Company had established this as a
+distinct branch of their traffic.
+
+                [Picture: The No. I. Engine at Darlington]
+
+The three Stephenson locomotives were from the first regularly employed
+to work the coal trains; and their proved efficiency for this purpose led
+to the gradual increase of the locomotive power.  The speed of the
+engines--slow though it seems now--was in those days regarded as
+something marvellous.  A race actually came off between No. I. engine,
+the "Locomotion," and one of the stage-coaches travelling from Darlington
+to Stockton by the ordinary road; and it was regarded as a great triumph
+of mechanical skill that the locomotive reached Stockton first, beating
+the stage-coach by about a hundred yards!  The same engine continued in
+good working order in the year 1846, when it headed the railway
+procession on the opening of the Middlesborough and Redcar Railway,
+travelling at the rate of about fourteen miles an hour.  This engine, the
+first that travelled upon the first public railway, has recently been
+placed upon a pedestal in front of the railway station at Darlington.
+
+For some years, however, the principal haulage of the line was performed
+by horses.  The inclination of the gradients being towards the sea, this
+was perhaps the cheapest mode of traction, so long as the traffic was not
+very large.  The horse drew the train along the level road, until, on
+reaching a descending gradient, down which the train ran by its own
+gravity, the animal was unharnessed, and, when loose, he wheeled round to
+the other end of the waggons, to which a "dandy-cart" was attached, its
+bottom being only a few inches from the rail.  Bringing his step into
+unison with the speed of the train, the horse learnt to leap nimbly into
+his place in this waggon, which was usually fitted with a well-filled
+hay-rack.
+
+The details of the working were gradually perfected by experience, the
+projectors of the line being scarcely conscious at first of the
+importance and significance of the work which they had taken in hand, and
+little thinking that they were laying the foundations of a system which
+was yet to revolutionise the internal communications of the world, and
+confer the greatest blessings on mankind.  It is important to note that
+the commercial results of the enterprise were considered satisfactory
+from the opening of the railway.  Besides conferring a great public
+benefit upon the inhabitants of the district and throwing open entirely
+new markets for coal, the profits derived from the traffic created by the
+railway yielded increasing dividends to those who had risked their
+capital in the undertaking, and thus held forth an encouragement to the
+projectors of railways generally, which was not without an important
+effect in stimulating the projection of similar enterprises in other
+districts.  These results, as displayed in the annual dividends, must
+have been eminently encouraging to the astute commercial men of Liverpool
+and Manchester, who were then engaged in the prosecution of their
+railway.  Indeed, the commercial success of the Stockton and Darlington
+Company may be justly characterised as the turning-point of the railway
+system.
+
+Before leaving this subject, we cannot avoid alluding to one of its most
+remarkable and direct results--the creation of the town of
+Middlesborough-on-Tees.  When the railway was opened in 1825, the site of
+this future metropolis of Cleveland was occupied by one solitary
+farmhouse and its outbuildings.  All round was pasture-land or mud-banks;
+scarcely another house was within sight.  In 1829 some of the principal
+proprietors of the railway joined in the purchase of about 500 or 600
+acres of land five miles below Stockton--the site of the modern
+Middlesborough--for the purpose of there forming a new seaport for the
+shipment of coals brought to the Tees by the railway.  The line was
+accordingly extended thither; docks were excavated; a town sprang up;
+churches, chapels, and schools were built, with a custom-house,
+mechanics' institute, banks, shipbuilding yards, and iron-factories.  In
+ten years a busy population of some 6000 persons (since increased to
+about 23,000) occupied the site of the original farmhouse. {144}  More
+recently, the discovery of vast stores of ironstone in the Cleveland
+Hills, closely adjoining Middlesborough, has tended still more rapidly to
+augment the population and increase the commercial importance of the
+place.
+
+It is pleasing to relate, in connexion with this great work--the Stockton
+and Darlington Railway, projected by Edward Pease and executed by George
+Stephenson--that when Mr. Stephenson became a prosperous and a celebrated
+man, he did not forget the friend who had taken him by the hand, and
+helped him on in his early days.  He continued to remember Mr. Pease with
+gratitude and affection, and that gentleman, to the close of his life,
+was proud to exhibit a handsome gold watch, received as a gift from his
+celebrated _protege_, bearing these words;--"Esteem and gratitude: from
+George Stephenson to Edward Pease."
+
+                    [Picture: Middlesborough-on-Tees]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY PROJECTED.
+
+
+The rapid growth of the trade and manufactures of South Lancashire gave
+rise, about the year 1821, to the project of a tramroad for the
+conveyance of goods between Liverpool and Manchester.  Since the
+construction of the Bridgewater Canal by Brindley, some fifty years
+before, the increase in the business transacted between the two towns had
+become quite marvellous.  The steam-engine, the spinning-jenny, and the
+canal, working together, had accumulated in one focus a vast aggregate of
+population, manufactures, and trade.
+
+Such was the expansion of business caused by the inventions to which we
+have referred, that the navigation was found altogether inadequate to
+accommodate the traffic, which completely outgrew all the Canal
+Companies' appliances of wharves, boats, and horses.  Cotton lay at
+Liverpool for weeks together, waiting to be removed; and it occupied a
+longer time to transport the cargoes from Liverpool to Manchester than it
+had done to bring them across the Atlantic from the United States to
+England.  Carts and waggons were tried, but proved altogether
+insufficient.  Sometimes manufacturing operations had to be suspended
+altogether, and during a frost, when the canals were frozen up, the
+communication was entirely stopped.  The consequences were often
+disastrous, alike to operatives, merchants, and manufacturers.
+
+Expostulation with the Canal Companies was of no use.  They were
+overcrowded with business at their own prices, and disposed to be very
+dictatorial.  When the Duke first constructed his canal, he had to
+encounter the fierce opposition of the Irwell and Mersey Navigation,
+whose monopoly his new line of water conveyance threatened to interfere
+with. {147}  But the innovation of one generation often becomes the
+obstruction of the next.  The Duke's agents would scarcely listen to the
+remonstrances of the Liverpool merchants and Manchester manufacturers,
+and the Bridgewater Canal was accordingly, in its turn, denounced as a
+monopoly.
+
+Under these circumstances, any new mode of transit between the two towns
+which offered a reasonable prospect of relief was certain to receive a
+cordial welcome.  The scheme of a tramroad was, however, so new and
+comparatively untried, that it is not surprising that the parties
+interested should have hesitated before committing themselves to it.  Mr.
+Sandars, a Liverpool merchant, was amongst the first to broach the
+subject.  He had suffered in his business, in common with many others,
+from the insufficiency of the existing modes of communication, and was
+ready to give consideration to any plan presenting elements of practical
+efficiency which proposed a remedy for the generally admitted grievance.
+Having caused inquiry to be made as to the success which had attended the
+haulage of heavy coal-trains by locomotive power on the northern
+railways, he was led to the opinion that the same means might be equally
+efficient in conducting the increasing traffic in merchandise between
+Liverpool and Manchester.  He ventilated the subject amongst his friends,
+and about the beginning of 1821 a committee was formed for the purpose of
+bringing the scheme of a railroad before the public.
+
+The novel project having become noised abroad, attracted the attention of
+the friends of railways in other quarters.  Tramroads were by no means
+new expedients for the transit of heavy articles.  The Croydon and
+Wandsworth Railway, laid down by William Jessop as early as the year
+1801, had been regularly used for the conveyance of lime and stone in
+waggons hauled by mules or donkeys from Merstham to London.  The sight of
+this humble railroad in 1813 led Sir Richard Phillips in his 'Morning
+Walk to Kew' to anticipate the great advantages which would be derived by
+the nation from the general adoption of Blenkinsop's engine for the
+conveyance of mails and passengers at ten or even fifteen miles an hour.
+In the same year we find Mr. Lovell Edgworth, who had for fifty years
+been advocating the superiority of tram or rail roads over common roads,
+writing to James Watt (7th August, 1813): "I have always thought that
+steam would become the universal lord, and that we should in time scorn
+post-horses; an iron railroad would be a cheaper thing than a road upon
+the common construction."
+
+Thomas Gray, of Nottingham, was another speculator on the same subject.
+Though he was no mechanic nor inventor, he had an enthusiastic belief in
+the powers of the railroad system.  Being a native of Leeds, he had, when
+a boy, seen Blenkinsop's locomotive at work on the Middleton cogged
+railroad, and from an early period he seems to have entertained almost as
+sanguine views on the subject as Sir Richard Phillips.  It would appear
+that Gray was residing in Brussels in 1816, when the project of a canal
+from Charleroi, for the purpose of connecting Holland with the mining
+districts of Belgium, was the subject of discussion; and, in conversation
+with Mr. John Cockerill and others, he took the opportunity of advocating
+the superior advantages of a railway.  He was absorbed for some time with
+the preparation of a pamphlet on the subject.  He shut himself up,
+secluded from his wife and relations, declining to give them any
+information as to his mysterious studies, beyond the assurance that his
+scheme "would revolutionise the whole face of the material world and of
+society."  In 1820 Mr. Gray published the result of his studies in his
+'Observations on a General Iron Railway,' in which, with great cogency,
+he urged the superiority of a locomotive railway over common roads and
+canals, pointing out, at the same time, the advantages to all classes of
+the community of this mode of conveyance for merchandise and persons.  In
+this book Mr. Gray suggested a railway between Manchester and Liverpool,
+"which," he observed, "would employ many thousands of the distressed
+population of Lancashire."  The treatise must have met with a ready sale,
+as we find that two years later it had passed into a fourth edition.  In
+1822 Mr. Gray added diagrams to the book, showing, in one, suggested
+lines of railway connecting the principal towns of England, and in
+another, the principal towns of Ireland.
+
+These speculations show that the subject of railways was gradually
+becoming familiar to the public mind, and that thoughtful men were
+anticipating with confidence the adoption of steam-power for the purposes
+of railway traction.  At the same time, a still more profitable class of
+labourers was at work--first, men like Stephenson, who were engaged in
+improving the locomotive and making it a practicable and economical
+working power; and next, those like Edward Pease of Darlington, and
+Joseph Sandars of Liverpool, who were organising the means of laying down
+the railways.  Mr. William James, of West Bromwich, belonged to the
+active class of projectors.  He was a man of considerable social
+influence, of an active temperament, and had from an early period taken a
+warm interest in the formation of tramroads.  Acting as land-agent for
+gentlemen of property in the mining districts, he had laid down several
+tramroads in the neighbourhood of Birmingham, Gloucester, and Bristol;
+and he published many pamphlets urging their formation in other places.
+At one period of his life he was a large iron-manufacturer.  The times,
+however, went against him.  It was thought he was too bold, some
+considered him even reckless, in his speculations; and he lost almost his
+entire fortune.  He continued to follow the business of a land-agent, and
+it was while engaged in making a survey for one of his clients in the
+neighbourhood of Liverpool early in 1821, that he first heard of the
+project of a railway between that town and Manchester.  He at once called
+upon Mr. Sandars, and offered his services as surveyor of the proposed
+line, and his offer was accepted.
+
+   [Picture: Map of Liverpool and Manchester Railway.  (Western Part.)]
+
+   [Picture: Map of Liverpool and Manchester Railway.  (Eastern Part.)]
+
+A trial survey was then begun, but it was conducted with great
+difficulty, the inhabitants of the district entertaining the most violent
+prejudices against the scheme. In some places Mr. James and his surveying
+party even encountered personal violence. The farmers stationed men at
+the field-gates with pitchforks, and sometimes with guns, to drive them
+back. At St. Helen's, one of the chainmen was laid hold of by a mob of
+colliers, and threatened to be hurled down a coal-pit. A number of men,
+women, and children, collected and ran after the surveyors wherever they
+made their appearance, bawling nicknames and throwing stones at them. As
+one of the chainmen was climbing over a gate one day, a labourer made at
+him with a pitchfork, and ran it through his clothes into his back; other
+watchers running up, the chainman, who was more stunned than hurt, took
+to his heels and fled. But that mysterious-looking instrument---the
+theodolite---most excited the fury of the natives, who concentrated on
+the man who carried it their fiercest execrations and most offensive
+nicknames.
+
+A powerful fellow, a noted bruiser, was hired by the surveyors to carry
+the instrument, with a view to its protection against all assailants; but
+one day an equally powerful fellow, a St. Helen's collier, cock of the
+walk in his neighbourhood, made up to the theodolite bearer to wrest it
+from him by sheer force.  A battle took place, the collier was soundly
+pummelled, but the natives poured in volleys of stones upon the surveyors
+and their instruments, and the theodolite was smashed to pieces.
+
+An outline-survey having at length been made, notices were published of
+an intended application to Parliament.  In the mean time Mr. James
+proceeded to Killingworth to see Stephenson's locomotives at work.
+Stephenson was not at home at the time, but James saw his engines, and
+was very much struck by their power and efficiency.  He saw at a glance
+the magnificent uses to which the locomotive might be applied.  "Here,"
+said he, "is an engine that will, before long, effect a complete
+revolution in society."  Returning to Moreton-in-the-Marsh, he wrote to
+Mr. Losh (Stephenson's partner in the patent) expressing his admiration
+of the Killingworth engine.  "It is," said he, "the greatest wonder of
+the age, and the forerunner, as I firmly believe, of the most important
+changes in the internal communications of the kingdom."  Shortly after,
+Mr. James, accompanied by his two sons, made a second journey to
+Killingworth, where he met both Losh and Stephenson.  The visitors were
+at once taken to where the locomotive was working, and invited to mount
+it.  The uncouth and extraordinary appearance of the machine, as it came
+snorting along, was somewhat alarming to the youths, who expressed their
+fears lest it should burst; and they were with some difficulty induced to
+mount.
+
+The engine went through its usual performances, dragging a heavy load of
+coal-waggons at about six miles an hour, with apparent ease, at which Mr.
+James expressed his extreme satisfaction, and declared to Mr. Losh his
+opinion that Stephenson "was the greatest practical genius of the age,"
+and that, "if he developed the full powers of that engine (the
+locomotive), his fame in the world would rank equal with that of Watt."
+Mr. James informed Stephenson and Losh of his survey of the proposed
+tramroad between Liverpool and Manchester, and did not hesitate to state
+that he would thenceforward advocate the construction of a locomotive
+railroad instead of the tramroad which had originally been proposed.
+
+Stephenson and Losh were naturally desirous of enlisting James's good
+services on behalf of their patent locomotive, for as yet it had proved
+comparatively unproductive.  They believed that he might be able so to
+advocate it in influential quarters as to ensure its more extensive
+adoption, and with this object they proposed to give him an interest in
+the patent.  Accordingly they assigned him one-fourth of any profits
+which might be derived from the use of the patent locomotive on any
+railways constructed south of a line drawn across England from Liverpool
+to Hull.  The arrangement, however, led to no beneficial results.  Mr.
+James endeavoured to introduce the engine on the Moreton-on-Marsh
+Railway; but it was opposed by the engineer of the line, and the attempt
+failed.  He next urged that a locomotive should be sent for trial upon
+the Merstham tramroad; but, anxious though Stephenson was respecting its
+extended employment, he was too cautious to risk an experiment which
+might only bring discredit upon the engine; and the Merstham road being
+only laid with cast-iron plates, which would not bear its weight, the
+invitation was declined.
+
+It turned out that the first survey of the Liverpool and Manchester line
+was very imperfect, and it was determined to have a second and more
+complete one made in the following year.  Robert Stephenson was sent over
+by his father to Liverpool to assist in this survey.  He was present with
+Mr. James on the occasion on which he tried to lay out the line across
+Chat Moss,--a proceeding which was not only difficult but dangerous.  The
+Moss was very wet at the time, and only its edges could be ventured on.
+Mr. James was a heavy, thick-set man; and one day, when endeavouring to
+obtain a stand for his theodolite, he felt himself suddenly sinking.  He
+immediately threw himself down, and rolled over and over until he reached
+firm ground again, in a sad mess.  Other attempts which he subsequently
+made to enter upon the Moss for the same purpose, were abandoned for the
+same reason--the want of a solid stand for the theodolite.
+
+On the 4th October, 1822, we find Mr. James writing to Mr. Sandars, "I
+came last night to send my aid, Robert Stephenson, to his father, and
+to-morrow I shall pay off Evans and Hamilton, two other assistants.  I
+have now only Messrs. Padley and Clarke to finish the copy of plans for
+Parliament, which will be done in about a week or nine days' time."  It
+would appear however, that, notwithstanding all his exertions, Mr. James
+was unable to complete his plans and estimates in time for the ensuing
+Session; and another year was thus lost.  The Railroad Committee became
+impatient at the delay.  Mr. James's financial embarrassments reached
+their climax; and, what with illness and debt, he was no longer in a
+position to fulfil his promises to the Committee.  They were, therefore,
+under the necessity of calling to their aid some other engineer.
+
+Mr. Sandars had by this time visited George Stephenson at Killingworth,
+and, like all who came within reach of his personal influence, was
+charmed with him at first sight.  The energy which he had displayed in
+carrying on the works of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, now
+approaching completion; his readiness to face difficulties, and his
+practical ability in overcoming them; the enthusiasm which he displayed
+on the subject of railways and railway locomotion,--concurred in
+satisfying Mr. Sandars that he was, of all men, the best calculated to
+help forward the Liverpool undertaking at this juncture.  On his return
+he stated this opinion to the Committee, who approved his recommendation,
+and George Stephenson was unanimously appointed engineer of the projected
+railway.
+
+It will be observed that Mr. Sandars had held to his original purpose
+with great determination and perseverance, and he gradually succeeded in
+enlisting on his side an increasing number of influential merchants and
+manufacturers both at Liverpool and Manchester.  Early in 1824 he
+published a pamphlet, in which he strongly urged the great losses and
+interruptions to the trade of the district by the delays in the
+forwarding of merchandise; and in the same year he had a Public
+Declaration drawn up, and signed by upwards of 150 of the principal
+merchants of Liverpool, setting forth that they considered "the present
+establishments for the transport of goods quite inadequate, and that a
+new line of conveyance has become absolutely necessary to conduct the
+increasing trade of the country with speed, certainty, and economy."
+
+A public meeting was then held to consider the best plan to be adopted,
+and resolutions were passed in favour of a railroad.  A committee was
+appointed to take the necessary measures; but, as if reluctant to enter
+upon their arduous struggle with the "vested interests," they first
+waited on Mr. Bradshaw, the Duke of Bridgewater's canal agent, in the
+hope of persuading him to increase the means of conveyance, as well as to
+reduce the charges; but they were met by an unqualified refusal.  They
+suggested the expediency of a railway, and invited Mr. Bradshaw to become
+a proprietor of shares in it.  But his reply was--"All or none!"  The
+canal proprietors, confident in their imagined security, ridiculed the
+proposed railway as a chimera.  It had been spoken about years before,
+and nothing had come of it then: it would be the same now.
+
+In order to form a better opinion as to the practicability of the
+railroad, a deputation of gentlemen interested in the project proceeded
+to Killingworth, to inspect the engines which had been so long in use
+there.  They first went to Darlington, where they found the works of the
+Stockton line in progress, though still unfinished.  Proceeding next to
+Killingworth with Mr. Stephenson, they there witnessed the performances
+of his locomotive engines.  The result of their visit was, on the whole,
+so satisfactory, that on their report being delivered to the committee at
+Liverpool, it was finally determined to form a company of proprietors for
+the construction of a double line of railway between Liverpool and
+Manchester.
+
+The first prospectus of the scheme was dated the 29th October, 1824, and
+had attached to it the names of the leading merchants of Liverpool and
+Manchester.  It was a modest document, very unlike the inflated balloons
+which were sent up by railway speculators in succeeding years.  It set
+forth as its main object the establishment of a safe and cheap mode of
+transit for merchandise, by which the conveyance of goods between the two
+towns would be effected in 5 or 6 hours (instead of 36 hours by the
+canal), whilst the charges would be reduced one-third.  On looking at the
+prospectus now, it is curious to note that, while the advantages
+anticipated from the carriage of merchandise were strongly insisted upon,
+the conveyance of passengers--which proved to be the chief source of
+profit--was only very cautiously referred to.  "As a cheap and
+expeditious means of conveyance for travellers," says the prospectus in
+conclusion, "the railway holds out the fair prospect of a public
+accommodation, the magnitude and importance of which cannot be
+immediately ascertained."  The estimated expense of forming the line was
+set down at 400,000 pounds,--a sum which was eventually found quite
+inadequate.  The subscription list when opened was filled up without
+difficulty.
+
+While the project was still under discussion, its promoters, desirous of
+removing the doubts which existed as to the employment of steam power on
+the proposed railway, sent a second deputation to Killingworth for the
+purpose of again observing the action of Stephenson's engines.  The
+cautious projectors of the railway were not yet quite satisfied; and a
+third journey was made to Killingworth, in January, 1825, by several
+gentlemen of the committee, accompanied by practical engineers, for the
+purpose of being personal eye-witnesses of what steam-carriages were able
+to perform upon a railway.  There they saw a train, consisting of a
+locomotive and loaded waggons, weighing in all 54 tons, travelling at the
+average rate of about 7 miles an hour, the greatest speed being about 9.5
+miles an hour.  But when the engine was run with only one waggon attached
+containing twenty gentlemen, five of whom were engineers, the speed
+attained was from 10 to 12 miles an hour.
+
+In the mean time the survey was proceeded with, in the face of great
+opposition from the proprietors of the lands through which the railway
+was intended to pass.  The prejudices of the farming and labouring
+classes were strongly excited against the persons employed upon the
+ground, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the levels could be
+taken.  At one place, Stephenson was driven off the ground by the
+keepers, and threatened to be ducked in the pond if found there again.
+The farmers also turned out their men to watch the surveying party, and
+prevent them entering upon any lands where they had the power of driving
+them off.
+
+One of the proprietors declared that he would order his game-keepers to
+shoot or apprehend any persons attempting a survey over his property.
+But one moonlight night a survey was obtained by the following ruse.
+Some men, under the orders of the surveying party, were set to fire off
+guns in a particular quarter; on which all the game-keepers on the watch
+made off in that direction, and they were drawn away to such a distance
+in pursuit of the supposed poachers, as to enable a rapid survey to be
+made during their absence.
+
+When the canal companies found that the Liverpool merchants were
+determined to proceed with their scheme--that they had completed their
+survey, and were ready to apply to Parliament for an Act to enable them
+to form the railway--they at last reluctantly, and with a bad grace, made
+overtures of conciliation.  They promised to employ steam-vessels both on
+the Mersey and on the Canal.  One of the companies offered to reduce its
+length by three miles, at a considerable outlay.  At the same time they
+made a show of lowering their rates.  But it was too late; for the
+project of the railway had now gone so far that the promoters (who might
+have been conciliated by such overtures at an earlier period) felt they
+were fully committed to it, and that now they could not well draw back.
+Besides, the remedies offered by the canal companies could only have had
+the effect of staving off the difficulty for a brief season,--the
+absolute necessity of forming a new line of communication between
+Liverpool and Manchester becoming more urgent from year to year.
+Arrangements were therefore made for proceeding with the bill in the
+parliamentary session of 1825.
+
+On this becoming known, the canal companies prepared to resist the
+measure tooth and nail.  The public were appealed to on the subject;
+pamphlets were written and newspapers were hired to revile the railway.
+It was declared that its formation would prevent cows grazing and hens
+laying.  The poisoned air from the locomotives would kill birds as they
+flew over them, and render the preservation of pheasants and foxes no
+longer possible.  Householders adjoining the projected line were told
+that their houses would be burnt up by the fire thrown from the
+engine-chimneys; while the air around would be polluted by clouds of
+smoke.  There would no longer be any use for horses; and if railways
+extended, the species would become extinguished, and oats and hay be
+rendered unsaleable commodities.  Travelling by rail would be highly
+dangerous, and country inns would be ruined.  Boilers would burst and
+blow passengers to atoms.  But there was always this consolation to wind
+up with--that the weight of the locomotive would completely prevent its
+moving, and that railways, even if made, could _never_ be worked by
+steam-power.
+
+Indeed, when Mr. Stephenson, at the interviews with counsel, held
+previous to the Liverpool and Manchester bill going into Committee of the
+House of Commons, confidently stated his expectation of being able to
+impel his locomotive at the rate of 20 miles an hour, Mr. William
+Brougham, who was retained by the promoters to conduct their case,
+frankly told him that if he did not moderate his views, and bring his
+engine within a _reasonable_ speed, he would "inevitably damn the whole
+thing, and be himself regarded as a maniac fit only for Bedlam."
+
+The idea thrown out by Stephenson, of travelling at a rate of speed
+double that of the fastest mail-coach, appeared at the time so
+preposterous that he was unable to find any engineer who would risk his
+reputation in supporting such "absurd views."  Speaking of his isolation
+at the time, he subsequently observed, at a public meeting of railway men
+in Manchester: "He remembered the time when he had very few supporters in
+bringing out the railway system--when he sought England over for an
+engineer to support him in his evidence before Parliament, and could find
+only one man, James Walker, but was afraid to call that gentleman,
+because he knew nothing about railways.  He had then no one to tell his
+tale to but Mr. Sandars, of Liverpool, who did listen to him, and kept
+his spirits up; and his schemes had at length been carried out only by
+dint of sheer perseverance."
+
+George Stephenson's idea was at that time regarded as but the dream of a
+chimerical projector.  It stood before the public friendless, struggling
+hard to gain a footing, scarcely daring to lift itself into notice for
+fear of ridicule.  The civil engineers generally rejected the notion of a
+Locomotive Railway; and when no leading man of the day could be found to
+stand forward in support of the Killingworth mechanic, its chances of
+success must indeed have been pronounced but small.
+
+When such was the hostility of the civil engineers, no wonder the
+reviewers were puzzled.  The 'Quarterly,' in an able article in support
+of the projected Liverpool and Manchester Railway,--while admitting its
+absolute necessity, and insisting that there was no choice left but a
+railroad, on which the journey between Liverpool and Manchester, whether
+performed by horses or engines, would always be accomplished "within the
+day,"--nevertheless scouted the idea of travelling at a greater speed
+than eight or nine miles an hour.  Adverting to a project for forming a
+railway to Woolwich, by which passengers were to be drawn by locomotive
+engines, moving with twice the velocity of ordinary coaches, the reviewer
+observed:--"What can be more palpably absurd and ridiculous than the
+prospect held out of locomotives travelling _twice as fast_ as
+stagecoaches!  We would as soon expect the people of Woolwich to suffer
+themselves to be fired off upon one of Congreve's ricochet rockets, as
+trust themselves to the mercy of such a machine going at such a rate.  We
+will back old Father Thames against the Woolwich Railway for any sum.  We
+trust that Parliament will, in all railways it may sanction, limit the
+speed to _eight or nine miles an hour_, which we entirely agree with Mr.
+Sylvester is as great as can be ventured on with safety."
+
+At length the survey was completed, the plans were deposited, the
+requisite preliminary arrangements were made, and the promoters of the
+scheme applied to Parliament for the necessary powers to construct the
+railway.  The Bill went into Committee of the Commons on the 21st of
+March, 1825.  There was an extraordinary array of legal talent on the
+occasion, but especially on the side of the opponents to the measure;
+their counsel including Mr. (afterwards Baron) Alderson, Mr. (afterwards
+Baron) Parke, Mr. Harrison, and Mr. Erle.  The counsel for the bill were
+Mr. Adam, Mr. Serjeant Spankie, Mr. William Brougham, and Mr. Joy.
+
+Evidence was taken at great length as to the difficulties and delays in
+forwarding raw material of all kinds from Liverpool to Manchester, as
+also in the conveyance of manufactured goods from Manchester to
+Liverpool.  The evidence adduced in support of the bill on these grounds
+was overwhelming.  The utter inadequacy of the existing modes of
+conveyance to carry on satisfactorily the large and rapidly-growing trade
+between the two towns was fully proved.  But then came the gist of the
+promoter's case--the evidence to prove the practicability of a railroad
+to be worked by locomotive power.  Mr. Adam, in his opening speech,
+referred to the cases of the Hetton and the Killingworth railroads, where
+heavy goods were safely and economically transported by means of
+locomotive engines.  "None of the tremendous consequences," he observed,
+"have ensued from the use of steam in land carriage that have been
+stated.  The horses have not started, nor the cows ceased to give their
+milk, nor have ladies miscarried at the sight of these things going
+forward at the rate of four miles and a half an hour."  Notwithstanding
+the petition of two ladies alleging the great danger to be apprehended
+from the bursting of the locomotive boilers, he urged the safety of the
+high-pressure engine when the boilers were constructed of wrought-iron;
+and as to the rate at which they could travel, he expressed his full
+conviction that such engines "could supply force to drive a carriage at
+the rate of five or six miles an hour."
+
+The taking of the evidence as to the impediments thrown in the way of
+trade and commerce by the existing system extended over a month, and it
+was the 21st of April before the Committee went into the engineering
+evidence, which was the vital part of the question.
+
+On the 25th George Stephenson was called into the witness-box.  It was
+his first appearance before a Committee of the House of Commons, and he
+well knew what he had to expect.  He was aware that the whole force of
+the opposition was to be directed against him; and if they could break
+down his evidence, the canal monopoly might yet be upheld for a time.
+Many years afterwards, when looking back at his position on this trying
+occasion, he said:--"When I went to Liverpool to plan a line from thence
+to Manchester, I pledged myself to the directors to attain a speed of 10
+miles an hour.  I said I had no doubt the locomotive might be made to go
+much faster, but that we had better be moderate at the beginning.  The
+directors said I was quite right; for that if, when they went to
+Parliament, I talked of going at a greater rate than 10 miles an hour, I
+should put a cross upon the concern.  It was not an easy task for me to
+keep the engine down to 10 miles an hour, but it must be done, and I did
+my best.  I had to place myself in that most unpleasant of all
+positions--the witness-box of a Parliamentary Committee.  I was not long
+in it, before I began to wish for a hole to creep out at!  I could not
+find words to satisfy either the Committee or myself.  I was subjected to
+the cross-examination of eight or ten barristers, purposely, as far as
+possible, to bewilder me.  Some member of the Committee asked if I was a
+foreigner, and another hinted that I was mad.  But I put up with every
+rebuff, and went on with my plans, determined not to be put down."
+
+Mr. Stephenson stood before the Committee to prove what the public
+opinion of that day held to be impossible.  The self-taught mechanic had
+to demonstrate the practicability of accomplishing that which the most
+distinguished engineers of the time regarded as impracticable.  Clear
+though the subject was to himself, and familiar as he was with the powers
+of the locomotive, it was no easy task for him to bring home his
+convictions, or even to convey his meaning, to the less informed minds of
+his hearers.  In his strong Northumbrian dialect, he struggled for
+utterance, in the face of the sneers, interruptions, and ridicule of the
+opponents of the measure, and even of the Committee, some of whom shook
+their heads and whispered doubts as to his sanity, when he energetically
+avowed that he could make the locomotive go at the rate of 12 miles an
+hour!  It was so grossly in the teeth of all the experience of honourable
+members, that the man "must certainly be labouring under a delusion!"
+
+And yet his large experience of railways and locomotives, as described by
+himself to the Committee, entitled this "untaught, inarticulate genius,"
+as he has so well been styled, to speak with confidence on such a
+subject.  Beginning with his experience as a brakesman at Killingworth in
+1803, he went on to state that he was appointed to take the entire charge
+of the steam-engines in 1813, and had superintended the railroads
+connected with the numerous collieries of the Grand Allies from that time
+downwards.  He had laid down or superintended the railways at Burradon,
+Mount Moor, Springwell, Bedlington, Hetton, and Darlington, besides
+improving those at Killingworth, South Moor, and Derwent Crook.  He had
+constructed fifty-five steam-engines, of which sixteen were locomotives.
+Some of these had been sent to France.  The engines constructed by him
+for the working of the Killingworth Railroad, eleven years before, had
+continued steadily at work ever since, and fulfilled his most sanguine
+expectations.  He was prepared to prove the safety of working
+high-pressure locomotives on a railroad, and the superiority of this mode
+of transporting goods over all others.  As to speed, he said he had
+recommended 8 miles an hour with 20 tons, and 4 miles an hour with 40
+tons; but he was quite confident that much more might be done.  Indeed,
+he had no doubt they might go at the rate of 12 miles.  As to the charge
+that locomotives on a railroad would so terrify the horses in the
+neighbourhood, that to travel on horseback or to plough the adjoining
+fields would be rendered highly dangerous, the witness said that horses
+learnt to take no notice of them, though there _were_ horses that would
+shy at a wheelbarrow.  A mail-coach was likely to be more shied at by
+horses than a locomotive.  In the neighbourhood of Killingworth, the
+cattle in the fields went on grazing while the engines passed them, and
+the farmers made no complaints.
+
+Mr. Alderson, who had carefully studied the subject, and was well skilled
+in practical science, subjected the witness to a protracted and severe
+cross-examination as to the speed and power of the locomotive, the stroke
+of the piston, the slipping of the wheels upon the rails, and various
+other points of detail.  Mr. Stephenson insisted that no slipping took
+place, as attempted to be extorted from him by the counsel.  He said, "It
+is impossible for slipping to take place so long as the adhesive weight
+of the wheel upon the rail is greater than the weight to be dragged after
+it."  As to accidents, Stephenson said he knew of none that had occurred
+with his engines.  There had been one, he was told, at the Middleton
+Colliery, near Leeds, with a Blenkinsop engine.  The driver had been in
+liquor, and put a considerable load on the safety-valve, so that upon
+going forward the engine blew up and the man was killed.  But he added,
+if proper precautions had been used with that boiler, the accident could
+not have happened.  The following cross-examination occurred in reference
+to the question of speed:--
+
+"Of course," he was asked, "when a body is moving upon a road, the
+greater the velocity the greater the momentum that is generated?"
+"Certainly."--"What would be the momentum of 40 tons moving at the rate
+of 12 miles an hour?"  "It would be very great."--"Have you seen a
+railroad that would stand that?"  "Yes."--"Where?"  "Any railroad that
+would bear going 4 miles an hour: I mean to say, that if it would bear
+the weight at 4 miles an hour, it would bear it at 12."--"Taking it at 4
+miles an hour, do you mean to say that it would not require a stronger
+railway to carry the same weight 12 miles an hour?"  "I will give an
+answer to that.  I dare say every person has been over ice when skating,
+or seen persons go over, and they know that it would bear them better at
+a greater velocity than it would if they went slower; when they go quick,
+the weight in a measure ceases."--"Is not that upon the hypothesis that
+the railroad is perfect?"  "It is; and I mean to make it perfect."
+
+It is not necessary to state that to have passed the ordeal of so severe
+a cross-examination scatheless, needed no small amount of courage,
+intelligence, and ready shrewdness on the part of the witness.  Nicholas
+Wood, who was present on the occasion, has since stated that the point on
+which Stephenson was hardest pressed was that of speed.  "I believe," he
+says, "that it would have lost the Company their bill if he had gone
+beyond 8 or 9 miles an hour.  If he had stated his intention of going 12
+or 15 miles an hour, not a single person would have believed it to be
+practicable."
+
+The Committee also seem to have entertained considerable alarm as to the
+high rate of speed which had been spoken of, and proceeded to examine the
+witness further on the subject.  They supposed the case of the engine
+being upset when going at 9 miles an hour, and asked what, in such a
+case, would become of the cargo astern.  To which the witness replied
+that it would not be upset.  One of the members of the Committee pressed
+the witness a little further.  He put the following case:--"Suppose, now,
+one of these engines to be going along a railroad at the rate of 9 or 10
+miles an hour, and that a cow were to stray upon the line and get in the
+way of the engine; would not that, think you, be a very awkward
+circumstance?"  "Yes," replied the witness, with a twinkle in his eye,
+"very awkward--_for the coo_!"  The honourable member did not proceed
+further with his cross-examination; to use a railway phrase, he was
+"shunted."  Another asked if animals would not be very much frightened by
+the engine passing them, especially by the glare of the red-hot chimney?
+"But how would they know that it wasn't painted?" said the witness.
+
+On the following day, the engineer was subjected to a very severe
+examination.  On that part of the scheme with which he was most
+practically conversant, his evidence was clear and conclusive.  Now, he
+had to give evidence on the plans made by his surveyors, and the
+estimates which had been founded on such plans.  So long as he was
+confined to locomotive engines and iron railroads, with the minutest
+details of which he was more familiar than any man living, he felt at
+home, and in his element.  But when the designs of bridges and the cost
+of constructing them had to be gone into, the subject being in a great
+measure new to him, his evidence was much less satisfactory.
+
+Mr. Alderson cross-examined him at great length on the plans of the
+bridges, the tunnels, the crossings of the roads and streets, and the
+details of the survey, which, it soon clearly appeared, were in some
+respects seriously at fault.  It seems that, after the plans had been
+deposited, Stephenson found that a much more favourable line might be
+made; and he made his estimates accordingly, supposing that Parliament
+would not confine the Company to the precise plan which had been
+deposited.  This was felt to be a serious blot in the parliamentary case,
+and one very difficult to be got over.
+
+For three entire days was our engineer subjected to this
+cross-examination.  He held his ground bravely, and defended the plans
+and estimates with remarkable ability and skill; but it was clear they
+were imperfect, and the result was on the whole damaging to the measure.
+
+The case of the opponents was next gone into, in the course of which the
+counsel indulged in strong vituperation against the witnesses for the
+bill.  One of them spoke of the utter impossiblity of making a railway
+upon so treacherous a material as Chat Moss, which was declared to be an
+immense mass of pulp, and nothing else.  "It actually," said Mr.
+Harrison, "rises in height, from the rain swelling it like a sponge, and
+sinks again in dry weather; and if a boring instrument is put into it, it
+sinks immediately by its own weight.  The making of an embankment out of
+this pulpy, wet moss, is no very easy task.  Who but Mr. Stephenson would
+have thought of entering into Chat Moss, carrying it out almost like wet
+dung?  It is ignorance almost inconceivable.  It is perfect madness, in a
+person called upon to speak on a scientific subject, to propose such a
+plan.  Every part of this scheme shows that this man has applied himself
+to a subject of which he has no knowledge, and to which he has no science
+to apply."  Then adverting to the proposal to work the intended line by
+means of locomotives, the learned gentleman proceeded: "When we set out
+with the original prospectus, we were to gallop, I know not at what rate;
+I believe it was at the rate of 12 miles an hour.  My learned friend, Mr.
+Adam, contemplated--possibly alluding to Ireland--that some of the Irish
+members would arrive in the waggons to a division.  My learned friend
+says that they would go at the rate of 12 miles an hour with the aid of
+the devil in the form of a locomotive, sitting as postilion on the fore
+horse, and an honourable member sitting behind him to stir up the fire,
+and keep it at full speed.  But the speed at which these locomotive
+engines are to go has slackened: Mr. Adam does not go faster now than 5
+miles an hour.  The learned serjeant (Spankie) says he should like to
+have 7, but he would be content to go 6.  I will show he cannot go 6; and
+probably, for any practical purposes, I may be able to show that I can
+keep up with him _by the canal_. . . .  Locomotive engines are liable to
+be operated upon by the weather.  You are told they are affected by rain,
+and an attempt has been made to cover them; but the wind will affect
+them; and any gale of wind which would affect the traffic on the Mersey
+would render it _impossible_ to set off a locomotive engine, either by
+poking of the fire, or keeping up the pressure of the steam till the
+boiler was ready to burst."  How amusing it now is to read these
+extraordinary views as to the formation of a railway over Chat Moss, and
+the impossibility of starting a locomotive engine in the face of a gale
+of wind!
+
+Evidence was called to show that the house property passed by the
+proposed railway would be greatly deteriorated--in some places almost
+destroyed; that the locomotive engines would be terrible nuisances, in
+consequence of the fire and smoke vomited forth by them; and that the
+value of land in the neighbourhood of Manchester alone would be
+deteriorated by no less than 20,000 pounds!  Evidence was also given at
+great length showing the utter impossibility of forming a road of any
+kind upon Chat Moss.  A Manchester builder, who was examined, could not
+imagine the feat possible, unless by arching it across in the manner of a
+viaduct from one side to the other.  It was the old story of "nothing
+like leather."  But the opposition mainly relied upon the evidence of the
+leading engineers--not like Stephenson, self-taught men, but regular
+professionals.  One of these, Mr. Francis Giles, C.E., had been
+twenty-two years an engineer, and could speak with some authority.  His
+testimony was mainly directed to the utter impossibility of forming a
+railway over Chat Moss.  "_No engineer in his senses_," said he, "would
+go through Chat Moss if he wanted to make a railroad from Liverpool to
+Manchester. . . .  In my judgment _a railroad certainly cannot be safely
+made over Chat Moss without going to the bottom __of the Moss_.  The soil
+ought all to be taken out, undoubtedly; in doing which, it will not be
+practicable to approach each end of the cutting, as you make it, with the
+carriages.  No carriages would stand upon the Moss short of the bottom.
+My estimate for the whole cutting and embankment over Chat Moss is
+270,000 pounds nearly, at those quantities and those prices which are
+decidedly correct . . . It will be necessary to take this Moss completely
+out at the bottom, in order to make a solid road."
+
+When the engineers had given their evidence, Mr. Alderson summed up in a
+speech which extended over two days.  He declared Mr. Stephenson's plan
+to be "the most absurd scheme that ever entered into the head of man to
+conceive.  My learned friends," said he, "almost endeavoured to stop my
+examination; they wished me to put in the plan, but I had rather have the
+exhibition of Mr. Stephenson in that box.  I say he never had a plan--I
+believe he never had one--I do not believe he is capable of making one.
+His is a mind perpetually fluctuating between opposite difficulties: he
+neither knows whether he is to make bridges over roads or rivers, of one
+size or of another; or to make embankments, or cuttings, or inclined
+planes, or in what way the thing is to be carried into effect.  Whenever
+a difficulty is pressed, as in the case of a tunnel, he gets out of it at
+one end, and when you try to catch him at that, he gets out at the
+other."  Mr. Alderson proceeded to declaim against the gross ignorance of
+this so-called engineer, who proposed to make "impossible ditches by the
+side of an impossible railway" upon Chat Moss; "I care not," he said,
+"whether Mr. Giles is right or wrong in his estimate, for whether it be
+effected by means of piers raised up all the way for four miles through
+Chat Moss, whether they are to support it on beams of wood or by erecting
+masonry, or whether Mr. Giles shall put a solid bank of earth through
+it,--in all these schemes there is not one found like that of Mr.
+Stephenson's, namely, to cut impossible drains on the side of this road;
+and it is sufficient for me to suggest and to show, that this scheme of
+Mr. Stephenson's is impossible or impracticable, and that no other
+scheme, if they proceed upon this line, can be suggested which will not
+produce enormous expense.  I think that has been irrefragably made out.
+Every one knows Chat Moss--every one knows that the iron sinks
+immediately on its being put upon the surface.  I have heard of culverts,
+which have been put upon the Moss, which, after having been surveyed the
+day before, have the next morning disappeared; and that a house (a poet's
+house, who may be supposed in the habit of building castles even in the
+air), story after story, as fast as one is added, the lower one sinks!
+There is nothing, it appears, except long sedgy grass, and a little soil
+to prevent its sinking into the shades of eternal night.  I have now
+done, sir, with Chat Moss, and there I leave this railroad."
+
+The case of the principal petitioners against the bill occupied many more
+days, and on its conclusion the committee proceeded to divide on the
+preamble, which was carried by a majority of only _one_--37 voting for
+it, and 36 against it.  The clauses were next considered, and on a
+division the first clause, empowering the Company to make the railway,
+was lost by a majority of 19 to 13.  In like manner, the next clause,
+empowering the Company to take land, was lost; on which the bill was
+withdrawn.
+
+Thus ended this memorable contest, which had extended over two
+months--carried on throughout with great pertinacity and skill,
+especially on the part of the opposition, who left no stone unturned to
+defeat the measure.  The want of a third line of communication between
+Liverpool and Manchester had been clearly proved; but the engineering
+evidence in support of the proposed railway having been thrown almost
+entirely upon Stephenson, who fought this, the most important part of the
+battle, single-handed, was not brought out so clearly as it would have
+been, had he secured more efficient engineering assistance--which he was
+not able to do, as the principal engineers of that day were against the
+locomotive railway.  The obstacles thrown in the way of the survey by the
+landowners and canal companies, by which the plans were rendered
+exceedingly imperfect, also tended in a great measure to defeat the bill.
+
+The rejection of the bill was probably the most severe trial George
+Stephenson underwent in the whole course of his life.  The circumstances
+connected with the defeat of the measure, the errors in the levels, his
+rigid cross-examination, followed by the fact of his being superseded by
+another engineer, all told fearfully upon him, and for some time he was
+as much weighed down as if a personal calamity of the most serious kind
+had befallen him.
+
+Stephenson had been so terribly abused by the leading counsel for the
+opposition in the course of the proceedings before the
+Committee--stigmatised by them as an ignoramus, a fool, and a
+maniac--that even his friends seem for a time to have lost faith in him
+and in the locomotive system, whose efficiency he nevertheless continued
+to uphold.  Things never looked blacker for the success of the railway
+system than at the close of this great parliamentary struggle.  And yet
+it was on the very eve of its triumph.
+
+The Committee of Directors appointed to watch the measure in Parliament
+were so determined to press on the project of a railway, even though it
+should have to be worked merely by horse-power, that the bill had
+scarcely been thrown out ere they met in London to consider their next
+step.  They called their parliamentary friends together to consult as to
+future proceedings; and the result was that they went back to Liverpool
+determined to renew their application to Parliament in the ensuing
+session.
+
+It was not considered desirable to employ Mr. Stephenson in making the
+new survey.  He had not as yet established his reputation as an engineer
+beyond the boundaries of his own district; and the promoters of the bill
+had doubtless felt the disadvantages of this in the course of their
+parliamentary struggle.  They therefore resolved now to employ engineers
+of the highest established reputation, as well as the best surveyors that
+could be obtained.  In accordance with these views they engaged Messrs.
+George and John Rennie to be the engineers of the railway; and Mr.
+Charles Vignolles was appointed to prepare the plans and sections.  The
+line which was eventually adopted differed somewhat from that surveyed by
+Mr. Stephenson.  The principal parks and game-preserves of the district
+were carefully avoided.  The promoters thus hoped to get rid of the
+opposition of the most influential of the resident landowners.  The
+crossing of certain of the streets of Liverpool was also avoided, and the
+entrance contrived by means of a tunnel and an inclined plane.  The new
+line stopped short of the river Irwell at the Manchester end, by which
+the objections grounded on an illegal interruption to the canal or river
+traffic were in some measure removed.  The opposition of the Duke of
+Bridgewater's trustees was also got rid of, and the Marquis of Stafford
+became a subscriber for a thousand shares.  With reference to the use of
+the locomotive engine, the promoters, remembering with what effect the
+objections to it had been urged by the opponents of the bill, intimated,
+in their second prospectus, that "as a guarantee of their good faith
+towards the public they will not require any clause empowering them to
+use it; or they will submit to such restrictions in the employment of it
+as Parliament may impose."
+
+The survey of the new line having been completed, the plans were
+deposited, the standing orders duly complied with, and the bill went
+before Parliament.  The same counsel appeared for the promoters, but the
+examination of witnesses was not nearly so protracted as on the previous
+occasion.  The preamble was declared proved by a majority of 43 to 18.
+On the third reading in the House of Commons, an animated, and what now
+appears a very amusing discussion took place.  The Hon. Edward Stanley
+moved that the bill be read that day six months; and in his speech he
+undertook to prove that the railway trains would take _ten hours_ on the
+journey, and that they could only be worked by horses.  Sir Isaac Coffin
+seconded the motion, and in doing so denounced the project as a most
+flagrant imposition.  He would not consent to see widows' premises
+invaded; and "What, he would like to know, was to be done with all those
+who had advanced money in making and repairing turnpike-roads?  What was
+to become of coach-makers and harness-makers, coach-masters and coachmen,
+inn-keepers, horse-breeders, and horse-dealers?  Was the house aware of
+the smoke and the noise, the hiss and the whirl, which locomotive
+engines, passing at the rate of 10 or 12 miles an hour, would occasion?
+Neither the cattle ploughing in the fields or grazing in the meadows
+could behold them without dismay.  Iron would be raised in price 100 per
+cent., or more probably exhausted altogether!  It would be the greatest
+nuisance, the most complete disturbance of quiet and comfort in all parts
+of the kingdom, that the ingenuity of man could invent!"
+
+Mr. Huskisson and other speakers, though unable to reply to such
+arguments as these, strongly supported the bill; and it was carried on
+the third reading by a majority of 88 to 41.  The bill passed the House
+of Lords almost unanimously, its only opponents being the Earl of Derby
+and his relative the Earl of Wilton.
+
+                    [Picture: Surveying on Chat Moss]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+CHAT MOSS--CONSTRUCTION OF THE RAILWAY.
+
+
+The appointment of principal engineer to the railway was taken into
+consideration at the first meeting of the directors held at Liverpool
+subsequent to the passing of the Act.  The magnitude of the proposed
+works, and the vast consequences involved in their experiment, were
+deeply impressed upon their minds; and they resolved to secure the
+services of a resident engineer of proved experience and ability.  Their
+attention was naturally directed to Mr. Stephenson; at the same time they
+desired to have the benefit of the Messrs. Rennie's professional
+assistance in superintending the works.  Mr. George Rennie had an
+interview with the Board on the subject, at which he proposed to
+undertake the chief superintendence, making six visits in each year, and
+stipulating that he should have the appointment of the resident engineer.
+But the responsibility attaching to the direction in the matter of the
+efficient carrying on of the works, would not admit of their being
+influenced by ordinary punctilios on the occasion; and they accordingly
+declined this proposal, and proceeded to appoint Mr. Stephenson their
+principal engineer at a salary of 1000 pounds per annum.
+
+He at once removed his residence to Liverpool, and made arrangements to
+commence the works.  He began with the "impossible thing"--to do that
+which the most distinguished engineers of the day had declared that "no
+man in his senses would undertake to do"--namely, to make the road over
+Chat Moss!  It was indeed a most formidable undertaking; and the project
+of carrying a railway along, under, or over such a material as that of
+which it consisted, would certainly never have occurred to an ordinary
+mind.  Michael Drayton supposed the Moss to have had its origin at the
+Deluge.  Nothing more impassable could have been imagined than that
+dreary waste; and Mr. Giles only spoke the popular feeling of the day
+when he declared that no carriage could stand on it "short of the
+bottom."  In this bog, singular to say, Mr. Roscoe, the accomplished
+historian of the Medicis, buried his fortune in the hopeless attempt to
+cultivate a portion of it which he had bought.
+
+Chat Moss is an immense peat bog of about twelve square miles in extent.
+Unlike the bogs or swamps of Cambridge and Lincolnshire, which consist
+principally of soft mud or silt, this bog is a vast mass of spongy
+vegetable pulp, the result of the growth and decay of ages.  The spagni,
+or bog-mosses, cover the entire area; one year's growth rising over
+another,--the older growths not entirely decaying, but remaining
+partially preserved by the antiseptic properties peculiar to peat.  Hence
+the remarkable fact that, although a semifluid mass, the surface of Chat
+Moss rises above the level of the surrounding country.  Like a turtle's
+back, it declines from the summit in every direction, having from thirty
+to forty feet gradual slope to the solid land on all sides.  From the
+remains of trees, chiefly alder and birch, which have been dug out of it,
+and which must have previously flourished upon the surface of soil now
+deeply submerged, it is probable that the sand and clay base on which the
+bog rests is saucer-shaped, and so retains the entire mass in position.
