GEORGE STEPHENSON'S FARTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN THE LOCOMOTIVE--THE HETTON
RAILWAY--ROBERT STEPHENSON AS VIEWER'S APPRENTICE AND STUDENT.
Stephenson's experiments on fire-damp, and his labors in connection
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. Nicholas Wood has said of him that he was one of the first to
introduce steam machinery underground with that object. Indeed, the
Killingworth mines came to be regarded as the models of the district;
and when Mr. Robert Bald, the celebrated Scotch mining engineer, was
requested by Dr. (afterward Sir David) Brewster to prepare the article
"Mine" for the "Edinburg Encyclopædia," he proceeded to Killingworth
principally for the purpose of examining Stephenson's underground
machinery. Mr. Bald has favored us with an account of his visit made
with that object in 1818, and he states that he was much struck with
the novelty, as well as the remarkable efficiency of Stephenson's
arrangements, especially 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 very
rapid manner. The water which oozed from the upper 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, '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 skillful 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 pit-head to the shipping-place
demanded an increasing share of Stephenson's 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 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. It is true, many persons
continued to regard his traveling engine as little better than a
dangerous curiosity; 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-wagons between the colliery and
the staiths, and saving the labor of many men and horses.
There was not, however, so marked a saving in the expense of 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. 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 farther improvements.
At an early period of his labors, or about the time when he had
completed his second locomotive, he began to direct his particular
attention to the state of the Road, perceiving 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 traveled. 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 wear and tear of the machinery, by the frequent
jolts and blows of the wheels against the rails. Stephenson's first
object, therefore, was to remove the inequalities produced by the
imperfect junction between rail and rail.
At that time (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, while 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.
[Illustration: HALF-LAP JOINT.]
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 on 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 on 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 embodied 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-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. At the same time, Mr. Losh guaranteed
Stephenson a salary of £100 per annum, with a share in the profits
arising from his inventions, conditional on his attending at the Walker
Iron-works two days a week--an arrangement to which the owners of the
Killingworth Colliery cheerfully gave their sanction.
[Illustration: OLD KILLINGWORTH LOCOMOTIVE STILL IN USE.]
The specification of 1816 included 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. The patent
also included the ingenious and original contrivance by which the
steam generated in the boiler was made to serve as a substitute for
springs--an expedient already explained in a preceding chapter.
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. And it is a fact worthy of notice, that
the identical engines constructed by Stephenson in 1816 are to this
day 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.
George Stephenson's endeavors 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 traveling on common roads. It was from this
point, indeed, that the locomotive had 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 traveling. In October,
1818, he made a series of careful experiments, in conjunction with
Mr. Nicholas Wood, on the resistance to which carriages were exposed
on railways, testing the results by means of a dynamometer of his own
contrivance. 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. To quote again from the MS. account supplied to the author
by Robert Stephenson for the purposes of his father's "Life:"
"It was maintained by many that the results of the experiments 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 afterward boldly maintained that that which was an apparent
absurdity was, instead, a necessary consequence. I well remember
the ridicule that was thrown upon this view by many of those
persons with whom he was associated at the time. Nevertheless, it
is undoubted, that, could 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
experiments 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 afterward, 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 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 upward of fifty
per cent. This fact 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 distinctive
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 favor of a
level railway was an argument 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 1_s_. 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."
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 for such 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 demonstrated
in all parts of the mining districts that iron tram-ways were better
than paved roads. But the fallacy that iron was incapable of adhesion
upon iron continued to prevail, and the projectors of steam-traveling
on common roads only shared in the common belief. They still considered
that roughness of surface was essential to produce "bite," especially
in surmounting 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.
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.
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 experiments were made with them. The improvements effected
by M'Adam in the mode of constructing turnpike roads were the subject
of frequent discussions in the Legislature, on the grants of public
money being 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 revolutionize the internal
communications of England and of the world, but of which the English
public and the English government as yet knew nothing.
But 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. The "Puffing Billy" was doing its daily quota of hard work,
and had long ceased to be a curiosity in the neighborhood. Blenkinsop'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 communication with some of the most
distinguished personages of his day on the subject of his locomotive,
which thus obtained considerable celebrity.
The first engine constructed by Stephenson to order, after the
Killingworth model, was made for the Duke of Portland in 1817, for use
upon his tram-road, 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 harbor. 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.[50]
There seemed, indeed, to be so small a prospect of introducing the
locomotive into general use, that Stephenson--perhaps conscious of the
capabilities within him--again recurred to his old idea of emigrating
to the United States. Before entering as sleeping partner in a small
foundery 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
steam-boats on 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 the
great lakes of 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 Stephenson was concerned, and it was left to
others to do what he had dreamed 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 wagon-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; while 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, 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. Being in the service of the Killingworth Company,
Stephenson 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, 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
neighborhood. 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 Colliery, situated about
two miles south of Houghton-le-Spring, to the ship-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 Stephenson's
command. 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 George Stephenson had, with every step made toward 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 wagons drawing the empty ones up--and two inclines
worked by fixed reciprocating engines of sixty-horse power each. The
locomotive traveling engine, or "the iron horse," as the people of
the neighborhood then styled it, worked the rest of the line. 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 traveled was
about four miles an hour, and each engine dragged after it a train of
seventeen wagons weighing about sixty-four tons.
