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

CHAP. XXX.] YARMOUTH AND NORWICH LINE. 375
soliciting his opinion as to inventions which his correspondents,
thought they had made. He soon found that he had set himself
a formidable task, and had roused the speculative and, inventive
faculties of the working men of nearly all England. He was,
however, ready on all occasions to give his advice ; and he fre-
quently subscribed sums ©f money to enable struggling inventors
to bring their schemes to a fair trial, when he considered them
to be useful and feasible.
Though Mr. Stephenson had retired from the more active
pursuit of his profession, he was, in 1844, appointed engineer to
the Whitehaven and Maryport Railway, in conjunction with his
friend and former assistant, Mr. John Dixon. The line was
actively promoted by Lord Lowther and the members for the
county, and Mr. Stephenson consented to act—his name being
regarded as a tower of strength in that district. This, however,
was the only new project with which he was connected in that
year.
He was also, about the same time, elected chairman of the
Yarmouth and Norwich Eailway, a line in which he took much
interest, and had invested a good deal of money. At the meet-
ings of the Company, he confessed that he felt he was more in
his place as a railway engineer than as a railway chairman ; but
as he and his friends held about three-fourths of the shares in
the concern, he felt bound to stand by it until its completion,
which was effected in April, 1844. This line, like most others,
was greatly fleeced by the landowners of the district, who sought
to extort the most exorbitant prices for their land. One in-
stance may be cited. A Mr. Tuck claimed 9,000Z. as compensa-
tion for severance, in addition to the very high price allowed for
the land itself. After a careful investigation had been made by
a jury, they awarded 850Z., or less than one tenth of the amount
claimed. One of the witnesses examined on the part of the
landowners, was Mr. R. H. Gurney, the banker of Norwich, who
exhibited a hatred of railways equalled only by that of Colonel
Sibthorpe. On his cross-examination he said, " I have never
travelled by rails ; I am an enemy to them ; I have opposed the
Norwich Railway ; I have left a sum of money in my will to
oppose railroads ! " Another witness, a Mr. Driver, admitted