George Stephenson

by Hunter Davies

  It was now proposed to make a trial of the ‘Novelty’, with three times its weight attached to it; but through some inattention as to the supply of water and coke, a great delay took place in preparing it for its second trip, and by the time all was ready, the day was drawing so near to a close, that the directors thought it proper to defer the prosecution of the competition till the following day.

  From other contemporaneous reports, the faults in Novelty were due to slightly more than ‘inattention’ and the directors were more than kind in allowing Novelty’s endless delays. It was also more than unfair of the gentleman from the Mechanics’ Magazine to compare Novelty’s great speed travelling on its own with Rocket travelling with a train of weighted wagons behind it. A vital condition of the trials was that each engine should pull three times its own weight.

  However, the Novelty did look exceedingly beautiful, so everyone agreed, and when it reached its amazing velocity of twenty-eight mph, the Liverpool Mercury representative was one of the many who fell in love with it.

  It seemed, indeed, to fly, presenting one of the most sublime spectacles of human ingenuity and human daring the world has ever beheld. It actually made one giddy to look at it, and filled thousands with lively fears for the safety of the individuals who were on it, and who seemed not to run along the earth, but to fly, as it were, on the ‘wings of the wind’. It is a most sublime sight; a sight, indeed, which the individuals who beheld it will not soon forget.

  Alas for the Novelty, it was unable to show its flying feats the next day, because of various delays and faults, nor the following days, though it did finally do one round of three miles on the Saturday, the last day of the first week’s trials. It couldn’t manage a second round because of an accident to one of its steam pipes. During this first week, Rocket was the only engine to consistently go up and down the trial stretch when told to do so, carrying its full load in accordance with the rules. While it waited for the laggards who were messing around with their engines, doing little spurts then collapsing, Rocket did extra exhibition runs, showing off its speed, but the crowds had taken Novelty to its heart and still considered Rocket too big, too ugly, too dirty.

  On Monday, 13 October, the trials began their second week and this time Hackworth had got his Sans Pareil in some sort of order. It ran for two hours, then a water pump failed and a crowd of spectators pushed it to the blacksmith’s shop. He never got it going again and the judges finally decided that the engine was ineligible on weight grounds. Novelty reported again on the Wednesday, after four days and nights of constant work by its engineers, during which they’d taken it to pieces and started again. It did two round trips this time, fully loaded, but a boiler pipe gave way. Its owners, realising it would take weeks to repair, withdrew it from the trials.

  In the meantime, Rocket did its stuff several times again, reaching even higher speeds, fully loaded, than the week before. George made it do demonstration runs up a 1 in 96 incline which it climbed easily at a speed of twelve mph, fully loaded, about twice the speed that any stationary engine could haul wagons up an incline, proving once and for all that locomotives were far superior for any work on the Liverpool line.

  Rocket alone fulfilled all the conditions of the trials and had fulfilled them in style, proving convincingly that it was the best engine. It had done seventy miles without any hitch, any fault, whereas its nearest rival never managed even half that distance without breaking down several times. Even the man from Mechanics’ Magazine had to admit, grudgingly, bending over backwards to pick holes in the rules, that Rocket had turned out to be the best.

  ‘The Novelty’ still remains at Liverpool and Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson have publicly announced that as soon as it is repaired, and the cement of the joints sufficiently hardened, they will (with the leave of the Directors) complete the exhibition of its powers; and show that but for the accidents which it unfortunately met with, it was more than equal to the accomplishment of the task that was last assigned to it.

