GEORGE STEPHENSON ENGINEER OF THE STOCKTON AND DARLINGTON RAILWAY.
It is not improbable that the slow progress made by railways in public
estimation was, in a considerable measure, due to the comparative want
of success which had attended the first projects. We do not refer
to the tram-roads and railroads which connected the collieries and
iron-works with the shipping-places. These were found convenient and
economical, and their use became general in Durham and Northumberland,
in South Wales, in Scotland, and throughout the colliery districts.
But none of these were public railways. Though the Merthyr Tydvil
Tram-road, the Sirhoway Railroad, and others in South Wales, were
constructed under the powers of special acts,[51] they were exclusively
used for the private purposes of the coal-owners and iron-masters at
whose expense they were made.
The first _public_ Railway Act was that passed in 1801, authorizing the
construction of a line from Wandsworth to Croydon, under the name of
"The Surrey Iron Railway." By a subsequent act, powers were obtained
to extend the line to Reigate, with a branch to Godstone. The object
of this railway was to furnish a more ready means for the transport of
coal and merchandise from the Thames to the districts of south London,
and at the same time to enable the lime-burners and proprietors of
stone-quarries to send the lime and stone to London. With this object,
the railroad was connected with a dock or basin in Wandsworth Creek
capable of containing thirty barges, with an entrance lock into the
Thames.
The works had scarcely been commenced ere the company got into
difficulties, but eventually 26 miles of iron-way were constructed
and opened for traffic. Any person was then at liberty to put wagons
on the line, and to carry goods within the prescribed rates, the
wagons being worked by horses, mules, and donkeys. Notwithstanding the
very sanguine expectations which were early formed as to the paying
qualities of this railway, it never realized any adequate profit to
the owners. But it continued to be worked, principally by donkeys for
the sake of cheapness, down to the passing of the act for constructing
the London and Brighton line in 1837, when the proprietors disposed
of their undertaking to the new company. The line was accordingly
dismantled; the stone blocks and rails were taken up and sold; and all
that remains of the Wandsworth, Croydon, and Merstham Railway is the
track still observable to the south of Croydon, along Smitham Bottom,
nearly parallel with the line of the present Brighton Railway, and an
occasional cutting and embankment, which still mark the route of this
first public railway.
The want of success of this undertaking doubtless had the effect of
deterring projectors from embarking in any similar enterprise. If
a line of the sort could not succeed near London, it was thought
improbable that it should succeed any where else. The Croydon and
Merstham line was a beacon to warn capitalists against embarking in
railways, and many years passed before another was ventured upon.
Sir Richard Phillips was one of the few who early recognized the
important uses of the locomotive and its employment on a large scale
for the haulage of goods and passengers by railway. In his "Morning
Walk to Kew" he crossed the line of the Wandsworth and Croydon Railway,
when the idea seems to have occurred to him, as it afterwards did to
Thomas Gray, that in the locomotive and the railway were to be found
the germs of a great and peaceful social revolution:
"I found delight," said Sir Richard, in his book published in
1813, "in witnessing at Wandsworth the economy of horse labor on
the iron railway. Yet a heavy sigh escaped me as I thought of the
inconceivable millions of money which have been spent about Malta,
four or five of which might have been the means of extending double
lines of iron railway from London to Edinburg, 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
work would have afforded rational ground for public triumph in
general jubilee."
There was, however, as yet, no general recognition of the advantages
either of railways or locomotives. The government of this country never
leads in any work of public enterprise, and is usually rather a drag
upon industrial operations than otherwise. As for the general public,
it was enough for them that the Wandsworth and Croydon Railway did not
pay.
Mr. Tredgold, in his "Practical Treatise on Railroads and Carriages,"
published in 1825, observes:
"Up to this period railways have been employed with success only in
the conveyance of heavy mineral products, and for short distances
where immense quantities were to be conveyed. In the few instances
where they have been intended for the general purposes of trade,
they have never answered the expectations of their projectors. But
this seems to have arisen altogether from following too closely
the models adopted for the conveyance of minerals, such modes of
forming and using railways not being at all adapted for the general
purposes of trade."
The ill success of railways was generally recognized. Joint-stock
companies for all sorts of purposes were formed during the joint-stock
mania of 1821, but few projectors were found daring enough to propose
schemes so unpromising as railways. Hence nearly twenty years passed
between the construction of the first and the second public railway
in England; and this brings us to the projection of the Stockton and
Darlington, which may be regarded as the parent public locomotive
railway in the kingdom.
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 Auckland Valley, and from an early period
it was felt to be an exceedingly desirable object to open up new
communications to enable the article to be sent to market. But the
district lay a long way from the sea, and, the Tees being unnavigable,
there was next to no vend for the Bishop Auckland coal.
It is easy to understand, therefore, how the desire to obtain an outlet
for this coal for land sale, as well as for its transport to London by
sea, should have early occupied the attention of the coal-owners in
the Bishop Auckland district. The first idea that found favor was the
construction of a canal. About a century ago, in 1766, shortly after
the Duke of Bridgewater's Canal had been opened between Worsley and
Manchester, a movement was set on foot at Darlington with the view of
having the country surveyed between that place and Stockton-on-Tees.
Brindley was requested to lay out the proposed line of canal; but
he was engrossed at the time by the prosecution of the works on the
Duke's Canal to Liverpool, and Whitworth, his pupil and assistant,
was employed in his stead; George Dixon, grandfather of John Dixon,
engineer of the future Stockton and Darlington Railway, taking an
active part in the survey. In October, 1768, Whitworth presented his
plan of the proposed canal from Stockton by Darlington to Winston, and
in the following year, to give weight to the scheme, Brindley concurred
with him in a joint report as to the plan and estimate.
