CHAPTER XII.

FROM THE COMPLETION OF THE LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY TO THE OPENING OF THE NEWCASTLE AND DARLINGTON LINE.

(ETAT. 35-41.)

Railways undertaken in various Directions - Brunel, Giles, Braithwaite-Robert Stephenson's Trip to Italy-On his Return again immersed in Projects The Contractors' Dinner at The Albion Letters to Newcastle - Cigars for the Continent- Stanhope and Tyne Crisis Robert Stephenson threatened with Insolvency-Acts for the Pontop and South Shields and the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railways- - Robert Stephenson appointed to execute the Newcastle and Darlington Lines - Robert Stephenson created a Knight of the Order of Leopold Mrs. Stephenson's Death Opening of Newcastle and Darlington Line - Public Dinner and Speeches - Continental Engagements-Leaves Haverstock Hill and moves to Cambridge Square — Fire in Cambridge Square - George Hudson and Robert Stephenson- A Contrast.

THE railway system was fixed. To disturb that system attempts were made by men of intellect and high character; but those attempts were futile. The principal rules laid down by the Stephensons between 1820 and 1838 are the rules of railway engineering at the present day. The example set by the great leaders was followed successfully in all directions. The younger Brunel, a man dear to all lovers of genius, was at work on the Great Western; Mr. Francis Giles was laying down the line between London and Southampton; Mr. John Braithwaite undertook the London and Colchester, bringing life and

increased trade to the eastern counties. In the north, George Stephenson had under his supervision the Manchester and Leeds, the North Midland from Derby to Leeds, the York and North Midland from Normanton to York; the Grand Junction Railway projected by the father (but executed by Joseph Locke) having already united his magnificent Liverpool and Manchester line with his son's road terminating in Euston Square. It would be beside the purpose of this work to enter into the details of each of these works, and of the other lines that followed them in quick succession-details for the most part closely resembling each other. It will be sufficient to select for description those roads alone on which Robert Stephenson's distinctive powers found most emphatic expression.

The engineer-in-chief's labour on the London and Birmingham Railway was by no means at an end when the line was opened. Works on it still remained to be completed, and improvements had to be made at various points before the chief' (as up to the day of his death Robert Stephenson's staff were wont to call him) could dismiss the line from his thoughts. As soon as he was able to give his attention to the matter, the North Midland line from Derby to Leeds was on his hands. He was also needed on the continent. The grand cross lines from Ostend to Liege and from Antwerp to Mons were under construction and requiring his superintendence. Invitations also reached him to visit France, Switzerland, and Italy, to advise on lines contemplated in those countries. Entrusting the superintendence of his home lines to his father and the execution of them to his subordinates, and quitting Westminster when the business of the committee

rooms was daily becoming heavier, he left England for three months to answer in person these calls from foreign countries. At this period he became intimately acquainted with Mons. Paulin Talabot, a civil engineer who for many years has held a leading position amongst the civil engineers and capitalists of the continent. At a subsequent period Robert Stephenson, Signor Negretti, and M. Talabot surveyed the Isthmus of Suez, and ascertained that the levels of the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea were identical.

On his return he was soon busy again with the affairs of English railways. On July 1 he attended the meeting of the Council of the Railway Society. The next day saw him giving evidence before the Select Committee of Railways. On the 16th of the same month he was at Derby about the railway station of that town; the next day at Clay Cross to look over his father's coal mines; the next day at Sheffield and over the Sheffield and Rotherham Works; the next day at Tapton to negotiate the purchase of land for a railway station; the next day at Birmingham to meet the Committee of the London and Birmingham line; the next day in town for examination before parliamentary committees.

In the autumn of this year, Robert Stephenson received an expression of the high esteem in which he was held by an influential division of the business men engaged in the construction of the railways of the country. As the reader is by this time well aware, a large number of the contracts on the London and Birmingham line came back to the Company uncompleted. Of course the contractors did not get quit of their engagements without much delicate and painful negotiation with the directors. In

other cases where the contracts were fulfilled, the course of their performance was marked by misunderstandings and disputes between the Company and the master-employers. To arbitrate in such disputes, and to adjudicate in such difficulties, Robert Stephenson was by temper, information, and reputation, peculiarly fitted; and it adds not a little to his fame that in nearly all the disagreements between directors and contractors he was appointed sole umpire.

The course thus commenced on the London and Birmingham line was continued on the North Midland, the Derby Junction Railway, and the York and North Midland. Whenever a contractor on one of his lines was contending with directors about the terms of an agreement, it was left with Robert Stephenson to arrange the difference.

Such services merited signal reward; and in 1839 a movement was set on foot to make an appropriate acknowledgement of them. A party of gentlemen, who were assembled (April 2, 1839) in Birmingham on a different business, suggested the propriety of presenting the popular engineer with a testimonial. The proposition was so well received, that before the meeting separated the affair had been well started. A committee, with Mr. J. D. Barry, of Manchester, for honorary secretary, had been appointed, with powers to ask for subscriptions it being arranged that no contribution should exceed £5 and that no one should subscribe but gentlemen who had been engaged as contractors for the construction of railways or for the supply of permanent materials. A sum of £200 was subscribed in the room, and by the following November the committee held more than £1,250 for the accomplishment of their object.

In the previous July a committee of taste had been appointed to decide on the form of the testimonial. In this committee Sir John Guest, M.P., and Mr. Crawshay represented the iron trade, Mr. Bramah and Mr. Maudslay the engine manufacturers, Mr. Freeman and Mr. Bazley White the stone and cement trades, Mr. Dowson and Mr. Holland the timber trade, Mr. David M'Intosh and Mr. Thomas Jackson the operative railway contractors. They selected a service of plate, of which the principal ornament was a candelabrum.

This service was presented to Robert Stephenson on Saturday, November 16, 1839, when he was entertained at a grand dinner in the Albion Hotel, Aldersgate Street. The banquet was attended by more than two hundred gentlemen, several of whom came from Lancashire. In the absence of Mr. Crawshay, who was to have taken the chair, Mr. William Routh (Mr. Crawshay's partner) presided, the vice-presidents being Messrs. Joseph Dowson, John Joseph Bramah, Thomas Grissell, and Thomas Jackson. On the chairman's right sate Robert Stephenson, the hero of the evening. On the left of the chairman was George Stephenson. At present, the father had received no similar acknowledgement of his services, as 'the Author of the Railway System.' Indeed, his achievements had for the moment been eclipsed by those of his son. The fine old man, whose kindest teacher had been adversity, was even yet not duly appreciated in the metropolis. His manners were rugged and far from prepossessing, and his personal connections were for the most part in his own old country.' For one inhabitant of London who visited the Liverpool and Manchester line, ninety and nine were familiar with the works on the London and