 Introduction Part 1 of Lives of the Engineers, George and Robert Stevenson. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For further information or to find out how you can volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording, read by Andy Mentor. Lives of the Engineers, George and Robert Stevenson. By Samuel Smiles. Bid harbours open, public ways extend. Bid temples, worthier of God ascend. Bid the broad arch, the dangerous flood contain. The mole projected break the roaring mane. Back to his bounds their subject-sea command, and roll obedient rivers through the land. These honours, peace to happy Britain brings. These are imperial works and worthy kings. Pope. Introduction Part 1. Since the appearance of this book in its original form, some seventeen years since, the construction of railways has continued to make extraordinary progress. Although Great Britain, first in the field, had, then, after about twenty-five years' work, expended nearly three hundred millions sterling in the construction of eight thousand three hundred miles of railway, it has, during the last seventeen years, expended about two hundred and eighty eight millions more in constructing seven thousand seven hundred and eighty additional miles. But the construction of railways has proceeded with equal rapidity on the continent. France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland have largely added to their railway mileage. Austria is actively engaged in carrying new lines across the plains of Hungary, which Turkey is preparing to meet by lines carried up the valley of the lower Danube. Russia is also occupied with extensive schemes for connecting Petersburg and Moscow with her ports in the Black Sea, on the one hand, and with the frontier towns of her Asiatic Empire on the other. Italy is employing her newborn liberty in vigorously extending railways throughout her dominions. A direct line of communication has already been opened between France and Italy, through the Montsigny tunnel, while another has been opened between Germany and Italy through the Brenner Pass, so that the entire journey may now be made by two different railway routes, excepting only the short sea passage across the English Channel from London to Brindisi, situated in the south-eastern extremity of the Italian peninsula. During the last sixteen years nearly the whole of the Indian railways have been made. When Edmund Burke, in 1783, arraigned the British Government for their neglect to India in his speech on Mr Fox's bill, he said England has built no bridges made no high roads, cut no navigations, dug out no reservoirs. Were we to be driven out of India this day nothing would remain to tell that it had been possessed during the inglorious period of our dominion by anything better than the orangutan or the tiger. But that reproach no longer exists. Some of the greatest bridges erected in modern times, such as those over the Sunne, Nierpatna and over the Jumna, Al-Habad, have been erected in connection with the Indian railways. More than 5,000 miles are now at work, and they have been constructed at an expenditure of about 88 million pounds of British capital, guaranteed by the British Government. The Indian railways connect the capitals of the three presidencies, uniting Bombay with Madras on the south and with Calcutta on the northeast, while a great main line, 2,200 miles in extent, passing through the north-western provinces, and connecting Calcutta with Lucknow, Delhi, Lahore, Multan and Karachi, unites the mouths of the Houthli in the Bay of Bengal with those of the Indus in the Arabian Sea. When the first edition of this work appeared in the beginning of 1857, the Canadian system of railways was but in its infancy. The Grand Trunk was only begun, and the Victoria Bridge, the greatest of all railway structures, was not half erected. The colony of Canada has now more than 3,000 miles in active operation along the great valley of the St. Lawrence, connecting Riviera de Loup at the mouth of that river, and the harbour of Portland in the state of Maine, via Montreal and Toronto, with Sarnia on Lake Huron and with Windsor opposite Detroit in the state of Michigan. During the same time, the Australian colonies have been actively engaged in providing themselves with railways, many of which are at work, and others are in course of formation. The Cape of Good Hope has several lines open, and others making. France has constructed about 400 miles in Algeria, while the Pasha of Egypt is the proprietor of 360 miles in operation across the Egyptian desert. The Japanese are also making railroads. But in no country has railway construction been prosecuted with greater vigor than in the United States. There the railway furnishes not only the means of intercommunication between already established settlements, as in the old world, but it is regarded as the pioneer of colonisation and as instrumental in opening up new and fertile territories of vast extent in the West, the food grounds of future nations. Hence railway construction in that country was scarcely interrupted even by the Great Civil War, at the commencement of which Mr. Seward publicly expressed the opinion that physical bonds, such as highways, railroads, rivers and canals, are vastly more powerful for holding civil communities together than any mere covenants, though written on parchment or engraved on iron. The people of the United States were the first to follow the example of England after the practicability of steam locomotion had been proved on the Stockton and Darlington and Liverpool and Manchester railways. The first sod of the Baltimore and Ohio railway was cut on the 4th of July 1828 and the line was completed and opened for traffic the following year, when it was worked partly by horse power and partly by a locomotive built at Baltimore, which is still preserved in the company's workshops. In 1830 the Hudson and Mohawk railway was begun, while other lines were under construction in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Jersey, and in the course of 10 years 1,843 miles were finished and in operation. In 10 more years 8,827 miles were at the end of 1864, 35,000 miles and at the 31st of December 1873 not less than 70,651 miles were in operation, of which 3916 had been made during that year. One of the most extensive trunk lines is the Great Pacific Railroad, connecting the lines in the valleys of the Mississippi and the Missouri, with the city of San Francisco on the shores of the Pacific, by means of which it is possible to make the journey from England to Hong Kong via New York in little more than a month. The results of the working of railways have been in many respects different from those anticipated by their projectors. One of the most unexpected has been the growth of an immense passenger traffic. The Stockton and Darlington line was projected as a coal line only, with the city of New York being a coal line only, and the Liverpool and Manchester as a merchandise line. Passengers were not taken into account as a source of revenue, for at the time of their projection it was not believed that people would trust themselves to be drawn upon a railway by an explosive machine, as the locomotive was described to be. Indeed a writer of eminence declared that he would as soon think of being fired off on a ricochet rocket as travel on a railway at twice the speed of the old stagecoachers. So great was the alarm which existed as to the locomotive, that the Liverpool and Manchester committee pledged themselves in their second prospectus issued in 1825 not to require any clause empowering its use, and as late as 1829 the Newcastle and Carl Eilacht was conceded on the expressed condition that the line should not be worked by locomotives but by horses only. Nevertheless the Liverpool and Manchester company obtained powers to make and work their railway without any such restriction, and when the line was made and opened a locomotive passenger train was advertised to be run upon it by way of experiment. Greatly to the surprise of the directors more passengers presented themselves as travelled by the train than could conveniently be carried. The first arrangements as to passenger traffic were of a very primitive character being mainly copied from the old stagecoach system. The passengers were booked at the railway office and their names were entered in a waybill which was given to the guard when the train started. Though the usual stagecoach bugleman could not conveniently accompany the passengers the trains were at first played out of the terminal stations by a lively tune performed by a trumpeter at the end of the platform, and this continued to be done at the Manchester station until a comparatively recent date. But the number of passengers carried by the Liverpool and Manchester line was so unexpectedly great that it was very soon found necessary to remodel the entire system. Tickets were introduced by which a great saving of time was affected. More roomy and commodious carriages were provided, the original first class compartments being seated for four passengers only. Everything was found to have been in the first instance made too light and too slight. The prize, Rocket, which weighed only four and a half tons when loaded with its coke and water, was found quite unsuited for drawing the increasingly heavy loads of passengers. There was also this essential difference between the old stagecoach and the new railway train, that whereas the former was full with six inside and ten outside the latter must be able to accommodate whatever number of passengers came to be carried. Hence heavier and more powerful engines and larger and more substantial carriages were from time to time added to the carrying stock of the railway. The speed of the trains was also increased. The first locomotive used in hauling coal trains ran at from four to six miles an hour. On the Stockton and Darlington line the speed was increased to about ten miles an hour and on the Liverpool and Manchester line the first passenger trains were run at the average speed of seventeen miles an hour, which at that time was considered very fast. But this was not enough. When the London and Birmingham line was opened the mail trains were run at twenty-three miles an hour and gradually the speed went up until now the fast trains are run at from fifty to sixty miles an hour. The pistons in the cylinders at sixty miles travelling at the inconceivable rapidity of eight hundred feet per minute. To bear the load of heavy engines run at high speed a much stronger and heavier road was found necessary and shortly after the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester line it was entirely relayed with stronger materials. Now that express passenger engines are from thirty to thirty-five tons each. The weight of the rails has been increased from thirty-five pounds to seventy-five pounds or eighty-six pounds to the yard. Stone blocks have given place to wooden sleepers. Rails with loose ends resting on the chairs to rails with their ends firmly fished together and in many places where the traffic is unusually heavy iron rails have been replaced by those of steel. And now see the enormous magnitude to which railway passenger traffic has grown. In the year 1873 four hundred and one million four hundred and sixty-five thousand and eighty six passengers were carried by day tickets in Great Britain alone. But this was not all. For in that year two hundred and fifty-seven thousand four hundred and seventy periodical tickets were issued by the different railways and assuming half of them to be annual one fourth half yearly and the remainder quarterly tickets and that their holders made only five journeys each way weekly this would give an additional number of forty-seven million than twenty-four thousand journeys or a total of four hundred and forty-eight million four hundred and eighty-nine thousand and eighty-six passengers carried in Great Britain in one year. It is difficult to grasp the idea of the enormous number of persons represented by these figures the mind is merely bewildered by them and can form no adequate notion of their magnitude to reckon them singly would occupy twenty-five years counting at the rate of one a second for twelve hours every day or take another illustration supposing every man woman and child in Great Britain to make ten journeys by rail yearly the number would greatly fall short of the passengers carried in eighteen seventy-three. Mr. Porter in his progress of the nation estimated that thirty millions