+In rainy weather, such is its capacity for water that it sensibly swells,
+and rises in those parts where the moss is the deepest.  This occurs
+through the capillary attraction of the fibres of the submerged moss,
+which is from 20 to 30 feet in depth, whilst the growing plants
+effectually check evaporation from the surface.  This peculiar character
+of the Moss has presented an insuperable difficulty in the way of
+reclaiming it by any system of extensive drainage--such as by sinking
+shafts, and pumping up the water by steam power, as has been proposed.
+Supposing a shaft of 30 feet deep to be sunk, it has been calculated that
+this would only be effectual for draining a circle of about 100 yards,
+the water running down an incline of about 5 to 1; for it was found in
+the course of draining the bog, that a ditch 3 feet deep only served to
+drain a space of less than 5 yards on each side, and two ditches of this
+depth, 10 yards apart, left a portion of the Moss between them scarcely
+affected by the drains.
+
+The three resident engineers selected by Mr. Stephenson to superintend
+the construction of the line, were Joseph Locke, William Allcard, and
+John Dixon.  The last was appointed to that portion which lay across the
+Moss, neither of the other two envying his lot.  On Mr. Dixon's arrival,
+about July, 1826, Mr. Locke proceeded to show him over the length he was
+to take charge of, and to instal him in office.  When they reached Chat
+Moss, Mr. Dixon found that the line had already been staked out and the
+levels taken in detail by the aid of planks laid upon the bog.  The
+cutting of the drains along each side of the proposed road had also been
+commenced; but the soft pulpy stuff had up to this time flowed into the
+drains and filled them up as fast as they were cut.  Proceeding across
+the Moss, on the first day's inspection, the new resident, when about
+halfway over, slipped off the plank on which he walked, and sank to his
+knees in the bog.  Struggling only sent him the deeper, and he might have
+disappeared altogether, but for the workmen, who hastened to his
+assistance upon planks, and rescued him from his perilous position.  Much
+disheartened, he desired to return, and even thought of giving up the
+job; but Mr. Locke assured him that the worst part was now past; so the
+new resident plucked up heart again, and both floundered on until they
+reached the further edge of the Moss, wet and plastered over with
+bog-sludge.  Mr. Dixon's companions endeavoured to comfort him by the
+assurance that he might avoid similar perils, by walking upon "pattens,"
+or boards fastened to the soles of his feet, as they had done when taking
+the levels, and as the workmen did when engaged in making drains in the
+softest parts of the Moss.  The resident engineer was sorely puzzled in
+the outset by the problem of constructing a road for heavy locomotives,
+with trains of passengers and goods, upon a bog which he had found
+incapable of supporting his own weight!
+
+Mr. Stephenson's idea was, that such a road might be made to _float_ upon
+the bog, simply by means of a sufficient extension of the bearing
+surface.  As a ship, or a raft, capable of sustaining heavy loads floated
+in water, so in his opinion, might a light road be floated upon a bog,
+which was of considerably greater consistency than water.  Long before
+the railway was thought of, Mr. Roscoe had adopted the remarkable
+expedient of fitting his plough-horses with flat wooden soles or pattens,
+to enable them to walk upon the Moss land which he had brought into
+cultivation.  These pattens were fitted on by means of a screw apparatus,
+which met in front of the foot and was easily fastened.  The mode by
+which these pattens served to sustain the horse is capable of easy
+explanation, and it will be observed that the _rationale_ likewise
+explains the floating of a railway train.  The foot of an ordinary
+farm-horse presents a base of about five inches diameter, but if this
+base be enlarged to seven inches--the circles being to each other as the
+squares of the diameters--it will be found that, by this slight
+enlargement of the base, a circle of nearly double the area has been
+secured; and consequently the pressure of the foot upon every unit of
+ground upon which the horse stands has been reduced one half.  In fact,
+this contrivance has an effect tantamount to setting the horse upon eight
+feet instead of four.
+
+Apply the same reasoning to the ponderous locomotive, and it will be
+found, that even such a machine may be made to stand upon a bog, by means
+of a similar extension of the bearing surface.  Suppose the engine to be
+20 feet long and 5 feet wide, thus covering a surface of 100 square feet,
+and, provided the bearing has been extended by means of cross sleepers
+supported on a matting of heath and branches of trees covered with a few
+inches of gravel, the pressure of an engine of 20 tons will be only equal
+to about 3 pounds per inch over the whole surface on which it stands.
+Such was George Stephenson's idea in contriving his floating
+road--something like an elongated raft across the Moss; and we shall see
+that he steadily kept it in view in carrying the work into execution.
+
+The first thing done was to form a footpath of ling or heather along the
+proposed road, on which a man might walk without risk of sinking.  A
+single line of temporary railway was then laid down, formed of ordinary
+cross-bars about 3 feet long and an inch square, with holes punched
+through them at the ends and nailed down to temporary sleepers.  Along
+this way ran the waggons in which were conveyed the materials requisite
+to form the permanent road.  These waggons carried about a ton each, and
+they were propelled by boys running behind them along the narrow iron
+rails.  The boys became so expert that they would run the 4 miles across
+at the rate of 7 or 8 miles an hour without missing a step; if they had
+done so, they would have sunk in many places up to their middle.  A
+comparatively slight extension of the bearing surface being found
+sufficient to enable the bog to bear this temporary line, the
+circumstance was a source of increased confidence and hope to our
+engineer in proceeding with the formation of the permanent roadway
+alongside.
+
+The digging of drains had been proceeding for some time along each side
+of the intended line; but they filled up almost as soon as dug, the sides
+flowing in, and the bottom rising up.  It was only in some of the drier
+parts of the bog that a depth of three or four feet could be reached.
+The surface-ground between the drains, containing the intertwined roots
+of heather and long grass, was left untouched, and upon this was spread
+branches of trees and hedge-cuttings.  In the softest places, rude gates
+or hurdles, some 8 or 9 feet long by 4 feet wide, interwoven with
+heather, were laid in double thicknesses, their ends overlapping each
+other; and upon this floating bed was spread a thin layer of gravel, on
+which the sleepers, chairs, and rails were laid in the usual manner.
+Such was the mode in which the road was formed upon the Moss.
+
+It was found, however, after the permanent way had been thus laid, that
+there was a tendency to sinking at those parts where the bog was softest.
+In ordinary cases, where a bank subsides, the sleepers are packed up with
+ballast or gravel; but in this case the ballast was dug away and removed
+in order to lighten the road, and the sleepers were packed instead with
+cakes of dry turf or bundles of heath.  By these expedients the subsided
+parts were again floated up to the level, and an approach was made
+towards a satisfactory road.  But the most formidable difficulties were
+encountered at the centre and towards the edges of the Moss; and it
+required no small degree of ingenuity and perseverance on the part of the
+engineer successfully to overcome them.
+
+The Moss, as already observed, was highest in the centre, and it there
+presented a sort of hunchback with a rising and falling gradient.  At
+that point it was found necessary to cut deeper drains in order to
+consolidate the ground between them on which the road was to be formed.
+But, as at other places, the deeper the cutting the more rapid was the
+flow of fluid bog into the drain, the bottom rising up almost as fast as
+it was removed.  To meet this emergency, numbers of empty tar-barrels
+were brought from Liverpool; and as soon as a few yards of drain were
+dug, the barrels were laid down end to end, firmly fixed to each other by
+strong slabs laid over the joints, and nailed.  They were then covered
+over with clay, and thus formed an underground sewer of wood instead of
+bricks.  This expedient was found to answer the purpose intended, and the
+road across the centre of the Moss having been so prepared, it was then
+laid with the permanent materials.
+
+The greatest difficulty was, however, experienced in forming an
+embankment upon the edge of the bog at the Manchester end.  Moss as dry
+as it could be cut, was brought up in small waggons, by men and boys, and
+emptied so as to form an embankment; but the bank had scarcely been
+raised three or four feet in height, when the stuff broke through the
+heathery surface of the bog and sank out of sight.  More moss was brought
+up and emptied with no better result; and for weeks the filling was
+continued without any visible embankment having been made.  It was the
+duty of the resident engineer to proceed to Liverpool every fortnight to
+obtain the wages for the workmen employed under him; and on these
+occasions he was required to colour up, on a section drawn to a working
+scale suspended against the wall of the directors' room, the amount of
+excavation and embankment from time to time executed.  But on many of
+these occasions, Mr. Dixon had no progress whatever to show for the money
+expended on the Chat Moss embankment.  Sometimes, indeed, the visible
+work done was _less_ than it had appeared a fortnight or a month before!
+
+The directors now became seriously alarmed, and feared that the evil
+prognostications of the eminent engineers were about to be fulfilled.
+The resident engineer was even called upon to supply an estimate of the
+cost of forming an embankment of solid stuff throughout, as also of the
+cost of piling the roadway, and in effect constructing a four mile
+viaduct of timber across the Moss, from twenty to thirty feet high from
+the foundation.  The expense appalled the directors, and the question
+arose, whether the work was to be proceeded with or _abandoned_!
+
+Mr. Stephenson afterwards described the alarming position of affairs at a
+public dinner at Birmingham (23rd December, 1837), on the occasion of a
+piece of plate being presented to his son, upon the completion of the
+London and Birmingham Railway.  He related the anecdote, he said, for the
+purpose of impressing upon the minds of those who heard him the necessity
+of perseverance.
+
+"After working for weeks and weeks," said he, "in filling in materials to
+form the road, there did not yet appear to be the least sign of our being
+able to raise the solid embankment one single inch; in short we went on
+filling in without the slightest apparent effect.  Even my assistants
+began to feel uneasy, and to doubt of the success of the scheme.  The
+directors, too, spoke of it as a hopeless task: and at length they became
+seriously alarmed, so much so, indeed, that a board meeting was held on
+Chat Moss to decide whether I should proceed any further.  They had
+previously taken the opinion of other engineers, who reported
+unfavourably.  There was no help for it, however, but to go on.  An
+immense outlay had been incurred; and great loss would have been
+occasioned had the scheme been then abandoned, and the line taken by
+another route.  So the directors were _compelled_ to allow me to go on
+with my plans, of the ultimate success of which I myself never for one
+moment doubted."
+
+During the progress of this part of the works, the Worsley and Trafford
+men, who lived near the Moss, and plumed themselves upon their practical
+knowledge of bog-work, declared the completion of the road to be utterly
+impracticable.  "If you knew as much about Chat Moss as we do," they
+said, "you would never have entered on so rash an undertaking; and depend
+upon it, all you have done and are doing will prove abortive.  You must
+give up the idea of a floating railway, and either fill the Moss hard
+from the bottom, or deviate so as to avoid it altogether."  Such were the
+conclusions of science and experience.
+
+In the midst of all these alarms and prophecies of failure, Stephenson
+never lost heart, but held to his purpose.  His motto was "Persevere!"
+"You must go on filling in," he said; "there is no other help for it.
+The stuff emptied in is doing its work out of sight, and if you will but
+have patience, it will soon begin to show."  And so the filling in went
+on; several hundreds of men and boys were employed to skin the Moss all
+round for many thousand yards, by means of sharp spades, called by the
+turf cutters "tommy-spades;" and the dried cakes of turf were afterwards
+used to form the embankment, until at length as the stuff sank and rested
+upon the bottom, the bank gradually rose above the surface, and slowly
+advanced onwards, declining in height and consequently in weight, until
+it became joined to the floating road already laid upon the Moss.  In the
+course of forming the embankment, the pressure of the bog turf tipped out
+of the waggons caused a copious stream of bog-water to flow from the end
+of it, in colour resembling Barclay's double stout; and when completed,
+the bank looked like a long ridge of tightly pressed tobacco-leaf.  The
+compression of the turf may be imagined from the fact that 670,000 cubic
+yards of raw moss formed only 277,000 cubic yards of embankment at the
+completion of the work.
+
+At the western, or Liverpool end of the Chat Moss, there was a like
+embankment; but, as the ground there was solid, little difficulty was
+experienced in forming it, beyond the loss of substance caused by the
+oozing out of the water held by the moss-earth.
+
+At another part of the Liverpool and Manchester line, Parr Moss was
+crossed by an embankment about 1.5 mile in extent.  In the immediate
+neighbourhood was found a large excess of cutting, which it would have
+been necessary to "put out in spoil-banks" (according to the technical
+phrase); but the surplus clay, stone, and shale, were tipped, waggon
+after waggon, into Parr Moss, until a solid but concealed embankment,
+from fifteen to twenty-five feet high, was formed, although to the eye it
+appears to be laid upon the level of the adjoining surface, as at Chat
+Moss.
+
+The road across Chat Moss was finished by the 1st January, 1830, when the
+first experimental train of passengers passed over it, drawn by the
+"Rocket;" and it turned out that, instead of being the most expensive
+part of the line, it was about the cheapest.  The total cost of forming
+the line over the Moss was 28,000 pounds, whereas Mr. Giles's estimate
+was 270,000 pounds!  It also proved to be one of the best portions of the
+railway.  Being a floating road, it was smooth and easy to run upon, just
+as Dr. Arnott's water-bed is soft and easy to lie upon--the pressure
+being equal at all points.  There was, and still is, a sort of
+springiness in the road over the Moss, such as is felt in passing along a
+suspended bridge; and those who looked along the line as a train passed
+over it, said they could observe a waviness, such as precedes and follows
+a skater upon ice.
+
+During the progress of these works the most ridiculous rumours were set
+afloat.  The drivers of the stage-coaches who feared for their calling,
+brought the alarming intelligence into Manchester from time to time, that
+"Chat Moss was blown up!"  "Hundreds of men and horses had sunk; and the
+works were completely abandoned!"  The engineer himself was declared to
+have been swallowed up in the Serbonian bog; and "railways were at an end
+for ever!"
+
+In the construction of the railway, Mr. Stephenson's capacity for
+organising and directing the labours of a large number of workmen of all
+kinds eminently displayed itself.  A vast quantity of ballast-waggons had
+to be constructed, and implements and materials collected, before the
+army of necessary labourers could be efficiently employed at the various
+points of the line.  There were not at that time, as there are now, large
+contractors possessed of railway plant, capable of executing earth-works
+on a large scale.  The first railway engineer had not only to contrive
+the plant, but to organise and direct the labour.  The labourers
+themselves had to be trained to their work; and it was on the Liverpool
+and Manchester line that Mr. Stephenson organised the staff of that
+mighty band of railway navvies, whose handiworks will be the wonder and
+admiration of succeeding generations.  Looking at their gigantic traces,
+the men of some future age may be found to declare of the engineer and of
+his workmen, that "there were giants in those days."
+
+Although the works of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway are of a much
+less formidable character than those of many lines that have since been
+constructed, they were then regarded as of the most stupendous
+description.  In deed, the like of them had not before been executed in
+England.  It had been our engineer's original intention carry the railway
+from the north end of Liverpool, round the red-sandstone ridge on which
+the upper part of the town is built, and also round the higher rise of
+the coal formation at Rainhill, by following the natural levels.  But the
+opposition of the landowners having forced the line more to the south, it
+was rendered necessary to cut through the hills, and go over the high
+grounds instead of round them.  The first consequence of this alteration
+in the plans was the necessity for constructing a tunnel under the town
+of Liverpool 1.5 mile in length; the second, a long and deep cutting
+through the red-sandstone rock at Olive Mount; and the third and most
+serious of all, was the necessity for surmounting the Whiston and Sutton
+hills by inclined planes of 1 in 96.  The line was also, by the same
+forced deviation, prevented passing through the Lancashire coal-field,
+and the engineer was compelled to carry it across the Sankey valley, at a
+point where the waters of the brook had dug out an excessively deep
+channel through the marl-beds of the district.
+
+The principal difficulty was experienced in pushing on the works
+connected with the formation of the tunnel under Liverpool, 2200 yards in
+length.  The blasting and hewing of the rock were vigorously carried on
+night and day; and the engineer's practical experience in the collieries
+here proved of great use to him.  Many obstacles had to be encountered
+and overcome in the formation of the tunnel, the rock varying in hardness
+and texture at different parts.  In some places the miners were deluged
+by water, which surged from the soft blue shale found at the lowest level
+of the tunnel.  In other places, beds of wet sand were cut through; and
+there careful propping and pinning were necessary to prevent the roof
+from tumbling in, until the masonry to support it could be erected.  On
+one occasion, while the engineer was absent from Liverpool, a mass of
+loose moss-earth and sand fell from the roof, which had been
+insufficiently propped.  The miners withdrew from the work; and on
+Stephenson's return, he found them in a refractory state, refusing to
+re-enter the tunnel.  He induced them, however, by his example, to return
+to their labours; and when the roof had been secured, the work went on
+again as before.  When there was danger, he was always ready to share it
+with the men; and gathering confidence from his fearlessness, they
+proceeded vigorously with the undertaking, boring and mining their way
+towards the light.
+
+                      [Picture: Olive Mount Cutting]
+
+The Olive Mount cutting was the first extensive stone cutting executed on
+any railway, and to this day it is one of the most formidable.  It is
+about two miles long, and in some parts 80 feet deep.  It is a narrow
+ravine or defile cut out of the solid rock; and not less than 480,000
+cubic yards of stone were removed from it.  Mr. Vignolles, afterwards
+describing it, said it looked as if it had been dug out by giants.
+
+The crossing of so many roads and streams involved the necessity for
+constructing an unusual number of bridges.  There were not fewer than 63,
+under or over the railway, on the 30 miles between Liverpool and
+Manchester.  Up to this time, bridges had been applied generally to high
+roads where inclined approaches were of comparatively small importance,
+and in determining the rise of his arch the engineer selected any headway
+he thought proper.  Every consideration was indeed made subsidiary to
+constructing the bridge itself, and the completion of one large structure
+of this sort was regarded as an epoch in engineering history.  Yet here,
+in the course of a few years, no fewer than 63 bridges were constructed
+on one line of railway!  Mr. Stephenson early found that the ordinary
+arch was inapplicable in certain cases, where the headway was limited,
+and yet the level of the railway must be preserved.  In such cases he
+employed simple cast-iron beams, by which he safely bridged gaps of
+moderate width, economizing headway, and introducing the use of a new
+material of the greatest possible value to the railway engineer.  The
+bridges of masonry upon the line were of many kinds; several of them
+askew bridges, and others, such as those at Newton and over the Irwell at
+Manchester, straight and of considerable dimensions; but the principal
+piece of masonry was the Sankey viaduct.
+
+                        [Picture: Sankey Viaduct]
+
+This fine work is principally of brick, with stone facings.  It consists
+of nine arches of fifty feet span each.  The massive piers are supported
+on two hundred piles driven deep into the soil; and they rise to a great
+height,--the coping of the parapet being seventy feet above the level of
+the valley, in which flow the Sankey brook and canal.  Its total cost was
+about 45,000 pounds.
+
+By the end of 1828 the directors found they had expended 460,000 pounds
+on the works, and that they were still far from completion.  They looked
+at the loss of interest on this large investment, and began to grumble at
+the delay.  They desired to see their capital becoming productive; and in
+the spring of 1829 they urged the engineer to push on the works with
+increased vigour.  Mr. Cropper, one of the directors, who took an active
+interest in their progress, said to Stephenson one day, "Now, George,
+thou must get on with the railway, and have it finished without further
+delay; thou must really have it ready for opening by the first day of
+January next."  "Consider the heavy character of the works, sir, and how
+much we have been delayed by the want of money, not to speak of the
+wetness of the weather: it is impossible."  "Impossible!" rejoined
+Cropper; "I wish I could get Napoleon to thee--he would tell thee there
+is no such word as 'impossible' in the vocabulary."  "Tush!" exclaimed
+Stephenson, with warmth; "don't speak to me about Napoleon!  Give me men,
+money, and materials, and I will do what Napoleon couldn't do--drive a
+railway from Liverpool to Manchester over Chat Moss!"
+
+The works made rapid progress in the course of the year 1829.  Double
+sets of labourers were employed on Chat Moss and at other points, by
+night and day, the night shifts working by torch and fire light; and at
+length, the work advancing at all points, the directors saw their way to
+the satisfactory completion of the undertaking.
+
+It may well be supposed that Mr. Stephenson's time was fully occupied in
+superintending the extensive, and for the most part novel works,
+connected with the railway, and that even his extraordinary powers of
+labour and endurance were taxed to the utmost during the four years that
+they were in progress.  Almost every detail in the plans was directed and
+arranged by himself.  Every bridge, from the simplest to the most
+complicated, including the then novel structure of the "skew bridge,"
+iron girders, siphons, fixed engines, and the machinery for working the
+tunnel at the Liverpool end, had to be thought out by his own head, and
+reduced to definite plans under his own eyes.  Besides all this, he had
+to design the working plant in anticipation of the opening of the
+railway.  He must be prepared with waggons, trucks, and carriages,
+himself superintending their manufacture.  The permanent road,
+turntables, switches, and crossings,--in short, the entire structure and
+machinery of the line, from the turning of the first sod to the running
+of the first train of carriages upon the railway,--were executed under
+his immediate supervision.  And it was in the midst of this vast
+accumulation of work and responsibility that the battle of the locomotive
+engine had to be fought,--a battle, not merely against material
+difficulties, but against the still more trying obstructions of
+deeply-rooted mistrust and prejudice on the part of a considerable
+minority of the directors.
+
+He had no staff of experienced assistants,--not even a staff of
+draughtsmen in his office,--but only a few pupils learning their
+business; and he was frequently without even their help.  The time of his
+engineering inspectors was fully occupied in the actual superintendence
+of the works at different parts of the line; and he took care to direct
+all their more important operations in person.  The principal draughtsman
+was Mr. Thomas Gooch, a pupil he had brought with him from Newcastle.  "I
+may say," writes Mr. Gooch, "that nearly the whole of the working and
+other drawings, as well as the various land-plans for the railway, were
+drawn by my own hand.  They were done at the Company's office in Clayton
+Square during the day, from instructions supplied in the evenings by Mr.
+Stephenson, either by word of mouth, or by little rough hand-sketches on
+letter-paper.  The evenings were also generally devoted to my duties as
+secretary, in writing (mostly from his own dictation) his letters and
+reports, or in making calculations and estimates.  The mornings before
+breakfast were not unfrequently spent by me in visiting and lending a
+helping hand in the tunnel and other works near Liverpool,--the untiring
+zeal and perseverance of George Stephenson never for an instant flagging
+and inspiring with a like enthusiasm all who were engaged under him in
+carrying forward the works." {189}
+
+The usual routine of his life at this time--if routine it might be
+called--was, to rise early, by sunrise in summer and before it in winter,
+and thus "break the back of the day's work" by mid-day.  While the tunnel
+under Liverpool was in progress, one of his first duties in a morning
+before breakfast was to go over the various shafts, clothed in a suitable
+dress, and inspect their progress at different points; on other days he
+would visit the extensive workshops at Edgehill, where most of the
+"plant" for the line was in course of manufacture.  Then, returning to
+his house, in Upper Parliament Street, Windsor, after a hurried
+breakfast, he would ride along the works to inspect their progress, and
+push them on with greater energy where needful.  On other days he would
+prepare for the much less congenial engagement of meeting the Board,
+which was often a cause of great anxiety and pain to him; for it was
+difficult to satisfy men of all tempers, and some of these not of the
+most generous sort.  On such occasions he might be seen with his
+right-hand thumb thrust through the topmost button-hole of his
+coat-breast, vehemently hitching his right shoulder, as was his habit
+when labouring under any considerable excitement.  Occasionally he would
+take an early ride before breakfast, to inspect the progress of the
+Sankey viaduct.  He had a favourite horse, brought by him from Newcastle,
+called "Bobby,"--so tractable that, with his rider on his back, he would
+walk up to a locomotive with the steam blowing off, and put his nose
+against it without shying.  "Bobby," saddled and bridled, was brought to
+Mr. Stephenson's door betimes in the morning; and mounting him, he would
+ride the fifteen miles to Sankey, putting up at a little public house
+which then stood upon the banks of the canal.  There he had his breakfast
+of "crowdie," which he made with his own hands.  It consisted of oatmeal
+stirred into a basin of hot water,--a sort of porridge,--which was supped
+with cold sweet milk.  After this frugal breakfast, he would go upon the
+works, and remain there, riding from point to point for the greater part
+of the day.  When he returned before mid-day, he examined the pay-sheets
+in the different departments, sent in by the assistant engineers, or by
+the foremen of the workshops.  To all these he gave his most careful
+personal attention, requiring when necessary a full explanation of the
+items.
+
+After a late dinner, which occupied very short time and was always of a
+plain and frugal description, he disposed of his correspondence, or
+prepared sketches of drawings, and gave instructions as to their
+completion.  He would occasionally refresh himself for this evening work
+by a short doze, which, however, he would never admit had exceeded the
+limits of "winking," to use his own term.  Mr. Frederick Swanwick, who
+officiated as his secretary, after the appointment of Mr. Gooch as
+Resident Engineer to the Bolton and Leigh Railway, has informed us that
+he then remarked--what in after years he could better appreciate--the
+clear, terse, and vigorous style of Mr. Stephenson's dictation.  There
+was nothing superfluous in it; but it was close, direct, and to the
+point,--in short, thoroughly businesslike.  And if, in passing through
+the pen of the amanuensis, his meaning happened in any way to be
+distorted or modified, it did not fail to escape his detection, though he
+was always tolerant of any liberties taken with his own form of
+expression, so long as the words written down conveyed his real meaning.
+
+His letters and reports written, and his sketches of drawings made and
+explained, the remainder of the evening was usually devoted to
+conversation with his wife and those of his pupils who lived under his
+roof, and constituted, as it were, part of the family.  He then delighted
+to test the knowledge of his young companions, and to question them upon
+the principles of mechanics.  If they were not quite "up to the mark" on
+any point, there was no escaping detection by evasive or specious
+explanations.  These always brought out the verdict, "Ah! you know nought
+about it now; but think it over again, and tell me when you understand
+it."  If there were even partial success in the reply, it was at once
+acknowledged, and a full explanation given, to which the master would add
+illustrative examples for the purpose of impressing the principle more
+deeply upon the pupil's mind.
+
+It was not so much his object and purpose to "cram" the minds of the
+young men committed to his charge with the _results_ of knowledge, as to
+stimulate them to educate themselves--to induce them to develop their
+mental and moral powers by the exercise of their own free energies, and
+thus acquire that habit of self-thinking and self-reliance which is the
+spring of all true manly action.  In a word, he sought to bring out and
+invigorate the _character_ of his pupils.  He felt that he himself had
+been made stronger and better through his encounters with difficulty; and
+he would not have the road of knowledge made too smooth and easy for
+them.  "Learn for yourselves,--think for yourselves," he would
+say:--"make yourselves masters of principles,--persevere,--be
+industrious,--and there is then no fear of you."  And not the least
+emphatic proof of the soundness of this system of education, as conducted
+by Mr. Stephenson, was afforded by the after history of these pupils
+themselves.  There was not one of those trained under his eye who did not
+rise to eminent usefulness and distinction as an engineer.  He sent them
+forth into the world braced with the spirit of manly self-help--inspired
+by his own noble example; and they repeated in their after career the
+lessons of earnest effort and persistent industry which his daily life
+had taught them.
+
+Stephenson's evenings at home were not, however, exclusively devoted
+either to business or to the graver exercises above referred to.  He
+would often indulge in cheerful conversation and anecdote, falling back
+from time to time upon the struggles and difficulties of his early life.
+The not unfrequent winding up of his story addressed to the young men
+about him, was, "Ah! ye young fellows don't know what _wark_ is in these
+days!"  Mr. Swanwick takes pleasure in recalling to mind how seldom, if
+ever, a cross or captious word, or an angry look, marred the enjoyment of
+those evenings.  The presence of Mrs. Stephenson gave them an additional
+charm: amiable, kind-hearted, and intelligent, she shared quietly in the
+pleasure of the party; and the atmosphere of comfort which always
+pervaded her home contributed in no small degree to render it a centre of
+cheerful, hopeful intercourse, and of earnest, honest industry.  She was
+a wife who well deserved, what she through life retained, the strong and
+unremitting affection of her husband.
+
+When Mr. Stephenson retired for the night, it was not always that he
+permitted himself to sink into slumber.  Like Brindley, he worked out
+many a difficult problem in bed; and for hours he would turn over in his
+mind and study how to overcome some obstacle, or to mature some project,
+on which his thoughts were bent.  Some remark inadvertently dropped by
+him at the breakfast-table in the morning, served to show that he had
+been stealing some hours from the past night in reflection and study.
+Yet he would rise at his accustomed early hour, and there was no
+abatement of his usual energy in carrying on the business of the day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+ROBERT STEPHENSON'S RESIDENCE IN COLOMBIA, AND RETURN--THE BATTLE OF THE
+LOCOMOTIVE--"THE ROCKET."
+
+
+We return to the career of Robert Stephenson, who had been absent from
+England during the construction of the Liverpool railway, but was shortly
+about to join his father and take part in "the battle of the locomotive,"
+which was now impending.
+
+On his return from Edinburgh College in the summer of 1823, he had
+assisted in the survey of the Stockton and Darlington line; and when the
+Locomotive Engine Works were started in Forth Street, Newcastle, he took
+an active part in that concern.  "The factory," he says, "was in active
+operation early in 1824; I left England for Colombia in June of that
+year, having finished drawing the designs of the Brusselton stationary
+engines for the Stockton and Darlington Railway before I left." {193}
+
+Speculation was very rife at the time; and amongst the most promising
+adventures were the companies organised for the purpose of working the
+gold and silver mines of South America.  Great difficulty was experienced
+in finding mining engineers capable of carrying out those projects, and
+young men of even the most moderate experience were eagerly sought after.
+The Columbian Mining Association of London offered an engagement to young
+Stephenson, to go out to Mariquita and take charge of the engineering
+operations of that company.  Robert was himself desirous of accepting it,
+but his father said it would first be necessary to ascertain whether the
+proposed change would be for his good.  His health had been very delicate
+for some time, partly occasioned by his rapid growth, but principally
+because of his close application to work and study.  Father and son
+together called upon Dr. Headlam, the eminent physician of Newcastle, to
+consult him on the subject.  During the examination which ensued, Robert
+afterwards used to say that he felt as if he were upon trial for life or
+death.  To his great relief, the doctor pronounced that a temporary
+residence in a warm climate was the very thing likely to be most
+beneficial to him.  The appointment was accordingly accepted, and, before
+many weeks had passed, Robert Stephenson set sail for South America.
+
+After a tolerably prosperous voyage he landed at La Guayra, on the north
+coast of Venezuela, on the 23rd July, from thence proceeding to Caraccas,
+the capital of the district, about 15 miles inland.  There he remained
+for two months, unable to proceed in consequence of the wretched state of
+the roads in the interior.  He contrived, however, to make occasional
+excursions in the neighbourhood, with an eye to the mining business on
+which he had come.  About the beginning of October he set out for Bogota,
+the capital of Columbia or New Granada.  The distance was about 1200
+miles, through a very difficult region, and it was performed entirely
+upon mule-back after the fashion of the country.
+
+In the course of the journey Robert visited many of the districts
+reported to be rich in minerals, but he met with few traces except of
+copper, iron, and coal, with occasional indications of gold and silver.
+He found the people ready to furnish information, which, however, when
+tested, usually proved worthless.  A guide whom he employed for weeks,
+kept him buoyed up with the hope of richer mining quarters than he had
+yet seen; but when he professed to be able to show him mines of "brass,
+steel, alcohol, and pinchbeck," Stephenson discovered him to be an
+incorrigible rogue, and immediately dismissed him.  At length our
+traveller reached Bogota, and after an interview with Mr. Illingworth,
+the commercial manager of the mining Company, he proceeded to Honda,
+crossed the Magdalena, and shortly after reached the site of his intended
+operations on the eastern slopes of the Andes.
+
+Mr. Stephenson used afterwards to speak in glowing terms of this his
+first mule-journey in South America.  Everything was entirely new to him.
+The variety and beauty of the indigenous plants, the luxurious tropical
+vegetation, the appearance, manners, and dress of the people, and the
+mode of travelling, were altogether different from everything he had
+before seen.  His own travelling garb also must have been strange even to
+himself.  "My hat," he says, "was of plaited grass, with a crown nine
+inches in height, surrounded by a brim of six inches; a white cotton
+suit; and a _ruana_ of blue and crimson plaid, with a hole in the centre
+for the head to pass through.  This cloak is admirably adapted for the
+purpose, amply covering the rider and mule, and at night answering the
+purpose of a blanket in the net-hammock, which is made from fibres of the
+aloe, and which every traveller carries before him on his mule, and
+suspends to the trees or in houses, as occasion may require."  The part
+of the journey which seems to have made the most lasting impression on
+his mind was that between Bogota and the mining district in the
+neighbourhood of Mariquita.  As he ascended the slopes of the
+mountain-range, and reached the first step of the table-land, he was
+struck beyond expression with the noble view of the valley of the
+Magdalena behind him, so vast that he failed in attempting to define the
+point at which the course of the river blended with the horizon.  Like
+all travellers in the district, he noted the remarkable changes of
+climate and vegetation, as he rose from the burning plains towards the
+fresh breath of the mountains.  From an atmosphere as hot as that of an
+oven he passed into delicious cool air; until, in his onward and upward
+journey, a still more temperate region was reached, the very perfection
+of climate.  Before him rose the majestic Cordilleras, forming a rampart
+against the western skies, at certain times of the day looking black,
+sharp, and, at their summit, almost as even as a wall.
+
+Our engineer took up his abode for a time at Mariquita, a fine old city,
+though then greatly decayed.  During the period of the Spanish dominion,
+it was an important place, most of the gold and silver convoys passing
+through it on their way to Cartagena, there to be shipped in galleons for
+Europe.  The mountainous country to the west was rich in silver, gold,
+and other metals, and it was Mr. Stephenson's object to select the best
+site for commencing operations for the Company.  With this object he
+"prospected" about in all directions, visiting long-abandoned mines, and
+analysing specimens obtained from many quarters.  The mines eventually
+fixed upon as the scene of his operations were those of La Manta and
+Santa Anna, long before worked by the Spaniards, though, in consequence
+of the luxuriance and rapidity of the vegetation, all traces of the old
+workings had become completely overgrown and lost.  Everything had to be
+begun anew.  Roads had to be cut to the mines, machinery to be erected,
+and the ground opened up, in course of which some of the old adits were
+hit upon.  The native peons or labourers were not accustomed to work, and
+at first they usually contrived to desert when they were not watched, so
+that very little progress could be made until the arrival of the expected
+band of miners from England.  The authorities were by no means helpful,
+and the engineer was driven to an old expedient with the object of
+overcoming this difficulty.  "We endeavour all we can," he says, in one
+of his letters, "to make ourselves popular, and this we find most
+effectually accomplished by 'regaling the venal beasts.'" {196}  He also
+gave a ball at Mariquita, which passed off with _eclat_, the governor
+from Honda, with a host of friends, honouring it with their presence.  It
+was, indeed, necessary to "make a party" in this way, as other schemers
+were already trying to undermine the Colombian company in influential
+directions.  The engineer did not exaggerate when he said, "The
+uncertainty of transacting business in this country is perplexing beyond
+description."
+
+At last, his party of miners arrived from England, but they gave him even
+more trouble than the peons had done.  They were rough, drunken, and
+sometimes altogether ungovernable.  He set them to work at the Santa Anna
+mine without delay, and at the same time took up his abode amongst them,
+"to keep them," he said, "if possible, from indulging in the detestable
+vice of drunkenness, which, if not put a stop to, will eventually destroy
+themselves, and involve the mining association in ruin."  To add to his
+troubles, the captain of the miners displayed a very hostile and
+insubordinate spirit, quarrelled and fought with the men, and was
+insolent to the engineer himself.  The captain and his gang, being
+Cornish men, told Robert to his face, that because he was a North-country
+man, and not born in Cornwall it was impossible he should know anything
+of mining.  Disease also fell upon him,--first fever, and then visceral
+derangement, followed by a return of his "old complaint, a feeling of
+oppression in the breast."  No wonder that in the midst of these troubles
+he should longingly speak of returning to his native land.  But he stuck
+to his post and his duty, kept up his courage, and by a mixture of
+mildness and firmness, and the display of great coolness of judgment, he
+contrived to keep the men to their work, and gradually to carry forward
+the enterprise which he had undertaken.  By the beginning of July, 1826,
+we find that quietness and order had been restored, and the works were
+proceeding more satisfactorily, though the yield of silver was not as yet
+very promising.  Mr. Stephenson calculated that at least three years'
+diligent and costly operations would be needed to render the mines
+productive.
+
+In the mean time he removed to the dwelling which had been erected for
+his accommodation at Santa Anna.  It was a structure speedily raised
+after the fashion of the country.
+
+           [Picture: Robert Stephenson's Cottage at Santa Anna]
+
+The walls were of split and flattened bamboo, tied together with the long
+fibres of a dried climbing plant; the roof was of palm-leaves, and the
+ceiling of reeds.  When an earthquake shook the district--for earthquakes
+were frequent--the inmates of such a fabric merely felt as if shaken in a
+basket, without sustaining any harm.  In front of the cottage lay a woody
+ravine, extending almost to the base of the Andes, gorgeously clothed in
+primeval vegetation--magnolias, palms, bamboos, tree-ferns, acacias,
+cedars; and, towering over all, the great almendrons, with their smooth,
+silvery stems, bearing aloft noble clusters of pure white blossom.  The
+forest was haunted by myriads of gay insects, butterflies with wings of
+dazzling lustre, birds of brilliant plumage, humming-birds, golden
+orioles, toucans, and a host of solitary warblers.  But the glorious
+sunsets seen from his cottage-porch more than all astonished and
+delighted the young engineer; and he was accustomed to say that, after
+having witnessed them, he was reluctant to accuse the ancient Peruvians
+of idolatry.
+
+But all these natural beauties failed to reconcile him to the harassing
+difficulties of his situation, which continued to increase rather than
+diminish.  He was hampered by the action of the Board at home, who gave
+ear to hostile criticisms on his reports; and, although they afterwards
+made handsome acknowledgment of his services, he felt his position to be
+altogether unsatisfactory.  He therefore determined to leave at the
+expiry of his three years engagement, and communicated his decision to
+the directors accordingly.  On receiving his letter, the Board, through
+Mr. Richardson, of Lombard street, one of the directors, communicated
+with his father at Newcastle, representing that if he would allow his son
+to remain in Colombia the Company would make it "worth his while."  To
+this the father gave a decided negative, and intimated that he himself
+needed his son's assistance, and that he must return at the expiry of his
+three years' term,--a decision, writes Robert, "at which I feel much
+gratified, as it is clear that he is as anxious to have me back in
+England as I am to get there." {199}  At the same time, Edward Pease, a
+principal partner in the Newcastle firm, privately wrote Robert to the
+following effect, urging his return home:--"I can assure thee that thy
+business at Newcastle, as well as thy father's engineering, have suffered
+very much from thy absence, and, unless thou soon return, the former will
+be given up, as Mr. Longridge is not able to give it that attention it
+requires; and what is done is not done with credit to the house."  The
+idea of the manufactory being given up, which Robert had laboured so hard
+to establish before leaving England, was painful to him in the extreme,
+and he wrote to the manager of the Company, strongly urging that
+arrangements should be made for him to leave without delay.  In the mean
+time he was again laid prostrate by another violent attack of aguish
+fever; and when able to write in June, 1827, he expressed himself as
+"completely wearied and worn down with vexation."
+
+At length, when he was sufficiently recovered from his attack and able to
+travel, he set out on his voyage homeward in the beginning of August.  At
+Mompox, on his way down the river Magdalena, he met Mr. Bodmer, his
+successor, with a fresh party of miners from England, on their way up the
+country to the quarters which he had just quitted.  Next day, six hours
+after leaving Mompox, a steamboat was met ascending the river, with
+Bolivar the Liberator on board, on his way to St. Bogota; and it was a
+mortification to our engineer that he had only a passing sight of that
+distinguished person.  It was his intention, on leaving Mariquita, to
+visit the Isthmus of Panama on his way home, for the purpose of inquiring
+into the practicability of cutting a canal to unite the Atlantic and
+Pacific--a project which then formed the subject of considerable public
+discussion; but his presence being so anxiously desired at home, he
+determined to proceed to New York without delay.
+
+Arrived at the port of Cartagena, he had to wait some time for a ship.
+The delay was very irksome to him, the more so as the city was then
+desolated by the ravages of the yellow fever.  While sitting one day in
+the large, bare, comfortless public room at the miserable hotel at which
+he put up, he observed two strangers, whom he at once perceived to be
+English.  One of the strangers was a tall, gaunt man, shrunken and
+hollow-looking, shabbily dressed, and apparently poverty-stricken.  On
+making inquiry, he found it was Trevithick, the builder of the first
+railroad locomotive!  He was returning home from the gold-mines of Peru
+penniless.  He had left England in 1816, with powerful steam-engines,
+intended for the drainage and working of the Peruvian mines.  He met with
+almost a royal reception on his landing at Lima.  A guard of honour was
+appointed to attend him, and it was even proposed to erect a statue of
+Don Ricardo Trevithick in solid silver.  It was given forth in Cornwall
+that his emoluments amounted to 100,000 pounds a year, {201} and that he
+was making a gigantic fortune.  Great, therefore, was Robert Stephenson's
+surprise to find this potent Don Ricardo in the inn at Cartagena, reduced
+almost to his last shilling, and unable to proceed further.  He had
+indeed realised the truth of the Spanish proverb, that "a silver-mine
+brings misery, a gold-mine ruin."  He and his friend had lost everything
+in their journey across the country from Peru.  They had forded rivers
+and wandered through forests, leaving all their baggage behind them, and
+had reached thus far with little more than the clothes upon their backs.
+Almost the only remnant of precious metal saved by Trevithick was a pair
+of silver spurs, which he took back with him to Cornwall.  Robert
+Stephenson lent him 50 pounds to enable him to reach England; and though
+he was afterwards heard of as an inventor there, he had no further part
+in the ultimate triumph of the locomotive.
+
+But Trevithick's misadventures on this occasion had not yet ended, for
+before he reached New York he was wrecked, and Robert Stephenson with
+him.  The following is the account of the voyage, "big with adventures,"
+as given by the latter in a letter to his friend Illingworth:--"At first
+we had very little foul weather, and indeed were for several days
+becalmed amongst the islands, which was so far fortunate, for a few
+degrees further north the most tremendous gales were blowing, and they
+appear (from our future information) to have wrecked every vessel exposed
+to their violence.  We had two examples of the effects of the hurricane;
+for, as we sailed north we took on board the remains of two crews found
+floating about on dismantled hulls.  The one had been nine days without
+food of any kind, except the carcasses of two of their companions who had
+died a day or two previously from fatigue and hunger.  The other crew had
+been driven about for six days, and were not so dejected, but reduced to
+such a weak state that they were obliged to be drawn on board our vessel
+by ropes.  A brig bound for Havannah took part of the men, and we took
+the remainder.  To attempt any description of my feelings on witnessing
+such scenes would be in vain.  You will not be surprised to learn that I
+felt somewhat uneasy at the thought that we were so far from England, and
+that I also might possibly suffer similar shipwreck; but I consoled
+myself with the hope that fate would be more kind to us.  It was not so
+much so, however, as I had flattered myself; for on voyaging towards New
+York, after we had made the land, we ran aground about midnight.  The
+vessel soon filled with water, and, being surrounded by the breaking
+surf, the ship was soon split up, and before morning our situation became
+perilous.  Masts and all were cut away to prevent the hull rocking; but
+all we could do was of no avail.  About 8 o'clock on the following
+morning, after a most miserable night, we were taken off the wreck, and
+were so fortunate as to reach the shore.  I saved my minerals, but Empson
+lost part of his botanical collection.  Upon the whole, we got off well;
+and, had I not been on the American side of the Atlantic, I 'guess' I
+would not have gone to sea again."
+
+After a short tour in the United States and Canada, Robert Stephenson and
+his friend took ship for Liverpool, where they arrived at the end of
+November, and at once proceeded to Newcastle.  The factory was by no
+means in a prosperous state.  During the time Robert had been in America
+it had been carried on at a loss; and Edward Pease, much disheartened,
+wished to retire, but George Stephenson was unable to buy him out, and
+the establishment had to be carried on in the hope that the locomotive
+might yet be established in public estimation as a practical and
+economical working power.  Robert Stephenson immediately instituted a
+rigid inquiry into the working of the concern, unravelled the accounts,
+which had fallen into confusion during his father's absence at Liverpool;
+and he soon succeeded in placing the affairs of the factory in a more
+healthy condition.  In all this he had the hearty support of his father,
+as well as of the other partners.
+
+The works of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway were now approaching
+completion.  But, singular to say, the directors had not yet decided as
+to the tractive power to be employed in working the line when opened for
+traffic.  The differences of opinion among them were so great as
+apparently to be irreconcilable.  It was necessary, however, that they
+should come to some decision without further loss of time; and many Board
+meetings were accordingly held to discuss the subject.  The old-fashioned
+and well-tried system of horse haulage was not without its advocates;
+but, looking at the large amount of traffic which there was to be
+conveyed, and at the probable delay in the transit from station to
+station if this method were adopted, the directors, after a visit made by
+them to the Northumberland and Durham railways in 1828, came to the
+conclusion that the employment of horse power was inadmissible.
+
+Fixed engines had many advocates; the locomotive very few: it stood as
+yet almost in a minority of one--George Stephenson.  The prejudice
+against the employment of the latter power had even increased since the
+Liverpool and Manchester Bill underwent its first ordeal in the House of
+Commons.  In proof of this, we may mention that the Newcastle and
+Carlisle Railway Act was conceded in 1829, on the express condition that
+it should _not_ be worked by locomotives, but by horses only.
+
+Grave doubts existed as to the practicability of working a large traffic
+by means of travelling engines.  The most celebrated engineers offered no
+opinion on the subject.  They did not believe in the locomotive, and
+would scarcely take the trouble to examine it.  The ridicule with which
+George Stephenson had been assailed by the barristers before the
+Parliamentary Committee had not been altogether distasteful to them.
+Perhaps they did not relish the idea of a man who had picked up his
+experience in Newcastle coal-pits appearing in the capacity of a leading
+engineer before Parliament, and attempting to establish a new system of
+internal communication in the country.  The directors could not disregard
+the adverse and conflicting views of the professional men whom they
+consulted.  But Mr. Stephenson had so repeatedly and earnestly urged upon
+them the propriety of making a trial of the locomotive before coming to
+any decision against it, that they at length authorised him to proceed
+with the construction of one of his engines by way of experiment.  In
+their report to the proprietors at their annual meeting on, the 27th
+March, 1828, they state that they had, after due consideration,
+authorised the engineer "to prepare a locomotive engine, which, from the
+nature of its construction and from the experiments already made, he is
+of opinion will be effective for the purposes of the Company, without
+proving an annoyance to the public."  The locomotive thus ordered was
+placed upon the line in 1829, and was found of great service in drawing
+the waggons full of marl from the two great cuttings.
+
+In the mean time the discussion proceeded as to the kind of power to be
+permanently employed for the working of the railway.  The directors were
+inundated with schemes of all sorts for facilitating locomotion.  The
+projectors of England, France, and America, seemed to be let loose upon
+them.  There were plans for working the waggons along the line by water
+power.  Some proposed hydrogen, and others carbonic acid gas.
+Atmospheric pressure had its eager advocates.  And various kinds of fixed
+and locomotive steam-power were suggested.  Thomas Gray urged his plan of
+a greased road with cog rails; and Messrs. Vignolles and Ericsson
+recommended the adoption of a central friction rail, against which two
+horizontal rollers under the locomotive, pressing upon the sides of this
+rail, were to afford the means of ascending the inclined planes.  The
+directors felt themselves quite unable to choose from amidst this
+multitude of projects.  The engineer expressed himself as decidedly as
+heretofore in favour of smooth rails and locomotive engines, which, he
+was confident, would be found the most economical and by far the most
+convenient moving power that could be employed.  The Stockton and
+Darlington Railway being now at work, another deputation went down
+personally to inspect the fixed and locomotive engines on that line, as
+well as at Hetton and Killingworth.  They returned to Liverpool with much
+information; but their testimony as to the relative merits of the two
+kinds of engines was so contradictory, that the directors were as far
+from a decision as ever.
+
+They then resolved to call to their aid two professional engineers of
+high standing, who should visit the Darlington and Newcastle railways,
+carefully examine both modes of working--the fixed and the
+locomotive,--and report to them fully on the subject.  The gentlemen
+selected were Mr. Walker of Limehouse, and Mr. Rastrick of Stourbridge.
+After carefully examining the modes of working the northern railways,
+they made their report to the directors in the spring of 1829.  They
+concurred in the opinion that the cost of an establishment of fixed
+engines would be somewhat greater than that of locomotives to do the same
+work; but thought the annual charge would be less if the former were
+adopted.  They calculated that the cost of moving a ton of goods thirty
+miles by fixed engines would be 6.40d., and by locomotives,
+8.36d.,--assuming a profitable traffic to be obtained both ways.  At the
+same time it was admitted that there appeared more ground for expecting
+improvements in the construction and working of locomotives than of
+stationary engines.  On the whole, however, and looking especially at the
+computed annual charge of working the road on the two systems on a large
+scale, the two reporting engineers were of opinion that fixed engines
+were preferable, and accordingly recommended their adoption.  And, in
+order to carry the system recommended by them into effect, they proposed
+to divide the railroad between Liverpool and Manchester into nineteen
+stages of about a mile and a half each, with twenty-one engines fixed at
+the different points to work the trains forward.
+
+Such was the result, so far, of George Stephenson's labours.  Two of the
+best practical engineers of the day concurred in reporting substantially
+in favour of the employment of fixed engines.  Not a single professional
+man of eminence supported the engineer in his preference for locomotive
+over fixed engine power.  He had scarcely an adherent, and the locomotive
+system seemed on the eve of being abandoned.  Still he did not despair.
+With the profession as well as public opinion against him--for the most
+frightful stories were abroad respecting the dangers, the unsightliness,
+and the nuisance which the locomotive would create--Stephenson held to
+his purpose.  Even in this, apparently the darkest hour of the
+locomotive, he did not hesitate to declare that locomotive railroads
+would, before many years had passed, be "the great highways of the
+world."
+
+He urged his views upon the directors in all ways, and, as some of them
+thought, at all seasons.  He pointed out the greater convenience of
+locomotive power for the purposes of a public highway, likening it to a
+series of short unconnected chains, any one of which could be removed and
+another substituted without interruption to the traffic; whereas the
+fixed engine system might be regarded in the light of a continuous chain
+extending between the two termini, the failure of any link of which would
+derange the whole. {206}  He represented to the Board that the locomotive
+was yet capable of great improvements, if proper inducements were held
+out to inventors and machinists to make them; and he pledged himself
+that, if time were given him, he would construct an engine that should
+satisfy their requirements, and prove itself capable of working heavy
+loads along the railway with speed, regularity and safety.  At length,
+influenced by his persistent earnestness not less than by his arguments,
+the directors, at the suggestion of Mr. Harrison, determined to offer a
+prize of 500 pounds for the best locomotive engine, which, on a certain
+day, should be produced on the railway, and perform certain specified
+conditions in the most satisfactory manner. {207}
+
+It was now felt that the fate of railways in a great measure depended
+upon the issue of this appeal to the mechanical genius of England.  When
+the advertisement of the prize for the best locomotive was published,
+scientific men began more particularly to direct their attention to the
+new power which was thus struggling into existence.  In the mean time
+public opinion on the subject of railway working remained suspended, and
+the progress of the undertaking was watched with intense interest.
+
+During the progress of the discussion with reference to the kind of power
+to be employed, Mr. Stephenson was in constant communication with his son
+Robert, who made frequent visits to Liverpool for the purpose of
+assisting his father in the preparation of his reports to the Board on
+the subject.  They had also many conversations as to the best mode of
+increasing the powers and perfecting the mechanism of the locomotive.