Nothing was, however, done in the matter. Enterprise was slow to move.
Stockton waited for Darlington, and Darlington waited for Stockton,
but neither stirred until twenty years later, when Stockton began to
consider the propriety of straightening the Tees below that town, and
thereby shortening and improving the navigation. When it became known
that some engineering scheme was afoot at Stockton, that indefatigable
writer of prospectuses and drawer of plans, Ralph Dodd, the first
projector of a tunnel under the Thames, the first projector of the
Waterloo Bridge, and the first to bring a steam-boat from Glasgow into
the Thames, addressed the Mayor and Corporation of Stockton in 1796 on
the propriety of forming a line of internal navigation by Darlington
and Staindrop to Winston. Still nothing was done. Four years later,
another engineer, George Atkinson, reported in favor of a water-way to
connect the then projected Great Trunk Canal, from about Boroughbridge
to Piersebridge, with the Tees above Yarm.
At length, in 1808, the Tees Navigation Company, slow in their
movements, obtained an act enabling them to make the short cut
projected seventeen years before, and two years later the cut was
opened, and celebrated by the inevitable dinner. The Stockton people,
who adopted as the motto of their company "Meliora speramus," held
a public meeting after the dinner to meditate upon and discuss the
better things to come. They appointed a committee to inquire into
the practicability and advantages of forming _a railway_ or canal
from Stockton by Darlington to Winston. Here, then, in 1810, we have
the first glimpse of the railway; but it was long before the idea
germinated and bore fruit. The collieries must be got at to make the
new cut a success, but _how_ for a long time remained the question.
Sixteen months passed, and the committee at Stockton went to sleep. But
it came up again, and this time at Darlington, with Edward Pease as one
of the members. The Darlington committee met and made their report, but
they could not decide between the respective merits of a railroad and a
canal. It was felt that either would be of great advantage. To settle
the question, they determined to call the celebrated engineer, John
Rennie, to their aid, and he was ready with his report in 1813. His
report was not published, but it is understood that he was in favor of
a canal on Brindley and Whitworth's line, though he afterward inclined
to a tram-road. Still nothing was done. War was on foot in Europe, and
enterprise was every where dormant. The scheme must therefore wait the
advent of peace. At length peace came, and with it a revival of former
projects.
At Newcastle, a plan was set on foot for connecting the Tyne with the
Solway Firth by a canal. A county meeting was held on the subject in
August, 1817, under the presidency of the high sheriff. Previous to
this time, Sir John Swinburne had stood up for a railway in preference
to a canal; but when the meeting took place, the opinion of those
present was in favor of a canal--Mr. William Armstrong (father of
the present Sir William) being one of the most zealous advocates of
the water-road. Yet there were even then railroads in the immediate
neighborhood of Newcastle, at Wylam and Killingworth, which had been
successfully and economically worked by the locomotive for years past,
but which the Northumbrians seem completely to have ignored. The
public head is usually very thick, and it is difficult to hammer a new
idea into it. Canals were established methods of conveyance, and were
every where recognized; whereas railways were new things, and were
struggling hard to gain a footing. Besides, the only public railway in
England, the Wandsworth, Croydon, and Merstham, had proved a commercial
failure, and was held up as a warning to all speculators in tram-ways.
But, though the Newcastle meeting approved of a canal in preference
to a railway from the Tyne to the Solway, nothing was really done to
promote the formation of either.
The movement in favor of a canal was again revived at Stockton. A
requisition, very numerously signed by persons of influence in South
Durham, was presented to the Mayor of Stockton in May, 1818, requesting
him to convene a public meeting "to consider the expediency of forming
a canal for the conveyance of coal, lime, etc., from Evenwood Bridge,
near West Auckland, to the River Tees, upon a plan recently made by Mr.
George Leatham, engineer." Among the names attached to the petition
we find those of Edward, John, and Thomas Pease, and John Dixon,
Darlington. They were doubtless willing to pull with any party that
would open up a way, whether by rail or by water, between the Bishop
Auckland coal-field and Stockton, whether the line passed through
Darlington or not.
An enthusiastic meeting was held at Stockton, and a committee was
appointed, by whom it was resolved to apply to Parliament for an act
to make the intended canal "if funds are forthcoming." Never was there
greater virtue in an _if_. Funds were _not_ forthcoming; the project
fell through, and a great blunder was prevented. When the Stockton men
had discussed and resolved without any practical result, the leading
men of Darlington took up the subject by themselves, determined, if
possible, to bring it to some practical issue. In September, 1818,
they met under the presidency of Thomas Meynell, Esq. Mr. Overton,
who had laid down several coal railways in Wales, was consulted, and,
after surveying the district between the Bishop Auckland coal-field
and the Tees, sent in his report. Mr. Rennie also was again consulted.
Both engineers gave their opinion in favor of a railway by Darlington
in preference to a canal by Auckland, "whether taken as a line for
the exportation of coal or as one for a local trade." The committee
accordingly reported in favor of the railway.
It is curious now to look back at the modest estimate of traffic formed
by the committee. They considered that the export trade in coal "might
be taken, perhaps, at 10,000 tons a year, which is about one cargo a
week!" It was intended to haul the coal by horse-power; a subsequent
report stating "on undoubted authority" that one horse of moderate
power could easily draw downward on the railway, between Darlington
and Stockton, about ten tons, and upward about four tons of loading,
exclusively of the empty wagons. No allusion was made to passengers
in any of the reports; nor did the committee at first contemplate the
accommodation of traffic of this description.
