Editor: Robin Jones Designers: Tim Pipes & Leanne Lawrence Reprographics: Jonathan Schofield & Simon Duncan Group production editor: Tim Hartley Production manager: Craig Lamb Publishing director: Dan Savage Commercial director: Nigel Hole Managing director: Brian Hill Published by: Mortons Media Group Ltd, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6JR Tel: 01507 529529 All material copyright Mortons Media Limited, 2013. All rights reserved. Printed by: William Gibbons and Sons, Wolverhampton
THE ROCKET MEN George & Robert Stephenson
STEAM BICENTENARY 1814-2014
200 years since George Stephenson’s first locomotive ran
ISBN 978-1-909128-27-9 All pictures marked * are published under a Creative Commons licence. Full details may be obtained at http://creativecommins.org/licences
COVER IMAGES
MAIN IMAGE: The non-working replica of Stephenson’s Rocket inside the Great Hall of the National Railway Museum in York. ROBIN JONES
Contents Chapter 1:
A new window on George Stephenson’s world
Chapter 2:
Steaming before the Stephensons
Chapter 3:
George Stephenson’s first steam locomotive
Chapter 4:
Chapter 14:
Stephenson firsts on the continent
Chapter 15:
How Robert Stephenson saved the GWR
Chapter 5:
The Whitby & Pickering Railway: Back to the equine horse
Chapter 6:
The Liverpool & Manchester Railway
Chapter 7:
The Rainhill Trials
Chapter 8:
The world’s first inter-city railway
Chapter 9:
Why Rocket was so revolutionary © 2013 Mortons Media Group Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Chapter 13:
Linking Britain’s first and second cities
Hetton Colliery and the world’s first steam railway The Stockton & Darlington Railway
A Railway Magazine Publication
Chapter 12:
The Grand Junction Railway: A Locke-out!
Chapter 10:
The first ‘modern’ steam locomotive
Chapter 16:
Chapter 17:
The Stephenson ‘empire’ expands
Chapter 18:
George Stephenson’s second gauge
Chapter 19:
Bridge builder extraordinaire
Chapter 20:
Robert Stephenson & Company
Chapter 21:
Builders of the modern world
Chapter 11:
Invicta’s double firsts 3
CHAPTER XXX
Steaming before the Stephensons G
US steam pioneer John Fitch.
10
eorge Stephenson has been called the ‘father of the railways’. Yet despite the often seeminglywidespread misconception among the lesser informed that he invented the steam locomotive and Rocket was the very first, he was treading a path that had been marked out by others, notably Cornish mining engineer Richard Trevithick. What Stephenson did, however, was to blaze a trail through a minefield of early locomotive designs, some of which were truly bizarre, hone the best aspects of each to perfection, add innovations of his own, and establish a definitive blueprint for the future of steam traction. The idea of a steam-powered self-propelled vehicle dated back years before the time of George Stephenson. In 1771, 10 years before George Stephenson was born, a steam road vehicle ran through the streets of pre-revolutionary Paris. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot was a trained military engineer from Void-Vacon in Lorraine, who experimented with working models of steamengine-powered vehicles for the French Army. They were intended for transporting cannons, and
resembled a huge road cart with a massive kettle fixed to the front. His 2.5 tonne three-wheeled steam dray, or ‘fardier à vapeur’ claimed to have a top speed of 4.8mph (which it never achieved, although it was said to have managed 2.25mph) and could carry four passengers. However, the fire needed to be lit every quarter of a mile, and it proved highly unstable due to its poor weight distribution. His work began in 1765, and four years later, a model was demonstrated. The following year, he came back with a full-size version. In 1771, the second vehicle is said to have gone out of control and knocked down part of the Arsenal wall in Paris. Historians state that this was the world’s first automobile accident, although it seems that it was not mentioned in print until 1801. After trials between Paris and Vincennes and at Meudon, the project was abandoned. King Louis XV granted Cugnot a pension of 600 livres a year for his innovative work and the experiment was judged interesting enough for the fardier to be kept at the Arsenal until 1800. It is now preserved in the
NICHOLAS WOOD Nicholas Wood started work in 1811 at Killingworth Colliery as an apprentice colliery viewer, and eventually becoming the viewer or colliery manager. He helped the colliery’s enginewright George Stephenson with contributions to the design of Blücher, his first locomotive, adding the eccentrics to the axle, and also with his safety lamp. Wood made the drawing to which the ‘Geordie’ lamp was made, under the supervision of the inventor. In 1818, Wood carried out a series of experiments on rolling resistance, lubrication and laminated steel springs of locomotives, and remained firm friends with George throughout his life. George sent his son Robert to work as Wood’s apprentice. The Neville Hall within the North of England Institute of Mining Mechanical Engineers, of which he became the first president in 1850, was renamed the Wood Memorial Hall in honour in 1871.The building contains this monumental statue of Wood presiding over the library. HARRY MITCHELL* 30
George Stephenson’s biographer, Samuel Smiles.
