UNIVERSITY 

 CHAP. VI. MR. BLACKETT'S WYLAM ENGINE. 89 



furnished with sidings to enable the laden waggons to 

 pass the empty ones. The new iron road proved so 

 much smoother than the old wooden one, that a single 

 horse, instead of drawing one laden waggon, was now 

 enabled to draw two, or even three waggons. 



Encouraged by the success of Mr. Blenkinsop's expe- 

 riment, Mr. Blackett eventually determined to follow his 

 example ; and in 1812 he ordered a second engine, tc 

 work with a toothed driving wheel upon a rack-rail as 

 at Leeds. This locomotive was constructed by Thomas 

 Waters, of Gateshead, under the superintendence of 

 Jonathan Foster, Mr. Blackett' s principal engine-wright. 

 It was a combination of Trevithiek's and Blenkinsop's 

 engines ; but it was of a more awkward construction 

 than either. The boiler was of cast-iron. The engine 

 was provided with a single cylinder six inches in 

 diameter, with a flywheel working at one side to carry 

 the crank over the dead points. Jonathan Foster de- 

 scribed it to the author in 1854, as " a strange machine, 

 with lots of pumps, cog-wheels, and plugs, requiring 

 constant attention while at work." The weight of thei 

 whole was about six tons. 



When finished, it was conveyed to Wylam on a 

 waggon, and there mounted upon a wooden frame sup- 

 ported by four pairs of wheels, which had been con- 

 structed for its reception. A barrel of water, placed on 

 another frame upon wheels, was attached to it as a 

 tender. After a great deal of labour, the cumbrous 

 machine was got upon the road. At first it would not 

 move an inch. Its maker, Tommy Waters, became 

 impatient, and at length enraged, and taking hold of the 

 lever of the safety valve, declared in his desperation, 

 that " either she or he should go." At length the 

 machinery was set in motion, on which, as Jonathan 

 Foster described to the author, " she flew all to pieces, 

 and it was the biggest wonder i' the world that we 

 were not all blewn up." The incompetent and useless 



