George Stephenson (27 page)

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.

The steam horse being ill adapted for going up and down hill, the road was kept at a certain level, and appeared sometimes to sink below the surface of the earth and sometimes to rise above it. Almost at starting it was cut through the solid rock which formed a wall on either side of it, about sixty feet high. You can't imagine how strange it was to be journeying on thus, without any visible cause of progress other than the magical machine, with its flying white breath and rhythmical, unvarying pace, between these rocky walls, which are already clothed with moss and ferns and grasses; and when I reflected that these great masses of stone had been cut asunder to allow our passage thus far below the surface of the earth, I felt as if no fairy tale was ever half so wonderful as what I saw. Bridges were thrown from side to side across the top of these cliffs, and the people looking down upon us from them seemed like pygmies standing in the sky.…

He [Mr Stephenson] explained to me the whole construction of the steam engine, and said he could soon make a famous engineer of me, which, considering the wonderful things he has achieved, I dare not say is impossible. His way of explaining himself is peculiar, but very striking, and I understood, without difficulty, all that he said to me. We then rejoined the rest of the party, and the engine having received its supply of water, the carriage was placed behind it, for it cannot turn, and was set off at its utmost speed, 35 miles an hour, swifter than a bird flies (for they tried the experiment with a snipe). You cannot conceive what the sensation of cutting the air was; the motion is as smooth as possible, too. I could either have read or written; and as it was I stood up, and with my bonnet off ‘drank the air before me'. The wind, which was strong, or perhaps the force of our own thrusting against it absolutely weighed my eyelids down. When I closed my eyes this sensation of flying was quite delightful, and strange beyond description; yet strange as it was, I had a perfect sense of security, and not the slightest fear.

At one time, to exhibit the power of the engine, having met another steam-carriage which was unsupplied with water, Mr. Stephenson caused it to be fastened in front of ours; moreover, a waggon laden with timber was also chained to us, and thus propelling the idle steam engine and dragging the loaded waggon, which was beside it, and our own carriage full of people behind, this brave little she-dragon of ours flew on. Farther on she met three carts, which, being fastened in front of her, she pushed on before her without the slightest delay or difficulty; when I add that this pretty little creature can run with equal facility either backwards or forwards, I believe I have given you an account of all her capacities.

Four years have sufficed to bring this great undertaking to an end. The railroad will be opened upon the fifteenth of next month. The Duke of Wellington is coming down to be present on the occasion, and, I suppose, that with the thousands of spectators and the novelty of the spectacle, there will never have been a scene of more striking interest. The whole cost of the work (including the engines and carriages) will have been eight hundred and thirty thousand pounds; and it is already worth double that sum. The Directors have kindly offered us three places for the opening, which is a great favour, for people are bidding almost anything for a place, I understand.

Now for a word or two about the master of all these marvels, with whom I am most horribly in love. He is a man from fifty to fifty-five years of age; his face is fine, though careworn, and bears an expression of deep thoughtfulness; his mode of explaining his ideas is peculiar and very original, striking, and forcible; and although his accent indicates strongly his north country birth, his language has not the slightest touch of vulgarity or coarseness. He has certainly turned my head.

George must have been thrilled – and probably wouldn't have minded being taken for around fifty-five, when he was only forty-nine, as personal vanity was never one of his vices. He'd certainly been letting off steam, in every sense, showing off by touching thirty-five mph, but who wouldn't have done with such a pretty companion, so obviously enraptured. Naturally, one assumes that she was horribly in love with George in a purely theatrical sense. Even actresses on tour in Liverpool are allowed a little West End license. But what thoughts passed through George's grey, careworn head? He was in love with steam, as we well know, but memories of his own dear long departed Fanny must have crossed his mind, the mother of his beloved Robert and of the baby daughter, also called Fanny, who died in infancy.

A few months earlier George had made an impression, though a slightly different one, upon another well-known personage of the day who'd also been given a private tour of the line. He was Thomas Creevey, MP, the friend of Lord Sefton and a noted critic of the railway. Creevey had played a major part in opposing and humiliating George when the railway bill had been thrown out of parliament five years previously and had gone so far as to describe one railway supporter as ‘insane'. He didn't change his mind completely, after his little trip, but he was nonetheless interested enough to take a ride, and to live, to his surprise, to tell the tale. His tale, in the form of a letter written to his daughter in November 1829, first appeared in
The Creevey Papers
in 1903, a valuable source of social insight into the Georgian period.

Today we have had a
lark
of a very high order. Lady Wilton sent over yesterday to say that the Loco Motive machine was to be upon the railway at such a place at 12 o'clock for the Knowsley party to ride in if they liked and inviting this house to be of the party. So of course we were at our post in 3 carriages and some horsemen at the hour appointed. I had the satisfaction, for I can't call it pleasure, of taking a trip of five miles in it, which we did in just a quarter of an hour – that is 20 miles an hour. As accuracy upon this subject was my great object, I held my watch in my hand at starting, and all the time; and as it has a second hand, I know I could not be deceived. But observe, during these five miles, the machine was occasionally made to put itself out or
go it
and then we went at the rate of 23 miles an hour, and just with the same ease as to motion or absence of friction as the other reduced pace. But the quickest motion is to me
frightful
; it is really flying, and it is impossible to divest yourself of the notion of instant death to all upon the least accident happening. It gave me a headache which has not left me yet. Sefton is convinced that some damnable thing must come of it; but he and I seem more struck with such apprehension than others.… The smoke is very inconsiderable, indeed, but sparks of fire are abroad and in some quantity: one burnt Miss de Ros's cheek, another a hole in Lady Maria's silk pelisse and a third a hole in someone else's gown. Altogether, I am extremely glad indeed to have seen this miracle, and to have travelled in it. Had I thought worse of it than I do I should have had the curiosity to try it; but, having done so, I am quite satisfied with my
first
achievement being my
last
.

