So? 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCfllTECrS JOURNAL. 



[T)tscss!3s:t 



was a I)usy raihvay ensrineer bef(irc he knew Stcplienson, when he 

 helped liiin ti) the |>artnership with Losh, and for which James had 

 n fourtli siiare of tlio patent.' In lK2t, the fulness of time had 

 come; there was the time, and there were the men, and the 

 start was made. It is true, that all which mi^ht then Iiave 

 been done was not done — but tliere was a beginning : and in 

 1H35 Stephenson had shown his skill, and had greater weight 

 and name in the world, so that ho could push railways on — 

 or rather Iiinder them fi-om being lost sight of, as they might liave 

 been even then ; for there was no want of croakers — the backers of 

 pnnals were loud and strong, and the fear of railways beset all the 

 old women and womanish men tliroughout the land. 



Of the two men who have been named witli Stephenson — Trevi- 

 thick and Dodd — it has never been shown wliat a strange likeness 

 there was l)etween them in many things. This went so far, that 

 each had his tunnel under the Thames, Trevithick at Rotherhithe, 

 Dodd at Gravesend ; each had a patent for the locomotive engine ; 

 each left Stephenson to reap what good was to be got from it. 

 Dodd well knew Trevithick's works ; and, when Stephenson and 

 he met in 181.5, they must have talked about them ; but Dodd did 

 not feel strojig enough to set up as a great railway-maker. 



VIII. STOCKTON AND DARLINGTON RAILWAY. 



The Stockton and Darlington railway was one of our first great 

 railway works, but it is that as to which the least has been written. 

 Very little can therefore be said as to George Stephenson's share 

 in it ; though it is much to be wished we knew more about it, that 

 we might see tlie working of his mind in his early undertaking. 

 AV'hatever Stephenson undertook was, so far as he could, tho- 

 roughly done ; and he was always seeking for the best way. He 

 therefore, in making the Stockton and Darlington Railway, 

 brought into use many things which were quite new. 



Nicholas Wood, who could best have done it, says nothing of 

 the Stockton and Darlington Railway in his book.' Tredgold 

 does not seem to have seen it, though he names it.* Francis 

 AV'hishaw, in the "Analysis of Railways,"'" often names the Stock- 

 ton and Darlington Railway, and s])eaks about it at length in his 

 "Railways of Great Britain."" This, however, does not show it 

 as it first was ; and an eye-witness like Nicholas Wood, could ha\e 

 done m\ich for us. 



We have sought in the British Museum, without finding them, 

 Thomas Gray's " Observations on a General Iron Railway;" T. C. 

 Cummings' "Account of Railways;" Charles Silvester's " Report;" 

 and Jose])h Sandars's " Report." Most of what was written 

 between 1820 and 1S30, on the Stockton and Darlington, and 

 Liverpool and Manchester Railways, is not to be found in the 

 British Museum, as such things were not thought of any worth : 

 had they been a few sheets about a Greek play, they would have 

 liad a happier lot. 



In tliis day we know nothing of the men to whom, less than 

 thirty years ago, we were beholden for bringing forward our great 

 railway works. Some, as Joseph Sandars, R(d)ert William Brand- 

 ling, and Henry Bootli, still live; but many have sunk to the grave, 

 unknown and unthanked. Two books are wanted before it is too 

 late to learn all the truth, — the History of Railways, and the Lives 

 of Engineers. There are lives of ])oets, painters, doctors, and law- 

 yers, but not of engineers, beyond Smeaton, Brindley, Watt, and 

 Telford. Stuart has done the most in his " Anecdotes of the 

 Steam-engine." The Institution of Civil Engineers gives medals 

 for the lives of Trevithick, and others; but no one asks for them. 

 George Stephenson will not be forgotten by them ; and, before the 

 Institiition of Mechanical Engineers, a life of him was read by 

 John Scott Russell. 



Stephenson was about forty when he was first called on to be 

 .engineer to the Stockton and Darlington Railway. This could 

 hardly 1)0 named as more than a tramway ; and, although travellers 

 were carried by coach, it was only a coal line, made to draw the 

 coals from the pits in South Durham. Some of these pits belonged 

 to Messrs. Pease and Backhouse, members of the Society of 

 Friends, and powerful bankers. 



The Messrs. Pease were partners as bankers with the Liddells, 

 the owners of Killingworth Pit ; and this, perhaps, led to George 

 Stejihenson being named as engineer, so far away from his own 

 neiglibourhood. The Messrs. Pease thought so highly of Stephen- 

 son, that they afterwards found the money for a locomotive work- 

 shop, now known as that of Robert Stephenson and Co., of New- 

 castle. Tlie brothers and their children henceforth took a great 

 share in railways, not only in the north, but likewise in the mid- 



7 Communicated by J. C. Robertson, Esq., of the Mechanics' illagazine. 



8 Wood, on Railroads, 182.5. » Tredgoid, on Ballriiarts, 182.'), p. 20. 



10 Analysis of llailways. London, 1837. i ' Railways of Great ISritnin, p. 430. 



land, and they are still great holders in the northern lines. 