  The prize is not expected to be positively awarded for some little time yet to come. It appears that the gentlemen who were appointed to act as judges, have had only the name and not the usual powers of judges conferred upon them. All that they have been required and permitted to do is to make an exact report to the Directors of the performances of the competing engines; the Directors reserving to themselves the power of deciding which is best entitled to the premium … but it so happens, that this competition has taken a course which makes it difficult for the Directors to go far wrong in their decision. What all the tests were by which the comparative merits of the competing engines were to be tried, it would be hard to say, neither the original ‘Conditions and Stipulations,’ nor the ‘Ordeal,’ which was subsequently substituted in their place, being, separately considered, sufficiently full and explicit on the subject; but this much is certain, that the performance of seventy miles, for a continuance, was one criterion of excellence to which all the competitors expressed a willing submission. ‘The Rocket’ started on this understanding; and performed the distance at a rate of speed, which, for a continuance, stands as yet unrivalled in the annals of railway-racing. ‘The Sans Pareil’ next made the attempt; but in consequence of part of its machinery giving way, only performed about half the distance. ‘The Novelty’ followed; but had scarcely started, when it was brought by a similar accident to a dead stand. Now, though we are of opinion that ‘The Novelty’ is the sort of engine that will be found best adapted to the purposes of the railway, and are inclined to think that ‘The Sans Pareil’ is at least as good an engine as ‘The Rocket’; yet as neither the one nor the other has equalled ‘The Rocket’ in performance, which had the winning of the prize of £500 expressly for its object, we do not see how the Directors can in justice do otherwise than award that prize to Mr. Stephenson. Besides, whatever may be the merits of ‘The Rocket’, as contrasted with either of its rivals, it is so much superior to all the old locomotives in use, as to entitle Mr. Stephenson to the most marked and liberal consideration, for the skill and ingenuity displayed in its construction.

  The judges, upon whom the Mechanics’ Magazine was nastily trying to cast aspersions, had in fact no hesitation in awarding Rocket the prize. One of the three judges was Nicholas Wood, chief engineer and manager at Killingworth, George’s old friend (it is surprising that the Mechanics’ Magazine managed to refrain from any personal insinuations). To balance any suggestion that Wood might be prejudiced, there was also John Rastrick, a well-known Lancashire engineer, one of those brought in earlier by the Liverpool company who had reported in favour of stationary engines. These two were both highly qualified civil engineers. The third judge doesn’t appear to have had much effect on the technical judgements. He was John Kennedy, a Manchester cotton spinner, and was there to give the layman’s view. Both Wood and Rastrick kept copious notes on the trials, many of which have survived to this day. (The Northumberland Record Office recently acquired some original notes made by Wood during the trials.)

  It is ironic that the Mechanics’ Magazine should have been so prejudiced against George Stephenson – the epitome of the mechanic made good, if ever there was one. It was a highly influential magazine, a cause and symptom of that early nineteenth-century yearning for scientific knowledge. In 1824 its circulation was sixteen thousand, but its readership must have been ten times as great as it was passed from hand to hand in the new mechanics’ institutes which were springing up throughout the country. However, it was run from London and dominated by the professional engineering classes, most of whom looked upon George as a nasty upstart. Its editor and owner was J.C. Robertson, a great friend of William James (so he’d heard the James’ side of the Liverpool story). Another of its powerful backers, and a frequent contributor, was Charles Vignoles, the engineer brought in by the Rennies whom George had managed to oust. He seems to have been George’s strongest opponent behind the scenes. (Wood, in the third edition of his Treatise, 1838, mentions in passing that
the Mechanics’ Magazine’s glowing reports of Novelty’s performances in practice were based on statements by Vignoles.)

  However, the rest of the world was open and honest in its praise for Rocket and the Stephensons. The local and national newspapers gave glowing accounts. When the news reached America there was a rush of railway plans. The Directors of the Internal Improvement of Massachussetts, who had representatives at Rainhill, greeted the reports with delight. ‘We have been called to receive, in astonishment, the accounts which are given of recent experiments in England upon the capacity of Steam Carriages, as a self moving power of Rail Roads. This invention promises to produce a new era in the business and arrangement of Society.’ (In January 1831, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company offered a prize of 4,000 dollars for the best locomotive

  that could haul 15 tons at 15 mph.)

