Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-07-24
To COrrespOndens.
Railroad "Reminiscences.

Railroad "Reminiscences.
western paper, in giving sonme interesting facts
in relation to the introduction Of railway travelling,
says We are so familiar with railroads, and they
Nowadays Of such rapid and frequent construction,
it is with difficulty that one can realize that their
praeticabiliy and usefulness should have been
doubted, when once suggested; that their estab-
ishment should have been at first opposed as vision
airy, and denounced as an obnoxious and outrageous
nuisance. 1t is q remarkable cOrrobOratiOn Of the
trite and universally attested maxim that the pro-
gress Of all improvements and economical changes
is very slow, and always INSTRUCTED by the whims
and ignorance of theorists and the doubts and de
risions of eroakers. Railroads, so far as they
simply straight roads of parallel rails, upon which
wagons with Hanged wheels can be easily moved,
we're in actual use ia ERglsnd as early as 1890 The
first use to which this kind of way was put, the
carrying of Goals from the coal pits to river
canal depot For this purpose they have been very
common in Eng!snd for more than two hundred yesrr.
Iron rails we're laid at the Whiehaven cOllieries in
1885, and yet their availability as roads for common
transportation was not even thought of as possible
until it was demonstrated by the experiment of Ste
phenson 10 1914.
/ By this distinguished mechanician, who rose by
his own efforts from the position of iterae plug
man to a draining engine TO be the first railway
engineer of Europe, railroads we're improved to g
state of perfection till then uuthOught of; aud the
locomotive if not invented, was made practically
I available for drawing heavy loads at speed not
before conceived to be possible 1t is to him. ALSO
that their employment on smooth iron rails in pre-
ference to fixed engines and ropes is exclusively
due He stood almost alone in maintaining their
superiority and capabiIy. Even so late as 1896 it
was urgently insisted upon by several prominent
engineers that stationary engines should be used on
/ the Liverpool and Manchester railroad, then in
process Of construction 1t was then that Stephen
! son brought out his famous "ROoket" engine and
| undertook that it should draw weight of twenty
tons ten miles hours prize having been offered
by the directors of that road for locomotive that
should be able perform this incredible feat as it
was then thought by some of the most prominent
scientific and PEsctical men of the day.
DR.. Lardner, amongst others, declared in public
essay, that steam carriages could not travel at any
thing like the speed of ten miles an hour on smooth
rails; and that if driven to it the wheels would
simply spin on their axles, and the ears would stand
still. Mr., StePhenson's "ROeke, however, attain,
ed velocity of twenty nine miles an hour, dragging
after it about thirteen tons. This must have sur.
prsed the official gentleman who promised that if a
locomotive could be made to go ten miles an hour,
che would eat a steWed engine whole for breakfast
Previous to this Mr.. Stephenson had propheeed the
day "When railways would come to supercede almost
all other methods Of conveyance; when mail coaches
would 60 by railway and railroads would become
the great highway for the King and his subjects 81
only wish (he added) that may live to see the day
though that 1 can scarcely hope for; as know how
slow all human progress is, and with what difficulty
have been able to get the locomotive adopted, not
withstanding my more than ten years successful ex
periments at KillingROrth."
1t will be scarcely credited in 1858 that when il
1921 the railroad between Liverpool and Manohss
ter was projected, although the means Of convey
ance and travel was then altogether inadequate Il
the actual and active demands Of business the sur
veyors who laid out the road, we're hoOted at anl
pslted with stones, and driven BY every species o
annoyance from their Work-Were prevented from
continuing it by the active of guns and pitch
forks. The instruments were demolished, and tn
survey was completed by stratagem and under tn
constant peril Of life and limb.
The work was in this manner delayed five years
And even after Mr.. Stephensons experiments wer
well known to have been successful, and after tb
publication of his Jealous and confident assurances
in the year 1926, when the attempt was again mad
to get bill of incorporation and privilege throug
Parliament, authorizing the construction of thi
road, the opposition to it was revived with redOu
bled energy. The project not only ridiculed q
extrsvHgant and impossible by those who affected t
be learned IN science, but it was attacked on tn
popular grounds that it would ruin the farms an
kill the birds, that the smoke would poison the al
mosphere, and the sparks set the villages and farm
houses on fire. Horses, it was represented, if
was successful would be driven out of use, and cal
and hay, and other agricultural products, rendere
unsaleable commodities. Country inns would b
closed and boilers would blow up and kill the pas
seDgers. The excitement against the proposal wa
intense, and it was with greet difficulty that it Wa
e finally carried through. 1t cost the company hui
bred thousand dollars to get the bill through tn
House of Commons, and very few had any expects
tion of seeing it completed.
1t is memorable, also, that even while this ros
was in progress of construction, it was seriOusl
designed by the directors to have the trains move
by stationary engines. The plan was to divide th
road into nineteen stages of about mile and ha
each, with twenty-One fixed engines to drag the
along. Mr.. Stephenson had much difficulty in d.
feating this absurd proposition.
Thus did this great achievement of modern civi
ization struggle against ignorance, prejudice an
stupidity into a reluctant and almost regretted e.
i.tenoe But its after success was as rapid az
triumphant as its Introduction had been tedious al
discOuragng. So hard is it for the world to devia
from the beaten track of its ideas and ussges {
unwilling and hesitating is its faith in the discOve
les and innovations of its inventors and reformer
So is it demonstrated that the grand elements
success are courage, self reliance and perseverance
We should have had no railroads but for Georj
Stephenson; and but for these essential qualities
true greatness George Stephenson would have bee
no whit in advance of his prejudiced and skeptie
. countrymen.