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"girded" at Mr. Brunel and his high velocities, there is no doubt that the determination of the latter had the effect of spurring on the Stephensons to exert their ingenuity to the utmost in perfecting the narrow-gauge locomotive, and bringing it to the highest possible rate of speed. By the year 1845, Mr. Robert Stephenson had been enabled to construct the fastest locomotive that had yet run upon any railway,

which performed the forty

the celebrated "A" engine, five miles between York and Darlington, with a train of seven carriages behind it, in about forty-seven minutes!

Mr. Stephenson's evidence before the Select Committee of 1841 bore chiefly upon the safer working of railways, and the means by which they might be improved. One of his suggestions was to the effect that a system of self-acting brakes should be. adopted, so that a train might be more speedily and effectually stopped than by the ordinary system. He himself, he stated, had invented for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway a carriage-brake, which he had not patented, although, he understood, a patent for a similar machine had since been taken out. He proposed to fix to every carriage a brake so constructed that, on the moving power of the engine being taken off, every carriage should be brought into a state of sledge, and the rolling motion of the wheels thus interrupted. Mr. Stephenson would also have these brakes worked by the guard, by means of a connecting lever running along the whole of the carriages, by which they should at one and the same time be thrown out of gear. He also suggested, as an additional means of safety, that the signals should be self-acting, and worked by the engines as they passed along the line.

In opposing the views of the fast school of engineers, as to the alteration of the gauge, the employment of atmospheric pressure, the formation of " undulating" lines, and the increase of speed, Mr. Stephenson was actuated by a just regard

to the commercial part of the question. He had no desire to build up a reputation at the expense of railway shareholders, nor to obtain engineering éclat by making "ducks and drakes" of their money. He was persuaded that, in order to secure the practical success of railways, they must be so laid out as not only to prove of decided public utility, but also to be worked economically and to the advantage of their proprietors. They were not government roads, but private ventures, in fact, commercial speculations. He therefore endeavoured to render them commercially profitable; and he repeatedly declared that if he did not believe they could be "made to pay" he would have nothing to do with them. He frequently refused to act as the engineer for lines which he thought would not prove remunerative, or when he considered the estimates too low. He was not ambitious to be thought a railway genius, but rather to be regarded as the engineer of useful and profitable railways; and the success which attended his arrangements fully proved the solidity of his judgment in this respect.

* In his evidence on the Great Western Bill, Mr. Stephenson said, “I made out an estimate for the Hartlepool Railway, which they returned on account of its being too high, but I declined going to Parliament with a lower estimate." Another engineer was employed. Then again, "I was consulted about a line from Edinburgh to Glasgow. The directors chalked out a line and sent it to me, and I told them I could not support it in that case." Another engineer was consequently employed to carry out the line which Mr. Stephenson could not conscientiously advocate.

413

CHAP. XXX.

MR. STEPHENSON'S PARTIAL RETIREMENT FROM THE PROFESSION PUBLIC RECOGNITION OF HIS SERVICES

AUTOBIOGRAPHIC SKETCHES.

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THE more laborious part of Mr. Stephenson's career in connection with railways was now over; and he frequently expressed a desire to retire from its troubles and anxieties into private life. At Blackburn, in 1840, he publicly intimated his intention of retiring from the more active pursuit of his profession; and, shortly after, he proceeded to resign the charge of several of the railways of which he was the chief engineer. He was succeeded, on the Midland and York systems, by his son Robert; on the Chester lines, by Mr. John Dixon; on the Manchester and Leeds lines, by Mr. Hawkshaw; and on the other railways, chiefly by his own pupils all of whom, from his son downwards, did him honour.

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He had removed his home from Alton Grange to Tapton House, in August 1838; but the extent of his railway engagements had, up to this time, prevented his enjoyment of its comforts and retirement. Tapton House is a large, roomy brick mansion, beautifully situated amidst woods, upon a commanding eminence, about a mile to the north-east of the town of Chesterfield. Green fields dotted with fine trees slope away from the house in all directions. The surrounding country is exceedingly varied and undulating. North and south the eye ranges over a vast extent of lovely scenery; and on the west, looking over the town of Chesterfield, with its fine church and crooked spire, the extensive range of the

Derbyshire hills bounds the distance. The Midland Railway skirts the western edge of the park in a deep rock cutting, and the shrill whistle of the locomotive sounds near at hand as the trains speed past. The gardens and pleasure grounds adjoining the house were in a very neglected state when Mr. Stephenson first went to Tapton; and he promised himself, when he had secured rest and leisure from business, that he would put a new face upon both. The first improvement he made, was in cutting a woodland footpath up the hillside, by which he at the same time added a beautiful feature to the park, and secured a shorter road to the Chesterfield station. But it was some years before he found time to carry into effect his contemplated improvements in the adjoining gardens and pleasure grounds.

He was a man of so active a temperament, had so long been accustomed to laborious pursuits, and felt himself still so full of work, that he could not at once settle down into the habit of quietly enjoying the fruits of his industry. There was, as we have seen, almost a complete lull in the railway world towards the end of 1837, principally caused by the monetary pressure; and this continued for several years. He had, for some time previously, been turning over in his mind the best mode of employing the facilities which railways afforded for the transport of coals to profitable markets; and after careful consideration, he determined to enter as a master miner into the trade with which he had been familiar from his boyhood. Accordingly, early in 1838, conjointly with other parties, he had entered on a lease of the Clay Cross estate, for the purpose of working the coal which was known to exist there. He had an impression that a ready sale might be found for this coal at the stations of the Midland and London and Birmingham Railways, as far even as London itself. He invited, one day, to his house at Tapton a small party of gentlemen, consisting of Mr. Glyn, Sir Joshua Walmsley,

Mr. Hudson, and Mr. Sandars, to take their opinion as to the qualities of the Derbyshire coal for household purposes. The coals were heaped upon the fire, and they burned so well, that all the gentlemen concurred in the opinion that a ready sale might be expected for coals of such a quality. Thus encouraged, sinking operations were commenced, a rich bed of coal was found, and the mineral was sent to market. The article, however, would not sell in the districts of the Midland Counties, where the people had been accustomed to use the Staffordshire coal, which is a much freer burning coal,- though of this the above gentlemen, who had been accustomed only to the use of bituminous coal, such as that of the Clay Cross colliery, were not aware when they so decidedly pronounced their opinion as to the saleable qualities of the latter. Then, the heavy tolls imposed upon coal by the Midland Railway Companies at that early period, so enhanced the price of the article when conveyed to any considerable distance, that its sale in the metropolis, on which Mr. Stephenson had in a great measure relied, also proved a comparative failure. For some years, therefore, the Clay Cross undertaking did not prove successful; and it was not until new lines of railway had been made between the north and the south, and the tolls on coal were considerably reduced, that the owners of the colliery reaped the fruits of their enterprise.

Mr. Stephenson was not merely satisfied with the Clay Cross venture; but in 1841, he entered into a contract with the owners of land in the townships of Tapton, Brimington, and Newbold, for the purpose of the whole of the coal thereunder, and commenced mining operations there also on an extensive scale. At the same time, he erected great limeworks close to the Ambergate station of the Midland Railway, from which, when in full operation, he was able to turn out upwards of 200 tons a day. The limestone was brought

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