ROBERT STEPHENSON'S CAREER--THE STEPHENSONS AND BRUNEL--EAST COAST
ROUTE TO SCOTLAND--ROYAL BORDER BRIDGE, BERWICK--HIGH-LEVEL BRIDGE,
NEWCASTLE.
The career of George Stephenson was drawing to a close. He had for some
time been gradually retiring from the more active pursuit of railway
engineering, and confining himself to the promotion of only a few
undertakings, in which he took a more than ordinary personal interest.
In 1840, when the extensive main lines in the Midland districts had
been finished and opened for traffic, he publicly expressed his
intention of withdrawing from the profession. He had reached sixty,
and, having spent the greater part of his life in very hard work, he
naturally desired rest and retirement in his old age. There was the
less necessity for his continuing "in harness," as Robert Stephenson
was now in full career as a leading railway engineer, and his father
had pleasure in handing over to him, with the sanction of the companies
concerned, nearly all the railway appointments which he held.
Robert Stephenson amply repaid his father's care. The sound education
of which he had laid the foundations at school, improved by his
subsequent culture, but more than all by his father's example of
application, industry, and thoroughness in all that he undertook,
told powerfully in the formation of his character not less than in the
discipline of his intellect. His father had early implanted in him
habits of mental activity, familiarized him with the laws of mechanics,
and carefully trained and stimulated his inventive faculties, the first
great fruits of which, as we have seen, were exhibited in the triumph
of the "Rocket" at Rainhill. "I am fully conscious in my own mind,"
said the son at a meeting of the Mechanical Engineers at Newcastle
in 1858, "how greatly my civil engineering has been regulated and
influenced by the mechanical knowledge which I derived directly from
my father; and the more my experience has advanced, the more convinced
I have become that it is necessary to educate an engineer in the
workshop. That is, emphatically, the education which will render the
engineer most intelligent, most useful, and the fullest of resources in
times of difficulty."
Robert Stephenson was but twenty-six years old when the performances
of the "Rocket" established the practicability of steam locomotion on
railways. He was shortly after appointed engineer of the Leicester and
Swannington Railway; after which, at his father's request, he was made
joint engineer with himself in laying out the London and Birmingham
Railway, and the execution of that line was afterward intrusted to
him as sole engineer. The stability and excellence of the works of
that railway, the difficulties which had been successfully overcome in
the course of its construction, and the judgment which was displayed
by Robert Stephenson throughout the whole conduct of the undertaking
to its completion, established his reputation as an engineer, and
his father could now look with confidence and pride upon his son's
achievements. From that time forward, father and son worked together
cordially, each jealous of the other's honor; and on the father's
retirement it was generally recognized that, in the sphere of railways,
Robert Stephenson was the foremost man, the safest guide, and the most
active worker.
Robert Stephenson was subsequently appointed engineer of the Eastern
Counties, the Northern and Eastern, and the Blackwall Railways, besides
many lines in the midland and southern districts. When the speculation
of 1844 set in, his services were, of course, greatly in request. Thus,
in one session, we find him engaged as engineer for not fewer than
thirty-three new schemes. Projectors thought themselves fortunate who
could secure his name, and he had only to propose his terms to obtain
them. The work which he performed at this period of his life was indeed
enormous, and his income was large beyond any previous instance of
engineering gain. But much of the labor done was mere hackwork of a
very uninteresting character. During the sittings of the committees
of Parliament, much time was also occupied in consultations, and in
preparing evidence or in giving it.
The crowded, low-roofed committee-rooms of the old houses of Parliament
were altogether inadequate to accommodate the press of perspiring
projectors of bills, and even the lobbies were sometimes choked with
them. To have borne that noisome atmosphere and heat would have tested
the constitutions of salamanders, and engineers were only human. With
brains kept in a state of excitement during the entire day, no wonder
their nervous systems became unstrung. Their only chance of refreshment
was during an occasional rush to the bun and sandwich stand in the
lobby, though sometimes even that resource failed them. Then, with mind
and body jaded--probably after undergoing a series of consultations
upon many bills after the rising of the committees--the exhausted
engineers would seek to stimulate nature by a late, perhaps a heavy
dinner. What chance had any ordinary constitution of surviving such
an ordeal? The consequence was, that stomach, brain, and liver were
alike injured, and hence the men who bore the heat and brunt of those
struggles--Stephenson, Brunel, Locke, and Errington--have already all
died, comparatively young men.