 Joseph Pease was a very great holder in the London and Birmint>-- 

 ham, in the Mancliester and Leeds, and otliers of Stephenson's 

 railways. Joseph Pease, his nephew, formerly M.P. for South 

 Durham, is now treasurer and deputy-chairman of the Stockton 

 and Darlington Railway, and treasurer of the Great North of 

 England, the Wear Valiey, and the Middlesborough and Redcar 

 Railways.'- Josej)]! Robinson Pease is deputy chairman of the 

 Hull and Selby Railway. John Pease and Ilem-y Pease are direc- 

 tors of the Stockton and Darlington iind other neighbouring 

 railways. 



The Backhouses are no longer on the Board of the Stockton 

 and Darlington Railway, hut Edward Backliouse is a director of, 

 the Durham and Sunderland Raihvay; and John Church Backhouse 

 of the Great North of England Railway. ' = 



The Meynells, of Yarm, took likewise a busy share in the 

 Stockton and Darlington Railway, as did the Hobarts of Etherly 

 Pit. Both are still directors. 



The main line was only twenty-two miles long, and was to ship 

 coals from the dale of the Tees, between Darling^ton and Stock- 

 ton. The money to he raised was only about a hundred thousand 

 pounds, and the Act was got in 18'-21. The works most likely began 

 in the next year. The first line was from from W^itto'n-park 

 colliery, to Stockton-on-Tees, and the money to be raised by 

 shares was 82,000/., and by loan, 20,0001. This was then thought 

 a great deal to be raised by the Peases, Liddells, and Backhouses, 

 who had it mostly on their own hands. In 1H48,'' the shares 

 were 275,000/., and the loans 170,000/.; and the shareholders leased 

 at G per cent, the ^Vear Valley Railway, which cost 140,000/.; and 

 the Middlesborough ami Redcar, which cost 70,000/.. The earliest 

 dividend on the shares of the Stockton and Darlington Railway 

 was 4 per cent. ; this rose to 11 percent., and afterwards to 14 per 

 cent. ; but it was lowered to 10 per cent., and 4 per cent, put by 

 as a sinking fund. These shares do not come into the market 

 now, but have been sold for more than 2(j0/. for a hundred pound 

 share. They are now in a few hands ; and .Mr. Tuck says, " The 

 directors refuse to publish any accounts whatever." 



The gauge of this railway vvas 4 ft. 8^ in., what is now named 

 the narrow or national gauge, which had been taken up as the 

 common width of wagon-wheels. The rails were at first 28 lb. to 

 the yard."' These were afterwards made 35 lb., and at length, 

 64 lb. They were fish-bellied,"^ on Jessop's plan, which was then 

 held better than parallel rails. Stephenson was in favour of 

 wrouglit-iron rails, and of Mr. Birkenshaw's system, as is shown 

 by a well- written report given in "Wood on Railroads, ' ' and one of 

 his earliest writings, printed after that on the safety lamp, here- 

 tofore named. In this,'^ he speaks of the non-rusting of wrought- 

 iron rails when kept in work, and of the rusting of unused 

 wrought-iron rails laid alongside ; but he gives no good reason for 

 this. He thinks that there is a change in the chemical condition 

 of the surface of the rail. The rails were laid under the patent 

 taken out with Mr. Losh, in 1816;"" but Nicholas Wood thought 

 that the chair might be so made as to get rid of the jolting where 

 the chairs were pinned together. This was, in 1829, done under a 

 patent of Messrs. Losh, Wilson, and Bell. 



Part of the rails were laid down on square blocks of wood,°° 

 and part on stone blocks. Nicholas W^ood'^' wrote recommending 

 the latter. Stephenson, perhaps, wished to get a smoother road 

 for the sake of his engines, v.hich had been one of his ends in his 

 patent with Losh. 'I'he old way of setting the blocks was by 

 mallets and shovels, beating the blocks till they came to the right 

 level ; but Stephenson set up another way, which is that now fol- 

 lowed. He had a portable lever, about twenty feet long, which 

 lifted up the block by the short end, about a foot high ; and by 

 letting it fall several times upon the coating of the road in the 

 intended seat, throwing at the same time gravel or fine sand under 

 it, made a solid bed for it. It is then set to its right level, 

 both lengthwise and crosswise, by squares and sights. -- 



Tlie line was fenced with hedge-rows over a greater part, which 

 was then rather a new kind of fencing.-" 



la Post Office ilaihvay Directory, 1848. 



13 Post Office Itaihvay Directory, 18)7, 1848. 



14 Tuck's Railivay Shapehnldcr's Mamial, p. 230. 



15 Hallways of Urcnt liritalii. by F. Whlshaw, p. 41.').— Nicholas Wood, Ist edition, 

 p. 70. — Ritchie, on Ildlways, p. 3iJ.~The wei^lit giveu iu tlie Analysis of R*ilivays, by 

 F. W'biahaw, p. 273, is, by error, slated as 35 lb. 



I'i Ritchie, on Railways, p. 3ti. l' Fir^ edition, 1825 



18 Wood on R;iilroad3. 1st edition, p. 6G. "> Wi.od, Ist edition, pp. 56, f!)!. 



20 Ritchie on Railroads, p. ,"i7. "' Wood on Railways, 1st edition, 



aa Ritchie, on Railways, p. lio.— This way was Srst hronitbt in by Georije Stephenson, 

 but it is uut sure wdicther vii the S.,oclilon and Darlinj/ton Uaibvay, or afterwprds. 

 23 Whishaw's Analysis of Hallways, p. 275. 