+These became more frequent and interesting, when the prize was offered
+for the best locomotive, and the working plans of the engine which they
+proposed to construct came to be settled.
+
+One of the most important considerations in the new engine was the
+arrangement of the boiler and the extension of its heating surface to
+enable steam enough to be raised rapidly and continuously, for the
+purpose of maintaining high rates of speed,--the effect of high-pressure
+engines being ascertained to depend mainly upon the quantity of steam
+which the boiler can generate, and upon its degree of elasticity when
+produced.  The quantity of steam so generated, it will be obvious, must
+depend chiefly upon the quantity of fuel consumed in the furnace, and by
+necessary consequence, upon the high rate of temperature maintained
+there.
+
+It will be remembered that in Stephenson's first Killingworth engines he
+invented and applied the ingenious method of stimulating combustion in
+the furnace, by throwing the waste steam into the chimney after
+performing its office in the cylinders, thus accelerating the ascent of
+the current of air, greatly increasing the draught, and consequently the
+temperature of the fire.  This plan was adopted by him, as we have
+already seen, as early as 1815; and it was so successful that he himself
+attributed to it the greater economy of the locomotive as compared with
+horse power.  Hence the continuance of its use upon the Killingworth
+Railway.
+
+Though the adoption of the steam-blast greatly quickened combustion and
+contributed to the rapid production of high-pressure steam, the limited
+amount of heating surface presented to the fire was still felt to be an
+obstacle to the complete success of the locomotive engine.  Mr.
+Stephenson endeavoured to overcome this by lengthening the boilers and
+increasing the surface presented by the flue-tubes.  The "Lancashire
+Witch," which he built for the Bolton and Leigh Railway, and used in
+forming the Liverpool and Manchester Railway embankments, was constructed
+with a double tube, each of which contained a fire and passed
+longitudinally through the boiler.  But this arrangement necessarily led
+to a considerable increase in the weight of the engine, which amounted to
+about twelve tons; and as six tons was the limit allowed for engines
+admitted to the Liverpool competition, it was clear that the time was
+come when the Killingworth locomotive must undergo a further important
+modification.
+
+For many years previous to this period, ingenious mechanics had been
+engaged in attempting to solve the problem of the best and most
+economical boiler for the production of high-pressure steam.  As early as
+1803, Mr. Woolf patented a tubular boiler, which was extensively employed
+at the Cornish mines, and was found greatly to facilitate the production
+of steam, by the extension of the heating surface.  The ingenious
+Trevithick, in his patent of 1815, seems also to have entertained the
+idea of employing a boiler constructed of "small perpendicular tubes,"
+with the same object of increasing the heating surface.  These tubes were
+to be closed at the bottom, and open into a common reservoir, from which
+they were to receive their water, and where the steam of all the tubes
+was to be united.
+
+About the same time George Stephenson was trying the effect of
+introducing small tubes in the boilers of his locomotives, with the
+object of increasing their evaporative power.  Thus, in 1829, he sent to
+France two engines constructed at the Newcastle works for the Lyons and
+St. Etienne Railway, in the boilers of which tubes were placed containing
+water.  The heating surface was thus found to be materially increased;
+but the expedient was not successful, for the tubes, becoming furred with
+deposit, shortly burned out and were removed.  It was then that M.
+Seguin, the engineer of the railway, pursuing the same idea, adopted his
+plan of employing horizontal tubes through which the heated air passed in
+streamlets.  Mr. Henry Booth, the secretary of the Liverpool and
+Manchester Railway, without any knowledge of M. Seguin's proceedings,
+next devised his plan of a tubular boiler, which he brought under the
+notice of Mr. Stephenson, who at once adopted it, and settled the mode in
+which the fire-box and tubes were to be mutually arranged and connected.
+This plan was adopted in the construction of the celebrated "Rocket"
+engine, the building of which was immediately proceeded with at the
+Newcastle works.
+
+The principal circumstances connected with the construction of the
+"Rocket," as described by Robert Stephenson to the author, may be briefly
+stated.  The tubular principle was adopted in a more complete manner than
+had yet been attempted.  Twenty-five copper tubes, each three inches in
+diameter, extended from one end of the boiler to the other, the heated
+air passing through them on its way to the chimney; and the tubes being
+surrounded by the water of the boiler, it will be obvious that a large
+extension of the _heating surface_ was thus effectually secured.  The
+principal difficulty was in fitting the copper tubes within the boiler so
+as to prevent leakage.  They were made by a Newcastle coppersmith, and
+soldered to brass screws which were screwed into the boiler ends,
+standing out in great knobs.  When the tubes were thus fitted, and the
+boiler was filled with water, hydraulic pressure was applied; but the
+water squirted out at every joint, and the factory floor was soon
+flooded.  Robert went home in despair; and in the first moment of grief,
+he wrote to his father that the whole thing was a failure.  By return of
+post came a letter from his father, telling him that despair was not to
+be thought of--that he must "try again;" and he suggested a mode of
+overcoming the difficulty, which his son had already anticipated and
+proceeded to adopt.  It was, to bore clean holes in the boiler ends, fit
+in the smooth copper tubes as tightly as possible, solder up, and then
+raise the steam.  This plan succeeded perfectly, the expansion of the
+copper tubes completely filling up all interstices, and producing a
+perfectly watertight boiler, capable of withstanding extreme internal
+pressure.
+
+The mode of employing the steam-blast for the purpose of increasing the
+draught in the chimney, was also the subject of numerous experiments.
+When the engine was first tried, it was thought that the blast in the
+chimney was not strong enough to keep up the intensity of the fire in the
+furnace, so as to produce high-pressure steam in sufficient quantity.
+The expedient was therefore adopted of hammering the copper tubes at the
+point at which they entered the chimney, whereby the blast was
+considerably sharpened; and on a further trial it was found that the
+draught was increased to such an extent as to enable abundance of steam
+to be raised.  The rationale of the blast may be simply explained by
+referring to the effect of contracting the pipe of a water-hose, by which
+the force of the jet of water is proportionately increased.  Widen the
+nozzle of the pipe, and the force is in like manner diminished.  So is it
+with the steam-blast in the chimney of the locomotive.
+
+Doubts were, however, expressed whether the greater draught secured by
+the contraction of the blast-pipe was not counterbalanced in some degree
+by the negative pressure upon the piston.  A series of experiments was
+made with pipes of different diameters; the amount of vacuum produced
+being determined by a glass tube open at both ends, which was fixed to
+the bottom of the smoke-box, and descended into a bucket of water.  As
+the rarefaction took place, the water would of course rise in the tube;
+and the height to which it rose above the surface of the water in the
+bucket was made the measure of the amount of rarefaction.  These
+experiments proved that a considerable increase of draught was obtained
+by the contraction of the orifice; accordingly, the two blast-pipes
+opening from the cylinders into either side of the "Rocket" chimney, and
+turned up within it, were contracted slightly below the area of the
+steam-ports; and before the engine left the factory, the water rose in
+the glass tube three inches above the water in the bucket.
+
+                         [Picture: The "Rocket"]
+
+The other arrangements of the "Rocket" were briefly these:--the boiler
+was cylindrical with flat ends, 6 feet in length, and 3 feet 4 inches in
+diameter.  The upper half of the boiler was used as a reservoir for the
+steam, the lower half being filled with water.  Through the lower part,
+25 copper tubes of 3 inches diameter extended, which were open to the
+fire-box at one end, and to the chimney at the other.  The fire-box, or
+furnace, 2 feet wide and 3 feet high, was attached immediately behind the
+boiler, and was also surrounded with water.  The cylinders of the engine
+were placed on each side of the boiler, in an oblique position, one end
+being nearly level with the top of the boiler at its after end, and the
+other pointing towards the centre of the foremost or driving pair of
+wheels, with which the connection was directly made from the piston-rod,
+to a pin on the outside of the wheel.  The engine, together with its load
+of water, weighed only 4.25 tons, and was supported on four wheels, not
+coupled.  The tender was four-wheeled, and similar in shape to a
+waggon,--the foremost part holding the fuel, and the hind part a
+water-cask.
+
+When the "Rocket" was finished, it was placed upon the Killingworth
+railway for the purpose of experiment.  The new boiler arrangement was
+found perfectly successful.  The steam was raised rapidly and
+continuously, and in a quantity which then appeared marvellous.  The same
+evening Robert despatched a letter to his father at Liverpool, informing
+him, to his great joy, that the "Rocket" was "all right," and would be in
+complete working trim by the day of trial.  The engine was shortly after
+sent by waggon to Carlisle, and thence shipped for Liverpool.
+
+The time so much longed for by George Stephenson had now arrived, when
+the merit of the passenger locomotive was to be put to a public test.  He
+had fought the battle for it until now almost single-handed.  Engrossed
+by his daily labours and anxieties, and harassed by difficulties and
+discouragements which would have crushed the spirit of a less resolute
+man, he had held firmly to his purpose through good and through evil
+report.  The hostility which he experienced from some of the directors
+opposed to the adoption of the locomotive, was the circumstance that
+caused him the greatest grief of all; for where he had looked for
+encouragement, he found only carping and opposition.  But his pluck never
+failed him; and now the "Rocket" was upon the ground,--to prove, to use
+his own words, "whether he was a man of his word or not."
+
+Great interest was felt at Liverpool, as well as throughout the country,
+in the approaching competition.  Engineers, scientific men, and
+mechanics, arrived from all quarters to witness the novel display of
+mechanical ingenuity on which such great results depended.  The public
+generally were no indifferent spectators either.  The inhabitants of
+Liverpool, Manchester, and the adjacent towns felt that the successful
+issue of the experiment would confer upon them individual benefits and
+local advantages almost incalculable, whilst populations at a distance
+waited for the result with almost equal interest.
+
+On the day appointed for the great competition of locomotives at
+Rainhill, the following engines were entered for the prize:--
+
+1.  Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson's "Novelty." {214}
+
+2.  Mr. Timothy Hackworth's "Sanspareil."
+
+3.  Messrs. R. Stephenson and Co.'s "Rocket."
+
+4.  Mr. Burstall's "Perseverance."
+
+Another engine was entered by Mr. Brandreth of Liverpool--the "Cycloped,"
+weighing 3 tons, worked by a horse in a frame, but it could not be
+admitted to the competition.  The above were the only four exhibited, out
+of a considerable number of engines constructed in different parts of the
+country in anticipation of this contest, many of which could not be
+satisfactorily completed by the day of trial.
+
+The ground on which the engines were to be tried was a level piece of
+railroad, about two miles in length.  Each was required to make twenty
+trips, or equal to a journey of 70 miles, in the course of the day; and
+the average rate of travelling was to be not under 10 miles an hour.  It
+was determined that, to avoid confusion, each engine should be tried
+separately, and on different days.
+
+              [Picture: Locomotive competition at Rainhill]
+
+The day fixed for the competition was the 1st of October, but to allow
+sufficient time to get the locomotives into good working order, the
+directors extended it to the 6th.  On the morning of the 6th, the ground
+at Rainhill presented a lively appearance, and there was as much
+excitement as if the St. Leger were about to be run.  Many thousand
+spectators looked on, amongst whom were some of the first engineers and
+mechanicians of the day.  A stand was provided for the ladies; the
+"beauty and fashion" of the neighbourhood were present, and the side of
+the railroad was lined with carriages of all descriptions.
+
+It was quite characteristic of the Stephensons, that, although their
+engine did not stand first on the list for trial, it was the first that
+was ready; and it was accordingly ordered out by the judges for an
+experimental trip.  Yet the "Rocket" was by no means "the favourite" with
+either the judges or the spectators.  A majority of the judges was
+strongly predisposed in favour of the "Novelty," and nine-tenths of those
+present were against the "Rocket" because of its appearance.  Nearly
+every person favoured some other engine, so that there was nothing for
+the "Rocket" but the practical test.  The first trip which it made was
+quite successful.  It ran about 12 miles, without interruption, in about
+53 minutes.
+
+The "Novelty" was next called out.  It was a light engine, very compact
+in appearance, carrying the water and fuel upon the same wheels as the
+engine.  The weight of the whole was only 3 tons and 1 hundredweight.  A
+peculiarity of this engine was that the air was driven or forced through
+the fire by means of bellows.  The day being now far advanced, and some
+dispute having arisen as to the method of assigning the proper load for
+the "Novelty," no particular experiment was made, further than that the
+engine traversed the line by way of exhibition, occasionally moving at
+the rate of 24 miles an hour.  The "Sanspareil," constructed by Mr.
+Timothy Hackworth, was next exhibited; but no particular experiment was
+made with it on this day.
+
+The contest was postponed until the following day, but before the judges
+arrived on the ground, the bellows for creating the blast in the
+"Novelty" gave way, and it was found incapable of going through its
+performance.  A defect was also detected in the boiler of the
+"Sanspareil;" and some further time was allowed to get it repaired.  The
+large number of spectators who had assembled to witness the contest were
+greatly disappointed at this postponement; but, to lessen it, Stephenson
+again brought out the "Rocket," and, attaching to it a coach containing
+thirty persons, he ran them along the line at the rate of from 24 to 30
+miles an hour, much to their gratification and amazement.  Before
+separating, the judges ordered the engine to be in readiness by eight
+o'clock on the following morning, to go through its definitive trial
+according to the prescribed conditions.
+
+On the morning of the 8th October, the "Rocket" was again ready for the
+contest.  The engine was taken to the extremity of the stage, the
+fire-box was filled with coke, the fire lighted, and the steam raised
+until it lifted the safety-valve loaded to a pressure of 50 pounds to the
+square inch.  This proceeding occupied fifty-seven minutes.  The engine
+then started on its journey, dragging after it about 13 tons weight in
+waggons, and made the first ten trips backwards and forwards along the
+two miles of road, running the 35 miles, including stoppages, in one hour
+and 48 minutes.  The second ten trips were in like manner performed in 2
+hours and 3 minutes.  The maximum velocity attained during the trial trip
+was 29 miles an hour, or about three times the speed that one of the
+judges of the competition had declared to be the limit of possibility.
+The average speed at which the whole of the journeys were performed was
+15 miles an hour, or 5 miles beyond the rate specified in the conditions
+published by the Company.  The entire performance excited the greatest
+astonishment amongst the assembled spectators; the directors felt
+confident that their enterprise was now on the eve of success; and George
+Stephenson rejoiced to think that in spite of all false prophets and
+fickle counsellors, the locomotive system was now safe.  When the
+"Rocket," having performed all the conditions of the contest, arrived at
+the "grand stand" at the close of its day's successful run, Mr.
+Cropper--one of the directors favourable to the fixed-engine
+system--lifted up his hands, and exclaimed, "Now has George Stephenson at
+last delivered himself!"
+
+Neither the "Novelty" nor the "Sanspareil" was ready for trial until the
+10th, on the morning of which day an advertisement appeared, stating that
+the former engine was to be tried on that day, when it would perform more
+work than any engine upon the ground.  The weight of the carriages
+attached to it was only about 7 tons.  The engine passed the first post
+in good style; but in returning, the pipe from the forcing-pump burst and
+put an end to the trial.  The pipe was afterwards repaired, and the
+engine made several trips by itself, in which it was said to have gone at
+the rate of from 24 to 28 miles an hour.
+
+The "Sanspareil" was not ready until the 13th; and when its boiler and
+tender were filled with water, it was found to weigh 4 cwt. beyond the
+weight specified in the published conditions as the limit of four-wheeled
+engines; nevertheless the judges allowed it to run on the same footing as
+the other engines, to enable them to ascertain whether its merits
+entitled it to favourable consideration.  It travelled at the average
+speed of about 14 miles an hour, with its load attached; but at the
+eighth trip the cold-water pump got wrong, and the engine could proceed
+no further.
+
+It was determined to award the premium to the successful engine on the
+following day, the 14th, on which occasion there was an unusual
+assemblage of spectators.  The owners of the "Novelty" pleaded for
+another trial; and it was conceded.  But again it broke down.  The owner
+of the "Sanspareil" also requested the opportunity for making another
+trial of his engine.  But the judges had now had enough of failures; and
+they declined, on the ground that not only was the engine above the
+stipulated weight, but that it was constructed on a plan which they could
+not recommend for adoption by the directors of the Company.  One of the
+principal practical objections to this locomotive was the enormous
+quantity of coke consumed or wasted by it--about 692 lbs. per hour when
+travelling--caused by the sharpness of the steam-blast in the chimney,
+which blew a large proportion of the burning coke into the air.
+
+The "Perseverance" was found unable to move at more than five or six
+miles an hour; and it was withdrawn from the contest at an early period.
+The "Rocket" was thus the only engine that had performed, and more than
+performed, all the stipulated conditions; and its owners were declared to
+be fully entitled to the prize of 500 pounds, which was awarded to the
+Messrs. Stephenson and Booth accordingly.  And further, to show that the
+engine had been working quite within its powers, Mr. Stephenson ordered
+it to be brought upon the ground and detached from all incumbrances,
+when, in making two trips, it was found to travel at the astonishing rate
+of 35 miles an hour.
+
+The "Rocket" had thus eclipsed the performances of all locomotive engines
+that had yet been constructed, and outstripped even the sanguine
+expectations of its constructors.  It satisfactorily answered the report
+of Messrs. Walker and Rastrick; and established the efficiency of the
+locomotive for working the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and indeed
+all future railways.  The "Rocket" showed that a new power had been born
+into the world, full of activity and strength, with boundless capability
+of work.  It was the simple but admirable contrivance of the steam-blast,
+and its combination with the multitubular boiler, that at once gave the
+locomotive a vigorous life, and secured the triumph of the railway
+system. {219}  It has been well observed, that this wonderful ability to
+increase and multiply its powers of performance with the emergency that
+demands them, has made this giant engine the noblest creation of human
+wit, the very lion among machines.  The success of the Rainhill
+experiment, as judged by the public, may be inferred from the fact that
+the shares of the Company immediately rose ten per cent., and nothing
+more was heard of the proposed twenty-one fixed engines, engine-houses,
+ropes, etc.  All this cumbersome apparatus was thenceforward effectually
+disposed of.
+
+Very different now was the tone of those directors who had distinguished
+themselves by the persistency of their opposition to Mr. Stephenson's
+plans.  Coolness gave way to eulogy, and hostility to unbounded offers of
+friendship--after the manner of many men who run to the help of the
+strong.  Deeply though the engineer had felt aggrieved by the conduct
+pursued towards him during this eventful struggle, by some from whom
+forbearance was to have been expected, he never entertained towards them
+in after life any angry feelings; on the contrary, he forgave all.  But
+though the directors afterwards passed unanimous resolutions eulogising
+"the great skill and unwearied energy" of their engineer, he himself,
+when speaking confidentially to those with whom he was most intimate,
+could not help pointing out the difference between his "foul-weather and
+fair-weather friends."  Mr. Gooch says of him that though naturally most
+cheerful and kind-hearted in his disposition, the anxiety and pressure
+which weighed upon his mind during the construction of the railway, had
+the effect of making him occasionally impatient and irritable, like a
+spirited horse touched by the spur; though his original good-nature from
+time to time shone through it all.  When the line had been brought to a
+successful completion, a very marked change in him became visible.  The
+irritability passed away, and when difficulties and vexations arose they
+were treated by him as matters of course, and with perfect composure and
+cheerfulness.
+
+                      [Picture: Railway versus Road]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+OPENING OF THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY, AND EXTENSION OF THE
+RAILWAY SYSTEM.
+
+
+The directors of the Railway now began to see daylight; and they derived
+encouragement from the skilful manner in which their engineer had
+overcome the principal difficulties of the undertaking.  He had formed a
+solid road over Chat Moss, and thus achieved one "impossibility;" and he
+had constructed a locomotive that could run at a speed of 30 miles an
+hour, thus vanquishing a still more formidable difficulty.
+
+A single line of way was completed over Chat Moss by the 1st of January,
+1830; and on that day, the "Rocket" with a carriage full of directors,
+engineers, and their friends, passed along the greater part of the road
+between Liverpool and Manchester.  Mr. Stephenson continued to direct his
+close attention to the improvement of the details of the locomotive,
+every successive trial of which proved more satisfactory.  In this
+department he had the benefit of the able and unremitting assistance of
+his son, who, in the workshops at Newcastle, directly superintended the
+construction of the new engines required for the public working of the
+railway.  He did not by any means rest satisfied with the success,
+decided though it was, which had been achieved by the "Rocket."  He
+regarded it but in the light of a successful experiment; and every
+succeeding engine placed upon the railway exhibited some improvement on
+its predecessors.  The arrangement of the parts, and the weight and
+proportions of the engines, were altered, as the experience of each
+successive day, or week, or month, suggested; and it was soon found that
+the performances of the "Rocket" on the day of trial had been greatly
+within the powers of the locomotive.
+
+The first entire trip between Liverpool and Manchester was performed on
+the 14th of June, 1830, on the occasion of a Board meeting being held at
+the latter town.  The train was on this occasion drawn by the "Arrow,"
+one of the new locomotives, in which the most recent improvements had
+been adopted.  Mr. Stephenson himself drove the engine, and Captain
+Scoresby, the circumpolar navigator, stood beside him on the foot-plate,
+and minuted the speed of the train.  A great concourse of people
+assembled at both termini, as well as along the line, to witness the
+novel spectacle of a train of carriages dragged by an engine at a speed
+of 17 miles an hour.  On the return journey to Liverpool in the evening,
+the "Arrow" crossed Chat Moss at a speed of nearly 27 miles an hour,
+reaching its destination in about an hour and a half.
+
+In the mean time Mr. Stephenson and his assistants were diligently
+occupied in making the necessary preliminary arrangements for the conduct
+of the traffic against the time when the line should be ready for
+opening.  The experiments made with the object of carrying on the
+passenger traffic at quick velocities were of an especially harassing and
+anxious character.  Every week, for nearly three months before the
+opening, trial trips were made to Newton and back, generally with two or
+three trains following each other, and carrying altogether from 200 to
+300 persons.  These trips were usually made on Saturday afternoons, when
+the works could be more conveniently stopped and the line cleared.  In
+these experiments Mr. Stephenson had the able assistance of Mr. Henry
+Booth, the secretary of the Company, who contrived many of the
+arrangements in the rolling stock, not the least valuable of which was
+his invention of the coupling screw, still in use on all passenger
+railways.
+
+At length the line was finished, and ready for the public ceremony of the
+opening, which took place on the 15th September, 1830, and attracted a
+vast number of spectators.  The completion of the railway was justly
+regarded as an important national event, and the opening was celebrated
+accordingly.  The Duke of Wellington, then Prime Minister, Sir Robert
+Peel, and Mr. Huskisson, one of the members for Liverpool, were among the
+number of distinguished public personages present.
+
+Eight locomotive engines, constructed at the Stephenson works, had been
+delivered and placed upon the line, the whole of which had been tried and
+tested weeks before, with perfect success.  The several trains of
+carriages accommodated in all about six hundred persons.  The procession
+was cheered in its progress by thousands of spectators--through the deep
+ravine of Olive Mount; up the Sutton incline; over the great Sankey
+viaduct, beneath which a great multitude of persons had
+assembled,--carriages filling the narrow lanes, and barges crowding the
+river; the people below gazing with wonder and admiration at the trains
+which sped along the line, far above their heads, at the rate of some 24
+miles an hour.
+
+At Parkside, about 17 miles from Liverpool, the engines stopped to take
+in water.  Here a deplorable accident occurred to one of the illustrious
+visitors, which threw a deep shadow over the subsequent proceedings of
+the day.  The "Northumbrian" engine, with the carriage containing the
+Duke of Wellington, was drawn up on one line, in order that the whole of
+the trains on the other line might pass in review before him and his
+party.  Mr. Huskisson had alighted from the carriage, and was standing on
+the opposite road, along which the "Rocket" was observed rapidly coming
+up.  At this moment the Duke of Wellington, between whom and Mr.
+Huskisson some coolness had existed, made a sign of recognition, and held
+out his hand.  A hurried but friendly grasp was given; and before it was
+loosened there was a general cry from the bystanders of "Get in, get in!"
+Flurried and confused, Mr. Huskisson endeavoured to get round the open
+door of the carriage, which projected over the opposite rail; but in so
+doing he was struck down by the "Rocket," and falling with his leg
+doubled across the rail, the limb was instantly crushed.  His first
+words, on being raised, were, "I have met my death," which unhappily
+proved true, for he expired that same evening in the parsonage of Eccles.
+It was cited at the time as a remarkable fact, that the "Northumbrian"
+engine, driven by George Stephenson himself, conveyed the wounded body of
+the unfortunate gentleman a distance of about 15 miles in 25 minutes, or
+at the rate of 36 miles an hour.  This incredible speed burst upon the
+world with the effect of a new and unlooked-for phenomenon.
+
+The accident threw a gloom over the rest of the day's proceedings.  The
+Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel expressed a wish that the
+procession should return to Liverpool.  It was, however, represented to
+them that a vast concourse of people had assembled at Manchester to
+witness the arrival of the trains; that report would exaggerate the
+mischief, if they did not complete the journey; and that a false panic on
+that day might seriously affect future railway travelling and the value
+of the Company's property.  The party consented accordingly to proceed to
+Manchester, but on the understanding that they should return as soon as
+possible, and refrain from further festivity.
+
+As the trains approached Manchester, crowds of people were found covering
+the banks, the slopes of the cuttings, and even the railway itself.  The
+multitude, become impatient and excited by the rumours which reached
+them, had outflanked the military, and all order was at an end.  The
+people clambered about the carriages, holding on by the door-handles, and
+many were tumbled over; but, happily no fatal accident occurred.  At the
+Manchester station, the political element began to display itself;
+placards about "Peterloo," etc., were exhibited, and brickbats were
+thrown at the carriage containing the Duke.  On the carriages coming to a
+stand in the Manchester station the Duke did not descend, but remained
+seated, shaking hands with the women and children who were pushed forward
+by the crowd.  Shortly after, the trains returned to Liverpool, which
+they reached, after considerable interruptions, in the dark, at a late
+hour.
+
+On the following morning the railway was opened for public traffic.  The
+first train of 140 passengers was booked and sent on to Manchester,
+reaching it in the allotted period of two hours; and from that time the
+traffic has regularly proceeded from day to day until now.
+
+It is scarcely necessary that we should speak at any length of the
+commercial results of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.  Suffice it
+to say that its success was complete and decisive.  The anticipations of
+its projectors were, however, in many respects at fault.  They had based
+their calculations almost entirely on the heavy merchandise traffic--such
+as coal, cotton, and timber,--relying little upon passengers; whereas the
+receipts derived from the conveyance of passengers far exceeded those
+derived from merchandise of all kinds, which, for a time continued a
+subordinate branch of the traffic.
+
+For some time after the public opening of the line, Mr. Stephenson's
+ingenuity continued to be employed in devising improved methods for
+securing the safety and comfort of the travelling public.  Few are aware
+of the thousand minute details which have to be arranged--the forethought
+and contrivance that have to be exercised--to enable the traveller by
+railway to accomplish his journey in safety.  After the difficulties of
+constructing a level road over bogs, across valleys, and through deep
+cuttings, have been overcome, the maintenance of the way has to be
+provided for with continuous care.  Every rail with its fastenings must
+be complete, to prevent risk of accident; and the road must be kept
+regularly ballasted up to the level, to diminish the jolting of vehicles
+passing over it at high speeds.  Then the stations must be protected by
+signals observable from such a distance as to enable the train to be
+stopped in event of an obstacle, such as a stopping or shunting train
+being in the way.  For some years the signals employed on the Liverpool
+railway were entirely given by men with flags of different colours
+stationed along the line; there were no fixed signals, nor electric
+telegraphs; but the traffic was nevertheless worked quite as safely as
+under the more elaborate and complicated system of telegraphing which has
+since been established.
+
+From an early period it became obvious that the iron road as originally
+laid down was far too weak for the heavy traffic which it had to carry.
+The line was at first laid with fish-bellied rails weighing thirty-five
+pounds to the yard, calculated only for horse-traffic, or, at most, for
+engines like the "Rocket," of very light weight.  But as the power and
+the weight of the locomotives were increased, it was found that such
+rails were quite insufficient for the safe conduct of the traffic, and it
+therefore became necessary to re-lay the road with heavier and stronger
+rails at considerably increased expense.
+
+The details of the carrying stock had in like manner to be settled by
+experience.  Everything had, as it were, to be begun from the beginning.
+The coal-waggon, it is true, served in some degree as a model for the
+railway-truck; but the railway passenger-carriage was an entirely novel
+structure.  It had to be mounted upon strong framing, of a peculiar kind,
+supported on springs to prevent jolting.  Then there was the necessity
+for contriving some method of preventing hard bumping of the
+carriage-ends when the train was pulled up; and hence the contrivance of
+buffer-springs and spring frames.  For the purpose of stopping the train,
+brakes on an improved plan were also contrived, with new modes of
+lubricating the carriage-axles, on which the wheels revolved at an
+unusually high velocity.  In all these arrangements, Mr. Stephenson's
+inventiveness was kept constantly on the stretch; and though many
+improvements in detail have been effected since his time, the foundations
+were then laid by him of the present system of conducting railway
+traffic.  As an illustration of the inventive ingenuity which he
+displayed in providing for the working of the Liverpool line, we may
+mention his contrivance of the Self-acting Brake.  He early entertained
+the idea that the momentum of the running train might itself be made
+available for the purpose of checking its speed.  He proposed to fit each
+carriage with a brake which should be called into action immediately on
+the locomotive at the head of the train being pulled up.  The impetus of
+the carriages carrying them forward, the buffer-springs would be driven
+home and, at the same time, by a simple arrangement of the mechanism, the
+brakes would be called into simultaneous action; thus the wheels would be
+brought into a state of sledge, and the train speedily stopped.  This
+plan was adopted by Mr. Stephenson before he left the Liverpool and
+Manchester Railway, though it was afterwards discontinued; but it is a
+remarkable fact, that this identical plan, with the addition of a
+centrifugal apparatus, has quite recently been revived by M. Guerin, a
+French engineer, and extensively employed on foreign railways, as the
+best method of stopping railway trains in the most efficient manner and
+in the shortest time.
+
+Finally, Mr. Stephenson had to attend to the improvement of the power and
+speed of the locomotive--always the grand object of his study,--with a
+view to economy as well as regularity of working.  In the "Planet"
+engine, delivered upon the line immediately subsequent to the public
+opening, all the improvements which had up to that time been contrived by
+him and his son were introduced in combination--the blast-pipe, the
+tubular boiler, horizontal cylinders inside the smoke-box, the cranked
+axle, and the fire-box firmly fixed to the boiler.  The first load of
+goods conveyed from Liverpool to Manchester by the "Planet" was 80 tons
+in weight, and the engine performed the journey against a strong head
+wind in 2.5 hours.  On another occasion, the same engine brought up a
+cargo of voters from Manchester to Liverpool, during a contested
+election, within a space of sixty minutes!  The "Samson," delivered in
+the following year, exhibited still further improvements, the most
+important of which was that of _coupling_ the fore and hind wheels of the
+engine.  By this means, the adhesion of the wheels on the rails was more
+effectually secured, and thus the full hauling power of the locomotive
+was made available.  The "Samson," shortly after it was placed upon the
+line, dragged after it a train of waggons weighing 150 tons at a speed of
+about 20 miles an hour; the consumption of coke being reduced to only
+about a third of a pound per ton per mile.
+
+The success of the Liverpool and Manchester experiment naturally excited
+great interest.  People flocked to Lancashire from all quarters to see
+the steam-coach running upon a railway at three times the speed of a
+mailcoach, and to enjoy the excitement of actually travelling in the wake
+of an engine at that incredible velocity.  The travellers returned to
+their respective districts full of the wonders of the locomotive,
+considering it to be the greatest marvel of the age.  Railways are
+familiar enough objects now, and our children who grow up in their midst
+may think little of them; but thirty years since it was an event in one's
+life to see a locomotive, and to travel for the first time upon a public
+railroad.
+
+The practicability of railway locomotion being now proved, and its great
+social and commercial advantages ascertained, the general extension of
+the system was merely a question of time, money, and labour.  Although
+the legislature took no initiative step in the direction of railway
+extension, the public spirit and enterprise of the country did not fail
+it at this juncture.  The English people, though they may be defective in
+their capacity for organization, are strong in individualism; and not
+improbably their admirable qualities in the latter respect detract from
+their efficiency in the former.  Thus, in all times, their greatest
+enterprises have not been planned by officialism and carried out upon any
+regular system, but have sprung, like their constitution, their laws, and
+their entire industrial arrangements, from the force of circumstances and
+the individual energies of the people.
+
+The mode of action in the case of railway extension, was characteristic
+and national.  The execution of the new lines was undertaken entirely by
+joint-stock associations of proprietors, after the manner of the Stockton
+and Darlington, and Liverpool and Manchester companies.  These
+associations are conformable to our national habits, and fit well into
+our system of laws.  They combine the power of vast resources with
+individual watchfulness and motives of self-interest; and by their means
+gigantic undertakings, which otherwise would be impossible to any but
+kings and emperors with great national resources at command, were carried
+out by the co-operation of private persons.  And the results of this
+combination of means and of enterprise have been truly marvellous.
+Within the life of the present generation, the private citizens of
+England engaged in railway extension have, in the face of Government
+obstructions, and without taking a penny from the public purse, executed
+a system of communications involving works of the most gigantic kind,
+which, in their total mass, their cost, and their public utility, far
+exceed the most famous national undertakings of any age or country.
+
+Mr. Stephenson was of course, actively engaged in the construction of the
+numerous railways now projected by the joint-stock companies.  The desire
+for railway extension principally pervaded the manufacturing districts,
+especially after the successful opening of the Liverpool and Manchester
+line.  The commercial classes of the larger towns soon became eager for a
+participation in the good which they had so recently derided.  Railway
+projects were set on foot in great numbers, and Manchester became a
+centre from which main lines and branches were started in all directions.
+The interest, however, which attaches to these later schemes is of a much
+less absorbing kind than that which belongs to the earlier history of the
+railway and the steps by which it was mainly established.  We naturally
+sympathise more keenly with the early struggles of a great principle, its
+trials and its difficulties, than with its after stages of success; and,
+however gratified and astonished we may be at its consequences, the
+interest is in a great measure gone when its triumph has become a matter
+of certainty.
+
+The commercial results of the Liverpool and Manchester line were so
+satisfactory, and indeed so greatly exceeded the expectations of its
+projectors, that many of the abandoned projects of the speculative year
+1825 were forthwith revived.  An abundant crop of engineers sprang up,
+ready to execute railways of any extent.  Now that the Liverpool and
+Manchester line had been made, and the practicability of working it by
+locomotive power had been proved, it was as easy for engineers to make
+railways and to work them, as it was for navigators to find America after
+Columbus had made the first voyage.  Mr. Francis Giles attached himself
+to the Newcastle and Carlisle and London and Southampton projects.  Mr.
+Brunel appeared as engineer of the line projected between London and
+Bristol; and Mr. Braithwaite, the builder of the "Novelty" engine, acted
+in the same capacity for a railway from London to Colchester.
+
+The first lines constructed subsequent to the opening of the Liverpool
+and Manchester Railway, were mostly in connection with it, and
+principally in the county of Lancaster.  Thus a branch was formed from
+Bolton to Leigh, and another from Leigh to Kenyon, where it formed a
+junction with the main line between Liverpool and Manchester.  Branches
+to Wigan on the north, and to Runcorn Gap and Warrington on the south of
+the same line, were also formed.  A continuation of the latter, as far
+south as Birmingham, was shortly after projected under the name of the
+Grand Junction Railway.
+
+The last mentioned line was projected as early as the year 1824, when the
+Liverpool and Manchester scheme was under discussion, and Mr. Stephenson
+then published a report on the subject.  The plans were deposited, but
+the bill was thrown out through the opposition of the landowners and
+canal proprietors.  When engaged in making the survey, Stephenson called
+upon some of the landowners in the neighbourhood of Nantwich to obtain
+their assent, and was greatly disgusted to learn that the agents of the
+canal companies had been before him, and described the locomotive to the
+farmers as a most frightful machine, emitting a breath as poisonous as
+the fabled dragon of old; and telling them that if a bird flew over the
+district where one of these engines passed, it would inevitably drop down
+dead!  The application for the bill was renewed in 1826, and again
+failed; and at length it was determined to wait the issue of the
+Liverpool and Manchester experiment.  The act was eventually obtained in
+1833.
+
+When it was proposed to extend the advantages of railways to the
+population of the midland and southern counties of England, an immense
+amount of alarm was created in the minds of the country gentlemen.  They
+did not relish the idea of private individuals, principally resident in
+the manufacturing districts, invading their domains; and they everywhere
+rose up in arms against the "new-fangled roads."  Colonel Sibthorpe
+openly declared his hatred of the "infernal railroads," and said that he
+"would rather meet a highwayman, or see a burglar on his premises, than
+an engineer!"  The impression which prevailed in the rural districts was,
+that fox-covers and game-preserves would be seriously prejudiced by the
+formation of railroads; that agricultural communications would be
+destroyed, land thrown out of cultivation, landowners and farmers reduced
+to beggary, the poor-rates increased through the number of persons thrown
+out of employment by the railways,--and all this in order that Liverpool,
+Manchester, and Birmingham shopkeepers and manufacturers might establish
+a monstrous monopoly in railway traffic.
+
+The inhabitants of even some of the large towns were thrown into a state
+of consternation by the proposal to provide them with the accommodation
+of a railway.  The line from London to Birmingham would naturally have
+passed close to the handsome town of Northampton, and was so projected;
+but the inhabitants of the shire, urged on by the local press, and
+excited by men of influence and education, opposed the project, and
+succeeded in forcing the promoters, in their survey of the line, to pass
+the town at a distance.  When the first railway through Kent was
+projected, the line was laid out so as to pass by Maidstone, the county
+town.  But it had not a single supporter amongst the townspeople, whilst
+the landowners for many miles round combined to oppose it.  In like
+manner, the line projected from London to Bristol was strongly denounced
+by the inhabitants of the intermediate districts; and when the first bill
+was thrown out, Eton assembled under the presidency of the Marquis of
+Chandos to congratulate the country upon its defeat.
+
+During the time that the works of the Liverpool and Manchester line were
+in progress, our engineer was consulted respecting a short railway
+proposed to be formed between Leicester and Swannington, for the purpose
+of opening up a communication between the town of Leicester and the
+coal-fields in the western part of the county.  The projector of this
+undertaking had some difficulty in getting the requisite capital
+subscribed for, the Leicester townspeople who had money being for the
+most part interested in canals.  George Stephenson was invited to come
+upon the ground and survey the line.  He did so, and then the projector
+told him of the difficulty he had in finding subscribers to the concern.
+"Give me a sheet," said Stephenson, "and I will raise the money for you
+in Liverpool."  The engineer was as good as his word, and in a short time
+the sheet was returned with the subscription complete.  Mr. Stephenson
+was then asked to undertake the office of engineer for the line, but his
+answer was that he had thirty miles of railway in hand, which were enough
+for any engineer to attend to properly.  Was there any person he could
+recommend?  "Well," said he, "I think my son Robert is competent to
+undertake the thing."  Would Mr. Stephenson be answerable for him?  "Oh,
+yes, certainly."  And Robert Stephenson, at twenty-seven years of age,
+was installed engineer of the line accordingly.
+
+           [Picture: Map of Leicester and Swannington Railway]
+
+The requisite Parliamentary powers having been obtained, Robert
+Stephenson proceeded with the construction of the railway, about 16 miles
+in length, towards the end of 1830.  The works were comparatively easy,
+excepting at the Leicester end, where the young engineer encountered his
+first stiff bit of tunnelling.  The line passed underground for 1.75
+mile, and 500 yards of its course lay in loose dry running sand.  The
+presence of this material rendered it necessary for the engineer first to
+construct a wooden tunnel to support the soil while the brickwork was
+being executed.  This proved sufficient, and the whole was brought to a
+successful termination within a reasonable time.  While the works were in
+progress, Robert kept up a regular correspondence with his father at
+Liverpool, consulting him on all points in which his greater experience
+was likely to be of service.  Like his father, Robert was very observant,
+and always ready to seize opportunity by the forelock.  It happened that
+the estate of Snibston, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, was advertised for sale;
+and the young engineer's experience as a coal-viewer and practical
+geologist suggested to his mind that coal was most probably to be found
+underneath.  He communicated his views to his father on the subject.  The
+estate lay in the immediate neighbourhood of the railway; and if the
+conjecture proved correct, the finding of coal would necessarily greatly
+enhance its value.  He accordingly requested his father to come over to
+Snibston and look at the property, which he did; and after a careful
+inspection of the ground, he arrived at the same conclusion as his son.
+
+The large manufacturing town of Leicester, about fourteen miles distant,
+had up to that time been exclusively supplied with coal brought by canal
+from Derbyshire; and Mr. Stephenson saw that the railway under
+construction from Swannington to Leicester, would furnish him with a
+ready market for any coals which he might find at Snibston.  Having
+induced two of his Liverpool friends to join him in the venture, the
+Snibston estate was purchased in 1831: and shortly after, Stephenson
+removed his home from Liverpool to Alton Grange, for the purpose of
+superintending the sinking of the pit.  He travelled thither by gig with
+his wife,--his favourite horse "Bobby" performing the journey by easy
+stages.
+
+Sinking operations were immediately begun, and proceeded satisfactorily
+until the old enemy, water, burst in upon the workmen, and threatened to
+drown them out.  But by means of efficient pumping-engines, and the
+skilful casing of the shaft with segments of cast-iron--a process called
+"tubbing," {234} which Mr. Stephenson was the first to adopt in the
+Midland Counties--it was eventually made water-tight, and the sinking
+proceeded.  When a depth of 166 feet had been reached, a still more
+formidable difficulty presented itself--one which had baffled former
+sinkers in the neighbourhood, and deterred them from further operations.
+This was a remarkable bed of whinstone or green-stone, which had
+originally been poured out as a sheet of burning lava over the denuded
+surface of the coal measures; indeed it was afterwards found that it had
+turned to cinders one part of the seam of coal with which it had come in
+contact.  The appearance of this bed of solid rock was so unusual a
+circumstance in coal mining, that some experienced sinkers urged
+Stephenson to proceed no further, believing the occurrence of the dyke at
+that point to be altogether fatal to his enterprise.  But, with his faith
+still firm in the existence of coal underneath, he fell back on his old
+motto of "Persevere."  He determined to go on boring; and down through
+the solid rock he went until, twenty-two feet lower, he came upon the
+coal measures.  In the mean time, however, lest the boring at that point
+should prove unsuccessful, he had commenced sinking another pair of
+shafts about a quarter of a mile west of the "fault;" and after about
+nine months' labour he reached the principal seam, called the "main
+coal."
+
+The works were then opened out on a large scale, and Mr. Stephenson had
+the pleasure and good fortune to send the first train of main coal to
+Leicester by railway.  The price was immediately reduced to about 8s. a
+ton, effecting a pecuniary saving to the inhabitants of the town of about
+40,000 pounds per annum, or equivalent to the whole amount then collected
+in Government taxes and local rates, besides giving an impetus to the
+manufacturing prosperity of the place, which has continued down to the
+present day.  The correct principles upon which the mining operations at
+Snibston were conducted offered a salutary example to the neighbouring
+colliery owners.  The numerous improvements there introduced were freely
+exhibited to all, and they were afterwards reproduced in many forms all
+over the Midland Counties, greatly to the advantage of the mining
+interest.
+
+Nor was Mr. Stephenson less attentive to the comfort and well-being of
+those immediately dependent upon him--the workpeople of the Snibston
+colliery and their families.  Unlike many of those large employers who
+have "sprung from the ranks," he was one of the kindest and most
+indulgent of masters.  He would have a fair day's work for a fair day's
+wages; but he never forgot that the employer had his duties as well as
+his rights.  First of all, he attended to the proper home accommodation
+of his workpeople.  He erected a village of comfortable cottages, each
+provided with a snug little garden.  He was also instrumental in erecting
+a church adjacent to the works, as well as Church schools for the
+education of the colliers' children; and with that broad catholicity of
+sentiment which distinguished him, he further provided a chapel and a
+school-house for the use of the Dissenting portion of the colliers and
+their families--an example of benevolent liberality which was not without
+a salutary influence upon the neighbouring employers.
+
+              [Picture: Stephenson's House at Alton Grange]
+
+                       [Picture: Robert Stephenson]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+ROBERT STEPHENSON CONSTRUCTS THE LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY.
+
+
+Of the numerous extensive projects which followed close upon the
+completion of the Liverpool and Manchester line, and the Locomotive
+triumph at Rainhill, that of a railway between London and Birmingham was
+the most important.  The scheme originated at the latter place in 1830.
+Two committees were formed, and two plans were proposed.  One was of a
+line to London by way of Oxford, and the other by way of Coventry.  The
+simple object of the promoters of both schemes being to secure the
+advantages of railway communication with the metropolis, they wisely
+determined to combine their strength to secure it.  They then resolved to
+call George Stephenson to their aid, and requested him to advise them as
+to the two schemes which were before them.  After a careful examination
+of the country, Mr. Stephenson reported in favour of the Coventry route,
+when the Lancashire gentlemen, who were the principal subscribers to the
+project, having every confidence in his judgment, supported his decision,
+and the line recommended by him was adopted accordingly.
+
+At the meeting of the promoters held at Birmingham to determine on the
+appointment of the engineer for the railway, there was a strong party in
+favour of associating with Mr. Stephenson a gentleman with whom he had
+been brought into serious collision in the course of the Liverpool and
+Manchester undertaking.  When the offer was made to him that he should be
+joint engineer with the other, he requested leave to retire and consider
+the proposal with his son.  The father was in favour of accepting it.
+His struggle heretofore had been so hard that he could not bear the idea
+of missing so promising an opportunity of professional advancement.  But
+the son, foreseeing the jealousies and heartburnings which the joint
+engineership would most probably create, recommended his father to
+decline the connection.  George adopted the suggestion, and returning to
+the Committee, he announced to them his decision; on which the promoters
+decided to appoint him the engineer of the undertaking in conjunction
+with his son.
+
+This line, like the Liverpool and Manchester, was very strongly opposed,
+especially by the landowners.  Numerous pamphlets were published, calling
+on the public to "beware of the bubbles," and holding up the promoters of
+railways to ridicule.  They were compared to St. John Long and similar
+quacks, and pronounced fitter for Bedlam than to be left at large.  The
+canal proprietors, landowners, and road trustees, made common cause
+against them.  The failure of railways was confidently predicted--indeed,
+it was elaborately attempted to be proved that they had failed; and it
+was industriously spread abroad that the locomotive engines, having been
+found useless and highly dangerous on the Liverpool and Manchester line,
+were immediately to be abandoned in favour of horses--a rumour which the
+directors of the Company thought it necessary publicly to contradict.
+
+Public meetings were held in all the counties through which the line
+would pass between London and Birmingham, at which the project was
+denounced, and strong resolutions against it were passed.  The attempt
+was made to conciliate the landlords by explanations, but all such
+efforts proved futile, the owners of nearly seven-eighths of the land
+being returned as dissentients.  "I remember," said Robert Stephenson,
+describing the opposition, "that we called one day on Sir Astley Cooper,
+the eminent surgeon, in the hope of overcoming his aversion to the
+railway.  He was one of our most inveterate and influential opponents.
+His country house at Berkhampstead was situated near the intended line,
+which passed through part of his property.  We found a courtly,
+fine-looking old gentleman, of very stately manners, who received us
+kindly and heard all we had to say in favour of the project.  But he was
+quite inflexible in his opposition to it.  No deviation or improvement
+that we could suggest had any effect in conciliating him.  He was opposed
+to railways generally, and to this in particular.  'Your scheme,' said
+he, 'is preposterous in the extreme.  It is of so extravagant a
+character, as to be positively absurd.  Then look at the recklessness of
+your proceedings!  You are proposing to cut up our estates in all
+directions for the purpose of making an unnecessary road.  Do you think
+for one moment of the destruction of property involved by it?  Why,
+gentlemen, if this sort of thing be permitted to go on, you will in a
+very few years _destroy the noblesse_!'  We left the honourable baronet
+without having produced the slightest effect upon him, excepting perhaps,
+it might be, increased exasperation against our scheme.  1 could not help
+observing to my companions as we left the house, 'Well, it is really
+provoking to find one who has been made a "Sir" for cutting that wen out
+of George the Fourth's neck, charging us with contemplating the
+destruction of the _noblesse_, because we propose to confer upon him the
+benefits of a railroad.'"
+
+Such being the opposition of the owners of land, it was with the greatest
+difficulty that an accurate survey of the line could be made.  At one
+point the vigilance of the landowners and their servants was such, that
+the surveyors were effectually prevented taking the levels by the light
+of day; and it was only at length accomplished at night by means of dark
+lanterns.  There was one clergyman, who made such alarming demonstrations
+of his opposition, that the extraordinary expedient was resorted to of
+surveying his property during the time he was engaged in the pulpit.
+This was managed by having a strong force of surveyors in readiness to
+commence their operations, who entered the clergyman's grounds on one
+side the moment they saw him fairly off them on the other.  By a
+well-organised and systematic arrangement each man concluded his allotted
+task just as the reverend gentleman concluded his sermon; so that, before
+he left the church, the deed was done, and the sinners had all decamped.
+Similar opposition was offered at many other points, but ineffectually.
+The laborious application of Robert Stephenson was such, that in
+examining the country to ascertain the best line, he walked the whole
+distance between London and Birmingham upwards of twenty times.
+
+When the bill went before the Committee of the Commons in 1832, a
+formidable array of evidence was produced.  All the railway experience of
+the day was brought to bear in support of the measure, and all that
+interested opposition could do was set in motion against it.  The
+necessity for an improved mode of communication between London and
+Birmingham was clearly demonstrated; and the engineering evidence was
+regarded as quite satisfactory.  Not a single fact was proved against the
+utility of the measure, and the bill passed the Committee, and afterwards
+the third reading in the Commons, by large majorities.
+
+It was then sent to the Lords, and went into Committee, when a similar
+mass of testimony was again gone through.  But it had been evident, from
+the opening of the proceedings, that the fate of the bill had been
+determined before even a word of the evidence had been heard.  At that
+time the committees were open to all peers; and the promoters of the bill
+found, to their dismay, many of the lords who were avowed opponents of
+the measure as landowners, sitting as judges to decide its fate.  Their
+principal object seemed to be, to bring the proceedings to a termination
+as quickly as possible.  An attempt at negotiation was indeed made in the
+course of the proceedings in committee, but failed, and the bill was
+thrown out.
+
+As the result had been foreseen, measures were taken to neutralise the
+effect of this decision as regarded future operations.  Not less than
+32,000 pounds had been expended in preliminary and parliamentary expenses
+up to this stage; but the promoters determined not to look back, and
+forthwith made arrangements for prosecuting the bill in the next session.
+Strange to say, the bill then passed both Houses silently and almost
+without opposition.  The mystery was afterwards solved by the appearance
+of a circular issued by the directors of the company, in which it was
+stated, that they had opened "negotiations" with the most influential of
+their opponents; that "these measures had been successful to a greater
+extent than they had ventured to anticipate; and the most active and
+formidable had been conciliated."  An instructive commentary on the mode
+by which these noble lords and influential landed proprietors had been
+"conciliated," was the simple fact that the estimate for land was nearly
+trebled, and that the owners were paid about 750,000 pounds for what had
+been originally estimated at 250,000 pounds.
+
+The landowners having thus been "conciliated," the promoters of the
+measure were permitted to proceed with the formation of their great
+highway.  Robert Stephenson was, with the sanction of his father,
+appointed sole engineer; and steps were at once taken by him to make the
+working survey, to prepare the working drawings, and arrange for the
+construction of the railway.  Eighty miles of the road were shortly under
+contract, having been let within the estimates; and the works were in
+satisfactory progress by the beginning of 1834.
