But Stephenson was far above claiming for himself any invention not his
own.  He had already accomplished a far greater feat than the making of a
safety-lamp--he had constructed a successful locomotive, which was to be
seen in daily work on the Killingworth railway.  By the improvements he
had made in the engine, he might almost be said to have _invented_ it;
but no one--not even the philosophers--detected the significance of that
wonderful machine.  What railways were to become, rested in a great
measure with that "engine-wright of Killingworth, of the name of
Stephenson," though he was scarcely known as yet beyond the bounds of his
own district.

As to the value of the invention of the safety-lamp there could be no
doubt; and the colliery owners of Durham and Northumberland, to testify
their sense of its importance, determined to present a testimonial to its
inventor.  The friends of Sir H. Davy met in August, 1816, to take steps
for raising a subscription for the purpose.  The advertised object of the
meeting was to present him with a reward for "the invention of _his_
safety-lamp."  To this no objection could be taken; for though the
principle on which the safety-lamps of Stephenson and Davy were
constructed was the same; and although Stephenson's lamp was,
unquestionably, the first successful lamp that had been constructed on
such principle, and proved to be efficient,--yet Sir H. Davy did invent a
safety-lamp, no doubt quite independent of all that Stephenson had done;
and having directed his careful attention to the subject, and elucidated
the true theory of explosion of carburetted hydrogen, he was entitled to
all praise and reward for his labours.  But when the meeting of
coal-owners proposed to raise a subscription for the purpose of
presenting Sir H. Davy with a reward for "his invention of _the_
safety-lamp," the case was entirely altered; and Stephenson's friends
then proceeded to assert his claims to be regarded as its first inventor.

Many meetings took place on the subject, and much discussion ensued, the
result of which was that a sum of 2000 pounds was presented to Sir
Humphry Davy as "the inventor of the safety-lamp;" but, at the same time,
a purse of 100 guineas was voted to George Stephenson, in consideration
of what he had done in the same direction.  This result was, however very
unsatisfactory to Stephenson, as well as to his friends, and Mr.
Brandling, of Gosforth, suggested to him that, the subject being now
fairly before the public, he should publish a statement of the facts on
which his claim was founded.

This was not at all in George's line.  He had never appeared in print;
and it seemed to him a more formidable thing to write a letter for "the
papers" than to invent a safety-lamp or design a locomotive.  However, he
called to his aid his son Robert, set him down before a sheet of
foolscap, and told him to "put down there just what I tell you."  The
composition of this letter, as we were informed by the writer of it,
occupied more evenings than one; and when it was at length finished,
after many corrections, and fairly copied out, the father and son set
out--the latter dressed in his Sunday's round jacket--to lay the joint
production before Mr. Brandling, at Gosforth House.  Glancing over the
letter, Mr. Brandling said, "George, this will never do."  "It is all
true, sir," was the reply.  "That may be; but it is badly written."
Robert blushed, for he thought the penmanship was called in question, and
he had written his best.  Mr. Brandling, however, revised the letter,
which was shortly after published in the local journals.

Stephenson's friends, fully satisfied of his claims to priority as the
inventor of the safety-lamp used in the Killingworth and other
collieries, held a public meeting for the purpose of presenting him with
a reward "for the valuable service he had thus rendered to mankind."  A
subscription was immediately commenced with this object, and a committee
was formed, consisting of the Earl of Strathmore, C. J. Brandling, and
others.  The subscriptions, when collected, amounted to 1000 pounds.
Part of the money was devoted to the purchase of a silver tankard, which
was presented to the inventor, together with the balance of the
subscription, at a public dinner given in the Assembly Rooms at
Newcastle. {105}  But what gave Stephenson even greater pleasure than the
silver tankard and purse of sovereigns was the gift of a silver watch,
purchased by small subscriptions amongst the colliers themselves, and
presented by them as a token of their personal esteem and regard for him,
as well as of their gratitude for the perseverance and skill with which
he had prosecuted his valuable and lifesaving invention to a successful
issue.

However great the merits of Stephenson in connexion with the invention of
the tube safety-lamp, they cannot be regarded as detracting from the
reputation of Sir Humphry Davy.  His inquiries into the explosive
properties of carburetted hydrogen gas were quite original; and his
discovery of the fact that explosion will not pass through tubes of a
certain diameter was made independently of all that Stephenson had done
in verification of the same fact.  It even appears that Mr. Smithson
Tennant and Dr. Wollaston had observed the same fact several years
before, though neither Stephenson nor Davy knew it while they were
prosecuting their experiments.  Sir Humphry Davy's subsequent
modification of the tube-lamp, by which, while diminishing the diameter,
he in the same ratio shortened the tubes without danger, and in the form
of wire-gauze enveloped the safety-lamp by a multiplicity of tubes, was a
beautiful application of the true theory which he had formed upon the
subject.

The increased number of accidents which have occurred from explosions in
coal-mines since the general introduction of the Davy lamp, have led to
considerable doubts as to its safety, and to inquiries as to the means by
which it may be further improved; for experience has shown that, under
certain circumstances, the Davy lamp is _not_ safe.  Stephenson was
himself of opinion that the modification of his own and Sir Humphry
Davy's lamp, combining the glass cylinder with the wire-gauze, was the
most secure; at the same time it must be admitted that the Davy and the
Geordy lamps alike failed to stand the severe tests to which they were
submitted by Dr. Pereira, before the Committee on Accidents in Mines.
Indeed, Dr. Pereira did not hesitate to say, that when exposed to a
current of explosive gas the Davy lamp is "decidedly unsafe," and that
the experiments by which its safety had been "demonstrated" in the
lecture-room had proved entirely "fallacious."

