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

132 LIFE OP GEOKGE STEPHENSON. [chap. xii.
CHAPTEE XII.
FUETHEE IMPEOTEMBNTS IN THE LOCOMOTIVE.
Me. Stephenson's experiments on fire-damp, and his labours
in connection with the invention of the safety lamp, occupied
but a small portion of his time, which was mainly devoted to the
engineering business of the colliery. He was also giving daily
attention to the improvement of his locomotive, which every day's
observation and experience satisfied him was still far from being
perfect.
At that time, railways were almost exclusively confined to the
colliery districts, and attracted the notice of few persons except
those immediately connected with the coal trade. Nor were the
colliery proprietors generally favourable to locomotive traction.
There were great doubts as to its economy. Mr. Blackett's en-
gines at Wylam were still supposed to be working at a loss; the
locomotives tried at Coxlodge and Heaton, proving failures, had
been abandoned ; and the colliery owners, seeing the various
locomotive speculations prove abortive, ceased to encourage
further experiments.
Stephenson alone remained in the field after all the other im-
provers and inventors of the locomotive had abandoned it in
despair. He continued to entertain confident expectations of its
eventual success. He even went so far as to say that it would
yet supersede every other tractive power. Many looked upon
him as an enthusiast, which no doubt he was, but upon sufficient
grounds. As for his travelling engine, it was by most persons
regarded as a curious toy ; and many, shaking their heads, pre-
dicted for it " a terrible blow up some day." Nevertheless, it
was daily performing its work with regularity, dragging the coal