+
+The difficulties encountered in their construction were very great; the
+most formidable of them originating in the character of the works
+themselves.  Extensive tunnels had to be driven through unknown strata,
+and miles of underground excavation had to be carried out in order to
+form a level road from valley to valley, under the intervening ridges.
+This kind of work was the newest of all to the contractors of that day.
+Robert Stephenson's experience in the collieries of the North rendered
+him well fitted to grapple with such difficulties; yet even he, with all
+his practical knowledge, could scarcely have foreseen the serious
+obstacles which he was called upon to encounter in executing the
+formidable cuttings, embankments, and tunnels of the London and
+Birmingham Railway.  It would be an uninteresting, as it would be a
+fruitless task, to attempt to describe the works in detail; but a general
+outline of their extraordinary character and extent may not be out of
+place.
+
+                       [Picture: Rugby to Watford]
+
+The length of railway to be constructed between London and Birmingham was
+112.5 miles.  The line crossed a series of low-lying districts separated
+from each other by considerable ridges of hills; and it was the object of
+the engineer to cross the valleys at as high, and the hills at as low,
+elevations as possible.  The high ground was therefore cut down and the
+"stuff" led into embankments, in some places of great height and extent,
+so as to form a road upon as level a plane as was considered practicable
+for the working of the locomotive engine.  In some places, the high
+grounds were passed in open cuttings, whilst in others it was necessary
+to bore through them in tunnels with deep cuttings at each end.
+
+The most formidable excavations on the line are those at Tring, Denbigh
+Hall, and Blisworth.  The Tring cutting is an immense chasm across the
+great chalk ridge of Ivinghoe.  It is 2.5 miles long, and for 0.25 of a
+mile is 57 feet deep.  A million and a half cubic yards of chalk and
+earth were taken out of this cutting by means of horse-runs and deposited
+in spoil banks; besides the immense quantity run into the embankment
+north of the cutting, forming a solid mound nearly 6 miles long and about
+30 feet high.  Passing over the Denbigh Hall cutting, and the Wolverton
+embankment of 1.5 mile in length across the valley of the Ouse, we come
+to the excavation at Blisworth, a brief description of which will give
+the reader an idea of one of the most difficult kinds of railway work.
+
+                       [Picture: Blisworth Cutting]
+
+The Blisworth Cutting is one of the longest and deepest grooves cut in
+the solid earth.  It is 1.5 mile long, in some places 65 feet deep,
+passing through earth, stiff clay, and hard rock.  Not less than a
+million cubic yards of these materials were dug, quarried, and blasted
+out of it.  One-third of the cutting was stone, and beneath the stone lay
+a thick bed of clay, under which were found beds of loose shale so full
+of water that almost constant pumping was necessary at many points to
+enable the works to proceed.  For a year and a half the contractor went
+on fruitlessly contending with these difficulties, and at length he was
+compelled to abandon the adventure.  The engineer then took the works in
+hand for the Company, and they were vigorously proceeded with.
+Steam-engines were set to work to pump out the water; two locomotives
+were put on, one at each end of the cutting, to drag away the excavated
+rock and clay; and 800 men and boys were employed along the work, in
+digging, wheeling, and blasting, besides a large number of horses.  Some
+idea of the extent of the blasting operations may be formed from the fact
+that 25 barrels of gunpowder were used weekly; the total quantity
+exploded in forming this one cutting being about 3,000 barrels.
+Considerable difficulty was experienced in supporting the bed of rock cut
+through, which overlaid the clay and shale along each side of the
+cutting.  It was found necessary to hold it up by strong retaining walls,
+to prevent the clay bed from bulging out, and these walls were further
+supported by a strong invert,--that is, an arch placed in an inverted
+position under the road,--thus binding together the walls on both sides.
+Behind the retaining walls, a drift or horizontal drain was provided to
+enable the water to run off, and occasional openings were left in the
+walls themselves for the same purpose.  The work was at length brought to
+a successful completion, but the extraordinary difficulties encountered
+in forming the cutting had the effect of greatly increasing the cost of
+this portion of the railway.
+
+The Tunnels on the line are eight in number, their total length being
+7336 yards.  The first high ground encountered was Primrose Hill, where
+the stiff London clay was passed through for a distance of about 1164
+yards.  The clay was close, compact, and dry, more difficult to work than
+stone itself.  It was entirely free from water; but the absorbing
+properties of the clay were such that when exposed to the air it swelled
+out rapidly.  Hence an unusual thickness of brick lining was found
+necessary; and the engineer afterwards informed the author that for some
+time he entertained an apprehension lest the pressure should force in the
+brickwork altogether.  It was so great that it made the face of the
+bricks to fly off in minute chips which covered his clothes whilst he was
+inspecting the work.  The materials used in the building were, however,
+of excellent quality; and the tunnel was happily brought to a completion
+without any accident.
+
+At Watford the chalk ridge was penetrated by a tunnel about 1800 yards
+long; and at Northchurch, Lindslade, and Stowe Hill, there were other
+tunnels of minor extent.  But the chief difficulty of the undertaking was
+the execution of that under the Kilsby ridge.  Though not the largest,
+this is in many respects one of the most interesting works of the kind in
+England.  It is about 2400 yards long, and runs at an average depth of
+about 160 feet below the surface.  The ridge under which it extends is of
+considerable extent, the famous battle of Naseby having been fought upon
+one of the spurs of the same high ground about seven miles to the
+eastward.
+
+Previous to the letting of the contract, the character of the underground
+soil was examined by trial-shafts.  The tests indicated that it consisted
+of shale of the lower oolite, and the works were let accordingly.  But
+they had scarcely been commenced when it was discovered that, at an
+interval between the two trial-shafts which had been sunk, about 200
+yards from the south end of the tunnel, there existed an extensive
+quicksand under a bed of clay 40 feet thick, which the borings had
+escaped in the most singular manner.  At the bottom of one of these
+shafts the excavation and building of the tunnel were proceeding, when
+the roof at one part suddenly gave way, a deluge of water burst in, and
+the party of workmen with the utmost difficulty escaped with their lives.
+They were only saved by means of a raft, on which they were towed by one
+of the engineers swimming with the rope in his mouth to the lower end of
+the shaft, out of which they were safely lifted to the daylight.  The
+works were of course at that point immediately stopped.
+
+                 [Picture: The Shafts over Kilsby Tunnel]
+
+The contractor, who had undertaken the construction of the tunnel, was so
+overwhelmed by the calamity, that, though he was relieved by the Company
+from his engagement, he took to his bed and shortly after died.
+Pumping-engines were then erected for the purpose of draining off the
+water, but for a long time it prevailed, and sometimes even rose in the
+shaft.  The question then presented itself, whether in the face of so
+formidable a difficulty, the works should be proceeded with or abandoned.
+Robert Stephenson sent over to Alton Grange for his father, and the two
+took serious counsel together.  George was in favour of pumping out the
+water from the top by powerful engines erected over each shaft, until the
+water was mastered.  Robert concurred in that view, and although other
+engineers pronounced strongly against the practicability of the scheme
+and advised its abandonment, the directors authorised him to proceed; and
+powerful steam-engines were ordered to be constructed and delivered
+without loss of time.
+
+In the mean time, Robert suggested to his father the expediency of
+running a drift along the heading from the south end of the tunnel, with
+the view of draining off the water in that way.  George said he thought
+it would scarcely answer, but that it was worth a trial, at all events
+until the pumping-engines were got ready.  Robert accordingly gave orders
+for the drift to be proceeded with.  The excavators were immediately set
+to work; and they were very soon close upon the sand bed.  One day, when
+the engineer, his assistants, and the workmen were clustered about the
+open entrance of the drift-way, they heard a sudden roar as of distant
+thunder.  It was hoped that the water had burst in--for all the workmen
+were out of the drift,--and that the sand bed would now drain itself off
+in a natural way.  Instead of which, very little water made its
+appearance; and on examining the inner end of the drift, it was found
+that the loud noise had been caused by the sudden discharge into it of an
+immense mass of sand, which had completely choked up the passage, and
+prevented the water from flowing away.
+
+The engineer now found that there was nothing for it but to sink numerous
+additional shafts over the line of the tunnel at the points at which it
+crossed the quicksand, and endeavour to master the water by sheer force
+of engines and pumps.  The engines erected, possessed an aggregate power
+of 160 horses; and they went on pumping for eight successive months,
+emptying out an almost incredible quantity of water.  It was found that
+the water, with which the bed of sand extending over many miles was
+charged, was to a certain degree held back by the particles of the sand
+itself, and that it could only percolate through at a certain average
+rate.  It appeared in its flow to take a slanting direction to the
+suction of the pumps, the angle of inclination depending upon the
+coarseness or fineness of the sand, and regulating the time of the flow.
+Hence the distribution of the pumping power at short intervals along the
+line of the tunnel had a much greater effect than the concentration of
+that power at any one spot.  It soon appeared that the water had found
+its master.  Protected by the pumps, which cleared a space for the
+engineering operations--carried on in the midst, as it were, of two
+almost perpendicular walls of water and sand on either side--the workmen
+proceeded with the building of the tunnel at numerous points.  Every
+exertion was used to wall in the dangerous parts as quickly as possible;
+the excavators and bricklayers labouring night and day until the work was
+finished.  Even while under the protection of the immense pumping power
+above described, it often happened that the bricks were scarcely covered
+with cement ready for the setting, ere they were washed quite clean by
+the streams of water which poured from overhead.  The men were
+accordingly under the necessity of holding over their work large whisks
+of straw and other appliances to protect the bricks and cement at the
+moment of setting.
+
+The quantity of water pumped out of the sand bed during eight months of
+incessant pumping, averaged 2,000 gallons per minute, raised from an
+average depth of 120 feet.  It is difficult to form an adequate idea of
+the bulk of the water thus raised, but it may be stated that if allowed
+to flow for three hours only, it would fill a lake one acre square to the
+depth of one foot, and if allowed to flow for one entire day it would
+fill the lake to over eight feet in depth, or sufficient to float vessels
+of 100 tons burthen.  The water pumped out of the tunnel while the work
+was in progress would be nearly equivalent to the contents of the Thames
+at high water, between London and Woolwich.  It is a curious circumstance
+that notwithstanding the quantity thus removed, the level of the surface
+of the water in the tunnel was only lowered about 2.5 to 3 inches per
+week, proving the vast area of the quicksand, which probably extended
+along the entire ridge of land under which the railway passed.
+
+The cost of the line was greatly increased by the difficulties
+encountered at Kilsby.  The original estimate for the tunnel was only
+99,000 pounds; but before it was finished it had cost more than 100
+pounds per lineal yard forward, or a total of nearly 300,000 pounds.  The
+expenditure on the other parts of the line also greatly exceeded the
+amount first set down by the engineer; and before the works were finished
+it was more than doubled.  The land cost three times more than the
+estimate; and the claims for compensation were enormous.  Although the
+contracts were let within the estimates, very few of the contractors were
+able to complete them without the assistance of the Company, and many
+became bankrupt.
+
+The magnitude of the works, which were unprecedented in England, was one
+of the most remarkable features in the undertaking.  The following
+striking comparison has been made between this railway and one of the
+greatest works of ancient times.  The Great Pyramid of Egypt was,
+according to Diodorus Siculus, constructed by 300,000--according to
+Herodotus, by 100,000--men.  It required for its execution twenty years,
+and the labour expended upon it has been estimated as equivalent to
+lifting 15,733,000,000 of cubic feet of stone one foot high.  Whereas, if
+the labour expended in constructing the London and Birmingham Railway be
+in like manner reduced to one common denomination the result is
+25,000,000,000 of cubic feet _more_ than was lifted for the Great
+Pyramid; and yet the English work was performed by about 20,000 men in
+less than five years.  And whilst the Egyptian work was executed by a
+powerful monarch concentrating upon it the labour and capital of a great
+nation, the English railway was constructed, in the face of every
+conceivable obstruction and difficulty, by a company of private
+individuals out of their own resources, without the aid of Government or
+the contribution of one farthing of public money.
+
+The labourers who executed this formidable work were in many respects a
+remarkable class.  The "railway navvies," as they are called, were men
+drawn by the attraction of good wages from all parts of the kingdom; and
+they were ready for any sort of hard work.  Some of the best came from
+the fen districts of Lincoln and Cambridge, where they had been trained
+to execute works of excavation and embankment.  These old practitioners
+formed a nucleus of skilled manipulation and aptitude, which rendered
+them of indispensable utility in the immense undertakings of the period.
+Their expertness in all sorts of earthwork, in embanking, boring, and
+well-sinking--their practical knowledge of the nature of soils and rocks,
+the tenacity of clays, and the porosity of certain stratifications--were
+very great; and, rough-looking though they were, many of them were as
+important in their own department as the contractor or the engineer.
+
+During the railway-making period the navvy wandered about from one public
+work to another--apparently belonging to no country and having no home.
+He usually wore a white felt hat with the brim turned up, a velveteen or
+jean square-tailed coat, a scarlet plush waistcoat with little black
+spots, and a bright-coloured kerchief round his herculean neck, when, as
+often happened, it was not left entirely bare.  His corduroy breeches
+were retained in position by a leathern strap round the waist, and were
+tied and buttoned at the knee, displaying beneath a solid calf and foot
+encased in strong high-laced boots.  Joining together in a "butty gang,"
+some ten or twelve of these men would take a contract to cut out and
+remove so much "dirt"--as they denominated earth-cutting--fixing their
+price according to the character of the "stuff," and the distance to
+which it had to be wheeled and tipped.  The contract taken, every man put
+himself on his mettle; if any was found skulking, or not putting forth
+his full working power, he was ejected from the gang.  Their powers of
+endurance were extraordinary.  In times of emergency they would work for
+12 and even 16 hours, with only short intervals for meals.  The quantity
+of flesh-meat which they consumed was something enormous; but it was to
+their bones and muscles what coke is to the locomotive--the means of
+keeping up the steam.  They displayed great pluck, and seemed to
+disregard peril.  Indeed the most dangerous sort of labour--such as
+working horse-barrow runs, in which accidents are of constant
+occurrence--has always been most in request amongst them, the danger
+seeming to be one of its chief recommendations.
+
+Working, eating, drinking, and sleeping together, and daily exposed to
+the same influences, these railway labourers soon presented a distinct
+and well-defined character, strongly marking them from the population of
+the districts in which they laboured.  Reckless alike of their lives as
+of their earnings, the navvies worked hard and lived hard.  For their
+lodging, a hut of turf would content them; and, in their hours of
+leisure, the meanest public-house would serve for their parlour.
+Unburdened, as they usually were, by domestic ties, unsoftened by family
+affection, and without much moral or religious training, the navvies came
+to be distinguished by a sort of savage manners, which contrasted
+strangely with those of the surrounding population.  Yet, ignorant and
+violent though they might be, they were usually good-hearted fellows in
+the main--frank and openhanded with their comrades, and ready to share
+their last penny with those in distress.  Their pay-nights were often a
+saturnalia of riot and disorder, dreaded by the inhabitants of the
+villages along the line of works.  The irruption of such men into the
+quiet hamlet of Kilsby must, indeed, have produced a very startling
+effect on the recluse inhabitants of the place.  Robert Stephenson used
+to tell a story of the clergyman of the parish waiting upon the foreman
+of one of the gangs to expostulate with him as to the shocking
+impropriety of his men working during Sunday.  But the head navvy merely
+hitched up his trousers, and said, "Why, Soondays hain't cropt out here
+yet!"  In short, the navvies were little better than heathens, and the
+village of Kilsby was not restored to its wonted quiet until the
+tunnel-works were finished, and the engines and scaffoldings removed,
+leaving only the immense masses of _debris_ around the line of shafts
+which extend along the top of the tunnel.
+
+In illustration of the extraordinary working energy and powers of
+endurance of the English navvies, we may mention that when railway-making
+extended to France, the English contractors for the works took with them
+gangs of English navvies, with the usual plant, which included
+wheelbarrows.  These the English navvy was accustomed to run out rapidly
+and continuously, piled so high with "stuff" that he could barely see
+over the summit of his load, the gang-board along which he wheeled his
+barrow.  While he thus easily ran out some 3 or 4 cwt. at a time, the
+French navvy was contented with half the weight.  Indeed, the French
+navvies on one occasion struck work because of the size of the English
+barrows, and there was an _emeute_ on the Rouen Railway, which was only
+quelled by the aid of the military.  The consequence was that the big
+barrows were abandoned to the English workmen, who earned nearly double
+the wages of the Frenchmen.  The manner in which they stood to their work
+was matter of great surprise and wonderment to the French countrypeople,
+who came crowding round them in their blouses, and, after gazing
+admiringly at their expert handling of the pick and mattock, and the
+immense loads of "dirt" which they wheeled out, would exclaim to each
+other, "_Mon Dieu_, _voila_! _voila ces Anglais_, _comme ils
+travaillent_!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+MANCHESTER AND LEEDS, AND MIDLAND RAILWAYS--STEPHENSON'S LIFE AT
+ALTON--VISIT TO BELGIUM--GENERAL EXTENSION OF RAILWAYS AND THEIR RESULTS.
+
+
+The rapidity with which railways were carried out, when the spirit of the
+country became roused, was indeed remarkable.  This was doubtless in some
+measure owing to the increased force of the current of speculation at the
+time, but chiefly to the desire which the public began to entertain for
+the general extension of the system.  It was even proposed to fill up the
+canals, and convert them into railways.  The new roads became the topic
+of conversation in all circles; they were felt to give a new value to
+time; their vast capabilities for "business" peculiarly recommended them
+to the trading classes; whilst the friends of "progress" dilated on the
+great benefits they would eventually confer upon mankind at large.  It
+began to be seen that Edward Pease had not been exaggerating when he
+said, "Let the country but make the railroads, and the railroads will
+make the country!"  They also came to be regarded as inviting objects of
+investment to the thrifty, and a safe outlet for the accumulations of
+inert men of capital.  Thus new avenues of iron road were soon in course
+of formation, branching in all directions, so that the country promised
+in a wonderfully short time to become wrapped in one vast network of
+iron.
+
+In 1836 the Grand Junction Railway was under construction between
+Warrington and Birmingham--the northern part by Mr. Stephenson, and the
+southern by Mr. Rastrick.  The works on that line embraced heavy
+cuttings, long embankments, and numerous viaducts; but none of these are
+worthy of any special description.  Perhaps the finest piece of masonry
+on the railway is the Dutton Viaduct across the valley of the Weaver.  It
+consists of twenty arches of 60 feet span, springing 16 feet from the
+perpendicular shaft of each pier, and 60 feet in height from the crown of
+the arches to the level of the river.  The foundations of the piers were
+built on piles driven 20 feet deep.  The structure has a solid and
+majestic appearance, and is perhaps the finest of George Stephenson's
+viaducts.
+
+                      [Picture: The Dutton Viaduct]
+
+The Manchester and Leeds line was in progress at the same time--an
+important railway connecting the principal manufacturing towns of
+Yorkshire and Lancashire.  An attempt was made to obtain the Act as early
+as 1831; but its promoters were defeated by the powerful opposition of
+the landowners aided by the canal companies, and the project was not
+revived for several years.  The line was somewhat circuitous, and the
+works were heavy; but on the whole the gradients were favourable, and it
+had the advantage of passing through a district full of manufacturing
+towns and villages, teeming hives of population, industry, and
+enterprise.  The Act authorising the construction of the railway was
+obtained in 1836; it was greatly amended in the succeeding year, and the
+first ground was broken on the 18th August, 1837.
+
+In conducting this project to an issue, the engineer had the usual
+opposition and prejudices to encounter.  Predictions were confidently
+made in many quarters that the line could never succeed.  It was declared
+that the utmost engineering skill could not construct a railway through
+such a country of hills and hard rocks; and it was maintained that, even
+if the railroad were practicable, it could only be made at a ruinous
+cost.
+
+During the progress of the works, as the Summit Tunnel, near
+Littleborough, was approaching completion, the rumour was spread abroad
+in Manchester that the tunnel had fallen in and buried a number of the
+workmen.  The last arch had been keyed in, and the work was all but
+finished, when the accident occurred which was thus exaggerated by the
+lying tongue of rumour.  An invert had given way through the irregular
+pressure of the surrounding earth and rock at a part of the tunnel where
+a "fault" had occurred in the strata.  A party of the directors
+accompanied the engineer to inspect the scene of the accident.  They
+entered the tunnel's mouth preceded by upwards of fifty navvies, each
+bearing a torch.
+
+After walking a distance of about half a mile, the inspecting party
+arrived at the scene of the "frightful accident," about which so much
+alarm had been spread.  All that was visible was a certain unevenness of
+the ground, which had been forced up by the invert under it giving way;
+thus the ballast had been loosened, the drain running along the centre of
+the road had been displaced, and small pools of water stood about.  But
+the whole of the walls and the roof were still as perfect as at any other
+part of the tunnel.
+
+         [Picture: Entrance to the Summit Tunnel, Littleborough]
+
+The engineer explained the cause of the accident; the blue shale, he
+said, through which the excavation passed at that point, was considered
+so hard and firm, as to render it unnecessary to build the invert very
+strong there.  But shale is always a deceptive material.  Subjected to
+the influence of the atmosphere, it gives but a treacherous support.  In
+this case, falling away like quicklime, it had left the lip of the invert
+alone to support the pressure of the arch above, and hence its springing
+inwards and upwards.  Mr. Stephenson directed the attention of the
+visitors to the completeness of the arch overhead, where not the
+slightest fracture or yielding could be detected.  Speaking of the work,
+in the course of the same day, he said, "I will stake my character and my
+head, if that tunnel ever give way, so as to cause danger to any of the
+public passing through it.  Taking it as a whole, I don't think there is
+such another piece of work in the world.  It is the greatest work that
+has yet been done of this kind, and there has been less repairing than is
+usual,--though an engineer might well be beaten in his calculations, for
+he cannot beforehand see into those little fractured parts of the earth
+he may meet with."  As Stephenson had promised, the invert was put in;
+and the tunnel was made perfectly safe.
+
+The construction of this subterranean road employed the labour of above a
+thousand men for nearly four years.  Besides excavating the arch out of a
+solid rock, they used 23,000,000 of bricks, and 8000 tons of Roman cement
+in the building of the tunnel.  Thirteen stationary engines, and about
+100 horses, were also employed in drawing the earth and stone out of the
+shafts.  Its entire length is 2869 yards, or nearly 1.75 mile--exceeding
+the famous Kilsby Tunnel by 471 yards.
+
+The Midland Railway was a favourite line of Mr. Stephenson's for several
+reasons.  It passed through a rich mining district, in which it opened up
+many valuable coalfields, and it formed part of the great main line of
+communication between London and Edinburgh.  The Act was obtained in
+1836, and the first ground was broken in February, 1837.
+
+Although the Midland Railway was only one of the many great works of the
+same kind executed at that time, it was almost enough of itself to be the
+achievement of a life.  Compare it, for example with Napoleon's military
+road over the Simplon, and it will at once be seen how greatly it excels
+that work, not only in the constructive skill displayed in it, but also
+in its cost and magnitude, and the amount of labour employed in its
+formation.  The road of the Simplon is 45 miles in length; the North
+Midland Railway is 72.5 miles.  The former has 50 bridges and 5 tunnels,
+measuring together 1338 feet in length; the latter has 200 bridges and 7
+tunnels, measuring together 11,400 feet, or about 2.25 miles.  The former
+cost about 720,000 pounds sterling, the latter above 3,000,000 pounds.
+Napoleon's grand military road was constructed in six years, at the
+public cost of the two great kingdoms of France and Italy; while
+Stephenson's railway was formed in about three years, by a company of
+private merchants and capitalists out of their own funds, and under their
+own superintendence.
+
+It is scarcely necessary that we should give any account in detail of the
+North Midland works.  The making of one tunnel so much resembles the
+making of another,--the building of bridges and viaducts, no matter how
+extensive, so much resembles the building of others,--the cutting out of
+"dirt," the blasting of rocks, and the wheeling of excavation into
+embankments, is so much a matter of mere time and hard work,--that is
+quite unnecessary for us to detain the reader by any attempt at their
+description.  Of course there were the usual difficulties to encounter
+and overcome,--but the railway engineer regarded these as mere matters of
+course, and would probably have been disappointed if they had not
+presented themselves.
+
+On the Midland, as on other lines, water was the great enemy to be fought
+against,--water in the Claycross and other tunnels,--water in the boggy
+or sandy foundations of bridges,--and water in cuttings and embankments.
+As an illustration of the difficulties of bridge building, we may mention
+the case of the five-arch bridge over the Derwent, where it took two
+years' work, night and day, to get in the foundations of the piers alone.
+Another curious illustration of the mischief done by water in cuttings
+may be briefly mentioned.  At a part of the North Midland Line, near
+Ambergate, it was necessary to pass along a hillside in a cutting a few
+yards deep.  As the cutting proceeded, a seam of shale was cut across,
+lying at an inclination of 6 to 1; and shortly after, the water getting
+behind the bed of shale, the whole mass of earth along the hill above
+began to move down across the line of excavation.  The accident
+completely upset the estimates of the contractor, who, instead of 50,000
+cubic yards, found that he had about 500,000 to remove; the execution of
+this part of the railway occupying fifteen months instead of two.
+
+        [Picture: Land-slip on North Midland Line, near Ambergate]
+
+The Oakenshaw cutting near Wakefield was also of a very formidable
+character.  About 600,000 yards of rock shale and bind were quarried out
+of it, and led to form the adjoining Oakenshaw embankment.  The Normanton
+cutting was almost as heavy, requiring the removal of 400,000 yards of
+the same kind of excavation into embankment and spoil.  But the progress
+of the works on the line was so rapid in 1839, that not less than 450,000
+cubic yards of excavation were removed monthly.
+
+                  [Picture: Bullbridge, near Ambergate]
+
+As a curiosity in construction, we may also mention a very delicate piece
+of work executed on the same railway at Bullbridge in Derbyshire, where
+the line at the same point passes _over_ a bridge which here spans the
+river Amber, and _under_ the bed of the Cromford Canal.  Water, bridge;
+railway, and canal, were thus piled one above the other, four stories
+high; such another curious complication probably not existing.  In order
+to prevent the possibility of the waters of the canal breaking in upon
+the works of the railroad, Mr. Stephenson had an iron trough made, 150
+feet long, of the width of the canal, and exactly fitting the bottom.  It
+was brought to the spot in three pieces, which were firmly welded
+together, and the trough was then floated into its place and sunk; the
+whole operation being completed without in the least interfering with the
+navigation of the canal.  The railway works underneath were then
+proceeded with and finished.
+
+Another line of the same series constructed by George Stephenson, was the
+York and North Midland, extending from Normanton--a point on the Midland
+Railway--to York; but it was a line of easy formation, traversing a
+comparatively level country.
+
+During the time that our engineer was engaged in superintending the
+execution of these undertakings, he was occupied upon other projected
+railways in various parts of the country.  He surveyed several lines in
+the neighbourhood of Glasgow, and afterwards routes along the east coast
+from Newcastle to Edinburgh, with the view of completing the main line of
+communication with London.  When out on foot in the fields, on these
+occasions, he was ever foremost in the march; and he delighted to test
+the prowess of his companions by a good jump at any hedge or ditch that
+lay in their way.  His companions used to remark his singular quickness
+of observation.  Nothing escaped his attention--the trees, the crops, the
+birds, or the farmer's stock; and he was usually full of lively
+conversation, everything in nature affording him an opportunity for
+making some striking remark, or propounding some ingenious theory.  When
+taking a flying survey of a new line, his keen observation proved very
+useful to him, for he rapidly noted the general configuration of the
+country, and inferred its geological structure.  He afterwards remarked
+to a friend, "I have planned many a railway travelling along in a
+postchaise, and following the natural line of the country."  And it was
+remarkable that his first impressions of the direction to be taken almost
+invariably proved correct; and there are few of the lines surveyed and
+recommended by him which have not been executed, either during his
+lifetime or since.  As an illustration of his quick and shrewd
+observation on such occasions, we may mention that when employed to lay
+out a line to connect Manchester, through Macclesfield, with the
+Potteries, the gentleman who accompanied him on the journey of inspection
+cautioned him to provide large accommodation for carrying off the water,
+observing--"You must not judge by the appearance of the brooks; for after
+heavy rains these hills pour down volumes of _water_, of which you can
+have no conception."  "Pooh! pooh! _don't I see your bridges_?" replied
+the engineer.  He had noted the details of each as he passed along.
+
+Among the other projects which occupied his attention about the same
+time, were the projected lines between Chester and Holyhead, between
+Leeds and Bradford, and between Lancaster and Maryport by the western
+coast.  This latter was intended to form part of a west-coast line to
+Scotland; Stephenson favouring it partly because of the flatness of the
+gradients, and also because it could be formed at comparatively small
+cost, whilst it would open out a valuable iron-mining district, from
+which a large traffic in ironstone was expected.  One of its collateral
+advantages, in the engineer's opinion, was, that by forming the railway
+directly across Morecambe Bay, on the north-west coast of Lancashire, a
+large tract of valuable land might be reclaimed from the sea, the sale of
+which would considerably reduce the cost of the works.  He estimated that
+by means of a solid embankment across the bay, not less than 40,000 acres
+of rich alluvial land would be gained.  He proposed to carry the road
+across the ten miles of sands which lie between Poulton, near Lancaster,
+and Humphrey Head on the opposite coast, forming the line in a segment of
+a circle of five miles' radius.  His plan was to drive in piles across
+the entire length, forming a solid fence of stone blocks on the land side
+for the purpose of retaining the sand and silt brought down by the rivers
+from the interior.  The embankment would then be raised from time to time
+as the deposit accumulated, until the land was filled up to high-water
+mark; provision being made by means of sufficient arches, for the flow of
+the river waters into the bay.  The execution of the railway after this
+plan would, however, have occupied more years than the promoters of the
+West Coast line were disposed to wait; and eventually Mr. Locke's more
+direct but uneven line by Shap Fell was adopted.  A railway has since
+been carried across the head of the bay; and it is not improbable that
+Stephenson's larger scheme of reclaiming the vast tract of land now left
+bare at each receding tide, may yet be carried out.
+
+While occupied in carrying out the great railway undertakings which we
+have above so briefly described, Mr. Stephenson's home continued, for the
+greater part of the time, to be at Alton Grange, near Leicester.  But he
+was so much occupied in travelling about from one committee of directors
+to another--one week in England, another in Scotland, and probably the
+next in Ireland,--that he often did not see his home for weeks together.
+He had also to make frequent inspections of the various important and
+difficult works in progress, especially on the Midland and Manchester and
+Leeds lines; besides occasionally going to Newcastle to see how the
+locomotive works were going on there.  During the three years ending in
+1837--perhaps the busiest years of his life {263}--he travelled by
+postchaise alone upwards of 20,000 miles, and yet not less than six
+months out of the three years were spent in London.  Hence there is
+comparatively little to record of Mr. Stephenson's private life at this
+period; during which he had scarcely a moment that he could call his own.
+
+His correspondence increased so much, that he found it necessary to
+engage a private secretary, who accompanied him on his journeys.  He was
+himself exceedingly averse to writing letters.  The comparatively
+advanced age at which ho learnt the art of writing, and the nature of his
+duties while engaged at the Killingworth colliery, precluded that
+facility in correspondence which only constant practice can give.  He
+gradually, however, acquired great facility in dictation, and possessed
+the power of labouring continuously at this work; the gentleman who acted
+as his secretary in 1835, having informed us that during his busy season
+he one day dictated not fewer than 37 letters, several of them embodying
+the results of much close thinking and calculation.  On another occasion,
+he dictated reports and letters for twelve continuous hours, until his
+secretary was ready to drop off his chair from sheer exhaustion, and at
+length he pleaded for a suspension of the labour.  This great mass of
+correspondence, although closely bearing on the subjects under
+discussion, was not, however, of a kind to supply the biographer with
+matter for quotation, or give that insight into the life and character of
+the writer which the letters of literary men so often furnish.  They
+were, for the most part, letters of mere business, relating to works in
+progress, parliamentary contests, new surveys, estimates of cost, and
+railway policy,--curt, and to the point; in short, the letters of a man
+every moment of whose time was precious.  He was also frequently called
+upon to inspect and report upon colliery works, salt works, brass and
+copper works, and such like, in addition to his own colliery and railway
+business.  And occasionally he would run up to London, for the purpose of
+attending in person to the preparation and deposit of the plans and
+sections of the projected undertakings of which he had been appointed
+engineer.
+
+Fortunately Stephenson possessed a facility of sleeping, which enabled
+him to pass through this enormous amount of fatigue and labour without
+injury to his health.  He had been trained in a hard school, and could
+bear with ease conditions which, to men more softly nurtured, would have
+been the extreme of physical discomfort.  Many, many nights he snatched
+his sleep while travelling in his chaise; and at break of day he would be
+at work, surveying until dark, and this for weeks in succession.  His
+whole powers seemed to be under the control of his will, for he could
+wake at any hour, and go to work at once.  It was difficult for
+secretaries and assistants to keep up with such a man.
+
+It is pleasant to record that in the midst of these engrossing
+occupations, his heart remained as soft and loving as ever.  In
+spring-time he would not be debarred of his boyish pursuit of
+bird-nesting; but would go rambling along the hedges spying for nests.
+In the autumn he went nutting, and when he could snatch a few minutes he
+indulged in his old love of gardening.  His uniform kindness and good
+temper, and his communicative, intelligent disposition, made him a great
+favourite with the neighbouring farmers, to whom he would volunteer much
+valuable advice on agricultural operations, drainage, ploughing, and
+labour-saving processes.  Sometimes he took a long rural ride on his
+favourite "Bobby," now growing old, but as fond of his master as ever.
+Towards the end of his life, "Bobby" lived in clover, its master's pet,
+doing no work; and he died at Tapton, in 1845, more than twenty years
+old.
+
+During one of George's brief sojourns at the Grange, he found time to
+write to his son a touching account of a pair of robins that had built
+their nest within one of the upper chambers of the house.  One day he
+observed a robin fluttering outside the windows, and beating its wings
+against the panes, as if eager to gain admission.  He went up stairs, and
+there found, in a retired part of one of the rooms, a robin's nest, with
+one of the parent birds sitting over three or four young--all dead.  The
+excluded bird outside still beat against the panes; and on the window
+being let down, it flew into the room, but was so exhausted that it
+dropped upon the floor.  Mr. Stephenson took up the bird, carried it down
+stairs, had it warmed and fed.  The poor robin revived, and for a time
+was one of his pets.  But it shortly died too, as if unable to recover
+from the privations it had endured during its three days' fluttering and
+beating at the windows.  It appeared that the room had been unoccupied,
+and, the sash having been let down, the robins had taken the opportunity
+of building their nest within it; but the servant having closed the
+window again, the calamity befel the birds which so strongly excited Mr.
+Stephenson's sympathies.  An incident such as this, trifling though it
+may seem, gives the true key to the heart of the man.
+
+The amount of their Parliamentary business having greatly increased with
+the projection of new lines of railway, the Stephensons found it
+necessary to set up an office in London in 1836.  George's first office
+was at 9, Duke Street, Westminster, from whence he removed in the
+following year to 30.5, Great George-street.  That office was the busy
+scene of railway politics for several years.  There consultations were
+held, schemes were matured, deputations were received, and many
+projectors called upon our engineer for the purpose of submitting to him
+their plans of railways and railway working.  His private secretary at
+the time has informed us that at the end of the first Parliamentary
+session in which he had been engaged as engineer for more companies than
+one, it became necessary for him to give instructions as to the
+preparation of the accounts to be rendered to the respective companies.
+In the simplicity of his heart, he directed Mr. Binns to take his full
+time at the rate of ten guineas a day, and charge the railway companies
+in the proportion in which he had been actually employed on their
+respective business during each day.  When Robert heard of this
+instruction, he went directly to his father and expostulated with him
+against this unprofessional course; and, other influences being brought
+to bear upon him, George at length reluctantly consented to charge as
+other engineers did, an entire day's fee to each of the Companies for
+which he was concerned whilst their business was going forward; but he
+cut down the number of days charged for and reduced the daily amount from
+ten to seven guineas.
+
+Besides his journeys at home, Mr. Stephenson was on more than one
+occasion called abroad on railway business.  Thus, at the desire of King
+Leopold, he made several visits to Belgium to assist the Belgian
+engineers in laying out the national lines of that kingdom.  That
+enlightened monarch at an early period discerned the powerful
+instrumentality of railways in developing a country's resources, and he
+determined at the earliest possible period to adopt them as the great
+high-roads of the nation.  The country, being rich in coal and minerals,
+had great manufacturing capabilities.  It had good ports, fine navigable
+rivers, abundant canals, and a teeming, industrious population.  Leopold
+perceived that railways were eminently calculated to bring the industry
+of the country into full play, and to render the riches of the provinces
+available to the rest of the kingdom.  He therefore openly declared
+himself the promoter of public railways throughout Belgium.  A system of
+lines was projected, at his instance, connecting Brussels with the chief
+towns and cities of the kingdom; extending from Ostend eastward to the
+Prussian frontier, and from Antwerp southward to the French frontier.
+
+Mr. Stephenson and his son, as the leading railway-engineers of England,
+were consulted by the King on the best mode of carrying out his important
+plans, as early as 1835.  In the course of that year they visited
+Belgium, and had several interesting conferences with Leopold and his
+ministers on the subject of the proposed railways.  The King then
+appointed George Stephenson by royal ordinance a Knight of the Order of
+Leopold.  At the invitation of the monarch, Mr. Stephenson made a second
+visit to Belgium in 1837, on the occasion of the public opening of the
+line from Brussels to Ghent.  At Brussels there was a public procession,
+and another at Ghent on the arrival of the train.  Stephenson and his
+party accompanied it to the Public Hall, there to dine with the chief
+Ministers of State, the municipal authorities, and about five hundred of
+the principal inhabitants of the city; the English Ambassador being also
+present.  After the King's health and a few others had been drunk, that
+of Mr. Stephenson was proposed; on which the whole assembly rose up,
+amidst great excitement and loud applause, and made their way to where he
+sat, in order to jingle glasses with him, greatly to his own amazement.
+On the day following, our engineer dined with the King and Queen at their
+own table at Laaken, by special invitation; afterwards accompanying his
+Majesty and suite to a public ball given by the municipality of Brussels,
+in honour of the opening of the line to Ghent, as well as of their
+distinguished English guest.  On entering the room, the general and
+excited inquiry was, "Which is Stephenson?"  The English engineer had not
+before imagined that he was esteemed to be so great a man.
+
+The London and Birmingham Railway having been completed in September,
+1838, after being about five years in progress, the great main system of
+railway communication between London, Liverpool, and Manchester was then
+opened to the public.  For some months previously, the line had been
+partially opened, coaches performing the journey between Denbigh Hall
+(near Wolverton) and Rugby,--the works of the Kilsby tunnel being still
+incomplete.  It was already amusing to hear the complaints of the
+travellers about the slowness of the coaches as compared with the
+railway, though the coaches travelled at the speed of eleven miles an
+hour.  The comparison of comfort was also greatly to the disparagement of
+the coaches.  Then the railway train could accommodate any quantity,
+whilst the road conveyances were limited; and when a press of travellers
+occurred--as on the occasion of the Queen's coronation--the greatest
+inconvenience was experienced, and as much as 10 pounds was paid for a
+seat on a donkey-chaise between Rugby and Denbigh.  On the opening of the
+railway throughout, of course all this inconvenience and delay was
+brought to an end.
+
+Numerous other openings of railways constructed by Mr. Stephenson took
+place about the same time.  The Birmingham and Derby line was opened for
+traffic in August, 1839; the Sheffield and Rotherham in November, 1839;
+and in the course of the following year, the Midland, the York and North
+Midland, the Chester and Crewe, the Chester and Birkenhead, the
+Manchester and Birmingham, the Manchester and Leeds, and the Maryport and
+Carlisle railways, were all publicly opened in whole or in part.  Thus
+321 miles of railway (exclusive of the London and Birmingham) constructed
+under Mr. Stephenson's superintendence, at a cost of upwards of eleven
+millions sterling, were, in the course of about two years, added to the
+traffic accommodation of the country.
+
+The ceremonies which accompanied the public opening of these lines were
+often of an interesting character.  The adjoining population held general
+holiday; bands played, banners waved, and assembled thousands cheered the
+passing trains amidst the occasional booming of cannon.  The proceedings
+were usually wound up by a public dinner; and in the course of the
+speeches which followed, Mr. Stephenson would revert to his favourite
+topic--the difficulties which he had early encountered in the promotion
+of the railway system, and in establishing the superiority of the
+locomotive.  On such occasions he always took great pleasure in alluding
+to the services rendered to himself and the public by the young men
+brought up under his eye--his pupils at first, and afterwards his
+assistants.  No great master ever possessed a more devoted band of
+assistants and fellow-workers than he did.  It was one of the most marked
+evidences of his own admirable tact and judgment that he selected, with
+such undeviating correctness, the men best fitted to carry out his plans.
+Indeed, the ability to accomplish great things, and to carry grand ideas
+into practical effect, depends in no small measure on that intuitive
+knowledge of character, which Stephenson possessed in so remarkable a
+degree.
+
+At the dinner at York, which followed the partial opening of the York and
+North Midland Railway, Mr. Stephenson said, "he was sure they would
+appreciate his feelings when he told them, that when he first began
+railway business his hair was black, although it was now grey; and that
+he began his life's labour as but a poor ploughboy.  About thirty years
+since, he had applied himself to the study of how to generate high
+velocities by mechanical means.  He thought he had solved that problem;
+and they had for themselves seen, that day, what perseverance had brought
+him too.  He was, on that occasion, only too happy to have an opportunity
+of acknowledging that he had, in the latter portion of his career,
+received much most valuable assistance, particularly from young men
+brought up in his manufactory.  Whenever talent showed itself in a young
+man he had always given that talent encouragement where he could, and he
+would continue to do so."
+
+That this was no exaggerated statement is amply proved by many facts
+which redound to Mr. Stephenson's credit.  He was no niggard of
+encouragement and praise when he saw honest industry struggling for a
+footing.  Many were the young men whom, in the course of his useful
+career, he took by the hand and led steadily up to honour and emolument,
+simply because he had noted their zeal, diligence, and integrity.  One
+youth excited his interest while working as a common carpenter on the
+Liverpool and Manchester line; and before many years had passed, he was
+recognised as an engineer of distinction.  Another young man he found
+industriously working away at his bye-hours, and, admiring his diligence,
+engaged him for his private secretary, the gentleman shortly after rising
+to a position of eminent influence and usefulness.  Indeed, nothing gave
+Mr. Stephenson greater pleasure than in this way to help on any deserving
+youth who came under his observation, and, in his own expressive phrase,
+to "make a man of him."
+
+The openings of the great main lines of railroad communication shortly
+proved the fallaciousness of the numerous rash prophecies which had been
+promulgated by the opponents of railways.  The proprietors of the canals
+were astounded by the fact that, notwithstanding the immense traffic
+conveyed by rail, their own traffic and receipts continued to increase;
+and that, in common with other interests, they fully shared in the
+expansion of trade and commerce which had been so effectually promoted by
+the extension of the railway system.  The cattle-owners were equally
+amazed to find the price of horse-flesh increasing with the extension of
+railways, and that the number of coaches running to and from the new
+railway stations gave employment to a greater number of horses than under
+the old stage-coach system.  Those who had prophesied the decay of the
+metropolis, and the ruin of the suburban cabbage-growers, in consequence
+of the approach of railways to London, were also disappointed; for, while
+the new roads let citizens out of London, they let country-people in.
+Their action, in this respect, was centripetal as well as centrifugal.
+Tens of thousands who had never seen the metropolis could now visit it
+expeditiously and cheaply; and Londoners who had never visited the
+country, or but rarely, were enabled, at little cost of time or money, to
+see green fields and clear blue skies, far from the smoke and bustle of
+town.  If the dear suburban-grown cabbages became depreciated in value,
+there were truck-loads of fresh-grown country cabbages to make amends for
+the loss: in this case, the "partial evil" was a far more general good.
+The food of the metropolis became rapidly improved, especially in the
+supply of wholesome meat and vegetables.  And then the price of coals--an
+article which, in this country, is as indispensable as daily food to all
+classes--was greatly reduced.  What a blessing to the metropolitan poor
+is described in this single fact!
+
+The prophecies of ruin and disaster to landlords and farmers were equally
+confounded by the openings of the railways.  The agricultural
+communications, so far from being "destroyed," as had been predicted,
+were immensely improved.  The farmers were enabled to buy their coals,
+lime, and manure for less money, while they obtained a readier access to
+the best markets for their stock and farm-produce.  Notwithstanding the
+predictions to the contrary, their cows gave milk as before, their sheep
+fed and fattened, and even skittish horses ceased to shy at the passing
+locomotive.  The smoke of the engines did not obscure the sky, nor were
+farmyards burnt up by the fire thrown from the locomotives.  The farming
+classes were not reduced to beggary; on the contrary, they soon felt
+that, so far from having anything to dread, they had very much good to
+expect from the extension of railways.
+
+Landlords also found that they could get higher rents for farms situated
+near a railway than at a distance from one.  Hence they became clamorous
+for "sidings."  They felt it to be a grievance to be placed at a distance
+from a station.  After a railway had been once opened, not a landlord
+would consent to have the line taken from him.  Owners who had fought the
+promoters before Parliament, and compelled them to pass their domains at
+a distance, at a vastly-increased expense in tunnels and deviations, now
+petitioned for branches and nearer station accommodation.  Those who held
+property near towns, and had extorted large sums as compensation for the
+anticipated deterioration in the value of their building land, found a
+new demand for it springing up at greatly advanced prices.  Land was now
+advertised for sale, with the attraction of being "near a railway
+station."
+
+The prediction that, even if railways were made, the public would not use
+them, was also completely falsified by the results.  The ordinary mode of
+fast travelling for the middle classes had heretofore been by mail-coach
+and stage-coach.  Those who could not afford to pay the high prices
+charged for such conveyances went by waggon, and the poorer classes
+trudged on foot.  George Stephenson was wont to say that he hoped to see
+the day when it would be cheaper for a poor man to travel by railway than
+to walk, and not many years passed before his expectation was fulfilled.
+In no country in the world is time worth more money than in England; and
+by saving time--the criterion of distance--the railway proved a great
+benefactor to men of industry in all classes.
+
+It was some time before the more opulent, who could afford to post to
+town in aristocratic style, became reconciled to railway travelling.  In
+the opinion of many, it was only another illustration of the levelling
+tendencies of the age.  It put an end to that gradation of rank in
+travelling which was one of the few things left by which the nobleman
+could be distinguished from the Manchester manufacturer and bagman.  But
+to younger sons of noble families the convenience and cheapness of the
+railway did not fail to recommend itself.  One of these, whose eldest
+brother had just succeeded to an earldom, said one day to a railway
+manager: "I like railways--they just suit young fellows like me with
+'nothing per annum paid quarterly.'  You know we can't afford to post,
+and it used to be deuced annoying to me, as I was jogging along on the
+box-seat of the stage-coach, to see the little Earl go by drawn by his
+four posters, and just look up at me and give me a nod.  But now, with
+railways, it's different.  It's true, he may take a first-class ticket,
+while I can only afford a second-class one, but _we both go the same
+pace_."
+
+For a time, however, many of the old families sent forward their servants
+and luggage by railroad, and condemned themselves to jog along the old
+highway in the accustomed family chariot, dragged by country post-horses.
+But the superior comfort of the railway shortly recommended itself to
+even the oldest families; posting went out of date; post-horses were with
+difficulty to be had along even the great high-roads; and nobles and
+servants, manufacturers and peasants, alike shared in the comfort, the
+convenience, and the despatch of railway travelling.  The late Dr.
+Arnold, of Rugby, regarded the opening of the London and Birmingham line
+as another great step accomplished in the march of civilisation.  "I
+rejoice to see it," he said, as he stood on one of the bridges over the
+railway, and watched the train flashing along under him, and away through
+the distant hedgerows--"I rejoice to see it, and to think that feudality
+is gone for ever: it is so great a blessing to think that any one evil is
+really extinct."
+
+It was long before the late Duke of Wellington would trust himself behind
+a locomotive.  The fatal accident to Mr. Huskisson, which had happened
+before his eyes, contributed to prejudice him strongly against railways,
+and it was not until the year 1843 that he performed his first trip on
+the South-Western Railway, in attendance upon her Majesty.  Prince Albert
+had for some time been accustomed to travel by railway alone, but in 1842
+the Queen began to make use of the same mode of conveyance between
+Windsor and London.  Even Colonel Sibthorpe was eventually compelled to
+acknowledge its utility.  For a time he continued to post to and from the
+country as before.  Then he compromised the matter by taking a railway
+ticket for the long journey, and posting only a stage or two nearest
+town; until, at length, he undisguisedly committed himself, like other
+people, to the express train, and performed the journey throughout upon
+what he had formerly denounced as "the infernal railroad."
+
+                [Picture: Coalville and Snibston Colliery]
+
+                [Picture: Tapton House, near Chesterfield]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+GEORGE STEPHENSON'S COAL MINES--APPEARS AT MECHANICS' INSTITUTES--HIS
+OPINION ON RAILWAY SPEEDS--ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEM--RAILWAY MANIA--VISITS TO
+BELGIUM AND SPAIN.
+
+
+While George Stephenson was engaged in carrying on the works of the
+Midland Railway in the neighbourhood of Chesterfield, several seams of
+coal were cut through in the Claycross Tunnel, and it occurred to him
+that if mines were opened out there, the railway would provide the means
+of a ready sale for the article in the midland counties, and as far south
+as even the metropolis itself.
+
+At a time when everybody else was sceptical as to the possibility of
+coals being carried from the midland counties to London, and sold there
+at a price to compete with those which were seaborne, he declared his
+firm conviction that the time was fast approaching when the London market
+would be regularly supplied with north-country coals led by railway.  One
+of the greatest advantages of railways, in his opinion was that they
+would bring iron and coal, the staple products of the country, to the
+doors of all England.  "The strength of Britain," he would say, "lies in
+her iron and coal beds; and the locomotive is destined, above all other
+agencies, to bring it forth.  The Lord Chancellor now sits upon a bag of
+wool; but wool has long ceased to be emblematical of the staple commodity
+of England.  He ought rather to sit upon a bag of coals, though it might
+not prove quite so comfortable a seat.  Then think of the Lord Chancellor
+being addressed as the noble and learned lord _on the coal-sack_!  I am
+afraid it wouldn't answer, after all."
+
+To one gentleman he said: "We want from the coal-mining, the
+iron-producing and manufacturing districts, a great railway for the
+carriage of these valuable products.  We want, if I may so say, a stream
+of steam running directly through the country, from the North to London,
+and from other similar districts to London.  Speed is not so much an
+object as utility and cheapness.  It will not do to mix up the heavy
+merchandise and coal trains with the passenger trains.  Coal and most
+kinds of goods can wait; but passengers will not.  A less perfect road
+and less expensive works will do well enough for coal trains, if run at a
+low speed; and if the line be flat, it is not of much consequence whether
+it be direct or not.  Whenever you put passenger trains on a line, all
+the other trains must be run at high speeds to keep out of their way.
+But coal trains run at high speeds pull the road to pieces, besides
+causing large expenditure in locomotive power; and I doubt very much
+whether they will pay after all; but a succession of long coal trains, if
+run at from ten to fourteen miles an hour, would pay very well.  Thus the
+Stockton and Darlington Company made a larger profit when running coal at
+low speeds at a halfpenny a ton per mile, than they have been able to do
+since they put on their fast passenger trains, when everything must needs
+be run faster, and a much larger proportion of the gross receipts is
+absorbed by working expenses."