It is worthy of remark, that under circumstances in which the wire-gauze
of the Davy lamp becomes red-hot from the high explosiveness of the gas,
the Geordy lamp is extinguished; and we cannot but think that this fact
testifies to the decidedly superior safety of the Geordy.  An accident
occurred in the Oaks colliery Pit at Barnsley, on the 20th August, 1857,
which strikingly exemplified the respective qualities of the lamps.  A
sudden outburst of gas took place from the floor of the mine, along a
distance of fifty yards.  Fortunately the men working in the pit at the
time were all supplied with safety-lamps--the hewers with Stephenson's,
and the hurriers with Davy's.  Upon this occasion, the whole of the
Stephenson's lamps, over a space of five hundred yards, were extinguished
almost instantaneously; whereas the Davy lamps were filled with fire, and
became red-hot--so much so, that several of the men using them had their
hands burnt by the gauze.  Had a strong current of air been blowing
through the gallery at the time, an explosion would most probably have
taken place--an accident which, it will be observed, could not, under
such circumstances, occur from the use of the Geordy, which is
immediately extinguished as soon as the air becomes explosive. {107}

Nicholas Wood, a good judge, has said of the two inventions, "Priority
has been claimed for each of them--I believe the inventions to be
parallel.  By different roads they both arrived at the same result.
Stephenson's is the superior lamp.  Davy's is safe--Stephenson's is
safer."

When the question of priority was under discussion at the studio of Mr.
Lough, the sculptor, in 1857, Sir Matthew White Ridley asked Robert
Stephenson, who was present, for his opinion on the subject.  His answer
was, "I am not exactly the person to give an unbiassed opinion; but, as
you ask me frankly, I will as frankly say, that if George Stephenson had
never lived, Sir Humphry Davy could and most probably would have invented
the safety-lamp; but again, if Sir Humphry Davy had never lived, George
Stephenson certainly would have invented the safety-lamp, as I believe he
did, independent of all that Sir Humphry Davy had ever done in the
matter."

                  [Picture: West Moor Pit, Killingworth]




CHAPTER VII.
GEORGE STEPHENSON'S FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN THE LOCOMOTIVE--THE HETTON
RAILWAY--ROBERT STEPHENSON AS VIEWER'S APPRENTICE AND STUDENT.


Stephenson's experiments on fire-damp, and his labours in connexion with
the invention of the safety-lamp, occupied but a small portion of his
time, which was necessarily devoted for the most part to the ordinary
business of the colliery.  From the day of his appointment as
engine-wright, one of the subjects which particularly occupied his
attention was the best practical method of winning and raising the coal.
He was one of the first to introduce steam machinery underground with the
latter object.  Indeed, the Killingworth mines came to be regarded as the
models of the district; the working arrangements generally being
conducted in a skilful and efficient manner, reflecting the highest
credit on the colliery engineer.

Besides attending to the underground arrangements, the improved transit
of the coals above-ground from the pithead to the shipping-place,
demanded an increasing share of his attention.  Every day's experience
convinced him that the locomotive constructed by him after his patent of
the year 1815, was far from perfect; though he continued to entertain
confident hopes of its eventual success.  He even went so far as to say
that the locomotive would yet supersede every other traction-power for
drawing heavy loads.  Many still regarded his travelling engine as little
better than a curious toy; and some, shaking their heads, predicted for
it "a terrible blow-up some day."  Nevertheless, it was daily performing
its work with regularity, dragging the coal-waggons between the colliery
and the staiths, and saving the labour of many men and horses.  There was
not, however, so marked a saving in haulage as to induce the colliery
masters to adopt locomotive power generally as a substitute for horses.
How it could be improved and rendered more efficient as well as
economical, was constantly present to Stephenson's mind.

At an early period of his labours, or about the time when he had
completed his second locomotive, he began to direct his particular
attention to the state of the Road; as he perceived that the extended use
of the locomotive must necessarily depend in a great measure upon the
perfection, solidity, continuity, and smoothness of the way along which
the engine travelled.  Even at that early period, he was in the habit of
regarding the road and the locomotive as one machine, speaking of the
rail and the wheel as "man and wife."

All railways were at that time laid in a careless and loose manner, and
great inequalities of level were allowed to occur without much attention
being paid to repairs.  The consequence was a great loss of power, as
well as much tear and wear of the machinery, by the frequent jolts and
blows of the wheels against the rails.  His first object therefore was,
to remove the inequalities produced by the imperfect junction between
rail and rail.  At that time, (in 1816) the rails were made of cast iron,
each rail being about three feet long; and sufficient care was not taken
to maintain the points of junction on the same level.  The chairs, or
cast-iron pedestals into which the rails were inserted, were flat at the
bottom; so that, whenever any disturbance took place in the stone blocks
or sleepers supporting them, the flat base of the chair upon which the
rails rested being tilted by unequal subsidence, the end of one rail
became depressed, whilst that of the other was elevated.  Hence constant
jolts and shocks, the reaction of which very often caused the fracture of
the rails, and occasionally threw the engine off the road.

