I

•lived by W. /£oll>, after the porls-ait by John

LIVES

OP

THE ENGINEERS.

VOLUME III.

a

WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

LIVES OF BEITISH ENGINEERS; with an account of

their principal works ; compiising also a History of Inland Communication in
Britain, from the earliest period to the death of Telford. Sixth Thousand.
Portraits and 200 Woodcuts. 2 vols. 8vo. 42s.

n.

SELF-HELP ; with Illustrations of Character and Conduct.
Fifty-fifth Thousand. Post 8vo. 6s.

in.

THE STOEY OF THE LIFE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON.

Fifteenth Thousand. Woodcuts. Post 8vo. 6s.

IV.

WORKMEN'S EARNINGS,— SAVINGS,— AND STRIKES:

Reprinted from the ' Quarterly Review.' Fcap. 8vo. Is. 6d.

LIVES

OF

THE ENGINEERS,

WITH

AN ACCOUNT OF THEIR PRINCIPAL WORKS;

COMPRISING ALSO

A HISTOEY OF INLAND COMMUNICATION IN BRITAIN.

BY SAMUEL SMILES.

" 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.

WITH PORTRAITS AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS.

VOL. III.
[GEORGE AND ROBERT STEPHEXSON.]

LONDON:

JOHN MURKAY, ALBEMAELE STREET.
1862.

X

LONDON : PKINTKD BV W. CLOWES AND SOXS, STAMKOKl> bTKRKT,
AND CHARING CROSS.

PREFACE.

THE following volume contains a revised edition of the
Life of George Stephenson, with which is incorporated
a Life of his son Robert, late President of the Institute
of Civil Engineers. While complete in itself, this book
also forms the continuation of the biographical history
of British engineering — the earlier portions of which
are comprised in the two volumes of ' Lives of the
Engineers' already published, — and brings the subject
down to the establishment of the railway system, in the
course of which British engineers have displayed their
highest skill and achieved their greatest triumphs.

Since the original appearance of the work some six
years ago under the title of ' The Life of George Ste-
phenson,' much additional information relative to the
early history of railways and of the men principally
concerned in establishing them, has been communicated
to the author by the friends and pupils of the two Ste-
phensons, as well as by the late Eobert Stephenson
himself, of which the author has availed himself in the
present edition.

Although it is unusual to embody two biographies in
one narrative, it will probably be admitted that in the
case of the Stephensons such a combination is peculiarly
appropriate, — the life and achievements of the son having
been in a great measure the complement of the life and

vi PREFACE.

achievements of the father. The care with which the
elder Stephenson, while occupying the position of an
obscure workman, devoted himself to his son's education,
and the zeal with which the latter repaid the affectionate
self-denial of his father, are among the most effective
illustrations of the personal character of both. As
regards their professional history also, it will be found
that the relations which existed between them, more
particularly with reference to the improvement of the
locomotive and the construction of the first passenger
railways, were of so intimate a kind, that it is impossible
to dissociate the history of the one engineer from that of
the other.

These views were early formed by the author as to
the proper treatment of the subject of George Stephen-
son's Life, and were carried out in the preparation of
the original work, with the concurrence of Robert Ste-
phenson, who supplied the requisite particulars relating
to himself. Such portions of these were accordingly
embodied in the narrative as could with propriety be
published during the lifetime of the latter, and the
remaining portions are now added, with the object of
rendering the record of the son's life, as well as the
early history of the railway system, more complete.

It may not be out of place to explain briefly the
circumstances in which the book originated and was
written, and the sources from which the facts it con-
tains were derived, as a guarantee to the reader that
every possible pains have been taken to secure due
authenticity and accuracy of information.

The subject of a biography of George Stephenson was
brought under the author's notice shortly after the death

PREFACE. vn

of the engineer in 1848, by the present Mayor of Leeds,
James Kitson, Esq., a large locomotive-manufacturer in
that town, and an intimate friend of both the Stephen-
sons. Mr. Kitson thought that the author's business
connection with railways, and his personal knowledge of
the elder Stephenson, with other qualifications, fitted him
for the task of writing his biography. The suggestion
was very tempting ; but the preparation of such a work
involved too much labour to be lightly undertaken, and
beyond putting together a few memoranda, which were
published as an article in a London journal, nothing
further was then done in the matter.

In the mean time a very suggestive and able article
made its appearance in the Athenceum of December 8,
1849, urging the claims of the subject of railway enter-
prise and its early history upon the attention of literary
men. The reviewer pointed out that although there
then existed abundance of railway statistics, these would
be found of very little use to the historian who, a century
hence, looking to the extraordinary effects of the railway
system on the means and manners of Great Britain,
should try to relate how it arose, with what efforts and
influences, and by what manner of men it was brought
to pass within a few years — to discover, in short, some-
thing like what we now vainly seek and regret to find
untold of the great mechanical novelties of the last
century. " It is this," he observed, " which we now
desire to have collected, while the memory of the chief
facts is yet fresh, while many of the first authors are
still living, and while of those deceased — including a
principal author of the system, George Stephenson—
there are survivors able to supply authentic and lively

vni PBEFACE.

memorials It is surely worth writing; and

if the task be not soon accomplished, the materials
requisite for its complete execution will have disappeared
beyond recall. The real value of such records — the
place due to their objects in the national annals — has
hitherto been little regarded. Professed historians of
the old school overlook them with dignified contempt ;
more philosophical moderns at best admit them here and
there to a summary notice made up of dry statistical
matter, that reads but tamely among reports of party
struggles and foreign disputes — of the vanities of courts
and the achievements of armies. Our purpose here is
to vindicate the claims of the subject and to show what
part of it may well be preserved for the instruction of
future times."

The only attempt made to work out the literary design
so ably sketched in the Athenceum, was by Mr. Francis,
in his ' History of the English Railway,' which, though
an exceedingly graphic resume of the early history of
railways, failed in the main point of biographic interest
in connection with the subject. A series of summary
articles on the life and works of George Stephenson was
also published by Mr. Hyde Clarke, C.E., in the ' Civil
Engineer and Architect's Journal ;' but, though valuable
as a collection of facts and dates, it was not a biography,
and the Life of George Stephenson, therefore, remained
to be written.

To ascertain Robert Stephenson' s views as to a Life
of his father, the author called upon him at his office in
Great George Street in March, 1851 ; Mr. Kitsort having
previously written him on the subject. Mr. Stephenson
then said that a Memoir of his father had been fre-

PREFACE. ix

quently spoken of, but he had almost given up the hope
of seeing it undertaken. He did not think the theme
was one likely to attract the attention of literary men of
eminence, nor did he seem to be at all sanguine as to its
popular interest, though his views on this point after-
wards underwent a change ; but he promised that, in
event of the author deciding to prosecute the proposed
biography, he should give his best assistance in supplying
the necessary facts.

Furnished by him with letters of introduction to
several of his more intimate friends in Newcastle—
among others to Mr. Budden, his business manager at the
Forth Street Works — the author shortly after made a
visit to that place, with the object of ascertaining what
materials could be obtained for the purposes of the pro-
posed memoir. After three or four days' diligent search
it was found that the results, when reduced to shape,
were of a very meagre kind. Books and newspapers
were of no avail. The information wanted existed but
in the memories of individuals, from whom it could only
be gathered by direct personal intercourse and by slow
degrees. Many of them were unlettered men, who,
though they could communicate in conversation what
they remembered, could not place it on written record.
Others, possessing information and able to communicate
it in writing, were too much engrossed by business
affairs to give the requisite time for the purpose. Thus
the author shortly became persuaded that to prepare a
satisfactory Life of George Stephenson from authentic
sources, required an actual residence of some period in
the district where he had lived ; and as the pursuits
in which he was engaged at the time rendered this out

b

x PREFACE.

of the question, he communicated to Robert Stephenson
his regret at not being able, under these circumstances,
to prosecute the proposed biography.

Thus three more years passed, during which nothing
further was done. No biographer of George Stephenson
appeared ; and the persons capable of furnishing infor-
mation respecting him were being rapidly thinned off
by death. The author had himself almost dismissed the
subject from his mind, when circumstances occurred in
connection with his railway occupation which rendered
it necessary for him to reside at Newcastle-upon-Tyne
during the summer of 1854. He was thus unexpectedly
placed in a position to prosecute at his leisure the in-
tended inquiries relative to the Stephenson biography.
Much of the desired information came directly in his
way, and the rest he went in search of. It became his
recreation in the summer evenings to visit the places
where George Stephenson had lived, — Wylam, where
he was born, — Dewley, Callerton, Newburn, and Wil-
lington Quay, where he had worked as gin- driver, fire-
man, brakesman, and engineman by turns, — and Killing-
worth, where he had invented the safety-lamp and
worked out the problem of the locomotive. All these
places were within easy reach of Newcastle by railway ;
and thus, helped by the recollections of the engineer's
former associates, his life was traced from boyhood to
manhood, from the cradle almost to the grave.

All who had known George Stephenson in his early
years were proud to speak of him, and to communi-
cate what they remembered of his history. Though he
had risen so much above them, there did not seem to
mingle an atom of jealousy or envy in their recollections

PREFACE. xi

of him. They begrudged him neither his prosperity
nor his fame. They spoke of " George " as if he had
been of their own kin, a member of their own family ;
and were as proud of his career as if it had been their
own. There was much that was very graphic in their
relation of the incidents in " George's " early life, the
vividness of which, the author fears, may have escaped
in the process of reporting. But so far as any merit
belongs to the earlier part of the narrative, he readily
acknowledges that it is in a great measure due to the
working men from whose lips he gathered it — colliers,
brakesmen, and enginemen, mostly old men, some of
them disabled by accidents and hard work — whom he
visited in succession at Wylam, Callerton, Newburn,
Willington, and Killingworth.

While residing at Newcastle, the author was also
enabled readily to visit Darlington, and to gather from
the lips of the venerable Edward Pease, to whom he
had been introduced by a letter from Robert Stephenson,
the interesting history of the Stockton and Darlington
Railway, of which Mr. Pease was the projector, — the
account of his employment of George Stephenson as
the engineer of that line, — and of his subsequent con-
nection with him as partner in the locomotive foundry
in Forth Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. At Darlington
also he obtained from John Dixon, C.E., many interest-
ing facts relative to the survey of the Stockton and
Darlington Railway, and the construction of the Liver-
pool and Manchester Railway across Chat Moss, of
which portion of the line Mr. Dixon had been the
resident engineer.

Having thus gathered together the materials of what,

b 2

xil PREFACE.

it was believed, would form an interesting and con-
tinuous narrative of George Stephenson's early career,
the author proceeded to communicate the result to
Robert Stephenson, and to express the hope of now
being able to proceed with the proposed biography of
his father. To this communication a reply was re-
ceived, dated " Dover, 26th Sept., 1854," in which
Mr. Stephenson said — " I am glad to hear that you
have not given up the idea of writing a memoir of
my late father ; and now that I have more leisure, it
will afford me pleasure to assist you in many points
which are known only to myself, especially in reference
to the phases which the Locomotive Engine put on at
different periods of my father's active and remarkable
life — a life which spreads over a period comprising
probably one of the most astonishing pages in the history
of civilization. I am about to visit Newcastle, when
I shall make a point of giving you my views as to the
form which the memoir, in my opinion, ought to take ;
and respecting the mechanical portions, I shall feel it
my duty to give every assistance."

Mr. Stephenson paid his promised visit -to Newcastle
in the beginning of October, 1854, when he com-
municated his views as to the treatment of the proposed
biography, and took the author over the scenes of his
own and his father's early life, relating by the way
many interesting incidents which the sight of them
recalled to his memory. The ride to Killingworth
will be found described at pp. 64-6 of the following
work. The author afterwards read over to Mr. Ste-
phenson the narrative he had by this time prepared
of his father's early life, much of which was entirely

PREFACE. xlii

to him, though he was ready to admit its accuracy,
considering the authentic sources from which it had
been obtained. At a subsequent period the author
enjoyed the advantage of much intimate personal inter-
course with Mr. Stephenson, and obtained from him,
either orally or in writing, many of the important
facts embodied in the following narrative. Besides
what was supplied directly by himself, much additional
information was obtained through his instrumentality
from other gentlemen well qualified to supply it —
from Mr. Charles Parker, relative to the early history
of the London and Birmingham Railway; from Mr.
T. Sopwith, C.E., as to George Stephenson's visits
to Belgium ; and from Sir Joshua Walmsley as to his
journey into Spain. Mr. Stephenson continued to
furnish the author with corrections and additions from
time to time as they occurred to him ; and one of the
last communications received from him, shortly before
his death, was a letter accompanying a large bundle of
the correspondence and papers of Mr. Joseph Sandars
(since deceased), the projector of the Liverpool and
Manchester Railway, of which due use has been made
in the present edition. It has also been thought desir-
able to append Robert Stephenson's own narrative of
his father's inventions and improvements in the form
in which it was communicated to the author, the record
being valuable as an authentic memorial of the early
history of the Locomotive Engine and Railways.

Since the publication of the earlier editions of the
Life of Stephenson, the author has been enabled to
avail himself of the personal recollections of Mr. T. L.
Gooch, C.E. ; Mr. Vaughan, of Snibston ; Mr. F. Swan-

xiv PREFACE.

wick, C.E. ; and Mr. Binns, of Claycross, all of whom
officiated as private secretaries to George Stephenson at
different periods of his professional life, and afterwards
held responsible offices either under him or in conjunc-
tion with him. The materials for the narrative of
Eobert Stephenson' s career in Colombia have been
kindly supplied by his friend Mr. E. S. Illingworth.
Much of the valuable information communicated by
these gentlemen is published for the first time in the
present edition.

The same pains have been taken with the illustration
of the book as in the case of the two volumes of ' Lives
of the Engineers' already published. The author has
had the advantage of being ably supported by his artists,
Messrs. Leitch and Skelton, whose illustrations speak
for themselves, and will, he believes, be found worthy
of the subject.

London, November, 1862.

NOTE. — End of the " Rocket" — The important influence which this
famous engine, which won the prize of 500Z. at the Locomotive Com-
petition at Rainhill in 1829, exercised on the general extension of
the railway passenger system, led the author, in the early editions of
the l Life of George Stephenson,' to express the regret (repeated in
the note to p. 274 of the following work) that pains had not been
taken to ensure its preservation, in like manner as the French Govern-
ment have preserved Cugnot's road locomotive of 1770 in the
Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers at Paris. It is, therefore, with
pleasure we have to state that, while these sheets are passing through
the press, the " Rocket " is in course of removal to the Museum of
Patents at Kensington, where it will find its appropriate place in that
highly interesting national collection.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE I.

The colliery districts of the North — Newcastle-upon-Tyne in ancient times —
The Roman settlement — Social insecurity in the middle ages — Northum-
berland roads — The coal-trade — Modern Newcastle — Coal haulage —
Early waggon-roads, tramways, and railways — The colliery workmen —
Pumping-engines — The pitmen — Coal-staiths — The keelmen Page 1-12

CHAPTER II.

Wylam colliery and village — George Stephenson's birthplace, High Street
House — Stephenson's 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 — Employed as
corf-bitter — Drives the gin-horse — Black Callerton colliery — Love of
animals — Is made assistant-fireman 13-22

CHAPTER III.

Jolly's Close, Newburn — Wages — Athletic feats — Throckley Bridge — "A
made man for life " — Appointed engineman — Studies his engine — Ex-
periments in bird-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-mend-
ing — Fanny Henderson — Saves his first guinea — Fight with a pitman

23-36

CHAPTER IV.

Sobriety and studiousness — Inventiveness — Removes to Willington Quay —
Marries Fanny Henderson — Their cottage at Willington — Tries to invent
a perpetual-motion machine — William Fairbairn and George Stephenson —
Ballast-heaving — Cottage chimney takes fire — Clock-cleaning — Birth of
Robert Stephenson — George removes to West Moor, Killingworth — Death
of his wife — Engineman at Montrose, Scotland — 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 wind-
ing-engine — Cures a pumping-engine — Appointed engine-wright of the
colliery 37-55

xvi CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V.

Self-improvement — John Wigham — Studies in natural philosophy — Educa-
tion of Robert Stephenson — Sent to Rutter's school, Benton — Brace's
school, Newcastle — Literary and Philosophical Institute — Stephenson
educates his son in mechanics — Hide to Killingworth — Robert Stephen-
son'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 Page 56-72

CHAPTER VI.

Various expedients for facilitating 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's and Brunton's locomotives
— The Wylam waggon- way — Mr. Blackett's experiments — Jonathan
Foster — William Hedley — The Wylam engine — Stephenson deter-
mines to build a locomotive — Lord Ravensworth — The first Killing-
worth engine described — The steam-blast invented — Stephenson's second
locomotive 73-103

CHAPTER VII.

Frequency of colliery explosions — Accident in the Killingworth pit —
Stephenson's heroic conduct — A safety-lamp desired — Dr. Clanny's lamp
— Stephenson's experiments on fire-damp — Designs a lamp, and tests
it in the pit — His second lamp — Cottage experiments with coal-gas
-Rev. Mr. Turner — Stephenson's third lamp — The Stephenson and
Davy controversy — Scene at the Newcastle Institute — The Davy
testimonial — The Stephenson testimonial — Merits of the " Geordy "
lamp 104-128

CHAPTER VIII.

The Killingworth mine-machinery—Robert Bald's account — Stephenson
improves ^ his locomotive — Strengthens the road — His steam-springs

- Experiments on friction — Steam-locomotion on common roads

Early neglect of the locomotive — Makes an engine for the Duke of
Portland — Again contemplates emigration — Constructs the Hettou
railway — The working-power employed — Robert Stephenson viewer's
apprentice — His pursuits at Killingworth — His father sends him to
Edinburgh University — His application to study — An early attachment

—Studies geology under Professor Jameson — Geological tour in the
Highlands 129-148

• nNTKNTS. xvii

CHAPTEE IX.

The Bishop Auckland coal-field — Edward Pease projects a railway from
Witton to Stockton-on-Tees — The Bill rejected — The line re-surveyed
and Act obtained — George Stephenson's visit to Edward Pease — Stephen-
son appointed engineer of the railway — The line re-surveyed — Mr. Pease
visits Killingworth — The Newcastle foundry projected — The railway con-
structed — Locomotives ordered — Stephenson's anticipations as to railways

— Public opening of the line — The coal traffic — The first railway pas-
senger coach — The coaching-traffic described — The " Locomotion " engine

— Commercial results of the Stockton and Darlington Railway — Town of
Middlesborough created Page 149-177

CHAPTER X.

Insufficiency of the communications between Liverpool and Manchester — The
canal monopoly — A tramroad projected — Joseph Sandars — Sir E. Phillips'
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 employed — The first prospectus issued — Stephenson's
survey opposed — The canal companies — Speculations as to railway speed
— Sir John Barrow's views — Stephenson's notions thought extravagant —
Article in the ' Quarterly ' 178-200

CHAPTER XL

The Liverpool and Manchester Bill before Parliament — The evidence — George
Stephenson in the witness-box — Examined as to speed — His cross-exami-
nation — The survey found defective — Mr. Harrison's speech — Evidence
of opposing engineers — Mr. Alderson's speech — Evidence against the loco-
motive— The Bill thrown out — Stephenson's vexation — The scheme
revived — The line re-surveyed — Sir Isaac Coffin's speech — The Act

201-218

CHAPTER XII.

George Stephenson appointed engineer — Chat Moss 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 — 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 •• 219-241

xviii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIII.

Robert Stephenson mining engineer in Colombia — Mule journey to Bogota

— Mariquita — Silver-mining — Difficulties with the Comishmen — 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 — Discussions of the Stephensons — Boiler arrange-
ments 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 end . . Page 242-275

CHAPTER XIV.

The railway finished — The traffic arrangements organized — Public opening
of the line — Accident to Mr. Huskisson — Arrival of the trains at Man-
chester — The traffic results — Improvement of the road and rolling-stock

— Improvements in the locomotive — The railway workmen — The engine-
drivers — The railway a wonder — Road-travelling improved — The Govern-
ment and railways — Steam on common roads — Joint-stock railway com-
panies — New lines projected — The Grand Junction — Public opposition
to railways — Robert Stephenson engineer of Leicester and Swannington
Railway — George removes to Snibston, and sinks for coal — Stimulates
local enterprise — His liberality 276-300

CHAPTER XV.

The London and Birmmgham Railway projected — George and Robert
Stephenson appointed engineers — An opposition organized — Hostile
pamphlets — Public meetings against the scheme — Robert Stephenson 's
interview with Sir A. Cooper — The survey obstructed — The line re-
surveyed — The Bill in Parliament — Thrown out in the Lords — The
project revived — 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 — The
cost of the railway greatly increased — Failure of contractors — Magnitude
of the works — The railway navvies 301-324

CHAPTER XVI.

Projection of new lines — Dutton Viaduct on the Grand Junction — The Man-
chester and Leeds — Incident in Committee — Summit Tunnel, Little-
borough — Magnitude of the work — The Midland Railway — The works
compared with the Simplon road — Slip near Ambergate — Bull Bridge —
The York and North Midland — The Scarborough branch — George
Stephenson on estimates — Stephenson on his surveys — His quick obser-
vation— His extensive labours — Travelling and correspondence — Life at
Alton Grange — Stephenson's London office — Journeys to Belgium —
Interviews with the King — Public openings of English railways —
Stephenson's assistants — Results of travelling by rail . . . . 325-355

CONTENTS. xix

CHAPTEE XVII.

George Stephenson's views on railways and coal-traffic — Leases the Claycross
estate, and sinks for coal — Eemoves to Tapton House — British Associa-
tion at Newcastle — Appears at Mechanics' Institutes — Speech at Leeds —
His self-acting brake — His views of railway speed — Theory of " undu-
lating lines " — Stephenson's conduct towards the Chester and Birkenhead
Company — Atmospheric railways projected — Stephenson opposes the prin-
ciple of working — The railway mania — Stephenson tries to check it in
vain — Parliament and the mania — Stephenson's letter to Sir Robert Peel

— George Hudson, the Railway King ; his fall — Stephenson again visits
Belgium — Interviews with King Leopold — Journey into Spain

Page 356-393

CHAPTER XVIII.

Robert Stephenson's career — His extensive employment as Parliamentary
engineer — His rival, Brunei — The Great Western Railway — Width of
gauge — Robert Stephenson's caution as to investments — The Newcastle
and Berwick Railway — Contest in Parliament — George Stephenson's inter-
view with Lord Howick — The Royal Border Bridge, Berwick — Progress
of iron-bridge building — Robert Stephenson constructs the High Level
Bridge, Newcastle — Pile-driving by steam — Merits of the structure —
The through railway to Scotland completed 394-415

CHAPTER XIX.

George Stephenson surveys a line from Chester to Holyhead — Robert Stephen-
son afterwards appointed engineer — The railway works under Penmaen
Mawr — The crossing of the Menai Strait — Various plans proposed — A
tubular beam determined on — Strength of wrought-iron tubes — Mr.
William Fairbairn consulted — His experiments — Professor Hodgkinson —
Chains proposed, and eventually discarded — The bridge works — The Con-
way Bridge — Britannia Bridge described — Floating of the tubes — Robert
Stephenson's great anxiety — Raising the tubes — The hydraulic press
bursts — The works completed — Merits of the Britannia Bridge 416-440

CHAPTER XX.

George Stephenson's life at Tapton — Experiments in horticulture — His
fanning operations — Affection for animals — Bee-keeping — Reading and
conversation — Rencontre with Lord Denman — Hospitality at Tapton —
His microscope — A "crowdie night" — Visits to London — Visits Sir
Robert Peel at Dray ton Manor — His conversation — Encounter with Dr.
Buckland — Coal formed by the sun's light — Opening of the Trent Valley
line, and great railway celebration — Eulogy of the railway system —
Meeting with Emerson — Illness, death, and funeral — Statues of George
Stephenson — Robert Stephenson's gradual retirement from the profession

— His tubular bridges in Egypt and Canada — Acts as railway arbitrator

— Helps to launch the Great Eastern — Enters the House of Commons as
member for Whitby — His foreign honours — Illness, death, and funeral

441-464

xx CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE XXL

Characteristics of the Stephensons — Resume' of George Stephenson's history —
His patience and perseverance — His thoroughness and honesty — His battle
for the locomotive — His manual dexterity — Deportment towards his work-
people — His generosity — Compared with James Watt — Social influences
of the locomotive — Habits of observation — His conversational powers —
A late learner — His goodness of heart — Robert Stephenson's kindliness of
disposition — His affection for his father — His manners — His generosity —
The Civil Engineers' Institute — George Stephenson on politics — Views on
Free-trade — Robert a " Protectionist " — Services rendered to civilization
by the Stephensons Page 465-482

APPENDIX.

Narrative of George Stephenson's Inventions and Improvements in connec-
tion with the Locomotive Engine and Railways. By his Son, Robert
Stephenson 485-496

The Steam-blast in the Locomotive, and the Merits of the several Claimants
to the Invention discussed; including Robert Stephenson's Remarks
thereon . 497-504

INDEX 505-512

LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS.

PORTRAIT OF GEORGE STEPHENSON ..
ROBERT STEPHEN SON .

PAGE
High Level Bridge, Newcastle,

• to face 1
Map of Newcastle District .. .. 2

Flange-rail 7

Tyne Coal-staith 11

Wylam 13

High Street House, Wylam . . . . 15

Nrwburn 23

Stephenson's Cottage, "\Villington

Quay 37

Stephenson's Signature 39

W,->r Moor Colliery 44

Killingworth High Pit 55

Glebe Farm-house, Ben ton . . . . 56
R utter's School-house, Long Ben-

tqn 60

Brace's School, Newcastle . . . . 62
Stephenson's Cottage, West Moor 67

Sim-dial, Killingworth 70

Colliers' Cottages, Long Beuton . . 72
Cugnot's Steam Carriage .. .. 75
Mmdock's Model Locomotive .. 77
Trevithick's Tram Engine .. .. 83
The Wylam Engine .. .. .. 92

Spur Gear 97

Pit-head, West Moor 106

Davy's and Stephenson's Safety

Lamps 117

Literary and Philosophical Insti-
tute, Newcastle 119

Half-lap Joint 132

Old Killingworth Locomotive . . 135
West Moor Colliery, Killingworth 148
Map of Stockton and Darlington

Railway 149

Opening of Stockton and Darling-
ton Railway 168

The First Railway Coach .. ..171
No. I. Engine at Darlington . . 175
Map of Liverpool and Manchester

Railway 184-5

Surveying on Chat Moss . . . . 200

to face Title Page,
to face page 301.

PAGE
.. 232
.. 233
.. 238

at

.. 248

.. 266

Olive Mount Cutting

Sankey Viaduct

Baiting Place at Sankey
Robert Stephenson's Cottage

Santa Anna

The "Rocket"

Locomotive Competition at Rain-
hill 269

Railway versus Road 275

Map of Leicester and Swannington

Railway 295

Alton Grange 300

Map of London and Birmingham

Railway 312

Blisworth Cutting 313

Shafts, Kilsby Tunnel 316

Kilsby Tunnel, North End .". .. 324

Dutton Viaduct 326

West Entrance, Littleborough

Tunnel 330

Map of Midland Railway .. .. 332

Landslip, Ambergate 334

Bull Bridge 335

Tapton House 356

Lime Works, Ambergate . . . . 359
Newcastle from Higli Level Bridge 394
Royal Border Bridge, Berwick . . 406
Elevation and Plan of Arch, High

Level Bridge 414

Railway at Penmaen Mawr .. .. 418

Map of Menai Strait 421

Construction of Britannia Tube on

Staging 431

Con way Bridge 433

Britannia Bridge 439

Floating First Tube, Conway Bridge 440
View in Tapton Grounds .. ..441
Foot-path to Tapton House . . . . 448
Trinity Church, Chesterfield .. 4.T7
Stephenson Memorial Schools,

Willington 482

LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS.

LIVES

OF

GEORGE AND ROBERT STEPHENSON.

NEWCASTLE-DPON-TYNE AND THE HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE.
[By R. P. Leitch, after his original drawing.]

LIFE

OF

GEORGE STEPHENSON, &c

CHAPTEK

NEWCASTLE AND THE GREAT NORTHERN COAL-FIELD.

IN no quarter of England have greater changes been
wrought by the successive advances made in the prac-
tical 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 Eomans planted a colony at
Newcastle, bridging the Tyne by the Pons ^Elii near
the site of the present low-level bridge shown in the
prefixed engraving, and erecting a strong fortification
above it on the high ground now occupied by the
Central Eailway Station. North and north-west lay a
wild and barren country, abounding in moors, moun-
tains, and morasses, but occupied to a certain extent
by fierce and barbarous tribes of Picts and Caledonians.
To defend the young colony against the ravages of
these dangerous neighbours, a strong wall was built
by the Eomans, extending from Wallsend on the north
bank of the Tyne, a few miles below Newcastle, across
the country to Burgh-upon-Sands on the shores of the
Solway Frith. The remains of the wall are still to be
traced in the less populous hill-districts of Northumber-
land. In the neighbourhood of Newcastle they have
been gradually effaced by the works of succeeding

VOL. III. B

NORTHERN COLONISTS.

CHAP. I.

MAP OF NEWCASTLE DISTRICT.

generations, though the " Wallsend " coal consumed in
our household fires still serves to remind us of the great
Roman work.

A long period of obscurity followed the withdrawal
of these colonists, during which Northumbria became
planted by an entirely new race, principally 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
mosstroopers 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-
reivers to their retreats in the hills. The Judges of
Assize rode from Carlisle to Newcastle guarded bv an

CHAP. i. NORTHUMBERLAND ROADS. 3

escort armed to the teeth. A tribute called u 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 con-
tinues 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 agri-
cultural cart with solid wooden wheels was almost
as common in the western parts of the county as it
is in Spain now. The track 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 pack-horses until
a comparatively recent period. When Marshal Wade
attempted to march westward in 1745, to intercept the
Highland rebels on their way south, he was completely
baffled by the state of the roads, which were imprac-
ticable for wheeled vehicles.1 After the rebellion had
been put down, the Marshal proceeded to construct a
military road to connect Newcastle with Carlisle. He
closely followed the line of the Roman wall for thirty
miles w^est of Newcastle, and overthrew what remained
of that work for the purpose of obtaining materials for
his new " agger."

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

1 See ' Lives of the Engineers,' vol. i., Memoir of John >f etcalf.

B 2

4 NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. CHAP. I.

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 trade of the district, increasing from
year to year, until at length the coal raised from these
northern mines amounts to the extraordinary quantity
of upwards of sixteen millions of tons a year, of which
not less than nine millions of tons 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 manu-
factures inhabited by nearly a hundred thousand 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,1 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. A dense cloud of smoke constantly
hangs over the place', almost obscuring the sun's light.
North and south the atmosphere is similarly murky,
and 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 exteii-

1 In the Newcastle dialect, a chare | tioned the jury not to pay any regard

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 man come out of
the foot of a chare." The judge cau-

to the man's evidence, as he must be
insane. A little explanation by the
foreman, however, satisfied his lord-
ship that the original statement was
correct.

CHAP. T.

EARLY TRAMROADS.

sive underground workings. In every direction are to be
seen swollen heaps of ashes and refuse, coals and slag, the
rubbish of old abandoned pits, and the pumping-engines
and machinery of new. 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 early 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 j
the north. At an early period the coal was carried to (
the boats in panniers, or in sacks upon horses' backs. I
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 4
waggon, and 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."1

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 Mr.
Beaumont,2 about the year 1630 ; and on a road thus

1 * Chorograpkia ; or, a Survey
of Xewcastle-upon-Tyne.' Newcastle,
1649.

2 " Some South gentlemen have,
upon great hopes of benefit, come into
this country to hazard their monies in
coal-pits. Mr. Beaumont, a gentle-
man of great Ingenuity and rare Parts,
adventured into our mines, with his
thirty thousand Pounds, who brought
with him many rare Engines, not

known then in these Parts; as, the
Art to bore with iron Rods, to try the
Deepness and Thickness of the Coal ;
rare Engines to draw the water out of
the Pits; waggons, with one horse,
to carry the coals from the Pits to the
Stathes on the River, &c. Within a
few Years, he consumed all his Money,
and rode Home upon his liylit Horse"
— Harleian MS. vol. iii. 269.

0 KAKLY TRAMROAPS. CHAP. T.

ilaid, a single horse was capable of drawing a large
pleaded waggon from the coal-pit to the shipping staitli.
Roger North, in 1676, found the practice had become
extensively adopted, and he speaks of the large sum
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 for the purpose
• of connecting the one with the other. A century later,
I Arthur Young observed that not only had these roads
become greatly multiplied, but formidable 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
i waggons to run on, by which one horse is enabled to
I draw, and that with ease, fifty or sixty bushels of coals."
Saint-Fond, the French traveller, who visited Newcastle
in 1791, spoke of the colliery waggon-ways in the
neighbourhood as superior to anything of the kind he
had seen. He described the wooden rails as formed
with a rounded upper surface, like a projecting mould-
ing, and the waggon wheels as being " made of cast-iron,
and hollowed in the manner of a metal pulley," that they
might fit the rounded surface of the rails. The economy
with which the coal wras thus hauled to the shipping
places was urged by him as an inducement to his own
countrymen to adopt a similar method of transit.2

Similar waggon-roads were early 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

1 ' Six Months' Tour,' vol. iii. 9,

" ' Travels in England, Scotland, and the Hebrides,' vol. i. 142.

CHAP. I. THE FIRST RAILROADS. 7

of the line was selected by General Cope as a position
for his cannon at the battle of Prestoiipans.

In these rude wooden tracks we find the genii 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 iron rails are supposed to have
been laid down at Whitehaven as early as 1T38. 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 col-
liery 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 neigh-
bouring wood for concealment, and
lay there perdu for three days and
nights, to escape the fury of the
jH'pulace.1 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,

1 * Railway Locomotion and Steam Navigation, their Principles and Practice.'
By John Curr. London, 1847.

B THE LOCOMOTIVE. CHAP. T.

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 became
generally adopted in the mining districts.

Such was the growth of the railway, which, it will
be observed, originated in necessity, and was modi-
fied 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 carry-
ing them onward to farther stages of improvement.
We shall afterwards find that the invention of the
•locomotive was made by like successive steps. It was
lot the invention of one man, but of a succession of
nen, each working at the proper hour, and according to
he needs of that hour ; one inventor interpreting only
he 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
Eobert 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

CHAP. I. COLLIERY MACHINERY. 9

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 of accomplishing
that object.

Among the upper-ground workmen employed at
the coal-pits, the principal are the firemen, enginemen,
and brakesmen, 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 con-
densing engine of Watt had been invented. In the
Xewcomen 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 is a clumsy and
apparently a very painful process, accompanied by an
extraordinary amount of wheezing, sighing, creaking,*
and bumping. When the pump descends, there is heard

10 THE PITMEN. CHAP. I.

a plunge, a heavy sigh, and a loud bump : then, as it
rises, and the sucker begins to act, there is heard a
creak, a wheeze, another bump, and then a strong rush of
water as it is 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, who work out the coal below ground, or
" the lads belaw," as they call themselves, are a peculiar
class, quite distinct from the workmen employed on the
surface. They are a people with peculiar habits, man-
ners, and character, as much so as fishermen and sailors,
to whom, indeed, they are supposed, perhaps from the
dangerous nature of their calling, to bear a considerable
resemblance. Some forty or fifty years since they were
a very much rougher and worse-educated class than
they are now ; hard workers, but very wild and un-
couth ; much given to " steeks," or strikes ; and dis-
tinguished, in their hours of leisure and on pay-nights,
for their love of cock-fighting, dog-fighting, hard drink-
ing, 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 em-
ployment, and from the circumstance that the colliers
were amongst 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 pitmen ; the
abolition of the twelve months' bond to the mine, and

CHAP. T. TYNE SHIPPING. 11

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 rail-
ways, 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 stand-
ing 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.

ML-STAITH ON" 1EE TINE. [By R. P. Leitch.]

But a great deal of the coal shipped from the Tyne
comes from above-bridge, where sea-going craft cannot

12 THE KEELMEN. CHAP. T.

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 navi-
gated 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 suffi-
cient 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.

WYLAM. [By B. P. Leitcli.]

CHAPTER II.

WYLAM AND DEWLEY BURN — GEORGE STEPHENSON'S EARLY

YEARS.

THE colliery village of Wylam is situated on the north/I
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 more
remarkable for the amount of its population than for its
cleanness or neatness as a village — the houses, as in most

14 WYLAM. CHAP. II.

colliery villages, being the property of the owners or
lessees, who employ them for the temporary purpose of
accommodating the workpeople, against whose earnings
there is a weekly set-off of so much for house and coals.
About the end of last century the estate of which
Wylam forms part, belonged to Mr. Blackett, a gen-
tleman 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 inter-
esting 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' apart-
ments. 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 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 over-
head.

Robert Stephenson, or " Old Bob," as the neighbours
familiarly called him, and his wife Mabel, were a respect-
able couple, careful and hard-working. They belonged
to the ancient and honourable family of Workers — that
extensive family which constitutes the backbone of our
country's greatness, the common working people of
England. A tradition is, indeed, preserved in the
family, that old. Robert StephensonV father and mother

CHAP. II.

STEPHENSON'S PARENTS.

15

HIGH-STREET HOUSE. WYLAJI [By R. P. Leitch.]

came across the Border from Scotland, on the loss of
considerable property there. Miss Stephenson, daughter
of Robert Stephenson's third son John, states that a suit
was even commenced for the recovery of the property,
but was dropped for want of means to prosecute it. Cer-
tain it is, however, that Robert Stephenson's position
throughout life was that of a humble workman. After
marrying at Walbottle, a ' village situated between
Wylam and Newcastle, he removed with his wife
Mabel to Wylani, where he found employment as fire-
man of the old pumping-engine at that colliery.

Mabel Stephenson was one of the daughters of Robert
Carr, a dyer at Ovinghain. The Carrs were for seve-
ral generations the owners of a house in that village
adjoining the churchyard; and the family tombstone
may still be seen standing against the east end of the
chancel of the parish church, underneath the centre
lancet window ; as the tombstone of Thomas Bewick, the

16

THE STEPHENSON FAMILY.

CHAP. II.

wood-engraver, occupies the western gable. The author,
when engaged in tracing the early history of George
Stephenson, casually entered into conversation one day
with an old man near Dewley, a hamlet not far from
Walbottle. Mabel Stephenson, he said, had been his
mother's cousin ; and all their " forbears " belonged to
that neighbourhood. It appears that she was a woman
of somewhat delicate constitution, and troubled occasion-
ally, as her neighbours said, with " the vapours." But
those who remembered her concurred in describing her
as " a real canny body." And a woman of whom this
is said by general consent in the Newcastle district may
be pronounced a worthy person indeed ; for it is about
the highest praise of a woman which Northumbrians
can express.

George Stephenson was the second of a family of six
children. The family Bible of Eobert and Mabel
Stephenson, which seems to have come into their pos-
session in November, 1790, contains the following
record of the births of these children, evidently written
by one hand and at one time : —

"A Kechester of the children belonging Eohert and Mabel
Stepheson —

" James Stepheson Was Born March the 4 day 1779
" George Stepheson Was Born June i) day 1781
"Elender Stepheson Was Born April the 16 day 1784
"Eobert Stepheson Was Born March the 10 day 1788
" John Stepheson Was Born November the 4 day 1789
" Ann Stepheson Was Born July the 19 day 1792." :

It does not appear that the birth of any of these
children was registered in the parish books, the author
having made an unsuccessful search in the registers of
Ovingham and Heddon-on-the-Wall to ascertain the

1 Of the two daughters, Eleanor
married Stephen Liddell, afterwards
employed in the Locomotive Factory
in Newcastle. Ann married John
Nixon, with whom she emigrated to

the United States ; she died at Pitts-
burg, in I860. John Stephenson was
accidentally killed at the Locomotive
Factory in January, 1831.

CHAP. II. OLD ROBERT STEPHENSON. 17

fact. Though the village of Wylam is within the parish
of Ovingham, High Street House stands exactly beyond
its boundary and within that of Heddon ; the churches
of both parishes being several miles distant.

Robert Stephenson, the father of this family, was a
tall, gaunt man. A Wylam collier, who remembered
him well, gave the following odd description of his per-
sonal appearance : — " Greor die'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. They 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 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 accus-
tomed 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 them-
selves. 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 black-

VOL. in. c

18 THE BOY GEORGE. CHAP. II.

birds, 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 vil-
lage. He was also an eager listener, with the other
children, to his father's curious tales ; and he early im-
bibed 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 occa-
sions 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 loco-
motive 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 on the north side, the old engine,
which had grown " dismal to look at," as one of the
workmen described it, was pulled down ; and then

CHAP. II. NELL'S BONNET. 19

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 in to 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. Girl-like, she had set her
mind upon that bonnet, and no other would please
her. She accordingly left the shop disappointed and
very much dejected. But Geordie bravely said, " Never
heed, Nell ; come wi' me, and I'll 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 ? "
" Hauddin the gentlemen's horses ! " was the exultant

c2

20 GEORGE EMPLOYED AS A HERD-BOY. CHAP. II.

reply. The bonnet was forthwith bought, and the two
returned to Dewley in triumph.

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, "just aboon the cut-end," as the people of
the hamlet describe it, 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. Their corves were made out of
hollowed corks; their ropes were supplied by twine;
and a few bits of wood gleaned from the refuse of the
carpenters' 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, greatly to the sorrow

CHAP. II. DRIVES THE GIX-HORSE. 21

of the young engineers. We may mention, in passing,
that George's companion afterwards became a workman
of repute, and creditably held the office of engineer
at Shilbottle, near Alnwick, for a period of nearly
thirty years.

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 morn-
ings 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, he went to Black Callerton Colliery to
drive the gin there ; and as that colliery lies about two
miles across the fields from Dewley Burn, the boy 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
birdnesting places ; and there was not a nest there that
he did not know of. When the young birds were old

22 APPOINTED ASSISTANT-FIREMAN. CHAP. II.

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 dis-
appear 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, lest 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 Eobert
and his family were again under the necessity of shifting
their home ; for, to use the common phrase, they must
" follow the wark."

NEWBORN ON THE TYNE. [By R P. Leitch.]

CHAPTEK III.

NEWBURN AND CALLERTON — LEARNS TO BE AN ENGINEMAN.

ON quitting their humble home at Dewley Burn, the
Stephensoii family removed 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.

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.

24 LIFE AT NEWBURN. CHAP. III.

The one apartment served for parlour, kitchen, sleeping-
room, and all.

The children of the Stephen son 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.

So far as weekly earnings went, the family were at
this time pretty comfortable. Their united earnings
amounted to from 35s. to 40s. a week, and they were
enabled to command a fair share of the necessaries of
life. But it will be remembered that in those days,
from 1797 to 1802, it was much more difficult for the
working classes to live than it is now. Money did
not go nearly so far. The price of bread was exces-
sive. Wheat, which for three years preceding 1795
had averaged only 54s., advanced to 76s. a quarter ;
and it continued to rise until, in December, 1800, it
increased to 130s., and barley and oats in propor-
tion. There was a great dearth of provisions, corn
riots were of frequent occurrence, and the taxes on all
articles of consumption were very heavy. The war
with Napoleon was then raging ; derangements of
trade were frequent, causing occasional suspensions of
employment in all departments of industry, from the
pressure of which working people are always the first
to suffer.

During this severe period George Stephenson con-
tinued to live with his parents at Jolly's Close. Other
workings of the coal were opened out in the neighbour-
hood ; and to one of these he 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 Bill Coe ; and to these two was intrusted the
working of the little engine put up at Mid Mill. They

CHAP. III. ATHLETIC FEATS. 25

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, hardworking 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. His
principal competitor was Robert Hawthorn, with whom
he had frequent trials of muscular strength and dex-
terity, such as lifting heavy weights, throwing the
hammer, and putting the stone. At throwing the
hammer George had no compeer; but there was a
knack in putting the stone which he could never
acquire, and there Hawthorn beat him. 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—
Stephenson was very successful. On one occasion,
they relate, he lifted as much as sixty stones weight in
this way — 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 con-
tinued 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

26 LEARNS TO BE AN ENGINEMAN. CHAP. III.

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 Haw-
thorn, the Duke's engineer at Walbottle ; 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 in it which
he was incapable of remedying, then it was for him to
call in the aid of the chief engineer of the colliery to
set the engine 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

CHAP. III. STUDIES THE CONSTRUCTION OF HIS ENGINE. 27

of its construction and mode of working, and very I
rarely needed to call to his aid the engineer of the
colliery. His engine became a sort of pet with him,
and he was never wearied of watching and inspecting
it with admiration.

There is indeed a peculiar fascination about an engine
to the person whose duty it is to watch and feed it. It
is almost sublime in its untiring industry and quiet
power : capable of performing the most gigantic work,
yet so docile that a child's hand may guide it. No
wonder, therefore, that the workman who is the daily
companion of this life-like machine, and is constantly
watching it with anxious care, at length comes to regard
it with a degree of personal interest and regard. This
daily contemplation of the steam-engine, and the sight
of its steady action, is an education of itself to an in-
genious and thoughtful man. And it is a remarkable
fact, that nearly all that has been done for the improve-
ment of this machine has been accomplished, not by
philosophers and scientific men, but by labourers, me-
chanics, and enginemen. It would appear as if this
were one of the departments of practical science in
which the higher powers of the human mind must bend
to mechanical instinct. The steam-engine was but a
mere toy until it was taken in hand by workmen.
Savery was originally a working miner, Newcomen a
blacksmith, and his partner Cawley a glazier. In the
hands of Watt, the instrument-maker, who devoted
almost a life to the study of the subject, the con-
densing-engine acquired gigantic strength ; and George
Stephenson, the colliery engineman, was certainly not
the least of those who have assisted to bring the high-
pressure engine to its present power.

Although the progress made by our young mechanic

was unusually rapid — helped as he was by native

shrewdness, quick perception, and assiduous application

—he had not yet even begun his literary culture. He

28 AKTIF1CIAL BIRD-HATCHING. CHAP. III.

was eighteen years old before lie learnt to read ; and,
having the charge of an engine which occupied his
time to the extent of twelve hours every day, he had
thus very few leisure moments that he could call his
own. But the busiest man will find them if he watch
for them ; and if he be careful in turning these mo-
ments to useful account, he will prove them to be the
very " gold-dust of time," as Young has so beautifully
described them.

Not many of his fellow- workmen had learnt to read ;
but those who could do so were placed under frequent
contribution by George and the other labourers at the
pit. It was one of their greatest treats to induce some
one to read to them by the engine-fire, out of any book
or stray newspaper which found its way into the vil-
lage of Newburn. Buonaparte was then overrunning
Italy, and astounding Europe by his brilliant succession
of victories; and there was no more eager auditor of
these exploits, when read from the newspaper accounts,
than the young engine-man 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 art of hatching birds' eggs by means of
artificial heat. Curious about everything relating to
birds, he determined to test the art by experiment. It
was spring time, and he forthwith went a birdnesting
in the adjoining woods and hedges, where there were
few birds' nests of which he did not know. He brought
a collection of eggs. of all kinds into the engine-house,
set them in flour in a warm place, covering the whole
over with wool, and then waited the issue of his experi-
ment. But though the heat was kept as steady as
possible, and the eggs were carefully turned every
twelve hours, they never hatched. The eggs chipped,
and some of them exhibited well-grown chicks ; but
none of the birds came forth alive, and thus the experi-

CHAP. III. LEARNS TO READ. 29

ment failed. The incident, however, serves to show
that the inquiring mind of the youth was fairly at
work.

Another of his favourite occupations continued to
be the modelling of clay engines. He not only made
models of engines which he had seen, but he also tried
to make models of others which were described to him.
These attempts no doubt showed considerable improve-
ment upon his first trials in the clay of Dewley
Burn bog, when occupied there as a herd-boy. He was
told, however, that all the wonderful engines of Watt
and Boulton, about which he was so anxious to know,
were to be found described in books, and that he must
satisfy his curiosity by searching them for a complete
description of the machines which he desired to model.
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. He determined, therefore, to learn
this useful art of reading, and to make a beginning — a
small beginning, it is true, but still a right one, and
a pledge and assurance that he was in earnest in the
work of self-culture. He desired thus to open for him-
self a road into knowledge ; and no man can sincerely
desire this but he will eventually succeed in finding it.

His first schoolmaster was Robin Cowens, a poor I

30 HIS SCHOOLMASTERS. CHAP. III.

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.
Tommy Musgrove, the lad who " sled out " the engine
at the Water-row Pit, usually went with him to the
evening lesson. Eobin Cowen's teaching cost three-
pence 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 " pot-
hooks," and at the age of nineteen he was proud to be
able to write his own name.

A Scotch dominie, named Andrew Eobertson, 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 not more
than a few minutes' walk from Jolly's Close. Besides,
Andrew had the reputation of being a skilled arithmeti-
cian ; and this was a branch of knowledge that Stephen-
son was 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 diffi-
culties 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 there solving the arithmetical
problems set for him upon his slate by the master. In
the evenings he took to Robertson the sums which he
had thus " worked," and new ones were " set " for him
to study out the following day. Thus his progress was

CHAP. III. LOVE OF ANIMALS. 31

rapid, and, with a willing heart and mind, he soon
became well advanced in arithmetic. Indeed, Andrew
Robertson became somewhat proud of his scholar ; and
shortly afterwards, when the Water-row Pit was closed,
and George removed to Black Callerton to work there,
the poor schoolmaster, not having a very extensive con-
nexion in Newburn, went with his pupils, and set up
his night-school at Black Callerton, where he continued
his instruction to them.

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 favourite animal
was his dog — so sagacious that he performed the office
of a servant, in almost daily carrying his dinner to him
at the pit. The tin containing the meal was suspended
from the dog's neck, and, thus laden, he proudly walked
the road from Jolly's Close to Water-row Pit, quite
through the village of Newburn. He turned neither to
left nor right, nor minded for the time 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 espied the engineman's messenger, ran after
him, and fell upon him with the tin can about his neck.
There was a terrible tussle and worrying between the
dogs, 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
escaped in the struggle. Though George went without
his dinner that day, when the circumstances of the
combat were related to him by the villagers who had
seen it, he was prouder of his dog than ever.

It was while working at the Water-row Pit that Ste-
phenson first learnt the art of brakeing an engine. This
being one of the higher departments of colliery labour,

32 LEARNS TO BRAKE. CHAP. III.

and amongst 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 brake, and instructed him how to proceed.
Coe was, however, opposed in this by several of the
other workmen — one of whom, a brakesman named
William Locke,1 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 had the effect of putting a stop to
the opposition. He called upon George Stephenson
to " come into the brake-house, and take hold of the
machine." No sooner had he done this, than Locke, as
usual, sat down, and the working of the pit was stopped.
Locke, when requested by the manager to give an
explanation, said that " young Stephenson couldn't
brake, and, what was more, never would learn to brake,
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 in the neighbourhood of Newburn, for about
three years, George, with his companion Coe, went to
work at 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 unfre-

1 Father of Mr. Locke, M.P., the engineer. He afterwards removed to
Bamsley, in Yorkshire.

CHAP. III. DUTIES OF BRAKESMAN. 33

quently 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 I
briefly described. The work was somewhat mono-
tonous, and consisted in superintending the working of
the engine and machinery by means of which the coals
were drawn out of the pit. Brakesmen are almost
invariably selected from those who have had consider-
able 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 two
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 brakes-
man, 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

VOL. in. D

34 FANNY HENDERSON. CHAP. III.

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 accus-
tomed to employ those vacant night hours in working
the sums set for him by Andrew Eobertson 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
II. 1 5s. to 21. 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 stimu-
lated to take in hand this extra work by the attach-
ment 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. The
personal attractions of Fanny, though these were con-
siderable, were the least of her charms. Her temper
was 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 Cal-
lerton, 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.

CHAP. III. SAVES HIS FIRST GUINEA. 35

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 whip them out and hold them up, ex-
claiming, " what a capital job he had made of them !"
Other lovers have carried about with them a lock of
their fair one's hair, a glove, or a handkerchief; but
none could have been prouder of their cherished love-
token than was George Stephenson of his Fanny's shoes,
which he had just soled, and of which he had made
such a " capital job."

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 de-
fended 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

36 FIGHT WITH A PITMAN. CHAP. III.

the challenge, when a day was fixed on which the fight
was to come off.

Great was the excitement at Black Caller ton 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 keep-
ing 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 pugi-
list— 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 Stephen-
son'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.

STEPHENSON'S COTTAGE AT WJiLINGTON QUAY. [By R. P. Leitch ]

CHAPTER IV.

ENGINEMAN AT WELLINGTON QUAY AND KILLINGWORTH.

G-EORGE STEPHEXSON 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 " yell-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 her. His amusements continued to be
principally of the athletic kind ; and he found few that

38 WILLINGTON QUAY. CHAP. IV.

could beat him at lifting heavy weights, leaping, and
throwing the hammer.

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 Eobert in-
formed 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 ex-
periment, 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
IWillington 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
young 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 car-
goes of coal for the London market. The ballast is
thrown out of the ships' holds into waggons laid along-
side. When filled, a train of these is dragged to the
summit of the Ballast Hill, where they are run out, and
their contents emptied on to the monstrous accumu-
lation of earth, chalk, and Thames mud already laid
there, probably to form a puzzle for future antiquaries

CHAP. IV. STEPHENSON'S MARRIAGE. 39

and geologists, when the origin of these immense hills
along the Tyne has been forgotten. On the summit of
the Willington Ballast Hill was a fixed engine, which
drew the trains of laden waggons up the incline ; and
of this engine 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.1 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 the young wife's reception, the marriage
took place. It was celebrated in Newburn Church, onl
the 28th of November, 1802. George Stephenson's
signature, as it stands in the register, is that of a person
who seems to have just learnt to write. Yet it is the
signature of a man, written slowly and deliberately,
in strong round hand. With all his care, however, he
had not been able to avoid a blotch ; the word " Ste-
phenson" seems to have been brushed over before the
ink was dry.

After the ceremony, George and his newly-wedded
wife proceeded to the house of old Eobert Stephenson
and his wife Mabel at Jolly's Close. The old man was
now becoming infirm, though he still worked as an

1 The Stephenson Memorial Schools head of this chapter. A vignette of

have since been erected on the site the Memorial Schools will be found at

of the old cottage at Willington Quay the end of the volume,
represented in the engraving at the

40 HIS IMPROVEMENT OF LEISURE. CHAP. IV.

engine-fireman, and contrived with difficulty " to keep
his head above water." When the visit had been paid,
the bridal party prepared to set out for their new home
at Wellington Quay. They went in a style which was
quite common before travelling by railway had been
invented. Two farm horses were borrowed from Mr.
Burn, of the Red House Farm, Wolsingham, where
Anne Henderson, the bride's sister, lived as servant.
The two horses were each provided with a saddle and
a pillion, and George having mounted one, his wife
seated herself behind him, holding on by her arms round
his waist. Robert Gray and Anne Henderson in like
mariner 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 long 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 diligently set himself to study 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 the side of his young-
wife 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 actually went so far
as to construct the model of a machine for the purpose.
It consisted of a wooden wheel, the periphery of which

CHAP. IV. WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. 41

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 ob-
tained the idea of this machine — whether from conver-
sation, or reading, or his own thoughts, is not known ;
but his son Eobert was of opinion that he had heard of
an apparatus of the 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 invention, 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 pecu-
niary point of view. In the evenings, after his day's
labour at his engine, he would occasionally employ
himself for a few hours in casting ballast out of the col-
lier ships, by which means he was enabled to earn a
few shillings extra weekly. Mr. William Fairbairn of
Manchester has informed the author that while Stephen-
son was employed at the Willington Ballast Hill 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 Willing-
ton to see his friend, and on such occasions he would fre-
quently take charge of George's engine for a few hours to
enable him to take a two or three hours' turn at heaving
ballast out of the collier vessels. 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 but of humble working
men in an obscure northern village.

Mr. Fairbairn was also a frequent visitor at George's

42 THE COTTAGE CHIMNEY TAKES FIRE. CHAP. IV.

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, 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. William
Coe, who continued to live at Willington in 1851, in-
formed the author that he bought a pair of shoes from
George Stephenson for 7s. 6c?., and he remembered that
they were a capital fit, and wore very well.

But an accident occurred in Stephenson' s household
about this time, which had the effect of directing his in-
dustry 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 the water running out of the door, 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
grievously injured by the steam with which the room
had been filled. Its wheels were so clogged by the dust
and soot, that it was brought to a complete stand-still.
George was always ready to turn his hand to anything,
and his ingenuity, never at fault, immediately set to
work for the repair of the unfortunate clock. He was
advised to send it to the clockmaker, but that would
have cost money ; and he declared that he would repair
it himself — at least he would try. The clock was ac-
cordingly taken to pieces and cleaned ; the tools which
he had been accumulating for the purpose of construct-
ing his Perpetual Motion machine, readily enabled
him to do this ; and he succeeded so well that, shortly

CHAP. IV. BIRTH OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. 43

after, the neigh hours 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/
1803.1 The child was from the first, as may well be
imagined, a great favourite with his father, whose
evening hours were made happier by his presence.
George Stephenson's strong " philoprogenitiveness," as
phrenologists call it, had in his boyhood expended itself
on birds, and dogs, and rabbits, and even on the poor
old gin-horses which he had driven at the Callerton Pit ;
and now he found in his child a more genial object on
which to expend the warmth of his affection.

The christening of the boy 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 exca-
vation 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 brides-
maid at the wedding, came over again to Willington,
and stood as godfather and godmother to little Robert,
as the child was named, after his grandfather.

After working for several years 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

1 Xo register was made of Robert : birthday. When preparing the 'Life

Stephenson's birth, and he himself of George Stephenson,' Robert stated to

was in doubt whether he was born in , the author that the 16th of December

October, November, or December, j was the correct day. But after the

For instance, a dinner was given to I book had passed through four edi-

him by the contractors of the London j tions he desired the date to be cor-

and Birmingham Railway on the 16th j rected to the 16th of October, which

November, 1839, that day being then ! on the whole he thought the right date,

supposed by his father to have been his and it was so altered accordingly.

44

BRAKESMAN AT KILLINGWOKTH. CHAP. IV.

^ WEST MOOR COLLIERY. [By R. P. Leitcb ]

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 ^Killillgworth 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 workpeople. The place stands high, and commands
an extensive view of the adjacent country ; it overlooks
the valley of the Tyne on the south, and the pinnacles
of the Newcastle spires may be discerned in the dis-
tance, when not obscured by the clouds of smoke which
rise up from that hive of manufacturing industry.
J To this place George Stephenson first came as a
brakesman in the year 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.

CHAP. IV. ENGINEMAN AT MONTROSE. 45

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. It was a terrible blow
to him, and he long lamented his bereavement.

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 work-
ing of one of Boulton and Watt's engines. He accepted
the offer, and made arrangements to leave Killingworth
for a time.

Having left his boy in charge of his father and
mother, still living at Jolly's Close, near Newburn, he
set out upon his long journey to Scotland on foot,
with his kit upon his back. It was while working at
Montrose that he first gave proofs 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
engine-man 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

KETURN TO KILLINGWORTH.

CHAP. IV.

was drawn up without any admixture of sand, and the
difficulty was thus conquered.1

During his short stay, being paid good wages,
Stephenson contrived to save a sum of 28/., which he
took back with him to Killingworth, after an absence
of about a year. Longing to get back to his own kin-
dred, his heart yearning for his son whom he had left
behind, our engine-man took leave of his Montrose
employers, and trudged back to Killingworth on foot
as he had gone. He related to his friend Coe, on his
return, that when on the borders of Northumberland,
late one evening, footsore and wearied with his long
day's journey, he knocked at a small farmer's cottage
door, and requested shelter for the night. It was re-
fused, and then he entreated that, being sore tired and
unable to proceed any further, they 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 " would not hear of such a thing." They asked
him to remember them kindly, and if he ever came that
way, to be sure and call again. Many years after, when

1 This incident was related by Ro-
bert Stephenson during a voyage to
the north of Scotland in 1857, when
off Montrose, on board his yacht Ti-
tania ; and the reminiscence was im-
mediately communicated to the author
by the late Mr. William Kell of Gates-
head, who was present, at Mr. Stephen-
son's request, as being worthy of inser-
tion in his father's biography. Mr.
George Elliott, one of the most skilled

coal- viewers in the North, was of the
party, and expressed his admiration at
the ready skill with which the diffi-
culty had been overcome, the expe-
dient of the boot being then unknown
in the Northumberland and Durham
mines. He acknowledged it to be
" a wrinkle," adding that its applica-
tion would, in several instances within
his own knowledge, have been of great
practical value.

CHAP. IV. BRAKESMAN AT WEST MOOR. 47

Stephenson had become a thriving man, he did not
forget the humble pair who had thus 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, on that occasion, 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 the
time (1807-8). Indeed the condition of the working
class generally was then very discouraging. England
was engaged in a great war, which pressed upon
the industry, and severely tried the resources, of the
country. Heavy taxes were imposed upon all the
articles of consumption that would bear them. There
was a constant demand for men to fill the army, navy,
and militia. Never before had England witnessed such
drumming and fifing for recruits. In 1805, the gross
forces of the United Kingdom amounted to nearly

48 IS DRAWN FOR THE MILITIA. CHAP. IV.

700,000 men, and early in 1808 Lord Castlereagh
carried a measure for the establishment of a local
militia of 200,000 men. These measures produced great
and general distress amongst the labouring classes.
There were riots in Manchester, Newcastle, and else-
where, through scarcity of work and lowness of wages.
The working people were also liable to be pressed for
the navy, or drawn for the militia ; and though men
could not fail to be discontented under such circum-
stances, they scarcely dared, in those perilous times,
even to mutter their discontent to their neighbours.