+
+In advocating these views, Mr. Stephenson was considerably ahead of his
+time; and although he did not live to see his anticipations fully
+realised as to the supply of the London coal-market, he was nevertheless
+the first to point out, and to some extent to prove, the practicability
+of establishing a profitable coal trade by railway between the northern
+counties and the metropolis.  So long, however, as the traffic was
+conducted on main passenger lines at comparatively high speeds, it was
+found that the expenditure on tear and wear of road and locomotive
+power,--not to mention the increased risk of carrying on the first-class
+passenger traffic with which it was mixed up,--necessarily left a very
+small margin of profit; and hence Mr. Stephenson was in the habit of
+urging the propriety of constructing a railway which should be
+exclusively devoted to goods and mineral traffic run at low speeds as the
+only condition on which a large railway traffic of that sort could be
+profitably conducted.
+
+Having induced some of his Liverpool friends to join him in a coal-mining
+adventure at Chesterfield, a lease was taken of the Claycross estate,
+then for sale, and operations were shortly after begun.  At a subsequent
+period Mr. Stephenson extended his coal-mining operations in the same
+neighbourhood; and in 1841 he himself entered into a contract with owners
+of land in adjoining townships for the working of the coal thereunder;
+and pits were opened on the Tapton estate on an extensive scale.  About
+the same time he erected great lime-works, close to the Ambergate station
+of the Midland Railway, from which, when in full operation he was able to
+turn out upwards of 200 tons a day.  The limestone was brought on a
+tramway from the village of Crich, 2 or 3 miles distant, the coal being
+supplied from his adjoining Claycross colliery.  The works were on a
+scale such as had not before been attempted by any private individual
+engaged in a similar trade; and we believe they proved very successful.
+
+                    [Picture: Lime Works at Ambergate]
+
+Tapton House was included in the lease of one of the collieries, and as
+it was conveniently situated--being, as it were, a central point on the
+Midland Railway, from which he could readily proceed north or south, on
+his journeys of inspection of the various lines then under construction
+in the midland and northern counties,--he took up his residence there,
+and it continued his home until the close of his life.
+
+Tapton House is a large roomy brick mansion, beautifully situated amidst
+woods, upon a commanding eminence, about a mile to the north-east of the
+town of Chesterfield.  Green fields dotted with fine trees slope away
+from the house in all directions.  The surrounding country is undulating
+and highly picturesque.  North and south the eye ranges over a vast
+extent of lovely scenery; and on the west, looking over the town of
+Chesterfield, with its church and crooked spire, the extensive range of
+the Derbyshire hills bounds the distance.  The Midland Railway skirts the
+western edge of the park in a deep rock cutting, and the shrill whistle
+of the locomotive sounds near at hand as the trains speed past.  The
+gardens and pleasure-grounds adjoining the house were in a very neglected
+state when Mr. Stephenson first went to Tapton; and he promised himself,
+when he had secured rest and leisure from business, that he would put a
+new face upon both.  The first improvement he made was cutting a woodland
+footpath up the hill-side, by which he at the same time added a beautiful
+feature to the park, and secured a shorter road to the Chesterfield
+station.  But it was some years before he found time to carry into effect
+his contemplated improvements in the adjoining gardens and
+pleasure-grounds.  He had so long been accustomed to laborious pursuits,
+and felt himself still so full of work, that he could not at once settle
+down into the habit of quietly enjoying the fruits of his industry.
+
+He had no difficulty in usefully employing his time.  Besides directing
+the mining operations at Claycross, the establishment of the lime-kilns
+at Ambergate, and the construction of the extensive railways still in
+progress, he occasionally paid visits to Newcastle, where his locomotive
+manufactory was now in full work, and the proprietors were reaping the
+advantages of his early foresight in an abundant measure of prosperity.
+One of his most interesting visits to the place was in 1838, on the
+occasion of the meeting of the British Association there, when he acted
+as one of the Vice-Presidents in the section of Mechanical Science.
+Extraordinary changes had occurred in his own fortunes, as well as in the
+face of the country, since he had first appeared before a scientific body
+in Newcastle--the members of the Literary and Philosophical Institute--to
+submit his safety-lamp for their examination.  Twenty-three years had
+passed over his head, full of honest work, of manful struggle; and the
+humble "colliery engine-wright of the name of Stephenson" had achieved an
+almost worldwide reputation as a public benefactor.  His fellow-townsmen,
+therefore, could not hesitate to recognise his merits and do honour to
+his name.  During the sittings of the Association, Mr. Stephenson took
+the opportunity of paying a visit to Killingworth, accompanied by some of
+the distinguished _savans_ whom he numbered amongst his friends.  He
+there pointed out to them, with a degree of honest pride, the cottage in
+which he had lived for so many years, showed what parts of it had been
+his own handiwork, and told them the story of the sun-dial over the door,
+describing the study and the labour it had cost him and his son to
+calculate its dimensions, and fix it in its place.  The dial had been
+serenely numbering the hours through the busy years that had elapsed
+since that humble dwelling had been his home; during which the
+Killingworth locomotive had become a great working power, and its
+contriver had established the railway system, which was now rapidly
+becoming extended in all parts of the world.
+
+About the same time, his services were very much in request at the
+meetings of Mechanics' Institutes held throughout the northern counties.
+From an early period in his history, he had taken an active interest in
+these institutions.  While residing at Newcastle in 1824, shortly after
+his locomotive foundry had been started in Forth-street, he presided at a
+public meeting held in that town for the purpose of establishing a
+Mechanics' Institute.  The meeting was held; but as George Stephenson was
+a man comparatively unknown even in Newcastle at that time, his name
+failed to secure "an influential attendance."  Among those who addressed
+the meeting on the occasion was Joseph Locke, then his pupil, and
+afterwards his rival as an engineer.  The local papers scarcely noticed
+the proceedings; yet the Mechanics' Institute was founded, and struggled
+into existence.  Years passed, and it was now felt to be an honour to
+secure Mr. Stephenson's presence at any public meetings held for the
+promotion of popular education.  Among the Mechanics' Institutes in his
+immediate neighbourhood at Tapton, were those of Belper and Chesterfield;
+and at their soirees he was a frequent and a welcome visitor.  On these
+occasions he loved to tell his auditors of the difficulties which had
+early beset him through want of knowledge, and of the means by which he
+had overcome them.  His grand text was--PERSEVERE; and there was manhood
+in the very word.
+
+On more than one occasion, the author had the pleasure of listening to
+George Stephenson's homely but forcible addresses at the annual soirees
+of the Leeds Mechanics' Institute.  He was always an immense favourite
+with his audiences there.  His personal appearance was greatly in his
+favour.  A handsome, ruddy, expressive face, lit up by bright dark-blue
+eyes, prepared one for his earnest words when he stood up to speak and
+the cheers had subsided which invariably hailed his rising.  He was not
+glib, but he was very impressive.  And who, so well as he, could serve as
+a guide to the working man in his endeavours after higher knowledge?  His
+early life had been all struggle--encounter with difficulty--groping in
+the dark after greater light, but always earnestly and perseveringly.
+His words were therefore all the more weighty, since he spoke from the
+fulness of his own experience.
+
+Nor did he remain a mere inactive spectator of the improvements in
+railway working which increasing experience from day to day suggested.
+He continued to contrive improvements in the locomotive, and to mature
+his invention of the carriage-brake.  When examined before the Select
+Committee on Railways in 1841, his mind seems principally to have been
+impressed with the necessity which existed for adopting a system of self
+acting brakes; stating that, in his opinion, this was the most important
+arrangement that could be provided for increasing the safety of railway
+travelling.  "I believe," he said, "that if self-acting brakes were put
+upon every carriage, scarcely any accident could take place."  His plan
+consisted in employing the momentum of the running train to throw his
+proposed brakes into action, immediately on the moving power of the
+engine being checked.  He would also have these brakes under the control
+of the guard, by means of a connecting line running along the whole
+length of the train, by which they should at once be thrown out of gear
+when necessary.  At the same time he suggested, as an additional means of
+safety, that the signals of the line should be self-acting, and worked by
+the locomotives as they passed along the railway.  He considered the
+adoption of this plan of so much importance, that, with a view to the
+public safety, he would even have it enforced upon railway companies by
+the legislature.  At the same time he was of opinion that it was the
+interest of the companies themselves to adopt the plan, as it would save
+great tear and wear of engines, carriages, tenders, and brake-vans,
+besides greatly diminishing the risk of accidents upon railways.
+
+While before the same Committee, he took the opportunity of stating his
+views with reference to railway speed, about which wild ideas were then
+afloat--one gentleman of celebrity having publicly expressed the opinion
+that a speed of 100 miles an hour was practicable in railway travelling!
+Not many years had passed since George Stephenson had been pronounced
+insane for stating his conviction that 12 miles an hour could be
+performed by the locomotive; but now that he had established the fact,
+and greatly exceeded that speed, he was thought behind the age because he
+recommended the rate to be limited to 40 miles an hour.  He said: "I do
+not like either 40 or 50 miles an hour upon any line--I think it is an
+unnecessary speed; and if there is danger upon a railway, it is high
+velocity that creates it.  I should say no railway ought to exceed 40
+miles an hour on the most favourable gradient; but upon a curved line the
+speed ought not to exceed 24 or 25 miles an hour."  He had, indeed,
+constructed for the Great Western Railway an engine capable of running 50
+miles an hour with a load, and 80 miles without one.  But he never was in
+favour of a hurricane speed of this sort, believing it could only be
+accomplished at an unnecessary increase both of danger and expense.
+
+"It is true," he observed on other occasions, "I have said the locomotive
+engine _might_ be made to travel 100 miles an hour; but I always put a
+qualification on this, namely, as to what speed would best suit the
+public.  The public may, however, be unreasonable; and 50 or 60 miles an
+hour is an unreasonable speed.  Long before railway travelling became
+general, I said to my friends that there was no limit to the speed of the
+locomotive, _provided the works could be made to stand_.  But there are
+limits to the strength of iron, whether it be manufactured into rails or
+locomotives; and there is a point at which both rails and tyres must
+break.  Every increase of speed, by increasing the strain upon the road
+and the rolling stock, brings us nearer to that point.  At 30 miles a
+slighter road will do, and less perfect rolling stock may be run upon it
+with safety.  But if you increase the speed by say 10 miles, then
+everything must be greatly strengthened.  You must have heavier engines,
+heavier and better-fastened rails, and all your working expenses will be
+immediately increased.  I think I know enough of mechanics to know where
+to stop.  I know that a pound will weigh a pound, and that no more should
+be put upon an iron rail than it will bear.  If you could ensure perfect
+iron, perfect rails, and perfect locomotives, I grant 50 miles an hour or
+more might be run with safety on a level railway.  But then you must not
+forget that iron, even the best, will 'tire,' and with constant use will
+become more and more liable to break at the weakest point--perhaps where
+there is a secret flaw that the eye cannot detect.  Then look at the
+rubbishy rails now manufactured on the contract system--some of them
+little better than cast metal: indeed, I have seen rails break merely on
+being thrown from the truck on to the ground.  How is it possible for
+such rails to stand a 20 or 30 ton engine dashing over them at the speed
+of 50 miles an hour?  No, no," he would conclude, "I am in favour of low
+speeds because they are safe, and because they are economical; and you
+may rely upon it that, beyond a certain point, with every increase of
+speed there is an increase in the element of danger."
+
+When railways became the subject of popular discussion, many new and
+unsound theories were started with reference to them, which Stephenson
+opposed as calculated, in his opinion, to bring discredit on the
+locomotive system.  One of these was with reference to what were called
+"undulating lines."  Among others, Dr. Lardner, who had originally been
+somewhat sceptical about the powers of the locomotive, now promulgated
+the idea that a railway constructed with rising and falling gradients
+would be practically as easy to work as a line perfectly level.  Mr.
+Badnell went even beyond him, for he held that an undulating railway was
+much better than a level one for purposes of working.  For a time, this
+theory found favour, and the "undulating system" was extensively adopted;
+but Mr. Stephenson never ceased to inveigh against it; and experience has
+amply proved that his judgment was correct.  His practice, from the
+beginning of his career until the end of it, was to secure a road as
+nearly as possible on a level, following the course of the valleys and
+the natural line of the country: preferring to go round a hill rather
+than to tunnel under it or carry his railway over it, and often making a
+considerable circuit to secure good, workable gradients.  He studied to
+lay out his lines so that long trains of minerals and merchandise, as
+well as passengers, might be hauled along them at the least possible
+expenditure of locomotive power.  He had long before ascertained, by
+careful experiments at Killingworth, that the engine expends half of its
+power in overcoming a rising gradient of 1 in 260, which is about 20 feet
+in the mile; and that when the gradient is so steep as 1 in 100, not less
+than three-fourths of its power is sacrificed in ascending the acclivity.
+He never forgot the valuable practical lesson taught him by the early
+trials which he had made and registered long before the advantages of
+railways had been recognised.  He saw clearly that the longer flat line
+must eventually prove superior to the shorter line of steep gradients as
+respected its paying qualities.  He urged that, after all, the power of
+the locomotive was but limited; and, although he and his son had done
+more than any other men to increase its working capacity, it provoked him
+to find that every improvement made in it was neutralised by the steep
+gradients which the new school of engineers were setting it to overcome.
+On one occasion, when Robert Stephenson stated before a Parliamentary
+Committee that every successive improvement in the locomotive was being
+rendered virtually nugatory by the difficult and almost impracticable
+gradients proposed on many of the new lines, his father, on his leaving
+the witness-box, went up to him, and said, "Robert, you never spoke truer
+words than those in all your life."
+
+To this it must be added, that in urging these views Mr. Stephenson was
+strongly influenced by commercial considerations.  He had no desire to
+build up his reputation at the expense of railway shareholders, nor to
+obtain engineering _eclat_ by making "ducks and drakes" of their money.
+He was persuaded that, in order to secure the practical success of
+railways, they must be so laid out as not only to prove of decided public
+utility, but also to be worked economically and to the advantage of their
+proprietors.  They were not government roads, but private ventures--in
+fact, commercial speculations.  He therefore endeavoured to render them
+financially profitable; and he repeatedly declared that if he did not
+believe they could be "made to pay," he would have nothing to do with
+them.  He was not influenced by the sordid consideration of what he could
+_make_ out of any company that employed him; indeed, in many cases he
+voluntarily gave up his claim to remuneration where the promoters of
+schemes which he thought praiseworthy had suffered serious loss.  Thus,
+when the first application was made to Parliament for the Chester and
+Birkenhead Railway Bill, the promoters were defeated.  They repeated
+their application, on the understanding that in event of their
+succeeding, the engineer and surveyor were to be paid their costs in
+respect of the defeated measure.  The Bill was successful, and to several
+parties their costs were paid.  Mr. Stephenson's amounted to 800 pounds,
+and he very nobly said, "You have had an expensive career in Parliament;
+you have had a great struggle; you are a young Company; you cannot afford
+to pay me this amount of money.  I will reduce it to 200 pounds, and I
+will not ask you for that 200 pounds until your shares are at 20 pounds
+premium: for whatever may be the reverses you will go through, I am
+satisfied I shall live to see the day when your shares will be at 20
+pounds premium, and when I can legally and honourably claim that 200
+pounds."  We may add that the shares did eventually rise to the premium
+specified, and the engineer was no loser by his generous conduct in the
+transaction.
+
+Another novelty of the time, with which George Stephenson had to contend,
+was the substitution of atmospheric pressure for locomotive steam-power
+in the working of railways.  The idea of obtaining motion by means of
+atmospheric pressure is said to have originated with Denis Papin, more
+than 150 years ago; but it slept until revived in 1810 by Mr. Medhurst,
+who published a pamphlet to prove the practicability of carrying letters
+and goods by air.  In 1824, Mr. Vallance of Brighton took out a patent
+for projecting passengers through a tube large enough to contain a train
+of carriages; the tube being previously exhausted of its atmospheric air.
+The same idea was afterwards taken up, in 1835, by Mr. Pinkus, an
+ingenious American.  Scientific gentlemen, Dr. Lardner and Mr. Clegg
+amongst others, advocated the plan; and an association was formed to
+carry it into effect.  Shares were created, and 18,000 pounds raised: and
+a model apparatus was exhibited in London.  Mr. Vignolles took his friend
+Stephenson to see the model; and after carefully examining it, he
+observed emphatically, "_It won't do_: it is only the fixed engines and
+ropes over again, in another form; and, to tell you the truth, I don't
+think this rope of wind will answer so well as the rope of wire did."  He
+did not think the principle would stand the test of practice, and he
+objected to the mode of applying the principle.  After all, it was only a
+modification of the stationary-engine plan; and every day's experience
+was proving that fixed engines could not compete with locomotives in
+point of efficiency and economy.  He stood by the locomotive engine; and
+subsequent experience proved that he was right.
+
+Messrs. Clegg and Samuda afterwards, in 1840, patented their plan of an
+atmospheric railway; and they publicly tested its working on an
+unfinished portion of the West London Railway.  The results of the
+experiment were so satisfactory, that the directors of the Dublin and
+Kingstown line adopted it between Kingstown and Dalkey.  The London and
+Croydon Company also adopted the atmospheric principle; and their line
+was opened in 1845.  The ordinary mode of applying the power was to lay
+between the line of rails a pipe, in which a large piston was inserted,
+and attached by a shaft to the framework of a carriage.  The propelling
+power was the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere acting against the
+piston in the tube on one side, a vacuum being created in the tube on the
+other side of the piston by the working of a stationary engine.  Great
+was the popularity of the atmospheric system; and still George Stephenson
+said "It won't do: it's but a gimcrack."  Engineers of distinction said
+he was prejudiced, and that he looked upon the locomotive as a pet child
+of his own.  "Wait a little," he replied, "and you will see that I am
+right."  It was generally supposed that the locomotive system was about
+to be snuffed out.  "Not so fast," said Stephenson.  "Let us wait to see
+if it will pay."  He never believed it would.  It was ingenious, clever,
+scientific, and all that; but railways were commercial enterprises, not
+toys; and if the atmospheric railway could not work to a profit, it would
+not do.  Considered in this light, he even went so far as to call it "a
+great humbug."  "Nothing will beat the locomotive," said he, "for
+efficiency in all weathers, for economy in drawing loads of average
+weight, and for power and speed as occasion may require."
+
+The atmospheric system was fairly and fully tried, and it was found
+wanting.  It was admitted to be an exceedingly elegant mode of applying
+power; its devices were very skilful, and its mechanism was most
+ingenious.  But it was costly, irregular in action, and, in particular
+kinds of weather, not to be depended upon.  At best, it was but a
+modification of the stationary-engine system, and experience proved it to
+be so expensive that it was shortly after entirely abandoned in favour of
+locomotive power. {288}
+
+One of the remarkable results of the system of railway locomotion which
+George Stephenson had by his persevering labours mainly contributed to
+establish, was the outbreak of the railway mania towards the close of his
+professional career.  The success of the first main lines of railway
+naturally led to their extension into many new districts; but a strongly
+speculative tendency soon began to display itself, which contained in it
+the elements of great danger.
+
+The extension of railways had, up to the year 1844, been mainly effected
+by men of the commercial classes, and the shareholders in them
+principally belonged to the manufacturing districts,--the capitalists of
+the metropolis as yet holding aloof, and prophesying disaster to all
+concerned in railway projects.  But when the lugubrious anticipations of
+the City men were found to be so entirely falsified by the results--when,
+after the lapse of years, it was ascertained that railway traffic rapidly
+increased and dividends steadily improved--a change came over the spirit
+of the London capitalists.  They then invested largely in railways, the
+shares in which became a leading branch of business on the Stock
+Exchange, and the prices of some rose to nearly double their original
+value.
+
+A stimulus was thus given to the projection of further lines, the shares
+in most of which came out at a premium, and became the subject of
+immediate traffic.  A reckless spirit of gambling set in, which
+completely changed the character and objects of railway enterprise.  The
+public outside the Stock Exchange became also infected, and many persons
+utterly ignorant of railways, knowing and caring nothing about their
+national uses, but hungering and thirsting after premiums, rushed eagerly
+into the vortex.  They applied for allotments, and subscribed for shares
+in lines, of the engineering character or probable traffic of which they
+knew nothing.  Provided they could but obtain allotments which they could
+sell at a premium, and put the profit--in many cases the only capital
+they possessed {289}--into their pocket, it was enough for them.  The
+mania was not confined to the precincts of the Stock Exchange, but
+infected all ranks.  It embraced merchants and manufacturers, gentry and
+shopkeepers, clerks in public offices, and loungers at the clubs.  Noble
+lords were pointed at as "stags;" there were even clergymen who were
+characterised as "bulls;" and amiable ladies who had the reputation of
+"bears," in the share markets.  The few quiet men who remained
+uninfluenced by the speculation of the time were, in not a few cases,
+even reproached for doing injustice to their families, in declining to
+help themselves from the stores of wealth that were poured out on all
+sides.
+
+Folly and knavery were, for a time, completely in the ascendant.  The
+sharpers of society were let loose, and jobbers and schemers became more
+and more plentiful.  They threw out railway schemes as lures to catch the
+unwary.  They fed the mania with a constant succession of new projects.
+The railway papers became loaded with their advertisements.  The
+post-office was scarcely able to distribute the multitude of prospectuses
+and circulars which they issued.  For a time their popularity was
+immense.  They rose like froth into the upper heights of society, and the
+flunkey FitzPlushe, by virtue of his supposed wealth, sat amongst peers
+and was idolised.  Then was the harvest-time of scheming lawyers,
+parliamentary agents, engineers, surveyors, and traffic-takers, who were
+ready to take up any railway scheme however desperate, and to prove any
+amount of traffic even where none existed.  The traffic in the credulity
+of their dupes was, however, the great fact that mainly concerned them,
+and of the profitable character of which there could be no doubt.
+
+Mr. Stephenson was anxiously entreated to lend his name to prospectuses
+during the railway mania; but he invariably refused.  He held aloof from
+the headlong folly of the hour, and endeavoured to check it, but in vain.
+Had he been less scrupulous, and given his countenance to the numerous
+projects about which he was consulted, he might, without any trouble,
+have thus secured enormous gains; but he had no desire to accumulate a
+fortune without labour and without honour.  He himself never speculated
+in shares.  When he was satisfied as to the merits of any undertaking, he
+subscribed for a certain amount of capital in it, and held on, neither
+buying nor selling.  At a dinner of the Leeds and Bradford directors at
+Ben Rydding in October, 1844, before the mania had reached its height, he
+warned those present against the prevalent disposition towards railway
+speculation.  It was, he said, like walking upon a piece of ice with
+shallows and deeps; the shallows were frozen over, and they would carry,
+but it required great caution to get over the deeps.  He was satisfied
+that in the course of the next year many would step on to places not
+strong enough to carry them, and would get into the deeps; they would be
+taking shares, and afterwards be unable to pay the calls upon them.
+Yorkshiremen were reckoned clever men, and his advice to them was, to
+stick together and promote communication in their own neighbourhood,--not
+to go abroad with their speculations.  If any had done so, he advised
+them to get their money back as fast as they could, for if they did not
+they would not get it at all.  He informed the company, at the same time,
+of his earliest holding of railway shares; it was in the Stockton and
+Darlington Railway, and the number he held was _three_--"a very large
+capital for him to possess at the time."  But a Stockton friend was
+anxious to possess a share, and he sold him _one_ at a premium of 33s.;
+he supposed he had been about the first man in England to sell a railway
+share at a premium.
+
+During 1845, his son's offices in Great George-street, Westminster, were
+crowded with persons of various conditions seeking interviews, presenting
+very much the appearance of the levee of a minister of state.  The burly
+figure of Mr. Hudson, the "Railway King," surrounded by an admiring group
+of followers, was often to be seen there; and a still more interesting
+person, in the estimation of many, was George Stephenson, dressed in
+black, his coat of somewhat old-fashioned cut, with square pockets in the
+tails.  He wore a white neckcloth, and a large bunch of seals was
+suspended from his watch-ribbon.  Altogether, he presented an appearance
+of health, intelligence, and good humour, that rejoiced one to look upon
+in that sordid, selfish and eventually ruinous saturnalia of railway
+speculation.
+
+Powers were granted by Parliament, in 1843, to construct not less than
+2883 miles of new railways in Britain, at an expenditure of about
+forty-four millions sterling!  Yet the mania was not appeased; for in the
+following session of 1846, applications were made to Parliament for
+powers to raise 389,000,000 pounds sterling for the construction of
+further lines; and powers were actually conceded for forming 4790 miles
+(including 60 miles of tunnels), at a cost of about 120,000,000 pounds
+sterling.  During this session, Mr. Stephenson appeared as engineer for
+only one new line,--the Buxton, Macclesfield, Congleton, and Crewe
+Railway--a line in which, as a coal-owner, he was personally
+interested;--and of three branch-lines in connexion with existing
+companies for which he had long acted as engineer.  At the same time, all
+the leading professional men were fully occupied, some of them appearing
+as consulting engineers for upwards of thirty lines each!
+
+One of the features of the mania was the rage for "direct lines" which
+everywhere displayed itself.  There were "Direct Manchester," "Direct
+Exeter," "Direct York," and, indeed, new direct lines between most of the
+large towns.  The Marquis of Bristol, speaking in favour of the "Direct
+Norwich and London" project, at a public meeting at Haverhill, said, "If
+necessary, they might _make a tunnel beneath his very drawing-room_,
+rather than be defeated in their undertaking!"  And the Rev. F.
+Litchfield, at a meeting in Banbury, on the subject of a line to that
+town, said "He had laid down for himself a limit to his approbation of
+railways,--at least of such as approached the neighbourhood with which he
+was connected,--and that limit was, that he did not wish them to approach
+any nearer to him than _to run through his bedroom_, _with the bedposts
+for a station_!"  How different was the spirit which influenced these
+noble lords and gentlemen but a few years before!
+
+The House of Commons became thoroughly influenced by the prevailing
+excitement.  Even the Board of Trade began to favour the views of the
+fast school of engineers.  In their "Report on the Lines projected in the
+Manchester and Leeds District," they promulgated some remarkable views
+respecting gradients, declaring themselves in favour of the "undulating
+system."  They there stated that lines of an undulating character "which
+have gradients of 1 in 70 or in 80 distributed over them in short
+lengths, may be positively _better_ lines, _i.e._, _more susceptible of
+cheap and expeditious working_, than others which have nothing steeper
+than 1 in 100 or 1 in 120!"  They concluded by reporting in favour of the
+line which exhibited the worst gradients and the sharpest curves, chiefly
+on the ground that it could be constructed for less money.
+
+Sir Robert Peel took occasion to advert to this Report in the House of
+Commons on the 4th of March following, as containing "a novel and highly
+important view on the subject of gradients, which, he was certain, never
+could have been taken by any Committee of the House of Commons, however
+intelligent;" and he might have added, that the more intelligent, the
+less likely they were to arrive at any such conclusion.  When Mr.
+Stephenson saw this report of the Premier's speech in the newspapers of
+the following morning, he went forthwith to his son, and asked him to
+write a letter to Sir Robert Peel on the subject.  He saw clearly that if
+these views were adopted, the utility and economy of railways would be
+seriously curtailed.  "These members of Parliament," said he, "are now as
+much disposed to exaggerate the powers of the locomotive, as they were to
+under-estimate them but a few years ago."  Robert accordingly wrote a
+letter for his father's signature, embodying the views which he so
+strongly entertained as to the importance of flat gradients, and
+referring to the experiments conducted by him many years before, in proof
+of the great loss of working power which was incurred on a line of steep
+as compared with easy gradients.  It was clear, from the tone of Sir
+Robert Peel's speech in a subsequent debate, that he had carefully read
+and considered Mr. Stephenson's practical observations on the subject;
+though it did not appear that he had come to any definite conclusion
+thereon, further than that he strongly approved of the Trent Valley
+Railway, by which Tamworth would be placed upon a direct main line of
+communication.
+
+The result of the labours of Parliament was a tissue of legislative
+bungling, involving enormous loss to the public.  Railway Bills were
+granted in heaps.  Two hundred and seventy-two additional Acts were
+passed in 1846.  Some authorised the construction of lines running almost
+parallel to existing railways, in order to afford the public "the
+benefits of unrestricted competition."  Locomotive and atmospheric lines,
+broad-gauge and narrow-gauge lines, were granted without hesitation.
+Committees decided without judgment and without discrimination; it was a
+scramble for Bills, in which the most unscrupulous were the most
+successful.
+
+Amongst the many ill effects of the mania, one of the worst was that it
+introduced a low tone of morality into railway transactions.  The bad
+spirit which had been evoked by it unhappily extended to the commercial
+classes, and many of the most flagrant swindles of recent times had their
+origin in the year 1845.  Those who had suddenly gained large sums
+without labour, and also without honour, were too ready to enter upon
+courses of the wildest extravagance; and a false style of living shortly
+arose, the poisonous influence of which extended through all classes.
+Men began to look upon railways as instruments to job with.  Persons,
+sometimes possessing information respecting railways, but more frequently
+possessing none, got upon boards for the purpose of promoting their
+individual objects, often in a very unscrupulous manner; landowners, to
+promote branch lines through their property; speculators in shares, to
+trade upon the exclusive information which they obtained; whilst some
+directors were appointed through the influence mainly of solicitors,
+contractors, or engineers, who used them as tools to serve their own
+ends.  In this way the unfortunate proprietors were, in many cases,
+betrayed, and their property was shamefully squandered, much to the
+discredit of the railway system.
+
+While the mania was at its height in England, railways were also being
+extended abroad, and George Stephenson was requested on several occasions
+to give the benefit of his advice to the directors of foreign
+undertakings.  One of the most agreeable of these excursions was to
+Belgium in 1845.  His special object was to examine the proposed line of
+the Sambre and Meuse Railway, for which a concession had been granted by
+the Belgian legislature.  Arrived on the ground, he went carefully over
+the entire length of the proposed line, to Convins, the Forest of
+Ardennes, and Rocroi, across the French frontier; examining the bearings
+of the coal-field, the slate and marble quarries, and the numerous
+iron-mines in existence between the Sambre and the Meuse, as well as
+carefully exploring the ravines which extended through the district, in
+order to satisfy himself that the best possible route had been selected.
+Mr. Stephenson was delighted with the novelty of the journey, the beauty
+of the scenery, and the industry of the population.  His companions were
+entertained by his ample and varied stores of practical information on
+all subjects, and his conversation was full of reminiscences of his
+youth, on which he always delighted to dwell when in the society of his
+more intimate friends.  The journey was varied by a visit to the
+coal-mines near Jemappe, where Stephenson examined with interest the mode
+adopted by the Belgian miners of draining the pits, inspecting their
+engines and brakeing machines, so familiar to him in early life.
+
+The engineers of Belgium took the opportunity of Mr. Stephenson's visit
+to their country to invite him to a magnificent banquet at Brussels.  The
+Public Hall, in which they entertained him, was gaily decorated with
+flags, prominent amongst which was the Union Jack, in honour of their
+distinguished guest.  A handsome marble pedestal, ornamented with his
+bust crowned with laurels, occupied one end of the room.  The chair was
+occupied by M. Massui, the Chief Director of the National Railways of
+Belgium; and the most eminent scientific men of the kingdom were present.
+Their reception of "the Father of railways" was of the most enthusiastic
+description.  Mr. Stephenson was greatly pleased with the entertainment.
+Not the least interesting incident of the evening was his observing, when
+the dinner was about half over, a model of a locomotive engine placed
+upon the centre table, under a triumphal arch.  Turning suddenly to his
+friend Sopwith, he exclaimed, "Do you see the 'Rocket'?"  The compliment
+thus paid him, was perhaps more prized than all the encomiums of the
+evening.
+
+The next day (April 5th) King Leopold invited him to a private interview
+at the palace.  Accompanied by Mr. Sopwith, he proceeded to Laaken, and
+was very cordially received by His Majesty.  The king immediately entered
+into familiar conversation with him, discussing the railway project which
+had been the object of his visit to Belgium, and then the structure of
+the Belgian coal-fields,--his Majesty expressing his sense of the great
+importance of economy in a fuel which had become indispensable to the
+comfort and well-being of society, which was the basis of all
+manufactures, and the vital power of railway locomotion.  The subject was
+always a favourite one with Mr. Stephenson, and, encouraged by the king,
+he proceeded to describe to him the geological structure of Belgium, the
+original formation of coal, its subsequent elevation by volcanic forces,
+and the vast amount of denudation.  In describing the coal-beds he used
+his hat as a sort of model to illustrate his meaning; and the eyes of the
+king were fixed upon it as he proceeded with his interesting description.
+The conversation then passed to the rise and progress of trade and
+manufactures,--Mr. Stephenson pointing out how closely they everywhere
+followed the coal, being mainly dependent upon it, as it were, for their
+very existence.
+
+The king seemed greatly pleased with the interview, and at its close
+expressed himself obliged by the interesting information which the
+engineer had communicated.  Shaking hands cordially with both the
+gentlemen, and wishing them success in their important undertakings, he
+bade them adieu.  As they were leaving the palace Mr. Stephenson,
+bethinking him of the model by which he had just been illustrating the
+Belgian coal-fields, said to his friend, "By the bye, Sopwith, I was
+afraid the king would see the inside of my hat; it's a shocking bad one!"
+Little could George Stephenson, when brakesman at a coal-pit, have dreamt
+that, in the course of his life, he should be admitted to an interview
+with a monarch, and describe to him the manner in which the geological
+foundations of his kingdom had been laid!
+
+Mr. Stephenson paid a second visit to Belgium in the course of the same
+year, on the business of the West Flanders Railway; and he had scarcely
+returned from it ere he made arrangements to proceed to Spain, for the
+purpose of examining and reporting upon a scheme then on foot for
+constructing "the Royal North of Spain Railway."  A concession had been
+made by the Spanish Government of a line of railway from Madrid to the
+Bay of Biscay, and a numerous staff of engineers was engaged in surveying
+it.  The directors of the Company had declined making the necessary
+deposits until more favourable terms had been secured; and Sir Joshua
+Walmsley, on their part, was about to visit Spain and press the
+Government on the subject.  Mr. Stephenson, whom he consulted, was alive
+to the difficulties of the office which Sir Joshua was induced to
+undertake, and offered to be his companion and adviser on the
+occasion,--declining to receive any recompense beyond the simple expenses
+of the journey.  He could only arrange to be absent for six weeks, and
+set out from England about the middle of September, 1845.
+
+The party was joined at Paris by Mr. Mackenzie, the contractor for the
+Orleans and Tours Railway, then in course of construction, who took them
+over the works, and accompanied them as far as Tours.  They soon reached
+the great chain of the Pyrenees, and crossed over into Spain.  It was on
+a Sunday evening, after a long day's toilsome journey through the
+mountains, that the party suddenly found themselves in one of those
+beautiful secluded valleys lying amidst the Western Pyrenees.  A small
+hamlet lay before them, consisting of some thirty or forty houses and a
+fine old church.  The sun was low on the horizon, and, under the wide
+porch, beneath the shadow of the church, were seated nearly all the
+inhabitants of the place.  They were dressed in their holiday attire.
+The bright bits of red and amber colour in the dresses of the women, and
+the gay sashes of the men, formed a striking picture, on which the
+travellers gazed in silent admiration.  It was something entirely novel
+and unexpected.  Beside the villagers sat two venerable old men, whose
+canonical hats indicated their quality as village pastors.  Two groups of
+young women and children were dancing outside the porch to the
+accompaniment of a simple pipe; and within a hundred yards of them, some
+of the youths of the village were disporting themselves in athletic
+exercises; the whole being carried on beneath the fostering care of the
+old church, and with the sanction of its ministers.  It was a beautiful
+scene, and deeply moved the travellers as they approached the principal
+group.  The villagers greeted them courteously, supplied their present
+wants, and pressed upon them some fine melons, brought from their
+adjoining gardens.  Mr. Stephenson used afterwards to look back upon that
+simple scene, and speak of it as one of the most charming pastorals he
+had ever witnessed.
+
+They shortly reached the site of the proposed railway, passing through
+Irun, St. Sebastian, St. Andero, and Bilbao, at which places they met
+deputations of the principal inhabitants who were interested in the
+subject of their journey.  At Raynosa Stephenson carefully examined the
+mountain passes and ravines through which a railway could be made.  He
+rose at break of day, and surveyed until the darkness set in; and
+frequently his resting-place at night was the floor of some miserable
+hovel.  He was thus laboriously occupied for ten days, after which he
+proceeded across the province of Old Castile towards Madrid, surveying as
+he went.  The proposed plan included the purchase of the Castile Canal;
+and that property was also surveyed.  He next proceeded to El Escorial,
+situated at the foot of the Guadarama mountains, through which he found
+that it would be necessary to construct two formidable tunnels; added to
+which he ascertained that the country between El Escorial and Madrid was
+of a very difficult and expensive character to work through.  Taking
+these circumstances into account, and looking at the expected traffic on
+the proposed line, Sir Joshua Walmsley, acting under the advice of Mr.
+Stephenson, offered to construct the line from Madrid to the Bay of
+Biscay, only on condition that the requisite land was given the Company
+for the purpose; that they should be allowed every facility for cutting
+such timber belonging the Crown as might be required for the purposes of
+the railway; and also that the materials required from abroad for the
+construction of the line should be admitted free of duty.  In return for
+these concessions the Company offered to clothe and feed several
+thousands of convicts while engaged in the execution of the earthworks.
+General Narvaez, afterwards Duke of Valencia, received Sir Joshua
+Walmsley and Mr. Stephenson on the subject of their proposition, and
+expressed his willingness to close with them; but it was necessary that
+other influential parties should give their concurrence before the scheme
+could be carried into effect.  The deputation waited ten days to receive
+the answer of the Spanish Government; but no answer of any kind was
+vouchsafed.  The authorities, indeed, invited them to be present at a
+Spanish bullfight, but that was not quite the business Mr. Stephenson had
+gone all the way to Spain to transact; and the offer was politely
+declined.  The result was, that Mr. Stephenson dissuaded his friend from
+making the necessary deposit at Madrid.  Besides, he had by this time
+formed an unfavourable opinion of the entire project, and considered that
+the traffic would not amount to one-eighth of the estimate.
+
+Mr. Stephenson was now anxious to be in England.  During the journey from
+Madrid he often spoke with affection of friends and relatives; and when
+apparently absorbed by other matters, he would revert to what he thought
+might then be passing at home.  Few incidents worthy of notice occurred
+on the journey homeward, but one may be mentioned.  While travelling in
+an open conveyance between Madrid and Vittoria, the driver urged his
+mules down hill at a dangerous pace.  He was requested to slacken speed;
+but suspecting his passengers to be afraid, he only flogged the brutes
+into a still more furious gallop.  Observing this, Mr. Stephenson coolly
+said, "Let us try him on the other tack; tell him to show us the fastest
+pace at which Spanish mules can go."  The rogue of a driver, when he
+found his tricks of no avail, pulled up and proceeded at a more moderate
+speed for the rest of the journey.
+
+Urgent business required Mr. Stephenson's presence in London on the last
+day of November.  They travelled therefore almost continuously, day and
+night; and the fatigue consequent on the journey, added to the privations
+voluntarily endured by the engineer while carrying on the survey among
+the Spanish mountains, began to tell seriously on his health.  By the
+time he reached Paris he was evidently ill, but he nevertheless
+determined on proceeding.  He reached Havre in time for the Southampton
+boat; but when on board, pleurisy developed itself, and it was necessary
+to bleed him freely.  During the voyage, he spent his time chiefly in
+dictating letters and reports to Sir Joshua Walmsley, who never left him,
+and whose kindness on the occasion he gratefully remembered.  His friend
+was struck by the clearness of his dictated composition, which exhibited
+a vigour and condensation which to him seemed marvellous.  After a few
+weeks' rest at home, Mr. Stephenson gradually recovered, though his
+health remained severely shaken.
+
+             [Picture: Newcastle, from the High Level Bridge]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+ROBERT STEPHENSON'S CAREER--THE STEPHENSONS AND BRUNEL--EAST COAST ROUTE
+TO SCOTLAND--ROYAL BORDER BRIDGE, BERWICK--HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE, NEWCASTLE.
+
+
+The career of George Stephenson was drawing to a close.  He had for some
+time been gradually retiring from the more active pursuit of railway
+engineering, and confining himself to the promotion of only a few
+undertakings in which he took a more than ordinary personal interest.  In
+1840, when the extensive main lines in the Midland districts had been
+finished and opened for traffic, he publicly expressed his intention of
+withdrawing from the profession.  He had reached sixty, and, having spent
+the greater part of his life in very hard work, he naturally desired rest
+and retirement in his old age.  There was the less necessity for his
+continuing "in harness," as Robert Stephenson was now in full career as a
+leading railway engineer, and his father had pleasure in handing over to
+him, with the sanction of the companies concerned, nearly all the railway
+appointments which he held.
+
+Robert Stephenson amply repaid his father's care.  The sound education of
+which he had laid the foundations at school, improved by his subsequent
+culture, but more than all by his father's example of application,
+industry, and thoroughness in all that he undertook, told powerfully in
+the formation of his character, not less than in the discipline of his
+intellect.  His father had early implanted in him habits of mental
+activity, familiarized him with the laws of mechanics, and carefully
+trained and stimulated his inventive faculties, the first great fruits of
+which, as we have seen, were exhibited in the triumph of the "Rocket" at
+Rainhill.  "I am fully conscious in my own mind," said the son at a
+meeting of the Mechanical Engineers at Newcastle, in 1858, "how greatly
+my civil engineering has been regulated and influenced by the mechanical
+knowledge which I derived directly from my father; and the more my
+experience has advanced, the more convinced I have become that it is
+necessary to educate an engineer in the workshop.  That is, emphatically,
+the education which will render the engineer most intelligent, most
+useful, and the fullest of resources in times of difficulty."
+
+Robert Stephenson was but twenty-six years old when the performances of
+the "Rocket" established the practicability of steam locomotion on
+railways.  He was shortly after appointed engineer of the Leicester and
+Swannington Railway; after which, at his father's request, he was made
+joint engineer with himself in laying out the London and Birmingham
+Railway, and the execution of that line was afterwards entrusted to him
+as sole engineer.  The stability and excellence of the works of that
+railway, the difficulties which had been successfully overcome in the
+course of its construction, and the judgment which was displayed by
+Robert Stephenson throughout the whole conduct of the undertaking to its
+completion, established his reputation as an engineer; and his father
+could now look with confidence and with pride upon his son's
+achievements.  From that time forward, father and son worked together as
+one man, each jealous of the other's honour; and on the father's
+retirement, it was generally recognized that, in the sphere of railways,
+Robert Stephenson was the foremost man, the safest guide, and the most
+active worker.
+
+Robert Stephenson was subsequently appointed engineer of the Eastern
+Counties, the Northern and Eastern, and the Blackwall railways, besides
+many lines in the midland and southern districts.  When the speculation
+of 1844 set in, his services were, of course, greatly in request.  Thus,
+in one session, we find him engaged as engineer for not fewer than 33 new
+schemes.  Projectors thought themselves fortunate who could secure his
+name, and he had only to propose his terms to obtain them.  The work
+which he performed at this period of his life was indeed enormous, and
+his income was large beyond any previous instance of engineering gain.
+But much of his labour was heavy hackwork of a very uninteresting
+character.  During the sittings of the committees of Parliament, almost
+every moment of his time was occupied in consultations, and in preparing
+evidence or in giving it.  The crowded, low-roofed committee-rooms of the
+old Houses of Parliament were altogether inadequate to accommodate the
+rush of perspiring projectors of bills, and even the lobbies were
+sometimes choked with them.  To have borne that noisome atmosphere and
+heat would have tested the constitutions of salamanders, and engineers
+were only human.  With brains kept in a state of excitement during the
+entire day, no wonder their nervous systems became unstrung.  Their only
+chance of refreshment was during an occasional rush to the bun and
+sandwich stand in the lobby, though sometimes even that resource failed
+them.  Then, with mind and body jaded--probably after undergoing a series
+of consultations upon many bills after the rising of the committees--the
+exhausted engineers would seek to stimulate nature by a late, perhaps a
+heavy, dinner.  What chance had any ordinary constitution of surviving
+such an ordeal?  The consequence was, that stomach, brain, and liver were
+alike irretrievably injured; and hence the men who bore the brunt of
+those struggles--Stephenson, Brunel, Locke, and Errington--have already
+all died, comparatively young men.
+
+In mentioning the name of Brunel, we are reminded of him as the principal
+rival and competitor of Robert Stephenson.  Both were the sons of
+distinguished men, and both inherited the fame and followed in the
+footsteps of their fathers.  The Stephensons were inventive, practical,
+and sagacious; the Brunels ingenious, imaginative, and daring.  The
+former were as thoroughly English in their characteristics as the latter
+were perhaps as thoroughly French.  The fathers and the sons were alike
+successful in their works, though not in the same degree.  Measured by
+practical and profitable results, the Stephensons were unquestionably the
+safer men to follow.
+
+Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel were destined often to come
+into collision in the course of their professional life.  Their
+respective railway districts "marched" with each other, and it became
+their business to invade or defend those districts, according as the
+policy of their respective boards might direct.  The gauge of 7 feet
+fixed by Mr. Brunel for the Great Western Railway, so entirely different
+from that of 4ft. 8.5in. adopted by the Stephensons on the Northern and
+Midland lines, was from the first a great cause of contention.  But Mr.
+Brunel had always an aversion to follow any man's lead; and that another
+engineer had fixed the gauge of a railway, or built a bridge, or designed
+an engine, in one way, was of itself often a sufficient reason with him
+for adopting an altogether different course.  Robert Stephenson, on his
+part, though less bold, was more practical, preferring to follow the old
+routes, and to tread in the safe steps of his father.
+
+Mr. Brunel, however, determined that the Great Western should be a
+giant's road, and that travelling should be conducted upon it at double
+speed.  His ambition was to make the _best_ road that imagination could
+devise; whereas the main object of the Stephensons, both father and son,
+was to make a road that would _pay_.  Although, tried by the Stephenson
+test, Brunel's magnificent road was a failure so far as the shareholders
+in the Great Western Company were concerned, the stimulus which his
+ambitious designs gave to mechanical invention at the time proved a
+general good.  The narrow-gauge engineers exerted themselves to quicken
+their locomotives to the utmost.  They improved and re-improved them; the
+machinery was simplified and perfected; outside cylinders gave place to
+inside; the steadier and more rapid and effective action of the engine
+was secured; and in a few years the highest speed on the narrow-gauge
+lines went up from 30 to about 50 miles an hour.  For this rapidity of
+progress we are in no small degree indebted to the stimulus imparted to
+the narrow-gauge engineers by Mr. Brunel.  And it is well for a country
+that it should possess men such as he, ready to dare the untried, and to
+venture boldly into new paths.  Individuals may suffer from the cost of
+the experiments; but the nation, which is an aggregate of individuals,
+gains, and so does the world at large.
+
+It was one of the characteristics of Brunel to believe in the success of
+the schemes for which he was professionally engaged as engineer; and he
+proved this by investing his savings largely in the Great Western
+Railway, in the South Devon atmospheric line, and in the Great Eastern
+steamship, with what results are well known.  Robert Stephenson, on the
+contrary, with characteristic caution, towards the latter years of his
+life avoided holding unguaranteed railway shares; and though he might
+execute magnificent structures, such as the Victoria Bridge across the
+St. Lawrence, he was careful not to embark any portion of his own fortune
+in the ordinary capital of these concerns.  In 1845, he shrewdly foresaw
+the inevitable crash that was about to follow the mania of that year; and
+while shares were still at a premium he took the opportunity of selling
+out all that he had.  He urged his father to do the same thing, but
+George's reply was characteristic.  "No," said he; "I took my shares for
+an investment, and not to speculate with, and I am not going to sell them
+now because folks have gone mad about railways."  The consequence was,
+that he continued to hold the 60,000 pounds which he had invested in the
+shares of various railways until his death, when they were at once sold
+out by his son, though at a great depreciation on their original cost.
+
+One of the hardest battles fought between the Stephensons and Brunel was
+for the railway between Newcastle and Berwick, forming part of the great
+East Coast route to Scotland.  As early as 1836, George Stephenson had
+surveyed two lines to connect Edinburgh with Newcastle: one by Berwick
+and Dunbar along the coast, and the other, more inland, by Carter Fell,
+up the vale of the Gala, to the northern capital; but both projects lay
+dormant for several years longer, until the completion of the Midland and
+other main lines as far north as Newcastle, had the effect of again
+reviving the subject of the extension of the route as far as Edinburgh.
+
+On the 18th of June, 1844, the Newcastle and Darlington line--an
+important link of the great main highway to the north--was completed and
+publicly opened, thus connecting the Thames and the Tyne by a continuous
+line of railway.  On that day the Stephensons, with a distinguished party
+of railway men, travelled by express train from London to Newcastle in
+about nine hours.  It was a great event, and was worthily celebrated.
+The population of Newcastle held holiday; and a banquet given in the
+Assembly Rooms the same evening assumed the form of an ovation to George
+Stephenson and his son.  Thirty years before, in the capacity of a
+workman, he had been labouring at the construction of his first
+locomotive in the immediate neighbourhood.  By slow and laborious steps
+he had worked his way on, dragging the locomotive into notice, and
+raising himself in public estimation; until at length he had victoriously
+established the railway system, and went back amongst his townsmen to
+receive their greeting.
+
+After the opening of this railway, the project of the East Coast line
+from Newcastle to Berwick was revived; and George Stephenson, who had
+already identified himself with the question, and was intimately
+acquainted with every foot of the ground, was called upon to assist the
+promoters with his judgment and experience.  He again recommended as
+strongly as before the line he had previously surveyed; and on its being
+adopted by the local committee, the necessary steps were taken to have
+the scheme brought before Parliament in the ensuing session.  The East
+Coast line was not, however, to be allowed to pass without a fight.  On
+the contrary, it had to encounter as stout an opposition as the
+Stephensons had ever experienced.
+
+We have already stated that about this time the plan of substituting
+atmospheric pressure for locomotive steam-power in the working of
+railways, had become very popular.  Many eminent engineers supported the
+atmospheric system, and a strong party in Parliament, headed by the Prime
+Minister, were greatly disposed in its favour.  Mr. Brunel warmly
+espoused the atmospheric principle, and his persuasive manner, as well as
+his admitted scientific ability, unquestionably exercised considerable
+influence in determining the views of many leading members of both
+Houses.  Amongst others, Lord Howick, one of the members for
+Northumberland, adopted the new principle, and, possessing great local
+influence, he succeeded in forming a powerful confederacy of the landed
+gentry in favour of Brunel's atmospheric railway through that county.
+
+George Stephenson could not brook the idea of seeing the locomotive, for
+which he had fought so many stout battles, pushed to one side, and that
+in the very county in which its great powers had been first developed.
+Nor did he relish the appearance of Mr. Brunel as the engineer of Lord
+Howick's scheme, in opposition to the line which had occupied his
+thoughts and been the object of his strenuous advocacy for so many years.
+When Stephenson first met Brunel in Newcastle, he good-naturedly shook
+him by the collar, and asked "What business he had north of the Tyne?"
+George gave him to understand that they were to have a fair stand-up
+fight for the ground, and, shaking hands before the battle like
+Englishmen, they parted in good humour.  A public meeting was held at
+Newcastle in the following December, when, after a full discussion of the
+merits of the respective plans, Stephenson's line was almost unanimously
+adopted as the best.
+
+The rival projects went before Parliament in 1845, and a severe contest
+ensued.  The display of ability and tactics on both sides was great.