To remedy this imperfection Mr. Stephenson devised a new chair, with an
entirely new mode of fixing the rails therein.  Instead of adopting the
_butt-joint_ which had hitherto been used in all cast-iron rails, he
adopted the _half-lap joint_, by which means the rails extended a certain
distance over each other at the ends, like a scarf-joint.  These ends,
instead of resting upon the flat chair, were made to rest upon the apex
of a curve forming the bottom of the chair.  The supports were also
extended from three feet to three feet nine inches or four feet apart.
These rails were accordingly substituted for the old cast-iron plates on
the Killingworth Colliery Railway, and they were found to be a very great
improvement upon the previous system, adding both to the efficiency of
the horse-power, still employed in working the railway, and to the smooth
action of the locomotive engine, but more particularly increasing the
efficiency of the latter.

                        [Picture: Half-lap Joint]

This improved form of rail and chair was embodied in a patent taken out
in the joint names of Mr. Losh, of Newcastle, iron-founder, and of Mr.
Stephenson, bearing date 30th September, 1816.  Mr. Losh being a wealthy,
enterprising iron-manufacturer, and having confidence in George
Stephenson and his improvements, found the money for the purpose of
taking out the patent, which, in those days, was a very costly as well as
troublesome affair.

The specification of the same patent also described various important
improvements in the locomotive itself.  The wheels of the engine were
improved, being altered from cast to malleable iron, in whole or in part,
by which they were made lighter as well as more durable and safe.  But
the most ingenious and original contrivance embodied in this patent was
the substitute for springs which Mr. Stephenson invented.  He contrived
that the steam generated in the boiler should perform this important
office.  The method by which this was effected displayed such genuine
mechanical genius, that we would particularly call attention to the
device, which was the more remarkable, as it was contrived long before
the possibility of steam locomotion had become an object of general
inquiry or of public interest.

It has already been observed that up to, and indeed after, the period of
which we speak, there was no such class of skilled mechanics, nor were
there any such machines and tools in use, as are now available to
inventors and manufacturers.  Although skilled workmen were in course of
gradual training in a few of the larger manufacturing towns, they did
not, at the date of Stephenson's patent, exist in any considerable
numbers, nor was there then any class of mechanics capable of
constructing springs of sufficient strength and elasticity to support
locomotive engines of ten tons weight.

In order to avoid the dangers arising from the inequalities of the road,
Stephenson so arranged the boiler of his new patent locomotive that it
was supported upon the frame of the engine by four cylinders, which
opened into the interior of the boiler.  These cylinders were occupied by
pistons with rods, which passed downwards and pressed upon the upper side
of the axles.  The cylinders opening into the interior of the boiler,
allowed the pressure of steam to be applied to the upper side of the
piston; and the pressure being nearly equivalent to one-fourth of the
weight of the engine, each axle, whatever might be its position, had at
all times nearly the same amount of weight to bear, and consequently the
entire weight was pretty equally distributed amongst the four wheels of
the locomotive.  Thus the four floating pistons were ingeniously made to
serve the purpose of springs in equalising the weight, and in softening
the jerks of the machine; the weight of which, it must also be observed,
had been increased, on a road originally calculated to bear a
considerably lighter description of carriage.  This mode of supporting
the engine remained in use until the progress of spring-making had so far
advanced that steel springs could be manufactured of sufficient strength
to bear the weight of locomotive engines.

           [Picture: Old Killingworth Locomotive, still in use]

The result of the actual working of the new locomotive on the improved
road amply justified the promises held forth in the specification.  The
traffic was conducted with greater regularity and economy, and the
superiority of the engine, as compared with horse traction, became still
more marked.  It is a fact worthy of notice, that the identical engines
constructed in 1816 after the plan above described are to this day to be
seen in regular useful work upon the Killingworth Railway, conveying
heavy coal-trains at the speed of between five and six miles an hour,
probably as economically as any of the more perfect locomotives now in
use.

Mr. Stephenson's endeavours having been attended with such marked success
in the adaptation of locomotive power to railways, his attention was
called by many of his friends, about the year 1818, to the application of
steam to travelling on common roads.  It was from this point that the
locomotive started, Trevithick's first engine having been constructed
with this special object.  Stephenson's friends having observed how far
behind he had left the original projector of the locomotive in its
application to railroads, perhaps naturally inferred that he would be
equally successful in applying it to the purpose for which Trevithick and
Vivian had intended their first engine.  But the accuracy with which he
estimated the resistance to which loads were exposed on railways, arising
from friction and gravity, led him at a very early stage to reject the
idea of ever applying steam power economically to common-road travelling.
In October, 1818, he made a series of careful experiments in conjunction
with Nicholas Wood, on the resistance to which carriages were exposed on
railways, testing the results by means of a dynamometer of his own
construction.  The series of practical observations made by means of this
instrument were interesting, as the first systematic attempt to determine
the precise amount of resistance to carriages moving along railways.  It
was then for the first time ascertained by experiment that the friction
was a constant quantity at all velocities.  Although this theory had long
before been developed by Vince and Coulomb, and was well known to
scientific men as an established truth, yet, at the time when Stephenson
made his experiments, the deductions of philosophers on the subject were
neither believed in nor acted upon by practical engineers.