George Stephenson was one of those 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 militia-man 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 there was then a much more formidable thing
for a working man to accomplish than a voyage to Aus-
tralia 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. Speak-
ing 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." But Providence
had better things in store for George Stephenson than
the lot of a settler in the wilds of America. It was

CHAP. IV. MAKES IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY. 49

well that his poverty prevented him from prosecuting
further the idea of emigration, and rooted him to the
place where he afterwards worked out his great career
so manfully and victoriously.

In 1808, Stephenson, with two other brakesmen,
named Robert Wedderburn and George Dodds, 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.
There being two engines working night and day, two
of the three men were always at work ; the average
earnings of each amounting to from 18s. to 20s. a week.
It was the interest of the brakesmen to economise thq
working as much as possible, and George no soonerl
entered upon the contract than he proceeded to devise!
ways and means of making the contract " pay." He
observed that the ropes with which the coal was drawn
out of the pit by the winding-engine were badly ar-
ranged ; they " glued," and wore each other to tatters
by the perpetual friction. There was thus great wear
and tear, and a serious increase in the expenses of the
pit. George found 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 accordingly set himself to ascertain the cause of
the defect ; after which he proceeded, with the sanction
of the head engine-weight and of the colliery owners,
to shift the pulley-wheels so that they worked imme-
diately over the centre of the pit, and by an entire
rearrangement of the gearing of the machine, he shortly
succeeded in greatly lessening the wear and tear of the
ropes, to the advantage of the owners as well as of
the workmen, who were thus enabled to labour more
continuously and profitably.

About the same time he attempted an improvement
in the winding-engine which he worked, by placing a

VOL. in. E

50 THE INFIRM PUMPING-ENGINE. CHAP. IV.

valve between the air-pump and condenser. This
expedient, although it led to no practical result, showed
that his mind was actively at work in 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.
And by diligently mastering the details of the engine,
he was enabled, as opportunity occurred, to turn to
practical account the knowledge thus acquired.

Such an opportunity was not long in presenting itself.
In the year 1810, a pit was sunk by the " Grand
Allies" (the lessees of the mines) at the village of
Killing worth, now known as the Killing worth High
Pit, An atmospheric or Neweomen engine, originally
made by Smeaton, was fixed there for the purpose of
pumping out the water from the shaft ; but, somehow
or other, the engine 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. Stephen son 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, and no more was
thought about it. 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 workmen were passing to and
from their work, he would call out and inquire " if they

CHAP. IV. UNDERTAKES TO CURE IT. 5L

had gotten to the bottom yet?" And the reply was
always to the same effect — the pumping made no pro-
gress, 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 in his
mind ; and after a long examination, he seemed to
satisfy himself as to the cause of the failure. Kit
Heppel, who was a sinker at the pit, said to him :
" Weel, George, what do you mak' o' her ? Do you
think you could do anything to improve her ? " " Man,"
said George in reply, " I could alter her and make her
draw : in a week's time from this I could send you to
the bottom."

Forthwith Heppel reported this conversation to Ealph
Dodds, the head viewer ; and Dodds, being now quite
in despair, and hopeless of succeeding with the engine,
determined to give George's skill a trial. George had
already acquired the character of a very clever and
ingenious workman ; and at the worst he could only
fail, as the rest had done. In the evening, Mr. Dodds
went towards Stephenson's cottage in search of him.
He met him on the road, dressed in his Sunday's suit,
about to proceed to " the preaching " in the Methodist
Chapel, which he at that time attended. " Well,
George," said Mr. Dodds, accosting him, " they tell me
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 step further. The engineers here-
abouts are all bet ; and if you really succeed in accom-
plishing wrhat 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,

E 2

52 CURES THE PUMPING ENGINE. CHAP. IV.

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 con-
dition 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 New-
comen 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. The engine 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

CHAP. IV. HIS SKILL AS AN ENGINE DOCTOR. 53

Stephenson had promised. Thus the alterations effected
in the pumping apparatus proved completely successful. l

Mr. Dodds was particularly gratified with the manner
in which the job had been done, and he made Stephen-
son a present of ten pounds, which, though very in-
adequate when compared with the value of the work
performed, was accepted by him with gratitude. He
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 the engine at West Moor, and appointed himi
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 pump-
ing machines in the neighbourhood. In this capacity
he soon left the " regular " men far behind, though they
in their turn were very much disposed to treat the
Killing-worth 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

1 As different versions have been
given of this affair, it may be men-
tioned that the above statement is
made on the authority of the late

Robert Stephenson, and of George subject.

Stephenson himself, as communicated
by the latter to his friend Thomas L.
Gooch, C.E., who has kindly supplied
the author with his memoranda on the

54 ATHLETIC FEATS. CHAP . IV.

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 stopt. 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
alwavs 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 them. 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 some-
times borrowed one of the gin-horses for a ride. On
one of these occasions, he brought the animal back reek-
ing ; when Tommy Mitcheson, the bank horse-keeper,

CHAP. IV. ENGINE- WRIGHT AT KILLINGWORTH. 55

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 Stephen-/
son was, in 1812, appointed engine-wright of the collier^
at the salary of 100/. a year. He was also allowed thd
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 (after-
wards 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.

KILLINGWORTH HIGH PIT.

GLEBE FARM HOUSE, BENTON, [By B. P. Leitch.]

CHAPTER V.

THE STEPHENSONS AT KILLINGWORTH — EDUCATION AND SELF-
EDUCATION OF FATHER AND SON.

GEORGE STEPHENSON had now been diligently employed
for many 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 in life 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, 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

CHAP. V. JOHN WIGHAM. 57

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 expe-
rimenters 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 inde-
pendent 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 over-
come 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 me-
chanical ingenuity. Being very much in earnest, he
was compelled to consider the subject of his special
inquiry in all its relations ; and the necessity for tho-
roughness would not suffer him to be superficial. Thus
he gradually acquired practical ability even through his
very efforts after the impracticable.

Many of his evenings were .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 Stephen son frequented his
society chiefly for the purpose of improving himself in
writing and " figures." Under Andrew Eobertson, 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 the engine on the following

58 THE FELLOW STUDENTS. CHAP. V.

day. When too busy with other work to be able to call
upon Wigham in person, he sent the slate by a fellow-
workman 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 perse-
verance could not but eventually succeed ; and by dint
of practice and study, Stephenson was enabled succes-
sively to master 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 mea-
sured with that of more highly-cultivated minds, much
of it was entirely new to Stephenson, who regarded him as
a very clever and extraordinary person. Young as John
Wigham was, he could give much useful assistance to
Stephenson at the time, and his neighbourly services
were worth untold gold to the eager pupil. Wigham
taught him to draw plans and sections ; though in this
branch Stephenson proved so apt that he soon sur-
passed his master. Wigham also possessed some know-
ledge of Natural Philosophy, and a volume of ' Fer-
guson's Lectures on Mechanics' which he possessed
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 gra-
vities 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

CHAP. V. STEPHENSON'S SOBRIETY. 59

remembered the assistance which, when a humble work-
man, 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, Ealph Dodds — and an invi-
tation from a master to a workman is not easy to resist
— 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 Mr. 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-im-
provement had already begun to exercise an important
influence upon his life. This was the training and
education of his son Robert, now growing up a healthy,
intelligent boy, as full of fun and tricks as his father had
been, but like him also possessing an abundant capacity
for knowledge. When a little fellow, not big enough
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

60

EDUCATION OF HIS SON ROBERT.

CHAP. V.

the engine was a sort of wag, and thinking to get a
laugh at the boy, he said, " Those bars are getting varra
bad, Eobert ; I think we maun 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 ! "

i So soon as Robert was of a proper age, his father sent
I him over to the road-side school at Long Benton, kept by
I 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 own 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.

ROTTER'S SCHOOL HOUSE, LONU

[By R. P Leitch.j

CHAP. V. EDUCATION OF HIS SON ROBERT. 01

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, as before, 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 shoemakers of the neighbour-
hood, 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 Eobert
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." L

By dint of such extra labour in his bye-hours, with
this object, Stephenson contrived to save a sum of 100/.,
which he accumulated in guineas, each of which he after-
wards sold to Jews who went about buying up gold
coins (then dearer than silver), .at twenty-six shillings
apiece ; and he lent out the proceeds at interest. He
was now, therefore, a comparatively thriving man. The
first guinea which he had saved with so much difficulty
at Black Callerton had proved the nest-egg of future
guineas ; and the habits of economy and sobriety which
he had so early cultivated, now enabled him to secure a
firmer foothold in the world, and to command the in-
creased esteem and respect of his fellow-workmen and
employers.

1 Speech at Newcastle, on the 18th celebration of the opening of tne New-
of June, 1844, at the meeting held in • castle and Darlington Railway.

62

BRUCE'S SCHOOL, NEWCASTLE.

CHAP. V.

Carrying out the resolution as to his boy's education,

j 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.

BRUCE'S SCHOOL, NEWCASTLE. [By R P. Leitch.]

When Eobert 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 by familiarity, 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,

CHAP. V. EDUCATION OF FATHER AND SON. 63

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 arith-
metic. He also made considerable progress in mathe-
matics ; 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 attri-
bute 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."

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 Killing-
worth 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 permitted to be removed from the
rooms ; 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 the reading of plans and drawings without at all
referring to the written descriptions. He used to ob-
serve to his son, " A good drawing or plan should
always explain itself;" and, placing a drawing of an
engine or machine before the youth, he would say,
"There, now, describe that to me — the arrangement
and the action." Thus he taught him to read a drawing

64 ROBERT STEPHENSON" AT KTLLINGWORTH. CHAP. V.

as easily as he would read a page of a book. Both
father and son profited by this excellent practice, which
shortly enabled them to apprehend with the greatest
facility the details of even the most difficult and com-
plicated mechanical drawing.

While Robert went on with his lessons in the evenings,
his father was usually occupied with his watch and clock
jr 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 ap-
plication, working on before the boy's eyes in the person
of a loving and beloved father, imprinted itself deeply
upon his 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 influ-
ence 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

CHAP. V. ROBERT STEPHENSON'S BOYISH TRICKS. 65

his boyish days.1 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 ABC, and made a beginning of my school learn-
ing. 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

1 At one part of the road he was Many years after, Burnet was taken on

once pulled off his donkey by some as a workman at the Newcastle factory,

mischievous boys, and released by a probably owing his selection in some

young man named James Burnet. measure to the above circumstance.

VOL. III. F

66 ROBERT STEPHENSON'S BOYISH TRICKS. CHAP. V

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 6 gentlemen, for
(rod'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 again 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 yill-house."

On another occasion, he 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 light-
ning 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.

CHAP. V.

LIFE AT KILLINGWORTH.

;

07

bTEPHENSON'S COTTAGE, WEST ilOOR. [By B. P. Leitcb.]

" Ah ! you mischievous scoondrel ! " cried he to the boy,
who ran off. He inwardly chuckled with pride, never-
theless, at Eoberfs successful experiment.

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 easternmost end .of the cottage. The
dwelling originally consisted of but one apartment on
the ground-floor, with a 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 remained as long as he lived 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 Kil-
lingworth so fond of him, that it would fly about the

F2

68 ODD MECHANICAL CONTRIVANCES. CHAP. V.

cottage, and on holding out his finger, the bird would
come and perch upon it directly. 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 wThich 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 some-
times 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 him-
self could enter it. His cottage was quite a curiosity-
shop of models of engines, self-acting planes, and
perpetual-motion machines, — which last contrivance,
however, as effectually baffled him as it had done
hundreds of preceding inventors. His odd and eccentric
contrivances often excited great wonder amongst the
Killingworth villagers. He won the women's admira-

CHAP. V. ATTEMPTS TO ENLIGHTEN THE PITMEN. 69

tion 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 after-
wards 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 contem-
plation over the successful last, which won the verdict
coveted by its maker.

Sometimes he would endeavour to impart to his I
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.

70

CONSTRUCTION OF THE SUN-DIAL.

CHAP. V.

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.
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 mathe-
matics 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 i 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 lati-
tude 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
llth, MDCCC.XVI." Both
father and son were in
after-life very proud of
their joint production.
Many years after, George

took a party of savans, when attending the meeting of
the British Association at Newcastle, over to Killing-
worth to see the pits, and he did not fail to direct their
attention to the sun-dial ; and Robert, on the last visit

'•WwpilP1

CHAP. V. ERECTS HIS FIRST WINDING-ENGINE. 71

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. 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 Eobert Wetherly 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-actingl
incline along the declivity which fell towards the coal-
loading place near Willington, where he had formerly
officiated as brakesman ; and he so arranged it, that the
full waggons descending drew the empty waggons up
the incline. This was one of the first self-acting inclines
laid down in the district.

Stephenson had now many more opportunities for
improving himself in mechanics than he had hitherto
possessed. His familiar acquaintance with the steam-

72

STUDY OP THE STEAM-ENGINE.

CHAP. V.

engine proved of great value to him. His shrewd
insight, together with his intimate practical acquaint-
ance with its mechanism, enabled him to apprehend, as
if by intuition, its most abstruse and difficult combina-
tions. 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 in the light of a curious and costly
toy, of comparatively little real use. But he had at an
early period detected the practical value of the machine,
and formed an adequate conception of the might which
as yet slumbered within it ; and he was not slow in
bending the whole faculties of his mind to the develop-
ment of its extraordinary powers.

COLLIERS' COTTAGES AT LONG BENTON.

CHAP. VI. ORIGIN OF THE LOCOMOTIVE. 73

CHAPTER VI.

EARLY HISTORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE — GEORGE STEPHENSON
BEGINS ITS IMPROVEMENT.

THE rapid increase in the coal trade of the Tyne about thel
beginning of the present century had the effect of stimu-!
lating the ingenuity of \nechanics, and encouraging them 1
to devise improved methods of transporting the coal from \
the pits to the shipping places. From our introductory I
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 con-f
tinued to be drawn by horses. By improving and flat-
tening 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 cen-
tury. In Waller's ' Essay on Mines,' published in 1698,
the writer highly eulogises Sir Humphrey's "new
sailing- waggons, for the cheap carriage of his coal to
the waterside, whereby one horse does the work of ten
at all times ; but when any wind is stirring (which is

74

SAILING WAGGONS.

CHAP. VI.

seldom wanting near the sea) one man and a small sail
do the work of twenty." l

This method of impelling coal-waggons, however,
could not have come into general use, as it was lost
sight of for more than a century, when it was again
proposed as a new method of transit by Eichard Lovell
Edgworth, with the addition of a portable railway,2
since revived in Boy dell's patent. But although Mr.
Edgworth devoted himself to the subject for many
years, he failed in securing the adoption of his sailing
carriage.3 He made numerous experiments with his
machines on Hare Hatch Common, but they were aban-
doned in consequence of the dangerous results which
threatened to attend them. 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 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

1 The writer adds, "I believe he
(Sir Humphrey Mackworth) is the
first gentleman in this part of the
world that hath set up sailing-engines
on land, driven by the wind ; not for
any curiosity, or vain applause, but
for real profit, whereby he could not
fail of Bishop Melkin's blessing on his
undertakings, in case he were in a
capacity to bestow it." — 'An Essay
on the Value of the Mines late of Sir
Carberry Price.' By William Waller,
Gent., Steward of the said Mines.
London, 1698.

2 Specification of patent, No. 953.

3 Mr. Edgworth says in his ' Me-
moirs,' that he devoted himself to im-
proving his scheme for a period of not
less than forty years, during which he
made above a hundred working models
in a great variety of forms; and he
adds, that he gained far more in
amusement than he lost by unsuc-
cessful labour. "Indeed," he says,
"the only mortification that affected
me was my discovery, many years
after I had taken out my patent, that
the rudiments of my whole scheme
Were mentioned in an obscure memoir
of the French Academy."

CHAP. VI. CUGNOT'S LOCOMOTIVE. 75

was not matured. Watt afterwards, in the specification
of his patent of 1769, described an engine of the kind
suggested by his friend Eobison, in which the expansive
force of steam was proposed as the motive power ; but no
steps were taken to reduce the invention to practice.

The first locomotive steam-carriage was built at Paris
by a French engineer named Cugnot, a native of Lor-
raine. It is said to have been invented for the purpose
of dragging cannon into the field independent of the
help of horses.1 The first model of this machine was
made in 1763. Marshal Saxe was so much pleased with
it that on his recommendation a full-sized engine was
constructed at the Arsenal at the cost of the -French
monarch, and in 1769 it was tried in the presence of
the Due de Choiseul, Minister of War, General Gri-
beauval, and other officers. At one of the experiments
it ran onward with such force that it knocked down a
wall which stood in its way. It was found, however,
that the new vehicle, loaded with four persons, could
not travel faster than two miles and a half in the hour.
The size of the boiler not being sufficient to keep up
the steam, it could only work for about fifteen minutes
at a time ; after which it was necessary to wait until

CUGNOT1 S ENGINE.

the steam had again risen to a sufficient pressure. To
remedy this defect, Cugnot constructed a new machine
in 1770, which gave somewhat more satisfactory results.

1 'Le Vieux-Neuf: Histoire An- I Modernes.' Par Edouard Fournier.
cienne dcs Inventions ot Decouvertcs I Paris, 1859.

76 EVANS AND SYMINGTON. CHAP. VI.

i

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 chim-
neys 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 turn-
ing 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
rmachine is, however, still to be seen in the collection
•4 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. Nevertheless 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 pur-
pose 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 from time to time employing themselves
in attempting to solve the problem of steam locomotion
in places far remote from Paris. The idea had taken
root, 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 ob-
I tained from the State of Maryland an exclusive right
| to make and use steam-carriages ; but his invention
I never came into use. Then, in 1784, William Syming-
ton, one of the early inventors of the steamboat, was
similarly occupied in Scotland in endeavouring to deve-
lope the latent powers of the steam-carriage. He had

CHAP. VI.

MURDOCK'S LOCOMOTIVE.

77

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.1

The very same year in which Symington was occu-
pied upon his steam-carriage, William Murdock, the
friend and assistant of Watt, constructed his model of
a locomotive at the oppo-
site end of the island — at
Redruth in Cornwall. His
model was of small dimen-
sions, standing little more
than a foot high $ and it was
until recently in the posses-
sion of the son of the inven-
tor, 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
Cugnofs 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
the speed of its inventor. It seems that one night,
after returning from his duties at the Bedruth. 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.
The walk was rather narrow, and was bounded on
either side by high hedges. It was a dark night, and
Murdock set out alone to try his experiment. Having

SECTION OF MURDOCH'S MODEL.

1 See a pamphlet entitled ' A brief
Narrative, proving the right of the
late William Symington, Civil Engi-
neer, to be considered the Inventor of

Steam Land-Carriage Locomotion ;
and also the Inventor and Introducer
of Steam Navigation.' By Robert
Bowie. London, 1833.

78 EARLY SPECULATIONS ON THE SUBJECT, CHAP. VI.

lit his lamp, the water shortly began to boil, and off
started the engine with the inventor after it. He soon
heard distant shouts of despair. It was too dark to
perceive objects ; but he shortly found, on following
up the machine, that the cries for assistance proceeded
from the worthy pastor of the parish, who, going to-
wards the town on business, was met on this lonely road
by the hissing and fiery little monster, which he subse-
quently declared he had taken to be the Evil One in
\proprid persona. No further steps, however, were taken
A by Murdock to embody his idea of a locomotive carriage
* in a more practical form.

We next find the discussion of steam-power as a
means of haulage of heavy articles taken up in the
colliery districts of the North, where the want of some
more effective means of transport than horse-power was
most generally felt. One Thomas Allen took out a
patent in 1789 for conveying goods from one place to
another by the power of steam only. From his plan,
which is in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries
at Newcastle-upon-Tyiie, it appears that he intended the
wheels of his machine to be cogged ; yet he anticipated
a speed on a common road of about ten miles an hour.
It will be observed that no one had yet proposed to
apply steam-carriages to railways, but only to common
roads, though it is easy to see how the steam-engine
and the iron-road should have come together in the
ordinary course of things. The use of tramroads and
railways had now become quite general in the mining
districts, and their extension throughout the country
for the conveyance of general merchandise began
to be seriously discussed. Thus, in 1800, we find
Mr. Thomas, of Denton, Northumberland, reading a
paper before the Literary and Philosophical Society
of Newcastle, in which he urged " the propriety of
introducing roads on the principle of the coal-waggon
ways, for the general carriage of goods and mer-

CHAP. VI.

TREVITHICK'S STEAM-CARRIAGE.

79

chandise throughout the country." In the course of
the following year the same idea was taken up and
strongly advocated by Dr. James Anderson, of Edin-
burgh, in his 'Becreations of Agriculture.' He held
that if railways were laid along the existing turn-
pike roads, and worked by horse-power, the cost of
most articles of consumption would be diminished,
whilst all departments of human industry would be
greatly benefited. Mr. Edgworth, also, continued his
enthusiastic advocacy of railways, and urged their
general employment for the conveyance of passengers
as well as goods. " Stage-coaches," he said, " might be
made to go at six miles an hour, and post-chaises and
gentlemen's travelling carriages at eight — both with
one horse ; and small stationary steam-engines, placed
from distance to distance, might be made, by means of
circulating chains, to draw the carriages, with a great
diminution of horse-labour and expense."

While this discussion was going forward, Richard
Trevithick, a captain in a Cornish tin-mine, and a pupil
of William Murdock's — influenced, no doubt, by the
successful action of the model engine which the latter
had constructed — determined to build a steam-carriage
adapted for use on common roads as well as on rail-
ways. He took out a patent to secure the right of his
invention in the year 1802. . Andrew Vivian, his
cousin, joined with him in the patent1 — Yiviaii 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 engine1
had one horizontal cylinder, which, together with thel
boiler and the furnace-box, was placed in the rear of;

1 The patent was dated the 24th
March, 1802, and described as "A
grant unto Richard Trevithick and
Andrew Vivian, of the parish of Cran-
bourne, hi the county of Cornwall,
engineers and miners, for their in-

vented methods of improving the con-
struction of steam-engines, and the
application thereof for driving car-
riages, and for other purposes." No.
of the patent 2599.

80 TBEVITHICK'S STEAM-CARRIAGE. CHAP. VI.

the hind axle. The motion of the piston was trans-
mitted 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 mo-
tion. 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 num-
ber seem to make any difference in the speed of the
engine so long as the steam could be kept up ; but it
was constantly running short, and the horizontal bel-
lows 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 Trevi thick'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 pas-
sage being then opened between the boiler and the
upper side of the piston, which was pressed down-
wards, the steam was again allowed to escape as before.

CIIAP. VI. TREVITHICK'S STEAM-CARRIAGE. 81

Thus the power of the engine was equal to the difference
between the pressure of the atmosphere and the elas-
ticity 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 Yivian 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 ex-
cited much public interest. It also attracted the notice
of scientific men, amongst others of Mr. Davies Gilbert
and Sir Humphry Davy, both Cornishmen like Trevi-
thick, 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 con-
clusion 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 Wands-
worth and Croydon iron tramway ; and the number
and weight of waggons drawn by the horse were some-

VOL. III. Gr

82

TREVITHICK'S TRAM-ENGINE.

CHAP. VI.

thing surprising. Trevitliick very probably put the
two things together — the steam-horse and the iron-way
— and kept the performance in mind when he pro-
ceeded 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 speci-
fication 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 con-
venient opportunity presented itself, on the completion
of this work, for carrying out his design of a loco-
motive 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.1 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

1 It is not, however, quite clear
whether the boiler of this engine was
of wrought or cast iron. The state-
ment that it was of wrought iron is
made on the authority of Rees Jones,
who worked at the fitting of the en-
gine under Trevithick, and was alive
in 1858. But other accounts state

that the boiler was of cast iron, as
that of the next engine built after
Trevithick's patent certainly was. We
allude to the engine erected by Whin-
field of Gateshead, for Mr. Blackett of
Wylam, in 1804, after Trevithick's
own plans.

CHAP. VI.

TREVITHICK'S TRAM-ENGINE.

83

chimney. In fact, the waste steam seems to have been
turned into the chimney in order to get rid of the nui-
sance 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.

TREVITHICK'S HIGH PRESSURE TRAM-ENGINE.

At the first trial of this engine it succeeded in
dragging after it several waggons, containing ten tonsl
of bar-iron, at the rate of about five miles an hour. I
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 be-
tween the trams. After working for some time in this /
way, she took a load of iron from Pen-y-darran down the /

G 2

84

TREVITHICK'S TRAM-ENGINE.

CHAP. VI.

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 she ran off the
road, and was brought back to Pen-y-darran by horses.
The engine was never after used as a locomotive." l

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 the heavy cost of such reconstruction, it was
determined to take the locomotive off the road, and use
the engine for other purposes. It was accordingly dis-
mounted from its wheels, and fixed 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 given up the locomotive as an im-
practicable engine, and took no further steps to bring it
into use. We find him, shortly after, engaged upon
schemes of a more promising character, leaving the
locomotive to take care of itself, and no further progress
was made with it for several years. An imaginary diffi-
culty seems to have tended, amongst other obstacles, to
prevent its adoption and improvement. This was the
idea that, if any heavy weight were placed behind the
engine, the " grip " or " bite " of the smooth wheels of
the locomotive upon the equally smooth iron rail must
necessarily be so slight that the wheels would slip round
upon the rail, and, consequently, that the machine
would not make any progress.2 Hence Trevithick, in

1 Statement of Rees Jones to Mr.
Menelaus, Dowlais Iron- works, made
9th September, 1858, and published
in the ' Mining Journal.'

2 The same fallacy seems long to
have held its ground in France; for

M. Granier tells us that some time
after the first of George Stephenson's
locomotives had been placed on the
Liverpool and Manchester line, a model
of one was exhibited before the Aca-
demy. After it had been examined,

CHAP. VI. BLENKINSOP'S ENGINE. 85

his patent, provided that the periphery of the driving- j
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.1

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 workecj
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 Trevi-
thick'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 himself a mechanic, having consulted him as to
all the practical arrangements of his locomotive. The
connecting-rods gave the motion to two pinions
cranks at right angles to each other ; these pinion*
communicating the motion to the wheel which worke<
into the cogged-rail.

Mr. Blenkinsop' s engines began running on the rail-|
way extending from the Middleton collieries to the
town of Leeds, a distance of about three miles and a
half, on the 12th of August, 1812. They continued for

a member of that learned body said,

nious, no doubt, but unfortunately the
machine will never move ; it is too
heavy. The wheels will turn round
and round in the same place."

1 The following is the description

occasionally, or in certain cases, make

smiling, " Yes, this is all very inge- the external periphery of the wheels

uneven, by projecting heads of nails,
or bolts, or cross groves, or fittings to
railroads, when required ; and that in
case of hard pull we cause a lever,
bolt, or claw to project through the

given in the specification of the pa- rim of one or both of the said wheels,
tent : — " It is to be noticed that we do so as to take hold of the ground.'"

86 CHAPMAN AND BRUNTON. CHAP. VI.

many years to be one of the principal curiosities of the
place, and were visited by strangers from all parts. In
the year 1816, the Grand Duke Nicholas (afterwards
Emperor) of Eussia observed the working of Blenkin-
sop's locomotive with curious interest and expressions of
no slight admiration. An engine dragged behind it as
many as thirty coal-waggons at a speed of about three
miles and a quarter 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 em-
ployment of locomotive power for commercial purposes.
I The Messrs. Chapman, of Newcastle, in 1812, endea-
voured 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, con-
structed after this plan, was tried on the Heaton Kail-
way, 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 very soon abandoned. Another
remarkable expedient was adopted by Mr. Brunton, of
A the Butterley Works, Derbyshire, who, in 1813, patented
f his Mechanical Traveller, to go upon legs, working
alternately like those of a horse.1 But this engine never
got beyond the experimental state, for, at its very first
trial, the driver, to make sure of a good start, over-
loaded the safety-valve, when the boiler burst, and

1 The specification of patent (No. j specification it is provided that the

3700) is dated the 22nd May, 1813. | power of the engine is to be assisted

Other machines, with legs, were pa- j by a horizontal ivindmitt; and the

tented in the following year by Lewis I four pushers, or legs, are to be caused
Gompertz and by Thomas Tindall to come successively in contact with

(Nos. 3804 and 3817). In Tindall's ! the ground, and impel the carriage!

CHAP. VI. MR. BLACKETT, OF WYLAM. 87

killed a number of the bystanders, wounding many
more. These, and other contrivances with the same
object, projected about the same time, show that inven-
tion was actively at work, and that many minds were
now 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 experi-
ments conducted by Mr. Blackett, of Wylam, which
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 Eobert 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 the river past Newcastle, to
be shipped for the London market. Each chaldron-
waggon was originally drawn by one horse, with a
man to each horse and waggon. 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, the driver being
allowed sevenpence for each journey. 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. Havi
formed the acquaintance of Trevithick in London, an
inspected the performances of his engine, he determine

88

MR. BLACKETT, OF WYLAM.

CHAP. VI.

to repeat the Pen-y-darran experiment upon the Wylam
.-•'waggon-way. He accordingly obtained from Trevi-
; thick, in October, 1804, a plan of his engine, provided
/with " friction-wheels," and employed Mr. John Whin-
I field, of Pipewellgate, Gateshead, to construct it at his
I foundry there. The engine was constructed under
' the superintendence of one John Steele,1 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 back-
wards and forwards many times. For some reason or
other, 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
was employed for many years.

Several years elapsed before Mr. Blackett took any
further steps to carry out his idea. The final abandon-
ment 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

1 John Steele was one of the many
"born mechanics" of the Northum-
berland district. When a boy at
Colliery Dykes, his native place, he
was noted for his "turn for machi-
nery." He used to take his play-
fellows home to see and admire his
imitations of pit-engines. While a
mere youth he lost his leg by an acci-
dent; and those who remember him
at Whinfield's speak of his hopping
about the locomotive, of which he was
very proud, upon his wooden leg. It
was a great disappointment to him
when Mr. Blackett refused to take the
engine. One day he took a friend to
look at it when reduced to its degraded
office of blowing the cupola bellows ;
and, referring to the cause of its rejec-
tion, he observed that he was certain

it would succeed, if made suffi-
ciently heavy. " Our master," he
continued, "will not be at the ex-
pense of following it up; but depend
upon it the day will come when such
an engine will be fairly tried, and then
it will be found to answer." Steele
was afterwards extensively employed
by the British Government in raising
sunken ships ; and later in life he
established engine-works at Eouen,
where he made marine-engines for the
French Government. He wras unfor-
tunately killed by the explosion of an
engine-boiler (with the safety-valve of
which something had gone wrong),
when upon an experimental trip with
one of the steamers fitted up by him-
self, and while on his way to England
to visit his family near Newcastle.

UNIVERSITY
CHAP. VI. MR. BLACKETT'S WYLAM ENGINE. 89

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 laden waggon, was now
enabled to draw two, or even three waggons.

Encouraged by the success of Mr. Blenkinsop's expe-
riment, Mr. Blackett eventually determined to follow his
example ; and in 1812 he ordered a second engine, tc
work with a toothed driving wheel upon a rack-rail as
at Leeds. 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 Trevithiek'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 flywheel working at one side to carry
the crank over the dead points. Jonathan Foster de-
scribed 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 thei
whole was about six tons.

When finished, it was conveyed to Wylam on a
waggon, and there mounted upon a wooden frame sup-
ported by four pairs of wheels, which had been con-
structed 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

1)0 ANOTHER WYLAM ENGINE TRIED. CHAP. Yl.

/ 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 practi-
cability of employing locomotive power in working the
coal down to Lemington, and he determined on making
yet another trial. He accordingly directed his engine-
wright, Jonathan Foster, to proceed with the building
of a third engine in the Wylam workshops. This new
locomotive had a single eight-inch cylinder, was pro-
vided with a flywheel 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, as Jonathan Foster informed us, 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 occa-
sions, horses had to be sent out to drag along the
waggons as before, and others to haul the engine back
to the workshops. 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 along 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, — fre-
quently quoting the proverb of " a fool and his money."
Others regarded them as absurd innovations on the

CHAP. VI. WILLIAM HEDLEY'S EXPERIMENTS. 91

established method of hauling coal; and pronounced
that they would " never answer."

Notwithstanding, however, the comparative failure oft
this second locomotive, Mr. Blackett persevered with)
his experiments. He was zealously assisted by Jonathan"/
Foster, the engine-wright, and William Hedley, thel
viewer of Wylam Colliery. The latter was a highly in- ;
genious person, and 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 him that it might be possible to secure sufficient
adhesion 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 smootLj
wheels on the smooth rails was quite sufficient to enable^
them to propel the machine without slipping. Havingj
thus 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 pre vailed ;
on this subject completely exploded, and it was satis-i
factorily 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.1

From this time forward considerably less difficulty
was experienced in working the coal trains upon the
Wylam tramroad. At length the rack-rail was dis-f

1 Mr. Hedley took out a patent to secure his invention, dated the 13tlA
March, 1813. Specification No. 3666.

92

THE IMPROVED WYLAM ENGINE.

CHAP. VI.

pensed 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.1 The following is a representation

\of this improved Wylam engine.

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

/ l By the year 1825, the progress
made on the Wylam railroad was thus
described by Mr. Mackenzie in his
* History of Northumberland : ' "A
stranger," said he, "is struck with
surprise and astonishment on seeing a
locomotive engine moving majestically

• along the road at the rate of four or

five miles an hour, drawing along
from ten to fourteen loaded waggons,
weighing about 21 £ tons; and his
surprise is increased on witnessing the
extraordinary facility Avith which the
engine is managed. This invention is
a noble triumph of science."

CHAP. VI. THE STEAM RESERVOIR. 93

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 vehicle drawn by 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 sight. Much interruption was
caused to the working of the railway by this measure ;
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 atmos-
phere without noise. This arrangement was devised
with the express object of preventing a blast in the
chimney, the value of which, as we shall subsequently
find, was not detected until George Stephenson, adopt-
ing it with a preconceived design and purpose, demon-
strated its importance and value, — as being, in fact, the
very life-breath of the locomotive engine.

AYhile 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, for the purpose of 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.

STEPHENSON'S STUDY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE. CHAP. VI.

The coals, when brought above ground, had next to
be laboriously dragged by means of 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 expensive. With the view of econo-
mising labour, Stephenson laid down inclined planes
where the nature of the ground would admit of this
expedient being adopted. Thus, a train of full wag-
gons 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 means of horses — the keep of which
was at that time very costly in consequence of 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 l to inspect the improvements made
by Mr. Blackett from time to time both in the locomotive
and in the plate way along which it worked. Jonathan

1 At the Stephenson Memorial
meeting at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 26th
October, 1858, Mr. Hugh Taylor,
Chairman of the Northern Coal-
owners, gave the following account
of one of such visits made by Ste-
phenson to Wylam, in the company
of Mr. Nicholas Wood and himself: —
" It was, I think, in 1812, that Mr.
Stephenson and Mr. Wood came to
my house, then at Newburn, and after
we had dined, we went and examined
the locomotive then on Mr. Blackett's

waggon-way. At that early date it
went by a sort of cog-wheel; there
was also something of a chain to it.
There was no idea that the machine
would be sufficiently adhesive to the
rails by the action of its own weight ;
but I remember a man going before —
that was after the chain was abro-
gated— and scattering ashes on the
rails, in order to give it adhesiveness,
and two or three miles an hour was
about the rate of progress."

CHAP. VI. THE COXLODGE ENGINE. 95

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 of September, 1813.
This locomotive drew sixteen chaldron waggons con-
taining 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 pre-
ceded 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 shortly
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 |
engine, therefore, still remained to be invented ; and to I

96 STEPHENSON'S FIKST LOCOMOTIVE. CHAP. VI.

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
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 loco-
motive, under the notice of the lessees of the Killing-
worth Colliery, in the year 1813. Lord Eavensworth,
the principal partner, had already formed a very
favourable opinion of the new colliery 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 con-
struction 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
Mr. Stephenson, many years after,1 when speaking of
his early career at a public meeting in Newcastle, " was
at Killingworth Colliery, and with Lord Eavensworth's
money. Yes ; Lord Eavensworth and partners were the
first to entrust me, thirty-two years since, with money

1 Speech at the opening of the Newcastle and Darlington Railway, June 18,

CHAP. VI. STEPHENSON'S FIRST LOCOMOTIVE. 97

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 inl
finding workmen sufficiently skilled in mechanics, and I
in the use of tools, to follow his instructions and embody )
his designs in a practical shape. The tools then in usei
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 being John Thirlwall, 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 Killing worth, i
Stephenson to some extent followed the plan of Blenkin-'
sop's engine. The wr ought-iron boiler was cylindrical,
eight feet in length and thirty-four inches in diameter,
with an internal flue tube twenty inches wide passing
through it. The engine had two vertical cylinders of
eight inches diameter, and two 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 commu-
nicated the motive power to
the wheels supporting the
engine on the rail, instead of,

T*7 1 • , . THE SPUR-GEAR.

as in Blenkmsop 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 f

VOL. Ill, H

98 PERFORMANCE OF THE ENGINE. CHAP. VI.

was of wrought iron, round which was a chamber ex-
I tending back to the feed-pumps, for the purpose of
.heating the water previous to its injection into the
boiler. The engine had no springs whatever, and was
mounted on a wooden frame supported on four wheels.
In order, however, 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 dis-
tributed, though the contrivance did not by any means
compensate for the total absence of springs.
1 1 The wheels of the locomotive were all smooth, Mr.
\ Stephenson having satisfied himself by experiment that
Ithe 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 com-
pletion, having been about ten months in hand. It was
placed upon the Killingworth Railway on the 25th of
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.

CHAP. VI. STEPHENSON INVENTS THE STEAM-BLAST. 99

Although a considerable advance upon previous loco-
motives, " IJluioher " (as the engine was popularly
called) was nevertheless a somewThat 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. It&
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 Mr. Stephenson at this juncture applied the
steam-blast, and by its means carried his experiment to '
a triumphant issue.

H 2

100

THE STEAM-BLAST.

CHAP. VI.

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 a neighbouring
squire threatened to commence an action against the
colliery lessees unless it was put a stop to. But Mr.
Stephenson's attention had already been drawn to the
circumstance of the much greater velocity with which
the steam issued from the exit pipe compared with that
at which the smoke escaped from the chimney of the
engine. He then thought that, by conveying the
eduction steam into the chimney by means of a small
pipe after it had performed its office in the cylinders,
and 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,1
thereby increasing the draft, and consequently the
intensity of combustion in the furnace.
I The experiment was no sooner made than the power
of the engine was at once more than doubled ; com-
bustion was stimulated by the blast ; consequently the
capability of the boiler to generate steam was greatly
increased, and the effective power of the engine aug-
mented 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
depended upon its adoption. Without the steam-blast,
by which the intensity of combustion, and the conse-
quent evolution of steam, were maintained at their
highest point, high rates of speed could not have been
maintained, the advantages of the multitubular boiler
(afterwards invented) could never have been fairlv

1 The subject of the Steam Blast,
land the various claims which have
{been made as to its invention, will be

found discussed at some length in t he-
Appendix to this work.

CHAP. VI. STEPHENSON'S SECOND LOCOMOTIVE. 101

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 Mr. 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 con-
vinced 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, 1815,1 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 direct-
ness 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 ordi-
nary joints could not be employed to unite the parts of
the engine, which was a rigid mass, with the wheels
rolling 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

Specification of patent, No. 3887.

102 STEPHENSON'S SECOND LOCOMOTIVE. CHAP. VJ.

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 com-
paratively 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 parallel-
ism 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, Mr. 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 paral-
lelism 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, Mr. Stephenson began by making in
each axle cranks at right angles to each other, with rods
communicating horizontally between them.

A locomotive was accordingly constructed upon this
plan in the year 1815, and it was found to answer
extremely well. But at that period the mechanical
skill of the country was not equal to the task of forging
cranked axles of the soundness and strength necessary
to stand the jars incident to locomotive work. Mr.
Stephenson was accordingly compelled to fall back upon

CHAP. VI. STEPHENSON'S SECOND LOCOMOTIVE. 103

a substitute, which, although less simple and efficient
was within the mechanical capabilities of the workme
of that day, in respect of construction as well as repair
He adopted a chain which rolled over indented wheel
placed on the centre of each axle, and was so arrange
that the two pairs of wheels were effectually coupled an
made to keep pace with each other. The chain, how
ever, 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 com- '
pletely answered the purpose required, without involving
any expensive or difficult workmanship.

Thus, in the year 1815, Mr. Stephenson, by dint of
patient and persevering labour, — by careful observation
of the works of others, and never neglecting to avail
himself of their suggestions, — had succeeded in manu-
facturing 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 uselessly to escape into the air. Although .
many improvements in detail were afterwards introduced /
in the locomotive by Mr. Stephenson himself, as well as j
by his equally distinguished son, it is perhaps not too i
much to say that this engine, as a mechanical con- 1
trivance, contained the germ of all that has since bee^i/
effected. It may in fact be regarded as the type of tlie|
present locomotive engine.

104 COLLIERY EXPLOSIONS. CHAP. VII.

CHAPTEE VII.

INVENTION or THE " GEOBDY " 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 explo-
sions were often attended with fearful loss of life and
dreadful suffering to the workpeople. Killing worth
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 ten persons were killed. Stephen-
son 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.1

Another explosion took place in the same pit in
1809, by which twelve persons lost their lives. The
blast did not reach the shaft as in the former case ;
the unfortunate persons in the pit having been suf-
focated by the after-damp. More calamitous still were
the explosions which took place in neighbouring col-
lieries; one of the worst being that of 1812, in the
Felling Pit, near Gateshead, a mine belonging to Mr.
Brandling, by which no fewer than ninety men and
boys were suffocated or burnt to death. And a similar
accident occurred in the same pit in the year following,
by which twenty-two men and boys perished.

1 See evidence given by him before the Select Committee on Accidents in
Mines, 26th June, 1835.

CHAP. VII. DANGERS OF COLLIERY WORKING. 105

It was natural that George Stephenson should devote
his attention to the cause 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 col-
liery so extensive as that of Killingworth, where there
were nearly 160 miles of gallery excavation, in which he
personally superintended the working of inclined planes
for the conveyance of the coal 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 gal-
leries 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 ex-
posed them and their" fellow-workers in the pit to the
risk of death in one of its most dreadful forms.

One day, in the year 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 an energetic voice Stephenson ordered the
engineman to lower him down the shaft in the corve.
There was danger, it might be death, before him, but
he must go. As those about the pit-mouth saw him
descend rapidly out of sight, and heard from the depths
of the shaft the mingled cries of despair and agony

106 STEPHENSON'S HEROIC CONDUCT. CHAP. VII.

THE PIT HEAD, WEST MOOR. [By R P. Leitch.]

rising from the workpeople below, they gazed on the
heroic man with breathless amazement.

He was soon at the bottom, and in the midst of the
men, who were paralysed at 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.
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 forth-
with 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, Kit

CHAI>. VII. DR. CLAXNY'S LAMP. 107

Heppel, who had been present and helped to build up
the brick wall by which the tire was stayed, though
several workmen were suffocated. Heppel relates that,
when down the pit some days after, seeking out the
dead bodies, the cause of the accident was the subject
of some conversation between himself and Stephenson,
and Heppel then asked him, " Can nothing be done
to prevent such awful occurrences?" Stephenson
replied that he thought something might be done.
" Then," said Heppel, " 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 suffi-
cient light, without communicating flame to the inflam-
mable 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 Sunder-
land, who, in 1813, contrived an apparatus to which he
air from the mine through water, by means of

108 STEPHENSON'S EXPERIMENTS ON FIRE-DAMP. CHAP. VI.

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 at Sunderland 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 repu-
tation, 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 his celebrated paper " On the Fire-
Damp of Coal Mines, and on Methods of lighting the
Mine so as to prevent its Explosion," before the Eoyal
Society of London.

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 in-
vention 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, called
M'Crie, 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
Stephensoii'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

CHAP. VII. STEPHENSON'S FIRST LAMP MADE. 109

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 Kil-
ling-worth pit. As he himself afterwards related to the
Committee of the House of Commons which sat on the
subject of Accidents in Mines in 1835, he imagined that
if he could construct a lamp with a chimney at the
top, so 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 inflam-
mable air of the pit from descending towards the flame ;
and such a lamp, he thought, might be taken into an
explosive 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 delibe-
rations, the drawing was prepared, and it was shown to
several of the head men about the works. " My first
lamp," said Mr. Stephenson, describing it to the Com-
mittee above referred to, " had a chimney at the top of
the lamp, and a tube at the bottom, to admit the atmos-
pheric air, or fire-damp and air, to feed the burner or
combustion of the lamp. I was not aware of the precise
quantity required to feed the combustion ; but to know
what quantity was necessary, I had a slide at the bottom
of the first tube in ray lamp, to admit such a quantity
of air as might eventually be found necessary to keep
up the combustion."

Accompanied by his friend Wood, Stephenson went
into Newcastle, and ordered a lamp to be made accord-
ing to his plan, by the Messrs. Hogg, tinmen, at the
head of the Side — a well-known street in Newcastle.
At the same time he ordered a glass to be made for the
lamp at the Northumberland Glass House, in the same

110 TRIAL OF THE FIRST SAFETY-LAMP. CHAP. VII.

town. This lamp was received from the makers on the
21st of October, and 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, 6 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 Benton
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
Nichol' 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

CHAP. VII. STEPHENSON'S COURAGE IN TRYING IT. Ill

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 thus 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 in-
evitably 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. It was a critical moment ; and
the danger was such as would have tried the stoutest
heart. Stephenson advancing alone, with his yet un-
tried lamp, in the depths of those underground workings,
—calmly venturing his life in the determination to
discover a mode by which the lives of many might be
saved, and death disarmed in these fatal caverns, — pre-
sented an example of intrepid nerve and manly courage,
more noble even than that which, in the excitement of
battle and the collective impetuosity of a charge, carries
a man up to the cannon's mouth.

Advancing to the place of danger, and entering
within the fouled air, his lighted lamp in hand, Ste-
phenson held it firmly 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 explo-

112 IMPKOVES HIS LAMP. CHAP. VII.

sion of the gas. Returning1 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 was almost full of fire ; and then it
smothered out. Again returning to his companions, he
relighted the lamp, and repeated the experiment. This
he did 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. Such was the result of the first experi-
ments with the first practical Miner s Safety- Lamp ; and
such the daring resolution of its inventor in testing its
qualities.

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 of the lamp, under the
flame. After making some experiments on the air
collected at the blower, by means of bladders which
were mounted with tubes of various diameters, he satis-
fied himself that, when the tube was reduced to a
certain diameter, the explosion would not pass through ;
and he fashioned his slide accordingly, reducing the
diameter of the tube until he conceived it was quite
safe. In the course of about a fortnight the experi-
ments were repeated in the pit, in a place purposely
made foul as before. On this occasion a larger number
of persons ventured to witness the experiments, which
again proved successful. The lamp was not yet, how-
ever, so efficient as the inventor desired. It required,
he observed, to be kept very steady when burning in

CHAP. VII. DANGEROUS EXPERIMENTING. 113

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 backwards and forwards, 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 dis-
charge the poisonous onatter that hung round the flame,
by admitting the air to its exterior part." Although
he had then no access to scientific works, nor inter-
course with scientific men, nor anything that could
assist him in his inquiries on the subject, besides his
own indefatigable spirit of inquiry, he contrived a rude
apparatus, by means of which he proceeded to test the
explosive properties of the gas and the velocity of cur-
rent (for this was the direction of his inquiries) necessary
to enable the explosion to pass through tubes of dif-
ferent diameters. In making these experiments in his
humble cottage at the West Moor, Nicholas Wood and
George's son Eobert usually acted as his assistants, and
sometimes the gentlemen of the neighbourhood — amongst
others William Brandling and Matthew Bell, interested
in coal-mining — attended as spectators. One who was
present on such an occasion remembers that, when an
experiment was about to be performed, and all was
ready, George called to Mr. Wood, who worked the
stop-cocks of the gasometer, " Wise on [turn on] the
hydrogen, Nichol ! "

These experiments were not performed without risk,
for 011 one occasion the experimenting party had
nearly blown off the roof of the cottage. One of
these " blows up " was described by Stephenson him-
self 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 diame-
ters, to prevent explosion from fire-damp. We made
the mixtures in all proportions of light carburetted

VOL. III. I

114

THE REV. MR. TURNER.

CHAP. VII.

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 four-tenths of an inch in diameter, the neces-
sary current was nine inches in a second to prevent its
coming down that tube. These experiments were re-
peated 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 watch-
ing the flame in the tube, my son was taking the vibra-
tions 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 well able to
replace."

The explosion of this glass receiver, which had been
borrowed from the stores of the Philosophical Society
at Newcastle for the purpose of making the experi-
ments, caused the greatest possible dismay among the
party, and they dreaded to inform Mr. Turner, the
Secretary,1 of the calamity which had occurred. For-

1 The early connexion of Robert
with the Philosophical and Literary
Society of Newcastle had brought him
into communication with the Rev.
William Turner, one of the secretaries
of the institution. That gentleman
was always ready to assist the in-
quirer after knowledge, and took an
early interest in the studious youth
from Killingworth, with whose father
he also became acquainted. Mr.
Turner cheerfully helped them in
their joint inquiries, and excited while

he endeavoured to satisfy their thirst
for scientific information. Towards
the close of his life, Mr. Stephenson
often spoke of the gratitude and
esteem he felt towards his revered
instructor. " Mr. Turner," he said,
" was always ready to assist me with
books, with instruments, and with
counsel, gratuitously and cheerfully.
He gave me the most valuable assist-
ance and instruction, and to my dying
day I can never forget the obligations
which I owe to my venerable friend."

Mr,

CHAP. VII. STEPHENSON'S SECOND SAFETY-LAMP. 115

tunately none of the experimenters were injured by the
explosion.

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 bar-
rels 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 principle
he was pursuing.

In order to correct the defect of his first lamp,
he accordingly resolved to alter it so as to admit
the air to the flame by several tubes of reduced dia-
meter, 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, whilst the
smallness of the apertures would still prevent the explo-
sion 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 the shop of Mr. Matthews,
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

Mr. Turner's conduct towards George ' tionise by his inventions and improve-

Stephenson was all the more worthy ments the internal communications

of admiration, because at that time of the civilised world. The circum-

the object of his friendly instruction ' stance is encouraging to those who,

and counsel occupied but the position ! like Mr. Turner, are still daily devo-

of a comparatively obscure work- ! ting themselves with equal disinte-

man, of no means or influence, who j restedness to the education of the

had become known to him only working classes in our schools and

through his anxious desire for infor- mechanics' institutes. Though the

mation on scientific subjects. He opportunity of lending a helping hand

could little have dreamt that the ; to such men as George Stephenson

object of his almost fatherly attention may but rarely occur, the labours of

would achieve a reputation so distin- | such teachers are never without the

guished as that which he afterwards most valuable results,
obtained, and that he would revolu-

i 2

116 STEPHENSON'S THIED SAFETY-LAMP. CHAP. VII.

the original lamp) the one tube opening directly under
the flame.

This second or altered lamp was tried in the Killing-
worth pit on the 4th of November, and was found to
burn better than the first lamp, and to be perfectly
safe. But as it did not yet come up entirely 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 the communication
of explosion would be the same.

He was encouraged to persevere in the completion of
his safety-lamp by the occurrence of several fatal acci-
dents about this time in the Killingworth pit. On the
9th of 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 pro-
vided with his lamp, his life would have been saved.
On the 20th of November he went over to Newcastle
to order his third lamp from Mr. Watson, a plumber in
that town. Mr. Watson referred him to his clerk,
Henry Smith, whom Stephenson invited to join him at
a neighbouring public-house, where they might quietly
talk over the matter together, and the plan of the new
lamp could be finally settled. 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 Eobert Stephenson some years since, still bore
the murks 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

CHAP. VII.

THE DAVY LAMP CONTROVERSY.

117

THE COVER,

THE LAMP.

STEPHENSON'S SAFETY-LAMP.

of a few days, and experimentally tested in the Killing-
worth pit like the previous lamps, on the 30th of
November, by which 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 dia-
meter— the principle on which the safety-lamp is con-
structed— 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.
Mr. Stephenson had actually constructed a lamp on
such a principle, and proved its safety, before Sir
Humphry had communicated his views to any indi-

118 STEPHENSON'S MERITS AS AN INVENTOR, CHAP. VII.

vidual on the subject ; 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 of October, 1815 ; the second
was tried on the 4th of November ; but it was not until
the 9th of November that Sir Humphry Davy pre-
sented 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.

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 con-
cerned him. Torricelli did not know the rationale of
his tube, nor Otto Griirike that of his air-pump ; yet no
one thinks of denying them the merit of their inven-
tions on that account. The discoveries of Volta and
Gralvani 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

CHAP. VJI. SCENE AT THE NEWCASTLE INSTITUTE.

119

Mr. Stephenson's numerous friends considered his lamp
so completely successful — having stood the test of re-
peated experiments — that they urged him to bring his
invention before the Philosophical and Literary Society
of Newcastle, of some of whose apparatus he had

LITEKARY ANE PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE, NEWCASTLE.-

availed himself in the course of his experiments on fire-
damp. After much persuasion he consented to do so,
and a meeting was appointed for the purpose of receiv-
ing his explanations, on the evening of the 5th of
December, 1815. Mr. Stephenson was at that time so
diffident in manner and unpractised in speech, that he
took with him his friend Mr. 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,

120 CLAIMS OF DAVY AND STEPHENSON. CHAP. VII.

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 Killing worth mine, and proved the
safety of his lamp by numerous experiments w^ith the
gas, repeated in various ways ; his earnest and impres-
sive 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 re-
ceived 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. Sir
Humphry Davy carried off 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, without chemical
knowledge or literary culture, pursuing his experiments
in obscurity, with a view only to usefulness ; the other
was the scientific prodigy of his day, the pet of the
Royal Society, the favourite of princes, the most brilliant
of lecturers, and the most popular of philosophers.

No small indignation was expressed by the friends of
Sir Humphry Davy at this " presumption " on Stephen-
son's part. The scientific class united to ignore him
entirely in the matter. In 1831, Dr. Paris, in his ' Life
of Sir Humphry Davy,' thus spoke of Stephenson, in

CHAP. VII. THE DAVY TESTIMONIAL. 121

connexion with his claims as the inventor of the safety-
lamp : — " 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 Stephen-
son — a person not even possessing a knowledge of the
elements of chemistry."

But Stephenson was really far above claiming for
himself any invention not his own. He had already
accomplished a far greater thing even than the making
of a safety-lamp — he had constructed a successful loco-
motive, which was to be seen daily at work upon 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.
It excited no scientific interest, called forth no leading
articles in the newspapers or the reviews, and formed
the subject of no eloquent lectures at the Eoyal Society ;
for railways were still comparatively unknown, and the
might which slumbered in the locomotive was scarcely
even dreamt of. What railways were to become, rested
in a great measure with that " engine-wright of Kil-
lingworth, 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

122 THE DAVY TESTIMONIAL. CHAP. VII.

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 Mr. 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 in-
ventor 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 direc-
tion. This result was, however, very unsatisfactory to
Stephenson, as well as to his friends ; and Mr. Brand-
ling, 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 Stephenson' s line. He
had never appeared in print before ; and it seemed to
him to be a more formidable thing to write a letter for
publication in "the papers" than even 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 when all was ready, told him to a 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,

CHAP. VII. LETTER TO " THE PAPERS." 123

the father and son set out — the latter dressed in his Sun-
day's round jacket — to lay the joint production before
Mr. Brandling, at Gosforth House. Glancing over the
letter, Mr. Brandling said, " George, this will not do."
" It is all true, sir," was the reply. " That may be ;
but it is badly written." Eobert blushed, for he thought
it was the penmanship that was called in question, and
he had written his very best. Mr. Brandling then
requested his visitors to sit down while he put the letter
in a more polished form, which he did, and it was
shortly after published in the local journals.

As the controversy continued for some time longer to
be carried on in the Newcastle papers, Mr. Stephenson,
in the year 1817, consented to publish the detailed
plans, with descriptions, of the several safety-lamps
which he had contrived for use in the Killingworth col-
liery. The whole forms a pamphlet of only sixteen
pages of letterpress.1

His friends, being fully satisfied of his claims to priority
as the inventor of the safety-lamp used in the Killing-
worth and other collieries, proceeded to hold a public
meeting for the purpose of presenting him with a
reward " for the valuable service he had thus rendered
to mankind." Charles J. Brandling, Esq., occupied the
chair ; and a series of resolutions were passed, of which
the first and most important was as follows : — " That it
is the opinion of this meeting that Mr. George Stephen-
son, having discovered the fact that explosion of hydrogen
gas will not pass through tubes and apertures of small
dimensions, and having been the first to apply that prin-
ciple in the construction of a safety -lamp, is entitled to a
public reward."

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

'A Description of the Safety- , son, and now in use in the Killing-
Lamp, invented by George Stephen- : worth Colliery.' London, 1817.

124 INQUIRY AS TO THE FACTS. CHAP. VII.

subscription list was headed by Lord Eavensworth, one
of the partners in the Killingworth colliery, who showed
his appreciation of the merits of Stephensori by giving
100 guineas. C. J. Brandling and partners gave a like
sum, and Matthew Bell and partners, and John Brand-
ling and partners, gave fifty guineas each.

When the resolutions appeared in the newspapers,
the scientific friends of Sir Humphry Davy in London
met, and passed a series of counter-resolutions, which
they published, declaring their opinion that Mr. Ste-
phenson was not the author of the discovery of the fact
that explosion of hydrogen will not pass through tubes
and apertures of small dimensions, and that he was not
the first to apply that principle to the construction of a
safety-lamp. To these counter-resolutions were attached
the well-known names of Sir Joseph Banks, P.E.S.,
William Thomas Brande, Charles Hatchett, W. H.
Wollaston, and Thomas Young.

Mr. Stephenson's friends then, to make assurance
doubly sure, and with a view to set the question at rest,
determined to take evidence in detail as to the date of
discovery by George Stephenson of the fact in question,
and its practical application by him in the formation
and actual trial of his safety-lamp. The witnesses ex-
amined were, George Stephenson himself, Mr. Nicholas
Wood, and John Moodie, who had been present at the
first trial of the lamp ; the several tinmen who made
the lamps ; the secretary and other members of the
Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle, who
were present at the exhibition of the third lamp ; and
some of the workmen at Killingworth colliery, who had
been witnesses of Mr. Stephenson's experiments on fire-
damp, made with the lamps at various periods, before
Sir Humphry Davy's investigations had been heard
of. This evidence was quite conclusive to the minds
of the gentlemen who investigated the subject, and
they published it in 1817 together with their Eeport,

CHAP. VII. THE STEPHENSON TESTIMONIAL. 125

in which they declared that, " after a careful inquiry
into the merits of the case, conducted, as they trust, in
a spirit of fairness and moderation, they can perceive no
satisfactory reason for changing their opinion."

The Stephenson subscription, when collected, amounted
to 1000/. Part of the money was devoted to the pur-
chase 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.1 But what gave Stephenson even greater
pleasure than the silver tankard and purse of sove-
reigns was the gift of a silver watch, purchased by
small subscriptions collected amongst the colliers them-
selves, and presented to him by them as a token of their
esteem and regard for him as a man, as well as of their
gratitude for the perseverance and skill with which he
had prosecuted his valuable and life-saving invention to
a successful issue. To the last day of his life he spoke
with pride of this gift as amongst the most valuable
which he had ever received.

However great the merits of Mr. Stephenson in con-
nection 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 ori-
ginal ; 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 veri-
fication of the same fact. It even appears that Mr.
Smithson Tennant and Dr. Wollaston had observed the

1 The tankard bore the following first to apply that principle in the

inscription : — " This piece of plate, ' construction of a safety-lamp calcu-

purchased with a part of the sum of j lated for the preservation of human

1000L, a subscription raised for the j life in situations formerly of the

remuneration of Mr. GEORGE STE- j greatest danger, was presented to him

PHENSON for having discovered the j at a general meeting of the subscribers,

fact that inflamed fire-damp will not I Charles John Brandling, Esq., in the

pass through tubes and apertures of ! Chair. January 12th, 1818."

small dimensions, and having been the ,

126 DEFECTS OF THE DAVY LAMP. CHAP. VII.

same fact several years before, though neither Stephen-
son nor Davy knew it while they were prosecuting their
experiments. Sir Humphry Davy's subsequent modifi-
cation 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 beau-
tiful 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 intro-
duction 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. Mr. Stephenson was 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 sub-
mitted by Dr. Pereira, before the Committee on Acci-
dents 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 experi-
ments 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 Greordy
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 of 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. For-

CHAP. VII.

MERITS OF THE GEOKDY LAMP.

127

tunately 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 burned 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 Greordy, which is immediately extin-
guished as soon as the air becomes explosive.1

1 The accident above referred to
was described in the ' Bamsley Times,'
a copy of which, containing the ac-
count, 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." The
superiority of the Stephenson lamp
has since formed the subject of a
lengthy communication which ap-
peared in the ' Times ' of December
24th, 1860, signed John Brown, C.E.,
of Bamsley, an able milling engineer,
in reply to a previous communication
urging the sufficiency of ventilation
for keeping mines clear of explosive
gas.