A survey of the line was then ordered, and steps were taken to apply
to Parliament for the necessary powers to construct the railway. But
the controversy was not yet at an end. Stockton stood by its favorite
project of a canal, and would not subscribe a farthing toward the
projected railway; but neither did it subscribe toward the canal.
The landlords, the road trustees, the carriers, the proprietors of
donkeys (by whom coals were principally carried for inland sale), were
strenuously opposed to the new project; while the general public,
stupid and skeptical, for the most part stood aloof, quoting old saws
and keeping their money in their pockets.
Several energetic men, however, were now at the head of the Stockton
and Darlington Railway project, and determined to persevere with it.
Among these, the Peases were the most zealous. Edward Pease might be
regarded as the back-bone of the concern. Opposition did not daunt him,
nor failure discourage him. When apparently overthrown and prostrate,
he would rise again like Antæus, stronger than before, and renew his
efforts with increased vigor. He had in him the energy and perseverance
of many men. One who knew him in 1818 said, "He was a man who could see
a hundred years ahead." When the author last saw him in 1854, a few
years before his death, Mr. Pease was in his eighty-eighth year; yet he
still possessed the hopefulness and mental vigor of a man in his prime.
Still sound in health, his eye had not lost its brilliancy, nor his
cheek its color, and there was an elasticity in his step which younger
men might have envied.
[Illustration: EDWARD PEASE.]
In getting up a company for surveying and forming a railway, Mr. Pease
had great difficulties to encounter. The people of the neighborhood
spoke of it as a ridiculous undertaking, and predicted that it would
be ruinous to all concerned in it. Even those most interested in the
opening up of new markets for the sale of their coal were indifferent,
if not hostile. Mr. Pease nevertheless persevered in the formation of
a company, and he induced many of his friends and relations to follow
his example. The Richardsons 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 confidence
in these influential Darlington names) followed their example and
subscribed for shares, that the railway obtained the designation, which
it long retained, of "The Quakers' Line."
The Stockton and Darlington scheme had to run the gauntlet of a fierce
opposition in three successive sessions of Parliament. The application
of 1818 was defeated by the Duke of Cleveland, who afterward profited
so largely by the railway. The ground of his opposition was that the
line would interfere with one of his fox-covers, and it was mainly
through his influence that the bill was thrown out, but only by a
majority of thirteen, upward of one hundred members having voted for
the bill. A nobleman said, when he heard of the division, "Well, if the
Quakers in these times, when nobody knows any thing about railways, can
raise such a phalanx in their support, I should recommend the country
gentlemen to be very wary how they oppose them in future."
The next year, in 1819, an amended survey of the line was made, and,
the duke's fox-cover being avoided, his opposition was thus averted;
but, on Parliament becoming dissolved on the death of George III., the
bill was necessarily suspended until another session.
In the mean time the local opposition to the measure revived, and
now it was led by the road trustees, who spread it abroad that the
mortgagees of the tolls arising from the turnpike-road leading from
Darlington to West Auckland would be seriously injured by the formation
of the proposed railway. On this, Edward Pease issued a printed notice,
requesting any alarmed mortgagee to apply to the company's solicitors
at Darlington, who were authorized to purchase their securities at
the prices originally given for them. This notice had the effect of
allaying the alarm spread abroad; and the bill, though still strongly
opposed, passed both houses of Parliament in 1821.
[Illustration: MAP OF STOCKTON AND DARLINGTON RAILWAY.]
The preamble of the act sets forth the public utility of the proposed
line for the conveyance of coal and other commodities from the
interior of the county of Durham to Stockton and the northern parts of
Yorkshire. Nothing was said about passengers, for passenger-traffic
was not yet contemplated; and nothing was said about locomotives, as
it was at first intended to work the line entirely by horse-power. The
road was to be free to all persons who chose to place their wagons and
horses upon it for the haulage of coal and merchandise, provided they
paid the tolls fixed by the act.
The company were empowered to charge fourpence a ton per mile for
all coal intended for land sale, but only a halfpenny a ton per mile
for coal intended for shipment at Stockton. This latter proviso was
inserted at the instance of Mr. Lambton, afterward Earl of Durham, for
the express purpose of preventing the line being used in competition
against his coal loaded at Sunderland; for it was not believed possible
that coal could be carried at that low rate except at a heavy loss. As
it was, however, the rate thus fixed by the act eventually proved the
vital element of success in the working of the undertaking.
While the Stockton and Darlington Railway scheme was still before
Parliament, we find Edward Pease writing letters to a York paper,
urging the propriety of extending it southward into Yorkshire by a
branch from Croft. It is curious now to look back upon the arguments
by which Mr. Pease sought to influence public opinion in favor of
railways, and to observe the very modest anticipations which even its
most zealous advocate entertained as to their supposed utility and
capabilities:
"The late improvements in the construction of railways," Mr. Pease
wrote, "have rendered them much more perfect than when constructed
after the old plan. To such a degree of utility have they now been
brought that they may be regarded as _very little inferior to
canals_.
"If we compare the railway with the best lines of common road, it
may be fairly stated that in the case of a level railway the work
will be increased in at least an eightfold degree. The best horse
is sufficiently loaded with three quarters of a ton on a common
road, from the undulating line of its draught, while on a railway
it is calculated that a horse will easily draw a load of ten tons.
