42 



ADDRESS TO Mr. ROBERT STEPHENSON, M.P. 



[185-3 



Wood added wrought iron tires to the driving-wheels, the loco- 

 motive remained for many years in the condition to "which 

 Stephenson had brought it. 



We have thus briefly noticed the progress of locomotives, in 

 order to show the state of utility to which they had been 

 brought when Robert Stephenson returned to England, in 1828. 

 When he departed for America, in 1824, there were very 

 few locomotives in existence, and during his absence, no very 

 important improvements had been made, except that Mr. 

 Hackworth, of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, had 

 introduced the blast-pipe, (as it had been fomerly applied by 

 Trevithick,) into an engine constructed for that line, which had 

 six coupled wheels, and was capable of drawing a gross load of 

 100 tons, on a level, at the rate of five miles per hour. 



During the same period, however, a new era had com- 

 menced in the history of railways. They had received an im- 

 petus from the increasing success of the locomotive. The Strat- 

 ford and Moreton line had been opened for the carriage of goods 

 and passengers, — the Stockton and Darlington was opened 

 soon after ; and, notwithstanding the commercial panic and the 

 difficulties which had to be overcome in Parliament, the Liver, 

 pool and Manchester line was commenced in 1 826, under the 

 unconquerable energies of the elder Stephenson, and his assist- 

 ant, Mr. Joseph Locke. Mr. Nicholas Wood had also published 

 his well-known " Practical Treatise on Railroads," in 1825, 

 — and, in that year of the wildest speculations, the idea of iron 

 highways and rapid travelling by steam first seized upon the 

 public mind. On the return of Stephenson to England, in 1828 

 he found the Liverpool and Manchester Railway rapidly approach- 

 ing completion, and a general desire on the part of the public for 

 a higher rate of speed than had yet been attained. The Direc- 

 tors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, in consequence of 

 this feeling, and of the non-existence at that time of locomotives 

 capable of meeting the public requirements, seriously contemplated 

 working their road by stationary engines. Previous, however, to 

 deciding this important question, a commission consisting of 

 Messrs. George Stephenson, Locke, Walker, and Rastrick, was 

 appointed to collect information from the managers of the few 

 railways and tramroads then in existence, as to the best power that 

 could be applied, and more particularly as to the comparative 

 merits of fixed and locomotive power. The result of their report 

 showed a proportion of seven to nine in favour of stationary power. 



As, however, it was admitted that several improvements were 

 being made in locomotives, the Directors, influenced by the opi- 

 nions of their Engineer, and by the careful reasonings of a pam- 

 phlet, the joint production of Robert Stephenson and Joseph 

 Locke, determined, at the suggestion of Mr. Harrison, one of their 

 number, to offer a premium of £500 for the best locomotive 

 which should conform to certain conditions, namely, — R must 

 consume its own smoke ; — the whole weight of the engine and 

 boiler must be carried on springs ; — it must not exceed six tons in 

 weight ; — if of that weight it must be able to draw a train of 

 twenty tons, including the tender, at the rate of ten miles an hour 

 on a level railway ; — if of greater than 4£ tons weight, it must 



have six wheels. The conditions also announced that an engine 

 of leas weight would be preferred, if it performed an equal 

 amount of work. 



The local growth of railways and the sudden impulse given to 

 them in 1825, together with the several patents held by George 

 Stephenson in connexion with locomotives, had been the means 

 of causing his steam-engine manufactory at Newcastle to become 

 exclusively a locomotive manufactory ; and to it, daring a space 

 of three years after his return from America, Robert Stephenson 

 devoted the greater part of his time, — having charge, however, 

 dui-ing the same period, of the construction of the Warrington 

 and Newton and of the Leicester and Sawamington Railways. 

 During this period, as we have seen, the nature of the power to 

 be used on the Liverpool and Manchester line had to be deter- 

 mined, — and Robert Stephenson at once entered into the compe- 

 tition, resolved to outstrip the conditions imposed upon the com- 

 petitors. 



{To be continued.) 



Address of the President and Council of the Canadian Institute 

 to Mr. Robert Stevenson, ill. P., on the occasion of his Visit 



to Toronto. 



Toronto, Upper Canada, ) 

 August 2G, 1853. J 



To Mr. Robert Stephenson, M. P., — 



Sir, — We, the President and Council of the Canadian 

 Institute, take the earliest opportunity to offer you a most cordial 

 welcome to Upper Canada, on behalf of a Society which has for 

 one of its main objects the cultivation of that branch of Science 

 with which your name is so honorably and eminently connected. 

 Our Institute, founded in 1849 by Royal Charter, for the pro- 

 motion of the interests of Science and Art in this Province 

 already numbers nearly 300 members, including the most 

 distinguished Scientific and Literary names in both sections of 

 Canada. We have endeavored to carry out our object by holdino- 

 winter Sessions, in which papers are read and discussion 

 encouraged ; and by the establishment of a monthly Scientific 

 Journal, to serve as a record of the transactions of the Institute, 

 and which, though only just completing its first year of existence, 

 Las already a circulation of about 500. 

 Of a copy of this we beg your acceptance. 

 We are also successfully engaged in forming a Library of 

 Scientific reference, and a museum illustrative of the productions 

 of the Province. 



Such beirg our aims, and the progression we are making towards 

 their attainment, we beg to hope that you will allow yourself to 

 be nominated an honorary member of the Institute, 

 And we have the honor to be, 



With the greatest respect and esteem, 



your obedient servants, 

 The President and Council of the Canadian Institute. 

 Signed in behalf of the Council of the Canadian Institute. 

 J. B. CHERRIMAN, M. A. 



Vice President. 

 FRED. CUMBERLAND, 



Second Vice President. 

 A. BRUNEL, Secretary. 



Mr. Stephenson in reply, expressed the deep gratification he 

 had received from the extremely kind welcome he had met with 