of passengers or about eighty-two thousand a day travelled by coaches in Great Britain in eighteen thirty-four an average distance of twelve miles each at an average cost of five shillings a passenger or at the rate of five pence a mile whereas above four hundred and forty-eight millions are now carried by railway an average distance of eight and a half miles each at an average cost of one shilling one and a half pence per passenger or about three havens per mile in considerably less than one-fourth of the time but besides the above numbers of passengers over one hundred and sixty two million tons of minerals and merchandise were carried by railway in the United Kingdom in eighteen seventy three besides males cattle parcels and other traffic the distance run by passenger and goods trains in the year was a hundred and sixty two million five hundred and sixty one thousand three hundred and four miles to accomplish which it is estimated that four miles of railway must have been covered by running trains during every second all year round to perform this service there were in eighteen seventy three eleven thousand two hundred and fifty five locomotives at work in the United Kingdom consuming about four million tons of coal and coke and flashing into the air every minute some forty tons of water in the form of steam in a high state of elasticity there were also twenty four thousand six hundred and forty four passenger carriages nine thousand one hundred and twenty eight vans and brakes attached to passenger trains and three hundred and twenty nine thousand one hundred and sixty three trucks wagons and other vehicles appropriated to merchandise buckled together buffer to the locomotives and tenders would extend from London to Peterborough while the carrying vehicles joined together would form two trains occupying a double line of railway extending from London to beyond in venezia a notable feature in the growth of railway traffic of late years has been the increase in the number of third class passengers compared with first and second class sixteen years since the third class passengers constituted only about one third ten years later they were about one half whereas now they form more than three fourths of the whole number carried in eighteen seventy three there were about twenty three million first class passengers sixty two million second class and not less than three hundred and six million third class thus george stevensons prediction that the time would come when it would be cheaper for a working man to make a journey by railway than to walk on foot is already verified the degree of safety with which this great traffic has been conducted is not the least remarkable of its features of course so long as railways are worked by men they will be liable to the imperfections belonging to all things human though their machinery may be perfect and their organization as complete as skill and forethought can make it workman will at times be forgetful and listless and a moment's carelessness may lead to the most disastrous results yet taking all circumstances into account the wonder is that traveling by railway at high speed should have been rendered comparatively so safe to be struck by lightning is one of the rarest of all causes of death yet more persons are killed by lightning in great britain than are killed on railways from courses beyond their own control most persons would consider the probability of their dying by hanging to be extremely remote yet according to the registrar general's returns it is considerably greater than that of being killed by railway accident the remarkable safety with which railway traffic is on the whole concluded is due to constant watchfulness and highly applied skill the men who work the railways are for the most part the picked men of the country and every railway station may be regarded as a practical school of industry attention and punctuality few are aware of the complicated means and agencies that are in constant operation on railways day and night to ensure the safety of the passengers to their journeys end the road is under a system of continuous inspection the railway is watched by foremen with gangs of men under them in lengths varying from 12 to five miles according to circumstances their continuous duty is to see that the rails and chairs are sound their fastenings complete and the line clear of all obstructions then at all the junctions sidings and crossings points men are stationed with definite instructions as to the duties to be performed by them at these places signals are provided work from the station platforms or from special signal boxes for the purpose of protecting the stopping or passing trains when the first railways were opened the signals were a very simple kind the station men gave them when their arms stretched out in different positions then flags of different colors were used next fixed signals with arms or discs of rectangular or triangular shape these were followed by a complete system of semaphore signals near and distant protecting all junctions sidings and crossings when government inspectors were first appointed by the board of trade to examine and report upon the workings of railways they were alarmed by the number of trains following each other at some stations in what seemed to be a very rapid succession a passage from a report written in 1840 by Sir Frederick Smith as to the traffic at Taylor's Junction on the York and North Midland railway contrasts curiously with the railway life and activity of the present day here wrote the alarmed inspector the passenger trains from York as well as from Leeds and Selby meet four times a day no less than 23 passenger trains stop at or pass this station in the 21 hours an amount of traffic requiring not only the utmost perfect arrangements on the part of the management but the utmost vigilance and energy in the servants of the company employed at this place contrast this with the state of things now on the metropolitan line 667 trains pass a given point in one direction or the other during 18 hours for the working day or an average of 36 trains an hour at the cannon street station of the southeastern railway 627 trains pass in and out daily many of them crossing each other's tracks under the protection of the station signals 45 trains run in and out between 9 and 10 a.m. and an equal number between 4 and 5 p.m. again at the Clapham Junction near London about 700 trains pass or stop daily and though to the casual observer the succession of trains coming and going running and stopping coupling and shunting appears a scene of inextricable confusion and danger the whole is clearly intelligible to the signal man in their boxes who work the trains in and out with extraordinary precision and regularity the inside of a signal box reminds one of a piano forte on a large scale the lever handles corresponding with the keys of the instrument and to an uninstructed person to work the one would be as difficult as to play a tune on the other the signal box outside cannon street station contains 67 lever handles by means of which the signal men are enabled at the same moment to communicate with the drivers of all the engines on the line within an area of 800 yards they direct by signs which are quite as intelligible as words the drivers of the trains starting from inside the station as well as those of the trains arriving from outside by pulling a lever handle a distant signal perhaps out of sight is set some hundred yards off which the approaching driver reading it quickly as he comes along at once interprets and stops or advances as the signal may direct the precision and accuracy of the signal machinery employed at important stations and junctions have a late years been much improved by an ingenious contrivance by means of which the setting of the signal prepares the road for the coming train when the signal is set at danger the points are at the same time worked and the road is locked against it and when at safety the road is open the signal and the points exactly corresponding the electric telegraph has also been found a valuable auxiliary in ensuring the safe working of large railway traffic though the locomotive may run at 60 miles an hour electricity when at its fastest travels at the rate of 288,000 miles a second and is therefore always able to herald the coming train the electric telegraph may indeed be regarded as the nervous system of the railway by its means the whole line is kept throbbing with intelligence the method of working the electric signals varies on different lines but the usual practice is to divide a line into so many lengths each protected by its signal stations the fundamental law of telegraph working being that two engines are not allowed to run on the same line between two signal stations at the same time when a train passes one of such stations it is immediately signaled on usually by electric signal bells to the station in advance and that interval of railway is blocked until the signal has been received from the station in advance that the train has passed it thus an interval of space is always secured between trains following each other which are thereby alike protected before and behind and thus when a train starts on a journey it may be hundreds of miles it is signalled on from station to station it lives along the line until at length it reaches its destination and the last signal of train in is given by this means an immense number of trains can be worked with regularity and safety on the southeastern railway where the system has been brought to a state of high efficiency it is no unusual thing during Easter week to send 600 000 passengers through the London bridge station alone and on some days as many as 1200 trains a day while such are the expedients adopted to ensure safety others equally ingenious are adopted to ensure speed in the case of express and mail trains the frequent stopping of the engines to take in the fresh supply of water occasions a considerable loss of time on the long journey each stoppage for this purpose occupying from 10 to 15 minutes to avoid such stoppages larger tenders have been provided capable of carrying as much as 2000 gallons of water each but as a considerable time is occupied in filling these a plan has been contrived by Mr Ramsbottom the locomotive engineer at the London and north western railway by which the engines are made to feed themselves while running at full speed the plan is as follows an open trough about 440 feet long is laid longitudinally between the rails into this trough which is filled by water a dip pipe or scoop attached to the bottom of the tender of the running train is lowered and at a speed of 50 miles an hour as much as 1070 gallons of water are scooped up in the course of a few minutes the first of such troughs was laid down between Chester and Hollyhead to enable the express mail to run the distance of 841 miles in two hours and five minutes without stopping and similar troughs have since been laid down at Bushey near London at Castlethorpe near Wolverton and at Parkside near Liverpool at these four troughs about 130 000 gallons of water are scooped up daily wherever railways have been made new towns have sprung up and old towns and cities have been quickened into new life when the first English lines were projected great were the prophecies of disaster to the inhabitants of the districts through which they were proposed to be forced such fears have long since been dispelled in this country the same prejudices existed in France when the railway from Paris to Marseille was laid out so as to pass through Lyon a local prophet predicted that if the line were made the city would be ruined. While the local priest denounced the locomotive and the electric telegraph as heralding the reign of Antichrist but such nonsense is no longer uttered now it is the city without the railway that is regarded as the city lost for it is in a measure shut out from the rest of the world and left outside the pale of civilization end of introduction part one introduction part one of lives of the engineers george and robert stevensson this library box recording is in the public domain read by andy mentor lives of the engineers george and robert stevensson by samuel smiles introduction part two perhaps the most striking of all the illustrations that could be offered of the extent to which railways facilitate the locomotion the industry and the subsistence of the population of large towns and cities is afforded by the working of the railway system in connection