At Lord Elgin's works, Mr. Stevenson, the celebrated engineer,
states that he has actually seen a horse draw twenty-three tons
thirteen cwt. upon a railway which was in some parts level, and at
other parts presented a gentle declivity!
"The formation of a railway, if it creates no improvement in
a country, certainly bars none, as all the former modes of
communication remain unimpaired; and the public obtain, at the risk
of the subscribers, another and better mode of carriage, which it
will always be to the interest of the proprietors to make cheap and
serviceable to the community.
"On undertakings of this kind, when compared with canals, the
advantages of which (where an ascending or descending line can be
obtained) are nearly equal, it may be remarked that public opinion
is not easily changed on any subject. It requires the experience
of many years, sometimes ages, to accomplish this, even in cases
which by some may be deemed obvious. Such is the effect of habit,
and such the aversion of mankind to any thing like innovation or
change. Although this is often regretted, yet, if the principle be
investigated in all its ramifications, it will perhaps be found to
be one of the most fortunate dispositions of the human mind.
"The system of cast-iron railways is as yet to be considered but in
its infancy. It will be found to be an immense improvement on the
common road, and also on the wooden railway. It neither presents
the friction of the tram-way, nor partakes of the perishable
nature of the wooden railway, and, as regards utility, it may be
considered as the medium between the navigable canal and the common
road. We may therefore hope that as this system develops itself,
our roads will be laid out as much as possible on _one level_, and
in connection with the great lines of communication throughout the
country."
Such were the modest anticipations of Edward Pease respecting railways
in the year 1821. Ten years later, an age of progress, by comparison,
had been effected.
Some time elapsed before any active steps were taken to proceed with
the construction of the railway. Doubts were raised whether the
line was the best that could be adopted for the district, and the
subscribers generally 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 strangers knocked at the
door of Mr. Pease's house in Darlington, and a 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 acquired, 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
afterward 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 tram-road.
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
afterward, "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 inquiries about the return coach, they found the
last had left, and they had to walk eighteen miles to Durham on their
way back to Newcastle.
Mr. Pease having made farther 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 tram-road; and
they farther requested Mr. Pease to write to Stephenson, desiring him
to undertake a resurvey of the line at the earliest practicable period.
A man was dispatched on a horse with the letter, and when he reached
Killingworth he made diligent inquiry after the person named on 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 farther 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 favorable
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 23d of May, 1822.
It is worthy of note that Stephenson, in making his first estimate
of the cost of forming the railway according to the instructions of
the directors, set down, as part of the cost, £6200 for stationary
engines, not mentioning locomotives at all. It was the intention of the
directors, in the first place, to employ only horses for the haulage
of the coals, and 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 on paying
a visit to Killingworth in the summer of 1822, in company with his
friend Thomas Richardson, a considerable subscriber to the Stockton and
Darlington undertaking,[52] to inspect the wonderful new power so much
vaunted by their 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. In
answer to Mr. Pease's inquiry for her husband, she said he was not in
the house at present, but that 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 wagons, 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[53] The act was obtained in 1823, on which Stephenson was
appointed the company's engineer, at a salary of £300 per annum; and
it was determined that the line should be constructed and opened for
traffic as soon as practicable.
He at once proceeded, accompanied by his assistants, with the working
survey of the line, laying out every foot of the ground himself.
Railway surveying was as yet in its infancy, and was slow and difficult
work. It afterward became a separate branch of railway business,
and was intrusted 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 neighboring farm-house. 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.[54] "I know all about it,"
said he, "and you will wonder how I learned it. I will tell you. When
I was a brakesman at Killingworth, I learned the art of embroidery
while working the pitmen's button-holes by the engine fire at nights."
He was never ashamed, but, on the contrary, rather proud, of reminding
his friends of these humble pursuits of his early life. Mr. Pease's
family were greatly pleased with his conversation, which was always
amusing and instructive; full of all sorts of experience, gathered in
the oddest and most out-of-the-way places. Even at that early period,
before he mixed in the society of educated persons, there was a dash of
speculativeness in his remarks which gave a high degree of originality
to his conversation; and he would sometimes, in a casual remark, throw
a flash of light upon a subject which called up a train of pregnant
suggestions.
One of the most important subjects of discussion at these meetings with
Mr. Pease was the establishment of a manufactory at Newcastle for the
building of locomotive engines. Up to this time all the locomotives
constructed after Stephenson's designs had been made by ordinary
mechanics working at the collieries in the North of England. But he had
long felt that the accuracy and style of their workmanship admitted
of great improvement, and that upon this the more perfect action of
the locomotive engine, and its general adoption, in a great measure
depended. One principal object that he had in view in establishing
the proposed factory was to concentrate a number of good workmen for
the purpose of carrying out the improvements in detail which he was
from time to time making in his engine; for he felt hampered by the
want of efficient help from skilled mechanics, who could work out
in a practical form the ideas of which his busy mind was always so
prolific. Doubtless, too, he believed that the manufactory would prove
a remunerative investment, and that, on the general adoption of the
railway system which he anticipated, he would derive solid advantages
from the fact of his establishment being the only one of the kind for
the special construction of locomotive engines.
Mr. Pease approved of his design, and strongly recommended him to carry
it into effect. But there was the question of means; and Stephenson
did not think he had capital enough for the purpose. He told Mr. Pease
that he could advance £1000--the amount of the testimonial presented
by the coal-owners for his safety-lamp invention, which he had still
left untouched; but he did not think this sufficient for the purpose,
and he thought that he should require at least another £1000. Mr.
