CHAP. XVII. A GREAT COAL RAILROAD. 357 



market would be regularly supplied with north-country 

 coals led by railway. One of the greatest advantages of 

 railways, in his opinion, was that they would bring iron 

 and coal, the staple products of the country, to the doors 

 of all England. " The strength of Britain," he would say, 

 " lies in her iron and coal beds ; and the locomotive is des- 

 tined, above all other agencies, to bring it forth. The Lord 

 Chancellor now sits upon a bag of wool ; but wool has 

 long ceased to be emblematical of the staple commodity 

 of England. He ought rather to sit upon a bag of coals, 

 though it might not prove quite so comfortable a seat. 

 Then think of the Lord Chancellor being addressed as 

 the noble and learned lord on the coal-sack ! I am afraid 

 it wouldn't answer, after all." 



To one gentleman he said : " We want from the coal- 

 mining, the iron-producing and manufacturing districts, 

 a great railway for the carriage of these valuable 

 products. We want, if I may so say, a stream of steam 

 running directly through the country, from the North 

 to London, and from other similar districts to London. 

 Speed is not so much an object as utility and cheapness. 

 It will not do to mix up the heavy merchandize and 

 coal trains with the passenger trains. Coal and most 

 kinds of goods can wait ; but passengers will not. A 

 less perfect road and less expensive works will do well 

 enough for coal trains, if run at a low speed ; and if the 

 line be flat, it is not of much consequence whether it be 

 direct or not. Whenever you put passenger trains on a 

 line, all the other trains must be run at high speeds to 

 keep out of their way. But coal trains run at high 

 speeds pull the road to pieces, besides causing large 

 expenditure in locomotive power ; and I doubt very 

 much whether they will pay after all ; but a succession 

 of long coal trains, if run at from ten to fourteen miles 

 an hour, would pay very well. Thus the Stockton and 

 Darlington Company made a larger profit when running 

 coal at low speeds at a halfpenny a ton per mile, than 