He ascertained that the resistances to traction were mainly three; the
first being upon the axles of the carriages, the second, or rolling
resistance, being between the circumference of the wheel and the surface
of the rail, and the third being the resistance of gravity.  The amount
of friction and gravity he could accurately ascertain; but the rolling
resistance was a matter of greater difficulty, being subject to much
variation.  He satisfied himself, however, that it was so great when the
surface presented to the wheel was of a rough character, that the idea of
working steam carriages economically on common roads was dismissed by him
as entirely impracticable.  Taking it as 10 lbs to a ton weight on a
level railway, it became obvious to him that so small a rise as 1 in 100
would diminish the useful effort of a locomotive by upwards of 50 per
cent.  This was demonstrated by repeated experiments, and the important
fact, thus rooted in his mind, was never lost sight of in the course of
his future railway career.

It was owing in a great measure to these painstaking experiments that he
early became convinced of the vital importance, in an economical point of
view, of reducing the country through which a railway was intended to
pass as nearly as possible to a level.  Where, as in the first coal
railways of Northumberland and Durham, the load was nearly all one
way,--that is, from the colliery to the shipping-place,--it was an
advantage to have an inclination in that direction.  The strain on the
powers of the locomotive was thus diminished, and it was easy for it to
haul the empty waggons back to the colliery up even a pretty steep
incline.  But when the loads were both ways, he deemed it of great
importance that the railroad should be constructed as nearly as possible
on a level.

These views, thus early entertained, originated in Stephenson's mind the
peculiar character of railroad works as distinguished from other roads;
for, in railways, he early contended that large sums would be wisely
expended in perforating barriers of hills with long tunnels, and in
raising the lower levels with the excess cut down from the adjacent high
ground.  In proportion as these views forced themselves upon his mind and
were corroborated by his daily experience, he became more and more
convinced of the hopelessness of applying steam locomotion to common
roads; for every argument in favour of a level railway was, in his view,
an argument against the rough and hilly course of a common road.

Although Stephenson's locomotive engines were in daily use for many years
on the Killingworth Railway, they excited comparatively little interest.
They were no longer experimental, but had become an established tractive
power.  The experience of years had proved that they worked more
steadily, drew heavier loads, and were, on the whole, considerably more
economical than horses.  Nevertheless eight years passed before another
locomotive railway was constructed and opened for the purposes of coal or
other traffic.

Stephenson had no means of bringing his important invention prominently
under the notice of the public.  He himself knew well its importance, and
he already anticipated its eventual general adoption; but being an
unlettered man, he could not give utterance to the thoughts which brooded
within him on the subject.  Killingworth Colliery lay far from London,
the centre of scientific life in England.  It was visited by no savans
nor literary men, who might have succeeded in introducing to notice the
wonderful machine of Stephenson.  Even the local chroniclers seem to have
taken no notice of the Killingworth Railway.

There seemed, indeed, to be so small a prospect of introducing the
locomotive into general use, that Stephenson,--perhaps feeling the
capabilities within him,--again recurred to his old idea of emigrating to
the United States.  Before joining Mr. Burrel as partner in a small
foundry at Forth Banks, Newcastle, he had thrown out to him the
suggestion that it would be a good speculation for them to emigrate to
North America, and introduce steamboats upon the great inland lakes
there.  The first steamers were then plying upon the Tyne before his
eyes; and he saw in them the germ of a great revolution in navigation.
It occurred to him that North America presented the finest field for
trying their wonderful powers.  He was an engineer, his partner was an
iron-founder; and between them he thought they might strike out a path to
fortune in the mighty West.  Fortunately, this idea remained a mere
speculation so far as Stephenson was concerned: and it was left to others
to do what he had dreamt of achieving.  After all his patient waiting,
his skill, industry, and perseverance were at length about to bear fruit.

In 1819 the owners of the Hetton Colliery, in the county of Durham,
determined to have their waggon-way altered to a locomotive railroad.
The result of the working of the Killingworth Railway had been so
satisfactory, that they resolved to adopt the same system.  One reason
why an experiment so long continued and so successful as that at
Killingworth should have been so slow in producing results, perhaps was,
that to lay down a railway and furnish it with locomotives, or fixed
engines where necessary, required a very large capital, beyond the means
of ordinary coal-owners; whilst the small amount of interest felt in
railways by the general public, and the supposed impracticability of
working them to a profit, as yet prevented ordinary capitalists from
venturing their money in the promotion of such undertakings.  The Hetton
Coal Company were, however, possessed of adequate means; and the local
reputation of the Killingworth engine-wright pointed him out as the man
best calculated to lay out their line, and superintend their works.  They
accordingly invited him to act as the engineer of the proposed railway,
which was to be the longest locomotive line that had, up to that time,
been constructed.  It extended from the Hetton Colliery, situated about
two miles south of Houghton-le-Spring, in the county of Durham, to the
shipping-places on the banks of the Wear, near Sunderland.  Its length
was about eight miles; and in its course it crossed Warden Law, one of
the highest hills in the district.  The character of the country forbade
the construction of a flat line, or one of comparatively easy gradients,
except by the expenditure of a much larger capital than was placed at the
engineer's disposal.  Heavy works could not be executed; it was therefore
necessary to form the line with but little deviation from the natural
conformation of the district which it traversed, and also to adapt the
mechanical methods employed for its working to the character of the
gradients, which in some places were necessarily heavy.