with the capital of great britain the extension of railways to london has been of comparatively recent date the whole of the lines connecting it with the provinces and terminating at its outskirts having been opened during the last 30 years while the lines inside london have for the most part been opened within the last 16 years the first london line was the grenitz railway part of which was open for traffic to depthford in february 1836 the working of this railway was first exhibited as a show and the usual attractions were employed to make it draw a band of musicians in the garb of beef eaters was stationed at the london end and another band at depthford for cheapness's sake the depthford band was shortly superseded by a large barrel organ which played in the passengers but when the traffic became established the barrel organ as well as the beef eater band at the london end were both discontinued the whole length of the line was lit up at night by a row of lamps on either side like a street as if to enable the locomotives or the passengers to see their way in the dark but these lamps also were eventually discontinued as unnecessary as a show the grenitz railway proved tolerably successful during the first 11 months it carried 456,750 passengers or an average of about 1300 a day but the railway having been found more convenient to the public than either the riverboats or the omnibuses the number of passengers rapidly increased when the croydon brighton and southeastern railways began to pour their streams of traffic over the grenitz viaduct its accommodation was found much too limited and it was widened from time to time until now nine lines of railway are laid side by side over which more than 20 millions of passengers are carried yearly or on average about 60,000 a day all the year round since the partial opening of the grenitz railway in 1836 a large extent of railways has been constructed in and about the metropolis and convenient stations have been established almost in the heart of the city 16 of these stations are within a circle of half a mile radius from the mansion house and above 300 stations are in actual use within about five miles of charring cross to accommodate this vast traffic not fewer than 3600 local trains are run in and out daily besides 340 trains which depart to and arrive from distant places north southeast and west in the morning hours between 830 and 1030 when businessmen are proceeding inwards to their offices and counting houses and in the afternoon between four and six when they are returning outwards their homes as many as 2000 stoppages are made in the hour within the metropolis and district for the purpose of taking up and setting down passengers while about two miles of railway are covered by the running trains one of the remarkable effects of railways has been to extend the residential area of all large towns and cities this is especially notable in the case of london before the introduction of railways the residential area of the metropolis was limited by the time occupied by businessmen in making the journey outwards and inwards daily and it was for the most part bounded by bow on the east by hamstead and high gate on the north by paddington and kensington on the west and by clappermen brickstone on the south but now that stations have been established near the center of the city and places so distant as waltham barnett wattford hanwell richmond epsom croydon rigate and eryth can be more quickly reached by rail than the old suburban quarters were by omnibus the metropolis has become extended in all directions along its railway lines and the population of london instead of living in the city or in its immediate vicinity as formally have come to occupy a residential area of not less than 600 square miles the number of new towns which have consequently sprung into existence near london within the last 20 years has been very great towns numbering from 10 to 20 000 inhabitants which before were but villages if indeed they existed this has especially been the case along the line south of the Thames principally in consequence of the termini of those lines being more conveniently situated for city men of business hence the rapid growth of the suburban towns up and down the river from richmond and stains on the west to eryth and gravesend on the east and the hives of population which have settled on the high ground south of the Thames in the neighborhood of norwood and the crystal palace rapidly spreading over the surrey downs from wimbled under gildford and from romney to croydon epsom and dorking and now that the towns on the south and southeast coast can be reached by city men in little more time than it takes to travel to clappermore bayswater by omnibus such places have become as it were parts of the great metropolis and brighton and hastings are but the marine suburbs of london the improved state of the communications of the city with the country has had a marked effect upon its population while the action of the railways has been to add largely to the number of persons living in london it has also been accompanied by their dispersion over a much larger area thus the population of the central parts of london is constantly decreasing whereas that of the suburban districts is as constantly increasing the population of the city fell off more than 10 000 between 1851 and 1861 and during the same period that of hoban the strands and martins in the fields of james west minster east and west london showed considerable decrease but as regard the whole mass of the metropolitan population the increase has been enormous thus starting from 1801 when the population of london was 958 863 we find it increasing in each decennial period at the rate of between two and 300 000 until the year 1841 when it amounted to one million nine hundred and forty eight thousand three hundred and sixty nine railways had by that time reached london after which its population increased at nearly double the former ratio in the 10 years ending 1851 the increase was 513 867 and in the 10 years ending 1861 441 753 until now to quote the words with the registrar general in a recent annual report the population within the registration limits is by estimate 2,993,513 but beyond this central mass there is a ring of life growing rapidly and extending along railway lines over a circle of 15 miles from charring cross the population within that circle patrolled by the metropolitan police is about 3,463,771 the aggregation of so vast a number of persons within so comparatively limited an area the immense quantity of food required for their daily sustenance as well as a fuel clothing and other necessaries would be attended with no small inconvenience and danger but for the facilities again provided by the railways the provisioning of a garrison of even 4,000 men is considered a formidable affair how much more so the provisioning of nearly four millions of people the whole mystery is explained by the admirable organization of the railway service and the regularity and dispatch with which it is conducted we are enabled by the courtesy of the general managers of the london railways to bring together the following brief summary of facts relating to the food supply of london which will probably be regarded by most readers as of a very remarkable character generally speaking the railways to the south of the tens contribute comparatively little towards the feeding of london they are for the most part passenger and residential lines traversing a limited and not very fertile district bounded by the sea coast and accepting in fruit and vegetables milk and hops they probably carry more food from london than they bring to it the principal supplies of grain flour potatoes and fish are brought by railway from the eastern counties of england and scotland and of cattle and sheep beef and mutton from the grazing counties of the west and northwest of britain as far as the highlands of scotland which have through the instrumentality of railways become part of the great grazing grounds of the metropolis take first the staff of life bread at its constituents of wheat not less than 222,080 quarters were brought into london by railway in 1867 besides what was brought in by sea of oats 151,757 quarters of barley 70,282 quarters of beans and peas 51,448 quarters of the wheat and barley by far the largest proportion is brought by the great eastern railway which delivers in london in one year 155,000 quarters of wheat and 45,500 quarters of barley besides 600,429 quarters more in the form of malt the largest quantity of oats is brought by the great northern railway principally from the north of england and the east of scotland the quantity delivered by that company in 1867 having been 97,500 quarters besides 24,666 quarters of wheat 5,560 quarters of barley and 103,917 quarters of malt the gain of 1,250,566 sacks of flour and meal delivered in london in one year the great eastern brings 654,000 sacks the great northern 232,022 sacks and the great western 136,312 sacks the principal contribution of the london and northwestern railway towards the london bread stores being 100,760 boxes of american flour besides 24,300 sacks of english the total quantity of malt delivered at the london railway stations in 867 was 1,300,000 sacks next as to flesh meat in 1867 not fewer than 172,300 head of cattle were brought to london by railway though this was considerably less than the number carried before the cattle plague the great eastern railway alone having carried 44,672 less than in 1864 but this loss has since been more than made up by the increased quantities of fresh beef mutton and other kinds of meat imported in lieu of the live animals the principal supplies of cattle are brought as we have said by the western northern and eastern lines by the great western from the western counties and island by the london and northwestern the midland and the great northern from the northern counties and from scotland and by the great eastern from the eastern counties and from the ports of harwich and lowestoft in 1867 also 1,147,609 sheep were brought to london by railway of which the great eastern delivered not less than 265,371 head the london and northwestern and the great northern between them brought 390,000 head from the northern English counties with a large proportion from the scotch highlands while the great western brought up 130,000 head from the welsh mountains and from the rich grazing districts of wilts gloster samisset and devon another important freight of the london and northwestern railway consists of pigs of which they delivered 54,700 in london principally irish while the great eastern brought up 27,500 of the same animal partly foreign while cattle plague had the effect of greatly reducing the number of livestock brought into london yearly it gave a considerable impetus to the fresh meat traffic thus in addition to the above large numbers of cattle and sheep delivered in london in 1867 the railways brought 76,175 tons of meat which taking the meter of an average beast at 800 pounds and of an average sheep at 64 pounds would be equivalent to about 112,000 more cattle and 1,267,500 more sheep the great northern brought the largest quantity next the london and northwestern these two companies having brought up between them from distances as remote as abadine and in venez about 42,000 tons of fresh meat in 1867 at an average freight of about 0.5 pence a pound again as regards fish of which six tenths of the whole quantity consumed in london is now brought by rail great eastern and great northern are by far the largest importers of this article and justify their claim to be regarded as the great food lines of london of the 61,358 tons of fish brought by the railway in 1867 not less than 24,500 tons were delivered by the former and 22,000 tons brought from much longer distances by the latter company the london and northwestern brought about 6,000 tons the principal part of which was salmon from scotland and ireland the great western also brought about 4,000 tons partly salmon but the greater part mackerel from the southwest coast during the mackerel season as much as a hundred tons at a time are brought into paddington station by express fish train from cornwall the great eastern and great northern companies are also the principal carriers of turkeys geese fowls and game the quantity delivered in london by the former company having been 5,042 tons in christmas week no fewer than 30,000 turkeys and geese were delivered at the bishopsgate station besides about 