" I am well acquainted with col-
lieries," says Mr. Brown, "that are
liable to yield, without a moment's
warning, such large quantities of ex-
plosive gas that I am quite sure no
amount of ventilation that can practi-
cally, and not upon paper, be passed
through the workings, would dilute
the enormous quantities of this sud-
denly issuing gas sufficiently to pre-
vent it igniting at the first naked
light with which it came in contact.

" I have known in this district gas
to issue from beneath the coal with
such violence as to rip up the floor,
which was almost as hard as stone,
producing great fissures several feet in

depth and many yards in length, the
gas issuing therefrom with a noise like
that produced by high-pressure steam
escaping from a safety-valve.

"At the period of this occurrence
we had two kinds of safety-lamps in
use in this pit — viz., 'Davy' and*
' Stephenson,' and the gas in going off
to the upcast shaft had to pass great
numbers of men, who were at work
with both kinds of lamps, The whole
of the ' Davy's ' became red-hot al-
most instantaneously from the rapid
ignition of the gas within the gauze ;
the 'Stephenson's' were as instantly
self-extinguished from the same cause,
it being the prominent qualification of
these lamps that, in adddition to
affording a somewhat better light than
the ' Davy ' lamp, they are suddenly
extinguished when placed within a
highly explosive atmosphere, so that
no person can remain working and run
the risk of his lamp becoming red-hot
— which, under such circumstances,
would be the result with the ' Davy '
lamp.

" The red-hot lamps were, most
fortunately, all safely put out, al-
though the men in many cases had
| their hands severely burned by the
gauze; but from that time I fully
resolved to adopt the exclusive use of
the ' Stephenson ' lamps, and not ex-
pose men to the fearful risk they must

128

THE "GEORDY" SAFETY-LAMP.

CHAP. VII.

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 Mr. Lough's studio, in 1857, Sir Matthew White
Eidley asked Eobert 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 in-
vented the safety-lamp, as I believe he did, independent
of all that Sir Humphry Davy had ever done in the
matter."

To this day, the Geordy lamp continues in regular
use in the Killingworth Collieries ; and the Killing-worth
pitmen have expressed to the writer their decided pre-
ference for it compared with the Davy. It is certainly
a strong testimony in its favour, that no accident is
known to have arisen from its use, since it was generally
introduced into the Killingworth pits.

run from working with ' Davy ' lamps
during the probable recurrence of a
similar event.

" I may remark that the ' Stephen-
son ' lamp was originally invented by
the great George Stephenson, and in
its present shape combines the merits

of his discovery with that of Sir
Humphry Davy — constituting, to my
mind, the safest lamp at present
known, and I speak from the long use
of many hundreds daily in various
collieries."

CHAP. Vlir. KILLINGWORTH COAL-MINE. 129

CHAPTEK VIII

GEORGE STEPHENSON'S FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN THE LOCO-
MOTIVE— THE HETTON KAILWAY — EGBERT STEPHENSON
AS VIEWER'S APPRENTICE AND STUDENT.

MR. 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 appoint-
ment as engine-wright, one of the subjects which parti-
cularly occupied his attention was the best practical
method of winning and raising the coal. His friend,
Nicholas Wood, has said of him that 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 ; and when
Mr. Eobert Bald, the celebrated Scotch mining engineer,
was requested by Dr. (afterwards Sir David) Brewster,
to prepare the article ' Mine ' for the ' Edinburgh Ency-
clopaedia,' he proceeded to Killingworth principally for
the purpose of examining Stephenson's underground
machinery. Mr. Bald has favoured us with an account
of his visit made with this object in 1818, and he states
that he was much struck with the novelty, as well as the
remarkable efficiency of Stephenson's arrangements, espe-
cially in regard to what is called the underdip working.

" I found," he says, " that a mine had been commenced

«/

near the main pit bottom, and carried forward down
the dip or slope of the coal, the rate of dip being about
one in twelve ; and the coals were drawn from the dip
to the pit-bottom by the steam machinery in a veiy
rapid manner. The water which oozed from the upper

VOL. III. K

130 KILLINGWORTH COAL-MINE. CHAP. VIII.

winning was disposed of at the pit-bottom in a barrel
or trunk, and was drawn up by the power of the engine
which worked the other machinery. The dip at the
time of my visit was nearly a mile in length, but has
since been greatly extended. As I was considerably
tired by my wanderings in the galleries, when I arrived
at the forehead of the dip, Mr. Stephenson said to me,
4 You may very speedily be carried up to the rise, by
laying yourself flat upon the coal-baskets,' which were
laden and ready to be taken up the incline. This I at
once did, and was straightway wafted on the wings of
fire to the bottom of the pit, from whence I was borne
swiftly up to the light by the steam machinery on the
pit-head." The whole of the working arrangements
seemed to Mr. Bald to be conducted in the most skilful
and efficient manner, and reflected the highest credit on
the colliery engineer.

Besides attending to the underground arrangements,
the improved transit of the coals aboveground from the
pit-head to the shipping-place, demanded an increasing
share of his attention. Every day's experience con-
vinced him that the locomotive constructed by him
after his patent of the year 1815, was far from per-
fect ; though he continued to entertain confident hopes
of its complete 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, pre-
dicted for it " a terrible blow-up some day." Neverthe-
less, 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 the
expense of haulage as to induce the northern colliery
masters to adopt locomotive power generally as a sub-
stitute for horses. How it could be improved and

CHAP. VIII. IMPROVEMENT OF THE KOAD. 131

rendered more efficient as well as economical, was never
out of Steplienson's mind. He was fully conscious of
the imperfections both in the road and the engine ; and
gave himself no rest until he had brought the efficiency
of both up to a higher point. Thus he worked his way
inch by inch, slowly but surely ; and every step gained
was made good as a basis for further improvements.

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 I
early period, he was in the habit of regarding the road/
and the locomotive as one machine, speaking of the railj
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 wear and tear 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 (1816) the rails were mad
of cast iron, each rail being about three feet long ; an
sufficient care was not taken to maintain the points o
junction on the same level. The chairs, or cast-ironi
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

K 2

132 IMPROVEMENT OF THE ROAD. CHAP. VJII.

very often caused the fracture of the rails, and occasion-
ally 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 form-
ing the bottom of the
chair. The supports
were also extended
from three leet to
three feet nine inches or four feet apart. These rails were
accordingly substituted for the old cast-iron plates on the
Killingworth Colliery Eailway, and they were found
to be a very great improvement upon the previous
system, adding both to the efficiency of the horse-power
(still used on the railway) and to the smooth action of
the locomotive engine, but more particularly increasing
the efficiency of the latter.

This improved form of the rail and chair was em-
bodied in a patent taken out in the joint names of
(Mr. Losh, of Newcastle, iron - founder, and of Mr.
Stephenson, bearing date the 30th of September, 1816.
Mr. Losh being a wealthy, enterprising iron-manufac-
turer, 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

CHAP. VIII. STEPHENSON'S STEAM SPRINGS. 133

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 con-
trivance 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 the reader's attention to the
device, which was the more remarkable, as it was con-
trived long before the possibility of steam locomotion
had become an object of parliamentary inquiry or even
of public interest.

It has already been observed that up to, and indeed
for some time after, the period of which we speak, there
was no such class of skilled mechanics, nor were there
any such machinery and tools in use, as are now at the
disposal of all 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 consider-
able 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 th<
inequalities of the road, Mr. Stephenson so arranged
the boiler of his new patent locomotive that it was
supported upon the frame of the engine by four cylin-
ders, 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

134 EXPERIMENTS ON FRICTION. CHAP. VIII.

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.

The result of the actual working of the new locomo-
tive on the improved road amply justified the promises
held forth in the specification. The traffic was con-
ducted with greater regularity and economy, and the
superiority of the engine, as compared with horse trac-
tion, became still more marked. And it is a fact worthy
of notice, that the identical engines constructed by
Mr. Stephenson in 1816 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, indeed, that the locomotive had first started,
Trevithick's first engine having been constructed with
this special object. Stephenson's friends having ob-
served 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

CHAP. VII I.

EXPERIMENTS ON FRICTION.

135

OLD K11X1N

)RTH LOCOMOTIVE, STILL IX USE

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 off
careful experiments in conjunction with Mr. Nicholas!
Wood, on the resistance to which carriages were ex-
posed on railways, testing the results by means of a
dynamometer of his own construction. The series of
practical observations made by means of this instru-
ment were interesting, as the first systematic attempt
to determine the precise amount of resistance to car-
riages 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 Yince
and Coulomb, and was well known to scientific men as an
established truth, yet at the time when Mr. Stephenson
made his experiments, the deductions of philosophers

136 IMPORTANCE OF FLAT GRADIENTS. CHAP. VIII.

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. But
e satisfied himself 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 com-
mon roads was dismissed by him as entirely out of the
question. Taking it as 10 Ibs. 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 de-
monstrated 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 Dur-
ham, 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
an easy matter for it to haul the empty waggons back to
the colliery up even a pretty steep incline. But when the
loads were both ways, it was obvious to him that the rail-
road must be constructed as nearly as possible on a level.1

1 This subject will be found further

moir on the Invention of the Railway

discussed in Robert Stephenson's ' Me- Locomotive,' appended to this volume.

CHAP. VII f. STEAM ON COMMON KOADS. 137

These views, thus early entertained, originated in
Mr. Stephenson's mind the peculiar character of rail-
road works as distinguished from all other roads ; for
in railroads, he early contended that large sums woulc
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 o
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 £
common road.

At this day it is difficult to understand how the
sagacious and strong common-sense views of Stephenson
on this subject failed to force themselves sooner upon
the minds of those who were persisting in their vain
though ingenious attempts to apply locomotive power
to ordinary roads. For a long time they continued to
hold with obstinate perseverance to the belief that foi^
steam purposes a soft road was better than a hard one—
a road easily crushed better than one incapable of being
crushed ; and they held to this after it had been de-
monstrated in all parts of the mining districts, that iron
tramways were better than paved roads. But the
fallacy that iron was incapable of adhesion upon iron
continued to prevail, and the projectors of steam-
travelling on common roads only shared in the common
belief. They still considered that roughness of surface
was essential to produce " bite," especially in surmount-
ing acclivities ; the truth being, that they confounded
roughness of surface with tenacity of surface and contact
of parts ; not perceiving that a yielding surface which
would adapt itself to the tread of the wheel, could never
become an unyielding surface to form a fulcrum for its
progression.

138 EARLY NEGLECT OF THE LOCOMOTIVE. CHAP. VIII.

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

,thaii horses. Nevertheless eight years passed before

i another locomotive railway was constructed and opened

for the purposes of coal or other traffic.

It is difficult to account for this early indifference on
the part of the public to the merits of the greatest
mechanical invention of the age. Steam carriages were
^exciting much interest, and numerous and repeated ex-
periments were made with them. The improvements
effected by M'Adam in the mode of constructing turn-
/ pike-roads were the subject of frequent discussions in
I/the legislature, on the grants of public money being
V proposed, which were from time to time made to him.
Yet here at Killingworth, without the aid of a farthing
of government money, a system of road locomotion had
been in existence since 1814, which was destined,
before many years, to revolutionise the internal commu-
nications of England and of the world, but of which the
English public and the English government as yet
knew nothing.

Mr. Stephenson had no means of bringing his im-
portant 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 intro-
ducing to notice the wonderful machine of Stephenson.
Even the local chroniclers seem to have taken no notice

CHAP. VII[. AGAIN PROPOSES TO EMIGRATE. 139

of the Killingworth Eailway. The "Puffing Billy"
was doing its daily quota of hard work, and had long
ceased to be a curiosity in the neighbourhood. Blen-
kinsop's clumsier and less successful engine — which has
long since been disused, while Stephenson's Killingworth
engines continue working to this day — excited far more
interest ; partly, perhaps, because it was close to the
large town of Leeds, and used to be visited by strangers
as one of the few objects of interest in that place.
Blenkinsop was also an educated man, and was in com-
munication with some of the most distinguished per-
sonages of his day upon the subject of his locomotive,
which thus obtained considerable notoriety.

The first engine constructed by Mr. Stephenson to
order, after the Killingworth model, was made for the
Duke of Portland in 1817, for use upon his tramroad,
about ten miles long, extending from Kilmarnock to
Troon, in Ayrshire. It was employed to haul the coals
from the Duke's collieries along the line to Troon harbour.
Its use was however discontinued in consequence of the
frequent breakages of the cast-iron rails, by which the
working of the line was interrupted, and accordingly
horses were again employed as before.1 There seemed,
indeed, to be so small a prospect of introducing the
locomotive into general use, that Mr. Stephenson,—
perhaps feeling the capabilities within him, — again
recurred to his old idea of emigrating to the United
States. Before entering as sleeping partner in a small
foundry at Forth Banks, Newcastle, managed by Mr. John
Burrell, he had thrown out the suggestion to the latter
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

1 The iron wheels of this engine working until the year 1848. Its ori-
were afterwards removed, and replaced j ginal cost was 7501. It was broken
with wooden wheels, when it was again j up, and the materials were sold, rea-
placed upon the road, and continued i lizing only 13£.

140 THE HETTON RAILWAY. CHAP. VIII.

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, and Mr. Burrell 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 Mr. 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
ibout to bear fruit.

In 1819, the owners of the Hetton Colliery, in the
>unty of Durham, determined to have their waggon-
ray altered to a locomotive railroad. The result of the
(working of the Killingworth Eailway had been so satis-
factory, 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
la railway and furnish it with locomotives, or fixed
jf 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 the ordinary capitalists
from venturing their money in the promotion of such
undertakings. The Hetton Coal Company were, how-
ever, possessed of adequate means ; and the local repu-
tation 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
1 to act as the engineer of the proposed railway. Being
in the service of the Killingworth Company, Mr. Ste-
phenson felt it necessary to obtain their permission to
enter upon this new work. This was at once granted.
The best feeling existed between him and his employers ;

CHAP. VIII, THE HETTON RAILWAY. 141

and they regarded it as a compliment that their colliery
engineer should be selected for a work so important as
the laying down of the Hetton Railway, which was to
be the longest locomotive line that had, up to that time,
been constructed in the neighbourhood. Mr. Stephenson
accepted the appointment, his brother Robert acting as
resident engineer and personally superintending the
execution of the works.

The Hetton Railway extended from the Hetton Col-
liery, 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 Mr. Stephenson's command. Heavy
works could not be executed ; it was, therefore, neces-
sary to form the line w^ith 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 Mr. 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 em-
ployed, 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

142 ROBERT STEPHENSON VIEWER'S APPRENTICE. CHAP. VIII.

present case, this course was adopted by him most suc-
cessfully. 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 of
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 four miles an hour, and each engine dragged
after it a train of seventeen waggons, weighing about
sixty-four tons.

While thus advancing step by step, — attending to the
business of the Killing worth Colliery, and laying out
railways in the neighbourhood, — he was carefully watch-
ing over the education of his son. We have already
seen that Robert was sent to school at Newcastle, and
that he left it in the summer of 1819. He was then
put apprentice to Mr. Nicholas Wood, the head viewer at
Killingworth, to learn the business of the colliery ; and
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 unat-
tended with peril, as the following incident will show.
Though the use of the Geordy lamp had become ge-
neral in the Killingworth pits, and the workmen were
bound, under a penalty of half-a-crown, not to use a
naked candle, yet it was difficult to enforce the rule,
and even the masters themselves occasionally broke it.
One day, Nicholas Wood the head viewer, Moodie the

CHAP. VIII. ROBERT'S PURSUITS AT KILLINGWORTH. 143

under viewer, and Robert Stephensoii, were proceed-
ing 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 dan-
gerous parts of the pit, where if the gas had exploded,
every soul in the mine must inevitably have perished.
Robert Stephensoii 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 half-way, 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 then led him to
the bottom of the shaft ; and he afterwards took care 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 him- k
self. The evenings were generally devoted to reading and I
study, the two from this time working together as friends
and co-labourers. One who used to drop in at the cot-
tage of an evening, well remembers the animated and
eager discussions which on some occasions took place,

144 ROBERT'S PURSUITS AT KILLINGWORTH. CHAP. VIII.

more especially with reference to the growing powers of
the locomotive engine. The son was even more enthu-
siastic than the father on this subject. Robert would
suggest alterations and improvements in this, that, and
the other detail of the machine. 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 Mr. 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 in consequence of 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 com-
plete a scientific culture as his means would afford. He
was also of opinion that a proper training in technical
science was almost 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 enter-
prise.

He accordingly took Robert from his labours as under-
1 viewer in the West Moor Pit, and, in the year 1821,

CHAP. VIII. ROBERT SENT TO COLLEGE. 145

sent liim to the Edinburgh University, there being then \
no college in England accessible to persons of moderate
means, for purposes of scientific culture. Eobert was
furnished with letters of introduction to several men of
scientific 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 Phi-
losophy 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. The young student
entered upon his studies with so keen a zest and interest,
his mind was so ripe for the pursuit and reception of
knowledge, and he prosecuted his labours with such
laborious zeal, that it is not too much to say that in the
six months' study to which his college career was
limited, he acquired more real knowledge than the
average of students do during their entire course. 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, Mr. Stephenson rose from his seat and took
down a volume from the shelves. Mr. Harrison ob-
served 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."

VOL. III. L

146 ROBERT STEPHENSON AT EDINBURGH. CHAP. VIII.

Robert was not without the pleasures of social inter-
course either, during his stay at Edinburgh. Among
the letters of introduction which he took with him was
one to Robert Bald, the mining engineer, which proved
of much service to him. " I remember Mr. Bald very
well," he said on one occasion, when recounting his
reminiscences of his Edinburgh college life. " He
introduced me to Dr. Hope, Dr. Murray, and several
of the distinguished men of the north. Bald was the
Buddie of Scotland. He knew my father from having
visited the pits at Killingworth, with the object of
describing the system of working them, in his article
intended for the ' Edinburgh Encyclopaedia.' A strange
adventure befel that article before it appeared in print.
Bald was living at Alloa when he wrote it ; and when
finished he sent it to Edinburgh by the hands of young
Maxton, one of his nephews, whom he enjoined to take
special care of it and deliver it safely into the hands of
the editor. He took passage for Newhaven by one of
the little steamers which then plied upon the Forth ; but
on the voyage down the Frith, she struck upon a rock
nearly opposite Queensferry, and soon sunk. When the
accident happened, Maxton' s whole concern was about
his uncle's article. He durst not return to Alloa if he
lost it, and he must not go on to Edinburgh without it.
So he desperately clung to the chimney chains, with the
paper parcel under his arm, while most of the other pas-
sengers were washed away and drowned. And there he
continued to cling, until rescued by some boatmen, parcel
and all ; after which he made his way to Edinburgh,
and the article duly appeared."

Returning to the subject of his life in Edinburgh,
Robert continued : " Besides taking me with him to the
meetings of the Royal and other Societies, Mr. Bald intro-
duced me to a very agreeable family, relatives of his own,
at whose house I spent many pleasant evenings. It was
there I met Jeannie M . She was a bonnie lass,

CHAP. VIII. AN EARLY ATTACHMENT. 147

and I, being young and susceptible, fairly fell in love with
her. But, like most very early attachments, mine proved
evanescent. Years passed, and I had all but forgotten
Jeannie, when one day I received a letter from her,
from which it appeared that she was in great distress
through the ruin of her relatives. I sent her a sum of
money, and continued to do so for several years ; but
the last remittance not being acknowledged, I directed
Sanderson, my solicitor, to make inquiries. I afterwards
found that the money had reached her at Portobello just
as she was dying, and so, poor thing ! she had been
unable to acknowledge it."

One of the practical sciences in the study of which
Robert Stephenson took special interest while at Edin-
burgh 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. The professor was habitually grave
and taciturn, but on such occasions he would relax and
even become genial. For his own special science he had
an almost engrossing enthusiasm, which on such occa-
sions he did not fail to inspire into his pupils ; who thus
not only got their knowledge in the pleasantest possible
way, but also fresh air and exercise in the midst of
glorious scenery and in joyous company. 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

L 2

148 EXCURSION IN THE HIGHLANDS. CHAP. VIII.

Glen Roy," and extended their journey as far as Inver-
ness ; 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 glow-
ing terms of the great pleasure and benefit which he had
derived from that interesting excursion. " I have tra-
velled far, and enjoyed much," he said ; " but that
delightful botanical and geological tour 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/., a considerable sum to him in those days ;

but he was amply repaid by the sound scientific culture

which his son had acquired, and the evidence of ability

and industry which he was enabled to exhibit in the

prize for mathematics which he had won at the

University.

WEST MOOR COLLIERY, KILLINGWORTH.

CHAP. IX.

THE BISHOP AUCKLAND COAL-FIELD.

149

CHAPTER IX.

GEORGE STEPHENSON ENGINEER OF THE STOCKTON AND
DARLINGTON KAILWAY.

THE district lying to the west of Darlington, in the
county of Durham, is one of the richest mineral fields of
the North. Vast stores of coal underlie the Bishop Auck-
land Valley ; and from an early period it was felt to be
an exceedingly desirable object to open up new commu-
nications to enable the article to be sent to market. But
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 Eennie ; and eventually, in 1817, a railway was
projected from Witton Colliery, a few miles above Dar-
lington, to Stockton-on-Tees.

OFTHE

0 STOCKTON & DARLINGTON RAILWAY

MAP OF STOCKTON AND D ARLINGTON RAILWAY.

Of this railway Edward Pease was the projector. A
thoughtful and sagacious man, ready in resources, pos-
sessed of indomitable energy and perseverance, he was

150 EDWAED PEASE. CHAP. IX.

eminently qualified to undertake what appeared to
many the desperate enterprise of obtaining an Act of
Parliament to construct a railway through a rather
unpromising district. One who knew him in 1818
said, "he was a man who could see a hundred years
ahead." 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 remi-
niscences of the past, he continued to take an active
interest in all measures calculated to render the lives of
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.1

In getting up a company for the purpose of 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 the ruin of all who had to do with it.
Even those who were most interested in the opening
out of new markets for the vend of their coal, were
indifferent, if not actually hostile. The Stockton mer-
chants and shipowners, whom the formation of a
railway was calculated so greatly to benefit, gave the
project no support ; and not twenty shares were sub-
scribed for in the whole town. Mr. Pease nevertheless
persevered with the formation of a company ; and he
; induced many of his friends and relations to subscribe
for shares. The Eichardsons and Backhouses, members,
like himself, of the Society of Friends, influenced by his
persuasion, united themselves with him ; and so many
of the same denomination (having great confidence in
those influential Darlington names) followed their
example and subscribed for shares, that the railway sub-

W l Mr. Pease died at Darlington, on the 31st of July, 1858, aged ninety-two.

CHAP. IX. DARLINGTON RAILWAY PROJECTED. 151

sequently obtained the designation, which it still enjoys,!
of " The Quakers' Line."

The engineer first employed to make a survey of
the line was a Mr. Overton, who had had considerable
experience in the formation of similar roads in Wales.
The necessary preliminary steps were taken in the year
1818 to apply for an Act to authorise the construction of
a tramroad from Wit ton to Stockton. The measure was
however, strongly opposed by the Duke of Cleveland,
because the proposed line passed near to one of his
fox covers ; and, having considerable parliamentary
influence, he succeeded in throwing out the bill by a
majority of only thirteen, — above one hundred members
voting in support of the measure. A nobleman said,
when he heard of the division, " Well, if the Quakers
in these times, when nobody knows anything about
railways, can raise up such a phalanx in their support,
I should recommend the county gentlemen to be very
wary how they oppose them in future."

A new survey was then made, avoiding the Duke's
fox cover ; and in 1819 a renewed application was made
to Parliament for an Act. But George III. dying in
January, 1820, while Parliament was still sitting, there
was a dissolution, and the Bill was necessarily suspended.
The promoters, however, did not lose sight of their pro-
ject. They had now spent a considerable sum of money
in surveys and legal and parliamentary expenses, and
wt-re determined to proceed, though they were still
unable to enlist the active support of the inhabitants
of the district proposed to be served by the railway.

The energy of Edward Pease, backed by the support
of his Quaker friends, enabled him to hold the company
together, to raise the requisite preliminary funds from
time to time for the purpose of prosecuting the under-
taking, and eventually to overcome the opposition
raised against the measure in Parliament. The bill
at length passed ; and the royal assent was given to

152 THE ACT OBTAINED. CHAP. IX.

the first Stockton and Darlington Eailway Act on the
19th of April, 1821.

The preamble of this Act recites, that " the making
'and maintaining of a Eailway or Tramroad, for the pas-
sage of waggons and other carriages " from Stockton to
Witton Park Colliery (by Darlington), " will be of great
public utility, by facilitating the conveyance of coal,
iron, lime, corn, and other commodities " between the
places mentioned. The projectors of the line did not
originally contemplate the employment of locomotives ;
for in the Act they provide for the making and main-
taining of the tramroads for the passage upon them
of waggons and other carriages " with men and horses
or otherwise," and a further clause made provision as
to the damages which might be done in the 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 the winter months ;
" between six in the morning and eight in the evening,"
in two of the spring and autumn months each ; and
" between five in the morning and ten in the evening,"
in the high 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.

Some time elapsed before any active steps were taken
to proceed with the construction of the railway. Doubts
had been raised whether the line was the best that could
be adopted for the district; and the subscribers gene-
rally were not so sanguine about the undertaking as to
induce them to press it forward.

One day, about the end of the year 1821, two
j strangers knocked at the door of Mr. Pease's house in
I Darlington ; and the message was brought to him that
\ some persons from Killingworth wanted to speak with

CHAP. IX. STEPHENSON'S INTRODUCTION TO MR. PEASE. 153

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 to Mr. Pease as George Stephenson, of
the same place. Mr. Stephenson came forward and
handed to Mr. Pease a letter from Mr. Lambert, the
manager at Killingworth, in which it was stated that
the bearer was the engine-wright at the pits, that
he had had experience in the laying out of railways
and had given satisfaction to his employers, and that
he would therefore recommend him to the notice of
Mr. Pease if he stood in need of the services of such
a person.

Mr. Pease entered into conversation with his visitors,
and soon ascertained the object of their errand. Stephen^
son had heard of the passing of the Stockton and Darling*
ton 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 Mr. Pease, the known projector of the undertaking,
with the view of being employed to carry it out. He
had brought with him his friend Nicholas 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, in speaking of Stephen-
son, " 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 Killing-
worth ; 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
being still in an undetermined state, Mr. Pease was glad
to have the opportunity of gathering from George Ste-
phenson the results of his experience. The latter strongly
recommended a railway in preference to a tramroad, in

154 STEPHENSON RECOMMENDS LOCOMOTIVE POWER. CHAP. IX.

f which Mr. Pease was disposed to concur with him. The
conversation next turned on the tractive power which
the company intended to employ, and Mr. Pease said
that they had based their whole calculations on the em-
ployment 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 Kail-
way 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. Mr. Stephenson
was daily becoming more positive as to the superiority
of his locomotive ; and on this, as on all subsequent
occasions, 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." And
Mr. Pease promised that on some early day he would go
over to Killingworth with his friend Thomas Richardson,
and take a look at the wonderful machine that was to
supersede horses.

On Mr. Pease referring to the difficulties and the op-
position which the projectors of the railway had had to
encounter, and the obstacles which still lay in their way,
Stephenson said to him, " I think, sir, I have some know-
ledge of craniology, arid from wThat I see of your head,
I feel sure that if you will fairly buckle to this railway,
you are the man successfully to carry it through." " I
think so, too," rejoined Mr. Pease; "and I may observe
to thee, that if thou succeed in making this a good rail-
way, thou may consider thy fortune as good as made."
He added that all they would require at present was an
estimate of the cost of re-surveying the line, with the
direction of which the company were not quite satisfied ;

CHAP. IX. RETURN JOURNEY TO NEWCASTLE. 155

and as they had already paid away several hundred
pounds, and found themselves very little advanced,
Mr. Pease asked that this new survey should be done
at as little expense as possible. This Stephenson readily
assented to ; and after Mr. Pease had pledged himself to
bring his application for the appointment of engineer
before the Directors on an early day, and to support it
with his influence, the two visitors prepared to take their
leave, informing Mr. Pease that they intended to return
as they had come, " 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 were wont to
regard all casual roadside passengers as their special per-
quisite. They had, however, been so much engrossed
by their interesting conversation, that the lapse of time
was forgotten, and when Stephenson and his friend Wood
left Mr. Pease's house to make enquiries about the return
coach, they found the last had left ; and they were there-
fore under the necessity of walking the eighteen miles
to Durham on their way back to Newcastle.1

Mr. Pease having made further inquiries respecting
Stephenson' s character and qualifications, and having
received from John Grimshaw — also a Friend, the
inventor of endless spinning — a very strong recommen-
dation of him as the right man for the intended work,

1 Mr. Nicholas Wood has given Mr. Pease; and lastly, we walked

the following account of this remark- from Darlington to Durham, eighteen

able day's proceedings:— "It was my miles further. Unfortunately for me,

good fortune to have accompanied Mr. I broke down, about three miles from

Stephenson — as you will have seen ; Durham, at the "Traveller's Rest."

recorded in his Life — on his visit to I hoped I might get accommodation

Darlington, to communicate with Mr. there ; but unfortunately I was told

Pease on the establishment of the \ there was no room in the house, and

Darlington and Stockton Railway, j had to go the remaining three miles.

It was rather a heavy day for us, as j That was a joke, and a very satisfac-

we first of all started from Killing- ! tory one, with Mr. Stephenson against

me, during the whole of his life. This

worth, and rode six miles; we then
went upon a coach thirty miles or
more to Stockton; then we had

was only one instance of the very
great energy which he displayed in

walk of twelve miles through the • accomplishing objects he had under-
fields over the line of the proposed j taken." — Speech at Newcastle, 26th
railway; then had an interview with I October, 1858.

156 EXPRESS SENT TO KILLINGWORTH. CHAP. IX.

he brought the subject of his application before the
directors of the Stockton and Darlington Company.
They resolved to adopt his recommendation that a rail-
way be formed instead of a tramroad ; and they further
requested Mr. Pease to write to Mr. Stephenson, which
he accordingly did, requesting him to report as to the
practicability, or otherwise, of the line laid out by
Mr. Overton, and to state his suggestions as to any
deviations or improvements in its course, together with
estimates of comparative expenses. " In short," said Mr.
Pease, " we wish thee to proceed in all thy levels, esti-
mates, and calculations, with that care and economy
which would influence thee if the whole of the work
were thy own."

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 man was in search of; and to Geor die's
cottage he accordingly went, found him at home, and
delivered the letter. In his reply, Mr. Stephenson in-
formed Mr. Pease that the re-survey of the line would
occupy at least four weeks, and that his charge would
include all necessary assistance for the accomplishment
of the survey, estimates of the expense of cuts and
batteries (since called cuttings and embankments) on
the different projected lines, together with all remarks,
reports, &c., on the same ; also the comparative cost of
malleable and cast iron rails, laying the same, winning
and preparing the blocks of stone, and all other materials
wanted to complete the line. " I could not do this,"
said he, " for less than 140/., allowing me to be moder-
ately paid. Such a survey would of course have to be

CHAP. IX. THE LINE RE-SURVEYED. 157

made before the work could be begun, as it is impossible
to form any idea of contracting for the cuts and batteries
by the former one ; and I assure you I shall, in com-
pleting the undertaking, act with that economy which
would influence me if the whole of the work was my
own."

About the end of September Mr. Stephenson again
went carefully over the line of the proposed railway, for
the purpose of suggesting such improvements and devi-
ations as he might consider desirable. He was accom-
panied 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.

The directors of the company, being satisfied that the
improvements suggested in the line, and the saving
which would be effected in mileage and in money,
fully warranted them in incurring the trouble, delay,
and expense of making a further application to Parlia-
ment for an amended Act, took the requisite steps with
this object. And in the mean time they directed Mr.
Stephenson to prepare the specifications for the rails
and chairs, and make arrangements to enter into con-
tracts for the supply of the stone and wooden blocks on
which the rails and chairs were to be laid. It was
determined in the first place to proceed with the works
at those parts of the line where no deviation was pro-
posed ; and the first rail of the Stockton and Darlington
Railway was laid with considerable ceremony, by Thomas
Meynell, Esq., of Yarm, at a point near St. John's Well,
Stockton, on the 23rd of May, 1822.

It is worthy of note that Stephenson, in making

158 MR. PEASE VISITS KILLINGWORTH. CHAP. IX.

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 anticipa-
tions 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 fre-
quently took the opportunity of doing, it 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 Stephen-
son, 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 work-
ing. 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 ; and
he proceeded thither accordingly, in the summer of 1822,
in company with his friend Mr. Thomas Richardson,1 a
considerable subscriber to the Stockton and Darlington
project.

When Mr. Pease arrived at Killingworth village, he
inquired for George Stephenson, and was told that he

1 Mr. Richardson was the founder I Richardson, Overend, and Gurney, in
of the celebrated discount house of I Lombard Street.

CHAP. IX.

STEPHENSON'S SECOND MARRIAGE.

159

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
Hindniarsh), the daughter of a farmer at Black Callerton,
whom he had married in 1820.1 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 gen-
tlemen mount it, and showed them its paces. Harness-
ing it to a train of loaded waggons, he ran it along the
railroad, and so thoroughly satisfied his visitors of its
powers and capabilities, that from that day Edwan
Pease was a declared supporter of the locomotive engin<

1 The story has been told that
George was a former suitor of Miss
Hindmarsh, while occupying the posi-
tion of a humble workman at Black
Callerton, but that having been re-
j ected by her, he proceeded to make
love to her servant, whom he married ;
and that alter her death, when he had
become a comparatively thriving man,
and rode a galloway, he again made
up to Miss Hindmarsh, and was on
the second occasion accepted. The
story is, however, without any foun-
dation, as George's first wife was never
a servant in the Hindmarsh family,
nor had he ever exchanged a word
with Miss Hindmarsh until the year
1818, when he was introduced to her
at his own desire by Thomas Hind-
marsh, her brother, the author's in-
formant as to the iacts. It may be
observed in passing, that the writer of
the article " George Stephensou," in
the eighth edition of the ' Encyclo-
paedia Britannica,' while objecting to
the accuracy in certain respects of the
' Life of George Stephenson,' as written
by the author of this book, points to

his own " Biography in Brief," as pub-
lished in the interesting little book,
entitled 'Our Coal and Our Coal-
Pits.' On turning to the book itself,
it will be found that the " Biography
hi Brief " is substantially taken from
a sketch of George Stephenson's life
which appeared in ' Eliza Cook's
Journal,' of June the 2nd, 1849.
Among the errors contained in that
article, is the statement that Stephen-
son was sent into a coal-pit, to work
as a " trapper," when between six and
seven years old; and also the above
anecdote of his having first courted
the mistress, and then descended to
the maid — both of which are adopted
almost verbatim in 'Our Coal and
Our Coal-Pits.' The author of this
book has the less hesitation in stating
these to be errors, as the article in
'Eliza Cook's Journal,' where they
originally appeared, was written by
himself, on imperfect information, and
before he had the opportunity of tho-
roughly sifting, as he has since done,
the facts of George Stephensou's early
life.

160 THE WOKKING SURVEY. CHAP. IX.

In preparing the Amended Stockton and Darlington
Act of 1823, 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.1

The second Stockton and Darlington Act was obtained
in the session of 1823, not, however, without opposition,
the Duke of Cleveland and the road trustees still appear-
ing as the determined opponents of the bill. Never-
theless, the measure passed into law ; 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 with the working survey of the
improved line of the Stockton and Darlington Railway,
laying out every foot of the ground himself, accompanied
by his assistants. Railway surveying was as yet in its
infancy, and was very slow and deliberate work. It
afterwards became a separate branch of railway business,
and was left to a special staff of surveyors. 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 in the morning, and surveyed until dusk. John
Dixon, who assisted in the survey, mentions that he
remembers on one occasion, after a long day's work
near Aycliffe, when the light had completely failed
them, the party separated — some to walk to Darling-
ton, four miles off, Stephenson himself to the Simpasture
farmhouse, where he had arranged to stay for the night ;
and his last stringent injunction was, that they must all
be on the ground to resume levelling as soon as there
was light enough for the purpose. "You must not," he
said, " set off from Darlington by daybreak, for then we

1 The first clause in any railway j locomotive engines for the working of
I act, empowering the employment of | passenger traffic.

CHAP. IX. GIVES LESSONS IN EMBROIDERY. 161

shall lose an hour ; but you must be here, ready to begin
work as soon as it is daylight."

Stephenson performed the survey in top-boots and
breeches — a usual dress at the time. He was not at
any time particular as to his living ; and during the
survey, he took his chance of getting a drink of milk
and a bit of bread at some cottager's house along the line,
or occasionally joined in a homely dinner at some neigh-
bouring farmhouse. The country people were accus-
tomed 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 with him 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.1
" I know all about it," said he ; " and you will wonder
how I learnt it. I will tell you. When I was a brakes-
man at Killing worth, I learnt the art of embroidery
while working the pitman's button-holes by the engine
fire at nights." He was never ashamed, but on the con-
trary 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

1 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 Ex-
hibition of 1861.

VOL. JIT. M

162 THE NEWCASTLE FOUNDRY PEOJECTED. CHAP. IX.

he would sometimes, in a casual remark, throw a flash
of light upon a subject,, which called up a whole 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 locomo-
tive engines. Up to this time all the locomotives con-
structed after Stephenson's designs, had been made by
ordinary mechanics working amongst 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 per-
fect action of the locomotive engine, and its general
adoption as the tractive power on railways, in a great
measure depended. One great object that he had in
view in establishing the proposed factory was, to concen-
trate 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 helpers in the shape of 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 locomotive manufac-
tory would prove a remunerative investment, and that,
on the general adoption of the railway system, which he
now anticipated, he would derive solid advantages from
the fact of his manufactory being the only establishment
of the kind for the special construction of railway loco-
motives.

He still believed in the eventual success of railways,
though it might be slow. Much, he believed, would
depend upon the issue of this great experiment at
Darlington ; and as Mr. Pease was a man on whose
sound judgment he could rely, he determined upon
consulting him about his proposed locomotive factory.
Mr. Pease approved of his design, and strongly recom-
mended him to carry it into effect. But there was the

CHAP. IX. DISCUSSIONS WITH MR. PEASE. 163

question of means ; and Stephenson did not think he
had capital enough for the purpose. He told Mr. Pease
that he could advance a thousand pounds — the amount
of the testimonial presented by the coal-owners for his
safety-lamp invention, which he had still left untouched ;
hut he did not think this sufficient for the purpose, and
he thought that he should require at least another thou-
sand pounds. Mr. Pease had been very much struck
with the successful performances of the Killingworth
engine ; and being an accurate judge of character, he
was not slow to perceive 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 frien
Thomas Richardson in the matter ; and the two consente
to advance 500£. each for the purpose of establishing th
engine factory at Newcastle. A piece of land was accor
dingly 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 commenced early in ;
1824.

While the Stockton and Darlington Railway works
were in progress, Mr. Stephenson held 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 em-
ployment of horse or engine power in working it, when
ready for traffic.

The kind of rails to be laid down to form the per-
manent road was a matter of considerable importance.
A wooden tramroad had been contemplated when the
first Act was applied for ; but Stephenson having l
advised that an iron road should be laid down, he was
instructed to draw up a specification of the rails. He

M 2

164

MALLEABLE KAILS RECOMMENDED.

CHAP. IX.

went before the directors to discuss with them the kind
of material to be specified. He was himself inter-
ested 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, 1
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 recom-
mend 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 four-
teen years, the waggons passing over them daily ; and
there they are, in use yet, whereas the cast rails are
constantly giving way." 1

The price of malleable rails was, however, so high-
being then worth about 121. per ton as compared with
cast-iron rails at about 5£. 10s. — and the saving of ex-
pense was so important a consideration with the sub-
scribers to the railway, that Mr. Stephenson was directed
to provide, in the specification drawn by him, that only

1 The most suitable kind of iron for
rails had formed the subject of fre-
quent conversations between George
Stephenson and his son in their cot-
tage at Killingworth many years be-
fore ; and they had both come to the
conclusion that malleable iron only
should be used for the purpose.
While Robert Stephenson was attend-
ing college at Edinburgh, he wrote
a letter on the subject (dated Sept.
26th, 1821) to Richard Scorton, a

gentleman interested in the formation
of a railway near Durham, and his
opinion on the point was clear and
explicit. Robert was only eighteen
years old at the time, but his letter
was full of practical information on
the then little known subject of rail-
ways, indicating habits of careful ob-
servation, and the action of a vigorous
and well-disciplined intellect. The
letter was published in the 'Mining
Journal' of April 5th, 1862.

CHAP. IX. THE RAILWAY GAUGE. 165

one-half of the quantity of the rails required — or 800
tons — should be of malleable iron, the remainder being
of cast-iron. The malleable rails were of the kind called
"fish-bellied," and weighed only 28 Ibs. to the yard,
being 2J inches broad at the top, with the upper flange
3 inch thick. They were only 2 inches in depth at the
points at which they rested on the chairs, and 3i 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 ? Th(
gauge of the first tramroad laid down had virtually
settled the point. The gauge of wheels of the commoi
vehicles of the country — of the carts and waggons em
ployed on common roads, which were first used on th(
tramroads — was about 4 feet 8i inches. And so the firsi
tra inroads were laid down of this gauge. The tools anc
machinery for constructing coal-waggons and locomo-
tives were formed with this gauge in view. The Wylam
waggon-way, afterwards the Wylam plate-way, the
Killingworth railroad, and the Hetton railroad, 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

166 LOCOMOTIVES OKDERED. CHAP. IX.

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 in the locomotive which he had con-
trived up to that time. No. I. engine, the " Locomotion,"
which was first delivered upon the line, weighed about
eight tons. It had one large flue or tube through the
I 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 quick-
ened 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 the top of 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 con-
' templated by the directors as possible, at the time when
they were ordered, that locomotives could be made
available for the purposes of passenger travelling. Be-
sides, the Stockton and Darlington Eailway did not run
through a district in which passengers were supposed to
be likely to constitute any considerable portion of the
expected 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 Eobert 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, Mr. Stephenson ventured on the very

CHAP. IX. STEPHENSON'S ANTICIPATIONS. 167

unusual measure of ordering in a bottle of wine, to drink
success to the railway. John Dixon remembers and
relates with pride the utterance of the master on the
occasion. " Now, lads," said he to the two young men,
" 1 will tell you that I think you will live to see the
day, though I may not live so long, when railways will
come to supersede almost all other methods of convey-
ance 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 that will have 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 adopted, notwith-
standing my more than ten years' successful experiment
at Killingworth." The result, however, outstripped
even the most sanguine anticipations of Stephenson ;
and his son Eobert, shortly after his return from America
in 1827, saw his father's locomotive generally adopted
as the tractive power on railways.

The Stockton and Darlington line was opened for!
traffic on the 27th of 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 pre-
vailed, 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 pr(
phets of evil who would not miss the blowing up of the

168

THE LINE OPENED.

CHAP. IX.

) boasted travelling engine. The opening was, however,
auspicious. The proceedings commenced at Brusseltoii
Incline, about nine miles above Darlington, when the
fixed engine drew a train of loaded waggons up the
incline from the west, and lowered them on the east

PKOCESSION AT THE OPENING OF THE STOCKTON AND DARLINGTON HALLWAY.
[Fac-siinile of a local lithograph.]

side. At the foot of the incline a locomotive was
in readiness to receive them, Mr. Stephenson himself
driving the engine. The train consisted of six waggons
loaded with coals and flour ; after these was the pas-
senger-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 went almost out of
breath 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 the train reached Stockton
there were about 600 persons in the train or hanging

CHAP. IX. THE COAL TRAFFIC. 169

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 the traffic which flowed in upon
them that had never been taken into account. Thus,
what the company had principally relied upon for their
profit 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 one halfpenny per
ton per mile ; whereas a rate of fourpence 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 one halfpenny was to protect his own trade
in coal exported from Sunderland and the northern
ports. He believed, in common with everybody else,
that the halfpenny rate would .effectually secure him
against any competition on the part of the Stockton and
Darlington Company ; for it was not considered possible
for coals to be led at that low price, and the proprietors
of the railway themselves considered that to carry coals
at 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 half-
penny rate which was forced upon them, instead of being

170 THE FIRST PASSENGER TRAFFIC. CHAP, IX.

ruinous, proved the vital element in the success of the
railway. In the course of a few years, the annual ship-
ment of coal, led by the Stockton and Darlington Kail-
way to Stockton and Middlesborough, exceeded five
hundred thousand tons ; and it has since far exceeded
this amount. Instead of being, as anticipated, a subor-
dinate branch of traffic, it proved, in fact, the main
traffic, while the land sale was merely subsidiary.

I 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 the trial of a railway
coach ; and Mr. Stephenson was authorised by the
directors to have one built to his order at Newcastle, at
.the cost of the company. This was done accordingly ;
and the first railway passenger carriage was built after
our engineer's plans. It was, however, a very modest,
and indeed a somewhat uncouth machine, more resem-
bling the caravans still to be seen at country fairs con-
taining 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 inte-
rior, 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. This coach arrived from New-
castle the day before the opening, and formed part of
the railway procession above described. Mr. Stephen-
son was consulted as to the name of the coach, and he
I 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 pri-
vatum utilitas publica." Such was the sole passenger-

CHAP. IX. INCREASE OF LOCAL INTERCOURSE.

171

THE FTRST RAILWAY COACH.

carrying stock of the Stockton and Darlington Company
in the year 1825. But the " Experiment" proved the for*
runner of a mighty traffic : and long time did not elaps
before it was displaced, not only by improved coaches
(still drawn by horses), but afterwards by long trains oi
passenger-carriages drawn by locomotive engines.

No sooner did the coal and merchandise trains begin
to run regularly upon the line, than new business rela-
tions sprang up between Stockton and Darlington, and
there were many more persons who found occasion to
travel between the two towns, — merchandise and mineral
traffic invariably stimulating, if not calling into exist-
ence, an entirely new traffic in passengers. Before the
construction of the line, the attempt had been made to
run a coach between Stockton, Darlington, and Barnard
Castle three times a week ; but it was starved off the road
for want of support. Now, however, that there were
numbers of people desiring to travel, the stage-coach by
the common road was revived and prospered, and many
other persons connected with the new traffic got a
" lift " by the railway waggons, which were even more
popular than the stage-coach.

172

COACHING COMPANIES FORMED.

CHAP. IX.

" The Experiment " was fairly started as a passenger
coach on the 10th of 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 " Experi-
ment " was not, however, worked by the company, but
was let to Messrs. Picker sgill and Harland, carriers on
the railway, under an arrangement with them as to the
payment of tolls for the use of the line, rent of booking-
cabins, &c.

The speculation answered so well, that several 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.1 " The Experiment "
being found too heavy for one horse to draw between
Stockton and Darlington, besides being found an uncom-
fortable machine, was banished to the coal district, and
ran for a time between Darlington and Shildon. Its place
on the line between Stockton and Darlington was sup-
plied by other and better vehicles, — though they were no
other than old stage-coach bodies, purchased by the com-
pany, and each mounted upon an underframe with flange-
wheels. These were let on hire to the coaching com-

1 The coaches were not allowed to
be run upon the line without consider-
able opposition. We find Edward
Pease writing to Joseph Sanders, of
Liverpool, on the 18th January,
1827: — "Our railway coach pro-
prietors have individually received
notices of a process in the Exchequer
for various fines, to the amount of
150Z., in penalties of 201. each, for
neglecting to have the plates, with
the numbers of their licenses, on the
coach doors, agreeably to the provi-
sions of the Act 95 George IV. In

looking into the nature of this proceed-
ing and its consequences, it is clear, if
the Court shall confirm it by convic-
tion, that we are undone as to the
conveyance of passengers." Mr. Pease
incidentally mentions the names of the
several coach proprietors at the time
— " Pickersgill and Co., Richard Scott,
and Martha Hewson." The proceed-
ing was eventually defeated, it being
decided that the penalties only applied
to coaches travelling on common or
turnpike-roads.

CHAP. IX. THE COACHING TRAFFIC DESCRIBED. 173

panics, who horsed and managed them under an arrange-
ment as to tolls, in like manner as the u Experiment "
had been worked. Now began the distinction of inside
and outside passenger, equivalent to first and second
class, paying different fares. The competition with
each other upon the railway, and with the ordinary
stage-coaches 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 ques-
tion 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 light waggons
should give way to loaded ; 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 wouldj
say, passengers and coachmen ' liquored.' One coach'j
introduced by an innkeeper, was a compound of two
mourning-coaches, — an approximation to the real rail-
way coach, which still adheres, with multiplying excep-
tions, 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

174 THE " LOCOMOTION " ENGINE. CHAP. IX.

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 rail-
way 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 pre-
scribed 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 diffi-
culty, 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 passenger carriages
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 these as a distinct branch of their traffic.

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

CHAP. IX. THE "LOCOMOTION" ENGINE. 175

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.

THE NO. I. EXGINE 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

170 COMMERCIAL RESULTS.

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 the almost boundless stores of coal found in the
Bishop Auckland district, the profits derived from the
traffic created by the railway enabled increasing dividends
(to be paid 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 com-
mercial success of the Stockton and Darlington Company
; may be justly characterised as the turning-point of the
I railway system. With that practical illustration daily
in sight of the public, it was no longer possible for
Parliament to have prevented its eventual extension.

Before leaving the subject of the Stockton and Dar-
lington Kailway, 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

CHAP. IX. TOWN OF MIDDLESBOROUGH. 177

was opened in 1825, the site of this future metropolis of
Cleveland was occupied by one solitary farm-house and its
outbuildings. All round was pasture-land or mud-banks ;
scarcely another house was within sight. The corpora-
tion of the town of Stockton being unwilling or unable to
provide accommodation for the rapidly increasing coal
traffic, Mr. Edward Pease, in 1829, joined by a few of
his Quaker friends, bought about 500 or 600 acres
of land, five miles lower down the river — 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 ; and in a few years the port
of Middlesborough became one of the most thriving on
the north-east coast of England. In ten years a busy
population of some 6000 persons (since swelled to about
20,000) occupied the site of the original farmhouse.
More recently, the discovery of vast stores of ironstone
in the Cleveland Hills, close 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 aifection, 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/'

VOL. III. N

178 INCREASE OF LANCASHIRE TRADE. CHAP. X.

CHAPTER X.

THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER EAILWAY PROJECTED.

'HE rapid growth of the trade and manufactures of
5outh Lancashire gave rise, about the year 1821, to
the project of a tramroad for the conveyance of goods
between Liverpool and Manchester. Since the con-
struction 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.

The Duke's Canal, when first made, furnished a cheap
and ready means of conveyance between the seaport
and the manufacturing towns, for the raw cotton in
the one direction and the manufactured produce in the
other. During the first thirty years of its existence the
traffic was small and easily managed. About the end
of last century, for instance, it was considered satis-
factory if one cotton-flat a day reached. Manchester by
canal from Liverpool. But such was the expansion of
business caused by the inventions to which we have
referred that, before the lapse of many more years, the
navigation was found altogether inadequate to accom-
modate 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 wag-

CHAP. X. THE CANAL MONOPOLY. 179

gons were tried, but proved altogether insufficient.
Sometimes manufacturing operations had to be sus-j
pended altogether, and during a frost, when the canals)
were frozen up, the communication was entirely stopped./
The consequences were often disastrous, alike to opera-
tives, merchants, and manufacturers. The same diffi-
culty was experienced in the conveyance of manu-
factured goods from Manchester to Liverpool for export.
Mr. Huskisson, in the House of Commons, referring to
these ruinous delays, observed that "cotton was sometimes
detained a fortnight at Liverpool, while the Manchester
manufacturers were obliged to suspend their labours;
and goods manufactured at Manchester for foreign
markets could not be transmitted in time, in conse-
quence of the tardy conveyance."

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, it will be remem-
bered that 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.1 But the innovation of one generation often be-
comes the obstruction of the next. The Duke's agents
would scarcely listen to the expostulations of the Liver-
pool merchants and Manchester manufacturers, and the
Bridgewater Canal was accordingly, in its turn, de-
nounced as a monopoly.

Lender these circumstances any new mode of transit
between the two towns which offered a reasonable
prospect of relief was certain to receive a cordial wel-
come. 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, an influential I

1 Lives of the Engineers, vol. i. p. 371.

180

A RAILROAD PROJECTED.

CHAP. X.

I Liverpool merchant, was amongst the first to broach
the subject. He himself had suffered in his business, in
common with so many others, from the insufficiency of
the existing modes of communication, and was ready to
give due 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 form the opinion
that the same means might be equally efficient in con-
ducting 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
I other quarters. Tramroads were by no means new
expedients for the transit of heavy articles. The Croy-
don 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.1
The sight of this humble railroad in 1813 led Sir
Richard Phillips to throw out the following thoughtful
observations in his ' Morning Walk to Kew ': — " I found
delight," said he, " in witnessing at Wandsworth the

1 This line was purchased by the
London and Brighton Railway Com-
pany, and has long since been disused,
though the traveller to Brighton can
still discern the marks of the old tram-
road along the hill-side, a little to the
south of Croydon. " The genius loci,"
says Charles Knight, " must look with
wonder on the gigantic offspring of the
little railway, which has swallowed up
its own sire. Lean mules no longer
crawl leisurely along the little rails
with trucks of stone through Croydon,

once perchance during the day, but the
whistle and the rush of the locomotive
are now heard all day long. Not a
few loads of lime, but all London and
its contents, by comparison — men,
women, children, horses, dogs, oxen,
sheep, pigs, carriages, merchandise,
food — would seem to be now-a-days
passing Croydon; for day after day,
more than 100 journeys are made by
the great railroads which pass the
place."

CHAP. X. SPECULATION OF SIR B. PHILLIPS. 181

economy of horse labour on the iron railway. Yet a
heavy sigh escaped me as I thought of the inconceivable
millions of money which had been spent about Malta,
four or five of which might have been the means of
extending double lines of iron railway from London to
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Holyhead, Milford, Falmouth,
Yarmouth, Dover, and Portsmouth. A reward of a
single thousand would have supplied coaches and other
vehicles, of various degrees of speed, with the best
tackle for readily turning out ; and we might, ere this,
have witnessed our mail coaches running at the rate of
ten miles an hour drawn by a single horse, or impelled
fifteen miles an hour by Blenkinsop's steam-engine.
Such would have been a legitimate motive for over-
stepping the income of a nation, and the completion of
so great and useful a wrork would have afforded rational
ground for public triumph in general jubilee."

In the same year we find Mr. Lovell Edgworth, who
had for fifty years been advocating the superiority of
tram or railroads 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 Middletoii cogged railroad,
and from an early period he seems to have entertained
almost as sanguine views on the subject as Sir Richard
Phillips himself. It would appear that Gray was re-
siding 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

182 THOMAS GRAY. CHAP. X.

and others, he took the opportunity of advocating the
superior advantages of a railway. He occupied himself
for some time with the preparation of a pamphlet on
the subject. He shut himself up in his room, secluded
from his wife and relations, declining to give them any
information on the subject of his mysterious studies,
beyond the assurance that his scheme "would revolu-
tionise 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 Rail-
way,' l 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 advan-
tages to all classes of the community of this mode of
conveyance for merchandise and persons. In this book
Mr. Gray suggested the propriety of making a railway
between Manchester and Liverpool, "which," he ob-
served, " would employ many thousands of the distressed
population of Lancashire." The treatise seems to have
met with a ready sale, for we find that, two years later,
it had already passed into a fourth edition. In 1822,
Mr. Gray added a diagram to the book, showing a
number of suggested lines of railway connecting the
principal towns of England, and another in like manner
connecting the principal towns of Ireland.

The publication of this essay had the effect of bringing
the subject of railway extension prominently under the
notice of the public. Although little able to afford it,
Gray also pressed his favourite project of a general iron
road on the attention of public men — mayors, members
of Parliament, and prime ministers. He sent memorials
to Lord Sidmouth in 1820, and to the Lord Mayor and

1 ' Observations on a General Iron j turnpike-roads and canals ; and claim-
Railway (with Plates and Map illus- | ing the particular attention of mer-
trative of the plan) ; showing its great chants, manufacturers, farmers, and
superiority, by the general introduc- indeed every class of society.' Lon-
tion of mechanic power, over all the don : Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy,
present methods of conveyance by ' 1820.

CHAP. X. • WILLIAM JAMES. 183

Corporation of London in 1821. In 1822, he addressed
the Earl of Liverpool, Sir Robert Peel, and others,
urging the great national importance of his plan. In
the year following, he petitioned the ministers of state
to the same effect. He was so pertinacious that public
men pronounced him to be a " bore," and in the town
of Nottingham, where he then lived, those who knew
him declared him to be " cracked." William Howitt,
who frequently met Gray at that time, has published a
lively portraiture of this indefatigable and enthusiastic
projector, who seized all men by the button, and would
not let them go until he had unravelled to them his
wonderful scheme. With Thomas Gray, says he, " begin
where you would, on whatever subject — the weather,
the news, the political movement or event of the day-
it would not be many minutes before you w^ould be
enveloped with steam, and listening to an harangue on
the practicability and immense advantages, to the nation •
and to every man in it, of ' a general iron railway.' '

These speculations show that the subject of railways
was gradually becoming familiar to the public mind,
and that thoughtful men were anticipating with con-
fidence the adoption of steam-power for the purposes of
railway traction. At the same time, a still more profit-
able class of labourers was at work — first, men like i
Stephenson, who were engaged in improving the loco-
motive and making it a practicable and economical
working power, and next, those like Edward Pease of
Darlington, and Joseph Saiidars of Liverpool, who were
organizing 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 lines in the neighbourhood of Birmingham,

184 WILLIAM JAMES. CHAP. X.

I

MAP OF LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY. (Western Part.)

Gloucester, and Bristol ; and he published many pam-
phlets urging their formation in other places. At one
period of his life he was a large iron-manufacturer, for
some time acting as Chairman of the Staffordshire iron-
masters. 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 Mr.
Sandars' 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.
After conferring with his friend Mr. Moss, Mr. Sandars
authorized James to proceed, and agreed to pay him
for the survey at the rate of 10/. a mile, or 300/. for the
entire survey.

The trial survey was then proceeded with, but it was

/conducted with great difficulty, the inhabitants of the

district entertaining the most violent prejudices against

the formation of the proposed railway. In some places

Mr. James and his surveying party even encountered

CHAP. X. SURVEY OF A LINE. 185

MAP OP LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY. (Eastern Part.)

personal violence. Near Newton-in-the- Willows the /
farmers stationed men at the field-gates with pitchforks,
and sometimes with guns, to drive the surveyors 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, col-
lected 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

186 JAMES'S VISITS TO KILLINGWORTH. CHAP. X.

place, the collier was soundly pummelled, the natives
poured in volleys of stones upon the surveyors and their
instruments, and the theodolite was smashed to pieces.

From a letter before us, written by Mr. James to
Mr. Sandars, on the 21st October, 1821, it appears
that an outline-survey had then been made, and the
notices were published of the intended application to
Parliament. Mr. James there states that he is " going
to Newcastle principally to get a certificate from Ste-
phenson of the operations of his engine. Until a deputa-
tion goes down, it may serve to prevent the existence
and spread of doubts, which are so mortifying to honour-
able intentions." Mr. James accordingly proceeded to
Killingworth, and his son, who accompanied him, has
informed us of the result of the visit. Mr. James was
not so fortunate as to meet Mr. Stephenson on the occa-
sion ; but he examined the locomotive at work, and was
very much struck by its power and efficiency. He saw
at a glance the magnificent uses to which it 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 fore-
runner, as I firmly believe, of the most important
changes in the internal communications of the king-
dom." Mr. Losh invited him again to visit Killing-
worth, for the purpose of having an interview with
Mr. Stephenson on the subject of his locomotive.
Accordingly, in September of the same year, Mr.
I James, accompanied by his two sons, made a second
/journey to Killingworth, where he met both Losh arid
/ 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

CHAP. X. JAMES'S VISITS TO KILLINGWORTH. 187

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 to that of Watt." Mr.
James informed Stephenson and Losh of his survey of
the proposed tram road between Liverpool and Man-
chester, and did not hesitate to state that he would
thenceforward advocate the adoption of a locomotive
railroad instead of the tramroad which had originally
been proposed.

Stephenson and Losh were naturally desirous of en-
listing 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 pro-
posed to give him an interest in their patent. Accord-
ingly they assigned him one-fourth of the profits derived
from the use of their patent locomotive on any lines
which might be constructed south of a line drawn across
England from Liverpool to Hull. The arrangement,
however, led to no beneficial results. Mr. James endea-
voured to introduce the engine on the Moreton-on-
Marsh Eailway ; 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 respect-
ing 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

188

THE SUKVEY FOUND IMPERFECT.

CHAP. X.

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. Eobert Stephenson was
sent over by his father to Liverpool to assist in this
survey. He was present with Mr. James on the occa-
sion 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 sud-
denly 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 subse-
quently made to enter upon the Moss for the same pur-
pose, 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,
Eobert Stephenson, to his father, and to-morrow I
shall pay off Evans and Hamilton, tw^o other assist-
ants. 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 of Par-
liament; and another year was thus lost. The Rail-
road Committee became impatient at the delay. Mr.
James's financial embarrassments reached their climax ; 1

1 In 'The Two Jameses and the
Two Stephensons' (London, 1861),
the following letter is given, from
Kobert Stephenson (then not quite

twenty years of age) to William
James, dated Newcastle, August 29th,
1823:— "Dear Sir, — It gives rise to
feelings of true regret when I reflect

CHAP. X.