Pease had been very much struck with the successful performances of
the Killingworth engine; and, being an accurate judge of character, he
believed that he could not go far wrong in linking a portion of his
fortune with the energy and industry of George Stephenson. He consulted
his friend Thomas Richardson in the matter, and the two consented to
advance £500 each for the purpose of establishing the engine factory at
Newcastle. A piece of land was accordingly purchased in Forth Street,
in August, 1823, on which a small building was erected--the nucleus of
the gigantic establishment which was afterward formed around it; and
active operations were begun early in 1824.
While the Stockton and Darlington Railway works were in progress, our
engineer had many interesting discussions with Mr. Pease on points
connected with its construction and working, the determination of
which in a great measure affected the formation and working of future
railways. The most important points were these: 1. The comparative
merits of cast and wrought iron rails. 2. The gauge of the railway. 3.
The employment of horse or engine power in working it when ready for
traffic.
The kind of rails to be laid down to form the permanent road was
a matter of considerable importance. A wooden tram-road had been
contemplated when the first act was applied for; but Stephenson having
advised that an iron road should be laid down, he was instructed to
draw up a specification of the rails. He went before the directors to
discuss with them the kind of material to be specified. He was himself
interested in the patent for cast-iron rails, which he had taken out
in conjunction with Mr. Losh in 1816, and, of course, it was to his
interest that his articles should be used. But when requested to give
his opinion on the subject, he frankly said to the directors, "Well,
gentlemen, to tell you the truth, although it would put £500 in my
pocket to specify my own patent rails, I can not do so after the
experience I have had. If you take my advice, you will not lay down a
single cast-iron rail." "Why?" asked the directors. "Because they will
not stand the weight, and you will be at no end of expense for repairs
and relays." "What kind of road, then," he was asked, "would you
recommend?" "Malleable rails, certainly," said he; "and I can recommend
them with the more confidence from the fact that at Killingworth we
have had some Swedish bars laid down--nailed to wooden sleepers--for a
period of fourteen years, the wagons passing over them daily, and there
they are, in use yet, whereas the cast rails are constantly giving
way."[55]
The price of malleable rails was, however, so high--being then worth
about £12 per ton as compared with cast-iron rails at about £5
10_s._--and the saving of expense was so important a consideration
with the subscribers, that Stephenson was directed to provide in the
specification that only one half of the rails required--or about 800
tons--should be of malleable iron, and the remainder of cast iron. The
malleable rails were of the kind called "fish-bellied," and weighed 28
lbs. to the yard, being 2-1/4 inches broad at the top, with the upper
flange 3/4 inch thick. They were only 2 inches in depth at the points
at which they rested on the chairs, and 3-1/4 inches in the middle or
bellied part.
When forming the road, the proper gauge had also to be determined. What
width was this to be? The gauge of the first tram-road laid down had
virtually settled the point. The gauge of wheels of the common vehicles
of the country--of the carts and wagons employed on common roads, which
were first used on the tram-roads--was about 4 feet 8-1/2 inches. And
so the first tram-roads were laid down of this gauge. The tools and
machinery for constructing coal-wagons and locomotives were formed
with this gauge in view. The Wylam wagon-way, afterward the Wylam
plate-way, the Killingworth railroad, and the Hetton railroad, were as
nearly as possible on the same gauge. Some of the earth-wagons 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 afterward 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.
Although locomotives had been regularly employed in hauling coal-wagons
on the Middleton Colliery Railway, near Leeds, for more than twelve
years, and on the Wylam and Killingworth Railways near Newcastle for
more than ten years, great skepticism still prevailed as to the economy
of employing them for the purpose in lieu of horses. In this case, it
would appear that seeing was _not_ believing. The popular skepticism
was as great at Newcastle, where the opportunities for accurate
observation were the greatest, as any where else. In 1824 the scheme of
a canal between that town and Carlisle again came up, and, though a few
timid voices were raised on behalf of a railway, the general opinion
was still in favor of a canal. The example of the Hetton Railway, which
had been successfully worked by Stephenson's locomotives for two years
past, was pointed to in proof of the practicability of a locomotive
line between the two places; but the voice of the press as well as of
the public was decidedly against the "new-fangled roads."
"There has been some talk," wrote the "Whitehaven Gazette," "from
a puff criticism in the 'Monthly Review,' of an improvement on the
principle of railways; but we suspect that this improvement will turn
out like the steam-carriages, of which we have been told so much, that
were to supersede the use of horses entirely, and travel _at a rate
almost equal to the speed of the fleetest horse_!" The idea was too
chimerical to be entertained, and the suggested railway was accordingly
rejected as impracticable.
The "Tyne Mercury" was equally decided against railways. "What person,"
asked the editor (November 16th, 1824), "would ever think of _paying
any thing_ to be conveyed from Hexham to Newcastle in something like a
coal-wagon, upon a dreary wagon-way, and to be dragged for the greater
part of the distance by a ROARING STEAM-ENGINE!" The very notion of
such a thing was preposterous, ridiculous, and utterly absurd.
When such was the state of public opinion as to railway locomotion,
some idea may be formed of the clearsightedness and moral courage of
the Stockton and Darlington directors in ordering three of Stephenson's
locomotive engines, at a cost of several thousand pounds, against the
opening of the railway.
These were constructed after Stephenson's most matured designs, and
embodied all the improvements which he had contrived up to that time.
