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

CHAP. XIX.] LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTEK BILL. 211
ingworth railroads, where heavy goods were safely and economi-
cally transported by means of locomotive engines. " None of the
tremendous consequences," he observed, " have ensued from the
use of steam in land carriage that have been stated. The horses
have not started, nor the cows ceased to give their miUj, nor have
ladies miscarried at the sight of these things going forward at
the rate of four miles and a half an hour." Notwithstanding
the petition of two ladies, alleging the great danger to be apprehended
from the bursting of the boilers of such engines, he urged
the safety of the high-pressure engine when the boilers were
constructed of wrought-iron ; and as to the rate at which they
could travel, he expressed his full conviction that such engines
" could supply force to drive a carriage at the rate of five or six
miles an hour."
The taking of the evidence on the impediments thrown in the
way of trade and commerce by the existing system extended
over a month, and it was the 21st of April before the Committee
went into the engineering evidence, which was the vital part of
the question. Mr. Rastrick, then a manufacturer of steam-
engines at Stourbridge, near Birmingham, was examined as to
the safety of high-pressure engines. He had made a travelling
engine of this sort for Mr. Trevethick about twelve years before
(in 1813), which was exhibited in London, when a circular rail-
road was laid down, and the engine was run against a horse for
a wager. He had also seen the locomotive engines of Mr.
Stephenson at work on the Killingworth and Hetton railroads.
He had examined them together with Mr. Cubitt, Mr. James
Walker, Mr. Sylvester, and others, and was satisfied of their
applicabihty to the purposes of railway traction. He described
to the Committee the proper form of the boiler, and the arrangement
of the valves, so as to secure complete safety in the work-
ing of the locomotive. He was of opinion that such an engine
might be constructed as would take forty tons' weight, at the rate
of six miles an hour, with perfect ease and safety.
On the 25th of April, Mr. George Stephenson was called into
the witness-box. It was his first appearance before a Committee
of the House of Commons, and he well knew what he had to
expect. He was aware that the whole force of the opposition