was the first to point out, and, to some extent, to prove the practicability of establishing a profitable coal trade by railway between the northern counties and the metropolis. Since his time, his prediction has to a great extent been fulfilled, both on the Midland and the Great Northern Railways. The quantity of coal brought by railways to London, in 1855, from the Durham, Yorkshire, and other northern collieries, amounting to upwards of a million of tons. The Great Northern carried 547,602; the Midland and Northwestern, 339,656; the Eastern Counties, 145,327; and the Great Western, 80,950 tons.

About the same time that Mr. Stephenson entered upon his lease of the Colliery at Clay Cross, he took up his abode at Tapton House, near Chesterfield, which continued his home until the close of his life. It was a central point on the Midland Railway, from which he could proceed north, south, and west in his superintendence of the four important lines which were in progress of construction at the same time, the Midland, the York and North Midland, the Birmingham and Derby, and the Manchester and Leeds Railways.

The York and North Midland line extended from Normanton-a point on the Midland Railway-to York; it was a line of easy formation, traversing a comparatively level country. The inhabitants of Whitby, as well as York, were busy projecting railways as early as 1832; and in the year following, Whitby succeeded in obtaining a horse line of twenty-four miles, connecting it with the small market town of Pickering. The York citizens were more ambitious, and agitated the question of a locomotive line to connect them with the town of Leeds. A company was formed in 1833, and Mr. George Rennie was called upon to survey the line. About the same time, however, other engineers-Mr. Walker, Mr. Cundy, and Mr. Gibbs-were severally engaged in getting up the surveys of a direct main line from London to

York. The local committee were perplexed by the conflicting views of the engineers, and at length called to their assistance Mr. George Stephenson, who had already been consulted by the provisional committee of the Midland Company as to the best line from Derby to Leeds. He recommended the York gentlemen to adapt their railway to that proposed line of communication, and they embraced his views. The company was formed, the shares were at once subscribed for, and Mr. Stephenson appointed his pupil and assistant, Mr. Swanwick, to lay out the line in October, 1835. The act was obtained in the following year, and the works were constructed without any difficulty under the superintendence of Mr. Cabrey, another of Mr. Stephenson's pupils and assistants, brought up under his own eyes in the Killingworth workshops.

As the best proof of his conviction that the York and North Midland would prove a good investment, Mr. Stephenson invested in it a considerable portion of his savings, being a subscriber for 420 shares; and he also took some trouble in persuading several wealthy gentlemen in London and elsewhere to purchase shares in the concern. The interest thus taken in the line by the engineer was on more than one occasion specially mentioned by Mr. Hudson, then Lord Mayor of York, as an inducement to other persons of capital to join the undertaking; and had it not afterwards been encumbered and overlaid by comparatively useless, and therefore profitless branches, in the projection of which Mr. Stephenson had no part, the sanguine expectations which he early formed of the paying qualities of the line would have been even more than realised.

There was one branch, however, of the York and North Midland line in which he took an anxious interest, and of which he may be pronounced the projector- the branch to Scarborough; which proved to be one of the most profitable

parts of the railway. He was so satisfied of its value, that, at a meeting of the York and North Midland proprietors *, he volunteered his gratuitous services as engineer until the company was formed, in addition to subscribing largely to the undertaking. At that meeting he took an opportunity of referring to the charges brought against engineers of so greatly exceeding the estimates: "He had had a good deal to do with making out the estimates of the North Midland Railway, and he believed there never was a more honest one. He had always endeavoured to state the truth as far as was in his power. He had known a director, who, when he (Mr. Stephenson) had sent in an estimate, came forward and said, I can do it for half the money.' The director's estimate went into Parliament, but it came out his. He could go through the whole list of the undertakings in which he had been engaged, and show that he had never had anything to do with stock-jobbing concerns. He would say that he would not be concerned in any scheme, unless he was satisfied that it would pay the proprietors; and in bringing forward the proposed line to Scarborough, he was satisfied that it would pay, or he would have had nothing to do with it."

