TAPTON HOCSS. [By Percival Skeiton j 



CHAPTER XVII. 



GEORGE STEPHENSON'S COAL MINES APPEARS AT MECHANICS' 

 INSTITUTES His OPINION ON RAILWAY SPEEDS ATMOS - 

 PHERIC SYSTEM RAILWAY MANIA VISITS TO BELGIUM AND 

 SPAIN. 



WHILE Mr. Stephenson was engaged in carrying on the 

 works of the Midland Railway in the neighbourhood of 

 Chesterfield, several seams of coal were cut through in 

 the Clay cross Tunnel, and it occurred to him that if 

 mines were opened out there, the railway would provide 

 the means of a ready sale for the article in the midland 

 counties, and as far south as even the metropolis itself. 



At a time when everybody else was sceptical as to the 

 possibility of coals being carried from the midland coun- 

 ties to London, and sold there at a price to compete with 

 those which were seaborne, he declared his firm convic- 

 tion that the time was fast approaching when the London 



