produced from images generously made available by the internet archive.) the modern railroad [illustration: ready for the day's run] the modern railroad by edward hungerford author of "little corky," "the man who stole a railroad," etc. with many illustrations from photographs chicago a. c. mcclurg & co. copyright a. c. mcclurg & co. published november, entered at stationers' hall, london, england press of the vail company coshocton, u. s. a. to my father in recognition of his interest and appreciation this book is dedicated preface to bring to the great lay mind some slight idea of the intricacy and the involved detail of railroad operation is the purpose of this book. of the intricacies and involved details of railroad finance and railroad politics; of the quarrels between the railroads, the organizations of their employees, the governmental commissions, or the shippers, it says little or nothing. these difficult and pertinent questions have been and still are being competently discussed by other writers. the author wishes to acknowledge the courtesy of the editors and publishers of _harper's monthly_, _harper's weekly_, _the saturday evening post_, and _outing_ in permitting the introduction into this work of portions or entire articles which he has written for them in the past. he would also feel remiss if he did not publish his sincere acknowledgments to "the american railway," a compilation from _scribner's magazine_, published in , mr. logan g. mcpherson's "the workings of the railroad," mr. c. f. carter's "when railroads were new," and mr. frank h. spearman's "the strategy of great railroads." out of a sizable reference library of railroad works, these volumes were the most helpful to him in the preparation of certain chapters of this book. e. h. brooklyn, new york, _august , _. contents page chapter i the railroads and their beginnings two great groups of railroads; east to west, and north to south--some of the giant roads--canals--development of the country's natural resources--railroad projects--locomotives imported--first locomotive of american manufacture--opposition of canal-owners to railroads--development of pennsylvania's anthracite mines--the merging of small lines into systems. chapter ii the gradual development of the railroad alarm of canal-owners at the success of railroads--the making of the baltimore & ohio--the "tom thumb" engine--difficulties in crossing the appalachians--extension to pittsburgh--troubles of the erie railroad--this road the first to use the telegraph--the prairies begin to be crossed by railways--chicago's first railroad, the galena & chicago union--illinois central--rock island, the first to span the mississippi--proposals to run railroads to the pacific--the central pacific organized--it and the union pacific meet--other pacific roads. chapter iii the building of a railroad cost of a single-track road--financing--securing a charter-- survey-work and its dangers--grades--construction--track-laying. chapter iv tunnels their use in reducing grades--the hoosac tunnel--the use of shafts--tunnelling under water--the detroit river tunnel. chapter v bridges bridges of timber, then stone, then steel--the starucca viaduct--the first iron bridge in the united states--steel bridges--engineering triumphs--different types of railroad bridge--the deck span and the truss span--suspension bridges--cantilever bridges--reaching the solid rock with caissons--the work of "sand-hogs"--the cantilever over the pend oreille river--variety of problems in bridge-building--points in favor of the stone bridge--bridges over the keys of florida. chapter vi the passenger stations early trains for suburbanites--importance of the towerman-- automatic switch systems--the interlocking machine--capacities of the largest passenger terminals--room for locomotives, car-storage, etc.--storing and cleaning cars--the concourse-- waiting-rooms--baggage accommodations--heating--great development of passenger stations--some notable stations in america. chapter vii the freight terminals and the yards convenience of having freight stations at several points in a city--the pennsylvania railroad's scheme at new york as an example--coal handled apart from other freight--assorting the cars--the transfer house--charges for the use of cars not promptly returned to their home roads--the hard work of the yardmaster. chapter viii the locomotives and the cars honor required in the building of a locomotive--some of the early locomotives--some notable locomotive-builders--increase of the size of engines--stephenson's air-brake--the workshops-- the various parts of the engine--cars of the old-time-- improvements by winans and others--steel cars for freight. chapter ix rebuilding a railroad reconstruction necessary in many cases--old grades too heavy-- curves straightened--tunnels avoided--these improvements required especially by freight lines. chapter x the railroad and its president supervision of the classified activities--engineering, operating, maintenance of way, etc.--the divisional system as followed in the pennsylvania road--the departmental plan as followed in the new york central--need for vice-presidents--the board of directors--harriman a model president--how the pennsylvania forced itself into new york city--action of a president to save the life of a laborer's child--"keep right on obeying orders"--some railroad presidents compared--high salaries of presidents. chapter xi the legal and financial departments functions of general counsel, and those of general attorney--a shrewd legal mind's worth to a railroad--the function of the claim-agent--men and women who feign injury--the secret service as an aid to the claim-agent--wages of employees the greatest of a railroad's expenditures--the pay-car--the comptroller or auditor--division of the income from through tickets--claims for lost or damaged freight--purchasing-agent and store-keeper. chapter xii the general manager his duty to keep employees in harmonious actions--"the superintendent deals with men; the general manager with superintendents"--"the general manager is really king"--cases in which his power is almost despotic--he must know men. chapter xiii the superintendent his headship of the transportation organism--his manner of dealing with an offended shipper--his manner with commuters--his manner with a spiteful "kicker"--a dishonest conductor who had a "pull"--a system of demerits for employees--dealing with drunkards--with selfish and covetous men. chapter xiv operating the railroad authority of the chief clerk and that of the assistant superintendent--responsibilities of engineers, firemen, master mechanic, train-master, train-despatcher--arranging the time-table--fundamental rules of operation--signals--selecting engine and cars for a train--clerical work of conductors--a trip with the conductor--the despatcher's authority--signals along the line--maintenance of way--superintendent of bridges and buildings--road-master--section boss. chapter xv the fellows out upon the line men who run the trains must have brain as well as muscle--their training--from farmer's boy to engineer--the brakeman's dangerous work--baggagemen and mail clerks--hand-switchmen--the multifarious duties of country station-agents. chapter xvi keeping the line open the wrecking train and its supplies--floods dammed by an embankment--right of way always given to the wrecking-train-- expeditious work in repairing the track--collapse of the roof of a tunnel--telegraph crippled by storms--winter storms the severest test--trains in quick succession help to keep the line open in snowstorms--the rotary plough. chapter xvii the g. p. a. and his office he has to keep the road advertised--must be an after-dinner orator, and many-sided--his geniality, urbanity, courtesy-- excessive rivalry for passenger traffic--increasing luxury in pullman cars--many printed forms of tickets, etc. chapter xviii the luxury of modern railroad travel special trains provided--private cars--specials for actors, actresses, and musicians--crude coaches on early railroads-- luxurious old-time sleeping-cars--pullman's sleepers made at first from old coaches--his pioneer--the first dining-cars--the present-day dining-cars--dinners, _table d'hôte_ and _a la carte_--_café_-cars--buffet-cars--care for the comfort of women. chapter xix getting the city out into the country commuters' trains in many towns--rapid increase in the volume of suburban travel--electrification of the lines--long island railroad almost exclusively suburban--varied distances of suburban homes from the cities--club-cars for commuters-- staterooms in the suburban cars--special transfer commuters. chapter xx freight traffic income from freight traffic greater than from passenger-- competition in freight rates--afterwards a standard rate-sheet-- rate-wars virtually ended by the interstate commerce commission classification of freight into groups--differential freight rates--demurrage for delay in emptying cars--coal traffic-- modern methods of handling lard and other freight. chapter xxi the drama of the freight fast trains for precious and perishable goods--cars invented for fruits and for fish--milk trains--systematic handling of the cans--auctioning garden-truck at midnight--a historic city freight-house. chapter xxii making traffic enticing settlers to the virgin lands of the west--emigration bureaus--railways extended for the benefit of emigrants--the first continuous railroad across the american continent-- campaigns for developing sparsely settled places in the west-- unprofitable branch railroads in the east--development of scientific farming--improved farms are traffic-makers--new factories being opened--how railroad managers have developed atlantic city. chapter xxiii the express service and the railroad mail development of express business--railroad conductors the first mail and express messengers--william f. harnden's express service--postage rates--establishment and organization of great express companies--collection and distribution of express matter--relation between express companies and railroads-- beginnings of post-office department--statistics--railroad mail service--newspaper delivery--handling of mail matter--growth of the service. chapter xxiv the mechanical departments care and repair of cars and engines--the locomotive cleaned and inspected after each long journey--frequent visits of engines to the shops and foundries at altoona--the table for testing the power and speed of locomotives--the car shops--steel cars beginning to supersede wooden ones--painting a freight car--lack of method in early repair shops--search for flaws in wheels. chapter xxv the railroad marine steamship lines under railroad control--fleet of new york central--tugs--railroad connections at new york harbor--handling of freight--ferry-boats--tunnel under detroit river--car-ferries and lake routes--great lakes steamship lines under railroad control. chapter xxvi keeping in touch with the men the first organized branch of the railroad y. m. c. a.-- cornelius vanderbilt's gift of a club-house--growth of the railroad y. m. c. a.--plans by the railways to care for the sick and the crippled--the pension system--entertainments--model restaurants--free legal advice--employees' magazines--the order of the red spot. chapter xxvii the coming of electricity electric street cars--suburban cars--electric third-rail from utica to syracuse--some railroads partially adopt electric power--the benefit of electric power in tunnels--also at terminal stations--conditions which make electric traction practical and economical--hopeful outlook for electric traction--the monorail and the gyroscope car, invented by louis brennan--a similar invention by august scherl. appendix efficiency through organization. index illustrations page ready for the day's run _frontispiece_ an early locomotive built by william norris for the philadelphia & reading railroad the historic "john bull" of the camden & amboy railroad--and its train a heavy-grade type of locomotive built for the baltimore & ohio railroad in . its flaring stack was typical of those years construction engineers blaze their way across the face of new country the making of an embankment by dump-train "small temporary railroads peopled with hordes of restless engines" cutting a path for the railroad through the crest of the high hills a giant fill--in the making the finishing touches to the track this machine can lay a mile of track a day "sometimes the construction engineer ... brings his line face to face with a mountain" finishing the lining of a tunnel the busiest tunnel point in the world--at the west portals of the bergen tunnels, six erie tracks below, four lackawanna above the hackensack portals of the pennsylvania's great tunnels under new york city concrete affords wonderful opportunities for the bridge-builders the lackawanna is building the largest concrete bridge in the world across the delaware river at slateford, pa. the bridge-builder lays out an assembling-yard for gathering together the different parts of his new construction the new brandywine viaduct of the baltimore & ohio, at wilmington, del. the northwestern's monumental new terminal on the west side of chicago the union station at washington a model american railroad station--the union station of the new york central, boston & albany, delaware & hudson, and west shore railroads at albany the classic portal of the pennsylvania's new station in new york the beautiful concourse of the new pennsylvania station, in new york "the waiting-room is the monumental and artistic expression of the station"--the waiting-room of the union depot at troy, new york something over a million dollars' worth of passenger cars are constantly stored in this yard a scene in the great freight-yards that surround chicago the intricacy of tracks and the "throat" of a modern terminal yard: south station, boston, and its approaches one of the "diamond-stack" locomotives used on the pennsylvania railroad in the early seventies prairie type passenger locomotive of the lake shore railroad pacific type passenger locomotive of the new york central lines atlantic type passenger locomotive, built by the pennsylvania railroad at its altoona shops one of the great mallet pushing engines of the delaware & hudson company a ten-wheeled switching locomotive of the lake shore railroad suburban passenger locomotive of the new york central lines consolidation freight locomotive of the pennsylvania system where harriman stretched the southern pacific in a straight line across the great salt lake line revision on the new york central--tunnelling through the bases of these jutting peaks along the hudson river does away with sharp and dangerous curves impressive grade revision on the union pacific in the black hills of wyoming. the discarded line may be seen at the right the old and the new on the great northern--the "william crooks," the first engine of the hill system, and one of the newest mallets the southern pacific finds direct entrance into san francisco for one of its branch lines by tunnels piercing the heart of the suburbs portal of the abandoned tunnel of the alleghany portage railroad near johnstown, pa., the first railroad tunnel in the united states the freight department of the modern railroad requires a veritable army of clerks the farmer who sued the railroad for permanent injuries-- as the detectives with their cameras found him oil-burning locomotive on the southern pacific system the steel passenger coach such as has become standard upon the american railroad electric car, generating its own power by a gasoline engine both locomotive and train--gasoline motor car designed for branch line service the biggest locomotive in the world: built by the santa fe railroad at its topeka shops the conductor is a high type of railroad employee the engineer--oil-can in hand--is forever fussing at his machine railroad responsibility does not end even with the track walker the fireman has a hard job and a steady one how the real timetable of the division looks--the one used in headquarters the electro-pneumatic signal-box in the control tower of a modern terminal the responsible men who stand at the switch-tower of a modern terminal: a large tower of the "manual" type "when winter comes upon the lines the superintendent will have full use for every one of his wits" watchful signals guarding the main line of a busy railroad "when the train comes to a water station the fireman gets out and fills the tank" a freight-crew and its "hack" a view through the span of a modern truss bridge gives an idea of its strength and solidity the new york central is adopting the new form of "upper quadrant" signal the wrecking train ready to start out from the yard "two of these great cranes can grab a wounded mogul locomotive and put her out of the way" "the shop-men form no mean brigade in this industrial army of america" "winter days when the wind-blown snow forms mountains upon the tracks" "the despatcher may have come from some lonely country station" "the superintendent is not above getting out and bossing the wrecking-gang once in a great while" the new york central railroad is building a new grand central station in new york city, for itself and its tenant, the new york, new haven & hartford railroad the concourse of the new grand central station, new york, will be one of the largest rooms in the world south station, boston, is the busiest railroad terminal in the world the train-shed and approach tracks of broad street station, philadelphia, still one of the finest of american railroad passenger terminals connecting drawing-room and stateroom "a man may have as fine a bed in a sleeping-car as in the best hotel in all the land" "you may have the manicure upon the modern train" "the dining-car is a sociable sort of place" an interior view of one of the earliest pullman sleeping-cars interior of a standard sleeping-car of to-day "even in winter there is a homely, homey air about the commuter's station" entrance to the great four-track open cut which the erie has built for the commuter's comfort at jersey city a model way-station on the lines of the boston & albany railroad the yardmaster's office--in an abandoned switch-tower "the inside of any freight-house is a busy place" st. john's park, the great freight-house of the new york central railroad in down-town new york the great ore-docks of the west shore railroad at buffalo the great bridge of the new york central at watkins glen building the wonderful bridge of the idaho & washington northern over the pend oreille river, washington inside the west albany shops of the new york central: picking up a locomotive with the travelling crane a locomotive upon the testing-table at the altoona shops of the pennsylvania "the roundhouse is a sprawling thing" denizens of the roundhouse "in the far west the farm-train has long since come into its own" "even in new york state the interest in these itinerant agricultural schools is keen, indeed" interior of the dairy demonstration car of an agricultural train the famous thomas viaduct, on the baltimore & ohio at relay, md., built by b. h. latrobe in , and still in use the historic starucca viaduct upon the erie the cylinders of the delaware & hudson mallet the interior of this gasoline-motor-car on the union pacific presents a most unusual effect, yet a maximum of view of the outer world a portion of the great double-track susquehanna river bridge of the baltimore & ohio--a giant among american railroad bridges "in summer the brakemen have pleasant enough times of railroading" a famous cantilever rapidly disappearing--the substitution of a new kentucky river bridge for the old, on the queen & crescent system triple-phase, alternating current locomotive built by the general electric co. for use in the cascade tunnel, of the great northern railway heavy service, alternating and direct current freight locomotive built by the westinghouse company for the new york, new haven & hartford railroad the monoroad in practical use for carrying passengers at city island, new york the cigar-shaped car of the monoroad a modern railroad freight and passenger terminal: the terminal of the west shore railroad at weehawken, opposite new york city high-speed, direct-current passenger locomotive built by the general electric company for terminal service of the new york central at the grand central station this is what new york central mccrea did for the men of the canadian pacific up at kenora a clubhouse built by the southern pacific for its men at roseville, california the b. & o. boys enjoying the railroad y. m. c. a., chicago junction "the brooklyn rapid transit company has organized a brass band for its employees" a high-speed electric locomotive on the pennsylvania bringing a through train out of the tunnel underneath the hudson river and into the new york city terminal high-speed, direct-current locomotive built by the westinghouse company for the terminal service of the pennsylvania railroad, in new york two triple-phase locomotives of the great northern railway helping a double-header steam train up the grade into the cascade tunnel the outer shell of the new haven's freight locomotive removed, showing the working parts of the machine _the railroad is a monster. his feet are dipped into the navigable seas, and his many arms reach into the uplands. his fingers clutch the treasures of the hills--coal, iron, timber--all the wealth of mother earth. his busy hands touch the broad prairies of corn, wheat, fruits--the yearly produce of the land. with ceaseless activity he brings the raw material that it may be made into the finished. he centralizes industry. he fills the ships that sail the seas. he brings the remote town in quick touch with the busy city. he stimulates life. he makes life._ _his arms stretch through the towns and over the land. his steel muscles reach across great rivers and deep valleys, his tireless hands have long since burrowed their way through god's eternal hills. he is here, there, everywhere. his great life is part and parcel of the great life of the nation._ _he reaches an arm into an unknown country, and it is known! great tracts of land that were untraversed become farms; hillsides yield up their mineral treasure; a busy town springs into life where there was no habitation of man a little time before, and the town becomes a city. commerce is born. the railroad bids death and stagnation begone. it creates. it reaches forth with its life, and life is born._ _the railroad is life itself!_ the modern railroad chapter i the railroads and their beginnings two great groups of railroads; east to west, and north to south--some of the giant roads--canals--development of the country's natural resources--railroad projects--locomotives imported--first locomotive of american manufacture--opposition of canal-owners to railroads-- development of pennsylvania's anthracite mines--the merging of small lines into systems. fifteen or twenty great railroad systems are the overland carriers of the united states. measured by corporations, known by a vast variety of differing names, there are many, many more than these. but this great number is reduced, through common ownership or through a common purpose in operation, to less than a score of transportation organisms, each with its own field, its own purposes, and its own ambitions. the greater number of these railroads reach from east to west, and so follow the natural lines of traffic within the country. two or three systems--such as the illinois central and the delaware & hudson--run at variance with this natural trend, and may be classed as cross-country routes. a few properties have no long-reaching routes, but derive their incomes from the transportation business of a comparatively small exclusive territory, as the boston & maine in northern new england, the new haven in southern new england, both of them recently brought under a more or less direct single control, and the long island. still other properties find their greatest revenue in bringing anthracite coal from the pennsylvania mountains to the seaboard, and among these are the lackawanna, the lehigh valley, the central railroad of new jersey, and the philadelphia & reading systems. the very great railroads of america are the east and west lines. these break themselves quite naturally into two divisions--one group east of the mississippi river, the other west of that stream. the easterly group aim to find an eastern terminal in and about new york. their western arms reach chicago and st. louis, where the other group of transcontinentals begin. giants among these eastern roads are the pennsylvania and the new york central. of lesser size, but still ranking as great railroads within this territory are the chesapeake & ohio, the baltimore & ohio, and the erie. several of the anthracite roads enjoy through connections to chicago and st. louis, breaking at buffalo as an interchange point, about half way between new york and chicago. there are important roads in the south, reaching between gulf points and new york and taking care of the traffic of the centres of the section, now rapidly increasing its industrial importance. the western group of transcontinental routes are the giants in point of mileage. the eastern roads, serving a closely-built country, carry an almost incredible tonnage; but the long, gaunt western lines are reaching into a country that has its to-morrow still ahead. of these, the so-called harriman lines--the southern pacific and the union pacific--occupy the centre of the country, and reach from the mississippi to the pacific. the santa fe and the gould roads share this territory. to the north of the harriman lines, j. j. hill has his wonderful group of railroads, the burlington, the great northern, and the northern pacific, together reaching from chicago to the north pacific coast. still farther north canada has her own transcontinental in the canadian pacific railway, another approaching completion in the grand trunk pacific railway. the "grangers" (so called from their original purpose as grain carriers), that occupy the eastern end of this western territory,--the st. paul, the gould lines, the northwestern and the rock island--are just now showing pertinent interest in reaching the pacific, with its great oriental trade in its infancy. the first two of these have already laid their rails over the great slopes of the rocky mountains and so it is that the building of railroads in the united states is nowhere near a closed book at the present time. the better to understand the causes that went to the making of these great systems, it may be well to go back into the past, to examine the eighty years that the railroad has been in the making. these busy years are illuminating. they tell with precise accuracy the development of american transportation. yet, as we can devote to them only a few brief pages, our review of them must be cursory. when the revolution was completed and the united states of america firmly established as a nation, the people began to give earnest attention to internal improvement and development. under the control of a distant and unsympathetic nation there had been very little encouragement for development; but with an independent nation all was very different. the united states began vaguely to realize their vast inherent wealth. how to develop that wealth was the surpassing problem. it became evident from the first that it must depend almost wholly on transportation facilities. to appreciate the dimensions of this problem it must be understood that at the beginning of the last century a barrel of flour was worth five dollars at baltimore. it cost four dollars to transport it to that seaport from wheeling; so it follows, that flour must be sold at wheeling at one dollar a barrel for the baltimore market. with a better form of transportation it would cost a dollar a barrel to carry the flour from wheeling to baltimore, making the price of the commodity at the first of these points under transit facilities four dollars a barrel. it did not take much of that sort of reasoning to make the states appreciate from the very first that a great effort must be made toward development. that effort, having been made, brought its own reward. the very first efforts toward transportation development lay in the canal works. canals had already proved their success in england and within continental europe, and their introduction into the united states established their value from the beginning. some of the earliest of these were built in new england before the revolution. after the close of that conflict many others were planned and built. the great enterprise of the state of new york in planning and building the erie, or grand canal, as it was at first called, from albany to buffalo--from atlantic tidewater to the navigable great lakes was a tremendous stimulus to similar enterprises along the entire seaboard. canals were built for many hundreds of miles, and in nearly every case they proved their worth at the outset. canals were also projected for many, many hundreds of additional miles, for the success of the earliest of these ditches was a great encouragement to other investments of the sort, even where there existed far less necessity for their construction. then there was a halt to canal-building for a little time. the invention of the steamboat just a century ago was an incentive indirectly to canal growth but there were other things that halted the minds of farsighted and conservative men. canals were fearfully expensive things; likewise, they were delicate works, in need of constant and expensive repairs to keep them in order. moreover, there were many winter months in which they were frozen and useless. it was quite clear to these farsighted men from the outset that the canal was not the real solution of the transportation problem upon which rested the internal development of the united states. they turned their attention to roads. but, while roads were comparatively easy to maintain and were possible routes of communication the entire year round, they could not begin to compare with the canals in point of tonnage capacity, because of the limitations of the drawing power of animals. some visionary souls experimented with sail wagons, but of course with no practical results. at this time there came distinct rumors from across the sea of a new transportation method in england--the railroad. the english railroads were crude affairs built to handle the products of the collieries in the northeast corner of the country, to bring the coal down to the docks. but there came more rumors--of a young engineer, one stephenson, who had perfected some sort of a steam wagon that would run on rails--a locomotive he called it,--and there was to be one of these railroads built from stockton to darlington to carry passengers and also freight. these reports were of vast interest to the earnest men who were trying to solve this perplexing problem of internal transportation. some of them, who owned collieries up in the northeastern portion of pennsylvania and who were concerned with the proposition of getting their product to tidewater, were particularly interested. these gentlemen were called the delaware & hudson company, and they had already accomplished much in building a hundred miles of canal from honesdale, an interior town, across a mountainous land to kingston on the navigable hudson river. but the canal, considered a monumental work in its day, solved only a part of the problem. there still remained the stiff ridge of the moosic mountain that no canal work might ever possibly climb. to the delaware & hudson company, then, the railroad proposition was of absorbing interest, of sufficient interest to warrant it in sending horatio allen, one of the canal engineers, all the way to england for investigation and report. allen was filled with the enthusiasm of youth. he went prepared to look into a new era in transportation. in the meantime other railroad projects were also under way in the country, short and crude affairs though they were. as early as silas whitney built a short line on beacon hill, boston, which is accredited as being the first american railroad. it was a simple affair with an inclined plane which was used to handle brick; and it is said that it was preceded twelve years by an even more crude tramway, built for the same purpose. another early short length of railroad was built by thomas leiper at his quarry in delaware county, pennsylvania. it has its chief interest from the fact that it was designed by john thomson, father of j. edgar thomson, who became at a much later day president of the pennsylvania railroad company, and who is known as one of the master minds in american transportation progress. similar records remain of the existence of a short line near richmond, va., built to carry supplies to a powder mill, and other lines at bear creek furnace, pennsylvania, and at nashua, n. h. but the only one of these roads that seems to have attained a lasting distinction was one built by gridley bryant in to carry granite for the bunker hill monument from the quarries at quincy, mass., to the docks four miles distant. this road was built of heavy wooden rails attached in a substantial way to stone sleepers imbedded in the earth. it attained considerable distinction and became of such general interest that a public house was opened alongside its rails to accommodate sightseers from afar who came to see it. this railroad continued in service for more than a quarter of a century. but the motive power of all these railroads was the horse; and it was patent from the outset that the horse had neither the staying nor the hauling powers to make him a real factor in the railroad situation. so when horatio allen returned to new york from england in january, , with glowing accounts of the success of the english railroads, he found the progressive men of the delaware & hudson anxiously awaiting an inspection of the _stourbridge lion_, the first of four locomotives purchased by allen for importation into the united states. three of these machines were from the works of foster, rastrick & co., of stourbridge; the fourth was the creation of stephenson's master hand. the _lion_ arrived in may of that year, and after having been set up on blocks and fired for the benefit of a group of scientific men in new york it was shipped by river and canal to honesdale. allen placed the _stourbridge lion_--which resembled a giant grasshopper with its mass of exterior valves, and joints--on the crude wooden track of the railroad, which extended over the mountain to carbondale, seventeen miles distant. a few days later--the ninth of august, to be exact--he ran the _lion_, the first turning of an engine wheel upon american soil. details of that scene have come easily down to to-day. the track was built of heavy hemlock stringers on which bars of iron, two and a quarter inches wide and one-half an inch thick were spiked. the engine weighed seven tons, instead of three tons, as had been expected. it so happened that the rails had become slightly warped just above the terminal of the railroad, where the track crossed the lackawaxen creek on a bending trestle. allen had been warned against this trestle and his only response was to call for passengers upon the initial ride. no one accepted. there was a precious pennsylvania regard shown for the safety of one's neck. so, after running the engine up and down the coal dock for a few minutes, allen waved good-bye to the crowd, opened his throttle wide open and dashed away from the village around the abrupt curve and over the trembling trestle at a rate of ten miles an hour. the crowd which had expected to see the engine derailed, broke into resounding cheers. the initial trial of a locomotive in the united states had served to prove its worth. the career of the _stourbridge lion_ was short lived. it hauled coal cars for a little time at honesdale; but it was too big an engine for so slight a railroad, and it was soon dismantled. its boiler continued to serve the delaware & hudson company for many years at its shops on the hillside above carbondale. the fate of the three other imported english locomotives remains a mystery. they were brought to new york and stored, eventually to find their way to the scrap heap in some unknown fashion. mr. allen held no short-lived career. his experiments with the locomotive ranked him as a railroad engineer of the highest class, and before the year closed he was made chief engineer of what was at first known as the charleston & hamburg railroad, and afterwards as the south carolina railroad. this was an ambitious project, designed to connect the old carolina seaport with the savannah river, one hundred and thirty-six miles distant. it achieved its greatest fame as the railroad which first operated a locomotive of american manufacture. this engine, called the _best friend of charleston_, was built at the west point foundry in new york city and was shipped to charleston in the fall of . it was a crude affair, and on its trial trip, on november , of that year, it sprung a wheel out of shape and became derailed. still it was a beginning; and after the wheels had been put in good shape it entered into regular service, which was more than the _stourbridge lion_ had ever done. it could haul four or five cars with forty or fifty passengers at a speed of from fifteen to twenty-five miles an hour, so the charleston & hamburg became the first of our steam railroads with a regular passenger service. a little later, a bigger and better engine, also of american manufacture and called the _west point_, was sent down from new york. word of these early railroad experiments travelled across the country as if by some magic predecessor of the telegraph. other railroad projects found themselves under way. another colliery railroad, a marvellous thing of planes and gravity descents, was built at mauch chunk in the lehigh valley, and this stout old road is in use to-day as a passenger-carrier. but it was already seen that the future of the railroad was not to be limited to quarries or collieries. up in new england the railroad fever had taken hold with force; and in , construction was begun on the boston & lowell railroad. this line was analogous to the manchester & liverpool, which proved itself from the beginning a tremendous money-earner. boston, a seaport of sixty thousand inhabitants was to be linked with lowell, then possessing but six thousand inhabitants. still, even in those days, lowell had developed to a point that saw fifteen thousand tons of freight and thirty-seven thousand passengers handled between the two cities over the middlesex canal in . then there developed the first of a new sort of antagonism that the railroad was to face. the owners of the canals were keen-sighted enough to discover a dangerous new antagonist in the railroads. they protested to the legislature that their charter gave them a monopoly of the carrying privileges between boston and lowell, and for two years they were able to strangle the ambitions of the proposed railroad. this fight was a type of other battles that were to follow between the canals and the railroads. the various lines that reached across new york state from albany to buffalo, paralleling the erie canal, were once prohibited from carrying freight, for fear that the canal's supremacy as a carrier might be disturbed. the baltimore & ohio railroad, struggling to blaze a path toward the west, was for a long time halted by the chesapeake & ohio canal, which proposed to hold to its monopoly of the valley of the potomac. the boston & lowell, however, conquered its obstacles and was finally opened to traffic, june , . within a few months similar lines reaching from boston to worcester on the west, and providence on the south had also been opened. by boston & worcester had been extended through to springfield on the connecticut river, where it connected with the western railroad, extending over the berkshires to greenbush, opposite albany. the providence road was rapidly extended through to stonington, connecticut. from that point fast steamboats were operated through to new york, and a quick line of communication was established between boston and new york. before that time the fastest route between these two cities had been by steamboat to norwich, then by coach over the post-road up to boston. norwich saw the railroad take away its supremacy in the through traffic. finally it awoke to its necessity, and arranged to build a railroad to reach the existing line at providence. between new york and philadelphia railroad communication came quickly into being, the first route opened being the camden & amboy, which terminated at the end of a long ferry ride from new york. even after more direct routes had been established and the delaware crossed at trenton, it was many years before the trains ran direct from jersey city into the heart of the quaker city. the cars from new york used to stop at tacony, considerably above the city and there was still a steamboat ride down the river. the railroad route to baltimore was only a partial one. a steamboat took the traveller to new castle, delaware, where a short pioneer railroad crossed to french town, maryland. after that there was another long steamboat ride down the flat reaches of the chesapeake bay before baltimore was finally reached. a little later there developed an all-rail route between philadelphia and baltimore although not upon the line of the present most direct route. from philadelphia an early double-track railroad extended west to columbia, upon the susquehanna river. an early route extended due north from baltimore to york, and then to harrisburg; the parent stem of what afterwards became the northern central. a branch from this line was extended through to columbia, and the new castle and french town route lost popularity. but the columbia and philadelphia route was destined to more important things than merely affording an all-rail route to baltimore. at columbia it connected with the important pennsylvania state system of internal canals and railroads, affording a direct line of communication with pittsburgh and the headwaters of the ohio river. this was accomplished by use of a canal through to hollidaysburgh upon the east slope of the alleghanies, and the well-famed alleghany portage railroad over the summit of those mountains to johnstown, where another canal reached down into pittsburgh and enjoyed unexampled prosperity from to . the alleghany portage railroad was a solidly constructed affair and its rails after the fashion of almost all railroads of that day were laid upon stone sleepers, rows of which may still be seen where the long-since abandoned railroad found its path across the mountains. the portage railroad was operated by the most elaborate system of inclined planes ever put to service within the united states; one has only to turn to the pages of dickens's "american notes" to read: "we left harrisburg on friday. on sunday morning we arrived at the foot of the mountain, which is crossed by railroad. there are ten inclined planes, five ascending and five descending; the carriages are dragged up the former and slowly let down the latter by means of stationary engines, the comparatively level spaces between being traversed sometimes by horse and sometimes by engine power, as the case demands.... the journey is very carefully made, however, only two carriages travelling together; and while proper precaution is taken, is not to be dreaded for its dangers." the portage railroad was the first to surmount the alleghanies although in course of time its elaborate system of planes disappeared, as they disappeared elsewhere, under the development of the locomotive. an interesting feature of the operation of the eastern end of this route of communication across the keystone state, which was afterwards to develop into the mighty pennsylvania railroad, was the communal nature of the enterprise. the railroad was regarded as a highway. any person was supposedly free to use its rails for the hauling of his produce in his own cars. the theory of the columbia & philadelphia railroad was simply that of an improved turnpike. for ten years after the opening of the line in , the horse-teams of private freight haulers alternated upon the tracks between steam locomotives hauling trains. a team of worn-out horses hauling a four-wheeled car, loaded with farm produce could, and frequently did keep a passenger train hauled by a steam locomotive fretting along for hours behind it. in the end the use of horses was abolished on the philadelphia & columbia--the name of the road had been reversed--and in the road was sold by the state to the newly organized pennsylvania railroad company. the pennsylvania had already built a through rail route from columbia over the alleghanies, and, by the aid of the wonderful horse shoe curve and the gallitzin tunnel, through to pittsburgh; it had created its shop-town of altoona and abandoned for all time the alleghany portage railroad. but before the consolidation came to pass, two companies had been organized to control freight-carrying upon the tracks of the philadelphia & columbia railroad. one of these was the people's line, the other the union line; and in them was the germ of the private car lines, which in recent years have become so vexed a problem to the interstate commerce commission. there were other short railroad lines in pennsylvania, most of them built to bring the products of the rapidly developing anthracite district down to tidewater. across new york state another chain of little railroads, which were in their turn to become the main stem of one of america's mightiest systems, was under construction. the first of this chain to be built was the mohawk & hudson, extending from the capital city of albany, by means of a sharply graded plane, to a tableland which brought it in turn to a descending plane at schenectady. at this last city it enjoyed a connection with the erie canal, and for a time the packet-boat men hailed the new railroad as a great help to their trade. it shortened a great time-taking bend in the canal, and helped to popularize that waterway just so much as a passenger carrier. afterwards the packet-boat men thought differently. hardly had the mohawk & hudson been opened on august , , by an excursion trip behind the american built locomotive _dewitt clinton_, when the railroad fever took hold of new york state as hard as the canal fever had taken hold of it but a few years before. railroads were planned everywhere and some of them were built. men began to dream of a link of railroads all the way through from albany to buffalo and even the troubles of a decade, marked with a monumental financial crash, could not entirely avail to stop railroad-building. the railroads came, step by step; one railroad from schenectady to utica, another from that pent-up city to syracuse, still another from syracuse to rochester. from rochester separate railroads led to tonawanda and niagara falls; to batavia, attica, and buffalo. but the panic of ' was a hard blow to ambitious financial schemes, and it was six years thereafter before the all-rail route from albany to buffalo was a reality. even after that it was a crude sort of affair. at several of the large towns across the state the continuity of the rails was broken. utica was jealous of this privilege and defended it on one occasion through a committee of eminent draymen, 'bus-drivers, and inn-keepers, who went down to albany to keep two of the early routes from making rail connections within her boundaries. at rochester there was a similar break, wherein both passengers and freight had to be transported by horses across the city from the railroad that led from the east to the railroad that led towards the west. this matter of carrying passengers across a city has always stimulated local pride. along in the fifties erie, pa., waged a bitter war to prevent the lake shore railroad from making its gauge uniform through that city and abandoning a time-honored transfer of passengers and freight there. but there seems to be no stopping of the hand of ultimate destiny in railroading. the little weak roads across the empire state were first gathered into the powerful new york central, and after a time they were permitted to carry freight, the privilege denied them a long time because of the power of the erie canal. after a little longer time there was a great bridge built across the hudson river at albany, and soon after the close of the civil war shrewd old commodore vanderbilt brought the railroad that had been built up the east shore of the hudson, his pet new york & harlem, and the merged chain of railroads across the state, into the new york central & hudson river railroad, his great lifework. that system spread itself steadily. it built a new short line from syracuse to rochester, another from batavia to buffalo. it absorbed and it consolidated; gradually it sent its tentacles over the entire imperial strength of new york state. chapter ii the gradual development of the railroad alarm of canal-owners at the success of railroads--the making of the baltimore & ohio--the "tom thumb" engine--difficulties in crossing the appalachians--extension to pittsburgh--troubles of the erie railroad--this road the first to use the telegraph--the prairies begin to be crossed by railways--chicago's first railroad, the galena & chicago union--illinois central--rock island, the first to span the mississippi--proposals to run railroads to the pacific--the central pacific organized--it and the union pacific meet--other pacific roads. all the railroad projects already related were timid projects in the beginning, with hardly a thought of ultimate greatness. yet there were men, even in the earliest days of railroading, whose minds winged to great enterprises, whose dreams were empire-wide. of such men was the baltimore & ohio born. baltimore, like philadelphia, had greedily watched the success of the erie canal upon its completion, and noted with alarm its possible effects upon its own wharves. philadelphia, with the wealth of the great state of pennsylvania behind, had sought to protect herself by the construction of the long links of canal and railroad to pittsburgh, of which you have already read. but baltimore had no great state to call to her support. she must look to herself for strength. out of her eminent necessity for self-preservation came men of the strength and the fibre to meet the emergency. baltimore might have retreated from the situation, as some of the new england towns had retreated from it, and become a somnolent reminiscence of a prosperous colonial seaport. she did nothing of the sort. instead she made herself the terminal and inspiration of a great railroad, laid the foundations of a great and lasting growth. the baltimore & ohio railroad was born february , . on the evening of that day, a little group of citizens of the sturdy old southern metropolis gathered at the house of george brown. mr. brown together with philip e. thomas, a distinguished merchant and philanthropist of baltimore, had been making investigation into the possibilities of railroads. the fact that the chesapeake & ohio canal, which was already well advanced in construction, would have its eastern terminus at the potomac river, near washington, brought no comfort to the merchants of baltimore. wonder not then, that the stern old traders of that city assembled to consider "the best means of restoring to the city of baltimore that portion of the western trade which has lately been diverted from it by the introduction of steam navigation and other causes." from that february day to this the corporate title of the baltimore & ohio has been unchanged, despite the career of the most extreme vicissitudes--long years of shadows that were almost complete despair, other years that were brilliant with success. it was decided at the outset that the commercial supremacy of baltimore rested on her conquest of the appalachian mountains, of her reaching by an easy artificial highway the almost limitless waterways of the west that linked themselves with the navigable ohio. but for the beginning it was agreed that cumberland, long an important point on the well-famed national highway, and even then a centre in the coal traffic, was a far enough distant goal to be worthy of the most ambitious enterprise. indeed a long cutting through a hill in the first section of the road proved a serious financial obstacle to the directors of the struggling railroad. but these last were men who persevered. they started to lay their track for the thirteen miles from baltimore to ellicott's mills on july , . that occasion was honored by an old-time celebration in which the chief figure was charles carroll, of carrollton, who laid the first stone of the new line. after his services were finished he said to a friend: "i consider this among the most important things of my life, second only to the signing of the declaration of independence, if even it be second to that." of that act president hadley, of yale, has written: "one man's life formed the connecting link between the political revolution of the one century and the industrial revolution of the other." no sooner had actual construction begun on the new line, than the directors found themselves beset by many difficulties. their enterprise was then so unusual, that they went blindly, stumbling ahead in the dark. even the construction of the track itself was experimental. it was first planned to use wooden rails hewn from oak, and these were to be mounted upon stone sleepers set in a rock ballast. the money spent in such track was obviously wasted. all such construction had to be torn out before the traffic was at all sizable, and replaced by iron rails and wooden sleepers. but the track was the least of the company's problems. it had gone ahead to build a railroad with a very vague conception as to its permanent motive-power. it was soon seen there, too, that horses were out of the question for hauling the passengers and freight any considerable distance. the baltimore & ohio company gravely experimented at one time with a car which was carried before the wind by means of mast and sail. sturdy old peter cooper, of new york, finally solved that motive-power problem. he had been induced to buy three thousand acres of land in the outskirts of baltimore for speculation. requests sent by his baltimore partners for remittances, for taxes and other charges, became so frequent that he went to the maryland city to investigate. one glance showed him that the future of his investment rested upon the future of the struggling little railroad which was trying to poke its nose west from baltimore. he came to the aid of its directors in their problem of motive-power. that problem consisted, for one thing, in the practical use of a locomotive around curves of feet radius. cooper went back to new york, bought an engine with a single cylinder, rigged it on a car--not larger than a hand-car, geared it to the wheels of that car and solved the chief problem of the b. & o. his little engine--the _tom thumb_--was a primitive enough affair, but it pointed the way to these baltimore merchants who were pinning their entire faith to their railroad project. * * * * * two years after the beginning of the work, "brigades" of horse-cars were in regular service to ellicott's mills; by the first of december, , trains--steam-drawn--ran through to frederick, md.; five months later, to a day, they had reached point of rocks on the potomac, seventy miles from baltimore. at point of rocks the road was halted for a long time. the power of the powerful chesapeake & ohio canal, which had been great enough to keep state or national grants from struggling railroads, was raised to defend its claim to a monopoly of the potomac valley, by right of priority. this right was sustained in the courts, and the railroad held back two years, until it could buy a compromise. in , a highly profitable branch was opened to washington, while early in the following year, trains were running through to harpers ferry, at the mouth of the shenandoah. during that same summer of , definite steps were taken toward the extension of the railroad to pittsburgh, as well as wheeling. but it was three years later before the struggling company was ready to make a surveying reconnaissance of these extensions of the road. all through that time actual construction work was slowly but quite surely progressing westward from harpers ferry, and on november , , trains entered cumberland, the one-time objective point of the enterprise. [illustration: an early locomotive built by william norris for the philadelphia & reading railroad] [illustration: the historic "john bull" of the camden & amboy railroad--and its train] [illustration: a heavy-grade type of locomotive built for the baltimore & ohio railroad in . its flaring stack was typical of those years] but beyond cumberland the road gradually left the comfortable valley of the potomac, and these early railroad builders found themselves confronted with new difficulties. to build a railroad across the range of the appalachians, with the primitive methods and machinery of those days was no simple task. for nine years the construction work dragged. in the line had only been finished to piedmont, twenty-nine miles west of cumberland, and its builders were well-nigh discouraged. let us quote from the ancient history of the b. & o., from which we derive these facts, in an exact paragraph: "in the fall of , the board found themselves, almost without warning, in the midst of a financial crisis, with a family of more than , laborers and , horses to be provided for, while their treasury was rapidly growing weaker. the commercial existence of the city of baltimore depended on the prompt and successful prosecution of the unfinished road." in october, , it was found that there had been expended for construction west of cumberland, $ , , . . but the road was going ahead once more. its board had dug deep into their pockets and the commercial crisis that hovered over baltimore was passed. two years later the road entered wheeling, and its corporate title was no longer a misnomer. a little later, a more direct line was built to parkersburg, west virginia, and direct connection entered with the ohio & mississippi railroad, which reached st. louis. the railroad was beginning to feel its way out across the land. war between north and south had been declared before the long delayed extension to pittsburgh was finished. in that time a real master-hand had come to the baltimore & ohio. in its early days the names of philip e. thomas, peter cooper, ross winans, and b. h. latrobe were indissolubly linked with this pioneer railroad; in its second era john w. garrett gave brilliancy to its administration. even before, as well as throughout the four trying years of the war, when the road's tracks were being repeatedly torn up and its bridges burned, mr. garrett was laying down his masterly policy of expansion. it was a discouraging beginning that confronted him. the two expensive extensions to the ohio river had been a severe drain on the company's treasury, traffic was at low ebb, the great financial panic of had been hard to surmount. but mr. garrett was one of the first of american railroaders to see that a trunk-line should start at the seaboard and end at chicago or the mississippi. he pushed his line to pittsburgh, to cleveland, to sandusky, to chicago. it began to reach new and growing traffic centres. the baltimore & ohio entered upon an era of magnificent prosperity. the first cloud upon that era came in the early seventies, when its powerful rival, the pennsylvania, secured control of the philadelphia, wilmington & baltimore, the b. & o.'s connecting link on its immensely profitable through route from new york to washington. pennsylvania interests tunnelled for long miles through the rocky foundations of baltimore, purchased an independent line to washington--the baltimore & potomac--and the b. & o. found itself deprived of its best congested traffic district. for eleven years it was unable to retaliate, though not a soul believed the baltimore & ohio to be other than a splendid, conservative property. it owned its own sleeping-car company, its own express company, its own telegraph company. the name of garrett was behind it. logan g. mcpherson says: "when it was desired to obtain additional funds, bonds were always issued instead of the capital stock being increased. interest on bonds has always to be met, whereas dividends on stocks can be passed. it was announced, however, that the retention of the stock capitalization at less than fifteen millions of dollars was an evidence of conservatism, as the continuance of semi-annual dividends of five per cent was thereby permitted." john w. garrett died in , and was succeeded in the presidency by his son robert garrett, who announced himself ready to continue a policy of expansion. the younger garrett sought to regain an entrance for his traffic to new york. to that end he built a line into philadelphia and prepared to strike across the state of new jersey. he failed in that end by the failure of one of his confidential aides; the line that he had counted on for entrance into the american metropolis was snapped up by his greatest rival just as his own fingers were almost upon it. later the b. & o. was permitted a trackage entrance into jersey city, but the terms of that entrance were so stringent as to mean a practical surrender upon its part. if baltimore & ohio had won that battle, a different story might have been chronicled. as it was, it stood a loser in a fearfully expensive fight; the english investors in the property became investigators--of a sudden the bottom dropped out of things. the stock went slipping down as only a mob-chased stock in wall street can drop; the road that had been the pride of baltimore became, for the moment, her shame. it was shown, upon investigation, that the road had long gone upon a slender standing: millions of dollars that should actually have been charged to loss had been charged against its capital and included in the surplus. ten years after mr. garrett's death the road found itself in even more bitter straits. it was a laughing stock and a reproach among railroad men. its profitable side-properties--the sleeping-car company, the express company, the telegraph company,--the first two of which should never be permitted to go outside of the control of any really great railroad company--had been sold, one after another, in attempts to save the day of reckoning. just before the chicago fair the road reached low-water mark. its passenger cars were weather-beaten and ravaged almost beyond hope of paint-shops; it was sometimes necessary to hold outgoing trains in the famous old camden station at baltimore, until the lamps and drinking glasses could be secured from some incoming train. in that day of low-water mark it was actually and seriously proposed to abandon the passenger service of the road! out of that chaos came the b. & o. of to-day, a substantial and well-managed railroad property. mr. garrett was the first of the railroaders to construct a single property from the atlantic seaboard to the mississippi; john f. cowan, l. f. loree, oscar g. murray, and daniel willard have been his successors in the revamping of the b. & o., eliminating its costly grades, enlarging yard and terminal facilities, and making the historic road a carrier of the first class. * * * * * the history of the erie railroad is hardly less dramatic than that of the baltimore & ohio; its financial disasters were not owing to the errors that come of crass stupidity. for the erie did its good part in the making of railroad law. built and operated in the earliest railroad days as a single enterprise through the southern tier of counties of new york state from the hudson river to lake erie, while the roads to the north that were eventually to be welded by commodore vanderbilt into the great new york central were still quarrelling among themselves, it was wrecked time and time again by unscrupulous schemes of high finance. it was made to wear mill-stones in the shape of outrageous bonded indebtednesses that acted as a fearful handicap for many years and prevented a remarkably well located property from standing to-day as the peer of the pennsylvania or of the new york central. the story of these outrages has been told and retold--they are integral parts of the financial history of the country. suffice it to say here and now that the erie has been operated with more or less success by no less than four struggling corporations; that it has never come closer to achieving success than under its present president, f. d. underwood; and that no one save those who have stood close to underwood has known or appreciated the heritage of handicap that was given to him to shoulder. for it has been part of our railroad principle in this country--a mighty sad part, too--that no matter how villainously stocks and bonds may have been issued at any time--only to bring failure swiftly and inevitably,--such bogus paper has always been protected in reorganization. a railroad which becomes bankrupt cannot be abandoned. that has been done only in rare cases. even the baltimore & ohio, at the end of its rope less than twenty years ago, was not permitted to abandon its passenger service. it must pull itself up out of the difficulties, and--in america at least--it must pull its trashy paper up too, in order that no holder of such paper may be unprotected. the paper can no more be abandoned than the right-of-way. the result is seen in railroads staggering under vast and questionable capitalization (there is no cleaning of the slate); but the sins of those that have gone before are truly visited upon the third and the fourth generation, as well as upon the poor humans who, under such burdens, are trying to operate a railroad property. from the beginning the story of erie has been a story of difficulties. the original scheme of building a new york railroad from piermont-on-hudson to dunkirk on lake erie--some miles--seems in the face of the resources of the state at that time and the engineering difficulties to be solved, almost quixotic. but the road was built step by step, section by section, until in may, , a triumphal first train was operated over its entire length. president fillmore was the guest of honor on the train, but shared attention with daniel webster on the trip. webster, in order that he might see the country, insisted on making the entire tedious journey in a rocking-chair, which was lashed upon a flat-car. another flat-car was occupied by a railroad officer who was designated to receive the flags. c. f. carter, in his interesting sketch on the early days of the erie, writes: "by a singular coincidence, the ladies at every one of the more than sixty stations between piermont and dunkirk had conceived the idea that it would be as original as it was appropriate to present a flag wrought by their own fair hands to the railroad company when the first train passed through to lake erie. as it would have consumed altogether too much time to make a stop for each of these flag presentations, the engineer merely slowed down at three-fourths of the stations long enough to permit the man on the flat-car to scoop up the banners in his arms, much like the hands on the old-fashioned marsh harvesters gathered up armfuls of grain for binding. at the end of the journey the erie railroad had a collection of flags that would have done credit to a victorious army." mr. carter has also told how in that same eventful year the telegraph came into use on the erie, first of all railroads: a crude telegraph line, built for commercial purposes, had been stretched along the eastern end of the road. people did not think very much of the telegraph in those days. it was only seven years old; and when a man wired another man he wrote his message like a letter, beginning with "dear sir" and ending with "yours truly." the railroads scorned its use. their trains ran by hard and fast train rules. then, as now, north and east-bound trains held the right-of-way over those south and west-bound, and the meeting places on single-track lines were each carefully designated on the time-card. if a train was waiting for another coming in an opposite direction, and the train came not after an hour, the first train proceeded forward "under flag." that meant that a man, walking with a flag in his hand preceded the train to protect it. the locomotive and its train of cars necessarily proceeded at snail's pace. it was not so very long after that observation-car trip that daniel webster took in the rocking-chair up to dunkirk, before the erie's superintendent, charles minot, was taking a trip up over the east end of the road. the train on which he was riding was due to meet a west-bound express at turner's. after waiting nearly an hour there, without seeing the opposing train, minot was seized with an inspiration. he telegraphed up the line fourteen miles to goshen to hold that west-bound train until he should arrive there. he then ordered his train-crew to proceed. they rebelled. engineer isaac lewis had too much regard for his own precious neck to break the time-card rules, even under the superintendent's orders. so finally minot took charge of the engine himself, while lewis cautiously seated himself in the last seat of the last car and awaited the worst. it never came, of course. when they reached goshen, the agent had received the message, and was prepared to hold the west-bound train. but it had not arrived, and minot by repeating his method was enabled first to reach middletown and then port jervis before meeting the delayed train. by the use of the telegraph he had saved his own train some three hours in running time; and it was not long thereafter until the operation of trains by telegraph order became standard on the erie and all others of the early railroads. at the beginning, one of the promoters of the erie announced his belief that the road would eventually earn, by freight alone, "some two hundred thousand dollars in a year," and his neighbors laughed at him for his extravagant promise. yet, in the first six months' operation of the road the receipts--mostly from freight--were $ , , . to tell the full story of erie would require a sizable book. it has not yet been told. it is a story of intrigue and deceit, of trickery and of scheming; the story of daniel drew and jim fisk and jay gould; the monumental tragedy of the wrecking of a great railroad property--a property with possibilities that probably will never now be realized. the present management of the road has labored valiantly and well. it has seen the future of erie as a great freighting road, has carefully laid its lines for the full development of the property as a carrier of goods, rather than of through passengers. * * * * * the history of the railroad divides itself sharply into epochs. in the beginning, the different roads--such as erie, pennsylvania, baltimore & ohio, and new york central--were being pushed west over the alleghany mountains to the great lakes and the ohio river. there followed an era where the railroads were reaching chicago and st. louis. that was the era which saw the weird railroads of the middle west, the strange stock-watering companies that made the very names of ohio, michigan, and illinois financial bywords in the late forties and the early fifties. the first railroad in ohio was the old mad river & lake erie, which was built in , from sandusky, south about a hundred miles to columbus, the state capital. the pioneer engine on the road, the _sandusky_, was the first locomotive ever equipped with a whistle. the first railroad of the prairies was the northern cross railroad--now a part of the wabash--extending from merodosia on the illinois river, to springfield. it was started in , and late in the following fall a locomotive built by rogers, grosvenor, and ketchum of paterson, n. j.,--the founders of a famous locomotive works--was landed from a packet-steamer at merodosia. then was the first puff of a locomotive heard upon the prairies of the great west. a contemporary account says: "the little locomotive had no whistle, no spark-arrester, no cow-catcher, and the cab was open to the sky. its speed was about six miles an hour, and where the railroad and the highway lay parallel to each other there was frequently a trial of speed between the locomotive with its 'pleasure cars' and the stage-coaches. sometimes the stage-coaches came in ahead. six inches of snow were sufficient to blockade the trains drawn by this american engine." in james m. forbes was building the michigan central west from detroit, miles to kalamazoo. a little later it was extended to the east shore of lake michigan, at new buffalo; eventually it reached chicago with its own rails. while the michigan central was pushing its rails, its chief competitor to the south, the michigan southern,--afterwards a part of the lake shore, and eventually united with its traditional rival in the extended new york central system--was also pushing toward chicago as a goal. both roads reached chicago in . but railroad building was slow work. the country expanded too quickly after the golden promises of the railroad promoters. money came too easily; then there would come a fearful financial time, and the reputable railroad enterprises would be halted beside the "fly-by-night" schemes. as late as , ohio had only the single trunk-line connecting sandusky and cincinnati; but the railroad to cleveland that was afterwards the main stem of the big four and the trunk-line connection east to the baltimore & ohio, were nearing completion. * * * * * chicago's first railroad was the galena & chicago union, and it was the cornerstone of the great chicago and northwestern system, one of the really great railroads of america. the galena & chicago union was incorporated in , but not until eleven years later was work begun in laying tracks, for a short ten-mile stretch from the chicago river to des plaines; and its first locomotive, the _pioneer_, had been bought second-hand from the buffalo & attica railroad, away east in new york state. the rails were second-hand, too, of the strap variety, which the western railroads were already discarding in favor of solid rails. but it was a railroad, and it was with a deal of pride that john b. turner, its president, used to ascend to an observatory on the second floor of the old halsted street depot to sight with a telescope the smoke of his morning train coming across the prairie. the chicago and northwestern, itself, was organized in . for a time it was so desperately poor that it could not pay the interest on its bonds, and there was a time when its officers had to meet the pay-roll out of their own pockets; but it succeeded in absorbing about six hundred miles of railroad at the beginning. in another decade the union pacific railroad, first uniting the far west with the populous middle and eastern states, was completed. the chicago and northwestern formed one of the most direct links between the lakes and the eastern terminal of the union pacific at council bluffs. the business that came to it because of that linking was the first strong impulse that led to the ultimate greatness of the northwestern. the distinctive mid-western road was and always has been the illinois central. originally incorporated in , it was nearly twenty years later when, through substantial aid from the state whose name it bears, construction actually began. the first track was laid from chicago to calumet to give an entrance to the michigan central in its heart-breaking race to the western metropolis against the michigan southern. the main line through to cairo was pushed forward rapidly, however, and was ready for traffic at the end of . a large number of kentucky slaves promptly showed their appreciation of the new railroad enterprise by using it to effect their escape to the north. * * * * * of course with the railroad pushing its way westward all the while (the rock island in april, , was the first to span the mississippi with a bridge), it was only a question of time when some adventurous soul should seek to reach the pacific coast. indeed it was away back in , while there was still less than a hundred miles of track in the united states, that judge dexter of ann arbor, michigan, proposed a railroad through to the pacific ocean, through thousands of miles of untrodden forest. six years later, a welsh engineer, john plumbe, held a convention at dubuque, iowa, for the same purpose. the idea would not down. hardly had plumbe and his convention disappeared from the public notice when asa whitney, a new york merchant of considerable reputation, began to agitate the pacific railroad. whitney was a good deal of a theorist and a dreamer; but he was a shrewd publicity man, and he held widely attended meetings for the propagation of his idea, in all the eastern cities. eventually, like judge dexter and john plumbe, he was doomed to disappointment. after whitney had died broken-hearted and bankrupt because of his devotion to an idea, came josiah perham, of boston. josiah perham was the raymond & whitcomb of the fifties. he began by organizing excursions for new england folk to come to boston to see the boston museum and the panoramas, which were the gay diversion of that day. in one year he brought two hundred thousand folk into that sacred massachusetts town, and he began to be rated as a rich man. he absorbed the pacific railroad idea and freely spent his money in its propagation. he organized the people's pacific railroad,--and a part of his scheme formed the foundation of the northern pacific. perham, like the others, spent his money and failed to see the fruition of his plan. there seemed to be something ill-fated about that plan of a railroad to the pacific. even the citizens of st. louis, who had gathered on the fourth of july, , to see soil broken for the first real transcontinental railroad, found that it could only manage to reach kansas city by . that particular railroad--the missouri pacific--through its western connection, the western pacific, only succeeded in reaching the coast within the past year. when theodore d. judah brought himself to the seemingly hopeless task of trying to build a pacific railroad, he brought with him all the enthusiasm of asa whitney, and with it the experience of a trained railroad engineer. the thing was beginning to take shape. the men, like whitney and perham, who had been before congress at session after session, finally brought that august body, even when the nation stood on the verge of civil war, into making an appropriation for a survey for a scheme, which nine out of ten men regarded as a mere visionary dream. theodore d. judah, filled with enthusiasm for his mighty plan, went west that he might roughly plan the location of the railroad. he went to san francisco and he went to sacramento, where the little twenty-two-mile sacramento valley railroad had been running since . the californians listened to him with interest, but they proffered him no financial aid. then judah went up into the high passes of the sierras, through which a railroad to the east would certainly have to reach, to find a crossing for the line in which he believed so earnestly. he found it--making a route that would save miles and $ , , over that proposed by the government authorities. when he went back to sacramento, to the hardware store of his old friends, huntington & hopkins, in k street, it was with a rough profile of that pass in his pocket. what judah said to collis p. huntington and mark hopkins has never been known, but certain it is that in a little time they were sending for the three other capitalists of sacramento--the crocker brothers, who had a dry-goods store down the street, and leland stanford, a wholesale grocer. out of the efforts of those six men the central pacific railroad was organized with a capital of $ , . work began on the new line at sacramento on the first day of , while california shook with laughter at the idea of a parcel of country store-keepers building a railroad across the crest of the sierras. how they built their railroad successfully and amassed six really great american fortunes is all history now. sufficient is it that they turned a deaf ear to the ridicule (the project was considered so visionary that bankers dared not subscribe to the stock of the road for fear of injuring their credit), found their route through the mountains just as judah had promised, brought their materials around the horn, imported ten thousand chinese laborers, hurled thousands of tons of solid rock down among the pines by a single charge of nitro-glycerine, bolted their snow-sheds to the mountains, and filled up or bridged hundreds of chasms and valleys. "two thousand feet of granite barred the way upon the mountain-top where eagles were at home. the chinese wall was a toy beside it. it could neither be surmounted nor doubled; and so they tunnelled what looks like a bank swallow's hole from a thousand feet below. powder enough was expended in persuading the iron crags and cliffs to be a thoroughfare, to fight half the battles of the revolution." while the central pacific was being built east from the coast, the union pacific was pushing its rails west from the missouri river to meet it. a federal subsidy was paid to each road for each mile of transcontinental track it laid, and the result was the credit mobilier, the worst financial blot upon the pages of american government transactions. early in the spring of the companies were on equal terms in this great game of subsidy getting. each finally had ample funds and each was about miles away from the great salt lake. so in a construction campaign began that has never been approached in the history of railroad building. twenty-five thousand men, and , teams, together with whole brigades of locomotives and work-trains, were engaged in the work; in a single day ten miles of track was laid and that was a world-beating record. the result of such speed was that the two railroads met, may , . leland stanford, who was ridiculed when he first turned earth for the central pacific at sacramento six years before, drove the last spike, and was for that moment the central figure in an attention that was world-wide. after the union pacific and the central pacific came the southern pacific, and after them came collis p. huntington binding them into a tight single railroad. but close on the heels of the southern pacific, and right into its own territory, reached the santa fe, while to the north, first the northern pacific and then the great northern was built from the lake country straight to puget sound. on a november day in the last spike was driven in the great transcontinental canadian pacific, the first and so far the only railroad to lay its rails from the north atlantic to the pacific. within a year the western pacific--the westernmost of the chain of gould roads--has begun to run its through trains to the golden gate. as this volume goes to press finishing touches are being placed upon the puget sound extension of the chicago, milwaukee & st. paul, probably the last transcontinental to be stretched across these united states for a number of years to come. far to the north, the grand trunk pacific is finding its way across the wilderness of the canadian rockies, creating a great city--prince rupert--at its western terminal. it should be ready for its through traffic within the next three years. * * * * * this then, in brief, is the history of american railroading--an eighty-year struggle from east to west. the railroad has passed through many vicissitudes; days of wild-cat financing, and days when men refused to invest their money under any inducements whatsoever. it has been assailed by legislatures and by congress; it has been scourged because of the so-called "pooling agreements," and it has cut its own strong arms by building foolish competing lines. but it has survived masterfully, while the highroads have become grass-grown, and the once proud canals have fallen into decay. railroading is to-day in the full flush of successful existence. science has been brought to each of the infinite details of the business; and for the first time the country sees practically every line, large or small, honestly earning its way. the railroad receiver has all but passed into history. chapter iii the building of a railroad cost of a single-track road--financing--securing a charter--survey-work and its dangers--grades--construction--track-laying. the railroad has its beginning in the inspiration and in the imagination of men. perchance a great tract of country, rich in possibilities, stands undeveloped for lack of transportation facilities. the living arm of the railroad will bring to it both strength and growth. it will bring to it the materials, the men, and the machinery needed for its development. it will take from it its products seeking markets in communities already established. in that way the first railroads began, reaching their arms carefully in from the atlantic and the navigable rivers and bays that emptied into it. in the beginning there was hardly any inland country. all the important towns were spread along the sea-coast or along those same navigable tributaries, and it was sorry shrift for any community that did not possess a wharf to which vessels of considerable tonnage might attain. where such communities did not possess natural water-ways, they sought to obtain artificial ones; and the result was the extraordinary impetus that was given to the building of canals during the first half of the nineteenth century--a page of american industrial history that has been told in another chapter. it was found quite impossible to handle bulky freight economically by wagon, no matter how romantic the turnpike might be for passenger traffic in the old-time coaches. the canal was so much better as a carrier that it was hailed with acclaim, and waxed powerful. in the height of its power it laughed at the puny efforts of the railroad, and then, as you have seen, sought by every possible means to throttle the growth of the steel highway. within eighty years it was powerless, and the railroad was conqueror. there were hundreds of miles of abandoned canal within the country, many of them being converted into roadbeds of railroads; and the water-highway, with its slow transit and its utter helplessness during the frozen months of the year, was not able to exist except where quantities of the coarsest sort of freight were to be moved. without railroads, the united states to-day would, in all probability, not be radically different from the united states of a hundred years ago. all the large towns and cities would still be clustered upon the coast and waterways, and back of them would still rest many, many square miles of undeveloped country; the nation would have remained a sprawling, helpless thing, weakened by its very size, and subject both to internal conflict and to attacks of foreign invaders. it has been repeatedly said that if there had been a through railroad development in the south during the fifties, there would have been no civil war. france for five hundred years before the signing of our declaration, was a civilized and progressive nation. yet century after century passed without her inland towns showing material change; and her seaports, lacking the impetus of interior growth, remained quiescent. such a metropolis as marseilles is to-day, became possible only when the railroad made this seaport the south gate of a mightily developing nation. * * * * * let us assume that we are about to build a railroad. if we are going to strike our road in from some existing line or some accessible port into virgin country, we may hope for land or money grants from the state, county, town, or city government. that is a faint hope, however, in these piping days of the twentieth century. so much scandal once attached itself to these grants that they have become all but obsolete. we shall have to fall back upon the individual enterprise and help of the persons who are to benefit by the coming of the railroad. they may be folk who simply regard our project as a good investment, and place their money in it with hopes of a fair return. even if we are not going into virgin territory to give whole townships and counties their first sight of the locomotive, but are going to strike into a community already provided with railroad facilities but seemingly offering fair opportunity for profit in a competitive traffic, we shall find capital ready to stand back of us. a railroad will cost much money, the mere cost of single-track construction generally running far in excess of $ , a mile; and it should have resources, particularly in a highly competitive territory, to enable it to carry on a losing fight at the first. for the money it receives it will issue securities, upon incorporation and legal organization, almost invariably in the form of capital stock and of mortgage-bonds. the stock will probably be held by the men who wish to control the construction and the operation of the line; the bonds will be issued to those persons who invest their money in it, either for profit or as an aid to the community it seeks to enter. the bonds are, in almost all cases, the preferable security. they pay a guaranteed interest at a certain rate, and at the end of a designated term of years they are redeemable at face value, in cash or in the capital stock of the company. there are other forms of loan obligations which the railroad issues--debenture bonds, second-mortgage bonds, short-term notes, and the like. to enter upon a description of these would mean a detour into the devious highways and byways of railroad finance--an excursion which we have no desire to make in this book. in building our line we will issue as few bonds in proportion to our stock as will make our company fairly stable in organization, and its proposition attractive to investors. for we shall have to pay our interest coupons upon the bonds from the beginning. we can begin even moderate dividends upon our stock after our enterprise has entered upon fair sailing. the all-important initial problem of financing having been at least partly settled, we will go before the legislature and secure a charter for our road. in these modern days we shall probably have also to make application to some state railroad or public utility commission. it will consider our case with great care, granting hearings so that we may state our plans, and that folk living in the territory which we are about to tap may urge the necessity of our coming, and that rival railroads or other opponents may state their objections. after the entire evidence has been sifted down and weighed in truly judicial fashion, we may hope for word to "go ahead," from the official commission, which, though it assumes none of our risk of loss in projecting the line, will gratuitously assume many of the details of its management. perhaps the politicians will poke their noses into our plan; they sometimes do. if we have plenty of capital behind us; if it becomes rumored that the p---- or the n---- or the x----, one of the big existing properties, is back of us, or some "big wall street fellow" is guiding our bonds, we can almost confidently expect their interference. after that it becomes a matter of diplomacy--and may the best man win! * * * * * let us assume that some of these big obstacles have already been passed, that the politicians have been placed at arm's length, that the money needed is in sight--we are ready to begin the construction of our line. the location is the thing that next vexes us. a few errors in the placing of our line may spell failure for the whole enterprise. obviously, these errors will be of the sort that admit of no easy correction. if our line is to link two important traffic centres and is to make a specialty of through traffic it will have to be very much of a town that will bend the straightness of our route. if, on the other hand, the line is to pick up its traffic from the territory it traverses we can afford to neglect no place of possibilities. we must make concessions, even if we make many twists and turns and climb steep grades; we cannot afford to pass business by. perhaps we may even have to worm our way into the hearts of towns already grown and closely built, and this will be expensive work. but it will be worth every cent of that expense to go after competitive business. we roughly outline our route, and the engineers get their camping duds ready, particularly in these days when new railroads almost invariably go into a new country. their first trip over the route will be known as the reconnaissance. on it they will make rough plotting of the territory through which the new line is to place its rails. our engineers are experienced. they survey the country with practised eyes. the line must go on this side of that ridge, because of the prevailing winds and their influence upon snowdrifts (it costs a mint of money to run ploughs through a long winter), and on the other side of the next ridge, because the other side has easily worked loam, and this side heavy rock. there must be passes through hills and through mountains to be selected now and then, and all the while the engineer must bear in mind that the amount of his excavation should very nearly balance the amount of embankment-fill. bridges are to be avoided and tunnels must come only in case of absolute necessity. there will be several of these reconnaissances and from them the engineers who are to build the line, and the men who are to own and operate it, will finally pick a route close to what will be the permanent way. [illustration: construction engineers blaze their way across the face of new country] [illustration: the making of an embankment by dump-train] [illustration: "small temporary railroads peopled with hordes of restless engines"] then the real survey-work begins. the engineers divide the line, if it is of any great length, and the several divisions prosecute their work simultaneously. each surveying party consists of a front flag-man, who is a captain and commands a brigade of axe-men in their work of cutting away trees and bushes; the transit-man, who makes his record of distances and angles and commands his brigade of chain-men and flag-men; and the leveller, who studies contour all the while, and supervisors, rod-men and more axe-men. topographers are carried, their big drawing boards being strapped with the camp equipment; and a good cook is a big detail not likely to be overlooked. in soft and rolling country this is a form of camp life that turns back the scoffer: busy summer days and indolent summer nights around the camp-fire, pipes drawing well and plans being set for the morrow's work. another summer all this will be changed. the resistless path of the railroad will be stepped through here, the group of nodding pines will be gone, for a culvert will span the creek at this very point. sometimes the work of these parties becomes intense and dramatic. the chief, lowered into a deep and rocky river cañon, is making rough notes and sketches, following the character of the rock formation, and dreaming the great dreams that all great engineers, great architects, great creators must dream perforce. he is dreaming of the day when, a year or two hence, the railroad's path shall have crowded itself into this _impasse_, and when the folk who dine luxuriously in the showy cars will fret because of the curve that spills their soup, and who never know of the man who was slipped down over a six-hundred-foot cliff in order that the railroad might find its way. it is then that the surveying party begins to have its thrills. perhaps to put that line through the cañon the party will have to descend the river in canoes. if the river be too rough, then there is the alternative of being lowered over the cliffsides. talk of your dangers of alpine climbing! the engineers who plan and build railroads through any mountainous country miss not a single one of them. everywhere the lines must find a foothold. this is the proposition that admits of but one answer--solution. sometimes the men who follow the chief in the deep river cañons, the men with heavy instruments to carry and to operate--transits, levels, and the like--must have lines of logs strung together for their precarious foothold as they work. sometimes the foothold is lost; the rope that lowers the engineer down over the cliffside snaps, and the folk in the cheerful dining-room do not know of the graves that are dug beside the railroad's resistless path. it is all new and wonderful, blazing this path for civilization; sometimes it is even accidental. an engineer, baffled to find a crossing over the rockies for a transcontinental route saw an eagle disappear through a cleft in the hills that his eye had not before detected. he followed the course of the eagle; to-day the rails of the transcontinental reach through that cleft, and the time-table shows it as eagle pass. * * * * * possibly there are still alternative routes when the surveyers return in the fall and begin to make their finished drawings. final choices must now be made, and land-maps that show the property that the railroad will have to acquire, prepared. the details, of infinite number, are being worked out with infinite care. the great problem of all is the problem of grades; in a mountainous stretch of line this is almost the entire problem. obviously a perfect stretch of railroad would be straight and without grades. the railroad that comes nearest that practically impossible standard comes nearest to perfection. but as it comes near this perfection, the cost of construction multiplies many times. most new lines must feel their way carefully at the outset. moreover it is not an impossible thing to reconstruct it after years of affluence--of which more in another chapter. a three-per-cent grade is almost the extreme limit for anything like a profitable operation; even a two-per-cent grade is one in which the operating people look forward to reconstruction and elimination. yet there are short lengths of line up in the mining camps of colorado, where grades of more than four per cent are operated; and it is a matter of railroad history that away back in , when the baltimore & ohio railroad was being pushed through toward parkersburg, and the great kingwood tunnel was being dug, b. h. latrobe, the chief engineer of the company, built and successfully operated a temporary line over the divide at a grade of ten per cent-- feet to the mile. a locomotive which weighed tons on its driving-wheels carried a single passenger car, weighing tons, in safety and in regular operation over this stupendous grade for more than six months. the ascent was made by means of zigzag tracks on the so-called switchback principle. that scheme succeeded earlier planes operated by endless chains; an instance of which is the quite famous road of mauch chunk, originally operated for coal, and now a side scenic trip for passengers. other planes of this sort, you will remember, were in operation at albany and schenectady on the old mohawk & hudson route, now a part of the new york central lines; but all of them involved a change of passengers and freight to and from their cars, and the zigzag switchback was considered quite an advance in its day. two of these ancient switchbacks are still in regular use for passengers and freight--one at honesdale, pa., and the other at ithaca, n. y. the matter of grades being settled, and with it as a corrollary the question of minor curves, minor details next claim attention. perhaps the water supply along the new line is defective. then arrangements must be made for impounding, and perhaps suitable dams and waterworks will be built for this purpose. the water must be soft, to protect the locomotive boilers; if hard, an apparatus is erected for the softening process. grade crossings are to be avoided, highway crossings being built, wherever possible, over or under the railroad. a railroad crossing another railroad at grade is an abomination not to be permitted nowadays. the universal use of the air-brake has permitted a reduction of the "head-room,"--the necessary clearance between the rail and overhead obstruction--from feet to feet. the old "head-room" was necessary to protect the brakeman who worked atop of the box-cars. this reduction of six feet in clearance was a matter of infinite relief to engineers, particularly in the bridging of one railroad over another. * * * * * the entire problem of bridges is so intricate a phase of american railroad construction as to demand attention in a subsequent chapter. in actual railroad practice it is apt to demand a separate branch of engineering skill, both in construction and in maintenance. we turn our attention back to the main problem of the building of our railroad. when all plans are finished, contracts remain to be divided and sub-divided; for it would be a brave contractor, indeed, who in these days would consent to essay himself, any considerable length of railroad line. in fact, in recent work of heavy nature, the price is almost invariably placed at an indefinite figure, a certain definite percentage of profit being allowed the contractor on each cubic yard of rock or soil. in such a case the contractor's business becomes far less a game of chance; he is, in effect, the railroad's agent supervising its construction at a certain set stipend. let us say that the construction on our railroad begins in the early spring. as a matter of real fact it would not be halted long because of adverse weather conditions. even up in the frozen and uninhabitable wilds of the canadian northwest, work has been prosecuted on the new grand trunk pacific throughout the entire twelve months. but in summer the construction gangs rejoice. the great proposition of bringing mile after mile of future railroad to sub-grade--the level upon which the cross-ties are to be set--fairly sweeps forward under the genial warmth of the sun. the construction is under the supervision of competent engineers, who are, of course, under the direct supervision of the railroad's own organization. every six to twelve or fifteen miles of new line is divided into sections, better known as residencies, for each is under the eye of its own resident engineer. he reports to the construction engineer, who in turn reports to the chief engineer of the railroad, an officer who reports to no less person than the president of the company. this great force--for each engineer has gathered about him a competent staff of young men as expert with compass, with level, and with transit as were the men who first projected the line--is in the field as quickly as the contractor. they are to see him bring the line to sub-grade; to see him place bridges and culverts, bisect high hills with cuttings, bore tunnels through even higher hills and mountains, span deep valleys with great embankments. to facilitate quick construction the residencies are made numerous; work begins at as many initial points as possible. these points, of course, are situated, where possible, close to water communication or existing railroad lines, in order that material may be brought with the least possible delay and expense. * * * * * of course, if the country has a sharp contour, the ordinary difficulties of line-construction multiply very rapidly. the great cuttings through the hills may have to be carved out of resisting rock, a work that is carried on through many levels, known to the engineers as ledges or as benches. if there are high hills to be notched there will probably be great hollows where the circumstances do not justify carrying the line on bridge or trestle. in these cases come the fills, or embankments. we have already shown how the locating engineer in the first instance has tried to plan his line so that the earth or rock from his cutting will be as nearly as possible sufficient to form the near-by embankments. sometimes it is not, and then the resident engineers must locate borrow-pits, where the hungry demand of the railroad for dirt will cause a great hollow to show itself on the face of the earth. the borrow-pit must be carefully located--convenient of access, far enough from the track not to be a danger spot to it. this is one of the infinity of problems that come to the construction engineer. for these big jobs laborers' camps will be established close to them; and small temporary railroads peopled with hordes of restless dummy-engines and forcing their narrow-gauged rails here and there and everywhere, will be busy for long weeks and months. there will not be much hand-cutting in the ledges. steam shovels, mounted like locomotives upon the rails, and pushing forward all the while, will fairly eat out the hillside. one of these will catch up in a single dip of his giant arm more than a wagon load of soft earth or of rock that has been blasted apart for his coming. to make the fills the engineers must often build rough wooden trestles out of the permanent level of the line. the dummy-engines, with their trails of dump-cars, coming from the back of the steam shovels in the cutting, or from the nearest borrow-pit, will hardly seem in a single day to make an appreciable effect upon the fill. but the days and weeks together count, and the dumping multiplies until the rough trestle has completely disappeared, and the railroad has a firm and permanent path across the edge of the dizzy embankment. and these embankments can be made truly dizzy. the passenger going west from omaha on the new lane cut-off of the union pacific finds his path for almost twenty miles through deep cuttings of the crests of the rolling nebraska hills, across the edge of the long fills over wide valleys. the lackawanna railroad building a great cut-off on its main line where it passes through new jersey has just finished the largest railroad embankment ever built--an earthen structure for two tracks, three miles long and seventy-five to one hundred and ten feet in height. [illustration: cutting a path for the railroad through the crest of the high hills] [illustration: a giant fill--in the making] [illustration: the finishing touches to the track] [illustration: this machine can lay a mile of track a day] as the line goes forward, the track follows. the new railroad has probably popularized itself from the outset by hiring the near-by farmers and their teams to grade the line through their localities, particularly where an almost level country makes the grading a slight matter. sometimes in level country, grading machines, drawn by horses, or by traction engines, have been used to advantage. these machines are equipped with ploughs which loosen the soil and place it on conveyor belts. material can be deposited twenty-two feet away from the line, and a four-foot excavation can be made by these machines with ease. but the laying of the track--the line having been finished at sub-grade with a top width of from to feet for each standard gauge track to be laid--the line begins to assume the appearance of a real railroad. upon the first stretches of completed track, locomotives and cars employed in construction service begin to operate. as the track grows, their field of operation increases. then comes the day when the track sections begin to be joined; the railroad is beginning to be a real pathway of steel. to build this pathway is comparatively a simple matter, once the sub-grade is finished. a mile a day is not too much for any confident contractor to expect of his construction gangs. there was that time, back in ' , when a world's record of ten miles of track laid in a single day was established on the central pacific. for that mile of standard track the contractor will need , ties--eight carloads; rails--five carloads; and a carload of angle irons, bolts, and spikes, as fasteners. the track-layers are as proud of their profession as any man might be of his. their skill is a wondrous thing. two men who follow the wake of a wagon roughly place the ties as fast as they are dropped upon the right-of-way. another man aligns them with a line that has been strung by one of the young engineers, a fourth with a notched board, marks the location of one rail. that rail--the line side--follows close to the location marks. it is roughly banded and lightly fastened in place. the other rail--the gauge side--quickly follows. the wonderfully accurate gauge representing the feet, - / inches that is almost the standard of the work, and which is tested every morning by the engineers, is in constant use. the railroad track must be true; there is not room for even the variation of a fraction of an inch in the gauge of the two rails. in fastening the two long lines of rails, the profession of track-laying rises to almost supreme heights. the men who fasten the rail with angle iron and a single roughly-adjusted bolt in each rail-end are head-strappers and past masters in their art. after them in due season come the back-strappers, finishing that fine work of solidly bolting the rail against the vast strain of a thousand-ton train being shot over it at lightning speed. and after the back-strappers and the men who have spiked the rail to the ties, comes the locomotive itself, bringing more ties, more rails, more angle-bars and bolts, and more spikes to the front. then sometime later the road-bed is ballasted and the line made ready for heavy operation. but track-laying is frequently machine systematized these days; and in this, as in so many smaller things, the mechanical device has supplanted the man. a real giant is the track-laying machine. it is mounted upon railroad tracks and is a form of overhead carrier with a tremendous overhang. the carrier is fed with the cross-ties from supply cars just back of the machine and the ties are dropped, each close to its appointed place, as a locomotive slowly pushes the entire apparatus forward. in a smaller way the heavy steel rails are delivered from under the overhang of the carrier. a gang of men make short work of the fastening of the rail to the cross-ties and the machine moves steadily forward. it has been known to make two miles a day at this work. * * * * * culverts have been laid for each small run or kill or creek; the bridge-builders along the new line finish their work and cart off their kits; the day comes when there is an unbroken railroad from one end of the new line to the other. it links new rails and new towns; its localities produce for new markets, commerce from strange quarters pours down upon the land that has known it not. passenger trains begin regular operation, the fresh-painted depots are brilliant in their newness, the shriek of the locomotive sounds where it has never before sounded. life is awakened. the railroad, which is life, has reached forth a new arm, and creation is begun. chapter iv tunnels their use in reducing grades--the hoosac tunnel--the use of shafts-- tunnelling under water--the detroit river tunnel. sometimes the construction engineer of the railroad brings his new line face to face with a mountain too steep to be easily mounted. then he may prepare to pierce it. tunnels are not pleasant things through which to ride. they are, moreover, expensive to construct, and when once constructed are an unending care, necessitating expensive and constant inspection. but--and that "but" in this case is a very large one--they reduce grades and distances in a wholesale fashion; and when you reduce grades you are pretty sure to be reducing operating expenses. a railroad man will think twice in his opposition to a smoky bore of a tunnel that will cost some three to five million dollars, when his expert advisers tell him that that same smoky bore will save him a hundred thousand tons of coal in the course of a year. from almost its very beginnings the american railroad has been dependent upon tunnels, and thus has closely followed european precedent. the alleghany portage railroad, to which reference has already been made, passed through what is said to have been the first railroad tunnel in the united states. it pierced a spur in the alleghany mountains, and it was feet in length, feet wide, and feet high within the arch, feet at each end being arched with cut stone. the old tunnel, built in , which has not echoed with the panting of the locomotive for more than half a century, is still to be found not far from johnstown, pa. it simply serves the purpose to-day of calling attention to the durable fashion in which the earliest of our railroad-builders worked. of the building of the baltimore & ohio, tunnel-construction formed an early part, several paths being found across the steep profiles of the alleghanies. the kingwood tunnel, which b. h. latrobe drove, was nearly a mile long and the chief of these bores. but when the hoosac tunnel was first proposed--piercing the rocky heart of one of the greatest of the berkshires--the country stood aghast. four miles and a half of tunnel! that seemed ridiculous away back in , when the plan was first broached and folk were not slow to say what they thought of such an absurd plan. for twenty years it looked as though these scoffers were in the right--the work of digging that monumental tunnel was a fearful drain on the treasury of the commonwealth of massachusetts, which was lending its aid to the project. but the tunnel-diggers finally conquered--they almost always do--and the hoosac remains to-day the greatest of all mountain tunnels in america. the system of continuous tunnels, by which the pennsylvania railroad recently reached its terminal in new york, stretches from bergen hill in new jersey to sunnyside, long island, a distance of some ten miles. in fact the largest feature of recent tunnel-work in this country has been in connection with terminal and rapid-transit development in the larger cities. for a good many years new york and baltimore, in particular, have been pierced with these sub-surface railroads; it is a construction feature that increases as our great cities themselves increase. no river is to-day too formidable to be conquered by these underground traffic routes. a river such as the hudson or the detroit may sometimes halt the bridge-builders; it has but slight terror for the tunnel engineers. the tunnel-work is apt to be a separate part of the work of building a railroad. it calls for its own talent, and that of an exceedingly expert sort. if the tunnel is more than a half or three-quarters of a mile long it will probably be dug from a shaft or shafts as well as from its portals. in this way the work will not only be greatly hastened but the shafts will continue in use after the work is completed as vents for the discharge of engine smoke and gases from the tube. the work must be under the constant and close supervision of resident engineers. the survey lines must be corrected daily, for the tunnel must not go astray. it must drive a true course from heading to heading. in the shafts plumb lines, with heavy bobs, to lessen vibration, will be hung. sometimes these bobs are immersed in water or in molasses. from the portals and from the bottoms of the shafts the headings are driven. if the tunnel is to accommodate no more than a single track it will be built from to - / feet wide, and from to feet high, inside of its lining; so the general method is first to drive a top heading of about feet in height up under the roof of the bore. the rest of the material is taken out in its own good season on two following benches or levels. piercing a granite mountain is no rapid work. when the pennsylvania railroad built its second gallitzin tunnel in , men, working drills in the top heading, were able to drill holes, each feet deep, in a single day. the engineers there figured that each blast removed twenty-three cubic yards of the rock. at night, when the "hard-rock men" were sleeping and their drills silent, a gang of fourteen "muckers" removed the loosened material. slow work that. the northern pacific finding its way through the crest of the cascade mountains by means of the great stampede tunnel, nearly two miles in length, demanded that the contractor work under pressure and make - / feet of tunnel a day. the contractor, working under the bonus plan, did better. with his army of "hard-rock men," "muckers," and their helpers, and his tireless battery of drills he sometimes made as high as eighteen feet a day from the two headings. on a three-year job he beat his contract time by seven days. the northern pacific paid the price, $ for each lineal foot of tunnel. that was a high price, occasioned largely by the fact that the work was carried forward in what was then an almost unbroken wilderness. the wabash finding its way through the great and forbidding hills of western pennsylvania to pittsburgh a dozen years later was able to dig its succession of tunnels at an average cost of $ , for feet. of that amount $ , went for labor; and $ was the price of a ton of dynamite. when the tunnel engineer finds that his bore is not to pierce hard-rock, of whose solidity he is more than reasonably assured, he prepares to use cutting-shields. these shields, proceeding simultaneously from the portals and from the footings of the shafts, are steel rings of a circumference only slightly greater than that of the finished tunnel. with pick and with drill and dynamite, they constantly clear a path for it, whereupon it is pressed forward in that path. dummy tracks follow the cutting-shield; and dummy locomotives--more likely electric than steam in these days--are used in removing the material. electricity has been a boon to latter-day tunnel-workers. its use for light and power keeps the tunnel quite clear of all gases during the work of boring. in rare cases, the rock through which the shield has been forced is strong enough to support itself; in most works the engineers prefer to line the bore, with brick and concrete, as a rule. this lining is set in the path of the cutting-shield before its protection is entirely withdrawn; and so the heavy roof-timbering which was formerly a trade-mark of the successful tunnel engineer is no longer used. tunnel-boring becomes doubly difficult when the railroad is to be carried under a river or some broad arm of the sea. men work in an unnatural environment when they work below the surface of great waters, and the record of such work is a record of many tragedies. at any instant firm rock may cease, silt or sand or an underground stream may make its appearance and the helpless workmen find a ready grave. in work where there is even the slightest expectation of such a contingency the air-lock, with its artificial pressure to hold back the soft earth and moisture is brought into use. in another chapter we shall see how the caisson is operated. suffice it to say now that the necessity of "working under the air," brings no comfort to any one. it vastly hinders and complicates the work of construction, and adds greatly to the expense. moreover, it has its own record of tragedies. still it remains, to the infinite credit of a national persistence, that there is no record in the annals of american engineering where the workers have finally given up a tunnel job. lives have been sacrificed, good-sized fortunes swept away, but in the end the resistless railroad has always found its underground path. the tunnel-workers can tell you of the accident when the subway was being driven under the east river from manhattan to brooklyn, three years ago. the cutting-shield, which was advancing from the brooklyn side, suddenly slipped out from the rock into the unprotected soft mud of the river bottom. the heavily compressed air shot a geyser straight up to the surface of the river some fifty feet above. a workman shot through the geyser, pirouetted gayly for a fraction of a second above the river, then dropped, to be picked up by the crew of a passing ferryboat. in a week he was back at work again inside the cutting-shield. his fortune was the opposite of that which generally awaits a man caught in a tunnel accident. "it ain't as bad as it used to be," one of them informs you. "when i first got into this profession, they didn't have the electricity for lights or moving the cars or nothing. we used to try and get along with safety lamps an' near choke to death. it was more like hell then than it is now." [illustration: "sometimes the construction engineer ... brings his line face to face with a mountain"] [illustration: finishing the lining of a tunnel] [illustration: the busiest tunnel point in the world--at the west portals of the bergen tunnels, six erie tracks below, four lackawanna above] [illustration: the hackensack portals of the pennsylvania's great tunnels under new york city] but your interest in the man who was blown from the tunnel to the surface of the river and escaped with his life is not entirely satiated, and you ask more questions. what do they do when they strike soft mud like that? "we get down and pray," he of the experience in this weird form of construction engineering tells you. "we try to get the boys safely back through the air-lock, and then we quit boring till we can fix things up from outside. if it's a real bad case we've got to make land to bore through. it's generally done by dumping rock and bags of sand from floats just over where she blows out. it's a pretty rough way of doctoring her up, but it has to go, and generally it does. all we want is to get it to hold until we can set the rings of the tunnel. "that ain't always the worst. i've been driving a bore under water this way, when we struck stiff rock overhead and soft mud underneath the edge. that's something that makes the engineers hump. you can't rest a cast-iron tunnel like this on mud and you get a wondering if you've got to quit after all this work under the durned old river, and let the boss lose his money. "the last time we struck a snag of that sort, the boss didn't give up. he wasn't that kind. he had a chief engineer that was brass tacks from beginning to end. what do you suppose that fellow did? he bored holes in the bottom of the lining and drove steel legs right down to the next ledge of solid rock below. there's that tunnel to-day, carrying , people between five and six o'clock every night perched down there seventy feet underground like a big caterpillar sprawled under the wickedest ledge o' rock you ever see." it takes a real genius of an engineer for this sort of work. he who drives his bore into the unknown must be on guard for the unexpected. emergencies arise upon the minute, and the tunnel engineer must be ready with his wits and ingenuity to meet them. finally the day does come when the bores from either shore are hard upon one another. if there has been blasting under the bed of the river it is reduced to a minimum. the drills work at half-speed, the fever of expectancy hangs over the men. those who are close at the heading catch faint sounds of the workmen on the other side of the thin barrier--the last barrier of the river that was supposed to acknowledge no conqueror. the first tiny aperture between the two bores is greeted with wild cheers. on the surface far above, the whistles of the shaft-houses carry forth the news to the outer world; it is echoed and reëchoed by the noisy river craft. the aperture grows larger. it is large enough to permit the passage of a man's body; and a man, enjoying fame for this one moment in his life, crawls through it. the men knock off work and have a rough spread in the tunnel. at night the engineers and contractors banquet in a hotel. "not so bad," the chief engineer says quietly. "we were / of an inch out, in , feet." it was not so bad. it spoke wonders for his profession. to carry forth two giant bores from the opposite sides of a broad river, and have them meet within / of an inch of perfect alignment, was an achievement well worth attention. after that, the last traces of the rough rock and silt are removed, the iron rings of the tunnel made fast together, the air pressure released, the cutting-shields, that formed so essential a feature of the construction, removed. then there remains only the work of installing conduits and wiring and laying the tracks before the tunnel is ready for the traffic of the railroad. * * * * * the michigan central has recently finished a tunnel under the busy detroit river, at detroit, which eliminates the use of a car-ferry at that point. the tunnel was built in a manner entirely new to engineers. the river at detroit is about three-quarters of a mile wide, and its bed is of soft blue clay, making it difficult to bore a tunnel safely and economically. to meet this obstacle a new fashion of tunnel-building was created. the tunnel itself consists of two tubes, each made from steel / of an inch in thickness and reinforced every twelve feet by outer "fins." the channel was dredged and a foundation bed of concrete laid. the sections of the tunnel, each feet long, were then put in position one at a time. the section-ends were closed at a shore plant with water-tight wooden bulkheads. they were then lashed to four floating cylinders of compressed air and towed out to position. after that it was merely a matter of detail to drop the sections into place, pour in more concrete and make the new section fast. the wooden bulkheads next the completed tube were then removed and the structure was ready for the track-layers. the sub-aqueous portion of the new detroit tunnel is , feet long; it joins on the detroit side with a land tunnel , feet long, and on the canadian side with a land tunnel of , feet. it takes more than a river, carrying through its narrow throat the vast and growing traffic of the great lakes--a traffic that is comparable with that of the atlantic itself--to halt the progress of the railroad. chapter v bridges bridges of timber, then stone, then steel--the starucca viaduct--the first iron bridge in the u. s.--steel bridges--engineering triumphs--different types of railroad bridge--the deck span and the truss span--suspension bridges--cantilever bridges--reaching the solid rock with caissons--the work of "sand-hogs"--the cantilever over the pend oreille river--variety of problems in bridge-building--points in favor of the stone bridge--bridges over the keys of florida. when the habitations of man first began to multiply upon the banks of the water courses, the profession of the bridge-builder was born. the first bridge was probably a felled tree spanning some modest brook. but from that first bridge came a magnificent development. bridge-building became an art and a science. men wrought gigantic structures in stone, long-arched viaducts, with which they defied time. then for two thousand years the profession of the bridge-builder stood absolutely still. with the coming of the iron and steel age it moved forward again. the development of a fibre of great strength and without the dead weight of granite gave engineers new possibilities. they began in simple fashion, and then they developed once again, with marvellous strides. steel, the dead thing with a living muscle, could span waterways from which stone shrank. steel redrew the maps of nations. proud rivers at which the paths of man had halted, were conquered for the first time. routes of traffic of every sort were simplified; the railroad made new progress; and economic saving of millions of dollars was made to this gray old world. the earliest of the very distinguished list of american bridge-builders erected great timber structures for the highroads and the post-roads. some of them went back many centuries and came to the stone bridge, in many ways the most wonderful of all the artifices by which man conquers the obstructive power of a running stream. but the building of stone bridges took time and money, and time and money were little known factors in a new land that had begun to expand rapidly. so at first the railroad followed the course of the highroad and the post-road, and took the timber bridge unto itself. in some cases it actually fastened itself upon the highroad bridge, as at trenton, n. j., where a faithful wooden structure built by theodore burr in was strengthened and widened in to take the first through railroad route from new york. it continued its heavy dual work until when it was superseded by a steel bridge. a dozen years ago the railroad tracks were moved from that structure to a magnificent and permanent stone-arch built near-by. thus the railroad crossing the delaware at trenton has, in this way, typified step by step every stage of the development of american bridge-building. the timber bridges developed the steel truss bridge, the typically american construction, of to-day. in an earlier day the timber bridges were the glory of the engineer. sometimes you see one of these old fellows remaining, like the long structure that mr. walcott built across the connecticut river at springfield, mass., in , and which still does good service; but the most of them have passed away. fire has been their most persistent enemy. within the past two years fire destroyed the staunch toll-bridge at waterford on the hudson, just above troy. the bridge was a faithful carrier for one hundred and four years. in many ways it was typical of those first constructions. it consisted of four clear arch spans--one feet, another feet, the third feet, and the fourth feet in length. it was built of yellow pine, wonderfully hewn and fitted, hung upon solid pegs; and save for the renewal of some of the arch footings, the roof, and the side coverings, it was unchanged through all the years--even though the heavy trolley-cars of a through interurban line were finally turned upon it. about the same time, the once-famed permanent bridge across the schuylkill river at philadelphia was built. it had two arches of feet each and one of feet. in its day it was regarded as nothing less than a triumph. a very old publication says: "the plan was furnished by mr. timothy palmer, of newburyport, mass., a self-taught architect. he brought with him five workmen from new england. they at once evinced superior intelligence and adroitness in a business which was found to be a peculiar art, acquired by habits not promptly gained by even good workmen in other branches of framing in wood.... the frame is a masterly piece of workmanship, combining in its principles that of king-post and braces or trusses with those of a stone arch." in after years, the permanent bridge was also entrusted with the carrying of a railroad. it has, however, disappeared these many years. the early railroad builders did not neglect the possibilities of the stone bridge. two notable early examples of this form of construction still remain--the starrucca viaduct upon the erie railroad, near susquehanna, pa., and an even earlier structure, the stone-arch bridge across the patapsco river at relay, md., which b. h. latrobe, the most distinguished of all american railroad engineers, built for the baltimore & ohio railroad, in - . the thomas viaduct, as it has been known for three-quarters of a century, was the first stone-arch bridge ever built to carry railroad traffic. it was erected in a day when the railroad was just graduating from the use of teams of horses as motive-power. in this day, when locomotives have begun to reach practical limits of size and weight, that viaduct is still in use as an integral part of the main line of the baltimore & ohio. it is built on a curve, and consists of spans of stone arches, feet inches, centre to centre of piers, which, together with the abutments at each end, make the total length of the structure feet. it is in as good condition to-day as upon the day it was built. when the erie railroad was being constructed across the southern tier counties of new york in , its course was halted near the point where the rails first reached the beautiful valley of the susquehanna. a side-valley, a quarter of a mile in width, stretched itself squarely across the railroad's path. there was no way it could be avoided, and it could be crossed only at a high level. for a time the projectors of the erie considered making a solid fill, but the tremendous cost of such an embankment was prohibitive. while they were at their wits' ends, james p. kirkwood, a shrewd scotchman, who had been working as a civil engineer upon the boston & albany, appeared. kirkwood spanned the valley with the starucca viaduct, one of the most beautiful bridges ever built in america. he opened quarries close at hand and by indefatigable energy built his stone bridge in a single summer. it has been in use ever since. the increasing weight of its burdens has never been of consequence to it, and to-day it remains an important link in a busy trunk-line railroad. it is , feet in length and consists of arches of feet clear span apiece. but stone bridges even then cost money, and so the timber structure still remained the most available. many men can still remember the tunnels, into whose darkness the railroad cars plunged every time they crossed a stream of any importance whatsoever. they have nearly all gone. the wooden bridge was ill suited to the ravages of weather and of fire--ravages that were quickened by the railroad, rather than hindered. a substitute material was demanded. it was found--in iron. the first iron bridge in the united states is believed to be the one erected by trumbull in over the erie canal at frankfort, n. y. record is also held of one of these bridges being built for the north adams branch of the boston & albany railroad, in . about a year later, nathaniel rider began to build iron bridges for the new york & harlem, the erie, and some others of the early railroads. his bridges--of the truss type, of course, that type having been worked out in the timber bridges of the land--were each composed of cast-iron top-chords and post, the remaining part of the structure being fabricated of wrought-iron. the members were bolted together. still, the failure of a rider bridge upon the erie in , followed closely by the failure of a similar structure over the river dee, in england, influenced officials of that railroad to a conclusion that iron bridges were unpractical, and to order them to be removed and replaced by wooden structures. for a time it looked as if the iron bridge were doomed. that was a dark day for the bridge engineers. a contemporary account says: "the first impulse to the general adoption of iron for railroad bridges was given by benjamin h. latrobe, chief engineer of the baltimore & ohio railroad. when the extension of this road from cumberland to wheeling was begun, he decided to use this material in all the new bridges. mr. latrobe had previously much experience in the construction of wooden bridges in which iron was extensively used; he had also designed and used the fish-bellied girder constructed of cast and wrought-iron." under the influence of the really great latrobe, an iron span of feet was built in at harpers ferry. in that same year, the b. & o. built its monongahela river bridge, a really pretentious structure of spans of feet each, and the first really great iron railroad bridge in all the land. the path was set. the conquest of iron over wood as a bridge material was merely a problem of good engineering. the iron bridge quickly came into its own. the pennsylvania railroad began building cast-iron bridges of from to feet span at its altoona shops for the many creeks and runs along the western end of its line. the other railroads were following in rapid order. squire whipple, bollman, pratt--all the others who could design and build iron bridges--were kept more than busy by the work that poured in upon them. and in the day when the iron bridge was coming into its own, sir henry bessemer, over in england, was bringing the steel age into existence, first making toy cannon models for the lasting joy of napoleon iii, and then making a whole world see that steel--that dead thing with the living muscle--was no longer to be limited for use in tools and cutting surface. steel was to become the very right-hand of man. and so steel came to the bridge-builders, at first only in the most important wearing points such as pins and rivets, finally to be the whole fabric of the modern bridge. the transition was gradual. the early engineers began using less and less of cast-iron and more and more of wrought, until they had practically eliminated cast-iron as a bridge material. then there came a quick change; there was another dark day for the railroad bridge engineers of america. in --that very year when the land was so joyously celebrating its centennial--a passenger train went crashing through a defective bridge at ashtabula, ohio. there was a great property loss--thousands and thousands of dollars, and a loss of lives that could never be expressed in dollars. an outraged land asked the bridge-builders if they really knew their business. out of that ashtabula wreck came the scientific testing of bridges and bridge materials, and the abolition of the rule-of-thumb in the cheaper sorts of construction. out of that miserable wreckage came also the use of steel in the railroad bridge. steel had found itself; and how the steel bridges began to spring up across the land! they spanned the ohio, and they spanned the mississippi, and they spanned the missouri; a great structure threw itself over the deep gorge of the kentucky river. when the day came that fire destroyed the famous wooden viaduct of the erie over the genesee river at portage, n. y. (you must remember the pictures of that tremendous structure in the early geographies), steel took its place. all this while the bridge engineer attempted more and more. he built over the deep gorge of the niagara. he conquered the st. lawrence in and about montreal. he laughed at the mighty hudson and flung a dizzy steel trestle over its bosom at poughkeepsie. he built at cairo, at thebes, and at memphis, on the mississippi, and again and again and still again at st. louis. the east river no longer halted him or compelled him to resort to the alternative of the very expensive types of suspension bridge. he has finally thrown a great cantilever over it, from manhattan to long island. the steel bridge has come into its own. * * * * * let us study for a moment the construction of the different types of railroad bridge. for the tiny creeks--the little things that are mad torrents in spring, and run stark-dry in midsummer--where they cannot be poured through a pipe or a concrete moulded culvert, the simplest of bridge forms will suffice. and the simplest of bridge forms consists of two wooden beams laid from abutment to abutment and holding the ties and rails of the track-structure. as the first development of that simplest idea comes the substitution of steel for wood, giving, as we have already seen, protection against fire and a far greater strength. the steel beam has greater strength than a wooden beam of the same outside dimension and yet in its design it effects for itself a great saving of material, by cutting out superfluous parts and becoming the structural standard of to-day, the i beam. when the i beam becomes too large to be made in a single pouring or a single rolling, it may be constructed of steel plates and angles firmly riveted together, and thus still remains the possibility of the simplest form of bridge. that single span may be further increased, or the bridge developed into a succession of increased spans by the substitution of the lattice-work girder, effecting further saving in weight without material loss of strength for the solid-plate girder. the track may be laid atop of such girders or--to save clearance in overhead crossing--swung between them at their bases. the limit in this form of bridge is generally in a -foot or a -foot span. it is not practical to build the girders up outside of a shop; and the -foot length represents the two flat-cars that must be used to transport any one of them to the bridge location. some railroads have used three cars for the hauling of a single girder, and so increased these spans to feet; but as a rule, over feet, and the truss, the most common form of railroad bridge in this country, comes into use. the truss is a distinct evolution from those old timber bridges of which we have already spoken. burr and latrobe and bollman and howe and squire whipple--those distinguished engineers of other days--have evolved it, step by step. it is, in one sense, no more than an enlarged form of lattice girder, the work of the different designers having been to accomplish at all times, a maximum of strength with a minimum of weight. it is built of members that stand pulling-strain, and those that stand pressure-strain; and these are respectively known as tension and as compression members. in them rests the real strength of the truss. but in addition to the structure are the bracing-rods, generally placed as diagonals and built to sustain the structure against both lateral and wind-strains. the members that form the trusses are stoutly riveted together; the rapid rat-a-tap-tap of the riveter is no longer a novelty in any corner of the land. sometimes certain of the important bearing-points are connected by steel pins instead of rivets--another survival of the old days of the timber bridge. as a rule, the railroad is carried through the truss--and this is known as the through span. sometimes it is carried upon the top of the structure, and then the truss becomes known as a deck span. a long bridge may effectively combine both of these types of span. the splendid new double-track truss bridge recently built by the baltimore & ohio railroad over the susquehanna river between havre-de-grace and aiken, md., to replace a single-track bridge in the same location, is a splendid example of the best type of such structures. at the point of crossing, the river is divided into channels by watson island; the width of the west channel being approximately , feet and that of the east channel being approximately , feet. the distance across the low-lying island is , feet--making the length of the entire bridge about , feet. the bridge, as originally constructed when the line from baltimore to philadelphia was built, in , had a steel trestle over watson island. in building the new structure, this viaduct was eliminated in favor of a bridge structure of -foot girder spans, placed upon concrete piers. additional piers were placed in the west channel, shortening the deck spans from to feet; the through span over the main channel was kept at the original length-- feet. in the east channel, the span lengths remained unchanged, with a single slight exception. the changes in the span lengths involved new masonry, and all piers were sunk to solid rock, those in the west channel being carried by caissons to a depth of more than seventy feet beneath low-water. the total amount of new masonry and concrete approximated , cubic yards. the long span-lengths of the deck span over the east channel and the through span over the navigable portion of the west channel--each feet in length--occasioned heavy construction. the deck span, for instance, weighed , pounds to each foot of bridge. the total weight of this very long bridge reaches the enormous figure of , , pounds. and yet, even the untechnical observe the extreme simplicity of its lines of construction, and feel that the engineer, a. w. thompson, has done his work well. the construction of the giant took two years and a half. during that time, the trains of the b. & o. were diverted to the closely adjacent pennsylvania, so that the bridge-builders might continue with a minimum of delay. the truss span reaches its limitations at a little over feet in length--we have just seen how the susquehanna structure had its spans cut in halves in the non-navigable portions of the river. the spans of two great railroad bridges over the ohio at cincinnati reached and feet, but they were built in a day when the weights of locomotives and of train-loads had not yet begun to rise. nowadays the shorter span is the safer and by far the best. the engineer builds plenty of midstream piers, looking out only for a decent width for any navigable channels. and when because of peculiarities of location he cannot place his pier midstream, then it is time for him to get out his pencils and begin his drawings all over again. he can perhaps build a suspension bridge--a clear span of , feet will be as nothing to it,--but suspension bridges take a long time to build and are fearfully expensive in the building. it is more than likely, then, that he will turn to the cantilever. in the cantilever, two giant trusses are cunningly balanced upon string supporting towers. they are constructed by being built out from the towers, evenly, so that the balance of weight may never be lost for a single hour. the two projecting arms are finally caught together in mid-air and over the very centre of the span--caught and made fast by the riveters. the result is a bridge of surpassing strength and fairly low cost, a real triumph for the bridge engineer. the first of these cantilever bridges built in the united states was of iron. it was designed and constructed by c. shaler smith across the deep gorge of the kentucky river in - . mr. smith also built the second cantilever, the minnehaha, across the mississippi, at st. paul, minn., in - . the third and fourth were the niagara and the frazer river bridges built in the early eighties. in their trail came many others--one of the most notable among them being the great poughkeepsie bridge. * * * * * we are going to see something of the construction of one of these great railroad bridges. let us begin at the beginning, and see the men, as they work upon the foundations of abutments and of piers--many times hundreds of feet under the waters of the very stream that they will eventually conquer. for months this important work of getting a good foothold for the monster will go forth almost unseen by the workaday world--by the aid of the great timber footings, which the engineer calls his caissons. these caissons (they are really nothing more or less than great wooden boxes), are slowly sunk into the sand or soft rock under the tremendous weight of the many courses of masonry. they sink to solid rock--or something that closely approximates solid rock. we are going down into one of the caissons that form the foothold of a single great pier of a modern railroad bridge; we are going to stand for a very few minutes under air-pressure with the "sand-hogs"--men whom we first came to know when we studied the boring of a tunnel. air pressure spells danger. it takes a good nerve to work high up on the exposed steel frame of some growing bridge, but the bridge-builders have air and sunlight in which to pursue their hazardous work. the sand-hog has neither. he toils in a box down in the depths of the unknown, working with pick and shovel under artificial light and under a pressure that becomes all but intolerable. the knowledge that the most precious and vital of all man's needs--fresh air--is controlled by another, and through delicate and intricate mechanism, cannot add to his peace of mind. no wonder, then, that it is the highest paid of all merely manual work. the sand-hog working feet below datum is paid $ . for an eight-hour day. but feet is but the beginning to these human worms, who burrow deep into the earth. below it they first begin to divide their day into two working periods. the air begins to count, and men with steel muscled arms must rest. as they approach feet below datum--the engineers' phrase for sea level,--they are working two periods each day of one hour and a half apiece, while their daily pay has risen to $ . there is your rough arithmetical law of sand-hogs. as your caisson goes down so does the length of your working-day decrease; inversely, their air pressures and the pay of the men increase. the cost? the cost leaps forward in geometrical progression. it is the owner's turn to groan this time. one hundred feet is the limit. at feet the air pressure is more than pounds to the square inch--three additional atmospheres--and the limit of human endurance is reached. the men work two shifts of forty minutes each as a daily portion and the law steps in to say that they must rest four hours between the shifts. they are paid $ . for that day's work--which means something more than $ an hour for the time that they are actually at work in the caisson. you have expressed your interest in the sand-hog, given vent to a desire to go down into their underworld. you wonder what three pressures is going to feel like. permission is given and a physician begins examining you. you cannot go into the caisson unless you are sound of heart and stout of body. this is no joking matter. the sand-hogs' rules read like the training instructions for a college football team. no drink, regular hours, simple diet, the donning of heavy clothes after they leave the pressure, constant reëxamination--these rules are inflexible when the caissons go to far depths. by their observance the difficult foundation construction of this new bridge has been kept free from accident--there have been few cases of the "bends" brought to the specially constructed hospital in the bottom of the cavity. the "bends" sounds complicated, and is, in reality, almost the simplest of human ailments in its diagnosis. a "bubble" of high pressure air works its way into the human structure while a man is in the caisson. when he comes out into the normal atmosphere the bubble is caught and remains. if it is caught near any vital organ that bubble is apt to spell death. generally the bubbles are caught in the joints--frequently the elbow or the knee--where they cause excruciating pain. then the specially constructed hospital crowded on the narrow platform formed by the top of the pier, comes into full play. its sick room is incased in an air-tight cylinder. the man suffering from the "bends," together with physicians and nurses, is put under a pressure that gradually increases until it reaches that of the caisson. after that it is a comparatively simple matter to relieve the bubble and bring the air in the hospital back to a normal pressure. the path is clear for us to go down into the caisson. a party of sand-hogs, hot and exhausted after forty minutes of work within, come out of the little manhole at the top of the air-lock. we step through the little manhole and into a tiny steel bucket that rests within the air-lock there at the top of the shaft. a word of command--farewell to the bright blue sky overhead--the black manhole cover is replaced. it is suddenly very dark. a single faint incandescent gives a dim glow in the tiny place. [illustration: concrete affords wonderful opportunities for the bridge-builders] [illustration: the lackawanna is building the largest concrete bridge in the world across the delaware river at slateford, pa.] [illustration: the bridge-builder lays out an assemblying-yard for gathering together the different parts of his new construction] [illustration: the new brandywine viaduct of the baltimore & ohio, at wilmington, del.] you are not thinking of that. they are putting the pressure on. you can feel it. your eardrums feel as if they would break; they vibrate. you must show your distress. "pinch your nose and swallow hard," says the man who stands beside you in the bucket. he stands so close to you that you can fairly feel the pulsation of his heart, but his voice sounds miles away. you swallow hard, the hardest you have ever swallowed, and you pinch your nose. you feel better. the far-away voice speaks again in your ear. "three atmospheres," is all it says. the caisson shaft is no place for extended conversation. you descend in an express elevator car; in that bucket you just drop. you have all the eerie sensations that a coney island "novelty ride" might give you. there is a row of dim incandescents all the way down the smooth side of the shaft, and when you look you forget that this is vertical traction and think of an uptown subway tube as you see it recede from the rear of an express. a final manhole, the gate at the foot of the shaft and you stop abruptly. it seems as if you had almost bumped against the under side of china. "this is it," says the far-away voice. a timbered room, not larger than a parlor in a city flat and not near so high. a close and murky place, filled with a little company of men--shadowy humans of a real underworld there under the dull electric glow. "they're finding the footing for the shaft," says the voice. "we're on rock at last at feet." * * * * * when the footings are finished and the caisson's edges have ceased to cut its path straight downward, that timbered construction will rest here far below the city for long ages. the sand-hogs will come out of their working chamber for the last time--it will be poured full of concrete, more solid than rock itself. the air pressure will be withdrawn--there is no longer mud or shifting sand for it to withhold. then, section by section, the steel lining of the caisson shaft will be withdrawn, while concrete, tramped into place, makes the shaft a hidden monolith feet or so in length. upon the tops of all these monoliths a close grillage of steel beams will be laid; upon that grillage will be riveted the steel plates and columns of the bridge tower. the great structure is to have sure footing; these giant feet bind and clasp themselves throughout the years against the mighty river that has been conquered and humbled by the work of man. * * * * * "you should have been down in one of the boxes when they had to burn torches, before they got the electric light," says one of the bridge engineers. "i worked in one of those that we left under a stone tower of the brooklyn bridge. now we're almost in clover. they even cool and dry the compressed air before we breathe it." an order goes aloft over an electric wire, the engineer who sits smoking his pipe on the sun-baked platform of the traveller derrick pulls a lever, and we go slipping up the shaft toward fresh air and freedom only a little less rapidly than we descended it. we do not reach it too quickly. there is a long wait in the air-lock after the lower manhole has closed, while the pressure is being reduced. you begin to worry and you ask your guide as to the delay. nothing wrong? he smiles at your timorous question and explains. it would be dangerous to come out from the caisson pressure quickly. he does not want to have to send you to that air-tight hospital with a bad case of the "bends." "how long in the air-lock?" you ask. "fifty minutes," he answers. then he explains in more detail. you have been under a pressure of pounds to the square inch--that's your three atmospheres, and under the rules you must spend fifty minutes in the tiny air-lock. up to a pressure of pounds you must spend two minutes there for every three pounds of pressure. when you get above that "law of " it is a minute to the pound. when that manhole cover overhead finally slides open you feel blinded by the light, even though the sun is hidden behind a passing cloud. the air-lock tender reaches down with his arms and gives you a lift up onto his narrow perch. "want to be a sand-hog?" he smiles. "not yet a while," you answer, in all truth. "not until every other job is gone." * * * * * you are standing aloft, balancing yourself upon tiny planks at the steadily advancing end of the bridge, as it forces itself over a stream of formidable width. overhead, a gigantic, ungainly traveller, equipped with steel derricks at every corner, is advancing foot by foot as the bridge advances foot by foot. underneath, through the thin network of planks, of girder and of supporting false work, you can see the surface of the river a full hundred feet below. a steamboat is passing directly beneath you. from your perch she looks like a great yellow bird. those fine black specks upon her back are the humans who are gathered upon her upper deck. whistles call and the derricks groan as they swing the thousands of bridge-members, that are flying together at the beck of the engineer, into their final resting-places. there is the deafening racket of the riveters, here and there and everywhere. there are crude railroad tracks upon the temporary flooring of the bridge deck, and the calls of the dummy locomotives add to the racket. the railroad tracks lead to the shore, to temporary yards where the bridge materials are assembled as fast as they come from the shops in a city three hundred miles distant. for, remember that while the sand-hogs were burrowing under the surface of the river to find footholds for this monster, other men were burrowing into the hillsides to find the precious ore for the welding of his muscles. a hundred thousand picks must have fought in his behalf, furnaces blazed for miles before the crude ore became the finished, perfect steel. of the forging and the rolling of the steel a whole book might be written. it is enough now to say that of the , , pounds of steel, every pound was made on honor. the railroad had its inspectors everywhere, but the rolling-mill men held to their formulas for perfect steel, and perfect steel was the result. a slight flaw in the metal, and possibly at some unexpected day, a great catastrophe. the safety of human life was upon the men who forged the steel, and they forged honor into every great girder, into every rod and bolt and plate. this conqueror of the river was a warrior built in honor. the safety of human life depends upon the men who build this bridge. study carefully the face of this man who stands beside you, the man who evolved this bridge as a season's work of his restless mind. his face is the face of a man who has high regard for human safety; that factor creeps to the fore as he talks to you. he is telling of the method of constructing the upper works of a bridge of this size. "we're getting ahead all the time," he laughs, "and we're moving rather forward in our construction methods. in an older day we did this work with derricks of a rather simple sort, operated them by small portable steam engines. you can't handle bridge-members--units that are only held down by the clearances of tunnels and the transporting powers of the railroads--that way to-day. we've nearly half a million dollars tied up here in constructing-appliances. these steel-boom derricks, travellers, and steel-wire hoists, the compressing engines for handling the riveters, cost big money. "our method? that's a simple enough affair as a rule. we set up this spindly tower on rails, that we call the 'traveller' and it moves backwards and forwards over the trusses and the timber falsework that we build before the steel really begins to be set up. when the steel--the trusses--is up and riveted, then away with the falsework. our bridge stands by itself. you can put up a -foot span in no time at all by using the falsework." you make bold to ask what the engineer does when the river is too deep to admit of falsework. he is quick to answer. "we generally fall back on a cantilever," he says, without hesitation. then he begins to tell you about one of the latest of american problems--the new bridge of the idaho & washington northern railroad, just now being built over the pend oreille river, washington. they could span that narrow cleft only on the cantilever principle, and when they began to balance their cantilever, there was not enough room for the back arm. but the engineers only chewed off fresh cigars and began forcing their great span out mid-air. they made the balance by placing tons of steel rails on the back-arm. for every foot the span reached out anew over a so-called "bottomless" they added a few more rails. you can generally trust an engineer in such a time as that. look closely now upon the workmen who are fabricating this giant bridge. look closely upon them. they are different from those whom we saw toiling in the caissons below. scandinavians may and do toil as sand-hogs at the bottom of the stream; lithuanians may mine the ore, and hungarians roll it into steel; americans build upon their toil and erect this bridge. these builders speak no unfamiliar tongue. they are the product of ohio, the middle west, the south, the pacific coast, new england; they rise immeasurably superior to every other class of labor employed upon the work. some of them have been sailors, and their talk has the savor of the sea. all of them are men, clear-headed, cool-headed, true-headed men. if you come upon them at the noon-hour, sprawled along the narrow ledge of a single plank you may be impressed by two things--their americanism and their cosmopolitanism. the first of these is writ upon each man as you look at him; the second is evident in talk with him. this big fellow must have been a sheriff out in montana, and he must have been a sheriff for bad men to dodge; his neighbor is talking about his last job, a sky-high cantilever down in peru. the two side-partners over by the tool-box are just back from india. american bridge-building talent encircles the world. here is a boss who got his first training down on the nile; his assistant has done some mighty big work on the trans-siberian. these are the men who are building the bridge. in a little time there will be no advancing ends, finding their path from pier-top to pier-top. there will be, instead, a long and slender path for the railroad; the bridgemen will have done their work well; a great river will have once again been conquered. * * * * * the bridge problem is always different, it constantly has the fascination of variety. that variety will come into play at unexpected turns. once, down in a deep colorado cañon, whose walls rose precipitously for a thousand-odd feet, and which was all but filled by a deep and rapid river, the engineers of the rio grande & western found absolutely no ledge whatsoever upon which they might rest their rails. they puzzled upon the problem for a little while, and then they swung a girder bridge parallel with the river. the bridge was supported by braced girders, that fastened their feet in the walls of the cañon, hardly wider there than a narrow city house. the railroad has been running over that construction for more than thirty years; it is one of the scenic wonders of the land, and a triumph for the engineer that built it. in constructing the expensive west shore railroad up the hudson river, similar difficulties were experienced south of west point, and truss bridges were built parallel with the steep river banks to carry the tracks from ledge to ledge. it is not an unusual matter for the construction engineer to spend a quarter of a million dollars to span some deep, waterless gully in the mountains, which could not be filled for more than twice that sum. many times, in these days of increasing weight of equipment, it becomes necessary to replace a bridge, without interrupting the traffic. the construction engineer never fails to meet the problem. years ago, he took roebling's famous suspension bridge at niagara falls, removed the stone towers and replaced them with towers of steel, without delaying a single train; and a little later he took that bridge itself, and substituted a heavy cantilever for it, while all the time a heavy traffic poured itself over the structure. the rebuilder of bridges works like the original builder--with plentiful falsework. he timbers in and around his structure, and then step by step and with exceeding caution removes the old and substitutes the new. an old girder is taken out between trains; before another train of cars shall roll over the structure a new one is ready, temporarily bolted until the riveters can make it fast. it sounds complicated, but it is remarkably simple, under the careful plans of a patient engineer, who has that infinite thing that we call genius. sometimes a bold engineer strikes out into a new method, quicker and less expensive than these piecemeal efforts. of such was the job at steubenville, o., where a -foot double-track span was erected on heavy falsework alongside the old bridge. in a carefully chosen interval between a service of frequent trains, both the old and the new spans--together weighing , tons--were fastened together and drawn sideways a distance of twenty-five feet in one minute and forty seconds. the new span was then in place, and the old one--ready to be dismantled--stood on falsework at the side. the entire job had been accomplished in an interval of seventeen minutes between trains. that is not unusual. the floating method is sometimes adopted with remarkable success--especially in the case of draw-bridge spans. there the problem complicates itself exceedingly, for both the water and the land highways must be kept open for traffic; yet it is a matter of record that the pennsylvania railroad, operating a fearfully heavy suburban service in and out of jersey city, recently substituted one draw for another on its hackensack river bridge without delaying a single train. * * * * * but even in this high noon of the day of steel, the stone bridge holds its own. the big chiefs of railroad construction look upon it with favor. higher priced than a steel bridge of equal capacity it requires initial outlay. but forever after, it represents a saving--a saving chiefly in that very important figure, maintenance. a steel bridge requires constant attention and constant expense. a stone bridge requires little of either; and therein lies its strength in its old age. engineers point to such structures as the thomas viaduct down at relay, or to the wonderful stone bridges that have stood through the centuries in older lands; they bear in mind the constant battle that a steel bridge must make against the ravages of weather and against the sinister thefts of corrosion, and ofttimes they rule in favor of the oldest type of sizable bridge. two things are all-important in the choice between the steel bridge and the arch bridge of stone or concrete. the first is the accessibility of the quarries. if they are not very near the solid bridge will cost four times that of one of steel and the average american railroad is not able to spend money in that fashion, even in the hopes of future economies in maintenance. if the quarries are close at hand, as they were years ago when kirkwood built the starucca viaduct for the erie, the cost of a masonry bridge will hardly exceed that of steel trusses, and the concrete structure may cost a little less. then there comes into play the second consideration. the stone or concrete bridge has tremendous weight, no ordinary foundation work will serve it. if the river bed and banks be of sand or poor earth, the engineer had best give up his hopes of the roman form of structure. he can build steel towers and trusses on piles of caissons--hardly solid stone piers and abutments and aides. all these things considered, the stone bridge is still more than holding its own in modern railroad construction. the boston & albany railroad began building these splendidly permanent structures along its lines through the berkshires more than twenty years ago. more recently both the pennsylvania and the baltimore & ohio have been looking with favor upon this type of bridge. the baltimore & ohio has just finished building its massive brandywine viaduct, near wilmington, a splendid double-track structure, feet in length, and composed of two -foot, two -foot, and three -foot arches. the three great stone bridges that the pennsylvania has built upon its main line are all four-tracked. two splendid examples of these span the raritan river at new brunswick, and the delaware at trenton, new jersey. the third, spanning the susquehanna at rockville, pa., just north of harrisburg, is the largest stone bridge in the world. it is over a mile in length, and is composed of arches; , tons of masonry was employed in its construction. concrete viaducts were first employed in interurban electric railroad construction, and latterly they have been brought more to the service of the steam railroad. a splendid example of this very new form of construction exists in the extension of the florida east coast railroad over the keys and shallow waters of southern florida, for seventy-five miles between homestead and key west. a considerable portion of the line is over the sea. the florida keys are like a series of stepping-stones, leading into the ocean from the tip of the peninsula to key west. they lie in the form of a curve, the channels separating the islands varying from a few hundred feet to several miles in width. nearly thirty of these islands were used in the construction of the new railroad. more than fifty miles of rock and earthen embankment have been built where the intervening waters are shallow, but where the water is deeper and the openings are exposed to storms by breaks in the outer reef, concrete arch viaducts have been used. these viaducts consist of -foot reinforced concrete arch spans and piers, with here and there a -foot span. there are four of these arch viaducts aggregating . miles in length. the longest is between long key and grassy key, . miles, and is called the long key viaduct; across knight's key channel, , feet; across moser's channel, , feet, and across bahia honda channel, , feet. the material of these islands is coralline limestone. in many places the embankment for the roadway is or feet in height, and the roadbed is ballasted with the same material. the result is one of the finest and safest railway roadbeds in the world. across the delaware river at slateford, pa., the delaware, lackawanna & western railroad is building the largest concrete bridge in the world, a few feet longer than the great structure by which the illinois central crosses the big muddy river and just feet longer than the connecticut avenue bridge, at washington, d. c. the lackawanna's bridge is , feet long, with five arches of -foot span, and a number of shorter arches. the track is carried at an elevation of feet above highwater; and to find living-rock as a solid foundation for a structure of so great a weight, the abutments and piers were carried about feet below the surface of the ground. * * * * * with the bridge-builder at his elbow, the railroad constructing engineer hesitates at no river, no arm of the sea, no deep valley, no wild ravine, no cleft in the mountain-side. he calls to his aid the magic of the men who have made this branch of american practical science famous: a feathery trestle appears, as if by magic. across its narrow edge the steel rails follow their resistless path. chapter vi the passenger stations early trains for suburbanites--importance of the towerman--automatic switch systems--the interlocking machine--capacities of the largest passenger terminals--room for locomotives, car-storage, etc.--storing and cleaning cars--the concourse--waiting-rooms--baggage accommodations--heating--great development of passenger stations--some notable stations in america. the railroad terminal is the city gate. without, it rises in the superior arrogance of white granite, as an architectural something. it has broad portals, and through these portals a host of folk both come and go. within, this city gate is a thing of stupendous apartments and monumental dimensions, a thing not to be grasped in a moment. in a single great apartment--a vaulted room so great as to have its dimensions run into distant vistas--are the steam caravans that come and go. it is a busy place, a place of an infinite variety of business. * * * * * in the early morning the train-shed gives the first sign of the new-born day. before the dawn is well upon the city, the great arcs that run into those distant vistas in wonderful symmetry are hissing and alight, and the first of incoming trains is finding its way into the gloom of the shed. some few trains have started out with the early mails and the morning papers. the great rush into town is yet to begin. even before dawn, a thousand little homes without the city have been awake and fretful. the gray fogs of the night lie low, and lights begin to twinkle, lines of shuffling figures to find their way to the nearest suburban station. it is very early morning when these begin to pass through the city gate. the earliest suburban trains slip in from the yards and come to a slow, grinding stop beneath the shed. before the wheels have ceased turning, the first of the workers is off the cars and running down the platform. in fifteen seconds, the platform is black with men. there are many more of these trains, a great multiplication of men within a little time. before seven o'clock, the trains begin to increase; to follow more and more closely upon one another's heels. after seven, they come still oftener; two or three of them may stop simultaneously on different tracks under the great vault of the shed; they are heavy with people. there is a constant clatter of engines, stamping and puffing, dragging their heavily laden trains and snapping them quickly out of the way of others to follow. the electric lights under the shed go out with a protesting sputter, and you realize that the day is at hand. this mighty army of those who live without the city walls is flocking in, in an unceasing current now. there is an endless procession from the track platforms; a stream of humans finding its way to the day's work. do you want figures so that you may see the might of this army? binghamton, n. y., is a city; a little less than fifty thousand persons live there. if the whole population of binghamton--every man, woman, and child--were poured through the portals of this terminal on any one of six mornings of the week, it would be about equal to this suburban traffic. in a single hour--from seven to eight-- trains have arrived under the roof of this shed and discharged their human freight; in the following hour, trains empty another great brigade of the army from without the city walls. * * * * * the city gate is indeed a busy place. its concourse or head platform echoes all day long with the unending tread of shuffling feet; beyond the fence, with its bulletins and ticket-examiners, is the vault of the train-shed, a thing of great shadows, even in midday. its echoes are also unending. there seems to be no end of pushing and shoving and hauling among the engines; there must be an infinite stock of trains somewhere without. the human stream flows all the while. the marvel of all this is that the terminal, which seems so intricate, so baffling, is under the control of one man--a man to whom it is as simple as the ten fingers of his hands. this man is keeper of the city gate. his watch-house is situated just without the big and squatty train-shed. it is long and narrow, glass-lined and sun-filled. through its windows he keeps track of those who come and go. "there's second seventeen, with them school teachers coming back from the convention out at kansas city. put her in on twenty-one so's to give the baggage folks a chance. them women travel with lots of duds." these are orders to his assistants and orders in that watch tower are rarely repeated. the assistants are in shirt-sleeves like their chief, for the sun-filled tower is broiling hot. they nod to one another, click small levers, and second seventeen--a long train of sleeping-cars coming into the city in the hot moisture of the early june morning--is sent easily and carefully in upon track twenty-one in the train-shed of the terminal. there you have the explanation of that order that was meaningless to you but a moment ago. track twenty-one is nearest the in-baggage room of the station. with two cars, piled roof-high with heavy trunks, the thoughtfulness of the towerman in sending the special upon track twenty-one will be appreciated by the baggage handlers. a vast amount of manual labor will be saved; and that counts, even upon a cool day. [illustration: the northwestern's monumental new terminal on the west side of chicago] [illustration: the union station at washington] this keeper of the city gate represents the survival of the fittest, the very cream of his profession. the chances are that he began his railroading off in some lonely way station on a branch line, developed qualities that brought him to the quick and favorable attention of his chiefs, then advanced steadily along the rapid lines of promotion that railroading holds for some men. he is one of three men, who, for certain hours, hold the keeping of the complicated city gate within their own well-drilled minds. the tower is the mind, the brain centre, the ganglion, of that city gate; but the tower is only wondrously mechanical, after all; the mind of the careful towerman is the mind that controls all the mechanism. to the average traveller, the city gate is a thing that impresses itself upon his mind by its exterior and interior beauty, or its convenience of arrangement. he notes the broad concourses, the ample entrances and exits, the compelling magnificence of the public rooms, the great sweep of the train-shed roof, but beyond that train-shed roof is a tangle of tracks and signals about which he does not worry his busy head. those tracks and signals represent more truly the station than the mere architectural magnificence of its outer shell. they are a tangle and a maze, apparently, but a tangle and maze that must represent skill and ease in their tremendous operation. they are neither tangle nor maze to the shirt-sleeved men in the tower. they must know each track, each switch-point, each signal as intimately and familiarly as they know the fingers of their hands. every mechanical device is employed to simplify the tangle for the comfort of the busy minds that must constantly employ themselves in solving it. in the big watch-tower--the "control" of the terminal--there is a map that is more than map. it depicts in miniature all the tracks and switches and signals that lie without and roundabout the tower; but this map shows switches and signals changing as the switches and signals of the train-yard change. it brings the distant corners of the terminal in closer touch with the towermen. in fog or blinding storm, this track model is invaluable--a veritable compass set within the brain of the terminal. this illuminated map sets upon the best piece of mechanism that has yet been devised for the operation of the terminal yard. it is a long boxed affair, not entirely unlike the box of the old-fashioned square piano, but in this case (the terminal we are watching being of unusual capacity) more than thirty feet in length. this box is the very brains of the terminal. it represents the acme of mechanical condensation. reduced to its earliest and simplest equivalent--the separate hand operation of a gigantic cluster of switches in a great terminal yard--it would cover a vast area and result in the employment of an army of switchmen. carelessness on the part of any one member of this army might cause a serious accident. the margin of safety would be very low in such a case. the first schemes of automatic switch systems eliminated the necessity of employing an army of switchmen. a cluster of levers, in a tower of commanding location, was connected by steel rods with the switches and the signals which protected them. a man in the tower operated this group of levers. in this way, the control of the yard was simplified, and responsibility was placed upon a better paid and better trained man than the average hand switchman. the margin of safety was considerably broadened. then came an amendment to that first system. some genius of a mechanic built an interlocking switch machine, a thing of cogs and clutches, by which a collision in a railroad yard became almost a physical impossibility. in these mechanical interlocking devices the tower levers are so controlled, one by another, that signals cannot be given for trains to proceed until all switches in the route governed are first properly set and locked; and conversely, so that the switches of a route governed by signal cannot be moved during the display of a signal giving the right of way over them. by installation of the interlocking, some of the responsibility is taken by mechanical device from human brain and the margin of safety broadened still further. this "piano box" represents still further condensation of the switch and signal control and interlocking devices. the men who designed this particular city gate designed it to accommodate more than a thousand outgoing and incoming passenger trains each twenty-four hours; they had found that the condensations given by earlier systems were not sufficient for their purpose. after bringing several switches, designed to act in concert, upon a single lever, they found that they would have a row of levers. set closely together these would require a tower about feet long. it is roughly figured that it is not desirable to assign more than twenty of these heavy levers to a single towerman and that meant eighteen men, working at a shift. moreover, the throwing of a heavy switch half a mile distant from the tower is not a slight manual exercise. then the "piano box"--electro-pneumatic--was installed; feet of levers was reduced to feet of small handles hardly larger than faucet handles and quite as easily turned. the control of a great terminal was brought down to three towermen, acting under the direction of their chief, the shirt-sleeved keeper of the city gate. "we've got to keep them hustling," he tells you. "there's the morning express in from new york. she's heavy this morning. that train over there, coming across the swing-bridge, is the millionaire's special. she's all club-cars, comes in every mornin' from the seaside. her wheels'll stop on the same nick as the express. watch them both, carefully." "isn't it quite a trick handling those trains simultaneously?" "not much," a smile fixed itself upon the chief towerman's features, as he fingered his greasy timetable. "here's four trains pulling out here simultaneously at : . on top of that we get a forest hills local in at : , a hudson upper local at : , an ogontz at : , a readville at : , all incoming, and pull out two more at : . ten trains in just four minutes isn't bad, and we haven't begun to feel the capacity of this terminal yet. "that isn't all of it. we get the whole thing criss-crossed on us sometimes; and perhaps they'll put on an extra getting out of here at : , and that'll bother us a little, for we have regular tracks assigned for all our scheduled trains. if they don't run in the extras on us, or we don't get a breakdown anywhere, it's pretty plain sailing. ring off your : , jimmy." jimmy, the assistant at the far end of the tower, touched one of the little handles, a blade on a signal bridge opposite the end of the train-shed dropped, a big locomotive caught the rails instantly and cautiously led a long train of heavy cars out through the intricacy of tracks and switches until it was past the tower, over the "throat" of the yard, and, striking on the main line, was gaining speed once more. "it's as easy for him as unbroken rail off in the country," said the chief towerman to me, as he waved salutation at the engineer passing below him. then he fell into a detailed and wondrous explanation of the intricacies of the "piano-box" mechanism. on the lower floor of the tower were air condensers, and through the medium of electricity and compressed air heavy switches and signals a half-mile off are worked almost by finger touch. each switch is guarded by at least one signal, possibly two--home and distant--and these blades show an open or a closed path to the engineer. they are so arranged that normally they stand at danger and in case of breakdown they return by gravity to danger. at night the blades, which in various positions show safety and danger and caution, are replaced by lights--red for danger, yellow for caution, green for safety--according to the present standard rules. * * * * * this physiology of the passenger terminal has dwelt so far upon its brain and its nerve structure; the anatomy is hardly less interesting. almost every great passenger terminal in america is built upon the head-house plan. in this scheme trains arrive and depart upon a series of parallel tracks terminating within some sort of train-shed. it is the ideal scheme from the standpoint of the passenger, for no stairs or bridges or subways are necessary to reach any track. the tracks are generally laid in pairs, and between each pair a broad platform is built, which is in reality a long-armed extension of a common distributing platform or concourse extending across the head of the tracks. sometimes these extension platforms are laid on both sides of a single track for greater facility in handling baggage and for the quick unloading of heavy trains. but in case any number of trains are to be operated through the terminal, the head-house scheme becomes impracticable and an abomination to the operating department. it makes necessary all manner of backing and turning trains and a tremendous amount of energy and time is spent in so doing. so we find the head-house stations--the real terminals of america--for the most part along the seaboard or at the termination of really important railroad routes. they are an expensive luxury at any other point. at the outer end of the train-shed, its tracks begin to converge. they are in rough similarity to the sticks of an open fan and at the handle they are reduced to anywhere from two to eight main tracks, the connections with the through tracks that serve the station. the point of convergence is known to the towerman and all the other workers as the "throat" of the yard. it is by far the most important point of the terminal, and is the usual location of the control tower, with its authority over several hundred switches and signals. upon the number of main tracks in this "throat" depends the capacity of the terminal, quite as much as the number of tracks in the train-shed or the size of any other of its facilities. if there are as many as eight tracks in this "throat"--an unusual number--the signals and switches will probably be arranged so that in the morning five tracks may be used for the rush of incoming business, and three tracks for outgoing business, while in the late afternoon conditions are exactly reversed, five tracks being used for hurrying the suburbanites homeward, three for the lesser business incoming to the terminal. with four tracks in the "throat"--a usual number--three may be used in the direction of the volume of greatest business. each of these tracks is like a separate entrance to the terminal, and when five are open from the train-shed simultaneously, as in this first case, five outgoing trains may be started simultaneously from as many tracks. in this connection, a comparative table of the capacity of several of the largest american passenger terminals may not be without interest: approach station tracks tracks broad street station, philadelphia market street station, philadelphia north station, boston south station, boston union station, st. louis union station, washington northwestern station, chicago lackawanna terminal, hoboken pennsylvania station, new york grand central station, new york but the approach and train-shed tracks are only a part of the yards that are necessary at every large passenger terminal. certain provisions are necessary for mail and express service (freight of every sort is handled as far as possible in separate yards and terminals), and extensive provision for the storage and care of cars and motive power. in the last case, it becomes advisable to have the roundhouse, or roundhouses, for locomotive storage within short striking distance of the terminal station. these are vast structures, their very form requiring large tracts of land. the american plan of radiating engine-storage tracks from a common centre, occupied by a turntable, has never prevailed in england. some few attempts have been made in this country to build parallel storage tracks, with the transfer table for an operating arm, but almost every attempt of this sort has been induced by a necessity for unusual economy in land-space. we shall need the turntables as long as we continue to use steam as a motive power, and the early method of grouping storage tracks and radii from the table has never lost its favor with operating officers. a full-size roundhouse, with a diameter approximating feet, has as its necessary accessories, facilities for coaling the locomotives--several at a time--as well as supplying them with water, sand, and other necessities. possibly the terminal will be big enough to demand shop facilities for trifling repairs and maintenance of both cars and motive power. a big passenger terminal is a much bigger thing than that gaudy waiting-room in which you sit, whilst your train is being made ready to take you out from the city. great as the room assigned to locomotives, greater must be yard-room for car-storage, in rough proportions, as the length of the locomotive to the average train length. it takes something approaching a genius to lay out the car-yards, particularly in the case of passenger terminals, which are almost invariably in the heart of great cities where land values are fabulously high. these yards, in order to earn the appreciation of the men who must operate them, must be easy of access and be of sufficient size to meet the heavy demands that are to be put upon them. to appreciate them, let us consider them in daily use. the heavy express which has discharged its baggage and passengers in the train-shed is hauled out to the yards by one of the sturdy little switch-engines that are eternally poking their way about the yards. the engine that has pulled it in from the road backs itself down to the roundhouse, without another thought of the train. its responsibility ended as soon as the run ended in the train-shed. the engineer simply has to see that his locomotive is carefully put away in the roundhouse; and, on some roads, that his fireman cleans its upper parts before the next run out upon the line. the roundhouse crew is then supposed to take care of the rest of the engine. in the meantime, the stout little switching-engine has hauled the cars out to the yards, separating the pullman equipment and placing day-coaches, baggage cars, and the like in a position by themselves. an effort is made to keep the equipment for the heavy through trains reserved, allowance being made for occasional changes for repair and maintenance. in the case of the local and suburban trains, their varying traffic requires varying lengths; and it is possible that two or three of the train-shed tracks contain a supply of extra coaches in order that emergencies of sudden and unexpected traffic may be met. the yards must afford full facilities for storing and cleaning cars. this last is a thorough operation, compressed air being used in many cases and to great advantage. within, seats are thoroughly dusted, floors swept, woodwork wiped, while the railroad's pride in the outer appearance of its equipment is shown by the scrupulous care with which a small army of cleaners, ladders in hand, wash down the varnished sides of the coaches. in addition, both coaches and pullmans must be stocked with linen and ice-water, lighting tanks filled and trucks inspected while in storage yards. most elaborate provisions are made for the stocking of dining and buffet cars. through equipment will rest in the yards from six to twenty-four hours, as an average. the local and suburban trains have a programme of their own, slightly different. the engine that is to make the run will get its train in the first place from the storage yard. it is only a big express run, where the locomotive is privileged to back into the station, to find its train made ready there for it by some fag of a switch-engine. the engine that hauls the local backs its own train into the station, makes its run out upon the line, , , miles, whatever the case may be, and brings the train back into the station. it kicks the cars out, just beyond the cover of the train-shed and while it is hurrying to the turntable the cars are being hastily swept and dusted. an hour will be allowed the engineer to turn his engine and get his coal and water supply, and then he will start out again on his local run. this performance will be repeated one or more times, before the coaches are sent to the yard for thorough cleaning and stocking, and the locomotive housed for a little rest in the programme. this is not the universal programme, but it is typical. it seems simple; but with the multiplicity of local trains in service, the demands of the regular through traffic, and the special demands that come unexpectedly day after day, that car storage yard has got to be arranged for an economy of operation, as well as with the economy of space in view. each storage track must be of convenient access and the chances are that a separate tower and interlocking may be set aside for the quick, convenient, and safe operation of the storage yard. in any event, it must be so built as to be worked without interference of any sort on the main line tracks of the terminal. so much for the terminal, in reference to its operation; now let us consider it for a moment from the standpoint of the passenger. the first point to be considered by the engineers who design it is the point that we have just considered--safety and convenience in operation. a terminal might be, and sometimes is, an architectural triumph and a thing of monumental beauty, but a curse and an extravagance as an operating proposition. the architects, the mural painters, the furniture designers and the like are called in last. it is their province to make the setting for the thing the engineers have already created. so in considering the terminal station as a building, we must still give ear to the engineer. he must plan for the future, anticipate the number of persons who are to pass through this city's gate fifty years hence, and plan his concourse, so many square inches for each one of those future users of the terminal. exits and entrances to the trains must be built in order that incoming and outgoing streams of persons shall not conflict. all these points require careful study. it is possible to design a baggage-room so bad as to make the station all but a failure; a stuffy ticket-office that is almost an impossibility to use under pressure conditions. the good engineer thinks two or three thousand times before he begins the design of a passenger terminal. the concourse, or head platform, that joins all the different track platforms is the main feature of the terminal building. upon it some persons congregate preparatory to going through the gates to their trains, and other persons congregate awaiting the arrival of trains--a matter which is carefully bulletined for their convenience. arriving and departing passengers, with a percentage of idlers, must be accommodated upon it. it must be capacious. exits to the street should be provided, without the necessity of passing through the station building, and the carriage stand should be close at hand. the waiting-room will be the monumental and artistic expression of the terminal. it may or may not be a portion of the entrance to the concourse and train-shed, but it is essential that it be conveniently located, that smoking-rooms, women's waiting-rooms, parcel-check, telephone, telegraph, news-stand, and restaurant facilities be close at hand. it is hardly less desirable that the ticket-offices adjoin the waiting-room yet the architect who so places his ticket-offices that the belated traveller has unnecessary delay in purchasing his tickets, will bring down unnumbered curses upon his defenceless head. the modern station will make provision for numerous railroad offices--be a complete modern office-building in fact, although not emblazoning that in its architectural design--and will have lunch-stand and restaurant facilities, with their necessary addenda of store-rooms, refrigerators and kitchens, as complete as those of the largest hotels. the baggage accommodations deserve a paragraph by themselves. americans, due to the liberal baggage provisions of our railroads, travel each year with increased impedimenta. each year the task of the baggage-handlers multiplies. making room for trunks has come to be an important terminal provision. in the large terminals, this traffic is divided, an in-baggage room receiving from incoming trains and distributing to various forms of city baggage delivery and an out-baggage room receiving and checking baggage for outgoing trains. the in-baggage room is always much the largest, because of the delays that almost invariably hold trunks for a time--short or long--upon their arrival at a terminal. it is desirable that baggage be handled with as little inconvenience as possible to passengers; and for this reason almost all terminals have subways extending from the "in" and "out" rooms beneath all train-shed platforms and connected with each of these by elevators, large enough to receive a full-sized baggage-truck. in this way annoyance and delay to passengers is minimized. in the case of heavy through trains, where baggage runs unusually heavy, the baggage-cars are frequently detached and switched in upon special tracks that run alongside the baggage rooms. the passenger terminal must also provide mail and express facilities among these structures, but these, as has already been intimated, are generally apart and quite separate from the passenger facilities. a power plant is another necessity. the buildings must be heated, cars warmed in freezing weather long before the locomotives are attached, ice-machines operated for the station restaurant, power supplied to elevators, dynamos, and lesser mechanisms about the terminal. this is a feature that is not radically different from that of other large commercial structures. the capacity of a modern railroad is measured by the capacity of its terminals rather than by that of its main line tracks. the railroads were not quick to realize nor to appreciate this fact at the first. it was finally forced upon their attention, and in that way became one of the fundamental principles of american railroad construction and operation. the terminal became recognized as one of the most efficient possible solutions of the congestion problem, a little more than a quarter of a century ago. it was then that the double-tracking and four-tracking devices were found to measure all out of cost with the relief that was to be derived from them. it was then that the engineers were told to meet the situation with a relief that should be measurably low in cost. the result of their work has been to put america foremost with her railroad terminals. the engineers have worked against great odds in many cases. the railroads in the beginning took little or no forethought for their terminals. they neglected rare opportunities to buy land for these facilities in the beginning, when the cities were small and the land cheap. they have paid in millions of dollars for this neglect. in some cases, the early railroads had little money to expend upon this city real estate; but in few cases did any of their managers have the gift of prophecy that made them foresee the great cities of to-day or the great tides of traffic they would be called upon to move. nor has this phase of the situation improved within recent years. a great railroad rebuilt its passenger terminal in an important city ten years ago and blindly imagined that the increase in facilities would carry it a quarter of a century at the least. to-day it is carrying off the remnants of that station improvement to the scrap-heap and trying to see far enough into the future to build a station that shall last it fifty years at least. there is not an engineer employed by that railroad who will assert himself as possessed of the absolute belief that the new station will be adequate for the traffic of a half century hence, if indeed the great spreading palace of steel and marble be in existence at all at that time. all that they will tell you is to point to the fact that another one of america's greatest passenger carriers has doubled its traffic within the past ten years. "how can we gamble with an unknown future of such dimensions?" they ask you in return. when the park square station of the boston & providence railroad in boston and the grand central station in new york were built, in the early seventies, they were the first railroad passenger terminals of size that the country had seen. it was thought that _they_ would stand a hundred years as monuments to the genius of the men who designed them. to-day they are both gone, each supplanted by a station that both together might be packed within. do you wonder then that railroad operator and engineer alike stand appalled at the tremendous terminal problem that our great cities, growing awesome overnight, are constantly presenting to them? * * * * * in the beginning, there were no passenger or freight terminals, nor, indeed, a traffic that demanded them. the passenger cars were apt to be hauled by horses from some downtown depot through the centre of the street to an "outer depot" at the edge of the town where the locomotive replaced the horses. when the cars became heavier, the trains longer and more frequent, the railroads were gradually forced in most cities to remove their rails from the streets and the use of horses was generally abandoned. still, passengers crossing baltimore, for some years after the war on their way from the north to washington, noticed that the trains were broken into cars and drawn one by one by horses across the city, through crowded streets, from one outer railroad station to the other. a venerable white horse was the switching-engine in the rochester depot until the beginning of the eighties. when the passenger traffic on the railroads had become a business of extent--about the middle of the past century--the construction of sizable railroad stations began. the fitchburg railroad built its stone fortress at boston, which still stands and was for many years regarded as a marvel of its sort. down in baltimore, the susquehanna railroad--afterwards the northern central--built calvert station, and stanch old calvert is still a busy passenger gateway of the monumental city. a few years later the baltimore & ohio built camden station there and camden station was regarded as something rather unusually fine for a number of years. in the sixties, the railroad terminals grew in size, and the old custom of having separate stations at the far sides of important towns was disappearing, as the american began to see and to demand the advantages of through traffic. so cleveland built at the close of the war a stone union station, of such size that cleveland folks bragged of it for many years. the stone union station at cleveland is still in use, but the folk of that town do not brag of it nowadays. cleveland has grown a good deal since they built the union station there. the first real passenger terminals of importance in the country were the park square in boston, and the grand central in new york, to which reference has already been made. these presented architectural pretensions such as the railroads of the country had not before offered to the cities they served. they also served as models for bigger things that were to follow. in boston, the lowell road planned and built a large new station, and the era of the passenger terminal was begun. when the pennsylvania railroad built broad street station, at philadelphia, it built a terminal a little finer than anything accomplished up to that time. even to-day, with the dignity of years creeping upon it, broad street is still one of the foremost american stations. the policy of its owners has been to keep it abreast of the demands of the day, and only recently it has been greatly enlarged again, its protecting, interlocking, and signal system being made second to none in the world. to the traveller, the ivory-white waiting-room, where philadelphians delight to congregate, is an unending source of admiration; engineers find interest in the intricate system of tunnels and bridges by which a number of trunk-line divisions are brought into the station without crossing at level. broad street station shows a yearly increase in its passenger traffic of about five per cent. it has a daily movement of more than loaded trains in and out, in addition to a heavy switching movement. but because of the steady increase of its traffic the pennsylvania has already planned to relieve it by building a new main for express trains out at west philadelphia. when that is done broad street will be used exclusively for suburban traffic. a short distance away stands the market street station, of the philadelphia & reading railroad, a terminal rivalling broad street in beauty, and only slightly inferior in capacity. philadelphia possesses two distinguished city gateways. but the first big station terminals--in our american sense that a thing big must be bigger than anything else of the same kind in the world--were those erected at boston and at st. louis. the first of these handles a traffic far exceeding that of any other terminal ever built; the second has a train-shed that is gigantic and overwhelming; and so each of the cities can, in a measure of truth, claim for itself the largest railroad station ever built. each has enough of novelty and interest to make it worthy of attention. the boston terminal--south station--was preceded by a giant structure erected along the bank of the charles river to receive a multitude of through and suburban railroad lines entering from the north. this terminal--north station--embraced the structure of the boston & lowell railroad and superseded those of the boston & maine and fitchburg railroads. the merging of these and other interests into the present boston & maine made the north station a possibility. it is not a structure of particular distinction, from either an architectural or an engineering standpoint, but it has proved itself a mighty convenience to a travelling public, using a multiplicity of busy lines. the convenience of it made the south station a possibility. boston, like philadelphia, spreads out well beyond its actual boundaries and measures itself as a vast community, including many near-by cities and villages. with the consolidation of a number of railroads in southern new england into the new york, new haven & hartford system, and the popularity of the north station so close at hand, the south station came as a matter of course. it replaced the stations of the new york & new england--whose site forms part of its site--the old colony, the boston & albany, and the park square station. to accommodate the vast traffic of all these railroads, a great terminal was designed and built, a thing whose bigness is hardly realized by the passenger coming and going through it and who knows it only as a thing of some thousands of shuffling feet, giant shadows, and long distances. in addition to the sub-tracks in the train-shed, south station is, in effect, a through station for electric suburban traffic. this service has not yet been installed, but the tracks are ready for use upon short notice, when the facilities of the main train-shed shall become overtaxed. this through station has been ingeniously devised underneath the train-shed and waiting-rooms of the terminal. it is served by two tracks leading from the main entrance tracks to the station--guarded by separate interlocking and tower controls, and consists of two extensive loops. for suburban service, with no baggage to be handled, these loops will some day afford a great accommodation. three or four electric trains may be stood upon each. the time and necessity of reversing the trains is entirely obviated, and upon the two tracks of this sub-station a short-haul traffic can be handled almost equal in numbers to that of the train-shed overhead. what such a statement means can be better realized by a recourse to bold statistics. south station handled , , passengers in , who travelled two and fro in some trains daily. it has handled more than trains in a single day. its baggage men take care of more than , , trunks in a twelvemonth. the statistics of a city gate like south station are, in themselves, sizable. st. louis has one passenger station to serve as city gate for the traffic that comes and goes at that important railroad centre. that gate is the chief through passenger traffic point of the world. from its train-shed one may take through trains to every corner of the united states and a few distant corners of mexico and canada. st. louis, like most western cities has no volume of suburban traffic as new york, boston, or philadelphia, but it is a consequential point for through passengers. the better to serve the needs of the different railroad systems entering that city, the union station was built a dozen years ago. it was thought to be big enough to last st. louis many years. before the world's fair of opened in that city the union station was already judged inadequate, and an elaborate plan was consummated for its enlargement. when the union station was originally planned, st. louis demanded a gate that would be worthy of her size and dignity. no type of through station would do, the head-house terminal was demanded and built, even though in actual practice it necessitated backing each arriving train into the shed. a station of giant size with the largest train-shed in the world was built and hailed with a glad acclaim by the western town. when the station was found inadequate, the engineers found their plans for enlarging it would have to be adapted to a very confined area, proscribed by immovable railroad properties to the south, highway viaducts to the east and west, and a granite head-house, costing several million dollars, to the north. within that confined area, they were to correct the evils of insufficient capacity--a train-shed with a single -track throat and some standing tracks of but cars' length, inadequate baggage arrangements, and lesser evils. within two years, they had substituted, without increasing the area of the union station property, a -car capacity for each of the tracks of the train-shed, a double throat with tracks, increased concourses and distributing platforms for passengers, and a complete subway system for the handling of baggage. the prosecution of that work, while the station was in constant and busy use, ranks as one of the marvels of latter-day practical engineering. from the standpoint of the architect, no other station has yet been built in the united states that can compare with the new union station at washington. for years, the overcrowded railroad stations at that city have been but wretched gateways to the national capitol. now the city that is fast becoming the mecca of all americans has an entrance worthy of her dignity, and in keeping with the increasing magnificence of her architectural works. the washington station is in full accord with the wonderful architectural development of that city, and has a setting in the creation of a great facing plaza, in which , troops may be gathered in review. some day the plaza is to be surrounded by a group of public buildings but even in that day the white marble station, exceeding in size all other washington buildings save the capitol itself, will remain the dominating feature of that facing plaza. it has been created in simple classic outline, a vaulted train-shed being purposely omitted, in order that the station should not overshadow the proportions of the near-by capitol. similarly, the vaulted train-shed has been omitted in the splendid new white granite terminal which the chicago and northwestern railway has just completed on the west side of chicago. that new terminal is a real addition to a town which has long boasted two model stations--one in la salle street and the other upon the lake front. the northwestern terminal is one of the fine architectural features of chicago--a structure of classic design, the dominating feature of which is a colonnaded portico, monumental in type and towering to a height of feet above the main street entrance. this new terminal has a possible capacity of a quarter of a million passengers each day. it has some novel features for the comfort of passengers. a great many travellers cross chicago in the course of twenty-four hours; in many cases this is the single break in a weary and dirty journey. for these, the new terminal not only provides the customary lounging rooms and barber shops, but also private baths. there is a series of rooms where invalids, women with children, or other persons seeking privacy, may go directly by private elevator where they may rest while waiting for connecting trains. for women there are tea-rooms and hospital rooms, with trained nurses in attendance. that is almost the last note in comfort for the traveller. there are, in addition to all these, private rooms where the suburbanite may change into his evening clothes and proceed in his various social duties, changing back again before he catches his late train out into the country. * * * * * new york city is still in the process of rebuilding and readjusting her gateways. two magnificent terminals in her metropolitan district have already been finished; the third is still under construction. the first of these terminals is a real water-gate, built for the lackawanna railroad and situated in hoboken, just across the hudson river from the corporate new york. it is a handsome architectural creation in steel and concrete. its tall clock-tower dominates the river front by night and day and those who come and go through its portals find themselves in a succession of white and vaulted hallways and concourses that suggest a library or museum more than the mere commercial structure of a railroad corporation. an interesting feature of the hoboken station is the abandonment of the high train-shed such as has come to be a distinguishing feature of some of the world's great terminals. engine smoke and gases work havoc with the structural steel work of such sheds, and the engineers of the hoboken station fashioned a low-lying roof, slotted to receive the locomotive stacks. the result is a clean train-house, yet admirably protected from the stress of weather. it is a novel note in terminal engineering. the pennsylvania station, opened in november, , has already become one of the notable landmarks of new york. beneath it disappeared the biggest hole ever excavated at one time in the metropolitan city; for the great station is not so famed either for its architectural beauty or for the completeness of its details (although it is in the foreguard of the world's great terminals in both of these regards), as for the stupendous engineering project that was found necessary to connect it with the trunk-line railroads that it serves. to the west, this takes form in two parallel tunnels underneath the city, the hudson river, and the jersey heights; to the east a still heavier traffic, composed of empty trains in pennsylvania service and a great army of long island commuters, is carried under the very heart of manhattan island and under the east river in four parallel tunnels. trains run for six miles under the greatest city of the continent, with its flanking rivers and environs, without ever seeing more than a momentary flash of daylight. the terminal has no train-shed or other of the familiar external appearances of the usual railroad station in a large city. [illustration: a model american railroad station--the union station of the new york central, boston & albany, delaware & hudson, and west shore railroads at albany] [illustration: the classic portal of the pennsylvania's new station in new york] [illustration: the beautiful concourse of the new pennsylvania station, in new york] [illustration: "the waiting-room is the monumental and artistic expression of the station,"--the waiting-room of the union depot at troy, new york] the pennsylvania terminal also departs radically from the other great terminals in its track arrangements. the twenty-one parallel station tracks, with their platforms, are placed in a basement forty feet below street level. in fact, the great building is divided into three levels. at the street level are the broad entrances, the chief of these forming itself into a broad arcade, lined with shops that cater particularly to the demands of the traveller. on this floor are also the railroad's commodious restaurant and lunch-room. on the intermediate plane, or level, the real business of the passenger prefatory to his journey is transacted. the concourse, the great general waiting-room, with its subsidiary rooms for men and women, the ticket offices, and the telegraph offices are there gathered. from the roomy concourse, covered in steel and glass after the fashion of the famous train-sheds in frankfort and dresden, germany, individual stairs and elevators lead to each of the track platforms. a sub-concourse, hung directly underneath the main structure, is reserved for exit purposes only, and serves to separate the streams of incoming and outgoing passengers. the north side of the station is separated and reserved for the use of the long island passengers, chiefly commuters. the theory of operation of the station is simplicity itself. a pennsylvania through train from the west, after discharging its passengers and baggage, will not be backed out of the train-house, but will continue on through the station, under more tunnels and another river, to the storage yards just outside of long island city. similarly, trains made ready for a long trip at the yards will proceed empty under the east river tunnels to the big station, where they will receive their outbound load. this is the theory of the station, an operating theory which makes it in part like a giant way-station and saves much terminal congestion. the long island trains and a few short-line pennsylvania express trains will be turned in the station. these are the exception. of interest fully equal to that of the new pennsylvania station, is the construction of a new grand central station upon the site of and during the use of the old. the grand central station, used by both the new york central and the new york, new haven, & hartford railroads, has been for many years new york's great gateway to the east as well as the north and west. it has developed a great suburban and a great through traffic since the construction of the first station--away back in . temporary relief was gained in the early eighties by the construction of an annex to the east of the original station. still further improvement was gained ten years ago by tearing out a series of ill-arranged public rooms and substituting for them the single beautiful waiting-room that has proved so great a delight to travellers. now that waiting-room is about to be demolished in the face of plans for the newer and greater grand central. the building of the new station has offered tremendous problems to the engineers, for it has demanded a complete reconstruction within extremely limited area, while not placing hindrances in the way of the constant operation of one of the world's greatest terminals. coincident with the rebuilding of the new station has come the substitution of electricity for steam on the terminal lines of its two tenants, the new york, new haven, & hartford, and the new york central & hudson river railroads. in order to work the three-mile tunnel through park avenue and the sole entrance for trains to the station at greatest capacity, it was found necessary to extend the yards of the new station far north of those of the old. this work, alone, has necessitated the acquisition of whole city blocks of tremendously valuable real estate and the excavation of several million cubic yards of rock and earth. to accomplish the work of reconstruction and still enable the station to handle its great traffic without serious interruption, serious forethought and definite plans of action were found necessary. the plan was developed by constructing a temporary building of brick and plaster covering a vacant city block in madison avenue, at the west of the station. into this temporary structure a branch post office, an important adjunct of the grand central, was moved from the extreme eastern side of the terminal. excavation for the new terminal began at its eastern edge and at that edge the first portions of the new structure have been completed. a waiting-room was then established in temporary quarters, the last vestiges of the old grand central removed, and the main front and centre of the new station fabricated. similarly, as the excavation has progressed from the east to the west side of the terminal, the great bulk of the traffic has been gradually shifted from the old high-level to the new low-level. the new grand central complete will have its main train-shed devoted to through traffic. a second train-shed of similar arrangement and of slightly smaller dimensions will be constructed underneath the main shed for suburban traffic, and a single head-house will serve both floors. the head-house will have as its chief architectural feature, a concourse of mammoth proportions. the lesser features of the new grand central will contribute to make the new terminal, built upon the site of the historic old, one of the world's greatest gateways. the fact that steam locomotives are absolutely prohibited from entering either of the two new stations on manhattan island makes these the cleanest railroad terminals yet built. so not only have our railroads begun to build great stations; they are to-day building really beautiful stations. an age in which the american demands the exquisite and the monumental in his architecture, palatial homes, palatial shops, palatial hotels, demands that the railroad station be something more than the mere expression of a commercial utility. stone, the sturdy and durable building material of all the ages, has become the expression of these buildings from without. within, they are gay with rare marbles and mural paintings. there is nothing too fine for the railroad passenger terminal of to-day in the united states. when the master fancy of the architect, richardson, designed the splendid stations at worcester and springfield, as well as a host of smaller attractive stations along the line of the boston & albany railroad, the beginnings were made. more recently this rising american desire for beauty and good taste has shown itself in such elaborate and artistic structures as the stations at albany and scranton. the last step has come in the designing of the palatial terminals in chicago, in washington, and in new york city. it would take a bold prophet to anticipate what the next step might be. chapter vii the freight terminals and the yards convenience of having freight stations at several points in a city--the pennsylvania railroad's scheme at new york as an example--coal handled apart from other freight--assorting the cars--the transfer house--charges for the use of cars not promptly returned to their home roads--the hard work of the yardmaster. all the folk who come and go upon the railroad know the passenger stations. few of them know the freight terminals. yet it is from this last source that the railroad will derive the greater part of its revenue. the freight terminals of a large city will be a group of plants, designed for varying purposes. the railroad handles its passenger business from a single structure, if possible. it is comparatively simple to gather all its passengers, even from a broad territory, within a great city, and so to concentrate this part of its traffic in a single well-located terminal. with the freight it is entirely a different question. the problem of trucking is one of the great problems of each of our large cities, and, in order to eliminate this as far as possible, the railroad, under the stimulus of competition, will establish freight stations at each point where any considerable volume of traffic is likely to originate. these stations will consist of a freight-house, for handling package-freight (your traffic expert calls this "lcl," meaning "less than carload"), and wagon yards for carload lots. perhaps there will be two freight-houses, one for inbound, the other for outbound traffic. the wagon yards will have to be ample for the accommodation of a host of trucks and drays as well as for the long rows of freight-cars. in addition to these stations, each large manufacturing plant is apt to be a freight station of itself, with a private switch running to its shipping-rooms and storage sheds; and in even a moderate-sized american city there may be from to of these sidings in active daily use. so much for the general commodity freight. then there are the special commodities. coal, for instance, is a freight business of itself. it is not handled in the regular stations of the railroad, but in specially designed pockets and storage sheds, which may be located at from one or two to half a hundred different accessible points about the city. one begins to see, after a little while, why the railroads now seize with avidity each opportunity to gain lines through the hearts of our cities. each line gained means some appreciable relief toward the taking up of a traffic burden that increases yearly. it is most probable that the freight terminals of the city will have to accommodate much more traffic than that which originates or terminates there. important lines of other railroads may intersect at that point, and the handling of interchange freight is a busy function of the terminal scheme. it may be an important point for lake, river, or ocean traffic; and in such a case, the industries at docks and docking facilities of every sort form other busy functions. there will be coal or ore wharves, elevators, and car-floats to enter into the scheme. so you see the railroad's freight terminal in any large city is like the fingers of its extended hand. the long tendons reach into every productive centre, gathering and distributing at from a dozen to fifty points, aside from the private sidings. it is obvious that these must be caught together somewhere; and generally upon the outskirts of an important traffic city the railroad creates an interchange yard where this freight, incoming and outgoing-- trains a day, perhaps--is gathered together and sorted with system and regularity, very much as the post office sorts the letters and the mail packages. to examine more closely this working of a modern freight terminal scheme, let us take a single plant of a single system. the great operation by which the pennsylvania railroad catches up and delivers its freight in the metropolitan district around new york is typical, and will illustrate. the pennsylvania works with at least freight stations, in addition to a great number of private sidings from its lines as they pass through eastern new jersey. these stations handle the freight of manhattan island, brooklyn, jersey city, hoboken, newark, and smaller centres; but in addition to them there are vast docks at which foreign steamers berth, lighterage facilities for both foreign and coasting steamers, and a tremendous freight interchange with the railroads running to the north and east. the coal business is there again, a separate institution with many piers and pockets; there is a group of bulky elevators that rise above the smoky, busy jersey shore, the whole going to make a sizable freight terminal. there are coal pockets, piers, elevators, and a local freight station at jersey city (the railroad men know it as harsemus cove), and another much larger plant at greenville on the west bank of the upper harbor, almost behind the statue of liberty. this last plant is just now awaiting its greatest development. the pennsylvania railroad, through its ownership control of the long island railroad, is building an encircling line, and tracks wide, around brooklyn, and crossing its passenger terminal yards at long island city. this encircling line--the new york connecting railroad it is called--will be continued by a splendid bridge over the east river to an actual connection with the new haven system reaching up into new england. when this is done, one of the bugaboos of the freightmen--the slow and ofttimes dangerous movement of barges and car-floats through the east river, past the entire length of manhattan island--will be ended. greenville will become the distributing point for the bulk of new england freight that comes and goes from the south and the west through new york. even at the present time greenville is a freight point of considerable magnitude. go out to waverley, the great sprawling interchange yard that reaches from newark almost to elizabeth along the edge of the jersey meadows, and watch the through trains come from greenville. they rank well to-day with the traffic that comes from harsemus cove already; and harsemus cove is soon to be as nothing. waverley is more than a mere junction. it was in the first instance the neck of the bottle where the double-track line from greenville, the main line from jersey city and harsemus cove, and the cut-off freight line that carries through traffic around the heart of great and growing newark, united to form the main line of the busy pennsylvania railroad. being a gateway by natural location the railroad sought to make it a gateway in reality. a big assorting or classification yard was built there for outgoing freight, and another for the incoming. storage tracks were added and one of the great transfer houses of the country--but of that, more in a moment. the business day ends at the many freight-houses along the waterfront of manhattan and brooklyn at four o'clock in the afternoon. at that hour, the railroad refuses to accept any more freight for the day, car-doors are closed and sealed with rapidity; in a short time the long and clumsy floats are being hauled by pert little tugs toward harsemus or greenville. there is not much loafing at either of those points along about supper-time. switching crews show feverish activity in snatching the cars from the floats, and yardmasters bend themselves nervously toward forming the long trains that are to go rumbling toward the west throughout the night. stand in the switch-tower at waverley, and you will begin to cultivate a wholesome respect for the freight traffic that comes out from a great city at nightfall. a through train from greenville is billed to pittsburgh, and only hesitates long enough at waverley to take the switch-points at that busy junction with care. three minutes behind it is a through chicago train from harsemus cove, and it goes stolidly through the gateway yard without pausing. you wonder why they keep an expert yardmaster and half a dozen switching crews at waverley. within five minutes you wonder no longer. they are beginning to get the unassorted cars from the terminals, cars that are bound for more than a score of states. the work of sorting begins. the night yardmaster is a general, and he has an army of lesser officers in the field. you can trace them through the night, as, lanterns in hand, they are running along the trains (these are pulling in from the waterfront every five minutes now), cutting out cars, adding cars, vamping and revamping the freight traffic of the night. this track receives through freight for philadelphia, the next for pittsburgh, the third for cincinnati, the fourth for washington and the points diverging therefrom. so it goes. when the assorting process has been in progress for more than an hour at one end of the classification tracks, there are long trains of cars upon them ready to run solid to some large city or important distributing point. after that it is a simple enough matter to bring engines and cabooses and start the trains through. then the sorting of the cars is begun again and continues until the freight receiving points and the freight interchange points in the metropolitan district have been swept clean for the night. the transfer-house repeats the assorting process, only upon a smaller scale, for it handles package freight--"less than carload." it is a long structure, stretching its way down the yard and served by to long sidings and unloading sheds. it takes the "lcl" stuff coming by night from the connecting railroads and from the metropolitan freight-houses, and a little after midnight its workers begin the sorting of this great mass of matter, from to carloads a day. here is a really great phase of railroad energy. we find our way to a gaunt freight-house, to whose door no truck has ever backed, and which is hemmed in by many rows of sidings and of sheds. in this building one of the busiest functions of the whole transportation business goes forth by day and by night. you ship a box--sixty pounds to one hundred pounds--from wilkes-barre, pa., to berlin, wis. here comes another box from watertown, n. y., to norfolk, va. a third is bound from easthampton, mass., to chillicothe, o.; a fourth from terre haute, ind., to plainfield, n. j., and so on, _ad infinitum_. you can readily see how in such cases the railroads have a problem in freight that closely approximates that of the government mail service. ten thousand currents and cross-currents of merchandise rising here and there and everywhere, and crossing and recrossing on their way to destination, make a puzzle that does not cease when the rate-sheet experts have finished their difficult work. if all the freight might be expressed in even multiples of cars the problem would not be quite so appalling. but your box is a hundred pounds weight, or less, perhaps--"lcl" anyway. from its destination it goes with other boxes in a car to the nearest transfer point. at the transfer house the car in which it is placed is drilled quickly into an infreight track, seals are broken, doors opened, and re-assorting begins. the transfer-house is roomy and systematic. if it were anything less it would resemble chaos. but the chief freight points of that particular system and its connecting points have regular stands, upon which nightly are placed cars bound for these points. each city (in the case of a large city each freight-house), each transfer point, has a number, and its through car stands opposite that number. when the infreight arrives and is unloaded piece by piece, a checker, who is nothing less than an animated guide-book, gives each its proper number, and it is promptly trucked off to the waiting car. it is mail-sorting on a titanic scale. nor is this an absolute order. certain towns demand an occasional through car from time to time, and a car must be assigned number and place at the transfer-house against such emergencies. sometimes there is more than enough freight to fill the car allotted to any given point, and then one of the switching crews must drill that out and find another empty to replace it. beyond that, the yardmaster's superiors are all the time demanding that he show judgment in picking the cars to be filled. when a freight car gets off the system to which it belongs it collects forfeits from the other lines over which it passes, if they do not expedite its passage; this the railroaders know as "_per diem_." the great trick in operating is to keep _per diem_ down; and so the "foreign" cars, so called, must be promptly returned to their home roads. "we load out of the transfer-house a through car over the northwestern from chicago every day," the man who has this yard in charge explains. "it's up to me to have a northwestern empty for that when i can. when i can't, i do the best i can." he scratches his head. "perhaps i'll use a canadian pacific, and so get her started along toward home. if not, something from the sault; just as i am going to start that new haven car over toward connecticut to-night. if i were to send that new haven car out beyond washington there'd be trouble, and i've got to dig out something empty from the boston & maine to take that stuff over to lowell. mos' generally, though, when we've got a turn of western stuff, i've got my 'empty' tracks stuffed full o' them new england cars." we mention something about the transfer-house being a mighty good thing. "it's a necessary evil," says our guide, correcting us. he starts to explain. "see here. the x----, over in its jersey city transfer-house, got near a carload of that fancy porcelain brick through from haverstraw las' week, and that young whelp of a college boy that's hangin' round there learnin' the railroad business gets it into his noodle that it's somethin' awful, awful for that stuff to be goin' through to middle ohio in a maine central box, an 'lcl' at that. so out he dumps it into a system car right here an' now, and saves his road about one dollar and fifty cents _per diem_. of course they pay about one hundred and thirty-five dollars for damages to that brick in the transferrin'. but the boy's all right in the transfer-house. if he was out on the engine he might blow up the biler." * * * * * here is another great railroad yard--this almost filling a mighty crevice between god's eternal hills. this is within the mountain country, and the gossip that you get around the roundhouse is all of grades. you hear how smith and the , pulled seven pullmans around the saddleback without a pusher; how some of the big preference freights take four engines to mount the summit; the tales of daring are tales of pushers and of trains breaking apart on the fearful mountain stretches. randall is yardmaster here, and randall is the opposite of the layman's picture of a yardmaster--a slovenly, worn, profane sort of fellow. randall does not swear; he rarely even gets excited; his system of administration is so perfectly devised that even in a stress he rarely has to turn to work with his own hands. with him railroading is a fine, practical science. he will tell you of the methods at collinwood, at altoona, at buffalo, at chicago--wherein they differ. he is cool, calculating, clever, a capital railroader in addition to all these. [illustration: something over a million dollars' worth of passenger cars are constantly stored in this yard] [illustration: a scene in the great freight-yards that surround chicago] [illustration: the intricacy of tracks and the "throat" of a modern terminal yard: south station, boston, and its approaches] you speak of his yard as being overwhelmingly big. he answers in his deliberate way: "we've more than miles of track in this yard; something more than , switches operate it." then he takes you down from his office, elevated in an abandoned switch-tower, and looking down upon his domain. he explains with great care that, his yard being a main-line division point and not a point with many intersecting branches or "foreign roads," its transfer-house is inconsequential. the same process that goes forward with the package-freight in the transfer-houses, randall carries on in this yard with cars. these operations are separated for east-bound and west-bound freight and each is given an entirely separate yard, easily reached from the group of roundhouses that hold the freight motive power of that part of the system. randall's, being an unusually large yard, further divides these activities into separate yards for loaded and empty cars on the west-bound side. no east-bound "empties" are handled over his road. we follow him to the nearest operating point, the west-bound classification yard for loaded cars. in the old days this was a broad flat reach of about parallel tracks, terminating at each end in approaches of lead of "ladder" track. upon each set of or tracks a switch-engine is busy in the eternal classification process. in these more modern days you may see the "hump" or gravity-yard, although you will still find skilled railroaders who are prejudiced against its use. in the hump-yard half of the work of the switch-engines is done by gravity. this new type of railroad facility has an artificial hill, just above the termination of the parallel tracks where they cluster together, and upon this hump one switch-engine with a trained crew does the work of six engines and crews in the old type of yard. a preference freight rolls into the receiving yard for the west-bound classification. its engine uncouples and steams off for a well-earned rest in the smoky roundhouse. a switch-engine uncouples the caboose that has been tacked on behind over the division, and it is shunted off to the near-by caboose track, where its crew will have close oversight of it--perhaps sleep in it--until it is ready to accompany some east-bound freight a few hours hence. blue flags (blue lights at night) are fastened at each end of the dismantled cars, and the inspectors have a quarter of an hour to make sure if the equipment is in good order. if the car is found with broken running-gear it is marked, and soon after drilled out from its fellows, sent to the transfer-house to have its contents removed, to the shops for repairs, or the "cripple" track for junk, if its case is well-nigh hopeless. with the "o. k." of the car inspectors finally pronounced, the train that was comes up to the hump, and the expert crew that operates there makes short work of sorting out the cars--this track for "stuff" southwest of pittsburgh, this next for cleveland and chicago, the third for transcontinental; and so it goes. two lines of cars are drilled at the same time, for just ahead of the switch-engine is an open-platform car, known as the "pole-car," and by means of heavy timbers the "pole-man" guides two rows of heavy cars down the slight grades to their resting-places. the cars do not rest long upon the classification-yard tracks. from the far end of each of these they are being gathered in solid trains, one for pittsburgh, another for cleveland and chicago, the third transcontinental, and so on. engines of the next division are being hitched to them, pet "hacks" brought from the caboose tracks, and the long strings of loaded box-cars are off toward the west in incredibly short time. of course there are some trains that never go upon the "classification" at randall's yard. there are solid coal trains bound in and out of new york, of philadelphia, and of boston, that pass him empty and filled, and only change engines and cabooses at his command. there are through freights, bound from one seaboard to the other, from the far east to the far west, that do likewise. but the majority of the freight movement has the sorting out within his domain, his four humps are busy day and night with an ordinary run of traffic, and you shudder to think what must be the condition when business begins to run at high tide. "we get it a-humming every once in a while," he finally confesses. "we had one day, a little time ago, when we received east-bound trains in twenty-four hours, more than , cars all told. that meant, on an average, a train every - / minutes. that same day we got west-bound freights, with more than , cars. that meant nearly , cars handled on the in-freight in twenty-four hours, or a train coming in to me every - / minutes during day and night. they don't do much better than that on some of the subway and elevated railroads in the big cities; and i haven't said a word about the trains and cars we despatched--just about as much again, of course." through yards such as these there are incoming streams of merchandise, equal at least to the outgoing, passing through classification yards in carload lots and the great transfer-houses in "lcl." these streams must be kept separate and from clogging one another or themselves. cars must carry loads whenever they are moved--"empties" are the bogy-men of the superintendents of transportation--and cars from "foreign" systems must be quickly returned to their home roads. the yardmaster at a busy freight point has his own worries. his puzzle is unending. to it he must bend the bigness of a big mind, he must be prepared to handle the unequal volumes of traffic that pass through his domain with an equal skill: in dull times he must seek to keep his plant working under conditions of rare economy; when the freight rises to flood tide, he must fight in harness to prevent the freight from congesting. the word "failure" has been stricken out of his vocabulary by his superiors. it takes a high grade of railroader to serve as yardmaster. chapter viii the locomotives and the cars honor required in the building of a locomotive--some of the early locomotives--some notable locomotive-builders--increase of the size of engines--stephenson's air-brake--the workshops--the various parts of the engine--cars of the old-time--improvements by winans and others--steel cars for freight. from out of the fiery womb of steel comes the locomotive. we have already told of the honor that is forged in the building of the bridge; honor of no less degree has gone into the forging of the most vital and most human thing upon the railroad, outside of man himself. that man has ever been able to create and build the locomotive, a giant creature of some tons, perhaps, built together with infinite care of some , to , parts, and these parts acting with the delicacy of the hair-spring of a watch, almost passes ordinary belief. the wonder becomes even greater when it is realized that this monster creature, set upon two slender rails, is capable of pulling a , ton train, through every stress of weather and over considerable grades. to tell in detail of the locomotive in one chapter is short allowance to a subject that fairly demands for itself a whole book, a technical mind for the telling, and at least a fairly technical mind for the understanding; a subject that in its history goes hand in hand with that of the railroad itself. yet the limitations of this book forbid a more lengthy description. we have already told of a very few of the earliest and most famous american locomotives; the _stourbridge lion_, which horatio allen brought to the delaware & hudson company; the _best friend_, which was built in new york city, and which went to charleston, south carolina, to be the first american locomotive to run in the united states, the _de witt clinton_, which awoke the echoes of the hudson and mohawk valleys in a single day; and the _tom thumb_, built by peter cooper, which induced the directors of the baltimore & ohio railroad to change their motive power from horses to steam, and so opened a great new development for their property. a little while after cooper's _tom thumb_ had achieved the astounding feat of beating a team of horses in hauling a railroad coach, the directors of the b. & o. offered a prize of $ , "for the most approved engine that shall be delivered for trial upon the road on or before june , ; and $ , for the engine which shall be adjudged the next best." it was determined in this prospectus that "the engine, when in operation must not exceed three and one-half tons weight and must, on a level road, be capable of drawing day by day fifteen tons, inclusive of the weight of wagons, fifteen miles an hour." three locomotives answered this generous offer. of them but one, the _york_, oftener called the _arabian_, built at york, pa., by davis & gartner, and hauled to baltimore by horses over the turnpikes, was of practical service. phineas davis was a watch and clock maker, but he succeeded in devising a locomotive that was the forerunner of the famous _grasshopper_ upon the baltimore & ohio. better name was never given to a locomotive, the rude and ungainly angles formed by rods and levers giving a distinct resemblance to the long-legged bugs. yet the grasshoppers served their purpose. in the late eighties, the _arabian_ was still in service in the mount clare yards at baltimore. with a single exception, it never had an accident or even left the rails. that exception was just before the completion of the washington branch, and davis was a passenger upon the engine. it was going at a fair rate of speed when suddenly it rolled over upon its side in the ditch. no one was hurt, save davis, who was instantly killed. it seemed a strange caprice of fate, for although careful examination was immediately made, both of the engine and of the track, no reason could ever be assigned for the accident. in that same year, , the _john bull_, which was built by george & robert stephenson & company, of newcastle-on-tyne, in england, was received in philadelphia for the camden & amboy railroad. as long as the locomotive continues to serve the railroad the name of george stephenson, its inventor, must be indissolubly linked with it. the _john bull_ was easily the most famous stephenson engine ever sent to the united states. it has been shown at all our great expositions, and now occupies a position of honor in the great smithsonian institution at washington. of these early engines, which it was found necessary to bring from england, a volume once issued by the rogers locomotive works, of paterson, n. j., has said: "these locomotives ... furnished the types and patterns from which those which were afterwards built here were fashioned. but american designs soon began to depart from their british prototypes, and a process of adaption to the existing conditions of the railroads in this country followed, which afterwards differentiated the american locomotives more and more from those built in great britain. a marked feature of difference between american and english locomotives has been the use of a forward truck under the former." as a matter of fact, the english engines, built for use on long straight stretches of line would never have served on the early roads in this country with their steep and curving routes through the mountains. so, in the latter part of the year , john b. jervis invented what he called "a new plan of frame, with a bearing-carriage for a locomotive engine" for the use of the mohawk & hudson railroad, in which he introduced the forward truck which is to-day a distinctive feature of american engines. its effectiveness was at once recognized, and its almost general adoption immediately followed. five years later, henry r. campbell, of philadelphia, had patented his system of two driving-wheels and a truck, and the distinctive type of american locomotive was born. in the development of that peculiarly successful type, great names have been written into the history of american locomotive-building--the names of such men as rogers and winans and hinckley and mason and brooks and matthias baldwin and william norris; the last two both of philadelphia. norris, after some interesting smaller engines, built the _george washington_ in . this engine was not one whit less than a triumph. it ascended the steep plane of the columbia railroad in philadelphia, a grade of - / per cent, carrying two passenger cars in which were seated persons. it came to a stop on that grade and started up again by its own efforts. after reaching the summit, the engine was turned around and came down, stopping once in its descent. that was the only time that a locomotive ever essayed the columbia plane, and the performance of the _george washington_ has not been attempted in all these years save in the case of latrobe's temporary line at kingwood tunnel. the english newspapers of that day ridiculed the experiment, pronounced it a baron munchausen story, yet in norris sent an engine overseas that successfully climbed the then famous lickey plane, in england. after that he was besieged by foreign orders, sending american locomotives to great britain in , and, during the next few years, others to france, germany, prussia, austria, belgium, italy, and saxony. william norris did his full part in giving europe a measure of respect for the growing nation across the atlantic. matthias baldwin, like phineas davis, of york, was a watch maker in the beginning of his life. he lived long enough to lay the foundation of one of the greatest of american single industries, to give his name to a firm that has carried the fame of american locomotives around the world and kept it alive in every nation of the earth. baldwin's first locomotive was built in for the philadelphia, germantown, and norristown railroad; and that it was a good locomotive is proved by the fact that it performed twenty years of faithful service upon that line. his second engine, built two years later, went south to that famous old charleston & hamburg company. after that his works were regularly established, their head to give his patience and untiring genius to the perfecting of the locomotive. the history of baldwin locomotives is, in an important sense, the history of the industry in the united states. it was not long before the pioneer engines were considered too small for much practical value, and mr. baldwin was building a much bigger locomotive for the vermont central railroad. this engine, named the _governor paine_ for a famous executive of that state, was delivered in , and for it was paid the unprecedented price of $ , . it had a pair of driving-wheels, six and one-half feet in diameter placed just back of the fire-box, a slightly smaller pair being placed forward. baldwin must have given full value, for it is related that the engine could be started from a state of rest and run a mile in forty-three seconds. the pennsylvania railroad ordered three of the same sort, and one of these once hauled a special train carrying president zachary taylor at sixty miles an hour. in weight, the locomotive was steadily increasing. in the beginning, these engines weighed from four to seven tons each; by the late forties engines of twenty-five tons each were being built for the reading road, and these were regarded as monsters. year by year the locomotive was being perfected in all its details. the cab made its appearance and was first opposed by the engineers, who imagined that they would be badly penned in, in case of accident. the erie contributed the bell-rope signal from the train; we have already heard of that first whistle on the locomotive of the sandusky and mad river railroad. the boston & worcester devised the headlight, so that time might be saved by handling freight at night. more important than these were the experiments by ross winans and by s. m. felton that led to the substitution of coal for wood as a fuel, and the development by rogers at his paterson works of the link device, so necessary in stopping, starting, and reversing the locomotive. gradually the size of the locomotive increased to and tons in the late fifties. finally james milholland, engineer of machinery for the philadelphia & reading railroad, built in a pusher engine for coal trains that weighed something over tons. when folk saw that engine they almost gasped, and wondered what the railroads were coming to. but the wiser men kept silent. they knew that as long as bridges and roadbeds and fine steel rails were increased in strength, the limit of size of the locomotive had not been reached. the greater grip the locomotive has upon the rail, the greater its pulling power, the greater its efficiency. sheer weight, and weight alone, gives that grip. it certainly takes a weight of seven tons to give a grip of one ton upon a dry rail; in the case of wet rails this ratio becomes ten to one. then wonder not that the locomotive steadily increased in size, that the moguls with six driving-wheels, and the consolidations with eight, came into vogue a few years after the close of the war, and that these kept increasing in weight all the while. height and width were and still are rigidly limited by the clearance of the line. the locomotive must stand no more than fourteen or sixteen feet high and from nine to eleven feet wide; in length the problem only meets the genius of the designer. but it is altogether possible that the limit of the size of the locomotive would have been reached long ago if it had not been for the coming of the air-brake. this most important assurance of the safety of the railroad passenger came into its being in , when george westinghouse, its inventor, was permitted to try it on a panhandle train. from the beginning of railroads the necessity for brakes was apparent, and in robert stephenson patented a steam brake for the driving-wheels. that same brake, with compressed air substituted for steam, is essentially the westinghouse device of to-day. but westinghouse made the air do the work of steam. after he had developed the idea he offered it to leading eastern railroads, but they one and all declined it. finally, he was permitted to place it on a panhandle train, full assurance having been given to the railroad officials that he would be personally responsible for any injury done to their equipment. four cars and an engine were fitted with the new device and the train started forth from pittsburgh to steubenville. on the way its progress was halted by a farm wagon which was caught in the rail at a highway crossing. the engineer whistled for the handbrakes in the good old-fashioned way but he knew that he was too late. then he thought of the air-brake. he had little faith in the contraption, but he gave its handle a wrench and the train stopped ten feet from the wagon. several lives were saved and the air-brake was proven. from that day forth it was simply a question of developing the device to its fullest possibility, and mr. westinghouse has proved himself able to do that very thing. the air-brake was a fact. steel had come into use for axles, driving-wheel tires, frames, and every other vital or bearing part of the locomotive; and the designers were again increasing its size. they passed the _consolidation_ and built the _mastodon_. these were freighters--each with ten drivers--drivers with tremendous gripping force. they went through what m. n. forney has called a "period of adolescence in railroad progress," and in that period they experimented with huge driving-wheels only to discard them once again. then they built bigger engines than even the _mastodon_; the _decapod_, with twelve driving-wheels; the _el gobernador_ which was built by the southern pacific at its sacramento shops in , weighing, with engine and tender fully equipped, tons. still the locomotive grows and its progenitors talk of the -ton machine. they have recently built the mallet articulated compound, which because of its very great weight has splendid gripping force and is especially adapted for pushing-service on heavy grades. the baltimore & ohio, the erie, the new york central, the great northern, and the santa fe have already become committed to this type of engine. the american locomotive company has just completed for the delaware & hudson several mallet articulated compounds that are among the most powerful locomotives yet constructed. they were designed for pusher service, on heavy grades, north from carbondale on the main line of the d. & h., which average from . to . per cent. up to recently the heavy northbound coal traffic up these grades has been handled by the use of two heavy pusher engines. a single one of the new mallets will do the work of the two pushers, and therein lies the economy in their use. these new giants are, in operation, two -wheel engines, with individual cylinders, steam chests and supplies from a single boiler and fire-box. the gripping power of driving-wheels under the enormous weight of tons can be imagined; the designers estimate it at the high figure of forty-three tons. the exceptional length of these monster engines--a fraction over ninety feet--is carried around the curves of mountainous lines by an ingenious joint in their solid steel frames. this then is only the latest of american engines; but not quite the biggest, for the topeka shops of the santa fe railroad claim that honor with their new mallets, each feet long and weighing complete , pounds. the -ton locomotive does not seem so very far away when one comes to consider the santa fe giants. these engines, which are operated in pushing freights over the heavy grades in the southwest, were built from two of the santa fe's heaviest freight engines. they operate with equal facility in either direction as there is not a turntable in the land which would come anywhere near accommodating them. [illustration: one of the "diamond-stack" locomotives used on the pennsylvania railroad in the early seventies prairie type passenger locomotive of the lake shore pacific type passenger locomotive of the new york central atlantic type passenger locomotive, built by the pennsylvania railroad at its altoona shops] [illustration: one of the great mallet pushing engines of the delaware & hudson company a ten-wheeled switching locomotive of the lake shore suburban passenger locomotive of the new york central consolidation freight locomotive of the pennsylvania] in recent years, the rather graceful custom of giving names to the classification of locomotives has been extended to the passenger motive-power. in , the baldwins created the atlantic type of four-driver locomotive for high-speed service both on the atlantic coast line and on the atlantic city railroad, from camden to the ocean--and the name has stuck. the brooks plant of the american locomotive company at dunkirk similarly developed the pacific type for passenger locomotives with six drivers instead of four. the prairie type was appropriately enough sponsored by the burlington system. it is like the pacific type save that the forward or lead truck (the englishman would blandly call it the "bogey") has but two instead of the conventional four wheels. your locomotive-builder is apt to be more systematic about these types of engine, and he falls back on what is generally known as whyte's classification. the basis of this simple system is in the number of wheels of the engine itself. each type is described by a series of three numbers, the first of these being the number of wheels in front of the drivers, the second the number of drivers, and the third the number of wheels to the rear of these. the eight-wheel american type, the simplest for illustration here, would thus be described as " - - ." the trailer, which is described by the third number in this series, is a recent addition to the locomotive family in this country. it came from the constant lengthening of the fire-box, due to the necessity of providing greater steam-power for engines of increasing weight and cylinder capacity. when the fire-box began to overhang too far, the trailer-wheels were introduced, and a device was affixed to the locomotive by which they might receive its weight for hill-climbing purposes. this last device has not proved particularly successful. but the trailer itself has become a fixed device in locomotive construction. when the third figure in whyte's classification is a cypher it simply means that there are no trailers. similarly the first figure a cypher, indicates the absence of a forward truck or even wheels, which is common in some forms of switch-engines, where the weight is entirely concentrated on the drivers for better gripping power upon the rail. such, in brief, is the development of the locomotive. it has been development rather than change, for while some designers have fretted about whether the engine's cab should be in the middle of the boiler or at its end and others have recently developed the walsheart gears upon the outside of the engine frame, where it is of easier access than the old-style links, the general design of the iron-horse remains practically the same as that given it by our grand-daddies. they planned carefully and they planned for the long years. the essential features of their designs have not been questioned. it has simply been a problem of growth. * * * * * from out of the fiery womb of steel comes the locomotive. if you would better understand the iron horse, find your way to any of the great plants in which he is being built. begin at the beginning in a factory, which seems, with dozens of shops and great yards, to be almost a miniature city. begin at the draughting-rooms where each locomotive is given a whole ledger page--sometimes two or three--for specifications. from those specifications, the young draughtsmen take their instructions. they work out their charts and elevations, their detailed plans; and the ink is hardly dry upon their drawings before they are being whisked away to the blueprint rooms. the blueprints are still damp, when in turn they are hurried to the different construction shops of the plant. you see these shops, one by one, in care of an expert guide. you see the wooden patterns going to the blast furnaces at the foundries and to the sullen tappings of the trip-hammers. you leave the blacksmiths and stand for a moment--not long--under the terrific din of the boiler-makers. the boiler, the great trunk of the locomotive, is built of steel plate--plate that is the very pride of the rolling-mills. in some foreign lands, copper fire-boxes are demanded; but the real american locomotive has these also of steel. the steel plates are rolled to form the boiler itself, flanged by angle-workers into the square fire-box. finally the boiler and the fire-box are riveted together, section by section--made as fast by steel thread as man's ingenuity can make them. together they form a unit. another unit is being formed in an adjacent shop, the solidly welded steel frame in which the boiler shall yet set, and to which truck and drivers will be firmly fastened. forward on this frame will sit the cylinders; in another corner of this shop they are being made ready. cast-iron still remains the best material for the cylinders and the steam-chests. these are cast in one piece and the rule holds good where there are two cylinders, as in the case of the compounds. the cylinders, and steam-chest for one side and half the "saddle" of the locomotive, upon which the forward end of the boiler rests, are nowadays generally made in a single casting. after that it is a simple enough matter to smooth down the outer surface, bore the cylinders to perfect surfacing, and line the steam-chests with a bushing that can be readily removed once it is worn out. the driving-wheels are an important detail of the construction of the locomotive. they are made in rough castings--of steel for fast passenger engines, and of iron for other forms of motive power--and are then made true in giant lathes. the steel tires are shrunk on the wheels, a work of astounding nicety; and in turn the wheels themselves are heated and shrunk upon the axles--of the best steel that man can forge. to place these wheels upon the axles is hair-line work. a -inch hub receives an axle just . inches--no more, no less--in diameter. it is keyed and then under the slight expansion of a gentle heat it is rammed upon the axle-end. it goes on to stay, and stay it must. from all these shops, a busy industrial railroad brings the different parts to the great and busy hall of the erecting-shop, a vast place of vast distances and filled always with the noisy clatter of great industry. here the different parts, which have been carefully built by skilled artisans, are assembled into the finished whole. the cylinders and saddle-halves are placed and firmly riveted together. into the collar of that saddle a giant overhead crane carefully sets the boiler and the fire-box. they are quickly riveted to the upper flange of the saddle: the locomotive is coming into a semblance of itself. the cab is fastened into position; then the boiler-makers descend upon the unfinished engine and place the or more flue-tubes that run from fire-box to smoke-box, just underneath the stack. they make every tube and joint fast--put into the growing locomotive all the energy and all the skill of good workmanship. when they are gone the giant crane again comes noiselessly down along the ceiling. it reaches down, grasps the engine-trunk, and swings it high aloft. down there, resting on real railroad tracks, are the driving-wheels and the lead truck, carefully spaced in anticipation. the crane, lifting the fifty tons of boiler and frame with no apparent effort whatsoever, places its load squarely upon the wheels that are to carry it. again the mechanics are busy; the engine is growing into a solid unit. upon their heels follow testers, men who must look for steam or water leaks. they work under a test of air, carrying lighted candles into every nook and cranny of the giant. if the candle flutters, air is escaping, and the leak must be found. finally comes the report "o. k." from the testing crew. the stacks, the steam and sand domes, and the air-brakes are being made fast. the engine is hurried off to the paint-shop. there it may find its companion in life, the humble useful tender already awaiting it. it came direct from the tender shop; for the appendage of the locomotive is no longer a specially rigged flat-car but a solid steel plate construction built to carry some , gallons of water and about tons of coal. only a little time ago, a new yorker, scion of a wealthy and famous family of railroaders, proved himself worth his oats by designing a tender of great practicability and of great economy of construction. when the engine emerges from the paint-shop it is gorgeous and refulgent--brilliantly new. unless it is going to foreign lands, when it must be partly dismantled and crated, it will ride its own wheels to the road which has purchased it. a string of new locomotives may be sprinkled through a freight train--never coupled together--in charge of an inspector from the locomotive company, who will bunk in one of the cabs and never leave his charges until they have been receipted for. after that the locomotive begins to bend to the work for which he was created. unless he is of a very unusual sort or was built for some very especial purpose, he soon loses his identity. the days are gone when locomotives were christened after the fashion of ships. there are too many of them. each is given the cold informality of a number, marshalled for service in a mighty company. cars came as corollary to the locomotive. in the beginning the passenger coaches were nothing more or less than old-time stage-coaches which had been set upon wheels so flanged as to enable them to stay upon the rail. so it was that the first cars built for the railroad followed stage-coach models. it was a practical necessity from the first to draw more than one small coach at a time, so the couplings and the bumper devices came as a matter of development. then came the day when an aspiring inventor grouped several stage-coaches together on a single rigid frame and he had really developed a form of railroad coach--a form which our english and continental cousins still cling fondly to, in despite of its most apparent disadvantages. four wheels quickly gave way to eight. in the early thirties, ross winans developed a double-truck car for use on the baltimore & ohio. compared with anything that had gone before it was certainly a pretentious vehicle. it was thirty feet in length, four-wheel trucks being attached at the ends, very much after the present fashion. there were seats on the flat roof, which were reached by a ladder in the corner, and the car itself was divided into three compartments. a little later winans tore out the cross partitions in the car and introduced the end doors and the centre aisle, thus establishing the american passenger coach of to-day. the baltimore & ohio manufactured a number of these coaches at its famous mount clare shops. they were known for years as the "washington cars," probably because they were the first run on the washington branch. if winans had been able to establish his patent rights to the double-truck car he might have reaped a fortune from its royalties alone. but when he went to assert his right as an inventor, it was discovered that the idea was not absolutely new. gridley bryant, in his old quincy granite railroad, just south of boston, had used the device in crude form. the four-wheeled flat cars which he had employed in bringing stone from the quarries down to the dock were not long enough for granite slabs. he had met that emergency by fastening two of them together with coupling-rings, and thus in a way had created the eight-wheel car. so winans lost his patent although credit is given him for having really developed the passenger car of to-day. the form, once set, came quickly into vogue. in a few of the southern states, old-fashioned gentlemen followed the early english fashion of having their private carriages attached to flat freight-cars whenever they went on railroad trips, but even this was a passing fad. at that time carriages were no novelty, and railroad cars were. they were stuffy little affairs compared with the coaches of to-day, miserably lighted and heated and ventilated, but americans were very proud of them. the fashion that made early locomotives gay with color, with brass and burnished metals of other sorts, found full scope upon the passenger cars, both inside and out. they were pannelled and striped, ornamented and lettered to the limit of the skill of gifted painters. a coach, named the morris run, on the old tioga railroad, which began running south from elmira about , was decorated in red and green and yellow and blue and gilt and several other colors. it would have made a modern circus band wagon inconspicuous. but the day came when the brass stars and the red stack-bands began to disappear with the names from the locomotives and in that day the railroad cars became subdued in colorings. some of the gay frescoes of the interiors, typical of the taste of an earlier day, were in use within the present generation. while the "washington cars" set a type, there was much yet to be accomplished in the development both of the passenger coach and of the freight car, and this much was chiefly in the line of the development of safety devices. the old-time passenger rode in a very decent fear of his life. sometimes a loosened end of one of the "strap rails" would come plunging up through the flimsy floor of the coach and impale some unfortunate passenger upon its end against the ceiling; other times the cars would go rolling off the banks and crashing into kindling-wood against one another. they were lightly built contrivances, incapable of standing any sort of shock or collision. but improvements came one by one--better devices for coupling them together, culminating in the modern automatic "jaw coupler," better framing, better platforms, better trucks, improved hand-brakes; and after them the now universal air-brakes made life safer both for the traveller and the railroad employee. finally came the steel-end vestibule; and where cars have been equipped with this very comfortable device, telescoping in collision, a very common and disastrous accident in which one car-shell enveloped another, has been rendered impossible. the car-platforms for many years remained a menace and a problem. an early railroad in new jersey sought to emphasize their danger by painting on an inner panel of each car-door a picture of a newly made grave, surmounted by a tombstone, on which was inscribed: "sacred to the memory of a man who stood upon a platform." the railroad used every method to keep its passengers off the platforms at first. afterwards they began to encourage it and to devise means to promote a general intercourse between the cars. the dining-car, of which much more in another chapter, was a prime factor in this change of attitude on the part of railroad officers. its use necessitated passengers going the length of the train, a movement which, in itself, was facilitated by the main design of american cars, as differentiated from those of english railroads. when the english roads began the universal use of dining-cars they had to revamp the entire plan of their car construction and produce what are still known across the atlantic as "corridor trains." to make such communication safe, george m. pullman, the sleeping-car man, set forth to devise a platform protection. back in the fifties there had been something of the sort on the old naugatuck railroad in connecticut, rough canvas curtains enclosing the platforms; but these had been built to facilitate car ventilation, and failing in this, they were abandoned after three or four years of trial. pullman did better. he devised a platform enclosure of folding doors and placed a steel frame at the end of his vestibule that did more than merely protect passengers from the stress of weather; these, of course, then served as effective anti-telescoping devices. the pennsylvania railroad began the use of these vestibules in and they were soon universally adopted by american railroads on their fast through trains. after that a better vestibule was devised by col. w. d. mann, one that extended the full width of the car. in fact the platform of the car had practically ceased to exist, the structure being full-framed to include its entrances at both ends. after the vestibule came the steel car, introduced within the past ten years for freight service, and within the past five or six for passenger equipment. it has everything to commend it, save a slightly increased original cost, which is more than compensated by economy of maintenance, to say nothing of the intangible but certain raised factor of safety. it is to become universal; the wooden car will become extinct upon american railroads almost as soon as the present equipment is worn out and sent to the scrap-heap. of the forms and varieties of railroad passenger coaches there are many, and these will be described when we come to consider in a later chapter the luxury of modern railroad travel. but the variety of passenger equipment quite pales before that of the freight service. flat-cars, coal-cars, box-cars, grain-cars, live-stock cars--the list runs on into catalogue form. there are refrigerator cars that are kept filled with salt and ice or ice alone, precooled cars that are merely kept air-tight, and ventilator cars employing a distinct reverse of that method; and up in northern climates there are heater-cars which are kept warm by lamps or by stoves and which are used for the transportation of fresh fruit and vegetables in winter just as the refrigerator-cars and the precooled cars are used for that same purpose in summer. almost all the safety devices that have been added to the running-gear of the passenger equipment have been added to the freight equipment also, to the great safety and peace of mind of the railroad employee. the car itself remains the simple essential of the very beginnings of the railroad. its change has been a change in size, in weight, and in strength. the first freight cars of the very old railroad at mauch chunk weighed , pounds each, and were permitted to carry a weight or "burden" of only , pounds. when the boston & albany first began using freight cars feet long, it was so confused that it gave each end of the car a separate number for convenience in billing and designating consignments. nowadays tons is the right load for an efficient car, although they go as high as and tons' capacity; the car itself may weigh approximately half that figure. freight cars by hundreds of thousands go bumping all over the different railroads of the land, and all the while they are getting bumped and broken in accidents--large and small. in such cases they are hauled to the nearest shop of the railroad upon which they are travelling and there repaired at the cost of the road that owns them. in earlier days, the job of master mechanic was no sinecure, for each road built its cars upon its own plans and no two of these plans were alike. a simple broken part necessitated the manufacture of a new part. it was a matter of great confusion and expensive to every line. the organization of the master car builders, in , solved that problem. this organization, through committee, made first the freight car standard and then the passenger standard. axles, bolts, king-pins--every one of the intricate car-parts--were brought to standard and numbered sizes. after that all that a master mechanic had to do was to keep an assortment of standard car parts in his store-room, and he could make reasonable repairs to any car that travelled rails. the standardization has gone steadily forward year by year; it has included a variety of things, even such details as systematic numbering and lettering of cars. it is one of the evidences of the constant bettering of the american railroad, the steady effort to bring it to an economical and scientific basis. recently some of the railroads have made intelligent experiments, seeking to devise a vehicle that should be both locomotive and car, and that should be especially adapted for small side-lines, where traffic runs exceedingly light. some success has been found in the use of a passenger coach, into which a gasolene engine has been introduced, and several of these cars are in regular use in the west. two or three of them have been employed for three or four years on union pacific branches in and around denver. they render a possible solution for one railroad problem--the problem of providing sufficient service for some branch where local traffic is slight. the gasolene car requires but two men, as against a minimum crew of five men for even the smallest steam passenger train. it can be quickly handled, will make many successive stops readily, and generally provides an efficient addition to the regular passenger equipment. a few years ago it would have given the standard steam railroads an excellent weapon against the constant encroachments of paralleling electric roads through their good passenger traffic districts; even to-day it offers a possible solution of the difficult problem of the very small branch side-lines. chapter ix rebuilding a railroad reconstruction necessary in many cases--old grades too heavy--curves straightened--tunnels avoided--these improvements required especially by freight lines. to the operating heads of the great railroad systems, rebuilding a line is to-day a far more important problem than the building of new routes. the country has grown--grown in wealth, among other things. the causes that demanded the very greatest economy in the building of early railroad lines no longer exist. the hill that the early engineer carefully rounded with his line is now pierced without a second thought. grades that were once deemed slight are now classed as impossible. the almost infinite development in the operation of the railroad has seen the grade or the curve, not as a slight matter, but as a matter which, however slight in a single instance, becomes in the course of constant operation a heavy operating expense. to-day the operating folk of the big railroads are counting the pennies where they countlessly multiply in these fashions; it is one of the greatest factors in the grinding operation competition between the great railroad systems of the country. it is all quite as it should be. the early builders did the best that they might do with the opportunities that were theirs. they got the railroad through. it developed wealth for itself, as well as for the territory it served; and with that wealth it is enabled in these piping days of peace and plenty to correct the alignment errors of the early builders. moreover, there are frequent cases where the steady increase of traffic has rendered it necessary for a railroad to parallel its trunks with new lines, quite aside from the consideration of grade and curve. as far back as the early fifties this great work of rebuilding the trunk-line railroads was begun. certain serious errors in the original alignment of the baltimore & ohio railroad between baltimore and the potomac river were corrected, even though at a considerable expense. as time went on, other railroads continued this correction work. it is still being prosecuted east and west of the mississippi. ten million dollars, fifty million dollars, looks like a lot of money to the stockholders of any company, when their president tells them that this is to be the cost of this new relief line, this reconstruction, that cut-off; but what is $ , , when it is going to save more than $ , a year in the operation of your railroad? it is the big sight of the big situation that the railroads make nowadays at this reconstruction work. mr. harriman, with his transcontinentals from the mississippi watersheds west, was almost the pioneer in this work of wholesale reconstruction. the wholesale operating benefits that have resulted from it in the case of his group of pacifics have been largely responsible for his preëminence in the railroad world. and yet, once his method was tried, it all seemed simpler than a, b, c. take the case of the lucin cut-off on his southern pacific. when the union pacific was being pushed across the plains and threaded over the rockies and the sierras, the great salt lake of utah lay directly in its path. the railroad did the obvious thing and carefully made a detour around the lake. when mr. harriman took over the union pacific, then in a state of physical decadence, and linked it with his southern pacific, and surveyed the situation carefully, he decreed that the great salt lake should no longer cause a trunk-line railroad to double in its path. he caused a line to be surveyed direct across the marshy lake from ogden to lucin and when that was done he had a line--on paper-- miles long as against miles by the old line. the engineer hesitated, but harriman urged and they courageously began the construction of miles and miles of embankment and of trestle. then new difficulties arose. sink-holes developed. in a few minutes structures that had been the work of long months silently disappeared. the engineers in charge came to harriman. "it is not possible," they told him. "you must carry it through whether it is possible or not," harriman replied. eventually they carried it through. * * * * * when it was done, the union pacific had not only shortened its transcontinental line miles, but it had eliminated more than , feet of heavy grade and , degrees of curvature. an operating economy of between $ , and $ , , a year had been effected and the stockholders of the company had a good investment for the $ , , that the lucin cut-off had cost them. nor was that all on the union pacific. on other sections of its main line similar reconstruction work has added to the economy of operation by millions of dollars each year. for twenty miles west from omaha, where the old historic transcontinental formerly dipped south to avoid a series of undulating hills, the new lane cut-off cuts squarely across them-- miles of deep cuts and heavy fills--"heavy railroad," as the engineers like to put it. and again, where the old line twisted and wound itself over the black hills, and wobbled unsteadily through wyoming, the reconstruction engineers pressed their work. [illustration: where harriman stretched the southern pacific in a straight line across the great salt lake] [illustration: line revision on the new york central--tunnelling through the bases of these jutting peaks along the hudson river does away with sharp and dangerous curves] [illustration: impressive grade revision on the union pacific in the black hills of wyoming. the discarded line may be seen at the right] it is not generally understood that the summit of the union pacific is in the black hills, which are the first foothill range of the rockies, rather than in the mountain crest beyond. the black hills have always been a baffling proposition, with their short, steep slopes. the engineers wrinkled their brows at the thought of correcting the old line through there, but harriman simply said that they must, that the board--which meant e. h. harriman himself--had directed that feet be cut from the road's crest there; and feet, almost to the inch, was cut. it took giant fills and embankments and an army of men but the grades were brought to a minimum for a rocky mountain stretch. wooden trestles, old and affording a constant fire-risk, were swallowed up in embankments; a single slice through a hill-top, a quarter of a mile long and eighty feet deep, did its part in reducing the grades; antiquated cars disappeared before equipment of the modern class; dilapidated shanties were supplanted by fine, permanent railroad stations. the new union pacific is a monument to the reconstruction engineer--and to e. h. harriman. the canadian pacific railway, while traversing but one small northeastern corner of the united states, is essentially an american railroad, both in equipment and in operation. it forms an important half of that all-british red line encircling the globe, of which any englishman is so very proud. when the canadian pacific railway was completing its last link in this unbroken line of rails from st. john, n. b., and montreal, to vancouver, the question of grades was indeed a secondary one. the vital thing was to cut the line through, and to that end great sacrifices of grade efficiency were made. so that when the line was through, and the first imperial limited was making its way from the atlantic to the pacific over a single railroad system, it was indeed a line with structural defects. at one point--the famous big hill, near field, alta.