Although Stephenson had, with every step made towards its increased
utility, become more and more identified with the success of the
locomotive engine, he did not allow his enthusiasm to carry him away into
costly mistakes.  He carefully drew the line between the cases in which
the locomotive could be usefully employed, and those in which stationary
engines were calculated to be more economical.  This led him, as in the
instance of the Hetton Railway, to execute lines through and over rough
countries, where gradients within the powers of the locomotive engine of
that day could not be secured, employing in their stead stationary
engines where locomotives were not practicable.  In the present case,
this course was adopted by him most successfully.  On the original Hetton
line, there were five self-acting inclines,--the full waggons drawing the
empty ones up,--and two inclines worked by fixed reciprocating engines of
sixty horse power each.  The locomotive travelling engine, or "the iron
horse," as the people of the neighbourhood then styled it, did the rest.
On the day of the opening of the Hetton Railway, the 18th November, 1822,
crowds of spectators assembled from all parts to witness the first
operations of this ingenious and powerful machinery, which was entirely
successful.  On that day five of Stephenson's locomotives were at work
upon the railway, under the direction of his brother Robert; and the
first shipment of coal was then made by the Hetton Company, at their new
staiths on the Wear.  The speed at which the locomotives travelled was
about 4 miles an hour, and each engine dragged after it a train of 17
waggons, weighing about 64 tons.

While thus advancing step by step,--attending to the business of the
Killingworth Colliery, and laying out railways in the neighbourhood,--he
was carefully watching over the education of his son.  We have already
seen that Robert was sent to Bruce's school at Newcastle, where he
remained about four years.  He left it in the summer of 1819, and was
then put apprentice to Mr. Nicholas Wood, the head viewer at
Killingworth, to learn the business of the colliery.  He served in that
capacity for about three years, during which time he became familiar with
most departments of underground work.  The occupation was not unattended
with peril, as the following incident will show.  Though the use of the
Geordy lamp had become general in the Killingworth pits, and the workmen
were bound, under a penalty of half-a-crown, not to use a naked candle,
it was difficult to enforce the rule, and even the masters themselves
occasionally broke it.  One day Nicholas Wood, the head viewer, Moodie
the under viewer, and Robert Stephenson, were proceeding along one of the
galleries, Wood with a naked candle in his hand, and Robert following him
with a lamp.  They came to a place where a fall of stones from the roof
had taken place, on which Wood, who was first, proceeded to clamber over
the stones, holding high the naked candle.  He had nearly reached the
summit of the heap, when the fire-damp, which had accumulated in the
hollow of the roof, exploded, and instantly the whole party were blown
down, and the lights extinguished.  They were a mile from the shaft, and
quite in the dark.  There was a rush of the workpeople from all quarters
towards the shaft, for it was feared that the fire might extend to more
dangerous parts of the pit, where, if the gas had exploded, every soul in
the mine must inevitably have perished.  Robert Stephenson and Moodie, on
the first impulse, ran back at full speed along the dark gallery leading
to the shaft, coming into collision, on their way, with the hind quarters
of a horse stunned by the explosion.  When they had gone halfway, Moodie
halted, and bethought him of Nicholas Wood.  "Stop, laddie!" said he to
Robert, "stop; we maun gang back, and seek the maister."  So they
retraced their steps.  Happily, no further explosion had taken place.
They found the master lying on the heap of stones, stunned and bruised,
with his hands severely burnt.  They led him to the bottom of the shaft;
and he took care afterwards not to venture into the dangerous parts of
the mine without the protection of a Geordy lamp.

The time that Robert spent at Killingworth as viewer's apprentice was of
advantage both to his father and himself.  The evenings were generally
devoted to reading and study, the two from this time working together as
friends and co-labourers.  One who used to drop in at the cottage of an
evening, well remembers the animated and eager discussions which on some
occasions took place, more especially with reference to the growing
powers of the locomotive engine.  The son was even more enthusiastic than
the father on this subject.  Robert would suggest numerous alterations
and improvements in details.  His father, on the contrary, would offer
every possible objection, defending the existing arrangements,--proud,
nevertheless of his son's suggestions, and often warmed and excited by
his brilliant anticipations of the ultimate triumph of the locomotive.

These discussions probably had considerable influence in inducing
Stephenson to take the next important step in the education of his son.
Although Robert, who was only nineteen years of age, was doing well, and
was certain at the expiration of his apprenticeship to rise to a higher
position, his father was not satisfied with the amount of instruction
which he had as yet given him.  Remembering the disadvantages under which
he had himself laboured through his ignorance of practical chemistry
during his investigations connected with the safety-lamp, more especially
with reference to the properties of gas, as well as in the course of his
experiments with the object of improving the locomotive engine, he
determined to furnish his son with as complete a scientific culture as
his means would afford.  He also believed that a proper training in
technical science was indispensable to success in the higher walks of the
engineer's profession; and he determined to give to his son that kind and
degree of education which he so much desired for himself.  He would thus,
he knew, secure a hearty and generous co-worker in the elaboration of the
great ideas now looming before him, and with their united practical and
scientific knowledge he probably felt that they would be equal to any
enterprise.