In mentioning the name of Brunel, we are reminded of him as the
principal rival and competitor of Robert Stephenson. Both were the sons
of distinguished men, and both inherited the fame and followed in the
footsteps of their fathers. The Stephensons were inventive, practical,
and sagacious; the Brunels ingenious, imaginative, and daring. The
former were as thoroughly English in their characteristics as the
latter perhaps were as thoroughly French. The fathers and the sons
were alike successful in their works, though not in the same degree.
Measured by practical and profitable results, the Stephensons were
unquestionably the safer men to follow.
Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel were destined often to
come into collision in the course of their professional life. Their
respective railway districts "marched" with each other, and it became
their business to invade or defend those districts, according as the
policy of their respective boards might direct. The gauge of 7 feet
fixed by Brunel for the Great Western Railway, so entirely different
from that of 4 feet 8-1/2 inches adopted by the Stephensons on the
Northern and Midland lines,[86] was from the first a great cause of
contention. But Brunel had always an aversion to follow any man's lead;
and that another engineer had fixed the gauge of a railway, or built
a bridge, or designed an engine in one way, was of itself often a
sufficient reason with him for adopting an altogether different course.
Robert Stephenson, on his part, though less bold, was more practical,
preferring to follow the old routes, and to tread in the safe steps of
his father.
Mr. Brunel, however, determined that the Great Western should be a
giant's road, and that traveling should be conducted upon it at double
speed. His ambition was to make the _best_ road that imagination could
devise, whereas the main object of the Stephensons, both father and
son, was to make a road that would _pay_. Although, tried by the
Stephenson test, Brunel's magnificent road was a failure so far as the
shareholders in the Great Western Company were concerned, the stimulus
which his ambitious designs gave to mechanical invention at the time
proved a general good. The narrow-gauge engineers exerted themselves to
quicken their locomotives to the utmost. They improved and reimproved
them. The machinery was simplified and perfected. Outside cylinders
gave place to inside; the steadier and more rapid and effective action
of the engine was secured, and in a few years the highest speed on
railways went up from thirty to about fifty miles an hour. For this
rapidity in progress we are in no small degree indebted to the stimulus
imparted to the narrow-gauge engineers by Mr. Brunel.
It was one of the characteristics of Brunel to _believe_ in the success
of the schemes for which he was professionally engaged as engineer,
and he proved this by investing his savings largely in the Great
Western Railway, in the South Devon Atmospherical line, and in the
Great Eastern steam-ship, with what results are well known. Robert
Stephenson, on the contrary, with characteristic caution, toward
the latter years of his life avoided holding unguaranteed railway
shares; and though he might execute magnificent structures, such as
the Victoria Bridge across the St. Lawrence, he was careful not to
embark any portion of his own fortune in the ordinary capital of these
concerns. In 1845 he shrewdly foresaw the inevitable crash that was
about to succeed the mania of that year, and while shares were still
at a premium he took the opportunity of selling out all that he held.
He urged his father to do the same thing, but George's reply was
characteristic. "No," said he "I took my shares for an investment, and
not to speculate with, and I am not going to sell them now because
people have gone mad about railways." The consequence was, that he
continued to hold the £60,000 which he had invested in the shares of
various railways until his death, when they were at once sold out by
his son, though at a great depreciation on their original cost.
