CHAP. VI. THE STEAM RESERVOIR. 93 



that time a public highway. The nuisance was felt to 

 be almost intolerable, and a neighbouring gentleman 

 threatened to have it put down. To diminish the noise 

 as much as possible, Mr. Blackett gave orders that so 

 soon as any horse, or vehicle drawn by horses, came in 

 sight, the locomotive was to be stopped, and the frightful^ 

 blast of the engine thus suspended until the passing 

 animals had got out of sight. Much interruption was 

 caused to the working of the railway by this measure ; 

 and it excited considerable dissatisfaction amongst the 

 workmen. The following plan was adopted to abate 

 the nuisance : a reservoir was provided immediately 

 behind the chimney (as shown in the preceding cut) 

 into which the waste steam was thrown after it had 

 performed its office in the cylinder ; and from this 

 reservoir, the steam gradually escaped into the atmos- 

 phere without noise. This arrangement was devised 

 with the express object of preventing a blast in the 

 chimney, the value of which, as we shall subsequently 

 find, was not detected until George Stephenson, adopt- 

 ing it with a preconceived design and purpose, demon- 

 strated its importance and value, as being, in fact, the 

 very life-breath of the locomotive engine. 



AYhile Mr. Blackett was thus experimenting and| 

 building locomotives at Wylam, George Stephenson 

 was anxiously studying the same subject at Killingworth. 

 He was no sooner appointed engine-wright of the 

 collieries than his attention was directed to the means 

 of more economically hauling the coal from the pits to 

 the river side. We have seen that one of the first 

 important improvements which he made, after being 

 placed in charge of the colliery machinery, was to apply 

 the surplus power of a pumping steam-engine, fixed 

 underground, for the purpose of drawing the coals out 

 of the deeper workings of the Killingworth mines, by 

 which he succeeded in effecting a large reduction in 

 the expenditure on manual and horse labour. 