+Robert Stephenson was examined at great length as to the merits of the
+locomotive line, and Brunel at equally great length as to the merits of
+the atmospheric system.  Mr. Brunel, in his evidence, said that after
+numerous experiments, he had arrived at the conclusion that the
+mechanical contrivance of the atmospheric system was perfectly
+applicable, and he believed that it would likewise be more economical in
+most cases than locomotive power.  "In short," said he, "rapidity,
+comfort, safety, and economy, are its chief recommendations."
+
+But the locomotive again triumphed.  The Stephenson Coast Line secured
+the approval of Parliament; and the shareholders in the Atmospheric
+Company were happily prevented investing their capital in what would
+unquestionably have proved a gigantic blunder.  For, less than three
+years later, the whole of the atmospheric tubes which had been laid down
+on other lines were pulled up and the materials sold--including Mr.
+Brunel's immense tube on the South Devon Railway--to make way for the
+working of the locomotive engine.  George Stephenson's first verdict of
+"It won't do," was thus conclusively confirmed.
+
+Robert Stephenson used afterwards to describe with great gusto an
+interview which took place between Lord Howick and his father, at his
+office in Great George Street, during the progress of the bill in
+Parliament.  His father was in the outer office, where he used to spend a
+good deal of his spare time; occasionally taking a quiet wrestle with a
+friend when nothing else was stirring. {309}  On the day in question,
+George was standing with his back to the fire, when Lord Howick called to
+see Robert.  Oh! thought George, he has come to try and talk Robert over
+about that atmospheric gimcrack; but I'll tackle his Lordship.  "Come in,
+my Lord," said he, "Robert's busy; but I'll answer your purpose quite as
+well; sit down here, if you please."  George began, "Now, my Lord, I know
+very well what you have come about: it's that atmospheric line in the
+north; I will show you in less than five minutes that it can never
+answer."  "If Mr. Robert Stephenson is not at liberty, I can call again,"
+said his Lordship.  "He's certainly occupied on important business just
+at present," was George's answer; "but I can tell you far better than he
+can what nonsense the atmospheric system is: Robert's good-natured, you
+see, and if your Lordship were to get alongside of him you might talk him
+over; so you have been quite lucky in meeting with me.  Now, just look at
+the question of expense,"--and then he proceeded in his strong Doric to
+explain his views in detail, until Lord Howick could stand it no longer,
+and he rose and walked towards the door.  George followed him down
+stairs, to finish his demolition of the atmospheric system, and his
+parting words were, "You may take my word for it, my Lord, it will never
+answer."  George afterwards told his son with glee of "the settler" he
+had given Lord Howick.
+
+So closely were the Stephensons identified with this measure, and so
+great was the personal interest which they were both known to take in its
+success, that, on the news of the triumph of the bill reaching Newcastle,
+a sort of general holiday took place, and the workmen belonging to the
+Stephenson Locomotive Factory, upwards of 800 in number, walked in
+procession through the principal streets of the town, accompanied with
+music and banners.
+
+It is unnecessary to enter into any description of the works on the
+Newcastle and Berwick Railway.  There are no fewer than 110 bridges of
+all sorts on the line--some under and some over it.  But by far the most
+formidable piece of masonry work on this railway is at its northern
+extremity, where it passes across the Tweed into Scotland, immediately
+opposite the formerly redoubtable castle of Berwick.  Not many centuries
+had passed since the district amidst which this bridge stands was the
+scene of almost constant warfare.  Berwick was regarded as the key of
+Scotland, and was fiercely fought for, sometimes held by a Scotch and
+sometimes by an English garrison.  Though strongly fortified, it was
+repeatedly taken by assault.  On its capture by Edward I., Boetius says
+17,000 persons were slain, so that its streets "ran with blood like a
+river."  Within sight of the ramparts, a little to the west, is Halidon
+Hill, where a famous victory was gained by Edward III., over the Scottish
+army under Douglas; and there is scarcely a foot of ground in the
+neighbourhood but has been the scene of contention in days long past.  In
+the reigns of James I. and Charles I., a bridge of 15 arches was built
+across the Tweed at Berwick; and in our own day a railway-bridge of 28
+arches has been built a little above the old one, but at a much higher
+level.  The bridge built by the Kings, out of the national resources,
+cost 15,000 pounds, and occupied 24 years and 4 months in the building;
+the bridge built by the Railway Company, with funds drawn from private
+resources, cost 120,000 pounds, and was finished in 3 years and 4 months
+from the day of laying the foundation-stone.
+
+          [Picture: The Royal Border Bridge, Berwick-upon-Tweed]
+
+This important viaduct, built after the design of Robert Stephenson,
+consists of a series of 28 semicircular arches, each 61 feet 6 inches in
+span, the greatest height above the bed of the river being 126 feet.  The
+whole is built of ashlar, with a hearting of rubble; excepting the river
+parts of the arches, which are constructed with bricks laid in cement.
+The total length of the work is 2160 feet.  The foundations of the piers
+were got in by coffer-dams in the ordinary way, Nasmyth's steam-hammer
+being extensively used in driving the piles.  The bearing piles, from
+which the foundations of the piers were built up, were each capable of
+carrying 70 tons.
+
+Another bridge, of still greater importance, necessary to complete the
+continuity of the East Coast route, was the masterwork erected by Robert
+Stephenson between the north and south banks of the Tyne at Newcastle,
+commonly known as the High Level Bridge.  Mr. R. W. Brandling, George
+Stephenson's early friend, is entitled to the merit of originating the
+idea of this bridge as it was eventually carried out, with a central
+terminus for the northern railways in the Castle Garth.  The plan was
+first promulgated by him in 1841; and in the following year it was
+resolved that George Stephenson should be consulted as to the most
+advisable site for the proposed structure.  A prospectus of a High Level
+Bridge Company was issued in 1843, the names of George Stephenson and
+George Hudson appearing on the committee of management, Robert Stephenson
+being the consulting engineer.  The project was eventually taken up by
+the Newcastle and Darlington Railway Company, and an Act for the
+construction of the bridge was obtained in 1845.
+
+The rapid extension of railways had given an extraordinary stimulus to
+the art of bridge-building; the number of such structures erected in
+Great Britain alone, since 1830, having been above 25,000, or more than
+all that had before existed in the country.  Instead of the erection a
+single large bridge constituting, as formerly, an epoch in engineering,
+hundreds of extensive bridges of novel design were simultaneously
+constructed.  The necessity which existed for carrying rigid roads,
+capable of bearing heavy railway trains at high speeds, over extensive
+gaps free of support, rendered it obvious that the methods which had up
+to that time been employed for bridging space were altogether
+insufficient.  The railway engineer could not, like the ordinary road
+engineer, divert his road and make choice of the best point for crossing
+a river or a valley.  He must take such ground as lay in the line of his
+railway, be it bog, or mud, or shifting sand.  Navigable rivers and
+crowded thoroughfares had to be crossed without interruption to the
+existing traffic, sometimes by bridges at right angles to the river or
+road, sometimes by arches more or less oblique.  In many cases great
+difficulty arose from the limited nature of the headway; but, as the
+level of the original road must generally be preserved, and that of the
+railway was in a measure fixed and determined, it was necessary to modify
+the form and structure of the bridge, in almost every case, in order to
+comply with the public requirements.  Novel conditions were met by fresh
+inventions, and difficulties of the most unusual character were one after
+another successfully surmounted.  In executing these extraordinary works,
+iron has been throughout the sheet-anchor of the engineer.  In its
+different forms of cast or wrought iron, it offered a valuable resource,
+where rapidity of execution, great strength, and cheapness of
+construction in the first instance, were elements of prime importance;
+and by its skilful use, the railway architect was enabled to achieve
+results which thirty years ago would scarcely have been thought possible.
+
+In many of the early cast-iron bridges the old form of the arch was
+adopted, the stability of the structure depending wholly on compression,
+the only novel feature being the use of iron instead of stone.  But in a
+large proportion of cases, the arch, with the railroad over it, was found
+inapplicable in consequence of the limited headway which it provided.
+Hence it early occurred to George Stephenson, when constructing the
+Liverpool and Manchester Railway, to adopt the simple cast-iron beam for
+the crossing of several roads and canals along that line--this beam
+resembling in some measure the lintel of the early temples--the pressure
+on the abutments being purely vertical.  One of the earliest instances of
+this kind of bridge was that erected over Water Street, Manchester, in
+1829; after which, cast-iron girders, with their lower webs considerably
+larger than their upper, were ordinarily employed where the span was
+moderate; and wrought-iron tie rods below were added to give increased
+strength where the span was greater.
+
+The next step was the contrivance of arched beams or bowstring girders,
+firmly held together by horizontal ties to resist the thrust, instead of
+abutments.  Numerous excellent specimens of this description of bridge
+were erected by Robert Stephenson on the original London and Birmingham
+Railway; but by far the grandest work of the kind--perfect as a specimen
+of modern constructive skill--was the High Level Bridge, which we owe to
+the genius of the same engineer.
+
+The problem was, to throw a railway bridge across the deep ravine which
+lies between the towns of Newcastle and Gateshead, at the bottom of which
+flows the navigable river Tyne.  Along and up the sides of the valley--on
+the Newcastle bank especially--run streets of old-fashioned houses,
+clustered together in the strange forms peculiar to the older cities.
+The ravine is of great depth--so deep and so gloomy-looking towards dusk,
+that local tradition records that when the Duke of Cumberland arrived
+late in the evening at the brow of the hill overlooking the Tyne, on his
+way to Culloden, he exclaimed to his attendants, on looking down into the
+black gorge before him, "For God's sake, don't think of taking me down
+that coal-pit at this time of night!"  The road down the Gateshead High
+Street is almost as steep as the roof of a house, and up the Newcastle
+Side, as the street there is called, it is little better.  During many
+centuries the traffic north and south passed along this dangerous and
+difficult route, over the old bridge which crosses the river in the
+bottom of the valley.  For about 30 years the Newcastle Corporation had
+discussed various methods of improving the communication between the
+towns; and the discussion might have gone on for 30 years more, but for
+the advent of railways, when the skill and enterprise to which they gave
+birth speedily solved the difficulty and bridged the ravine.  The local
+authorities adroitly took advantage of the opportunity, and insisted on
+the provision of a road for ordinary vehicles and foot passengers in
+addition to the railroad.  In this circumstance originated one of the
+striking peculiarities of the High Level Bridge, which serves two
+purposes, being a railway above and a carriage roadway underneath.
+
+The breadth of the river at the point of crossing is 515 feet, but the
+length of the bridge and viaduct between the Gateshead station and the
+terminus on the Newcastle side is about 4000 feet.  It springs from
+Pipewell Gate Bank, on the south, directly across to Castle Garth, where,
+nearly fronting the bridge, stands the fine old Norman keep of the _New_
+Castle, now nearly 800 years old, and a little beyond it is the spire of
+St. Nicholas Church, with its light and graceful Gothic crown; the whole
+forming a grand architectural group of unusual historic interest.  The
+bridge passes completely over the roofs of the houses which fill both
+sides of the valley; and the extraordinary height of the upper parapet,
+which is about 130 feet above the bed of the river, offers a prospect to
+the passing traveller the like of which is perhaps nowhere else to be
+seen.  Far below are the queer chares and closes, the wynds and lanes of
+old Newcastle; the water is crowded with pudgy, black, coal keels; and,
+when there is a partial dispersion of the great smoke clouds which
+usually obscure the sky, the funnels of steamers and the masts of
+shipping may be seen far down the river.  The old bridge lies so far
+beneath that the passengers crossing it seem like so many bees passing to
+and fro.
+
+The first difficulty encountered in building the bridge was in securing a
+solid foundation for the piers.  The dimensions of the piles to be driven
+were so huge, that the engineer found it necessary to employ some
+extraordinary means for the purpose.  He called Nasmyth's Titanic
+steam-hammer to his aid--the first occasion, we believe, on which this
+prodigious power was employed in bridge pile-driving.  A temporary
+staging was erected for the steam-engine and hammer apparatus, which
+rested on two keels, and, notwithstanding the newness and stiffness of
+the machinery, the first pile was driven on the 6th October, 1846, to a
+depth of 32 feet, in four minutes.  Two hammers of 30 cwt. each were kept
+in regular use, making from 60 to 70 strokes a minute; and the results
+were astounding to those who had been accustomed to the old style of
+pile-driving by means of the ordinary pile-frame, consisting of slide,
+ram, and monkey.  By the old system, the pile was driven by a
+comparatively small mass of iron descending with great velocity from a
+considerable height--the velocity being in excess and the mass deficient,
+and calculated, like the momentum of a cannon-ball, rather for
+destructive than impulsive action.  In the case of the steam pile-driver,
+on the contrary, the whole weight of a heavy mass is delivered rapidly
+upon a driving-block of several tons weight placed directly over the head
+of the pile, the weight never ceasing, and the blows being repeated at
+the rate of a blow a second, until the pile is driven home.  It is a
+curious fact, that the rapid strokes of the steam-hammer evolved so much
+heat, that on many occasions the pile-head burst into flames during the
+process of driving.  The elastic force of steam is the power that lifts
+the ram, the escape permitting its entire force to fall upon the head of
+the driving block; while the steam above the piston on the upper part of
+the cylinder, acting as a buffer or recoil-spring, materially enhances
+the effect of the downward blow.  As soon as one pile was driven, the
+traveller, hovering overhead, presented another, and down it went into
+the solid bed of the river, with almost as much ease as a lady sticks
+pins into a cushion.  By the aid of this powerful machine, pile-driving,
+formerly among the most costly and tedious of engineering operations,
+became easy, rapid, and comparatively economical.
+
+When the piles had been driven and the coffer-dams formed and puddled,
+the water within the enclosed spaces was pumped out by the aid of
+powerful engines, so as, if possible, to lay bare the bed of the river.
+Considerable difficulty was experienced in getting in the foundations of
+the middle pier, in consequence of the water forcing itself through the
+quicksand beneath as fast as it was removed, This fruitless labour went
+on for months, and many expedients were tried.  Chalk was thrown in in
+large quantities outside the piling, but without effect.  Cement concrete
+was at last put within the coffer-dam, until it set, and the bottom was
+then found to be secure.  A bed of concrete was laid up to the level of
+the heads of the piles, the foundation course of stone blocks being
+commenced about two feet below low water, and the building proceeded
+without further difficulty.  It may serve to give an idea of the
+magnitude of the work, when we state that 400,000 cubic feet of ashlar,
+rubble, and concrete were worked up in the piers, and 450,000 cubic feet
+in the land-arches and approaches.
+
+The most novel feature of the structure is the use of cast and wrought
+iron in forming the double bridge, which admirably combines the two
+principles of the arch and suspension; the railway being carried over the
+back of the ribbed arches in the usual manner, while the carriage-road
+and footpaths, forming a long gallery or aisle, are suspended from these
+arches by wrought-iron vertical rods, with horizontal tie-bars to resist
+the thrust.  The suspension-bolts are enclosed within spandril pillars of
+cast iron, which give great stiffness to the superstructure.  This system
+of longitudinal and vertical bracing has been much admired, for it not
+only accomplishes the primary object of securing rigidity in the roadway,
+but at the same time, by its graceful arrangement, heightens the beauty
+of the structure.  The arches consist of four main ribs, disposed in
+pairs with a clear distance between the two inner arches of 20 feet 4
+inches, forming the carriage-road, while between each of the inner and
+outer ribs there is a space of 6 feet 2 inches, constituting the
+footpaths.  Each arch is cast in five separate lengths or segments,
+strongly bolted together.  The ribs spring from horizontal plates of cast
+iron, bedded and secured on the stone piers.  All the abutting joints
+were carefully executed by machinery, the fitting being of the most
+perfect kind.  In order to provide for the expansion and contraction of
+the iron arching, and to preserve the equilibrium of the piers without
+disturbance or racking of the other parts of the bridge, it was arranged
+that the ribs of every two adjoining arches resting on the same pier
+should be secured to the springing-plates by keys and joggles; whilst on
+the next piers on either side, the ribs remained free and were at liberty
+to expand or contract according to temperature--a space being left for
+the purpose.  Hence each arch is complete and independent in itself, the
+piers having simply to sustain their vertical pressure.  There are six
+arches of 125 feet span each; the two approaches to the bridge being
+formed of cast-iron pillars and bearers in keeping with the arches.
+
+           [Picture: High Level Bridge--Elevation of one Arch]
+
+The result is a bridge that for massive solidity may be pronounced
+unrivalled.  It is perhaps the most magnificent and striking of all the
+bridges to which railways have given birth, and has been worthily styled
+"the King of railway structures."  It is a monument of the highest
+engineering skill of our time, with the impress of power grandly stamped
+upon it.  It will also be observed, from the drawing placed as the
+frontispiece of this book, that the High Level Bridge forms a very fine
+object in a picture of great interest, full of striking architectural
+variety and beauty.  The bridge was opened on the 15th August, 1849, and
+a few days after the royal train passed over it, halting for a few
+minutes to enable her Majesty to survey the wonderful scene below.  In
+the course of the following year the Queen opened the extensive stone
+viaduct across the Tweed, above described, by which the last link was
+completed of the continuous line of railway between London and Edinburgh.
+Over the entrance to the Berwick station, occupying the site of the once
+redoubtable Border fortress, so often the deadly battle-ground of the
+ancient Scots and English, was erected an arch under which the royal
+train passed, bearing in large letters of gold the appropriate words,
+"_The last act of the Union_."
+
+The warders at Berwick no longer look out from the castle walls to descry
+the glitter of Southron spears.  The bell-tower, from which the alarm was
+sounded of old, though still standing, is deserted; the only bell heard
+within the precincts of the old castle being the railway porter's bell
+announcing the arrival and departure of trains.  You see the Scotch
+express pass along the bridge and speed southward on the wings of steam.
+But no alarm spreads along the border now.  Northumbrian beeves are safe.
+Chevy-Chase and Otterburn are quiet sheep-pastures.  The only men at arms
+on the battlements of Alnwick Castle are of stone.  Bamborough Castle has
+become an asylum for shipwrecked mariners, and the Norman Keep at
+Newcastle has been converted into a Museum of Antiquities.  The railway
+has indeed consummated the Union.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+ROBERT STEPHENSON'S TUBULAR BRIDGES AT MENAI AND CONWAY.
+
+
+We have now to describe briefly another great undertaking, begun by
+George Stephenson, and taken up and completed by his son, in the course
+of which the latter carried out some of his greatest works--we mean the
+Chester and Holyhead Railway, completing the railway connection with
+Dublin, as the Newcastle and Berwick line completed the connection with
+Edinburgh.  It will thus be seen how closely Telford was followed by the
+Stephensons in perfecting the highways of their respective epochs; the
+former by means of turnpike-roads, and the latter by means of railways.
+
+George Stephenson surveyed a line from Chester to Holyhead in 1838, and
+at the same time reported on the line through North Wales to Port
+Dynllaen, proposed by the Irish Railway Commissioners.  His advice was
+strongly in favour of adopting the line to Holyhead, as less costly and
+presenting better gradients.  A public meeting was held at Chester, in
+January, 1839, in support of the latter measure, at which he was present
+to give explanations.  Mr. Uniacke, the Mayor, in opening the
+proceedings, said that Mr. Stephenson was present, ready to answer any
+questions which might be put to him on the subject; and it was
+judiciously remarked that "it would be better that he should be asked
+questions than required to make a speech; for, though a very good
+engineer, he was a bad speaker."  One of the questions then put to Mr.
+Stephenson related to the mode by which he proposed to haul the passenger
+carriages over the Menai Suspension Bridge by horse power; and he was
+asked whether he knew the pressure the bridge was capable of sustaining.
+His answer was, that "he had not yet made any calculations; but he
+proposed getting data which would enable him to arrive at an accurate
+calculation of the actual strain upon the bridge during the late gale.
+He had, however, no hesitation in saying that it was more than twenty
+times as much as the strain of a train of carriages and a locomotive
+engine.  The only reason why he proposed to convey the carriages over by
+horses, was in order that he might, by distributing the weight, not
+increase the wavy motion.  All the train would be on at once; but
+distributed.  This he thought better than passing them, linked together,
+by a locomotive engine."  It will thus be observed that the
+practicability of throwing a rigid railway bridge across the Straits had
+not yet been contemplated.
+
+The Dublin Chamber of Commerce passed resolutions in favour of
+Stephenson's line, after hearing his explanation of its essential
+features.  The project, after undergoing much discussion, was at length
+embodied in an Act passed in 1844; and the work was brought to a
+successful completion by his son, with several important modifications,
+including the grand original feature of the tubular bridges across the
+Menai Straits and the estuary of the Conway.  Excepting these great
+works, the construction of this line presented no unusual features;
+though the remarkable terrace cut for the accommodation of the railway
+under the steep slope of Penmaen Mawr is worthy of a passing notice.
+
+About midway between Conway and Bangor, Penmaen Mawr forms a bold and
+almost precipitous headland, at the base of which, in rough weather, the
+ocean dashes with great fury.  There was not space enough between the
+mountain and the strand for the passage of the railway; hence in some
+places the rock had to be blasted to form a terrace, and in others
+sea-walls had to be built up to the proper level, on which to form an
+embankment of sufficient width to enable the road to be laid.  [Picture:
+Penmaen Mawr.  (By Percival Skelton.)]  A tunnel 10.5 chains in length was
+cut through the headland itself; and on its east and west sides the line
+was formed by a terrace cut out of the cliff, and by embankments
+protected by sea walls; the terrace being three times interrupted by
+embankments in its course of about 1.25 mile.  The road lies so close
+under the steep mountain face, that it was even found necessary at
+certain places to protect it against possible accidents from falling
+stones, by means of a covered way.  The terrace on the east side of the
+headland was, however, in some measure protected against the roll of the
+sea by the mass of stone run out from the tunnel, and forming a deep
+shingle bank in front of the wall.
+
+The part of the work which lies on the westward of the headland
+penetrated by the tunnel, was exposed to the full force of the sea; and
+the formation of the road at that point was attended with great
+difficulty.  While the sea wall was still in progress, its strength was
+severely tried by a strong north-westerly gale, which blew in October,
+1846, with a spring tide of 17 feet.  On the following morning it was
+found that a large portion of the rubble was irreparably injured, and 200
+yards of the wall were then replaced by an open viaduct, with the piers
+placed edgeways to the sea, the openings between them being spanned by
+ten cast-iron girders each 42 feet long.  This accident induced the
+engineer to alter the contour of the sea wall, so that it should present
+a diminished resistance to the force of the waves.  But the sea repeated
+its assaults, and made further havoc with the work; entailing heavy
+expenses and a complete reorganisation of the contract.  Increased
+solidity was then given to the masonry, and the face of the wall
+underwent further change.  At some points outworks were constructed, and
+piles were driven into the beach about 15 feet from the base of the wall,
+for the purpose of protecting its foundations and breaking the force of
+the waves.  The work was at length finished after about three years'
+anxious labour; but Mr. Stephenson confessed that if a long tunnel had
+been made in the first instance through the solid rock of Penmaen Mawr, a
+saving of from 25,000 to 30,000 pounds would have been effected.  He also
+said he had arrived at the conclusion that in railway works engineers
+should endeavour as far as possible to avoid the necessity of contending
+with the sea; {324} but if he were ever again compelled to go within its
+reach, he would adopt, instead of retaining walls, an open viaduct,
+placing all the piers edgeways to the force of the sea, and allowing the
+waves to break upon a natural slope of beach.  He was ready enough to
+admit the errors he had committed in the original design of this work;
+but he said he had always gained more information from studying the
+causes of failures and endeavouring to surmount them than he had done
+from easily-won successes.  Whilst many of the latter had been forgotten,
+the former were indelibly fixed in his memory.
+
+But by far the greatest difficulty which Robert Stephenson had to
+encounter in executing this railway, was in carrying it across the
+Straits of Menai and the estuary of the Conway, where, like his
+predecessor Telford when forming his high road through North Wales, he
+was under the necessity of resorting to new and altogether untried
+methods of bridge construction.  At Menai the waters of the Irish Sea are
+perpetually vibrating along the precipitous shores of the strait; rising
+and falling from 20 to 25 feet at each successive tide; the width and
+depth of the channel being such as to render it available for navigation
+by the largest ships.  The problem was, to throw a bridge across this
+wide chasm--a bridge of unusual span and dimensions--of such strength as
+to be capable of bearing the heaviest loads at high speeds, and at such a
+uniform height throughout as not in any way to interfere with the
+navigation of the Strait.  From an early period, Mr. Stephenson had fixed
+upon the spot where the Britannia Rock occurs, nearly in the middle of
+the channel, as the most eligible point for crossing; the water-width
+from shore to shore at high water there being about 1100 feet.  His first
+idea was to construct the bridge of two cast-iron arches, each of 350
+feet span.  There was no novelty in this idea; for, as early as the year
+1801, Mr. Rennie prepared a design of a cast-iron bridge across the
+Strait at the Swilly rocks, the great centre arch of which was to be 450
+feet span; and at a later period, in 1810, Telford submitted a design of
+a similar bridge at Inys-y-Moch, with a single cast-iron arch of 500
+feet.  But the same objections which led to the rejection of Rennie's and
+Telford's designs, proved fatal to Robert Stephenson's, and his
+iron-arched railway bridge was rejected by the Admiralty.  The navigation
+of the Strait was under no circumstances to be interfered with; and even
+the erection of scaffolding from below, to support the bridge during
+construction, was not to be permitted.  The idea of a suspension bridge
+was dismissed as inapplicable; a degree of rigidity and strength, greater
+than could be secured by any bridge constructed on the principle of
+suspension, being considered an indispensable condition of the proposed
+structure.
+
+                       [Picture: Britannia Bridge]
+
+Various other plans were suggested; but the whole question remained
+unsettled even down to the time when the Company went before Parliament,
+in 1844, for power to construct the proposed bridges.  No existing kind
+of structure seemed to be capable of bearing the fearful extension to
+which rigid bridges of the necessary spans would be subjected; and some
+new expedient of engineering therefore became necessary.
+
+Mr. Stephenson was then led to reconsider a design which he had made in
+1841 for a road bridge over the river Lea at Ware, with a span of 50
+feet,--the conditions only admitting of a platform 18 or 20 inches thick.
+For this purpose a wrought-iron platform was designed, consisting of a
+series of simple cells, formed of boiler-plates riveted together with
+angle-iron.  The bridge was not, however, carried out after this design,
+but was made of separate wrought-iron girders composed of riveted plates.
+Recurring to his first idea of this bridge, Mr. Stephenson thought that a
+stiff platform might be constructed, with sides of strongly trussed
+frame-work of wrought-iron, braced together at top and bottom with plates
+of like material riveted together with angle-iron; and that such platform
+might be suspended by strong chains on either side to give it increased
+security.  "It was now," says Mr. Stephenson, "that I came to regard the
+tubular platform as a beam, and that the chains should be looked upon as
+auxiliaries."  It appeared, nevertheless, that without a system of
+diagonal struts inside, which of course would have prevented the passage
+of trains _through_ it, this kind of structure was ill-suited for
+maintaining its form, and would be very liable to become lozenge-shaped.
+Besides, the rectangular figure was deemed objectionable, from the large
+surface which it presented to the wind.
+
+It then occurred to him that circular or elliptical tubes might better
+answer the intended purpose; and in March, 1845, he gave instructions to
+two of his assistants to prepare drawings of such a structure, the tubes
+being made with a double thickness of plate at top and bottom.  The
+results of the calculations made as to the strength of such a tube, were
+considered so satisfactory, that Mr. Stephenson says he determined to
+fall back on a bridge of this description, on the rejection of his design
+of the two cast-iron arches by the Parliamentary Committee.  Indeed, it
+became evident that a tubular wrought-iron beam was the only structure
+which combined the necessary strength and stability for a railway, with
+the conditions deemed essential for the protection of the navigation.  "I
+stood," says Mr. Stephenson, "on the verge of a responsibility from
+which, I confess, I had nearly shrunk.  The construction of a tubular
+beam of such gigantic dimensions, on a platform elevated and supported by
+chains at such a height, did at first present itself as a difficulty of a
+very formidable nature.  Reflection, however, satisfied me that the
+principles upon which the idea was founded were nothing more than an
+extension of those daily in use in the profession of the engineer.  The
+method, moreover, of calculating the strength of the structure which I
+had adopted, was of the simplest and most elementary character; and
+whatever might be the form of the tube, the principle on which the
+calculations were founded was equally applicable, and could not fail to
+lead to equally accurate results." {327}  Mr. Stephenson accordingly
+announced to the directors of the railway that he was prepared to carry
+out a bridge of this general description, and they adopted his views,
+though not without considerable misgivings.
+
+While the engineer's mind was still occupied with the subject, an
+accident occurred to the _Prince of Wales_ iron steamship, at Blackwall,
+which singularly corroborated his views as to the strength of
+wrought-iron beams of large dimensions.  When this vessel was being
+launched, the cleet on the bow gave way, in consequence of the bolts
+breaking, and let the vessel down so that the bilge came in contact with
+the wharf, and she remained suspended between the water and the wharf for
+a length of about 110 feet, but without any injury to the plates of the
+ship; satisfactorily proving the great strength of this form of
+construction.  Thus, Mr. Stephenson became gradually confirmed in his
+opinion that the most feasible method of bridging the strait at Menai and
+the river at Conway was by means of a hollow beam of wrought-iron.  As
+the time was approaching for giving evidence before Parliament on the
+subject, it was necessary for him to settle some definite plan for
+submission to the committee.  "My late revered father," says he, "having
+always taken a deep interest in the various proposals which had been
+considered for carrying a railway across the Menai Straits, requested me
+to explain fully to him the views which led me to suggest the use of a
+tube, and also the nature of the calculations I had made in reference to
+it.  It was during this personal conference that Mr. William Fairbairn
+accidentally called upon me, to whom I also explained the principles of
+the structure I had proposed.  He at once acquiesced in their truth, and
+expressed confidence in the feasibility of my project, giving me at the
+same time some facts relative to the remarkable strength of iron
+steamships, and invited me to his works at Millwall, to examine the
+construction of an iron steamship which was then in progress."  The date
+of this consultation was early in April, 1845, and Mr. Fairbairn states
+that, on that occasion, "Mr. Stephenson asked whether such a design was
+practicable, and whether I could accomplish it: and it was ultimately
+arranged that the subject should be investigated experimentally, to
+determine not only the value of Mr. Stephenson's original conception (of
+a circular or egg-shaped wrought-iron tube, supported by chains), but
+that of any other tubular form of bridge which might present itself in
+the prosecution of my researches.  The matter was placed unreservedly in
+my hands; the entire conduct of the investigation was entrusted to me;
+and, as an experimenter, I was to be left free to exercise my own
+discretion in the investigation of whatever forms or conditions of the
+structure might appear to me best calculated to secure a safe passage
+across the Straits." {329a}  Mr. Fairbairn then proceeded to construct a
+number of experimental models for the purpose of testing the strength of
+tubes of different forms.  The short period which elapsed, however,
+before the bill was in committee, did not admit of much progress being
+made with those experiments; but from the evidence in chief given by Mr.
+Stephenson on the subject, on the 5th May following, it appears that the
+idea which prevailed in his mind was that of a bridge with openings of
+450 feet (afterwards increased to 460 feet); with a roadway formed of a
+hollow wrought-iron beam, about 25 feet in diameter, presenting a rigid
+platform, suspended by chains.  At the same time, he expressed the
+confident opinion that a tube of wrought iron would possess sufficient
+strength and rigidity to support a railway train running inside of it
+without the help of the chains.
+
+While the bill was still in progress, Mr. Fairbairn proceeded with his
+experiments.  He first tested tubes of a cylindrical form, in consequence
+of the favourable opinion entertained by Mr. Stephenson of the tubes in
+that shape, extending them subsequently to those of an elliptical form.
+{329b}  He found tubes thus shaped more or less defective, and proceeded
+to test those of a rectangular kind.  After the bill had received the
+royal assent on the 30th June, 1845, the directors of the company, with
+great liberality, voted a sum for the purpose of enabling the experiments
+to be prosecuted, and upwards of 6000 pounds were thus expended to make
+the assurance of their engineer doubly sure.  Mr. Fairbairn's tests were
+of the most elaborate and eventually conclusive character, bringing to
+light many new and important facts of great practical value.  The due
+proportions and thicknesses of the top, bottom, and sides of the tubes
+were arrived at after a vast number of trials; one of the results of the
+experiments being the adoption of Mr. Fairbairn's invention of
+rectangular hollow cells in the top of the beam for the purpose of giving
+it the requisite degree of strength.  About the end of August it was
+thought desirable to obtain the assistance of a mathematician, who should
+prepare a formula by which the strength of a full-sized tube might be
+calculated from the results of the experiments made with tubes of smaller
+dimensions.  Professor Hodgkinson was accordingly called in, and he
+proceeded to verify and confirm the experiments which Mr. Fairbairn had
+made, and afterwards reduced them to the required formula.
+
+Mr. Stephenson's time was so much engrossed with his extensive
+engineering business that he was in a great measure precluded from
+devoting himself to the consideration of the practical details.  The
+results of the experiments were communicated to him from time to time,
+and were regarded by him as exceedingly satisfactory.  It would appear,
+however, that while Mr. Fairbairn urged the rigidity and strength of the
+tubes without the aid of chains, Mr. Stephenson had not quite made up his
+mind upon the point.  Mr. Hodgkinson, also, was strongly inclined to
+retain them.  Mr. Fairbairn held that it was quite practicable to make
+the tubes "sufficiently strong to sustain not only their own weight, but,
+in addition to that load, 2000 tons equally distributed over the surface
+of the platform,--a load ten times greater than they will ever be called
+upon to support."
+
+It was thoroughly characteristic of Mr. Stephenson, and of the caution
+with which he proceeded in every step of this great undertaking--probing
+every inch of the ground before he set down his foot upon it--that he
+should, early in 1856, (_sic_) have appointed his able assistant, Mr.
+Edwin Clark, to scrutinise carefully the results of every experiment, and
+subject them to a separate and independent analysis before finally
+deciding upon the form or dimensions of the structure, or upon any mode
+of procedure connected with it.  At length Mr. Stephenson became
+satisfied that the use of auxiliary chains was unnecessary, and that the
+tubular bridge might be made of such strength as to be entirely
+self-supporting.
+
+While these important discussions were in progress, measures were taken
+to proceed with the masonry of the bridges simultaneously at Conway and
+the Menai Straits.  The foundation-stone of the Britannia Bridge was laid
+on the 10th April, 1846; and on the 12th May following that of the Conway
+Bridge was laid.  Suitable platforms and workshops were also erected for
+proceeding with the punching, fitting, and riveting of the tubes; and
+when these operations were in full progress, the neighbourhood of the
+Conway and Britannia Bridges presented scenes of extraordinary bustle and
+industry.  About 1500 men were employed on the Britannia Bridge alone,
+and they mostly lived upon the ground in wooden cottages erected for the
+occasion.  The iron plates were brought in ship-loads from Liverpool,
+Anglesey marble from Penmon, and red sandstone from Runcorn, in Cheshire,
+as wind and tide, and shipping and convenience, might determine.  There
+was an unremitting clank of hammers, grinding of machinery, and blasting
+of rock, going on from morning till night.  In fitting the Britannia
+tubes together, not less than 2,000,000 of bolts were riveted, weighing
+some 900 tons.
+
+The Britannia Bridge consists of two independent continuous tubular
+beams, each 1511 feet in length, and each weighing 4680 tons, independent
+of the cast-iron frames inserted at their bearings on the masonry of the
+towers.  These immense beams are supported at five places, namely, on the
+abutments and on three towers, the central of which is known as the Great
+Britannia Tower, 230 feet high, built on a rock in the middle of the
+Strait.  The side towers are 18 feet less in height than the central one,
+and the abutment 35 feet lower than the side towers.  The design of the
+masonry is such as to accord with the form of the tubes, being somewhat
+of an Egyptian character, massive and gigantic rather than beautiful, but
+bearing the unmistakable impress of power.
+
+The bridge has four spans,--two of 460 feet over the water, and two of
+230 feet over the land.  The weight of the larger spans, at the points
+where the tubes repose on the masonry, is not less than 1587 tons.  On
+the centre tower the tubes rest solid; but on the land towers and
+abutments they lie on roller-beds, so as to allow of expansion and
+contraction.  The road within each tube is 15 feet wide, and the height
+varies from 23 feet at the ends to 30 feet at the centre.  To give an
+idea of the vast size of the tubes by comparison with other structures,
+it may be mentioned that each length constituting the main spans is twice
+as long as London Monument is high; and if it could be set on end in St.
+Paul's Churchyard, it would reach nearly 100 feet above the cross.
+
+The Conway Bridge is, in most respects, similar to the Britannia,
+consisting of two tubes, of 400 feet span, placed side by side, each
+weighing 1180 tons.  The principle adopted in the construction of the
+tubes, and the mode of floating and raising them, were nearly the same as
+at the Britannia Bridge, though the general arrangement of the plates is
+in many respects different.
+
+It was determined to construct the shorter outer tubes of the Britannia
+Bridge on scaffoldings in the positions in which they were permanently to
+remain, and to erect the larger tubes upon wooden platforms at
+high-water-mark on the Caernarvon shore, from whence they were to be
+floated in pontoons.
+
+The floating of the tubes on pontoons, from the places where they had
+been constructed, to the recesses in the masonry of the towers, up which
+they were to be hoisted to the positions they were permanently to occupy,
+was an anxious and exciting operation.  The first part of this process
+was performed at Conway, where Mr. Stephenson directed it in person,
+assisted by Captain Claxton, Mr. Brunel, and other engineering friends.
+On the 6th March, 1848, the pontoons bearing the first great tube of the
+up-line were floated round quietly and majestically into their place
+between the towers in about twenty minutes.  Unfortunately, one of the
+sets of pontoons had become slightly slued by the stream, by which the
+Conway end of the tube was prevented from being brought home; and five
+anxious days to all concerned intervened before it could be set in its
+place.  In the mean time, the presses and raising machinery had been
+fitted in the towers above, and the lifting process was begun on the 8th
+April, when the immense mass was raised 8 feet, at the rate of about 2
+inches a minute.  On the 16th, the tube had been raised and finally
+lowered into its permanent bed; the rails were laid along it; and, on the
+18th, Mr. Stephenson passed through with the first locomotive.  The
+second tube was proceeded with on the removal of the first from the
+platform, and was completed and floated in seven months.  The rapidity
+with which this second tube was constructed was in no small degree owing
+to the Jacquard punching-machine, contrived for the purpose by Mr.
+Roberts of Manchester.  This tube was finally fixed in its permanent bed
+on the 2nd of January, 1849.
+
+                     [Picture: Conway Tubular Bridge]
+
+The floating and fixing of the great Britannia tubes was a still more
+formidable enterprise, though the experience gained at Conway rendered it
+easy compared with what it otherwise would have been.  Mr. Stephenson
+superintended the operation of floating the first in person, giving the
+arranged signals from the top of the tube on which he was mounted, the
+active part of the business being performed by a numerous corps of
+sailors, under the immediate direction of Captain Claxton.  Thousands of
+spectators lined the shores of the Strait on the evening of the 19th
+June, 1849.  On the land attachments being cut, the pontoons began to
+float off; but one of the capstans having given way from excessive
+strain, the tube was brought home again for the night.  By next morning
+the defective capstan was restored, and all was in readiness for another
+trial.  At half-past seven in the evening the tube was afloat, and the
+pontoons swung out into the current like a monster pendulum, held steady
+by the shore guide-lines, but increasing in speed to almost a fearful
+extent as they neared their destined place between the piers.  "The
+success of this operation," says Mr. Clark, "depended mainly on properly
+striking the 'butt' beneath the Anglesey tower, on which, as upon a
+centre, the tube was to be veered round into its position across the
+opening.  This position was determined by a 12-inch line, which was to be
+paid out to a fixed mark from the Llanfair capstan.  The coils of the
+rope unfortunately over-rode each other upon this capstan, so that it
+could not be paid out.  In resisting the motion of the tube, the capstan
+was bodily dragged out of the platform by the action of the palls, and
+the tube was in imminent danger of being carried away by the stream, or
+the pontoons crushed upon the rocks.  The men at the capstan were all
+knocked down, and some of them thrown into the water, though they made
+every exertion to arrest the motion of the capstan-bars.  In this dilemma
+Mr. Rolfe, who had charge of the capstan, with great presence of mind,
+called the visitors on shore to his assistance; and handing out the spare
+coil of the 12-inch line into the field at the back of the capstan, it
+was carried with great rapidity up the field, and a crowd of people, men,
+women, and children, holding on to this huge cable, arresting the
+progress of the tube, which was at length brought safely against the butt
+and veered round.  The Britannia end was then drawn into the recess of
+the masonry by a chain passing through the tower to a crab on the far
+side.  The violence of the tide abated, though the wind increased, and
+the Anglesey end was drawn into its place beneath the corbelling in the
+masonry; and as the tide went down, the pontoons deposited their valuable
+cargo on the welcome shelf at each end.  The successful issue was greeted
+by cannon from the shore and the hearty cheers of many thousands of
+spectators, whose sympathy and anxiety were but too clearly indicated by
+the unbroken silence with which the whole operation had been
+accompanied." {335}  By midnight all the pontoons had been got clear of
+the tube, which now hung suspended over the waters of the Strait by its
+two ends, which rested upon the edges cut in the rock for the purpose at
+the base of the Britannia and Anglesey towers respectively, up which the
+tube had now to be lifted by hydraulic power to its permanent place near
+the summit.  The accuracy with which the gigantic beam had been
+constructed may be inferred from the fact that, after passing into its
+place, a clear space remained between the iron plating and the rock
+outside of it of only about three-quarters of an inch!
+
+Mr. Stephenson's anxiety was, of course, very great up to the time of
+performing this trying operation.  When he had got the first tube floated
+at Conway, and saw all safe, he said to Captain Moorsom, "Now I shall go
+to bed."  But the Britannia Bridge was a still more difficult enterprise,
+and cost him many a sleepless night.  Afterwards describing his feelings
+to his friend Mr. Gooch, he said: "It was a most anxious and harassing
+time with me.  Often at night I would lie tossing about, seeking sleep in
+vain.  The tubes filled my head.  I went to bed with them and got up with
+them.  In the grey of the morning, when I looked across the Square, {336}
+it seemed an immense distance across to the houses on the opposite side.
+It was nearly the same length as the span of my tubular bridge!"  When
+the first tube had been floated, a friend observed to him, "This great
+work has made you ten years older."  "I have not slept sound," he
+replied, "for three weeks."  Sir F. Head, however relates, that when he
+revisited the spot on the following morning, he observed, sitting on a
+platform overlooking the suspended tube, a gentleman, reclining entirely
+by himself, smoking a cigar, and gazing, as if indolently, at the aerial
+gallery beneath him.  It was the engineer himself, contemplating his new
+born child.  He had strolled down from the neighbouring village, after
+his first sound and refreshing sleep for weeks, to behold in sunshine and
+solitude, that which during a weary period of gestation had been either
+mysteriously moving in his brain, or, like a vision--sometimes of good
+omen, and sometimes of evil--had, by night as well as by day, been
+flitting across his mind.
+
+The next process was the lifting of the tube into its place, which was
+performed very deliberately and cautiously.  It was raised by powerful
+hydraulic presses, only a few feet at a time, and carefully under-built,
+before being raised to a farther height.  When it had been got up by
+successive stages of this kind to about 24 feet, an extraordinary
+accident occurred, during Mr. Stephenson's absence in London, which he
+afterwards described to the author in as nearly as possible the following
+words:--"In a work of such novelty and magnitude, you may readily imagine
+how anxious I was that every possible contingency should be provided for.
+Where one chain or rope was required, I provided two.  I was not
+satisfied with 'enough:' I must have absolute security, as far as that
+was possible.  I knew the consequences of failure would be most
+disastrous to the Company, and that the wisest economy was to provide for
+all contingencies at whatever cost.  When the first tube at the Britannia
+had been successfully floated between the piers, ready for being raised,
+my young engineers were very much elated; and when the hoisting apparatus
+had been fixed, they wrote to me saying,--'We are now all ready for
+raising her: we could do it in a day, or in two at the most.  But my
+reply was, 'No: you must only raise the tube inch by inch, and you must
+build up under it as you rise.  Every inch must be made good.  Nothing
+must be left to chance or good luck.'  And fortunate it was that I
+insisted upon this cautious course being pursued; for, one day, while the
+hydraulic presses were at work, the bottom of one of them burst clean
+away!  The crosshead and the chains, weighing more than 50 tons,
+descended with a fearful crash upon the press, and the tube itself fell
+down upon the packing beneath.  Though the fall of the tube was not more
+than nine inches, it crushed solid castings, weighing tons, as if they
+had been nuts.  The tube itself was slightly strained and deflected,
+though it still remained sufficiently serviceable.  But it was a
+tremendous test to which it was put, for a weight of upwards of 5000 tons
+falling even a few inches must be admitted to be a very serious matter.
+That it stood so well was extraordinary.  Clark immediately wrote me an
+account of the circumstance, in which he said, 'Thank God, you have been
+so obstinate.  For if this accident had occurred without a bed for the
+end of the tube to fall on, the whole would now have been lying across
+the bottom of the Straits.'  Five thousand pounds extra expense was
+caused by this accident, slight though it might seem.  But careful
+provision was made against future failure; a new and improved cylinder
+was provided: and the work was very soon advancing satisfactorily towards
+completion."
+
+When the Queen first visited the Britannia Bridge, on her return from the
+North in 1852, Robert Stephenson accompanied Her Majesty and Prince
+Albert over the works, explaining the principles on which the bridge had
+been built, and the difficulties which had attended its erection.  He
+conducted the Royal party to near the margin of the sea, and, after
+describing to them the incident of the fall of the tube, and the reason
+of its preservation, he pointed with pardonable pride to a pile of stones
+which the workmen had there raised to commemorate the event.  While
+nearly all the other marks of the work during its progress had been
+obliterated, that cairn had been left standing in commemoration of the
+caution and foresight of their chief.
+
+The floating and raising of the remaining tubes need not be described in
+detail.  The second was floated on the 3rd December, and set in its
+permanent place on the 7th January, 1850.  The others were floated and
+raised in due course.  On the 5th March, Mr. Stephenson put the last
+rivet in the last tube, and passed through the completed bridge,
+accompanied by about a thousand persons, drawn by three locomotives.  The
+bridge was opened for public traffic on the 18th March.  The cost of the
+whole work was 234,450 pounds.
+
+         [Picture: The Britannia Bridge.  (By Percival Skelton)]
+
+The Britannia Bridge is one of the most remarkable monuments of the
+enterprise and skill of the present century.  Robert Stephenson was the
+master spirit of the undertaking.  To him belongs the merit of first
+seizing the ideal conception of the structure best adapted to meet the
+necessities of the case; and of selecting the best men to work out his
+idea, himself watching, controlling, and testing every result, by
+independent check and counter-check.  And finally, he organised and
+directed, through his assistants, the vast band of skilled workmen and
+labourers who were for so many years occupied in carrying his magnificent
+original conception to a successful practical issue.  As he himself said
+of the work,--"The true and accurate calculation of all the conditions
+and elements essential to the safety of the bridge had been a source not
+only of mental but of bodily toil; including, as it did, a combination of
+abstract thought and well-considered experiment adequate to the magnitude
+of the project."
+
+The Britannia Bridge was the result of a vast combination of skill and
+industry.  But for the perfection of our tools and the ability of our
+mechanics to use them to the greatest advantage; but for the matured
+powers of the steam-engine; but for the improvements in the iron
+manufacture, which enabled blooms to be puddled of sizes before deemed
+impracticable, and plates and bars of immense size to be rolled and
+forged; but for these, the Britannia Bridge would have been designed in
+vain.  Thus, it was not the product of the genius of the railway engineer
+alone, but of the collective mechanical genius of the English nation.
+
+            [Picture: Conway Bridge.--Floating the First Tube]
+
+                    [Picture: View in Tapton Gardens]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+GEORGE STEPHENSON'S CLOSING YEARS--ILLNESS AND DEATH.
+
+
+In describing the completion of the series of great works detailed in the
+preceding chapter, we have somewhat anticipated the closing years of
+George Stephenson's life.  He could not fail to take an anxious interest
+in the success of his son's designs, and he accordingly paid many visits
+to Conway and to Menai, during the progress of the works.  He was present
+on the occasion of the floating and raising of the first Conway tube, and
+there witnessed a clear proof of the soundness of Robert's judgment as to
+the efficiency and strength of the tubular bridge, of which he had at
+first expressed some doubts; but before the like test could be applied at
+the Britannia Bridge, George Stephenson's mortal anxieties were at an
+end, for he had then ceased from all his labours.
+
+Towards the close of his life, George Stephenson almost entirely withdrew
+from the active pursuit of his profession; he devoted himself chiefly to
+his extensive collieries and lime-works, taking a local interest only in
+such projected railways as were calculated to open up new markets for
+their products.
+
+At home he lived the life of a country gentleman, enjoying his garden and
+grounds, and indulging his love of nature, which, through all his busy
+life, had never left him.  It was not until the year 1845 that he took an
+active interest in horticultural pursuits.  Then he began to build new
+melon-houses, pineries, and vineries, of great extent; and he now seemed
+as eager to excel all other growers of exotic plants in his
+neighbourhood, as he had been to surpass the villagers of Killingworth in
+the production of gigantic cabbages and cauliflowers some thirty years
+before.  He had a pine-house built 68 feet in length and a pinery 140
+feet.  Workmen were constantly employed in enlarging them, until at
+length he had no fewer than ten glass forcing-houses, heated with hot
+water, which he was one of the first in that neighbourhood to make use of
+for such a purpose.  He did not take so much pleasure in flowers as in
+fruits.  At one of the county agricultural meetings, he said that he
+intended yet to grow pineapples at Tapton as big as pumpkins.  The only
+man to whom he would "knock under" was his friend Paxton, the gardener to
+the Duke of Devonshire; and he was so old in the service, and so skilful,
+that he could scarcely hope to beat him.  Yet his "Queen" pines did take
+the first prize at a competition with the Duke,--though this was not
+until shortly after his death, when the plants had become more fully
+grown.  His grapes also took the first prize at Rotherham, at a
+competition open to all England.  He was extremely successful in
+producing melons, having invented a method of suspending them in baskets
+of wire gauze, which, by relieving the stalk from tension, allowed
+nutrition to proceed more freely, and better enabled the fruit to grow
+and ripen.
+
+He took much pride also in his growth of cucumbers.  He raised them very
+fine and large, but he could not make them grow straight.  Place them as
+he would, notwithstanding all his propping of them, and humouring them by
+modifying the application of heat and the admission of light for the
+purpose of effecting his object, they would still insist on growing
+crooked in their own way.  At last he had a number of glass cylinders
+made at Newcastle, for the purpose of an experiment; into these the
+growing cucumbers were inserted, and then he succeeded in growing them
+perfectly straight.  Carrying one of the new products into his house one
+day, and exhibiting it to a party of visitors, he told them of the
+expedient he had adopted, and added gleefully, "I think I have bothered
+them noo!"
+
+Mr. Stephenson also carried on farming operations with some success.  He
+experimented on manure, and fed cattle after methods of his own.  He was
+very particular as to breed and build in stock-breeding.  "You see, sir,"
+he said to one gentleman, "I like to see the _coo's_ back at a gradient
+something like this" (drawing an imaginary line with his hand), "and then
+the ribs or girders will carry more flesh than if they were so--or so."
+When he attended the county agricultural meetings, which he frequently
+did, he was accustomed to take part in the discussions, and he brought
+the same vigorous practical mind to bear upon questions of tillage,
+drainage, and farm economy, which he had been accustomed to exercise on
+mechanical and engineering matters.
