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

342 LIFE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON. [oiiap. xxvni.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
SURVETS OF LINES TO SCOTLAND AND HOLYHEAD.
Having now supplied the more important districts of York-
shire and Lancashire with efficient railway communication, con-
nected with the metropoUs by means of the London and Birmingham
Railway, and the Midland lines which radiated from
it, Mr. Stephenson's attention was next directed to the comple-
tion of the system, so as to embrace Scotland on the north, and
Ireland on the west, and place the capitals of those divisions of
the United Kingdom in more direct communication with the great
heart of the nation—the city of London.
He had already, with the assistance of his son, been instru-
mental in carrying the great main line of road as far northward
as Newcastle-on-Tyne ; and his advice was from time to time
anxiously solicited as to the best mode of completing the remain-
ing links. As early as 1836, he had been called upon, by the
committee of a proposed railway between Edinburgh and Dun-
bar, to inspect the route, and report thereon, with a view to the
line being afterwards connected with Newcastle. He proceeded
to comply with this request, and, at the same time, he personally
examined the other routes by which such a line could pass from
Edinburgh to the south—traversing the vale of the Gala, and
the mountainous district of Carter Fell,—while he also carefully
inspected the coast route, by way of Berwick-upon-Tweed. In
his report to the directors of the projected Une, he stated his
opinion to be in favour of the latter route, on account both of the
more favourable nature of the gradients, and the less expensive
character of the works.*
* Report to the Directors of the Edinburgh and Dunbar Railway, dated
Alton Grange, September 11th, 1836.