No. 1 engine, the "Locomotion," which was first delivered, weighed
about eight tons. It had one large flue or tube through the boiler,
by which the heated air passed direct from the furnace at one end,
lined with fire-bricks, to the chimney at the other. The combustion
in the furnace was quickened by the adoption of the steam-blast in
the chimney. The heat raised was sometimes so great, and it was so
imperfectly abstracted by the surrounding water, that the chimney
became almost red-hot. Such engines, when put to their speed, were
found capable of running at the rate of from twelve to sixteen miles
an hour; but they were better adapted for the heavy work of hauling
coal-trains at low speeds--for which, indeed, they were specially
constructed--than for running at the higher speeds afterward adopted.
Nor was it contemplated by the directors as possible, at the time when
they were ordered, that locomotives could be made available for the
purposes of passenger traveling. Besides, the Stockton and Darlington
Railway did not run through a district in which passengers were
supposed to be likely to constitute any considerable portion of the
traffic.
We may easily imagine the anxiety felt by George Stephenson during the
progress of the works toward 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, the engineer one day, accompanied by his son Robert and John
Dixon, made a journey of inspection of the works. The party reached
Stockton, and proceeded to dine at one of the inns there. After dinner,
Stephenson ventured on the very unusual measure of ordering in a bottle
of wine, to drink success to the railway. John Dixon relates with pride
the utterance of the master on the occasion. "Now, lads," said he to
the two young men, "I venture to tell you that I think you will live
to see the day when railways will supersede almost all other methods
of conveyance in this country--when mail-coaches will go by railway,
and railroads will become the great highways for the king and all his
subjects. The time is coming when it will be cheaper for a working man
to travel on a railway than to walk on foot. I know there are great and
almost insurmountable difficulties to be encountered, but what I have
said will come to pass as sure as you now hear me. 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 introduced thus far, notwithstanding my more than
ten years' successful experiment at Killingworth." The result, however,
outstripped even George Stephenson's most sanguine anticipations; and
his son Robert, shortly after his return from America in 1827, saw his
father's locomotive adopted as the tractive power on railways generally.
Tuesday, the 27th of September, 1825, was a great day for Darlington.
The railway, after having been under construction for more than three
years, was at length about to be opened. The project had been the talk
of the neighborhood for so long that there were few people within a
range of twenty miles who did not feel more or less interested about
it. Was it to be a failure or a success? Opinions were pretty equally
divided as to the railway, but as regarded the locomotive the general
belief was that it would "never answer." However, there the locomotive
was--"No. 1"--delivered on to the line, and ready to draw the first
train of wagons on the opening day.
A great concourse of people assembled on the occasion. Some came from
Newcastle and Durham, many from the Aucklands, while Darlington held
a general holiday, and turned out all its population. To give _éclat_
to the opening, the directors of the company issued a programme of the
proceedings, intimating the times at which the procession of wagons
would pass certain points along the line. The proprietors assembled
as early as six in the morning at the Brusselton fixed engine, where
the working of the inclined planes was successfully rehearsed. A train
of wagons laden with coals and merchandise was drawn up the western
incline by the fixed engine, a length of 1960 yards, in seven and a
half minutes, and then lowered down the incline on the eastern side of
the hill, 880 yards, in five minutes.
At the foot of the incline the procession of vehicles was formed,
consisting of the locomotive engine No. 1, driven by George Stephenson
himself; after it six wagons loaded with coals and flour, then a
covered coach containing directors and proprietors, next twenty-one
coal-wagons fitted up for passengers (with which they were crammed),
and lastly six more wagons loaded with coals.
Strange to say, a man on a horse, carrying a flag, with the motto of
the company inscribed on it, _Periculum privatum utilitas publica_,
headed the procession! A lithographic view of the great event,
published shortly after, duly exhibits the horseman and his flag. It
was not thought so dangerous a place after all. The locomotive was only
supposed to be able to go at the rate of from four to six miles an
hour, and an ordinary horse could easily keep ahead of that.
Off started the procession, with the horseman at its head. A great
concourse of people stood along the line. Many of them tried to
accompany it by running, and some gentlemen on horseback galloped
across the fields to keep up with the train. The railway descending
with a gentle incline toward Darlington, the rate of speed was
consequently variable. At a favorable part of the road Stephenson
determined to try the speed of the engine, and he called upon the
horseman with the flag to get out of the way! Most probably, deeming
it unnecessary to carry his _Periculum privatum_ farther, the horseman
turned aside, and Stephenson "put on the steam." The speed was at once
raised to twelve miles an hour, and, at a favorable part of the road,
to fifteen. The runners on foot, the gentlemen on horseback, and the
horseman with the flag, were consequently soon left far behind. When
the train reached Darlington, it was found that four hundred and fifty
passengers occupied the wagons, and that the load of men, coals, and
merchandise amounted to about ninety tons.
[Illustration: PROCESSION AT THE OPENING OF THE STOCKTON AND DARLINGTON
RAILWAY.
[Fac-simile of a local lithograph.]]
At Darlington the procession was rearranged. The six loaded coal-wagons
were left behind, and other wagons were taken on with a hundred and
fifty more passengers, together with a band of music. The train then
started for Stockton--a distance of only twelve miles--which was
reached in about three hours. The day was kept throughout the district
as a holiday; and horses, gigs, carts, and other vehicles, filled with
people, stood along the railway, as well as crowds of persons on foot,
waiting to see the train pass. The whole population of Stockton turned
out to receive the procession, and, after a walk through the streets,
the inevitable dinner in the Town Hall wound up the day's proceedings.