MR. JAMES SUPERSEDED.

189

and, what with illness and what with debt, he was no
longer in a position to fulfil his promises to the Com-
mittee. They were, therefore, under the necessity of
calling to their aid some other engineer.

Mr. Sandars had by this time visited George Stephen-
son 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 enthu-
siasm 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 for-
ward 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. On the 25th May, 1824, Mr. Sandars writes
to Mr. James, — " I think it right to inform you that the
Committee have engaged your friend Mr. George Ste-
phenson. We expect him here in a few days. The
subscription list for 300,000£. is filled, and the Man-
chester gentlemen have conceded to us the entire
management. I very much regret that, by delay and
promises, you have forfeited the confidence of the sub-

on your situation; "but yet a conso-
lation arises when I consider your
persevering spirit will for ever bear
you up in the arms of triumph, in-
stances of which I have witnessed of
too forcible a character to be easily
effaced from my memory. It is these
thoughts, and these alone, that could
banish from rny soul feelings of despair
for one, the respect I have for whom
can be easier conceived than described,
Can I forget the advice you have af-
forded me in your letters? and what
a heavenly inducement you pointed
before me at the close, when you said

that attention and obedience to my
dear father would afford me music at
midnight. Ah, and so it has already.
.... My father and I set off for
London on Monday next, on our way
to Cork. Our return will probably be
about the time you wish me to be at
Liverpool. If all be right, we may
possibly call and see what is going on.
That line [the Liverpool and Man-
chester] is the finest project in Eng-
land. Hoping to see you and Mr.
Pad ley in a few days, believe me, &c.
&c., ROBERT STEPHEXSON."

190

ME. BANDARS' PERSEVERANCE.

CHAP. X.

scribers. I cannot help it. I fear now that you will
only have the fame of being connected with the com-
mencement of the undertaking." ]

It will be observed that Mr. Sandars had held to his
original purpose with great determination and perse-
verance, 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 De-
claration 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 con-
veyance 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 Bridge-
water'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,

1 In 1858 Mr. Robert Stephenson
sent the author a large bundle of
letters, which had been forwarded to
him by Mr. Sandars, "descriptive of
the birth and progress of the Liver-
pool and Manchester Railway." In
the letter accompanying them Mr.
Stephenson said, " there is a bundle
of James's, which characterise the
man very clearly as a ready, dash-

ing writer, but no thinker at all on
the practical part of the subject he
had taken up. It was the same with
everything he touched. He never
succeeded in anything, and yet pos-
sessed a great deal of taking talent.
His fluency of conversation I never
heard equalled, and so you would
judge from his letters."

CHAP. X, DEPUTATION VISITS KILLINGWORTH. 191

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 practica-
bility of the railroad, a deputation of gentlemen inte-
rested in the project proceeded to Killingworth, to in-
spect 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 un-
finished. 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 Liver-*
pool and Manchester.

The first prospectus of the scheme was dated the 29thj
of October, 1824, and had attached to it the names ofi
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 five or six hours (instead of thirty-
six hours, as 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 antici-
pated 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

192 MOEE VISITS TO KILLINGWORTH. CHAP. X.

in conclusion, " the railway holds out the fair prospect
of a public accommodation, the magnitude and import-
ance 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 to be
quite inadequate. The subscription list when opened
was filled up without difficulty.

While the project was still under discussion, its pro-
moters, 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 Mr.
Stephenson's engines. The deputation was on this
occasion accompanied by Mr. Sylvester, an ingenious
mechanic and engineer, who afterwards presented an
able report on the subject to the committee. Mr. Syl-
vester showed that the high-pressure engines employed
by Mr. Stephenson were both safe and economical in
their working. With respect to the speed of the engines,
he said : — " Although it would be practicable to go at
any speed limited by the means of creating steam, the
size of the wheels, and the number of strokes in the
engine, it would not be safe to go at a greater rate than
nine or ten miles an hour."

Satisfactory though the calculations and statements of
Mr. Sylvester were, the cautious projectors of the rail-
way 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-wit-
nesses 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 fifty-
four tons, travelling at the average rate of about seven
miles an hour, the greatest speed being about nine and
a half miles an hour. But when the engine was run by
itself, with only one waggon attached containing twenty

CHAP. X. STEPHENSON'S SURVEY OPPOSED. 193

gentlemen, five of whom were engineers, the speed
attained was from ten to twelve miles an hour.

In the mean time the survey was proceeded with, in/
the face of great opposition on the part of 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 em-
ployed upon the ground, and it was with the greatest
difficulty that the levels could be taken. This opposition
was especially manifested when the attempt was made
to survey the line through the properties of Lords Derby
and Sefton, and also where it crossed the Duke of
Bridge water's canal. At Knowsley, Mr. Stephen son
was; driven off the ground by the keepers, and threatened
with rough handling if found there again. Lord Derby's
farmers also turned out their men to watch the survey-
ing party, and prevent them entering upon any lands
where they had the powder of driving them off. After-
wards, Mr. Stephenson suddenly and unexpectedly went
upon the ground with a body of surveyors and their
assistants, who out-numbered Lord Derby's keepers and
farmers, hastily collected to resist them ; and this time
they were only threatened with the legal consequences
of their trespass. The same sort of resistance was
offered by Lord Sefton's keepers and farmers, with whom
the following ruse was adopted. A minute was con-
cocted, purporting to be a resolution of the Old Quay
Canal Company to oppose the projected railroad by
every possible means, and calling upon landowners
and others to afford every facility for making such a
survey of the intended line as should enable the oppo-
nents to detect errors in the scheme of the promoters,
and thereby ensure its defeat. A copy of this minute,
without any signature, was exhibited by the surveyors
who went upon the ground, and the farmers, believing
them to have the sanction of the landlords, permitted

VOL. in. o

194 OPPOSITION BY MR. BRADSHAW. CHAP. X.

them to proceed with the hasty completion of their
survey.1

The principal opposition, however, was experienced
from Mr. Bradshaw, the manager of the Duke of
Bridge water's canal property, who offered a vigorous and
protracted resistance to the survey in all its stages. The
Duke's farmers obstinately refused permission to enter
upon their fields, although Mr. Stephenson offered to
pay for any damage that might be done. Mr. Bradshaw
positively refused his sanction in any case ; and being a
strict preserver of game, with a large staff of keepers in
his pay, he declared that he would order them to shoot
or apprehend any persons attempting a survey over his
property. But one moonlight night a survey was ob-
tained 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 gamekeepers
on the watch made off in that direction, and they were
drawn away to such a distance in pursuit of the sup-
posed poachers, as to enable a rapid survey to be made
during their absence.

Mr. Stephenson, afterwards describing before Parlia-
ment the difficulties which he encountered in making
the survey, said : — " I was threatened to be ducked in
the pond if I proceeded, and, of course, we had a
great deal of the survey to take by stealth, at the
time when the people were at dinner. We could not
get it done by night : indeed, we were watched day
and night, and guns were discharged over the grounds

Mr. Sandars, when forwarding I Lord Sefton never spoke to me after-

to Robert Stephenson the original of
this document (amongst the bundle of
documents referred to in a previous
note), added to it — "The foregoing
was written by me, and given to Mr.
Oliver, one of the surveyors of the
railway intended to pass through Lord
Derby and Lord Sefton's property.

wards when he found out the ruse
that had been practised. I little
thought then that railways would in
the end overwhelm me." Mr. Sandars
died at Taplow, Bucks, a few years
since, unhappily in very reduced cir-
cumstances.

CHAP. X. OVERTUEES OF THE CANAL COMPANIES. 195

belonging to Captain Bradshaw to prevent us. I can
state further that I was myself twice turned off Mr.
Bradshaw's grounds by his men ; and they said if I did
not go instantly, they would take me up and carry me
off to Worsley."

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 pro4
mised 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 all 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 pre-
pared to resist the measure tooth and nail. The public
were appealed to on the subject ; pamphlets were writ-
ten 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

o 2

196 \ SPECULATIVE MANIA OF 1825. CHAP. X.

line were told that their houses would be burnt up by
the fire thrown from the engine-chimneys ; while the
lir around would be polluted by clouds of smoke. There
would no longer be any use for horses ; and if railways
xtended, the species would become extinguished, and
oats and hay be rendered unsaleable commodities. Travel-
ling by rail would be highly dangerous, and country inns
would be ruined. Boilers would burst and blow pas-
sengers to atoms. But there was always this consola-
tion to wind up with — that the weight of the locomotive
would completely prevent its moving, and that rail-
ways, even if made, could never be worked by steam-
power.

Nevertheless, the canal companies of Leeds, Liver-
pool, and Birmingham, called upon every navigation
company in the kingdom to oppose railways wherever
they were projected, but more especially the Liverpool
and Manchester scheme, the battle with which they
evidently regarded as their Armageddon. A Birming-
ham journal invited a combined opposition to the mea-
sure, and a public subscription was entered into for the
purpose of making it effectual . The newspapers gene-
rally spoke of the project as a mere speculation ; some
wishing it success, although greatly doubting; others
ridiculing it as a delusion, similar to the many other
absurd projects of that madly-speculative period. It
was a time when balloon companies proposed to work
passenger traffic through the air at forty miles an hour,
and when coaching companies projected carriages to run
on turnpikes at twelve miles an hour., with relays of
bottled gas instead of horses. There were companies for
the working of American gold and silver mines, — com-
panies for cutting ship canals through Panama and
Nicaragua, — milk companies, burying companies, fish
companies, and steam companies of all sorts ; and many,
less speculatively disposed than their neighbours, were

CHAP. X. ANTICIPATION AS TO SPEED. 197

ready to set down the projected railways of 1825 as mere
bubbles of a similarly delusive character.1

Among the most sagacious newspaper articles of the
day, calling attention to the application of the locomotive
engine to the purposes of rapid steam-travelling on rail-
roads, was a series which appeared in 1824, in the Scots-
man newspaper, then edited by Mr. Charles Maclaren.
In those publications the wonderful powers of the loco-
motive were logically demonstrated, and the writer,
arguing from the experiments on friction made more
than half a century before by Yince and Coulomb, which
scientific men seemed to have altogether lost sight of,
clearly showed that, by the use of steam-power on rail-
roads, the more rapid, as well as cheaper, transit of
persons and merchandise might be confidently antici-
pated.

Not many years passed before the anticipations of the
writer, sanguine and speculative though they were re-
garded at the time, were amply realised. Even Mr.
Nicholas Wood, in 1825, speaking of the powers of the
locomotive, and referring doubtless to the speculations
of the Scotsman as well as of his equally sanguine friend
Stephenson, observed — " It is far from my wish to pro-
mulgate to the world that the ridiculous expectations, or
rather professions, of the enthusiastic speculist will be
realised, and that we shall see engines travelling at the
rate of twelve, sixteen, eighteen, or twenty miles an
hour. Nothing could do more harm towards their
general adoption and improvement than the promul-
gation of such nonsense." 2

1 " Many years ago I met in a
public library with a bulky volume,
consisting of the prospectuses of va-
rious projects bound up together, and
labelled, 'Some of the bubbles of
Among the projects thus
described, was one that has since

tion of mankind effected since the first
dawn of civilisation : it was the plan
of the Company for constructing a
railway between Liverpool and Man-
chester."— W. B. Hodge, in ' Journal
of the Institute of Actuaries,' No. 40,
July, 1860.

been productive of the greatest and j - Wood on Railroads. Ed. 1825,
most rapid advance in the social condi- p. 290.

198 SIR JOHN BARROW'S VIEWS. CHAP. X.

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, con-
fidently stated his expectation of being able to impel
his locomotive at the rate of twenty 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."

Amongst the papers left by Mr. Sandars we find a
letter addressed to him by Sir John Barrow of the
Admiralty, as to the proper mode of conducting the case
in Parliament, which pretty accurately represents the
state of public opinion as to the practicability of loco-
motive travelling on railroads, at the time at which it
was written, the 10th of January, 1825. Sir John
strongly urged Mr. Sandars to keep the locomotive alto-
gether in the background, — to rely upon the proved
inability of the canals and common roads to accommodate
the existing traffic, — and to be satisfied with proving the
absolute necessity of a new line of conveyance ; above
all, he recommended him not even to hint at the intention
of carrying passengers. " My objection to great speed
being attended with danger," said he, " applies only to
the conveyance of passengers, and not to vehicles ap-
pended to the extremity of a long string of waggons, in
which, however, I still think you will not get many who
will suffer themselves to be conveyed even at the rate of
eight miles an hour, amidst the hissing noise and the
dense smoke of their own and other passing engines. . .
I think it would be wise, for the present at least, to give
up the passengers, for it is there you will fail, if you
persevere. You will at once raise a host of enemies in
the proprietors of coaches, post-chaises, innkeepers, &c.,
whose interests will be attacked, and who, I have no

CHAP. X. STEPHENSON'S ISOLATION. 199

doubt, will be strongly supported, and for what ? Some
thousands of passengers, you say — but a few hundreds /
should say — in the year." He accordingly urged that
passengers as well as speed should be kept entirely out of
the act ; but if the latter were insisted on, then he re-
commended that it should be kept as low as possible —
say at five miles an hour.

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 iso-
lation at the time, he subsequently observed, at a public
meeting of railway men in Manchester : " He remem-
bered 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 gentle-
man, because be 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, and scarcely daring to lift itself into no-
tice 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 for-
ward 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

200 ARTICLE IN THE < QUARTERLY.' CHAP. X.

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 stage - coaches !
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 Eailway 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."

SURVEYING ON CHAT MOSS.

CHAP. XI. THE PARLIAMENTARY CONTEST. 201

CHAPTER XL

PARLIAMENTARY CONTEST ON THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER

BILL.

THE Liverpool and Manchester Bill went into Committee |
of the House of Commons on the 21st of March, 1825. j
There was an extraordinary array of legal talent on the
occasion, but especially on the side of the opponents to
the measure. Their wealth and influence enabled them
to retain the ablest counsel at the bar ; Mr. (afterwards
Baron) Alderson, Mr. Stephenson, Mr. (afterwards Baron)
Parke, Mr. Eose, Mr. Macdonnell, Mr. Harrison, Mr. Erie,
and Mr. Cullen, made common cause with each other in
their opposition to the bill ; the case for which was con-
ducted by 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 goods of all kinds from
Liverpool to Manchester, as also in the conveyance of
manufactured articles 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
promoters' 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 con-
sequences," he observed, " have ensued from the use of
steam in land carriage that have been stated. The

202 STEPHENSON IN THE WITNESS-BOX. CHAP. XI.

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 con-
structed 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 Com-
mittee 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 ten miles an
hour. I said I had no doubt the locomotive might be
made to go much faster, but that we had better be mo-
derate 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 ten 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 ten 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

CHAP. XI. STEPHENSON IN THE WITNESS-BOX. 203

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 Com-
mittee 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 impos-
sible. The self-taught mechanic had to demonstrate
the practicability of accomplishing that which the most
distinguished engineers of the time regarded as im-
practicable. 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 twelve 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 locomo-
tives, 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
Killing-worth 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 con-
nected with the numerous collieries of the Grand Allies

204 EXAMINED AS TO SPEED. CHAP. XI.

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 eight miles an
hour with twenty tons, and four miles an hour with
forty tons ; but he was quite confident that much more
might be done. Indeed, he had 110 doubt they might
go at the rate of twelve 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 w ere horses that would shy
at a wheelbarrow. A mail-coach was likely to be more
shied at by horses than a locomotive. In the neigh-
bourhood 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

CHAP. XI. EXAMINED AS TO SPEED. 205

adhesive weight of the wheel upon the rail is greater
than the weight to be dragged after it." There was a
good deal of interruption to the witness's answers by
Mr. Alderson, to which Mr. Joy more than once
objected. As to accidents, Mr. Stephenson 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 pre-
cautions had been used with that boiler, the accident
could not have happened. The following cross-exami-
nation 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 forty tons moving at the
rate of twelve 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 four miles an hour : I mean to say,
that if it would bear the weight at four miles an hour,
it would bear it at twelve." — " Taking it at four miles
an hour, do you mean to say that it would not require a
stronger railway to carry the same weight twelve 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 such
an ordeal scatheless, needed no small amount of courage,
intelligence, and ready shrewdness on the part of the

206 YEKY AWKWAED FOE " THE COO." CHAP. XI.

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 eight or nine miles an
hour. ^ I£Jj,e had stated his intention of going twelve or
fifteen miles^an hour, not a single person would have
believed it to be practicable." Mr. Alderson, had,
indeed, so pressed the point of " twelve miles an hour,"
and the promoters were so alarmed lest it should appear
in evidence that they contemplated. any such extravagant
rate of speed, that immediately on Mr. Alderson sitting
down, Mr. Joy proceeded to re-examine Mr. Stephenson,
With the view of removing from the minds of the
Committee an impression so unfavourable, and, as was
supposed, so damaging to their case. " With regard,"
asked Mr. Joy, " to all those hypothetical questions of
my learned friend, they have been all put on the sup-
position of going twelve miles an hour : now that is not
the rate at which, I believe, any of the engines of which
you have spoken have travelled ?" " No," replied
Mr. Stephenson, " except as an experiment for a short
distance." — " But what they have gone has been three,
five, or six miles an hour ? " " Yes."- — " So that those
hypothetical cases of twelve miles an hour do not fall
within your general experience ? " 4< They do not."

The Committee also seem to have entertained some
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 nine 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 nine or ten miles an hour,

CHAP. XI. THE CKOSS-EXAMINATION. 207

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 pro-
ceed 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 at night, especially by the glare of the
red-hot chimney ? " But how would they know that it
was'nt painted ? " said the witness.

On the following day (the 26th April), Mr. Stephenson
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 w^as 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, Mr. Stephenson found that a much more
favourable line might be made ; and he made his esti-
mates 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 par-
liamentary case, and one very difficult to be got over.

For three entire days was Mr. Stephenson subjected
to cross-examination by Mr. Alderson, Mr. Cullen, and

208 MR. HARRISON'S SPEECH. CHAP. XL

the other leading counsel for the opposition. He held
his ground bravely, and defended the plans and esti-
mates with remarkable ability and skill ; but it was
clear they were imperfect, and the result was on the
whole damaging to the bill. Mr. (afterwards Sir
William) Cubitt was called by the promoters, — Mr.
Adam stating that he proposed by this witness to correct
some of the levels as given by Mr. Stephenson. It
seems a singular course to have been taken by the
promoters of the measure ; for Mr. Cubitt's evidence
went to upset the statements made by Mr. Stephen-
son as to the survey. This adverse evidence was,
of course, made the most of by the opponents of the
scheme.

Mr. Serjeant Spankie then summed up for the bill, on
the 2nd of May, in a speech of great length ; and the
case of the opponents was next gone into, Mr. Harrison
opening with a long and eloquent speech on behalf of
his clients, Mrs. Atherton and others. He indulged
in strong vituperation against the witnesses for the
bill, and especially dwelt upon the manner in which
Mr. Oubitt, for the promoters, had proved that Mr.
Stephenson's levels were wrong. " They got a person,"
said he, " whose character and skill I do not dispute,
though I do not exactly know that I should have gone
to the inventor of the treadmill as the fittest man to
take the levels of Knowsley Moss and Chat Moss,
which shook almost as much as a treadmill, as you
recollect, for he (Mr. Cubitt) said Chat Moss trembled
so much under his feet that he could not take his

observations accurately In fact, Mr. Cubitt did

not go on to Chat Moss, because he knew that it was
an immense mass of pulp, and nothing else. It actually
rises in height, from the rain swelling it like a sponge,
and sinks again in dry weather ; arid if a boring instru-
ment is put into it, it sinks immediately by its own
weight. The making of an embankment out of this

CHAP. XT. MR. HARRISON'S SPEECH. 209

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 the 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 twelve
miles an hour. My learned friend, Mr. Adam, con-
templated— 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 twelve 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
five miles an hour. The learned serjeant (Spankie) says
he should like to have seven, but he would be content
to go six. I will show he cannot go six ; 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 loco-
motive 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 extra-
ordinary views as to the formation of a railway over

VOL. III. P

210 EVIDENCE OF ENGINEERS. CHAP. XI.

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 deterio-
rated — 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 Mr.
Stephenson, self-taught men, but regular professionals.
Mr. Francis Giles, C.E., was their great card. He 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 judg-
ment 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 car-
riages 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."

Mr. H. R. Palmer, C.E., gave evidence to prove that

CHAP. XT. MR. ALDERSON'S SPEECH. 211

resistance to a moving body going under four and a
quarter miles an hour was less upon a canal than upon a
railroad ; and that, when going against a strong wind,
the progress of a locomotive was retarded " very much."
Mr. George Leather, C.E., the engineer of the Croydon
and Wandsworth Railway, on which he said the waggons
went at from two and a half to three miles an hour, also
testified against the practicability of Mr. Stephenson's
plan. He considered his estimate a "very wild" one.
He himself had no confidence in locomotive power. The
Weardale Railway, of which he was engineer, had
given up the use of locomotive engines. He supposed
that, when used, they travelled at three and a half to
four miles an hour, because they were considered to be
then more effective than at a higher speed.

When these distinguished engineers had given their
evidence, Mr. Alder son 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 " through Chat Moss ;
and he contrasted with his evidence that given "by

p 2

212 , MR. ALDERSON'S SPEECH. CHAP. XT.

that most respectable gentleman we have called before
you, I mean Mr. Giles, who has executed a vast number
of works," &c. Then Mr. Giles's evidence as to the
impossibility of making any railway over the Moss that
would stand short of the bottom, was emphatically dwelt
upon ; and Mr. Alder son proceeded to say, — " Having
now, sir, gone through Chat Moss, and having shown
that Mr. Giles is right in his principle when he adopts
a solid railway, — and I care not 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 Mr. Giles speaks correctly
when he says 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 dis-
appeared ; 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." Mr.
Alderson, of course, called upon the Committee to reject
the Bill ; and he protested " against the despotism of the
Exchange at Liverpool striding across the land of this

CHAP. XI. EVIDENCE AGAINST THE LOCOMOTIVE. 213

country. I do protest," he concluded, " against a measure
like this, supported as it is by such evidence, and founded
upon such calculations."

The case of the other numerous petitioners against
the bill still remained to be gone into. Witnesses were
called to prove the residential injury which would be
caused by the " intolerable nuisance " of the smoke and
fire from the locomotives ; and others to prove that the
price of coals and iron would "infallibly" be greatly
raised throughout the country. This was part of the
case of the Duke of Bridge water's trustees, whose wit-
nesses " proved " many very extraordinary things. The
Leeds and Liverpool Canal Company were so fortunate
as to pick up a witness from Hetton, who was ready
to furnish some damaging evidence as to the use of
Stephenson's locomotives on that railway. This was
Thomas Wood, one of the Hetton company's clerks,
whose testimony was to the effect that the locomotives,
having been found ineffective, were about to be dis-
continued in favour of fixed engines. The evidence of
this witness, incompetent though he was to give an
opinion on the subject, and exaggerated as his statements
were afterwards proved to be, was made the most of by
Mr. Harrison, when summing up the case of the canal
companies. " At length," he said, " we have come to
tliis, — having first set out at twelve miles an hour, the
speed of these locomotives is reduced to six, and now
comes down to two or two and a half. They must be
content to be pulled along by horses and donkeys ; and
all those fine promises of galloping along at the rate of
twelve miles an hour are melted down to a total failure
—the foundation on which their case stood is cut from
under them completely ; /or the Act of Parliament, the
Committee will recollect, prohibits any person using
any animal power, of any sort, kind, or description,
except the projectors of the railway themselves ; there-
fore, I say, that the whole foundation on which this

214 THE BILL LOST. CHAP. XI.

project exists is gone." After further personal abuse of
Mr. Stephenson, whose evidence he spoke of as " trash
and confusion," he closed the case of the canal companies
on the 30th of May. Mr. Adam replied for the pro-
moters, recapitulating the principal points of their case,
and vindicating Mr. Stephenson and the evidence which
he had given before the Committee.

The Committee then divided on the preamble, which
was carried by a majority of only one — thirty-seven
voting for it, and thirty-six 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 nineteen to thirteen. In like
manner, the next clause, empowering the Company to
take land, was lost ; on which Mr. Adam, on the part
of the promoters, withdrew the bill.

Thus ended this memorable contest, which had ex-
tended 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 imper-
fect, also tended in a great measure to defeat the bill.

Mr. Grooch says the rejection of the bill was probably
the most severe trial George Stephenson underwent in
the course of his whole life. The circumstances con-
nected with the defeat of the measure, the errors in the

CHAP. XI. STEPHENSON'S VEXATION. 21 5

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. It is also right to
add that he was badly served by his surveyors, who
were unpractised and incompetent. On the 27th of
September, 1824, we find him writing to Mr. Sandars :
" I am quite shocked with Auty's conduct ; we must
throw him aside as soon as possible. Indeed, I have
begun to fear that he has been fee'd by some of the
canal proprietors to make a botch of the job. I have a
letter from Steele,1 whose views of Auty's conduct quite
agree with yours."

The result of this first application to Parliament was
so far discouraging. Mr. 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 sys-
tem 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 wrorked merely by horse-power, that the bill had
scarcely been thrown out ere they met in London to con-

1 Hugh Steele and Elijah Galloway I jection of the Bill, he committed suicide
had conducted the survey at one in Stephenson's office at Newcastle,
part of the line, and Messrs. Oliver Mr. Gooch informs us that this im-

and Blackett at another. The former
couple seem to have made some
grievous blunder in the levels on

happy affair served to impress upon the
minds of Stephensoii's other pupils the
necessity of ensuring greater accuracy

Chat Moss, and the circumstance | and attention in future, and that the
weighed so heavily on Steele's mind lesson, though sad, was not lost upon
that, shortly after hearing of the re- them.

216 THE SCHEME REVIVED. CHAP. XL

sider their next step. They called their parliamentary
friends together to consult as to future proceedings.
Among those who attended the meeting of gentlemen
with this object, in the Royal Hotel, St. James's Street,
on the 4th of June, were Mr. Huskisson, Mr. Spring
Rice, and General Gascoyne. Mr. Huskisson urged
the promoters to renew their application to Parliament.
They had secured the first step by the passing of their
preamble ; the measure was of great public importance ;
and whatever temporary opposition it might meet with,
he conceived that Parliament must ultimately give its
sanction to the undertaking. Similar views were ex-
pressed by other speakers ; and the deputation went
back to Liverpool determined to renew their application
to Parliament in the ensuing session.

It was not considered desirable to employ Mr. Stephen-
son 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 estab-
lished 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 Yignolles,
on their behalf, was appointed to prepare the plans and
j sections. The line which was eventually adopted dif-
[fered somewhat from that surveyed by Mr. Stephenson
—entirely avoiding Lord Sefton's property, and passing
through only a few detached fields of Lord Derby's at a
considerable distance from the Knowsley domain. The
principal 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 land-
owners. The crossing of certain of the streets of Liver-
pool was also avoided, and the entrance contrived by

CHAP. XI. THE LINE EE-SURVEYED. 217

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 interrup-
tion to the canal or river traffic were in some measure
removed. 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, for the
satisfaction and ample protection both of proprietors on
the line of road and of the public at large."

It was found that the capital required to form the
line of railway, as laid out by the Messrs. Rennie,
was considerably beyond the amount of Stephenson's
estimate, and it became a question with the Committee
in what way the new capital should be raised. A pro-
posal was made to the Marquis of Stafford, who was
principally interested in the Duke of Bridge water's

Canal, to become a shareholder in the railwav. A

«/

similar proposal, it will be remembered, had at an earlier
period been made to Mr. Bradshaw, the trustee for the
property ; but his answer was " all or none," and the
negotiation was Broken off. The /Marquis of Stafford,
however, now met the projectors of the railway in a
more conciliatory spirit ; and it was ultimately agreed
that he should become a subscriber to the extent of a
thousand shares.

The survey of the new line having been completed, i
the plans were deposited, the standing orders duly com- j
plied with, and the bill went before Parliament. The \
same counsel appeared for the promoters, but the exa-
mination of witnesses was not nearly so protracted as
on the previous occasion. Mr. Erie and Mr. Harrison
led the case of the opposition. The bill went into Com-

218 SIR ISAAC COFFIN'S SPEECH. CHAP. XL

mittee on the 6th of March, and on the 16th the
preamble was declared proved by a majority of forty-
three to eighteen. 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 the course of 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 these who had advanced money in making and
repairing turnpike-roads ? What with those who may
still wish to travel in their own or hired carriages, after
the fashion of their forefathers ? 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 ten or twelve miles an hour, would occa-
sion ? 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 eighty-eight to forty-one. The bill passed
the House of Lords almost unanimously, its only oppo-
nents being the Earl of Derby and his relative the Earl
^ of Wilton. The cost of obtaining the Act amounted to
the enormous sum of 27,000/.

CHAP. XII. CHAT MOSS DESCRIBED. 210

CHAPTER XII.

»

CHAT Moss — CONSTRUCTION OF THE BAELWAY.

THE selection of principal engineer of the railway was
taken into consideration at the first meeting of the
directors held at Liverpool subsequent to the passing of
the Act of incorporation. The magnitude of the pro-
posed works, and the vast consequences involved in the
experiment, were deeply impressed upon their minds ;
and they resolved to secure the services of a resident
engineer of proved experience and ability. Their atten-
tion 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 in-
fluenced by ordinary punctilios on the occasion ; and
they accordingly declined Mr. Rennie's proposal, and
proceeded to appoint Mr. Stephenson their principal I
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 1
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

220 CHAT MOSS DESCRIBED. CHAP. XII.

of carrying a railway along, under, or over such a mate-
rial 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 hope-
less 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 w^eather, 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 sub-
merged moss, which is from twenty to thirty feet in
depth, whilst the growing plants effectually check evapo-

CHAP. XII. THE RESIDENT ENGINEERS. 221

ration 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 in its substance, and pumping
up the water by steam power, as has been proposed by
some engineers. Supposing a shaft of thirty feet deep
to be sunk, it has been calculated that this would only
be effectual for draining a circle of about one hundred
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 three feet deep only served to drain a space
of less than five yards on either side, and two ditches of
this depth, ten feet apart, left a portion of the Moss
between them scarcely affected by the drains.

The three resident engineers selected by Mr. Stephen4
son to superintend the construction of the line, were\
Mr. Joseph Locke, Mr. Allcard, and Mr. John Dixon.
The last was appointed to that portion which included1^
the proposed road across the Moss, the other two being
by no means desirous of exchanging posts with him.
On Mr. Dixon' s arrival, about the month of July, 1826^
Mr. Locke proceeded to show him over TKeTtelgtli
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 half-way 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

222 A FLOATING ROAD. CHAP. XII.

desired to return, and even for the moment 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 endea-
voured to comfort him by the assurance that he might
in future 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. Still the resident engineer could not help
being puzzled by the problem of how to construct a
road for heavy locomotives, with trains of passengers
and goods, upon a bog which he had found incapable of
supporting his single individual weight !

Mr. Stephenson's ide.a 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 con-
sistency 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 alike 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

CHAP. XII.

OPERATIONS BEGUN.

223

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 tanta-
mount 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 twenty feet long and five feet wide, thus covering
a surface of a hundred square feet, and, provided the
bearing has been extended by means of cross sleepers
supported upon a matting of heath and branches of
trees covered with a few inches of gravel, the pressure
of an engine of twenty tons will be only equal to about
three pounds per inch over the whole surface on which
it stands. Such was George Stephenson's idea in con-
triving 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 tem-
porary railway was then laid down, formed of ordinary
cross-bars about three feet long and an inch square,
with holes punched through them at the end 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 waggpns carried
about a ton each, and they were propelled by boys
running behind them along the narrow bar of iron.
The boys became so expert that they would run the four
miles across at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour
without missing a step ; if they had done so, they would
have sunk in many places up to their middle.1 The

1 When the Liverpool directors
went to inspect the works in progress

on the Moss, they were run along the
temporary rails in the little three-feet

224

THE ROAD UPON THE MOSS.

CHAP. XII.

slight extension of the bearing surface was thus sufficient
to enable the bog to bear this temporary line, and the
circumstance was a source of increased confidence and
hope to our engineer in proceeding with the formation
of the permanent road alongside.

The digging of drains had been proceeding for some
time along each side of the intended railway ; but
they filled up almost as soon as dug, the sides flowing
in, and the bottom rising up ; and 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 eight or nine
feet long by four 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 road had
been thus laid, that there was a tendency to sinking at
those parts where the bog was the 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

gauge-waggons used for forming the
road. They were being thus impelled
one day at considerable speed, when
the waggon suddenly ran off the road,
and Mr. Moss, one of the directors,
was thrown out in a soft place, from

which, however, he was speedily ex-
tricated, not without leaving his deep
mark. George used afterwards laugh-
ingly to refer to the circumstance as
" the meeting of the Mosses."

CHAP. XII. THE TAR-BARREL DRAINS. ±_'r>

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 has been 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 parts of the Moss,
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, a
quantity of empty tar-barrels was brought from Liver-
pool ; 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 thus
been 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 sunk overhead. More moss was brought up
and emptied in with no better result ; and for many
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 fort-
night to obtain the wage's for the workmen employed
under him ; and on these occasions he was required to
colour up, on a section drawn to a working scale sus-

VOL. III. Q

226 THE DIRECTORS BECOME ALARMED. CHAP. XII.

pended against the wall of the directors' room, the
amount of excavation, embankment, &c., executed from
rtime to time. But on many of these occasions, Mr.
Dixon had no progress whatever to show for the money
expended upon 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
himself was greatly disheartened, and he was even called
upon to supply the directors with an estimate of the cost
of filling up the Moss with solid stuff from the bottom,
as also 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. But the expense
appalled the directors, and the question then arose,
whether the work was to be proceeded with or aban-
doned !

Mr. Stephenson himself afterwards described the alarm-
ing position of affairs at a public dinner given at
Birmingham, on the 23rd of December, 1837, on the
occasion of a piece of plate being presented to his son,
on the completion of the London and Birmingham Bail-
way. 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

CHAP. XII, STEPHENSON DETERMINES TO PERSEVERE. 227

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 altogether the idea of a floating rail-
way, and either fill the Moss up with hard material
from the bottom, or else deviate the line 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

Q 2

228 PARR MOSS. CHAP. XII.

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 understood from the fact that 670,000 cubic yards of
raw moss formed only 277,000 cubic yards of embank-
ment 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 was
there 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 a
mile and a half in extent. In the immediate neighbour-
hood was found a large excess of cutting, which it would
have been necessary to " put out in spoil banks " (accord-
ing to the technical phrase), but for the convenience of
Parr Moss, into which the surplus clay, stone, and shale,
were tipped, waggon after waggon, 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 of
January, 1830, when the first experimental train of pas-
sengers 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

CHAP. XII. ORGANIZATION OF THE LABOUE. ±>-j

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 when 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 intel-
ligence into Manchester from time to time, that " Chat
Moss was blown up ! " " Hundreds of men and horses
had sunk in the bog ; 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 dis-
played itself. A vast quantity of ballast-waggons had
to be constructed for the purposes of the work, and im-
plements and materials had to be collected, before the
mass of labour to be employed could be efficiently set in
motion 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 the
labour, and direct it in person. The very labourers
themselves had to be trained to their work by him ;
and it was on the Liverpool and Manchester line that
Mr. Stephenson organised the staff of that formidable
band of railway navvies, whose handiworks will be the
wonder and admiration of succeeding generations. Look-
ing 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

230 THE TUNNEL AT LIVERPOOL. CHAP. XII.

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. Indeed, the like of them had not before
been executed in England. Several of the heaviest and
most expensive works were caused by the opposition of
Lords Derby and Sefton, whose objections to the line
passing near or through their properties forced it more
to the south, and thereby involved much tunnelling
and heavy stone cutting. It had been our engineer's
original intention to 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 to the north of Knowsley.
But the line having been forced 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 a mile, and a half in length, from the docks at
Wapping to the top of Edgehill ; the second was the
necessity for forming a long and deep cutting through
the red-sandstone rock; at . Olive Mount; and the third
and worst of all, was, the necessity for ascending and
descending the Whiston and Sutton hills by means of
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

CHAP. XII. THE OLIVE MOUNT CUTTING. 231

iii 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
Mr. Stephenson 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 the engineer'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.

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 more than a hundred feet deep1
It is a narrow ravine or defile cut out of the solid rock ;
and not less than four hundred and eighty thousand
cubic yards of stone were removed from it. Mr. Yig-
nolles, 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 sixty-three, under
or over the railway, on the thirty miles between Liver-
pool and Manchester. Up to this time, bridges had
applied generally to high roads, where inclined

232

THE OLIVE MOUNT CUTTING.

€HAP. XII.

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

OLIVE MOUNT CUTTING. [By Percival Skelcon.]

sixty-three bridges were constructed on one line of rail-
way! Mr. Stephenson early found that the ordinary
arch was inapplicable in certain cases, where the head-
way 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

CHAP. XII.

THE SANKEY VIADUCT.

233

SANKEY VIADUCT [By Percival Skelton.]

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, were straight and of considerable dimen-
sions. But the principal piece of masonry on the line
was the 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£.

234 STEPHENSON AND CROPPER. CHAP. XII.

By the end of 1828 the directors found they had ex-
pended 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 im-
possible." " 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 could' nt do
—drive a railroad from Liverpool to Manchester over
Chat Moss ! " And truly the formation of a high road
over that bottomless bog was, apparently, a far more
difficult task than the hewing even of Napoleon's far-
famed road across the Simplon.

The directors had more than once been embarrassed
iby want of funds to meet the heavy expenditure. The
jcountry had scarcely yet recovered from the general
(panic and crash of 1825 : and it was with difficulty that
the calls could be raised from the shareholders. A loan
of 100,000/. was obtained from the Exchequer Loan
Commissioners in 1826; and in 1829 an Act was
passed enabling the company to raise further capital,
to provide working plant for the railway. Two Acts
were also obtained during the progress of the works,

(HAP. XII. STEPHENSON'S GREAT LABOURS. 235

enabling deviations and alterations to be made ; one to
improve the curves and shorten the line near Rainhill,
and the other to carry the line across the Irwell into
the town of Manchester. Thanks to the energy of the
engineer, the industry of his labourers, and the improved
supply of money by the directors, the railway made
rapid progress in the course of the year 1829. Double
sets of labourers were employed on Chat Moss and at
other points, in carrying on the works 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 rail-
way, 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 compli-
cated, 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 superin-
tending their manufacture. The permanent road, turn-
tables, 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, — went on under his immediate super-
vision. And it was in the midst of this vast accumula-
tion of work and responsibility that the battle of the

236 HIS PUPILS AND ASSISTANTS. CHAP. XII.

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 superintend-
ence of the works at different parts of the line ; and he
took care to direct all their more important operations
in person. He had brought three young men from
Newcastle with him — fellow-pupils in the workshops
there — by name Joseph Locke, Thomas L. Grooch, and
William Allcard. These were afterwards joined by
John Dixon, and at a later period by Frederick Swan-
wick. Locke, Allcard, and Dixon, were appointed to
superintend the work at different . parts of the line ;
whilst Grooch resided with Mr. Stephenson, and officiated
as his sole draughtsman and secretary from the com-
mencement of the works in 1826, until April, 1829,
when he proceeded to take charge of another undertaking.
" I may say," writes Mr. Gooch, " that 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 Clay-
ton 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 Liver-
pool,— the untiring zeal and perseverance of George

CHAP. XII. HIS DAILY LIFE. 237

Stephenson never for an instant flagging, and inspiring
with a like enthusiasm all who were engaged under him
in carrying forward the works." l

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 the pro-
gress of the work at different points ; on other days he
would visit the extensive workshops at Edgehill, where
most of the " plant " for the line was manufactured.
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 engage-
ment 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 top-
most 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

1 Mr. Gooch's Letter to the author, | have been able to confine himself to

December 13th, 1861. Referring to so limited a number as that which

the preparation of the plans and draw- could be supplied by the hands of one

ings, Mr. Gooch adds, " When we con- person in carrying out the construc-

sider the extensive sets of drawings tion of the Liverpool and Manchester

which most engineers have since found j Eailway ; and this may still be said,

it right to adopt in carrying out simi- { after lull allowance is made for the

lar works, it is not the least surprising alteration of system involved by the

feature in George Stephenson's early adoption of the large contract system. M
professional career, that he should

238

BAITING-PLACE AT SANKEY.

CHAP. XII,

STEPHEN SON'S BAITING-PLACE AT SANKEY.

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. If he returned home before
mid-day, it would be to examine the pay-sheets in the
different departments, sent in by the assistant engineers,
or by the foremen of the workshops ; all this he did
himself, with the greatest care, requiring a full explana-
tion of every item.

After a late dinner, which occupied very short time
and was always of a plain and frugal description,1 he

1 While at Liverpool, Stephenson but on one particular occasion he in-
had very little time for " company ; " vited his friend Mr. Sandars to din-

CHAP. XII. LIFE AT HOME. 239

would proceed to dispose of his correspondence, or pre-
pare sketches of drawings, and give 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.
Stepheiison's dictation ; there was nothing superfluous
in it ; but it was close, direct, and to the point, — in
short, thoroughly business-like. And if, in passing
through the pen of the amanuensis, his meaning hap-
pened 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 strong natural acumen showed
itself even in such matters as grammar and composition,
—a department of knowledge in which, it might be
supposed, he could scarcely have had either time or
opportunity to acquire much information. But here, as
in all other things, his shrewd common sense came to
his help ; and his simple, vigorous English might almost
be cited as a model of composition.

His letters and reports written, and his sketches of

nor; and as that gentleman was a eulogium, at length asked, "Well,

connoisseur in port wine, his host , Sandars, how d'ye like the port?"

determined to give him a special treat " Poor stuff! " said the guest, " Poor

of that drink. Stephenson accord- stuff!" George was very much

ingly went to the small merchant , shocked, and with difficulty recovered

with whom he usually dealt, and ; his good-humour. But he lived to be

ordered "half a dozen of his very best ! able to treat Mr. Sandars to a better

port wine," whicli was promised of J article at Tapton House, when he used

first-rate quality. After dinner the
wine was produced; and when Mr.
Sandars had sipped a glass, George,
alter waiting a little for the expected

to laugh over his first futile attempt
at Liverpool to gain a reputation for
his port.

240 EDUCATION OF HIS PUPILS. CHAP. XII.

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 com-
panions, 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 on their part. These
always met with the verdict of, " Ah ! you know nought
ahout it now ; but think it over again, and tell me the
answer when you understand it." If there were even
partial success in the reply, it would at once be ac-
knowledged, 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 develope 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 invigo-
rate the character of his pupils. He felt that he him-
self 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, — perse-
vere,— be industrious, — and there is then no fear of
you." And not the least emphatic proof of the sound-
ness 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

CHAP. XII. EVENINGS AT HOME. 241

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.

Mr. Stephenson' s evenings at home were not, how-
ever, 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 difficul-
ties of his early life. The not unfrequent winding up
of his story, addressed to the pupils about him, was —
" Ah ! ye young fellows don't know what wark is in
these days ! " Mr. Swan wick delights 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 addi-
tional 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 slum-
ber. 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 accus-
tomed early hour, and there was no abatement of his
usual energy in carrying on the business of the day.

VOL. III. K

242 ROBEKT STEPHENSON'S CABEER. CHAP. XIII.

CHAPTER XIII.

EGBERT STEPHENSON'S RESIDENCE IN COLOMBIA, AND RETURN —
THE BATTLE OF THE LOCOMOTIVE — " THE ROCKET."

WE return to the career of Bobert 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 locomo-
tive," which was now impending.

We have seen that on his return from Edinburgh
College in the summer of 1822, he had assisted in
superintending the works of the Hetton railway until
its opening, after which he proceeded to Liverpool to
take part with Mr. James in surveying the proposed rail-
way there. In the following year we found him assisting
his father in the working survey of the Stockton and
Darlington Kailway ; 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." l

Speculation was very rife at the time ; and amongst
the most promising adventures were the companies
organized for the purpose of working the gold and sil-
ver mines of South America. Great difficulty was expe-
rienced in finding mining engineers capable of carrying
out those projects, and young men of even the most
moderate experience were eagerly sought after. The
Colombian Mining Association of London offered an

1 Letter to the author.

CHAP. XIII. PROCEEDS TO COLOMBIA. 243

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 proceeded together to call 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 pro-
nounced 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 j
South America.

After a tolerably prosperous voyage he landed at La
Guayra, on the north coast of Venezuela, on the 23rd
of July, from thence proceeding to Caraccas, the capital
of the district, about fifteen miles inland. There he re-
mained 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 busi-
ness on which he had come. About the beginning of
October he set out for Bogota, the capital of Colombia
or New Granada. The distance was about twelve hun-
dred 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,

R 2

244 MULE JOURNEY TO BOGOTA. CHAP. XIII.

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 dis-
covered him to be an incorrigible rogue, and immediately
dismissed him. At length our traveller reached Bogota,
and after an interview with Mr. Illingworth, the com-
mercial 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
slope 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 dif-
ferent 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 the 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."1 The part of the journey which seems
to have made the most lasting impression on his mind

1 Mr. Stephenson afterwards pub-
lished an account of his journey from
Caraccas to Sta. Bogota da Fe', in the
' National Magazine and Monthly
Critic' (Mitchell, Eed Lion Court,
1837), under the title of "Scraps
from My Note-Book in Colombia."

The articles indicate close and accu-
rate observation of the scenery, cli-
mate, inhabitants, and productions
of the country passed through, but
do not possess sufficient interest to
justify their republication.

CHAP. XIII. MARIQIHTA. 245

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, and at certain times
of the day looking positively black, sharp, and even at
their summit, like a wall.

Our engineer took up his abode for a time at Mari-
quita, a fine old city, though then greatly fallen into de-
cay. 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 direc-
tions, visiting long-abandoned mines, and analyzing
specimens obtained from many quarters. The mines
eventually fixed upon as the scene of his operations were
those of La Maiita and Santa Anna, long before worked
by the Spaniards, though, in consequence of the luxu-
riance 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 open a way to the mines, machinery had to

246

MAKING A PARTY.

CHAP. XIII.

be erected, and the ground opened up, when some of
the old adits were eventually 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 endea-
vour 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/ ' 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.1 It was, indeed,
necessary to " make a party " in this way, as other
schemers were already trying to undermine the Colom-
bian Company in influential directions. The engineer
did not exaggerate when he said, " The uncertainty of
transacting business in this country is perplexing be-
yond description." In the mean time labourers had been
attracted to Santa Anna, which became, the engineer
wrote, " like an English fair on Sundays : people flock
to it from all quarters, to buy beef and chat with their
friends. Sometimes three or four torros are slaughtered
in a day. The people now eat more beef in a week
than they did in two months before, and they are
consequently getting fat." 2

1 During his short residence on the
Colombian table-land, Mr. Stephen-
son made the acquaintance of several
native families of distinction. Nor
did his connexion with them alto-
gether cease upon his return to Eng-
land ; for when he went over the
scenes of his youth at Killingworth
with the author, in 1854, he was ac-
companied by a young gentleman,
then learning engineering in the New-
castle factory, the son of one of the

gentlemen whose friendship he had
formed during his American residence.
2 Letter to Mr. Illingworth, Septem-
ber 25th, 1825. The reports made to
the directors and officers of the com-
pany, which we have seen, contain
the details of the operations carried
on at the mines ; but they are as dry
and uninteresting as such reports
usually are, and furnish no materials
calculated to illustrate the subject of
the text.

(/HAP. XIII. MINING TROUBLES. 247

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 con-
trived 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 pro-
ceeding more satisfactorily, though the yield of silver
was not as yet very promising. Mr. Stephenson cal-
culated 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

248 COTTAGE AT SANTA ANNA. CHAP. XIII.

the country. 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, with-
out 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—

^ • -> L5-

KG BERT STEPHENSON'rf COTTAGE AT SANTA ANNA.

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 my-
riads 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 en-

CHAP. XIII.

LONGS TO KETUEN HOME,

249

gineer ; 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 heauties 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 unsatis-
factory. He therefore determined to leave at the expiry
of his three years' engagement, and communicated his
decision to the directors accordingly.1 • On receiving his

1 In a letter to Mr. Illingworth,
then resident at Bogota, dated the
24th March, 1826, Eobert wrote as
follows :— " Nothing but the fullest
consent of my partners in England
could induce me to stay in this
country, and the assurance that no
absolute necessity existed to call me
home. I must also have the consent
of my father. I know that he must
have suffered severely from my ab-
sence, but that having been extended
so far beyond the period he was led to
expect, may have induced him to
curtail his plans; which, had they
been accomplished, as they would
have been by my assistance, would
have placed us both in a situation far
superior to anything that I can hope
for as the servant of an Association
however wealthy and liberal. What
I might do in England is, perhaps,
known to myself only ; it is difficult,
therefore, for the Association to calcu-
late upon rewarding me to the full
extent of my prospects at home. My
prosperity is involved in that of my
lather, whose property was sacrificed
in laying the foundations of an esta-
blishment for me ; his capital being
invested in a concern which requires

the greatest attention, and which,
with our personal superintendence,
could not i'ail to secure that inde-
pendence which forms so principally
the object of all our toil. Ignorant as
I am of the present state of affairs in
England, it would be inconsiderate on
my part to enter upon any further
engagement; but I have the prospe-
rity of my present task so much at
heart, that my duty only would in-
duce me to abandon it. My residence
in this country, and the work I have
had to perform, would have been irk-
some in the extreme, had I not been
fortunate in meeting yoii, wrhose ac-
quaintance and generous kindness to
me has comparatively lightened my
task, and of which believe me to be
gratefully sensible. My experience in
Colombia has, of course, led me to a
knowledge of all that can be alleged
against my prolonging my stay, even
supposing that my duties should not
call me to England. I should be shut
up in Sta. Anna, where no desirable
society exists, excepting that of my
friend Empson.* 1 should be com-
pletely debarred from following out
my studies; in short, the faculties of
my mind must become dormant, ex-

a Charles Empson accompanied Robert
Stephenson to Colombia, as his secretary
and book-keeper. He afterwards published
a book, entitled, ' Narratives of South Ame-

rica, illustrating Manners, Customs, and
Scenery.' London: 1836. He died at
Bath, in the autumn of 1861.

250

RESIGNS HIS APPOINTMENT

CHAP. XIII.

letter, the Board, through Mr. Kichardson, 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 urgently 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." ' 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 your business at New-
castle, 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 Mr.
Illingworth, strongly urging that arrangements should
be made for enabling 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,

cepting what were called into exercise
in the monotonous routine of mining,
in which variety is scarcely known.
I mean not to imply that the art of
mining is devoid of interest ; on the
contrary, its pursuit always afforded
me pleasure, but I should wish to
blend other studies with it, and I
know it could be done with advan-
tage, and without detracting from the
attention due to operative mining. To
be open, should I remain here I would
erect a complete laboratory for per-
forming all the necessary kinds of
metallurgical operations. I would
have a liberal supply of scientific

journals, as well as standard works
on chemistry and mineralogy. These,
the superintendence of the mines, and
the engineering department, would
form ample resources for the mind,
and render a four years' residence
bearable, otherwise it would be in-
tolerable. With these privileges, an
adequate remuneration, and the con-
sent of my friends, perhaps I might
remain; but my feelings and ideas
will be entirely guided by future com-
munications from England."

1 Letter to Mr. Illingworth, April
9th, 1827.

CHAP. Xlll. VOYAGE HOME. 251

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 dis-
tinguished 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 Mr. Bodmer having informed
him, at Mompox, that such a visit would be inconsistent
with the statements made to the London Board that his
presence was so anxiously desired at home, he deter-
mined to embrace the first opportunity of proceeding to
Xew York.

Arrived at the port of Cartagena, he found himself
under the necessity of waiting 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, com-
fortless public room of the miserable hotel at which he
put up, he observed two strangers, whom he at once per-
ceived to be English. One of the strangers was a
tall, gaunt man, shrunken and hollow-looking, shabbily
dressed, and apparently poverty-stricken. On making 1
inquiry, he found it was Trevithick, the builder of the I
first railroad locomotive ! He was returning home from I
the gold mines of Peru penniless. He had left England. I

252 INTERVIEW WITH TREVITHICK. CHAP. XIII.

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 Corn-
wall that his emoluments amounted to 100,0007. a year,1
and that he was making a gigantic fortune. Great,
therefore, was Eobert 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 realized 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 only with 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. Eobert
Stephenson lent him 50/. to enable him to reach Eng-
land ; and though he was afterwards heard of as an
inventor there, he had no further part in the ultimate
triumph of the locomotive.

But Trevi thick's misadventures on this occasion had
not yet ended, for before he reached New York he was
wrecked, and Robert Stephenson with him. The fol-
lowing is the account of the voyage, " big with adven-
tures," 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
farther north the most tremendous gales were blowing,
and they appear (from our future information) to have
wrecked every vessel exposed to their violence. We

1 ' Geological Transactions of Cornwall,' i., 222.

CHAP. XIII. SUFFERS SHIPWRECK. 253

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 fol-
lowing 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 Liver-
pool, where they arrived at the end of November, and
at once proceeded to Newcastle. The factory, we have
seen, was by no means in a prosperous state. During

254 RETUKN TO NEWCASTLE. CHAP. XIII.

the time Robert had been in America it had been carried
on at a considerable loss ; and Edward Pease, very
much disheartened, wished to retire from it, but George
Stephenson being unable to raise the requisite money
to buy him out, the establishment was of necessity carried
on by its then partners until the locomotive could be
established in public estimation as a practicable and
(economical working power. Robert Stephenson imme-
diately instituted a rigid inquiry into the working of
the concern, unravelled the accounts, which had been
allowed to fall into confusion during his father's absence
at Liverpool, and very shortly 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
jvery few : it stood as yet almost in a minority of one —
1 George Stephenson. The prejudice against the employ-
ment of the latter power had even increased since the
Liverpool and Manchester Bill underwent its first ordeal

CHAP. XIII. FIXED ENGINES AND THE LOCOMOTIVE. 255

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 work-
ing 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. Mr. Telford, the Go-
vernment engineer, was consulted by his employers on
the occasion of the Company applying to the Exchequer
Loan Commissioners to forego their security of 30 per
cent, of the calls, which the Directors wished to raise to
enable them to proceed more expeditiously with the
works. But his Report was considered so unsatisfactory
that the Commissioners would not release any part of
the calls. All that Mr. Telford would say on the subject
of the power to be employed wras, that the use of horses
had been done away with by introducing two sets of
inclined planes, and he considered this an evil, inasmuch
as the planes must be worked either by locomotive or
fixed engines ; " but," he said, " which of the two latter
modes shall be adopted, I understand has not yet been
finally determined ; and both being recent projects, in
which I have had no experience, I cannot take upon me
to say whether either will fully answer in practice."
The directors could not disregard the adverse and con-
flicting views of the professional men whom they

256 SCHEMES FOE EFFECTING LOCOMOTION. CHAP. XIII.

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 work-
ing the waggons along the line by water power. Some
proposed hydrogen, and others carbonic acid gas. Atmos-
pheric pressure had its eager advocates. And various
kinds of fixed and locomotive steam power were sug-
gested. Thomas Gray urged his plan of a greased road
with cog rails ; and Messrs. Yignolles and Ericsson
recommended the adoption of a central friction rail,
against which two horizontal rollers under the locomo-
tive, 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. Their engineer ex-
pressed 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

CHAP. XIII. WALKER AND RASTRICK'S REPORT. 257

tin* 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 milch 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 Dar4
lington 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. Rast-
rick 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 6'40c?., 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 improve-
ments 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,
Messrs. Walker and Rastrick were of opinion that fixed
engines were preferable, and accordingly recommended
their adoption to the directors." x And in order to

1 Mr. Booth's Account, pp. 70-1.
While concurring with Mr. Rastrick
in recommending " the stationary reci-

procating system as the best," if it was
the directors' intention to make the
line complete at once, so as to accom-

VOL. III. S

258 STEPHENSON'S FAITH IN THE LOCOMOTIVE. CHAP. X11I.

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 could be found to coincide with the
engineer of the railway in his preference for locomotive
over fixed engine power. He had scarcely a supporter,
and the locomotive system seemed on the eve of being-
abandoned. Still he did not despair. With the pro-
fession against him, and 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 pur-
pose. 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

modate the traffic expected by them,
or a quantity approaching to it (*'. e.,
3750 tons of goods and passengers
from Liverpool towards Manchester,
and 3950 tons from Manchester to-
wards Liverpool), Mr. Walker added,
— " but if any circumstances should
induce the directors to proceed by de-
grees, and to proportion the power of
conveyance to the demand, then we
recommend locomotive-engines upon
the line generally ; and two fixed en-
gines upon Rainhill and Sutton planes,

"if on any occasion the trade should
get beyond the supply of locomotives,
the horse might form a temporary sub-
stitute." As, however, it was the
directors' determination, with a view
to the success of their experiment, to
open the line complete lor working,
they felt that it would be unadvisable
to adopt this partial experiment ; and
it was still left for them to decide
whether they would adopt or not the
substantial recommendation of the re-
porting engineers in favour of the sta-

to draw up the locomotive-engines as j tionary engine system for the complete
well as the goods and carriages." And j accommodation of the expected traffic.

CHAP. XIII.

A PKIZE OFFERED.

259

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.1 But the fixed engine party
were very strong at the board, and, led by Mr. Cropper,
they urged the propriety of forthwith adopting the
report of Messrs. Walker and Eastrick. Mr. Sandars
and Mr. William Eathbone, on the other hand, desired
that a fair trial should be given to the locomotive ; and
they with reason objected to the expenditure of the
large capital necessary to construct the proposed engine-
houses, with their fixed engines, ropes, and machinery,
until they had tested the powers of the locomotive as
recommended by their own engineer. Mr. Stephenson
continued to urge upon them that the locomotive was
yet capable of great improvements, if proper induce-
ments 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 f
persistent earnestness not less than by his arguments, the
directors, at the suggestion of Mr. Harrison, determined I
to offer a prize of 500/. for the best locomotive engine,
which, on a certain day, should be produced on the rail-
way, and perform certain specified conditions in the
most satisfactory manner.2

1 The arguments used by Mr. Ste-
phenson with the directors, in favour
of the locomotive engine, were after-
wards 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 Locomo-
tive and Fixed Engines.' Robert Ste-
phenson, speaking of the authorship
many years after, said, ' I believe I

furnished the facts and the arguments,
and Locke put them into shape.
Locke Avas a very rlowery 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."

2 The conditions were these : —

1. The engine must effectually con-
sume its own smoke.

2. The engine, if of six tons weight,

s 2

260

REQUIREMENTS AS TO SPEED.

CHAP. XIII.

The requirements of the directors as to speed were
;not excessive. All that they asked for was, that ten miles
an hour should be maintained. Perhaps they had in
mind the animadversions of the ' Quarterly Reviewer '
on the absurdity of travelling at a greater velocity, as
well as the remarks published by Mr. Nicholas Wood,
whom they selected to be one of the judges of the com-
petition, in conjunction with Mr. Rastrick of Stourbridge
and Mr. Kennedy of Manchester.

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 advertise-
ment 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 the most
intense interest.

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 fast-
ened down, and one of them be com-
pletely out of the control of the engine-
man.

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 pre-
ferred on its drawing a proportionate
load behind it ; if of 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, &c., by
a pressure of one hundred and fifty
pounds to the square inch.

6. A mercurial gauge must be af-
fixed 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?.

Many persons of influence declared
the conditions published by the di-
rectors of the railway chimerical in the
extreme. One gentleman of some
eminence in Liverpool, Mr. P. Ewart,
who afterwards filled the office of
Government Inspector of Post Office
Steam-packets, declared that only a
parcel of charlatans would ever have
issued such a set of conditions ; that it
had been proved to be impossible to
make a locomotive engine go at ten
miles an hour; but if it ever was
done, he would eat a stewed engine-
wheel to his breakfast.

CHAP. XIII. DISCUSSIONS OF THE STEPHENSONS. 261

During the progress of the above important discussion
with reference to the kind of power to be employed in
working the railway, 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. Mr. Swanwick remembers the vivid interest
of the evening conversations which took place between
father and son as to the best mode of increasing the
powers and perfecting the mechanism of the locomotive.
He wondered at their quick perception and rapid judg-
ment on each other's suggestions, at the mechanical
difficulties which they anticipated and provided for
in the practical arrangement of the machine ; and he
speaks of these evenings as most interesting displays
of two actively ingenious and able minds, stimulating
each other to feats of mechanical invention, by which it
was ordained that the locomotive engine should become
what it now is. These discussions became more fre-
quent, and still more interesting, after the public prize
had been offered for the best locomotive by the directors
of the railway, and the working plans of the engine
which they proposed to construct had to be settled.

One of the most important considerations in the new
engine was the arrangement of the boiler and the ex-
tension 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 gene-
rate, and upon its degree of elasticity when produced.
The quantity of steam so generated, it will be obvious,
must chiefly depend 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
Killing worth engines he invented and applied the inge-

262 TUBULAR BOILER. CHAP. XITT.

nious 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 Eailway.

