Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

first estimate of the cost of forming the railway according to the instructions of the directors, set down, as part of the cost, 62001. for stationary engines, not mentioning locomotives at all. The directors as yet confined their views to the employment only of horses for the haulage of the coals, and of 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 Mr. 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 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 upon paying a visit to Killingworth; and accordingly he proceeded thither, in company with his friend Mr. Thomas Richardson*, a considerable subscriber to the Stockton and Darlington project, in the summer of 1822.

When Mr. Pease arrived at Killingworth village, he in

*Mr. Richardson was the founder of the celebrated discount house of Richardson, Overend, and Gurney, in Lombard Street.

CHAP. XVI.] MR. PEASE VISITS KILLINGWORTH.

189

quired 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 -his second wife (Elizabeth Hindmarsh), the daughter of a farmer at Black Callerton, whom he had married in 1819. Her husband, she said, was not in the house at present, but she would send for him to the colliery. And in a short time Stephenson appeared before them in his working dress, just 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 waggons, he ran it along the railroad, and so thoroughly satisfied his visitors of its powers and capabilities, that from that day Edward Pease was a declared supporter of the locomotive engine. In preparing, in 1823, the Amended Stockton and Darlington Act, at Mr. 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; and Mr. Pease gave a further and still stronger proof of his conviction as to the practical value of the locomotive, by entering into a partnership with Mr. Stephenson, in the following year, for the establishment of a locomotive foundry and manufactory in the town of Newcastle-the northern centre of the English railroad system.

The second Stockton and Darlington Act was obtained in

The first clause in any railway act, empowering the employment of locomotive engines for the working of passenger traffic.

the session of 1823, not, however, without opposition, the Duke of Cleveland and the road trustees still appearing as the determined opponents of the bill. Nevertheless, the measure passed into law, Mr. Stephenson was appointed the company's engineer at a salary of 300l. per annum, and the works were now proceeded with as vigorously as possible.

CHAP. XVII.

COMPLETION AND OPENING OF THE STOCKTON AND DARLINGTON RAILWAY.

MR. STEPHENSON now proceeded with the working survey of the improved line of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, laying out every foot of the ground himself, accompanied by his assistants. Railway surveying was as yet in its infancy, and was very slow and deliberate work. Afterwards it became a separate branch of railway business, and was left to a special staff of surveyors. Indeed on no subsequent line did Mr. Stephenson take the sights through the spirit level with his own hands and eyes as he did on this railway. He would start very early in the morning, and survey until dusk. Mr. John Dixon, who assisted in the survey, mentions that he remembers on one occasion, after a long day's work near Aycliffe, when the light had completely failed them, the party separated-some to walk to Darlington, four miles off, Mr. Stephenson himself to the Simpasture farmhouse, where he had arranged to stay for the night; and his last stringent injunction was, that they must all be on the ground to resume levelling as soon as there was light enough for the purpose. "You must not," he said, "set off from Darlington by daybreak, for then we shall lose an hour; but you must be here, ready to begin work as soon as it is daylight."

Mr. Stephenson performed the survey in top-boots and breeches a usual dress at the time. He was not at any

took his chance of getting a drink of milk and a bit of bread at some cottager's house along the line, or occasionally joined in a homely dinner at some neighbouring farmhouse. 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 surplus humour for them as well as for their seniors.

After the day's work was over, Mr. Stephenson would drop in at Mr. Pease's, to talk over with him 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. "I know all about it," said he; "and you will wonder how I learnt it. I will tell you. When I was a brakesman at Killingworth, I learnt the art of embroidery while working the pitman'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 sometimes in the oddest and most outof-the-way places. Even at that early period, before he had 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 sometimes he would, in a casual remark, throw a flash of light upon a subject, which called up a whole 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 Mr. Stephenson's designs, had been made by ordinary

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »