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

CHAP. XXI.] PRIZE FOR THE BEST LOCOMOTIVE. 253
board, and, led by Mr. James Cropper, they urged the propriety
of forthwith adopting the report of Messrs. Walker and Rastrick.
Mr. Sandars and Mr. William Eathbone, on the other hand,
desired that a fair trial should be given to the locomotive ; and
they with reason objected to the expenditure of the la^rge capital
necessary to construct the proposed engine-houses, with their
fixed engines, ropes, and machinery, until they had tested the
powers of the locomotive, as recommended by their own en-
gineer. Mr. Stephenson continued to urge upon them that the
locomotive was yet capable of great improvements, if proper inducements
were held sut to inventors and machinists to make
them ; and he pledged himself that, if time were given him, he
would construct an engine that should satisfy their requirements,
and prove itself capable of working heavy loads along the railway
with speed, regularity, and safety.
The directors were more bewildered than ever. Yet they had
confidence in their engineer, and had but recently borne public
testimony to his practical efficiency. They had seen him form a
road which other engineers of high reputation had repeatedly
declared to be impracticable ;
and it might be the same with the
locomotive.
At length, influenced by his persistent earnestness not less
than by his arguments, the directors, at the suggestion of Mr.
Harrison, determined to offer a prize of 500/. for the best loco-
motive engine which, on a certain day, should be produced on
the railway, and perform certain specified conditions in the most
satisfactory manner. The conditions were these
1. The engine must effectually consume its own smoke.
2. The engine, if of six tons weight, must be able to draw
after it, day by day, twenty tons weight (including the tender
and water-tank) at ten miles an hour, with a pressure of steam
on the boiler not exceeding fifty pounds to the square inch.
3. The boiler must have two safety valves, neither of which
must be fastened down, and one of them be completely out of the
control of the engineman.
4. The engine and boiler must be supported on springs, and
rest on six wheels, the height of the whole not exceeding fifteen
feet to the top of the chimney.
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