290 NEW LINES. CHAP. XIV. 



formable to our national habits, and fit well into our 

 system of laws. They combine the power of vast re- 

 sources with individual watchfulness and motives of 

 self-interest ; and by their means gigantic undertakings, 

 which elsewhere would be impossible to any but kings 

 and emperors with great national resources at command, 

 were carried out by the co-operation of private persons. 

 And the results of this combination of means and of 

 enterprise have been truly marvellous. Within the life 

 of the present generation, the private citizens of Eng- 

 land engaged in railway extension have, in the face of 

 Government obstructions, and without taking a penny 

 from the public purse, executed a system of communi- 

 cations involving works of the most gigantic kind, which, 

 in their total mass, their cost, and their eminent public 

 utility, far exceed the most famous national undertakings 

 of any age or country. 



Mr. Stephenson was, of course, actively engaged in 

 the construction of the numerous railways now projected 

 by the joint-stock companies. During the formation of 

 the Manchester and Liverpool line, he had been con- 

 sulted respecting many projects of a similar kind. One 

 of these was a short railway between Canterbury and 

 Whitstable, about six miles in length. He was too 

 much occupied with the works at Liverpool to give this 

 scheme much of his personal attention. But he sent 

 his assistant, Mr. John Dixon, to survey the line ; and 

 afterwards Mr. Locke to superintend the execution of 

 the works. The act was obtained in 1826, and the line 

 was opened for traffic in 1830. It was partly worked 

 by fixed engine-power, and partly by Stephenson' s loco- 

 motives, similar to the engines used upon the Stockton 

 and Darlington Railway. 



But the desire for railway extension principally per- 

 vaded the manufacturing districts, especially after the 

 successful opening of the Liverpool and Manchester line. 

 The commercial classes of the larger towns soon became 