--in order to overcome the steep rocky mountain climbs, it was necessary to use from four to six engines for comparatively light freight and passenger trains. and at that, it was difficult to attain a speed of more than four or five miles an hour. within the last three years, this fearful grade has been corrected by the very first spiral tunnels ever built upon the american continent. spiral tunnel construction of this kind is not new. it has been used with remarkable success by the railroads of continental europe, in piercing the high-alpine boundaries between france, germany, austria, and italy. coming from the east on the canadian pacific railway, the train first enters the spiral tunnel--they call it the "corkscrew" out in alberta--under cathedral mountain. this first bore is some , feet in length. emerging from it, the train runs back east across the kicking horse river, then enters the eastern spiral tunnel, and after describing an elliptic curve, emerges, and again crosses the kicking horse westward. this whole thing is a perfect maze--the railroad doubling back upon itself twice, tunnelling under two mountains, and crossing the river twice in order to cut down the grade. the work cost $ , , . the mere cost of the explosives came to over $ , . it was one of the really great tunnel jobs of the world. yet despite the complicated work caused by the spiral shape of the tunnels, they met exactly. the worth of the thing to the canadian pacific is shown in the fact that those same trains that formerly required four to six engines, are now handled easily over this big-hill grade with but two engines, and at a speed of about twenty-five miles an hour. other railroads by the dozen, whose lines traverse mountainous or even hilly country, are engaged in this proposition of lowering their grades. f. d. underwood, president of the erie, and known as one of the ablest operating heads in this country, has been engaged in cutting off some of the heavy hill-climbs on that old-time route from the seaboard to the lakes. underwood has already seen erie's hopes of success in developing the property as essentially a freighter and for the immediate improvement of that portion of its facilities he has built three new relief lines, a small stretch near chautauqua lake in western new york, and then through the upper genesee valley, the third and most important eastward from a point near port jervis and piercing the summit of the shawangunk mountains. the line through the genesee valley extends from hunts, on the buffalo division, about miles west of hornell, to hinsdale on the main line, and is miles long. it cuts off a heavy grade between hornell and hinsdale on the main line--a little over one per cent--for both east-bound and west-bound freight. at that particular point, erie's west-bound freight approximates per cent of the east-bound, and so the new line recognizes that fact by establishing the west-bound maximum grade at - of one per cent, as against a maximum of - of one per cent in the other direction. brought to a plain understanding, a single locomotive has no difficulty in handling cars, each bearing tons of coal, over this new low-grade line. to take one-half that load over the old main line required a pusher. on the east end of the line, where erie's engineers built their greatest low-grade cut-off, the coal rolls down to the seaboard in such quantities as to make the west-bound tonnage only a quarter of the east-bound; so the reconstruction engineers were satisfied with a maximum west-bound grade at - of one per cent as against the maximum of - east-bound, in the direction of the heavy traffic. the cut-off, which is double-tracked and is - / miles long, increases the distance from new york to chicago miles; but this is not an essential fact, for, like the genesee valley road it is built exclusively for freight service, and not only almost triples the hauling capacity of a locomotive but actually permits of faster running time for the freight trains between jersey city and port jervis. to build the cut-off required a really great expenditure, for like all these new lines it was "heavy work," embracing a tunnel nearly a mile long under the crest of the shawangunk ridge, and a steel trestle over the moodna valley, , feet in length and feet high. still president underwood can contemplate his locomotives hauling three times their old loads over it. the economy of such a proposition becomes apparent upon the face of it. the baltimore & ohio, the southern, and the norfolk & western have recently lowered their grades and straightened their curves in similar fashion; the lehigh valley, by the erection of a great new bridge at towanda, pa., has taken a bad link out of its main line; the chicago & alton, when the engineers told it that it must abandon miles upon miles of its main line (for long years its pride) and build anew, told those engineers to go ahead. stretch by stretch the old road was revamped to meet in every way modern conditions. a steel bridge across the missouri, which was the first steel bridge built in america, and which cost $ , , was sent to the scrap-heap while the old-timers groaned. "that which yesterday was a railroad marvel becomes a curiosity to-morrow," observes frank h. spearman, in speaking of this very thing. the rebuilding of the chicago & alton was a clean-cut affair. the -pound rails were torn from the main line and sent to sidings and branch lines in favor of the -pound rails; for while men were tearing at the tracks, the shops were working overtime; -ton freight engines that could haul cars were to give way to -ton motive power, capable of picking up and carrying a hundred cars with ease. that was why the old bridge had to go in favor of one which cost an even million dollars. and when the alton built heavy new bridges at dozens of other points besides the missouri, it built them after the new fashion, with solid rock ballast floor, affording additional comfort and safety to its patrons. in a flat state like illinois there were no very serious grade defects to be corrected, but through the gentle undulations of rolling country the line twisted and turned like a lazy brook. the rebuilders stopped that. when they were done there was a single section of miles, straight as the arrow flies, and many tangents of from to miles. in some cases when the trains were transferred to the completed line, the old, spindly, wobbly affair could be seen for miles in roadbed, to the one side or the other of the new. in some cases, this abandoned right-of-way was sold to interurban electric railroads; in one particular case one of the abandoned bridges was included in the sale. * * * * * the delaware, lackawanna, & western is one of the old time eastern roads that have waxed immensely prosperous with the years. originally built as an anthracite coal carrier from the eastern pennsylvania mountains to the seaboard, it has developed into a through freight and passenger carrier of importance. the old-time engineer knew how to plan good railroads; the pennsylvania to-day is building its new low-grade freight line on the very surveys made by its pioneer surveyors three-quarters of a century ago; but, as we have already intimated, those railroads were financially weak. early annual reports of the pennsylvania tell how its stock was peddled in philadelphia from house to house--up one street and down another--and how sometimes two houses joined together to buy a single share. money was not plentiful in the middle of the last century. so the lackawanna engineers were compelled to build their road in semi-mountainous districts, along the lines of least resistance, rather than by the most direct routes. as it came east from scranton over the pocono mountains it found its way in a roundabout course to the middle of northern new jersey. the road wound south and then wound north again, its grades were steep, some of its curves were short, and it dipped through two tunnels--one at oxford furnace, the other at manunka chunk. to iron out those time-taking dips, the sharp curves, the grades, and the tunnel, the lackawanna cut-off--the "heaviest" bit of railroad in the world--was begun three years ago. a new route - / miles long was surveyed diagonally across from port morris on the main line in new jersey to the main line again at the delaware water gap. despite the fact that it must cross the watersheds diagonally--the watersheds formed by deep valleys and high rocky ridges--the line as surveyed and built is only three miles longer than an absolute air-line. it shortens the lackawanna's main stem from new york to buffalo--already the shortest route between these two cities--by miles, and brings that busy lake port a trifle within miles from the seaboard. to cross those watersheds at a sharp diagonal meant "heavy work"; and the engineers, to run their straight-cut, low-grade line, found that they would have to make tremendous cuts and fills--these last alone totalling , , cubic yards. the lackawanna's engineers will give you a faint idea of the stupendous size of these embankments. to build them up of stone and earth at the rate of a cartload a minute for each working-day of the year would require years for the job. to do it in less than three years has meant the employment of whole trains of dump-cars, the purchase of -acre farms for single borrow-pits, the energy and administration of real engineers. there have been cuts through solid rock, bridges and culverts to be wrought of concrete, a single embankment (at the pequest river) three miles in length, feet high, and feet wide at its base. the traveller who rides over the completed double-track road will have but a faint idea of the human labor and the human energy that have gone to construct it. * * * * * the great railroad that traverses the state of pennsylvania is another monument to the engineer. the pennsylvania railroad was no wobbly affair at any time. its grades and curves, considering the character of the country through which its trunk rests, are not excessive. it has been a good standard railroad for a good many years past. but in , the pennsylvania found that its troubles rested in the volume of traffic that was being offered it. over its middle division from harrisburg to pittsburgh it was handling as much tonnage as j. j. hill's entire great northern system. the heavy tonnage business began to clog the road's fast passenger traffic (its especial pride) and the fast freight traffic (the mainstay of its shippers), and appeal was made to the reconstruction engineers. it was no slight appeal at that. pittsburgh, handling , freight cars a month, was clogged, congested with such streams as had never before tried to crowd through that narrow neck of the pennsylvania's bottle and the orders that went forth for relief were emphatic. vice-presidents, general managers, superintendents and general superintendents, and engineers of every sort crowded into the president's office in broad street station, and out of that conference the plans for an exclusively low-grade freight line from new york to pittsburgh and for the traffic relief of pittsburgh itself were born. every large city has become, in a sense, a bottle-neck for the important railroads that pierce it. in some cases like chicago or st. louis or kansas city or indianapolis, the situation has been solved by the creation of belt-line freight railroads partly or entirely encircling the town. at buffalo, the new york central lines have built a connecting line to enable through traffic to escape the congestion of city yards and terminals, while at new haven, the road of the same name has recently spent several million dollars in enlarging its narrow throat in the middle of the town. but nowhere else did the situation approach that at pittsburgh. through the pennsylvania's passenger station there poured not only an abnormally heavy passenger traffic, owing to a heavy suburban service, but every pound of freight bound between the parent company and its two great subsidiaries, the panhandle and the fort wayne. there were further complications right at the station, owing to the proximity of two of the very worst grade-crossings in america, where penn and liberty avenues swept their busy tides of city traffic all day long over the fort wayne's main line tracks. it was a problem that called for the best in engineering skill--and received it. the pennsylvania dug deep into its pocket-book and solved the problem magnificently. it began by going back to the vicinity of its great pitcairn freight-yards at the east of the city, and from them building two connecting laterals (the one to the south and across the monongahela river to connect with the panhandle tracks, the other to the north--known as the brilliant cut-off) across the alleghany and connecting with the tracks of the west penn railroad, which in turn connected with those of the fort wayne in the one-time city of allegheny. that sounds simple, but it was in reality a fearfully expensive undertaking. the mile of brilliant cut-off, "heavy work" every inch of it, cost $ , , , and is to-day the most expensive mile of railroad track in the world. but the gripping hand was off the traffic throat of pittsburgh and commercial pittsburgh breathed more easily once again. the union station and its approach tracks were restored to passenger uses; and in the course of things the pennsylvania tore down the old station, built a new one, and wiped out the two wicked city crossings, as with the stroke of an aladdin's hand. so much for pittsburgh. now consider the great new freight line leading to the east from there. not all of that railroad has yet been built, but the greater part of it is already completed, and every part of the old road that was under tension because of freight congestion has already been relieved. to build this new double-track railroad across miles of a mountainous state, the engineers studied two points--grade and curvature. distance was no object, for speed is the very last attainment of heavy tonnage movement. the new route consisted in part of the enlargement of the old routes, and in part of the construction of brand new line. it started east from pittsburgh, where the great brilliant cut-off had been built to relieve the tremendous terminal freight congestion, and followed up the valley of the alleghany river on the route of the west penn road, a pennsylvania property. the main line of the pennsylvania comes east from pittsburgh up the valley of the monongahela for a distance, and then across country to blairsville intersection, miles east of pittsburgh, where it is intercepted by the low-grade freight route. from blairsville to gallitzin, the road winds through the narrow and forbidding conemaugh valley most of the way. it twists itself through the slender defile of packsaddle. a dozen years ago or more, when the pennsylvania's engineers were ordered to four-track the original double-track through that narrow defile in god's great world, they shook their heads dubiously; then--after the fashion of engineers--they went ahead and did it. when the order came for two more tracks in the same narrow pass, they placed them there, although they had literally to blast out a shelf on the side of the fearfully steep mountainsides for the low-grade line. just beyond gallitzin, where the pennsylvania pierces with two great tunnels the very summit of the alleghanies, the low-grade line takes its own course once more, breaking farther and farther away from the main line, and for long sections following the trail of the long-since abandoned portage railroad. the day is coming when gallitzin tunnels are to be left high in the air. the pennsylvania's officers tell you that frankly. "we have plans for a six-mile tunnel, to be handled by electric motive-power already made," said one of them, just the other day, "and every year we wait, that tunnel grows longer, the approaching grades less and less. it will cost money--money into millions of dollars--and it will earn per cent on the investment." from gallitzin, the low-grade line delves far south to hollidaysburgh and then follows the tracks of a former branch line up to petersburg on the main line, which it parallels to the susquehanna. where the main line crosses the susquehanna at rockville, the low-grade freight route diverges once again and follows the west bank of the river for a number of miles, completely avoiding in that way harrisburg and the steel-making towns to the south of it with all of their conditions of congestion. the freight route crosses the broad susquehanna at shock's mills, eight miles north of columbia, and follows the east bank of the river for twenty miles to shenks ferry, where it turns abruptly eastward through the rugged hills of lancaster county to a connection with the main line at parkesburg. from thence it follows the main line nearly all the way to glen loch, crossing and re-crossing it but at all times retaining its nominal grades. at glen loch it makes a wide detour around philadelphia and its suburbs and reaches with a long straight "short cut" over to the main line at morrisville near trenton. so much for the location of this great line of reconstruction. in grades and in curvatures it has achieved real triumphs. the great tonnage here is also always east-bound--coal and iron coming to the seaboard. its grades also are chiefly consequential then to the east-bound movement. to that movement the heavy grades are again at the almost incredible figure of - of one per cent--some seventeen feet to the mile. that will mean more when it is understood that that figure is equal to the pull that is required of an engine to start a heavy freight train upon an absolutely level track. with such a pull, grades become as nothing, and the pennsylvania's operating department is enabled to run trains an hour over this low-grade line; hour after hour upon a minutes' interval. ask a pennsylvania officer what he would do with such traffic on his old main line to-day, and he will tell you that he would rather resign than tackle the proposition. the same thing is true on the new york central lines. like the pennsylvania, that railroad thought a little time ago that with its four tracks it might move all civilization. its acquisition of the bankrupt west shore railroad in the eighties gave it two extra tracks across new york state that for a long time were carried on the company's books as deadwood. now they are filled with freight operation and bringing in a healthy return to their owners. the growing land is always catching up to its new railroad facilities, no matter how rapidly they may be constructed. to-morrow? the railroad operator does not like to think of that. he meets to-day and he plans as best he may against that to-morrow. to meet the great unknown he bids the engineers--those who construct and those who reconstruct--to him, and begs that they exercise their best wits to help him to see a little way into the dim and shadowy future. chapter x the railroad and its president supervision of the classified activities--engineering, operating, maintenance of way, etc.--the divisional system as followed in the pennsylvania road--the departmental plan as followed in the new york central--need for vice-presidents--the board of directors--harriman a model president--how the pennsylvania forced itself into new york city--action of a president to save the life of a laborer's child--"keep right on obeying orders"--some railroad presidents compared--high salaries of presidents. all the widely divergent lines of human activity in the organization of the railroad converge in the office of its president. he is the focal point of the entire system. more than that, he is its head and front. if he is anything less, the sooner he is out of his job the better for both the railroad and himself; for, although there is a great variety of departments in the organization of steam railroad transportation and each department will have still greater varieties of activities, there is but a single activity delegated to the office that bears only the modest word "president" in gilt letters upon its door. the function of that office is to supervise. to understand that supervision better, consider for a moment the rough structure of the railroad. its activities are grouped into classes. the activity of soliciting business, both freight and passenger, forms the traffic department, in many ways the most important of all; for from it comes nearly all the vast revenue needed for the maintenance of the organism. the legal department looks after the railroad's rights--its franchises, its charters, the law fabric of its almost innumerable relations with the various railroad commissions, legislatures, city councils, and town and country boards. if the road be really sizable--with , or , or , miles of track--it will probably organize into separate departments the buying of its great quantities of supplies, the keeping of its intricate books, and the handling of its money. the business of building its lines and structures will need special talent for an engineering department. the department that will employ the great rank and file of the railroad's army of employees is the operating department, called by some big roads the transportation department. there are two other great factors of conducting a railroad; maintaining its lines--the tracks, bridges, tunnels and other features of the permanent way; and keeping both cars and engines fit for service. this last work, organized as the mechanical department, will probably rank next to operating in the number of its employees, and the value of its equipment is one of the greatest assets of the railroad. it is generally expressed in great shops located here and there and everywhere, at convenient points upon the system. generally the maintenance-of-way department comes under operating--it is only fair that a general manager should supervise the condition of the line over which he is expected to operate his trains at high speed and in absolute safety. the same argument should hold true as to the equipment. but right here is the great rock upon which the principle of american railroad organization splits in twain. from the president's office downward, the system of organization may be divisional or departmental. in the former case, the division superintendent is the real unit of railroad operation: under his guidance and responsibility come not only the operation of the trains but the maintenance both of the line and of the rolling-stock. in the case of departmental organization that superintendent--and also, above him, the general superintendent--exercises no authority over the engineers of maintenance-of-way or the master mechanics of the shops along the system. those lines of railroad activity do not converge with that of train operation below the office of the general manager. the greatest outside power that is given to a division superintendent on a purely departmental road is a sort of coöperation with the master mechanic in the matter of the men who handle the road's motive power. this coöperation is many times intricate and involved. if the master mechanic and the division superintendent are not harmoniously inclined toward one another, and things very naturally go wrong with the motive-power, it is a difficult matter to locate responsibility. * * * * * the pennsylvania system, which is one of the most perfectly organized in the world, is strongly organized upon the divisional system. the division superintendent upon the pennsylvania is indeed a prince above his principality, and he is well trained for his rulership. pennsylvania men go through the mill. it takes a pretty capable man to combine the ability for handling trains and handling men with the intricate knowledge for command over an engineering corps devoted to maintenance-of-way, as well as command over a machine-shop which may employ a thousand skilled workmen. in order to give its division heads that tremendous training, the pennsylvania sends its men through its own west point, the great shops at altoona. the men who have sat in the big, roomy office in broad street station, philadelphia, and who have been addressed as president, have been proud of the days when they were up in the hills of the keystone state, standing their trick in overalls at the lathe, or carrying chain and rod over long stretches of track. to-day every pennsylvania superintendent, possibly with a single exception or two, is a civil or mechanical engineer. [illustration: the old and the new on the great northern--the "william crooks," the first engine of the hill system, and one of the newest mallets] [illustration: the southern pacific finds direct entrance into san francisco for one of its branch lines by tunnels piercing the heart of the suburbs] [illustration: portal of the abandoned tunnel of the alleghany portage railroad near johnstown, pa., the first railroad tunnel in the united states] on the other hand, the new york central has also been brought into a high state of organization, and stands firmly on the departmental plan. "we believe that our superintendents should specialize in train operation," says one of the high officers of that road. "in other words, we do not believe that a man, to get his traffic through over a stretch of line, should necessarily know to a fraction of an inch the best wheel-base for an engine of a given type or the precise construction of a truss bridge. such requirements take away from the special training that is to-day needed for every high-class railroader. a railroader is made better by sticking to one thing and sticking to it faithfully; and our departmental method, by which the maintenance of line and rolling-stock comes under the sole supervision of men expert in those specialties, we think the best. sometimes we develop a very wizard in traffic handling, who has never had a chance at a technical education." and there you have the very essence of the other side of the proposition. between these two sides there are various shadings and gradings, but the question has never been definitely solved. it has reduced the vast complexity in the organization of the modern railroad of the larger size. that has become so very complex it fairly cried for expert relief. one man has recently spent a busy term of years in simplifying the organization of the harriman lines. to cut the intricate lines of red-tape in a big railroad office, to reduce to a minimum the vast needless correspondence between departments and between branches of a single department, is a problem that calls for genius--and offers for its solution no small reward. * * * * * in other days--and we refer to no ancient history, for the electric light was proved and the hundred-ton locomotive already increasing the average tonnage of the american freight train--the presidents of the biggest roads were content to worry along with one or two assistants. but two decades ago, the railroads were still simple matters; there did not exist the intimate relations between one and the others of them, as shown by stockholdings in competing and feeding lines to-day--the constant waiting of their executives upon the sessions of the different railroad commissions. these complications of american railroading have also further complicated the organizations of the different systems, and have brought a demand for executives of the keenest type. it is no slight strain that a man works under when he becomes the head of a ten-thousand-mile railroad. so to-day the president of the railroad has fortified himself in the only possible way--by creating vice-presidencies. each ranking department to-day is apt to be recognized in council by a vice-president; and these heads form a cabinet as informal as that of the federal government and, in its way, quite as important. legal traffic, and engineering traffic each demands a vice-president at that cabinet-board, and gets him. the general manager usually is the vice-president representing operation. one big road has eight vice-presidents. it is indeed a poor property that cannot show three or four men that are the fittest to hold this title. there is another cabinet where the president must sit, which is formal and recognized; it is the board of directors. between it and the lesser cabinet the president must take good care that he is not ground as between millstones. the cabinet of his department heads will tell him how he can spend his money; but he must get it from the upper cabinet. it is not always harmonious pulling in the upper cabinet. imagine for a moment the troubles that sometimes arise in the lower. you are sitting in the office of a big railroad president, talking straight to that big-shouldered soul himself. outside is the shadowy roof of the train-shed of a terminal, which is filled with long lines of cars that come and go, of platforms that are black with humans one instant and quite deserted the next. the room has the quiet elegance of a comfortable home library. there are long rows of books upon the shelves; a great table is set squarely in the centre. but it is business--for a ticker is slowly spelling the fate of that railroad and every other railroad, upon the endless tape; a huge map of the system--many thousands of miles of high-class railroad--lies under the glass that covers the table top. "they don't always pull together," the president of the railroad admits, when you ask him about the lower cabinet. "sometimes they pull apart when they have honestly different ideas as to policy, and other times--there's to be a big college football game up at g---- next saturday. we have only two private cars for our four vice-presidents, every single blessed one of whom wants to go. i don't want to go myself, and i've contributed my car, but we're one short then, and the man that's left is going around like a boy who's had a chip knocked off his shoulder. he's just been in here, and i've settled the matter by hiring a car for his party from the pullman folks and footing the bill myself. i sent him out ashamed of himself. "that's pete every time. flares up quick, and every time he flares up i can remember when we were working the day-and-night tricks in a god-forsaken junction out on a prairie stretch of the great west. he's like a boy in some ways--awfully fussy about the rights and prerogatives of his department; and he'll go all to pieces over some little thing if he thinks another man has stepped over on to his side of the line. but let a big situation arise--a flood that sets a whole division of our lines awash; a wicked congestion of traffic in midwinter blizzards; a nasty accident that takes away our nerve--and you ought to see pete! he'll be handling the thing as if he were putting a ball up on the links, and he'll never lose his confident smile. that man in one such emergency is worth the hire of a dozen pullmans." you ask about the upper cabinet, and the president lowers his voice. the board is no matter for light conversation. he steps to the window and points down into the concourse of the train-shed. "i happen to know that young fellow over there by the mailbox," he answers. "he's one of our travelling freight-agents. he's lucky. he works for one boss, and is responsible to him; i work for a whole regiment of bosses, and am held responsible by a group of pretty keen old citizens who gather around this table and put me on the rack. "there are many interests in this property, and some of them are too big to sleep in the same bed. i have three directors who never speak to one another outside of this room, and rarely ever in it. there is another who represents the holdings of a road that fights this at every turn, and he hurts the property worse than any good husky plague. a big estate, with a bitter aversion to spending money for any purpose whatsoever, has another director here; and a banking interest presents a director who seconds him in every move, fool or good. that is the crowd i have got to work with when i want ten or fifteen millions to hold our own against some other fellow who is crowding us hard for business in our competitive territory or threatening to run a line into one of our own private melon-patches. that boy down there is lucky. he has only got to get out and land a couple of hundred carloads from a shipper who hates corporations worse than politics, and who has just had a claim for spoiled goods turned down by this particular corporation. that boy has the cinch job." * * * * * this imaginary railroad president has told you of one of the vital points in the business of the railroad, the necessity for constant teamwork. a railroad head may have the genius of a napoleon, the stubborn persistence of a grant, or the marvellous executive ability of a pierpont morgan, and be worthless if his board is not working enthusiastically with and for him. it is not all pie and preserves by any means. the board may set its sweet will straight against his, and he may be forced to execute a policy of which in his own mind he has no trust. it is only once in a generation that a man like harriman, who can bend a whole mighty directorate to his absolute will, arises. harriman was a railroad president in the fullest sense of the word. he rode in his car north from ogden one day, toward the great national park of the yellowstone. at that time the only direct rail entrance to that splendid reserve was by the rival hill lines. harriman had called for a report upon the opportunities for the southern pacific to strike its own line into the west edge of the park. that report was being explained to him in great detail as he rode north from ogden. his chiefs had a hundred practical reasons against building the line. harriman listened faithfully to the explanation, as was his way. then he turned to one of the signers of the report, a high officer of his property. "you have never been in the yellowstone?" he asked. the officer admitted that he had not. "i have," said harriman triumphantly, "and i am going to build that road." that road was built and became successful from its beginning; but harriman was a railroader with the intuitive sense that gives genius to a great statesman or to a great general. the average railroad president does not hold a controlling interest himself and he must be guided pretty carefully by the judgment of his department heads; he must win the coöperation of his board by tact and subtlety rather than by the display of an iron will; and where he leads he must take the responsibility. the pennsylvania railroad, as has already been told in an earlier chapter, recently forced its entrance into new york city and marked its terminal there with a monumental station. that move was a strategy of the highest order, and was made that the road might place itself upon an even fighting basis for traffic with its chief competitor. but it cost. two mighty rivers had to be crossed, whole blocks of high-priced real estate secured, a busy city threaded, the opposition of local authorities (who stood with palms outstretched) honestly downed. that all cost. that would have been a mighty expenditure for the federal government; for a private corporation it was all but staggering. when the station was finished, a rarely beautiful thing with its classic public rooms, its long vistas, and its vast dimensions, that private corporation built, within a niche of the great waiting-room, a bronze figure of its former president, the late a. j. cassatt, where all hurrying humanity might see it. but, though a thousand nervous travellers see that statue in the passing of a single hour, not a hundred of them will know the splendid tragedy it represents; for many of the high officers of that railroad--some of the men who caused the bronze to be erected--to this day believe that the production of that great station was the cause of the death of their chief. he had dreamed of that terminal for years; his engineer had deemed it all but impossible, and he had sent overseas for other engineers. one of these, who had conquered the busy thames, said that he could tunnel the two great rivers. he was asked the cost, and he gave it. his first figures were staggering, but the railroad president did not abandon his hope. he summoned his board and put the problem to them. there was pulling power between that president and his board, and the pulling was all in a single direction. their system--a railroad that acknowledged no superior--could not keep in the very front rank without its terminal in the heart of the seaboard city, eliminating forever the delays and the inconveniences of a ferry service; the road could not afford to drop into second rank, and so it assumed the great undertaking. that meant many things more than laymen understand; the selling of securities in delicate markets, home and foreign, which fluctuate wildly on the promulgation of anticorporation talk; the evading of untiring competitors; the appeasing of hungry politicians, only too anxious to feed at the hands of a wealthy corporation. in this case, it meant more than all these things, for the two rivers were quite as treacherous as the american engineers had pronounced them. they would sound in their tunnel bearings and find rock which seemed soft, and their dynamite charges would be sufficient. then it would prove hard, and their blast as inefficient as that of a child's toy cannon. again, the rock would drill as hard as the hardest gneiss--the very backbone of mother earth herself, and the hard-rock men would prepare a heavy charge of dynamite. then the stuff was as soft as gravel, and their heavy charge would have torn off the roofs of half a dozen houses. when they were under one of the rivers they found its bed--the roof of their tunnel--as soft as mud. there came a day when the little foaming swirls of water above their headings became a geyser: the river-bed had blown entirely out. after that, some of the younger engineers felt like throwing themselves into the wicked river, but the biggest engineer of all never lost his faith. he sent upstream and brought down a whole spanish armada of clumsy scows, each heaped high with sticky clay. that clay--in thousands of cubic yards--made a new river-bottom and the tunnel shields went forward. there were other obstacles and discouragements, almost an infinite array of them, to be surmounted, but this railroad president had steeled his mind to the accomplishment of that terminal. in the making of it he gave his life. when the day came for the drafts upon the railroad's treasury, mounting higher and higher, he was cheer; when bad news came from the burrowing engineers, he was courage; when timid stockholders and directors began to worry, he was comfort. he gave of his vitality to the organization, to the making of the terminal, until the day came when he gave too much--and his life went out while he was still like a mighty king in battle. he did not live to see the classic lines of the great station building. as he stands in the waiting-room, he stands in bronze. those bronze eyes are powerless to see the splendid fruition of his endeavors. that sort of thing--heroic courage and death-bringing devotion to an enterprise--repeats itself now and then among the executives of the railroads. when the panic of reached high tide, there was a certain railroad president who, like his fellows, viewed it with no little alarm. he had lunched with a big steel man, the kind the newspapers like to call a magnate, and the steel man had scared him. the company for which the former labored was going to close half a dozen of its plants--was going to throw some thousands of poorly provided men out of work. the railroad president took that bad news back to his comfortable office; at night it travelled with him in his automobile to his big and showy house. it would hit his company hard in its heavy tonnage district, but that was only a single phase of the situation. he thought of things becoming more disjointed when the news became public--before that week had run its course. that night the president made up his mind to take a big step. it was risky business, but he thought it worth the risk. he sent for the steel man in the morning and asked him what was the best price he could make for his product. the steel man cut his regular profit in half, but the president was not satisfied. "you'll have to show me a better margin than that," he said. "we'll eliminate profits," said the steel man, "and give you the stuff at cost, to save shutting down our plant." "is that the best you can do?" persisted the president. before he was done, the steel man had also eliminated depreciation on plants and half a dozen minor expenses. he agreed to deliver at the mere cost of raw material and labor. then he received an order that would have broken some records in prosperous times. the road was committed to some big building projects and it needed whole trainloads of girders and columns; bridges by the dozen. the railroad president went further, and helped out the steel man's car-building plant. he ordered , steel freight cars, and every day he was getting reports from his general manager of a further falling of traffic tides. they had motive-power rusting on sidings, and they were dumping freight cars in the ditches along the right-of-way because they did not have storage-room for them. that took courage of a certain high-grade sort. when those freshly-painted new steel cars began to be delivered in daily batches of sixty, some of his directors asked him where he was going to find room to store them. he did not answer, for he did not know; but in the long run he won out. his company had a new equipment for the returning flood-tide of traffic which had cost it per cent less than that of its competitors. when the time came to build its big improvement it had the steel all stored and ready. the president was able to tell his directors then that he had saved them $ , , on that close bargain that he had driven in panicky times. * * * * * sometimes a little thing makes a railroad president big. the head of a busy road in the middle west was hurrying to chicago one day to attend a mighty important conference of railroad chiefs. his special was halted at a division point for an engine-change, and the president was enjoying a three-minute breathing spell walking up and down beside his car. an italian track laborer tried to make his way to him. the president's secretary, who was on the job, after the manner of presidents' secretaries, stopped the man. the signal was given that the train was ready, but the president saw that the track-hand was crying. he ordered his train held and went over to him. the story was quickly told. the track-hand's little boy had been playing in the yards and had hidden in an open box-car; so his small companions had reported. afterwards the car had been closed and sealed by a yardmaster's employee. somewhere it was bumping its weary way in a lazy freight train, while a small boy, hungry and scared, was vainly calling to be let out. perhaps that president had a boy of the same size--they always do in stories; and perhaps--this being reality--he did not. but he stopped there for three precious hours, at that busy division point, while he sent orders broadcast to find the boy, orders that went with big authority because they came from the high boss himself. he was late at the conference, because that search was taking his mind and his attention. he hung for hours at a long-distance telephone, personally directing the boy-hunt with his marvellously fertile and resourceful mind. when action came entirely too slowly he ordered the men out of the shops and all interchange freight halted, until every one of , or , box cars had been opened and searched. finally, from one of these they drew forth the limp and almost lifeless body of a small boy. the railroad chief died a little while ago and was buried in a city miles away from the line that he had controlled. the track-hands of his line, with that delicate sensibility that is part and parcel of the italian, dug deep into their scanty savings and hired a special train, that they might march in a body at his funeral. it sometimes takes a big man to do a little thing in a big way. * * * * * here is underwood, the railroad president who took hold of the erie when the property was a byword and a joke, who began pouring money into it to give it real improvements and possibilities for economical handling, and made it a practical and a profitable freighter, a freighter of no mean importance at that. he once issued an order that any car on the road (no matter of what class of equipment) with a flat wheel should be immediately cut out of the train. the order was posted in every yardmaster's office up and down that system. some time after it went into effect, underwood was hurrying east in his private car. it was essential that he should reach jersey city in the early morning, for he had a big day's grist awaiting him at his office. a real railroad president, working hours a day, can brook few delays. but when the president awoke, his car was not in motion; the foot of his bunk was higher than the head. he looked out and found himself in a railroad yard three or four hundred miles from his office. when he got up and out he saw why his bed had been aslant. the observation end of his car was jacked up and the car-repairers were slipping a new pair of wheels underneath it. a car-tinker bossed the job and underwood addressed him. "who gave you authority to cut out my car?" he asked. "if you will walk over to my coop," said the car-tinker, politely, "you will find my authority in orders from headquarters to cut out any car (no matter of what class of equipment) with a flat wheel." when the new wheels were in place the president of the road put his hand upon the shoulder of the car-tinker and marched him uptown. the man obeyed, not knowing what was coming to him. underwood walked him straight into a jeweller's shop, picked out the best gold watch in the case and handed it to the car-tinker. "you keep right on obeying orders," he said. the relations between a railroad president at the head of the organization, and some man who struggles ahead in the army of which the president is general, would make a whole book. they still tell a story in broad street station, philadelphia, of mr. cassatt, the pennsylvania's great president, and the brakeman. it seems that one of the suburban locals that took cassatt to his country home up the main line was halted one night by an unfriendly signal. the president, mildly wondering at the delay, found his way to the rear platform. on the lower step of that platform, in plain violation of the company's rule, sat the rear brakeman. cassatt was never a man who was quick with words, but he said in a low voice: "young man, isn't there a rule on this road that a brakeman shall go a certain distance to the rear of a stalled train to protect it by danger signal?" the brakeman spat upon the right-of-way and, without lifting his eyes from it, said: "if there is, it's none of your damn business." cassatt--the man who could strike an arm of pennsylvania into the heart of metropolitan new york at a cost of many millions of dollars--was much embarrassed. "oh, certainly it isn't," he said with an attempt at a smile. "i was merely asking for information." the next morning the president of the pennsylvania summoned the trainmaster of that suburban division to his desk and reported the matter. the trainmaster turned three colors. it was _lèse-majesté_ of the most heinous sort. he proposed the immediate dismissal of the offending brakeman. cassatt ruled against that. he was too big a man to be seeking to rob any brakeman of his job. "just tell him," he said to the trainmaster, with a suggestion of a smile about his lips, "that he cussed the president, and that, as a personal favor, i should like him to be more polite to passengers in the future." no two railroad presidents come up to their problem in quite the same way. take the two members of the western railroad world--one gone now--hill and harriman. in j. j. hill's domain the personality of the man counts for everything. he picks his men, advances them, rejects or dismisses them, by a rare intuitive sense, with which he judges character. a high chief in his ranks once asked for a vacation in which to take his family to europe. hill granted it. when the man came back from europe another was at his desk. hill did not approve of long vacations, and that was his method of showing it. the department head should have known better. on the other hand, harriman measured his men impersonally--as if in a master scale. he measured them by results. a man might personally be somewhat repugnant to him, but if he accomplished results for the road, he held his place, at least until some one came along who could do even better. w. c. brown, of the new york central, and james mccrea, of the pennsylvania, are the heads of two railroads great in mileage and in volume of traffic; yet their methods are in many essentials radically different. mccrea is the essence of pennsylvania policy--coldly impersonal. it is easier to gain an audience with the president of the united states than with the president of the pennsylvania. no pennsylvania man from president down to the lowest ranking officer, grants an interview to a newspaper reporter. it would be risky business for any officer of the pennsylvania to have his photograph published or himself glorified by reason of his connection with the company. the company is the corporation. when it speaks, it speaks impersonally through its press agent, a clever young man with clever assistants, who both answers newspaper questions and advances newspaper information. his function is a new one of the american railroad, and allies itself directly with the office of the president. w. c. brown, of the new york central, probably stands preëminent to-day among american railroad executives. he has shouldered himself up from the ranks of the railroad army, and only good wishes have gone to him as he has stepped from one high post to a still higher one. he has come, as nine out of ten successful executives have come, from the operating end of the railroad. brown is particularly accessible to newspaper reporters. he talks with them, carefully and painstakingly, and sees to it that they are correctly informed as to each of the great railroad problems of the day. he believes sincerely that the head of a railroad should be personality and that the personality should stand forth directly in the guidance of the property. in his own case, at least, he has demonstrated the value of his theory. for all this work and all this strain, the railroad president demands that he be adequately paid. he has a good many perquisites--chief among them a comfortable private car at his beck and call; but perquisites are not salary. the head and front of the american railroad to-day receives anywhere from $ , to $ , ; an astonishingly large percentage of railroad presidents are receiving at least $ , annually. but they work for their pay--sometimes with their life-devotion, as in the case of the big man who built the big terminal; other times with the hard sense of the president who bought his steel girders and cars in the time of panic. here is a case in point. a road in the middle west, which was so compact as to make it quite local in character, had a big traffic proposition to handle and was handling it in a miserable fashion. one local celebrity after another tackled it, until the directors were laying side bets with one another as to the precise day when the receiver should walk into the office. finally, eastern capital, which was heavily interested in the property, revolted at the local offerings, and sent out an operating man with a big reputation to take hold of it. the directors received him with a certain veiled distrust as coming from another land, but in the end they hired him. the matter of salary came up last of all. "fifty thousand," said the new yorker in a low voice. one of the local directors spoke up. "fifteen thousand!" said he. "it's out of the question. we've never paid more than twelve." "so i should imagine," was the dry response. "but i said fifty, not fifteen." the consternation that followed may be imagined! in the end the new yorker carried his point. at the end of just twelve months he had, through his acquaintance in wall street, and his keen insight into the big channels of finance, cut that little road's interest charges just $ , a year. the receiver has not come yet. the road has accomplished a miracle and has begun to pay dividends. there is another miracle to relate. last spring, the directors of the road voted an increase in salary to their president--and he courteously refused it! "i think the presidency of this road is worth $ , a year," he said, frankly, "and not one cent more." that is the way a president should stand above and with his board. only a little time ago, another president, who had no easier proposition to set upon its feet, was criticised by a querulous old director for his lavish use of private cars and special trains. that president was having his own troubles--his job had no soft places; but he said nothing when the testy old fellow lectured him as he might have lectured a sin-filled schoolboy. when the director was done, the president spoke in a low voice. "gentlemen, my resignation is on the table," was his reply to the censure. the next moment there was consternation in that board. the president slipped out of the room and left them to consider the matter. when he returned, the chairman of the board, who had nodded in half approval at the censure, was at the door to greet him. "we refuse to accept your resignation," he said; "but the board does feel that you ought to have a new car--the present one's getting shabby, phil." and in that moment the president felt that his work had gained one little ounce of appreciation. chapter xi the legal and financial departments functions of general counsel, and those of general attorney--a shrewd legal mind's worth to a railroad--the function of the claim-agent--men and women who feign injury--the secret service as an aid to the claim-agent--wages of employees the greatest of a railroad's expenditures--the pay-car--the comptroller or auditor--division of the income from through tickets--claims for lost or damaged freight--purchasing-agent and store-keeper. at the very elbow of the railroad president stands the general counsel. he is shrewd, resourceful, diplomatic. he has quick perception and action, the faith and the loyalty of a friend. in many cases he is a personal officer of the president--in the highest sense. if there is a change of administration of the railroad, there is apt to be a change in the office of the general counsel. if b----, who has been guiding the destinies of the t. & s., goes to transcontinental, he is apt to take y----, his general counsel along with him. for except in the case of some exquisitely organized roads like the pennsylvania, for instance, the general counsel is in every sense personal to the president. he advises him privately, urges him to this step, cautions him from that. on the other hand, the general attorney is more apt to be the legal officer of the railroad. like the general counsel he has an old-fashioned pride in his profession that makes him hesitate at accepting a vice-presidency; he likes the ring of "general attorney" or "general counsel" in his own ears. railroad history and tradition both go to prove that. he will hardly drop those titles for anything less than that of president. the general attorney, unlike the general counsel, in most cases will make his offices in the railroad's headquarters. he will handle its litigation, and if in half a dozen years he can bring down its verdict costs from $ , , to $ , for an average twelve month, as one man did, he will be well worth the large salary that he demands and gets. and his salary will be only one of many of the heavy expenses of the legal department. when that functionary asks for money he gets it and without many questionings. the operating department, the traffic department, the engineers, may have to give sharp account for their appropriations; the legal end of the railroad is trusted to accomplish accurate results, without detailed accounting. in some cases it might prove embarrassing. * * * * * you want to know the value of the shrewd and perceptive legal mind to a big railroad? here is a case that proves his worth: a certain transportation company in the east had a legal vice-president who many people supposed was a political heritage to the road, a man for whom it was supposed a berth had been made by the owner of the property, who was something of a politician himself. a quick turning of the wheel of fortune had thrown one political party out of business at the capital, and another in. the man was given a place in the railroad offices, and a little later was made a vice-president. it so happened that the vice-president knew more than supposers might even imagine; but he was a quiet man, and sometimes some of his own clerks wondered why he drew his big salary. after he had been at his desk a dozen years they found the reason. in gathering up a number of railroad properties to make the parent company--after the fashion of modern railroad practice--one of the most important of these old-time units was found to be in woefully shabby physical form. it was a valuable road in the consolidation. the new parent was willing to guarantee an annual rental of per cent on its stock; but as a railroad it fairly shook at the knees. it stood in dire need of reconstruction, and the men who were offering it a high rental made that a provision of the deal. the old road finally agreed to spend $ , , in revising its line and in buying new locomotives, cars, and bridges. with much ado it accomplished its revision, and brought itself up closer to modern standards of railroading. a decade later when the governmental supervision of the railroads had come into the full flush of its authority, the quiet vice-president had an armful of state commission reports and vouchers brought to his desk. he locked himself in his room, and in a week he had made from them a , -word abstract in long hand. then he took his report in to the president of the road. the acute mind of that general counsel--you see that he was vice-president in this particular case--searching here and there and everywhere, had discovered a mouse-hole. the old-time road had not fulfilled its part of the contract. it had found that it could revise its lines at a cost of a little less than $ , , and had quietly pocketed the change. the big rent-paying consolidation went into the courts, after its cool, impassive way. the case went to a referee and the referee took four years to hear the case and decide it. there were , exhibits offered in evidence and , closely written pages of evidence, making a case nearly equal to that of the receivership of the metropolitan street railway company of new york city, which fills twenty pudgy volumes of some pages each. the referee decided in favor of the parent company, and rendered a verdict close to $ , , , principal and interest. the case was appealed, and sustained. that vice-president had proved his worth. the president of the defendant road came to him. "we simply can't pay," he pleaded. "we've no reserve fund." "then we will take it out of your rental," was the emotionless reply of the quiet vice-president. that type of man stands forth as a possibility to every one of the dozens and dozens of young men who make the main staff of the railroad's legal department. those fellows come to the railroad fresh from the law schools. their salaries are small but their experience and their opportunities are enormous. it is a far better career at the beginning than a briefless existence in one's own office, even though one's own name is emblazoned in brilliant gilt letters upon the door. a young man coming into the legal department of a large railroad has a diversity of work offered him. he draws up the simplest of papers at first, acts as assistant to a trial lawyer, then finally comes to the time when he will alone fight the railroad's case in some minor cause in a small court. after that the causes get bigger, the courts more important, he begins to delve into law libraries and to write briefs. gradually he emerges into a full-fledged lawyer. he may eventually become general attorney or general counsel, and he may find himself welcome to the partnership of some really important law firm. he has knowledge that may be of value in fighting the railroad; whether he will use that knowledge in afterwards fighting his employer is a matter for his own conscience to determine. there are special departments under the main heading of the law department. counsel, the ablest of counsel, is retained at each important point reached by the railroad, and these counsel must act in conjunction and coöperation with headquarters. special tax counsel have an important office by themselves, for the railroad sometimes finds itself in a difficult position. in its pride it may announce to the world, through the newspapers, that the new bingtown depot has cost $ , , but when the bingtown appraisers come around, possessing in their bosoms no inherent love for the railroad, those newspaper clippings in their hands, the tax counsel begins to earn his salary. in these days of federal and state supervision and regulation of railroad management, with now and then an aldermanic chamber or a county board of supervisors trying its hand at the game, there is sure to be special counsel, generally known as the commerce or commission counsel, assigned to the complaints and hearings. for intricate, involved, or unusual cases the road may go outside of its own ranks and hire special counsel--lawyers who are specialists in the very thing involved. just as the big and tactful attorney stands back of the railroad's president, so there crouches at his feet the claim-agent of the company, who is its watch-dog and its scenting hound. back of this claim-agent, who must have achieved a reputation for keen-sightedness and marked ability before receiving his position, is a busy company of claim agents, at headquarters and every division headquarters upon the system. together, these form a militant organization that stands with the legal department to defend the railroad's treasury against indiscriminate raiding. sometimes, because the work dovetails in many ways closely with that of the operating department, these claim-agents work under the order of the general manager and the division superintendents. a sly old fellow who once headed a big road in the middle west once explained the reason why--in the case of his property--without even a trace of a smile. "john says," he was speaking of his own general counsel, "that a claim-agent can't be yanked up before any of these touchy bar associations and charged with unprofessional practices if we can show cases--that they're just railroad men and not lawyers, at all." that was an exaggerated case. as a rule, the young claim-agent has abundant need to be upon his mettle. the public, with an inborn itching against the corporation, keeps him upon that mettle. the man who has had a slight bump upon a railroad train--to make an instance--hunts out the claim office at headquarters. he gets quick treatment and mighty courteous treatment. if he can prove himself in any way entitled to a reimbursement, he gets it--in cash upon the spot. likewise he signs a release--a most ponderous and impressive document. when his "john smith" goes upon that document he has, in its own magnificent phrasing "in consideration of money received" released the railroad company from all obligation to him from the beginning of the world, the fall of man and the decline of the roman empire up to the very moment of the signing. he goes home, pretty well satisfied with himself. it was only a little bump at that. a twenty-five cent bottle of arnica had made him physically himself once again; and as for his suit, well, that was pretty well worn, anyway, and three dollars to a tailor would make it a good "second best" for next winter. he feels that the ten dollars that the railroad gave him was pretty abundant compensation. but wait until he sees his neighbor. the neighbor almost froths at the mouth when he hears of the transaction--of the impressively worded release that was signed. "you're a chump," he says. "you could have gone to bed, stayed there a week and they would have been glad to give you a hundred." after which the man looks upon his ten dollars with contempt and a feeling of injury, and becomes a corporation hater. or perhaps he was really hurt and had some sort of a bill from his doctor and his druggist, lost time to be compensated at his job. the railroad has figured these together and paid him the sum, with the signing of the release as a necessary feature of the transaction. the thing was not very serious, we will say, in this instance also, and the hundred dollars that he received was really a fair compensation. now watch the neighbor, who it happens is a pretty shrewd attorney: "let me take the case, even now," he urges slyly. "i'll get a verdict of five thousand for you, if you are wise, and we will divide the proceeds." "but i've signed their release," groans the other. the shyster laughs in his face. "you were drugged," he whispers, "drugged, and we will prove it." that is not an exaggerated case. it is the sort of thing that the railroad's claim-agents are combating every day of the year; and then wonder not, that some of them finally lose the fine sense of honor, themselves. and beyond this class of folk, is another--nothing less than criminal. there are men and women in this broad land who make a business of feigning injury, and make it a pretty astute business, too, so that they may dig deep into the strong-boxes of the railroad. the most dramatic of this particular brand of "nature fakirs" has been edward pape, the man with the broken neck. pape has a most remarkable deformity and has not been slow to avail himself of it as a money-making device far beyond the figures that might be quoted for him by circus side-shows or dime museums. pape makes a specialty of the trolley companies. he can so alight from a car, coming slowly to a stop, that he will fall and go rolling into the gutter. instantly there is excitement and a group of men to pick up the prostrate form. he is found to be badly injured and is hurried to a hospital. there the internes discover that he has a broken neck. a marvellous set of x-ray photographs are made, and the railroad is usually willing to settle a large cash sum rather than stand suit. within a week he will probably be away and practising his trick on some unsuspecting railroad. "there was a time over in philadelphia that was hell," pape once told the writer. "i'd just finished my fancy fall, and they got me into the sickhouse and rigged out most to kill. they put hip-boots on me there in bed, with their soles fastened to the foot-board and a rubber bandage under my chin and over my head. they put seventy-five pounds in weights on a cord and a pulley-jigger to that bandage and it nearly killed me all day long. at night i used to wait until it was dark and then i'd haul up the weights and put them under the blanket with me. otherwise, i don't know how i'd 'a' got my sleep." [illustration: the freight department of the modern railroad requires a veritable army of clerks] [illustration: the farmer who sued the railroad for permanent injuries--as the detectives with their cameras found him] little things like the discomfort of hospital treatment and searching examinations by railroad surgeons do not seem to discourage these criminals. they take these as necessary hardships that go with their profession. inga hanson, the woman who impersonated deafness, dumbness, blindness and paralysis to win a heavy verdict from the chicago city railway company, and who was afterwards convicted of perjury, was wheeled daily into the court-room in a chair apparently nothing more than a living, inert, shapeless mass of humanity, exquisitely trained to enact her role of deception. sometimes the claim-agents, working in conjunction with the railroad's secret service, have used the camera to great advantage. a farmer who lives in new jersey drove into a seaboard city with a load of produce. at a grade crossing, a switch-engine overturned his craft, about as gently as such an accident could be accomplished. the farmer was lucky in that he was bruised, rather than seriously hurt. then he saw a lawyer and learned that he was incapacitated for life by severe internal injuries. he entered suit for $ , against the railroad. there was a case for the secret-service bureau of the railroad, and it took little time to find the right detectives, husky enough to get out into the fields and work for four long weeks as farmhands. when the jersey farmer began haying that august, he found less trouble than he had ever before experienced in hiring low-priced help. he was able to get two big lads, who were hard workers. it was a big hay year and the farmer was not averse to turning in to do his part of the work. he liked to be with the boys he had hired and one of them had a camera that he could take "great" pictures with. he showed him some of the pictures that he took those august days on the jersey farm. the farmer liked them immensely. he liked them rather less when his attorney came down from the city one day, with prints of the same pictures that had been sent him by the law department of the railroad. the farmer was given a chance to withdraw from the limelight or else stand a criminal trial for perjury, with the penitentiary's gray walls looming up behind. he took the chance. few of the dishonest claimants will proceed after such evidence has been put before them. as for the railroad, it usually works better through getting signed confessions of guilt than by going through the somewhat intense workings of a criminal trial. the secret service stands just back of the claim-agents. it has greater or less recognition in the case of different railroads but its work is generally much the same. it is police. sometimes it is organized like the police department of a small city, with captains and inspectors at various division headquarters, and at other times its very existence is denied by the railroad heads. but its work is much the same. its men, generally chosen for fitness from city police or detective staffs, sometimes root out tramps or small thieves along the line and in the freight-yards, sometimes in gay uniform patrol the platforms of crowded passenger terminals, sometimes work with greatest secrecy in "plain clothes"--which in this case may be jeans or overalls--to detect theft or treason among employees, and sometimes they receive their greatest laurels in connection with the "fake" suits that are brought against the railroad. the secret-service works night and day. its members, with the claim-agents, are at the scene of a serious accident as quickly as the wrecking-train itself. together with the railroad's own corps of surgeons, retained in every important town, and chosen for absolute honesty and integrity, they form an important adjunct of the personal injury claim service. * * * * * the financial officer of the railroad is, of course, the treasurer. it is he who receives its earnings--running possibly into a hundred millions dollars in the course of a twelvemonth--and disburses them for supplies and for wages, for taxes and for bond coupons, and, it is to be hoped, for dividends. he works through appointed banks; and the bank president who can go out and capture one or two good railroad accounts for his institution has earned his salary for several years to come. the selection of the banks is one of the dramatic phases of the inside politics of railroading; it is a cause of constant wire-pullings and heartburnings. "do you see that whited sepulchre down there?" a big railroad head laughs to you as he points to a white marble skyscraper closing the vista of a city canyon. "this road built that temple of business. our account is its backbone. sometimes we deposit a million dollars a day and it is no uncommon thing for our balance there, approaching coupon or dividend times to reach sixteen or seventeen million dollars." he laughs again, then grows confidential. "we're in a bit of a hole," he admits. "some of the big manufacturers downtown are organizing a bank, and it looks as if it was going to be a pretty solid sort of institution. they want a big account from us, and our traffic people are urging their cause. in the long run they'll get the account." then he explains to you that the railroad endeavors to hold down its bank accounts, although it must have them in a large number of different cities, to avoid the long shipments of large quantities of money. the agents and the conductors will, following a carefully arranged system, send their receipts to the nearest designated banks, mailing memorandum slips of the deposit both to the treasurer and to the comptroller. the bank in its turn, sends receipt slips to both of these officers, so the deposit transaction is hedged about with a sufficient degree of formality and detail. when it comes to pay out its money, the railroad has no lessened degree of formality and detail. for the wages of its employees--generally the greatest of all expenditures--the railroad has proper system and order. the paymaster makes out the voluminous pay-rolls, they are each properly attested by the heads of departments; and for his pay-roll totals, the necessary vouchers are issued to him by the treasurer. he may pay the railroad army by check or he may send his deputies out over the system in the pay-cars. the pay-car is one of the pleasantest of the surviving old-time railroad customs. the shriek of the whistle of the engine that hauls it is the pleasantest melody that can come to the ears of the man out upon the line. to shuffle in a long line up to its platform window where the railroad's money is being paid out in tiny envelopes, as each man signs the impressive roll, is one of the greatest joys that anticipation can hold out. as the car makes its routine trip over the line each month or each fortnight, it draws its money from the various repository banks, or else the cash is forwarded to it at division points from headquarters. but, like many old customs, the pay-car is disappearing. the railroads are more and more paying their men by check. it is a better system in many ways. it avoids the handling of large sums of money, and many of the men prefer not to have a roll of bills thrust into their hands. the old prejudice among them against checks is practically over. the checks are constant incentives toward saving, the small banks in the little town are shrewdly reaching for the accounts of the thrifty railroaders. there may not be much for the bank in just one of these accounts, but they can quickly multiply into considerable sums. we have already spoken of the comptroller; he is called the auditor upon some of our railroads. the comptroller is the most passionless and unemotional of all railroad officials. he measures the worth of his fellows by cold mathematical rules, by addition, by subtraction, by multiplication, by division. even as big a man as the president may shudder at the result of such coldly accurate measurings. no moneys are received, none spent, without the knowledge and approval of the comptroller. he is really a fine balance-wheel of the system, a governor working in exact accord with the laws of the ancient and wonderfully accurate science of numbers. by his computations men rise, men fall. he is the keeper of the rule and keeper of the weight. his office organization reflects his own measure of accuracy. as a rule, an auditor of disbursements and auditors of tickets and of freight receipts report are his chief assistants at headquarters. a corps of sharp-eyed young men, each also having an almighty respect for mathematical accuracy, will be up and down the line for him, catching up careless agents on the one hand, and on the other gently showing them how to keep their accounts better, and conform more carefully to the company's established standards. sometimes the car accountant, a man who watches the mileage of the company's cars travelling over other roads, and the equipment of other roads scurrying over the home system, reports to the comptroller, oftener, however, directly to the operating department. all these make a considerable office--an office which usually treads its monotonous path and rarely becomes nervously excited; an office to be well considered in the organization of the railroad. the work of that office falls quite naturally into three channels--as we have already indicated--passenger receipts, freight receipts and disbursements, and general accounts. in the passenger receipts the accounting has, of course, to do with the sale of tickets, and the cash fare collections made by conductors upon the trains. this would be simple enough bookkeeping if a good many years ago the interline or coupon ticket, entitling the bearer to ride upon several different roads, had not come into popularity. to apportion the revenue of a ticket between the half-dozen different lines upon which it has been used requires almost no end of system and accounting. once a month each road has an accounting with its fellows, with whom it is engaged in selling through tickets. the coupons themselves are the vouchers, and cash balances of a single road--because of the freight as well as the passenger business--may be kept standing in the treasuries of several hundred other roads. it is a system quite as intricate, in itself, as the relations between city and country banking and yet it is only a single small phase of the conduct of the railroad. the auditor of ticket receipts must also, through this staff organization, make sharp examination of the tickets that are turned in by the conductors at the end of each day's run. he must see to it that the conductor is neither careless nor anything worse. in either of these cases he will bring the matter quickly to the attention of the operating department. in addition to the railroad selling its tickets there are also railroad passenger traffic organizations, half a dozen or more important ones across the country, which are engaged in selling various forms of railroad transportation. in some cases this takes the shape of a mileage-book which may be honored by fifteen or twenty different lines. the book will perhaps be sold for $ . and will permit of , miles' riding at a saving over local fares, if the purchaser comply with its provisions. if he has complied with its provisions within the year's life of the book, he will be paid $ rebate upon return of its cover which has given him his riding at two cents a mile. sometimes these books take the form of "scrip" which is silent upon mileage but which has its strip divided into five-cent portions, sold at wholesale, as it were, at a fraction less than five cents each. in any case, there is more work for the auditor who handles passenger receipts, and if the railroad is in new york state, for instance, where there is quite a model law in effect regulating these things he will have to be very careful how he handles the accounts for these peculiar mileage books. the law tells him that he must not credit the whole $ to passenger receipts, for the law seems to point to even finer lines than the comptroller. he cannot even subtract the $ which will probably return to the purchaser, and charge the $ to receipts. the mileage-book sales must be credited to a separate account, and only transferred to the main receipts of the railroad as the strip is turned in for passage, a few miles at a time. do you wonder then that the comptroller sometimes grows gray-haired, that the vast routine of his office swells tremendously from year to year? the passenger receipts are almost always less than half of the income accounts of his offices. they are the a, b, c compared with the delicious tangle that comes when the freight waybills come in by the hundred thousand, and each little road must receive the last penny due to it. that feature alone will sometimes keep clerks scratching their pens in a single office, will involve many, many more balances and cross-balances between the railroads. and beyond that complication is still another, the constant investigation and settlement of freight claims that come pouring in against the railroad. there is another job for a staff of competent men. if it is an overcharge claim, the routine is comparatively simple. the audit office should have information at hand sufficient to decline the claim or settle it immediately. but if the claim is for lost or damaged freight, the thing complicates. before the freight claim department will draw a voucher against the treasurer, it will have to assure its own conscience that the claim is fairly substantiated by the facts. from these receipts, combined with those from rentals of express or telegraph privileges or the like, the railroad pays its bills--pays its men, as we have already seen. it pays its taxes and its bond coupons and its fire insurance, and apportions these as far as possible over the twelve months of the year that it may keep a fairly even balance between receipts and expenditures. the other bills are paid by properly signed and attested vouchers, which are bankable like checks, and which are indeed the very best form of check, because they are upon their face a receipt stating the precise reason for which a certain sum of money was paid. in recent years the comptroller, or the auditor, as you may prefer to call him, has become more and more of a statistician. he prepares tables as to locomotive performances, obtaining his figures from the mechanical department; he can tell you to an ounce the average carload of the system for any given month. he fairly seems to revel in his own development of the science of numbers. train and car statistics will probably show the number of trains of different classes, the mileage of the same, the mileage of empty and of loaded cars, and the direction of their movement. locomotive statistics run to mileage, consumption of fuel and of stores, and the cost of labor and material for repairs. in addition to all these the comptroller will probably prepare statistics of locomotive performances--so many miles to one ton of coal and one pint of oil. then he will show the average cost of coal by the ton and of oil by the gallon, for the railroad never forgets the cost. it is cost that really makes the excuse for these great statistics; cost and revenue, analyzed and reanalyzed in half a hundred different ways. the statistics are the thermometers, the very pulse by which the health of the railroad is acutely judged. sometimes the statistics become graphic, and the comptroller, through some of the keen-witted men in his office, prepares charts, in which statistics become "curves of averages" or jotted and wriggling lines, with each jot and each wriggle full of meaning. "government by draughting-board," sniffs the old-time railroader as he sees these great "cross-hatched" sheets with their crazy lines of intelligence spun across them, but it is "government by draughting-board" that has made the old-time railroader--well, the old-time railroader. the new-time railroader gives heed to those charts--the pulse readings of the creature that he is directing--guides his course in no small way by them. they are veritable charts by which he may pick his way quickly and safely. branching, as a rule, direct from the president's office and occasionally from the general manager's, are the purchasing agent and the store-keeper, many times one and the same, or the former acting as superior to the latter. the purchasing agent has no easy role. if he is not above sharp practices--the gift of a bit of furniture or a theatre box, in the least instances--he will fulfil only part of the reputation of his office; and if he is--as many, many of them are--absolutely honest down to the keenest degree of an acute conscience, he will probably still be under the suspicion of some querulous minds. his opportunities for deceit and guile are many, so much the more must he be an honest man in every full sense of that word. he brings the modern railroad's passion for standardization down to the purchase of its every sort of supplies; for his office goes out into the market for anything, from a box of matches to a locomotive. the very fact that his department is a non-revenue department, save for an occasional sale of scrap-iron or discarded materials, only serves to put him the more upon his guard. he must not yield to the wiles of crafty salesmen. he must measure their wares by a single standard--economy, as expressed in selling-price, in durability, and in cost of maintenance; and upon that standard he must decide between them, as impartially as a justice upon the bench. he must be guided by standard. if it be typewriters, he must struggle against the preference of this department or that for some particular machine, and bring all to the test of his three-headed economy. the successful machine will then be adopted for the system and brought as such. no small responsibility rests upon his accuracy of judgment. his store-keeper must see to it that there is no waste of supplies. he must see to it, for instance, that the engineers are as careful in their use of oils as the clerk in that of stationery. "we use $ , worth of lead pencils alone in the course of a single year," says one of them; "and if we didn't keep hammering at the boys, that figure would jump to $ , or $ , without realizing it." he keeps check on the supplies that he issues. his stock of blank forms, alone, would do credit to a wholesale stationery house in a sizable city; for the railroad is a liberal user of printer's ink in its own devices. he must be thrifty and he must be economical; he must look to it that the railroad's money is not wasted in the purchase and use of its supplies. together with the general counsel, the general attorney, the claim-agent, the treasurer, and the comptroller, the purchasing agent and the store-keeper stand as guardians of the railroad's strong-box. chapter xii the general manager his duty to keep employees in harmonious action--"the superintendent deals with men; the general manager with superintendents"--"the general manager is really king"--cases in which his power is almost despotic--he must know men. the general manager operating the railroad is held strictly responsible for the economical movement of the trains and the maintenance of the property. to the greatest portion of the railroad army (nine-tenths of it employed in the operating department) he is an uncrowned king. the superintendent, as we shall presently see, is the unit of the operation of the road, just as the division over which he is head is one of the physical units that go to make up some thousands of miles of first-class railroad track. the division superintendent deals in men; the general manager deals in division superintendents; and right there is the radical difference between the two. the superintendent must see to it that his men get a square deal. if he does not see to it in the first instance they will see to it in the last, and woe to him if such be the case. for the men who work on the steam railroad are well-paid, well-read, keenly sensitive as to their privileges and their rights. and from these men have come the division superintendents, as different each from the other as men can be grown. it is the general manager's chief duty to bring these very different men into harmonious action. that is absolutely essential to the successful operation of the railroad. the general manager must have absolute firmness with his superintendents. he can appoint or discharge them as they can appoint or discharge their trainmen--more quickly in fact, for up to the present time there is no brotherhood of railroad superintendents. a certain division superintendent in the east had miles of busy double-track trunk line under his direction. at his headquarters were a big classification yard and a coaling-station for the engine of the two divisions that intersected there. in the course of gradually increasing business, the coaling-station, which stood in a narrow ledge beside the main-line tracks and under the breast of a steep mountain-side, had to be enlarged. in so small a place, that was a difficult engineering problem. it was necessary to build much bigger coal-pockets and while the engineers were removing the old and building the new station, temporary coaling facilities had to be provided for the busy engine point. that part of the problem--more operating than engineering--was finally solved by going across the main-line tracks and locating a temporary coaling-station there. that made a bad situation--with the heavy main-line traffic constantly intersecting with engines drilling back and forth to their coal supply, and the general manager was quick to realize it. he went up there and warned his superintendent. "this is a danger place," he said, "and a mighty bad one at that. that tower's too far away to guard this cross-over. i want you to put two flagmen here at all hours and let them personally signal and safeguard every engine that crosses these main-line tracks." then he went back to his own big office, feeling that the responsibility for that danger place was off his own shoulders, in part at least. the division superintendent put in the requisition for the four men he needed. the requisition enmeshed itself in the red-tape at the general offices of the system. some smart young assistant auditor there, who couldn't tell a coal-pocket from a gravity-yard, and who was miles away, remembered that he had been ordered to cut the pay-roll--and the requisition went into the waste-basket. the division superintendent did not try to get another requisition for those flagmen through. he did the next best thing and told the towerman in the cabin--almost half a mile away--to keep as good a watch as possible of the cross-over. the inevitable came early one evening, in an october fog. the chicago fast mail ran into an engine returning from the coal-pockets and there were half a dozen dead when the wreck was cleared away. the division superintendent was hurriedly summoned down to the general manager's office. "i cautioned you against trying to operate that cross-over without special signalmen," that officer said, as he discharged the superintendent and so cleared himself of the responsibility. and that is where the modern system of excessive consolidation in our big land carriers turned one good, faithful railroad executive into a howling anarchist. an illogical system has developed from this rapid expansion of the great individual railroad properties. as its most interesting phase, it offers the man who is farthest away from the detail of operation as the man who decides. one man takes the judgment of another and both of them are far removed, perhaps, from the seat of the very trouble that they seek to remedy. the man on the ground is powerless in the matter. here is the yardmaster at a great interior railroad centre--we call it somerset for the sake of convenience. his is one of the biggest yards in all this land, and he is a man whose judgment should be solidly respected. there are four improvements in his yards that he deems absolutely necessary in the face of a rapidly increasing traffic, and for a portion of the property that depreciates rapidly under hard usage. his is a most important position; and yet as he cannot spend a cent himself for the use of the railroad, not even to buy matches, he embodies his four requests for necessities into a requisition and forwards it to headquarters--at a seaboard city. his superior officer thinks that somerset is asking a good deal, and he cuts the request down to three items. the next link in the chain is a man--an auditor, perhaps--who happens to be imbued with a strong streak of economy at that time. middle division has had its appropriation cut thirty-three per cent, so off comes another item from somerset yard. after a time, the yardmaster is lucky to get one single item through--and that is sure not to be the essential item that he needed most of all. good, plucky, valiant railroader that he is, he is sure to think the whole outfit in the general offices a set of arrant fools. perhaps the big accident comes, and then perhaps he has full opportunity to set himself straight. it is more likely that he does not, and that he is made the target for grand jury indictment and a lot of other fireworks. that is an instance of the complications of the modern railroad--the vast intricacy of organization. wonder not, then, that many a general manager of to-day must think twice before he remembers that some particular inland town is one of the obscure branches of his property. * * * * * the superintendent deals with men; the general manager, with superintendents. that statement is open to a slight modification. the superintendent deals with the operating army in individual cases; the general manager deals with them collectively. somewhere in rank between the division superintendent and the general manager stands the general superintendent, but in the rapidly changing structure of american railroad operation, his office is fast losing its individuality, is to-day in real danger of utter extinction. on some railroads he is hardly more than a chief clerk to the general manager, a rubber-stamp whose signature goes mechanically upon papers bound upwards from division superintendent to general manager. at the most he is to-day an outside man, getting up and down the line and making constant reports to his boss, the general manager. [illustration: oil-burning locomotive on the southern pacific system the steel passenger coach, such as has become standard upon the american railroad electric car, generating its own power by a gasoline engine both locomotive and train--gasoline motor car designed for branch line service] [illustration: the biggest locomotive in the world: built by the santa fe railroad at its topeka shops] for the general manager is really king of the entire situation. just now his reign is threatened from a new quarter, and you find him receiving the opposition with both distrust and anger. this is the fine figure of a fine man. he has come up the ladder, rung by rung--station assistant, telegraph operator, despatcher, train-master, assistant superintendent, superintendent, general superintendent, general manager; he knows railroading, stick and wheel. his own railroad he knows as he might know the fingers of his hand. when we come into his office, the last of a committee of well-dressed citizens is slipping out of his door; they are citizens from a prosperous town in an adjoining state, and he may tell us of their errand. "k---- is a good town," he will say, "and gives us a good and growing traffic. we've a lot of nasty grade-crossings there, for the two of our big lines that right-angle into there seem to get over about every street in the place at level. they want us to elevate or depress our tracks through there, and it should be done. this road wants it as much as k----wants it; for it's one of the worst bottle-necks on our main line, and lord only knows how many thousands of dollars it's cost us in delayed traffic." this king of the railroad points to a sheaf of blueprints upon his desk. "that tells the story," he says simply, "and the end of the chapter is a bill for nine millions of dollars to get rid of those crossings. according to law, k---- will have to stand about half of the cost of the work, and k----, like most progressive american towns, has been running pretty close to her debt limit. she is staggered at the thought of having to dig out three or four millions of perfectly good dollars, and so her mayor has made the naive suggestion that we advance the money and let them pay back their share in the shape of refunded taxes and annual payments. "we advance that money--and the big boss has to slip over to france and try to sell our securities for mere necessities. the truth of the matter is that we haven't the money to advance. we're grubbing to get enough cash to buy locomotives and cars to keep pace with our business, not running a loan business for upstart towns that have run through their capital." in comes a second delegation, this one another group of commuters. they have been asking for an additional train in on the valley branch. the general manager has said that the road cannot afford it, for the train would have to be operated at a loss. he proves his statement. "but," urges the spokesman of the party, "you will make traffic by it, and eventually the train will pay." "eventually isn't to-day," said the g. m. stanchly, "and it is on to-day that we are being judged. you gentlemen come here and ask me to place a train in service that is a sure loser; and then you will go down to your office, and when the difference between my net and gross comes to you upon your ticket sheets, you will damn me as being a rank incompetent." "but this one train?" protests the spokesman. "violates that very principle," replies the general manager. "not another car that does not pay its way." and as that little group files its way out of the big office, uttering sundry threats about going to the commission, the general manager stretches his leg over his big desk. under the glass top of that desk is a big map, in colors, of his system--miles and miles and miles of first-class railroad. "they come to me--towns like k---- and tell me of their troubles," he says, "as if i already did not know of them. i've a reconstruction plan for every ten miles of our main-line." his finger traces upon the map to a great division point. "take somerset here, and somerset yard. that is some yard, as the boys say. we have miles of track in it, enough for a good-sized side-line division, and that yardmaster has to be the equal of a superintendent. "you would take a good look at that yard, with its roundhouses and its shops, its gravity-humps and its classification sections, and you would think it big enough to handle every freight car that goes between here and chicago. it isn't. it isn't really big enough to handle our decent share of that traffic to-day. we're trying to pour the business through it to-day, and are succeeding only by the narrowest measure. it's a weak valve in our biggest artery, and some day it's going to clog. "it won't be five years before somerset has me throttled again. five years ago it was as bad. it took us three to four weeks to put a carload of freight through it in winter, and the shippers were howling bloody murder. they got mad enough then to scare our directors and i got separate east-bound and west-bound classifications yards, relief that i'd been fairly down on my knees for, three years at least. i was the goat in that thing. i always am; that's part of the job of general manager. "i know just what the steady increase in traffic is going to bring me to, at this point and at that. here's where a couple of our biggest feeders from the north come into our main-line; here are a couple of friendly haulers dumping down into us from canada; here, in the mountains, is where we pick up our stuff from the south and the southwest. every yard on our system is beginning to stagger under the traffic that shows no let up, and we've got to spend millions to keep ourselves from getting throttled. don't think i don't know every bit of that. i can see necessary improvements all the way up our main line; but every one of them takes money, and just now the big boss has to hustle to sell his securities and raise the money. but when we know and can't improve--that's railroading." a secretary tiptoes in. this railroad king looks up and smiles quite frankly at us. "committee from the chamber of commerce at zanesburgh," he announces. "they want a new depot in zanesburgh, and they're entitled to a new one, costing at a fair ratio about $ , . a $ , -depot would give them every comfort and convenience but they demand that we spend $ , because great midland has spent $ , in an architectural wonder in stenton; and the old time town rivalry makes zanesburgh want to go stenton one better." "you've got a lot of these delegations?" we venture. "i lose track of them," says the general manager. "it's all a part of the day's work; it's railroading." we know. last night, this general manager was at a big freight terminal there in the headquarters city, seeing with his own eyes until midnight the fast freight and the express traffic under handling. the night before he was there, and the night before that he was also there, and three days before that he was out pounding over the line in his car, working eighteen hours a day. that's railroading, too. the freight house in this terminal city is one of his biggest problems. his biggest local freight yard is in a narrow valley between high hills; and these, together with fearful realty values, absolutely circumscribe its area. the traffic is growing all the while, and all the local freight for his road--running in strongly competitive territory--comes to this terminal. three hundred and fifty cars must be despatched every night for different points, and yet a dray coming into the yard must be able to find any one of those cars without an instant's delay. and still the narrow physical limitations of that yard prevail. there is a big problem for a big man. and sometimes the big man must stoop to examine carefully into the little things. when mccrea, the present president of the pennsylvania, was a general manager off on the western end of that system, his car was halted in the middle of the night by a bad wreck on a single-track side-line. he might have remained in his comfortable bed, but that would not have been mccrea. he got up and dressed, went outside and offered his services to the wrecking-boss. the wrecking-boss was competent and he knew it. "there's nothing you can do, boss," he said. "do you mean to tell me that there is nothing that i can do--with a road blocked on both sides with wreckage and stalled trains and track to be laid?" said mccrea. "well, let me tell you that there are ties down there in the ditch that will have to be placed before another train goes over here, and we might as well be beginning." and with that general manager mccrea suited action to word. he went down into the ditch, picked up a heavy tie, put it over his shoulder, and brought it up into position. in an instant he was in the ranks, working to bring order out of chaos. that was the way a big man could do a little thing in a big way. it takes a really big man for that very sort of thing. and the big man, general manager of several thousand miles of railroad, must understand the smaller men beneath him--any one of whom is apt in some future day to supersede him. here is a man who has been known as one of the best general managers in the whole land. soon after he was made operating head of a really big road, a certain train on which he was travelling was much delayed. the new g. m. inquired the exact reason for the trouble. he was not so much concerned for his own convenience as he was curious to know why one of the road's best through trains should have halted until assistance should come from the nearest roundhouse. "the fireman lost his rake," was the somewhat perfunctory report that the g. m.'s secretary returned to him. but if that young man thought that his boss was going to be satisfied with that report, he was mistaken, decidedly. "bring the fireman to me," commanded the chief. that fireman was not of the sort that is easily feazed. he stood stockily and in a low voice gave a very circumstantial explanation of the whole occurrence. it seemed that he had missed the rake that morning when they had started out from the yard roundhouse to take the limited down over the division. he was just going back for another, when they were called to lend a hand at a small yard wreck. when they were done shoving and bunting there, they had no time to run back to the roundhouse and get a rake. they had barely enough time to get to the passenger station for the engine change. that was a good story, with a deal of explanation, and the fireman thought that the g. m. must be impressed with it. the g. m. was not in the least impressed. he looked the coal shover up and down, from head to feet, then said: "how about those seven freights that you passed laid out on sidings? you could have forced any one of those engineers to lend you his rake rather than lay out this train." the effect of that slight observation from the g. m.'s car was not lost on a man on the system. the new man made good. from that time forward word went out to the far corners of his road that the "new boss" knew railroading; that he had four eyes in his head and that you had to be pretty careful what sort of a story you put up to him. calculate, if you can, in dollars and cents the moral effect of such a stand upon the rank and file of the king's army. the general manager, as we have already said, must know men. * * * * * you are back with your first general manager again. he is tired of all these problems, and yet he is now turning to another. this is formally entitled the situation. it is placed upon his big desk every morning. it is a morning paper, if you please, prepared for a single reader. the general manager is "old subscriber," in good measure; and if the paper lacks both editorials and advertising, it is none the less interesting to its star reader. its news is as exclusive as its reader, and exclusively the news of his system. by it he knows first of the traffic that has been handled in twenty-four hours, by cars and by trains. he knows by it the reserve forces of the railroad, in cars and in locomotives, and just where they are located. by the _situation_, he can discover the over-massing of equipment upon one division, the shortage upon another. after that he can begin to give orders to his general superintendents and his superintendents of transportation--these last the men who are directly responsible for car movement--toward bringing a better balance between traffic and equipment. the _situation_ is on his desk at ten o'clock in the morning. by eleven, whole brigades of locomotives may be under way, moving from their stalls in some giant roundhouse out toward another division whose superintendent is fairly shrieking for power. but the _situation_ tells more than merely this. it goes into history, and in its own cold-blooded fashion tells what the road is doing by comparison. it gives weather conditions and traffic for the corresponding day, one year, two years, three years, five years before; and the general manager will do well if he avoids giving mere cursory examination of such tables. the _situation_ not only notes weather conditions, it brings to the eyes of the man whom we have called king in railroad operation the more important train delays and the reasons that have caused them. every fact or incident that may affect the traffic or the operation of the road is noted in its fine-filled pages. it is in every way a guide and a barometer of the condition of a great property up to the very hour that the general manager comes to his desk. but the _situation_ does not tell the entire story. out in the nearest passenger yard is a big private-car, almost as handsome and as well equipped as that of the president of the road, and that car is in service as many days as it stands idle there upon the siding. this man has , miles of railroad empire in his domain; there are nearly , faithful privates for his army. to cover that territory means constant travel. there are side-lines of less importance that sometimes do not see him for six months at a time. of less importance, did we say? we had better not let him hear us breathe that, for there are men in his employ who remember the first council of the operating department staff after this g. m. came to the road. they were gathered there for the time-table meeting--a general superintendent, a whole round dozen of division superintendents, serious traffic-minded folk from the passenger department, an auxiliary corps of chief clerks and stenographers. division by division, the passenger time-table problem was adjusted. this superintendent asked a little more running time, for they were putting in a cluster of new bridges, which made slow orders necessary; another was thereupon forced to shorten his schedule, for the total running time between main-line terminals of a road in hot competitive territory could not be increased a single sixty seconds. finally, after a vast amount of argument, the main-line divisions were settled, and attention was given to the side-lines. the first of these ran through a section purely rural, but there was not a busier miles of single track in the east. the general superintendent called attention to it, with a laugh. "we'll now tackle the hoejack," said he. it was an old joke, and the division heads began to laugh. they stopped laughing the next instant. the new general manager was on his feet and pounding thunderously upon his table top. his face was crimson, as he demanded attention. "gentlemen," said he, scathingly, "the great railroad from which i have had the honor to come has prided itself upon being a standard railroad. its standard is universal wherever its cars and engines run, and its jurisdiction extends. some of its lines are the busiest traffic-haulers in the land. the four and even six tracks to each of them are hardly enough for the great volume of high-class freight and passenger traffic that press upon their rails. there are some side-lines, with but two or three trains a day--side-lines that reach the main-line only through other branches. but there are no hoejacks, nor peanut branches, nor jerkwaters upon that system. hereafter there are to be none upon this. the man who is hauling a train on the most remote corner of this railroad is doing its work quite as much as the biggest trainmaster here at the terminal. i trust you follow me?" they followed implicitly; and to that general manager has been finally accorded the credit for bringing an operating department, torn by inefficiencies and by jealousies, into one of the first rank among the railroads of the land. but he admits that he is going out upon side-line; and that particular side-line brings a story to the mind of his chief clerk. when he has us quite aside he tells it to us: "the next to the last time the boss went up the upper river division, they got his goat. we halted at the depot up at west lyndonbrook, to fill the tanks. the boss thinks that he will get out and stir his feet for a minute on the right-of-way. up comes a villager. 'are you the general manager of this 'ere road?' he says to the boss. boss thinks he was some gentle bucolic soul, and he says 'yes,' and offers him a real cigar. but the gentle bucolic doesn't smoke anything cleaner than a pipe, and he just up and says, 'well, general, here's somethin' fer ye,' and shoves a paper with a big red seal into the boss's hand. "it seems that up in that neck o' woods they get grade crossings removed as a last resort by going to the county court and the paper that the constable served was one for the boss to come down there in a fortnight for a hearing on an order to put a flagman and gates at our crossing in west lyndonbrook. the boss was mighty mad, and almost discharged the agent for letting that constable hang around the depot. there isn't enough traffic over that line to do more than keep the rust off the rails, and we never had an accident in the sixty odd years that crossing has been in use. and at that the boss might have fallen for a flagman. but the way they rubbed it into him riled him. they might have gone at the thing in a decent way--first sent a committee down to the division superintendent to request that flagman. "he went down on the appointed night to the old town hall. before he got there he started a guessing contest in that smart-aleck burg. the crossing was right 'in the heart of the community,' as they put it themselves, and the big citizens' houses were all within an eighth of a mile of our right-of-way. three days before the big flight of oratory down at the town hall, the boss starts something. they hardly get away from their houses in the morning before there is a bunch of those bright tech-school boys with their rods and sextants and steel tapes measuring lines over the front lawns. and the next thing they were planting bright new stakes in all the flower-beds. there hadn't been so much excitement in west lyndonbrook since the last time theodore roosevelt talked there, and the townfolk hustled down to the depot. the agent didn't ease their minds. the boss wasn't working hand in glove with him. "when the night came for the big time at the town hall, it was a regular 'standing-room only' business. the boss kept in the background while the great minds of the township did their best. when it came his turn he clamped across the platform like an avenging angel. he is a big fellow, and that night he looked seven-foot-six, as he stuck his long fingers out over that intelligent body politic and asked what it meant by trying to cow the only first-class railroad that had ever had enough energy to put its rails down in that township. then he calls up an engineer from our construction department. "'mr. blinkins,' he says, in a voice that you could have heard across the public square, 'this railroad has decided to temporize no longer in this highway crossing situation on its lines. how much will it cost to put a subway under our track at this crossing?' "the engineer dove into his drawings and said: 'it'll be quite a big job, and we'll have to cut quite a way into some of the front yards to get the foundations for our abutments. my estimate of the cost of the proposed improvement is $ , .' "then it was the boss's turn again. 'under the state law, work on abolishing a grade crossing begins by the railroad expressing its willingness,' he told them. 'the cost is divided--half being borne by the railroad, the other half being divided between the township and the state. west lyndonbrook's share will reach $ , .' forty thousand dollars--why $ , would have built either the new union school or the waterworks that that burg had been hankering for and thought it couldn't afford. when the boss breathed about that $ , it started the old feuds between the waterworks crowd and the school crowd. they forgot all about the crossing and our sin-filled railroad, and got to hammering anew on the old issue. we slinked out while they were still at it--had the car hooked on to the rear of thirty-eight and got started while the oratory was taking a fresh turn. "the boss? the boss is a diplomat. that's how he keeps his job." chapter xiii the superintendent his headship of the transportation organism--his manner of dealing with an offended shipper--his manner with commuters--his manner with a spiteful "kicker"--a dishonest conductor who had a "pull"--a system of demerits for employees--dealing with drunkards--with selfish and covetous men. if the general manager is king in modern railroad operation, the division superintendent is not less than prince. his principality is no mean state. it may consist of some miles of what he modestly admits is the "best sort of railroad in all this land"; or it may be a little stretch of miles, or even less, losing its way back among the hills; but it _is_ a principality, and his rule is undisputed. if ever it be questioned, it will then be high time for him to abdicate. just as the division is the physical unit of railroad operation, so is its superintendent the human unit. by him the transportation organism stands or falls. if it stands, he is able to go forward; the path from his door leads to the general manager's office. if it falls--well, there is to-day in central illinois a gray-haired station-agent who once held his own principality-- , men to take his orders. "we only discharge for disobedience or dishonesty," said the president of that railroad at the time he signed the order reducing the prince to the ranks. "when we fail to get the real measure of a man, it is our fault, not his. we never turn out a man who has done his level best for us." this man is superintendent of one of the most prosperous of the trunk-line railroads that reach the metropolis by stretching their rails across new jersey. his is a "terminal division," so called, and he has assumed command of one of the busiest city gates in all america. his railroad day begins almost as soon as he is awake. there is a telegraph outfit in the corner of his bedroom, and as he dresses and shaves he listens mechanically to its scoldings--to the gossip of the division. it comes as casually to his ear as the prattle of his children; the key began to be music to him long before he left the little yellow depot where he first began to be a railroader. "they're in pretty good shape this morning, john," laughs his wife. she, too, has been listening half unconsciously to the gossip of the wire. years ago she "stood her trick" with her husband back in that little yellow depot. "got a coal train in the ditch up the other side of greyport," is his reply. "we'll rip out that nasty cross-over up there some day, when the big boss wakes up to the cash we've put out in wrecks at gp." "going up there?" "not this morning, maggie," he laughs. "i've a committee from the firemen coming in to see me. they're nagging for a raise." he lowers his voice, as if he almost thought that the walls had ears. "it's beginning to grind the boys, too--butter cents, eggs , and all their hungry kiddies. but the big boss--whew!" he whistles, goes to his key, cuts in, and begins to give orders to the wrecking-boss up at greyport. "steady, jim," he says, in a low voice. "you've got all day on that job if you need it, only watch out for the number two track with your crane. we can't risk a side-swipe on one of our pretty trains. we're detouring the east-bound passengers over the central. how's hinckley?" he closes the circuit softly. "poor hinckley," he says gently. "do you remember, maggie? he was married the same summer we were." through with his breakfast, he hurries down to the station, and before he slips aboard the suburban train that is to carry him in to his jersey city office, he has had the wire again into greyport. they are getting things cleaned up there a bit; a baggage-car has been sent up with a special engine for hinckley. the superintendent turns from these. one of the little trains that come out from town in the dusk of early dawn has brought a leather bag filled with mail. he runs through it as his train slips across the meadows. by the time he is in his roomy office it is ready to be answered, a pencilled memorandum on each is sufficient guide for his chief clerk. throughout the morning his calendar is a crowded thing. there is a constant line of restless men sitting on the long bench just without the guarded rail of the outside office. one by one these are called; they disappear behind swinging baize doors to stand in front of the superintendent. for the first of these there is a smile--the caller is a big shipper, big enough to go to the head of the line and have instant access to the boss. this shipper is the sort who gives the railroad tonnage in trainload lots. he is hot. he cannot get cars. he will begin to route over the triple b----, even though his siding facilities are wrong for it. _they'll_ dig him out the cars he needs, they have folks over there who make it their business to find cars. and while he is on the subject it seems pretty bad to have stuff coming twelve and fourteen days through from chicago. perhaps he'd better be getting after the commission. the shipper is very hot. he expatiates upon his wrongs, hammers upon the superintendent's desk, grows scarlet in his heavy face. the superintendent's smile never wavers. he gives close attention, does not grow excited. a few orders over the telephone, a word of explanation, the shipper smiles now. down in his heart he begins to be sorry that he made these threats about the triple b----. that is getting traffic, you say, and the superintendent is an operating man. you are a bit wrong there. the superintendent is a _railroad_ man and that means that any part of the railroad business is his business. there is a man, by name a. h. smith, who is to-day operating vice-president of the new york central system, who held to that idea from the beginning. in the beginning, smith was the superintendent of a little side-tracked division of the lake shore & michigan southern which centred in at hillsdale, michigan. it was a strong competitive territory, and smith found that the traffic that came to his road was so slight that it did not take a great deal of his time to move it. the superintendents before him had had a lot of time to speed their fast horses and fuss around their gardens. not so with smith. he went into the business of making traffic. it was a decade that took keen delight in singing societies, and smith's robust voice allied itself to every choir of importance in three counties. he sang himself into personal popularity, he sang traffic into coming over the michigan southern. after a while, the folks over in the general offices at cleveland began to take notice. the traffic folks were the first to notice, after that--well, a long story's short when you know that smith found himself on a short cut to his present job. the superintendent's smile remains while a solemn-faced delegation of commuters files into his room. these grave folk have been coming into town on the : almost since the road first laid its rails. it is part of their lives, and they fondly imagine that it is a big part of the road's--that the twenty-hour train over the mountains to chicago is a matter of considerably less importance than the : . the superintendent broadens his bland smile and rings for his train sheets. there are other trains than the : coming into that terminal--almost a train a minute from a little before eight o'clock until half-past nine. the superintendent's finger runs for corroboration over the train sheets. twenty-five days this month when per cent of his suburban trains come under the protection of the big shed of the terminal right on the scheduled moment--how was that for consistency of operation? the commuters' committee seem a little dazed. individually, the men are expert on a good many things--printing, indictments, breakfast foods, patents, wholesale feathers; but consistency of train operation and train sheets are a bit confusing. "the : has been late a whole lot recently," doggedly affirms the chairman. "last thursday we were pretty near fifteen minutes late." a gleam of triumph comes into the superintendent's eye. he fumbles anew among the flimsy train sheets. his forefinger alights upon a line of the typewritten copy. "last thursday," he comments, "you can see that we were all laid out by the hackensack river draw. a schooner filled with brick got caught by the ebb tide and laid down on us in the open draw. what you want to see, gentlemen, is the treasury departments down at washington. it is outrageous that the antiquated navigation laws should be allowed to hold up business in that way." the committee confer among themselves and decide to make the life of the secretary of the treasury uncomfortable for a while. "you cannot hope for anything better with that hackensack bridge," urges the superintendent almost malevolently. he does not tell them, but the boys out on the line know his own experience with the hackensack river bridge. last december and just in the evening rush-hours they found that the cabin that stands perched at the top of the trussed draw was afire. the trains bringing home the tired suburbanites were beginning to line up back of the fire for solid miles. the tired suburbanites were saying things about this particular railroad. it chanced that this superintendent was a passenger on one of the trains. he went forward to the blaze. the towerman had beat a retreat. the superintendent started to climb up the ice-covered ladder tower toward the burning cabin. the towerman halted him. the wiry superintendent turned upon him with a look of infinite scorn: "we've got to hand signal those trains across here--there's thousands of folks out here in the meadows that we can't let miss their supper--" "i've got a family--" began the towerman. "that's all right. i'll signal these across." "that ain't it, boss. back o' th' cabin's the gasolene tanks, the stuff for openin' th' draw." the superintendent gave a low whistle. "that settles it," he said. "we've _got_ to put this fire out. i can't risk cutting this draw out of service." it is a matter of record on that railroad that he climbed alone to the top of the draw and began to put out the fire with his own stout endeavors. he was not alone for long. inspired by him, the men that gathered there--engineers, firemen, trainmen, and conductors, crawled up upon that freezing cold draw and lent him their efforts. in a half-hour the fire was out, and the stalled trains were moving again. this, then, is the measure of the man who sits across the wide office table from you. the mollified commuters are marching out. "you don't encourage kicking?" you ask. "we don't discourage it," he replied. he is reminded of a story and tells it to you. "when they made blank superintendent over there at broad street, in philadelphia, he went in to make a clean record. he called his chief clerk to him. 'mind you, if you hear kicks, don't let them get in one ear and out the other. you bring them in here and we'll investigate.' in three days the chief clerk was busy. 'lots of trouble with the suburban traffic to-day,' he would say. 'wilmington train laid out at grey's ferry; third day that's happened.' 'ugly trainman on the main line wouldn't close the rear doors. that fellow's unpopular.' 'not enough equipment on the central division.' 'no fire in the stove at lenden road,'--a long string of commuter troubles. after blank had heard this for a week he began to get nervous. he called his chief clerk to him. 'see here,' he demanded, 'what's the matter with our service? where are all these kicks coming in from?' the chief clerk looked at him--never a snicker. 'you said you wanted the kicks,' he replied. 'well, i've been letting the head barber downstairs shave me after he was done with the commuters. he gets every one of the howls.'" sometimes the kicks represent a serious side of the superintendent's problem. a while ago a man came to a railroad superintendent in boston and demanded that a certain ticket-examiner in the passenger terminal be dismissed. there had been some sort of dispute and the man insisted that the ticket-examiner be discharged, nothing less. the ticket-examiner, on his part, told a pretty fair sort of story. moreover, he said that if in the heat of the dispute he had transgressed on good manners he was frankly sorry and that it would not happen again. back of all that he had a good record: no complaints had ever before been registered against him. the superintendent then wrote a letter to the man who had complained and stated that the offending ticket-examiner had been reprimanded and that the offence would probably not be repeated. [illustration: the conductor is a high type of railroad employee] [illustration: the engineer--oil-can in hand--is forever fussing at his machine] [illustration: railroad responsibility does not end even with the track walker] [illustration: the fireman has a hard job and a steady one] that did not satisfy the man who complained. he was of the sort that are supposed to have a "pull," and he threatened to use his pull if the ticket-examiner were not discharged. he refused to accept apologies or explanations. he said he was hot. so was the superintendent. he keenly resented anything that approached interference with his discipline, and he refused to discharge his employee. pressure was exerted, the pull was doing its fine work. the superintendent was--like every other railroad superintendent in this land--a fine diplomat. he took the man from the train gate in the terminal and gave him an equally good job in a city a hundred miles distant from boston. he flattered himself that he had seen the last of the man with the pull. not a bit of it. that brisk soul chanced to pass through the distant town, and gasped at sight of the former ticket-examiner still drawing pay from the railroad. he hastened into the superintendent's office in boston and demanded that the subterfuge end--that the man be actually discharged from the road's employ. the superintendent looked at him coolly, not speaking. the man again threatened his pull. the railroad boss looked at him through slitted eyes. it was a real crisis for him. his diplomatic smile was ready. he pointed with his lean forefinger toward the door. "the case is closed. good-morning," was all he said. after that he began wondering what road would have him after that pull was exerted. he wondered for a day, for a week, then a month. then he forgot the occurrence. the pull, like many other sorts of threats, was thin air. of a different sort was the problem that confronted a superintendent in chicago. on a certain suburban train for many years the conductor had remained with an unchanged run. gossip had come into the super's office that this conductor was systematically stealing from the company. the boss started a quiet investigation. the conductor with apparently no other income than his $ a day, had purchased a neat home in the suburbs, had sent his boy to yale, his girl to vassar. that was thrift, with a capital t. the superintendent took the case sharply in hand and summoned the conductor before him. he was one of the older sort, gray-haired, kind-faced. "johnson," said the boss, "you've been with the road a long time and never had a vacation. i want you to lay off a month and run over to either coast. i'll get the transportation for you." johnson protested. he belonged to a generation of railroaders that was not educated to vacations. the superintendent insisted and had his way, as superintendents generally do. johnson started on his vacation, and a substitute, knowing nothing of the real situation, replaced him. the returns from that daily run doubled, and the superintendent knew that he was right. nowadays when a railroad finds that a conductor is stealing, it invokes the majesty of the interstate commerce law and prepares to hurry him off toward a federal prison. in that day they were content to fire johnson; that was sufficient disgrace to the old man. the railroad could not begin to get back the money that had been trickling out throughout the long years. but johnson showed fight. his was an important train in the chicago suburban service, and his passengers were important merchants and manufacturers--big shippers. they got together, under johnson's supervision, and made the hair on the heads of the traffic men turn gray. those fellows were johnson's friends, and they were not going to see the n---- turn out a faithful employee. johnson said that he had not stolen, and johnson was not the sort to lie. it might do the n---- good to send some tonnage over to the m----. the traffic department and the operating locked horns, as ofttimes they do on roads, both big and little. traffic won. the superintendent lost, johnson went back to his job, and the road put on a checking system that made its conductors wonder if they had held convict records. that case was an exception. there are not many superintendents who are compelled to back water, mighty few johnsons among the thousands of conductors across the land. we are still in that superintendent's office in jersey city. the boss's smile is gone. a big railroader just in from the line, his jeans covered with engine grease, shuffles into the place and stands before the super, hat in hand, like a naughty boy ready to be whipped. the superintendent speaks in a few low sentences to him, makes a notation on an envelope. the big man trembles in front of the little. a bit of a smile comes to the lips of the boss. "you think of the wife and the kiddies first next time," he says. "good-bye and good luck to you. i'm not much for lecturings," he adds, after the man has gone. a little later he begins to explain. "that big fellow had to be disciplined. there was no two ways about it for either of us. he's an engine-man, got a good train, too; but he's been running signals. we've caught him twice on test. we can't stand for that. suppose we have a nasty smash and the coroner's jury begins to ask nosey questions? i had to put black on his envelope." he goes into further detail. in other days he would have been forced, in order to uphold his discipline, to suspend the engineer for from five days to two weeks--the punishment preceding discharge. there was a possibility--disagreeable to the superintendent--that the engineer's family might have been crowded for sufficient food for a fortnight. some of those fellows live pretty close to the proposition all the while. nowadays the offender is demerited--once again like the schoolboy. that is what the superintendent meant by that reference to the envelope, the road's record of the man's service with it. sixty demerits--dismissed. that's the rule of one big road. but the record does not always continue to be negative. its positive side rests in the fact that for every month a man keeps his envelope clear five demerits are taken from the black side of his envelope. a trainman might have forty-five demerits against him, be on the narrow edge of discharge, and in eleven months, after turning the new leaf, have as clean a sheet as the best man on the division. this is as it should be. the demerit plan--often called the "brown system"--represents the triumph of modern railroad operation over the old. the superintendent may have all the advantages of a time-tried disciple and a modern record system; have the prestige and the reputation that come from the operation of miles of railroad, and still have a hard row to hoe. out in the middle west there was, until recently, a stretch of what was known as "booze railroad." it was a division where reputations and records alike counted for naught, where discipline was a mockery. train-crews went from their runs direct to saloons and, what was a deal worse, began their day's work within them. the wreck record of that division that went forward to the state commission was appalling--and half the wrecks were not reported. yardmasters were busy day after day stowing away damaged equipment far from the curious eyes of passengers--the wrecking crews were hammering for big over-time pay. it was a thoroughly demoralized stretch of railroad. the distressed president of the system sent east for a superintendent who had a reputation. he thought he had his man. the new broom was a book-of-rules man. he had a quarter of his operating force laid off all the time, to go before him. he was a man fond of words, and he lectured those old fellows as if they had been school children. he might have done quite as well with his division if he had been operating it from kamchatka. the men began to call their rule-books the "joe millers." the superintendent got mad and was lost--hopelessly. he began discharging right and left, and the wrath of the gods and of the brotherhoods (the great labor unions of the railroads), was upon him. the road was threatened with a big strike at the very time that it could least afford it. he avoided that strike only by acceding to the demand of the brotherhood chiefs that the superintendent's head be given to them on a silver platter. after that the "man without a country" was in a more enviable position. there was not a railroad in the country that dared employ him, despite his excellent technical training. he drifted up into canada, got a job running a state-operated line. he held that job less than a year. he was murdered of a winter's night in a shadowy railroad yard, shot down by a discharged train hand. the grim situation on the "booze division" grew much worse. the president of that system gave the matter his keen personal attention; he began scouring the entire width of the land for material, without much success. when he was thoroughly discouraged, a raw-boned trainmaster from a far corner of the demoralized division applied for the job of superintendent; he reckoned he could handle the situation. he had caught the president unawares standing outside of his private car. the president told him that he was superintendent. "there was something in matt's eye that took me," he confessed afterwards. "you do see something in a man's eye now and then that beats a whole barrel of references." so matt jones (that is nothing like his real name), took up the nastiest operating proposition in the country. he did not lecture nor discharge, not he; but the men knew that there was a boss behind the super's desk. the fellows who began trifling with the new broom were down in his office the next morning. jones selected the leading spirit; he had the advantage of knowing him. "pete," he said in a quiet way, "you've been drinking. it doesn't go. i'm not going to discharge you,"--he gave grim thought to the fate of his predecessor--"but in thirty days you are going to send in your resignation voluntarily and leave our service." the man protested. he had not been drinking; and matt jones had better not try that game anyway. the superintendent wished him a pleasant good-morning and bowed him out of the office. in five days the engineer was back, uncalled. the superintendent saw him, even though he had no more to say than he had not been drinking; that is, he had quit drinking long ago. in ten days he was back again. this time he admitted that he had been drinking up to the day that matt jones took office. the superintendent said nothing. he bowed the engineer out again. a month is a short thing at the best. at the end of the twenty-second day, the engineer again found his way to the superintendent's office. he seemed like a man who had been through a sickness. big human that he was, he began crying at the sight of the man who was a real boss. "for god's sake, matt, don't forget the old days up on the branch. i can't get out from the old road," he said. "i gave you thirty days' chance to get on another road," was all the satisfaction that he got. but on the thirtieth day the engineer went to work with a clean envelope and the new superintendent had an ally of no mean strength. the patient grinding won; complete victory was only a question of time; the president five hundred miles away began to notice. you may say what you want, railroad executives are born, not made. this reads like romance, but it is truth. matt jones is to-day general manager of that system, and a little while ago a new york paper said he was going to take charge of one of the big transcontinental that needs a firm hand at its reins. this superintendent has his division miles away from new york, a clean stretch of busy railroad, making a link in one of the stoutest of the transcontinental chains, miles of line, making traffic and handling it. the superintendent is a personage in the little inland city where headquarters are located; his opinion is eagerly sought by the local reporters each time a new civic problem is tackled. if he were in the metropolitan district he would be unknown except to a little coterie of railroaders; up here he is the voice of the railroad. he is far more real to the folk of half a dozen populous counties than is the president of the road, a stuffy gentleman who comes up in a private car once in a dozen years to the dinner of the local chamber of commerce and tells the townspeople to thank god that they have the main line of the k. & m. running through their "lovely little city." you may listen for the clatter of the telegraph key in his house and be entirely disappointed. "i would have poor system if i had to listen to all the gossip of the wire," he tells you quietly. "we've organization on this stretch of line." he says this with a bit of pride. "we have men and we have system. my train-masters are in effect assistant superintendents: they are expected to organize beneath them." watch this sort of man. he is the kind that american railroading is hungry for to-day. of him the big executives are being made each year. he enters his office in the morning and gets a few brief reports of the situation on the line: first weather, then congestion conditions in the big yards. after that he talks over the long-distance 'phone with the g. m., four hundred miles away. he gives a summary of the situation to headquarters, just as the summaries came in to him from his train-masters at junctions and at terminals. he holds the telephone receiver for a minute: the 'phone is rapidly coming into general railroad use since the telegraphers made congress pass a bill limiting their working hours to eight each day. that bill promises to make trouble yet for the men who were supposed to benefit by it. the telephone speaks to him a moment. he hangs up the receiver and speaks to his chief clerk. "w. h. t. is coming up the line this afternoon. tell the boys not to get rattled," he says. that is all. the passage of the president of the united states over his three hundred miles of well-ordered track makes no flutter in this superintendent's heart. if it were europe--the troops would be drawn out, all other trains brought to a standstill, pilot engines run in advance of the royal train, in infinite pow-wow over the railroading of nobility. but it is not europe, it is this blessed united states, partly blessed because it so excessively differs from europe. only the military aides of the president lament upon the informality of his travel. some time since a great executive was making the familiar loop throughout the west. the superintendent of a division of line the far side of the missouri was a worrier, and was personally watching the progress. in order to facilitate rear platform oratory the president's cars were placed at the rear of a train that hardly ranked as express. between towns the delays grew frequent and a stuffy little aide in uniform protested to the superintendent. "look a' here, sir," he said stiffly, "why don't you let these other trains up the line wait?" the division was single-track. "you know this is the president's train." a twinkle came into the super's eye. "you're wrong," he said, in the positive tones of a real executive. "this is _not_ the president's special. this is train number of the b----main line, and she hasn't many more rights on the time-card than a gravel limited. now if you were snitching along on our cracker-jack nippon limited--there's some train, sir. they wouldn't lay her out. she's double-extra first-class all the way through to the coast." the point of that was not lost. an instance of a different sort occurred some years ago, when mr. roosevelt went up into northern new york to make a speech. the superintendent of the old black river road was pretty proud of his stretch of line, and invited the then governor to ride in his neat inspection engine. "dee-lighted," said he of the gleaming teeth, and he climbed up into the big cab. the superintendent wondered what he'd think of that nifty stretch of track just north of lewville. col. roosevelt never thought. as soon as he was settled in the cab he picked a well-thumbed copy of carlyle's "french revolution" out of his pocket and read it every inch of the way from utica to watertown. the republican party had to worry along thereafter without that superintendent's vote. * * * * * all the superintendents cannot become general managers or railroad presidents; there is not room at the top for even a decent proportion of the best of them. the real tragedy on the division comes when a prince grows old and for the first time realizes that he is never to be king. when such tragedy shows its head it is time for the stove committee--the men who gossip in roundhouse corners and the yardmaster's office--to talk in whispers. buffalo is no mean principality in the railroad world--it is near kingdom in itself--miles and miles and still more miles of congested freight yards, tonnage in breath-taking volume rolling in from the wonderful lakes eight months out of the twelve, a nervous traffic that never ceases. for years there reigned in buffalo, in calm command of the situation for a great railroad system, a man who was entitled by every virtue of the word to be called superintendent. they called him "the lion" and did not misuse that word either. he was a lion, guardian of a great railroad gate, a stern old lion whose word and whose law were unquestioned. but time aged the man, and the day came when the clerks in his outer office began to talk in whispers; they were having the audacity to wonder who the new prince would be. two men thought that they were capable--one an assistant superintendent in the great yard at east buffalo, the other holding similar rank over at rochester. each of these men was prepared to assume greater honor, to sit in command at the lion's great desk. that old fellow sat aloof. his ears were not too deaf to hear the whisperings of his clerks in the outer office, and sometimes when one of them would creep in upon him unawares they would find him sitting alone there, head in hands, holding the fort. the two assistant superintendents gained courage; they went to the picayune business of pulling wires. at other times they locked horns. they locked horns over one great question. it was not operation that set them at odds, not a vexing practical question of how some congested yard might be lanced so that traffic should flow the more freely, or a main line section be aided to give a greater daily tonnage. nothing of that sort for the two ambitious assistants. a new pony inspection engine, with an observation room built forward over the boiler--just the sort that col. roosevelt had once used as a reading-room--was to be built for the division, and each assistant thought that he needed that engine for the dignity of his job. each in turn went before the lion and stated his claims for the possession of the pretty toy. the old man listened with grave dignity. a week later he sent down to the master mechanic at the big depew shops and had him deliver a brand new hand-car, with his compliments, to each. the pony-engine went into the roundhouse until the real prince should come. then he sat long hours alone at his desk once more. finally they brought a man to him, a fine, upstanding man. the lion rose from his comfy old chair and gave greeting to the newcomer. "i'm glad to see you," was all he said; but to the general manager, who had come up from new york, his eyes seemed to ask: "you've brought the right man here at last?" he turned to the stranger. "would you like a pony engine to get over the division?" was his question. "i'm willing to go to hell, and go in a caboose," laughed the stranger. the old superintendent grasped him by the hand. "thank god, they've sent a real man to be superintendent at buffalo," was all he said. that was the only recognition that he gave to one who since has become one of the master railroaders of america, but in that moment the act of succession had been consummated. chapter xiv operating the railroad authority of the chief clerk and that of the assistant superintendent-- responsibilities of engineers, firemen, master mechanic, train-master, train-despatcher--arranging the time-table--fundamental rules of operation--signals--selecting engine and cars for a train--clerical work of conductors--a trip with the conductor--the despatcher's authority--signals along the line--maintenance of way--superintendent of bridges and buildings--road-master--section boss. the administration of the division runs quite naturally into several channels. the routine of the work, the making and filing of records and reports, the handling of the mass of correspondence that must constantly arise, is usually in the hands of a chief clerk, who has control over the office force at division headquarters. if there is an assistant superintendent, the chief clerk will divide responsibility with him, the theory at all times being to cut off the detail wherever possible. this office work is not radically different from the office management of any other large business. its clerks are about the only unorganized force in railroad employ. if the management of the road is of the divisional type, the superintendent of course is a more important executive than if it is of the departmental type. in either of these cases, as we have seen, he will probably have at least partial authority over the engineer of maintenance of way, whose force keeps the line and track structures in full repair, and also looks after ordinary construction work along the division. in the road of divisional type, he will also have partial authority over the master mechanic, in charge of the shops and roundhouses and the locomotives of the division. these last are regarded by the railroad as part of its machinery, like the planers and drills in the shops themselves; and for the care and operation of the locomotives the engineers and firemen are held responsible to the mechanical department. this is the case even upon those railroads where, under the departmental system, the superintendent has no direct authority over the master mechanic upon his division. for the conduct of the trains which their locomotives pull, both engineers and firemen are directly responsible to the operating department. the master mechanic simply sees to it that the railroad's property is maintained to a certain degree of efficiency and that the man who operates the locomotives is capable from every point of view. a reasonable amount of deterioration is expected, and each locomotive is expected to turn in to the shops for inspection, overhauling and repairs, at certain stated intervals. the superintendent has absolute authority over the two officials who are chiefly interested in the conduct of the trains over the division--the train-master and the train-despatcher. the first of these two officers, who must dove-tail their work both night and day, has the assignment of the train crews. his opinion will be called for whenever the vexed questions of seniority and promotion arise, and he will be asked to help to plan all extra or special freight and passenger trains. to show how this is done brings us close to the question of schedules, and we may pause for a moment to consider how this important phase of the railroad's operating is builded together. that time-table that you have just pulled from the folder rack seems at first glance an interminable mass of meaningless figures; yet when you come to find your journey upon it, it quickly simplifies itself, and you begin to marvel at the relation the figures bear to one another, how easily you may pick your course through the long columns of numerals. the more extensive time-tables that the railroad employees carry are quite as simple, and yet they are great feats of typographical composition. in reality, both these forms of printed time-tables are but transcripts of the real time-table of the division, which is kept set out upon a great board. this board is ruled in two directions. the regularly spaced intervals in one direction are marked as time, and represent time--one entire day of twenty-four hours. in the other direction of the board the stations are spaced in proportion to their actual spacing upon the line. the reproduction of a portion of such a board for an imaginary division of a railroad will illustrate. this line runs from somerset to rockville, miles; and portions of it are double-tracked, the rest single-track, as shown at the top of the diagram. on the double-track, trains going in the same direction may pass one another only at the vertical lines, which represent station passing sidings, and on the single-track sections this rule holds, with the additional one, of course, that trains running in opposite directions may also pass one another at the vertical station lines. for economy of room only the seven hours from six o'clock in the morning until one o'clock in the afternoon are shown here. following an old-time practice, odd numbers will represent up-bound trains, from somerset to rockville; even numbers, the down trains. so we have an early morning accommodation passenger train, no. , leaving rockville at : o'clock and proceeding at a leisurely rate of about twenty miles an hour (which makes allowances for local stops) all the way to somerset at the far end of the division, which it is due to reach at : a. m. it is halted for any length of time only at honeytown, where upbound no. --local accommodation--and upbound no. --fast express--will pass it. at : o'clock an upbound local accommodation of the same nature as no. , and hence known as no. , leaves somerset and, halting only at robbins's corners to permit the fast upbound no. to overhaul and pass it, reaches rockville at p. m. train no. , which follows no. out of rockville forty minutes later, is a milk train, and so must have a liberal allowance for stops. it proceeds only as far as stoneville, where the dairy country ends, stops there long enough to turn and to water the engine, and then returns to rockville as no. . train no. is a way-freight, and still slower. so it follows the milk-train. it is known as a "low-class" train by the railroaders. it must wait everywhere for better class trains to pass it. train no. is the same class of train, proceeding in the opposing direction. train no. is a down express. [illustration: how the real time table of the division looks--the one used in headquarters] sometimes unforeseen demands of traffic necessitate the running of extra trains, and these may be strung across the board. this board, in reality, has all its trains placed upon it by strings and pins, to admit of the constant changes that the schedules are always undergoing, and the addition of a new train is a quick proceeding. as a matter of fact, a skilled train-master or despatcher will rarely take the time actually to string an extra train. he carries the schedule too completely in his head to admit of such a necessity. but the extra train is best placed following, as a second section, some good passenger train, as indicated on the diagram. the regular train will then carry signals showing that it is followed on this particular day. while the train orders protect its movement in any event, as will be shown in a moment, the billing of the extra train as a second section is less of an upset to the regular operation of the division. practised operating men found years ago that the fewer deviations made from the regular programme of the day, the higher the proportion of safety arose. now you begin to see the use of the train-despatcher. if the unforeseen never came to pass upon the railroad, instead of coming to pass nearly every hour, there might be no need of that officer. each engineer, each conductor, each station agent would have his complete time-tables, and the road would run every day in full accordance with them. that was the very earliest and the most primitive way of operating railroads. almost as early the need arose of having a special direction over the operation of the trains. emergencies arose daily. trains were often late; storms beat down upon the line; the snow covered its rails; what might have been, according to the time-card, an orderly operation of line, became chaos. if a train was ordered by schedule to meet a train bound in the opposite direction at p----, it might wait there for long hours, not knowing that the other engine was broken down at a----. the invention of the telegraph and its almost instant application to the railroad service made such special direction possible. so now we find the explicit directions of the schedule supplemented by even more explicit directions from the train-despatcher at the head of the train movements upon each division. briefly stated, it may be said that the engineer and the conductor in charge of a train are first guided by the schedule, which, after many revisions, has been compiled with great care, and in reference to connecting lines, branches, and adjoining divisions. this schedule acts in conjunction with certain simple fundamental rules of operation, the a, b, c of every railroader. by one of these, trains of the same class bound north or east are given precedence, all other things being equal, over trains bound south or west. this rule is sometimes superseded by one giving right-of-way to trains bound up the line--or the reverse. high-class trains, like the fastest limited expresses, have precedence over trains of graduated lower classes--down to the slow-moving heavy freights. when any sort of train loses a certain length of time--usually half an hour or more--it loses all rights that it might ever have had, and everything else on the line has precedence over it. a train may lose time if it has to, but there are never any circumstances that will justify it in running ahead of time. all this is the part of railroad operation which governs the relation of one train to another. there are even simpler but not less vital rules that control its own operation. in order that the engineer who is guiding the train, and the conductor who shares the responsibility, may keep in touch with one another, the device was adopted many years ago of having a cord run through the cars of passenger trains to a bell signal in the cab of the engine. this bell signal during recent years has given way to an improved form of locomotive signal, sounded by means of compressed air in tubes throughout the train, and operated in connection with the air-brake equipment. the air-whistle, or bell cord-code of signals, is standard upon all american railroads, and is as follows: when the train is standing: two signals--start. three signals--back. four signals--apply or release air-brakes. five signals--call in flagman. when the train is in motion: two signals--stop at once. three signals--stop at the next station. four signals--reduce speed. five signals--increase speed. there also arises a necessity for communication between men who stand outside the train and who seek to guide the movement of the locomotive. this necessity has given rise to still another code, transmitted by the hands--holding a flag, if possible--by day, and a lighted lantern at night. this signal code follows: method of transmitting signal. indication. swung across track. stop. raised and lowered vertically. proceed. swung vertically in a circle across the track: when the train is standing-- back. when train is in motion-- train has parted. swung horizontally in a circle: when the train is standing-- apply air-brakes. held at arm's length above head: when the train is standing-- release air-brakes. any object waved violently by any person on or near the track is a stop signal. by use of his locomotive whistle, the engineer is enabled to acknowledge these signals, as well as to signal upon his own initiative. his code is also a standard in railroading. it follows: ---- a short blast. -------- a long blast. ---- stop, apply brakes. -------- -------- release brakes. ---- ---- -------- -------- -------- flagman go back ---- -------- -------- -------- and protect rear end of train. ------- -------- -------- -------- flagman return to train. -------- -------- -------- train in motion, has parted. ---- ---- acknowledgment of signals, not otherwise provided for. ---- ---- ---- standing train--back. ---- ---- ---- ---- call for signals. -------- ---- ---- calls attention to following section. -------- -------- ---- ---- highway crossing signal. ---------------- approaching stations, junctions or railroad crossings at grade. a succession of short blasts is an alarm for persons on the track and calls the attention of trainmen to danger ahead. these signal codes operate fundamentally in connection with the essential rules of schedule that we have already shown. suppose now that we consider the workings of all this system as it comes down to actual practice in a single concrete instance. we are finding our way to a big terminal yard in all the murkiness and cloudiness of very early morning, and once again we hunt out that urbane soul, the yardmaster. he holds in his hand the yellow tissue of an order from the despatcher of the division. in the conciseness of telegraphy it tells him to start a third section of train --through freight--at : o'clock. just back of his little grimy box of an office is the big sprawling roundhouse--a dozen freighters with banked fires standing in the stalls, awaiting summons to work. the twelve engines are divided into several classifications according to pulling strength and speed, but the despatcher has designated the particular engine he wishes for third- , and he gets it--a big lanky puller-- . she is chosen chiefly because she has had the longest roundhouse rest, having brought in a through freight from up the line, and having been received with engineer's report showing her to be in good running order, at five o'clock yesterday afternoon. before the slipped from the turntable into the waiting stall, the hostlers and the wipers were at her. the hostlers had taken her over the cinder-pit and cleaned out the fire-box. then they went over her, cleaning her, inch by inch, a mechanical inspector in their wake, testing and sounding and checking every item in the engineer's report which showed to be in good order at the end of his run with her. there was not much chance left for any shirking of responsibility, no matter what might arise upon the on any coming day. we turn and watch the yardmaster once again. he has the roundhouse foreman send one of the bright young boys who hang around his office night and day, and who dream of that coming hour when they will handle an for themselves, to call the engineer and fireman, whose names are posted "first out." or perhaps the telephone has come into play--in these days in the smaller towns there is hardly a house too humble to have receiver and transmitter hanging somewhere upon its walls. in any event the engine-crew are supposed to stay home when off duty, unless especially excused, and to live within reasonable distance--say a mile--of the roundhouse. the caller tells the engineer and fireman to report at the roundhouse at : a. m. at that hour the hostlers have made the fit for service. her tender has been filled with coal, her tanks with water, even her sand is packed aboard the box that stands upon the boiler and is ready to help on slippery rail and upgrade. the engineer makes keen inspection of the before he moves her a single inch, makes sure with his keen and practised eye that she is quite fit for service, pokes here and there and everywhere with his long-spouted oil-can. at a minute or two after shop whistles have shrieked "six o'clock" he pulls the out from the shadows of the roundhouse. he gets an open signal and switch to the main yard and finds waiting on a siding in that great place, the trail of freight cars and the caboose that are going with him to make third- . now come back for a moment in your thought. while we were still scurrying down to the grimy yard, the despatcher was creating third- . on his desk were car reports, showing what had been received and sent out, and there was enough accumulation of stuff in the yards last night to justify a third- . because good railroading means yard-sidings cleared, and standing cars and freight, like passengers, kept constantly moving, he did not hesitate at ordering her out. he found that there would be cars between tender and caboose, weighing approximately some tons, and so he ordered from the roundhouse an engine of a class which the mechanical department guaranteed capable of pulling from , to , tons, gross weight. [illustration: _courtesy of the "railroad age gazette"_ the electro-pneumatic signal-box in the control tower of a modern terminal] [illustration: the responsible men who stand at the switch-tower of a modern terminal: a large tower of the "manual" type] [illustration: "when winter comes upon the lines the superintendent will have full use for every one of his wits"] [illustration: watchful signals guarding the main line of a busy railroad] the yardmaster had given the numbers of the cars that were to make third- , just as he received them from one of the despatcher's assistants, to a switching foreman, who arranged them, with the quick facility that comes from long practice, into an order that would permit them to be set off at various points up the line, with the least possible amount of switching. that practical sequence worked out in pencil and paper, a stubby switch-engine effected in reality. the cars and the caboose, in proper order, were ready, with the crew, and inspected when the backed to them and third- came into her being. a yard caller had summoned the train-crew while the roundhouse caller was rounding up the two men of the engine-crew. collins, the conductor, and his brakemen had reported at the yard-office, and were assigned to third- . collins found the cars and caboose waiting just a few minutes before the had been coupled to them, with little ado and no formality whatsoever, beyond the testing of the air-brakes. into his train-book he had entered the number of each car and the initials of the road owning it, its destination, its empty or tare weight; the weight of its load, and the sum of these or its gross weight. he sees to it that each box-car is firmly seal-locked. if not, he refuses to accept it from the yardmaster until it has been resealed, and makes a note of the occurrence. like the engineer and the hostlers in the roundhouse, he takes no chances, no responsibilities that do not fairly belong to him. with both conductor and engineer ready, third- starts upon her day's run. the yard operator has telegraphed the despatcher's office that - is awaiting instructions. in that despatch he has given the locomotive number, the number and total weight of the cars it hauls, the name of both engineer and conductor. the train-despatcher enters these details of train and crew at the head of a column of his train register. on that register there are spaces for the entries of arriving and leaving times of the train as telegraphed him by the operators at each telegraph station on the division. the train once so entered by a despatcher's clerk, the despatcher sends a clearance card to the telegraph operator at the little yard office who repeats it back for accuracy. then the yard operator presents that clearance order to the engineer and conductor, who read it aloud to him--also for accuracy, of course--and then sign that they have read and understood the order. the signatures are then reported to the despatcher's office, which wires "complete." "complete" goes in writing upon the copies of the order made in manifold, which go to engineer, to conductor, and to the operator's own files. the engineer reads his order to the fireman, who repeats it back to him; the conductor follows the same routine with his brakemen. that all sounds complicated, but quickly becomes mechanical and rapid; the danger is that it may become so mechanical and rapid as to permit of serious errors passing unchecked through the routine. but the railroad has done its part. it has, for itself, taken every possible precaution against error and resulting accident. we are privileged, and we climb into the caboose of third- . we hold credentials to collins, her conductor, and they are unimpeachable. we can see that from his face as he holds his lantern over them: he would not even let us into his caboose until his own mind was set. after that there was barely time to jump aboard. the is beginning to clear the yard before we have had time for a good look at the inside of the little caboose. "you won't find our hack any fancy place," says collins. "but we've had it nine years now, and it seems kind of homelike to us after all this time." the "we" consists of collins and his rear brakeman. the forward brakeman, who is held responsible for the front half of the train, has his headquarters in the cab of the . the caboose is a home-like place, snugly warmed by a red-hot stove placed in its corner and lined with bunks made into beds, pullman fashion; only never was there a pullman sleeper that gave you less sense of the impressive and a greater sense of a snug cabin. squarely placed in its centre is a sort of wooden pyramid and the steps up this lead to the lookout from where the long snaky train can be watched. "kind o' ol'-fashioned, that," apologizes collins. "th' las' time i had th' cabin into the shops for over-haulin', they offered to take it out an' put in th' ladders; but i says 'no'; an' this is why." one by one he lifts its hinged steps. this is a pyramid built of lockers, a regular treasure house of railroad necessities. there are all sorts of ropes and jacks and wrenches, extra parts against every emergency. there is a food closet, and another locker filled with neat stacks of stationery. "they give us more forms to fill out now than th' super's office got twenty years ago," he laughs. "i spend more than half my time at that desk." the clerical work on third- is considerable. collins has to keep all the way-bills of his train-- cars, almost $ , worth of merchandise, and if he makes a serious error it is apt to cost him his job. he writes a neat hand, and his records, like his caboose, are kept in ship-shape fashion. he is a careful student of the ethics and the practices of railroad management and operation. he has his own ideas on each of these, and when you get to them they are good ideas. of such as he railroad executives are every year made in america. * * * * * we slip up the line, slowly threading our passage through the mass of passenger trains, fast and slow, that all times have the right-of-way over the third sections of rather ordinary freights. collins sometimes thrusts his orders into our hands in order that we may see something of the great detail of this branch of operating. each is wonderfully specific, and we know by that "complete" on the corner that it has been given in detail. "no. engine will wait at morris level until : a. m. for - , engine ." the signature is that of the initials of the division superintendent, the numerals have been spelled out. it would seem as if the railroad had taken every possible precaution for safety. and yet again, remember that great accidents have happened upon american railroads just because men's minds have perversely refused to read what eyes and ears have read. and yet there seems to be nothing to be done, more thorough than is already being done. "are all these freights upon schedule?" you may ask collins, after you meet a few dozen of them within the limits of a single-track division. he is decent enough not to laugh at your ignorance. "schedule?" he repeats. "it's a joke. they give our first section a time to get out on, in the time-card and then one o' them bright office-boys gets a figger out o' his head an' puts it down for an arrivin' time. he never hits it an' he never expects to. so more an' more they're gettin' to move this freight on special orders. they can better regulate it then, 'cordin' to volume of business. mos' of the men carry the schedules of the fas' an' th' way-freights in their domes. th' coarse tonnage stuff doesn't even get special orders. when they get enough of it, down on th' main line, they get an engine out o' th' roundhouse, give the train th' engine number, and start off. railroad traffic along the freight end follows business conditions mighty close." it is still daylight when we halt at a junction, across a frozen river from a city. the city is set upon a steep hillside, and its houses rise from the river in even terraces. at the top a great domed structure--the state house--crowns it. it is a still winter's morning, and the smoke from all the chimney-pots extends straight heavenward. we wait patiently upon a long siding until everything else has been moved--through fast expresses heavily laden with opulent-looking pullmans, jerky little suburban trains, long draughts of empty coaches, being drawn by consequential switch-engines in and out of the train-shed of the passenger station. finally a certain semaphore blade drops, we cross over to the important main line and begin pulling on a sharp curve, across the river, clear of the station with its confusion, through and past the city to a busy division yard. in a very little time, for this is their home town, collins and his crew are registering at the yardmaster's office. the engineer of the , and his fireman, turn in their time-slips and proceed with the locomotive to the roundhouse where they make a report upon its condition. their names are posted on the "in" list or register, and they are off duty until they are summoned by the callers at this end of the division. the despatcher has, of course, been apprised of the safe ending of the run of third- . in the despatcher we have a high type of railroad official who works almost unknown to the great travelling public, and yet accepts a very great measure of the responsibility for the safe operation of the lines. his orders, sent by telegraph and bearing that cabalistic initial signature of his superintendent, are the products of his own mind. there can be no mistake in these, and he knows it. each message that he sends may produce disaster, and he knows that. he is an executive of a type that is not to be passed by lightly. he has risen from the ranks of the telegraphers, most likely from some lonely country station or forlorn signal-tower, and his knowledge of railroad operation, both theoretical and practical, must approach perfection. on sunny, serene days he proceeds with the theoretical railroading; when storms or unexpected influxes of traffic come to harass the division, he will need every bit of his practical knowledge. handling a number of special trains--freight or passenger--is a strain, and that strain is most felt at the despatcher's desk. now and then your morning paper tells of a railroad wreck, and laconically adds, "the despatcher was at fault." the stories of the wrecks that were forestalled by the sheer genius of the men who sit night and day at the telegraph instruments at headquarters are the stories that are for the most part untold, and that far surpass in thrill and interest the stories of the failures. the despatcher must also be the full measure of a man. he is, like the silent figure upon the bridge of a great ship, of unquestioned authority as he sits at his desk. he may or may not have a map of the line before him as he sits there, but you may be certain that he knows where every moving train on the division is at the moment you see him, just as clearly as if it were all visible there to the naked eye in some sort of picture map. no trains proceed without his express orders. he has "reliefs" and there is no hour of day or night when one of these is not at the despatcher's desk, having the work of the line under his exact supervision. the order that any train receives from the despatcher by means of the telegraph will, as we saw in collins's case, direct it to proceed to a certain point on the line, and will specify every train, regular or extra, that it will meet, and the meeting point. when the train has proceeded to the end of its orders there will be more orders from the train-despatcher to be receipted for, and so it will proceed to the end of the route. it is quite possible that at any stage of the journey orders will come from headquarters nullifying those already issued, in part or entirely; and these must be accounted for in the same thorough and accurate fashion. some of this seems "red tape" to the men on the line, and there come times when they are a bit disposed to rebel at what seems to them useless formality. there also come times when trains crash into one another; and at those times the railroad, with its infinite system of recording its orders, is generally apt to be able to place the blame pretty accurately. those are the times when the system of train orders justifies its worth. recently the telephone has come into something more than an experimental use in despatching trains upon american railroads. various causes have contributed to this. for one thing, the use of the telephone enables the average road to make good use of its veterans, men who would indignantly refuse to become pensioners, and yet who have come to a time in their lives when they must set their pace in gentler key. a trusted old employee, a man crippled perhaps in loyalty to the company's service, a keen-witted responsible woman, any one of these can competently handle train orders over a telephone, without having to have the education and the wonderful expertness that comes only from long experience in telegraphy; and they all become available in the despatching service. still another cause has contributed to the change, which is being reported each week from some fresh corner of the country--the telegraphers, themselves. within the past few years they were able to induce congress to reduce their day's work to eight hours. translated, this meant that the average way-station which had been manned by one or two operators would correspondingly need two or three operators. the telegraphers, by reason of the expert training needed in their business, kept their wage-scale up, and the railroads felt that eight-hour bill keenly in their treasuries. so there may have been the least bit of retribution in their seeking the telephone as a relief. the change has certainly been made in the keen hope of effecting economy. no railroad operator would feel ashamed to admit that fine impeachment. modern railroading simply makes the same demand of the telephone that it makes of the telegraph--that it keep the probability of safety high. it makes the same demand of the men who maintain the signals, the track, the bridges, and other portions of the right-of-way. let us consider them in the passing of an instant. you know the signals along the line of the railroad--those gaunt, uncanny things that spell danger or safety to the men in the engine-cabs. a little while ago, we stood beside a man in the sun-filled tower of a great railroad terminal and watched him operate the most complicated switch and signal system in the land, watched him with the crooking of a finger upon the lever of an electric machine raise this blade, lower that, as he made new paths for the many trains, coming and going. a plant of that sort is known as the interlocking. in its simplest form, it will guard a junction between two single tracks. the mast of the signal will rise, according to standard custom, at the right of the track in the direction of travel, and there will probably be two semaphore blades, the upper of which guards and signals the straight main-line or "superior" track, the lower, the diverging branch, known as the "inferior" track. the blade raised--automatically showing a red light--indicates that the main line is closed to the engineer. "stop!" "danger!" are the words it tells him. the blade lowered, a green light is automatically displayed, and the engineer knows that he can go ahead at full speed on the main line. the road is clear for him. the lower blade gives similar indications for the branch diverging line. normally, both blades stand at "stop" and "danger," and the one guarding the line for which the train is destined, is dropped only on the approach of the train, itself. in fact, to facilitate the movement of trains, these guarding signals--known to the signal experts as "home signals"--are generally interlocked with "distant signals" several hundred feet down the line, on which blades indicating the diverging tracks forecast the story that the "home signal" is to tell the engineer. the blade raised--by night displaying a white or safety signal--on the "distant signal" indicates that the line it guards is blocked at the "home signal," and that the engineer must be prepared to bring his train to a full stop. dropped--showing the green safety light--that particular line is open and ready, and the engineer can be prepared to pass the junction without a very great diminution of speed. that is the fundamental rule of the signal. some roads have experimented with other forms of indicators--disks of one sort or another, semaphore blades that turn upwards rather than drop. the devices are numerous, but the principle is the same. when the tracks begin to multiply, and the signals begin to multiply in even greater proportion, they are generally carried over the tracks on a light bridge construction--our english cousins call it a "gantry"--and a series of small semaphore masts built up from the bridge. one of these masts, or "dolls," will be assigned to each track; and if there chances to be an unsignalled siding-track of little importance passing under the bridge, it will have its own "doll" rising from the bridge although quite devoid of semaphore blades. so it is all quite as clear as print to the engineer, even when forty or fifty lights blink at him from a single bridge. the signals tell their story to him quite as simply as to the man in the tower, who is setting their blades in accordance with his carefully arranged plans. where signals are not of this interlocking type, guarding some junction, railroad grade crossing, draw-bridge or other point of possible danger, they are likely to resolve themselves into the block system. this system, in a rather crude form, with the use of operators at each block-tower or way-station, has been in development for something less than thirty years upon the american railroad. in brief, it divides a line--usually double-tracked, but sometimes used by the so-called "staff" method upon a single-track road--into sections, or blocks, of from three to five miles each. on double-track under this system, no two trains, even though travelling in the same direction are permitted in the same block. at the entrance to each block stands a tall mast with two of the conventional signal blades. the upper of these raised denotes that a train is still in the block, and an engineer must stop his train and wait till it drops, before he can proceed. the lower blade, when raised, indicates that a train is in the second block ahead, and the engineer must proceed only with caution and expecting to find that block closed against him. it is all quite simple; and if the engineers followed the signals absolutely, there never could be any rear-end collisions on lines protected by block signals. as a matter of fact, there rarely ever are, although the engineers do take chances time and time again. "why should i stop for that thing," said a veteran engineer on a fast express train as we went whirring by one of those upper blades raised and commanding us in a blood-red point of light to stop, "when i can look down this straight stretch and see they're clear? like as not something's got into the mechanism of it and let her flop that way." do not insult the intelligence of that engineer. a little while before, he had told us, with a deal of pride, that the rolling stock of "his road" placed end to end would reach from new york to omaha, a distance of some miles. keenest of the keen, he had a sort of contempt for a rule-book in such a case as that. "isn't it sort of positive?" we began. "good excuse anyway--" "it is," he shouted back, "but somehow it don't go if you fall behind on your running time. we're here to use ordinary good sense--and bring our trains in on time." and yet the railroad has a sharp way of insisting upon compliance with that book of rules by making, once in a great while, surprise tests. a signal is set at danger, without any more apparent reason than in the case just cited; a secret watch is kept, and judgment and discipline are visited upon the heads of the engineers who permit themselves to run past it. * * * * * to operate the signals calls for one body of men, and to maintain them for faithful service against all manner and stress of wear and weather, another; just as there must be a working corps to keep the right-of-way in working order. this last is a mighty brigade of the railroad's army; for one man in every four who works for it is employed in keeping the track in order. one dollar in every six that the railroad spends goes for that purpose. maintenance of way on each division divides itself into a superintendent of bridges and buildings, who sees to the upkeep of those facilities; and a roadmaster, who specializes upon the track itself. this last officer, almost invariably one who has begun to shoulder himself up in the ranks of the railroad army from the very beginning, has his territory divided into sections from two to five miles in length on double-track, from four to ten on single. in command of each section a faithful hand-car and a group of more or less faithful section-hands, figured on an allowance of one to each mile of track, is a section-boss. the section-boss is a wry and a wise soul, or should be. he may not know as much about the formulas for compensating curves as that bright boy who has just come out of a "tech" school to stand his turn at a transit, but he has a marvellous sort of intuitive sense in keeping his little stretch of track in order. he can sight his rail and discover flaws in alignment as a blind man can find surface flaws with the developed tips of his fingers, and all the while he may be growling at the railroad management for adding to the weight of its rolling-stock and "pounding the elevations out of his track." in summer he is expert with the "track jacks" and constantly putting in bits of ballast here and there; and in the winter, when the frost and snow have made it impossible to touch the ballast, he keeps his elevations by means of "shims." a "shim" is a piece of wood, from shingle thickness to the width of two ties piled one upon the other, and is wedged between the tie and the rail till summer comes and the line can be corrected by ballasting. the section-boss must keep pace with a job that is no sinecure. if his gang, in eagerness to be on dress parade, almost throws dirt on the rear steps of the boss's private car as it goes whizzing down the line, he must also see to it that they keep plugging at it where there is not even a locomotive whistle within sound. he must be thrifty, economical. he must remember that the humble cross-tie which once cost a quarter now costs almost a dollar, and that for one of these to be found neglected in the ditch is almost a capital crime. he must have an eye for loose spikes and angle-plates, for the big boss has hinted at the annual loss to the road in these simple factors. at his call and that of the superintendent of bridges and buildings is a work-train, made up of a few flat-cars and discarded coaches, doing boarding-house pullman service in their declining years, which looks after work too sizable for the section-boss and his little gang, and yet not large enough for the attention of the dignified gentlemen who are known as the reconstruction engineers. yet some of the feats of these work-train gangs have the crackle of engineering genius. it takes brains to rip out a little timber span and replace it in the interval between two trains spaced a couple of hours apart, and in the railroad, brain work often comes from the shabby workman, from the man who graduates from the command of his own battered hand-car. * * * * * all this elaborate system of railroad operation has been built up through many years of practice. experience has been more than a teacher in the business, which becomes yearly more and more nearly a developed science; she has been a whole faculty and a curriculum, too. methods that promised well at the outset have been found faulty after trial, and rejected. committees of trained experts have pondered and reported voluminously; the standard railroad codes of every sort have been born because of them. the operation of the railroad has been brought close to science. it would seem as if the entire field had been completely covered. and yet new situations constantly arise, the like of which have never before presented themselves, even to the railroad veterans. traffic moves in unequal volume, particularly freight traffic. there are single-track stretches through the middle west that starve through eleven months of the year, and for the other thirty days handle in grain more tonnage than a double-track trunk-line in the east. obviously such lines cannot be double-tracked for thirty days of business; quite as obviously the overtaxed division, its equipment, and its men must rise to every necessity of the floodtide of business. there are fat years and there are lean years. there come years of bumper crops, years when the factory lights burn from sunset to dawn, and wheels turn unceasingly, and then the superintendent wonders how his equipment and men are going to stand the strain. engines are kept from the shops and in service; nothing that is even a semblance of a car is kept out of service; the demand for men is keen; prosperity strains the resources of the railroad. in the lean years, engines are sometimes kept from the shops because the railroad feels that it must hold down its running expenses to keep pace with reduced revenues, and such a course it can stoutly defend as nothing else than good business. equipment begins to stand idle. engines are tucked away on empty sidings, boarded and forlorn; and if the year be very lean indeed, the superintendent may find it necessary to send out a wrecking crane and begin lifting empty cars off the rails and leaving them in the ditch at the side of the right-of-way, until the golden times come again. at such seasons his ingenuity is tested quite as much as in the times of floodtide. orders come to cut expenses, and his big expense is the pay-roll. when he begins to blue-pencil that pay-roll, some one is going to be hungry. the superintendent knows that. he must move with great care in such emergencies. chapter xv the fellows out upon the line men who run the trains must have brain as well as muscle--their training--from farmer's boy to engineer--the brakeman's dangerous work--baggageman and mail clerks--hand-switchmen--the multifarious duties of country station-agents. one man in every twelve in the united states is on the pay-roll of a railroad. no wonder that that great organism comes so close to human life throughout the nation, that we seem to touch it at every turn. this one out of twelve is the great army of industrial america. composed of nearly , , men, it is an army that inspires loyalty and coöperation within its own ranks, and confidence and admiration from without. to a nation whose creed is work, it stands as the uniformed host stands to a fighting nation like england or france or germany. the army of industrial america inspires not one whit less affection than those great crops of paid fighters in europe. ninety-six per cent of this army of railroaders are engaged in the business of maintaining and operating the great avenues of transportation, an overwhelming proportion in the last phase of the business. the operating department is, to the average mind, the railroad. its members are the men with whom the public come oftenest in contact; they are the men who are oftenest called upon to hazard life and limb in the pursuit of their callings. the romance of the railroad--a romance that is told in unending prose and verse--hovers over the men who operate it. the men who labor in the shops and keep engines and cars safe and fit for the most efficient service have no small responsibilities. moreover, their work, forging and finishing great masses of metal, is not without its own hazards. the men who give their time and talents to the maintenance of the track and the structure of the railroad have equal responsibilities. it is not doubted for an instant that both of these are important functions in the conduct of railroad transportation, and each in turn will have full attention given to it. in a previous chapter we have considered the men who control the actual operation of the railroad, the safe conduct of its trains up and down the line. how about the privates in the ranks of this industrial army, the men, who by their loyalty and ability form the very foundations of successful operation, who also form the material from which executives are chosen every day? there are no common laborers in this phase of railroad work. a man with stout muscles and less than the average amount of brains can ofttimes shovel ballast out with the track-gangs; there are many, many opportunities for crude labor in the heavy metal work of the railroad's shops; there are none within the scientific activity that gives itself to the running of the trains. the humblest of these folk must have a particular talent, a talent so peculiar that it might almost be described as "latent americanism." the lowest-priced man in the train-service must understand the entire complicated theories of railroad operation to a t. he may be the man on whom responsibility--the responsibility for the safety of not one but many human lives--may suddenly be thrust. a gate-tender at a highway crossing has not ordinarily a place of gravest responsibility; yet in some least expected hour this humblest employee of the operating department may hold the fate of human life in the balancing of his steady hands. americans run the american railroads. for this great service men must possess not only the mental capacity for understanding the technique of operation, but the physical strength to meet the stress of hard labor, and of every sort of weather, and of long hours spent upon moving trains. moreover, there is a requirement of morals--that a man must fully know and quite as fully accept the responsibility for human life that is placed in his hands. these things combined make that "latent americanism" of which we have just spoken; and the railroad that digs deep into this mine of "latent americanism" finds its material, not in the great cities with their vast colonies of foreigners, but on the farms of a broad, broad land. the boy standing in the pasture sees the express train go skimming past him from an unknown great world into another unknown great world, and straightway he has the railroad fever. he drives to the depot with the milk cans, and there he comes in contact with the personnel of that link of steel that stretches across the farm where he was born. it is only a little time after that before he is applying for work as a railroad man. so it is that the railroad finds fine timber for its service. it picks and chooses. for its choice it has the pick of american timber, the ironwood of our national forests of humanity. it gathers its army of men, inspects them carefully for physical, mental and moral requirements and then it impresses upon them the necessity of good living, the absolute necessity of deference to an established and rigid system of discipline as a requirement in the successful handling of the different transportation business. thus we have the railroad men as the best workers of the nation. if you want proof of that, ask any of the great mail-order concerns which class of business they prefer and they will tell you without hesitation that it is the railroad man. come closer home and ask the merchants of any community the same question. their answer will be the same. rigid conditions, out-of-door life, sober habits make desirable citizens out of this class of workers. there are none better anywhere. in the train service, the ordinary route of promotion is through the freight service to the passenger. thus, for the farmer's boy who hankers to sit in the cab of the locomotive that hauls the limited there is a long hard path. chances are that at the beginning the road foreman of engines will start him at odd chores, calling crews, wiping engines, and the like, around some one of the big roundhouses. he will work hard, but here he will begin to absorb the romance of the line, the romance that, like fog and engine smoke, lies around the engine house, thick enough to cut. perhaps after a while they will give him a little authority and make him a hostler. the "hostler" and the "stalls" in the roundhouses are quaint survivals of the most primitive railroad days, when horses were really motive power. at odd times, night times perhaps, the boy will ride in engine cabs and gradually acquire a knowledge of one of these great machines such as no text-book would ever give him. then comes his first big opportunity. there is a vacancy among the engine crews; the road foreman of engines gives him a good report, and he begins to have dealing with the train-master. he is made a fireman, and he travels the division end to end, day in and day out. now he knows why the railroad requires physical tests as well as tests of eyesight and of hearing. even after he has taken another step in advance and been promoted to the passenger service (we will assume that ours is a bright, ambitious boy), he will only find that his labors in the engine-cab have been increased. it is no slight task, firing a heavy locomotive over or more miles of grade-climbing, curve-rounding railroad. it is a task that fairly calls for human arms of steel; for some firemen handle some tons of coal in a single run. the appetite of that firebox is seemingly insatiable. there is hardly a moment during the run that it is not clamoring to be fed, and that the fireman is not hard at it there on the rocking floor of the swaying tender, reaching from tender coal to firebox door. but the day does come, if he sticks hard at it, when he becomes an engineer. he has learned the line well, during his countless trips over it as fireman. he has come to know every signal, every bridge, every station, every curve, every grade, every place for slow, careful running, every place for speeding, as thoroughly as ever river pilot learned his course. there have been many times when he has had to assume temporary charge of the engine. he is a qualified man at least to sit in the right hand of the cab, to have command over reverse lever and over throttle. his work is of a different sort already. the hard physical labor is a thing of the past, most of the time he sits at his work. but responsibility replaces physical stress, and the farmer boy now realizes which of the two is more wearing. upon his judgment--instant judgment time and time and time again--the fate of that heavy train depends. after he has been promoted from freight engineer to passenger engineer he has a train filled with humanity, and he knows the difference. by day the inclination of a single blade, by night the friendly welcome or the harsh command of changeable lights must never escape him. one slip, and after that-- the engineer prefers not to think of that. he prefers to think of a safe trip, terminal to terminal, to think of the long line covered, once again in safety, to think of the station at the far end of the division, where a relief engine and engineer will be in waiting to take the train another stage in its long journey across the land, to think of the home and family awaiting him. he is a big passenger man now. when he gets to the end of the run, there will be a crew to take his locomotive away to the roundhouse. he will have a bit of a wash and in a few minutes he will be bound through the station waiting-room, well dressed, smoking a good fifteen-cent cigar, quite as fine a type of american citizen as you might wish to see anywhere. you would hardly recognize in this well-dressed man of affairs, the keen-eyed, sound-bodied man in blue jeans who stood beside his engine, oil-can in hand, at the far end of the division. * * * * * the same type holds true through the man in care of the other parts of the trains. take the brakeman--they call him trainman nowadays in the passenger service. in the old days this was a slouchy, somewhat slovenly dressed individual of a self-acknowledged independence. time has changed him in thirty years. an increased respect for the service has taken away from him his slouchiness; a feeling that good work and hard work will take him through the ranks, through a service as conductor, perhaps to train-master, to superintendent, goodness knows how much further, has replaced that bumptious independence. he began as brakeman on a freight. there were two, possibly three, of these men to the train, under command of the conductor, back there in the caboose, and they were supposed to distribute themselves pretty equally over the top of the train. the forward brakeman would work from the cab backward, the rear brakeman from the caboose (he also probably calls it a "hack"), forward, the remaining man when a third was assigned to the train, having the middle. it was thought and confidently predicted that with the universal use of the air-brake to freight equipment the days of clambering over the tops of the cars to man the brakes were over. brakemen twenty years ago were dreaming of the day when they might sit in a cab or caboose and have the difficult work of slacking or the stopping of a , -ton train accomplished, through the genius of mechanism, by a hand-turn of the engineer upon an air-brake throttle. but what looked so well in theory has not worked quite so well in practice. the railroads have found the wear and tear on the air-brake equipment, particularly with the steep grade lines and heavy equipment, a tremendous expense. for the sake of that and for the sake of still greater safety--following the railroad rule to use each possible safety measure, one upon the other--the brakemen are still compelled to keep to the top of the cars. [illustration: "when the train comes to a water station the fireman gets out and fills the tank"] [illustration: a freight-crew and its "hack"] [illustration: a view through the span of a modern truss bridge gives an idea of its strength and solidity] [illustration: the new york central is adopting the new form of "upper quadrant" signal] on a pleasant day this is a task that can give the average brakeman a sort of supreme contempt for the man whose work houses him within four walls. if the road lies through a lovely country, if it pierces mountain ranges, or follows the twisting course of a broad river, he may feel a contempt, too, for the passenger who observes the lovely scenes only through the narrow confines of a car window. to him there is a broad horizon, and he would be a poor sort of man indeed if he did not rise to the inspiration of this environment. there is quite another side of this in the winter. let wind and rain and then freezing weather come, and that icy footpath over the top of the snaky train becomes the most dangerous way in all christendom. it consists of only three narrow planks laid lengthwise of the train, and between the cars there is a two-foot interval to be jumped. hand-rails of any sort are an impossibility, and the brakeman now and then will receive a sharp slap in the face that is not the slap of wind or of sleet, and he will fall flat upon the car-roof or dodge to the ladders that run up between the cars. that slap was the slap of the "tickler," that gallows-like affair that stands guard before tunnels and low bridges and gives crude warning to the man working upon the train roofs of a worse slap yet to come. there are other dangers, not the least of these the possibility of open battle at any time of day or night with one or more "hobos," tramps, or "yeggmen," who seem to regard freight trains as complimentary transportation extended to them as a right, and train-crews as their natural enemies. the list of railroad men who have lost their lives because of these thugs is not a short one. it is one of the many records of railroad heroism. still the brakeman has a far easier time of it than his prototype of a generation or more back. the air-brake is a big help. when a train breaks in two or three parts on a grade, the pulling out of the air-couplings automatically sets the brakes on every part, and if you do not know what that means ask one of the old-timers. in the old days of the hand-brakes the very worst of all freight accidents came when a section of a freight train without any one aboard to set its brakes, broke loose and came crashing down a hill into some helpless train. ask the old-timer about the hand-couplings and the terrific record of maimed arms and bodies that they left. the modern automatic couplings have been worth far more than their cost to the railroads. in the course of time and advancement the brakeman leaves the freight and enters the passenger service. now he is called a trainman and is attired in a natty uniform. he has to shave, to keep his hands clean, wear gloves perhaps, and be a little more of a chesterfield. he must announce the stations in fairly intelligible tones, and be prepared to answer pleasantly and accurately the thousand and one foolish questions put to him by passengers. as a conductor he will probably begin as collins began, in the freight service. when he comes to the passenger-service there will be still more book-keeping to confront him, and he will have to be a man of good mental attainments to handle all the many, many varieties of local and through tickets, mileage-books, passes, and other forms of transportation contracts that come to him, to detect the good from the bad, to throw out the counterfeits that are constantly being offered to him. he will have to carry quite a money account for cash affairs, and he knows that mistakes will have to be paid out of his own pocket. all this is only a phase of his business. he is responsible for the care and safe conduct of his train, equally responsible in this last respect with the engineer. he also receives and signs for the train orders, and he is required to keep in mind every detail of the train's progress over the line. he will have his own assortment of questions to answer at every stage of the journey, and he will be expected to maintain the discipline of the railroad upon its trains. that may mean in one instance the ejectment of a passenger who refuses to pay his fare, and still he must not involve the road in any big damage suit; or in another, the subjugation of some gang of drunken loafers. the real wonder of it is that so many conductors come as near as they do to the chesterfieldian standards. * * * * * in the forward part of the train are still other members of its crew, some of them possibly who are not paid by the railroad, but who are indirectly of its service. among these last may be classed the mail clerks, who are distinctly employees of the federal government, and the messengers of the various express companies. if the road is small and the train unimportant, these workers may be grouped with the baggagemen in the baggage-car. if the train is still less important the baggageman may assume part of the functions of mail clerk and express messenger. if so, he is apt to have his own hands full. the mere manual exercise of stacking a -foot baggage-car from floor to ceiling with heavy trunks (and the commercial travellers and theatrical folk _do_ carry heavy trunks) is no slight matter. but that is not all. the trunk put off at the wrong place or the trunk that is not put off at all is apt to make the railroad an enemy for life and the baggageman is another one of the many in the service who are permitted to make no mistakes. when he has united states mail-sacks and a stack of express packages to handle, his troubles only multiply. his book-keeping increases prodigiously, and his temper undergoes a sharper strain. give him all these, then a couple of fighting boston terriers, which must, because of one of the many minor regulations of railroad passenger traffic, ride in the baggage-car--a cold and draughty car--and you will no longer wonder why the baggageman has a streak of ill-temper at times. his office is certainly no sinecure, neither is he in the direct path of advancement like his co-workers, the fireman and the brakeman. these train-workers who are so little seen by the travelling public--baggagemen, mail clerks and express messengers alike, ride in the most hazardous part of the equipment, the extreme forward cars of the train. read the list of train accidents, involving loss of life, and in nine cases out of ten you will find that these have headed the list of killed or injured. there work is hard, their hours long, their pay modest. they form a silent brigade of the industrial army that is always close to the firing line. * * * * * there remains in the operating service a great branch of the army that does not scurry up and down the line. some of these men are at lonely outposts, forlorn towers hidden at the edge of the forest or set out upon the plain, where a desolate man guards a cluster of switch levers and hardly knows of the outer world, save through the clicking of his telegraph key or the rush of the trains passing below his perch. he knows each of these. if his is a junction tower or a point where two busy lines of track intersect or cross one another, it is his duty to set the proper switches and their governing signals. it seems a simple enough thing, and it is. but even the simple things in railroading must be executed with extreme care. if the towerman set those switches and signals times in the course of a day, they must be set absolutely correct times. there can be no slurring in this work. those men in the towers have their own records of bravery. they are the sentinels of the railroad, and faithful sentinels they are. the lonely tower, like so many other scenes of railroad activity, gives long opportunity for thought and meditation; and so it is not so strange, after all, that one of them has recently given the country a most distinguished essayist upon national railroad conditions. there are even humbler positions in the operating service, each of them demanding a fine loyalty and a fair measure of ability. even the young boy who draws a baggage-truck knows that the path of advancement starts at his very feet; and the humble track-walker feels that a good part of the railroad safety and the railroad responsibility rests upon his broad shoulders. his is also a forlorn task, as he trudges back and forth over a section of line, hammer and wrench in hand, looking for the broken rail or other defect, slight in itself, but capable of infinite harm. by day his task is dreary and arduous enough. by night it is far more so. with his lantern in hand he must patrol the line faithfully, even if the wind howl about him and the snow come to block his progress. the passengers in the fast express trains that whirl past him and who see, if they see anything at all without, only a blotch of a tiny spark of light, do not know that it is a part of their protection. there is a deal of "behind the scenes" in railroad operation. and so it goes. there are hundreds of hand-switchmen who make the safe path for the train and upon each of them hangs responsibility. it is a trite saying that each of them knows that, and that each lives up to the full measure of his responsibility. * * * * * the station-agent, even in the smallest towns, has a less lonely time. he comes in contact with the outside world, and ofttimes his life goes quite to the other extreme. a local train may be due within three minutes, and here comes aunt mary clark, delayed until the train is already whistling the station stop. aunt mary is deaf and it takes her some time to buy her ticket and to ask endless questions which must bring an endless string of answers. at that very moment the agent's telegraph sounder begins to call him. a message, upon which the safety of the operation of that train depends, is being poured into his ear, and he cannot afford to miss a single click of that instrument; the responsibility will be his if anything goes wrong in its delivery. on top of all this some commercial traveller may be clamoring for the checking of his trunk. the representative of the railroad in the small town has to keep his wits about him in such times. of course, if the town is of considerable size he may have a staff about him. in such a case, he may have a baggage-room with baggageman and baggage-handlers installed; he may have assistants to mind the telegraph instrument and to sell tickets, other assistants to look after the freight. he may even attain to the dignity of a station master in uniform or else have such a dignitary reporting to him. but in the majority of railroad stations throughout the united states the station-agent is the staff; he is lucky if he has a man to "spell" him in his "off" hours. he probably is the agent of the express company in addition, and probably the agent of the telegraph company, too, which, by arrangement with the railroad, transacts a general commercial business over its wires. there are frequent instances when the local post-office is situated within the depot and the agent proves the versatility of his profession by acting as postmaster, too. he serves many masters, as you can see, and not all of these are outside of the railroad. he is not only answerable to the superintendent, in almost every case he is freight-agent, too, making out the bills of lading and figuring the complicated rate sheet. for this part of his work he is under the control of the general freight-agent. the general passenger-agent is also his superior officer. to him he must account accurately for his ticket sales, and that is not always a very easy matter. the question of passenger rates is a fairly complicated one. still, the agent must not only be able to figure the rate to south paris, me., or to oshkosh, wis., within two minutes, but he must make out a long and correct ticket within that time, while the railroad's patron demands information about some branch line connection on another system a thousand miles away. the country station-agent earns every cent of his humble salary. he works long hours; and then occasionally one of the railroad's travelling representatives will drop in upon him and casually suggest that in his leisure time he might get out and solicit a little business for the company! there is not much loafing at the little yellow depot in the country. sometimes a group of trainmen from some freight awaiting orders will gather there to swap stories and the keen wit of the railroad. these are the exceptions. the most times are the times of long, hard grind, work, work, work like the men out upon the trains. this railroad army is truly the army of hard work. it was gathered for labor. yet the station-agent leaning over his telegraph instrument in the bay of his office, and watching the limited scurry by the little depot, and seeing the president's big and gay private car hitched on behind, knows that that very executive in charge of many miles of railroad and thousands of men, came from another little country depot like this. the time may yet come when he himself will have a private car and a deal of authority. there is a great goal for every man in the railroad service. chapter xvi keeping the line open the wrecking train and its supplies--floods dammed by an embankment-- right of way always given to the wrecking-train--expeditious work in repairing the track--collapse of the roof of a tunnel--telegraph crippled by storms--winter storms the severest test--trains in quick succession help to keep the line open in snowstorms--the rotary plough. a cub reporter shouldered his way into a railroad superintendent's office. outside, a late winter's storm howled around the terminal; the morning was nipping cold, the air curtained with myriad snow-flakes, a great railroad was making a desperate fight against the mighty forces of nature. "my city editor wants to know what you folks are doing to get the line open," demanded the reporter. the big superintendent swung in his swivel chair and faced him. it was a place where angels might well have feared to tread--a place surcharged with the electricity of fight. the superintendent's mind was filled with the almost infinite detail of the fight, but he liked the cub reporter and greeted him with a smile. "you can tell your city editor," he replied slowly, "that it is as much as a man's job here is worth for him to think that the line is going to be opened. i'd fire him if he as much as thought that it was ever closed. we don't die. we fight. it's a hard storm, sonny, but we make muscle in storms like this. we don't _get_ the line open, we are _keeping_ the line open. d'ye see?" in that the big superintendent had sounded one of the biggest principles of railroad operation. the line must be kept open. that slender trail of two rails, stretching straight across the open land and writhing and twisting through the high hills, is a living organism. the railroad is no mere inanimate organization, like a store, for instance. it is a right-hand of the nation's life; it is life. the railroad is like a great living thing, its many arms reaching long distances back into the land. you cannot cut off the living arm and then bring it back to pulsing life. just so the railroad arm cannot be severed--the line must be kept open. strange things may come to pass: the right-of-way may be littered with the wreckage of trains, brought together through a defect in the physical machine of the human; unexpected floods of traffic may seek to overwhelm the outlet; in spring the power and might of flood may descend upon it; winter's storms may seek to paralyze it; still, always the railroad must be kept open. "we can't lie down," the superintendent explained to the cub reporter. "we've got to get the traffic through. do you know what it would mean if we were to follow the path of least resistance to-day--to let this storm get the best of us? let me give you an idea of just one thing. there's food coming in here in trainload lots every night--fresh meat, fresh vegetables, fresh milk. folks would go hungry if we were to say 'we can't, this storm is a gee-whilicker. we give up.'" to keep the line open, the railroad affords every sort of protective device; it trains men for especial duties. take the matter of wrecks, for instance. the railroader does not like to think of wrecks, but his methods for removing them must be prompt and thorough: the line must be kept open. each year sees equipment increasing in size and weight, and each increase brings additional problems in handling wrecked cars and engines. twenty years ago, the wrecking-equipment of most of the big roads was comparatively simple. it was generally built in the railroad's own shops. to-day -ton cars and -ton locomotives require something of a wrecking crane or derrick to lift them from the right-of-way; and the wrecking-train is a device thought out and built by specialists. these wrecking-trains are the emergency arms of railroad operation. they stand, like the apparatus of a city fire department, at every important terminal or division operating plant, awaiting summons to action. you may see the wrecking-train at every big yard, waiting on a siding which has quick access to the main-line tracks. it consists of from four to six cars--a tool-car with all sorts of wrecking-devices--replacers, blocks and tackle, extra small parts of car-trucks for emergency repairs, and the like. there are more of these extra parts--axles and wheels and four-wheel trucks on a "flat" that is fastened to the tool-car; and if this wrecking-train has a couple of miles of heavy traffic line to serve, there may be three or four of the "flats" with tools and spare equipment. you cannot have too many of those in a big wreck. the wrecking-train is sure to have a crane--a big arm of steel, compressed to come within the slim clearances of bridges and of tunnels, but capable of reaching down and tugging at a -ton locomotive with almost no effort whatsoever. and quite as important as the crane is the cook-car--generally some old-time coach or sleeper descended to humble service on the road. the cook-car has a rough berth and a kitchen; and you may be mighty sure that there is a good griddle artist upon it. you cannot expect a wrecking-gang to get into a twenty-four hour job without being pretty constantly provisioned while it is at work. only a little while ago, one of the officers of an eastern trunk-line railroad and a member of one of the state railroad commissions were coming toward new york. the trip was in the nature of an inspection on the part of the state official, but as a matter of comfort and convenience to the two men, it was made upon the former's private car. the comfort and convenience suddenly ceased while the two were still nearly miles away from the seaboard. the road rested there for many miles in heavy country; its rails found their curving way in the crevices between high hills. it had rained steadily for a fortnight; the little mountain brooks were raging mill-races. in the low flatlands of one deep valley lakes were being formed. there were long stretches where the four rails of the double-tracked trunk-line railroad lost themselves under the glassy surface of the waters. up and down the valley trains were standing helpless between those lakes, their passengers fuming at the delay. fast freights stood axle-deep in water; their title, for that moment, was an occasion for joyous humor. the comfortable, convenient trip of the railroad operating man and the railroad commissioner was at an end. an embankment that the railroad had built for a branch down the valley was blocking the waters, and orders had come from new york to dynamite out that embankment. it would cost the railroad nearly $ , to destroy that half-mile of track but it might save the valley millions. there had been no hesitation on the part of the "old man"--the road's tried executive. that is a phase of american railroading not often brought to light. orders came that the engine hauling the "special" of the operating man and the railroad commissioner was to be taken for a work-train down at that damming embankment. that's the way with railroading. when the clattering telegraph keys sound the note of trouble, even that mighty soul, the chairman of the board, may find himself "laid out" at some jerkwater junction, while his pet engine goes into service with a wrecking-train. but the chairman of the board, whose time is real money, offers no protest. he knows that to block the main line costs his road $ a minute for the first minutes; that that figure doubles and trebles in the second hour; in the third, his auditors may check off $ , a minute, at the least, as the cost of a blocked railroad. no wonder that they insist that it is "keeping the line open." before the engine of that special was cut off to go scurrying down to the embankment where the skilled workmen were making preparations to dynamite away a half-mile of track, the operating man lifted his hand. he had, like any trained railroader, been listening to the clattering telegraph key. "they've come away without their cook--those wreckers," he told the gentleman who regulated public utilities. "i think i'll go down with the 'eats.' there's an old hotel across from the railroad track down at the next station, and the landlord, uncle dan hortley, will fix me up." "i'll go with you," said the state official. "i want to get my finger in the pie." so it came to pass that they both went, the private car stopping at the little hotel long enough to get in an overwhelming supply of bread and ham. as they whizzed through the scene of trouble all hands joined at making sandwiches. "butter them on both sides," said the railroad commissioner. "they're better with the butter on one side," insisted the operating man. the commissioner was not used to back-talk from railroaders, no matter how high their office, and he stuck to his point. "both sides," he insisted. "one side only," reported the big operating man. "the commission has closed its hearing and issues an order for both sides." "the railroad appeals." but the commission won--it almost always does--and the men down at the embankment ate their sandwiches with a double thickness of butter. sometimes a refrigerator train comes under the skilled hands of the wreckers, and the cook-car may have more than an abundance of good material right at hand. beef, chickens, milk--all manner of edibles have been spilled like waste along the right-of-way, and there have been no regrets among the men of the wrecking-boss's crew. once, a speeding cook-car hurrying to the relief of the laborers upon a wrecked meat-train that had tried to go tangent to a mountain curve, brought reinforcements in the form of ham sandwiches. the wreckers were pretty hungry, but it needed all their hunger to tackle those sandwiches. the meat-train had been filled with ham; it had caught fire. somehow, three or four hours of work hauling out smoked hams gave no appetite for sandwiches of the same sort. * * * * * on main-line divisions, where traffic runs exceeding heavy, a locomotive stands, steam-up, with the four cars of the wrecking-train. even on side-line divisions the call for the wreckers will bring the fastest and best engine out of the roundhouse, no matter what her train assignment may be. things on the railroad stand aside for the wrecker. limiteds may paw their nervous heels upon sidings while she goes skimming up the line--all time-table rights are hers from the moment that she goes into service. a wire from the seat of trouble brings her into service. "second four-twelve in ditch at grey's bridge. broken rail. engine and two cars derailed. both tracks blocked. about four killed and injured." that wire has itself had the right-of-way. when "w-k, w-k, w-k" comes persistently calling over a railroad wire, every key closes. "w-k" is the "c-q-d" of railroading. it is as much as any operator's job is worth, to ignore it. when a despatch of the sort just cited comes into headquarters, things start to move. the despatcher, if he is after the manner of most despatchers, turns to his telephone and calls the yardmaster to order out the wrecking-crew. there is no more excitement in his voice than if he were ordering out any ordinary sort of special. he rings off quickly, calls up in turn the superintendent, trainmaster, perhaps the division engineer, the claim department. if there is a fatality list--the wreck one of those fearful things that sometimes show themselves upon the front pages of the newspapers--he will get the hospitals and the doctors. the list of surgeons who are allied to the railroad in every town on the division hangs above the despatcher's desk. he may run a special hospital train with doctors and nurses and emergency equipment. on one memorable occasion the hospital train was on its way out upon the main line before the wreck had been reported over the wire. the despatcher saw that the hospital special had a clear track; he gave a multitude of directions as to its running, with the quick clear word of a self-possessed man--then turned and shot himself dead. he had miscalculated: the human machine sometimes does. he knew that he had sent the two crack-a-jack trains on that single-track division, curling its way among the mountains, into each other at full speed. no need for him to know exactly where they met. but even if the wreck is no holocaust; if it is one of those minor smashes that are bound to come now and then on the best of lines, he must keep his head. as he caught up his telephone to get orders to that wrecking-boss out at the roundhouse, his assistant took instant notice of the wreck, first notifying the stations on either side of the accident to set danger-signals against all trains. after that, while the despatcher himself was busied with details, the assistant arranged to handle all traffic. if both tracks were blocked, there were plans to be instantly made to forward the fast through trains by detouring them over other lines of railroad. the assistant despatcher, wishing to know how long he could afford to hold his heavy traffic (remember that the line must always be kept open), wired the nearest station for additional details. most of all he wanted to know how long the tracks would be blocked. perhaps before he got his wire through there came a second message from the wreck, giving more facts about it. by means of code, great detail can be given in a short wire; headquarters gets a clear understanding of the trouble. after that the wire chatters constantly; there are a thousand orders to be given, a thousand details to be arranged. [illustration: the wrecking train ready to start out from the yard] [illustration: "two of these great cranes can grab a wounded mogul locomotive and put her out of the way"] [illustration: "the shop-men form no mean brigade in this industrial army of america"] while the first of these wires are beginning to swing back and forth the despatcher will hear the wrecking-train, pulled by the neatest and swiftest bit of motive power from their big roundhouse, go scurrying by down the line. the road is cleared. everything stands aside, and for weeks after, the stove committee in every roundhouse on the division will be telling how she made the run. they don't talk about the run when they get to the accident. they pile off the train and get to work quickly. every man is a trained wreck-worker, as a fireman is trained to his peculiar business. in such hours as they are not out on the road, the wreckers are repairers of cars. it keeps them busy during the long seasons when the line is lucky and has no wrecks, and it gives them the skill with which to tackle the difficult problems that confront them after a smash. by day these men--eight or ten or twelve of them to a crew--work in the yard close to the waiting wrecking-train; by night the telephone at the head of the bed of each man will bring him quickly to the near-by yard. "how do you handle a wreck?" we once asked an old-time wrecking-boss, a man grown gray in keeping his line open. "i don't know," was his frank response. "i've probably handled a thousand wrecks--perhaps more--but i have yet to see two that were the same. different cases demand different treatments. any surgeon will tell you that; and you know," this with a bit of a laugh, "we are the surgeons of the steel highway. "we've only one rule that is absolute, and that rule is to take care of the folks who are hurt in the first place, and in the second place to get the line open. if it is multiple-track line--two or three or four tracks in operation--and the muss is sprawled over the entire right-of-way we get a through track working in shortest interval. when we can wire "number two open" or whatever it is, the despatcher down at headquarters will catch the stations where there are crossovers and he'll be handling his first-class traffic of all sorts past us while we'll still be stocking the arm of the old bill crane down into the smash." the arm of that crane can lift a freight-car--if there is enough freight-car left to lift--off the rails and into the ditch in almost a twinkling. two of these great cranes can grab a wounded mogul locomotive and put her out of the way. the wrecking-trains on a first-class road are kept along the line in profusion. each is supposed to cover a territory of miles or so in every direction from headquarters, and a sizable smash will bring two or more to work in unison. two wrecking-cranes working into the remnants of a head-on collision from each direction can accomplish marvels. they will come together finally at the chief test of their strength--the point where two locomotives have firmly locked horns in dying embrace. that is a point that finds the nerve and ability of every wrecking-boss. but all these wrecking-bosses have nerve and ability. they could not hold their jobs without both. they know when equipment--cars that might be made as good as new in the shops--must be burned like driftwood, and when the burning of a wreck would be criminal waste. that requires judgment--judgment to determine whether it is cheaper to burn than to lose valuable time; to delay traffic on a main-line division or to let the traffic on a less important side-line division wait for a little longer time. judgment is part of a wrecking-boss's equipment. his superintendent knows that; and when the super grows nervous and gets down to the wreck himself, although he knows that he is ranking officer in charge of the work he shows good judgment, on his own part, in letting the wrecking-boss give all orders. that makes for skill, it makes for speed. if the wrecking-boss is not doing good work the superintendent can fire him to-morrow, or (what is far more usual) find him an easier berth somewhere on the division. there are times when the work-train must be summoned, when laborers by the dozen must get to work to build new track. a wash-out may require a half-mile of track to be laid in a night, and the railroad can do it. a young man wrote a very able story for _the saturday evening post_ a few months ago, in which he told how an emergency track was laid across a highway bridge and a test fast-freight put through on schedule. that feat was but one of the many ordinary tasks that come in the lifetime of every operating man. clearing a wreck may be a tedious business. there is a deep sink on the parade-ground of the military academy at west point that is a monument to the nastiest railroad wreck from the point of view of time, that the eastern railroaders have ever known. just under that parade-ground the west shore railroad passes through a long tunnel. on an october night more than twenty years ago, the chicago & st. louis express of that railroad was slowly poking through that bore, when a portion of the roof of the tunnel collapsed. it buried itself between the rear part of the baggage-car and the forward part of the express-car and the train came to an abrupt stop. engineer william morse saw in an instant the damage that had been done. he cut loose from that penned baggage-car and made record speed up the line to cornwall, the nearest station. from there he a sent a wire post-haste to the despatcher up at kingston, then the headquarters of the line. "train caught by collapse of west point tunnel," that despatch read in part. "only engineer and fireman escaped." they began to get their hospital train ready at kingston, notified newburg to get all the doctors in sight and hurry them on a special to west point. the chief despatcher went through the worst quarter of an hour of his life. he began to call weehawken, the southern terminal of the line. weehawken wires were all busy, and he could not cut in there. weehawken wires were getting reports from conductor sam brown of the chicago & st. louis express, who had come running out of the tunnel to the west point depot. "wire headquarters," he shouted to the agent, "that we've run into an avalanche. morse and his fireman are crushed under the tunnel roof." and they began to get the wreckers busy down at weehawken. when the chief despatcher up at kingston finally got weehawken, they told him about sam morse's fate. the truth of the thing came to him in an instant. he laughed hysterically, and his assistant jumped up. the despatcher's bad quarter of an hour was over. he jumped to his telephone, caught the yardmaster with it. "we won't need that hospital train," he said. "there isn't a soul hurt." and there was not. but there remained the worst railroad block on record. it was three months before they pulled the baggage-car out of that tunnel, and then they had to use dynamite. after that it was found necessary to line the entire bore with solid masonry. that was an accident that might not have been so lucky on repetition. * * * * * enough of wrecks. they are not the only test when it comes to keeping the line open. sometimes a crippled telegraph service may be quite as effective. out on the pennsylvania lines west of pittsburgh a couple of years ago a severe wind and sleet storm levelled more than miles of telegraph poles, in most cases dropping them across main-line tracks in the dark. a few months later--the never-to-be-forgotten inauguration day of president taft--a similar storm did similar work on the lines leading to washington. thousands of militiamen and excursionists never reached the inauguration at all. in both storms the resources of a great railroad were well tested. an old-time erie man remembers wire troubles of a different sort. it was in his salad days, when he was serving as assistant superintendent over the meadville, in the western part of pennsylvania. they had but one telegraph wire for railroad purposes on the division then, and one night it "grounded." keys were silent, the road might as well have had no wire at all. the assistant superintendent started that evening with two linemen on a hand-car to find that "ground." they went miles from meadville, and every test showed the wire working. finally they came to a deserted little depot at a cross-roads and the railroader lifting his lantern high against the window verified his suspicions: the careless agent had gone home and left his key open. the superintendent broke open the window, climbed in, removed the telegraph set, placed it in his overcoat pocket and closed the circuit. he knew that he would hear from the agent on the morrow. he did. word came by tedious train mail, a formal report on the road's yellow stationery. "station at a---- burglarized last evening," that formal report read, "and agent's telegraph set, best pants, and ten dollars taken." * * * * * the real test of keeping the line open comes when winter descends upon the land, when the heaviest freight traffic of the year comes, together with those forces of nature that sweep off the summer joys of railroading. the mighty battles of the western transcontinentals with the snows of the rockies have long been known, their miles of snow-sheds making safe crawling bores for through trains under the snow-banks, and the avalanches of the mountain-sides are as familiar to the tourist as the great salt lake or the wonders of the yellowstone. only a few months ago the newspapers told the story of how a passenger train, stalled at the entrance of a washington tunnel, had been carried by an avalanche down a great cliff. every railroader, east and west, knows full well the hazard of mountain line in the depths of a treacherous winter. there is a snow-belt extending around the south edge of the great lakes that annually gives the eastern railroad men a good opportunity to sympathize with the westerners. long years ago a little railroad reaching north in this belt from the main line of the new york central became discouraged in the all but hopeless task of keeping its line open. it had been a hard enough battle to find the rails of its main line from rome to watertown through one blizzard crowding upon the heels of another. there had been ten days when watertown was entirely cut off from the world to the south of it. but that little railroad owed some obligations to its chief town, and it kept at its brave efforts although every night the fresh wind blowing down from the canadas across lake ontario filled the long miles of railroad cuts, and nightly erased all trace of rails. but there was a branch from watertown to cape vincent run at a dead loss throughout the entire winter, and in that hard winter the railroad gave up the branch, and hired a liveryman to take the mails in his cutter over the country drifts. it was one of the few instances on record of a railroad giving up the fight. after the railroad had been abandoned a fortnight a delegation of citizens from cape vincent drove to watertown and there confronted h. m. britton, the general manager of the line. they made their little speeches, and those were pretty hot little speeches--hot enough to have melted away one good-sized drift. "when are you going to cart that snow off our line?" finally demanded the spokesman of the cape vincent folk. britton looked at the delegation coolly, and lighted a fresh cigar. "i'm going to let the man that put it there," he said slowly, "take it away." and he did. it was thirty-two days before a railroad engine entered cape vincent from the time that the last one left it. in recent years, that nasty stretch of railroad line has kept the railroaders still busy. within the decade it was blocked for six long days, while a force of snow-fighters and a battery of ploughs forced their way into the drifts. and while the superintendent up at watertown grew nervous, then desperate, there came the worst blow of all: the telegraph wire no longer brought news from the front. afterwards that super knew the reason why. his train-master was at the front with ploughs and the hungry, tired, straggling men. the train-master was nervous, too, wearied explaining to his boss. he remembered dewey at manila, and he cut the cable! he lost sight of the outer world for long hours, for days, for nights, until that january evening when he brought his battered snow-fighting force triumphant into richland junction. when a big road whose rails rest through a snow belt finds the winter clouds blackening, it puts on its fighting armor. every man at headquarters sticks by his desk. the superintendent will get bulletins from each terminal and important yard every hour, perhaps oftener. those bulletins will give him exact information--the amount of motive-power ready at each roundhouse, freight congestion, if any, amount and direction of wind, cloud and snow conditions. in other days the signal for an oncoming storm was followed by quick orders from headquarters to pull off the snow-freights. traffic was quickly cut down to passenger and perishable-freight trains, and, if the blizzard grew bad enough, the perishable-freights were run in upon the sidings. the railroad concentrated its motive-power upon the passenger trains and the ploughs. nowadays they do it better. not that the old fellows of the last generation were anything less than prize railroaders, for remember they did not have the locomotives in those days that even side-line divisions possess in these. so to-day the superintendent can growl at the first of his men who even hints that a scheduled train of any class be sent upon a siding. "we keep the traffic moving," said one of the biggest the other day. "we keep the line open. a train every thirty minutes over our rails will do more toward keeping them usable than a rotary going over them after a night's inaction. "so when she begins to blizz, we just fall back on our roundhouses, that's all. we cut our local freights down to tons, then to , , , rather than send them into shelter. we tackle our through freights in a like proportion and while we are cutting off cars, we are adding power. everything that goes out of this yard will be double-headed as long as there is danger in the air. there will be two engines to a passenger-train and ahead of each a rotary, with two or three locomotives to push her. you see the value of reserve motive-power, don't you? why we have half-a-dozen extra engines trying to gather rust over there in the roundhouse. they're worth their weight in gold in a pinch of this sort, though when they're done with a week of snow fighting, they're fit candidates for the shops." a rotary plough has no powers of self-propulsion, but the mighty engine within her heart, driving the shaft of her great cutting-wheel has the power of three locomotives. that cutting-wheel approximates the width of a single-track in diameter. it will bore into a solidly packed drift, twelve or sixteen feet in height, suck in a great volume of snow, and then throw it--as a fire engine throws water--through a nozzle to feet to the right or left of the line. the nozzle is close to three feet in diameter, and the stream that it throws will bury a small barn. the man who sits in the lookout of the rotary controls the nozzle, changes it from side to side so as to avoid buildings. these rotaries are giants. where the great flange or wing ploughs--the ordinary snow-fighting artillery of a railroad--fail, they come into service. theirs is ever a mighty task to perform. we have seen a rotary spend sixty minutes in going sixty feet through a heavy drift, a drift three miles long and twenty deep. snow can drift, and wet snow can pack, pack until you almost begin to think of dynamite as a resource. three days of such snow-fighting would completely weary the ordinary man. up in the snow-belts, they are likely to get a hard storm every week from december to march, and that atop of the heaviest traffic of the year. it is the sort of fighting that marks the fine-grained timber of a man; that sends him down to headquarters in some metropolitan city along the seaboard, to fight the weightier battles of traffic and of operation, which are unending within and between the mighty railroads of america. sometimes the battle to keep the line open is fought close to a busy terminal. here, before you, once again, is the division superintendent of one of the great lines entering jersey city. let him tell you of the nasty storm on christmas night last, a storm that laid low all street transportation in every city along the north atlantic seaboard. he will tell you how it was the first christmas that he had spent with his family in seven years; the first holiday in three. he lives in a little suburban city within the -mile radius of new york city hall, and in his bedroom a telegraph sounder, connected with the division's main wire, clicks in the early morning and late at night. over that wire on christmas night last, the superintendent gave orders. there was snow in the air at dusk when they finished their late afternoon dinner; by eight o'clock he had ordered the flanges (ploughs) on all his regular road engines. along the entire line orders had gone to keep a sharp lookout for trouble. the superintendent turned into bed at ten o'clock, hoping for a clear winter's sky in the morning. he turned into bed but not into sleep. he had cut out his telegraph wire for the night but a telephone message from the agent down at the depot in the suburban city made him sit up wide awake. the storm was gaining. they were beginning to get trouble reports down at headquarters. the superintendent turned out of bed and began dressing. he cut in on the telegraph wire and began giving orders. he caught his train-master at the neighboring town and told him to meet him at , the last train into jersey city that evening. he turned from the telegraph to the telephone and ordered the local livery man to get up to his house and take him down to the : . he called the depot agent to hold that : until he arrived. [illustration: "winter days when the wind-blown snow forms mountains upon the tracks"] [illustration: "the despatcher may have come from some lonely country station"] [illustration: "the superintendent is not above getting out and bossing the wrecking-gang once in a great while"] when that superintendent came puffing into his office in the jersey city terminal it was one o'clock of a blizzardy sabbath morn. he dropped into a chair beside his chief despatcher and took the entire situation in hand. things looked pretty bad from every point of view. from up in the foothills came reports of discouraging nature, trains were losing time, they were having added trouble every hour in handling switches and cross-overs. at the terminal the switches were a most prolific source of annoyance. the intricacy of the interlocking system was being bothered by ice freezing about its exposed working parts. the superintendent was perplexed, but he did not show it. he kept lighting cigars and throwing them away half-smoked. and all the while he was sending orders over his wire. if a narrow strand of steel, stretching for miles through darkness and through storm could carry infectious courage, that wire carried the superintendent's courage out to every far corner of his division through those early hours. "keep at it," was the tenor of his message. "keep everlastingly at it." and between times he was planning how to help them to keep everlastingly at it. men were summoned to report sunday morning at the shops--they might need to make some quick repairs, and it is a matter of record on that division that a locomotive has been torn apart, entirely overhauled and placed in service again in twenty-four hours--others were ordered to stand by important switches against breakdowns in the interlocking. there were special problems in plenty to be considered, a new one arising every hour. one of them will suffice to show the measure of that superintendent's problem that night. up in a narrow pass between overhanging hills a much-delayed local, with a light road-engine, was still struggling to get the christmas celebrators home. it was a hard proposition; and just a block back of the suburban train was chafing the midnight express through to chicago--one of the road's best trains. the superintendent saw in an instant that his main line stood in imminent danger of being blocked. he caught middleport, the station ahead of the struggling local, and ordered it side-tracked there for a moment. "i want to get that midnight with her big engine ahead from there," he explained to his despatcher. but the towerman at middleport said that he could not move the siding-switch there; it was packed in with ice and snow. "tell him to get a pick-axe and shovel and get in at it," said the superintendent. "he says that it's ° below up there; they've swiped his shovel, and he hasn't anything but a broom," the despatcher returned. "a broom! tell him a broom's a god-send. he can sweep with the one end and pick with the other." eight times that towerman tried there in the midst of the storm to open that switch and eight times he reported failure. eight times the superintendent kept at him with his kind persistence, and the ninth time they reported that the midnight express with the best type of motor power on the division was ahead of the weak engine on the local. and while the superintendent struggled at the far end of a telegraph wire with that towerman, there were a dozen other middleports, each with its own different and equally difficult problem. each required quick, intelligent solution. he solved each. the line stayed open. the superintendent stayed at his desk. all that sunday it snowed, and all that sunday the superintendent was at his desk. he did not know the passage of the hours; the clicking sounder held his attention riveted. he worked all sunday night and into monday morning. there were suburban trains to be brought into the terminal on monday morning, and the commuter is a fussy soul about his train being on time. the superintendent knew that, and he was ready. he had extra men at the switches in the terminal yards, took particular pains to have snow swept from the platforms of even the lowliest suburban station. the trains came in on time that monday morning, all save one. on that one train the regular fireman had been snowbound at his home upon the mountainside. they had to put on a green man to fire the engine--a raw-boned lad just off a freight. he made slow work of it, and the train was fourteen minutes late. that was the only exception to a clean record, a record made possible by long hours of work. "they ought to have been proud of that fight," you say to the big boss. he grins at your ignorance. "proud?" he laughs. "they raised hell with me because we had laid out fourteen minutes." chapter xvii the g. p. a. and his office he has to keep the road advertised--must be an after-dinner orator, and many-sided--his geniality, urbanity, courtesy--excessive rivalry for passenger traffic--increasing luxury in pullman cars--many printed forms of tickets, etc. we have already called the division superintendent the prince in the realm of railroad operation. but there is another, whom we see when we leave operation and consider traffic--another who might also be called prince--prince charming. this prince of charm of the railroad is the general passenger agent. to a large proportion of folk he is almost the personification of the railroad itself. his signature, appearing upon each of the railroad's tickets and time-tables, is multiplied a million times a year. in his own self he appears many, many times as the road's mouthpiece. his evening clothes must always be kept in press and moth-balls, for his oratory is at all times close to the tap. his wit is ready, his tongue a good arguer for his line. at dinners of chambers of commerce and boards of trade, his urbanity is profound, his remarks to the point; and the road gets the advertising. for the general passenger agent is _per se_, an advertiser. there are two affiliated and yet quite distinctive functions to his office. the older function, the one for which it was really created when railroads were young, is that of issuing tickets and selling them. the newer function, and to-day the all-important function, is that of keeping the road before the eyes of the travel-mad public--an advertising function. a few years ago, a big eastern road had to change general passenger agents because of this very thing. the man who had held the job was in almost every way absolutely efficient. he had been reared in the routine of his office; he knew its vast details as well as any man might ever hope to know them. but he was a detail man, and there he stopped. the road needed more of a figurehead, a better advertiser. the late george h. daniels was in many respects the best passenger agent that american railroading has ever known. he was the forerunner of the general passenger agent of to-day--a well-known figure in the great state that his railroad served, being interviewed by reporters--and lady reporters, too--on every conceivable subject in the public eye; addressing dinners in metropolitan new york, or in suburban yonkers, or anywhere else in the state, with rare facility, yet now and then adroitly bringing in reference to the "four-track trail" by which he was employed. other roads took heed of daniels. the general passenger agent became less and less a man of office routine and of ticket detail, more and more of a public figure. he called mayors of important cities by their first names; he kept close to the pulsing heart of the public press by friendly intimacy with the reporters; spoke at two, three, four dinners a week. the prince charming of the railroad is, indeed, a development. but behind the smiles of this prince, behind the phraseology of words spoken or written that glorify "the road," there is a serious aspect of his life. he must capitalize that splendid urbanity, that jocose wit, into ticket-sales. in the beginning he was created to sell tickets, and sell tickets he must. on his ability to sell tickets, and not as a popular public figure, will he be measured by the board of directors--that delegation of grim-faced gentlemen, who place small market value on either urbanity or jocosity. so, while the general passenger agent presents his smiling face to the outside world, he is a man of system, no mean executive there within the inner. he must organize to sell his tickets. there is an inner organization of no small moment in the passenger office of any sizable railroad. in the first place, the area from which traffic is to be drawn is divided into districts. general agents or assistant general passenger agents (the title varies widely on the different railroads) are assigned to each. this traffic area is far larger than the area covered by one railroad system. it is generally nation-wide, while some of the biggest of our railroads maintain ticket-offices in the large cities all the way around the world. they are to-day fighting almost as sharply for american traffic in paris or in london as they fight in clark street, chicago, or in broadway, new york. for it is a fight and an endless fight, which the prince charming--he of the urbane smiles--must wage. despite the constant consolidating processes of our railroads, there are few large territories that are the exclusive field of any one road. the most of them must fight for their business--particularly for their profitable long-distance business. the fight divides itself between the freight and passenger traffic departments. no wonder, then, that the general passenger agent must be a many-sided man. from his district offices, there scurries forth a corps of smooth-tongued, quick-witted young men--the travelling passenger agents. these young men are skirmishers. they are up and down the steel highways of the nation, thirty days out of the month, skirmishing for business. each carries in an inner pocket a wad of annual passes--such as might make any statesman green with envy. those passes cover every steam line in the territory that is assigned to him and are return courtesy for the neat little cards which his road in turn issues to the traffic solicitors of other roads. in other days these skirmishers carried forth business which sometimes approached cut-throat tendencies. the weaker lines in hotly competitive territory--lines which, running fewer high-grade trains and running them at slower speed--which were naturally at a disadvantage, sought to obtain at least their normal share of passenger traffic, by sharp work. after that their stronger brethren often showed their religious belief in fighting them by fire. tickets were sold at less than advertised rates to certain favored individuals; sometimes a few passes, adroitly placed, did the business. in these days those sharp things are forbidden, and the young man, soliciting railroad traffic, who breaks the rules of the game runs the risk of worse than facing an angry boss, getting discharged; perhaps he can see the doors of a federal prison opening for him. so the fellow who skirmishes for the weak road has a hard time of it in these piping days. passenger traffic, like kissing, seems to go by favor nowadays; and how hard the travelling passenger agent works to curry that favor! he drops off a local at some way-station, there is a smile and perhaps a cigar for the country-boy who sells tickets there, for the interstate folk have not sent any one to prison yet for offering either a smile or a cigar. the t. p. a. knows that the local agent cannot, under the rules that govern him, recommend routes that connect with and extend beyond the line which gives him employment. still, sometime the country agent may be approached by a man who demands that a connecting road be suggested for him, and the t. p. a. can see that man, without even shutting his eyes. if the country agent will only remember the nice t. p. a. that the transcontinental sent in there a month before, and the good kind of cigars he dispenses, the transcontinental may get a part of the haul on a long green ticket. perhaps the man will be taking his wife, and there will be two of the long green tickets. perhaps there will be a whole party to be routed over the transcontinental--the t. p. a. can imagine almost anything as he swings overland in the dreary locals from way-station to way-station. sometimes a wire from his chief quickly changes his schedule. the magnificent knights of the realm--or some other impressive order of that sort--are to hold their annual convention at oshkosh, and the t. p. a. must hustle down to bingtown to see that transcontinental gets the haul of the delegation that will go to oshkosh from the bustling little community. he scurries into bingtown to locate the officers of the local lodge of the m. k. o. r. there. on the train there may be a t. p. a. from some rival system--they are all partners in misery. the transcontinental man will probably drop off the opposite side of the train at bingtown from the crowded depot platform--it's an old trick of the t. p. a.