The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson: Comprising Also a History of the Invention and Introduction of the Railway LocomotiveSmiles, Samuel
History
The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson: Comprising Also a History of the Invention and Introduction of the Railway Locomotive
He was still, however, desirous of testing the practicability of
employing locomotive power in working the coal down to Lemington, and
he determined on making yet another trial. He accordingly directed
his engine-wright, Jonathan Foster, to proceed with the building of a
third engine in the Wylam workshops. This new locomotive had a single
8-inch cylinder, was provided with a fly-wheel like its predecessor,
and the driving-wheel was cogged on one side to enable it to travel in
the rack-rail laid along the road. The engine proved more successful
than the former one, and it was found capable of dragging eight or nine
loaded wagons, though at the rate of little more than a mile an hour,
from the colliery to the shipping-place. It sometimes took six hours to
perform the journey of five miles. Its weight was found too great for
the road, and the cast-iron plates were constantly breaking. It was
also very apt to get off the rack-rail, and then it stood still. The
driver was one day asked how he got on. "Get on?" said he, "we don't
get on; we only get off!" On such occasions, horses had to be sent out
to drag the wagons as before, and others to haul the engine back to the
workshops. It was constantly getting out of order; its plugs, pumps,
or cranks got wrong, and it was under repair as often as at work. At
length it became so cranky that the horses were usually sent after it
to drag it along when it gave up, and the workmen generally declared
it to be a "perfect plague." Mr. Blackett did not obtain credit among
his neighbors for these experiments. Many laughed at his machines,
regarding them only in the light of crotchets--frequently quoting the
proverb of "a fool and his money are soon parted." Others regarded them
as absurd innovations on the established method of hauling coal, and
pronounced that they would "never answer."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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