We may here add that by this time George Stephenson, after remaining a widower fourteen years, had married, in 1820, his second wife, Elizabeth Hindmarsh, the daughter of a respectable farmer at Black Callerton. She was a woman of excellent character, sensible, and intelligent, and of a kindly and affectionate nature. George's son Robert, whom she loved as if he had been her own, to the last day of his life spoke of her in the highest terms; and it is unquestionable that she contributed in no small degree to the happiness of her husband's home. The story was for some time current that, while living at Black Callerton in the capacity of engine-man, twenty years before, George had made love to Miss Hindmarsh, and, failing to obtain her hand, in despair he had married Paterson's servant. But the author has been assured by Mr. Thomas Hindmarsh, of Newcastle, the lady's brother, that the story was mere idle gossip, and altogether without foundation. FOOTNOTE: [50] The iron wheels of this engine were afterward removed, and replaced with wooden wheels, when it was again put upon the road, and continued working until quite recently. Its original cost was £750. It was sold in 1848 for £13, and broken up as old materials. CHAPTER VIII. GEORGE STEPHENSON ENGINEER OF THE STOCKTON AND DARLINGTON RAILWAY. It is not improbable that the slow progress made by railways in public estimation was, in a considerable measure, due to the comparative want of success which had attended the first projects. We do not refer to the tram-roads and railroads which connected the collieries and iron-works with the shipping-places. These were found convenient and economical, and their use became general in Durham and Northumberland, in South Wales, in Scotland, and throughout the colliery districts. But none of these were public railways. Though the Merthyr Tydvil Tram-road, the Sirhoway Railroad, and others in South Wales, were constructed under the powers of special acts,[51] they were exclusively used for the private purposes of the coal-owners and iron-masters at whose expense they were made. The first _public_ Railway Act was that passed in 1801, authorizing the construction of a line from Wandsworth to Croydon, under the name of "The Surrey Iron Railway." By a subsequent act, powers were obtained to extend the line to Reigate, with a branch to Godstone. The object of this railway was to furnish a more ready means for the transport of coal and merchandise from the Thames to the districts of south London, and at the same time to enable the lime-burners and proprietors of stone-quarries to send the lime and stone to London. With this object, the railroad was connected with a dock or basin in Wandsworth Creek capable of containing thirty barges, with an entrance lock into the Thames.