He accordingly took Robert from his labours as under-viewer in the West
Moor Pit, and in October, 1822, sent him to the Edinburgh University,
there being then no college in England accessible to persons of moderate
means, for purposes of scientific culture.  Robert was furnished with
letters of introduction to several men of literary eminence in Edinburgh;
his father's reputation in connexion with the safety-lamp being of
service to him in this respect.  He lodged in Drummond Street, in the
immediate vicinity of the college, and attended the Chemical Lectures of
Dr. Hope, the Natural Philosophy Lectures of Sir John Leslie, and the
Natural History Class of Professor Jameson.  He also devoted several
evenings in each week to the study of practical Chemistry under Dr. John
Murray, himself one of the numerous designers of a safety-lamp.  He took
careful notes of all the lectures, which he copied out at night before he
went to bed; so that, when he returned to Killingworth, he might read
them over to his father.  He afterwards had the notes bound up, and
placed in his library.  Long years after, when conversing with Thomas
Harrison, C.E., at his house in Gloucester Square, he rose from his seat
and took down a volume from the shelves.  Mr. Harrison observed that the
book was in MS., neatly written out.  "What have we here?" he asked.  The
answer was--"When I went to college, I knew the difficulty my father had
in collecting the funds to send me there.  Before going I studied
short-hand; while at Edinburgh, I took down verbatim every lecture; and
in the evenings, before I went to bed, I transcribed those lectures word
for word.  You see the result in that range of books."

One of the practical sciences in the study of which Robert Stephenson
took special interest while at Edinburgh was that of geology.  The
situation of the city, in the midst of a district of highly interesting
geological formation, easily accessible to pedestrians, is indeed most
favourable to the pursuit of such a study; and it was the practice of
Professor Jameson frequently to head a band of his pupils, armed with
hammers, chisels, and clinometers, and take them with him on a long
ramble into the country, for the purpose of teaching them habits of
observation and reading to them from the open book of Nature itself.  At
the close of this session, the professor took with him a select body of
his pupils on an excursion along the Great Glen of the Highlands, in the
line of the Caledonian Canal, and Robert formed one of the party.  They
passed under the shadow of Ben Nevis, examined the famous old sea-margins
known as the "parallel roads of Glen Roy," and extended their journey as
far as Inverness; the professor teaching the young men as they travelled
how to observe in a mountain country.  Not long before his death, Robert
Stephenson spoke in glowing terms of the great pleasure and benefit which
he had derived from that interesting excursion.  "I have travelled far,
and enjoyed much," he said; "but that delightful botanical and geological
journey I shall never forget; and I am just about to start in the
_Titania_ for a trip round the east coast of Scotland, returning south
through the Caledonian Canal, to refresh myself with the recollection of
that first and brightest tour of my life."

Towards the end of the summer of 1822 the young student returned to
Killingworth to re-enter upon the active business of life.  The six
months' study had cost his father 80 pounds; but he was amply repaid by
the better scientific culture which his son had acquired, and the
evidence of ability and industry which he was enabled to exhibit in a
prize for mathematics which he had won at the University.




CHAPTER VIII.
GEORGE STEPHENSON ENGINEER OF THE STOCKTON AND DARLINGTON RAILWAY.


The district west of Darlington, in Durham, is one of the richest mineral
fields of the North.  Vast stores of coal underlie the Bishop Auckland
Valley; and from an early period new and good roads to market were felt
to be exceedingly desirable.  As yet it remained almost a closed field,
the cost of transport of the coal in carts, or on horses' or donkeys'
backs, greatly limiting the sale.  Long ago, in the days of canal
formations, Brindley was consulted about a canal; afterwards, in 1812, a
tramroad was surveyed by Rennie; and eventually, in 1817, a railway was
projected from Darlington to Stockton-on-Tees.

            [Picture: Map of Stockton and Darlington Railway]

Of this railway Edward Pease was the projector.  A thoughtful and
sagacious man, ready in resources, possessed of indomitable energy and
perseverance, he was eminently qualified to undertake what appeared to
many the hopeless enterprise of obtaining an Act for a railway through
such an unpromising district.  One who knew him in 1818 said, "he was a
man who could see a hundred years ahead."

                         [Picture: Edward Pease]

When the writer last saw him, in the autumn of 1854, Mr. Pease was in his
  eighty-eighth year; yet he still possessed the hopefulness and mental
vigour of a man in his prime.  Hale and hearty, and full of reminiscences
   of the past, he continued to take an active interest in all measures
 calculated to render men happier and better.  Still sound in health, his
 eye had not lost its brilliancy, nor his cheek its colour; and there was
   an elasticity in his step which younger men might have envied. {125}

In getting up a company for surveying and forming a railway, Mr. Pease
had great difficulties to encounter.  The people of the neighbourhood
spoke of it as a ridiculous undertaking, and predicted that it would be
ruinous to all concerned.  Even those most interested in the opening of
new markets for their coal, were indifferent, if not actually hostile.
The Stockton merchants and shipowners, whom it was calculated so greatly
to benefit, gave the project no support; and not twenty shares were
subscribed for in the whole town.  Mr. Pease nevertheless persevered; and
he induced many of his friends and relations to subscribe the capital
required.