While thus advancing step by step--attending to the business of the
Killingworth Colliery, and laying out railways in the neighborhood--he
was carefully watching over the education of his son. We have already
seen that Robert was sent to school at Newcastle, where he remained
about four years. While Robert was at school, his father, as usual,
made his son's education instrumental to his own. He entered him a
member of the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Institute, the
subscription to which was three guineas a year. Robert spent much of
his leisure hours there, reading and studying; and when he went home
in the afternoons, he was accustomed to carry home with him a volume
of the "Repertory of Arts and Sciences," or of some work on practical
science, which furnished the subject of interesting reading and
discussion in the evening hours. Both father and son were always ready
to acknowledge the great advantages they had derived from the use of so
excellent a library of books; and, toward the close of his life, the
latter, in recognition of his debt of gratitude to the institution,
contributed a large sum for the purpose of clearing off the debt, but
conditional on the annual subscription being reduced to a guinea, in
order that the usefulness of the Institute might be extended.
Robert left school in the summer of 1819, and was 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. His 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
work-people from all quarters toward 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 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 farther explosion took 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
afterward 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 himself. The evenings were
generally devoted to reading and study, the two from this time working
together as friends and co-laborers. 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 his father on the subject. Robert would suggest
numerous alterations and improvements in detail. 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 labored 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 a better scientific culture than he had yet attained. 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 Robert the education, in a certain degree, which he
so much desired for himself. He would thus, he knew, secure an able
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 labors as under viewer in the
West Moor Pit, and in October, 1822, sent him for a short course
of instruction to the Edinburg University. Robert was furnished
with letters of introduction to several men of literary eminence in
Edinburg, his father's reputation in connection 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 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 afterward 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 Edinburg 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." From this
it will be observed that the maxim of "Like father, like son," was one
that strictly applied to the Stephensons.
Robert was not without the pleasure of social intercourse either during
his stay at Edinburg. 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 Edinburg college
life. "He introduced me to Dr. Hope, Dr. Murray, and several of the
distinguished men of the North. Bald was the Buddle 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 'Edinburg Encyclopædia.' A strange adventure befell
that article before it appeared in print. Bald was living at Alloa when
he wrote it, and when finished he sent it to Edinburg by the hands of
young Maxton, his nephew, whom he enjoined to take special care of
it, and deliver it safely into the hands of the editor. The young man
took passage for New Haven by one of the little steamers which then
plied on the Forth; but on the voyage down the Firth she struck upon a
rock nearly opposite Queen's Ferry, and soon sank. 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
Edinburg without it. So he desperately clung to the chimney chains
with the paper parcel under his arm, while most of the other passengers
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
Edinburg, and the article duly appeared."
Returning to the subject of his life in Edinburg, Robert continued:
"Besides taking me with him to the meetings of the Royal and other
societies, Mr. Bald introduced 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, 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 my friend Sanderson to make inquiries. I afterward 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 Edinburg 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
favorable 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 occasions 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 Glen Roy," and extended
their journey as far as Inverness, the professor teaching the young
men, as they traveled, 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 traveled 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."
Toward the end of the summer 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 additional 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.
[Illustration: WEST MOOR PIT, KILLINGWORTH.]
We may here add that by this time George Stephenson, after remaining
a widower fourteen years, had married, in 1820, his second wife,
Elizabeth Hindmarsh, the daughter of a respectable farmer at Black
Callerton. She was a woman of excellent character, sensible, and
intelligent, and of a kindly and affectionate nature. George's son
Robert, whom she loved as if he had been her own, to the last day of
his life spoke of her in the highest terms; and it is unquestionable
that she contributed in no small degree to the happiness of her
husband's home.
The story was for some time current that, while living at Black
Callerton in the capacity of engine-man, twenty years before, George
had made love to Miss Hindmarsh, and, failing to obtain her hand, in
despair he had married Paterson's servant. But the author has been
assured by Mr. Thomas Hindmarsh, of Newcastle, the lady's brother, that
the story was mere idle gossip, and altogether without foundation.
FOOTNOTE:
[50] The iron wheels of this engine were afterward removed, and
replaced with wooden wheels, when it was again put upon the road, and
continued working until quite recently. Its original cost was £750. It
was sold in 1848 for £13, and broken up as old materials.