CHAP. VI. MR. BLACKETT, OF WYLAM. 87 killed a number of the bystanders, wounding many more. These, and other contrivances with the same object, projected about the same time, show that invention was actively at work, and that many minds were now anxiously labouring to solve the important problem of locomotive traction upon railways. But the difficulties contended with by these early inventors, and the step-by-step progress which they made, will probably be best illustrated by the experiments conducted by Mr. Blackett, of Wylam, which are all the more worthy of notice, as the persevering efforts of this gentleman in a great measure paved the way for the labours of George Stephenson, who, shortly after, took up the question of steam locomotion, and brought it to a successful issue. The Wylam waggon-way is one of the oldest in the north of England. Down to the year 1807 it was formed of wooden spars or rails, laid down between the colliery at Wylam-where old Robert Stephenson had worked-and the village of Lemington, some four miles down the Tyne, where the coals were loaded into keels or barges, and floated down the river past Newcastle, to be shipped for the London market. Each chaldronwaggon was originally drawn by one horse, with a man to each horse and waggon. The rate at which the waggons were hauled was so slow that only two journeys were performed by each man and horse in one day, and three on the day following, the driver being allowed sevenpence for each journey. This primitive waggon-way passed, as before stated, close in front of the cottage in which George Stephenson was born; and one of the earliest sights which met his infant eyes was this wooden tramroad worked by horses. Mr. Blackett was the first colliery owner in the North who took an active interest in the locomotive. Having formed the acquaintance of Trevithick in London, and inspected the performances of his engine, he determined 88 MR. BLACKETT, OF WYLAM, CHAP. VI. to repeat the Pen-y-darran experiment upon the Wylam waggon-way. He accordingly obtained from Trevithick, in October, 1804, a plan of his engine, provided with "friction-wheels," and employed Mr. John Whinfield, of Pipewellgate, Gateshead, to construct it at his foundry there. The engine was constructed under the superintendence of one John Steele,' an ingenious mechanic, who had been in Wales, and worked under Trevithick in fitting the engine at Pen-y-darran. When the Gateshead locomotive was finished, a temporary way was laid down in the works, on which it was run backwards and forwards many times. For some reason or other, however it is said because the engine was deemed too light for drawing the coal-trains-it never left the works, but was dismounted from the wheels, and set to blow the cupola of the foundry, in which service it was employed for many years. Several years elapsed before Mr. Blackett took any further steps to carry out his idea. The final abandonment of Trevithick's locomotive at Pen-y-darran perhaps contributed to deter him from proceeding further; but he had the wooden tramway taken up in 1808, and a plate-way of cast-iron laid down instead a single line 1 John Steele was one of the many "born mechanics" of the Northumberland district. When a boy at Colliery Dykes, his native place, he was noted for his "turn for machinery." He used to take his playfellows home to see and admire his imitations of pit-engines. While a mere youth he lost his leg by an accident; and those who remember him at Whinfield's speak of his hopping about the locomotive, of which he was very proud, upon his wooden leg. It was a great disappointment to him when Mr. Blackett refused to take the engine. One day he took a friend to look at it when reduced to its degraded office of blowing the cupola bellows; and, referring to the cause of its rejection, he observed that he was certain it would succeed, if made sufficiently heavy. "Our master," he continued, "will not be at the expense of following it up; but depend upon it the day will come when such an engine will be fairly tried, and then it will be found to answer." Steele was afterwards extensively employed by the British Government in raising sunken ships; and later in life he established engine-works at Rouer, where he made marine-engines for the French Government. He was unfortunately killed by the explosion of an engine-boiler (with the safety-valve of which something had gone wrong), when upon an experimental trip with one of the steamers fitted up by himself, and while on his way to England to visit his family near Newcastle. CHAP. VI. MR. BLACKETT'S WYLAM ENGINE. 