The life of George Stephenson, railway engineer - Lighthouse ...

90 LIFE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON. [chap. ix.
above and below ground ; and, after considering the matter, and
hearing Stephenson's statements, he authorized him to proceed
with the construction of a locomotive,^—though his lordship was,
by some, called a fool for advancing money for such a purpose.
" The first locomotive that I made," said Mr. Stephenson, many
years after,* when speaking of his early career, at a public meeting
in Newcastle, " was at Killingworth colliery, and with Lord
Ravensworth's money. Yes, Lord Eavensworth and partners
were the first to entrust me with money to make a locomotive
engine. That engine was made thirty-two years ago, and we
called it ' My Lord.' I said to my friends, there was no limit to
the speed of such an engine, if the works could be made to
stand it."
Mr. Stephenson had, however, many serious difficulties to en-
counter before he could get fairly to work with the erection of
his locomotive. His chief difficulty was in finding mechanics
sufficiently skilled in the knowledge of machinery, and in the
use of tools, to follow his instructions and embody his designs in
a practical shape. Skilled mechanics were few in number in
those days, and were for the most part confined to Birmingham,
Manchester, Leeds, and London. The tools in use about the
collieries were rude and clumsy ; and there were then no such
facilities as now exist for turning out machinery of an entirely
new character. Mr. Stephenson was thus under the necessity
of working with such men and tools as were at his command;
and he had in a great measure to train and instruct his workmen
himself. The engine was built in the workshops at the West
Moor, the leading mechanic being John Thirlwall, the colliery
blacksmith, an excellent workman in his way, though quite new
to the work now entrusted to him.
In this first locomotive constructed at Killingworth, Mr. Ste-
phenson to some extent followed the plan of Blenkinsop's engine.
The boiler was cylindrical, eight feet in length, and thirty-four
inches in diameter, with an internal flue tube twenty inches wide
passing through the boiler. The engine had two vertical cylin-
ders of eight inches diameter and two feet stroke let into the
* Speech at the opening of the Newcastle and Darlington Railway, June 18th,
1844.