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

380 LIFE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON. [chap. xxx.
By this time a strong popular opinion had arisen in favour of
atmospheric railways. Many engineers avowedly supported
them in preference to locomotive lines, and Mr. Brunei had
considerable influence in determining the views of many Members
of Parliament on the subject. Amongst others, Lord
Howick took up the question of atmospheric as opposed to
locomotive railways, and, possessing great local influence, he
succeeded, in 1844, in forming a powerful combination of the
landed gentry of Northumberland in favour of an atmospheric
line through that county. Mr. Stephenson could not brook the
idea of seeing the locomotive, for which he had fought so many
stout battles, pushed to one side by the atmospheric system, and
that in the very county in which its great powers had been first
developed. Nor did he relish the appearance of Mr. Brunei as
the engineer of Lord Howick's atmospheric railway, in opposi-
tion to the line which had occupied his thoughts and been the
object of his strenuous advocacy for so many years. When Mr.
Stephenson first met Mr. Brunei in Newcastle he good-naturedly
shook him by the collar, and asked " what business he had north
of the Tyne ? " Mr. Stephenson gave him to understand that
they were to have a fair stand-up fight for the ground, and shak-
ing hands before the battle hke Englishmen, they parted in good
humOur. A public meeting was held at Newcastle in the follow-
ing December, when, after a full discussion of the merits of the
respective plans, Mr. Stephenson's line was almost unanimously
adopted as the best.
The rival projects went before Parliament in 1846, and a se- ,
vere contest ensued. The display of ability and tactics on both
sides was great. Mr. Hudson and the Messrs. Stephenson were
the soul of the movement in support of the locomotive, and Lord
Howick and Mr. Brunei in behalf of the atmospheric system.
The locomotive again triumphed : Mr. Stephenson's coast line
secured the approval of Parliament, and the shareholders in the
atmospheric company were happily saved from expending their
capital in the perpetration of an egregious blunder ; for, only a
few years later, the atmospheric system was everywhere aban-
doned.
This was one of the very few projects in which Mr. Stephen-
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