--and be tearing over the pages of the bingtown directory before that train is out of town again. once located, the officers of that lodge of m. k. o. r. must be pleasantly instructed in the advantages of transcontinental--the speed of its trains, the safety of its operation, the convenience of its terminals, the scenic splendors along the way, the excellence of its dining-car service; all these things are spun with convincing eloquence by the travelling passenger agent. a few years ago, two travelling passenger agents, whose lines supplement one another to make a through route across the continent, went down into an eastern manufacturing city to land business bound west to a national convention of one of the biggest of the fraternal orders. there were other passenger men heading toward that same territory, and the two men from the connecting lines made an offensive and defensive alliance. when they reached this town, they found that the chief officers of the local lodge were two city detectives and a police justice. all three of the city officers showed little enthusiasm about the coming convention. the passenger men took off their coats--figuratively--and pitched in. for three days, they ran up an expense account that must have all but paralyzed the auditors of their companies, but they accomplished results. after the first day of entertainment, the police justice said that there would be an even dozen of them for the three-thousand-mile run, which was going some. most passenger men would have rested content on those laurels, but this combination used that first day only to whet their appetites. they started briskly out on the second, a little fagged, but still in fighting trim, and by that night the two detectives united in promising one or two filled pullmans. the third day saw the two traffic solicitors nearly dead, and the well-seasoned city officials just in fine trim. the trim must have been fine, for that night they completed arrangements for one of the biggest special train movements of that year: two hundred and fifty enthusiastic brethren went three-quarters of the way across the continent and back as a result of the work of these passenger men. once a travelling passenger agent went nearly too far in this entertainment business. he got business, miles and miles and miles of it, but he also got drinking far too heavily. one day, when he came into the general offices very much the worse for entertaining, he bumped into no less a man than the president of the road. that president was a strict old soul. he had church connections, and he used to lecture his sunday school class on the evils of the liquor habit. he decided to make an example of this young whelp of a passenger agent from off the road. but just as the sentence was about to be pronounced, the general passenger agent interfered. he went straight to the president and the wrath of an honest man was in his eye. "we don't intend to have drunken men working here," the president kept saying. "it's the example--" "if he drinks," said the g. p. a., "it's my fault, and i'm the man to let go." the president let his eyeglasses drop in astonishment. "you?" he said. "i'm guilty," said the g. p. a. "this man goes everywhere to get business for us, and he gets it. he kneels with the preacher, he talks high art with the browning societies, and he gets drunk with the drinkers--all in the name of this railroad system. now we propose to kick him out, still in the name of this railroad system." the president saw the point, and together they took hold of the t. p. a. and made him a decent, sober man. to-day he is one of the most efficient officers of that very road, and he owes it all to that broad-minded g. p. a. geniality, urbanity, courtesy are the major part of a travelling passenger agent's equipment, as they are part of his chief's in these days, when the rates have ceased to enter into the fight for traffic. rates? the rates must be the same nowadays by all routes of the same class; and so the t. p. a. _must_ bring out the excellence of his line, leaving none behind because of a false sense of modesty. he is silent about other roads, save as they may lead to and from the system that he represents. you want to go to kickapoo. you could go to milltown by the transcontinental and get from there to kickapoo most easily by the main line of the st. louis southwestern, but the travelling passenger agent frowns his first frown at the very suggestion. the st. louis southwestern is the worst competitor that transcontinental has for passenger traffic, and the t. p. a. does not propose to send business over its rails. so he ignores your suggestion. "we have our own line into kickapoo," he tells you--the old smile returning. "you won't have to leave transcontinental." and such a line! it happens to be a branch of the worst jerkwater type. to reach kickapoo over transcontinental you must go to milltown and change from the comfortable limited to a less comfortable train, which takes you to quashalong junction. there you find a seat on a local which jogs along at twenty miles an hour for the greater part of the afternoon until you get into miller's forks. when you reach miller's forks you almost abandon hope. for the thirty-mile stretch from that cross-roads over into kickapoo is a grass-grown stretch of half-neglected track over which a combination freight and passenger-train--adequately described on the time-card as mixed--ambles once in twenty-four hours. by the time you have finished that trip you will have arrived in kickapoo without leaving the rails of the transcontinental, but you will also probably have registered a vow never to travel on them again, if they can be avoided. right there is a traffic mistake. if the t. p. a. had been wise he would have swallowed his hatred of st. louis southwestern and recommended that you use it for that stretch from milltown to kickapoo. he let his zeal for his road overrun his business judgment. a good many of them do. only the other day a man walked into a railroad station of a small city in the southern tier of new york state and announced that he wanted to hurry through to binghamton. "we have a train in five minutes, our : ," said the agent, all smiles. the man hesitated. he wanted to do two or three errands in that small city before he went on to binghamton, and so he asked the leaving time of the next train. "nothing until : ," the agent told him. "that will be too late for me to get into binghamton," the passenger said. the agent did not reply, but turned his attention to other persons who were waiting at the ticket-window. but the man from binghamton was still perplexed. an agent of the news company who ran the stand in that station, came over and helped him out. "the ---- (mentioning a rival and paralleling road) gets a train out of here for binghamton at : ," he explained. the passenger thanked the news-agent, for his problem had been lightened and started out for the other station. when he was gone, the ticket-seller summoned the newsman and threatened to have him fired. but there is a new order of things coming to pass even in this hot rivalry for getting passenger traffic. long ago, c. f. daly, who is to-day vice-president in charge of traffic for the new york central lines, was in charge of the city ticket-office of the burlington, in omaha. those were days when no loyal traffic-man was ever supposed even to breathe the name of a competing road. but daly held his loyalty firm, and still went straight against that absurd rule. if a woman came into his office and, after the way of some women travellers, finally decided that she wished to travel over the rival northwestern, he would not let her get out of his office. he would give her a comfortable seat, and perhaps a magazine or paper to read, and send one of his office-boys over to the northwestern office to buy a ticket for her. sometimes before the office-boy could get out of the place the woman would change her mind in favor of the burlington. if she did not, daly did not worry. he knew that he was of the new order of railroaders. * * * * * come back, for a final moment, to the travelling passenger agent. he may be forgiven an over-zeal for the line which employs him, for that has been his training from the beginning, and--which is far more to the point--he is being measured by the results that he accomplishes. the road does not pay him a salary and pay his heavy expense account (which the auditor generally permits to contain various unvouchered items for entertainment) without expecting results. if he is a new man in the territory, he is measured against his predecessor. afterwards, he is measured month by month, against the corresponding month of the preceding year. all tickets which were sold from his territory, and in which his road shares, are credited to his influence. it becomes a matter of cold calculations and of dollars and cents. if this april does not show an increase over april of last year, the t. p. a. must make a mighty good explanation to his chief. it will have to be famine or pestilence or something nearly as bad to justify the slump in ticket sales. an insinuation on his part that a reduction of the service of his road was responsible for the slump would never be accepted at headquarters. [illustration: the new york central railroad is building a new grand central station in new york city, for itself and its tenant, the new york, new haven & hartford railroad] [illustration: the concourse of the new grand central station, new york, will be one of the largest rooms in the world] [illustration: south station, boston, is the busiest railroad terminal in the world] [illustration: the train-shed and approach tracks of broad street station, philadelphia, still one of the finest of american railroad passenger terminals] so, all in all, the life of the travelling passenger agent is no sinecure. it is easiest when he is in the home territory of his road, rather pleasant when that road is non-competitive. but when he is out in "foreign" territory, fighting for a road which is hardly more than a name to the folk with whom he comes in contact, his difficulties increase; when, if his road is one of the weaker fry, its trains slower and less frequent than some of the other trunk-lines, his difficulties increase. the differential-fares by which the slower competing roads are permitted by their stronger brethren to charge a reduced rate between important distant traffic points were adopted to help to equalize this difficulty. but the differentials do not count, neither do the differential lines now get their share of the through business. last year fifty per cent of the passengers between new york and chicago went on the eighteen-hour train, even though the regular full fare of $ in each direction is increased by an excess fare of $ , aside from the pullman rates. twenty-five per cent more travelled on the limited trains, which makes an excess of $ , in addition to pullman rates, in each direction. it begins to look as if the american public were willing to pay for added comfort and convenience. pullman operation has doubled within the past ten years. pullman chair-cars are operated to-day on hundreds of miles of branch line railroads that would not have dreamed of such a luxury a decade ago. in fact, we are moving toward first-class and second-class passenger service by leaps and bounds. less than twenty years ago the new york central established its empire state express between new york and buffalo, and, by means of the almost marvellous resources of its advertising department, made it the most famous train in the world. save for a single parlor car or two, it has always been a day-coach train, no excess fare being charged. yet for many years (in recent years its running-time has been slightly lengthened) it was the fastest regular long-distance train in the world. still, in the judgment of railroaders to-day, another empire state would be a mistake, even though the original is, day in and day out probably one of the most popular and profitable express trains in the world. but the judgment is different: the lehigh valley, running the competing black diamond, between new york and buffalo, has already found it advisable to make its equipment all pullman. * * * * * just as the travelling passenger agent forms the stock from which many of the general passenger agents are finally formed, so does the country agent aspire to the day when he will be given territory and sent out with his gripsack, to sell transportation upon the road. sometimes, though, as in daly's case, the road to traffic titles comes by way of the city ticket-offices. these form an important function of the railroad's passenger department. they are regulated carefully, through an inter-railroad harmony, as expressed in the great national passenger associations. we have already seen how they sell mileage-books and "scrip" on their own account. for instance, a sort of tacit agreement specifies how many ticket-offices a railroad may maintain in a given city. otherwise, the biggest and richest road might completely overshadow its weaker neighbor in the number as well as in the magnificence of its agencies. so an unwritten agreement, which is as strict in its way as the law on cutting rates, states that this city may have so many offices for any road, and that so many. it has become an exact rule. the city ticket-offices, situated at advantageous corners in the various busy centres of metropolitan towns, and towns having metropolitan ambitions, save the average man a long trip, perhaps, to the station. they will sell tickets, check baggage, answer innumerable questions. answering questions remains one of the big functions of the passenger-man. only recently, a sign was hung in a city ticket-office of one of the large railroads in new york, which read: "remember that we are here to sell tickets as well as give information." that sign was a mistake. it was an affront to every person who entered that ticket-office, and remember that every person who enters a ticket-office is at least a potential passenger for the railroad that operates it. it is only charitable to believe that the agent meant to say: "remember that we are here to give information as well as to sell tickets," for the giving of information is a function of a passenger ticket office. so important has this function become, that the railroads have established desks in the largest of these city offices at which no tickets are sold, but where questions are answered and railroad, steamship, and hotel folders given out. "public service stations," the new york central has begun to call its city ticket-offices and, furthering this idea of courtesy and affability, its general passenger agent has opened a school for the training of its agents. they are taught to answer questions quickly and accurately, and to be, above all things, courteous to the persons who come before them and the potential travellers. * * * * * just a final look before we leave this passenger department, at its equipment. its complications are large. take this matter of tickets, for instance. while the financial department of the road will receive the money that comes in for their sales, and the auditing department takes good care as to the accuracy of the agent's returns, the passenger department has charge of printing and issuing the contract slips by which it agrees to convey its passengers. there is a multiplicity of forms of these, each bearing the signature of the general passenger agent. on smaller roads, the number of forms of local tickets is greatly reduced by writing or stamping the name of the destination on tickets. on a single branch line, with stations, just different styles of printed railroad tickets would be required otherwise; you can imagine the number of styles required for an average system of , stations. fortunately, for the passenger department, the use of simplified forms of tickets, where adroit cutting and tearing makes possible the use of a single ticket form for an entire division, has reduced the big ticket-printing bills. only recently, a machine, on the order of a cash register, has been invented, from which a ticket, accurately stamped and dated, with the destination indelibly printed, can be delivered as demanded. still, with all these simplified forms of tickets, a big road will hardly carry less than , standard forms. then there will be anywhere from a dozen to twenty special forms a week that will have to be printed--for excursions, conventions, and special train movements of every sort. the ticket-printing bill of a big road will easily exceed $ , a year. its folders will cost not less than $ , , while the twelvemonths' bill for newspaper advertising will more than exceed the combined figure of these two. all these details come under the jurisdiction of that urbane general passenger agent. he supervises, in another department, the making and the readjustment of rates--this last a seemingly endless task. to make up rate-sheets, either in the freight or in the passenger department, requires expert work. the fare between the same points on competitive railroads must, in the present order of things, remain equal. to cite an interesting instance: the a---- railroad long ago established $ . as its passenger charge from n---- to s----. the b---- railroad, although charging a higher rate per mile over its line, is obliged to meet this rate of $ . in order to secure business from n---- to s----, even though that makes many perplexing problems in its local rates. the b----railroad mileage from n---- to s----, up its main line, is miles--practically the same as that of its competitor. for the -mile ride to g----, the first large way-station, it charges $ . , for the -mile ride to m----, the next, $ . . if a man were to go over its line to s---- and stop off at g---- and m---- his fare from n---- to s----would be $ . . that is a typical case, and one that is repeated in every corner of the country. where a road comes into competitive territory its rates must adjust themselves to those of its lowest-priced rival, otherwise it could hardly hope for a fair share of the business. so the rates must shade here and there; the rate-clerk must take good care to see that wherever it is in any way possible, no combination of tickets can be formed that will sell at less rate than a through ticket. when the rate-sheet is completed and copies of it forwarded to the railroad commission, it is, indeed, a sensitive organization. but no sooner will the cumbersome rate-sheet be completed, before some little road off in a distant corner of the country will send a printed announcement of some slight change in its passenger charges. in an instant, the whole mighty fabric of the rate-sheet must be torn apart and reconstructed. if the st. louis southwestern, by reason of a single change in the rates of the little blissville, bulgetown and beyond (with which it connects) is enabled to charge a few cents less than the rival transcontinental, its rate-sheet must be torn asunder and a new one adopted. * * * * * beyond the long desks where the rate-clerks keep at their tedious jobs of constant readjustment of local and through rates, the passenger department has located its ticket redemption bureau. it announces publicly its willingness to redeem unused portions of its tickets, and the work of figuring out the amount due on a ticket, sometimes half or three-quarters used, requires a rate-clerk of ability and patience. the redemption clerk holds a ticket up to the light for your inspection. "they tried to put this over on me," he says as he shows a local ticket which had been sent to him for redemption at full value. the pasteboard is filled with small burned holes. "the breezy young man who forwarded this exhibit to me claimed that he had used no portion of this ticket and then apologized to me for its condition. his small boy, he said, had burned it with fourth-of-july punk. "punk? that was punk. the small boy did not do a thorough job. every hole burned there was burned to hide a conductor's punchmark. you can see the edges of three of them; and those three punch marks show that the ticket issued from b---- to t---- was used miles from b---- to a---- and not used from a---- to t----. when that young man threatened us with trouble on that ticket deal, we threatened him with arrest. after that he shut up." so does the general passenger agent come in constant contact with the great american public. his outside mail is probably the largest at headquarters, and it contains letters of every sort, asking innumerable questions, praising and damning his road with equal interest and force. one letter will commend a courteous conductor, the next will find some fault with the dining-car service. it is not so very long ago that a big eastern railroad sent out a general order that the raw oysters on its dining-cars should be served affixed to their shells, because a woman from sioux city had written a positive assertion that the shells were being used over and over again for canned oysters. some of the railroads have already begun to systematize this whole matter of complaints. one new york city line which sells a large amount of transportation in small packages every day (two million passengers is its average in twenty-four hours) has a harvard man at high salary just to receive those letters and give diplomatic answer to each of them. each complaint is first acknowledged and then investigated; the person who made the complaint is notified of the final action taken. if a matter of fare is involved (the complicated transfer systems of new york make such questions frequent), and the company is wrong, it cheerfully acknowledges its fault and forwards car tickets as reimbursement. many times when a conductor or a motorman has forgotten his manners, he is sent to make a personal apology to the aggrieved passenger, as a price of holding his position. that street railway company has won many friends out of persons who had complained to it, because of this method. but here is the general passenger agent of a big steam road, who holds a considerably different view of this very matter. "we never get in writing on one of these complaints," he says. "we send a man every time to make the matter right, and the man must be a diplomat. he must understand human nature, and so well does he understand it, that he makes the matter right in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred--turns an enemy into a friend, a liability into an asset, makes a firm patron for our road." "liabilities into assets!" that then is the work of the general passenger agent and his remarkable department. "liabilities into assets!" in these days of cold judgments upon the managements of the big railroad properties, such a man is worth his weight in gold to a big system. he measures his worth in the assets that he brings to it. chapter xviii the luxury of modern railroad travel special trains provided--private cars--specials for actors, actresses, and musicians--crude coaches on early railroads--luxurious old-time sleeping-cars--pullman's sleepers made at first from old coaches--his pioneer--the first dining-cars--the present-day dining-cars--dinners, table d' hÔte and a la carte--cafÉ-cars--buffet-cars--care for the comfort of women. if a man stops you in nassau street, new york, in the late afternoon, and you miss your favorite eighteen-hour train; if it is imperative that you be in chicago the next morning at ten o'clock, and (this a most important "if") if you are willing to spend your money pretty freely, the railroad will accomplish it for you. if you are well known, and your credit accomplished with the railroad folks, it is highly probable that you will find your special, ready to accomplish an over-night run of nearly , miles, standing waiting in the train-shed when you hurry to the station. even if your credit is not so established, the sight of several thousand dollars in greenbacks will accomplish the trick for you. the train will be ready in any event almost as soon as you. if you are planning a novel outing, you may ring for a railroad representative and he will bring to your house or to your office tickets on any train and to any part of the world, or he will be prepared to arrange a special train for a night's run or for a three months' swing around the country. your train may be of any length you desire and are willing to pay for. you can hire a car and it will be handled either as regular express trains or with special engines. you pay the bills and you have your choice. a run in a private car is the acme of luxury to the average man. these are used for a variety of purposes in these comfort-loving days, and the sight of one or more of them attached to the rear of a heavy train has ceased to excite comment. the average luxury-loving millionaire has one--possibly two--of these expensive toys attached to an entourage that embraces ocean-going yachts, complete stables, and dozens of motor-cars of every description. if he can claim some sort of responsible connection with a large railroad system, he is likely to have his car hauled free from one ocean to the other; and the millionaire likes these little perquisites. he is not so far removed, after all, from the man who huddles in the corner of the smoking-car and secretly hopes and prays that the conductor will forget to collect his ticket. to appreciate the number and variety of these cars take a look at the passenger sidings at any of the large florida beach hotels in midwinter. better still, run down to princeton or up to new haven at any large football game. you will see parked there at such a time from sixty to one hundred of these palatial cars, some of them private property, others chartered for the occasion. even in the middle of the night this branch of luxurious railroad traffic is still at your disposal. an emergency call summons you out of town for a distance, and the night train schedules do not meet your needs. the night train-master will meet your needs. he will act as the agent of the railroad and arrange, while you hold the telephone receiver in your fingers, the entire schedule for you. trains will be held, connections made; the telegraph is capable of arranging the details. if you demand speed, the railroad will give it to you--if you are willing to pay the price and give a release against damage to your precious bones. increased speed means increased risk to your railroader. maude adams uses a special many saturday nights to carry her down to her long island farm at ronkonkoma. her place is far out of the regular suburban district, and there are no regular trains that will enable her to reach it after the evening performance. for ordinary service she is quite content with a private car--the mania has its deathly grip on a good many of our prosperous theatrical folk. lillian russell used to live down in the rockaway section of long island, hardly outside of the new york city limits. when she played in the metropolis a special train carried her six nights in the week out to her suburban home. there were plenty of regular trains--theatre trains, in the colloquialism of the railroaders--but the prima donna would have none of them. she had acquired the private-car mania while she was on the road. so her special stood night after night in the big railroad terminal in long island city--a neat little acquisition for a prosperous lady. the nightly ride cost her fifty dollars to the railroad company; and the generous tips she lavished, from the engine-cab back, doubled that sum. hardly a prosperous star, these days, but demands in the contract a fully-equipped car for the long, hard days on the road. the car has some value for advertising; its greatest value, however, lies in the maximum degree of comfort that it affords, as compared with the constant changing from one country hotel to another. sometimes the biggest of these folk let the mania seize so tightly upon them that they go to excess. paderewski, on his first trip to america, made a flying journey up to poughkeepsie to bewilder the fair vassarites. he shuddered at the thought of what he was pleased to call the provinces. he had the popular european notion of american small towns and their hostelries. poughkeepsie has very comfortable hotels, but paderewski would not risk them. he would not sleep in them, neither would he eat in them. a private car solved the first of these problems; the second was met by bringing two cooks and a waiter up from the new york hotel in which he was staying. he was paid $ , for the concert, and his travelling expenses cost him more than half that sum, which was a pretty good ratio. still, stage folk are not in the habit of counting either ratios or their pennies, and the average prima donna would make some sacrifices at the savings-bank in order to indulge herself in this extravagant and purely american mania. the grand-opera folk indulge themselves to the limit, invariably at the expense of the beneficent _impresario_. but even this long-suffering publicist does not feel the expense so bitterly. special trains for opera companies make splendid advertising, but they do not cost one cent more than regular transportation. for the railroads, acting under the guidance of an all-wise and all-powerful commission down at washington, will issue, without extra cost, from sixty to one hundred tickets for the man who orders a special train at two dollars a mile. in this way the wise theatrical manager keeps his little flock segregated while _en route_, and reaps gratuitously the prestige and the advertising that ensue. even the cheaper companies have their own cars--gaudy affairs most of them, their battered sides still reflecting the brilliancy of some gifted sign-painter. you must remember seeing them in the long ago, back there at the home-town, stuck in the long siding next the coal-shed, and surrounded by admiring youth, getting its first faint taint of the mania. the all-star imperial minstrel troupes, and the uncle tom shows, are the graveyards of the private cars. proud equipages that in their days have housed real magnates and have been the theatres of what we like mysteriously to call "big deals," once supplanted, drop quickly down the scale of elegance. in their last days they come to the hard use of some itinerant band of entertainers, to squeak their rusty joints and worn frames as if in protest against a fly-by-night existence over jerkwater railroad branches. come back again to those cars you see at the college football games, the travelling private palaces that migrate up to newport, the white mountains, and the adirondacks in summer; that flock south in the winter like the birds. the astonishing thing is that few of these cars are owned by the persons who are using them. of course, as we have already said, if a man can lay claim to some railroad connection, he can get his car hauled free over other lines and, perhaps, get it built for him; but more of that in a moment. there are probably not more than private cars in the land that are owned by persons not connected with the railroads. this is an astonishingly low figure, considering the number of these craft that are constantly drifting about our , miles of track. some society folk have cars as a part of their daily life, but the storage costs are apt to cause a man to think twice before he buys one. mr. rockefeller and mr. morgan have managed to worry along very comfortably without contracting the disease. as a rule, both of these men are willing to accept the comfort of any of the fast limited trains that form part of the luxurious equipment of the american railroad. but the fact remains that the average citizen, when he is felled by an intermittent attack of the private-car mania, is content to hire one of the very comfortable equipages that the pullman company keeps ready at big terminals at various points across the country. the arrangements for these are exclusive of the price paid to the railroad companies for their haul. a complete private car, equipped with staterooms, baths, private dining-room, observation parlor and the like, costs seventy-five dollars a day. for two or more days this rate drops to fifty dollars a day. an extra charge is made for food; but the railroad will deliver the car without charge at the point from which you wish to begin your journey. [illustration: connecting drawing room and state room] [illustration: "a man may have as fine a bed in a sleeping car as in the best hotel in all the land"] [illustration: "you may have the manicure upon the modern train"] [illustration: "the dining-car is a sociable sort of place"] for the haul of these cars the railroads will charge you according to their regularly filed tariffs, unless you have that valued connection with some common carrier. this varies from a minimum of from eighteen to twenty-five first-class fares. in other words, let us assume that the minimum in a particular case is twenty fares. that particular railroad will carry up to twenty persons in the car at its regular fares; if there are more than twenty aboard it will get a full fare ticket from each over the minimum allowance. that is all a matter established as the special train rates are established, not by whim, but by law. strange as it may seem, the private car mania, in chronic form, seems to attack some railroad presidents most violently. for reasons which show that railroading is a business filled with fine tact and diplomacy, these cars are called business cars. it is also remarkable that for size and elegance they vary in almost inverse ratio to the size and importance of the railroad that owns them. big railroads, like the pennsylvania, the harriman lines, and the new york central rather pride themselves upon the simplicity of their official cars. some of these are plain almost to the point of shabbiness. contrasted with these are the private cars belonging to the head of a great interurban electric line in southern california, a car so wondrously beautiful that it was carried all the way to washington, in the spring of , so that a thousand foreign railroad managers there gathered in convention, might see the attainments of american car-builders. another western railroad, a small steam line this time, boasts a president's car with a dining service that cost $ , . a little mississippi lumbering road spent $ , in providing a private car for its operating head. the big eastern roads know about all of these cars. their heads get frequent invitations to take a run over the k., y. & z., or some other enterprising jerkwater road that runs from the back waters to the bad lands. of course, they never take the trip, but they invariably see the next step in the developments. it comes in the form of requests for a "pass for haul of car and party" from chicago to new york and return. time was when the new york central and the pennsylvania were laid low under the avalanche of requests of this sort. some of their slower trains were laden down with long strings of these deadhead caravans, and on one memorable occasion a whole section was made up of the prominent private cars of decidedly unprominent railroad officers. since the introduction of the eighteen-hour trains between these two most important cities of the country this burden has been lessened. these fastest trains will absolutely not haul any private cars at any price; it is a rule that would not be abrogated for the president of the united states. so the railroaders of the west, from the big men like stubbs and kruttschnitt of the union pacific down to the small fry, leave their cars in the roomy terminal yards at chicago and come to new york most of the time on one or the other of the eighteen-hour trains. about the only time their cars come east nowadays is when they are bringing their families to the seashore for the summer. so much for the private cars. they are perhaps one of the most typical things of the america of to-day, as we have seen. actresses and millionaires use them for their private comfort and convenience; tourist parties roam forth in them; delegations proceed in them to conventions; civic bodies find them agreeable aids to junketing. sometimes a party of sportsmen will charter a car and hie themselves off to a secluded spot where the railroad roams through the forest, find an idle siding and use their car for a camp for a week, a fortnight, or even a month. cities and states use private cars as travelling museums to exploit their charms, some of them are travelling chapels for religious propagandism. the uses of the private car are nearly as manifold as those of the railroad itself. * * * * * in the beginning things were different. our great grand-daddies drew no class lines when they travelled, but were content to find shelter from the storm, or upon pleasant days from the showers of sparks scattered by the locomotive. but when the railroad began to stretch itself and to be a thing of reaches, it was found advisable to run trains at night in order to make quick communication between distant points. travelling at night in the crude coaches of the early railroads was an abominable thing, and before the forties the old cumberland valley railroad was operating some crude sort of sleeping-cars. within another decade there was much experimenting of this sort. old-timers on the erie still remember the sleeping-cars that were built on that road soon after the close of the civil war. there were six of them, more like summer cottages than cars, for the erie was then of -foot gauge, and its cars were feet wide. the berths were made up in crude form by hanging curtains from iron rods and bringing the bedding from a storage closet at the end of the car. there was a little less privacy in them than in the modern pullman, but in the eyes of jim fisk, whose love of elegant luxury was first responsible for their construction, they were nothing less than palaces. one of them was named after fisk and carried his portrait in an immense decorative medallion on each of its sides. the other cars were the _jay gould_--without decorative medallions--the _morning star_, the _evening star_, the _queen city_, and the _crescent city_. all you have to do to-day, to set an old erie man's tongue wagging, is to speak of one of these cars. they were triumphs, and away back in that day and generation they cost $ , each. but while many men were fussing in futile ways to build comfortable cars for long journeys, a man named george m. pullman, over in western new york, was packing his goods and making ready to go to chicago and build his world-famed car-works there. pullman's cars survived the others. he bought in the woodruff company and some lesser concerns, and for many years his only important rival was the wagner palace car company, a vanderbilt property. in course of time this too was absorbed, and the pullman company had virtual control of the luxurious part of american traffic, few railroads caring to run their own parlor and sleeping-car service. there are economic and sensible reasons for this in many cases. some railroads have great through passenger traffic, demanding pullman equipment in summer and little or none in winter. others reverse this need and so whole trains of sleeping and parlor cars go flocking north and south and then north again with the private cars. special occasions, like great conventions, call for extra pullmans by hundreds; and because of the enormous capital that must be tied up, a single supplying company is best able to handle the problem. still, big roads like the new haven, the milwaukee, and the great northern have been most successful in building and operating their own sleeping and parlor-car service. a great road like the pennsylvania might do the same thing, and because of that possibility the pennsylvania was one of the first roads in the country to make the pullman company pay it for the privilege of hauling its cars. as a rule, the railroad pays the pullman company for hauling by the mile--a very few cents a mile--and the pullman company also takes the entire receipts to itself. * * * * * the body of abraham lincoln was carried to its final resting-place in the first real pullman car that was ever built. president lincoln rode in one of pullman's earliest attempts at railroad luxury, some sleeping-cars that he had remodelled from day coaches on the chicago & alton railroad and that were put in service between chicago and st. louis in . these cars were almost as crude as the barbaric predecessors that had induced pullman to tackle the problem of railroad comfort approaching the standards of boat comfort. leonard seibert, a veteran employee of the chicago & alton, told a few years ago of mr. pullman's first attempts to remodel the old coaches of that road into sleeping-cars. said he: "in mr. pullman came to bloomington and engaged me to do the work of remodelling the chicago & alton coaches into the first pullman sleeping-cars. the contract was that mr. pullman should make all necessary changes inside of the cars. after looking over the entire passenger car equipment of the road, which at that time constituted about a dozen cars, we selected coaches nos. and . they were feet long, had flat roofs like box cars, single sash windows, of which there were fourteen on a side, the glass in each sash being only a little over one foot square. the roof was only a trifle over six feet from the floor of the car. into this car we got ten sleeping-car sections, besides a linen locker and two washrooms--one at each end. "the wood used in the interior finish was cherry. mr. pullman was anxious to get hickory, to stand the hard usage which it was supposed the cars would receive. i worked part of the summer of , employing an assistant or two, and the cars went into service in the fall of . there were no blue prints or plans made for the remodelling of these first two sleeping-cars, and mr. pullman and i worked out the details and measurements as we came to them. the two cars cost mr. pullman not more than $ , , or $ , each. they were upholstered in plush, lighted by oil lamps, heated with box stoves, and mounted on four-wheel trucks with iron wheels. the berth rate was fifty cents a night. there was no porter in those days; the brakeman made up the beds." pullman built his first real sleeping-car in . it was called the _pioneer_ and he further designated it by the letter "a," not dreaming that there would ever be enough pullman cars to exhaust the letters of the alphabet. the _pioneer_ was built in a chicago & alton car shop, and it cost the almost fabulous, in those times, sum of $ , . that was extravagant car-building in a year when the best of railroad coaches could be built at a cost not exceeding $ , each. but the _pioneer_ was blazing a new path in luxury. from without, it was radiant in paints and varnishes, in gay stripings and letterings; it was a giant compared with its fellows, for it was a foot wider and two and a half feet higher than any car ever built before. it had the hinged berths that are to-day the distinctive feature of the american sleeping car, and the porter and the passengers no longer had to drag the bedding from closets at the far end of the car. the _pioneer_ was not only wider and higher than other passenger cars, it was also wider and higher than the clearances of station platforms and overhead bridges. but when the country was reduced to the deepest distress because of the death of president lincoln, the fame of pullman's _pioneer_ was already widespread, and it was suggested that the fine new car should be the funeral coach of the martyred president. this involved cutting wider clearances all the way from washington by the way of philadelphia, new york, and albany to springfield, ill.; and gangs of men worked night and day making the needed changes. pullman knew that the increased convenience of an attractive car built upon proper proportions would justify these changes in the long run, and it is significant that the height and width of the pullman cars to-day are those of the _pioneer_; the changes have been made in the length. not long after that car had carried president lincoln to his grave, general grant started on a trip west, and the michigan central railroad anxious to carry him over its lines from detroit to chicago, widened its clearances for the same celebrated car. after that there were several paths open for the big car, and work was begun upon its fellows. it went into regular service on the chicago & alton railroad; and the pullman palace car company was formed in . the alphabet soon ran out, and the company to-day operates between four and five thousand cars in regular service. there is a popular tradition, several times denied, to the effect that pullman for many years gave his daughters $ each for the names of the cars, and that that formed the source of their pin money. [illustration: an interior view of one of the earliest pullman sleeping-cars] [illustration: interior of a standard sleeping-car of to-day] while the dimensions of the car were largely set, improvements in its construction have gone steadily forward, as has been told in an earlier chapter. the interior of these luxurious modern cars has not been neglected. from the beginning they have been elaborate in rare woods and splendid textile fittings. the advancing era of american good taste has done much toward softening the over-elaboration of car interiors--the sort of sleeping car that george ade used to call "the chambermaid's dream of heaven." the newest cars present the quiet elegance and good taste of a modern residence. nothing that may be added in wealth of material or of comfort is omitted, but the foolish draperies and carvings that once made the american car the laughing-stock of europeans have already gone their way. to make for luxury all manner of devices have been added to these cars. the superintendent sometimes hears complaints from a traveller that the sharp curves on some mountain division have spilled the water on his bath-tub; and the switching-crews at the big terminals know that turntables are kept busy turning the big observation platform cars so that they will "set right," and the big piazza-like platform will rest squarely at the rear of the train. for those persons who wish to pay for the luxury there are staterooms, and the best of these staterooms have the baths and big comfortable brass beds. after many years of unsatisfactory experiment the electric light has come into its own upon the railroad train; and even upon unpretentious trains the night traveller no longer has to wrestle with the difficulties of dressing or undressing in an absolutely dark berth. * * * * * once the problem of housing folk at night had been met and solved, another rose. if travellers might sleep upon a train, why might they not eat there, too? the american eating-houses had met with a degree of fame. there are old fellows who will still tell you of the glories of the dining-rooms at springfield, at poughkeepsie, at hornellsville, and at altoona. but the eating-house scheme had its great disadvantages. for one thing, it caused a delay in the progress of through fast trains to halt them three times a day while the passengers piled out of the cars and went across to some lunch-counter or dining-room to ruin their digestions in the twenty minutes allotted for each meal. for another thing, the process of clambering in and out of the comfortable train in all sorts of weather was unpopular. the well-established and equally well-famed eating-houses along the trunk-line railroads were doomed from the time that the pioneer won its first success. no more should a train tie up at meal-time than a steamboat should tie up at her wharf for a similar purpose. the first dining-cars were called hotel-cars; and the first of these, the _president_, was placed in operation by the pullman company on the great western railway--now the grand trunk--of canada, in . the hotel-car was nothing more or less than a sleeping-car with a kitchen built in at one end and facilities for serving meals at tables placed at the berths. it was well enough in its way, but travellers demanded something better, something more hygienic than eating meals in a sleeping place. pullman went hard at his problem, and in another year he had evolved the first real dining-car, the _delmonico_, which went into regular service on the chicago & alton railway. the _delmonico_ was a pretty complete sort of a restaurant on wheels, and not far different from the dining-car of to-day. to-day there are successors to the old _delmonico_ in daily service on the railroads of the united states. a small regiment of men earn their livelihood upon them; some genius, handy with a lead pencil, has estimated that these serve some , meals--breakfast, lunch, and dinner--every day. the amount of food and drink consumed is a matter that is left to the statistician. the average full-sized dining-car seats persons, but that does not represent the business it does. unless the car can be completely filled two or more times at each meal, it is not considered a profitable run. the european method of reserving seats at "first table" or "second table" has never obtained in the united states, and the wise man on a popular train sacrifices his dignity and hurries toward the dining-car at the first intimation that the meal is ready. to take care of the hungry folk a dining-car crew of nine men is kept busy. the car is in absolute charge of a conductor or steward, who is held sharply accountable by the dining-car superintendent of the road for the conduct of his men and of his car. he signs a receipt for the car equipment before starting on his run out over the line, and he must see to it that none of that equipment, not a single napkin or spoon out of all his stock, is missing at its end. he is held in as strict account for the appearance and behavior of his men. the waiters must be neatly dressed, must have clean linen; the conductor himself must be something of a beau brummel, carrying a certain polite smile toward each one of the road's patrons, no matter how disagreeable or cranky he or she may be. for all of these things and many others--maintaining a sharp guard over the car's miniature wine-cellars, adding "specials" to the bill-of-fare for a given day, acting as a cashier for the service--he receives a princely salary, varying from $ to $ a month. his crew, as far as the passengers see it, consists of five men, almost always negroes. back in the tiny kitchen is the chef, with two assistants, preparing the food. the kitchen is tiny. it is less than five feet wide and fifteen feet long, and the three men who work within it must have a place for everything in it, including themselves. obviously there is no room for the waiters, and these receive their supplies through a small wicket window. if the kitchen is tiny, it is also marvellously complete. an ice-box fits upon and takes half the space of the wide vestibule platform; the range has the compact dimensions of a yacht's range; sinks, pots, and kettles fit into inconceivably small spaces. yet in these tiny cubbyholes one hundred, ofttimes many more dinners, of seven or eight courses each, are carefully prepared, with a skill in the cooking that is a marvel to restaurateurs. the _table d'hôte_ dinner--the famous "dollar dinner"--of the american railroad has almost disappeared. the constant increase in foodstuffs is most largely responsible for this. the pullman company long ago gave up this particular feature of passenger luxury, save in a few isolated cases. it had ceased to be a particularly profitable business, this serving of fine meals for a dollar each; and so the railroads themselves took it up and prepared to make it a cost business for the advertising value to them. each railroad plumed itself upon its dining-car service--some of them still do--and each was willing to lose a little money, perhaps, to induce travel to come its way because of the superior meals it served upon its trains. but as the price of food-stuffs continued steadily to rise, the advertising feature of these meals began to be more and more expensive, and the dollar dinner quickly disappeared. a high priced _à-la-carte_ service took its place, and the railroads sought to establish their commissary upon a money-making basis. the attempt has not been very successful. for the lifting of the dining-car prices and the attempt to reduce running expenses has, on some roads in particular, hurt the reputation of these "restaurants on wheels," and so in due season hurt their patronage; brought their patrons from folk who went out of their way to eat on dining-cars to folk who eat there only because of dire necessity. and these last still have found prices high and the result is to be eventually a return to former methods in part--slower trains stopping again for meals at important stations, the faster trains returning to the _table d'hôte_. beginnings have been made along that line recently. the dollar dinner may never return to some roads--although it remains a joy and a delight to travellers upon the new haven system--but the "regular dinner" at least, capable of quick service in a crowded car, bids fair to have a renaissance. while the problem of dining-car economy, and profit even, remains a problem, the idea is nevertheless being steadily extended all the while to branches and to trains that could not support full-sized dining-cars. to meet these needs smaller cars--generally called _café_-cars--in which the dining-compartment is much reduced in size, have been built and operated. in these two cooks, two waiters and a steward form the working force and the fixed charges of the outfit are correspondingly reduced. they are further reduced in the operation of the so-called broiler-coach, which is nothing more or less than a day-car with a kitchen built in, the entire service being performed by one or two cooks and a like number of waiters. some sleeping-cars and some parlor cars still have kitchens where a single accomplished negro may act as both cook and waiter, and these cars are designated commonly as buffet sleepers or buffet parlor cars. the dining-car department of the railroad will probably have more to do than supervise the operation of these various sorts of equipment. restaurants and lunch-rooms at terminals and stations along the line may fall under its direct supervision, and it will probably also conduct the cuisine of the private cars of the railroad's officers. the dining-car department has direct charge of all the men employed on cars and in the lunch-rooms; it sees to it that the railroad's culinary equipment is fully maintained; it buys food and drink, linen, silver, china, kitchen supplies of every sort. the routing of the cars is carefully planned to secure the most economical use of them. few trains running from new york to chicago will carry a single diner throughout the entire trip. these trains will use two, sometimes three cars during a single-way trip between the cities. a single car will generally make the daylight run with the train, to be dropped at night to continue its course west again at daylight upon some other train needing meal service. the first train will pick up a fresh diner in the morning to carry into chicago. in this way, a diner may take a week or more to make the round trip from new york to chicago. obviously, her commissary must meet all needs along the way. staple supplies, liquors, dry groceries are all placed aboard the car at the terminals. fresh meats and vegetables are picked up along the route. this town has an especial reputation for its chickens; this for its grapes; this other for its celery. the dining-car department knows all these, and it selects under the rare opportunity of a housewife who has a market nearly a thousand miles long within which to do her marketing. * * * * * just as the glorious comfort of the american river steamboat of the fifties was responsible for the plans for eating and sleeping aboard the railroad trains, so it was responsible for the introduction of a finer luxury in railroad travel, until to-day, when the resources of the general passenger agent are taxed to discover some new ingenious joy to add to the pleasure of going by this particular line. the full development of the protected vestibule platform and the opportunity it afforded of easy intercourse between the coaches of a train led to many new devices to make the long cross-country trip of the traveller more than ever a thing of joy. first came the buffet-car, with all the conveniences of a man's club; and the car-builders have shown remarkable ingenuity in imitating the mission-like grillroom interiors, despite the many limitations placed upon them. no club was complete without a barber-shop, and soon every fast-rushing limited of any consequence had a dusky servitor whose sharp-bladed razor was warranted not to cut even when the train struck a sharp curve at fifty miles an hour. stationery, books, and magazines became features of the buffet-car. after that there came a stenographer, whose services were free to the patrons of the train. most of these things were for the comfort of men, who form the majority of patrons of the railroad. but a considerable portion of femininity travels, and it sent in a complaint that its comfort was being neglected. the general passenger agents gave quick ear. the men's buffet, with its comfortable adjuncts of smoke and drink was at the forward end of the train, the women were considered in the big, comfortable observation cars at the rear. they were given more stationery, more magazines, even a caseful of books, running from the severe standard works to the gayest and lightest of modern fiction. ladies' maids were installed upon the trains, and the girl running from new york up to albany could have her nails manicured while upon the train. these are all details, but each goes to make the comfort of the traveller upon the american railroad train. such comfort is not equalled in any other country in the world. from the moment he steps from his cab, the american traveller passing through the magnificence of superb waiting-rooms enters palatial trains, superior to the private trains of royalty upon the other side of the ocean. a corps of well-trained _attachés_ look to his comfort and his ease, every moment that he is upon the train, whether his ride be of an hour's duration or a four-days' run across the continent. other railroaders whom he does not see, engine crews, changing each few hours upon his run, signalmen in the towers along the route, telegraphers, despatchers, train walkers, car inspectors help in their small but important ways to make his trip one of comfort and of safety. the entire organization of the railroad lends itself to that very purpose. the railroad does not stop at the mere exercise of its great function as a carrier; it does not even stop with the exercise of its every ingenuity toward safety in its transportation; it goes a little further and gives to the man or woman who rides upon its rails, a degree of luxurious comfort equal to if not even greater than that man or woman can receive at any other place. chapter xix getting the city out into the country commuters' trains in many towns--rapid increase in the volume of suburban travel--electrification of the lines--long island railroad almost exclusively suburban--varied distances of suburban homes from the cities--club-cars for commuters--staterooms in the suburban cars--special transfer commuters. when the commuter slams his desk shut at the close of a busy day, he is fully aware that he is a superior being. other mortals condemned to hard labor in the city may squeeze within the ill-ventilated confines of trolley-car, elevated or subway train, may find their way to stuffy apartments, which, if their fronts were to be suddenly removed, would look for all the world like shoe-boxes stuck tier upon tier in a shop. the commuter thrusts out his chest. not for him. his is a different life. he even feels justified in thinking that his is the only life. there is nothing narrow about the commuter; the open breath of the country has tended to widen him. he finds his way to the showy railroad terminal, down the crowded concourse with a human stream of other commuters to the : . that train is part of his regular calendar of life. it has been such ever since he took flight to the country, a dozen years ago. if the : should ever be stricken from the time-card the commuter would feel as if the light had been extinguished. once, when some meddler violently assumed to change it into a : , the commuter was one of a committee who visited a terrified general passenger agent and had the course of time set right again. there is only one other train which must approach the : in regularity; that is the : , on which the commuter slinks sorrowfully into the dirty town each morning. other trains may be jumped about on the time-card, the commuter is oblivious of their fate. but let his : be ten minutes late into the big terminal three mornings in succession, and the commuter begins to write letters to the papers and to the officers of the railroad. once aboard the : the commuter trails his way into the smoker. jim, the brakeman, who is the source of all trustworthy information about the railroad, and who can even foreshadow the resignation of the president, has stored away the table and the cards. they are produced for the daily consideration of a dime and a game that runs week in and week out is ready to begin. smith, of the standard oil crowd, drops into his seat; higgins, the lawyer, into his; the others are quickly filled; packages--foodstuffs from the cheaper city markets and hurried purchases made at noon from handy shops--go into the racks, and the commuter is oblivious until, as if by instinct, a familiar red barn goes flying backwards. the game is off again until to-morrow morning; he is sorting his own packages out of the rack. the train halts for a single nervous moment, and he is on the platform. the cars roll past him; the party are at a three-handed game now. the commuter finds his way up a steep road to his home on the hillside, his very own home. it looks as sweet, set in there among the bushes and the trees, as it did the day he bought it; and that day it looked to him as paradise. when night comes, there comes a peace and quiet, a peculiar country coolness in the air. the city is steaming from the hot day, and through the night the pavements and the roofs still emit heat. the commuter has forgotten the city. he sleeps as he slept as a boy on a farm, where a city was but a hazy dream in his mind. when he awakes he is refreshed, invigorated. the country has repaid him for the trouble that he has taken to reach it. he goes into town again on that blessed : , twice as good a workingman as the man who has the next desk to his, the poor chap who had to sit on the apartment steps until after midnight in order to get even a miserable degree of comfort. that is why the city goes out into the country. * * * * * the commuter is apt to settle his thoughts upon himself, to forget that he is but an infinitely small part of a mighty home-going army that nightly calls all the passenger resources of the railroad into play. there are more than , of him alone in the metropolitan district around new york. the busy long island railroad takes a host of him nightly off to the garden spots of that wonderful land from which it takes its name; the central railroad reaches off into the lowlands, and the erie and the lackawanna into the highlands of new jersey; the new york central and the new haven tap the picturesque shores of the hudson and the sound. boston repeats new york in this human tide that ebbs and flows daily through her gates. from both her north and south stations mighty armies of commuters come and go until one wonders sometimes if any one really lives in boston itself. there are more than , of this army at the hub. in philadelphia, the pennsylvania and the reading handle from their terminals an army of equal size each night; another finds its way from the smoky, dirty heart of pittsburgh out into the attractive towns that perch the hills in her vicinage. middle west cities, even those of good size, differ from eastern in the fact that they are rarely hampered in their growth by natural conditions. in big towns like cleveland and detroit, for instance, the natural and the artificial electric transit facilities are so good as to bring the commutation business to a minimum. not so with chicago. the illinois central from the south, the northwestern and the st. paul from the north, serve rapidly growing suburban areas that will compare with some of the best in the east. then, after the commuters in the east are safely home, another army is finding its way across the bay, and off to the north and the south of san francisco. these are the big centres of commuting as the american railroads know it. in smaller measure it exists at every large city in the country. the familiar monthly card ticket, representing its cousin, that holy-of-holies--the annual pass, is issued from good-sized villages and pretentious country seats. the commuter is already a national institution. * * * * * conductor john m. dorsey, who used to run an erie train out of jersey city in the long ago, once showed us what he thought was the first example of a pure commutation business. it was a list issued to erie conductors in , and containing the names of persons who travelled daily in and out of new york by the way of jersey city. these folk lived in passaic (they called it boiling springs in those days), and in paterson, and all the way up the line to goshen and middletown. when a man wanted to commute then he paid a monthly fee to the railroad and they printed his name on this official list. such a scheme would be obviously out of the question these days. when new york refused to stop growing, and more and more people began making the daily trip in and out of jersey city, the handy method of the commutation ticket was substituted for the cumbersome printed list, and the erie and all the other railroads began to cater to the commuter with special short-distance trains. committees came to railroad officers from various small towns and aided them in fixing a definite basis of fare, which remains to-day at something between six-tenths and three-quarters of a cent a mile. in later years, the real estate business became the science that it is to-day, and the suburban business began to move forward in long leaps. [illustration: "even in winter there is a homely, homey air about the commuter's station"] [illustration: entrance to the great four-track open cut which the erie has built for the commuter's comfort at jersey city] [illustration: a model way-station on the lines of the boston & albany railroad] [illustration: the yardmaster's office--in an abandoned switch-tower] "it seems incredible," said a railroad officer just the other day "but this suburban problem is all but overwhelming for us. it does not increase our revenues at so wonderful a pace, but it does increase in volume from to per cent a year; and think how that keeps us hustling, making facilities for it. there is not a railroad entering new york to-day that could not dismiss its passenger terminal problems to-morrow, if it were not for the commuter. there is not a railroad coming into new york that could not handle all its through business in a train-house of from four to five tracks. instead of that, what do we see? the erie with five through trains requiring a terminal of sixteen tracks; the lackawanna, with the same number of through trains, a new terminal of even greater size, the overwhelming passenger terminal problem being repeated at every corner of new york, just because of the tremendous annual increase in the suburban passenger business." the great reconstruction of the grand central terminal facilities in the heart of new york, and the erection of a new station there, as described in detail in an earlier chapter, is directly due to the commuter. when the new station with its double tier of tracks is finished, there will be thirty-two platform tracks in the double train-house, an amount far in excess of that needed for even the great volume of through business that goes and comes over the lines of the new york central and the new york, new haven, & hartford, the two systems that use it. and the new station, involving a tremendous expenditure of money, of brains, and of energy, is not all. the new haven has electrified its four-track main line all the way out to stamford, conn., in order that it may in some measure cope with this increasing flow of suburban traffic over its already crowded main-line tracks. it has wrestled with the unanticipated problems of electrification because it has been facing a situation that left it no time to experiment elsewhere and approach its main-line problem with deliberation. more and more folk were settling in the suburban towns in its territory each month, and deliberation was quite out of their calculations. the commuter is rarely deliberate. so the new haven, with all the resources of a giant carrier, has found each new measure of relief swallowed up in the new flood and has turned to more radical methods. it has been apparent to its managers for some time past that even the new grand central, with its wonderful capacity, would some day prove inadequate, for the reason that the new york central--the actual owners of the property--was also trying to cope with its own great increase in suburban traffic, and would eventually require more and more space for its own commuters. with such a possibility in the future--not a distant future with the suburban business doubling in volume every four or five years--the new haven sought to develop an unimportant freight branch leading from new rochelle down to the harlem river. it has almost finished the work of transforming this into a great electric carrier, six tracks in width. railroad engineers show no hesitancy in saying that eight-track trunks will be needed out of new york in every direction within a dozen years. the harlem river branch of the new haven, once it is provided with a suitable terminal, will become a great artery of suburban traffic. it will give trunk capacity to make possible the development of a great new area lying just inland from the sound, and yet within from to miles of new york city. a third project in which new haven capital is known to be interested is that of a high-speed, four-track suburban electric railroad also to reach into the sound territory as far as port chester, with an important branch, diverging to white plains, the shire-town of westchester county. this line will feed into the main line of the new york subway, and so avoid cramping the terminals still further. the terminals are the crux of the whole great problem of handling suburban traffic. the new york central has also electrified its tracks for a zone of some to miles from its terminal. this work was started primarily by a distressing accident in its old smoke-filled tunnel, that ran the length of park avenue under manhattan island, but new york central officers are to-day free to admit that the electrification was close at hand in any event. the operation of a terminal so closely planned as the new grand central, with its train-sheds and yards built in layers, would have been a physical impossibility with smoky, dirty, steam locomotives. the new york central has been, as we shall see in greater detail in the chapter on the coming of electricity, the first of the standard steam railroads entering new york to provide suburban trains of multiple unit motor-cars, similar to those used in rapid transit subway and elevated trains. the great advantage of these trains over trains handled by either steam or electric locomotives is an operating advantage. the train may be so quickly turned in terminals as to bring the terminal problem down an appreciable percentage, and so to give a greater hauling capacity to main-line tracks. the central, wedged in tightly by the high hills that lie to the north of the metropolis, has had to pin its faith to plans that utilize the present tracks to the uttermost capacity. the railroads crossing new jersey and reaching the west bank of the hudson have not been behind the routes that enter from the north in providing for the suburban business. the recently opened mcadoo tunnel, linking the jersey terminals of the erie, the lackawanna, and the pennsylvania with both the downtown and the uptown theatre, hotel, and shopping district of manhattan, has been a great stimulus to the suburban development across the hudson. the lackawanna has done its part by boring a second tunnel under the bergen hill, parallel to its original tube, giving a four-track entrance to its fine new terminal, and relieving the congestion of suburban traffic night and morning at its worst point, the neck of the bottle. the erie has already completed, as a part of its extensive terminal reconstruction-work in jersey city, a similar project, a four-track open cut through the stout backbone of bergen hill. the open cut replaces completely the so-called bergen tunnel, which has already become a matter of history. we have already told of the pennsylvania terminal in new york. the pennsylvania built the new station for through travel rather than for the commuter, at the outset. but the pennsylvania, with the exception of a brisk traffic out to newark, is hardly a big suburban road, in the new york metropolitan district. the great volume of commuters who will flock to its station nightly, will be bound east, not west. the long island railroad, its property stretching less than one hundred miles east from new york, through what is one of the most attractive residential localities in the world, is almost exclusively a suburban system. long island is not a manufacturing or agricultural territory of consequence. there is not a town of , souls east of the new york city line. freight traffic and through traffic, aside from some summer excursion business, is conspicuous by its absence. yet the long island operates through its local station at jamaica (an even dozen miles distant from the new pennsylvania terminal), more than trains a day. that, of itself, represents a volume of traffic, and speaks wonders for the desirability of the broad and sandy island as an escape from the city to the country. "we have from , to , commuters all the year round," said a long island official, just the other day; "and this branch of our traffic--our chief stronghold--is increasing at the rate of per cent annually. we are trying to increase our facilities to keep pace with the demand made upon them; that is why we became tenants in the new pennsylvania station. for our share of that work we will pay $ , , --some money. but we cut twenty minutes off every commuter's trip in each direction every day, and that is worth while in a day when every road is reaching out for new business. we do not consider that $ , , to save a man forty minutes a day is money ill-spent; but i am frank in saying that we also expect our per cent annual increase to remain for several years in order to make good such an expenditure." part of that $ , , is yet to be spent on the electrification of the long island suburban lines, within a zone of from to miles out from the new terminal. the through trains running to the far eastern points of the island will run direct from the pennsylvania station as far as jamaica by electricity, heavy motors hauling the standard equipment. at jamaica, in a million-dollar transfer station that is part of the big improvement scheme, the steam locomotives will take up their part of the work. electricity for long stretches of standard railroad where the traffic is comparatively slight is still an economic impossibility. so much for new york, where the lead has been taken in providing suburban service on the railroads operated by electricity. the problem is being approached in boston--who, like her larger sister, refuses to stay "put." south station and north station, on opposite sides of the city, are of the largest size, but they are beginning to feel the strain of traffic, which forges ahead every year. the metropolitan improvements commission of that city has already made a careful study of the problem. it plans to relieve the situation by constructing a four-track tunnel from one station to the other, and operating both of them--as far as suburban traffic is concerned--as through stations rather than as terminals. in a word, boston & maine local trains entering north station would not end their runs there as at present, but would continue through the proposed tunnel to a second stop at south station, where they would become outgoing new york, new haven, & hartford suburban locals. the same operation would be continued in a reverse direction. a more complicated adaptation of the scheme from a construction standpoint would still use the connecting tunnel and provide car-yards for the boston & maine trains outside of south station, with a similar yard for the new haven locals just beyond north station. the main gain made by such a plan is the elimination of switching--the same point at which the new york central and the long island have aimed in making their suburban trains of multiple units. with the hauling in and out of empty trains to and from a terminal eliminated, the capacity may be almost doubled. another gain is the convenience to passengers who under such a plan would be enabled to reach either side of the city without changing cars, and a recourse to street transit facilities. the boston plan, of course, embodies a change from steam to electricity as a motive power. it is one of the most comprehensive plans yet submitted for the solving of the great problem of getting the city out into the country. in philadelphia, they are feeling the pressure of the commuter at both the big downtown terminals, the pennsylvania and the reading, while the first of these roads is already planning to electrify its suburban lines and to give broad street station exclusively to this class of traffic. philadelphia is such a wide-spreading and sprawling town that the trolley lines have afforded little real rapid transit to the outlying sections, while relief by subways and elevated lines has so far been meagre. as a result, a great burden of interurban as well as suburban traffic has been laid upon the railroads there, and they have been compelled repeatedly to enlarge both track and station facilities. the illinois central, carrying a heavy traffic south of chicago, has prepared plans for the electrification of miles of its suburban lines, and radical enlargement of terminal facilities. the illinois central has been very progressive in its methods of handling the commuter traffic. its side-door cars, permitting quick loading and unloading, have long marked a progressive step in equipment. the chicago and northwestern, in its splendid new white marble terminal on the west side of chicago, will give its chief use toward the upbuilding of a suburban traffic, already strong and well developed. the commuter covers a varied zone. his station may be less than a mile from the terminal and his home still within the crowded confines of the town, or he may be the last passenger of the train as it reaches the far end of its suburban run. the average commutation district runs about miles out, with by far the heavier part of the traffic in the first miles of this. most of the railroads that cluster in at new york, however, issue commutation tickets out over a or -mile radius. one man for many years held the record as a long-distance commuter. he preferred to sleep nights within the quiet confines of philadelphia and his -mile trip to new york, with a -mile return at the end of every day became a mere incident in his life. his record was beaten this year. a man arrives and departs from the grand central station five days out of the week, who travels miles on every one of them. he catches a fast train from his home town at seven o'clock in the morning, breakfasts on the train, and is at his new york office at : o'clock. he leaves his desk at : o'clock, dines on the returning express, and is home by eight. his daily trip, with all incidental expenses, aggregates more than $ . ; so he deserves to rank as the champion commuter. if few commuters can approach the mileage record of this man there are many who do not hesitate at extra expenditures for their comfort. about all of the best suburban expresses that come into new york carry some sort of club or private-parlor cars. the club car is one of the most elaborate developments of the entire commuter idea. it is a comfortable coach, which is rented to a group of responsible men coming either from a single point or a chain of contiguous points. the railroad charges from $ to $ a month for the use of this car in addition to the commutation fares, and the "club" arranges dues to cover this cost and the cost of such attendants and supplies as it may elect to place on its roving house. it must guarantee a certain number of riders to the railroad every trip, so the membership of the "club" is kept high enough to allow for a reasonable percentage failing to use the car daily. some railroads go at the thing in another way. they supply the car and its attendants and make a monthly extra charge, in addition to commutation. the car is entirely filled with regular riders, so it is in a sense a club car. such a car has been running for some years on one of the suburban trains of the harlem road. it is unique in some ways, and in these an outgrowth of early customs. the first of these began years ago, when the oldest commuter began his habit of riding to and from town in the baggage-car. there is something about a baggage-car that fascinates the ordinary man traveller. perhaps it is the solemn rule of the railroad that attempts to prevent him from riding in this form of conveyance. at any rate in this particular case the oldest commuter gradually picks up an acquaintance with the baggageman; and, presuming upon that acquaintance gradually appropriates the baggageman's old chair for his own use. the baggageman was good-natured, for the oldest commuter was a generous fellow and never forgot christmas-times and the like. he got another old chair from somewhere, and all was well until the next oldest commuter absorbed the baggageman's chair, and the baggageman had to bring a third into his car. the next to the next oldest commuter swallowed that up, and after a time there was a row of comfy old-fashioned chairs all around the edge of the dingy baggage-car, and an atmosphere of smoke and good stories that warmed the cockles of the baggageman's heart. you could have raised $ , , for an enterprise from the crowd of men who rode regularly in that little car, but the baggageman neither knew nor cared about that. he simply knew that there was a good crowd of commuters who rode with him daily. after another little time the railroad took cognizance of that particular baggage-car. the general passenger agent, who was a fellow both wise and solemn, talked with the general manager, and one day that little club of commuters had a surprise. instead of their baggage-car, the down train hauled a bright new car all fitted with fancy things--curtains and carpets and big stuffed chairs, and the baggageman was rigged out in a fine new uniform as an attendant. the general passenger agent fondly imagined that he had made the one really happy stroke of his existence. he had not. his was a colossal mistake. the "club" called for its baggage-car back again. its members were men who were surfeited with mahoganies and impressive stuffed chairs and thick carpets. they demanded their old dingy car, with its four little windows, its rough board floor and the wooden armchairs. they got it back. the big, new, showy car was sent off upon another route; and the baggage-car--itself a club to which many a soul enviously craves for admission--makes its run six times a week on one of the fastest expresses on the line. groups of men have staterooms regularly reserved for them in the parlor cars of the finest suburban expresses, and there is never a word said of what goes on behind those closed doors. there come whispers of "antes" that are as high as a church steeple, but the railroad does not concern itself with the morals of its passengers to the point of breaking in upon closed doors. the porters may know, but the porters are traditionally wise and more than traditionally close-mouthed. one big new york editor hired a stateroom for his daily ride in and out to his suburban home. his secretary and his stenographer are closeted in it with him, and on the -minute ride twice each day he dictates the daily editorial utterances that delight a great congregation of his readers. special trains for commuters are no particular novelty. almost every big system has some daily suburban trains that are on its working time-tables and not upon the schedules that are given out to the public. a group of aristocratic commuters living north of boston in the district around manchester have their private special into the north station every summer morning. it is an all-parlor-car train, the most luxurious suburban on the line, yet not one commuter in a thousand knows a thing about it. a similar train arrives and departs daily at the south station. others are in service out of new york. you can buy both exclusiveness and elegance from the railroad. the commuter is not more concerned about that : than is the railroad. it makes train and commuter both its concern, because that is the way it seeks to build up its profitable suburban traffic. "we are getting more of the city out into the country each year," says a big suburban passenger agent; "and with the wide increase in the use of electricity as a motive power for the standard railroads this business is bound for increases that we can hardly foresee to-day. i think that i am quite safe in predicting that another decade will see the belt of from to miles outside of new york terminals as thickly settled as the belt from to miles is to-day settled. the railroaders have done their part by expensive increase in terminal and track facilities; they have helped the real-estate men in their broad advertising of the possibilities of suburban life: the harvest is all that now remains to be reaped." chapter xx freight traffic income from freight traffic greater than from passenger--competition in freight rates--afterwards a standard rate-sheet--rate-wars virtually ended by the interstate commerce commission classification of freight into groups--differential freight rates--demurrage for delay in emptying cars--coal traffic--modern methods of handling lard and other freight. in england they speak of it as "goods" and regard it as almost a minor factor in the conduct of their railways. in the united states it is freight-traffic, and is the thing from which the railroads derive by far the greater part of their revenues. in england it is represented by delicious little trails of "goods-wagons," four-wheelers of from five to eight or nine or ten tons' capacity, the "goods" often left exposed to the rigors of winter, save for possibly a tarpaulin covering; in the united states, fast-freights and slow-freights crowd upon one another's heels; the sixty-ton steel car has long since come into its own. if you do not realize the importance of the freight traffic, you should talk to those shrewd old souls in wall street who measure a carrier, not by its ticket sales, but by that fascinating thing that they call "tonnage"; you should go out upon the line and ask any operating man how his territory is holding up in traffic. he will answer you in tons, in freight-cars moved within a single twenty-four hours. if you are still unconvinced, go to the passenger man you know best. he will tell you that while he is pleading vainly with the biggest boss of all for some new limited, eight or ten passenger cars all told, some shouldering freight-hustler has been welcomed into the inner sanctum and comes out with an o. k. for or , box-cars or gondolas in his fist, a dozen new freight-pulling locomotives in addition, for good measure. there is your answer. the passenger terminals may have all the magnificence in which we have seen them, but the freight terminals are the real core of a railroad's entrance into any town. for when you come to even the roughest figures, you find that in extreme cases--such as the new haven's, where there is a congested territory, closely filled with thickly populated cities and towns--the passenger receipts will hardly do more than approach a balance with those from freight. in some cases the passenger earnings are hardly per cent of the railroad's entire income; and cases like these are more common than the new haven, holding new england as its own principality. wonder not that wall street looks askance at any new line until it can prove itself able to develop "train-load"--freight traffic, measured in thousands of tons. your general freight agent, who is a sort of official cousin to the general passenger agent, is the man who studies tonnage. more likely in these days of the exaltation of titles, he is the freight traffic-manager, with a group of subordinates around him and a traffic-skirmishing corps out on his own road and the other connecting roads, who are making friends with shippers, just as the young travelling passenger agents round up the theatrical managers and the brethren from the lodges. the travelling freight agents hang around sidings and breathe affection for manufacturers and wholesalers; they welcome to their very arms the business traffic-managers, who are really glorified shipping clerks for great big concerns. and while they cultivate the road in detail, their big boss studies the territory in general. the trade papers and the market bulletins litter his desk; he can tell you strength or weakness in this thing or that--why cotton is off, and wheat rushing upwards. moreover, the freight traffic-manager, himself, is not above friendships. he will pack his own evening suit into a bag and go miles willingly to give shippers his own private explanation of the national rate complication. did we say rate complication? that seems almost too simple a name for the subtle and intricate structure which tells us how much we must pay the railroad for the transportation of our goods. when we were visiting the passenger office, we saw something of the work of the rate-clerks there. we learned that, in fact, the railroad creates various classes of rates in the first place; local or round-trip tickets, at, say, three cents a mile for occasional travellers; mileage books for more constant travellers, which bring a wholesale rate of two cents a mile; a third and lowest rate of something less than a cent for that urbane soul, the commuter. for excursions, where many, many persons were to be moved at one time, perhaps upon a single train, other very low passenger rates were created. we also saw how the railroad, trying to base its passenger charges on the number of miles covered, is compelled to make delicate adjustments on through charges between competitive points. we speak of these things now, because in a way the passenger tariff resembles the freight, and yet compares with it as a child's primer with a greek lexicon. in an earlier day the thing was very much worse. in fact, at the very beginning there was no real scientific way in which the railroad might regulate its charges, and on some of the very earliest of steel highways the rates were made just half what they had been on the toll-roads, and without regard to the cost of transportation. thus the competitive feature had its way early in the formulation of a rate-sheet; and there is evidence to assert that in those early days when the railroad had an opportunity it made its tariff as high as it thought folk would stand without a riot, and thus the now historic phrase "what the traffic will bear" came into coinage. as a matter of fact, in those days when scientific bookkeeping was unknown the railroad had no way of accurately knowing just how much it cost to operate, and how that cost should be fairly apportioned between the different classes of its traffic. the thing went from bad to worse as the great land carriers developed. each made its rate-sheet according to its own sweet will; it classified freight precisely as it pleased, and the man down in new orleans sending goods to new hampshire was puzzled as to the charges that would accrue upon his shipment when it finally reached the northeastern corner of the country. the competitive feature grew to be the strongest in the making of the rate-sheet, unless it was the subtle influence of the railroad's favored friends, an influence that showed its ugly head oftener in the practice of rebating than anywhere else. the fierce competition that ruled between the railroads in the seventies has never been approached at another time. ruinous rate-war after rate-war followed upon each other's heels, and little roads kept dropping into bankruptcy, one after another. there was a time in when a man might ship a carload of live-stock free from chicago to pittsburgh, from chicago away through to new york for five dollars; and there is hardly a more expensive commodity for the railroad to handle, than cattle. to appreciate what these wars meant to the carriers, bear in mind that the week after this particular one was settled it cost the old rate--$ a car--to ship cattle from chicago to new york. out of such guerilla warfare came the one possible thing--coöperation. the railroads were not then big enough to consolidate their properties, j. p. morgan had not then developed his fine art of welding them together. so they did the next best thing and made secret contracts--pooling. that is, they established a standard rate-sheet in their mutual territories and bound themselves to abide by it for a certain length of time. they figured out their relative percentages of business at the beginning of any agreement, and took from the combined earnings of the pool, the same percentages of receipts. the bitter outcry that went up across the land against pooling still echoes. that practice with another now also prohibited--rebating--really gave birth to governmental regulation of railroads. [illustration: "the inside of any freight-house is a busy place"] [illustration: st. john's park, the great freight-house of the new york central railroad in down-town new york] [illustration: the great ore-docks of the west shore railroad at buffalo] in the interstate commerce commission was born, and ruinous rate-warring practically came to an end. the commission required the railroads to file with it copies of all their rate-sheets, both freight and passenger, and ordered that in almost every case thirty days' notice should be given of any change in the tariff. this meant that the old practice of tearing a rate-sheet apart in a single night, so as to jab vitally into the heart of a competitor, was at an end. and a dignified rate-war, with the opponents giving thirty days' advance notice of their strategic intentions, is almost an impossibility. now come to the present. the freight-rate system of to-day is intricate, fearfully intricate, but it is a system. it begins by classifying all manner of freight into groups, for it must be apparent to any one that to the railroad the cost of handling different commodities must vary tremendously. several factors make for such variation: the value of the shipment and the degree of risk for its safe transportation that the railroad must assume; its bulk, its weight, and the cost of handling at terminals, as well as the cost of any special equipment that may be necessary to carry it over the rails. no one would expect a railroad to haul a box-car filled with several hundred thousand dollars' worth of silk for the same price that it hauled the same car filled with coke. so the railroad has grouped its freight into six general classes--varying from the most difficult and expensive to handle down to the easiest and the cheapest; and the rates for these six different classes also run in a rough proportion. some , articles, ranging from arsenic to step-ladders and from christmas trees to locomotives, are grouped into these classes. into them has gone about everything that the railroad will handle, save coal and a few other specialties which are rated as specific commodities and have special published rates. so a man shipping feather dusters from south brooklyn to ogdensburg, n. y., would find that they came under class , and that he would have to pay cents a hundred pounds for the haul. if he was shipping steel beams between the same points he would find them under class and he would find the tariff at cents a hundred. these six classes have been made standard throughout the country by all the railroads in coöperation. the roads north of the ohio river and east of the mississippi use the so-called official classification; south of the ohio and still east of the mississippi, the southern classification; while all those west of the mississippi use the western classification. so the shipper is no longer in much doubt in these matters, particularly in view of the fact that the three classifications are very much the same in all save minor details. so much for the classification at this moment. it is quite simple when you come to place it beside the tariff sheets themselves, the printed form of an intricate structure, so great as to be almost shadowy in its workings. you ask a freight traffic-manager about rates. he is a skilled man, a man skilled in the economics of common carriers, and he tries his best to explain simply to you the basing charges for the transportation of commodities. "our rates," he says, "are formed by many things. in a general way, by the competitive territory into which we go, and in specific cases by the volume of business that comes or goes from a single point. the direction of the movement, including whether cars must return empty or loaded, is another factor. then, of course, there is the great factor to which both passenger and freight rates must comply--the necessity for the railroad earning more than it pays out. acworth, the english economist, says that a railroad must pay for three things, the expense of maintaining the organization, that of maintaining the plant, and that of doing the work. our revenues, from one source or another, must meet that triple expense." ask this big freight-man about charging "what the traffic will bear" and he looks grieved. he turns about sharply and asks you: "the earning-sheets of every railroad are public and they will show you that they are but making expenses, in a few cases paying about half the dividends that a healthy national bank or trust company or manufacturing enterprise might be expected to return to its investors. that makes it look as if we had begun to get some sort of scientific adjustment between expense and revenue, does it not?" you dodge the point. you have no desire to quarrel or to delve into high railroad finance, and so you say you simply want to know about rates. "it's a little simpler than sanscrit," says the freight-man. "we begin to figure on common or basing points--" you interrupt and inquire as to what a "common point" really is. then the traffic expert gets down to primer talk and begins to explain the thing to your real understanding. it seems that some years ago, when the railroads first "pooled" they had to find an equitable method of making a rate-sheet. everybody made suggestions, and a pennsylvania freight-clerk, named james mcgraham, made the right one. it was adopted and became the standard of to-day--which goes to show that good can sometimes come out of iniquity. in this arrangement, the rate for each of the six different classes and all the special commodities, between new york and chicago was made per cent. other towns, both further and less distant from new york than chicago were given proportionate percentages, st. louis being fixed at , pittsburg , cleveland , detroit , indianapolis , peoria , and grand rapids at --the same as chicago. at the eastern end of this particular bit of territory--the official classification--a reduction of two or three cents a hundred was made from the new york rates in favor of baltimore and philadelphia, a corresponding addition of two or three cents to meet the increased haul to boston. no matter how you ship freight, these rates now hold standard, as long as the railroads remain faithful to their traffic associations. you may ship from indianapolis to new york by way of cleveland and albany, by marion and salamanca, by columbus and pittsburgh, or by cincinnati and parkersburg, and although there is quite a wide variance in mileage between these routes, the rate is the same on all the different roads that go to form them. this standard, simple as things go in freight-rates, was not adopted in a moment. bitter contentions on the part of cities and of shippers had to be settled before it ruled. after it ruled, it was easy for each road to build its own tariff upon it. together these form a vast structure, one that is constantly changing, as one road or another changes its tariff under the pressure of shippers or of civic bodies, or possibly a desire to establish more equitable schedules; and the work these changes make can be imagined when it is stated that a single one of them in the official classification territory causes more than eight thousand changes in the rate-sheets of the railroads. the choosing of chicago as the "one hundred per cent" city in the northeastern territory of the united states repeated the compliment to her prowess as a traffic city, that the great yards which hedge her in for miles have paid her for many years. she is one of the very greatest basing points, where multiple rates or percentages are built from the single. most of the very important commercial cities share this distinction, which is further shared sometimes by comparatively unimportant points that happen to be the terminals of rather important railroads. thus we find cincinnati and henderson, louisville and evansville, st. louis and davenport, chicago and peoria, omaha and sioux city, kansas city and leavenworth, all possessing this railroad distinction. so much for the standard rates. just as certain railroad lines running from new york to chicago are permitted to charge two dollars less for tickets than other "standard lines," because of slower running time, so does the same factor make a "differential" in freight rates. big roads boast that they can haul the first-class freight--the "preference freights"--from one city to the other in sixty hours. others take a longer time, and are permitted by their larger competitors to make their prices a shade lower because of slower running time in freight service. such a "differential" is the grand trunk, handling new york-chicago freight by a roundabout route, from new york by water to new london, conn., and thence over the central vermont up into canada and the grand trunk's main line. obviously such a longer route adds to the running-time and would be at a keen disadvantage in securing travel, without a lower rate as bait for the shipper. we have used new york-chicago differentials simply as illustrative cases. the differentials are apt to be found in any corner of the country where there are long hauls and a number of railroads fighting to secure them. but the grand trunk as a factor in chicago traffic to and from boston brought one of the earliest and most interesting decisions from the interstate commerce commission. st. albans, vt., complained to that board that its local freight rate by boston & maine and central vermont from boston was higher than the through rate from boston to chicago. on the face of it, it seemed as if justice must have rested with st. albans, but the railroad was able to prove its case and win a decision. it showed that it could not live on shipments between boston and st. albans and other local non-competitive points, or on the business interchanged between these points. to earn its bread and butter it must fight for the rich chicago traffic; and to be in a position to fight for that traffic, despite some disadvantage of location, it must make very low rates. it proved that these low rates were possible for business that went through in solid trains, like boston-chicago traffic, and that each of these trains earned its proportion of the railroad's profit. for when you come to handle freight at st. albans, more particularly the case in still smaller towns, you bring on a new traffic expense, and because of this expense we get what is known as "back haul." on the "back haul" small towns suffer and must probably continue to suffer until a still more equitable system of railroad rates can be devised. sometimes it may come about in such a case at the st. albans one just cited; in other times because of water competition, as in the famous spokane case, to which we shall again refer; and sometimes it is merely an arbitrary charge laid by the railroad. in such cases the railroad reasons that it would cost, in time and train delay ten dollars for every dollar's worth of freight switched off and delivered at certain small towns; and so it figures upon hauling to the nearest large division point with large yards, and sending it back from there on a way-train. when such a small town is nearer the division yard at the far end of the route the back haul charge develops, and the small town must grin and bear it. if the small towns and the small cities, with their vigorous organizations, begin to complain too bitterly of the present system, the traffic experts will turn to them and say: "devise a better system. perhaps you would like the australian system, where the charges diminish per mile, for each additional mile covered by a consignment?" that may look good to the secretary of the chamber of commerce, who has come down to headquarters with wrath in his eyes; it looks absolutely equitable to every one; and he nods yes. the traffic-manager gleams with joy. his quarry has stepped into the trap. he turns upon him. "where would your dandy little town of , contented folks be under the australian system?" he demands. "the australian system would concentrate all business at water traffic points, along the seaboard and the great lakes and rivers; it would concentrate all manufacturing at the points from which comes the raw material. where would the seven wholesalers of your town that we are all so proud of be located under the australian plan? if the railroads were to adopt it, it would save millions of dollars in bookkeeping alone, but there would not be an interior distributing point in the entire country." the secretary of the c. of c. is flustered. he was a young newspaper reporter before he reached his present high estate. he flounders. the traffic man is a man of ready wit and even readier figures. still the young secretary feels that he must show a few grains of wisdom, and so he gently makes inquiry about the spokane case. that spokane case, also a famous decision of the interstate commerce commission, shows another factor in railroad rate-making, the serious influence of water competition. indirectly it also includes the principle of the back haul. spokane, which is much nearer chicago than seattle, was, like st. albans, paying a higher rate for the "short haul" than seattle was paying for a much longer haul. but seattle is a prosperous port, and if the railroad did not make a very low rate to it, all the slow freight would go to it by water, where much lower transportation expense invariably makes much lower rates, and the railroad, to save its own skin, as it were, must make a low through rate there, charging a back haul or higher rate to spokane from the large eastern points. if it charged spokane a proportionate rate of the one to seattle, which would then be lower, all the other inland towns would demand the same privilege, and the railroad would then be hauling property at a loss--a business which can have but one inevitable result. "you see how complicated it all is," the traffic manager tells the young secretary, "and how we must use judgment all the while. we've got to figure individual cost for certain distances and localities and directions of traffic, figure in the varying cost of handling different sorts of freight, and then put in a percentage of the general cost of the business, just as the restaurant-keeper makes each patron pay proportionately for the cost of bread and butter, heat, light, service and rent, no matter how large or how small his check may be on any one occasion. "we must use judgment, and we must make rates to keep the goods moving all the while. suppose that both nails and crowbars are made in pittsburgh and only nails are made at williamsport. suppose then that the rate from pittsburgh to new york for both crowbars and nails is fifty cents a hundred, but that the rate from williamsport to new york was but cents. what chance would the nail manufacturer in pittsburgh have against his competitor in williamsport, when both men are making annually nails in tens of thousands of tons? it is to help the pittsburgh man that we make a special -cent rate on nails from his town to new york; and when we keep filing these commodity rates at washington, your shippers ask why we can't have a standard rate-sheet, or the australian system. the next time some one of them finds that he cannot sell plough shares in texas because a man down in fort wayne has him beaten on standard rates, you watch him hurry here and ask for a special one. "it is out of this clamor and contention of almost myriad interests, the ambitions of just such thriving little cities as your own, out of the skilled arguments of brainy men that the rate-sheet is born and kept living in a state of perpetual healthy change." we are tired of rates and the factors that go to make them, and inquire what is the a, b, c of a freight transaction between the railroad and a shipper. the traffic-man makes it quite clear to us. "when one of our agents receives a consignment of freight," he says, "he immediately issues a bill of lading to the shipper, or consignor, as a receipt and as a contract for the shipment. from his duplicate of this bill of lading he makes out a way-bill, or manifest, which will accompany the car until the freight reaches its destination. this way-bill describes the shipment and the car into which it has been loaded, specifies the shipping point and the destination, the consignor and the consignee, the rate and whether or not the charges have been paid in advance or are to be collected at destination. a copy of this way-bill is given to the freight-conductor, who gives the station agent a receipt for the consignment. at that place of destination a freight-bill, containing a description of the shipment similar to that of the way-bill, and showing in addition the total charge collected or to be paid, is rendered to the consignee, and his receipt is taken for the shipment when it is delivered." "it seems quite simple," you breathe softly. "it is not," is his reply, "for it has its complications. i'll show you one of them." we step through swinging doors of green baize and for a moment from a traffic into an operating department, but an operating department that for the telling in a work of this sort is best allied with the story of the freight traffic. the traffic-manager points to a man sitting at a square and littered desk, his thoughts with sturdy intent upon the mass of correspondence which he is quickly sifting. "he is the best car-service man in the country," says our guide; and you recall when you were in the auditor's office, that an accounting was being kept between the lines for the use of one another's cars that went on through runs off upon strange or "foreign" lines. the traffic-man continues: "ours is not a big road, as some roads go. yet we receive about , cars a month and, of course, deliver something like the same number in the same thirty days. yet there is not an hour of any day of the month that this man cannot tell where any one of these cars is, just how long it has been upon our tracks, just how much free time the consignee has for unloading it, or just how much he will have to pay the railroad for his delay in emptying it, so it can get back into service once again." that waiting charge, the traffic-man explains, is known in the parlance of his business as "demurrage"; and it is another keen example of the constant use to which a railroad puts its equipment, of the tremendous economy that is beginning to be practised in the modern science of railroading. you are introduced to the car-service man, bend low over his desk as he explains a bit of his work to you. here, for example, is a car filled with automobiles bound from detroit to a dealer in worcester, mass. this car, in a train of some others, leaves detroit east-bound over the michigan central railroad. at buffalo it is switched to the tracks of the new york central & hudson river railroad. on the evening of the second day it arrives at rensselaer, across the hudson river from albany, and is given over to the boston & albany railroad. to make a concrete instance, let us see how the b. & a. handles the thing through its car-service department. that department swings into quick action automatically, as soon as the car strikes b. & a. rails at rensselaer. the freight agent there makes a note of the car and its contents from the way-bill which accompanies it; makes special note, perhaps, of the fact that it is a car designed particularly for the transportation of automobiles. now let us presume that this big box-car is owned by the michigan central. the boston & albany will pay that owner railroad cents a day rental--"_per diem_," in the phraseology of the railroads--for the time it is upon b. & a. rails. there are at that very time perhaps hundreds of b. & a. cars on the michigan central, and at the end of days these accounts and many, many others are sent to the auditor's department, where they are balanced between the roads with the general freight and passenger accounts. this movement of freight cars makes a valuable barometer of the general condition of business. the daily papers have a custom of making national compilations of car-service reports part of their most interesting market news. in dull seasons the cars come home from long service on other roads. but in very busy seasons all roads have little compunction about borrowing "foreign" cars for use in their local service. with shippers begging cars from every quarter and threatening all manner of dire things, cents daily is a small rental to pay for the use of a roomy car. besides, the other fellows are all doing the same thing, and no one road can hope to get all its cars back even with the use of a vigilant corps of young men who search "foreign" yards. but in the dull seasons they come trundling home, like lost cattle finding the big barn once again. in the business depression of , a western car-service man received cars that had been absent from the home road for seven years. we turn from the car-service men back into a department that is strictly traffic. coal service is one of the principal sources of income for this particular railroad. it stretches some of its branches into bituminous fields, and others through the anthracite fields that nature, in some freakish mood, implanted in just a few counties of northeastern pennsylvania. that entire country is comparable to a cut of beef, the coal veins resembling streaks of fat that run hither and thither. as in beef, the lean predominates. the fat streaks are the valuable coal veins, the lean the earth, slate and rock in which the coal was planted during some great convulsion of nature in the process of the creation of the world. how it got into this particular spot science cannot tell. what it is, further than the fact that it is mostly carbon, science only guesses. it guesses that it was originally bituminous coal and that by some process of intense squeezing in an upheaval of nature, the oil and tar and gas of the bituminous coal was squeezed out and the much more valuable anthracite deposits created. mining consists in getting the streaks of fat anthracite out of the bulk of lean earth and rock. the veins run well down into the mountains, and, as do the little streaks of fat, lose themselves in the rock, or lean, to continue the simile. some of the veins are but a few feet in thickness, while some run to as high as twenty and thirty feet, and, as a rule, the farther down into the earth they go the better the coal; and the farther down you go the more difficult and expensive is the mining. now, here is a traffic that demands and receives special attention. in other days the mining of anthracite coal was, itself, merely a department of operating for the half-dozen systems that stretched their rails into that valuable pennsylvania corner. that work has now been removed into the control of separate mining companies; but the handling of coal is a great function of not only these roads, but of the systems that reach their tendrils into the valuable bituminous fields here and there about the country. [illustration: the great bridge of the new york central at watkins glen] [illustration: building the wonderful bridge of the idaho & washington northern over the pend oreille river, washington] to fill the coal-bins of new york city alone, requires some , , tons of anthracite yearly. now you cease to wonder why this road has a coal traffic expert, a man of surpassingly good salary. he keeps keen oversight over the operating department in its handling of this giant traffic, sees to it that the trains come over the mountains and into the great terminals at jersey city in good order, and that the railroad's marine department is ready with tugs and scows and lighters to handle the product as it comes in, in thousands of tons every twenty-four hours. this would all be quite simple if the trains and the boats were always running on schedule. but the unexpected constantly comes to pass in railroading, and so the railroads provide against emergencies by establishing great coal storage plants outside of new york and other large cities--communities that would be in dire distress if their coal supply were cut short even for twenty-four hours. sometimes about , tons will be kept in a single one of these storage piles--a black mountain running lengthwise between sidings and served with giant cranes. we are back in the traffic-manager's comfortable office for a final word with him. he is fumbling with his own correspondence. it seems that a lawyer down in washington has been saying that he could save the railroads of the land a million dollars a day in the economical operation of their property, and the railroader is exceedingly wroth at that assertion. "he speaks of pig iron, and says that we should teach our laborers the minimum movements necessary to put a single pig in a car--just as masons have been taught to handle brick with minimum effort and a maximum economy in work accomplished has been effected." the traffic-man laughs, rather harshly. "the lawyer is all right, except for two things; and his anecdote about the brick is certainly well told. only it just happens that the railroad does not load or unload freight by the carload--that is the duty of the consignor and the consignee--and it also happens that pig iron rarely is handled "l.c.l." in carload lots it is not loaded or unloaded by hand, but by big magnets on a crane which picks up a ton of the bars at a time and thinks nothing of it." the freight traffic-manager has made his point once again, and he is satisfied. he tells a little of the modern methods in freight handling, one of them how an ingenious packing-house expert in chicago saved thousands of dollars annually in the handling of lard. in other days lard was rolled aboard box-cars, a barrel to a hand-truck, a rather slow and a rather costly process. the chicago man devised a method of melting lard and, while it was fluid, pouring it, like petroleum, into a tank-car. when it reached its destination at some big terminal, the lard was again melted to fluid and poured out from the tank. that is the science of big freight handling to-day. not alone do cranes, with magnet-bars handle pig-iron and castings by the ton, but great hoists at cleveland and conneaut and the other big lake towns close to the pittsburgh district reach deep into the hearts of giant ships, bring from them the ore of lake superior's shores, and fill the whole waiting trains within fifteen or twenty minutes. into the empty holds of the ships they pour bituminous coal from western pennsylvania and west virginia, a carload at a time. the hoist-crane reaches down to the dock siding for a gondola, snaps the car-body off from the trucks, lifts it aloft over the open hatch of the waiting vessel, and turns it upside down. in less time than it takes to tell it, the coal is in the ship, and the car-body is being slipped back again upon its trucks. chapter xxi the drama of the freight fast trains for precious and perishable goods--cars invented for fruits and for fish--milk trains--systematic handling of the cans--auctioning garden-truck at midnight--a historic city freight-house. perhaps you have seen a gay limited in green and gold start forth with much ado from some big city station, and have concluded that the romance of the railroad rests with it; that the long lines of murky-red freight cars have little of the dramatic about them. if you have thought that, you have thought wrong. romance and drama reach high climax sometimes in the transportation of commodities. fast trains, running upon the express schedules of the finest limiteds, sometimes bring silk, $ , , or $ , , worth to the train, across the continent. a special may be hired by some impatient manufacturer to send a shipment through half a dozen states. there are notable speed records in the handling of fast freight, records of notable trains that are as well known among the traffic specialists as the limiteds are known to the outside world. there is drama, too, when the railroad brings the food up to the city, for it counts as one of its greatest functions this filling of the city's larder. it sets aside certain high officers in its traffic department for the handling of market produce; it provides special facilities for gathering it, special facilities for moving it, special terminal facilities for delivering it in the hearts of the great cities. sometimes it even goes further and provides and organizes great wholesale markets, building up its traffic by going as far as possible in facilitating the constant replenishing of the city's larder. that is why these long dark caravans, the fast preference freights that are the pride of the railroad's traffic head, go so quickly over the rails to town. one of them halts in block for an instant to let a brightly lighted passenger train go in ahead of it. while it is halted we climb aboard and engage its conductor in conversation. he is a clever fellow, of the type of the coming railroader. only last summer, we found a freight conductor thumbing his "sartor resartus," and discussing carlyle as a stylist. "yes, we do bring some food up to town," he admits. "i've got enough grub aboard these eighty cars to feed several regiments. we've two refrigerators of meat from omaha, two from kansas city, one from chicago. the chicago car has been iced twice--at elkhart and at altoona. the other cars had to have an extra filling at hammond, on the outskirts of chicago. soon we'll have crisp cold weather and we can cut out the icing. "the boss? the boss will be worrying still. just as soon as he can cut down his refrigerating stations at the division yards, he'll be fretting about getting those big ice-houses filled for next summer. he's got a lake tucked up in the mountain divisions somewhere, and we've got a branch running in a couple of miles there, and we just pull out the ice during the winter months. you take any of these trunk-lines and it has to have a lake for its refrigerating stations. it's just one of the many little kinks in running a road." we express a desire to see the big preference train, and--the block being still set against her--we go forward in the black shadows of the cars, the train boss's arm-set lantern showing our way to us. he stops beside a string of white and yellow box-cars. "california fruit," he says; "they don't think anything of sending it all the way across the continent. you might have thought those ranchers over there on the pacific coast would have been discouraged when they were told that there were a dozen icing stations between the two oceans, and that the icing cost was prohibitive. they weren't a bit. they just sat down and did some tall thinking, and after a while they developed this type of car. we call it pre-cooled. the car is cleaned and brought to a chill before loading. after that the temperature is not allowed to rise while the fruit is being piled away inside. it is closed and sealed, while still ice-cold, and icy-cold she comes bumping her way east over three or four thousand miles of track. it may be scorching down there along the s. p.; they may be just gasping for air in the missouri bottoms; but that pre-cooled car comes right along, keeping its cargo fresh and cool and pure. we can deliver her anywhere here on the atlantic seaboard, and no risk of spoiling the stuff." we slip along another half-dozen cars. the conductor halts again and fumbles with his way-bills. "there's the boy," he laughs. "he's halibut. there's half a dozen halibuts along here in a string." we do not like to show an utter ignorance of the food question and we venture an assertion. "halibut comes from newfoundland?" we ask. "how do you get it around here?" the freighter grins sympathetically at our lack of knowledge. "bless you," he says. "that little fishing pond up there on the banks isn't big enough for a land which has , , folks gathered in its cities. these cars have come in from big yem hill's road--all the way from tacoma up on puget sound--state of washington. some of those people who live in boston might have a fit if they knew that their beloved halibut was born and raised in the pacific ocean; but that's the truth of the matter. "this fish (and some of it's going straight to boston to be sold in the very shade of faneuil hall), has come , miles to be eaten on the very shores of the atlantic. when the fishing ship that caught this cargo was fifty miles off the docks, she began calling tacoma with her wireless. the yardmaster of the northern pacific was ready there for the news from that rat-a-tap. he had a string of refrigerator cars ready; they were ready and set out along the wharf by the time the ship was made fast. "five minutes later the fish were being loaded into the cars. they had a gang of stevedores working there clock-like, as those fellows work around the big tents of a three-ring circus. first there went in a layer of ice, then a layer of fish, then another of ice. in thirty minutes the job was done. in forty-five minutes that string of fish-cars was coming east on an express-train schedule. it was knocked apart at st. paul and again at chicago. here's our share of the spoils, and we're not loafing here on the old main line. "we're preference freight, if you please, and no old bumpety-bump with coal and ore taking the low-grade tracks. they sandwich us in among the all-pullmans, even when we're on the four-track divisions, for food is quick; food won't keep forever; and those folks down in the city are getting hungry." he starts to say more, but the engine call halts him. the block is clear once again. the conductor catches a car step, the "preference" starts forward with all the rattling shakes and bumps peculiar to a long freight train. in a minute or two the red tail-lights are grinning at us from half a mile down the track. another big freight goes scurrying by us--more market stuff, more meat, more fish for the hungry town, a town which houses , folk within a single congested tenement square. a third train follows; all refrigerator cars it is too. they come in quick succession, these market trains, to the metropolis. the railroad is doing its part. to-night again, the food is going up to the city. the scene changes. now we are off in the rolling country of up-state--dairy country, if you please. the railroad that stretches its thick black trail the length of the valley is no four-track line, with heavy trains coursing over it every three or four or five or ten minutes. this is but a single-track branch; in the parlance of the railroaders it is a "jerkwater"; and the coming of its two passenger trains and that of the way-freight each day are events in the little towns that line it. still, even this little branch is doing its part in the filling of the city's larder. this branch has the filling of the city babies' milk bottles as its own particular problem. at early dawn, the muddy brown roads that lead to the little depot there at the flour mills are alive. the farmer boys are bringing the milk to the railroad. down the track a few hundred yards beyond the depot is the slick, clean, new milk-station. over across the brook is the cheese-factory, deserted and given over to the gentle fingers of decay. those two buildings tell the story of changing times; in their mute way they tell the growth of the american city. in other days this township made cheese. to-day they drive the milk to the depot. each morning finds a big refrigerator car, built in the fashion of passenger equipment, so that it may be handled on passenger trains, at the milk station. the farmer boys are prompt with their milk, it is checked and weighed and placed in the car, in cans and in bottles. hardly has the last big ten-gallon can gone clattering into the car before the whistle of the warning local is heard up the line, just beyond the curve at the water-tank. while the train is at the depot, in all the bustle of the comings and goings at a country station, the engine makes quick drill movement and picks up the milk-car. farther down the line that same train picks up more milk-cars. by the time it reaches the junction where it intersects the main line it is a considerable train for a branch line. indeed at the junction there are more milk-cars, from other branches that ramble off into the real back-country. there are enough of them now to make a train through to the city. the trainmaster has a good engine ready for every afternoon, and the milk express goes scurrying into town with passenger rights and on passenger schedules. you cannot hurry the babies' milk through to town any too quickly. this is all first-day milk. you can take a compass, place the pin-leg squarely in the heart of the busy town--a place of brick and asphalt, of steel and concrete, without ever a hint of growing things--and with the pencil-leg trace a segment of a circle--the outer line some miles distant from the centre. afterwards you can draw a second circle segment, its outer line some miles from the same town centre. from within the inner circle comes the first-day milk, delivered to the railroad during the early part of a day and on the householder's table in the big city the next morning. from without this inner circle and within the outer, comes the second-day milk which has another twenty-four hours in its transit to town. the whole thing, once rather badly handled by itinerant single dealers, has been reduced to scientific business by skilful coöperation between the big milk-dealers of the present day and the railroads. * * * * * it is night. the last of the office lights in the towering buildings has been snuffed out. downtown is quiet--quiet for a little time, for soon after sun-up it will be a vortex once again; these narrow, deep-canyoned streets will be astir and human-filled once again. but at nine o'clock in the evening the policeman's footfall on the pavement echoes in lonely streets. a tired bookkeeper scurrying home after a vexatious hunt for his balances gets sharp scrutiny from the policeman. downtown is asleep. then, from around the turn of a sharp corner comes a night train of wagons, drawn by a small brigade of horses. these are not filled with market-truck; market-truck will not reach the town till midnight at the earliest. these are great high-boxed vans, painted white, a bit gaudy in lettering. they make you think of those long-ago days when you used to go down to the depot to see the circus come in, for the big wagons are precisely like those that used to shroud mystery as they rolled from the trains down to the show-lot. we follow this procession of half a dozen great vans, follow it through the twisting, narrow streets of downtown, across a famous old ferry, straight up to the long sheds of a railroad terminal. on the one side of the terminal, the passenger trains are coming and going at all hours. by day this shed at which the big vans back, each into its own carefully marked place, is a general freight-house; by night it is given over to the stocking of the city babies' milk bottles. the ferried vans are hardly emptied of their empty cans and cases before the first of the milk trains comes backing in at the other side of the long covered platform. hissing arcs up under that slimsy roof throw high lights and deep shadows here and there and everywhere. they show the platform-men tugging at the car fastenings before the brakes are fairly released. in another minute, the big side-doors are thrown open, almost simultaneously, in still another, the place is alive with the rattle of trucks. the milk--tons upon tons of it--in ten-gallon cans and in cases of individual bottles, is being loaded within those circus-like cans. a second milk-train comes bumping in at a far platform. there is another brigade of vans waiting for it there. a third train is due to arrive in another half-hour. the vans that it will fill are already beginning to back into place and unload their cans and cases upon the platforms. here are almost great four-horse trucks being filled simultaneously, and all working with the almost rhythmic harmony of organization. you want to know how they do it? ask that man over there, he in a short rough coat, who carries a lantern on his arm and with it peers interestedly into every one of the cars. that man's word is law on this platform, for he is its boss. he has been filling the babies' milk bottles from this particular terminal for almost a quarter of a century now. his railroad was the first to bring milk into a large city. "we get it over," he will tell you, "by the experience of some little time, and by planning. you saw the numbers on the team side of this milk platform. that's only half the problem. there are a dozen different milk-handling concerns doing business at this shed, and their stuff comes together on this one train. yet we get the thing out by having each concern--each truck--come up to its own position at the team side. the other half of the problem we solve by having a certain position for each milk-car. "here is the hygienic milk company up on the heights. you have seen their fancy dairies all over town. well, the hygienic has a station up at bottger's, on our lancaster & essex division, that fills two cars at that station every blessed day. their two cars stand in beyond this no. pillar every night; so we know just where to direct their trucks. that's business--just system. we spot the cars every night." "spot the cars?" you interrupt. he smiles a bit at your ignorance. "this train is made up in just the same fashion every night," he explains. "these two hygienic cars are always the fifth and sixth. if they were the eighth and ninth some nifty evening--if some smart aleck of a yardmaster up the line would take to shuffling up these cars as you shuffle a deck of cards--we would have a near riot here, and i couldn't get these platforms cleared of the milkmen for that market-truck train that backs in here from the south every night at : . [illustration: inside the west albany shops of the new york central: picking up a locomotive with the travelling crane] [illustration: a locomotive upon the testing-table at the altoona shops of the pennsylvania] [illustration: "the roundhouse is a sprawling thing"] [illustration: denizens of the roundhouse] "so they keep closely to the formation of our trains, and that of itself is no terminal problem. away up the line miles-- ,-- ,--everywhere that we have a big junction yard, the yard boss has his positive instructions about these milk trains. by the time this fellow has cleared out of p---- j----, miles up the road and our nearest road yard outside of the metropolitan district, it's always in just the shape you see it to-night. after that there's nothing to be done here except cut off the road engine at our terminal yard and pick out a switcher to back her into position at this shed. it's nice work, and night after night that engineer of the switcher does not vary four inches in the locations of these car-doors." he lifts his lantern, and we peek into the interior of one of these cool milk-cars. this has the bottled milk in cases. the cases are packed four tiers high--never higher--and your guide explains to you that four cases is the limit of a hand-truck. all these things make for simplicity in handling. you peer into another car. the ten-gallon cans are in long diagonal rows, covering the entire floor of the car. they form a regular tessellated pattern, like the marble tiling of old-fashioned hotels and banks. "those little farmer boys," says the platform boss, "sure do that trick well. that speaks pretty neat for sullivanville. they all used to put the cans in straight rows, running lengthwise of the car. one day one of the smartest of those sullivanville boys discovered that by putting the cans in diagonal rows, this-wise, he would gain a hundred cans in the loading. that added a thousand gallons to the capacity of the car. the super gave him a good job, and some day you'll see he'll be running a railroad of his own." * * * * * midnight. downtown is still more deserted, if that is possible, than when we first saw it three hours ago. the stillness of the deep night is hard upon the city; yet here on this broad quay street which runs its stone-paved length up and down past the wharves of the harbor-front, all is alive. this is the midnight market. under the very noses of the steamships that have brought this garden-truck up from the south, it is being auctioned off to a hundred or so keen-nosed, keener-witted wholesalers. they wander about under long awning roofs erected in the centre of the street, through the gaunt open shadowy spaces of the piers, poking into the tops of barrels, pinching, tasting, critically examining all the while that they are dickering in prices. when the day is fully born and downtown alive once again, there will be other wholesale markets, more sedate-looking affairs in rooms that have been built for the purpose by the traffic departments of the railroads. in these rooms, with the seats arranged in tiers and each seat having a broad writing arm like a college classroom, fruit and vegetables will be sold in carload lots. there will be records of prices--quotations. the thing will approach the dignity of those bourses where cotton and coffee and metals and securities are sold. but the midnight market scorns such formalities, such dignities. it clings to its own hubbub--its own unsystematic way of accomplishing a great business. it prefers to sell as the stuff is unloaded; that has been its method for three-quarters of a century and any method that has stood years is at least entitled to a measure of consideration. but not all its offerings have come by these big coasting steamships, whose outlines show vague at their piers in the darkness of the night. for, grinding against the piles of these same wharves, as the unseen tide changes, are groups of car-floats that have been ferried from the great railroad terminals across the river. each car-float has two trackfuls of refrigerator cars-- or or in all--lined against a long roofed platform running just above keel. when the pert and busy little tugs have pushed and pulled and bunted the floats all into position, the platforms are quickly connected by gangways, canvas-covered against the stress of hard weather. a great freight-house, almost venetian in type, floats upon the surface of the silent river and becomes part and parcel of the pier itself. after that it is quick work to open each of the cars--to wheel out sample barrels of potatoes, of cabbage, of celery, of lettuce, of cauliflower--all the growing things of country farms that go to feed the hungry city. the trading here is over in an hour, or two hours at the longest when the shipments are heavy; and then the wholesalers are wheeling their wagons into place to cart away their purchases to their own stores and warehouses. from these the retailers--the men who carry on their businesses in stalls in the public market-houses and those that have their own little shops on the street corners--make their selections. if you are a city man, you may now know that your grocer at the corner is up betimes, when the sun is just showing himself on lazy september mornings. he has been poking his way with his own horse and wagon down to the wholesalers, buying his day's stock and getting it placed just before the earliest of the housewives begins her marketing. you demand a concrete example of a city freight-house; and here it is--the historic st. john's park of the new york central & hudson river railroad in new york. up over the lines of the central, back for hundreds of weary miles, you may hear the railroaders speak of "the park," you may see long strings of cars, bearing merchandise tagged through to it. at sixtieth street, where the big freights of the new york central come to a final halt, you see the cars sent south in long strings, each hauled by a red dummy locomotive and preceded by a boy astride a horse and holding a red flag, a familiar sight to all new yorkers who reside upon the far west side of the town. st. john's park handles a very large percentage of all the perishable food that comes into new york each day. it is the dingy freight-house that fills the double block between hudson and varick and beach and laight streets; and when you ask, "where is the park?" they will tell you that there was a day when the entire site of this freight-house--possibly the most congested in the world--was a gentle tree-filled square that faced old st. john's church. there is never a trace of the park nowadays. the old church now faces a narrow street wherein truckmen shove and elbow and disappear in the gates of the freight station. on the hudson street side of the structure six pairs of railroad tracks curve into it; and far above on the cornice of the structure one can see the benign figure of the old commodore--a heroic bronze surrounded by replicas of the trains and the steamships that he loved so well. the building of the large freight station on the site of st. john's park away back in was a real accomplishment to the first of the house of vanderbilt. think of it: that freight-house could hold cars. there was nothing else in all the broad land quite like that! into st. john's park at dawn come trainloads of produce. even before the doors of the freight-house have opened, at six, a string of "coolers" has stopped in hudson street and the commission men are carting out the poultry. as soon as the station gets down to real business, butter and eggs and cheese pour in through it in carload lots. "it doesn't bother us much," the foreman tells you. "still, on the monday before christmas we had a fairly brisk day. we had cars of turkeys alone that morning." chapter xxii making traffic enticing settlers to the virgin lands of the west--emigration bureaus--railways extended for the benefit of emigrants--the first continuous railroad across the american continent--campaigns for developing sparsely settled places in the west--unprofitable branch railroads in the east--development of scientific farming--improved farms are traffic-makers--new factories being opened--how railroad managers have developed atlantic city. your railroad manager of other days was content with the traffic that was offered him--if indeed he deigned to accept it all. for those were the business methods that obtained everywhere in the other days. when competition became the moving force in modern business, the railroad felt it. the land had become gridironed with tracks; business did not offer itself so freely as it had at the outset. when there came a division between routes of a traffic that had formerly belonged to a single route, earnings fell away and stockholders began to ask uncomfortable questions of the men who operated their railroad properties. then the fight for business began--at first, as we have already seen, by a lively rivalry which showed itself in a merciless slashing of rates. such fighting methods reacted on the railroads, and their rate-sheets became code and law, only a little less holy than the federal constitution, long before the interstate commerce commission exerted its beneficent paternalism over the railroads of the land. but with the rates equalized between the railroads, the competition remained. the one obvious solution of the situation which was left was put into effect. the railroads began to make traffic. the making of traffic is the most recent and the most highly developed branch of the science of railroading. the first of this specialized business-getting began just before the civil war. some of the railroads had put their lines back a little way from the western portion of the great lakes along in the late fifties, and they needed folks to live along those lines. it goes without saying that a railroad going into an unpopulated country would never be any great "shakes" of a railroad until people came to dwell along its lines. so the railroad from galena to chicago--afterwards the foundation stone for the mighty northwestern--the chicago, milwaukee & st. paul, and one or two others started emigration bureaus. then men who owned those early railroads knew the possibilities of the virgin lands into which they stretched their rails. the proposition that confronted them was to let the folk who lived in the east and even those who were herded in the crowded lands across the atlantic, know these same possibilities. by means of their first emigration bureaus they accomplished their proposition. advertising was a crude science in those days, but advertising helped. throughout the troublous years of the war the men from the east who had read of the glories of the middle west, who had listened to the tales of the agents of the railroad and coupled them with those of returning travellers, began pouring over the new and struggling railroads. they carried their goods and chattels with them; and so the railroad men knew that they were not going back to the old homes again. at the close of the war these tides rose to flood. the railroads no longer struggled. there was a steady flow of traffic over their rails, and they were able because of it to engage capital to stretch their rails a little farther west. after they had moved another stretch, the tides of emigration still flowed. that process might have gone ahead in orderly fashion until the pacific had been reached, if the scheme had not been upset. they built too many railroads, they overworked their idea. in the broad reaches of the middle west, lines of steel crumbled into rust, and cross-roads dreamed vainly that they would become villages. many a struggling village failed to become the city that her enthusiastic residents had fancied. they had the big boom in kansas, and the bigger collapse that followed. after that, folk stayed east for a while, and the business of making traffic in that territory became an advanced science. there was another factor in the situation. you will remember that the summer of ' saw the first continuous railroad across the american continent--the combination of central pacific and union pacific. the huge success of that railroad was inspiration for others. in the generation of men that followed the rails that reached from atlantic to pacific were multiplied. after that there was a new problem for the owners of the transcontinental railroads. their statistical charts of originating traffic showed great black masses at either end of the line--where connections were made with the great traffic-bringers from the east, and where the rails ran upon the docks of the pacific shore. between those two points was a thin black line, like spider-thread. to make that line black and firm at all points, to bring masses of new traffic at intermediate points, was the demand that the railroad-owner made of his traffic-manager. it is being done to-day. it has taken time, money and almost incredible patience; but it is being done. this is a broad land, and there is still much to be done. in montana, there is a single county with an area exceeding that of maryland and a population less than that of the smallest ward of baltimore; and near-by there is another county, as large as delaware and connecticut combined, with mere handful of residents. these are typical. there are great open stretches to the southwest; and the santa fe, working hand in hand with the harriman lines, is busy populating and developing these. in the north country, james j. hill's railroads and the new outstretched arm of the chicago, milwaukee & st. paul are doing much to exploit the unfarmed lands of montana, and the intensive possibilities of washington for fruit-raising, market-gardening and the like. up and down the pacific coast, the railroads are uniting in similar campaigns of development. hill began the campaign in montana. he is a dreamer and a far-seer. when he began making presents of blooded bulls to the farmers out along the great northern, folk laughed at him, some of his directors thought that he had gone crazy. they thought differently when they knew the results, when they got the traffic reports of the cattle business that was growing along the line. that thing was typical. the railroad--hill's railroad and all the other big transcontinentals--lent itself to the fine development of all the traffic that might possibly be obtained within its territory. heretofore it had roughly combed traffic possibilities, now it began to screen them with a fine mesh screen. the emigrant bureau did its part of the work; the railroad went further and set itself to develop every inch of available land along its lines. attractive excursions brought settlers to the new country, the railroad was of practical assistance in finding locations for them. everything is being brought toward the development of those great new states of the west: cross-roads are beginning to become villages; villages, cities. a little time before his death, mr. harriman announced that there would be four great cities spread across the american continent--new york, chicago, salt lake, and san francisco. he then took it upon his own rather roomy shoulders to make salt lake city worthy of a place in the file. from this activity in the west, the eastern railroads have stolen a lesson. originally built in many cases to serve the needs of the farmers of some particular locality, they have become merged and welded in a way that has caused them to serve the industrial interests of the country more particularly than the agricultural. one of the valuable old properties of the pennsylvania railroad in new jersey rejoices in the name of freehold and jamesburg agricultural railroad. when, after the serious slump in traffic that followed the panic in , the railroads of the east found themselves, for the first time in a decade, with more facilities than freight, they began to cultivate more carefully the traffic branch of transportation science. they took quite readily to the lesson that the transcontinentals gave them. then they proceeded to put it into effect in practical fashion. for some years past the problem of the unimportant branches has been a serious one with the big eastern systems. these branches, many of them once profitable feeders, have been allowed to deteriorate and retrograde, while main-line traffic developed and increased under active conditions of competition. the little towns along the branches seemed to retrograde too; while the busy cities of the country, strung along the main lines of the railroad, absorbed new growth and new energy. sometimes the branch lines were paralleled by interurban electric railroads, which were able to operate at far less cost than steam railroads, and consequently to charge lower rates of fare; and their slight passenger traffic continued to grow lighter. the freight traffic had long since dwindled to slim proportions; the branch lines were almost entirely agricultural railroads; and the farmers of the east were discouraged and disheartened. the new movement began in western new york, which is fairly gridironed with a network of these unprofitable branch railroads. it was started even before the panic of . new york state, with its great resources and its fat treasury, has long been engaged in the development of scientific farming--which means farming for the largest profit that can be brought from the soil. it has a great agricultural school as a part of cornell university, and an interesting experimental school along similar lines at geneva. these schools have done a great work. they have educated young men to be modern farmers, in every sense of that phrase; and they have sent leaflets to every corner of the empire state. but even these methods were not far-reaching enough. it is not every farmer's boy in these days who can afford to go down to ithaca for a college education in the tilling of the soil; few of the older men care to mingle with the boys at such an institution. even the pamphlets sent out from geneva were not sufficient. so when the railroads, seeking to make traffic in a dull time and to rehabilitate their branches in the farming districts, made alliance with the agricultural schools, special trains were sent out into the farming districts, and these trains carried a competent corps of instructors from the schools. day coaches made good school-rooms for the itinerant institutions; and a baggage-car, filled with specimens of fruit and grains grown under scientific methods, was generally attached. the western roads had used similar trains with success in building up their virgin territories. the use of the scientific schools in connection was the eastern adaptation of the idea. a train of this sort will "make" half a dozen towns in the course of a day. the towns are not far apart, and the schedule generally permits a stop of about an hour in each. the coming of the "farmers' special" has been thoroughly announced by handbills, posters, and the local newspapers. whether the day be wet or fair, the appreciation of the enterprise that started the special out is sure to be manifest in a crowd that packs the day-coaches and not infrequently causes overflow meetings to be held from the rear platform of the train. [illustration: in the far west the farm-train has long since come into its own] [illustration: "even in new york state the interest in these itinerant agricultural schools is keen, indeed"] [illustration: interior of the dairy demonstration car of an agricultural train] there is no cause for disheartenment in the soul of the farmer after he has been down to the train. he learns the things that his land is capable of and yet has never reared for him. take the perennial and hardy alfalfa, for instance. crowd into the car, where a hundred earnest men from the country-side are gathered and listening to the man from the state agricultural college, who talks on it. "an acre of good alfalfa," he is saying, "produces twice as much digestible nutriment as an acre of good clover. it is therefore profitable to our farmers to make every effort to establish alfalfa fields. your climate is favorable to alfalfa, which can be grown on a variety of soils. the most favorable is a gravelly loam with a porous sub-soil. there must be drainage, fertility, lime, and inoculation. alfalfa is a lime-loving plant, and if you haven't a limy soil, apply lime at the rate of one to two thousand pounds per acre. these figures will be given you in a pamphlet as you leave the car." and so it goes. if the train is in one of the great fruit-growing districts of western new york, fruit is the theme of the lecturers. there is no product that the soil may give, directly or indirectly, that is too humble for the attention of the farmers' special. all the roads in western new york have taken part in the campaign--the new york central, the erie, the lehigh valley, and the smaller roads have sent out the train over the lines, each in due turn. the idea has gone into the middle west and back to pennsylvania. the pennsylvania railroad, which creates traffic from every conceivable source, has operated since november, , four agricultural specials and two fruit-tree and shrubbery specials. the agricultural schools of the great territory it traverses have furnished the lecturers and the material. now it is preparing to establish down in the eastern shore country between the chesapeake bay and the atlantic ocean, a development farm, in which it will show the farmers of that agricultural district the greatest use that they can make of their land, the greatest results that it can be brought to yield. it has gone down into the sandy southern part of new jersey and made the potato crop for new york and for philadelphia into a vast yield,--a profit both for the farmer and for the railroad which has created the traffic. * * * * * the first of these development farms in the east was that established by h. b. fullerton, under the auspices of the long island railroad, at wading river, n. y. the long island possesses a territory that particularly needs development of that sort. it has a good suburban territory adjacent to new york city, but after that there is not a town of importance the entire length of its lines. there is no manufacturing of consequence out upon its line and it has been driven to the necessity of making traffic. fullerton's farm is another traffic-maker by educational process. he has taken the worst of the sandy soil that makes thousands of acres at the east end of the island, and he has created from it a model farm. the farm has had to pay its way. it has not been nurtured under any extensive appropriations from the railroad, but it has had to win its success under the same conditions that would confront the farmer who measured his capital in hundreds, rather than in thousands of dollars. it is teaching the lesson that it has sought to teach. arid soil, on the very hearthstone of a metropolitan city, is being given over to profitable truck-farming; and the long island railroad for its modest farm investment is beginning to harvest appreciable traffic returns. the new york central, under the guidance of its president, w. c. brown, who is keenly interested in the revival of farming in the east, and who personally directed the operation of the "farm specials" over its lines, has purchased two demonstration farms--one in central, the other in western new york. it has hired a competent farmer to have charge of them--t. e. martin, of west rush, who made a famous record for himself in growing bushels of potatoes to the acre on land that had never before grown more than sixty. they will also serve as object lessons, and when they have been developed to their capacity, they will be sold at a far higher price than the song for which they were purchased in rundown condition. the proceeds will be turned over to the purchase and development of neglected acres in other sections along the lines of that system. the new york central is also making its own special development of the "farm special" idea, by taking two coaches and making them into "agricultural cars" at its west albany shops. these cars will not run sporadically on special trains but will be in use the entire year round, being dropped at one little town after another for a day or two days or three days, in order that the farmers from the surrounding district may drop in to receive a little practical information. through the schools of a number of corn-growing states, into which this work has spread, boys and girls are being stimulated by prizes to plant little patches of corn. out of each community where such an exhibit is held, ten prize-winning ears are sent to the country fair. from this the best ten ears are sent to the state fair, and interstate competition is already being developed. there is another side to this. the railroads are making more than a new traffic for themselves, they are making a new wealth for the communities through which their rails are stretched. it has been estimated by a pennsylvania agronomist that the value of the staple farm crops in the keystone state in a single year exceeds $ , , ; and that some , farmers entered into this production. if by training and education each of these farmers can increase his yield of corn one bushel to the acre, the additional corn revenue from that one state would be $ , , . further than that, he says that $ , would roll into the pockets of these farmers if they would choose their seed corn carefully and thus add ten kernels to each ear of corn grown by them in the course of a twelvemonth. that sort of thing looks like a cooperative benefit from almost any angle from which you may view it. the rock island railroad has begun to preach dry farming down through the southwest. wheat six feet in length is exhibited by that railroad in its offices throughout the east as sample of what the farmers in its territory do, under its help and supervision. that sort of thing silently makes traffic every day in the year. it is worth a dozen times what it costs the railroad. but the railroad is not confining its efforts at making traffic to the products of the soil. what is good method with the farmer is similarly good method with the manufacturer. so you now see the railroads, east and west, working with the aid of industrial commissioners. the industrial commissioner is like a high minister of commerce. take, for instance, a typical railroad running from new york to chicago. it has ample docks upon the sea board, extensive ramifications within the coal-mining districts; in the west it taps both the great lakes and the transcontinentals, which reach across the land to the pacific. in all this district it is under hard competition, gaining its traffic--every ton of it--by the sweat of the general traffic-manager's brow. that railroad has its industrial commissioner, and if you are a prospective manufacturer looking for a site for a new plant, you are sure to come to him. you tell him that you want to build a factory. he tilts back his chair and looks at you easily. "what kind of a factory?" he asks. "we've room for , more along our rails. if it's a silk mill i can suggest paterson, where the help is trained, and the dyes and raw materials handy. if you are going to turn out a steel product somewhere in the pittsburgh district, youngstown, ohio, is the most economical point in the united states to-day for the turning out of finished steel. perhaps yours is a canning factory," he laughs. "if you want to can fruit we can fix you out up in western new york among the orchards; if you want to can tomatoes, well, sir, there is nothing like indiana for tomatoes." you specify your new business and its requirements in some detail. the eye of this practical minister of commerce illumines. "i have the very thing you want," he says, without hesitation. "over at w----, just half a mile above the city limits along the river. it has siding facilities." (you may be fairly certain that the siding facilities give chief access to the railroad that employs this particular commissioner.) "and you say you want fresh water. well, there's five thousand gallons a day of the purest soft water in the east for you." his eyes shine with enthusiasm. he reaches for his paper block and the next instant he is sketching the plot for you with remarkable accuracy, and with a similitude of scale. here is the river and there is where you can build your dam. over there is the main line of the best railroad in america (he leaves no doubt in your mind as to that); and your siding can go in there with less than a quarter of one per cent grade. the highroad is there, and close by it the trolley leading into town. "they've a surplus of help of the kind you want in w----," he adds. "you'll never run short of hands there." it sounds good, and within a week you are bound to w---- with him to meet the secretary of the chamber of commerce. if things are as he has represented them to you, and your mind is unbiased, you build your factory, and the railroad picks up tons a day off your siding. that single transaction has been worth the commissioner's salary for a year to it. there is a variety of method in making traffic. * * * * * the general passenger agent has to keep his end up. any g. p. a. of to-day found entertaining the old-fashioned idea that the traffic that flows of its own volition up to the ticket-wickets is going to be sufficient to satisfy his employers is out of present-day development. the general passenger agent who gets patted on the back nowadays is the man who goes to the president in a dull season with a sheet showing gains over a preceding busy season. he may have to bring water from stones to increase that tide of traffic, but it must be increased. there are no two ways about what is expected of him. so he gets out, like the traffic people from the freight end of the railroad, and he keeps in constant touch with his territory, with the towns along the line and the agents who are working under him. if he is instrumental in locating a big convention at some point where his line will receive the lion's share of the business, that is a good trick and worth while. a lively convention will do a lot toward bracing up a weak passenger sheet in some dull month. one railroad reaching out of new york into the mountains at the northeastern corner of that state and losing itself at some obscure town, a railroad without valuable connections and ramifications, has made its passenger business a little gold-mine by scientific nurturing. it sent its passenger representatives up into the country towns, and they sought to improve conditions of every sort there. they started agitation for better roads from the railroad into the uplands where city folk were prone to wander; they helped the boarding-house landlord and the country hotel-keeper to bring their facilities up to attractive standards. in some cases they induced capital to come in and build new hotels. in every case they offered free space in the railroad's summer resort literature. under a single general passenger agent pursuing such a campaign unflaggingly the passenger receipts of that small railroad increased per cent in eight years! [illustration: the famous thomas viaduct, on the baltimore & ohio at relay, md., built by b. h. latrobe in , and still in use] [illustration: the historic starucca viaduct upon the erie] [illustration: the cylinders of the delaware & hudson mallet] [illustration: the interior of this gasoline-motor-car on the union pacific presents a most unusual effect, yet a maximum of view of the outer world] take the case of atlantic city. that town used to be a collection of wooden hotels, set along a sandy, pleasant beach, which were content with six or eight weeks of good business in midsummer. the railroads that stretched their rails down to it registered good earnings during that hot season, and they had to put in extensive plants to handle that six or eight weeks of heavy traffic. the extensive--and expensive--plants were idle a great part of the year, and there was a lot of capital wasted. the managers of the railroads told the summer hotel proprietors that, and asked why beach property should be a losing investment ten months out of the year. that was a new sort of proposition for a summer resort hotel proprietor but it seemed sound argument and the hotels extended their seasons at either end. they combined with the railroads in making attractive special rates for these duller parts of the season, and before long the spring was well nigh as popular and as profitable as midsummer. folk came over from philadelphia and pittsburgh, and up from baltimore and washington, to spend their summers at atlantic city, and the scientific business-making there created a fashionable season for northerners from easter forward. the building of wooden hotels ceased, and fireproof structures of brick and stone, steel and concrete, began to rise along the beach. capital ceased to lie idle at atlantic city. the hotels began to keep open the year around, and the scientific method of the biggest of the railroads had been so effectual that it built a million-dollar bridge across the delaware at philadelphia to handle through traffic down to atlantic city. still the railroads worked in harmony with the hotels, and the fashionable season began at christmas instead of easter. before long they will make the fall fashionable, and then the hotels will be crowded all the year round. when there is a lull in the season they bring on half a dozen conventions and fill the trains and the hotels with the delegates. that atlantic city plant does not lie idle much of the time. there are nearly hotels there to-day--more than fifty of them huge structures--and on a busy day , people are along the famous boardwalk above the beach. in dull days the big hotels are comfortably filled. the hotel men have made fortunes, the railroads have added millions of dollars to their passenger earnings because of atlantic city. there you have the best example of this new creed of the practical railroader--making traffic. it is not a lost example. across the land every city and town, every resort, from the haughty spa with a cluster of brilliant hotels down to the humblest inn that ever cuddled by the shore of a silvery lake, is taking notice of the creed. the farmer is bending himself to increase the yield of his land, while the railroad reaps a benefit. the marketman from town is reaching out for better sources for his needs; the railroad helps him and reaps a benefit. the resort hotel arranges a joint rate and ticket with the railroad, which covers both transportation and board for a "week-end" in the dull season, and the passenger receipts are swelled in some degree. that is what the railroader calls making traffic. chapter xxiii the express service and the railroad mail development of express business--railroad conductors the first mail and express messengers--william f. harnden's express service--postage rates--establishment and organization of great express companies-- collection and distribution of express matter--relation between express companies and railroads--beginnings of post-office department--statistics--railroad mail service--newspaper delivery-- handling of mail matter--growth of the service. while the great transportation functions of the railroad are devoted to the comparatively simple problems of soliciting and carrying both passengers and freight in ordinary channels, there are, nevertheless, special functions of the carrier that demand some slight attention in passing. these functions might quite properly be known as the by-products of transportation. the most important of them are the carrying of small packages of rather greater value than that the railroad ordinarily gives to the goods that it handles in its own cars, and the carrying of letters and periodicals. these last two are handled as a monopoly by the federal government, which also competes with a half-dozen big private corporations in the transportation of merchandise in small individual lots. the government calls its service the railroad mail and it is the bone and sinew of the post-office department. the private corporations, creeping in upon what is also generally a government monopolistic privilege in other lands, handle what they are pleased to call the express business. their business has grown up alongside of that of the united states government and the development of the two has run in very similar channels. * * * * * the express business, like a good many other big businesses, began in rather simple fashion. before the railroad came into being, the citizens in the different towns of the young and rather sprawling nation along the atlantic seaboard found it a difficult problem to communicate with one another. they used to entrust letters and valuable packages to the drivers of stage-coaches or to the captains of coasting-vessels. if the drivers or the captains remembered the letter-packet or the package, it was safely delivered. if they forgot--! so, when the railroad came and drove the old stage-lines out of business, the conductors of the trains were asked to accept this side responsibility as an informal part of their work. as long as this messenger function remained a slight thing, the railroads paid little attention to the practice, but after a while, the conductors got to paying more attention to it than to running the trains and the railroads finally had to stop it. in the golden age when the conductor's job was developing this valuable perquisite, william f. harnden had charge of a passenger train on the old boston & worcester railroad--a part of the boston & albany, which, in turn, is a part of the new york central lines. harnden had entered railroad service in , when he was but twenty-two years old. he foresaw the day when the railroads would have to put a stop to their conductors acting as messengers for the general public, and so, a few years after he had gone to work for the boston & worcester, he went to the superintendent of that highly prosperous little line, as well as to the highly prosperous boston & providence, and asked for an exclusive contract for an express service over it as part of a through route between new york and boston. so it came about that in a boston newspaper of february , , the following advertisement appeared: "boston and new york express car. william f. harnden has made arrangements with the providence railroad and the new york boat company to run a car through from boston to new york and vice-versa four times a week commencing monday, march . he will accompany the car himself, take care of all small packages that may be entrusted to his care and see them safely delivered. all packages must be sent to his office, court street, boston; or wall street, new york." that "car" was a flight of harnden's imagination, because for several months a valise sufficed to carry all the packages that were entrusted to his care. but he progressed, and after a little time he found it necessary to engage his brother and still another man to act as messengers with him. the following year he extended his express service to philadelphia and to europe. you may be sure that the success of harnden's experiment was being noticed by the thrifty new englanders. alvin adams, who had been in the grocery commission business up in vermont, established an express service of his own in , which in due course of time was to become the adams express company. it is possible that there might have been to-day a harnden express company as well, if america's pioneer expressman had not died six years after establishing his interesting venture. after alvin adams, came a host of express services springing up all over the eastern end of the united states. henry wells, who had been the associate of harnden in the development of his business, formed a partnership with one george pomeroy for a service between albany and buffalo. william g. fargo, the freight-agent for the one-time albany and syracuse railroad, was the freight-agent for pomeroy and wells at buffalo in . wells and fargo eventually got together, and in the throbbing days of the late forties and the fifties, wells, fargo & co. became an express service of magnitude, a concern not to be lightly reckoned with. strangely enough, the express companies came to their first prosperity through the thing that they are now forbidden to carry--letters. for in the early forties the united states post-office department demanded six cents for carrying a letter thirty miles, eight cents for sixty miles, ten cents for one hundred miles--the ratio steadily progressing until twenty-five cents was charged for miles. those rates had been in effect since the department was first established, and the service was fearfully slow, and untrustworthy into the bargain. the new express companies took advantage of their opportunity and--to cite a single instance--they would carry a letter from buffalo to new york for six cents, while the government charged twenty-five cents for a similar, but an inferior service. in the express services were beginning to be merged--livingston & company and wells & company had already formed the american express company. four years later, adams & company, harnden & company, and some of the smaller express services united in the formation of the adams express company,--and in that year the minstrel men began to ask the question: "for whom was eve made?" the united states express company was also organized in , and all this while wells, fargo & company were forming history for themselves in the far west--carrying mail out to the gold miners and their precious dust east in return. [illustration: a portion of the great double-track susquehanna river bridge of the baltimore & ohio--a giant among american railroad bridges] [illustration: "in summer the brakemen have pleasant enough times of railroading"] [illustration: a famous cantilever rapidly disappearing--the substitution of a new kentucky river bridge for the old, on the queen & crescent system] by the beginning of the civil war, there was a well established business, a business established with admirable foresight. such men as adams, wells and fargo, and benjamin f. cheney, one of the founders of the american express company, said that the express business should be kept within narrow limits--so within narrow limits it has been kept, and to-day when harnden's suitcase has developed into a business paying luscious dividends on more than a hundred million dollars of capital stock, there are five great companies: the american express company, the adams express company, the wells, fargo express company, the united states express company, and the national express company. the interests of these companies are closely interwoven--for instance: while the national express company is operated as a separate business, it is absolutely controlled by the american express company. in addition to this big five, there is a cluster of smaller companies, such as the great northern express company, of j. j. hill's system, the southern express company, the long island express co., and two thriving carriers in the dominion of canada. these in turn are more or less closely affiliated with the larger companies. the express companies no longer force a man to bring his shipment to their offices. in every considerable town, there are whole fleets of wagons that reach to the outermost limits, both for collection and for distribution. in this service the automobile truck has begun readily to displace the older type of horse and wagon. the wagon service brings the express package, no matter how small or how large, to a central distributing depot, where all are gathered together and sent, in through railroad cars, to their destinations, being handled very largely as we have seen the l. c. l. freight handled in the great transfer houses of the railroads. the express company guarantees the safe delivery of the package that is entrusted to its care. this package may be of the smallest sort imaginable, or it may be a consignment of a million dollars in specie. in either case, the express company still accepts the entire responsibility. if there are whole brigades of delivery wagons in the cities there are also whole platoons of special cars owned by the railroads and dedicated to the express service. this brings us to the crux of the express question--its relations to the railroad. these are embraced in voluminous contracts and subcontracts--which are generally placed among the secret archives of all the companies that subscribe to them. the interstate commerce commission, at washington, has had, however, access to most of these contracts and of them it has said: "the contract between an express company and a railroad company usually provides that the express company shall have the exclusive right to operate upon the lines named for a definite term of years; that all matter carried on passenger trains, except personal baggage, corpses, milk cans, dogs, and certain other commodities, shall be turned over by the railroad company to the express company; that the railroad company shall transport to and from all points on its lines all matter in charge of the express company; that special or exclusive express trains shall be provided by the railroad company when warranted by the volume of express traffic; that the railroad company shall furnish the necessary cars, keep them in good repair, furnish light and heat and carry the messengers of the express company as well as all necessary equipment; that the railroad company shall furnish such room in all its depots and stations as may be necessary for the loading, unloading, and storing of express matter; that the express company may employ during the pleasure of the railway any of the agents of the latter as express agents and may employ the train baggage-men as its messengers. "the express company, on its part, agrees to pay a fixed per cent of its gross receipts from handling express matter; to charge no rate at less than an agreed per cent of the freight rates on the same commodity--usually one hundred and fifty per cent; to handle, free of charge, money, bonds, valuables, and ordinary express matter of the railway." the railroad mail service is, in many ways, closely analogous to that of the express service. to it also, are devoted whole platoons and brigades of especially equipped cars, and it comes under the direction of the capable traffic officers of a great government department. the post-office department is practically as old as the nation itself. for it was away back in november, , that ebenezer hazard, who had been appointed postmaster general to the continental congress, filed a memorandum of gentle complaint because of the long distances he was compelled to travel to keep pace with the wanderings of the continental army. but it was not until george washington had become president of the united states, in april, , that the post-office department came into any real semblance of organization. samuel osgood, of massachusetts, was the man to whom was given the task of making a real business out of what had once been a haphazard courtesy of the past of stage-drivers and ships' captains. some men had made individual businesses out of the management of stage-routes--in fact, benjamin franklin was an early postman. but the united states government from the beginning created the mail service as a monopoly for itself--following the rule of other nations. in the post-office department was a crude enough affair. the postmaster general had but one clerk, there were but post-offices and , miles of post-roads in the whole country. in the first year of the department's activities the cost of mail transportation is given as being $ , , with the total revenue $ , . the total expenditures of the department that year were $ , , leaving a surplus for the twelvemonth of $ , , a somewhat better showing than has been made in some years since that time. the report of the post-office department for the year ending june , , lies before us as we write this chapter. it tells the graphic growth of a great business in one hundred and twenty years. for in this last twelvemonth the receipts were $ , , --a really vast sum compared with that modest $ , for - . the expenditures for this year ending june , , were even higher--$ , , --leaving a deficit of $ , , . the postmaster general has asserted, however, that he will have succeeded in turning that loss into a slight profit for the year ending june , . these figures do not alone show the growth of the mail service of a great land that has become entirely dependent upon this great function of its business and social life. think of the post-offices of , compared with the , offices of --and that because of the marvellous development of the rural free delivery during the past ten or twelve years, a decrease from the high-water mark of , in . figures are sometimes impressive and the statistics of the post-office department show that , postmasters, clerks, and carriers give the major portion of their time to its service. in addition to these, those same statistics enumerate , rural delivery carriers, who bring the entire post-office force up to the astounding total of , men and women. * * * * * without the railroad the post-office department could not have come to its present great development as one of the chief arms of government activity. the postal service is an interesting adjunct of the railroad; the railroad is a vital factor in the successful conduct and development of the postal service. away back in , postmaster general barry, in his annual report, spoke of the rapid multiplication of railroads in all parts of the country and asked if it was not worth while to secure the transportation of mail upon them. he added: "already have the railroads between french town, in maryland, and new castle, in delaware, and between camden and south amboy, in new jersey, afforded great and important facilities to the transportation of the great eastern mail." as general barry wrote, the baltimore & ohio was spinning its extension lines from baltimore to washington, and he expressed an opinion that with that line a through mail service from new york to washington might be accomplished in sixteen hours. that service is now made between those cities in five hours. general barry's appeal must have brought fruit, for congress, on july , , passed an act approving every railroad in the united states as a post-route. the railroads accepted this responsibility with alacrity. the baltimore & ohio equipped compartments in baggage-cars running between baltimore and washington, which were kept tightly locked and to which only the postmasters of those two cities had access. still the early methods of handling merchandise of every sort were crude and it was not until the days of the civil war that the railroad mail service began to attain anything like its present precision and dispatch. most great organisms are apt to trace their development to the brilliancy or the inspiration of one man or a group of men, and the railroad mail service has been no exception to that rule. w. a. davis, a clerk in the post-office at st. joseph, missouri, in , conceived the idea that railroad mail could be assorted on the cars before it reached st. joseph. in those days, st. joseph was a pretty important sort of a place. the overland mail started west from there, and davis thought that if it could be at least partly assorted before it reached st. joseph, there would be no delay in starting overland. the post-office department encouraged him and he began what was destined to become the most important and interesting function of the railroad mail service. in the same years that davis was studying out postal problems at st. joseph, col. g. b. armstrong was assistant postmaster at chicago. he was asked by postmaster general montgomery blair, of president lincoln's cabinet, to undertake the development of the railroad mail service. he accepted the task august , , and a little later was made general railway mail superintendent, a position which he held until , when he was compelled to retire because of ill health. col. george s. bangs, of illinois, succeeded him, and to col. bangs was given the opportunity of the third great development in the railroad mail service. in his report for the year he discussed the possibilities of establishing a fast and exclusive mail train between the two great postal centres of the land--new york and chicago. to quote from colonel bangs' report: "this train is to be under the control of the department so far as it is necessary for the purpose designed, and to run the distance in about twenty-four hours. it is conceded by railroad officials that this can be done. the importance of a line like this cannot be overestimated. it would reduce the actual time of mail between the east and the west from twelve to twenty-four hours. as it would necessarily be established on one or more of the trunk lines having an extended system of connections, its benefit would be in no case confined, but extended through all parts of the country alike." postmaster general jewell liked col. bangs' idea and told him to arrange with the lake shore railroad and the new york central & hudson river railroad for a fast mail train to leave new york at four o'clock in the morning and make chicago in twenty-four hours. but the post-office department, while it might grandly order fast mail trains into service, had no appropriation from which to pay for them. nevertheless, col. bangs appealed to the older vanderbilt, owner of both the new york central and lake shore railroads. commodore vanderbilt was not a sentimentalist. he had little use for men who came to him with risky propositions and empty pocketbooks. nevertheless, the mail train idea appealed to the old railroader, and he turned to his son, william h. vanderbilt, and asked him what he thought of the idea. the younger vanderbilt suggested building the special cars needed for this service and placing the train in operation, with hopes of remuneration by the following congress. he felt that the new trains would instantly become so popular as to compel congress to provide for their up-keep. "if you want to do this, go ahead," said commodore vanderbilt, "but i know the post-office department, and you will, too, within a year." william h. vanderbilt went ahead. he constructed and placed in service such trains--of glittering white and gold--as the railroad had never seen. nightly they made their spectacular run between new york and chicago with clock-work regularity. they never missed connections. the pennsylvania railroad quickly followed the example of its traditional rival. within a half-year the united states had such a mail service as it had never dreamed of possessing, a mail service a quarter of a century ahead of any other nation in the world. and yet congress did the very thing that the sagacious old commodore vanderbilt had predicted. it absolutely refused to pay for the fast mail trains, and they were taken out of service. there was another factor in the situation, however, and that always a lively factor--the public. when the man out in sioux city found that his mail was again taking eighteen additional hours to reach him from new york, he rose up in all the fulness of upstrung wrath and let his congressman hear from him. and he was only one of tens of thousands whose business comfort had been heightened, quite imperceptibly, by the new trains, and upset very perceptibly by their withdrawal. they were returned to service in , and have since become so recognized and useful a function of the mail service that it would be a brash congress or postmaster general who would even attempt to tinker with them. * * * * * sometimes you brush elbows with the railroad mail service. you notice perhaps, the big heavy car up forward in the long train, with its open door and its gallows-like crane for snatching mail-bags, at cross-road stations, where the through train does not even deign to slacken speed. if you have had an important and delayed letter to post, you may have breathed your little prayer of thanks to the railroad mail because you are able to drop it into the slot of a car that stood, that was halted for an impatient minute or two in its race overland. but these are hardly more than superficialities of the service. if you wish to come closer to its heart, present yourself sometimes just before dawn at one of the great railroad terminals of a really metropolitan city. you had better present yourself in spirit and not in flesh, because this busy time--when most honest men are asleep--is not a time when visitors are welcomed. the government is singularly diffident about showing the inner workings of its post-office department. but these inner workings are alive and alert at three o'clock of the morning that you come to the platform sheds of the big terminal--you can see the shadowy outline of the darkened building itself rising up behind you. most of its platforms which by day are constant and brisk little highways, are also darkened. the long files of empty coaches that line these platforms reflect in their many windows the signal lights of the outer yard. now and again you catch the flicker of a pointed yellow light against the background of blackness--the bobbing of a watchman's lantern as he sees that all is well in the few hours of comparative quiet that come to this great terminal. this one train platform is alert and alive--brilliant under the incandescence of electricity. a brigade of shirt-sleeved men line it, while to its outer edge one great wagon after another--each showing the red, white, and blue of government service under the reflections of the arcs--comes rolling up, with a fearful clatter over the rough pavement of the station yard. from the cavernous recesses of these great wagons their stores are poured forth--dozens and dozens of mail sacks of leather and canvas, each tagged and directed with absolute accuracy. the grimy granite bulk of the general post-office is a scarce half-dozen blocks away from this terminal--an easy span for each of the great mail-wagons. into that general post-office the mail--letters, newspapers, packages, all of inconceivable variety--has been pouring at flood-tide ever since the close of business nine hours before. the carriers with their heavy pouches began this tide; wagons bringing their contribution greatly swelled it. from the nearer stations the mail came, silent and unseen, through the giant pneumatic tubes that reach out from the general post-office, under city streets, like great arteries. underneath the ghastly green mercury lamps of the distributing floor of the general post-office, the first steps were taken toward separating the flood. expert mail-clerks, working under tremendous tension, made a rough classification of all that come under their trained fingers--sometimes by counties, again by states, or even a group of states. one great subdivision was transcontinental and transpacific. this train with its close connections on the western lines will reach san francisco just in time to catch there a big, red-funnelled steamship about to depart for yokohama and hong kong. at hong kong the red-funnelled boat will connect with a p. & o. steamer whose screws will hardly cease revolving until she reaches calcutta. the railroad mail service is a thing that reaches much farther than the rights-of-way of the railroads themselves. there are seven cars in this train--five cars for the postal service and two chartered by the morning newspapers. there are no coaches. now and then one of these flyers will deign to carry a single sleeper, but such is the exception. the fast mail does not stop to quibble with such trifles as passengers. it even turns its shoulders upon the express companies--they have their own fast special trains across the continent. the last of the mail-wagons has delivered its valuable load to the cars. the final newspaper wagon comes dashing up to the platform--its horses a-froth and its driver on the edge of profanity. "here's the firsts," he yells. "big fire down the water-front and they wanted to make the edition with it. we were three minutes late." three minutes late! seventeen minutes ago the last of the smoking-hot forms came from that newspaper's stereotyping rooms and here are the first ten thousand copies of the morning's run--fresh and damp smelling of the forest. before the driver began his hurried explanation of delay, the copies were being thrown into the last car. he had hardly finished before a big bell, high-hung somewhere in the invisible blackness, speaks its one brief note of authority; lanterns are raised alongside the full length of the train--the seven big cars are softly getting into motion. and before this train is fully in motion the newspaper's messengers are busy with the papers that have been thrown in at the open door; before it has bumped its way over the wide-spreading "throat" at the entrance of the terminal, they are bringing the first semblance of order out of the miniature mountain of newspapers piled high on the car floor. chaos, did we say? well, hardly that. the circulation manager of the metropolitan morning newspaper has been called a "field marshal of the empire of print," and field marshals incline to order rather than to chaos. it is less than seventeen minutes from the first of that torrent of newspapers pouring from the hopper of the grinding press, yet here they are, each in an accurate bundle of not more than two hundred and fifty copies, and accurately tagged. the label of each bundle bears in big clear letters the news company or dealer to whom it is consigned, the town, the railroad and its connections. there is not much chance for errors here. as the newspaper messengers begin to arrange their stock--the papers for the nearest towns on top so that they may be most easily reached, to be thrown off while it is still dusk, so that mr. early riser may read his favorite metropolitan journal as he sips his breakfast coffee--so are the mail-clerks in the cars ahead bending to their tasks. roundabout them are rows of pouches held in iron frames, with their hungry throats held wide open, and infinite racks of small pigeon-holes--the same kind that you remember in the up-country post-offices. when the pouches first come into the car they are opened and their contents "dumped-up," to use the parlance of the service, upon the shelf-like tables that run the length of the place. the next process is "facing-up"--bringing addressed sides of all the matter uppermost for facility in distribution. and after that the distribution itself--no easy matter when all the world is constantly writing to all the world, and the criss-cross currents are all but innumerable. so come all classes of mail to these swift-flying cars--letters, newspapers, packages, the specially protected registered mail,--and for all of these classes the apparently endless sorting goes steadily forward, while the train rounds sharp curves and sends the ordinarily sure-footed clerks clutching handrails for balance, under the dead glow of acetylene, holding each separate mail-piece for a fraction of a second--sometimes longer if it be a "sticker" in the chirography or the detail of its address--and then shooting it into the proper pigeon-hole or open-mouthed pouch. some of these cars are destined for cities or states or groups of states--the wheels under one of them are not going to cease revolving for any length of time until it stands on the long mole, opposite san francisco, and the through pouches, with the british coat-of-arms and the meaningful "g. r." stamped upon them, are being shipped aboard the red-funnelled steamship which is to carry them on the last leg of their long journey over two seas and a broad continent, from london to hong kong. these trains are no longer novel on the modern railroad. they are established features of the train service. from new york city goes forward one-sixth of all the mail matter originating in the united states. the aggregate circulation of all the new york morning newspapers is somewhat larger than the aggregate circulation of the morning newspapers of the other cities of the country, so from new york there goes forth between midnight and dawn a flotilla of special mail and newspaper trains. two of the fastest of these start from the grand central station. the "boston special" of the new york, new haven & hartford leaves that spacious terminal at just : a. m., no matter what desperate excuses may be telephoned at the last moment by some circulation manager who is confronted by a disabled press, or some such disaster. it slips through the suburban territory without halting--the nearby commuters are served with their papers and their mail by the early morning locals. bridgeport, at : a. m., is the first halt; new haven, at : , the second. at new haven, the papers for hartford, springfield, and the whole connecticut valley country are thrown off. at new london, which is reached at : a. m., go the papers for norwich, worcester, newport, and new bedford. one more halt, at providence, and the train, running as fast as the fastest of new haven flyers, is at the south station, boston--at just : o'clock. a boston & maine flyer, taking mail and newspapers away up the coast through three states, leaves the north station at : a. m., and so there follows a quick transfer of mail and newspapers through the twisting streets of the hub. the other early morning flyer leaves the grand central at : o'clock, and it makes its course over the main stem of the new york central lines. it reaches albany at : o'clock and not only distributes there for western massachusetts and vermont, the upper hudson valley and the lake champlain territory north to montreal, but overhauls a passenger train that left new york a little after midnight. it continues its course through the heart of the empire state--reaching syracuse at : a. m. and rochester at : a. m. at buffalo, which is reached at : p. m., there are important connections for the west and southwest, and the chicago letters in that grimy train are going out on the first delivery from the chicago post-office the next morning. the pennsylvania hauls two great trains--built up of mail sections from its new terminal on manhattan island, which has a great post-office in process of growth, built over a portion of its platform tracks, and newspaper sections from the old jersey terminal, which is still most convenient to a majority of the metropolitan papers. the first of these trains is bound for the south and the southwest. it leaves new york at : a. m., passes philadelphia at : , and steams into baltimore at : a. m. another hour sees it in washington and transferring its load to the mail-trains that are about to start for the long journey to atlanta and new orleans. a new yorker sojourning for a part of the winter at palm beach, florida, can be sure of having his favorite sunday paper not later than tuesday morning. the second pennsylvania train leaves thirty minutes later and follows the main line of that much-travelled highway all the way to pittsburgh, which it reaches just at noon. other railroads out of new york start fast newspaper and mail trains just before dawn and combine regular passenger facilities with them--the lehigh valley despatching a flyer at : o'clock from the old pennsylvania terminal in jersey city for the populous northeastern corner of pennsylvania and the so-called southern tier of new york state. the lackawanna reaches a somewhat similar territory by its fast express, which leaves hoboken at : o'clock. a similar cluster of mail and newspaper flyers starts out of chicago early each morning--east over the lake shore, the michigan central, and the pennsylvania, south over the monon and the illinois central, and west and northwest over the northwestern, the rock island, and the santa fe. other great cities follow the same programme in lesser scale--there are many important fast-mail trains that make their departures from initial terminals throughout all the daylight hours and late into the evening. a regiment of mail-cars make their way over the face of the land on fast through expresses of every sort. the postal service is a business of magnitude within itself. the postmaster general's report for the year ending june , , gives a clear conception of its magnitude. he showed then that there were full railroad post-office lines, manned by , crews of , clerks. there were also , compartment railroad post-office lines--lines in which a portion of a baggage or smoking-car is partitioned for the sole use of the postal service--manned by , crews of , clerks, electric car lines with crews and clerks, and steamboat lines with crews and clerks. of the cars built for the exclusive use of the railroad mail service, , were in use and held in reserve, while , of the compartment cars were in use, of these being held in reserve. in addition, the post-office department operates trolley mail-cars. great progress has been made in the substitution of steel mail-cars for wooden ones--a real step forward when one pauses to consider the dangerous position in which the mail-cars are placed in most trains. the records of the post-office department are filled with stories of heroism on the part of mail-clerks in saving, both the extremely valuable merchandise that is given to their care, and vastly more valuable human lives. the list of the post-office employees who have met death while on duty in the railroad mail service is not a short one. but the railroads are coöperating with the government in giving the finest type of steel cars to its mail service,--sixty of these are already in use on the pennsylvania system,--for, as we stated at the outset of this chapter, the transportation of uncle sam's mail is no slight function of the modern railroad. the big operating men across the land are constantly bending their heads with those of the post-office officials toward the betterment of that transportation. chapter xxiv the mechanical departments care and repair of cars and engines--the locomotive cleaned and inspected after each long journey--frequent visits of engines to the shops and foundries at altoona--the table for testing the power and speed of locomotives--the car shops--steel cars beginning to supersede wooden ones--painting a freight car--lack of method in early repair shops--search for flaws in wheels. to care for its rolling-stock the railroad creates two distinct functions of its business. all the care of its permanent way, including tracks, tunnels, bridges, comes under the control of the maintenance way department. similarly, the mechanical department assumes control of the cars and engines, sees to it that each is maintained to its fullest efficiency, both by care in daily service and by certain visits to the shops at regular intervals, for repairs, reconstruction, and painting. to do all this requires a large plant, both in buildings and machinery. it is distributed at every important point along the railroad. at terminal and operating points, roundhouse facilities of greater or less extent are sure to be located, and at the headquarters of each division these are generally expanded into shops for the making of light repairs and to avoid handling crippled equipment for any great distance. one large shop plant is apt to suffice the average railroad for the heavy repair work. if the road stretch to any extraordinary length, even this feature is apt to be duplicated in order to concentrate this repair work as far as possible. all this concerns the care and repair of the locomotive--which the railroader quickly groups under the title "motive-power." to care for the engines while they are in use out upon the line, to see to it that engineers and firemen alike handle these mechanisms with economy and skill, is a responsibility that is placed upon the road foreman of engines of each division. he has supervision over smaller roundhouses but at any of the larger of these structures there is a roundhouse foreman in direct charge. the railroad long ago learned that its best economy rested in having plenty of executive control. that has come to be one of the maxims of the business. there is a master mechanic in charge of the division shops and in many cases he has authority over the road foreman of engines and the roundhouse foremen. then under him he has his various assistants, forming a working force not at all unlike that of the average iron-working shop. all this organism is gathered together under a superintendent of motive power, who in turn may report to a general mechanical superintendent. this official answers only to the general manager, or, in some cases, to a vice-president to whom these functions of the care of the railroad are delegated. the proposition of the cars is generally treated quite apart from that of the locomotive, and separate shops under the direction of a master car-builder and his assistants are located at a few points upon the system, where they may be of fairly easy access. rough repairs (the car-builders term these "light" repairs) to cars are carried forth at each division yard. this work is almost entirely confined to the freight equipment, and a good part of it goes upon "foreign" cars--cars that do not belong at all to the railroad making the repairs. this feature of the repair work is a direct result of an elaborate system of interchange in freight equipment upon american railroads, in order to prevent the breaking of bulk in the shipment of merchandise from one line to another. cars will break down when they are many hundreds of miles away from home, and the railroad upon which they are operating at the time carts them to the nearest temporary repair yard or to its own shops, makes the necessary repairs, and charges for them in accordance with a scale prepared by the national association of master car-builders. this necessitates a vast deal of bookkeeping and is only one of the many complications brought about by our extensive plan of railroading in america. the railroad will probably build the greater part of its freight equipment, although in these days of the supplanting of wood by steel in car-construction the companies are apt to stand appalled at the cost of the steel working machinery, and to buy their cars direct from the manufacturers very much as they purchase their locomotives. passenger equipment is almost invariably secured in this way. it is a big railroad indeed that seeks to construct for itself the huge travelling palaces that the passenger of to-day has come to demand for his comfort. the repairing and the painting of these elaborate vehicles is enough of a proposition in itself. * * * * * to begin at the beginning, one first comes in contact with the mechanical department as it comes into constant contact with the operation of the railroad. this is the more quickly observed at the roundhouses, those great circular structures that are a feature of the railroad section of every important town. in england the "engine sheds," as they are there known, are simple enough structures, housing a series of parallel tracks, which are served by either a transfer table or switches. such a plan is pursued in this country only where space is at a premium--as in the heart of some great city where realty is exceedingly high-priced; for the heads of our railroads have held tenaciously to the easily operated turntable and roundhouse scheme. the table, generally driven by electricity or a small dummy engine, forms the centre, the roundhouse a segment of the entire rim of the wheel. the great advantage of its simple design lies in the fact that it is instantly possible to get at any one of the fifty or more locomotives that it houses. it is this feature that has endeared it to the railroad man for many years. [illustration: triple-phase alternating-current locomotive built by the general electric co. for use in the cascade tunnel, of the great northern railway] [illustration: heavy service, alternating and direct current freight locomotive built by the westinghouse company for the new york, new haven & hartford railroad] [illustration: the monoroad in practical use for carrying passengers at city island, new york] [illustration: the cigar-shaped car of the monoroad] the locomotive that hauls the train goes to its "stall" in the roundhouse directly after its work is done. its crews, having finished their run, desert it for the time being, and it comes within the charge of the roundhouse foreman and his "hostlers." these old terms are reminiscent of the days when the roundhouse was a real stable and its denizens flesh and blood horses. now the denizens of the roundhouse are iron horses, and in their great size as they rest within their house they are indicative of the progress that has been made in the design and construction of railroad equipment. on the way to the roundhouse, possibly on the way from it (the practice varies on different railroads) the engine will stop at the ash-pit. it will have its fires cleaned in a long pit that runs underneath a section of track, and then pass on to the coaling-shed. the long pit at some points is filled with iron buckets that run on wheels into which the ashes are dumped and these are emptied by overhead crane apparatus into a nearby line of empty gondolas, ready to be taken away to be disposed of. at the coaling shed the tender is filled, some twelve or fifteen tons being required if the engine is large; the water-spout fills the capacious tanks, while the hostlers take good care to see that the sand-box is filled, as a precaution against slipping on the next steep grade. then on to the turntable and the waiting stall, until ready to go out again upon the regular service or extra duty. during that time it will be both cleaned and inspected. the fireman may be held responsible for the cleanly appearance of his engine above the running-board. below that, the work will be delegated to the roundhouse force. the fireman will probably feel that it should clean all the engine. when he feels particularly aggrieved over the matter it is time for him to meet one of the veterans of the service, who will tell him of the days when the engines were gayly ornamented with brass and light-colored paints, and the fireman's career had added to it an endless campaign with his wiping rag against the tendency of the bright-work to tarnish. there are some things that decidedly favor the fireman of the present time. there are not always sufficient roundhouse facilities at every point; the traffic of our railroads has a way of constantly running away from the facilities; and so there are many times when the engines must be housed in the open. but the vigilance and the care upon them are never relaxed. the railroad that is foolish enough to try to save upon the maintenance of its motive power sooner or later pays a terrible price for its penurious folly. so it comes to pass that every engine makes a regular visit to the shops, generally at periods of from ten to fourteen months, depending upon the service in which it is engaged. on some of these visits, it will be pretty completely dismantled, and a travelling crane running the full length of the erecting shop will soon lift the heavy boiler from frame and wheels and carry it down to the boiler-makers, with no more difficulty than an automatic package carrier in a dry-goods store would have. there is a deal of pride and rivalry between the men as to the facility and speed that can be shown in taking an engine in hand, dismantling it completely, making necessary repairs, setting it up again and placing it in service once more. the men of the erie shops at hornellsville succeeded in doing the trick a year or so ago in the remarkably short time of twenty-four hours. in that brief time a locomotive came in from the road, bedraggled and begrimed and marked "tbmf" for the benefit of the shop-men. "tbmf" translated means "tires, boxes, machine, flues," so specifying the engine parts to be repaired. in the slang of the repair shop the men say "to be made fast." these four requisites are the ones most necessary to make the locomotive fit for from , to , miles of service before she shall again turn into the shop. to make them in twenty-four hours required some planning on the part of the erie shop foremen at hornellsville, and yet it was only a few weeks after had come out of the hornellsville plant fit for revenue service in a single day and night, before the men of the rival susquehanna shop wished a chance at a contest of that sort. "tbmf" generally keeps a locomotive in the shop for from a fortnight to three or four weeks; the canadian pacific considered that it had done a remarkable thing in effecting these repairs on a locomotive, with a super-heater, at its winnipeg shops in - / hours. the hornellsville record was one most remarkable. but the susquehanna shop men took in off the road after , miles without repairs; took in the big puller at o'clock in the morning, made the heavy "tbmf" repairs, and turned her out for revenue service at : o'clock in the evening--thirteen hours and thirty-four minutes. at midnight she was pulling a heavy through freight west once again, and a most astounding record in american shop work had been consummated. * * * * * the united states have few such towns as england possesses in swindon and in crede, railroad towns in the distinctive sense that they were the absolute creation of the railroad in the first instance. there is many a town from one ocean to the other that has owed its stimulus and development to the location of large railroad shops and terminals within its boundaries, but the railroads have, as a rule, dodged the creation of distinctive towns. pullman, within the outskirts of chicago, was a monumental failure in this very sort of enterprise. it was designed and built to accommodate the great car-building shops of that man who did the most of all men to make luxury in railroad traffic--george m. pullman; and no greater care was shown in the construction and design of the works than was given toward the stores, the churches, the schools, and the homes of the workmen. pullman was decidedly a model town; yet pullman was a failure. other model towns of the same sort in europe have been marked successes, and that very thing may well serve to illustrate the difference in temperament between the american and the european workingman. the american resents too much being done for him; he is instinctively jealous of his individuality. away back in the long-ago the erie created a railroad town at susquehanna in the extreme north part of pennsylvania. it built shops there and soon after repeated the experiment at hornellsville in the southwestern part of new york state. the baltimore & ohio railroad similarly developed cumberland, maryland; and the lake shore, elkhart, ind. these are few of many instances where a great railroad shop has served to develop a sizable town. in some others they have developed important suburbs of large cities, as the lake shore's plant at collinwood, at the eastern edge of the city of cleveland; and the great shops of the new york central at depew, in the outskirts of buffalo, which were built when the plant at west albany could no longer accommodate the rolling-stock of a rapidly growing system. in altoona, pa., the united states possesses probably the only distinctive railroad town of extent within its boundaries. altoona was the creation of the pennsylvania railroad more than half a century ago, and its progress, carefully stimulated, has proceeded step by step in company with the progress of one of the largest of american railroad systems. the mistakes of pullman have not been repeated at altoona. if the pennsylvania railroad has ruled the city in the hills, it has ruled it tacitly and tactfully at all times. it has avoided even the appearance of paternalism, and the growth of altoona has been measured by the growth of the country, which in its turn is measured with marvellous accuracy by the growth of the railroad traffic. so a trip to altoona and through its great shops will be illustrative of the very best practice in the construction and maintenance of a railroad's car and engine. the altoona shops are unusual in the fact that both locomotives and cars of the highest capacity and finest type are built within them, in addition to a great repair and refurnishing work being carried forward there at all times. to do this work, the plant, employing during the seasons of heaviest traffic something like , men--is divided into several divisions that stretch themselves along the railroad tracks for about six miles. the first of these divisions consists of the foundries, devoted largely to the manufacture of cast-iron car-wheels of every size and grade. extensive cupolas, core-rooms and moulding-floors are provided for making , car-wheels every hours. there is the blacksmith shop as part of this particular plant. the blacksmith is one of the handiest of men about a railroad shop and one of the few to survive the almost universal introduction of machine processes. there are also the machine and pattern shops, together with a large foundry for the manufacture of castings for cars and locomotives, having a capacity of tons a day. the second division of industrial activity at altoona is the locomotive repair shop. this is the largest of all the individual plants at that point, employing about , men, and with its three- and four-story structures built closely within a busy yard it is a veritable city within a city. it has a capacity of about , reconstructed and repaired locomotives a year and is a shop well calculated to fill any one with respect. the third division is the junction shops, where the new locomotives are built; , men are employed within it, and there men take the new castings and forgings (most of the castings coming up from the giant foundries that we have just noticed), and from them they create that almost human thing, the railroad locomotive. when the locomotive emerges from that shop it takes its turn upon the testing-table, the mechanical experts place their final stamp of approval upon it, and at last it goes out from the shop, under its own steam, to perform the great work for which it was created. the testing-table is one of the most interesting of altoona's activities. the engine is run upon a series of wheels that fit exactly underneath its own; it is fastened snugly into place; connections are made with a score of pipes and rods that fit upon its mechanism, and it starts off for a run up over the division. it runs miles and miles, snorting furiously over the hard grades and under the heavy loads it has to haul, and yet it does not move even the finest fraction of an inch from that testing table. its mechanism throbs with energy, its wheels revolve at a fearful rate; yet it is a helpless caged creature in a seemingly impotent energy, as the men in charge of the test watch a dozen dials, notebooks in hand. the big driving wheels turn only upon the friction wheels beneath them but the engineers who are conducting the test can tell the speed at which the locomotive is travelling--in theory--by the almost human needles upon the dial-faces. there is more delicate scientific apparatus behind the engine. it is stripped from its tender for this test, and by this apparatus the pull of the engine upon the dead load of the train can be exactly estimated in pounds and ounces. nor is this all. the friction wheels underneath the drivers are controlled by powerful water brakes, and by the regulation of these brakes, strains or handicaps can be placed upon the engine exactly similar to those of the grades it may have to reach over a heavy mountainous stretch of railroad. there is no guess-work about modern railroading. many hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent each year in expert scientific tests of every sort, in the salaries of men who devote their entire time to this work; and the railroads reap the benefits in many more hundreds of thousands of dollars in operating economies. railroading is a pretty exact science; the big engine on the testing-table at altoona is only one of a host of evidences of the skill and genius that are being brought to bear upon the operation of the great railroad properties of the country at the present time. this engine goes upon diet. dr. wiley down at washington with his young men sustaining themselves scientifically upon measured and selected foods has something of the same method that is shown with the test engine up at altoona in the hills. its supply of coal is carefully weighed and analyzed by sample. an accounting of the amount consumed down to ounces is carefully kept, the water supply is also examined and measured with great care. when the test is finished and the big chaotive engine has covered miles of theoretical grades with a long theoretical train hitched on behind, the experts get busy with their pencils and begin to prepare the reports upon which their chief may rely when he goes ahead to construct another gross of -ton locomotives. * * * * * the car shops rank next in importance to the locomotive shops. the foreman of this plant tells you casually that it has an annual capacity of new passenger cars and , new freight cars. it is a great plant of itself, some seventy acres of ground covered with great construction buildings. some of these are in roundhouse form, for convenience in handling equipment under construction; others are set side by side and easily reached by use of a long transfer table. the work of erecting the freight equipment is carried on quite separate from that of the passenger car work. the almost universal use of steel in the manufacture of every sort of freight car, save the box-cars, which still have wooden walls and roof built upon a steel foundation, has made a large steel-working shop a necessary adjunct of every car-building plant. one of the most interesting features of the altoona car-building plant is a giant hydraulic press situate in the open, just outside of the steel-working plant. this press brings a dead weight of , tons down upon the sheet of steel that it receives. it is used in making the sills of the freight-cars--"fish-bellies," the master car-builders call them--and under that giant press a sheet of steel, one-half inch in thickness and from thirty to forty feet in length, is bent into shape as easily as you might bend a sheet of soft cardboard within your fingers. the press makes many hundred "fish-belly" sills every working day, and it pays its way. the steel-working in this shop has been carried forth into passenger car construction and a great shed given over for that work. within it one sees the gaunt frames of the cars that are to be, gaining shape, until at the far end of the shop is a line of the cars, completed as far as the steel workers can carry them, and ready to be swung by one of the ever-busy switch-engines to the finishing shop, and then finally to the paint shop. even with the steel car coming into its own, there are still hundreds of thousands of wooden cars in operation; and the construction of wooden cars will not cease for many years. while steel as a raw material is not far in advance of the cost of wood these days, the cost of fashioning it into cars is still so excessive as to make it impracticable save in cases of extremely profitable operation. one of the strongest points in favor of steel in car-construction is that of the economy of its maintenance, always a strong point with railroad men. the wooden car feels the wear and tear of life upon the rail keenly; in the case of a wreck it is not to be even compared with the steel car. it should not be forgotten, though, that the railroads have many thousands of wooden passenger-coaches still in service, and the substitution of steel equipment for these has only just begun. the average life of a car approximates twenty years, and the simplest of railroad economics demands that these cars be retained for their active life. as they wear out steel cars can be, and they already are being, substituted by the great systems. this new equipment is being used at first upon the main lines and through trains, where both speed and density of traffic demand the railroad's best equipment. gradually it will be spread to the trains and branch lines of less importance. with the wooden car still a factor in railroad equipment, the carpenter has not yet lost his vocation in the shops. there is much of the coarser work on the freight cars for him; in the elaborate passenger coaches, dining-cars and other equipment of that class, the great mass of cabinet work still demands the cunning of his hands. here in the miscellaneous carpenter-shop he is at work upon a seat frame for a day-coach, a shade fixture, a broken chair from a dining car, a baggage truck from some station; there is plenty of work for the carpenter around a car-shop. it is a matter of pride with the railroad to keep its passenger equipment bright and shiny and new of appearance. it is part sentiment and part good business. for a railroad cannot hope to attract passengers with dirty, unkempt, weather-beaten cars. so it is that the paint-shop is a large function of the car-shop. american railroads may not go quite as much into gaudy car decoration as do the railroads of england and continental europe. each year the canons of simple good taste are driving the car-designers to plainer models, but no expense is spared to make car-surfaces, within and without, as bright and shiny as those of a private carriage or an automobile. so it is that a passenger coach spends from eighteen to twenty days in the paint-shop alone, in its period of refurbishing. it is primed at first and then it receives from three to five coats of surfacer. this is all hand-work, requiring both strong muscles and infinite patience on the part of the painters. two or three coats of the standard color of the railroad, by which its equipment is known distinctively, are given to the exterior. lettering and striping follow, then finally two coats of fine varnish are flowed and rubbed to a high and brilliant polish. the car is now ready for the dust and the dirt of the line. about every year it will come back again for re-varnishing and at the end of about eight years it will again undergo practically the same treatment within the paint-shop as was given it at the beginning. it will come in rusty and begrimed after many thousands of miles up and down the toilsome line. within three weeks it will emerge from the paint-shop fresh and radiant, having obtained a new lease of life. if the same process were to be applied to the freight equipment, the paint-shop would be of almost unlimited size. but freight-cars are not varnished. they are merely painted with the best of time-resisting pigments, usually a dull and sombre red. the freight-cars literally go through a bath in the paint-shop. expert painters stand, like fire-fighters, with a hose-nozzle in their hands. through the hose the paint is forced, gallons upon gallons of it; and when it is all over the freight-car is a fine, even red, just like the painters themselves. the lettering is a quick matter, with the use of stencils. * * * * * there remain two other great divisions of a central plant of this sort--locomotive repair shops and car repair shops, for the needs of the immediate divisions with their heavy traffic. these shops, extensive in themselves, present no radical differences from the usual division shops which a great railroad maintains at every division operating point in order to keep its rolling stock in the best of order. they are used to make light repairs. the master mechanic is a discerning man. he must know and judge accurately when a disabled car or locomotive should go to the company's main shops, when the repairs can best be made at the local plant. it is one of the points upon which the economy of the shop system depends. on this matter of shop economy whole volumes might be written, and have been written. in the beginning of shop practices there was little system in these matters, just as the shop work was reckoned far below its real importance. one of the earliest of real railroads was the columbia & philadelphia--nowadays one of the main stems of the pennsylvania's trunk line--and it was from the beginning a railroad of quite heavy traffic, double-tracked and reaching into a fat country. yet a shop at parkersburg, halfway up the line, employing forty men in all, was considered quite enough for the maintenance of equipment. if one of those early engines broke down at either terminal, the engineer, the fireman and perhaps the local blacksmith had to make their own repairs. nothing was standard, not even the sizes of such simple affairs as nuts and bolts. years of railroading have changed all this. the master-mechanics and the master car-builders meet in annual sessions; and by means of reports from their expert committees have been evolved standards in every detail of rolling stock--standard materials, standard compositions, standard sizes, even standards in nomenclature of railroad apparatus down to the smallest parts. even with this assistance there still remains a mass of detail in every railroad shop; and a large clerical force is one of its greatest efficiencies. a sharp and accurate accounting is kept of the cost of repairs upon each locomotive and car, even such general shop costs as gas and heat are pro-rated against it. there is no time that the railroad cannot tell to a nicety the precise cost of each unit of its equipment. these units are not, in many roads, increased, without precise orders from the board of directors or the executive committee of the board. in order to get around this rule some niceties in reconstruction have been known. a single timber of a worn-out freight car has kept the unit and the number of the old car, and going into the new has prevented the creation of a forbidden unit. the system upon which cars and locomotives are numbered varies greatly upon different systems. in some cases the first figures of the numbers indicate the class and style of the car or locomotive, in others they mean nothing. when a car or a locomotive is nigh worn out its number passes from it and is given to some newcomer. the old servant has a neatly painted "x" placed before its number. that "x" is its death warrant. in a little time it leads the way to the scrap heap. * * * * * the men who labor in the railroad shops see little of the romance of the line. their work is much like that of the men who work in every sort of large shop. their responsibility is not less than that of the other railroaders, the men to whom or miles of line and out-spread towns are as familiar as the very rooms of their own homes. a flaw in the steel, a careless bit of shopwork, may serve to derail the express at the least foreseen moment, to cause disaster in the ringing way that every railroad man sees at one time or another. it may not always be possible to trace the responsibility for such an accident. but there is a responsibility, and the men who work at forge or lathe, at press or planer feel that it is there. they form no mean brigade of this great industrial army of america. such responsibility continues outside of the main shops to the smaller shops, down to the roundhouse forces, by whose care and vigilance the big locomotives are kept fitted for their important work; down still farther to the car-inspectors, who, blue signal-lights in hand, creep through the long freight-yards of a winter's night to strike the flaw in the metal, to sound the note of alarm before the worst may come to pass. some of these last you hear in the night as you scurry across the country. as you rest in your berth, and the express is changing engines at some division point, you may hear the car inspectors coming along the train, striking with their hammers against the wheels, listening intently for the false ring by which they may detect trouble. if you trouble yourself to lift the curtain of your berth, you may see them, a grimy crew, working busily with their hammers, thrusting their torches in among the trucks to see that all is well. responsibility for the safety in railroad operation does not cease at the doors of the mechanical department. chapter xxv the railroad marine steamship lines under railroad control--fleet of new york central-- tugs--railroad connections at new york harbor--handling of freight-- ferry-boats--tunnel under detroit river--car-ferries and lake routes-- great lakes steamship lines under railroad ownership. in the beginning land transportation must have looked up in something resembling fear and awe to water. we can picture the railroad of the thirties as a slender but resourceful david facing the veritable goliath of water carriage. in earlier chapters of this book we have shown how the canals, representing a distinct phase of water transportation, sought to throttle the railroads at the beginning. but the modern railroad has no fear of water rivalries, either upon the coast or inland. just as the first railroads were ofttimes timidly built as feeders or complements to water routes, so to-day almost every inland water route is part of a railroad--in operating fact if not in actual ownership. the tables have been turned--the railroad finally dominates. nine-tenths of all the great water routes in and aroundabout the united states are more or less directly owned and controlled by the railroads. they have become, in every sense, corollaries to land transportation. this is more distinctly shown in some sections of the land than in others. for instance, up in new england, where the interests owning the new york, new haven & hartford railroad have accomplished direct or indirect control of all but a comparatively few miles of the steam and electric railroads in five great states, they have also acquired the steamship interests of that district. the new haven's original excursion into the steamboat business was when it absorbed the old colony railroad--almost a score of years ago--in order to ensure its entrance into boston. the old colony owned a well-famed and highly prosperous steamboat line from fall river, massachusetts, to new york city, part of its through new york-boston route. eventually the new haven acquired all the brisk and busy steamboat lines which ran up the sound from new york to several connecticut ports--bridgeport, new haven, hartford, new london, and stonington. any one of these lines was not, perhaps, so much of an acquisition in itself, but all of them were potentials in a future rate situation that might arise. it was good executive management to have these potentials under firm control, and so the new haven established water routes as a recognized factor of its business--under the separate corporation title of the new england navigation company. once when a new company, under the mellifluous title of the joy line, sought to injure its coastwise business by establishing cut-rates from providence to new york, the new haven placed two of its older boats in a rival and lower-priced service, and, by means of its great resources, was able to bring the joy line into its fold. later, when the enterprise line tried a like programme, the new haven followed the same aggressive tactics and brought the enterprise line to bankruptcy. these things are mentioned here in no spirit of criticism. but they are the facts that make it impossible for really independent lines of steamboats to run between new york and providence for any great length of time, despite ample docking facilities and a great free port at each of these cities. the metropolitan line tried to maintain an independent line between new york and boston with the two finest steamers ever placed in coastwise service--the _yale_ and the _harvard_. one of these boats left each city at five o'clock in the afternoon and performed the ocean voyage of miles over the "outside route" in just fifteen hours--and with amazing regularity. but the new haven railroad found it to its interest to control the coasting lines around about new england, and so the _yale_ and _harvard_ were last winter banished to the pacific coast. this is all part of the business of managing great railroad systems. for similar reasons the pennsylvania railroad found it advisable to bring a group of steamboat lines plying on chesapeake bay and its tributaries under its control, the harriman lines to reach out and establish ownership of the lines plying up and down several thousand miles along the pacific coast--these are but a few instances out of many. as yet no large american railroad has essayed to control a transatlantic line, although both the hill and the harriman properties are interested in the transpacific carrying business. the canadian pacific, however, has already well-established lines across both of the great oceans--making a continuous route under one management from liverpool, england, to hong kong, china. moreover, it is now building four great steamships which are to be finished simultaneously with the panama canal and which will ply through it from new york direct to hong kong. the canadian northern has also recently embarked in the transatlantic carrying business. the canadian pacific and several of the large railroads of the northern part of the united states maintain lines of sizable gross tonnage on the great lakes--but of these, more in a little while. [illustration: a modern railroad freight and passenger terminal: the terminal of the west shore railroad at weehawken, opposite new york city] [illustration: high-speed, direct-current passenger locomotive built by the general electric company for terminal service of the new york central at the grand central station] even if a railroad is not engaged in the steamship business, as such, even to the extent of one or two small steamboats on inland waters, it may still possess a considerable harbor fleet,--wharves, and slips--that, taken together, make a sizable aggregate. every railroad that has any sort of ambition to be considered a trunk-line will count upon having one or two or even more terminals upon navigable streams, and at these it will protect itself by having its own wharves and landing-stages--even grain elevators, if it is putting out its hungry fingers for the great traffic in food-stuffs that sweeps out over the land and water transportation routes of america. such a terminal means a railroad fleet--ferries, scows, lighters, a little company of stout and busy tugs. it means that the railroad must pay attention to marine laws and marine customs. * * * * * when a railroad boasts of a terminal in such a city as boston, new york, baltimore, new orleans, or san francisco, its fleet of harbor craft is apt to be quite a sizable navy. take, for instance, the new york central's fleet in and around new york harbor. it consists of vessels, divided into the following classes: ferry-boats, tugs, steam-lighters, car-floats, steam-hoist barges, open barges, scow barges, covered barges, and grain-boats. and out of all these barges, are further equipped for refrigerator use. in such a fleet, eliminating of course the ferry-boats which have their own peculiar uses, the tugs are almost the sole motive power. there is a bit of poetry about them, too, even if they are short and stubby, ofttimes poking their cushioned noses impertinently up against larger and far more stately craft. but no captain, even though he walk the bridge of an eight-hundred foot steamship, sneers at a tug. it takes eighteen of them to place the new giant _olympic_ in her wharf on the north river, and no crack company of horsemen ever moved in more precise drill or better coöperation than these noisy, punting, helping-hands of the harbor of new york. for ocean ports are different from those along the lakes. a captain sailing a five-thousand ton ship on fresh water would be ashamed to use a tug at detroit, or any other of the great lake ports, even where the current runs almost like a mill-race, unless he was turning in a channel whose width was but a wee bit more than the length of his ship. but detroit and cleveland and buffalo and chicago do not have the tides--and it is the tide that makes harbor navigation a finely specialized science at the big ocean ports. all of the big atlantic ports save new york have abundant track facilities alongside the piers, where berth the ships from half the world over. in new york, the same geographical conditions that have gone to make her so superb a port and given her so generous a harbor-frontage have blocked the railroads in their efforts to reach all her piers with unbroken rails. so the railroads entering that harbor have found it necessary to provide themselves with such fleets as we have noticed as belonging to the new york central. for inland shippers seem to have a preference for sending their east-bound export merchandise through new york, because of the frequency of sailings from her wharves to half the recognized ports of the world. if you are a manufacturer--at utica, n. y., let us say--and you wished to send a carload of your product to london, eng., you would find that the railroad definitely agrees to do certain things for you. on your minimum basis of a carload lot it will place that carload at any pier in the harbor of new york. indeed, it would do a little more. if some of that carload lot that starts down out of utica is going to london, some more on a different ship to calcutta, and still some more on a tropic-bound liner to south america, the railroad would make free delivery of your consignment to the piers of these three ships. it limits, however, the delivery of a carload lot to three different piers. this sounds simple, perhaps, and, in reality, is not. for in a single day of twenty-four hours there may arrive at weehawken and sixtieth street, manhattan--the two great freight terminals of the rails of the new york central system at new york--from four to six hundred, eight hundred cars, perhaps, filled with merchandise bound for half a hundred different piers, along from forty to sixty miles of water-front. now you see the use of all this army of lighters and barges--stubby-nosed craft, awkward craft, boats that have not even a single stanza of the poetry of the sea written upon their contents. by night, by day, when an imperial city throbs with the bustle of brisk endeavor, and still when it tries to snatch a few brief feeble hours of rest, in summer, in winter, when the two rivers and the great upper bay of new york harbor are alive with gay pleasure craft, and in the trying hours when a pilot's path is fraught with the dangers of drifting ice and laid through gray blankets of mist, this great interchange of freight of every sort goes forth. the eight or ten great railroads that terminate in new york are pouring export merchandise to all of her piers, while from those long sprawling structures they are drawing up imported goods to go forward to every corner of the land. and in addition to this there is the vast local commerce of the city of new york, which, as we saw when we were considering the freight terminals, back in chapter vii, is no slight matter of itself. but this traffic, as well as much of that of the great interchange between the railroads terminating at new york, is handled most effectively by the car-floats on each of which twelve to sixteen standard box-cars may be loaded with great expedition. but the clumsy barges and the lighters and the still clumsier car-floats are of little use without the tugs, and these last are the quick couriers of the harbor. twenty of that new york central fleet are kept in constant use in the north and east rivers, and along the harbor shores to jersey city, bayonne, and the southern parts of brooklyn. they do not lie idle, save when they are finally forced to "lay up" for a little time for repairs. and then a reserve tug is in service without delay. here is the modern economy of railroad equipment--even though this be the part of the railroad that is afloat. a tug pulls up to a dock, its crews are off almost before their "relief" is standing at its station, and making sure that the craft is in as good order as they left it. while the "relief" is finding its tired way toward home the tug is off again. its work is constant. its work is not easy. it does not seem to be systematic and yet it is--wonderfully systematic. for here and there about the harbor the captains of these n. y. c. tugs get their orders--just as conductors of the trains upon the steel highways get their clearance cards and yellow tissues. a half-dozen stations give orders, and these are but the speaking stations of a single man who sits before a telephone switchboard close by a narrow street of down-town manhattan and directs tug movements through the crowded harbor, just as easily as a despatcher moves extra freights over a crowded stretch of single-track line. the traffic runs flood-high and the station men gossip of the whispered complaints of the tug-crews, but the man at the switchboard only smiles. a traffic solicitor who plies his heartbreaking work on the floor of the near-by produce exchange comes over to him and says: "i've promised smith & russell delivery of ten cars of flour at pier , east river, at seven o'clock to-morrow morning. we can't go back on them." the man at the switchboard does not lose that smooth-set smile, even though the loudly ticking clock, just above the plugs and cords, shows him that it is already six o'clock of the evening of a day when the harbor freight has run flood-high. "all right," he laughs, "smith & russell can count upon us." and the next moment he is ordering tug twenty-seven to go from the sixtieth street pier over to weehawken to get that small mountain-range of flour-bags that the "huskies" have already begun to build on a pier-floor, alongside of a string of dusty, grimy cars that have bumped their way east from minneapolis. perhaps you are interested in the personality of tug twenty-seven. take yourself away from the cool-witted despatcher and look down upon this craft--the queen of a railroad pet marine. she is as resplendent in her green and gold as any gentleman's yacht, and her crew even more proud of her. she stands in the water, a mere feet long and - / feet beam, but those wonderful shining engines in her heart can develop , horse-power--as much as many steamboats of three times her size. her watertube boilers can withstand a locomotive pressure of pounds to the square inch, she has all the accoutrements of coast liners--steam steering gears and electric lights among them. no wonder that her captain waxes eloquent about her. now ask him about what she can do. that he takes as personal achievement, and these harbor men are a bashful lot. still, you can worm it out of him, and after a while you find that tug twenty-seven has just brought a punt-nosed car-float, with sixteen loaded cars upon her rails, around from corlears hook, through the press of shipping, and around the battery where cross-tides battle against one another and against craft of all sorts, up to weehawken "bridge" in forty minutes--which is not so very bad for a ten-mile run through a congested harbor. "time counts," adds the captain. "if they had given me another twelve or fifteen minutes i could have brought around two of the floats--put together 'v' fashion and the twenty-seven with her nose stuck up into the 'v'." * * * * * in the harbor of new york is a great cluster of ferry-boats operated to overcome her barrier rivers by the several trunk-line railroads whose systems terminate at a long water-jump from the congested island of manhattan. to compete with railroads boasting terminals on manhattan island itself, these lines have been compelled to equip and operate extensive ferry fleets across both the east and the north rivers. across the first of these streams operates the navy of the long island railroad, while across the hudson ply in an intricate interlacing more than a dozen ferry routes of the central railroad of new jersey, the pennsylvania, erie, lackawanna, and the west shore railroads. the recent completion of the new york-jersey city-newark routes of the hudson tunnels, as well as the inauguration of passenger traffic through both north and east river tunnels to the new pennsylvania terminal in manhattan, has caused the abandonment of two ferry routes and curtailment of service upon several others. tunnel-diggers and bridge-builders make havoc with ferry routes, which must always remain liable to many delays because of fog, floating ice, and such other adverse weather conditions. still the railroad ferries round about new york derive no small income from the trucking service of a metropolitan city which has had to struggle for many years against great intersecting rivers, and so they will probably continue to be for many years interesting and picturesque features of new york harbor. but perhaps the most interesting of all the ferry routes of new york harbor is the attenuated line from the new york, new haven & hartford railroad's waterside terminal at port morris in the bronx, for ten miles through the east river, hell gate, around the sharp turn and tides of corlears hook and again of the battery, and across the hudson river to the old terminal of the pennsylvania railroad in jersey city. over this route goes through traffic--freight and passenger--from new england to the south and the southwest. the freight-traffic is handled largely by car-floats in charge of the busy puffing tugs, while the passenger traffic goes in ferry-boats different from the others that ply in new york harbor. for these ferry-boats are really nothing more than a bettered type of car-float--a type equipped with powerful engines for self-propulsion. through passenger trains run each day and each night between boston and baltimore and washington, and these trains are handled between port morris and jersey city upon them. the familiar _maryland_, which is operated jointly by the new haven and the pennsylvania systems upon this route, will receive an entire passenger train of ordinary length, excepting, of course, the locomotive, upon her great deck, which is, in reality, a miniature railroad yard, equipped with two long parallel tracks that can be quickly attached to the ferry-bridges at port morris and jersey city. the trip, with the loading and unloading of the train, is accomplished, under favorable weather conditions, in about an hour. it makes a pleasant break in the day trip from the capital of new england to the capital of the united states, to spend an hour tramping up and down a broad ship's deck, or dining in a roomy, sun-filled cabin, while new york itself is as completely ignored as any small way-station along the run. new yorkers themselves have long since become too accustomed to seeing the long train ferried upon the water-way that separates the two greatest boroughs of the city, to give it more than passing thought. this ferry is also finally threatened by the bridge-builders. as this is written, workmen are already preparing the pier foundations for a great railroad bridge that is to span the east river not far from hell gate, and which is to give an unbroken line of rails from the new haven's terminal at port morris, through long island city, to the pennsylvania's tunnels and terminal in manhattan island. so, also, have the tunnel-builders contrived to rob the through traveller on the michigan central of the more or less thrilling water transfer from canada to the united states at detroit. the detroit river tunnel has superseded one of the most important car-ferries in the country, but it has given to the operating heads of the michigan central one of the very shortest through routes from new york to chicago and robbed them of one of the fearful handicaps of their main line--the possibilities for constant and exasperating delays to their through trains while being ferried across the detroit river. do not underestimate the possibilities of those delays. within the past ten years, the transport _michigan_, plying from detroit to windsor, the canadian town directly opposite, and carrying a chicago-montreal flyer, was stuck for ten hours in the ice, so near the slip that a long plank would have almost reached from her deck to the wharf. that, in the lesser form, has been the history of winter after winter at the detroit ferry. shipbuilders have done their best to meet the obstacle by building car-ferries of tremendous power, sometimes even equipping them with both side-wheels and screws. but the real problem of possible delay can only be solved there by tunnels, and it is expected that the grand trunk, the canadian pacific, and the wabash--which still use the car-ferries across the detroit river--will sooner or later either tunnel beneath it or acquire trackage rights through the michigan central tubes. the detroit river is a narrow but important part of the tremendously important water highway up the great lakes, and at every part of the whole length of that highway the railroads have tried to break their way across. it has not been found impossible to bridge the st. lawrence or the niagara rivers or the wide straits at sault ste. marie, but there are other points, even besides detroit, that have as yet baffled the genius of the bridge-builder. one of the most important of these is where lake michigan forces its outlet into lake huron through the two peninsulas of the great state that bears its name. to make the two parts of michigan physically one with unbroken rail will probably not be accomplished in many years. in the meantime the stout and tremendously powerful ferry _algomah_--built so as to literally crush the ice down under her tremendous bows--plies between mackinac city, the island of mackinac, situated midstream, and st. ignace, on the north shore of the broad strait. despite the fearful severity of the winters in northern michigan the _algomah_ keeps that important path open the year round--not only for herself but for the great car-floats that follow in her wake. what is possible at the straits of mackinac is also possible across the widest part of any one of the great lakes--excepting always the emotionless superior. at least that is the way the railroad traffic men have argued for many years, and so for these many years car-ferries have plied successfully across the very hearts of three of the lakes. of all the chain, lake michigan offers the greatest natural obstruction to the natural traffic movements of the land--its great length, stretching north and south, forming an obstacle to through rail movements, and contributing not a little to the railroad importance and the wealth of chicago. so it was that car-ferries were established many years ago across lake michigan and are operated throughout the lake to-day--from manitowoc, kewaunee, milwaukee, menominee, and manistique on the west shore of the lake, to frankfort, ludington, northport, grand haven, st. joseph, and benton harbor upon the east shore. these vessels are of different construction from the ferries that cross the narrow detroit river. they lack the low freeboard and the other typical ferry construction, and are, instead, deep-gulled vessels, generally built of steel and always of great structural strength. "like the river ferries," says james c. mills, "they are ice-crushers, but of greater size and power. during two or three of the winter months the lakes are frozen in a solid sheet of ice for twenty and thirty miles from the shores, and in extremely severe winters the ice-fields meet in mid-lake. to keep a channel open in the depth of winter even for daily passages back and forth, is a hazardous undertaking for the hardy mariners. the frequent gales which sweep the lakes break up the fields into ice-floes which, driven one way or another with great force, pile up in huge banks, often in the direct course of the transports and as high as their upper decks. at such times they free themselves only after repeated buckings of the shifting mass of ice, sometimes miles in extent, by running their stout prows up on the edge of the mass, breaking it down by their sheer weight, and ploughing through the ragged, grinding blocks of ice thus formed."[ ] [ ] "our inland seas," by james c. mills, . four tracks, running the full length of the ship, generally fill the main deck of these trans-lake ships. the loading of the cars on to these tracks is accomplished at the stern, the bow being built high and, as we have just seen, somewhat after the fashion of an overhanging prow. the main deck is completely roofed over with cabins and deck-houses, so that, viewed from the rear, the ship seems to be an itinerant pair of railroad tunnels, dark and gloomy. the upper decks are gay with the resources of the marine architect--for the greater part of these boats offer accommodations for passengers as well as for from eighteen to thirty freight cars. these great ferries form valuable feeders to the grand trunk, the pere marquette, the ann arbor, and grand rapids & indiana, and some minor routes crossing michigan. similarly, car-ferries crossing lake erie from cleveland to port stanley are considerable factors both in general merchandise and in the coal trade. another lake erie route of heavy tonnage extends from ashtabula, ohio, to port burwell, ontario. within the last few years a car-ferry has been established across lake ontario, from charlotte--which is the port of rochester, n. y.--to coburg on the canadian side, which has already developed for itself a considerable traffic. but the car-ferries, extensive as they are, form but a small portion of the railroad interests upon the waters of the great lakes. almost all of the great lines through those much-travelled waters are the property of some railroad system whose rails touch one or more of their terminals. thus the northern steamship company, running from buffalo to chicago and duluth, touches the rails of its parent company, the great northern railroad, at this last port. the erie & western transportation company--popularly known as the anchor line--also running from buffalo to duluth, is a pennsylvania property. both of these lines are operated for passenger service, as well as freight. the new york central and the erie cover the same territory with exclusively freight routes. the rutland railroad has a line all the way from its western terminal at ogdensburg, on the st. lawrence river, to chicago. the canadian pacific and the grand trunk operate important lines through georgian bay and lake superior. even a small road, like the algomah central, has its own freight and passenger steamboats running south from the soo as far as cleveland, ohio. it is a pretty poor line with great lakes terminals that cannot boast some sort of steamship service of its own. in the development of the coastwise and the inland waterways of the united states, the railroad may be doing the nation a far greater service than it imagines. for the general trend of railroad expansion in the country to-day seems to be toward a development of the auxiliary water-routes rather than toward their curtailment. the railroad has finally realized that some coarse commodities can be carried far more economically by water than by rail. it is to-day seeking to avail itself of that acquired knowledge. if competing and feeding trolley lines are good things for railroads to own--and the present-day judgment seems to be that they are--the same rule holds doubly good in regard to both competing and feeding water-routes. chapter xxvi keeping in touch with the men the first organized branch of the railroad y. m. c. a.--cornelius vanderbilt's gift of a club-house--growth of the railroad y. m. c. a.