1849.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



207 



much indebted for this gre.nt step in the progress of tlie loco- 

 motive, no less than for his other railway inventions. 



Tlirough tlie disgraceful patent laws of tliis country, Henry 

 Booth had no protection for this invention, and no reward. The 

 invention was at once taken up by every engine-builder through- 

 out the world, and applied to thousands of engines. It is needless 

 to sav that the English paidianient have never given Bootli one 

 penny. It is not our way in this country to reward deser\ing men, 

 unless we cannot help it. 



Accidents hajipened to Braithwaite and Ericcson's Novelty, and 

 to Hack« orth's Suiis Piireil, so that further time was lost. On the 

 8th, the Jioclxct had its last trial ; on tlie lOtli the Novr/t;/ had one 

 ti'ial, and on the 14-th another; and on the l.'Uli the Sans Pareil 

 was tried. These two latter met with several mishaps, though the 

 Noveltij ))romised well. Thus the Rocket carried the day. By way 

 of an end, the Rocket made two trips at "the astonishing rate of 

 3,5 miles an hour."^' 



The Rocket engine was for some time worked on the railway, but 

 in 1837 sold to James Thompson, Esq., of Kirkhouse, Cumberland, 

 the lessee of the Earl of Carlisle's coal and lime works. It there 

 wcn-ked for five or six years on the Midgeholme traniwaj-, and car- 

 ried an express with the state of the poll, when Major Aglionby 

 beat Sir James Graham. It did a speed of nearly sixty miles an 

 hour. It was lately in the yard at Kirkhouse.^^ If we had in this 

 commercial and manufacturing country a national museum, as they 

 have at Paris, of Arts and Trades, then the Rocket engine would 

 perhaps be preserved in it, as it deserves to be. 



The result of the struggle was decided in favour of Stephen- 

 son, and on the 2Sth March 1830, the directors reported they had 

 six locomotives on the line, and four others being built — two by 

 Robert Stephenson and Co., and two by Braithwaite and Ericsson. 

 Of the Novelty, they say that on the 26th January, they had wit- 

 nessed a fair experiment with it, and "the performance was such 

 as, in the opinion of the directors, to justify their ordering two 

 larger engines on the same principle, which will enable them to 

 obtain for this machine the most complete and satisfactory trial.''^" 

 In 18.39, it was said the locomotives were so costly, the directors 

 were going to give them up and use horses. The directors thought 

 it needful to answer tliis in tlieir report dated 23rd January 1833. 

 On the 24th July they report that Mr. John Dixon, the company's 

 resident engineer, had substituted brass tubes for copper, thereby 

 making a gi'eat saving. 



The success of the locomotive was very much owing to the 

 staunch and steady endeavours of Mr. Sandai's and his friends, who 

 fought its battles for so many years. 



XIX. Stephenson's other works. 



As the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and the Locomotive 

 sti'uggle, stand forth as two of tlie greatest things in the latter 

 half of Stephenson's life, so it seems right to give to them more 

 room. They took, however, but a share in his works. 



In 1824, he was employed on a line from Birmingham to the 

 north, since known as the Grand Junction, and made by Mr. 

 Locke. It was then called the Liverpool and Birmingham Rail- 

 way.^" 



He was .afterwards employed on a London and Birmingham line, 

 In wliicli his son Robert succeeded him, and carried it out.^^ 



Another early line was one from Chester to Birmingham. Of 

 this he said,^'- "He remembered the time when he had to accom- 

 pany some directors of a line projected from Chester to Birming- 

 ham; and on coming to Nantwich, to get the consent of some 

 landowners, they told them, when they came into the house, the 

 canal proprietors had been before them; and it appeared, that to 

 poison their minds, the canal proprietors had told tliese land- 

 owners, that if a bird flew over the district when the locomotive 

 passed, it would drop down dead. [Laughter.] Judge his disgust, 

 when he knew that the locomotive would give sucli benefits to 

 England and the world at large." This was the beginning of the 



2 7 Stephenson and Locke's Report, p. 79. 



2 8 Carlisle Journal ; Leicestershire Mercury, August 19, 184S. 

 29 See likewise Booth's H story, p. 84. 



3 Report on the Liverpool and Birmingham Railway, Au^. 18'.?4, by George Stephen- 

 son. (In the Library of the Institution of Civil Engineer.^.} A Statement of the 



Ul.iim of the Subscribers to the Birmingham and Liverpool ':tailroad to an AlI of Piirlia- 

 nient, ill Reply to the Opposition of the Canal Proprietors. London : Bahlwin, 18L'i. 



(This is dated 20 Dec. 1824. and contains the Prospectus.) Aris's Gazette, Dec. LHh, 



1824, &c. — — W'hishaw's Railways of Great Britain, p. 157. 



3 1 Beware the Bobbles. London, 18.il, p.. "1.5. Probable Effects of a Railway be- 

 tween London and birminghain. London, Rodi<e and Varty, Ipal. Conveyance upon 



CaiialH and ItaiUvays Compared, by Detector, 1831. Remarks on London and Bir- 

 mingham Railway, by Investigator. London, Hicijards, 1830. Answer to Investigator, 



by C. H. Capper. Birmingham, 1831.— (All these are in the Library of the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers.; , 



-2 Speech tit Tamworth. 