+
+All his early affection for birds and animals revived.  He had favourite
+dogs, and cows, and horses; and again he began to keep rabbits, and to
+pride himself on the beauty of his breed.  There was not a bird's nest
+upon the grounds that he did not know of; and from day to day he went
+round watching the progress which the birds made with their building,
+carefully guarding them from injury.  No one was more minutely acquainted
+with the habits of British birds, the result of a long, loving, and close
+observation of nature.
+
+At Tapton he remembered the failure of his early experiment in hatching
+birds' eggs by heat, and he now performed it successfully, being able to
+secure a proper apparatus for maintaining a uniform temperature.  He was
+also curious about the breeding and fattening of fowls; and when his
+friend Edward Pease of Darlington visited him at Tapton, he explained a
+method which he had invented for fattening chickens in half the usual
+time.
+
+Mrs. Stephenson tried to keep bees, but found they would not thrive at
+Tapton.  Many hives perished, and there was no case of success.  The
+cause of failure was a puzzle to the engineer; but one day his acute
+powers of observation enabled him to unravel it.  At the foot of the hill
+on which Tapton House stands, he saw some bees trying to rise up from
+amongst the grass, laden with honey and wax.  They were already
+exhausted, as if with long flying; and then it occurred to him that the
+height at which the house stood above the bees' feeding-ground rendered
+it difficult for them to reach their hives when heavy laden, and hence
+they sank exhausted.  He afterwards incidentally mentioned the
+circumstance to Mr. Jesse the naturalist, who concurred in his view as to
+the cause of failure, and was much struck by the keen observation which
+had led to its solution.
+
+Mr. Stephenson had none of the in-door habits of the student.  He read
+very little; for reading is a habit which is generally acquired in youth;
+and his youth and manhood had been for the most part spent in hard work.
+Books wearied him, and sent him to sleep.  Novels excited his feelings
+too much, and he avoided them, though he would occasionally read through
+a philosophical book on a subject in which he felt particularly
+interested.  He wrote very few letters with his own hand; nearly all his
+letters were dictated, and he avoided even dictation when he could.  His
+greatest pleasure was in conversation, from which he gathered most of his
+imparted information.
+
+It was his practice, when about to set out on a journey by railway, to
+walk along the train before it started, and look into the carriages to
+see if he could find "a conversable face."  On one of these occasions, at
+the Euston Station, he discovered in a carriage a very handsome, manly,
+and intelligent face, which he afterwards found was that of the late Lord
+Denman.  He was on his way down to his seat at Stony Middleton, in
+Derbyshire.  Mr. Stephenson entered the carriage, and the two were
+shortly engaged in interesting conversation.  It turned upon chronometry
+and horology, and the engineer amazed his lordship by the extent of his
+knowledge on the subject, in which he displayed as much minute
+information, even down to the latest improvements in watchmaking, as if
+he had been bred a watchmaker and lived by the trade.  Lord Denman was
+curious to know how a man whose time must have been mainly engrossed by
+engineering, had gathered so much knowledge on a subject quite out of his
+own line, and he asked the question.  "I learnt clockmaking and
+watchmaking," was the answer, "while a working man at Killingworth, when
+I made a little money in my spare hours, by cleaning the pitmen's clocks
+and watches; and since then I have kept up my information on the
+subject."  This led to further questions, and then Mr. Stephenson told
+Lord Denman the interesting story of his life, which held him entranced
+during the remainder of the journey.
+
+Many of his friends readily accepted invitations to Tapton House to enjoy
+his hospitality, which never failed.  With them he would "fight his
+battles o'er again," reverting to his battle for the locomotive; and he
+was never tired of telling, nor were his auditors of listening to, the
+lively anecdotes with which he was accustomed to illustrate the struggles
+of his early career.  Whilst walking in the woods or through the grounds,
+he would arrest his friend's attention by allusion to some simple
+object,--such as a leaf, a blade of grass, a bit of bark, a nest of
+birds, or an ant carrying its eggs across the path,--and descant in
+glowing terms upon the creative power of the Divine Mechanician, whose
+contrivances were so exhaustless and so wonderful.  This was a theme upon
+which he was often accustomed to dwell in reverential admiration, when in
+the society of his more intimate friends.
+
+One night, when walking under the stars, and gazing up into the field of
+suns, each the probable centre of a system, forming the Milky Way, a
+friend said to him, "What an insignificant creature is man in sight of so
+immense a creation as that!"  "Yes!" was his reply; "but how wonderful a
+creature also is man, to be able to think and reason, and even in some
+measure to comprehend works so infinite!"
+
+A microscope, which he had brought down to Tapton, was a source of
+immense enjoyment to him; and he was never tired of contemplating the
+minute wonders which it revealed.  One evening, when some friends were
+visiting him, he induced them each to puncture their skin so as to draw
+blood, in order that he might examine the globules through the
+microscope.  One of the gentlemen present was a teetotaller, and Mr.
+Stephenson pronounced his blood to be the most lively of the whole.  He
+had a theory of his own about the movement of the globules in the blood,
+which has since become familiar.  It was, that they were respectively
+charged with electricity, positive at one end and negative at the other,
+and that thus they attracted and repelled each other, causing a
+circulation.  No sooner did he observe anything new, than he immediately
+set about devising a reason for it.  His training in mechanics, his
+practical familiarity with matter in all its forms, and the strong bent
+of his mind, led him first of all to seek for a mechanical explanation.
+And yet he was ready to admit that there was a something in the principle
+of _life_--so mysterious and inexplicable--which baffled mechanics, and
+seemed to dominate over and control them.  He did not care much, either,
+for abstruse mechanics, but only for the experimental and practical, as
+is usually the case with those whose knowledge has been self-acquired.
+
+Even at his advanced age, the spirit of frolic had not left him.  When
+proceeding from Chesterfield station to Tapton House with his friends, he
+would almost invariably challenge them to a race up the steep path,
+partly formed of stone steps, along the hill side.  And he would
+struggle, as of old, to keep the front place, though by this time his
+"wind" had greatly failed.  He would occasionally invite an old friend to
+take a quiet wrestle with him on the lawn, to keep up his skill, and
+perhaps to try some new "knack" of throwing.  In the evening, he would
+sometimes indulge his visitors by reciting the old pastoral of "Damon and
+Phyllis," or singing his favourite song of "John Anderson my Joe."  But
+his greatest glory amongst those with whom he was most intimate, was a
+"crowdie!"  "Let's have a crowdie night," he would say; and forthwith a
+kettle of boiling water was ordered in, with a basin of oatmeal.  Taking
+a large bowl, containing a sufficiency of hot water, and placing it
+between his knees, he poured in oatmeal with one hand, and stirred the
+mixture vigorously with the other.  When enough meal had been added, and
+the stirring was completed, the crowdie was made.  It was then supped
+with new milk, and Stephenson generally pronounced it "capital!"  It was
+the diet to which he had been accustomed when a working man, and all the
+dainties with which he had become familiar in recent years had not
+spoiled his simple tastes.  To enjoy crowdie at his age, besides,
+indicated that he still possessed that quality on which no doubt much of
+his practical success in life had depended,--a strong and healthy
+digestion.
+
+He would also frequently invite to his house the humbler companions of
+his early life, and take pleasure in talking over old times with them.
+He never assumed any of the bearings of a great man on such occasions,
+but treated the visitors with the same friendliness and respect as if
+they had been his equals, sending them away pleased with themselves and
+delighted with him.  At other times, needy men who had known him in youth
+would knock at his door, and they were never refused access.  But if he
+had heard of any misconduct on their part he would rate them soundly.
+One who knew him intimately in private life has seen him exhorting such
+backsliders, and denouncing their misconduct and imprudence with the
+tears streaming down his cheeks.  And he would generally conclude by
+opening his purse, and giving them the help which they needed "to make a
+fresh start in the world."
+
+Mr. Stephenson's life at Tapton during his latter years was occasionally
+diversified with a visit to London.  His engineering business having
+become limited, he generally went there for the purpose of visiting
+friends, or "to see what there was fresh going on."  He found a new race
+of engineers springing up on all hands--men who knew him not; and his
+London journeys gradually ceased to yield him pleasure.  A friend used to
+take him to the opera, but by the end of the first act, he was generally
+in a profound slumber.  Yet on one occasion he enjoyed a visit to the
+Haymarket with a party of friends on his birthday, to see T. P. Cooke, in
+"Black-eyed Susan;"--if that can be called enjoyment which kept him in a
+state of tears during half the performance.  At other times he visited
+Newcastle, which always gave him great pleasure.  He would, on such
+occasions, go out to Killingworth and seek up old friends, and if the
+people whom he knew were too retiring, and shrunk into their cottages, he
+went and sought them there.  Striking the floor with his stick, and
+holding his noble person upright, he would say, in his own kind way,
+"Well, and how's all here to-day?"  To the last he had always a warm
+heart for Newcastle and its neighbourhood.
+
+Sir Robert Peel, on more than one occasion, invited George Stephenson to
+his mansion at Drayton, where he was accustomed to assemble round him men
+of the highest distinction in art, science, and legislation, during the
+intervals of his parliamentary life.  The first invitation was
+respectfully declined.  Sir Robert invited him a second time, and a
+second time he declined: "I have no great ambition," he said, "to mix in
+fine company, and perhaps should feel out of my element amongst such high
+folks."  But Sir Robert a third time pressed him to come down to Tamworth
+early in January, 1845, when he would meet Buckland, Follett, and others
+well known to both.  "Well, Sir Robert," said he, "I feel your kindness
+very much, and can no longer refuse: I will come down and join your
+party."
+
+Mr. Stephenson's strong powers of observation, together with his native
+humour and shrewdness, imparted to his conversation at all times much
+vigour and originality, and made him, to young and old, a delightful
+companion.  Though mainly an engineer, he was also a profound thinker on
+many scientific questions: and there was scarcely a subject of
+speculation, or a department of recondite science, on which he had not
+employed his faculties in such a way as to have formed large and original
+views.  At Drayton, the conversation usually turned upon such topics, and
+Mr. Stephenson freely joined in it.  On one occasion, an animated
+discussion took place between himself and Dr. Buckland on one of his
+favourite theories as to the formation of coal.  But the result was, that
+Dr. Buckland, a much greater master of tongue-fence than Mr. Stephenson,
+completely silenced him.  Next morning, before breakfast, when he was
+walking in the grounds, deeply pondering, Sir William Follett came up and
+asked what he was thinking about?  "Why, Sir William, I am thinking over
+that argument I had with Buckland last night; I know I am right, and that
+if I had only the command of words which he has, I'd have beaten him."
+"Let me know all about it," said Sir William, "and I'll see what I can do
+for you."  The two sat down in an arbour, and the astute lawyer made
+himself thoroughly acquainted with the points of the case; entering into
+it with all the zeal of an advocate about to plead the dearest interests
+of his client.  After he had mastered the subject, Sir William rose up,
+rubbing his hands with glee, and said, "Now I am ready for him."  Sir
+Robert Peel was made acquainted with the plot, and adroitly introduced
+the subject of the controversy after dinner.  The result was, that in the
+argument which followed, the man of science was overcome by the man of
+law; and Sir William Follett had at all points the mastery over Dr.
+Buckland.  "What do _you_ say, Mr. Stephenson?" asked Sir Robert,
+laughing.  "Why," said he, "I will only say this, that of all the powers
+above and under the earth, there seems to me to be no power so great as
+the gift of the gab." {350}
+
+One Sunday, when the party had just returned from church, they were
+standing together on the terrace near the Hall, and observed in the
+distance a railway-train flashing along, tossing behind its long white
+plume of steam.  "Now, Buckland," said Stephenson, "I have a poser for
+you.  Can you tell me what is the power that is driving that train?"
+"Well," said the other, "I suppose it is one of your big engines."  "But
+what drives the engine?"  "Oh, very likely a canny Newcastle driver."
+"What do you say to the light of the sun?"  "How can that be?" asked the
+doctor.  "It is nothing else," said the engineer, "it is light bottled up
+in the earth for tens of thousands of years,--light, absorbed by plants
+and vegetables, being necessary for the condensation of carbon during the
+process of their growth, if it be not carbon in another form,--and now,
+after being buried in the earth for long ages in fields of coal, that
+latent light is again brought forth and liberated, made to work as in
+that locomotive, for great human purposes."
+
+During the same visit, Mr. Stephenson, one evening repeated his
+experiment with blood drawn from the finger, submitting it to the
+microscope in order to show the curious circulation of the globules.  He
+set the example by pricking his own thumb; and the other guests, by
+turns, in like manner, gave up a small portion of their blood for the
+purpose of ascertaining the comparative livelinesss of their circulation.
+When Sir Robert Peel's turn came, Mr. Stephenson said he was curious to
+know "how the blood globules of a great politician would conduct
+themselves."  Sir Robert held forth his finger for the purpose of being
+pricked; but once, and again, he sensitively shrunk back, and at length
+the experiment, so far as he was concerned, was abandoned.  Sir Robert
+Peel's sensitiveness to pain was extreme, and yet he was destined, a few
+years after, to die a death of the most distressing agony.
+
+In 1847, the year before his death, Mr. Stephenson was again invited to
+join a distinguished party at Drayton Manor, and to assist in the
+ceremony of formally opening the Trent Valley Railway, which had been
+originally designed and laid out by himself many years before.  The first
+sod of the railway had been cut by the Prime Minister, in November, 1845,
+during the time when Mr. Stephenson was abroad on the business of the
+Spanish railway.  The formal opening took place on the 26th June, 1847,
+the line having thus been constructed in less than two years.
+
+What a change had come over the spirit of the landed gentry since the
+time when George Stephenson had first projected a railway through that
+district!  Then they were up in arms against him, characterising him as
+the devastator and spoiler of their estates; now he was hailed as one of
+the greatest benefactors of the age.  Sir Robert Peel, the chief
+political personage in England, welcomed him as a guest and friend, and
+spoke of him as the chief among practical philosophers.  A dozen members
+of Parliament, seven baronets, with all the landed magnates of the
+district, assembled to celebrate the opening of the railway.  The clergy
+were there to bless the enterprise, and to bid all hail to railway
+progress, as "enabling them to carry on with greater facility those
+operations in connexion with religion which were calculated to be so
+beneficial to the country."  The army, speaking through the mouth of
+General A'Court, acknowledged the vast importance of railways, as tending
+to improve the military defences of the country.  And representatives
+from eight corporations were there to acknowledge the great benefits
+which railways had conferred upon the merchants, tradesmen, and working
+classes of their respective towns and cities.
+
+In the spring of 1848 Mr. Stephenson was invited to Whittington House,
+near Chesterfield, the residence of his friend and former pupil, Mr.
+Swanwick, to meet the distinguished American, Emerson.  Upon being
+introduced, they did not immediately engage in conversation; but
+presently Stephenson jumped up, took Emerson by the collar, and giving
+him one of his friendly shakes, asked how it was that in England we could
+always tell an American?  This led to an interesting conversation, in the
+course of which Emerson said how much he had been everywhere struck by
+the haleness and comeliness of the English men and women; and then they
+diverged into a further discussion of the influences which air, climate,
+moisture, soil, and other conditions exercised upon the physical and
+moral development of a people.  The conversation was next directed to the
+subject of electricity, upon which Stephenson launched out
+enthusiastically, explaining his views by several simple and striking
+illustrations.  From thence it gradually turned to the events of his own
+life, which he related in so graphic a manner as completely to rivet the
+attention of the American.  Afterwards Emerson said, "that it was worth
+crossing the Atlantic to have seen Stephenson alone; he had such native
+force of character and vigour of intellect."
+
+The rest of Mr. Stephenson's days were spent quietly at Tapton, amongst
+his dogs, his rabbits, and his birds.  When not engaged about the works
+connected with his collieries, he was occupied in horticulture and
+farming.  He continued proud of his flowers, his fruits, and his crops;
+and the old spirit of competition was still strong within him.  Although
+he had for some time been in delicate health, and his hand shook from
+nervous affection, he appeared to possess a sound constitution.  Emerson
+had observed of him that he had the lives of many men in him.  But
+perhaps the American spoke figuratively, in reference to his vast stores
+of experience.  It appeared that he had never completely recovered from
+the attack of pleurisy which seized him during his return from Spain.  As
+late, however, as the 26th July, 1848, he felt himself sufficiently well
+to be able to attend a meeting of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers
+at Birmingham, and to read to the members his paper "On the Fallacies of
+the Rotatory Engine."  It was his last appearance before them.  Shortly
+after his return to Tapton, he had an attack of intermittent fever, from
+which he seemed to be recovering, when a sudden effusion of blood from
+the lungs carried him off, on the 12th August, 1848, in the sixty-seventh
+year of his age.  When all was over, Robert wrote to Edward Pease, "With
+deep pain I inform you, as one of his oldest friends, of the death of my
+dear father this morning at 12 o'clock, after about ten days' illness
+from severe fever."  Mr. Starbuck, who was also present, wrote, "The
+favourable symptoms of yesterday morning were towards evening followed by
+a serious change for the worse.  This continued during the night, and
+early this morning it became evident that he was sinking.  At a few
+minutes before 12 to-day he breathed his last.  All that the most devoted
+and unremitting care of Mrs. Stephenson {354} and the skill of medicine
+could accomplish, has been done, but in vain."
+
+George Stephenson's remains were followed to the grave by a large body of
+his workpeople, by whom he was greatly admired and beloved.  They
+remembered him as a kind master, who was ever ready actively to promote
+all measures for their moral, physical, and mental improvement.  The
+inhabitants of Chesterfield evinced their respect for the deceased by
+suspending business, closing their shops, and joining in the funeral
+procession, which was headed by the corporation of the town.  Many of the
+surrounding gentry also attended.  The body was interred in Trinity
+Church, Chesterfield, where a simple tablet marks the great engineer's
+last resting-place.
+
+The statue of George Stephenson, which the Liverpool and Manchester and
+Grand Junction Companies had commissioned, was on its way to England when
+his death occurred; and it served for a monument, though his best
+monument will always be his works.  The statue referred to was placed in
+St. George's Hall, Liverpool.  A full-length statue of him, by Bailey,
+was also erected a few years later, in the noble vestibule of the London
+and North-Western Station, in Euston Square.  A subscription for the
+purpose was set on foot by the Society of Mechanical Engineers, of which
+he had been the founder and president.  A few advertisements were
+inserted in the newspapers, inviting subscriptions; and it is a notable
+fact that the voluntary offerings included an average of two shillings
+each from 3150 working men, who embraced this opportunity of doing honour
+to their distinguished fellow workman.
+
+                 [Picture: Trinity Church, Chesterfield]
+
+But unquestionably the finest and most appropriate statue to the memory
+of George Stephenson is that erected in 1862, after the design of John
+Lough, at Newcastle-upon Tyne.  It is in the immediate neighbourhood of
+the Literary and Philosophical Institute, to which both George and his
+son Robert were so much indebted in their early years; close to the great
+Stephenson locomotive foundry established by the shrewdness of the
+father; and in the vicinity of the High Level Bridge, one of the grandest
+products of the genius of the son.  The head of Stephenson, as expressed
+in this noble work, is massive, characteristic, and faithful; and the
+attitude of the figure is simple yet manly and energetic.  It stands on a
+pedestal, at the respective corners of which are sculptured the recumbent
+figures of a pitman, a mechanic, an engine-driver, and a plate-layer.
+The statue appropriately stands in a very thoroughfare of working-men,
+thousands of whom see it daily as they pass to and from their work; and
+we can imagine them, as they look up to Stephenson's manly figure,
+applying to it the words addressed by Robert Nicoll to Robert Burns, with
+perhaps still greater appropriateness:--
+
+    "Before the proudest of the earth
+       We stand, with an uplifted brow;
+    Like us, thou wast a toiling man,--
+       And we are noble, now!"
+
+The portrait prefixed to this volume gives a good indication of George
+Stephenson's shrewd, kind, honest, manly face.  His fair, clear
+countenance was ruddy, and seemingly glowed with health.  The forehead
+was large and high, projecting over the eyes, and there was that massive
+breadth across the lower part which is usually observed in men of eminent
+constructive skill.  The mouth was firmly marked, and shrewdness and
+humour lurked there as well as in the keen grey eye.  His frame was
+compact, well-knit, and rather spare.  His hair became grey at an early
+age, and towards the close of his life it was of a pure silky whiteness.
+He dressed neatly in black, wearing a white neckcloth; and his face, his
+person, and his deportment at once arrested attention, and marked the
+Gentleman.
+
+            [Picture: Tablet in Trinity Church, Chesterfield]
+
+                   [Picture: Victoria Bridge, Montreal]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+ROBERT STEPHENSON'S VICTORIA BRIDGE, LOWER CANADA--ILLNESS AND
+DEATH--STEPHENSON CHARACTERISTICS.
+
+
+George Stephenson bequeathed to his son his valuable collieries, his
+share in the engine manufactory at Newcastle, and his large accumulation
+of savings, which, together with the fortune he had himself amassed by
+railway work, gave Robert the position of an engineer millionaire--the
+first of his order.  He continued, however, to live in a quiet style; and
+although he bought occasional pictures and statues, and indulged in the
+luxury of a yacht, he did not live up to his income, which went on
+rapidly accumulating until his death.
+
+There was no longer the necessity for applying himself to the laborious
+business of a parliamentary engineer, in which he had now been occupied
+for some fifteen years.  Shortly after his father's death, Edward Pease
+strongly recommended him to give up the more harassing work of his
+profession; and his reply (15th June, 1850) was as follows:--"The
+suggestion which your kind note contains is quite in accordance with my
+own feelings and intentions respecting retirement; but I find it a very
+difficult matter to bring to a close so complicated a connexion in
+business as that which has been established by twenty-five years of
+active and arduous professional duty.  Comparative retirement is,
+however, my intention; and I trust that your prayer for the Divine
+blessing to grant me happiness and quiet comfort will be fulfilled.  I
+cannot but feel deeply grateful to the Great Disposer of events for the
+success which has hitherto attended my exertions in life; and I trust
+that the future will also be marked by a continuance of His mercies."
+
+Although Robert Stephenson, in conformity with this expressed intention,
+for the most part declined to undertake new business, he did not
+altogether lay aside his harness; and he lived to repeat his tubular
+bridges both in Lower Canada and in Egypt.  The success of the tubular
+system, as adopted at Menai and Conway, was such as to recommend it for
+adoption wherever great span was required; and the peculiar circumstances
+connected with the navigation of the St. Lawrence and the Nile, may be
+said to have compelled its adoption in carrying railways across those
+great rivers.
+
+The Victoria Bridge, of which Robert Stephenson was the designer and
+chief engineer, is, without exception, the greatest work of the kind in
+the world.  For gigantic proportions and vast length and strength there
+is nothing to compare with it in ancient or modern times.  The entire
+bridge, with its approaches, is only about sixty yards short of _two
+miles_, being five times longer than the Britannia across the Menai
+Straits, seven and a half times longer than Waterloo Bridge, and more
+than ten times longer than the new Chelsea Bridge across the Thames!  It
+has not less than twenty-four spans of 242 feet each, and one great
+central span--itself an immense bridge--of 330 feet.  The road is carried
+within iron tubes 60 feet above the level of the St. Lawrence, which runs
+beneath at a speed of about ten miles an hour, and in winter brings down
+the ice of two thousand square miles of lakes and rivers, with their
+numerous tributaries.  The weight of iron in the tubes is about ten
+thousand tons, supported on massive piers, which contain, some six, and
+others ten thousand tons of solid masonry.
+
+So gigantic a work, involving so heavy an expenditure--about 1,300,000
+pounds--was not projected without sufficient cause.  The Grand Trunk
+Railway of Canada, upwards of 1200 miles in length, traverses British
+North America from the shores of the Atlantic to the rich prairie country
+of the Far West.  It opens up a vast extent of fertile territory for
+future immigration, and provides a ready means for transporting the
+varied products of the Western States to the seaboard.  So long as the
+St. Lawrence was relied upon, the inhabitants along the Great Valley were
+precluded from communication with each other for nearly six months of the
+year, during which the navigation was closed by the ice.
+
+The Grand Trunk Railway was designed to furnish a line of communication
+through this great district at all seasons; following the course of the
+St. Lawrence along its north bank, and uniting the principal towns of
+Canada.  But stopping short on the north shore, it was still an
+incomplete work; unconnected, except by a dangerous and often
+impracticable ferry, with Montreal, the capital of the province, and shut
+off from connection with the United States, as well as with the coast to
+which the commerce of Canada naturally tends.  Without a bridge at
+Montreal, therefore, it was felt that the system of Canadian railway
+communication would have been incomplete, and the benefits of the Grand
+Trunk Railway in a great measure nugatory.
+
+As early as 1846 the construction of a bridge across the St. Lawrence at
+Montreal was strongly advocated by the local press for the purpose of
+directly connecting that city with the then projected Atlantic and St.
+Lawrence Railway.  A survey of the bridge was made, and the scheme was
+reported to be practicable.  A period of colonial depression, however,
+intervened, and although the project was not lost sight of, it was not
+until 1852, when the Grand Trunk Railway Company began their operations,
+that there seemed to be any reasonable prospect of its being carried out.
+In that year, Mr. A. M. Ross--who had superintended, under Robert
+Stephenson, the construction of the tubular bridge over the
+Conway--visited Canada, and inspected the site of the proposed bridge,
+when he readily arrived at the conclusion that a like structure was
+suitable for the crossing of the St. Lawrence.  He returned to England to
+confer with Robert Stephenson on the subject, and the result was the plan
+of the Victoria Bridge, of which Robert Stephenson was the designer, and
+Mr. A. M. Ross the joint and resident engineer.
+
+The particular kind of structure to be adopted, however, formed the
+subject of much preliminary discussion.  Even after the design of a
+tubular bridge had been adopted, and the piers were commenced, the plan
+was made the subject of severe criticism, on the ground of its alleged
+excessive cost.  It therefore became necessary for Mr. Stephenson to
+vindicate the propriety of his design in a report to the directors of the
+railway, in which he satisfactorily proved that as respected strength,
+efficiency, and economy, with a view to permanency, the plan of the
+Victoria Bridge was unimpeachable.  There were various methods proposed
+for spanning the St. Lawrence.  The suspension bridge, such as that over
+the river Niagara, was found inapplicable for several reasons, but
+chiefly because of its defective rigidity, which greatly limited the
+speed and weight of the trains, and consequently the amount of traffic
+which could be passed over such a bridge.  Thus, taking the length of the
+Victoria Bridge into account, it was found that not more than 20 trains
+could pass within the 24 hours, a number insufficient for the
+accommodation of the anticipated traffic.  To introduce such an amount of
+material into the suspension bridge as would supply increased rigidity,
+would only be approximating to the original beam, and neutralizing any
+advantages in point of cheapness which might be derivable from this form
+of structure, without securing the essential stiffness and strength.
+Iron arches were also considered inapplicable, because of the large
+headway required for the passage of the ice in winter, and the necessity
+which existed for keeping the springing of the arches clear of the
+water-line.  This would have involved the raising of the entire road, and
+a largely increased expenditure on the upper works.  The question was
+therefore reduced to the consideration of the kind of _horizontal beam_
+or _girder_ to be employed.
+
+Horizontal girders are of three kinds.  The _Tubular_ is constructed of
+riveted rectangular boiler plates.  Where the span is large, the road
+passes within the tube; where the span is comparatively small, the
+roadway is supported by two or more rectangular beams.  Next there is the
+_Lattice_ girder, borrowed from the loose rough timber bridges of the
+American engineers, consisting of a top and bottom flange connected by a
+number of flat iron bars, riveted across each other at a certain angle,
+the roadway resting on the top, or being suspended at the bottom between
+the lattice on either side.  Bridges on the same construction are now
+extensively used for crossing the broad rivers of India, and are
+especially designed with a view to their easy transport and erection.
+The _Trellis_ or Warren girder is a modification of the same plan,
+consisting of a top and bottom flange, with a connecting web of diagonal
+flat bars, forming a complete system of triangulation--hence the name of
+"Triangular girder," by which it is generally known.  The merit of this
+form consists in its comparative rigidity, strength, lightness, and
+economy of material These bridges are also extensively employed in
+spanning the rivers of India.  One of the best specimens is the Crumlin
+viaduct, 200 feet high at one point, which spans the river and valley of
+the Ebbw near the village of Crumlin in South Wales.  This viaduct is
+about a third of a mile long, divided into two parts by a ridge of hills
+which runs through the centre of the valley--each part forming a separate
+viaduct, the one of seven equal spans of 150 feet, the other of three
+spans of the same diameter.  The bridge has been very skilfully designed
+and constructed, and, by reason of its great dimensions and novel
+arrangements, is entitled to be regarded as one of the most remarkable
+engineering works of the day.
+
+"In calculating the strength of these different classes of girders," Mr.
+Stephenson observed, "one ruling principle appertains, and is common to
+all of them.  Primarily and essentially, the ultimate strength is
+considered to exist in the top and bottom,--the former being exposed to a
+compression force by the action of the load, and the latter to a force of
+tension; therefore, whatever be the class or denomination of girders,
+they must all be alike in amount of effective material in these members,
+if their spans and depths are the same, and they have to sustain the same
+amount of load.  Hence, the question of comparative merit amongst the
+different classes of construction of beams or girders is really narrowed
+to the method of connecting the top and bottom _webs_, so called."  In
+the tubular system the connexion is effected by continuous boiler plates
+riveted together; and in the lattice and trellis bridges by flat iron
+bars, more or less numerous, forming a series of struts and ties.  Those
+engineers who advocate the employment of the latter form of construction,
+set forth as its principal advantage the saving of material which is
+effected by employing bars instead of iron plates; whereas Mr. Stephenson
+and his followers urge, that in point of economy the boiler plate side is
+equal to the bars, whilst in point of effective strength and rigidity it
+is decidedly superior.  To show the comparative economy of material, he
+contrasted the lattice girder bridge over the river Trent, on the Great
+Northern Railway near Newark, with the tubes of the Victoria Bridge.  In
+the former case, where the span is 240.5 feet, and the bridge 13 feet
+wide, the weight including bearings is 292 tons; in the latter, where the
+span is 242 feet, the width of the tube 16 feet, the weight including
+bearings is 275 tons, showing a balance in favour of the Victoria Tube of
+17 tons.  The comparison between the Newark Dyke Bridge and the Tubular
+Bridge over the river Aire is equally favourable to the latter; and no
+one can have travelled over the Great Northern line to York without
+noting that, as respects rigidity under the passing train, the Tubular
+Bridge is decidedly superior.  It is ascertained that the deflection
+caused by a passing load is considerably greater in the former case; and
+Mr. Stephenson was also of opinion that the sides of all trellis or
+lattice girders are useless, except for the purpose of connecting the top
+and bottom, and keeping them in their position.  They depend upon their
+connexion with the top and bottom webs for their own support; and since
+they could not sustain their shape, but would collapse immediately on
+their being disconnected from their top and bottom members, it is evident
+that they add to the strain upon them, and consequently to that extent
+reduce the ultimate strength of the beams.  "I admit," he added, "that
+there is no formula for valuing the _solid_ sides for strains, and that
+at present we only ascribe to them the value or use of connecting the top
+and bottom; yet we are aware that, from their continuity and solidity,
+they are of value to resist horizontal and many other strains,
+independently of the top and bottom, by which they add very much to the
+stiffness of the beam; and the fact of their containing more material
+than is necessary to connect the top and bottom webs, has by no means
+been fairly established."  Another important advantage of the Tubular
+bridge over the Trellis or Lattice structure, consists in its greater
+safety in event of a train running off the line,--a contingency which has
+more than once occurred on a tubular bridge without detriment, whereas in
+event of such an accident occurring on a Trellis or Lattice bridge, it
+must infallibly be destroyed.  Where the proposed bridge is of the
+unusual length of a mile and a quarter, it is obvious that this
+consideration must have had no small weight with the directors, who
+eventually decided on proceeding with the Tubular Bridge according to Mr.
+Stephenson's original design.
+
+From the first projection of the Victoria Bridge, the difficulties of
+executing such a work across a wide river, down which an avalanche of ice
+rushes to the sea every spring, were pronounced almost insurmountable by
+those best acquainted with the locality.  The ice of two thousand miles
+of inland lakes and upper rivers, besides their tributaries, is then
+poured down stream, and, in the neighbourhood of Montreal especially, it
+is often piled up to the height of from forty to fifty feet, placing the
+surrounding country under water, and doing severe damage to the massive
+stone buildings along the noble river front of the city.  To resist so
+prodigious a pressure, it was necessary that the piers of the proposed
+bridge should be of the most solid and massive description.  Their
+foundations are placed in the solid rock; for none of the artificial
+methods of obtaining foundations, suggested by some engineers for
+cheapness' sake, were found practicable in this case.  Where the force
+exercised against the piers was likely to be so great, it was felt that
+timber ice-breakers, timber or cast-iron piling, or even rubble-work,
+would have proved but temporary expedients.  The two centre piers are
+eighteen feet wide, and the remaining twenty-two piers fifteen feet; to
+arrest and break the ice, an inclined plane, composed of great blocks of
+stone, was added to the up-river side of each pier--each block weighing
+from seven to ten tons, and the whole were firmly clamped together with
+iron rivets.
+
+To convey some idea of the immense force which these piers are required
+to resist, we may briefly describe the breaking up of the ice in March,
+1858, while the bridge was under construction.  Fourteen out of the
+twenty-four piers were then finished, together with the formidable
+abutments and approaches to the bridge.  The ice in the river began to
+show signs of weakness on the 29th March, but it was not until the 31st
+that a general movement became observable, which continued for an hour,
+when it suddenly stopped, and the water rose rapidly.  On the following
+day, at noon, a grand movement commenced; the waters rose about four feet
+in two minutes, up to a level with many of the Montreal streets.  The
+fields of ice at the same time were suddenly elevated to an incredible
+height; and so overwhelming were they in appearance, that crowds of the
+townspeople, who had assembled on the quay to watch the progress of the
+flood, ran for their lives.  This movement lasted about twenty minutes,
+during which the jammed ice destroyed several portions of the quay-wall,
+grinding the hardest blocks to atoms.  The embanked approaches to the
+Victoria Bridge had tremendous forces to resist.  In the full channel of
+the stream, the ice in its passage between the piers was broken up by the
+force of the blow immediately on its coming in contact with the
+cutwaters.  Sometimes thick sheets of ice were seen to rise up and rear
+on end against the piers, but by the force of the current they were
+speedily made to roll over into the stream, and in a moment after were
+out of sight.  For the two next days the river was still high, until on
+the 4th April the waters seemed suddenly to give way, and by the
+following day the river was flowing clear and smooth as a millpond,
+nothing of winter remaining except the masses of bordage ice which were
+strewn along the shores of the stream.  On examination of the piers of
+the bridge, it was found that they had admirably resisted the tremendous
+pressure; and though the timber "cribwork" erected to facilitate the
+placing of floating pontoons to form the dams, was found considerably
+disturbed and in some places seriously damaged, the piers, with the
+exception of one or two heavy stone blocks, which were still unfinished,
+escaped uninjured.  One heavy block of many tons' weight was carried to a
+considerable distance, and must have been torn out of its place by sheer
+force, as several of the broken fragments were found left in the pier.
+
+The works in connection with the Victoria Bridge were begun on the 22nd
+July, 1854, when the first stone was laid, and continued uninterruptedly
+during a period of 5.5 years, until the 17th December, 1859, when the
+bridge was finished and taken off the contractor's hands.  It was
+formally opened for traffic early in 1860; though Robert Stephenson did
+not live to see its completion.
+
+The tubular system was also applied by the same engineer, in a modified
+form, in the two bridges across the Nile, near Damietta in Lower Egypt.
+That near Benha contains eight spans or openings of 80 feet each, and two
+centre spans, formed by one of the largest swing bridges ever
+constructed,--the total length of the swing-beam being 157 feet,--a clear
+water-way of 60 feet being provided on either side of the centre pier.
+The only novelty in these bridges consisted in the road being carried
+_upon_ the tubes instead of within them; their erection being carried out
+in the usual manner, by means of workmen, materials, and plant sent out
+from England.
+
+During the later years of his life, Mr. Stephenson took considerable
+interest in public affairs and in scientific investigations.  In 1847 he
+entered the House of Commons as member for Whitby; but he does not seem
+to have been very devoted in his attendance, and only appeared on
+divisions when there was a "whip" of the party to which he belonged.  He
+was a member of the Sanitary and Sewage Commissions, and of the
+Commission which sat on Westminster Bridge.  The last occasions on which
+he addressed the House were on the Suez Canal and the cleansing of the
+Serpentine.  He pronounced the Suez Canal to be an impracticable scheme.
+"I have surveyed the line," said he, "I have travelled the whole distance
+on foot, and I declare there is no fall between the two seas.  Honourable
+members talk about a canal.  A canal is impossible--the thing would only
+be a ditch."
+
+Besides constructing the railway between Alexandria and Cairo, he was
+consulted, like his father, by the King of Belgium, as to the railways of
+that country; and he was made Knight of the Order of Leopold because of
+the improvements which he had made in locomotive engines, so much to the
+advantage of the Belgian system of inland transit.  He was consulted by
+the King of Sweden as to the railway between Christiana and Lake Miosen,
+and in consideration of his services was decorated with the Grand Cross
+of the Order of St. Olaf.  He also visited Switzerland, Piedmont, and
+Denmark, to advise as to the system of railway communication best suited
+for those countries.  At the Paris Exhibition of 1855 the Emperor of
+France decorated him with the Legion of Honour in consideration of his
+public services; and at home the University of Oxford made him a Doctor
+of Civil Laws.  In 1855 he was elected President of the Institute of
+Civil Engineers, which office he held with honour and filled with
+distinguished ability for two years, giving place to his friend Mr. Locke
+at the end of 1857.
+
+Mr. Stephenson was frequently called upon to act as arbitrator between
+contractors and railway companies, or between one company and
+another,--great value being attached to his opinion on account of his
+weighty judgment, his great experience, and his upright character, and we
+believe his decisions were invariably stamped by the qualities of
+impartiality and justice.  He was always ready to lend a helping hand to
+a friend, and no petty jealousy stood between him and his rivals in the
+engineering world.  The author remembers being with Mr. Stephenson one
+evening at his house in Gloucester Square, when a note was put into his
+hands from his friend Brunel, then engaged in his first fruitless efforts
+to launch the _Great Eastern_.  It was to ask Stephenson to come down to
+Blackwall early next morning, and give him the benefit of his judgment.
+Shortly after six next morning Stephenson was in Scott Russell's
+building-yard, and he remained there until dusk.  About midday, while
+superintending the launching operations, the baulk of timber on which he
+stood canted up, and he fell up to his middle in the Thames mud.  He was
+dressed as usual, without great-coat (though the day was bitter cold),
+and with only thin boots upon his feet.  He was urged to leave the yard,
+and change his dress, or at least dry himself; but with his usual
+disregard of health, he replied, "Oh, never mind me--I'm quite used to
+this sort of thing;" and he went paddling about in the mud, smoking his
+cigar, until almost dark, when the day's work was brought to an end.  The
+result of this exposure was an attack of inflammation of the lungs, which
+kept him to his bed for a fortnight.
+
+He was habitually careless of his health, and perhaps he indulged in
+narcotics to a prejudicial extent.  Hence he often became "hipped" and
+sometimes ill.  When Mr. Sopwith accompanied him to Egypt in the
+_Titania_, in 1856, he succeeded in persuading Mr. Stephenson to limit
+his indulgence in cigars and stimulants, and the consequence was that by
+the end of the voyage he felt himself, as he said, "quite a new man."
+Arrived at Marseilles, he telegraphed from thence a message to Great
+George Street, prescribing certain stringent and salutary rules for
+observance in the office there on his return.  But he was of a facile,
+social disposition, and the old associations proved too strong for him.
+When he sailed for Norway, in the autumn of 1859, though then ailing in
+health, he looked a man who had still plenty of life in him.  By the time
+he returned, his fatal illness had seized him.  He was attacked by
+congestion of the liver, which first developed itself in jaundice, and
+then ran into dropsy, of which he died on the 12th October, in the
+fifty-sixth year of his age. {368}  He was buried by the side of Telford
+in Westminster Abbey, amidst the departed great men of his country, and
+was attended to his resting-place by many of the intimate friends of his
+boyhood and his manhood.  Among those who assembled round his grave were
+some of the greatest men of thought and action in England, who embraced
+the sad occasion to pay the last mark of their respect to this
+illustrious son of one of England's greatest working men.
+
+     [Picture: Robert Stephenson's Burial-place in Westminster Abbey]
+
+It would be out of keeping with the subject thus drawn to a conclusion,
+to pronounce any panegyric on the character and achievements of George
+and Robert Stephenson.  These for the most part speak for themselves.
+Both were emphatically true men, exhibiting in their lives many sterling
+qualities.  No beginning could have been less promising than that of the
+elder Stephenson.  Born in a poor condition, yet rich in spirit, he was
+from the first compelled to rely upon himself; and every step of advance
+which he made was conquered by patient labour.  Whether working as a
+brakesman or an engineer, his mind was always full of the work in hand.
+He gave himself thoroughly up to it.  Like the painter, he might say that
+he had become great "by neglecting nothing."  Whatever he was engaged
+upon, he was as careful of the details as if each were itself the whole.
+He did all thoroughly and honestly.  There was no "scamping" with him.
+When a workman he put his brains and labour into his work; and when a
+master he put his conscience and character into it.  He would have no
+slop-work executed merely for the sake of profit.  The materials must be
+as genuine as the workmanship was skilful.  The structures which he
+designed and executed were distinguished for their thoroughness and
+solidity; his locomotives were famous for their durability and excellent
+working qualities.  The engines which he sent to the United States in
+1832 are still in good condition; and even the engines built by him for
+the Killingworth Colliery, upwards of thirty years ago, are working
+steadily there to this day.  All his work was honest, representing the
+actual character of the man.
+
+He was ready to turn his hand to anything--shoes and clocks, railways and
+locomotives.  He contrived his safety-lamp with the object of saving
+pitmen's lives, and perilled his own life in testing it.  Whatever work
+was nearest him, he turned to and did it.  With him to resolve was to do.
+Many men knew far more than he; but none were more ready forthwith to
+apply what he did know to practical purposes.  It was while working at
+Willington as a brakes-man, that he first learnt how best to handle a
+spade in throwing ballast out of the ships' holds.  This casual
+employment seems to have left upon his mind the strongest impression of
+what "hard work" was; and he often used to revert to it, and say to the
+young men about him, "Ah, ye lads! there's none o' ye know what _wark_
+is."  Mr. Gooch says he was proud of the dexterity in handling a spade
+which he had thus acquired, and that he has frequently seen him take the
+shovel from a labourer in some railway cutting, and show him how to use
+it more deftly in filling waggons of earth, gravel, or sand.  Sir Joshua
+Walmsley has also informed us, that, when examining the works of the
+Orleans and Tours Railway, Mr. Stephenson, seeing a large number of
+excavators filling and wheeling sand in a cutting, at a great waste of
+time and labour, went up to the men and said he would show them how to
+fill their barrows in half the time.  He showed them the proper position
+in which to stand so as to exercise the greatest amount of power with the
+least expenditure of strength; and he filled the barrow with comparative
+ease again and again in their presence, to the great delight of the
+workmen.  When passing through his own workshops, he would point out to
+his men how to save labour, and to get through their work skilfully and
+with ease.  His energy imparted itself to others, quickening and
+influencing them as strong characters always do--flowing down into
+theirs, and bringing out their best powers.
+
+His deportment towards the workmen employed under him was familiar, yet
+firm and consistent.  As he respected their manhood, so did they respect
+his masterhood.  Although he comported himself towards his men as if they
+occupied very much the same level as himself, he yet possessed that
+peculiar capacity for governing which enabled him always to preserve
+among them the strictest discipline, and to secure their cheerful and
+hearty services.  Mr. Ingham, M.P. for South Shields, on going over the
+workshops at Newcastle, was particularly struck with this quality of the
+master in his bearing towards his men.  "There was nothing," said he, "of
+undue familiarity in their intercourse, but they spoke to each other as
+man to man; and nothing seemed to please the master more than to point
+out illustrations of the ingenuity of his artisans.  He took up a rivet,
+and expatiated on the skill with which it had been fashioned by the
+workman's hand--its perfectness and truth.  He was always proud of his
+workmen and his pupils; and, while indifferent and careless as to what
+might be said of himself, he fired up in a moment if disparagement were
+thrown upon any one whom he had taught or trained."
+
+In manner, George Stephenson was simple, modest, and unassuming, but
+always manly.  He was frank and social in spirit.  When a humble workman,
+he had carefully preserved his sense of self-respect.  His companions
+looked up to him, and his example was worth even more to many of them
+than books or schools.  His devoted love of knowledge made his poverty
+respectable, and adorned his humble calling.  When he rose to a more
+elevated station, and associated with men of the highest position and
+influence in Britain, he took his place amongst them with perfect
+self-possession.  They wondered at the quiet ease and simple dignity of
+his deportment; and men in the best ranks of life have said of him that
+"He was one of Nature's gentlemen."
+
+Probably no military chiefs were ever more beloved by their soldiers than
+were both father and son by the army of men who, under their guidance,
+worked at labours of profit, made labours of love by their earnest will
+and purpose.  True leaders of men and lords of industry, they were always
+ready to recognise and encourage talent in those who worked for and with
+them.  Thus it was pleasant, at the openings of the Stephenson lines, to
+hear the chief engineers attributing the successful completion of the
+works to their able assistants; whilst the assistants, on the other hand,
+ascribed the glory to their chiefs.
+
+Mr. Stephenson, though a thrifty and frugal man, was essentially
+unsordid.  His rugged path in early life made him careful of his
+resources.  He never saved to hoard, but saved for a purpose, such as the
+maintenance of his parents or the education of his son.  In later years
+he became a prosperous and even a wealthy man; but riches never closed
+his heart, nor stole away the elasticity of his soul.  He enjoyed life
+cheerfully, because hopefully.  When he entered upon a commercial
+enterprise, whether for others or for himself, he looked carefully at the
+ways and means.  Unless they would "pay," he held back.  "He would have
+nothing to do," he declared, "with stock-jobbing speculations."  His
+refusal to sell his name to the schemes of the railway mania--his survey
+of the Spanish lines without remuneration--his offer to postpone his
+claim for payment from a poor company until their affairs became more
+prosperous--are instances of the unsordid spirit in which he acted.
+
+Another marked feature in Mr. Stephenson's character was his patience.
+Notwithstanding the strength of his convictions as to the great uses to
+which the locomotive might be applied, he waited long and patiently for
+the opportunity of bringing it into notice; and for years after he had
+completed an efficient engine he went on quietly devoting himself to the
+ordinary work of the colliery.  He made no noise nor stir about his
+locomotive, but allowed another to take credit for the experiments on
+velocity and friction made with it by himself upon the Killingworth
+railroad.
+
+By patient industry and laborious contrivance, he was enabled, with the
+powerful help of his son, to do for the locomotive what James Watt had
+done for the condensing engine.  He found it clumsy and inefficient; and
+he made it powerful, efficient, and useful.  Both have been described as
+the improvers of their respective engines; but, as to all that is
+admirable in their structure or vast in their utility, they are rather
+entitled to be described as their Inventors.  While the invention of Watt
+increased the power, and at the same time so regulated the action of the
+steam-engine, as to make it capable of being applied alike to the hardest
+work and to the finest manufactures, the invention of Stephenson gave an
+effective power to the locomotive, which enabled it to perform the work
+of teams of the most powerful horses, and to outstrip the speed of the
+fleetest.  Watt's invention exercised a wonderfully quickening influence
+on every branch of industry, and multiplied a thousand-fold the amount of
+manufactured productions; and Stephenson's enabled these to be
+distributed with an economy and despatch such as had never before been
+thought possible.  They have both tended to increase indefinitely the
+mass of human comforts and enjoyments, and to render them cheap and
+accessible to all.  But Stephenson's invention, by the influence which it
+is daily exercising upon the civilisation of the world, is even more
+remarkable than that of Watt, and is calculated to have still more
+important consequences.  In this respect, it is to be regarded as the
+grandest application of steam power that has yet been discovered.
+
+The Locomotive, like the condensing engine, exhibits the realisation of
+various capital, but wholly distinct, ideas, promulgated by many
+ingenious inventors.  Stephenson, like Watt, exhibited a power of
+selection, combination, and invention of his own, by which--while
+availing himself of all that had been done before him, and superadding
+the many skilful contrivances devised by himself--he was at length
+enabled to bring his engine into a condition of marvellous power and
+efficiency.  He gathered together the scattered threads of ingenuity
+which already existed, and combined them into one firm and complete
+fabric of his own.  He realised the plans which others had imperfectly
+formed; and was the first to construct, what so many others had
+unsuccessfully attempted, the practical and economical working
+locomotive.
+
+Mr. Stephenson's close and accurate observation provided him with a
+fulness of information on many subjects, which often appeared surprising
+to those who had devoted to them a special study.  On one occasion the
+accuracy of his knowledge of birds came out in a curious way at a
+convivial meeting of railway men in London.  The engineers and railway
+directors present knew each other as railway men and nothing more.  The
+talk had been all of railways and railway politics.  Mr. Stephenson was a
+great talker on those subjects, and was generally allowed, from the
+interest of his conversation and the extent of his experience, to take
+the lead.  At length one of the party broke in with "Come now,
+Stephenson, we have had nothing but railways; cannot we have a change and
+try if we can talk a little about something else?"  "Well," said Mr.
+Stephenson, "I'll give you a wide range of subjects; what shall it be
+about?"  "Say _birds' nests_!" rejoined the other, who prided himself on
+his special knowledge of this subject.  "Then birds' nests be it."  A
+long and animated conversation ensued: the bird-nesting of his boyhood,
+the blackbird's nest which his father had held him up in his arms to look
+at when a child at Wylam, the hedges in which he had found the thrush's
+and the linnet's nests, the mossy bank where the robin built, the cleft
+in the branch of the young tree where the chaffinch had reared its
+dwelling--all rose up clear in his mind's eye, and led him back to the
+scenes of his boyhood at Callerton and Dewley Burn.  The colour and
+number of the bird's eggs, the period of their incubation, the materials
+employed by them for the walls and lining of their nests, were described
+by him so vividly, and illustrated by such graphic anecdotes, that one of
+the party remarked that, if George Stephenson had not been the greatest
+engineer of his day, he might have been one of the greatest naturalists.
+
+His powers of conversation were very great.  He was so thoughtful, so
+original, and so suggestive.  There was scarcely a department of science
+on which he had not formed some novel and sometimes daring theory.  Thus
+Mr. Gooch, his pupil, who lived with him when at Liverpool, informs us
+that when sitting over the fire, he would frequently broach his favourite
+theory of the sun's light and heat being the original source of the light
+and heat given forth by the burning coal.  "It fed the plants of which
+that coal is made," he would say, "and has been bottled up in the earth
+ever since, to be given out again now for the use of man."  His son
+Robert once said of him, "My father flashed his bull's eye full upon a
+subject, and brought it out in its most vivid light in an instant: his
+strong common sense, and his varied experience operating upon a
+thoughtful mind, were his most powerful illuminators."
+
+Mr. Stephenson had once a conversation with a watchmaker, whom he
+astonished by the extent and minuteness of his knowledge as to the parts
+of a watch.  The watchmaker knew him to be an eminent engineer, and asked
+him how he had acquired so extensive a knowledge of a branch of business
+so much out of his sphere.  "It is very easy to be explained," said Mr.
+Stephenson; "I worked long at watch-cleaning myself, and when I was at a
+loss, I was never ashamed to ask for information."
