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

CHAP. -vai.] COLLIERY EAILEOADS, 1630—1772. 67
CHAPTER Vin.
THE BEGINNINGS OF KAILWATS AND tOCOMOTIVES.
Railways, like most other important inventions, had very
humble beginnings. The first railway, properly so called, con-
sisted of a rude line of wooden or iron rails, laid down for the
easier guidance of wagons in which coal was hauled from the
pit to the shipping place. This germ of the modem railroad,
planted by some unknown hand, grew to maturity gradually and
slowly. Progress, in this as in almost all branches of me-
chanics, was effected through the exertions of many ;
one gener-
ation, entering upon the labours of that which preceded it, and
carrying onwards their improvements.
There is, doubtless, a vast difference between the old road
track, on which pack-horses carried the main traffic of the
country down to a comparatively recent date, and the modern
railroad worked by powerful locomotives ; yet the change was
effected by comparatively easy stages. From an early period
the growing trade and commerce of the country demanded con-
stantly increased facilities for the transport of heavy articles.
This was especially necessary in the mining districts, where it is
to be observed that nearly all the modern improvements in road-
making have had their origin.* The prime object of all the
improvements made in the road was, so to diminish friction by
increasing the smoothness of the surface, that the haulage of the
coal-wagons by horses should be rendered as easy as possible.
With this object, wooden rails were first laid down by one
* " We owe," said Captain Laws, " all our railways to the collieries in the
North ; and the difficulty which their industry overcame, taught us to make
Evidence upon (lie Gauge
railways, and to make locomotives to work them."
Commission, 1S45.
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