Creevey's reaction could not be called ecstatic compared with Fanny's, but it was enough to confirm George's usual confidence, getting him in the right mood for the grand opening to come, knowing that his enemies were now highly intrigued, if nothing else.

The success of the Rainhill trials had immediately resulted in an order with Robert Stephenson and Company of a further four locomotives on the
Rocket
model. Cropper, the director who'd always been against George, also managed to get the Liverpool board to order two engines from the makers of
Novelty
, at a cost of £1,000 each, much to the delight of the
Mechanics' Magazine
. But alas for the mechanicals, the two engines failed their trial runs, for reasons never given, if ever known.

The
Manchester Guardian
came to the defence of the Stephensons with the use of some pretty sharp liberal invective, a definite cut above the language that had been used in local newspaper disputes back in the north east. They launched an attack on the
Mechanics' Magazine
, calling their persecution a ‘system of petty detraction so long and insistently levelled at Mr Stephenson's engines by a little knot of pseudomechanics'. The
Mechanics' Magazine
replied by accusing the
Guardian
of treating the truth as exceedingly superfluous'. The
Guardian
, very wisely, then appealed to the public.

What the practical difficulties are which Mr Stephenson has had to encounter with his engines we do not know; but we understand the difficulty which Messrs Braithwaite and Ericsson had, and still have to encounter (and it is ‘practical' enough) is that their engines will not work – at all events, not to any useful purpose, whilst those of Mr Stephenson perform their allotted tasks in the admirable manner which most of our readers have, no doubt, witnessed.

However, George's enemies didn't all give up, despite George's success in making friends and influencing actresses. His old enemy Cropper persuaded the board to bring in William Chapman, an early locomotive pioneer, to report on the latest state of the construction of the line. This was early in 1830, the year George had said he would be finished, so in some ways it wasn't too unreasonable to have a progress report. But not in George's eyes. Fresh from his success at Rainhill, he was furious that anyone should question his work. He wrote a letter of such self-righteous passion to the board complaining about Chapman and about the many other occasions when the board had dared to doubt his capabilities that it is worth quoting several paragraphs to show how absolutely confident of his own powers he had become.

When you engaged Mr. Chapman I understood that it was for the sole purpose of reporting to you on the progress made on the different works on the line. Whatever might be my private opinions at to the utility of such an officer I did not urge any objection to his election, especially as you informed me that his duty would in no way interfere with mine. Since his appointment I find that his attention has not merely been devoted to reporting on the progress of the works, but extended to things which I trust you will consider strictly within my department.

An engineman has been discharged from one of the Locomotive Engines because he did not give a satisfactory answer to some questions put to him by Mr. Chapman. The dismissal of this man from all I can learn is certainly injudicious. I brought him from the North where he bore a most excellent character.… His answers to Mr. C. may have been unsatisfactory, but it is doubtful whether he understood the import of the questions and it is still more doubtful if they were intelligible to any working Mechanic. I cannot but feel some reluctance to bringing Enginemen with their families from the North, who alone are capable of managing this class of engine … if they are to be interfered with by an individual unacquainted with the nature of the work.

A note also has been addressed by Mr. C. to Mr. Booth requesting him to give one of my assistants such directions as he might think fit respecting the Embankment at Newton, and that only two or three days after I had been on the spot myself. On the impropriety of such a step on the part of Mr. Chapman I shall make no comment as it is sufficiently obvious. It is a direct interference with my duty and by a person entirely ignorant of Engineering; nor can he be acquainted, when he views a piece of work on the line, what plans I intend adopting, why I am doing it, or what I intend to do afterwards.

This kind of interference with my duties as well as the doubts and suspicions which had been expressed regarding the opinions I have from time to time given on different subjects connected with this work has occasioned me much uneasiness. I have been accused of jealousy and a want of candour in the case of Mr. Brandreth's and Mr. Winan's waggons as well as in that of Mr. Erickson's engine, and even of worse than this in the case of Stationary v. Locomotive engines. In all these instances, instead of jealousy operating I confidently state that I have been only influenced by a disinterested zeal for the complete success of your work and by a laudable desire to support and establish my own credit.

May I now ask if I have supported your interests or not? Has Mr. Brandreth's carriage answered? Has Mr. Winan's saved 9/10 of the friction? Was not Walker & Rastrick's report wrong? Has the
Novelty
engine answered your expectations? Have the
Lancashire Witch
and the
Rocket
not performed more than I stated? These facts make me bold, but they also stimulate me to still further improvement. But I cannot believe that you will permit me to be thwarted in my proceedings by individuals who neither understand the work nor feel the interest which attaches me to this railway. Allow me therefore to ask if you intend Mr. C. to continue on the works.