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 each ;
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 loco-
motive 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

round greatly to facilitate the production of steam, by

the extension of the heating surface. The ingenious

CHAP. XIII. MR. BOOTH'S CONTRIVANCE. 263

Trevi thick, 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 reser-
voir, from which they were to receive their water, and
where the steam of all the tubes was to be united. It
does not, however, appear that any locomotive was ever
constructed according to this patent. Mr. Goldsworthyl
G-urney, the persevering adaptor of steam-carriages to I
travelling on common roads, applied the tubular priii-(
ciple in the boiler of his engine, in which the steam1
was generated within the tubes ; whilst the boiler in*
vented by Messrs. Summers and Ogle for their turnf-
pike-road steam-carriage, consisted of a series of tubep
placed vertically over the furnace, through which this
heated air passed before reaching the chimney.

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 eva-
porative 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 sur-
face 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 re-
moved. It was then that M. Seguin, the engineer of
the railway, pursuing the same idea, is said to have
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 pro-
ceedings, 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 con-

264 CONSTRUCTION OF THE « ROCKET." CHAP. XTTT.

nected. This plan was adopted in the construction of the
celebrated " Eocket " engine, the building of which was
immediately proceeded with at the Newcastle works.

The principal circumstances connected with the con-
struction of the " Eocket," as described by Eobert Ste-
phenson to the author, may be thus briefly stated. The
tubular principle was adopted in a more complete man-
ner 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 pre-
vent leakage. They were manufactured 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, arid 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. Eobert 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 over-
coming the difficulty, which his son had already antici-
pated 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 pur-
pose of increasing the draught in the chimney, was also

CHAP. XIII. THE STEAM-BLAST. 265

the subject of numerous experiments.1 When the I
engine was first tried, it was thought that the blast
in the chimney was not sufficiently strong for the pur-
pose of keeping up the intensity of the fire in the furnace,
so as to produce high-pressure steam with the required
velocity. The expedient was therefore adopted of
hammering the copper tubes at the point at which
they entered the chimney, whereby the blast was con-
siderably 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. Hence a series of experiments
was .made with pipes of different diameters ; and their
efficiency was tested by the amount of vacuum that
was produced in the smoke-box. The degree of rare-
faction was determined by a glass tube fixed to the
bottom of the smoke-box, and descending into a bucket
of water, the tube being open at both ends. As the
rarefaction took place, the water would of course rise in
the tube ; and the height to which it rose above the sur-
face 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

1 For further details as to the steam-blast, see Robert Stephenson's Account,
given in the Appendix to this volume.

266

ARRANGEMENTS OF THE " ROCKET.'

CHAP. XII I.

" Rocket " chimney, and turned up within it, were con-
tracted 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.

The other arrangements of the " Rocket " were briefly

these : — the boiler was cylindrical with flat ends, six feet

in length, and three feet four inches in diameter. The

upper half of the boiler was used as a reservoir for the

p.stearn, the lower half being filled with water. Through

I the lower part, twenty-five copper tubes of three 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, two feet wide and three 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

CHAP. XITT. THE " ROCKET " FINISHED. 207

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
four tons and a quarter ; and it was supported on four
wlieels, 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 success-
ful. The steam was raised rapidly and continuously,
and in a quantity which then appeared marvellous. The
same evening Robert dispatched 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 merits of the passenger loco-
motive were to be put to a public test. He had fought
the battle for it until now almost single-handed. En-
grossed 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 locomo-
tive, 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 compe-

268

THE TRIAL AT RAINHILL.

CHAP. XIII.

tition. 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, Man-
chester, and the adjacent towns felt that the successful
issue of the experiment would confer upon them indi-
vidual 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's1 "Novelty."

2. Mr. Timothy Hackwor4h'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 three 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 seventy miles, in the course of the day ; and
the average rate of travelling was to be not under ten
miles an hour. It was determined that, to avoid con-
fusion, each engine should be tried separately, and on
different days.

1 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 wav.

CHAP. XIII. THE " NOVELTY." 269

The day fixed for the competition was the 1st of
October, but to allow sufficient time to get the locomo-
tives 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.

LOCOMOTIVE COMPETITION AT RAINHILL.

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 accord-
ingly 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. Nichola
AVood has since stated that a majority of the judge
were strongly predisposed in favour of the " Novelty,'
and that " nine-tenths, if not ten-tenths, of the persons
present, were against the "Rocket" because of its ap
pearance." l Nearly every person favoured some othei

1 Mr. Wood's speech at Newcastle, 26th October, 1858.

270 THE " SANSPAREIL." CHAP. XIII.

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 twelve miles, without
interruption, in about fifty-three 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 three tons and one hun-
dredweight. A peculiarity of this engine was that the

j 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 twenty-four miles an hour.

The " Sanspareil," constructed by Mr. Timothy Hack-
worth, was next exhibited ; but no particular experiment
was made with it on this day. This engine differed but
little in its construction from the locomotive last supplied
by George Stephenson to the Stockton and Darlington
Railway, of which Hackworth was the locomotive
foreman. It had the double tube containing the fire
passing along the inside of the boiler, and returning
back to the same end at which it entered. It had also
the steam-blast in the chimney ; but the contraction
of the orifice by which the steam was thrown into the
chimney, for the purpose of intensifying the draught,
being a favourite idea of Mr. Hackworth (though of this
Mr. Goldsworthy Grurney claims the credit), he had
sharpened the blast of his engine in a remarkable
degree ; and this was perhaps the only noticeable feature
in the " Sanspareil."

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.

CHAP. XIII. TRIUMPH OF THE " ROCKET." 271

A defect was also detected in the boiler of the " Sans-
pareil ;" and Mr. Hackworth was allowed some further
time 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 twenty-four toj
thirty miles an hour, much to their gratification an
amazement. Before separating, the judges ordered th
engine to be in readiness by eight o'clock on the follow
ing morning, to go through its definitive trial accordin
to the prescribed conditions.

On the morning of the 8th of October, the " Eocket "
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 fifty pounds
to the square inch. This proceeding occupied fifty-
seven minutes. The engine then started on its journey,
dragging after it about thirteen tons weight in waggons,
and made the first ten trips backwards and forwards
along the two miles of road, running the thirty-five
miles, including stoppages, in an hour and forty-eight
minutes. The second ten trips were in like manner
performed in two hours and three minutes. The maxi-
mum velocity attained during the trial trip was twenty-
nine 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 fifteen
miles an hour, or five 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

272 FAILUEE OF THE OTHER ENGINES. CHAP. XIII.

all false prophets and fickle counsellors, the locomotive
system was now safe. When the " Bocket," 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 ex-
claimed, " 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 seven tons. The engine passed the first post in
good style ; but in returning, the pipe from the forcing-
jpurnp burst and put an end to the trial. The pipe was
jafterwards repaired, and the engine made several trips
by itself, in which it was said to have gone at the rate
of from twenty-four to twenty-eight miles an hour.

r The "Sanspareil" was not ready until the 13th;

/ and when its boiler and tender were filled with water,
it was found to weigh four hundredweight 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 fourteen 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. Then Mr. Hackworth requested the opportunity

CHAP. XIII. THE PKIZE AWARDED. 273

for making another trial of his " Sanspareil." 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 Ibs. per hour when travelling — caused by the sharp-
ness of the steam blast in the chimney, which blew a
large proportion of the burning coke into the air.

The " Perseverance " of Mr. Burstall was found unable!
to move at more than five or six miles an hour ; and itJ
was withdrawn from the contest at an early period]
The " Rocket " was thus the only engine that had per-
formed, and more than performed, all the stipulated
conditions ; and it was declared to be fully entitled to
the prize of 500/., which was awarded to the Messrs.!
Stephenson and Booth accordingly. And further to i
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 thirty-five miles an hour.

The " Rocket " had thus eclipsed the performances of
all locomotive engines that had yet been constructed,
and outstripped even the sanguine anticipations of its
constructors. It satisfactorily answered the report of
Messrs. Walker and Rastrick ; and established the effi-
ciency 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 bound-
less 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 locomotion a
vigorous life, and secured the triumph of the railway

VOL. III. T

274

END OF THE " ROCKET.'

CHAP. XIII.

| system.1 As has been well observed, 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

I lion among machines. The success of the Kainhill experi-

! ment as judged by the public, may be inferred from the

I fact that the shares of the Company immediately rose

| ten per cent., and nothing further was heard of the

t proposed twenty-one fixed engines, engine-houses, ropes,

&c. 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. Cool-
ness gave wTay 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 pur-

1 The immense consequences in-
volved in the success of the " Rocket,"
and the important influence the above
contest, in which it came off the victor,
exercised upon the future development
of the railway system, might have led
one to suppose that the directors of
the Liverpool and Manchester Rail-
way would have regarded the engine
with pride, and cherished it with
care, as warriors prize a trusty weapon
which has borne them victoriously
through some grand historical battle.
The French preserve with the greatest
care the locomotive constructed by
Cugnot, which is to this day to be
seen in the Conservatoire des Arts et
Metiers at Paris. But the " Rocket "
was an engine of much greater histori-
cal interest. And what became of the
" Rocket " ? When heavier and more
powerful engines were brought upon
the road, the old " Rocket," becoming
regarded as a thing of no value, was
sold in 1837. It was purchased by
Mr. Thompson, of Kirkhouse, the
lessee of the Earl of Carlisle's coal
and lime works near Carlisle. He

worked the engine on the Midge-
holme Railway for five or six years,
during which it hauled coals from the
pits to the town. There was wonder-
ful vitality in the old engine, as the
following circumstance proves. W hen
the great contest for the representation
of East Cumberland took place, and
Sir James Graham was superseded by
Major Aglionby, the " Rocket " was
employed to convey the Alston express
with the state of the poll from Midge-
holme to Kirkhouse. On that occa-
sion the engine was driven by Mr.
Mark Thompson, and it ran the dis-
tance of upwards of four miles in four
and a-half minutes, thus reaching a
speed of nearly sixty miles an hour —
proving its still admirable qualities as
an engine. But again it was super-
seded by heavier engines ; for it only
weighed about four tons, whereas the
new engines were at least three times
that weight. The " Rocket " was con-
sequently laid up in ordinary in the
yard at Kirkhouse, where, we believe,
it still remains.

CHAP. XIII. FAIR-WEATHER FRIENDS. 275

sued 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 reso-
lutions eulogising " the great skill and unwearied energy"
of their engineer, he himself, when speaking confiden-
tially 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,
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 w^ere treated by him
as matters of course, and with perfect composifre and
cheerfulness.

RAILWAY versus ROAD.

T 2

276 FIRST JOURNEY ON CHAT MOSS. CHAP. XIV.

CHAPTER XIV.

OPENING OF THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER KAILWAY, AND
EXTENSION OF THE EAILWAY 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 " impossi-
bility ; " and he had constructed a locomotive that
could run at a speed of thirty miles an hour, thus
vanquishing a still more formidable difficulty.

About the middle of 1829 the tunnel at Liverpool was
' finished ; and being lit up with gas, it was publicly
exhibited one day in each week. Many thousand per-
sons visited it at the charge of a shilling a head, — the
fund thus raised being appropriated partly to the support
of the families of labourers who had been injured upon
the line, and partly in contributions to the Manchester
and Liverpool infirmaries. As promised by the en-
gineer, 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, engi-
neers, 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

CHAP. XIV. THE " ARROW." 277

railway. He did not by any means rest satisfied with
the success, decided though it was, which had been
achieved by the " Kocket." He regarded it but in the
light of a successful experiment ; and every succeeding
engine placed upon the railway exhibited some improve-
ment 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 " Eocket " 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 occa-
sion 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 him-
self drove the engine, and Captain Scoresby, the circum-
polar 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 seventeen miles an
hour. On the return journey to Liverpool in the
evening, the " Arrow " crossed Chat Moss at a speed of
nearly twenty-seven miles an hour, .reaching its destina-
tion in about an hour and a half.

In the mean time Mr. Stephenson and his assistant,
Mr. Gooch, 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 carry-

278 THE PUBLIC OPENING. CHAP. XIV.

ing altogether from two to three hundred persons.
These trips were usually made on Saturday afternoons,
when the works could be more conveniently stopped
and the line cleared for the occasion. In these experi-
ments Mr. Stephenson had the able assistance of Mr.
Henry Booth, the secretary of the Company, who con-
trived many of the arrangements in the passenger
carriages, not the least valuable of which was his inven-
tion 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 of September, 1830, and attracted a vast

number of spectators from all parts of the country.

The completion of the railway was justly regarded as

an important national event, and the ceremony of the

opening was celebrated accordingly. The Duke of

Wellington, then Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel,

Secretary of State, Mr. Huskisson, one of the members

br Liverpool and an earnest supporter of the project

Tom its commencement, were amongst the number of

distinguished public personages present.

Eight locomotive engines, constructed at the Stephen-
fcon 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 per-
sons. The " Northumbrian " engine, driven by George
Stephenson himself, headed the line of trains ; then
followed the " Phoenix," driven by Eobert Stephenson ;
the " North Star," by Eobert Stephenson, senior (brother
of Gleorge) ; the " Rocket," by Joseph Locke ; the
" Dart," by Thomas L. Gooch ; the " Comet " by William
Allcard ; the " Arrow," by Frederick Swan wick ; and
the " Meteor," by Anthony Harding. The procession
was cheered in its progress by thousands of spectators-
through the deep ravine of Olive Mount ; up the Sutton

CHAP. XIY. ACCIDENT TO MR. HUSKISSON. 279

incline ; over the great Sankey viaduct, beneath which a
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 twenty-four miles an hour.

At Parkside, about seventeen 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
"Kocket" 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 endea-
voured 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 fifteen miles in twenty-
five minutes, or at the rate of thirty-six miles an hour.
This incredible speed burst upon the world with the
effect of a new and unlooked-for phenomenon.

280 ARRIVAL OF THE TRAINS AT MANCHESTER. CHAP. XIV.

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 Man-
chester 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 ac-
cordingly to proceed to Manchester, but on the under-
standing 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 ele-
ment began to display itself ; placards about " Peterloo,"
&c., 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 time of two hours ; and from that time the
traffic has regularly proceeded from day to day until
now.

CHAP. XIV. THE TRAFFIC BEGUN". 281

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, — relying1 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. In the evidence given before the committee of
the House of Commons, the promoters stated their ex-
pectation of obtaining about one-half of the whole
number of passengers which the coaches then running
could carry, or about 400 a day. But the railway was
scarcely opened before it carried on an average about
1200 passengers daily ; and five years after the opening,
it carried nearly half a million of persons yearly. So|
successful, indeed, was the passenger traffic, that it en-
grossed the whole of the Company's small stock of
engines.

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 exer-
cised— to enable the traveller by railway to accomplish
his journey in safety. After the difficulties of con-
structing a level road over bogs, across valleys, and
through deep cuttings, have been overcome, the main-
tenance of the way has to be provided for with con-
tinuous 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.

282 IMPROVEMENT OF THE ROAD AND PLANT. CHAP. XIV.

Then the stations must be protected by signals observ-
able 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 com-
plicated system of telegraphing which has since been
established.

From an early period it became obvious that the iron
road as originally laid down was quite insufficient for
the heavy traffic which it had to carry. The line was
in the first place laid with fish-bellied rails of 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 loco-
motives 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 considerable 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 neces-
sity 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

CHAP. XIV. THE CARRYING STOCK. 283

all these contrivances, 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 a
curious illustration of the inventive ingenuity which he
displayed in contriving the working of the Liverpool
line, we may mention his invention of the Self-acting
Brake. He early entertained the idea that the momen-
tum 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 Eailway,
though it was afterwards discontinued ; and it is a A
remarkable fact, that this identical plan, with the addi-
tion of a centrifugal apparatus, has quite recently been
revived by M. Gruerin, a French engineer, and exten-
sively 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 improve-
ment of the power and speed of the locomotive — always
the grand object of his study, — with a view to economy
as well as regularity in the working of the railway. In
the " Planet " engine, delivered upon the line immediately/
subsequent to the public opening, all the improvements
which had up to this time been contrived by him and
his son were introduced in combination — the blast-pipe,
the tubular boiler, horizontal cylinders inside the smoke-

284 IMPROVEMENT OF THE LOCOMOTIVE. CHAP. XIV.

x, the cranked axle, and the fire-box firmly fixed to
the boiler. The first load of goods conveyed from Liver-
pool to Manchester by the " Planet" was eighty tons in
weight, and the engine performed the journey against a
strong head wind in two hours and a half. On another
occasion, the same engine brought up a cargo of voters
from Manchester to Liverpool, during a contested elec-
tion, 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 one hundred and fifty tons,
at a speed of about twenty miles an hour ; the consump-
tion of coke being reduced to only about a third of a
pound per ton per mile.

The rapid progress thus made will show that the
inventive faculties of Mr. Stephenson and his son were
kept fully on the stretch ; but their labours were amply
repaid by the result. They were, doubtless, to some
extent stimulated by the number of competitors who
about the same time appeared as improvers of the loco-
/ motive engine. Of these, the most prominent were the
I Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson, whose engine, the
/ " Novelty," had excited such high expectations at the
' Rainhill competition. The directors of the railway,
desirous of giving all parties a fair chance, ordered from
those makers two engines on the same model ; but their
performances not proving satisfactory, they were finally
withdrawn. One of them slipped off the rails near the
Sankey viaduct, and was nearly thrown over the em-
bankment. The superiority of Mr. Stephenson's loco-
motives over all others that had yet been tried, induced
the directors of the railway to require that the engines

CHAP. XIV, THE RAILWAY WORKMEN. 285

supplied to them by other builders should be constructed
after the same model. Mr. Stephenson himself always
had the greatest faith in the superiority of his own
engines over all others, and did not hesitate strongly to
declare it. When it was once proposed to introduce the
engines of another maker on the Manchester and Leeds
line, he said, " Yery well ; I have no objection : but put
them to this fair test. Hang one of - — 's engines on
to one of mine, back to back. Then let them go at it ;
and whichever walks away with the other, tliafs the
engine."

The engineer had also to seek out the proper men to
maintain and watch the road, and more especially to
work the locomotive engines. Steadiness, sobriety, com-
mon sense, and practical experience, were the qualities
which he especially valued in those selected by him for
that purpose. But where were the men of experience
to be found ? Yery few railways were yet at work, and
these were almost exclusively confined to the northern
coal counties ; hence a considerable proportion of the
drivers and firemen employed on the Liverpool line
were brought from the neighbourhood of Newcastle.
Mr. Stephenson was, however, severely censured in the
' Edinburgh Review ' for the alleged preference shown
by him in selecting workmen from his own county. It
was there insisted that the local population had the first
claim to be employed, and he was blamed for " intro-
ducing into the country a numerous body of workmen,
in various capacities, strangers to the soil and to the
surrounding population ; thus wresting from the hands
of those to whom they had naturally belonged, all the
benefits which the enterprise and capital of the district
had conferred." In the case of the drivers of stage-
coaches, it was never regarded as a qualification for the
performance of their duties that they should be natives
of the parishes through which the coaches ran, but
mainly that they should know something of the business

286 THE ENGINE-DKIVEKS. CHAP. X1Y.

of coach-driving. Mr. Stephenson merely adopted the
same course in selecting his drivers and firemen ; and
though Durham and Northumberland supplied a con-
siderable proportion of them in the first instance, he could
not always find skilled workmen enough for the im-
portant and responsible duties to be performed. It was
a saying of his, that " he could engineer matter very
well, and make it bend to his purpose, but his greatest
difficulty was in engineering men!'

Mr. Stephenson did not think it necessary to vindicate
himself from the above charge, but Mr. Hardman Earle,
one of the directors of the Company, did so in an
effectual manner, showing that of the six hundred per-
sons employed in the working of the Liverpool line,
not more than sixty had been recommended by their
engineer, and of these a considerable number were per-
sonally unknown to him. Some of them, indeed, had
been brought up under his own eye, and were men
whose character and qualifications he could vouch for.
But these were not nearly enough for his purpose ; and
he often wished that he could contrive heads and hands
on which he might rely, as easily as he could construct
railways and manufacture locomotives. As it was,
Stephenson' s mechanics were in request all over Eng-
~)land ; the Newcastle workshops continuing for many
/years to perform the part of a training school for en-
i gineers, and to supply locomotive superintendents and
* drivers, not only for England but for nearly every
country in Europe ; preference being given to them by
the directors of railways, in consequence of their pre-
vious training and experience, as well as because of
their generally excellent ( qualities as steady and indus-
trious workmen.

The success of the Liverpool and Manchester experi-
ment naturally excited great interest. People flocked to
Lancashire from all quarters to see the steam-coach run-
ning upon a railway at three times the speed of a mail-

CHAP. XIV. THE RAILWAY A WONDER. 287

coach, 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. Eailways 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.

In remote districts, however, the stories told about
the benefits conferred by the Liverpool railway were
received with considerable incredulity, and the pro-
posal to extend such roads in all directions through-
out the country caused great alarm. In the districts
through which stage-coaches ran, giving employment
to large numbers of persons, it was apprehended
that, if railways were established, the turnpike-roads
would become deserted and grown over with grass,
country inns and their buxom landladies would be
ruined, the race of coach-drivers and hostlers would
become extinct, and the breed of horses be entirely
destroyed. But there was hope for the coaching interest,
in the fact that the Government were employing their
engineers to improve the public high roads so as to
render railways unnecessary. It was announced in the
papers that a saving of thirty miles would be effected by
the new road between London and Holyhead, and an
equal saving between London and Edinburgh. And to
show what the speed of horses could accomplish, we find
it set forth as an extraordinary fact, that the " Patent
Tallyho Coach," in the year 1830 (when the Birming-
ham line had been projected), performed the entire
journey of 109 miles between London and Birmingham
—breakfast included — in seven hours and fifty minutes !
Great speed was also recorded on the Brighton road, the
" Red Rover " doing the distance between London and
Brighton in four hours and a half. These speeds were

288 THE GOVERNMENT AND RAILWAYS. CHAP. XIV.

not, however, secured without accidents, for there was
scarcely a newspaper of the period that did not contain
one or more paragraphs headed, " Another dreadful coach
accident."

The practicability of railway locomotion being now
proved, and its great social and commercial advantages
ascertained, the extension of the system was merely a
question of time, money, and labour. A fine oppor-
tunity presented itself for the wise and judicious action
of the Government in the matter, — the improvement of
the internal communications of a country being really
one of its most important functions. But the Govern-
ment of the day, though ready enough to spend money
in improvements of the old turnpike roads, regarded the
railroads with hostility, and met them with obstructions
of all kinds. They seemed to think it their duty to
protect the turnpike trusts, disregarding the paramount
interest of the public. This may possibly account for
the singular circumstance that, at the very time they
were manifesting indifference or aversion to the loco-
motive on the railroad, they were giving every encourage-
ment to the locomotive on turnpike roads. In 1831, we
find a Committee of the House of Commons appointed
to inquire into and report upon — not the railway system
—but the applicability of the steam carriage to common
roads ; and, after investigation, the committee were so
satisfied with the evidence taken, that they reported
decidedly in favour of the road locomotive system,
i Though they ignored the railway, they recognised the
I steam carriage.

/I But even a Eeport of the House of Commons — power-
ful though it be — cannot alter the laws of gravity and
friction ; and the road locomotive remained, what it ever
<\vill be, an impracticable machine. Not that it is im-
possible to work a locomotive upon a common road ;
but to work it to any profit at all as compared with the
locomotive upon a railway. Numerous trials of steam

CHAP. XIV. KG AD LOCOMOTION. 28U

carriages were made at the time by Sir Charles Dance,
Mr. Hancock, Mr. Gurney, Sir James Anderson, and
other distinguished gentlemen of influence. Journalists
extolled their utility, compared with " the much-boasted
application on railroads."1 But notwithstanding all this,
and the House of Commons' Report in its favour, Mr.
Stephensoii's first verdict, pronounced upon the road
locomotive many years before, when he was only an
engine- wright at Killingworth, was fully borne out by
the result ; and it became day by day clearer that the
attempt to introduce the engine into general use upon
turnpike roads could only prove a delusion and a snare.

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 individual-
ism ; and not improbably their admirable qualities in
the latter respect detract from their efficiency in the
former. Thus, in all times, their greatest national enter-
prises 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. Hence railway exten
sion, like so many other great English enterprises,
now left to be carried out by the genius of Engli
engineers, backed by the energy of the English public.

The mode of action 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 con-

Letter of Mr. John Herapath in | riages, see ' The Economy of Steam-
Mcchanics' Magazine,' vol. xv. p. I power on Common Roads,' by C. F.

123. For full information as to the

T. Young, C.E. London, 1861.

various trials made with steam-car-

VOL. III. U

290 NEW LINES. CHAP. XIV.

formable to our national habits, and fit well into our
system of laws. They combine the power of vast re-
sources with individual watchfulness and motives of
self-interest ; and by their means gigantic undertakings,
which elsewhere 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 Eng-
land engaged in railway extension have, in the face of
Government obstructions, and without taking a penny
from the public purse, executed a system of communi-
cations involving works of the most gigantic kind, which,
in their total mass, their cost, and their eminent 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. During the formation of
the Manchester and Liverpool line, he had been con-
sulted respecting many projects of a similar kind. One
of these was a short railway between Canterbury and
Whitstable, about six miles in length. He was too
much occupied with the works at Liverpool to give this
scheme much of his personal attention. But he sent
his assistant, Mr. John Dixon, to survey the line ; and
afterwards Mr. Locke to superintend the execution of
the works. The act was obtained in 1826, and the line
was opened for traffic in 1830. It was partly worked
by fixed engine-power, and partly by Stephenson' s loco-
motives, similar to the engines used upon the Stockton
and Darlington Railway.

But the desire for railway extension principally per-
vaded the manufacturing districts, especially after the
successful opening of the Liverpool and Manchester line.
The commercial classes of the larger towns soon became

CHAP. XIV. NEW ENGINEERS. 291

eager for a participation in the good which they had so
recently derided. Eailway 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 early history of the rail-
way and the steps by which it was mainly established.
TVe naturally sympathise more keenly with the early
struggles of a great principle, its trials and its diffi-
culties, 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 Man-
chester 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 navi-
gators to find America after Columbus had made the
first voyage. George Stephenson had shown the way,
and engineers forthwith crowded after him full of great
projects. Mr. Francis Giles himself took the field as a
locomotive railway engineer, attaching himself to the
Newcastle and Carlisle and London and Southampton
projects. Mr. Brunei appeared, in like manner, as the en-
gineer of the line projected between London and Bristol ;
and Mr. Braithwaite, the builder of the " Novelty "
engine, as the engineer of a line from London to
Colchester.

The first lines, however, which were actually con-
structed subsequent to the opening of the Liverpool and

u 2

292 THE GRAND JUNCTION. CHAP. XIV.

Manchester Railway, were in connexion 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 War-
rington on the south of the same line, were also formed.
A continuation of the latter, as far south as Birming-
ham, was shortly after projected under the name of the
Grand Junction Railway.

The Grand Junction 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 wrere
deposited, but the bill was thrown out on the opposition
of the landowners and canal proprietors. When en-
gaged in making the survey, Mr. Stephenson called
upon some of the landowners in the neighbourhood of
Nantwich to obtain their assent, and was somewhat dis-
gusted 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 deter-
mined to wait the issue of the Liverpool and Manchester
experiment. The act was eventually obtained in 1833,
by which time the projectors of railways had learnt
the art of " conciliating " the landlords, — and a very
expensive process it proved. But it was the only
mode of avoiding a still more expensive parliamentary
opposition.

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

CHAP. XIV. HORROR OF RAILWAYS. 2tl3

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 ! " Mr.
Berkeley, the member for Cheltenham, at a public
meeting in that town, re-echoed Colonel Sibthorpe's
sentiments, and "wished that the concoctors of every
such scheme, with their solicitors and engineers, were at
rest in Paradise ! " The impression prevailed amongst
the rural classes, 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 I
and farmers reduced to beggary, the poor-rates increased
through the number of persons thrown out of employ-
ment by the railways, — and all this in order that Liver-
pool, 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
rnre passed close to the handsome town of Northamp-
tpn, and was so projected. But the inhabitants of the
e, 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. The neces-
sity was thus involved of distorting the line, by which
the enormous expense of constructing the Kilsby Tunnel
was incurred. Not many years elapsed before the
inhabitants of Northampton became clamorous for rail-

294 OPPOSITION TO EAILWAYS. CHAP. XIV.

way accommodation, and a special branch was con-
structed for them. The additional cost involved by this
forced deviation of the line could not have amounted to
less than half a million sterling ; the loss falling, not upon
the shareholders only, but mainly upon the public.

Other towns in the south followed the example of
Northampton in howling down the railways. Thus,
when it was proposed to carry a line through Kent, by
the populous county town of Maidstone, a public meeting
was held to oppose the project, and the railway had not
a single supporter amongst the townspeople. When at
length formed through Kent, it passed Maidstone at a
distance ; but in a few years the Maidstone burgesses,
like those of Northampton, became clamorous for a
railway ; and a branch was formed for their accommo-
dation. Again, in a few years, they complained that
the route was circuitous, as they had compelled it to be ;
consequently another and shorter line was formed, to
bring Maidstone into more direct communication with
the metropolis ; and it is expected that even a third line
to the same place will shortly be under construction !
In like manner the London and Bristol (afterwards the
Great Western) Railway was vehemently opposed by
the people of the towns through .which the line was
projected to pass ; and when the bill was thrown out by
the Lords — after 30,000/. had been expended by the
promoters — the inhabitants of Eton assembled, under
the presidency of the Marquis of Chandos, to rejoice
and congratulate themselves and the country on the
defeat of the measure. Eton, however, has now the
convenience of two railways to the metropolis.

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

CHAP. XIV.

LEICESTER AND SWANNINGTON.

295

of the county. Mr. Ellis, afterwards chairman of the
Midland Railway — like Edward Pease, a member of the
Society of Friends — was the projector of this under-
taking. He had some difficulty, however, in getting
the requisite capital subscribed for, the Leicester towns-
people who had money being for the most part interested
in canals. Mr. Ellis went over to Liverpool to invite
George Stephenson 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 con-
cern. " 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 wras 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 per-

i^.^gr^ -**sw\v*u**n son ne COIL^ recommend ?
' A6 H " Well," said he, " I think

my son Robert is com-
petent to undertake the
thing." Would Mr. Ste-
phenson be answerable for
him ? " Oh, yes, certainly."
And Robert Stephenson, at
twenty-seven years of age,
was installed engineer of
the line accordingly.

The requisite
Parliamentary

powers having
been obtained,
Robert Ste-
phenson pro-
ceeded with the
construction of
the railway,
about sixteen

MAP OF LEICESTER AMD SWANNINGTON RAILWAY.

29G

ROBERT ACTS AS ENGINEER.

CHAP. XIV.

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 a mile and
three-quarters, and 500 yards of its course lay through
loose running sand. The presence of this material ren-
dered it necessary for the engineer, in the first place, to
construct a wooden tunnel to support the soil while the
brickwork was being executed. This measure 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 correspond-
ence with his father at Liverpool, consulting him on all
points in which his greater experience was likely to be
of service. Like his father, Eobert 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 engi-
neer'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.1 The estate lay in the immediate
neighbourhood of the railway ; and if the conjecture
proved correct, the finding of the coal must necessarily
prove a most fortunate circumstance for the purchasers

1 George Stephenson was himself
always on the look-out for new coal-
fields, and eventually became a large
coal-owner in the neighbourhood of
Chesterfield, through discovering new
beds of that mineral while construct-
ing the Midland Railway. As early
as 1824 we find, from a letter written
by him to Mr. Sandars, of Liverpool,
handed to us by Robert Stephenson,
that he was actively speculating on the
subject of the strata underlying the
line of the then proposed Liverpool and
Manchester Railway. " On my way
to Bolton," said he, u and whilst at
Bolton, I collected a great deal of use-
ful information respecting the coal-

fields in that neighbourhood. It is
my opinion that coal will be found
under Chat Moss. I think there will
be none under Kirkby Moss, but im-
mediately on the south-east point of
Mossbro Road, from where the rail-
road crosses, I think it will be found ;
and I believe the coal-field will pass
up, even under Knowsley Hall, and
continue through the whole of that
high country by Prescott. But I
should not advise any purchase to be
made of coal-fields until a closer inves-
tigation is made, even though you
were certain of the Act passing." We
are not aware whether these specula-
tions have been verified or not.

CHAP. XIV. CiEORGE BUYS SNIBSTON. 297

of the land. He accordingly requested his father to
come over to Siiibston 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 exclu-
sively supplied with coal brought by canal from Derby-
shire ; 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 Snib-
ston 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 commenced, 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,"1 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 greenstone, which had originally
been poured out as a sheet of burning lava over the

1 Tubbing is now adopted in many | three-eighths of an inch thick. These
cases as a substitute for brick-walling, j pieces are fitted closely together,
The tubbing consists of short portions ! length under length, and form an im-

of cast-iron cylinder fixed in segments, i permeable wall along the sides of the
Each weighs about 4£ cwt., is about ! pit.
three or four feet long, and about |

298 SINKS FOR COAL AND SUCCEEDS. CHAP. XIV.

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 upon 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 shafts1 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 there 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 manu-
facturing prosperity of the place, which has continued
down to the present day. The correct and scientific prin-
ciples upon which the mining operations at Snibston were
conducted offered a salutary example to the neighbour-
ing 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 interests.

1 Mr. Stephenson was strongly in j safety of the persons working in the

favour of working and ventilating coal- pit, in the event of the occurrence of

mines by means of more shafts than any of the numerous accidents inci-

one. He considered the provision of dent to coal-mining,
at least a second shaft essential for the

CHAP. XIV. STIMULATES LOCAL ENTERPRIZE. 299

At the same time Mr. Stephenson endeavoured to
extend the benefit of railways throughout the district in
which he now resided. He suggested to Lord Stamford
the importance of constructing a branch line from the
Leicester and Swannington Railway through his pro-
perty, principally for the purpose of opening out his
fine granite quarries at Groby. The valuable advice
was taken by Lord Stamford, and Mr. Stephenson laid
out the line for him and superintended the works gra-
tuitously. Another improvement which he effected for
Lord Talbot proved of even greater pecuniary value.
He contrived for his Lordship, with no slight difficulty,
a plan for "tubbing off" the fresh water from the salt
at his mines near Tamworth, which enabled the salt-
works there to be subsequently carried on to a great
profit, which had not before been practicable. Mr.
Stephenson was less successful in his endeavours to
induce the late Marquis of Hastings to consent to the
Birmingham and Derby Railway, of which he was the
engineer, passing through the mineral district of Ashby-
de-la-Zouch. The Marquis was the principal owner of
the colliery property in the neighbourhood, and Mr.
Stephenson calculated upon his Lordship's influence in
support of a scheme so certain to increase the value of
his estate. But the Marquis, like many others of his
class, did not yet detect the great advantages of rail-
ways, and he threatened his determined opposition if
the Derby line were attempted to be brought through
his coal-field. The line was consequentlv taken further
to the west, by way of Burton ; and thus Ashby for a
time lost the benefits of railway communication. Twenty
years elapsed before Mr. Stephenson' s designs for its
accommodation were carried into effect.

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

300

CAKE FOR HIS WORKPEOPLE.

CHAP. XIV.

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 accommoda-
tion of his workpeople. He erected a village of com-
fortable 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 pro-
vided 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.

EPHENSON'S HODSE AT ALTON GRANGE

s '//. y/ // .

'

/';K W.HtiUs, aftfj- as pJwtoqrapIv fyy

.'

CHAP. XV. LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM LINE PROJECTED. 301

CHAPTEK XV.

EGBERT 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
must 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.
There was at that early period less of the fighting spirit
amongst railway projectors which unhappily, prevailed
at a later date. The simple object of the promoters of
both schemes being" to secure the advantages of .railway
communication with the metropolis, they .wisely deter-
mined 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 deci-
sion, 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

302 THE ENGINEERS APPOINTED. CHAP. XV.

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 two walked into St.
Philip's churchyard, which adjoined the place of meet-
ing, and debated the proposal. The father was in favour
of accepting it. His struggle heretofore had been so
hard, that he could not bear the thought 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 to his father the answer which Mr. Brad-
shaw gave, when shares in the Liverpool and Manchester
line were offered to the Duke of Bridgewater's Trustees
— "All or none!" "Well, I believe you are right,"
said Mr. Stephenson ; and returning to the Committee,
he announced to them his decision. "Then 'all' be it !"
replied the Chairman ; and he was at once appointed
the engineer of the London and Birmingham Eailway
in conjunction with his son.

The line, as originally laid out, was to have had its
London terminus at Maiden Lane, King's Cross, the site
of the present Great Northern Station : it passed through
Cashiobury and Grove Parks, the seats of Lord Essex
and Lord Clarendon, and along the Hemel Hempstead
and Little Goddesden valleys, in Hertfordshire. This
latter portion of the project excited a vehement oppo-
sition on the part of the landowners, who formed a
powerful confederacy against the bill. The principal
parties who took an active part in the opposition were
Lady Bridgewater and her trustees, Lord Essex, and
Sir Astley Cooper, supported by the Grand Junction
Canal •Company. By their influence the landowners
throughout the counties of Hertford and Buckingham
organised themselves to oppose the measure. The
time for preparing the plans to be deposited with the
several clerks of the peace, as required by the standing

CHAP. XV. THE RAILWAY OPPOSED. 303

orders of Parliament, being very limited, the necessary
documents were prepared in great haste, and were
deposited in such an imperfect state as to give just
grounds for presuming that they would not pass the
ordeal of the Standing Orders Committee. It was also
thought that alterations might be made in some parts of
the railway which would remove the objections of the
principal landowners, and it was therefore determined
to postpone the application to Parliament until the
following session.

In the mean time the opponents of the bill out of
doors were not idle. Numerous pamphlets w^ere pub-
lished, 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 in decrying and
opposing the project. The failure of railways was con-
fidently predicted — indeed, it was elaborately attempted
to be proved that they had failed ;* and it was indus-
triously spread abroad that the locomotive engines,
1 laving been found useless and highly dangerous on the
Liverpool and Manchester line, were immediately to be

1 In a book published in 1834, en- still further improved, and steam-
titled * Railroad Impositions Detected,' carriages will be in the field many
by Richard Cort, son of the inventor times more profitable than railways
of the iron-puddling process, the ever can be, and eventually quite as
" Bubble Railway Speculations " of expeditious." And again : — " As an
the time were strongly inveighed additional comfort to shareholders in
against. The writer proved incontro- the London and Birmingham Railway,
vertibly, to his own satisfaction, that it should be observed that in less than
the Liverpool and Manchester line twelve months from the passing of the
had not, during the time it had been Bill for the Granite Road from Lon-
at work, made so much as one per don to Birmingham, now actually
cent, profit, and that it must soon planning side by side of that unfortu-
to pay any dividend whatever, nate speculation, the stone tramway
and involve its proprietors in hopeless will be ready to receive steam-car-
ruin. With canals and common roads, riages, to enable them to run quite as
however, the case was altogether dil- fast as the iron railway-coaches. If
ferent. " Long before any more new this be true, who will subscribe one
lines can be constructed," said the farthing to the Birmingham railway ? "
writer, " inland navigation will be

304

PUBLIC MEETINGS HELD.

CHAP. XV.

abandoned in favour of horses — a rumour which the
directors of the Company considered it necessary publicly
to contradict.

Public meetings were held in all the counties through
which the line would pass between London and Bir-
mingham, at which the project was denounced, and
strong resolutions were passed against it. The county
meetings of Northampton1 were held at Towcester ; of
Bedford at Leighton Buzzard ; of Buckingham at Stony
Stratford ; of Hertford at Watford and Great Berkh amp-
stead ; and of Middlesex, in Exeter Hall, London. It

1 The opposition of the town of
Northampton, above referred to (p.
293), was generally understood at the
time to have had the effect of compel-
ling the engineer to deviate the line so
as to avoid that place, and to render
necessary the construction of the
Kilsby Tunnel. This had been often
stated without contradiction, and was
repeated in the first edition of this
work, published in 1857. That state-
ment having come under the notice of
Mr. W. T. Higgins, Mayor of North-
ampton at the time, he addressed a
letter to the ' Times,' dated Septem-
ber 19th, of that year, enclosing the
copy of a resolution passed at a public
meeting of the inhabitants held in
November, 1830— " That it is the
opinion of this meeting that it is
highly desirable that such railway
should approach as near to the town
of Northampton as possible." On
this the author wrote to Robert Ste-
phenson for further information, and
the following was his reply, dated
30th September, 1857 :— " It may be
quite true what the Mayor of North-
ampton says, but it certainly does
not convey the whole truth. Meet-
ings were held in almost every {own
on the line, both for and against the
railway, but Northampton distin-
guished itself by being rather more
furious than other places in opposition
to railways, and begged that the line
might be kept away from them. It
is true that the low level of North-
ampton presented a very great objec-
tion to the line approaching it nearer

than it does ; but I had a strong lean-
ing for that direction, because it would
have admitted of the line approaching
the Kilsby ridge up the Althorp val-
ley in a favourable manner. I was
anxious to go in that direction for
another reason, viz., that the line
would have reached a point better
calculated than Rugby for command-
ing the midland and northern coun-
ties. If you look at the map, you
will easily see the bearing of this
view. The line by Banbury and
Warwick I soon abandoned, in conse-
quence of feeling the absolute im-
portance of enabling the London and
Birmingham to command the mid-
land counties and the districts now
traversed by the North Midland. No-
thing saved a direct line to Man-
chester in 1845, but the general posi-
tion of the London and Birmingham,
and especially the bending northwards
and passing through Rugby, instead
of bending southwards, and passing
through Banbury and Warwick, which
latter course was strongly urged upon
me by some of the most influential
Birmingham people. Few persons
have any notion of how completely
the whole system of our railways has
been influenced by the bend north-
wards at Rugby, to which I have re-
ferred. Scarcely a single line that
now exists to the north of that point
would have been made as it now is,
but for the determination I then
formed as to the direction in which
the railway should be constructed."

CHAP. XV. INTERVIEW WITH SIR A. COOPER. 305

was insisted at those meetings that there was no necessity
whatever for accelerating the existing communications,
there being already abundant means of conveyance for
travellers by the coaches daily travelling through the
district at ten miles an hour, whilst there was water-
carriage for heavy goods to a much greater extent than
had ever been required. Deputations from the pro-
moters of the railway attended some of these meetings
for the purpose of stating their case, but the land-
owners would not permit them to be heard. The Earls
of Clarendon and Essex were the most powerful oppo-
nents of the measure, and the other landed proprietors
followed in their wake. The attempt was made to
conciliate these landlords by explanations, but all such
efforts proved futile.

" I remember," said Robert Stephenson, describing
the opposition, c< 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 house was at
Hemel Hempstead, and the line was so laid out as to
pass 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 oppo-
sition to it. No deviation or improvement that we could
suggest had the slightest effect in conciliating him. He
was opposed to railways generally, and to this in parti-
cular. ' 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 ! '

VOL. III. X

306 THE SURVEY OBSTRUCTED. CHAP. XV.

We left the honourable baronet without having pro-
duced the slightest effect upon him, excepting perhaps,
it might be, increased exasperation against our scheme.
I 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 contem-
plating the destruction of the noblesse, because we pro-
pose 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 ex-
traordinary 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 sur-
veyors 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 con-
cluded 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. He was ably supported by his staff of surveyors
under the direction of Mr. Grooch, whose united perse-
verance eventually overcame all obstacles ; and by the
end of 1831 the requisite plans were deposited prepara-

CHAP. XV. THE LINE DIVERTED. 307

tory to an application being made to Parliament in the j
ensuing session.

The principal alterations made in the new line were
at the London end ; the terminus being changed from
Maiden Lane to a large piece of open land adjoining the
Regent's Canal — the site of the present London and
North- Western Goods Station ; and also at Watford,
where the direction of the line was altered so as en-
tirely to avoid the parks of Lords Essex and Clarendon.
This latter diversion, however, inflicted on the public
the inconvenience of the Watford Tunnel, about a mile
in length, and on the company a largely increased out-
lay for its construction. The Hemel Hempstead and
Goddesden valleys were also avoided, and the line
proceeded by the towns of Berkhampstead and Tring.

It was expected that these alterations would have the
effect of mitigating, if not of entirely averting, the
powerful opposition of the landowners ; but it was
found, on the contrary, to become more violent than
ever, although the grounds of complaint in regard to
their parks and residences had been almost entirely
removed. The most exaggerated alarms continued to be
entertained, especially by those who had never seen a
railway; and although there were a few country gentle-
men who took a different view of the subject, when the I
bill for the altered line was introduced into Parliament
in the session of 1832, the owners of nearly seven-eighths
of the land required for the railway were returned as
dissentients. It was, however, a noticeable fact, that
Lords Derby and Sefton, who had so vehemently
opposed the Liverpool Railway in all its stages, were
found among the assentients to the London and Bir-
mingham line. The scheme had, it is true, many
warm friends and supporters, but these were princi-
pally confined to classes possessing more intelligence
than influence. Indeed, the change which was rapidly
taking place in public opinion on the subject of rail-

x 2

308 OPPOSITION TO THE BILL. CHAP. XV.

ways induced the promoters to anticipate a favourable
issue to their application, notwithstanding the hostility
of the landowners. They also drew a favourable
augury from the fact that the Grand Junction Canal
Company, although still opposing the measure as strenu-
ously as ever, so far as the influence of its proprietors
collectively and individually extended, and watching all
the proceedings of the bill with a jealous eye, did not
openly appear in the ranks of its opponents, and, what
was of still greater significance, did not open their
purse-strings to supply funds for the opposition.

When the bill went before the Committee of the Com-
mons, 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 demon-
strated ; and the engineering evidence was regarded as
quite satisfactory. So strong an impression was made
upon the Committee, that the result was no longer doubt-
ful so far as the Commons were concerned ; but it was
considered very desirable that the case should be fully
brought out in evidence for the information of the public,
and the whole of the witnesses in support of the bill,
about a hundred in number, were examined at great
length. The opponents confined themselves principally
to cross-examination, without producing direct evidence
of their own ; reserving their main opposition for the
House of Lords, where they knew that their strength
lay. 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 House of Lords, and went into
Committee, when a similar mass of testimony was again
gone through during seven days. An overwhelming

(HAP. XV. THROWN OUT IN THE LOKDS. 309

case was made out as before ; though an attempt was
made to break down the evidence of the witnesses on
cross-examination. The feasibility of the route was
questioned, and the greatest conceivable difficulties were
suggested. Their lordships seemed to take quite a
paternal interest in the protection of the public against
possible loss by the formation of the line. The Com-
mittee required that the promoters should prove the
traffic to be brought upon the railway, and that the
profits derived from the working should pay a divi-
dend of from six to eight per cent, upon the money
invested. A few years after, the policy of Parlia-
ment completely changed in this respect. When the
landed interest found railway companies paying from
six to ten times the marketable value of the land taken,
they were ready to grant duplicate lines through the
same districts, without proving any traffic whatever.

It soon became evident, after the proceedings had
been opened before the Committee of the Lords, that
the fate of the bill had been determined before 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 land-
owners, 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
negociation was made in the course of the proceedings
in committee, but failed, and the bill was thrown outi
on the motion of Earl Brownlow, one of Lady Bridge-
water's trustees ; but though carried by a large majority,
the vote was far from unanimous.

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/J
had been expended in preliminary and parliamentary!
expenses up to this stage ; but the promoters deter-1

310 THE PROJECT REVIVED. CHAP. XV.

mined not to look back, and forthwith made arrange-
ments for prosecuting the bill in a future session. A
[ meeting of the friends of the measure was held in
| London, attended by members of both Houses of
Parliament, and by leading bankers and merchants ;
and a series of resolutions was passed, declaring their
conviction of the necessity for the railway, and depre-
cating the opposition by which it had been encountered.
Lord Wharncliffe, who had acted as the chairman of the
Lords' Committee, attributed the failure of the bill en-
tirely to the landowners; and Mr. Grlyn subsequently
declared that they had tried to smother the bill by the
high price which they demanded for their property. It
was determined to reintroduce the bill in the following
session (1833), and measures were taken to prosecute it
vigorously. Strange to say, the bill on this occasion
passed both Houses silently and almost without oppo-
sition. 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 oppo-
nents ; that " these measures had been successful to a
greater extent than they had ventured to anticipate ;
and the most active and formidable had been concili-
ated." An instructive commentary on the mode by
which these noble lords and influential landed pro-
prietors had been " conciliated," is found in the simple
fact that the estimate for land was nearly trebled,
and that the owners were paid about 7 50, GOO/, for
what had been originally estimated at 2 5 0,00 O/. The
total expenses of carrying the bill through Parliament
amounted to the frightful sum of 7 2,86 SI.

The landowners having thus been " conciliated," the
promoters of the measure were at length permitted to
proceed with the formation of their great highway, and
allowed to benefit the country by carrying out one of
the grandest public works that has ever been executed

CHAP. XV. THE BILL PASSED AND WORKS LET. 311

iii England, the utility of which may almost be pro-
nounced unparalleled. Eighty miles of the railway
were shortly under construction; the works were letl
(within the estimates) to contractors, who were neces-l
sarily for the most part new to such work. The business I
of railway construction was not then well understood.
There were no leviathans among contractors as now,
able to undertake the formation of a line of railway
hundreds of miles in length ; they were for the most
part men of small capital and slender experience. Their
tools and machinery were imperfect; they did not
understand the economy of time and piece labour ; the
workmen, as well as their masters, had still to learn
their trade ; and every movement of an engineer was
attended with outlays, which were the inevitable result
of a new system of things, but which each succeeding
day's experience tended to diminish.

The difficulties encountered by Eobert Stephenson
in constructing the line were thus very great ; but the
most formidable of them originated in the character of
the works themselves. Extensive tunnels had to be
driven through unknown strata, and miles of under-
ground excavation had to be carried out in order to
form a level road from valley to valley under the inter-
vening ridges. This kind of work was the newest of
all to the contractors of that day. The experience of
the Messrs. Stephenson in the collieries of the North,
made them, of all living engineers, the best fitted to
grapple with such difficulties ; yet even they, with all
their practical knowledge, could scarcely have foreseen
or anticipated the serious obstacles they were called
upon to encounter and overcome in executing the for-
midable cuttings, embankments, and tunnels of the
London and Birmingham Eailway. It would be an
uninteresting, as it would be a fruitless task, to attempt
to describe these works in detail ; but a general outline
of their extraordinary character and extent may not be
out of place.

312

CONSTRUCTION OF THE LINE.

CHAP. XV.

m

The length of railway to be con-
structed between London and Bir-
mingham was 112^- miles. The line
crossed a series of low-lying districts
separated from each other by con-
siderable ridges of hills ; and it was
the object of the engineer to cross
the valleys at as high an elevation,
and the hills at as low a one, as
possible. The high ground was there-
fore 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 work-
ing of the locomotive engine. In
some places, the high grounds were
passed in open cuttings, as at the
Oxhey summit near Harrow, Duds-
well, Tring, Denbigh Hall, and Blis-
worth ; whilst in others it was neces-
sary to bore through them in tunnels
with deep cuttings at either end, as at
Primrose Hill, Watford, and Kilsby.

The most formidable excavations
on the line are those at Tring, Den-
bigh Hall, and Blisworth. The Tring
cutting is an immense chasm across
the great chalk ridge of Ivinghoe.
It is two miles and a half long, and
for a quarter of a mile is fifty-seven
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

THE BLISWORTH CUTTING.

313

nearly six miles long and about thirty feet high.
Passing over the Denbigh Hall cutting, and the Wol-
verton embankment of a mile and a half 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.

The Blisworth Cutting is one of the longest and deepest

BJLIS WORTH CUTTING. [By Pereival Skelton.]

grooves ever cut in the solid earth. It is a mile and a
half long, in some places sixty-five feet deep, passing
through earth, stiff clay, and hard rock. Not less than
a million cubic yards of these materials were dug, quar-
ried, 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 con-

314 THE BLISWORTH CUTTING. CHAP. XV.

tending 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 either end of the cutting, to drag
away the excavated rock and clay ; and eight hundred
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 twenty-five barrels of gun-
powder were exploded weekly ; the total quantity used
in forming this one cutting being about three thousand
barrels. Considerable difficulty was experienced in sup-
porting the bed of rock cut through, which overlaid
the clay and shale along either 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 suc-
cessful 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

CHAP. XV. KILSBY TUNNEL. 315

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, as afterwards happened in the
case of the short Preston Brook tunnel upon the Grand
Junction Railway, constructed by his father. He stated
that the pressure behind the brickwork was such, that it
made the face of the bricks to fly oif in minute chips,
which covered his clothes whilst he was inspecting the
work. The materials used in the building were, how-
ever, of excellent quality ; and the work 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 this country.
It is about two thousand four hundred yards long,
and runs at an average depth of about a hundred and
sixty 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 some seven miles to the eastward.

Previous to the letting of the contract, the character
of the underground soil was fairly tested by trial shafts,
which indicated that it consisted of shale of the lower
oolite, and it was let accordingly. But the works had
scarcely been commenced when it was discovered that at
an interval between the two trial-shafts which had been
sunk about two hundred yards from the south end of
the tunnel, there existed an extensive quicksand under
a bed of clay forty 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

316

THE KILSBY TUNNEL.

CHAP. XV.

LINE OF THE SHAFTS OVER KILSBY TUNNEL. [By Fercival Skelton.j

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. The contractor, who had under-
taken 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 arose, whether in the face of so formidable
a difficulty, the works should be proceeded with or
abandoned. Robert Stephenson sent over to Alton

CHAP. XV. THE WORKS DROWNEF). 317

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 fairly mastered. Eobert
concurred in that view, and although other engineers
who were consulted pronounced strongly against the
practicability of the scheme and advised the abandonment
of the enterprise, the directors authorised him to pro-
ceed ; 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 pro-
ceeded with ; and the workmen had nearly reached the
sand bed, when one day that the engineer, his assistants,
and the workmen were clustered about its open entrance,
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 sinking numerous additional shafts over the line of
the tunnel at the points at which it crossed the quick-
sand, and endeavouring to master the water by sheer
force of engines and pumps. The engines, when at length
erected, possessed an aggregate power of 1 60 horses ;
and they went on pumping for eight successive months,

318 PUMPING OPERATIONS. CHAP. XV.

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 distri-
bution 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. Pro-
tected by the pumps, which cleared a space for engineer-
ing operations — 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 im-
mense 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 down overhead. The
men were accordingly under the necessity of holding
over their work large whisks of straw and other ap-
pliances 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
two thousand 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

CHAP. XV. THE WATER PUMPED OUT. 319

fill the lake to over eight feet in depth, or sufficient to
float vessels of a hundred tons' burthen. The water
pumped out of the tunnel while the work was in pro-
gress 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 of water thus removed, the level of the surface
in the tunnel was only lowered about two and a half to
three 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 these dil
culties encountered at Kilsby. The original estimate fc
the tunnel was only 99,000/. ; but before it was finishej
it had cost more than 100/. per lineal yard forward, ol
a total of nearly 300,000£. The expenditure on
other parts of the line also greatly exceeded the amounl
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 fo]
compensation were enormous. Although the contrad
were let within the estimates, very few of the contractors^
were able to complete them without the assistance
the Company, and many became bankrupt. Speaking
of the difficulties encountered during the construction of
the line, Eobert Stephenson afterwards observed to us : —
" After the works were let, wages rose, the prices of
materials of all kinds rose, and the contractors, many of
whom were men of comparatively small capital, were
thrown on their beam ends. Their calculations as to
expenses and profits were completely upset. Let me
just go over the list. There was Jackson, who took the
Primrose Hill contract — he failed. Then there was
the next length — Nowells ; then Copeland and Hard-
ing; north of them Townsend, who had the Tring
cutting ; next Stoke Hammond ; then Lyers ; then
Hughes : I think all of these broke down, or at least

320 FAILURE OF CONTRACTORS. CHAP. XV.

were helped through by the directors. Then there was
that terrible contract of the Kilsby tunnel, which broke
the No wells j and killed one of them. The contractors
to the north of Kilsby were more fortunate, though
some of them pulled through only with the greatest
ifficulty. Of the eighteen contracts in which the
ne was originally let, only seven were completed by
e original contractors. Eleven firms were ruined
by their contracts, which were relet to others at advanced
prices, or were carried on and finished by the Company.
The principal cause of increase in the expense, however,
was the enlargement of the stations. It appeared that
we had greatly under-estimated the traffic, and it accord-
ingly became necessary to spend more and more money
for its accommodation, until I think I am within the
mark when I say that the expenditure on this account
alone exceeded by eight or ten fold the amount of the
Parliamentary estimate."

The magnitude of the works, which were unpre-
cedented 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 three hundred thousand — according to
Herodotus, by one hundred thousand — 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 per-
formed 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

CHAP. XV. THE RAILWAY NAVVIES.

321

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 these formidable works
were in many respects a remarkable class. The " rail-
way navvies,1 " as they were 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. Many of the labourers employed on the Liver-
pool line were Irish ; others were from the Northum-
berland and Durham railways, where they had been
accustomed to similar work ; and 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 wan-
dered about from one public work to another — appa-
rently 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

1 The word " navvie," or " naviga-
tor," is supposed to have originated in
the fact ot many of these labourers
having been originally employed in

VOL. III.

making the navigations, or canals, the
construction of which immediately
preceded the railway era.

322 THE RAILWAY NAVVIES. CHAP. XV.

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 denomi-
nated 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 to his mettle : if any was found skulk-
ing, 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 twelve and even sixteen 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 loco-
motive— 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 together, 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

CHAP. XV. THE RAILWAY NAVVIES. 323

be distinguished by a sort of savage manners, which
contrasted strangely with those of the surrounding popu-
lation. Yet, ignorant and violent though they might
be, they were usually good-hearted fellows in the main
—frank and open-handed 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 pro-
duced 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 Sun-
day. But the head navvy merely hitched up his trow-
sers, 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 continuously, loaded with
some three or four hundredweight of stuff, piled so high
that he could barely see, over the summit of the load, the
gang-board along which he wheeled his barrow, whereas
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

Y 2

324

ENGLISH NAVVIES IN FRANCE.

CHAP, XV.

only quelled by the aid of the military. The conse-
quence 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 wonder-
ment 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 its trayaillent ! "

K1LSBY TUNNEL (NORTH END).

( HAP. XVI. RAILWAY EXTENSION'. 325

CHAPTEE XVI.

MANCHESTER AND LEEDS, AND MIDLAND KAILWAYS — STEPHENSON'S
LIFE AT ALTON — VISIT TO BELGIUM — GENERAL EXTENSION
OF KAILWAYS AND THEIR KESULTS.

WHILE the London and Birmingham Railway was
under construction, George Stephenson continued to
reside at Alton Grange. Though he took an active
interest in the progress of the works, and made frequent
visits of inspection at the more important points, he
left the practical part of the business in the hands of
his son. He was himself fully occupied in laying/
out and constructing numerous lines in the north oil
England, for the purpose of opening up communications .
between the more important towns, as well as between :
them and the metropolis.

The rapidity with which railways were carried out,^
when the spirit of the country became roused, was indeed I
remarkable. This was doubtless in some measure owing/
to the increased force of the current of speculation ax
the time, but chiefly to the desire which the public begap.
to entertain for the general extension of the system. rt
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 " busi-
ness" 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

326 THE GRAND JUNCTION. CHAP. XVI.

will make the country ! " They also came to be re-
garded 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 construction in all directions, branching north,
south, east, and west, so that the country promised in a
wonderfully short space of time to become wrapped in
one vast network of iron.

I In 1836 the Grand Junction Railway was under
construction between Warringtoii and Birmingham — the
'northern part by Mr. Stephenson, and the southern by

THB DtTTTON VIADUCT.

Mr. Rastrick. The works on that line were of the
usual kind — 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 Yiaduct across
the valley of the Weaver. It consists of twenty arches
of 60 feet span, springing 16 feet from the perpendi-
cular 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

CHAP. XVI. THE MANCHESTER AND LEEDS. 327

feet deep. The structure lias a solid and majestic appear-
ance, and is perhaps the finest of George Stephenson' s
viaducts. Although designed by him, it was carried
out by Mr. Locke, on the latter succeeding Mr. Stephen-
son as engineer to the Grand Junction Railway. *

The Manchester and Leeds line was in progress at\
the same time — an important railway connecting the !
principal manufacturing towns of Yorkshire and Lanca-
shire. An attempt was made to obtain the Act as early
as the year 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. Mr. Stephenson, having carefully exa-/i
mined the district, had in his own mind settled the *
proper direction of the line, and decided that no other
was practicable, without the objectionable expedient of
a tunnel three and a-half miles in length under Black-
stone Edge, and the additional disadvantage of bad
gradients. The line as laid out by him 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, the teeming hives of population,
industry, and enterprise. The Act authorising the con-
struction of the railway was obtained in the session of
1836 ; it was greatly amended in the succeeding year
and the first ground was broken on the 18th of August
1837.

