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

88 LIFE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON. [chap. ix.
costly in consequence of the high price of corn,—was still a great
desideratum ; and the best practical minds in the collieries were
actively engaged in the attempt to solve the problem. Although
Mr. Stephenson from an early periwi entertained and gave
utterance to his sanguine speculations as to the "travelling
engine," this was his first practical object in studying it, and
endeavouring to make it an effective power ; and he now pro-
ceeded to devote the entire energy of his strong practical in-
tellect to the subject.
First, he endeavoured to make himself thoroughly acquainted
with what bad already been done. Mr. Blackett's engines were
working daily at Wylam, past the cottage in which he had been
born ; and thither he frequently went, sometimes in the com-
pany of Nicholas "Wood, to inspect Trevethick's patent engine,
and observe the improvements which were from time to time
made by Mr. Blackett, both in the locomotive and in the plateway
along which it worked. He carefully inspected the " Black
Billy,'' with its single cylinder and fly-wheel, its pumps, plugs,
and spur gear. After mastering its arrangements and observing
the working of the machine, he did not hesitate to declare to
Jonathan Poster, on the spot, his firm conviction that he could
make a much better engine than Trevethick's—one that would
draw steadier and work more cheaply and effectively.
In the mean time he had also the advantage of seeing one of
Blenkinsop's Leeds engities, constructed by Fenton Murray and
"Wood, of that town. The engine was a very excellent piece of
workmanship, and a great improvement upon the clumsy machines
which Mr. Stephenson had inspected at Wylara. It was
placed on the tramway leading from the collieries of Kenton and
Coxlodge, on the second of September, 1813 ; and a large con-
course of spectators assembled to witness its first performances.
This locomotive drew sixteen chaldron wagons containing an
aggregate weight of seventy tons, at the rate of about three
miles an hour. George Stephenson and several of the Killing-
worth men were amongst the crowd of spectators that day ; and
after examining the engine and observing its performances, he
observed to his companions, as related by Heppel, who was
present, that " he thought he could make a better engine than