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and 1786. With its three wheels and its cylinder and crank action, it forms a wonderful contrast to the engine of the present day.

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Oliver Evans was, however, a most ingenious man; at the age of seventeen, he invented a steam carriage to travel on common roads; and at twenty-two, obtained from the State of Maryland the exclusive right to make and use steam carriages. The invention nevertheless did not come into practical use.

Numbers of experiments were made-numbers of patents taken out; but Trevethick, a most ingenious and restless Cornishman, seems to have been the first to connect the idea of the steam carriage and the iron rail together. In 1804, he had an engine running on a tramway at Merthyr Tydvil. Unhappily, though Trevethick had the genius to originate the idea, he had not the perseverance necessary to bring it to perfection; and turning to fresh projects, he left other men to pursue that which, if successful in his hands, would have enriched his estate, and immortalized his

name.

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A general necessity was felt for improving the mode and increasing the speed of transit, so that a number of ingenious minds were turned to the locomotive engine-and a number to the iron rail; some thinking to work the engine on common roads-some to use horse power on the rail, and others being in favour of stationary engines.

How these men thought and worked-how they toiled to improve their designs-how they wrote, and experimented, and exhibited,-how several of them lost their money, ruined their health, and died neglected, all may read, who will take up the admirable Life of George Stephenson, by Mr. Smiles; and a book less known, but very interesting, "Our Iron Roads," by Mr. Frederick S. Williams.

While one after another, either for want of means or want of faith, were abandoning the locomotive engine, there was one man had unbounded confidence in it; the first time he saw one, he appreciated its power; but as he studied its construction, he felt satisfied he could make a better; perhaps he had not the genius to originate the locomotive, but he had the sagacity to perceive its capabilities, the ability to develop them, and the determination to turn them to practical account,-and this man was George Stephenson, the Engine-wright at Killingworth Colliery.

"The first locomotive that I made," said Mr. Stephenson in a speech at the opening of the Newcastle and Darlington. Railway in 1844, "was at Killingworth colliery, and with Lord Ravensworth's money. Yes! Lord Ravensworth and partners were the first to entrust me with money to make a locomotive engine. That engine was made thirty-two years ago, and we called it 'My Lord.' I said to my friends there was no limit to the speed of such an engine, if the works could be made to stand it.”

"Locomotives had been used only on the tramroads of the collieries, and by the time Stephenson had built his

second engine were nearly all abandoned as failures." Stephenson was undaunted. "He had already made up his mind that the perfection of a travelling engine would be half lost, if it did not run on a perfected road, and his contrivances for the improvement of the locomotive went hand in hand with his contrivances for the improvement of the road on which it ran. Every new locomotive built by him contained improvements on its predecessor, and every time he laid down a fresh rail he added some new element of strength and firmness to it. The Killingworth colliery railway was the seed from which sprang the whole European, and now more than European, system of railway intercourse."

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The Stockton and Darlington Railway was the first opened for public traffic, the earliest on which passenger traffic was tried and demonstrated to be profitable: this was in 1825. The promoters of this railway deserve to he ranked amongst the most influential promoters of the railway system, all honour to Edward Pease and the Darlington quakers, they had the sagacity to understand, to value, and to employ George Stephenson. It is easy enough to imitate. a successful project, it is sometimes very difficult to find the courage to initiate it.

The Manchester and Liverpool Railway came next in importance. This road, so much, so urgently required, was most earnestly opposed, the prejudices of all classes were aroused, it was four years before the Act of Parliament could be obtained, four years more before the line was opened for traffic.

Stephenson was the engineer of the line; but though he had proved to the directors his power to make a road cver some of the greatest difficulties that could possibly be presented to a man, he had not yet succeeded in convincing

'Household Words," July 18th, 1857.

is enterprise run mad-it ruins individuals, and injures the moral tone of a nation; without speculation we might not have had quite so many railroads, but we should have had them constructed at less cost-they would have been quite as serviceable to the public, and they would have paid better dividends.

Let us now glance at some of the present ascertained

RESULTS OF THE RAILWAY SYSTEM.

Thirty years ago, not 100 miles of railway for passenger traffic existed anywhere.

In 1847, ten years since, there were opened in the United Kingdom 3,816 miles.

On Dec. 31, 1857, according to Mr. Hackett's tables, in Herapath's Journal, there were 9,171 miles. Of these it is computed that about 2,000 miles are single lines. Taking double and single lines together, the total length of railway in the kingdom is upwards of 16,000 miles. It is calculated the rails laid down for sidings. are equal in length to one-third of the total mileageadd then 5,000 miles for sidings, and we have a total of 21,000 miles of railway in Great Britain and Ireland. But if you measure the iron rails singly, you find them 42,000 miles in length, five times the diameter of the earth. These 42,000 miles of iron rail weigh at least 3,000,000 tons, they rest on about 70,000,000 iron chairs, which weigh 1,000,000 tons; so that we may safely say there are 4,000,000 tons of iron on the permanent ways of the United Kingdom.

The stations on railways were 2,963 in number, on June 30th, 1856, and now must be considerably over 3,000. Thirty years ago tunnels were very few and far between, now railway tunnels have traversed hills, and penetrated between mountains to the extent of nearly seventy miles.

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MODERN ENGLISH LOCOMOTIVE, 1858.

A. Pipe leading to Steam Brake.

B. Steam Brake.

D. India Rubber Springs. C. Cinder Box.

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