One of the hardest battles fought between the Stephensons and Brunel
was for the railway between Newcastle and Berwick, forming part of
the great East Coast route to Scotland. As early as 1836 George
Stephenson had surveyed two lines to connect Edinburg with Newcastle:
one by Berwick and Dunbar along the coast, and the other, more inland,
by Carter Fell, up the vale of the Gala, to the northern capital. Two
years later he made a farther examination of the intervening country,
and reported in favor of the coast line. The inland route, however, was
not without its advocates. But both projects lay dormant for several
years longer, until the completion of the Midland and other main lines
as far north as Newcastle had the effect of again reviving the subject
of the extension of the route as far as Edinburg.
On the 18th of June, 1844, the Newcastle and Darlington line--an
important link of the great main highway to the north--was completed
and publicly opened, thus connecting the Thames and the Tyne by a
continuous line of railway. On that day George Stephenson and a
distinguished party of railway men traveled by express train from
London to Newcastle in about nine hours. It was a great event, and was
worthily celebrated. The population of Newcastle held holiday; and a
banquet given in the Assembly Rooms the same evening assumed the form
of an ovation to Mr. Stephenson and his son.
After the opening of this railway, the project of the East Coast line
from Newcastle to Berwick was revived, and George Stephenson, who
had already identified himself with the question, and was intimately
acquainted with every foot of the ground, was again called upon to
assist the promoters with his judgment and experience. He again
recommended as strongly as before the line he had previously surveyed;
and on its being adopted by the local committee, the necessary steps
were taken to have the scheme brought before Parliament in the ensuing
session. The East Coast line was not, however, to be allowed to pass
without a fight. On the contrary, it had to encounter as stout an
opposition as Stephenson had ever experienced.
We have already stated that about this time the plan of substituting
atmospheric pressure for locomotive steam-power in the working of
railways had become very popular. Many eminent engineers avowedly
supported atmospheric in preference to locomotive lines; and many
members of Parliament, headed by the prime ministers, were strongly
disposed in their favor. Mr. Brunel warmly espoused the atmospheric
principle, and his persuasive manner, as well as his admitted
scientific ability, unquestionably exercised considerable influence in
determining the views of many leading members of both houses. Among
others, Lord Howick, one of the members for Northumberland, advocated
the new principle, and, possessing great local influence, he succeeded
in forming a powerful confederacy of the landed gentry in favor of
Brunel's atmospheric railway through the country.
George Stephenson could not brook the idea of seeing the locomotive,
for which he had fought so many stout battles, pushed to one side,
and that in the very county in which its great powers had been first
developed. Nor did he relish the appearance of Mr. Brunel as the
engineer of Lord Howick's scheme, in opposition to the line which had
occupied his thoughts and been the object of his strenuous advocacy
for so many years. When Stephenson first met Brunel in Newcastle, he
good-naturedly shook him by the collar, and asked "what business he
had north of the Tyne?" George gave him to understand that they were
to have a fair stand-up fight for the ground, and shaking hands before
the battle like Englishmen, they parted in good-humor. A public meeting
was held at Newcastle in the following December, when, after a full
discussion of the merits of the respective plans, Stephenson's line was
almost unanimously adopted as the best.
The rival projects went before Parliament in 1845, and a severe contest
ensued. The display of ability and tactics on both sides was great.
Robert Stephenson was examined at great length as to the merits of the
locomotive line, and Brunel at equally great length as to the merits of
the atmospheric. Mr. Brunel, in his evidence, said that, after numerous
experiments, he had arrived at the conclusion that the mechanical
contrivance of the atmospheric system was perfectly applicable, and he
believed that it would likewise be more economical in most cases than
locomotive power. "In short," said he, "rapidity, comfort, safety, and
economy are its chief recommendations."
Notwithstanding the promise of Mr. Sergeant Wrangham, the counsel
for Lord Howick's scheme, that the Northumberland atmospheric was to
be "a _respectable_ line, and not one that was to be converted into
a road for the accommodation of the coal-owners of the district,"
the locomotive again triumphed. The Stephenson Coast line secured
the approval of Parliament, and the shareholders in the Atmospheric
Company were happily prevented investing their capital in what would
unquestionably have proved a gigantic blunder. For, less than three
years later, the whole of the atmospheric tubes which had been laid
down on other lines were pulled up and the materials sold, including
Mr. Brunel's immense tube on the South Devon Railway[87]--to make way
for the working of the locomotive engine. George Stephenson's first
verdict of "It won't do" was thus conclusively confirmed.