There has been confusion among historians as to whether Blücher was the first Stephenson locomotive. In later life, George related that his first locomotive was named My Lord after his backer, Sir Thomas Riddell. However, this statement has been questioned as to its accuracy, because Liddell was not made Baron Rainsworth until 1821, seven years after the locomotive was completed. The Engineer magazine stated in 1902 that the first locomotive was called My Lord. Some writers have said that My Lord was renamed Blücher in 1815 after the Battle of Waterloo. Others have said that Blücher was a separate locomotive built several months after My Lord. In several ways, Blücher was an improvement on what had gone before, but it was far from satisfactory. Its performance on the wooden tramway was slow and unreliable, and the drive arrangement through cranks and gears had inherent problems, especially when they became worn, causing jerkiness and much noise. Nonetheless, Blücher was state of the art for its day, and greatly enhanced George’s reputation. He quickly improved on the design and in 1815 turned out another locomotive, named Killingworth. On February 28 that year, George and colliery
A scale model of Locomotion No. 1 inside Deutsche Bahn’s DB Museum in Nuremberg. ROBIN JONES
A scale model of the first Stockton & Darlington Railway carriage The Experiment is on display in the DB Museum in Nuremberg. ROBIN JONES
There was sizeable opposition from local landed gentry who managed to lobby hard enough to have the Stockton & Darlington Railway Bill thrown out by a majority of 13 in the House of Commons at first reading stage. The Yarm/Darlington and Stockton factions still did not trust each another. The Stockton contingent considered that the line had been drawn via Darlington to promote the interests of that town, and were angry that the proposed tolls on the railway had to be paid for the whole 30 miles, even though the collieries were only 14 miles from Stockton. After Stevenson raised criticisms of Overton’s plans, the latter offered to carry out yet another survey, incorporating changes to satisfy some of the loudest objectors. Routes were altered and finally it was agreed that there should be a 267⁄8 mile main line from Stockton to Witton Park with branches to Yarm, Darlington, Coundon and Haggerleases Lane.
George Stephenson’s letter to Edward Pease of April 28, 1821, offering his services to the newly-authorised Stockton & Darlington Railway.
38
chapter six
The Liverpool & Manchester Railway W
An engineers’ train runs through Olive Mount Cutting, with navvies still hewing rock from the upper sides.
hile the North East has become regarded as the cradle of the railways, Manchester has been called the cradle of the Industrial Revolution. It was in 1761 that the canal age began around Merseyside, with the opening of the first section of the Duke of Bridgwater’s canal. That was to inland waterways what the Stockton & Darlington was to railways: it sparked off a period of canal building leading to the creation of a network serving and promoting the commercial interests of the Midlands and the North, making the efficient rapid transit of raw materials and bulk goods possible. The textile mills of Lancashire were quick off the mark when it came to adopting the new inventions in the fields of spinning and weaving. New machinery turned what had been a cottage industry into mass production. Within a few years, villages had become towns as farm labourers flocked from the rural areas for guaranteed wages
in the new factories and textile mills, and where there had once been green fields, there now stood conurbations. Liverpool was the port by which finished products were exported, and by the second half of the 18th century, had replaced Bristol as England’s second port. Liverpool became the port through which American cotton for the Lancashire mills was imported in ever-increasing quantities. Despite their close proximity, land connections between Liverpool and Manchester were poor, and the standard of the main turnpike road was heavily criticised. The Bridgewater Canal opened from Runcorn to Manchester in 1776, competing with the Mersey & Irwell Navigation. There was sufficient trade for both, but customers became increasingly concerned at the high dues payable, and with the proprietors owning most of the warehouses on the canal sides and river banks, a duopoly arose, with little credible alternative transport.
the real ‘father of the railways’?