An incident occurred while the second Manchester
and Leeds Bill was before the Committee of the Lords,
which is worthy of passing notice in this place, as illus-
trative of George Stephenson' s character. The line
which was authorised by Parliament in 1836 had been
hastily surveyed within a period of less than six weeks,
and before it received the royal assent Mr. Stephenson
became convinced that many important improvements
might be made in it, and communicated his views to

H

\

328 INCIDENT IN COMMITTEE. CHAP. XVI.

the directors. They determined, however, to obtain the
Act, although conscious at the time that they would
have to go for a second and improved line in the follow-
ing year. The second Bill passed the Commons in 1837
without difficulty, and was expected in like manner to
receive the sanction of the Lords' Committee. Quite
unexpectedly, however, Lord Wharncliffe, who was in-
terested in the Manchester and Sheffield line, which
passed through his colliery property in the south of
Yorkshire, and conceived that the new Manchester and
Leeds line might have some damaging effect upon it,
appeared as an opponent of the Bill. He was himself a
member of the Committee, and adopted the unusual
course of rising to his feet, and making a set speech
against the Bill while Mr. Stephenson was under exa-
mination. After pointing out that the Bill applied for
and obtained in the preceding session was one that the
promoters had no intention of carrying out, that they
had secured it only for the purpose of obtaining posses-
sion of the ground and reducing the number of the
opponents to their present application, and that in fact
they had been practising a deception upon the House,
his Lordship turned full upon the witness, and, address-
ing him, said, " I ask you, sir, do you call that conduct
honest ?" Mr. Stephenson, his voice trembling with emo-
tion, replied, " Yes, my Lord, I do call it honest. And
I will ask your Lordship, whom I served for many years
as your enginewright at the Killingworth collieries, did
you ever know me to do anything that was not strictly
honourable ? You know what the collieries were when
I went there, and you know what they were when I
left them. Did you ever hear that I was found wanting
when honest services were wanted, or when duty called
me ? Let your Lordship but fairly consider the circum-
stances of the case, and I feel persuaded you will admit
that my conduct has been equally honest throughout in
this matter," He then briefly but clearly stated the

CHAP. XVI. THE SUMMIT TUNNEL. 329

history of the application to Parliament for the Act,
which was so satisfactory to the Committee that they
passed the preamble of the Bill without further objection.
Lord Wharncliffe requested that the Committee would
permit his observations, together with Mr. Stephenson's
reply, to be erased from the record of the evidence,
which, as an acknowledgment of his error, was per-
mitted. Lord Kenyon and several other members of
the Committee afterwards came up to Mr. Stephenson,
shook him by the hand, and congratulated him on the
manly way in which he had vindicated himself in the
course of the inquiry.

In conducting this project to an issue, Mr. Stephenson
had much opposition and many 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 rail-
way through such a country of hills and hard rocks ;
and it was maintained that, even if the railway were
practicable, it could only be formed at an altogether
ruinous cost to the proprietors.

During the progress of the works, as the Summit
Tunnel, near Littleborough, was .approaching comple-
tion, 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 irre-
gular 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 engi-
neer 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

330

THE SUMMIT TUNNEL.

CHAP. XVI.

ENTRANCE TO THE BOMM1T TUNNEL, LITTXEBOROOGH.
[By Percival Skelton.]

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. Mr. Stephenson
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 un-
necessary 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

CHAP. XVI. MAGNITUDE OF THE WORK. 331

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,
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 before-
hand see into those little fractured parts of the earth he
may meet with." As Mr. Stephenson had promised,
the invert was put in ; and the tunnel was made per-
fectly 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 the 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 af
mile and three-quarters, — exceeding the famous Kilsbyl
Tunnel by 471 yards. Mr. T. L. Gooch was the acting!
engineer on the line, and was afterwards promoted, at
Mr. Stephenson's recommendation, to the post of joint
principal engineer, sharing the . responsibilities of that
office with his chief.

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 coal-fields, and it formed part of the great
main line of communication between London and
Edinburgh. The line was originally projected by
gentlemen interested in the London and Birmingham
Railway. Their intention was to extend that line from
Rugby to Leeds ; but, finding themselves anticipated in

332

THE MIDLAND KAILWAY.

CHAP. XVI.

part by the projection of the
Midland Counties Railway from
Rugby to Derby, they confined
themselves to the district between
Derby and Leeds ; and in 1835, a
Company was formed to construct
the North Midland line, with
George Stephenson for its engi-
neer. The Act was obtained in >
1836, and the first ground was I
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 con-
structive skill displayed in it, but
also in its cost and magnitude,
and the amount of labour em-
ployed in its formation. The road
of the Simplon is 45 miles in
length ; the North Midland Rail-
way 72^ miles. The former has
50 bridges and 5 tunnels, mea-
suring together 1338 feet in
length ; the latter has 200 bridges
and 7 tunnels, measuring together
1 1 ,400 feet, or about 2J miles. The
former cost about 720,000/. ster-
ling, the latter above 3,000,000/.
Napoleon's grand military road
was constructed in six years, at
the public cost of the two great

CHAP. XVI. THE MIDLAND RAILWAY. 333

kingdoms of France and Italy ; while Stephenson's
railway was formed in about three years, by a com-
pany 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 embank-
ments, is so much a matter of mere time and hard work,
—that it 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 illus-
tration 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 fifty
thousand cubic yards, found that he had about five
hundred thousand to remove ; the execution of this

334 GREAT LAND-SLIP, CHAP. XVI.

LAND-SLIP ON NORTH MIDLAND LINE, NEAR AMBERGATE.

part of the railway occupying fifteen months instead
of two.

The Oakenshaw cutting near Wakefield was also of a
very formidable character. About six hundred thousand
yards of rojck 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 four hundred thousand 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 excava-
tion were effected per month.

As a curiosity in construction, we may also mention
a very delicate piece of work executed on the same rail-
way 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

CHAP. XVf. BULL BRIDGE. 335

BOIL-BB1DGE. NEAK, AiiBERGATE.

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 tank 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 under-
neath were then proceeded with and finished.

Another line of the same series, constructed by Mr.
Stephenson, was the York and North Midland, ex-
tending from Normanton — a point on the Midland
Eailway — to York ; but it was a line of easy formation,
traversing a comparatively level country. The inha-
bitants of Whitby, as well as York, were busy projecting
railways as early as 1832 ; and in the year following,
Whitby succeeded in obtaining a horse line of twenty-

336 YOKK AND NORTH MIDLAND. CHAP. XVI.

four miles, connecting it with the small market-town of
Pickering. The York citizens were more ambitious,
and agitated the question of a locomotive line to connect
them with the town of Leeds. Mr. Stephenson recom-
mended them to connect their line with the Midland at
Normanton, and they adopted his advice. The Com-
pany was formed, the shares were at once subscribed
for, and Stephenson appointed his pupil and assistant,
Mr. Swan wick, to lay out the line in October, 1835.
The Act was obtained in the following year, and the
works were constructed without difficulty.

As the best proof of his conviction that the York and
North Midland would prove a good investment, Mr.
Stephenson invested in it a considerable portion of his
savings, being a subscriber for 420 shares ; and he also
took some trouble in persuading several wealthy gentle-
men in London and elsewhere to purchase shares in the
concern. The interest thus taken in the line by the
engineer was on more than one occasion specially
mentioned by Mr. Hudson, then Lord Mayor of York,
as an inducement to other persons of capital to join the
undertaking ; and had it not afterwards been encumbered
and overlaid by comparatively useless, and therefore
profitless branches, in the projection of which Mr.
Stephenson had no part, the sanguine expectations
which he early formed of the paying qualities of that
railway would have been more than realised.

There was one branch, however, of the York and
North Midland Line in which he took an anxious
interest, and of which he may be pronounced the
projector — the branch to Scarborough ; which proved
to 'be one of the most profitable parts of the railway.
He was so satisfied of its value, that, at a meeting of
the York and North Midland proprietors, he volunteered
his gratuitous services as engineer until the Company
was formed, in addition to subscribing largely to the
undertaking. At that meeting he took an opportunity

CHAP. XVI. STEPHENSON ON ESTIMATES. 337

of referring to the charges brought against engineers of
so greatly exceeding the estimates : — " He had had a
good deal to do with making out the estimate of the
Xorth Midland Railway, and he believed there never
was a more honest one. He had always endeavoured
to state the truth as far as was in his power. He had
known a director, who, when he (Mr. Stephenson) had
sent in an estimate, came forward and said, ' I can do it
for half the money.' The director's estimate went into
Parliament, but it came out his. He could go through
the whole list of the undertakings in which he had been
engaged, and show that he had never had anything to
do with stock-jobbing concerns. He would say that he
would not be concerned in any scheme, unless he was
satisfied that it would pay the proprietors : and in
bringing forward the proposed line to Scarborough, he
was satisfied that it would pay, or he would have had
nothing to do with it."

During the time that our engineer was engaged in
superintending the execution of these great under-
takings, he was occupied in surveying other lines of
railway in various parts of the country. With that
object he visited the neighbourhood of Glasgow, and
surveyed several lines there ; and he afterwards sur-
veyed 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 noted with surprise
his remarkable 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 pro-
pounding some ingenious theory. When taking a

VOL. III. Z

338 QUICKNESS OF OBSERVATION. CHAP. XVI.

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 im-
pressions of the direction to be taken almost invariably
proved the right ones ; 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 Mac-
clesfield, with the Potteries, the gentleman who accom-
panied him on the journey of inspection cautioned him
to provide large accommodation for carrying off the
water, observing — " You must not judge by the appear-
ance of the brooks ; for after heavy rains these hills
pour down volumes of water, of which you can have no
conception." " Pooh ! pooh ! dorit 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, Mr. 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

CHAP. XVI. MORECAMBE BAY. 339

reclaimed from the sea, the sale of which would con-
siderably reduce the cost of the works. He estimated
that by means of a solid embankment across the bay,
not less than forty thousand acres of rich alluvial land
would be gained. His scheme was, 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, however,
since been carried across the head of the bay, in a
greatly modified form, by the Ulverstone and Lan-
caster Eailway Company ; but it is not improbable that
Stephenson's larger scheme of reclaiming the vast tract
of land now left bare at every 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

z 2

340

TRAVELLING AND CORRESPONDENCE. CHAP. XVI.

on the Midland and Manchester and Leeds lines ; be-
sides 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 ] — he travelled by postchaise alone upwards
of twenty thousand 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 accom-
panied him on his journeys. He was himself exceed-
ingly averse to writing letters. The comparatively
advanced age at which he learnt the art of writing, and
the nature of his duties while engaged at the Killing-
worth colliery, precluded that facility in correspondence
which only constant practice can give. He gradually,
however, acquired great facility in dictation, and had
also the power of labouring continuously at this work ;
the gentleman who acted as his secretary in the year
1835, having informed us that during his busy season
he one day dictated not fewer than thirty-seven 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 suspen-
sion 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

1 During this period he was en-
gaged 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 au-
thorised in 1836. In that session
alone, powers were obtained for the
construction of 214 miles of new rail-
ways under his direction, at an ex-
penditure of upwards of five millions
sterling.

CHAP. XVI. LIFE AT ALTON GRANGE. 341

with matter for quotation, or to 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. He usually staked out
himself the lines laid out by him, which involved a
good deal of labour since undertaken by assistants.
And occasionally he would run up to London, attending
in person to the preparation and deposit of the plans
and sections of the projected undertakings for which he
was engaged as engineer.

Fortunately Mr. 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 \vas 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

342 THE ROBINS' NEST. CHAP. XVI.

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 empty 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, and 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 in-
cident such as this, trifling though it may seem, gives a
true key to the heart of the man.

The amount of his Parliamentary business having

CHAP. XVI. STEPHENSON'S LONDON OFFICE. 343

greatly increased with the projection of new lines of
railway, Mr. Stephenson found it necessary to set up an
office in London in 1836. His first office was at No. 9,
Duke-street, Westminster, from whence he removed in
the following year to 30J, 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 pro-
jectors 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 in-
formed 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 com-
panies. 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 pro-
portion in which he had been actually employed in 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 busi-
ness. 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

344 KING LEOPOLD'S KAILWAYS. CHAP. XVI.

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, 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

CHAP. XVI. RAILWAYS OPENED FOR TRAFFIC. 345

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 distin-
guished English guest. On entering the room, the
general and excited inquiry was, "Which is Stephen-
son ? " The English engineer had not before imagined
that lie 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 com-
mimication between London, Liverpool, and Manchester
was then opened to the public. For some months pre-
viously, 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 a speed of eleven miles an hour.
The comparison of comfort was also greatly to the dis-
paragement of the coaches. Then the railway train
could accommodate any quantity, whilst the road con-
veyances 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 byn
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 J
November, 1839 ; and in the course of the following!

346 STEPHEN SON'S ASSISTANTS. CHAP. XVI.

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 pub-
^licly 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 his speech 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 esta-
blishing the superiority of the locomotive. On such
occasions, Mr. Stephenson 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. And, indeed,
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. For, the ability to accomplish great things,
to carry grand ideas into practical effect, depends in no
small measure on an intuitive knowledge of character,
which Mr. Stephenson possessed in a remarkable
degree. Thus, on the Liverpool and Manchester line,
he secured the able services of Messrs. Yignolles and
Locke ; the latter having been his pupil, and laid down

CHAP. XVI. STEPHENSON'S ASSISTANTS. 347

for him several coal-lines in the North. John Dixon,
trained by him on the Stockton and Darlington Rail-
way, afterwards carried out his views on the Can-
terbury and Whitstable, the Liverpool and Manchester,
and the Chester railways. Thomas L. Grooch was his
representative in superintending the execution of the
formidable works of the Manchester and Leeds line.
Swanwick on the North Midland, Birkenshaw on the
Birmingham and Derby, and Cabrey on the York and
North Midland, seconded him well and ably, and esta-
blished their own reputation while they increased the
engineering fame of their master. All these men, then
comparatively young, became, in course of time, engi-
neers of distinction, and were employed to conduct on
their own account numerous railway enterprises of great
magnitude.

At the dinner at York, which followed the partial
opening of the York and North Midland Eailway, 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, wrhat perseverance had brought him
to. 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

348 EESULTS OF RAILWAYS. CHAP. XVI.

proved by many facts which redound to Mr. Stephen-
son'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, ad-
miring his diligence, engaged him for his private secre-
tary, 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 conse-

CHAP. XVI. RESULTS OF RAILWAYS. 349

quence of the approach of railways to London,1 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 Lon-
doners 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 cab-
bages 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

1 When the first railways were | Lord Dundonald's, called the Scor-
opened in the immediate neighbour- pion, 86 feet long, having for some

hood of the metropolis, they were na-
turally regarded with great curiosity,
and crowds flocked to see them. The
Greenwich Railway was opened in

time been a principal attraction. It
seems to have been apprehended that
the engines would be apt to run off
the line at night, unless they had the

1836, and was for some time one of advantage of lights to enable them to
the principal shows of London. When | see their way ; and lamps were ac-
the first locomotive was run upon it, a j cordingly placed at intervals of 88
large sum was taken for admissions of yards along the entire railway. When
persons to witness the sight. Half-a- railways ceased to be a novelty the
guinea was charged for reserved seats. Greenwich Company paid off their
When the passenger-trains began to \ band, took down their lamps, and de-
run, a regular band of musicians was i voted themselves to the conveyance of

engaged to play in front of the station
to attract customers. The line was
also used as a show-ground for new
inventions — a singular machine of

the regular traffic, which soon became
quite as large as they could conve-
niently manage.

350 TRAVELLING BY RAIL. CHAP. XVI.

being " destroyed," as had been predicted, were im-
mensely 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 be-
fore 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

CHAP. XVI. TRAVELLING BY RAIL. 351

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 be-
fore 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.
Many deplored the inevitable downfall of the old
stage-coach system. There was to be an end of that
delightful variety of incident usually attendant on a
journey by road. The rapid scamper across a fine
country on the outside of the four-horse " Express," or
" Highflyer ;" the seat on the box beside Jehu, or the
equally coveted place near the facetious guard behind ;
the journey amid open green fields, through smiling
villages and fine old towns, where the stage stopped to
change horses and the passengers to dine — was alt very
delightful in its way ; and many regretted that this old-
fashioned and pleasant style of travelling was about to
pass away. But it had its dark side also. Any one
who remembers the journey by stage from London to
Manchester or York, will associate it with recollections
and sensations of not unmixed delight. To be perched
for twenty hours, exposed to all weathers, on the outside
of a coach, trying in vain to find a soft seat — sitting
now with the face to the wind, rain, or sun, and now
with the back — without any shelter such as the com-
monest penny-a-mile parliamentary train now daily
provides — was a miserable undertaking, looked forward
to with horror by many whose business required them
to travel frequently between the provinces and the
metropolis. Nor were the inside passengers more agree-
ably accommodated. To be closely packed up in a little,
inconvenient, straight-backed vehicle, where the cramped
limbs could not be in the least extended, nor the wearied

352 TRAVELLING BY RAIL. CHAP. XVI.

frame indulge in any change of posture, was felt by
many to be a terrible thing. Then there were the con-
stantly-recurring demands, not always couched in the
politest terms, for an allowance to the driver every two
or three stages, and to the guard every six or eight ;
and if the gratuity did not equal their expectations,
growling and open abuse were not unusual. These
desagremens, together with the exactions practised on
travellers by innkeepers, seriously detracted from the
romance of stage-coach travelling, and there was a
general disposition on the part of the public to change
the system for a better.

The extent to which the new passenger railways
were at once made use of proved that this better system
had been discovered. Notwithstanding the reduction
of the coach fares on many of the roads to one-third
of their previous rate, people preferred travelling by
the railway. They saved in time ; and they saved in
money, taking the whole expenses into account. In
point of comfort there could be no doubt as to the
infinite superiority of the railway carriage. But there
remained the question of safety, which had been a great
bugbear with the early opponents of railways, and was
made the most of by the coach-proprietors to deter tra-
vellers from using them. It was predicted that trains of
passengers would be blown to pieces, and that none but
fools would entrust their persons to the conduct of an
explosive machine such as the locomotive. It appeared,
however, that during the first eight years not fewer
than five millions of passengers had been conveyed
along the Liverpool and Manchester Eailway, and of
this vast number only two persons had lost their lives
by accident. During the same period, the loss of life
by the upsetting of stage-coaches had been immensely
greater in proportion. The public were not slow, there-
fore, to detect the fact that travelling by railways was
greatly safer than travelling by common road ; and in

CHAP. XVI. STEPHENSON'S COACH ACCIDENT. 353

all districts penetrated by railways the coaches were
very shortly taken off for want of support.

George Stephenson himself had a narrow escape in
one of the stage-coach accidents so common twenty years
ago, but which are already almost forgotten. While
the Birmingham line was under construction, he had
occasion to travel from Ashby-de-la-Zouch to London
by coach. He was an inside passenger with an elderly
lady, and the outsides were pretty numerous. When
within ten miles of Dunstable, he felt, from the rolling
of the coach, that one of the linchpins securing the
wheels had given way, and that the vehicle must upset.
He endeavoured to fix himself in his seat, holding on
firmly by the arm-straps, so that he might save him-
self on whichever side the coach fell. It soon toppled
over, and fell crash upon the road, amidst the shrieks of
his fellow-passengers and the smashing of glass. He
immediately pulled himself up by the arm-strap above
him, let down the coach window, and climbed out. The
coachman and passengers lay scattered about on the
road, stunned, and some of them bleeding, w^hile the
horses were plunging in their harness. Taking out his
pocket-knife, he at once cut the traces, and set the
horses free. He then went to the help of the passen-
gers, who were all more or less hurt. The guard had
his arm broken, and the driver was seriously cut and
contused. A scream from one of his fellow-passenger
" in sides " here attracted his attention : it proceeded
from the elderly lady, whom he had before observed to
be decorated with one of the enormous bonnets in
fashion at the time. Opening the coach-door, he lifted
the lady out, and her principal lamentation was that her
large bonnet had been crushed beyond remedy ! Mr.
Stephenson then proceeded to the nearest village for
help, and saw the passengers provided with proper
assistance before he himself went forward on his
journey.

VOL. III. 2 A

354 TRAVELLING BY RAIL. CHAP. XVI.

It was some time before the more opulent classes,
who could afford to post to town in aristocratic style,
became reconciled to railway travelling. The old fami-
lies did not relish the idea of being conveyed in a train
of passengers of all ranks and conditions, in which the
shopkeeper and the peasant were carried along at the
same speed as the duke and the baron — the only dif-
ference being in price. It was another deplorable illus-
tration of the levelling tendencies of the age.1 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 manufac-
turer and bagman. But to younger sons of noble fami-
lies 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

1 At a meeting of the Chesterfield j self. Sir Humphry Davy was once

Mechanics' Institute, at which Mr.
Stephenson was present, one of the
speakers said of him, " Known as he

similarly characterised; but the re-
mark was somewhat differently appre-
ciated. When travelling on the Con-

is wherever steam and iron have opened tinent, a distinguished person about a
the swift lines of communication to foreign Court inquired who and what
our countrymen, and regarded by all | he was, never having heard of his
as the Father of Railways, he might I scientific fame. Upon being told that

be called, in the most honourable
acceptation of the term, the first and
greatest leveller of the age" Mr. Ste-
phcnson joined heartily in the laugh
which followed this description of him-

his discoveries had " revolutionised
chemistry," the courtier promptly re-
plied, "I hate all revolutionists; his
presence will not be acceptable here."

CHAP. XVI. TRAVELLING BY RAIL. 355

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
liad along even the great high-roads; and nobles and
servants, manufacturers and peasants, alike shared in
the comfort, the convenience, and the despatch of rail-
way travelling. The late Dr. Arnold, of Rugby, re-
garded 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 Eailway, in attend-
ance 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 acknow-
ledge 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 for a stage or two nearest
town ; until, at length, he undisguisedly committed him-
self, like other people, to the express train, and per-
formed the journey throughout upon what he had
formerly denounced as " the infernal railroad."

2 A 2

TAPTON HOCSS. [By Percival Skeiton j

CHAPTER XVII.

GEORGE STEPHENSON'S COAL MINES — APPEARS AT MECHANICS'
INSTITUTES — His OPINION ON RAILWAY SPEEDS — ATMOS -
PHERIC SYSTEM — RAILWAY MANIA — VISITS TO BELGIUM AND
SPAIN.

WHILE Mr. 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 Clay cross 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 coun-
ties to London, and sold there at a price to compete with
those which were seaborne, he declared his firm convic-
tion that the time was fast approaching when the London

CHAP. XVII. A GREAT COAL RAILROAD. 357

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 des-
tined, 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 merchandize 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

358

LEASES CLAYCKOSS.

'CHAP. XYTI.

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 never-
theless 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 con-
ducted 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 condi-
tion on which a large railway traffic of that sort could
be profitably conducted.1

Having induced some of his Liverpool friends to join
him in a coal-mining adventure at Chesterfield, a lease
was taken of the Clay cross estate, then for sale, mid
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
the townships of Tapton, Brimington, and Newbold, for
the working of the coal thereunder ; and pits were
opened on the Tapton estate on an extensive scale.

1 A railway of this description has
recently been projected from Askern,
in Yorkshire, to March, in Cambridge-
shire, where it falls into the Eastern

Counties Railway, to be devoted
mainly to coal traffic, thus carrying out
to a great extent George Stephen son's
favourite idea.

CHAP. XVII.

TAPTOX HOUSE.

359

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 two hundred tons a day. The limestone
was brought on a tramway from the village of Crich,
about two or three miles distant from the kilns, the coal
with which to burn it being supplied from his adjoining
( 1 lay cross 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.

LIME WOBKS AT AMBERGATE. [By Percivai Skelton.]

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

360 BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT NEWCASTLE. CHAP. XVII.

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 pro-
gress, 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 pros-
perity. 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

CHAP. XVII. MECHANICS' INSTITUTES. 361

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 enginewright of the name of Stephenson "
had achieved an almost world-wide 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 dis-
tinguished 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 valuable 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

362 SPEECH AT LEEDS. CHAP. XVII.

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 pro-
ceedings ; 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 promo-
tion of popular education. Among the Mechanics' Insti-
tutes 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 perse veringly.
His words were therefore all the more weighty, since
he spoke from the fulness of his own experience. On

(HAP. XVII. RAILWAY IMPROVEMENTS. 363

occasion he said — "He had commenced his career
on a lower level than any man present there. He
made that remark for the purpose of encouraging young
mechanics to do as he had done — TO PERSEVERE. And
he would tell them that the humblest amongst them
occupied a much more advantageous position than he
had done on commencing his life of labour. They had
teachers who, going before them, had left their great
discoveries as a legacy and a guide ; and their works
were now accessible to all, in such institutions as that
which he addressed. But he remembered the time
when there were none thus to guide and instruct the
young mechanic. With a free access to scientific books,
he knew, from his own experience, that they could be
saved much unnecessary toil and expenditure of mental
capital. Many ingenious young mechanics, if they
failed to profit by the teaching of those who had
preceded them, might often be induced to believe that
t hoy had hit upon some discovery in mechanics; and
when they had gone on spending both time and money,
they would only arrive at the unpleasant discovery that
what they had cherished as an original invention had
been known many years before, and was to be found
recorded in scientific works." And again — " The man
who wished to rise in his trade or profession must never
see any insurmountable difficulties before him. Obstacles
might appear to be such ; but they must be thrown
overboard or conquered. This was the course which
he had himself pursued." These characteristic senti-
ments clearly illustrate the man, and show the fibre of
which he was made ; and we need scarcely say that they
served to give new life and hope to all who listened
to him.

Xor did he remain a mere inactive spectator of the
improvements in railway working which increasing
oxperience from day to day suggested. He continued
to contrive improvements in the locomotive, and to

364 SELF-ACTING BRAKE. CHAP. XVII.

mature his invention of the carriage-brake. When
examined before the Select Committee on Kailways 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.1 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 oppor-
tunity of stating his views with reference to railway
speed, about which wild ideas were then afloat — one gen-
tleman of celebrity having publicly expressed the opinion
that a speed of a hundred miles an hour was practicable
in railway travelling ! Not many years had passed since

1 A full description, with plans, of ( M. Guerin, is given in the ' Practical
Mr. Stephenson's self-acting brake, I Mechanics' Journal,' vol. i. p. 53.
since revived in a modified form by I

CHAP. XVII. RAILWAY SPEED. 365

George Steplienson had been pronounced insane for
stating his conviction that twelve 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 forty miles an hour. He said : i
" I do not like either forty or fifty 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
forty miles an hour on the most favourable gradient ;
but upon a curved line the speed ought not to exceed
twenty-four or twenty-five miles an hour." He had,
indeed, constructed for the Great Western Eailway an
engine capable of running fifty miles an hour with a
load, and eighty 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 mad
to travel a hundred miles an hour ; but I alway
put a qualification on this, namely, as to what speed
would best suit the public. The public may, how-
ever, be unreasonable ; and fifty or sixty 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, pro-
vided the works could be made to stand. But there are
limits to the strength of iron, whether it be manu-
factured 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 thirty miles a slighter road will do, and less perfect

1 It may be mentioned that these I author by Robert Stephenson, and
views were communicated to the | noted down in his presence.

3(>(5 RAILWAY SPEED. CHAP. XVU.

rolling stock may be run upon it with safety. But if
you increase the speed by say ten miles, then everything
must be greatly strengthened. You must have heavier
engines, heavier and better-fastened rails, and all your
working expenses will be immensely increased. I think
I know enough of mechanics to know where to stop.
I know that a pound will weigh a pound, arid that more
should not be put upon an iron rail than it will bear.
If you could ensure perfect iron, perfect rails, and perfect
locomotives, I grant fifty 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 twenty or thirty ton engine
dashing over them at the speed of fifty 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 dis-
cussion, many new and unsound theories were started
with reference to them, which Stephenson opposed as cal-
culated, in his opinion, to bring discredit on the locomo-
tive 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. Badriell went even beyond him, for

CHAP. XVII. UNDULATING RAILWAYS. 307

he held that an undulating railway was much better than
a level one for purposes of working.1 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 full 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 propelling power is sacri-
ficed in ascending the acclivity. He never forgot the
valuable practical lesson taught him by those early
trials made and registered in the company of Nicholas
Wood, long before the advantages of railways had
been recognized. 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
power, it provoked him to find that every improve-
ment made in it was neutralised by the steep gra-
dients which the new school of engineers were setting

1 ' Treatise on Railway Improvements.' By Mr. Richard Badnell, C.E.

368 THE COMMERCIAL ELEMENT IN RAILWAYS. CHAP. XVII.

it to overcome. On one occasion, when Robert Ste-
phenson 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 commer-
cial 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, com-
lercial speculations. He therefore endeavoured to
tender them financially profitable ; and he repeatedly
leclared that if he did not believe they could be " made
pay," he would have nothing to do with them.1 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.

1 He frequently refused to act as
the engineer for lines which he thought
would not prove remunerative, or
when he considered the estimates too
low. Thus, when giving evidence on
the Great Western Bill, Mr. Stephen-
son said, " I made out an estimate for
the Hartlepool Railway, which they
returned on account of its being too
high, but I declined going to Parlia-

ment with a lower estimate." An-
other engineer was employed. Then,
again, " I was consulted about a line
from Edinburgh to Glasgow. The
directors chalked out a line and sent it
to me, and I told them I could not
support it in that case." Hence the
employment of another engineer to
carry out the line which Mr. Stephen-
son could not conscientiously advocate.

CHAP. XVII. CHESTER AND BIRKENHEAD. 369

Thus, when the first application was made to Parliament
for the Chester and Birkenhead Eailway Bill, the pro-
moters 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 Parlia-
ment ; 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 stean>power in the
working of railways. The idea of obtaining motion by
means of atmospheric pressure is said to have originated
with Papin, the French philosopher, more than a century
and a half 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. Yallance 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 inge-

1 Speech of Wm. Jackson, Esq., I Birkenhead Railway Company, held at
M.P., at the meeting of the Chester and j Liverpool, October, 1845.

VOL. III. 2 B

370 ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAYS. CHAP. XVII.

nious 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. Yignolles
took his friend Mr. Stephenson to see the model ; and
after carefully examining it, he observed emphatically,
" It wont 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 por-
tion of the West London Eailway. 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

CHAP. XVII. ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAYS. 371

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."

Mr. Brunei, Mr. Cubitt, Mr. Yignolles, Mr. James
Walker, Dr. Lardner, and many others equally distin-
guished, strongly approved of the atmospheric railway ;
and 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."

No one can say that the atmospheric railway had not
a fair trial. The Government engineer, General Pasley,
did for it what had never been done for the locomotive
—he reported in its favour, whereas a former Govern-
ment engineer had inferentially reported against the
use of locomotive power on railways. The House of
Commons also had reported in favour of the use of the
steam-engine on common roads ; yet the railway loco-
motive had vitality enough in it to live through all.
" Nothing will beat it," said George Stephenson, " 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

2 B 2

372

THE RAILWAY MANIA.

CHAP. XVII.

shortly after entirely abandoned in favour of locomotive
power.1

One of the remarkable results of the system of rail-
way 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.2 In the sessions of 1836 and
1837, seventy-six Acts were obtained, authorising the
construction of 1458 miles of new railway at an expen-
diture of 25,680,000^.; and by the end of 1837 notices
were given of seventy-five more Bills, to authorise the
formation of 1230 additional miles of railway at an
estimated cost of about 19,000,000/. This was more
than the means of the country could fairly bear. The
shares of many companies went to a discount ; and a
collapse took place, which, together with the restrictions
imposed by Parliament on the obtaining of new Acts,
had the effect, for a time, of placing a wholesome
restraint on further speculation. During the sessions of

1 The question of the specific
merits of the atmospheric as com-
pared with the fixed engine and loco-
motive 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 whe-
ther the new power would be applicable
for the working of the Chester and
Holyhead Railway, then under con-
struction. His opinion was decidedly
against the atmospheric rail way sys-
tem.

2 The traffic cases got up by the
professional advocates of some of the
Bills applied for in 1836 and 1837
were of the most fallacious character,

as has been proved by the actual re-
sults. Traffic-taking was one of the
arts by which extraordinary profits
were' then proved. Thus in 1836,
the traffic case of the Eastern Counties
Railway showed that there would be a
clear profit on the outlay of 23 J per
cent. ! the York and North Midland,
of 13^ ; and the London and Cam-
bridge, of 14|- per cent. During the
session of 1837 the traffic-takers grew
bolder, and reached their highest
nights. Thus, the promoters of the
Sheffield and Manchester Bill " proved"
a traffic which was to yield a net profit
of 18£ per cent, on the outlay. One
of the fortunate shareholders in the
company, in a letter to the ' Railway
Magazine,' even went so far beyond
the. traffic -taker, as to calculate on a
dividend of 80 per cent. !

CHAP. XVII.

THE KAILWAY MANIA.

373

1838 and 1839 only five new railway companies ob-|
tained Acts of incorporation. In 1840, not a single!
Act was passed ; and in 1841, only a branch of 5| miles \
in length was authorized, which was not carried out. -
The next two sessions were equally quiet ; and it was
not until 1844, that the tide of railway enterprise sud-
denly rose again, and in the following year burst all
bounds, breaking out in the wildest fury of speculation, j

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 me-
tropolis as yet holding aloof, and prophesying disaster
to all concerned in railway projects.1 The Stock Ex-
change looked askance upon them, and it was with
difficulty that respectable brokers could be found to do
business in the shares. But when the lugubrious antici-
pations 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 lead-
ing 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

1 The leading " City men " looked
with great suspicion on the first rail-
way projects, having no faith in their
success. In 1835, the solicitorship of
the Brighton Railway (then projected)

was" offered to a city firm of high
standing, and refused, — one of the
partners assigning as a reason, that
" the coaches would drive the railway
trains off the road in a month ! "

374

THE RAILWAY MANIA.

CHAP. XVII.

and caring nothing about their national uses, but hunger-
ing 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 possessed1 — into their pocket, it was
§nough 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 popu-
larity 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

1 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.

CHAP. XVII. THE RAILWAY MANIA. 375

lawyers, parliamentary agents, engineers, surveyors,
and traffic-takers, who were alike 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.

Parliament, whose previous conduct in connection
with railway legislation was so open to reprehension,
interposed no check — attempted no remedy. On the
contrary, it helped to intensify the evils arising from
this unseemly state of things. Many of its members
were themselves involved in the mania, and as much
interested in its continuance as the vulgar herd of
money-grubbers. The railway prospectuses now issued
—unlike the original Liverpool and Manchester, and
London and Birmingham schemes — were headed by
peers, baronets, landed proprietors, and strings of M.P's.
Thus, it was found in 1845 that no fewer than 157
members of Parliament were on the lists of new com-
panies as subscribers for sums ranging from 291,000/.
downwards ! The projectors of new lines even came to
boast of their parliamentary strength, and of the number
of votes which they could command in " the House."
At all events, it is matter of fact, that many utterly
ruinous branches and extensions projected during the
mania, calculated only to benefit the inhabitants of a
few miserable boroughs accidentally omitted from Sche-
dule A, were authorised in the memorable sessions of
1844 and 1845.

Mr. Stephenson was anxiously entreated to lend hisl
name to prospectuses during the railway mania ; but he I
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 coun-
tenance to the numerous projects about which he was
consulted, he might, without any trouble, have thus

376 THE KAIL WAY MANIA. CHAP. XVII.

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 sub-
scribed 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 Eydding 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 walk-
ing 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 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 communica-
tion 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," sur-
rounded by an admiring group of followers, was often

CHAP. XVII.

THE RAILWAY MANIA.

377

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.

Being still the consulting engineer of several of the
older companies, he necessarily appeared before Parlia-
ment in support of their tranches and extensions. In
1845 his name was associated with that of his son as the
engineer of the Southport and Preston Junction. In
the same session he gave evidence in favour of the
Syston and Peterborough branch of the Midland Rail-
way ; but his principal attention was confined to the
promotion of the line from Newcastle to Berwick, in
which he had never ceased to take the deepest interest.
At the same time he was engaged in examining and
reporting upon certain foreign lines of considerable
importance.

Powers were granted by Parliament, in 1845, 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^. ster-
ling.1 During this session, Mr. Stephenson appeared as
engineer for only one new line, — the Buxton, Maccles-

2 On the 17th November, 1845, Mr.
Spackman published a list of the lines
projected (many of which were not
afterwards prosecuted), from which it

appeared that there were then 620
new railway projects before the public,
requiring a capital of 563,203,0002.

378 PAELTAMENT AND THE MANIA. CHAP. XVII.

field, Congleton, and Orewe 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
period, 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 draicing-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 course adopted by Parliament in dealing with
the multitude of railway bills applied for during the
prevalence of the mania, was as irrational as it proved
to be unfortunate. The want of foresight displayed by
both Houses in obstructing the railway system so long
as it was based upon sound commercial principles, was
only equalled by the fatal facility with which they now
granted railway projects based only upon the wildest
speculation. Parliament interposed no check, laid down
no principle, furnished no guidance, for the conduct of
railway projectors ; but left every company to select its
own locality, determine its own line, and fix its own

CHAP. XVII. BOARD OF TRADE REPORT. 379

gauge. No regard was paid to the claims of existing
companies, which had already expended so large an
amount in the formation of useful railways ; and specu-
lators were left at full liberty to project and carry out
lines almost parallel with theirs.

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 "Keport on the Lines projected in the Man-
chester and Leeds District," they promulgated some
remarkable views respecting gradients, declaring them-
selves in favour of the " undulating system." They
there stated that lines of an undulating character " which
have gradients of 1 in 70 or 1 in 80 distributed over
them in short lengths, may be positively better lines,
i. e.9 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, when speaking in
favour of the continuance of the Railways Department
of the Board of Trade, 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 forth-
with 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

380 STEPHENSON AND PEEL. CHAP. XVII.

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 Tether's signature,
embodying the views which he so strongly enter-
tained 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^ onxthe subject ; though it did not
appear that he had come to any definite conclusion
thereon, further than that he strongly approved of the
Trent Yalley 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. As an
illustration of the legislative folly of the period, Mr.
Robert Stephenson, speaking at Toronto, in Upper
Canada, some years later, adduced the following in-
stances : — " There was one district through which it
was proposed to run two lines, and there was no other
difficulty between them than the simple rivalry that, if
one got a charter, the other might also. But here,
where the Committee might have given both, they gave

CHAP. XVII. GEORGE HUDSON. 381

neither. In another instance, two lines were projected
through a barren country, and the Committee gave the
one which afforded the least accommodation to the public.
In another, where two lines were projected to run,
merely to shorten the time by a few minutes, leading
through a mountainous country, the Committee gave
both. So that, where the Committee might have given
both, they gave neither, and where they should have
given neither, they gave both."

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 fake 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, some-
times 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 pro-
mote 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 shame-
fully squandered, much to the discredit of the railway
system.

One of the most prominent celebrities of the mania
was George Hudson, of York. He was a man of some
local repute in that city when the line between Leeds

382 GEOKGE HUDSON, CHAP. XVII.

and York was projected. His views as to railways
were then extremely moderate, and his main object in
joining the undertaking was to secure for York the
advantages of the best railway communication. The
Company was not very prosperous at first, and during
the years 1840 and 1841 the shares had greatly sunk in
value. Mr. Alderman Meek, the first chairman, having
retired, Mr. Hudson was elected in his stead, and he
very shortly contrived to pay improved dividends to
the proprietors, who asked no questions. Desiring to
extend the field of his operations, he proceeded to lease
the Leeds and Selby Railway at five per cent. That
line had hitherto been a losing concern ; so its owners
readily struck a bargain with Mr. Hudson, and sounded
his praises in all directions. He increased the dividends
on the York and North Midland shares to ten per cent.,
and began to be cited as the model of a railway
chairman.

He next interested himself in the North Midland
Railway, where he appeared in the character of a re-
former of abuses. The North Midland shares also had
gone to a great discount, and the shareholders were
very willing to give Mr. Hudson an opportunity of
reforming their railway. They elected him a director.
His bustling, pushing, persevering character gave him
an influential position at the board, and he soon pushed
the old directors from their stools. He laboured hard,
at much personal inconvenience, to help the concern out
of its difficulties, and he succeeded. The new directors
recognised his power, and elected him their chairman.

Railway affairs revived in 1842, and public confidence
in them as profitable investments was gradually in-
creasing. Mr. Hudson had the benefit of this growing
prosperity. The dividends in his lines improved, and
the shares rose in value. The Lord Mayor of York
began to be quoted as one of the most capable of rail-
way directors. Stimulated by his success and encou-

CHAP. XVII. THE RAILWAY KING. 383

raged by his followers, he struck out or supported many
new projects — a line to Scarborough, a line to Bradford,
lines in the Midland districts, and lines to connect York
with Newcastle and Edinburgh. He was elected chair-
man of the Newcastle and Darlington Railway ; and
when — in order to complete the continuity of the main
line of communication — it was found necessary to secure
the Durham junction, which was an important link in
the chain, he and Mr. Stephenson boldly purchased that
railway between them, at the price of 88,500£. It was
an exceedingly fortunate purchase for the Company, to
whom it was worth double the money. The act, though
not strictly legal, proved successful, and was much
lauded. Thus encouraged, Mr. Hudson proceeded to
buy the Brandling Junction line for 500,000/., in his
own name — an operation at the time regarded as equally
favourable, though he was afterwards charged with
appropriating 1600 of the shares created for the pur-
chase, when worth 2 1/, premium each. The Great
North of England line being completed, Mr. Hudson
had thus secured the entire line of communication from
York to Newcastle, and the route was opened to the
public in June, '1844. On that occasion Newcastle
eulogised Mr. Hudson in its choicest local eloquence,
and he was pronounced to be the greatest benefactor
the district had ever known.

The adulation which now followed Mr. Hudson would
have intoxicated a stronger and more self-denying man.
He was pronounced the man of the age, and hailed as
" the Eailway King." The grand test by which the
shareholders judged him was the dividends that he paid,
although subsequent events proved that these dividends
were in many cases delusive, intended only " to make
things pleasant." The policy, however, had its effect.
The shares in all the lines of which he was chairman
went to a premium, and then arose the temptation to
create new shares in branch and extension lines, often

384 GEOEGE HUDSON, CHAP. XVII.

worthless, which were issued at a premium also. Thus he
shortly found himself chairman of nearly 600 miles of rail-
ways, extending from Kugby to Newcastle, and at the
head of numerous new projects, by means of which
paper wealth could be created, as it were, at pleasure.
He held in his own hands almost the entire administra-
tive power of the companies over which he presided :
he was chairman, board, manager, and all. His ad-
mirers for the time, inspired sometimes by gratitude for
past favours, but oftener by the expectation of favours
to come, supported him in all his measures. At the
meetings of the companies, if any suspicious inquirer
ventured to put a question about the accounts, he was
summarily put down by the chair, and hissed by the
proprietors. Mr. Hudson was voted praises, testimo-
nials, and surplus shares, alike liberally ; and scarcely a
word against him could find a hearing. He was equally
popular outside the circle of railway proprietors. His
entertainments at Albert Gate were crowded by syco-
phants, many of them titled ; and he went his round of
visits among the peerage like a prince.

Of course Mr. Hudson was a great authority on rail-
way questions in Parliament, to which the burgesses of
Sunderland had sent him. His experience of railways,
still little understood, though the subject of so much
legislation, gave value and weight to his opinions, and
in many respects he was a useful member. During the
first years of his membership he was chiefly occupied in
passing the railway bills in which he was more particu-
larly interested ; and in the session of 1845, when he
was at the height of his power, it was triumphantly said
of him, that " he walked quietly through Parliament
with some sixteen railway bills under his arm." One
of these bills, however, was the subject of a very .severe
contest — we mean that empowering the construction of
the railway from Newcastle to Berwick. It was almost
the only bill in which George Stephenson was that year

CHAP. XVII. THE RAILWAY KING. 385

concerned. Mr. Hudson displayed great energy in sup-
porting the measure, and lie worked hard to ensure its
success .both in and out of Parliament ; but he himself
attributed the chief merit to Mr. Stephenson. He
accordingly suggested to the shareholders that they
should present him with some fitting testimonial in re-
cognition of his valuable services. Indeed, a Stephenson
testimonial had long been spoken of, and a committee
was formed for the purpose of raising subscriptions as
early as the year 1839. Mr. Hudson now revived the
subject, and successively appealed to the Newcastle and
Darlington, the Midland, and the York and North Mid-
land Companies, who unanimously adopted the resolu-
tions which he proposed to them amidst "loud applause ;"
but there the matter ended.

The Hudson Testimonial was a much more taking
thing ; for Mr. Hudson had it in his power to allot
shares (selling at a premium) to the subscribers to his
testimonial. But Mr. Stephenson pretended to fill no
man's pocket with premiums ; he was no creator of
shares, and could not therefore work upon shareholders'
gratitude for "favours to come." The proposed testi-
monial to him accordingly ended with resolutions and
speeches. The York, Newcastle, and Berwick Board — in
other words, Mr. Hudson — did indeed mark their sense
of the "great obligations" which they were under to
Mr. Stephenson for helping to carry their bill through
Parliament, by making him an allotment of thirty of
the new shares authorised by the Act. But, as after-
wards appeared, the chairman had at the same time
appropriated to himself not fewer than 10,894 of the
same shares, the premiums on which were then worth,
in the market, about 145,000^. This shabby manner of
acknowledging the gratitude of the Company to their
engineer, was strongly resented by Mr. Stephenson at
the time, and a coolness took place between him and
Mr. Hudson which was never wholly removed — though

VOL. in. 2 c

386 FALL, OF THE RAILWAY KING. CHAI*. XVII.

they afterwards shook hands, and Mr. Stephenson de-
clared that all was forgotten.

Mr. Hudson's: brief reign soon drew to a close. The
speculation of 1845 was followed by a sudden reaction.
Shares went down faster than they had gone up ; the
holders of them hastened to sell in order to avoid pay-
ment of the calls, and many found themselves ruined.
Then came repentance, and a sudden return to virtue.
The betting-man who, temporarily abandoning the turf
for the share-market, had played his heaviest stake and
lost ; the merchant who had left his business, and the
doctor who had neglected his patients, to gamble in rail-
way stock, and been ruined ; the penniless knaves and
schemers, who had speculated so recklessly and gained
so little ; the titled and fashionable people, who had
bowed themselves so low before the idol of the day, and
found themselves deceived and " done ;" the credulous
small capitalists, who, dazzled by premiums, had in-
vested their all in railway shares, and now saw them-
selves stripped of everything — were grievously enraged,
and looked about them for a victim. In this temper
were shareholders, when, at a railway meeting in York,
some pertinent questions were put to the Railway King.
His replies were not satisfactory, and the questions were
pushed home. Mr. Hudson became confused. Angry
voices rose in the meeting. A committee of investiga-
tion was appointed. The golden calf was found to
be of brass, and hurled down ; Hudson's own toadies
and sycophants eagerly joining the chorus of popular
indignation. Similar proceedings shortly after occurred
at the meetings of other companies, and the bubbles
having by that time burst, the Eailway Mania came to
a sudden and ignominious end.

While the mania was at its height in England, rail-
ways 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

CHAP. XVII. STEPHENSON AGAIN VISITS BELGIUM. 387

undertakings. One of the most agreeable of these j
excursions was to Belgium in 1845, in company with I
his friends Mr. Sopwith and Mr. Starbuck. 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 Couvins, 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 inti-
mate friends. The journey was varied by a visit to
the coal-mines near Jernappe, where Stephenson exa-
mined 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
Xational Railways of Belgium ; and the most eminent
scientific men of the kingdom were present. Their

2 c 2

388 RAILWAY BANQUET AT BRUSSELS. CHAP. XVII.

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 ? ' ' It was indeed the model of that cele-
brated engine ; and Mr. Stephenson prized the com-
pliment thus paid him, perhaps more 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. Nothing was more
remarkable in Mr. Stephenson than his extreme ease
and self-possession in the presence of distinguished and
highly-educated persons. The king immediately entered
into familiar conversation with him, discussing the rail-
way project which had been the object of Mr. Stephen-
son's 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 describ-
ing 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 de-
scription. The conversation then passed to the rise arid
progress of trade and manufactures, — Mr. Stephenson

CHAP. xvii. INTERVIEW WITH THE KING. 389

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 in-
teresting information which Mr. Stephenson had com-
municated. Shaking hands cordially with both the
gentlemen, and wishing them success in all their
important undertakings, he bade them adieu. As
they were leaving the palace Mr. Stephenson, bethink-
ing him of the model by which he had just been
illustrating the Belgian coal-fields, said to his friend,
"By the bye, Sop with, 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 Eailway ; and he had scarcely returned from
it ere he made arrangements to proceed to Spain, for
purpose of examining and reporting upon a scheme
then on foot for constructing " the Eoyal North of
Spain Eailway." 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 the proposed line. 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 Govern-
ment on the subject. Mr. Stephenson, whom he con- •
suited, 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, —

390 JOURNEY THROUGH FRANCE. CHAP. XVT1.

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. Sir
Joshua Walmsley was struck during the journey by
Mr. Stephenson's close and accurate observation. Of
course he was fully alive to any important engineering
works which came in his way. Thus, in crossing the
river Dordogne, on the road to Bordeaux, he was struck
with the construction of the stupendous chain-bridge
which had recently been erected there. Not satisfied
with his first inspection, he walked back and again
crossed the bridge. On reaching the shore he said :
" This bridge cannot stand ; it is impossible that it can
sustain any unusual weight. Supposing a large body
of troops to march over it, there would be so much
oscillation as to cause the greatest danger ; in fact it
could not stand." He determined to write to the
public authorities, warning them on the subject ; which
he did. His judgment proved to be quite correct, for
only a few years after, no improvement having been
made in the bridge, a body of troops marching over it
under the precise circumstances which he had imagined,
the chains broke, the men were precipitated into the
river, and many lives were lost.

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 ol 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,

CHAP. XVII. A SPANISH SURVEY. 391

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 vener-
able 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 exer-
cises ; 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 sub-
ject of their journey. At Raynosa Mr. 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 lie went. The proposed plan included the purchase

392 NORTH OF SPAIN RAILWAY. CHAP. XVII.

of the Castile canal; and that property was also surveyed.
He next proceeded to El Escorial, situated at the foot
of the Gruadarama 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 con-
dition 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 influ-
ential 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 bull-fight, but that was not quite the busi-
ness 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. Be-
sides, 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.

CHAP. XVII. TRAVELLING INCIDENT. 393

Mr. Stephenson was now anxious to be in England.
During the journey from Madrid lie 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 inci-
dents worthy of notice occurred on the journey home-
ward, 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 sus-
pecting 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 pro-
ceeded at a moderate rate for the rest of his 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 priva-
tions 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 deter-
mined 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 mar-
vellous. After a few weeks' rest at home, Mr. Stephen-
son gradually recovered, though his health remained
severely shaken.

NEWCASTLE, FROM THE HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE. [By R. P Leitch.]

CHAPTEE XVIII.

EGBERT STEPHENSON'S CAREER — THE STEPHENSONS AND BRUNEL—
EAST COAST EOUTE TO SCOTLAND — EOYAL 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 ordi-
nary 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 con-
tinuing " 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.

CIIAI-. XVIIT. ROBERT STEPHENSOX. 395

Robert Stephenson amply repaid his father's care.
The sound education of which he had laid the founda-
tions at Brace's school at Newcastle, improved by his
subsequent culture at Edinburgh College, but more than
all by his father's example in 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 im-
planted 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 seeny 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 wasj
shortly after appointed engineer of the Leicester and!
Swuimington Railway; after which, at his father's)
request, he was made joint engineer with himself in the
engineering of the London and Birmingham Railway,
and the execution of that line was afterwards almost
entirely entrusted to him. The stability and excellence
of the works of that railway, the difficulties which had
been successfully overcome in the course of its construc-
tion, and the -judgment which was displayed by Robert
Stephenson throughout the whole conduct of the under-
taking to its completion, established his reputation as an

396 HIS EXTENSIVE EMPLOYMENT. CHAP. XVIII.

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 en-
gineer of the Eastern Counties, the Northern and Eastern,
the Blackwall, and many other railways in the midland
and southern districts. When the speculation of 1844
I set in, his services were, of course, greatly in request.
I Thus, in one session we find him engaged as engineer
/ for not fewer than thirty-three 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 uninterest-
ing 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 pro-
jectors for bills, and even the lobbies were sometimes
choked with them. To have borne that noisome atmos-
phere 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 occa-
sional rush to the bun and sandwich stand in the lobby,
though sometimes even that recourse failed them.
Then, with mind and body jaded — probably after under-

CHAP. XVIIT.

STEPHENSON AND BKUNEL.

397

going 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 con-
stitution of surviving such an ordeal ? The consequence
was, that stomach, brain, and liver were alike irre-
trievably injured ; and hence the men who bore the
/ heat and brunt of those struggles — Stephenson, Brunei,
v Locke, and Errington — have already all died, compara-
! tively young men.

In mentioning the name of Brunei, 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 foot-
steps of their fathers. The Stephensons were inventive,
practical, and sagacious ; the Brunels ingenious, ima-
ginative, and daring. The former were as thoroughly
English in their characteristics as the latter perhaps
were 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 Brunei
were destined often to come into collision in the .course
of their professional life. Their respective railway dis-
tricts "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 fixed by Mr. Brunei for the Great Western
Railway, so entirely different from that adopted by the
Stephensons on the Northern and Midland lines,1 was

1 The original width of the coal
tramroads in the North virtually de-
termined the British gauge. It was
the width of the ordinary road- track,
— not fixed after any scientific theory,
but adopted simply because its use had

already been established. George Ste-
phenson introduced it without altera-
tion on the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway ; and the lines subsequently
formed in the same district were laid
down of the same width. Mr. Ste-

398

THE RAILWAY GAUGES.

CHAP. XVII].

from the first a great cause of contention. But Mr.
Brunei 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. Brunei, however, determined that the Great
Western should be a giant's road, and that travelling
should be conducted upon it at double speed. His am-
bition was to make the best road that imagination could
devise ; whereas the main object of the Stephensoiis,
both father and son, was to make a road that would pay.
Although, tried by the Stephenson test, Brunei's mag-
nificent 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

phenson from the first anticipated the
general extension of railways through-
out England ; and one of the ideas
with which he started was, the essen-
tial importance of preserving such
a uniformity as would admit of per-
fect communication between them.
When consulted about the gauge of
the Canterbury and Whitstable, and
Leicester and Swannington Railways,
he said, " Make them of the same
width : though they may be a long
way apart now, depend upon it they
will be joined together some day."
All the railways, therefore, laid down
by himself and his assistants in the
neighbourhood of Manchester, extend-
ing from thence to London on the
south, and to Leeds on the east, were
constructed on the Liverpool and
Manchester, or narrow gauge. Be-
sides the Great Western Railway,
where the gauge adopted was seven
feet, the only other line on which a

broader gauge than four feet eight
and a-half inches was adopted was
the Eastern Counties, where it was
five feet, Mr. Braithwaite, the engi-
neer, being of opinion that an in-
crease of three and a-half inches in
the width of his line would give him
better space for the machinery of the
locomotive. But when the northern
and eastern extension of the same line
was formed, which was to work into
the narrow-gauge system of the Mid-
land Railway, Mr. Robert Stephenson,
its new engineer, strongly recom-
mended the directors of the Eastern
Counties line to alter their gauge ac-
cordingly, for the purpose of securing
uniformity; and they adopted his re-
commendation. Mr. Braithwaite him-
self afterwards justified the wisdom of
this step, and stated that he consi-
dered the narrow gauge " infinitely
superior to any other," more especially
for passenger traffic.

CHAP. XVill. CHARACTERISTICS OF BRUNEL. 399

their locomotives to the utmost ; they were improved
and re-improved ; their 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 thirty to
about fifty miles an hour. For this rapidity of progress
we are in no small degree indebted to the stimulus im-
parted to the narrow-gauge engineers by Mr. Brunei.,
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 Brunei to believe
in the success of the schemes for which he was profes-
sionally 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 cha-
racteristic caution, towards the latter years of his life,
avoided holding unguaranteed railway shares ; and
though he might execute magnificent structures, such as
the Yictoria 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/.

400 EAST COAST EOUTE TO SCOTLAND, CHAP. XVIII.

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 Stephen-
sons and Brunei was for the railway between Newcastle
and Berwick, forming part of the great East Coast route
to Scotland. As early as 1836, George Stephensoii had
surveyed two lines to connect Edinburgh with New-
castle : 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. Two years later,
he made a further examination of the intervening
country, and again reported more decidedly than before
in favour of the coast line. The inland route, however,
was not without its advocates : Stephenson' s old friend,
Nicholas Wood, heading the opposition to his proposed
Coast railway. 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 Dar-
lington line — an important link of the great main high-
way to the north — was completed and publicly opened,
thus connecting the Thames and the Tyne by a continuous
line of railway. On that day Mr. Stephenson and 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 Mr. Stephenson and his son.
Thirty years before, in the capacity of a workman, he
had been labouring at the construction of his first loco-
motive 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

CHAP. XVIII. THE NEWCASTLE AND BEBWICK. 401

estimation; and at length he had victoriously esta-
blished 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 again
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 Stephenson 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 avowedly sup-
ported atmospheric in preference to locomotive lines ;
and there was a strong party in Parliament, headed by
the Prime Minister, who were much disposed in their
favour. Mr. Brunei warmly espoused the atmospheric
principle, and his persuasive manner, as well as his
admitted scientific ability, unquestionably exercised con-
siderable influence in determining the views of many
leading members of both Houses on the subject. Amongst
others, Lord Howick, one of the members for Northum-
berland, adopted the new principle, and, possessing great
local influence, he succeeded in forming a powerful
confederacy of the landed gentry in favour of Brunei'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

VOL. in. 2 D

402 MEETING WITH BRUNEL IN NEWCASTLE. CHAP. XVIII.

in which its great powers had been first developed.
Nor did he relish the appearance of Mr. Brunei 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 Brunei in Newcastle, Ee good-
naturedly shook him by the collar, and asked " AVhat
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 una-
nimously 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. Mr. Hudson and the
Messrs. Stephenson were the soul of the struggle for the
locomotive line, and Lord Howick and Mr. Brunei in
support of the atmospheric system of working. Robert
Stephenson was examined at great length as to the
merits of the former, and Brunei at equally great length
as to the merits of the latter. Mr. Brunei, in the course
of 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."

Notwithstanding the promise of Mr. Sergeant Wrang-
ham, the counsel for Lord Howick's scheme, that the
Northumberland atmospheric was to be " a respectable
line, and not one that was to be converted into a road
for the accommodation of the coal-owners of the district,"
the locomotive again triumphed. The Stephenson Coast

CHAP. XVIII. GEOEGE STEPHENSON AND LORD HOWICK. 403

Line secured the approval of Parliament ; and the share-
holders in the Atmospheric Company were happily
prevented investing their capital in what would unques-
tionably 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. Brunei's immense tube on
the South Devon Railway1 — to make way for the working
of the locomotive engine. George Stephensoii's %first
verdict of " It won't do," was thus conclusively con-
firmed.

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.2 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

1 During the last half-year of the
atmospheric experiment on this line,
in 1848, the expenditure exceeded the
gross income (26,782Z.) by 2487Z., or
about 9f per cent, excess of working
expenses beyond gross receipts.

2 "When my father came about
the office," said Robert, "he some-
times 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 1
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 21. 10s. for
mending broken chairs."

2 D 2

404 THE STEPHENSON LINE CARRIED. CHAP. XVIIT.

occupied on important business just at present," was
George's answer, " but I can tell you far better than lie
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 pro-
ceeded 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, up-
wards of eight hundred 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 a hundred and ten bridges of all sorts
on the line — some under and some over it, — the viaducts
over the Ouseburn, the Wansbeck, and the Coquet, being
of considerable importance. But by far the most for-
midable piece of masonry work on this railway, is at its
northern extremity, where it passes across the Tweed
into Scotland, immediately opposite the formerly re-
doubtable 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
jegarded as the key of Scotland, and was fiercely fought

CHAP. XVIII. NEWCASTLE AND BERWICK WORKS. 405

for, sometimes held by a Scotch and sometimes by an
English garrison. Though strongly fortified, it was re-
peatedly 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 fifteen arches was
built across the Tweed at Berwick ; and in our own day
a second railway-bridge of twenty-eight arches was
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 twenty-four years
and four months in the building ; the bridge built by
the Railway Company, with funds drawn from private
resources, cost 120,000/., and was finished in three years
and four months from the day of laying the foundation
stone.

This important viaduct consists of a series of twenty-
eight semicircular arches, each 61 feet 6 inches in span,
the greatest height above the bed of the river bekig
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. The work was designed
by Robert Stephenson, and carried out by George
Barclay Bruce, who acted as resident engineer.

Another bridge, of still greater importance, necessary
to complete the continuity of the East Coast route, was

THE ROYAL BORDER BRIDGE, BERWICK-UPON-TWEED.
[By R. P. Leitch, after bis original Drawing ]

CHAP. XVIII. HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE, NEWCASTLE. 407

the inasterwork 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 — to the public spirit and enterprise of
whose family the prosperity of Newcastle has been in
no small degree indebted, and who first brought to light
the strong original genius of George Stephenson in
connexion with the safety-lamp — is entitled to the merit
of originating the idea of the High Level Bridge, as it
was eventually carried out, with a central terminus for
the northern railways in the Castle Garth at Newcastle.
He first promulgated the plan in 1841 ; and in the fol-
lowing year it was resolved that Mr. 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 com-
mittee of management, Mr. 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 extra-
ordinary stimulus to the art of bridge-building ; the num-
ber of such structures erected in Great Britain alone,
since 1830, having been above twenty-five thousand, or
more than all that previously existed in the country. In-
stead of the erection of 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, ren-
dered it apparent 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

408 PROGRESS OF BRIDGE-BUILDING. CHAP. XVIII.

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 pre-
served, 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 engi-
neer. In its various forms of cast and 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 Eailway, 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 abut-
ments being purely vertical. One of the earliest

^
CHAP. XVIII. EARLY IRON BRIDGs0R 409

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 navi-
gable 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 Cum-
berland 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 val-
ley. For some thirty years the Newcastle Corporation

410

THE TYNE VALLEY AT NEWCASTLE. CHAP. XVIII.

had discussed various methods of improving the com-
munication between the towns. Captain Brown, Telford,
and other engineers, were consulted, and the discussion
might have gone on for thirty 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 locality adroitly took advan-
tage 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
Pipe well 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 eight hundred 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,1 offers a prospect to the

J Notwithstanding the extraordinary
height of the bridge, it is remarkable
that several persons have thrown
themselves from it into the river be-
neath, and survived. One tipsy arti-
san, for a wager of a pot of drink,
jumped from the parapet, and was
picked out of the water alive. Another
person afterwards attempted suicide in
the same manner, and was rescued.
But the most singular accident oc-
curred during the construction of the !

bridge, when a shipwright, at work
upon the timber platform, stepping
from the permanent to the temporary
work, set his foot upon a loose plank,
which canted over. Accidentally,
however, a huge nail had been driven
— no one knew why — into the end of
a crossbearer, on which the temporary
platform rested ; and this nail-head
catching the leg of the man's fustian
trowsers near the lower hem as he fell,
held him suspended, head downwards,

CHAP. XVIII. THE HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE DESCRIBED.

