them for some time on a wooden railway to convey lime for agricultural purposes.

To test the merits of his plan, Edgeworth suggested that four lines of railway might be laid on ten or twelve miles of one of the great roads leading from the metropolis. The rails were to be made hollow from the bottom upwards, for strength and to save expense; broad at bottom, and rounded at the top, to prevent the lodgment of dirt and dust; and fixed to sleepers of stone, so that their upper surface should stand about four inches above the road. On these should run light wagons, each containing not more than one ton and a half weight. The two inner tracks were to be for goods, the two outer ones for passenger-carriages, to travel in either direction, and when they met, turn off by sidings to the wagon - way. To obviate all difficulty with respect to the wheels of public or private vehicles, they were to be placed on 'cradles or platforms,' fitted and constructed to run on the rails. The horses that brought the carriage would drag it on to the cradle, or truck, as it would now be called, and, descending at the opposite end, draw it along the line-stage-coaches, six miles an hour, with one horse; hackney-coaches, eight miles; and with the greatest ease and safety, by night as well as by day.

Hills were to be avoided by making a circuit; but a perfect level was not absolutely insisted on: no insurmountable objection existed to 'a rise of one foot in ten.' Another part of the plan was the employment of steam-power with stationary engines, with which it would be 'not impossible, by slight circulating chains, like those of a jack running upon rollers, to communicate motion between small steam - engines, placed at a considerable distance from each other; to these chains carriages might be connected at will, and, when necessary, they might instantaneously be detached.'

There is yet another name connected with the development of our railway system which must not be passed over-that of Thomas Gray, a native of Leeds. He was in Belgium in 1816, when, hearing that a canal had been projected to connect the coal-field of that country with the frontier of Holland, he very earnestly recommended to Mr Cockerill, with whom he was acquainted, the making of a railway instead. His mind had been for some time directed to the subject; and in 1818 he shewed to his friends manuscript 'Observations on a Railroad for the whole of Europe,' and soon after returned to England for the purpose of making his schemes public. In 1820 he published a seven-and-sixpenny octavo, which went through five editions in five years, entitled 'Observations on a General Iron Railway, or Land Steam Conveyance, to Supersede the Necessity of Horses in all Public Vehicles: shewing its vast Superiority in every Respect over the present Pitiful Methods of Conveyance by Turnpike-Roads and Canals.' In this work, among advantages to result from the new system, Gray shewed that fish, vegetables, agricultural and other perishable produce might be rapidly carried from place to place; that two post deliveries in the day would be feasible; and that insurance companies would be able to promote their own interests by keeping railway fire-engines, ready to be transported to the scene of a conflagration at a moment's warning. The cost of construction Gray calculated at £12,000 a mile. decidedly in favour of direct lines by the shortest course.

He was His plan

included a trunk-line straight from London to Plymouth and Falmouth, minor lines to Portsmouth, Bristol, Dover, and Harwich, with an offset from the latter to Norwich; a trunk-line also from London to Birmingham and Holyhead, another to Edinburgh by Nottingham and Leeds, and secondary lines from Liverpool to Scarborough, from Birmingham to Norwich; in short, his system, remarkable for its simplicity, comprehended all the important towns of the kingdom, and in many respects is preferable to that which now prevails. His plan for Ireland had a grand trunk-line from Dublin to Derry, another to Kinsale, and by lesser lines ramifying from these he connected all the chief towns of the island with the capital. Whatever effect Gray's persevering labours may have had in directing attention to the subject of railways, in suggesting views to others, he himself gained neither reward nor honour. His late years were passed in obscurity as a dealer in glass on commission at Exeter; in which city he died in October 1848, at the age of sixty-one. He deserves not to be forgotten.

These statements embody interesting evidence of the germination of ideas and the growth of intelligence: the time was coming for maturer aims and increased powers of realising them.

The first authorisation of a railway by act of parliament is said to have been that of the Surrey Railway -an iron track laid from Merstham to Wandsworth in 1809; and of a short line from Cheltenham to Gloucester. Both have since become adjuncts or portions of other and grander lines.