--plans by the railways to care for the sick and the crippled--the pension system--entertainments--model restaurants--free legal advice--employees' magazines--the order of the red spot. the historic gray union station, which still stands at cleveland, housed what was destined to be the very first systematic effort of the railroad to get in touch and keep in touch with its men. in that building, once new and splendid, but now old and grimy, george meyers, the depot master, gathered a group of railroaders on a sunday away back in . the man came again on a second sunday, still again on a third; after a little while those sunday afternoon gatherings became habitual, and a new kink in all the intricacy of railroading was established. the meetings were partly religious and partly social, and eventually they led to a distinct innovation in that depot. this little conference of meyers was, in , developed into the first organized branch of the railroad young men's christian association. general john h. devereux, the general manager of the lake shore & michigan southern railway; reuben f. smith, of the cleveland & pittsburgh railroad, and oscar townsend of the big four railroad were chosen directors of the branch. henry w. stage, a train-despatcher on the lake shore, was earnestly and intensely enthusiastic in this work; and because of his zeal and enthusiasm, together with that of george meyers, this branch was successful from the outset. the lake shore railroad, whose headquarters were in that same union depot at cleveland then was and still is a pet property of the vanderbilt family, also owners of the great new york central system. the heads of that family began watching the cleveland experiment with unusual interest. the reports that came from them were unusual. that scheme of the depot master's seemed to be making a better grade of railroader in and around cleveland, and any institution that bettered the type of railroaders interested the vanderbilts. so the thing that meyers had founded soon had wealthy patrons and strong friends. the vanderbilts kept their shoulders to the wheels of the railroad y. m. c. a., kept it out of the ruts and from falling. they saw it introduced here and introduced there on their group of railroads; saw it spread to other lines; and finally, cornelius vanderbilt himself built a splendid club-house for railroad men at the great terminal of his road in new york city and turned it over to the management of the railroad y. m. c. a. that house, standing almost in the shade of the grand central station, after a quarter of a century, still ranks as one of the distinctly fine club-homes of a city that is opulent in club-houses. it is still dedicated to simplicity, to democracy, to decency, and to good fellowship. there is not a railroader coming into the big passenger terminal--from either the new york central or the new haven system--who is not welcome to it, day or night. engineers, firemen, conductors, trainmen all come into its hospitable door after a long hard run to find the clean comfort of good meals, bath, comfortable beds, good fellowship awaiting them. there is the peculiar and the successful field of the railroad y. m. c. a.; perhaps as much as any, the real reason for its pronounced success. few railroaders in train service can leave their homes in the morning, "double their runs," and be home at night. the hard part of the business is that in most cases a man will have to spend one night, occasionally two nights, out on the run. the difficulties of this are not readily understood without a slight examination. in a large city the railroader finds that it is a shabby sort of a hotel or lodging-house that can come regularly within his scheme of economy. when he strikes the little town, or frequently the big terminal or division freight-yard around which is no town at all, the problem only multiplies. j. m. burwick, a veteran conductor of the duluth & iron range railroad, told that problem in his own sincere way last year at a big dinner of railroad men in st. louis. "i left home a beautiful morning in ' ," said mr. burwick. "i went down to lafayette and to my first boarding-house; and up to that time i don't think any railroad man ever found a boarding-house except it was tied up to a saloon. i was in a place like that. another place i was running into was where they made a division point in a corn-field. the company built a large building for the benefit of the men, and then they rented it to be run as a hotel. but the man in charge ran it to make money, and the steak he cut with his razor. i know he did, because it was so thin. at other places we had to sleep in a hot yard, in a hot caboose not fit for a man to try and sleep in; and then we had to stay awake on the road that night." that was burwick's testimony as to the conditions just before the coming of the railroad y. m. c. a. an engineer from the new york central, a man who had slept many nights in that comfortable club-house at the grand central, went up into canada a few years ago and took an engine on a division running out of kenora. the only place that a railroad man could find board and lodging in that town at that time was a boarding-house with the saloon attachment, and he was welcome there for but a limited time, unless he was a reasonably liberal patron of the saloon. the engineer--his name is mccrea--changed that order of things and established a branch of the railroad y. m. c. a., which in four years gained members and threatened to close the saloons of the place. [illustration: this is what new york central mccrea did for the men of the canadian pacific up at kenora] [illustration: a clubhouse built by the southern pacific for its men at roseville, california] [illustration: the b. & o. boys enjoying the railroad y. m. c. a., chicago junction] [illustration: "the brooklyn rapid transit company has organized a brass band for its employees"] now you get the reason for the welcome that the railroad-owners gave this work of the y. m. c. a. it was not the religious idea alone--men differ in their views of that sort of thing--but one of the most stringent of all railroad rules is that prohibiting the use of liquor by the men, or their frequenting bar-rooms. the necessity of that rule appears upon the face of it. but the canadian railroad could do little toward enforcing it in a place like kenora, before mccrea, of the new york central, arrived there. the railroad y. m. c. a., with its comfortable housing facilities, its vigorous stand for better morals and better men, has made that rule one of the easiest in the book to be strictly observed. that is why the railroad-owners and the railroad heads, whose religious views have sometimes been at variance with those of the y. m. c. a., have given hearty endorsement to its work along their lines. they like the sort of man it finishes. so the railroad y. m. c. a. has grown. it now has some branches reaching from hawaii, in the west, to some important division points in eastern maine. none of these have houses that can be compared, of course, with the comfortable home at the grand central station in new york. in fact, some of them are still housed in crude fashion, in an abandoned shed or depot that some railroad has fitted up as a start in the work, over some store or freight-house perhaps; but each year sees these replaced by neat homes, such as those at harrisburgh, on the pennsylvania; at collinwood, o., on the lake shore; at baltimore, on the b. & o.; at the st. louis union station, and the williamson, w. va., on the norfolk and western railway. on a single system--the new york central--there are associations, with buildings built for the purpose and valued at $ , , and a very active membership of , railroaders. in the national organization membership there are more than , men, representing every department of the railroad service. an average of , meals--and mighty good reasonably priced meals they are, too--is served daily, while more than , railroaders come to the club-houses each twenty-four hours. * * * * * beyond the necessity for maintaining the moral fibre of the railroader (and it is astonishing how little maintenance such a corps needs) is the decent necessity of taking care of him in case of illness. railroading, with all the safety devices that have multiplied in its service within the past quarter of a century, is still a hazardous occupation to the men who are out upon the line. the list of cripples, and the death-list of a twelvemonth, are still appalling things--appalling in the aggregate, fearful in any single concrete case, a case where there may be a helpless wife and little children to be brought into the reckoning. the railroads have begun to shoulder their responsibility in this matter. legislation has helped in the matter but to-day big carriers are preparing to do even more--to pay premiums and carry some form of casualty insurance on each of their employees, who may be engaged in a hazardous part of the work. that thing is going to do more than any other one thing possibly could do. when a big railroad realizes that its bill for premiums is going to be reduced by the addition of many simple protective devices, those devices are going to be instantly adopted. that is the way of railroads, and of business, although it is not to be charged for a single moment that the american railroads have not done much within the past years toward raising the margin of safety for their employees. of course, the railroaders have long since had their insurance, although the regular life companies look upon them with distrust as risks. they have been forced either to pay high premiums in the regular companies or else to organize insurance of their own. their brotherhoods have carried forth this work with interest and with skill. these brotherhoods, or unions, of the locomotive engineers, the firemen, the conductors, the trainmen, and several other branches of the service, have been mighty agents, too, in the development of the moral fibre of the american railroader. lack of space prevents a consideration of each in detail. to do them but simple justice, to sing the epic of the mighty brotherhood of locomotive engineers, for instance (which has only recently finished a great building of its own in cleveland), would require a volume for itself. * * * * * but the railroads have not been negligent in this matter. for instance, a man on the baltimore & ohio can pay $ . a month out of his pay envelope and have $ , . life insurance. he can likewise pay $ . a month, and $ , . will be paid his heirs upon his death. the railroad company stands back of this fund and guarantees the insurance. it makes good from its own treasury any deficit or shortage that might be incurred in its operation. for twenty years the pennsylvania has conducted a similar work, under the title of the voluntary relief department. membership in this is, as the name indicates, purely voluntary, the road's employees being admitted, after favorable physical examination, up to the age of years and months. the pennsylvania railroad company in this instance also stands as guarantor of the insurance fund. a close examination of it in some detail may interest. the following table shows the detail--the five classes into which employees may enter: st nd rd th th class class class class class monthly pay any $ or $ or $ or $ or rate more more more more contributions per month: class $ . $ . $ . $ . $ . additional death benefit, equal death benefits of class: taken at not over years of age . . . . . taken at over years and not over years of age . . . . . taken at over years of age . . . . . disablement benefits per day, including sundays and holidays: accident: first weeks . . . . . after weeks . . . . . sickness: after first three days and not longer than weeks . . . . . after weeks . . . . . death benefits: for class . . . . . additional that may be taken . . . . . an employee, however, who is under forty-five years of age, who has been five years in the service and a member of the relief fund for one year, may enter any higher class than that determined by his pay, upon passing satisfactory physical examination. payments from the fund vary from forty cents per day for sickness and fifty cents for accident in the service, for members in the first class, to $ . per day for sickness and $ . for accident with a death benefit of from $ . to $ , . , according to class of membership and death benefit held. since the fund has been in operation, the following payments have been made, to december , , inclusive:-- for accident death benefits $ , , . sickness death benefits , , . accident disablement benefits , , . sickness disablement benefits , , . superannuation allowances , . operating expenses , , . --------------- total $ , , . during the same period, the pennsylvania has contributed to the fund in operating expenses, gratuities, etc., exclusive of interest, the following: for operating expenses $ , , . special payment, etc. , . for deficiencies , . -------------- total $ , , . in addition to what the pennsylvania is doing in the payment of the pensions and contributions for the maintenance of the relief fund, the relief and pension departments have the use of the telegraph and the train service free of charge; and in case of accident in the service to employees, free surgical and hospital attendance is furnished, and, where necessary, artificial limbs or other appliances, without cost to the employee. no figures are available as to the cost of surgical attendance, or the furnishing of artificial limbs, but it is conservatively estimated by the pennsylvania officers as equalling the amount paid for the operation of the relief department. the modern railroad does not wait, however, for a man to become injured or to die before assuming any responsibility for his care. there may come a day when the burden of years makes him a little less fit for the strenuous service of railroading. it is nature's way of telling man that he has labored well and that he is entitled to a rest. in other days, the railroad recognized this in a rather informal way. it took its veteran employees, retired them into a comfortable ease, and had the paymaster send them checks each month for a part of their old wages. out of that custom the railroad pension system was born, only with this sharp distinction: in the old way the man was taught to believe his monthly check a favor or gratuity on the part of the railroad; under the pension system he comes to know it, not as an act of charity but as his right, a right earned by long hard years of faithful service. this idea has begun to be recognized as fundamental by railroad managers. directors and officers now realize that the pension fund and some of these other features that we have just considered, are causes directly contributing to the efficiency of the railroad. the policy is merely one of good management. again, let us see the way the pennsylvania handles this matter, not because the pennsylvania is alone in this thing, but rather because it is one of the largest and most distinctive of american railroads, and almost a pioneer in this work. before it began paying pensions to retired employees, the pennsylvania had already long conducted a relief fund and a savings fund, and had contributed to libraries and railroad branches of the y. m. c. a. the pensions are paid entirely by the company. in the year , for instance, $ , was paid out to the men who had retired between the ages of and . from the time the fund was established until the end of , appropriations for it amounted to more than $ , , , now paid to some , men annually. employees may retire for age at , or for physical incapacitation between and . if they have been in the service as long as years, they are granted an allowance based on one per cent of the monthly wages for each year of service. the percentage is based on the wages received for the ten years preceding retirement. thus, if an engineer, or a brakeman, or a fireman, has served the pennsylvania years, he may retire between and and receive not less than per cent of his monthly wages during the last years of work. the other railroads using the pension scheme have followed these general outlines for their work. it has become an established feature of railroad operation, and recently a second vice-president was created on the baltimore & ohio for the express purpose of handling the company's relief work. sometimes the railroad organizes savings-funds for employees, paying from three and one-half to as high as five per cent on their deposits, limiting these to something like a hundred dollars a month, and making every agent on the system a depositary of the fund. * * * * * the street railroad systems in the large cities, together with a few of the larger interurban systems, have recently begun to adopt systematic methods of keeping in touch with their employees. the brooklyn rapid transit company, operating a great system in a part of metropolitan new york, and employing more than , men, was a pioneer in this work. it found that while the railroad y. m. c. a. was efficient for the club-house work on steam railroads, there were local conditions in brooklyn that made it best for the company to build and operate its own club-houses. the first of these was remodelled from an old car-barn. it became a very interesting club, with reading-rooms, baths, a barber-shop, a gymnasium, class-rooms for evening study, and a theatre, seating some , folk. for the theatre the railroad hires vaudeville actors, and gives its great semi-official family free entertainments--followed by dancing and refreshments. on very especial nights the talent is furnished entirely by the trolley-men and very effective talent it is, too. on all nights the music is furnished by the brooklyn rapid transit band, made up entirely of street-car men and men from the elevated roads of the system. the railroad company has furnished the music, the uniforms, the instruments, and the directors--all that the men have had to furnish is their time and interest, and these they have furnished in such good measure that there is a waiting-list now large enough to equip a second full brass band. the brooklyn system has also begun to establish model restaurants in its outlying barns, where clean and good food is furnished to the men at cost. the street railroad is, in some such cases as these, confronted with a steam railroad problem. many of the big car-barns are in sparsely settled suburbs of the city where the only eating-places have been saloons or their adjuncts. the street railroad can no more afford to have its men in saloons, than its bigger brother. to take from them the one decent excuse for being in such places it is establishing its restaurants, where the men can have cleaner and better food than in the saloons, and without the risk to the railroad. the brooklyn road and the other large systems have adopted the relief and pension funds; the idea seems to spread as rapidly among the electric as it did among the steam railroads. some of them have added odd and efficient "kinks" of their own. for instance, the boston elevated railway makes presents of gold at new year's day, ranging from $ to $ each, to each of its men who has a clean record for courtesy to patrons, and boston gains a reputation through that for the uniform courtesy of her trolley-men. the boston elevated has also inaugurated a policy of giving free legal advice to each of its employees who may need it. it has always been a perquisite of high railroad officers to avail themselves of the road's legal department for their personal needs. under the boston plan this perquisite is extended to every man on the road--the young motorman who had foolishly gone to a loan shark, and who is now being harried by him; the old conductor who wishes to convey a house or draw a will. the road's legal department will advise him sincerely, in his own best interest. it will draw up his legal papers, do anything for him except take his case into court, and even then it will advise an honest and capable attorney for him. as for that motorman who went to the loan shark when he found an immediate need of fifty dollars, the road stands ready to advance him the money upon good cause, and will charge him only a nominal rate of interest until it has gradually repaid itself from his wages. his division superintendent is empowered to hear his story with sympathetic ear, and to arrange for the loan. employees' magazines have been decided factors in both bringing and keeping the railroad in touch with its army of men. the erie was a pioneer in this work five years ago; the plan has since been adopted with signal success by the northwestern, the illinois central, the santa fe, the pere marquette, and some other lines. these little magazines, made interesting enough in a general way to catch and hold the attention of their readers, are sent out each month to every man on the system with his pay-check. they spread railroad interest and railroad enthusiasm among their readers. on one page they tell of styles for the engineer's wife, and on the next they show an economical use of coal for the engineer; and so they may help to pay their way. they tell of errors and mistakes among the railroad's employees, without mentioning names, so that men may profit by them and act differently. but they print the names of the railroaders who do the good things, the novel things, the practical things, the economical things, the heroic things, out along the line. and this roll of honor is a long one. but it is not always in the big things that a railroad keeps in touch with its men, sometimes it is in very small things. some time ago, a division superintendent on the erie railroad decided that for each of his engineers who kept his engine in particularly good order for a given length of time, he would have the number plate on the front of the boiler painted in red. "we will have the order of the red spot," laughed superintendent parsons, of the susquehanna division, as he signed a bulletin announcing the thing. now that was a little thing. the cost of painting that red spot on the breast of some proud locomotive was but nominal; but listen to the result! a big erie officer was up the line a few months later, and was loafing in a junction-town on the susquehanna division, waiting for a through train. he walked down to the end of the station platform and there stood a passenger locomotive waiting to take a train in the other direction. it belonged to the proud order of the red spot, an order of which this particular officer had not heard; and the engineer was already about it with his long-handled oil-can. the officer did not reveal his identity, but said: "waiting to take out a special?" the engineer did not look up, but said: "we carry forty-six over the division." "i didn't think that forty-six was due for two hours yet," said the railroad officer. "she is not," answered the engineer, "but i've been down here an hour and a half already fussing with this baby to have her in shape. you may notice that she belongs to the order of the red spot." then that particular man came to know about the red spots. all the way back to jersey city he kept looking for red spots, and every time he saw one, he saw an engine slick and clean, as if she had just come from the shops. that set him to thinking; and after he was done thinking, parsons was promoted in service, and the order of the red spot was established for the system. there has been an exalted division made of that order recently. when a man can be assigned to one engine and he brings her into the red-spot class and keeps her there, the railroad dedicates that engine to him for the rest of his lifetime upon the system. his name, in gilt letters, goes upon the cab-panel of the engine, whereas in other days you used to see those of statesmen and of railroad-owners; and there it stays until the engine goes to the scrap-heap. the other day the first of these engines, drawing a waldwick local, pulled into the jersey city passenger terminal; on its cab was "harvey springstead" so large and clear that you could read it across the yard; in the cab-window was harvey springstead, prouder for that moment than any earthly prince or potentate. sometimes the competitive idea is the best to foster to accomplish results from the men, and to bind them and the road a bit closer together. we have seen how a fortnight of "t. b. m. f." repairs to a locomotive has been quickened down under contest to hours and minutes. many of the more successful railroads began some years ago to institute annual contests between their section-bosses. the section-boss who kept his stretch of the right-of-way in cleanest, trimmest shape for a twelvemonth got a black and gold sign at his hand-car house, so big that folk who rode in the fast expresses could read the honor that it conferred upon him. sometimes he gets more--a trip pass for his wife and himself to some distant point, or even a cash prize. annually the superintendent of maintenance may run a special train, with a specially devised observation grandstand at its rear or pushed ahead of the engine. on that grandstand sit all the section bosses and other track maintenance experts. they see the other fellow's sections--and their own; and some time on that trip there is a little dinner and the awarding of the prizes. do not even dare to think that these things count for little upon the railroad. they are mighty factors in the maintenance of one of its very greatest factors, the human one. chapter xxvii the coming of electricity electric street cars--suburban cars--electric third-rail from utica to syracuse--some railroads partially adopt electric power--the benefit of electric power in tunnels--also at terminal stations--conditions which make electric traction practical and economical--hopeful outlook for electric traction--the monorail and the gyroscope car, invented by louis brennan--a similar invention by august scherl. it is barely more than a quarter of a century since electricity first became practical for use as a motive power upon railroads. the early experiments of thomas a. edison at menlo park, n. j., and upon the now abandoned railroad up mount mcgregor, n. y., soon gave way to real electric street railroads in montgomery, ala., in richmond, va., and from brooklyn to jamaica, n. y. these, in turn, gave way to still better forms of electric traction, until the trolley has not only all but entirely driven the horse-car and the cable-car from city streets, but has performed a notable new transportation function in giving quick communication from one town to another in the well-settled portions of the country. these enterprises are quite outside of the province of this book; the cases where the electric locomotive and electric motor-car have usurped the steam locomotive upon its own rails are pertinent. as soon as the electric railroad had begun to reach out into the country from the sharp confines of the towns, the steam railroad men began to take interest. it would have been even better for them if some of them had taken sharper interest at the beginning. but the few men who were long-sighted enough a dozen years ago to see the development possibilities of a form of traction that was comparatively inexpensive to install and to operate have been repaid for their sagacity. these men began a dozen years ago to wonder if electricity could not be brought to the service of the long-established steam railroad. in most cases the short suburban steam roads outside of large cities, which were as apt to be operated by "dummy engines" as by standard locomotives, were the first to be electrified, and in these cases they usually became extensions of the then novel trolley lines. folk no longer had to come in upon a poky little "dummy train" of uncertain schedule and decidedly uncertain habits, and then transfer at the edge of the crowded portion of the city to horse-cars. they could go flying from outer country to the heart of the town in half an hour, and upon frequent schedule, and the business of building and booming suburbs was born. after these roads had been developed, other steam lines began to study the situation. a little steam road that had wandered off into the hills of columbia county from hudson, n. y., and had led a precarious existence, extended its rails a few more miles and became the third-rail electric line from albany to hudson, and a powerful competitor for passenger traffic of a large trunk-line railroad. the new york, new haven, & hartford found the electric third-rail of good service between two adjacent connecticut cities, hartford and new britain; the overhead trolley a good substitute for the locomotive on a small branch that ran a few miles north from stamford, conn. but the problems of electric traction for regular railroads were somewhat complicated, and the big steam roads rather avoided them until they were forced upon their attention. the interurban roads had spread too rapidly in many, many cases, where they were made the opportunities for such precarious financing as once distinguished the history of steam roads--and they had in most of these cases made havoc with thickly settled stretches of branch lines and main lines. in a great many cases the steam roads have had to dig deep into their pockets and buy at good stiff prices the very roads the building of which they might have anticipated with just a little forethought. the new york central & hudson river took such forethought after some of its profitable branches in western new york had been paralleled by high-speed trolleys, and a very few years ago installed the electric third-rail on its west shore property from utica to syracuse, miles. the west shore is one of the great tragedies in american railroading. built in the early eighties from weehawken (opposite new york city) to buffalo, it had apparently no greater object than to parallel closely the new york central and to attempt to take away from the older road some of the fine business it had held for many years. after bitter rate-war, the new york central, with all the resources and the ability of the vanderbilts behind it, won decisively, and bought its new rival for a song. but a property so closely paralleling its own tracks has been practically useless to it all the way from albany to buffalo, save as a relief line for the overflow of through freight. so the west shore tracks for high-class high-speed through electric service from utica to syracuse was a happy thought. under steam conditions only two passenger trains were run over that somewhat moribund property in each direction daily, while the two trains of sleeping-cars passing over the tracks at night were of practically no use to the residents of those two cities. under electric conditions, there is a fast limited service of third-rail cars or trains, leaving each terminal hourly; making but two stops and the run of over miles in an hour and twenty minutes. there is also high-speed local service, and the line has become immensely popular. by laying stretches of third and fourth tracks at various points, the movement of the new york central's overflow through freight has not been seriously incommoded. the electric passenger service is not operated by the new york central, but by the oneida railways company, in which the controlling interests of the steam road have large blocks of stock. [illustration: a high-speed electric locomotive on the pennsylvania bringing a through train out of the tunnel underneath the hudson river and into the new york city terminal] [illustration: high-speed direct-current locomotive built by the westinghouse company for the terminal service of the pennsylvania railroad, in new york] [illustration: two triple-phase locomotives of the great northern railway helping a double-header steam train up the grade into the cascade tunnel] [illustration: the outer shell of the new haven's freight locomotive removed, showing the working parts of the machine] similarly, the erie railroad disposed of a decaying branch of its system, running from north tonawanda to lockport, to the buffalo street railroad system, although reserving for itself the freight traffic in and out of lockport. the buffalo road installed the overhead trolley system, and now operates an efficient and profitable trolley service upon that branch. perhaps it was because the erie saw the application of these ideas, and decided that it was better to take its own profits from electric passenger service than to rent its branches again to an outside company; and perhaps because it also foresaw the coming electrification of its network of suburban lines around new york, and wished to test electric traction to its own satisfaction; but five years ago it changed the suburban service of its lines from the south up into rochester from steam to electric. it is now preparing to continue this work further. the pennsylvania, while its great new station in new york was still a matter of engineer's blue prints, began practical experiments with electric traction in the flat southern portion of new jersey. it owned a section of line ideally situated in every respect for such experiments, its original and rather indirect route from canada to atlantic city, which had since been more or less superseded by a shorter "air line" route. the third-rail was installed, and the new line became at once popular for suburban traffic in and out of philadelphia and for the great press of local traffic between philadelphia and atlantic city. of the success of that move on the part of the pennsylvania there has never been the slightest question. regular trains have been operated for several years over this route at miles an hour, and not the slightest difficulty has been found in maintaining the schedules. but nowhere has the substitution of electric locomotive for the steam worked greater comfort for the railroad passenger--to say nothing, of the raising of that somewhat intangible factor of safety--than in long tunnels. the baltimore & ohio, which was a pioneer among the steam railroads in the use of electric locomotives, began to use them in in its great tunnel that pierces the very foundations of the city of baltimore. that system, once adopted, became permanent. what was at one time a fearful summer experience between camden station and mount royal station in that city has become merely a pleasant novelty upon the trip. what could be done at baltimore has been done under the detroit river, twice. the grand trunk pierced underneath that stream in , by a single-track tunnel , feet in length, in which for seventeen years both freight and passenger trains were hauled by special locomotives, fitted for the burning of anthracite coal. although these engines rendered rather satisfactory service, it was found desirable to substitute electric locomotives for them in order to remove the limitations of haulage capacity in the tunnel; for it is a known fact that electric trains can be operated much more rapidly and also more closely together than steam. the change obviated the danger and inconvenience due to locomotive gases in the tunnel. the electric locomotives first went into service in february, . the tunnel is now clean, well-lighted, and safe to work in; and trains of much greater length than before can be hauled, thus relieving the congestion in the freight-yards on both sides of the river. similarly, electric locomotives have become the tractive power in the great new tunnel which the michigan central has just completed across the detroit river at detroit, and upon the cascade tunnel where the great northern railroad pierces one of the great ranges of the western divide. the cascade tunnel is interesting from the fact that it is entirely built upon a heavy grade of . per cent for its length of more than three miles. the steam locomotives are cut out from the service, while on the heavy up-grade of the tunnels an electric locomotive, of tremendous pulling power, will carry even the heaviest freights through the bore at an average speed of fifteen miles an hour. these cascade tunnel locomotives are the only ones in the country taking alternating current at triple phase and at the tremendous voltage of , directly from an overhead trolley wire. and that will bring us in a moment to another consideration of this question of the development and the delivery of power. the most recent of tunnel installations has just been completed in the greatest of all american mountain bores--the hoosac tunnel. this famous tube, four and three-quarters miles in length, gave itself very readily to the skill of the electric engineer, with the result that the boston & maine system, its present owner, finds the greatest impediment to the operation of its main line from boston to the west entirely removed. the earlier installations were all what is known as direct current; that is, the power is brought directly from the dynamos in the power-houses and by means of third-rail or overhead trolley it is delivered to the motors of the locomotives of the cars. but some years ago the larger of the distinctively electric railroads found that for great current demands over a large distributing district, this system was expensive and impracticable; that, for the chief thing, it required copper cables for carrying long-distance current so large as to be of very great cost. so some of these, with the aid of the electrical manufacturers, experimented and developed the alternating current of high voltage and low amperage, which is capable of being carried to distant transforming or sub-stations and there reduced to low voltage and high amperage. this alternating current system, because of its great operating economies, is rapidly becoming the standard for the city railroad systems of metropolitan communities, as well as for the great trunk-line interurban electric roads that are beginning to gridiron the country. the new haven railroad, when it first began to electrify its extensive suburban service into new york city, was the first to bring it to the service of a standard steam road, and by a clever adaptation of its locomotives was able to bring a single-phase alternating-current directly to them at the enormously high voltage of , , without the use of transforming stations or direct-current transmission. after some fearfully disappointing experiments at the outset, the new haven system has finally proved the worth of its alternating-current, and the road is now engaged in erecting its overhead transmission construction all the way from stamford (the present terminal of the electrical service) to new haven, miles distant from new york. within ten years its heavy new york and boston traffic will probably be entirely handled by electricity, and the run of miles will be made without difficulty in four hours or even less. at present the steam locomotives of these trains and the other trains that serve almost all of new england are detached from the inbound movement at stamford, and the remaining miles of the run into the grand central station is made behind a powerful electric locomotive. the process is, of course, reversed on outbound trains. for the miles from woodlawn into the grand central the run is made over the tracks of the harlem division of the new york central railroad which uses direct current at a voltage of , and third-rail instead of overhead transmission. the wonderful adaptability of the alternating current is shown, not in the fact that a change must be made from overhead trolley to third-rail alone, for that is merely a slight mechanical problem, but in the fact that a locomotive hauling a heavy train can, without a great slacking of speed, change from receiving an alternating current of , volts to a direct current of volts. outbound, it reverses the process. the necessity of clearing out the smoke-filled park avenue tunnel approach to the grand central station brought both the new york central, its owner, and the new haven, its tenant, to electric traction for terminal and suburban service at new york. the new york central's system, as has already been stated, is direct-current and it is supplied from two great power-houses in the suburban district. through trains are hauled in and out of the station by electric locomotives, while suburban trains, which make their round-trip runs entirely within the or miles of electric zone, are run without locomotives, the steel suburban coaches having motors set within their trucks, after the ordinary fashion of electric cars across the land. the change from steam to electricity at the grand central station did more, however, than merely clear the long-approach tunnel of smoke and foul gases, so that nowadays a man can ride on the observation-platform over its entire length. the traffic in that wonderfully busy station has for many years had sharp limitations because of the four tracks in that tunnel, two tracks being used for the train movement in each direction. the limited station-yard capacity at the terminal has necessitated many trains being stored at mott haven yards; and the drilling of these empty trains in and out of the station, combined with the normally heavy movement of regular and special trains, has only added to the great congestion. the minimum three-minute headway between trains operated by steam through the tunnel, and its four-tracked viaduct approach, fixed the maximum traffic at trains an hour in each direction. the capacity of the terminal with this limitation of service was taxed to its utmost, and some relief for the constantly increasing traffic was imperative. now, owing to the improved conditions of electric operation, trains may be run on a two-minute headway, or less--this one measure thus increasing the station capacity by per cent at the least. the new haven road has also adopted the practice of running some of its suburban trains without locomotives, but by means of motors underneath each coach--the multiple-unit system, as electrical engineers have come to know it. this is the system, with some slight variations, upon which the elevated and subway lines of new york, brooklyn, boston, philadelphia, and chicago are operated; and it is quickly applicable, as we have just seen, to some phases of terminal operation for the standard steam railroads. but the steam locomotive is to hold its own for many years, in many, many phases of railroad operation; electric traction is practical and economical only when there are fairly congested traffic conditions. the coaches that are standard for it, and which it must haul for many miles across the land, must be handled in the electrically equipped terminals by electric locomotives of one type or another. these locomotives are generally equipped with coal-heaters for maintaining the steam in the heating-pipes of the through equipment; and in these days, when the electric lighting of through trains is all but universal, they may supply current for this purpose also. electric locomotives have been completely successful where they have been used, both alone and in connection with multiple-unit suburban trains, in the grand central station and the pennsylvania station in new york city as the first complete installations. but what has been so successfully done in new york will soon be repeated in other big cities in the land; boston is already insisting that the network of suburban lines that spreads over her environs be electrified; philadelphia is preparing for the electrification of the pennsylvania's fan-work of lines into broad street station; baltimore is demanding that what has been done in one great tunnel underneath her foundation hills be repeated in two others. chicago will see great installations of this service within the next few years. nor is the use of electricity upon the standard steam railroad to stop bluntly with these terminal changes and improvements; many and many a decaying branch is yet to be fanned into new life, new strength, new activity, through a skilful transformation of its tractive powers. what has been done at the detroit river and the cascade tunnels is to be done elsewhere across the land--through the dozens of points where railroads pierce the mountains and go under the rivers by tunnels. electric tunnels are yet to bring the pennsylvania at lower grade at gallitzin and the southern pacific through the high crest of the sierras. electric traction for the big steam roads is still in its infancy. only , miles out of a total of , miles of steam railroad in the land are as yet operated by electricity. the other day a big traffic-man sat in his chicago office and said: "the first railroad that electrifies for the thousand or less miles between this town and new york is going to get all the rich passenger business. not a big portion of it, mind you, but every single blessed bit of it!" * * * * * consider for a final moment, in passing, the mono-rail, the gyroscope. if you are a practical railroader you may laugh and say: "a toy." perhaps it is a toy to-day. but just remember history and you will recall that the toy of to-day becomes the tool of to-morrow, and then give the mono-rail a moment of sober thought. less than , feet of this construction formed a most interesting exhibit at the jamestown exposition of . a railroad man who rode on that experimental track said: "if you had built more than feet of track you could have given a better demonstration of your system." to this the inventor smilingly replied: "you have gone over , feet." the investigator had ridden faster than miles an hour and had not realized the speed. you never do in the mono-rail car. it rides more gently over the roughest bit of track than the finest limited moves over heavy rail and stone ballast, the best track that men can maintain. an actual railroad of the mono-rail type has been built and is being developed in the suburbs of new york city. it supersedes a railroad of the oldest type--horse-cars--from bartow to city island, in the bronx. balance is kept for its cars by means of a light overhead metal construction, hardly more conspicuous than that of the overhead trolley-work used in city streets. this overhead work, like the trolley-wire, supplies electric power to the cars; only in emergencies will it come into play to hold the one-legged car erect. on this stretch of line speed and balance tests will be made when passenger traffic is at low-tide. upon the result of these tests will be drawn the construction plans for a four-track rapid transit railroad from new york to newark, ten miles. this last plan has already been financed by new york men who have made transportation their chief problem for many years. it may be developed upon the rails of a double-track railroad, more than doubling its capacity, without increasing the width of the right-of-way. all of these mono-rail roads will become applicable to the gyroscope when that wondrous man-toy becomes a man-tool. and the gyroscope demands no overhead construction of any sort. it simply asks a single rail upon which to find a path and offers no objections either to the steepest of grades or to the sharpest of curves. the first model of gyroscope car showed its ability to navigate easily the full length of a piece of crooked gas-pipe, laid in rough semblance of a track. for there is a gyroscope car already--in fact, several of them. on may , , louis brennan, a brilliant irish inventor, living in england, exhibited the first model of the gyroscope car, and the news was flashed in detail all the way around the world. the little car he then showed was enough to interest the keenest of scientists. it traversed every sort of mono-rail track that could be devised, at varying rates of speed, it stood still at the inventor's command and retained its balance perfectly. when a man's hand was pushed against it as if to throw the car off its seemingly slight balance, it pushed back, stanchly held that balance, and brennan laughingly said that there was something that compared with the velocity of the wind. when he spoiled the even trim of his ship (it did look like a boat as it sped around the lawn upon its narrow, guiding thread) and placed the weights upon one side of the car, that side rose up to receive them. the car still held its balance perfectly, and brennan said that his act represented forty or fifty persons moving suddenly across a full-sized passenger coach. finally, he placed his little daughter in the car and sent it out over a deep gully where a single stout steel cable served as a suspension bridge. the inventor's assistant swung that bridge like a hammock but the car laughed at the old-fashioned domineering laws of gravity, and the little girl waved her hand at her daddy. well might she wave her hand at him. his achievement was a real triumph. from a top revolving in a frame at any angle he had evolved the gyroscope car, the one thing required for the successful development of the mono-rail. from that car he has been steadily developing better ones. on the tenth of november, , he built a full-sized car upon which twenty men and boys rode in glee. on that self-same day, by strange coincidence, a german inventor, august scherl, exhibited in a large hall in dresden, a mono-rail car, held at perfect equilibrium by a gyroscope which he had quietly built and perfected. the car was feet long and feet wide, and mounted on two trucks. the net weight was - / tons, while the gyroscope itself, turning in a vacuum at the fearful rate of , revolutions a minute, weighed but - / per cent of the total weight of the car. it carried eight persons, and when first shown in berlin it caused a tremendous sensation, , persons witnessing the trial during a period of five days. even royalty took its turn at riding in the novel conveyance. * * * * * the first question that the average man asks when he sees a gyroscope is: "well, this thing may be all right when it is in motion, but how the deuce is it going to support itself when it is standing still?" but it does support itself. the gyroscope wheels continue to revolve at something close to , revolutions a minute, and they hold the car, so that the fluctuation in the weight it carries, due to loading or unloading, does not affect it, even in slight degree. the average man remains unconvinced. "suppose the electric power that spins the gyroscope goes back on you?" he demands. the inventor tells him that that is easy enough. the gyroscope, revolving in a vacuum, will keep on turning at sufficient speed to balance the car for nearly an hour. long before that the side-stays, that make the car a three-pronged structure while out of service, can be dropped. when to-morrow finally comes and the gyroscope car is in its own, provision will be made on all through mono-rail routes against just such an emergency. at various points sidings will be constructed with low walls, just high enough to receive the cars when their gyroscope equilibrium ceases. these will be just as much a part of the equipment of the mono-rail trunk line as wharves are a part of steamship service. it will be a part that will receive less and less attention as folk begin to realize how little dependent the gyroscope car is upon the old laws of gravity. "we will have billiard cars in our fastest trains," says brennan. "a man will be able to play that delicate game on a railroad train all the way from new york to san francisco, if he chooses." contemplate that, you railroaders and travelled folk of to-day. those cars will make the cars of to-day seem like pygmies. each will be feet in length and feet in width. no wonder that people can talk of billiard tables. a train of six of these cars will be longer than the longest of our transcontinental expresses of to-day. they will be fastened together with vestibule connections, and the forward end of the first car will have a sharp beak. the blunt front of an ordinary train begins to be a speed obstacle at more than miles an hour. speed? do you think that miles an hour is speed? our locomotives do far better than that every day in the united states. a train on a standard railroad and hauled by steam as a motive power has gone faster than the rate of miles an hour. with the mono-rail and the gyroscope, with the countless mountain brooks and rivers harnessed and grinding out electricity, the inventors say calmly that they will begin at miles an hour. do you realize what miles an hour means? it means that your grandson or your grandson's son can leave new york in the morning, do half a dozen errands in cincinnati, and be back in his home in west four hundred and thirty-eighth street in time for a late supper. it means that he can lunch in chicago, span half a dozen mighty states, threading the mountains, through the towns and over the cities, skimming the broad expanses of fat farms, and dine in new york the same night. it means that he can go from one ocean across the continent to the other in twenty-four hours. but to-morrow is not yet here. yesterday was just here. in yesterday men were boasting of their ability to go from new york to philadelphia by coach in two nights and two days and were asking: "what next?" appendix appendix efficiency through organization in a local freight-house in an inland manufacturing city of thirty thousand inhabitants between forty and fifty freight-handlers had been employed for a term running from twelve to fifteen years. the freight-house boss was of the old school. when he thought that he needed more help, he made a fearful noise, scared headquarters, and more help was given him. the strong-armed gang reported at seven o'clock in the morning and then held a two-hour _conversazione_, while the book-keeping force in the dingy office at the end of the freight-shed arranged the way-bills and the bills-of-lading for the day's work. before ten o'clock, if all went well, the freight-house gang was generally at work pushing its way through a seeming chaos of less-than-carload freight. after a time the old freight-agent died and a new one came in his place. the new man was on his job less then three months before he arranged a new schedule in that freight-house--and dropped twenty-five men from its pay-roll. first he summoned the bookkeeping force together, and announced that it would report at five o'clock in the morning, instead of seven; of course, leaving two hours earlier each afternoon. the bookkeeping force demurred. it was not pleasant getting up before daybreak in the winter darkness of a chill northern town, and such a scheme interfered with the social plans of one or two of the bookkeepers. but the new boss only smiled and said, "try it." and after they had tried it, the way-bills and the bills-of-lading were ready at seven o'clock when the handlers reported for work, and the freight-house got to work upon the shriek of the roundhouse whistle. after that, the pay-list was cut--you may be sure that a house-boss who could scheme out such a plan could weed out the shirkers and the idlers among his staff--and, better still, the consignees began to get their freight sooner than ever before in the history of that town. eventually--and a wonderfully short "eventually" it really was--the freight-agent climbed the ladder to the superintendent of that division and under his bailiwick came a railroad which had recently become attached to the parent system through the process of benevolent assimilation. the ordinary less-than-carload business was moved out of the freight-house of the smaller road and it was given over entirely to carriage and automobile shipments--the inland city makes a specialty of manufacturing vehicles of every sort. the division superintendent went over to the carriage freight-house and saw that it took a dozen men to man it, although it was not more than a six-car stand. carriage bodies and automobile bodies crated are both heavy and awkward, and the boss of that house was asking for more help. the superintendent went straight from that freight-house to a local foundry, sat there for fifteen minutes with its draughtsman and then and there evolved an overhead trolley-arrangement, very much the same as the big packing-houses use for handling heavy carcasses. a requisition for the thing went through a-flying, and now the carriage-house in that city is handled with two trained men. the scheme is fast becoming standard in the newer freight-houses and in st. louis, the m. k. & t. has just adopted it for its splendid new terminal, whole fleets of platforms hung close to the floor and suspended from an overhead "trolley arrangement" entirely supersede the brigades of hand trucks formerly in use. that is the point of it. there must be dozens of other cities of thirty thousand population, of sixty thousand, of ninety, of one or two or three, of five hundred thousand, where a little such method would produce similar results. in that first house, a saving of about $ a week was made, when the young freight-agent brought some system into the dusty place. a dozen such savings or even greater, would be quite a help on the railroad's balance sheet. at least that is the gospel which louis brandeis, of boston, preached, and which attracted world-wide attention when he made the exact statement that he could save the railroads of the country a million dollars a day in the operation of their lines. the railroads made a perfectly good legal case before the interstate commerce commission--or let us assume that, at any rate, in the present instance. but one such clarifying statement as that of brandeis' produced more effect both upon the land and the commissioners than all the legal briefs that together were filed in advocacy of the raises in the freight tariffs. at no time did the railroads successfully controvert brandeis' sweeping statement, and so they lost their fight. and yet the railroads are accomplishing some remarkable improvements in their internal affairs--for which they are being given not an iota of credit. and one of the most interesting of these is the promotion of efficiency through organization, or better yet, through reorganization. * * * * * along in the fifties, herman haupt, who was afterwards a brigadier-general of the united states army and brevetted major-general, devised the wonderful organization scheme of the pennsylvania system, which is still in use to-day on that well-managed property. the scheme has been adopted since then by practically all the large railroads in the country. before general haupt evolved it, there was no real organization among the great railroads. like topsy, they "just growed" from the little individual horse and steam lines from which they were formed and they were even more like topsy in some other details. but haupt's plan brought dignity to a great business that needed dignity--and system. for fifty years it has been accomplishing something more than merely serving its purpose. but railroad terminals and railroad equipment of fifty years ago are long since obsolete, and so within recent years the larger railroads have found their organization schemes not up with the times. the growing complexity of their work, the intricacy of their relations with the various city, state, and national governing boards, the constant tendency to enlarge and to consolidate these, have all proved fearful taxes upon the haupt plan. great masses of correspondence have accumulated, the whole business of conducting the railroad has been enmeshed in whole miles of red-tape--and men like brandeis, of boston, have been permitted to make their challenges and stand uncorrected. go back into the sixties for this last time, and pause for a moment at the fighting of the american rebellion. men in the north were beginning to hear that the confederate army had something different, something better, in its organization than the union army. it was an intangible something, but it seemed to make for efficiency, and, after all, that was the main thing. so after the war was history, there were far-sighted northerners who said that it would be well to bring that intangible something into the united states army. at such a time that thing was, however, tacitly impossible, and it was dropped for more than thirty years. but von moltke picked up the idea, and incorporated it in the intensely modern army of modern germany. it helped to win the great franco-prussian war, and when the other nations of europe began to examine it it had a name; it was beginning to be a tangible something. military men called it the "staff idea," and when you asked them to explain it they told you that officers who handled men were known as "line officers," and those who handled things as "staff officers." in other words, men could be lifted--as it were, in an aëroplane of scientific organization--away from their commands and their narrow environments, up to a point where they could have perspective, where they could handle men, regiments, small arms, heavy ordnance on a large scale. the staff officers work in things in the abstract, just as the line officers mould men in the concrete. there then is the rough theory of staff organization which was picked up and adapted to its use by the united states army at about the time of the spanish-american war. of its value there can be no doubt; of its efficiency no question. * * * * * a young man--major charles hine--who had seen the operation of modern staff in the regular army, decided that it was a good thing for the great railroad systems of the country. hine knew railroads. in order that he might know them thoroughly, he one day packed his uniforms and his saddle away in his trunk and went quietly out and got a job as brakeman on a freight train. he did not stay on the car roofs very long; he has served in about every conceivable post in railroad divisional organization, and he has had a good chance to study the weaknesses of those very organizations. "we have got to eliminate government by chief clerks," said major hine at the very beginning. "we are growing too rapidly for the men higher up. we are forced to delegate official authority to clerks and foremen, and then we build up an autocracy around some person of official rank. it is pernicious feudalism, this permitting the chief clerk, and a good many times some other clerks, to sign the name of the officer whom they attempt to represent." a railroad is really so spread out that its officers live a double official life; a part of the time they are at their desks, and another part out upon the line. yet the average railroad officer, be he of high or low degree, flatters himself that by some subtle method of personal superiority, he is enabled to act intelligently in two places at the same time. major hine saw how that worked at the very beginning of a special service with the southern pacific railroad. he was down in the yaqui river country in mexico, where heavy construction work was under way. in company with the division engineer, he was riding the line mule-back. the division engineer had several parties under him, each in charge of a resident engineer, and all engaged in laying out and checking the contractor's work. the headquarters of the division engineer were presided over by a ninety-dollar-a-month chief clerk, who was dealing in the absence of his superior with one hundred and twenty-five dollar resident engineers. the division engineer assured his guest that the telephone permitted close personal contact with headquarters, that every hour questions were referred to him. the vice-president of the company, desiring to change the assembling point for luncheon, sought for two hours from engineering headquarters to locate the division engineer, who was on the grade all the time. the condition mentioned necessitates the chief clerk's signing the name of his superior to heads of departments lower down, which heads are receiving lower salaries, and are presumably of wider experience than the chief clerk who essays to be their monitor. this is done in the name of routine business. unfortunately no two men often agree upon what constitutes routine business. almost every railroad officer will tell you that "my chief clerk handles only routine business and never assumes too much authority." when closely questioned, the same officer will reveal in the utmost confidence the fact that the same condition does not obtain with the chief clerk of the officer who is over the informant. strangely enough, if the complaining witness is promoted to his boss's job, the same condition still exists, showing that the system is at fault, rather than its individual members. worst of all, the chief clerk has to break in all the new bosses and thus has only limited promotion himself. major hine has said that the bigness of things on the harriman lines, the breadth of the policies of napoleon harriman and von moltke julius kruttschnitt, the vice-president in the change of the operation of that far-reaching group of railroads, strengthened his nerve to advocate radical departure from preconceived notions of railway organization. hine, at his home in virginia, had once acted as receiver of a suburban trolley system, where he had introduced a simplified organization. he found, at that time, that the underlying principle of that organization would apply to a thousand times as many men on the great harriman lines. incidentally, after the receivership was lifted, the new owners of the property discontinued the organization which major hine had created, for they took the ground that no other electric road had such a system, and that therefore there could be nothing in it. kruttschnitt decided to let major hine begin on the harriman lines with the reorganization of the divisions. he declined to order any changes, but placed the burden of missionary work and conversions among his subordinates on the shoulders of his special representative. there are not a dozen letters bearing on this subject in kruttschnitt's office. the work was done by personal contact, which in two years involved over one hundred thousand miles of travel by hine. major hine states that, notwithstanding the splendid spirit of the officers of the harriman lines, little would have been accomplished without the tactful support of kruttschnitt, the man whose supremacy and whose brilliant abilities are unquestioned in the railway world. on the other hand, kruttschnitt has been heard to say that the credit lies with the enthusiastic younger man whom he attached to his staff. most of the divisions of the harriman lines had an assistant superintendent, engaged mainly in outside duties, with an office near the superintendent's, presided over by a chief clerk. both the superintendent and the assistant superintendent had his own chief clerk, who consumed reams of paper annually in intercommunications over their respective superior's signatures. the new system provides, as a first step, that if the division has no assistant superintendent, one shall be appointed. the next step is to order the assistant superintendent to remain at headquarters in charge of the office, in effect, but not in name, the chief-of-staff idea, so successfully applied by the germans through von moltke. when necessary, an additional trainmaster is appointed for the previous outside duties of the assistant superintendent. the old chief clerk is placed in line of promotion by appointing him, when possible, to a position with outside duties on the road. next, the division shop is raided, the division master mechanic and the travelling engineer (road foreman of engines) are moved bodily to the same building with the division superintendent, where are usually already located, the division engineer, the trainmaster, and the chief despatcher. the old theory has been that the master mechanic should be at his shop to supervise the shop force. the new conception is that the master mechanic has passed the stage of a shop foreman; that, located at one shop, he unconsciously comes to underestimate the importance of roundhouses and car repair plants at outlying points on the division. he is brought to division headquarters to get the atmosphere of transportation, to be in touch with the train sheet, and to realize that motive power is one of the component elements of transportation; that the shop is incident to the railroad, not the railroad to the shop. the official family, now being gathered under the parental roof of the superintendent, are politely requested to deposit the official shooting-iron, the typewriter, in one official arsenal, from which all shooting will be done in the future. the office files are consolidated in one office of record. this idea is borrowed from the courts of justice, where one clerk of the court, with as many deputies as necessary, records all transactions regardless of the number of judges and other officers. you must have worked in a railroad office to appreciate the fearful condition of official files in this year of grace, nineteen hundred eleven. you ask for the file on that culvert at jones' farm on the martinsburgh branch, and an anæmic office-boy staggers toward you with enough manuscript to be the making of a novel. there are the contract arrangements and the correspondence with the j. b. & g. concerning the union station privileges that are enjoyed with it at blissville; why, there was a whole chapter given over to that episode of july, three summers ago, when the leaders had to be renewed on that magnificent structure, and its roof re-shingled. here is the contract for handling milk on a single side-line division--and the accompanying symposium of thought from chief clerks and minor officers in the form of miscellaneous--and entirely useless--correspondence. this is the agreement with the bridge-builders' union--four inches thick. no wonder the shelves of the record room sag, and that the clerks are hollow-eyed. tons of unprotected paper have been scrawled upon, perfect rivers of helpless black ink have done the work--and all for that! the heaviest file in the office of the harriman system to-day is half an inch in thickness, and there is no one to deny that the property is being run at a high stage of efficiency--particularly in comparison with some other railroad systems of the land. as the result of a single record system at any division headquarters, the astounding saving has been to that group of railroads, of five hundred thousand letters a year, and it now goes without saying that they were unnecessary letters. in a year or two, that figure will cross the million mark--and you must take second breath to imagine the time and thought that goes into the making of a million letters in a twelvemonth. the material saving in stationery is considerable--although trifling in the operation of a system that spends about $ , , a year, but the logical claim is made that the five hundred thousand letters eliminated retarded rather than helped administration, that they produced more harm than good. deeper than all this is the dwarfing effect upon the individual initiative of the man below, for whom the letter attempts to think. elimination of red tape is not the sole object of the new system. mr. kruttschnitt regards this as incidental. what has appealed to him is the final step in the organization which is to confer the uniform title of "assistant superintendent" upon the former division engineer, master mechanic, trainmaster, travelling engineer, roadmaster, and chief despatcher. these officers retain their former duties and responsibilities, but they broaden authority to meet emergencies on the spot. this means increased supervision of employees, more scientific management of men. the officials of the harriman lines faced here a ticklish problem. the attitude of organized labor was in doubt. would the men object to too many bosses? would confusion result from several men issuing orders that might possibly conflict? the results have been a splendid vindication of the intelligence of the men who are close to things. the men were often quicker to catch the idea than were the officers. what appealed to them most of all was the dictum that no man could sign another man's name or initials. "we old men do our work, no matter how many bosses there are; we realize that younger men need more instruction than supervision," said a veteran conductor on the union pacific, when the matter was brought to his attention. "we used to make one report to the master mechanic and another to the superintendent. now one report addressed simply 'assistant superintendent' is enough. it means less red tape. but what we like best of all is that some smart aleck of a clerk can no longer jack us up." that veteran ticket-puncher recalled that in older days conductors had been dismissed for allowing operators to sign their names to telegraphic train orders; perhaps the letter of dismissal was signed by the superintendent's chief clerk. there was railroad system for you! after a year and a half of what the local officers called trial--for mr. kruttschnitt and major hine have always regarded that period as demonstration rather than as experiment--the system was broadened. it was applied to some of the higher units. for nearly a year, the u. p. general officers at omaha have had five assistant general managers. in other days there were a general superintendent, a superintendent of motive power, a chief engineer, a superintendent of transportation, and an assistant to the general manager. the new million dollar general office building of the u. p. at omaha will have its office space arranged according to the new conception. until it is completed, the consolidation of office records will not be practicable, because the various general offices are now scattered over town. but a start has been made, and plans laid for full development. what is good at the east end of a railroad is generally as good at the west end, and so the plan, working handily in general offices at omaha, has been transplanted to the general offices of another harriman road--the newly combined oregon-washington railroad & navigation company at portland, ore., and at seattle, wash. other general headquarters of the harriman roads are only awaiting the construction of new and modern office buildings, before they will be asked to fall in line with the plan. kruttschnitt does not order these things. he is far too wise a railroader for that. he directs by suggestion and the family circle talks of major hine. and yet twenty-three out of the thirty-three divisions of the harriman railroad group have fallen into the new groove within two short years. "consider for an instant the overwhelming importance of a title to some railroaders," says a high officer of one of that group as he sits at his desk. he is one of the men to whom a title is as hollow as a brass cylinder. "i have known a man to almost froth at the mouth because some stupid underling wrote a letter and addressed him as 'assistant to the general manager' instead of 'assistant general manager.' we have gone title crazy on some of our railroads. take that overworked word 'superintendent.' we have more superintendents on this system to-day than there used to be track hands on a good sized road, and we have what is even worse, a superintendent of motive power, and a superintendent of transportation ranking the division superintendent who is the head of an important subordinate unit, and entitled to respect among the rank and file of our men as such. under the new plan, the superintendent of transportation together with the superintendent of motive power, as you have already seen, become assistant general managers. "right there is an impersonality that is delightful--and efficient; it has proved most efficient in division organization. out on our ---- division we had several washouts simultaneously last year. we sent at once an assistant superintendent to each point of interruption and so we had at each vital place, a man with sufficient brains and authority to use the forces on the ground to the best advantage. isn't that good railroading?" * * * * * it is good railroading all along the line. it is good railroading to handle as big a question as the reorganization of a system employing a quarter of a million men and women, without writing a whole library of rules and regulations for its enforcement. ask major hine, himself, how he handles that problem. "easily enough," will be his reply to you. "we have a constitution--also unwritten like that splendid old bulwark of english liberties--and any superintendent, any general manager, can make his own rules for his division or his stretch of railroad as long as they will stand the tests of that constitution. and the railroad's bulwark consists of but three very simple principles: "the first of these is that no man may sign the name or the initial of another. that is rank feudalism, and out of place in the twentieth century sort of railroading. our second clause is that there must be at all times an assistant superintendent in charge of the office. normally, this assistant, in effect chief-of-staff, is the senior or no. on the list. here again, elasticity is introduced. the unwritten law provides that whatever assistant may be assigned to the office is the senior of the others for the time being. the chief-of-staff reviews the incoming and outgoing correspondence and reduces it to its lowest terms. each assistant superintendent signs his own communications, but they pass through the focus of the administrative hour-glass on the desk of the watchful chief-of-staff. "in the third place, correspondence must be addressed impersonally; from below, 'assistant superintendent,' from above, 'superintendent.' this requirement is based upon the idea that authority, as in the courts, is abstract and impersonal, that the exercise of authority is highly concrete and personal. the court exists if the judge is dead; the court is silent until the judge speaks." already there is noted a greater willingness to take responsibility. more and more is heard about "this division" and "the company" and less and less about "my department." the mathematical axiom that "the whole is greater than any of its parts" is sometimes violated in corporate administration, because there is no chief-of-staff to balance the specialization of some department head. this system of playing trumps in the new science of railroads incidentally, but not essentially, provides for rotation in the position of senior assistant or chief-of-staff. some conservative divisions have not availed themselves of this feature. on one division the superintendent in the first year of the new organization had four of his five assistant superintendents, each occupy the senior chair at headquarters for three months each. finally, it came the turn of the old master mechanic. "i am sweating blood," he said, "but i never knew before how much there is about a railroad." when that master mechanic returned to his shop interests, his vision had been broadened, and he was more alert to protect the company's interests when riding over the road. the sponsors for the new system deny that this may lead to the neglect of an official's own special responsibility. they point to the superintendent as a balance wheel to maintain proper equilibrium. over two years' experience has led the high officials of the harriman lines to lay some stress upon urging the assistant superintendents forward rather than holding them back. the tendency has been to settle back in former grooves. as long as no harm is done, those who avail themselves of their new opportunities are becoming more valuable assets both for themselves and for the company. when a division is reorganized, the persons concerned are assembled to listen to a lecture by major hine. to their great astonishment, he usually leaves town the same evening. he takes the position that the system which depends for its success upon the presence of any individual is a system which the company has no business to adopt. he says, "we have pushed you off the bank. now swim ashore." they all do. on the next visit of his grand rounds, the instructor often finds his pupils beating him at his own game. dropping in one day at the headquarters of a large division on the coast, he found the senior assistant superintendent and the old master mechanic in frequent conference. the senior assistant tossed a letter over the desk, and asked, "did jim here need to write this letter?" "it looks good to me," said the instructor; "what is the matter with it?" "you told us," said the interlocutor, "that one record in this office is enough. i handled a letter this morning from the mechanical assistant telling the foreman to repair this outfit car. now i get another letter this afternoon about the same thing." "you are dead right," said the major; "you fellows will soon have me worked out of a job." the old master mechanic caught the spirit of the occasion and said: "yes, jack, you caught that one, but there were two just like it this morning that you didn't catch. next time i won't have to dictate them." * * * * * there then is efficiency through organization--the playing of trumps in the developing science of railroading. other railroads have been watching the reorganization plan upon the harriman system with critical eyes, and can find nothing but success in its workings. it is paving its own way, and shouldering itself abreast of a railroad generation that figures not in lines of from five hundred to a thousand miles each, but giant systems of grouped lines that may easily stretch their steel cobwebs for fifteen thousand miles--over whole sovereign states, from ocean to ocean--properties whose management calls for a degree of skill not yet demanded in the very greatest of our industrial or manufacturing corporations. the old order changeth and giveth way to the new. index acworth, the english economist, , . adams, alvin, , . adams, maude, , . adams express company, - . adams & company, . ade, george, . advertising, railroad, ; bill for newspaper, ; open territory, . agricultural schools maintained by the railroads, , , . air-brake, , , , , . albany, bridge at, . albany & syracuse railroad, . algomah central, . _algomah_, ferry, . alleghany portage railroad, , , , . allen, horatio, , , , , . altoona shops of pennsylvania railroad, , , , , - . american bridge-builders do work of world, . american express company, , . american locomotive company, , . "american notes," dickens, quoted, . anchor line, the, _see_ erie & western transportation company. ann arbor railway, . _arabian_, locomotive, . armstrong, col. g. b., . ashtabula, ohio, bridge disaster, . atchison, topeka & santa fe railroad, , , , , , , . atlantic city, , . atlantic city railroad, . atlantic coast line, . atlantic type of locomotive, . baggage, handling of, ; duties of baggagemen, , ; use of baggage-car, , . baldwin, matthias, , . baltimore, railroad connections of, , , , , , , ; tunnels in, ; stations in, , . baltimore & ohio railroad, , , - , , , - , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . baltimore & potomac r. r., . bangs, col. george s., , . "bends," cause and treatment of, , . bergen tunnel, . bessemer, sir henry, . _best friend of charleston_, locomotive, , . big muddy river, illinois central's bridge over, . big four, , . binghampton, n. y., . black diamond express (lehigh valley railroad), . black river road, . blair, postmaster general montgomery, . blizzards, fighting of, - . boards of directors of railroads, - . bollman, --, designer of bridges, , . bonds, railroad, , . boston elevated railway, . boston, in , ; railroad connections of, ; josiah perham's excursions to, ; stations in, , - , , , , ; suburban traffic of, , , . "boston special" (new york, new haven & hartford railroad), . boston & albany railroad, , , , , , . boston & lowell railroad, , , , . boston & maine railroad, , , , , , , . boston & providence railroad, , . boston & worcester line, , , . brakeman, duties of, - . brandeis, louis, , . brandywine viaduct, . brennan, louis, , . bridge-builders, personality and nationality of, - . bridges-- at albany, across hudson, . first across mississippi, . building of, , - . at trenton, across delaware, , . at springfield, across connecticut river, . of timber, - , - . at waterford, across hudson river, . permanent bridge, across schuylkill river, . of stone, , , , . starucca viaduct, . thomas viaduct, , , . of iron, , . of rider design, . b. & o. monongahela river, . ashtabula, . of steel, , , , . at portage, over genesee river, . forms of, - . through span, . deck span, . over susquehanna river, between havre-de-grace and aiken, , . at cincinnati, over ohio river, . suspension, . cantilever, , . over kentucky river, . minnehaha, at st. paul, . over niagara river, . over frazer river, . at poughkeepsie, . personality of builders of, - . over pend oreille river, . on line of rio grande & western, . replacing of, , . roebling's, at niagara falls, . at steubenville, ohio, , . over hackensack river, , , . of concrete, - . brandywine viaduct, . pennsylvania, over susquehanna river, . new brunswick, over raritan river, . over florida keys, . at slateford, pa., . over big muddy river, . at washington, d. c., . moodna valley, steel trestle over, . at towanda, pa., . first steel bridge in america, . across the delaware, . brilliant cut-off (pennsylvania railroad), , . britton, h. m., . broad street station, philadelphia, , , , , , . brooklyn rapid transit company, its care for employees, , . brooks plant, dunkirk, . brotherhood of locomotive engineers, . brown, george, . brown, w. c., , , . "brown system," _see_ demerit plan. bryant, gridley, , . buffalo & attica railroad, . buffet sleepers, , . burlington, _see_ chicago, burlington & quincy r. r. burr, theodore, , . burwick, j. m., . cab, use of, . caissons, their use in tunnel-construction, . in bridge-building, , , , , , , . calvert station, baltimore, . camden station, baltimore, , . camden & amboy railroad, , . campbell, henry r., . canadian pacific railway, , , , , , , . canals, , , , , , . car-ferries, , . car-inspectors, duties of, , . cars, storage of, ; cleaning of, ; construction of, ; platforms and vestibules of, , , ; use of steel for, ; "foreign cars," . carroll, charles, of carrollton, . carter, c. f., quoted, . cascade tunnel, , , . cassatt, a. j., , . cathedral mountain, the spiral tunnel under, . cattle, shipping of, on railroads, , . central pacific railroad, , , , , . central railroad of new jersey, , , . central vermont, . charleston & hamburg railroad, , . cheney, benjamin f., . chesapeake & ohio canal, , , , . chicago, burlington & quincy railroad, , . chicago city railway company, . chicago fast mail, . chicago, milwaukee & st. paul railroad, , , , , , . chicago-montreal flyer, . chicago, railroad connections of, ; northwestern station at, , , , ; la salle station at, . chicago, rock island & pacific railroad, , , , . chicago & alton railroad, , - . chicago & northwestern railway, , , , , , . chicago & st. louis express (west shore railroad), - . chief clerk, duties of, . civil war, railroad building during period of, , ; might have been averted by railroad development, . claim-agents, - . cleveland stations in, , , . cleveland & pittsburgh railroad, . coal, handling of, ; as a freight business, , , , , ; substituted for wood as a fuel, ; mining of, . collinwood, ohio, the lake shore's plant at, . columbia & philadelphia railroad, , , . commuter, the, ; his use of rapid transit, - , , . competition among railroads, . complaints of public in regard to railroad service, , . conductor, duties of, , . _consolidation_, locomotive, , . construction work of railroads, . cooper, peter, - , . coöperation of railroads, . cornell university, agricultural school at, . "corridor trains," . cowan, john f., . crede, the english railroad town, . _crédit mobilier_, . _crescent city_, the, . crocker brothers, . crossings, railroad, . cumberland, on the national highway, , , . cumberland valley railroad, . daly, c. f., . daniels, george h., . davis, phineas, - . davis, w. a., . davis & gartner co., . _decapod_, locomotive, . dee, river, bridge, . delaware, lackawanna & western railroad, , , , , , , , , , , . delaware & hudson railroad, , , , . _delmonico_, the, , . demerit plan, , . depew (new york), shops of the new york central at, . detroit river tunnel, , , , , . devereux, john h., . _de witt clinton_, locomotive, , . dexter, judge, . dickens's "american notes," quoted, . dining-cars, conveniences of, , - . division superintendent, duties of, - , - , - . dorsey, john m., . dresden, germany, train-sheds in, . duluth & iron range railroad, . eagle pass, . edison, thomas a., . efficiency in railroad service, - . eighteen-hour trains, between new york and chicago, . electricity, its use in tunnel-construction, , . in bridge-building, . substituted for steam, , , , - . used for lighting, , - . elevated and subway lines, . _el gobernador_, locomotive, . elkhart, indiana, railroad shops of the lake shore railroad at, . embankment, construction of, ; largest, . emigration bureaus, , . empire state express (new york central), , . employees, protection of, - , , . "engine sheds," . engine wheels, first turning of, in america, . engineer, duties of, , , . engines in yards and roundhouses, , . english roundhouse principle, . enterprise line, the, . erie canal, new york state, , , , . erie, pa., transfer of passengers at, . erie railroad, - , , , , , , , , , - , , , - , , , , , . erie & western transportation company, . _evening star_, the, . excursions, use of, . express business, . express messenger, duties of, , . fargo, william g., , . "farmers' special," , , . felton, s. m., . ferry fleets, - . fillmore, president, his trip on the erie, . finances of railroad, - . fireman, duties of, , , , . fish, shipping of, , . fisk, jim, . fitchburg, railroad, , . florida east coast railroad, , . florida keys, . folders, bill for printing of, . food, shipping of, to the city, , . forbes, james m., . forney, m. n., . fort wayne subsidiary, the, , . france, railroad in, . frankfort, germany, train-sheds in, . franklin, benjamin, . frazer river bridge, . freehold & jamesburg agricultural railroad (pennsylvania railroad), . freight claims, . freight, railroads once prohibited from carrying, ; erie's profits from, ; handling of, , , - , ; traffic, , - ; rate system for, - ; threefold classification of, - ; "back haul," ; australian system of, - ; "demurrage," ; fast trains for, . freight terminals, - , . freight traffic-manager, duties of, , . fruit, shipping of california, , . fullerton, h. b., . galena & chicago union railroad, . gallitzin tunnel, , , , . garrett, john w., , . garrett, robert, , . gasolene engine, use of, . gauge, standard, . general attorney of the railroad, duties of, - . general counsel of the railroad, duties of, - . general manager, duties of, - . general passenger agent, duties of, - , . general superintendent, duties of, . genesee valley road, . geneva, n. y., agricultural experimental school, . _george washington_, locomotive, . gould roads, , , . government regulation of railroads, . _governor paine_, locomotive, . grades, railroad, , , , - . grand central railroad, , , . grand canal (erie), . grand central station, new york, , , , , , , , , , , , . grand rapids & indiana railroad, . grand trunk pacific railway, , , , , , , , , . "grangers," . grant, general, , . _grasshopper_, locomotive, . great lakes, highway up the, . great northern express company, . great northern railroad, , , , , , , , . great western railway, _see_ grand trunk. greenville, freight station at, , . gyroscope, _see_ mono-rail. hackensack river bridge, , , . hadley, president, of yale, . hand-brakes, use of, . hanson, inga, . harbor fleet, a, , , . harlem river branch (new haven), , , . harnden, william f., , , . harriman, e. h., - , , , , . harriman lines, , , , , - , - . harsemus cove, , . _harvard_, the, , . haupt, herman, , . hazard, ebenezer, . headlight, first use of, . "head-room," . hill, j. j., his roads, , , , , , , , . hinckley, --, a locomotive builder, . hine, charles, - , - , . hoboken, lackawanna terminal at, , , . honesdale, pa., switchback at, . hoosac tunnel, , . hopkins, mark, . hornellsville, erie shops at, - . horse shoe curve, . hotel-cars, _see_ dining-cars. howe, --, designer of bridges, . hudson, commodore, bronze statue of, . hudson river tunnel, , . huntington, collis p., , . ice-floes, obstructions to the railroad marine, . idaho & washington northern railroad, . illinois central railroad, , , , , , , , . imperial limited (canadian pacific railway), . inland water ways, - . insurance, for railroad employees, . interstate commerce commission, , , , , , , . interstate commerce law, . interurban electric service, - . ithaca, n. y., switchback at, . jamaica, station at (long island), , . jamestown exposition of , . _jay gould_, the, . jersey city, . jersey heights tunnel, . jervis, john b., . jewell, postmaster general, . _john bull_, locomotive, . joy line, the, . judah, theodore d., , , . kansas, boom in, . kentucky river bridge, . kicking horse river, tunnel near, . kingwood tunnel, , , . kirkwood, james p., , . kruttschnitt, julius, , , , - . lackawanna cut-off, . lackawanna railroad, _see_ delaware, lackawanna & western railroad. lake michigan, an obstruction to land traffic, . lake shore & michigan southern railroad, , , , , , , , , . lane cut-off (union pacific), , . lard, shipping of, . la salle street station, chicago, . latrobe, b. h., , , , , , , . lehigh valley railroad, , , , , . leiper, thomas, . lewis, isaac, erie engineer, . lickey plane, . lights, code of, . lincoln, abraham, , . link device, use of, . liquor, prohibition of use of, . livingston & company, . locomotives, , , , , , - . long island commuters, , . long island express company, . long island railroad, , , , , , , . long key viaduct, . loree, l. f., . lowell, mass., in , . lucin cut-off, the (southern pacific), , . m. k. & t., . mcadoo tunnel, . mccrea, james, , , . mccrea, the engineer, , . mcgraham, james, . mcpherson, logan g., quoted, . mad river & lake erie railroad, , . magazines, railroad employees', . mail clerks, duties of, , , - . mail-service, railway, - . maintenance way department, . mallet articulated compound, , . manchester & liverpool line, . mann, col. w. d., . manunka chunk, tunnel at, . marine, the railroad, - . market street station, philadelphia, , . martin, t. e., . _maryland_, the, . mason, a locomotive builder, . master car builders, organization of, , , , . master mechanic, duties of, , , . _mastodon_, locomotive, , . mauch chunk, colliery railroad at, , , . metropolitan line, the, . metropolitan street railway company, new york city, . meyers, george, , . michigan central railroad, , , , , , , , . michigan southern railroad, , . _michigan_, the transport, . middlesex canal, traffic on, in , . milholland, james, . military academy at west point, parade-ground of, . milk, carrying of, to city, - . mills, james c., quoted, , . minnehaha bridge, at st. paul, . minot, charles, . missouri pacific railroad, . missouri, steel bridge across the, . moguls, locomotives, . mohawk & hudson railroad, , , . mono-rail, - . monon railroad, . monongahela river bridge, . moodna valley, steel trestle over, . morgan, j. p., , . _morning star_, the, . morris run, the, . morse, william, - . mott haven yards, . mount clare yards, baltimore, , . mount royal station, buffalo, . murray, oscar g., . national express company, . naugatuck railroad, . new brunswick bridge, over raritan river, . new england navigation company, . new haven railroad, , , , , , , , , , - . new york central, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , , - , , , , - , - , , . new york central & hudson river railroad, , , , , , . new york connecting railroad, . new york, new haven & hartford railroad, , , , , - , , . new york, railroad connections of, , ; tunnels in, ; stations at, , , , - , - , , , , , , , , - ; harbor and commerce of, - ; ferries in, - . new york & harlem railroad, , . new york & new england railroad, . newspapers, rapid delivery of, . niagara river bridge, . norfolk & western railroad, , . norris, william, . north station, boston, , , , , , , , . northern central railroad, , . northern cross railroad, . northern pacific railroad, , , , , . northern steamship company, . northwestern station, chicago, , , , . norwich, conn., . observation cars, , . officials of railroads, - . ohio & mississippi railroad, . old colony railroad, , . _olympic_, the, . oneida railways company, . oregon-washington railroad & navigation company, . organization, as a means to secure efficiency, - . osgood, samuel, . "our inland seas," quotation from, . oxford furnace, tunnel at, . pacific coast, railroad connections of, - . pacific type of locomotive, . paderewski at vassar, , . palmer, timothy, . panhandle subsidiary, the, , . panic, of ' , ; of ' , , , . pape, edward, , . park avenue tunnel, . park square station, boston, , , . parkersburg, w. va., railroad connections of, ; grade at, . parsons, superintendent, . passenger coaches, - , - . passenger service, first road to have regular, . paterson works, , , . pay-car, gradual disappearance of the, . pend oreille river bridge, . pennsylvania railroad, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , , , . pennsylvania station, new york, , - , - , , , , . pensions, granted to employees, , . people's line, . people's pacific railroad, . pere marquette railway, , . perham, josiah, , . permanent bridge, across schuylkill river at philadelphia, . philadelphia, germantown, and norristown railroad, . philadelphia, railroad connections of, , , , ; stations at, , , , , , . philadelphia, wilmington & baltimore railroad, . philadelphia & columbia railroad, . philadelphia & reading railroad, , , . "piano-box" system of switches, , , . pig iron, handling of, , . _pioneer_, locomotive, . _pioneer_, sleeping-car, , , . pittsburgh, railroad connections of, , , , , ; suburban traffic of, , ; union station at, . planes, inclined, disuse of, , . plumbe, john, . pomeroy, george, . pooling, objections to, , . portage, n. y., bridge at, . portage railroad, _see_ alleghany portage railroad. post-office department, united states, - . poughkeepsie bridge, . prairie, type of locomotive, . pratt, --, designer of bridges, . _president_, the, . president of the railroad, the, - . prince rupert, on grand trunk pacific railroad, . private car lines, , - . promotion in railroad service, , . providence, r. i., railroad connections of, . "public service stations," . pullman, george m., , , . pullman and its railroad shops, , . pullman cars, construction of, . pullman palace car company, . _queen city_, the, . quincy granite railroad, . railroad, the. history of, in united states, - . english, , . first american, . horse-power, , , . communal nature of early, . paper of, . treatment of bankrupt, . telegraph first used by, . development and building of, - . grants for, , . cost of, . financing of, , , - . keeping open for winter traffic, , - . water for use of, . crossings on, . tunnels, - , - , , . bridges, , - . stations, - . suburban service, , , , - . roundhouses, - . yards, - , - . freight terminals, - , . locomotives and cars, - , - . building of the locomotive, - . building of cars, - . reconstruction of, . grades, - . officials, - , - , - . legal department, - . financial department, - . tickets, - , - . operating, - . time table, - . signals, - , - . use of telephone, . employees, - , - . wrecking trains, . rates, - . special trains and private cars, - . commuters' trains, - . freight traffic, - . freight rates, - . scientific farming, - . express service, - . mail service, - . marine, - . ferries, - . electricity, - . mono-rail, - . organization, - . rails laid on stone sleepers, . reading railroad, , , . rebating, prohibition of, , . reconstruction of railroads, - . red line, all-british, . red spot, order of the, , . repair shops, locomotive and car, . "residences," in railroad construction, . richardson, the architect, . rider, nathaniel, . rio grande & western railroad, . roadmaster, duties of, , . roads as compared with canals, . rochester, railroad connections of, , ; depot, . rock island, _see_ chicago, rock island & pacific r. r. rockaway section, long island, home of lillian russell, . rockefeller, mr., . roebling's suspension at niagara falls, . rogers, grosvenor, and ketchum, locomotive builders, of paterson, n. j., ; locomotive works, , , . ronkonkoma, long island, home of maude adams, , . roosevelt, governor, , . rotary plough, . roundhouses, - , , - . rural free delivery, development of, . russell, lillian, . rutland railroad, . sacramento valley railroad, . sails on cars, experiments with, . st. albans, vt., , . st. john's church, new york, . st. john's park, new york, , . st. louis, railroad connections of, , ; union station at, , , , , . st. paul, _see_ chicago, milwaukee & st. paul r. r. salaries, paid to railroad presidents, , ; to the general attorney, . "sand-hogs," , , , , , , . _sandusky_, first locomotive with whistle, , . santa fe, _see_ atchison, topeka & santa fe r. r. schedules, train, _see_ time tables. scherl, august, . secret service, the railroad's, - . section-boss, duties of, , , . seibert, leonard, . signal, bell-rope, , , , ; along line of railroad, ; interlocking, ; block system of, ; operation of, - ; maintenance of, . signal towers, , - . _situation_, the, the official daily report, , . slateford, pa., bridge, . sleeping-cars, introduction and use of, , , . smith, a. h., . smith, c. shaler, . smith, reuben f., . snow-belt of great lakes, . snow ploughs, . snow-sheds, . south carolina railroad, . south station, boston, , - , , , , . southern california, interurban electric line in, . southern express company, . southern pacific railroad, , , , , , , , . spearman, frank h., . spiral tunnels, , . spokane case, the, , . springfield, mass., bridge, . springfield, station at, . springstead, harvey, . stage, henry w., . stampede tunnel, , . stanford, leland, , . starucca viaduct, , , . station-agent, multifarious duties of, - . stations, _see under_ railroad. statistics, making of railroad, - . steam brake, . steamships, , , , . steel, use of, , , , , , - . stephenson, george, inventor, , . stephenson, george & robert & company, . stephenson, robert, . steubenville, ohio, bridge, , . stonington, conn., railroad connections of, . _stourbridge lion_, locomotive, , , . street railroad systems, , . stubbs, of the union pacific, . suburban service, , , , , , , , - , . superintendent of bridges, , . superintendents, - , , , - . susquehanna railroad, _see_ northern central railroad. susquehanna river, pennsylvania r. r. bridge over, . susquehanna river bridge, between havre-de-grace and aiken, , . susquehanna shop, , . swindon, the english railroad town, . switchback principle, . switches and switchmen, - , - , , , . tacony, philadelphia trains stopped at, . taylor, president zachary, . telegraph, erie first railroad to use, ; development of, in , ; introduction of, , ; substitution of telephone for, , ; crippling of service of, , . telephone, use of, , . terminal, keeper of the, ; map of tracks and station of, , ; guarded by interlocking switches, , . terminals, _see_ railroad stations; _also_ freight terminals. thomas, philip e., , . thomas viaduct, , , . thompson, a. w., . thomson, j. edgar, . thomson, john, . "throat" of station yard, , . tickets and mileage-books, , - , ; bill for printing, ; rate-sheet for, ; redemption of, , . time tables, . tioga railroad, . _tom thumb_, locomotive, , . towanda, pa., bridge at, . towermen, , , , . townsend, oscar, . track-laying, world's record of, ; profession of, , ; machine for, . track, on which _stourbridge lion_ locomotive ran, . track-walker, responsibility of, . traffic, making of freight and passenger, - . trailer, the, , . train-despatcher, , , , - , - , . trainman, _see_ brakeman, duties of. train-master, duties of, . transcontinental railroads, , . transfer-house, - . travelling passenger agents, duties of, . trenton, bridge at, , . "trolley arrangement" in freight-houses, . trumbull, --, bridge-builder, . tug, use of, , , . tunnels, , - , , , , , , , , , - , - , , , , . turner, john b., . turn-tables, . underwood, f. d., , , , . union line, . union pacific railroad, , , , , , , - , , , . union station, cleveland, , , . union station, pittsburgh, . union station, st. louis, , , , , . union station, washington, , , , . united states express company, , . utica, railroad connections of, , . vanderbilt, commodore, , , , . vanderbilt, cornelius, . vanderbilt, william h., , . vanderbilt family, the, , , . vermont central railroad, . vice-presidents of railroads, . voluntary relief department, - . von moltke, his reconstruction of the german army, . wabash railroad, , , . wagner palace car company, . walcott, --, builder of springfield, mass., bridge, . walsheart gears, . washington, george, . "washington cars," , . washington, connecticut avenue bridge at, ; union station at, , , , . water for use of railroad, . water transportation, _see_ inland water ways. waterford bridge, over hudson river, . watertown, blizzard at, . waverley, the interchange yard, . webster, daniel, and his trip on the erie, , . weehawken "bridge," . wells, henry, , . wells, fargo & co., , . west penn road, . _west point_, locomotive, . west shore railroad, , , , , , . western pacific railroad, , . western railroad, . westinghouse, george, . wheeling, railroad connections of, , . whipple, squire, , . whistle on locomotive, first use of, , . whitney, asa, , . whitney, silas, . whyte's classification, , . wiley, dr., . willard, daniel, . winans, ross, , , , , . winnipeg shops, . women, conveniences for travelling, . woodruff company, , . worcester, station at, . world's fair of , st. louis, . wrecks, railroad, , - ; wrecking-trains for, - . _yale_, the, , . yardmaster, duties of, , , , - . _york_, _see_ _arabian_, locomotive. young men's christian association, , . note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the numerous original illustrations. see -h.htm or -h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h/ -h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h.zip) interborough rapid transit the new york subway its construction and equipment [illustration: operating room of power house] [illustration: (i.r.t. symbol)] new york interborough rapid transit company anno. domi. mcmiv copyright, , by interborough rapid transit co. new york planned and executed by the mcgraw publishing co. [illustration: (mcgraw publishing company new york logo)] table of contents page no. introduction, chapter i. the route of the road--passenger stations and tracks, chapter ii. types and methods of construction, chapter iii. power house building, chapter iv. power plant from coal pile to shafts of engines and turbines, chapter v. system of electrical supply, chapter vi. electrical equipment of cars, chapter vii. lighting system for passenger stations and tunnel, chapter viii. rolling stock--cars, trucks, etc., chapter ix. signal system, chapter x. subway drainage, chapter xi. repair and inspection shed, chapter xii. sub-contractors, interborough rapid transit company _directors_ august belmont e. p. bryan andrew freedman james jourdan gardiner m. lane john b. mcdonald walter g. oakman john peirce morton f. plant william a. read alfred skitt cornelius vanderbilt george w. young _executive committee_ august belmont andrew freedman james jourdan walter g. oakman william a. read cornelius vanderbilt _officers_ august belmont, president e. p. bryan, vice-president h. m. fisher, secretary d. w. mcwilliams, treasurer e. f. j. gaynor, auditor frank hedley, general superintendent s. l. f. deyo, chief engineer george w. wickersham, general counsel chas. a. gardiner, general attorney delancey nicoll, associate counsel alfred a. gardner, associate counsel _engineering staff_ s. l. f. deyo, chief engineer. _electrical equipment_ l. b. stillwell, electrical director. h. n. latey, principal assistant. frederick r. slater, assistant engineer in charge of third rail construction. albert f. parks, assistant engineer in charge of lighting. george g. raymond, assistant engineer in charge of conduits and cables. william b. flynn, assistant engineer in charge of draughting room. _mechanical and architectural_ j. van vleck, mechanical and construction engineer. william c. phelps, assistant construction engineer. william n. stevens, ass't mechanical engineer. paul c. hunter, architectural assistant. geo. e. thomas, supervising engineer in field. _cars and signal system_ george gibbs, consulting engineer. watson t. thompson, master mechanic. j. n. waldron, signal engineer. rapid transit subway construction company _directors_ august belmont e. p. bryan andrew freedman james jourdan gardiner m. lane walther luttgen john b. mcdonald walter g. oakman john peirce morton f. plant william a. read cornelius vanderbilt george w. young _executive committee_ august belmont andrew freedman james jourdan walter g. oakman william a. read cornelius vanderbilt _officers_ august belmont, president walter g. oakman, vice-president john b. mcdonald, contractor h. m. fisher, secretary john f. buck, treasurer e. f. j. gaynor, auditor s. l. f. deyo, chief engineer george w. wickersham, general counsel alfred a. gardner, attorney _engineering staff_ s. l. f. deyo, chief engineer. h. t. douglas, principal assistant engineer. a. edward olmsted, division engineer, manhattan-bronx lines. henry b. reed, division engineer, brooklyn extension. theodore paschke, resident engineer, first division, city hall to d street, also brooklyn extension, city hall to bowling green; and robert s. fowler, assistant. ernest c. moore, resident engineer, second division, d street to th street; and stanley raymond, assistant. william c. merryman, resident engineer, third division, underground work, th street to fort george west side and westchester avenue east side; and william b. leonard, w. a. morton, and william e. morris, jr., assistants. allan a. robbins and justin burns, resident engineers, fourth division, viaducts; and george i. oakley, assistant. frank d. leffingwell, resident engineer, east river tunnel division, brooklyn extension; and c. d. drew, assistant. percy litchfield, resident engineer, fifth division, brooklyn extension, borough hall to prospect park; and edward r. eichner, assistant. m. c. hamilton, engineer, maintenance of way; and robert e. brandeis, assistant. d. l. turner, assistant engineer in charge of stations. a. samuel berquist, assistant engineer in charge of steel erection. william j. boucher, assistant engineer in charge of draughting rooms. [illustration: (interborough rapid transit)] introduction the completion of the rapid transit railroad in the boroughs of manhattan and the bronx, which is popularly known as the "subway," has demonstrated that underground railroads can be built beneath the congested streets of the city, and has made possible in the near future a comprehensive system of subsurface transportation extending throughout the wide territory of greater new york. in march, , when the mayor with appropriate ceremonies broke ground at the borough hall, in manhattan, for the new road, there were many well-informed people, including prominent financiers and experienced engineers, who freely prophesied failure for the enterprise, although the contract had been taken by a most capable contractor, and one of the best known banking houses in america had committed itself to finance the undertaking. in looking at the finished road as a completed work, one is apt to wonder why it ever seemed impossible and to forget the difficulties which confronted the builders at the start. the railway was to be owned by the city, and built and operated under legislation unique in the history of municipal governments, complicated, and minute in provisions for the occupation of the city streets, payment of moneys by the city, and city supervision over construction and operation. questions as to the interpretation of these provisions might have to be passed upon by the courts, with delays, how serious none could foretell, especially in new york where the crowded calendars retard speedy decisions. the experience of the elevated railroad corporations in building their lines had shown the uncertainty of depending upon legal precedents. it was not, at that time, supposed that the abutting property owners would have any legal ground for complaint against the elevated structures, but the courts found new laws for new conditions and spelled out new property rights of light, air, and access, which were made the basis for a volume of litigation unprecedented in the courts of any country. an underground railroad was a new condition. none could say that the abutting property owners might not find rights substantial enough, at least, to entitle them to their day in court, a day which, in this state, might stretch into many months, or even several years. owing to the magnitude of the work, delay might easily result in failure. an eminent judge of the new york supreme court had emphasized the uncertainties of the situation in the following language: "just what are the rights of the owners of property abutting upon a street or avenue, the fee in and to the soil underneath the surface of which has been acquired by the city of new york, so far as the same is not required for the ordinary city uses of gas or water pipes, or others of a like character, has never been finally determined. we have now the example of the elevated railroad, constructed and operated in the city of new york under legislative and municipal authority for nearly twenty years, which has been compelled to pay many millions of dollars to abutting property owners for the easement in the public streets appropriated by the construction and maintenance of the road, and still the amount that the road will have to pay is not ascertained. what liabilities will be imposed upon the city under this contract; what injury the construction and operation of this road will cause to abutting property, and what easements and rights will have to be acquired before the road can be legally constructed and operated, it is impossible now to ascertain." it is true, that the city undertook "to secure to the contractor the right to construct and operate, free from all rights, claims, or other interference, whether by injunction, suit for damages, or otherwise on the part of any abutting owner or other person." but another eminent judge of the same court had characterized this as "a condition absolutely impossible of fulfillment," and had said: "how is the city to prevent interference with the work by injunction? that question lies with the courts; and not with the courts of this state alone, for there are cases without doubt in which the courts of the united states would have jurisdiction to act, and when such jurisdiction exists they have not hitherto shown much reluctance in acting.... that legal proceedings will be undertaken which will, to some extent at least, interfere with the progress of this work seems to be inevitable...." another difficulty was that the constitution of the state of new york limited the debt-incurring power of the city. the capacity of the city to undertake the work had been much discussed in the courts, and the supreme court of the state had disposed of that phase of the situation by suggesting that it did not make much difference to the municipality whether or not the debt limit permitted a contract for the work, because if the limit should be exceeded, "no liability could possibly be imposed upon the city," a view which might comfort the timid taxpayers but could hardly be expected to give confidence to the capitalists who might undertake the execution of the contract. various corporations, organized during the thirty odd years of unsuccessful attempts by the city to secure underground rapid transit, claimed that their franchises gave them vested rights in the streets to the exclusion of the new enterprise, and they were prepared to assert their rights in the courts. (the underground railroad company of the city of new york sought to enjoin the building of the road and carried their contest to the supreme court of the united states which did not finally decide the questions raised until march, , when the subway was practically complete.) rival transportation companies stood ready to obstruct the work and encourage whomever might find objection to the building of the road. new york has biennial elections. the road could not be completed in two years, and the attitude of one administration might not be the attitude of its successors. the engineering difficulties were well-nigh appalling. towering buildings along the streets had to be considered, and the streets themselves were already occupied with a complicated network of subsurface structures, such as sewers, water and gas mains, electric cable conduits, electric surface railway conduits, telegraph and power conduits, and many vaults extending out under the streets, occupied by the abutting property owners. on the surface were street railway lines carrying a very heavy traffic night and day, and all the thoroughfares in the lower part of the city were congested with vehicular traffic. finally, the city was unwilling to take any risk, and demanded millions of dollars of security to insure the completion of the road according to the contract, the terms of which were most exacting down to the smallest detail. the builders of the road did not underestimate the magnitude of the task before them. they retained the most experienced experts for every part of the work and, perfecting an organization in an incredibly short time, proceeded to surmount and sweep aside difficulties. the result is one of which every citizen of new york may feel proud. upon the completion of the road the city will own the best constructed and best equipped intraurban rapid transit railroad in the world. the efforts of the builders have not been limited by the strict terms of the contract. they have striven, not to equal the best devices, but to improve upon the best devices used in modern electrical railroading, to secure for the traveling public safety, comfort, and speedy transportation. the road is off the surface and escapes the delays incident to congested city streets, but near the surface and accessible, light, dry, clean, and well ventilated. the stations and approaches are commodious, and the stations themselves furnish conveniences to passengers heretofore not heard of on intraurban lines. there is a separate express service, with its own tracks, and the stations are so arranged that passengers may pass from local trains to express trains, and vice versa, without delay and without payment of additional fare. special precautions have been taken and devices adopted to prevent a failure of the electric power and the consequent delays of traffic. an electro pneumatic block signal system has been devised, which excels any system heretofore used and is unique in its mechanism. the third rail for conveying the electric current is covered, so as to prevent injury to passengers and employees from contact. special emergency and fire alarm signal systems are installed throughout the length of the road. at a few stations, where the road is not near the surface, improved escalators and elevators are provided. the cars have been designed to prevent danger from fire, and improved types of motors have been adopted, capable of supplying great speed combined with complete control. strength, utility, and convenience have not alone been considered, but all parts of the railroad structures and equipment, stations, power house, and electrical sub-stations have been designed and constructed with a view to the beauty of their appearance, as well as to their efficiency. the completion of the subway marks the solution of a problem which for over thirty years baffled the people of new york city, in spite of the best efforts of many of its foremost citizens. an extended account of rapid transit legislation would be out of place here, but a brief glance at the history of the act under the authority of which the subway has been built is necessary to a clear understanding of the work which has been accomplished. from to the street surface horse railways were sufficient for the requirements of the traveling public. as the city grew rapidly, the congestion spreading northward, to and beyond the harlem river, the service of surface roads became entirely inadequate. as early as , forty-two well known business men of the city became, by special legislative act, incorporators of the new york city central underground railway company, to build a line from the city hall to the harlem river. the names of the incorporators evidenced the seriousness of the attempt, but nothing came of it. in , also by special act, cornelius vanderbilt and others were incorporated as the new york city rapid transit company, to build an underground road from the city hall to connect with the new york & harlem road at th street, with a branch to the tracks of the new york central road. the enterprise was soon abandoned. numerous companies were incorporated in the succeeding years under the general railroad laws, to build underground roads, but without results; among them the central tunnel railway company in , the new york & new jersey tunnel railway company in , the terminal underground railway company in , the underground railroad company of the city of new york (a consolidation of the last two companies) in , and the rapid transit underground railroad company in . all attempts to build a road under the early special charter and later under the general laws having failed, the city secured in the passage of the rapid transit act under which, as amended, the subway has been built. as originally passed it did not provide for municipal ownership. it provided that a board of five rapid transit railroad commissioners might adopt routes and general plans for a railroad, obtain the consents of the local authorities and abutting property owners, or in lieu of the consents of the property owners the approval of the supreme court; and then, having adopted detail plans for the construction and operation, might sell at public sale the right to build and operate the road to a corporation, whose powers and duties were defined in the act, for such period of time and on such terms as they could. the commissioners prepared plans and obtained the consents of the local authorities. the property owners refused their consent; the supreme court gave its approval in lieu thereof, but upon inviting bids the board of rapid transit railroad commissioners found no responsible bidder. the late hon. abram s. hewitt, as early as , when legislation for underground roads was under discussion, had urged municipal ownership. speaking in , he said of his efforts in : "it was evident to me that underground rapid transit could not be secured by the investment of private capital, but in some way or other its construction was dependent upon the use of the credit of the city of new york. it was also apparent to me that if such credit were used, the property must belong to the city. inasmuch as it would not be safe for the city to undertake the construction itself, the intervention of a contracting company appeared indispensable. to secure the city against loss, this company must necessarily be required to give a sufficient bond for the completion of the work and be willing to enter into a contract for its continued operation under a rental which would pay the interest upon the bonds issued by the city for the construction, and provide a sinking fund sufficient for the payment of the bonds at or before maturity. it also seemed to be indispensable that the leasing company should invest in the rolling stock and in the real estate required for its power houses and other buildings an amount of money sufficiently large to indemnify the city against loss in case the lessees should fail in their undertaking to build and operate the railroad." mr. hewitt became mayor of the city in , and his views were presented in the form of a bill to the legislature in the following year. the measure found practically no support. six years later, after the rapid transit commissioners had failed under the act of , as originally drawn, to obtain bidders for the franchise, the new york chamber of commerce undertook to solve the problem by reverting to mr. hewitt's idea of municipal ownership. whether or not municipal ownership would meet the approval of the citizens of new york could not be determined; therefore, as a preliminary step, it was decided to submit the question to a popular vote. an amendment to the act of was drawn (chapter of the laws of ) which provided that the qualified electors of the city were to decide at an annual election, by ballot, whether the rapid transit railway or railways should be constructed by the city and at the public's expense, and be operated under lease from the city, or should be constructed by a private corporation under a franchise to be sold in the manner attempted unsuccessfully, under the act of , as originally passed. at the fall election of , the electors of the city, by a very large vote, declared against the sale of a franchise to a private corporation and in favor of ownership by the city. several other amendments, the necessity for which developed as plans for the railway were worked out, were made up to and including the session of the legislature of , but the general scheme for rapid transit may be said to have become fixed when the electors declared in favor of municipal ownership. the main provisions of the legislation which stood upon the statute books as the rapid transit act, when the contract was finally executed, february , , may be briefly summarized as follows: (_a_) the act was general in terms, applying to all cities in the state having a population of over one million; it was special in effect because new york was the only city having such a population. it did not limit the rapid transit commissioners to the building of a single road, but authorized the laying out of successive roads or extensions. (_b_) a board was created consisting of the mayor, comptroller, or other chief financial officer of the city; the president of the chamber of commerce of the state of new york, by virtue of his office, and five members named in the act: william steinway, seth low, john claflin, alexander e. orr, and john h. starin, men distinguished for their business experience, high integrity, and civic pride. vacancies in the board were to be filled by the board itself, a guaranty of a continued uniform policy. (_c_) the board was to prepare general routes and plans and submit the question of municipal ownership to the electors of the city. (_d_) the city was authorized, in the event that the electors decided for city ownership, to issue bonds not to exceed $ , , for the construction of the road or roads and $ , , additional, if necessary, for acquiring property rights for the route. the interest on the bonds was not to exceed - / per cent. (_e_) the commissioners were given the broad power to enter into a contract (in the case of more than one road, successive contracts) on behalf of the city for the construction of the road with the person, firm, or corporation which in the opinion of the board should be best qualified to carry out the contract, and to determine the amount of the bond to be given by the contractor to secure its performance. the essential features of the contract were, however, prescribed by the act. the contractor in and by the contract for building the road was to agree to fully equip it at his own expense, and the equipment was to include all power houses. he was also to operate the road, as lessee of the city, for a term not to exceed fifty years, upon terms to be included in the contract for construction, which might include provision for renewals of the lease upon such terms as the board should from time to time determine. the rental was to be at least equal to the amount of interest on the bonds which the city might issue for construction and one per cent. additional. the one per cent. additional might, in the discretion of the board, be made contingent in part for the first ten years of the lease upon the earnings of the road. the rental was to be applied by the city to the interest on the bonds and the balance was to be paid into the city's general sinking fund for payment of the city's debt or into a sinking fund for the redemption at maturity of the bonds issued for the construction of the rapid transit road, or roads. in addition to the security which might be required by the board of the contractor for construction and operation, the act provided that the city should have a first lien upon the equipment of the road to be furnished by the contractor, and at the termination of the lease the city had the privilege of purchasing such equipment from the contractor. (_f_) the city was to furnish the right of way to the contractor free from all claims of abutting property owners. the road was to be the absolute property of the city and to be deemed a part of the public streets and highways. the equipment of the road was to be exempt from taxation. (_g_) the board was authorized to include in the contract for construction provisions in detail for the supervision of the city, through the board, over the operation of the road under the lease. one of the most attractive--and, in fact, indispensable features of the scheme--was that the work of construction, instead of being subject to the conflicting control of various departments of the city government, with their frequent changes in personnel, was under the exclusive supervision and control of the rapid transit board, a conservative and continuous body composed of the two principal officers of the city government, and five merchants of the very highest standing in the community. provided capitalists could be found to undertake such an extensive work under the exacting provisions, the scheme was an admirable one from the taxpayers' point of view. the road would cost the city practically nothing and the obligation of the contractor to equip and operate being combined with the agreement to construct furnished a safeguard against waste of the public funds and insured the prompt completion of the road. the interest of the contractor in the successful operation, after construction, furnished a strong incentive to see that as the construction progressed the details were consistent with successful operation and to suggest and consent to such modifications of the contract plans as might appear necessary from an operating point of view, from time to time. the rental being based upon the cost encouraged low bids, and the lien of the city upon the equipment secured the city against all risk, once the road was in operation. immediately after the vote of the electors upon the question of municipal ownership, the rapid transit commissioners adopted routes and plans which they had been studying and perfecting since the failure to find bidders for the franchise under the original act of . the local authorities approved them, and again the property owners refused their consent, making an application to the supreme court necessary. the court refused its approval upon the ground that the city, owing to a provision of the constitution of the state limiting the city's power to incur debt, would be unable to raise the necessary money. this decision appeared to nullify all the efforts of the public spirited citizens composing the board of rapid transit commissioners and to practically prohibit further attempts on their part. they persevered, however, and in january, , adopted new general routes and plans. the consolidation of a large territory into the greater new york, and increased land values, warranted the hope that the city's debt limit would no longer be an objection, especially as the new route changed the line so as to reduce the estimated cost. the demands for rapid transit had become more and more imperative as the years went by, and it was fair to assume that neither the courts nor the municipal authorities would be overzealous to find a narrow construction of the laws. incidentally, the constitutionality of the rapid transit legislation, in its fundamental features, had been upheld in the supreme court in a decision which was affirmed by the highest court of the state a few weeks after the board had adopted its new plans. the local authorities gave their consent to the new route; the property owners, as on the two previous occasions, refused their consent; the supreme court gave its approval in lieu thereof; and the board was prepared to undertake the preliminaries for letting a contract. these successive steps and the preparation of the terms of the contract all took time; but, finally, on november , , a form of contract was adopted and an invitation issued by the board to contractors to bid for the construction and operation of the railroad. there were two bidders, one of whom was john b. mcdonald, whose terms submitted under the invitation were accepted on january , ; and, for the first time, it seemed as if a beginning might be made in the actual construction of the rapid transit road. the letter of invitation to contractors required that every proposal should be accompanied by a certified check upon a national or state bank, payable to the order of the comptroller, for $ , , and that within ten days after acceptance, or within such further period as might be prescribed by the board, the contract should be duly executed and delivered. the amount to be paid by the city for the construction was $ , , and an additional sum not to exceed $ , , for terminals, station sites, and other purposes. the construction was to be completed in four years and a half, and the term of the lease from the city to the contractor was fixed at fifty years, with a renewal, at the option of the contractor, for twenty-five years at a rental to be agreed upon by the city, not less than the average rental for the then preceding ten years. the rental for the fifty-year term was fixed at an amount equal to the annual interest upon the bonds issued by the city for construction and per cent. additional, such per cent. during the first ten years to be contingent in part upon the earnings of the road. to secure the performance of the contract by mr. mcdonald the city required him to deposit $ , , in cash as security for construction, to furnish a bond with surety for $ , , as security for construction and equipment, and to furnish another bond of $ , , as continuing security for the performance of the contract. the city in addition to this security had, under the provisions of the rapid transit act, a first lien on the equipment, and it should be mentioned that at the expiration of the lease and renewals (if any) the equipment is to be turned over to the city, pending an agreement or arbitration upon the question of the price to be paid for it by the city. the contract (which covered about printed pages) was minute in detail as to the work to be done, and sweeping powers of supervision were given the city through the chief engineer of the board, who by the contract was made arbiter of all questions that might arise as to the interpretation of the plans and specifications. the city had been fortunate in securing for the preparation of plans the services of mr. william barclay parsons, one of the foremost engineers of the country. for years as chief engineer of the board he had studied and developed the various plans and it was he who was to superintend on behalf of the city the completion of the work. during the thirty-two years of rapid transit discussion between , when the new york city central underground company was incorporated, up to , when the invitations for bids were issued by the city, every scheme for rapid transit had failed because responsible capitalists could not be found willing to undertake the task of building a road. each year had increased the difficulties attending such an enterprise and the scheme finally evolved had put all of the risk upon the capitalists who might attempt to finance the work, and left none upon the city. without detracting from the credit due the public-spirited citizens who had evolved the plan of municipal ownership, it may be safely asserted that the success of the undertaking depended almost entirely upon the financial backing of the contractor. when the bid was accepted by the city no arrangements had been made for the capital necessary to carry out the contract. after its acceptance, mr. mcdonald not only found little encouragement in his efforts to secure the capital, but discovered that the surety companies were unwilling to furnish the security required of him, except on terms impossible for him to fulfill. the crucial point in the whole problem of rapid transit with which the citizens of new york had struggled for so many years had been reached, and failure seemed inevitable. the requirements of the rapid transit act were rigid and forbade any solution of the problem which committed the city to share in the risks of the undertaking. engineers might make routes and plans, lawyers might draw legislative acts, the city might prepare contracts, the question was and always had been, can anybody build the road who will agree to do it and hold the city safe from loss? it was obvious when the surety companies declined the issue that the whole rapid transit problem was thrown open, or rather that it always had been open. the final analysis had not been made. after all, the attitude of the surety companies was only a reflection of the general feeling of practical business and railroad men towards the whole venture. to the companies the proposition had come as a concrete business proffer and they had rejected it. at this critical point, mr. mcdonald sought the assistance of mr. august belmont. it was left to mr. belmont to make the final analysis, and avert the failure which impended. there was no time for indecision or delay. whatever was to be done must be done immediately. the necessary capital must be procured, the required security must be given, and an organization for building and operating the road must be anticipated. mr. belmont looking through and beyond the intricacies of the rapid transit act, and the complications of the contract, saw that he who undertook to surmount the difficulties presented by the attitude of the surety companies must solve the whole problem. it was not the ordinary question of financing a railroad contract. he saw that the responsibility for the entire rapid transit undertaking must be centered, and that a compact and effective organization must be planned which could deal with every phase of the situation. mr. belmont without delay took the matter up directly with the board of rapid transit railroad commissioners, and presented a plan for the incorporation of a company to procure the security required for the performance of the contract, to furnish the capital necessary to carry on the work, and to assume supervision over the whole undertaking. application was to be made to the supreme court to modify the requirements with respect to the sureties by striking out a provision requiring the justification of the sureties in double the amount of liabilities assumed by each and reducing the minimum amount permitted to be taken by each surety from $ , to $ , . the new corporation was to execute as surety a bond for $ , , , the additional amount of $ , , to be furnished by other sureties. a beneficial interest in the bonds required from the sub-contractors was to be assigned to the city and, finally, the additional amount of $ , , , in cash or securities, was to be deposited with the city as further security for the performance of the contract. the plan was approved by the board of rapid transit railroad commissioners, and pursuant to the plan, the rapid transit subway construction company was organized. the supreme court granted the application to modify the requirements as to the justification of sureties and the contract was executed february , . as president and active executive head of the rapid transit subway construction company, mr. belmont perfected its organization, collected the staff of engineers under whose direction the work of building the road was to be done, supervised the letting of sub-contracts, and completed the financial arrangements for carrying on the work. the equipment of the road included, under the terms of the contract, the rolling stock, all machinery and mechanisms for generating electricity for motive power, lighting, and signaling, and also the power house, sub-stations, and the real estate upon which they were to be erected. the magnitude of the task of providing the equipment was not generally appreciated until mr. belmont took the rapid transit problem in hand. he foresaw from the beginning the importance of that branch of the work, and early in , immediately after the signing of the contract, turned his attention to selecting the best engineers and operating experts, and planned the organization of an operating company. as early as may, , he secured the services of mr. e. p. bryan, who came to new york from st. louis, resigning as vice-president and general manager of the terminal railroad association, and began a study of the construction work and plans for equipment, to the end that the problems of operation might be anticipated as the building and equipment of the road progressed. upon the incorporation of the operating company, mr. bryan became vice-president. in the spring of , the interborough rapid transit company, the operating railroad corporation was formed by the interests represented by mr. belmont, he becoming president and active executive head of this company also, and soon thereafter mr. mcdonald assigned to it the lease or operating part of his contract with the city, that company thereby becoming directly responsible to the city for the equipment and operation of the road, mr. mcdonald remaining as contractor for its construction. in the summer of the same year, the board of rapid transit railroad commissioners having adopted a route and plans for an extension of the subway under the east river to the borough of brooklyn, the rapid transit subway construction company entered into a contract with the city, similar in form to mr. mcdonald's contract, to build, equip, and operate the extension. mr. mcdonald, as contractor of the rapid transit subway construction company, assumed the general supervision of the work of constructing the brooklyn extension; and the construction work of both the original subway and the extension has been carried on under his direction. the work of construction has been greatly facilitated by the broad minded and liberal policy of the rapid transit board and its chief engineer and counsel, and by the coöperation of all the other departments of the city government, and also by the generous attitude of the metropolitan street railway company and its lessee, the new york city railroad company, in extending privileges which have been of great assistance in the prosecution of the work. in january, , the interborough rapid transit company acquired the elevated railway system by lease for years from the manhattan railway company, thus assuring harmonious operation of the elevated roads and the subway system, including the brooklyn extension. the incorporators of the interborough rapid transit company were william h. baldwin, jr., charles t. barney, august belmont, e. p. bryan, andrew freedman, james jourdan, gardiner m. lane, john b. mcdonald, delancey nicoll, walter g. oakman, john peirce, wm. a. read, cornelius vanderbilt, george w. wickersham, and george w. young. the incorporators of the rapid transit subway construction company were charles t. barney, august belmont, john b. mcdonald, walter g. oakman, and william a. read. [illustration: (wings)] [illustration: exterior view of power house] chapter i the route of the road--passenger stations and tracks the selection of route for the subway was governed largely by the amount which the city was authorized by the rapid transit act to spend. the main object of the road was to carry to and from their homes in the upper portions of manhattan island the great army of workers who spend the business day in the offices, shops, and warehouses of the lower portions, and it was therefore obvious that the general direction of the routes must be north and south, and that the line must extend as nearly as possible from one end of the island to the other. the routes proposed by the rapid transit board in , after municipal ownership had been approved by the voters at the fall election of , contemplated the occupation of broadway below th street to the battery, and extended only to th street on the west side and th street on the east side of the city. as has been told in the introductory chapter, this plan was rejected by the supreme court because of the probable cost of going under broadway. it was also intimated by the court, in rejecting the routes, that the road should extend further north. it had been clear from the beginning that no routes could be laid out to which abutting property owners would consent, and that the consent of the court as an alternative would be necessary to any routes chosen. to conform as nearly as possible to the views of the court, the commission proposed, in , the so called "elm street route," the plan finally adopted, which reached from the territory near the general post-office, the city hall, and brooklyn bridge terminal to kingsbridge and the station of the new york & putnam railroad on the upper west side, and to bronx park on the upper east side of the city, touching the grand central depot at d street. subsequently, by the adoption of the brooklyn extension, the line was extended down broadway to the southern extremity of manhattan island, thence under the east river to brooklyn. the routes in detail are as follows: [sidenote: _manhattan-bronx route_] beginning near the intersection of broadway and park row, one of the routes of the railroad extends under park row, center street, new elm street, elm street, lafayette place, fourth avenue (beginning at astor place), park avenue, d street, and broadway to th street, where it passes over broadway by viaduct to d street, thence under broadway again to and under eleventh avenue to fort george, where it comes to the surface again at dyckman street and continues by viaduct over naegle avenue, amsterdam avenue, and broadway to bailey avenue, at the kingsbridge station of the new york & putnam railroad, crossing the harlem ship canal on a double-deck drawbridge. the length of this route is . miles, of which about miles are on viaduct. another route begins at broadway near d street and extends under th street and the upper part of central park to and under lenox avenue to d street, thence curving to the east to and under the harlem river at about th street, thence from the river to and under east th street to a point near third avenue, thence by viaduct beginning at brook avenue over westchester avenue, the southern boulevard and the boston road to bronx park. the length of this route is about . miles, of which about miles are on viaduct. [illustration: map showing the lines of the interborough rapid transit co. ] at the city hall there is a loop under the park. from d street there is a spur north under lenox avenue to th street. there is a spur at westchester and third avenues connecting by viaduct the manhattan elevated railway division of interborough rapid transit company with the viaduct of the subway at or near st. ann's avenue. [sidenote: _brooklyn route_] the route of the brooklyn extension connects near broadway and park row with the manhattan bronx route and extends under broadway, bowling green, state street, battery park, whitehall street, and south street to and under the east river to brooklyn at the foot of joralemon street, thence under joralemon street, fulton street, and flatbush avenue to atlantic avenue, connecting with the brooklyn tunnel of the long island railroad at that point. there is a loop under battery park beginning at bridge street. the length of this route is about miles. the routes in manhattan and the bronx may therefore be said to roughly resemble the letter y with the base at the southern extremity of manhattan island, the fork at d street and broadway, the terminus of the westerly or fort george branch of the fork just beyond spuyten duyvil creek, the terminus of the easterly or bronx park branch at bronx park. [sidenote: _location of stations_] the stations beginning at the base of the y and following the route up to the fork are located at the following points: south ferry, bowling green and battery place, rector street and broadway, fulton street and broadway, city hall, manhattan; brooklyn bridge entrance, manhattan; worth and elm streets, canal and elm streets, spring and elm streets, bleecker and elm streets, astor place and fourth avenue, th street and fourth avenue, th street and fourth avenue, d street and fourth avenue, th street and fourth avenue, d street and fourth avenue, d street and madison avenue (grand central station), d street and broadway, th street and broadway, th street and broadway (columbus circle), th street and broadway, d street and broadway, th street and broadway, th street and broadway, st street and broadway, th street and broadway. [illustration: th street and park avenue, looking south] the stations of the fort george or westerly branch are located at the following points: one hundred and third street and broadway, th street and broadway (cathedral parkway), th street and broadway (columbia university), manhattan street (near th street) and broadway, th street and broadway, th street and broadway, th street and broadway, the intersection of th street, st. nicholas avenue and broadway, st street and eleventh avenue, dyckman street and naegle avenue (beyond fort george), th street and amsterdam avenue, th street and amsterdam avenue, muscoota street and broadway, bailey avenue, at kingsbridge near the new york & putnam railroad station. the stations on the bronx park or easterly branch are located at the following points: one hundred and tenth street and lenox avenue, th street and lenox avenue, th street and lenox avenue, th street and lenox avenue, th street and lenox avenue (spur), mott avenue and th street, the intersection of th street, melrose and third avenues, jackson and westchester avenues, prospect and westchester avenues, westchester avenue near southern boulevard (fox street), freeman street and the southern boulevard, intersection of th street, southern boulevard and boston road, th street and boston road (near bronx park). [illustration: profile of rapid transit railroad manhattan and bronx lines.] the stations in the borough of brooklyn on the brooklyn extension are located as follows: joralemon street near court (brooklyn borough hall), intersection of fulton, bridge, and hoyt streets; flatbush avenue near nevins street, atlantic avenue and flatbush avenue (brooklyn terminal of the long island railroad). from the borough hall, manhattan, to the th street station, the line is four-track. on the fort george branch (including d street station) there are three tracks to th street and then two tracks to dyckman street, then three tracks again to the terminus at bailey avenue. on the bronx park branch there are two tracks to brook avenue and from that point to bronx park there are three tracks. on the lenox avenue spur to th street there are two tracks, on the city hall loop one track, on the battery park loop two tracks. the brooklyn extension is a two-track line. there is a storage yard under broadway between th street and th street on the fort george branch, another on the surface at the end of the lenox avenue spur, lenox avenue and th street, and a third on an elevated structure at the boston road and th street. there is a repair shop and inspection shed on the surface adjoining the lenox avenue spur at the harlem river and - th streets, and an inspection shed at the storage yard at boston road and th street. [sidenote: _length of line._] the total length of the line from the city hall to the kingsbridge terminal is . miles, with . miles of single track and sidings. the eastern or bronx park branch is . miles long, with . miles of single track. [illustration: profile of brooklyn extension.] [sidenote: _grades and curves._] the total length of the brooklyn extension is . miles, with about miles of single track. the grades and curvature along the main line may be summarized as follows: the total curvature is equal in length to per cent. of the straight line, and the least radius of curvature is feet. the greatest grade is per cent., and occurs on either side of the tunnel under the harlem river. at each station there is a down grade of . per cent., to assist in the acceleration of the cars when they start. in order to make time on roads running trains at frequent intervals, it is necessary to bring the trains to their full speed very soon after starting. the electrical equipment of the rapid transit railroad will enable this to be done in a better manner than is possible with steam locomotives, while these short acceleration grades at each station, on both up and down tracks, will be of material assistance in making the starts smooth. photograph on page shows an interesting feature at a local station, where, in order to obtain the quick acceleration in grade for local trains, and at the same time maintain a level grade for the express service, the tracks are constructed at a different level. this occurs at many local stations. on the brooklyn extension the maximum grade is . per cent. descending from the ends to the center of the east river tunnel. the minimum radius of curve is , feet. [illustration: standard steel construction in tunnel--third rail protection not shown] [illustration: plan of brooklyn bridge station and city hall loop] [sidenote: _track_] the track is of the usual standard construction with broken stone ballast, timber cross ties, and -pound rails of the american society of civil engineers' section. the cross ties are selected hard pine. all ties are fitted with tie plates. all curves are supplied with steel inside guard rails. the frogs and switches are of the best design and quality to be had, and a special design has been used on all curves. at the battery loop, at westchester avenue, at th street, and at city hall loop, where it has been necessary for the regular passenger tracks to cross, grade crossings have been avoided; one track or set of tracks passing under the other at the intersecting points. (see plan on this page.) the contract for the building of the road contains the following somewhat unusual provision: "the railway and its equipment as contemplated by the contract constitute a great public work. all parts of the structure where exposed to public sight shall therefore be designed, constructed, and maintained with a view to the beauty of their appearance, as well as to their efficiency." it may be said with exact truthfulness that the builders have spared no effort or expense to live up to the spirit of this provision, and that all parts of the road and equipment display dignified and consistent artistic effects of the highest order. these are noticeable in the power house and the electrical sub-stations and particularly in the passenger stations. it might readily have been supposed that the limited space and comparative uniformity of the underground stations would afford but little opportunity for architectural and decorative effects. the result has shown the fallacy of such a supposition. [illustration: plan of th st. & th avenue station.] of the forty-eight stations, thirty-three are underground, eleven are on the viaduct portions of the road, and three are partly on the surface and partly underground, and one is partly on the surface and partly on the viaduct. [sidenote: _space occupied_] the underground stations are at the street intersections, and, except in a few instances, occupy space under the cross streets. the station plans are necessarily varied to suit the conditions of the different locations, the most important factor in planning them having been the amount of available space. the platforms are from to feet in length, and about feet in width, narrowing at the ends, while the center space is larger or smaller, according to local conditions. as a rule the body of the station extends back about feet from the edge of the platform. at all local stations (except at th street and lenox avenue) the platforms are outside of the tracks. (plan and photograph on pages and .) at lenox avenue and th street there is a single island platform for uptown and downtown passengers. [illustration: th street station] [sidenote: _island platforms_] at express stations there are two island platforms between the express and local tracks, one for uptown and one for downtown traffic. in addition, there are the usual local platforms at brooklyn bridge, th street (photograph on page ) and th street. at the remaining express stations, d street and madison avenue and d street, there are no local platforms outside of the tracks, local and through traffic using the island platforms. the island platforms at brooklyn bridge, th street, and d street and madison avenue are reached by mezzanine footways from the local platforms, it having been impossible to place entrances in the streets immediately over the platforms. at th street there is an underground passage connecting the local and island platforms, and at d street there are entrances to the island platforms directly from the street because there is a park area in the middle of the street. local passengers can transfer from express trains and express passengers from local trains without payment of additional fare by stepping across the island platforms. at d street, at d street, and at th street and broadway the station platforms are below the surface, but the ticket booths and toilet rooms are on the surface; this arrangement being possible also because of the park area available in the streets. at manhattan street the platforms are on the viaduct, but the ticket booths and toilet rooms are on the surface. the viaduct at this point is about feet above the surface, and escalators are provided. at many of the stations entrances have been arranged from the adjacent buildings, in addition to the entrances originally planned from the street. [sidenote: kiosks] the entrances to the underground stations are enclosed at the street by kiosks of cast iron and wire glass (photograph on page ), and vary in number from two to eight at a station. the stairways are of concrete, reinforced by twisted steel rods. at th street, at st street, and at mott avenue, where the platforms are from to feet below the surface, elevators are provided. [illustration: west side of d street station] at twenty of the underground stations it has been possible to use vault lights to such an extent that very little artificial light is needed. (photograph on page .) such artificial light as is required is supplied by incandescent lamps sunk in the ceilings. provision has been made for using the track circuit for lighting in emergency if the regular lighting circuit should temporarily fail. [illustration: kiosks at columbus circle] the station floors are of concrete, marked off in squares. at the junction of the floors and side walls a cement sanitary cove is placed. the floors drain to catch-basins, and hose bibs are provided for washing the floors. [illustration: brooklyn bridge station] two types of ceiling are used, one flat, which covers the steel and concrete of the roof, and the other arched between the roof beams and girders, the lower flanges of which are exposed. both types have an air space between ceiling and roof, which, together with the air space behind the inner side walls, permits air to circulate and minimizes condensation on the surface of the ceiling and walls. [illustration: plaque showing beaver at astor place station] the ceilings are separated into panels by wide ornamental mouldings, and the panels are decorated with narrower mouldings and rosettes. the bases of the walls are buff norman brick. above this is glass tile or glazed tile, and above the tile is a faience or terra-cotta cornice. ceramic mosaic is used for decorative panels, friezes, pilasters, and name-tablets. a different decorative treatment is used at each station, including a distinctive color scheme. at some stations the number of the intersecting street or initial letter of the street name is shown on conspicuous plaques, at other stations the number or letter is in the panel. at some stations artistic emblems have been used in the scheme of decoration, as at astor place, the beaver (see photograph on this page); at columbus circle, the great navigator's caravel; at th street, the seal of columbia university. the walls above the cornice and the ceilings are finished in white keene cement. [illustration: express station at th street, showing island and mezzanine platforms and stairs connecting them] [illustration: west side of columbus circle station ( th street)--illuminated by daylight coming through vault lights] [illustration: caravel and wall decoration] the ticket booths are of oak with bronze window grills and fittings. there are toilet rooms in every station, except at the city hall loop. each toilet room has a free closet or closets, and a pay closet which is furnished with a basin, mirror, soap dish, and towel rack. the fixtures are porcelain, finished in dull nickel. the soil, vent and water pipes are run in wall spaces, so as to be accessible. the rooms are ventilated through the hollow columns of the kiosks, and each is provided with an electric fan. they are heated by electric heaters. the woodwork of the rooms is oak; the walls are red slate wainscot and keene cement. passengers may enter the body of the station without paying fare. the train platforms are separated from the body of the station by railings. at the more important stations, separate sets of entrances are provided for incoming and outgoing passengers, the stairs at the back of the station being used for entrances and those nearer the track being used for exits. [illustration: city hall station] an example of the care used to obtain artistic effects can be seen at the city hall station. the road at this point is through an arched tunnel. in order to secure consistency in treatment the roof of the station is continued by a larger arch of special design. (see photograph on this page.) at th street, and at st street, and at mott avenue stations, where the road is far beneath the surface, it has been possible to build massive arches over the stations and tracks, with spans of feet. chapter ii types and methods of construction five types of construction have been employed in building the road: ( ) the typical subway near the surface with flat roof and "i" beams for the roof and sides, supported between tracks with steel bulb-angle columns used on about . miles or . per cent. of the road; ( ) flat roof typical subway of reënforced concrete construction supported between the tracks by steel bulb-angle columns, used for a short distance on lenox avenue and on the brooklyn portion of the brooklyn extension, also on the battery park loop; ( ) concrete lined tunnel used on about . miles or per cent. of the road, of which . per cent. was concrete lined open cut work, and the remainder was rock tunnel work; ( ) elevated road on steel viaduct used on about miles or . per cent. of the road; ( ) cast-iron tubes used under the harlem and east rivers. [sidenote: _typical subway_] the general character of the flat roof "i" beam construction is shown in photograph on page and drawing on this page. the bottom is of concrete. the side walls have "i" beam columns five feet apart, between which are vertical concrete arches, the steel acting as a support for the masonry and allowing the thickness of the walls to be materially reduced from that necessary were nothing but concrete used. the tops of the wall columns are connected by roof beams which are supported by rows of steel columns between the tracks, built on concrete and cut stone bases forming part of the floor system. concrete arches between the roof beams complete the top of the subway. such a structure is not impervious, and hence, there has been laid behind the side walls, under the floor and over the roof a course of two to eight thicknesses of felt, each washed with hot asphalt as laid. in addition to this precaution against dampness, in three sections of the subway (viz.: on elm street between pearl and grand streets, and on the approaches to the harlem river tunnel, and on the battery park loop) the felt waterproofing has been made more effective by one or two courses of hard-burned brick laid in hot asphalt, after the manner sometimes employed in constructing the linings of reservoirs of waterworks. [illustration: typical section of four track subway] [illustration: four-track subway--showing cross-over south of th street station] in front of the waterproofing, immediately behind the steel columns, are the systems of terra-cotta ducts in which the electric cables are placed. the cables can be reached by means of manholes every to feet, which open into the subway and also into the street. the number of these ducts ranges from down to , and they are connected with the main power station at th and th streets and the hudson river by a -duct subway under the former street. [sidenote: _reinforced concrete construction_] the reinforced concrete construction substitutes for the steel roof beams, steel rods, approximating - / inches square, laid in varying distances according to the different roof loads, from six to ten inches apart. rods - / inches in diameter tie the side walls, passing through angle columns in the walls and the bulb-angle columns in the center. layers of concrete are laid over the roof rods to a thickness of from eighteen to thirty inches, and carried two inches below the rods, imbedding them. for the sides similar square rods and concrete are used and angle columns five feet apart. the concrete of the side walls is from fifteen to eighteen inches thick. this type is shown by photographs on page . the rods used are of both square and twisted form. [illustration: laying sheet waterproofing in bottom] [illustration: special brick and asphalt waterproofing] [sidenote: _methods of construction typical subway_] the construction of the typical subway has been carried on by a great variety of methods, partly adopted on account of the conditions under which the work had to be prosecuted and partly due to the personal views of the different sub-contractors. the work was all done by open excavation, the so-called "cut and cover" system, but the conditions varied widely along different parts of the line, and different means were adopted to overcome local difficulties. the distance of the rock surface below the street level had a marked influence on the manner in which the excavation of the open trenches could be made. in some places this rock rose nearly to the pavement, as between th and th streets. at other places the subway is located in water-bearing loam and sand, as in the stretch between pearl and grand streets, where it was necessary to employ a special design for the bottom, which is illustrated by drawing on page . this part of the route includes the former site of the ancient collect pond, familiar in the early history of new york, and the excavation was through made ground, the pond having been filled in for building purposes after it was abandoned for supplying water to the city. the excavations through canal street, adjacent, were also through made ground, that street having been at one time, as its name implies, a canal. from the city hall to th street was sand, presenting no particular difficulties except through the territory just described. at union square rock was encountered on the west side of fourth avenue from the surface down. on the east side of the street, however, at the surface was sand, which extended feet down to a sloping rock surface. the tendency of the sand to a slide off into the rock excavation required great care. the work was done, however, without interference with the street traffic, which is particularly heavy at that point. [illustration: ducts in side walls--eight only of the sixteen layers are shown] [illustration: reinforced concrete construction] [illustration: roof showing concrete-steel construction--lenox avenue and th- st streets] [illustration: section of subway at pearl street this construction was made necessary by encountering a layer of peat resting on clay] [illustration: surface railway tracks supported over excavation on upper broadway] [illustration: subdivision of " and " gas mains over roof of subway-- th street and broadway] the natural difficulties of the route were increased by the network of sewers, water and gas mains, steam pipes, pneumatic tubes, electric conduits and their accessories, which filled the streets; and by the surface railways and their conduits. in some places the columns of the elevated railway had to be shored up temporarily, and in other places the subway passes close to the foundations of lofty buildings, where the construction needed to insure the safety of both subway and buildings was quite intricate. as the subway is close to the surface along a considerable part of its route, its construction involved the reconstruction of all the underground pipes and ducts in many places, as well as the removal of projecting vaults and buildings, and, in some cases, the underpinning of their walls. a description in detail of the methods of construction followed all along the line would make an interesting book of itself. space will only permit, however, an account of how some of the more serious difficulties were overcome. on fourth avenue, north of union square to d street, there were two electric conduit railway tracks in the center of the roadway and a horse car track near each curb part of the distance. the two electric car tracks were used for traffic which could not be interrupted, although the horse car tracks could be removed without inconvenience. these conditions rendered it impracticable to disturb the center of the roadway, while permitting excavation near the curb. well-timbered shafts about x feet, in plan, were sunk along one curb line and tunnels driven from them toward the other side of the street, stopping about - / feet beyond its center line. a bed of concrete was laid on the bottom of each tunnel, and, when it had set, a heavy vertical trestle was built on it. in this way trestles were built half across the street, strong enough to carry all the street cars and traffic on that half of the roadway. cableways to handle the dirt were erected near the curb line, spanning a number of these trestles, and then the earth between them was excavated from the curb to within a few feet of the nearest electric car track. the horse car tracks were removed. between the electric tracks a trench was dug until its bottom was level with the tops of the trestles, about three feet below the surface as a rule. a pair of heavy steel beams was then laid in this trench on the trestles. between these beams and the curb line a second pair of beams were placed. in this way the equivalent of a bridge was put up, the trestles acting as piers and the beams as girders. the central portion of the roadway was then undermined and supported by timbering suspended from the steel beams. the various gas and water pipes were hung from timbers at the surface of the ground. about four sections, or feet, of the subway were built at a time in this manner. when the work was completed along one side of the street it was repeated in the same manner on the other side. this method of construction was subsequently modified so as to permit work on both sides of the street simultaneously. the manner in which the central part of the roadway was supported remained the same and all of the traffic was diverted to this strip. [illustration: support of elevated railway station at d street and sixth avenue] between th and th streets, because of the proximity of the rock to the surface, it was necessary to move the tracks of the electric surface railway from the center of the street some twenty feet to the east curb, without interrupting traffic, which was very heavy at all times, the line being one of the main arteries of the metropolitan system. four x -inch timbers were laid upon the surface. standard cast-iron yokes were placed upon the timbers at the usual distance apart. upon this structure the regular track and slot rails were placed. the space between the rails was floored over. wooden boxes were temporarily laid for the electric cables. the usual hand holes and other accessories were built and the road operated on this timber roadbed. the removal of the tracks was made necessary because the rock beneath them and the concrete around the yokes was so closely united as to be practically monolithic, precluding the use of explosives. attempts to remove the rock from under the track demonstrated that it could not be done without destroying the yokes of the surface railway. [illustration: supporting elevated railroad by extension girder-- th street and broadway] the method of undermining the tracks on broadway from th to th streets was entirely different, for the conditions were not the same. the street is a wide one with a -foot parkway in the center, an electric conduit railway on either side, and outside each track a wide roadway. the subway excavation extended about feet outside each track, leaving between it and the curb ample room for vehicles. the construction problem, therefore, was to care for the car tracks with a minimum interference with the excavation. this was accomplished by temporary bridges for each track, each bridge consisting of a pair of timber trusses about feet long, braced together overhead high enough to let a car pass below the bracing. these trusses were set up on crib-work supports at each end, and the track hung from the lower chords. (see photograph on page .) the excavation then proceeded until the trench was finished and posts could be put into place between its bottom and the track. when the track was securely supported in this way, the trusses were lifted on flat cars and moved ahead feet. at th street station the subway roof was about feet from the electric railway yokes and structures of the street surface line. in order to build at this point it was necessary to remove two large gas mains, one inches and the other inches in diameter, and substitute for them, in troughs built between the roof beams of the subway, five smaller gas mains, each inches in diameter. this was done without interrupting the use of the mains. [illustration: moving brick and concrete retaining wall to make room for third track--broadway and th street] at the station on d street, between park and madison avenues, where there are five subway tracks, and along d street to broadway, a special method of construction was employed which was not followed elsewhere. the excavation here was about feet deep and extended to feet into rock. a trench feet wide was first sunk on the south side of the street and the subway built in it for a width of two tracks. then, at intervals of feet, tunnels were driven toward the north side of the street. their tops were about feet above the roof of the subway and their bottoms were on the roof. when they had been driven just beyond the line of the fourth track, their ends were connected by a tunnel parallel with the axis of the subway. the rock in the bottom of all these tunnels was then excavated to its final depth. in the small tunnel parallel with the subway axis, a bed of concrete was placed and the third row of steel columns was erected ready to carry the steel and concrete roof. when this work was completed, the earth between the traverse tunnels was excavated, the material above being supported on poling boards and struts. the roof of the subway was then extended sidewise over the rock below from the second to the third row of columns, and it was not until the roof was finished that the rock beneath was excavated. in this way the subway was finished for a width of four tracks. for the fifth track the earth was removed by tunneling to the limits of the subway, and then the rock below was blasted out. [illustration: moving west side wall to widen subway for third track-- th street and broadway] [illustration: subway through new "times" building, showing independent construction--the workmen stand on floor girders of subway] [illustration: columns of hotel belmont, passing through subway at d street and park avenue] in a number of places it was necessary to underpin the columns of the elevated railways, and a variety of methods were adopted for the work. a typical example of the difficulties involved was afforded at the manhattan railway elevated station at sixth avenue and d street. the stairways of this station were directly over the open excavation for the subway in the latter thoroughfare and were used by a large number of people. the work was done in the same manner at each of the four corners. two narrow pits about feet apart, were first sunk and their bottoms covered with concrete at the elevation of the floor of the subway. a trestle was built in each pit, and on these were placed a pair of -foot plate girders, one on each side of the elevated column, which was midway between the trestles. the column was then riveted to the girders and was thus held independent of its original foundations. other pits were then sunk under the stairway and trestles built in them to support it. when this work was completed it was possible to carry out the remaining excavation without interfering with the elevated railway traffic. at th street and broadway, also, the whole elevated railway had to be supported during construction. a temporary wooden bent was used to carry the elevated structure. the elevated columns were removed until the subway structure was completed at that point. (see photograph on page .) [illustration: small water mains between street surface and subway roof, substituted for one large main-- th street and lenox ave.] [illustration: special construction of - / -foot sewer, under chatham square] a feature of the construction which attracted considerable public attention while it was in progress, was the underpinning of a part of the columbus monument near the southwest entrance to central park. this handsome memorial column has a stone shaft rising about feet above the street level and weighs about tons. the rubble masonry foundation is feet square and rests on a -foot course of concrete. the subway passes under its east side within feet of its center, thus cutting out about three-tenths of the original support. at this place the footing was on dry sand of considerable depth, but on the other side of the monument rock rose within feet of the surface. the steep slope of the rock surface toward the subway necessitated particular care in underpinning the footings. the work was done by first driving a tunnel feet wide and feet high under the monument just outside the wall line of the subway. the tunnel was given a -foot bottom of concrete as a support for a row of wood posts a foot square, which were put in every feet to carry the footing above. when these posts were securely wedged in place the tunnel was filled with rubble masonry. this wall was strong enough to carry the weight of the portion of the monument over the subway, but the monument had to be supported to prevent its breaking off when undermined. to support it thus a small tunnel was driven through the rubble masonry foundation just below the street level and a pair of plate girders run through it. a trestle bent was then built under each end of the girders in the finished excavation for the subway. the girders were wedged up against the top of the tunnel in the masonry and the excavation was carried out under the monument without any injury to that structure. [illustration: three pipes substituted for large brick sewer at th street and lenox avenue] [illustration: sewer siphon at th street and railroad avenue] [illustration: concrete sewer back of electric duct manhole--broadway and th street] at th street and broadway a two-track structure of the steel beam type about feet long was completed. approaching it from the south, leading from manhattan valley viaduct, was an open cut with retaining walls feet long and from to feet in height. after all this work was finished (and it happened to be the first finished on the subway), it was decided to widen the road to three tracks, and a unique piece of work was successfully accomplished. the retaining walls were moved bodily on slides, by means of jacks, to a line - / feet on each side, widening the roadbed - / feet, without a break in either wall. the method of widening the steel-beam typical subway portion was equally novel. the west wall was moved bodily by jacks the necessary distance to bring it in line with the new position of the west retaining wall. the remainder of the structure was then moved bodily, also by jacks, - / feet to the east. the new roof of the usual type was then added over - / feet of additional opening. (see photographs on pages and .) [illustration: concrete sewer back of side wall, broadway and th street] [illustration: large gas and water pipes, relaid behind each side wall on elm street] provision had to be made, not only for buildings along the route that towered far above the street surface, but also for some which burrowed far below the subway. photograph on page shows an interesting example at d street and broadway, where the pressroom of the new building of the "new york times" is beneath the subway, the first floor is above it, and the first basement is alongside of it. incidentally it should be noted that the steel structure of the building and the subway are independent, the columns of the building passing through the subway station. [illustration: difficult pipe work--broadway and th street] at d street and park avenue the road passes under the hotel belmont, which necessitated the use of extra heavy steel girders and foundations for the support of the hotel and reinforced subway station. (see photograph on page .) along the east side of park row the ascending line of the "loop" was built through the pressroom of the "new york times" (the older downtown building), and as the excavation was considerably below the bottom of the foundation of the building, great care was necessary to avoid any settlement. instead of wood sheathing, steel channels were driven and thoroughly braced, and construction proceeded without disturbance of the building, which is very tall. at th street and lenox avenue one of the most complicated network of subsurface structures was encountered. street surface electric lines with their conduits intersect. on the south side of th street were a -inch water main and a -inch water main, a -inch and two -inch gas pipes and a bank of electric light and power ducts. on the north side were a -inch water main, one -inch, one -inch, and one -inch gas pipe and two banks of electric ducts. the headroom between the subway roof and the surface of the street was . feet. it was necessary to relocate the yokes of the street railway tracks on lenox avenue so as to bring them directly over the tunnel roof-beams. between the lower flanges of the roof-beams, for four bents, were laid heavy steel plates well stiffened, and in these troughs were laid four -inch pipes, which carried the water of the -inch main. (see photograph on page .) special castings were necessary to make the connections at each end. the smaller pipes and ducts were rearranged and carried over the roof or laid in troughs composed of -inch i-beams laid on the lower flanges of the roof-beams. in addition to all the transverse pipes, there were numerous pipes and duct lines to be relaid and rebuilt parallel to the subway and around the station. the change was accomplished without stopping or delaying the street cars. the water mains were shut off for only a few hours. [illustration: special riveted rectangular water pipe, over roof of subway at th street and lenox avenue] as has been said, the typical subway near the surface was used for about one-half of the road. since the sewers were at such a depth as to interfere with the construction of the subway, it meant that the sewers along that half had to be reconstructed. this indicates but very partially the magnitude of the sewer work, however, because nearly as many main sewers had to be reconstructed off the route of the subway as on the route; . miles of main sewers along the route were reconstructed and . miles of main sewers off the route. the reason why so many main sewers on streets away from the subway had to be rebuilt, was that, from d street, south, there is a natural ridge, and before the construction of the subway sewers drained to the east river and to the north river from the ridge. the route of the subway was so near to the dividing line that the only way to care for the sewers was, in many instances, to build entirely new outfall sewers. [illustration: three-track concrete arch-- th street and broadway] a notable example of sewer diversion was at canal street, where the flow of the sewer was carried into the east river instead of into the hudson river, permitting the sewer to be bulkheaded on the west side and continued in use. on the east side a new main sewer was constructed to empty into the east river. the new east-side sewer was built off the route of the subway for over a mile. an interesting feature in the construction was the work at chatham square, where a - / -foot circular brick conduit was built. the conjunction at this point of numerous electric surface car lines, elevated railroad pillars, and enormous vehicular street traffic, made it imperative that the surface of the street should not be disturbed, and the sewer was built by tunneling. this tunneling was through very fine running sand and the section to be excavated was small. to meet these conditions a novel method of construction was used. interlocked poling boards were employed to support the roof and were driven by lever jacks, somewhat as a shield is driven in the shield system of tunneling. the forward ends of the poling boards were supported by a cantilever beam. the sides and front of the excavation were supported by lagging boards laid flat against and over strips of canvas, which were rolled down as the excavation progressed. the sewer was completed and lined in lengths of from foot to - / feet, and at the maximum rate of work about feet of sewer were finished per week. [illustration: construction of fort george tunnel] at th street and lenox avenue a - / -foot circular brick sewer intersected the line of the subway at a level which necessitated its removal or subdivision. the latter expedient was adopted, and three -inch cast-iron pipes were passed under the subway. (see photograph on page .) at th street and railroad avenue a sewer had to be lowered below tide level in order to cross under the subway. to do this two permanent inverted siphons were built of -inch cast-iron pipe. two were built in order that one might be used, while the other could be shut off for cleaning, and they have proved very satisfactory. this was the only instance where siphons were used. in this connection it is worthy of note that the general changes referred to gave to the city much better sewers as substitutes for the old ones. a number of interesting methods of providing for subsurface structures are shown in photographs pages to . from the general post-office at park row to th street, just below the surface, there is a system of pneumatic mail tubes for postal delivery. of course, absolutely no change in alignment could be permitted while these tubes were in use carrying mail. it was necessary, therefore, to support them very carefully. the slightest deviation in alignment would have stopped the service. [illustration: two column bent viaduct] [illustration: traveler for erecting forms, central park tunnel--(in this tunnel ducts are built in the sidewalls)] [sidenote: _concrete-lined tunnel_] between d street and d street under park avenue, between th street and th street under broadway, between th street and fort george under broadway and eleventh avenue (the second longest double-track rock tunnel in the united states, the hoosac tunnel being the only one of greater length), and between th street and broadway under central park to lenox avenue, the road is in rock tunnel lined with concrete. from th street to th street the tunnel is - / feet wide, one of the widest concrete arches in the world. on the section from broadway and d street to lenox avenue and th street under central park, a two-track subway was driven through micaceous rock by taking out top headings and then two full-width benches. the work was done from two shafts and one portal. all drilling for the headings was done by an eight-hour night shift, using percussion drills. the blasting was done early in the morning and the day gang removed the spoil, which was hauled to the shafts and the portal in cars drawn by mules. a large part of the rock was crushed for concrete. the concrete floor was the first part of the lining to be put in place. rails were laid on it for a traveler having moulds attached to its sides, against which the walls were built. a similar traveler followed with the centering for the arch roof, a length of about feet being completed at one operation. [illustration: four column (tower) viaduct construction] [illustration: manhattan valley viaduct, looking north] [illustration: erection of arch, manhattan valley viaduct] on the park avenue section from th street to st street two separate double-track tunnels were driven below a double-track electric railway tunnel, one on each side. the work was done from four shafts, one at each end of each tunnel. at first, top headings were employed at the north ends of both tunnels and at the south end of the west tunnel; at the south end of the east tunnel a bottom heading was used. later, a bottom heading was also used at the south end of the west tunnel. the rock was very irregular and treacherous in character, and the strata inclined so as to make the danger of slips a serious one. the two headings of the west tunnel met in february and those of the east tunnel in march, , and the widening of the tunnels to the full section was immediately begun. despite the adoption of every precaution suggested by experience in such work, some disturbance of the surface above the east tunnel resulted, and several house fronts were damaged. the portion of the tunnel affected was bulkheaded at each end, packed with rubble and grouted with portland cement mortar injected under pressure through pipes sunk from the street surface above. when the interior was firm, the tunnel was redriven, using much the same methods that are employed for tunnels through earth when the arch lining is built before the central core, or dumpling of earth, is removed. the work had to be done very slowly to prevent any further settlement of the ground, and the completion of the widening of the other parts of the tunnels also proceeded very slowly, because as soon as the slip occurred a large amount of timbering was introduced, which interfered seriously with the operations. after the lining was completed, portland cement grout was again injected under pressure, through holes left in the roof, until further movement of the fill overhead was absolutely prevented. [illustration: completed arch at manhattan street] as has been said, the tunnel between th street and fort george is the second longest two-track tunnel in the united states. it was built in a remarkably short time, considering the fact that the work was prosecuted from two portal headings and from two shafts. one shaft was at th street and the other at st street, the work proceeding both north and south from each shaft. the method employed for the work (photograph on page ) was similar to that used under central park. the shafts at th street and at st street were located at those points so that they might be used for the permanent elevator equipment for the stations at these streets. these stations each have an arch span of about feet, lined with brick. [sidenote: _steel viaduct_] the elevated viaduct construction extends from th street to d street and from dyckman street to bailey avenue on the western branch, and from brook and westchester avenues to bronx park on the eastern, a total distance of about miles. the three-track viaducts are carried on two column bents where the rail is not more than feet above the ground level, and on four-column towers for higher structures. in the latter case, the posts of a tower are feet apart transversely and or feet longitudinally, as a rule, and the towers are from to feet apart on centers. the tops of the towers have x-bracing and the connecting spans have two panels of intermediate vertical sway bracing between the three pairs of longitudinal girders. in the low viaducts, where there are no towers, every fourth panel has zigzag lateral bracing in the two panels between the pairs of longitudinal girders. [illustration: profile of harlem river tunnel and approaches] [illustration: section of harlem river tunnel during construction] [illustration: assembling iron work on pontoon--harlem river tunnel] the towers have columns consisting as a rule of a x / -inch web plate and four x x / -inch bulb angles. the horizontal struts in their cross-bracing are made of four x -inch angles, latticed to form an i-shaped cross-section. the x-bracing consists of single x - / -inch angles. the tops of the columns have horizontal cap angles on which are riveted the lower flanges of the transverse girders; the end angles of the girder and the top of the column are also connected by a riveted splice plate. the six longitudinal girders are web-riveted to the transverse girders. the outside longitudinal girder on each side of the viaduct has the same depth across the tower as in the connecting span, but the four intermediate lines are not so deep across the towers. in the single trestle bents the columns are the same as those just described, but the diagonal bracing is replaced by plate knee-braces. the manhattan valley viaduct on the west side line, has a total length of , feet. its most important feature is a two-hinged arch of - / feet span, which carries platforms shaded by canopies, but no station buildings. the station is on the ground between the surface railway tracks. access to the platforms is obtained by means of escalators. it has three lattice-girder two-hinge ribs - / feet apart on centers, the center line of each rib being a parabola. each half rib supports six spandrel posts carrying the roadway, the posts being seated directly over vertical web members of the rib. the chords of the ribs are feet apart and of an h-section, having four x -inch angles and six -inch flange and web plates for the center rib and lighter sections for the outside ribs. the arch was erected without false work. [illustration: showing concrete over iron work--harlem river tunnel] the viaduct spans of either approach to the arch are to feet long. all transverse girders are feet inches long, and have a x / -inch web plate and four x -inch angles. the two outside longitudinal girders of deck spans are inches deep and the other inches. all are / -inch thick and their four flange angles vary in size from x - / to x inches, and on the longest spans there are flange plates. at each end of the viaduct there is a through span with -inch web longitudinal girders. each track was proportioned for a dead load of pounds per lineal foot and a live load of , pounds per axle. the axle spacing in the truck was feet and the pairs of axles were alternately and feet apart. the traction load was taken at per cent. of the live load, and a wind pressure of pounds per lineal foot was assumed over the whole structure. [sidenote: _tubes under harlem river_] one of the most interesting sections of the work is that which approaches and passes under the harlem river, carrying the two tracks of the east side line. the war department required a minimum depth of feet in the river at low tide, which fixed the elevation of the roof of the submerged part of the tunnel. this part of the line, feet long, consists of twin single-track cast-iron cylinders feet in diameter enveloped in a large mass of concrete and lined with the same material. the approach on either side is a double-track concrete arched structure. the total length of the section is , feet. the methods of construction employed were novel in subaqueous tunneling and are partly shown on photographs on pages and . the bed of the harlem river at the point of tunneling consists of mud, silt, and sand, much of which was so nearly in a fluid condition that it was removed by means of a jet. the maximum depth of excavation was about feet. instead of employing the usual method of a shield and compressed air at high pressure, a much speedier device was contrived. the river crossing has been built in two sections. the west section was first built, the war department having forbidden the closing of more than half the river at one time. a trench was dredged over the line of the tunnel about feet wide and feet below low water. this depth was about feet above the sub-grade of the tunnel. three rows of piles were next driven on each side of the trench from the west bank to the middle of the river and on them working platforms were built, forming two wharves feet apart in the clear. piles were then driven over the area to be covered by the subway, feet inches apart laterally and feet longitudinally. they were cut off about feet above the center line of each tube and capped with timbers inches square. a thoroughly-trussed framework was then floated over the piles and sunk on them. the trusses were spaced so as to come between each transverse row of piles and were connected by eight longitudinal sticks or stringers, two at the top and two at the bottom on each side. the four at each side were just far enough apart to allow a special tongue and grooved -inch sheet piling to be driven between them. this sheathing was driven to a depth of to feet below the bottom of the finished tunnel. a well-calked roof of three courses of -inch timbers, separated by -inch plank, was then floated over the piles and sunk. it had three timber shafts x feet in plan, and when it was in place and covered with earth it formed the top of a caisson with the sheet piling on the sides and ends, the latter being driven after the roof was in place. the excavation below this caisson was made under air pressure, part of the material being blown out by water jets and the remainder removed through the airlocks in the shafts. when the excavation was completed, the piles were temporarily braced and the concrete and cast-iron lining put in place, the piles being cut off as the concrete bed was laid up to them. the second or eastern section of this crossing was carried on by a modification of the plan just mentioned. instead of using a temporary timber roof on the side walls, the permanent iron and concrete upper half of the tunnels was employed as a roof for the caisson. the trench was dredged nearly to sub-grade and its sides provided with wharves as before, running out to the completed half of the work. the permanent foundation piles were then driven and a timber frame sunk over them to serve as a guide for the -inch sheet piling around the site. steel pilot piles with water jets were driven in advance of the wood-sheet piles, and if they struck any boulders the latter were drilled and blasted. the steel piles were withdrawn by a six-part tackle and hoisting engine, and then the wooden piles driven in their place. when the piling was finished, a pontoon feet wide, feet long, and feet deep was built between the wharves, and upon a separate platform or deck on it the upper half of the cast-iron shells were assembled, their ends closed by steel-plate diaphragms and the whole covered with concrete. the pontoon was then submerged several feet, parted at its center, and each half drawn out endwise from beneath the floating top of the tunnel. the latter was then loaded and carefully sunk into place, the connection with the shore section being made by a diver, who entered the roof through a special opening. when it was finally in place, men entered through the shore section and cut away the wood bottom, thus completing the caisson so that work could proceed below it as before. three of these caissons were required to complete the east end of the crossing. [illustration: looking up broadway from trinity church--showing working platform and gas mains temporarily supported overhead] the construction of the approaches to the tunnel was carried out between heavy sheet piling. the excavation was over feet deep in places and very wet, and the success of the work was largely due to the care taken in driving the -inch sheet piling. [sidenote: _methods of construction brooklyn extension_] a number of interesting features should be noted in the methods of construction adopted on the brooklyn extension. the types of construction on the brooklyn extension have already been spoken of. they are ( ) typical flat-roof steel beam subway from the post-office, manhattan, to bowling green; ( ) reinforced concrete typical subway in battery park, manhattan, and from clinton street to the terminus, in brooklyn; ( ) two single track cast-iron-lined tubular tunnels from battery park, under the east river, and under joralemon street to clinton street, brooklyn. under broadway, manhattan, the work is through sand, the vehicular and electric street car traffic, the network of subsurface structures, and the high buildings making this one of the most difficult portions of the road to build. the street traffic is so great that it was decided that during the daytime the surface of the street should be maintained in a condition suitable for ordinary traffic. this was accomplished by making openings in the sidewalk near the curb, at two points, and erecting temporary working platforms over the street feet from the surface. the excavations are made by the ordinary drift and tunnel method. the excavated material is hoisted from the openings to the platforms and passed through chutes to wagons. on the street surface, over and in advance of the excavations, temporary plank decks are placed and maintained during the drifting and tunneling operations, and after the permanent subway structure has been erected up to the time when the street surface is permanently restored. the roof of the subway is about feet from the surface of the street, which has made it necessary to care for the gas and water mains. this has been done by carrying the mains on temporary trestle structures over the sidewalks. the mains will be restored to their former position when the subway structure is complete. from bowling green, south along broadway, state street and in battery park, where the subway is of reinforced concrete construction, the "open cut and cover" method is employed, the elevated and surface railroad structures being temporarily supported by wooden and steel trusses and finally supported by permanent foundations resting on the subway roof. from battery place, south along the loop work, the greater portion of the excavation is made below mean high-water level, and necessitates the use of heavy tongue and grooved sheeting and the operation of two centrifugal pumps, day and night. the tubes under the east river, including the approaches, are each , feet in length. the tunnel consists of two cast-iron tubes - / feet diameter inside, the lining being constructed of cast-iron plates, circular in shape, bolted together and reinforced by grouting outside of the plates and beton filling on the inside to the depth of the flanges. the tubes are being constructed under air pressure through solid rock from the manhattan side to the middle of the east river by the ordinary rock tunnel drift method, and on the brooklyn side through sand and silt by the use of hydraulic shields. four shields have been installed, weighing tons each. they are driven by hydraulic pressure of about , tons. the two shields drifting to the center of the river from garden place are in water-bearing sand and are operated under air pressure. the river tubes are on a . per cent. grade and in the center of the river will reach the deepest point, about feet below mean high-water level. the typical subway of reinforced concrete from clinton street to the flatbush avenue terminus is being constructed by the method commonly used on the manhattan-bronx route. from borough hall to the terminus the route of the subway is directly below an elevated railway structure, which is temporarily supported by timber bracing, having its bearing on the street surface and the tunnel timbers. the permanent support will be masonry piers built upon the roof of the subway structure. along this portion of the route are street surface electric roads, but they are operated by overhead trolley and the tracks are laid on ordinary ties. it has, therefore, been much less difficult to care for them during the construction of the subway. work is being prosecuted on the brooklyn extension day and night, and in brooklyn the excavation is made much more rapidly by employing the street surface trolley roads to remove the excavated material. spur tracks have been built and flat cars are used, much of the removal being done at night. chapter iii power house building the power house is situated adjacent to the north river on the block bounded by west th street, west th street, eleventh avenue, and twelfth avenue. the plans were adopted after a thorough study by the engineers of interborough rapid transit company of all the large power houses already completed and of the designs of the large power houses in process of construction in america and abroad. the building is large, and when fully equipped it will be capable of producing more power than any electrical plant ever built, and the study of the designs of other power houses throughout the world was pursued with the principal object of reducing to a minimum the possibility of interruption of service in a plant producing the great power required. the type of power house adopted provides for a single row of large engines and electric generators, contained within an operating room placed beside a boiler house, with a capacity of producing, approximately, not less than , horse power when the machinery is being operated at normal rating. [sidenote: _location and general plan of power house_] the work of preparing the detailed plans of the power house structure was, in the main, completed early in , and resulted in the present plan, which may briefly be described as follows: the structure is divided into two main parts--an operating room and a boiler house, with a partition wall between the two sections. the face of the structure on eleventh avenue is feet wide, of which width the boiler house takes feet and the operating section feet. the operating room occupies the northerly side of the structure and the boiler house the southerly side. the designers were enabled to employ a contour of roof and wall section for the northerly side that was identical with the roof and wall contour of the southerly side, so that the building, when viewed from either end, presents a symmetrical appearance with both sides of the building alike in form and design. the operating room section is practically symmetrical in its structure, with respect to its center; it consists of a central area, with a truss roof over same along with galleries at both sides. the galleries along the northerly side are primarily for the electrical apparatus, while those along the southerly side are given up chiefly to the steam-pipe equipment. the boiler room section is also practically symmetrical with respect to its center. a sectional scheme of the power house arrangement was determined on, by which the structure was to consist of five generating sections, each similar to the others in all its mechanical details; but, at a later date, a sixth section was added, with space on the lot for a seventh section. each section embraces one chimney along with the following generating equipment:--twelve boilers, two engines, each direct connected to a , kilowatt alternator; two condensing equipments, two boiler-feed pumps, two smoke-flue systems, and detail apparatus necessary to make each section complete in itself. the only variation is the turbine plant hereafter referred to. in addition to the space occupied by the sections, an area was set aside, at the eleventh avenue end of the structure, for the passage of the railway spur from the new york central tracks. the total length of the original five-section power house was feet - / inches, but the additional section afterwards added makes the over all length of the structure feet - / inches. in the fourth section it was decided to omit a regular engine with its , kilowatt generator, and in its place substitute a , kilowatt lighting and exciter outfit. arrangements were made, however, so that this outfit can afterward be replaced by a regular , kilowatt traction generator. [illustration: cross section of power house in perspective] the plan of the power station included a method of supporting the chimneys on steel columns, instead of erecting them through the building, which modification allowed for the disposal of boilers in spaces which would otherwise be occupied by the chimney bases. by this arrangement it was possible to place all the boilers on one floor level. the economizers were placed above the boilers, instead of behind them, which made a material saving in the width of the boiler room. this saving permitted the setting aside of the aforementioned gallery at the side of the operating room, closed off from both boiler and engine rooms, for the reception of the main-pipe systems and for a pumping equipment below it. the advantages of the plan can be enumerated briefly as follows: the main engines, combined with their alternators, lie in a single row along the center line of the operating room with the steam or operating end of each engine facing the boiler house and the opposite end toward the electrical switching and controlling apparatus arranged along the outside wall. within the area between the boiler house and operating room there is placed, for each engine, its respective complement of pumping apparatus, all controlled by and under the operating jurisdiction of the engineer for that engine. each engineer has thus full control of the pumping machinery required for his unit. symmetrically arranged with respect to the center line of each engine are the six boilers in the boiler room, and the piping from these six boilers forms a short connection between the nozzles on the boilers and the throttles on the engine. the arrangement of piping is alike for each engine, which results in a piping system of maximum simplicity that can be controlled, in the event of difficulty, with a degree of certainty not possible with a more complicated system. the main parts of the steam-pipe system can be controlled from outside this area. the single tier of boilers makes it possible to secure a high and well ventilated boiler room with ventilation into a story constructed above it, aside from that afforded by the windows themselves. the boiler room will therefore be cool in warm weather and light, and all difficulties from escaping steam will be minimized. in this respect the boiler room will be superior to corresponding rooms in plants of older construction, where they are low, dark, and often very hot during the summer season. the placing of the economizers, with their auxiliary smoke flue connections, in the economizer room, all symmetrically arranged with respect to each chimney, removes from the boiler room an element of disturbance and makes it possible to pass directly from the boiler house to the operating room at convenient points along the length of the power house structure. the location of each chimney in the center of the boiler house between sets of six boilers divides the coal bunker construction into separate pockets by which trouble from spontaneous combustion can be localized, and, as described later, the divided coal bunkers can provide for the storage of different grades of coal. the unit basis on which the economizer and flue system is constructed will allow making repairs to any one section without shutting off the portions not connected directly to the section needing repair. the floor of the power house between the column bases is a continuous mass of concrete nowhere less than two feet thick. the massive concrete foundations for the reciprocating engines contain each , yards of concrete above mean high water level, and in some cases have twice as much below that point. the total amount of concrete in the foundations of the finished power house is about , yards. [illustration: cross-section of power house] water for condensing purposes is drawn from the river and discharged into it through two monolithic concrete tunnels parallel to the axis of the building. the intake conduit has an oval interior, x - / feet in size, and a rectangular exterior cross-section; the outflow tunnel has a horseshoe-shape cross-section and is built on top of the intake tunnel. these tunnels were built throughout in open trench, which, at the shore end, was excavated in solid rock. at the river end the excavation was, at some places, almost entirely through the fill and mud and was made in a cofferdam composed chiefly of sheet piles. as it was impossible to drive these piles across the old timber crib which formed the old dock front, the latter was cut through by a pneumatic caisson of wooden-stave construction, which formed part of one side of the cofferdam. at the river end of the cofferdam the rock was so deep that the concrete could not be carried down to its surface, and the tunnel section was built on a foundation of piles driven to the rock and cut off by a steam saw - / feet below mean hightide. this section of the tunnel was built in a x -foot floating caisson feet deep. the concrete was rammed in it around the moulds and the sides were braced as it sunk. after the tunnel sections were completed, the caisson was sunk, by water ballast, to a bearing on the pile foundation. adjacent to the condensing water conduits is the x -foot rectangular concrete tunnel, through which the underground coal conveyor is installed between the shore end of the pier and the power house. [sidenote: _steel work_] the steel structure of the power house is independent of the walls, the latter being self-supporting and used as bearing walls only for a few of the beams in the first floor. although structurally a single building, in arrangement it is essentially two, lying side by side and separated by a brick division wall. there are transverse and longitudinal rows of main columns, the longitudinal spacing being feet and feet for different rows, with special bracing in the boiler house to accommodate the arrangement of boilers. the columns are mainly of box section, made up of rolled or built channels and cover plates. they are supported by cast-iron bases, resting on the granite capstones of the concrete foundation piers. both the boiler house and the engine house have five tiers of floor framing below the flat portion of the roof, the three upper tiers of the engine house forming galleries on each side of the operating room, which is clear for the full height of the building. the boiler house floors are, in general, framed with transverse plate girders and longitudinal rolled beams, arranged to suit the particular requirements of the imposed loads of the boilers, economizers, coal, etc., while the engine-room floors and pipe and switchboard galleries are in general framed with longitudinal plate girders and transverse beams. there are seven coal bunkers in the boiler house, of which five are feet and two feet in length by feet in width at the top, the combined maximum capacity being , tons. the bunkers are separated from each other by the six chimneys spaced along the center line of the boiler house. the bottom of the bunkers are at the fifth floor, at an elevation of about feet above the basement. the bunkers are constructed with double, transverse, plate girder frames at each line of columns, combined with struts and ties, which balance the outward thrust of the coal against the sides. the frames form the outline of the bunkers with slides sloping at degrees, and carry longitudinal i-beams, between which are built concrete arches, reinforced with expanded metal, the whole surface being filled with concrete over the tops of the beams and given a two-inch granolithic finish. [illustration: th st. power house--general plan of coal bunkers and economizers.] [illustration: th st. power house--general plan of main operating floor.] the six chimneys, spaced feet apart, and occupying the space between the ends of the adjacent coal bunkers, are supported on plate-girder platforms in the fifth floor, leaving the space below clear for a symmetrical arrangement of the boilers and economizers from end to end of the building. the platforms are framed of single-web girders feet deep, thoroughly braced and carrying on their top flanges a grillage of -inch i-beam. a system of bracing for both the chimney platforms and coal bunkers is carried down to the foundations in traverse planes about feet apart. the sixth tier of beams constitute a flat roof over a portion of the building at the center and sides. in the engine room, at this level, which is feet above the engine-room floor, are provided the two longitudinal lines of crane runway girders upon which are operated the engine-room cranes. runways for -ton hand cranes are also provided for the full length of the boiler room, and for nearly the full length of the north panel in the engine room. some of the loads carried by the steel structure are as follows: in the engine house, operating on the longitudinal runways as mentioned, are one -ton and one -ton electric traveling crane of feet span. the imposed loads of the steam-pipe galleries on the south side and the switchboard galleries on the north side are somewhat irregularly distributed, but are equivalent to uniform loads of to pounds per square foot. in the boiler house the weight of coal carried is about tons per longitudinal foot of the building; the weight of the brick chimneys is , tons each; economizers, with brick setting, about - / tons per longitudinal foot; suspended weight of the boilers tons each, and the weight of the boiler setting, carried on the first floor framing, tons each. the weight of structural steel used in the completed building is about , tons. [sidenote: _power house superstructure_] the design of the facework of the power house received the personal attention of the directors of the company, and its character and the class of materials to be employed were carefully considered. the influence of the design on the future value of the property and the condition of the environment in general were studied, together with the factors relating to the future ownership of the plant by the city. several plans were taken up looking to the construction of a power house of massive and simple design, but it was finally decided to adopt an ornate style of treatment by which the structure would be rendered architecturally attractive and in harmony with the recent tendencies of municipal and city improvements from an architectural standpoint. at the initial stage of the power house design mr. stanford white, of the firm of mckim, mead & white, of new york, volunteered his services to the company as an adviser on the matter of the design of the facework, and, as his offer was accepted, his connection with the work has resulted in the development of the present exterior design and the selection of the materials used. the eleventh avenue façade is the most elaborately treated, but the scheme of the main façade is carried along both the th and th street fronts. the westerly end of the structure, facing the river, may ultimately be removed in case the power house is extended to the twelfth avenue building line for the reception of fourteen generating equipments; and for this reason this wall is designed plainly of less costly material. the general style of the facework is what may be called french renaissance, and the color scheme has, therefore, been made rather light in character. the base of the exterior walls has been finished with cut granite up to the water table, above which they have been laid up with a light colored buff pressed brick. this brick has been enriched by the use of similarly colored terra-cotta, which appears in the pilasters, about the windows, in the several entablatures, and in the cornice and parapet work. the eleventh avenue façade is further enriched by marble medallions, framed with terra-cotta, and by a title panel directly over the front of the structure. the main entrance to the structure is situated at its northeast corner, and, as the railroad track passes along just inside the building, the entrance proper is the doorway immediately beyond the track, and opens into the entrance lobby. the doorway is trimmed with cut granite and the lobby is finished with a marble wainscoting. the interior of the operating room is faced with a light, cream-colored pressed brick with an enameled brick wainscoting, eight feet high, extending around the entire operating area; the wainscoting is white except for a brown border and base. the offices, the toilets and locker rooms are finished and fitted with materials in harmony with the high-class character of the building. the masonry-floor construction consists of concrete reinforced with expanded metal, and except where iron or other floor plates are used, or where tile or special flooring is laid, the floor is covered with a hard cement granolithic finish. in the design of the interior arrangements, the value of a generous supply of stairways was appreciated, in order that all parts of the structure might be made readily accessible, especially in the boiler house section. in the boiler house and machinery portion of the plant the stairways, railings, and accessories are plainly but strongly constructed. the main stairways are, however, of somewhat ornate design, with marble and other trim work, and the railings of the main gallery construction are likewise of ornate treatment. all exterior doors and trim are of metal and all interior carpenter work is done with kalomein iron protection, so that the building, in its strictest sense, will contain no combustible material. [sidenote: _chimneys_] the complete -unit power house will have six chimneys, spaced feet apart on the longitudinal center line of the boiler room, each chimney being feet in inside diameter at the top, which is feet above the grate bars. each will serve the twelve boilers included in the section of which it is the center, these boilers having an aggregate of , square feet of heating surface. by these dimensions each chimney has a fair surplus capacity, and it is calculated that, with economizers in the path of the furnace gases, there will be sufficient draft to meet a demand slightly above the normal rating of the boilers. to provide for overload capacity, as may be demanded by future conditions, a forced draft system will be supplied, as described later. as previously stated, the chimneys are all supported upon the steel structure of the building at an elevation of feet above the basement floor and feet above the grates. the supporting platforms are, in each case, carried on six of the building columns (the three front columns of two groups of boilers on opposite sides of the center aisle of the boiler room), and each platform is composed of single-web plate girders, well braced and surmounted by a grillage of -inch i-beams. the grillage is filled solidly with concrete and flushed smooth on top to receive the brickwork of the chimney. each chimney is feet in total height of brickwork above the top of the supporting platform, and each chimney is feet square in the outside dimension at the base, changing to an octagonal form at a point feet inches above the base. this octagonal form is carried to a height of feet inches above the base, at which point the circular section of radial brick begins. the octagonal base of the chimney is of hard-burned red brick three feet in thickness between the side of the octagon and the interior circular section. the brick work is started from the top of the grillage platform with a steel channel curb, three feet in depth, through which two lines of steel rods are run in each direction, thus binding together the first three feet of brickwork, and designed to prevent any flaking at the outside. at a level of three feet above the bottom of the brickwork, a layer of water-proofing is placed over the interior area and covered with two courses of brick, upon which are built diagonal brick walls, inches thick, inches apart, and about inches in height. these walls are themselves perforated at intervals, and the whole is covered with hand-burned terra-cotta blocks, thus forming a cellular air space, which communicates with the exterior air and serves as an insulation against heat for the steelwork beneath. a single layer of firebrick completes the flooring of the interior area, which is also flush with the bottom of the flue openings. there are two flue openings, diametrically opposite, and feet wide by feet high to the crown of the arched top. they are lined with fire brick, which joins the fire-brick lining of the interior of the shaft, this latter being bonded to the red-brick walls to a point feet below the top of the octagon, and extended above for a height of feet within the circular shaft, as an inner shell. the usual baffle wall is provided of fire brick, inches thick, extending diagonally across the chimney, and feet above the tops of the flue openings. where the chimney passes through the roof of the boiler house, a steel plate and angle curb, which clears the chimney by inches at all points, is provided in connection with the roof framing. this is covered by a hood flashed into the brickwork, so that the roof has no connection with or bearing upon the chimney. at a point feet inches below the cap of the chimney the brickwork is corbeled out for several courses, forming a ledge, around the outside of which is placed a wrought-iron railing, thus forming a walkway around the circumference of the chimney top. the cap is of cast iron, surmounted by eight x -inch wrought-iron ribs, bent over the outlet and with pointed ends gathered together at the center. the lightning conductors are carried down the outside of the shaft to the roof and thence to the ground outside of the building. galvanized iron ladder rungs were built in the brickwork, for ladders both inside and outside the shaft. the chimneys, except for the octagonal red-brick base, are constructed of the radial perforated bricks. the lightning rods are tipped with pointed platinum points about inches long. [sidenote: _north river pier_] exceptional facilities have been provided for the unloading of coal from vessels, or barges, which can be brought to the northerly side of the recently constructed pier at the foot of west th street. the pier was specially built by the department of docks and ferries and is feet long and feet wide. the pier construction includes a special river wall across th street at the bulkhead line through which the condensing water will be taken from and returned to the river. immediately outside the river wall and beneath the deck of the pier, there is a system of screens through which the intake water is passed. on each side where the water enters the screen chamber, is a heavy steel grillage; inside this is a system of fine screens arranged so that the several screens can be raised, by a special machine, for the purpose of cleaning. the advantages of a well-designed screening outfit has been appreciated, and considerable care has been exercised to make it as reliable and effective as possible. at each side of the center of the pier, just below the deck, there are two discharge water conduits constructed of heavy timber, to conduct the warm water from the condensers away from the cold water intakes at the screens. two water conduits are employed, in order that one may be repaired or renewed while using the other; in fact, the entire pier is constructed with the view of renewal without interference in the operation for which it was provided. chapter iv power plant from coal pile to shafts of engines and turbines from the minute and specific description in chapter iii, a clear idea will have been obtained of the power house building and its adjuncts, as well as of the features which not only go to make it an architectural landmark, but which adapt it specifically for the vital function that it is called upon to perform. we now come to a review and detailed description of the power plant equipment in its general relation to the building, and "follow the power through" from the coal pile to the shafts of the engines or steam turbines attached to the dynamos which generate current for power and for light. [sidenote: _coal and ash handling equipment_] the elements of the coal handling equipment comprise a movable electric hoisting tower with crushing and weighing apparatus--a system of horizontal belt conveyors, with -inch belts, to carry the crushed and weighed coal along the dock and thence by tunnel underground to the southwest corner of the power house; a system of -inch belt conveyors to elevate the coal a distance of feet to the top of the boiler house, at the rate of tons per hour or more, if so desired, and a system of -inch belt conveyors to distribute it horizontally over the coal bunkers. these conveyors have automatic self reversing trippers, which distribute the coal evenly in the bunkers. for handling different grades of coal, distributing conveyors are arranged underneath the bunkers for delivering the coal from a particular bunker through gates to the downtake hoppers in front of the boilers, as hereafter described. the equipment for removing ashes from the boiler room basement and for storing and delivering the ashes to barges, comprises the following elements: a system of tracks, inches gauge, extending under the ash-hopper gates in the boiler-house cellar and extending to an elevated storage bunker at the water front. the rolling stock consists of steel cars of tons capacity, having gable bottoms and side dumping doors. each car has two four-wheel pivoted trucks with springs. motive power is supplied by an electric storage battery locomotive. the cars deliver the ashes to an elevating belt conveyor, which fills the ash bunker. this will contain , tons, and is built of steel with a suspension bottom lined with concrete. for delivering stored ashes to barges, a collecting belt extends longitudinally under the pocket, being fed by eight gates. it delivers ashes to a loading belt conveyor, the outboard end of which is hinged so as to vary the height of delivery and to fold up inside the wharf line when not in use. the coal handling system in question was adopted because any serious interruption of service would be of short duration, as any belt, or part of the belt mechanism, could quickly be repaired or replaced. the system also possessed advantages with respect to the automatic even distribution of coal in the bunkers, by means of the self reversing trippers. these derive their power from the conveying belts. each conveyor has a rotary cleaning brush to cleanse the belt before it reaches the driving pulley and they are all driven by induction motors. the tower frame and boom are steel. the tower rolls on two rails along the dock and is self-propelling. the lift is unusually short; for the reason that the weighing apparatus is removed horizontally to one side in a separate house, instead of lying vertically below the crusher. this arrangement reduces by per cent. the lift of the bucket, which is of the clam-shell type of forty-four cubic feet capacity. the motive power for operating the bucket is perhaps the most massive and powerful ever installed for such service. the main hoist is directly connected to a horse-power motor with a special system of control. the trolley engine for hauling the bucket along the boom is also direct coupled to a multipolar motor. the receiving hopper has a large throat, and a steel grizzly in it which sorts out coal small enough for the stokers and bypasses it around the crusher. the crusher is of the two-roll type, with relieving springs, and is operated by a motor, which is also used for propelling the tower. the coal is weighed in duplex two-ton hoppers. special attention has been given to providing for the comfort and safety of the operators. the cabs have baywindow fronts, to enable the men to have an unobstructed view of the bucket at all times without peering through slots in the floor. walks and hand lines are provided on both sides of the boom for safe inspection. the running ropes pass through hardwood slides, which cover the slots in the engine house roof to exclude rain and snow. this type of motive power was selected in preference to trolley locomotives for moving the ash cars, owing to the rapid destruction of overhead lines and rail bonds by the action of ashes and water. the locomotive consists of two units, each of which has four driving wheels, and carries its own motor and battery. the use of two units allows the locomotive to round curves with very small overhangs, as compared with a single-body locomotive. curves of feet radius can be turned with ease. the gross weight of the locomotive is about five tons, all of which is available for traction. [sidenote: _coal downtakes_] the coal from the coal bunkers is allowed to flow down into the boiler room through two rows of downtakes, one on each side of the central gangway or firing place. each bunker has eight cast-iron outlets, four on each side, and to these outlets are bolted gate valves for shutting off the coal from the corresponding downtakes. from these gates the downtakes lead to hoppers which are on the economizer floor, and from these hoppers the lower sets of downtakes extend down to the boilers. just above the hoppers on the economizer floor the coal downtakes are provided with valves and chutes to feed the coal, either into the hopper or into the distributing flight conveyor alongside of it. these distributing conveyors, one corresponding with each row of downtakes, permits the feeding of coal from any bunker or bunkers to all the boilers when desired. they are the ordinary type of flight conveyor, capable of running in either direction and provided with gates in the bottom of the trough for feeding into the several above mentioned hoppers. in order to eliminate the stresses that would develop in a conveyor of the full length of the building, the conveyors are of half the entire length, with electric driving engines in the center of each continuous line. the installation of this conveyor system, in connection with the coal downtakes, makes it possible to carry a high-grade coal in some of the bunkers for use during periods of heavy load and a cheaper grade in other bunkers for the periods of light load. to provide means for shutting off the coal supply to each boiler, a small hopper is placed just over each boiler, and the downtake feeding into it is provided with a gate at its lower end. two vertical downtakes extend down from the boiler hopper to the boiler room floor or to the stokers, as the case may be, and they are hinged just below the boiler hopper to allow their being drawn up out of the way when necessary to inspect the boiler tubes. [illustration: west end power house in course of erection] wherever the direction of flow of the coal is changed, poke holes are provided in the downtakes to enable the firemen to break any arching tendency of the coal in the downtakes. all parts of the downtakes are of cast iron, except the vertical parts in front of the boilers, which are of wrought-iron pipe. these vertical downtakes are inches in inside diameter, while all others are inches in inside diameter. [sidenote: _main boiler room_] the main boiler room is designed to receive ultimately seventy-two safety water tube three drum boilers, each having , square feet of effective heating surface, by which the aggregate heating surface of the boiler room will be , square feet. there are fifty-two boilers erected in pairs, or batteries, and between each battery is a passageway five feet wide. the boilers are designed for a working steam pressure of pounds per square inch and for a hydraulic test pressure of pounds per square inch. each boiler is provided with twenty-one vertical water tube sections, and each section is fourteen tubes high. the tubes are of lap welded, charcoal iron, inches in diameter and feet long. the drums are inches in diameter and feet and inches long. all parts are of open-hearth steel; the shell plates are / of an inch thick and the drum head plates / inch, and in this respect the thickness of material employed is slightly in excess of standard practice. another advance on standard practice is in the riveting of the circular seams, these being lap-jointed and double riveted. all longitudinal seams are butt-strapped, inside and outside, and secured by six rows of rivets. manholes are only provided for the front heads, and each front head is provided with a special heavy bronze pad, for making connection to the stop and check feed water valve. [illustration: operating room showing condensers--power house] the setting of the boiler embodies several special features which are new in boiler erection. the boilers are set higher up from the floor than in standard practice, the center of the drums being feet above the floor line. this feature provides a higher combustion chamber, for either hand-fired grates or automatic stokers; and for inclined grate stokers the fire is carried well up above the supporting girders under the side walls, so that these girders will not be heated by proximity to the fire. as regards the masonry setting, practically the entire inside surface exposed to the hot gases is lined with a high grade of fire brick. the back of the setting, where the rear cleaning is done, is provided with a sliding floor plate, which is used when the upper tubes are being cleaned. there is also a door at the floor line and another at a higher level for light and ventilation when cleaning. over the tubes arrangements have been made for the reception of superheating apparatus without changing the brickwork. where the brick walls are constructed, at each side of the building columns at the front, cast-iron plates are erected to a height of feet on each side of the column. an air space is provided between each cast-iron plate and the column, which is accessible for cleaning from the boiler front; the object of the plates and air space being to prevent the transmission of heat to the steel columns. an additional feature of the boiler setting consists in the employment of a soot hopper, back of each bridge wall, by which the soot can be discharged into ash cars in the basement. the main ash hoppers are constructed of / -inch steel plate, the design being a double inverted pyramid with an ash gate at each inverted apex. the hoppers are well provided with stiffening angles and tees, and the capacity of each is about cubic feet. in front of all the boilers is a continuous platform of open-work cast-iron plates, laid on steel beams, the level of the platform being feet above the main floor. the platform connects across the firing area, opposite the walk between the batteries, and at these points this platform is carried between the boiler settings. at the rear of the northerly row of boilers the platform runs along the partition wall, between the boiler house and operating room and at intervals doorways are provided which open into the pump area. the level of the platform is even with that of the main operating room floor, so that it may be freely used by the water tenders and by the operating engineers without being obstructed by the firemen or their tools. the platform in front of the boilers will also be used for cleaning purposes, and, in this respect, it will do away with the unsightly and objectionable scaffolds usually employed for this work. the water tenders will also be brought nearer to the water columns than when operating on the main floor. the feed-water valves will be regulated from the platform, as well as the speed of the boiler-feed pumps. following european practice, each boiler is provided with two water columns, one on each outside drum, and each boiler will have one steam gauge above the platform for the water tenders and one below the platform for the firemen. the stop and check valves on each boiler drum have been made specially heavy for the requirements of this power house, and this special increase of weight has been applied to all the several minor boiler fittings. hand-fired grates of the shaking pattern have been furnished for thirty-six boilers, and for each of these grates a special lower front has been constructed. these fronts are of sheet steel, and the coal passes down to the floor through two steel buckstays which have been enlarged for the purpose. there are three firing doors and the sill of each door is inches above the floor. the gate area of the hand-fired grates is square feet, being feet deep by feet inches wide. the twelve boilers, which will receive coal from the coal bunker located between the fourth and fifth chimneys, have been furnished with automatic stokers. it is proposed to employ superheaters to the entire boiler plant. the boiler-room ceiling has been made especially high, and in this respect the room differs from most power houses of similar construction. the distance from the floor to the ceiling is feet, and from the floor plates over the boilers to the ceiling is feet. over each boiler is an opening to the economizer floor above, covered with an iron grating. the height of the room, as well as the feature of these openings, and the stairway wells and with the large extent of window opening in the south wall, will make the room light and especially well ventilated. under these conditions the intense heat usually encountered over boilers will largely be obviated. in addition to making provisions for the air to escape from the upper part of the boiler room, arrangements have been provided for allowing the air to enter at the bottom. this inflow of air will take place through the southerly row of basement windows, which extend above the boiler room floor, and through the wrought-iron open-work floor construction extending along in the rear of the northerly row of boilers. a noteworthy feature of the boiler room is the -ton hand-power crane, which travels along in the central aisle through the entire length of the structure. this crane is used for erection and for heavy repair, and its use has greatly assisted the speedy assembling of the boiler plant. [sidenote: _blowers and air ducts_] in order to burn the finer grades of anthracite coal in sufficient quantities to obtain boiler rating with the hand-fired grates, and in order to secure a large excess over boiler rating with other coals, a system of blowers and air ducts has been provided in the basement under the boilers. one blower is selected for every three boilers, with arrangements for supplying all six boilers from one blower. the blowers are feet high above the floor and feet inches wide at the floor line. each blower is direct-connected to a two crank - / x x - / -inch upright, automatic, compound, steam engine of the self-enclosed type, and is to provide a sufficient amount of air to burn , pounds of combustible per hour with inches of water pressure in the ash pits. [sidenote: _smoke flues and economizers_] the smoke flue and economizer construction throughout the building is of uniform design, or, in other words, the smoke flue and economizer system for one chimney is identical with that for every other chimney. in each case, the system is symmetrically arranged about its respective chimney, as can be seen by reference to the plans. the twelve boilers for each chimney are each provided with two round smoke uptakes, which carry the products of combustion upward to the main smoke flue system on the economizer floor. a main smoke flue is provided for each group of three boilers, and each pair of main smoke flues join together on the center line of the chimney, where in each case one common flue carries the gases into the side of the chimney. the two common flues last mentioned enter at opposite sides of the chimney. the main flues are arranged and fitted with dampers, so that the gases can pass directly to the chimney, or else they can be diverted through the economizers and thence reach the chimney. the uptakes from each boiler are constructed of / -inch plate and each is lined with radial hollow brick inches thick. each is provided with a damper which operates on a shaft turning in roller bearings. the uptakes rest on iron beams at the bottom, and at the top, where they join the main flue, means are provided to take up expansion and contraction. the main flue, which rests on the economizer floor, is what might be called a steel box, constructed of / -inch plate, feet inches wide and feet high. the bottom is lined with brick laid flat and the sides with brick walls inches thick, and the top is formed of brick arches sprung between. [sidenote: _steam piping_] the sectional plan adopted for the power house has made a uniform and simple arrangement of steam piping possible, with the piping for each section, except that of the turbine bay, identical with that for every other section. starting with the six boilers for one main engine, the steam piping may be described as follows: a cross-over pipe is erected on each boiler, by means of which and a combination of valves and fittings the steam may be passed through the superheater. in the delivery from each boiler there is a quick-closing -inch valve, which can be closed from the boiler room floor by hand or from a distant point individually or in groups of six. risers with -inch wrought-iron goose necks connect each boiler to the steam main, where -inch angle valves are inserted in each boiler connection. these valves can be closed from the platform over the boilers, and are grouped three over one set of three boilers and three over the opposite set. the main from the six boilers is carried directly across the boiler house in a straight line to a point in the pipe area where it rises to connect to the two -inch steam downtakes to the engine throttles. at this point the steam can also be led downward to a manifold to which the compensating tie lines are connected. these compensating lines are run lengthwise through the power house for the purpose of joining the systems together, as desired. the two downtakes to the engine throttles drop to the basement, where each, through a goose neck, delivers into a receiver and separating tank and from the tank through a second goose neck into the corresponding throttle. a quick-closing valve appears at the point where the -inch pipe divides into the two -inch downtakes and a similar valve is provided at the point where the main connects to the manifold. the first valve will close the steam to the engine and the second will control the flow of steam to and from the manifold. these valves can be operated by hand from a platform located on the wall inside the engine room, or they can be closed from a distant point by hydraulic apparatus. in the event of accident the piping to any engine can be quickly cut out or that system of piping can quickly be disconnected from the compensating system. the pipe area containing, as mentioned, the various valves described, together with the manifolds and compensating pipes, is divided by means of cross-walls into sections corresponding to each pair of main engines. each section is thus separated from those adjoining, so that any escape of steam in one section can be localized and, by means of the quick-closing valves, the piping for the corresponding pair of main engines can be disconnected from the rest of the power house. [illustration: view from top of chimney showing water frontage--power house] all cast iron used in the fittings is called air-furnace iron, which is a semi-steel and tougher than ordinary iron. all line and bent pipe is of wrought iron, and the flanges are loose and made of wrought steel. the shell of the pipe is bent over the face of the flange. all the joints in the main steam line, above - / inches in size, are ground joints, metal to metal, no gaskets being used. unlike the flanges ordinarily used in this country, special extra strong proportions have been adopted, and it may be said that all flanges and bolts used are per cent. heavier than the so-called extra heavy proportions used in this country. [sidenote: _water piping_] the feed water will enter the building at three points, the largest water service being inches in diameter, which enters the structure at its southeast corner. the water first passes through fish traps and thence through meters, and from them to the main reservoir tanks, arranged along the center of the boiler house basement. the water is allowed to flow into each tank by means of an automatic float valve. the water will be partly heated in these reservoir tanks by means of hot water discharged from high-pressure steam traps. in this way the heat contained in the drainage from the high-pressure steam is, for the most part, returned to the boilers. from the reservoir tanks the water is conducted to the feed-water pumps, by which it is discharged through feed-water heaters where it is further heated by the exhaust steam from the condensing and feed-water pumps. from the feed-water heaters the water will be carried direct to the boilers; or through the economizer system to be further heated by the waste gases from the boilers. [illustration: portion of main steam piping in pipe area] like the steam-pipe system, the feed-water piping is laid out on the sectional plan, the piping for the several sections being identical, except for the connections from the street service to the reservoir tanks. the feed-water piping is constructed wholly of cast iron, except the piping above the floor line to the boilers, which is of extra heavy semi-annealed brass with extra heavy cast-iron fittings. [sidenote: _engine and turbine equipment_] the engine and turbine equipment under contract embraces nine , to , horse power main engines, direct-connected to , kilowatt generators, three steam turbines, direct-connected to , kilowatt lighting generators and two horse power engines, direct-connected to kilowatt exciter generators. [sidenote: _main engines_] the main engines are similar in type to those installed in the th street power house of the manhattan division of the interborough rapid transit company, i. e., each consists of two component compound engines, both connected to a common shaft, with the generator placed between the two component engines. the type of engine is now well known and will not be described in detail, but as a comparison of various dimensions and features of the manhattan and rapid transit engines may be of interest, the accompanying tabulation is submitted: manhattan. rapid transit. diameter of high-pressure cylinders, inches, diameter of low-pressure cylinders, inches, stroke, inches, speed, revolutions per minute, steam pressure at throttle, pounds, indicated horse power at best efficiency, , , diameter of low-pressure piston rods, inches, diameter of high-pressure piston rods, inches, diameter of crank pin, inches, length of crank pin, inches, double ported single ported type of low-pressure valves. corliss corliss type of high-pressure valves. corliss poppet type diameter of shaft in journals, inches, length of journals, inches, diameter of shaft in hub of revolving element, inches - / - / the guarantees under which the main engines are being furnished, and which will govern their acceptance by the purchaser, are in substance as follows: first. the engine will be capable of operating continuously when indicating , horse power with lbs. of steam pressure, a speed of revolutions and a -inch vacuum without normal wear, jar, noise, or other objectionable results. second. it will be suitably proportioned to withstand in a serviceable manner all sudden fluctuations of load as are usual and incidental to the generation of electrical energy for railway purposes. third. it will be capable of operating with an atmospheric exhaust with two pounds back pressure at the low pressure cylinders, and when so operating, will fulfill all the operating requirements, except as to economy and capacity. fourth. it will be proportioned so that when occasion shall require it can be operated with a steam pressure at the throttles of pounds above atmospheric pressure under the before mentioned conditions of the speed and vacuum. fifth. it will be proportioned so that it can be operated with steam pressure at the throttle of pounds above atmospheric pressure under the before mentioned condition as to speed when exhausting in the atmosphere. sixth. the engine will operate successfully with a steam pressure at the throttle of pounds above atmosphere, should the temperature of the steam be maintained at the throttle at from to degrees fahr. seventh. it will not require more than - / pounds of dry steam per indicated horse power per hour, when indicating , horse power at revolutions per minute, when the vacuum of inches at the low pressure cylinders, with a steam pressure at the throttle of pounds and with saturated steam at the normal temperature due to its pressure. the guarantee includes all of the steam used by the engine or by the jackets or reheater. the new features contained within the engine construction are principally: first, the novel construction of the high-pressure cylinders, by which only a small strain is transmitted through the valve chamber between the cylinder and the slide-surface casting. this is accomplished by employing heavy bolts, which bolt the shell of the cylinder casting to the slide-surface casting, said bolts being carried past and outside the valve chamber. second, the use of poppet valves, which are operated in a very simple manner from a wrist plate on the side of the cylinder, the connections from the valves to the wrist plate and the connections from the wrist plate to the eccentric being similar to the parts usually employed for the operation of corliss valves. unlike the manhattan engines, the main steam pipes are carried to the high-pressure cylinders under the floor and not above it. another modification consists in the use of an adjustable strap for the crank-pin boxes instead of the marine style of construction at the crank-pin end of the connecting rod. the weight of the revolving field is about , pounds, which gives a flywheel effect of about , pounds at a radius of gyration of feet, and with this flywheel inertia the engine is designed so that any point on the revolving element shall not, in operation, lag behind nor forge ahead of the position that it would have if the speed were absolutely uniform, by an amount greater than one-eighth of a natural degree. [sidenote: _turbo-generators_] arrangements have been made for the erection of four turbo generators, but only three have been ordered. they are of the multiple expansion parallel flow type, consisting of two turbines arranged tandem compound. when operating at full load each of the two turbines, comprising one unit, will develop approximately equal power for direct connection to an alternator giving , alternations per minute at , volts and at a speed of , revolutions per minute. each unit will have a normal output of , electrical horse power with a steam pressure of pounds at the throttle and a vacuum in the exhaust pipe of inches, measured by a mercury column and referred to a barometric pressure of inches. the turbine is guaranteed to operate satisfactorily with steam superheated to degrees fahrenheit. the economy guaranteed under the foregoing conditions as to initial and terminal pressure and speed is as follows: full load of , kilowatts, . pounds of steam per electrical horse-power hour; three-quarter load, - / kilowatts, . pounds per electrical horse-power hour; one-half load, kilowatts, . pounds; and one-quarter load, - / kilowatts, . pounds. when operating under the conditions of speed and steam pressure mentioned, but with a pressure in the exhaust pipe of inches vacuum by mercury column (referred to inches barometer), and with steam at the throttle superheated degrees fahrenheit above the temperature of saturated steam at that pressure, the guaranteed steam consumption is as follows: full load, , kilowatts, . pounds per electrical horse-power hour; three-quarter load, - / kilowatts, . pounds; one-half load, kilowatts, . pounds; and one-quarter load, - / kilowatts, . pounds. [sidenote: _exciter engines_] the two exciter engines are each direct connected to a kilowatt direct current generator. each engine is a vertical quarter-crank compound engine with a -inch high pressure cylinder and a -inch low-pressure cylinder with a common -inch stroke. the engines will be non-condensing, for the reason that extreme reliability is desired at the expense of some economy. they will operate at best efficiency when indicating horse power at a speed of revolutions per minute with a steam pressure of pounds at the throttle. each engine will have a maximum of indicated horse power. [sidenote: _condensing equipment_] each engine unit is supplied with its own condenser equipment, consisting of two barometric condensing chambers, each attached as closely as possible to its respective low-pressure cylinder. for each engine also is provided a vertical circulating pump along with a vacuum pump and, for the sake of flexibility, the pumps are cross connected with those of other engines and can be used interchangeably. the circulating pumps are vertical, cross compound pumping engines with outside packed plungers. their foundations are upon the basement floor level and the steam cylinders extend above the engine-room floor; the starting valves and control of speed is therefore entirely under the supervision of the engineer. each pump has a normal capacity of , , gallons of water per day, so that the total pumping capacity of all the pumps is , , gallons per day. while the head against which these pumps will be required to work, when assisted by the vacuum in the condenser, is much less than the total lift from low tide water to the entrance into the condensing chambers, they are so designed as to be ready to deliver the full quantity the full height, if for any reason the assistance of the vacuum should be lost or not available at times of starting up. a temporary overload can but reduce the vacuum only for a short time and the fluctuations of the tide, or even a complete loss of vacuum cannot interfere with the constant supply of water, the governor simply admitting to the cylinders the proper amount of steam to do the work. the high-pressure steam cylinder is inches in diameter and the low-pressure is inches; the two double-acting water plungers are each inches in diameter, and the stroke is inches for all. the water ends are composition fitted for salt water and have valve decks and plungers entirely of that material. [illustration: coal unloading tower on west th street pier] the dry vacuum pumps are of the vertical form, and each is located alongside of the corresponding circulating pump. the steam cylinders also project above the engine-room floor. the vacuum cylinder is immediately below the steam cylinder and has a valve that is mechanically operated by an eccentric on the shaft. these pumps are of the close-clearance type, and, while controlled by a governor, can be changed in speed while running to any determined rate. [sidenote: _exhaust piping_] from each atmospheric exhaust valve, which is direct-connected to the condensing chamber at each low-pressure cylinder, is run downward a -inch riveted-steel exhaust pipe. at a point just under the engine-room floor the exhaust pipe is carried horizontally around the engine foundations, the two from each pair of engines uniting in a -inch riser to the roof. this riser is between the pair of engines and back of the high-pressure cylinder, thus passing through the so-called pipe area, where it also receives exhaust steam from the pump auxiliaries. at the roof the -inch riser is run into a -inch stand pipe. this is capped with an exhaust head, the top of which is feet above the roof. all the exhaust piping inches in diameter and over is longitudinally riveted steel with cast-iron flanges riveted on to it. expansion joints are provided where necessary to relieve the piping from the strains due to expansion and contraction, and where the joints are located near the engine and generator they are of corrugated copper. the expansion joints in the -inch risers above the pipe area are ordinarily packed slip joints. the exhaust piping from the auxiliaries is carried directly up into the pipe area, where it is connected with a feed-water heater, with means for by-passing the latter. beyond the heater it joins the -inch riser to the roof. the feed-water heaters are three-pass, vertical, water-tube heaters, designed for a working water pressure of pounds per square inch. the design of the atmospheric relief valve received special consideration. a lever is provided to assist the valve to close, while a dash pot prevents a too quick action in either direction. [sidenote: _compressed air_] the power house will be provided with a system for supplying compressed air to various points about the structure for cleaning electrical machinery and for such other purposes as may arise. it will also be used for operating whistles employed for signaling. the air is supplied to reservoir tanks by two vertical, two-stage, electric-driven air compressors. [sidenote: _oil system_] for the lubrication of the engines an extensive oil distributing and filtering system is provided. filtered oil will be supplied under pressure from elevated storage tanks, with a piping system leading to all the various journals. the piping to the engines is constructed on a duplicate, or crib, system, by which the supply of oil cannot be interrupted by a break in any one pipe. the oil on leaving the engines is conducted to the filtering tanks. a pumping equipment then redelivers the oil to the elevated storage tanks. all piping carrying filtered oil is of brass and fittings are inserted at proper pipes to facilitate cleaning. the immediate installation includes two oil filtering tanks at the easterly end of the power house, but the completed plant contemplates the addition of two extra filtering tanks at the westerly end of the structure. [sidenote: _cranes, shops, etc._] the power house is provided with the following traveling cranes: for the operating room: one -ton electric traveling crane and one -ton electric traveling crane. for the area over the oil switches: one -ton hand-operated crane. for the center aisle of the boiler room: one -ton hand-operated crane. the span of both of the electric cranes is feet inches and both cranes operate over the entire length of the structure. the -ton crane has two trolleys, each with a lifting capacity, for regular load, of tons. each trolley is also provided with an auxiliary hoist of tons capacity. when loaded, the crane can operate at the following speeds: bridge, feet per minute; trolley, feet per minute; main hoist, feet per minute; and auxiliary hoist, feet per minute. the -ton crane is provided with one trolley, having a lifting capacity, for regular load, of tons, together with auxiliary hoist of tons. when loaded, the crane can operate at the following speeds: bridge, feet per minute; trolley, feet per minute; main hoist, feet per minute; and auxiliary hoist, feet per minute. the power house is provided with an extensive tool equipment for a repair and machine shop, which is located on the main gallery at the northerly side of the operating room. [illustration: , k. w. alternator--main power house] chapter v system of electrical supply [sidenote: _energy from engine shaft to third rail_] the system of electrical supply chosen for the subway comprises alternating current generation and distribution, and direct current operation of car motors. four years ago, when the engineering plans were under consideration, the single-phase alternating current railway motor was not even in an embryonic state, and notwithstanding the marked progress recently made in its development, it can scarcely yet be considered to have reached a stage that would warrant any modifications in the plans adopted, even were such modifications easily possible at the present time. the comparatively limited headroom available in the subway prohibited the use of an overhead system of conductors, and this limitation, in conjunction with the obvious desirability of providing a system permitting interchangeable operation with the lines of the manhattan railway system practically excluded tri-phase traction systems and led directly to the adoption of the third-rail direct current system. [illustration: side and end elevations of alternator.] [illustration: side elevation and cross section of alternator with part cut away to show construction.] it being considered impracticable to predict with entire certainty the ultimate traffic conditions to be met, the generator plant has been designed to take care of all probable traffic demands expected to arise within a year or two of the beginning of operation of the system, while the plans permit convenient and symmetrical increase to meet the requirements of additional demand which may develop. each express train will comprise five motor cars and three trail cars, and each local train will comprise three motor cars and two trail cars. the weight of each motor car with maximum live load is , pounds, and the weight of each trailer car , pounds. the plans adopted provide electric equipment at the outstart capable of operating express trains at an average speed approximating twenty-five miles per hour, while the control system and motor units have been so chosen that higher speeds up to a limit of about thirty miles per hour can be attained by increasing the number of motor cars providing experience in operation demonstrates that such higher speeds can be obtained with safety. the speed of local trains between city hall and th street will average about miles an hour, while north of th street on both the west side and east side branches their speed will average about miles an hour, owing to the greater average distance between local stations. as the result of careful consideration of various plans, the company's engineers recommended that all the power required for the operation of the system be generated in a single power house in the form of three-phase alternating current at , volts, this current to be generated at a frequency of cycles per second, and to be delivered through three-conductor cables to transformers and converters in sub-stations suitably located with reference to the track system, the current there to be transformed and converted to direct current for delivery to the third-rail conductor at a potential of volts. [illustration: operating gallery in sub-station] [illustration: general diagram of , volt circuits in main power station] calculations based upon contemplated schedules require for traction purposes and for heating and lighting cars, a maximum delivery of about , kilowatts at the third rail. allowing for losses in the distributing cables, in transformers and converters, this implies a total generating capacity of approximately , kilowatts, and having in view the possibility of future extensions of the system it was decided to design and construct the power house building for the ultimate reception of eleven , -kilowatt units for traction current in addition to the lighting sets. each , -kilowatt unit is capable of delivering during rush hours an output of , kilowatts or approximately , electrical horse power and, setting aside one unit as a reserve, the contemplated ultimate maximum output of the power plant, therefore, is , kilowatts, or approximately , electrical horse power. [sidenote: _power house_] the power house is fully described elsewhere in this publication, but it is not inappropriate to refer briefly in this place to certain considerations governing the selection of the generating unit, and the use of engines rather than steam turbines. [illustration: oil switches--main power station] the , -kilowatt generating unit was chosen because it is practically as large a unit of the direct-connected type as can be constructed by the engine builders unless more than two bearings be used--an alternative deemed inadvisable by the engineers of the company. the adoption of a smaller unit would be less economical of floor space and would tend to produce extreme complication in so large an installation, and, in view of the rapid changes in load which in urban railway service of this character occur in the morning and again late in the afternoon, would be extremely difficult to operate. the experience of the manhattan plant has shown, as was anticipated in the installation of less output than this, the alternators must be put in service at intervals of twenty minutes to meet the load upon the station while it is rising to the maximum attained during rush hours. after careful consideration of the possible use of steam turbines as prime-movers to drive the alternators, the company's engineers decided in favor of reciprocating engines. this decision was made three years ago and, while the steam turbine since that time has made material progress, those responsible for the decision are confirmed in their opinion that it was wise. [illustration: part of bus bar compartments--main power station] [sidenote: _alternators_] the alternators closely resemble those installed by the manhattan railway company (now the manhattan division of the interborough rapid transit company) in its plant on the east river, between th street and th street. they differ, however, in having the stationary armature divided into seven castings instead of six, and in respect to details of the armature winding. they are three-phase machines, delivering twenty-five cycle alternating currents at an effective potential of , volts. they are feet in height, the diameter of the revolving part is feet, its weight, , pounds, and the aggregate weight of the machine, , pounds. the design of the engine dynamo unit eliminates the auxiliary fly wheel generally used in the construction of large direct-connected units prior to the erection of the manhattan plant, the weight and dimensions of the revolving alternator field being such with reference to the turning moment of the engine as to secure close uniformity of rotation, while at the same time this construction results in narrowing the engine and reducing the engine shafts between bearings. [illustration: rear view of bus bar compartments--main power station] [illustration: duct line across th street ducts] construction of the revolving parts of the alternators is such as to secure very great strength and consequent ability to resist the tendency to burst and fly apart in case of temporary abnormal speed through accident of any kind. the hub of the revolving field is of cast steel, and the rim is carried not by the usual spokes but by two wedges of rolled steel. the construction of the revolving field is illustrated on pages and . the angular velocity of the revolving field is remarkably uniform. this result is due primarily to the fact that the turning movement of the four-cylinder engine is far more uniform than is the case, for example, with an ordinary two-cylinder engine. the large fly-wheel capacity of the rotating element of the machine also contributes materially to secure uniformity of rotation. [illustration: main controlling board in power station] [illustration: control and instrument board--main power station] the alternators have forty field poles and operates at seventy-five revolutions per minute. the field magnets constitute the periphery of the revolving field, the poles and rim of the field being built up by steel plates which are dovetailed to the driving spider. the heavy steel end plates are bolted together, the laminations breaking joints in the middle of the pole. the field coils are secured by copper wedges, which are subjected to shearing strains only. in the body of the poles, at intervals of approximately three inches, ventilating spaces are provided, these spaces registering with corresponding air ducts in the external armature. the field winding consists of copper strap on edge, one layer deep, with fibrous material cemented in place between turns, the edges of the strap being exposed. [illustration: ducts under passenger station platform ducts] the armature is stationary and exterior to the field. it consists of a laminated ring with slots on its inner surface and supported by a massive external cast-iron frame. the armature, as has been noted, comprises seven segments, the topmost segment being in the form of a small keystone. this may be removed readily, affording access to any field coil, which in this way may be easily removed and replaced. the armature winding consists of u-shaped copper bars in partially closed slots. there are four bars per slot and three slots per phase per pole. the bars in any slot may be removed from the armature without removing the frame. the alternators, of course, are separately excited, the potential of the exciting current used being volts. as regards regulation, the manufacturer's guarantee is that at per cent. power factor if full rated load be thrown off the e. m. f. will rise per cent. with constant speed and constant excitation. the guarantee as to efficiency is as follows: on non-inductive load, the alternators will have an efficiency of not less than . per cent. at one-quarter load; . per cent. at one-half load; . per cent. at three-quarters load; per cent. at full load, and . per cent. at one and one-quarter load. these figures refer, of course, to electrical efficiency, and do not include windage and bearing friction. the machines are designed to operate under their rated full load with rise of temperature not exceeding degrees c. after twenty-four hours. [illustration: three-conductor no. cable for , volt distribution] [sidenote: _exciters_] to supply exciting current for the fields of the alternators and to operate motors driving auxiliary apparatus, five -kilowatt direct current dynamos are provided. these deliver their current at a potential of volts. two of them are driven by horse-power engines of the marine type, to which they are direct-connected, while the remaining three units are direct-connected to horse-power tri-phase induction motors operating at volts. a storage battery capable of furnishing , amperes for one hour is used in co-operation with the dynamos provided to excite the alternators. the five direct-current dynamos are connected to the organization of switching apparatus in such a way that each unit may be connected at will either to the exciting circuits or to the circuits through which auxiliary motors are supplied. the alternators for which the new interborough power house are designed will deliver to the bus bars , electrical horse power. the current delivered by these alternators reverses its direction fifty times per second and in connecting dynamos just coming into service with those already in operation the allowable difference in phase relation at the instant the circuit is completed is, of course, but a fraction of the fiftieth of a second. where the power to be controlled is so great, the potential so high, and the speed requirements in respect to synchronous operation so exacting, it is obvious that the perfection of control attained in some of our modern plants is not their least characteristic. [sidenote: _switching apparatus_] the switch used for the , volt circuits is so constructed that the circuits are made and broken under oil, the switch being electrically operated. two complete and independent sets of bus bars are used, and the connections are such that each alternator and each feeder may be connected to either of these sets of bus bars at the will of the operator. from alternators to bus bars the current passes, first, through the alternator switch, and then alternatively through one or the other of two selector switches which are connected, respectively, to the two sets of bus bars. [illustration: inside wall of tunnel showing ducts] provision is made for an ultimate total of twelve sub-stations, to each of which as many as eight feeders may be installed if the development of the company's business should require that number. but eight sub-stations are required at present, and to some of these not more than three feeders each are necessary. the aggregate number of feeders installed for the initial operation of the subway system is thirty-four. each feeder circuit is provided with a type h-oil switch arranged to be open and closed at will by the operator, and also to open automatically in the case of abnormal flow of current through the feeder. the feeders are arranged in groups, each group being supplied from a set of auxiliary bus bars, which in turn receives its supply from one or the other of the two sets of main bus bars; means for selection being provided as in the case of the alternator circuits by a pair of selector switches, in this case designated as group switches. the diagram on page illustrates the essential features of the organization and connections of the , volt circuits in the power house. [illustration: manholes in side wall of subway] any and every switch can be opened or closed at will by the operator standing at the control board described. the alternator switches are provided also with automatic overload and reversed current relays, and the feeder switches, as above mentioned, are provided with automatic overload relays. these overload relays have a time attachment which can be set to open the switch at the expiration of a predetermined time ranging from . of a second to seconds. [illustration: converter floor plan sub-station no. ] the type h-oil switch is operated by an electric motor through the intervention of a mechanism comprising powerful springs which open and close the switch with great speed. this switch when opened introduces in each of the three sides of the circuit two breaks which are in series with each other. each side of the circuit is separated from the others by its location in an enclosed compartment, the walls of which are brick and soapstone. the general construction of the switch is illustrated by the photograph on page . [illustration: cross section sub-station no. ] [illustration: interior of sub-station no. ] [illustration: longitudinal section sub-station no. ] like all current-carrying parts of the switches, the bus bars are enclosed in separate compartments. these are constructed of brick, small doors for inspection and maintenance being provided opposite all points where the bus bars are supported upon insulators. the photographs on pages and are views of a part of the bus bar and switch compartments. [illustration: two groups of transformers] the oil switches and group bus bars are located upon the main floor and extend along the th street wall of the engine room a distance of about feet. the main bus bars are arranged in two lines of brick compartments, which are placed below the engine-room floor. these bus bars are arranged vertically and are placed directly beneath the rows of oil switches located upon the main floor of the power house. above these rows of oil switches and the group bus bars, galleries are constructed which extend the entire length of the power house, and upon the first of these galleries at a point opposite the middle of the power house are located the control board and instrument board, by means of which the operator in charge regulates and directs the entire output of the plant, maintaining a supply of power at all times adequate to the demands of the transportation service. [illustration: motor-generators and battery board for control circuits--sub-station] [illustration: , k. w. rotary converter] [sidenote: _the control board_] the control board is shown in the photograph on page . every alternator switch, every selector switch, every group switch, and every feeder switch upon the main floor is here represented by a small switch. the small switch is connected into a control circuit which receives its supply of energy at volts from a small motor generator set and storage battery. the motors which actuate the large oil switches upon the main floor are driven by this volt control current, and thus in the hands of the operator the control switches make or break the relatively feeble control currents, which, in turn, close or open the switches in the main power circuits. the control switches are systematically assembled upon the control bench board in conjunction with dummy bus bars and other apparent (but not real) metallic connections, the whole constituting at all times a correct diagram of the existing connections of the main power circuits. every time the operator changes a connection by opening or closing one of the main switches, he necessarily changes his diagram so that it represents the new conditions established by opening or closing the main switch. in connection with each control switch two small bull's-eye lamps are used, one red, to indicate that the corresponding main switch is closed, the other green, to indicate that it is open. these lamps are lighted when the moving part of the main switch reaches approximately the end of its travel. if for any reason, therefore, the movement of the control switch should fail to actuate the main switch, the indicator lamp will not be lighted. [illustration: motor-generator set supplying alternating current for block signals and motor-generator starting set] the control board is divided into two parts--one for the connections of the alternators to the bus bars and the other for the connection of feeders to bus bars. the drawing on page shows in plain view the essential features of the control boards. [sidenote: _the instrument board_] a front view of the instrument board is shown on page . this board contains all indicating instruments for alternators and feeders. it also carries standardizing instruments and a clock. in the illustration the alternator panels are shown at the left and the feeder panels at the right. for the alternator panels, instruments of the vertical edgewise type are used. each vertical row comprises the measuring instruments for an alternator. beginning at the top and enumerating them in order these instruments are: three ammeters, one for each phase, a volumeter, an indicating wattmeter, a power factor indicator and a field ammeter. the round dial instrument shown at the bottom of each row of instruments is a three-phase recording wattmeter. a panel located near the center of the board between alternator panels and feeder panels carries standard instruments used for convenient calibration of the alternator and feeder instruments. provision is made on the back of the board for convenient connection of the standard instruments in series with the instruments to be compared. the panel which carries the standard instruments also carries ammeters used to measure current to auxiliary circuits in the power house. for the feeder board, instruments of the round dial pattern are used, and for each feeder a single instrument is provided, viz., an ammeter. each vertical row comprises the ammeters belonging to the feeders which supply a given sub-station, and from left to right these are in order sub-stations nos. , , , , , , , and ; blank spaces are left for four additional sub-stations. each horizontal row comprises the ammeter belonging to feeders which are supplied through a given group switch. this arrangement in vertical and horizontal lines, indicating respectively feeders to given sub-stations and feeders connected to the several group switches, is intended to facilitate the work of the operator. a glance down a vertical row without stopping to reach the scales of the instruments will tell him whether the feeders are dividing with approximate equality the load to a given sub-station. feeders to different sub-stations usually carry different loads and, generally speaking, a glance along a horizontal row will convey no information of especial importance. if, however, for any reason the operator should desire to know the approximate aggregate load upon a group of feeders this systematic arrangement of the instruments is of use. [illustration: switchboard for alternating current block signal circuits--in sub-station] [illustration: exterior of sub-station no. ] [sidenote: _alternating current distribution to sub-stations power house ducts and cables_] from alternators to alternator switches the , volt alternating currents are conveyed through single conductor cables, insulated by oil cambric, the thickness of the wall being / of an inch. these conductors are installed in vitrified clay ducts. from dynamo switches to bus bars and from bus bars to group and feeder switches, vulcanized rubber insulation containing per cent. pure para rubber is employed. the thickness of insulating wall is / of an inch and the conductors are supported upon porcelain insulators. [sidenote: _conduit system for distribution_] from the power house to the subway at th street and broadway two lines of conduit, each comprising thirty-two ducts, have been constructed. these conduits are located on opposite sides of the street. the arrangement of ducts is x , as shown in the section on page . [illustration: exterior of sub-station no. ] the location and arrangement of ducts along the line of the subway are illustrated in photographs on pages and , which show respectively a section of ducts on one side of the subway, between passenger stations, and a section of ducts and one side of the subway, beneath the platform of a passenger station. from city hall to th street (except through the park avenue tunnel) sixty-four ducts are provided on each side of the subway. north of th street sixty-four ducts are provided for the west-side lines and an equal number for the east-side lines. between passenger stations these ducts help to form the side walls of the subway, and are arranged thirty-two ducts high and two ducts wide. beneath the platform of passenger stations the arrangement is somewhat varied because of local obstructions, such as pipes, sewers, etc., of which it was necessary to take account in the construction of the stations. the plan shown on page , however, is typical. the necessity of passing the cables from the x arrangement of ducts along the side of the tunnel to x and x arrangements of ducts beneath the passenger platforms involves serious difficulties in the proper support and protection of cables in manholes at the ends of the station platforms. in order to minimize the risk of interruption of service due to possible damage to a considerable number of cables in one of these manholes, resulting from short circuit in a single cable, all cables except at the joints are covered with two layers of asbestos aggregating a full / -inch in thickness. this asbestos is specially prepared and is applied by wrapping the cable with two strips each inches in width, the outer strip covering the line of junction between adjacent spirals of the inner strip, the whole when in place being impregnated with a solution of silicate of soda. the joints themselves are covered with two layers of asbestos held in place by steel tape applied spirally. to distribute the strains upon the cables in manholes, radical supports of various curvatures, and made of malleable cast iron, are used. the photograph on page illustrates the arrangement of cables in one of these manholes. [illustration: operating board--sub-station no. ] in order to further diminish the risk of interruption of the service due to failure of power supply, each sub-station south of th street receives its alternating current from the power house through cables carried on opposite sides of the subway. to protect the lead sheaths of the cables against damage by electrolysis, rubber insulating pieces / of an inch in thickness are placed between the sheaths and the iron bracket supports in the manholes. [sidenote: _cable conveying energy from power house to sub-stations_] the cables used for conveying energy from the power house to the several sub-stations aggregate approximately miles in length. the cable used for this purpose comprises three stranded copper conductors each of which contains nineteen wires, and the diameter of the stranded conductor thus formed is / of an inch. paper insulation is employed and the triple cable is enclosed in a lead sheath / of an inch thick. each conductor is separated from its neighbors and from the lead sheath by insulation of treated paper / of an inch in thickness. the outside diameter of the cables is - / inches, and the weight - / pounds per lineal foot. in the factories the cable as manufactured was cut into lengths corresponding to the distance between manholes, and each length subjected to severe tests including application to the insulation of an alternating current potential of , volts for a period of thirty minutes. these cables were installed under the supervision of the interborough company's engineers, and after jointing, each complete cable from power house to sub-station was tested by applying an alternating potential of , volts for thirty minutes between each conductor and its neighbors, and between each conductor and the lead sheath. the photographs on page illustrates the construction of this cable. [sidenote: _sub-station_] the tri-phase alternating current generated at the power house is conveyed through the high potential cable system to eight sub-stations containing the necessary transforming and converting machinery. these sub-stations are designed and located as follows: [illustration: diagrams of direct current feeder and return circuits] sub-station no. -- - city hall place. sub-station no. -- - east th street. sub-station no. -- - west d street. sub-station no. -- - west th street. sub-station no. -- - west d street. sub-station no. -- - west d street. sub-station no. --hillside avenue, feet west of eleventh avenue. sub-station no. --south side of fox street (simpson street), feet north of westchester avenue. [illustration: switch connecting feeder to contact rail] [illustration: contact rail joint with fish plate] the converter unit selected to receive the alternating current and deliver direct current to the track, etc., has an output of , kilowatts with ability to carry per cent. overload for three hours. the average area of a city lot is x feet, and a sub-station site comprising two adjacent lots of this approximate size permits the installation of a maximum of eight , kilowatts converters with necessary transformers, switchboard and other auxiliary apparatus. in designing the sub-stations, a type of building with a central air-well was selected. the typical organization of apparatus is illustrated in the ground plan and vertical section on pages , and and provides, as shown, for two lines of converters, the three transformers which supply each converter being located between it and the adjacent side wall. the switchboard is located at the rear of the station. the central shaft affords excellent light and ventilation for the operating room. the steel work of the sub-stations is designed with a view to the addition of two storage battery floors, should it be decided at some future time that the addition of such an auxiliary is advisable. [illustration: contact rail bands] the necessary equipment of the sub-stations implies sites approximately x feet in dimensions; and sub-stations nos. , , , and are practically all this size. sub-stations nos. and are feet in length, but the lots acquired in these instances being of unusual width, these sub-stations are approximately feet wide. sub-station no. , on account of limited ground space, is but feet wide and feet long. in each of the sub-stations, except no. , foundations are provided for eight converters; sub-station no. contains foundations for the ultimate installation of ten converters. [illustration: direct current feeders from manhole to contact rail] the function of the electrical apparatus in sub-stations, as has been stated, is the conversion of the high potential alternating current energy delivered from the power house through the tri-phase cables into direct current adapted to operate the motors with which the rolling stock is equipped. this apparatus comprises transformers, converters, and certain minor auxiliaries. the transformers, which are arranged in groups of three, receive the tri-phase alternating current at a potential approximating , volts, and deliver equivalent energy (less the loss of about per cent. in the transformation) to the converters at a potential of about volts. the converters receiving this energy from their respective groups of transformers in turn deliver it (less a loss approximating per cent. at full load) in the form of direct current at a potential of volts to the bus bars of the direct current switchboards, from which it is conveyed by insulated cables to the contact rails. the photograph on page is a general view of the interior of one of the sub-stations. the exterior of sub-stations nos. and are shown on page . [illustration: contact rails, showing end inclines] the illustration on page is from a photograph taken on one of the switchboard galleries. in the sub-stations, as in the power house, the high potential alternating current circuits are opened and closed by oil switches, which are electrically operated by motors, these in turn being controlled by volt direct current circuits. diagramatic bench boards are used, as at the power house, but in the sub-stations they are of course relatively small and free from complication. the instrument board is supported by iron columns and is carried at a sufficient height above the bench board to enable the operator, while facing the bench board and the instruments, to look out over the floor of the sub-station without turning his head. the switches of the direct current circuits are hand-operated and are located upon boards at the right and left of the control board. a novel and important feature introduced (it is believed for the first time) in these sub-stations, is the location in separate brick compartments of the automatic circuit breakers in the direct current feeder circuits. these circuit breaker compartments are shown in the photograph on page , and are in a line facing the boards which carry the direct feeder switches, each circuit breaker being located in a compartment directly opposite the panel which carries the switch belonging to the corresponding circuit. this plan will effectually prevent damage to other parts of the switchboard equipment when circuit-breakers open automatically under conditions of short-circuit. it also tends to eliminate risk to the operator, and, therefore, to increase his confidence and accuracy in manipulating the hand-operated switches. [illustration: assembly of contact rail and protection] the three conductor cables which convey tri-phase currents from the power house are carried through tile ducts from the manholes located in the street directly in front of each sub-station to the back of the station where the end of the cable is connected directly beneath its oil switch. the three conductors, now well separated, extend vertically to the fixed terminals of the switch. in each sub-station but one set of high-potential alternating current bus bars is installed and between each incoming cable and these bus bars is connected an oil switch. in like manner, between each converter unit and the bus bars an oil switch is connected into the high potential circuit. the bus bars are so arranged that they may be divided into any number of sections not exceeding the number of converter units, by means of movable links which, in their normal condition, constitute a part of the bus bars. each of the oil switches between incoming circuits and bus bars is arranged for automatic operation and is equipped with a reversed current relay, which, in the case of a short-circuit in its alternating current feeder cable opens the switch and so disconnects the cable from the sub-station without interference with the operation of the other cables or the converting machinery. [illustration: contact rail insulator] [sidenote: _direct current distribution from sub-stations_] the organization of electrical conductors provided to convey direct current from the sub-stations to the moving trains can be described most conveniently by beginning with the contact, or so-called third rail. south of th street the average distance between sub-stations approximates , feet, and north of th street the average distance is about , feet. each track, of course, is provided with a contact rail. there are four tracks and consequently four contact rails from city hall to th street, three from th street to th street on the west side, two from th street to dyckman street, and three from dyckman street to the northern terminal of the west side extension of the system. from th street, the east side has two tracks and two contact rails to mott avenue, and from that point to the terminal at d street three tracks and three contact rails. [illustration: contact shoe and fuse] contact rails south of reade street are supplied from sub-station no. ; from reade street to th street they are supplied from sub-stations nos. and ; from th street they are supplied from sub-stations nos. and ; from the point last named to th street they are supplied from sub-stations nos. and ; from th street to d street, on the west side, they are supplied from sub-stations nos. and ; from d street to dyckman street they are supplied from sub-stations nos. and ; and from that point to the terminal they are supplied from sub-station no. . on the east side branch contact rails from th street to d street are supplied from sub-stations nos. and ; from d to th street they are supplied from sub-stations nos. and ; and from th street to d street they are supplied from sub-station no. . each contact rail is insulated from all contact rails belonging to adjacent tracks. this is done in order that in case of derailment or other accident necessitating interruption of service on a given track, trains may be operated upon the other tracks having their separate and independent channels of electrical supply. to make this clear, we may consider that section of the subway which lies between reade street and th street. this section is equipped with four tracks, and the contact rail for each track, together with the direct current feeders which supply it from sub-stations nos. and , are electrically insulated from all other circuits. of each pair of track rails one is used for the automatic block signaling system, and, therefore, is not used as a part of the negative or return side of the direct current system. the other four track rails, however, are bonded, and together with the negative feeders constitute the track return or negative side of the direct current system. the diagram on page illustrates the connections of the contact rails, track rails and the positive and negative feeders. all negative as well as positive feeders are cables of , , c. m. section and lead sheathed. in emergency, as, for example, in the case of the destruction of a number of the cables in a manhole, they are, therefore, interchangeable. the connections are such as to minimize "track drop," as will be evident upon examination of the diagram. the electrical separation of the several contact rails and the positive feeders connected thereto secures a further important advantage in permitting the use at sub-stations of direct-current circuit-breakers of moderate size and capacity, which can be set to open automatically at much lower currents than would be practicable were all contact rails electrically connected, thus reducing the limiting current and consequently the intensity of the arcs which might occur in the subway in case of short-circuit between contact rail and earth. the contact rail itself is of special soft steel, to secure high conductivity. its composition, as shown by tests, is as follows: carbon, . to . ; silicon, . ; phosphorus, . ; manganese, . to . ; and sulphur, . . its resistance is not more than eight times the resistance of pure copper of equal cross-section. the section chosen weighs pounds per yard. the length used in general is feet, but in some cases feet lengths are substituted. the contact rails are bounded by four bonds, aggregating , , c. m. section. the bonds are of flexible copper and their terminals are riveted to the steel by hydraulic presses, producing a pressure of tons. the bonds when in use are covered by special malleable iron fish-plates which insure alignment of rail. each length of rail is anchored at its middle point and a small clearance is allowed between ends of adjacent rails for expansion and contraction, which in the subway, owing to the relatively small change of temperature, will be reduced to a minimum. the photographs on pages and illustrate the method of bonding the rail, and show the bonded joint completed by the addition of the fish-plates. the contact rail is carried upon block insulators supported upon malleable iron castings. castings of the same material are used to secure the contact rail in position upon the insulators. a photograph of the insulator with its castings is shown on page . [sidenote: _track bonding_] the track rails are feet long, of standard american society civil engineers' section, weighing pounds a yard. as has been stated, one rail in each track is used for signal purposes and the other is utilized as a part of the negative return of the power system. adjacent rails to be used for the latter purpose are bonded with two copper bonds having an aggregate section of , c. m. these bonds are firmly riveted into the web of the rail by screw bonding presses. they are covered by splice bars, designed to leave sufficient clearance for the bond. the return rails are cross-sectioned at frequent intervals for the purpose of equalizing currents which traverse them. [sidenote: _contact rail guard and collector shoe_] the interborough company has provided a guard in the form of a plank - / inches wide and - / inches thick, which is supported in a horizontal position directly above the rail, as shown in the illustration on page . this guard is carried by the contact rail to which it is secured by supports, the construction of which is sufficiently shown in the illustration. this type of guard has been in successful use upon the wilkesbarre and hazleton railway for nearly two years. it practically eliminates the danger from the third rail, even should passengers leave the trains and walk through a section of the tunnel while the rails are charged. its adoption necessitates the use of a collecting shoe differing radically from that used upon the manhattan division and upon the elevated railways employing the third rail system in chicago, boston, brooklyn, and elsewhere. the shoe is shown in the photograph on page . the shoe is held in contact with the third rail by gravity reinforced by pressure from two spiral springs. the support for the shoe includes provision for vertical adjustment to compensate for wear of car wheels, etc. chapter vi electrical equipment of cars in determining the electrical equipment of the trains, the company has aimed to secure an organization of motors and control apparatus easily adequate to operate trains in both local and express service at the highest speeds compatible with safety to the traveling public. for each of the two classes of service the limiting safe speed is fixed by the distance between stations at which the trains stop, by curves, and by grades. except in a few places, for example where the east side branch passes under the harlem river, the tracks are so nearly level that the consideration of grade does not materially affect determination of the limiting speed. while the majority of the curves are of large radius, the safe limiting speed, particularly for the express service, is necessarily considerably less than it would be on straight tracks. the average speed of express trains between city hall and th street on the west side will approximate miles an hour, including stops. the maximum speed of trains will be miles per hour. the average speed of local and express trains will exceed the speed made by the trains on any elevated railroad. to attain these speeds without exceeding maximum safe limiting speeds between stops, the equipment provided will accelerate trains carrying maximum load at a rate of . miles per hour per second in starting from stations on level track. to obtain the same acceleration by locomotives, a draw-bar pull of , pounds would be necessary--a pull equivalent to the maximum effect of six steam locomotives such as were used recently upon the manhattan elevated railway in new york, and equivalent to the pull which can be exerted by two passenger locomotives of the latest pennsylvania railroad type. two of these latter would weigh about net tons. by the use of the multiple unit system of electrical control, equivalent results in respect to rate of acceleration and speed are attained, the total addition to train weight aggregating but net tons. if the locomotive principle of train operation were adopted, therefore, it is obvious that it would be necessary to employ a lower rate of acceleration for express trains. this could be attained without very material sacrifice of average speed, since the average distance between express stations is nearly two miles. in the case of local trains, however, which average nearly three stops per mile, no considerable reduction in the acceleration is possible without a material reduction in average speed. the weight of a local train exceeds the weight of five trail cars, similarly loaded, by net tons, and equivalent adhesion and acceleration would require locomotives having not less than net tons effective upon drivers. [sidenote: _switching_] the multiple unit system adopted possesses material advantages over a locomotive system in respect to switching at terminals. some of the express trains in rush hours will comprise eight cars, but at certain times during the day and night when the number of people requiring transportation is less than during the morning and evening, and were locomotives used an enormous amount of switching, coupling and uncoupling would be involved by the comparative frequent changes of train lengths. in an eight-car multiple-unit express train, the first, third, fifth, sixth, and eighth cars will be motor cars, while the second, fourth, and seventh will be trail cars. an eight-car train can be reduced, therefore, to a six-car train by uncoupling two cars from either end, to a five-car train by uncoupling three cars from the rear end, or to a three-car train by uncoupling five cars from either end. in each case a motor car will remain at each end of the reduced train. in like manner, a five-car local train may be reduced to three cars, still leaving a motor car at each end by uncoupling two cars from either end, since in the normal five-car local train the first, third, and fifth cars will be motor cars. [illustration: h. p. railway motor] [sidenote: _motors_] the motors are of the direct current series type and are rated horse power each. they have been especially designed for the subway service in line with specifications prepared by engineers of the interborough company, and will operate at an average effective potential of volts. they are supplied by two manufacturers and differ in respect to important features of design and construction, but both are believed to be thoroughly adequate for the intended service. [illustration: h. p. railway motor] the photographs on this page illustrate motors of each make. the weight of one make complete, with gear and gear case, is , pounds. the corresponding weight of the other is , pounds. the ratio of gear reduction used with one motor is to , and with the other motor to . [illustration: h. p. railway motor] [sidenote: _motor control_] by the system of motor control adopted for the trains, the power delivered to the various motors throughout the train is simultaneously controlled and regulated by the motorman at the head of the train. this is accomplished by means of a system of electric circuits comprising essentially a small drum controller and an organization of actuating circuits conveying small currents which energize electric magnets placed beneath the cars, and so open and close the main power circuits which supply energy to the motors. a controller is mounted upon the platform at each end of each motor car, and the entire train may be operated from any one of the points, the motorman normally taking his post on the front platform of the first car. the switches which open and close the power circuits through motors and rheostats are called contactors, each comprising a magnetic blow-out switch and the electro magnet which controls the movements of the switch. by these contactors the usual series-multiple control of direct-current motors is effected. the primary or control circuits regulate the movement, not only of the contactors but also of the reverser, by means of which the direction of the current supplied to motors may be reversed at the will of the motorman. [illustration: apparatus under composite motor car] the photograph on this page shows the complete control wiring and motor equipment of a motor car as seen beneath the car. in wiring the cars unusual precautions have been adopted to guard against risk of fire. as elsewhere described in this publication, the floors of all motor cars are protected by sheet steel and a material composed of asbestos and silicate of soda, which possesses great heat-resisting properties. in addition to this, all of the important power wires beneath the car are placed in conduits of fireproof material, of which asbestos is the principal constituent. furthermore, the vulcanized rubber insulation of the wires themselves is covered with a special braid of asbestos, and in order to diminish the amount of combustible insulating material, the highest grade of vulcanized rubber has been used, and the thickness of the insulation correspondingly reduced. it is confidently believed that the woodwork of the car body proper cannot be seriously endangered by an accident to the electric apparatus beneath the car. insulation is necessarily combustible, and in burning evolves much smoke; occasional accidents to the apparatus, notwithstanding every possible precaution, will sometimes happen; and in the subway the flash even of an absolutely insignificant fuse may be clearly visible and cause alarm. the public traveling in the subway should remember that even very severe short-circuits and extremely bright flashes beneath the car involve absolutely no danger to passengers who remain inside the car. the photograph on page illustrates the control wiring of the new steel motorcars. the method of assembling the apparatus differs materially from that adopted in wiring the outfit of cars first ordered, and, as the result of greater compactness which has been attained, the aggregate length of the wiring has been reduced one-third. the quality and thickness of the insulation is the same as in the case of the earlier cars, but the use of asbestos conduits is abandoned and iron pipe substituted. in every respect it is believed that the design and workmanship employed in mounting and wiring the motors and control equipments under these steel cars is unequaled elsewhere in similar work up to the present time. [illustration: apparatus under steel motor car] the motors and car wiring are protected by a carefully planned system of fuses, the function of which is to melt and open the circuits, so cutting off power in case of failure of insulation. express trains and local trains alike are provided with a bus line, which interconnects the electrical supply to all cars and prevents interruption of the delivery of current to motors in case the collector shoes attached to any given car should momentarily fail to make contact with the third rail. at certain cross-overs this operates to prevent extinguishing the lamps in successive cars as the train passes from one track to another. the controller is so constructed that when the train is in motion the motorman is compelled to keep his hand upon it, otherwise the power is automatically cut off and the brakes are applied. this important safety device, which, in case a motorman be suddenly incapacitated at his post, will promptly stop the train, is a recent invention and is first introduced in practical service upon trains of the interborough company. [sidenote: _heating and lighting_] all cars are heated and lighted by electricity. the heaters are placed beneath the seats, and special precautions have been taken to insure uniform distribution of the heat. the wiring for heaters and lights has been practically safe-guarded to avoid, so far as possible, all risk of short-circuit or fire, the wire used for the heater circuits being carried upon porcelain insulators from all woodwork by large clearances, while the wiring for lights is carried in metallic conduit. all lamp sockets are specially designed to prevent possibility of fire and are separated from the woodwork of the car by air spaces and by asbestos. [illustration: (fire alarm)] the interior of each car is lighted by twenty-six -candle power lamps, in addition to four lamps provided for platforms and markers. the lamps for lighting the interior are carefully located, with a view to securing uniform and effective illumination. chapter vii lighting system for passenger stations and tunnel in the initial preparation of plans, and more than a year before the accident which occurred in the subway system of paris in august, , the engineers of the interborough company realized the importance of maintaining lights in the subway independent of any temporary interruption of the power used for lighting the cars, and, in preparing their plans, they provided for lighting the subway throughout its length from a source independent of the main power supply. for this purpose three , -kilowatt alternators direct-driven by steam turbines are installed in the power house, from which point a system of primary cables, transformers and secondary conductors convey current to the incandescent lamps used solely to light the subway. the alternators are of the three-phase type, making , revolutions per minute and delivering current at a frequency of cycles per second at a potential of , volts. in the boiler plant and system of steam piping installed in connection with these turbine-driven units, provision is made for separation of the steam supply from the general supply for the , kilowatt units and for furnishing the steam for the turbine units through either of two alternative lines of pipe. the , -volt primary current is conveyed through paper insulated lead-sheathed cables to transformers, located in fireproof compartments adjacent to the platforms of the passenger stations. these transformers deliver current to two separate systems of secondary wiring, one of which is supplied at a potential of volts and the other at volts. the general lighting of the passenger station platforms is effected by incandescent lamps supplied from the -volt secondary wiring circuits, while the lighting of the subway sections between adjacent stations is accomplished by incandescent lamps connected in series groups of five each and connected to the -volt lighting circuits. recognizing the fact that in view of the precautions taken it is probable that interruptions of the alternating current lighting service will be infrequent, the possibility of such interruption is nevertheless provided for by installing upon the stairways leading to passenger station platforms, at the ticket booths and over the tracks in front of the platforms, a number of lamps which are connected to the contact rail circuit. this will provide light sufficient to enable passengers to see stairways and the edges of the station platforms in case of temporary failure of the general lighting system. the general illumination of the passenger stations is effected by means of c. p. incandescent lamps, placed in recessed domes in the ceiling. these are reinforced by c. p. and c. p. lamps, carried by brackets of ornate design where the construction of the station does not conveniently permit the use of ceiling lights. the lamps are enclosed in sand-blasted glass globes, and excellent distribution is secured by the use of reflectors. the illustration on page is produced from a photograph of the interior of one of the transformer cupboards and shows the transformer in place with the end bell of the high potential cable and the primary switchboard containing switches and enclosed fuses. the illustration on page shows one of the secondary distributing switchboards which are located immediately behind the ticket booths, where they are under the control of the ticket seller. [illustration: transformer compartment in passenger station] in lighting the subway between passenger stations, it is desirable, on the one hand, to provide sufficient light for track inspection and to permit employees passing along the subway to see their way clearly and avoid obstructions; but, on the other hand, the lighting must not be so brilliant as to interfere with easy sight and recognition of the red, yellow, and green signal lamps of the block signal system. it is necessary also that the lights for general illumination be so placed that their rays shall not fall directly upon the eyes of approaching motormen at the head of trains nor annoy passengers who may be reading their papers inside the cars. the conditions imposed by these considerations are met in the four-track sections of the subway by placing a row of incandescent lamps between the north-bound local and express tracks and a similar row between the southbound local and express tracks. the lamps are carried upon brackets supported upon the iron columns of the subway structure, successive lamps in each row being feet apart. they are located a few inches above the tops of the car windows and with reference to the direction of approaching trains the lamps in each row are carried upon the far side of the iron columns, by which expedient the eyes of the approaching motormen are sufficiently protected against their direct rays. [sidenote: _lighting of the power house_] for the general illumination of the engine room, clusters of nernst lamps are supported from the roof trusses and a row of single lamps of the same type is carried on the lower gallery about feet from the floor. this is the first power house in america to be illuminated by these lamps. the quality of the light is unsurpassed and the general effect of the illumination most satisfactory and agreeable to the eye. in addition to the nernst lamps, c. p. incandescent lamps are placed upon the engines and along the galleries in places not conveniently reached by the general illumination. the basement also is lighted by incandescent lamps. [illustration: secondary distributing switchboard at passenger station] for the boiler room, a row of nernst lamps in front of the batteries of boilers is provided, and, in addition to these, incandescent lamps are used in the passageways around the boilers, at gauges and at water columns. the basement of the boiler room, the pump room, the economizer floor, coal bunkers, and coal conveyers are lighted by incandescent lamps, while arc lamps are used around the coal tower and dock. the lights on the engines and those at gauge glasses and water columns and at the pumps are supplied by direct current from the -volt circuits. all other incandescent lamps and the nernst lamps are supplied through transformers from the -cycle lighting system. [sidenote: _emergency signal system and provision for cutting off power from contact rail_] in the booth of each ticket seller and at every manhole along the west side of the subway and its branches is placed a glass-covered box of the kind generally used in large american cities for fire alarm purposes. in case of accident in the subway which may render it desirable to cut off power from the contact rails, this result can be accomplished by breaking the glass front of the emergency box and pulling the hook provided. special emergency circuits are so arranged that pulling the hook will instantly open all the circuit-breakers at adjacent sub-stations through which the contact rails in the section affected receive their supply of power. it will also instantly report the location of the trouble, annunciator gongs being located in the sub-stations from which power is supplied to the section, in the train dispatchers' offices and in the office of the general superintendent, instantly intimating the number of the box which has been pulled. automatic recording devices in train dispatchers' offices and in the office of the general superintendent also note the number of the box pulled. the photograph on page shows a typical fire alarm box. chapter viii rolling stock--cars, trucks, etc. the determination of the builders of the road to improve upon the best devices known in electrical railroading and to provide an equipment unequaled on any interurban line is nowhere better illustrated than in the careful study given to the types of cars and trucks used on other lines before a selection was made of those to be employed on the subway. all of the existing rapid transit railways in this country, and many of those abroad, were visited and the different patterns of cars in use were considered in this investigation, which included a study of the relative advantages of long and short cars, single and multiple side entrance cars and end entrance cars, and all of the other varieties which have been adopted for rapid transit service abroad and at home. the service requirement of the new york subway introduces a number of unprecedented conditions, and required a complete redesign of all the existing models. the general considerations to be met included the following: high schedule speeds with frequent stops. maximum carrying capacity for the subway, especially at times of rush hours, morning and evening. maximum strength combined with smallest permissible weight. adoption of all precautions calculated to reduce possibility of damage from either the electric circuit or from collisions. the clearance and length of the local station platforms limited the length of trains, and tunnel clearances the length and width and height of the cars. the speeds called for by the contract with the city introduced motive power requirements which were unprecedented in any existing railway service, either steam or electric, and demanded a minimum weight consistent with safety. as an example, it may be stated that an express train of eight cars in the subway to conform to the schedule speed adopted will require a nominal power of motors on the train of , horse power, with an average accelerating current at volts in starting from a station stop of amperes. this rate of energy absorption which corresponds to , horse power is not far from double that taken by the heaviest trains on trunk line railroads when starting from stations at the maximum rate of acceleration possible with the most powerful modern steam locomotives. such exacting schedule conditions as those mentioned necessitated the design of cars, trucks, etc., of equivalent strength to that found in steam railroad car and locomotive construction, so that while it was essential to keep down the weight of the train and individual cars to a minimum, owing to the frequent stops, it was equally as essential to provide the strongest and most substantial type of car construction throughout. owing to these two essentials which were embodied in their construction it can safely be asserted that the cars used in the subway represent the acme of car building art as it exists to-day, and that all available appliances for securing strength and durability in the cars and immunity from accidents have been introduced. after having ascertained the general type of cars which would be best adapted to the subway service, and before placing the order for car equipments, it was decided to build sample cars embodying the approved principles of design. from these the management believed that the details of construction could be more perfectly determined than in any other way. consequently, in the early part of , two sample cars were built and equipped with a variety of appliances and furnishings so that the final type could be intelligently selected. from the tests conducted on these cars the adopted type of car which is described in detail below was evolved. after the design had been worked out a great deal of difficulty was encountered in securing satisfactory contracts for proper deliveries, on account of the congested condition of the car building works in the country. contracts were finally closed, however, in december, , for cars, and orders were distributed between four car-building firms. of these cars, some , as fast as delivered, were placed in operation on the second avenue line of the elevated railway, in order that they might be thoroughly tested during the winter of - . [illustration: end view of steel passenger car] in view of the peculiar traffic conditions existing in new york city and the restricted siding and yard room available in the subway, it was decided that one standard type of car for all classes of service would introduce the most flexible operating conditions, and for this reason would best suit the public demands at different seasons of the year and hours of the day. in order further to provide cars, each of which would be as safe as the others, it was essential that there should be no difference in constructional strength between the motor cars and the trail cars. all cars were therefore made of one type and can be used interchangeably for either motor or trail-car service. the motor cars carry both motors on the same truck; that is, they have a motor truck at one end carrying two motors, one geared to each axle; the truck at the other end of the car is a "trailer" and carries no motive power. [illustration: side view of steel passenger car] some leading distinctive features of the cars may be enumerated as follows: ( .) the length is feet and provides seating capacity for passengers. this length is about feet more than those of the existing manhattan elevated railroad cars. ( .) the enclosed vestibule platforms with sliding doors instead of the usual gates. the enclosed platforms will contribute greatly to the comfort and safety of passengers under subway conditions. ( .) the anti-telescoping car bulkheads and platform posts. this construction is similar to that in use on pullman cars, and has been demonstrated in steam railroad service to be an important safety appliance. ( .) the steel underframing of the car, which provides a rigid and durable bed structure for transmitting the heavy motive power stresses. ( .) the numerous protective devices against defects in the electrical apparatus. ( .) window arrangement, permitting circulation without draughts. ( .) emergency brake valve on truck operated by track trip. ( .) emergency brake valve in connection with master-controller. the table on page shows the main dimensions of the car, and also the corresponding dimensions of the standard car in use on the manhattan elevated railway. the general arrangement of the floor framing is well shown in the photograph on page . the side sills are of -inch channels, which are reinforced inside and out by white oak timbers. the center sills are -inch i-beams, faced on both sides with southern pine. the end sills are also of steel shapes, securely attached to the side sills by steel castings and forgings. the car body end-sill channel is faced with a white-oak filler, mortised to receive the car body end-posts and braced at each end by gusset plates. the body bolster is made up of two rolled steel plates bolted together at their ends and supported by a steel draw casting, the ends of which form a support for the center sills. the cross-bridging and needle-beams of -inch i-beams are unusually substantial. the flooring inside the car is double and of maple, with asbestos fire-felt between the layers, and is protected below by steel plates and "transite" (asbestos board). the side framing of the car is of white ash, doubly braced and heavily trussed. there are seven composite wrought-iron carlines forged in shape for the roof, each sandwiched between two white ash carlines, and with white ash intermediate carlines. the platform posts are of compound construction with anti-telescoping posts of steel bar sandwiched between white ash posts at corners and centers of vestibuled platforms. these posts are securely bolted to the steel longitudinal sills, the steel anti-telescoping plate below the floor, and to the hood of the bow which serves to reinforce it. this bow is a heavy steel angle in one piece, reaching from plate to plate and extending back into the car feet on each side. by this construction it is believed that the car framing is practically indestructible. in case of accident, if one platform should ride over another, eight square inches of metal would have to be sheared off the posts before the main body of the car would be reached, which would afford an effective means of protection. [illustration: exterior view--steel car framing] the floor is completely covered on the underside with / -inch asbestos transite board, while all parts of the car framing, flooring, and sheathing are covered with fire-proofing compound. in addition, all spaces above the motor truck in the floor framing, between sills and bridging, are protected by plates of no. steel and / -inch roll fire-felt extending from the platform end sill to the bolster. [sidenote: _car wiring_] the precautions to secure safety from fire consists generally in the perfected arrangement and installation of the electrical apparatus and the wiring. for the lighting circuits a flexible steel conduit is used, and a special junction box. on the side and upper roofs, over these conduits for the lighting circuits, a strip of sheet iron is securely nailed to the roof boards before the canvas is applied. the wires under the floor are carried in ducts moulded into suitable forms of asbestos compound. special precautions have been taken with the insulation of the wires, the specifications calling for, first, a layer of paper, next, a layer of rubber, and then a layer of cotton saturated with a weather-proof compound, and outside of this a layer of asbestos. the hangers supporting the rheostats under the car body are insulated with wooden blocks, treated by a special process, being dried out in an oven and then soaked in an insulating compound, and covered with / -inch "transite" board. the rheostat boxes themselves are also insulated from the angle iron supporting them. where the wires pass through the flooring they are hermetically sealed to prevent the admission of dust and dirt. at the forward end of what is known as the no. end of the car all the wires are carried to a slate switchboard in the motorman's cab. this board is x inches, and is mounted directly back of the motorman. the window space occupied by this board is ceiled up and the space back of the panels is boxed in and provided with a door of steel plate, forming a box, the cover, top, bottom, and sides of which are lined with electrobestos / -inch thick. all of the switches and fuses, except the main trolley fuse and bus-line fuse, which are encased and placed under the car, are carried on this switchboard. where the wires are carried through the floor or any partition, a steel chute, lined with electrobestos, is used to protect the wires against mechanical injury. it will be noted from the above that no power wiring, switches, or fuses are placed in the car itself, all such devices being outside in a special steel insulated compartment. a novel feature in the construction of these cars is the motorman's compartment and vestibule, which differs essentially from that used heretofore, and the patents are owned by the interborough company. the cab is located on the platform, so that no space within the car is required; at the same time the entire platform space is available for ingress and egress except that on the front platform of the first car, on which the passengers would not be allowed in any case. the side of the cab is formed by a door which can be placed in three positions. when in its mid-position it encloses a part of the platform, so as to furnish a cab for the motorman, but when swung parallel to the end sills it encloses the end of the platform, and this would be its position on the rear platform of the rear car. the third position is when it is swung around to an arc of degrees, when it can be locked in position against the corner vestibule post enclosing the master controller. this would be its position on all platforms except on the front of the front car or the rear of the rear car of the train. the platforms themselves are not equipped with side gates, but with doors arranged to slide into pockets in the side framing, thereby giving up the entire platform to the passengers. these doors are closed by an overhead lever system. the sliding door on the front platform of the first car may be partly opened and secured in this position by a bar, and thus serve as an arm-rest for the motorman. the doors close against an air-cushion stop, making it impossible to clutch the clothing or limbs of passengers in closing. [illustration: interior view--skeleton framing of steel car] pantagraph safety gates for coupling between cars are provided. they are constructed so as to adjust themselves to suit the various positions of adjoining cars while passing in, around, and out of curves of feet radius. on the door leading from the vestibule to the body of the car is a curtain that can be automatically raised and lowered as the door is opened or closed to shut the light away from the motorman. another attachment is the peculiar handle on the sliding door. this door is made to latch so that it cannot slide open with the swaying of the car, but the handle is so constructed that when pressure is applied upon it to open the door, the same movement will unlatch it. entering the car, the observer is at once impressed by the amount of room available for passengers. the seating arrangements are similar to the elevated cars, but the subway coaches are longer and wider than the manhattan, and there are two additional seats on each end. the seats are all finished in rattan. stationary crosswise seats are provided after the manhattan pattern, at the center of the car. the longitudinal seats are - / inches deep. the space between the longitudinal seats is feet inches. the windows have two sashes, the lower one being stationary, while the upper one is a drop sash. this arrangement reverses the ordinary practice, and is desirable in subway operation and to insure safety and comfort to the passengers. the side windows in the body of the car, also the end windows and end doors, are provided with roll shades with pinch-handle fixtures. [illustration: interior view of protected wooden car] the floors are covered with hard maple strips, securely fastened to the floor with ovalhead brass screws, thus providing a clean, dry floor for all conditions of weather. six single incandescent lamps are placed on the upper deck ceiling, and a row of ten on each side deck ceiling is provided. there are two lamps placed in a white porcelain dome over each platform, and the pressure gauge is also provided with a miniature lamp. [illustration: exterior view--protected wooden car, showing copper sides] the head linings are of composite board. the interior finish is of mahogany of light color. a mahogany handrail extends the full length of the clerestory on each side of the car, supported in brass sockets at the ends and by heavy brass brackets on each side. the handrail on each side of the car carries thirty-eight leather straps. each ventilator sash is secured on the inside to a brass operating arm, manipulated by means of rods running along each side of the clerestory, and each rod is operated by means of a brass lever, having a fulcrum secured to the inside of the clerestory. all hardware is of bronze, of best quality and heavy pattern, including locks, pulls, handles, sash fittings, window guards, railing brackets and sockets, bell cord thimbles, chafing strips, hinges, and all other trimmings. the upright panels between the windows and the corner of the car are of plain mahogany, as are also the single post pilasters, all of which are decorated with marquetry inlaid. the end finish is of mahogany, forming a casing for the end door. [illustration: framing of protected wooden car] [sidenote: _steel cars_] at the time of placing the first contract for the rolling stock of the subway, the question of using an all-steel car was carefully considered by the management. such a type of car, in many respects, presented desirable features for subway work as representing the ultimate of absolute incombustibility. certain practical reasons, however, prevented the adoption of an all-steel car in the spring of when it became necessary to place the orders mentioned above for the first cars. principal among these reasons was the fact that no cars of this kind had ever been constructed, and as the car building works of the country were in a very congested condition all of the larger companies declined to consider any standard specifications even for a short-time delivery, while for cars involving the extensive use of metal the question was impossible of immediate solution. again, there were a number of very serious mechanical difficulties to be studied and overcome in the construction of such a car, such as avoidance of excessive weight, a serious element in a rapid transit service, insulation from the extremes of heat and cold, and the prevention of undue noise in operation. it was decided, therefore, to bend all energies to the production of a wooden car with sufficient metal for strength and protection from accident, i. e., a stronger, safer, and better constructed car than had heretofore been put in use on any electric railway in the world. these properties it is believed are embodied in the car which has just been described. [illustration: metal underframe of protected wooden car] the plan of an all-metal car, however, was not abandoned, and although none was in use in passenger service anywhere, steps were immediately taken to design a car of this type and conduct the necessary tests to determine whether it would be suitable for railway service. none of the car-building companies was willing to undertake the work, but the courteous coöperation of the pennsylvania railroad company was secured in placing its manufacturing facilities at altoona at the disposal of the interborough rapid transit railway company. plans were prepared for an all-metal car, and after about fourteen months of work a sample type was completed in december, , which was in every way creditable as a first attempt. the sample car naturally embodied some faults which only experience could correct, the principal one being that the car was not only too heavy for use on the elevated lines of the company, but attained an undesirable weight for subway operation. from this original design, however, a second design involving very original features has been worked out, and a contract has been given by the interborough company for all-steel cars, which are now being constructed. while the expense of producing this new type of car has obviously been great, this consideration has not influenced the management of the company in developing an equipment which promised the maximum of operating safety. [illustration: end view of motor truck] [sidenote: _the general arrangements_] the general dimensions of the all-steel car differ only slightly from those of the wooden car. the following table gives the dimensions of the two cars, and also that of the manhattan railway cars: wooden all-steel manhattan cars. cars. cars. length over body corner posts, ' " ' / " ' " length over buffers, ' " ' " ' " length over draw-bars, ' " ' " ' " width over side sills, ' - / " ' - / " ' " width over sheathing, ' " ' " ' " width over window sills, ' - / " ' / " ' " width over battens, ' - / " ' - / " ' - / " width over eaves, ' " ' " ' - / " height from under side of sill to top of plate, ' - / " ' " ' " height of body from under side of center sill to top of roof, ' - / " ' - / " ' - / " height of truck from rail to top of truck center plate (car light), ' " ' " ' - / " height from top of rail to underside of side sill at truck center (car light), ' - / " ' - / " ' - / " height from top of rail to top of roof not to exceed (car light), ' / " ' " ' - / " the general frame plan of the all-steel car is clearly shown by the photograph on page . as will be seen, the floor framing is made up of two center longitudinal -inch i-beams and two longitudinal x -inch steel side angles, extending in one piece from platform-end sill to platform-end sill. the end sills are angles and are secured to the side and center sills by cast-steel brackets, and in addition by steel anti-telescoping plates, which are placed on the under side of the sills and riveted thereto. the flooring is of galvanized, corrugated sheet iron, laid across the longitudinal sills and secured to longitudinal angles by rivets. this corrugated sheet holds the fireproof cement flooring called "monolith." on top of this latter are attached longitudinal floor strips for a wearing surface. the platform flooring is of steel plate covered with rubber matting cemented to the same. the side and end frame is composed of single and compound posts made of steel angles or t's and the roof framing of wrought-iron carlines and purlines. the sides of the cars are double and composed of steel plates on the outside, riveted to the side posts and belt rails, and lined with electrobestos. the outside roof is of fireproof composite board, covered with canvas. the headlinings are of fireproof composite, faced with aluminum sheets. the mouldings throughout are of aluminum. the wainscoting is of "transite" board and aluminum, and the end finish and window panels are of aluminum, lined with asbestos felt. the seat frames are of steel throughout, as are also the cushion frames. the sash is double, the lower part being stationary and the upper part movable. the doors are of mahogany, and are of the sliding type and are operated by the door operating device already described. [illustration: side view of motor truck] [sidenote: _trucks_] two types of trucks are being built, one for the motor end, the other for the trailer end of the car. the following are the principal dimensions of the trucks: motor truck. trailer truck. gauge of track,............................. ' - / " ' - / " distance between backs of wheel flanges,.... ' - / " ' - / " height of truck center plate above rail, car body loaded with , pounds,....... " " height of truck side bearings above rail, car body loaded,.......................... " " wheel base of truck,........................ ' " ' " weight on center plate with car body loaded, about............................. , lbs. side frames, wrought-iron forged,........... - / " x " - / " x " pedestals, wrought-iron forged,......................... center transom, steel channel,.......................... truck bolster,.............................. cast steel. wood and iron. equalizing bars, wrought iron,.......................... center plate, cast steel,............................... spring plank, wrought iron,................. " x " white oak. bolster springs, elliptic, length, ......... " " equalizing springs, double coil, outside dimensions,................... - / " x - / " - / " x " wheels, cast steel spoke center, steel tired, diameter,.................... - / " " tires, tread m. c. b. standard,......... - / " x - / " - / " x - / " axles, diameter at center,.................. - / " - / " axles, diameter at gear seat,............... - / " axles, diameter at wheel seat,.............. - / " - / " journals,................................... " x " - / " x " journal boxes, malleable iron, m. c. b. standard,.................................... both the motor and the trailer trucks have been designed with the greatest care for severe service, and their details are the outcome of years of practical experience. chapter ix signal system early in the development of the plans for the subway system in new york city, it was foreseen that the efficiency of operation of a road with so heavy a traffic as is being provided for would depend largely upon the completeness of the block signaling and interlocking systems adopted for spacing and directing trains. on account of the importance of this consideration, not only for safety of passengers, but also for conducting operation under exacting schedules, it was decided to install the most complete and effective signaling system procurable. the problem involved the prime consideration of: safety and reliability. greatest capacity of the lines consistent with the above. facility of operation under necessarily restricted yard and track conditions. in order to obtain the above desiderata it was decided to install a complete automatic block signal system for the high-speed routes, block protection for all obscure points on the low-speed routes, and to operate all switches both for line movements and in yards by power from central points. this necessarily involved the interconnection of the block and switch movements at many locations and made the adoption of the most flexible and compact appliances essential. of the various signal systems in use it was found that the one promising entirely satisfactory results was the electro-pneumatic block and interlocking system, by which power in any quantity could be readily conducted in small pipes any distance and utilized in compact apparatus in the most restricted spaces. the movements could be made with the greatest promptness and certainty and interconnected for the most complicated situations for safety. moreover, all essential details of the system had been worked out in years of practical operation on important trunk lines of railway, so that its reliability and efficiency were beyond question. the application of such a system to the new york subway involved an elaboration of detail not before attempted upon a railway line of similar length, and the contract for its installation is believed to be the largest single order ever given to a signal manufacturing company. in the application of an automatic block system to an electric railway where the rails are used for the return circuit of the propulsion current, it is necessary to modify the system as usually applied to a steam railway and introduce a track circuit control that will not be injuriously influenced by the propulsion current. this had been successfully accomplished for moderately heavy electric railway traffic in the boston elevated installation, which was the first electric railway to adopt a complete automatic block signal system with track circuit control. the new york subway operation, however, contemplated traffic of unprecedented density and consequent magnitude of the electric currents employed, and experience with existing track circuit control systems led to the conclusion that some modification in apparatus was essential to prevent occasional traffic delays. the proposed operation contemplates a possible maximum of two tracks loaded with local trains at one minute intervals, and two tracks with eight car express trains at two minute intervals, the latter class of trains requiring at times as much as , horse power for each train in motion. it is readily seen, then, that combinations of trains in motion may at certain times occur which will throw enormous demands for power upon a given section of the road. the electricity conveying this power flows back through the track rails to the power station and in so doing is subject to a "drop" or loss in the rails which varies in amount according to the power demands. this causes disturbances in the signal-track circuit in proportion to the amount of "drop," and it was believed that under the extreme condition above mentioned the ordinary form of track circuit might prove unreliable and cause delay to traffic. a solution of the difficulty was suggested, consisting in the employment of a current in the signal track circuit which would have such characteristic differences from that used to propel the trains as would operate selectively upon an apparatus which would in turn control the signal. alternating current supplied this want on account of its inductive properties, and was adopted, after a demonstration of its practicability under similar conditions elsewhere. [illustration: front view of block signal post, showing lights, indicators and track stop] after a decision was reached as to the system to be employed, the arrangement of the block sections was considered from the standpoint of maximum safety and maximum traffic capacity, as it was realized that the rapidly increasing traffic of greater new york would almost at once tax the capacity of the line to its utmost. the usual method of installing automatic block signals in the united states is to provide home and distant signals with the block sections extending from home signal to home signal; that is, the block sections end at the home signals and do not overlap each other. this is also the arrangement of block sections where the telegraph block or controlled manual systems are in use. the english block systems, however, all employ overlaps. without the overlap, a train in passing from one block section to the other will clear the home signals for the section in the rear, as soon as the rear of the train has passed the home signal of the block in which it is moving. it is thus possible for a train to stop within the block and within a few feet of this home signal. if, then, a following train should for any reason overrun this home signal, a collision would result. with the overlap system, however, a train may stop at any point in a block section and still have the home signal at a safe stopping distance in the rear of the train. conservative signaling is all in favor of the overlap, on account of the safety factor, in case the signal is accidentally overrun. another consideration was the use of automatic train stops. these stops are placed at the home signals, and it is thus essential that a stopping distance should be afforded in advance of the home signal to provide for stopping the train to which the brake had been applied by the automatic stop. ordinarily, the arrangement of overlap sections increases the length of block sections by the length of the overlap, and as the length of the section fixed the minimum spacing of trains, it was imperative to make the blocks as short as consistent with safety, in order not to cut down the carrying capacity of the railway. this led to a study of the special problem presented by subway signaling and a development of a blocking system upon lines which it is believed are distinctly in advance of anything heretofore done in this direction. [illustration: rear view of block signal post, showing transformer and instrument cases with doors open] block section lengths are governed by speed and interval between trains. overlap lengths are determined by the distance in which a train can be stopped at a maximum speed. usually the block section length is the distance between signals, plus the overlap; but where maximum traffic capacity is desired the block section length can be reduced to the length of two overlaps, and this was the system adopted for the interborough. the three systems of blocking trains, with and without overlaps, is shown diagramatically on page , where two successive trains are shown at the minimum distances apart for "clear" running for an assumed stopping distance of feet. the system adopted for the subway is shown in line "c," giving the least headway of the three methods. [illustration: pneumatic track stop, showing stop trigger in upright position] the length of the overlap was given very careful consideration by the interborough rapid transit company, who instituted a series of tests of braking power of trains; from these and others made by the pennsylvania railroad company, curves were computed so as to determine the distance in which trains could be stopped at various rates of speed on a level track, with corrections for rising and falling to grades up to per cent. speed curves were then plotted for the trains on the entire line, showing at each point the maximum possible speed, with the gear ratio of the motors adopted. a joint consideration of the speeds, braking efforts, and profile of the road were then used to determine at each and every point on the line the minimum allowable distance between trains, so that the train in the rear could be stopped by the automatic application of the brakes before reaching a train which might be standing at a signal in advance; in other words, the length of the overlap section was determined by the local conditions at each point. in order to provide for adverse conditions the actual braking distances was increased by per cent.; for example, the braking distance of a train moving miles an hour is feet, this would be increased per cent. and the overlap made not less than feet. with this length of overlap the home signals could be located feet apart, and the block section length would be double this or feet. the average length of overlaps, as laid out, is about feet, and the length of block sections double this, or , feet. [illustration: view under car, showing trigger on truck in position to engage with track stop] the protection provided by this unique arrangement of signals is illustrated on page . three positions of train are shown: "a." minimum distance between trains: the first train has just passed the home signal, the second train is stopped by the home signal in the rear; if this train had failed to stop at this point, the automatic stop would have applied the air brake and the train would have had the overlap distance in which to stop before it could reach the rear of the train in advance; therefore, under the worst conditions, no train can get closer to the train in advance than the length of the overlap, and this is always a safe stopping distance. "b." caution distance between train: the first train in same position as in "a," the second train at the third home signal in the rear; this signal can be passed under caution, and this distance between trains is the caution distance, and is always equal to the length of the block section, or two overlaps. "c." clear distance between trains: first train in same position as in "a," second train at the fourth home signal in the rear; at this point both the home and distant signals are clear, and the distance between the trains is now the clear running distance; that is, when the trains are one block section plus an overlap apart they can move under clear signal, and this distance is used in determining the running schedule. it will be noted in "c" that the first train has the following protection: home signals and in stop position, together with the automatic stop at signal in position to stop a train, distant signal , , and all at caution, or, in other words, a train that has stopped is always protected by two home signals in its rear, and by three caution signals, in addition to this an automatic stop placed at a safe stopping distance in the rear of the train. [illustration: electro-pneumatic interlocking machine on station platform] [illustration: special interlocking signal cabin south of brooklyn bridge station] [sidenote: _description of block signaling system_] the block signaling system as installed consists of automatic overlapping system above described applied to the two express tracks between city hall and th street, a distance of six and one-half miles, or thirteen miles of track; and to the third track between th and th streets on the west side branch, a distance of two and one-half miles. this third track is placed between the two local tracks, and will be used for express traffic in both directions, trains moving toward the city hall in the morning and in the opposite direction at night; also the two tracks from th street to dyckman street, a distance of two and one-half miles, or five miles of track. the total length of track protected by signals is twenty-four and one-half miles. the small amount of available space in the subway made it necessary to design a special form of the signal itself. clearances would not permit of a "position" signal indication, and, further, a position signal purely was not suitable for the lighting conditions of the subway. a color signal was therefore adopted conforming to the adopted rules of the american railway association. it consists of an iron case fitted with two white lenses, the upper being the home signal and the lower the distant. suitable colored glasses are mounted in slides which are operated by pneumatic cylinders placed in the base of the case. home and dwarf signals show a red light for the danger or "stop" indication. distant signals show a yellow light for the "caution" indication. all signals show a green light for the "proceed" or clear position. signals in the subway are constantly lighted by two electric lights placed back of each white lens, so that the lighting will be at all times reliable. on the elevated structure, semaphore signals of the usual type are used. the signal lighting is supplied by a special alternating current circuit independent of the power and general lighting circuits. a train stop or automatic stop of the kinsman system is used at all block signals, and at many interlocking signals. this is a device for automatically applying the air brakes to the train if it should pass a signal in the stop position. this is an additional safeguard only to be brought into action when the danger indication has for any reason been disregarded, and insures the maintenance of the minimum distance between trains as provided by the overlaps established. great care has been given to the design, construction, and installation of the signal apparatus, so as to insure reliability of operation under the most adverse conditions, and to provide for accessibility to all the parts for convenience in maintenance. the system for furnishing power to operate and control the signals consists of the following: two -volt alternating current feed mains run the entire length of the signal system. these mains are fed by seven direct-current motor-driven generators operated in multiple located in the various sub-power stations. any four of these machines are sufficient to supply the necessary current for operating the system. across these alternating mains are connected the primary coils of track transformers located at each signal, the secondaries of which supply current of about volts to the rails of the track sections. across the rails at the opposite end of the section is connected the track relay, the moving element of which operates a contact. this contact controls a local direct-current circuit operating, by compressed air, the signal and automatic train stop. direct current is furnished by two mains extending the length of the system, which are fed by eight sets of -volt storage batteries in duplicate. these batteries are located in the subway at the various interlocking towers, and are charged by motor generators, one of which is placed at each set of batteries. these motor generators are driven by direct current from the third rail and deliver direct current of volts. the compressed air is supplied by six air compressors, one located at each of the following sub-stations: nos. , , , , , and . three of these are reserve compressors. they are motor-driven by direct-current motors, taking current from the direct-current buss bars at sub-stations at from to volts. the capacity of each compressor is cubic feet. [illustration: main line, piping and wiring for block and interlocking system, showing junction box on column] the motor-driven air compressors are controlled by a governor which responds to a variation of air pressure of five pounds or less. when the pressure has reached a predetermined point the machine is stopped and the supply of cooling water shut off. when the pressure has fallen a given amount, the machine is started light, and when at full speed the load is thrown on and the cooling water circulation reëstablished. oiling of cylinders and bearings is automatic, being supplied only while the machines are running. two novel safety devices having to do especially with the signaling may be here described. the first is an emergency train stop. it is designed to place in the hands of station attendants, or others, the emergency control of signals. the protection afforded is similar in principle to the emergency brake handle found in all passenger cars, but operates to warn all trains of an extraneous danger condition. it has been shown in electric railroading that an accident to apparatus, perhaps of slight moment, may cause an unreasoning panic, on account of which passengers may wander on adjoining tracks in face of approaching trains. to provide as perfectly as practicable for such conditions, it has been arranged to loop the control of signals into an emergency box set in a conspicuous position in each station platform. the pushing of a button on this box, similar to that of the fire-alarm signal, will set all signals immediately adjacent to stations in the face of trains approaching, so that all traffic may be stopped until the danger condition is removed. the second safety appliance is the "section break" protection. this consists of a special emergency signal placed in advance of each separate section of the third rail; that is, at points where trains move from a section fed by one sub-station to that fed by another. under such conditions the contact shoes of the train temporarily span the break in the third rail. in case of a serious overload or ground on one section, the train-wiring would momentarily act as a feeder for the section, and thus possibly blow the train fuses and cause delay. in order, therefore, to prevent trains passing into a dangerously overloaded section, an overload relay has been installed at each section break to set a "stop" signal in the face of an approaching train, which holds the train until the abnormal condition is removed. [illustration: three methods of block signaling] [illustration: diagram of overlapping block signal system illustrating possible positions of trains running under same] [sidenote: _interlocking system_] the to-and-fro movement of a dense traffic on a four-track railway requires a large amount of switching, especially when each movement is complicated by junctions of two or more lines. practically every problem of trunk line train movement, including two, three, and four-track operation, had to be provided for in the switching plants of the subway. further, the problem was complicated by the restricted clearances and vision attendant upon tunnel construction. it was estimated that the utmost flexibility of operation should be provided for, and also that every movement be certain, quick, and safe. all of the above, which are referred to in the briefest terms only, demanded that all switching movements should be made through the medium of power-operated interlocking plants. these plants in the subway portions of the line are in all cases electro-pneumatic, while in the elevated portions of the line mechanical interlocking has been, in some cases, provided. a list of the separate plants installed will be interesting, and is given below: location. interlocking working machines. levers. main line. city hall, spring street, th street, th street, d street, d street th street west side branch. th street, d street, th street, th street, manhattan viaduct, th street, th street, dyckman street, th street, east side branch. th street, lenox junction, th street, lenox avenue yard, third and westchester avenue junction, st. anna avenue, freeman street, th street, ---- ---- total, the total number of signals, both block and interlocking, is as follows: home signals, dwarf signals, distant signals, ---- total, total number of switches, it will be noted that in the case of the city hall station three separate plants are required, all of considerable size, and intended for constant use for a multiplicity of movements. it is, perhaps, unnecessary to state that all the mechanism of these important interlocking plants is of the most substantial character and provided with all the necessary safety appliances and means for rapidly setting up the various combinations. the interlocking machines are housed in steel concrete "towers," so that the operators may be properly protected and isolated in the performance of their duties. chapter x subway drainage the employment of water-proofing to the exterior surfaces of the masonry shell of the tunnel, which is applied to the masonry, almost without a break along the entire subway construction, has made it unnecessary to provide an extensive system of drains, or sump pits, of any magnitude, for the collection and removal of water from the interior of the tunnel. on the other hand, however, at each depression or point where water could collect from any cause, such as by leakage through a cable manhole cover or by the breaking of an adjacent water pipe, or the like, a sump pit or drain has been provided for carrying the water away from the interior of the tunnel. for all locations, where such drains, or sump pits, are located above the line of the adjacent sewer, the carrying of the water away has been easy to accomplish by employing a drain pipe in connection with suitable traps and valves. in other cases, however, where it is necessary to elevate the water, the problem has been of a different character. in such cases, where possible, at each depression where water is liable to collect, a well, or sump pit, has been constructed just outside the shell of the tunnel. the bottom of the well has been placed lower than the floor of the tunnel, so that the water can flow into the well through a drain connecting to the tunnel. each well is then provided with a pumping outfit; but in the case of these wells and in other locations where it is necessary to maintain pumping devices, it has not been possible to employ a uniform design of pumping equipment, as the various locations offer different conditions, each employing apparatus best suited to the requirements. in no case, except two, is an electric pump employed, as the employment of compressed air was considered more reliable. the several depressions at which it is necessary to maintain a pumping plant are enumerated as follows: no. --sump at the lowest point on city hall loop. no. --sump at intersection of elm and white streets. no. --sump at th street in the murray hill tunnel. no. --sump at intersection of th street and broadway. no. --sump at intersection of th street and lenox avenue. no. --sump at intersection of d street and lenox avenue. no. --sump at intersection of th street and lenox avenue. no. --sump at about th street in harlem river approach. no. --sump at the center of the harlem river tunnel. no. --sump at intersection of gerard avenue and th street. in addition to the above mentioned sumps, where pumping plants are maintained, it is necessary to maintain pumping plants at the following points: location no. --at the cable tunnel constructed under the subway at d street and fourth avenue. location no. --at the sub-subway at d street and broadway. location no. --at the portal of the lenox avenue extension at th street. location no. --at the southerly end of the harlem river tube. location no. --at the northerly end of the harlem river tube. location no. --at the portal at bergen avenue and th street. in the case of the no. sump a direct-connected electric triple-plunger pump is employed, situated in a pump room about feet distant from the sump pit. in the case of nos. , , and sumps, automatic air lifts are employed. this apparatus is placed in those sump wells which are not easily accessible, and the air lift was selected for the reason that no moving parts are conveyed in the air-lift construction other than the movable ball float and valve which control the device. the air lift consists of concentric piping extending several feet into the ground below the bottom of the well, and the water is elevated by the air producing a rising column of water of less specific weight than the descending column of water which is in the pipe extending below the bottom of the sump well. in the case of nos. and sumps, and for location no. , automatic air-operated ejectors have been employed, for the reason that the conditions did not warrant the employment of air lifts or electric or air-operated pumps. in the case of nos. , , , and sumps and for locations nos. , , and , air-operated reciprocating pumps will be employed. these pumps will be placed in readily accessible locations, where air lifts could not be used, and this type of pump was selected as being the most reliable device to employ. in the case of location no. , where provision has to be made to prevent a large amount of yard drainage, during a storm, from entering the tunnel where it descends from the portal, it was considered best to employ large submerged centrifugal pumps, operated by reciprocating air engines. also for the portal, at location no. , similar centrifugal pumps will be employed, but as compressed air is not available at this point, these pumps will be operated by electric motors. the air supply to the air-operating pumping devices will be independent from the compressed air line which supplies air to the switch and signal system, but break-down connections will be made between the two systems, so that either system can help the other out in case of emergency. a special air-compressor plant is located at the th street repair shop, and another plant within the subway at st street, for supplying air to the pumps, within the immediate locality of each compressor plant. for the more remote pumps, air will be supplied by smaller air compressors located within passenger stations. in one case, for the no. sump, air will be taken from the switch and signal air-compressor plant located at the no. sub-station. chapter xi repair and inspection shed while popularly and not inaccurately known as the "subway system," the lines of the interborough company comprise also a large amount of trackage in the open air, and hence the rolling stock which has already been described is devised with the view to satisfying all the peculiar and special conditions thus involved. a necessary corollary is the requirement of adequate inspection and repair shops, so that all the rolling stock may at all times be in the highest state of efficiency; and in this respect the provision made by the company has been lavish and liberal to a degree. the repair and inspection shop of the interborough rapid transit company adjoins the car yards of the company and occupies the entire block between seventh avenue on the west, lenox avenue and the harlem river on the east, th street on the south, and th street on the north. the electric subway trains will enter the shops and car yard by means of the lenox avenue extension, which runs directly north from the junction at d street and lenox avenue of the east side main line. the branch leaves the main line at d street, gradually approaches the surface, and emerges at about th street. [sidenote: _general arrangement_] the inspection shed is at the southern end of the property and occupies an area of approximately feet by feet. it is divided into three bays, of which the north bay is equipped with four tracks running its entire length, and the middle bay with five tracks. the south bay contains the machine-tool equipment, and consists of eighteen electrically driven machines, locker and wash rooms, heating boilers, etc., and has only one track extending through it. [sidenote: _construction_] the construction of the inspection shops is that which is ordinarily known as "reinforced concrete," and no wood is employed in the walls or roof. the building is a steel structure made up of four rows of center columns, which consist of twenty-one bays of feet each, supporting the roof trusses. the foundations for these center columns are concrete piers mounted on piles. after the erection of the steel skeleton, the sides of the building and the interior walls are constructed by the use of / -inch furring channels, located inches apart, on which are fastened a series of expanded metal laths. the concrete is then applied to these laths in six coats, three on each side, and termed respectively the scratch coat, the rough coat, and the fining coat. in the later, the concrete is made with white sand, to give a finished appearance to the building. the roof is composed of concrete slabs, reinforced with expanded metal laths and finished with cement and mortar. it is then water-proofed with vulcanite water-proofing and gravel. in this connection it might be said that, although this system of construction has been employed before, the building under consideration is the largest example of this kind of work yet done in the neighborhood of new york city. it was adopted instead of corrugated iron, as it is much more substantial, and it was considered preferable to brick, as the later would have required much more extensive foundations. the doors at each of the bays of the building are of rolling steel shutter type, and are composed of rolled-steel strips which interloop with each other, so that while the entire door is of steel, it can easily be raised and lowered. [sidenote: _capacity and pit room_] all of the tracks in the north and middle bays are supplied with pits for inspecting purposes, and as each track has a length sufficient to hold six cars, the capacity of these two bays is fifty-four cars. the inspection pits are heated by steam and lighted by electric light, for which latter purpose frequent sockets are provided, and are also equipped with gas pipes, so that gas torches can be used instead of gasoline. [sidenote: _trolley connection_] as usual in shops of this kind, the third rail is not carried into the shops, but the cars will be moved about by means of a special trolley. in the middle bay this trolley consists of a four-wheeled light-frame carriage, which will run on a conductor located in the pit. the carriage has attached to it a flexible wire which can be connected to the shoe-hanger of the truck or to the end plug of the car, so that the cars can be moved around in the shops by means of their own motors. in the north bay, where the pits are very shallow, the conductor is carried overhead and consists of an -pound t-rail supported from the roof girders. the middle bay is provided with a -ton electric crane, which spans all of the tracks in this shop and is so arranged that it can serve any one of the thirty cars on the five tracks, and can deliver the trucks, wheels, motors, and other repair parts at either end of the shops, where they can be transferred to the telpherage hoist. [sidenote: _the telpherage system_] one of the most interesting features of the shops is the electric telpherage system. this system runs the entire length of the north and south bays crossing the middle bay or erection shop at each end, so that the telpherage hoist can pick up in the main room any wheels, trucks, or other apparatus which may be required, and can take them either into the north bay for painting, or into the south bay or machine shop for machine-tool work. the telpherage system extends across the transfer table pit at the west end of the shops and into the storehouse and blacksmith shop at the seventh avenue end of the grounds. the traveling telpherage hoist has a capacity of , pounds. the girders upon which it runs consist of -inch i-beams, which are hung from the roof trusses. the car has a weight of one ton and is supported by and runs on the i-beam girders by means of four -inch diameter wheels, one on each side. the hoist is equipped with two motors. the driving motor of two horse power is geared by double reduction gearing to the driving wheels at one end of the hoist. the hoist motor is of eight horse power, and is connected by worm gearing and then by triple reduction gearing to the hoist drum. the motors are controlled by rheostatic controllers, one for each motor. the hoist motor is also fitted with an electric brake by which, when the power is cut off, a band brake is applied to the hoisting drum. there is also an automatic cut-out, consisting of a lever operated by a nut, which travels on the threaded extension of the hoisting drum shaft, and by which the current on the motor is cut off and the brake applied if the chain hook is wound up too close to the hoist. [sidenote: _heating and lighting_] the buildings are heated throughout with steam, with vacuum system of return. the steam is supplied by two horse power return tubular boilers, located at the southeastern corner of the building and provided with a -inch stack feet high. the heat is distributed at pounds pressure throughout the three bays by means of coil radiators, which are placed vertically against the side walls of the shop and storeroom. in addition, heating pipes are carried through the pits as already described. the shops are well lighted by large windows and skylights, and at night by enclosed arc lights. [illustration: interior view of th street repair shops] [sidenote: _fire protection_] the shops and yards are equipped throughout with fire hydrants and fire plugs, hose and fire extinguishers. the water supply taps the city main at the corner of fifth avenue and th street, and pipes are carried along the side of the north and south shops, with three reel connections on each line. a fire line is also carried through the yards, where there are four hydrants, also into the general storeroom. [sidenote: _general store room_] the general storeroom, oil room, and blacksmith shop occupy a building feet by feet in the southwestern corner of the property. this building is of the same general construction as that of the inspection shops. the general storeroom, which is that fronting on th street, is below the street grade, so that supplies can be loaded directly onto the telpherage hoist at the time of their receipt, and can be carried to any part of the works, or transferred to the proper compartments in the storeroom. adjoining the general room is the oil and paint storeroom, which is separated from the rest of the building by fire walls. this room is fitted with a set of eight tanks, each with a capacity of gallons. as the barrels filled with oil and other combustible material are brought into this room by the telpherage system they are deposited on elevated platforms, from which their contents can be tapped directly into the tank. [sidenote: _blacksmith shop_] the final division of the west shops is that in the northeastern corner, which is devoted to a blacksmith shop. this shop contains six down-draught forges and one drop-hammer, and is also served by the telpherage system. [sidenote: _transfer table_] connecting the main shops with the storeroom and blacksmith or west shops is a rotary transfer table feet - / inches long and with a run of feet. the transfer table is driven by a large electric motor the current being supplied through a conductor rail and sliding contact shoe. the transfer table runs on two tracks and is mounted on -inch standard car wheels. [sidenote: _employees_] the south side of the shop is fitted with offices for the master mechanic and his department. the working force will comprise about in the shops, and their lockers, lavatories, etc., are located in the south bay. chapter xii sub-contractors the scope of this book does not permit an enumeration of all the sub-contractors who have done work on the rapid transit railroad. the following list, however, includes the sub-contractors for all the more important parts of the construction and equipment of the road. * * * * * _general construction, sub-section contracts, track and track material, station finish, and miscellaneous contracts_ s. l. f. deyo, chief engineer. _sub-sections_ for construction purposes the road was divided into sub-sections, and sub-contracts were let which included excavation, construction and re-construction of sub-surface structures, support of surface railway tracks and abutting buildings, erection of steel (underground and viaduct), masonry work and tunnel work under the rivers; also the plastering and painting of the inside of tunnel walls and restoration of street surface. bradley, william, sub-sections a and b, th street to th street. degnon-mclean contracting company (degnon contracting company), sub-section , and a, post-office to great jones street and st street and park avenue to th street and broadway. farrell, e. j., sub-section, lenox avenue extension, d street to th street. farrell & hopper (farrell, hopper & company), sub-sections and , d street and broadway to th street and lenox avenue. holbrook, cabot & daly (holbrook, cabot & daly contracting company), sub-section , great jones street to d street. mccabe & brother, l. b. (r. c. hunt, superintendent), sub-sections and , d street to hillside avenue. mcmullen & mcbean, sub-section a, th street and lenox avenue to gerard avenue and th street. naughton & company (naughton company), sub-section b, th street to th street. roberts, e. p., sub-sections , , and , foundations (viaducts), brook avenue to bronx park, th street to d street, and hillside avenue to bailey avenue. rodgers, john c., sub-section b, gerard avenue to brook avenue. shaler, ira a. (estate of ira a. shaler), sub-section , d street to st street. shields, john, sub-section , th street to th street. terry & tench construction company (terry & tench company), sub-sections , , and , steel erection (viaducts), brook avenue to bronx park, th street to d street, and hillside avenue to bailey avenue. brooklyn extension. cranford & mcnamee, sub-section , clinton street to flatbush and atlantic avenues, brooklyn. degnon-mclean contracting company (degnon contracting company), sub-section , park row to bridge street, manhattan. onderdonk, andrew (new york tunnel company), sub-sections and a, bridge street, manhattan, to clinton and joralemon streets, brooklyn. track and track material american iron & steel manufacturing company, track bolts. baxter & company, g. s., ties. connecticut trap rock quarries, ballast. dilworth, porter & company, spikes. holbrook, cabot & rollins (holbrook, cabot & rollins corporation), track laying, city hall to broadway and d street. long clove trap rock company, ballast. malleable iron fittings company, cup washers. naughton company, track laying, underground portion of road north of d street and broadway. pennsylvania steel company, running rails, angle bars, tie plates and guard rails. ramapo iron works, frogs and switches, filler blocks and washers. sizer & company, robert r., ties. terry & tench construction company (terry & tench company), timber decks for viaduct portions, and laying and surfacing track on viaduct portions. weber railway joint manufacturing company, weber rail joints. station finish american mason safety tread company, safety treads. atlantic terra cotta company, terra cotta. boote company, alfred, glazed tile and art ceramic tile. byrne & murphy, plumbing, th street station. dowd & maslen, brick work for city hall and other stations and superstructures for d street, d street and columbia university stations. empire city marble company, marble. grueby faience company, faience. guastavino company, guastavino arch, city hall station. hecla iron works, kiosks and eight stations on elevated structure. herring-hall-marvin safe company, safes. holbrook, cabot & rollins corporation, painting stations. howden tile company, glazed tile and art ceramic tile. laheny company, j. e., painting kiosks. manhattan glass tile company, glass tile, and art ceramic tile. parry, john h., glass tile and art ceramic tile. pulsifer & larson company, illuminated station signs. rookwood pottery company, faience russell & irwin manufacturing company, hardware simmons company, john, railings and gates. tracy plumbing company, plumbing. tucker & vinton, strap anchors for kiosks. turner construction company, stairways, platforms, and platform overhangs. vulcanite paving company, granolithic floors. miscellaneous american bridge company, structural steel. american vitrified conduit company, ducts. blanchite process paint company, plaster work and blanchite enamel finish on tunnel side walls. brown hoisting machinery company, signal houses at four stations. camp company, h. b., ducts. cunningham & kearns, sewer construction, mulberry street, east th street, and east d street sewers. fox & company, john, cast iron. mcroy clay works, ducts. norton & dalton, sewer construction, d street sewer. onondaga vitrified brick company, ducts. pilkington, james, sewer construction, canal street and bleecker street sewers. simmons company, john, iron railings, viaduct sections. sicilian asphalt paving company, waterproofing. tucker & vinton, vault lights. united building material company, cement. * * * * * _electrical department_ l. b. stillwell, electrical director. electric plant for generation, transmission, conversion, and distribution of power, third rail construction, electrical car equipment, lighting system, fire and emergency alarm systems: american steel & wire company, cable. bajohr, carl, lightning rods. broderick & company, contact shoes. cambria steel company, contact rail. columbia machine works & malleable iron company, contact shoes. consolidated car heating company, car heaters. d. & w. fuse company, fuse boxes and fuses. electric storage battery company, storage battery plant. gamewell fire alarm telegraph company, fire and emergency alarm systems. general electric company, motors, power house and sub-station switchboards, control apparatus, cable. general incandescent arc light company, passenger station switchboards. india rubber & gutta percha insulating company, cables. keasby & mattison company, asbestos. malleable iron fittings company, third rail and other castings. mayer & englund company, rail bonds. mitchell vance company, passenger station electric light fixtures. national conduit & cable company, cables. national electric company, air compressors. nernst lamp company, power station lighting. okonite company, cables. prometheus electric company, passenger station heaters. roebling's sons company, j. a., cables. reconstructed granite company, third rail insulators. standard underground cable company, cables. tucker electrical construction company, wiring for tunnel and passenger station lights. westinghouse electric & manufacturing company, alternators, exciters, transformers, motors, converters, blower outfits. westinghouse machine company, turbo alternators. * * * * * _mechanical and architectural department_ john van vleck, mechanical and construction engineer. power house and sub-station, steam plant, repair shop, tunnel drainage, elevators. power house alberger condenser company, condensing equipment. allis-chalmers company, nine , - , h. p. engines. alphons custodis chimney construction company, chimneys. american bridge company, structural steel. babcock & wilcox company, fifty-two h. p. boilers and six superheaters. burhorn, edwin, castings. gibson iron works, thirty-six hand-fired grates. manning, maxwell & moore, electric traveling cranes and machine tools. milliken brothers, ornamental chimney caps. otis elevator company, freight elevator. peirce, john, power house superstructure. power specialty company, four superheaters. ryan & parker, foundation work and condensing water tunnels, etc. robins conveying belt company, coal and ash handling apparatus. reese, jr., company, thomas, coal downtake apparatus, oil tanks, etc. riter-conley manufacturing company, smoke flue system. sturtevant company, b. f., blower sets. tucker & vinton, concrete hot wells. treadwell & company, m. h., furnace castings, etc. walworth manufacturing company, steam, water, and drip piping. westinghouse, church, kerr & company, three turbo generator sets and two exciter engines. westinghouse machine company, stokers. wheeler condenser company, feed water heaters. worthington, henry r., boiler feed pumps. sub-stations american bridge company, structural steel. carlin & company, p. j., foundation and superstructure, sub-station no. ( d street). cleveland crane & car company, hand power traveling cranes. crow, w. l., foundation and superstructure sub-stations nos. and (fox street, hillside avenue). parker company, john h., foundation and superstructure sub-stations nos. , , , , and (city hall place, e. th street, w. d street, w. th street, w. d street). inspection shed american bridge company, structural steel. beggs & company, james, heating boilers. elektron manufacturing company, freight elevator. farrell, e. j., drainage system. hiscox & company, w. t., steam heating system. leary & curtis, transformer house. milliken brothers, structural steel and iron for storehouse. northern engineering works, electric telpherage system. o'rourke, john f., foundation work. tucker & vinton, superstructure of reinforced concrete. tracy plumbing company, plumbing. weber, hugh l., superstructure of storehouse, etc. signal towers tucker & vinton, reinforced concrete walls for eight signal towers. passenger elevators otis elevator company, electric passenger elevators for th street, st street, and mott avenue stations, and escalator for manhattan street station. * * * * * _rolling stock and signal department_ george gibbs, consulting engineer. cars, automatic signal system. american car & foundry company, steel car bodies and trailer trucks. buffalo forge company, blacksmith shop equipment. burnham, williams & company (baldwin locomotive works), motor trucks. cambria steel company, trailer truck axles. christensen engineering company, compressors, governors, and pump cages on cars. curtain supply company, car window and door curtains. dressel railway lamp works, signal lamps. hale & kilburn manufacturing company, car seats and backs. jewett car company, wooden car bodies. manning, maxwell & moore, machinery and machine tools for inspection shed. metal plated car & lumber company, copper sheathing for cars. pitt car gate company, vestibule door operating device for cars. pneumatic signal company, three mechanical interlocking plants. standard steel works, axles and driving wheels for motor and trailer trucks. st. louis car company, wooden car bodies and trailer trucks. stephenson company, john, wooden car bodies. taylor iron & steel company, trailer truck wheels. union switch & signal company, block signal system and interlocking switch and signal plants. van dorn company, w. t., car couplings. wason manufacturing company, wooden car bodies and trailer trucks. westinghouse air brake company, air brakes. westinghouse traction brake company, air brakes. down town brooklyn a report to the comptroller of the city of new york on sites for public buildings and the relocation of the elevated railroad tracks now in lower fulton street, borough of brooklyn [illustration: borough of brooklyn] brooklyn, new york mcmxiii contents letter from the comptroller report of the committee first plan second plan third plan fourth plan fifth plan sixth plan additional report supplemental report letter from the comptroller april th, . _dear mr. pratt:_ it appears to me that the time has now arrived when some definite policy should be formulated regarding a number of needed improvements in the borough of brooklyn, with particular reference to a settlement of the court house, bridge terminal and other questions. we have had considerable discussion regarding these matters, and while this discussion has developed, as it naturally would, many divergent views, i am confident that it has also served a most useful purpose because now we all have a much better idea of the work that has to be undertaken and the importance of intelligent and united action governing it. it is very necessary that some one should take the lead and i, therefore, suggest that you endeavor at the earliest possible time to effect a meeting of those interested as citizens and officials in developing the best plan for brooklyn's improvement, with a view to having a definite policy proposed and so determined at this time that the only thing necessary in the future will be the authorization of the funds to carry the plan into effect. there should be a civic center in brooklyn. we have a nucleus of such a center in the present borough hall. we need a new terminal for the brooklyn entrance of the brooklyn bridge, a better approach to that bridge by the present elevated railroad lines, the removal of the elevated railroad tracks from lower fulton street, a new court house, a new municipal building and a thorough improvement of that section running from the intersection of myrtle avenue and washington street to the terminal of the brooklyn bridge, using this improved section for the purpose of carrying out a general beautification of the proposed civic center. all of these things cannot be done at once, but they are all a part of what should be a general plan. i believe that if the subject be approached in a spirit of civic patriotism a general plan can be developed which will mean the ultimate procurement of all these much-needed improvements, and in such a way as to be of the greatest benefit to brooklyn as a borough. yours truly, william a. prendergast, _comptroller_ mr. frederic b. pratt brooklyn, new york * * * * * upon receiving the foregoing letter, mr. pratt conferred with a large number of officials and citizens interested in the progress of brooklyn, and acting upon their advice formed a committee of ten, believed by him to be representative of the various points of view, for the purpose of making a systematic study of the problems set forth and to formulate a report with definite recommendations. the report and recommendations of the committee appear in the following pages. report of the committee of ten citizens of brooklyn appointed at the suggestion of william a. prendergast, comptroller of the city of new york since the appointment of this committee on the th day of april, , it has had frequent meetings, conferences and hearings. conferences have been had with representatives from organizations that have given time and study to the subjects within the scope of this committee. several public hearings were held, notice of which was given in the public press. written communications have been invited from all persons interested. architects have been employed to advise and we have had the help of competent engineers. at the outset the committee has been compelled to recognize the situation of brooklyn and its relation to manhattan and greater new york. brooklyn has always labored under the disadvantage that, although its residents have helped create the great assessed valuations in lower manhattan, it did not before consolidation receive any benefit from the taxation of those values. in this respect brooklyn was not and even now is not like independent cities such as buffalo, cleveland or chicago, where both residences and office buildings contribute alike to support the same municipal government. prior to consolidation on january st, , brooklyn had reached the limit of her constitutional borrowing capacity. the city needed many new schools and more bridges and tunnels across the east river. along with many disadvantages that flowed from consolidation, there came the great advantage that brooklyn at last received a portion of the tax money raised on the real estate in lower manhattan, to which brooklyn people had helped to give a high value. it must, however, be recognized that manhattan is the central borough, and that as the business and municipal center of greater new york she is entitled to pre-eminence in buildings to transact the city's business. now that the boroughs constitute one city, manhattan must help to give the outlying boroughs those utilities that their growth reasonably requires, and the outlying boroughs must recognize manhattan as the business and official center. for the last twenty years the industrial population in brooklyn has been greatly increasing. officials and loyal citizens who desire that the historic character of brooklyn should be preserved cannot afford to wait ten years before a beginning is made to brighten up the downtown district. continued migrations of home owners from brooklyn to new jersey and to counties outside of greater new york may weaken the ability of the borough to preserve its entity and character. if it should once become a somewhat neglected industrial annex of manhattan, the result would be injurious both to brooklyn and manhattan. no greater calamity could happen to every part of brooklyn than to have the borough lose its civic pride. when we add to the foregoing considerations the fact that greater new york has nearly reached the constitutional limit of its borrowing capacity, we should not delude ourselves into thinking that persistent and long-continued demand will bring indefinite millions of dollars to brooklyn in the near future. the vast contemplated expenditure for rapid transit railroads brings a share to brooklyn, but even to validate the dual rapid transit contracts it was necessary to dedicate to subways $ , , out of the $ , , of self-supporting dock bonds exempted under the recent constitutional amendment, while we in brooklyn know that more than $ , , are needed for dock improvements in brooklyn alone during the next ten years. in order to obtain a sufficient margin within the debt limit, assessed valuations have been placed at full value, and in some cases beyond prices that property will bring in the open market. until the comprehensive rapid transit plan is completed in the course of four to six years, it cannot be expected that there will be a substantial increase in assessed valuations, taking the city as a whole. with all of these considerations before us we have concluded that the strictest economy must be observed in improving the downtown district of brooklyn, and that every dollar expended should be not only of the greatest use for the special purpose to which it is put, but also that every dollar expended should give co-ordinated results. therefore we consider that such lands as are taken for public buildings should also contribute toward the opening up and improvement of the central business locality. outside of money for rapid transit lines, docks, schoolhouses and street improvements, it is not likely that the borough of brooklyn will within the next eight years receive any substantial sums except for the new municipal building and a new court house. if these buildings are placed in isolated locations where they have no relation to one another nor to the borough center, it will be most unfortunate. like the academy of music, which is surrounded by narrow streets, they would confer only a partial benefit. therefore the question of their location is more than finding a good spot for a court house or municipal building. the problem is to find locations that will be convenient for the public business, have a relation to each other and other public improvements, and contribute to the acquirement of more open space where it will do the most good. we think that the borough hall locality should be preserved and improved as the borough's municipal center. some say that we should look to eastern parkway, some to flatbush avenue extension. but borough hall park is the old-time and long settled center. the large office and financial buildings are there. it is convenient of access from every part of the borough. every new rapid transit line will be directly connected with it. it is opposite the district of corresponding use in manhattan. it is separate from the congested shopping district and will undoubtedly remain so. some advocate flatbush avenue extension as the best place for new buildings. the future value of the extension even for public buildings cannot be denied. canal street, manhattan bridge, the extension and flatbush avenue furnish a continuous broad thoroughfare from the north river to jamaica bay. when greater new york becomes a city of , , people, it may become the axis for magnificent public buildings both in manhattan and brooklyn. but canal street today is a locality of small business and it is premature to try to force its brooklyn continuation into prominence as a civic center. although manhattan's new court house will be built on center street, yet the front door of manhattan's civic center will be the city hall park for the next thirty or forty years, and canal street at its best will be only the back door. when the big business of manhattan reaches canal street it will be time enough to use city money for great public buildings on the extension. if brooklyn were an independent and self-contained city like boston and chicago it might experiment without fear in building up a new civic center, but brooklyn today must look well to hold her own against the constant draft that manhattan makes on her financial and office center. brooklyn bridge is today and for a long time will be the main entrance to brooklyn. the district between the bridge and borough hall has become depressed and unsightly, mainly because the retail shopping business left it, and brooklyn, unlike independent cities, had no wholesale mercantile business to take its place. no city can hope to improve and brighten itself and still neglect its front door. the clark street subway will have a station near lower fulton street. the federal government has appropriated money to enlarge the post office. the bridge terminal has ceased to be a terminal and has become a way station, so that now the structures that deface the entrance to brooklyn can be taken down, as bridge commissioner o'keeffe proposes, and a solid, simple, low-lying structure substituted for the sheds and aerial monstrosities. surely now is the time to link such an improvement with the clearing up of the whole district. the borough must within a few months either grasp or lose its chance to start this work. as part of the dual rapid transit system the city has issued to the municipal railway company, controlled by the brooklyn rapid transit company, a certificate to third track its fulton street elevated line from the east river to east new york. the complications in perfecting the dual contracts, and the need of haste, were so great that the problem of freeing borough hall park and lower fulton street of the elevated railroad was not solved and inserted in the contracts, but immediately after the signing of the dual plan, mayor gaynor, borough president steers, the public service commission and the board of estimate took action resulting in the preparation and passage by the legislature of an amendment to the rapid transit act providing for the re-location of the tracks and the making of a contract for that purpose between the public service commission and the company. thus the way is paved for the removal of the elevated tracks to adams street, taking them entirely out of lower fulton street and borough hall park. orders for the fabrication of steel for the third track construction will soon be placed, and if the contract for re-location is not made, the steel will be ordered for reconstructing the elevated railroad in its present location. it would be unfortunate indeed if additional outlays should serve to perpetuate the railroad in borough hall park. at the same time that the tracks are removed, it is desirable that the city should do as much as possible in opening and improving the unsightly locality between fulton and washington streets. as an independent proposition the taking of so much land has not appealed to some of the members of the board of estimate, but an entirely different question is presented if this area can be used in part for one of the new public buildings. plan shows the locality as it would appear after the tracks are re-located and the plaza opened. washington street should be widened to correspond to the width of the open space now opposite the mechanics' bank building. some say, why not widen washington street taking forty or fifty feet of private land along its westerly side and do nothing to disarrange the rest of the property between washington street and fulton street? the answer to this is that the taking of parts of the buildings would in many cases be almost, if not quite, equivalent to a total destruction of the entire properties. if the city should acquire for public purposes the three blocks lying between fulton street and liberty street on the west and washington street on the east, it could widen washington street to the required width of feet, use the space opposite the post office for one of the new buildings, and design the open space near the bridge as a dignified and fitting approach to brooklyn bridge, corresponding to some extent to the open space partly covered by the manhattan municipal building at the other end. this should be done in connection with commissioner o'keeffe's plan of reconstructing the bridge terminal. the new public building located here would not act as a stopper in the bridge plaza, because the space now between the mechanics' bank building and myrtle avenue is of a fixed width and acts as a fixed limitation. if washington street is widened to the same width, the approach to the bridge plaza proper would be better than if the bridge plaza should extend all of the distance to borough hall park. in the latter case the plaza would be too large and not pleasing in form. a considerable part of this real estate is already owned by the city. by chapter of the laws of the supreme court justices of this department were empowered to select a site for a new court house and recommend it to the board of estimate. in they selected the two blocks bounded by court, clinton, state and livingston streets, and on december th, , the report was made by the board of sinking fund commissioners to the board of estimate. the board of estimate has taken no action thereon. in july, , the board of estimate determined upon the southeast corner of court and joralemon streets as a site for the new municipal building, taking in both the corner and the land covered by the present municipal building. the land has been acquired, plans for the building have been prepared, and when the board of estimate makes an appropriation for building, actual construction can begin. if, however, the recommendations of this report should meet with favor, the municipal building would be erected in another place. the committee has endeavored to deal with these four factors, viz., court house, municipal building, bridge plaza and re-location of tracks, so that the money expended should not only bring the best result for each factor, but at the same time bring the additional benefit of relating the four factors so that all will unite to improve the downtown center. we shall now compare the cost and advantages of the four factors as presented in the clinton street court house site, and as presented in the other plans that reasonably meet the needs of the situation. first plan clinton street court house site (see diagram marked plan ) . cost of bridge changes and re-location of tracks as estimated by the department of bridges, and assessed value of additional property required for same $ , , . . assessed valuation of land and buildings between washington and fulton streets , , . . assessed valuation land and buildings, clinton street site for court house , , . . municipal building site at south-west corner of court and joralemon streets (title now vested in the city) ------------- total $ , , . this plan places the new court house on the site selected by the judges, and the new municipal building on the site that has been condemned for this purpose at the corner of court and joralemon streets to which will be added the land covered by the old municipal building. for the purpose of these comparisons no values are placed on land and buildings now owned by the city. the item of $ , , for brooklyn bridge changes and re-location of tracks is the same in each of the six plans, and includes the assessed values of the entire half blocks east of adams street. the re-location of the tracks on adams street will require a six track structure between the bridge and myrtle avenue and a three track structure between myrtle avenue and fulton street. adams street is not wide enough for so many tracks. the preponderating engineering opinion is that the city should not widen adams street, but remove the structure to the half block east of adams street. the space fronting adams street under the solid track floor would be available for renting. the cost of taking the half block by condemnation would not materially exceed the cost of taking forty feet along the block fronts. the question of damages to abutting owners would be avoided, and adams street would be made better for traffic and business than it is now. part of this large item would be paid by the railroad company. under the terms of the third tracking certificate already issued the company is to pay all of the cost of reconstruction and betterment of the structure in its present locations, and it is understood that the company will pay at least an equal amount when the tracks are re-located under the new law. if the re-location brings other benefits to the company it would seem that even a greater portion of this item should be borne by the company. the new law provides that the division of expense shall be arranged between the public service commission and the company, subject to the approval of the board of estimate. the new court house according to this plan would be feet from the hall of records. although the books and files kept in the surrogate's and register's offices are not needed so frequently in trials as the papers from the county clerk's office, it is a distinct disadvantage to have them so far away from the court house. the new court house, on this site, would be unrelated to any other improvement. it would also be entirely surrounded by private property, admitting of no architectural development and bearing no relation to the court house itself. the land is entirely covered with buildings valuable for their present use and is a recognized center for physicians. if the court rooms are made to face toward the streets they will increasingly be subjected to street noises, for we find that no streets in this locality are quiet. automobiles and auto-trucks abound. if this site were acquired for the new court house the board of estimate would probably refuse either to open the bridge plaza or widen washington street. the result would be that practically no general improvement to the financial center would be made. the joralemon street front of borough hall park, probably the most dominating site in the borough, would contain three buildings, the hall of records, the old court house and the new municipal building, none of them harmonizing with the others, and bringing little or no distinction to the most prominent site in the borough. the old court house would be relegated to criminal business to the detriment of this vicinity. it would seem that the city's plan for future buildings should make some use of the polytechnic institute land. it is only a question of time when this school will move elsewhere. this plan throws away the opportunity of making profitable use of this land. the main objection to this plan, however, is that, although expensive, it brings practically no help to downtown brooklyn. it dissociates the desired factors and does not relate them. it simply procures an isolated court house, leaving the business center of the borough as badly off as before. second plan flatbush avenue extension site for court house (see diagram marked plan ) . cost of bridge changes and re-location of tracks as estimated by the department of bridges, and assessed value of additional property required for same $ , , . . assessed valuation of land and buildings between washington and fulton streets , , . . assessed valuation of land and buildings flatbush avenue extension site for court house , . . municipal building site at south-west corner of court and joralemon streets (title now vested in the city) ------------- total $ , , . in this plan the court house would be , feet from the hall of records. the transaction of court business on the border of the retail shopping district would increase street congestion. it is distant from the present office district, and, if selected, injury to the present office district would result. it is inconvenient to residents of certain parts of the city. if court rooms fronted on the street they would yearly become more subject to noise. the available space would not afford as large an interior court as would be desirable if the court rooms were to face inside. if this site were acquired, the bridge plaza would probably remain unopened. like plan , this plan scatters the benefit of the four factors under discussion, and does not unite them. third plan state street site for court house (see diagram marked plan ) . cost of bridge changes and re-location of tracks as estimated by the department of bridges, and assessed value of additional property required for same $ , , . . assessed valuation of land and buildings between washington and fulton streets , , . . assessed valuation of land and buildings in the two blocks bounded by boerum place, livingston, court and state streets , , . . municipal building site at south-west corner of court and joralemon streets (title now vested in the city) ------------- total $ , , . like the clinton street site, this site would be so expensive that its purchase would probably preclude the opening of the bridge plaza. if the present court house should be retained, the new court house would be hidden and without any effective relation to borough hall park. if it had outside court rooms they would be noisy. schermerhorn street would either need to be closed or else carried through the building by tunnel. in the former case one of the streets most needed for traffic would be lost, and in the latter case the street would need to be artificially lighted both night and day and even then would be troublesome to maintain. this plan is open to all of the objections of plan . indeed it is even less desirable as it interferes more with traffic. fourth plan livingston street court house site (see diagram marked plan ) . cost of bridge changes and re-location of tracks as estimated by the department of bridges, and assessed value of additional property required for same $ , , . . assessed valuation of land and buildings between washington and fulton streets , , . . assessed valuation of land and buildings in block bounded by boerum place, livingston, court and schermerhorn streets , . . polytechnic institute and buildings fronting on court street not taken by the city for new municipal building site , . ------------- total $ , , . this plan has been pressed by very competent persons and we have given a large amount of detailed study to its merits. it contemplates that the old court house and municipal building should be torn down, and that the new court house should be set far back from joralemon street, the open space in front of it being flanked by the hall of records on one side, and a building of corresponding design on the other, to be used for children's and women's courts. the court house would be built on both sides of livingston street, which would be double-decked so that the noise of surface cars and vehicular traffic could not reach the court rooms. this noise is now considerable on account of the slight grade from the court street to the boerum place level which requires the application of brakes on the down grade. on account of the widening of livingston street this block is only feet deep. any form of treatment would seem to be unduly expensive and even then the court house would not be quiet, as the court rooms would be subjected to the noise from the crossovers at the corners of livingston street with court street and boerum place. the municipal building would need to be placed on the plaza site or elsewhere. one of the main objections to this plan is that the arrangement of all the buildings must be on an axis that does not correspond with borough hall, the park, or washington street, and on this account the open place between the flanking buildings as well as the buildings themselves would stand awry. fifth plan washington street site for court house (see diagram marked plan ) . cost of bridge changes and re-location of tracks as estimated by the department of bridges, and assessed value of additional property required for same $ , , . . assessed valuation of land and buildings between washington and fulton streets , , . . site for new court house takes part of last item. . municipal building site at south-west corner of court and joralemon streets (title now vested in the city) ------------- total $ , , . this plan contemplates placing the new court house on washington street opposite the post office, and the new municipal building at the corner of court and joralemon on the site condemned for that purpose. it separates the court house from the hall of records. the chief objection, however, is that the available space is not sufficient. a court house of the size desired would be compelled to assume an awkward shape, and it would be so narrow that an inner court to light court rooms facing on it would be out of the question. throughout our work we have kept in mind the desire of the judges for quiet rooms for the conduct of trials. washington and fulton streets are noisy on account of surface cars and vehicles and it would in our opinion be undesirable to have court rooms front on these streets. the court house is to be a much larger and more imposing building than the new municipal building, and it should not be placed on a contracted site. sixth plan present site for court house (see diagram marked plan ) . cost of bridge changes and re-location of tracks as estimated by the department of bridges, and assessed value of additional property required for same $ , , . . assessed valuation of land and buildings between washington and fulton streets , , . . site for municipal building takes part of last item. . site for court house takes polytechnic land and buildings, etc., in addition to land now owned by the city , . ------------- total $ , , . this plan contemplates that the court house would occupy all of the present court house block except the hall of records; that it should have a large inner court with court rooms opening upon it; and that the municipal building should be placed on the plaza site. the available area for the court house would be , feet. the inner court could be feet by feet with a superficial area of , feet. the building, if six stories high, could easily have four floors devoted to court rooms. each floor would afford space for nine court rooms, each forty feet by fifty feet, and one large court room for extraordinary trials, feet by feet. this would make forty court rooms in all and there would be ample space for a jury room and robing room in connection with each court room. the street noises would be an objection to this site if the court rooms fronted the street. we are advised, however, that the fronting of the court rooms on the inner court would protect them entirely from street noise. ventilation in so large a building as this would necessarily be furnished by a power system, and would be independent of the movement of outside air. indeed, it seems to be conceded that a power system succeeds only when windows are not opened and shut at will. moreover, trials are not held during the hot months of july, august and september. on account of these considerations we are of the opinion that inside court rooms can be fully as comfortable and as well ventilated as if they fronted on the streets. the inner court would be so large that there would be an abundance of sunlight. this would not be the case with the lower stories if the building were fifteen or twenty stories high, but our investigations have shown that with a building not over six stories in height, the sunlight will be abundant. careful consideration has been given to the subject of noise during construction. the first portion of the new court house built would be that fronting on borough hall park between the present court house and court street. this would be followed in due course by the construction of the livingston street front after the polytechnic institute would be able to locate in a new place. later the remaining portion of the new court house would be built where the old court house now stands. it cannot be denied that there would be some inconvenience to court work from construction noise while these successive portions were building, but if the new municipal building is erected within the next few months on the site selected for it adjoining the old court house, there will be the same degree of construction noise. moreover, wherever the new court house is built, it is almost certain that it will be followed by some new construction in the immediate locality. the main thing is to obtain freedom from noise after construction is over, and we believe that the work of the courts could be conducted in inside court rooms on this site with more quiet than in outside rooms on any of the other sites that have been suggested. we find that the first wing of the new building could be built as a unit providing sixteen to twenty court rooms with all requisite minor rooms and facilities. these would be more court rooms than are now in use. this would afford the needed expansion in connection with the use of the old court house, which has fourteen court rooms. the later completion of the livingston street wing would furnish a total of thirty-two court rooms in the new building. this would permit the abandonment of the old court house so that the last wing could be built where the old court house now stands. if the money for the construction of the new court house is appropriated from time to time, as will probably be the case, it will be no disadvantage to have the different parts successively available for construction. forty new court rooms will not be needed for some years, and there will be a saving of interest to the city if the entire expenditure is not made at one time. the county court now has four court rooms, the supreme court ten, the appellate division one, and the appellate term one--in all sixteen. the act empowering the judges to select a site and approve a court house does not contemplate that the county court will be provided for in the new building. if, however, a forty court room building should be erected, it is evident that the county court should be housed in it or else many of the court rooms would be idle for a long time. the new court house in manhattan will provide fifty to sixty court rooms. a new brooklyn court house containing forty court rooms would provide as much space as is likely to be needed during the next forty years, and the city would hardly care to lose interest on unnecessary space for a longer period. when, however, the civil business transacted in the new court house should need all of the court rooms, the city would probably feel the need of a separate criminal court building in some other part of the borough. it is unlikely that the county court will continue both its civil and criminal terms indefinitely. the tendency in all large cities is to separate civil and criminal trials both as to judges and location. the new court house in this location would be near the hall of records, a comparatively new, sound and dignified building. both judges and trial lawyers are accommodated by having the real estate, surrogate's and county clerk's records and books near at hand. part of the large space under the new court house could be used for moisture proof vaults for the storage of obsolete papers that are already crowding the county clerk's office. the great advantages of this site to the borough are apparent. it holds the court business of the borough in the locality which has for generations become adapted to it. it preserves and improves the present office center. it is the most convenient spot in the city for judges, litigants, lawyers and jurors, and is also the most accessible from the court, municipal and financial centers of manhattan. the new rapid transit lines will make it more accessible from every part of greater new york. the present location of the polytechnic institute is not well adapted for educational purposes. its future growth is circumscribed and probably it is only a question of a few years when another location must be found for this growing institution. the site for the municipal building on washington street, opposite the post office, would have an area of approximately , square feet--being an irregular plot feet by feet. it would be a moderately high office structure and would fit an irregular plot of ground better than the more monumental court house. it would also be adjustable to the site bounded by office buildings with the height of which it would harmonize. the distance of the new municipal building from borough hall would be feet. in manhattan the distance between city hall and the new municipal building is feet. a station of the new interborough subway will be near the corner of fulton and clark streets. this will be the great manhattan west side subway, running south from times square through seventh avenue, park place and william street, thence under the east river at old slip, thence through clark and fulton streets to the junction with the two tracks under borough hall, not now used, but which when used will make brooklyn's four track subway to flatbush avenue, long island station, park plaza and eastern parkway. not only will the placing of the municipal building on the washington street site allow the much needed widening of that street without extra cost, but the erection of the court house on the present site as provided in this plan will admit of the widening of the streets by which it is bounded, viz., livingston, court and joralemon streets. this consideration is important in view of the concentration of street cars and other traffic at this center of street circulation. no other plan presents equally good sites for the new court house and the new municipal building. this plan has the further merit that it harmonizes the four factors, i.e., court house, municipal building, bridge plaza and re-location of tracks, in a manner where each factor brings additional benefit to every other factor. the removal of the elevated tracks without opening up the bridge approach would be only a partial improvement. placing the court house on the clinton street site or flatbush avenue extension site would have no relation whatever to the other three factors. this plan logically, harmoniously, and at comparatively small expense paves the way for the improvement of the entire area between brooklyn bridge and the hall of records and furnishes frontages that will attract the construction of substantial and handsome business buildings. for these reasons we recommend: . the removal of the elevated railroad tracks from borough hall park and lower fulton street, pursuant to the permissive legislation passed by the last session of the legislature as an amendment to the rapid transit act. . the acquirement by the city of the land not now owned by the city between fulton street and liberty street on the west and washington street on the east, also three lots in the small block opposite clark street. . the widening of washington street to feet, which is the same width as the throat between the mechanics' bank building and myrtle avenue. . the location of the new municipal building between fulton and washington streets approximately opposite the post office. . the location of the new court house on the present site of the old court house, such site to include the land intended for the new municipal building, and also the rest of the land in that block on court and livingston streets, all court rooms to front on a large interior court. frederic b. pratt edward m. bassett frank m. brooks alexander mckinny frank c. munson james h. post charles a. schieren alfred t. white howard o. wood edward c. blum dated, june st, additional report by a minority of the committee we, the undersigned, while agreeing with recommendation no. of the foregoing report, believe that all of the three blocks between fulton street on the west and liberty street on the east, should be acquired by the city and not only the three lots opposite clark street. our reasons for this belief stated briefly are, that the buildings erected upon these blocks are of poor construction and unsightly and their condition will not be improved by the bridge approach, nor will a better class of buildings be erected in their stead. they stand as a menace to the improvement of fulton street north of clark and if not removed will carry upon their rear walls billboards and signs which will mar the effect of the new bridge approach. if they are not removed the traveler, approaching brooklyn by means of the bridge cars, will have but a momentary glimpse of the improved plaza and the new municipal building as the train swings around into adams street. if, on the contrary, the buildings are removed the effect of the improvement will be noticed as soon as sands street is reached. this will be the more noticeable to travelers by the trolley and to pedestrians using the bridge. the assessed valuation of these blocks is $ , . if they are acquired by the city it is our belief that the increase in the assessed value of property upon fulton street immediately opposite to the blocks in question will more than equal the assessed valuation of the property taken. howard o. wood frank c. munson james h. post [illustration: plan ] [illustration: plan ] [illustration: plan ] [illustration: plan ] [illustration: plan ] [illustration: plan ] supplemental report submitted to the comptroller with the perspective drawings it was recognized from the beginning of the study of this problem that any recommendations must of necessity take into consideration existing conditions and must co-ordinate with any general plans for the development of the borough as a whole. a thorough study has been given this question and it may be stated with reasonable assurance that the proposed location and general arrangement of the court house and municipal building not only do not in any way conflict with future changes but contribute very largely to the accomplishment of further improvements. an exhaustive argument has been made already on the location of these buildings. in addition to the reasons already given for the suggested locations, it may be stated that the plaza site is not well suited as a location for the court house. on such a location the interior light courts would be too small to successfully serve the court rooms, and the block too irregular. furthermore, since the character of the municipal building is that of a high office structure, a less regular plot of ground is required as a site than is the case with the more monumental court house. this building is more adjustable to a site bounded by office buildings with the height of which it will harmonize. the court house is the focal point of a system of arteries leading to various centers--washington street to the brooklyn bridge, court street to the docks, fulton street to the retail business center at its intersection with flatbush avenue, and finally, willoughby street to fort greene park. [illustration: _proposed new location of elevated railroad tracks and sites for court house and municipal building_] willoughby street, along its distance from the borough hall square to fort greene park, should at some time be used as a relief to myrtle avenue and for that distance should be the important and improved street. furthermore, it will become, if developed, a strong factor in relieving that portion of fulton street below flatbush avenue of the traffic from the eastern section of the borough, which has for its objective point borough hall square. this artery, leading directly to fort greene park, centers on the martyrs' monument. since this monument has been carefully placed on the axis of willoughby street, it is not only desirable but economical to bring it into value. willoughby street crosses flatbush avenue at its highest point and from this intersection the façade of the proposed court house will come finely into view. there will be, therefore, strong reasons for developing willoughby street. the location of the municipal building on the plaza site will allow of the widening of washington street. it will further the improvement of the approach to the brooklyn bridge. the erection of the court house on the present site near borough hall will admit of the widening of the streets by which it is bounded, namely, livingston street, court street and joralemon street. improvements such as these are very important in view of the concentration of street cars and other traffic at this center. further relief might be had by placing additional street car loops at the bridge plaza where part of the cars that now crowd borough hall square might be carried around the north end of the proposed municipal building. the buildings located as proposed do not make a formal group in the strict sense of the word. they may be made, however, to count together. one's attention, immediately on crossing the brooklyn bridge, whether by the cars, by vehicle or on foot, will be controlled by the façade of the municipal building with its foreground of public space and on passing beyond this building into washington street, one's attention will be carried with interest to the façade of the court house which will frame the borough hall silhouette and dominate borough hall square. owing to the location of the borough hall on the washington street axis, it is recommended that no central motif be used in the court house design. the façade of the court house must be designed as a foil to the broken silhouette of the borough hall and its cupola. should the borough hall be ultimately removed, the axis may be controlled by a central feature of monumental or commemorative character. the converging lines of the lower cornice of the buildings, of the curbs and of the lamp posts, carry the eye forward to this motif and to the façade of the court house. co-operation between the architect selected for the municipal building and the united states supervising architect should be urged, so that this building and the post office will be harmonious in architectural character. various monuments and architectural details are suggested on the plans. they must all be in harmony and in scale with one another and with the buildings. their setting must be carefully studied in detail. the placing and proportioning of balustrades, of pools of water, of grass plots and in particular of trees must be done in the finest way, as it is only by a careful attention to all these details that this group can be brought into harmony of high order in keeping with its importance. [illustration: _view from borough hall toward brooklyn bridge showing proposed municipal building_] the spaces surrounding the public buildings, where not needed for circulation, should be parked and trees should be planted wherever they will serve to enhance the buildings, screen undesirable objects, at the same time not interfering with business interests. the same variety of tree should be planted throughout and should not exceed to feet in height. of almost equal importance is the question of lamp posts--their height, design, spacing and fixtures. it is suggested that this be exhaustively studied in the light of modern invention so as to make of the streets and open spaces involved, a model for other parts of the city. the paving of these streets and open spaces also should be perfect. creosoted wood block is recommended for its all round qualities. the above recommendations, if carried into effect, will contribute to making this entrance to brooklyn harmonious and impressive. the studies submitted in plan and perspective should be understood to be only general suggestions along the lines indicated. consideration in detail of the requirements of the various buildings _court house:_ the courts and allied departments, at present situated in the old court house building, in the borough hall, in the hall of records and in rented quarters, which would be housed in this building, are: supreme court, supreme court, appellate division, county court, criminal parts, county court, civil parts, grand jury, county clerk, district attorney, sheriff, commissioner of jurors, all court stenographers and clerks, justices' chambers, justices' reference library, law library. space occupied at the present time by the various departments is as follows: square feet. county clerk , district attorney , sheriff , commissioner of jurors , that space included in the old court house, appellate division, in the borough hall, appellate term in rented quarters including justices' chambers, about , the bill for the selection of the court house site does not provide quarters in this building for the county courts, but it is likely that for several years all county court business would be handled in the new court house. [illustration: _view from brooklyn bridge toward borough hall showing proposed new court house in the distance_] a safe assumption for a new building providing ample light courts and set back fifty feet from both court street and joralemon street is ten court rooms per floor. a building having four court floors and two additional floors would have an area of approximately , square feet. each court room unit, moreover, would be amply supplied with judges' robing room, clerks' room, and necessary witness, counsel and jurors' rooms. this building would be about feet high to the main cornice. in addition, space would be provided for an emergency hospital, for newspaper reporters, and for a general public waiting room. the new court house would provide seventy to eighty thousand square feet on the first floor, sixty-five to seventy thousand square feet approximately on the court room floors, and fifty thousand to sixty thousand square feet on the upper floor which should be planned as justices' chambers. _hall of records:_ space vacated by the county clerk, at present housed in the hall of records, would provide twenty-five per cent. additional room for the surrogate's court and the registrar. should a new structure of the same height as the court house be erected at some future date, and set back from court square and fulton street, the space available for those departments would be nearly doubled. _municipal building:_ a building on the plaza site about eight stories high, would have a floor area equivalent to the building now planned to be placed on the joralemon street site. it would adequately house all of the administrative departments and bureaus. the chief officials would doubtless remain in borough hall. borough hall could be used entirely for administrative business as the appellate division would move to the new court house. frederic b. pratt edward m. bassett frank m. brooks alexander mckinny frank c. munson james h. post charles a. schieren alfred t. white howard o. wood edward c. blum dated, july th, https://archive.org/details/trainwirediscuss anderich transcriber's note: text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). a carat character is used to denote superscription. a single character following the carat is superscripted (example: ^d). multiple superscripted characters are enclosed by curly brackets (example: ^{th}). the train wire a discussion of the science of train dispatching by j. a. anderson; with an introduction by b. b. adams, jr. second edition--revised and enlarged. published by the railroad gazette, broadway, new york. . copyrighted, , by j. a. anderson, lambertville, n. j. contents. introduction v preface to first edition ix chapter i--train dispatching chapter ii--the dispatcher chapter iii--the operator chapter iv--the order chapter v--the manifold chapter vi--the record chapter vii--the train-order signal chapter viii--the transmission chapter ix--rules chapter x--forms of train orders form a form b form c form d form e form f form g form h form j form k form l chapter xi--general remarks chapter xii--conclusion index introduction. in the first edition of this book, issued in , mr. anderson, then superintendent of the belvidere division of the pennsylvania railroad, modestly disclaiming perfection for his work, ventured the prediction that the science of which he wrote would be greatly advanced as time went on. in one sense this prediction has not been fulfilled. the eight years which have passed have witnessed little or no change from the principles then laid down by the author of the train wire, but he has the satisfaction of now seeing their widespread adoption and a consequent great improvement in the practice of this important science; and while probably none at the present time know how to handle trains by telegraph better than the dispatchers of the pennsylvania road did when the prediction referred to was made, the requisite knowledge and training are now possessed by many more men than were numbered among the experts of the earlier period. the author's disavowal of exhaustive treatment is proper in view of the fact that a complete treatise on the subject would include much relating to the operation of the train rules and to points of discipline; but it must be agreed that the first edition of this book was the first thorough and precise essay on the subject which had appeared, and that it stated the principles of dispatching in substantially the form since adopted by the general time convention, a body composed of the general managers and superintendents of practically all the important roads of the country east of the missouri river. the inception of this book resulted from the author's work, several years earlier, in revising the rules of the company under whom he was employed; and in preparing his book he naturally took care not to trespass upon the prerogatives of that company; but it is no more than right to say that outside observers regard his work as one for which his own road and all others are as much indebted to him as he can be to any road. during the preparation of the rules on train dispatching, formulated by the eminent managers and superintendents composing the time convention committee, mr. anderson acted with that committee, and his suggestions in the train wire, with his other work in that line, were largely used as the basis for this portion of the time convention rules. the deviations in these rules from the lines laid down in the first issue of the train wire are chiefly in the nature of compromises as to methods of practice, made necessary to effect an agreement among railroad officers of different needs and opinions. the standard code avowedly falls short of perfection, but chiefly because of this necessity. the duplicate form of order is presented by mr. anderson as a vital feature in the science of dispatching. when he first wrote, this form of order was in use on few roads. many officers were ignorant of it, and most others knew of it only in a vague way or looked upon it with disfavor as impracticable for roads doing a heavy business. now, the requirement that all trains concerned in the execution of a specific movement should receive the order in the same words, is widely recognized as an axiom, and rules based on this principle are fast coming into general use. the first part of the book treats of general principles, while the latter part takes up the rules which embody those principles and give them effect, the standard code being taken as the basis of the discussion. it might at first seem unnecessary, in view of the wide acceptance of the standard code, to enter into a discussion of its rules, and some of this discussion may appear to be needless repetition of matter presented in earlier pages; but as there are still those who have not taken the most advanced position, and probably many who, having adopted good practice, are not thoroughly familiar with the reasons for it, the author has done well to retain this feature of his earlier work, in connection with the statement of principles. these comments serve to point out to those not thoroughly acquainted with the subject the relations of the rules to the reasons for them, and this must be useful to beginners in the science and to men on new roads. for officers of experience, whose positions remove them from personal contact with the telegraph work and yet require that they have particular knowledge of it, a book of this kind should be both elementary and full; and all readers will find in examining the rules for practice that there is an advantage in having attention directed to the conformity of the rules with the principles before enunciated. one of the most interesting and original paragraphs in the first edition of the train wire was that describing the scheme for numbering switches and using those numbers in train orders, to facilitate the movement of trains at meeting-points. this plan has since been put in use to some extent and has given great satisfaction; and in connection with "lap-sidings" it has been found of marked benefit in handling a heavy traffic on a single-track road.[a] [footnote a: a description of the use of lap-sidings and numbered switches on the cleveland & pittsburgh railroad was published in the _railroad gazette_ of december , .] the author of the train wire is no longer connected with the operating department,[b] and has undertaken this revision reluctantly, but his interest in his former work is still lively, and this is an enlargement as well as a revision; so that both reader and author are to be congratulated. the superintendents and dispatchers, the operators young and old, among the million railroaders of the united states, have a better handbook than ever before, while the author can justly take pride in the fact that the individual views expressed by him in are now generally accepted truth. the introduction of the standard code on , miles of american railroads is one of the important steps of recent years in railroad operation, resulting in greater security to life and property; and the train wire should be credited with a liberal share of the honor of the reform. [footnote b: he is superintendent of the voluntary relief department of the pennsylvania and allied roads, with office at trenton, n. j.] b. b. a., jr. preface to the first edition. the views on train dispatching here offered have been arrived at during an experience of some twenty years, including a recent connection with the preparation of a set of rules for the company on whose road the writer is employed. while his agency in the formation of the rules referred to accounts for the existence of a general similarity and no radical difference between them and the present treatment of the subject, the latter is not to be taken as an authorized commentary upon those rules, but as an expression of individual views for which, with any additional matter or variations in arrangement, the writer is alone responsible. with his first experiments in train dispatching the writer became convinced that the method of issuing train orders in the same words to all concerned in each transaction afforded greater security than that supplied by any other form of order. another early conviction was that each step in the process of preparing and issuing train orders should be carefully and minutely arranged for by specific rules. in here undertaking to impress these views, it is also sought to set forth the general principles upon which rules should be based, and to recommend methods of procedure for all ordinary practice. the methods proposed have been tested by the writer, and the most of them by others. if they are not found to apply to all existing circumstances, they may at least serve as guides in devising other plans. it is not assumed that this consideration of the subject of train dispatching is exhaustive. the theme is a fruitful one and of growing interest and importance. much remains to be said of what has already been accomplished, and the future will doubtless show advances in this science far beyond the best practice of the present. . the train wire. chapter i. train dispatching. the telegraph, as a means of directing the movements of trains, is a necessary railroad fixture. but for its agency the moving of the heavy traffic of some of our railroads would be impossible without large additions to the tracks and consequent increase in the cost of construction and transportation. the train wire is thus a promoter of both economy and facility of operation. under the supervision which it permits, the products of industry are rapidly and cheaply exchanged between distant points, while the traveler, unimpeded by the slower-moving trains, goes swiftly on his way. steam is the noisy giant that shoulders the load and gets the praise; but the silent man, in some quiet place away from the rattle of the wheels, with his finger on the key, controls the ponderous and complicated movements, which proceed so harmoniously that one may almost imagine them to be the result of natural law. although the value, however, of the telegraph as a railroad appliance is daily becoming more fully realized, its capabilities for usefulness have not been developed to an extent commensurate with its importance. a well-informed writer has justly said: "telegraphy as a handmaid of the railroad has not assumed any enduring form peculiarly adapted to this business." this is still true in a measure, although not to so great an extent as when uttered. the circumstances must be very exceptional in which the aid of the telegraph will not be of important advantage. machinery breaks, steam fails, connections are late, storms and floods disturb the roadway; a thousand things cause delays. the difficulties may not be great or numerous where trains are few, but they increase rapidly with the growth of traffic, and vexatious delays can only be avoided by adequate means of promptly controlling the movements of the trains. hence the importance of securing not only the best telegraphic appliances, but the best method as well of rendering them useful in the service in question. in arranging a system of train dispatching, its relations to safety and economy require that careful consideration be given to the principles on which it should be based. some of the methods in use indicate this careful study and a growing sense of its importance is shown in the recent general acceptance of rules on the subject, prepared with the most scrupulous care. these rules, as will be seen, are in conformity with what was urged in the former edition of this work, and the present intention is to direct attention anew to some of the underlying principles, as well as to the practical bearing of the rules referred to. the means of instant communication afforded by the introduction of the telegraph seemed to place at command a method of directing distant train movements with ready facility; but it soon appeared that the use of the new implement involved risks which must be carefully guarded against; hence the various "systems" which have arisen having this in view. the distinctive feature of the "american" system of train dispatching is the issuing of orders from a central office, directing train movements, supplementary to those provided for by the time-table and "train" rules. this method is in general use, and is recognized as better adapted to our circumstances than that of moving trains by the "staff" or other means from station to station, as in european practice. in considering the application of this mode of issuing telegraphic orders for single-track, some of the methods will be seen to apply as well to roads having more than one track. a printed time-table, showing the regular times and meeting-places of trains, may be prepared at leisure and studied by all trainmen, and is full notice as to all regular trains on the road. with rules added directing how the trains are to proceed with relation to each other, understood by all alike and faithfully observed, collisions cannot occur. if, however, it becomes necessary to issue special orders for trains that are not on the time-table, or for the forwarding of any, otherwise than by the operation of the ordinary rules, new precautions become necessary. the conductor or engineman receiving such an order must know _that it is given by competent authority_. it must be understood _that others concerned have corresponding orders_. these orders should be _so clearly expressed that they cannot be misunderstood_, and they should be forwarded and delivered _under such safeguards as to insure their certain and correct reception by the proper persons_. as these orders are to be acted upon at once, without opportunity for careful study, _their form, and even the paper on which they are written, should be such that they may be easily and quickly read and comprehended_. it is now generally agreed that _orders of this kind should be issued by a designated dispatcher_, acting by the authority and in the name of the superintendent. for two persons to engage in this work at the same time for the same piece of road involves serious risk, and to insure safety as well as confidence on the part of the trainmen this should never occur. it may be taken as an initial principle that _the success of a system depends largely upon the assurance upon the part of the trainmen that every source of danger has been carefully considered and guarded against, and that the rules adopted are strictly adhered to_. if it were known, for instance, that orders were issued by the superintendent and one of his assistants alternately, as might be convenient at the moment, it would excite distrust. the author must confess to such feeling when, some years since while on a delayed passenger train at a way station, he saw the superintendent take a bit of paper from his pocket and write against the side of a building an order for the train to proceed to a certain point, regardless of another designated train. it came out all right, but the incident did not inspire confidence in the telegraphic system of that road. within the knowledge of the author a disastrous collision resulted from an oversight in regard to the delivery of an order where a skilful official undertook to assist a dispatcher in an emergency. between the two an important point was omitted; each thought the other had attended to it. extreme care is necessary to carry out exactly the methods fixed upon for the proper preparation and issuing of these messages, and confusion is likely to result from interference with those charged with this duty. in issuing a time-table in advance of the date upon which it takes effect, means can readily be used for making sure that it is received by those who are to be governed by it. the means are more complicated and subject to greater risks whereby we can be assured that a telegraphic train order reaches correctly and surely the hands of those for whom it is designed. after preparation by the dispatcher it is transmitted in telegraphic language by mechanical agency to a distant point, there to be retranslated into plain english and written out without mistake, for record and delivery; and all this in the shortest possible time. the details of this process should be so arranged as to guard as far as possible against every risk arising under the several steps, and _nothing should be left to mere personal care that can be provided for by fixed methods of proceeding_. to one who is an expert and can see in his own case no occasion for extraordinary safeguards such precautions may not seem important; but a consideration of the risks involved, of the many steps to be taken, and of the number of agents engaged in the process, many of whom are often not greatly experienced, must lead to the conclusion that _a methodical following out of a carefully prepared mode of proceeding_ is a most valuable means of providing against many of the chances of failure. two general methods or "systems" of constructing train orders are in use. they have been distinguished as the "single order" and "duplicate order" system. the latter is accurately described by its title. the other title is not a strictly accurate designation, but sufficiently so for our purpose. although the "duplicate" method is now widely recognized as the best, the other is still in use. for purposes of comparison of these methods we will take a telegraphic order providing for the meeting of two trains at a designated point beyond which the one has, by train rules, the superior right of track as respects the other. the order is to limit the superior right, and permit the inferior train to run to a point to which it could not otherwise go without trespassing on the right of the other. if by any error or misunderstanding the superior train fails to stop at the proposed meeting-point, while the other proceeds upon the assumption that it will thus stop, the result may be a disastrous collision. under the "_single order_" system, when two opposing trains are to meet by special order, arrangements are usually first made to stop the superior train by a "holding order." an order is then given forbidding it to go beyond the designated point, and then another order is given to the inferior train authorizing it to go to that point. the holding order is addressed to an agent or operator whose station the superior train will pass, and reads substantially as follows: _hold train no. for orders._ the person receiving this is required to display a signal to stop the expected train if it is not already at the station, and not to allow it to proceed until the meeting-order is duly forwarded and delivered. this order to the superior train is usually addressed to the conductor and engineman in the following form, or its equivalent: _you will not pass alton until train no. arrives._ the corresponding order to the conductor and engineman of the inferior train, sent to some station to be passed by it, will read: _you will run to alton regardless of train no. ._ or perhaps-- _you will meet and pass train no. at alton._ the holding order is dispensed with by some, and with some it is the practice to issue orders to inferior trains while a superior is held by a holding order until its movements can be determined on, when it receives an order covering all that have been given to trains against it. under the "_duplicate_" system the holding order may be used, but such has not been the general practice, and it would not under this system be used in the manner above described. this system, as its name implies, requires that _the order given to each train shall be a duplicate of that given to every other train_ concerned in the movement provided for in the order. for the simple movement above described an order is addressed to the conductor and engineman of each of the two trains, _in the same words_, as follows: _trains no. and no. will meet at alton._ this, being in the same words to each, may be transmitted over the wire to both at the same time. this is usually done, and offers one of the chief advantages of this form of order. the trains are stopped by signals, which are required either to be displayed when an order is sent, or to stand normally in position to stop trains, which are only permitted to pass on the signal being changed or on getting proper orders. objection has been made to the "duplicate" form that it does not distinctly order a train to proceed farther than its schedule rights permit, nor in definite terms direct the other not to go beyond the new meeting-point. the objection has no weight, as an order to meet can only be construed as authorizing each train to go to the station named, and not beyond it until both are there; and it is easy and proper to provide a rule which shall definitely settle the point for those who are unaccustomed to this form, if it should be deemed necessary. the fatal defect in the "single order" system is that the orders to the two trains, written separately and differently expressed, are subject to the grave danger of inadvertently giving in one a meeting-place different from that given in the other. this liability is greater if an interval of time occurs between the preparation of the two. the risk is very much increased by the usage under this system of including several meeting-points in one order, and becomes still more serious if meeting-points are to be made for several trains moving in each direction. the schedule for these must be rapidly made up and written out in parts, giving to each train its part, differing in form from all the others. there is nothing but the care and skill of the dispatcher to prevent the opposing orders from differing in some particular. when we consider the care necessary in preparing a time-table, to properly show the running time and meeting-places of the several trains, we must see that the risk, in the process described, of getting something wrong, must far outweigh any supposed convenience in a train having an order showing a continuous schedule of its meeting-points for several opposing trains. those unacquainted with this work would be astonished at the extent to which the skill of some dispatchers in this direction has been developed. to the uninitiated the mental operations would be simply bewildering, which are required of a brain from which issue for hours, without apparent effort, the instructions under which the trains on a busy road are moved expeditiously and harmoniously. it is not to be denied that many men have moved traffic of huge dimensions safely and with entire satisfaction by the "single order," but this does not at all prove that the system possesses inherent principles of safety. great personal ability and skill have, with it, achieved marked success where in less able hands its defects would have become apparent; but that some have developed this remarkable ability is no reason why we should depend upon this in a matter of such vital importance. the prevalence of methods which require exceptional skill has doubtless interfered with the more extended usefulness of the railroad telegraph which would probably have resulted under a system more readily operated by men of less experience and ability. men who have successfully worked under the "single order" method have stated that the mental strain is very great, augmented by anxiety born of the fact that a single error may be fatal to property or life. now, a mode of constructing orders which may be operated with safety by men of moderate skill, which relieves them of the mental strain, and _which in itself provides against the most serious chance of error_ must at once commend itself. the "duplicate" would appear to meet these requirements; and that such is the case is the abundant testimony of those who have used it. in preparing this order the dispatcher cannot possibly give different meeting-points, as there is but one message for both trains, and when transmitted to both simultaneously each must get the same as the other. the mental anxiety arising from the other method is absent in this. an experienced dispatcher under the "single" system has stated that in visiting an office where the "duplicate" was used he was surprised that those engaged there appeared to have so little on their minds. he found, on himself adopting the "duplicate," that it was readily explained. each transaction is at once complete. on the preparation and transmission of the order in precisely the same language to both trains, and with no necessary connection with any other transaction, the mind is at once prepared to dismiss that and go on to the next. in the transmission of two separate orders for the one meeting, there is ever the feeling that an error may be or may have been committed. but where the one sentence is prepared for both trains and, as is usually done, transmitted to both at one sending, the dispatcher may rest secure that _no collision can occur from any oversight of his in preparing the orders_, and superintending officers may, if necessary, commit this work to comparatively unskilled hands, with the assurance that so long as the prescribed methods are adhered to the proceeding will be _at least safe_, however great may be the delays arising from unskilful movements. the power of combination and of quickly calculating the probable movements of trains and determining what shall be done is an entirely distinct matter. this power is largely the result of experience. it is essential to the full development of any system, but is exercised with much greater facility under the relief which the "duplicate" affords, it has been alleged that this method requires more telegraphing than the other, and that trains cannot be moved by it so promptly. it has, however, been for many years in use on roads where only the most expeditious methods would serve; and superintendents moving a heavy traffic, who have changed from the "single" to the "duplicate" state that the amount of telegraphing is reduced one-third. those who have grown up with a system may have reasonable hesitation as to making a change. it is not easy to give up methods of practice in which one has been trained for those which are new; and it may seem difficult, perhaps unsafe, to undertake to re-educate operators and trainmen in so critical a matter. nevertheless, those who have tried it have found these supposed difficulties to quickly vanish, and have discovered the result to be in every way satisfactory, and that this form of order is much to be preferred. some officers who were with difficulty induced to change are now among the most enthusiastic supporters of the "duplicate" method. in arranging for the issuing of train orders, experience has shown that forms may be simplified and improved methods adopted by which the work is facilitated and the orders rendered clearer to those receiving them; and disaster has taught the necessity for precautions not before thought of. these points will be considered in detail with reference to the "duplicate" system of orders, although much that follows will apply to the other. chapter ii. the dispatcher. the train dispatcher holds a most important position as respects safety of life and property. he may perhaps do more than any other official to secure it by care or endanger it by lack of vigilance. his relations to economy, too, are important. as the time of engines, cars, and employés, and of the persons and things carried, is of value, delay avoided is money saved. it cannot be too strongly insisted upon that the man who issues train orders should make it his especial business, and should have no interference from others. none but a very limited business will warrant the performance of this duty by the superintendent in person, or by any one engaged in other work. if it is such as to call for any approach to continuous attention, persons must be specially assigned to it. the hours of duty and the question of other occupation must depend upon the frequency and constancy of the demands of the work specially in hand. upon a busy road where the trains are run much on orders, safety as well as efficiency will be best promoted by excluding other occupation and anything which may distract the attention of the "train runner," and under these circumstances a period of duty of eight hours is as long as can prudently be assigned. this conveniently divides the twenty-four hours between three men, and does not overtax them. with lighter duties a longer time may be admissible. with very heavy work, six hours may be long enough. the importance of confining the work of dispatching, for the time being, to the individual charged with this duty, has already been referred to, and cannot be too strongly urged. the office where this work is done should be separate from others, and should not be subjected to the visits and conversation of outsiders or of employés whose business does not call them there. the dispatcher should be a proficient operator. he may not himself transmit his orders, but he should be able to read all that passes on the wire, in order to have an intelligent understanding of what is going on. he should be thoroughly acquainted with the location and length of the various sidings, the grades and curves, the capacity of the engines, and other matters which may affect the movements of the trains he has in hand, and some experience as conductor will be of value. he should be a man of more than average ability, of good judgment, clear head, and strictly temperate habits. in many cases the chief dispatcher is the right-hand man of the superintendent in all matters associated with the management of the trains; and a suitable recognition of the importance of the position will have a valuable effect in elevating the character of this service and in promoting its efficiency. chapter iii. the operator. where the work of the dispatcher is considerable, he will require the aid of one or more operators in the work connected with the transmission of orders. in view of the importance of his duties and of the fact that he may in turn become dispatcher, the operator should be selected with care. he too should have a clear head and correct habits, be a good pen-man, an expert telegrapher and a sound-reader. it will be his duty to transmit the orders, or write them down as transmitted by the dispatcher, and to follow them through the subsequent steps until the process, up to delivery, is complete. he should not be charged with message or clerical work where it may interfere with his principal duty. the station operator who receives the orders must also have part in the subsequent steps, and on him is placed the duty of delivery. besides the personal and professional qualifications required for the other, he should, with him, be thoroughly conversant with the rules and methods prescribed for this service, as well as with the time-tables and general train rules and the character and designations of the trains. a station operator may do much to keep business moving by advising the dispatcher of arrivals, delays, and other things occurring near him, which have a bearing on train movements, but which the letter of his instructions may not require him to report. one who does this intelligently prepares and recommends himself for advancement. it is quite important that operators be impressed with the gravity of the work in hand. their apprenticeship and training should be such as to assure this as far as possible, and before appointment they should be thoroughly examined as to their qualifications in all respects, and afterward constantly supervised by competent officials. young persons readily learn to telegraph, and the lowest compensation paid is something considerable to the youth just leaving home, while the salaries usually paid to railroad operators are not such as to offer fair inducement to men of years and experience to accept or retain these positions. hence many of our operators are comparatively young. it is no disparagement to them to say that they have not ordinarily the steadiness of character and sense of responsibility which we expect in maturer years. without these it is difficult for them to have a proper conception of the magnitude of the interests dependent on their attention to their duties, and of the importance of exactly carrying out details which to them may seem almost trivial. we have here a cogent reason for so systematizing this business as to render the working of it as nearly automatic or mechanical as possible, and thus eliminate as far as practicable the risk arising from the deficiencies of the human agency. in all systems worked by man this risk will be found. better pay will procure better men, greater care and greater conscientiousness. men laboring for a bare pittance and with little hope of advancement in the future do not usually cultivate these qualities to the highest point. thus we are brought to one of the many points where the balance must be constantly sought between economy of expenditure and security of management. each railroad officer must work it out for himself. operators should aim at a high standard of qualification and attention to duty. if the result is not greater remuneration in this service, their efforts may be rewarded by promotion in other directions. reliable men are always wanted, and the consciousness of doing one's best is a source of satisfaction of more value than money. a careful study of their special work will develop a sense of its importance, leading to better attention to duties and preparation for advancement. operators will therefore do well to make themselves masters of their business, rather than rest satisfied with a merely mechanical attention to prescribed methods, without an intelligent apprehension of their significance. telegraph offices should be carefully guarded against the intrusion of outsiders or employés off duty. conversation or other interruptions may distract the attention at a critical moment and cause an operator to write an order incorrectly or allow a train to pass which he should stop. chapter iv. the order. there are some general considerations which it is important to bear in mind in the preparation and issuing of train orders. some of these have been already pointed out. the circumstances under which they are to be acted upon render it of the utmost importance that there shall be nothing in their form or matter to obstruct in any way a clear and prompt comprehension of their intent. _no instructions should be included that are not strictly running orders._ directions to take on or put off cars, or to change engines, or general instructions as to the management and stops of a train with reference to its traffic, are not properly included in such orders. again, _the language in which the orders are expressed should be simple and unmistakable_. simplicity implies brevity. superfluous words or ambiguous terms or expressions should be carefully excluded. to avoid the use of anything of this character the precise form of expression should be determined on beforehand for all cases that can be anticipated, and strictly adhered to. this also renders the work of the dispatchers uniform, and enables them to perform it with facility, especially if not greatly experienced; and the trainmen become accustomed to the forms, and comprehend them at sight. there are differences of opinion among practical men as to the propriety of including more than one transaction in the same order. some reasons have been before urged against this practice. as men generally favor the practice to which they are accustomed, it is not easy to settle this question. a number of meeting-points may be given in succession in one order more readily in the "single order" system than in the other; and this is claimed as an advantage, and as better than giving the same on as many different pieces of paper. with an order, hastily and perhaps poorly and closely written on flimsy paper, to be read by a conductor in a storm or by the dim light of a hand-lamp, there is a good deal of risk that in a long order for several meeting-points something may escape notice; a line may be skipped and a meeting-point missed. in the "duplicate" order the same danger would exist, and, in addition to the matter affecting the train receiving an order, it would get matter not at all affecting it. thus, if a is ordered to meet b, and b to meet c, and both orders are included in one for the benefit of b, the duplicate to a would include matter for c in which a has no concern, and that to c would have matter for a which he does not require. circumstances might make it of some use for a to know where c is to meet b; but burdening the order with this extraneous matter will be found usually to be a positive disadvantage and to cause much more work in transmission than giving each operation singly. the latter has been found to work entirely well in practice, and is theoretically the safer method. the conductor or engineman holding several of these orders arranges them in their proper succession, and each one as it is fulfilled is laid aside. it may be desired to change a meeting-place ordered, and, if this is included in an order containing several others, the change is not so readily made. the reasons would appear to be important for insisting _that each order should be ordinarily confined to a single transaction_, with slight exceptions, some of which are elsewhere adverted to. the following is a sample of "duplicate" order actually and frequently given in practice on one of the principal divisions of the pennsylvania railroad. it is given to illustrate perhaps the least objectionable method of combining several movements in one order. it is compact, and is alleged to serve a good purpose. the principal objections to it are those above given. c. t. . pennsylvania railroad company. philadelphia division. telegraphic train order no. _superintendent's office, west philadelphia_, march ^{th} _to conductor and engineman_ of ___ ^{st} & ^{nd} no stby.___ at ___ ^{st} & ^{nd} no dv___ ^{st} & ^{nd} no & ^{st} & ^{nd} no lancr. ^{st} no and ^{st} & ^{nd} no will meet at branch int. ^{st} no and ^{st} no will meet at hillsdale, ^{st} no and ^{nd} no will meet at conewago, ^{st} no and ^{st} no will meet at elizabethtown. ^{st} no and ^{nd} no will meet at kuhnz. ^{nd} no and ^{st} no will meet at branch int. ^{nd} no and ^{nd} no will meet at hillsdale. ^{nd} no and ^{st} no will meet at conewago ^{nd} no and ^{nd} no will meet at elizabethtown. glr. _____________conductor. _____________________engineman. paynter haffmaster ^{st} foulon raynier ^{st} no rettew kelley ^{nd} jacobs melsky ^{nd} ruth smurth mail ^{st} baldwin deisem ^{nd} o'donnill manahan ^{st} blankenbelan shultz ^{nd} received at _ . a__m. from __e f dunlop__ opr., by __h coterskey__ opr. made ___concat___ at ___ a__m. from ___efd___ opr., by __hcot__ opr. conductor and engineman must each have a copy of this order. see rule . an order _must not be taken to allow more than it expressly authorizes_. as, for instance, a train authorized by order to run in the time of another is not on this account to assume that it may run within the time of any other superior train which may be understood to have to keep out of the way of the train whose right is curtailed. each train must be governed in all respects by train rules with relation to every other train, excepting as distinctly provided in the special orders; and as a necessary consequence of this, _no train should be permitted to run under the authority or protection of an order given to another_. every provision in an order should be held to be _in force indefinitely until fulfilled or annulled, or expired by some limitation in the order or in the rules_. in the orders delivered to those who are to execute them _no erasures, alterations, or interlineations should be permitted_. these tend to obscure the meaning and raise doubts as to accuracy. the writing should be clear and plain, the letters well formed and without flourishes. orders must often be read in dim light or in storms, and when men are hurried, and they should not be required to decipher bad writing. many orders have come under the author's notice which were defective in this respect. the following specimen is given, omitting names that would indicate where it was issued. the bad writing, the number of points covered by the order, the difficulty arising from these, and the flimsy character of the paper must condemn the order as utterly unfit as a reliance for the safety of life and property dependent upon its proper execution. the illustration is not wholly satisfactory, for the reproduction of the order on smooth, white paper does not adequately represent the indistinctness arising from yellow paper, thin and crumpled, on which it was written, in common with so many train orders. [illustration: -c . train order no. . . to ___________ edwards two extra east engs & and no . eng . meet ^{st} carij co-ad at ______ ^d a by canada mitdo engs & . at ______ and no at ______ engs & , will not pass _____ before pm. there lookout for jos. sullivan handles signals. [unclear] & corr [unclear] w [unclear] rue endorsement train order no. __________________________________ superintendent. time._________correct [signature]_________________ conductor. ______________correct [signature]__________________ train dispatcher. conductor. this order is incomplete, and the train must not leave the station until it is endorsed "correct," the exact time given and the initials of the dispatcher affixed. ] orders should be identified by _consecutive numbers_, as is now usual. if the regular business requires a large number it is better to begin with no. each day. as a precaution against the engineman overlooking orders, and as a means for properly taking care of them, _a clip should be provided for them on the engine, in a position to be readily seen by the engineman while attending to his duties_. this will avoid the necessity of his putting the orders where he may forget them; and _with each on a separate paper_ they may be arranged in proper succession and removed as executed, leaving always before the eye the next to be executed. the copies of orders retained by operators should remain in the book. these books and the copies that have been used by trainmen should be sent to headquarters for inspection. this will serve to indicate the manner in which the regulations are carried out, and the condition, as to legibility, etc., in which the orders are issued. forms of orders will be considered under "forms." chapter v. the manifold. under the common practice there must be prepared at least three copies of each train order received for delivery. the conductor and engineman are each supplied with a copy, and the operator retains one. to make three several copies by pen and ink, as heretofore practiced by some, takes a good deal of time, and there is danger that they may not be all alike, and the time and risk are increased if more than three copies are required. to obviate this, the manifold system of writing has come into general use and with very great advantage. as used by many, however, it has serious defects. the tissue paper frequently used is very objectionable, especially the yellow variety. messages written on it are quite difficult to read, especially in a poor light; it is easily crumpled, rendering it still more indistinct; it is difficult to handle in the wind, and it is easily damaged by wet. in the use of the manifold for some seventeen years the author found it entirely practicable to use an opaque white paper, of sufficient body to be free from the above objections and yet capable of giving seven distinct copies with a good pencil of the hardness of no. faber. this is now recognized as the best and is prescribed in the specifications connected with the time convention rules. operators should not be permitted to receive orders on separate slips and copy them on the manifold, but should take the order down at once in the manifold-book. a sheet of tin placed in the book enables them to make all the copies perfectly distinct. of course none but "sound" operators can do this. it takes but little more time and application to make a "sound" than a "paper" operator, and the advantage of the former is so great in this as well as in other respects in this service that it should always be required. operators readily become able to take the requisite number of copies in manifold without the use of intermediate slips, and the risks of copying are thus avoided. when more copies are wanted than are made at the first writing they should be traced from one of the original copies. in the case of a general order, as in annulling a train, operators would usually make but one copy, and others required for delivery should be traced from this. careful supervision should be had as to the actual practice of operators in the proper use of the manifold, and as to frequently changing the carbon paper to secure distinctness. chapter vi. the record. a careful record ought to be kept of each step in the issuing of an order, as well as of its exact terms. this record should be made on the original copies held by the dispatcher, and by the operator who receives and delivers the order. the dispatcher's copy should show who issued it, and both should indicate what operators were engaged in its transmission, and the time at which each step was taken, as well as the proper address, etc. the dispatcher's train sheet should constantly show the movements of the several trains, which should be promptly reported by the operators and recorded by them in the prescribed forms. a practical difficulty occurs in making the dispatcher's record of all the steps in the issuing of an order, which it may be well to refer to here. when the dispatcher is assisted by an operator, the most of the steps will be taken and recorded by the latter. they should be at once recorded on the original copy of the order, so as to leave nothing to be remembered or copied. now, if the dispatcher must write the order out in the book before transmission, the operator may have occasion to use the book at the same time for recording steps then in progress with reference to other orders; and if he does not, the passing of the books back and forth between them is inconvenient. it has, partly on this account, doubtless, become the custom with many for the dispatcher himself to telegraph the orders without first writing them down, his operator taking them down as repeated back and writing them in the book of record. the operator thus has the book all the time in his hands. the objections to the dispatcher transmitting orders himself are elsewhere considered, and it is designed here to point out a method by which the other plan can be pursued and the inconvenience referred to avoided. the dispatcher is provided with a manifold-book and some loose sheets properly headed. with these, by the manifold process, he prepares two copies of the order, one in his book and the other on a loose sheet which he hands to the operator for use in transmitting. on this all the subsequent record is made by the operator, and at the close of each day all the orders for that day are fastened together and filed away. the numbers and manifold writing sufficiently identify the two copies if subsequent comparison is necessary, each being in fact an original. this method has the further advantage that the dispatcher has by him all the time copies of orders he has issued, for reference if needed. chapter vii. the train-order signal. a method much used for signaling a train to stop for orders is to display a flag or light of suitable color, after receiving the direction to "hold the train." this is often done by holding the signal in the hand or placing it on the platform or ground or in some fixed place. if placed on the platform, without attendance, it is liable to be obscured or removed by persons about the place. if held, in the hand of the agent or operator it is a poor arrangement for performing so important an office. the operator is usually required to report that the signal is displayed. he evidently cannot do this without leaving the signal unattended, and in fact when he is alone he must so leave it, as, after it is displayed, he must return to the office to receive the order, and he must also often be engaged in his office while expecting a train. it will frequently occur that trains will pass his station after he has received an order for some subsequent train; in which case he must temporarily remove the signal, or stop a train which might otherwise not be required to stop. when this plan is used all trains that arrive before that for which the order is held are actually stopped. a serious accident occurred some years since from the hand-lamp going out as it was swung as a signal to stop a train for which orders had been received. the signal failed, and the train went on and collided with the opposing train. lanterns and flags are the only available movable signals to be put in the hands of train and track men, but they should not be relied upon where anything better can be used. the evils attending this use of hand signals are so manifest that the practice is fast disappearing, and the reference to it here may before long be only a reminder of what has been done. a signal for this purpose should be distinctive and of the most substantial character. a fixed signal manipulated from within the office is greatly to be preferred. several such have been devised. the signal should be such as to be distinctly seen at proper distances; it should be as little as possible liable to confusion with other objects, and it should be an adornment rather than a disfigurement to the landscape in which it forms a prominent feature. the most satisfactory signal within the author's knowledge is the simple semaphore arm, extending horizontally from a post and showing a red light to signify "stop," and inclined and showing a white light to signify the opposite, and operated by a handle within the telegraph office. much discussion has been had in the past as to whether a danger signal, which this preeminently is, should stand normally at safety or danger. the earlier practice favored the former, as indicated, above, the absence of a signal, in the plan described, being the rule. in more recent years the weight of opinion has been that in all systems of danger signals the normal position, and that to which such signals should automatically move, is that indicating danger. so arranged, the indicator will always be in a position to stop trains unless it is moved to another position to show that there are no orders for them. it becomes a standing order to "hold," and, when an order is forwarded for a train, the fact of its receipt requires that the signal be simply left in its normal position and the train thus stopped. it will be then the rule and the habit of trainmen to observe all these signals and to stop when they are not placed, on their approach, in the position permitting them to proceed. the rules of many railroads still indicate a usage contrary to this. the lamp, flag, or other stop signal is displayed only when a train is to be stopped for orders. it appears that under some circumstances, especially where the duties of the agent and operator are performed by the same person, the telegraphic duties being comparatively small, it is thought better to retain this method, and the rules of the time convention were so framed as to provide for either, leaving the choice to those concerned. under the "normal at danger" plan, when an order is received in advance of the arrival of the train for which it is designed, and has been properly verified and prepared for delivery, it remains in the hands of the operator until the train arrives, the signal showing "stop." if, in the mean time, other trains pass for which there are no orders, the signal must be placed, as they approach, so as to indicate that they may pass. but there is then the danger that the operator may inadvertently allow the train to pass for which he has an order. this has actually occurred, and should be provided against. this should be done by requiring that, as soon as an order for a train not arrived is ready for the signatures of the trainmen, or for delivery when signatures are not taken, the copies designed for them shall be removed from the book, folded, and marked with the train number, and put in a designated place and in such position that the signal handle cannot be moved without the eye and hand being directed to the orders. this is readily effected by a rack to hold the orders placed on a small door closing by a spring and catch over the handle by which the operator moves the signal. the handle cannot be moved without unfastening the door and so opening it as to bring the orders, which are on it, under the eye and hand of the operator. this precaution may appear trivial, but while it is of great importance to adopt such routine that its mechanical performance will lead to a correct result, it is equally important to interpose such obstacles as are necessary to prevent a mechanical inadvertence that may lead to disaster. the same kind of risk exists in the use of block signals, and several plans have been used to obviate it by suitable mechanical means. in the other use of the train-order signal there is, to a certain extent, the same liability to this unconscious movement when it has been placed at danger, and a like precaution is needed to guard against it. it often happens that there are orders on hand for several trains. a definite place for them prevents their getting mixed with each other or with other papers; and removing them from the book avoids the necessity of leafing them over to find the particular order which men may be waiting to sign, and possible mistake in getting the wrong order. the only reason of apparent moment that could be assigned for leaving the orders in the book is that the trainmen may sign all the copies. there does not appear to be any good reason for requiring their signatures on their own copies, and the manifold writing by them would be unsatisfactory. again, it will often happen that more than one train is to receive a copy of the order, in which case the same signatures are not wanted on all the copies. the point here urged as of paramount importance _is that the order itself shall be interposed between the operator and the instrument by which he might give a signal permitting a train to pass improperly_. in this view the discussion of the point is pertinent to the subject of "signal." it may be added that the final indorsement of "complete" after signature on each copy takes but a moment, and perhaps no longer than a careful writing of it over several copies in the manifold-book; and as the men should read and compare their copies before the final steps, it is difficult to see how they could do this properly if the orders remain in the book. the train-order signal should be used for no other than its legitimate purpose. it will not be inconsistent with this to use it for holding a train the required time after the passage of another train in the same direction. upon some roads, trains passing while the stop signal is shown receive a "clearance" card stating that orders in hand are not for them. this is included as a part of the plan presented in the time convention rules for the use of the signal with its normal position at safety. it would seem to be necessary with this method; and in any case where it can be used it is a valuable precaution, the only objection being that it requires the stopping of fast or heavy trains which it might be quite objectionable to stop. this would seem, however, to be proper for any train stopped by the signal for time. where the plan is adopted of keeping the train-order signal normally at safety it should still, as in the other system, be so arranged that it will move automatically to danger if any of the mechanical parts fail. if this is not done and dependence is placed on fastening it at danger, the fastenings or some of the connections may fail and the signal move to safety without the fact being observed. one important advantage of the other plan of using the signal is that it is never at safety excepting when held in that position by the operator. where the usual position is safety it cannot be arranged for the operator to actually hold the signal while it occupies the danger position. chapter viii. the transmission. the transmission of orders will be taken to include all the steps after preparation by the dispatcher until final delivery. these are: . telegraphing the order to the stations to which it is to be sent. . writing down as received. . repeating it back to the dispatcher. . the response of the dispatcher indicating that it is correctly repeated. . the acknowledgment of this response. . comparing copies of the order with the persons to whom it is addressed, and taking their signatures. . telegraphing the signatures to the dispatcher's office. . the dispatcher's reply, acknowledging the receipt of the signatures, and indicating that the order may now be delivered. . the indorsement of this reply on the order. . the delivery to the trainmen. some dispatchers prefer to personally telegraph their orders, having an assistant operator to copy them as transmitted or as repeated, and to perform the subsequent work of verification, record, etc. those who are accustomed to transmit their own orders strongly contend for that practice. those who pursue a different course are equally strong for theirs. in arranging for those, at least, who have not become wedded to any particular method, general consideration should govern. if contests or inquiries arise on the wire when the dispatcher is sending, time is occupied which he may very much need, and where the amount of work is large it will leave the dispatcher more at liberty to attend to his special duty if he simply prepares his orders and hands them to an operator for the subsequent steps, and this is by some carefully insisted upon. the dispatcher's duty is not simply to direct each movement as the exigency arrives. he should be constantly on the alert to provide as far as possible in advance for the arrangements necessary for keeping his trains moving, and his mind should be free from anything that may interfere with this. attention by him to the merely mechanical duties detracts from his usefulness and the benefits which the road should derive from the talents which are supposed to fit him for his position. some points connected with this subject are referred to in chapter vi. whether sent personally by the dispatcher or by an operator from a written sheet, the order should, whenever practicable, _be transmitted simultaneously to all the offices to which it is to be sent_. ordinarily this will be to but two offices. an order annulling a train may have to be sent to all the offices on the division. the simultaneous transmission is a most valuable safeguard and a saving in telegraphing only practicable with the duplicate order. it has been urged as an objection to the duplicate order that where agents act as operators their duties as agents may sometimes interfere with their attendance as operators when wanted for simultaneous transmission. this furnishes no ground for objecting to this form of order, as simultaneous transmission is not essential, and it is only necessary in such case that the precaution be observed of sending first to the train of superior right. on calling an office a special signal should be used to indicate that a train-order is to be sent. the numerals or are now generally used for this purpose, the former for orders to be signed by the trainmen before delivery and the latter for orders to be delivered without such signature. after this signal the word "copy" should follow, with a number indicating how many copies are to be made. this maybe omitted when three is the number required, that being the most usual. if the system in use does not provide that the train-order signal shall stand normally in the "danger" position, the operator who is to receive the order must, at this point, place it in that position and report that he has done so. he then prepares his manifold-book for the requisite number of copies and takes the order down as sent, with the proper address for his station, immediately repeating it back word for word, _reading from the order as actually written on the paper to be delivered_, and not from a slip to be afterward copied. a "paper" operator should write the order in manifold before repeating. some defer the repeating until the signatures of the trainmen are to be reported. but it is on many accounts preferable to repeat and verify the order at once and before signatures are taken, even if the trainmen are present. it assures its accuracy before they have read and signed it. the repeating operators can listen to each other better than if they repeat at different times, and the sender of the order can better attend to its verification while the original lies before him. there will also be less detention to trains if the repeating is done before their arrival. the importance of this will further appear from the consideration elsewhere of the effect of an order where the telegraph fails after but one train has received and proceeded on it. the relative succession in which the offices are to repeat should be fixed by rule or usage, to avoid doubt or conflict. it is better that the repeating be done in the same succession as that in which the several offices are addressed. this assures the repeating first by the office receiving for the superior train. as a valuable precaution against error, _each should be required to listen while the others repeat_. an operator has been known to hear the name of a meeting-place correctly, write it down incorrectly in the order and repeat it back correctly. if he had looked at his copy as the other repeated, he would probably have noticed his error. in this connection it may be observed that too much importance cannot be attached to the cultivation of a careful habit in telegraphing orders. a certain degree of rapidity in handling the key is not inconsistent with distinctness, but the latter should never be sacrificed to haste and a hurried and careless style of telegraphing should never be permitted. the operator in the dispatcher's office should carefully observe each word as repeated by each, to make sure that all is repeated correctly. some observe the commendable practice of underscoring each word as repeated, thus making sure that their attention is not withdrawn. if the dispatcher transmits his orders himself and his copy for record is made as the order is repeated, as is the practice of some, his copy can hardly be said to be an original. it may vary from what was sent or designed to be sent, and his operator taking it down has not the opportunity of checking as above, and may himself make a mistake in receiving it. all offices required at the time to repeat an order should do so before the dispatcher replies. the signal for this reply now generally used, and adopted for the "standard" code, is "o k." this is given simultaneously to all, naming each, and each should acknowledge it. it is important that the dispatcher should know that each has received the "o k." it is not necessary that the dispatcher personally authorize this reply. it may be properly done by his operator who has watched the repeating. where the order is not repeated back until the signatures are obtained and sent with it, the response, "o k" and sometimes "complete" is used to cover the whole, but where the practice herein recommended is pursued, the use of two signals is necessary, "o k" being the first. the time at which the order is sent and "o k" given should be noted on all the copies, with the initials or signals of the operators sending and receiving, and the name or initials of the superintendent. the order is then ready for signature and delivery, and, if the train for which it is designed has not arrived, the train copies should be removed from the book, folded and marked on the outside with the train number, and placed in the rack provided, as indicated under the train-order signal. practice has varied very much in the method of delivering orders. some have simply had them authenticated by repeating back as above, with perhaps the proviso that the trainmen compare their copies with that of the operator, and in some cases sign for them. the transmitting of signatures has not in all cases been required. many rules, especially those of early date, appear to be based on the idea that the whole process of sending, verifying, and acknowledging an order is to be continuous and while the train is at the station. much that appears in some rules gives the impression that either this idea prevailed or that the phraseology used in connection with it was retained while the practice had changed. on a busy road it would certainly be impracticable to carry out this idea, and it is not now usually attempted. in early days of train telegraphy, when orders were not prepared with the precision of the present day, it was the custom to add to the order the phrase "how do you understand?" this came to be represented by a signal, the most generally used perhaps being the numeral " ." the reply to this, preceded by "we understand we are to," represented by " " or other numeral, was required to be written out by the trainmen as their "understanding." this was probably in most cases a verbatim copy of the order. whether this was actually done by the conductor and engineman is doubtful. some allowed the operator to do it. with the definite forms of orders now used and well understood, there is certainly no necessity for men to write out their "understanding." the manifold copies, authenticated by repeating back and compared by reading aloud, which also serves to impress the order on the men, must certainly be better than anything written by or for them. there would seem to be no reason for perpetuating a fiction by referring to the repeating of the order as the "understanding" or by the use of " " and " " in their original sense, when the question and answer which they represent are no longer designed to be used, and this practice and the expressions which arose under it have almost entirely given place to the improved methods. following, then, the practice here recommended and now generally used, the message has been placed in the hands of the operator and its verbal accuracy assured, and the train-order signal being in position to stop the train, the conductor and engineman understand that on arrival they are to go to the office "for orders." one of them (or the operator) should read the order aloud while each looks at his copy, the object being _to guard against a hurried reading of the order, to acquaint them fully with its exact terms, and to impress its purport upon them_. it is to be hoped that no man would willfully disregard a train order, but there are many who would proceed upon a hasty examination or none at all, if permitted to do so, and perhaps on a wrong impression as to what it directs to be done. the order having been thus read and compared, the signatures should be taken on the operator's copy. from the many rules forbidding operators to sign for trainmen, and conductors for enginemen, it would seem probable that this is sometimes done. this is a practice which no considerations of convenience can justify. personal signatures should be insisted upon. without this there is danger that men will hastily "grab" an order and fail to get its meaning. time is well spent in securing their particular attention to it, and their signatures attest that this has been done. there is much difference of opinion as to whether it is important to take the signature of the engineman. much time is often lost by taking him from his engine, particularly on very long trains, and some think that the purpose is as well served by having his copy delivered to him by the conductor. in the latter plan there is some danger that the attention of the engineman may not be particularly called to the purport of the order, and for this reason the author believes that the practice is best where both signatures are required. the time convention code leaves the choice optional. the signatures having been obtained, the dispatcher is to be advised, by their transmission to him, in connection with the number of the order signed for and the train number or designation. the reply that all is satisfactory, authorized by the dispatcher personally, is then to be given in some prescribed form. the word "complete" has been adopted in the "standard code," superseding "correct," which was formerly used. the selected word should be written on each copy, with the exact time at which it was given. the order may then be delivered, and the train order signal so placed as to allow the train to proceed. if the dispatcher's office is also used as an office for delivering orders, the same formalities in delivery should be observed as at way offices. it will sometimes occur that an order must be sent to a disabled or other train away from a telegraph station. it must, in that case, pass through additional hands, and great care is necessary to guard against error. the conductor or messenger who carries the order should be made accountable for its delivery in proper form, by himself signing for it and getting "complete." the order being addressed to the conductor and engineman of the train "in care of" the messenger selected, the latter should be furnished with an additional copy, on which he is to take the signatures of the conductor and engineman, as if they were at a telegraph office. this copy should be delivered as soon as practicable to an operator, who should forward the signatures, completing the process. although when these paragraphs were first written the method of transmission described did not correspond entirely with any practice that might be termed general, it agreed in essential points with the practice upon several roads where most careful consideration has been given to the various risks in train dispatching and to methods for avoiding them. the process detailed indicates the points to be guarded, and furnishes what has proved a practicable and satisfactory method, and corresponds with the regulations now being rapidly adopted on our principal roads. the rules should determine the course to be pursued if the telegraph fails during the process of transmitting an order. if this occur before its correct reception is assured by repeating back and giving and acknowledging "o k" for any office concerned, the process is not sufficiently complete for the men of a train at such office to be allowed to sign for and act upon it. if, therefore, communication is not quickly restored it is perfectly safe and proper to provide that an operator shall permit a train, in such case, to proceed on its schedule rights without orders. if, on the other hand, "o k" has been given and acknowledged, the correct reception of the order is assured, and a period is reached when the men of a train may, and often must, be permitted, on arrival, to sign for and act on the order before the arrival of the other at the point where the order is awaiting it. if the men of one train have thus proceeded, and the other on arrival cannot be communicated with, it would be obviously unsafe for it to proceed upon the order awaiting it for which signatures cannot be transmitted, because, although the opposing train may be on the way to execute the order, this is not known to the train that is cut off from communication. it would therefore be improper for it to proceed either in accordance with the order or on schedule rights. it would appear, therefore, that an order wholly or partly sent by the process detailed, and for which "o k" cannot be given and acknowledged by reason of the telegraph failing, should not operate to hold the train addressed, but that an order for which "o k" has been given and acknowledged should have this effect. the rule should therefore be _that, after "o k" is given to an order and acknowledged, the train to which the order is addressed shall not be permitted to pass until the signatures are transmitted and "complete" obtained_, or until the train can be communicated with by the dispatcher. this is based, of course, upon the presumption that the plan is followed of assuring the accurate transmission for both trains, and that each operator has acknowledged the "o k" before "complete" is given to either. the delays arising from the operation of this rule cannot be frequent, and it is better to submit to these than to run the risk involved in a different course. in the use of the " " order, to which the signatures of the trainmen are not taken, the order becomes of effect only when "complete" has been given and acknowledged; and until this is accomplished it should be treated as of the same effect as a " " order for which "o k" has not been given and acknowledged. if the practice is followed of delaying the repeating of the order until the signatures are obtained and sent, then the presence of the order in the operator's hands should serve to hold either train if the telegraph fails, as neither can know but that the other train has received the order and proceeded on it. it must be seen, however, that there is some risk in depending on a train being held by the mere presence of an order, the correct reception of which has not been fully acknowledged, as the receiving operator may even have made an error in receiving the number of the train for which the order is designed; and this offers an additional reason for repeating back at once on the receipt of the order. these considerations as to the holding effect of an order when the telegraph fails, do not, of course, apply to a general order, as one annulling a train, until such order is specially addressed to a train. it should be understood that operators hold trains a reasonable time for the resumption of communication broken during the transmission of orders. it is important that the holding effect of an order not signed for should be clearly understood, so that the dispatcher may run trains with confidence against a train so held. a careful dispatcher will observe that the inconveniences arising from a train being held by the incomplete transmission of an order will be greater as the distance is greater between the point to which the order is sent for delivery and the point where it is to take effect. chapter ix. rules. many books of rules have borne evidence that the ability to construct rules is not always commensurate with the many other gifts of successful railroad officers. to know what is to be done and how is one thing, but it is quite another to express the intention clearly and concisely. a scholar might present the subject in precise and grammatical form, and yet fail to so render it as to make it plain to practical men of limited education; and yet, while the language must be clear to the untrained mind, there should be no expressions that are not within the bounds of rhetorical propriety. the evident difficulties surrounding the subject render more conspicuous the admirable results of the work of the able committee of the general time convention in the production of the "standard" code of train and telegraph rules contributed by that body to the railroad service. to have produced a set of rules that should be accepted for general adoption, in which so few deficiencies have been pointed out, is a work worthy of the highest commendation. under the operation of these rules will disappear the uncertainty often appearing in anxious inquiries by "conductor" or "train-master," in the railroad papers, as to how this rule or that order is to be understood under given circumstances. there will be fewer occasions for trainmen to reconcile conflicting regulations and fewer cases of "doubt," in which to "take the safe course and run no risks." no one, however, feels that entire perfection has been reached, in practice or statement, or that even in the near future, additions or changes may not be found desirable; and, as methods of operation improve, scope will doubtless still be found for fresh talent in the production of regulations for new combinations of circumstances as well as improvement in those prepared by earlier hands. the telegraph rules of the time convention, adopted october th, , are here given, with some discussion relating to them. in considering these rules mention will necessarily be made of points referred to on previous pages and which are here embodied in form for practical use. this necessarily involves some apparent repetition. the rules are here designated by the numbers given to them by the time convention committee; and it may be here stated that, in conformity with the method followed in the time convention train rules, the term "time-table" is herein applied to the issue governing the movements of all regular trains, while "schedule" is used to designate that part of the time-table which applies to any one train. rule .--special orders directing movements varying from or additional to the time-table will be issued by the authority and over the signature of the superintendent. they are not to be used for movements that can be provided for by rule or time-table. they must not contain information or instructions not essentially a part of them. they must be brief and clear, and the prescribed forms must be used when applicable; and there must be no erasures, alterations, or interlineations. this rule indicates the proper function of a telegraphic train order, the authority under which it is to be given, and the essential features of its construction, with the requirement that the prescribed forms are to be used when applicable. while in the fixed forms provision is made for the majority at least of the cases likely to occur, occasions will doubtless arise when other forms or modifications of these will be required. it is therefore important that the principles on which these forms are to be constructed be distinctly stated. the provisions as to how orders shall be issued and as to the use of the forms, when applicable, and the absence of alterations, are all necessary as tending to secure uniformity and accuracy. the following note, attached by the time convention committee, emphasizes a point hereinbefore dwelt upon as of great importance: [note.--on roads whose organization provides that any other officer than the superintendent shall direct train movements, the official title of such officer may be substituted in the above rule. the committee considers it essential, however, that but one person's signature should be used in directing train movements on any dispatching division.] rule .--each order must be given in the same words to all persons or trains directly affected by it, so that each shall have a duplicate of what is given to the others. preferably an order should include but one specified movement. here is determined the feature essential to the "duplicate" system, viz., that the order shall be "in the same words" to all concerned; and the preference is here given to the point urged by the author, of covering but one movement by an order. rule .--orders will be numbered consecutively for each day as issued, beginning with no. at midnight. the use of numbers for orders serves to identify each order and to indicate the priority of issue. rule .--orders must be addressed to those who are to execute them, naming the place at which each is to receive his copy. those for a train must be addressed to the conductor and engineman, and also to a person acting as pilot. a copy for each person addressed must be supplied by the operator. the requirement here that orders shall be addressed to those who are to execute them might seem superfluous but for some former looseness in this respect and the necessity for exactness in prescribing each step in the process of issue. the address, including the place of delivery, is necessary as indicating, in simultaneous transmission, which operators are to receive for those respectively to whom the orders are sent. the introduction of the pilot here is valuable. as the one under whose special direction the train is for the time being, he should be directly informed of orders controlling its movements. the conductor and engineman who are in charge of the train subject to his control, are also necessarily advised. the relations of the pilot to the train are much the same as those of the pilot to a vessel of which he has control for the time being. he is placed there because of his having special knowledge, not possessed by the conductor and engineman, of circumstances which necessarily affect the movement, and has entire control of the train in this respect. he may or may not be an engineman. he may or may not run the engine. he, however, is to say when it may or may not run, and is the person by whose authority the movements are to be regulated with reference to the signals and the physical features of the road and with respect to other trains as well as the established rules. he does not assume the duties of the conductor as to those things which are purely local to the train, and the brakemen and fireman are properly held to be under his orders through the conductor and engineman. the trainmen are not, by the presence of the pilot, relieved from the usual obligation to protect the train and perform other duties connected with it or required by the rules. rule .--each order must be written in full in a book provided for the purpose at the superintendent's office; and with it must be recorded the names of trainmen and others who have signed for the order, the time and signals, showing when and from what offices the order and responses were transmitted, and the train dispatcher's initials. these records must be made at once on the original copy, and not afterward from memory or memoranda. the requirement here as to the record of each order in a book is usually now fulfilled by the preservation of a manifold copy in the book in which the blanks are bound. this, in fact, is the method contemplated, although the rule is so drawn as to admit of other methods. the record of the various points specified is requisite for a complete history of each transaction. rule .--the terms "superior right" and "inferior right" in these rules refer to the rights of trains under the time-table and train rules, and not to rights under special orders. this rule is rather an authoritative statement of a logical conclusion from the facts, but very properly gives this prominence to a point that must be constantly borne in mind. when the rights of trains are reversed by an order, as is usually the case, the inferior becomes for a time the superior, and this definition emphasizes this. in this connection it may be again noted that a very important and necessary part of the training of those engaged in operating the railroad telegraph is the acquisition of an intimate knowledge of the rules governing the rights and movements of trains when acting independently of telegraphic control. the legitimate use of the telegraph is to facilitate movement when, under the unaided operation of the rules, there might be delay, and to give preference, for special reasons, to trains which, under the rules are inferior. an exact knowledge of the effect of the rules, and what may be done by trains under their provisions, is therefore important, so that there shall be no unnecessary use of special orders, and that those used shall be the most appropriate to the circumstances. rule .--when an order is to be transmitted, the signal " " (as provided in rule ) or the signal " " (as provided in rule ), meaning "train order," will be given to each office addressed, followed by the word "copy," and a figure indicating the number of copies to be made, if more or less than three--thus, " copy ," or " copy ." this rule begins upon the details of transmission and is the first in which mention is made of the special signals " " and " ," signifying "train order," the use of which is more fully indicated later on. we have here the first step in the methodical plan of transmission prescribed in these rules, preparing the operator for the reception of the order and informing him of the number of copies for which he must prepare his manifold sheets. as three is the number most usually required, the omission of this number economizes telegraphing. in the same case the word "copy" might as well be omitted. rule .--an order to be sent to two or more offices must be transmitted simultaneously to as many as practicable. the several addresses must be in the order of superiority of rights of trains, and each office will take only its proper address. when not sent simultaneously to all, the order must be sent first for the train having the superior right of track. [note.--on roads which desire the operator at a meeting-point to have copies of the order, the several addresses will be, first, the operator at whose station the trains are to meet and next in the order of superiority of the rights of trains.] this rule brings us to the transmission of the order and requires that it be simultaneous as far as possible. this is a safeguard possible only with the duplicate system. here also the priority of transmission to the superior train is insisted upon. in addition to other advantages, the systematic naming of the superior train first calls the attention of operators to the relative superiority of trains. the principle involved here is elsewhere recognized. the note attached by the time convention committee has reference to the arrangement which some prefer of sending a copy of the order to the operator at the meeting-point in addition to the copies sent to other points for delivery to the trains. rule .--operators receiving orders must write them out in manifold during transmission, and make the requisite number of copies at one writing or trace others from one of the copies first made. this rule directs the use of the manifold writing and practically dispenses with any record book other than that in which the manifold copies are preserved. this is one of the most important improvements over the old methods. in the early days of telegraphing and with some to a comparatively recent period, each copy of an order was written separately, occupying much time and involving great liability to error in transcribing. now the perfection of the manifold admits of making at one writing all the copies usually required. if additional copies are wanted, their exactness is assured by tracing from one of those made at the first writing. it must be observed here that the rule does not permit an operator to take the message down on a separate sheet and make his manifold copies afterward. rule .--when an order has been transmitted, preceded by the signal " ," operators receiving it must (unless otherwise directed) repeat it back at once from the manifold copy, and in the succession in which their several offices have been addressed. each operator repeating must observe whether the others repeat correctly. after the order has been repeated correctly by the operators required at the time to repeat it, the response "o k," authorized by the train dispatcher, will be sent simultaneously to as many as practicable, naming each office. each operator must write this on the order with the time, and then reply "i i o k," with his office signal. those to whom the order is addressed, except enginemen, must then sign their names to the copy of the order to be retained by the operator, and he will send their signatures to the superintendent. the response "complete," with the superintendent's initials, will then be given, when authorized by the train dispatcher. each operator receiving this response will then write on each copy the word "complete," the time, and his last name in full; and will then deliver a copy to each person included in the address, except enginemen, and each must read his copy aloud to the operator. the copy for each engineman must be delivered to him personally by ----, and the engineman must read it aloud and understand it before acting upon it. [note.--the blank in the above rule may be filled for each road to suit its own requirements. on roads where the signature of the engineman is desired, the words "except enginemen" and the last sentence in the second paragraph may be omitted. see also note under rule no. .] [individual operator's signals may be used when desired in addition to office signals, as here and elsewhere provided for.] in this rule are given in detail the steps to be taken after the order has been transmitted, this rule having special reference to the orders for which signatures of trainmen are to be taken, known technically as the " " order. much of the efficiency of the telegraph, as well as the safety of operation, depends upon the careful drill of operators in this respect and strict adherence to the requirements of the rule. repeating back at the time of receiving may be properly omitted under the direction of the dispatcher, in case of a general order, as one annulling a train. this would be sent to all stations but not necessarily delivered at all, and therefore repeating back at once from all would unnecessarily occupy the wire. other cases may arise where the repeating may be postponed. in repeating, however, the requirement that it be done from the manifold copy should be carefully complied with. reading, word for word, from the copy actually to be delivered is one of the most important precautions against mistake. the succession in which offices are to repeat is prescribed, so that all shall understand it, and it is so fixed that the repeating shall be done in the order of superiority of trains addressed. as a repeated order for which the "o k" has been given and acknowledged serves to hold the train addressed, this secures the superior train at once. the requirement that operators observe the repeating by each other is a further valuable safeguard. the next step, that of transmitting the "o k," is now prescribed in the same methodical way and its acknowledgment provided for. without this acknowledgment the dispatcher could not be sure of the train being held, and it is quite important, although not directed in the rule, that the acknowledgment of the "o k" should be made by the different offices in the succession in which they were addressed. this brings us to the point where the order is fully in the hands of the operator and becomes operative to a certain extent, as is seen in rule . the train for which an order has thus been sent may not have yet arrived. by the rule, however, the signal is displayed to stop the train, and when it arrives the conductor (and the engineman if required) must go to the office and sign for the order. the signature (or signatures) must then be telegraphed to the dispatcher's office, and when found correct the final response, "complete," is given, signifying that all the steps in telegraphing have been taken that are necessary before delivery. it still remains for the receiving operator to record the "complete" on the order, with the time and his name, all of which are important for the completion of a paper which involves the safety of human life. it is still, however, possible that those who are to use this important paper may fail to observe its full signification, and it is therefore provided, as a final precaution, that each one who receives it shall read it aloud to the operator, who has his own copy before him. this is better than reading by the operator to the trainmen, as they might not listen attentively, while they can hardly fail to note the signification of words which they themselves read aloud. the notes appended by the time convention committee point out modifications which may be made with respect to certain points in which difference of practice prevails and which do not affect the essential features of the plan. the author believes that the weight of sentiment is decidedly in favor of taking the signature of the engineman as well as that of the conductor for the order, unless controlling circumstances prevent. rule .--for an order preceded by the signal " ," "complete" must not be given to the order for delivery to a train of inferior right until "o k" has been given to and acknowledged by the operator who receives the order for the train of superior right. whenever practicable, the signature of the conductor of the train of superior right must be taken to the order and "complete" given before the train of inferior right is allowed to act on it. _after_ "o k" has been given and acknowledged, and _before_ "complete" has been given, the order must be treated as a holding order for the train addressed, but must not be otherwise acted on until "complete" has been given. if the line fails _before an office has received and acknowledged_ "_o k_" to an order preceded by the signal " ," the order at that office is of no effect, and must be there treated as if it had not been sent. [note.--on roads where the signature of the engineman and pilot is desired, the words "engineman and pilot" may be added after the word "conductor" in the first paragraph of rule .] rule presents a requirement of very great importance in prescribing that "complete" shall not be given for the inferior train until "o k" has been given and acknowledged for the superior. the reason for this is apparent from the following considerations: when "complete" has been given, the train receiving an order on which it is indorsed may at once proceed to the execution of the order. if it has rights given to it against a superior train, it is of the highest importance that the latter shall be informed of this before it can proceed to a point where the order may bring the inferior into conflict with the rights of the other. after "o k" has been given and acknowledged for the order at the point where the superior train is to receive it, the order "holds" the superior train, as provided in the second paragraph, and it is only then safe to permit the inferior train to proceed, by giving for it the final word "complete." it would be still better if in all cases the signatures of the men of the superior train could be taken before the other is permitted to act on the order. the rule requires this "whenever practicable." it is, however, often not practicable on account of the varying and often considerable distances between telegraph stations, the varying speed of trains, and unforeseen and unpreventable delays. it is doubtful whether any reasonable expenditure in increasing the number of offices would admit of absolute compliance with such a requirement, but it is quite true that any expenditure at all approaching what this would require would be much beyond the ability of the majority of railroads. it is also true that, at least without enormous additions to the facilities, a strict requirement of this kind would interfere with the movement of trains to an extent that the patrons of the roads would never agree to. if the plan provided in the rules really involves any risk in this respect, it is one which cannot be avoided in the present state of financial ability and of the means of moving trains. the closing paragraph of the rule provides for the contingency of the failure of telegraphic communication at a critical moment in the transmission. an order may have been fully received by an operator, but, if the telegraph fails before he can repeat it back and be informed by the dispatcher that it is "o k," it would not be safe to use it. neither is it proper that it should have any effect whatever until the dispatcher is assured, by the acknowledgment of the "o k," that it has been received. when an order has been transmitted and is altogether in the hands of the operator, there is the chance that he may have written down some important word incorrectly. hence the requirement that he repeat it back. this, if carefully performed, assures the dispatcher of the verbal accuracy of the message as the operator has it, and the dispatcher admits this by the response "o k." he must now act, with reference to this train, as if it were held at the point at which it is addressed. but he cannot assume this until he is assured that "o k" has been received. this is by the required acknowledgment. if communication absolutely fails before the completion of this process, all that he has done goes for nothing unless communication is quickly restored. it is of the utmost importance that the dispatcher know what will or will not be done by a train to which an order has been addressed, as this knowledge guides him in giving other orders. it would not be proper, even, to assume that a train would be held by the presence of an order addressed to it unless the accuracy of the order is assured, for an error may have occurred in receiving the address and the wrong train number may have been noted. nor will it do for a train to proceed regardless of an order addressed to it when the whole process of transmission cannot be completed, unless the rule authorizing it is made to specify the precise point in the process of transmission when this may be permitted. it is also of equal importance that, in the absence of telegraphic communication with a train, the dispatcher can depend upon the fact that it will act in accordance with the rules, notwithstanding a partial transmission of an order intended to control its movements. briefly, he must know whether the train retains the right to proceed or not, and under what conditions, or he cannot intelligently direct other trains with reference to it. the question how long a train should wait for communication to be restored must depend upon so many circumstances that no rule can be given. the "break" may be but momentary or it may last for hours. the train may have just time to get to a regular meeting-place, at which, if reached in time, it may have to lie for belated trains. rules must fail here to indicate what is best to be done, and often the best judgment is no guide. whatever is determined on may involve delay. it should never involve danger. there is a plan in use on several prominent roads by which it is claimed that the objectionable feature in rule , represented by the phrase "whenever practicable," may be eliminated. under this plan there is added an "advance" order, issued to the superior train, directing it to stop "for orders" at a point where it is intended to deposit for it the duplicate of a meeting or other order on which an inferior train is to be permitted to proceed from some other point before the order is received by the superior train. by this plan the superior train is "held" before the inferior is allowed to act on the order, and thus far the risk is avoided of the superior being improperly allowed to pass the point where the duplicate order is to be placed for it. it is claimed that a considerable experience has demonstrated that this plan is feasible and secures the object in view, and that with it the rule of always first securing the superior train may be made absolute. experience is one of the best of teachers, and few theories can be taken as proved without it, but even imperfect methods may produce good results under careful management, so that experience alone is not sufficient for determining the merits of a system. the purpose of the plan in question, to "hold" the superior train before giving orders against it is good, and what all wish to accomplish. this idea gave rise to the "hold" order of the older methods of train dispatching and it has been suggested that under the advance-order plan there is danger of a relapse from strict adherence to the duplicate method. careful supervision may prevent this. if the advance order is invariably given, operators may get to depending on it rather than on their own care for stopping trains at points where duplicates are deposited. this is a point to be carefully considered and on which the railroad fraternity will be by no means agreed. two things are depended on. if one fails we have the other. many hold that this is better than to rely on one alone. many, again, maintain that, where the responsibility is thus divided, each party may depend on the other and both fail, while, if there is but one, his sense of responsibility is quickened and the result is better. in view of the difference of opinion on this point it may be said that if this be the only point in the consideration of the advance order it may be given a trial. if it is to be tried, then we must see that there are no exceptions to its use. the dispatcher must always anticipate possible contingencies long enough ahead to be able to designate in advance the points where trains are to stop for orders, and he must do this before the necessity arises of allowing the inferior train to proceed on orders which the superior trains are subsequently to receive. if he cannot thus anticipate he must still give the order to stop for orders and send it to the point to which the meeting-order is sent, both to be delivered to the superior at the same time; and in that case he must depend upon the signal at that point for stopping the train, as in the standard rules, or always keep the inferior train from acting on the order until the orders for the other train are delivered. again, a train for which it is thought meeting-orders may have to be given must make a stop in order to get the advance order, and again another at the point named in it, perhaps only that it may receive an order annulling the first, if meeting-orders are found not to be needed. frequently a duplicate order may be placed for a train and annulled before its arrival if the occasion for it has passed, but the advantage of this is lost if the advance order is used. there are many roads on which the circumstances would not admit of thus always seeing far enough in advance the things to be done, and very many on which the business would not admit of the stops necessary, and the occurrence of a single exception would vitiate the whole and make it necessary to fall back on the provision "whenever practicable." it is not easy to see how the rule could be invariably applied at junction points at which trains of superior right are to arrive from other roads or divisions, and circumstances are so various that it is difficult to determine just where such a plan could or could not be satisfactorily applied. some say they have succeeded with it. others point out quite conclusively that the circumstances with them are such that it would be impracticable. where it can be applied and used without exception and the question of divided responsibility can be satisfactorily disposed of, it is, to say the least, an experiment in the right direction, but it is to be very much feared that this plan does not yet supply the universal remedy for the difficulty involved in the phrase "whenever practicable." the multiplication of messages on a busy wire will occur to all as a serious objection, but scarcely as one that should weigh against positive considerations of safety. rule .--when an order has been transmitted, preceded by the signal " ," operators receiving it must (unless otherwise directed) repeat it back at once from the manifold copy, and in the succession in which the several offices have been addressed. each operator repeating must observe whether the others repeat correctly. after the order has been repeated correctly, the response "complete," with the superintendent's initials, will be given, when authorized by the train dispatcher. each operator receiving this response must write on each copy the word "complete," the time, and his last name in full, and reply "i i complete" with his office signal, and will personally deliver the order to the persons addressed, without taking their signatures. [note.--on roads where it is desired, the signatures of the conductors (or conductors, enginemen, and pilots) may be taken by the operator on the delivery of the order. see also note under rule . the committee has recommended two forms of train orders--the " " order and the " " order; leaving it discretionary with the roads to adopt one or both of these forms.] this rule provides for the steps in transmission of the " " order, for which signatures of trainmen are not required, as rule does for the " " order. the steps are the same excepting as to the "o k" and its acknowledgment and the signatures. the same general considerations apply to the steps which are identical. the absence of the requirement as to signatures renders the "o k" unnecessary, the "complete" being the dispatcher's notice both that the order has been correctly repeated and that it may be delivered after "complete" has been acknowledged, which should be in the succession in which offices are addressed. the responsibility of delivery to the right parties is placed on the operator. the use of this method, rather than that under which trainmen sign for the order, has been the subject of much serious thought and discussion. in either case the "danger" signal and the carefulness of the operator are the means depended on for stopping a train for which an order has been transmitted. the difference is in the mode of delivery. if signatures are taken the men must take the time to go to the office. if they are not taken the men may go to the office or the operator may go out to deliver. the train may perhaps not stop entirely. in any event the delivery is likely to be hasty and without careful inspection of the order by those who receive it. a conservative view would seem to indicate that there were some risk in this, and yet many experienced officers do not look upon it in that light, and on roads having heavy traffic and many fast trains this method is used with satisfactory results. the real solution of the question may be in careful supervision, good discipline, correct habits, and strict attention to business. in these lies _safety_; in the opposite, _danger_. it will be observed that a note of the time convention committee, attached to the rule and here shown, indicates that the adoption of either form or both is discretionary with roads adopting the "standard" rules, and that it is suggested that it may be provided that operators shall take the signatures of trainmen for " " orders. these would be simply evidence of delivery, and the signatures would not, under this arrangement, be telegraphed to headquarters. the question as to when it is best or proper to use the " " order must be determined by circumstances. taking and transmitting the signatures is intended to secure deliberate care in the delivery and certainty that the order is delivered to the right train. the first is reasonably certain when the trainmen are required to go to the office and sign for the order; the second is determined by the transmission of the signatures. those who use the " " order must leave both these points to the care of the operator. if operators are thoroughly drilled and under constant and careful supervision, and so fully occupied with the work as to be necessarily always on the alert, this dependence is more likely to result favorably than where discipline is slack and business dull, and especially where the operator is required to attend to other duties. circumstances may often seem to require the delivery of an order without signatures where the contrary is the usual custom. it would be necessary in such case to use special precautions in instructing the operator, and it should scarcely be allowed without special authority from the responsible head. rule .--for an order preceded by the signal " ," "complete" must be given and acknowledged for the train of superior right before it is given for the train of inferior right. if the line fails _before an office has received and acknowledged the "complete"_ to an order preceded by the signal " ," the order at that office is of no effect, and must be treated as if it had not been sent. this rule is for the " " order what rule is for the other, and no additional remarks are needed. rule .--the order, the "o k" and the "complete" must each, in transmitting, be preceded by " " or " ," as the case may be, and the number of the order; thus, " , no. ," or " , no. ." in transmitting the signature of a conductor it must be preceded by " ," the number of the order, and the train number; thus, " , no. , train no. ." after each transmission and response the sending operator must give his office signal. here is prescribed the succession in which the signals, etc., shall be transmitted. for the "office signal," which the operator is required to give after each transmission and response, some substitute the personal signal of the operator, which is usually one or more letters assigned, by which the operator shall be known, and indicates at the same time the operator and the office where he is known to be on duty. rule .--the operator who receives and delivers an order must preserve the lowest copy. on this must appear the signatures of those who sign for the order, and on it he must record the time when he receives it; the responses; the time when they are received; his own name; the date; and the train number; for which places are provided in the blanks. these copies must be sent to the superintendent. the subjects treated of in this rule have been sufficiently considered in former remarks. rule .--orders used by conductors must be sent by them daily to the superintendent. this provision affords an opportunity of examining orders that have been used, and of ascertaining whether they have been prepared and issued in accordance with the rules. rule .--enginemen will place their orders in the clip before them until executed. this rule supposes that a place has been provided on each engine for placing orders conspicuously before the engineman who is to execute them. this is a very important provision. if he has to put them in his box or pocket they may be rendered illegible, or forgotten or lost. rule .--for orders delivered at the superintendent's office the requirements as to record and delivery will be the same as at other points. this requirement would seem to be so obvious that it was hardly necessary to include it in the rules, but for the fact that there has been some oversight of so manifest a precaution. rule .--orders to persons in charge of work requiring the use of track in yards or at other points, authorizing such use when trains are late, must be delivered in the same way as to conductors of trains. this rule recognizes the fact that the same care is necessary in giving the use of the track in the time of regular trains, whether it be to a yard crew or a train on the road. carelessness in this respect, by men working at stations, has frequently resulted in disaster. the sacredness of the "rights" of trains should be an integral part of railway doctrine. rule .--an order to be delivered to a train at a point not a telegraph station, or while the office is closed, must be addressed to "_c. and e._, _no._ ---- (_at_ ----), _care of_ ----," and forwarded and delivered by the conductor or other person in whose care it is addressed. "complete" will be given upon the signature of the person by whom the order is to be delivered, who must be supplied with copies for the conductor and engineman addressed, and a copy upon which he shall take their signatures. this copy he must deliver to the first operator accessible, who must preserve it, and at once advise the train dispatcher of its having been received. orders so delivered to a train must be compared by those receiving them with the copy held by the person delivering, and acted on as if "complete" had been given in the ordinary way. orders must not be sent in the manner herein provided to trains the rights of which are thereby restricted. the subject of delivery of orders at points away from telegraph stations has already been considered. the method of doing this is here determined. safety in carrying this out must depend largely on the carefulness of the person selected to deliver the order. rule .--when a train is named in an order, all its sections are included, unless particular sections are specified; and each section included must have copies addressed and delivered to it. this rule is based on the fact that all sections of a train are substantially one train, so far as schedule rights are concerned. this is definitely fixed by the "standard" train rules. this rule provides that each section included in the operation of an order must have copies. instances might be cited where this would seem unnecessary. a delayed train may be ordered to meet a superior train at some point short of the meeting-point. without any order each section of the superior train would have a right to go to the designated point, and it may be supposed that, if the first section is held by the order at that point for the inferior, the other sections cannot go by until the inferior is out of the way. while this may be true, circumstances may arise even in this case that would render it important that each section should know of the movement. the difficulty of specifying in a rule the cases in which the provision might be omitted probably led to making the rule absolute. it is pointed out, however, by practical men that serious and needless delays may often arise from strict adherence to the rule, and that in certain cases there can be no danger from giving the order to the leading section only. it is quite possible that the rule may admit of some amendment in this respect. rule .--meeting-orders must not be sent for delivery to trains at the meeting-point if it can be avoided. when it cannot be avoided, special precautions must be taken by the train dispatchers and operators to insure safety. there should be, if possible, at least one telegraph office between those at which opposing trains receive meeting-orders. orders should not be sent an unnecessarily long time before delivery, or to points unnecessarily distant from where they are to be executed. no orders (except those affecting the train at that point) should be delivered to a freight train at a station where it has much work, until after the work is done. here it is wisely provided that trains shall, if possible, be advised of their place of meeting before reaching it. it is scarcely necessary to point out the obvious reasons for this, arising from the possibility of a train, on arrival, passing the switch where the meeting is intended to be. the first and second paragraphs both suggest the advantage of being able to communicate with a train in the event of a desire to change an order or of an error having been found to have occurred on the part of a train or in the preparation or transmission of an order. the third paragraph is to guard against men forgetting orders delivered to them, through lapse of time or preoccupation in their work, and also against the necessity of changing orders issued long in advance of the time at which they are expected to be used, when a new set of circumstances may have arisen. rule .--a train, or any section of a train, must be governed strictly by the terms of orders addressed to it, and must not assume rights not conferred by such orders. in all other respects it must be governed by the train rules and time-table. to some disciplinarians the provisions of this rule would seem to be unnecessary. to say that a thing means what it says and no more would seem to be superfluous, and yet the vital importance of the point, and the fact that it has been often disregarded, warrant this enforcement of it. a case in point came not long since to the author's knowledge. a rule in the book of a certain road required that "all trains must slow up at meeting-points with trains of any class." the rule was intended to apply to schedule meeting-points, and was so generally understood, notwithstanding the indefiniteness of the designation. an order was given requiring a superior train to wait until a time stated for the arrival of an inferior train at a point reached by the superior train before its arrival at the schedule meeting-point. the inferior train not arriving by the time stated, the superior train went on and passed the schedule meeting-point without slackening speed, as required by the rule. the inferior train was there and not quite out of the way, and a collision occurred. the conductor and engineman of the superior train claimed that the order to meet had done away with the schedule meeting-point, and therefore the rule did not apply, whereas the order was provisional, and was completely fulfilled when the inferior train failed to arrive and the superior train went on past the point named in the order without meeting the other. the inferior, being unable to reach the given point by the time stated, ran on its rights and stopped at the schedule meeting-point, respecting which the order had made no mention. it is to be remarked that while the indefiniteness of the rule may have been partly chargeable with the wrong view taken by the trainmen, a strict construction would make it applicable to every point that became a "meeting-point," whether under the operation of the rules or of special orders. a rule capable of these different constructions is fatally defective. rule .--orders once in effect continue so until fulfilled, superseded, or annulled. orders held by or issued for a regular train which has lost its rights, as provided by rule , are annulled, and other trains will be governed accordingly. the first provision in this rule is also one that would seem scarcely necessary, but for the importance of emphasizing this point. future experience and training may render it needless to include so simple a statement in these rules. train rule , referred to in the second sentence, provides that a regular train hours behind time loses all its rights, and is practically annulled. the expiration of orders, with the expiration, under the rules, of the entire rights of a train which has received them, is a necessary consequence, although to some it might not be sufficiently clear without this authoritative statement. the statement that, under these circumstances, orders "are annulled," leaves the mind in doubt as to whether they are simply annulled by the state of facts or by the process provided for annulling orders. in the publication of these rules as adopted by the pennsylvania railroad company this doubt is removed by modifying the language to read, "orders held by or issued for a regular train are to be considered as annulled when the train has lost its rights, as provided by rule no. , and other trains will be governed accordingly." the chesapeake & ohio road adds to train rule a provision that a train having the right of track may take to a telegraph station a train that under this rule has lost the right to proceed. this seems a good provision, as such train has no right to proceed even as an extra, and under many circumstances the dispatcher would have difficulty in getting control of a train without this help. the discussion of this belongs, however, more properly with the consideration of train rules. rule (a)--a fixed signal must be used at each train-order office, which shall display red at all times when there is an operator on duty, except when changed to white to allow a train to pass after getting orders, or for which there are no orders. when red is displayed all trains must come to a full stop, and not proceed as long as red is displayed. the signal must be returned to red as soon as a train has passed. it must only be fastened at white when no operator is on duty. this signal must also display red to hold trains running in the same direction the required time apart. operators must be prepared with other signals to use promptly if the fixed signal should fail to work properly. if a signal is not displayed at a night office, trains which have not been previously notified must stop and inquire the cause, and report the facts to the superintendent from the next open telegraph office. when a semaphore is used, the arm means red when horizontal and white when in an inclined position. rule (b)--a fixed signal must be used at each train-order office, which shall display red when trains are to be stopped for orders. when there are no orders the signal must display white. when an operator receives the signal " " or " ," he must _immediately_ display red, and _then_ reply "red displayed." the signal must not be changed to white until the object for which red is displayed is accomplished. while red is displayed all trains must come to a full stop, and any train thus stopped must not proceed without receiving an order addressed to such train, or a clearance card on a specified form, stating, over the operator's signature, that he has no orders for it. operators must be prepared with other signals to use promptly if the fixed signal should fail to work properly. if a signal is not displayed at a night office, trains which have not been previously notified must stop and inquire the cause, and report the facts to the superintendent from the next open telegraph office. when a semaphore is used, the arm means red when horizontal and white when in an inclined position. rules (a) and (b) refer to the character and operation of the train-order signal, and in the original report of the committee they are accompanied by a note indicating that the adoption of either or both forms of the rule is to be discretionary, according to the circumstances of traffic. both recognize the value of the "fixed" signal, instead of hand signals, and its necessity for the proper carrying out of the rules. the difference between the two forms of the rule is that the former provides that the signal shall stand constantly at "danger," excepting when changed to another position to permit a train to pass, while with the latter the normal position is at "safety," the other to be shown only when an order is to be sent. under the first plan a train approaching a station must stop unless the signal is seen to have been changed from its normal position of "danger" to that of "safety"--from red to white. the operator in this case moves the signal and this is an indication that there are no orders for that train, although there may be for others. the presence of an order in the hands of an operator does not, under this method, require that all trains passing shall stop. under the other plan the signal at red indicates that the operator has orders in his hands, and no train can be allowed to pass by the simple moving of the signal, but each, on arrival, must stop and get orders, or a "clearance card" stating that there are no orders for it. some considerations respecting these two methods have already been advanced, and they need not be repeated here. there does not seem to be any substantial reason why the practice of permitting a train to pass, by the movement of the signal, might not be used in connection with the plan of "normal at safety" as well as with the other, and the author is under the impression that this is done on some roads. the rule wisely requires a provision of other signals for prompt use in case the fixed signal fails to work. the machinery may break or the lights go out; and to see that this precaution is observed is an important duty of the officer having direct supervision of these matters. the non-display of a usual night signal is recognized as a reason for inquiry and caution. rule .--operators will promptly record and report to the superintendent the time of the departure of all trains and the direction in which extra trains are moving. they will record the time of arrival of trains and report it when so directed. the records and reports here required are important as a means of information for the dispatcher and as a check on operators and trains as well as a part of the permanent record. suitable blanks must be provided for these records. rule .--regular trains will be designated in orders by their schedule numbers, as "no. " or " nd no. ," adding engine numbers if desired; extra trains by engine numbers, as "extra "; and all other numbers by figures. the direction of the movement of extras will be added when necessary, as "east" or "west." time will be stated in figures only. [note.--in case any roads desire to state time in words as well as figures, the committee sees no objection to their doing so.] rule .--the following signs and abbreviations may be used: initials for superintendent's signature. such office and other signals as are arranged by the superintendent. c & e--for conductor and engineman. o k--as provided in these rules. min--for minutes. junc--for junction. frt--for freight. no--for number. eng--for engine. sec--for section. opr--for operator. --to clear the line for train orders, and for operators to ask for train orders. or --for train order, as provided in the rules. the usual abbreviations for the names of the months and stations. rules and prescribe the mode of designating trains and the use of figures, signs, and abbreviations, with option as to figures, in a note under rule . uniformity in these matters is important for clearness of understanding and economy and expedition in telegraphing. it is a question how far abbreviations may properly be used in train telegraphing. they certainly should be admitted only when they can be shown not to interfere with a safe understanding of orders. initials for the signatures of superintendent or dispatcher and operators may be used, but they would hardly be admissible for the signatures of trainmen. the latter may very properly be addressed as "c. and e." the "o k" for "all right" is an established signal, not requiring a dictionary to interpret it. min for minute, junc for junction, exp for express, frt for freight, eng for engine, no for number, k for o'clock, sec for section, opr for operator, cannot mislead. for inquiries and replies respecting the work, many codes have been constructed wherein each is represented by a number or a word, and the telegraphing thus abbreviated. it will probably never be settled to the satisfaction of everybody whether numbers should be represented in figures or written out in full. the opinion of practical men has been lately growing more favorable to figures, although some adhere rigidly to writing out numbers in words. the "standard" rules favor figures. much depends of course on the training of the operators. figures are unmistakable if properly made, while a long number written out in full may be so poorly written as to confuse the reader. where a single figure occurs in describing a section of a train as nd, rd, etc., it is easy to take the one for the other, both in telegraphing and in the written figures, and it is wise to write these out. the numbers of trains and of engines are not so liable to be confused with others in their immediate neighborhood, and it would appear to be entirely proper to use figures to represent them. the designation of trains is usually by numbers. this is more definite and more brief than by any other time-table title, as "local freight," "chicago express," etc. an extra train is probably best described by the engine name or number, as there is usually nothing else about a train so definite as this. some add the names of conductors and enginemen. where there is any danger of one train being mistaken for another, the engine number should be used, and care taken against mistakes arising from change of engines. chapter x. forms of train orders. the advantage of pre-arranged forms of train orders for the cases ordinarily occurring has been already adverted to, and is now fully recognized. forms should be brief. a multitude of words is confusing. they are not so easily read; while a short form, with a uniformly well understood meaning, is comprehended at a glance. to know what it intends becomes a part of the education of a railroad man. for this reason it would be a great advance if this service could be everywhere conducted on the same plans. brevity also economizes time in telegraphing, which is of great importance on a busy wire. in a conversation carried on by a company of persons several may speak at once, or nearly so, and things go smoothly along, but on a wire only one can speak at a time, and hence the time each communication may occupy becomes important. all men, however, do not quickly catch an idea when its expression is reduced to the simplest form. this is, sometimes, because it is new, or it may be from lack of training, or even natural dullness, or because human nature is so constituted that men view the simplest things in different lights. to provide against all contingencies of this kind, and to explain to men the proper understanding as well as to settle it authoritatively, explanatory rules are needed, with definite instructions as to how orders are to be interpreted. these may be studied at leisure and discussed and mutually understood by the men. the need of these rules does not arise from any incompleteness in the forms of orders. a signal for a given purpose is sufficient in itself, but it is necessary to state the purpose which it is designed to serve. a word expresses a definite thought, but we may have to turn to the dictionary to learn what that thought is. another and highly important service of such explanatory rules is that they beget confidence, on the ground that all understand alike. it has been before urged that a separate order should be given for each separate transaction. this, however, need not be pressed to extremes. circumstances may arise in which forms may be combined with advantage. for instance, an order may be given: _engine will run extra to brighton, and will meet train no. at lisbon._ this serves the purpose of an "extra" order and of a "meeting" order, and is not in any way confusing. ordinarily there is little to be gained by departing from the general rule laid down, but experience and good judgment will soon determine where it will be proper, if the principles upon which safety may depend are kept steadily in view. attempts have been made to introduce printed blanks for the several forms of orders, with spaces for the words which vary with each case, such words only to be telegraphed. this plan does not appear, however, to have met with much favor. the brevity possible in forms is such that little is saved by this method, in the amount of telegraphing. the words sent are disconnected and unsatisfactory, and the care and attention required in having a number of books on the operator's table from which to select the proper form would be considerable, especially if the manifold is used. a supposed advantage is in having explanatory rules printed on each blank. it is better to have these printed together with all the forms for circulation among the employés, who can then discuss and become familiar with them and come to a uniform understanding as to their meaning. much variety has existed in the forms of orders in use. prior to the quite general adoption of the "standard" code there were probably no two roads on which they were in all respects alike. this lack of uniformity was unfortunate, and some of these variations assumed serious importance in view of the time occupied in telegraphing superfluous words. a very few forms suffice for the most of the orders issued. those here considered are the forms issued with and forming a part of the time convention rules. they are the same in principle as those given in the former edition of the train wire, and not greatly different in their construction. some have been amplified and some additions have been made. they will be considered under the following classification: a. for trains meeting. b. for trains passing. c. reversing rights of trains. d. movements regulated by time. e. for running in sections. f. for extra trains. g. for annulling trains. h. for annulling an order. i. holding orders. practice may suggest additional forms or combinations of these. in these forms trains are designated by numbers, it being understood that those of odd numbers move in one direction and have the right of track as against opposing trains of even numbers, and that the train rules fix this as well as which train shall ordinarily take the siding. it will be understood that all orders are addressed in the manner required by the rules, including in the address the places where the order is to be delivered, thus: c. & e. train no. , paris. c. & e. train no. , madrid. the forms are accompanied by examples of their use, with variations for different cases and explanatory notes or rules, all being a part of the "standard" rules. following each are the author's remarks: form a.--fixing meeting-point for opposing trains. ---- and ---- will meet at ----. examples. _no. and no. will meet at bombay._ _no. and nd no. will meet at siam._ _no. and extra will meet at hong kong._ _extra north and extra south will meet at yokohama._ trains receiving this order will, with respect to each other, run to the designated point, and having arrived there will pass in the manner provided by the rules. this order is usually given to designate a definite meeting-place at which the trains would not meet under the operation of the time-table and train rules. no. has no right to pass the regular meeting-place if no. is late, until it has arrived; and no. . would hence in such case be delayed unless an order is given authorizing it to proceed. if no. is too late to reach the regular meeting-place before no. may leave, it must, by the rules keep out of the way of no. by waiting at some other point, but an order enables it to run with confidence, without time clearance, to a new meeting-place. it may happen that an order will be useful authorizing trains to meet at their regular meeting-place, when both are behind time or when the inferior train is not much late. in any case it avoids the necessity for allowing any time for clearance. it is not necessary to add to the form of the order as given above, as has been sometimes done, "and pass according to rule." the order should not be burdened with this. the rules respecting train orders should always provide, as above, that _trains ordered to meet at a designated point will both run to that point, and having arrived there will pass each other in the manner provided by the rules, unless otherwise indicated in the order_. this settles the question, which has been raised, of the sufficiency of this form of order, and also renders unnecessary the expression "meet and pass." the word "pass" is best reserved for use in connection with a train going around another moving in the same direction, and it would seem unnecessary to direct trains meeting each other to "pass," as they cannot proceed without passing; and the rules should prescribe the method. this positive meeting-order is generally deemed the safest form of order for opposing trains, as it leaves no room for doubt or calculation in determining how the order is to be executed. in the use of this order for trains of several sections it must be held to apply to all the sections, unless otherwise specified, and each section that is included in the operation of the order should be referred to and is required by the "standard" rules to have copies. if the different sections are to be met at different places, separate orders are best. in the forms contained in a book of rules which appears to have been carefully prepared, is found the following for a train or a section of a train which is to meet one of several sections: "train no. -- will meet and pass ---- sections of train no. -- as follows: first section no. --, at ----; second section, at ----; third section, at ----." some of the objections urged against the practice of including several meeting-points in one order, under the "single order" system, apply equally to this. the whole of this order must be transcribed for and delivered to each section, and each conductor and engineman must acquaint himself with the whole, while but one train is concerned with all of it. the men of each of the sections named must carefully pick out what belongs to them, and those of the first train must exercise great care to avoid missing any of the points named. it will be found vastly better and safer to give a separate order for each meeting. form b. authorizing a train to run ahead of or pass another train running in the same direction. ( .) ---- will pass ---- at ----. ( .) ---- will run ahead of ----, from ---- to ----. examples. ( .) _no. will pass no. at khartoum._ ( .) _no. will run ahead of no. from bengal to madras._ when under this order a train is to pass another, both trains will run according to rule to the designated point and there arrange for the rear train to pass promptly. referring to example , if train no. is superior to no. , the rules should give it the right to pass, as no. must keep out of its way and no order would be required. if no. is the superior and is for any reason running slower than no. and it is desired to permit the latter to pass, an order of this kind is needed. a regular freight train may be in the way of a special passenger train which it is necessary should pass the freight. the order may also be needed for two extras or for regular trains of equal class. if the train passed is the superior, the order does not in terms fully convey to the other all the right needed. having passed, it may be for some time, or at a subsequent period, within the time of the superior train, and it hence would _by the train rules_ be required in turn to clear the track for a train which it had passed a short time before. a fair inference is that, if allowed to pass, it is of course to proceed ahead of the other, but if this is not clearly understood or fixed by a rule, the form of the order should be modified for such cases either by adding, "and will run ahead from there," or by making it read as in example indicating the point _to_ as well as that _from_ which the train specified is to "run ahead" of the other. this variation is also for authorizing a train to run ahead of and in the time of another from some point at which the other has not arrived. the point _to_ which it shall so run is to be omitted when it is not desired to impose such limitation. under this use of the order no. is assumed to be late, and no. , an inferior train waiting for it, is allowed to proceed in its time. no. may be a first-class passenger train waiting for connections, and no. may be a local freight train which is enabled by this order to proceed with its work; or perhaps it may be a train starting from some way-station or junction at which the rules would require it to wait for no. to pass. no. is to assume that the other may be ahead at any point beyond that named in the order, and run accordingly. the dispatcher of course provides, by giving more definite orders as soon as he can do so, that no unnecessary delay arises to the superior train from the operation of the order. the train rules should make it clear that _when a train is authorized to "run ahead" of another by special order, the train following must guard against collision with the train ahead, as during the operation of the order their relative rights as to superiority (when any existed) are reversed_. an order giving a train the right to use a given number of minutes in the time of a superior train going in the same direction, comes properly under "time-orders." form c.--giving a train of inferior right the right of track against an opposing train of superior right. ---- has right of track against ---- ---- to ----. examples. ( ) _no. has right of track against no. , mecca to mirbat._ ( ) _extra has right of track against no. , natal to ratlam._ this order gives a train of inferior right the right of track against one of superior right to a designated point. if the trains meet at the designated point, the train of inferior right must take the siding, unless the rules or orders otherwise indicate. under this order, as illustrated by example ( ), if the train of superior right reaches the designated point before the other arrives, it may proceed, provided it keeps clear of the schedule time of the train of inferior right as many minutes as the inferior train was before required by the train rules to keep clear of the superior train. if the train of superior right, before meeting, reaches a point beyond that named in the order, the conductor must stop the other train where it is met and inform it of his arrival. under example ( ) the train of superior right cannot go beyond the designated point until the extra train arrives. when the train of inferior right has reached the designated point, the order is fulfilled, and the train must then be governed by time-table and train-rules or further orders. the following modification of this form of order will be applicable for giving a work train the right of track over all other trains in case of a wreck or break in the track:-- example. _work train extra has right of track over all trains between stockholm and edinburgh from p. m._ ----. this gives the work train the exclusive right of the track between the points designated. this form is equivalent in effect to that known as the "regardless" order, which reads thus: "_no. will run to (lyons) regardless of no. ._" the term "regardless," although having something of a reckless sound, has been taken as exactly indicating the purport of this order, viz.: that a train is to cease to regard certain rights of another which are conferred by the rules, but are suspended or abrogated by this order. here, as in other duplicate orders, it is understood that _a new right conferred upon one train takes away or limits a right of some other train_; and that an order allowing a train to run regardless of another requires the latter to keep out of the way. it was thought best, and is certainly an improvement, to dispense with the old designation and adopt for this order a title and phraseology indicating its purport more specifically. the ordinary use of this order is to advance a train to a point within the time of one superior to it, when there may be uncertainty as to the trains actually meeting there. the trains would usually proceed expecting to meet, but anticipating possible new orders. if the dispatcher thinks he is likely to have further orders, he may find it best to add, "and ask for further orders." this will bring the trainmen at once to the office on arrival if the opposing train is not seen. a positive meeting-order is to be preferred to this form when it will as well serve the purpose. a note to this effect was proposed in the time convention, but it was finally determined that this should be left to the discretion of operating officers. the use of this order for a train "running ahead," as proposed in the former edition of the train wire, is unnecessary with the second example under form b. the effect of an order in form c is to reverse for a time or for certain parts of the track the relations of trains as respects superiority of right. some have failed to perceive that, under certain circumstances, it will be proper for a train mentioned in this order to leave the designated point before the other has arrived. this point is settled by the rules with the form, but it may not be altogether clear to some that the conclusion is correct. the following will perhaps make it clear: let a, b and c in the following diagram represent three stations, of which b is the schedule meeting-point of two trains running in the directions indicated, no. being the superior train and having the right to run on its own time beyond b if no. has not arrived. a b c no. [hand] [hand]no. . both trains are due at b at the same time. if no. is late before arriving at a an order is given: "_no. has right of track against no. from b to a._" under this order no. becomes temporarily superior to no. , and obtains the right to run to a on its own time without regard to the time or rights of no. . on the arrival of the latter at a it may be found to have made up so much time that it can proceed toward b and reach that or some intermediate point before no. can, on its own schedule time, reach such point. may it do so? there is clearly nothing in the order or in the rules to prevent. no. is, for the time being, the inferior train. it is in the position of a train having no rights against no. , and must be governed by that fact. but any train inferior to no. may go from a to b or to any point if it can clear no. in accordance with the rules. it should be held as a cardinal principle in train dispatching that _an order is not to be taken as having greater effect than is actually expressed_. in the order in question one train is directed to run to a point without respect to the rights of another. this annuls the rights of the one _as respects the regular time of the other_ for the portion of the track designated. the rights are simply reversed. no. is now required to keep clear of the time of no. as laid down in the time-table, with as much clearance as the train rules required of no. as respects the time of no. before the order was given. it cannot be supposed that no. may possibly run ahead of time from b. this could only be done on an order to do so duplicated to no. and to any other train affected by it. if b is the point given in the order, no such question can arise as to either train, as each is due at the same time. if, however, c is the given point, it is upon the assumption that no. is too late to get farther than c without interference with no. . if no. makes up time, so that on reaching c it is found that it has time to go farther and still keep clear of no. , as required by the rules, its schedule rights will admit of this, and the order does not in any way interfere with them excepting in adding to them what is supposed to be required to enable the train to reach c. it would appear then that when an order gives a train of inferior right the right of track to a given point against a superior train, the train arriving first at the designated point may go beyond it, before the other arrives, to any point where it can clear the regular time of the opposing train the number of minutes required. the train thus passing the given point must run as the inferior of the two until the other is met, and should be required, as in the rule, to clear the other by as much as the train rules prescribe for clearance of similar trains. as a further illustration of this question, suppose that a general order were issued giving to a regular train the right of track against all other trains. it is not to be supposed that this would prevent other trains from running, excepting as they might fall into the time of the train to which this right was given. or the order under form d giving all trains the right of track against a given train, does not prevent the designated train from running freely where it does not get in the way of other regular trains. it is evident that this form of order differs from the "meeting" order in this important respect, that under certain circumstances trains may meet at some other point than that named in the order, and that it may be said that "when either train has reached the point designated in this order, it may proceed, if it can do so without trespassing on the schedule time of the other." the point is further illustrated under the operation of form d. it is evident that, if the inferior train is an extra, it has no schedule time by which the superior train can be guided, and hence the latter, as provided by the rule, cannot go beyond the designated point until the extra has arrived. the careful discussion of the question here involved is justified by the fact that practical men hold different views respecting it, and many rules determine it differently or leave it wholly or partly unsettled. the fact that there is a considerable diversity of opinion upon so important a point, indicates that the course to be pursued under the circumstances should be clearly set forth in the rules. a rule should not, however, be made to add to the effect of an order. it is usually only needed by way of explanation or to authoritatively determine that upon which a doubt may exist. it may occur to some that the trains meeting at an unexpected point may not recognize each other as the trains designated in the order. it must be presumed that conductors will observe all trains met, and knowing what regular trains are due will know when they have met them, and not wait elsewhere for them; and that extras are distinguished from regular trains by proper signals. to avoid delays, however, a provision is made that a train of superior right reaching a point beyond that designated in the order before meeting the other train, must notify the latter when it is met. as in that case the train of superior right has not the right of track, it must take the siding where it meets the train which has been given the right of track against it. when the train of inferior right arrives at the point designated in the order before meeting the other, the order is fulfilled; and having no longer the right of track it must take the siding at that point or at such other point as it may reach under the operation of the rules in time to clear the train of superior right. an order in form c with time limit is objectionable, as there is danger of overlooking the time limit. it is better to use a distinct form for time orders. form d.--giving all regular trains the right of track over a given train. all regular trains have right of track against ---- between ---- and ----. example. _all regular trains have right of track against no. between moscow and berlin._ this order gives to any regular train of inferior right receiving it the right of track over the train named in the order, and the latter must clear the schedule times of all regular trains, the same as if it were an extra. this form involves the same principles as the last, and might have been included under the same general head but for the wish to give it greater distinctness. the use of "over" in the title and the rule, instead of "against" used elsewhere, is probably the result of oversight. no form was presented by the convention committee for giving to a given train the right of track against all regular trains. if circumstances require, such an order can of course be given on the same plan as others involving the same principles. form e.--time orders. ( .) ---- will run ---- late from ---- to ----. ( .) ---- will wait at ---- until ---- for ----. examples. ( .) _no. will run min. late from joppa to mainz._ ( .) _no. will wait at muscat until a. m. for no. ._ form ( ) makes the schedule time of the train named, between the points mentioned, as much later as the time stated in the order, and any other train receiving the order is required to run, with respect to this later time, the same as before required to run, with respect to the regular schedule time. the time in the order should be such as can be easily added to the schedule time. under form ( ) the train of superior right must not pass the designated point before the time given, unless the other train has arrived. the train of inferior right is required to run with respect to the time specified, the same as before required to run with respect to the regular schedule time of the train of superior right. the character and effect of these two forms of time orders are sufficiently clear from the explanatory rules. the first simply sets back a schedule and the second is positive as to the time to which the superior train must wait. there might have been added a form authorizing an inferior train to use a given number of minutes of the time of a superior train. this would have applied to any point. the effect would have been, for the particular inferior train, the same as under example for all trains. it was probably concluded that, if a train was to run late, all others should have the benefit, and that there would be no particular advantage in a form for but one train. the time-limit feature appears also in forms g and h. many object to time-orders. they are certainly not as definite as a positive meeting-order, and for this reason, and because there is a chance of error in the calculations required, they are not to be preferred. a time-table, however, is a "time order," and it is not always possible to avoid directing trains to run with reference to time. a judicious dispatcher will discriminate as to the cases in which he should do this. in all cases such even number of minutes or hours should be given as will reduce to a minimum the risk of making the necessary addition or subtraction. the risk of a time order and of all running on time, arises largely from the possibility of trainmen not having the correct time. the allowance of five minutes for difference in watches does not appear to answer the purpose for which it is designed, as men will trespass on this. the objections made to time orders appear to be overcome as far as possible by the forms presented, and now generally adopted, with the present excellence of time-keepers and the precautions insisted on for preserving them in good condition. form f.--for sections of regular trains. ---- will carry signals ---- to ---- for ----. examples. _no. will carry signals astrakhan to cabul for eng. ._ _ nd no. will carry signals london to dover for eng. ._ this may be modified as follows: _engines , , and will run as st, d and d sections of no. london to dover._ for annulling a section. _eng. is annulled as second section of no. from dover._ if there are other sections following add: _following sections will change numbers accordingly._ the character of train for which signals are carried may be stated. each section affected by the order must have copies, and must arrange signals accordingly. when two or more trains are run on the same schedule or time-table time, with the same schedule rights, each carrying signals for that following it, each several train is referred to as a "section." upon some roads these sections following the first train are called extra trains. this method is not recognized under the "standard" rules, the term "extra" being applied only to trains not run by schedule. it is of great importance that the rights of a second or other following section be clearly understood, both by trainmen and those engaged in the issue of telegraphic orders. the general practice is now probably such as to leave but little misapprehension on this point, whatever may have been the case in the past, when with some the rule was to "follow the flag" wherever it might go, instead of as now treating each section, in ascertaining its rights, as though it were running alone on the schedule. when a regular train is to carry signals to denote that a second section is to follow on the same schedule, the author is of the opinion that a train order to this effect should be given in a definite form. rule of the "standard" rules appears to authorize the practice that prevails with some, under which the signals for freight trains running in sections are ordered on by the yard dispatcher or station agent. if the train dispatcher is duly advised, there does not seem to be any serious objection to this, although there are reasons to be urged in favor of all orders affecting the movement of trains being issued from the central office. certainly it would not be wise to delegate this authority as respects passenger trains, and this the "standard" rules recognize. the forms given for sections make the order to carry signals equivalent to an order to run as a section of a regular train. the order annulling a section implies that signals will be removed as the circumstances may require. form g.--for arranging a schedule for a special train. ( .) eng. ---- will run as special ---- train, leaving ---- on ---- on the following schedule, and will have the right of track over all trains: leave ----. ----. arrive ----. example. ( .) _eng. will run as special passenger train, leaving turin on thursday, feb. th, on the following schedule, and will have the right of track over all trains_: _leave turin . p. m._ _pekin . a. m._ _canton . a. m._ _arrive rome . a. m._ example ( ) may be varied by specifying particular trains over which the special shall or shall not have right of track, and any train over which the special train is thus given the right of track must clear its time as many minutes as such train is required to clear the schedule time of a first-class train. ( .) eng. ---- will run as special ---- train, leaving ---- on ---- with the rights of a ---- class train ----, on the following schedule, which is a supplement to time-table no. ----: leave ----. ----. arrive ----. example. ( .) _eng. will run as special passenger train, leaving geneva, thursday, feb. th, with the rights of a first-class train east, on the following schedule, which is a supplement to time-table no. _: _leave geneva . a. m._ _pekin . a. m., passing no. ._ _canton . a. m., meeting no. ._ _arrive athens . a. m._ example ( ) creates a regular train and the specified meeting and passing points are to be regarded as if designated in the same manner as on the time-table. such trains will be governed by all rules which affect regular trains. forms for arranging schedules were not suggested in the former edition of the train wire, and their use has not been very general. they appear to be adapted to some special circumstances and wants, but in the adoption of the "standard" rules some roads have omitted a portion of the provisions under form g. no particular remarks need be made respecting these forms, excepting perhaps that we have here an introduction of the time feature and that any risk from this is enhanced by the considerable number of "times" to be sent by telegraph and observed by trainmen. form h.--extra trains. ---- will run extra from ---- to ----. example. (_a._) _eng. will run extra from berber to gaza._ a train receiving an order to run extra is not required to guard against opposing extras, unless directed by order to do so, but must keep clear of all regular trains, as required by rule. a "work train" is an extra, for which the above form will be used for a direct run in one direction. the authority to occupy a specified portion of the track, as an extra while working, will be given in the following form: (_b._) _eng. will work as an extra from a. m. until p. m. between berne and turin._ the working limits should be as short as practicable, to be changed as the progress of the work may require. the above may be combined, thus: (_c._) _eng. will run extra from berne to turin and work as an extra from a. m. until p. m. between turin and rome._ when an order has been given to "work" between designated points, no other extra must be authorized to run over that part of the track without provision for passing the work train. when it is anticipated that a work train may be where it cannot be reached for meeting or passing orders, it may be directed to report for orders at a given time and place, or an order may be given that it shall clear the track for a designated extra in the following form: (_d._) _work train will keep clear of extra , south, between antwerp and brussels after . p. m._ in this case, extra must not pass either of the points named before . p. m., at which time the work train must be out of the way between those points. when the movement of an extra train over the working limits cannot be anticipated by these or other orders to the work train, an order must be given to such extra, to protect itself against the work train, in the following form: (_e._) _extra will protect itself against work train extra between lyons and paris._ this may be added to the order to run extra. a work train when met or overtaken by an extra must allow it to pass without unnecessary detention. when the conditions are such that it may be considered desirable to require that work trains shall at all times protect themselves while on working limits, this may be done under the following arrangements. to example (_b_) add the following words: (_f._) _protecting itself against all trains_. a train receiving this order must, whether standing or moving, protect itself within the working limits (and in both directions on single track) against all trains, in the manner provided in rule . when an extra receives orders to run over working limits it must be advised that the work train is within those limits by adding to example (_a_) the words: (_g._) _eng. is working as an extra between berne and turin._ a train receiving this order must run expecting to find the work train within the limits named. under form h it has been undertaken to cover the whole subject of orders for extra trains, excepting for cases which come naturally under other forms, as when an extra is ordered to meet another train. the term "wild" has been quite extensively used for these trains, and history should preserve the fact that on some roads, when a train was ordered to run extra, it was directed to "wildcat." an order for a train to run extra is very simple. the train is accurately designated by the number or name of its engine, and the order reading as in example (_a_) is the foundation for those which follow. this is of course not a duplicate order. but one train is concerned, and there is no other train to be notified until it becomes necessary to forward the extra by meeting or other orders. in those it is described as an extra and treated as any other train, but in the meantime it must keep out of the way of all regular trains, and the dispatcher must keep it in hand and especially guard against having more than one extra on the same part of the track at the same time. here is an element of danger where the necessities require frequent extra trains. whenever practicable, trains should be run on a regular schedule, but it will often happen that there is no regular train upon which signals may be carried for a train that must be run, and it must go as an extra. a precaution which has been found valuable is for the dispatcher to have before him a large blackboard on which he shall place conspicuously the number of each extra ordered. the habit, soon acquired, of looking at this whenever an extra is ordered, has proved a sufficient safeguard where this plan has been used. there is a class of extras which cannot be dispensed with, and the management of which gives rise to serious difficulty. these are the material or "work" trains. these trains must work upon the track away from stations, often with a large force of men, and delays to their operations cause expense as well as hindrance to work. at the same time they must not be permitted to interfere with the passage of regular trains, nor of others more than can be avoided. the solving of this problem has been attempted in various ways. some allow the "work train" to occupy the track by right, except that it must keep out of the way of regular trains. some permit it to work under flag "until freight trains come in sight." to get it out of the way for any but regular trains, the want must be anticipated, and an order given while it is within reach for the work train to report for orders at a designated hour and place. this plan does not give as complete control of the movements of the work train as is desirable. a plan which has commended itself during long use, and is presented in the foregoing rules, is as follows: the work train, previous to starting out for the day, receives an order to run extra to the part of road where its work lies. at the same time, and, if convenient, in the same order, it is authorized to work upon the part of the track desired, between two contiguous telegraph stations, a specified time being added, if convenient, at which the train will have to go to one of the offices limiting the working ground, for further instructions, if it is foreseen that it may be wanted about that time for this purpose. confining the working limits between two contiguous telegraph stations leaves the smallest practicable part of the track beyond complete control. this practically makes a section of the track for the time being a "yard," through which extras cannot pass without looking for yard engines, as is usually provided where yard rules include a portion of the main track. the rules provide two methods for operating "work train" on the section assigned, a note by the time convention committee indicating that either or both may be adopted, according to circumstances. one of these requires the train to protect itself against all trains; the other allows it to work without protection, and requires extras to look out for it and protect themselves against it, after receiving notice as to where it is working. under the first plan the work train is required to keep signals out at all times for its protection, and in running to either limit of its working ground to fully protect itself against any extra which might come. it is of course required to keep clear of all regular trains, and when running to or from its working ground is provided with such meeting-orders as may be required. under this plan, if the dispatcher finds it necessary to send an extra over the working grounds, he informs it in the order that the work train is there (_g_). this furnishes a precaution in addition to the signals of the work train, and the proceeding is entirely safe. it can be no less so than the practice of working under flag in the time of a delayed regular freight train until it appears in sight, and this plan seems to afford an entirely practicable method for working these trains with the least interference with their work and with other trains, and with entire safety. under the plan by which the work train is under no requirement to use any precautions to protect itself on working ground, if another extra is to pass over that ground there is only the notice to such extra of the presence of the work train, and the necessity of protecting against it. this may be sufficient with a clear view, but there are many circumstances where the double precaution would seem to be best, as the requirement that signals shall be kept a given distance ahead of a moving train is scarcely likely to be fully complied with. the plan in which the work train is required to protect itself is not to be viewed as a case of divided responsibility, in which each party may depend on the other. the requirement for the work train is absolute. an extra getting a notice as to where the work train is employed is not required to protect itself. such notice would lead to keeping the train under greater control and looking for the signals of the work train, and whether the rule is that the work train shall protect itself or not it would be best to give such notice, as this would enable extras to run with confidence and without protection against the work train on parts of the road where it was not employed. as to which of the methods provided by the rule shall be used, this must depend somewhat upon circumstances. where the passing of an extra train is very infrequent, the constant putting out of signals by the work train would seem to those charged with the duty so unnecessary that they would be likely to neglect it, and it would be better under such circumstances to require extras to protect when orders cannot be given. when extras are so frequent that the loss of time in protecting themselves would be very serious, it would be better to put the duty on the work train. there would be the advantage then of the daily habit on the part of those attending to this duty. form j.