Robert Stephenson used afterward to describe with gusto an interview
which took place between Lord Howick and his father, at his office in
Great George Street, during the progress of the bill in Parliament.
His father was in the outer office, where he used to spend a good deal
of his spare time, occasionally taking a quiet wrestle with a friend
when nothing else was stirring.[88] On the day in question, George was
standing with his back to the fire, when Lord Howick called to see
Robert. Oh! thought George, he has come to try and talk Robert over
about that atmospheric gimcrack; but I'll tackle his lordship. "Come
in, my lord," said he; "Robert's busy; but I'll answer your purpose
quite as well; sit down here, if you please." George began, "Now, my
lord, I know very well what you have come about: it's that atmospheric
line in the North; I will show you in less than five minutes that
it can never answer." "If Mr. Robert Stephenson is not at liberty,
I can call again," said his lordship. "He's certainly occupied on
important business just at present," was George's answer, "but I can
tell you far better than he can what nonsense the atmospheric system
is: Robert's good-natured, you see, and if your lordship were to get
alongside of him you might talk him over; so you have been quite lucky
in meeting with me. Now just look at the question of expense," and then
he proceeded in his strong Doric to explain his views in detail, until
Lord Howick could stand it no longer, and he rose and walked toward the
door. George followed him down stairs to finish his demolition of the
atmospheric system, and his parting words were, "You may take my word
for it, my lord, it will never answer." George afterward told his son
with glee of "the settler" he had given Lord Howick.
So closely were the Stephensons identified with this measure, and so
great was the personal interest which they were both known to take in
its success, that, on the news of the passing of the bill reaching
Newcastle, a sort of general holiday took place, and the workmen
belonging to the Stephenson Locomotive Factory, upward of eight hundred
in number, walked in procession through the principal streets of the
town, accompanied by music and banners.
[Illustration: ROYAL BORDER BRIDGE, BERWICK. [By R. P. Leitch, after
his original Drawing.]]
It is unnecessary to enter into any description of the works of the
Newcastle and Berwick Railway. There are no fewer than a hundred
and ten bridges of all sorts on the line--some under and some over
it--the viaducts over the Ouseburn, the Wansbeck, and the Coquet being
of considerable importance. But by far the most formidable piece of
masonry work on this railway is at its northern extremity, where
it passes across the Tweed into Scotland, immediately opposite the
formerly redoubtable castle of Berwick. Not many centuries had passed
since the district amid which this bridge stands was the scene of
almost constant warfare. Berwick was regarded as the key of Scotland,
and was fiercely fought for, being sometimes held by a Scotch and
sometimes by an English garrison. Though strongly fortified, it was
repeatedly taken by assault. On its capture by Edward I., Boetius
says, 17,000 persons were slain, so that its streets "ran with blood
like a river." Within sight of the ramparts, a little to the west, is
Halidon Hill, where a famous victory was gained by Edward III. over the
Scottish army under Douglas; and there is scarcely a foot of ground
in the neighborhood but has been the scene of contention in days long
past. In the reigns of James I. and Charles I., a bridge of fifteen
arches was built across the Tweed at Berwick; and now a railway bridge
of twenty-eight arches was built a little above the old one, but at a
much higher level. The bridge built by the kings out of the national
resources cost £15,000, and occupied twenty-four years and four months
in the building; the bridge built by the Railway Company, with funds
drawn from private resources, cost £120,000, and was finished in three
years and four months from the day of laying the foundation stone.