In September 1825 a railway was opened which led from the mines near Darlington to the wharfs on the Tees at Stockton-the whole distance about twenty miles-for the transport of coal. At first the wagons were drawn by horses; and such was the effect of easy carriage, that the price of coal at Stockton fell from 18s. to 8s. 6d. per ton; lead was carried from the interior to the ships at greatly reduced rates; and a brisk trade in lime sprung up which had not before existed. Shortly after the opening two coaches were placed on the line for the conveyance of passengers-large, roomy vehicles, to carry twenty-six persons as a regular load, and in extraordinary cases half as many more, an addition which in no way interfered with the speed of the journey. They had no springs, and were intended to run backwards or forwards without being turned. A block of wood made to press against the tire of the wheels by means of an iron lever within reach of the driver enabled him to check the motion or stop suddenly when required. Ten miles an hour was the usual speed, and seemed scarcely to require an effort from the single horse that drew the load, so seldom was there any strain on the traces; and the smooth and equable motion of the coach was a constant theme of congratulation among the passengers. The line originally consisted of but a single pair of rails, with sidings at frequent intervals, at which vehicles or coal-trains passed each other. The fare from Stockton to Darlington-twelve miles-was 2s. for the inside and half that sum for the outside. Traffic became so lively between the two towns, owing to the facility of transit, that in the first year the proprietors returned £500. 'An intercourse,' as was said, 'and trade seemed to arise out of nothing, and no one knew how; and altogether the circumstance of bustle and activity which appeared along the line, with crowds of passengers going and returning, formed a matter

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of surprise to the whole neighbourhood.' Similar results have been observed elsewhere, wherever legitimate enterprise and not wild speculation has been brought into play.

In the following year, two of Stephenson's locomotives were employed in the coal transport on the line in addition to the horses. It was no uncommon sight to see one of these engines drawing behind it a train of loaded wagons, weighing ninety-two tons, at the rate of five miles an hour. In those days steam-whistles had not yet come into use; and the firemen, to give notice of their approach after nightfall, threw up high into the air, from time to time, a shovelful of red-hot cinders, which could be seen at a considerable distance by those moving in the opposite direction. Without a load the speed of the engines was not unfrequently fifteen miles an hour —a most exhilarating rate of travelling, which at that period was regarded as little less than marvellous.

The year 1825 marks one of those periods in history when the speculative mania, always present in a commercial community, and more or less active, suddenly burst into delirium: projects, however visionary, were eagerly taken up; shares in ideal mines were bought and sold with marvellous celerity; and thousands became dupes of their own folly or thirst for gain. Everything was to be done by steam: by means of coal-gas, people were 'to ride among the clouds at the rate of forty miles an hour, and whirl along a turnpike-road at the rate of twelve miles an hour, having relays, at every fifteen miles, of bottled gas instead of relays of horses.' A writer of the day remarks: this nondescript gas-breathing animal, something of the velocipede family, is intended to crawl over the ground by protruding from behind it six or eight legs on either side in alternate succession." And referring to the numerous schemes then put forward for railways, he continues: 'nothing now is heard of but railroads; the daily papers teem with notices of new lines of them in every direction, and pamphlets and paragraphs are thrown before the public eye, recommending nothing short of making them general throughout the kingdom.' All the great towns of the north were to be connected by railways: Liverpool with Birmingham, Birmingham with London, London with Dover. The ironmasters-trade being slack, and having an eye to business-had the credit of fostering the speculative spirit for their own interests. All physical obstructions,' as Telford said, were forgotten or overlooked amid the splendour of the gigantic undertakings.'

Real enterprise was, however, steadily pursuing its aim amid all the excitement. Application had been made to parliament for leave to lay down a railway from Liverpool to Manchester - a work then become indispensable to those two increasing and important towns. At that period, and for some time afterwards, canal-boats, and slow, heavy road-wagons were the only available means for the transport of heavy goods or bulky merchandise. The charge for conveyance from London to Yorkshire amounted frequently to £13 per ton, and even at this high cost the service was very imperfect. Beneficial as canals had proved they were becoming inadequate to the growing requirements of trade. Besides the road there were two canals for the traffic between Liverpool and Manchester, the distance by the latter fifty-five miles, and the carriage of goods in some instances £2 per ton Manchester was so entirely dependent on Liverpool

for supplies of raw material, and the saving of time in transport so much an object, that any measure for an additional route was more a necessity than a speculation. It was notorious that goods were frequently conveyed from Liverpool to New York in less time than to Manchester. To make a third canal was impossible, as the district afforded no more water than sufficed for the two already existing. A thousand tons of merchandise were sent daily between the two towns, and produced a yearly revenue of £200,000 to the carriers. On one of the canals the profits were so great that the proprietors received the amount of their original outlay every alternate year.

Reasonable compliance with their wishes would have satisfied the merchants, who sought only to secure prompt and certain means of transport, not to depreciate canal property. Failing in their object, a railway, which had from time to time been talked about, was again discussed. The 'Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company' was formed, and their prospectus issued in 1824. In the following year the bill came before parliament, and there encountered all the opposition which selfishness could invent or ignorance employ, as may be seen in the parliamentary records of the session. The bill, however, was successfully carried in 1826.

