140 THE HETTON RAILWAY. CHAP. VIII. 



plying upon the Tyne before his eyes ; and he saw in 

 them the germ of a great revolution in navigation. It 

 occurred to him that North America presented the finest 

 field for trying their wonderful powers. He was an 

 engineer, and Mr. Burrell was an iron-founder ; and 

 between them, he thought they might strike out a path 

 to fortune in the mighty West. Fortunately, this idea 

 remained a mere speculation so far as Mr. Stephenson 

 was concerned ; and it was left to others to do what he 

 had dreamt of achieving. After all his patient waiting, 

 his skill, industry, and perseverance were at length 

 ibout to bear fruit. 



In 1819, the owners of the Hetton Colliery, in the 

 >unty of Durham, determined to have their waggon- 

 ray altered to a locomotive railroad. The result of the 

 (working of the Killingworth Eailway had been so satis- 

 factory, that they resolved to adopt the same system. 

 One reason why an experiment so long continued and so 

 successful as that at Killingworth should have been so 

 slow in producing results, perhaps was, that to lay down 

 la railway and furnish it with locomotives, or fixed 

 jf engines where necessary, required a very large capital, 

 beyond the means of ordinary coal-owners ; whilst the 

 small amount of interest felt in railways by the general 

 public, and the supposed impracticability of working 

 them to a profit, as yet prevented the ordinary capitalists 

 from venturing their money in the promotion of such 

 undertakings. The Hetton Coal Company were, how- 

 ever, possessed of adequate means ; and the local repu- 

 tation of the Killingworth engine-wright pointed him 

 out as the man best calculated to lay out their line, and 

 \ superintend their works. They accordingly invited him 

 1 to act as the engineer of the proposed railway. Being 

 in the service of the Killingworth Company, Mr. Ste- 

 phenson felt it necessary to obtain their permission to 

 enter upon this new work. This was at once granted. 

 The best feeling existed between him and his employers ; 



