'Puffing Billy' And The Prize 'Rocket' Part 6

A failure indeed! Back came a letter by the next post telling him to "go ahead and try again!" The letter, moreover, suggested a remedy for the disaster--fastening the tubes into the boiler by fitting them snugly into holes bored for the purpose, and soldering up the edges.

And it proved to be precisely what Robert himself had thought of, after the first bitter wave of disappointment had subsided. So he took heart and went to work again. Success crowned his efforts. A heavy pressure was put on the water, and not a drop oozed out. The boiler was quite water-tight.

This is precisely the kind of boiler now in use: some have fifty tubes; the largest engines one hundred and fifty.

Various other improvements were incorporated into the new engine, which, as you do not probably understand much about machinery, will not particularly interest you.

At last the new engine was finished. It weighed only four tons and a quarter, little less than two tons under the weight required by the directors. The tender, shaped like a waggon, carried wood in one end and water in the other.

It was forthwith put on the Killingworth track, fired up, and started off. Robert must have watched its operations with intense anxiety.

Nothing could have met his expectations like the new boiler. It in fact outdid his highest hopes. The steam made rapidly, and in, what seemed to him then, marvellous quant.i.ties. Away went a letter to Liverpool that very evening.

"The 'Rocket' is all right and ready," wrote the young man joyfully.

That was the engine's name, "Rocket," on account of its speed perhaps.

"Puffing Billy" was quite cast into a shade.

It was shortly shipped to Liverpool in time for the grand trial.

The trial, rapidly approaching, elicited a great and general interest.

The public mind was astir. The day fixed was the first of October.

Engineers, mechanics, and scientific men, far and near, flocked to Liverpool. The ground where the exhibition was to take place was a level piece of railroad two miles long, a little out of the city. Each engine was to make twenty trips at a rate of speed not under ten miles an hour, and three competent men were appointed as judges.

Four engines were entered on the list, "THE NOVELTY," "SANS-PAREIL,"

"THE ROCKET," "PERSEVERANCE."

Several others were built for the occasion in different parts of the kingdom, or rather projected and begun, but were not finished in time.

In order to afford ample opportunity for their owners to get them in good working order, the directors postponed the trial to October 6th.

The day arrived, and a glance at the country round showed that an unusual occasion was drawing people together. Mult.i.tudes from the neighbouring towns a.s.sembled on the grounds at an early hour. The road was lined with carriages, and a high staging afforded the ladies an opportunity of witnessing the novel race.

The "Novelty" and "Sans-pereil," though first on the list, were not ready at the hour appointed. What engine was? The "Rocket."

Stephenson, next on the roll, was called for by the judges, and promptly the little "Rocket" fired up at the call. It performed six trips in about fifty-three minutes.

The "Novelty" then proclaimed itself ready. It was a light, trim engine, of little more than three tons weight, carrying its wood and water with it. It took no load, and ran across the course sometimes at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour. The "Sans-pareil" also came out.

The "Perseverance," not able to go faster than five or six miles an hour, withdrew from the contest. As the day was now far spent, further exhibition was put off till the morrow.

What exciting discussion must have taken place among rival compet.i.tors and their friends! What a scrutiny of the merits and demerits, the virtues and defects, of opposing engines!

Before the appointed hour the next day the bellows of the "Novelty"

gave out, and as this was one of its merits--a bellows to increase the draft of the air-blast--its builders were forced to retire from the list.

Soon after a defect was discovered in the boiler of the "Sans-pareil."

Mr. Hackworth begged for time to mend it; as there was no time, none could be granted, and he, too, withdrew his claims.

The "Rocket" alone stood its ground. The "Rocket," therefore, was called for. Stephenson attached to it a carriage large enough to hold a party of thirty, and drove his locomotive along the line at the rate of twenty-five and thirty miles an hour, to the amazement and delight of every one present.

The next morning it was ordered to be in readiness to answer the various specifications of the offer. It snorted and panted, and steamed over the race-ground in proud trim, drawing about thirteen tons weight. In twenty trips, backward and forward, its greatest speed was twenty-nine miles an hour, three times greater than Nicholas Wood, one of the judges, declared to be possible. Its average rate was fifteen miles, five miles beyond the rate specified for the prize. The performance appeared astonishing. Spectators were filled with wonder.