This important viaduct, built after the designs of Robert Stephenson,
consists of a series of twenty-eight semicircular arches, each 61 feet
6 inches in span, the greatest height above the bed of the river being
126 feet. The whole is built of ashlar, with a hearting of rubble,
excepting the river parts of the arches, which are constructed with
bricks laid in cement. The total length of the work is 2160 feet. The
foundations of the piers were got in by coffer-dams in the ordinary
way, Nasmyth's steam-hammer being extensively used in driving the
piles. The bearing piles, from which the foundations of the piers were
built up, were each capable of carrying 70 tons.
Another bridge, of still greater importance, necessary to complete
the continuity of the East Coast route, was the master-work erected
by Robert Stephenson between the north and south banks of the Tyne,
at Newcastle, commonly known as the High-Level Bridge. Mr. R. W.
Brandling, George Stephenson's early friend, is entitled to the
merit of originating the idea of this bridge, as it was eventually
carried out, with a central terminus for the northern railways in the
Castle Garth. The plan was first promulgated by him in 1841; and in
the following year it was resolved that George Stephenson should be
consulted as to the most advisable site for the proposed structure.
A prospectus of a High-Level Bridge Company was issued in 1843, the
names of George Stephenson and George Hudson appearing on the committee
of management, Robert Stephenson being the consulting engineer. The
project was eventually taken up by the Newcastle and Darlington Railway
Company, and an act for the construction of the bridge was obtained in
1845.
The rapid extension of railways had given an extraordinary stimulus to
the art of bridge-building; the number of such structures erected in
Great Britain alone, since 1830, having been above thirty thousand,
or far more than all that previously existed in the country. Instead
of the erection of a single large bridge constituting, as formerly,
an epoch in engineering, hundreds of extensive bridges of novel
design were simultaneously constructed. The necessity which existed
for carrying rigid roads, capable of bearing heavy railway trains at
high speed, over extensive gaps free of support, rendered it apparent
that the methods which had up to that time been employed for bridging
space were altogether insufficient. The railway engineer could not,
like the ordinary road engineer, divert his road, and make choice
of the best point for crossing a river or a valley. He must take
such ground as lay in the line of his railway, be it bog, or mud, or
shifting sand. Navigable rivers and crowded thoroughfares had to be
crossed without interruption to the existing traffic, sometimes by
bridges at right angles to the river or road, sometimes by arches
more or less oblique. In many cases great difficulty arose from the
limited nature of the headway; but, as the level of the original
road must generally be preserved, and that of the railway was in a
measure fixed and determined, it was necessary to modify the form and
structure of the bridge in almost every case, in order to comply with
the public requirements. Novel conditions were met by fresh inventions,
and difficulties of an unusual character were one after another
successfully surmounted. In executing these extraordinary works, iron
has been throughout the sheet-anchor of the engineer. In the various
forms of cast and wrought iron it offered a valuable resource where
rapidity of execution, great strength and cheapness of construction
in the first instance were elements of prime importance, and by its
skillful use the railway architect was enabled to achieve results which
thirty years since would scarcely have been thought possible.
In many of the early cast-iron bridges the old form of the arch
was adopted, the stability of the structure depending wholly on
compression, the only novel feature consisting in the use of iron
instead of stone. But in a large proportion of cases, the arch, with
the railroad over it, was found inapplicable in consequence of the
limited headway which it provided. Hence it early occurred to George
Stephenson, when constructing the Liverpool and Manchester Railway,
to adopt the simple cast-iron beam for the crossing of several roads
and canals along that line--this beam resembling in some measure the
lintel of the early temples--the pressure on the abutments being purely
vertical. One of the earliest instances of this kind of bridge was
that erected over Water Street, Manchester, in 1829; after which,
cast-iron girders, with their lower webs considerably larger than
their upper, were ordinarily employed where the span was moderate, and
wrought-iron tie-rods below were added to give increased strength where
the span was greater.
The next step was the contrivance of arched beams or bow-string
girders, firmly held together by horizontal ties to resist the thrust,
instead of abutments. Numerous excellent specimens of this description
of bridge were erected by Robert Stephenson on the original London and
Birmingham Railway; but by far the grandest work of the kind--perfect
as a specimen of modern constructive skill--was the High-Level Bridge,
which we owe to the genius of the same engineer.
