Beginning of Locomotive i 5 



that a colliery owner in Durham bought 

 one of Trevithick's engines because he was 

 so impressed with what he had heard and 

 probably seen. Yet, when it got there, the 

 enterprising colliery proprietor was per- 

 suaded to let it stand idle. His subordinates 

 told him dreadful tales of what they had 

 heard of broken tramways. But Trevithick's 

 engine in the north started a train of 

 events, of which the last has not yet been 

 seen. It started George Stephenson on 

 the road to locomotive building, and when 

 this great pioneer had achieved a fairly 

 satisfactory engine, he looked around for 

 railways upon which it could be employed. 

 Thus from the useless locomotive of 

 Richard Trevithick's design, standing idle 

 in a Durham colliery yard, came the 

 Stockton and Darlington Railway, and from 

 this came the whole network of British 

 railways, which so quickly began to cover 

 the countrv. 



w 



Not only were railways built throughout 

 Great Britain, but other countries, and 

 particularly the U.S. A., were quick to seize 