--holding order. hold ----. examples. ( ) _hold no. ._ ( ) _hold all trains east._ as any order for which "o k" has been given and acknowledged operates as a holding order for the train to which it is addressed, this form will only be used in special cases to hold trains until orders can be given or for some other emergency. the reason for holding may be added, as "for orders." this order is not to be used for holding a train while orders are given to other trains against it which are not at the same time given to it in duplicate. it must be respected by conductors and enginemen of trains thereby directed to be held as if addressed to them. conductors, when informed of the order, must sign for it, and their signatures must be sent and "complete" obtained. when a train has been so held it must not go until the order to hold is annulled, or an order is given in the form: "---- _may go_." this must be addressed to the person or persons to whom the order to hold was addressed, and must be delivered in the same manner. the rules and explanations under this form are so complete that comment as to the design and significance of the order is unnecessary. in view of much former practice, too much importance cannot be attached to the provision relating to what the holding order shall _not_ be used for. form k.--annulling a schedule train. ---- of ---- is annulled. examples. ( ) _no. of feb. th is annulled._ ( ) _no. , due to leave naples saturday, feb. th, is annulled._ adding "_from alaska_," or "_between alaska and halifax_," when appropriate. this order takes away all rights of the train annulled and authorizes any train or person receiving it to use the track as if the train annulled were not on the time-table. if a train is annulled to a point named, its rights beyond that point remain unaffected. the train dispatcher may direct any operator to omit repeating back an order annulling a train, until he has occasion to deliver it. when a train has been annulled it must not be again restored under its original number by special order. as this is a general order, which may or may not have to be delivered to trains at all telegraph stations, it is very properly provided that repeating back at once by each office need not be insisted upon. the restoration of an annulled train under its original number would tend to confusion, and the impropriety of such action is here recognized. when a train is annulled it naturally follows that orders previously issued to it cease to be of effect and the dispatcher must see that the duplicates of such orders, held by other trains, are annulled, if from not doing so confusion or delay would arise. ordinarily the order annulling the train would be sufficient, if sent to trains holding these orders. if a section of a train is annulled it would seem that the same general rule should apply. the "standard" rules do not touch on this and it would be difficult to frame and operate a rule upon any other than the plan pointed out. it may be suggested that orders held by the annulled section should be transferred to the section following it, and which, by the rules, takes its place. this would be convenient in some cases and when so might be directed; but there may be no following section, and, if there is, the circumstances may have so changed since the orders were issued as to render them inapplicable. the transfer of orders without the usual precautions to ensure their correct reception is objectionable and it is best to avoid it when not absolutely necessary. the better way is no doubt to leave to the dispatcher the disposition of orders issued for a train afterward annulled, whether such train be a section or otherwise. it would have been well if the "standard" rules had made some explicit declaration on this point. form l.--annulling or superseding an order. order no. ---- is annulled. this will be numbered, transmitted, and signed for as other orders. if an order which is to be annulled has not been delivered to a train, the annulling order will be addressed to the operator, who will destroy all copies of the order annulled but his own, and write on that: _annulled by order no._ ----. an order superseding another may be given, adding, "_this supersedes order no._ ----," or adding, "_instead of_ ----." example. _no. and no. will meet at sparta instead of at thebes._ an order which includes more than one specified movement must not be superseded. an order that has been annulled or superseded must not be again restored by special order under its original number. in the address of an order annulling or superseding another order, the train first named must be that to which rights were given by the order annulled or superseded, and when the order is not transmitted simultaneously to all concerned it must be sent to the point at which that train is to receive it and the required response first given, before the order is sent for other trains. the annulling order is here properly made subject to all the safeguards adopted for orders directing the movements of trains, and placed by its number in the series with them. superseding one order by another without the previous process of annulling is here provided for with the important provision that this method shall not be used for an order including more than one specified movement. it would seldom be applicable to such a case, and if it were it might tend to confusion, so that it is better to annul the whole order and give new instructions in separate orders. the provision that an annulled order shall not be restored under its original number is quite necessary to avoid the confusion which might arise under the opposite course. the requirement as to priority in transmission of this order is important, in view of the fact that orders reverse the rights of trains, and the reason here is the same as that which obtains in the original transmission. the time convention rules prescribe the forms, etc., for the blanks on which train orders are to be written. these forms are here shown, with the specifications for the manifold-books. some slight changes have been made in these by roads adopting them, but in all essential features they have not been departed from, so far as the author is aware. standard train order blank for order. +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | bound here. | | | | | | perforated line. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | london & paris railway company | | | | telegraphic train order no. --. | | | | _superintendent's office_, march , . | +----+-------------------- --------------------+----+ |form| _for_ station _to_ c. & e. _of_ no. . |form| | | | | +----+ +----+ | | | | | | | | |conductor and engineman must each have a copy of this order. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ |_rec'd_ : p. _m._ _made_ complete _at_ : p. _m._ | |_rec'd by_ jones _op'r_. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ specifications for train order form and books for operators for orders. form as here shown. blank space for order inches, with no lines. the mode of filling the blanks is indicated by small type. names of divisions and office to be varied to suit each division. form - / x inches below perforated line. book - / x - / inches. three hundred leaves; stitched; bound at top; paper cover on face and top; very stiff back on lower side. paper opaque, green, sized, and of such thickness as to admit of making good copies with no. faber pencil. to be used with carbon paper, - / x inches, and a stiff tin, same size, corners rounded. standard train order blank for order. +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | bound here. | | | | perforated line. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | london & paris railway company | | | | telegraphic train order no. | | ---- | | _superintendent's office_, march , . | +----+-------------------------------------------------+----+ |form| |form| | | _for_ station _to_ c. & e. _of_ no. | | | | | | +----+ +----+ | | | conductor and engineman must each have a copy of | |this order. | +===========================================================+ |_time received_ : a. _m._ o. k. _given at_ : a. _m._| +==========+============+======+=========+======+===========+ |conductor.| engineman. |train.| made. | at |received by| +----------+------------+------+---------+------+-----------+ | jones. | brown. | |complete.| : | dennison. | +----------+------------+------+---------+------+-----------+ | | | | | | | +----------+ +------+---------+------+-----------+ | | (omit this | | | | | +----------+column where+------+---------+------+-----------+ | |engineman is| | | | | +----------+not required+------+---------+------+-----------+ | | to sign.) | | | | | +----------+ +------+---------+------+-----------+ | | | | | | | +----------+ +------+---------+------+-----------+ | | | | | | | +----------+ +------+---------+------+-----------+ | | | | | | | +----------+------------+------+---------+------+-----------+ specifications for train order form and books for operators for orders. form as here shown. blank space for order inches, with no lines. the mode of filling the blanks is indicated by small type. names of divisions and office to be varied to suit each division. form - / x - / inches below perforated line. book - / x - / inches. three hundred leaves; stitched; bound at top; paper cover on face and top; very stiff back on lower side. paper opaque, white, sized, and of such thickness as to admit of making good copies with no. faber pencil. to be used with carbon paper, - / x inches, and a stiff tin, same size, corners rounded. the following is the clearance card proposed in connection with the "standard" rules to be used when the train order signal is operated on the plan of rule (b): +------------------------------------------------------------+ | london & paris railway company | | clearance card. | | | | dover, : a. m. march , . | | ------------------------------------------------ ------ | |conductor and engineman no. | | ------ | | i have no orders for your train. signal is out for no. .| | -------| | | | john jones, | | ------------------------------------- | | operator. | | | | this does not interfere with or countermand any orders | | you may have received. | | conductor must see that the number of his train | | is entered in the above form correctly. | | conductor and engineman must each have a copy. | +------------------------------------------------------------+ chapter xi. general remarks. rules as to rights of track. the respective rights of trains are frequently spoken of in what has gone before. any method of dispatching must be subject to modification in some of the details to accord with the particular rules of the road governing train rights. a great deal of ingenuity has been expended in constructing such rules, with a view to avoiding delay to trains under all imagined circumstances. trains to which the superior right of track has been assigned have been required to wait at meeting-points twenty, thirty or more minutes, and changing or movable rights have been connected with this, and allowances have been made for "variation in watches." these devices may occasionally prove useful, and rules are necessary to govern the trains in the most of their movements, as the telegraph may sometimes be out of order and at best cannot control the general movements of trains as well as it can be done by rule. but where the telegraph is managed with anything like the perfection now possible, the occasions are few upon which it is unavailable for any long time; and whatever may have been the seeming necessity formerly for complicated rules and time allowances, it would seem that these may now be greatly simplified, as has in fact been done in the "standard" rules. these rules provide that all trains running in one direction, specified on the time-table, shall have absolute right of track over opposing trains of the same class, the rule being entirely without complication by time allowance for clearance. this is exceedingly simple and interposes no difficulties in ascertaining the respective rights of these trains. the precaution is observed of requiring superior trains to stop at schedule meeting-points unless the switches are seen to be right and the track clear, and to run cautiously, prepared to stop at other points where a train may be met that has not been met at a schedule meeting-point. this, however, adds no complication to the rule. for trains of different classes it is simply arranged that those of any class shall clear the main track five minutes before the time of those of a superior class. it is not within the plan of this work to enter upon a full discussion of the various methods of arranging train rights. it is only insisted that the rules should be simple. this not only tends to safety in their ordinary operation, but greatly simplifies the work of train dispatching and removes the risks to which this work is subjected by a complicated system of train rules. the reduction of the amount of mental effort required of the dispatcher, in determining what aid he shall give to trains by special orders, reduces the risk of his making mistakes in the preparation of these orders, and the simplicity here urged is in the direct line of the work of the time convention committee in the preparation of the "standard" rules. numbering switches. of those matters fixed by the train rules which directly affect the train dispatching, few are more important than the arrangements which determine how trains meeting shall pass each other. it is usually understood and provided that, when trains meet, those having the right of track shall keep the main track, with sometimes an exception to this in favor of trains which cannot go on the siding without backing. where this latter provision exists it renders it unnecessary for either train to pass the switch in the face of the other when they are to meet at a siding open only at one end. it is sometimes, however, necessary to put a superior train on the siding for a train that is too heavy or too long to go on, or for some other reason. the train order must settle this, but this usually adds to its length. the following provision has been found to entirely meet the case: at each siding or group of switches the main track switches are numbered from no. , and the numbers, all running in the same general direction, are painted on the switch signals with the initial letter of the station or siding. for instance, at the london passing siding the northernmost switch will be marked l , and the southernmost l . an order is given requiring trains no. and no. to meet at london, and it is desired to put the superior train, no. , going north, on the siding. the order would then read: _no. and no. will meet at london no. ._ train no. may then run to switch no. on the main track, and train no. can go no farther. it is a physical impossibility for the trains to pass at that switch without no. going on the siding, which it would do without question under the operation of a rule requiring that _when trains meet on orders the train shall take the siding which can do so without backing_. this simple arrangement indicates also which siding is to be used at a station having several. it economizes telegraphing very much and is perfectly definite. this plan is especially valuable when the arrangement of sidings is not of the most simple character, or when three or more trains are to meet or pass at the same point, at or near the same time. the simplicity with which the placing of the trains is effected leaves nothing to be desired. each goes to its own place without hesitation or loss of time. in all railroad operations we now see increased attention given to minute details. to this is due much of the marvelous advance in every department. this is especially evident in all mechanical appliances. it is very apparent in the construction of the "standard" rules. the suggestion here brought forward is in this direction. instead of directing trains to meet at a given station where there may be doubt as to the exact point, leaving them to ascertain on arrival which switch is to be used or which siding is clear, this plan gives in the order the precise point and also conveys the information as to which train will take the siding. this suggestion, made in the earlier edition of this work, has been adopted only to a very limited extent, so far as the author is aware. he is so fully convinced of its value that he feels like urging its careful consideration. to fully carry out the plan, those using the "standard" rules would have to add the provision above indicated requiring those trains to take the siding which can do so without backing. double track. with more than one track the business of train dispatching is usually little more than to keep slow trains out of the way of faster ones. the protection of trains unexpectedly stopped from trains following, may be effected by the "block system" in use on many of our best roads. single track work may be needed when one of the tracks is blocked, but unfortunately the men engaged on double track do not become familiar with the methods for single track, and cannot usually operate them satisfactorily in emergencies. the use of the opposite tracks for laying off trains is frequently practiced, but usually under the protection of signals only. where there are two, three or four tracks a much more extended use of them might be made for passing trains around each other, by the adoption of the methods for single track train dispatching, with good results in the saving of sidings and in keeping heavy trains moving, and it is not improbable that expenditure for additional tracks might sometimes be postponed for considerable periods by the proper adaptation of the telegraph. there would seem to be here an opportunity for managers to keep down their capital account by increasing the capacity of their tracks by the addition of a wire. that this has not been done in many cases may have been owing to the slow advance of the science of train dispatching in past years, or perhaps to limited information on the part of railroad owners and officers as to its capabilities. it is certainly true that single track roads with siding facilities none too good are now doing an amount of business that not many years ago would have been thought to imperatively demand additional tracks. chapter xii. conclusion. telegraphic train dispatching came with the telegraph. the first attempts were very crude. as late as the year , on one of our most important railroads, the plan was for any conductor to telegraph from a station where he might be, to the conductor of an opposing train at the next station, stating when he would leave, and where he would meet the other. when the two came to an understanding they went ahead. the early orders, in the attempt to render them more secure, were often obscured by accumulated cautions as to how to run, and by general directions. to undertake now to give the historical facts of those early days would require more research than the author has been able to give, and might involve controversy into which he does not care to enter. it appears likely that methods nearly like the present "single order" were the earliest tried, and these seem to have been more widely used than the "duplicate." the latter was at least not long behind the other. it was originated and carefully worked up in several independent quarters, and from these it has been adopted by others. the author has never used any other method. adopting it in , it was in use for some years before he was aware that others were in the same path, who may have commenced at a still earlier date. the closing paragraph of the first edition of this work was as follows: "this method is growing in favor, and one object of the author will have been attained if this discussion shall aid in promoting its general adoption." in preparing this second edition the fact has constantly appeared that the former words of recommendation related to points which are now realized facts on a majority of our railroads and that the method then urged has now reached the then desired position of "general adoption." the author cannot take leave of his subject without a special word to railroad managers. no "system" has yet been devised, or ever will be, that will work itself. rules cannot be given to men with the expectation that they will take them up, master their principles and operate them satisfactorily, especially in so important a matter as that under discussion, without careful instruction and intelligent supervision on the part of those who, from their official position, are responsible for the results. a superintendent who is not himself particularly informed respecting the rules and methods of his telegraph department, the character and capabilities of the men employed, and the manner in which their duties are performed, cannot expect to secure the advantages which the telegraph is capable of giving. perhaps the first public intimation that anything is wrong may be a series of so-called "accidents" on his line. investigation points to the carelessness of some operator or dispatcher as the cause. deeper probing would perhaps discover that such carelessness was the natural consequence of lack of constant and painstaking supervision. besides securing for such particular supervision a competent and trustworthy person whose special business it should be, the superintendent can never get away from the necessity of constantly impressing upon such official the responsibilities of his position, discussing with him the details of the work, and seeing, at least occasionally, with his own eyes, how it is performed. the telegraph may be viewed as holding to the railroad a relation analogous to that of the nervous system to the body. from the center of authority and intelligence it carries information and instructions to every member. it keeps in motion the whole body, which, without this, would be in a measure lifeless. its ceaseless and healthful activity is all-important; and as failure of the nervous energy is to the human frame, so to the railroad is a falling off in the vital force operating through the train wire. a tonic is needed and perhaps a change of doctors. the author's duties for some time have not brought him into direct connection with the operation of trains, and he will probably never again be engaged in this department of railroad work. his interest in it, however, is unabated, and his desire that the methods he has endeavored to set forth shall meet with enlarged usefulness, until better shall be found, has led him to this second effort to present what has been his study during the most of his business life, and now leads him to urge upon those now actively engaged in this work that the "price" of success, as of "liberty," is "eternal vigilance." index. abbreviations "accidents" resulting from lack of supervision acknowledgment of o k, effect of " " " succession of acknowledging "complete" acknowledging ok addressing orders addresses of orders, in order of superiority "advance" order annulling an order " " before train arrives annulling a train blackboard, showing extras blank for " " order " " " " order clearance card, form " " use of clip, on engine , collision, following train guard against combining forms "complete," first to superior train " given by dispatcher , " write on order " acknowledgement of " when given , , conclusion copies of orders, how keep , delivering orders at superintendent's office " " methods of " " without signatures direction of trains, affecting rights , disabled train, orders to dispatcher, the " orders should be issued by " transmitting orders , double track duplicate order, described " " safe in unskilled hands duplicate, orders in enginemen, signatures of , , expiration of orders explanatory rules, needed extra trains figures, use of , fixed methods, best fixed signal , form a, fixing meeting points form b, train running ahead form c, reversing rights form d, right to all regular trains over given train form e, time orders form f, for sections form g, arranging schedule form h, extra trains form j, holding order form k, annulling a train form l, annulling an order forms of orders " " classification of general remarks holding effect of order not signed for holding order holding train after o k is acknowledged " " by signals for time " " when telegraph fails inferior right, defined initials, use of instructions, not include in orders language of orders, simple manifold, the " orders to be written in meeting order, use and advantage of meeting point, copy of order for operator at " " orders not delivered at numbering orders , numbering switches vii, numbers for trains o k sent and acknowledged , operator, the order, the, holds train after o k is acknowledged " interposed to prevent improper signal " one movement in orders, remove from book , , " functions, etc. " held by annulled train " how long in force , " including more than one transaction , " in duplicate " limited to express terms " no erasures, etc " not send too long in advance " not to meeting point for delivery " sent to superintendent daily " to trains away from telegraph stations " to be strictly construed , " who issue paper for orders , passing, in same direction passing point in form c, leaving, before opposite train arrives pilot, relations to train " to have orders position of signal, normal precautions in issuing orders printed forms for orders reading order aloud , , record, the " of orders regardless order, superseded repeating orders , , , responsibility, divided reversing rights rights reversed by orders rights, rules respecting rules " construe strictly rules of time convention, when adopted rule " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " a " b " " " running ahead schedule, meaning of schedule time, made later sections, included in order " meeting order for " order for " ordered by yard dispatcher " rights of semaphore, for signal signal, the train order " fixed, for train orders signals, " " and " " " for emergencies , , " not shown at night , " operator's " meaning "train order" signatures, of enginemen , , " for" "order, not taken " for orders, how taken and transmitted , , " for superior train before "complete" for inferior " object of " transmission of " with " " order signs and abbreviations simultaneous transmission , single order, described " " fatal defect sound operators, best special train, schedule for specimen orders , succession, in repeating order , " in acknowledging "ok" superiority, addresses in order of superior right, defined superseding an order supervision, necessary " of operators system, american systems, two in use telegraphing, careful habit in telegraph, failing " effect on order , , , " relation to railroad time limit in form c, objectionable " of train, record and report time orders time table, meaning of tracks, orders for use of, in yards train dispatching train of superior right, when take siding train order blanks , train orders, forms of train order signal, normal position of train rule , how affects orders train rules, knowledge of train sheet trains, all regular, right over given train " away from telegraph station, orders for " designated by numbers " report time of " to be governed strictly by orders transmission, the " first steps in " incomplete, how act " process after , " simultaneous , "understanding," use of "whenever practicable," in rule wild trains "wildcat" order work train , " " working limits for " " given right of track yards, use of track in william p. hall. pres. a. w. hall, gen. man. w. s. gilmore, treas. s. marsh young. gen. agt. [illustration: the hall signal company,] sole manufacturers and owners of several forms and systems of thoroughly tested automatic railroad signals of proven and guaranteed reliability. ---------- for which the following claims are made: st. that they are the only reliable automatic railroad signals in the market. d. that they are the only automatic signals that can he successfully operated on all classes of roadbed. d. that they are the only automatic signals that invariably signal "danger" when struck by lightning. th. that they are cheaper to erect and maintain than any other signals that have given even approximately satisfactory service. th. that they have caused fewer unnecessary stops in proportion to the number of operations than any automatic signals in use at the present time. th. that they can be operated on either the permissive or absolute block system. th. that they fully guard against the most common classes of railroad accidents. ---------- we are prepared to fully substantiate the above claims to any railroad official desiring such information. ---------- the hall signal company, broadway, new york. western office, - the rookery, chicago. the e. s. greeley & co., and dey street, new york, manufacturers and importers of and dealers in [illustration: improved victor key, $ . . the latest and best. send for circular.] telegraph and telephone supplies, railway signals, fire alarms and electrical bells, etc., and all kinds of electrical materials and experimenters' supplies. ---------- standard electrical measurement apparatus, medical and other batteries, blasting machines, etc. * * * * * * transcriber's note: hyphenation was not standardized. transcriptions for the two reproduced forms which show handwritten orders are provided. as the author testifies, they are not very legible and the worse parts are marked [unclear]. one form has two symbols of a hand pointing which are displayed as [hand]. generously made available by the internet archive/american libraries.) transcriber's note: minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed. words printed in italics are marked with underscores: _italics_. words printed in bold are marked with tildes: ~bold~. a caret (^) is used to indicate that the following character is printed as a superscript. [illustration: photograph and written signature of william robinson] the invention of the track circuit the history of dr. william robinson's invention of the track circuit the fundamental unit which made possible our present automatic block signaling and interlocking systems signal section american railway association new york preface believing that no more fitting memorial can be prepared in honor of dr. william robinson than to reproduce the salient points relating to his great achievement as written and published by himself in under the title of "history of automatic electric and electrically controlled fluid pressure signal systems for railroads," the committee has accordingly drawn largely from this pamphlet for the material contained in part i. part ii is devoted to w. a. baldwin, formerly general superintendent of the pennsylvania railroad, who was responsible for the first installations of automatic block signals controlled by track circuits. as this memorial would not be complete without a description of the track circuit, its principle and operation under present day signaling practices, part iii is accordingly devoted to this subject. herbert s. balliet, _chairman_; keith e. kellenberger, henry m. sperry, _committee_. contents resolution i the invention of the track circuit robinson's patent robinson's description of his invention dr. robinson's record, wesleyan university dr. robinson's record, a.i.e.e. ii william a. baldwin iii the track circuit its principle its characteristics the extent of its use iv the track circuit in great britain and on the continent, by t. s. lascelles some of the first installations track circuits on the continent the track circuit[ ] "perhaps no single invention in the history of the development of railway transportation has contributed more toward safety and despatch in that field than the track circuit. by this invention, simple in itself, the foundation was obtained for the development of practically every one of the intricate systems of railway block signaling in use today wherein the train is, under all conditions, _continuously active_ in maintaining its own protection. "in other words, the track circuit is today the only medium recognized as fundamentally safe by experts in railway signaling whereby _a train or any part thereof may retain continuous and direct control of a block signal while occupying any portion of the track guarded by the signal_." [ ] from the third annual report of _the block signal and train control board to the interstate commerce commission_. dated nov. , . resolution adopted at annual meeting of signal section, a.r.a. chicago, june, whereas, almighty god, in the exercise of his divine will, has removed from this world our late honorary member, dr. william robinson, and, whereas, dr. robinson, well called the "father of automatic block signaling" because of his basic invention of the closed track circuit august , , began the development of an automatic signal system in and installed the so-called "open circuit" system at kinzua, pa., on the philadelphia & erie, now the pennsylvania railroad, in , and, whereas, he worked on the development of fiber for insulated rail joints in and also developed the channel pin about the same time, and, whereas, one of the first signals controlled by more than one track circuit was installed under his direction at the tehauntepec tunnel in california in , and, whereas, his death at brooklyn, n.y., on january , , at the age of , is an irreparable loss to the association. therefore, we, members of the signal section, american railway association, pay our last sad tribute to his memory and express our deep appreciation of the many and lasting obligations that our members and friends owe to him, and by words and outward token express our sincere sorrow for the irreparable loss the association has sustained. therefore, be it _resolved_, that a fitting memorial to the memory of dr. william robinson, commemorating the th anniversary of his invention of the closed track circuit, be prepared and presented to this association at the annual meeting in . _resolved_, that these resolutions be spread upon the records of the association. the invention of the track circuit about william robinson, then a recent graduate from college, entered actively upon the development of an automatic signal system for preventing accidents of various kinds on railroads. his attention was called to the subject by the consideration of certain railroad accidents which had occurred, and for the prevention of which there were no adequate means known. from this starting point he developed such a system, and in , constructed an elaborate model illustrating the same, which he exhibited at the american institute fair in new york city, in . this system was what is now known in the art as a "wire" or "open circuit" system; that is, there were circuit-instruments in proximity to the track which were actuated by the wheels of a car. the action of the wheels on a lever at one point closed the circuit through a relay, whose magnet was so arranged that the instant it was magnetized it attracted its armature and kept its own circuit closed. the circuit of the magnet which directly actuated or controlled the signal was under control of the relay, which operated to open and close the signal circuit directly. when the train or car proceeded to the proper point beyond, it actuated a reversing lever, thus opening the relay circuit and reversing the signal. in the model described the reversing lever operated to open the relay circuit by cutting off the battery therefrom by short circuiting. this model was in continuous and perfect operation throughout the duration of the fair. at the close of the fair mr. robinson had some of his descriptive circulars left over. these he immediately sent out to railroad companies at random. one of these circulars, at least, was as seed sown in good ground. it elicited an immediate response from mr. william a. baldwin, general superintendent of the philadelphia and erie railroad, with the result that mr. baldwin, who was an old telegraph operator and a very able and progressive railroad man, on looking into the system was so impressed with its practicability and importance that he at once arranged with mr. robinson to make an installation of the system on his road. this was in . at that time mr. theodore n. ely, now chief of motive power ( ) of the pennsylvania railroad, was assistant superintendent of the philadelphia & erie, and, under direction of mr. baldwin, furnished mr. robinson with all the facilities and material necessary for prosecuting the work of installation. this installation was made at kinzua, pa., and after a little experimenting was soon in perfect working order, performing all claimed for it, and considered satisfactory by the railroad company. this was a normally open-circuit wire system, however, controlled by track levers, as above described, in connection with the model. as soon as it was found to be working perfectly and accomplishing all claimed for it, mr. robinson, who aimed to be the most severe critic of his own work, entered systematically into a deeper study of the system from the standpoint of a railroad man, with a view of finding the weak points in it, if any existed. he soon discovered the following serious defects, which are inherent in all normally open circuit or wire systems of automatic signaling, without exception. such systems are extremely limited in their functions, and _may, under certain circumstances_, show a safety signal when the danger actually exists which they are designed to avert, as in the following cases: _first_: a train enters regularly upon the section and sets the signal at danger; the train breaks in two, the forward part passes off the section, reverses the signal and shows all clear behind that portion of the train remaining on the section; and a following train, lured on by the false signal all clear, dashes into the stalled portion of the preceding train left standing on the section. this is extremely liable to happen on sharp curves and grades, where breaks are not of uncommon occurrence. _second_: a train may enter within the section from the opposite end or from a siding, thus blocking the track, while the signal, not having been affected, shows all clear as before, a false signal again. _third_: if a line wire break or other connection be interfered with accidentally or maliciously, or the battery fail from any cause, the signal will invariably show all clear, under every train passing over the section, a false signal again. mr. robinson at this early date recognized the above serious objections as inseparable from open circuit system of signaling, apparently, before these defects were recognized by any one else, and at once entered upon the solution of the problem presented, of eliminating these objections by producing a signal system which would meet all the requirements of safe and efficient railroading. he reasoned, first, that to accomplish this result every car and every pair of wheels in the train must have controlling power over the signal throughout every inch of the block section, and second, the signal should go to danger by gravity, the electric current being used to hold it at safety. could these two results be accomplished? could the rails be used in any way to carry the primary current in a reliable manner? manifestly not by any open circuit means, for the reason that sections of rails of even moderate length, on open circuit, would form a good ground, especially in damp or wet weather, thus keeping the circuit closed continuously and preventing any operation of any kind. he at once cast aside this open rail circuit idea as fruitless, and having previously, in - , used the short circuiting principle in his model, as above stated, he concluded that this principle presented the only possible solution of the problem. he then made drawings of the closed rail circuit system substantially as it is used today, and in applied for a patent thereon, broadly covering the closed rail circuit system. in he made an exhibition of this system at the state fair, held at erie, pa. here he placed a large gong on the end of one of the buildings, on the outside, and inside he had a track made in sections placed in a long water tank made for the purpose. the track was covered several inches deep with water and the running gear of the car model was similarly immersed. the system was connected on the short circuit principle through the rails. wires connected the gong with the back contact of the track relay. the water had no perceptible effect on the operation of the apparatus, and when the car was run on the signal section it short circuited the current from the relay, which, releasing its armature, closed circuit through its back contact and thus through the magnet of the gong circuit, thus setting the gong ringing loud enough to be heard all over the grounds. on running the car off the section the current returned to the relay energizing the same and thus opening the gong circuit at the back contact of the relay, thereby causing the gong to cease ringing. the whole operation was perfect, demonstrating the successful operation of the closed circuit system, and attracted great crowds of people as well as the marked attention of practical railroad men. it will be understood, of course, that the local circuit may be normally open as above described and used, or normally closed as now commonly used, according to the exigencies or requirements, or preferences of the parties using the same, and when desired, a visual signal may be substituted for the audible signal above described. these are all minor details not involving separate invention. mr. robinson had previously explained the new closed rail circuit system to mr. baldwin, who was greatly interested and expressed his confidence in it and requested mr. robinson to install the system at kinzua, where he had already installed the open circuit wire system. [illustration: fig. . robinson's closed rail circuit system. philadelphia & erie railroad, .] as all the signal apparatus, relays, batteries, office switches and overlapping devices were already in operation there, it took but a short time to convert this open circuit system into a closed rail circuit system. the first experiments proved conclusively that the system would work. the track, however, was in a fearfully unsuitable condition for the purpose. the light rails were fished together by a four foot wooden bar on the outside, and a twelve inch fish plate on the inside. there were two holes through the iron fish plate, allowing one bolt for each rail and four holes through the wooden bar, two for each rail. however, with a little care he managed to get the current working through the whole length of the section about a mile and a quarter in length. it was evident, however, that on such a section as this a rail bond of some kind would be necessary for reliable, continuous service, and here, at this time, in mr. robinson conceived the invention of the bond wire method of electrically connecting the rails, now in universal use, or its equivalent, on every electric railway throughout the world using the rails for a return. as it had been determined to lay new rails at kinzua, another installation of the closed rail circuit system was ordered and immediately made at irvineton, pa. this signal is illustrated in fig. . it will be observed that the above installation, like that at kinzua, not only displays a visual block signal, but also operates in connection therewith a loud gong which has been easily heard at a distance of a half mile, and was really heard by passengers in trains passing, with closed windows. an engineer could not possibly pass without hearing it. a wire is seen at the upper part of the signal box, running out to the right. this is an overlapping signal wire. a tell-tale bell was also placed in the station, indicating the actual position of the signal, and also a manual switch, whereby the agent could at any time cut off or short circuit the track battery and expose the danger signal against a train and instantly receive a return signal when the danger signal was actually exposed. the irvineton installation worked perfectly from the first never failing. the locomotive engineers were delighted with it and soon gave it the name of "the old reliable." [illustration: the robinson closed rail circuit. fig. . wm. robinson, , patented in france, february , , and united states august , . re-issued july , . no. .] the robinson closed rail circuit, which now forms the basis, according to the best information, of every efficient automatic electric, electro-pneumatic and electrically controlled fluid pressure system throughout the world, is illustrated in its simplest form, in fig. . this figure shows the railroad track divided into sections, a mile more or less in length, the section rails being insulated from adjacent sections. a light battery has its terminals connected to the opposite rails at one end of the section and at the other end a relay magnet has its terminals connected to the opposite rails. thus the current passes through the whole length of the section, keeping the relay on continuously closed circuit and magnetized as its normal condition. the relay thus keeps the secondary circuit, which directly controls the signal, normally closed, whereby the signal is normally held in a position indicating safety. when a train enters upon the section, the wheels and axles, connecting the opposite rails thereof, short circuit the current from the relay, which instantly releases its armature, thus opening the signal circuit. the signal is then instantly thrown to the danger position by means of a counterbalance. the signal may be of the enclosed disk type, electro-mechanical, electro-pneumatic, electrically controlled gas, or of any other kind. the robinson patented system is broad, basic and a generic creation; it is not limited to any specific construction or arrangement of signal but covers all kinds. in expounding the early history of the art of automatic signaling, the following photographic reproductions from some of robinson's early circulars and patents will be of interest. the following sections on curve, tunnel, station, switch and draw-bridge signals are a photographic reproduction from a circular issued by mr. robinson in : curve and tunnel signals. a train approaching a curve will throw up a red signal around the curve as a warning to trains from the opposite direction, and will also exhibit a signal in its rear. thus, collisions from front or rear are guarded against. these signals may be used throughout the whole extent of a road. in entering a tunnel a train will exhibit a signal at the other end to indicate its entry, and when it gets through it will lower the signal and ring a bell at the opposite end to indicate its exit. station signals. a train when it leaves a station, and at various points as it passes, will indicate to the stations along the line, its location, direction, rapidity and length. thus all necessary information regarding moving trains will be automatically announced every few minutes at the stations. switch and draw-bridge signals. if a switch or draw-bridge is misplaced an approaching train will set an alarm ringing at the station and will also exhibit a red signal ahead of the train as a warning to the engineer that the switch is misplaced. the following heading and sections are photographic reproductions of parts of a circular issued by mr. robinson at the time of its date, "september, ." it will be observed that certain of these sections are the same as above reproduced from the circular of . it will be noted also that the description of the system begun after the heading is not here completed, for the reason that a full description is found elsewhere in this history. robinson's improved systems of electric railway signals for switches, draw-bridges, crossings, curves, cuts, and tunnels; also, to indicate the location, direction, rapidity, and length of trains. important improvements.--electric signaling without track instruments, or line wires. the new system. the operation of this system is as follows: a railroad track is divided into sections of any desired length, say one mile, more or less, by separating the abutting rails from metallic contact with the adjacent sections, but preserving metallic continuity throughout the length of the section. the insulation of the abutting rails is accomplished curve and tunnel signals. a train approaching a curve throws up a red signal around the curve, as a warning to trains from the opposite direction, and also exhibits a signal in its rear. thus, collisions from front or rear are guarded against. these signals may be used throughout the whole extent of a road. in entering a tunnel a train exhibits a signal at the other end to indicate its entry, and when it gets through it exhibits a signal at the opposite end to indicate its exit. station signals. a train when it leaves a station, and at various points as it passes, indicates to the stations along the line, its location, direction, rapidity, and length. thus all necessary information regarding moving trains is automatically announced every few minutes at the stations. the batteries for operating the signals will last for months without attention, and one man can readily attend to all the signals and batteries throughout the whole extent of a road. in all cases, where practicable, the signal wire should be carried through the coils of a bell-magnet in the nearest office. by this means the operator is informed when the battery power is decreasing, and warned that it requires renewing. office connections can be made, when desired, so that the signals may be operated by a telegraph key from the office, as well as by passing trains. the signal wires may be tapped at intervals all along the line, and led into small cast iron boxes placed conveniently on the telegraph poles. conductors of all trains, furnished with keys to these boxes, can, in case of special accident, go to the nearest box, touch a key within the same, and thus set danger signals at some distance in front and rear of their trains. the telegraph keys in these boxes not only set the danger signals as described, but they also place the said signals, for the time being, entirely out of control of moving trains. the closed circuit. the new system, as described, with closed circuit, is the best ever devised for "block-signaling," since the failure of the battery through neglect or otherwise, cannot possibly be productive of disastrous results to the train, however implicitly the signals may be relied on. _from the french of feb. [translation]._ th claim. "connecting a battery b , and a magnet m with the rails _a _, _b _, of a section of railroad track c in such a manner that when said rails are joined by a metallic bridge, the electric current will be diverted from the magnet m , but so that when said bridging device is removed from said section c the electric current will be free to pass through and charge the magnet m ." d. "a signal or signals audible or visual in combination with the battery b and the rails of a railroad track, the whole being arranged to actuate the signal or signals, substantially as described." ~william robinson.~ st. petersburg, clarion county, pa., september, . it will be observed that some of the foregoing sections refer to the open circuit system, some specifically to the closed circuit system and some are applicable to either or both. the following is a photographic reproduction of a postal card issued and distributed broadcast by mr. robinson at the time of its date, "may, ." it needs no comments. robinson's wireless electric signals, the simplest, cheapest, and only absolutely safe electric signals in existence, now in successful operation on the baltimore and ohio, phila., wilmington & baltimore, philadelphia and erie, and other rail roads. they work as automatic blocks with tell-tale alarms, office, station, road crossing and switch signals, and broken rail detectors. these signals have worked uninterruptedly through last winter regardless of rain, snow, slush or sunshine. descriptive circulars on application. may . wm. robinson, st. petersburg, pa. [illustration: fig. . illustration from robinson's circular of "january, ," showing the closed rail circuit, relay and overlapping system.] it is pointed out that the above illustration of january, , shows the robinson closed track circuit, as heretofore described, the relay r and the track battery i forming a part thereof, the signal actuating magnet e, the signal c operated thereby, the circuit wires of said magnet e connected to, and controlled by, the relay r, and the overlapping or distant signal l, with its circuit h controlled absolutely by the position of the signal c, the whole showing a complete closed track circuit overlapping system, with home and distant signals. the following sections are from this circular of january, : "when it is desired to operate a secondary signal thrown forward or back of the primary, a line wire h is used, attached to the primary signal c in such a way that the secondary signal cannot possibly operate unless the primary signal c is first exposed, thus closing circuit on the wire h. the primary signal battery k is used to operate the secondary signal." "to set the signal from an intermediate station a wire from each rail of the section a is run into the station. when these wires are connected by a key, the current from the battery i is placed on short circuit, and the signal exposed as before." (see fig. .) "the following functions may be embraced in the signals of a single section. block signaling, both automatic and manipulated, switch, drawbridge, road-crossing, and station-approach signaling, and broken rail detecting." "in this system it will be observed that, since the signal is exposed mechanically, any tampering with the rails or connections, or failure of the battery, will invariably result in exposing the signal; any error therefore which may occur from any cause will be in behalf of safety. _it is impossible to show safety when the danger exists which the signal is designed to avert._" during the early seventies mr. robinson made other closed rail circuit installations on the philadelphia & erie and other railroads in pennsylvania and maryland. visit of the pennsylvania r.r. officials on october , , a special inspection train of the pennsylvania railroad passed over the philadelphia & erie railroad, westward. the pennsylvania r.r. officials aboard were: mr. a. j. cassatt, at that time general manager; mr. gardner, general superintendent; mr. lewis, controller; mr. robert pitcairn, superintendent western division, and mr. frank thomson, superintendent motive power. mr. wm. a. baldwin, general superintendent of the p. & e. road, was of the party, and mr. robinson joined the party on the latter road, and continued with it through to erie, which was reached in the evening. stops were made at ridgway on the middle division and at irvineton on the western division to examine the robinson closed circuit rail system of signals, which were in full operation at those points. a thorough examination and various tests were made, to all of which the signals responded promptly and perfectly. the following is from a letter by mr. robinson to his brother on october , : "mr. baldwin could not say enough in favor of the signals." * * * "of course i remained in the background, except, as to giving explanations. after a while cassatt, pitcairn and thomson got into a discussion of the battery and other points, and called me into the ring to enter into the discussion, and it was quite animated for some time. pitcairn proceeded to give his idea of what a signal should be, and mr. baldwin and the rest proceeded to show him that this, was exactly his ideal." "mr. gardner, after learning _modus operandi_ from diagrams &c. proceeded to lay down the law to the rest, demonstrating how they would have 'prevented those accidents.'" "they were all very much pleased with the signals but their operation seemed such a surprise that i judge it will take them several days to think over and realize the actual operation and importance of the thing." robinson's work in new england in december, , mr. robinson went to boston and took up his residence there. in january, , he made an installation of his closed rail circuit system between elm street and north avenue, west somerville, on a branch of the boston and lowell railroad. this installation worked perfectly from the beginning. the emperor of brazil examines the robinson signal system in june, , his imperial majesty, dom pedro ii, emperor of brazil, being then in boston, graciously accepted an invitation from mr. robinson to examine his wireless signal system in operation on the boston & lowell railroad. accordingly, on june , they proceeded together by special train to west somerville for the purpose. the following is an account of the visit, from the _boston post_ of june , : "dom pedro ii. "his majesty witnesses the operations of railroad signals. "though the visit of his majesty, the emperor of brazil, to this city has been a brief one, yet it is not hazardous to say that no other crowned head or representative of royalty who has ever appeared in boston has more closely inspected the places where centre arts, sciences and manufacturers than he. "in compliance with an invitation, the dom proceeded yesterday morning to witness the workings of robinson's wireless signal system, now in operation on a portion of the lowell railroad. the emperor and several members of his suit took passage on board a special train on the lowell railroad soon after o'clock yesterday morning and arrived at the west somerville station about : , where they were met by professor robinson, who at once began to explain to the royal party his system. at elm street a large visual signal is placed which is controlled by the current from a single cell of a battery connected with the rail sections at north avenue, no line wires whatever being used. while the emperor watched the signal at elm street trains were run over the whole length of the signal section in both directions. as soon as the train entered upon the section at either end, the signal, without a moment's delay, showed the track "blocked," and when the train passed off the section it instantly changed the signal to "all clear." then a rail was torn up, and almost instantly thereafter the signal denoted "danger" and remained so until the rail was restored and properly coupled up, when it as quickly changed to "all right." mr. robinson gave various other demonstrations illustrating the working of the system. to all the tests the signal instantly responded. his majesty was much interested, and entered into a somewhat lengthy discussion with professor robinson in regard to the operations which he had witnessed. the emperor's questions displayed profound scientific knowledge, and he fully comprehended the system. at the conclusion of the experiment dom pedro thanked professor robinson for his kindness in explaining and illustrating his system, and invited him to communicate with the brazilian government with a view to introducing the system in brazil. on the return of the party to the lowell depot in boston, the emperor was received with great applause, which he politely acknowledged by waving his hat." it will be interesting to note that on june , , the day the emperor inspected the robinson signal system at west somerville, the battery had been in operation exactly days without any attention whatever except that on two occasions a little water had been added to make up for evaporation, the signal working perfectly all that time and the battery with full strength. [illustration: fig. . robinson's electro-mechanical signal in operation at west somerville when inspected by the emperor of brazil in .] the following is from a report on the above signal by the station agent at elm street, dated june , , eighteen months after it had been installed: "robinson's electric signal at this place has been working uninterruptedly since it was first put in operation. * * * the signal is entirely reliable." the above signal continued to work perfectly for a number of years until the signal post, which was of wood, rotted down. [illustration: fig. a.] the signal mechanism used on the robinson signal at elm street was of the electro-mechanical type. figure is a half tone of the identical signal mechanism in operation there when the emperor of brazil examined the system with mr. robinson, on june , . it is pointed out that the above signal mechanism, fig. , shows a battery or pole changing attachment which is more clearly shown in fig. a, reproduced from robinson's british patent no. of august , . in this device the movement of the cam i^ not only changes the battery but changes the polarity through the magnet m^ , which may be placed anywhere and used for any purpose. a special device for the same purpose was used not only in connection with the relay on the west somerville signal, but on many others installed by mr. robinson. this battery and pole changing device is more fully described in robinson's u.s. patent, august , , no. , , automatic commutator; application filed july , . the following extract therefrom, and claim, may be interesting: "it will be observed also, that while the actual change of battery may be caused to take place when the magnet attracts its armature, yet i prefer to arrange it so that no change of connections shall take place when the armature is attracted, the actual change taking place only during the reverse movement of the armature, caused by the retractile force of the spring. furthermore, when desired, the batteries may be so connected in circuit that reverse currents shall be passed through the magnets every time the batteries are changed." claim . "in combination with the electro-magnetic commutator having the described circuit connections, the rail sections a'a*, the one closing the circuit through the commutator, and thereby determining the battery to be connected to the other rail section, substantially as and for the purpose set forth." it must be admitted that there does not seem to be a very long step between the disclosures of this patent and the present method of operating a distant signal by reversing current through a rail section. it will be observed that in this patent one rail is used as a return for a plurality of batteries connected to independent opposite rail sections. in an autograph letter addressed to the author by professor henry, secretary of the smithsonian institution, under date of october , , the professor discusses robinson's peculiar method of using batteries in signaling by which he obtained the above wonderful durability of days or more without renewal, and pronounced the results obtained "very remarkable." his discussion of the subject is somewhat suggestive of the principles of the storage battery. switches in , and , mr. robinson made a number of installations on the boston and providence, old colony and the boston, lowell and nashua railroads. on the latter road, at wilmington junction, he equipped two parallel sections of the double track, including six switches, in this short space, five of them connected with one of the blocks. these sections were arranged as regular closed circuit blocks, operative under the moving trains. the switches were also connected up in such a way that every switch had to be closed and locked for the main line or the danger signal would be exposed against approaching trains. this installation was made in . the switch connection applied to these switches is shown in fig. and a general plan of the same is illustrated in fig. . both of these figures are reproductions from robinson's aforesaid british patent of . [illustration: fig. .] [illustration: fig. .] it will be observed that when the switch is on the main line the wires , are connected by the plug on the switch connection, thus completing a working circuit through the rails and around the switch, but when the switch is placed for a siding the wires and are connected by the plug , thus short circuiting the current from the magnet m, thus producing the same effect as would the presence of a train on the section. it is always better to short circuit the current than trust to the mere opening of circuit since short circuiting is sure to produce instantaneous results. it will be observed, however, that in the above case the movement of the switch connection both opens the rail circuit and short circuits the current from the relay. it may be here stated that mr. robinson equipped three switches in one closed circuit block, in the manner described above, on the philadelphia and erie railroad in . [illustration: fig. .] fig. , from robinson's english patent of , aforesaid, shows the switch g arranged to operate the signal by hand from an office, station or telegraph post by the roadside, as heretofore described. drawbridges about the time he made the wilmington installations above described, mr. robinson made an installation of his system also on the old colony railroad, in which one block signal section at somerset included a drawbridge. he included the track rails of the drawbridge in the track circuit in such a way that the withdrawing or loosening of any one of the bridge lock-bolts would display the danger signal, which remained exposed until the bridge and its lock-bolts were all restored to their normal condition insuring safety. tunnels long wet tunnels present peculiar difficulties to the reliable operation of the rail circuit; and yet these difficulties are readily overcome by including one or more additional relays in the signal section, as shown in fig. , which illustrates the application of the robinson track circuit system as applied to the tehauntepec tunnel in california. mr. robinson forwarded the signals and necessary instructions, and the installation was made by mr. stephen d. field, secretary of the electrical construction and maintenance co. of san francisco. [illustration: fig. .] figure is from a sketch made by mr. field in a letter dated san francisco, march , , addressed to mr. robinson. in this letter mr. field says: "i am just in the receipt of yours of the th. i had anticipated your diagram and have the signals arranged as you show. "i use the system connected up as follows: "in the tunnel the rails are buried in wet mud; outside no moisture touches them for six months of the year." it will be noted that in the above case the signal section is two miles long, the tunnel being one mile long, with its rails "buried in wet mud," and the section extending one-half mile at either end of the tunnel. an extra relay and battery are placed in the center of the section connected up as shown. thus, where conditions require, a signal section may be divided up into a number of sub-sections. later advices showed that the above signals worked perfectly and gave entire satisfaction. insulated joints in and the early seventies mr. robinson insulated the rail joints to form the sections by wooden bars, substantially as shown in fig. . [illustration: fig. .] [illustration: fig. .] in and later he usually insulated the joints as shown in fig. , using the fisher & norris trussed joint as a basis. vulcanized fiber is placed between the bottom of the rail ends and the base plate, and fiber is placed between the flanges of the rails and the forelocks, and fiber, the shape of the rail section is placed between the ends of the adjacent rails, all as shown in fig. . this makes an excellent insulated joint, both mechanically and electrically. rail bonding dry rust forming between the fish plates and the rails of the track, at the joints, makes a poor conductor, and hence the low current, from only one or two cells of battery used in the rail circuit for signaling is very liable to find sufficient resistance at the joints from this cause to prevent the continuous passage of the current through the rails to the relay. mr. robinson discovered this difficulty in his first experiments in rail signaling in and the necessity for making a reliable electrical connection from rail to rail in order to insure the reliability of his closed circuit signal system. as heretofore stated, therefore, he at that time conceived the invention of the bond wire, fig. , for this purpose, the connection to be made by drilling holes in the adjacent rails, driving the ends of the wires tightly into these holes, and making the connection so close that there would be no room for moisture to penetrate or rust to form. and as an alternative form he proposed to secure the ends of the wire, or of a plate, to the adjacent rails by soldering, as shown in fig. . in those early days there were serious technical objections to both of these methods. _first_: the difficulty and expense of boring holes in all the rails of the section and connecting them up, and the difficulty of getting the railroad company to consent to such an innovation to test what at that time might be regarded as an experiment, and _second_: soldering seemed impracticable on account of the difficulty of heating up the rail quickly enough at the required point. mr. robinson, therefore, postponed the application of the bond wire until he could secure better facilities for applying and using it. he, meantime, experimented along other lines, however, for the purpose of securing good electrical connection between adjacent rails without boring holes therein. one of these methods was very successful. it consisted in the use of elastic split springs having their ends resting on the flanges of the adjacent rails, and held in place by small blocks secured to the ties. the passing of a train depressing the rails slightly caused a slight frictional movement between the rails and the springs, thus preserving good electrical contact. in the west somerville installation, near boston, made in january, , as heretofore described, mr. robinson used the bond wire shown in fig. . in applying this, holes were bored in the rails and the wire, fitting the holes as closely as possible, were forced in. a semi-circular punch was then carefully used to set the metal up close around the wire. there has been no better bond wire devised since then except in mechanical construction. bonds of various designs have been made heavier, and with heavier end plugs for mechanical connection to the rails. these are good features as they render the bond less liable to breakage, and, as is well known, for electric railroads they should be much heavier than required in signaling, for the sake of conductivity. a bond wire, to get best results, should be homogeneous, made of a single piece of metal, or if made of several pieces, all the pieces should be welded, or at least, soldered together. they should be of sufficient length to insure flexibility without disturbing the connection if the rails should move relatively to each other, and the whole circumferential surface of the plug end, or its equivalent, when possible, should be in the closest possible direct contact with the rail, that is, the bond plug should make connection with the rail as nearly as possible--homogeneous. welding would be the ideal connection but it is not always practicable. the reason for the above is obvious: that there should be no room left between the bond and rail for rust to form. it follows then that a bond held in position by an independent plug which renders it necessary for the current to pass from the bond to the intermediate plug and from that plug to the rail, is not the best form of bond, for the reason that it presents a double surface on which rust may form. figures and show robinson's bond wires and strips of , fig. showing the bond soldered to the rail. in , and he used on various roads in the vicinity of boston, the bond shown in fig. . in he used on the boston and providence road the bond shown in figs. , and . in the form shown in fig. , holes are bored through the upper ends of the plugs, which were slightly tapering. the wire was forced through these holes, and the wire and plugs were then soldered together with hard solder. the plugs being materially larger than the wire, could readily be driven home with a good deal of force, thus insuring an excellent electrical connection without endangering the wire. [illustration: fig. .] [illustration: fig. .] [illustration: fig. .] [illustration: fig. .] [illustration: fig. .] [illustration: fig. .] in robinson's british patent no. , of august , , aforesaid, he illustrated the form of bond shown in figs. and , which is an equivalent of that shown in fig. , used by him in . mr. robinson claimed the bond wire broadly in this british patent, in the following claims: . "the wire a^ in combination with the rails b^ , b^ , and securely fastened thereto, for the purpose described. . "in combination the wire a^ , the rails b^ , b^ , and the rivets _a_^ , _a_^ , the whole arranged substantially as described for the purpose of securing electrical continuity between said rails." the above is believed to be the first disclosure of means for electrically connecting rails by a bond wire in any patent, although robinson had disclosed it to various parties, and used it on installations years before. on the subject of rail bonding the following bit of evidence may be of interest: in a letter dated baltimore, october , , addressed to mr. robinson by mr. j. h. c. watts, of watts & co., manufacturers of robinson's signal apparatus, he says: "am afraid your idea of soldering a strip of copper to the rails will prove very troublesome in carrying out, as it is a most difficult matter to heat so large a body of iron sufficiently to make a _sure_ joint such as you require, or that will stand the jarring of passing trains, &c., to say nothing of sneak thieves who abound wherever copper is lying around loose. i know however you scoff at _theory_ so will 'dry up.'" the electric dynamo of today has removed the above pointed out difficulty. bond wires or strips are now welded to the adjacent rails for the purpose of securing reliable electrical connection between them. welding is soldering, according to the definition of the term. thus, the encyclopedic dictionary gives the definition: solder: "to unite or cement together in any way. * * * in autogenous soldering the two pieces are directly united by the partial fusion of their contiguous surfaces." thus, more than thirty years ago robinson proposed to solder bond wires or strips to the rails for the purpose of securing good electrical continuity between the same. but it became necessary to wait some twenty years for the development of a commercially practical process for accomplishing this result. this is found in the modern electric welding process. robinson's object was to secure a perfectly homogeneous joint or connection between the bond and the rail. his invention, in this connection, consisted in a metallic bond arranged for electrically connecting adjacent rails of the track and means for forming a homogeneous connection between the bond and the rails. this embraces any mode of accomplishing that result. robinson had simply anticipated the electric process by some twenty years, but that process now accomplishes the result in a simple manner impossible thirty years ago. the splice bars now welded to opposite sides of street rails in many places are used primarily for the purpose of electrically bonding the rails; incidentally they serve the double purpose of also making a good joint mechanically. every electric railroad uses the bond wire or plate in some form, originally invented and used by robinson, for electrically bonding rails together. thus, it is clear, this simple invention of robinson made more than thirty years ago, an outgrowth of his original creation of the closed rail circuit system, has made possible the electric railroading of today, and the method of rail-bonding is now used on every electric railway using a rail return, throughout the world. [illustration: robinson's latest electric signaling apparatus. fig. . rings a bell on the engine when track ahead is all clear.] figure is a reproduction from a postal card dated september, , and issued at that time. it illustrates means for operating a positive safety signal in the cab of a locomotive when the track ahead is clear and safe, the operative current passing through the rails from the distant end of the track section upon which the train is entering. this system is elaborated in robinson's british patent of august , , where it is shown operatively applied to a single track in such a manner as to operate a signal on a locomotive approaching from either direction, the operative current coming from the opposite end of the section--no line wires being used. it is not thought necessary, therefore, to more fully describe the system here. in general the scriptural injunction, "prove all things, hold fast that which is good," is the key note of scientific progress. he who would discover truth must not accept anything _because_ it is popularly accepted, or reject anything _because_ it is popularly rejected; nor must he regard anything as impossible _because_ never heretofore accomplished, although perhaps attempted by the most able scientists. while giving full weight to principles and laws demonstrated and verified by original investigations, he must bear in mind that those principles and laws may be capable of various combinations and interpretations; that the popular interpretation may not be capable of general application, and if not, it must be erroneous. in short, he must enter upon his investigations systematically, independently and untrammeled by prejudice. these remarks apply to electrical science with great force at the present time. those who enter this field to advantage should be men of culture, of theoretical knowledge, and eminently practical. these facts are illustrated by the efforts heretofore put forth in europe and the united states to develop systems of rail signaling. such efforts, in the early days, appear to have been exerted principally by theorists whose propositions and complications prove them to be not only ignorant of some of the fundamental principles of electrical science, but also, some of them, extremely unpractical. that the efforts in this direction may be fairly understood we will direct attention to a few of the systems of rail signaling proposed,--those which have elicited most attention--giving outline illustrations of some of the circuits which form their bases, and pointing out their defects and merits. early rail systems so far as we have knowledge, the idea of using the rails as conductors for electric signaling purposes was first suggested in an english patent of . this was merely a suggestion, however, and no attempt was made to describe any specific method of using the rails for the purpose. in , however, an english patent was granted to george dugmore and george millward, in which is described a method proposed for using the rails as conductors. the design of the invention is to communicate between trains on the same line, and between trains and stations, for which purpose it is proposed to use long sections of rails. the unpractical part of this system is that to make it operate it is necessary, as the inventors say, to insulate the opposite wheels of all the carriages from each other, in order that electrical connection may _not_ be established between the opposite rail line by the wheels and axle. imagine one of our gigantic locomotives having its opposite drivers electrically insulated from one another! figure represents the signal system described in william bull's english patent of october , . in this system, it will be observed, the rail sections used are short, "twenty feet, more or less," and are the terminals of line wires which connect with the battery and magnet at the station. the signal at the station is visual and consists of an indicator operated by wheel work actuated or controlled by the electro-magnet m shown in the diagram. the signal as described, moved in one direction only, by a step-by-step movement. in the following diagram m represents magnet and b battery. [illustration: fig. . william bull's british patent, october , , and frank l. pope's experiment at charlestown, mass., in .] mr. bull says: "at the stations at which it is required that the progress of the train shall be indicated, a battery is fixed and in connection therewith a dial or indicator, both of which are also connected with the line permanent way wire, the terminals of which are the pairs of insulated rails, as before described. * * * * * "when the train arrives at the contact points on the line, the electric circuit would be completed by the wheels of the engine connecting the two insulated rails, when the current would flow and actuate the electro-magnetic armature," &c. the mode of insulating the rails from each other is described by bull as follows:--"between the end of the rails, and also between the joint plates and rail ends, i insert a thin piece of leather, mill-board, gutta percha, or other suitable substance, suitable for cutting off metallic contact, and thereby insulate one rail of twenty feet, more or less, as may be necessary." in pope, in a description of his experiment at charlestown, in a paper read by him before the new york society of practical engineers--of which, by the way, mr. robinson was a charter member--and subsequently published, admits that he did not use the "rail circuit" at all in any proper sense of the term. on the contrary, he used line wires forming his main circuit terminating in short sections of rails, forty-two feet in length according to my recollection, that is, the length of one rail. the train passing over the short rail section at one point closed the circuit through the line wires, thus exposing the signal, which was held in place by a "detent." the train, having reached a distant point, passed over another similar short section of rails, closing circuit through another magnet which released the "detent" and reversed the signal. it will be observed that the essential features of the device used in pope's experiment, on which he laid great stress, and described in bull's patent, are identical, that is, the circuit closer consists, in the one case of a section of rails "twenty feet long, more or less," on open circuit, and the other identically the same, but with a rail section forty-two feet long, both using line wires. pope and his friends heralded this experiment--a revival of bull's device--as demonstrating a wonderful invention on the part of pope. what robinson has done in automatic electric signaling . he has created an epoch making invention of incalculable value to the human race in the wholesale saving of life and property on railroads, an invention of increasing importance and efficiency as time passes and its use is extended. it is an invention so unique and profoundly philosophical that those best skilled in the electrical art at the time it was made, declared that it was contrary to all known laws of electrical action and could not possibly work. . robinson's invention was not an improvement on something that preceded it. it had no precedent. it was an entirely new creation involving principles and methods of operation never before known or used by anybody. . his invention was almost unique in this: it was a basic invention conceived, tested, put in practical operation in many installations, and _perfected_, as a system, in all its details, by its original inventor. he reduced it to its lowest terms and its highest efficiency, a perfection and efficiency of operation which have not been exceeded since it left his hands many years ago. . his invention has made possible, with safety, the high speed railroading of today. . as already stated, the automatic signal system used in and controlling the operation of traffic of the new york subway is purely and exclusively a robinson system. . robinson's automatic signal system has increased the traffic capacity of the new york subway at least three-fold, and probably twice that. without it the subway equipment could not transport with safety, one-fourth the number of passengers now carried. . this invention has created a practically new industry, giving employment to many thousands of men, in various capacities, skilled and unskilled. . it is enriching the railroads by enabling them to carry on twice the traffic, with a given equipment, that they could ever do before, and also by saving their equipment from destruction by collisions and other destructive means. . the robinson automatic system is admittedly the only signal system ever produced that meets all the requirements of safe and rapid railroading. . robinson's subsidiary invention of the rail bond, made more than fifty years ago in connection with his automatic system of signaling, and now in universal use on all electric roads using the track return, throughout the world, has made possible electric railroading as practiced today. without this robinson bond or its equivalent those electric roads using the track return could not be operated. . the robinson automatic system is a humanitarian invention of the very highest order, to which thousands of travelers by rail are indebted for the preservation of life and limb. [illustration: w. robinson. improvement in electric signaling apparatus for railroads. no. , . patented aug , .] united states patent office william robinson, of brooklyn, new york. improvement in electric-signaling apparatus for railroads specifications forming part of letters patent no. , , dated august , . be it known that i, william robinson, of brooklyn, in the county of kings and state of new york, have invented a new and useful electric signaling apparatus for railways, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification. the figure represents a top view of a double-track railway, with suitable sections and wire connections, together with an elevation of the signal-box with its face removed to show the signal within, the whole being arranged to illustrate my invention. the object of this invention is to operate electric signals, audible or visible, by means of moving or standing vehicles or trains without the use of ordinary track connections for closing or breaking circuits, and without the use or with a limited use of line-wires for conducting the electric current, the rails of the track being used for the latter purpose. the invention consists in an improved signal of very simple construction, by which great ease of action is secured. it also embraces certain peculiarities in the arrangement of wires from the signal and battery to the track. a in the drawing represents a double-track railroad. c is a section of track, which may be a mile long, more or less, and having its rails _a b_ separated from metallic contact with the rails of the sections d and e, as shown at _a' b'_. in like manner the section c' of the other track has its rails separated from metallic contact with the rails of the sections d' and e'. the rails _a b c d_ should each have metallic continuity throughout the length of its section. the signal-box f is constructed of any suitable material, and is provided with an orifice, preferably in the center, covered with glass windows capable of illumination, through which the signal may be seen when exposed, day or night. within this signal-box is placed the signal g, consisting of a disk, s, attached to the lever _e_, which, pivoted at _f_, turns on a horizontal axis. to the lever _e_ or its arbor is fixed the small projection or lever, preferably segmental, _g_. a cord, link, chain, or delicate elastic spring, _i_, is attached to the lever _g_ and to the upper part of the long lever l, in such a manner that when the armature _m_, which is attached to the lever l, is attracted by its magnet m and the upper part of said lever l swings in the direction of the arrow _z_, the upper part of the segmental lever _g_ moves forward and downward, thus permitting the chain _i_ to work closer to the pivot _f_. by this arrangement it will be seen that the greatest leverage-power is secured for moving the signal when the armature _m_ is the greatest distance from its magnet and the magnetic force is consequently weakest, the leverage-power diminishing gradually as the armature approaches the magnet. the vertical lever l moves on a horizontal axis, _f'_, and is prevented from swinging too far back from the magnet by the adjustable stop _s_, which may be so adjusted as to bring the armature _m_ a greater or less distance from its magnet m, as may be found necessary. the levers l and _e_ may be made of any suitable material and in any manner; but are preferably constructed of thin tubular metal for the purpose of securing great strength and rigidity with minimum weight and friction of parts. furthermore, the disk s is counterbalanced by an adjustable weight, _w_, and by making that part of the lever _e_ embraced between the pivot _f_ and the disk s of considerable length, the disk s is brought from a state of concealment to a state of exposure, or the reverse, by passing through a comparatively small angle, and by arranging the disk-lever _e_, as shown in the drawing, in such a manner that in bringing the disk from a state of concealment to a state of exposure, or the reverse, said lever _e_ shall swing to and beyond a horizontal position, the greatest uniformity of motion with the least possible loss of power are secured. having thus described the construction of the visual signal g, it will be seen that when the electro-magnet m is charged it attracts the armature _m_ to itself, thus swinging the upper end of the lever l in the direction of the arrow _z_, and carrying the upper end of the lever _g_ forward, at the same time turning the same together with the lever _e_ on the axis _f_, and carrying the disk s down into the position indicated in dotted outline. now connect one pole of the battery b with the rails _a_ and _c_, and the other pole with the rails _b_ and _d_ of the sections c and c' by means of the wires _k_ and _k'_, respectively. in like manner connect the ends of the coils of the magnet m, the one end with the rails _a_ and _c_ and the other end with the rails _b_ and _d_ of the same sections c and c' by the wires _l_ and _l'_, as shown in the drawing, and the apparatus is operative. the wires from the battery and the signal to the track are preferably insulated. before describing the operation of the apparatus as a whole, it may be stated that the electric current will follow a naked metallic conductor if of sufficient surface, even when immersed in a river or in the mud at the bottom of a river, because the metal offers less resistance to its passage than either water or mud. much more will it follow the rails of a railroad track when they are made a part of the circuit, since the rails present a large surface of good conducting material, which offers much less resistance to its passage than any surrounding mediums; and it is well known that when several courses are presented the electric current will follow that course which offers least resistance to its passage. the mode of operation is as follows: suppose the sections c and c' to be entirely clear of cars; then the electric current from the positive pole p of the battery b will pass as indicated by the arrows _x x_, through the wire _k'_, rail _b_, wire _l'_, and magnet m, charging the same, and return through the wire _l_, rail _a_, and wire _k_, as indicated by the arrows _y' y_, to the negative pole n of the battery. the magnet m, being thus charged, attracts its armature and swings the signal-disk s into the position of concealment shown in dotted outline, and holds it in that position as long as the sections c c' are clear. now let a train enter upon c or c', as indicated at h c', and the wheels and axles of the same will bridge over the rails _c_ and _d_, and thus, by offering a large conducting-surface, will present to the electric current a complete circuit, which offers much less resistance to its passage than that through the magnet m. the electricity now takes the course over the wire _k'_, rail _d_, wheels and axle h, returning, by the rail _c_ and wire _k_, to the battery, as indicated by the arrows _x x' y_, using the rails _c_ and _d_, as will be seen, with their bridge, and entirely avoiding the magnet m, which, being thus demagnetized, lets go its armature, and the counterpoise _w_, which slightly overbalances the disk s, carries the same up in front of the orifice, into a position of exposure, where it remains, as shown, while a train is on section c or c'. when, however, the train has run off, leaving sections c and c' clear, the magnet m is instantly charged again and the signal-disk is removed and kept concealed until the track is again blocked by the presence of another train, when the same process is repeated. when the signal-disk is in a position of exposure, as shown, the lever _l_ may serve to close an additional circuit through the battery b, which may be used to operate an alarm, i, in conjunction with the signal s, or to actuate another signal at a distant point. furthermore, the concealment of the signal s may serve to close another circuit for exposing another signal, or the reverse. instead of using the signal g, constructed as herein minutely described, a signal of any suitable construction may be used without affecting the spirit of the invention. furthermore, instead of using the magnet m to actuate the signal directly, it may be used as a relay, operating, when charged, to keep the circuit which directly actuates the signal open or closed, as desired. it is evident that an alarm may be used either in conjunction with or independently of a visual signal. the drawing shows an application particularly adapted to road-crossing signals on a double track. the signals may be used, also, on a single track and be applied as block signals and for other purposes on single or double tracks. when used as a block-signal or for other purposes, it may be desirable to indicate at a distant station when the signal is operative. to accomplish this object, carry one of the wires from the magnet m to the distant station. here let the wire be passed through the coils of a bell-magnet or other signaling device, and thence be carried to the track and attached to the same, as already described. the office signal will operate simultaneously with the signal s. thus any desired number of signals may be operated simultaneously, at different points, from a single section of track. by a slight modification of the plan described an efficient switch and drawbridge signal may be operated, the rails being used as conductors. thus half a mile, more or less, from a switch may be placed a signal-box and signal, substantially as described, and connected with the rails, as shown. near this point let the rails be divided, taking care that the signal and battery wire are connected to the section toward the switch. now, while the switch is on the main line, the bars connecting the rails of the switch will act as a bridge to divert the electricity from the signal-magnet. but when the switch is misplaced the metallic connection of the rails of the track will be interrupted. the signal-magnet will thus become charged and the position of the signal changed. in this case the signal should be exposed when the magnet m is charged. in like manner a cross-bar may bridge the rails on a draw-bridge. the displacing of the draw-bridge or withdrawing of the bolt or bolts which hold the same in position will allow the signal-magnet to become charged and the signal to be changed, substantially as described, in connection with a switch. it is not necessary in all cases that the rails _a_ and _b_, section c, should both be separated from metallic contact with the sections d and e. it may often, if not always, be sufficient to separate only one of said rails from such metallic contact with the adjacent sections. what i here claim as new, and desire to secure by letters patent, is-- . the battery b and magnet m, so connected with the rails of a section of railroad track that when said section is bridged by the wheels and axle of a car the electric circuit is changed and the signal operated through the demagnetization of the magnet m, substantially as specified. . a signal constructed partially of tubular material, for the purpose of securing lightness combined with strength, in the manner substantially as herein set forth. . the arrangement of the pivotal bearing of the lever _e_ at a point midway between the horizontal lines of exposure and concealment of the signal-disk, as shown and described, for the purpose set forth. . the combination of the elastic spring _i_, or its equivalent, with the levers l and _e_ and signal-disk s, substantially as set forth. . the battery b, in combination with the wires _k k'_, rails _a b_ of a railroad track, wires _l l'_, and magnet m, substantially as and for the purpose herein described. . the additional or local circuit _r_, in combination with the magnet m, wires _l l'_ _k k'_, battery b, and section of rails of a railroad track, for operation, essentially as described. william robinson. witnesses: john rooney, van wyck foster. dr. william robinson[ ] electrical and mechanical engineer fellow american institute of electrical engineers graduate of wesleyan university with degrees of a.b. and a.m. post graduate of boston university with degree of ph.d. [ ] reprinted from a circular published by dr. robinson in . data notes originator and patentee (basic patents, ) of the closed track circuit system of automatic electric signaling, the basis of practically every automatic electric block signal system in use on railroads today. the following brief description and comments on this robinson closed track circuit system are from the third annual report of the block signal and train control board to the interstate commerce commission, dated november , , pages et seq. "the track circuit "perhaps no single invention in the history of the development of railway transportation has contributed more toward safety and despatch in that field than the track circuit. by this invention, simple in itself, the foundation was obtained for the development of practically every one of the intricate systems of railway block signaling in use today wherein the train is, under all conditions, _continuously active_ in maintaining its own protection. "in other words the track circuit is today the only medium recognized as fundamentally safe by experts in railway signaling whereby _a train or any part thereof may retain continuous and direct control of a block signal while occupying any portion of the track guarded by the signal_." "invention of the rail circuit "to mr. william robinson the patent office records concede the honor of having devised the first practical track or 'rail circuit.' this comprised what is termed the _closed_ track circuit in distinction from the _open_ form that preceded it." * * * "closed track circuits are very reliable, wholly safe in principle, and simple of application and maintenance." * * * "attention is therefore directed to the closed track circuit--the basis of all modern automatic signal systems that are entitled to recognition as embodying the highest attainments in the matter of safety." "the closed track circuit "the closed track circuit in its simplest form consists of the two rails of a section acting as prime conductors, a generator maintaining a difference of potential between them when the rails are unoccupied, and one or more relays connected across the rails." * * * "the closed track circuit maintains the relay, normally, in an energized state, and the influence of the train upon the rails is to totally de-energize it by shunting or short-circuiting the generator--a thing as effectively done by a single car or locomotive as by a train of any length, for all practical purposes." * * * "a failure of the generator or a break in the circuit, whether in the rails themselves or in other parts of the circuit, produces the same effect upon the relay as that of a train upon the rails. "this is in full conformity with the accepted principles of safe signaling, which give heed not alone to the action of the devices of the system under normal conditions, but _embrace also an equal regard for safe results following derangements of them_." historical notes in this connection a few historical notes on the origin and introduction of the closed rail circuit system of automatic electric block signaling on railroads may prove of interest. in mr. william robinson exhibited at the american institute fair held in new york city, an elaborate working model of an automatic electric signal system for railroads. this was a road crossing signal operated by trains approaching in either direction. when at a suitable distance the train set a gong ringing at the road crossing ahead, which continued sounding an alarm until the train had passed, when it ceased ringing. in this model the relays were de-energized by short circuiting, although the signal was operated on the normally open circuit plan. this is believed to be the first case in which short-circuiting had been used in the operation of railway signals. in mr. robinson installed this system as an automatic block signal on a block over a mile in length, at kinzua, pa., on the philadelphia and erie railroad. this installation embodied a relay, a large visual signal under control of the relay, a heavy electric gong operated in conjunction with the visual signal, all at the signal station. from this station an overlap extended to the agent's station a mile ahead. here a signal bell was provided so that when the visual signal was actually in the danger position it closed circuit on the bell magnet in the agent's station, the hammer remaining against the bell until the reversal of the distant signal opened the circuit of this check signal. this system worked perfectly, performing all claimed for it; but it was a normally open circuit system, the only principle ever dreamed of up to that time for operating an automatic electric railway signal. immediately on the completion of this open circuit installation mr. robinson began to look for weak points about it, and soon discovered several now well known as inherent in all normally open circuit systems, not the least of which was that if the circuit were broken or the current failed from any cause the signal would remain at safety, thus showing a false signal although danger might be imminent, a radical error in principle fatal to the reliability of any normally open circuit system of signaling. he therefore, after much study, devised the closed track circuit system, the construction and operation of which are clearly described above by the interstate commerce commission. in devising this system mr. robinson reasoned that to make an efficient and reliable system every pair of wheels in the train must control the signal, whereby a single car on the block, or a break in any part of the circuit, or loss of current from any cause affecting the relay, would keep the signal at danger as effectively as the presence of a whole train on the block. these considerations led him to the invention of the closed track circuit operating as heretofore clearly described by the interstate commerce commission. before making tests of the system, however, he applied for and was allowed basic patents on the closed track circuit system in the united states and france, the united states patent dated august , , no. , , and the french patent february , , no. , . having all the signal apparatus in operation at kinzua, in the open circuit system, as above described, it was a simple matter for him to test the closed circuit system at this point. he therefore divided the opposite rails of the track into sections insulated from the adjacent continuous track rails and connected the relay terminals to these sections at one end and similarly connected a battery thereto at a suitable distance from the relay, thus forming a closed track circuit. this being done, the first train that passed connected the opposite rail lines through the wheels and axles, short circuited the relay, thus operating all the signal circuits under its control, thereby practically demonstrating the feasibility of the system. this was in . this block was extended to the agent's station over a mile from the signal, at which station the track battery was placed and also a switch for the manual operation of the signal, and also an overlapping telltale signal showing to the agent when the distant main signal was actually exposed at danger. the signal also indicated to the agent the approach of a train when a mile away. another installation was immediately ordered to be made at irvineton on the same road. this was completed early in and worked perfectly from the beginning, performing all the functions described in connection with the installation at kinzua. the locomotive engineers were greatly interested and soon christened the irvineton signal "the old reliable." this was followed by other installations on this road and in mr. robinson had made installations of his closed rail circuit system of signaling on four different railroads, followed by various installations on many other railroads in the following years, as he was the sole owner of the system for about nine years, that is, until about or , when the westinghouse people obtained control of the system by the purchase of robinson's interests. this was promptly followed by a reorganization under the name of the union switch and signal company, the terms "union" and "signal" representing the robinson interests in the reorganization. this company thus became the sole owner of the robinson closed circuit system of signaling until the expiration of his patents, when all other signal companies adopted the robinson system as the basis of their signal work. the original name of the robinson company was _the union electric signal company_, which robinson organized and owned in . in the reorganization the word "electric" was canceled from this title and the words "switch and" substituted, thus forming the present title: "_the union switch and signal company_." rail bonding experience at kinzua with a very poor track demonstrated the necessity of a rail bond to secure reliable electrical continuity throughout the rails constituting the block. here, in , mr. robinson conceived the invention of the bond wire as used today. in an effort, however, to avoid the handicap of having to bore two holes in every rail of long sections of track, he equipped a signal section in with elastic steel plates bearing on the adjacent rails at the joints. this did not prove as satisfactory, however, as the bond wire. he therefore used bond wires made after his original conception, on every installation he made after . he made his bond wire in two forms. in the second form he made studs slightly tapering, bored holes through them, inserted the ends of the wire in these holes, brazed them together and drove these studs securely into holes bored in the adjacent rails. an examination of these bonds after several years' service showed that they were apparently in as good condition mechanically and electrically as when first put in place. the rail bond is now an essential basic feature of practically every one of the electric railway systems now in operation, since they all use the track for a return, and the track rails must be securely bonded in order to insure indispensable electrical continuity of the circuit. in addition to his signal system, therefore, dr. robinson is clearly entitled to the credit of having made, before the inception of electric railroading, a simple basic invention in his bond wire, which has made modern electric railroading possible, an invention indispensable to the successful operation of electric railroading as practiced today. this invention has saved the electric roads untold millions of dollars and enabled them to accomplish results in a simple manner which could not otherwise be as well secured at any cost, by the only alternative method, of running return contact conductors in the air. william robinson. [illustration: william robinson, ph.d.; e. & m.e. original inventor and patentee of the automatic electric signal systems now in use on the leading railroads in the united states and foreign countries.] dr. robinson's record from wesleyan university william robinson, b.a., ; m.a., , alpha delta phi. ph.d. boston university, . born november , , in ireland. principal of high school, ansonia, conn., - . in the oil region, pennsylvania, . taught in stamford, conn., . principal of spring valley academy, n.y., - . engaged in the oil business in pennsylvania, - . president and general manager of the robinson electric railway signal company, . engaged in business in boston, mass., - . organized the union electric signal company, . traveled in europe, egypt and palestine for fifteen months, - . inventor of the robinson wireless electric railway signal system, of the robinson radial car truck, of the coaster brake used on bicycles, of roller bearing skates, and of a repeating telephone. engaged in developing and practising electric engineering. author: history of automatic electric and electrically controlled fluid pressure signal systems for railroads. died january , , brooklyn, new york. a.i.e.e. record of dr. william robinson copy of dr. robinson's record made from original application no. to the american institute of electrical engineers, west th street, new york city. (record filed july, .) references given by dr. robinson: william b. potter. e. w. rice, jr. theodore stebbins, dallas, texas. frank j. sprague, broadway. prof. chas. a. cross, m.i.t. prof. elihu thomson. goss & bryce, mech. eng., william street. george l. fowler, cons. eng., broadway. wm. wallace white, foreign patent solicitor and consul, broadway. william robinson (a.m., ph.d.) electrical and mechanical engineer born november , , north of ireland, of scotch-irish descent on paternal side and english on maternal side. eligible for transfer: under clauses (a) and (c). education: graduate of wesleyan university, full academic course, receiving the degrees of a.b. in and a.m. in . post-graduate of boston university in , with degree of doctor of philosophy; course including electrical and mechanical engineering. occupation and work done: engaged in developing and practising electrical engineering from prior to up to the present time ( ). original inventor and patentee of the automatic electrical and electrically controlled fluid pressure signal systems for railroads now in universal use on the leading railroads in the united states and foreign countries, wherever and by whomsoever installed, throughout the world. . received four united states patents on this system; applications filed earlier. . exhibited an elaborate working model of the system at the american institute in new york, showing the automatic signal system in operation under control of passing cars. - . original inventor and patentee of the closed track circuit system of signaling. received basic united states and french patents covering same, in . applications filed, . - . original inventor and patentee of the automatic electro-pneumatic signal systems for railroads in use for many years past. received basic british patent covering this system in . so far as i have been able to ascertain on careful investigation, this patent appears to be the first ever issued anywhere on this subject. the following brief historical excerpt is taken from a united states patent granted to me on october , , no. , , on an electric railway system. this patent is one of a bunch of eight taken out by me on the same date, on the same subject. the excerpt relates to my work in signaling. "the block signal system herein disclosed is an embodiment of the robinson electro-pneumatic system now in extensive operation on the pennsylvania railroad and many other leading railroads in this and other countries, embodying the closed circuit rail system for which a basic u.s. patent was granted to me on august , , no. , (reissued july , ), the electro-pneumatic signal system disclosed in my british patent of august , , no. , the subject matter of both of which patents is disclosed in my french patent of february , , no. , . the electro-pneumatic signal system disclosed in the above named patents is also disclosed in my united states patent dated november , , no. , . as above indicated the block signal system herein described comprises the system described in my above named patents and now in general use on leading steam railroads, but modified and improved in a way adapting it for reliable and efficient use in connection with electric railroads of the sectional third rail type." the admission of the above brief history in the above described, and substantially in two other patents of the same date, is, of course, a complete verification of its historical accuracy by the patent office. . in i put the closed track circuit system of signaling in practical and successful operation at several points on different divisions of the philadelphia and erie railroad, and on other roads. - . in to ' i installed the closed circuit rail system of automatic signaling on various railroads in pennsylvania, new england and elsewhere. i perfected the system and put it in as perfect and efficient and durable operation at that time as it is in today, including all its functions of block, switch, road-crossing, overlapping, rear and front, tell-tale and broken rail detector. . organized and owned the union electric signal company, based solely on my signal patents, at that time nine in number. some time afterwards george westinghouse and his associates bought the controlling interest in the union electric signal company and reorganized the company under the name of the union switch and signal company. thus, the automatic signal system of the union switch and signal co. consists, in every essential particular, of the robinson system, pure and simple. it may be here pointed out that all the railway signal companies now in operation, installing automatic signals under whatever name, are using the robinson system bodily, and have been since the expiration of robinson's basic patents. there is no other system, as a system, in use. history: several years ago i published a "history of automatic electric and electrically controlled fluid pressure signal systems for railroads," the only authentic history ever published on the subject. this was written and published at the instance of engineering friends, in the interest of indisputable historical accuracy. telephone experiments . as a matter of more or less interest i may here state that i carried on a conversation by telephone, in , through a railroad track, the circuit consisting of the two rail lines constituting a closed circuit signal block. - . delivered numerous illustrated lectures on the telephone, and at this time discovered the principle of the wireless telephone and actually transmitted speech clearly back and forth across an open space of several inches to and from a telephone having but one terminal grounded and the other free in the air. the free, uninsulated wire (except at supports) extended several hundred feet through the air. the instruments used were large magneto telephones of my own special designing, and made by me for the special purpose of illustrating lectures. no battery was used. electric railway systems outside of automatic signaling i have done considerable work along original electrical lines. in addition to other work of importance i have for more than fifteen years devoted much time to developing a radically new departure in electric railroading. on this system i have applied for more than twenty patents, extending over a series of years, fourteen of which patents have already been issued. what this system accomplishes . the third rail or contact conductor is made in sections or blocks of any desired length, which sections are normally dead but become automatically alive when a train enters thereupon, and dead when the train leaves the section. . when a train enters upon a section or block it prevents the section back of it from receiving working current. thus any number of trains following each other will each be deprived of working current when the length of a block back of the train ahead of it, whether that train be running or standing still, thus preventing collisions. . a train approaching a switch or drawbridge is automatically arrested the length of a block away from the block containing the switch or draw before a bolt can be withdrawn or a lock released in the latter. . no possibility of interference between a possible wandering propulsion current and the functions of any other current. . all currents used may be of the same or have any combination of different characteristics. the system is elaborate, providing for safety on and off the trains, economy of current, simplicity and certainty in action, dispenses largely with electrolytic action, and when alternating propulsion current is used the return is confined to the length of the block. it is believed that the system will prevent all danger to passengers and trains from the direct action of the propulsion current. president roosevelt called the attention of the interstate commerce commission to my electrical and mechanical inventions for making railroading safe. mechanical engineering i have done considerable original work in mechanical engineering. in this connection i may mention the well known robinson radial car truck, which is in quite extensive operation on electric railways. this is the only car truck, i believe, ever designed and constructed on correct mechanical principles. it is so constructed that every axle in the car or train becomes exactly radial to any curve around which it passes, all the axles becoming parallel on straight lines only. this prevents wear and tear and grinding and derailment on curves. it also greatly economizes current. one of these radial cars, in st. louis, having a -ft. body, exclusive of platforms, equipped with a radial truck having a -ft. wheel-base and two motors, stopped in the middle of a street corner curve and started with the same power as on a straight line, as shown by careful tests with volt and ammeters. the test was made by officials of the company without my knowledge at the time. i believe this is the coming truck for electric locomotives. (i forward by same mail a catalogue of the robinson radial car truck, fully illustrated, for the information of the board.) coaster hub i am also the inventor of the back pedal braking and coasting bicycle hub, which has been in general use for many years. my application for a basic patent covering this hub has been pending in the patent office for twelve years, held back nine years by interference litigation in the patent office, owing to an effete interference system which has no apology to offer to justify its existence. turbine engines in turbine engines i have made some important improvements. in one the engine is reversible by the movement of a single lever in either direction. in a second the steam is utilized a second time under conditions doubling the original efficiency, and balancing the end thrust perfectly. in a third improvement the engine develops more than three times as much power as any other turbine of its class occupying the same floor space. patents allowed but not yet issued. i figure that ocean steamers should furnish a large field for these machines. respectfully submitted, (signed) william robinson. stuyvesant ave., brooklyn, n.y. part ii william ashbridge baldwin the progressive ideas of william ashbridge baldwin were responsible for the first tests of the closed track circuit under actual operating conditions. it was through his confidence in this invention of dr. william robinson that the possibilities of the application of the closed track circuit to the safety of train operation was proved. mr. baldwin, at the time the first signal installations were made at kinzua, pa., and irvineton, was general superintendent of the philadelphia and erie, now part of the northern grand division, central region, pennsylvania system, and because he made possible the development of signaling to its present standard by his interest and active co-operation in the 's in making train movements safer, it is but fitting that he should be given a place in the memorial to dr. william robinson. [illustration: _tracks and location of electric signals dr. robinson's patent kinzua pa. - ._] [illustration: _tracks and location of electric signals dr. robinson's patent irvineton - ._] before stating mr. baldwin's railroad activities it will be well to describe briefly the way in which he became interested in dr. robinson and his work. dr. robinson shortly after being graduated from college began work on a signal system to prevent train accidents which were of numerous occurrence, and made a model of his open wire system which was exhibited at the fair held by the american institute of electrical engineers in new york in . at the close of the fair, he sent out circulars to officers of various railroad companies explaining his system. the one received by mr. baldwin interested him to such an extent that he arranged for dr. robinson to make an installation at kinzua, pa., in . this installation was of the normally open wire circuit controlled by track levers. after the installation, dr. robinson seeing that it had many serious defects began studying how to correct them. this was accomplished by the invention of the closed track circuit. he then exhibited his closed track circuit system of signaling at the state fair held at erie, pa., in , where he had his track circuits operating under water in a long tank. dr. robinson had previously explained the principles of the closed track circuit to mr. baldwin who requested him to make such an installation at kinzua, pa., in place of the open wire circuit. after this was in service, mr. baldwin ordered another installation to be made at irvineton, pa., and because of the good service rendered, this signal soon came to be called the "old reliable" by the locomotive enginemen. (a picture of this signal appears in part i.) old employees describe first installations through the courtesy of a. j. whitney, general superintendent, northern grand division, central region, pennsylvania system, and a. h. rudd, chief signal engineer of the pennsylvania system, the following information was developed from interviews with wm. metzger, years old, of irvineton, pa., once an engineer on the philadelphia & erie; associate judge j. w. hughes, of warren, pa., formerly yard master at irvineton; john christie, car inspector at irvineton, and j. c. curtis, formerly a train dispatcher on the renovo division. "about , dr. robinson, who probably came from altoona, erected a signal governing westward movements, near irvineton. this signal was located just west of irvine run bridge, on the north side of the main track (this track is now an eastward track), in a small frame building adjacent to the track and was electrically operated back of a circular opening about two feet in diameter, by display of a red flag during the day and a light in the rear of the flag by night. a bell was also located in the signal shanty and another bell in the telegraph office of the station, located at the junction of the two railroads (see sketch). a trip device, operated by the wheel flange, forced contact with wires carried on the telegraph poles and operated the signal and bell in the signal shanty as well as bell in the telegraph office. the signal was known as the "old reliable" and the words "dr. robinson's patent" were painted around the circular opening. "another pair of signals was installed by dr. robinson at kinzua, now ludlow, for protection of trains stopping at kinzua (ludlow) station. these signals were operated by overhead wires as at irvineton. when a train was opposite one of the signals, it set both signals to red indication by operating a red flag within a circular opening in the daytime and a light in the rear of the flag at night. a loud gong was also installed in each shanty which rang coincident with the signal going to the red indication. when the rear of the train passed the signal in advance both signals returned to clear and the bells stopped ringing. this system was operated with batteries and was removed in less than a year on account of the difficulty of maintaining the batteries." biographical sketch of w. a. baldwin the biographical sketch of mr. baldwin, as given below is taken from the biographical directory of the railway officials of america--edition of . baldwin, william ashbridge, president, cleveland & marietta ry. office, pittsburgh, pa. born june , , at philadelphia, pa. entered railway service november, , as chainman, engineer corps, coal run road, in schuylkill county, pennsylvania, since which he has been consecutively, march, to , assistant engineer on the same road; to march, , leveler and topographer, lackawanna & bloomsburg road; march, , to december, , assistant engineer, leveler and topographer, honduras inter-oceanic road, at honduras, central america; december, , to november, , clerk to superintendent, western division, pennsylvania; january, , to february, , assistant engineer, pennsylvania; february , , to march , , superintendent, western division, philadelphia & erie (pennsylvania, lessee); march , , to may , , assistant general superintendent, same road; may , , to october , , general superintendent, philadelphia & erie division, pennsylvania; october , , to september , , general superintendent, same division, same road, and s. & s. divisions, northern central ry.; september , , to may , , manager, pennsylvania co., and pittsburgh, cincinnati & st. louis railway lines; may , , to march , , manager, pennsylvania co.'s lines; april , , to april, , vice-president and general manager, buffalo, rochester & pittsburgh; november, , to date, president, cleveland & marietta ry.; november, , to december , , also general manager same road. retired from that road on april , , at the age of years, under the pension rules of the pennsylvania lines west of pittsburgh, of which the cleveland & marietta was a part. mr. baldwin died on february , , at sewickley, pa., at the age of . his obituary, as appearing in the _railway age_ for february , , appears below. "william ashbridge baldwin, former president of the cleveland & marietta, which is now a part of the pennsylvania system, died in sewickley, pa., february . mr. baldwin was born on june , , at philadelphia, and began railway work in november, , with a party of engineers making surveys in schuylkill county, pa. in march, , he went to honduras, central america, as assistant engineer, leveler and topographer on the honduras inter-oceanic railway. in december of the following year he returned to this country and entered the employ of the pennsylvania railroad. in he was appointed superintendent of the western division of the philadelphia & erie. by may, , he had become general superintendent of the philadelphia & erie division, and in september, he was appointed manager of the pennsylvania lines west of pittsburgh. in he went to buffalo, rochester & pittsburgh as vice-president and general manager, but five years later he returned to the pennsylvania system and was made president of the cleveland & marietta." part iii the track circuit "perhaps no single invention in the history of the development of railway transportation has contributed more towards safety and despatch in that field than the track circuit. by this invention, simple in itself, the foundation was obtained for the development of practically every one of the intricate systems of railway block signaling in use today wherein the train is, under all conditions, _continuously active_ in maintaining its own protection. "in other words, the track circuit is today the only medium recognized as fundamentally safe by experts in railway signaling whereby _a train or any part thereof may retain continuous and direct control of a block signal while occupying any portion of the track guarded by the signal_." "to mr. william robinson the patent office records concede the honor of having devised the first practical track or 'rail circuit'. this comprised what is termed the _closed_ track circuit. * * * closed track circuits are very reliable, wholly safe in principle, and simple of application and maintenance." the above paragraphs, quoted from the third annual report of the block signal and train control board to the interstate commerce commission under date of november , , ably express in a few words what the invention of the track circuit has meant to the railroads of this and other countries. in order, however, that those who are not familiar with the principles of the track circuit may have some general knowledge of them, a simple, non-technical description is given, as prepared some years ago by mr. j. p. coleman, of the union switch & signal company. historical information on the development and use of direct current and alternating current track circuits for roads using electricity for propulsion purposes and those using steam will be found in a report on this subject made by committee x to the railway signal association in . the rail circuit principle by j. p. coleman. assuming that it is clearly understood that the current is generated at the battery; that it flows from thence through the conductors (of which the coils of the magnet form part) and back again to the battery, and that the magnet is simply a device interposed in the circuit for the purpose of transforming electrical energy into mechanical (magnetic) energy, and that the latter can exist in an electro-magnet only with the presence of the former, we are now prepared to make clear the principle of an electric track section. to assist in this, let us state an invariable law governing the flow of currents: _if two or more paths be presented an electric current, it immediately becomes divided, and flows in each in quantities directly in proportion to the conductivity of each._ the unit of electrical resistance, whereby the comparative merits of various materials and sizes of materials as conductors are designated, is called an _ohm_, (just as the unit of lineal measurement whereby the comparative lengths and sizes of various objects are designated, is termed a _foot_) and we will therefore use that term in reference to the resistance of a conductor. [illustration: fig. ] figure represents an ordinary gravity battery, the conductors from it, and the electro-magnet to which they connect; also the armature as attracted by the magnet and overcoming the spring which tends to withdraw it from the magnet. now, as long as the current flows through the magnet, this condition of things remains unaltered; but let a second path be presented to the current several hundred times less in resistance than the original one, and the result is that several hundred parts of the current will leave the magnet for the "short circuit," and consequently leave so little remaining in the original one that the effect will be practically to demagnetize the magnets. [illustration: fig. ] figure will render this very apparent if we will assume the wire of the magnet r to possess a resistance of ohms, and the conductors themselves a resistance so low as to be inappreciable and unworthy of consideration. [illustration: fig. ] [illustration: fig. ] now, assume the current to be flowing and the magnet to be charged, and let us take a piece of metal which has an electrical resistance of / of an ohm, and lay it across the conductors at any point between the battery and the magnet. the result is, that instead of flowing through ohms resistance _via_ the magnet, it follows the invariable rule, and takes that offering but / of an ohm; or, more to the point, if we assume the conductors referred to to be one mile of steel rails each (fig. ), and again leave their resistance (which would be about one ohm each) out of consideration entirely, leaving that of the magnet as first stated, and assume the bar of / of an ohm to be an axle and pair of wheels (_a_) of a train (fig. ), which possess the same resistance, we can readily see that the result would be exactly the same, _i.e._, instead of all the current passing through the magnets, as when the rails were unoccupied, the presence of the wheels upon them would cause / of the current to leave the magnet and pass through _them_; they offering but / of the resistance of the magnets, and thus leaving but / of the whole current passing through them, which being so small a part of so feeble a current is imperceptible and without sufficient influence to hold the magnet charged. therefore, it follows that the instant that a pair of wheels enters upon a pair of rails which thus form part of the conductors of an electrical current holding charged a magnet, that magnet becomes practically demagnetized, and consequently loses all power to overcome any opposing force in its armature. when the armature of a magnet is arranged upon a small lever, by motion of which a second circuit is closed or opened, or two or more circuits are otherwise controlled, the entire device is termed a relay. in all forms of this instrument, as is the case with almost every other electrical instrument, the armature is so arranged as to fall by gravity, or by tension of a small spring suitably arranged, away from the cores of the magnets when they become demagnetized. [illustration: fig. ] when switches are included in a track section (fig. ), it becomes necessary for safety to have them control the track section in such a way that unless they are properly set (and locked, if desired) for the main track, the continuity of the rail circuit is interrupted and the signal is thereby held at danger. to render more certain this result, the circuit controller (switch box) at the switch is arranged in such a way that the track circuit is not only interrupted beyond the switch, but is also short-circuited by it when the switch is not properly set. it is also necessary for safety that the side track from the switch points back to the fouling point (fig. ) be included in the track section: thus insuring that all trains on these tracks are out of danger of collision with the main track when a "clear" signal is displayed on it. in dividing tracks into distinct electrical sections, it becomes necessary to insulate the rail ends at the terminal of each, from those of the adjacent sections. if this were not done the current of each section would traverse the next, and continue on indefinitely, influencing each other so as to interfere with or totally prevent the operation of all. in order that we may fully comprehend the nature of an insulation, let us make clear a few facts concerning conductors in general. all materials conduct electricity to a certain extent; but some with much more freedom than others. thus, silver, copper, gold, zinc, platinum, iron, steel, mercury, and other pure metals permit the passage of an electric current through them with but slight resistance, (although all offer a certain amount,) and are therefore termed _conductors_. the following liquids are classed as conductors: concentrated and diluted acids, saline liquids and water, although they are much less efficient as such than the metals. to this list might be added the earth itself and the various ingredients forming it, the nature of which ingredients determines very much its efficiency as a conductor. thus at points abounding in mineral deposits the earth would be far superior as a conductor to those parts in which none exist, but at best should be regarded as a poor conductor. next comes a class of materials which offer a great resistance to the current, and which from that reason are termed non-conductors, or insulators; of this class, rubber, glass, leather, resin, wood, brimstone and dry air are the most common. wood being a non-conductor, it is very evident that the cross-ties under the steel rails form an insulation between them and the ground; also, that if a piece of the same or similar material be placed between the rail ends, and that if two other pieces of sufficient strength be substituted for the iron fish-plates at that point, a secure insulation will be formed between the rails. it is precisely in this way that the insulation of one rail from another is effected (fig. ) and the long, practical use of many hundred joints of this sort, has proved it to be a method both economical and thoroughly efficient. [illustration: fig. ] a much more secure _joint_, however, is obtained by insulating the existing iron fish-plates from the rails by means of heavy fiber plates, and their bolts from the rails by fiber bushings (fig. ). while this method is superior to the first mentioned one in that it makes a more secure rail joint, it is no more efficient as an insulation. [illustration: fig. ] one would naturally suppose that owing to the large surface of contact existing between the rails and their connecting or fish-plates, and from the apparent security of that contact obtained by the bolts through them, no trouble would be experienced by the current in passing from one rail to the other. this, however, is not the case, as the bolts and even the plates themselves frequently become loose, even when provided with the best of nut locks, and the rust and dirt settling between them and the rails oftentimes increase the resistance of a track section to a serious extent. again, even when tightly bolted and locked, these plates form but an imperfect contact, owing to the scale or rust upon them. therefore, to insure that the resistance of a track section may be as low and as constant as possible, we have found it absolutely necessary to connect each two adjacent rail ends together by means of a short piece of very strong wire (fig. ). [illustration: fig. ] these wires are termed "track wires" (bond wires) and are provided with a button-head rivet at each end, which is securely soldered thereto, for the purpose of securing them to the rails. (bond wires are now attached to the rails by channel pins or are welded on.) the connections from the rails to the battery and relay of a track section are secured to the rails in the same manner. the battery is usually located in a chute or well sunk in the ground at the terminal of each section, which is provided with an elevator in which the battery is placed and by which it may be raised and lowered at will. all wires when placed underground are run in grooved lumber in order that they may be secure from injury. even in very wet or snowy weather a single jar of gravity battery is generally found to furnish sufficient current to properly work the relay at the other end of any section less than three-quarters of a mile in length; although it frequently happens on longer sections and occasionally on those of ordinary length that two jars are necessary. a greater number of jars is never advisable since by increasing the intensity of the current, the liability of its leaking from one rail to the other during wet weather is correspondingly increased, and as this is attended with some uncertainty in the working of the relay of the section--due to the varying intensity of the current--it should be carefully guarded against. as two jars of gravity battery are not sufficient to operate a signal, lock, bell or any similar instrument with any degree of certainty, it becomes necessary to have a second set of batteries of a greater number of jars for that purpose. the armature of the magnet controlled by the track section is therefore made to control a second circuit using a battery of this sort (figs. , and ) and which includes the magnet of the signal mechanism. the use of a relay on a track section is therefore necessary; and when it becomes necessary to control two or more devices, each requiring independent circuits, by one track, the use of a relay is indispensable. track circuit characteristics while the fundamental principles of the track circuit are the same today as they were when it was originally invented by dr. robinson in , it has been found that it is not as simple a device as was formerly supposed to be the case and many problems have arisen which have required and is requiring the careful study of the signal engineers. accordingly, it is well to present briefly some of the track circuit characteristics as they are known today. in the following presentation, information has been collected from many different sources, including abstracts from papers presented on the track circuit by mr. a. r. fugina, signal engineer, and mr. j. b. weigle, signal inspector on the louisville & nashville. there are two general classes of track circuits, direct current and alternating current, which may be further subdivided between single or double rail circuits. the essential feature of the track circuit is the insulation of each section of track from the adjoining sections. each rail in the section is connected to the one adjoining by bond wires, for the purpose of making a continuous conductor from one end of the section to the other. rail bonding under the present methods of bonding, the angle bar carries the greater part of the current, and bond wires frequently carry as little as per cent. of it and sometimes even less. the rail resistance is lowest with new rails, but it gradually gets higher, due to rust and dirt formations between the angle bar and the rail. but even with new rail, the rail resistance varies greatly at different periods and even at different times during any twenty-four hours. this variation is entirely due to the fact that the angle bars carry more of the current than the bond wires, and that the bond wires under any condition are only large enough to carry the smaller part of the current from the battery. the lower the resistance of the bonds the less variable will be the rail resistance. the resistance of the angle bars increases greatly as rail resistance increases, as a result of which the angle bars rapidly carry less of the current. it is not infrequent to find the rail resistance to be as high as . ohms per , ft. of track, and we have known it to run as high as . in new rail, where especial attention had been given to obtaining as good bonding as possible. under such conditions the angle bar carries very little of the current, the capacity of the bond is not sufficient to carry the current, and the net result is a failing track circuit, which is probably attributed to bad ballast, zinc treated ties or other causes. the principal defect in the track circuit is that of improper bonding. the only explanation as to why no. iron wires became standard for bonding appears to be that the bond wires were cut from this size iron telegraph wire which was in general use at the time rails began to be bonded. it is important to obtain better bonding to obtain a minimum constant rail resistance. it has been recommended that: first--the use of galvanized wire bonds should be eliminated. second--forty per cent. copper clad bond wires should be used as a temporary expedient to replace galvanized bond wires. third--except for theft and crystallization, copper bond wires would be much more advisable. fourth--larger bond wires should be used, these bonds to be at least equal in carrying capacity to two -in. no. solid copper or to two no. , per cent. copper clad wires. until recently it has been the general opinion of all experts on the track circuit that the rail resistance was rather an unimportant factor and that, as a general rule, the change in rail resistance could be disregarded in making track circuit investigations and calculations. many bad track circuit conditions have been laid to bad ballast conditions, zinc treated ties, wet track, etc., which, if carefully analyzed, would have shown the trouble to be due to extremely high rail resistance. these faulty conclusions are being drawn nearly every day. single rail track circuits, so called from the fact that but one rail is insulated, are also used. installations of this kind are made to avoid the expense of two insulated joints or where one rail is needed for another circuit. such track circuits are more liable to failure than those having both rails insulated for the reason that the break-down of one insulated joint will extend the circuit beyond the proper limit and cause interference of neighboring circuits or extended shunting of the relay, due to the presence of a train beyond the insulated joint. a track circuit may be made to perform two separate functions in which the direction or polarity as well as the presence of current is made use of in the relay, provided the first or principal function actuated by the presence or absence of current does not interfere with the secondary function, actuated both by the presence of current and its polarity. where switches occur in a track circuit, special means must be employed to prevent short-circuiting through the switch rods and leakage of current to the turn-out rail. the usual method is the use of insulated switch rods with insulated joints in the leads of the turnout and at the fouling point of the turnout. the switch points are bonded to the stock rails to insure shunting by a pair of wheels on any part of the track. none of the methods employed in running track circuits through switches show any protection against an open switch. in order to obtain this protection a switch instrument or switch box is used. this consists of a device with electrical contacts, the whole mounted on a switch timber and connected to the switch point by means of a rod so arranged that when a switch slips open or is thrown open the movement of the rod actuates contacts which, on being closed, form a closed path from one rail to the other through wires connecting the rails to the contacts, thus when the contacts are closed by a switch being opened, the same effect is produced as if a train was on the circuit, shunting it out. on electrically operated roads where tracks are bonded for the return propulsion current with heavy copper bonds, no additional bond wires are necessary. the track battery the usual form of track circuit has a primary battery at one end of the insulated track section, with the positive terminal of the battery connected to one rail and the negative terminal to the other, while a relay at the other end of the section is connected to the rails in a similar manner. current flows from the positive side of the battery through the one rail, the relay and the other rail back to the battery, thus keeping the relay energized. for d.c. track circuits, four types of cells have been used to a greater or less extent, the gravity cell; lalande (soda) cell; storage cell and dry cell. the gravity cell has a voltage of about . or . volts, the resistance varying with the manner in which the cell is maintained and averaging about ohms. it will remain active for long periods on closed circuits without appreciable polarization. because of this high internal resistance usually no external resistance is necessary to be connected between it and the rail of the track. the e.m.f. of the lalande (soda) cell may vary from about . volts to . volts while the internal resistance will range between . ohm to . ohm. because of the low internal resistance of these cells it is necessary to use an external resistance of the proper value between the cell and the rail. the storage cell is made in various capacities and a fully charged cell on open circuit has a voltage of approximately . volts which, when placed on discharge, becomes approximately volts and drops to about . volts when completely discharged. the voltage in this type of cell varies with the density of the electrolyte and to a certain extent with temperature. it has practically a negligible internal resistance and it is also necessary to use an external resistance in the leads between the cell and the track to prevent a flow of excessive current when a train occupies the track. the dry cell is used only in emergency cases or occasionally for open circuit track circuits of or rail lengths, which are sometimes used as annunciator starts to announce the approach of a train to a tower-man. it is designed primarily for open circuit work and will polarize when current beyond a certain figure is drawn continuously from it. the track relay the track relay is a development of the instrument of the same name used in telegraph service. it consists of an electro-magnet of the horseshoe type with a pivoted armature, carrying one or more fingers for making or breaking electric circuits for the control of signal apparatus. track relays with resistances of and ohms are usually employed. from experience with two-ohm relays on the l. & n., covering a great many of them on all kinds of circuits, the following conclusions are reached: the two-ohm relay is more suitable for general use on track circuits than the four-ohm, provided not less than the r.s.a. recommended limiting resistance is used between the battery and track. the two-ohm relay will operate satisfactorily where the four-ohm will not on bad track circuits, and with considerably less current consumption. the two-ohm relay will operate equally as well on good track circuits of average length as the four-ohm, there being little difference in current consumption on this class of circuit. under the same conditions longer track circuits may be operated with the two-ohm relay. the two-ohm relay is at least as safe as the four ohm. it should be thoroughly understood that it is as important with the four-ohm relay as it is with the two-ohm relay to have not less than the r.s.a. recommended limiting resistance between the battery and track. this is important with any kind of low internal resistance battery, and under certain conditions with gravity battery also. in one case assume a train to be passing from the relay end to the battery end of a track section and in the other case from the battery end to the relay end. the effect accomplished is the same except that the relay will not release so quickly when the train passes from the battery end towards the relay end, and this is in part due to the self-induction of the circuit through the relay coils, the rails and the axles of the train. it is due more, however, to small current leakage from the adjacent section and the effects of stray currents which are always present to a greater or less degree. a broken rail will also generally open the circuit and de-energize the relay. circuits for the control of the various signal devices are broken through the contact points of the track relay. track circuit maintenance cross ties have a relatively high resistance to the passage of electric current, but when a large number connect the rails many multiple paths are introduced into the circuit through which the current may flow from one rail to the other, and, considering them as a whole, the resistance they offer to the passage of the current reaches a relatively low value. consequently there is always a current leakage from rail to rail through the cross ties and ballast. every effort should be made to secure and maintain the best ballast and drainage possible on d.c. as well as a.c. track circuits. cinders, dirty sand, soft water-logged ties and ballast not well cleaned away from the base of the rail will produce track circuit trouble, particularly during wet weather, while good rock ballast, sound ties and clean track give the greatest efficiency. the use of ties freshly treated with zinc chloride also reduces the ballast resistance. if too many such ties are used in a track circuit the current leakage between rails becomes so great that not enough current reaches the relay to hold it closed, the effect being the same as if a train is on the track circuit shunting out the relay. for good results, the number of zinc-treated ties installed per year in any track circuit should not be greater than per cent. of the total number of ties in that circuit. track circuit troubles some of the common track circuit ailments are relay and track battery troubles, defective track connections, poor bonding and broken rails, short circuits or shunts, excessive leakage and defective insulated joints, all of which will cause the signals to be set in the danger position, while defective relays, foreign current and poor wheel contact may result in a false proceed signal indication with a train in the block section. it was the quite general practice to operate bad track circuits by piling on gravity battery, either in multiple or multiple-series arrangements to obtain operating results without any regard to the safety of the circuit and, no doubt, many false proceed failures were caused thereby. the effect of temperature changes on track circuit operation are of considerable importance. the track relay, which is generally housed in a cast or sheet iron box, probably is affected more by changes in temperature than any other part of the track circuit. the resistance of a -ohm relay, which is ohm at degrees f., will be . ohm at degrees f., and . ohm at degrees f., a variation of . ohm. the pick up and release of the relay, . and . volt, respectively, at degrees f., will be . and . volt at degrees f., and . and . volt at degrees f. a relay, with a normal resistance of ohm at degrees f., will be . ohm at degrees f. and . ohm at degrees f., a variation of . ohm. the pick up and release, . and . volt, respectively, at degrees f., will be . and . volt at degrees f. and . and . volt at zero. the point which is intended to be brought out by these figures is that when the temperature of the relay increases, a correspondingly higher voltage is required to pick up the armature, and when the temperature decreases the armature will hold up with lower voltage across the coils. this indicates that a track relay is more liable to fail to release due to an imperfect train shunt in cold weather than at any other time. some of the best preventatives that may be provided to guard against false proceed signals due to track relays failing to release with a train in the circuit, are: . use as much resistance as practicable between battery and track. . use low resistance bond wires, and maintain bonding in good shape. . keep ballast well cleared from contact with rails. . maintain insulation in insulated track joints in good condition. aside from these simple remedies no definite rule can be given to combat foreign current. if it is so troublesome that these methods do not overcome it, the circuit affected must be carefully studied to determine the source of the foreign current and its path to the rails, then special means can usually be provided to overcome it. ballast resistance and leakage the importance of ballast resistance has long been recognized, and this always has been considered the great variable, whereas, investigations show that the ballast resistance is at least no more variable than the rail resistance, and that of the two it is more important to reduce the rail resistance to a minimum, and especially to establish it as a constant. when the ballast leakage problem was first taken up (on the l. & n.), various kinds of ballast were measured in both wet and dry weather, the intention being to determine the lowest possible resistance per ft. for each kind of ballast. it was proposed in this way to establish a standard minimum resistance per ft. for each kind of ballast. for instance, if a number of measurements in wet weather showed ohms per ft. as a minimum for track circuits with crushed rock ballast, it was the intention to adopt ohms as the standard minimum ballast resistance per ft. for all track circuits where crushed rock ballast was in use. if a number of wet weather measurements showed ohms per ft. as a minimum for cinder ballast, it was the intention to adopt ohms as the standard minimum ballast resistance per ft. for all track circuits where cinder ballast was used. it was the intention to follow out the same process and establish a standard for all kinds of ballast in use. this was soon found to be impracticable. after making many ballast resistance measurements, it was noticed that the variation of the resistance on any track circuit, as between wet and dry weather, generally followed quite a definite rule. for instance: if the resistance per ft. of dry ballast was found to be ohms or more, it would be not less than ohms per ft. when wet; or if resistance of dry ballast was found to be between and ohms per ft., it would be not less than ohms per ft. when wet. once a relay is picked up or energized, but a small amount of current is required to maintain it in that condition. this is one reason why it is important to keep the ballast clear of the rails and it is because of the condition which may cause a relay to remain energized that rules are in force requiring the signalmen to disconnect a track relay when track forces are changing out rails. combined rail and bond wire resistance on circuits newly bonded with two -in. galvanized iron wires a joint, the combined rail and bond wire resistance was found (on the l. & n.) to vary from . ohm per ft. of track on some circuits to . ohm on others, a difference of over per cent. this was rather puzzling. after a great many measurements had been made on different circuits it was found that no two measurements gave the same results, notwithstanding the fact that in many circuits the size of rail, length of bond wires, and age of bonding were exactly the same. on account of the bonding being new and the channel pins well driven, the contact between the bond wire and rail was above suspicion. the only other part of a track circuit that could possibly be the cause of this difference was in the contact between the angle bars and rails, and this later proved to be the case. actual measurements made in the field proved that when the rail is new and the joint bolts tight, nearly all of the current flowing from rail to rail passes through the angle bars, whereas when the rails get old a coating of rust and dirt forms between the rail and angle bars, forcing practically all of the current through the bond wires. on most of the circuits measured on the l. & n. the combined rail and bond wire resistance was found to be less than . ohm per ft. of track, although many were found to be between . and . ohm per ft. it is interesting to note that two circuits were found bonded with two -in. iron wires, for which the combined rail and bond wire resistance measured . ohm, and that by adding two per cent. copper clad bond wires to each joint the combined resistance was reduced to . ohm. the growth of the track circuit unfortunately there exists little or no data regarding the mileage of track circuits installed from the time the first installation was made by dr. robinson at kinzua, pa., and irvineton up to about . during the period between january , , and september , , the total automatic block signal mileage installed was , . , which brought the total up to , . for the united states. between september , , and january , , , . miles of automatic signals were installed, which increased the above total to , . miles. the block signal and train control board, seeing the need for accurate data in the signal field, started the tabulation of such statistics when it compiled and issued block signal statistics as of january , . after this board went out of existence, the bureau of safety of the interstate commerce commission continued the collection and publication of these data yearly. perhaps no better word picture can be given of what dr. robinson's invention has meant to the railroads than to present the story in the form of a table showing the miles of road and the track equipped with the track circuit since january , . in addition to the table, the accompanying chart presents the information in a graphical form. [illustration: progress chart of automatic signal installations since january , .] track circuit mileage for automatic and controlled manual signals in the united states as taken from i.c.c. reports ----------+-------------------+--------------------------------------- | automatic | controlled manual +---------+---------+-------------------+------------------- | | | miles of road | miles of track | miles | miles +--------+----------+--------+---------- | of | of | track |continuous| track |continuous | road | track |circuits| track |circuits| track | | | at | circuits | at | circuits | | |station | |station | ----------+---------+---------+--------+----------+--------+---------- january ,| | , . | , . | . | . | . | . | , . | , . | . | . | . | . | , . | , . | . | . | . | . | , . | , . | . | . | . | . | , . | , . | . | . | . | . | , . | , . | . | . | . | . | , . | , . | . | . | . | . | , . | , . | . | . | . | . | , . | , . | . | . | . | . | , . | , . | . | . | . | . | , . | , . | . | . | . | . | , . | , . | . | . | . | . | , . | , . | . | . | . | . | , . | , . | . | . | . | . ----------+---------+---------+--------+----------+--------+---------- the first yearly report of the bureau of safety, i.c.c., on block signals to contain information as to the miles of road and miles of track on which alternating current track circuits were installed, was that issued as of january , . data taken from that report up to the last one issued is presented in the table below. alternating current track circuit mileage ----------------+---------------+---------------- | miles of road | miles of track ----------------+---------------+---------------- january , | , . | , . january , | , . | , . january , | , . | , . january , | , . | , . january , | , . | , . january , | , . | , . january , | , . | , . january , | , . | , . ----------------+---------------+---------------- alternating current track circuits have certain advantages over direct current track circuits, particularly in respect to their immunity to the dangerous effects of foreign direct current to which d.c. track circuits in some communities are subjected. the above table is therefore of interest as it shows the application of alternating current as made to dr. robinson's invention of the closed track circuit. part iv the track circuit in great britain and on the continent by t. s. lascelles no satisfactory records appear to have been kept as to the origin and development of track circuiting outside the united states, which renders it very difficult to arrive at any conclusions that could serve as a basis for a real historical sketch upon this interesting subject. in view of the fact that the signal section of the american railway association proposes to publish a memorial to the late dr. william robinson, generally regarded as the inventor of the closed track circuit and certainly the first to utilize it in the control of an automatic block system, the following brief remarks may prove of interest to the writer's fellow members of the signal section. it is not suggested that they are in any sense complete, as to make a complete survey would require considerable investigation. they really represent the writer's present general understanding of the subject and are open to such criticism and correction as anyone may be able to offer to them, in england or elsewhere. there is no doubt but that track circuits were thought of and actually experimented with in england a great many years ago--probably as far back as the earliest american attempts--but the want of satisfactory records make it very difficult to decide on what actually took place. however, it is certain that the late w. r. sykes, well-known throughout the railway world for his controlled manual block and other inventions, endeavored to use the track circuit in the sixties and that bull, the inventor of the bull-headed rail employed in england for the chaired track universally found there, clearly had the idea of a track circuit in his mind, for he refers to it in a patent obtained in . it was apparently in the early part of the sixties that w. r. sykes fixed a track circuit experimentally at briseton on the old london, chatham and dover railway, and shortly after also at the crystal palace station on the same line. the apparatus employed must necessarily have been rather primitive. in the seventies, track circuit was installed by him at st. paul's station, also on the chatham railway. at that time very little was known about the track circuit theoretically and the construction of the relay was very different from our modern types. sykes' relay completed the control circuit by the insertion of a contact point into a mercury trough. it was also, the writer believes, built on the solenoid principle. so far as is known it was not suggested at this time and at all events not attempted to make an automatic block system controlled by track circuits, such schemes for signaling of this type as were put forward being always based on the intermittent or track instrument control plan. it must be remembered that the conditions obtaining in england, widely different from those seen in the united states, were not such as to give much encouragement to the development of automatic signaling, while over and above this, the english conservative nature always looked askance at automaticity in railway apparatus. automatic signals, worked on a track instrument plan, were put into regular work on the liverpool overhead railway in , but it was not till that automatic signals controlled by continuous closed track circuits were to be seen in operation on an english main line railway. before this, however, track circuits had made some progress, though not very much; the most important instance of its application was in the kings cross tunnels, just outside the london terminal of the great northern railway, in the early nineties. this installation, which was used under none too favorable circumstances from the point of view of successful operation, proved to the english what the track circuit could do and heralded the day when its place in the safe working of railways should be better appreciated. by this time in the united states, largely under the influence of the pioneer work of dr. robinson, automatic signaling had made quite considerable progress and the potentialities of the track circuit had been fairly realized. it may occur to americans to ask why it was that progress in england was so slow and this is a question which cannot be answered by a single reason since a combination of circumstances was the cause. in the first place the older type of english signal officer was extraordinarily conservative regarding signaling practice of other countries as he had that peculiar type of contempt which generally comes from want of knowledge. anyone who, like the writer, listened for instance to the objections brought forward by some of these men to controlled manual block, will know to what absurd lengths they could go in resisting improvements in working. although this spirit, which has markedly diminished during the last years, must have accounted to some extent for the slow development of the track circuit in england, there were yet some reasons of a more sensible kind which must be borne in mind. the english light weight four-wheeled freight car without air brakes was and still is a bother to the track circuit engineer because of the difficulty of getting a satisfactorily low shunt under all circumstances. then again the mansell disc wheel made it necessary to resort to bonding between the tire and the hub before a vehicle would shunt the track circuit at all and this was an expense to which the companies were loath to go, especially if they had or contemplated very few track circuits, though the use of even one circuit really necessitated the whole of these wheels being so treated. there was no great demand for automatic signaling, as the manual system was giving good results and was also cheap at that time, owing to the low wages paid to railway men. this and the other reasons just given combined to render the progress in england extremely slow. some of the first installations nevertheless, in the british pneumatic railway signal company, who had in the previous year installed its first low pressure pneumatic interlocking at grateley, on the london and south western railway, brought into use between that station and andover an automatic block system controlled by continuous track circuits, the distance being about six miles. the signals were worked by low pressure air. the success of these systems led to the adoption of them shortly afterwards on the widened four-track main line between woking and basingstoke on the south western, a distance of miles. the grateley-andover installation has now been removed, not because it was at all unsatisfactory, but because it was felt traffic and other circumstances did not warrant its further employment. in , hall electro-gas automatic signals were brought into use on the north eastern main line between alne and thirsk, a distance of miles. in , semi-automatic signals were installed between pangbourne and goring, a distance of - / miles, four track, by the great western railway to divide up a long manual block section and a few similar installations have been made on the midland, the great central, the belfast and county down and other roads. by this year, track circuiting had begun to be extensively used in england. the british pneumatic signal company had installed a series of low-pressure plants near manchester on the great central and track circuits were used throughout while the same thing had been done at clapham junction on the south western. the westinghouse company had supplied the district railway, london, with automatic signals and were actively engaged in fitting similar apparatus to the tube lines; they soon afterwards commenced work on the metropolitan railway. the main steam lines began to apply track circuits at various places in conjunction with ordinary manual signaling and this process received an added impetus from the terrible disaster which befell the midland company's scotch express near a station called hawes junction, when, in emerging from a tunnel it crashed into two light engines that had been forgotten and had entered the block under the signals set for the express. several other bad accidents, notably one at pontypridd, on the taff vale railway, due to trains and engines being overlooked by signalmen while standing at adverse signals, emphasized the necessity for paying serious attention to the question of track circuiting and for undertaking a really earnest study of the matter to see whether the difficulties due to the light freight car, etc., could not be overcome or at least considerably minimized. considerable progress had been made by the time the war broke out and quite a number of track circuits had come into existence on all the principal roads, although no extension work worth noticing was made to purely automatic block systems on steam roads, this class of work being confined to the suburban electric lines. unfortunately, in this as in so many things the war had a retarding effect and caused the postponement of many plans. the increased price of wages and materials has hampered progress a great deal and it will be some time yet before any great improvement is noticeable. on the other hand, the great increase in wages has caused a demand on the railways for a reduction of operating costs with the result that signal engineers are endeavoring to produce schemes which will enable signal towers to be abolished or closed at intervals where they were formerly kept continuously in service and in this and other ways to dispense with unnecessary staff. it is in this that the track circuit will help very considerably. its further extension on english lines is a certainty and simply a question of time and money. since the inception of the institution of railway signal engineers a great amount of work has been done in discussing and studying requisites and so on for track circuit work, both of the direct current and alternating current types. all this has resulted in increased confidence on the part of the traffic officers in track circuit and allied apparatus and caused them to look more and more to the signal engineer to help them in their work and to accord him the respect and credit he deserves. the writer is aware that these lines can only convey a very imperfect idea of the actual state of affairs, but he prefers to write them now as a preliminary account, not yet being in a position to furnish the figures which the signal section desires. track circuits on the continent turning to the continent, the writer must necessarily speak in very general terms since there is less published on this subject by continental journals than by english and, of course, the field is rather a wide one, embracing so many lands and tongues. the track circuit is, of course, known there fairly well, but there are no very great installations of automatic block to be found. in the case of france, the paris, lyons & mediterranean had, before the war, an installation between larsche and auperre, miles, and some semi-automatic sections in various places. the midi railway had also the hall disc system from bordeaux to langon, miles, and the writer believes extensions to this have since been made. the est railway began trials before the war and during the war, owing to shortage of staff and having greatness of traffic to the eastern military area, installed automatic signaling on the paris-nugent line. the writer has been told that it is under consideration to equip the whole line to avricourt, where it connects with the alsace-lorraine system. the writer is not aware whether the other companies in france have any automatic blocks, but he believes not. they all have, however, track circuits installed at various places in connection with the ordinary signaling. owing to the lower standard of living and the employment of women operators at many points, there is not so great an incentive to the adoption of automatic devices, as in some other countries. french engineers, however, know what americans have done in this way and some very complete accounts of american systems have appeared in "la revue generale des chemins de fer." the paris metropolitan line is automatically signaled by an intermittent contact system without track circuit. in germany, the track circuit for steam lines is not looked on with much favor, as owing to the extensive employment of the siemen's controlled manual and the peculiar station masters' system of control, called "station block," always used in that country (with, it must be admitted, a very high record for safety,) the germans think they would not gain much by any great use of track circuit or automatic signals. the writer has just had this view confirmed by a friend returned from visiting the important works of the german railway signal company at bruchsal, baden. automatic signaling is used on certain important sections of the berlin elevated and underground road, installed before the war by the westinghouse company, of london, with a.c. double rail track circuits and this will be extended eventually to cover the remaining sections still worked by the siemen's controlled manual. dr. kemmann, a member of the general railway direction, berlin, published last year a very interesting book describing his work with accounts also of the london underground and new york subway installations, showing that foreign systems are studied in germany. but for steam roads the writer believes from what he has studied of german methods and ideas on the subject that the manual system will remain in use and that the track circuit will not be much adopted. the same remarks apply generally to austria, holland and scandinavia, though in the latter case english ideas are more in evidence and it is probable that the track circuit, already in use to some extent, will be developed as time goes on. in austria automatic signaling was certainly tried on a small scale on the southern railway, but with what results the writer cannot say. in switzerland the extended use of iron ties is against the track circuit. in belgium the hall system was at one time in use between ghent and wondelgem, but as the course of the line was changed, these signals were removed. the section was about - / miles long. automatic signals do not exist there now but the track circuit is used at certain stations, notably throughout the all-electric power installation at and close to brussles nord. the writer does not believe it likely that automatic signaling will be used on the steam roads in belgium, at all events for some time yet. with regard to italy, spain and portugal, the writer does not possess details, but believes it likely that the track circuit is only in use, if at all, at a few important stations. the new metropolitan line in madrid is equipped with an intermittent contact system, probably copied from the paris metropolitan. although a little outside the scope of these notes, the writer would emphasize that in the english colonies and in south america (especially, however, the former) the track circuit is being much used and its value appreciated. automatic signaling is in use in victoria, queensland, south australia and new south wales. the operating conditions in these countries no doubt much resemble american circumstances and the adoption of automatic signals is a natural development. summing up, the writer would say, that the earliest experiments of w. r. sykes in england are probably as old as those of dr. robinson, but owing to the different circumstances in which the former inventor was placed, he had little encouragement to continue them and thus american development at first went on far ahead of english, while owing to the vastness of the american continent it must always present a larger field to the signal engineers' ingenuity and activity. in later years, however, the english signalmen awoke to the importance of the question and installations were constructed which, if smaller, showed as great a degree of technical perfection as any in america. the future will doubtless see more such installations. it is not known to the writer whether anyone on the continent had the idea of a track circuit as far back as sykes' or robinson's experiments or when the first attempts were made. it would require much investigation to find this out. track circuit possibilities are now well known there and no doubt its use will extend, but in certain countries, notably germany and switzerland, there are local circumstances which act rather strongly against it at present. the writer cannot give statistics on the subject now. there are some figures which he possesses, but they should be verified and amplified before being used by the signal section for publication. the preceding notes are, he is too fully aware, very incomplete and general, but he hopes they may be of some present use. [transcriber's note: underscores are used as delimiters for _italics_] the story of the pullman car [illustration: george mortimer pullman - ] the story of the pullman car by joseph husband author of "america at work" and "a year in a coal-mine." _illustrated_ [illustration] chicago a. c. mcclurg & co. copyright a. c. mcclurg & co. published may, w. f. hall printing company, chicago to george mortimer pullman acknowledgment of the many books from which information was drawn for the preparation of this volume the author wishes to make particular acknowledgment to _the modern railroad_, by mr. edward hungerford, to the article "railway passenger travel," by mr. horace porter, published in _scribner's magazine_, september, ; and to _contemporary american biography_, as well as to the many newspapers and magazines from whose files information and extracts have been freely drawn. j. h. chicago, april, contents chapter page i the birth of railroad transportation ii the evolution of the sleeping car iii the rise of a great industry iv the pullman car in europe v the survival of the fittest vi the town of pullman vii inventions and improvements viii how the cars are made ix the operation of the pullman car index illustrations page george mortimer pullman _frontispiece_ one of the earliest types of american passenger car first locomotive built for actual service in america early passenger cars american "bogie" car in use in cars and locomotive of car in use in car of midnight in the old coaches "convenience of the new sleeping cars" early type of sleeping car j. l. barnes, first pullman car conductor one of the first cars built by george m. pullman the car in the daytime making up the berths george m. pullman explaining details of car construction one of the first pullman cars in which meals were served the first parlor car, interior of pullman car of the rococo period car more ornate interiors the latest pullman parlor car first step in building the car fitting the car for steam and electricity work on steel plates for inside panels preparing the steel frame for an upper section sand blasting brass trimmings machine section, steel erecting shop fitting up the steel car underframe making cushions for the seats making chairs for parlor cars making frame end posts assembling steel car partitions the vestibule in its earliest form axle generator for electric lighting the sewing room, upholstering department forming steel parts for interior finish forming steel shapes for interior framing punching holes for screws shaping steel panelling riveting the underframe steel end posts in position type of early truck modern cast-steel truck ready for the interior fittings interior work pullman sleeping car, latest design front end of a private car dining room rear end of a private car dining room robert t. lincoln, ex-president bedroom of a private car observation section of a private car modern pullman steel sleeping car ready for the night modern pullman steel sleeping car during the day cleaning and disinfecting the pullman car john s. runnells, president the story of the pullman car chapter i the birth of railroad transportation since those distant days when man's migratory instinct first prompted him to find fresh hunting fields and seek new caves in other lands, human energy has been constantly employed in moving from place to place. the fear of starvation and other elementary causes prompted the earliest migrations. conquest followed, and with increasing civilization came the establishment of constant intercourse between distant places for reasons that found existence in military necessity and commercial activity. for centuries the sea offered the easiest highway, and the fleets of greece and rome carried the culture and commerce of the day to relatively great distances. then followed the natural development of land communication, and at once arose the necessity not only for vehicles of transportation but for suitable roads over which they might pass with comfort, speed, and safety. over the roman roads the commerce of a great empire flowed in a tumultuous stream. wheeled vehicles rumbled along the highways--heavy springless carts to carry the merchandise, lightly rolling carriages for the comfort of wealthy travelers. the elementary principle still remains. the wheel and the paved way of roman days correspond to the four-tracked route of level rails and the ponderous steel wheels of the mighty mogul of today. in speed, scope, capacity, and comfort has the change been wrought. the english stagecoach marked a sharp advance in the progress of passenger transportation. with frequent relays of fast horses a fair rate of speed was maintained, and comfort was to a degree effected by suspension springs of leather and by interior upholstery. an interesting example of the height of luxury achieved by coach builders was the field carriage of the great napoleon, which he used in the campaign of . this carriage was captured by the english at waterloo, and suffered the ignominious fate of being later exhibited in madame tussaud's wax-work show in london. the coach was a model of compactness, and contained a bedstead of solid steel so arranged that the occupant's feet rested in a box projecting beyond the front of the vehicle. over the front windows was a roller blind, which, when pulled down admitted the air but excluded rain. the _secrétaire_ was fitted up for napoleon by marie louise, with nearly a hundred articles, including a magnificent breakfast service of gold, a writing desk, perfumes, and spirit lamp. in a recess at the bottom of the toilet box were two thousand gold napoleons, and on the top of the box were places for the imperial wardrobe, maps, telescopes, arms, liquor case, and a large silver chronometer by which the watches of the army were regulated. in such quarters did the great emperor jolt along over the execrable roads of eastern europe. the stagecoach was established in england as a public conveyance early in the sixteenth century, and soon regular routes were developed throughout the country. now for the first time a closed vehicle afforded travelers comparative comfort during their journey, and in the stagecoach with its definite schedule may be seen the early prototype of the modern passenger railroad. for three centuries the stagecoach slowly developed, and its popularity carried it to the continent and later to america. but by a radical invention transportation was suddenly transformed. as early as the middle of the sixteenth century, and actually contemporaneous with the inception of the stagecoach, railways, or wagon-ways, had their origin. at first these primitive railways were built exclusively to serve the mining districts of england and consisted of wooden rails over which horse-drawn wagons might be moved with greater ease than over the rough and rutted roads. the next step forward was brought about by the natural wear of the wheels on the wooden tracks, and consisted of a method of sheathing the rails with thin strips of iron. to avoid the buckling which soon proved a fault of this innovation, the first actual iron rails were cast in by the colebrookdale iron works. these rails were about three feet in length and were flanged to keep the wagon wheels on the track. for a number of years this simple type of railroad existed with little change. over it freight alone was carried, and its natural limitations and high cost, compared with the transportation afforded by canals, seemed to hold but little promise for future expansion. as early as richard trevithick had experimented with a steam locomotive, and in the ten years following other daring spirits endeavored to devise a practical application of the steam engine to the railway problem. but in george stephenson's engine, the "blucher," actually drew a train of eight loaded wagons, a total weight of thirty tons, at a speed of four miles an hour, and the age of the steam railroad had begun. the first railroad to adopt steam as its motive power was the stockton & darlington, a "system" comprising three branches and a total of thirty-eight miles of track. on the advice of stephenson, horse power was not adopted and several steam engines were built to afford the motive power. this road was opened on september , , and preceded by a signalman on horseback a train of thirty-four vehicles weighing about ninety tons departed from the terminus with the applause of the amazed spectators. the novelty of this new venture soon appealed so strongly to popular fancy that a month later a passenger coach was added, and a daily schedule between stockton & darlington was inaugurated. this first railway carriage for the transportation of passengers was aptly named the "experiment." consisting of the body of a stagecoach it accommodated approximately twenty-five passengers, of which number six found accommodations within, while the others perched on the exterior and the roof of the vehicle. the fare for the trip was one shilling, and each passenger was permitted to carry fourteen pounds of baggage. this early adaption of the stagecoach to the rapidly developed demand for passenger service necessitated the coinage of a new terminology, and it is not surprising that many words of stagecoach days remained. among these "coach" is still preserved, and in england the engineer is still called the "driver"; the conductor, "guard"; locomotive attendants in the roundhouse, "hostlers," and the roundhouse tracks the "stalls." in a prize of five hundred pounds ($ , ) for the best engine was offered by the directors of the liverpool & manchester railway which was to be opened in the following year, and at the trial which was held in october three locomotives constructed on new and high-speed principles were entered. these were the "rocket" by george and robert stephenson, the "novelty" by john braithwaite and john erickson, and the "sanspareil" by timothy hackworth. due to the failure of the "novelty" and the "sanspareil" to complete the trial run and the successful performance of the "rocket" in meeting the terms of the competition, the stephensons were awarded the prize and received an order for seven additional locomotives. it is interesting to learn that on its initial trip the "rocket" attained the unprecedented speed of twenty-five miles an hour. in benjamin dearborn, of boston, memorialized congress in regard to "a mode of propelling wheel-carriages" for "conveying mail and passengers with such celerity as has never before been accomplished, and with complete security from robbery on the highway," by "carriages propelled by steam on level railroads, furnished with accommodations for passengers to take their meals and rest during the passage, as in packet; and that they be sufficiently high for persons to walk in without stooping." congress, however, failed to call this memorial from the committee to which it was referred. [illustration: _one of the earliest types of an american passenger car, drawn by peter cooper's experimental locomotive, "tom thumb." the tubular boilers of the locomotive were made from gun barrels._] the development of the locomotive in america approximates its development in england. as early as four miles of track were laid between quincy and boston for the transportation of granite for the bunker hill monument. horses furnished the power, and the cars were drawn over wooden rails fastened to stone sleepers. [illustration: _"the best friend," the first locomotive built for actual service in america, hauling the first excursion train on the south carolina railroad, january , ._] but reports of the wonders of the new english railways soon crossed the water, and in horatio allen was commissioned by the delaware & hudson canal company to purchase four locomotives in england for use on its new line from carbondale to honesdale, pennsylvania. of these locomotives three were constructed by foster, rastrick, and company, of stourbridge, and one by george stephenson. the first engine to arrive was the "stourbridge lion" and on the ninth of august, , it was placed on the primitive wooden rails and, to the amazement of the spectators, allen opened the throttle and in a cloud of smoke and hissing steam moved down the track at the prodigious speed of ten miles an hour. one of the first railways in america was the old mohawk & hudson, which was chartered by an act of the new york legislature on april , . the commissioners who were entrusted with the duty of organizing the company met for the purpose in the office of john jacob astor, in new york city, on july , . one of their first official acts was to appoint peter heming chief engineer and send him to england to examine as to the feasibility of building a railroad. mr. heming's salary was fixed at $ , a year. in due course of time he returned from his european visit of observation and reported in favor of the project under consideration. notwithstanding that he was absent six months, the expenses of his trip, charged by him to the company, were only $ . . the road first used horse power and later on adopted steam for use in the day time, retaining horses, however, for night work. it was not deemed safe to use steam after dark. at first the trains consisted of one car each, in construction closely resembling the old-fashioned stagecoach. the road connected the two towns of albany and schenectady, and was seventeen miles in length, but the portion operated by steam was only fourteen miles in length, horses being used on the inclined plane division from the top of one hill to the top of another. [illustration: _early passenger cars, designed after the then prevalent type of horse coach. these cars were part of the train that ran on the formal opening of the mohawk & hudson railroad (the first link of the new york central system) on july , ._] three years later a prize of $ , was offered by the baltimore & ohio company for an american engine, and the following year a locomotive constructed by davis and gastner won the award by drawing fifteen tons at the rate of fifteen miles an hour. in , matthias w. baldwin, founder of the baldwin locomotive works in philadelphia, designed his first locomotive, "old ironsides," for the philadelphia, germantown & morristown railroad; and soon after his second locomotive, the "e. l. miller," was put in service on the south carolina railroad. [illustration: _one of the first important improvements made by america in passenger cars was the introduction of the "bogie," or truck; the short curves of the american roads compelling the abandonment of the english type of four-wheeled car with rigid axles. the illustration shows a "bogie" car used on the baltimore & ohio railroad in ._] the first passenger service to be put in regular operation in america must be credited to the charleston & hamburg railroad in the late fall of . the following year construction was begun on the boston & lowell railroad, and in the same year a passenger train, previously mentioned, was put in service between albany and schenectady on the new mohawk & hudson railroad. the journal of samuel breck of boston, affords an interesting glimpse of the conditions of contemporary railroad travel: _july , ._ this morning at nine o'clock i took passage on a railroad car (from boston) for providence. five or six other cars were attached to the locomotive, and uglier boxes i do not wish to travel in. they were made to stow away some thirty human beings, who sit cheek by jowl as best they can. two poor fellows who were not much in the habit of making their toilet, squeezed me into a corner, while the hot sun drew from their garments a villainous compound of smells made up of salt fish, tar, and molasses. by and by just twelve--only twelve--bouncing factory girls were introduced, who were going on a party of pleasure to newport. "make room for the ladies!" bawled out the superintendent. "come gentlemen, jump up on top; plenty of room there!" "i'm afraid of the bridge knocking my brains out," said a passenger. some made one excuse, and some another. for my part, i flatly told him that since i had belonged to the corps of silver grays i had lost my gallantry and did not intend to move. the whole twelve were, however, introduced, and soon made themselves at home, sucking lemons, and eating green apples.... the rich and the poor, the educated and the ignorant, the polite and the vulgar, all herd together in this modern improvement in traveling ... and all this for the sake of doing very uncomfortably in two days what would be done delightfully in eight or ten. [illustration: _cars and locomotive in use on the camden & amboy railroad in . the cars were heated by wood stoves, the glass sash was stationary, and ventilation was possible only from a wooden-panelled window which could be raised a few inches._] to follow further the rapid development of the railroad in america would require many volumes. as the canal building fever had seized the fancy of the american public in preceding years, so a similar enthusiasm was instantly kindled in the new railroad, and railroad travel became immediately the most popular diversion. in a relatively few years a web of track carried the smoking locomotive and its rumbling train of cars throughout the country. crude, and lacking almost every convenience of the passenger coach of the present day, the early railway carriage served fully its new-born function. to the latter half of the century was reserved the development of those refinements which have rendered travel safe and comfortable, and the perfecting of those vast organizations that have placed in american hands the railroad supremacy of the world. chapter ii the evolution of the sleeping car the history of improved railway travel may be said to date from the year , when the first sleeping car was offered to the traveling public. in the years which followed the actual inception of the railroad in the united states, railway travel was fraught with discomfort and inconvenience beyond the realization of the present day. travel by canal boat had at least offered a relative degree of comfort, for here comfortable berths in airy cabins were provided as well as good meals and entertainment, but the locomotive, by its greatly increased speed over the plodding train of tow mules, instantly commanded the situation, and as the mileage of the pioneer roads increased, travel by boat proportionately languished. the first passenger cars were little better than boxes mounted on wheels. over the uneven track the locomotive dragged its string of little coaches, each smaller than the average street car of today. from the engine a pall of suffocating smoke and glowing sparks swept back on the partially protected passengers. herded like cattle they settled themselves as comfortably as possible on the stiff-backed, narrow benches. the cars were narrow and scant head clearance was afforded by the low, flat roof. from the dirt roadbed a cloud of dust blew in through open windows, in summer mingled with the wood smoke from the engine. in winter, a wood stove vitiated the air. screens there were none. by night the dim light from flaring candles barely illuminated the cars. [illustration: _car in use in on the michigan central railroad. interesting as showing the rapid improvement in passenger coaches and how soon they approached the modern type of car in general appearance._] in addition to these physical discomforts were added the dangers attending the operation of trains entirely unprotected by any of the safety devices now so essential to the modern railroad. no road boasted of a double track; there was no telegraph by which to operate the trains. the air brake was unknown until , when george westinghouse received his patent. the hodge hand brake which was introduced in was but a poor improvement on the inefficient hand brake of the earlier days. the track was usually laid with earth ballast and the rail joints might be easily counted by the passengers as the cars pounded over them. add to these discomforts the necessity of frequent changes from one short line to another when it was necessary for the passengers each time to purchase new tickets and personally pick out their baggage, due to the absence of coupon tickets and baggage checks, and the joys of the tourist may be realized. [illustration: _car constructed by m. p. and m. e. green of hoboken, new jersey, in for the camden & amboy railroad._] as early as the officers of the cumberland valley railroad of pennsylvania installed a sleeping-car service between harrisburg and chambersburg. this first sleeping car was, as was later the first pullman car, an adaption of an ordinary day coach to sleeping requirements. it was divided into four compartments in each of which three bunks were built against one side of the car, and in the rear of the car were provided a towel, basin, and water. no bed clothes were furnished and the weary passengers fully dressed reclined on rough mattresses with their overcoats or shawls drawn over them, doubtless marveling the while at the fruitfulness of modern invention. as time went on other similar cars, with berths arranged in three tiers on one side of the car, were adopted by various railroads, and occasional but in no manner fundamental improvements were made. candles furnished the light, and the heat was supplied by box stoves burning wood or sometimes coal. for a number of years these makeshift cars found an appreciative patronage, and temporarily served the patrons of the road. [illustration: _midnight in the old coaches previous to the introduction of the pullman sleeping car. a night journey in those days was something to be dreaded._] in the next ten years similar "bunk" cars were adopted by other railroads, but improvements were negligible and their only justification existed in the ability of the passengers to recline at length during the long night hours. the innovation of bedding furnished by the railroad marked a slight progress, but the rough and none too clean sheets and blankets which the passengers were permitted to select from a closet in the end of the car, must have failed even in that day to give satisfaction to the fastidious. but in the early fifties these very inconveniences fired the imagination of a young traveler who had bought a ticket on a night train between buffalo and westfield, and in his alert mind was inspired, as he tossed sleepless in his bunk, the first vision of a car that would revolutionize the railroad travel of the world and of a system that would present to the traveling public a mighty organization whose first purpose would be to contribute safety, convenience, luxury and a uniform and universal service from coast to coast. george mortimer pullman was born in brockton, chautauqua county, new york, march , . his early schooling was limited to the country schoolhouse, and at the age of fourteen his education was completed and he obtained employment at a salary of $ a year in a small store in westfield, new york, that supplied the neighboring farmers with their simple necessities. but the occupation of a country storekeeper failed to fix the restless mind of the boy, and three years later he packed his few possessions and moved to albion, new york, where an older brother had developed a cabinet-making business. [illustration: harpers weekly may , . convenience of the new sleeping cars. (_timid old gent, who takes a berth in the sleeping car, listens._) brakeman. "jim, do you think the millcreek bridge safe to-night?" conductor. "if joe cracks on the steam, i guess we'll get the engine and tender over all right. i'm going forward!"] here pullman found a wider field for his natural abilities, and at the same time acquired a knowledge of wood working and construction that was soon to afford the foundation for larger enterprises. during the ten years that followed there were times when the demands on the little shop of the pullman brothers failed to afford sufficient occupation for the two young cabinet makers, and the younger brother, eager to improve his opportunities, began to accept outside contracts of various sorts. the state of new york had begun to widen the erie canal which passed through albion. clustered on its banks were numerous warehouses and other buildings, and the young man soon proved his ability to contract successfully for the necessary moving of these buildings back to the new banks of the canal. the venture was successful. an opportunity fortuitously created was seized, and not only was an increased livelihood secured, but the wider scope of this new activity gave the young man an increased confidence in himself on which to enlarge his future activities. it was during these years that george m. pullman experienced his first night travel and the hardships of the sleeping car accommodations. as fulton and watt and stephenson, in the crude steam engine of their time, saw the locomotive and marine engine of today, so in this bungling sleeper george m. pullman saw the modern sleeping car and the vast system he was in time to originate. in his mind a score of ideas were immediately presented and on his return to albion he discussed the possibility of their amplification with assemblyman ben field, a warm friend in these early days. the contracting business had increased pullman's field of observation, it had stimulated his invention, it had accustomed him to the management of men. when the widening of the erie canal had been accomplished, the field for his new vocation was practically eliminated; and it was but natural that the ambition of youth could not be satisfied to return to the cabinet-making business. westward lay the future. in the new town of chicago, which had in so few years grown up at the foot of lake michigan, young men were already building world enterprises. chicago, named from the wild onion that grew in the marsh lands about the winding river, offered promise of greatness. its romantic growth seized the imagination of the youthful albion contractor. naturally his first thought was to profit by his contracting experience, and again a happy chance favored him. built on the low land behind the sand dunes and south of the sluggish river chicago suffered from a lack of proper drainage. mud choked the streets; cellars were wells of water after every rain. in , the year of his arrival, pullman made a contract to raise the level of certain of the city streets. it was a bold undertaking, but his confidence knew no hesitation, and the work was satisfactorily accomplished. other contracts followed, and in a short time pullman had built himself a substantial reputation and had raised a number of blocks of brick and stone buildings, including the famous tremont house, to the new level. chicago in was a town of , population. here cyrus h. mccormick had built his reaper factory on the banks of the river. here r. t. crane was laying the small foundation for the mighty industry of future years. here marshall field and levi z. leiter were rising junior partners in their growing business, and here the future heads of the meat-packing industry were developing their mighty business. to the country boy from a new york village, its muddy streets and rows of frame and brick buildings savored of a metropolis; in its naked newness he sensed the vital energy that was so soon to place it among the cities of the world. [illustration: early type of sleeping car. the traveler rarely removed more than his outer clothing, and oftentimes kept his boots on] but even during these years of untiring activity the thought of a radical improvement in railway car construction was constantly working in the brain of the young contractor, and in he determined to give his ideas the practical test. the story of this first application of these revolutionizing ideas to the railroad coaches then in use is best told in the words of leonard seibert, who was at that time an employee on the chicago & alton railroad. in mr. pullman came to bloomington and engaged me to do the work of remodelling two chicago & alton coaches into the first pullman sleeping-cars. the contract was that mr. pullman should make all necessary changes inside of the cars. after looking over the entire passenger car equipment of the road, which at that time constituted about a dozen cars, we selected coaches nos. and . they were forty-four feet long, had flat roofs like box cars, single sash windows, of which there were fourteen on a side, the glass in each sash being only a little over one foot square. the roof was only a trifle over six feet from the floor of the car. into this car we got ten sleeping-car sections, besides a linen locker and two washrooms--one at each end. the wood used in the interior finish was cherry. mr. pullman was anxious to get hickory, to stand the hard usage which it was supposed the cars would receive. i worked part of the summer of , employing an assistant or two, and the cars went into service in the fall of . there were no blue-prints or plans made for the remodelling of these first two sleeping-cars, and mr. pullman and i worked out the details and measurements as we came to them. the two cars cost mr. pullman not more than $ , , or $ , each. they were upholstered in plush, lighted by oil lamps, heated with box stoves, and mounted on four-wheel trucks with iron wheels. there was no porter in those days; the brakeman made up the beds. in the construction of these first sleeping cars mr. pullman introduced his invention of upper berth construction by means of which the upper berth might be closed in the day time and also serve as a receptacle for bedding. other improvements and devices were worked out and tested, and from these first experiments were drawn the detailed plans from which the first cars entirely constructed by him were made. although without technical training himself, mr. pullman was quick to recognize the necessity of skilled assistance to express and improve his embryonic ideas. to this end he soon established a small workshop, and employing a number of skilled mechanics set himself to the mastery of the problems which confronted him. another interesting personal reminiscence of the first days of the pullman car is afforded by j. l. barnes, who was in charge of the first car run from bloomington to chicago over the chicago & alton. mr. pullman had an office on madison avenue just west of lasalle street and i boarded with a family very close to his office. i used to pass his office on my to meals, and having read in the paper that he was working on a sleeping car, one day i stopped in and made application to mr. pullman personally for a place as conductor. i gave him some references and called again and he said the references were all right and promised me the place. i made my first trip between bloomington, illinois, and chicago on the night of september , . i was twenty-two years old at the time. i wore no uniform and was attired in citizen's clothes. i wore a badge, that was all. one of my passengers was george m. pullman, inventor of the sleeping car.... all the passengers were from bloomington and there were no women on the car that night. the people of bloomington, little reckoning that history was being made in their midst, did not come down to the station to see the pullman car's first trip. there was no crowd, and the car, lighted by candles, moved away in solitary grandeur, if such it might be called.... i remember on the first night i had to compel the passengers to take their boots off before they got into the berths. they wanted to keep them on--seemed afraid to take them off. the first month business was very poor. people had been in the habit of sitting up all night in the straight back seats and they did not think much of trying to sleep while traveling.... after i had made a few trips it was decided it did not pay to employ a pullman conductor, and the car was placed in charge of the passenger conductor of the train which carried the sleeping car, and i was out of a job. the first pullman car was a primitive thing. beside being lighted with candles it was heated by a stove at each end of the car. there were no carpets on the floor, and the interior of the car was arranged in this way: there were four upper and four lower berths. the backs of the seats were hinged and to make up the lower berth the porter merely dropped the back of the seat until it was level with the seat itself. upon this he placed a mattress and blanket. there was no sheets. the upper berth was suspended from the ceiling of the car by ropes and pulleys attached to each of the four corners of the berth. the upper berths were constructed with iron rods running from the floor of the car to the roof, and during the day the berth was pulled up until it hugged the ceiling, there being a catch which held it up. at night it was suspended about half-way between the ceiling of the car and the floor. we used curtains in front and between all the berths. in the daytime one of the sections was used to store all the mattresses in. the car had a very low deck and was quite short. it had four wheel trucks and with the exception of the springs under it was similar to the freight car of today. the coupler was "link and pin;" we had no automatic brakes or couplers in those days. there was a very small toilet room in each end, only large enough for one person at a time. the wash basin was made of tin. the water for the wash basin came from the drinking can which had a faucet so that people could get a drink. [illustration: j. l. barnes, the first pullman car conductor, whose reminiscences of that early period are quoted in this book] the two remodeled chicago & alton coaches were instantly accepted by the public, but despite their popularity, and the popularity of a third car which followed them, their originator considered them merely as experiments and in plans for the first actual pullman car were completed which gave promise of a car radically different in its construction, appointments, and arrangement from anything heretofore attempted. into this car pullman resolutely cast the small capital that he had accumulated; in its success he placed the unswerving confidence that characterized his clear vision and indomitable determination to succeed. this model car was built in chicago on the site of the present union station in a shed belonging to the chicago & alton railroad, at a cost of $ , . , without its equipment, and almost a year was required before it was ready for service. fully equipped and ready for service it represented an investment of $ , . . the "pioneer" was the name chosen for its designation, and with the faith that other cars would soon be required the letter "a" was added, an indication that even mr. pullman's vision failed to anticipate the possible demand beyond the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. never before had such a car been seen; never had the wildest flights of fancy imagined such magnificence. up to the building of the "pioneer" $ , had represented the maximum that had ever been spent on a single railroad coach. it was unbelievable that this $ , investment could yield a remunerative return. the "pioneer" had improved trucks with springs reinforced by blocks of solid rubber; it was a foot wider and two and a half feet higher than any car then in service, the additional height being necessary to accommodate the hinged upper berth of mr. pullman's invention. combined with its unusual strength, weight, and solidity, its beauty and the artistic character of its furnishing and decoration were unprecedented. at one stride an advance of fifty years had been effected. a further proof of mr. pullman's faith in the success of the "pioneer" type of car is illustrated by the fact that due to its increased height and breadth the dimensions of station platforms and bridges at the time of its construction would not permit its passage over any existing railroad. it is said that these necessary changes were hastened in the spring of by the demand that the new "pioneer" be attached to the funeral train which conveyed the body of president lincoln from chicago to springfield. in this way one railroad was quickly adapted to the new requirements, and a few years later when the "pioneer" was engaged to take general grant on a trip from detroit to his home town of galena, illinois, another route was opened to its passage. other roads soon made the necessary alterations to permit the passage of the "pioneer" and its sister cars which were now under construction. the "pioneer" had, by this time, won wide recognition and popularity, and a few months later was put in regular service on the alton road. so well were its dimensions calculated by mr. pullman that the "pioneer" immediately became the model by which all railroad cars were measured, and to this day practically the only changes in dimensions have been in increased length. to secure the continuous use of the "pioneer" and other similar cars an agreement was effected between mr. pullman and the chicago & alton which marked the beginning of the vast system which today embraces the entire country and makes possible continuous and luxurious travel over a large number of distinct railroads. thus in the space of a few years george m. pullman not only evolved a type of railroad car luxurious and beautiful in design and embracing in its construction patents of great originality and ingenuity, but, in addition, evolved the rudimentary conception of a system by which passengers might be carried to any destination in cars of uniform construction, equipped for day or night travel, and served and protected by trained employees whose sole function is to provide for the passengers' safety, comfort, and convenience. chapter iii the rise of a great industry the "pioneer" had cost mr. pullman $ , . compared with the finest sleeping cars previously in use, it was clearly evident that a new development in luxurious travel had been accomplished. the best ordinary sleeping cars were considered expensive at $ , . there was no more comparison between the "pioneer" and its predecessors in comfort than in cost. but it remained to be seen what the public would think of it; whether they preferred luxury, comfort, and real service, to hardship, discomfort, and no service at a lower cost. the new cars were larger, heavier, and more substantial than any previously constructed. increased safety was one of their advantages. moreover, they were far more beautiful from every aspect--artistically painted, richly decorated, and furnished with fittings for that day remarkable for their elaborate nature. they were universally admired, and quickly became the topic of interest among the traveling public. it is remarkable that at this early date the two features of the pullman car which characterize it today--the features of safety and luxury--should have been so clearly defined. it is human nature to accept each step forward as a new standard and it is characteristically american to refuse to accept an inferior article as soon as one superior is available, even if at greater cost. the "pioneer" and its successors established such a standard, and immediately those accustomed and able to afford the increased rate required by the greater investment in the car, gladly and thankfully accepted it; while those whose nature usually inclines to haggling when the purse is touched, were convinced of the worth of the innovation by the assurance against disaster which the weight and strength of the pullman cars assured. the next car constructed by mr. pullman, after the "pioneer" cost $ , . and very soon after several additional cars were built at approximately the same cost, and were put in operation on the michigan central railroad. here was the great test. in these luxurious carriages and in the verdict of the traveling public rested the future of mr. pullman's project. the question simply resolved itself to this: did the public want them? in the old sleeping cars a berth had cost considerably less than it was necessary to charge for one in the new pullman cars. in the mind of the inventor there was no question as to the verdict. the railroad authorities were equally certain the other way. they did not think the public would pay the extra sum. there was but one way to decide, and mr. pullman made the suggestion that both pullman cars and old style sleeping cars be operated on the same train at their respective prices. the results would show. what happened is best described in the words of a contemporary writer. mr. pullman suggested that the matter be submitted to the decision of the traveling public. he proposed that the new cars, with their increased rate, be put on trains with the old cars at the cheaper rate. if the traveling public thought the beauty of finish, the increased comfort, and the safety of the new cars worth $ per night, there were the $ , cars; if, on the other hand, they were satisfied with less attractive surroundings at a saving of cents, the cheaper cars were at their disposal. it was a simple submission without argument of the plain facts on both sides of the issue--in other words, an application of the good american doctrine of appealing to the people as the court of highest resort. the decision came instantly and in terms which left no opening for discussion. the only travelers who rode in the old cars were those who were grumbling because they could not get berths in the new ones. after running practically empty for a few days, the cars in which the price for a berth was $ . were withdrawn from service, and pullmans, wherein the two-dollar tariff prevailed, were substituted in their places, and this for the very potent reason, that the public insisted upon it. nor did the results stop there. the michigan central railway, charging an extra tariff of fifty cents per night as compared with other eastern lines, proved an aggressive competitor of those lines, not in spite of the extra charge, but because of it, and of the higher order of comfort and beauty it represented. then followed a curious reversal of the usual results of competition. instead of a levelling down to the cheaper basis on which all opposition was united, there was a levelling up to the standard on which the pullman service was planted and on which it stood out single-handed and alone. within comparatively a short period all the michigan central's rival lines were forced by sheer pressure from the traveling public to withdraw the inferior and cheaper cars and meet the superior accommodations and the necessarily higher tariff. in other words, the inspiration of that key-note of vigorous ambition for excellence of the product itself, irrespective of immediate financial returns, which was struck with such emphasis in the building of the "pioneer," and which ever since has rung through all the pullman work, was felt in the railroad world of the united states at that early date, just as it is even more commonly felt at the present time. at one bound it put the american railway passenger service in the leadership of all nations in that particular branch of progress, and has held it there ever since as an object lesson in the illustration of a broad and far-reaching principle.[ ] [ ]: _contemporary american biography_, p. . [illustration: one of the first cars built by george m. pullman] [illustration: interior of the car. ( ) the car in the daytime showing wood stove and fuel box; ( ) making up the berths. there were no end divisions, and a thin curtain only separated the berths] [illustration] it will probably be interesting at this point to describe with some detail the pullman car of this early period. in the _daily illinois state register_, springfield, may , , appears an interesting description of one of the new pioneer type of cars just installed on the chicago & alton railroad. to the train on the chicago, alton & st. louis railroad, which passed up at noon today, was attached one of pullman's improved and beautiful sleeping carriages, containing a party of excursionists from the garden city [chicago], to whom the trip was complimentarily extended by the company of the road, and among whom was george m. pullman, esq., of chicago, the patentee of the car. this carriage, which we had the pleasure of inspecting during the stay of the train at our depot, we found to be the most comfortable and complete in all its appurtenances, and decidedly superior in many respects to any similar carriage we have ever seen. it is fifty-four feet in length by ten in width, and was built at a cost of $ , , the painting alone costing upwards of $ . besides the berths, sufficient in number to accommodate upwards of a hundred passengers, there are four state rooms formed by folding doors, and so constructed with the berths that the whole can easily be thrown into one apartment. when the car is not used for sleeping purposes, as in the day, every appearance of a berth or a bed is concealed, and in their stead appear the most comfortable of seats. westlake's patent heating and ventilating apparatus is applied so that a constant current of pure and pleasant air is kept in circulation through the car. in fact, it was useless to attempt to enumerate, in so brief a notice, even a few of the many improvements which have been introduced by the patentees into the carriage, rendering it as they have, superior to any that we have ever inspected. to one fact, however, we will refer in this connection, as especially conducive to the comfort of the traveling public, viz., that a daily change of linen is made in the berths of this new carriage, thereby keeping them constantly clean and comfortable, and rendering the car much more attractive than are similar carriages where this is neglected. as we are informed by mr. pullman that these cars will hereafter be run on the st. louis and chicago line, we would especially direct the attention of travelers to the fact, and recommend them to investigate the matter of our notice for themselves. exactly how "upwards of a hundred passengers" could have been accommodated is hardly clear, but the enthusiasm of the reporter, fired perhaps by the luxury of clean linen for each berth each day, may account for this apparent exaggeration. in the _illinois journal_, another springfield paper, of may , the reporter reduces the estimate of the capacity to fifty-two and comments with perhaps more detail on the decorative features of the car. we are reminded by a prophecy which we heard some three years since--that the time was not far distant when a radical change would be introduced in the manner of constructing railroad cars; the public would travel upon them with as much ease as though sitting in their parlors, and sleep and eat on board of them with more ease and comfort than it would be possible to do on a first-class steamer. we believed the words of the seer at the time, but did not think they were so near fulfillment until friday last, when we were invited to the chicago & alton depot in this city to examine an improved sleeping-car, manufactured by messrs. field & pullman, patentees, after a design by george m. pullman, esq., chicago. the writer describes his impressions of the interior. the absence of "mattresses or dingy curtains" by day, the beauty of the window curtains "looped in heavy folds," the "french plate mirrors suspended from the walls," as well as the "several beautiful chandeliers, with exquisitely ground shades" hanging from a ceiling "painted with chaste and elaborate design upon a delicately tinted azure ground," while the black walnut woodwork and "richest brussels carpeting" make the picture complete. it is small wonder that the pullman car excited admiration, and that its first appearance in the illinois towns was probably recorded by similar editorial appreciation. [illustration: george m. pullman explaining details of car construction] but perhaps one of the most interesting insights into the condition which the new pullman cars were so quick to remedy, is found in the _chicago tribune_, june , . after a veritable eulogy on the elegance and comfort of the pullman car, the writer draws the following enviable contrast. it leaves to others to ticket the actual transit, so many miles for so much money, and comes in with its cars as the ticket agent of comfort, sells you coupons to rest and ease by the way. so you wish to go through to new york or baltimore, yourself, belinda, biddy and the baby, baskets, bundles, etc? you think of changes of cars by night, and rushes for seats for your party by day, of seats foul with the scrapings of dirty boots, of floors flowing with saliva, of coarse faces and coarse conversation, of seats you cannot recline in, of the ordinary discomforts of a long journey by rail! it is small wonder that the new pullman cars found an appreciative welcome! in five pullman sleeping cars were put in operation on the chicago, burlington & quincy railroad, and late in may an excursion for several hundred invited guests was given from chicago to aurora, illinois, and return. the new cars were named, "atlantic," "pacific," "aurora," "city of chicago," and "omaha." occasioned by the comforts which this new equipment disclosed a current newspaper remarked: pullman is a benefactor to his kind. the dreaded journey to new york becomes a mere holiday excursion in his delightful coaches, and, by the way, he will soon have a through line from chicago to new york, in which a man need never leave his place from one city to the other. the year marks the incorporation of pullman's palace car company, for the purpose of the manufacture and operation of sleeping cars. at the time of incorporation george m. pullman owned all of the sleeping cars on the michigan central railroad, great western [canada] railroad, and the new york central railroad lines, a grand total of forty-eight cars. in the operation of these cars he was ably assisted by his brother, a. b. pullman, who held the office of general superintendent. in forming the pullman company, the founder aspired to establish an organized system by which the traveling public might be enabled to travel in luxurious cars of uniform construction, adapted to both night and day requirements, without change between distant points, and over various distinct lines of railroads. in addition, such a service would provide the heretofore unknown asset of responsible employees to whose care might be entrusted women, children, and invalids. it was a service that was sorely needed, and indication pointed to its prompt acceptance by the railroads and the public. in the same year a remarkable achievement in railroad travel was accomplished. due to the different gauge tracks in use by the several railroads connecting chicago and new york, the continuous passage of a car from one city to the other was impossible. but in the standardization of the gauge was effected by the completion of a third rail on the great western [canada] railroad, and to mark this opening of through communication, an excursion was arranged from chicago to new york on the "western world," the newest pullman "hotel" sleeping car. at this point it is interesting to note that the first "hotel car," the "president," was put in service by the pullman company in on the great western railroad of canada. the hotel car was a combination car, in reality a sleeping car with a kitchen built in at one end. the meals were served at tables placed in the sections. to the pullman company, accordingly, must be accorded the credit of first supplying to the public the service of meals on board a train. the success of the "president" led to the immediate construction of the "western world" and its sister car "kalamazoo." these cars, however, must not be confused with the dining car which was later developed from the "hotel car" by the pullman company, and to which the "hotel cars" rapidly gave place. the _detroit commercial advertiser_ of june , , comments: but the crowning glory of mr. pullman's invention is evinced in his success in supplying the car with a cuisine department containing a range where every variety of meats, vegetables and pastry may be cooked on the car, according to the best style of culinary art. the following bill of fare illustrates the variety of edibles provided on this celebrated excursion. menu oysters raw fried and roast cold beef tongue, sugar-cured ham, pressed corned beef, sardines chicken salad, lobster salad broiled beefsteak, with potatoes mutton chops, with potatoes ham, with potatoes eggs boiled, fried, scrambled, omelette plain omelette with rum _chow-chow, pickles_ welsh rarebit french coffee tea the excursion party left chicago on april , , and comfortably established in the "western world" arrived in detroit the following day. at detroit the river was crossed on the "great iron ferry boat," the first company of passengers that ever passed from chicago to canada without change of cars. on the new third rail of the great western, a speed of forty miles was often maintained for considerable periods. "the cars were decorated with american and british flags, symbolizing the union which is destined to take place between the united states and canada. a train has just rolled by, the engine and passenger cars on the broad gauge, and freight cars from the east on the narrow gauge." so goes the journal of one of the passengers. large crowds visited the train at rochester, syracuse, and utica, and at albany, erastus corning telegraphed commodore vanderbilt that the car must be taken to new york, if possible, and the gauge of the harlem road be taken for that purpose. the party arrived in new york on april . one of the purposes of sending the "western world" to new york was that it might transport on its return trip, dr. j. c. durant, vice president of the union pacific road, and a committee of directors, to examine a portion of their new transcontinental line which the contractors were ready to turn over. a member of the party describes the call on dr. durant in his office on nassau street and refers to the office as "probably the finest in new york, beautiful with paintings and statuary, and enlivened with the singing of birds." [illustration: one of the first pullman cars in which meals were served] following the "western world," the "hotel cars" were promptly put in service and regular through service was established between chicago and eastern points. the new "city of boston" and "city of new york" surpassed even the "western world" in magnificence and were popularly reported to have exceeded $ , each in cost. these cars were known as "hotel cars" for the reason that each contained all the requirements for a protracted journey. the main body of the car was occupied by the berths and seats and at one end a kitchen and pantry provided the culinary service. the dining car, devoted entirely to restaurant purposes, was a second step which soon followed. the first dining car personally designed by mr. pullman was named the "delmonico," and was operated on the chicago & alton in . but it was in that the pullman car made perhaps its greatest advance in the interest and confidence of the public for in that year the union pacific, building westward from the missouri river at omaha, met the central pacific, which built from san francisco eastward. by their union a line was established between the two coasts of the continent, a slender thread of track which stretched for , miles through a practically uninhabited country. almost simultaneously with the completion of the road there was put upon the rails one of the most superb trains ever turned out of the pullman shops. its journey to california and its reception there were in the nature of a progressive ovation. from that time forth the great population of the pacific coast knew no train for long distance travel save a pullman train, and would hear of no other. when people from california reached chicago on their way eastward, the road over which pullman cars ran got their patronage, and roads over which other cars were operated did not. newspapers and magazines were awakened to studies of the pullman cars and the pullman system, and scores of printed pages were filled with the marvels of a journey to the pacific ocean which was nothing more than a six days' sojourn in a luxurious hotel, past the windows of which there constantly flowed a great panorama of the american continent, thousands of miles in length and as wide as the eye could reach. illustrated magazine articles which appeared telling the story of a trip to california had as many pictures of pullman interiors as they had of the big trees or the yosemite valley. the effect of all this was far reaching. the great pennsylvania line abandoned its own service and adopted the pullman, and many other lines made application for inclusion in the pullman system. in may, , the first through train from the atlantic to the pacific crossed the continent, engaged for a special excursion by the boston board of trade, many distinguished bostonians being numbered among the passengers. during the trip a daily newspaper entitled the _trans-continental_ was published. in the issue of may , published on the sixth day out, as the train was crossing the summit of the sierra nevadas, an account is given of a meeting of the passengers in the smoking car, and resolutions passed by them were printed. the hon. alex h. rice presided at the meeting, and the resolutions were offered by frank h. peabody, a boston banker, and seconded by robert b. forbes, another bostonian. _resolved_, that we, the passengers of the boston board of trade pullman excursion train, the first through train from the atlantic to the pacific, having now been a week _en route_ for san francisco, and having had, during this period, ample opportunity to test the character and quality of the accommodations supplied for our journey, hereby express our entire satisfaction with the arrangements made by mr. george m. pullman, and our admiration of the skill and energy which have resulted in the construction, equipment and general management of this beautiful and commodious moving hotel. _resolved_, that we return our cordial thanks to mr. pullman for the very great pains taken by him beforehand to make the present journey safe and pleasurable; that we recognize the complete success which has followed all his efforts, and that we extend to him our sincere wishes for such a degree of prosperity to attend all his operations as will be proportionate to his merits as one of the most public-spirited, sagacious, and liberal railroad men of the present day. _resolved_, that we take pleasure in witnessing, as we journey from point to point, through all the western states, the many evidences of mr. pullman's enterprise and the extent of his operations in the cars which we meet belonging to the pullman company, attached to the regular trains for the use of the public, or appropriated especially to private excursion parties, and we earnestly hope that there will be no delay in placing the elegant and homelike carriages upon the principal routes in the new england states, and we will do all in our power to accomplish this end. the list of passengers on this notable excursion included: hon. alex. h. rice maj. geo. p. denny hon. j. m. s. williams james w. bliss edward w. kingsley frederick allen and wife h. s. berry miss josie w. bliss hon. john b. brown and wife e. w. burr and son john l. bremer geo. d. baldwin and wife miss l. e. billings chas. w. brooks m. s. bolles alvah crocker and wife mrs. f. cunningham thomas dana, mrs. thomas dana, nd, miss m. e. dana mrs. geo. p. denny arthur b. denny cyrus dupee and wife john h. eastburn and wife robert b. forbes and wife joshua reed j. s. fogg mrs. e. e. poole misses farnsworth robert o. fuller j. warren faxon n. w. farwell and wife miss mary e. farwell miss evelyn a. farwell curtis guild and wife c. l. harding and wife miss n. harding edgar harding j. f. hunnewell j. f. heustis w. s. houghton and wife d. c. holder and wife miss c. harrington a. l. haskell and wife miss alice j. haley j. m. haskell and wife h. o. houghton and wife john humphrey hamilton a. hill and wife benjamin james c. f. kittredge mrs. c. a. kinglsey miss addie p. kinglsey miss mary l. kinglsey chas. s. kendall miss m. c. lovejoy john lewis jas. longley and wife geo. myrick and wife col. l. b. marsh and wife c. f. mcclure and wife joseph mcintyre sterne morse fulton paul f. h. peabody, wife and servant miss f. peabody miss l. peabody master f. e. peabody rev. e. g. porter miss m. f. prentiss james w. roberts and wife wm. roberts s. b. rindge and wife master f. h. rindge j. m. b. reynolds and wife john h. rice hon. stephen salisbury m. s. stetson and wife d. r. sortwell and wife alvin sortwell f. h. shapleigh t. albert taylor and wife e. b. towne lawson valentine and wife miss valentine rev. r. c. waterston and wife a. williams dr. h. w. williams and wife n. d. whitney and wife judge g. w. warren geo. a. wadley and wife henry t. woods mrs. j. m. s. williams miss e. m. williams miss c. t. williams j. bert williams in the next few years the pullman palace car company established manufacturing shops in detroit, and in a new "reclining-chair car," the first parlor car to be operated in the united states, was presented by mr. pullman to the public. for several years parlor cars of pullman design and construction had been in satisfactory use on the midland railway, between london and liverpool, england. the success of these cars promptly resulted in the construction of the "maritana" for use in the united states. the chairs in this new car were heavily and richly upholstered and revolved on a swivel, on the same principle as the chairs in the parlor car of the present day. [illustration: the first parlor car, ] chapter iv the pullman car in europe a modest paragraph in many american newspapers in february, , announced the momentous news that england was soon to enjoy the novelty of pullman transportation--"the midland railway company has entered into a contract with the pullman palace car company for the equipment of their road with american drawing room and sleeping coaches." the midland was the longest and most important of three great railroads which started from london and extended to liverpool and scotland, transversing the rich central counties of england where so few years before the coach horn had sounded through the hills. the adoption of pullman equipment by this prominent railroad was singularly conspicuous. on february , , at a "half-yearly meeting of the shareholders of the midland railway," mr. pullman personally addressed the officers of the company. it appears that mr. allport, the general manager of the midland railway, on a recent visit to the united states and canada, had been greatly impressed by the accommodations afforded the traveling public, and had made a particular study of the pullman cars. acting on his advice the directors invited mr. pullman to england to appear before the meeting. mr. pullman proposed that the midland company should authorize the speedy construction of carriages particularly adapted to their requirements, and a motion was carried to authorize the construction of such cars on the basic pullman principles. it was accordingly agreed that eighteen new cars should be constructed in america and shipped to england in august and that mr. pullman should return to england at that time to superintend their installation. by the contract the pullman company agreed to furnish as many dining-room, drawing-room, and sleeping cars as the demands of the traveling public required, without charge to the road, its compensation being in the extra fare paid for use of the cars. the road, on the other hand, received its compensation in the free use of the cars, in return for which it guaranteed to the pullman company the exclusive right to furnish such cars for fifteen years. as in america, the porters, conductors, cooks, waiters and other attendants were hired by the pullman company. two night trains and two day trains of american cars only, were to be put on at the start. the contract was not exclusive, and other english railroads watched with interest the working out of the american innovation. the popularity of the pullman car at home and abroad quite naturally inspired a host of imitators. among the first was colonel w. d. mann, the proprietor of the _mobile register_, who designed a sleeping car embodying certain characteristic pullman features, but divided transversely into compartments or "boudoirs," each entered directly from the sides, and connected by a private door permitting the passage of the attendant to and through the several compartments. each compartment contained seats for four persons, which by night could be made up into beds. the design was ingenious but failed in many vital respects to compete with the greater comfort and roominess of the pullman car. as the pullman car was the first sleeping car to be installed for regular service in england, so credit should be given to colonel mann for affording the first sleeping car for public service ever operated on the continent. mann's "boudoir cars" were installed on the vienna and munich line in , and their favorable reception and popularity unquestionably went far to better the trying conditions of european travel. [illustration: interior of a pullman car used about . here a tendency to ornamentation begins to show. note the low-backed seats] designed in america and introduced on the continent, the mann boudoir cars enjoyed an almost unoccupied field in europe, with the exception of england, where the railway managers had adopted the pullman cars as their standard. the mann car was developed to suit european railroads and european wants. a belgian company was organized to introduce sleeping cars by contracts with railroad companies, somewhat like those of the pullman company in america. the mann cars which were put in service in the united states between boston and new york in were divided into eight compartments, some accommodating two persons, some four. the seats were arranged transversely instead of longitudinally. due to their smaller passenger capacity a higher rate was necessarily charged than for pullman accommodations. but exclusive possession of the continental field was not left to colonel mann undisputed, for during the year mr. pullman established a shop at turin, italy, and under the direction of a mr. a. rapp, who was sent on from the detroit works, a number of cars were constructed for use on through trains on the principal italian lines. the following testimonial presented to mr. rapp at the conclusion of the work by the men who had been employed expresses, although in none too polished english, their appreciation of the work that had been provided them. to pullman esquire, the great inventor of the saloon comfortable carriages and master rapp the civil engineer, director of the manufacture of the same the italian workmen beg to umiliate. welcome, welcome master pullman the great inventor of the saloon carriages, italy will be thankful to the man for now and ever, for ages and ages. to master rapp we men are thankful. cause of his kindness and adviser sages, our hearts of true gladness is full: and we shall remember him for ages. should master pullman ever succeed to continue is work in italy what we wish to him indeed, we hope to be chosen to finish the work and work as a man, to show our gratitude to master pullman. fino and his friends. _turin_, january . the appearance of the new pullman cars in england created immediate and favorable comment, for not only were the cars radical in the service which they afforded, but their construction, following the advanced principles of american car building, offered sharp contrast to the less modern cars of english construction. from the most gorgeous first-class carriage down to the dumpiest begrimed coal car, all british railway conveyances rested on four iron wheels, placed in the position where artemus ward located the legs of the horse--one at each corner. until the pullman sleepers were introduced into britain, the sight of a car resting on eight wheels was unprecedented, as no one thought of doubting the entire security from danger of a carriage with only four points of support. indeed, the conservative briton saw no more real necessity for a railway carriage having eight wheels than for a horse to have more than four legs. under arrangements with the great northern railway, pullman "dining room" carriages were put in service on november , , between leeds and king's cross station, london. luncheon and dinner were served and the menu included "soups, fish, entrees, roast joints, puddings and fruits for dessert," a truly english bill of fare. the reception of this innovation is described by the _london telegraph_, which concluded a comment on the dining car with this friendly suggestion: if the british public can be brought to give this new refreshment-car system, just inaugurated by the great northern railway, a fair trial, there will be another traveling infliction, besides dyspepsia and discontent, which will be speedily laid in the red sea. i mean the ghost of ennui. luncheon or dinner on board a pullman palace-car will surely banish boredom from railway journeys. by the year pullman sleeping and drawing room cars were in operation on three english and three scotch lines, and at the invitation of the italian government, cordially responded to by the pullman palace car company, sleeping cars, similar to those in use in england on the midland and great northern railways were put in weekly service between brindisi and bologna, in connection with the steamers of the peninsula and oriental company. at bologna the service was taken up by the belgian "societe anonyme des wagons lits"--an interesting recognition by a foreign government of the superiority of the american railway carriages. [illustration: the rococo period. extravagance of florid ornamentation and design] [illustration] in "the pullman limited express" began regular service on the london, brighton, & south coast line, between victoria station and brighton. single cars of the american pattern had been running on this line for five or six years, but in this train for the first time the english public was offered a "solid pullman" equipment. four cars comprised the train--a parlor car, a drawing room car with ladies' boudoir and dining room, a restaurant car, and a smoking car, while a compartment at each end of the train next to the luggage compartment was provided for servants. on this train electric lighting was first employed by the pullman company for illuminating railroad cars--a particular feature that received wide advertisement. the london, brighton, & south coast railway opened the new year of with the first "vestibule" train that had ever greeted the eyes of foreign travelers. three pullman cars, "princess," "prince," and "albert victor," were regularly attached to a train of three first-class cars. the pullman cars were built at the pullman plant at detroit, michigan, and were shipped in sections to england. by this innovation yankee genius again demonstrated its leadership, and the travelers of a distant nation profited by the genius and energy of an american inventor. the pullman company, limited, of england, existed as a property of the american company until the year , when, due to the enormous development of the system in the united states, it was deemed wise for economic reasons to separate the two companies. but today the british company still proudly bears the name of pullman, a tribute to the inventive genius, untiring energy, and wide vision of a country boy of the new world. chapter v the survival of the fittest one of the most interesting elements in the history of the pullman car and the pullman company is the story of imitation and competition which for a period after the foundation of the parent company thrived and later disappeared. the success of the pullman car necessarily brought competition. it was wholesome that such competition should arise. if a car more convenient than the car of mr. pullman's invention could be devised, it was right that it should be given the test of public opinion. that no car constructed along different basic lines survived, established the right of the pullman car to its preeminence. that certain cars patterned after mr. pullman's basic ideas, and in most cases directly infringing on his patents, received a degree of popularity again reflects creditably to the pullman car. distinct from the innovations afforded by pullman car construction, the universal service of the company afforded the public a new service of equal value. where formerly it was necessary for the traveler to change from car to car whenever and wherever one railroad connected with another line, the uniform service of the pullman company created a new and infinitely more desirable situation, for it was now possible to travel without inconvenience or interruption between practically any two points in the country regardless of the number of different railroads over whose tracks the traveler's ticket required passage. by competition, the value of such a service was tested; tested alike by the individual railroads and their patrons. that each and every competing company ultimately retired from the field, and that practically every railroad in the united states has today contracted with the pullman company for its standardized service, is tacit recognition to the worth of the service rendered. [illustration: more ornate interiors. ( ) early pullman parlor car; ( ) old type pullman sleeping car] [illustration] there are still other reasons why the control of sleeping and parlor service should be delegated to a single company. due to the vast area embraced by the boundaries of the united states and the wide range of climate which these boundaries contain, there are many railroads which require during certain months of the year a larger number of cars to transport their through passengers than in others. other roads require an equally great number of sleeping and parlor cars during other months, as for instance those roads which carry the winter tourists to the south and southwest in winter as opposed to the roads which feel the peak of passenger travel in summer when the vacationists are headed for the atlantic coast resorts or the northwestern mountains. again, there are special occasions, like great conventions, when the railroads touching the convention city must have hundreds of sleeping cars above their normal needs. few railroads could afford to tie up capital in the cars required for such brief periods of demand; it would be an economic fallacy to pass the expense of the maintenance and constant replacement of such an equipment on to the public. to meet this situation is the mission of the pullman company. of the numerous sleeping car companies the gates sleeping car company was perhaps the earliest. this car was named after mr. g. b. gates, general manager of the lake shore road, and with the consolidation of the hudson river railroad and the new york central in , these cars, previously only operated on the lake shore, were put in the new york, buffalo, chicago service. [illustration: the latest pullman parlor car, showing simplicity of modern car decoration, combining quiet elegance with good taste and comfort] among the various competitors of the pullman company, the wagner palace car company, which succeeded, in , the new york central sleeping car company, and absorbed in the gates sleeping car company, developed by far the widest and most formidable competition and continued its service over the longest period. the underlying reasons for the strength of this competition lay primarily in the fact that the wagner cars followed more closely the pullman characteristics, and in fact the infringement of certain basic pullman patents by the wagner company was a cause of frequent litigation over a period of many years. webster wagner, the founder of the wagner palace car company, began his career as a wagon maker. the first cars which he constructed had a single tier of berths, and the bedding was packed away by day in a closet at the end of the car. commodore vanderbilt backed wagner and became interested in his company, a connection which gave wagner invaluable assistance and a hold on the sleeping-car business of the lines controlled by the vanderbilt interests, a connection which enabled him for many years to be a keen competitor of the pullman company. early in june, , suit was brought by the pullman palace car company against the new york central sleeping car company and webster wagner, claiming $ , , damages for infringement and use of patents in the construction and use of wagner sleeping coaches. the bill stated that in the wagner company began building sleeping cars, and for several years its coaches ran only on the new york central railroad and its various branches. the company finding it impossible to build satisfactory cars without using the pullman patents, contracted with the pullman company to use certain of its patented improvements. this arrangement was made with the distinct understanding that the wagner company was to run its cars only over the new york central railroad. for five years this arrangement was satisfactorily carried out. but in the pullman company's contract with the michigan central railroad expired and the wagner company secured the contract to run the cars between detroit and chicago, thus making a through connection for the vanderbilt lines between new york and chicago. by this new routing of the wagner cars direct from new york to chicago and the elimination of the pullman cars from the chicago and detroit service, an opportunity offered for some other road to avail itself of the pullman service and effect a through pullman service between new york and chicago. the erie was the road that grasped the opportunity. by arrangements with the baltimore & ohio and several other roads, through erie trains between new york and chicago, comprising pullman hotel coaches, sleeping cars and drawing room cars were put in service on november , . a circular published in chicago announcing the new arrangement said: from the first of november, the pullman hotel and drawing room coaches, for many years so popular on the michigan central line, will be withdrawn from that route, and with new and increased improvements will thereafter run exclusively on the erie and chicago line, forming the first and only pullman hotel coach line between chicago and new york. the success of the new erie pullman coaches was immediately assured. the hotel cars especially were a great attraction. these were divided into two compartments, in one of which the kitchen was located, the other compartment being utilized as a sleeping car. first-class meals, including all manner of game and seasonable delicacies, were served on movable tables placed in the sections. in fact, the _new york tribune_, in commenting on the new pullman equipment, asked: "should the erie have a monopoly of such comforts? why does not wagner imitate or improve upon pullman?" these cars were nicknamed "french flats." all the modern conveniences of a first-class house are condensed into one of these hotels on wheels. the beds at night are put away to make room for spacious seats by day, between which a table is placed, covered with damask cloths and napkins folded in quaint devices, at which four may sit with ease. the whole car--a pullman--is luxuriously fitted up, and one end is partitioned into a storeroom and kitchen; there is a smoking-room for lovers of the weed, and a separate toilet room for ladies. as the porter of the car blackens the boots, and there is a telegraph office at each stopping place, the waggish question of "where is the barber shop?" is often made. but this may come, too, as last summer an excursion party of ladies and gentlemen took a hair-dresser with them over the erie to niagara falls, and two or three ladies actually _had their hair crimped_ while traveling thirty or forty miles an hour! at this time, while game is plenty in the west, the pullmans, with their facilities, and two fast trains each way per day, are able to make a bill of fare and serve it in a style which would cause delmonico to wring his hands in anguish. the service is on the european plan; that is, you pay for what you order, and we give the prices of the principal articles, to show at what a reasonable rate one can take a superior meal of fifty or a hundred miles long: prairie chicken, pheasant, and woodcock, whole, $ ; snipe, quail, golden plover and blue-winged teal, each cents; venison, cents; chicken, whole, cents; cold tongue, ham, and corned beef, cents; sardines, lobster, and broiled ham or bacon, cents; mutton and lamb chops, veal cutlets, or half a chicken, cents; sirloin steak, cents, &c. every traveler who has missed his dinner to catch a train will rejoice in knowing that a warm meal awaits him at the cars, and that he can wake up in the morning and choose his time for breakfast, instead of bolting it down at the twenty minutes' convenience of the railroad company.[ ] [ ]: _new york commercial advertiser_, nov. , . some time prior to sleeping cars were being operated over the camden & amboy and baltimore & ohio railroads. these cars were known as "knight" cars, after their designer, e. c. knight. the "knights" were built at a cost of about $ , , and were regarded as the handsomest things on wheels. as in the bunk cars, all of which found their model in the sleeping arrangements of the canal boat, the berths were only on one side of the car and consisted of a triple tier of two double and one single berth; an arrangement later changed to one double and two single berths. the woodruff sleeping car also was designed about this time by t. t. woodruff, master car builder of the terre haute & alton railroad. in this car both sides of the car were utilized as in the pullman car, and the sleeping accommodations consisted of twelve sections, six on a side. a company was formed to operate the woodruff cars in , with a capital of $ , . the flower sleeping car company was another characteristic competitor. this short-lived company was organized in in bangor, maine, with a capital of $ , . the seats in this new car were placed in the middle instead of on the sides of the cars, thus leaving an aisle on each side instead of one in the center. claims were made that a freer circulation of air would result, and a news item of the _times_ further recommended this unique construction as more convenient to families, the berths being so arranged, side by side, that two could be made up into a double bed. mann's boudoir car company was incorporated in , with a capital of $ , , , and experienced considerable popularity due to their unique arrangement, which has been described in a previous chapter. in the erie railroad realized the long entertained ambition of entering chicago on its own rails. to accomplish this, the erie had leased the new york, pennsylvania & ohio railroad and built the chicago & atlantic. through connection was actually made may , on which date freight traffic was begun. the train by which the erie inaugurated the passenger business over the new trunk line was probably the most complete and elegant train ever to that time constructed. all of the cars were of pullman manufacture and consisted of a baggage car, second-class coach, a smoking car, and first-class coaches and sleepers that were "models of perfection and beauty, as might be expected where the pullman company had _carte blanche_ to produce the best possible." each coach was lighted with the new pintsch lights. the smoking car deserves more than passing mention, for it was the first one ever constructed of pullman standard. the car was equipped with upholstered easy chairs, and a "refreshment buffet" moistened the throats of the smokers. early in the pullman company acquired the control of the mann boudoir car company and the woodruff sleeping car company, including the entire car equipment and plants. by this acquisition a long step was taken for the unification of sleeping car service, and the further development of a uniform and widely extended scope of operations. for years the success of the pullman company's service had been too generally acknowledged to escape the notice of enterprising railroad men, and these two companies were fair examples of the numerous competing companies that were organized. but the success of the pullman service was based on an idea of too wide conception ever to be successfully imitated. the success of the company engendered competition; its success resulted only in a comparison of service injurious to the imitators. behind all this lay the fundamental reason for pullman supremacy. created to give a standardized service everywhere for the convenience of travelers, it was quickly apparent that competition was but a reversal to the old order--the more companies, the less uniform service. about a month previous, the mann boudoir company and the woodruff sleeping car company had joined hands and formed the union palace car company. by the purchase of this combine the pullman company added about , miles of road to that already operated, and by that many miles extended its through car service. the only remaining sleeping car companies of any importance outside of the pullman company were the wagner company, belonging to the vanderbilts, and operated over the vanderbilt lines, and the monarch sleeping car company, which operated entirely in the new england states with the exception of one ohio line. a newspaper of the time commented on the merger, and closed with the verdict: "while this will add to the volume of the pullman business, it will also render the service upon the absorbed lines far more efficient and satisfactory for the traveling public." [illustration: the first step in the building of the car. the center construction in position, and the framework assembled] in , mr. pullman had put in operation his vestibule trains, which immediately met with extraordinary favor and patronage. in a very few days the wagner company also advertised a vestibule train and were promptly met with an injunction holding the wagner appliances to be an infringement of the pullman patent. after another hearing, the injunction was superseded, the wagner company giving an unlimited bond, signed by the vanderbilts, to pay any damages ascertained by the courts. after months occupied in taking the evidence of travelers, expert mechanics, railroad officials, prominent citizens, and others, a final hearing was had. the judges, owing to the vast interests involved and the legal difficulties presented, took ample time for consideration, but finally adhered to their first conclusion. the main feature of the pullman vestibule system was the sessions patent, without which the vestibule system was worthless. the court declared this invention to be of the highest order of utility, not only as shown by the testimony in the ease and the adoption of the patent by the principal railroads of the country, but also by the acts of the wagner company in appropriating the device, and in the tenacity with which they clung to it in the courts under an immense bond for any damages to result, and so, in april, , the united states circuit court delivered its opinion in favor of the pullman palace car company in its long and stubborn fight with the wagner palace car company. chapter vi the town of pullman like most other industries, the pullman palace car company felt the effect of the financial depression immediately following , but the reaction followed, and on the resumption of specie payments in dawned a new era in the company's history and a rapid expansion of its business. to meet this expansion and to extend the business still farther along the line of general car building, it became necessary to enlarge the plant. the shops already established in st. louis, detroit, elmira, and wilmington were unable to provide the volume required by the increasing demand for the company's output. it was evident that new shops must be built on a larger and more comprehensive scale than any that had gone before. in the chicago newspapers were alert to confirm the rumor that george m. pullman was planning to locate his new shops at chicago. the following year the rumor became fact and the question of the exact location became of paramount interest. chicago with its central position with reference to the railway systems of the continent, seemed the natural site, but there were weighty objections, touching both finance and the matter of labor, to be urged against building within the city limits proper. sites were visited by representatives of the company at hinsdale, illinois, and wolf lake, indiana, but in april it was definitely announced that the works would be located on the illinois central railroad on the shore of lake calumet. a chicago newspaper commented on the decision of the company as follows: a notable addition to chicago's mercantile industry is to be the extensive car works of the pullman palace car company, ground for which is to be broken today. a larger establishment for manufacturing purposes will not exist in the west, and while it will contain all the latest and most improved mechanical appliances in use, it will embody in its architecture grace and beauty that is quite characteristic of the palace car. the works are to cost $ , , ; about , men are to be employed in them, and the extended arrangement of machinery is to be moved by the corliss engine, one of the centennial wonders, which has been purchased by the pullmans. [illustration: fitting the car with steam pipes and electric conduits] [illustration: at work on the steel plates for inside finish panels] an interesting personal reminiscence of this famous real estate operation may be found in frederick francis cook's _bygone days in chicago_. another "pullman scoop" was of an extraordinary real-estate and manufacturing interest when "negotiated"--the slang to be accepted for once in its proper meaning. in the later seventies, besides other duties, i had charge of the real-estate department of the _times_. it became known that the pullman company intended to build a manufacturing town somewhere, but whether in the environs of chicago, st. louis, kansas city, or other western point, was for the public an open question for many months--and, i dare say, for a time was an unsettled proposition with the company itself, for st. louis offered large inducements in the way of land grants. what finally turned the scales in favor of chicago, according to mr. pullman's declaration to me, was the more favorable climatic conditions presented by chicago. it was his contention that during the summer a man could do at least ten per cent more work near lake michigan than in the mississippi valley in the latitude of st. louis. during many disturbing weeks--for the whole real-estate market in at least three cities waited on the decision--frequent announcements were made that the directors of the company, or its committee on site, had inspected this locality, or that, in the vicinity of one city or another, and so the wearisome time went on. many places were visited about chicago--some to the north, some on the desplaines, some in the neighborhood of the canal, but somehow none near calumet lake, a fact which finally aroused my suspicions. in the meantime, unverifiable reports of large transactions in that locality floated about in real-estate circles. finally, i pinned down an actual sale of large dimensions, with colonel "jim" bowen as the ostensible purchaser. that opened my eyes, for the colonel's circumstances at this time put such a transaction on his own account altogether out of the question. almost daily at this time mr. pullman was interviewed on the situation by the real-estate newspaper phalanx--henry d. lloyd was then in charge for the _tribune_--but "nothing decided," was the stereotyped reply. by and by i discovered that almost invariably if i went at a certain hour, "colonel jim" would be largely in evidence about the pullman headquarters, with an air of doing a "land-office business," and, as it turned out, he was actually doing something very much like it. slowly i picked up clue after clue, pieced this to that, and one day felt in a position to say to mr. pullman that i had located the site. he seemed amused, and laughingly replied that he was pleased to hear it, as it would save the committee on site a lot of trouble; and, as some of them were that very day looking at a desplaines river site near riverside--a trip most ostentatiously advertised in advance--he thought he would telegraph them to stop looking, and come back to town. it was always a pleasure to interview mr. pullman, for he had a way of making you feel at ease, and i entered heartily into the humor of his jocularity. but, as in a bantering way, i let out link after link of my chain of evidence, he became more and more serious, and finally--without committing himself, however--took the ground that even if true, in view of the importance of their plans, no paper having the good of chicago at heart ought by premature publication to interfere with them. he pressed this point more and more, and finally made frank confession that i was on the right track, by acknowledging that they had already bought many hundreds of acres, were negotiating for many hundreds more which would be advanced to prohibitive prices by publication, and the whole scheme would thus be wrecked. on the other hand, if i withheld publication, he promised that i should have the matter exclusively--the whole vast improvement scheme, unique plan of administration, etc. as there was the danger in waiting that one of my rivals might get hold of the facts, exploit them, and thus turn the tables on me, i replied that the matter was of too great moment for me to take the responsibility of holding the news, and that i should have to consult mr. storey. it happened that mr. storey had invested quite extensively in south side boulevard property; and, as a great improvement southward could not fail to add to the value of his holding, and there was the further prospect of a more complete exclusive account later than was possible with my skeleton information, he gave a ready assent. the town of pullman meant far more in the mind of its founder than a mere industrial establishment. the dreary, water-soaked prairie was raised to high, dry land; an entire town was planned and blocked out following mr. pullman's own design. architects and landscape architects worked together to carry out the plan to a harmonious and pleasing fulfillment. among the more prominent details of this vast work were included a system by which the sewage of the town was collected and pumped far away to the pullman produce farm; the equipment of every house and flat regardless of rental with the most modern appliances of water, gas, and plumbing; the establishment of athletic fields; the concentration of the merchandising of the town under the glass roof of the central arcade building, and the construction of a handsome market house, a fine schoolhouse to accommodate a thousand pupils, a library containing over , volumes, a savings bank and a large and artistically decorated theater. the population of pullman in january, , counted four souls. in february, , there were , inhabitants, a total which had increased to , by september, . [illustration: preparing the steel frame for the upper section of a pullman sleeping car] [illustration: sand blasting the brass trimmings of the car before applying the finish] a contemporary writer closes an enthusiastic description of the town of pullman with the following paragraph: imagine a perfectly equipped town of , inhabitants, built out from one central thought to a beautiful and harmonious whole. a town that is bordered with bright beds of flowers and green velvety stretches of lawn; that is shaded with trees and dotted with parks and pretty water vistas, and glimpses here and there of artistic sweeps of landscape gardening; a town where the homes, even to the most modest, are bright and wholesome and filled with pure air and light; a town, in a word, where all that is ugly, and discordant, and demoralizing, is eliminated, and all that inspires to self-respect, to thrift and to cleanliness of person and of thought is generously provided. imagine all this, and try to picture the empty, sodden morass out of which this beautiful vision was reared, and you will then have some idea of the splendid work, in its physical aspects at least, which the far-reaching plan of mr. pullman has wrought.