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

CHAP. XXX.] THE HIGH LEVEL BEIDGE. 381
son was professionally concerned in the mad railway session of
1845 ; and it was the last great parliamentary contest in which
he took a prominent part. So closely was Mr. Stephenson
identified with this measure, and so great was the personal
interest which he was known to take in its success, that on
the news of the triumph of the bill reaching Newcastle, a
sort of general holiday took place, and the workmen belonging
to the Stephenson Locomotive Factory, upwards of 800 in num-
ber, walked in procession through the principal streets of the
town accompanied by music and banners.
There was still another great work connected with Newcastle
and the East Coast route which Mr. Stephenson projected, but
which he did not live to see completed,—the High Level Bridge
over the Tyne, of which his son Robert was the principal engi-
neer. Mr. E. W. Brandhng—to the public spirit and enterprise
of whose family the prosperity of Newcastle has been in no small
degree indebted, and who first brought to light the strong orig-
inal genius of George Stephenson in connection with the safety
lamp—is entitled to the merit of originating the idea of the High
Level Bridge as it was eventually carried out, with a central
terminus for the northern railways in the Castle Garth at New-
castle. He first promulgated the plan in 1841 ; and in the fol-
lowing year it was resolved that Mr. George Stephenson should
be consulted as to the most advisable site for the proposed bridge.
A prospectus of a High Level Bridge Company was issued in
1843, the names of George Stephenson and George Hudson ap-
pearing on the committee of management, Mr. Robert Stephen-
son being the consulting engineer. The project was eventually
taken up by the Newcastle and Darlington Railway Company,
and an act for the construction of the bridge was obtained in the
session of 1845. The designs of the bridge were Mr. Robert
Stephenson's ;
and the works were executed under the superin-
tendence of Mr. Thomas Harrison, one of Mr. Stephenson's
many able assistants. The High Level Bridge is certainly the
most magnificent and striking of all the erections to which rail-
ways have given birth,—more picturesque as an object than the
tubular bridge over the Menai Straits, and even more important
as a great public work. It has been worthily styled " the King
of Railway Structures."