The problem was to throw a railway bridge across the deep ravine which
lies between the towns of Newcastle and Gateshead, at the bottom of
which flows the navigable river Tyne. Along and up the sides of the
valley--on the Newcastle bank especially--run streets of old-fashioned
houses, clustered together in the strange forms peculiar to the older
cities. The ravine is of great depth--so deep and gloomy-looking toward
dusk, that local tradition records that when the Duke of Cumberland
arrived late in the evening, at the brow of the hill overlooking the
Tyne, on his way to Culloden, he exclaimed to his attendants, on
looking down into the black gorge before him, "For God's sake, don't
think of taking me down that coal-pit at this time of night!" The road
down the Gateshead High Street is almost as steep as the roof of a
house, and up the Newcastle Side, as the street there is called, it is
little better. During many centuries the traffic north and south passed
along this dangerous and difficult route, across the old bridge which
spans the river in the bottom of the valley. For some thirty years the
Newcastle Corporation had discussed various methods of improving the
communication between the towns; and the discussion might have gone on
for thirty years more, but for the advent of railways, when the skill
and enterprise to which they gave birth speedily solved the difficulty
and bridged the ravine. The local authorities adroitly took advantage
of the opportunity, and insisted on the provision of a road for
ordinary vehicles and foot passengers in addition to the railroad. In
this circumstance originated one of the most remarkable peculiarities
of the High-Level Bridge, which serves two purposes, being a railway
above, with a carriage roadway underneath.
The breadth of the river at the point of crossing is 515 feet, but
the length of the bridge and viaduct between the Gateshead station
and the terminus on the Newcastle side is about 4000 feet. It springs
from Pipewell Gate Bank, on the south, directly across to Castle
Garth, where, nearly fronting the bridge, stands the fine old Norman
keep of the _New_ Castle, now nearly eight hundred years old; and a
little beyond it is the spire of St. Nicholas Church, with its light
and graceful Gothic crown, the whole forming a grand architectural
group of unusual historic interest. The bridge passes completely over
the roofs of the houses which fill both sides of the valley, and the
extraordinary height of the upper parapet, which is about 130 feet
above the bed of the river, offers a prospect to the passing traveler
the like of which is perhaps nowhere else to be seen. Far below lie
the queer chares and closes, the wynds and lanes of old Newcastle;
the water is crowded with pudgy, black coal keels; and, when there is
a lull in the great clouds of smoke which usually obscure the sky,
the funnels of steamers and the masts of the shipping may be seen far
down the river. The old bridge lies so far beneath that the passengers
crossing it seem like so many bees passing to and fro.
The first difficulty encountered in building the bridge was in securing
a solid foundation for the piers. The dimensions of the piles to be
driven were so huge that the engineer found it necessary to employ
some extraordinary means for the purpose. He called Nasmyth's Titanic
steam-hammer to his aid--the first occasion, we believe, on which this
prodigious power was employed in bridge pile-driving. A temporary
staging was erected for the steam-engine and hammer apparatus, which
rested on two keels, and, notwithstanding the newness and stiffness of
the machinery, the first pile was driven on the 6th of October, 1846,
to a depth of 32 feet in four minutes. Two hammers of 30 cwt. each
were kept in regular use, making from 60 to 70 strokes per minute,
and the results were astounding to those who had been accustomed to
the old style of pile-driving by means of the ordinary pile-frame,
consisting of slide, ram, and monkey. By the old system the pile was
driven by a comparatively small mass of iron descending with great
velocity from a considerable height--the velocity being in excess and
the mass deficient, and calculated, like the momentum of a cannon-ball,
rather for destructive than impulsive action. In the case of the steam
pile-driver, on the contrary, the whole weight of a heavy mass is
delivered rapidly upon a driving-block of several tons weight placed
directly over the head of the pile, the weight never ceasing, and the
blows being repeated at the rate of a blow a second, until the pile
is driven home. It is a curious fact, that the rapid strokes of the
steam-hammer evolved so much heat, that on many occasions the pile-head
burst into flame during the process of driving. The elastic force of
steam is the power that lifts the ram, the escape permitting its entire
force to fall upon the head of the driving-block; while the steam above
the piston on the upper part of the cylinder, acting as a buffer or
recoil-spring, materially enhances the effect of the downward blow. As
soon as one pile was driven, the traveler, hovering overhead, presented
another, and down it went into the solid bed of the river with almost
as much ease as a lady sticks pins into a cushion. By the aid of this
formidable machine, what before was among the most costly and tedious
of engineering operations was rendered simple, easy, and economical.
