242 ROBEKT STEPHENSON'S CABEER. CHAP. XIII. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



EGBERT STEPHENSON'S RESIDENCE IN COLOMBIA, AND RETURN 

 THE BATTLE OF THE LOCOMOTIVE " THE ROCKET." 



WE return to the career of Bobert Stephenson, who 

 had been absent from England during the construction 

 of the Liverpool railway, but was shortly about to join 

 his father and take part in " the battle of the locomo- 

 tive," which was now impending. 



We have seen that on his return from Edinburgh 

 College in the summer of 1822, he had assisted in 

 superintending the works of the Hetton railway until 

 its opening, after which he proceeded to Liverpool to 

 take part with Mr. James in surveying the proposed rail- 

 way there. In the following year we found him assisting 

 his father in the working survey of the Stockton and 

 Darlington Kailway ; and when the Locomotive Engine 

 Works were started in Forth- Street, Newcastle, he took 

 an active part in that concern. " The factory," he says, 

 " was in active operation early in 1824 ; I left England 

 for Colombia in June of that year, having finished 

 drawing the designs of the Brusselton stationary engines 

 for the Stockton and Darlington Railway before I left." l 



Speculation was very rife at the time ; and amongst 

 the most promising adventures were the companies 

 organized for the purpose of working the gold and sil- 

 ver mines of South America. Great difficulty was expe- 

 rienced in finding mining engineers capable of carrying 

 out those projects, and young men of even the most 

 moderate experience were eagerly sought after. The 

 Colombian Mining Association of London offered an 



1 Letter to the author. 