300 tons of poultry 10,000 barrels of beer and immense quantities of fish oysters and other kinds of food as much as 1600 tons of poultry and game were brought last year by the southwestern railway 600 tons by the great northern railway and 130 tons of turkeys geese and fowls by the london chatham and doverline principally from france of miscellaneous articles the great northern and the midland each brought about 3,000 tons of cheese the southwestern 2,600 tons and the london and northwestern 10,034 cheeses in number while the southwestern and brighton lines brought a splendid contribution to the london breakfast table in the shape of 11,259 tons of french eggs these two companies delivering between them an average of more than 3 millions of eggs a week all the year round the same companies delivered in london 14,819 tons of butter for the most part the produce of the farms of normandy the greater cleanness and neatness with which the normandy butter is prepared for market rendering it a favorite both with dealers and consumers of late years compared with irish butter the london chatham and dover company also brought from calais 96 tons of eggs next as to the potatoes vegetables and fruit brought by rail 40 years since the inhabitants of london relied for their supply of vegetables on the garden grounds in the immediate neighborhood of the metropolis and the consequence was that they were both very dear and limited in quantity but railways while they have extended the grazing grounds of london as far as the highlands have at the same time extended the garden grounds of london into all the adjoining counters into east kent esic suffoc and norfolk the veil of gloster and even as far as pensance in cornwall the london chatham and dover one of the youngest of our main lines brought up from east kent in 1867 5279 tons of potatoes 1046 tons of vegetables and 5386 tons of fruit besides 542 tons of vegetables from france the southeast and brought in 25163 tons of the same produce the great east and brought from the eastern counties 21315 tons of potatoes and 3596 tons of vegetables and fruit while the great northern brought in no less than 78505 tons of potatoes a large part of them from the east of scotland and 3768 tons of vegetables and fruit about 6000 tons of early potatoes were brought from cornwall with about 5000 tons of broccoli and the quantities are steadily increasing truly london hath a large belly said old fuller 200 years since but how much more capacious is it now one of the striking illustrations of the utilities of railways in contributing to the supply of wholesome articles of food to the population of large cities is to be found in the rapid growth of the traffic in milk readers of newspapers may remember the descriptions published some years since of the horrid dens in which london cows repent and of the odious compounds sold by the name of milk of which the least deleterious ingredient in it was supplied by the cow with the iron tail that state of affairs is now completely changed what with the greatly improved state of the london dairies and the better quality of the milk supplied by them together with the large quantities brought by railway from a range of 100 miles and more all around london even the poorest classes in the metropolis are now enabled to obtain as wholesome a supply of the article as the inhabitants of most country towns these great streams of food which we have thus so summerly described flow into london so continuously and uninterruptedly that comparatively few persons are aware of the magnitude and importance of the process thus daily going forward though gathered from an immense extent of country embracing england scotland wales and ireland the influx is so unintermitted that it is relied on with as much certainty as if it only came from the counties immediately adjoining london the express meat train from abadine arrives in town as punctually as the clapham omnibus and the express milk train from ailsbury is as regular in its delivery as the penny post indeed london now depends so much upon railways for its subsistence that it may be said to be fed by them from day to day having never more than a few days food in stock and the supply is so regular and continuous that the possibility of its being interrupted never for a moment occurs to anyone yet in these days of strikes among workmen such a contingency is quite within the limits of possibility another contingency which might arise during the state of war is probably still more remote but were it possible for a war to occur between england and the combination of foreign powers possessed of stronger iron clads than ours and that they were able to ram our ships back into port and land an army of overpowering force on the sx coast it would be sufficient for them to occupy or cut the railways leading from the north to starve london into submission in less than a fortnight besides supplying london with food railways have also been instrumental in ensuring the more regular and economical supply of fuel a matter of almost as vital importance of the population in a climate such as that of england so long as the market was supplied with coal brought by sea and sailing ships fuel in winter often rose to a famine price especially during long continued easterly winds but now that railways are in full work the price is almost as steady in winter as in summer and but for strikes the supply is more regular in all seasons but the carriage of food and fuel to london forms but a small part of the merchandise traffic carried by railway above 600 000 tons of goods of various kinds yearly pass through one station only that of the london and northwestern company at camden town and sometimes as many as 20 000 parcels daily every other metropolitan station is similarly alive with traffic inwards and outwards london having since the introduction of railways become more than ever a great distributive centre to which merchandise of all kinds converges and from which it is distributed to all parts of the country mr basely mp stated at a late public meeting in manchester that it would probably require 10 millions of horses to convey by road the merchandise traffic which is now annually carried by the railway railways have also proved of great value in connection with the cheap postage system by their means it has become possible to carry letters newspapers books and post parcels in any quantity expeditiously and cheaply the livable and manchester line was no sooner opened in 1830 than the post office authorities recognized its utility and used it for carrying the mails between the two towns when the london and burmingham line was opened eight years later mail trains were at once put on the directors undertaking to perform the distance of 113 miles within five hours by day and five and a half hours by night as additional lines were open the old four horse mail coaches were gradually discontinued until in 1858 the last of them the darby dilly which ran between manchester and darby was taken off on the opening of the midland line to rousely the increased accommodation provided by railways was found of essential importance more particularly after the adoption of the cheap postage system and that such accommodation was needed will be obvious from the extraordinary increase which has taken place in the number of letters and packets sent by post thus in 1839 the number of chargeable letters carried was only 76 millions and of newspapers 44 and a half millions whereas in 1865 the numbers of letters had increased to 720 millions and in 1867 to 775 millions or more than tenfold while the number of newspapers books samples and patterns a new branch of the postal business began in 1864 had increased in 1865 to 98.5 millions to accommodate this largely increasing traffic the bulk of which is carried by railway the mileage run by mail trains in the united kingdom has increased from 25 000 miles a day in 1854 the first year of which we have any return of the mileage run to 60 000 miles a day in 1867 or an increase of 240 percent the post office expenditure on railway service has also increased but not in like proportion having been 364 000 pounds in the former year and 559 575 pounds in the latter or an increase of 154 percent the revenue gross and net has increased still more rapidly in 1841 the first complete year of the cheap postage system the gross revenue was 1 359 466 pounds and the net revenue 500 789 pounds in 1854 the gross revenue was 2 574 407 pounds and the net revenue 1 173 723 pounds and in 1867 the gross revenue was 4 548 129 pounds and the net revenue 2 127 1255 pounds being an increase of 420 compared with 1841 under 180 compared with 1854 how much of this net increase might fairly be credited to the railway postal service we shall not pretend to say but assuredly the proportion must be very considerable one of the great advantages of railways in connection with the postal service is the greatly increased frequency of communication which they provide between all the large towns thus Liverpool now has six deliveries of Manchester letters daily while every large town in the kingdom has two or more deliveries of London letters daily in 1863 393 towns had two males daily from London 50 had three males daily seven had four males a day from London and 15 had four males a day to London while three towns had five males a day from London and six had five males a day to London another feature of the railway mail train as of the passenger train is its capacity to carry any quantity of letters and post parcels that may required to be carried in 1838 the aggregate weight of all the evening males dispatched from London by 28 male coaches was 4 tons 600 weight or an average of about 3.2500 weight each the maximum contract weight was 1500 weight the males now are necessarily much heavier the number of letters and packets having as we have seen increased more than 10 folds since 1839 but it is not the ordinary so much as the extraordinary males that are of considerable weight more particularly the American the continental and the Australian males it is no unusual thing we are informed for the last mentioned male to weigh as much as 40 tons how many of the old male coaches it would take to carry such a male the 79 miles journey to Southampton with a relay of four horses every five or seven miles is a problem for the arithmetician to solve but even supposing each coach to be loaded to the maximum weight of 1500 weights per coach it would require about 60 vehicles and about 1700 horses to carry the 40 tons besides the coachmen and the guards whatever may be said of the financial management of railways there can be no doubt as to the great benefits conferred by them on the public wherever made even those railways which have exhibited the most frightful examples of financing and jobbing have been found to prove of unquestionable public convenience and utility and not withstanding all the faults and imperfections that have been alleged against railways we think that they must nevertheless be recognized as by far the most valuable means of communication between men and nations that has yet been given to the world the author's object in publishing this book in its original form was to describe in connection with the life of george stevensson the origin and progress of the railway system to show by what moral and material agencies its founders were enabled to carry their ideas into effect and work out results which even then were of remarkable character though they have since as above described been so much more extraordinary the favor with which successive editions of the book have been received has justified the author in his anticipation that such a narrative would prove of general if not permanent interest the book was written with the concurrence and insistence of robert stevensson who also supplied the necessary particulars relating to himself such portions of these were accordingly embodied in the narrative as could with propriety be published during his lifetime and the remaining portions have since been added with the object of rendering more complete the record of the son's life as well as the early history of the railway system end of introduction chapter one of lives of the engineers george and robert stevensson this library box recording is in the public domain read by andy mentor lives of the engineers george and robert stevensson by samuel smiles chapter one new castle and the great northern coal field in no quarter of england have greater changes been wrought