192 MOEE VISITS TO KILLINGWORTH. CHAP. X. 



in conclusion, " the railway holds out the fair prospect 

 of a public accommodation, the magnitude and import- 

 ance of which cannot be immediately ascertained." The 

 estimated expense of forming the line was set down at 

 400,000^., a sum which was eventually found to be 

 quite inadequate. The subscription list when opened 

 was filled up without difficulty. 



While the project was still under discussion, its pro- 

 moters, desirous of removing the doubts which existed 

 as to the employment of steam power on the proposed 

 railway, sent a second deputation to Killingworth 

 for the purpose of again observing the action of Mr. 

 Stephenson's engines. The deputation was on this 

 occasion accompanied by Mr. Sylvester, an ingenious 

 mechanic and engineer, who afterwards presented an 

 able report on the subject to the committee. Mr. Syl- 

 vester showed that the high-pressure engines employed 

 by Mr. Stephenson were both safe and economical in 

 their working. With respect to the speed of the engines, 

 he said : " Although it would be practicable to go at 

 any speed limited by the means of creating steam, the 

 size of the wheels, and the number of strokes in the 

 engine, it would not be safe to go at a greater rate than 

 nine or ten miles an hour." 



Satisfactory though the calculations and statements of 

 Mr. Sylvester were, the cautious projectors of the rail- 

 way were not yet quite satisfied ; and a third journey 

 was made to Killingworth, in January, 1825, by several 

 gentlemen of the committee, accompanied by practical 

 engineers, for the purpose of being personal eye-wit- 

 nesses of what steam-carriages were able to perform 

 upon a railway. There they saw a train, consisting of 

 a locomotive and loaded waggons, weighing in all fifty- 

 four tons, travelling at the average rate of about seven 

 miles an hour, the greatest speed being about nine and 

 a half miles an hour. But when the engine was run by 

 itself, with only one waggon attached containing twenty 



