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 of construction at the same time, progress 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 CHAP. XXVII.] THE YORK AND NORTH MIDLAND. 377 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 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 Normantona 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 CHAP. XXVII.] THE YORK AND NORTH MIDLAND. 377 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 He was so satisfied of its vaine, that, Irs and North Midland proprietors", ratuitous services as engineer until the n addition to subscribing largely to that meeting he took an opportunity te narges brought against engineers of so zemates:-" He had had a good deal ut the estimates of the North Midland eved there never was a more honest one. meavoured to state the truth as far as was I ad known a director, who, when he (Mr. ent in an estimate, came forward and sabi. if the money.' The director's estimate ament, but it came out his. He could go ist of the undertakings in which he had how that he had never had anything to res-oving concerns. He would say that he ncerned in any scheme, unless he was satis pay the proprietors; and in bringing forsei ine to Scarborough, he was satisfied that or he would have had nothing to do with it." ime numerous lines, constructed under Mr. irection, were completed and opened for The Sheffield and Rotherham Railway was test of November. 1838; the Birmingham and 2 ust. 1839, having been constructed in about in the parliamentary estimates; and in the te year 1840, the Midland, the York and North Chester and Crewe, the Chester and Birken- xn July, 1840. f the Chester and Birkenhead Company, held at Liverpool following circumstance, highly honourable to Mr. Ste y W. Jackson, Esq., the chairman of the Company: |