[ ] [ ]: _the story of pullman_, prepared for distribution at the world's fair, . chapter vii inventions and improvements the invention of the folding upper berth combination by mr. pullman was the first of many contributions by himself, and in later years by the pullman company and those associated with it, to the development of railway travel. sleeping cars for a number of years had given night accommodations to travelers; there was nothing new in the idea that a night journey required sleeping accommodations. but in the new and radical berth construction devised by mr. pullman lay the difference between impracticability and practicability--between discomfort and luxury. the earliest sleeping cars were mere bunk cars in which the male passengers might recline during the night hours. later, bedding was furnished, but the necessity of storing it by day in a closet at the end of the cars created a situation in which order and cleanliness were far from practicable. by the pullman invention, however, all this was changed. a type of car was developed that was not only comfortable and convenient for day travel, but one that might be quickly transformed into a comfortable sleeping apartment. furthermore, the new upper berth construction made it possible to pack away by day the entire bedding, mattresses, curtains, and partitions necessary to convert each section into a double sleeping apartment. with this simple mechanical innovation the inventor combined an idea characterized by a breadth of vision that ranks with the great ideas of the century. in few words, he conceived the thought that it would be possible at one stroke to supplant the inadequate and inefficient service of the day with a new service so complete in its comforts and conveniences that no one might express a wish that the service might be unable to fulfill. [illustration: view of machine section. steel erecting shops] [illustration: fitting up the steel car underframe. steel erecting shops] it is interesting, in passing, to consider the fact that up to the development of the pullman car, night trains were patronized exclusively by men, for no woman would have considered subjecting herself to the inconvenience and lack of privacy of the ordinary sleeping car. the development of the pullman car and pullman service made continuous day and night travel practical for women and children; it created the comforts and privacies they naturally required. to be sure it was several years before the new order of things received general recognition, but the public quickly caught on. "travel by pullman" soon became a popular diversion. the story of the early years of the pullman sleeping car has been told in the foregoing chapters. due in large measure to the comfort and convenience of the cars, continuous travel lengthened, and at once arose the necessity for eating as well as sleeping accommodations on the through long-distance trains. for a number of years foreign travelers in america had praised the elaborate restaurant service afforded by certain station eating-houses. towns developed keen rivalry in respect to the meals provided by their station "counters," and the station restaurants of certain towns developed among constant travelers a reputation for unusual culinary excellence. our fathers will doubtless recall the glorious fame of dining rooms at poughkeepsie, springfield, and altoona, and of certain dishes that enjoyed nation-wide reputation and might be had only at this or that particular station restaurant. but, on the other hand, the uninviting, indigestible nature of the so-called refreshment offered at some railway eating stations had long been a byword. in most sections of the country it was practically impossible to procure a respectable meal or lunch while traveling. railway officials had wrestled with the subject in vain. recognizing the fact that the heart of the railway traveler is most susceptible to influences reaching it by way of his stomach, they made repeated and continued endeavors to improve the fare offered during the "twenty minutes for dinner" stops. with a few exceptions the results were not encouraging, and the traveling public continued its dyspeptic round three times a day. the station eating-house was on an unsound basis, and its disadvantages were obvious. with the increase of the speed of through trains and the demand for shorter running times between terminals it became quickly apparent that a train could not be stopped three times a day to permit the passengers to gorge a hasty meal at the station restaurant. three meals at a minimum of twenty minutes each was an hour lost, and twenty minutes for eating was as bad for the passenger as it was for the running time of the trains. there were still other disadvantages. in addition to the delay of the train and the tax on the passenger's digestion, there was the frequent discomfort of wet or wintry weather. on a fine day it was well enough to "stretch one's legs," but in rain or snow the tri-daily evacuation of the car was a decidedly unpopular feature. the installation of "hotel-car" service by the pullman company sang the knell of the station eating-counter. the "president," a car combining sleeping and eating accommodations, was put in service in on the grand trunk railway, then the great western of canada. its instant success necessitated the building of the "kalamazoo" and "western world," and in the years immediately following many hotel cars were put in service. the second step in the evolution was inevitable. at best, the hotel car was only a sleeping car with restaurant accommodations. eating and sleeping have never been associated in the modern mind; there must be a separate place for each. to meet the demand, or rather to anticipate a demand which his keen eyes foresaw, mr. pullman set himself to the task of developing a car which would be only a dining car, serving no other purpose, and practical for operation in conjunction with through trains of the fastest speed. the first real dining car which mr. pullman constructed was aptly named the "delmonico." it was a complete restaurant with a large kitchen and pantries at one end. the main body of the car was fitted up as a dining room in which the passengers from all the cars of the train could enter and take their meals with entire comfort. the "delmonico" was put in regular service in on the chicago & alton, and other pullman diners were added the same year. at about the same time the michigan central and the chicago, burlington & quincy railroads also began to operate dining cars on their trains. to the chicago & alton, however, belongs the honor of having first inaugurated the dining-car system. the michigan central and burlington did not put on dining cars until . the chicago & alton dining cars were run between chicago and st. louis, and were constructed and managed by mr. pullman. the price for a meal was $ . . later the alton acquired an interest in the dining cars, and finally assumed full control of them. [illustration: making the cushions for the seats. upholstery department] [illustration: making the chairs for the parlor cars. upholstery department] although founded and developed, and for a number of years successfully operated by the pullman company, the dining car is no longer under its management. due primarily to the vast increase in this particular share of the business and the variety of service required by travelers in different sections of the country, it became advisable to turn over to the various roads the details of catering to their particular patrons. on some of the leading railroads the highest type of dining-car service is maintained and advertised as a particular feature. on other roads of lesser prominence a corresponding degree of service may be found. it is, perhaps, unfortunate from the point of view of the traveler that the pullman company found it necessary to discontinue a service that it had so auspiciously inaugurated. the installation of dining-car service immediately drew attention to a serious defect in railway train construction that had previously escaped notice, a defect which was the more apparent in comparison with the relatively high development of other features of train construction. by the adoption of the dining car it became necessary for the passengers to pass from car to car across the platform while the train was in motion, and often during a condition of rain and snow which added discomfort to actual danger. where the crossing of platforms while the train was in motion had formerly been prohibited, the railroads were now forced to encourage passengers to subject themselves to this dangerous procedure in order that they might avail themselves of the convenience of the dining cars. attempts had been made at different times to provide a safe and covered passageway between the cars, especially on fast express trains, but nothing of a practical nature had resulted. in and patents were taken out for canvas devices to connect adjoining cars and create a passage way between them. these appliances were installed in on a train on the naugatuck railroad, in connecticut, but soon proved to be of little practical use and were abandoned several years later. [illustration: the frame end posts for pullman standard cars are made in this section of the shops] [illustration: the assembling of the steel car partitions is shown in this picture] but in mr. pullman, realizing the handicap of existing conditions to the full enjoyment of the various types of cars which he had established, set himself to the solving of the problem by devising a perfect system for constructing continuous trains and at the same time providing sufficient flexibility in the connecting passage ways to allow for the motion of the train, particularly when rounding curves. the result of his efforts combined with those of his associates was the complete solution of the problem and the establishment of the "vestibule" train, practically as it exists today. the vestibule patent was granted to mr. h. h. sessions, of the pullman company, and covered many important features, and particularly the arrangement of the springs which kept the cars in line in a vertical plane. the vestibule was patented in . by its application the appearance of the train as a unit was materially increased, but of far greater importance was the contribution which it made to safety. not only did the enclosed vestibule afford protection to passengers crossing the platform from one car to another, but the entire vestibule construction immediately gave greater safety in case of wreck by preventing one platform from "riding" the other and producing a telescoping of the cars. the vestibule as designed and patented did not extend to the full width of the car. it consisted of elastic diaphragms on steel frames attached to the ends of the cars, the faces of the diaphragms when the train was made up, pressing firmly against each other by powerful spiral springs which held them in position. a further advantage of the vestibule was the almost entire elimination of the oscillation of the cars. [illustration: _the vestibule was invented by george m. pullman. this illustration shows its earliest form which extended only to the width of the doorway of the car. in it was extended to the full width of the car._] the first vestibuled trains were put in service in april, , on the pennsylvania railroad, and in a few years were adopted by every railroad using pullman equipment. in the vestibule was redesigned to enclose the entire platform by means of a drop which lowered over the stair openings, thus increasing the roominess of the car and utilizing every inch of possible space. in the _railway review_ of april , , occurs an interesting description of the first "solid-vestibuled" train. for a number of months following, this radical innovation was widely recognized by the press throughout the country, and pullman vestibuled cars were advertised by the railroads on which they were operated. we quote in part from the article in the _railway review_: this week there was turned out of the pullman works, at pullman, ill., a train of three sleepers, one dining car, and one combination baggage and smoker, that for perfection, in detail of manufacture and ornament, and in completeness of comfort and luxury, is unquestionably far ahead of any train ever before made up. this train was on public exhibition for a few days at chicago, and on friday was taken on its christening trip, over a short run on the illinois central railroad. the train is intended for "limited" service on the pennsylvania system. the trial trip was a success in every way. the train went to otto, a short distance south of kankakee, sixty miles from chicago. there it was reversed on a y, and an opportunity afforded of witnessing its operation on a sharp curve. the action of the flexible connection of the vestibules was perfect. on the return trip the train was run at a high rate of speed, and it was evident that the cars were held very firmly together, by the springs at the top of the vestibules, and that there was much less jarring and swaying than is usual even on a very level track. [illustration: axle generator for electric lighting of the car] the list of business men and railroad managers who made up the party indicates the importance of the occasion. it included: george m. pullman g. f. brown t. h. wickes c. h. chappell j. j. janes orson smith o. w. potter w. t. baker h. r. hobart a. n. eddy jesse spalding frederick broughton w. p. nixon john m. clark a. c. bartlett j. w. hambleton e. l. brewster henry s. boutell d. b. fiske willard a. smith stephen f. gale edson keith o. s. a. sprague a. b. pullman j. t. lester h. j. macfarland s. w. doane murray nelson a. h. burley c. k. offield e. t. jeffery prof. swing w. k. sullivan w. k. ackerman a. c. thomas j. mcgregor adams j. f. studebaker p. e. studebaker t. b. blackstone rev. s. j. mcpherson c. s. tuckerman a. a. sprague p. l. yoe a. f. seeberger d. s. wegg f. n. finney during the days in which the train was exhibited at van buren street, chicago, it was visited by approximately , people. the article continues: this fact shows that the public has a deep interest in improvements in traveling conveniences. we do not remember that any previous invention or improvement has ever excited such general public interest. mr. pullman has again struck the popular chord. the first vestibule train to the land of the aztecs, the "montezuma special," was naturally of pullman construction, and began regular tri-monthly trips from new orleans to the city of mexico and return, via the southern pacific, mexican international, and mexican central railway, on february , . four magnificent cars, electrically lighted, comprised the train. the initial trip of , miles was made in about seventy-one hours, and on its arrival in the city of mexico a banquet was given to president diaz and his cabinet to signalize the advent of the first international vestibule train into the capital of mexico. the lighting of railway cars shows an interesting evolution. undoubtedly candles were used at the earliest period, but the use of oil dates back beyond the birthday of the pullman car. oil lamps, at best, were a poor substitute for the light of day. casting a dim, yellow light, flickering in every draught, smelling and smoking when not properly cared for, and vitiating the car atmosphere, it was small wonder that the public showed prompt appreciation of the first substitute that was provided. the brilliant pintsch light, which for a number of years had had wide use in europe, was first introduced into america by the pullman company on the crack erie train in the through new york-chicago service in . the gas used for these lights was of high candle power and was manufactured from petroleum. as a car illuminant it has held its own almost to the present day. it is impossible to exaggerate the part played by the pullman company in the development of electric lighting of cars. without its inspired initiative and its vast resources for practical and costly experiment it is fair to believe that electricity would not have been successfully utilized for this purpose for many years. the _railroad gazette_ of january , , expresses this thought: without extended experiments we can scarcely hope to develop a good system of electric lighting for railroad service. such experiments are rather expensive, and it is only by the co-operation of liberal-minded managers that anything like a perfect system can be expected in a reasonable time. the pullman company has great confidence in the success of electric lighting, and therefore, in spite of the annoyance and expense of the present system, expresses a determination to use it, expecting that something better will result in the near future from the extended experience now being obtained. although the incandescent electric lamp was introduced by edison in , following by two years the introduction by brush of the arc lamp, it was on an english railway in an american pullman car supplied with electricity by french accumulator cells that the electric light on october , , barely fifty years from the first suggestion of the iron horse by stephenson, cast its brilliant light for the first time in a railway carriage. the trial was made in a pullman car, forming part of a special train on the brighton railway. a number of officials of the road, a representative of the pullman company, and mr. f. a. pincaffs and mr. lachlan of the faure accumulator company composed the party, and at : the train pulled out of the victoria station for brighton. only a few months before, mr. faure had sent to sir william thomson his little box of lead plates coated with red oxide and fully charged with electricity. the great physicist saw at once its possibilities, and in a relatively short time inventors were developing countless applications of the new wonder. its application to car lighting was an important test. the pullman car on which this first experiment was made, carried beneath it on a shelf some thirty-two small metal boxes or cells, each containing lead plates coated with oxide. stored in these cells was the power to light the car. it was nothing more than the most elementary storage battery, a far cry from the compact batteries of today and the massive generator swung beneath the floor of the modern car. [illustration: the sewing room. upholstery department] all the previous night a steam engine had created power to charge the cells. in the roof of the car were twelve small edison incandescent lights with bamboo filaments. the light was uneven; it was "garish," but at the turn of a switch its rays filled the car. with pardonable enthusiasm the _london times_ stated that "the car on the return journey in the evening was kept lighted the whole of the distance from brighton to victoria." it is interesting to read in the _london daily telegraph_ of october , , the following mention of this important event: yesterday's trial was understood to have special reference, however, to a new train, wholly composed of pullman cars, which it is proposed shortly to put on the service between victoria and brighton, and should the experiment be deemed fully satisfactory it is probable that the new train will from the first be fitted with the electric light. so far as the travelers were concerned the result was eminently successful. it would scarcely be possible to conceive a steadier, more equable, or more agreeable light. on the down journey the first trial was made in the merstham tunnel, and then in the balcombe and clayton tunnels. all that was needed was to move the little switch, and instantaneously the delicate carbon thread enclosed in the lamps was aglow with pure white light. the return journey was made in the night, and the electric lamps were alight during the whole distance. there had been some question whether the supply would prove sufficient, as owing to stoppages the special had taken a somewhat longer time than had been allowed for; the event, however, showed that the storage had been ample. it would be possible to generate electricity by the energy of the moving train itself, and this has indeed been suggested to be done. by this means enough energy could be supplied to the incandescent lamps, but in any case the accumulator would be necessary to act as a reservoir when the train was not in motion. it possesses, however, another advantage equally important. experience shows that a current of absolutely uniform strength supplying an even and constant light can only be derived from stored electricity. the oxide of lead which covers the plates not only prevents leakage, but enables the supply to be withdrawn with perfect regularity, and renders sub-division easy. yesterday the smoke room and lavatory of the car were lighted, and occasionally the lights were turned off without in any way interfering with the other lamps in the same circuit. before the train started on the return journey the brightly illuminated carriage was an object of interest to many members of the iron and steel institute who visited brighton and newhaven yesterday. with regard to expense, it is claimed for the accumulator and the incandescent lamps that the expenditure would be decidedly less than on oil, while, as to the comparative value of the two there is no room for difference of opinion. it was the general feeling of all who took part in the excursion that the question of the electric lighting of trains had been solved, and that to the brighton company, whatever may be the immediate results of the experiment, would belong the honour of taking the first decisive and practical step in the way of reform. four months later a correspondent of a sheffield, england, paper, writing from london to the _railway review_ of the recent trial of electric lights on the pullman train of the london, brighton & south coast railway, says: there is no doubt whatever on the point that this, apart from the question of cost, is a decided success. it is easily manageable, and diffuses through the train a pleasant, equable light, scarcely less agreeable than daylight. it is turned on and off with instantaneous effect as the train enters and leaves a tunnel, and of course is kept burning the whole of the time during the night journeys. the electricity is stored in a number of lead plates, which are kept in water in iron boxes in the guard's van. there are two lots, one at either end of the train, and two mechanics in charge of them. this discovery of the ability to store electricity for application to lighting purposes seems to carry the discovery farther than anything since it was first introduced. it gets over many difficulties which seemed insuperable--especially the important one of the great waste of power which is illustrated every night at the savoy theatre--and would be applicable to the introduction of electricity for household use. at the savoy, when the exigencies of the play require that the lights should be turned down in the auditorium, there is no cessation of the enormous power required to produce the full effect. what happens is that by a mechanical contrivance, the electricity is carried off from the light and goes to waste. with this system of storing, electricity can be used just like gas, as much or as little as people chance to want. another great advantage is the freedom from jumping, inseparable from the action of the driving power of the steam engine, or of the motion power of water. the lights of the brighton train burn just as steadily as gas, an effect not in any way obtained where the light is maintained directly by the driving power of steam. but after all, the question of gas vs. electricity will resolve itself into one of cost, and it is here where gas will inevitably hold its own. the fundamental principle of the electric light is that for a given exertion of power you obtain a given proportion of light, neither more nor less. for every hour it is burning there will be required a certain exactly-ascertained proportion of revolutions of the steam engine, and therefore, if the whole town is lighted it can be done only at a strictly proportionate expense to the lighting of a single house. as to what that expense will be, as compared with gas, the brighton train would, if we had an idea of the actual figures, afford a precise means of information. i met on the train a well-known gas engineer, attracted, like myself, by the novelty of the experiment. what the electric light cost he was not able to say, but when we take into account the capital sunk in plant, involving a steam engine with the necessary buildings, consumption of coal and necessary employment of skilled labor, it must be something considerable. against this is the bare fact that the brighton train could be lighted with gas for the double journey at the cost of d. it is a physical impossibility that electricity should ever come anywhere near this, and that probably explains the singular phenomenon that at the time when electricity is making conspicuous advances in public favor, the value of gas shares is not only steadily maintained, but is actually rising in the market. [illustration: the steel parts used for interior car finish are all standardized, and are formed by powerful presses] [illustration: another large press at work on the forming of steel shapes for the interior framing of the cars] the present method of heating an entire train with steam from the locomotive was satisfactorily tested out in the winter of , and was generally adopted the following year. by this improved system the individual heaters in each car were abolished, and a source of much discomfort and complaint was removed. the pullman cars were immediately altered to benefit by the new system. chapter viii how the cars are made in former chapters has been told the story of the birth of the pullman car and its development through the various phases of its evolution. generally speaking, this evolution for the first forty years was characterized chiefly by the addition, at one time or another, of certain inventions and improvements, such as the electric light and the vestibule, and by a changing style of interior decoration conforming to contemporary fashions. but at no time is recorded a change in the basic idea of car construction that can in any measure compare with the revolutionizing change which was recorded in by the construction of the first "all-steel" pullman car. for a number of years steel sills and under frames had furnished a staunch foundation for all cars manufactured by the pullman company for its operation. further strengthened by steel vestibules, it is to be doubted if the all-steel car offered any very material increase in the safety already afforded to the passengers. but the change which the steel car brought in the process of manufacture was radical in the extreme. the first pullman cars, and in fact every car up to and through the nineties, was of all-wood construction. wood-making machinery filled the great shops at pullman; carpenters and cabinet-makers numbered a big percentage of the pay roll. it was a wood-working industry. at one fell stroke the old order changed to the new. the songs of the band-saw and the planer were stilled and in their stead rose the metallic clamor of steam hammer and turret lathe, and the endless staccato reverberation of an army of riveters. ponderous machines to bend, twist, or cut a bar or sheet of steel filled the vast workrooms. an army of steel workers, titans of the past reborn to fulfill a modern destiny, fanned the flames in their furnaces and released the leash of sand blast, air hose, and gas flame. [illustration: this machine is at work punching holes for screws etc. in the steel for the inside finish] [illustration: this great power press is engaged in shaping the steel panelling for the inside finish of the car] but fascinating as unquestionably was the work of the patient artisans who inlaid the beflowered eastlake pullman or the moorish cars of another day, there is equal romance in the product of the modern worker who builds these rolling hostelries of steel. under the high glass roof the tumult of ponderous machines fills the air with pandemonium. at one side of one of the main aisles a half dozen great steel girders, like keels for giant ships, lie on the floor. these are the mighty box girders, eighty-one feet in length and weighing over nine tons each, which will form the backbone of future pullmans. to each of these girders, or sills, are riveted plates, angles, and steel castings which extend the full length of the car and platforms, as well as floor beams, cross bearers, bolsters, and end sills of pressed steel. on this foundation the side sills are riveted, steel beams that run the entire length of the car. when this gray mass of steel is finally riveted together with its coverplates, tieplates, and floorplates, the underframe of the car is completed--an almost indestructible foundation which alone weighs , pounds. on this underframe the superstructure or frame is erected to form the body of the car. this frame is composed of pressed steel posts and plates forming for each side a complete girder which would by itself alone carry the entire weight of the loaded car. the roof deck is separately assembled, and as soon as the superstructure of the car is ready it is swung up by a crane and dropped into place. like the rest of the car, the roof is of steel, braced and riveted to defy the greatest possible strains. the ends and vestibules are now built on, piece by piece, until the skeleton of the car is complete. the vestibules are particularly imposing, for on each side, framing the side doors through which the passengers enter the car, are giant beams of steel so built into the construction of the frame that only under most extraordinary circumstances could the force of a collision crush the vestibule or the car behind it. the trucks which carry this tremendous burden of steel are marvels of strength and efficiency. each of the two trucks has six steel wheels weighing nine hundred pounds apiece. added to this is the weight of the three six hundred pound axles, the two steel castings which form the framework for the trucks together with the bolsters, springs, equalizers, and brake equipment--a total weight of , pounds for the trucks alone, contributed to the total weight of the car. [illustration: riveting the underframe] [illustration: the steel end posts in position, providing strongest possible protection in case of collision] the car is now subjected to a thorough sand-blasting, a process that removes every particle of scale, grease, or dirt and leaves the steel in perfect condition to receive the first coat of paint and the insulation. to the passenger, the presence of the steel construction is apparent, but the insulation, which forms a vital factor in the car's construction, can be seen only during the process of building. composed of a combination of cement, hair, and asbestos, this insulating material is packed into every cubic inch of space between the inner and outer shells of the roof and sides, forming a perfect non-conductor to protect the passengers against the biting cold of winter or the heat of summer sunshine. a similar cement preparation is next laid on the floor, combining the quality of a non-conductor of heat and cold with sanitary qualities invaluable as an aid in maintaining the cars in a strictly sanitary condition. at this point in the construction the car is turned over to the steamfitters, plumbers, and electricians, who perform their work with the skill and dispatch bred of a long familiarity with the particular requirements of car construction. to see the pullman car at this stage is to see a network of steam-pipes and electric conduit lacing in and out between the gaunt steel frame of the car, and everywhere the white plaster-like insulation packed into every cavity. as soon as these gangs of workmen have finished, other workers fit into place the interior panel plates, partitions, lockers, and seat frames, and the car instantly assumes a new and almost completed aspect. meanwhile the painters have completed their work on the exterior of the car and begin the finer finish of the interior. here coat upon coat is laid, and after each coat laborious rubbing to give the required finish. the graining, by which various woods are so faithfully imitated, is then applied, and last the varnishing. [illustration: type of wood-frame truck used on early cars; four wheels only, with a big rubber block over each in place of springs] [illustration: modern cast-steel truck; six wheels with powerful springs to take up the jars and jolts of the road] the car is now completed with the exception of the fittings. a gang of men hang curtains in the doors and windows; the upholsterers contribute the carpets, cushions, mattresses, and blankets; the various little fixtures are added, and the car is finished. _steel! veritably!_ one man can trundle in a single wheelbarrow all the wood that has gone into its construction. rich brewster green, the new paint gleaming in the sunlight, a long line of these seventy-ton steel mile-a-minute hostelries are waiting for the hour when the white-jacketed porters will open their doors in welcome to their first passengers. above the windows the word "pullman" in dull gold will carry from coast to coast the name of their founder. below the windows is the name of the car, selected usually with local significance in consideration of the lines over which that particular car will operate. * * * * * in a corner of the great yards at a track end stands a little yellow car, smaller than many of our interurban trolley cars, the paint peeling from the boards that have seen the changing seasons of half a century. it is old number " ," not the earliest, but one of the early pullmans. perhaps there are nights, when the roar of the machines is stilled, that the ghosts of a long-past day once again walk up and down the narrow aisles, strangers to the age of steel. [illustration: the car ready for the interior fittings. the floor is of monolith construction] [illustration: interior work. the steel framework for seats and berths] chapter ix the operation of the pullman car on the magic carpet of bagdad the fortunate travelers of a fabulous age were transported to their destination, over valley, river, and mountain with a certainty and dispatch that has been unparalleled in the annals of passenger transportation. but the magic carpet, despite the generous measure of its service, seems to have been lost to following generations, and only its reputation, doubtless somewhat amplified by the telling, remains to set a high standard to succeeding transportation enterprises. service is a much-used and a much-abused word. it has manifold significance. it may be a personal thing and carry the conscientious effort of individuals eager to do for others offices which they desire performed; it may be purely mechanical and consist only in the provision of the "ways and means" to secure a desired end. it may be a combination of both; a system or organization instituted for the accomplishment of a duty or work beneficial to a community. a great railroad affords such a service. greater in its scope than any railroad, the pullman company provides a more vast, intricate, and complete service to the people of the united states, a service unequaled in all the world. [illustration: pullman sleeping car, latest design, with outline drawing showing how the car is supplied with light, water, and heat] a study of the scope and ramifications of the pullman operations deserves more than passing comment; it is of interest to everyone, for everyone is to some degree a traveler; an actual or a potential pullman patron. in preceding chapters has been traced the story of passenger transportation in america; how the first railroads offered communication only between a few closely related cities, and how later the growth of the railroads brought into direct communication practically every village and metropolis throughout the land. then came the time when the inadequacy of such complete but disconnected service struck the imagination of a man who saw the endless miles of track of countless railroads bound together by a supplemental system to which all railroads contributed and from which they profited, and by which, most of all, the public would enjoy a service of a scope which could otherwise only be attained by an actual combination of these railroads into a single company. but the vision of the founder of the pullman company did not stop at the idea of a unified system. he had not only seen the discomfort and inconvenience of countless changes from one train to another at railroad junctions and the midnight gatherings on the station platform; he had seen in tired eyes the fatigue of sleeplessness; he had seen in the preponderance of male passengers the lack of a protection sufficient to permit the free travel of unescorted women; he had realized, and his realization ranks high with the thoughts of the world's innovators, that travel was a hardship and that it could be made a pleasure. with the realization constantly before him that the most perfect service could be given only by the most radically improved equipment and the widest extension of this company's activities, mr. pullman identified the early years of organization with a development of the passenger car to a degree of comfort, convenience, safety, and luxury that passed popular comprehension. nothing was too good for the pullman car; too much money could not be invested in it. hand in hand with this development of the mechanical side of service he developed its extension throughout the country, by means of which it might be put into the hands of the greatest number of people for their greater convenience. never has history more completely justified a business that from its character must be to a certain extent a monopoly. never has competition more promptly yielded to unification. it is natural to think of the pullman company as housed in some miraculous manner in the cars which it operates, as a company which expends its restless existence in untiring travel from state to state. but, as a matter of fact, the vast organization which makes possible the movement of the seventy-five hundred cars which comprise the present equipment holds an interest secondary only to the actual operation of the cars themselves. [illustration: front end of a dining room in a private car] [illustration: rear end of the same dining room] there was a day when the run from albany to schenectady was the longest continuous railroad ride that a traveler might take. today it is possible to travel in a pullman car without change from washington, d. c., to san francisco, a distance of , miles, requiring one hundred and eighteen hours, or approximately five days. but distance is not alone characteristic of pullman service; equal attention is given to shorter "hauls." from greensboro to raleigh, north carolina, for instance, a distance of only eighty-one miles, pullman sleeping cars are regularly operated. here, as in many other instances, arrangements exist whereby the passengers may retire early in the evening while the car is at rest on a siding in the station, and arise at a reasonable hour in the morning. by such service hotel accommodations are practically afforded and it becomes possible for the travelers to have a whole day for pleasure or business at one place, spend a night in which a hundred or five hundred miles are traversed, and arrive without fatigue at another place the following morning. the hotel desk corresponds to the ticket office of the pullman company. imagine a hotel with , beds and , office desks, and a total registration of , , people each year. this is what the pullman company does, however, and incidentally it does it often at a mile a minute and in every state in the union. the , offices where pullman berths, seats, drawing rooms or compartments may be purchased include quebec, winnipeg, manitoba, and vancouver on the north; san diego, el paso, new orleans, key west, and havana on the south; san francisco on the west, and the seaboard towns of maine on the east. under normal conditions the southern limit is still further extended to fifty-six additional offices in the republic of mexico, as far south as salina cruz on the gulf of tehuantepec, and approximately two hundred miles from the boundary between mexico and guatemala, central america. the longest distance which it is possible to travel with a single pullman ticket is from portland, maine, to san francisco, by the way of washington, d. c., new orleans and los angeles. this cannot be done, however, in one sleeper, and changes must be made at new york and washington. but a brief consideration of the perfect organization necessary to provide such continuous passage with berths reserved at each point of change by the mere purchase of a ticket at the starting point, grants to the pullman company a measure of credit due. in actual mileage the distance covered by this trip is , . [illustration: robert t. lincoln president of the pullman company from to ] as a rule the berths in sleeping cars and seats in parlor cars are on sale at the terminals of the different lines, but to provide facilities at intermediate points where the demand is sufficient to justify it, a limited number of sections are assigned for sale at such stations and tickets may be purchased from them on application. at stations of less importance and where the demand is not sufficient to assign any definite space, an arrangement exists whereby the vacant accommodations are telegraphed by ticket agents or conductors from point to point in order to accommodate passengers taking the trains at such stations. it is also possible and a very common practice to purchase a single sleeping car ticket between stations a great distance apart--for instance, between boston, new york, philadelphia, and washington, to los angeles, san francisco, portland, and seattle, via any of the ordinary routes of travel, by sufficient notice to the ticket agent to enable his reserving the accommodations, and it is also possible to purchase under similar conditions a sleeping car ticket in havana, cuba, for a berth, section, or drawing room from key west, florida, to seattle, washington, a distance of , miles, taking one hundred and thirty-three hours; not, however, without change, but in connecting cars, giving continuous sleeping car service over various routes. during the year , , , tickets of various forms were printed in chicago and distributed to the various ticket offices, and in addition, , , cash-fare tickets or checks were issued by conductors to travelers purchasing on the train. in addition to offices where tickets may be purchased, arrangements exist in many thousands of smaller points whereby the public may secure sleeping-car accommodations by application to the station agent or other representative of the railroad company, who will arrange by telephone, telegraph, or letter the desired space to be called for, with a reasonable time at a designated point. in order to extend to the public every courtesy consistent with lawful requirements and good business principles, the pullman company endeavors to provide prompt and careful attention to all requests for refund of fares where service paid for is not furnished, whether through the acts of its agents or employees or the passenger, or due to interruption of traffic. applications of this nature are usually made to the company's general offices in chicago, but when this is not convenient, a report made to the company's representative in any of the important cities throughout the country is forwarded to the central offices and receives the most careful consideration. it would seem of interest in this connection to state that during the year , , applications, amounting to $ , . , were received for refund of fares, an average of one hundred and seventy-nine for each working day. of the total number received , were considered favorably and paid, indicating the liberal policy of the company in such matters. regardless of the amount involved, great or small, it is necessary that each case be considered on its individual merits, and the result determined with due regard to fairness to the passenger and the company, and not conflicting with legal necessities. probably seventy-five per cent of these requests for refunds are occasioned by passengers changing their plans or missing their train. most frequent is the reason given that the wife has packed the tickets in the trunk, that the cab or taxi broke down, or that the last act of the theater caused unrealized delay. often the tickets are lost, and not infrequently they are turned in by others for refund. [illustration: bedroom and observation section of a costly private car. this car represents the apotheosis of railroad travel] [illustration] but one of the most convenient features of the pullman service is the ease with which the traveler may reserve in advance accommodations on the train which he intends to take. in the ordinary railway coach it is a rule of "first come, first served" and the late arrival is often obliged to take a seat with a stranger. by the pullman system, however, a call over the telephone or a stop at the local ticket office is all that is necessary to make as definite reservation of space as for a theater, and the traveler is wroth indeed when in rare instances a slip occurs and he finds his seat or berth has not been held for him and has been sold to another. naturally so general a convenience has led to rank abuses from which the passengers invariably suffer. chief among them is the practice of hotel clerks and porters, especially in large cities and at summer and winter resorts, to reserve far in advance all the desirable pullman accommodations on popular trains in the names of supposititious travelers whom they claim to represent, and later sell these tickets to the hotel guests at a premium or for the tip which invariably follows. by such practice the distribution of space is placed in the hands of outside parties, out of the control of the railroads or the pullman company, and the traveler is obliged to look to these irresponsible individuals for his accommodations. in addition, the tip or extra fee increases the cost of the ticket, errors in "duplicate sales" are made more frequent, and a critical and unfriendly feeling is created in the mind of the passenger who has been unable to secure a "lower" on early application at the ticket office, but was able perhaps to secure one at train time from the unused tickets turned in by hotel porters. naturally the feeling is created that the railroad or pullman agents are holding back space for a tip or a favorite, and "playing favorites" is never popular with the public. there are several good stories told of the action of the pullman company in cases where they "had the goods" on the offending hotel porters. as the company is in no sense required by law to make refund, but does so only for a convenience to its patrons, it is possible to refuse to make a refund if the case justifies the action. at a popular watering place an enterprising hotel employee figured out that on the day following easter a large number of guests would leave on a certain popular train. accordingly, like the theater "scalper," he purchased outright a large block of tickets on this train, in fact, every lower on the two pullman sleepers. fortunately the local agent of the company sensed that there was something "rotten in the state of denmark" and made provision for two additional sleepers beyond the usual two which travel warranted. being able to secure satisfactory accommodations direct from the agent the passengers failed to patronize the hotel porter's be-tipped and premiumed wares, and he, "stuck with the goods," tried a few days later to throw them back for refund on the pullman company. their refusal cost him an even hundred dollars and broke up a peculiarly bad condition in that particular locality. many, indeed, are the difficulties attending the operation of a system of such magnitude, and it is only by a consideration of these difficulties that the true wonder of a service so nearly perfect can be appreciated. the operation of a system of such magnitude as the pullman company necessitates an operating organization letter perfect in its detail. such an organization cannot be built to order; it must be a development, the result of years of wearying experience and costly experiment. in the introduction to the official book of instruction provided to car employees of the company, occurs, above the signature of the general superintendent, this sentence: "the most important feature to be observed at all times is to satisfy and please passengers." it is an apparently simple commission, a natural expression of desire, but a brief investigation of the requirements necessary "to satisfy and please" twenty-six million passengers, traveling rapidly from place to place, from north to south and from coast to coast, regardless of climate or locality, discloses a service and machinery for the carrying out of that service complete beyond the realization of the most discerning traveler. to comprehend more clearly the details of this nation-wide service it must be considered in its two aspects--the material equipment which the operation of the cars requires, and the personal service afforded by the employees of the company. to give this service , cars of the pullman company are operated over one hundred and thirty-seven railroads, or a total of , miles of track, reaching practically every point in the country from which or to which a person might desire to travel. to operate these cars an army of over ten thousand car employees are required, while seven thousand more are employed to keep the cars in repair, and maintain them in a clean and sanitary condition. the pullman company maintains, in addition to the great plant at pullman, six repair shops situated at various convenient points throughout the country where cars are repaired and maintained in good condition. in , a total of , cars were repaired at these various shops at a cost of over five million dollars. only by such rigid maintenance can the cars be kept in the almost invariably excellent condition in which they are found by the public. [illustration: modern pullman steel sleeping car, ready to be made up for the night] [illustration: modern pullman steel sleeping car during the day] years ago the wearied traveler wrapped his great coat about him for his midnight journey. later a few "sleeping" cars of primitive construction provided sheets and blankets which were stored in a cupboard in the end of the car. as these were washed only at irregular intervals, it was a lucky passenger who found clean linen for his bed, and if he did not make up the bed himself, it was the brakeman who provided this domestic service. naturally no one thought of undressing for the night, and when the pullman car was first introduced it was necessary to print on the back of the tickets and in the employees' rules book the warning that passengers must not retire with their boots on. today the pullman company to provide clean linen nightly for each passenger, keeps on hand , , sheets, which are valued at $ , . , and , , pillow slips worth $ , . . in the twelve months ending april , , over two hundred thousand sheets, valued at over one hundred thousand dollars, and nearly two hundred thousand pillow cases, valued at over twenty thousand dollars, were condemned. and during the same period , , pieces of linen, including both sheets and pillow cases were washed and ironed. in the matter of condemnation, it is interesting to learn that the slightest tear or stain is considered sufficient cause. these figures are staggering in their immensity, but even more amazing is the system by which these articles are provided, changed, washed, returned in traveling hotels, at times hundreds of miles removed from the nearest supply station. in the oldtime washroom a roller towel gave satisfaction to travelers less particular than those of the present day. but now how things have changed. two million seven hundred thousand towels are needed to supply an ever increasing demand. three hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars was their cost and each year seventy million towels is the laundry order. when brown has shaved in the men's washroom in good american style, he will probably wipe his razor on a towel. it is not his custom at home, but the traveler seems to have scant respect for property. that one little cut will destroy the towel for future service. pullman towels rarely have a chance to wear out. over a hundred thousand a year are condemned chiefly because of such usage, and, sad to relate, each year over half a million are "lost." a pullman towel is a handy wrapping for a pair of shoes, but the annual lost charge amounts to nearly seventy thousand dollars. it is a charge that must be accepted by the company. it will not do to question a passenger's integrity. all told, the investment by the pullman company in car linen amounts to $ , , . , representing , , separate pieces. and this is only for sleeping and parlor cars and a relatively small number of buffet and private cars, for the company no longer operates the diners. to provide new linen to replace the lost and condemned costs an annual sum of over four hundred thousand dollars. but the quantities and the cost of other articles which the company provides are even more impressive. these, for the most part, are expressions of pullman service over and above the service itself, but it is unquestionably true that by such "over and above" service is the whole service most truly judged. who would think, for instance, that in one year , , women's hats were protected against dust by paper bags provided by the porters. and yet these paper bags represented a total cost of $ , . . smokers in the same period consumed two million boxes of matches, and over forty-two million drinking cups costing nearly eighty thousand dollars gave the modern touch of sanitation to the water coolers. soap would naturally be considered an essential part of the service, but a soap bill for one year of sixty thousand dollars is a large order for cleanliness. so, too, is the sum of $ , for hair brushes and a third of that amount for combs. back in the dark ages of blissful ignorance of germs, railroad coaches were hallowed breeding places for sickness. but times have changed, and today it is a pretty safe remark to make that the pullman car is more healthful than almost any place where people frequently congregate. it does not take many gray hairs to remember the days of sleeping cars furnished with heavy carpets tacked to wooden floors, of stuffy hangings, and plush upholstery, of fancy woodwork rife with cracks and crannies, and of washrooms and toilets that no amount of cleaning could ever maintain entirely innocuous. it is difficult to enumerate the countless little details that are constantly incorporated into pullman car construction. the berth light has been frequently changed to embody some new idea to improve its convenience and efficiency. the coat hanger, and the mirror in the upper berth are minor details, but their convenience is attested by their constant use by passengers. in the washrooms the design of the wash basins has been frequently altered to afford a more convenient resting place for the toilet articles unpacked from the traveler's bag. even the location of a coat hook receives a consideration that would perhaps seem exaggerated to the casual outsider. double curtains are now provided on the newer cars, one set for the lower and another set for the upper berth. once a month a committee on standards, composed of the higher officials of the company, meets at the big plant at pullman. on a track near the main entrance, stands a car in which every practical suggestion has been incorporated for the inspection of the committee. some of these suggestions are quickly eliminated by their experienced verdict; others, possessing apparent worthiness, are passed and are later incorporated in the construction of the next cars manufactured, when the public will become the final judge. many of these improvements are of a technical character, and primarily affect the construction of the cars; others are of a more directly personal nature and contribute more to the comfort and convenience of the traveler. all that are passed by the committee serve to place still higher the standard that for fifty years has been constantly uplifted by the company. [illustration: at the end of its journey the pullman car is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. the first picture on this page shows the bedding being given a sun bath. the next, the appearance of the car when ready for fumigation, and the two illustrations at the bottom, the vacuum machine at work.] [illustration] [illustration] [illustration] as a car-building material wood has had its day, and the concrete floor of the pullman car is tacit tribute to the sanitary properties of a widely used material. on the floor of concrete the familiar green carpet is lightly stretched to be easily removed at the journey's end, and after the floor has been thoroughly scrubbed, returned after a complete cleansing with vacuum cleaners. instead of insanitary woodwork, the smooth surfaces of steel which form the interior of the car offer no lurking place for germs, and soap and water at frequent and regular intervals maintain a high degree of cleanliness. of course, the porter with his portable vacuum cleaners and his dustcloth, can keep the car tidy en route, but the real cleaning comes when the trip is over and a gang of professional workers with every appliance to serve this end attacks the cars. then not only are the carpets renovated but the prying nozzles of powerful vacuum cleaners suck up every particle of dust from seats, berths and cushions. each mattress is given similar treatment, and mattresses and pillows are hung in the open air for the action of that greatest of all purifiers, the sun. blankets are given a similar treatment. water coolers are cleaned and sterilized with steam. in fact, nothing that could harbor a speck of dust is neglected. the slight, acrid odor sometimes noticeable in a pullman car at the beginning of a run is caused by the disinfectants which are liberally employed. a jug of disinfectant solution is a part of the equipment of every car and this is used for all car washing and particularly on the floors and in the toilet and washrooms. to protect still further the health of the passengers, the cars are regularly fumigated with a gas which kills all disease-producing bacteria. whenever a car has carried a sick person it is fumigated as soon as it is vacated, in addition to the regular monthly, weekly, or other schedule of fumigation for various lines and terminals. in order that the district offices may be promptly informed as to the necessity of this extra fumigation, the conductor is required to note on his inspection report the fact that a sick passenger has been carried, and the car is immediately taken out of service and thoroughly cleaned and fumigated. moreover, if space occupied by a sick passenger is vacated en route, it must not be resold until the car has reached its terminal and has been fumigated. to provide the necessary facilities for car cleaning, the company maintains a cleaning force in two hundred and twenty-five principal yards, and, in addition, at one hundred and fifty-eight outlying points. these yards require the service of over four thousand cleaners. stationed throughout the united states, in nearly every city of prominence, are six superintendents, thirty-nine district superintendents and thirty agents. these men each week make personal inspection of cars in operation with the sole purpose of keeping the service up to the highest standard. in addition, a corps of electrical and mechanical inspectors constantly inspect and test the cars and their devices, at various places, and another corps of local inspectors carefully examine every departing and every incoming train with particular attention to the appearance and deportment of the car employees and the apparatus for heating, lighting and water. the pullman company is today the greatest single employer of colored labor in the world. trained as a race by years of personal service in various capacities, and by nature adapted faithfully to perform their duties under circumstances which necessitate unfailing good nature, solicitude, and faithfulness, the pullman porters occupy a unique place in the great fields of employment. there are porters who for over forty years have been employed by the company, and of all the porters employed, an army of nearly eight thousand, twenty-five per cent have been for over ten years in continuous service. the reputation of any company depends in a large measure on the character of its employees, and particularly in those concerns which render a personal service to the general public is it necessary that the standards of the employees be exceptionally high. such standards of personal service cannot be quickly developed; they can be achieved only through years of experience and the close personal study of the wide range of requirements of those who are to be served. to inspire in the car employees, conductors as well as porters, the ambition to satisfy and please the passenger, rewards of extra pay are made for unblemished records of courtesy; pensions are provided for the years that follow their retirement from active service; provision is made for sick relief, and at regular intervals increases in pay are awarded with respect to the number of years of continuous and satisfactory employment. one characteristic of the pullman business that is peculiarly significant is the average length of service of the employees. in a general way it may truly be said that from the car porter to the highest official every man who enters the business enters it as a life work. in most lines of business there is a variety of concerns operating along similar lines, and it is a natural step for a man to pass up from one company to another. but the unique position held by the pullman company has eliminated such a situation, and a man entering its employ looks forward to a personal development in this one concern. [illustration: john s. runnells president of the pullman company] during the half-century which has seen the sure and perfect development of this vast and complicated organization it is but natural to expect among the names of those who have guided its destiny many that must rank high in the business history of the country. a glance at the list of past and present directors of the company confirms the expectation. here are the names of men who have found high places in a variety of business activities not only in chicago but in other great cities. the list includes: george m. pullman john crerar norman williams robert harris thomas a. scott amos t. hall c. g. hammond j. p. morgan marshall field j. w. doane h. c. hulbert o. s. a. sprague henry r. reed norman b. ream william k. vanderbilt john s. runnells frederick w. vanderbilt w. seward webb robert t. lincoln frank o. lowden john j. mitchell chauncey keep george f. baker john a. spoor in this same period but three men have occupied the office of president: george m. pullman, the founder of the company, who held office from , the year of incorporation, until his death in , and robert t. lincoln until , when john s. runnells, the present president, was elected. pullman service has revolutionized the method of travel. night has been abolished, the sense of distance has been annihilated; fatigue has been reduced to a minimum. in the oldest districts of the east, along the valleys of western rivers, on the wide-spread plains, among the remote peaks of the rockies, in the deserts of the great southwest, the pullman car, served by the same trained employees, furnishes the same comforts, and gives the same nights' repose. improved each year in its mechanical construction, amplified in its service, better served by its attendants, it has set a high standard to the world in the development of railway travel, and in the fifty years of its development it has contributed more to the safety, comfort, convenience, and luxury of travelers than any other similar contribution that has been given to mankind. index berth construction, mr. pullman's new and radical, , boudoir cars, the mann, introduced in europe, , _bygone days in chicago_, its story of the locating of the pullman shops, _chicago tribune_, the, eulogy of the first pullman cars, cleaning the cars, - colebrookdale iron works, cast the first rails, construction of pullman cars, - _detroit commercial advertiser_, the, comments of, on the hotel car, dining car, the first designed by mr. pullman, ; he constructs "the delmonico," ; railroads adopt the, ; its operation given up by the pullman company, electric lighting of cars, - ; in england, - england, introduction of pullman cars in, - ; reception of cars in, ; "the pullman limited express," , ; electric lighting of pullman cars in, - erie railroad, gets the through pullman service, , , europe, the pullman car in, - flower sleeping car company, gates sleeping car company, competitor of the pullman company, gauge, railway, standardized, heating, early, , ; by locomotive steam, hotel cars, the first in service, , , , ; give way to the diner, _illinois journal_, the, comments on the first pullman cars, _illinois state register_, the, describes the new type of car, , knight car, used on eastern roads, lighting, , ; the pintsch light, , ; electric, - linen, requirements to supply the cars, - locomotive, the beginnings of the, - ; the american, , _london telegraph_, the, comments on the dining car, ; on the introduction of electric lighting in pullman cars, , mann boudoir car company, incorporated, ; acquired by the pullman company, mann, colonel, designs a sleeping car, ; his "boudoir cars" installed in europe, ; his company acquired by the pullman company, monarch sleeping car company, competitor of the pullman company, napoleon's field carriage, , operation of the pullman car, the, - parlor car, or reclining chair car, the first, porter, the, of the pullman car, , presidents and directors of the pullman company, pullman, a. b., assistant of his brother, george m., pullman car, the first actual, - ; rise of the great industry, - ; first trip of, to the pacific coast, , ; first through train from atlantic to pacific, - ; in europe, - ; shop for making, established in turin, ; reception of in england, - ; imitation of, and competition from others, - ; acquires the mann and woodruff companies, ; wins suits against the wagner company, ; rapid expansion of business, ; locates new shops at chicago, - ; berth construction for, , ; vestibuled trains of, - ; electric lighting in, - ; heating of, by locomotive steam, ; how the cars are made, - ; the first all-steel, ff.; trucks for, ; fittings, ; operation of the, - ; travel distances possible for, - , ; tickets sold yearly, ; linen required for, - ; other furnishings for, - ; cleaning, - ; the working force, ; the porters, pullman, george m., birth and early years, , ; first activities in chicago, , ; first sleeping-car work, - ; his first pullman car, - ; the second car, ; incorporates the pullman palace car company, ; his purpose, ; introduces the hotel car, ; the first dining car, ; visits england, ; installs his cars there, , - ; establishes shop at turin, ; puts vestibule trains in operation, ; locates new shops at chicago, - ; builds town of pullman, - ; his radical changes in berth construction, , ; introduces the dining car, - ; invents the vestibule for trains, - ; his vision and achievement, , ; president of the company till his death, pullman palace car company, incorporated, ; establishes shops in detroit, ; its business, , , ; list of directors and presidents, _pullman, the story of_, quoted, , pullman, the town of, - _railroad gazette_, the, on electric lighting of trains, railroad restaurants, the oldtime service, - railroad transportation, birth of, - rails, the first iron, _railway review_, the, describes vestibuled trains, , ; on trial of electric lighting in english trains, - railways, the first in england, - ; in america, - ; change gauge to suit pullman cars, reclining chair car, or parlor car, the first, repairs and repair shops, sleeping car, the evolution of the, - ; the early, , , ; mr. pullman's first, - ; rise of the industry, - stagecoach, the english, - , steel, the first all-, pullman cars, ff. stephenson, george and robert, and the first steam engines, , , _trans-continental_, the paper published by pullman car tourists in , transportation, birth of railroad, - trevithick, richard, experiments with steam locomotive, trucks, the, used for pullman cars, "twenty minutes for dinner," failure of the system of, , vanderbilts, back the wagner car, , , , vestibule invented, , ; vestibuled trains in service, ; trial trip, ; welcomed in mexico, wagner palace car company, competitor of the pullman company, - , ; loses to the pullman company, wagner, webster, founder of the wagner palace car company, woodruff sleeping car, ; acquired by the pullman company, [transcriber's notes all words printed in small capitals have been converted to uppercase characters. duplicate chapter headings have been removed. the following modifications have been made, page : "carrry" changed to "carry" (will carry from coast to coast)] transcriber's note italic text is denoted by _underscores_. bold text is denoted by =equals signs=. the oe ligature has been replaced by 'oe' or 'oe'. obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources. more detail can be found at the end of the book. [illustration: (george stephenson.) _engraved by w. hall after the portrait by john lucas._ new york, harrer & brothers.] the life of george stephenson and of his son robert stephenson; comprising also a history of the invention and introduction of the railway locomotive. by samuel smiles, author of "self-help," "the huguenots," etc. with portraits and numerous illustrations. new york: harper & brothers, publishers, franklin square. . preface. the present is a revised edition of the life of george stephenson and of his son robert stephenson, to which is prefixed a history of the railway and the locomotive in its earlier stages, uniform with the early history of the steam-engine given in vol. iv. of "lives of the engineers" containing the memoirs of boulton and watt. a memoir of richard trevithick has also been included in this introductory portion of the book, which will probably be found more complete than any notice which has yet appeared of that distinguished mechanical engineer. * * * * * since the appearance of this life in its original form ten years ago, the construction of railways has continued to make extraordinary progress. the length of lines then open in europe was estimated at about , miles: it is now more than , miles. although great britain, first in the field, had then, after about twenty-five years' work, expended nearly millions sterling in the construction of miles of double railway, it has during the last ten years expended about millions more in constructing additional miles. but the construction of railways has proceeded with equal rapidity on the continent. france has now miles at work; germany (including austria), , miles; spain, miles; sweden, miles; belgium, miles; switzerland, miles; holland, miles; besides railways in other states. these have, for the most part, been constructed and opened during the last ten years, while a considerable length is still under construction. austria is actively engaged in carrying new lines across the plains of hungary to the frontier of turkey, which turkey is preparing to meet by lines carried up the valley of the lower danube; and russia, with miles already at work, is occupied with extensive schemes for connecting petersburg and moscow with her ports in the black sea on the one hand, and with the frontier towns of her asiatic empire on the other. italy also is employing her new-born liberty in vigorously extending railways throughout her dominions. the length of italian lines in operation in was miles, of which not less than were opened in that year. already has a direct line of communication been opened between germany and italy through the brenner pass, by which it is now possible to make the entire journey by railway (excepting only the short sea-passage across the english channel) from london to brindisi on the southeastern extremity of the italian peninsula; and, in the course of a few more years, a still shorter route will be opened through france, when that most formidable of all railway borings, the seven-mile tunnel under mont cenis, has been completed. during the last ten years, nearly the whole of the existing indian railways have been made. when edmund burke in arraigned the british government for their neglect of india in his speech on mr. fox's bill, he said, "england has built no bridges, made no high roads, cut no navigations, dug out no reservoirs.... were we to be driven out of india this day, nothing would remain to tell that it had been possessed, during the inglorious period of our dominion, by any thing better than the orang-outang or the tiger." but that reproach no longer applies. some of the greatest bridges erected in modern times--such as those over the sone near patna, and over the jamna at allahabad--have been erected in connection with the indian railways, of which there are already miles at work, and above more under construction. when these lines have been completed, at an expenditure of about £ , , of british capital guaranteed by the british government, india will be provided with a magnificent system of internal communication, connecting the capitals of the three presidencies--uniting bombay with madras on the south, and with calcutta on the northeast--while a great main line, miles in extent, passing through the northwestern provinces, and connecting calcutta with lucknow, delhi, lahore, moultan, and kurrachee, will unite the mouths of the hooghly in the bay of bengal with those of the indus in the arabian sea. when the first edition of this work appeared in the beginning of , the canadian system of railways was but in its infancy. the grand trunk was only begun, and the victoria bridge--the greatest of all railway structures--was not half erected. now, that fine colony has more than miles in active operation along the great valley of the st. lawrence, connecting rivière du loup at the mouth of that river, and the harbor of portland in the state of maine, _via_ montreal and toronto, with sarnia on lake huron, and with windsor, opposite detroit, in the state of michigan. the australian colonies also have during the same time been actively engaged in providing themselves with railways, many of which are at work, and others are in course of formation. even the cape of good hope has several lines open, and others making. france also has constructed about miles in algeria, while the pasha of egypt is the proprietor of miles in operation across the egyptian desert. but in no country has railway construction been prosecuted with greater vigor than in the united states. there the railway furnishes not only the means of intercommunication between already established settlements, as in the old world, but it is regarded as the pioneer of colonization, and as instrumental in opening up new and fertile territories of vast extent in the west--the food-grounds of future nations. hence railway construction in that country was scarcely interrupted even by the great civil war; at the commencement of which mr. seward publicly expressed the opinion that "physical bonds, such as highways, railroads, rivers, and canals, are vastly more powerful for holding civil communities together than any mere covenants, though written on parchment or engraved on iron." the people of the united states were the first to follow the example of england, after the practicability of steam locomotion had been proved on the stockton and darlington and liverpool and manchester railways. the first sod of the baltimore and ohio railway was cut on the th of july, , and the line was completed and opened for traffic in the following year, when it was worked partly by horse-power, and partly by a locomotive built at baltimore, which is still preserved in the company's workshops. in the hudson and mohawk railway was begun, while other lines were under construction in pennsylvania, massachusetts, and new jersey; and in the course of ten years, miles were finished and in operation. in ten more years, miles were at work; at the end of , not less than , miles, mostly single tracks; while about , miles more were under construction. one of the most extensive trunk-lines still unfinished is the great pacific railroad, connecting the lines in the valleys of the mississippi and the missouri with the city of san francisco on the shores of the pacific, by which, when completed, it will be possible to make the journey from england to hong kong, _via_ new york, in little more than a month. * * * * * the results of the working of railways have been in many respects different from those anticipated by their projectors. one of the most unexpected has been the growth of an immense passenger-traffic. the stockton and darlington line was projected as a coal line only, and the liverpool and manchester as a merchandise line. passengers were not taken into account as a source of revenue; for, at the time of their projection, it was not believed that people would trust themselves to be drawn upon a railway by an "explosive machine," as the locomotive was described to be. indeed, a writer of eminence declared that he would as soon think of being fired off on a ricochet rocket as travel on a railway at twice the speed of the old stage-coaches. so great was the alarm which existed as to the locomotive, that the liverpool and manchester committee pledged themselves in their second prospectus, issued in , "not to require any clause empowering its use;" and as late as , the newcastle and carlisle act was conceded on the express condition that it should not be worked by locomotives, but by horses only. nevertheless, the liverpool and manchester company obtained powers to make and work their railway without any such restriction; and when the line was made and opened, a locomotive passenger-train was ordered to be run upon it by way of experiment. greatly to the surprise of the directors, more passengers presented themselves as travelers by the train than could conveniently be carried. the first arrangements as to passenger-traffic were of a very primitive character, being mainly copied from the old stage-coach system. the passengers were "booked" at the railway office, and their names were entered in a way-bill which was given to the guard when the train started. though the usual stage-coach bugleman could not conveniently accompany the passengers, the trains were at first played out of the terminal stations by a lively tune performed by a trumpeter at the end of the platform, and this continued to be done at the manchester station until a comparatively recent date. but the number of passengers carried by the liverpool and manchester line was so unexpectedly great, that it was very soon found necessary to remodel the entire system. tickets were introduced, by which a great saving of time was effected. more roomy and commodious carriages were provided, the original first-class compartments being seated for four passengers only. every thing was found to have been in the first instance made too light and too slight. the prize "rocket," which weighed only - / tons when loaded with its coke and water, was found quite unsuited for drawing the increasingly heavy loads of passengers. there was also this essential difference between the old stage-coach and the new railway train, that, whereas the former was "full" with six inside and ten outside, the latter must be able to accommodate whatever number of passengers came to be carried. hence heavier and more powerful engines, and larger and more substantial carriages, were from time to time added to the carrying stock of the railway. the speed of the trains was also increased. the first locomotives used in hauling coal-trains ran at from four to six miles an hour. on the stockton and darlington line the speed was increased to about ten miles an hour; and on the liverpool and manchester line the first passenger-trains were run at the average speed of seventeen miles an hour, which at that time was considered very fast. but this was not enough. when the london and birmingham line was opened, the mail-trains were run at twenty-three miles an hour; and gradually the speed went up, until now the fast trains are run at from fifty to sixty miles an hour--the pistons in the cylinders, at sixty miles, traveling at the inconceivable rapidity of feet per minute! to bear the load of heavy engines run at high speeds, a much stronger and heavier road was found necessary; and shortly after the opening of the liverpool and manchester line, it was entirely relaid with stronger materials. now that express passenger-engines are from thirty to thirty-five tons each, the weight of the rails has been increased from lbs. to lbs. or lbs. to the yard. stone blocks have given place to wooden sleepers; rails with loose ends resting on the chairs, to rails with their ends firmly "fished" together; and in many places, where the traffic is unusually heavy, iron rails have been replaced by those of steel. and now see the enormous magnitude to which railway passenger-traffic has grown. in the year , , , passengers were carried by day tickets in great britain alone. but this was not all; for in that year , periodical tickets were issued by the different railways; and assuming half of them to be annual, one fourth half-yearly, and the remainder quarterly tickets, and that their holders made only five journeys each way weekly, this would give an additional number of , , journeys, or a total of , , passengers carried in great britain in one year. it is difficult to grasp the idea of the enormous number of persons represented by these figures. the mind is merely bewildered by them, and can form no adequate notion of their magnitude. to reckon them singly would occupy twenty years, counting at the rate of one a second for twelve hours every day. or take another illustration. supposing every man, woman, and child in great britain to make ten journeys by rail yearly, the number would fall short of the passengers carried in . mr. porter, in his "progress of the nation," estimated that thirty millions of passengers, or about eighty-two thousand a day, traveled by coaches in great britain in , an average distance of twelve miles each, at an average cost of _s._ a passenger, or at the rate of _d._ a mile; whereas above millions are now carried by railway an average distance of - / miles each, at an average cost of _s._ - / _d._ per passenger, or about three half-pence per mile, in considerably less than half the time. but, besides the above number of passengers, one hundred and twenty-four million tons of minerals and merchandise were carried by railway in the united kingdom in , and fifteen millions of cattle, besides mails, parcels, and other traffic. the distance run by passenger and goods trains in the year was , , miles, to accomplish which it is estimated that four miles of railway on an average must be covered by running trains during every second all the year round. to perform this service, there were, in , locomotives at work in the united kingdom, consuming about three million tons of coal and coke, and flashing into the air every minute some thirty tons of water in the form of steam in a high state of elasticity. there were also , passenger-carriages, vans and breaks attached to passenger-trains, and , trucks, wagons, and other vehicles appropriated to merchandise. buckled together, buffer to buffer, the locomotives and tenders would extend for a length of about miles, or more than the distance from london to brighton; while the carrying vehicles, joined together, would form two trains occupying a double line of railway extending from london to beyond inverness. a notable feature in the growth of railway traffic of late years has been the increase in the number of third-class passengers, compared with first and second class. sixteen years since, the third-class passengers constituted only about one third; ten years later they were about one half; whereas now they form nearly two thirds of the whole number carried. thus george stephenson's prediction "that the time would come when it would be cheaper for a working man to make a journey by railway than to walk on foot" is already realized. the degree of safety with which this great traffic has been conducted is not the least remarkable of its features. of course, so long as railways are worked by men, they will be liable to the imperfections belonging to all things human. though their machinery may be perfect, and their organization as complete as skill and forethought can make it, workmen will at times be forgetful and listless, and a moment's carelessness may lead to the most disastrous results. yet, taking all circumstances into account, the wonder is that traveling by railway at high speeds should have been rendered comparatively so safe. to be struck by lightning is one of the rarest of all causes of death, yet more persons were killed by lightning in great britain, in , than were killed on railways from causes beyond their own control; the number in the former case having been nineteen, and in the latter fifteen, or one in every twenty millions of passengers carried. most persons would consider the probability of their dying by hanging to be extremely remote; yet, according to the registrar general's returns for , it is thirty times greater than that of being killed by railway accident. taking the number of persons who traveled in great britain in at , , , of whom fifteen were accidentally killed, it would appear that, even supposing a person to have a permanent existence, and to make a journey by railway daily, the probability of his being killed in an accident would occur on an average once in above , years. the remarkable safety with which railway traffic is on the whole conducted, is due to constant watchfulness and highly-applied skill. the men who work the railways are for the most part the picked men of the country, and every railway station may be regarded as a practical school of industry, attention, and punctuality. where railways fail in these respects, it will usually be found that it is because the men are personally defective, or because better men are not to be had. it must also be added that the onerous and responsible duties which railway workmen are called upon to perform require a degree of consideration on the part of the public which is not very often extended to them. few are aware of the complicated means and agencies that are in constant operation on railways day and night to insure the safety of the passengers to their journeys' end. the road is under a system of continuous inspection, under gangs of men--about twelve to every five miles, under a foreman or "ganger"--whose duty it is to see that the rails and chairs are sound, all their fastenings complete, and the line clear of obstructions. then, at all the junctions, sidings, and crossings, pointsmen are stationed, with definite instructions as to the duties to be performed by them. at these places signals are provided, worked from the station platforms, or from special signal-boxes, for the purpose of protecting the stopping or passing trains. when the first railways were opened the signals were of a very simple kind. the station-men gave them with their arms stretched out in different positions; then flags of different colors were used; next fixed signals, with arms or discs, or of rectangular or triangular shape. these were followed by a complete system of semaphore signals, near and distant, protecting all junctions, sidings, and crossings. when government inspectors were first appointed by the board of trade to examine and report upon the working of railways, they were alarmed by the number of trains following each other at some stations in what then seemed to be a very rapid succession. a passage from a report written in by sir frederick smith, as to the traffic at "taylor's junction," on the york and north midland railway, contrasts curiously with the railway life and activity of the present day: "here," wrote the alarmed inspector, "the passenger trains from york, as well as leeds and selby, meet four times a day. no less than passenger-trains stop at or pass this station in the hours--an amount of traffic requiring not only the most perfect arrangements on the part of the management, but the utmost vigilance and energy in the servants of the company employed at this place." contrast this with the state of things now. on the metropolitan line, trains pass a given point in one direction or the other during the eighteen hours of the working day, or an average of trains an hour. at the cannon-street station of the southeastern railway, trains pass in and out daily, many of them crossing each others' tracks under the protection of the station signals. forty-five trains run in and out between and a.m., and an equal number between and p.m. again, at the clapham junction, near london, about trains pass or stop daily; and though to the casual observer the succession of trains coming and going, running and stopping, coupling and shunting, appears a scene of inextricable confusion and danger, the whole is clearly intelligible to the signal-men in their boxes, who work the trains in and out with extraordinary precision and regularity. the inside of a signal-box reminds one of a piano-forte on a large scale, the lever-handles corresponding with the keys of the instrument; and, to an uninstructed person, to work the one would be as difficult as to play a tune on the other. the signal-box outside cannon-street station contains lever-handles, by means of which the signal-men are enabled at the same moment to communicate with the drivers of all the engines on the line within an area of yards. they direct by signs, which are quite as intelligible as words, the drivers of the trains starting from inside the station, as well as those of the trains arriving from outside. by pulling a lever-handle, a distant signal, perhaps out of sight, is set some hundred yards off, which the approaching driver--reading it quickly as he comes along--at once interprets, and stops or advances, as the signal may direct. the precision and accuracy of the signal-machinery employed at important stations and junctions have of late years been much improved by an ingenious contrivance, by means of which the setting of the signal prepares the road for the coming train. when the signal is set at "danger," the points are at the same time worked, and the road is "locked" against it; and when at "safety," the road is open--the signal and the points exactly corresponding. the electric telegraph has also been found a valuable auxiliary in insuring the safe working of large railway traffics. though the locomotive may run at sixty miles an hour, electricity, when at its fastest, travels at the rate of , miles a second, and is therefore always able to herald the coming train. the electric telegraph may, indeed, be regarded as the nervous system of the railway. by its means the whole line is kept throbbing with intelligence. the method of working electric signals varies on different lines; but the usual practice is to divide a line into so many lengths, each protected by its signal-stations, the fundamental law of telegraph working being that two engines are not to be allowed to run on the same line between two signal-stations at the same time. when a train passes one of such stations, it is immediately signaled on--usually by electric signal-bells--to the station in advance, and that interval of railway is "blocked" until the signal has been received from the station in advance that the train has passed it. thus _an interval of space_ is always secured between trains following each other, which are thereby alike protected before and behind. and thus, when a train starts on a journey of it may be hundreds of miles, it is signaled on from station to station, and "lives along the line," until at length it reaches its destination, and the last signal of "train in" is given. by this means an immense number of trains can be worked with regularity and safety. on the southeastern railway, where the system has been brought to a state of high efficiency, it is no unusual thing during easter week to send , passengers through the london bridge station alone; and on some days as many as trains a day. while such are the expedients adopted to insure safety, others equally ingenious are adopted to insure speed. in the case of express and mail trains, the frequent stopping of the engines to take in a fresh supply of water occasions a considerable loss of time on a long journey, each stoppage for this purpose occupying from ten to fifteen minutes. to avoid such stoppages larger tenders have been provided, capable of carrying as much as gallons of water each. but as a considerable time is occupied in filling these, a plan has been contrived by mr. ramsbottom, the locomotive engineer of the london and northwestern railway, by which the engines are made to _feed themselves_ while running at full speed! the plan is as follows: an open trough, about feet long, is laid longitudinally between the rails. into this trough, which is filled with water, a dip-pipe, or scoop attached to the bottom of the tender of the running train, is lowered, and, at a speed of miles an hour, as much as gallons of water are scooped up in the course of a few minutes. the first of such troughs was laid down between chester and holyhead, to enable the express mail to run the distance of - / miles in two hours and five minutes without stopping; and similar troughs have since been laid down at bushey, near london; at castlethorpe, near wolverton; and at parkside, near liverpool. at these four troughs about , gallons of water are scooped up daily. * * * * * wherever railways have been made, new towns have sprung up, and old towns and cities been quickened into new life. when the first english lines were projected, great were the prophecies of disaster to the inhabitants of the districts through which they were proposed to be forced. such fears have long since been dispelled in this country. the same prejudices existed in france. when the railway from paris to marseilles was projected to pass through lyons, a local prophet predicted that if the line were made the city would be ruined--"_ville traversée, ville perdue_;" while a local priest denounced the locomotive and the electric telegraph as heralding the reign of antichrist. but such nonsense is no longer uttered. now it is the city without the railway that is regarded as the "city lost;" for it is in a measure shut out from the rest of the world, and left outside the pale of civilization. perhaps the most striking of all the illustrations that could be offered of the extent to which railways facilitate the locomotion, the industry, and the subsistence of the population of large towns and cities, is afforded by the working of the railway system in connection with the capital of great britain. the extension of railways to london has been of comparatively recent date, the whole of the lines connecting it with the provinces and terminating at its outskirts having been opened during the last thirty years, while the lines inside london have for the most part been opened within the last ten years. the first london line was the greenwich railway, part of which was opened for traffic to deptford in february, . the working of this railway was first exhibited as a show, and the usual attractions were employed to make it "draw." a band of musicians in the garb of the beef-eaters was stationed at the london end, and another band at deptford. for cheapness' sake, the deptford band was shortly superseded by a large barrel-organ, which played in the passengers; but when the traffic became established, the barrel-organ, as well as the beef-eater band at the london end, were both discontinued. the whole length of the line was lit up at night by a row of lamps on either side like a street, as if to enable the locomotives or the passengers to see their way in the dark; but these lamps also were eventually discontinued as unnecessary. as a show, the greenwich railway proved tolerably successful. during the first eleven months it carried , passengers, or an average of about a day. but the railway having been found more convenient to the public than either the river boats or the omnibuses, the number of passengers rapidly increased. when the croydon, brighton, and southeastern railways began to pour their streams of traffic over the greenwich viaduct, its accommodation was found much too limited, and it was widened from time to time, until now nine lines of railway are laid side by side, over which more than twenty millions of passengers are carried yearly, or an average of about , a day all the year round. since the partial opening of the greenwich railway in , a large extent of railways has been constructed in and about the metropolis, and convenient stations have been established almost in the heart of the city. sixteen of these stations are within a circle of half a mile radius from the mansion house, and above three hundred stations are in actual use or in course of construction within about five miles of charing cross. the most important lines recently opened for the accommodation of the london local traffic have been the london, chatham and dover metropolitan extensions ( ), the metropolitan ( ), the north london extension to liverpool street ( ), the charing cross and cannon-street extensions of the southeastern railway ( - ), and the south london extension of the brighton railway ( ). of these railways, the london, chatham and dover carried , , passengers in ; the metropolitan, , , ; the north london, , , ; the southeastern, , , ; and the brighton, , , . the total number carried into and out of london, as well as from station to station in london, in the same year, was millions of passengers. to accommodate this vast traffic, not fewer than local trains are run in and out daily, besides trains which depart to and arrive from distant places, north, south, east, and west. in the morning hours, between and , when business men are proceeding inward to their offices and counting-houses, and in the afternoon between four and six, when they are returning outward to their homes, as many as two thousand stoppages are made in the hour, within the metropolitan district, for the purpose of taking up and setting down passengers, while about two miles of railway are covered by the running trains. one of the remarkable effects of railways has been to extend the residential area of all large towns and cities. this is especially notable in the case of london. before the introduction of railways, the residential area of the metropolis was limited by the time occupied by business men in making the journey outward and inward daily; and it was for the most part bounded by bow on the east, by hampstead and highgate on the north, by paddington and kensington on the west, and by clapham and brixton on the south. but now that stations have been established near the centre of the city, and places so distant as waltham, barnet, watford, hanwell, richmond, epsom, croydon, reigate, and erith can be more quickly reached by rail than the old suburban quarters were by omnibus, the metropolis has become extended in all directions along its railway lines, and the population of london, instead of living in the city or its immediate vicinity as formerly, have come to occupy a residential area of not less than six hundred square miles! the number of new towns which have consequently sprung into existence near london within the last twenty years has been very great; towns numbering from ten to twenty thousand inhabitants, which before were but villages, if, indeed, they existed. this has especially been the case along the lines south of the thames, principally in consequence of the termini of those lines being more conveniently situated for city men of business. hence the rapid growth of the suburban towns up and down the river, from richmond and staines on the west, to erith and gravesend on the east, and the hives of population which have settled on the high grounds south of the thames, in the neighborhood of norwood and the crystal palace, rapidly spreading over the surrey downs, from wimbledon to guildford, and from bromley to croydon, epsom, and dorking. and now that the towns on the south and southeast coast can be reached by city men in little more time than it takes to travel to clapham or bayswater by omnibus, such places have become, as it were, parts of the great metropolis, and brighton and hastings are but marine suburbs of london. the improved state of the communications of the city with the country has had a marked effect upon its population. while the action of the railways has been to add largely to the number of persons living in london, it has also been accompanied by their dispersion over a much larger area. thus the population of the central parts of london is constantly decreasing, whereas that of the suburban districts is as constantly increasing. the population of the city fell off more than , between and ; and during the same period, that of holborn, the strand, st martin's-in-the-fields, st. james's, westminster, east and west london, showed a considerable decrease. but, as regards the whole mass of the metropolitan population, the increase has been enormous, especially since the introduction of railways. thus, starting from , when the population of london was , , we find it increasing in each decennial period at the rate of between two and three hundred thousand, until the year , when it amounted to , , . railways had by that time reached london, after which its population increased at nearly double the former ratio. in the ten years ending , the increase was , ; and in the ten years ending , , ; until now, to quote the words of the registrar general in his last annual report, "the population within the registration limits is by estimate , , ; but beyond this central mass there is a ring of life growing rapidly, and extending along railway lines over a circle of fifteen miles from charing cross. the population within that circle, patrolled by the metropolitan police, is about , , !" the aggregation of so vast a number of persons within so comparatively limited an area--the immense quantity of food required for their daily sustenance, as well as of fuel, clothing, and other necessaries--would be attended with no small inconvenience and danger but for the facilities again provided by the railways. the provisioning of a garrison of even four thousand men is considered a formidable affair; how much more so the provisioning of nearly four millions of people! the whole mystery is explained by the admirable organization of the railway service, and the regularity and dispatch with which it is conducted. we are enabled by the courtesy of the general managers of the london railways to bring together the following brief summary of facts relating to the food supply of london, which will probably be regarded by most readers as of a very remarkable character. generally speaking, the railways to the south of the thames contribute comparatively little toward the feeding of london. they are, for the most part, passenger and residential lines, traversing a limited and not very fertile district bounded by the sea-coast, and, excepting in fruit and vegetables, milk and hops, they probably carry more food from london than they bring to it. the principal supplies of grain, flour, potatoes, and fish are brought by railway from the eastern counties of england and scotland; and of cattle and sheep, beef and mutton, from the grazing counties of the west and northwest of britain, as far as from the highlands of scotland, which, through the instrumentality of railways, have become part of the great grazing-grounds of the metropolis. take first "the staff of life"--bread and its constituents. of wheat, not less than , quarters were brought into london by railway in , besides what was brought by sea; of oats, , quarters; of barley, , quarters; of beans and peas, , quarters. of the wheat and barley, by far the largest proportion was brought by the great eastern railway, which delivered in london last year , quarters of wheat and , quarters of barley, besides , quarters more in the form of malt. the largest quantity of oats was brought by the great northern railway, principally from the north of england and the east of scotland--the quantity delivered by that company in having been , quarters, besides , quarters of wheat, quarters of barley, and , quarters of malt. again, of , , sacks of flour and meal delivered in london last year, the great eastern brought , sacks, the great northern , sacks, and the great western , sacks; the principal contribution of the london and northwestern railway toward the london bread-stores being , boxes of american flour, besides , sacks of english. the total quantity of malt delivered at the london railway stations in was thirteen hundred thousand sacks. next, as to flesh meat. last year not fewer than , head of cattle were brought into london by railway, though this was considerably less than the number carried before the cattle plague, the great eastern railway alone having carried , less than in . but this loss has since been more than made up by the increased quantities of fresh beef, mutton, and other kinds of meat imported in lieu of the live animals. the principal supplies of cattle are brought, as we have said, by the western, northern, and eastern lines: by the great western from the western counties and ireland; by the london and northwestern, the midland, and the great northern, from the northern counties and from scotland; and by the great eastern from the eastern counties, and from the ports of harwich and lowestoft. last year also, , , sheep were brought to london by railway, of which the great eastern delivered not less than , head. the london and northwestern and great northern between them brought , head from the northern english counties, with a large proportion from the scotch highlands; while the great western brought up , head from the welsh mountains, and from the rich grazing districts of wilts, gloucester, somerset, and devon. another important freight of the london and northwestern railway consists of pigs, of which they delivered , in london last year, principally irish; while the great eastern brought up , of the same animal, partly foreign. while the cattle plague has had the effect of greatly reducing the number of live-stock brought into london yearly, it has given a considerable impetus to the fresh meat traffic. thus, in addition to the above large numbers of cattle and sheep delivered in london last year, the railways brought , tons of meat, which--taking the meat of an average beast at lbs., and of an average sheep at lbs.--would be equivalent to about , more cattle, and , , more sheep. the great northern brought the largest quantity; next, the london and northwestern--these two companies having brought up between them, from distances as remote as aberdeen and inverness, about , tons of fresh meat in , at an average freight of about / _d._ a lb. again, as regards fish, of which six tenths of the whole quantity consumed in london is now brought by rail. the great eastern and the great northern are by far the largest importers of this article, and justify their claim to be regarded as the great food lines of london. of the , tons of fish brought by railway in , not less than , tons were delivered by the former, and , tons, brought from much longer distances, by the latter company. the london and northwestern brought about tons last year, the principal part of which was salmon from scotland and ireland. the great western also brought about tons, partly salmon, but the greater part mackerel from the southwest coast. during the mackerel season, as much as a hundred tons at a time are brought into the paddington station by express fish-train from cornwall. the great eastern and great northern companies are also the principal carriers of turkeys, geese, fowls, and game, the quantity delivered in london last year by the former company having been tons. in christmas week no fewer than , turkeys and geese were delivered at the bishopsgate station, besides about tons of poultry, , barrels of beer, and immense quantities of fish, oysters, and other kinds of food. as much as tons of poultry and game were brought last year by the southwestern railway; tons by the great northern railway; and tons of turkeys, geese, and fowls by the london, chatham and dover line, principally from france. of miscellaneous articles, the great northern and midland each brought about tons of cheese, the southwestern tons, and the london and northwestern , cheeses in number; while the southwestern and brighton lines brought a splendid contribution to the london breakfast-table in the shape of , _tons_ of french eggs; these two companies delivering between them an average of more than three millions of eggs a week all the year round! the same companies last year delivered in london , tons of butter, for the most part the produce of the farms of normandy, the greater cleanness and neatness with which the normandy butter is prepared for market rendering it a favorite both with dealers and consumers of late years compared with irish butter. the london, chatham and dover company also brought from calais tons of eggs. next, as to the potatoes, vegetables, and fruit brought by rail. forty years since, the inhabitants of london relied for their supply of vegetables on the garden-grounds in the immediate neighborhood of the metropolis, and the consequence was that they were both very dear and limited in quantity. but railways, while they have extended the grazing-grounds of london as far as the highlands, have at the same time extended the garden-grounds of london into all the adjoining counties--into east kent, essex, suffolk, and norfolk, the vale of gloucester, and even as far as penzance in cornwall. the london, chatham and dover, one of the youngest of our main lines, brought up from east kent last year tons of potatoes, tons of vegetables, and tons of fruit, besides tons of vegetables from france. the southeastern brought , tons of the same produce. the great eastern brought from the eastern counties , tons of potatoes, and tons of vegetables and fruit; while the great northern brought no less than , tons of potatoes--a large part of them from the east of scotland--and tons of vegetables and fruit. about tons of early potatoes were last year brought from cornwall, with about tons of brocoli, and the quantities are steadily increasing. "truly london hath a large belly," said old fuller two hundred years since. but how much more capacious is it now! one of the most striking illustrations of the utility of railways in contributing to the supply of wholesome articles of food to the population of large cities is to be found in the rapid growth of the traffic in milk. readers of newspapers may remember the descriptions published some years since of the horrid dens in which london cows are penned, and of the odious compound sold by the name of milk, of which the least deleterious ingredient in it was supplied by the "cow with the iron tail." that state of affairs is now completely changed. what with the greatly improved state of the london dairies and the better quality of the milk supplied by them, together with the large quantities brought by railway from a range of a hundred miles and more all round london, even the poorest classes in the metropolis are now enabled to obtain as wholesome a supply of the article as the inhabitants of most country towns. the milk traffic has in some cases been rapid, almost sudden, in its growth. though the great western is at present the greatest of the milk lines, it brought very little into london prior to the year . in the month of august in that year it brought , gallons, and in the month of october following the quantity had increased to , gallons. last year the total quantity delivered in london by this single railway was , , gallons, or an average of , gallons a week. the largest proportion of this milk was brought from beyond swindon in wiltshire, about miles from london; but considerable quantities were also brought from the vale of gloucester and from somerset. the london and southwestern also is a great milk-carrying line, having brought as much as , , gallons to london last year, or an average of , gallons a week. the great eastern brought nearly the same quantity, , , gallons, or an average of about , gallons a week. the london and northwestern ranks next, having brought , gallons in ; then the great northern, , gallons; the southeastern, , gallons; and the brighton, , gallons. the total quantity of milk delivered in london by railway last year was , , gallons, or above , gallons a week. yet this traffic, large though it may appear, is as yet but in its infancy, and in the course of a few more years it will be found very largely increased, according as facilities are provided for its accommodation and transit. these great streams of food, which we have thus so summarily described, flow into london so continuously and uninterruptedly, that comparatively few persons are aware of the magnitude and importance of the process thus daily going forward. though gathered from an immense extent of country--embracing england, scotland, wales, and ireland--the influx is so unintermitted that it is relied upon with as much certainty as if it only came from the counties immediately adjoining london. the express meat-train from aberdeen arrives in town as punctually as the clapham omnibus, and the express milk-train from aylesbury is as regular in its delivery as the penny post. indeed, london now depends so much upon railways for its subsistence, that it may be said to be fed by them from day to day, having never more than a few days' food in stock. and the supply is so regular and continuous, that the possibility of its being interrupted never for a moment occurs to any one. yet, in these days of strikes among workmen, such a contingency is quite within the limits of possibility. another contingency, arising in a state of war, is probably still more remote. but, were it possible for a war to occur between england and a combination of foreign powers possessed of stronger iron-clads than ours, and that they were able to ram our ships back into port and land an enemy of overpowering force on the essex coast, it would be sufficient for them to occupy or cut the railways leading from the north, to starve london into submission in less than a fortnight. besides supplying london with food, railways have also been instrumental in insuring the more regular and economical supply of fuel--a matter of almost as vital importance to the population in a climate such as that of england. so long as the market was supplied with coal brought by sea in sailing ships, fuel in winter often rose to a famine price, especially during long-continued easterly winds. but, now that railways are in full work, the price is almost as steady in winter as in summer, and the supply is more regular at all seasons. the following statement of the coals brought into london by sea and by railway, at decennial periods since , as supplied by mr. j. r. scott, registrar of the coal exchange, shows the effect of railways in increasing the supply of fuel, at the same time that they have lowered the price to the consumer: +--------+-----------------+-------------------------+---------------+ | years. | sea-borne coal. |coals brought by railway.| price per ton.| +--------+-----------------+-------------------------+---------------+ | | tons. | tons. | _s._ _d._ | | | , , | nil | | | | , , | , | | | | , , | , , | | | | , , | , , | | +--------+-----------------+-------------------------+---------------+ thus the price of coal has been reduced _s._ _d._ a ton since , while the quantity delivered has been enormously increased, the total saving on the quantity consumed in the metropolis in , compared with , being equal to £ , , . but the carriage of food and fuel to london forms but a small part of the merchandise traffic carried by railway. above , tons of goods of various kinds yearly pass through one station only, that of the london and northwestern company, at camden town; and sometimes as many as , parcels daily. every other metropolitan station is similarly alive with traffic inward and outward, london having since the introduction of railways become more than ever a great distributive centre, to which merchandise of all kinds converges, and from which it is distributed to all parts of the country. mr. bazley, m.p., stated at a late public meeting at manchester that it would probably require ten millions of horses to convey by road the merchandise traffic which is now annually carried by railway. railways have also proved of great value in connection with the cheap postage system. by their means it has become possible to carry letters, newspapers, books, and post parcels in any quantity, expeditiously and cheaply. the liverpool and manchester line was no sooner opened in than the post-office authorities recognized its utility, and used it for carrying the mails between the two towns. when the london and birmingham line was opened eight years later, mail trains were at once put on, the directors undertaking to perform the distance of miles within hours by day and - / hours by night. as additional lines were opened, the old four-horse mail-coaches were gradually discontinued, until, in , the last of them, the "derby dilly," which ran between manchester and derby, was taken off on the opening of the midland line to rowsley. the increased accommodation provided by railways was found of essential importance, more particularly after the adoption of the cheap postage system; and that such accommodation was needed will be obvious from the extraordinary increase which has taken place in the number of letters and packets sent by post. thus, in , the number of chargeable letters carried was only millions, and of newspapers - / millions; whereas, in , the number of letters had increased to millions, and in to millions, or more than tenfold, while the number of newspapers, books, samples, and patterns (a new branch of postal business begun in ) had increased, in , to - / millions. to accommodate this largely-increasing traffic, the bulk of which is carried by railway, the mileage run by mail trains in the united kingdom has increased from , miles a day in (the first year of which we have any return of the mileage run) to , miles a day in , or an increase of per cent. the post-office expenditure on railway service has also increased, but not in like proportion, having been £ , in the former year, and £ , in the latter, or an increase of per cent. the revenue, gross and net, has increased still more rapidly. in , the first complete year of the cheap postage system, the gross revenue was £ , , , and the net revenue £ , ; in , the gross revenue was £ , , , and the net revenue £ , , ; and in , the gross revenue was £ , , , and the net revenue £ , , , being an increase of per cent. compared with , and of per cent. compared with . how much of this net increase might fairly be credited to the railway postal service we shall not pretend to say, but assuredly the proportion must be very considerable. one of the great advantages of railways in connection with the postal service is the greatly increased frequency of communication which they provide between all the large towns. thus liverpool has now six deliveries of manchester letters daily, while every large town in the kingdom has two or more deliveries of london letters daily. in , towns had two mails daily from london; had three mails daily; had four mails a day _from_ london, and had four mails a day _to_ london; while towns had five mails a day _from_ london, and had five mails a day _to_ london. another feature of the railway mail train, as of the passenger train, is its capacity to carry any quantity of letters and post parcels that may require to be carried. in , the aggregate weight of all the evening mails dispatched from london by twenty-eight mail-coaches was tons cwt., or an average of about - / cwt. each, though the maximum contract weight was cwt. the mails now are necessarily much heavier, the number of letters and packets having, as we have seen, increased more than tenfold since . but it is not the ordinary so much as the extraordinary mails that are of considerable weight, more particularly the american, the continental, and the australian mails. it is no unusual thing, we are informed, for the last-mentioned mail to weigh as much as tons. how many of the old mail-coaches it would take to carry such a mail the miles' journey to southampton, with a relay of four horses every five or seven miles, is a problem for the arithmetician to solve. but even supposing each coach to be loaded to the maximum weight of cwt. per coach, it would require about sixty vehicles and about horses to carry the tons, besides the coachmen and guards. * * * * * a few words, in conclusion, as to the number of men employed in working and maintaining railways. according to mr. mills,[ ] , men and officers were employed in the working of , miles open in the united kingdom in , besides , employed on lines then under construction. the most numerous body of workmen is that of the laborers ( , ) employed in the maintenance of the permanent way. being mostly picked men from the laboring class of the adjoining districts, they are paid considerably higher wages, and hence one of the direct effects of railways on the laboring population (besides affording them greater facilities for locomotion) has been to raise the standard of wages of ordinary labor at least _s_. a week in all the districts into which they have penetrated. the workmen next in number is that of the artificers ( , ) employed in constructing and repairing the rolling-stock; the porters ( , ), the plate-layers ( , ), guards and brakesmen ( ), firemen ( ), and engine-drivers ( ). but, besides the employés directly engaged in the working and maintenance of railways, large numbers of workmen are also occupied in the manufacture of locomotives and rolling-stock, and in providing the requisite materials for the permanent way. thus the consumption of rails alone averages nearly , tons a year in the united kingdom alone, while the replacing of decayed sleepers requires about , acres of forest to be cut down annually and sawn into sleepers. taking the various railway workmen into account, with their families, it will be found that they represent a total of about three quarters of a million persons, or about one in fifty of our population, who are dependent on railways for their subsistence. * * * * * while the practical working of railways has, on the whole, been so satisfactory, the case has been very different as regards their direction and financial management. the men employed in the working of railways make it their business to learn it, and, being responsible, they are under the necessity of taking pains to do it well; whereas the men who govern and direct them are practically irresponsible, and may possess no qualification whatever for the office excepting only the holding of so much stock. the consequence has been much blundering on the part of these amateurs, and great loss on the part of the public. indeed, what between the confused, contradictory, and often unjust legislation of parliament on the one hand, and the carelessness or incompetency of directors on the other, many once flourishing concerns have been thrown into a state of utter confusion and muddle, until railway government has become a by-word of reproach. and this state of things will probably continue until the fatal defect of government by boards--an extremely limited responsibility, or no responsibility at all--has been rectified by the appointment, as in france, of executives consisting of a few men of special ability and trained administrative skill, personally responsible to their constituents for the due performance of their respective functions. but the discussion of this subject would require a treatise, whereas we are now but writing a preface. whatever may be said of the financial mismanagement of railways, there can be no doubt as to the great benefits conferred by them on the public wherever made. even those railways which have exhibited the most "frightful examples" of scheming and financing, so soon as placed in the hands of practical men to work, have been found to prove of unquestionable public convenience and utility. and notwithstanding all the faults and imperfections that are alleged against railways have been admitted, we think that they must, nevertheless, be recognized as by far the most valuable means of communication between men and nations that has yet been given to the world. * * * * * the author's object in publishing this book in its original form, some ten years since, was to describe, in connection with the "life of george stephenson," the origin and progress of the railway system, and to show by what moral and material agencies its founders were enabled to carry their ideas into effect, and to work out results which even then were of a remarkable character, though they have since, as above described, become so much more extraordinary. the favor with which successive editions of the book have been received has justified the author in his anticipation that such a narrative would prove of general, if not of permanent interest, and he has taken pains, in preparing for the press the present, and probably final edition, to render it, by careful amendment and revision, more worthy of the public acceptance. _london, may, ._ footnote: [ ] "the railway service, its exigencies, provisions, and requirements." by w. f. mills. london, . preface to the eighth edition, . the following is a revised and improved edition of "the life of george stephenson," with which is incorporated a memoir of his son robert, late president of the institute of civil engineers. since its original appearance in , much additional information has been communicated to the author relative to the early history of railways and the men principally concerned in establishing them, of which he has availed himself in the present edition. in preparing the original work for publication, the author enjoyed the advantage of the cordial co-operation and assistance of robert stephenson, on whom he mainly relied for information as to the various stages through which the locomotive passed, and especially as to his father's share in its improvement. through mr. stephenson's instrumentality also, the author was enabled to obtain much valuable information from gentlemen who had been intimately connected with his father and himself in their early undertakings--among others, from mr. edward pease, of darlington; mr. dixon, c.e.; mr. sopwith, f.r.s.; mr. charles parker; and sir joshua walmsley. most of the facts relating to the early period of george stephenson's career were collected from colliers, brakesmen, engine-men, and others, who had known him intimately, or been fellow-workmen with him, and were proud to communicate what they remembered of his early life. the information obtained from these old men--most of them illiterate, and some broken down by hard work--though valuable in many respects, was confused, and sometimes contradictory; but, to insure as much accuracy and consistency of narrative as possible, the author submitted the ms. to mr. stephenson, and had the benefit of his revision of it previous to publication. mr. stephenson took a lively interest in the improvement of the "life" of his father, and continued to furnish corrections and additions for insertion in the successive editions of the book which were called for by the public. after the first two editions had appeared, he induced several gentlemen, well qualified to supply additional authentic information, to communicate their recollections of his father, among whom may be mentioned mr. t. l. gooch, c.e.; mr. vaughan, of snibston; mr. f. swanwick, c.e.; and mr. binns, of clayross, who had officiated as private secretaries to george stephenson at different periods of his life, and afterward held responsible offices either under him or in conjunction with him. the author states these facts to show that the information contained in this book is of an authentic character, and has been obtained from the most trustworthy sources. whether he has used it to the best purpose or not, he leaves others to judge. this much, however, he may himself say--that he has endeavored, to the best of his ability, to set forth the facts communicated to him in a simple, faithful, and straightforward manner; and, even if he has not wholly succeeded in doing this, he has, at all events, been the means of collecting information on a subject originally unattractive to professional literary men, and thereby rendered its farther prosecution comparatively easy to those who may feel called upon to undertake it. the author does not pretend to have steered clear of errors in treating a subject so extensive, and, before he undertook the labor, comparatively uninvestigated; but, wherever errors have been pointed out, he has taken the earliest opportunity of correcting them. with respect to objections taken to the book because of the undue share of merit alleged to be therein attributed to the stephensons in respect of the railway and the locomotive, there will necessarily be various opinions. there is scarcely an invention or improvement in mechanics but has been the subject of dispute, and it was to be expected that those who had counter claims would put them forward in the present case; nor has the author any reason to complain of the manner in which this has been done. while george stephenson is the principal subject in the following book, his son robert also forms an essential part of it. father and son were so intimately associated in the early period of their career, that it is difficult, if not impossible, to describe the one apart from the other. the life and achievements of the son were in a great measure the complement of the life and achievements of the father. the care, also, with which the elder stephenson, while occupying the position of an obscure engine-wright, devoted himself to his son's education, and the gratitude with which the latter repaid the affectionate self-denial of his father, furnish some of the most interesting illustrations of the personal character of both. these views were early adopted by the author and carried out by him in the preparation of the original work, with the concurrence of robert stephenson, who supplied the necessary particulars relating to himself. such portions of these were accordingly embodied in the narrative as could with propriety be published during his life-time, and the remaining portions are now added with the object of rendering more complete the record of the son's life, as well as the early history of the railway system. contents. part i. chapter i. schemers and projectors. man's desire for rapid transit.--origin of the railway.--early coal wagon-ways in the north of england.--early attempts to apply the power of wind to drive carriages.--sailing-coaches.--sir isaac newton's proposal to employ steam-power.--dr. darwin's speculations on the subject.--mr. edgeworth's speculations.--dr. darwin's prophecy. pg chapter ii. early locomotive models. watt and robison's proposed steam-carriage.--memoir of joseph cugnot and his road-locomotive.--francis moore.--james watt's specification of a locomotive-engine.--william murdoch's model.--william symington's model steam-carriage.--oliver evans's model locomotive. chapter iii. the cornish locomotive--memoir of trevithick. early welsh railway acts.--wandsworth, croydon, and merstham railway.--boyhood of trevithick.--becomes an engineer.--his career.--constructs a steam-carriage.--its exhibition in london.--constructs a tram-engine.--its trial on the merthyr railroad.--trevithick's improvements in the steam-engine.--attempts to construct a tunnel under the thames.--his numerous inventions and patents.--engines ordered of him for peru.--trevithick a mining engineer in south america.--is ruined by the peruvian revolution.--his return home.--his last patents.--death and characteristics. part ii. chapter i. the newcastle coal-field--george stephenson's early years. newcastle in ancient times.--the coal-trade.--modern newcastle.--the colliery workmen.--the pumping-engines.--the pitmen.--the keelmen.--wylam colliery and village.--george stephenson's birthplace.--the stephenson family.--old robert stephenson.--george's boyhood.--employed as a herd-boy.--makes clay engines.--employed as corf-bitter.--drives the gin-horse.--appointed assistant fireman. chapter ii. newburn and callerton--george stephenson learns to be an engine-man. stephenson's life at newburn.--appointed engine-man.--duties of plugman.--study of the steam-engine.--experiments in bird-hatching.--learns to read.--his schoolmasters.--progress in arithmetic.--his dog.--learns to brake.--duties of brakesman.--begins shoe-mending.--fight with a pitman. chapter iii. engine-man at willington quay and killingworth. sobriety and studiousness.--removal to willington quay, and marriage.--attempts a perpetual-motion machine.--william fairbairn, c.e., and george stephenson.--ballast-heaving.--cottage chimney takes fire--birth of his son robert.--removal to west moor, killingworth.--death of his wife.--appointed engine-man at montrose.--return to killingworth.--appointed brakesman at west moor.--is drawn for the militia.--thinks of emigrating.--takes a contract for brakeing.--improves the winding-engine.--cures a pumping-engine.--is appointed engine-wright of the colliery. chapter iv. the stephensons at killingworth--education and self-education. efforts at self-improvement.--john wigham.--studies in natural philosophy.--education of robert stephenson.--sent to bruce's school, newcastle.--his boyish tricks.--stephenson's cottage, west moor.--mechanical contrivances.--the sun-dial at west moor.--stephenson's various duties as colliery engineer. chapter v. the locomotive engine--george stephenson begins its improvement. slow progress heretofore made in the improvement of the locomotive.--the wylam wagon-way.--mr. blackett orders a locomotive.--mr. blenkinsop's leeds locomotive.--mr. blackett's second engine a failure.--the improved wylam engine.--george stephenson's study of the subject.--his first locomotive constructed.--his improvement of the engine, as described by his son.--invention of the steam-blast. chapter vi. invention of the "geordy" safety-lamp. frequency of colliery explosions.--accidents in the killingworth pit.--stephenson's heroic conduct.--proposes to invent a safety-lamp.--his first lamp and its trial.--cottage experiments with coal-gas.--his second and third lamps.--scene at the newcastle institute.--the stephenson and davy controversy.--the davy and stephenson testimonials.--merits of the "geordy" lamp. chapter vii. george stephenson's farther improvements in the locomotive--robert stephenson as viewer's apprentice and student. stephenson's improvements in the mine-machinery.--farther improvements in the locomotive and in the road.--experiments on friction.--early neglect of the locomotive.--stephenson again meditates emigrating to america.--employed as engineer of the hetton railway.--robert stephenson put apprentice to a coal-viewer.--his father sends him to edinburg university.--his studies there.--geological tour in the highlands. chapter viii. george stephenson engineer of the stockton and darlington railway. failure of the first public railways near london.--want of improved communications in the bishop auckland coal-district.--various projects devised.--a railway projected at darlington.--edward pease.--george stephenson employed as engineer.--mr. pease's visit to killingworth.--a locomotive factory begun at newcastle.--the stockton and darlington line constructed.--the public opening.--the coal-traffic.--the first passenger-traffic by railway.--the town of middlesborough-on-tees created by the railway. chapter ix. the liverpool and manchester railway projected. insufficiency of the communication between liverpool and manchester.--a tram-road projected by mr. sandars.--the line surveyed by william james.--the survey a failure.--george stephenson appointed engineer.--a company formed and a railroad projected.--the first prospectus issued.--opposition to the survey.--speculations as to railway speed.--george stephenson's views thought extravagant.--article in the "quarterly". chapter x. parliamentary contest on the liverpool and manchester bill. the bill before parliament.--the evidence.--george stephenson in the witness-box.--examined as to speed.--his cross-examination.--examined as to the possibility of constructing a line on chat moss.--mr. harrison's speech.--mr. giles's evidence as to chat moss.--mr. alderson's speech.--the bill lost.--stephenson's vexation.--the bill revived, with the messrs. rennie as engineers.--sir isaac coffin's prophecies of disaster.--the act passed. chapter xi. chat moss--construction of the liverpool and manchester railway. george stephenson again appointed engineer of the railway.--chat moss described.--the resident engineers of the line.--george stephenson's theory of a floating road on the moss.--operations begun.--the tar-barrel drains.--the embankment sinks in the moss.--proposed abandonment of the works.--stephenson's perseverance.--the obstacles conquered.--the tunnel at liverpool.--the olive mount cutting.--the sankey viaduct.--stephenson's great labors.--his daily life.--evenings at home. chapter xii. robert stephenson's residence in colombia and return--the "battle of the locomotive." robert stephenson appointed mining engineer in colombia.--mule journey to bogotá.--mariquita.--silver mining.--difficulties with the cornishmen.--his cottage at santa anna.--resigns his appointment.--meeting with trevithick.--voyage to new york, and shipwreck.--returns to newcastle, and takes charge of the locomotive factory.--discussion as to the working power of the liverpool and manchester railway.--walker and rastrick's report.--a prize offered for the best locomotive.--invention of the multitubular boiler.--henry booth.--construction of the "rocket."--the locomotive competition at rainhill.--triumph of the "rocket". chapter xiii. opening of the liverpool and manchester railway, and extension of the railway system. the railway finished.--organization of the working.--the public opening.--fatal accident to mr. huskisson.--the traffic begun.--improvements in the road, rolling stock, and locomotive.--steam-carriages tried on common roads.--new railway projects.--opposition to railways in the south of england.--robert stephenson appointed engineer of leicester and swannington railway.--george removes to snibston and sinks for coal.--his character as a master. chapter xiv. robert stephenson constructs the london and birmingham railway. the london and birmingham railway projected.--george and robert stephenson appointed engineers.--an opposition organized.--public meetings against the scheme.--robert stephenson's interview with sir a. cooper.--the survey obstructed.--the line resurveyed.--the bill in parliament.--thrown out in the lords.--the project revived.--the act obtained.--the works let in contracts.--difficulties of the undertaking.--the line described.--blisworth cutting.--primrose hill tunnel.--kilsby tunnel.--its construction described.--failures of contractors.--magnitude of the works.--the railway navvies. chapter xv. manchester and leeds, midland, and other railways--general extension of railways and their results. projection of new lines.--dutton viaduct on the grand junction.--the manchester and leeds.--incident in committee.--summit tunnel, littleborough.--the midland railway.--the works compared with the simplon road.--slip near ambergate.--bull bridge.--the york and north midland.--the scarborough branch.--george stephenson on estimates.--stephenson on his surveys.--his quick observation.--his extensive labors.--traveling and correspondence.--life at alton grange.--stephenson's london office.--journeys to belgium.--interviews with the king.--public openings of english railways.--stephenson's assistants.--results of railroads. chapter xvi. george stephenson's coal-mines--opinions on railway speeds--railway mania. george stephenson on railways and coal traffic.--leases the claycross estate.--his residence at tapton.--his appearance at mechanics' institutes.--his views on railway speed.--undulating lines favored.--stephenson on railway speculation.--atmospheric railways projected.--opposed by stephenson.--the railway mania.--action of parliament.--rage for direct lines.--stephenson's letter to peel.--george hudson, the "railway king."--his fall.--stephenson again visits belgium.--interview with king leopold.--journey into spain. chapter xvii. robert stephenson's career--east coast route to scotland--high-level bridge, newcastle. robert stephenson's career.--his extensive employment as parliamentary engineer.--his rival, brunel.--the great western railway.--width of gauge.--robert stephenson's caution as to investments.--the newcastle and berwick railway.--contest in parliament.--george stephenson's interview with lord howick.--the royal border bridge, berwick.--progress of iron bridge-building.--robert stephenson constructs the high-level bridge, newcastle.--pile-driving by steam.--merits of the structure.--the through railway to scotland completed. chapter xviii. chester and holyhead railway--menai and conway bridges. george stephenson surveys a line from chester to holyhead.--robert stephenson afterward appointed engineer.--the railway works under penmaen mawr.--the crossing of the menai strait.--various plans proposed.--a tubular beam determined on.--strength of wrought-iron tubes.--mr. william fairbairn consulted.--his experiments.--professor hodgkinson.--chains proposed, and eventually discarded.--the bridge works.--the conway bridge.--britannia bridge described.--floating of the tubes.--robert stephenson's great anxiety.--raising of the tubes.--the hydraulic press bursts.--the works completed.--merits of the britannia bridge. chapter xix. closing years of george stephenson's life--illness and death. george stephenson's life at tapton.--experiments in horticulture.--his farming operations.--affection for animals.--bee-keeping.--reading and conversation.--rencounter with lord denman.--hospitality at tapton.--his microscope.--a "crowdie night."--visits to london.--visits sir robert peel at drayton manor.--his conversation.--encounter with dr. buckland.--coal formed by the sun's light.--opening of the trent valley line and its celebration.--meeting with emerson.--illness, death, and funeral.--statues of george stephenson.--personal characteristics. chapter xx. robert stephenson's victoria bridge, lower canada--illness and death--the stephenson characteristics. robert stephenson's gradual retirement from the profession of engineer.--his tubular bridge over the nile.--railways in canada.--proposed bridge at montreal.--a tubular bridge proposed.--robert stephenson appointed engineer.--design of the victoria bridge.--the piers.--getting in of the foundations.--progress of the works.--erection of the tubes.--scene at the breaking-up of the ice in .--the night-work.--erection of main central tube.--completion of the works.--robert stephenson in parliament.--his opinion of the suez canal.--his honors.--launch of the great eastern.--last illness and death.--the stephenson characteristics.--conclusion. index list of illustrations. page portrait of george stephenson _to face title page._ portrait of trevithick tyne coal-staith flange-rail cugnot's steam-carriage murdock's model locomotive symington's model steam-carriage oliver evans's model locomotive trevithick's tram-engine high-level bridge, newcastle map of newcastle district wylam high-street house, wylam colliery wagons newburn colliery gin stephenson's cottage at willington quay stephenson's signature west moor colliery killingworth high pit glebe farm-house, benton rutter's school-house at long benton bruce's school, newcastle stephenson's cottage, west moor sun-dial, killingworth colliers' cottages, long benton blenkinsop's leeds engine the wylam engine spur-gear killingworth locomotive (section) colliery whimsey pit-head, west moor davy's and stephenson's safety-lamps literary and philosophical institute, newcastle the stephenson tankard half-lap joint old killingworth locomotive west moor pit, killingworth portrait of edward pease map of stockton and darlington railway opening of stockton and darlington railway the first railway coach no. engine at darlington middlesborough-on-tees map of liverpool and manchester railway - surveying on chat moss olive mount cutting sankey viaduct baiting-place at sankey chat moss--works in progress robert stephenson's cottage at santa anna the "rocket" locomotive competition at rainhill railway _versus_ road map of leicester and swannington railway alton grange portrait of robert stephenson map of london and birmingham railway blisworth cutting shafts, kilsby tunnel kilsby tunnel (north end) dutton viaduct littleborough tunnel (west entrance) littleborough tunnel (walsden end) map of midland railway land-slip, ambergate bull bridge coalville and snibston colliery tapton house lime-works, ambergate forth-street works, newcastle claycross works newcastle from high-level bridge royal border bridge, berwick elevation and plan of arch, high-level bridge railway at penmaen mawr map of menai strait construction of britannia tube on staging conway bridge menai bridge floating first tube, conway bridge view in tapton gardens footpath to tapton house trinity church, chesterfield tablet in trinity church victoria bridge, montreal elevation of pier, victoria bridge works in progress, victoria bridge erection of the main central tube, victoria bridge stephenson memorial schools, willington early inventors in locomotion. [illustration: richard trevithick, c.e.] early inventors in locomotion. chapter i. schemers and projectors. it is easy to understand how rapid transit from place to place should, from the earliest times, have been an object of desire. the marvelous gift of speed conferred by fortunatus's wishing cap was what all must have envied: it conferred power. it also conferred pleasure. "life has not many things better than this," said samuel johnson as he rolled along in the post-chaise. but it also conferred comfort and well-being; and hence the easy and rapid transit of persons and commodities became in all countries an object of desire in proportion to their growth in civilization. we have elsewhere[ ] endeavored to describe the obstructions to the progress of society occasioned by the defective internal communications of britain in early times, which were to a considerable extent removed by the adoption of the canal system, and the improvement of our roads and highways, toward the end of last century. but the progress of industry was so rapid--the invention of new tools, machines, and engines so greatly increased the productive wealth of the nation--that some forty years since it was found that these roads and canals, numerous and excellent though they might be, were altogether inadequate for the accommodation of the traffic of the country, which was increasing in almost a direct ratio with the increased application of steam-power to the purposes of productive industry. the inventive minds of the nation, always on the alert--the "schemers" and the "projectors," to whom society has in all times been so greatly indebted--proceeded to apply themselves to the solution of the problem of how the communications of the country were best to be improved; and the result was, that the power of steam itself was applied to remedy the inconveniences which it had caused. like most inventions, that of the steam locomotive was very gradually made. the idea of it, born in one age, was revived in the ages that followed. it was embodied first in one model, then in another--the labors of one inventor being taken up by his successors--until at length, after many disappointments and many failures, the practicable working locomotive was achieved. the locomotive engine was not, however, sufficient for the purposes of cheap and rapid transit. another expedient was absolutely essential to its success--that of the railway: the smooth rail to bear the load, as well as the steam-engine to draw it. expedients were early adopted for the purpose of diminishing friction between the wheels of vehicles and the roads along which they were dragged by horse-power. the romans employed stone blocks with that object; and the streets of the long-buried city of pompeii still bear the marks of the ancient roman chariot-wheels, as the stone track for heavy vehicles on our modern london bridge shows the wheel-marks of the wagons which cross it. these stone blocks were merely a simple expedient to diminish friction, and were the first steps toward a railroad. the railway proper doubtless originated in the coal districts of the north of england and wales, where it was found useful in facilitating the transport of coals from the pits to the shipping-places. at an early period the coal was carried to the boats in panniers, or in sacks upon horses' backs. next carts were used, and tram-ways of flag-stone were laid down, along which they were easily hauled. the carts were then converted into wagons, and mounted on four wheels instead of two. still farther to facilitate the haulage of the wagons, pieces of planking were laid parallel upon wooden sleepers, or imbedded in the ordinary track. it is said that these wooden rails were first employed by a mr. beaumont, a gentleman from the south, who, about the year , adventured in the northern mines with about thirty thousand pounds, and after introducing many improvements in the working of the coal, as well as in the methods of transporting it to the staithes on the river, was ruined by his enterprise, and "within a few years," to use the words of the ancient chronicler, "he consumed all his money, and rode home upon his light horse."[ ] [illustration: coal-staith on the tyne. [by r. p. leitch.]] the use of wooden rails gradually extended, and they were laid down between most of the collieries on the tyne and the places at which the coal was shipped. roger north, in , found the practice had become extensively adopted, and he speaks of the large sums then paid for way-leave--that is, the permission granted by the owners of lands lying between the coal-pits and the river-side to lay down a tram-way for the purpose of connecting the one with the other. a century later, arthur young observed that not only had these roads become greatly multiplied, but formidable works had been constructed to carry them along upon the same level. "the coal wagon-roads from the pits to the water," he says, "are great works, carried over all sorts of inequalities of ground, so far as the distance of nine or ten miles. the tracks of the wheels are marked with pieces of wood let into the road for the wheels of the wagons to run on, by which one horse is enabled to draw, and that with ease, fifty or sixty bushels of coals."[ ] saint fond, the french traveler, who visited newcastle in , described the colliery wagon-ways in that neighborhood as superior to any thing of the kind he had seen. the wooden rails were formed with a rounded upper surface, like a projecting moulding, and the wagon-wheels being "made of cast iron, and hollowed in the manner of a metal pulley," readily fitted the rounded surface of the rails. the economy with which the coal was thus hauled to the shipping-places was urged by saint fond as an inducement to his own countrymen to adopt a like method of transit.[ ] similar wagon-roads were early laid down in the coal districts of wales, cumberland, and scotland. at the time of the scotch rebellion in , a tram-road existed between the tranent coal-pits and the small harbor of cockenzie, in east lothian; and a portion of the line was selected by general cope as a position for his cannon at the battle of prestonpans. in these rude wooden tracks we find the germ of the modern railroad. improvements were gradually made in them. thus, at some collieries, thin plates of iron were nailed upon their upper surface, for the purpose of protecting the parts most exposed to friction. cast-iron rails were also tried, the wooden rails having been found liable to rot. the first iron rails are supposed to have been laid down at whitehaven as early as . this cast-iron road was denominated a "plate-way," from the plate-like form in which the rails were cast. in , as appears from the books of the coalbrookdale iron works, in shropshire, five or six tons of rails were cast, as an experiment, on the suggestion of mr. reynolds, one of the partners; and they were shortly after laid down to form a road. [illustration: (flange-rail)] in , a cast-iron tram-way, nailed to wooden sleepers, was laid down at the duke of norfolk's colliery near sheffield. the person who designed and constructed this coal line was mr. john curr, whose son has erroneously claimed for him the invention of the cast-iron railway. he certainly adopted it early, and thereby met the fate of men before their age; for his plan was opposed by the laboring people of the colliery, who got up a riot, in which they tore up the road and burned the coal-staith, while mr. curr fled into a neighboring wood for concealment, and lay there _perdu_ for three days and nights, to escape the fury of the populace.[ ] the plates of these early tram-ways had a ledge cast on their outer edge to guide the wheel along the road, after the manner shown in the preceding cut. in , mr. william jessop constructed a railway at loughborough, in leicestershire, and there introduced the cast-iron edge-rail, with flanches cast upon the tire of the wagon-wheels to keep them on the track, instead of having the margin or flanch cast upon the rail itself; and this plan was shortly after adopted in other places. in , mr. benjamin outram, of little eaton, derbyshire (father of the distinguished general outram), used stone props instead of timber for supporting the ends or joinings of the rails. thus the use of railroads, in various forms, gradually extended, until they became generally adopted in the mining districts. such was the growth of the railroad, which, it will be observed, originated in necessity, and was modified according to experience; progress in this, as in all departments of mechanics, having been effected by the exertions of many men; one generation entering upon the labors of that which preceded it, and carrying them onward to farther stages of improvement. the invention of the locomotive was in like manner made by successive steps. it was not the invention of one man, but of a succession of men, each working at the proper hour, and according to the needs of that hour; one inventor interpreting only the first word of the problem which his successors were to solve after long and laborious efforts and experiments. "the locomotive is not the invention of one man," said robert stephenson at newcastle, "but of a nation of mechanical engineers." down to the end of last century, and indeed down almost to our own time, the only power used in haulage was that of the horse. along the common roads of the country the poor horses were "tearing their hearts out" in dragging cumbersome vehicles behind them, and the transport of merchandise continued to be slow, dear, and in all respects unsatisfactory. many expedients were suggested with the view of getting rid of the horse. the power of wind was one of the first expedients proposed. it was cheap, though by no means regular. it impelled ships by sea; why should it not be used to impel carriages by land? the first sailing-coach was invented by one simon stevinius, or stevins, a fleming, toward the end of the sixteenth century. pierre gassendi gives an account of its performances as follows: "purposing to visit grotius, peireskius went to scheveling that he might satisfy himself of the carriage and swiftness of a coach a few years before invented, and made with that artifice that with expanded sails it would fly upon the shore as a ship upon the sea. he had formerly heard that count maurice, a little after his victory at nieuport [ ], had put himself thereinto, together with francis mendoza, his prisoner, on purpose to make trial thereof, and that, within two hours, they arrived at putten, which is distant from scheveling fourteen leagues, or two-and-forty miles. he had, therefore, a mind to make the experiment himself, and he would often tell us with what admiration he was seized when he was carried with a quick wind and yet perceived it not, the coach's motion being equally quick."[ ] the sailing-coach, however, was only a curiosity. as a practicable machine, it proved worthless, for the wind could not be depended upon for land locomotion. the coach could not tack as the ship did. sometimes the wind did not blow at all, while at other times it blew a hurricane. after being used for some time as a toy, the sailing-coach was given up as impracticable, and the project speedily dropped out of sight. but, strange to say, the expedient of driving coal-wagons by the wind was revived in wales about a century later. on this occasion, sir humphry mackworth, an ingenious coal-miner at neath, was the projector. waller, in his "essay on mines," published in , takes the opportunity of eulogizing sir humphry's "new sailing-wagons, for the cheap carriage of his coal to the water-side, whereby one horse does the work of ten at all times; but when any wind is stirring (which is seldom wanting near the sea), one man and a small sail do the work of twenty."[ ] it does not, however, appear that any other coal-owner had the courage to follow sir humphry's example, and the sailing-wagon was forgotten until, after the lapse of another century, it was revived by mr. edgeworth. the employment of steam-power as a means of land locomotion was the subject of much curious speculation long before any practical attempt was made to carry it into effect. the merit of promulgating the first idea with reference to it probably belongs to no other than the great sir isaac newton. in his "explanation of the newtonian philosophy," written in , he figured a spherical generator, supported on wheels, and provided with a seat for a passenger in front, and a long jet-pipe behind, and stated that "the whole is to be mounted on little wheels, so as to move easily on a horizontal plane, and if the hole, or jet-pipe, be opened, the vapor will rush out violently one way, and the wheels and the ball at the same time will be carried the contrary way." this, it will be observed, was but a modification of the earliest known steam-engine, or oeolopile, of hero of alexandria. it is not believed that sir isaac newton ever made any experiment of his proposed method of locomotion, or did more than merely throw out the idea for other minds to work upon. the idea of employing steam in locomotion was revived from time to time, and formed the subject of much curious speculation. about the middle of last century we find benjamin franklin, then agent in london for the united provinces of america, matthew boulton, of birmingham, and erasmus darwin, of lichfield, engaged in a correspondence relative to steam as a motive power. boulton had made a model of a fire-engine, which he sent to london for franklin's inspection; and though the original purpose for which the engine had been contrived was the pumping of water, it was believed to be practicable to employ it also as a means of locomotion. franklin was too much occupied at the time by grave political questions to pursue the subject; but the sanguine and speculative mind of erasmus darwin was inflamed by the idea of a "fiery chariot," and he pressed his friend boulton to prosecute the contrivance of the necessary steam machine.[ ] erasmus darwin was in many respects a remarkable man. in his own neighborhood he was highly esteemed as a physician, and by many intelligent readers of his day he was greatly prized as a poet. horace walpole said of his "botanic garden" that it was "the most delicious poem upon earth," and he declared that he "could read it over and over again forever." the doctor was accustomed to write his poems with a pencil on little scraps of paper while riding about among his patients in his "sulky." the vehicle, which was worn and bespattered outside, had room within it for the doctor and his appurtenances only. on one side of him was a pile of books reaching from the floor to nearly the front window of the carriage, while on the other was a hamper containing fruit and sweetmeats, with a store of cream and sugar, with which the occupant regaled himself during his journey. lashed on to the place usually appropriated to the "boot" was a large pail for watering the horses, together with a bag of oats and a bundle of hay. such was the equipage of a fashionable country physician of the last century. dr. darwin was a man of large and massive person, bearing a rather striking resemblance to his distinguished townsman, dr. johnson, in manner, deportment, and force of character. he was full of anecdote, and his conversation was most original and entertaining. he was a very outspoken man, vehemently enunciating theories which some thought original and others dangerous. as he drove through the country in his "sulky," his mind teemed with speculation on all subjects, from zoonomy, botany, and physiology, to physics, æsthetics, and mental philosophy. though his speculations were not always sound, they were clever and ingenious, and, at all events, they had the effect of setting other minds a-thinking and speculating on science and the methods for its advancement. from his "loves of the plants"--afterward so cleverly parodied by george canning in his "loves of the triangles"--it would appear that the doctor even entertained a theory of managing the winds by a little philosophic artifice. his scheme of a steam locomotive was of a more practical character. this idea, like so many others, first occurred to him in his "sulky." "as i was riding home yesterday," he wrote to his friend boulton in the year , "i considered the scheme of the fiery chariot, and the longer i contemplated this favorite idea, the more practicable it appeared to me. i shall lay my thoughts before you, crude and undigested though they may appear to be, telling you as well what i thought would not do as what would do, as by those hints you may be led into various trains of thinking upon this subject, and by that means (if any hints can assist your genius, which, without hints, is above all others i am acquainted with) be more likely to improve or disapprove. and as i am quite mad of this scheme, i beg you will not mention it, or show this paper to wyat or any body. "these things are required: st, a rotary motion; d, easily altering its direction to any other direction; d, to be accelerated, retarded, destroyed, revived instantly and easily; th, the bulk, the weight, and expense of the machine to be as small as possible in proportion to its use."[ ] he then goes on to throw out various suggestions as to the form and arrangement of the machine, the number of wheels on which it was to run, and the mode of applying the power. the text of this letter is illustrated by rough diagrams, showing a vehicle mounted on three wheels, the foremost or guiding wheel being under the control of the driver; but in a subsequent passage he says, "i think four wheels will be better." "let there be two cylinders," he proceeds. "suppose one piston up, and the vacuum made under it by the _jet d'eau froid_. that piston can not yet descend because the cock is not yet opened which admits the steam into its antagonist cylinder. hence the two pistons are in equilibrio, being either of them pressed by the atmosphere. then i say, if the cock which admits the steam into the antagonist cylinder be opened gradually and not with a jerk, that the first-mentioned [piston in the] cylinder will descend gradually and not less forcibly. hence, by the management of the steam cocks, the motion may be accelerated, retarded, destroyed, revived instantly and easily. and if this answers in practice as it does in theory, the machine can not fail of success! eureka! "the cocks of the cold water may be moved by the great work, but the steam cocks must be managed by the hand of the charioteer, who also directs the rudder-wheel. [then follow his rough diagrams.] the central wheel ought to have been under the rollers, so as it may be out of the way of the boiler."[ ] after farther explaining himself, he goes on to say: "if you could learn the expense of coals to a common fire-engine and the weight of water it draws, some certain estimate may be made if such a scheme as this would answer. pray don't show wyat this scheme, for if you think it feasible and will send me a critique upon it, i will certainly, if i can get somebody to bear half the expense with me, endeavor to build a fiery chariot, and, if it answers, get a patent. if you choose to be partner with me in the profit, and expense, and trouble, let me know, as i am determined to execute it if you approve of it. "please to remember the pulses of the common fire-engines, and say in what manner the piston is so made as to keep out the air in its motion. by what way is the _jet d'eau froid_ let out of the cylinder? how full of water is the boiler? how is it supplied, and what is the quantity of its waste of water?"[ ] it will be observed from these remarks that the doctor's notions were of the crudest sort, and, as he obviously contemplated but a modification of the newcomen engine, then chiefly employed in pumping water from mines, the action of which was slow, clumsy, and expensive, the steam being condensed by injection of cold water, it is clear that, even though boulton had taken up and prosecuted darwin's idea, it could not have issued in a practicable or economical working locomotive. but, although darwin himself--his time engrossed by his increasing medical practice--proceeded no farther with his scheme of a "fiery chariot," he succeeded in inflaming the mind of his young friend, richard lovell edgeworth, who had settled for a time in his neighborhood, and induced him to direct his attention to the introduction of improved means of locomotion by steam. in a letter written by dr. small to watt in , we find him describing edgeworth as "a gentleman of fortune, young, mechanical, and indefatigable, who has taken a resolution to move land and water carriages by steam, and has made considerable progress in the short space of time that he has devoted to the study." one of the first-fruits of edgeworth's investigations was his paper "on railroads," which he read before the society of arts in , and for which he was awarded the society's gold medal. he there proposed that four iron railroads be laid down on one of the great roads out of london; two for carts and wagons, and two for light carriages and stage-coaches. the post-chaises and gentlemen's carriages might, he thought, be made to go at eight miles an hour, and the stage-coaches at six miles an hour, drawn by a single horse. he urged that such a method of transport would be attended with great economy of power and consequent cheapness. many years later, in , he published his views on the same subject in a more matured form. by that time watt's steam-engine had come into general use, and he suggested that small stationary engines should be fixed along his proposed railroad, and made, by means of circulating chains, to draw the carriages along with a great diminution of horse labor and expense. it is creditable to mr. edgeworth's forethought that both the models proposed by him have since been adopted. horse-traction of carriages on railways is now in general use in the towns of the united states; and omnibuses on the same principle regularly ply between the place de la concorde at paris and st. cloud, both being found highly convenient for the public, and profitable to the proprietors. the system of working railways by fixed engines was also regularly employed on some lines in the infancy of the railway system, though it has since fallen into disuse, in consequence of the increased power given to the modern locomotive, which enables it to surmount gradients formerly considered impracticable. besides his speculations on railways worked by horse and steam power, mr. edgeworth--unconscious of the early experiments of stevins and mackworth--made many attempts to apply the power of the wind with the same object. it is stated in his "memoirs" that he devoted himself to locomotive traction by various methods for a period of about forty years, during which he made above a hundred working models, in a great variety of forms; and though none of his schemes were attended with practical success, he adds that he gained far more in amusement than he lost by his unsuccessful labors. "the only mortification that affected me," he says, "was my discovery, many years after i had taken out my patent [for the sailing-carriage], that the rudiments of my whole scheme were mentioned in an obscure memoir of the french academy." the sailing-wagon scheme, as revived by mr. edgeworth, was doubtless of a highly ingenious character, though it was not practicable. one of his expedients was a portable railway, of a kind somewhat similar to that since revived by mr. boydell. many experiments were tried with the new wagons on hare hatch common, but they were attended with so much danger when the wind blew strong--the vehicles seeming to fly rather than roll along the ground--that farther experiments were abandoned, and mr. edgeworth himself at length came to the conclusion that a power so uncertain as that of the wind could never be relied upon for the safe conduct of ordinary traffic. his thoughts finally settled on steam as the only practicable power for this purpose; but, though his enthusiasm in the cause of improved transit of persons and of goods remained unabated, he was now too far advanced in life to prosecute his investigations in that direction. when an old man of seventy he wrote to james watt ( th august, ): "i have always thought that steam would become the universal lord, and that we should in time scorn post-horses. an iron railroad would be a cheaper thing than a road on the common construction." four years later he died, and left the problem, which he had nearly all his life been trying ineffectually to solve, to be worked out by younger men. dr. darwin had long before preceded him into the silent land. down to his death in , edgeworth had kept up a continuous correspondence with him on his favorite topic; but it does not appear that darwin ever revived his project of the "fiery chariot." he was satisfied to prophesy its eventual success in the lines which are perhaps more generally known than any he has written--for, though horace walpole declared that he could "read the botanic garden over and over again forever," the poetry of darwin is now all but forgotten. the following was his prophecy, published in , before any practical locomotive or steam-boat had been invented: "soon shall thy arm, unconquered steam, afar drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car; or on wide-waving wings expanded bear the flying chariot through the fields of air. fair crews triumphant, leaning from above, shall wave their flutt'ring kerchiefs as they move; or warrior bands alarm the gaping crowd, and armies shrink beneath the shadowy cloud." the prophecy embodied in the first two lines of the passage has certainly been fulfilled, but the triumph of the steam balloon has yet to come. footnotes: [ ] "lives of the engineers," vols. i. and ii. [ ] harleian mss., vol. iii., . [ ] "six months' tour," vol. iii., . [ ] "travels in england, scotland, and the hebrides," vol. i., . [ ] "railway locomotion and steam navigation, their principles and practice." by john curr. london, . [ ] a curious account of this early project is to be found in the library of the british museum, under the name "stevin, ." [ ] the writer adds--"i believe he (sir humphry mackworth) is the first gentleman in this part of the world that hath set up sailing engines on land, driven by the wind; not for any curiosity or vain applause, but for real profit; whereby he could not fail of bishop malkin's blessing on his undertakings, in case he were in a capacity to bestow it." [ ] see farther, "lives of the engineers," vol. iv., boulton and watt, p. - . [ ] soho mss. [ ] soho mss. [ ] ibid. chapter ii. early locomotive models. the application of steam-power to the driving of wheel-carriages on common roads was in brought under the notice of james watt by his young friend john robison, then a student at the university of glasgow. robison prepared a rough sketch of his suggested steam-carriage, in which he proposed to place the cylinder with its open end downward, to avoid the necessity for using a working beam. watt was then only twenty-three years old, and was very much occupied in conducting his business of a mathematical instrument maker, which he had only recently established. nevertheless, he proceeded to construct a model locomotive provided with two cylinders of tin-plate, intending that the pistons and their connecting-rods should act alternately on two pinions attached to the axles of the carriage-wheels. but the model, when made, did not answer watt's expectations; and when, shortly after, robison left college to go to sea, he laid the project aside, and did not resume it for many years. in the mean time, an ingenious french mechanic had taken up the subject, and proceeded to make a self-moving road engine worked by steam-power. it has been incidentally stated that a m. pouillet was the first to make a locomotive machine,[ ] but no particulars are given of the invention, which is more usually attributed to nicholas joseph cugnot, a native of void, in lorraine, where he was born in . not much is known of cugnot's early history beyond that he was an officer in the army, that he published several works on military science, and that on leaving the army he devoted himself to the invention of a steam-carriage to be run on common roads. it appears from documents collected by m. morin that cugnot constructed his first carriage at the arsenal in , at the cost of the comte de saxe, by whom he was patronized and liberally helped. it ran on three wheels, and was put in motion by an engine composed of two single-acting cylinders, the pistons of which acted alternately on the single front wheel. while this machine was in course of construction, a swiss officer, named planta, brought forward a similar project; but, on perceiving that cugnot's carriage was superior to his own, he proceeded no farther with it. when cugnot's carriage was ready, it was tried in the presence of the duc de choiseul, the comte de saxe, and other military officers. on being first set in motion, it ran against a stone wall which stood in its way, and threw it down. there was thus no doubt about its power, though there were many doubts about its manageableness. at length it was got out of the arsenal and put upon the road, when it was found that, though only loaded with four persons, it could not travel faster than about two and a quarter miles an hour; and that, the size of the boiler not being sufficient, it would not continue at work for more than twelve or fifteen minutes, when it was necessary to wait until sufficient steam had been raised to enable it to proceed farther. the experiment was looked upon with great interest, and admitted to be of a very remarkable character; and, considering that it was a first attempt, it was not by any means regarded as unsuccessful. as it was believed that such a machine, if properly proportioned, might be employed to drag cannon into the field independent of horse-power, the minister of war authorized cugnot to proceed with the construction of a new and improved machine, which was finished and ready for trial in the course of the following year. the new locomotive was composed of two parts, one being a carriage supported on two wheels, somewhat resembling a small brewer's cart, furnished with a seat for the driver, while the other contained the machinery, which was supported on a single driving-wheel ft. in. in diameter. the engine consisted of a round copper boiler with a furnace inside provided with two small chimneys, two single-acting -in. brass cylinders communicating with the boiler by a steam-pipe, and the arrangements for communicating the motion of the pistons to the driving-wheel, together with the steering-gear. [illustration: cugnot's engine.] the two parts of the machine were united by a movable pin and a toothed sector fixed on the framing of the front or machine part of the carriage. when one of the pistons descended, the piston-rod drew with it a crank, the catch of which caused the driving-wheel to make a quarter of a revolution by means of the ratchet-wheel fixed on the axle of the driving-wheel. at the same time, a chain fixed to the crank on the same side also descended and moved a lever, the opposite end of which was thereby raised, restoring the second piston to its original position at the top of the cylinder by the interposition of a second chain and crank. the piston-rod of the descending piston, by means of a catch, set other levers in motion, the chain fixed to them turning a half-way cock so as to open the second cylinder to the steam and the first to the atmosphere. the second piston, then descending in turn, caused the driving-wheel to make another quarter revolution, restoring the first piston to its original position; and the process being repeated, the machine was thereby kept in motion. to enable it to run backward, the catch of the crank was arranged in such a manner that it could be made to act either above or below, and thereby reverse the action of the machinery on the driving-wheel. it will thus be observed that cugnot's locomotive presented a simple and ingenious form of a high-pressure engine; and, though of rude construction, it was a highly-creditable piece of work, considering the time of its appearance and the circumstances under which it was constructed. several successful trials were made with the new locomotive in the streets of paris, which excited no small degree of interest. unhappily, however, an accident which occurred to it in one of the trials had the effect of putting a stop to farther experiments. turning the corner of a street near the madeleine one day, when the machine was running at a speed of about three miles an hour, it became overbalanced, and fell over with a crash; after which, the running of the vehicle being considered dangerous, it was thenceforth locked up securely in the arsenal to prevent its doing farther mischief. the merit of cugnot was, however, duly recognized. he was granted a pension of livres, which continued to be paid to him until the outbreak of the revolution. the girondist roland was appointed to examine the engine and report upon it to the convention; but his report, which was favorable, was not adopted; on which the inventor's pension was stopped, and he was left for a time without the means of living. some years later, bonaparte, on his return from italy after the peace of campo formio, interested himself in cugnot's invention, and expressed a favorable opinion of his locomotive before the academy; but his attention was shortly after diverted from the subject by the expedition to egypt. napoleon, however, succeeded in restoring cugnot's pension, and thus soothed his declining years. he died in paris in , at the age of seventy-five. cugnot's locomotive is still to be seen in the museum of the conservatoire des arts et métiers at paris; and it is, without exception, the most venerable and interesting of all the machines extant connected with the early history of locomotion. while cugnot was constructing his first machine at paris, one francis moore, a linen-draper, was taking out a patent in london for moving wheel-carriages by steam. on the th of march, , he gave notice of a patent for "a machine made of wood or metal, and worked by fire, water, or air, for the purpose of moving bodies on land or water," and on the th of july following he gave notice of another "for machines made of wood and metal, moved by power, for the carriage of persons and goods, and for accelerating boats, barges, and other vessels." but it does not appear that moore did any thing beyond lodging the titles of his inventions, so that we are left in the dark as to what was their precise character. james watt's friend and correspondent, dr. small, of birmingham, when he heard of moore's intended project, wrote to the glasgow inventor with the object of stimulating him to perfect his steam-engine, then in hand, and urging him to apply it, among other things, to purposes of locomotion. "i hope soon," said small, "to travel in a fiery chariot of your invention." watt replied to the effect that "if linen-draper moore does not use my engines to drive his carriages, he can't drive them by steam. if he does, i will stop them." but watt was still a long way from perfecting his invention. the steam-engine capable of driving carriages was a problem that remained to be solved, and it was a problem to the solution of which watt never fairly applied himself. it was enough for him to accomplish the great work of perfecting his condensed engine, and with that he rested content. but watt continued to be so strongly urged by those about him to apply steam-power to purposes of locomotion that, in his comprehensive patent of the th of august, , he included an arrangement with that object. from his specification we learn that he proposed a cylindrical or globular boiler, protected outside by wood strongly hooped together, with a furnace inside entirely surrounded by the water to be heated except at the ends. two cylinders working alternately were to be employed, and the pistons working within them were to be moved by the elastic force of the steam; "and after it has performed its office," he says, "i discharge it into the atmosphere by a proper regulating valve, or i discharge it into a condensing vessel made air-tight, and formed of thin plates and pipes of metal, having their outsides exposed to the wind;" the object of this latter arrangement being to economize the water, which would otherwise be lost. the power was to be communicated by a rotative motion (of the nature of the "sun and planet" arrangement) to the axle of one or more of the wheels of the carriage, or to another axis connected with the axle by means of toothed wheels; and in other cases he proposed, instead of the rotative machinery, to employ "toothed racks, or sectors of circles, worked with reciprocating motion by the engines, and acting upon ratched wheels fixed on the axles of the carriage." to drive a carriage containing two persons would, he estimated, require an engine with a cylinder in. in diameter, making sixty strokes per minute of ft. each, and so constructed as to act both on the ascent and descent of the piston; and, finally, the elastic force of the steam in the boiler must be such as to be occasionally equal to supporting a pillar of mercury in. high. though watt repeatedly expressed his intention of constructing a model locomotive after his specification, it does not appear that he ever carried it out. he was too much engrossed with other work; and, besides, he never entertained very sanguine views as to the practicability of road locomotion by steam. he continued, however, to discuss the subject with his partner boulton, and from his letters we gather that his mind continued undetermined as to the best plan to be pursued. only four days after the date of the above specification (_i.e._, on the th of august, ) we find him communicating his views on the subject to boulton at great length, and explaining his ideas as to how the proposed object might best be accomplished. he first addressed himself to the point of whether lbs. was a sufficient power to move a post-chaise on a tolerably good and level road at four miles an hour; secondly, whether ft. of boiler surface exposed to the fire would be sufficient to evaporate a cube foot of water per hour without much waste of fuel; thirdly, whether it would require steam of more than eleven and a half times atmospheric density to cause the engine to exert a power equal to lbs. on the inch. "i think," he observed, "the cylinder must either be made larger or make more than sixty strokes per minute. as to working gear, stopping and backing, with steering the carriage, i think these things perfectly manageable." "my original ideas on the subject," he continued, "were prior to my invention of these improved engines, or before the crank, or any other of the rotative motions were thought of. my plan then was to have two inverted cylinders, with toothed racks instead of piston-rods, which were to be applied to two ratchet-wheels on the axle-tree, and to act alternately; and i am partly of opinion that this method might be applied with advantage yet, because it needs no fly and has some other conveniences. from what i have said, and from much more which a little reflection will suggest to you, you will see that without several circumstances turn out more favorable than has been stated, the machine will be clumsy and defective, and that it will cost much time to bring it to any tolerable degree of perfection, and that for me to interrupt the career of our business would be imprudent; i even grudge the time i have taken to make these comments on it. there is, however, another way in which much mechanism might be saved if it be in itself practicable, which is to apply to it one of the self-moving rotatives, which has no regulators, but turns like a mill-wheel by the constant influx and efflux of steam; but this would not abridge the size of the boiler, and i am not sure that such engines are practicable." it will be observed from these explanations that watt's views as to road locomotion were still crude and undefined; and, indeed, he never carried them farther. while he was thus discussing the subject with boulton, william murdock, one of the most skilled and ingenious workmen of the soho firm--then living at redruth, in cornwall--was occupying himself during his leisure hours, which were but few, in constructing a model locomotive after a design of his own. he had doubtless heard of the proposal to apply steam to locomotion, and, being a clever inventor, he forthwith set himself to work out the problem. the plan he pursued was very simple and yet efficient. his model was of small dimensions, standing little more than a foot high, but it was sufficiently large to demonstrate the soundness of the principle on which it was constructed. it was supported on three wheels, and carried a small copper boiler, heated by a spirit-lamp, with a flue passing obliquely through it. the cylinder, of / in. diameter and in. stroke, was fixed in the top of the boiler, the piston-rod being connected with the vibrating beam attached to the connecting-rod which worked the crank of the driving-wheel. this little engine worked by the expansive force of the steam only, which was discharged into the atmosphere after it had done its work of alternately raising and depressing the piston in the cylinder. [illustration: section of murdock's model.] mr. murdock's son informed the author that this model was invented and constructed in , but, from the correspondence of boulton and watt, we infer that it was not ready for trial until . the first experiment with it was made in murdock's own house at redruth, when it successfully hauled a model wagon round the room--the single wheel placed in front of the engine, and working in a swivel frame, enabling it to run round in a circle. another experiment was made out of doors, on which occasion, small though the engine was, it fairly outran the speed of its inventor. it seems that one night, after returning from his duties at the redruth mine, murdock determined to try the working of his model locomotive. for this purpose he had recourse to the walk leading to the church, about a mile from the town. it was rather narrow, and was bounded on each side by high hedges. the night was dark, and murdock set out alone to try his experiment. having lit his lamp, the water soon boiled, when off started the engine, with the inventor after it. shortly after he heard distant shouts of terror. it was too dark to perceive objects; but he found, on following up the machine, that the cries proceeded from the worthy pastor of the parish, who, going toward the town, was met on this lonely road by the hissing and fiery little monster, which he subsequently declared he had taken to be the evil one in _propria persona_! watt was by no means pleased when he learned that murdock was giving his mind to these experiments. he feared that it might have the effect of withdrawing him from the employment of the firm, to which his services had become almost indispensable; for there was no more active, skillful, or ingenious workman in all their concern. watt accordingly wrote to boulton, recommending him to advise murdock to give up his locomotive-engine scheme; but, if he could not succeed in that, then, rather than lose murdock's services, watt proposed that he should be allowed an advance of £ to enable him to prosecute his experiments, and if he succeeded within a year in making an engine capable of drawing a post-chaise carrying two passengers and the driver at four miles an hour, it was suggested that he should be taken as partner into the locomotive business, for which boulton and watt were to provide the necessary capital. two years later (in september, ) we find watt again expressing his regret to boulton that murdock was "busying himself with the steam-carriage." "i have still," said he, "the same opinion concerning it that i had, but to prevent as much as possible more fruitless argument about it, i have one of some size under hand, and am resolved to try if god will work a miracle in favor of these carriages. i shall in some future letter send you the words of my specification on that subject. in the mean time i wish william could be brought to do as we do, to mind the business in hand, and let such as symington and sadler throw away their time and money in hunting shadows." in a subsequent letter watt expressed his gratification at finding "that william applies to his business." from that time murdock as well as watt dropped all farther speculation on the subject, and left it to others to work out the problem of the locomotive engine. murdock's model remained but a curious toy, which he himself took pleasure in exhibiting to his intimate friends; and though he long continued to speculate about road locomotion, and was persuaded of its practicability, he refrained from embodying his ideas of it in any more complete working form. symington and sadler, "the hunters of shadows" referred to by watt, did little to advance the question. of sadler we know nothing beyond that in he was making experiments as to the application of steam-power to the driving of wheel-carriages. this came to the knowledge of boulton and watt, who gave him notice, on the th of july of the same year, that "the sole privilege of making steam-engines by the elastic force of steam acting on a piston, with or without condensation, had been granted to mr. watt by act of parliament, and also that among other improvements and applications of his principle he hath particularly specified the application of steam-engines for driving wheel carriages in a patent which he took out in the year ." they accordingly cautioned him against proceeding farther in the matter; and as we hear no more of sadler's steam-carriage, it is probable that the notice had its effect. the name of william symington is better known in connection with the history of steam locomotion by sea. he was born at leadhills, in scotland, in . his father was a practical mechanic, who superintended the engines and machinery of the mining company at wanlockhead, where one of boulton and watt's pumping-engines was at work. young symington was of an ingenious turn of mind from his boyhood, and at an early period he seems to have conceived the idea of employing the steam-engine to drive wheel-carriages. his father and he worked together, and by the year , when the son was only twenty-three years of age, they succeeded in completing a working model of a road locomotive. mr. meason, the manager of the mine, was so much pleased with the model, the merit of which principally belonged to young symington, that he sent him to edinburg for the purpose of exhibiting it before the scientific gentlemen of that city, in the hope that it might lead, in some way, to his future advancement in life. mr. meason also allowed the model to be exhibited at his own house there, and he invited many gentlemen of distinction to inspect it. [illustration: symington's model steam-carriage, .] the machine consisted of a carriage and locomotive behind, supported on four wheels. the boiler was cylindrical, communicating by a steam-pipe with the two horizontal cylinders, one on each side of the engine. when the piston was raised by the action of the steam, a vacuum was produced by the condensation of the steam in a cold-water tank placed underneath the engine, on which the piston was again forced back by the pressure of the atmosphere. the motion was communicated to the wheels by rack-rods connected with the piston-rod, which worked on each side of a drum fixed on the hind axle, the alternate action of which rods upon the tooth and ratchet wheels with which the drum was provided producing the rotary motion. it will thus be observed that symington's engine was partly atmospheric and partly condensing, the condensation being effected by a separate vessel and air-pump, as patented by watt; and though the arrangement was ingenious, it is clear that, had it ever been brought into use, the traction by means of such an engine would have been of the very slowest kind. but symington's engine was not destined to be applied to road locomotion. he was completely diverted from employing it for that purpose by his connection with mr. miller, of dalswinton, then engaged in experimenting on the application of mechanical power to the driving of his double paddle-boat. the power of men was first tried, but the labor was found too severe; and when mr. miller went to see symington's model, and informed the inventor of his difficulty in obtaining a regular and effective power for driving his boat, symington--his mind naturally full of his own invention--at once suggested his steam-engine for the purpose. the suggestion was adopted, and mr. miller authorized him to proceed with the construction of a steam-engine to be fitted into his double pleasure boat on dalswinton lock, where it was tried in october, . this was followed by farther experiments, which eventually led to the construction of the _charlotte dundas_ in , which may be regarded as the first practical steam-boat ever built. symington took out letters patent in the same year, securing the invention, or rather the novel combination of inventions, embodied in his steam-boat, but he never succeeded in getting it introduced into practical use. from the date of completing his invention, fortune seemed to run steadily against him. the duke of bridgewater, who had ordered a number of symington's steam-boats for his canal, died, and his executors countermanded the order. symington failed in inducing any other canal company to make trial of his invention. lord dundas also took the _charlotte dundas_ off the forth and clyde canal, where she had been at work, and from that time the vessel was never more tried. symington had no capital of his own to work upon, and he seems to have been unable to make friends among capitalists. the rest of his life was for the most part thrown away. toward the close of it his principal haunt was london, amid whose vast population he was one of the many waifs and strays. he succeeded in obtaining a grant of £ from the privy purse in , and afterward an annuity of £ , but he did not live long to enjoy it, for he died in march, , and was buried in the church-yard of st. botolph, aldgate, where there is not even a stone to mark the grave of the inventor of the first practicable steam-boat. [illustration: oliver evans's model locomotive.] while the inventive minds of england were thus occupied, those of america were not idle. the idea of applying steam-power to the propulsion of carriages on land is said to have occurred to john fitch in ; but he did not pursue the idea "for more than a week," being diverted from it by his scheme of applying the same power to the propulsion of vessels on the water.[ ] about the same time, oliver evans, a native of newport, delaware, was occupied with a project for driving steam-carriages on common roads; and in the legislature of maryland granted him the exclusive right for that state. several years, however, passed before he could raise the means for erecting a model carriage, most of his friends regarding the project as altogether chimerical and impracticable. in or , evans began a steam-carriage at his own expense; but he had not proceeded far with it when he altered his intention, and applied the engine intended for the driving of a carriage to the driving of a small grinding-mill, in which it was found efficient. in he constructed at philadelphia a second engine of five-horse power, working on the high-pressure principle, which was placed on a large flat or scow, mounted upon wheels. "this," says his biographer, "was considered a fine opportunity to show the public that his engine could propel both land and water conveyances. when the machine was finished, evans fixed under it, in a rough and temporary manner, wheels with wooden axle-trees. although the whole weight was equal to two hundred barrels of flour, yet his small engine propelled it up market street, and round the circle to the water-works, where it was launched into the schuylkill. a paddle-wheel was then applied to its stern, and it thus sailed down that river to the delaware, a distance of sixteen miles, in the presence of thousands of spectators."[ ] it does not, however, appear that any farther trial was made of this engine as a locomotive; and, having been dismounted and applied to the driving of a small grinding-mill, its employment as a traveling engine was shortly forgotten. footnotes: [ ] "portfeuille du conservatoire des arts et métiers," livraison , p. . [ ] this statement is made in "the life of john fitch," by thompson westcott, philadelphia, . mr. thompson there states that the idea of employing a steam-engine to propel carriages on land occurred to john fitch at a time when, he avers, "he was altogether ignorant that a steam-engine had ever been invented!" (p. ). such a statement is calculated to damage the credibility of the entire book, in which the invention of the steam-boat, as well as of the screw propeller, is unhesitatingly claimed for john fitch. [ ] horne's "memoirs of the most eminent american mechanics," new york, , p. . chapter iii. the cornish locomotive--memoir of richard trevithick. while the discussion of steam-power as a means of locomotion was proceeding in england, other projectors were advocating the extension of wagon-ways and railroads. mr. thomas, of denton, near newcastle-on-tyne, read a paper before the philosophical society of that town in , in which he urged the laying down of railways throughout the country, on the principle of the coal wagon-ways, for the general carriage of goods and merchandise; and dr. james anderson, of edinburg, about the same time published his "recreations of agriculture," wherein he recommended that railways should be laid along the principal turnpike-roads, and worked by horse-power, which, he alleged, would have the effect of greatly reducing the cost of transport, and thereby stimulating all branches of industry. railways were indeed already becoming adopted in places where the haulage of heavy loads was for short distances; and in some cases lines were laid down of considerable length. one of the first of such lines constructed under the powers of an act of parliament was the cardiff and merthyr railway or tram-road, about twenty-seven miles in length, for the accommodation of the iron-works of plymouth, pen-y-darran, and dowlais, all in south wales, the necessary act for which was obtained in . another, the sirhoway railroad, about twenty-eight miles in length, was constructed under the powers of an act obtained in ; it accommodated the tredegar and sirhoway iron-works and the trevill lime-works, as well as the collieries along its route. in the immediate neighborhood of london there was another very early railroad, the wandsworth and croydon tram-way, about ten miles long, which was afterward extended southward to merstham, in surrey, for about eight miles more, making a total length of nearly eighteen miles. the first act for the purpose of authorizing the construction of this road was obtained in . all these lines were, however, worked by horses, and in the case of the croydon and merstham line, donkeys shared in the work, which consisted chiefly in the haulage of stone, coal, and lime. no proposal had yet been made to apply the power of steam as a substitute for horses on railways, nor were the rails then laid down of a strength sufficient to bear more than a loaded wagon of the weight of three tons, or, at the very outside, of three and a quarter tons. it was, however, observed from the first that there was an immense saving in the cost of haulage; and on the day of opening the southern portion of the merstham railroad in , a train of twelve wagons laden with stone, weighing in all thirty-eight tons, was drawn six miles in an hour by one horse, with apparent ease, down an incline of in ; and this was bruited about as an extraordinary feat, highly illustrative of the important uses of the new iron-ways. about the same time, the subject of road locomotion was again brought into prominent notice by an important practical experiment conducted in a remote corner of the kingdom. the experimenter was a young man, then obscure, but afterward famous, who may be fairly regarded as the inventor of the railway locomotive, if any single individual be entitled to that appellation. this was richard trevithick, a person of extraordinary mechanical skill but of marvelous ill fortune, who, though the inventor of many ingenious contrivances, and the founder of the fortunes of many, himself died in cold obstruction and in extreme poverty, leaving behind him nothing but his great inventions and the recollection of his genius. richard trevithick was born on the th of april, , in the parish of illogan, a few miles west of redruth, in cornwall. in the immediate neighborhood rises castle-carn-brea, a rocky eminence, supposed by borlase to have been the principal seat of druidic worship in the west of england. the hill commands an extraordinary view over one of the richest mining fields of cornwall, from chacewater and redruth to camborne. trevithick's father acted as purser at several of the mines. though a man in good position and circumstances, he does not seem to have taken much pains with his son's education. being an only child, he was very much indulged--among other things, in his dislike for the restraints and discipline of school; and he was left to wander about among the mines, spending his time in the engine-rooms, picking up information about pumping-engines and mining machinery. his father, observing the boy's strong bent toward mechanics, placed him for a time as pupil with william murdock, while the latter lived at redruth superintending the working and repairs of boulton and watt's pumping-engines in that neighborhood. during his pupilage, young trevithick doubtless learned much from that able mechanic. it is probable that he got his first idea of the high-pressure road locomotive which he afterward constructed from murdock's ingenious little model above described, the construction and action of which must have been quite familiar to him, for no secret was ever made of it, and its performances were often exhibited. many new pumping-engines being in course of erection in the neighborhood about that time, there was an unusual demand for engineers, which it was found difficult to supply; and young trevithick, whose skill was acknowledged, had no difficulty in getting an appointment. the father was astonished at his boy's presumption (as he supposed it to be) in undertaking such a responsibility, and he begged the mine agents to reconsider their decision. but the result showed that they were justified in making the appointment; for young trevithick, though he had not yet attained his majority, proved fully competent to perform the duties devolving upon him as engineer. so long as boulton and watt's patent continued to run, constant attempts were made in cornwall and elsewhere to upset it. their engines had cleared the mines of water, and thereby rescued the mine lords from ruin, but it was felt to be a great hardship that they should have to pay for the right to use them. they accordingly stimulated the ingenuity of the local engineers to contrive an engine that should answer the same purpose, and enable them to evade making any farther payments to boulton and watt. the first to produce an engine that seemed likely to answer the purpose was jonathan hornblower, who had been employed in erecting watt's engines in cornwall. after him one edward bull, who had been first a stoker and then an assistant-tender of watt's engines, turned out another pumping-engine, which promised to prove an equally safe evasion of the existing patent. but boulton and watt having taken the necessary steps to defend their right, several actions were tried, in which they proved successful, and then the mine lords were compelled to disgorge. when they found that hornblower could be of no farther use to them, they abandoned him--threw him away like a sucked orange; and shortly after we find him a prisoner for debt in the king's bench, almost in a state of starvation. nor do we hear any thing more of edward bull after the issue of the boulton and watt trial. like the other cornish engineers, young trevithick took an active part from the first in opposing the birmingham patent, and he is said to have constructed several engines, with the assistance of william bull (formerly an erector of watt's machines), with the object of evading it. these engines are said to have been highly creditable to their makers, working to the entire satisfaction of the mine-owners. the issue of the watt trial, however, which declared all such engines to be piracies, brought to an end for a time a business which would otherwise have proved a very profitable one, and trevithick's partnership with bull then came to an end. while carrying on his business, trevithick had frequent occasion to visit mr. harvey's iron foundery at hayle, then a small work, but now one of the largest in the west of england, the cornish pumping-engines turned out by harvey and co. being the very best of their kind. during these visits trevithick became acquainted with the various members of mr. harvey's family, and in course of time he contracted an engagement with one of his daughters, miss jane harvey, to whom he was married in november, . a few years later we find trevithick engaged in partnership with his cousin, andrew vivian, also an engineer. they carried on their business of engine-making at camborne, a mining town situated in the midst of the mining district, a few miles south of redruth. watt's patent-right expired in , and from that time the cornish engineers were free to make engines after their own methods. trevithick was not content to follow in the beaten paths, but, being of a highly speculative turn, he occupied himself in contriving various new methods of employing steam with the object of economizing fuel and increasing the effective power of the engine. from an early period he entertained the idea of making the expansive force of steam act directly on both sides of the piston on the high-pressure principle, and thus getting rid of the process of condensation as in watt's engines. although cugnot had employed high-pressure steam in his road locomotive, and murdock in his model, and although watt had distinctly specified the action of steam at high-pressure as well as low in his patents of , , and , the idea was not embodied in any practicable working engine until the subject was taken in hand by trevithick. the results of his long and careful study were embodied in the patent which he took out in , in his own and vivian's name, for an improved steam-engine, and "the application thereof for driving carriages and for other purposes." the arrangement of trevithick's engine was exceedingly ingenious. it exhibited a beautiful simplicity of parts; the machinery was arranged in a highly effective form, uniting strength with solidity and portability, and enabling the power of steam to be employed with very great rapidity, economy, and force. watt's principal objection to using high-pressure steam consisted in the danger to which the boiler was exposed of being burst by internal pressure. in trevithick's engine, this was avoided by using a cylindrical wrought-iron boiler, being the form capable of presenting the greatest resistance to the expansive force of steam. boilers of this kind were not, however, new. oliver evans, of delaware, had made use of them in his high-pressure engines prior to the date of trevithick's patent; and, as evans did not claim the cylindrical boiler, it is probable that the invention was in use before his time. nevertheless, trevithick had the merit of introducing the round boilers into cornwall, where they are still known as "trevithick boilers." the saving in fuel effected by their use was such that in the messrs. williams, of scorrier, made trevithick a present of £ , in acknowledgment of the benefits arising to their mines from that source alone. trevithick's steam-carriage was the most compact and handsome vehicle of the kind that had yet been invented, and, indeed, as regards arrangement, it has scarcely to this day been surpassed. it consisted of a carriage capable of accommodating some half-dozen passengers, underneath which was the engine and machinery inclosed, about the size of an orchestra drum, the whole being supported on four wheels--two in front, by which it was guided, and two behind, by which it was driven. the engine had but one cylinder. the piston-rod outside the cylinder was double, and drove a cross-piece, working in guides, on the opposite side of the cranked axle to the cylinder, the crank of the axle revolving between the double parts of the piston-rod. toothed wheels were attached to this axle, which worked into other toothed wheels fixed on the axle of the driving-wheels. the steam-cocks were opened and shut by a connection with the crank-axle; and the force-pump, with which the boiler was supplied with water, was also worked from it, as were the bellows to blow the fire and thereby keep up the combustion in the furnace. the specification clearly alludes to the use of the engine on railroads as follows: "it is also to be noticed that we do occasionally, or in certain cases, make the external periphery of the wheels uneven by projecting heads of nails or bolts, or cross grooves or fittings to railroads where required, and that in cases of hard pull we cause a lever, belt, or claw to project through the rim of one or both of the said wheels, so as to take hold of the ground, but that, in general, the ordinary structure or figure of the external surface of those wheels will be found to answer the intended purpose." the specification also shows the application of the high-pressure engine on the same principle to the driving of a sugar-mill, or for other purposes where a fixed power is required, dispensing with condenser, cistern, air-pump, and cold-water pump. in the year , a small engine of this kind was erected after trevithick's plan at marazion, which worked by steam of at least lbs. on the inch above atmospheric pressure, and gave much satisfaction. the first experimental steam-carriage was constructed by trevithick and vivian in their workshops at camborne in , and was tried by them on the public road adjoining the town, as well as in the street of the town itself. john petherick, a native of camborne, who was alive in , stated in a letter to mr. edward williams that he well remembered seeing the engine, worked by mr. trevithick himself, come through the place, to the great wonder of the inhabitants. he says, "the experiment was satisfactory only as long as the steam pressure could be kept up. during that continuance trevithick called upon the people to 'jump up,' so as to create a load on the engine; and it soon became covered with men, which did not seem to make any difference to the power or speed so long as the steam was kept up. this was sought to be done by the application of a cylindrical horizontal bellows worked by the engine itself; but the attempt to keep up the power of the steam for any considerable time proved a failure." trevithick, however, made several alterations in the engine which had the effect of improving it, and its success was such that he determined to take it to london and exhibit it there as the most recent novelty in steam mechanism. it was successfully run by road from camborne to plymouth, a distance of about ninety miles. at plymouth it was shipped for london, where it shortly after arrived in safety, and excited considerable curiosity. it was run on the waste ground in the vicinity of the present bethlehem hospital, as well as on lord's cricket-ground. there sir humphry davy, mr. davies gilbert, and other scientific gentlemen inspected the machine and rode upon it. several of them took the steering of the carriage by turns, and they expressed their satisfaction with the mechanism by which it was directed. sir humphry, writing to a friend in cornwall, said, "i shall soon hope to hear that the roads of england are the haunts of captain trevithick's dragons--a characteristic name." after the experiment at lord's, the carriage was run along the new-road, and down gray's-inn lane, to the premises of a carriage-builder in long acre. to show the adaptability of the engine for fixed uses, trevithick had it taken from the carriage on the day after this trial and removed to the shop of a cutler, where he applied it with success to the driving of the machinery. the steam-carriage shortly became the talk of the town, and the public curiosity being on the increase, trevithick resolved on inclosing a piece of ground on the site of the present euston station of the london and northwestern railway, and admitting persons to see the exhibition of his engine at so much a head. he had a tram-road laid down in an elliptical form within the inclosure, and the carriage was run round it on the rails in the sight of a great number of spectators. on the second day another crowd collected to see the exhibition, but, for what reason is not known, although it is said to have been through one of trevithick's freaks of temper, the place was closed and the engine removed. it is, however, not improbable that the inventor had come to the conclusion that the state of the roads at that time was such as to preclude its coming into general use for purposes of ordinary traffic. while the steam-carriage was being exhibited, a gentleman was laying heavy wagers as to the weight which could be hauled by a single horse on the wandsworth and croydon iron tram-way; and the number and weight of wagons drawn by the horse were something surprising. trevithick very probably put the two things together--the steam-horse and the iron-way--and kept the performance in mind when he proceeded to construct his second or railway locomotive. in the mean time, having dismantled his steam-carriage, sent back the phaeton to the coach-builder to whom it belonged, and sold the little engine which had worked the machine, he returned to camborne to carry on his business. in the course of the year he went to pen-y-darran, in south wales, to erect a forge engine for the iron-works there; and, when it was finished, he began the erection of a railway locomotive--the first ever constructed. there were already, as above stated, several lines of rail laid down in the district for the accommodation of the coal and iron works. that between merthyr tydvil and cardiff was the longest and most important, and it had been at work for some years. it had probably occurred to trevithick that here was a fine opportunity for putting to practical test the powers of the locomotive, and he proceeded to construct one accordingly in the workshops at pen-y-darran. this first railway locomotive was finished and tried upon the merthyr tram-road on the st of february, . it had a cylindrical wrought-iron boiler with flat ends. the furnace and flue were inside the boiler, the flue returning, having its exit at the same end at which it entered, so as to increase the heating surface. the cylinder, - / in. in diameter, was placed horizontally in the end of the boiler, and the waste steam was thrown into the stack. the wheels were worked in the same manner as in the carriage engine already described; and a fly-wheel was added on one side, to secure a continuous rotary motion at the end of each stroke of the piston. the pressure of the steam was about lbs. on the inch. the engine ran upon four wheels, coupled by cog-wheels, and those who remember the engine say that the four wheels were smooth. [illustration: trevithick's high-pressure tram-engine.] on the first trial, this engine drew for a distance of nine miles ten tons of bar iron, together with the necessary carriages, water, and fuel, at the rate of five and a half miles an hour. rees jones, an old engine-fitter, who helped to erect the engine, and was alive in , gave mr. menelaus the following account of its performances: "when the engine was finished, she was used for bringing down metal from the old forge. she worked very well; but frequently, from her weight, broke the tram-plates, and also the hooks between the trams. after working for some time in this way, she took a journey of iron from pen-y-darran down the basin road, upon which road she was intended to work. on the journey she broke a great many of the tram-plates; and, before reaching the basin, she ran off the road, and was brought back to pen-y-darran by horses. the engine was never used as a locomotive after this; but she was used as a stationary engine, and worked in this way for several years." so far as the locomotive was concerned it was a remarkable success. the defect lay not in the engine so much as in the road. this was formed of plate-rails of cast iron, with a guiding flange upon the rail instead of on the engine wheels, as in the modern locomotive. the rails were also of a very weak form, considering the quantity of iron in them; and, though they were sufficient to bear the loaded wagons mounted upon small wheels, as ordinarily drawn along them by horses, they were found quite insufficient to bear the weight of trevithick's engine. to relay the road of sufficient strength would have involved a heavy outlay, which the owners were unwilling to incur, not yet perceiving the advantage, in an economical point of view, of employing engine in lieu of horse power. the locomotive was accordingly taken off the road, and the experiment, successful though it had been, was brought to an end. trevithick had, however, by means of his pen-y-darran engine, in a great measure solved the problem of steam locomotion on railways. he had produced a compact engine, working on the high-pressure principle, capable of carrying fuel and water sufficient for a journey of considerable length, and of drawing loaded wagons at five and a half miles an hour. he had shown by his smooth-wheeled locomotive that the weight of the engine had given sufficient adhesion for the haulage of the load. he had discharged the steam into the chimney, though not for the purpose of increasing the draught, as he employed bellows for that purpose. it appears, however, that trevithick's friend, mr. davies gilbert, afterward president of the royal society, especially noticed the effect of discharging the waste steam into the chimney of the pen-y-darran engine. he observed that when the engine moved, at each puff the fire brightened, while scarcely any visible steam or smoke came from the chimney. mr. gilbert published the result of his observations in "nicholson's journal" for september, , and the attention of mr. nicholson, the editor, having thereby been called to the subject, he proceeded to make a series of experiments, the result of which was that in he took out a patent for a steam-blasting apparatus, by which he proposed to apply high-pressure steam to force along currents of air for various useful purposes, including the urging of furnace and other fires. it is thus obvious that the principle of the blast-pipe was known to both gilbert and nicholson at this early period; but it is somewhat remarkable that trevithick himself should have remained skeptical as to its use, for as late as we find him taking out a patent, in which, among other improvements, he included a method of urging his fire by fanners, similar to a winnowing machine. in the mean time trevithick occupied himself in carrying on the various business of a general engineer, and was ready to embark in any enterprise likely to give scope for his inventive skill. in whatever work he was employed, he was sure to introduce new methods and arrangements, if not new inventions. he was full of speculative enthusiasm, a great theorist, and yet an indefatigable experimenter. at the beginning of --the year after the locomotive had been taken off the merthyr tydvil tram-road--he made arrangements for entering into a contract for ballasting all the shipping in the thames. at the end of a letter written by him on the th of february in that year to davies gilbert, respecting a _puffer_ engine, he said, "i am about to enter into a contract with the trinity board for lifting up ballast out of the bottom of the thames for all the shipping. the first quantity stated was , tons a year, but now they state , tons. i am to do nothing but wind up the chain for _d._ per ton, which is now done by men. they never lift it above twenty-five feet high--a man will now get up ten tons for _s._ my engine at dalcoath has lifted about tons that height with one bushel of coals. i have two engines already finished for the purpose, and shall be in town in about fifteen days for to set them to work. they propose to engage with me for twenty-one years."[ ] the contract was not, however, entered into. trevithick quarreled with the capitalists who had found the money for the trials, and the "blazer" and "plymouth," the vessels in which his engines and machinery had been fitted, fell into other hands. trevithick, nevertheless, seems to have been on the highway to fortune, for, at the beginning of , he had received orders for nine engines in one month, all for cornwall; and he expected orders for four others. he had also in view the construction of a railway; but nothing came of this project. more hopeful still, as regarded immediate returns, was the cornish engine business, which presented a very wide field. now that the trade had been thrown open by the expiry of boulton and watt's patent, competition had sprung up, and many new makers and inventors of engines were ready to supply the demand. among the most prominent of these were trevithick and woolf. trevithick was the most original and speculative, woolf the most plodding and practical, and the most successful. trevithick's ingenuity exhibited itself in his schemes for working boulton and watt's pumping-engine by high-pressure steam, by means of his cylindrical wrought-iron boiler. he proposed to expand the steam down to low pressure previous to condensation, thereby anticipating by many years the cornish engine now in use. the suggestion was not, however, then acted on, and he fell back on his original design of a simple non-condensing high-pressure engine. one of these was erected at dalcoath mine to draw the ores there. it was called "the puffer" by the mining people, from its puffing the steam direct into the air; but its performances did not compare favorably with those of the ordinary condensing engines of boulton and watt, and the engine did not come into general use. trevithick was not satisfied to carry on a prosperous engine business in cornwall. camborne was too small for him, and the cornish mining districts presented too limited a field for his ambitious spirit. so he came to london, the patent-office drawing him as the loadstone does the needle. in he took out two patents, one for "certain machinery for towing, driving, or forcing and discharging ships and other vessels of their cargoes," and the other for "a new method of stowing cargoes of ships." in he took out another patent for constructing docks, ships, etc., and propelling vessels. in these patents, trevithick was associated with one robert dickinson, of great queen street, but his name stands first in the specification, wherein he describes himself as "of rotherhithe, in the county of surrey, engineer." by the first of these patents he proposed to tow vessels by means of a rowing wheel shaped like an undershot water-wheel furnished with floats placed vertically in a box, and worked by a steam-engine, which he also proposed to employ in the loading and unloading of the vessel, but it is not known that the plan was ever introduced into practical use. the patent of included a floating dock or caisson made of wrought-iron plates, in which a ship might be docked while afloat, and, after the water had been pumped out of the caisson, repaired without moving her stores, masts, or furniture. this invention has since been carried out in practice by the messrs. rennie in the floating iron dock which they have recently constructed for the spanish government. another invention included in the specification was the construction of merchant and war ships of wrought-iron plates strongly riveted together, with their decks supported by wrought-iron beams, and the masts, bowsprits, and booms also of tubular wrought iron, thereby anticipating by many years the form and structure of vessels now in common use. while trevithick lived at rotherhithe, he entered upon a remarkable enterprise--no less than the construction of a tunnel under the thames--a work which was carried out with so much difficulty by sir isambard brunel some twenty years later. several schemes had been proposed at different times for connecting the two banks of the river by an underground communication. as early as , ralph dodd suggested a tunnel under the thames between gravesend and tilbury, and in mr. vazie projected a tunnel from rotherhithe to limehouse. a company was formed to carry out the latter scheme, and a shaft was sunk, at considerable expense, to a depth of feet below high water. the works were from time to time suspended, and it was not until the year , when trevithick was appointed engineer of the work, that arrangements were made for proceeding with the driftway under the bed of the thames. after about five months' working, the drift was driven for a length of feet, when the roof gave way and the water burst in. the opening was, however, plugged by clay in bags thrown into the river, and the work proceeded until feet had been accomplished. then the water burst in again, and the process of plugging and pumping the water out of the drift was repeated. after seventy more feet had been added to the excavation, there was another irruption, which completely flooded the driftway, and the water rose nearly to the top of the shaft. this difficulty was, however, again overcome, and with great danger twenty more feet were accomplished; but the bursts of water became so frequent and unmanageable that at length the face of the drift was timbered up and the work abandoned. trevithick, who had been promised a reward of £ if the tunnel succeeded, thus lost both his labor and his reward. the only remuneration he received from the company was a hundred guineas, which were paid to him according to agreement, provided he carried the excavation to the extent of yards, which he did. trevithick returned to camborne in , where we find him busily occupied with new projects, and introducing his new engine worked by water-power, the first of which was put up at the druid mine, as well as in perfecting his high-pressure engine and its working by expansion. one of the first of such engines was erected at the huel prosper mine, of which he was engineer; and this, as well as others subsequently constructed on the same principle, proved quite successful. in trevithick took out a farther patent, embodying several important applications of steam-power. one of these consisted in "causing steam of a high pressure to spout out against the atmosphere, and by its recoiling force to produce motion in a direction contrary to the issuing steam, similar to the motion produced in a rocket, or to the recoil of a gun." this was, however, but a revival of the ancient oeolipile described by hero, and known as "hero's engine." in another part of his specification trevithick described the screw-propeller as "a screw or a number of leaves placed obliquely round an axis similar to the vanes of a smoke-jack, which shall be made to revolve with great speed in a line with the required motion of the ship, or parallel to the same line of motion." in a second part of the specification, he described a plunger or pole-engine in which the steam worked at high-pressure. the first engine of this kind was erected by trevithick at herland in , but the result was not equal to his expectations, though the principle was afterward successfully applied by mr. william sims, who purchased the patent-right. in this specification trevithick also described a tubular boiler of a new construction for the purpose of more rapidly producing high-pressure steam, the heating surface being extended by constructing the boiler of a number of small perpendicular tubes, closed at the bottom, but all opening at the top into a common reservoir, from whence they received their water, and into which the steam of all the tubes was united. while trevithick was engaged in these ingenious projects, an event occurred which, though it promised to issue in the most splendid results, proved the greatest misfortune of his life. we refer to his adventures in connection with the gold mines of peru. many of the richest of them had been drowned out, the pumping machinery of the country being incapable of clearing them of water. the districts in which they were situated were almost inaccessible to ordinary traffic, all transport being conducted on the backs of men or of mules. the parts of an ordinary condensing engine were too ponderous to be carried up these mountain heights, and it was evident that, unless some lighter sort of engine could be employed, the mines in question must be abandoned. mr. uvillé, a swiss gentleman interested in south american mining, came over from peru to england in for the purpose of making inquiries about such an engine, but he received no encouragement. he was about to return to lima, in despair of accomplishing his object, when, one day, accidentally passing a shop-window in fitzroy square, he caught sight of an engine exposed for sale which immediately attracted his attention. it was the engine constructed by trevithick for his first locomotive, which he had sold some years before, on the sudden abandonment of the exhibition of its performances in london. mr. uvillé was so much pleased with its construction and mode of action that he at once purchased it and took it out with him to south america. arrived there, he had the engine transported across the mountains to the rich mining district of pasco, about a hundred miles north of lima, to try its effects on the highest mountain ridges. the experiment was so satisfactory that an association of influential gentlemen was immediately formed to introduce the engine on a large scale, and enter into contracts with the mine-owners for clearing their shafts of the water which drowned them. the viceroy of peru approved the plan, and the association dispatched mr. uvillé to england to purchase the requisite engines. he took ship for falmouth about the end of for the purpose of finding out trevithick. he only knew of trevithick by name, and that he lived in cornwall, but nothing farther. being full of his subject, however, he could not refrain from conversing on the subject with the passengers on board the ship by which he sailed, and it so happened that one of them--a mr. teague--was a relative of trevithick, who promised, shortly after their landing, to introduce him to the inventor. mr. teague was as good as his word, and in the course of a few days uvillé was enabled to discuss the scheme with trevithick at his own house at camborne, where he still resided. the result was an order for a number of high-pressure pumping-engines, which were put in hand at once; and on the st of september, , nine of them were shipped at portsmouth for lima, accompanied by uvillé and three cornish engineers, one of whom was william bull, of chasewater, trevithick's first partner. the engines reached lima in safety, and were welcomed by a royal salute and with public rejoicings. such, however, was the difficulty of transporting the materials across the mountains, that it was not until the middle of the year that the first engine was erected and set to work to pump out the santa rosa mine, in the royal mineral territory of yaüricocha. the association of gentlemen to whom the engines belonged had entered into a contract to drain this among other mines, on condition of sharing in the gross produce of the ores to the extent of about per cent. of the whole amount raised. the result of the first working of the engine was so satisfactory that the projectors were filled with no less astonishment than delight, and they characterized the undertaking as one from which they "anticipated a torrent of silver that would fill surrounding nations with astonishment." in the mean time trevithick was proceeding at home with the manufacture of the remaining engines, as well as new coining apparatus for the peruvian mint, and furnaces for purifying silver ore by fusion; and with these engines and apparatus he set sail for america in october, , reaching lima in safety in the following february. he was received with almost royal honors. the government "gazette" officially announced "the arrival of don ricardo trevithick, an eminent professor of mechanics, machinery, and mineralogy, inventor and constructor of the engines of the last patent, and who directed in england the execution of the machinery now at work in pasco." the lord warden was ordered by the viceroy to escort trevithick to the mines accompanied by a guard of honor. the news of his expected arrival there occasioned great rejoicings, and the chief men of the district came down the mountains to meet and welcome him. uvillé wrote to his associates that trevithick had been sent out "by heaven for the prosperity of the mines, and that the lord warden proposed to erect his statue in solid silver." trevithick himself wrote home to his friends in cornwall that he had before him the prospect of almost boundless wealth, having, in addition to his emoluments as patentee, obtained a fifth share in the lima company, which, he expected, on a moderate computation, would yield him about £ , a year! but these brilliant prospects were suddenly blasted by the peruvian revolution which broke out in the following year. while mr. boaze was reading his paper[ ] before the royal geological society of cornwall, in which these anticipations of trevithick's fame and fortune were so glowingly described, lord cochrane was on his way to south america to take the command of the chilian fleet in its attack of the ports of peru, still in the possession of the spaniards. toward the end of , lord cochrane hoisted his flag, and shortly after proceeded to assail the spanish fleet in callao harbor. this proved the signal for a general insurrection, during the continuance of which the commercial and industrial affairs of the province were completely paralyzed. the pumping-engines of trevithick were now of comparatively little use in pumping water out of mines in which the miners would no longer work. although lima was abandoned by the spaniards toward the end of , the civil war continued to rage for several years longer, until at length the independence of peru was achieved; but it was long before the population were content to settle down as before, and follow the ordinary pursuits of industry and commerce. the result to trevithick was, that he and his partners in the mining company were consigned to ruin. it has been said that the engineer joined the patriotic party, and invented for lord cochrane an ingenious gun-carriage centred and equally balanced on pivots, and easily worked by machinery; but of this no mention is made by lord cochrane in his "memoirs." the patriots kept trevithick on the mountains as a sort of patron and protector of their interests; but for this very reason he became proportionately obnoxious to the royalists, who, looking upon him as the agent through whom the patriotic party obtained the sinews of war, destroyed his engines, and broke up his machinery wherever they could. at length he determined to escape from peru, and fled northward across the mountains, accompanied by a single friend, making for the isthmus of panamá. in the course of this long, toilsome, and dangerous journey, he encountered great privations; he slept in the forest at night, traveled on foot by day, and crossed the streams by swimming. at length, his clothes torn, worn, and hanging almost in shreds, and his baggage all lost, he succeeded in reaching the port of cartagena, on the gulf of darien, almost destitute. here he encountered robert stephenson, who was waiting at the one inn of the place until a ship was ready to set sail for england. stephenson had finished his engagement with the colombian mining company for which he had been working, and was eager to return home. when trevithick entered the room in which he was sitting, stephenson at once saw that he was an englishman. he stood some six feet in height, and, though well proportioned when in ordinary health, he was now gaunt and hollow, the picture of privation and misery. stephenson made up to the stranger, and was not a little surprised to find that he was no other than the famous engineer, trevithick, the builder of the first patent locomotive, and who, when he last heard of him, was accumulating so gigantic a fortune in peru. though now penniless, trevithick was as full of speculation as ever, and related to stephenson that he was on his way home for the purpose of organizing another gold-mining company, which should make the fortunes of all who took part in it. he was, however, in the mean time, unable to pay for his passage, and stephenson lent him the requisite money for the purpose of reaching his home in cornwall. as there was no vessel likely to sail for england for some time, stephenson and trevithick took the first ship bound for new york. after a stormy passage, full of adventure and peril, the vessel was driven on a lee-shore, and the passengers and crew barely escaped with their lives. on reaching new york, trevithick immediately set sail for england, and he landed safe at falmouth in october, , bringing back with him a pair of silver spurs, the only remnant which he had preserved of those "torrents of silver" which his engines were to raise from the mines of peru. immediately on his return home, trevithick memorialized the government for some remuneration adequate to the great benefit which the country had derived from his invention of the high-pressure steam-engine, and his introduction of the cylindrical boiler. the petition was prepared in december, , and was cheerfully signed by the leading mine-owners and engineers in cornwall; but there their efforts on his behalf ended. he took out two more patents--one in , for a new method of heating apartments, and another in , for improvements in the steam-engine, and the application of steam-power to navigation and locomotion; but neither of them seems to have proved of any service to him. his new improvement in the steam-engine was neither more nor less than the invention of an apparatus similar to that which has quite recently come into use for employing superheated steam as a means of working the engine more effectively and economically. the patent also included a method of propelling ships by ejecting water through a tube with great force and speed in a direction opposite to the course of the vessel, a method since reinvented in many forms, though not yet successfully introduced in practice. strange to say, though trevithick had been so intimately connected with the practical introduction of the locomotive, he seems to have taken but little interest in its introduction upon railways, but confined himself to advocating its employment on common roads as its most useful application.[ ] though in many things he was before his age, here he was unquestionably behind it. but trevithick was now an old man; his constitution was broken, and his energy worked out. younger men were in the field, less ingenious and speculative, but more practical and energetic; and in the blaze of their fame the cornish engineer was forgotten. during the last year of his life trevithick resided at dartford, in kent. he had induced the messrs. hall, the engineers of that place, to give him an opportunity of testing the value of his last invention--that of a vessel driven by the ejection of water through a tube--and he went there to superintend the construction of the necessary engine and apparatus. the vessel was duly fitted up, and several experiments were made with it in the adjoining creek, but it did not realize a speed of more than four miles an hour. trevithick, being of opinion that the engine-power was insufficient, proceeded to have a new engine constructed, to the boiler of which, within the furnace, numerous tubes were attached, round which the fire played. so much steam was raised by this arrangement that the piston "blew;" but still the result of the experiments was unsatisfactory. while laboring at these inventions, and planning new arrangements never to be carried out, the engineer was seized by the illness of which he died, on the d of april, , in the d year of his age. as trevithick was entirely without means at his death, besides being some sixty pounds in debt to the landlord of the bull inn, where he had been lodging for nearly a year, he would probably have been buried at the expense of the parish but for the messrs. hall and their workmen, who raised a sum sufficient to give the "great inventor" a decent burial; and they followed his remains to the grave in deptford church-yard, where he lies without a stone to mark his resting-place. * * * * * there can be no doubt as to the great mechanical ability of trevithick. he was a man of original and intuitive genius in invention. every mechanical arrangement which he undertook to study issued from his hands transformed and improved. but there he rested. he struck out many inventions, and left them to take care of themselves. his great failing was the want of perseverance. his mind was always full of projects; but his very genius led him astray in search of new things, while his imagination often outran his judgment. hence his life was but a series of beginnings. look at the extraordinary things that trevithick began. he made the first railway locomotive, and cast the invention aside, leaving it to others to take it up and prosecute it to a successful issue. he introduced, if he did not invent, the cylindrical boiler and the high-pressure engine, which increased so enormously the steam-power of the world; but he reaped the profits of neither. he invented an oscillating engine and a screw propeller; he took out a patent for using superheated steam, as well as for wrought-iron ships and wrought-iron floating docks; but he left it to others to introduce these several inventions. never was there such a series of splendid mechanical beginnings. he began a thames tunnel and abandoned it. he went to south america with the prospect of making a gigantic fortune, but he had scarcely begun to gather in his gold than he was forced to fly, and returned home destitute. this last event, however, was a misfortune which no efforts on his part could have prevented. but even when he had the best chances, trevithick threw them away. when he had brought his road locomotive to london to exhibit, and was beginning to excite the curiosity of the public respecting it, he suddenly closed the exhibition in a fit of caprice, removed the engine, and returned to cornwall in a tiff. the failure, also, of the railroad on which his locomotive traveled so provoked him that he at once abandoned the enterprise in disgust. there may have been some moral twist in the engineer's character, into which we do not seek to pry; but it seems clear that he was wanting in that resolute perseverance, that power of fighting an up-hill battle, without which no great enterprise can be conducted to a successful issue. in this respect the character of richard trevithick presents a remarkable contrast to that of george stephenson, who took up only one of the many projects which the other had cast aside, and by dint of application, industry, and perseverance, carried into effect one of the most remarkable but peaceful revolutions which has ever been accomplished in any age or country. we now proceed to describe the history of this revolution in connection with the life of george stephenson, and to trace the locomotive through its several stages of development until we find it recognized as one of the most vigorous and untiring workers in the entire world of industry. footnotes: [ ] weale's "papers on engineering," vol. i., "on the dredging machine," p. . [ ] paper read by henry boaze, esq., "on captain trevithick's adventures," at the anniversary meeting of september, .--"transactions of royal geological society of cornwall," vol. i., p. . [ ] on the th of august, , by which time the liverpool and manchester line was in full work, trevithick appeared as a witness before the select committee of the house of commons on the employment of steam-carriages on common roads. he said "he had been abroad a good many years, and had had nothing to do with steam-carriages until very lately. he had it now, however, in contemplation to do a great deal on common roads, and, with that view, had taken out a patent for an entirely new engine, the arrangements in which were calculated to obviate all the difficulties which had hitherto stood in the way of traveling on common roads." lives of george and robert stephenson. [illustration: newcastle-upon-tyne and the high-level bridge. [by r. p. leitch, after his original drawing.]] life of george stephenson, etc. chapter i. the newcastle coal-field--george stephenson's early years. in no quarter of england have greater changes been wrought by the successive advances made in the practical science of engineering than in the extensive colliery districts of the north, of which newcastle-upon-tyne is the centre and the capital. in ancient times the romans planted a colony at newcastle, throwing a bridge across the tyne near the site of the low-level bridge shown in the prefixed engraving, and erecting a strong fortification above it on the high ground now occupied by the central railway station. north and northwest lay a wild country, abounding in moors, mountains, and morasses, but occupied to a certain extent by fierce and barbarous tribes. to defend the young colony against their ravages, a strong wall was built by the romans, extending from wallsend on the north bank of the tyne, a few miles below newcastle, across the country to burgh-upon-sands on the solway firth. the remains of the wall are still to be traced in the less populous hill-districts of northumberland. in the neighborhood of newcastle they have been gradually effaced by the works of succeeding generations, though the "wallsend" coal consumed in our household fires still serves to remind us of the great roman work. after the withdrawal of the romans, northumbria became planted by immigrant saxons from north germany and norsemen from scandinavia, whose eorls or earls made newcastle their principal seat. then came the normans, from whose _new_ castle, built some eight hundred years since, the town derives its present name. the keep of this venerable structure, black with age and smoke, still stands entire at the northern end of the noble high-level bridge--the utilitarian work of modern times thus confronting the warlike relic of the older civilization. [illustration: map of newcastle district.] the nearness of newcastle to the scotch border was a great hinderance to its security and progress in the middle ages of english history. indeed, the district between it and berwick continued to be ravaged by moss-troopers long after the union of the crowns. the gentry lived in their strong peel castles; even the larger farm-houses were fortified; and blood-hounds were trained for the purpose of tracking the cattle-reavers to their retreats in the hills. the judges of assize rode from carlisle to newcastle guarded by an escort armed to the teeth. a tribute called "dagger and protection money" was annually paid by the sheriff of newcastle for the purpose of providing daggers and other weapons for the escort; and, though the need of such protection has long since ceased, the tribute continues to be paid in broad gold pieces of the time of charles the first. until about the middle of last century the roads across northumberland were little better than horse-tracks, and not many years since the primitive agricultural cart with solid wooden wheels was almost as common in the western parts of the county as it is in spain now. the track of the old roman road long continued to be the most practicable route between newcastle and carlisle, the traffic between the two towns having been carried on pack-horses until within a comparatively recent period. since that time great changes have taken place on the tyne. when wood for firing became scarce and dear, and the forests of the south of england were found inadequate to supply the increasing demand for fuel, attention was turned to the rich stores of coal lying underground in the neighborhood of newcastle and durham. it then became an article of increasing export, and "sea-coal" fires gradually superseded those of wood. hence an old writer describes newcastle as "the eye of the north, and the hearth that warmeth the south parts of this kingdom with fire." fuel became the staple product of the district, the quantity exported increasing from year to year, until the coal raised from these northern mines amounts to upward of sixteen millions of tons a year, of which not less than nine millions are annually conveyed away by sea. newcastle has in the mean time spread in all directions far beyond its ancient boundaries. from a walled mediæval town of monks and merchants, it has been converted into a busy centre of commerce and manufactures inhabited by nearly , people. it is no longer a border fortress--a "shield and defense against the invasions and frequent insults of the scots," as described in ancient charters--but a busy centre of peaceful industry, and the outlet for a vast amount of steam-power, which is exported in the form of coal to all parts of the world. newcastle is in many respects a town of singular and curious interest, especially in its older parts, which are full of crooked lanes and narrow streets, wynds, and chares, formed by tall, antique houses, rising tier above tier along the steep northern bank of the tyne, as the similarly precipitous streets of gateshead crowd the opposite shore. all over the coal region, which extends from the coquet to the tees, about fifty miles from north to south, the surface of the soil exhibits the signs of extensive underground workings. as you pass through the country at night, the earth looks as if it were bursting with fire at many points, the blaze of coke-ovens, iron-furnaces, and coal-heaps reddening the sky to such a distance that the horizon seems like a glowing belt of fire. among the upper-ground workmen employed at the coal-pits, the principal are the firemen, engine-men, and brakesmen, who fire and work the engines, and superintend the machinery by means of which the collieries are worked. previous to the introduction of the steam-engine, the usual machine employed for the purpose was what is called a "gin." the gin consists of a large drum placed horizontally, round which ropes attached to buckets and corves are wound, which are thus drawn up or sent down the shafts by a horse traveling in a circular track or "gin race." this method was employed for drawing up both coals and water, and it is still used for the same purpose in small collieries; but where the quantity of water to be raised is great, pumps worked by steam-power are called into requisition. newcomen's atmospheric engine was first made use of to work the pumps, and it continued to be so employed long after the more powerful and economical condensing engine of watt had been invented. in the newcomen or "fire-engine," as it was called, the power is produced by the pressure of the atmosphere forcing down the piston in the cylinder, on a vacuum being produced within it by condensation of the contained steam by means of cold-water injection. the piston-rod is attached to one end of a lever, while the pump-rod works in connection with the other, the hydraulic action employed to raise the water being exactly similar to that of a common sucking-pump. the working of a newcomen engine was a clumsy and apparently a very painful process, accompanied by an extraordinary amount of wheezing, sighing, creaking, and bumping. when the pump descended, there was heard a plunge, a heavy sigh, and a loud bump; then, as it rose, and the sucker began to act, there was heard a creak, a wheeze, another bump, and then a rush of water as it was lifted and poured out. where engines of a more powerful and improved description were used, as is now the case, the quantity of water raised is enormous--as much as a million and a half gallons in the twenty-four hours. the pitmen, or "the lads belaw," who work out the coal below ground, are a peculiar class, quite distinct from the workmen on the surface. they are a people with peculiar habits, manners, and character, as much so as fishermen and sailors, to whom, indeed, they bear, in some respects, a considerable resemblance. some fifty years since, they were a much rougher and worse educated class than they are now; hard workers, but very wild and uncouth; much given to "steeks," or strikes; and distinguished, in their hours of leisure and on pay-nights, for their love of cock-fighting, dog-fighting, hard drinking, and cuddy races. the pay-night was a fortnightly saturnalia, in which the pitman's character was fully brought out, especially when the "yel" was good. though earning much higher wages than the ordinary laboring population of the upper soil, the latter did not mix nor intermarry with them, so that they were left to form their own communities, and hence their marked peculiarities as a class. indeed, a sort of traditional disrepute seems long to have clung to the pitmen, arising perhaps from the nature of their employment, and from the circumstance that the colliers were among the last classes enfranchised in england, as they were certainly the last in scotland, where they continued bondmen down to the end of last century. the last thirty years, however, have worked a great improvement in the moral condition of the northumbrian pitmen; the abolition of the twelve months' bond to the mine, and the substitution of a month's notice previous to leaving, having given them greater freedom and opportunity for obtaining employment; and day-schools and sunday-schools, together with the important influences of railways, have brought them fully up to a level with the other classes of the laboring population. the coals, when raised from the pits, are emptied into the wagons placed alongside, from whence they are sent along the rails to the staiths erected by the river-side, the wagons sometimes descending by their own gravity along inclined planes, the wagoner standing behind to check the speed by means of a convoy or wooden brake bearing upon the rims of the wheels. arrived at the staiths, the wagons are emptied at once into the ships waiting alongside for cargo. any one who has sailed down the tyne from newcastle bridge can not but have been struck with the appearance of the immense staiths, constructed of timber, which are erected at short distances from each other on both sides of the river. but a great deal of the coal shipped from the tyne comes from above-bridge, where sea-going craft can not reach, and is floated down the river in "keels," in which the coals are sometimes piled up according to convenience when large, or, when the coal is small or tender, it is conveyed in tubs to prevent breakage. these keels are of a very ancient model--perhaps the oldest extant in england: they are even said to be of the same build as those in which the norsemen navigated the tyne centuries ago. the keel is a tubby, grimy-looking craft, rounded fore and aft, with a single large square sail, which the keel-bullies, as the tyne watermen are called, manage with great dexterity; the vessel being guided by the aid of the "swape," or great oar, which is used as a kind of rudder at the stern of the vessel. these keelmen are an exceedingly hardy class of workmen, not by any means so quarrelsome as their designation of "bully" would imply--the word being merely derived from the obsolete term "boolie," or beloved, an appellation still in familiar use among brother workers in the coal districts. one of the most curious sights on the tyne is the fleet of hundreds of these black-sailed, black-hulled keels, bringing down at each tide their black cargoes for the ships at anchor in the deep water at shields and other parts of the river below newcastle. these preliminary observations will perhaps be sufficient to explain the meaning of many of the occupations alluded to, and the phrases employed, in the course of the following narrative, some of which might otherwise have been comparatively unintelligible to the reader. * * * * * the colliery village of wylam is situated on the north bank of the tyne, about eight miles west of newcastle. the newcastle and carlisle railway runs along the opposite bank; and the traveler by that line sees the usual signs of a colliery in the unsightly pumping-engines surrounded by heaps of ashes, coal-dust, and slag, while a neighboring iron-furnace in full blast throws out dense smoke and loud jets of steam by day and lurid flames at night. these works form the nucleus of the village, which is almost entirely occupied by coal-miners and iron-furnace-men. the place is remarkable for its large population, but not for its cleanness or neatness as a village; the houses, as in most colliery villages, being the property of the owners or lessees, who employ them in temporarily accommodating the work-people, against whose earnings there is a weekly set-off for house and coals. about the end of last century, the estate of which wylam forms part belonged to mr. blackett, a gentleman of considerable celebrity in coal-mining, then more generally known as the proprietor of the "globe" newspaper. there is nothing to interest one in the village itself. but a few hundred yards from its eastern extremity stands a humble detached dwelling, which will be interesting to many as the birthplace of one of the most remarkable men of our times--george stephenson, the railway engineer. it is a common, two-storied, red-tiled, rubble house, portioned off into four laborers' apartments. it is known by the name of high-street house, and was originally so called because it stands by the side of what used to be the old riding post-road or street between newcastle and hexham, along which the post was carried on horseback within the memory of persons living. [illustration: wylam colliery and village. [by r. p. leitch.]] the lower room in the west end of this house was the home of the stephenson family, and there george stephenson was born, the second of a family of six children, on the th of june, . the apartment is now, what it was then, an ordinary laborer's dwelling; its walls are unplastered, its floor is of clay, and the bare rafters are exposed overhead. robert stephenson, or "old bob," as the neighbors familiarly called him, and his wife mabel, were a respectable couple, careful and hard-working. robert stephenson's father was a scotchman, who came into england in the capacity of a gentleman's servant.[ ] mabel, his wife, was the second daughter of robert carr, a dyer at ovingham. the carrs were for several generations the owners of a house in that village adjoining the church-yard; and the family tomb-stone may still be seen standing against the east end of the chancel of the parish church, underneath the centre lancet window, as the tomb-stone of thomas bewick, the wood-engraver, occupies the western gable. mabel stephenson was a woman of somewhat delicate constitution, and troubled occasionally, as her neighbors said, with "the vapors." but those who remembered her concurred in describing her as "a real canny body;" and a woman of whom this is said by general consent in the newcastle district may be pronounced a worthy person indeed, for it is about the highest praise of a woman which northumbrians can express. [illustration: high-street house, wylam. [by r. p. leitch.]] for some time after their marriage, robert resided with his wife at walbottle, a village situated between wylam and newcastle, where he was employed as a laborer at the colliery; after which the family removed to wylam, where he found employment as fireman of the old pumping-engine at that colliery. george stephenson was the second of a family of six children.[ ] it does not appear that the birth of any of the children was registered in the parish books, the author having made an unsuccessful search in the registers of ovingham and heddon-on-the-wall to ascertain the fact. an old wylam collier, who remembered george stephenson's father, thus described him: "geordie's fayther war like a peer o' deals nailed thegither, an' a bit o' flesh i' th' inside; he war as queer as dick's hatband--went thrice aboot, an' wudn't tie. his wife mabel war a delicat' boddie, an' varry flighty. they war an honest family, but sair hadden doon i' th' world." indeed, the earnings of old robert did not amount to more than twelve shillings a week; and, as there were six children to maintain, the family, during their stay at wylam, were necessarily in very straitened circumstances. the father's wages being barely sufficient, even with the most rigid economy, for the sustenance of the household, there was little to spare for clothing, and nothing for education, so that none of the children were sent to school. old robert was a general favorite in the village, especially among the children, whom he was accustomed to draw about him while tending the engine-fire, and feast their young imaginations with tales of sinbad the sailor and robinson crusoe, besides others of his own invention; so that "bob's engine-fire" came to be the most popular resort in the village. another feature in his character, by which he was long remembered, was his affection for birds and animals; and he had many tame favorites of both sorts, which were as fond of resorting to his engine-fire as the boys and girls themselves. in the winter time he had usually a flock of tame robins about him; and they would come hopping familiarly to his feet to pick up the crumbs which he had saved for them out of his humble dinner. at his cottage he was rarely without one or more tame blackbirds, which flew about the house, or in and out at the door. in summer time he would go bird-nesting with his children; and one day he took his little boy george to see a blackbird's nest for the first time. holding him up in his arms, he let the wondering boy peep down, through the branches held aside for the purpose, into a nest full of young birds--a sight which the boy never forgot, but used to speak of with delight to his intimate friends when he himself had grown an old man. the boy george led the ordinary life of working people's children. he played about the doors; went bird-nesting when he could; and ran errands to the village. he was also an eager listener, with the other children, to his father's curious tales, and he early imbibed from him his affection for birds and animals. in course of time he was promoted to the office of carrying his father's dinner to him while at work, and at home he helped to nurse his younger brothers and sisters. one of his earliest duties was to see that the other children were kept out of the way of the chaldron wagons, which were then dragged by horses along the wooden tram-road immediately in front of the cottage door. this wagon-way was the first in the northern district on which the experiment of a locomotive engine was tried. but, at the time of which we speak, the locomotive had scarcely been dreamt of in england as a practicable working power; horses only were used to haul the coal; and one of the first sights with which the boy was familiar was the coal-wagons dragged by them along the wooden railway at wylam. thus eight years passed; after which, the coal having been worked out on the north side, the old engine, which had grown "dismal to look at," as an old workman described it, was pulled down; and then old robert, having obtained employment as a fireman at the dewley burn colliery, removed with his family to that place. dewley burn, at this day, consists of a few old-fashioned, low-roofed cottages standing on either side of a babbling little stream. they are connected by a rustic wooden bridge, which spans the rift in front of the doors. in the central one-roomed cottage of this group, on the right bank, robert stephenson lived for a time with his family, the pit at which he worked standing in the rear of the cottages. young though he was, george was now of an age to be able to contribute something toward the family maintenance; for, in a poor man's house, every child is a burden until his little hands can be turned to profitable account. that the boy was shrewd and active, and possessed of a ready mother-wit, will be evident enough from the following incident. one day his sister nell went into newcastle to buy a bonnet, and geordie went with her "for company." at a draper's shop in the bigg market nell found a "chip" quite to her mind, but on pricing it, alas! it was found to be fifteen pence beyond her means. girl-like, she had set her mind upon that bonnet, and no other would please her. she accordingly left the shop very much dejected. but geordie said, "never heed, nell; come wi' me, and i'll see if i canna win siller enough to buy the bonnet; stand ye there till i come back." away ran the boy, and disappeared amid the throng of the market, leaving the girl to wait his return. long and long she waited, until it grew dusk, and the market-people had nearly all left. she had begun to despair, and fears crossed her mind that geordie must have been run over and killed, when at last up he came running, almost breathless. "i've gotten the siller for the bonnet, nell!" cried he. "eh, geordie!" she said, "but hoo hae ye gotten it?" "hauddin the gentlemen's horses!" was the exultant reply. the bonnet was forthwith bought, and the two returned to dewley in triumph. george's first regular employment was of a very humble sort. a widow, named grace ainslie, then occupied the neighboring farm-house of dewley. she kept a number of cows, and had the privilege of grazing them along the wagon-ways. she needed a boy to herd the cows, to keep them out of the way of the wagons, and prevent their straying or trespassing on the neighbors' "liberties;" the boy's duty was also to bar the gates at night after all the wagons had passed. george petitioned for this post, and, to his great joy, he was appointed, at the wage of twopence a day. it was light employment, and he had plenty of spare time on his hands, which he spent in bird-nesting, making whistles out of reeds and scrannel straws, and erecting liliputian mills in the little water-streams that ran into the dewley bog. but his favorite amusement at this early age was erecting clay engines in conjunction with his playmate, bill thirlwall. the place is still pointed out where the future engineers made their first essays in modeling. the boys found the clay for their engines in the adjoining bog, and the hemlocks which grew about supplied them with imaginary steam-pipes. they even proceeded to make a miniature winding-machine in connection with their engine, and the apparatus was erected upon a bench in front of the thirlwalls' cottage. their corves were made out of hollowed corks; their ropes were supplied by twine; and a few bits of wood gleaned from the refuse of the carpenters' shop completed their materials. with this apparatus the boys made a show of sending the corves down the pit and drawing them up again, much to the marvel of the pitmen. but some mischievous person about the place seized the opportunity early one morning of smashing the fragile machinery, greatly to the grief of the young engineers. we may mention, in passing, that george's companion afterward became a workman of repute, and creditably held the office of engineer at shilbottle, near alnwick, for a period of nearly thirty years. as stephenson grew older and abler to work, he was set to lead the horses when plowing, though scarce big enough to stride across the furrows; and he used afterward to say that he rode to his work in the mornings at an hour when most other children of his age were asleep in their beds. he was also employed to hoe turnips, and do similar farm-work, for which he was paid the advanced wage of fourpence a day. but his highest ambition was to be taken on at the colliery where his father worked; and he shortly joined his elder brother james there as a "corf-bitter," or "picker," to clear the coal of stones, bats, and dross. his wages were then advanced to sixpence a day, and afterward to eightpence when he was sent to drive the gin-horse. shortly after, george went to black callerton colliery to drive the gin there; and, as that colliery lies about two miles across the fields from dewley burn, the boy walked that distance early in the morning to his work, returning home late in the evening. one of the old residents at black callerton, who remembered him at that time, described him to the author as "a grit growing lad, with bare legs an' feet;" adding that he was "very quick-witted, and full of fun and tricks: indeed, there was nothing under the sun but he tried to imitate." he was usually foremost also in the sports and pastimes of youth. among his first strongly developed tastes was the love of birds and animals, which he inherited from his father. blackbirds were his special favorites. the hedges between dewley and black callerton were capital bird-nesting places, and there was not a nest there that he did not know of. when the young birds were old enough, he would bring them home with him, feed them, and teach them to fly about the cottage unconfined by cages. one of his blackbirds became so tame that, after flying about the doors all day, and in and out of the cottage, it would take up its roost upon the bed-head at night. and, most singular of all, the bird would disappear in the spring and summer months, when it was supposed to go into the woods to pair and rear its young, after which it would reappear at the cottage, and resume its social habits during the winter. this went on for several years. george had also a stock of tame rabbits, for which he built a little house behind the cottage, and for many years he continued to pride himself upon the superiority of his breed. after he had driven the gin for some time at dewley and black callerton, he was taken on as assistant to his father in firing the engine at dewley. this was a step of promotion which he had anxiously desired, his only fear being lest he should be found too young for the work. indeed, he afterward used to relate how he was wont to hide himself when the owner of the colliery went round, in case he should be thought too little a boy to earn the wages paid him. since he had modeled his clay engines in the bog, his young ambition was to be an engine-man; and to be an assistant fireman was the first step toward this position. great, therefore, was his joy when, at about fourteen years of age, he was appointed assistant fireman, at the wage of a shilling a day. but the coal at dewley burn being at length worked out, the pit was ordered to be "laid in," and old robert and his family were again under the necessity of shifting their home; for, to use the common phrase, they must "follow the wark." [illustration: (colliery wagons)] footnotes: [ ] a tradition exists in the family that robert stephenson's father came across the border on the loss of considerable property. miss stephenson, the daughter of robert's third son, john, has stated that a suit was commenced for recovery of the property, but was dropped for want of the requisite means to prosecute it. [ ] the family bible of robert and mabel stephenson, which seems to have come into their possession in november, , contains the following record of the births of these children, evidently written by one hand and at one time: "a rechester of the children belonging robert and mabel stepheson-- "james stepheson was born march the day "george stepheson was born june day "elender stepheson was born april the day "robert stepheson was born march the day "john stepheson was born november the day "ann stepheson was born july the day ." of the two daughters, eleanor married stephen liddell, afterward employed in the locomotive factory in newcastle. ann married john nixon, with whom she emigrated to the united states; she died at pittsburg in . john stephenson was accidentally killed at the locomotive factory in january, . [illustration: newburn on the tyne. [by r. p. leitch.]] chapter ii. newburn and callerton--george stephenson learns to be an engine-man. on quitting their humble home at dewley burn, the stephenson family removed to a place called jolly's close, a few miles to the south, close behind the village of newburn, where another coal-mine belonging to the duke of northumberland, called "the duke's winnin," had recently been opened out. one of the old persons in the neighborhood, who knew the family well, describes the dwelling in which they lived as a poor cottage of only one room, in which the father, mother, four sons, and two daughters lived and slept. it was crowded with three low-poled beds. the one apartment served for parlor, kitchen, sleeping-room, and all. the children of the stephenson family were now growing apace, and several of them were old enough to be able to earn money at various kinds of colliery work. james and george, the two eldest sons, worked as assistant firemen; and the younger boys worked as wheelers or pickers on the bank-tops; while the two girls helped their mother with the household work. other workings of the coal were opened out in the neighborhood, and to one of these george was removed as fireman on his own account. this was called the "mid mill winnin," where he had for his mate a young man named coe. they worked together there for about two years, by twelve-hour shifts, george firing the engine at the wage of a shilling a day. he was now fifteen years old. his ambition was as yet limited to attaining the standing of a full workman, at a man's wages, and with that view he endeavored to attain such a knowledge of his engine as would eventually lead to his employment as engine-man, with its accompanying advantage of higher pay. he was a steady, sober, hard-working young man, but nothing more in the estimation of his fellow-workmen. one of his favorite pastimes in by-hours was trying feats of strength with his companions. although in frame he was not particularly robust, yet he was big and bony, and considered very strong for his age. at throwing the hammer george had no compeer. at lifting heavy weights off the ground from between his feet, by means of a bar of iron passed through them--placing the bar against his knees as a fulcrum, and then straightening his spine and lifting them sheer up--he was also very successful. on one occasion he lifted as much as sixty stones' weight--a striking indication of his strength of bone and muscle. when the pit at mid mill was closed, george and his companion coe were sent to work another pumping-engine erected near throckley bridge, where they continued for some months. it was while working at this place that his wages were raised to s. a week--an event to him of great importance. on coming out of the foreman's office that saturday evening on which he received the advance, he announced the fact to his fellow-workmen, adding triumphantly, "i am now a made man for life!" the pit opened at newburn, at which old robert stephenson worked, proving a failure, it was closed, and a new pit was sunk at water-row, on a strip of land lying between the wylam wagon-way and the river tyne, about half a mile west of newburn church. a pumping-engine was erected there by robert hawthorn, the duke's engineer, and old stephenson went to work it as fireman, his son george acting as the engine-man or plugman. at that time he was about seventeen years old--a very youthful age at which to fill so responsible a post. he had thus already got ahead of his father in his station as a workman; for the plugman holds a higher grade than the fireman, requiring more practical knowledge and skill, and usually receiving higher wages. george's duties as plugman were to watch the engine, to see that it kept well in work, and that the pumps were efficient in drawing the water. when the water-level in the pit was lowered, and the suction became incomplete through the exposure of the suction-holes, it was then his duty to proceed to the bottom of the shaft and plug the tube so that the pump should draw: hence the designation of "plugman." if a stoppage in the engine took place through any defect which he was incapable of remedying, it was his duty to call in the aid of the chief engineer to set it to rights. but from the time that george stephenson was appointed fireman, and more particularly afterward as engine-man, he applied himself so assiduously and successfully to the study of the engine and its gearing--taking the machine to pieces in his leisure hours for the purpose of cleaning it and understanding its various parts--that he soon acquired a thorough practical knowledge of its construction and mode of working, and very rarely needed to call the engineer of the colliery to his aid. his engine became a sort of pet with him, and he was never wearied of watching and inspecting it with admiration. there is, indeed, a peculiar fascination about an engine to the person whose duty it is to watch and work it. it is almost sublime in its untiring industry and quiet power; capable of performing the most gigantic work, yet so docile that a child's hand may guide it. no wonder, therefore, that the workman who is the daily companion of this life-like machine, and is constantly watching it with anxious care, at length comes to regard it with a degree of personal interest and regard. this daily contemplation of the steam-engine, and the sight of its steady action, is an education of itself to an ingenious and thoughtful man. and it is a remarkable fact, that nearly all that has been done for the improvement of this machine has been accomplished, not by philosophers and scientific men, but by laborers, mechanics, and engine-men. indeed, it would appear as if this were one of the departments of practical science in which the higher powers of the human mind must bend to mechanical instinct. stephenson was now in his eighteenth year, but, like many of his fellow-workmen, he had not yet learned to read. all that he could do was to get some one to read for him by his engine-fire, out of any book or stray newspaper which found its way into the neighborhood. bonaparte was then overrunning italy, and astounding europe by his brilliant succession of victories; and there was no more eager auditor of his exploits, as read from the newspaper accounts, than the young engine-man at the water-row pit. there were also numerous stray bits of information and intelligence contained in these papers which excited stephenson's interest. one of them related to the egyptian method of hatching birds' eggs by means of artificial heat. curious about every thing relating to birds, he determined to test it by experiment. it was spring time, and he forthwith went bird-nesting in the adjoining woods and hedges. he gathered a collection of eggs of various sorts, set them in flour in a warm place in the engine-house, covered the whole with wool, and waited the issue. the heat was kept as steady as possible, and the eggs were carefully turned every twelve hours; but, though they chipped, and some of them exhibited well-grown chicks, they never hatched. the experiment failed, but the incident shows that the inquiring mind of the youth was fairly at work. modeling of engines in clay continued to be another of his favorite occupations. he made models of engines which he had seen, and of others which were described to him. these attempts were an improvement upon his first trials at dewley burn bog, when occupied there as a herd-boy. he was, however, anxious to know something of the wonderful engines of boulton and watt, and was told that they were to be found fully described in books, which he must search for information as to their construction, action, and uses. but, alas! stephenson could not read; he had not yet learned even his letters. thus he shortly found, when gazing wistfully in the direction of knowledge, that to advance farther as a skilled workman, he must master this wonderful art of reading--the key to so many other arts. only thus could he gain an access to books, the depositories of the wisdom and experience of the past. although a grown man, and doing the work of a man, he was not ashamed to confess his ignorance, and go to school, big as he was, to learn his letters. perhaps, too, he foresaw that, in laying out a little of his spare earnings for this purpose, he was investing money judiciously, and that, in every hour he spent at school, he was really working for better wages. his first schoolmaster was robin cowens, a poor teacher in the village of walbottle. he kept a night-school, which was attended by a few of the colliers' and laborers' sons in the neighborhood. george took lessons in spelling and reading three nights in the week. robin cowens's teaching cost threepence a week; and though it was not very good, yet george, being hungry for knowledge and eager to acquire it, soon learned to read. he also practiced "pot-hooks," and at the age of nineteen he was proud to be able to write his own name. a scotch dominie, named andrew robertson, set up a night-school in the village of newburn in the winter of . it was more convenient for george to attend this school, as it was nearer his work, being only a few minutes' walk from jolly's close. besides, andrew had the reputation of being a good arithmetician, and this was a branch of knowledge that stephenson was very desirous of acquiring. he accordingly began taking lessons from him, paying fourpence a week. robert gray, junior fireman at the water-row pit, began arithmetic at the same time; and gray afterward told the author that george learned "figuring" so much faster than he did, that he could not make out how it was--"he took to figures so wonderful." although the two started together from the same point, at the end of the winter george had mastered "reduction," while robert gray was still struggling with the difficulties of simple division. but george's secret was his perseverance. he worked out the sums in his by-hours, improving every minute of his spare time by the engine-fire, there studying the arithmetical problems set for him upon his slate by the master. in the evenings he took to robertson the sums which he had "worked," and new ones were "set" for him to study out the following day. thus his progress was rapid, and, with a willing heart and mind, he soon became well advanced in arithmetic. indeed, andrew robertson became very proud of his scholar; and shortly after, when the water-row pit was closed, and george removed to black callerton to work there, the poor schoolmaster, not having a very extensive connection in newburn, went with his pupils, and set up his night-school at black callerton, where he continued his lessons. george still found time to attend to his favorite animals while working at the water-row pit. like his father, he used to tempt the robin-redbreasts to hop and fly about him at the engine-fire by the bait of bread-crumbs saved from his dinner. but his chief favorite was his dog--so sagacious that he almost daily carried george's dinner to him at the pit. the tin containing the meal was suspended from the dog's neck, and, thus laden, he proceeded faithfully from jolly's close to water-row pit, quite through the village of newburn. he turned neither to left nor right, nor heeded the barking of curs at his heels. but his course was not unattended with perils. one day the big, strange dog of a passing butcher, espying the engine-man's messenger with the tin can about his neck, ran after and fell upon him. there was a terrible tussle and worrying, which lasted for a brief while, and, shortly after, the dog's master, anxious for his dinner, saw his faithful servant approaching, bleeding but triumphant. the tin can was still round his neck, but the dinner had been spilled in the struggle. though george went without his dinner that day, he was prouder of his dog than ever when the circumstances of the combat were related to him by the villagers who had seen it. it was while working at the water-row pit that stephenson learned the art of brakeing an engine. this being one of the higher departments of colliery labor, and among the best paid, george was very anxious to learn it. a small winding-engine having been put up for the purpose of drawing the coals from the pit, bill coe, his friend and fellow-workman, was appointed the brakesman. he frequently allowed george to try his hand at the machine, and instructed him how to proceed. coe was, however, opposed in this by several of the other workmen, one of whom, a banksman named william locke,[ ] went so far as to stop the working of the pit because stephenson had been called in to the brake. but one day, as mr. charles nixon, the manager of the pit, was observed approaching, coe adopted an expedient which put a stop to the opposition. he called upon stephenson to "come into the brake-house and take hold of the machine." locke, as usual, sat down, and the working of the pit was stopped. when requested by the manager to give an explanation, he said that "young stephenson couldn't brake, and, what was more, never would learn, he was so clumsy." mr. nixon, however, ordered locke to go on with the work, which he did; and stephenson, after some farther practice, acquired the art of brakeing. after working at the water-row pit and at other engines near newburn for about three years, george and coe went to black callerton early in . though only twenty years of age, his employers thought so well of him that they appointed him to the responsible office of brakesman at the dolly pit. for convenience' sake, he took lodgings at a small farmer's in the village, finding his own victuals, and paying so much a week for lodging and attendance. in the locality this was called "picklin in his awn poke neuk." it not unfrequently happens that the young workman about the collieries, when selecting a lodging, contrives to pitch his tent where the daughter of the house ultimately becomes his wife. this is often the real attraction that draws the youth from home, though a very different one may be pretended. george stephenson's duties as brakesman may be briefly described. the work was somewhat monotonous, and consisted in superintending the working of the engine and machinery by means of which the coals were drawn out of the pit. brakesmen are almost invariably selected from those who have had considerable experience as engine-firemen, and borne a good character for steadiness, punctuality, watchfulness, and "mother wit." in george stephenson's day the coals were drawn out of the pit in corves, or large baskets made of hazel rods. the corves were placed together in a cage, between which and the pit-ropes there was usually from fifteen to twenty feet of chain. the approach of the corves toward the pit mouth was signaled by a bell, brought into action by a piece of mechanism worked from the shaft of the engine. when the bell sounded, the brakesman checked the speed by taking hold of the hand-gear connected with the steam-valves, which were so arranged that by their means he could regulate the speed of the engine, and stop or set it in motion when required. connected with the fly-wheel was a powerful wooden brake, acting by pressure against its rim, something like the brake of a railway carriage against its wheels. on catching sight of the chain attached to the ascending corve-cage, the brakesman, by pressing his foot upon a foot-step near him, was enabled, with great precision, to stop the revolutions of the wheel, and arrest the ascent of the corves at the pit mouth, when they were forthwith landed on the "settle-board." on the full corves being replaced by empty ones, it was then the duty of the brakesman to reverse the engine, and send the corves down the pit to be filled again. the monotony of george stephenson's occupation as a brakesman was somewhat varied by the change which he made, in his turn, from the day to the night shift. his duty, on the latter occasions, consisted chiefly in sending men and materials into the mine, and in drawing other men and materials out. most of the workmen enter the pit during the night shift, and leave it in the latter part of the day, while coal-drawing is proceeding. the requirements of the work at night are such that the brakesman has a good deal of spare time on his hands, which he is at liberty to employ in his own way. from an early period, george was accustomed to employ those vacant night hours in working the sums set for him by andrew robertson upon his slate, practicing writing in his copy-book, and mending the shoes of his fellow-workmen. his wages while working at the dolly pit amounted to from £ _s_. to £ in the fortnight; but he gradually added to them as he became more expert at shoe-mending, and afterward at shoe-making. probably he was stimulated to take in hand this extra work by the attachment he had by this time formed for a young woman named fanny henderson, who officiated as servant in the small farmer's house in which he lodged. we have been informed that the personal attractions of fanny, though these were considerable, were the least of her charms. mr. william fairbairn, who afterward saw her in her home at willington quay, describes her as a very comely woman. but her temper was one of the sweetest; and those who knew her were accustomed to speak of the charming modesty of her demeanor, her kindness of disposition, and, withal, her sound good sense. among his various mendings of old shoes at callerton, george was on one occasion favored with the shoes of his sweetheart to sole. one can imagine the pleasure with which he would linger over such a piece of work, and the pride with which he would execute it. a friend of his, still living, relates that, after he had finished the shoes, he carried them about with him in his pocket on the sunday afternoon, and that from time to time he would pull them out and hold them up, exclaiming "what a capital job he had made of them!" not long after he began to work at black callerton as brakesman he had a quarrel with a pitman named ned nelson, a roystering bully, who was the terror of the village. nelson was a great fighter, and it was therefore considered dangerous to quarrel with him. stephenson was so unfortunate as not to be able to please this pitman by the way in which he drew him out of the pit, and nelson swore at him grossly because of the alleged clumsiness of his brakeing. george defended himself, and appealed to the testimony of the other workmen. nelson had not been accustomed to george's style of self-assertion, and, after a great deal of abuse, he threatened to kick the brakesman, who defied him to do so. nelson ended by challenging stephenson to a pitched battle, and the latter accepted the challenge, when a day was fixed on which the fight was to come off. great was the excitement at black callerton when it was known that george stephenson had accepted nelson's challenge. every body said he would be killed. the villagers, the young men, and especially the boys of the place, with whom george was a great favorite, all wished that he might beat nelson, but they scarcely dared to say so. they came about him while he was at work in the engine-house to inquire if it was really true that he was "goin' to fight nelson." "ay; never fear for me; i'll fight him." and fight him he did. for some days previous to the appointed day of battle, nelson went entirely off work for the purpose of keeping himself fresh and strong, whereas stephenson went on doing his daily work as usual, and appeared not in the least disconcerted by the prospect of the affair. so, on the evening appointed, after george had done his day's labor, he went into the dolly pit field, where his already exulting rival was ready to meet him. george stripped, and "went in" like a practiced pugilist, though it was his first and last fight. after a few rounds, george's wiry muscles and practiced strength enabled him severely to punish his adversary and to secure an easy victory. this circumstance is related in illustration of stephenson's personal pluck and courage, and it was thoroughly characteristic of the man. he was no pugilist, and the reverse of quarrelsome. but he would not be put down by the bully of the colliery, and he fought him. there his pugilism ended; they afterward shook hands, and continued good friends. in after life stephenson's mettle was often as hardly tried, though in a different way, and he did not fail to exhibit the same courage in contending with the bullies of the railway world as he showed in his encounter with ned nelson, the fighting pitman of callerton. [illustration: (colliery gin)] footnote: [ ] father of mr. locke, m.p., the engineer. he afterward removed to barnsley, in yorkshire. [illustration: stephenson's cottage at willington quay. [by r. p. leitch.]] chapter iii. engine-man at willington quay and killingworth. george stephenson had now acquired the character of an expert workman. he was diligent and observant while at work, and sober and studious when the day's work was done. his friend coe described him to the author as "a standing example of manly character." on pay-saturday afternoons, when the pitmen held their fortnightly holiday, occupying themselves chiefly in cock-fighting and dog-fighting in the adjoining fields, followed by adjournments to the "yel-house," george was accustomed to take his engine to pieces, for the purpose of obtaining "insight," and he cleaned all the parts and put the machine in thorough working order before leaving her. his amusements continued to be principally of the athletic kind, and he found few that could beat him at lifting heavy weights, leaping, and throwing the hammer. in the evenings he improved himself in the arts of reading and writing, and occasionally he took a turn at modeling. it was at callerton, his son robert informed us, that he began to try his hand at original invention, and for some time he applied his attention to a machine of the nature of an engine-brake, which reversed itself by its own action. but nothing came of the contrivance, and it was eventually thrown aside as useless. yet not altogether so; for even the highest skill must undergo the inevitable discipline of experiment, and submit to the wholesome correction of occasional failure. after working at callerton for about two years, stephenson received an offer to take charge of the engine on willington ballast hill at an advanced wage. he determined to accept it, and at the same time to marry fanny henderson, and begin housekeeping on his own account. though he was only twenty-one years old, he had contrived, by thrift, steadiness, and industry, to save as much money as enabled him, with the help of fanny's small hoard, to take a cottage dwelling at willington quay, and furnish it in a humble but comfortable style for the reception of his bride. willington quay lies on the north bank of the tyne, about six miles below newcastle. it consists of a line of houses straggling along the river side, and high behind it towers up the huge mound of ballast emptied out of the ships which resort to the quay for their cargoes of coal for the london market. the ballast is thrown out of the ships' holds into wagons laid alongside. when filled, a train of these is dragged to the summit of the ballast hill, where they are run out, and their contents emptied on to the monstrous accumulation of earth, chalk, and thames mud already laid there, probably to form a puzzle for future antiquaries and geologists when the origin of these immense hills along the tyne has been forgotten. at the foot of this great mound of shot rubbish was a fixed engine, which drew the trains of laden wagons up the incline by means of ropes working over pulleys, and of this engine george stephenson acted as brakesman. the cottage in which he took up his abode was a small two-storied dwelling, standing a little back from the quay, with a bit of garden ground in front;[ ] but he only occupied the upper room in the west end of the cottage. close behind rose the ballast hill. when the cottage dwelling had been made snug and was ready for his wife's reception, the marriage took place. it was celebrated in newburn church on the th of november, . george stephenson's signature, as it stands in the register, is that of a person who seems to have just learned to write. with all the writer's care, however, he had not been able to avoid a blotch. the name of frances henderson has the appearance of being written by the same hand. [illustration: (signatures of george stephenson and frances henderson)] after the ceremony, george and his newly-wedded partner proceeded to the house of old robert stephenson and his wife mabel at jolly close. the old man was now becoming infirm, though he still worked as an engine-fireman, and contrived with difficulty "to keep his head above water." when the visit had been paid, the bridal party prepared to set out for their new home at willington quay. they went in a style which was quite common before traveling by railway had been invented. two farm-horses, borrowed from a neighboring farmer, were each provided with a saddle and a pillion, and george having mounted one, his wife seated herself behind him, holding on by her arms round his waist. the brideman and bridemaid in like manner mounted the other horse, and in this wise the wedding party rode across the country, passing through the old streets of newcastle, and then by wallsend to willington quay--a long ride of about fifteen miles. george stephenson's daily life at willington was that of a steady workman. by the manner, however, in which he continued to improve his spare hours in the evening, he was silently and surely paving the way for being something more than a manual laborer. he diligently set himself to study the principles of mechanics, and to master the laws by which his engine worked. for a workman, he was even at that time more than ordinarily speculative, often taking up strange theories, and trying to sift out the truth that was in them. while sitting by the side of his young wife in his cottage dwelling in the winter evenings, he was usually occupied in studying mechanical subjects or in modeling experimental machines. among his various speculations while at willington, he tried to discover a means of perpetual motion. although he failed, as so many others had done before him, the very efforts he made tended to whet his inventive faculties and to call forth his dormant powers. he actually went so far as to construct the model of a machine for the purpose. it consisted of a wooden wheel, the periphery of which was furnished with glass tubes filled with quicksilver; as the wheel rotated, the quicksilver poured itself down into the lower tubes, and thus a sort of self-acting motion was kept up in the apparatus, which, however, did not prove to be perpetual. where he had first obtained the idea of this machine--whether from conversation, or reading, or his own thoughts, is not known; but his son robert was of opinion that he had heard of an apparatus of this kind as described in the "history of inventions." as he had then no access to books, and, indeed, could scarcely yet read, it is probable that he had been told of the invention, and set about testing its value according to his own methods. much of his spare time continued to be occupied by labor more immediately profitable, regarded in a pecuniary point of view. in the evenings, after his day's labor at his engine, he would occasionally employ himself for a few hours in casting ballast out of the collier ships, by which means he was enabled to earn a few shillings weekly. mr. william fairbairn, of manchester, has informed the author that, while stephenson was employed at the willington ballast hill, he himself was working in the neighborhood as an engine apprentice at the percy main colliery. he was very fond of george, who was a fine, hearty fellow, besides being a capital workman. in the summer evenings young fairbairn was accustomed to go down to willington to see his friend, and on such occasions he would frequently take charge of george's engine for a few hours, to enable him to take a two or three hours' turn at heaving ballast out of the ships' holds. it is pleasant to think of the future president of the british association thus helping the future railway engineer to earn a few extra shillings by overwork in the evenings, at a time when both occupied the rank but of humble working men in an obscure northern village. mr. fairbairn was also a frequent visitor at george's cottage on the quay, where, though there was no luxury, there was comfort, cleanness, and a pervading spirit of industry. even at home george was never for a moment idle. when there was no ballast to heave, he took in shoes to mend; and from mending he proceeded to making them, as well as shoe-lasts, in which he was admitted to be very expert. william coe, who continued to live at willington in , informed the author that he bought a pair of shoes from george stephenson for _s._ _d._, and he remembered that they were a capital fit, and wore very well. but an accident occurred in stephenson's household about this time which had the effect of directing his industry into a new and still more profitable channel. the cottage chimney took fire one day in his absence, when the alarmed neighbors, rushing in, threw quantities of water upon the flames; and some, in their zeal, even mounted the ridge of the house, and poured buckets of water down the chimney. the fire was soon put out, but the house was thoroughly soaked. when george came home, he found the water running out of the door, every thing in disorder, and his new furniture covered with soot. the eight-day clock, which hung against the wall--one of the most highly-prized articles in the house--was seriously damaged by the steam with which the room had been filled. its wheels were so clogged by the dust and soot that it was brought to a complete stand-still. george was advised to send the article to the clock-maker, but that would cost money; and he declared that he would repair it himself--at least he would try. the clock was accordingly taken to pieces and cleaned; the tools which he had been accumulating for the purpose of constructing his perpetual motion machine readily enabled him to do this, and he succeeded so well that, shortly after, the neighbors sent him their clocks to clean, and he soon became one of the most expert clock-cleaners in the neighborhood. it was while living at willington quay that george stephenson's only son was born on the th of october, .