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

140 LIFE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON. [chap. xn.
steep incline. But when the loads were both ways, it appeared
obvious to him that the railroad must be constructed as nearly as
possible on a level. The strong and sagacious mind of Stephen-
son early recognized this broad principle ; and he had so ' care-
fully worked out the important facts as to the resistance offered
by adverse- gradients, that he never swerved from it. At a much
later period, when the days of "fast" engineering had arrived,
while many thought him prejudiced on this point, he himself
clung tenaciously to it, and invariably insisted upon the impor-
tance of flat gradients. It is true, great and important additions
were made to the powers of the locomotive ;
but no sooner were
these effected, than lines of steeper and still steeper gradients
were devised, until, as he used to declare, engineers were con-
stantly neutralizing the increased powers of the engine, and in
precisely the same degree diminishing the comparative advan-
tages of railways over common roads.
These views, thus early entertained, originated, in Mr. Ste-
phenson's mind, the peculiar character of railroad works as
distinguished from all other roads ; for, in railroads, he early
contended that large sums would be wisely expended in perfo-
rating barriers of hills with long tunnels, and in raising the lower
levels with the excess cut down from the adjacent high ground.
In proportion as these views forced themselves upon his mind,
and were corroborated by his daily experience, he became more
and more convinced of the hopelessness of applying steam loco-
motion to common roads ; for every argument in favour of a
level railway was, in his view, an argument against the rough
and hilly course of a common road. Nor did he cease to urge
upon the numerous patrons of road steam carriages, that if, by
any amount of ingenuity, an engine could be made, which could
by possibility travel on a turnpike road at a speed equal to that
obtainable by horse power, and at a less cost, such an engine, if
applied to the more perfect surface of a railway, would have its
efficiency enormously enhanced.
For instance, he calculated that, if an engine had been con-
structed, and had been found to travel uniformly between Lon-
don and Birmingham at an average speed of 10 miles an hour,
conveying say 20 or 30 passengers, at a cost of Is. per mile, it