When the piles had been driven and the coffer-dams formed and puddled,
the water within the inclosed spaces was pumped out by the aid of
powerful engines, so as to lay bare the bed of the river. Considerable
difficulty was experienced in getting in the foundations of the middle
pier, in consequence of the water forcing itself through the quicksand
beneath as fast as it was removed. This fruitless labor went on for
months, and many expedients were tried. Chalk was thrown in in large
quantities outside the piling, but without effect. Cement concrete was
at last put within the coffer-dam until it set, and the bottom was
then found to be secure. A bed of concrete was laid up to the level of
the heads of the piles, the foundation course of stone blocks being
commenced about two feet below low water, and the building proceeded
without farther difficulty. It may serve to give an idea of the
magnitude of the work when we state that 400,000 cubic feet of ashlar,
rubble, and concrete were worked up in the piers, and 450,000 cubic
feet in the land-arches and approaches.
[Illustration: HIGH-LEVEL BRIDGE--ELEVATION OF ONE ARCH.]
PLAN OF ONE ARCH.]
The most novel feature of the structure is the use of cast and wrought
iron in forming the double bridge, which admirably combines the two
principles of the arch and suspension, the railway being carried
over the back of the ribbed arches in the usual manner, while the
carriage-road and footpaths, forming a long gallery or aisle, are
suspended from these arches by wrought-iron vertical rods, with
horizontal tie-bars to resist the thrust. The suspension-bolts are
inclosed within spandril pillars of cast iron, which give great
stiffness to the superstructure. This system of longitudinal and
vertical bracing has been much admired, for it not only accomplishes
the primary object of securing rigidity in the roadway, but at the
same time, by its graceful arrangement, heightens the beauty of the
structure. The arches consist of four main ribs, disposed in pairs,
with a clear distance between the two inner arches of 20 feet 4 inches,
forming the carriage-road, while between each of the inner and outer
ribs there is a space of 6 feet 2 inches, constituting the footpaths.
Each arch is cast in five separate lengths or segments, strongly bolted
together. The ribs spring from horizontal plates of cast iron, bedded
and secured on the stone piers. All the abutting joints were carefully
executed by machinery, the fitting being of the most perfect kind. In
order to provide for the expansion and contraction of the iron arching,
and to preserve the equilibrium of the piers without disturbance or
racking of the other parts of the bridge, it was arranged that the
ribs of every two adjoining arches resting on the same pier should be
secured to the springing-plates by keys and joggles; while on the next
piers, on either side, the ribs remained free, and were at liberty to
expand or contract according to temperature--a space being left for
the purpose. Hence each arch is complete and independent in itself, the
piers having simply to sustain their vertical pressure. The arches are
six in number, of 125 feet span each, the two approaches to the bridge
being formed of cast-iron pillars and bearers in keeping with the
arches.
