CHAP. IV. HIS SKILL AS AN ENGINE DOCTOR. 53 



Stephenson had promised. Thus the alterations effected 

 in the pumping apparatus proved completely successful. l 



Mr. Dodds was particularly gratified with the manner 

 in which the job had been done, and he made Stephen- 

 son a present of ten pounds, which, though very in- 

 adequate when compared with the value of the work 

 performed, was accepted by him with gratitude. He 

 was proud of the gift as the first marked recognition of 

 his skill as a workman ; and he used afterwards to say 

 that it was the biggest sum of money he had up to that 

 time earned in one lump. Ralph Dodds, however, did 

 more than this. He released the brakesman from the 

 handles of the engine at West Moor, and appointed himi 

 engineman at the High Pit, at good wages, during] 

 the time the pit was sinking, the job lasting for about 

 a year ; and he also kept him in mind for further 

 advancement. 



Stephenson' s skill as an engine- doctor soon became 

 noised abroad, and he was called upon to prescribe 

 remedies for all the old, wheezy, and ineffective pump- 

 ing machines in the neighbourhood. In this capacity 

 he soon left the " regular " men far behind, though they 

 in their turn were very much disposed to treat the 

 Killing-worth brakesman as no better than a quack. 

 Nevertheless, his practice was really founded upon a 

 close study of the principles of mechanics, and on an 

 intimate practical acquaintance with the details of the 

 pumping-engine. 



Another of his smaller achievements in the same line 

 is still told by the people of the district. At the corner 

 of the road leading to Long Benton, there was a quarry 

 from which a peculiar and scarce kind of ochre was 



1 As different versions have been 

 given of this affair, it may be men- 

 tioned that the above statement is 

 made on the authority of the late 



Robert Stephenson, and of George subject. 



Stephenson himself, as communicated 

 by the latter to his friend Thomas L. 

 Gooch, C.E., who has kindly supplied 

 the author with his memoranda on the 



