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

304 LIFE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON. [ohaf. xxv.
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like network all over the country, are exciting commercial enter-
prise, augmenting the national wealth, increasing our social com-
forts, and raising the nation in the scale of civilization. It is
the end, therefore, that ought to be looked at, and not the begin-
ning; and you, contractors, have all contributed your mite, as
well as myself, to produce those glorious results."
It is probable, indeed, that had the projectors of the under-
taking foreseen that it would cost as much as five millions sterling,
they would have been deterred from entering upon it. As
it was, however, the expenditure, though immense, was justified
by the result ; for the excess in the traific beyond the estimates,
was even greater in proportion than the excess in the capital ex-
penditure. The line of 112 miles in length was opened on the
17th of September, 1838, and in the following year the receipts
from passenger traffic alone amounted to 608,564?. The company
was enabled to pay its proprietors a large dividend ; and
the results of the working were cited as sufficient grounds for
pushing railways in all directions.
The magnitude of the works, which were unprecedented in
England, was one of the most remarkable features in the under-
taking. The following striking comparison has been made be-
tween this railway and one of the greatest woi-ks of ancient
times. The great Pyramid of Egypt was, according to Diodorus
Siculus, constructed by three hundred thousand—according to
Herodotus by one hundred thousand—men. It required for its
execution twenty years, and the labour expended upon it has
been estimated as equivalent to lifting 15,733,000,000 of cubic
feet of stone one foot high. Whereas, if in the same manner
the labour expended in constructing the London and Birmingham
Railway be reduced to one common denomination, the re-
sult is 25,000,000,000 of cubic feet more than was lifted for the
Great Pyramid ; and yet the English work was performed by
about 20,000 men in less than five years. And whilst the
Egyptian work was executed by a powerful monarch concen-
trating upon it the labour and capital of a great nation, the
English railway was constructed, in the face of every conceiv-
able obstruction and difficulty, by a company of private individuals
out of their own resources, without the aid of Government
or the contribution of one farthing of the public money.