In 1797, canal builder William Jessop, who was appointed chief engineer of the Surrey Iron Railway, and his business partner Benjamin Outram, a civil engineer who had also built inland waterways and tramways, proposed rival horse-drawn railway routes between Liverpool and Manchester. Jessop’s railway would have taken a southerly route while Outram would have been built to the north. With support split between the two schemes, and neither promoter prepared to compromise, both plans failed to get off the ground. In the autumn of 1802, William James, a Warwickshire solicitor and land agent who had already made a fortune from mines and a canal visited Merseyside. It is believed that he came up with the first proposal for a railway to link Liverpool and Manchester a few months later. Born in Henry-in-Arden in 1771, James was educated at Warwick & Winson School, and like his father, trained as a solicitor and in 1804 was appointed as the Earl of Warwick’s land agent. He bought a colliery in South Staffordshire and was the first to open a mine in the West Bromwich coalfield, paving the way for the exploitation of the mineral reserves of what became the Black Country. He became chairman of the West Bromwich Coalmasters Association, and was a leading proponent of the development of the local canal system. James was deputy chairman and the major shareholder of the company which built the 25 mile Stratford-upon-Avon Canal, and was responsible for the great iron aqueducts on the southern section. He also directed the building of the Bearley aqueduct by William Whitmore, the longest canal aqueduct in Britain. The canal was finally opened throughout to Stratford on June 24, 1816. It was estimated that by 1815, James’ investments were worth £150,000. James, however, saw the canals
46
CHAPTER EIGHT
The world’s
first
inter-city railway
The magnificent yellow sandstone and red brick nine-arch Grade I Sankey Viaduct, the earliest major railway viaduct in the world was built by George Stephenson between 1828 and 1830 for the railway to cross the line of the Sankey Canal with sufficient clearance for the Mersey sailing flats which used the waterway, the earliest of the Industrial Revolution.
56
T
he Liverpool and Manchester Railway was not only the first in the world to link two major cities, but also the first to offer a scheduled passenger service. It was the fruits of four years of solid toil and relentless graft including the crossing of Chat Moss, the building of the great Sankey viaduct, the hewing of thousands of tons of rock to create Olive Mount cutting, the boring of Edge Hill tunnel. The line’s post-Rainhill locomotive fleet were there for all to see at the official opening day of September 15, 1830. Earlier, on June 14, a train of seven wagons carrying 80 stone blocks and two coaches was hauled by Stephenson 0-2-2s No. 2 Arrow and No. 4 Dart from Liverpool to Manchester, at speeds of up to 25mph. The directors were impressed to say the least. It was recorded that they made known their appreciation “of the great skill and wearied energy displayed by their engineer, Mr George Stephenson”.
William Huskisson, MP for Liverpool.
