CHAP. XIII. FIXED ENGINES AND THE LOCOMOTIVE. 255 



in the House of Commons. In proof of this, we may 

 mention that the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway Act 

 was conceded in 1829, on the express condition that it 

 should not be worked by locomotives, but by horses 

 only. 



Grave doubts existed as to the practicability of work- 

 ing a large traffic by means of travelling engines. The 

 most celebrated engineers offered no opinion on the 

 subject. They did not believe in the locomotive, and 

 would scarcely take the trouble to examine it. The 

 ridicule with which George Stephenson had been assailed 

 by the barristers before the Parliamentary Committee 

 had not been altogether distasteful to them. Perhaps 

 they did not relish the idea of a man who had picked 

 up his experience in Newcastle coal-pits appearing in 

 the capacity of a leading engineer before Parliament, 

 and attempting to establish a new system of internal 

 communication in the country. Mr. Telford, the Go- 

 vernment engineer, was consulted by his employers on 

 the occasion of the Company applying to the Exchequer 

 Loan Commissioners to forego their security of 30 per 

 cent, of the calls, which the Directors wished to raise to 

 enable them to proceed more expeditiously with the 

 works. But his Report was considered so unsatisfactory 

 that the Commissioners would not release any part of 

 the calls. All that Mr. Telford would say on the subject 

 of the power to be employed w r as, that the use of horses 

 had been done away with by introducing two sets of 

 inclined planes, and he considered this an evil, inasmuch 

 as the planes must be worked either by locomotive or 

 fixed engines ; " but," he said, " which of the two latter 

 modes shall be adopted, I understand has not yet been 

 finally determined ; and both being recent projects, in 

 which I have had no experience, I cannot take upon me 

 to say whether either will fully answer in practice." 

 The directors could not disregard the adverse and con- 

 flicting views of the professional men whom they 



