New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-05-21


| which met with more or lees success, until 1873
when S,epbe nson was provided with funds by Lord
Rayensw orih, and set about the construction Of Q
locomotive according to his owa idea After much
,bor and anxiety, and frequent alteration Of part,
this was at length completed and placed on the Kill.
iosworth Railway for trial trip, July IS, lsl4. 1t
succeeded in drawing . load Of 80 tons .. about
four miles an hour, and was the II, st efficient work
ing engine yet constructed. Successive improve
mel ts were made within year, and before the
clcse Of 1915 the perfect germ Of the present loco
motive er CINE was fully established. But the most
imp OF .ant steps yet remained to be taken.
Stephenson alone remained in ths field after all the
cher mproveis and inventors Of the locomotive had
sbsndon.d it in despair. He continued to entertain
confident expectations Of its eventual success. He
even welt 20 far as TO say that would yet supersede
every ether trsctiye power. Many looked upon him
ss enthusiast, which doubt he was, but Ron suf
6c mt grounds. As for his travelling engine, it by
most persons regarded az a curious toy; and many,
shaking their heads predicted for it terrible blow.
up some day Nevertheless, it was daily performing
its work with regularity, dragging the coAl-wAsons
labor of many men and hOrees. There not, how.
ever " marked saving in the expense Of working
when compared with the cost of horse traction as to
induce the northern coiery masters adopt it
substitute for horses. How IL could be improved and
rendered more efficient well economical was
never out Of Mr.. StepheDsons mind He was quite
conscious Of the mperfecons both Of the road and OF
the engine; and he gave himself no rest until he nad
brought the efficiency of both up 10 higher point.
He worked his way step by step, sowly but surely:
every step was in advance Of the one preceding and
thus inch by inch gained and made good as ba-
sis for further improvements.
At an early period of his labors, or about the time
when he had completed his aecoId locomotVe, he be-
gan 70 direct his particular attention the state OF the
conceive must necessarily depend IN great measure
upon the perfection, soldty continuity and smooth
ness OF the way along which the engine travelled Even
at that early period, he was In the habit OF regarding
the road and the locomotive one machine spe akng
of the ran and the wheel as " man and wife,
1t is curious to note the slow process BY which
the Importance Of his invention was brought to the
recognition of the public. HIS engines were in use
for many years without exciting any general inter-
est. 1t is not difficult to account for this apathy
He was an unlettered man. unable to give utterance
TO the thoughts which haunted his mind, and the
scientific world of London could gain no glimpse of
good from 90 remote and humble a Nazareth as
Newcastle collery. Even the local chroniclers took
no notice of the invention But new day was
about TO dawn. After violent struggle, in which
Mr. Stephen son took prominent part a b Il wa' at
construction of the Liverpool and Manche ter Rail
read. Mr.. Stephenson was appointed principal en-
gineer, with sslary of. $4,000 per annum, aud at
once procet ded with his characteristic energy to
the accomplishment of his task. The work was
commenced in June, 1896 BY the end of 1928,
the Directors found that they had expended over
So coo, 900 on the works. and that they were still
far from completion. They looked at the loss of in
terest on this large investment, and began to grum
bic at the delay They desired to see their capital
| becoming productive; and in the Spring of 1923,
they urged the engineer to push on the works with
increased vigor. Mr. Chopper, one of the Directors,
who took an active interest in their progress, said
to him one day, Now, George, thou must get on
with the railway, and have ii finished without fur
ther delay; thou must really have it ready for open
ing by the lst day of January next Consider the
heavy character Of the works, Sir, and how much
We we been delayed by the want of money, not to
speak of the wetness of the weather; it is mposs.
ble.' Impossible rejoined Chopper; i wish
could get Napoleon to thee-he would tell thee
there is no such word as impossible in the yo-
c.bulary.' 'ru,hr exclaimed Stephenson, with
waImth don't speak to me about Napoleon
Give me men, money and materials and Will do
what NAPOLEON couldn't dO-drve a railroad from
Liverpool to Manchester over Chat Moss . And
truly, the formation of high road over that bot
tomless bog was apparently, far more difficult
talk than the hewing even of Napoieons far-famed
road across the Simplon."
The road was at last so far completed, that the
dire tors were called to decide as to the kind OF
tractiye power to be used on il. The question was
between fixed engines aud locomotives. The for
mer had many advocates; for the latter Mr. Ste
| pbebton stood almost alone. The most celebrated
| engineers did not believe iu he locomotive, and
would not even take the trouble TO examine II.
The leading members of that profession studiously
| avoided Mr.. Stephenson. Had the locomotive sys-
TIN depended On them, it would have beens"auped
from the start As the discussion proceeded inregad
TO the power to be adopted, the directors were del
uged with all sorts Of schemes. The projectors OF
En,laud. France and America ned TO be le;loose
| upontbem. Some recommended working the wagons
along the line by water power. Some proposed hydro
gen, others carbonic acid others atmospheric press
ure. One urged plan for creased road Win cog
nils various kinds of steam power were suggested;
and the directors were wholly unable to choose De-
tween the conflicting schemes. AteDgta the suHJecl
was referred to select committee of engineers,
who reported in favor of fixed engines in preference
TO locomotive power Here was the result Of oil
George Stephenson labors The two best pTac'
teal engineers Of the day concured in reporting
scainst the employment of bis locomotive NO.a