by the successive advances made in the practical science of engineering than in the extensive colliery districts of the north of which new castle upon time is the center and the capital in ancient times the romans planted a colony at new castle throwing a bridge across the time near the site of the low level bridge and erecting a strong fortification above it on the high ground now occupied by the central railway station north and northwest they are wild country abounding in moors mountains and morasses but occupied to a certain extent by fierce and barbarous tribes to defend the young colony against their ravages a strong wall was built by the romans extending from wall's end on the north bank of the time a few miles below new castle across the country to burr upon sands on the solway furth the remains of the wall are still to be traced in the less populous hill districts of northumberland in the neighborhood of new castle they have been gradually effaced by the works of succeeding generations though the wall's end coal consumed in our household fires still serves to remind us of the great roman work after the withdrawal of the romans northumbria became planted by immigrant saxons from north germany and norsemen from scandinavia whose eels or earls made new castle their principal seat then came the normans from whose new castle built some 800 years since the town derived its present name the keep of this venerable structure black with age and smoke still stands entire at the northern end of the noble high level bridge the utilitarian work of modern times thus confronting the warlike relic of the older civilization the nearness of new castle to the scotch border was a great hindrance to its security and progress in the middle ages of english history indeed the district between it and bering continued to be ravaged by moss troopers long after the union of the crowns the gentry lived in their strong peel castles even the larger farmhouses were fortified and bloodhounds were trained for the purpose of tracking the cattle reavers to their retreats in the hills the judges of a size roads from carlyle to new castle guarded by an escort armed to the teeth a tribute called dagger and protection money was annually paid by the sheriff of new castle for the purpose of providing daggers and other weapons for the escort and though the need of such protection has long since ceased the tribute continues to be paid in broad gold pieces of the time of charles the first until about the middle of the last century the roads across northumberland were a little better than horse tracks and not many years since the primitive agricultural cart with solid wooden wheels was almost as common in the western parts of the country as it is in spain now the tract of the old roman road continued to be the most practical route between new castle and carlyle the traffic between the two towns having been carried along it upon pack horses until a comparatively recent period since that time great changes have taken place on the when wood for firing became scarce and dear and the forests of the south of england were found inadequate to supply the increasing demand for fuel attention was turned to the rich stores of coal lying underground in the neighbourhood of new castle and darum it then became an article of increasing export and sea coal fires gradually supplanted those of wood hence an old writer described new castle as the eye of the north and the hearth that warmeth the south parts of this kingdom with fire fuel has become the staple product of the district the quantity exported increasing from year to year until the coal raised from these northern mines amounts to upwards of 16 millions of tons a year of which not less than nine millions are annually conveyed away by sea new castle has in the meantime spread in all directions far beyond its ancient boundaries from a walled medieval town of monks and merchants it has been converted into a busy centre of commerce and manufacturers inhabited by nearly a hundred thousand people it is no longer a board of fortress a shield and defence against the invasions and frequent insults of the scots as described in ancient charters but a busy centre of peaceful industry and the outlet for a vast amount of steam power which is exported in the form of coal to all parts of the world new castle is in many respects a town of singular and curious interest especially in its older parts which are full of crooked lanes and narrow streets wines and chairs formed by tall antique houses rising tier above tier on the steep northern bank of the time as the similarly precipitous streets of gateshead crowd the opposite shore all over the coal region which extends from the cockpit to the tees about 50 miles from north to south the surface of the soil exhibits the signs of extensive underground workings as you pass through the country at night the earth looks as if it were bursting with fire at many points the blaze of coac ovens iron furnaces and coal heaps reddening the sky to such a distance that the horizon seems to be a glowing belt of fire from the necessity which existed for facilitating the transport of coals from the pits to the shipping places it is easy to understand how the railway and the locomotive should have first found their home in such a district as we have thus briefly described at an early period the coal was carried to the boats in panniers or in sacks upon horses backs then carts were used to facilitate the progress of which tramways of flagstone were laid down this led to the enlargement of the vehicle which became known as a wagon and it was mounted on four wheels instead of two a local writer about the middle of the 17th century says many thousand people are engaged in the trade of coals many live by working them in the pits and many live by conveying them in wagons and wanes to the river tine still further to facilitate the haulage of the wagons pieces of planking were laid parallel upon wooden sleepers or embedded in the ordinary track by which friction was still further diminished it is said that these wooden rails were first employed by one Beaumont about 1630 and on a road thus laid a single horse was capable of drawing a large loaded wagon from the coal pit to the shipping stifle roger north in 1676 found the practice had become extensively adopted and he speaks of the large sums then paid for way leaves that is the permission granted by the owners of lands lying between the coal pit and the riverside to lay down a tramway between the one and the other a century later Arthur Young observed that not only had these roads become greatly multiplied but important works had been constructed to carry them along upon the same level the coal wagon roads from the pits to the water he says are great works carried over all sorts of inequalities of ground so far as the distance of nine or 10 miles the tracks of the wheels are marked with pieces of wood let into the road for the wheels of the wagons to run on by which one horse is enabled to draw and that with ease 50 or 60 bushels of coal similar wagon roads were laid down in the coal districts of wales cumberland and scotland at the time of the scotch rebellion in 1745 a tram road existed between the trannant coal pits and the small harbour of cookenzie in east Lothian and a portion of the line was selected by general cope as a position for his cannon at the battle of Preston pans in these rude wooden tracks we find the germ of the modern railroad improvements were gradually made in them thus at some colluries thin plates of iron were nailed upon their upper surface for the purpose of protecting the parts most exposed to friction cast iron rails were also tried the wooden rails having been found liable to rot the first rails of this kind are supposed to have been used at Whitehaven as early as 1738 this cast iron road was denominated a plateway from the plate like form in which the rails were cast in 1767 as appears from the books of the Colbrookdale ironworks in Shropshire five or six tons of rail were cast as an experiment on the suggestion of Mr Reynolds one of the partners and they were shortly afterwards laid down to former road in 1776 a cast iron tramway nailed to wooden sleepers was laid down at the Duke of Norfolk's colliery near Sheffield the person who designed and constructed this coal line was Mr John Kerr whose son has erroneously claimed to him the invention of the cast iron railway he certainly adopted it early and thereby met the fate of men before their age for his plan was opposed by the laboring people of the colliery who got up a riot in which they tore up the road and burnt the coal-stythe while Mr Kerr fled into a neighbouring wood for concealment and lay there, Peldew, for three days and nights to escape the fury of the populace the plates of these early tramways had a ledge cast on their edge to guide the wheel along the road in 1789 Mr William Jessup constructed a railway at Loughborough in Leicestershire and there introduced the cast iron edge rail with flanches cast upon the tyre of the wagon wheels to keep them on the track instead of having the margin or flange cast upon the rail itself and this plan was shortly afterwards adopted in other places. In 1800 Mr Benjamin Outram of Little Eton in Derbyshire, father of the distinguished general Outram, used stone props instead of timber for supporting the ends or joinings of the rails. Thus the use of railroads in various forms gradually extended until they were found in general use all over the mining districts. Such was the growth of the railway which it will be observed originated in necessity and was modified according to experience. Progress in this as in all departments of mechanics having been effected by the exertions of many men, one generation entering upon the labours of that which preceded it and carrying them onward to further stages of improvement. We shall afterwards find that the invention of the locomotive was made by like successive steps. It was not the invention of one man, but a succession of men, each working at the proper hour and according to the needs of that hour. One inventor interpreting only the first word of the problem which his successors were to solve after long and laborious efforts and experiments. The locomotive is not the invention of one man, said Robert Stevenson at Newcastle, but of a nation of mechanical engineers. The same circumstances which led to the rapid extension of railways in the coal districts of the North tended to direct the attention of the mining engineers to the early development of the powers of the steam engine as a useful instrument of motive power. The necessity which existed for a more effective method of hauling the coals from the pits to the shipping places was constantly present to many mines and the daily pursuits of a large class of mechanics occupied in the management of steam power by which the coal was raised from the pits and the mines pumped clear of water had the effect of directing their attention to the same agency as the best means for accomplishing that object. Among the upper ground workmen employed at the coal pits the principal are the firemen, enginemen and breaksmen who fire and work the engines and superintend the machinery by means of which the colliers are worked. Previous to the introduction of the steam engine the usual machine employed for the purpose was what is called a gin. The gin consists of a large drum placed horizontally round which ropes attached to buckets and corves are wound which are thus drawn up or sent down the shafts by a horse traveling in a circular track or gin race. This method was employed for drawing up both coals and water and is still used for the same purpose in small colluries but where the quantity of water to be raised is great pumps worked by steam power are called into requisition. New Cummins atmospheric engine was first made use of to work the pumps and it continued to be so employed long after the more powerful and economic condensing engine of what had been invented. In the New Cummins or fire engine as it was called the power is produced by the pressure of the atmosphere forcing down the piston in the cylinder on a vacuum being produced within it by the condensation of the contained steam by means of cold water injection. The piston rod is attached to one end of a lever while the pump rod works in connection with the other the hydraulic action employed to raise the water being exactly similar to that of a common sucking pump. The working of a new common engine was