The National Railway Museum’s replica of Rocket hauling replica first class and open carriages during a visit to the Great Central Railway on March 31, 2010. ROBIN JONES
Edge Hill station portrayed in 1831 by Thomas Talbot Bury in his Coloured Views on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.The station was sited in a deep sandstone cutting, with three tunnels at the west end.The largest bore, in the centre, was the 2250 yard Wapping Tunnel leading to Wapping Dock. Wagons descended by gravity, but were hauled up by a winding engine.The tunnel to the north of the central bore was much shorter and inclined upwards, leading to the passenger terminal at Crown Street. From there, trains descended by gravity to Edge Hill station and were wound up into Crown Street.The southern tunnel was originally a short length leading nowhere and used as a storage shed, with its chief purpose to create a symmetrical appearance. 58
(George Stephenson’s) way of explaining himself is peculiar, but very striking, and I understood, without difficulty, all that he said to me... “The engine having received its supply of water, the carriage was placed behind it, for it cannot turn, and was set off at its utmost speed, 35mph, swifter than a bird flies (for they tried the experiment with a snipe). You cannot conceive what that sensation of cutting the air was; the motion is as smooth as possible, too. I could either have read or written; and as it was, I stood up, and with my bonnet off drank the air before me. “The wind, which was strong, or perhaps the force of our own thrusting against it, absolutely weighed my eyelids down. “When I closed my eyes this sensation of flying was quite delightful, and strange beyond description; yet strange as it was, I had a perfect sense of security, and not the slightest fear... “Now for a word or two about the master of all these marvels, with whom I am most horribly in love. He is a man from 50 to 55 years of age; his face is fine, though careworn, and bears an expression of deep thoughtfulness; his mode of explaining his ideas is peculiar and very original, striking, and forcible; and although his accents indicates strongly his north country birth, his language has not the slightest touch of vulgarity or coarseness. He has certainly turned my head. “Four years have sufficed to bring this great undertaking to an end. The railroad will be opened upon the 15th of next month. The Duke of Wellington is coming down to be present on the occasion, and, I suppose, what with the thousands of spectators and the novelty of the spectacle, there will never have been a scene of more striking interest.”
chapter 18
George Stephenson’s second gauge I
The converted smithy from Stephenson’s metre gauge railway now forms an integral part of Crich Tramway Village. CTV
Vintage street trams now run along part of the course of Stephenson’s metre gauge railway at Cliff Quarry in Crich. ROBIN JONES 110
t is universally acknowledged that George Stephenson chose 4ft 81⁄2in for his steam railways. It was often referred to as Stephenson gauge as well as standard gauge. Yet in his later life it appears that he also ‘invented’ metre gauge. What is believed to be the world’s first metre gauge line was laid by Stephenson at what is now the Crich Tramway Village in Derbyshire in 1841 to serve a limestone quarry. While building the North Midland Railway from Derby to Rotherham and Leeds, Stephenson discovered rich coal seams in the Clay Cross area and decided to exploit them himself. Crich was already renowned for the quality of its limestone and Stephenson saw that he could use the local coal and limestone to produce burnt lime for agricultural purposes, and then use the North Midland Railway to distribute it. Cliff Quarry, where the tramway village is now located, was acquired by Stephenson’s company. The metre gauge line was built to link the quarry with the lime kilns he had built alongside the new North Midland Railway at Ambergate. An unsubstantiated story suggests that Stephenson, who spent the last 10 years of his life in nearby Chesterfield, hired a team of Dutch engineers to build ‘a narrow gauge railway’ but did not specify the exact gauge, so they chose the basic continental measurement. It seems to be the first in the world built to that gauge. Stephenson often brought visitors to Crich to see the mineral railway and visit one of the village inns. Metre gauge took off for both primary and secondary rail networks around the globe, although many of the continental systems succumbed to competition from road transport in the 20th century. However, there are still around 59,000 miles of track cross the world, and in some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe, substantial metre gauge networks remain in continuous use in Switzerland, northern Spain and for many urban tramways.
This small yet very substantially built bridge in Coasthill near Crich was built to carry George Stephenson’s metre gauge mineral railway. RICHARD VINCE
More great reads from Mortons
only £6.99
WHSMITH
Beating Beeching looks at the wide spectrum of ways in which railway lines which closed before, during and after the ‘Beeching era’ have been given a new lease of life. It documents the way back for railway lines that were earmarked for closure by former British Railways chairman Dr Richard Beeching, known to many as the ‘axeman’ and who has been described as Britain’s most hated civil servant of all time. Had the recommendations in Beeching’s report, The Reshaping of British Railways, been followed to the letter, the UK’s national railway network would have been more drastically reduced. However, many lines were saved or reopened – by a combination of public and political pressure, by local authorities wanting to reduce traffic congestion, or by ordinary people who were not prepared to stand by and watch it happen. In this bookazine you will learn: The story of how a massive public campaign to save Britain’s most beautiful railway – the Settle and Carlisle line – succeeded... with more than a little inside help from one of British Rail’s own managers Where preserved steam lines are now performing a significant public transport function once again How there are still plans to reopen more lines, in a world increasingly dogged by road traffic gridlock, and the arguments both for and against the building of HS2.