The necessary preliminary steps were taken in 1818 to apply for an act to
authorise the construction of a tramroad from Witton to Stockton.  The
measure was however, strongly opposed by the Duke of Cleveland, because
the proposed line passed close by one of his fox covers; and the bill was
rejected.  A new survey was then made, avoiding the Duke's cover; and in
1819 a renewed application was made to Parliament.  The promoters were
this time successful, and the royal assent was given to the first
Stockton and Darlington Railway Act on the 19th April, 1821.

The projectors did not originally contemplate the employment of
locomotives.  The Act provided for the making and maintaining of
tramroads for the passage "of waggons and other carriages" "_with men and
horses_ or otherwise," and a further clause made provision for damages
done in course of traffic by the "waggoners."  The public were to be free
"to use with horses, cattle and carriages," the roads formed by the
company, on payment of the authorised rates, "between the hours of seven
in the morning and six in the evening," during winter; "between six in
the morning and eight in the evening," in two of the spring and autumn
months; and "between five in the morning and ten in the evening," in the
summer months of May, June, July, and August.  From this it will be
obvious that the projectors of the line had themselves at first no very
large conceptions as to the scope of their project.

One day, in the spring of 1821, two strangers knocked at the door of Mr.
Pease's house in Darlington; and the message was brought to him that some
persons from Killingworth wanted to speak with him.  They were invited
in, on which one of the visitors introduced himself as Nicholas Wood,
viewer at Killingworth, and then turning to his companion, he introduced
him as George Stephenson, engine-wright, of the same place.

Mr. Pease entered into conversation with his visitors, and was soon told
their object.  Stephenson had heard of the passing of the Stockton and
Darlington Act, and desiring to increase his railway experience, and also
to employ in some larger field the practical knowledge he had already
gained, he determined to visit the known projector of the undertaking,
with the view of being employed to carry it out.  He had brought with him
his friend Wood, for the purpose at the same time of relieving his
diffidence, and supporting his application.

Mr. Pease liked the appearance of his visitor: "there was," as he
afterwards remarked when speaking of Stephenson, "such an honest,
sensible look about him, and he seemed so modest and unpretending.  He
spoke in the strong Northumbrian dialect of his district, and described
himself as 'only the engine-wright at Killingworth; that's what he was.'"

Mr. Pease soon saw that our engineer was the very man for his purpose.
The whole plans of the railway were still in an undetermined state, and
Mr. Pease was therefore glad to have the opportunity of profiting by
Stephenson's experience.  In the course of their conversation, the latter
strongly recommended a _railway_ in preference to a tramroad.  They also
discussed the kind of tractive power to be employed: Mr. Pease stating
that the company had based their whole calculations on the employment of
_horse_ power.  "I was so satisfied," said he afterwards, "that a horse
upon an iron road would draw ten tons for one ton on a common road, that
I felt sure that before long the railway would become the King's
highway."  But Mr. Pease was scarcely prepared for the bold assertion
made by his visitor, that the locomotive engine with which he had been
working the Killingworth Railway for many years past was worth fifty
horses, and that engines made after a similar plan would yet entirely
supersede all horse power upon railroads.  Stephenson was daily becoming
more positive as to the superiority of his locomotive; and hence he
strongly urged Mr. Pease to adopt it.  "Come over to Killingworth," said
he, "and see what my engines can do; seeing is believing, sir."  Mr.
Pease accordingly promised that on some early day he would go over to
Killingworth, and take a look at the wonderful machine that was to
supersede horses.  The result of the interview was, that Mr. Pease
promised to bring Stephenson's application for the appointment of
engineer before the Directors, and to support it with his influence;
whereon the two visitors prepared to take their leave, informing Mr.
Pease that they intended to return to Newcastle "by nip;" that is, they
expected to get a smuggled lift on the stage-coach, by tipping Jehu,--for
in those days the stage coachmen regarded all casual roadside passengers
as their proper perquisites.  They had, however, been so much engrossed
by their conversation, that the lapse of time was forgotten, and when
Stephenson and his friend made enquiries about the return coach, they
found the last had left; and they had to walk the 18 miles to Durham on
their way back to Newcastle.

Mr. Pease having made further inquiries respecting Stephenson's character
and qualifications, and having received a very strong recommendation of
him as the right man for the intended work, he brought the subject of his
application before the directors of the Stockton and Darlington Company.
They resolved to adopt his recommendation that a railway be formed
instead of a tramroad; and they further requested Mr. Pease to write to
Stephenson, desiring him to undertake a re-survey of the line at the
earliest practicable period.

A man was despatched on a horse with the letter, and when he reached
Killingworth he made diligent enquiry after the person named upon the
address, "George Stephenson, Esquire, Engineer."  No such person was
known in the village.  It is said that the man was on the point of giving
up all further search, when the happy thought struck some of the
colliers' wives who had gathered about him, that it must be "Geordie the
engine-wright" the man was in search of; and to Geordie's cottage he
accordingly went, found him at home, and delivered the letter.