a clumsy and apparently a very painful process accompanied by an extraordinary amount of wheezing sighing creaking and bumping. When the pump descended there was heard a plunge a heavy sigh and a loud bump then as it rose and the sucker began to act there was heard a croak a wheeze another bump and then a strong rush of water as it was lifted and poured out. Where engines were more powerful and improved description are used the quantity of water raised is enormous as much as a million and a half gallons in the 24 hours. The pitmen or the lads below who work out the coal below ground are a peculiar class quite distinct from the workmen on the surface. They are a people with peculiar habits manners and character as much as fishermen and sailors to whom indeed they bear in some respects a considerable resemblance. Some 50 years since they were a much rougher and worse educated class than they are now hard workers but very wild and uncouth much given to steaks or strikes and distinguished in their hours of leisure and on pay nights for their love of cock fighting dog fighting hard drinking and cuddly races. The pay night was a fortnightly satanalia in which the pitmen's character was fully brought out especially when the yell was good. They were earning much higher wages than the ordinary labouring population of the Upper Soil. The latter did not mix nor intermarry with them so that they were left to form their own communities and hence their marked peculiarities as a class. Indeed a sort of traditional disrepute seems long to have clung to the pitmen arising perhaps from the nature of their employment and from the circumstance that the Colliers were among the last classes enfranchised in England as they were certainly the last in Scotland where they continued bondmen down to the end of last century. The last thirty years however have worked a great improvement in the moral condition of the Northumbrian pitmen, the abolition of the twelve months bond to the mine and the substitution of a month's notice previous to leaving having given them greater freedom and opportunity for obtaining employment and day schools and Sunday schools together with the important influences of railways have brought them fully up to a level with the other classes of the labouring population. The Coles, when raised from the pits, are emptied into the wagons placed alongside. From whence they are sent along the rails to the stathes erected by the Riverside, the wagons sometimes descending by their own gravity along inclined planes, the wagonner standing behind to check the speed by means of a convoy or wooden brake bearing on the rims of the wheels. Arrived at the stathes, the wagons are emptied at once into the ships waiting alongside for cargo. Anyone who has sailed down the Tyne from Newcastle Bridge cannot but have been struck with the appearance of the immense stathes constructed of timber which are erected at short distances from each other on both sides of the river. But a great deal of the Coles ship from the Tyne comes from above Bridge where seagoing craft cannot reach and is floated down the river in keels in which the Coles are sometimes piled up according to convenience when large or when the coal is small or tender it is conveyed in tubs to prevent breakage. These keels are of a very ancient model, perhaps the oldest extant in England. They are even said to be of the same build as those in which the Norseman navigated the Tyne centuries ago. The keel is a tubby, grimy-looking craft rounded for an aft with a single large square sail which the keel bullies, as the Tyne watermen are called, manage with great dexterity, the vessel being guided by the age of the Swape or Great Orr which is used as a kind of rudder at the stern of the vessel. These keelmen are an exceedingly hardy class of workmen, not by any means so quarrelsome as their designation of bully would imply. The word being merely derived from the obsolete term boolee or beloved, an appellation still in familiar use among brother-workers in the coal districts. One of the most curious sites upon the Tyne is the fleet of hundreds of these black-sailed black-hulled keels, bringing down at each tide their black cargoes for the ships at anchor in the deep water at shields and other parts of the river below Newcastle. These preliminary observations will perhaps be sufficient to explain the meaning of many of the occupations alluded to, and the phrases employed in the course of the following narrative, some of which might otherwise have been comparatively unintelligible to the general reader. CHAPTER II Wylam and Duly Byrne George Stevenson's Early Years The colliery village of Wylam is situated on the north bank of the Tyne, about eight miles west of Newcastle. The Newcastle and Carlyle railway runs along the opposite bank, and the traveller by that line sees the usual signs of a colliery in the unsightly pumping engines surrounded by heaps of ashes, coal dust and slag, while the neighbouring iron furnace in full blast throws out dense smoke and loud jets of steam by day and lurid flames at night. These works form the nucleus of the village, which is almost entirely occupied by coal miners and iron furnacemen. The place is remarkable for its large population, but not for its cleanness or neatness as a village. The houses, as in most colliery villages, being the property of the owners or lessees, who employ them in temporarily accommodating the work people, against whose earnings there is a weakly set-off for house and coals. About the end of last century, the estate of which Wylam forms part belonged to Mr Blackit, a gentleman of considerable celebrity in coal mining, then more generally known as the proprietor of the Globe newspaper. There is nothing to interest one in the village itself, but a few hundred yards from its eastern extremity stands a humble detached dwelling, which will be interesting to many as the birthplace of one of the most remarkable men of our times, George Stevenson, the railway engineer. It is a common, two-storied, red-tiled, rubble house, portioned off into four labourer's apartments. It is known by the name of High Street House, and was originally so-called, because it stands by the side of what used to be the old riding-post road or street between Newcastle and Hexham, along which the post was carried on horseback within the memory of persons living. The lower room in the west end of this house was the home of the Stevenson family, and there George Stevenson was born, the second of a family of six children, on the 9th of June, 1781. The apartment is now, what it was then, an ordinary labourer's dwelling. Its walls are unplasted, its floor is of clay, and the bare rafters are exposed overhead. Robert Stevenson, or Old Bob, as the neighbours familiarly called him, and his wife Mabel, were a respectable couple, careful and hard-working. It is said that Robert Stevenson's father was a Scotchman, and came into England as a gentleman's servant. Mabel, his wife, was the daughter of Robert Carr, a dire at Ovingham. When first married they lived at Wallbottle, a village situated between Wyandham and Newcastle, afterwards removing to Wylam where Robert was employed as fireman of the old pumping-engine at that colliery. An old Wylam collier, who remembered George Stevenson's father, thus described him, George's faith and with lack of fear of deals knocked together, and a bit of flesh on the inside. He were as queer as Dick's upband, went thrice about and wouldn't tie. His wife Mabel was a delicate body and very flighty. They were an honest family, but Seher hadn't own in the world. Indeed, the earnings of old Robert did not amount to more than twelve shillings a week, and as there were six children to maintain, the family, during their stay at Wylam, were necessarily in very straightened circumstances. The father's wages being barely sufficient, even with the most rigid economy for the sustenance of the household, there was little to spare for clothing and nothing for education, so none of the children were sent to school. Old Robert was a general favourite in the village, especially among the children, whom he was accustomed to draw about him whilst tending the engine fire, and feast their young imaginations with tales of Sinbad the Sailor and Robinson Crusoe, besides others of his own invention, so that Bob's engine fire came to be the most popular resort in the village. Another feature in his character, by which he was long remembered, was his affection for birds and animals, and he had many tame favourites of both sorts, which were as fond of resorting to his engine fire as the boys and girls themselves. In the wintertime he had usually a flock of tame robins about him, and they would come hopping familiarly to his feet to pick up the crumbs which he had saved for them out of his humble dinner. At his cottage he was rarely without one or more tame blackbirds, which flew about the house, or in and out of the door. In summer time he would go a bird's nesting with his children, and one day he took his little son George to see a blackbird's nest for the first time. Holding him up in his arms he let the wandering boy peep down through the branches held aside for the purpose into a nest full of young birds, a sight which the boy never forgot, but used to speak of with delight to his intimate friends, when he himself had grown an old man. The boy George led the ordinary life of working people's children. He played about the doors, went bird's nesting when he could, and ran errands to the village. He was also an eager listener with the other children to his father's curious tales, and he early imbibed from him that affection for birds and animals which continued throughout his life. In course of time he was promoted to the office of carrying his father's dinner to him while at work, and it was on such occasions his great delight to see the robins fed. At home he helped a nurse, and that with a careful hand his younger brothers and sisters. One of his duties was to see that the other children were kept out of the way of the children-wagons, which were then dragged by horses along the wooden tram-road immediately in front of the cottage door. This wagon-way was the first time in the northern district on which the experiment of a locomotive engine was tried, but at the time of which we speak the locomotive had scarcely been dreamt of in England as a practicable working-power. Horses only were used to haul the coal, and one of the first signs with which the boy was familiar was the coal-wagons dragged by them along the wooden railway at Wylam. Thus eight years passed after which, the coal having been worked out, the old engine which had grown dismal to look at, as one of the workmen described it, was pulled down, and then Robert, having obtained employment as a fireman at the Dooley-Burn Colliery, removed with his family to that place. Dooley-Burn at this day consists of a few old-fashioned low-roof cottages standing on either side of a babbling little stream. They are connected by a rustic wooden bridge which spans the rift in front of the doors. In the central one-roomed cottage of this group on the right bank Robert Stevenson lived for a time with his family, the pit at which he worked, standing in the rear of the cottages. Young though he was, George was now of an age to be able to contribute something towards the family maintenance. For in a poor man's house every child is a burden until his little hands can be turned to profitable account. That the boy was shrewd and active and possessed of a ready mother wit will be evident enough from the following incident. One day his sister Nell went into Newcastle to buy a bonnet, and Georgie went with her for company. At a draper's shop in the big market Nell found a chip quite to her mind, but on pricing it alas it was found to be fifteen pence beyond her means, and she left the shop very much disappointed. But Georgie said, Never heed, Nell, see if I cannot win, sell her enough to buy the bonnet, stand ye there to lie come back. Away ran the boy, and disappeared among the throng of the market, leaving the girl to wait his return. Long and long she waited until it grew dusk, and the market people had nearly all left. She began to despair, and fears crossed her mind that Georgie must have been run over and killed when at last up he came running almost breathless. I've gotten the seller for the bonnet, Nell, cried he. Hey, Georgie, she said, but who's he gotten it? Lord in the gentleman's arses, was the exultant reply. The