89 furnished with sidings to enable the laden waggons to pass the empty ones. The new iron road proved so much smoother than the old wooden one, that a single horse, instead of drawing one laden waggon, was now enabled to draw two, or even three waggons. Encouraged by the success of Mr. Blenkinsop's experiment, Mr. Blackett eventually determined to follow his example; and in 1812 he ordered a second engine, to work with a toothed driving wheel upon a rack-rail as at Leeds. This locomotive was constructed by Thomas Waters, of Gateshead, under the superintendence of Jonathan Foster, Mr. Blackett's principal engine-wright. It was a combination of Trevithick's and Blenkinsop's engines; but it was of a more awkward construction than either. The boiler was of cast-iron. The engine was provided with a with a single cylinder six inches in diameter, with a flywheel working at one side to carry the crank over the dead points. Jonathan Foster described it to the author in 1854, as "a strange machine, with lots of pumps, cog-wheels, and plugs, requiring constant attention while at work." The weight of the whole was about six tons. When finished, it was conveyed to Wylam on a waggon, and there mounted upon a wooden frame supported by four pairs of wheels, which had been constructed for its reception. A barrel of water, placed on another frame upon wheels, was attached to it as a tender. After a great deal of labour, the cumbrous machine was got upon the road. At first it would not move an inch. Its maker, Tommy Waters, became impatient, and at length enraged, and taking hold of the lever of the safety valve, declared in his desperation, that either she or he should go." At length the machinery was set in motion, on which, as Jonathan Foster described to the author, "she flew all to pieces, and it was the biggest wonder i' the world that we were not all blown up." The incompetent and useless 90 ANOTHER WYLAM ENGINE TRIED. CHAP. VI. engine was declared to be a failure; it was shortly after dismounted and sold; and Mr. Blackett's praiseworthy efforts thus far proved in vain. He was still, however, desirous of testing the practicability of employing locomotive power in working the coal down to Lemington, and he determined on making yet another trial. He accordingly directed his enginewright, Jonathan Foster, to proceed with the building of a third engine in the Wylam workshops. This new locomotive had a single eight-inch cylinder, was provided with a flywheel like its predecessor, and the driving wheel was cogged on one side to enable it to travel in the rack-rail laid along the road. This engine proved more successful than the former one; and it was found capable of dragging eight or nine loaded waggons, though at the rate of little more than a mile an hour, from the colliery to the shipping-place. It sometimes took six hours, as Jonathan Foster informed us, to perform the journey of five miles. Its weight was found too great for the road, and the cast-iron plates were constantly breaking. It was also very apt to get off the rack-rail, and then it stood still. The driver was one day asked how he got on? "Get on?" said he, we don't get on; we only get off!" On such occasions, horses had to be sent out to drag along the waggons as before, and others to haul the engine back to the workshops. It was constantly getting out of order; its plugs, pumps, or cranks, got wrong; it was under repair as often as at work; at length it became so cranky that the horses were usually sent out after it to drag it along when it gave up; and the workmen generally declared it to be a "perfect plague." Mr. Blackett did not obtain credit amongst his neighbours for these experiments. Many laughed at his machines, regarding them only in the light of crotchets,—frequently quoting the proverb of "a fool and his money.' Others regarded them as absurd innovations on the 66 CHAP. VI. WILLIAM HEDLEY'S EXPERIMENTS. 91 established method of hauling coal; and pronounced that they would "never answer." Notwithstanding, however, the comparative failure of this second locomotive, Mr. Blackett persevered with his experiments. He was zealously assisted by Jonathan Foster, the engine-wright, and William Hedley, the viewer of Wylam Colliery. The latter was a highly ingenious person, and proved of great use in carrying out the experiments to a successful issue. One of the chief causes of failure being the rack-rail, the idea occurred to him that it might be possible to secure sufficient adhesion between the wheel and the rail by the mere weight of the engine, and he proceeded to make a series of experiments for the purpose of determining this problem. He had a frame placed on four wheels, and fitted up with windlasses attached by gearing to the several wheels. The frame having been properly weighted, six men were set to work the windlasses; when it was found that the adhesion of the smooth wheels on the smooth rails was quite sufficient to enable them to propel the machine without slipping. Having thus found the proportion which the power bore to the weight, he demonstrated by successive experiments that the weight of the engine would of itself produce sufficient adhesion to enable it to draw upon a smooth railroad the requisite number of waggons in all kinds of weather. And thus was the fallacy which had heretofore prevailed on this subject completely exploded, and it was satisfactorily proved that rack-rails, toothed wheels, endless chains, and legs, were alike unnecessary for the efficient traction of loaded waggons upon a moderately level road.' From this time forward considerably less difficulty was experienced in working the coal trains upon the Wylam tramroad. At length the rack-rail was dis 1 Mr. Holley took out a patent to secure his invention, dated the 13th March, 1813. Specification No. 3666. |