236 HIS PUPILS AND ASSISTANTS. CHAP. XII. 



locomotive engine had to be fought, a battle, not merely 

 against material difficulties, but against the still more 

 trying obstructions of deeply-rooted mistrust and prejudice 

 on the part of a considerable minority of the directors. 



He had no staff of experienced assistants, not even 

 a staff of draughtsmen in his office, but only a few 

 pupils learning their business ; and he was frequently 

 without even their help. The time of his engineering 

 inspectors was fully occupied in the actual superintend- 

 ence of the works at different parts of the line ; and he 

 took care to direct all their more important operations 

 in person. He had brought three young men from 

 Newcastle with him fellow-pupils in the workshops 

 there by name Joseph Locke, Thomas L. Grooch, and 

 William Allcard. These were afterwards joined by 

 John Dixon, and at a later period by Frederick Swan- 

 wick. Locke, Allcard, and Dixon, were appointed to 

 superintend the work at different . parts of the line ; 

 whilst Grooch resided with Mr. Stephenson, and officiated 

 as his sole draughtsman and secretary from the com- 

 mencement of the works in 1826, until April, 1829, 

 when he proceeded to take charge of another undertaking. 

 " I may say," writes Mr. Gooch, " that the whole of the 

 working and other drawings, as well as the various 

 land-plans for the railway, were drawn by my own 

 hand. They were done at the Company's office in Clay- 

 ton Square during the day, from instructions supplied 

 in the evenings by Mr. Stephenson, either by word of 

 mouth, or by little rough hand sketches on letter-paper. 

 The evenings were also generally devoted to my duties 

 as secretary, in writing (mostly from his own dictation) 

 his letters and reports, or in making calculations and 

 estimates. The mornings before breakfast were not 

 unfrequently spent by me in visiting and lending a 

 helping hand in the tunnel and other works near Liver- 

 pool, the untiring zeal and perseverance of George 