  The Stephenson camp was equally delighted, no doubt pleased that the Mechanics’ Magazine and the London Establishment had been forced to eat their words, at least for the meantime. The best and most amusing description of their reaction comes in a letter written by John Dixon, Stephenson’s young assistant from their Darlington days. He is writing to his brother James in Darlington on 16 October, the day the Rainhill trials finished. (Notice the ‘thy’ at the end which would indicate that John Dixon was a Quaker.)

  Patricroft, Oct. 16 1829

  Dear James,

  We have finished the grand experiments on the Engines and G.S. or R.S. has come off triumphant and of course will take hold of the £500 so liberally offered by the Company: none of the others being able to come near them. The Rocket is by far the best Engine I have ever seen for Blood and Bone united. Story* will give you particulars besides the Newspaper accounts.

  Timothy (Hackworth) has been very sadly out of temper ever since he came for he has been grobbing on day and night and nothing our men did for him was right, we could not please him with the Tender nor anything; he openly accused all G.S.’s people of conspiring to hinder him of which I do believe them innocent, however he got many trials but never got half of his 70 miles done without stopping. He burns nearly double the quantity of coke that the Rocket does and mumbles and roars and rolls about like a Empty Beer Butt on a rough Pavement and moreover weighs above 4½ Tons consequently should have had six wheels and as for being on Springs I must confess I cannot find them out either going or standing neither can I perceive any effect they have. She is very ugly and the Boiler runs out very much, he had to feed her with more Meal and Malt Sprouts than would fatten a pig.…

  The London Engine of Braithwaite & Erickson called the ‘Novelty’ was a light one, no chimney upright but a Boiler thus (sketch) blown by a Blast at A by Bellows and pipes carried like a Still worm along the Tube B C to the discharge C point on Chimney E. She only weighed 3. 7. 3 and did not stand 10 ft. high. Two 6 in. cylinders working a Bell Crank lever to turn the Axle which was cranked so as to be turned by the Bell and Bob lever out of sight, but a very weak form of axle, a Water Tank under the carriage close to the ground and Boiler Bellows Flues, etc., were all covered with Copper like a new Tea Urn all which tended to give her a very Parlour like appearance and when she started she seemed to dart away like a Greyhound for a bit but every trial he had some mishap, first an explosion of inflammable gas which Burst his Bellows then his feed pipe blew up and finally some internal joint of his hidden flue thro his boiler so that it was no go.

  Burstall from Edinbro, upset his in bringing from L’Pool to Rainhill and spent a week in pretending to Remedy the injuries whereas he altered and amended some part every day till he was last of all to start and a sorrowful start it was; full 6 miles an hour cranking away like an old Wickerwork pair of Panniers on a cantering Cuddy Ass. Vox Populi was in favour of London from appearances but we showed them the way to do it for Messrs. Rastrig & Walker in their report as to Fixed and permt. Engines stated that the whole power of the Loco. Engines would be absorbed in taking their own bodies up Rainhill Incline 1 in 96 consequently they could take no load. Now the first thing old George did was to bring a Coach with about 20 people up at a galop and every day since he has run up and down to let them see what they could do up such an ascent and has taken 40 folks up at 20 miles an hour.

  He is now going on with an extension of the Way to Derbyshire and I am to begin on Monday to survey, etc. from Manchester to meet the others. Robert is about a new line in Leicestershire. I dined with Story at Mr. S.’s and we were all as kind as cousins.

  Love to all friends and believe me, Dr. James,

  Thy affectionate Bro. in haste,

  JOHN DIXON

  * Thomas Story (or Storey) was chief resident engineer at Darlington and had been assisting George at Rainhill.

  12

  THE GRAND OPENING

  In the summer of 1830 Fanny Kemble was young and pretty and talented and acting in Liverpool. She’d recently had her first acclaim, at the age of twenty, for her performance as Juliet at Covent Garden, thus saving her actor-manager father from financial ruin. Everyone was now saying that she might turn out to be as great an actress as her famous aunt, Sarah Siddons.