About the end of September, Stephenson went carefully over the line of
the proposed railway, for the purpose of suggesting such improvements and
deviations as he might consider desirable.  He was accompanied by an
assistant and a chainman,--his son Robert entering the figures while his
father took the sights.  After being engaged in the work at intervals for
about six weeks, Stephenson reported the result of his survey to the
Board of Directors, and showed that by certain deviations, a line shorter
by about three miles might be constructed at a considerable saving in
expense, while at the same time more favourable gradients--an important
consideration--would be secured.

It was, however, determined in the first place to proceed with the works
at those parts of the line where no deviation was proposed; and the first
rail of the Stockton and Darlington Railway was laid with considerable
ceremony, near Stockton, on the 23rd May, 1822.

It is worthy of note that Stephenson, in making his first estimate of the
cost of forming the railway according to the Instructions of the
directors, set down, as part of the cost, 6200 pounds for stationary
engines, not mentioning locomotives at all.  The directors as yet
confined their views to the employment only of horses for the haulage of
the coals, and of fixed engines and ropes where horse-power was not
applicable.  The whole question of steam locomotive power was, in the
estimation of the public, as well as of practical and scientific men, as
yet in doubt.  The confident anticipations of George Stephenson, as to
the eventual success of locomotive engines, were regarded as mere
speculations; and when he gave utterance to his views, as he frequently
took the opportunity of doing, it even had the effect of shaking the
confidence of some of his friends in the solidity of his judgment and his
practical qualities as an engineer.

When Mr. Pease discussed the question with Stephenson, his remark was,
"Come over and see my engines at Killingworth, and satisfy yourself as to
the efficiency of the locomotive.  I will show you the colliery books,
that you may ascertain for yourself the actual cost of working.  And I
must tell you that the economy of the locomotive engine is no longer a
matter of theory, but a matter of fact."  So confident was the tone in
which Stephenson spoke of the success of his engines, and so important
were the consequences involved in arriving at a correct conclusion on the
subject, that Mr. Pease at length resolved upon paying a visit to
Killingworth in the summer of 1822, to see with his own eyes the
wonderful new power so much vaunted by the engineer.

When Mr. Pease arrived at Killingworth village, he inquired for George
Stephenson, and was told that he must go over to the West Moor, and seek
for a cottage by the roadside, with a dial over the door--"that was where
George Stephenson lived."  They soon found the house with the dial; and
on knocking, the door was opened by Mrs. Stephenson--his second wife
(Elizabeth Hindmarsh), the daughter of a farmer at Black Callerton, whom
he had married in 1820. {129}  Her husband, she said, was not in the
house at present, but she would send for him to the colliery.  And in a
short time Stephenson appeared before them in his working dress, just as
he had come out of the pit.

He very soon had his locomotive brought up to the crossing close by the
end of the cottage,--made the gentlemen mount it, and showed them its
paces.  Harnessing it to a train of loaded waggons, he ran it along the
railroad, and so thoroughly satisfied his visitors of its power and
capabilities, that from that day Edward Pease was a declared supporter of
the locomotive engine.  In preparing the Amended Stockton and Darlington
Act, at Stephenson's urgent request Mr. Pease had a clause inserted,
taking power to work the railway by means of locomotive engines, and to
employ them for the haulage of passengers as well as of merchandise.
{130}  The Act was obtained in 1823, on which Stephenson was appointed
the company's engineer at a salary of 300 pounds per annum; and it was
determined that the line should be constructed and opened for traffic as
soon as practicable.

He at once proceeded, accompanied by his assistants, with the working
survey of the line, laying out every foot of the ground himself.  Railway
surveying was as yet in its infancy, and was slow and difficult work.  It
afterwards became a separate branch of railway business, and was
entrusted to a special staff.  Indeed on no subsequent line did George
Stephenson take the sights through the spirit level with his own hands
and eyes as he did on this railway.  He started very early--dressed in a
blue tailed coat, breeches, and top-boots--and surveyed until dusk.  He
was not at any time particular as to his living; and during the survey,
he took his chance of getting a little milk and bread at some cottager's
house along the line, or occasionally joined in a homely dinner at some
neighbouring farmhouse.  The country people were accustomed to give him a
hearty welcome when he appeared at their door; for he was always full of
cheery and homely talk, and, when there were children about the house, he
had plenty of humorous chat for them as well as for their seniors.

After the day's work was over, George would drop in at Mr. Pease's, to
talk over the progress of the survey, and discuss various matters
connected with the railway.  Mr. Pease's daughters were usually present;
and on one occasion, finding the young ladies learning the art of
embroidery, he volunteered to instruct them. {131}  "I know all about
it," said he; "and you will wonder how I learnt it.  I will tell you.
When I was a brakesman at Killingworth, I learnt the art of embroidery
while working the pitmen's buttonholes by the engine fire at nights."  He
was never ashamed, but on the contrary rather proud, of reminding his
friends of these humble pursuits of his early life.  Mr. Pease's family
were greatly pleased with his conversation, which was always amusing and
instructive; full of all sorts of experience, gathered in the oddest and
most out-of-the-way places.  Even at that early period, before he mixed
in the society of educated persons, there was a dash of speculativeness
in his remarks, which gave a high degree of originality to his
conversation; and he would sometimes, in a casual remark, throw a flash
of light upon a subject, which called up a train of pregnant suggestions.