18SG.] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 141 



engines. While tliis railway was under construction, other ]ii'(i- 

 jects were being agitated, and, in IS'-iO, the JStockton and Dar- 

 lington Kailway was chartered, and Mr. George Stephenson ap- 

 pointed engineer. The line was intended for horse power, but 

 he had the charter amended so that it would permit the "passage 

 upon it of wagons and other carriages with men and horses, or 

 otherwise," which proved to mean a locomotive. The great 

 event was the opening of this railway on September 27, 1825, 

 Stephenson on the "otherwise." To this were attached six 

 ^oods wagons loaded with flour; then tiie first passenger cai-, the 

 " Experiment," occupied by the officials of the road; and then 

 twenty-one coal wagons crowded Avith people. An outrider on 

 horseback with a flag started ahead of the train to pilot, and 

 warn people to keep off the track. The train started with great 

 eclat, the banks were lined with people waving handkerchiefs, 

 and many on horseback following the train. No wonder the 

 sturdy engineer, who had overcome opposition at every hand, felfc 

 the enthusiasm of the moment, and calling to the outrider " to 

 get out of the way" applied more steam, and soon distanced the 

 horsemen, and left them in a dazed condition. This was the 

 great step in tJie jjrogress of steam locomotion. 



The locomotive used on this occasion was called tlie Loco- 

 motion, and is still preserved. In 1883, it was sent to this coun- 

 try, and exhibited at the National Exposition of Railway 

 Appliances, held in Chicago, 111., and then returned to England. 



The Liverpool and Manchester railway, with Mr. George 

 Stephenson as Chief Engineer, was pushing forward, and on 

 April 15, 1829, offered a premium of £500 for the best loco- 

 motive, not to exceed six tons in weight, and able to draw 

 three times its own weight, and burn its own smoke. The 

 " Rocket," the "Novelty," the " Sans Pareil,"and the "Perse- 

 verance " Avere entered. 



The Rocket was built by Messrs. R. Stephenson & Co., which 

 was really Mr. George Stephenson and his son Robert. The 

 Novelty was built by Messrs. Brathwaite & Ericsson, the latter 

 of Monitor fame and now residing in this city, in the 83d year of 

 his age, and still busy with important inventions. The leaking of 

 pipes led Mr. Ericsson to withdraw the Novelty from competition 

 for the prize. Mr. Timothy Hockworth entered the Sans Pareil 

 and Mr. Burstall the Perseverance. 



The Rocket won the prize. Alterations were made in it after 

 the trial, and it is now in the South Kensington Museum. 



The Rocket combined, for the first time in one locomotive, the 

 essentials of success, viz., the multitubular boiler and the blast 

 •of the exhaust steam. 



During this time, in the United States, many charters had been 