+
+Towards the close of his life he frequently went down to Newcastle, and
+visited the scenes of his boyhood.  "I have been to Callerton," said he
+one day to a friend, "and seen the fields in which I used to pull turnips
+at twopence a day; and many a cold finger, I can tell you, I had."
+
+His hand was open to his former fellow-workmen whom old age had left in
+poverty.  To poor Robert Gray, of Newburn, who acted as his bridesman on
+his marriage to Fanny Henderson, he left a pension for life.  He would
+slip a five-pound note into the hand of a poor man or a widow in such a
+way as not to offend their delicacy, but to make them feel as if the
+obligation were all on his side.  When Farmer Paterson, who married a
+sister of George's first wife, Fanny Henderson, died and left a large
+young family fatherless, poverty stared them in the face.  "But ye ken,"
+said our informant, "_George struck in fayther for them_."  And perhaps
+the providential character of the act could not have been more
+graphically expressed than in these simple words.
+
+On his visit to Newcastle, he would frequently meet the friends of his
+early days, occupying very nearly the same station, whilst he had
+meanwhile risen to almost world-wide fame.  But he was no less hearty in
+his greeting of them than if their relative position had continued the
+same.  Thus, one day, after shaking hands with Mr. Brandling on alighting
+from his carriage, he proceeded to shake hands with his coachman, Anthony
+Wigham, a still older friend, though he only sat on the box.
+
+Robert Stephenson inherited his father's kindly spirit and benevolent
+disposition.  He almost worshipped his father's memory, and was ever
+ready to attribute to him the chief merit of his own achievements as an
+engineer.  "It was his thorough training," we once heard him say, "his
+example, and his character, which made me the man I am."  On a more
+public occasion he said, "It is my great pride to remember, that whatever
+may have been done, and however extensive may have been my own connection
+with railway development, all I know and all I have done is primarily due
+to the parent whose memory I cherish and revere." {377}  To Mr. Lough,
+the sculptor, he said he had never had but two loves--one for his father,
+the other for his wife.
+
+Like his father, he was eminently practical, and yet always open to the
+influence and guidance of correct theory.  His main consideration in
+laying out his lines of railway was what would best answer the intended
+purpose, or, to use his own words, to secure the maximum of result with
+the minimum of means.  He was pre-eminently a safe man, because cautious,
+tentative, and experimental; following closely the lines of conduct
+trodden by his father, and often quoting his maxims.
+
+In society Robert Stephenson was simple, unobtrusive, and modest; but
+charming and even fascinating in an eminent degree.  Sir John Lawrence
+has said of him that he was, of all others, the man he most delighted to
+meet in England--he was so manly, yet gentle, and withal so great.  While
+admired and beloved by men of such calibre, he was equally a favourite
+with women and children.  He put himself upon the level of all, and
+charmed them no less by his inexpressible kindliness of manner than by
+his simple yet impressive conversation.
+
+His great wealth enabled him to perform many generous acts in a right
+noble and yet modest manner, not letting his right hand know what his
+left hand did.  Of the numerous kindly acts of his which have been made
+public, we may mention the graceful manner in which he repaid the
+obligations which both himself and his father owed to the Newcastle
+Literary and Philosophical Institute, when working together as humble
+experimenters in their cottage at Killingworth.  The Institute was
+struggling under a debt of 6200 pounds which seriously impaired its
+usefulness as an educational agency.  Robert Stephenson offered to pay
+one-half of the sum, provided the local supporters of the Institute would
+raise the remainder; and conditional also on the annual subscription
+being reduced from two guineas to one, in order that the usefulness of
+the institution might be extended.  The generous offer was accepted, and
+the debt extinguished.
+
+Both father and son were offered knighthood, and both declined it.
+During the summer of 1847, George Stephenson was invited to offer himself
+as a candidate for the representation of South Shields in Parliament.
+But his politics were at best of a very undefined sort; indeed his life
+had been so much occupied with subjects of a practical character, that he
+had scarcely troubled himself to form any decided opinion on the party
+political topics of the day, and to stand the cross fire of the electors
+on the hustings might have been found an even more distressing ordeal
+than the cross-questioning of the barristers in the Committees of the
+House of Commons.  "Politics," he used to say, "are all matters of
+theory--there is no stability in them: they shift about like the sands of
+the sea: and I should feel quite out of my element amongst them."  He had
+accordingly the good sense respectfully to decline the honour of
+contesting the representation of South Shields.
+
+We have, however, been informed by Sir Joseph Paxton, that although
+George Stephenson held no strong opinions on political questions
+generally, there was one question on which he entertained a decided
+conviction, and that was the question of Free-trade.  The words used by
+him on one occasion to Sir Joseph were very strong.  "England," said he,
+"is, and must be a shopkeeper; and our docks and harbours are only so
+many wholesale shops, the doors of which should always be kept wide
+open."  It is curious that his son Robert should have taken precisely the
+opposite view of this question, and acted throughout with the most rigid
+party amongst the protectionists, supporting the Navigation Laws and
+opposing Free Trade.
+
+But Robert Stephenson will be judged in after times by his achievements
+as an engineer, rather than by his acts as a politician; and happily
+these last were far outweighed in value by the immense practical services
+which he rendered to trade, commerce, and civilisation, through the
+facilities which the railways constructed by him afforded for free
+intercommunication between men in all parts of the world.  Speaking in
+the midst of his friends at Newcastle, in 1850, he observed:--
+
+"It seems to me but as yesterday that I was engaged as an assistant in
+laying out the Stockton and Darlington Railway.  Since then, the
+Liverpool and Manchester and a hundred other great works have sprung into
+existence.  As I look back upon these stupendous undertakings,
+accomplished in so short a time, it seems as though we had realised in
+our generation the fabled powers of the magician's wand.  Hills have been
+cut down and valleys filled up; and when these simple expedients have not
+sufficed, high and magnificent viaducts have been raised, and if
+mountains stood in the way, tunnels of unexampled magnitude have pierced
+them through, bearing their triumphant attestation to the indomitable
+energy of the nation, and the unrivalled skill of our artisans."
+
+As respects the immense advantages of railways to mankind, there cannot
+be two opinions.  They exhibit, probably, the grandest organisation of
+capital and labour that the world has yet seen.  Although they have
+unhappily occasioned great loss to many, the loss has been that of
+individuals; whilst, as a national system, the gain has already been
+enormous.  As tending to multiply and spread abroad the conveniences of
+life, opening up new fields of industry, bringing nations nearer to each
+other, and thus promoting the great ends of civilisation, the founding of
+the railway system by George Stephenson and his son must be regarded as
+one of the most important events, if not the very greatest, in the first
+half of this nineteenth century.
+
+       [Picture: The Stephenson Memorial Schools, Willington Quay]
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+ACCIDENTS in coal-mines, 89, 119.
+
+Adam, Mr., counsel for Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 160, 166.
+
+Alderson, Mr. (afterwards Baron), 160, 163, 165, 168.
+
+Alton Grange, G. Stephenson's residence at, 234-6, 263.
+
+Ambergate Railway slip, 259; Lime-works, 278.
+
+Anna, Santa, mines at, 196.
+
+Arnold, Dr., on Railways, 273.
+
+Ashby-de-la-Zouch, 233.
+
+Atmospheric Railway system, 286, 308.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+BEAUMONT, Mr., his wooden waggon-ways, 5.
+
+Belgium, G. Stephenson's visit to, 296.
+
+Benton Colliery and village, 44, 47, 51, 61.
+
+Berwick Royal Border Bridge, 311.
+
+Birds and bird-nesting, 15, 17, 25, 58, 353, 375.
+
+Birmingham and Derby Railway, 268.
+
+Bishop Auckland coal-field, 123.
+
+Black Callerton, 18, 26, 29, 32.
+
+Blackett, Mr., Wylam, 13, 74.
+
+Blast, invention of the Steam, 85, 208, 211.
+
+Blenkinsop's Locomotive, 72, 80.
+
+Blisworth Cutting, 243.
+
+Boiler, multi-tubular, 210.
+
+Booth, Henry, Liverpool, 210, 222.
+
+Bradshaw, Mr., opposes Liverpool and Manchester line, 155.
+
+Braithwaite, Isaac, Locomotive, 214, 230.
+
+Brakeing coal-engine, 27, 36, 40.
+
+Brandling, Messrs., 105, 312.
+
+Brandreth's Locomotive, "Cycloped," 214.
+
+Bridges, Railway, on Liverpool line, 185;
+      improved bridges, 310-19;
+      tubular bridges, 326-40, 360.
+
+Bridgewater Canal monopoly, 147, 157.
+
+Britannia Tubular Bridge, 339.
+
+British Association Meeting at Newcastle, 279.
+
+Brougham, Mr. William, counsel on Liverpool and Manchester Bill, 158,
+160.
+
+Bruce's School, Newcastle, 53, 59.
+
+Brunel, I. K., 230, 304, 367.
+
+Brunton's Locomotive, 73.
+
+Brussels, railway celebrations at, 267.
+
+Brusselton incline, 135.
+
+Buckland, Dr., 350.
+
+Bullbridge, Ambergate, 260.
+
+Burstall's Locomotive, "Perseverance," 214, 218.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+CALLERTON Colliery and village, 18, 26, 29, 32.
+
+Canal opposition to Railways, 146, 157, 238.
+
+Cartagena, R. Stephenson at, 200.
+
+Chapman's Locomotive, 73.
+
+Characteristics of the Stephensons, 368-80.
+
+Chat Moss, William James's attempted Survey, 151;
+     Mr. Harrison's speech, 166;
+      evidence of Francis Giles, C.E., 167;
+      Mr. Alderson's speech, 168;
+      description of, 174;
+      construction of Railway over, 177.
+
+Chester and Birkenhead Railway, 286.
+
+Chester and Holyhead Railway, 320.
+
+Chesterfield, 279, 283.
+
+Clanny, Dr., his safety-lamp, 92.
+
+Clark, Edwin, C.E., 331, 335, 338.
+
+Clay Cross Colliery, G. Stephenson leases, 277.
+
+Clegg and Samuda's Atmospheric Railway, 287.
+
+Clephan, Mr., description of first railway traffic, 140.
+
+Cleveland, Duke of, and Stockton and Darlington Railway, 125.
+
+Clock-mending and cleaning, 35, 51, 345.
+
+Coach, first railway, 139.
+
+Coal trade, 3, 11;
+      staiths, 10;
+      haulage, early expedients for, 5, 7, 63, 143;
+      traffic by Railway, 138, 276;
+      mining, George Stephenson's adventures in, 234, 277;
+      theory of formation of, 351.
+
+Coalbrookdale, rails early cast at, 6.
+
+Coe, Wm., fellow workman of G. Stephenson, 21, 26, 31.
+
+Coffin, Sir I., 172.
+
+Colliery districts, 1-4;
+      machinery and workmen, 7-11.
+
+Colombia, mining association of, 193;
+      Robert Stephenson's residence in, 196.
+
+Contractors, railway, 229, 249.
+
+Conway, tubular bridge at, 334.
+
+Cooper, Sir Astley, Robert Stephenson's interview with, 238.
+
+Crich Lime-works, Ambergate, 278.
+
+Cropper, Isaac, Liverpool, 187, 217.
+
+Cugnot's steam-carriage, 64-6.
+
+Curr, John, his cast-iron Railway at Sheffield, 6.
+
+Cuttings, railway,
+      Tring, 242;
+      Blisworth, 243;
+      Ambergate, 259;
+      Oakenshaw and Normanton, 259.
+
+"Cycloped" Locomotive, 214.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+DARLINGTON and Stockton Railway, 123, 136.
+
+Davy, Sir Humphry,
+      his description of Trevithick's steam-carriage, 68;
+      his paper on fire-damp in mines, 92;
+      his safety-lamp, 101-3;
+      testimonial, 104.
+
+Denman, Lord, 345.
+
+Derby, Earl of, 172.
+
+Dewley Burn Colliery, 16.
+
+Direct lines, mania for, 292.
+
+Dixon, John, C.E.,
+      assists in survey of Stockton and Darlington line, 136;
+      assistant engineer, Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 175-9.
+
+Dodds, Ralph, Killingworth, 42-4, 50, 86.
+
+Drayton Manor, George Stephenson's visit to, 349.
+
+Dutton Viaduct, 254.
+
+Durham, Earl of, _See_ Lambton.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+EAST COAST Railway to Scotland, 306-9.
+
+Edgworth, Mr.,
+      sailing-waggons, 63;
+      advocacy of Railways, 148.
+
+Edinburgh University, Robert Stephenson at, 121.
+
+Education,
+      George Stephenson's self-education, 24, 47;
+      Robert Stephenson's, 50, 121;
+      George Stephenson's ideas of, 191, 281.
+
+Egg-hatching by artificial heat, 23, 344.
+
+Egyptian Tubular Bridges, Robert Stephenson's, 357.
+
+Emerson, George Stephenson's meeting with, 353.
+
+Emigration, George Stephenson contemplates, 40, 116.
+
+Engine, study of, 22, 62, 78, 80.
+
+Ericsson, Mr., engineer, 204, 214.
+
+Estimates, railway, 165, 249.
+
+"Experiment," the first railway coach, 139.
+
+Explosion of fire-damp, 89.
+
+Evans's steam-carriage, 65.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+FAIRBAIRN, Wm., C.E., 28;
+      at Percy Main Colliery, 34;
+      experiments on iron tubes, 328-30.
+
+Fire-damp, explosions of, 89.
+
+Fixed-engine power, 118, 129, 135, 203, 205.
+
+Floating road, Chat Moss, 176.
+
+Floating Conway and Britannia Tubes, 332.
+
+Follett, Sir Wm., 350.
+
+Forth-street Works, Newcastle, 132, 193.
+
+Foster, Jonathan, Wylam. 75, 77, 80, 310.
+
+Franklin's lightning experiment repeated by Robert Stephenson, 56.
+
+Free trade, George Stephenson's views on, 379.
+
+Friction on common roads and Railways, 113.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+GARDENING, George Stephenson's pursuits in, 58, 342.
+
+Gateshead, 4, 314.
+
+Gauge of Railways, 134, 304.
+
+"Geordy" safety-lamp, invention of, 93.
+
+Giles, Francis, C.E., 167, 174, 230.
+
+Gooch, F. L., C.E., 188, 190, 220, 336, 371.
+
+Gradients, George Stephenson's views on, 115, 284.
+
+Grand Allies, Killingworth, 41, 46.
+      ,,        Junction Railway, 230, 253.
+      ,,        Trunk Railway, Canada, 359.
+
+Gray, Robert, 24, 36, 376.
+
+Gray, Thomas, 148.
+
+Great Western Railway, 230, 232, 304.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+HACKWORTH, Timothy, his engine "Sanspareil," 214, 216, 218.
+
+Half-lap joint, G. Stephenson's, 111.
+
+Harrison, Mr., barrister, 160, 166.
+
+Hawthorn, Robert, C.E., 22.
+
+Heating surface in Locomotives, 208, 209.
+
+Hedley, William, Wylam, 77.
+
+Henderson, Fanny, 32.
+
+Heppel, Kit, 42, 45.
+
+Hetton Railway, 117.
+
+High Level Bridge, Newcastle, 2, 312.
+      ,,     Street House, Wylam, 14.
+
+Holyhead, Railway to, 320.
+
+Howick, Lord, and the Northumberland Atmospheric Railway, 307, 309.
+
+Hudson, George, the Railway King, 291, 312.
+
+Huskisson, Mr., M.P.,
+      and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 172;
+      killed at its opening, 223.
+
+Hydraulic presses at the Britannia Bridge, 237.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+INCLINES, self-acting, 9, 61.
+
+Iron railway bridges, 312, 325.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+JAMES, William,
+      surveys a line between Liverpool and Manchester, 150;
+      visits Killingworth, 151;
+      superseded by George Stephenson, 154.
+
+Jameson, Professor, Edinburgh, 122.
+
+Jessop, William, C.E., 6.
+
+Jolly's Close, Newburn, 20, 24.
+
+Jones, Rees, on Trevithick's Locomotive, 71.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+KEELMEN of the Tyne, 10-11.
+
+Killingworth,
+      West Moor, 31, 36, 38, 40;
+      High Pit, 41;
+      colliery explosions and mining, 89;
+      Locomotive, 84, 88;
+      the underground machinery, 109.
+
+Kilsby Tunnel, 245.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+LAMBTON, Mr. (Earl of Durham), 137.
+
+Lamp, safety, invention of, 93.
+
+Last-making competition, 59.
+
+Lardner, Dr., and Railways, 284, 286.
+
+Lattice Girder Bridges, 361.
+
+Leeds Mechanics' Institute, George Stephenson's Speech at, 281.
+
+Leicester and Swannington Railway, 232.
+
+Lemington Coal-staith, 74.
+
+Leopold, King of the Belgians, and Railways, 266;
+      George Stephenson's interviews with, 268, 296.
+
+Level Railways, advantages of, 115, 284.
+
+Liddell, Sir T. (Lord Ravensworth), 46, 62.
+
+Lime-works at Ambergate, George Stephenson's, 278.
+
+Literary and Philosophical Institute, Newcastle, 53, 102, 280, 378.
+
+Littleborough Tunnel, 255.
+
+Liverpool and Manchester Railway projected, 147;
+      surveyed by Wm. James, 150;
+      the survey opposed, 151;
+      George Stephenson engaged, 154;
+      prospectus issued, 155;
+      deputations visit Killingworth, 151, 154-5;
+      opposition of the land-owners and canal companies, 156-7;
+      the bill in committee, 160;
+      rejected, 169;
+      scheme prosecuted, 170;
+      Messrs. Rennie appointed engineers, 171;
+      the bill passed, 172;
+      George Stephenson again engaged as engineer, 173;
+      construction of the line across Chat Moss, 176;
+      discussions as to the working power to be employed, 203;
+      George Stephenson advocates the Locomotive, 201;
+      prize of 500 pounds for best engine, 207;
+      won by Stephenson's "Rocket," 218;
+      public opening of the line, 222;
+      results of the traffic, 228.
+
+Locke, Mr. Joseph, C.E., 26, 175, 367.
+
+"Locomotion" engine, No. I, Darlington, 135, 142.
+
+Locomotive engine, invention of, 7;
+      Robison and Watt's idea, Cugnot's steam-carriage, 64;
+      Evans and Symington's, 65;
+      Murdock's model, 66;
+      Trevithick's steam-carriage, 67;
+      his tram engine, 69, 74;
+      Blenkinsop's engine, 72;
+      Chapman and Brunton's engines, 73;
+      Blackett's Wylam engine, 74;
+      Kenton and Coxlodge engine, 80;
+      Stephenson's Killingworth locomotive, 81, 86;
+      Stockton and Darlington locomotives, 135;
+      prize at Liverpool for the best engine, 207;
+      won by the "Rocket," 218;
+      the "Arrow," 222;
+      further improvements, 226.
+
+Locomotive manufactory, Stephenson's, at Newcastle, 132, 193, 199, 310.
+
+Long Benton. _See_ Benton.
+
+London and Birmingham Railway projected, 237;
+      the Stephensons appointed engineers, 238;
+      opposition to the Bill, Sir Astley Cooper, 239;
+      the Bill rejected, 240;
+      Bill passed, 241;
+      the works, 242;
+      Tring Cutting, 244;
+      Blisworth Cutting, 243;
+      Primrose Hill Tunnel, 244;
+      Kilsby Tunnel, 245;
+      magnitude of the works, 249.
+
+Losh, Mr., Newcastle, 111, 152.
+
+Lough's statue of George Stephenson, 355.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+MANCHESTER and Leeds Railway 254;
+      the Act obtained, 255;
+      construction of summit tunnel, 256;
+      magnitude of the works, 257.
+
+Manchester, trade with Liverpool, increase of, 146, 154.
+
+Mania, the Railway, 288.
+
+Maps, Newcastle district, 2;
+      Stockton and Darlington Railway, 123;
+      Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 150;
+      Leicester and Swannington Railway, 233;
+      London and Birmingham Railway, 242;
+      Menai Strait, 325.
+
+Mariquita, Robert Stephenson at, 196.
+
+Mechanical Engineers, Society of, 353.
+
+Mechanics' Institutes, George Stephenson's interest in, 280.
+
+Menai Suspension Bridge, 320;
+      Railway Bridge, 331.
+
+Merstham Tram-road, 153.
+
+Microscope, George Stephenson's, 346.
+
+Middlesborough-on-Tees, 144.
+
+Middleton Railway, Leeds, 72, 148.
+
+Midland Railway, 257.
+
+Militia, G. Stephenson, drawn for, 40.
+
+Mining, coal, 3, 7, 92;
+      in South America, 197.
+
+Montrose, G. Stephenson at, 38.
+
+Moodie, underviewer at Killingworth, 94-7, 119.
+
+Morecambe Bay, proposed reclamation of, 262.
+
+Morton-on-the-Marsh Railway, 153.
+
+Multitubular boiler, 208.
+
+Murdock's model Locomotive, 66.
+
+Murray, Mathew, Leeds, 72.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+NASMYTH'S steam hammer, 312, 316.
+
+Navvies, railway, 250-52.
+
+Nelson, the fighting pitman 29.
+
+Newburn Colliery, 20, 22.
+
+Newcastle and Berwick Railway, 306.
+   ,,   and Carlisle Railway, 12, 203.
+   ,,   and Darlington Railway, 306.
+
+Newcastle-on-Tyne in ancient times, 1-3;
+      Literary and Philosophical Institute, 378;
+      Stephenson, jubilees at, 206, 310;
+      High Level Bridge, 312;
+      George Stephenson's statue, 354.
+
+Newcomen's atmospheric engine, 8, 41.
+
+Nile, R. Stephenson's tubular bridges over, 357.
+
+North Midland Railway, 257, 261.
+
+North, Roger, description of early tram-roads, 5.
+
+Northampton, opposition of to Railways, 232.
+
+Northumberland Atmospheric Railway, 337.
+
+"Novelty," Locomotive, 214, 216, 218, 230.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+OLIVE MOUNT Cutting, Liverpool, 185.
+
+Openings of Railways,
+      Hetton, 118;
+      Stockton and Darlington, 136;
+      Middlesborough, 143;
+      Liverpool and Manchester, 222;
+      London and Birmingham, 268;
+      Birmingham and Derby, 268;
+      East Coast route to Scotland, 319;
+      Britannia Bridge, 339;
+      Trent Valley, 352.
+
+Organization of labour, G. Stephenson's, 182, 222, 225.
+
+Outram, Benj., Little Eaton, 6.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+PARLIAMENT and Railways, 292, 294.
+
+Parr Moss, Railway across, 181.
+
+Passenger traffic of early Railways, 138, 156, 160.
+
+Paxton, Sir Joseph, 378.
+
+Pease, Edward,
+      projects the Stockton and Darlington Railway, 123;
+      first interview with George Stephenson, 156;
+      visits Killingworth, 129;
+      joins Stephenson in Locomotive Manufactory, 132, 199, 202;
+      Stephenson's esteem and gratitude, 145;
+      letters to Robert Stephenson, 199, 253, 357.
+
+Peel, Sir Robert, 224, 293.
+
+Penmaen Mawr, Railway under, 321.
+
+Permanent way of Railroads, 110.
+
+Perpetual motion, George Stephenson studies, 34, 48.
+
+"Perseverance." Burstall's Locomotive, 214, 218.
+
+Phillips, Sir R., speculations on Railways, 148.
+
+Pile-driving by steam, 312, 316.
+
+Pitmen, Northumbrian, 8.
+
+"Planet" Locomotive, 229.
+
+Plugman, duties of, 22.
+
+Politics, George and Robert Stephenson's, 378-9.
+
+Primrose Hill Tunnel, 244.
+
+Prophecies of railway failure, 158, 166, 172.
+
+Pumping-engines, George Stephenson's skill in, 38, 41, 44, 247.
+
+Pupils, George Stephenson's, 190-2, 269.
+
+Pyrenean Pastoral, 298.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+'QUARTERLY,' the, on railway speed, 159.
+
+Queen, the, her first use of the Railway, 274;
+      opens the High Level and Royal Border Bridges, 319;
+      visits the Britannia Bridge, 338.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+RAILS, cast and wrought iron, 6, 133.
+
+Railways,
+      early, 5-7;
+      Merthyr Tydfil (Pen-y-darran), 69, 71;
+      Middleton, Leeds, 72;
+      Wylam, 74;
+      Killingworth, 84, 116;
+      Hetton, 118;
+      Stockton and Darlington, 123;
+      Liverpool and Manchester, 222;
+      Grand Junction, 230, 253;
+      Great Western, and Leicester and Swannington, 232;
+      London and Birmingham, 237;
+      Navvies, 250;
+      Manchester and Leeds, 254;
+      Midland, 257;
+      York and North Midland, 261;
+      travelling, 270-4;
+      undulating, 284;
+      atmospheric, 286;
+      Chester and Birkenhead, 286;
+      mania, 288;
+      Newcastle and Berwick, and Newcastle and Darlington, 306;
+      South Devon, 308;
+      Chester and Holyhead, 320;
+      Trent Valley, 352.
+
+Rainhill, locomotive competition at, 215.
+
+Rastrick, Mr., C.E., 219, 253.
+
+Ravensworth, Earl of, 46, 82.
+
+Rennie, Messrs., C.E., 123, 171, 173, 325.
+
+Road locomotion,
+      Cugnot's steam-carriage, 64;
+      Evans and Symington's, 65;
+      Trevithick's, 67;
+      George Stephenson on, 113.
+
+Robertson, Andrew, schoolmaster, 24, 28.
+
+Robins, anecdote of George Stephenson and the, 265.
+
+Robison, Dr., his idea of a Locomotive, 64.
+
+"Rocket," the,
+      its construction, 210;
+      arrangements of, 212;
+      wins the prize of 500 pounds, 218.
+
+Roscoe, Mr., his farm on Chat Moss, 169, 174, 176.
+
+Ross, A. M., Engineer, 360.
+
+Royal Border Bridge, Berwick, 311.
+
+Rutter's School, Benton, 50, 55.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+SAFETY-LAMP, Dr. Clanny's, 92;
+      Stephenson's first lamp, 94;
+      second lamp, 99;
+      third lamp, 100;
+      Sir H. Davy's paper, 92;
+      his lamp, 101;
+      the safety-lamp controversy, 102;
+      the Davy and Stephenson testimonials, 104-6;
+      comparative merits of the Davy and "Geordy" lamps, 107-8.
+
+Sailing-waggons on tram-roads, 63.
+
+"Samson" Locomotive, 227.
+
+Sandars, Joseph, Liverpool, 147, 149, 154.
+
+Sankey Viaduct, 185.
+
+"Sanspareil" Locomotive, Tim Hackworth's, 214, 216, 218.
+
+Sea, the force of, 321, 323.
+
+Seguin, Mr., C.E., his tubular boiler, 210.
+
+Self-acting incline, 61.
+
+Sibthorpe, Colonel, on Railways, 231, 274.
+
+Simplon Road, Midland Railway compared with, 257.
+
+Snibston Colliery purchased by George Stephenson, 234.
+
+Sopwith, Mr., C.E., 96, 297.
+
+Spanish Railway, George Stephenson's survey of, 298.
+
+Speed, railway,
+      on Middleton Railway, 72;
+      Wylam, 80;
+      Killingworth, 85, 156;
+      Coxlodge, 80;
+      Stockton and Darlington, 143;
+      G. Stephenson before Committee of House of Commons on, 282.
+
+Speed of engines tried at Rainhill, 214-19;
+      of the "Northumbrian," 224;
+      George Stephenson's views on, 282.
+
+Spur-gear, locomotive, 83.
+
+Staiths, coal, 10.
+
+Stationary-engine power, 118, 129, 135, 203, 205.
+
+Statues of George Stephenson, 354.
+
+Steam-blast, invention of, 85, 208-11.
+
+Steam-springs, G. Stephenson's, 112.
+
+Stephenson family, the, 15, 17, 19, 21, 39;
+     "Old Bob," 14, 15, 39, 55.
+
+Stephenson, George, birth and parentage, 13, 15;
+      employed as herd-boy, makes clay engines, 16, 17;
+      plough-boy; drives the gin-horse, 18;
+      assistant-fireman, 19;
+      fireman, 21;
+      engineman--study of the steam-engine, 22;
+      his schoolmasters, 24, 48, 60;
+      learns to brake an engine, 26;
+      duties as brakesman, 27;
+      soles shoes, 28;
+      saves his first guinea, 29;
+      fights with a pitman, 30;
+      marries Fanny Henderson, 33;
+      heaves ballast, 34;
+      cleans clocks, 35;
+      death of his wife, 36;
+      goes to Scotland, 37;
+      returns home, 38;
+      brakesman at West Moor, Killingworth, 39;
+      drawn for the militia, 40;
+      takes a brakeing contract, 41;
+      cures pumping-engine, 42;
+      engine-wright to the colliery, 46;
+      evenings with John Wigham, 48;
+      education of his son, 50-4;
+      cottage at West Moor, 57;
+      the sun-dial, 60;
+      erects winding and pumping engines, 61;
+      study of locomotive, 62;
+      makes his first travelling-engine, 82;
+      invents the steam-blast, 85;
+      second locomotive, 85;
+      fire in the main, personal courage, 90;
+      invents and tests his safety-lamps, 93, 102;
+      the Stephenson testimonial, 105;
+      further improvements in the Killingworth locomotive, 110;
+      constructs the Hetton Railway, 117;
+      surveys and constructs the Stockton and Darlington Railway, 128;
+      his second wife, 129;
+      starts a Locomotive Manufactory, 132;
+      appointed engineer of the Liverpool and Manchester line, 154;
+      examined before Parliamentary Committee, 162;
+      the Railway across Chat Moss, 173-86, 192;
+      life at home, 190;
+      the "Rocket" constructed, 210;
+      public opening of Liverpool and Manchester line, 223;
+      engineer of Grand Junction, 230;
+      purchases Snibston Colliery, and removes to Alton Grange, 234;
+      appointed joint engineer of London and Birmingham Railway, 237;
+      engineer of Manchester and Leeds Railway, 253;
+      of Midland Railway, 257;
+      of York and North Midland Railway, 261;
+      life at Alton Grange, 263;
+      visit to Belgium and interviews with King Leopold, 267;
+      takes lease of Clayross Colliery, 277;
+      lime-works at Ambergate, residence at Tapton House, 278;
+      appearance at Mechanics' Institutes, 280;
+      opinions of railway speed, 282;
+      views as to atmospheric system of working, 287;
+      opposes the railway mania, 290;
+      again visits Belgium, 295;
+      visit to Spain, 297;
+      retires from the profession of engineering, 301;
+      Newcastle and Berwick Railway, and Chester and Holyhead Railway,
+307;
+      habits, conversation, etc., 343;
+      theory of coal formation, 351;
+      meeting with Emerson, 352;
+      illness and death, 354;
+      characteristics, 368.
+
+Stephenson, Robert,
+      his birth, death of his mother, 36;
+      his father's care for his education, 50;
+      is put to Rutter's school, Benton, 50;
+      sent to Bruce's school, Newcastle, 52;
+      evenings with his father, 54;
+      his boyish tricks, 55;
+      repeats Franklin's lightning experiment, 56;
+      his father's assistant, 50, 53;
+      gives lessons to the pitmen's sons, 60;
+      calculates the latitude for a sundial at Killingworth, 60;
+      his recollections of the trial of the first safety-lamp, 94;
+      apprenticed to a coal viewer, 119;
+      sent to college at Edinburgh, 121;
+      assists in survey of Stockton and Darlington Railway, 128;
+      assists in survey of Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 153;
+      leaves England for Colombia, 193;
+      residence at Mariquita, 196;
+      resigns his situation as mining engineer, 199;
+      rencontre with Trevithick at Cartagena, 200;
+      shipwreck, 201;
+      return to Newcastle, 202;
+      pamphlet on the locomotive engine, 206;
+      discussions with his father as to the locomotive, 208;
+      constructs the "Rocket," 210;
+      wins the prize, 218;
+      improvements in the locomotive, 221;
+      appointed engineer of Leicester and Swannington Railway, 232;
+      his first tunnel, 233;
+      finds coal at Snibston, 234;
+      appointed joint engineer of London and Birmingham Railway, 237;
+      construction of the works, 242;
+      overcomes the difficulties of the Kilsby Tunnel, 248;
+      letter to Sir Robert Peel on "undulating railways," 293;
+      his extensive employment, 302-3;
+      the competitor of Brunel, 304;
+      engineer of Newcastle and Berwick Railway, 306;
+      engineer of Royal Border Bridge, Berwick, 311;
+      engineer of High Level Bridge, Newcastle, 312;
+      engineer of Chester and Holyhead Railway, 320;
+      constructs the Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges, 324;
+      succeeds to his father's wealth, and arranges to retire from
+business, 357;
+      designs tubular bridges for Canada and Egypt, 357;
+      member of Parliament, foreign honours, 366;
+      death, 368;
+      character, 377.
+
+Stock Exchange and railway speculation, 289.
+
+Stockton and Darlington Railway,
+      projected, promoted by Edward Pease, 123;
+      act passed, 125;
+      re-surveyed by G. Stephenson, 128;
+      opening of the Railway, 136;
+      the coal traffic, 138;
+      the first passenger coach, 139;
+      coaching companies, 140;
+      increase of the traffic, 141;
+      town of Middlesborough, 144.
+
+Strathmore, Earl of, 46, 105.
+
+Sun-dial at Killingworth, 60, 280.
+
+Swanwick, Frederick, C.E., 190, 192, 352.
+
+Symington, Wm., steam-carriage, 65.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+TAPTON HOUSE, Chesterfield, 278, 341.
+
+Tram-roads,
+      early, 5;
+      Croydon and Merstham, 147.
+
+Travelling by Railway, 160.
+
+Trevithick, Richard, C.E.,
+      his steam-carriage, 67;
+      his train-engine, and substitute for steam-blast, 70;
+      rencontre with Robert Stephenson at Cartagena, 200.
+
+Trent Valley Railway, 352.
+
+Trellis girder bridges, 360.
+
+Tring Cutting, 242.
+
+Tubular boilers, 209.
+
+Tubular bridges, 334, 339, 360.
+
+Tunnels, railway,
+      Liverpool, 183;
+      Primrose Hill, 244;
+      Kilsby, 245;
+      Watford, 245;
+      Littleborough, 255.
+
+Tyne, the, at Newcastle, 3, 10, 11, 315.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+VIADUCTS,
+      Sankey, 185;
+      Dutton, 254;
+      Berwick, 311;
+      Newcastle, 312.
+
+Victoria Bridge, Montreal, 357-66.
+
+Vignolles, Mr., C.E., 171, 185, 204.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+WAGGON-ROADS, early, 4-7, 16, 63.
+
+Walker, James, C.E., 159.
+
+Wallsend, Newcastle, 1, 33.
+
+Walmsley, Sir Joshua, 297, 299, 371.
+
+Wandsworth and Croydon Tramway, 69, 147.
+
+Watford Tunnel, 245.
+
+Watt, James, and the Locomotive, 64.
+
+Way-leaves for waggon roads, 5.
+
+Wellington, Duke of, and Railways, 223, 274.
+
+West Moor, Killingworth, 37, 40, 91, 108.
+
+Whitehaven, early Railroad at, 6.
+
+Wigham, John, Stephenson's teacher, 48-9.
+
+Willington Quay, 28, 31-6.
+
+Wilton, Earl of, 172.
+
+Wood, Nicholas,
+      prepares drawing of safety-lamp, 94;
+      is present at its trial, 95;
+      assists at experiments on fire-damp, 98;
+      appears with Stephenson before Newcastle Institute, 102;
+      opinion of the "Geordy" lamp, 108;
+      experiments with Stephenson on friction, 117;
+      accident in pit, 119;
+      visits Edward Pease with G. Stephenson, 126.
+
+Woolf's tubular boilers, 209.
+
+Wylam Colliery and village, 12-14.
+      ,,       waggon-way, 74, 78.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+YORK and North Midland Railway, 261.
+
+Young, Arthur, description of early waggon-roads, 5.
+
+
+
+
+NOTES.
+
+
+{4}  In the Newcastle dialect, a chare is a narrow street or lane.  At
+the local assizes some years since, one of the witnesses in a criminal
+trial swore that "_he saw three men come out of the foot of a chare_."
+The judge cautioned the jury not to pay any regard to the man's evidence,
+as he must be insane.  A little explanation by the foreman, however,
+satisfied his lordship that the original statement was correct.
+
+{5}  'Six Months' Tour,' vol. iii. 9
+
+{26}  Father of Mr. Locke, M.P., the engineer.  He afterwards removed to
+Barnsley, in Yorkshire.
+
+{33}  The Stephenson Memorial Schools have since been erected on the site
+of the old cottage at Willington Quay represented in the engraving at the
+head of this chapter.
+
+{38}  This incident was related by Robert Stephenson during a voyage to
+the north of Scotland in 1857, when off Montrose, on board his yacht
+_Titania_; and the reminiscence was communicated to the author by the
+late Mr. William Kell of Gateshead, who was present, at Mr. Stephenson's
+request, as being worthy of insertion in his father's biography.
+
+{52}  Speech at Newcastle, on the 18th of June, 1844, at the meeting held
+in celebration of the opening of the Newcastle and Darlington Railway.
+
+{57}  Robert Stephenson was perhaps, prouder of this little boyish
+experiment than he was of many of his subsequent achievements.  Not
+having been quite accurately stated in the first edition of this book,
+Mr. Stephenson noted the correction for the second, and wrote the author
+(Sept. 18th, 1857) as follows:--"In the kite experiment, will you say,
+that the copper-wire was insulated by a few feet of silk cord; without
+this, the experiment cannot be made."
+
+{70}  Mr. Zerah Colburn, in his excellent work on 'Locomotive Engineering
+and the Mechanism of Railways,' points out that Mr. Davies Gilbert noted
+the effect of the discharge of the waste steam up the chimney of
+Trevithick's engine in increasing the draught, and wrote a letter to
+'Nicholson's Journal' (Sept. 1805) on the subject. Mr. Nicholson himself
+proceeded to investigate the subject, and in 1806 he took out a patent
+for "steam-blasting apparatus," applicable to fixed engines. Trevithick
+himself, however, could not have had much faith in the steam-blast for
+locomotive purposes, or else he would not have taken out his patent for
+urging the fire by means of fanners.  But the fact is, that while the
+speed of the locomotive was only four or five miles an hour, the blast
+was scarcely needed. It was only when high speeds were adopted that
+artificial methods of urging the fire became necessary, and that the full
+importance of the invention was recognised.  Like many other inventions,
+stimulated if not originated by necessity, the steam-blast was certainly
+reinvented, if not invented, by George Stephenson.
+
+{71}  'Mining Journal,'  9th September, 1858.
+
+{73}  Other machines, with legs, were patented in the following year by
+Lewis Gompertz and by Thomas Tindall. In Tindall's specification it is
+provided that the power of the engine is to be assisted by a _horizontal
+windmill_; and the four pushers, or legs, are to be caused to come
+successively in contact with the ground, and impel the carriage!
+
+{82}  Speech at the opening of the Newcastle and Darlington Railway, June
+18, 1844.
+
+{95}  The Editor of the 'Athenaeum' having (Nov. 8th, 1862) characterized
+the author's account of this affair as "perfectly untrue" and a
+"fiction," it becomes necessary to say a few words in explanation of it.
+The Editor of the 'Athenaeum' quotes in support of his statement a
+passage from Mr. Nicholas Wood, who, however does not say that the
+anecdote is "perfectly untrue," but merely that "the danger was _not
+quite so great_ as is represented:" he adds that "at most an explosion
+might have burnt the hands of the operator, but would not extend a few
+feet from the blower."  However that may be, we were not without good
+authority for making the original statement.  The facts were verbally
+communicated to the author in the first place by Robert Stephenson, to
+whom the chapter was afterwards read in MS., in the presence of Mr.
+Sopwith, F.R.S. at Mr. Stephenson's house in Gloucester Square, and
+received his entire approval.  But at the time at which Mr. Stephenson
+communicated the verbal information, he also handed a little book with
+his name written in it, still in the author's possession, saying, "Read
+that, you will find it all there."  We have again referred to the little
+book which contains, among other things, a pamphlet, entitled _Report on
+the Claims of Mr. George Stephenson relative to the Invention of his
+Safety Lamp_.  _By the Committee appointed at a Meeting holden in
+Newcastle_, _on this 1st of November_, _1817_.  _With an Appendix
+containing the Evidence_.  Among the witnesses examined were George
+Stephenson, Nicholas Wood, and John Moodie, and their evidence is given
+in the pamphlet. We quote that of Stephenson and Moodie, which was not
+contradicted, but in all material points confirmed by Wood, and was
+published, we believe, with his sanction. George Stephenson said, that he
+tried the first lamp "in a part of the mine where the air was highly
+explosive. Nicholas Wood and John Moodie were his companions when the
+trial was made. They became frightened when they came within hearing of
+the blower, and would not go any further.  Mr. Stephenson went alone with
+the lamp to the mouth of the blower," etc.  This evidence was confirmed
+by John Moodie, who said the air of the place where the experiment was
+about to be tried was such, that, if a lighted candle had been
+introduced, an explosion would have taken place that would have been
+"extremely dangerous."  "Told Stephenson it was foul, and hinted at the
+danger; nevertheless, Stephenson _would_ try the lamp, confiding in its
+safety. Stephenson took the lamp and went with it into the place in which
+Moodie had been, and Moodie and Wood, apprehensive of the danger, retired
+to a greater distance," etc.  The other details of the statement made in
+the text, are fully borne out by the published evidence, the accuracy of
+which, so far as the author is aware, has never before been called in
+question.
+
+{105}  The tankard bore the following inscription--"This piece of plate,
+purchased with a part of the sum of 1000 pounds, a subscription raised
+for the remuneration of Mr. GEORGE STEPHENSON for having discovered the
+fact that inflamed fire-damp will not pass through tubes and apertures of
+small dimensions, and having been _the first_ to apply that principle in
+the construction of a safety-lamp calculated for the preservation of
+human life in situations formerly of the greatest danger, was presented
+to him at a general meeting of the subscribers, Charles John Brandling,
+Esq., in the Chair.  January 12th, 1818."
+
+{107}  The accident above referred to was described in the 'Barnsley
+Times,' a copy of which, containing the account, Robert Stephenson
+forwarded to the author, with the observation that "it is evidently
+written by a practical miner, and is, I think, worthy of record in my
+father's Life."
+
+{125}  Mr. Pease died at Darlington, on the 31st of July, 1858, aged
+ninety two.
+
+{129}  The story has been told that George was a former suitor of Miss
+Hindmarsh, while occupying the position of a humble workman at Black
+Callerton, but that having been rejected by her, he made love to and
+married Fanny Henderson; and that long after the death of the latter,
+when he had become a comparatively thriving man, he again made up to Miss
+Hindmarsh, and was on the second occasion accepted.  This is the popular
+story, and different versions of it are current.  Desirous of
+ascertaining the facts, the author called on Thomas Hindmarsh, Mrs.
+Stephenson's brother, who assured him that George knew nothing of his
+sister until he (Hindmarsh) introduced him to her, at George's express
+request, about the year 1818 or 1819.  The author was himself originally
+attracted by the much more romantic version of the story, and gave
+publicity to it many years since; but after Mr. Hindmarsh's explicit
+statement, he thought fit to adopt the soberer, and perhaps, the truer
+view.
+
+{130}  The first clause in any railway act, empowering the employment of
+locomotive engines for the working of passenger traffic.
+
+{131}  This incident, communicated to the author by the late Edward
+Pease, has since been made the subject of a fine picture by Mr. A.
+Rankley, A.R.A., exhibited at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1861.
+
+{144}  Middlesborough does not furnish the only instance of the
+extraordinary increase of population in certain localities, occasioned by
+railways.  Hartlepool, in the same neighbourhood, has in thirty years
+increased from 1330 to above 15,000; and Stockton-on-Tees from 7763 to
+above 16,000.  In 1831 Crewe was a little village with 295 inhabitants;
+it now numbers upwards of 10,000.  Rugby and Swindon have quadrupled
+their population in the same time.  The railway has been the making of
+Southampton, and added 30,000 to its formerly small number of
+inhabitants.  In like manner the railway has taken London to the
+sea-side, and increased the population of Brighton from 40,000 to nearly
+100,000.  That of Folkestone has been trebled.  New and populous suburbs
+have sprung up all round London.  The population of Stratford-le-Bow and
+West Ham was 11,580 in 1831; it is now nearly 40,000.  Reigate has been
+trebled in size, and Redhill has been created by the railway.
+Blackheath, Forest Hill, Sydenham, New Cross, Wimbledon, and a number of
+populous places round London, may almost be said to have sprung into
+existence since the extension of railways to them within the last thirty
+years.
+
+{147}  Lives of the Engineers, vol. i. p. 371.
+
+{189}  Mr. Gooch's letter to the author, December 13th, 1861.  Referring
+to the preparations of the plans and drawings, Mr. Gooch adds, "When we
+consider the extensive sets of drawings which most engineers have since
+found it right to adopt in carrying out similar works, it is not the
+least surprising feature in George Stephenson's early professional
+career, that he should have been able to confine himself to so limited a
+number as that which could be supplied by the hands of one person in
+carrying out the construction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway;
+and this may still be said, after full allowance is made for the
+alteration of system involved by the adoption of the large contract
+system."
+
+{193}  Letter to the author.
+
+{196}  Letter to Mr. Illingworth.  September 25th, 1825.
+
+{199}  Letter to Mr. Illingworth.  April 9th, 1827.
+
+{201}  'Geological Transactions of Cornwall.'  i. 222.
+
+{206}  The arguments used by Mr. Stephenson with the directors, in favour
+of the locomotive engine, were afterwards collected and published in 1830
+by Robert Stephenson and Joseph Locke, as "compiled from the Reports of
+Mr. George Stephenson."  The pamphlet was entitled, 'Observations on the
+Comparative Merits of Locomotive and Fixed Engines.'  Robert Stephenson,
+speaking of the authorship many years after, said, "I believe I furnished
+the facts and the arguments, and Locke put them into shape.  Locke was a
+very flowery writer, whereas my style was rather bald and unattractive;
+so he was the editor of the pamphlet, which excited a good deal of
+attention amongst engineers at the time."
+
+{207}  The conditions were these:--
+
+1.  The engine must effectually consume its own smoke.
+
+2.  The engine, if of six tons weight, must be able to draw after it, day
+by day, twenty tons weight (including the tender and water-tank) at _ten
+miles_ an hour, with a pressure of steam on the boiler not exceeding
+fifty pounds to the square inch.
+
+3.  The boiler must have two safety-valves, neither of which must be
+fastened down, and one of them be completely out of the control of the
+engineman.
+
+4.  The engine and boiler must be supported on springs, and rest on six
+wheels, the height of the whole not exceeding fifteen feet to the top of
+the chimney.
+
+5.  The engine, with water, must not weigh more than six tons; but an
+engine of less weight would be preferred on its drawing a proportionate
+load behind it; if only four and a half tons, then it might be put on
+only four wheels.  The Company to be at liberty to test the boiler, etc.,
+by a pressure of one hundred and fifty pounds to the square inch.
+
+6.  A mercurial gauge must be affixed to the machine, showing the steam
+pressure above forty-five pounds per square inch.
+
+7.  The engine must be delivered, complete and ready for trial, at the
+Liverpool end of the railway, not later than the 1st of October, 1829.
+
+8.  The price of the engine must not exceed 550 pounds.
+
+{214}  The inventor of this engine was a Swede, who afterwards proceeded
+to the United States, and there achieved considerable distinction as an
+engineer.  His Caloric Engine has so far proved a failure, but his iron
+cupola vessel, the "Monitor," must be admitted to have been a remarkable
+success in its way.
+
+{219}  The "Rocket" is now to be seen at the Museum of Patents at
+Kensington, where it is carefully preserved.
+
+{234}  Tubbing is now adopted in many cases as a substitute for
+brick-walling.  The tubbing consists of short portions of cast-iron
+cylinder fixed in segments.  Each weighs about 4.5 cwt., is about 3 or 4
+feet long, and about 0.375 of an inch thick.  These pieces are fitted
+closely together, length under length, and form an impermeable wall along
+the side of the pit.
+
+{263}  During this period he was engaged on the North Midland, extending
+from Derby to Leeds; the York and North Midland, from Normanton to York;
+the Manchester and Leeds; the Birmingham and Derby, and the Sheffield and
+Rotherham Railways; the whole of these, of which he was principal
+engineer, having been authorised in 1836.  In that session alone, powers
+were obtained for the construction of 214 miles of new railways under his
+direction, at an expenditure of upwards of five millions sterling.
+
+{288}  The question of the specific merits of the atmospheric as compared
+with the fixed engine and locomotive systems, will be found fully
+discussed in Robert Stephenson's able 'Report on the Atmospheric Railway
+System,' 1844, in which he gives the result of numerous observations and
+experiments made by him on the Kingstown Atmospheric Railway, with the
+object of ascertaining whether the new power would be applicable for the
+working of the Chester and Holyhead Railway, then under construction.
+His opinion was decidedly against the atmospheric system.
+
+{289}  The Marquis of Clanricarde brought under the notice of the House
+of Lords, in 1845, that one Charles Guernsey, the son of a charwoman, and
+a clerk in a broker's office, at 12s. a week, had his name down as a
+subscriber for shares in the London and York line, for 52,000 pounds.
+Doubtless he had been made useful for the purpose by the brokers, his
+employers.
+
+{309}  "When my father came about the office," said Robert, "he sometimes
+did not well know what to do with himself.  So he used to invite Bidder
+to have a wrestle with him, for old acquaintance' sake.  And the two
+wrestled together so often, and had so many 'falls' (sometimes I thought
+they would bring the house down between them), that they broke half the
+chairs in my outer office.  I remember once sending my father in a
+joiner's bill of about 2 pounds 10s. for mending broken chairs."
+
+{324}  The simple fact that in a heavy storm the force of impact of the
+waves is from one and a-half to two tons per square foot, must
+necessarily dictate the greatest possible caution in approaching so
+formidable an element.  Mr. R. Stevenson (Edinburgh) registered a force
+of three tons per square foot at Skerryvore, during a gale in the
+Atlantic, when the waves were supposed to run twenty feet high.
+
+{327}  Robert Stephenson's narrative in Clark's 'Britannia and Conway
+Tubular Bridges,' vol. i. p. 27.
+
+{329a}  'Account of the Construction of the Britannia and Conway Tubular
+Bridges.'  By W. Fairbairn, C.E. London, 1849.
+
+{329b}  Mr. Stephenson continued to hold that the elliptical tube was the
+right idea, and that sufficient justice had not been done to it.  A year
+or two before his death Mr. Stephenson remarked to the author, that had
+the same arrangement for stiffening been adopted to which the oblong
+rectangular tubes owe a great part of their strength, a very different
+result would have been obtained.
+
+{335}  'The Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges.'  By Edwin Clark.  Vol.
+II, pp. 683-4.
+
+{336}  No. 34, Gloucester Square, Hyde Park, where he lived.
+
+{350}  The above anecdote is given on the authority of Mr. Sopwith.
+F.R.S.
+
+{354}  The second Mrs. Stephenson having died in 1845, George married a
+third time in 1848, about six months before his death.  The third Mrs.
+Stephenson had for some time been his housekeeper.
+
+{368}  In 1829 Robert Stephenson married Frances, daughter of John
+Sanderson, merchant, London; but she died in 1842, without issue, and Mr.
+Stephenson did not marry again.  Until the close of his life, Robert
+Stephenson was accustomed twice in every year to visit his wife's grave
+in Hampstead churchyard.
+
+{377}  Address as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers,
+January, 1856.
+
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS***
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