All this, however, was but gala work. The serious business of the
company began on the following day. Upon the result of the experiment
now fairly initiated by the Stockton and Darlington Company the future
of railways in a great measure depended. If it failed, like the
Wandsworth, Croydon, and Merstham undertaking, then a great check would
unquestionably be given to speculation in railways. If it succeeded,
the Stockton and Darlington enterprise would mark the beginning of a
new era, and issue in neither more nor less than a complete revolution
of the means of communication in all civilized countries.
The circumstances were on the whole favorable, and boded success rather
than failure. Prudent, careful, thoughtful men were at the head of the
concern, interested in seeing it managed economically and efficiently;
and they had the advantage of the assistance of an engineer possessed
of large resources of mother wit, mechanical genius, and strong common
sense. There was an almost unlimited quantity of coal to be carried,
the principal difficulty being in accommodating it satisfactorily. Yet
it was only after the line had been at work for some time that the
extensive character of the coal traffic began to be appreciated. At
first it was supposed that the chief trade would be in coal for land
sale. But the clause inserted in the original act, at the instance of
Mr. Lambton, by which the company were limited to 1/2_d._ per ton per
mile for coal led to Stockton for shipment, led to the most unexpected
consequences. It was estimated that only about 10,000 tons a year would
be shipped, and that principally by way of ballast. Instead of which,
in the course of a very few years, the coal carried on the line for
export constituted the main bulk of the traffic, while that carried for
land sale was merely subsidiary.[56] The anticipations of the company
as to passenger-traffic were in like manner more than realized. 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. Some eighty years since there was only one post-chaise in
Darlington, which ran on three wheels. There are people still living
who remember when a coach ran from Stockton three days in the week,
passing through Darlington and Barnard Castle; but it was starved off
the road for want of support. There was then very little intercourse
between the towns, though they were so near to each other, and
comparatively so populous; and it was not known whether people would
trust themselves to the iron road. Nevertheless, it was determined to
make trial of a railway coach, and George Stephenson was authorized to
have one built at Newcastle at the cost of the company. This was done
accordingly, and the first railway passenger-carriage was built after
our engineer's design. It was, however, a very modest, and, indeed,
a somewhat uncouth machine, more resembling a showman's caravan than
a passenger-coach of any extant form. A row of seats ran along each
side of the interior, and a long deal table was fixed in the centre,
the access being by means of a door at the back end, in the manner of
an omnibus. This coach arrived from Newcastle on the day before the
opening, and formed part of the procession above described. Stephenson
was consulted as to the name of the coach, and he at once suggested
the "Experiment;" and by this name it was called. Such was the sole
passenger-carrying stock of the Stockton and Darlington Company in
the year 1825. But "The Experiment" proved the forerunner of a mighty
traffic; and long time did not elapse before it was displaced, not only
by improved coaches (still drawn by horses), but afterward by long
trains of passenger-carriages drawn by locomotive engines.
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 "Experiment"
was not, however, worked by the company, but was let to contractors,
who worked it under an arrangement whereby toll was paid for the use of
the line, rent of booking-cabins, etc.[57]
[Illustration: THE FIRST RAILWAY COACH.]
The speculation answered so well that several private coaching
companies were shortly after got up by innkeepers at Darlington and
Stockton for the purpose of running other coaches upon the railroad,
and an active competition for passenger-traffic sprang up. The
"Experiment," being found too heavy for one horse to draw, besides
being found an uncomfortable machine, was banished to the coal
district. Its place was then supplied by other and better vehicles,
though they were no other than old stage-coach bodies purchased by the
company, each mounted on an under-frame with flange wheels. These were
let on hire to the coaching companies, who horsed and managed them
under an arrangement as to tolls, in like manner as the "Experiment"
had been worked. Now began the distinction of inside and outside
passengers, equivalent to first and second class, paying different
fares. The competition with each other upon the railway, and with the
ordinary stage-coaches upon the road, soon brought up the speed, which
was increased to ten miles an hour--the mail-coach rate of traveling in
those days, and considered very fast.
Mr. Clephan, a native of the district, has communicated to the author
the following account 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 can not pass each
other on the rail as on the road, and, as the line was single, with
four sidings in the mile, when two coaches met, or two trains, or
coach and train, the question arose which of the drivers must go
back. This was not always settled in silence. As to trains, it came
to be a sort of understanding that empty should give way to loaded
wagons; and as to trains and coaches, that 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
the 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 the coaches to stop, and there, as Jonathan would
say, passengers and coachmen 'liquored.' One coach, introduced
by an innkeeper, was a compound of two mourning-coaches--an
approximation to the real railway-coach, which still adheres,
with multiplying exceptions, to the stage-coach type. One Dixon,
who drove the 'Experiment' between Darlington and Shildon, is
the inventor of carriage-lighting on the rail. On a dark winter
night, having compassion on his passengers, he would buy a penny
candle, and place it lighted among them on the table of the
'Experiment'--the first railway-coach (which, by the way, ended its
days at Shildon as a railway cabin), being also the first coach on
the rail (first, second, and third class jammed all into one) that
indulged its customers with light in darkness."
The traffic of all sorts increased so steadily and so rapidly that
considerable difficulty was experienced in working it satisfactorily.