Chester and Crewe railway, which he made." He likewise made, 

 in continuation of the latter, the Chester and Birkenhead Rail- 

 way.^^ 



In 1830, the Manchester and Leeds Railway was first proposed." 

 The committee applied to Mr. Walker and to Stephenson. Tlie 

 plan of the latter was preferred. In 1831 the act was asked for 

 and lost. In 1835 the plan was again brought forward, and a new 

 survey made, in which Mr. Francis Whishaw assisted, and likewise 

 Mr. Bidder. In 183G the act was obtained. 



Stephenson surveyed and constructed the York and North Mid- 

 land Railway. ^"^ This brought him into friendship and partner- 

 ship with Mr. George Hudson, and they afterwards engaged in the 

 Claycross Collieries and Limeworks. 



In 1830, Stephenson was engaged in several undertakings, but 

 his reputation was contested in many of the pamphlets of the day, 

 on the ground of want of experience. 



From this time till 1835, he was busily engaged in railways, till 

 in the latter year of speculation he was at tlie height of employ- 

 ment. Many of the plans failed, and have been long since forgot- 

 ten. 



In 1835 he was employed on the Birmingham and Derby.= ' At 

 this time were his London and Brighton Railw.ty,'^ the Maryport 

 and Carlisle Railway,^'-' and the North JMidland Railway.*" 



The \Vhitby and Pickering Railway was a small work of Ste- 

 phenson's in 1832." 



Except the London and Brighton line, the others were worked 

 out by him. He was likewise engaged on the Morecambe Bay or 

 'S^'est Cumberland Railway.^- * 



The Manchester South' Union or Trent Valley was planned by 

 him,^^ and also the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. Tlie High 

 Level Bridge at Newcastle was one of his greatest designs, and he 

 lived to see it far advanced. It will be surmounted with a statue 

 of him. He surveyed a South-Western Railway from Bristol and 

 Exeter to Hook Pit," and tlie Manchester and 'Birmingham Rail- 

 way.*^ 



Robert Stephenson had been from time to time taking a greater 

 share in the engineering business, until at length, in 1840, George 

 Stephenson withdrew altogether. 



He h.ad before this been invited to Belgium with his son, to give 

 his o]iinion on the Belgian government railways, and King Leo- 

 pold conferred on each the cross of his order of knighthood. 



George Stephenson now had considerable wealth, and large I'ni- 

 fits from his engineering practice and locomotive f.ictory. He w;is 

 a great coalowner at Claycross, and in Leicestershire, near the 

 Leicester and Swannington Railway;* ° and it was very much owing 

 to his exertions that the working of coal*' and lime in the mid- 

 land counties has become so extensive. He was in favour of bring- 

 ing coals by railway to London, but his plans have not been fully 

 carried out. 



At Tapton, near Chesterfield, in Derbyshire, was the seat of his 

 abode in latter years, and he gave much time to the improvement 

 of his house, grounds, and garden. His name sometimes appeared 

 as a director of railways, or as a consulting engineer, as in the case 

 of the Norfolk Railway, the Ambergate and Manchester Railway, 

 and the Whitehaven Junction Railway; but his own property took 

 up most of his time. He was chairman of the Norfolk Railway, 

 and director of the Leicester and Swannington Railway.*-^ 



His after-life was one course of triumphs. On the 18th June 

 1844, he was at the opening of the Newcastle and Darlington Rail- 

 way at Newcastle, when his health was given by the Hon. H. T. 

 Liddell, M.P., son of Lord Ravensvvorth. Stephenson's speecli in 

 answer has been often referred to, and is most interesting. 



In 1845, Mr. Hudson moved for and obtained four several votes 

 of 2,000/. each, for a service of plate and a statue on the High 

 Level Bridge, from the Midland Railway Company, the York and 

 North Midland Railway, the Newcastle and Darlington Railway, 

 and the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. 



In 1847, he was in\ited by Sir Robert Peel to meet a party of 



3 3 Whishaw's Analysis, p. 41) Whishaw's Railways of Great Britain, p. 55. 



3 4 Whishaw's Analysis, p. 47. Whishaw's Railways of Great Britain, p .^»1 . 



35 WhUhaw's Analysis, p. Ij8.1d3. 36 Railways of Great Britain, p. 4;t7. 



•T Whishaw's Analysis, p. 10. as Whishaw's Analysis, p. 129. 



39 Whishaw's Analysis, p. 177. 



4 Whishaw's Analysis, p. 188. -Whishaw on Railways, p. 367. 



4 1 Whishaw on Railways, p. 428. 



42 This was planned in 183':, by the author of this. Dfr. Sandars, a most intimate 

 fiiend of Stephenson, says that he was fond of quoting it as one of the most importa:it 

 uniiertakinys in the country, and was very anxious for the reclamation of the lands in 

 fllorec.Tinbe Bay and the Uuddon, 



43 Whishaw's Analysis, p. I'i8. 44 Whishaw's Analysis, p. '225. 

 45 V^'hishaw's Analysis, ]). 332. 46 Whishaw's Analysis, p. 280. 

 4 7 Whishaw's R;iihvays of Great Britain, p. IW. 



4 8 Railway Post- OiSce Directory for 1W7 aad 1848. 



