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

CHAP. XIV.] • THE
HETTON RAILWAY. 163
and introduce steam-boats upon the great inland lakes. The
first steamers were then plying upon the Tyne before his eyes ;
and he saw in them the germ of a great revolution in naviga-
tion. It occurred to him that North America presented the finest
field on which to try their wonderful powers. He was an en-
gineer, and Ml". Burrell was an iron-founder ; and, between them,
he thought they could strike out a path to success in the mighty
West. Fortunately, this remained a mere speculation, so far as
Mr. Stephenson was concerned ; and it was left to others to do
what he had dreamt of achieving. After all his patient waiting,
his skill, industry, and perseverance were at length about to bear
fruit.
In 1819, the owners of the Hetton Colliery, in the county of
Durham, determined to have their wagon-way altered into a
locomotive railroad. The result of the working of the Killing-
worth Railway had been so satisfactory that they resolved to
adopt the same system. One reason why an experiment so long
continued and so successful as that at Killingworth should have
been so slow in producing results, perhaps was, that to lay down
a railway and furnish it with locomotives, or fixed engines where
necessary, required a very large capital, beyond the means of
ordinary coal-owners, whilst the small amount of interest felt in
railways by the general public, and the supposed impracticability
of working them to a profit, as yet prevented the ordinary capi-
talists from venturing their money in the promotion of such
undertakings. The Hetton Coal Company was, however, pos-
sessed of adequate means ; and the local reputation of the Kil-
lingworth engine-wright pointed him out as the man best calculated
to lay out their line and superintend their works. They
accordingly invited him to act as the engineer of the proposed
railway. Being in the service of the Killingworth Company,
Mr. Stephenson felt it necessary to obtain their permission to
enter upon this new work. This was at once granted. The best
feeling existed between him and his employers ; and they re-
garded it as a compliment that their colliery engineer should be
selected for a work so important as the laying down of the Het-
ton Railway, which was to be the longest locomotive line that
had, up to that time, been constructed in the neighbourhood.