  She was on a provincial tour and on her arrival in Liverpool an invitation came for her and her father to attend a sneak preview of something called the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The railway was not to open for another three months but the directors, in the manner of directors of all new enterprises, then as well as now, were desirous of inviting any public personages, especially those who were young and pretty and talented, to come and see and marvel at their wonderful new enterprise. They didn’t call it a sneak preview but a ‘private view’, though it was far from private, for crowds of many thousands lined the route whenever it was rumoured that one of the locomotives was taking some important visitors on a tour of inspection. Miss Kemble was lucky on her inspection. Her personal guide was none other than the engineer himself, Mr George Stephenson.

  Miss Kemble did indeed go on to greatness, as an actress and as a famous beauty, having her portrait painted for posterity by Sir Thomas Lawrence, President of the Royal Academy, but when she is remembered today it is more likely to be for her account of her experiences that day. It first appeared in a book she published in 1878 about her girlhood, and has delighted generations of railway historians ever since. Amidst the lifeless locomotive statistics, or carping criticisms from mechanical magazines, her observations stand out fresh and bright, a virgin view of a sight the rest of the world had still to see, full of the gaiety and hopefulness of youth. This is the letter she wrote to a friend from Liverpool on 26 August 1830.

  And now I will give you an account of my yesterday’s excursion. A party of sixteen persons was ushered into a large courtyard, where, under cover, stood several carriages of a peculiar construction, one of which was prepared for our reception. It was a long-bodied vehicle with seats placed across it back to back; the one we were in had six of these benches, and it was a sort of uncovered char banc. The wheels were placed upon two iron bands, which formed the road, and to which they are fitted, being so constructed as to slide along without any danger of hitching or becoming displaced, on the same principle as a thing sliding on a concave groove. The carriage was set in motion by a mere push, and, having received this impetus, rolled with us down an inclined plane into a tunnel, which forms the entrance to the railroad. This tunnel is four hundred yards long (I believe), and will be lighted by gas. At the end of it we emerged from darkness, and, the ground becoming level, we stopped. There is another tunnel parallel with this only much wider and longer, for it extends from the place we had now reached, and where the steam carriages start, and which is quite out of Liverpool, the whole way under the town, to the docks. This tunnel is for waggons and other heavy carriages; and as the engines which are to draw the trains along the railroad do not enter these tunnels, there is a large building at this entrance which is to be inhabited by steam engines of a stationary turn of mind, and different constitution from the travelling ones, which a
re to propel the trains through the tunnels to the terminus in the town, without going out of their houses themselves. The length of the tunnel parallel to the one we passed through is (I believe) two thousand two hundred yards. I wonder if you are understanding one word I am saying all this while.

  We were introduced to the little engine which was to drag us along the rails. She (for they make these curious little fire horses all mares) consisted of a boiler, a stove, a platform, a bench, and behind the bench a barrel containing enough water to prevent her being thirsty for fifteen miles,– the whole machine not bigger than a common fire engine. She goes upon two wheels, which are her feet, and are moved by bright steel legs called pistons; these are propelled by steam, and in proportion as more steam is applied to the upper extremities (the hip-joints, I suppose) of these pistons, the faster they move the wheels; and when it is desirable to diminish the speed, the steam, which unless suffered to escape would burst the boiler, evaporates through a safety valve into the air. The reins, bit, and bridle of this wonderful beast, is a small steel handle, which applies or withdraws the steam from its legs or pistons, so that a child might manage it. The coals, which are its oats, were under the bench, and there was a small glass tube affixed to the boiler, with water in it, which indicates by its fullness or emptiness when the creature wants water, which is immediately conveyed to it from its reservoirs. There is a chimney to the stove but as they burn coke there is none of the dreadful black smoke which accompanies the progress of a steam vessel. This snorting little animal, which I felt rather inclined to pat, was then harnessed to our carriage, and Mr. Stephenson having taken me on the bench of the engine with him, we started at about ten miles an hour.