bonnet was forthwith bought, and the two returned to Duly happy. Georgie's first regular employment was of a very humble sort. A widow named Grace Ainsley then occupied the neighbouring farmhouse of Duly. She kept a number of cows, and had the privilege of grazing them along the wagon-road. She needed a boy to herd the cows, to keep them out of the way of the wagons, and prevent their straying or trespassing on the neighbour's liberties. The boy's duty was also to bar the gates at night after all the wagons had passed. Georg petitioned for this post, and to his great joy he was appointed at the wage of tuppence a day. It was light employment, and he had plenty of spare time on his hands, which he spent in bird-nesting, making whistles out of reeds and scramble straws, and erecting lilliputian mills in the little water streams that ran into the Duly bog. But his favourite amusement at this age was erecting clay engines in conjunction with his chosen playmate Bill Thirlwall. The places still pointed out where the future engineers made their first essays in modelling. The boys found the clay for their engines in the adjoining bog, and the hemlocks which grew about them supplied them with imaginary steam pipes. They even proceeded to make a miniature winding machine in connection with their engine, and the apparatus was erected upon a bench in front of the Thirlwall's cottage. The calves were made out of hollowed corks, the ropes were supplied by twine, and a few bits of wood, gleaned from the refuse of the carpenter's shop, completed their materials. With this apparatus the boys made a show of sending the calves down the pits and drawing them up again, much to the marvel of the pitmen. But some mischievous person about the place seized the opportunity early one morning of smashing the fragile machinery, much to the grief of the young engineers. As Stevenson grew older and abler to work, he was set to lead the horses when plowing, no scarce big enough to stride across the furrows, and he used to say afterwards that he rode to his work in the mornings as an hour when most other children of his age were asleep in their beds. He was also employed to hoe turnips and to do similar farm work, for which he was paid the advanced wage of four pence a day. But his highest ambition was to be taken on at the colony, where his father worked, and he shortly joined his elder brother James there as a corfbitter or picker, to clear the coal of stones, bats and dross. His wages were then advanced to six pence a day, and afterwards to eight pence when he was set to drive the gin horse. Shortly after, George went to Black Calliton to drive the gin there, and as that colliery lies about two miles across the fields from Duallyburn, he walked that distance early in the morning to his work, returning home late in the evening. One of the old residents at Black Calliton, who remembered him at that time, described him to the author as, a grip-growing lad with bare legs and feet, adding that he was very quick-wetted and full of fun and treks. Indeed, there were nothing under the sun, but he tried to imitate. He was usually foremost also in the sports and pastimes of youth. Among his first strongly developed tastes was the love of birds and animals, which he inherited from his father. Black birds were his special favourites. The hedges between Dually and Black Calliton were capital birds nesting places, and there was not a nest there that he did not know of. When the young birds were old enough, he would bring them home with him, feed them, and teach them to fly about the cottage, unconvined by cages. One of his black birds became so tame that, after flying about the doors all day and in and out of the cottage, it would take up its roost upon the bed post at night. And most singular of all, the bird would disappear in the spring and summer months, when it was supposed to go into the woods to pair and rear it young, after which it would reappear at the cottage and resume its social habits during the winter. This went on for several years. George had also a stock of tame rabbits, for which he built a little house behind the cottage, and for many years he continued to pride himself upon the superiority of his breed. After he had driven the gin for some time at Dually and Black Calliton, he was taken on as an assistant to his father in firing the engine at Dually. This was a step of promotion which he had anxiously desired, his only fear being that he should be found too young for the work. Indeed, he used afterwards to relate how he was want to hide himself when the owner of the colliery went round, in case he should be thought too little a boy to earn the wages paid him. Since he had modelled his clay engines in the bog, his young ambition was to be an engineman, and to be an assistant fireman was the first step towards that position. Great therefore was his joy when, at about fourteen years of age, he was appointed assistant fireman, at the wage of a shearing a day. But the coal at Dually Burn being at length worked out, the pit was ordered to be laid in, and old Robert and his family were again under the necessity of shifting their home, for to use the common phrase they must follow the work. They removed accordingly to a place called Jolly's Close, a few miles to the south, close behind the village of Newburn, where another coal mine, belonging to the Duke of Northumberland, called the Duke's Winning, had recently been opened out. One of the old persons in the neighbourhood who knew the family well, describes the dwelling in which they lived as a poor cottage of only one room, in which the father, mother, four sons, and two daughters lived and slept. It was crowded with three low-pole beds. The one apartment served for parlour, kitchen, sleeping room, and all. The children of the Stephenson family were now growing a pace, and several of them were old enough to be able to earn money at various kinds of colliery work. James and George, the two eldest sons, worked as assistant fireman, and the younger boys worked as wheelers or pickers on the bank tops. The two girls helped their mother with the household work. Other workings of the coal were opened out in the neighbourhood, and to one of these George was removed as fireman on his own account. This was called the Mid-Mill Winning, where he had for his mate a young man named Coe. They worked together there for about two years, by twelve-hour shifts, George firing the engine at the wage of a shilling a day. He was now fifteen years old. His ambition was as yet limited to attaining the standing of a full workman at a man's wages, and with that view he endeavoured to attain such a knowledge of his engine, as would eventually lead to his employment as an engineman, with its accompanying advantage of higher pay. He was a steady, sober, hard-working young man, but nothing more in the estimation of his fellow workman. One of his favourite pastimes in Bayer was trying feats of strength with his companions. Although in frame he was not particularly robust, yet he was big and bony, and considered very strong for his age. At throwing the hammer George had no compere, had lifting heavy weights off the ground from between his feet, by means of a bar of iron passed through them, placing the bar against his knees as a fulcrum, and then straightening his spine and lifting them shear up, he was also very successful. On one occasion he lifted as much as sixty stones weight, a striking indication of his strength of bone and muscle. When the pit at Midmill was closed, George and his companion Coe were sent to work another pumping engine erected near Throckley Bridge, where they continued for some months. It was while working at this place that his wages were raised to twelve shillings a week, an event to him of great importance. On coming out of the foreman's office that Saturday evening, on which he received the advance, he announced the fact to his fellow workman, adding triumphantly, I am now a made man for life. The pit, opened at Newburn, at which old Robert Stevenson worked, proving a failure, it was closed, and a new pit was sunk at Water Mow on a strip of land lying between the Wylam Wagonway and the River Tine, about half a mile west of Newburn Church. A pumping engine was erected there by Robert Hawthorne, the Duke's engineer, and old Stevenson went to work it as fireman, his son George, acting as the engineman or plugman. At that time he was about seventeen years old, a very youthful age at which to feel so responsible a post. He had thus already got ahead of his father in his station as a workman, for the plugman holds a higher grade than the fireman, requiring more practical knowledge and skill, and usually receiving higher wages. George's duty as plugman was to watch the engine to see that it kept well in work, and that the pumps were efficient in drawing the water. When the water level in the pit was lowered, and the suction became incomplete through the exposure of the suction holes, it was then his duty to proceed to the bottom of the shaft and plug the tube so that the pump should draw, hence the designation of plugman. If a stoppage in the engine took place through any defect which he was incapable of remedying, it was for him to call in the aid of the chief engineer to set it to rights. But from the time when George Stevenson was appointed fireman, and more particularly afterwards as an engineman, he applied himself so assiduously and so successfully to the study of the engine and its gearing, taking the machine to pieces in his leisure hours for the purpose of cleaning and understanding its various parts, that he soon acquired a thorough practical knowledge of its construction and mode of working, and very rarely needed to call the engineer of the colliery to his aid. His engine became a sort of pet with him, and he was never worried of watching and inspecting it with admiration. Though eighteen years old, like many of his fellow workmen, Stevenson had not yet learnt to read. All that he could do was to get someone to read for him by his engine fire out of any book or stray newspaper which found its way into the neighbourhood. Bonaparte was then overrunning Italy, and astounding Europe by his brilliant succession of victories, and there was no more eager auditor of his exploits as read from the newspaper accounts than the young engineman at the Water Row pit. There were also numerous stray bits of information and intelligence contained in these papers which excited Stevenson's interest. One of these related to the Egyptian method of hatching bird's eggs by means of artificial heat. Curious about everything relating to birds, he determined to test it by experiment. It was springtime, and he forthwith went to bird-nesting in the adjoining woods and hedges. He gathered a collection of eggs of various sorts, set them in flour in a warm place in the engine house, covering the hole with wool, and then waited the issue. The heat was kept as steady as possible, and the eggs were carefully turned every twelve hours, but though they chipped and some of them exhibited well-grown chicks, they never hatched. The experiment failed, but the incident shows that the inquiring mind of the youth was fairly at work. Modelling of engines in clay continued to be another of his favourite occupations. He made models of engines which he had seen, and of others which were described to him. These attempts were an improvement upon his first trials at Dulyburn bog, when occupied there as herd-boy. He was, however, anxious to know something of the wonderful engines of Bolton and Watt, and was told that they were to be found fully described in books, which he must search for information as to their construction, action, and uses. But, alas, Stevenson could not read. He had not yet learnt even his letters. Thus he shortly found, when gazing wistfully in the direction of knowledge, that to advance further as a skilled workman, he must master this wonderful art of reading, the key to so many other arts. Only thus could he gain an access to books, the depositories of the wisdom and experience of the past. Although a grown man and doing the work of a man, he was not ashamed to confess his ignorance and go to school, big as he was to learn his letters. Perhaps, too, he foresaw that in laying out a little of his spare earnings for this purpose, he was investing money judiciously, and that in every hour he spent at school he was really working for better wages. His first schoolmaster was Robin Cowan's, a poor teacher in the village of