John R. Raynes

“ Hawthorne & Co., of Newcastle.
The locomotive of to-day is not the invention of any one man. Hundreds of able engineers and draughtsmen have improved it step by step since 1825, and many controversies have turned around every section of its structure. Failures contributed as vitally as successes in those early days to show the way. The opening of the Great Western Railway (broad gauge) in 1837 opened "The battle of the gauges," which continued for fifteen years afterwards, and the rivalry itself assisted the development of the engine. ”

“ Stephenson asserted that he could run passenger coaches at twelve to fifteen miles an hour he was regarded with suspicion as an optimist, but now "on fire horses and wind horses we career," as Carlyle said, at anything up to eighty miles an hour.
Steam power was realised as much as 2,000 years ago, for Hero of Alexandria, about 200 B.C., wrote a book on the expansive force of steam, in which he described the cylinder, piston, slide-valve, and common clack-valve. The first attempts to harness steam and to make it do the behest of men was about 250 years ago, for stationary engines. ”

“ He was born in a small cottage between Close House and Wylam, in Northumberland, within nine miles of Newcastle, about 1772, and on June 9th, 1781, he started work at twopence per day on a farm, and was attending the plough at early hours when little children ought to be in bed. His next duty was to pick bats and coal droppings, and when the overseer came round he used to hide lest he be thought too little to earn a living. Like all the poor children of his day, he was working hard before he could read or write, but he mastered those arts later. ”

“ The first engine is naturally a matter of close interest to those who man the giants of to-day, and it may be added that the boiler of Trevithick's engine was six feet in length, and contained a return flue tube, the chimney being at the same end as the fire door. The engine had one cylinder placed horizontally, eight inches diameter, the stroke being extremely long, four feet six inches. ”

“ In 1789 William Jessop, of Loughborough, introduced flanged wheels, but the nineteenth century had run more than twenty years of its course before men thought of using the power of steam to expedite transport. ”

“ In the same year the Glasgow and Garrnskirk Railway was opened, and George Stephenson drove the first engine, bearing bis own name and built at his Newcastle works. In May of 1832 came the Leicester & Swannington Railway, referred to at the opening of this chapter, and Stephenson drove "The Comet," accompanied by his son and the regular driver. Robert Weatherburn. The chimney stood thirteen feet high from the rail level, but on the opening day it was knocked down in the Glenfield tunnel, being then reduced to 12 feet 6 inches. ”

“ Many of the wayside stations consisted of a single hut, which served duty as stationmaster's office, weighing machine room, passengers' waiting room, and licensed house, the stationmaster having the further duty of innkeeper. ”

“ No. 11 engine, "Mercury," was delivered by Stephenson in December, 1830, of a considerably improved pattern and better appearance. It was of bigger dimensions and weighed thirteen tons, and it was followed in January, 1831, by two "goods" engines " of extraordinary power," and aptly named " Samson" and" Goliath." The former, in February, "accomplished the great feat" of drawing 164 tons, exclusive of engine and tender, from Liverpool to Manchester in 21⁄2 hours! Stephenson built an engine of the same class to go to America (Hudson & Mohawk Railway) in 1831, and he named it "John Ball." ”