Some years before the Duke of Bridgewater, on hearing the remark: 'You must be making handsomely out with your canals,' replied, somewhat chafed: 'O yes-they will last my time; but I don't like the look of these tram-roads: there's mischief in them.' The mischief-if such it was -was about to be realised. The duke's agent was conferred with on the subject of the railway, and an offer made him of shares, which he met by the churlish answer: 'All or none.' To us in the present day it may not be uninstructive to consider some of the forms under which the spirit of opposition strove to effect its purpose.

Canal proprietors were among the first to bestir themselves: they consulted Telford 'as to the most advisable manner of protecting their property;' and the enlargement and extension of the Birmingham and Liverpool, and the Ellesmere canals, were recommended by the eminent engineer as a preliminary measure. To understand the value of this recommendation we must remember that at the period in question railways were generally considered as subordinate or accessory to canals-not as a new resource destined to supersede them.

The legislature even was not exempt from incredulity, to choose a mild term. Stephenson's assertion, during his examination before a committee of the House, that it would not be difficult to make a locomotive travel fifteen or twenty miles an hour, provoked one of the members to reply that the engineer could only be fit for a lunatic asylum. If the opposition were to be believed, the laying down of a railway would inevitably reduce the value of land through which it passed, and landholders, by gradual though sure decline, be brought to the verge of ruin. As a million horses would be thrown out of service, no one of course would care about keeping up the breed; and not only were good horses to become as rare as peacocks, but the 8,000,000 acres of land that produced the oats were to return to a state of nature. A Quarterly Reviewer wrote: 'As to those persons who speculate on making railways general throughout the kingdom, and

superseding all the canals, all the wagons, mail and stage coaches, postchaises, and, in short, every other mode of conveyance by land and by water, we deem them and their visionary schemes unworthy of notice. The gross exaggerations of the powers of the locomotive steam-engine, or, to speak in plain English, the steam-carriage, may delude for a time, but must end in the mortification of those concerned.' How ridiculous this reads now to us, who see how completely the results are at variance with the confident predictions! and equally ridiculous will our ignorance and prejudice appear to those who come after us.

Parliamentary sanction once obtained, the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad Company set to work upon their novel and important undertaking -novel, inasmuch as its scheme and magnitude exceeded all that had been previously attempted of a similar nature. Stephenson, who had already won a reputation, was appointed engineer, and a chief point determined on was that the line should be as nearly as possible straight between the two towns. In the carrying out of this design the series of engineering difficulties' was first encountered, the overcoming of which has called forth an amount of scientific knowledge, of invention, ingenuity, and mechanical hardihood unprecedented in the history of human labour. Hills were to be pierced or cut through, embankments raised, viaducts built, and four miles of watery and spongy bog converted into a hardened road.

The drainage and solidification of this bog-or Chat Moss, its local name —were among the first operations. It was too soft to be walked on with safety, and in some places an iron rod laid on the surface would sink by its own weight. An embankment twenty feet in height was commenced, and had been carried some distance across the treacherous soil, when the whole sunk down and disappeared; and not until many thousand tons of earth had been deposited and swallowed up was a secure foundation obtained. At the softest part, known as the 'flow-moss,' hurdles thickly interwoven with heath were laid down, and upon these the earth and gravel for the permanent way. The successful formation of this part of the line was looked upon at the time as no unworthy triumph over physical obstacles. It was but the precursor of still greater enterprises.

Another great work was the tunnel under Liverpool, forming a direct passage to the docks without interfering with the streets. Its length is 2250 yards-nearly a mile and a half-the width 22 feet, and height 16 feet, and for greater part of the distance it pierces the solid red sandstone rock of the district. It was begun in 1826, and finished in September 1828, at a cost of £34,791. Besides this there is a tunnel of smaller dimensions, 290 yards in length, leading to the passenger-station, situated in the higher parts of Liverpool at some distance from the docks.

A more than ordinary interest attaches to the history of these works, from the fact of their being the first of the kind: suffice it, however, to state, that sixty-three bridges were built at different parts of the line, most of them of stone and brick. Two capacious tunnels were excavated, and six cuttings through elevations, out of which were taken more than 3,000,000 cubic yards of earth, stone, and gravel. These materials were used in the formation of embankments, for bridges, and other masonry. The double line of rails weighed 3847 tons, and the chairs which held