The result is a bridge that for massive solidity may be pronounced
unrivaled. It is one of the most magnificent and striking of the
bridges to which railways have given birth, and has been worthily
styled "the King of railway structures." It is a monument of the
highest engineering skill of our time, with the impress of power
grandly stamped upon it. It will also be observed from the drawing
placed as the frontispiece to this Life, that the High-Level Bridge
forms a very fine object in a picture of great interest, full of
striking architectural variety and beauty. The bridge was opened on
the 15th of August, 1849. A few days after, the royal train passed
over it, halting for a few minutes to enable her majesty to survey the
wonderful scene below. In the course of the following year the queen
opened the extensive stone viaduct across the Tweed above described,
by which the last link was completed of the continuous line of railway
between London and Edinburg. Over the entrance to the Berwick station,
occupying the site of the once redoubtable Border fortress, so often
the deadly battle-ground of the ancient Scots and English, was erected
an arch under which the royal train passed, bearing in large letters of
gold the appropriate words, "_The last act of the Union_."
The warders at Berwick no longer look out from the castle walls to
descry the glitter of Southron spears. The bell-tower, from which the
alarm was sounded of old, though still standing, is deserted; the only
bell heard within the precincts of the old castle being the railway
porter's bell announcing the arrival and departure of trains. You see
the Scotch Express pass along the bridge and speed southward on the
wings of steam. But no alarm spreads along the Border now. Northumbrian
beeves are safe. Chevy Chase and Otterburn are quiet sheep-pastures.
The only men-at-arms on the battlements of Alnwick Castle are of stone.
Bamborough Castle has become an asylum for shipwrecked mariners, and
the Norman Keep at Newcastle has been converted into a Museum of
Antiquities. The railway has indeed consummated the Union.
FOOTNOTES:
[86] The original width of the coal tram-roads in the North virtually
determined the British gauge. It was the width of the ordinary
road-track--not fixed after any scientific theory, but adopted simply
because its use had already been established. George Stephenson
introduced it without alteration on the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway, and the lines subsequently formed in that district were laid
down of the same width. Stephenson from the first anticipated the
general extension of railways throughout England, and one of the ideas
with which he started was the essential importance of preserving such
a uniformity as would admit of perfect communication between them.
When consulted about the gauge of the Canterbury and Whitstable, and
Leicester and Swannington Railways, he said, "Make them of the same
width: though they may be a long way apart now, depend upon it they
will be joined together some day." All the railways, therefore, laid
down by himself and his assistants in the neighborhood of Manchester,
extending from thence to London on the south, and to Leeds on the east,
were constructed on the Liverpool and Manchester, or narrow gauge.
Besides the Great Western Railway, where the gauge adopted was seven
feet, the only other line on which a broader gauge than four feet
eight and a half inches was adopted was the Eastern Counties, where it
was five feet, Mr. Braithwaite, the engineer, being of opinion that
an increase of three and a half inches in the width of the line would
afford better space for the machinery of the locomotive. But when the
northern and eastern extension of the same line was formed, which was
to work into the narrow-gauge system of the Midland Railway, Robert
Stephenson, its new engineer, strongly recommended the directors of the
Eastern Counties Line to alter their gauge accordingly, for the purpose
of securing uniformity, and they adopted his recommendation.
[87] The atmospheric lines had for some time been working very
irregularly and very expensively. Robert Stephenson, in a letter to
Mr. T. Sopwith, F.R.S., dated the 8th of January, 1846, wrote: "Since
my return [from Italy] I have learned that your atmospheric friends
are very sickly. A slow typhus has followed the high fever I left
them in about three months ago. I don't anticipate, however, that the
patient will expire suddenly. There is every appearance of the case
being a protracted one, though a fatal termination is inevitable. When
the pipes are sold by auction, I intend to buy one and present it to
the British Museum." During the last half year of the atmospheric
experiment on the South Devon line in 1848, the expenditure exceeded
the gross income (£26,782) by £2487, or about 9-3/4 per cent. excess of
working expenses beyond the gross receipts.
[88] "When my father came about the office," said Robert, "he sometimes
did not well know what to do with himself. So he used to invite Bidder
to have a quiet wrestle with him, for old acquaintance sake. And the
two wrestled together so often, and had so many 'falls' (sometimes I
thought they would bring the house down between them), that they broke
half the chairs in my outer office. I remember once sending my father
in a joiner's bill of about £2 10_s._ for the mending of broken chairs."