Wallbottle. He kept a night school, which was attended by a few of the colliers and labourers' sons in the neighbourhood. George took lessons in spelling and reading three nights in the week. Robin Cowan's teaching cost trappings a week, although it was not very good, yet George, being hungry for knowledge and eager to acquire it, soon learnt to read. He also practised pot-hooks, and at the age of nineteen he was proud to be able to write his own name. A scotch-dominant named Andrew Robertson set up a night school in the village of Newburn in the winter of 1799. It was more convenient for George to attend this school as it was nearer to his work, and only a few minutes' walk from Jolly's Close. Besides, Andrew had the reputation of being a skilled arithmetician, and this branch of knowledge Stevenson was very desirous of acquiring. He accordingly began taking lessons from him, paying fourpence a week. Robert Gray, the junior fireman at the Water Row Pit, began arithmetic at the same time, and Gray afterwards told the author that George learnt figuring so much faster than he did that he could not make out how it was. He took to figure so wonderful. Although the two started together from the same point, at the end of the winter, George had mastered reduction, while Robert Gray was still struggling with the difficulties of simple division. But George's secret was his perseverance. He worked out the sums in his by-hours, improving every minute of his spare time by the engine fire, and studying there the arithmetical problems set for him upon his slate by the master. In the evenings he took to Robertson the sums which he had worked, and new ones were set for him to study the following day. Thus his progress was rapid, and with a willing heart and mind he soon became well advanced in arithmetic. Indeed Andrew Robertson became very proud of his scholar, and shortly afterwards, when the Water Row Pit was closed and George removed to Black Colourton to work there, the poor schoolmaster, not having a very extensive connection in Newborn, went with his pupils, and set up his night school at Black Colourton, where he continued his lessons. George still found time to attend to his favourite animals while working at the Water Row Pit. Like his father he used to tempt the Robin Redbreasts to hop and fly about him at the engine fire, by the bait of breadcrumbs saved from his dinner. But his chief favourite was his dog, so sagacious that he almost daily carried George's dinner to him at the pit. The tin containing the meal was suspended from the dog's neck, and thus laden he proceeded faithfully from jollies close to Water Row Pit, quite through the village of Newburn. He turned neither to left nor to right, nor he did the barking of Curse at his heels, but his course was not unattended with perils. One day the big strange dog of a passing butcher, aspiring the engineman's message with the tin can about his neck, ran after and fell upon him. There was a terrible tussle and worrying which lasted for a brief while, and shortly after the dog's master, anxious for his dinner, saw his faithful servant approaching, bleeding but triumphant. The tin can was still round his neck, but the dinner had been spilt in the struggle. Though George went without his dinner that day, he was prouder of his dog than ever when the circumstances of the combat were related to him by the villagers who had seen it. It was while working at the Water Row Pit that Stephenson learned the art of breaking an engine. This being one of the higher departments of colliery labour and among the best paid, George was very anxious to learn it. A small winding engine, having been put up for the purpose of drawing the coals from the pit, Bill Coe, his friend and fellow workman, was appointed the breaksman. He frequently allowed George to try his hand at the machine, and instructed him how to proceed. Coe was, however, opposed in this by several of the other workmen, one of whom, a banksman named William Locke, went so far as to stop the working of the pit because Stephenson had been called in to the break. But one day, as Mr. Charles Nixon, the manager of the pit, was observed approaching, Coe adopted an expedient which put a stop to the opposition. He called upon Stephenson to come into the break-house and take hold of the machine. Locke, as usual, sat down, and the working of the pit was stopped. When requested by the manager to give an explanation, he said that young Stephenson couldn't break, and what was more, never would learn he was so clumsy. Mr. Nixon, however, ordered Locke to get on with the work, which he did, and Stephenson, after some further practice, acquired the art of breaking. After working at the Water Row Pit and at other engines near Newburn, for about three years, George and Coe went to Black Calliton early in 1801. Though only 20 years of age, his employers thought so well of him that they appointed him to the responsible office of breaksman at the Dolly Pit. For convenience's sake, he took lodgings at a small farmers in the village, finding his own vitals, and paying so much a week for lodging and attendance. In the locality, this was called Pickling in his own Portnuke. It not unfrequently happens that the young workman about the collieries when selecting a lodging, contrives to pitch his tent where the daughter of the house ultimately becomes his wife. This is often the real attraction that draws the youth from home, though a very different one may be pretended. George Stephenson's duties as breaksman may be briefly described. The work was somewhat monotonous, and consisted of superintending the working of the engine and machinery by means of which the coals were drawn out of the pit. Breaksmen are almost invariably selected from those who have had considerable experience as engine firemen, and borne a good character for steadiness, punctuality, watchfulness, and mother-wit. In George Stephenson's day the coals were drawn out of the pit in coves, or large baskets made of hazel rods. The coves were placed together in a cage, between which and the pit ropes there was usually from fifteen to twenty feet of chain. The approach of the coals towards the pit mouth was signalled by a bell, brought into action by a piece of mechanism worked from the shaft of the engine. When the bell sounded the breaksmen checked the speed by taking hold of the handgear connected with the steam valves, which were so arranged that by their means he could regulate the speed of the engine and stop or set it in motion when required. Connected with the flywheel was a powerful wooden brake acting by pressure against its rim, something like the brake of a railway carriage against its wheels. On catching sight of the chain attached to the ascending cove cage, the breaksmen, by pressing his foot upon a footstep near him, was enabled with great precision to stop the revolutions of the wheel and arrest the assent of the coals at the pit mouth, when they were forthwith landed on the settle-board. On the full coves being replaced by empty ones, it was then the duty of the breaksmen to reverse the engine and send the coves down the pit to be filled again. The monotony of George Stevenson's occupation as breaksmen was somewhat varied by the change which he made in his turn from the day to the night shift. His duty on the latter occasions consisted chiefly in sending men and materials into the mine and in drawing other men and materials out. Most of the workmen enter the pit during the night shift and leave it during the latter part of the day while cold drawing is proceeding. The requirements of the work at night are such that the breaksman has a good deal of spare time on his hands which he is at liberty to employ in his own way. For an early period George was accustomed to employ those vacant night hours in working the sums set for him by Andrew Robertson upon his slate, practising writing in his copy-book and mending the shoes of his fellow workmen. His wages while working at the dolly-pit amounted to from £1.15 shillings to £2 in the fortnight, but he gradually added to them as he became more expert at shoe-mending and afterwards at shoe-making. Probably he was stimulated to take in hand this extra work by the attachment he had by this time formed for a young woman named Fanny Henderson, who officiated as servant in the small farmer's house in which he lodged. We have been informed that the personal attractions of Fanny, though these were considerable, were the least of her charms. Mr William Fairburn, who afterwards saw her in her home at Wilmington Key, describes her as a very cuddly woman, but her temper was one of the sweetest, and those who knew her were accustomed to speak of the charming modesty of her demeanour, her kindness of disposition, and, with all, her sound, good sense. Amongst his various mendings of old shoes at Callerton George was on one occasion favoured with the shoes of his sweetheart to soul. One can imagine the pleasure with which he would linger over such a piece of work, and the pride with which he would execute it. A friend of his, still living, realized that after he had finished the shoes he carried them about with him in his pocket on the Sunday afternoon, and that from time to time he would pull them out and hold them up, exclaiming what a capital job he had made of them. Out of his earnings by shoe-mending at Callerton George contrived to save his first guinea. The first guinea saved by a working man is no trivial thing, if, as in Stevenson's case, it has been the result of prudent self-denial, of extra labour at Byers, and of the honest resolution to save and economize for worthy purposes, the first guinea saved is an earnest of better things. When Stevenson had saved this guinea he was not a little elated at the achievement, and expressed the opinion to a friend, who many years after reminded him of it that he was now a rich man. Not long after he began to work at Black Callerton as Breaksman, he had a quarrel with a pitman named Ned Nelson, a roistering bully who was the terror of the village. Nelson was a great fighter, and it was therefore considered dangerous to quarrel with him. Stevenson was so unfortunate as not to be able to please this pitman, by the way in which he drew him out of the pit, and Nelson swore at him grossly because of the alleged clumsiness of his breaking. George defended himself, an appeal to the testimony of the other workman, but Nelson had not been accustomed to George's style of self-assertion, and after a great deal of abuse he threatened to kick the Breaksman, who defied him to do so. Nelson ended by challenging Stevenson to a pitched battle, and the latter accepted the challenge, when a day was fixed on which the fight was to come off. Great was the excitement at Black Callerton, when it was known that George Stevenson had accepted Nelson's challenge. Everybody said he would be killed. The villagers, the young men, and especially the boys of the place, with whom George was a great favourite, all wished that he might beat Nelson, but they scarcely dared to say so. They came about him while he was at work in the engine house, to inquire if it was really true that he was going to fight Nelson. Now, never fear for me, I'll fight him. And fight him, he did. For some days previous to the appointed day of battle, Nelson went entirely off work for the purpose of keeping himself fresh and strong, whereas Stevenson went on doing his daily work as usual, and appeared not in the least disconcerted by the prospect of the affair. So on the evening appointed, after George had done his day's labour, he went into the dolly pit field, where his already exulting rifle was ready to meet him. George stripped and went in like a practised pugilist, though it was his first and last fight. After a few rounds George's wiry muscles and practised strength, enabled him severely to punish his adversary and to secure an easy victory. This circumstance is related in illustration of Stevenson's personal pluck and courage, and it was thoroughly characteristic of the man. He was no pugilist and the very reverse of quarrelsome, but he would not be put down by the bully of the colliery, and he fought him. There his pugilism ended. They afterwards shook hands and continued good friends. In afterlife Stevenson's mettle was often as hardly tried, though in a different way, and he did not fail to exhibit the same resolute courage in contending with the bullies of the railway world, as he showed in his encounter with Ned Nelson, the fighting pitman of Calliton.