It had been provided by the first Stockton and Darlington Act that
the line should be free to all parties who chose to use it at certain
prescribed rates, and that any person might put horses and wagons
on the railway, and carry for himself. But this arrangement led to
increasing confusion and difficulty, and could not continue in the
face of a large and rapidly-increasing traffic. The goods trains got
so long that the carriers found it necessary to call in the aid of
the locomotive engine to help them on their way. Then mixed trains
of passengers and merchandise began to run; and the result was that
the Railway Company found it necessary to take the entire charge and
working of the traffic. In course of time new coaches were specially
built for the better accommodation of the public, until at length
regular passenger-trains were run, drawn by the locomotive engine,
though this was not until after the Liverpool and Manchester Company
had established this as a distinct branch of their traffic.
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 engine--slow though it seems now--was in those days regarded as
something marvelous. A race actually came off between No. 1 engine, the
"Locomotion," and one of the stage-coaches traveling from Darlington to
Stockton by the ordinary road, and it was regarded as a great triumph
of mechanical skill that the locomotive reached Stockton first, beating
the stage-coach by about a hundred yards! The same engine continued
in good working order in the year 1846, when it headed the railway
procession on the opening of the Middlesborough and Redcar Railway,
traveling at the rate of about fourteen miles an hour. This engine,
the first that traveled on the first public locomotive railway, has
recently been placed upon a pedestal in front of the railway station at
Darlington.
For some years, however, the principal haulage of the line was
performed by horses. The inclination of the gradients being toward 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, when, wheeling round
to the other end of the wagons, to which a "dandy-cart" was attached,
its bottom being only a few inches from the rail, and bringing his
step into unison with the speed of the train, he leaped nimbly into
his place in the hind car, which was usually fitted with a well-filled
hay-rack.
[Illustration: THE NO. 1 ENGINE AT DARLINGTON.]
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 revolutionize 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
commercial success of the Stockton and Darlington Company may be justly
characterized as the turning-point of the 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 Darlington Railway,
we can not avoid alluding to one of its most remarkable and direct
results--the creation of the town of Middlesborough-on-Tees. When
the railway was opened in 1825, the site of this future metropolis
of Cleveland was occupied by one solitary farm-house and its
out-buildings. All round was pasture-land or mud-banks; scarcely
another house was within sight. The corporation 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 sea-port 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,
ship-building yards, and iron factories, and in a few years the port
of Middlesborough became one of the most thriving on the northeast
coast of England. In ten years a busy population of some 6000 persons
(since swelled to about 25,000) occupied the site of the original
farm-house. 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 connection with this great work--the
Stockton and Darlington Railway, projected by Edward Pease and executed
by George Stephenson--that when Mr. Stephenson became a prosperous and
a celebrated man, he did not forget the friend who had taken him by the
hand, and helped him on in his early days. He continued to remember Mr.
Pease with gratitude and affection, and that gentleman, to the close
of his life, was proud to exhibit a handsome gold watch, received as a
gift from his celebrated _protégé_, bearing these words--"Esteem and
gratitude: from George Stephenson to Edward Pease."
[Illustration: MIDDLESBOROUGH-ON-TEES.]
FOOTNOTES:
[51] The act for constructing the Merthyr Tydvil Tram-road was obtained
from Parliament as early as 1794; that for the Sirhoway Railroad in
1801; the Carmarthenshire Railroad was sanctioned in the same year; and
the Oystermouth Railway in 1803.
[52] Mr. Richardson was founder of the afterward well-known
discount-house of Richardson, Overend, and Gurney, Lombard Street,
London.
[53] The first clause in any railway act empowering the employment of
locomotive engines for the working of passenger traffic.
[54] This incident, communicated to the author by the late Edward
Pease, has since been made the subject of a fine picture by Mr. A.
Rankley, A.R.A., exhibited at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1861.
[55] Stephenson's recommendation of wrought-iron instead of cast-iron
rails was the cause of a rupture between Mr. Losh and himself.
Stephenson thought his duty was to give his employers the best advice;
Losh thought his business was to push the patent cast-iron rails
wherever he could. Stephenson regarded this view as sordid; and the two
finally separated after a quarrel, in high dudgeon with each other.
[56] The rapid progress of the coal and merchandise traffic of the
Stockton and Darlington line, of which Middlesbro' is the principal
sea-port, may be inferred from the following brief statement of facts:
The original estimate assumed that 165,488 tons of coal would be
carried annually, and produce an income of £11,904. The revenue from
other sources was taken at £4104. In 1827, the first year in which the
coal and merchandise traffic was fully worked, the revenue from coal
was £14,455; from lime, merchandise, and sundries, £3285; and from
passengers (which had not been taken into account), £563. In 1860, when
the original line of 25 miles had become extended to 125 miles, and the
original capital of £150,000 had swelled to £3,800,000, the quantity
of coal carried had increased to 3,045,596 tons in the year, besides
1,484,409 tons of ironstone and other minerals, producing a revenue of
£280,375; while 1,484,409 tons of merchandise had been carried in the
same year, producing £63,478, and 687,728 passengers, producing £45,398.
[57] The coaches were not allowed to be run upon the line without
considerable opposition. We find Edward Pease writing to Joseph
Sandars, of Liverpool, on the 18th of June, 1827: "Our railway coach
proprietors have individually received notices of a process in the
Exchequer for various fines, to the amount of £150, in penalties of
£20 each, for neglecting to have the plates, with the numbers of their
licenses, on the coach doors, agreeably to the provision of the Act
95 George IV. In looking into the nature of this proceeding and its
consequences, it is clear, if the court shall confirm it by conviction,
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
proceeding was eventually defeated, it being decided that the penalties
only applied to coaches traveling on common or turnpike roads.