411

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 lull in the great smoke volcanos which usually
obscure the sky, the funnels of steamers and the masts
of the 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 extra-
ordinary 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.1 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 of 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 per 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

swinging to and fro, gazing at the
river a hundred feet beneath him.
The man's comrades ran to his assist-
ance, and placing a ladder from the
lower bridge, they with difficulty res-
cued him from his perilous position.
Being a devout Methodist, the ship-
wright attributed his preservation to
the" direct interposition of Providence
in his behalf. In the course of about
a week, however, a tailor's advertise-
ment appeared in the local papers,
containing a letter from the rescued
workman himself, in which he gave

the sole credit to the trowsers by which
he had been suspended. On another
tailor publishing his claim to the merit
of having made them, a controversy
between the tailors ensued, which may
possibly remain unsettled to this day.
1 This work was not executed with-
out dismal forebodings on the part of
some of the Gateshead people ; one of
whom, on hearing the pile-driving ma-
chine at work on the foundations, was
wont to ejaculate, " There goes another
nail in the coffin of Gateshead ! "

412 PILE-DRIVING BY STEAM. CHAP. XVIII.

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 as
much ease as a lady sticks pins into a cushion. By the
aid of this formidable machine, what was formerly
among the most costly and tedious of engineering
operations, was rendered simple, easy, and economical.

When the piles had been driven and the coffer-dams
formed and puddled, the water within the enclosed
space was pumped out by the aid of powerful engines,
so as, if possible, to lay bare the bed of the river. Con-
siderable difficulty was experienced in getting in the
foundations of the middle pier, in cons'equence 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

CHAP. XVIII. DETAILS OF HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE. 413

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 foun-
dation 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 arrange-
ment, 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

414

DETAILS OF HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE. CHAP. XVII T.

HIGH LEVEL bKIDGE— E LEVATION OF ONE ARCH

PLAN OP ONE ARCH.

without disturbance or racking of the other parts oi 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 upon 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. The arches are six in number, of 125 feet
span each ; the two approaches to the bridge being
formed of cast-iron pillars and bearers in keeping with
the arches.

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 Mr. Leitch's masterly drawing, placed
as the frontispiece of this book, that the High Level

CHAP. XVITI. THE "LAST ACT OF THE UNION." 415

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 of 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 or the 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. North-
umbrian 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.

416 RAILWAY FROM CHESTER TO HOLYHEAD. CHAP. XTX.

CHAPTER XIX.

CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD RAILWAY — MENAI AND CONWAY
BRIDGES.

WE have lastly 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 Bail way 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 the Marquis of
Westminster, Mr. Wilbraham, and other influential
gentlemen, were present. Mr. Uniacke, the Mayor,
in opening the proceedings, observed, that it clearly
appeared that the rival line through Shrewsbury was
quite impracticable. Mr. Stephenson, he added, was
present in the room, ready to answer any questions
which might be put to him on the subject; and
" it would be better that he should be asked questions
than required to make a speech ; for, though a very

CHAP. XIX. MENAI SUSPENSION BKIDGE. 417

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 hesi-
tation in saying that it was more than twenty times as
much as the strain of a train of carriages and a locomo-
tive 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 mo-
tion. All the train would be on at once ; but distri-
buted. 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 ex-
planations 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
Pemnaen Mawr is worthy of a passing notice.

About midway between Conway and Bangor, Penmaen
Mawr forms a bold and almost precipitous headland, at

VOL. III. 2 E

418

WORKS AT PENMAEX MAW It. CHAP. XIX.

PENMAEN MAWR. [By Percival Skeltoo, after his original Drawing.]

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. A tunnel 10J 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

CHAP. XIX. VIOLENCE OF THE SEA. . 419

terrace being three times interrupted by embankments
in its course of about a mile and a quarter. The road
lies so close under the steep mountain face, that it was
even found necessary at certain places to protect it
a gainst 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 under-
went 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 con-
fessed that if a long tunnel had been made in the first
instance through the solid rock of Penmaen Mawr, a

2 E 2

420 CROSSING THE MENAI STEAIT. CHAP. XIX.

saving of from 25,000/. to 30,OOOZ. 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 ; l 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

1 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

Mr. K. Stevenson (Edinburgh) regis-
tered a force of three tons per square
foot at Skerryvore, during a gale in
the Atlantic, when the waves were

the greatest possible caution ' in ap- | supposed to run twenty feet high,
preaching so formidable an element, i

CHAP. XIX.

PROPOSED BRIDGE.

421

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.

The engineer's 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 Ren-
nie'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

422

PLAN OF SUSPENDED CENTERING. CHAP. XIX.

constructed on the principle of suspension, being con-
sidered indispensable conditions of the proposed structure.

Mr. Stephenson next considered the expediency of
erecting a bridge by means of suspended centering, after
the ingenious method proposed by Telford in 1810 ; x by
which the arching was to be carried out by placing
equal and corresponding voussoirs on opposite sides of
the pier at the same time, tying them together by
horizontal tie-bolts. The arching thus extended outwards
from each pier and held in equilibrium, would have
been connected at the crown with the extremity of the
arch advanced in like manner from the adjoining pier.
It was, however, found that this method of construc-
tion was not applicable at the Conway ; and it' was
eventually abandoned. Yarious other plans were sug-
gested ; but the whole question remained unsettled even
down to the time when the Company went before Par-
liament, 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 wrought-iron plates.2 Eecurring to his first

1 See ' Lives of the Engineers,' vol.
ii. p. 445. It appears that Mr. Fair-
bairn suggested this idea in his letter
to Mr. Stephenson, dated the 3rd
June, 1845, accompanied by a draw-

ing. See his ' Account of the Con-
struction of the Britannia and Conway
Tubular Bridges, &c.' London, 1849.
2 Eobert Stephenson's narrative of
the early history of the design, in

CHAP. XIX. A TUBULAR BEAM PROPOSED. 423

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, after a method adopted by
Mr. Eendel in stiffening the suspension bridge at Mon-
trose with wooden trellis-work a few years before ;
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
to him, nevertheless, that without a system of dia-
gonal struts inside, which of course would have pre-
vented 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. Be-
sides, the rectangular figure was deemed objection-
able, 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

Edwin Clark's ' Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges,' vol. i. p. 25. Lon-
don, 1850.

424 STRENGTH OF THE WROUGHT-IRON BEAM. CHAP. XIX.

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 sup-
ported by chains at such a height, did at first present
itself as a difficulty of a very formidable nature.
Eeflection, 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 ap-
plicable, and could not fail to lead to equally accurate
results." l 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 corro-
borated 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 be-
came gradually confirmed in his opinion that the most

1 Robert Stephenson's narrative in Clark's ' Britannia and Coriway Tubular
Bridges,' vol. i. p. 27.

CHAP. XIX. MR. WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN CALLED IX. 425

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 neces-
sary 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 rail-
way 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 occa-
sion, " 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 in-
vestigated 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 investiga-
tion of whatever forms or conditions of the structure
might appear to me best calculated to secure a safe

426

A RECTANGULAR TUBE DETERMINED ON. CHAP. XIX.

passage across the Straits." l Mr. Fairbairn then pro-
ceeded to construct a number of experimental models
for the purpose of testing the strength of tubes of
different forms. The short period which elapsed, how-
ever, 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 of 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, pre-
senting 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 tubes in that
shape, extending them subsequently to those of an ellip-
tical form.2 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 of 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

1 * Account of the Construction of
the Britannia and Conway Tubular
Bridges.' By W. ^airbairn, C.E. Lon-
don, 1849.

2 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 re-
marked to the author, that had the
same arrangement for stiffening been
adopted to which the oblong rectan-
gular tubes owe a great part of their
strength, a very different result would
have been obtained.

CHAP. XIX. SUSPENSION-CHAINS PROPOSED. 427

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 separate trials ;
one of the results of the experiments being the adoption
< >f 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 accord-
ingly called in, and he proceeded to verify and confirm the
experiments which Mr. Fairbairn had made, and after-
wards reduced them to the required formulae ; though
Mr. Fairbairn states that they did not appear in time to
be of any practical service in proportioning the parts of
the largest tubes.1

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, which he felt
were safe in the hands of Mr. Fairbairn — "a gentle-
man," as he stated to the committee of the Com-
mons, " whose experience was greater than that of any
other man in England." The results of the experi-
ments 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 sufficient 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,

Fairbairn's ' Account,' p. 22.

428

ROBERT STEPHENSON'S CAUTION.

CHAP. XIX.

was strongly inclined to retain them.1 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 distri-
buted 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 1846, have appointed his able assistant,
Mr. Edwin Clark, to scrutinise carefully the results of
every experiment, whether made by Mr. Fairbairn or
Mr. Hodgkinson, 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. That great progress
had been made by the two chief experimenters before
the end of 1846, appears from the papers read by Messrs.
Fairbairn and Hodgkinson before the British Association
at Southampton in September of that year. In the
course of the following month Mr. Stephenson had be-
come fully satisfied that the use of auxiliary chains was

1 The following passage occurs in
Robert Stephenson's Report to the di-
rectors of the Chester and Holyhead
Railway, dated the 9th February,
1846 :— " You will observe in Mr.
Fairbairn's remarks, that he contem-
plates the feasibility of stripping the
tube entirely of all the chains that
may be required in the erection of the
bridge; whereas, on the other hand,
Mr. Hodgkinson thinks the chains
will be an essential, or at all events a
useful auxiliary, to give the tube the
requisite strength and rigidity. This,
however, will be determined by the
proposed additional experiments, and
does not interfere with the construction
of the masonry, which is designed so
as to admit of the tube, with or with-

out chains. The application of chains
as an auxiliary has occupied much of
my attention, and I am satisfied that
the ordinary mode of applying them
to suspension bridges is wholly inad-
missible in the present instance; if,
therefore, it be hereafter found neces-
sary or desirable to employ them in
conjunction with the tube, another
mode of employing them must be de-
vised, as it is absolutely essential to
attach them in such a manner as to
preclude the possibility of the smallest
oscillation. In the accomplishment
of this I see no difficulty whatever ;
and the designs have been arranged
accordingly, in order to avoid any
further delay."

CHAP. XIX. THE MASONRY PROCEEDED WITH. 429

unnecessary, and that the tubular bridge might be made
of such strength as to be entirely self-supporting.1

While these important discussions were in progress,
measures were taken to proceed with the masonry of the
bridges simultaneously at Conway and the Menai Strait.
The foundation-stone of the Britannia Bridge was laid
by Mr. Frank Forster, the resident engineer, on the
10th of April, 1846 ; and on the 12th of May following
that of the Con way Bridge was laid by Mr. A. M. Eoss,
resident engineer at that part of the works. Suit-
able platforms and workshops were also erected for
proceeding with the punching, fitting, and riveting of
the tubes ; and when these operations were in full pro-
gress, the neighbourhood of the Conway and Britannia
Bridges presented scenes of extraordinary bustle and
industry. On the llth of July, 1847, Mr. Clark in-
forms Mr. Stephenson that " the masonry gets on rapidly.
The abutments on the Anglesey side resemble the founda-
tions of a great city rather than of a single structure, and
nothing appears to stand still here." 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 Euncorn, in Cheshire, as wind
and tide, and shipping and convenience, might deter-
mine. There was an unremitting clank of hammers,
grinding of machinery, and blasting of rock, going

1 In a letter of Mr. Fairbairn to Mr. adopt measures, calculated not only

Stephenson, dated July 18th, 1846, to establish the principle as a triumph

he says : — " To get rid of the chains of art, but what is of infinitely more

will be a desideratum ; and I have I importance to the shareholders, the

made the tube of such strength, and i saving of a large sum of money,

intend putting it together upon such a j nearly equal to half the cost of the

principle, as will insure its carrying ! bridge ? I have been ably assisted by

a dead weight, equally distributed : Mr. Clark in all these contrivances ;

over its hollow surface, of 4000 tons, but in a matter of such importance

With a bridge of such powers, what we must have your sanction and

have we to fear? and why, in the support." — Mr. Fairbairn 's ' Account,'

name of truth and in the face of con- p. 93.
elusive facts, should we hesitate to

430 THE BRITANNIA BRIDGE. CHAP. XIX.

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 abutments 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 longer spans, at the points where the tubes repose
on the masonry, is not less than 1587 tons. On the
centre tower the tubes lie 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 con-
stituting 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

CHAP. XIX. CONSTRUCTION OF THE TUBES.

431

CONSTRUCTION OF MAIN BRITANNIA TUBE ON THE STAGING.

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, — in like manner as Eennie had
floated into their places the centerings of his Waterloo
and other bridges, — and then raised into their proper
places by means of hydraulic power, after a method ori-
ginally suggested by Mr. Edwin Clark, to whose valuable

432 FLOATING THE CON WAY TUBES. CHAP. XIX.

history of the construction of the Britannia and Conway
Bridges we would refer the reader for full details
as to the methods of construction employed in these
extraordinary works.

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. Stephen-
son directed it in person, assisted by Captain Claxton,
Mr. Brunei, 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 majesti-
cally 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 of 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
through it ; and, on the 1 8th, 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 Jac-
quard 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.

The floating and fixing of the great Britannia tubes
was a still more formidable enterprise, though the ex-

CHAP. XIX. FLOATING THE BRITANNIA TUBES.

433

-

CONWAT BRIDGE. [By Percival Skeiton.]

perience gained at Conway rendered it easy compared
with what it otherwise would have been. Mr. Stephen-
son 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 of June, 1849. On the land
attachments being cut, the pontoons began to float off;
but one of the capstans having given way from the too
great strain put upon it, 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
VOL. TII. 2 F

434 FLOATING THE BRITANNIA TUBES. CHAP. XIX.

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, " de-
pended 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. Charles 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, arrested 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

(HAP. XIX. MR. STEPHENSON'S ANXIETY- 435

of spectators, whose sympathy and anxiety were but too
clearly indicated by the unbroken silence with which
the whole operation had been accompanied." By mid-
night 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,2 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

1 * The Britannia and Conway Tu-
bular' Bridges.' By Edwin Clark.

2 No. 34, Gloucester Square, Hyde
Park, where he lived.

Vol. II. p. 683-4.

2 F 2

436 LIFTING OP THE TUBES. CHAP. XIX.

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 neigh-
bouring 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 cau-
tiously. 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

CHAP. XIX.

THE TUBE FALLS.

437

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
crunched 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 imme-
diately 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."1

1 The hydraulic-presses were of an
extraordinary character. The cylin-
ders of those first constructed were of
wrought-iron (cast-iron being found
altogether useless), not less than 8
inches thick. They were tested by
being subjected to an internal pressure
of 3 or 3£ tons to the circular inch.
The pressure was such that it squeezed
the fibres of the iron together ; so that
alter a few tests of this kind the
piston, which at first fitted it quite
closely, was found considerably too
small. "A new piston," says Mr.
Clark, " was then made to suit the en-
larged cylinder ; and a further enlarge-
ment occurring again and again with

subsequent use, the new pistons be-
came as formidable an obstacle as the
cylinders. The wrought-iron cylin-
der was on the point of being aban-
doned, when Mr. Amos (the iron
manufacturer), having carefully gauged
the cylinder inside and out, found to
his surprise, that although the inter-
nal diameter had increased consider-
ably, the external diameter had re-
tained precisely its original dimen-
sions. He consequently persevered in
the construction of new pistons; and
ultimately found that the cylinder
enlarged no longer, and to this day
it continues in constant use. Layer
after layer having attained additional

438

THE QUEEN'S VISIT.

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 Eoyal 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 com-
memorate 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 011
the 3rd December, and set in its permanent place on the
7th January, 1850. The others1 were floated and raised

permanent set, sufficient material was
at length brought into play, with
sufficient tenacity to withstand the
pressure; and thus an obstacle, appa-
rently insurmountable, and which
threatened at one time to render much
valuable machinery useless, was en-
tirely overcome. The workman may
be excused for calling the stretched
cylinder stronger than the new one,
though it is only stronger as regards
the amount of its yielding to a given
force."— Clark, vol. I. 306. The hy-
draulic-presses used in raising the
tubes of the Britannia Bridge, it may
be remembered, were afterwards used
in starting the Great Eastern from her
berth on the shore at Milwall where
she had been built.

1 While the preparations were in
progress for floating the third tube,
Mr. Stephenson received a pressing
invitation to a public railway celebra-
tion at Darlington., in honour of his
old friend Edward Pease. His reply,
dated the 15th May, 1850, was as
follows : — " I am prevented having
the pleasure of a visit to Darlington,
on the 22nd, owing to that or the fol-

lowing day having been fixed upon
for floating the next tube at the
Menai Straits ; and as this movement
depends on the tide, it is, of course,
impossible for me to alter the arrange-
ments. I sincerely regret this circum-
! stance, for every early association con-
nected with my profession, would
I have tended to render my visit a gra-
' ti tying one. It would, moreover,
| have given me an opportunity of say-
! ing publicly how much the wonderful
| progress of railways was dependent
' upon the successful issue of the first
| great experiment, and how much that
I issue was influenced by your great
I discernment, and your confidence in
I my late revered father. In my re-
I membrance you stand amongst the
foremost of his patrons and early ad-
visers; and I know that throughout
his life he regarded you as one of his
very best friends. One of the tilings
in which he took especial delight, was
in frequently and very graphically
describing his first visit to Darlington,
on foot, to confer with you on the sub-
ject of the Stockton and Darlington
Railway."

CHAP. XIX. THE BRIDGE FINISHED AND OPENED.

439

in due course. On the 5th of 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 of March. The
cost of the whole work was 23 4,45 O/.

BRITANNIA BRIDGE. [By Fercival SkHtnn. after his original Drains.]

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

440 MERITS OF THE TUBULAR BRIDGE. CHAP. XIX.

best men to work out his idea, himself watching, con-
trolling, 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 combi-
nation 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.

CON WAY BRIDGE— FLOATING THE FIRST TUBE.

VIEW IN TAPTON GARDENS. [By Percival Skelton.]

CHAPTER XX.

CLOSING YEARS OF (TEORGE STEPHENSON'S LIFE — ILLNESS AND
DEATH — CHARACTER — DEATH OF EGBERT STEPHENSON.

Ix 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 suc-
cess of his son's designs, and he accordingly paid many
visits to Con way 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 experienced 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 profes-
sion as an engineer. He devoted himself chiefly to his
extensive collieries and lime-works, taking a local in-

442 GARDENING AT TAPTON. CHAP. XX.

terest 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 sixty-eight feet in length and a
pinery a hundred and forty feet. Workmen were con-
stantly 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 neigh-
bourhood 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 pine-apples at Tap ton 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. Amongst his
other erections, he built a joiner's shop, where he kept

CHAP. XX. STEPHENSON ON FARMING. 443

a workman regularly employed in carrying out his
many ingenious contrivances of this sort.

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 humour-
ing 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. Carry-
ing 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 par-
ticular as to breed and build in stock-breeding. " You
see, sir," he said to one gentleman, " I like to see the
coos 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, drain-
age, and farm economy, which he had been accustomed
to exercise on mechanical and engineering matters. At
one of the meetings of the North Derbyshire Agricul-
tural Society, he favoured the assembled farmers with
an explanation of his theory of vegetation. The prac-
tical conclusion to which it led was, that the agriculturist
ought to give as much light and heat to the soil as
possible. At the same time he stated his opinion that,

444 BIRDS AND BEES. CHAP. XX.

in some cold soils, water contributed to promote vegeta-
tion, rather than to impede it, as was generally believed ;
for the water, being exposed to the sun and atmosphere,
became specifically warmer than the earth it covered,
and when it afterwards irrigated the fields, it commu-
nicated this additional heat to the soil which it per-
meated.

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 ac-
quainted 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 Darling-
ton visited him at Tapton, he explained a method which
he had invented for fattening chickens in half the usual
time. The chickens were shut up in boxes, which were
so made as to exclude the light. Dividing the day into
two or three periods, the birds were shut up at the end
of each after a heavy feed, and went to sleep. The plan
proved very successful, and Mr. Stephenson jocularly
said that if he were to devote himself to chickens he
could soon make a little fortune.

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

CHAP. XX. READING AND CONVERSATION. 445

the foot of the hill on which Tapton House stands, he
saw some bees trying to rise up from amongst the
!_:T;ISS, 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
1 > v 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 ; hence he
was always glad in the society of intelligent, conversible
persons.

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
conversible face." On one of these occasions, at the
Euston Station, he discovered in a carriage a very hand-
some, 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 Middelton, 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

446 HOSPITALITY AT TAPTON. CHAP. XX.

amazed his lordship by the extent of his knowledge on
the subject, in which he displayed as much minute infor-
mation, even down to the latest improvements in watch-
making, 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 clean-
ing 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 often 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 friends' 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 accus-
tomed 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

CHAP. XX. SPIRIT OF FROLIC. 447

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 compre-
hend 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 each of them to puncture his
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 nega-
tive 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 inva-
riably 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

448

A CROWDIE NIGHT.'

CHAP. XX.

by this time his "wind"
had greatly failed. He
would occasionally in-
vite 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 even-
ing, he would some-
times indulge his vi
sitors by reciting the
old pastoral of " Damon
and Phyllis," or sing-
ing 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 dain-
ties 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.

(.'HAP. XX. ADVICE TO YOUTH. 449

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 friend-
liness 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 ex-
horting such backsliders, and denouncing their miscon-
duct 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."

Young men would call upon him for advice or assist-
ance in commencing a professional career. When he
noted their industry, prudence, and good sense, he was
always ready. But, hating foppery and frippery above
all things, he would reprove any tendency to this weak-
ness which he observed in the applicants. One day, a
youth desirous of becoming an engineer called upon
him, flourishing a gold-headed cane : Mr. Stephenson
said, " Put by that stick, my man, and then I will speak
to you." To another extensively decorated gentleman,
he one day said, " You will, I hope, Mr. - — , excuse
me ; I am a plain-spoken person, and am sorry to see
a nice-looking and rather clever young man like you
disfigured with that fine-patterned waistcoat, and all
these chains and fang-clangs. If I, sir, had bothered
my head with such things at your age, I would not
have been where I am now."

Mr. Stephenson's life at Tapton during his later years
was occasionally diversified with a visit to London. His
engineering business having become limited, he gene-

VOL. III. 2 G

450 SIR ROBERT PEEL'S INVITATION. CHAP. XX.

rally went there for the purpose of visiting1 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 real pleasure. A friend used to
take him to the opera, but by the end of the first act,
he was generally observed in a profound slumber. Yet
on one occasion he enjoyed a visit to the Hayrnarket,
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, u Well, and how's
all here to-day ? " To the last he had always a warm
heart for Newcastle and its neighbourhood.

Sir Eobert Peel, on more than one occasion, invited
Mr. Stephensoii 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 Eobert
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 ^ery much, and can no longer refuse : I will
come down and join your party."

CHAP. XX. VISIT TO DRAYTON MANOR. 451

Mr. Stephenson's strong powers of observation, to-
gether with his native humour and shrewdness, imparted
to his conversation at all times much vigour and origi-
nality, 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 Dray ton, 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 ac-
quainted 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 w^as 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 ? "

2 a 2

452 THE PARTY AT DRAYTON MANOR. CHAP. XX.

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."

One day, at dinner, during the same visit, a scientific
lady asked him the question : " Mr. Stephenson, what
do you consider the most powerful force in nature ? "
" Oh ! " said he, in a gallant spirit, " I will soon answer
that • question : it is the eye of a woman for the man
who loves her ; for if a woman look with affection on a
young man, and he should go to the uttermost ends of
the earth, the recollection of that look will bring him
back : there is no other force in nature could do that."

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 ex-

CHAP. XX. HIS LAST KAILWAY CELEBRATIONS. 453

ample 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 liveliness of their circulation. When
Sir Eobert 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 Eobert 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 Dray-
ton Manor, and to assist in the ceremony of formally
opening the Trent Yalley 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 of 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 Eng-
land, 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 cele-
1 a ate the opening of the railway. The clergy were there

454 RAILWAY CELEBRATION AT MANCHESTER. CHAP. XX.

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 tend-
ing 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.

Shortly after this celebration at Tarn worth, Mr. Ste-
phenson was invited to be present at an assemblage of
railway men in Manchester, at which a testimonial was
presented to Mr. J. P. Westhead, the former chairman
of the Manchester and Birmingham Railway. The
original Liverpool and Manchester line had now swelled
into gigantic proportions. It formed the nucleus of the
vast system now known as the London and North-
western Railway. First one line, and then another, of
which Mr. Stephenson was the engineer, had been amal-
gamated with it, until the main line extended from
London to Lancaster, stretching out its great arms to
Leeds in one direction and Holy head in the other, and
exercising an influence over other northern lines, as far
as Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen. On the occasion
to which we refer, Mr. "Stephenson, the " father of rail-
ways," was not forgotten. It was mainly his ingenuity,
energy, and perseverance that had called forth the
commercial enterprise which issued in this magnificent
system of internal communication ; and the railway men
who assembled to do honour to Mr. Westhead did not
fail to recognise the great practical genius through
whose labours it had been established. He was "the
rock from which they had been hewn," observed Mr.
Westhead, — the father of railway enterprise, — and the

CHAP. XX. INTERVIEW WITH EMERSON. 455

forerunner of all that had been done to extend the
locomotive system throughout England and throughout
the world.

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. It was interesting
to see those two remarkable men, so different in most
respects, and whose lines of thought and action lay in
such widely different directions, yet so quick to recognise
each other's merits. Mr. Stephenson was not, as yet,
acquainted with Mr. Emerson as an author; and the
contemplative American might not be supposed to be
particularly interested beforehand in the English engi-
neer, whom he knew by reputation only as a giant in
the material world. But there was in both an equal
aspiration after excellence, each in his own sphere, — the
aesthetic and abstract tendencies of the one complement-
ing the keen and accurate perceptions of the material
of the other. 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 everywhere been
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 conversa-
tion was next directed to the subject of electricity,
upon \vhich 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

450 HIS ILLNESS AND DEATH. CHAP. XX.

American. Afterwards Emerson said, "that it
worth crossing the Atlantic to have seen Stephensori
alone ; he had such native force of character and vigour
of intellect." Although Emerson does not particularly
refer to this interview in the interesting essay afterwards
published by him, entitled 6 English Traits,' embodying
the results of the observations made by him in his
journeys through England, one cannot help feeling that
his interview with such a man as Stephenson must have
tended to fix in his mind those sterling qualities of
pluck, bottom, perseverance, energy, shrewdness, bravery,
and freedom, which he so vividly depicts in his book
as the prominent characteristics of the modern English-
man.

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 affec-
tion, he appeared to possess a sound constitution. Emer-
son had observed of him that he had the lives of many
men in him. But perhaps the American spoke figura-
tively, 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 of 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

CHAP. XX.

HIS FUNERAL.

457

12tli of August, 1848, in the sixty-seventh year of his
age. When all was over, Eobert wrote to Edmund
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, 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 wras ever ready actively to
promote all measures for their moral, physical, and
mental improvement. The inhabitants of Chesterfield
their respect for the deceased by suspending

TRINITY CHURCH, CHESTERFIELD.

458 STATUES TO STEPHENSON. CHAP. XX.

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 Liver-
pool 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^wofks.
The Liverpool Board placed a minute on their books,
embodying the graceful tribute of their secretary, Mr.
Henry Booth, in which they recorded their admiration
of the life, and their esteem for the character of the
deceased. " The directors," they say, " on the present
occasion look back with peculiar interest to their first
connexion with Mr. Stephenson, in the construction of
the Liverpool and Manchester Railway ; to a period
now twenty years past, when he floated their new line
over Chat Moss, and cut his way through the rock-
cutting at Olive Mount. Tracing the progress of rail-
ways from the first beginning to the present time, they
find Mr. Stephenson foremost in urging forward the
great railway movement ; earning and maintaining his
title to be considered, before any other man, the author
of that universal system of locomotion which has effected
such mighty results — commercial, social, and political—
throughout the civilized world. Two years ago, the
directors entrusted to Mr. Gibson, .of Eome, the duty
and the privilege of producing a statue that might do
honour to their friend, then living amongst them. They
did not anticipate that on the completion of this work of
art the great original would be no more, — that they
should be constrained to accept the marble effigy of the
engineer in lieu of the living presence of the man."

CHAP. XX. LOUGH'S STATUE. 459

The statue here referred to was placed in St. George's
Hall, Liverpool. A full-length statue of the deceased,
by Bailey, was also erected a few years later, in the
noble vestibule of the London and North Western Sta-
tion, 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 oppor-
tunity of doing honour to their distinguished fellow
workman .

But unquestionably the finest and most appropriate
statue to the memory of George Stephenson is that
erected in the course of the present year 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 locomo-
tive 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 statue
is by John Lough, a sculptor whose genius is equalled
by his modesty. 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 recum-
bent figures of a pitman, a mechanic, an engine-driver,
and a plate-layer. These figures are admirably exe-
cuted, and their design in connection with the central
figure seems to us quite original. The statue appro-
priately 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

400 ROBERT STEPHENSON'S RETIREMENT. CHAP. XX.

addressed by Robert Nicoll to Robert Burns, with per-
haps still greater appropriateness :—

" Before the proudest of tlie 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.

George Stephenson bequeathed to his son his valuable
collieries, his share in the engine manufactory at New-
castle, 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 race. He continued, how-
ever, 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 him-
self to the harassing business of a parliamentary en-
gineer, 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

CHAP. XX. ROBERT STEPHENSON'S TUBULAR BRIDGES. 461

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
< >wn 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 con-
tinuance of His mercies."

Robert Stephenson lived long enough, however, to
repeat his Tubular Bridge in the magnificent structure
across the St. Lawrence at Montreal, and, in a modified
form, in the two bridges across the Nile, near Damietta
in Lower Egypt. The Victoria Bridge was erected after
Mr. Stephensoii's designs under the immediate direction
of Mr. Malcolm Ross, who acted as resident and joint
engineer. With its approaches it is only sixty yards short
of two miles in length. In gigantic strength and majestic
proportions there is no structure to compare with it in
ancient or modern times. It consists of not less than
twenty-five immense tubular bridges joined into one ; the
great central span being 330 feet, the others 242 feet in
length. In constructing these tubes, the cellular prin-
ciple has been entirely dispensed with. The weight of
wrought-iron in the bridge is about 10,000 tons; the
piers being of massive stone, each containing some
8000 tons of solid masonry. This vast structure was
begun in 1854, and finished in 1860 ; but the engineer
did not live to see its completion.

The principal feature of Mr. Stephenson's Egyptian
bridges was in the road being carried upon the tubes in-

462 STEPHENSON AND BRUNEL. CHAP. XX.

stead of within them. The larger of the two is over the
Damietta branch of the Nile, near Benha. It 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 ; leaving a clear water-way of 60 feet on either
side of the central pier. The greatest difficulty encoun-
tered in the erection of the bridge was in getting in the
foundations, which were sunk 33 feet through soil of a
peculiarly shifting character.

During the later years of his life Mr. Stephenson was
frequently called upon to act as arbitrator between con-
tractors and railway companies, or between one com-
pany 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 rivals in the engineering world. The
author remembers being with Mr. Stephenson one even-
ing at his house in Gloucester Square, when a note was
put into his hands from his friend Brunei, 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 balk 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 ;"

CHAP. XX. FOREIGN HONOURS. 463

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.

Mr. Stephenson also 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 de-
voted 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 110 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 respecting many important
lines abroad. He was early consulted, like his father,
by the Bang 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, Pied-
mont, and Denmark, to advise as to the system of rail-
way communication best suited for those countries.
At the Paris Exhibition of 1855 the Emperor of France
decorated him with the Legion of Honour in considera-

464 EGBERT STEPHENSON'S DEATH AND FUNERAL. CHAP. XX.

tion 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 Engi-
neers, 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.

It was when on a visit to Norway in the autumn of
1859 that Robert Stephenson was seized by the illness
which terminated his illustrious career. He had been
for some time ailing, and was in indifferent health when
he sailed. But a deep-seated disease lurked within him
—an old liver-complaint which first developed itself in
jaundice and then in dropsy, of which he died on the
12th of October, in the fifty-sixth year of his age.1 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 work-
ing men.

1 In 1829 Robert Stephenson mar-
ried Frances, daughter of John Sander-
son, merchant, London ; but she died
in 1842, without issue, and Mr. Ste-
phenson did not marry again. Writ-
ing to his friend Edward Pease, of
Darlington, shortly after his wife's
death, "in 1842, he said: — "You have
my sincere thanks for your kind ex-
pressions relative to the heavy affliction
with which the Almighty in his wis-
dom has been pleased to visit me. It

has, indeed, been severe, but I feel
that the weight of the blow was much
mitigated by my being mercifully
permitted to witness the last moments
of my beloved companion in life, which
were those of a fervent and laithliil
Christian ; and my prayer is that my
last end may be like hers." Until the
close of his life, Robert Stephenson
was accustomed twice in every year to
visit his wife's grave in Hampstead
churchyard.

CHAP. XXI. THE STEPHENSON CHARACTERISTICS. 465

CHAPTER XXL

CHARACTERISTICS.

IT would be out of keeping with the subject thus drawn
to a conclusion, to pronounce a panegyric on the cha-
racter and achievements of George Stephenson and his
son. Both were emphatically true men, presenting in
their lives and works a combination of those sterling
qualities which we are proud to regard as essentially
English.

In the old Teutonic tongue, Steeveson, of which
Stevenson and Stephenson are but modifications, is said
to mean the " Son of the Strong ;" nor did either of our
engineers belie the appellation. Doubtless they owed
much to their birth, belonging as they did to the hardy
race of the north — a race less supple, soft, and polished
than the people of more southern districts ; but, like their
Danish progenitors, full of courage, vigour, ingenuity,
and persevering industry. Their strong, guttural speech,
which sounds so harsh and unmusical in southern ears,
is indeed but a type of their nature. When George
Stephenson was struggling to give utterance to his views
upon the locomotive before the Committee of the House
of Commons, those who did not know him supposed he
was " a foreigner." Before long the world saw in him
an Englishman, stout-hearted and true — one of those
master minds who, by energetic action in new fields of
industry, impress their character from time to time upon
the age and nation to which they belong.

The poverty of his parents being such that they could
not give him any, even the very simplest, education,
beyond the good example of integrity and industry, he

VOL. in. 2 H

466 LABORIOUSNESS AND THOROUGHNESS. CHAP. XXI.

was early left to shift for himself, and compelled to be
self-reliant. Having the will to learn, he soon found a
way for himself. No beginning could have been more
humble than his ; but he persevered : he had determined
to learn, and he did learn. To such a resolution as his,
nothing really beneficial in life is denied. He might
have said, like Sebastian Bach, " I was industrious ; and
whoever is equally sedulous will be equally successful."

The whole secret of Mr. Stephenson's success in life
was his careful improvement of time, which is the rock
out of which fortunes are carved and great characters
formed. He believed in genius to the extent that Buifon
did when he said that " patience is genius ;" or as some
other thinker put it, when he defined genius to be the
power of making efforts. But he never would have it
that he was a genius, or that he had done anything
which other men, equally laborious and persevering as
himself, could not have accomplished. He repeatedly
said to the young men about him : " Do as I have done
—persevere ! "

Every step of advance which he made was conquered
by patient labour. When an engineman, he systemati-
cally took his engine to pieces on Saturday afternoons
while the works were at a stand, for the purpose of
cleaning it thoroughly, and " gaining insight." He
thus gradually mastered the mechanism of the steam-
engine, so that, when opportunity offered, he was enabled
to improve it, and to make it work even when its own
maker was baffled. He practically studied hydraulics
in the same plodding way, when acting as plugman ;
and when all the local pump-doctors at Killingworth
were in despair, he stepped in, and successfully applied
the knowledge which he had so laboriously gained.
A man of such a temper and purpose could not but
succeed in life.

Whether working as a brakesman or an engineer, his
mind was always full of the work in hand. He gave

CHAP. XXI. ENERGY AND DETERMINATION. 467

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.

The battle which Mr. Stephenson fought for the
locomotive — and he himself always spoke of it as a
" battle " —would have discouraged most other men ;
but it only served to bring into prominence that energy
and determination which formed the back-bone of his
character. "I have fought," said he, "for the loco-
motive single-handed for nearly twenty years, having
no engineer to help me until I had reared engineers
under my own care." The leading engineers of the
day were against him, without exception : yet he did
not despair. He had laid hold of a great idea, and he
stuck by it; his mind was locked and bolted to the
results. "I put up," he says, "with every rebuff,
determined not to be put down." When the use of his
locomotive on the Liverpool and Manchester line was
reported against, and the employment of fixed engines
recommended instead, Mr. Stephenson implored the
directors, who were no engineers, only to afford him a

2 H 2

4(58 THE BATTLE OF THE LOCOMOTIVE. CHAP. XXI.

fair opportunity for a trial of the locomotive. Their
common sense came to his rescue. They had immense
confidence in the Newcastle engine-wright. He had
already made stedfast friends of several of the most
influential men amongst them, who valued his manly
uprightness and integrity, and were strongly disposed
to believe in him, though all the engineering world
stood on the one side, arid he alone on the other. His
patient purpose, not less than his intense earnestness,
persuaded them. They adopted his recommendation,
and offered a prize of 500/. for the best locomotive.
Though many proclaimed the Liverpool men to be as
great maniacs as Stephenson, yet the result proved the
practical sagacity of the directors and the skill of their
engineer ; but it was the determined purpose of the
latter which secured the triumph of the locomotive.
His resolution, founded on sound convictions, was the
precursor of what he eventually achieved ; and his
intense anticipation was but the true presentiment of
what he was afterwards found capable of accomplishing.
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 was more ready forthwith to apply what he
did know to practical purposes. It was while working
at Willington as a brakesman, 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. Grooch says
he was proud of the dexterity in handling a spade
which he had thus acquired, and that he has frequently

CHAP. XXI. HIS MANUAL DEXTERITY. 469

seen him take the shovel from a labourer in some mil-
way 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 after the manner of foreign navvies, went
up to the men and said he would show them how to fill
their barrow 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
amongst them the strictest discipline, and to secure
their cheerful and hearty services. Mr. Ingram, M.P.
for South Shields, one day went over the workshops at
Newcastle with Mr. Stephenson, and 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

470 DEPORTMENT TO HIS WORKMEN. CHAP. XXI.

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 com-
panions 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 entire glory to their chiefs.

A fine trait in George Stephenson' s character was his
generosity, which would not permit an attack to be
made upon the absent or the weak. He would never

CHAP. XXI. ESSENTIALLY UNSOKDID. 471

sanction any injustice of act or opinion towards those
associated with himself. On one occasion, during the
progress of the Liverpool and Manchester works, while
he had a strong party to contend with at the Board, the
conduct of one of his assistants was called in question,
as he thought unjustly, and a censure was threatened.
Rather than submit to this injustice to his assistant, Mr.
Stephenson tendered his resignation ; but it was not
accepted, and the censure was not voted. The same
chivalrous protection was on many occasions extended
by him to the weaker against the stronger. Even if he
were himself displeased with any one engaged about
him, any attack from another quarter would rouse him
in defence, not in the spirit of opposition, but from a
kind and generous impulse to succour those in difficulty.

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 enter-
prise, 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 remu-
neration— 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 wrhich
he acted.

Another marked feature in Mr. Stephenson's character
was his patience. Notwithstanding the strength of his

472 COMPAKED WITH WATT. CHAP. XXI.

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 locomo-
tive, but allowed another to take credit for the experi-
ments 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 con-
densing 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 calcu-

CHAP. XXL PROFESSIONAL ENCOUNTERS. 473

lated to have still more important consequences. In
this respect, it is to be regarded as the grandest applica-
tion 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. Ste-
phenson, 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 working locomotive.

If he was occasionally impatient of the opposition of
professional brethren, it is scarcely to be wondered at
when we look at the simple earnestness of his character,
and consider that his sole aim was the establishment of
his own well-founded convictions. No wonder that he
should have been intolerant of that professional gladia-
torship against which his life had been one prolonged
struggle. Nor could he forget that the engineering
class had been arrayed against him during his arduous
battle for the locomotive, and that, but for his own pluck
and persistency, they would have strangled it in its
cradle. A man of his stern resolution might well be a
little positive sometimes. AVho that has made his way
through so many difficulties would not be so ? Espe-
cially was he annoyed at the " quirks and quiddities "
of the barristers, who subjected him to annoying cross-
examinations before the Parliamentary Committees.
On coming down from the witness-box on one occasion,
he went up to the counsel who had been severely cross-

474 HIS OBSEKVANT FACULTIES. CHAP. XXI.

examining him, and said — " Oil T- — , I'm ashamed of
you! You know my line's the best, and that I'm in
the right and you're in the wrong, and yet you've been
worrying me as if you did'nt know that I was right."

Mr. Stephenson's close and accurate observation pro-
vided 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 rail-
ways ; 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 I " 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

o

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,

CHAP. XXI.

CONVERSATION.

475

that one of the party remarked that, if George Stephen-
son 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." l 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 how he had acquired so extensive a know-
ledge 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."

It is Gothe, we believe, who has said that no man
ever receives a new idea, at variance with his precon-
ceived notions, after forty. But this observation, though

1 Mr. W. B. Adams, in his * Roads
and Rails,' London, 1862, cites a
passage from a volume of rhymes
published by Effingham Wilson in

1831, from which it would appear
that the same idea had occurred to
other thinkers besides George Ste-
pheiison.

476 HUMAN EQUALITY. CHAP. XXL

it may be generally, is not invariably true. There are
many great minds which never close. Mr. Stephenson,
to the last, was open to the reception of new ideas, new
facts, new theories. He was a late learner; but he
went on learning to the end. He shut his mind, how-
ever, against what he considered humbugs — especially
mechanical humbugs. Thus, he said at Tarn worth, that
he had not been to see the atmospheric railway, because
it was a great humbug. He had gone to see Pinkus's
model of it, and that had determined him on the subject.
He then declared the atmospheric system to be " a rope
of sand ; " that it could never hold together, and he
would not countenance it.

When he heard of Perkins's celebrated machine, which
was said to work at a tremendous pressure, without
steam, but with water in the boiler almost at red heat,
he went with his son to see it. The engine exhibited
was of six-horse power, and the pressure was said to be
not less than 1500 Ibs. to the square inch. Mr. Ste-
phenson said he thought it humbug ; but he would test
its power. Taking up a little oakum, and wrapping
some round each hand, he firmly seized hold of the
piston-rod and held it down with all his strength. The
machine was at once brought to a stand, very much to
Mr. Perkins's annoyance. But the humbug had been
exploded to Mr. Stephenson' s satisfaction.

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."

On one occasion, he accidentally met a gentleman
and his wife at an inn in Derbyshire, whom he enter-
tained for some time with his shrewd observations and
playful sallies. At length the lady requested to know
the name of the remarkable stranger. " Why, madam,"

CHAP. XXI. STRIKING IN " FAYTHER." 477

said he, " they used once to call me Geordie Stephen-
son ; I'm now called George Stephenson, Esquire,
of Tapton House, near Chesterfield. And further let
me say, that I've dined with princes, and peers, and
commoners — with persons of all classes, from the highest
to the humblest ; I've made my dinner off a red-herring
in a hedge bottom, and gone through the meanest
drudgery ; I've seen mankind in all its phases, and the
conclusion I have arrived at is — that if we're all
stripped, there's not much difference."

His hand was open to his former fellow-workmen
whom old age had left in poverty. To poor Eobert
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 visits to Newcastle, he would frequently meet
the friends of his early days, occupying very nearly the
same station, while 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

478 ROBERT STEPHENSON'S CHARACTER. CHAP. XXI.

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."1 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.2 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.

1 Address as President of the Insti- I deed, in the working of gold and
tution of Civil Engineers, January, silver mines in veins in this country,

it is absolutely essential that theory
and practice should be united and go
hand in hand ; not that the former
should be appreciated beyond its value,
and the other depreciated below it,
but that both should be entitled to

1856.

2 Writing from Mariquita, South
America, in 1826, when only twenty-
three years of age, he said : — " Practi-
cal men are certainly to be esteemed
as such, but I am far from attaching
the importance to them which our
masters appear inclined to do. In-

equal consideration and weight.

CHAP. XXI. THE CIVIL ENGINEERS' INSTITUTE. 479

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 Philosophi-
cal Institute, when working together as humble experi-
menters 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 subscrip-
tion 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 extin-
guished.

Both father and son were offered knighthood, and
both declined it. George Stephenson, however, did
desire to be admitted to the membership of the Institute
of Civil Engineers, the chair of which his son afterwards
so ably filled. But there were two obstacles to George's
admission to the Institute : the first was, that he had
served no regular apprenticeship as an engineer ; and
the second was, that he should go through the form
required of the youngest member of the profession, and
fill in a paper detailing his experience, to which he
must afterwards obtain the signatures of several mem-
bers of the Institute, recommending him personally and
professionally for election. He could not comply with
the first condition, and his son strongly recommended
him not to comply with the second. The council of the
Institute were willing to waive the former, but not the
latter point. Probably he thought it was too much to
ask of him, that he should undergo the probationary
test required from comparatively unknown juniors, and

480 GEORGE STEPHENSON'S POLITICS. CHAP. XXI.

state his experience as an engineer to a society many of
whose members had been his own pupils or assistants.
And his son held the opinion that a society which had
elected many scientific gentlemen of their body as
honorary members, would not have done itself discredit
by admitting the Father of Railway Engineering on the
same terms. As it was, he turned his back, though
reluctantly, on the Institute of Civil Engineers, and
accepted the office of President of the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers at Birmingham, which he held
until his death.

During the summer of 1847, George Stephenson was
invited to offer himself as a candidate for the repre-
sentation 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

CHAP. XXI. ROBERT AS MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT. 481

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 Navi-
gation Laws and opposing Free Trade, even to the
extent of going into the lobby on the 26th November,
1852, with the famous " cannon-balls." x

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 his railways afforded for free
intercommunication between men in all parts of the
world. Speaking in the midst of his friends at New-
castle, 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."

1 For the origin of this term see the it. The Noes included Robert Stephen-

' Times ' leader of November 29th, ', son, Colonel Sibthorp, Mr. Spooner,

1852. The division took pkce on j &c. Mr. JStephenson felt very strongly

Lord Palmerston's motion as to the ! the " betrayal of the protectionist party"

results of the Free-trade policy adopted
by Sir Robert Peel in- 1846, on which
there appeared 486 for, and 53 against

by their Parliamentary leader ; and he
even went so far as to say that he
" could never forgive Peel."

VOL. III. 2 I

482

EFFECTS OF RAILWAYS.

CHAP. XXI.

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.

THE STEPHEN SON MEMO1UAI. SCHOOLS, WJLLINGTON QUAY.
[By R. P. Leitch ]

NARRATIVE

OF

GEORGE STEPHENSOFS INVENTIONS
AND IMPROVEMENTS

IX CONNECTION WITH THE

LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE AND RAILWAYS.

BY HIS SON. ROBERT STEPHENSON.

2 i 2

ROBERT STEPHENSON'S NARRATIVE OF
HIS FATHER'S INVENTIONS, &c.

" WHEN my father commenced his improvements upon the loco-
motive engine, two comparatively successful attempts had already
been made — one by Mr. Blenkinsop, of Leeds, and the other by
3Ir. Blackett, of Wylam.

" Mr. Blenkinsop's engine consisted of two cylinders working
upon cranks at right angles to each other, and communicating
their joint action to a cog-wheel which worked into a cog-rail.
The wheels which supported the engine were entirely inde-
pendent of the working parts of the engine, and therefore
merely supported its weight upon the rails, the progress being
made by means of the cog-wheel working into the cog-rail.
Mr. Blenkinsop was induced to resort to this contrivance from
the conviction (then prevalent in the minds of all engineers)
that the adhesion between a smooth wheel and a smooth rail
was not sufficient to resist the action of the engines — that is,
the wheel would slip round upon the rail, and consequently no
progress would be made. These engines of Mr. Blenkinsop's
worked for some time with apparent success.

" The other attempt by Mr. Blackett also consisted of two
engines combined ; but their action was communicated to the
wheels by which the entire engine was supported, and therefore
depended entirely upon the adhesion between the wheels and
the rails for making progress. This experiment of Mr. Blackett's
was made upon what is called a tramroad, the flange being
upon the rail, instead of (as it is at present in the ordinary
rails) upou the wheel.

" When my father began his first engine he was convinced that
the adhesion between a smooth wheel and an edge-rail would be
as efficient as Mr. Blackett had found it to be between the
wheel and the tramroad. Although every one at that time
argued that the adhesion upon a tram-rail was by no means a.

486 ROBERT STEPHENSON'S NARRATIVE. APPENDIX.

criterion of what the adhesion would be on an edge-rail, my
father felt sure that there was no essential difference between
the one and the other.

" The construction of my father's first engine was very much
after the same plan as that made by Mr. Blenkinsop ; but the
combined power of the two cylinders was communicated to the
wheels which supported the engine on the rail instead of to
the cog-wheel, which, in Mr. Blenkinsop's engine, acted on
a cogged-rail independently of the four supporting wheels.
This engine was completed and tried upon the Killingworth
railway on the 25th July, 1814. It performed its duties with
comparative success; but, having to compete with horses, was
considered barely economical. At the end of the year, how-
ever, the steam-power and horse-power were found to be very
nearly on a par with each other in regard to cost. A few
months of experience and careful observation upon the opera-
tion of this engine convinced my father that the complication
arising out of the action of the two cylinders being combined
by spur-wheels would prevent their coming into practical appli-
cation. He then directed his attention to an entire change in
the construction and mechanical arrangements, and in the fol-
lowing year took out a patent, dated February 28th, 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 great simplicity in the
mode by which the power was communicated to the wheels sup-
porting the engine.

" This second engine consisted as before of two vertical cylin-
ders, which communicated directly with each pair of the four
wheels that supported the engine by a cross-head and a pair of
connecting rods ; but in attempting to establish a direct com-
munication 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 engine,
which was a rigid mass, with the wheels rolling upon the irre-
gular surface of the rails ; for it was evident that the two rails
of the line of railway could not always be maintained at the
same level with respect to each other — that one wheel at the
end of the axle might be depressed into a part of the line which
had subsided, whilst the other would be elevated. In such a
position of the axle and wheels it was clear that a rigid com-
munication between the cross-head and the wheels was im-

APPENDIX. THE KILLINGWORTH LOCOMOTIVE. 487

practicable. 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 always to preserve complete parallelism
with the axle of the wheels with which it was in communi-
cation.

" In order to obtain the flexibility combined with direct action
which was essential for ensuring power and avoiding needless
friction and jars from irregularities in the rail, my father em-
ployed the " ball and socket " joint for effecting a union between
the ends of the cross-heads where they united with the con
necting-rods, and between the end 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, it being per-
mitted to take place without producing jar or friction upon any
part of the machine.

" The next important point was to combine each pair of wheels
by some simple mechanism, instead of the cog-wheels which
had formerly been used. My father began by inserting each
axle into two cranks at right angles to each other, with rods
communicating horizontally between them. An engine was
made on this plan, and answered extremely well. But at that
period (1815) the mechanical skill of the country was not equal
to the task of forging cranked axles of the soundness and
strength necessary to stand the jars incident to locomotive work ;
so my father was compelled to fall back upon a substitute
which, though less simple and less efficient, was within the me-
chanical capabilities of the workmen of that day, either for
construction or repair. He adopted a chain which rolled over
indented wheels placed on the centre of each axle, and so
arranged that the two pairs of wheels were effectually coupled
and made to keep pace with each other. But these chains
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 forward again. Nevertheless,
these engines continued in profitable use upon the Killingworth
Colliery Kail way for some years. 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-ankles inside, as
specified in the original patent ; and this expedient completely
answered the purpose required, without involving any expensive
or difficult workmanship.

488 ROBERT STEPHENSON'S NARRATIVE. APPENDIX.

" Another important improvement was introduced in this en-
gine. The eduction steam had hitherto been allowed to escape
direct into the open atmosphere ; but my father, having observed
the great velocity with which the waste-steam escaped, com-
pared with the velocity with which the smoke issued from the
chimney of the same engine, thought that by conveying the
eduction steam into the chimney and there allowing it to escape
in a vertical direction, its velocity would be imparted to the
smoke from the engine, or to the ascending current of air in the
chimney. The experiment was no sooner made than the power
of the engine became more than doubled ; combustion was
stimulated, as it were, by a blast ; consequently the power of
the boiler for generating steam was increased, and, in the same
proportion, the useful duty of the engine was augmented.

" Thus in 1815 my father had succeeded in manufacturing an
engine which included the following important improvements
on all previous attempts in the same direction : simple and
direct communication between the cylinder 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 fuel by employing the
waste-steam which had formerly been allowed uselessly to
escape. 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 be regarded, in fact, as a type of
the present locomotive engine.

" In describing my father's application of the waste-steam for
the purpose of increasing the intensity of combustion in the
boiler, and thus increasing the power of the engine without
adding to its weight, and while claiming for this engine the
merit of being a type of all those which have been successfully
devised since the commencement of the Liverpool and Man-
chester Kailway, it is necessary to observe that the next great
improvement in the same direction, the " multitubular boiler,"
which took place some years later, could never have been used
without the help of that simple expedient the steam-blast, by
which power only the burning of coke was rendered possible.

" I cannot pass over this last-named invention of my father's
without remarking how slightly, as an original idea, it has been
appreciated ; and yet how small would be the comparative value
of the locomotive engine of the present day without the applica-
tion of that important invention !

APPENDIX. . STEAM-SPRINGS. 489

" Engines constructed by my father in the year 1818 upon the
principles just described are in use on the Killingworth Colliery
Railway to this very day (1857), conveying, at the speed of
perhaps five or six miles an hour, heavy coal-trains, probably as
economically as any of the more perfect engines now in use.

" There was another remarkable piece of ingenuity in this ma-
chine, which was completed so many years before the possibility
of steam-locomotion became an object of general commercial
interest and parliamentary inquiry. I have before observed
that up to and after the year 1818 there was no such class of
skilled mechanics, nor were there such machinery and tools for
working in metals, as are now at the disposal of inventors and
manufacturers. Among other difficulties of a similar character,
it was not possible at that time to construct springs of sufficient
strength to support the improved engines. The rails then used
being extremely light, the roads became worn down by the
traffic, and occasionally the whole weight of the engine, instead
of being uniformly distributed over four wheels, was thrown
almost diagonally upon two. In order to avoid the danger
arising from such irregularities in the road, my father arranged
the boiler so 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 that pressure being nearly equal to the support of one-
fourth of the weight of the engine, each axle, whatever might
be its position, had the same amount of weight to bear, and
consequently the entire weight was at all times nearly equally
distributed amongst the wheels. This expedient was more neces-
sary in this case, as the weight of the new locomotive engines
far exceeded that of the carriages which had hitherto been used
upon colliery railways, and therefore subjected the rails to much
greater risk from breakage. And this mode of supporting the
engine remained in use until the progress of spring-making had
considerably advanced, when steel springs of sufficient strength
superseded this highly ingenious mode of distributing the weight
of the engine uniformly among the wheels.

"Having advanced the locomotive engine to this stage of
improvement, my father next turned his attention to the state
of the road ; as he perceived, and said, that the extended use

490 ROBERT STEPHENSON'S NARRATIVE. APPENDIX.

of the locomotive must depend upon the perfection of the road
upon which it was to move. Even at this early date he was in
the habit of considering the road and the locomotive as one
machine. All railways at that time were laid in a careless and
loose manner, and great inequalities of level were permitted to
take place without much attention to repairs, the result being
that great loss of power and great wear-and-tear of machinery
were incurred.

" My father therefore now began to direct his close attention to
the improvement of the road, and to making it more substantial
and solid. With that object he applied his mind particularly
to removing the inequalities produced by the imperfect junction
between rail and rail. The rails were then made of cast-iron,
each being three feet long. Care was not taken to maintain
the points of junction on the same level with each other ; and
the chair or cast iron pedestal into which the rails were inserted
being flat on the bottom, it happened that whenever any
disturbance took place in the stone blocks or sleepers upon
which they were supported, the flat base upon which the rails
rested being tilted by unequal subsidence, the end of one rail
became depressed, while that of the other was elevated. This
was most seriously felt, since, in the condition in which railways
were then kept, very little attention was paid to maintaining a
uniform surface or permanent way.

" My father's first improvement in the construction of the rail
consisted in this : — 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, somewhat like a scarf joint ; and these
ends, instead of resting upon the flat chair as had hitherto been
the practice, were made to rest upon the apex of a curve
forming the bottom of the chair. The supports were extended
from 3 feet to 3 feet 9 inches or 4 feet apart. These rails were
substituted for the old ones on the Killingworth Colliery Railway,
and were found to be a great improvement, adding both to the
efficiency of the horse-power and to the smooth action of the
locomotive, but more particularly adding to the efficiency ol the
latter.

"My father's endeavours having been marked by so much
success in the adaptation of locomotive engines to railways, his
attention was, about this period, called by many of his friends to
the subject of the application of steam to common roads ; but

APPENDIX. ROAD LOCOMOTION. 491

the accuracy with which he estimated the resistances to which
loads were exposed on railways arising from friction and gravity,
led him at a very early stage to reject the idea of successfully
applying steam power "to common roads. In October, 1818, in
conjunction with Mr. Nicholas Wood, he made a series of
experiments on the resistances to which carriages are exposed
on railways, with a dynamometer of his own contrivance. This
dynamometer was chiefly remarkable for its simplicity, — but it
will not bear comparison with others that have been contrived
and made use of subsequently ; it is, however, interesting as the
first systematic attempt to determine the precise amount of
resistance of carriages moving on railways. It was by this
machine for the first time ascertained, that the friction was a
constant quantity at all velocities. Although this fact had
been long before developed by Coulomb and was well known to
scientific men as an established fact, yet at the time when my
father made these experiments, the deductions of philosophers
were neither believed in nor acted upon by practical engineers.
Indeed, although the experiments of my father went directly to
corroborate the deductions of philosophers, it required a con-
siderable space of time to overcome the prejudices which then
existed among practical men.

" It was maintained by many, that the results of the experi-
ments led to the greatest possible mechanical absurdities. For
instance, it was maintained, that if friction were constant at all
velocities upon a level railway, when once a power was applied
to a carriage which exceeded the friction of that carriage by the
smallest possible amount, that same small excess of power would
be able to convey the carriage along a level railway at all
conceivable velocities. When this position was put by those
who opposed the conclusions at which my father had arrived,
he felt great hesitation in maintaining his own views; for it
appeared to him at first sight really to be — as it was put by his
opponents — an absurdity. Frequent repetition, however, of the
experiments to which I have alluded, left no doubt upon his
mind, that his conclusion that friction was uniform at all
velocities was a fact which must be received as positively
established; and he soon afterwards boldly maintained that
that which, was an apparent absurdity was, instead, a necessary
consequence. I well remember the ridicule which was thrown
upon this view by many of those persons with whom he was
associated at the time. Nevertheless it is undoubted, that could

492 ROBERT STEPHENSON'S NARRATIVE. APPENDIX.

you practically be always applying a power in excess of the
resistance, a constant increase of velocity would of necessity
follow without any limit. This is so obvious to most professional
men of the present day and is now so axiomatic, that I only
allude to the discussion which took place when these experi-
ments of my father were announced, for the purpose of showing
how small was the amount of science at that time blended with
engineering practice. A few years afterwards, an excellent
pamphlet was published by Mr. Silvester on this question ; he
took up the whole subject and demonstrated in a very simple
and beautiful manner the correctness of all the views at which
my father had arrived by his course of experiments.

" The other resistances to which carriages were exposed were
also investigated experimentally by my father. He perceived
that these resistances were mainly three : the first being upon
the axles of the carriage ; the second, which may be called the
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 accurately ascertained ;
but the rolling resistance was a matter of greater difficulty, for
it was subject to great variation. He, however, satisfied himself
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 out of the question.
Even so early as the period alluded to he brought his theoretical
calculations to a practical test ; he scattered sand upon the rails
when an engine was running, and found that a small quantity
was quite sufficient to retard and even stop the most powerful
locomotive engine that he had at that time made. And he
never failed to urge this conclusive experiment upon the
attention of those who were wasting their money and time upon
the vain attempt to apply steam to common roads.