About this time numerous lines, constructed under Mr. Stephenson's direction, were completed and opened for public traffic. The Sheffield and Rotherham Railway was opened on the 1st of November, 1838; the Birmingham and Derby in August, 1839, having been constructed in about two years, within the parliamentary estimates; and in the course of the year 1840, the Midland, the York and North Midland, the Chester and Crewe, the Chester and Birkenhead †, the Manchester and Birmingham, the Manchester

* Held at York in July, 1840.

† At a meeting of the Chester and Birkenhead Company, held at Liverpool in October, 1845, the following circumstance, highly honourable to Mr. Stephenson, was related by W. Jackson, Esq., the chairman of the Company:

and Leeds, and the Maryport and Carlisle Railways, were all publicly opened in whole or in part. Thus 321 miles of railway constructed under Mr. Stephenson's superintendence, at a cost of upwards of cleven millions sterling, were, in the course of about two years, added to the traffic accommodation of the country.

The ceremonies which accompanied the public opening of these lines were often of an interesting character. The adjoining population held general holiday; bands played, banners waved, and assembled thousands cheered the passing trains amidst the occasional booming of cannon. The proceedings were usually wound up by a public dinner; and on such occasions Mr. Stephenson would often revert to his favourite topic—the difficulties which he had early encountered in the establishment of the railway system, and in proving, to the satisfaction of the public, the superiority of the locomotive. At the dinner which followed the opening

"When this railway was first projected, or rather when a railway was first projected between Chester and Birkenhead, the Company failed in their efforts to get a bill. Mr. George Stephenson was the engineer. When the second measure was taken up, he was also the Company's engineer, as it was understood that the same engineer and the same surveyors should be employed, and that in the event of the bill being carried, they should receive their costs for the defeated measure. To several parties their costs were paid. Mr. George Stephenson's amounted to 800l., and he very nobly said, You have had an expensive career in Parliament; you have had a great struggle; you are a young Company; you cannot afford to pay me this amount of money; I will reduce it to 2001., and I will not ask you for that 2007. until your shares are at 201. premium; for, whatever may be the reverses you will go through, I am satisfied I shall live to see the day when I can legally and honourably claim that 200l., when your shares will be at 201. premium.' The time had now arrived when Mr. Stephenson's foreboding proved true. selling at 60 in the market, and the new ones were at a high premium, and he (the chairman) thought, that in asking for a vote of 500l. for conduct so noble, he was asking only for what was amply due. He left the matter in the hands of the proprietors." The proprietors immediately voted the full amount of 8007., stated by the chairman as due to Mr. Stephenson.

The shares were

of the Sheffield and Rotherham line, the Earl Fitzwilliam presided, and most of the notable personages of the district, including the Master Cutler, were present, and made speeches. When Mr. Stephenson's turn came to speak, he could not resist the opportunity of contrasting the recent success of railways with the obstacles which had early beset them, and the now proved efficiency of the locomotive with the former dismal prophecies of its failure. "He ventured to say that he might lay claim to some credit for what he had done with respect to locomotive engines. He had now fought their battles for twenty-five years, and for more than twenty years of that time single-handed. Though all other engineers had been against him, he still persevered. The most severe trials which he had to go through were in going to Parliament, where he had the barristers to encounter. When they put him into the witness-box, they generally looked about to measure their man. He was quite aware that they had certain tools to work with if he was not a good witness. They did not care a pin about a locomotive engine; their object was to put him off his guard, and then they could bring him down. He must say, that he had gone into the witness-box many and many a time with the utmost possible reluctance. The only thing which gave him courage was, that he knew he had nothing but truth to state. He knew enough of mechanics to know where to stop. He knew that a pound would weigh a pound, and that more should not be put upon a line than it would bear. He never was an advocate for unfavourable gradients - he wanted low levels. They had been passing that day upon a beautiful low level, and it was in a situation where no low level line would ever be brought to compete with it.”

Mr. Stephenson always took great pleasure in alluding to the services rendered to himself and the public by the young men brought up under his eye-his pupils at first, and after