The poor directors began to see fair weather; doubts were solved, disputes settled; the "Rocket" had cleared the track for them. There could no longer be any question how to run the road. George Cropper, who had steadily countenanced stationary engines, lifted up his hands, exclaiming, "Stephenson has at last delivered himself!"

The two other locomotives, however, were allowed to reappear on the stage; but both broke down, and the "Rocket" remained victor to the last. It had performed, and more than performed, all it promised, fulfilled all the conditions of the directors' offer, and was accordingly declared to have n.o.bly earned the prize, five hundred pounds.

But the money was little compared to the profound satisfaction which the Stephensons felt at this public acknowledgment of the worth of their life-long labours. George's veracity, skill, and intelligence had all been doubted, denied, and derided by men of all cla.s.ses. Even old friends turned against him, and thought his mind was crazed by "one idea." He had to struggle on alone; faithful to his convictions, patiently biding his time, yet earnestly pleading his cause on every suitable occasion. He had a blessing for the world, and he knew when it felt its want of it, it would have it. That time had come. The directors flocked around him with flattering congratulations. All shyness and coolness vanished. Friends were no longer few. The shares of the company immediately rose ten per cent. Men and means were at his disposal. George Stephenson was a happy man.

The "Rocket" had blown stationary engines to the winds. And steam that day, on the land as well as the water, took its place as one of the grand moving powers of the world.

CHAPTER IX.

OPENING OF THE NEW ROAD--DIFFICULTIES VANISH--A NEW ERA.

There was no more waiting for work at the locomotive factory in Newcastle. Orders immediately arrived from the directors to build eight large engines for the new road, and all the workshops were astir with busy life. The victorious little "Rocket" was put on the road, and sensibly helped to finish it. Neither faith, men, nor means were now wanting, and the labour in every part went heartily on.

In June a meeting of the directors was held in Manchester, when the "Rocket" made a trip from Liverpool to that city with a freight and pa.s.senger train, running through in two hours. Chat Moss never quivered; and the directors, I daresay, would have been very glad to forget their disconsolate meeting on the edge of it, when they nearly voted themselves beaten by the bog, only Stephenson would not let them.

On the 15th of September, 1830, there was to be a public opening of the road, and preparations were made at each end, and all along the way, for the grand event. The occasion awakened a deep and universal interest. It was justly regarded as a national event, to be celebrated with becoming honours. The Duke of Wellington, then Prime Minister, was present; also Sir Robert Peel and Mr. Huskisson, whose stirring words revived the drooping spirits of the directors after their defeat in parliament, and whose influence served to get their bill successfully through at last. No one, perhaps, had watched the progress of the enterprise with deeper interest than Mr. Huskisson, or rejoiced more in the vanquishing of one difficulty after another to its final finishing. Great numbers came from far and near, who, a.s.sembling by the slow mode of travel of those days, took time accordingly.

Carriages lined the roads and lanes; the river was crowded with boats; and soldiers and constables had their hands full to keep the people from the track.

The new locomotives, eight in number, having been faithfully tested, steamed proudly up. The "Northumbrian," driven by George Stephenson, took the lead. Next the "Phoenix," under Robert's charge; then the "North Star," by a brother of George. The "Rocket," and the rest, with their trains, followed. Six hundred persons were in this procession, flying at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour! Oh, the wonder and admiration which the spectacle excited! These n.o.ble steam-horses panting, prancing, snorting, puffing, blowing, shooting through tunnels, dashing across bridges, coursing high embankments, and racing over the fields and far away. England and the world never saw before a sight like that.

But the joy and the triumph of the occasion were destined to be dampened by a terrible disaster. At Parkenside, seventeen miles from Liverpool, the "Northumbrian," which carried the Duke and his party, was drawn up on one track, in order to allow the other trains to pa.s.s in review before them on the other. Mr. Huskisson alighted, and, standing outside, was talking with the Duke, when a hurried cry of "Get in! get in!" went up from the bystanders; for on came the "Rocket," steaming along at full speed. Mr. Huskisson, startled and confused, attempted to regain the carriage an instant too late; he was struck down, and the "Rocket" went over him.