2
only £6.99
On July 3, 1938, London & North Eastern Railway WHSMITH A4 streamlined Pacific No. 4468 Mallard hit 126mph on Stoke Bank on the East Coast Main Line in Lincolnshire. To mark the 75th anniversary of the event, the National Railway Museum at York brought together all six surviving A4 streamlined engines for a series of unique line-ups. The first was at York in July, and other events will be held at York in October and at the Locomotion museum at Shildon next year. Among the six A4s are a pair – Dwight D. Eisenhower and Dominion of Canada – which have been borrowed from their North American museum owners and cosmetically restored. Indications so far are that the ‘Great Gatherings’ will be the biggest and most popular events in the museum’s history. Our publication, Mallard 75, looks at the story of LNER chief mechanical engineer Sir Nigel Gresley and the glamorous A4 locomotives he built to pull luxury express trains between London and Edinburgh. Lavishly illustrated, it tells the history of the development of the A4s and detailed biographies of each of the six survivors. The full story of how the North American pair were brought home and restored to showpiece condition, the 90mph runs by A4 Bittern on the East Coast Main Line organised in connection with the event, and pictures of the Great Gathering, are in this bookazine – a publication that celebrate a true British first – and a speed record which has never been beaten.
only £7.99
Perhaps the most famous single WHSMITH mission in the RAF’s illustrious history, the Dams Raid, took place 70 years ago in May 1943. To commemorate the landmark mission, Squadron Leader Clive Rowley (Retd) a former officer commanding the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, takes a fresh look at an old story with the benefit of some modern research to aid the process. It’s a story which does not need embellishment, but which famously received the Hollywood treatment; a tale of ingenuity, daring and courage. All military actions are made up of mistakes, myths and a few miracles – the Dams Raid contained them all. The publication tells the story of the real people with human traits, complex and contradictory personalities and flaws. This is also a story of inspired leadership under almost unbelievable strain. For decades the results of the raid have been ‘down-played’ or even condemned by commentators, journalists and academics. Here the author sets the record straight, opining that those views denigrate the sacrifice of those involved quite wrongly, especially those 53 who willingly gave their lives in the belief that they were making a difference. But there’s more, as although 617 was formed to carry out one specific operation, it subsequently evolved into a specialist, precision bombing squadron. The post-Dams Raid work of the squadron is also covered. In 1943 Operation Chastise, as the raid was named, established a legend that still resonates today.
only £6.99
The 1920s and 30s were decades of massive change WHSMITH following the ‘war to end all wars’. Those years saw Britain’s railways take on the rest of the planet in the race for the world steam speed record – and win. Railwaymen were hailed as heroes. The steam railway was one of the greatest gifts of all to mankind... yet it could be argued and demonstrated that just across the sea it made the world’s darkest days possible. “...the personification of the devil as the symbol of all evil assumes the living shape of the Jew”. Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf. Picture YOUR life today... then imagine being told you may no longer go to school, must surrender your driving licence, are sacked from your job, may no longer use the bus ... your bank account is closed, your savings confiscated, pension not paid... you are to be ‘resettled’... AND THE WAY YOU WILL BE MOVED IS BY TRAIN. But you are not just transported, you are uprooted, traumatised, humiliated and tortured, and that is before you are even pushed into a closed, windowless goods wagons. More than 11 million innocent people were murdered, including six million Jews, plus Poles, Soviet POWs, Roma, Sinti, homosexuals and anyone else who did not 'fit'. In this publication, Robin Jones, editor of Heritage Railway magazine, looks at the way the fantastic legacy of Richard Trevithick was perverted to become integral to an evil regime. This is the story of the Holocaust... as viewed from track level.
easy ways 1 - Call 01507 529529 to order. 2 - Visit www.classicmagazines.co.uk