338 QUICKNESS OF OBSERVATION. CHAP. XVI. 



flying survey of a new line, his keen observation proved 

 very useful to him, for he rapidly noted the general 

 configuration of the country, and inferred its geological 

 structure. He afterwards remarked to a friend, " I 

 have planned many a railway travelling along in a 

 postchaise, and following the natural line of the 

 country." And it was remarkable that his first im- 

 pressions of the direction to be taken almost invariably 

 proved the right ones ; and there are few of the lines 

 surveyed and recommended by him which have not 

 been executed, either during his lifetime or since. As 

 an illustration of his quick and shrewd observation on 

 such occasions, we may mention that when employed 

 to lay out a line to connect Manchester, through Mac- 

 clesfield, with the Potteries, the gentleman who accom- 

 panied him on the journey of inspection cautioned him 

 to provide large accommodation for carrying off the 

 water, observing " You must not judge by the appear- 

 ance of the brooks ; for after heavy rains these hills 

 pour down volumes of water, of which you can have no 

 conception." " Pooh ! pooh ! dorit I see your bridges ? " 

 replied the engineer. He had noted the details of each 

 as he passed along. 



Among the other projects which occupied his attention 

 about the same time, were the projected lines between 

 Chester and Holyhead, between Leeds and Bradford, 

 and between Lancaster and Maryport by the western 

 coast. This latter was intended to form part of a west- 

 coast line to Scotland, Mr. Stephenson favouring it 

 partly because of the flatness of the gradients, and also 

 because it could be formed at comparatively small cost, 

 whilst it would open out a valuable iron-mining district, 

 from which a large traffic in ironstone was expected. 

 One of its collateral advantages, in the engineer's 

 opinion, was, that by forming the railway directly 

 across Morecambe Bay, on the north-west coast of 

 Lancashire, a large tract of valuable land might be 