"I have met my death!" exclaimed the unfortunate statesman; which, alas! proved but too true, for he died that evening.

A sad confusion prevailed. The body of the wounded gentleman was lifted into the car, or carriage as it then was, and the "Northumbrian" took him over the track home, a distance of fifteen miles, in about twenty minutes. So swiftly and easily done! The use rather than the abuse of the new power made the strongest impression.

The mournful accident threw a cloud over the occasion. The Duke wished to stop the celebration, and immediately return to Liverpool. Mr.

Huskisson's friends joined with him in the wish. Others felt that Manchester should not be disappointed in witnessing the arrival of the trains, and that the accident might become magnified and misrepresented, and thus operate mischievously upon public sentiment in relation to railroads; the party therefore consented to proceed to their journey's end, but were unwilling to mingle in any of the rejoicings common to such occasions.

But the railroad needed no such demonstrations to prove its worth. It had within itself more substantial proof. Time was saved; labour was saved; money was saved. Coal, cotton, and every article of merchandise useful to men could be carried cheaper, could be had cheaper, than ever before, and, what was better, had in quant.i.ties sufficient to satisfy the industry and necessities of men. And with cheapness was combined comfort and safety. The first eighteen months seven hundred thousand persons were carried over the road, and not an accident happened.

But were not people frightened by the smoke, cinders, fire, and noise of the engines, as the opposition in Parliament declared they would be? No, no. It was not long before everybody wanted land near the track; and land, therefore, near the road rapidly rose in value. The farmers who had scouted the surveyors from their fields now complained of being left on one side; and those who had farms near the stations to rent rented them at a much higher rate than ever before. Barren lots became suddenly profitable, and even Chat Moss was turned into productive acres.

In 1692 an old writer states, "There is an admirable commodiousness both for men and women of the better rank to travel from London, the like of which has not been known in the world; and that is, by stage-coaches, wherein one may be transferred to any place, sheltered from foul weather, with a velocity and speed equal to the fastest posts in foreign countries; for the stage-coaches called 'Flying-coaches' make forty or fifty miles a day."

An English paper, bearing the date of January, 1775, has this advertis.e.m.e.nt, "HEREFORD MACHINE. In a day and a half, twice a week, continues flying from the 'Swan' in Hereford, Monday and Thursday, to London."

What would the people of those days say to a railroad carriage, especially on the "Lightning Train?"

The first stage-coach between Boston and New York began, June 24, 1772, to run once a fortnight, starting on the thirteenth, and arriving on the twenty-eighth, fifteen days' travel. Now the distance is gone over in less than the same number of hours. And so the first stage-coach between New York and Philadelphia, begun in 1756, occupied three days in the journey. Three days dwindle down to three hours in the train.

In the Scriptures we find Isaiah with prophetic eye looking over the centuries to these later times, and penning down, "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain;" and "swift messengers" are seen executing the world's affairs--no meagre description of the great means of intercourse in our day, the railway and telegraph. The prophet saw in it a clearing of the track for the coming kingdom of the Redeemer, which is, some time, to spread over the whole earth as "the waters cover the sea." Men make good tools and instruments for themselves. They forget they are perfecting them for G.o.d also, who is using them, and who will use them to make known the precious Gospel of His Son, "peace on earth, and good will to men."

What powerful preachers for the Sabbath are the railway and telegraph, doing away with all necessity and every excuse for Sabbath travelling, as they do. Long journeys and the most urgent business can be done between Sabbath and Sabbath, giving a rest-day to the nation. And this view of them is deserving more and more regard.

The inst.i.tution of the Sabbath was founded with the human race. It was meant to be the rest-day of the entire world. It was set up as a blessing: "The Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it." The bodies of man and beast need it. The muscles, bones, nerves, sinews, and brain cannot endure the strain of constant and uninterrupted work.