<: The following were the principal arguments which influenced
his mind to work out the use of the locomotive in a directly
opposite course to that pursued by a number of ingenious
inventors, who between 1820 and 1836 were engaged in
attempting to apply steam-power to turnpike roads. Having
ascertained that resistance might be taken as represented by
10 Ibs. 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 fifty per cent. This fact

APPENDIX. ROAD LOCOMOTION. 493

called my father's attention to the question of gradients in future
locomotive lines. He then became convinced of the vital
importance, in an economical point of view, of reducing the
country through which a railway was intended to pass, to as
near a level as possible. This originated in his mind the dis-
tinctive character of railway works as contradistinguished from
all other roads, — for in railroads he early contended that large
sums would be wisely expended in perforating barriers of hills
with long tunnels, and in raising low ground with the excess cut
down from the adjacent high ground. In proportion as these
views fixed 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 an argu-
ment against the rough and hilly course of a common road. He
never ceased to urge upon the patrons of road steam-carriages
that if by any amount of ingenuity an engine could be made
which could by possibility traverse a turnpike road at a speed at
least equal to that obtainable by horse-power and at a less cost,
such an engine if applied to the more perfect surface of a railway
would have its efficiency enormously enhanced. For instance,
he calculated that if an engine had been constructed, and had
been found to travel uniformly between London and Birmingham
at an average speed of 10 miles an hour, — conveying say 20
or 30 passengers at a cost of Is. per mile, it was clear that the
same engine if applied to a railway, instead of conveying 20 or
30 people, would have conveyed 200 or 300 people, and instead
of a speed of 10 or 12 miles an hour, a speed of at least 30 to
40 miles an hour would have been obtained. It is difficult now
to understand how it was that this obvious inference never
occurred to the minds of those who so long persisted in vain
attempts to apply locomotive power to turnpike roads.

" Identified as my father at this period had become with every
step made towards increased utility in the locomotive engine, he
did not allow his enthusiasm to carry him away into costly
mistakes. He most carefully drew a broad line between those
cases in which the locomotive could be advantageously employed,
and those in which stationary engines were more economical.
This led him, when called upon to execute railways over rough
countries where gradients within the compass of the locomotive
engine could not be obtained, to apply stationary engines most
extensively. Many instances of the successful application of

494 ROBERT STEPHENSON'S NARRATIVE. APPENDIX.

this mixed power endure to this day in the north of England.
The railway from the Hetton Colliery to Sunderland was
perhaps the earliest and most remarkable work in which these
two powers were most successfully combined. The Stockton
and Darlington Kailway is another instance where they were
combined with most success and efficiency, and although sub-
sequently the application of stationary power on that line was
partially superseded by tunnelling and locomotive power, the
change has only been justified by the traffic having become so
enormous, that a uniform and uninterrupted system was alone
applicable — the stationary engine system being one that is
limited by the necessity of reciprocating the trains over a short
piece of railway at limited intervals.

" In 1820 my father established in conjunction with two friends
of capital a manufactory of locomotive engines at Newcastle-
upon-Tyne. Before the opening of that establishment all the
locomotive engines which he had constructed had been made by
ordinary mechanics, working amongst the collieries in the north
of England. But my father felt that the accuracy and style of
their workmanship admitted of great improvement, and that
upon improvement of workmanship the perfect action of the
engine was greatly dependent. One great object that he had
in view in establishing this factory, was to concentrate a number
of good workmen for the purpose of realising and carrying out
the improvements in detail which he was constantly making.
This was the only manufactory at which locomotive engines
were made until after the opening of the Liverpool and
Manchester Kailway in 1831. After that great event other
mechanics began to devote their attention as a matter of regular
business to the construction of locomotive engines for railway
purposes. At the Newcastle factory all the engines that were
employed upon the Stockton and Darlington Railway were
made ; and for some time after the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway was opened this establishment alone supplied the
engines for working the traffic between those two important
commercial towns.

" The writer of an article on Eailways which appeared in the
* Edinburgh Review ' in 1832, founded a charge of monopoly in
favour of the Newcastle factory, against the Liverpool and
Manchester Railway Directors, upon the fact that all the engines
on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway were made after my
father's plans, and in his factory ; the simple truth being that

APPENDIX. THE TUBULAR BOILER. 495

that was the only source at that period from which efficient
engines could be obtained. The Directors were fully alive to
the importance of inducing competition in this new kind of
manufacture. They offered every inducement with a view to
extending the field from which they could draw their supplies
of engines, and as soon as they could rely upon the quality of
the article supplied they distributed their orders indiscriminately
and impartially. Since the opening of the Liverpool and
Manchester Railway, works for the manufacture of engines have
gradually extended themselves into every part of Great Britain,
the continent of Europe, and the United States of America.
But the main object of my father in establishing the Newcastle
Works was to educate a class of workmen in skilled labour,
who should be able to execute the many ideas which presented
themselves to his inventive and practical mind.

" After the opening of the Stockton and Darlington, and before
that of the Liverpool and Manchester, my father directed his
attention to various methods of increasing the evaporative power
of tlie boiler of the locomotive engine. Amongst other attempts
he introduced tubes (as had been done before in other engines)
— small tubes, containing water, by which the heating surface
was materially increased. Two engines with such tubes were
constructed for the St. Etienne Railway in France, which was
in process of construction in the year 1828 ; but the expedient
was not successful — the tubes became furred with deposit and
burned out.

" Oflier engines with boilers of a variety of construction were
made, all having in view the increase of the heating surface, as
it then became obvious to my father that the speed of the
engine could not be increased without increasing the evaporative
power of the boiler. Increase of surface wras in some cases
obtained by inserting two tubes, each containing a separate fire,
into the boiler ; in other cases, the same result was obtained by
returning the same tube through the boiler, but it was not until
my father was engaged in making some experiments during the
progress of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in con-
junction with Mr. Henry Booth, the well known secretary of
that line, that any great movement in this direction was effected,
and that the present multitubular boiler assumed a practicable
shape. It was in conjunction with Mr. Booth that my father
constructed the " Rocket " engine which obtained the prize at

496 KOBEKT STEPHENSON'S NAKKATIVE. APPENDIX.

the celebrated competition which took place a little prior to the
opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.

" At this stage of the locomotive engine we have in the multi-
tubular boiler the only important principle of construction
introduced, in addition to those which my father had brought to
bear at a very early stage (between 1815 and 1821) on the
Killing-worth Colliery Eailway. In the "Rocket" engine the
power of generating steam was prodigiously increased by the
multitubular system. Its efficiency was further augmented by
narrowing the orifice by which the waste steam escaped into the
chimney ; for by this means the velocity of the air in the
chimney, in other words the draught of the fire, was increased
to an extent that surpassed the expectations even of those who
had been the authors of the combination.

"From the date of running the "Rocket" on the Liverpool
and Manchester Railway, the locomotive engine has received
many minor improvements in detail and especially in accuracy
of workmanship, but in no essential particular does the existing
engine differ from that which obtained the prize at the celebrated
competition at Rainhill.

" In this instance as in every other important step in science
or art, various claimants have arisen for the merit of having
suggested the multitubular boiler as a means of obtaining the
necessary heating surface. Whatever may be the value of their
respective claims, the public, useful, and extensive application
of it must certainly bear date from the experiments made at
Rainhill. M. Seguin, for whom engines had been made by
my father some few years previously, states that he patented a
similar multitubular boiler in France some years before. A still
prior claim is made by Mr. Stevens of New York, who was aL
but a rival to Fulton in the introduction of steamboats on the
American rivers. It is stated that so early as 1807 he used the
multitubular boiler. These claimants may all be entitled to
great and independent merit, but certain it is, that the perfect
establishment of the success of the multitubular boiler is more
immediately owing to the suggestion of Mr. Henry Booth, the
Secretary to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and to my
father's practical knowledge in carrying it out."

APPENDIX. INVENTION OF THE STEAM-BLAST. 497

INVENTION OF THE STEAM-BLAST.

SINCE the publication of ' The Life of George Stephenson,' in
1857, several claims have been set up to the merit of having
invented the steam-blast. Trevithick's friends have claimed it
for him. Mr. O. D. Hedley, in, his book entitled ' Who Invented
the Locomotive?' claims it for Mr. William Hedley, viewer,
Wylam, as well as the invention of the locomotive itself.1 Then
Mr. John Haekworth, in a series of letters published in the
' Engineer,' claimed it for his relation, Mr. Timothy Hackworth ;
and following all these came, lastly, Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney,
who, in his pamphlet entitled ( An Account of the Invention
of the Steam Jet or Blast/ claimed the invention for himself,
ignoring the claims of all the others.

In the pamphlet last mentioned Mr. Gurney says, " Mr.
Stephenson himself never claimed this invention ;" and he
further alleges, that in the ' Life of George Stephenson ' it was
" advanced for the first time." Mr. William Fairbairn, however,
in his ' Useful Information for Engineers,' second series (p. 241),
says : "I have every reason to believe that it belongs to
Stephenson, as I have heard him claim its introduction, and
have no reason to doubt his veracity, or that he was quite
equal to the task." And instead of the claim having been
made " for the first time " in the ' Life of George Stephenson,'
it will be found distinctly made in the seventh edition of the
i Encyclopedia Britannica,' published in 1836, while all the
parties interested were alive ; and, so far as the present writer
is aware, it was never contradicted. The author of the article
' Railways ' in that publication was Mr. Lecount, one of the
engineers employed on the London and Birmingham Eailway ;
and his words were these : " Some writers have assigned to

1 In his preface Mr. Hedley says : j in a position to prove that the credit
" The author disputes the truth of j of this great achievement is due, and
Mr. Smiles's statements, which as- due only, to the late Mr. William

to Mr. Stephenson the invention

Hedley''!

of the locomotive engine ; and he is

VOL. III. 2 K

498 INVENTION OF THE STEAM- BLAST. APPENDIX.

Trevi thick the merit of inventing the steam-blast up the
chimney, which may be termed the life-blood of the locomotive-
engine. Trevithick has laurels enough, and has no need to
borrow a single leaf from the crown of another. The steam-
blast was invented by George Stephenson, and used by him
certainly prior to 1815 ; while in June, 1815, Trevithick — so
far from using the waste steam to increase the draught — took
out a patent in which, among other improvements, he included
a method of urging his fire by fanners, similar to a winnowing
machine." The writer of the article on the same subject of
' Railways ' in the eighth edition of the ' Encyclopedia Britannica '
is Mr. D. K. Clark — a gentleman who has made the history of
the locomotive the subject of his special study, and probably
knows more of it than any man living, — and he is equally
explicit on the point. He says : " The blast-pipe thus designed
and applied was undoubtedly the invention of George Stephen-
son ; in conjunction with the multitubular flue it altered and
vastly improved the range and capacity of the locomotive ; and,
in further conjunction with the direct connection of the steam-
cylinder to one axle and pair of wheels, it was tantamount to
a new and original machine."

Robert Stephenson, writing to the author on the controversy
which arose on this subject in 1857, said : " Nothing can be
so clear as that George Stephenson was the real inventor of
the steam-blast, and nothing confounds me more than to see
that a question is raised upon it." As claims have, however,
been seriously set up on behalf of William Hedley, Jonathan
Hack worth, and Golds worthy Gurney, as the authors of this
invention, a brief examination of the grounds on which their
respective claims are founded is here rendered necessary.

We will take the. Wylam claim first. From what has been
said in the text, it will readily be understood that the claim
attempted to be set up in behalf of William Hedley as the in-
ventor of the locomotive engine is mere moonshine. Trevithick
and Blenkinsop's engines preceded those at Wylam colliery by
many years ; and even the Wylam engines were not made
after the designs of Hedley, but after those of Trevithick, and
afterwards of Jonathan Foster, the engineer of the colliery.
But it is further alleged that William Hedley invented the
blast-pipe. This is effectually contradicted by the fact that
the Wylam engine had no blast-pipe. " I remember the Wylam
engine," Robert Stephenson wrote to us in 1857, " and I am

APPENDIX. NICHOLAS WOOD'S ACCOUNT. 499

positive there was no blast-pipe." But Mr. O. D. Hedley says
there was one ; and he gives a representation of the engine from
the first edition of Mr. Nicholas Wood's ' Practical Treatise on
Railroads/ published in 1825, in proof of what the engine actually
was. The illustration, however, entirely confutes the assertion
that the Wylam engine contained any blast at all. In fact, it
embodied a contrivance for the express purpose of preventing
a blast. Mr. Wood explains clearly enough how this object was
secured, contrasting it with Stephenson 's Killingworth engine
to the disadvantage of the latter, which had a blast, whilst the
other had none. For it is a curious fact that Mr. Wood at
that time did not approve of the steam-blast, and he referred to
the Wylam engine in illustration of how it might be avoided.

The evidence contained in Mr. Wood's book, published as it
was in 1825, is especially valuable as showing the express pur-
pose for which George Stephenson invented and adopted the
steam-blast in the Killingworth engines. Describing their action,
Mr. Wood says : *£ The steam is admitted to the top and bottom
of the piston by means of a sliding valve, which, being moved
up and down alternately, opens a communication between the
top and bottom of the cylinder and the pipe that is open into the
chimney and turns up within it. The steam, after performing its
office within the cylinder, is thus thrown into the chimney, and
the power with which it issues will be proportionate to the
degree of elasticity ; and the exit being directed upwards, accelerates
the velocity of the current of heated air accordingly " (p. 147).
And again, at another part of the book, he says: "There is
another great objection urged against locomotives, which is, the
noise that the steam makes in escaping into the chimney ; this
objection is very singular, as it is not the result of any inherent
form in the organisation of such engines, but an accidental
circumstance. When the engines were first made, the steam
escaped into the atmosphere, and made comparatively little
noise; it was found difficult then to produce steam in sufficient
quantity to keep the engine constantly working, or rather to obtain
an adequate rapidity of current in the chimney to give sufficient
intensity to the fire. To effect a greater rabidity, or to increase
the draught of the chimney, Mr. Stephenson thought that by
causing the steam to escape into the chimney through a pipe with
its end turned upwards, tJie velocity of the current would be ac-
celerated, and such was the effect ; but, in remedying one evil
another has been produced, which, though objectionable in some

2 K 2

500 INVENTION OF THE STEAM-BLAST. APPENDIX.

places, was not considered as objectionable on a private rail-
road. The tube through the boiler having been increased, there
is now no longer any occasion for the action of the steam to
assist the motion of the heated air in the chimney. The steam
thrown in this manner into the chimney acts as a trumpet, and
certainly makes a very disagreeable noise. Nothing, however, is
more easy to remedy, and the very act of remedying this defect
will also be the means of economising the fuel" (pp. 292-3).1

Mr. Wood then proceeds to show how the noise caused by the
blast, how in fact the blast itself, might be effectually prevented
by adopting the expedient employed in the Wylam engine ; which
was, to send the exhaust steam, not into the chimney (where
alone the blast could act with effect by stimulating the draught),
but into a steam-reservoir expressly provided for the purpose.
His words are these : " Nothing more is wanted to destroy the
noise than to cause the steam to expand itself into a reservoir, and
then allow it to escape gradually to the atmosphere through the
chimney. Upon the Wylam railroad the noise was made the
subject of complaint by a neighbouring gentleman, and they
adopted this mode, which had the effect above mentioned"
(p. 294).

We think this ought to be perfectly conclusive as to the
Wylam engine— that it had no blast, and that it contained an
arrangement for the express purpose of preventing any blast.
And thus we dismiss Mr. Hedley's claim.

It is curious to find that Mr. Nicholas Wood continued to
object to the use of the steam-blast down even to the time
when the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Bill was before
Parliament in 1825. Hence Mr. Wood, in his evidence before
the Committee on that Bill in 1825, said : " Those engines [at
Killingworth] puff very much, and the object is to get an increased
draught in the chimney. Now (by enlarging the flue-tube and
giving it a double ,turn through the boiler) we have got a suf-
ciency of steam without it,v and I have no doubt by allowing

1 These passages will be found in | portant for our present purpose that,

the first edition of Mr. Wood's work, , in the year 1825, long before the

published in 1825, The subsequent I Liverpool and Manchester line was

editions do not contain them. A ! opened, Mr. Wood should have so

few years' experience wrought great j clearly described the steam-blast which

changes of opinion on many points had been in regular use for more than

connected with the practical working j ten years in all Stephenson's locomo-

of railways, and Mr. Wood altered his ' tives employed in the working of the

text accordingly. But it is most im- Killingworth railway.

APPENDIX. ROBERT STEPHENSON'S NARRATIVE. 501

the steam to exhaust itself in a reservoir it would pass quietly
into the chimney without that noise." In fact, Mr. Wood was
still in favour of the arrangement adopted in the Wylam engine,
by which the steam-blast had been got rid of altogether.

The claim made on behalf of Timothy Hack worth is, that he
invented the steam-blast for the " Sanspareil " locomotive in the
year 1829 — that is, fourteen years after George Stephenson had
been making regular use of the invention in every engine con-
structed by him. Timothy Hackworth had been employed in
Stephenson's locomotive workshops at Newcastle, and was ap-
pointed by George Stephenson the foreman of the locomotive
department of the Stockton and Darlington Eailway. He was,
therefore, quite familiar with all George Stephenson's arrange-
ments, including his blast-pipe. That he sharpened it there is
no doubt, and we believe that this is claimed as the gist of his
" invention ;" but even of this he is deprived by Mr. Goldsworthy
Gurney, who affirms that it was he who " furnished Mr. Hack-
worth with the steam-jet, to fix on the eduction-pipe of his
engine, the * Sanspareil/ " * Mr. Gurney claims to have made
the invention in the year 1820, about six years after the date
at which George Stephenson regularly employed it for the
express purpose of producing a draught in his Killingworth
engines. Mr, Gurney says he first used it to obtain a more
intense heat in the decomposing furnaces, when engaged as
lecturer at the Surrey Institution ; that he next applied it to
steam-boats in 1824 ; and subsequently to steam-carriages run
upon common roads. We are ready to believe all this, and yet
it does not in the slightest degree invalidate George Stephenson's
claim to priority in the invention as above explained.

The following narrative relative to the blast-pipe of the
" Eocket " and the sharpening of the blast in that engine and
the " Sanspareil " (about which a controversy was raised in
' The Engineer ' journal) was written by Robert Stephenson,
and communicated to the author in January, 1858 : —

ROBERT STEPHENSON'S NARRATIVE.

" CERTAINLY not many weeks had elapsed after the first tra-
velling engine was placed on the Killingworth waggon-way in

1 P. 8 of Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney's * Account of the Invention of the Steam-
jet, or Blast.' London, 1859.

502 INVENTION OF THE STEAM-BLAST. APPENDIX.

1814, before the steam-blast was introduced by my father into
the chimney, and it was uniformly employed in every subse-
quent engine that was built ; but the orifice of the blast-pipe
was, I believe, in no instance contracted so as to give a less
area than that of the steam-ports.

" The Stockton and Darlington Kailway was opened in 1825,
but as I was absent from England at the time, I cannot state
whether the engines constructed in Forth-street or at the
factory, for that line, had contracted blast-pipes or not. Shortly
after my return from America, I was frequently in the habit, as
a matter of business, of visiting the line alluded to, the super-
intendence of the locomotive engines being then under Timothy
Hackworth, with whom I was constantly in the habit of discussing
the remarkable effects produced by the blast in the chimney. It
was about that time, I believe, Mr. Hackworth had found that an
increased effect was obtained by contracting the orifice of the
blast-pipe. Considerable doubt was, however, then entertained
whether such contraction would be attended with any actual
economy in the working of the engine, for, although the com-
bustion was a little more excited, and a more copious amount of
steam was generated, it was believed that the negative pressure
produced on the piston counterbalanced in a great measure the
advantages mentioned.

" During the construction of the 'Socket ' a series of expe-
riments was made with blast-pipes of different diameters, and
their efficiency was tested by the amount of vacuum that was
formed in the smoke-box. The degree of rarefaction was
determined by a glass tube fixed to the bottom of the smoke-box
and descending into a bucket of water, — the tube being open at
both ends. 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 certainly showed that a considerable
increase of draught was obtained by contracting the orifice, and
accordingly the two blast-pipes in the ' Rocket ' were contracted
slightly below the area of the steam ports, — and before she left
the factory the water rose in the glass tube three inches above
the water in the bucket.

" I was quite aware at the time that Mr. Hackworth's
* Sanspareil ' was being constructed in the same manner, with

ROBERT STEPHENSON'JS NARRATIVE. 503

the exception that the two eduction-pipes were brought into one
blast-pipe in the centre of the chimney. The twro engines might
therefore be considered as precisely alike in principle.

" With respect to the objection which has been made in
* The Engineer,' to two separate orifices, I must affirm that no
remark could possibly be more unfounded. The writer states
that wrhen two separate orifices are employed, the blast produced
by one is neutralized by the other. The ' Rocket ' worked
perfectly well with the double blast-pipe, and, to the best of my
recollection, the prize was won without any alteration having
been made in that part of the engine.

" The experiments already mentioned proved that the double
blast -pipe in the * Rocket ' was capable of producing a con-
siderable rarefaction in the chimney, and the alteration from
two blast-pipes to one was made by myself rather with a view of
lessening the space occupied by them in the chimney.

" The writer in ' The Engineer ' completely ignores the fact of
the single steam-blast having been in existence eleven years prior
to the opening out of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and
seems to argue that tli3 ' Sanspareil ' was the first engine to
which the steam-blast was ever applied with effect ; whereas it
had actually been in regular use since the year 1814, and the
only alteration which it underwent, was the contraction of the
orifice made on the Stockton and Darlington Railway some
time between the years 1825 and 1827.

" Whatever merit or value may attach to this alteration I
believe to be due to Timothy Hackworth, but nothing beyond
it, I am quite certain ; and even this was decidedly much
overrated by him : in fact, he carried the contraction to such an
extent that nearly half of the fuel was thrown out of the
chimney unconsunied, as many can testify who witnessed the
experiments at Rain Hill.

" But surely such an alteration is not to deprive George
Stephenson of the merit of the invention of the steam-blast.
^Moreover the contraction in many of our best locomotive engines
is totally unnecessary and rather disadvantageous than otherwise ;
for, since the speed of the engines has been increased, the velocity
of the eduction steam is quite sufficient to produce the needful
rarefaction in the chimney without any contraction whatever.
In the early engines, when the speed of the piston was slow, the
contraction was undoubtedly advantageous, but now that the
boilers have been increased in size — the heating surfaces thereby

504 INVENTION OF THE STEAM-BLAST. APPENDIX.

being extended — a less intense blast is required. The orifices
of the blast-pipes of many engines running at the present day
are as large as the steam ports. Consequently they cannot
be said to be contracted at all. In fact the greater apparent
efficiency of the steam-blast, as at present used, is entirely
due to the greater velocity of the piston."

In a subsequent letter to us, Mr. Stephenson added the
following remarks : —

" In conclusion, let us suppose that Hack worth really did first
contract the blast-pipe, does that at all affect the claim of
George Stephenson to have been the first discoverer of the fact
that throwing the eduction steam in the form of a vertical jet
into the chimney, greatly increased the power of the locomotive
engine ? As well might it be contended that James Watt had
no merit for his invention of the steam-engine, because its
effectual performance has been so greatly improved since his
death.

" The value of an invention does not consist merely in the
results which are immediately produced by it, but in those
which quickly follow. But in the case of that modification of
the invention in question, it has been found that other circum-
stances have attended the progress of the locomotive engine,
which have rendered the contraction of the blast-pipe compara-
tively unnecessary, and in some cases positively objectionable."

We trust that the explanations thus given will have made
it sufficiently clear to the reader that the claims respectively
made on behalf of Trevithick, Hedley, Hackworth, and Gurney,
of having invented the steam- blast, are without foundation ;
and that George Stephenson, and no other person, was its sole
inventor.

( 505 )

I N D E X.

ACCIDENTS.

A.

ACCIDENTS in coal-mines, 104, 142, 298.

ADAM, Mr., counsel for Liverpool and Man-
chester Railway, 201, 214.

AGRICULTURE, G. Stephenson's experiments
in, 44.3.

ALDERSON, Mr. (afterwards Baron), 201,
204, 211.

ALLCARD, WILLIAM, 221, 236.

ALLEN, THOMAS, steam-carriage patent, 78.

ALTON GRANGE, G. Stephenson's residence at,
297, 325, 339.

AMBERGATE, railway slip, 333 ; limeworks,
359.

ANDERSON, Dr. J., his advocacy of railways,
79.

ANNA, mines at Santa, 245.

ARNOLD, Dr., on railways, 355.

ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH, 296, 299.

ATMOSPHERIC railway system, 369, 401.

B

BALD, ROBERT, mining engineer, 129, 146.
BARROW, Sir JOHN, his views of railway

speed, 198.

BEAUMONT, Mr., his wooden waggon-ways, 5.
BELGIUM, G. Stephenson's visits to, 343, 386.
BENTON, colliery and village, 56, 65, 71.
BERWICK, Royal Border Bridge, 405, 415.
BIBLE, the Stephenson family, 16.
BIRDS and bird-nesting, 17, 21, 28, 341, 443,

474.
BIRMINGHAM AND DERBY RAILWAY, 299,

345.

BISHOP AUCKLAND coal-field, 149.
BLACK CALLERTON, 21, 31, 32.
BLACKETT, Mr., Wylam, 14, 87, 485.
BLACKSTONE EDGE, railway under, 327.
BLAST, invention of the steam, 100, 262, 265,

489, 497.
BLENKINSOP'S Leeds locomotive, 85, 97, 181,

485.

BLISWORTH CUTTING, 313.
BOILER, multitubular, 261, 495.

CIVIL.

BOOTH, HENRY, Liverpool, 263, 278, 458,

495.
BRADSHAW, Mr., opposes Liverpool and

Manchester line, 190, 194.
BRAITHWAITE, ISAAC, 268, 291, 398.
BRAKEING, coal-engine, 32, 33, 49.
BRAKE, G. Stephenson's self-acting, 283, 365.
BRANDLING, Messrs., 122, 407, 477.
BRANDRETH'S locomotive, " Cycloped," 268.
BRIDGES, railway, —on Liverpool line, 231,

408 ; unproved construction in iron, 407,

420; tubular, 422, 429, 461.
BRIDGEWATER CANAL monopoly, 179, 193,

195.
BRITISH ASSOCIATION meeting at Newcastle,

360.

BROUGHAM, Mr. WILLIAM, counsel on Liver-
pool and Manchester BiU, 198, 201.
BRUCE'S SCHOOL, Newcastle, 62.
BRUNEL, I. K., 291, 371, 397, 401, 432, 462.
BRUNTON'S LOCOMOTIVE, 86.
BRUSSELS, railway celebrations at, 345, 387.
BRUSSELTON INCLINE, 165 ; engines, 24o.
BUCKLAND, Dr., 451.
BULL BRIDGE, Ambergate, 335.
BURRELL, G. Stephenson's partner, 139.
BrjRST ALL'S LOCOMOTIVE, "Perseverance,"

268, 273.

CALLERTON colliery and village, 21, 31, 32.

CANAL opposition to railways, 179, 195,303.

CARTAGENA, R. Stephenson at, 251.

CHAPMAN'S LOCOMOTIVE, 86.

CHARACTERISTICS of the Stephensons, 465.

CHAT Moss, — William James's attempted
survey of a line over, 188 ; Mr. Harrison
on, 208 ; evidence of Francis Giles, C.E.,
210; Mr. Alderson on, 212; description
of, 219 ; construction of railway on, 221 ;
the road finished, 228; G. Stephenson's
speculation as to coal being under, 296.

CHESTER AND BIRKENHEAD RAILWAY, 369 ;
Chester and Holyhead, 416.

CHESTERFIELD, 356, 360, 457.

CIVIL ENGINEERS' INSTITUTE, 463, 479.

506

INDEX.

CLANNY, Dr., his safety-lamp, 107.
CLARK, EDWIN, C.E., 428, 431, 437.
CLAY ENGINES, G. Stephensou's modelling of,

20, 29.
CLAY CROSS COLLIERY, G. Stephenson leases,

358.

CLAXTON, Captain, 432.
CLEGG and SAMUDA'S atmospheric railway,

370.
CLEPHAN, Mr., description of first railway

traffic, 173.
CLEVELAND, Duke of, and Stockton and

Darlington Railway, 169.
CLOCK-MENDING and cleaning, 42, 61, 445,

475.
COACH, first railway, 170 ; coaches and

railways, 172, 345, 351.
COAL, — trade, 3, 73; staiths, 11; haulage,

early expedients for, 5, 8, 73, 87 ; traffic

by railway, 169, 356 ; mining, G. Ste-
phenson's ventures in, 296 ; theory of

formation of, 452, 475.
COALBROOKDALE, rails early cast at, 7,
COE, WILLIAM, fellow- workman of G. Ste-

phenson, 24, 32, 42, 46.
COLLIERY DISTRICTS, 1, 4; machinery and

workmen, 9.
COLOMBIA, mining association of, 242 ; Robert

Stephenson's residence in, 245.
COMPANIES, joint-stock, formed to construct

railways, 289.

CONTRACTORS, railway, 229, 311, 316, 319.
CONWAY, tubular bridge at, 417, 429.
COOPER, Sir ASTLEY, Robert Stephenson's

interview with, 305.
CORT'S pamphlet against railways, 303.
CRICH to limeworks at Ambergate, 359.
CROPPER, ISAAC, Liverpool, 234, 259, 272.
CROYDON AND WANDSWORTH RAILWAY, 180.
CUBITT, Sir WILLIAM, and Liverpool and

Manchester Railway, 208.
CUGNOT'S STEAM-CARRIAGE, 75.
CURR, JOHN, his cast-iron railway at Sheffield,

7.

CUTTINGS, Railway, — Tring, 312 ; Blisworth,
313; Ambergate, 333; Oakenshaw and
Normanton, 334.

D.

DAGGER MONEY, 3.

DARLINGTON AND STOCKTON RAILWAY, 149.

DAVY, Sir HUMPHRY, — his description of
Trevithick's steam-carriage, 81 ; his paper
on fire-damp in mines, 108 ; his safety-
lamp, 117, 120; testimonial, 121.

DENMAN, Lord, 445.

DERBY, Earl of, 193, 307.

DEWLY BURN COLLIERY, 19.

DIRECT LINES, mania for, 378.

FOSTER.

DIXON, JOHN, C.E., — assists in survey of
Stockton and Darlington Railway, 160,
166 ; assistant engineer on Liverpool and
Manchester Railway, 221, 236 ; surveys
Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, 290.

DODDS, RALPH, Killiiigworth, 51, 55, 59,
101.

DORDOGNE, suspension bridge over the, 390.

DRAYTON MANOR, George Stephenson's visit
to, 450.

DUNDONALD, Lord, his engine "Scorpion,"
349.

DUTTON VIADUCT, 326.

i-:.

EAST COAST RAILWAY to Scotland, 337, 4oO,
415.

EDGWORTH, Mr. LOVELL, — sailing waggons,
74; advocacy of railways, 79, 181.

EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY, Robert Stephenson
at, 145.

EDUCATION, — George Stephenson's self-educa-
tion, 28, 40, 56, 63 ; of Robert Stephenson,
59, 143 ; George Stephenson's ideas of, 240,
362.

EGG-HATCHING by artificial heat, 28, 444.

EGYPTIAN TUBULAR BRIDGES, R. Stephen-
son's, 461.

ELLIS, Mr., Leicester, 295.

EMERSON, George Stephensou's meeting with,
455.

EMIGRATION, George Stephenson contemplates,
48, 139.

ENGINE, study of steam, 26, 37, 40, 93.

ENGLISH and French Navvies, 323.

ERICSSON, Mr., engineer, 256, 268.

ESTIMATES, railway, 207, 217, 319, 337.

EXAMINATION, George Stephenson's, before
Committee of House of Commons, 202.

"EXPERIMENT," the first railway-coach, 170.

EXPLOSIONS of fire-damp, 104.

EVANS'S STEAM-CARRIAGE, 76.

F.

FAIRBAIRN, WILLIAM, C.E., — at Percy Main
Colliery, 41 ; associated with Robert fc'te-
phenson in erecting tubular bridges, 425 ;
on the invention of the steam blast, 497.

FIRE-DAMP, explosions of, 104.

FIXED-ENGINE power, 141, 158, 165, 257.

FLOATING a road on Chat Moss, 222.

FLOATING the Conway and Britannia tubes,
432.

FOLLETT, Sir WILLIAM, 451.

FORTH STREET WORKS, Newcastle, 163, 242,
253, 360, 494.

FOSTER, JONATHAN, Wylam, 89, 498.

INDEX.

507

FRANKLIN".

FRANKLIN'S lightning experiment repeated

by Robert Stephenson, 66.
FREE TRADE, George Stephensoii's views on,

FRICTION on common roads and railways,
135, 491.

G.

GARDENING, George Stephenson's pursuits in,
68, 442.

GATESHEAD, 4, 409.

GAUGE of railways, 165, 397.
GEORDY safety-lamp, invention of, 109.
GILES, FRANCIS, C.E., 210, 291.
GOOCH, THOMAS L., C.E., 236, 277, 306,

331.

GOVERNMENT and i-ailways, 288, 371.
GRADIENTS, George Stephenson's views of,

137, 367, 493.

GRAND ALLIES, Killingworth, 55.
GRAND JUNCTION RAILWAY, 292, 315,326.
GRAY, ROBERT, 30, 40, 43, 477.
i :RAY, THOMAS, 181, 256.
GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY, 291, 294, 397.
GREENWICH RAILWAY, 349.
GURNEY, GOLDSWORTHY, his tubular boiler,

263; his steam-jet, 270, 497, 501.

H.

HACKWORTH, TIMOTHY, his engine "Sans-

pareil," 268, 270, 272, 501.
HALF-LAP joint, G. Stephenson's, 132.
HARRISON, Mr., barrister, 208, 213.
HARRISON, Mr., Liverpool, 259.
HASTINGS, Marquis of, 299.
HATCHING eggs by artificial heat, 28, 444.
HAWTHORN, ROBERT, C.E., 25, 26.
HEATING SURFACE in locomotives, 261, 264,

495.

HEDLEY, WILLIAM, Wylam, 91, 497.
HENDERSON, FANNY, 34.
HEPPEL, KIT, 51, 54, 107.
HKTTON RAILWAY, 140.
HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE, Newcastle, 2, 4u9.
HIGH STREET HOUSE, Wylam, 14.
HINDMARSH FAMILY, 159.
HODGKINSON, Professor, 427.
HOLYHEAD, railway to, 416.
HOWICK, Lord, and the Northumberland

Atmospheric Railway, 401.
HUDSON, GEORGE, the " Railway King," 376,

381,402,407.
HUSKISSON, Mr., M.P., and the Liverpool and

Manchester Railway, 179, 216, 218, 279;

killed at its opening, 27t».
HYDRAULIC presses at the Britannia Bridge,

437.

LIVERPOOL.

INCLINES, self-acting, 11, 71.
IRON RAILWAY BRIDGES, 408, 421 .

J.

JAMES, WILLIAM,— surveys a line between
Liverpool and Manchester, 183; visits
Killingworth, 186 ; superseded by George
Stephenson, 189.

JAMESON, Professor, Edinburgh, 147.

JESSOP, WILLIAM, C.E., 8.

JOLLY'S CLOSE, Newburn, 23, 39.

K.

KEELMEN of the Tyne, 12.

KENNEDY, Mr., Manchester, 260.

KILLINGWORTH,— West Moor, 43, 47, 67;
High Pit, 50 ; colliery explosions and
mining, 104, 142 ; locomotive, 96, 101,
130, 499; the underground machinery,
129.

KlLMARNOCK AND TROON RAILWAY, 139.

KILSBY TUNNEL, 315.

L.

LAMBTON, Mr. (Earl of Durham), 169.
LAMP, safety, invention of the, 104.
LAST-MAKING, competition in, 69.
LARDNER, Dr., and railways, 366, 370.^-
LEEDS MECHANICS' INSTITUTE, George

Stephenson's speech at, 363.
LEICESTER AND SWANNTNGTON RAILWAY,

294.

LEMINGTON coal staith, 87.
LEOPOLD, King of the Belgians, and railways,

343 ; George Stephenson's interviews with,

345, 388.
LEVEL RAILWAYS, advantages of, 136, 367,

493.

LIDDELL, Sir T. (Lord Ravensworth), 55.
LIME-WORKS at Ambergate, G. Stephenson's,

359.
LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE,

Newcastle, 63, 114, 119, 479.

LlTTLEBOROUGH TUNNEL, 329.

LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY, —
projected, 179 ; surveyed by William James,
183; the survey opposed, 184; George
Stephenson employed, 189 ; the prospectus
issued, 191 ; deputations visit Killingworth,
191, 192; opposition of the landowners
and canal companies, 193 ; the bill in com-
mittee, 201; rejected, 214; the scheme
revived, 21."» ; Mt_->rs. Rennie appointed

508

INDEX.

engineers, 216; the bill passed, 218;
Messrs. Rennie superseded by George
Stephenson, 219 ; construction of the line
across Chat Moss, 223 ; discussions as to
the working power to be employed, 254 ;
George Stephenson urges the employment
of the locomotive, 256 ; prize of 500/.
offered for the best engine, 259 ; won by
the " Rocket," 273 ; public opening of the
railway, 278 : results of the traffic, 281.

LOCKE, Mr. JOSEPH, C.E., 32, 221, 236,
290, 327, 339, 362.

" LOCOMOTION," Engine No. 1, Darlington,
166, 174.

LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE, — invention of, 8 ;
Robisou and Watt's idea, 74 ; Cugnot's
steam-carriage, 75 ; Evans and Syming-
ton's, 76 ; Murdoch's model, 77 ; Allen's
patent, 78 ; Trevithick's steam-carriage,
79 ; Trevithick's tram-engine, 82, 88 ;
Bleiikinsop's engine, 85 ; Chapman and
Brunton's engines, 86; Blackett's Wylam
engine, 88 ; Kenton and Coxlodge engine,
95 ; Stephenson's Killingworth locomotive,
96, 101, 133, 158, 186, 192, 485; Stock-
ton and Darlington locomotives, 165, 174 ;
prize offered for the best engine at Liverpool,
259 ; won by the " Rocket," 264 ; the
" Arrow," 277 ; further improvements,
283.

LOCOMOTIVE MANUFACTORY, Stephenson's,
at Newcastle, 162, 242, 253, 494.

LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY, —
projected, 301 ; the Stephensons appointed
engineers, 302 ; the opposition to the bill,
302 ; interview with Sir Astley Cooper,
305 ; the bill rejected, 309 ; the bill revived
and passed, 310 ; the works commenced,
311; Tring cutting, 312; Blisworth
cutting, 313; Primrose Hill Tunnel, 314;
Kilsby Tunnel, 315; magnitude of the
works, 320 ; opened for traffic, 345.

LONDON AND NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY,
454.

LOSH, Mr., Newcastle, 132, 186.

LOUGH'S STATUE of George Stephenson, 459.

M.

MACKWORTH, Sir H.,his sailing waggons, 73.

MACLAREN'S articles on railways in ' Scots-
man,' 197.

MAIDSTONE, opposition of, to railways, 294.

MANCHESTER AND LEEDS RAILWAY,— the
Act obtained, 327 ; construction of Summit
Tunnel, 329 ; magnitude of the works, 331.

MANCHESTER TRADE with Liverpool, increase
of, 178,201.

MANIA, railway, 372.

MAPS, — Newcastle district, 2 ; Stockton and

NOVELTY.

Darlington Railway, 149 ; Liverpool and
Manchester Railway, 184-5 ; Leicester and
Swanniugtoii Railway, 295; London and
Birmingham Railway, 312 ; Midland Rail-
way, 332 ; Menai Strait, 421.

MARIQUITA, Robert Stephenson at, 245.

MECHANICAL ENGINEERS, society of, 456,
459, 480.

MECHANICS' INSTITUTES, G. Stephenson's
interest in, 361.

MENAI SUSPENSION BRIDGE, 417; railway
bridge, 420.

MERSTHAM TRAMROAD, 180, 187.

MICROSCOPE, George Stephenson's, 447, 453.

M IDDLESBOROUGH-ON-TEES, 177.

MIDDLETON RAILWAY, Leeds, 85, 181.

MIDLAND RAILWAY, 331 ; George Hudson
and the, 382.

MINING, COAL, 3, 9, 104, 129 ; in South
America, 245, 252.

MONTROSE, G. Stephenson at, 45.

MOODIE, underviewer at Killingworth, 110,
140.

MORECAMBE BAY, proposed reclamation of,
339.

MORETON-IN-THE-MARSH RAILWAY, 186.

MORRISONS, Newcastle, 69.

Moss CHAT (see Chat Moss).

Moss, Mr., Liverpool, 184, 224.

MULTITUBULAR BOILER, 261, 495.

MURDOCK'S model locomotive, 77.
MURRAY, MATHEW, Leeds, 85.

NASMYTH'S steam hammer, 405, 411.

NAVVIES, railway, 321.

NELSON, the Callerton pitman, 35.

NEWBURN, 23, 30.

NEWCASTLE AND BERWICK RAILWAY, 400.

NEWCASTLE AND CARLISLE RAILWAY, 13,

255.
NEWCASTLE AND DARLINGTON RAILWAY,

383, 400.
NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, — in ancient times, 1 ;

literary and philosophical institute, 63, 1 14,

1 19, 479 ; Stephenson jubilees at, 400, 4u4 ;

High Level Bridge, 409 ; Stephenson statue,

459.

.^EWCoMTTN-'^ atmospheric engine, 9, 50.
NILE, Robert Stephenson's tubular bridges

over the, 461.

NORTH MIDLAND RAILWAY, 335, 382.
NORTH, ROGER, description of early tram-
roads, 6.
NORTHAMPTON, opposition of, to railways,

293, 304.
NORTHUMBERLAND ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAY,

401.
" NOVELTY " locomotive, 268, 270, 272.

INDEX.

509

OAK.

O.

OAK'S PIT, Barnsley, explosion in, 126.

OLIVE MOUNT CUTTING, Liverpool, 230.

Oi'KMN-Gs of Railways, — Hetton, 142;
Stockton and Darlington, 167 ; Liverpool
and Manchester, 278 ; London and Bir-
mingham, 345 ; East-coast route to Scotland,
400, 41 o; Britannia Bridge, 439 ; Trent
Valley, 453.

ORGANIZATION of labour, G. Stephenson's,
229, 277, 281.

OI-TIJAM, BENJAMIN, Little Eaton, 8.

OVERTON, Mr., engineer, 151.

P.

PALMER, Mr. H. R., engineer, 210.

PARLIAMENT and railways, 288, 371, 375,
378.

PARR Moss, railway across, 228.

PASSENGER traffic of early railways, 170,
191, 281.

PAXTON, Sir JOSEPH, 442, 480.

PEASE, EDWARD, — projects the Stockton and
Darlington Railway, 149 ; first interview
with G. Stephenson, 153; visits Killing-
worth, 158; joins Stephenson in establish-
ing a locomotive manufactory, 163, 250,
254-; Stephenson's esteem and gratitude,
177; letters to "EoB5r^i5jLephenson, 250,
461.

PEEL, Sir ROBERT, 278, 379, 450.

PEXMAEN MAWR, railway under, 417.

PEX-Y-DARREN, Trevithick's tram-engine at,
82.

PERMANENT WAY of railroads, 131, 365, 490.

PERPETUAL MOTION, G. Stephenson studies,
40, 56.

" PERSEVERANCE," Bin-stall's locomotive,
268, 273.

PHILLIPS, Sir R., speculations as to railways,
180.

PILE-DRIVING by steam, 413.

PITMEN, Northumbrian, 10.

PLATE-WAYS, early, 7.

PLUGMAN, duties of, 21.

POLITICS, George and Robert Stephenson's,
480.

;]LII, Newcastle, 1.

PORTLAND, Duke of, orders a locomotive of
George Stephenson, 139.

PRIMROSE-HILL TUNNEL, 314.

PROPHECIES of railway failure, 195, 209,
218, 293, 348.

PuMi-iNG-EXGiNES, George Stephenson's skill
in, 45, 50, 53, 317.

PUPILS, George Stephenson's, 236, 240, 346,
470.

PVRKXEEAN PASTORAL, 390.

ROCKET.

Q.

QUAKERS' RAILWAY, Stockton and Darling-
ton, 151.

'QUARTERLY,' the, ridicules high railway
speed, 199.

QUEEN, the, — her first use "of the railway,
355 ; opens the High Level and Royal Border
bridges, 415 ; visits the Britannia Bridge,
438.

R.

RAILS, cast and wrought iron, 7, 157, 163,
490.

RAILWAY, — locomotive, 73; first passenger
traffic, 170 ; speed (see Speed) ; workmen,
285; navvies, 321; travelling, 350;
mania, 372 ; atmospheric, 369, 401 ; un-
dulating, 379.

RAILWAY gract, 376, 381.

RAILWAY RUIN, prophecies of, 195, 210,
218, 287, 293; the prophecies confuted,
348, 453, 481 ; results, 177, 281, 348.

RAILWAYS, — early, 5 ; Merthyr Tydvill (Pen-
y-darran), 82 ; Middleton, Leeds, 85 ;
Wylam, 87 ; Killingworth, 94, 131, 490 ;
Kilmarnock and Troon, 139 ; Hetton, 140 ;
Stockton and Darlington, 149; Liverpool
and Manchester, 178 ; Canterbuiy and
Whitstable,. 290: Grand Junction, 292,
315, 326 ; Leicester and Swannington, 294 ;
Birmingham and Derby, 299 ; London and
Birmingham, 301, 347 ; Manchester and
Leeds, 327; Midland, 331, 382 ; York and
North Midland, 335, 382; Scarborough,
336 ; Greenwich, 349 ; Chester and Birken-
head, 369 ; atmospheric, 369 ; Trent Val-
ley, 381,453; Newcastle and Darlington,
383, 400 ; Great Western, 397 ; Newcastle
and Berwick, 400; South Devon, 403;
Chester and Holyhead, 416.

RAINHILL, locomotive competition at, 268.

RASTRICK, Mr., C.E., 257, 260.

RAVENSWORTH, Earl of, 55, 96.

RENXIE, Messrs., C.E., 216, 219.

RICHARDSON, THOMAS, London, 150, 158,
163.

ROAD LOCOMOTION, — Cugnot's steam -carriage,
75 ; Evans and Symington's, 76 ; Trevi-
thick's, 79 ; George Stephenson on, 134,
492 ; House of Commons' report on, 288.

ROBERTS, RICHARD, his Jacquard punching
machine, 432.

ROBERTSON, ANDREW, schoolmaster, 30, 34.

ROBIXS, anecdote of G. Stephenson and the
342.

ROBISON, Dr , his idea of a locomotive, 74.

" ROCKET,'" the, — its construction, 264 ; ar-
rangements of, 266, 496, 502; wins the
prize of 500/., 273 ; its end, 274.

51.0

INDEX.

ROMAN WALL, Northumberland, 1.

ROSCOE, Mr., his farm on Chat Moss, 212,

220, 222.

ROYAL BORDI:R BRIDGE, Berwick, 405.
RUTTKR'S SCHOOL, Benton, 60, 65.

S.

SAFETY-LAMP,— Dr. Clanny's, 107 ; Ste-
phenson's first lamp, 109 ; second lamp,
115; third lamp, 116; Sir H. Davy's
paper, 108; his lamp, 117; the safety-
lamp controversy, ih. ; the Davy and Ste-
phenson testimonials, 121, 123 ; compa-
rative merits of the Davy and Geordy
lamps, 128.

SAILING-WAGGONS on tramroads, 73.

SAINT-FOND on the early waggon-roads, 6.

SANDARS, JOSEPH, Liverpool, 179, 183, 188,
194, 238, 259, 296.

SANKEY VIADUCT, 233.

" SANSPARKIL " LOCOMOTIVE, Timothy
Hackworth's, 268, 270, 272, 501.

SCARBOROUGH RAILWAY, 336.

' SCOTSMAN'S ' articles on railways, 197.

SEA, violence of, 419.

SEFTON, Lord, 193, 307.

SEGUIN, Mr.,C.E., his tubular boiler, 263, 496.

SHEFFIELD, early railroad at, 7.

SHIPPING-PLACES, coal, 6.

SIBTHORPE, Colonel, on railways, 293, 355.

SIMPLON ROAD, Midland Railway compared
with, 333.

SINKING for coal at Snibston, 297.

SNIBSTON ESTATE, George Stephenson's pur-
chase of, 297.

SOPWITH, Mr., C.E., 387.

SOUTH DEVON RAILWAY, 403.

SPANISH RAILWAY, G. Stephenson's survey
of, 391.

SPECULATIVE MANIAS, 194, 372.

SPEED, RAILWAY, — on Middleton Railway,
86 ; Wylam Railway, 90, 92 ; Killingworth
Railway, 98, 134, 192; Stockton and Dar-
lington Railway, 174; speculations as to
possible speed, 197 ; Stephenson's exami-
nation before Committee of House of Com-
mons on the subject, 203, 205 ; Mr. Har-
rison's statement as to superior speed on
canals, 213 ; Hon. E. Stanley's views, 218 ;
speed of the engines tried at Rainhill, 270 ;
of the " Northumbrian," 279 ; G. Stephen-
son's views on, 364.

SPUR-GEAR of locomotive, 97.

STAFFORD, Marquis of, 217.

STAITHS, COAL, 11.

STAMFORD, Earl of, 299.

STATIONARY-ENGINE power, 141, 158, 165,
257.

STATUES of George Stephenson, 458.

STEPIIENSON.

STEAM-BLAST, invention of, 100, 262, 265,
489, 497.

STEAM-ENGINE, study of, 27, 37, 50, 72.

STEAM-SPRINGS, G. Stephenson's invention of,
133, 489.

STEELE, JOHN, Northumberland mechanic, 88.

STEPHENSON FAMILY, the, 16, 24, 48 ; " Old
Bob," 14, 17, 39,47, 65; Robert (George's
brother), 141, 278.

STEPHENSON, GEORGE, — his birth, 14; his
parents, 15, 17 ; brothers and sisters, 16 ;
boyhood, 18 ; Nell's bonnet, 19 ; employed
as herd-boy, 20 ; makes, clay engines, ih. ,
employed as ploughboy, 21 ; drives the gin-
horse, ib. ; employed as assistant fireman,
22 ; appointed fireman, 24 ; feats of strength,
25 ; made a " man for life," 26 ; appointed
engineman, ib. ; study of the ste:mi-engine,
27 ; learns to read, 29 ; his schoolmasters,
30, 34, 57, 63; his dog, 31; learns to
brake an engine, 32 ; duties of brakesman,
33 ; falls in love and soles shoes, 34 ; saves
his first guinea, 35 ; fight with a pitman,
36 ; marries Fanny Henderson, 39 ; studies
mechanics, 40 ; heaves ballast, 41 ; clems
clocks, 42 ; death of his wife, 43 ; goes to
Scotland, 45 ; returns home, 46 ; brakes-
man at West Moor, Killingworth, 47 ;
drawn for the militia, and contemplates
emigration, 48 ; takes a brakeing contract,
49 ; cures a pumping engine, 50 ; appointed
enginewright of the colliery, 55 ; evenings
with John Wigham, 57 ; sobriety, 59 ;
education of his son, 59, 62, 144 ; makes
shoes, cleans clocks, and cuts out pitmen's
clothes, 61 ; his cottage at West Moor, 67 ;
the sun-dial, 70 ; study of the locomotive,
93; makes his first "travelling-engine,"
96; the second locomotive, 101; invents
and tests his safety-lamps, 108 ; appears
before the Newcastle Literary Institute,
119; the Stephenson testimonial, 123;
superiority of the Geordy lamp, 127; im-
proves the machinery in the Killingworth
mine, 129 ; further improvements in the Kil-
lingworth locomotive, 130 ; improvement
of the permanent way, 131 ; experiments
on road friction, 134 ; views on fiat gra-
dients, 136 ; constructs the Hetton Railway,
140 ; visit to Edward Pease, 153 ; surveys
and constructs the Stockton and Darling-
ton Railway, 157; his second wife, 159;
starts a locomotive manufactory, 162 ;
supplies the locomotives for the Stockton
and Darlington line, 165 ; Stephenson's an-
ticipations of railway uses, 167 ; appointed
engineer of Liverpool and Manchester Rail-
way, 189 ; his views of railway speed,
198 ; examined before Committee of the
House of Commons, 201 ; the bill rejected,
and Stephenson's vexation, 214 ; constructs

INDEX.

511

STEPIIENSON.

the railway across Chat Moss, 219 ; his
great labours, 235 ; life at home, 238 ;
urges the employment of the locomotive on
the Liverpool and Manchester Railway,
256 ; the " Rocket " constructed, 264 ; fair-
weather friends. -J74-: organizes the work-
ing of the railway, 277 ; public opening of
Liverpool and Manchester line, 278 ; the
Stephenson workmen, 285 ; appointed engi-
neer of Grand Junction, 292 ; purchases
Suibston Colliery, 297 ; appointed joint
engineer of London and Birmingham Rail-
way, 301 ; scene with Lord Wharnclifte in
Committee of the Lords on Manchester and
Leeds bill, 327 ; engineer of Manchester and
Leeds Railway, 329 ; of Midland Railway,
331 ; of York and North Midland Rail-
way, 335 ; life at Alton Grange, 339 ; visit
to Belgium and interviews with King Leo-
pold, 344- ; his assistants, 346 ; stage-coach
accident, 353; leases Claycross Colliery,
358 ; limeworks at Ambergate, 359 ; resi-
dence at Tapton House, 356, 358 ; appear-
ance at Mechanics' Institutes, 361 ; opi-
nions of railway speed, 364 ; views as
to atmospheric system of working, 370 ;
opposes the railway mania, 375 ; again
visits Belgium, 386 ; visit to Spain, 389 ;
retires from the profession of engineering,
394 ; his views on share speculation, 399 ;
Newcastle and Berwick Railway, 400 ; in-
terview with Lord Howick, 403 ; consulted
as to Chester and Holyhead Railway, 416 ;
life at Tapton, 442 ; habits, conversation,
£<;., 445 ; theory of coal formation, 452,
475 ; meeting with Emerson, 455 ; illness
and death, 456 ; characteristics, 465.
STEPHENSON, ROBERT, — his birth, 43 ; death
of his mother, 45 ; his father's care for his
education, 59; is put to Rutter's school,
Benton, 60 ; sent to Bruce "s school, New-
castle, 62 ; studies in the Literary and
Philosophical Institute, 63 ; evenings with
his father, 64 ; his boyish tricks, 65 ; re-
peats Franklin's lightning experiment, 66 ;
his father's assistant, 59, 68 ; gives lessons
to the pitmen's sons, 69 ; calculates the
latitude for a sun-dial at Killingworth, 70 ;
his recollections of the trial of the first
safety-lamp, 110; assists his father in his
experiments on fire-damp, 113; writes a
letter to the newspapers for his father, 122 ;
apprenticed as a coal -viewer, 142 ; sent to
college at Edinburgh, 145 ; falls in love,
147 ; study of geology, ib. ; tour in the
Highlands, 148 ; assists in survey of Stock-
ton and Darlington Railway, 1 57 ; his views
on iron rails, 164 ; assists in surveying the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 188 ;
leaves England for Colombia, 243 ; mule-
journey to Bogota, 243 ; residence at Ma-

SYLVESTER.

riquita, 245 ; his cottage at Santa Anna,
247 ; resigns his situation as mining engi-
neer, 249; rencontre with Trevithick at
Cartagena, 251 ; shipwreck, 252; return
to Newcastle, 253 ; pamphlet on the loco-
motive engine, 259 ; discussions with his
father as to the locomotive, 261 ; constructs
the " Rocket," 264 ; wins the prize, '273 ;
improvements in the locomotive, 276, 284 ;
appointed engineer of Leicester and Swan-
nington Railway, 295; his first tunnel,
296 ; finds coal at Snibston, 296 ; ap-
pointed joint engineer of London and Bir-
mingham Railway, 302 ; interview with
Sir Astley Cooper, 305; construction of
the works, 311; overcomes the difficulties
of the Kilsby Tunnel, 315 ; evidence on
steep gradients and the locomotive, 368;
report on the atmospheric system of work-
ing, 372; letter to Sir Robert Peel on
" undulating railways," 379 ; views as to
legislative bungling on railways, 380 ; views
on mechanical training of the engineer,
395 ; his extensive employment, 396 ; the
competitor of Brunei, 397 ; his cautious-
ness, 399 ; engineer of Newcastle and Ber-
wick Railway, 400 ; engineer of Royal Border
Bridge, Berwick, 405 ; engineer of High
Level Bridge, Newcastle, 409 ; engineer of
Chester and Holyhead Railway, 417 ; con-
structs the Britannia and Conway Tubular
Bridges, 420 ; his great anxieties, 435 ;
letter to Edward Pease, 438 ; succeeds to
his father's wealth, and arranges to retire
from business, 460 ; designs tubular bridges
for Canada and Egypt, ^-61 ; acts as arbi-
trator on railway matters, 462 ; assists in
launching the * Great Eastern,' ib. ; Mem-
ber of Parliament, 463 ; foreign honours,
ib. ; death, 464; character, 477 ; narrative
of his father's inventions, &c., 485 ; account
of the invention of the steam-blast, 501.

STOCK EXCHANGE and railway speculation,
373.

STOCKTON AND DARLINGTON RAILWAY, —
projected, 149 ; surveyed by Mr. Overton,
151 ; promoted by Edward Pease, ib. ; act
passed, 152; re-surveyed byG. Stephenson,
157 ; opening of the railway, 167 ; the coal
traffic, 169 ; the first passenger coach, 170 ;
coaching companies, 172; increase of the
traffic, 176 ; town of Middlesborough,
177.

STRATHMORE, Earl of, 55.

STRENGTH, feats of, 25, 37, 54.

SUMMERS AND OGLE'S steam carriage, 263.

SUN-DIAL at Killing worth, 70, 361.

SWANWICK, FREDERICK, C.E., 236, 239,
454.

SYLVESTER, Mr., engineer, Liverpool, 192,
492.

512

INDEX.

TALBOT.
T.

TALBOT, Lord, 299.

TAPTON HOUSE, Chesterfield, 357, 359, 442.

TELFORD, THOMAS, C.E., 255, 421.

THIRLWALL, WILLIAM, 20.

THOMAS, Mr., Denton, on waggon roads, 78.

TRAMROADS, early, 6 ; Croydon and Mers-
tham, 180.

TRAVELLING by railway, 170, 351.

TREVITHICK, RICHARD, C.E., — his steam-
carriage, 79 ; tram-engine, 82 ; rencontre
with Robert Stephenson at Cartagena, 251 ;
substitute for steam-blast, 82, 497.

TRENT VALLEY RAILWAY, 381, 453.

TRING CUTTING, 312.

TUBBING in coal pits, 297.

TUBULAR BEAM BRIDGES, 422, 461.

TUBULAR BOILERS, 262, 495.

TUNNELS, RAILWAY, — Liverpool, 230, 277 ;
Primrose-hill, 314; Kilsby, 315; Little-
borough, 329.

TURNER, Rev. W., Newcastle, 1 14.

TYNE at Newcastle, 4, 11, 410.

U.

UNDULATING RAILWAYS, theory of, 366, 379.

V.

VIADUCTS,— Sankey, 233; Dutton, 326;

Berwick, 405 ; Newcastle, 410.
VICTORIA BRIDGE, Montreal, 461.
VIGNOLLES, Mr., C.E., 216, 231, 256, 370.
VIVIAN AND TREVITHICK'S steam-carriage,

79.

W.

WADE'S ROAD, Northumberland, 3.
WAGGON-ROADS, earlv, 5, 18, 26, 87.

WALKER, JAMES, C.E., 257.

WALLSEND, 1, 43.

WALMSLEY, Sir JOSHUA, 389.

WATERS, TOMMY, Newcastle, 89.

WATFORD TUNNEL, 315.

WATT, JAMES, and the locomotive, 74, 472.

WAYLEAVES for waggon-roads, 6.

WELLINGTON, Duke of, and railways, 278.
355.

WEST MOOR, Killingworth, 43, 47.

WESTHEAD, Mr. J. P., Manchester, 454.

WHARNCLIFFE, Lord, 55, 310, 317.

WHINFIELD, JOHN, Gateshead, 88.

WHITEHAVEN, early railroad at, 7.

WIGHAM, JOHN, Stephenson 's teacher, 57.

WILLINGTON QUAY, 37.

WITTON COLLIERY, 149.

WOOD, NICHOLAS, — prepares drawing of
safety-lamp for Stephenson, 109 ; is present
at its trial in the Killingworth Pit, 110;
assists at experiments on fire-damp, 113 ;
appears with Stephenson before Newcastle
Institute, 119 ; accident to, in the Killing-
worth Pit, 143 ; visits Edward Pease with
G. Stephenson, 153, 155 ; discountenances
the expectation of high railway speed, 197 ;
appointed one of the judges at the Rainhill
competition, 260 ; opposes George Stephen -
son's East-coast route, 400 ; experiments
with G. Stephenson on the Killingworth
railroad, 491 ; account of the steam-blast,
499.

. WOOLF'S TUBULAR BOILERS, 262.

WORTLEY, Mr. Stuart (see W/iarncliffe}.

WRESTLING, G. Stephenson's, 403, 448.

WYLAM COLLIERY AND VILLAGE, 13.

Y.

YORK AND NORTH MIDLAND RAILWAY, 336.
YOUNG, ARTHUR, description of early waggon-
roads, 6.

THE END.

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