[ ] the child was from the first, as may well be imagined, a great favorite with his father, and added much to the happiness of his evening hours. george stephenson's strong "philoprogenitiveness," as phrenologists call it, had in his boyhood expended itself on birds, and dogs, and rabbits, and even on the poor old gin-horses which he had driven at the callerton pit, and now he found in his child a more genial object for the exercise of his affection. the christening of the boy took place in the school-house at wallsend, the old parish church being at the time in so dilapidated a condition from the "creeping" or subsidence of the ground, consequent upon the excavation of the coal, that it was considered dangerous to enter it.[ ] on this occasion, robert gray and anne henderson, who had officiated as brideman and bridemaid at the wedding, came over again to willington, and stood godfather and godmother to little robert, as the child was named, after his grandfather. after working for about three years as a brakesman at the willington machine, george stephenson was induced to leave his situation there for a similar one at the west moor colliery, killingworth. it was not without considerable persuasion that he was induced to leave the quay, as he knew that he should thereby give up the chance of earning extra money by casting ballast from the keels. at last, however, he consented, in the hope of making up the loss in some other way. the village of killingworth lies about seven miles north of newcastle, and is one of the best-known collieries in that neighborhood. the workings of the coal are of vast extent, and give employment to a large number of work-people. to this place stephenson first came as a brakesman about the end of . he had not been long in his new home ere his wife died of consumption, leaving him with his only child robert. george deeply felt the loss, for his wife and he had been very happy together. their lot had been sweetened by daily successful toil. george had been hard-working, and his wife had made his hearth so bright and his home so snug, that no attraction could draw him from her side in the evening hours. but this domestic happiness was all to pass away, and the bereaved husband felt for a time as one that had thenceforth to tread the journey of life alone. [illustration: west moor colliery. [by r. p. leitch.]] shortly after this event, while his grief was still fresh, he received an invitation from some gentlemen concerned in large spinning-works near montrose, in scotland, to proceed thither and superintend the working of one of boulton and watt's engines. he accepted the offer, and made arrangements to leave killingworth for a time. having left his boy in charge of a respectable woman who acted as his housekeeper, he set out on the journey to scotland on foot, with his kit upon his back. while working at montrose, he gave a striking proof of that practical ability in contrivance for which he was afterward so distinguished. it appears that the water required for the purposes of his engine, as well as for the use of the works, was pumped from a considerable depth, being supplied from the adjacent extensive sand strata. the pumps frequently got choked by the sand drawn in at the bottom of the well through the snore-holes, or apertures through which the water to be raised is admitted. the barrels soon became worn, and the bucket and clack leathers destroyed, so that it became necessary to devise a remedy; and with this object, the engine-man proceeded to adopt the following simple but original expedient. he had a wooden box or boot made, twelve feet high, which he placed in the sump or well, and into this he inserted the lower end of the pump. the result was, that the water flowed clear from the outer part of the well over into the boot, and was drawn up without any admixture of sand, and the difficulty was thus conquered.[ ] during his stay in scotland, stephenson, being paid good wages, contrived to save a sum of £ , which he took back with him to killingworth, after an absence of about a year. longing to get back to his kindred, and his heart yearning for the boy whom he had left behind, our engine-man bade adieu to his montrose employers, and trudged back to killingworth on foot as he had gone. he related to his friend coe, on his return, that when on the borders of northumberland, late one evening, footsore and wearied with his long day's journey, he knocked at a small farmer's cottage door, and requested shelter for the night. it was refused; and then he entreated that, being sore tired and unable to proceed any farther, they would permit him to lie down in the out-house, for that a little clean straw would serve him. the farmer's wife appeared at the door, looked at the traveler, then retiring with her husband, the two confabulated a little apart, and finally they invited stephenson into the cottage. always full of conversation and anecdote, he soon made himself at home in the farmer's family, and spent with them some pleasant hours. he was hospitably entertained for the night, and when he left the cottage in the morning, he pressed them to make some charge for his lodging, but they refused to accept any recompense. they only asked him to remember them kindly, and if he ever came that way, to be sure and call again. many years after, when stephenson had become a thriving man, he did not forget the humble pair who had thus succored and entertained him on his way; he sought their cottage again when age had silvered their hair; and when he left the aged couple on that occasion, they may have been reminded of the old saying that we may sometimes "entertain angels unawares." reaching home, stephenson found that his father had met with a serious accident at the blucher pit, which had reduced him to great distress and poverty. while engaged in the inside of an engine, making some repairs, a fellow-workman inadvertently let in the steam upon him. the blast struck him full in the face; he was terribly scorched, and his eyesight was irretrievably lost. the helpless and infirm man had struggled for a time with poverty; his sons who were at home, poor as himself, were little able to help him, while george was at a distance in scotland. on his return, however, with his savings in his pocket, his first step was to pay off his father's debts, amounting to about £ ; and, shortly after, he removed the aged pair from jolly's close to a comfortable cottage adjoining the tram-road near the west moor at killingworth, where the old man lived for many years, supported by his son. stephenson was again taken on as a brakesman at the west moor pit. he does not seem to have been very hopeful as to his prospects in life at the time. indeed, the condition of the working classes was then very discouraging. england was engaged in a great war, which pressed upon the industry, and severely tried the resources of the country. heavy taxes were imposed upon all the articles of consumption that would bear them. there was a constant demand for men to fill the army, navy, and militia. never before had england witnessed such drumming and fifing for recruits. in , the gross forces of the united kingdom amounted to nearly , men, and early in lord castlereagh carried a measure for the establishment of a local militia of , men. these measures were accompanied by general distress among the laboring classes. there were riots in manchester, newcastle, and elsewhere, through scarcity of work and lowness of wages. the working people were also liable to be pressed for the navy, or drawn for the militia; and though people could not fail to be discontented under such circumstances, they scarcely dared even to mutter their discontent to their neighbors. george stephenson was one of those drawn for the militia. he must therefore either quit his work and go a-soldiering, or find a substitute. he adopted the latter course, and borrowed £ , which, with the remainder of his savings, enabled him to provide a militia-man to serve in his stead. thus the whole of his hard-won earnings were swept away at a stroke. he was almost in despair, and contemplated the idea of leaving the country, and emigrating to the united states. although a voyage thither was then a much more formidable thing for a working man to accomplish than a voyage to australia is now, he seriously entertained the project, and had all but made up his mind to go. his sister ann, with her husband, emigrated about that time, but george could not raise the requisite money, and they departed without him. after all, it went sore against his heart to leave his home and his kindred, the scenes of his youth and the friends of his boyhood, and he struggled long with the idea, brooding over it in sorrow. speaking afterward to a friend of his thoughts at the time, he said: "you know the road from my house at the west moor to killingworth. i remember once when i went along that road i wept bitterly, for i knew not where my lot in life would be cast." but his poverty prevented him from prosecuting the idea of emigration, and rooted him to the place where he afterward worked out his career so manfully and victoriously. in , stephenson, with two other brakesmen, took a small contract under the colliery lessees, brakeing the engines at the west moor pit. the brakesmen found the oil and tallow; they divided the work among them, and were paid so much per score for their labor. there being two engines working night and day, two of the three men were always on duty, the average earnings of each amounting to from _s._ to _s._ a week. it was the interest of the brakesmen to economize the working as much as possible, and george no sooner entered upon the contract than he proceeded to devise ways and means of making the contract "pay." he observed that the ropes with which the coal was drawn out of the pit by the winding-engine were badly arranged; they "glued" and wore each other to tatters by the perpetual friction. there was thus great wear and tear, and a serious increase in the expenses of the pit. george found that the ropes which, at other pits in the neighborhood, lasted about three months, at the west moor pit became worn out in about a month. he accordingly set himself to ascertain the cause of the defect; and, finding that it was occasioned by excessive friction, he proceeded, with the sanction of the head engine-wright and of the colliery owners, to shift the pulley-wheels so that they worked immediately over the centre of the pit. by this expedient, accompanied by an entire rearrangement of the gearing of the machine, he shortly succeeded in greatly lessening the wear and tear of the ropes, to the advantage of the owners as well as of the workmen, who were thus enabled to labor more continuously and profitably. about the same time he attempted an improvement in the winding-engine which he worked, by placing a valve between the air-pump and condenser. this expedient, although it led to no practical result, showed that his mind was actively engaged in studying new mechanical adaptations. it continued to be his regular habit, on saturdays, to take his engine to pieces, for the purpose at the same time of familiarizing himself with its action, and of placing it in a state of thorough working order; and by mastering the details of the engine, he was enabled, as opportunity occurred, to turn to practical account the knowledge thus diligently and patiently acquired. such an opportunity was not long in presenting itself. in the year , a pit was sunk by the "grand allies" (the lessees of the mines) at the village of killingworth, now known as the killingworth high pit. an atmospheric or newcomen engine, originally made by smeaton, was fixed there for the purpose of pumping out the water from the shaft; but, somehow or other, the engine failed to clear the pit. as one of the workmen has since described the circumstance--"she couldn't keep her jack-head in water: all the engine-men in the neighborhood were tried, as well as crowther of the ouseburn, but they were clean bet." the engine had been fruitlessly pumping for nearly twelve months, and came to be regarded as a total failure. stephenson had gone to look at it when in course of erection, and then observed to the over-man that he thought it was defective; he also gave it as his opinion that if there were much water in the mine, the engine could never keep it under. of course, as he was only a brakesman, his opinion was considered to be worth very little on such a point. he continued, however, to make frequent visits to the engine to see "how she was getting on." from the bank-head where he worked his brake he could see the chimney smoking at the high pit; and as the workmen were passing to and from their work, he would call out and inquire "if they had gotten to the bottom yet." and the reply was always to the same effect--the pumping made no progress, and the workmen were still "drowned out." one saturday afternoon he went over to the high pit to examine the engine more carefully than he had yet done. he had been turning the subject over in his mind, and, after a long examination, he seemed to have satisfied himself as to the cause of the failure. kit heppel, one of the sinkers, asked him, "weel, george, what do you mak' o' her? do you think you could do any thing to improve her?" "man," said george, in reply, "i could alter her and make her draw: in a week's time from this i could send you to the bottom." heppel at once reported this conversation to ralph dodds, the head viewer, who, being now quite in despair, and hopeless of succeeding with the engine, determined to give george's skill a trial. george had already acquired the character of a very clever and ingenious workman, and, at the worst, he could only fail, as the rest had done. in the evening dodds went in search of stephenson, and met him on the road, dressed in his sunday's suit, on his way to "the preaching" in the methodist chapel, which he at that time attended. "well, george," said dodds, "they tell me that you think you can put the engine at the high pit to rights." "yes, sir," said george, "i think i could." "if that's the case, i'll give you a fair trial, and you must set to work immediately. we are clean drowned out, and can not get a step farther. the engineers hereabouts are all bet; and if you really succeed in accomplishing what they can not do, you may depend upon it i will make you a man for life." stephenson began his operations early next morning. the only condition that he made, before setting to work, was that he should select his own workmen. there was, as he knew, a good deal of jealousy among the "regular" men that a colliery brakesman should pretend to know more about their engine than they themselves did, and attempt to remedy defects which the most skilled men of their craft, including the engineer of the colliery, had failed to do. but george made the condition a _sine quâ non_. "the workmen," said he, "must either be all whigs or all tories." there was no help for it, so dodds ordered the old hands to stand aside. the men grumbled, but gave way; and then george and his party went in. the engine was taken entirely to pieces. the cistern containing the injection water was raised ten feet; the injection cock, being too small, was enlarged to nearly double its former size, and it was so arranged that it should be shut off quickly at the beginning of the stroke. these and other alterations were necessarily performed in a rough way, but, as the result proved, on true principles. stephenson also, finding that the boiler would bear a greater pressure than five pounds to the inch, determined to work it at a pressure of ten pounds, though this was contrary to the directions of both newcomen and smeaton. the necessary alterations were made in about three days, and many persons came to see the engine start, including the men who had put her up. the pit being nearly full of water, she had little to do on starting, and, to use george's words, "came bounce into the house." dodds exclaimed, "why, she was better as she was; now, she will knock the house down." after a short time, however, the engine got fairly to work, and by ten o'clock that night the water was lower in the pit than it had ever been before. the engine was kept pumping all thursday, and by the friday afternoon the pit was cleared of water, and the workmen were "sent to the bottom," as stephenson had promised. thus the alterations effected in the pumping apparatus proved completely successful.[ ] mr. dodds was particularly gratified with the manner in which the job had been done, and he made stephenson a present of ten pounds, which, though very inadequate when compared with the value of the work performed, was accepted with gratitude. george was proud of the gift as the first marked recognition of his skill as a workman; and he used afterward to say that it was the biggest sum of money he had up to that time earned in one lump. ralph dodds, however, did more than this; he released the brakesman from the handles of his engine at west moor, and appointed him engine-man at the high pit, at good wages, during the time the pit was sinking--the job lasting for about a year; and he also kept him in mind for farther advancement. stephenson's skill as an engine-doctor soon became noised abroad, and he was called upon to prescribe remedies for all the old, wheezy, and ineffective pumping-machines in the neighborhood. in this capacity he soon left the "regular" men far behind, though they, in their turn, were very much disposed to treat the killingworth brakesman as no better than a quack. nevertheless, his practice was really founded upon a close study of the principles of mechanics, and on an intimate practical acquaintance with the details of the pumping-engine. another of his smaller achievements in the same line is still told by the people of the district. at the corner of the road leading to long benton there was a quarry from which a peculiar and scarce kind of ochre was taken. in the course of working it out, the water had collected in considerable quantities; and there being no means of draining it off, it accumulated to such an extent that the farther working of the ochre was almost entirely stopped. ordinary pumps were tried, and failed; and then a windmill was tried, and failed too. on this, george was asked what ought to be done to clear the quarry of the water. he said "he would set up for them an engine, little bigger than a kailpot, that would clear them out in a week." and he did so. a little engine was speedily erected, by means of which the quarry was pumped dry in the course of a few days. thus his skill as a pump-doctor soon became the marvel of the district. in elastic muscular vigor stephenson was now in his prime, and he still continued zealous in measuring his strength and agility with his fellow-workmen. the competitive element in his nature was always strong, and his success in these feats of rivalry was certainly remarkable. few, if any, could lift such weights, throw the hammer and put the stone so far, or cover so great a space at a standing or running leap. one day, between the engine hour and the rope-rolling hour, kit heppel challenged him to leap from one high wall to another, with a deep gap between. to heppel's surprise and dismay, george took the standing leap, and cleared the eleven feet at a bound. had his eye been less accurate, or his limbs less agile and sure, the feat must have cost him his life. but so full of redundant muscular vigor was he, that leaping, putting, or throwing the hammer, were not enough for him. he was also ambitious of riding on horseback; and, as he had not yet been promoted to an office enabling him to keep a horse of his own, he sometimes borrowed one of the gin-horses for a ride. on one of these occasions he brought the animal back reeking, when tommy mitcheson, the bank horse-keeper, a rough-spoken fellow, exclaimed to him, "set such fellows as you on horseback, and you'll soon ride to the de'il." but tommy mitcheson lived to tell the story, and to confess that, after all, there had been a better issue of george's horsemanship than what he had predicted. old cree, the engine-wright at killingworth high pit, having been killed by an accident, george stephenson was, in , appointed engine-wright of the colliery at the salary of £ a year. he was also allowed the use of a galloway to ride upon in his visits of inspection to the collieries leased by the "grand allies" in that neighborhood. the "grand allies" were a company of gentlemen, consisting of sir thomas liddell (afterward lord ravensworth), the earl of strathmore, and mr. stuart wortley (afterward lord wharncliffe), the lessees of the killingworth collieries. having been informed of the merits of stephenson, of his indefatigable industry, and the skill which he had displayed in the repairs of the pumping-engines, they readily acceded to mr. dodds's recommendation that he should be appointed the colliery engine-wright; and, as we shall afterward find, they continued to honor him by distinguished marks of their approval. [illustration: killingworth high pit.] footnotes: [ ] the stephenson memorial schools have since been erected on the site of the old cottage at willington quay represented in the engraving at the head of this chapter. a vignette of the memorial schools will be found at the end of the volume. [ ] no register was made of robert stephenson's birth, and he himself was in doubt whether he was born in october, november, or december. for instance, a dinner was given to him by the contractors of the london and birmingham railway on the th of november, , that day being then supposed by his father to have been his birthday. when preparing the "life of george stephenson," robert stated to the author that the th of december was the correct day. but, after the book had passed through four editions, he desired the date to be corrected to the th of october, which, on the whole, he thought the right date, and it was so altered accordingly. [ ] the congregation in a church near newcastle were one sunday morning plentifully powdered with chips from the white ceiling of the church, which had been _crept under_, being above an old mine. "it is only the pit a-creeping," said the parish clerk, by way of encouragement to the people to remain. but it would not do; for there was a sudden _creep out_ of the congregation. the clerk went at last, with a powdered head, crying out, "it's only a creep."--"our coal-fields and our coal-pits." [ ] this incident was related by robert stephenson during a voyage to the north of scotland in , when off montrose, on board his yacht _titania_; and the reminiscence was immediately communicated to the author by the late mr. william kell, of gateshead, who was present, at mr. stephenson's request, as being worthy of insertion in his father's biography. mr. george elliott, one of the most skilled coal-viewers in the north, was of the party, and expressed his admiration at the ready skill with which the difficulty had been overcome, the expedient of the boot being then unknown in the northumberland and durham mines. he acknowledged it to be "a wrinkle," adding that its application would, in several instances within his own knowledge, have been of great practical value. [ ] as different versions have been given of this affair, it may be mentioned that the above statement is made on the authority of the late robert stephenson, and of george stephenson himself, as communicated by the latter to his friend thomas l. gooch, c.e., who has kindly supplied the author with his memoranda on the subject. [illustration: glebe farm-house, benton. [by r. p. leitch.]] chapter iv. the stephensons at killingworth--education and self-education of father and son. george stephenson had now been diligently employed for several years in the work of self-improvement, and he experienced the usual results in increasing mental strength, capability, and skill. perhaps the secret of every man's best success in life is to be found in the alacrity and industry with which he takes advantage of the opportunities which present themselves for well-doing. our engine-man was an eminent illustration of the importance of cultivating this habit of life. every spare moment was laid under contribution by him, either for the purpose of adding to his earnings or to his knowledge. he missed no opportunity of extending his observations, especially in his own department of work, aiming at improvement, and trying to turn all that he did know to useful practical account. he continued his attempts to solve the mystery of perpetual motion, and contrived several model machines with the object of embodying his ideas in a practical working shape. he afterward used to lament the time he had lost in these futile efforts, and said that if he had enjoyed the opportunities which most young men now have, of learning from books what previous experimenters had accomplished, he would have been spared much labor and mortification. not being acquainted with what other mechanics had done, he groped his way in pursuit of some idea originated by his own independent thinking and observation, and, when he had brought it into some definite form, lo! he found that his supposed invention had long been known and recorded in scientific books. often he thought he had hit upon discoveries which he subsequently found were but old and exploded fallacies. yet his very struggle to overcome the difficulties which lay in his way was of itself an education of the best sort. by wrestling with them, he strengthened his judgment and sharpened his skill, stimulating and cultivating his inventiveness and mechanical ingenuity. being very much in earnest, he was compelled to consider the subject of his special inquiry in all its relations, and thus he gradually acquired practical ability through his very efforts after the impracticable. many of his evenings were spent in the society of john wigham, whose father occupied the glebe farm at benton close at hand. john was a fair penman and good arithmetician, and stephenson frequented his society chiefly for the purpose of improving himself in writing and "figuring." under andrew robertson he had never quite mastered the rule of three, and it was only when wigham took him in hand that he made progress in the higher branches of arithmetic. he generally took his slate with him to the wighams' cottage, when he had his sums set, that he might work them out while tending his engine on the following day. when too busy with other work to be able to call upon wigham in person, he sent the slate by a fellow-workman to have the former sums corrected and new ones set. sometimes also, at leisure moments, he was enabled to do a little "figuring" with chalk upon the sides of the coal-wagons. so much patient perseverance could not but eventually succeed; and by dint of practice and study, stephenson was enabled to master the successive rules of arithmetic. john wigham was of great use to his pupil in many ways. he was a good talker, fond of argument, an extensive reader as country reading went in those days, and a very suggestive thinker. though his store of information might be comparatively small when measured with that of more highly cultivated minds, much of it was entirely new to stephenson, who regarded him as a very clever and extraordinary person. wigham also taught him to draw plans and sections, though in this branch stephenson proved so apt that he soon surpassed his master. a volume of "ferguson's lectures on mechanics" which fell into their hands was a great treasure to both the students. one who remembers their evening occupations says he "used to wonder what they meant by weighing the air and water in so odd a way." they were trying the specific gravities of objects; and the devices which they employed, the mechanical shifts to which they were put, were often of the rudest kind. in these evening entertainments the mechanical contrivances were supplied by stephenson, while wigham found the scientific rationale. the opportunity thus afforded to the former of cultivating his mind by contact with one wiser than himself proved of great value, and in after life stephenson gratefully remembered the assistance which, when a humble workman, he had received from john wigham, the farmer's son. his leisure moments thus carefully improved, it will be inferred that stephenson continued a sober man. though his notions were never extreme on this point, he was systematically temperate. it appears that on the invitation of his master, ralph dodds--and an invitation from a master to a workman is not easy to resist--he had, on one or two occasions, been induced to join him in a forenoon glass of ale in the public house of the village. but one day, about noon, when mr. dodds had got him as far as the public-house door, on his invitation to "come in and take a glass o' yel," stephenson made a dead stop, and said, firmly, "no, sir, you must excuse me; i have made a resolution to drink no more at this time of day." and he went back. he desired to retain the character of a steady workman; and the instances of men about him who had made shipwreck of their character through intemperance were then, as now, unhappily too frequent. but another consideration besides his own self-improvement had already begun to exercise an important influence upon his life. this was the training and education of his son robert, now growing up an active, intelligent boy, as full of fun and tricks as his father had been. when a little fellow, scarce big enough to reach so high as to put a clock-head on when placed upon the table, his father would make him mount a chair for the purpose; and to "help father" was the proudest work which the boy then, and ever after, could take part in. when the little engine was set up at the ochre quarry to pump it dry, robert was scarcely absent for an hour. he watched the machine very eagerly when it was set to work, and he was very much annoyed at the fire burning away the grates. the man who fired the engine was a sort of wag, and thinking to get a laugh at the boy, he said, "those bars are getting varra bad, robert; i think we maun cut up some of that hard wood, and put it in instead." "what would be the use of that, you fool?" said the boy, quickly. "you would no sooner have put them in than they would be burnt out again!" [illustration: rutter's school-house, long benton. [by r. p. leitch.]] so soon as robert was of a proper age, his father sent him over to the road-side school at long benton, kept by rutter, the parish clerk. but the education which he gave was of a very limited kind, scarcely extending beyond the primer and pothooks. while working as a brakesman on the pit-head at killingworth, the father had often bethought him of the obstructions he had himself encountered in life through his want of schooling, and he formed the determination that no labor, nor pains, nor self-denial on his part should be spared to furnish his son with the best education that it was in his power to bestow. it is true, his earnings were comparatively small at that time. he was still maintaining his infirm parents, and the cost of living continued excessive. but he fell back, as before, upon his old expedient of working up his spare time in the evenings at home, or during the night shifts when it was his turn to tend the engine, in mending and making shoes, cleaning clocks and watches, making shoe-lasts for the shoemakers of the neighborhood, and cutting out the pitmen's clothes for their wives; and we have been told that to this day there are clothes worn at killingworth made after "geordy steevie's cut." to give his own words: "in the earlier period of my career," said he, "when robert was a little boy, i saw how deficient i was in education, and i made up my mind that he should not labor under the same defect, but that i would put him to a good school, and give him a liberal training. i was, however, a poor man; and how do you think i managed? i betook myself to mending my neighbors' clocks and watches at nights, after my daily labor was done, and thus i procured the means of educating my son."[ ] by dint of such extra labor in his by-hours, with this object, stephenson contrived to save a sum of £ , which he accumulated in _guineas_, each of which he afterward sold to jews, who went about buying up gold coins (then dearer than silver), at twenty-six shillings apiece; and he lent out the proceeds at interest. he was now, therefore, a comparatively thriving man. when he was appointed engine-wright of the colliery, he was, of course, still easier in his circumstances; and, carrying out the resolution which he had formed as to his boy's education, robert was sent to mr. bruce's school in percy street, newcastle, at mid-summer, , when he was about twelve years old. his father bought for him a donkey, on which he rode into newcastle and back daily; and there are many still living who remember the little boy, dressed in his suit of homely gray stuff cut out by his father, cantering along to school upon the "cuddy," with his wallet of provisions for the day and his bag of books slung over his shoulder. when robert went to mr. bruce's school he was a shy, unpolished country lad, speaking the broad dialect of the pitmen; and the other boys would occasionally tease him, for the purpose of provoking an outburst of his killingworth doric. as the shyness got rubbed off by familiarity, his love of fun began to show itself, and he was found able enough to hold his own among the other boys. as a scholar he was steady and diligent, and his master was accustomed to hold him up to the laggards of the school as an example of good conduct and industry. but his progress, though satisfactory, was by no means extraordinary. he used in after life to pride himself on his achievements in mensuration, though another boy, john taylor, beat him at arithmetic. he also made considerable progress in mathematics; and in a letter written to the son of his teacher, many years after, he said, "it was to mr. bruce's tuition and methods of modeling the mind that i attribute much of my success as an engineer, for it was from him that i derived my taste for mathematical pursuits, and the facility i possess of applying this kind of knowledge to practical purposes, and modifying it according to circumstances." [illustration: bruce's school, newcastle. [by r. p. leitch.]] during the time robert attended school at newcastle, his father made the boy's education instrumental to his own. robert was accustomed to spend some of his spare time at the rooms of the literary and philosophical institute, and when he went home in the evening he would recount to his father the results of his reading. sometimes he was allowed to take with him to killingworth a volume of the "repertory of arts and sciences," which father and son studied together. but many of the most valuable works belonging to the newcastle library were not permitted to be removed from the rooms; these robert was instructed to read and study, and bring away with him descriptions and sketches for his father's information. his father also practiced him in the reading of plans and drawings without at all referring to the written descriptions. he used to observe to his son, "a good drawing or plan should always explain itself;" and, placing a drawing of an engine or machine before the youth, he would say, "there, now, describe that to me--the arrangement and the action." thus he taught him to read a drawing as easily as he would read a page of a book. both father and son profited by this excellent practice, which shortly enabled them to apprehend with the greatest facility the details of even the most difficult and complicated mechanical drawing. while robert went on with his lessons in the evenings, his father was usually occupied with his watch and clock cleaning, or contriving models of pumping-engines, or endeavoring to embody in a tangible shape the mechanical inventions which he found described in the odd volumes on mechanics which fell in his way. this daily and unceasing example of industry and application, working on before the boy's eyes in the person of a loving and beloved father, imprinted itself deeply upon his mind in characters never to be effaced. a spirit of self-improvement was thus early and carefully planted and fostered in him, which continued to influence his character through life; and toward the close of his career he was proud to confess that if his professional success had been great, it was mainly to the example and training of his father that he owed it. robert was not, however, exclusively devoted to study, but, like most boys full of animal spirits, he was very fond of fun and play, and sometimes of mischief. dr. bruce relates that an old killingworth laborer, when asked by robert, on one of his last visits to newcastle, if he remembered him, replied with emotion, "ay, indeed! haven't i paid your head many a time when you came with your father's bait, for you were always a sad hempy?" the author had the pleasure, in the year , of accompanying robert stephenson on a visit to his old home and haunts at killingworth. he had so often traveled the road upon his donkey to and from school that every foot of it was familiar to him, and each turn in it served to recall to mind some incident of his boyish days.[ ] his eyes glistened when he came in sight of killingworth pit head. pointing to a humble red-tiled house by the roadside at benton, he said, "you see that house--that was rutter's, where i learned my a b c, and made a beginning of my school learning; and there," pointing to a colliery chimney on the left, "there is long benton, where my father put up his first pumping-engine; and a great success it was. and this humble clay-floored cottage you see here is where my grandfather lived till the close of his life. many a time have i ridden straight into the house, mounted on my cuddy, and called upon grandfather to admire his points. i remember the old man feeling the animal all over--he was then quite blind--after which he would dilate upon the shape of his ears, fetlocks, and quarters, and usually end by pronouncing him to be a 'real blood.' i was a great favorite with the old man, who continued very fond of animals, and cheerful to the last; and i believe nothing gave him greater pleasure than a visit from me and my cuddy." on the way from benton to high killingworth, mr. stephenson pointed to a corner of the road where he had once played a boyish trick upon a killingworth collier. "straker," said he, "was a great bully, a coarse, swearing fellow, and a perfect tyrant among the women and children. he would go tearing into old nanny the huxter's shop in the village, and demand in a savage voice, 'what's ye'r best ham the pund?' 'what's floor the hunder?' 'what d'ye ax for prime bacon?'--his categories usually ending with the miserable order, accompanied with a tremendous oath, of 'gie's a penny rrow (roll) an' a baubee herrin'!' the poor woman was usually set 'all of a shake' by a visit from this fellow. he was also a great boaster, and used to crow over the robbers whom he had put to flight; mere men in buckram, as every body knew. we boys," he continued, "believed him to be a great coward, and determined to play him a trick. two other boys joined me in waylaying straker one night at that corner," pointing to it. "we sprang out and called upon him, in as gruff voices as we could assume, to 'stand and deliver!' he dropped down upon his knees in the dirt, declaring he was a poor man, with a sma' family, asking for 'mercy,' and imploring us, as 'gentlemen, for god's sake, t' let him a-be!' we couldn't stand this any longer, and set up a shout of laughter. recognizing our boys' voices, he sprang to his feet again and rattled out a volley of oaths, on which we cut through the hedge, and heard him shortly after swearing his way along the road to the yel-house." on another occasion robert played a series of tricks of a somewhat different character. like his father, he was very fond of reducing his scientific reading to practice; and after studying franklin's description of the lightning experiment, he proceeded to expend his store of saturday pennies in purchasing about half a mile of copper wire at a brazier's shop in newcastle. having prepared his kite, he set it up in the field opposite his father's door, and bringing the wire, insulated by means of a few feet of silk cord, over the backs of some of farmer wigham's cows, he soon had them skipping about the field in all directions with their tails up. one day he had his kite flying at the cottage-door as his father's galloway was hanging by the bridle to the paling, waiting for the master to mount. bringing the end of the wire just over the pony's crupper, so smart an electric shock was given it that the brute was almost knocked down. at this juncture his father issued from the house, riding-whip in hand, and was witness to the scientific trick just played off upon his galloway. "ah! you mischievous scoondrel!" cried he to the boy, who ran off, himself inwardly chuckling with pride, nevertheless, at robert's successful experiment.[ ] at this time, and for many years after, stephenson dwelt in a cottage standing by the side of the road leading from the west moor pit to killingworth. the railway from west moor crosses this road close by the easternmost end of the cottage. the dwelling originally consisted of but one apartment on the ground floor, with a garret overhead, to which access was obtained by means of a step-ladder. with his own hands stephenson built an oven, and in the course of time he added rooms to the cottage, until it became expanded into a comfortable four-roomed dwelling, in which he remained as long as he lived at killingworth. [illustration: stephenson's cottage, west moor. [by r. p. leitch.]] he continued as fond of birds and animals as ever, and seemed to have the power of attaching them to him in a remarkable degree. he had a blackbird at killingworth so fond of him that it would fly about the cottage, and on holding out his finger the bird would come and perch upon it directly. a cage was built for "blackie" in the partition between the passage and the room, a square of glass forming its outer wall; and robert used afterward to take pleasure in describing the oddity of the bird, imitating the manner in which it would cock its head on his father's entering the house, and follow him with its eye into the inner apartment. neighbors were accustomed to call at the cottage and have their clocks and watches set to rights when they went wrong. one day, after looking at the works of a watch left by a pitman's wife, george handed it to his son: "put her in the oven, robert," said he, "for a quarter of an hour or so." it seemed an odd way of repairing a watch; nevertheless, the watch was put into the oven, and at the end of the appointed time it was taken out, going all right. the wheels had merely got clogged by the oil congealed by the cold, which at once explains the rationale of the remedy adopted. there was a little garden attached to the cottage, in which, while a workman, stephenson took a pride in growing gigantic leeks and astonishing cabbages. there was great competition in the growing of vegetables among the villagers, all of whom he excelled excepting one, whose cabbages sometimes outshone his. to protect his garden-crops from the ravages of the birds, he invented a strange sort of "fley-craw," which moved its arms with the wind; and he fastened his garden-door by means of a piece of ingenious mechanism, so that no one but himself could enter it. his cottage was quite a curiosity-shop of models of engines, self-acting planes, and perpetual-motion machines. the last named contrivances, however, were only unsuccessful attempts to solve a problem which had already baffled hundreds of preceding inventors. his odd and eccentric contrivances often excited great wonder among the killingworth villagers. he won the women's admiration by connecting their cradles with the smoke-jack, and making them self-acting. then he astonished the pitmen by attaching an alarm to the clock of the watchman whose duty it was to call them betimes in the morning. he also contrived a wonderful lamp which burned under water, with which he was afterward wont to amuse the brandling family at gosforth--going into the fish-pond at night, lamp in hand, attracting and catching the fish, which rushed wildly toward the flame. dr. bruce tells of a competition which stephenson had with the joiner at killingworth as to which of them could make the best shoe-last; and when the former had done his work, either for the humor of the thing or to secure fair play from the appointed judge, he took it to the morrisons in newcastle, and got them to put their stamp upon it; so that it is possible the killingworth brakesman, afterward the inventor of a safety-lamp and originator of the locomotive railway system, and john morrison, the last-maker, afterward the translator of the scriptures into the chinese language, may have confronted each other in solemn contemplation of the successful last, which won the verdict coveted by its maker. sometimes george would endeavor to impart to his fellow-workmen the results of his scientific reading. every thing that he learned from books was so new and so wonderful to him, that he regarded the facts he drew from them in the light of discoveries, as if they had been made but yesterday. once he tried to explain to some of the pitmen how the earth was round, and kept turning round. but his auditors flatly declared the thing to be impossible, as it was clear that "at the bottom side they must fall off!" "ah!" said george, "you don't quite understand it yet." his son robert also early endeavored to communicate to others the information which he had gathered at school; and dr. bruce relates that, when visiting killingworth on one occasion, he found him engaged in teaching algebra to such of the pitmen's boys as would become his pupils. while robert was still at school, his father proposed to him during the holidays that he should construct a sun-dial, to be placed over their cottage-door at west moor. "i expostulated with him at first," said robert, "that i had not learned sufficient astronomy and mathematics to enable me to make the necessary calculations. but he would have no denial. 'the thing is to be done,' said he, 'so just set about it at once.' well, we got a 'ferguson's astronomy,' and studied the subject together. many a sore head i had while making the necessary calculations to adapt the dial to the latitude of killingworth. but at length it was fairly drawn out on paper, and then my father got a stone, and we hewed, and carved, and polished it, until we made a very respectable dial of it; and there it is, you see," pointing to it over the cottage door, "still quietly numbering the hours when the sun shines. i assure you, not a little was thought of that piece of work by the pitmen when it was put up, and began to tell its tale of time." the date carved upon the dial is "august th, mdcccxvi." both father and son were in after life very proud of their joint production. many years after, george took a party of savans, when attending the meeting of the british association at newcastle, over to killingworth to see the pits, and he did not fail to direct their attention to the sun-dial; and robert, on the last visit which he made to the place, a short time before his death, took a friend into the cottage, and pointed out to him the very desk, still there, at which he had sat when making his calculations of the latitude of killingworth. [illustration: (sun-dial, killingworth)] from the time of his appointment as engineer at the killingworth pit, george stephenson was in a measure relieved from the daily routine of manual labor, having, as we have seen, advanced himself to the grade of a higher-class workman. he had not ceased to be a worker, though he employed his industry in a different way. it might, indeed, be inferred that he had now the command of greater leisure; but his spare hours were as much as ever given to work, either necessary or self-imposed. so far as regarded his social position, he had already reached the summit of his ambition; and when he had got his hundred a year, and his dun galloway to ride on, he said he never wanted to be any higher. when robert wetherly offered to give him an old gig, his traveling having so much increased of late, he accepted it with great reluctance, observing that he should be ashamed to get into it, "people would think him so proud." when the high pit had been sunk and the coal was ready for working, stephenson erected his first winding-engine to draw the coals out of the pit, and also a pumping-engine for long benton colliery, both of which proved quite successful. among other works of this time, he projected and laid down a self-acting incline along the declivity which fell toward the coal-loading place near willington, where he had formerly officiated as brakesman; and he so arranged it that the full wagons, descending, drew the empty wagons up the railroad. this was one of the first self-acting inclines laid down in the district. the following is stephenson's own account of his various duties and labors at this period of his life, as given before a committee of the house of commons in :[ ] "after making some improvements in the steam-engines above ground, i was requested by the manager of the colliery to go underground along with him, to see if any improvements could be made in the mines by employing machinery as a substitute for manual labor and horse-power in bringing the coals out of the deeper workings of the mine. on my first going down the killingworth pit, there was a steam-engine underground for the purpose of drawing water from a pit that was sunk at some distance from the first shaft. the killingworth coal-field is considerably dislocated. after the colliery was opened, at a very short distance from the shaft, one of those dislocations was met with. the coal was thrown down about forty yards. considerable time was spent in sinking another pit to this depth. and on my going down to examine the work, i proposed making the engine (which had been erected some time previously) to draw the coals up an inclined plane which descended immediately from the place where it was fixed. a considerable change was accordingly made in the mode of working the colliery, not only in applying the machinery, but in employing putters instead of horses in bringing the coals from the hewers; and by those changes the number of horses in the pit was reduced from about to or . during the time i was engaged in making these important alterations, i went round the workings in the pit with the viewer almost every time that he went into the mine, not only at killingworth, but at mountmoor, derwentcrook, southmoor, all of which collieries belonged to lord ravensworth and his partners; and the whole of the machinery in all these collieries was put under my charge." it will thus be observed that stephenson had now much better opportunities for improving himself in mechanics than he had heretofore possessed. his practical knowledge of the steam-engine could not fail to prove of the greatest value to him. his shrewd insight, together with his intimate acquaintance with its mechanism, enabled him to apprehend, as if by intuition, its most abstruse and difficult combinations. the study which he had given to it when a workman, and the patient manner in which he had groped his way through all the details of the machine, gave him the power of a master in dealing with it as applied to colliery purposes. sir thomas liddell was frequently about the works, and took pleasure in giving every encouragement to the engine-wright in his efforts after improvement. the subject of the locomotive engine was already occupying stephenson's careful attention, although it was still regarded in the light of a curious and costly toy, of comparatively little real use. but he had at an early period recognized its practical value, and formed an adequate conception of the might which as yet slumbered within it, and he now proceeded to bend the whole faculties of his mind to the development of its powers. [illustration: colliers' cottages at long benton. [by r. p. leitch.]] footnotes: [ ] speech at newcastle, on the th of june, , at the meeting held in celebration of the opening of the newcastle and darlington railway. [ ] at one part of the road he was once pulled off his donkey by some mischievous boys, and released by a young man named james burnet. many years after, burnet was taken on as a workman at the newcastle factory, probably owing his selection in some measure to the above circumstance. [ ] robert stephenson was, perhaps, prouder of this little boyish experiment than he was of many of his subsequent achievements. not having been quite accurately stated in the first edition of this book, mr. stephenson noted the correction for the second, and wrote to the author (sept. th, ) as follows: "in the kite experiment, will you say that the copper wire was insulated by a few feet of silk cord; without this, the experiment can not be made." [ ] evidence given before the select committee on accidents in mines, . chapter v. the locomotive engine--george stephenson begins its improvement. the rapid increase in the coal-trade of the tyne about the beginning of the present century had the effect of stimulating the ingenuity of mechanics, and encouraging them to devise improved methods of transporting the coal from the pits to the shipping-places. from our introductory chapter, it will have been observed that the improvements which had thus far been effected were confined almost entirely to the road. the railway wagons still continued to be drawn by horses. by improving and flattening the tram-way, considerable economy in horse-power had been secured; but, unless some more effective method of mechanical traction could be devised, it was clear that railway improvement had almost reached its limits. notwithstanding trevithick's comparatively successful experiment with the first railway locomotive on the merthyr tydvil tram-road in , described in a former chapter, he seems to have taken no farther steps to bring his invention into notice. he was probably discouraged by the breakage of the cast-iron plates, of which the road was formed, which were crushed under the load of his engine, and could not induce the owners of the line to relay it with better materials so as to give his locomotive a fair trial. an imaginary difficulty, also, seems to have tended, among other obstacles, to prevent the adoption of the locomotive, viz., the idea that, if a heavy weight were placed behind the engine, the "grip" or "bite" of its smooth wheels upon the equally smooth iron rail must necessarily be so slight that they would whirl round upon it, and, consequently, that the machine would not make any progress.[ ] hence trevithick, in his patent, provided that the periphery of the driving-wheels should be made rough by the projection of bolts or cross-grooves, so that the adhesion of the wheels to the road might thereby be better secured. trevithick himself does not seem to have erected another engine, but we gather from the evidence given by mr. rastrick in the committee on the liverpool and manchester bill in , that ten or twelve years before that time he had made an engine for trevithick after his patent, and that the engine was exhibited in london. "a circular railroad was laid down," said mr. rastrick, "and it was stated that this engine was to run against a horse, and that which went a sufficient number of miles was to win." it is not known what afterward became of this engine. there were, however, at a much earlier period, several wealthy and enterprising men, both in yorkshire and northumberland, who were willing to give the locomotive a fair trial; and had trevithick but possessed the requisite tenacity of purpose--had he not been too soon discouraged by partially successful experiments--he might have risen to both fame and fortune, not only as the inventor of the locomotive, but as the practical introducer of railway locomotion. one of trevithick's early friends and admirers was mr. blackett, of wylam. the wylam wagon-way is one of the oldest in the north of england. down to the year it was formed of wooden spars or rails, laid down between the colliery at wylam--where old robert stephenson worked--and the village of lemington, some four miles down the tyne, where the coals were loaded into keels or barges, and floated down past newcastle, to be shipped for london. each chaldron-wagon had a man in charge of it, and was originally drawn by one horse. the rate at which the wagons were hauled was so slow that only two journeys were performed by each man and horse in one day, and three on the day following. this primitive wagon-way passed, as before stated, close in front of the cottage in which george stephenson was born, and one of the earliest sights which met his infant eyes was this wooden tram-road worked by horses. mr. blackett was the first colliery owner in the north who took an active interest in the locomotive. he had witnessed the first performances of trevithick's steam-carriage in london, and was so taken with the idea of its application to railway locomotion that he resolved to have an engine erected after the new patent for use upon his tram-way at wylam. he accordingly obtained from trevithick, in october, , a plan of his engine, provided with "friction-wheels," and employed mr. john whinfield, of pipewellgate, gateshead, to construct it at his foundery there. the engine was made under the superintendence of one john steele,[ ] an ingenious mechanic, who had been in wales, and worked under trevithick in fitting the engine at pen-y-darran. when the gateshead locomotive was finished, a temporary way was laid down in the works, on which it was run backward and forward many times. for some reason or other, however--it is said because the engine was too light for drawing the coal-trains--it never left the works, but was dismounted from the wheels, and set to blow the cupola of the foundery, in which service it long continued to be employed. several years elapsed before mr. blackett took any farther steps to carry out his idea. the final abandonment of trevithick's locomotive at pen-y-darran perhaps contributed to deter him from proceeding farther; but he had the wylam wooden tram-way taken up in , and a plate-way of cast iron laid down instead--a single line furnished with sidings to enable the laden wagons to pass the empty ones. the new iron road proved so much smoother than the old wooden one, that a single horse, instead of drawing one, was enabled to draw two, or even three laden wagons. [illustration: blenkinsop's leeds engine.] although the locomotive seemed about to be lost sight of, it was not forgotten. in , mr. blenkinsop, the manager of the middleton collieries, near leeds, revived the idea of employing it in lieu of horses to haul the coals along his tram-way. mr. blenkinsop, in the patent which he took out for his proposed engine, followed in many respects the design of trevithick; but, with the help of matthew murray, of leeds, one of the most ingenious mechanics of his day, he introduced several important and valuable modifications. thus he employed two cylinders of in. diameter instead of one, as in trevithick's engine. these cylinders were placed vertically, and immersed for more than half their length in the steam space of the boiler. the eduction pipes met in a single tube at the top, and threw the steam into the air. the boiler was cylindrical in form, but of cast iron. it had one flue, the fire being at one end and the chimney at the other. the engine was supported on a carriage without springs, resting directly upon two pairs of wheels and axles unconnected with the working parts, and which merely served to carry the engine upon the rails. the motion was effected in this way: the piston-rods, by means of cross-heads, worked the connecting-rods, which came down to two cranks on each side below the boiler, placed at right angles in order to pass their centres with certainty. these cranks worked two shafts fixed across the engine, on which were small-toothed wheels working into a larger one between them; and on the axis of this large wheel, outside the framing, were the driving-wheels, one of which was toothed, and worked into a rack on one side of the railway. it will be observed that the principal new features in this engine were the two cylinders and the toothed-wheel working into a rack-rail. mr. blenkinsop contrived the latter expedient in order to insure sufficient adhesion between the wheel and the road, supposing that smooth wheels and smooth rails would be insufficient for the purpose. clumsy and slow though the engine was compared with modern locomotives, it was nevertheless a success. it was the first engine that plied regularly upon any railway, doing useful work; and it continued so employed for more than twenty years. what was more, it was a commercial success, for its employment was found to be economical compared with horse-power. in a letter to sir john sinclair, mr. blenkinsop stated that his engine weighed five tons; consumed two thirds of a hundred weight of coals and fifty gallons of water per hour; drew twenty-seven wagons, weighing ninety-four tons, on a dead level, at three and a half miles an hour, or fifteen tons up an ascent of in. in the yard; that when "lightly loaded" it traveled at a speed of ten miles an hour; that it did the work of sixteen horses in twelve hours; and that its cost was £ . such was mr. blenkinsop's own account of the performances of his engine, which was for a long time regarded as one of the wonders of the neighborhood.[ ] the messrs. chapman, of newcastle, in endeavored to overcome the same fictitious difficulty of the want of adhesion between the wheel and the rail by patenting a locomotive to work along the road by means of a chain stretched from one end of it to the other. this chain was passed once round a grooved barrel-wheel under the centre of the engine, so that when the wheel turned, the locomotive, as it were, dragged itself along the railway. an engine constructed after this plan was tried on the heaton railway, near newcastle; but it was so clumsy in action, there was so great a loss of power by friction, and it was found to be so expensive and difficult to keep in repair, that it was very soon abandoned. another remarkable expedient was adopted by mr. brunton, of the butterley works, derbyshire, who in patented his mechanical traveler, to go _upon legs_ working alternately like those of a horse.[ ] but this engine never got beyond the experimental state, for, at its very first trial, the driver, to make sure of a good start, overloaded the safety-valve, when the boiler burst and killed a number of the by-standers, wounding many more. these, and other contrivances with the same object, projected about the same time, show that invention was busily at work, and that many minds were anxiously laboring to solve the problem of steam locomotion on railways. mr. blackett, of wylam, was encouraged by the success of mr. blenkinsop's experiment, and again he resolved to make a trial of the locomotive upon his wagon-way. accordingly, in , he ordered a second engine, which was so designed as to work with a toothed driving-wheel upon a rack-rail as at leeds. this locomotive was constructed by thomas waters, of gateshead, under the superintendence of jonathan foster, mr. blackett's principal engine-wright. it was a combination of trevithick's and blenkinsop's engines; but it was of a more awkward construction than either. like trevithick's, it had a single cylinder with a fly-wheel, which blenkinsop had discarded. the boiler was of cast iron. jonathan foster described it to the author in as "a strange machine, with lots of pumps, cog-wheels, and plugs, requiring constant attention while at work." the weight of the whole was about six tons. when finished, it was conveyed to wylam on a wagon, and there mounted upon a wooden frame, supported by four pairs of wheels, which had been constructed for its reception. a barrel of water, placed on another frame upon wheels, was attached to it as a tender. after a great deal of labor, the cumbrous machine was got upon the road. at first it would not move an inch. its maker, tommy waters, became impatient, and at length enraged, and, taking hold of the lever of the safety-valve, declared in his desperation that "either _she_ or _he_ should go." at length the machinery was set in motion, on which, as jonathan foster described to the author, "she flew all to pieces, and it was the biggest wonder i' the world that we were not all blewn up." the incompetent and useless engine was declared to be a failure; it was shortly after dismounted and sold; and mr. blackett's praiseworthy efforts thus far proved in vain. 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 -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." notwithstanding, however, the comparative failure of the second locomotive, mr. blackett persevered with his experiments. he was zealously assisted by jonathan foster, the engine-wright, and william hedley, the viewer of the colliery, a highly ingenious person, who proved of great use in carrying out the experiments to a successful issue. one of the chief causes of failure being the rack-rail, the idea occurred to mr. hedley that it might be possible to secure sufficient adhesion between the wheel and the rail by the mere weight of the engine, and he proceeded to make a series of experiments for the purpose of determining this problem. he had a frame placed on four wheels, and fitted up with windlasses attached by gearing to the several wheels. the frame having been properly weighted, six men were set to work the windlasses, when it was found that the adhesion of the smooth wheels on the smooth rails was quite sufficient to enable them to propel the machine without slipping. having then found the proportion which the power bore to the weight, he demonstrated by successive experiments that the weight of the engine would of itself produce sufficient adhesion to enable it to draw upon a smooth railroad the requisite number of wagons in all kinds of weather. and thus was the fallacy which had heretofore prevailed on this subject completely exploded, and it was satisfactorily proved that rack-rails, toothed wheels, endless chains, and legs, were alike unnecessary for the efficient traction of loaded wagons upon a moderately level road.[ ] from this time forward, considerably less difficulty was experienced in working the coal-trains upon the wylam tram-road. at length the rack-rail was dispensed with. the road was laid with heavier rails; the working of the old engine was improved; and a new engine was shortly after built and placed upon the road, still on eight wheels, driven by seven rack-wheels working inside them--with a wrought-iron boiler through which the flue was returned so as largely to increase the heating surface, and thus give increased power to the engine.[ ] below is a representation of this improved wylam engine. [illustration: wylam engine.] as may readily be imagined, the jets of steam from the piston, blowing off into the air at high pressure while the engine was in motion, caused considerable annoyance to horses passing along the wylam road, at that time a public highway. the nuisance was felt to be almost intolerable, and a neighboring gentleman threatened to have it put down. to diminish the noise as much as possible, mr. blackett gave orders that so soon as any horse, or vehicle drawn by horses, came in sight, the locomotive was to be stopped, and the frightful blast of the engine thus suspended until the passing animals had got out of sight. much interruption was thus caused to the working of the railway, and it excited considerable dissatisfaction among the workmen. the following plan was adopted to abate the nuisance: a reservoir was provided immediately behind the chimney (as shown in the opposite cut) into which the waste steam was thrown after it had performed its office in the cylinder, and from this reservoir the steam gradually escaped into the atmosphere without noise. this arrangement was devised with the express object of preventing a blast in the chimney, the value of which, as we shall subsequently find, was not detected until george stephenson, adopting it with a preconceived design and purpose, demonstrated its importance and value--as being, in fact, the very life-breath of the locomotive engine. while mr. blackett was thus experimenting and building locomotives at wylam, george stephenson was anxiously studying the same subject at killingworth. he was no sooner appointed engine-wright of the collieries than his attention was directed to the means of more economically hauling the coal from the pits to the river side. we have seen that one of the first important improvements which he made, after being placed in charge of the colliery machinery, was to apply the surplus power of a pumping steam-engine fixed underground, for the purpose of drawing the coals out of the deeper workings of the killingworth mines, by which he succeeded in effecting a large reduction in the expenditure on manual and horse labor. the coals, when brought above ground, had next to be laboriously dragged by means of horses to the shipping staiths on the tyne, several miles distant. the adoption of a tram-road, it is true, had tended to facilitate their transit; nevertheless, the haulage was both tedious and expensive. with the view of economizing labor, stephenson laid down inclined planes where the nature of the ground would admit of this expedient being adopted. thus a train of full wagons let down the incline by means of a rope running over wheels laid along the tram-road, the other end of which was attached to a train of empty wagons placed at the bottom of the parallel road on the same incline, dragged them up by the simple power of gravity. but this applied only to a comparatively small part of the road. an economical method of working the coal-trains, instead of by means of horses--the keep of which was at that time very costly, in consequence of the high price of corn--was still a great desideratum, and the best practical minds in the collieries were actively engaged in trying to solve the problem. in the first place, stephenson resolved to make himself thoroughly acquainted with what had already been done. mr. blackett's engines were working daily at wylam, past the cottage where he had been born, and thither he frequently went[ ] to inspect the improvements made by mr. blackett from time to time both in the locomotive and in the plate-way along which it worked. jonathan foster informed us that, after one of these visits, stephenson declared to him his conviction that a much more effective engine might be made, that should work more steadily and draw the load more effectively. he had also the advantage, about the same time, of seeing one of blenkinsop's leeds engines, which was placed on the tram-way leading from the collieries of kenton and coxlodge, on the d of september, . this locomotive drew sixteen chaldron wagons, containing an aggregate weight of seventy tons, at the rate of about three miles an hour. george stephenson and several of the killingworth men were among the crowd of spectators that day; and after examining the engine and observing its performances, he remarked to his companions that "he thought he could make a better engine than that, to go upon legs." probably he had heard of the invention of brunton, whose patent had by this time been published, and proved the subject of much curious speculation in the colliery districts. certain it is that, shortly after the inspection of the coxlodge engine, he contemplated the construction of a new locomotive, which was to surpass all that had preceded it. he observed that those engines which had been constructed up to this time, however ingenious in their arrangements, were in a great measure practical failures. mr. blackett's was as yet both clumsy and expensive. chapman's had been removed from the heaton tram-way in , and was regarded as a total failure. and the blenkinsop engine at coxlodge was found very unsteady and costly in its working; besides, it pulled the rails to pieces, the entire strain being upon the rack-rail on one side of the road. the boiler, however, having shortly blown up, there was an end of that engine, and the colliery owners did not feel encouraged to try any farther experiment. an efficient and economical working locomotive engine, therefore, still remained to be invented, and to accomplish this object stephenson now applied himself. profiting by what his predecessors had done, warned by their failures and encouraged by their partial successes, he commenced his labors. there was still wanting the man who should accomplish for the locomotive what james watt had done for the steam-engine, and combine in a complete form the best points in the separate plans of others, embodying with them such original inventions and adaptations of his own as to entitle him to the merit of inventing the working locomotive, as james watt is to be regarded as the inventor of the working condensing engine. this was the great work upon which george stephenson now entered, though probably without any adequate idea of the ultimate importance of his labors to society and civilization. he proceeded to bring the subject of constructing a "traveling engine," as he then denominated the locomotive, under the notice of the lessees of the killingworth colliery, in the year . lord ravensworth, the principal partner, had already formed a very favorable opinion of the new colliery engine-wright from the improvements which he had effected in the colliery engines, both above and below ground; and, after considering the matter, and hearing stephenson's explanations, he authorized him to proceed with the construction of a locomotive, though his lordship was by some called a fool for advancing money for such a purpose. "the first locomotive that i made," said stephenson, many years after,[ ] when speaking of his early career at a public meeting in newcastle, "was at killingworth colliery, and with lord ravensworth's money. yes, lord ravensworth and partners were the first to intrust me, thirty-two years since, with money to make a locomotive engine. i said to my friends, there was no limit to the speed of such an engine, if the works could be made to stand." our engine-wright had, however, many obstacles to encounter before he could get fairly to work with the erection of his locomotive. his chief difficulty was in finding workmen sufficiently skilled in mechanics and in the use of tools to follow his instructions and embody his designs in a practical shape. the tools then in use about the collieries were rude and clumsy, and there were no such facilities as now exist for turning out machinery of an entirely new character. stephenson was under the necessity of working with such men and tools as were at his command, and he had in a great measure to train and instruct the workmen himself. the engine was built in the workshops at the west moor, the leading mechanic being john thirlwall, the colliery blacksmith, an excellent mechanic in his way, though quite new to the work now intrusted to him. [illustration: the spur-gear.] in this first locomotive constructed at killingworth, stephenson to some extent followed the plan of blenkinsop's engine. the wrought-iron boiler was cylindrical, eight feet in length and thirty-four inches in diameter, with an internal flue-tube twenty inches wide passing through it. the engine had two vertical cylinders of eight inches diameter and two feet stroke let into the boiler, which worked the propelling gear with cross-heads and connecting-rods. the power of the two cylinders was combined by means of spur-wheels, which communicated the motive power to the wheels supporting the engine on the rail, instead of, as in blenkinsop's engine, to cog-wheels which acted on the cogged rail independent of the four supporting wheels. the engine thus worked upon what is termed the second motion. the chimney was of wrought iron, round which was a chamber extending back to the feed-pumps, for the purpose of heating the water previous to its injection into the boiler. the engine had no springs, and was mounted on a wooden frame supported on four wheels. in order to neutralize as much as possible the jolts and shocks which such an engine would necessarily encounter from the obstacles and inequalities of the then very imperfect plate-way, the water-barrel which served for a tender was fixed to the end of a lever and weighted, the other end of the lever being connected with the frame of the locomotive carriage. by this means the weight of the two was more equally distributed, though the contrivance did not by any means compensate for the total absence of springs. the wheels of the locomotive were all smooth, stephenson having satisfied himself by experiment that the adhesion between the wheels of a loaded engine and the rail would be sufficient for the purpose of traction. robert stephenson informed us that his father caused a number of workmen to mount upon the wheels of a wagon moderately loaded, and throw their entire weight upon the spokes on one side, when he found that the wagon could thus be easily propelled forward without the wheels slipping. this, together with other experiments, satisfied him, as it had already satisfied mr. hedley, of the expediency of adopting smooth wheels on his engine, and it was so made accordingly. the engine was, after much labor and anxiety, and frequent alterations of parts, at length brought to completion, having been about ten months in hand. it was placed upon the killingworth railway on the th of july, , and its powers were tried on the same day. on an ascending gradient of in , the engine succeeded in drawing after it eight loaded carriages of thirty tons' weight at about four miles an hour; and for some time after it continued regularly at work. although a considerable advance upon previous locomotives, "blucher" (as the engine was popularly called) was nevertheless a somewhat cumbrous and clumsy machine. the parts were huddled together. the boiler constituted the principal feature; and, being the foundation of the other parts, it was made to do duty not only as a generator of steam, but also as a basis for the fixings of the machinery and for the bearings of the wheels and axles. the want of springs was seriously felt; and the progress of the engine was a succession of jolts, causing considerable derangement to the machinery. the mode of communicating the motive power to the wheels by means of the spur-gear also caused frequent jerks, each cylinder alternately propelling or becoming propelled by the other, as the pressure of the one upon the wheels became greater or less than the pressure of the other; and, when the teeth of the cog-wheels became at all worn, a rattling noise was produced during the traveling of the engine. as the principal test of the success of the locomotive was its economy as compared with horse-power, careful calculations were made with the view of ascertaining this important point. the result was, that it was found the working of the engine was at first barely economical; and at the end of the year the steam-power and the horse-power were ascertained to be as nearly as possible upon a par in point of cost. we give the remainder of the history of george stephenson's efforts to produce an economical working locomotive in the words of his son robert, as communicated to the author in , for the purposes of his father's "life." "a few months of experience and careful observation upon the operation of this (his first) engine convinced my father that the complication arising out of the action of the two cylinders being combined by spur-wheels would prevent their coming into practical application. he then directed his attention to an entire change in the construction and mechanical arrangements, and in the following year took out a patent, dated february th, , for an engine which combined in a remarkable degree the essential requisites of an economical locomotive--that is to say, few parts, simplicity in their action, and great simplicity in the mode by which power was communicated to the wheels supporting the engine. "this second engine consisted as before of two vertical cylinders, which communicated directly with each pair of the four wheels that supported the engine by a cross-head and a pair of connecting-rods; but, in attempting to establish a direct communication between the cylinders and the wheels that rolled upon the rails, considerable difficulties presented themselves. the ordinary joints could not be employed to unite the engine, which was a rigid mass, with the wheels rolling upon the irregular surface of the rails; for it was evident that the two rails of the line of railway could not always be maintained at the same level with respect to each other--that one wheel at the end of the axle might be depressed into a part of the line which had subsided, while the other would be elevated. in such a position of the axle and wheels it was clear that a rigid communication between the cross-head and the wheels was impracticable. hence it became necessary to form a joint at the top of the piston-rod where it united with the cross-head, so as to permit the cross-head always to preserve complete parallelism with the axle of the wheels with which it was in communication. "in order to obtain the flexibility combined with direct action which was essential for insuring power and avoiding needless friction and jars from irregularities in the rail, my father employed the 'ball and socket' joint for effecting a union between the ends of the cross-heads where they united with the connecting-rods, and between the end of the connecting-rods where they were united with the crank-pins attached to each driving-wheel. by this arrangement the parallelism between the cross-head and the axle was at all times maintained, it being permitted to take place without producing jar or friction upon any part of the machine. "the next important point was to combine each pair of wheels by some simple mechanism, instead of the cog-wheels which had formerly been used. my father began by inserting each axle into two cranks at right angles to each other, with rods communicating horizontally between them. an engine was made on this plan, and answered extremely well. but at that period ( ) the mechanical skill of the country was not equal to the task of forging cranked axles of the soundness and strength necessary to stand the jars incident to locomotive work; so my father was compelled to fall back upon a substitute which, though less simple and less efficient, was within the mechanical capabilities of the workmen of that day, either for construction or repair. he adopted a chain which rolled over indented wheels placed on the centre of each axle, and so arranged that the two pairs of wheels were effectually coupled and made to keep pace with each other. but these chains after a few years' use became stretched, and then the engines were liable to irregularity in their working, especially in changing from working back to forward again. nevertheless, these engines continued in profitable use upon the killingworth colliery railway for some years. eventually the chain was laid aside, and the front and hind wheels were united by rods on the _outside_, instead of by rods and crank-ankles _inside_, as specified in the original patent; and this expedient completely answered the purpose required, without involving any expensive or difficult workmanship. [illustration: section of killingworth locomotive, .] "another important improvement was introduced in this engine. the eduction steam had hitherto been allowed to escape direct into the open atmosphere; but my father, having observed the great velocity with which the waste-steam escaped, compared with the velocity with which the smoke issued from the chimney of the same engine, thought that by conveying the eduction steam into the chimney, and there allowing it to escape in a vertical direction, its velocity would be imparted to the smoke from the engine, or to the ascending current of air in the chimney. the experiment was no sooner made than the power of the engine became more than doubled; combustion was stimulated, as it were, by a blast; consequently, the power of the boiler for generating steam was increased, and, in the same proportion, the useful duty of the engine was augmented. "thus, in , my father had succeeded in manufacturing an engine which included the following important improvements on all previous attempts in the same direction: simple and direct communication between the cylinder and the wheels rolling upon the rails; joint adhesion of all the wheels, attained by the use of horizontal connecting-rods; and, finally, a beautiful method of exciting the combustion of fuel by employing the waste steam which had formerly been allowed uselessly to escape. it is, perhaps, not too much to say that this engine, as a mechanical contrivance, contained the germ of all that has since been effected. it may be regarded, in fact, as a type of the present locomotive engine. "in describing my father's application of the waste steam for the purpose of increasing the intensity of combustion in the boiler, and thus increasing the power of the engine without adding to its weight, and while claiming for this engine the merit of being a type of all those which have been successfully devised since the commencement of the liverpool and manchester railway, it is necessary to observe that the next great improvement in the same direction, the 'multitubular boiler,' which took place some years later, could never have been used without the help of that simple expedient, _the steam-blast_, by which power only the burning of coke was rendered possible. "i can not pass over this last-named invention of my father's without remarking how slightly, as an original idea, it has been appreciated; and yet how small would be the comparative value of the locomotive engine of the present day without the application of that important invention! "engines constructed by my father in the year upon the principles just described are in use on the killingworth colliery railway to this very day ( ), conveying, at the speed of perhaps five or six miles an hour, heavy coal-trains, probably as economically as any of the more perfect engines now in use. "there was another remarkable piece of ingenuity in this machine, which was completed so many years before the possibility of steam-locomotion became an object of general commercial interest and parliamentary inquiry. i have before observed that up to and after the year there was no such class of skilled mechanics, nor were there such machinery and tools for working in metals, as are now at the disposal of inventors and manufacturers. among other difficulties of a similar character, it was not possible at that time to construct springs of sufficient strength to support the improved engines. the rails then used being extremely light, the roads became worn down by the traffic, and occasionally the whole weight of the engine, instead of being uniformly distributed over four wheels, was thrown almost diagonally upon two. in order to avoid the danger arising from such irregularities in the road, my father arranged the boiler so that it was supported upon the frame of the engine by four cylinders which opened into the interior of the boiler. these cylinders were occupied by pistons with rods, which passed downward and pressed upon the upper side of the axles. the cylinders, opening into the interior of the boiler, allowed the pressure of steam to be applied to the upper side of the piston, and that pressure being nearly equal to the support of one fourth of the weight of the engine, each axle, whatever might be its position, had the same amount of weight to bear, and consequently the entire weight was at all times nearly equally distributed among the wheels. this expedient was more necessary in this case, as the weight of the new locomotive engines far exceeded that of the carriages which had hitherto been used upon colliery railways, and therefore subjected the rails to much greater risk from breakage. and this mode of supporting the engine remained in use until the progress of spring-making had considerably advanced, when steel springs of sufficient strength superseded this highly ingenious mode of distributing the weight of the engine uniformly among the wheels." the invention of the steam-blast by george stephenson in was fraught with the most important consequences to railway locomotion, and it is not saying too much to aver that the success of the locomotive has been in a great measure the result of its adoption. without the steam-blast, by means of which the intensity of combustion is maintained at its highest point, producing a correspondingly rapid evolution of steam, high rates of speed could not have been kept up; the advantages of the multitubular boiler (afterward invented) could never have been fully tested; and locomotives might still have been dragging themselves unwieldily along at little more than five or six miles an hour. as this invention has been the subject of considerable controversy, it becomes necessary to add a few words respecting it in this place. it has been claimed as the invention of trevithick in , of hedley in , of goldsworthy gurney in , and of timothy hackworth in . with respect to trevithick, it appears that he discharged the waste steam into the chimney of his engine, but without any intention of thereby producing a blast;[ ] and that he attached no value to the expedient is sufficiently obvious from the fact that in he took out a patent for urging the fire by means of fanners, similar to a winnowing machine. the claim put forward on behalf of william hedley, that he invented the blast-pipe for the wylam engine, is sufficiently contradicted by the fact that the wylam engine had _no_ blast-pipe. "i remember the wylam engine," robert stephenson wrote to the author in , "and i am positive there was no blast-pipe." on the contrary, the wylam engine embodied a contrivance for the express purpose of _preventing_ a blast. this is clearly shown by the drawing and description of it contained in the first edition of nicholas wood's "practical treatise on railroads," published in . this evidence is all the more valuable for our purpose as it was published long before any controversy had arisen as to the authorship of the invention, and, indeed, before it was believed that any merit whatever belonged to it. and it is the more remarkable, as nicholas wood himself, who published the first practical work on railways, did not at that time approve of the steam-blast, and referred to the wylam engine in illustration of how it might be prevented. the following passage from mr. wood's book clearly describes the express object and purpose for which george stephenson invented and applied the steam-blast in the killingworth engines. describing their action, mr. wood says: "the steam is admitted to the top and bottom of the piston by means of a sliding valve, which, being moved up and down alternately, opens a communication between the top and bottom of the cylinder and the pipe that is _open into the chimney and turns up within it_. the steam, after performing its office within the cylinder, is thus thrown into the chimney, and the power with which it issues will be proportionate to the degree of elasticity; and _the exit being directed upward, accelerates the velocity of the current of heated air accordingly_."[ ] and again, at another part of the book, he says: "there is another great objection urged against locomotives, which is, the noise that the steam makes in escaping into the chimney; this objection is very singular, as it is not the result of any inherent form in the organization of such engines, but an accidental circumstance. when the engines _were first made_, the steam escaped into the atmosphere, and made comparatively little noise; _it was found difficult then to produce steam in sufficient quantity to keep the engine constantly working, or rather to obtain an adequate rapidity of current in the chimney to give sufficient intensity to the fire. to effect a greater rapidity, or to increase the draught of the chimney, mr. stephenson thought that by causing the steam to escape into the chimney through a pipe with its end turned upward, the velocity of the current would be accelerated, and such was the effect_; but, in remedying one evil, another has been produced, which, though objectionable in some places, was not considered as objectionable on a private railroad. the tube through the boiler having been increased, there is now no longer any occasion for the action of the steam to assist the motion of the heated air in the chimney. the steam thrown in this manner into the chimney acts as a trumpet, and certainly makes a very disagreeable noise. nothing, however, is more easy to remedy, and the very act of remedying this defect will also be the means of economizing the fuel."[ ] mr. wood then proceeds to show how the noise caused by the blast--how, in fact, the blast itself, might be effectually prevented by adopting the expedient employed in the wylam engine; which was, to send the exhaust steam, not into the chimney (where alone the blast could act with effect by stimulating the draught), but into a steam-reservoir provided for the purpose. his words are these: "nothing more is wanted to destroy the noise than _to cause the steam to expand itself into a reservoir, and then allow it to escape gradually to the atmosphere through the chimney._ upon the wylam railroad the noise was made the subject of complaint by a neighboring gentleman, and they adopted this mode, which had the effect above mentioned."[ ] it is curious to find that mr. nicholas wood continued to object to the use of the steam-blast down even to the time when the liverpool and manchester railway bill was before parliament. in his evidence before the committee on that bill in , he said: "those engines [at killingworth] _puff very much, and the object is to get an increased draught in the chimney_. now (by enlarging the flue-tube and giving it a double turn through the boiler) we have got a sufficiency of steam without it, and i have no doubt, by allowing the steam to exhaust itself in a reservoir, it would pass quietly into the chimney without that noise." in fact, mr. wood was still in favor of the arrangement adopted in the wylam engine, by which the steam-blast had been got rid of altogether. if these statements, made in mr. wood's book, be correct--and they have never been disputed--they render it perfectly clear that george stephenson invented and applied the steam-blast for the express purpose of quickening combustion in the furnace by increasing the draught in the chimney. although urged by wood to abandon the blast, stephenson continued to hold by it as one of the vital powers of the locomotive engine. it is quite true that in the early engines, with only a double flue passing through the boiler, run as they were at low speeds, the blast was of comparatively less importance. it was only when the improved passenger engine, fitted with the multitubular boiler, was required to be run at high speeds that the full merits of the blast were brought out; and in detecting its essential uses in this respect, and sharpening it for the purpose of increasing its action, the sagacity of timothy hackworth, of darlington, is entitled to due recognition. [illustration: (colliery whimsey)] footnotes: [ ] the same fallacy seems long to have held its ground in france; for m. granier tells us that some time after the first of george stephenson's locomotives had been placed on the liverpool and manchester line, a model of one was exhibited before the academy. after it had been examined, a member of that learned body said, smiling, "yes, this is all very ingenious, no doubt, but unfortunately the machine will never move. the wheels will turn round and round in the same place." [ ] john steele was one of the many "born mechanics" of the northumberland district. when a boy at colliery dykes, his native place, he was noted for his "turn for machinery." he used to take his playfellows home to see and admire his imitations of pit-engines. while a mere youth he lost his leg by an accident; and those who remember him at whinfield's speak of his hopping about the locomotive, of which he was very proud, upon his wooden leg. it was a great disappointment to him when mr. blackett refused to take the engine. one day he took a friend to look at it when reduced to its degraded office of blowing the cupola bellows; and, referring to the cause of its rejection, he observed that he was certain it would succeed, if made sufficiently heavy. "our master," he continued, "will not be at the expense of following it up; but depend upon it the day will come when such an engine will be fairly tried, and then it will be found to answer." steele was afterward extensively employed by the british government in raising sunken ships; and later in life he established engine-works at rouen, where he made marine-engines for the french government. he was unfortunately killed by the explosion of an engine-boiler (with the safety-valve of which something had gone wrong) when on an experimental trip with one of the steamers fitted up by himself, and on his way to england to visit his family near newcastle. [ ] thomas gray, a native of leeds, was an enthusiastic believer in the new tractive power, and wherever he went he preached up railways and blenkinsop's locomotive. while he was living at brussels in , a canal to charleroi was under consideration, on which he seized the opportunity of urging the superior merits of a railway. when he returned to england in , he wrote a book upon the subject, entitled, "observations on a general iron railway," in which he strongly advocated the advantages of railways generally, giving as a frontispiece to the book an engraving of blenkinsop's engine. and several years after the opening of the liverpool and manchester railway we find thomas gray, true to his first love, urging in the "mechanics' magazine" the superiority of blenkinsop's cogged wheel and rail over the smooth road and rail of the modern railway. [ ] other machines with legs were patented in the following year by lewis gompertz and by thomas tindall. in tindall's specification it is provided that the power of the engine is to be assisted by a _horizontal windmill_; and the four pushers, or legs, are to be caused to come successively in contact with the ground, and impel the carriage. [ ] mr. hedley took out a patent to secure his invention, dated the th of march, . specification no. . if it be true, as alleged, that the wheels of trevithick's first locomotive were smooth, it seems strange that the fallacy should ever have existed. [ ] by the year , the progress made on the wylam railroad was thus described by mr. mackenzie in his "history of northumberland:" "a stranger," said he, "is struck with surprise and astonishment on seeing a locomotive engine moving majestically along the road at the rate of four or five miles an hour, drawing along from ten to fourteen loaded wagons, weighing about - / tons; and his surprise is increased on witnessing the extraordinary facility with which the engine is managed. this invention is a noble triumph of science." [ ] at the stephenson memorial meeting at newcastle-on-tyne, th of october, , mr. hugh taylor, chairman of the northern coal-owners, gave the following account of one of such visits made by stephenson to wylam, in the company of mr. nicholas wood and himself: "it was, i think, in , that mr. stephenson and mr. wood came to my house, then at newburn, and after we had dined, we went and examined the locomotive then on mr. blackett's wagon-way. at that early date it went by a sort of cog-wheel; there was also something of a chain to it. there was no idea that the machine would be sufficiently adhesive to the rails by the action of its own weight; but i remember a man going before--that was after the chain was abrogated--and scattering ashes on the rails, in order to give it adhesiveness, and two or three miles an hour was about the rate of progress." [ ] speech at the opening of the newcastle and darlington railway, june , . [ ] it must, however, be mentioned that mr. zerah colburn, in his excellent work on "locomotive engineering and the mechanism of railways," points out that mr. davies gilbert noted the effect of the discharge of the waste steam up the chimney of trevithick's engine in increasing the draught, and wrote a letter to "nicholson's journal" (sept., ) on the subject; and mr. nicholson himself proceeded to investigate the subject, and in he took out a patent for "steam-blasting apparatus," applicable to fixed engines, which, however, does not seem to have come into use. (see _ante_, p. .) [ ] nicholas wood, "practical treatise on railways," ed. , p. . [ ] ibid., p. - . [ ] nicholas wood, "practical treatise on railways," ed. , p. . these passages will be found in the first edition of mr. wood's work, published in . the subsequent editions do not contain them. a few years' experience wrought great changes of opinion on many points connected with the practical working of railways, and mr. wood altered his text accordingly. but it is most important for our present purpose to note that, in the year , long before the liverpool and manchester line was opened, mr. wood should have so clearly described the steam-blast, which had been in regular use for more than ten years in all stephenson's locomotives employed in the working of the killingworth railway. chapter vi. invention of the "geordy" safety-lamp. explosions of fire-damp were unusually frequent in the coal-mines of northumberland and durham about the time when george stephenson was engaged in the construction of his first locomotives. these explosions were often attended with fearful loss of life and dreadful suffering to the work-people. killingworth colliery was not free from such deplorable calamities; and during the time that stephenson was employed as brakesman at the west moor, several "blasts" took place in the pit, by which many workmen were scorched and killed, and the owners of the colliery sustained heavy losses. one of the most serious of these accidents occurred in , not long after he had been appointed brakesman, by which ten persons were killed. stephenson was near the pit mouth at the time, and the circumstances connected with the explosion made a deep impression on his mind, as appears from the graphic account which he gave of it to the committee of the house of commons on accidents in mines, some thirty years after the event. "the pit," said he, "had just ceased drawing coals, and nearly all the men had got out. it was some time in the afternoon, a little after midday. there were five men that went down the pit; four of them for the purpose of preparing a place for the furnace. the fifth was a person who went down to set them to work. i sent this man down myself, and he had just got to the bottom of the shaft about two or three minutes when the explosion took place. i had left the mouth of the pit, and had gone about fifty or sixty yards away, when i heard a tremendous noise, looked round, and saw the discharge come out of the pit like the discharge of a cannon. it continued to blow, i think, for a quarter of an hour, discharging every thing that had come into the current. wood came up, stones came up, and trusses of hay that went up into the air like balloons. those trusses had been sent down during the day, and i think they had in some measure injured the ventilation of the mine. the ground all round the top of the pit was in a trembling state. i went as near as i durst go; every thing appeared cracking and rending about me. part of the brattice, which was very strong, was blown away at the bottom of the pits. very large pumps were lifted from their places, so that the engine could not work. the pit was divided into four by partitions; it was a large pit, fourteen feet in diameter, and partitions were put down at right angles, which made four compartments. the explosion took place in one of those four quarters, but it broke through into all the others at the bottom, and the brattice or partitions were set on fire at the first explosion. "nobody durst go near the shafts for some time, for fear of another explosion taking place. at last we considered it necessary to run the rope backward and forward, and give the miners, if there were any at the bottom of the shaft, an opportunity of catching the rope as it came to the bottom. several men were safely got up in this way; one man, who had got hold of the rope, was being drawn up, when a farther explosion took place while he was still in the shaft, and the increased current which came about him projected him as it were up the shaft; yet he was landed without injury: it was a singular case.... the pit continued to blast every two or three hours for about two days. it appears that the coal had taken fire, and as soon as the carbureted hydrogen gas collected in sufficient quantity to reach the part where it was burning, it ignited again; but none of the explosions were equal to the first, on account of many parts of the mine having become filled with azotic gas, or the _after-damp_ of the mine. all the ditches in the countryside were stopped to get water to pour into the pit. we had fire-engines brought from newcastle, and the water was poured in till it came above the fire, and then it was extinguished. the loss to the owners of the colliery by this accident must have been about £ , ."[ ] another explosion took place in the same pit in , by which twelve persons lost their lives. the blast did not reach the shaft as in the former case, the unfortunate persons in the pit having been suffocated by the after-damp. more calamitous still were the explosions which took place in the neighboring collieries, one of the worst being that of , in the felling pit near gateshead, a mine belonging to mr. brandling, by which no fewer than ninety men and boys were suffocated or burnt to death; and a similar accident occurred in the same pit in the year following, by which twenty-two men and boys perished. [illustration: the pit head, west moor. [by r. p. leitch.]] it was natural that stephenson should devote his attention to the causes of these deplorable accidents, and to the means by which they might, if possible, be prevented. his daily occupation led him to think much and deeply on the subject. as engine-wright of a colliery so extensive as that of killingworth, where there were nearly miles of gallery excavation, in which he personally superintended the working of inclined planes, along which the coals were sent to the pit entrance, he was necessarily very often under ground, and brought face to face with the dangers of fire-damp. from fissures in the roofs of the galleries carbureted hydrogen gas was constantly flowing; and in some of the more dangerous places it might be heard escaping from the crevices of the coal with a hissing noise. ventilation, firing, and all conceivable modes of drawing out the foul air had been tried, while the more dangerous parts of the galleries were built up. still the danger could not be wholly prevented. the miners must necessarily guide their steps through the extensive underground ways with lighted lamps or candles, the naked flame of which, coming in contact with the inflammable air, daily exposed them and their fellow-workers in the pit to the risk of death in one of its most dreadful forms. one day in the year , a workman hurried into stephenson's cottage with the startling information that the deepest main of the colliery was on fire! he immediately hastened to the pit-head, about a hundred yards off, whither the women and children of the colliery were running, with wildness and terror depicted in every face. in a commanding voice, stephenson ordered the engine-man to lower him down the shaft in the corve. there was danger, it might be death, before him, but he must go. he was soon at the bottom and in the midst of the men, who were paralyzed at the danger which threatened the lives of all in the pit. leaping from the corve on its touching the ground, he called out, "are there six men among you who have the courage to follow me? if so, come, and we will put the fire out." the killingworth pitmen had the most perfect confidence in their engine-wright, and they readily volunteered to follow him. silence succeeded the frantic tumult of the previous minute, and the men set to work with a will. in every mine, bricks, mortar, and tools enough are at hand, and by stephenson's direction the materials were forthwith carried to the required spot, where, in a very short time, a wall was raised at the entrance to the main, he himself taking the most active part in the work. the atmospheric air was by this means excluded, the fire was extinguished, most of the people in the pit were saved from death, and the mine was preserved. this anecdote of george stephenson was related to the writer, near the pit-mouth, by one of the men, kit heppel, who had been present, and helped to build up the brick wall by which the fire was stayed, though several of the workmen were suffocated. heppel relates that, when down the pit some days after, seeking out the dead bodies, the cause of the accident was the subject of some conversation between himself and stephenson, and heppel then asked him, "can nothing be done to prevent such awful occurrences?" stephenson replied that he thought something might be done. "then," said heppel, "the sooner you begin the better, for the price of coal-mining now is _pitmen's lives_." fifty years since, many of the best pits were so full of the inflammable gas given forth by the coal that they could not be worked without the greatest danger, and for this reason some were altogether abandoned. the rudest possible means were adopted of producing light sufficient to enable the pitmen to work by. the phosphorescence of decayed fish-skins was tried; but this, though safe, was very inefficient. the most common method employed was what was called a steel mill, the notched wheel of which, being made to revolve against a flint, struck a succession of sparks, which scarcely served to do more than make the darkness visible. a boy carried the apparatus, working the wheel; and by the imperfect light thus given forth the miner plied his dangerous trade. candles were only used in those parts of the pit where gas was not abundant. under this rude system not more than one third of the coal could be worked, while two thirds were left. what the workmen, not less than the coal-owners, eagerly desired was a lamp that should give forth sufficient light, without communicating flame to the inflammable gas which accumulated in certain parts of the pit. something had already been done toward the invention of such a lamp by dr. clanny, of sunderland, who, in , contrived an apparatus to which he gave air from the mine through water, by means of bellows. this lamp went out of itself in inflammable gas. it was found, however, too unwieldy to be used by the miners for the purposes of their work, and did not come into general use. a committee of gentlemen interested in coal-mining was formed to investigate the causes of the explosions, and to devise, if possible, some means of preventing them. at the invitation of that committee, sir humphry davy, then in the full zenith of his reputation, was requested to turn his attention to the subject. he accordingly visited the collieries near newcastle on the th of august, , and at the close of that year, on the th of november, , he read before the royal society of london his celebrated paper "on the fire-damp of coal mines, and on methods of lighting the mine so as to prevent its explosion." but a humbler though not less diligent and original thinker had been at work before him, and had already practically solved the problem of the safety-lamp. stephenson was, of course, well aware of the desire which prevailed in the colliery districts for the invention of a lamp which should give light enough for the miners to work by without exploding the fire-damp, and the painful incidents above described only served to quicken his eagerness to master the difficulty. for several years he had been engaged, in his own rude way, in making experiments with the fire-damp in the killingworth mine. the pitmen used to expostulate with him on these occasions, believing the experiments to be fraught with danger. one of the sinkers, called m'crie, observing him holding up lighted candles to the windward of the "blower" or fissure from which the inflammable gas escaped, entreated him to desist; but stephenson's answer was, that "he was busy with a plan by which he hoped to make his experiments useful for preserving men's lives." on these occasions the miners usually got out of the way before he lit the gas. in , although he was very much occupied with the business of the collieries and the improvement of his locomotive engine, he was also busily engaged in making experiments upon the inflammable gas in the killingworth pit. as he himself afterward related to the committee of the house of commons which sat on the subject of accidents in mines in , he imagined that if he could construct a lamp with a chimney so arranged as to cause a strong current, it would not fire at the top of the chimney, as the burnt air would ascend with such a velocity as to prevent the inflammable air of the pit from descending toward the flame; and such a lamp, he thought, might be taken into a dangerous atmosphere without risk of exploding. such was stephenson's theory, when he proceeded to embody his idea of a miner's safety-lamp in a practical form. in the month of august, , he requested his friend nicholas wood, the head viewer, to prepare a drawing of a lamp according to the description which he gave him. after several evenings' careful deliberations, the drawing was prepared, and it was shown to several of the head men about the works. "my first lamp," said stephenson, describing it to the committee above referred to, "had a chimney at the top of the lamp, and a tube at the bottom to admit the atmospheric air, or fire-damp and air, to feed the burner or combustion of the lamp. i was not aware of the precise quantity required to feed the combustion; but to know what quantity was necessary, i had a slide at the bottom of the tube in my first lamp, to admit such a quantity of air as might eventually be found necessary to keep up the combustion." accompanied by his friend wood, stephenson went into newcastle, and ordered a lamp to be made according to his plan by the messrs. hogg, tinmen, at the head of the side--a well-known street in newcastle. at the same time, he ordered a glass to be made for the lamp at the northumberland glass-house in the same town. this lamp was received from the makers on the st of october, and was taken to killingworth for the purpose of immediate experiment. "i remember that evening as distinctly as if it had been but yesterday," said robert stephenson, describing the circumstances to the author in . "moodie came to our cottage about dusk, and asked 'if father had got back with the lamp.' 'no.' 'then i'll wait till he comes,' said moodie; 'he can't be long now.' in about half an hour, in came my father, his face all radiant. he had the lamp with him! it was at once uncovered and shown to moodie. then it was filled with oil, trimmed, and lighted. all was ready, only the head viewer hadn't arrived. 'run over to benton for nichol, robert,' said my father to me, 'and ask him to come directly; say we're going down the pit to try the lamp.' by this time it was quite dark, and off i ran to bring nicholas wood. his house was at benton, about a mile off. there was a short cut through benton church-yard, but just as i was about to pass the wicket i saw what i thought was a white figure moving about among the grave-stones. i took it for a ghost! my heart fluttered, and i was in a great fright, but to nichol's house i must get, so i made the circuit of the church-yard; and when i got round to the other side i looked, and, lo! the figure was still there. but what do you think it was? only the grave-digger, plying his work at that late hour by the light of his lantern set upon one of the grave-stones! i found wood at home, and in a few minutes he was mounted and off to my father's. when i got home i was told they had just left--it was then about eleven--and gone down the shaft to try the lamp in one of the most dangerous parts of the mine." arrived at the bottom of the shaft with the lamp, the party directed their steps toward one of the foulest galleries in the pit, where the explosive gas was issuing through a blower in the roof of the mine with a loud hissing noise. by erecting some deal boarding round that part of the gallery into which the gas was escaping, the air was thus made more foul for the purpose of the experiment. after waiting about an hour, moodie, whose practical experience of fire-damp in pits was greater than that of either stephenson or wood, was requested to go into the place which had thus been made foul; and, having done so, he returned, and told them that the smell of the air was such that if a lighted candle were now introduced an explosion must inevitably take place. he cautioned stephenson as to the danger both to themselves and to the pit if the gas took fire; but stephenson declared his confidence in the safety of his lamp, and, having lit the wick, he boldly proceeded with it toward the explosive air. the others, more timid and doubtful, hung back when they came within hearing of the blower; and, apprehensive of the danger, they retired into a safe place, out of sight of the lamp, which gradually disappeared with its bearer in the recesses of the mine. it was a critical moment, and the danger was such as would have tried the stoutest heart. stephenson, advancing alone, with his yet untried lamp, in the depths of those underground workings, calmly venturing his life in the determination to discover a mode by which the lives of many might be saved, and death disarmed in these fatal caverns, presented an example of intrepid nerve and manly courage more noble even than that which, in the excitement of battle and the collective impetuosity of a charge, carries a man up to the cannon's mouth. advancing to the place of danger, and entering within the fouled air, his lighted lamp in hand, stephenson held it firmly out, in the full current of the blower, and within a few inches of its mouth. thus exposed, the flame of the lamp at first increased, then flickered, and then went out; but there was no explosion of the gas. returning to his companions, who were still at a distance, he told them what had occurred. having now acquired somewhat more confidence, they advanced with him to a point from which they could observe the experiment repeated, but still at a safe distance. they saw that when the lighted lamp was held within the explosive mixture, there was a great flame; the lamp was almost full of fire; and then it seemed to be smothered out. again returning to his companions, he relighted the lamp, and repeated the experiment. this was done several times, with the same result. at length wood and moodie ventured to advance close to the fouled part of the pit; and, in making some of the later trials, mr. wood himself held up the lighted lamp to the blower.[ ] such was the result of the first experiments with the _first practical miner's safety-lamp_, and such was the daring resolution of its inventor in testing its qualities. before leaving the pit, stephenson expressed his opinion that, by an alteration of the lamp which he contemplated, he could make it burn better. this was by a change in the slide through which the air was admitted into the lower part of the lamp, under the flame. after making some experiments on the air collected at the blower, by means of bladders which were mounted with tubes of various diameters, he satisfied himself that, when the tube was reduced to a certain diameter, the explosion would not pass through; and he fashioned his slide accordingly, reducing the diameter of the tube until he conceived it was quite safe. in about a fortnight the experiments were repeated in the pit, in a place purposely made foul as before. on this occasion a larger number of persons ventured to witness the experiments, which again proved successful. the lamp was not yet, however, so efficient as the inventor desired. it required, he observed, to be kept very steady when burning in the inflammable gas, otherwise it was liable to go out, in consequence, as he imagined, of the contact of the burnt air (as he then called it), or azotic gas, which lodged round the exterior of the flame. if the lamp was moved backward and forward, the azote came in contact with the flame and extinguished it. "it struck me," said he, "that if i put more tubes in, i should discharge the poisonous matter that hung round the flame by admitting the air to its exterior part." although he had then no access to scientific works, nor intercourse with scientific men, nor any thing that could assist him in his inquiries on the subject besides his own indefatigable spirit of inquiry, stephenson contrived a rude apparatus, by means of which he proceeded to test the explosive properties of the gas and the velocity of current (for this was the direction of his inquiries) required to permit the explosion to pass through tubes of different diameters. in making these experiments in his cottage at the west moor, nicholas wood and george's son robert usually acted as his assistants, and sometimes the gentlemen of the neighborhood--among others, william brandling and matthew bell, who were interested in coal-mining--attended as spectators. one who was present on such an occasion remembers that, when an experiment was about to be performed, and all was ready, george called to mr. wood, who worked the stop-cocks of the gasometer, "wise on [turn on] the hydrogen, nichol!" these experiments were not performed without risk, for on one occasion the experimenting party had nearly blown off the roof of the cottage. one of these "blows up" was described by stephenson himself before the committee on accidents in coal mines in : "i made several experiments," said he, "as to the velocity required in tubes of different diameters, to prevent explosion from fire-damp. we made the mixture in all proportions of light carbureted hydrogen with atmospheric air in the receiver, and we found by the experiments that when a current of the most explosive mixture that we could make was forced up a tube four tenths of an inch in diameter, the necessary current was nine inches in a second to prevent its coming down that tube. these experiments were repeated several times. we had two or three blows up in making the experiments, by the flame getting down into the receiver, though we had a piece of very fine wire-gauze put at the bottom of the pipe, between the receiver and the pipe through which we were forcing the current. in one of these experiments i was watching the flame in the tube, my son was taking the vibrations of the pendulum of the clock, and mr. wood was attending to give me the column of water as i called for it, to keep the current up to a certain point. as i saw the flame descending in the tube i called for more water, and wood unfortunately turned the cock the wrong way; the current ceased, the flame went down the tube, and all our implements were blown to pieces, which at the time we were not very well able to replace." the explosion of this glass receiver, which had been borrowed from the stores of the philosophical society at newcastle for the purpose of making the experiments, caused the greatest possible dismay among the party, and they dreaded to inform mr. turner, the secretary,[ ] of the calamity which had occurred. fortunately, none of the experimenters were injured by the accident. stephenson followed up these experiments by others of a similar kind, with the view of ascertaining whether ordinary flame would pass through tubes of a small diameter, and with this object he filed off the barrels of several small keys. placing these together, he held them perpendicularly over a strong flame, and ascertained that it did not pass upward. this was a farther proof to him of the soundness of the principle on which he had been proceeding. in order to correct the defect of his first lamp, he accordingly proceeded to alter it so as to admit the air to the flame by several tubes of reduced diameter instead of by a single tube. he inferred that a sufficient quantity of air would thus be introduced into the lamp for the purposes of combustion, while the smallness of the apertures would still prevent the explosion passing downward, at the same time that the "burnt air" (the cause, in his opinion, of the lamp going out) would be more effectually dislodged. the requisite alterations were made in the lamp by mr. matthews, a tinman in newcastle, and it was so altered that the air was admitted by three small tubes inserted in the bottom, the openings of which were placed on the outside of the burner, instead of having (as in the original lamp) the one tube opening directly under the flame. this second or altered lamp was tried in the killingworth pit on the th of november, and was found to burn better than the first lamp, and to be perfectly safe. but, as it did not yet come up entirely to the inventor's expectations, he proceeded to contrive a third lamp, in which he proposed to surround the oil vessel with a number of capillary tubes. then it struck him that if he cut off the middle of the tubes, or made holes in metal plates, placed at a distance from each other equal to the length of the tubes, the air would get in better, and the effect in preventing the communication of explosion would be the same. he was encouraged to persevere in the completion of his safety-lamp by the occurrence of several fatal accidents about this time in the killingworth pit. on the th of november a boy was killed by a blast in the _a_ pit, at the very place where stephenson had made the experiments with his first lamp; and, when told of the accident, he observed that if the boy had been provided with his lamp, his life would have been saved. on the th of november he went over to newcastle to order his third lamp from mr. watson, a plumber in that town. mr. watson referred him to his clerk, henry smith, whom stephenson invited to join him at a neighboring public house, where they might quietly talk over the matter, and finally settle the plan of the new lamp. they adjourned to the "newcastle arms," near the present high-level bridge, where they had some ale, and a design of the lamp was drawn in pencil upon a half-sheet of foolscap, with a rough specification subjoined. the sketch, when shown to us by robert stephenson some years since, still bore the marks of the ale. it was a very rude design, but sufficient to work from. it was immediately placed in the hands of the workmen, finished in the course of a few days, and experimentally tested in the killingworth pit like the previous lamps on the th of november, by which date neither stephenson nor wood had heard of sir humphry davy's experiments, nor of the lamp which that gentleman proposed to construct. [illustration: davy's safety-lamp.] [illustration: stephenson's safety-lamp.] an angry controversy afterward took place as to the respective merits of george stephenson and sir humphry davy in respect of the invention of the safety-lamp. a committee was formed on both sides, and the facts were stated in various ways. it is perfectly clear, however, that stephenson had ascertained _the fact_ that flame will not pass through tubes of a certain diameter--the principle on which the safety-lamp is constructed--before sir humphry davy had formed any definite idea on the subject, or invented the model lamp afterward exhibited by him before the royal society. stephenson had actually constructed a lamp on such a principle, and proved its safety, before sir humphry had communicated his views on the subject to any person; and by the time that the first public intimation had been given of his discovery, stephenson's second lamp had been constructed and tested in like manner in the killingworth pit. the _first_ was tried on the st of october, ; the _second_ was tried on the th of november; but it was not until the th of november that sir humphry davy presented his first lamp to the public. and by the th of the same month, as we have seen, stephenson had constructed and tested his _third_ safety-lamp. stephenson's theory of the "burnt air" and the "draught" was no doubt wrong, but his lamp was right, and that was the great fact which mainly concerned him. torricelli did not know the rationale of his tube, nor otto von guericke that of his air-pump; yet no one thinks of denying them the merit of their inventions on that account. the discoveries of volta and galvani were in like manner independent of theory; the greatest discoveries consisting in bringing to light certain grand facts, on which theories are afterward framed. our inventor had been pursuing the baconian method, though he did not think of that; his sole object being to invent a safe lamp, which he knew could only be done through the process of repeated experiment. hence his numerous experiments on the fire-damp at the blowers in the mine, as well as on carbureted hydrogen gas in his cottage by means of the apparatus above described. by experiment he distinctly ascertained that the explosion of fire-damp could not pass through small tubes; and he also did what had not before been done by any inventor--he constructed a lamp on this principle, and repeatedly proved its safety at the risk of his life. at the same time, there is no doubt that it was to sir humphry davy that the merit belonged of elucidating the true law on which the safety-lamp is constructed. the subject of this important invention excited so much interest in the northern mining districts, and stephenson's numerous friends considered his lamp so completely successful--having stood the test of repeated experiments--that they urged him to bring his invention before the philosophical and literary society of newcastle, of whose apparatus he had availed himself in the course of his experiments on fire-damp. after much persuasion he consented to do so, and a meeting was appointed for the purpose of receiving his explanations on the evening of the th of december, . stephenson was at that time so diffident in manner and unpracticed in speech, that he took with him his friend nicholas wood to act as his interpreter and expositor on the occasion. from eighty to a hundred of the most intelligent members of the society were present at the meeting, when mr. wood stood forward to expound the principles on which the lamp had been formed, and to describe the details of its construction. several questions were put, to which mr. wood proceeded to give replies to the best of his knowledge. but stephenson, who up to that time had stood behind wood, screened from notice, observing that the explanations given were not quite correct, could no longer control himself, and, standing forward, he proceeded in his strong northumbrian dialect to describe the lamp down to its minutest details. he then produced several bladders full of carbureted hydrogen, which he had collected from the blowers in the killingworth mine, and proved the safety of his lamp by numerous experiments with the gas, repeated in various ways, his earnest and impressive manner exciting in the minds of his auditors the liveliest interest both in the inventor and his invention. [illustration: literary and philosophical institute, newcastle.] shortly after, sir h. davy's model lamp was received and exhibited to the coal-miners at newcastle, on which occasion the observation was made by several gentlemen, "why, it is the same as stephenson's!" notwithstanding stephenson's claim to be regarded as the first inventor of the tube safety-lamp, his merits do not seem to have been generally recognized. sir humphry davy carried off the larger share of the _éclat_ which attached to the discovery. what chance had the unknown workman of killingworth with so distinguished a competitor? the one was as yet but a colliery engine-wright, scarce raised above the manual-labor class, without chemical knowledge or literary culture, pursuing his experiments in obscurity, with a view only to usefulness; the other was the scientific prodigy of his day, the pet of the royal society, the favorite of princes, the most brilliant of lecturers, and the most popular of philosophers. no small indignation was expressed by the friends of sir humphry davy at stephenson's "presumption" in laying claim to the invention of the safety-lamp. the scientific class united to ignore him entirely in the matter. in , dr. paris, in his "life of sir humphry davy," thus wrote: "it will hereafter be scarcely believed that an invention so eminently scientific, and which could never have been derived but from the sterling treasury of science, should have been claimed on behalf of an engine-wright of killingworth, of the name of stephenson--a person not even possessing a knowledge of the elements of chemistry." but stephenson was really far above claiming for himself an invention not his own. he had already accomplished a far greater thing even than the making of a safety-lamp: he had constructed a successful locomotive, which was to be seen in daily work on the killingworth railway. by the improvements he had made in the engine, he might almost be said to have _invented_ it; yet no one--not even the philosophers--detected as yet the significance of that wonderful machine. it excited no scientific interest, called forth no leading articles in the newspapers or the reviews, and formed the subject of no eloquent lectures at the royal society; for railways were as yet comparatively unknown, and the might which slumbered in the locomotive was scarcely, as yet, even dreamed of. what railways were to become rested in a great measure with that "engine-wright of killingworth, of the name of stephenson," though he was scarcely known as yet beyond the bounds of his own district. as to the value of the invention of the safety-lamp there could be no doubt, and the colliery owners of durham and northumberland, to testify their sense of its importance, determined to present a testimonial to its inventor. the friends of sir h. davy met in august, , to take steps to raise a subscription for the purpose. the advertised object of the meeting was to present him with a reward for the invention of _his_ safety-lamp. to this no objection could be taken; for, though the principle on which the safety-lamps of stephenson and davy were constructed was the same, and although stephenson's lamp was unquestionably the first successful lamp that had been constructed on such principle, and proved to be efficient, yet sir h. davy did invent a safety-lamp, no doubt quite independently of all that stephenson had done; and having directed his careful attention to the subject, and elucidated the true theory of explosion of carbureted hydrogen, he was entitled to all praise and reward for his labor. but when the meeting of coal-owners proposed to raise a subscription for the purpose of presenting sir h. davy with a reward for "his invention of _the_ safety-lamp," the case was entirely altered, and stephenson's friends then proceeded to assert his claims to be regarded as its first inventor. many meetings took place on the subject, and much discussion ensued, the result of which was that a sum of £ was presented to sir humphry davy as "the inventor of the safety-lamp;" but, at the same time, a purse of guineas was voted to george stephenson, in consideration of what he had done in the same direction. this result was, however, very unsatisfactory to stephenson, as well as to his friends; and mr. brandling, of gosforth, suggested to him that, the subject being now fairly before the public, he should publish a statement of the facts on which his claim was founded. but this was not at all in george stephenson's line. he had never appeared in print before, and it seemed to him a far more formidable thing to write a letter for publication in "the papers" than even to invent a safety-lamp or design a locomotive. having called his son robert to his assistance, he set him down before a sheet of foolscap, and when all was ready, he said, "now, put down there just what i tell you." the composition of this letter, as we were informed by the writer of it, occupied more evenings than one; and when it was at length finished after many corrections, and fairly copied out, the father and son set out--the latter dressed in his sunday's round jacket--to lay the joint production before mr. brandling, at gosforth house. glancing over the letter, mr. brandling said, "george, this will never do." "it is all true, sir," was the reply. "that may be; but it is badly written." robert blushed, for he thought it was the penmanship that was called in question, and he had written his very best. mr. brandling then requested his visitors to sit down while he put the letter in a more polished form, which he did, and it was shortly after published in the local papers. as the controversy continued for some time longer to be carried on in the newcastle papers, mr. stephenson, in the year , consented to publish the detailed plans, with descriptions, of the several safety-lamps which he had contrived for use in the killingworth colliery. the whole forms a pamphlet of only sixteen pages of letter-press.[ ] his friends, being fully satisfied of his claims to priority as the inventor of the safety-lamp used in the killingworth and other collieries, proceeded to hold a public meeting for the purpose of presenting him with a reward "for the valuable service he had thus rendered to mankind." charles j. brandling, esq., occupied the chair; and several resolutions were passed, of which the first and most important was as follows: "that it is the opinion of this meeting that mr. george stephenson, having _discovered the fact_ that explosion of hydrogen gas will not pass through tubes and apertures of small dimensions, and having been _the first to apply that principle in the construction of a safety-lamp_, is entitled to a public reward." a subscription was immediately commenced with this object, and a committee was formed, consisting of the earl of strathmore, c. j. brandling, and others. the subscription list was headed by lord ravensworth, one of the partners in the killingworth colliery, who showed his appreciation of the merits of stephenson by giving guineas. c. j. brandling and partners gave a like sum, and matthew bell and partners, and john brandling and partners, gave guineas each. when the resolutions appeared in the newspapers, the scientific friends of sir humphry davy in london met, and passed a series of counter-resolutions, which they published, declaring their opinion that mr. stephenson was _not_ the author of the discovery of the fact that explosion of hydrogen will not pass through tubes and apertures of small dimensions, and that he was _not_ the first to apply that principle to the construction of a safety-lamp. to these counter-resolutions were attached the well-known names of sir joseph banks, p.r.s., william thomas brande, charles hatchett, w. h. wollaston, and thomas young. mr. stephenson's friends then, to make assurance doubly sure, and with a view to set the question at rest, determined to take evidence in detail as to the date of discovery by george stephenson of the fact in question, and its practical application by him in the formation and actual trial of his safety-lamp. the witnesses examined were george stephenson himself, mr. nicholas wood, and john moodie, who had been present at the first trial of the lamp; the several tinmen who made the lamps; the secretary and other members of the literary and philosophical society of newcastle, who were present at the exhibition of the third lamp; and some of the workmen who were present at the killingworth colliery, who had been witnesses of stephenson's experiments on fire-damp made with the lamps at different times before sir humphry davy's investigations had been heard of. this evidence was quite conclusive to the minds of the gentlemen who investigated the subject, and they published it in , together with their report, in which they declared that, "after a careful inquiry into the merits of the case, conducted, as they trust, in a spirit of fairness and moderation, they can perceive no satisfactory reason for changing their opinion."[ ] the stephenson subscription, when collected, amounted to £ . part of the money was devoted to the purchase of a silver tankard, which was presented to the inventor, together with the balance of the subscription, at a public dinner given in the assembly rooms at newcastle.[ ] but what gave stephenson even greater pleasure than the silver tankard and purse of sovereigns was the gift of a silver watch, purchased by small subscriptions collected among the colliers themselves, and presented to him by them as a token of their esteem and regard for him as a man, as well as of their gratitude for the perseverance and skill with which he had prosecuted his valuable and life-saving invention to a successful issue. to the last day of his life he spoke with pride of this watch as the most highly-prized gift he had ever received. however great may be the merits of stephenson in connection with the invention of the tube safety-lamp, they can not be regarded as detracting in any degree from the reputation of sir humphry davy. his inquiries into the explosive properties of carbureted hydrogen gas were quite original, and his discovery of the fact that explosion will not pass through tubes of a certain diameter was made independently of all that stephenson had done in verification of the same fact. it would even appear that mr. smithson tennant and dr. wollaston had observed the same fact several years before, though neither stephenson nor davy knew of it while they were prosecuting their experiments. sir humphry davy's subsequent modification of the tube-lamp, by which, while diminishing the diameter, he in the same ratio shortened the tubes without danger, and in the form of wire-gauze enveloped the safety-lamp by a multiplicity of tubes, was a beautiful application of the true theory which he had formed upon the subject. the increased number of accidents which have occurred from explosions in coal-mines since the general introduction of the davy lamp led to considerable doubts being entertained as to its safety, and inquiries were consequently made as to the means by which it might be farther improved; for experience has shown that, under certain circumstances, the davy lamp is _not_ safe. stephenson was himself of opinion that the modification of his own and sir humphry davy's lamp, by combining the glass cylinder with the wire-gauze, would give the best lamp. at the same time, it must be admitted that the davy and the geordy lamps alike failed to stand the severe tests to which they were submitted by dr. pereira, before the committee on accidents in mines. indeed, dr. pereira did not hesitate to say that, when exposed to a current of explosive gas, the davy lamp is "decidedly unsafe," and that the experiments by which its safety had been "demonstrated" in the lecture-room had proved entirely "fallacious." it is worthy of remark that, under circumstances in which the wire-gauze of the davy lamp becomes red-hot from the high explosiveness of the gas, the geordy lamp is extinguished; and we can not but think that this fact testifies to the decidedly superior safety of the geordy. an accident occurred in the oaks colliery pit at barnsley on the th of august, , which strikingly exemplified the respective qualities of the lamps. a sudden outburst of gas took place from the floor of the mine along a distance of fifty yards. fortunately, the men working in the pit at the time were all supplied with safety-lamps--the hewers with stephenson's, and the hurriers with davy's. on this occasion, the whole of the stephenson lamps, over a space of five hundred yards, were extinguished almost instantaneously; whereas the davy lamps were filled with fire and became red-hot, so that several of the men using them had their hands burnt by the gauze. had a strong current of air been blowing through the gallery at the time, an explosion would most probably have taken place--an accident which, it will be observed, could not, under such circumstances, occur from the use of the geordy, which is immediately extinguished as soon as the air becomes explosive.[ ] nicholas wood, a good judge, has said of the two inventions, "priority has been claimed for each of them--i believe the inventions to be parallel. by different roads they both arrived at the same result. stephenson's is the superior lamp. davy's is safe--stephenson's is safer." when the question of priority was under discussion at mr. lough's studio in , sir matthew white ridley asked robert stephenson, who was present, for his opinion on the subject. his answer was, "i am not exactly the person to give an unbiased opinion; but, as you ask me frankly, i will as frankly say, that if george stephenson had never lived, sir humphry davy could and most probably would have invented the safety-lamp; but again, if sir humphry davy had never lived, george stephenson certainly would have invented the safety-lamp, as i believe he did, independently of all that sir humphry davy had done in the matter." to this day the geordy lamp continues in regular use in the killingworth collieries, and the killingworth pitmen have expressed to the writer their decided preference for it compared with the davy. it is certainly a strong testimony in its favor that no accident is known to have arisen from its use since it was generally introduced into the killingworth pits. [illustration: the stephenson tankard.] footnotes: [ ] evidence given by george stephenson before the select committee on accidents in mines, th june, . [ ] the accuracy of the above statement having been called in question, it is proper to state that the facts as set forth were verbally communicated to the author in the first place by robert stephenson, to whom the chapter was afterward read in ms. in the presence of mr. sopwith, f.r.s., and received his entire approval. but at the time at which mr. stephenson communicated the verbal information, he also handed a little book with his name written in it, still in the author's possession, saying, "read that; you will find it all there." this little book contains, among other things, a pamphlet, entitled "report on the claims of mr. george stephenson relative to the invention of his safety-lamp. by the committee appointed at a meeting holden in newcastle, on the st of november, . with an appendix containing the evidence." among the witnesses examined were george stephenson, nicholas wood, and john moodie, and their evidence is given in the pamphlet. stephenson said that he tried the first lamp "in a part of the mine where the air was highly explosive. nicholas wood and john moodie were his companions when the trial was made. they became frightened when they came within hearing of the blower, and would not go any farther. mr. stephenson went alone with the lamp to the mouth of the blower," etc. this evidence was confirmed by john moodie, who said the air of the place where the experiment was about to be tried was such, that, if a lighted candle had been introduced, an explosion would have taken place that would have been "extremely dangerous." "told stephenson it was foul, and hinted at the danger; nevertheless, stephenson _would_ try the lamp, confiding in its safety. stephenson took the lamp and went with it into the place in which moodie had been, and moodie and wood, apprehensive of the danger, retired to a greater distance," etc. the accuracy of the other statements made in the text relative to the invention of the safety-lamp is confirmed by the same publication. [ ] the early connection of robert with the philosophical and literary society of newcastle had brought him into communication with the rev. william turner, one of the secretaries of the institution. that gentleman was always ready to assist the inquirer after knowledge, and took an early interest in the studious youth from killingworth, with whose father he also became acquainted. mr. turner cheerfully helped them in their joint inquiries, and excited while he endeavored to satisfy their thirst for scientific information. toward the close of his life mr. stephenson often spoke of the gratitude and esteem he felt toward his revered instructor. "mr. turner," he said, "was always ready to assist me with books, with instruments, and with counsel, gratuitously and cheerfully. he gave me the most valuable assistance and instruction, and to my dying day i can never forget the obligations which i owe to my venerable friend." [ ] "a description of the safety-lamp, invented by george stephenson, and now in use in the killingworth colliery." london, . [ ] the committee, in their report, after setting forth in a tabular form the dates at which stephenson and davy verified their theories by experiments, and brought out their respective safety-lamps, proceeded to say: "the friends of mr. stephenson, with this table before them, conceive their resolution to be fully borne out by the testimony of dates and facts, so far as they are known; and without the slightest idea or wish of detracting from the scientific fame, honor, or veracity of sir humphry davy, they would repeat, and confine themselves to the simple assertion of their belief, that mr. stephenson was the first to construct a lamp upon the principle in question. and when the friends of mr. stephenson remember the humble and laborious station of life which he has occupied; when they consider the scanty means and opportunities which he has had for pursuing researches in practical science, and look to the improvements and discoveries which, notwithstanding so many disadvantages, he has been enabled to make by the judicious and unremitting exercise of the energy and acuteness of his natural understanding, they can not persuade themselves that they have said any thing more than any liberal and feeling mind would most readily admit." [ ] the tankard bore the following inscription: "this piece of plate, purchased with a part of the sum of £ , a subscription raised for the remuneration of mr. george stephenson for having discovered the fact that inflamed fire-damp will not pass through tubes and apertures of small dimensions, and having been _the first_ to apply that principle in the construction of a safety-lamp calculated for the preservation of human life in situations formerly of the greatest danger, was presented to him at a meeting of the subscribers, charles john brandling, esq., in the chair, january th, ." [ ] the accident above referred to was described in the "barnsley times," a copy of which, containing the account, robert stephenson forwarded to the author, with the observation that "it is evidently written by a practical miner, and is, i think, worthy of record in my father's life." mr. john browne, c.e., barnsley, in a communication which appeared in the "times" of december th, , observed: "at the period of this occurrence we had two kinds of safety-lamps in use in this pit, viz., 'davy' and 'stephenson,' and the gas, in going off to the upcast shaft, had to pass great numbers of men, who were at work with both kinds of lamps. the whole of the 'davy's' became red-hot almost instantaneously from the rapid ignition of the gas within the gauze; the 'stephenson's' were as instantly self-extinguished from the same cause, it being the prominent qualification of these lamps that, in addition to affording a somewhat better light than the 'davy' lamp, they are suddenly extinguished when placed within a highly explosive atmosphere, so that no person can remain working and run the risk of his lamp becoming red-hot, which, under such circumstances, would be the result with the 'davy' lamp. "the red-hot lamps were, most fortunately, all safely put out, although the men in many cases had their hands severely burnt by the gauze; but from that time i fully resolved to adopt the exclusive use of the 'stephenson' lamps, and not expose men to the fearful risk they must run from working with 'davy' lamps during the probable recurrence of a similar event. "i may remark that the 'stephenson' lamp, originally invented by the great george stephenson, in its present shape combines the merits of his discovery with that of sir humphry davy, constituting, to my mind, the safest lamp at present known, and i speak from the long use of many hundreds daily in various collieries." in an account given in the "times" of the th of august, , of a number of experiments made upon different safety-lamps at the barnsley gas-works, occasioned by the terrible explosion at the lund hill colliery, it is stated that the different lamps were tested with the following results: "the 'davy' lamp with no shield on the outside exploded the gas in six seconds, and with the shield inside the gauze in nine seconds. the 'belgian' lamp exploded in ten seconds; the 'mozard' in ten seconds; the small 'clanny' in seven seconds, the large one in ten seconds; and the 'stephenson' in seventy-five seconds. although the 'stephenson' is undoubtedly the best, it will be seen that none of the so-called safety-lamps can be depended upon when coming in contact with a _strong explosive current_ of fire-damp and air." chapter vii. george stephenson's farther improvements in the locomotive--the hetton railway--robert stephenson as viewer's apprentice and student. stephenson's experiments on fire-damp, and his labors in connection with the invention of the safety-lamp, occupied but a small portion of his time, which was necessarily devoted, for the most part, to the ordinary business of the colliery. from the day of his appointment as engine-wright, one of the subjects which particularly occupied his attention was the best practical method of winning and raising the coal. nicholas wood has said of him that he was one of the first to introduce steam machinery underground with that object. indeed, the killingworth mines came to be regarded as the models of the district; and when mr. robert bald, the celebrated scotch mining engineer, was requested by dr. (afterward sir david) brewster to prepare the article "mine" for the "edinburg encyclopædia," he proceeded to killingworth principally for the purpose of examining stephenson's underground machinery. mr. bald has favored us with an account of his visit made with that object in , and he states that he was much struck with the novelty, as well as the remarkable efficiency of stephenson's arrangements, especially in regard to what is called the underdip working. "i found," he says, "that a mine had been commenced near the main pit-bottom, and carried forward down the dip or slope of the coal, the rate of dip being about one in twelve; and the coals were drawn from the dip to the pit-bottom by the steam machinery in a very rapid manner. the water which oozed from the upper winning was disposed of at the pit-bottom in a barrel or trunk, and was drawn up by the power of the engine which worked the other machinery. the dip at the time of my visit was nearly a mile in length, but has since been greatly extended. as i was considerably tired by my wanderings in the galleries, when i arrived at the forehead of the dip, mr. stephenson said to me, 'you may very speedily be carried up to the rise by laying yourself flat upon the coal-baskets,' which were laden and ready to be taken up the incline. this i at once did, and was straightway wafted on the wings of fire to the bottom of the pit, from whence i was borne swiftly up to the light by the steam machinery on the pit-head." the whole of the working arrangements seemed to mr. bald to be conducted in the most skillful and efficient manner, reflecting the highest credit on the colliery engineer. besides attending to the underground arrangements, the improved transit of the coals above ground from the pit-head to the shipping-place demanded an increasing share of stephenson's attention. every day's experience convinced him that the locomotive constructed by him after his patent of the year was far from perfect, though he continued to entertain confident hopes of its complete eventual success. he even went so far as to say that the locomotive would yet supersede every other traction-power for drawing heavy loads. it is true, many persons continued to regard his traveling engine as little better than a dangerous curiosity; and some, shaking their heads, predicted for it "a terrible blow-up some day." nevertheless, it was daily performing its work with regularity, dragging the coal-wagons between the colliery and the staiths, and saving the labor of many men and horses. there was not, however, so marked a saving in the expense of haulage as to induce the colliery masters to adopt locomotive power generally as a substitute for horses. how it could be improved, and rendered more efficient as well as economical, was constantly present to stephenson's mind. he was fully conscious of the imperfections both in the road and the engine, and gave himself no rest until he had brought the efficiency of both up to a higher point. thus he worked his way inch by inch, slowly but surely, and every step gained was made good as a basis for farther improvements. at an early period of his labors, or about the time when he had completed his second locomotive, he began to direct his particular attention to the state of the road, perceiving that the extended use of the locomotive must necessarily depend in a great measure upon the perfection, solidity, continuity, and smoothness of the way along which the engine traveled. even at that early period he was in the habit of regarding the road and the locomotive as one machine, speaking of the rail and the wheel as "man and wife." all railways were at that time laid in a careless and loose manner, and great inequalities of level were allowed to occur without much attention being paid to repairs. the consequence was a great loss of power, as well as much wear and tear of the machinery, by the frequent jolts and blows of the wheels against the rails. stephenson's first object, therefore, was to remove the inequalities produced by the imperfect junction between rail and rail. at that time ( ) the rails were made of cast iron, each rail being about three feet long; and sufficient care was not taken to maintain the points of junction on the same level. the chairs, or cast-iron pedestals into which the rails were inserted, were flat at the bottom, so that whenever any disturbance took place in the stone blocks or sleepers supporting them, the flat base of the chair upon which the rails rested being tilted by unequal subsidence, the end of one rail became depressed, while that of the other was elevated. hence constant jolts and shocks, the reaction of which very often caused the fracture of the rails, and occasionally threw the engine off the road. [illustration: half-lap joint.] to remedy this imperfection, mr. stephenson devised a new chair, with an entirely new mode of fixing the rails therein. instead of adopting the _butt-joint_ which had hitherto been used in all cast-iron rails, he adopted the _half-lap joint_, by which means the rails extended a certain distance over each other at the ends like a scarf-joint. these ends, instead of resting on the flat chair, were made to rest upon the apex of a curve forming the bottom of the chair. the supports were also extended from three feet to three feet nine inches or four feet apart. these rails were accordingly substituted for the old cast-iron plates on the killingworth colliery railway, and they were found to be a very great improvement on the previous system, adding both to the efficiency of the horse-power (still used on the railway) and to the smooth action of the locomotive engine, but more particularly increasing the efficiency of the latter. this improved form of the rail and chair was embodied in a patent taken out in the joint names of mr. losh, of newcastle, iron founder, and of mr. stephenson, bearing date the th of september, . mr. losh being a wealthy, enterprising iron-manufacturer, and having confidence in george stephenson and his improvements, found the money for the purpose of taking out the patent, which in those days was a very costly as well as troublesome affair. at the same time, mr. losh guaranteed stephenson a salary of £ per annum, with a share in the profits arising from his inventions, conditional on his attending at the walker iron-works two days a week--an arrangement to which the owners of the killingworth colliery cheerfully gave their sanction. [illustration: old killingworth locomotive still in use.] the specification of included various important improvements in the locomotive itself. the wheels of the engine were improved, being altered from cast to malleable iron, in whole or in part, by which they were made lighter as well as more durable and safe. the patent also included the ingenious and original contrivance by which the steam generated in the boiler was made to serve as a substitute for springs--an expedient already explained in a preceding chapter. the result of the actual working of the new locomotive on the improved road amply justified the promises held forth in the specification. the traffic was conducted with greater regularity and economy, and the superiority of the engine, as compared with horse traction, became still more marked. and it is a fact worthy of notice, that the identical engines constructed by stephenson in are to this day in regular useful work upon the killingworth railway, conveying heavy coal-trains at the speed of between five and six miles an hour, probably as economically as any of the more perfect locomotives now in use. george stephenson's endeavors having been attended with such marked success in the adaptation of locomotive power to railways, his attention was called by many of his friends, about the year , to the application of steam to traveling on common roads. it was from this point, indeed, that the locomotive had started, trevithick's first engine having been constructed with this special object. stephenson's friends having observed how far behind he had left the original projector of the locomotive in its application to railroads, perhaps naturally inferred that he would be equally successful in applying it to the purpose for which trevithick and vivian had intended their first engine. but the accuracy with which he estimated the resistance to which loads were exposed on railways, arising from friction and gravity, led him at a very early stage to reject the idea of ever applying steam-power economically to common road traveling. in october, , he made a series of careful experiments, in conjunction with mr. nicholas wood, on the resistance to which carriages were exposed on railways, testing the results by means of a dynamometer of his own contrivance. the series of practical observations made by means of this instrument were interesting, as the first systematic attempt to determine the precise amount of resistance to carriages moving along railways. it was then for the first time ascertained by experiment that the friction was a constant quantity at all velocities. although this theory had long before been developed by vince and coulomb, and was well known to scientific men as an established truth, yet, at the time when stephenson made his experiments, the deductions of philosophers on the subject were neither believed in nor acted upon by practical engineers. to quote again from the ms. account supplied to the author by robert stephenson for the purposes of his father's "life:" "it was maintained by many that the results of the experiments led to the greatest possible mechanical absurdities. for instance, it was maintained that, if friction were constant at all velocities upon a level railway, when once a power was applied to a carriage which exceeded the friction of that carriage by the smallest possible amount, that same small excess of power would be able to convey the carriage along a level railway at all conceivable velocities. when this position was put by those who opposed the conclusions at which my father had arrived, he felt great hesitation in maintaining his own views; for it appeared to him at first sight really to be--as it was put by his opponents--an absurdity. frequent repetition, however, of the experiments to which i have alluded, left no doubt upon his mind that his conclusion that friction was uniform at all velocities was a fact which must be received as positively established; and he soon afterward boldly maintained that that which was an apparent absurdity was, instead, a necessary consequence. i well remember the ridicule that was thrown upon this view by many of those persons with whom he was associated at the time. nevertheless, it is undoubted, that, could you practically be always applying a power in excess of the resistance, a constant increase of velocity would of necessity follow without any limit. this is so obvious to most professional men of the present day, and is now so axiomatic, that i only allude to the discussion which took place when these experiments of my father were announced for the purpose of showing how small was the amount of science at that time blended with engineering practice. a few years afterward, an excellent pamphlet was published by mr. silvester on this question; he took up the whole subject, and demonstrated in a very simple and beautiful manner the correctness of all the views at which my father had arrived by his course of experiments. "the other resistances to which carriages were exposed were also investigated experimentally by my father. he perceived that these resistances were mainly three--the first being upon the axles of the carriage; the second, which may be called the rolling resistance, being between the circumference of the wheel and the surface of the rail; and the third being the resistance of gravity. "the amount of friction and gravity he accurately ascertained; but the rolling resistance was a matter of greater difficulty, for it was subject to great variation. he, however, satisfied himself that it was so great, when the surface presented to the wheel was of a rough character, that the idea of working steam-carriages economically on common roads was out of the question. even so early as the period alluded to he brought his theoretical calculations to a practical test; he scattered sand upon the rails when an engine was running, and found that a small quantity was quite sufficient to retard and even stop the most powerful locomotive engine that he had at that time made. and he never failed to urge this conclusive experiment upon the attention of those who were wasting their money and time upon the vain attempt to apply steam to common roads. "the following were the principal arguments which influenced his mind to work out the use of the locomotive in a directly opposite course to that pursued by a number of ingenious inventors, who, between and , were engaged in attempting to apply steam-power to turnpike roads. having ascertained that resistance might be taken as represented by lbs. to a ton weight on a level railway, it became obvious to him that so small a rise as in would diminish the useful effort of a locomotive by upward of fifty per cent. this fact called my father's attention to the question of gradients in future locomotive lines. he then became convinced of the vital importance, in an economical point of view, of reducing the country through which a railway was intended to pass to as near a level as possible. this originated in his mind the distinctive character of railway works as contradistinguished from all other roads; for in railroads he early contended that large sums would be wisely expended in perforating barriers of hills with long tunnels, and in raising low ground with the excess cut down from the adjacent high ground. in proportion as these views fixed themselves upon his mind, and were corroborated by his daily experience, he became more and more convinced of the hopelessness of applying steam locomotion to common roads; for every argument in favor of a level railway was an argument against the rough and hilly course of a common road. he never ceased to urge upon the patrons of road steam-carriages that if, by any amount of ingenuity, an engine could be made which could by possibility traverse a turnpike road at a speed at least equal to that obtainable by horse-power, and at a less cost, such an engine, if applied to the more perfect surface of a railway, would have its efficiency enormously enhanced. for instance, he calculated that if an engine had been constructed, and had been found to travel uniformly between london and birmingham at an average speed of miles an hour--conveying, say, or passengers at a cost of _s_. per mile, it was clear that the same engine, if applied to a railway, instead of conveying or people, would have conveyed or people, and instead of a speed of or miles an hour, a speed of at least to miles an hour would have been obtained." at this day it is difficult to understand how the sagacious and strong common-sense views of stephenson on this subject failed to force themselves sooner upon the minds of those who were persisting in their vain though ingenious attempts to apply locomotive power to ordinary roads. for a long time they continued to hold with obstinate perseverance to the belief that for such purposes a soft road was better than a hard one--a road easily crushed better than one incapable of being crushed; and they held to this after it had been demonstrated in all parts of the mining districts that iron tram-ways were better than paved roads. but the fallacy that iron was incapable of adhesion upon iron continued to prevail, and the projectors of steam-traveling on common roads only shared in the common belief. they still considered that roughness of surface was essential to produce "bite," especially in surmounting acclivities; the truth being that they confounded roughness of surface with tenacity of surface and contact of parts, not perceiving that a yielding surface which would adapt itself to the tread of the wheel could never become an unyielding surface to form a fulcrum for its progression. although stephenson's locomotive engines were in daily use for many years on the killingworth railway, they excited comparatively little interest. they were no longer experimental, but had become an established tractive power. the experience of years had proved that they worked more steadily, drew heavier loads, and were, on the whole, considerably more economical than horses. nevertheless, eight years passed before another locomotive railway was constructed and opened for the purposes of coal or other traffic. it is difficult to account for this early indifference on the part of the public to the merits of the greatest mechanical invention of the age. steam-carriages were exciting much interest, and numerous and repeated experiments were made with them. the improvements effected by m'adam in the mode of constructing turnpike roads were the subject of frequent discussions in the legislature, on the grants of public money being proposed, which were from time to time made to him. yet here at killingworth, without the aid of a farthing of government money, a system of road locomotion had been in existence since , which was destined, before many years, to revolutionize the internal communications of england and of the world, but of which the english public and the english government as yet knew nothing. but stephenson had no means of bringing his important invention prominently under the notice of the public. he himself knew well its importance, and he already anticipated its eventual general adoption; but, being an unlettered man, he could not give utterance to the thoughts which brooded within him on the subject. killingworth colliery lay far from london, the centre of scientific life in england. it was visited by no savans nor literary men, who might have succeeded in introducing to notice the wonderful machine of stephenson. even the local chroniclers seem to have taken no notice of the killingworth railway. the "puffing billy" was doing its daily quota of hard work, and had long ceased to be a curiosity in the neighborhood. blenkinsop's clumsier and less successful engine--which has long since been disused, while stephenson's killingworth engines continue working to this day--excited far more interest, partly, perhaps, because it was close to the large town of leeds, and used to be visited by strangers as one of the few objects of interest in that place. blenkinsop was also an educated man, and was in communication with some of the most distinguished personages of his day on the subject of his locomotive, which thus obtained considerable celebrity. the first engine constructed by stephenson to order, after the killingworth model, was made for the duke of portland in , for use upon his tram-road, about ten miles long, extending from kilmarnock to troon, in ayrshire. it was employed to haul the coals from the duke's collieries along the line to troon harbor. its use was, however, discontinued in consequence of the frequent breakages of the cast-iron rails, by which the working of the line was interrupted, and accordingly horses were again employed as before.[ ] there seemed, indeed, to be so small a prospect of introducing the locomotive into general use, that stephenson--perhaps conscious of the capabilities within him--again recurred to his old idea of emigrating to the united states. before entering as sleeping partner in a small foundery at forth banks, newcastle, managed by mr. john burrell, he had thrown out the suggestion to the latter that it would be a good speculation for them to emigrate to north america, and introduce steam-boats on the great inland lakes there. the first steamers were then plying upon the tyne before his eyes, and he saw in them the germ of a great revolution in navigation. it occurred to him that the great lakes of north america presented the finest field for trying their wonderful powers. he was an engineer, and mr. burrell was an iron-founder; and between them, he thought they might strike out a path to fortune in the mighty west. fortunately, this idea remained a mere speculation so far as stephenson was concerned, and it was left to others to do what he had dreamed of achieving. after all his patient waiting, his skill, industry, and perseverance were at length about to bear fruit. in , the owners of the hetton colliery, in the county of durham, determined to have their wagon-way altered to a locomotive railroad. the result of the working of the killingworth railway had been so satisfactory that they resolved to adopt the same system. one reason why an experiment so long continued and so successful as that at killingworth should have been so slow in producing results perhaps was, that to lay down a railway and furnish it with locomotives, or fixed engines where necessary, required a very large capital, beyond the means of ordinary coal-owners; while the small amount of interest felt in railways by the general public, and the supposed impracticability of working them to a profit, as yet prevented the ordinary capitalists from venturing their money in the promotion of such undertakings. the hetton coal company were, however, possessed of adequate means, and the local reputation of the killingworth engine-wright pointed him out as the man best calculated to lay out their line and superintend their works. they accordingly invited him to act as the engineer of the proposed railway. being in the service of the killingworth company, stephenson felt it necessary to obtain their permission to enter upon this new work. this was at once granted. the best feeling existed between him and his employers, and they regarded it as a compliment that their colliery engineer should be selected for a work so important as the laying down of the hetton railway, which was to be the longest locomotive line that had, up to that time, been constructed in the neighborhood. stephenson accepted the appointment, his brother robert acting as resident engineer and personally superintending the execution of the works. the hetton railway extended from the hetton colliery, situated about two miles south of houghton-le-spring, to the ship-places on the banks of the wear, near sunderland. its length was about eight miles; and in its course it crossed warden law, one of the highest hills in the district. the character of the country forbade the construction of a flat line, or one of comparatively easy gradients, except by the expenditure of a much larger capital than was placed at stephenson's command. heavy works could not be executed; it was therefore necessary to form the line with but little deviation from the natural conformation of the district which it traversed, and also to adapt the mechanical methods employed for its working to the character of the gradients, which in some places were necessarily heavy. although george stephenson had, with every step made toward its increased utility, become more and more identified with the success of the locomotive engine, he did not allow his enthusiasm to carry him away into costly mistakes. he carefully drew the line between the cases in which the locomotive could be usefully employed and those in which stationary engines were calculated to be more economical. this led him, as in the instance of the hetton railway, to execute lines through and over rough countries, where gradients within the powers of the locomotive engine of that day could not be secured, employing in their stead stationary engines where locomotives were not practicable. in the present case, this course was adopted by him most successfully. on the original hetton line there were five self-acting inclines--the full wagons drawing the empty ones up--and two inclines worked by fixed reciprocating engines of sixty-horse power each. the locomotive traveling engine, or "the iron horse," as the people of the neighborhood then styled it, worked the rest of the line. on the day of the opening of the hetton railway, the th of november, , crowds of spectators assembled from all parts to witness the first operations of this ingenious and powerful machinery, which was entirely successful. on that day five of stephenson's locomotives were at work upon the railway, under the direction of his brother robert; and the first shipment of coal was then made by the hetton company at their new staiths on the wear. the speed at which the locomotives traveled was about four miles an hour, and each engine dragged after it a train of seventeen wagons weighing about sixty-four tons. while thus advancing step by step--attending to the business of the killingworth colliery, and laying out railways in the neighborhood--he was carefully watching over the education of his son. we have already seen that robert was sent to school at newcastle, where he remained about four years. while robert was at school, his father, as usual, made his son's education instrumental to his own. he entered him a member of the newcastle literary and philosophical institute, the subscription to which was three guineas a year. robert spent much of his leisure hours there, reading and studying; and when he went home in the afternoons, he was accustomed to carry home with him a volume of the "repertory of arts and sciences," or of some work on practical science, which furnished the subject of interesting reading and discussion in the evening hours. both father and son were always ready to acknowledge the great advantages they had derived from the use of so excellent a library of books; and, toward the close of his life, the latter, in recognition of his debt of gratitude to the institution, contributed a large sum for the purpose of clearing off the debt, but conditional on the annual subscription being reduced to a guinea, in order that the usefulness of the institute might be extended. robert left school in the summer of , and was put apprentice to mr. nicholas wood, the head viewer at killingworth, to learn the business of the colliery. he served in that capacity for about three years, during which time he became familiar with most departments of underground work. his occupation was not unattended with peril, as the following incident will show. though the use of the geordy lamp had become general in the killingworth pits, and the workmen were bound, under a penalty of half a crown, not to use a naked candle, it was difficult to enforce the rule, and even the masters themselves occasionally broke it. one day nicholas wood, the head viewer, moodie, the under viewer, and robert stephenson, were proceeding along one of the galleries, wood with a naked candle in his hand, and robert following him with a lamp. they came to a place where a fall of stones from the roof had taken place, on which wood, who was first, proceeded to clamber over the stones, holding high the naked candle. he had nearly reached the summit of the heap, when the fire-damp, which had accumulated in the hollow of the roof, exploded, and instantly the whole party were blown down, and the lights extinguished. they were a mile from the shaft, and quite in the dark. there was a rush of the work-people from all quarters toward the shaft, for it was feared that the fire might extend to more dangerous parts of the pit, where, if the gas had exploded, every soul in the mine must inevitably have perished. robert stephenson and moodie, on the first impulse, ran back at full speed along the dark gallery leading to the shaft, coming into collision, on their way, with the hind quarters of a horse stunned by the explosion. when they had gone half way, moodie halted, and bethought him of nicholas wood. "stop, laddie!" said he to robert, "stop; we maun gang back and seek the maister." so they retraced their steps. happily, no farther explosion took place. they found the master lying on the heap of stones, stunned and bruised, with his hands severely burnt. they led him to the bottom of the shaft; and he afterward took care not to venture into the dangerous parts of the mine without the protection of a geordy lamp. the time that robert spent at killingworth as viewer's apprentice was of advantage both to his father and himself. the evenings were generally devoted to reading and study, the two from this time working together as friends and co-laborers. one who used to drop in at the cottage of an evening well remembers the animated and eager discussions which on some occasions took place, more especially with reference to the growing powers of the locomotive engine. the son was even more enthusiastic than his father on the subject. robert would suggest numerous alterations and improvements in detail. his father, on the contrary, would offer every possible objection, defending the existing arrangements--proud, nevertheless, of his son's suggestions, and often warmed and excited by his brilliant anticipations of the ultimate triumph of the locomotive. these discussions probably had considerable influence in inducing stephenson to take the next important step in the education of his son. although robert, who was only nineteen years of age, was doing well, and was certain, at the expiration of his apprenticeship, to rise to a higher position, his father was not satisfied with the amount of instruction which he had as yet given him. remembering the disadvantages under which he had himself labored through his ignorance of practical chemistry during his investigations connected with the safety-lamp, more especially with reference to the properties of gas, as well as in the course of his experiments with the object of improving the locomotive engine, he determined to furnish his son with a better scientific culture than he had yet attained. he also believed that a proper training in technical science was indispensable to success in the higher walks of the engineer's profession, and he determined to give robert the education, in a certain degree, which he so much desired for himself. he would thus, he knew, secure an able co-worker in the elaboration of the great ideas now looming before him, and with their united practical and scientific knowledge he probably felt that they would be equal to any enterprise. he accordingly took robert from his labors as under viewer in the west moor pit, and in october, , sent him for a short course of instruction to the edinburg university. robert was furnished with letters of introduction to several men of literary eminence in edinburg, his father's reputation in connection with the safety-lamp being of service to him in this respect. he lodged in drummond street, in the immediate vicinity of the college, and attended the chemical lectures of dr. hope, the natural philosophy lectures of sir john leslie, and the natural history class of professor jameson. he also devoted several evenings in each week to the study of practical chemistry under dr. john murray, himself one of the numerous designers of a safety-lamp. he took careful notes of the lectures, which he copied out at night before he went to bed, so that, when he returned to killingworth, he might read them over to his father. he afterward had the notes bound up and placed in his library. long years after, when conversing with thomas harrison, c.e., at his house in gloucester square, he rose from his seat and took down a volume from the shelves. mr. harrison observed that the book was in ms., neatly written out. "what have we here?" he asked. the answer was, "when i went to college, i knew the difficulty my father had in collecting the funds to send me there. before going i studied short-hand; while at edinburg i took down verbatim every lecture; and in the evenings, before i went to bed, i transcribed those lectures word for word. you see the result in that range of books." from this it will be observed that the maxim of "like father, like son," was one that strictly applied to the stephensons. robert was not without the pleasure of social intercourse either during his stay at edinburg. among the letters of introduction which he took with him was one to robert bald, the mining engineer, which proved of much service to him. "i remember mr. bald very well," he said on one occasion, when recounting his reminiscences of his edinburg college life. "he introduced me to dr. hope, dr. murray, and several of the distinguished men of the north. bald was the buddle of scotland. he knew my father from having visited the pits at killingworth, with the object of describing the system of working them in his article intended for the 'edinburg encyclopædia.' a strange adventure befell that article before it appeared in print. bald was living at alloa when he wrote it, and when finished he sent it to edinburg by the hands of young maxton, his nephew, whom he enjoined to take special care of it, and deliver it safely into the hands of the editor. the young man took passage for new haven by one of the little steamers which then plied on the forth; but on the voyage down the firth she struck upon a rock nearly opposite queen's ferry, and soon sank. when the accident happened, maxton's whole concern was about his uncle's article. he durst not return to alloa if he lost it, and he must not go on to edinburg without it. so he desperately clung to the chimney chains with the paper parcel under his arm, while most of the other passengers were washed away and drowned. and there he continued to cling until rescued by some boatmen, parcel and all, after which he made his way to edinburg, and the article duly appeared." returning to the subject of his life in edinburg, robert continued: "besides taking me with him to the meetings of the royal and other societies, mr. bald introduced me to a very agreeable family, relatives of his own, at whose house i spent many pleasant evenings. it was there i met jeannie m----. she was a bonnie lass, and i, being young and susceptible, fairly fell in love with her. but, like most very early attachments, mine proved evanescent. years passed, and i had all but forgotten jeannie, when one day i received a letter from her, from which it appeared that she was in great distress through the ruin of her relatives. i sent her a sum of money, and continued to do so for several years; but the last remittance not being acknowledged, i directed my friend sanderson to make inquiries. i afterward found that the money had reached her at portobello just as she was dying, and so, poor thing, she had been unable to acknowledge it." one of the practical sciences in the study of which robert stephenson took special interest while at edinburg was that of geology. the situation of the city, in the midst of a district of highly interesting geological formation, easily accessible to pedestrians, is indeed most favorable to the pursuit of such a study; and it was the practice of professor jameson frequently to head a band of his pupils, armed with hammers, chisels, and clinometers, and take them with him on a long ramble into the country, for the purpose of teaching them habits of observation, and reading to them from the open book of nature itself. the professor was habitually grave and taciturn, but on such occasions he would relax and even become genial. for his own special science he had an almost engrossing enthusiasm, which on such occasions he did not fail to inspire into his pupils, who thus not only got their knowledge in the pleasantest possible way, but also fresh air and exercise in the midst of glorious scenery and in joyous company. at the close of this session, the professor took with him a select body of his pupils on an excursion along the great glen of the highlands, in the line of the caledonian canal, and robert formed one of the party. they passed under the shadow of ben nevis, examined the famous old sea-margins known as the "parallel roads of glen roy," and extended their journey as far as inverness, the professor teaching the young men, as they traveled, how to observe in a mountain country. not long before his death, robert stephenson spoke in glowing terms of the great pleasure and benefit which he had derived from that interesting excursion. "i have traveled far, and enjoyed much," he said, "but that delightful botanical and geological tour i shall never forget; and i am just about to start in the _titania_ for a trip round the east coast of scotland, returning south through the caledonian canal, to refresh myself with the recollection of that first and brightest tour of my life." toward the end of the summer the young student returned to killingworth to re-enter upon the active business of life. the six months' study had cost his father £ --a considerable sum to him in those days; but he was amply repaid by the additional scientific culture which his son had acquired, and the evidence of ability and industry which he was enabled to exhibit in a prize for mathematics which he had won at the university. [illustration: west moor pit, killingworth.] we may here add that by this time george stephenson, after remaining a widower fourteen years, had married, in , 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: [ ] 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 £ . it was sold in for £ , 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,[ ] 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 , 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. the works had scarcely been commenced ere the company got into difficulties, but eventually miles of iron-way were constructed and opened for traffic. any person was then at liberty to put wagons on the line, and to carry goods within the prescribed rates, the wagons being worked by horses, mules, and donkeys. notwithstanding the very sanguine expectations which were early formed as to the paying qualities of this railway, it never realized any adequate profit to the owners. but it continued to be worked, principally by donkeys for the sake of cheapness, down to the passing of the act for constructing the london and brighton line in , when the proprietors disposed of their undertaking to the new company. the line was accordingly dismantled; the stone blocks and rails were taken up and sold; and all that remains of the wandsworth, croydon, and merstham railway is the track still observable to the south of croydon, along smitham bottom, nearly parallel with the line of the present brighton railway, and an occasional cutting and embankment, which still mark the route of this first public railway. the want of success of this undertaking doubtless had the effect of deterring projectors from embarking in any similar enterprise. if a line of the sort could not succeed near london, it was thought improbable that it should succeed any where else. the croydon and merstham line was a beacon to warn capitalists against embarking in railways, and many years passed before another was ventured upon. sir richard phillips was one of the few who early recognized the important uses of the locomotive and its employment on a large scale for the haulage of goods and passengers by railway. in his "morning walk to kew" he crossed the line of the wandsworth and croydon railway, when the idea seems to have occurred to him, as it afterwards did to thomas gray, that in the locomotive and the railway were to be found the germs of a great and peaceful social revolution: "i found delight," said sir richard, in his book published in , "in witnessing at wandsworth the economy of horse labor on the iron railway. yet a heavy sigh escaped me as i thought of the inconceivable millions of money which have been spent about malta, four or five of which might have been the means of extending double lines of iron railway from london to edinburg, glasgow, holyhead, milford, falmouth, yarmouth, dover, and portsmouth. a reward of a single thousand would have supplied coaches and other vehicles, of various degrees of speed, with the best tackle for readily turning out; and we might, ere this, have witnessed our mail-coaches running at the rate of ten miles an hour drawn by a single horse, or impelled fifteen miles an hour by blenkinsop's steam-engine. such would have been a legitimate motive for over-stepping the income of a nation, and the completion of so great and useful a work would have afforded rational ground for public triumph in general jubilee." there was, however, as yet, no general recognition of the advantages either of railways or locomotives. the government of this country never leads in any work of public enterprise, and is usually rather a drag upon industrial operations than otherwise. as for the general public, it was enough for them that the wandsworth and croydon railway did not pay. mr. tredgold, in his "practical treatise on railroads and carriages," published in , observes: "up to this period railways have been employed with success only in the conveyance of heavy mineral products, and for short distances where immense quantities were to be conveyed. in the few instances where they have been intended for the general purposes of trade, they have never answered the expectations of their projectors. but this seems to have arisen altogether from following too closely the models adopted for the conveyance of minerals, such modes of forming and using railways not being at all adapted for the general purposes of trade." the ill success of railways was generally recognized. joint-stock companies for all sorts of purposes were formed during the joint-stock mania of , but few projectors were found daring enough to propose schemes so unpromising as railways. hence nearly twenty years passed between the construction of the first and the second public railway in england; and this brings us to the projection of the stockton and darlington, which may be regarded as the parent public locomotive railway in the kingdom. the district lying to the west of darlington, in the county of durham, is one of the richest mineral fields of the north. vast stores of coal underlie the bishop auckland valley, and from an early period it was felt to be an exceedingly desirable object to open up new communications to enable the article to be sent to market. but the district lay a long way from the sea, and, the tees being unnavigable, there was next to no vend for the bishop auckland coal. it is easy to understand, therefore, how the desire to obtain an outlet for this coal for land sale, as well as for its transport to london by sea, should have early occupied the attention of the coal-owners in the bishop auckland district. the first idea that found favor was the construction of a canal. about a century ago, in , shortly after the duke of bridgewater's canal had been opened between worsley and manchester, a movement was set on foot at darlington with the view of having the country surveyed between that place and stockton-on-tees. brindley was requested to lay out the proposed line of canal; but he was engrossed at the time by the prosecution of the works on the duke's canal to liverpool, and whitworth, his pupil and assistant, was employed in his stead; george dixon, grandfather of john dixon, engineer of the future stockton and darlington railway, taking an active part in the survey. in october, , whitworth presented his plan of the proposed canal from stockton by darlington to winston, and in the following year, to give weight to the scheme, brindley concurred with him in a joint report as to the plan and estimate. nothing was, however, done in the matter. enterprise was slow to move. stockton waited for darlington, and darlington waited for stockton, but neither stirred until twenty years later, when stockton began to consider the propriety of straightening the tees below that town, and thereby shortening and improving the navigation. when it became known that some engineering scheme was afoot at stockton, that indefatigable writer of prospectuses and drawer of plans, ralph dodd, the first projector of a tunnel under the thames, the first projector of the waterloo bridge, and the first to bring a steam-boat from glasgow into the thames, addressed the mayor and corporation of stockton in on the propriety of forming a line of internal navigation by darlington and staindrop to winston. still nothing was done. four years later, another engineer, george atkinson, reported in favor of a water-way to connect the then projected great trunk canal, from about boroughbridge to piersebridge, with the tees above yarm. at length, in , the tees navigation company, slow in their movements, obtained an act enabling them to make the short cut projected seventeen years before, and two years later the cut was opened, and celebrated by the inevitable dinner. the stockton people, who adopted as the motto of their company "meliora speramus," held a public meeting after the dinner to meditate upon and discuss the better things to come. they appointed a committee to inquire into the practicability and advantages of forming _a railway_ or canal from stockton by darlington to winston. here, then, in , we have the first glimpse of the railway; but it was long before the idea germinated and bore fruit. the collieries must be got at to make the new cut a success, but _how_ for a long time remained the question. sixteen months passed, and the committee at stockton went to sleep. but it came up again, and this time at darlington, with edward pease as one of the members. the darlington committee met and made their report, but they could not decide between the respective merits of a railroad and a canal. it was felt that either would be of great advantage. to settle the question, they determined to call the celebrated engineer, john rennie, to their aid, and he was ready with his report in . his report was not published, but it is understood that he was in favor of a canal on brindley and whitworth's line, though he afterward inclined to a tram-road. still nothing was done. war was on foot in europe, and enterprise was every where dormant. the scheme must therefore wait the advent of peace. at length peace came, and with it a revival of former projects. at newcastle, a plan was set on foot for connecting the tyne with the solway firth by a canal. a county meeting was held on the subject in august, , under the presidency of the high sheriff. previous to this time, sir john swinburne had stood up for a railway in preference to a canal; but when the meeting took place, the opinion of those present was in favor of a canal--mr. william armstrong (father of the present sir william) being one of the most zealous advocates of the water-road. yet there were even then railroads in the immediate neighborhood of newcastle, at wylam and killingworth, which had been successfully and economically worked by the locomotive for years past, but which the northumbrians seem completely to have ignored. the public head is usually very thick, and it is difficult to hammer a new idea into it. canals were established methods of conveyance, and were every where recognized; whereas railways were new things, and were struggling hard to gain a footing. besides, the only public railway in england, the wandsworth, croydon, and merstham, had proved a commercial failure, and was held up as a warning to all speculators in tram-ways. but, though the newcastle meeting approved of a canal in preference to a railway from the tyne to the solway, nothing was really done to promote the formation of either. the movement in favor of a canal was again revived at stockton. a requisition, very numerously signed by persons of influence in south durham, was presented to the mayor of stockton in may, , requesting him to convene a public meeting "to consider the expediency of forming a canal for the conveyance of coal, lime, etc., from evenwood bridge, near west auckland, to the river tees, upon a plan recently made by mr. george leatham, engineer." among the names attached to the petition we find those of edward, john, and thomas pease, and john dixon, darlington. they were doubtless willing to pull with any party that would open up a way, whether by rail or by water, between the bishop auckland coal-field and stockton, whether the line passed through darlington or not. an enthusiastic meeting was held at stockton, and a committee was appointed, by whom it was resolved to apply to parliament for an act to make the intended canal "if funds are forthcoming." never was there greater virtue in an _if_. funds were _not_ forthcoming; the project fell through, and a great blunder was prevented. when the stockton men had discussed and resolved without any practical result, the leading men of darlington took up the subject by themselves, determined, if possible, to bring it to some practical issue. in september, , they met under the presidency of thomas meynell, esq. mr. overton, who had laid down several coal railways in wales, was consulted, and, after surveying the district between the bishop auckland coal-field and the tees, sent in his report. mr. rennie also was again consulted. both engineers gave their opinion in favor of a railway by darlington in preference to a canal by auckland, "whether taken as a line for the exportation of coal or as one for a local trade." the committee accordingly reported in favor of the railway. it is curious now to look back at the modest estimate of traffic formed by the committee. they considered that the export trade in coal "might be taken, perhaps, at , tons a year, which is about one cargo a week!" it was intended to haul the coal by horse-power; a subsequent report stating "on undoubted authority" that one horse of moderate power could easily draw downward on the railway, between darlington and stockton, about ten tons, and upward about four tons of loading, exclusively of the empty wagons. no allusion was made to passengers in any of the reports; nor did the committee at first contemplate the accommodation of traffic of this description. a survey of the line was then ordered, and steps were taken to apply to parliament for the necessary powers to construct the railway. but the controversy was not yet at an end. stockton stood by its favorite project of a canal, and would not subscribe a farthing toward the projected railway; but neither did it subscribe toward the canal. the landlords, the road trustees, the carriers, the proprietors of donkeys (by whom coals were principally carried for inland sale), were strenuously opposed to the new project; while the general public, stupid and skeptical, for the most part stood aloof, quoting old saws and keeping their money in their pockets. several energetic men, however, were now at the head of the stockton and darlington railway project, and determined to persevere with it. among these, the peases were the most zealous. edward pease might be regarded as the back-bone of the concern. opposition did not daunt him, nor failure discourage him. when apparently overthrown and prostrate, he would rise again like antæus, stronger than before, and renew his efforts with increased vigor. he had in him the energy and perseverance of many men. one who knew him in said, "he was a man who could see a hundred years ahead." when the author last saw him in , a few years before his death, mr. pease was in his eighty-eighth year; yet he still possessed the hopefulness and mental vigor of a man in his prime. still sound in health, his eye had not lost its brilliancy, nor his cheek its color, and there was an elasticity in his step which younger men might have envied. [illustration: edward pease.] in getting up a company for surveying and forming a railway, mr. pease had great difficulties to encounter. the people of the neighborhood spoke of it as a ridiculous undertaking, and predicted that it would be ruinous to all concerned in it. even those most interested in the opening up of new markets for the sale of their coal were indifferent, if not hostile. mr. pease nevertheless persevered in the formation of a company, and he induced many of his friends and relations to follow his example. the richardsons and backhouses, members, like himself, of the society of friends, influenced by his persuasion, united themselves with him; and so many of the same denomination (having confidence in these influential darlington names) followed their example and subscribed for shares, that the railway obtained the designation, which it long retained, of "the quakers' line." the stockton and darlington scheme had to run the gauntlet of a fierce opposition in three successive sessions of parliament. the application of was defeated by the duke of cleveland, who afterward profited so largely by the railway. the ground of his opposition was that the line would interfere with one of his fox-covers, and it was mainly through his influence that the bill was thrown out, but only by a majority of thirteen, upward of one hundred members having voted for the bill. a nobleman said, when he heard of the division, "well, if the quakers in these times, when nobody knows any thing about railways, can raise such a phalanx in their support, i should recommend the country gentlemen to be very wary how they oppose them in future." the next year, in , an amended survey of the line was made, and, the duke's fox-cover being avoided, his opposition was thus averted; but, on parliament becoming dissolved on the death of george iii., the bill was necessarily suspended until another session. in the mean time the local opposition to the measure revived, and now it was led by the road trustees, who spread it abroad that the mortgagees of the tolls arising from the turnpike-road leading from darlington to west auckland would be seriously injured by the formation of the proposed railway. on this, edward pease issued a printed notice, requesting any alarmed mortgagee to apply to the company's solicitors at darlington, who were authorized to purchase their securities at the prices originally given for them. this notice had the effect of allaying the alarm spread abroad; and the bill, though still strongly opposed, passed both houses of parliament in . [illustration: map of stockton and darlington railway.] the preamble of the act sets forth the public utility of the proposed line for the conveyance of coal and other commodities from the interior of the county of durham to stockton and the northern parts of yorkshire. nothing was said about passengers, for passenger-traffic was not yet contemplated; and nothing was said about locomotives, as it was at first intended to work the line entirely by horse-power. the road was to be free to all persons who chose to place their wagons and horses upon it for the haulage of coal and merchandise, provided they paid the tolls fixed by the act. the company were empowered to charge fourpence a ton per mile for all coal intended for land sale, but only a halfpenny a ton per mile for coal intended for shipment at stockton. this latter proviso was inserted at the instance of mr. lambton, afterward earl of durham, for the express purpose of preventing the line being used in competition against his coal loaded at sunderland; for it was not believed possible that coal could be carried at that low rate except at a heavy loss. as it was, however, the rate thus fixed by the act eventually proved the vital element of success in the working of the undertaking. while the stockton and darlington railway scheme was still before parliament, we find edward pease writing letters to a york paper, urging the propriety of extending it southward into yorkshire by a branch from croft. it is curious now to look back upon the arguments by which mr. pease sought to influence public opinion in favor of railways, and to observe the very modest anticipations which even its most zealous advocate entertained as to their supposed utility and capabilities: "the late improvements in the construction of railways," mr. pease wrote, "have rendered them much more perfect than when constructed after the old plan. to such a degree of utility have they now been brought that they may be regarded as _very little inferior to canals_. "if we compare the railway with the best lines of common road, it may be fairly stated that in the case of a level railway the work will be increased in at least an eightfold degree. the best horse is sufficiently loaded with three quarters of a ton on a common road, from the undulating line of its draught, while on a railway it is calculated that a horse will easily draw a load of ten tons. at lord elgin's works, mr. stevenson, the celebrated engineer, states that he has actually seen a horse draw twenty-three tons thirteen cwt. upon a railway which was in some parts level, and at other parts presented a gentle declivity! "the formation of a railway, if it creates no improvement in a country, certainly bars none, as all the former modes of communication remain unimpaired; and the public obtain, at the risk of the subscribers, another and better mode of carriage, which it will always be to the interest of the proprietors to make cheap and serviceable to the community. "on undertakings of this kind, when compared with canals, the advantages of which (where an ascending or descending line can be obtained) are nearly equal, it may be remarked that public opinion is not easily changed on any subject. it requires the experience of many years, sometimes ages, to accomplish this, even in cases which by some may be deemed obvious. such is the effect of habit, and such the aversion of mankind to any thing like innovation or change. although this is often regretted, yet, if the principle be investigated in all its ramifications, it will perhaps be found to be one of the most fortunate dispositions of the human mind. "the system of cast-iron railways is as yet to be considered but in its infancy. it will be found to be an immense improvement on the common road, and also on the wooden railway. it neither presents the friction of the tram-way, nor partakes of the perishable nature of the wooden railway, and, as regards utility, it may be considered as the medium between the navigable canal and the common road. we may therefore hope that as this system develops itself, our roads will be laid out as much as possible on _one level_, and in connection with the great lines of communication throughout the country." such were the modest anticipations of edward pease respecting railways in the year . ten years later, an age of progress, by comparison, had been effected. some time elapsed before any active steps were taken to proceed with the construction of the railway. doubts were raised whether the line was the best that could be adopted for the district, and the subscribers generally were not so sanguine about the undertaking as to induce them to press it forward. one day, about the end of the year , two strangers knocked at the door of mr. pease's house in darlington, and a message was brought to him that some persons from killingworth wanted to speak with him. they were invited in, on which one of the visitors introduced himself as nicholas wood, viewer at killingworth, and then turning to his companion, he introduced him as george stephenson, engine-wright, of the same place. mr. pease entered into conversation with his visitors, and was soon told their object. stephenson had heard of the passing of the stockton and darlington act, and desiring to increase his railway experience, and also to employ in some larger field the practical knowledge he had already acquired, he determined to visit the known projector of the undertaking, with the view of being employed to carry it out. he had brought with him his friend wood for the purpose at the same time of relieving his diffidence and supporting his application. mr. pease liked the appearance of his visitor: "there was," as he afterward remarked when speaking of stephenson, "such an honest, sensible look about him, and he seemed so modest and unpretending. he spoke in the strong northumbrian dialect of his district, and described himself as 'only the engine-wright at killingworth; that's what he was.'" mr. pease soon saw that our engineer was the very man for his purpose. the whole plans of the railway were still in an undetermined state, and mr. pease was therefore glad to have the opportunity of profiting by stephenson's experience. in the course of their conversation, the latter strongly recommended a _railway_ in preference to a tram-road. they also discussed the kind of tractive power to be employed, mr. pease stating that the company had based their whole calculations on the employment of _horse_-power. "i was so satisfied," said he afterward, "that a horse upon an iron road would draw ten tons for one ton on a common road, that i felt sure that before long the railway would become the king's highway." but mr. pease was scarcely prepared for the bold assertion made by his visitor, that the locomotive engine with which he had been working the killingworth railway for many years past was worth fifty horses, and that engines made after a similar plan would yet entirely supersede all horse-power upon railroads. stephenson was daily becoming more positive as to the superiority of his locomotive, and hence he strongly urged mr. pease to adopt it. "come over to killingworth," said he, "and see what my engines can do; seeing is believing, sir." mr. pease accordingly promised that on some early day he would go over to killingworth, and take a look at the wonderful machine that was to supersede horses. the result of the interview was, that mr. pease promised to bring stephenson's application for the appointment of engineer before the directors, and to support it with his influence; whereon the two visitors prepared to take their leave, informing mr. pease that they intended to return to newcastle "by nip;" that is, they expected to get a smuggled lift on the stage-coach by tipping jehu--for in those days the stage-coachmen regarded all casual roadside passengers as their proper perquisites. they had, however, been so much engrossed by their conversation that the lapse of time was forgotten, and when stephenson and his friend made inquiries about the return coach, they found the last had left, and they had to walk eighteen miles to durham on their way back to newcastle. mr. pease having made farther inquiries respecting stephenson's character and qualifications, and having received a very strong recommendation of him as the right man for the intended work, he brought the subject of his application before the directors of the stockton and darlington company. they resolved to adopt his recommendation that a railway be formed instead of a tram-road; and they farther requested mr. pease to write to stephenson, desiring him to undertake a resurvey of the line at the earliest practicable period. a man was dispatched on a horse with the letter, and when he reached killingworth he made diligent inquiry after the person named on the address, "george stephenson, esquire, engineer." no such person was known in the village. it is said that the man was on the point of giving up all farther search, when the happy thought struck some of the colliers' wives who had gathered about him that it must be "geordie the engine-wright" the man was in search of, and to geordie's cottage he accordingly went, found him at home, and delivered the letter. about the end of september stephenson went carefully over the line of the proposed railway for the purpose of suggesting such improvements and deviations as he might consider desirable. he was accompanied by an assistant and a chainman, his son robert entering the figures while his father took the sights. after being engaged in the work at intervals for about six weeks, stephenson reported the result of his survey to the board of directors, and showed that, by certain deviations, a line shorter by about three miles might be constructed at a considerable saving in expense, while at the same time more favorable gradients--an important consideration--would be secured. it was, however, determined in the first place to proceed with the works at those parts of the line where no deviation was proposed, and the first rail of the stockton and darlington railway was laid with considerable ceremony, near stockton, on the d of may, . it is worthy of note that stephenson, in making his first estimate of the cost of forming the railway according to the instructions of the directors, set down, as part of the cost, £ for stationary engines, not mentioning locomotives at all. it was the intention of the directors, in the first place, to employ only horses for the haulage of the coals, and fixed engines and ropes where horse-power was not applicable. the whole question of steam-locomotive power was, in the estimation of the public, as well as of practical and scientific men, as yet in doubt. the confident anticipations of george stephenson as to the eventual success of locomotive engines were regarded as mere speculations; and when he gave utterance to his views, as he frequently took the opportunity of doing, it even had the effect of shaking the confidence of some of his friends in the solidity of his judgment and his practical qualities as an engineer. when mr. pease discussed the question with stephenson, his remark was, "come over and see my engines at killingworth, and satisfy yourself as to the efficiency of the locomotive. i will show you the colliery books, that you may ascertain for yourself the actual cost of working. and i must tell you that the economy of the locomotive engine is no longer a matter of theory, but a matter of fact." so confident was the tone in which stephenson spoke of the success of his engines, and so important were the consequences involved in arriving at a correct conclusion on the subject, that mr. pease at length resolved on paying a visit to killingworth in the summer of , in company with his friend thomas richardson, a considerable subscriber to the stockton and darlington undertaking,[ ] to inspect the wonderful new power so much vaunted by their engineer. when mr. pease arrived at killingworth village, he inquired for george stephenson, and was told that he must go over to the west moor, and seek for a cottage by the roadside with a dial over the door--"that was where george stephenson lived." they soon found the house with the dial, and, on knocking, the door was opened by mrs. stephenson. in answer to mr. pease's inquiry for her husband, she said he was not in the house at present, but that she would send for him to the colliery. and in a short time stephenson appeared before them in his working dress, just as he had come out of the pit. he very soon had his locomotive brought up to the crossing close by the end of the cottage, made the gentlemen mount it, and showed them its paces. harnessing it to a train of loaded wagons, he ran it along the railroad, and so thoroughly satisfied his visitors of its power and capabilities, that from that day edward pease was a declared supporter of the locomotive engine. in preparing the amended stockton and darlington act, at stephenson's urgent request mr. pease had a clause inserted, taking power to work the railway by means of locomotive engines, and to employ them for the haulage of passengers as well as of merchandise[ ] the act was obtained in , on which stephenson was appointed the company's engineer, at a salary of £ per annum; and it was determined that the line should be constructed and opened for traffic as soon as practicable. he at once proceeded, accompanied by his assistants, with the working survey of the line, laying out every foot of the ground himself. railway surveying was as yet in its infancy, and was slow and difficult work. it afterward became a separate branch of railway business, and was intrusted to a special staff. indeed, on no subsequent line did george stephenson take the sights through the spirit-level with his own hands and eyes as he did on this railway. he started very early--dressed in a blue tailed coat, breeches, and top-boots--and surveyed until dusk. he was not at any time particular as to his living; and, during the survey, he took his chance of getting a little milk and bread at some cottager's house along the line, or occasionally joined in a homely dinner at some neighboring farm-house. the country people were accustomed to give him a hearty welcome when he appeared at their door, for he was always full of cheery and homely talk, and, when there were children about the house, he had plenty of humorous chat for them as well as for their seniors. after the day's work was over, george would drop in at mr. pease's to talk over the progress of the survey, and discuss various matters connected with the railway. mr. pease's daughters were usually present; and, on one occasion, finding the young ladies learning the art of embroidery, he volunteered to instruct them.[ ] "i know all about it," said he, "and you will wonder how i learned it. i will tell you. when i was a brakesman at killingworth, i learned the art of embroidery while working the pitmen's button-holes by the engine fire at nights." he was never ashamed, but, on the contrary, rather proud, of reminding his friends of these humble pursuits of his early life. mr. pease's family were greatly pleased with his conversation, which was always amusing and instructive; full of all sorts of experience, gathered in the oddest and most out-of-the-way places. even at that early period, before he mixed in the society of educated persons, there was a dash of speculativeness in his remarks which gave a high degree of originality to his conversation; and he would sometimes, in a casual remark, throw a flash of light upon a subject which called up a train of pregnant suggestions. one of the most important subjects of discussion at these meetings with mr. pease was the establishment of a manufactory at newcastle for the building of locomotive engines. up to this time all the locomotives constructed after stephenson's designs had been made by ordinary mechanics working at the collieries in the north of england. but he had long felt that the accuracy and style of their workmanship admitted of great improvement, and that upon this the more perfect action of the locomotive engine, and its general adoption, in a great measure depended. one principal object that he had in view in establishing the proposed factory was to concentrate a number of good workmen for the purpose of carrying out the improvements in detail which he was from time to time making in his engine; for he felt hampered by the want of efficient help from skilled mechanics, who could work out in a practical form the ideas of which his busy mind was always so prolific. doubtless, too, he believed that the manufactory would prove a remunerative investment, and that, on the general adoption of the railway system which he anticipated, he would derive solid advantages from the fact of his establishment being the only one of the kind for the special construction of locomotive engines. mr. pease approved of his design, and strongly recommended him to carry it into effect. but there was the question of means; and stephenson did not think he had capital enough for the purpose. he told mr. pease that he could advance £ --the amount of the testimonial presented by the coal-owners for his safety-lamp invention, which he had still left untouched; but he did not think this sufficient for the purpose, and he thought that he should require at least another £ . mr. pease had been very much struck with the successful performances of the killingworth engine; and, being an accurate judge of character, he believed that he could not go far wrong in linking a portion of his fortune with the energy and industry of george stephenson. he consulted his friend thomas richardson in the matter, and the two consented to advance £ each for the purpose of establishing the engine factory at newcastle. a piece of land was accordingly purchased in forth street, in august, , on which a small building was erected--the nucleus of the gigantic establishment which was afterward formed around it; and active operations were begun early in . while the stockton and darlington railway works were in progress, our engineer had many interesting discussions with mr. pease on points connected with its construction and working, the determination of which in a great measure affected the formation and working of future railways. the most important points were these: . the comparative merits of cast and wrought iron rails. . the gauge of the railway. . the employment of horse or engine power in working it when ready for traffic. the kind of rails to be laid down to form the permanent road was a matter of considerable importance. a wooden tram-road had been contemplated when the first act was applied for; but stephenson having advised that an iron road should be laid down, he was instructed to draw up a specification of the rails. he went before the directors to discuss with them the kind of material to be specified. he was himself interested in the patent for cast-iron rails, which he had taken out in conjunction with mr. losh in , and, of course, it was to his interest that his articles should be used. but when requested to give his opinion on the subject, he frankly said to the directors, "well, gentlemen, to tell you the truth, although it would put £ in my pocket to specify my own patent rails, i can not do so after the experience i have had. if you take my advice, you will not lay down a single cast-iron rail." "why?" asked the directors. "because they will not stand the weight, and you will be at no end of expense for repairs and relays." "what kind of road, then," he was asked, "would you recommend?" "malleable rails, certainly," said he; "and i can recommend them with the more confidence from the fact that at killingworth we have had some swedish bars laid down--nailed to wooden sleepers--for a period of fourteen years, the wagons passing over them daily, and there they are, in use yet, whereas the cast rails are constantly giving way."[ ] the price of malleable rails was, however, so high--being then worth about £ per ton as compared with cast-iron rails at about £ _s._--and the saving of expense was so important a consideration with the subscribers, that stephenson was directed to provide in the specification that only one half of the rails required--or about tons--should be of malleable iron, and the remainder of cast iron. the malleable rails were of the kind called "fish-bellied," and weighed lbs. to the yard, being - / inches broad at the top, with the upper flange / inch thick. they were only inches in depth at the points at which they rested on the chairs, and - / inches in the middle or bellied part. when forming the road, the proper gauge had also to be determined. what width was this to be? the gauge of the first tram-road laid down had virtually settled the point. the gauge of wheels of the common vehicles of the country--of the carts and wagons employed on common roads, which were first used on the tram-roads--was about feet - / inches. and so the first tram-roads were laid down of this gauge. the tools and machinery for constructing coal-wagons and locomotives were formed with this gauge in view. the wylam wagon-way, afterward the wylam plate-way, the killingworth railroad, and the hetton railroad, were as nearly as possible on the same gauge. some of the earth-wagons used to form the stockton and darlington road were brought from the hetton railway; and others which were specially constructed were formed of the same dimensions, these being intended to be afterward employed in the working of the traffic. as the period drew near for the opening of the line, the question of the tractive power to be employed was anxiously discussed. at the brusselton incline, fixed engines must necessarily be made use of; but with respect to the mode of working the railway generally, it was decided that horses were to be largely employed, and arrangements were made for their purchase. although locomotives had been regularly employed in hauling coal-wagons on the middleton colliery railway, near leeds, for more than twelve years, and on the wylam and killingworth railways near newcastle for more than ten years, great skepticism still prevailed as to the economy of employing them for the purpose in lieu of horses. in this case, it would appear that seeing was _not_ believing. the popular skepticism was as great at newcastle, where the opportunities for accurate observation were the greatest, as any where else. in the scheme of a canal between that town and carlisle again came up, and, though a few timid voices were raised on behalf of a railway, the general opinion was still in favor of a canal. the example of the hetton railway, which had been successfully worked by stephenson's locomotives for two years past, was pointed to in proof of the practicability of a locomotive line between the two places; but the voice of the press as well as of the public was decidedly against the "new-fangled roads." "there has been some talk," wrote the "whitehaven gazette," "from a puff criticism in the 'monthly review,' of an improvement on the principle of railways; but we suspect that this improvement will turn out like the steam-carriages, of which we have been told so much, that were to supersede the use of horses entirely, and travel _at a rate almost equal to the speed of the fleetest horse_!" the idea was too chimerical to be entertained, and the suggested railway was accordingly rejected as impracticable. the "tyne mercury" was equally decided against railways. "what person," asked the editor (november th, ), "would ever think of _paying any thing_ to be conveyed from hexham to newcastle in something like a coal-wagon, upon a dreary wagon-way, and to be dragged for the greater part of the distance by a roaring steam-engine!" the very notion of such a thing was preposterous, ridiculous, and utterly absurd. when such was the state of public opinion as to railway locomotion, some idea may be formed of the clearsightedness and moral courage of the stockton and darlington directors in ordering three of stephenson's locomotive engines, at a cost of several thousand pounds, against the opening of the railway. these were constructed after stephenson's most matured designs, and embodied all the improvements which he had contrived up to that time. no. engine, the "locomotion," which was first delivered, weighed about eight tons. it had one large flue or tube through the boiler, by which the heated air passed direct from the furnace at one end, lined with fire-bricks, to the chimney at the other. the combustion in the furnace was quickened by the adoption of the steam-blast in the chimney. the heat raised was sometimes so great, and it was so imperfectly abstracted by the surrounding water, that the chimney became almost red-hot. such engines, when put to their speed, were found capable of running at the rate of from twelve to sixteen miles an hour; but they were better adapted for the heavy work of hauling coal-trains at low speeds--for which, indeed, they were specially constructed--than for running at the higher speeds afterward adopted. nor was it contemplated by the directors as possible, at the time when they were ordered, that locomotives could be made available for the purposes of passenger traveling. besides, the stockton and darlington railway did not run through a district in which passengers were supposed to be likely to constitute any considerable portion of the traffic. we may easily imagine the anxiety felt by george stephenson during the progress of the works toward completion, and his mingled hopes and doubts (though his doubts were but few) as to the issue of this great experiment. when the formation of the line near stockton was well advanced, the engineer one day, accompanied by his son robert and john dixon, made a journey of inspection of the works. the party reached stockton, and proceeded to dine at one of the inns there. after dinner, stephenson ventured on the very unusual measure of ordering in a bottle of wine, to drink success to the railway. john dixon relates with pride the utterance of the master on the occasion. "now, lads," said he to the two young men, "i venture to tell you that i think you will live to see the day when railways will supersede almost all other methods of conveyance in this country--when mail-coaches will go by railway, and railroads will become the great highways for the king and all his subjects. the time is coming when it will be cheaper for a working man to travel on a railway than to walk on foot. i know there are great and almost insurmountable difficulties to be encountered, but what i have said will come to pass as sure as you now hear me. i only wish i may live to see the day, though that i can scarcely hope for, as i know how slow all human progress is, and with what difficulty i have been able to get the locomotive introduced thus far, notwithstanding my more than ten years' successful experiment at killingworth." the result, however, outstripped even george stephenson's most sanguine anticipations; and his son robert, shortly after his return from america in , saw his father's locomotive adopted as the tractive power on railways generally. tuesday, the th of september, , was a great day for darlington. the railway, after having been under construction for more than three years, was at length about to be opened. the project had been the talk of the neighborhood for so long that there were few people within a range of twenty miles who did not feel more or less interested about it. was it to be a failure or a success? opinions were pretty equally divided as to the railway, but as regarded the locomotive the general belief was that it would "never answer." however, there the locomotive was--"no. "--delivered on to the line, and ready to draw the first train of wagons on the opening day. a great concourse of people assembled on the occasion. some came from newcastle and durham, many from the aucklands, while darlington held a general holiday, and turned out all its population. to give _éclat_ to the opening, the directors of the company issued a programme of the proceedings, intimating the times at which the procession of wagons would pass certain points along the line. the proprietors assembled as early as six in the morning at the brusselton fixed engine, where the working of the inclined planes was successfully rehearsed. a train of wagons laden with coals and merchandise was drawn up the western incline by the fixed engine, a length of yards, in seven and a half minutes, and then lowered down the incline on the eastern side of the hill, yards, in five minutes. at the foot of the incline the procession of vehicles was formed, consisting of the locomotive engine no. , driven by george stephenson himself; after it six wagons loaded with coals and flour, then a covered coach containing directors and proprietors, next twenty-one coal-wagons fitted up for passengers (with which they were crammed), and lastly six more wagons loaded with coals. strange to say, a man on a horse, carrying a flag, with the motto of the company inscribed on it, _periculum privatum utilitas publica_, headed the procession! a lithographic view of the great event, published shortly after, duly exhibits the horseman and his flag. it was not thought so dangerous a place after all. the locomotive was only supposed to be able to go at the rate of from four to six miles an hour, and an ordinary horse could easily keep ahead of that. off started the procession, with the horseman at its head. a great concourse of people stood along the line. many of them tried to accompany it by running, and some gentlemen on horseback galloped across the fields to keep up with the train. the railway descending with a gentle incline toward darlington, the rate of speed was consequently variable. at a favorable part of the road stephenson determined to try the speed of the engine, and he called upon the horseman with the flag to get out of the way! most probably, deeming it unnecessary to carry his _periculum privatum_ farther, the horseman turned aside, and stephenson "put on the steam." the speed was at once raised to twelve miles an hour, and, at a favorable part of the road, to fifteen. the runners on foot, the gentlemen on horseback, and the horseman with the flag, were consequently soon left far behind. when the train reached darlington, it was found that four hundred and fifty passengers occupied the wagons, and that the load of men, coals, and merchandise amounted to about ninety tons. [illustration: procession at the opening of the stockton and darlington railway. [fac-simile of a local lithograph.]] at darlington the procession was rearranged. the six loaded coal-wagons were left behind, and other wagons were taken on with a hundred and fifty more passengers, together with a band of music. the train then started for stockton--a distance of only twelve miles--which was reached in about three hours. the day was kept throughout the district as a holiday; and horses, gigs, carts, and other vehicles, filled with people, stood along the railway, as well as crowds of persons on foot, waiting to see the train pass. the whole population of stockton turned out to receive the procession, and, after a walk through the streets, the inevitable dinner in the town hall wound up the day's proceedings. all this, however, was but gala work. the serious business of the company began on the following day. upon the result of the experiment now fairly initiated by the stockton and darlington company the future of railways in a great measure depended. if it failed, like the wandsworth, croydon, and merstham undertaking, then a great check would unquestionably be given to speculation in railways. if it succeeded, the stockton and darlington enterprise would mark the beginning of a new era, and issue in neither more nor less than a complete revolution of the means of communication in all civilized countries. the circumstances were on the whole favorable, and boded success rather than failure. prudent, careful, thoughtful men were at the head of the concern, interested in seeing it managed economically and efficiently; and they had the advantage of the assistance of an engineer possessed of large resources of mother wit, mechanical genius, and strong common sense. there was an almost unlimited quantity of coal to be carried, the principal difficulty being in accommodating it satisfactorily. yet it was only after the line had been at work for some time that the extensive character of the coal traffic began to be appreciated. at first it was supposed that the chief trade would be in coal for land sale. but the clause inserted in the original act, at the instance of mr. lambton, by which the company were limited to / _d._ per ton per mile for coal led to stockton for shipment, led to the most unexpected consequences. it was estimated that only about , tons a year would be shipped, and that principally by way of ballast. instead of which, in the course of a very few years, the coal carried on the line for export constituted the main bulk of the traffic, while that carried for land sale was merely subsidiary.[ ] the anticipations of the company as to passenger-traffic were in like manner more than realized. at first passengers were not thought of, and it was only while the works were in progress that the starting of a passenger-coach was seriously contemplated. some eighty years since there was only one post-chaise in darlington, which ran on three wheels. there are people still living who remember when a coach ran from stockton three days in the week, passing through darlington and barnard castle; but it was starved off the road for want of support. there was then very little intercourse between the towns, though they were so near to each other, and comparatively so populous; and it was not known whether people would trust themselves to the iron road. nevertheless, it was determined to make trial of a railway coach, and george stephenson was authorized to have one built at newcastle at the cost of the company. this was done accordingly, and the first railway passenger-carriage was built after our engineer's design. it was, however, a very modest, and, indeed, a somewhat uncouth machine, more resembling a showman's caravan than a passenger-coach of any extant form. a row of seats ran along each side of the interior, and a long deal table was fixed in the centre, the access being by means of a door at the back end, in the manner of an omnibus. this coach arrived from newcastle on the day before the opening, and formed part of the procession above described. stephenson was consulted as to the name of the coach, and he at once suggested the "experiment;" and by this name it was called. such was the sole passenger-carrying stock of the stockton and darlington company in the year . but "the experiment" proved the forerunner of a mighty traffic; and long time did not elapse before it was displaced, not only by improved coaches (still drawn by horses), but afterward by long trains of passenger-carriages drawn by locomotive engines. the "experiment" was fairly started as a passenger-coach on the th of october, , a fortnight after the opening of the line. it was drawn by one horse, and performed a journey daily each way between the two towns, accomplishing the distance of twelve miles in about two hours. the fare charged was a shilling, without distinction of class; and each passenger was allowed fourteen pounds of luggage free. the "experiment" was not, however, worked by the company, but was let to contractors, who worked it under an arrangement whereby toll was paid for the use of the line, rent of booking-cabins, etc.[ ] [illustration: the first railway coach.] the speculation answered so well that several private coaching companies were shortly after got up by innkeepers at darlington and stockton for the purpose of running other coaches upon the railroad, and an active competition for passenger-traffic sprang up. the "experiment," being found too heavy for one horse to draw, besides being found an uncomfortable machine, was banished to the coal district. its place was then supplied by other and better vehicles, though they were no other than old stage-coach bodies purchased by the company, each mounted on an under-frame with flange wheels. these were let on hire to the coaching companies, who horsed and managed them under an arrangement as to tolls, in like manner as the "experiment" had been worked. now began the distinction of inside and outside passengers, equivalent to first and second class, paying different fares. the competition with each other upon the railway, and with the ordinary stage-coaches upon the road, soon brought up the speed, which was increased to ten miles an hour--the mail-coach rate of traveling in those days, and considered very fast. mr. clephan, a native of the district, has communicated to the author the following account of the competition between the rival coach companies: "there were two separate coach companies in stockton, and amusing collisions sometimes occurred between the drivers, who found on the rail a novel element for contention. coaches can not pass each other on the rail as on the road, and, as the line was single, with four sidings in the mile, when two coaches met, or two trains, or coach and train, the question arose which of the drivers must go back. this was not always settled in silence. as to trains, it came to be a sort of understanding that empty should give way to loaded wagons; and as to trains and coaches, that passengers should have preference over coals; while coaches, when they met, must quarrel it out. at length, midway between sidings, a post was erected, and the rule was laid down that he who had passed the pillar must go on, and the 'coming man' go back. at the goose pool and early nook it was common for the coaches to stop, and there, as jonathan would say, passengers and coachmen 'liquored.' one coach, introduced by an innkeeper, was a compound of two mourning-coaches--an approximation to the real railway-coach, which still adheres, with multiplying exceptions, to the stage-coach type. one dixon, who drove the 'experiment' between darlington and shildon, is the inventor of carriage-lighting on the rail. on a dark winter night, having compassion on his passengers, he would buy a penny candle, and place it lighted among them on the table of the 'experiment'--the first railway-coach (which, by the way, ended its days at shildon as a railway cabin), being also the first coach on the rail (first, second, and third class jammed all into one) that indulged its customers with light in darkness." the traffic of all sorts increased so steadily and so rapidly that considerable difficulty was experienced in working it satisfactorily. it had been provided by the first stockton and darlington act that the line should be free to all parties who chose to use it at certain prescribed rates, and that any person might put horses and wagons on the railway, and carry for himself. but this arrangement led to increasing confusion and difficulty, and could not continue in the face of a large and rapidly-increasing traffic. the goods trains got so long that the carriers found it necessary to call in the aid of the locomotive engine to help them on their way. then mixed trains of passengers and merchandise began to run; and the result was that the railway company found it necessary to take the entire charge and working of the traffic. in course of time new coaches were specially built for the better accommodation of the public, until at length regular passenger-trains were run, drawn by the locomotive engine, though this was not until after the liverpool and manchester company had established this as a distinct branch of their traffic. the three stephenson locomotives were from the first regularly employed to work the coal-trains, and their proved efficiency for this purpose led to the gradual increase of the locomotive power. the speed of the engine--slow though it seems now--was in those days regarded as something marvelous. a race actually came off between no. engine, the "locomotion," and one of the stage-coaches traveling from darlington to stockton by the ordinary road, and it was regarded as a great triumph of mechanical skill that the locomotive reached stockton first, beating the stage-coach by about a hundred yards! the same engine continued in good working order in the year , when it headed the railway procession on the opening of the middlesborough and redcar railway, traveling at the rate of about fourteen miles an hour. this engine, the first that traveled on the first public locomotive railway, has recently been placed upon a pedestal in front of the railway station at darlington. for some years, however, the principal haulage of the line was performed by horses. the inclination of the gradients being toward the sea, this was perhaps the cheapest mode of traction, so long as the traffic was not very large. the horse drew the train along the level road until, on reaching a descending gradient, down which the train ran by its own gravity, the animal was unharnessed, when, wheeling round to the other end of the wagons, to which a "dandy-cart" was attached, its bottom being only a few inches from the rail, and bringing his step into unison with the speed of the train, he leaped nimbly into his place in the hind car, which was usually fitted with a well-filled hay-rack. [illustration: the no. engine at darlington.] the details of the working were gradually perfected by experience, the projectors of the line being scarcely conscious at first of the importance and significance of the work which they had taken in hand, and little thinking that they were laying the foundations of a system which was yet to revolutionize the internal communications of the world, and confer the greatest blessings on mankind. it is important to note that the commercial results of the enterprise were considered satisfactory from the opening of the railway. besides conferring a great public benefit upon the inhabitants of the district, and throwing open entirely new markets for the almost boundless stores of coal found in the bishop auckland district, the profits derived from the traffic created by the railway enabled increasing dividends to be paid to those who had risked their capital in the undertaking, and thus held forth an encouragement to the projectors of railways generally, which was not without an important effect in stimulating the projection of similar enterprises in other districts. these results, as displayed in the annual dividends, must have been eminently encouraging to the astute commercial men of liverpool and manchester, who were then engaged in the prosecution of their railway. indeed, the commercial success of the stockton and darlington company may be justly characterized as the turning-point of the railway system. with that practical illustration daily in sight of the public, it was no longer possible for parliament to have prevented its eventual extension. before leaving the subject of the stockton and darlington railway, we can not avoid alluding to one of its most remarkable and direct results--the creation of the town of middlesborough-on-tees. when the railway was opened in , the site of this future metropolis of cleveland was occupied by one solitary farm-house and its out-buildings. all round was pasture-land or mud-banks; scarcely another house was within sight. the corporation of the town of stockton being unwilling or unable to provide accommodation for the rapidly increasing coal traffic, mr. edward pease, in , joined by a few of his quaker friends, bought about or acres of land five miles lower down the river--the site of the modern middlesborough--for the purpose of there forming a new sea-port for the shipment of coals brought to the tees by the railway. the line was accordingly extended thither; docks were excavated; a town sprang up; churches, chapels, and schools were built, with a custom-house, mechanics' institute, banks, ship-building yards, and iron factories, and in a few years the port of middlesborough became one of the most thriving on the northeast coast of england. in ten years a busy population of some persons (since swelled to about , ) occupied the site of the original farm-house. more recently, the discovery of vast stores of ironstone in the cleveland hills, close adjoining middlesborough, has tended still more rapidly to augment the population and increase the commercial importance of the place. it is pleasing to relate, in connection with this great work--the stockton and darlington railway, projected by edward pease and executed by george stephenson--that when mr. stephenson became a prosperous and a celebrated man, he did not forget the friend who had taken him by the hand, and helped him on in his early days. he continued to remember mr. pease with gratitude and affection, and that gentleman, to the close of his life, was proud to exhibit a handsome gold watch, received as a gift from his celebrated _protégé_, bearing these words--"esteem and gratitude: from george stephenson to edward pease." [illustration: middlesborough-on-tees.] footnotes: [ ] the act for constructing the merthyr tydvil tram-road was obtained from parliament as early as ; that for the sirhoway railroad in ; the carmarthenshire railroad was sanctioned in the same year; and the oystermouth railway in . [ ] mr. richardson was founder of the afterward well-known discount-house of richardson, overend, and gurney, lombard street, london. [ ] the first clause in any railway act empowering the employment of locomotive engines for the working of passenger traffic. [ ] this incident, communicated to the author by the late edward pease, has since been made the subject of a fine picture by mr. a. rankley, a.r.a., exhibited at the royal academy exhibition of . [ ] stephenson's recommendation of wrought-iron instead of cast-iron rails was the cause of a rupture between mr. losh and himself. stephenson thought his duty was to give his employers the best advice; losh thought his business was to push the patent cast-iron rails wherever he could. stephenson regarded this view as sordid; and the two finally separated after a quarrel, in high dudgeon with each other. [ ] the rapid progress of the coal and merchandise traffic of the stockton and darlington line, of which middlesbro' is the principal sea-port, may be inferred from the following brief statement of facts: the original estimate assumed that , tons of coal would be carried annually, and produce an income of £ , . the revenue from other sources was taken at £ . in , the first year in which the coal and merchandise traffic was fully worked, the revenue from coal was £ , ; from lime, merchandise, and sundries, £ ; and from passengers (which had not been taken into account), £ . in , when the original line of miles had become extended to miles, and the original capital of £ , had swelled to £ , , , the quantity of coal carried had increased to , , tons in the year, besides , , tons of ironstone and other minerals, producing a revenue of £ , ; while , , tons of merchandise had been carried in the same year, producing £ , , and , passengers, producing £ , . [ ] the coaches were not allowed to be run upon the line without considerable opposition. we find edward pease writing to joseph sandars, of liverpool, on the th of june, : "our railway coach proprietors have individually received notices of a process in the exchequer for various fines, to the amount of £ , in penalties of £ each, for neglecting to have the plates, with the numbers of their licenses, on the coach doors, agreeably to the provision of the act george iv. in looking into the nature of this proceeding and its consequences, it is clear, if the court shall confirm it by conviction, that we are undone as to the conveyance of passengers." mr. pease incidentally mentions the names of the several coach proprietors at the time--"pickersgill and co., richard scott, and martha hewson." the proceeding was eventually defeated, it being decided that the penalties only applied to coaches traveling on common or turnpike roads. chapter ix. the liverpool and manchester railway projected. while the coal proprietors of the bishop auckland district were taking steps to connect their collieries with the sea by means of an iron railroad, the merchants of liverpool and manchester were considering whether some better means could not be devised for bringing these important centres of commerce and manufacture into more direct connection. there were canals as well as roads between the two places, but all routes were alike tedious and costly, especially as regarded the transit of heavy goods. the route by turnpike road was thirty-six miles, by the duke of bridgewater's canal fifty miles, by the mersey and irwell navigation the same, and by the leeds and liverpool canal fifty-six miles. these were all overburdened with traffic. the roads were bad, the tolls heavy, and the haulage expensive. the journey by coach occupied from five to six hours, and by wagon nearly a day. but very few heavy goods went by road. the canals nearly monopolized this traffic, and, having contrived to keep up the rates, the canal companies charged what they liked. they conducted their business in a drowsy, sleepy, stupid manner. if the merchant complained of delay, he was told to do better if he could. if he objected to the rates, he was warned that if he did not pay them promptly his goods might not be carried at all. the canal companies were in a position to dictate their own terms, and they did this in such a way as to disgust alike the senders and the receivers of goods, so that both liverpool and manchester were up in arms against them. worse even than the heavy charges for goods was the occasional entire stoppage of the canals. sometimes they were frozen up; sometimes they were blocked by the press of traffic, so that goods lay on the wharves unmoved for weeks together; and at some seasons it occupied a longer time to bring cotton from liverpool to manchester by canal-boat than it had done to bring it from new york to liverpool by sailing ship. was there no way of remedying these great and admitted evils? were the commercial public to continue to be bound hand and foot, and left at the mercy of the canal proprietors? immense interests at liverpool and manchester were at stake. the liverpool merchants wanted new facilities for sending raw material inland, and the manchester manufacturers for sending the manufactured products back to liverpool for shipment. vast populations had become settled in the towns of south lancashire, to whom it was of vital importance that the communication with the sea should be regular, constant, and economical. these considerations early led to the discussion of some improved mode of transit from liverpool into the interior for heavy goods, and one of the most favored plans was that of a tram-road. it was first suggested by the corn-merchants of liverpool, who had experienced the great inconveniences resulting from the canal monopoly. one of the most zealous advocates of the tram-road was mr. joseph sandars, who took considerable pains to ascertain the results of the working of the coal lines in the north, both by horse and engine power, and he satisfied himself that either method would, if adopted between liverpool and manchester, afford the desired relief to the commercial and manufacturing interests. the subject was ventilated by him in the local papers, and in the course of the year mr. sandars succeeded in getting together a committee of liverpool gentlemen for the purpose of farther considering the subject, and, if found practicable, of starting a company with the object of forming a tram-road between the two towns. while the project was still in embryo, the rumor of it reached the ears of mr. william james, then of west bromwich, an enthusiastic advocate of tram-roads and railways. as a land-surveyor and land-agent, as well as coal-owner, he had already laid down many private railroads. he had also laid out and superintended the execution and the working of canals, projected extensive schemes of drainage and inclosure, and, on the whole, was one of the most useful and active men of his time. but a series of unfortunate speculations in mines having seriously impaired his fortunes, he again reverted to his original profession of land-surveyor, and was so occupied in the neighborhood of liverpool when he heard of the scheme set on foot for the construction of the proposed tram-road to manchester. he at once called upon mr. sandars and offered his services as its surveyor. we believe he at first offered to survey the line at his own expense, to which mr. sandars could not object; but his means were too limited to enable him to do this successfully, and mr. sandars and several of his friends agreed to pay him £ for the survey, or at the rate of about £ a mile. mr. james's first interview with mr. sandars was in the beginning of july, , when it was arranged that he should go over the ground and form a general opinion as to the practicability of a tram-way. a trial survey was then begun, but it was conducted with great difficulty, the inhabitants of the district entertaining much prejudice against the scheme. in some places mr. james and his surveying party had even to encounter personal violence. at st. helen's one of the chain-men was laid hold of by a mob of colliers, and threatened to be hurled down a coal-pit. a number of men, women, and children assembled, and ran after the surveyors wherever they made their appearance, bawling nicknames and throwing stones at them. as one of the chain-men was climbing over a gate one day, a laborer made at him with a pitchfork, and ran it through his clothes into his back; other watchers running up, the chain-man, who was more stunned than hurt, took to his heels and fled. but that mysterious-looking instrument--the theodolite--most excited the fury of the natives, who concentrated on the man who carried it their fiercest execrations and most offensive nicknames. a powerful fellow, a noted bruiser, was hired by the surveyors to carry the instrument, with a view to its protection against all assailants; but one day an equally powerful fellow, a st. helen's collier, cock of the walk in his neighborhood, made up to the theodolite bearer to wrest it from him by sheer force. a battle took place, the collier was soundly pommeled, but the natives poured in volleys of stones upon the surveyors and their instruments, and the theodolite was smashed in pieces. met by these and other obstructions, it turned out that the survey could not be completed in time for depositing the proper plans, and the intended application to parliament in the next session could not be made. in the mean time, mr. james proceeded to killingworth to see stephenson's locomotives at work. stephenson was not at home at the time, but james saw his engines, and was very much struck by their power and efficiency. he saw at a glance the magnificent uses to which the locomotive might be applied. "here," said he, "is an engine that will, before long, effect a complete revolution in society." returning to moreton-in-the-marsh, he wrote to mr. losh (stephenson's partner in the patent) expressing his admiration of the killingworth engine. "it is," said he, "the greatest wonder of the age, and the forerunner, as i firmly believe, of the most important changes in the internal communications of the kingdom." shortly after, mr. james, accompanied by his two sons, made a second journey to killingworth, where he met both losh and stephenson. the visitors were at once taken to where one of the locomotives was working, and invited to "jump up." the uncouth and extraordinary appearance of the machine, as it came snorting along, was somewhat alarming to the youths, who expressed their fears lest it should burst; and they were with some difficulty induced to mount. [illustration: map of liverpool and manchester railway. [western part.]] the engine went through its usual performances, dragging a heavy load of coal-wagons at about six miles an hour with apparent ease, at which mr. james expressed his extreme satisfaction, and declared to mr. losh his opinion that stephenson "was the greatest practical genius of the age," and that, "if he developed the full powers of that engine (the locomotive), his fame in the world would rank equal with that of watt." mr. james informed stephenson and losh of his survey of the proposed tram-road between liverpool and manchester, and did not hesitate to state that he would thenceforward advocate the construction of a locomotive railroad instead of the tram-road which had originally been proposed. [illustration: map of liverpool and manchester railway. [eastern part.]] stephenson and losh were naturally desirous of enlisting james's good services on behalf of their patent locomotive, for as yet it had proved comparatively unproductive. they believed that he might be able so to advocate it in influential quarters as to insure its more extensive adoption, and with that object they proposed to give him an interest in the patent. accordingly, they entered into an agreement by which they assigned to him one fourth of any profits which might be derived from the use of the patent locomotive on any railways constructed south of a line drawn across england from liverpool to hull. the arrangement, however, led to no beneficial results. mr. james endeavored to introduce the engine on the moreton-on-marsh railway, but it was opposed by the engineer of the line, and the attempt failed. he next urged that a locomotive should be sent for trial upon the merstham tram-road; but, anxious though stephenson was as to its extended employment, he was too cautious to risk an experiment which might bring discredit upon the engine; and the merstham road being only laid with cast-iron plates which would not bear its weight, the invitation was declined. the first survey made of the liverpool and manchester line having been found very imperfect, it was determined to have a second and more complete one made in the following year. robert stephenson, though then a lad of only nineteen, had already obtained some practical knowledge of surveying, having been engaged on the preliminary survey of the stockton and darlington railway in the previous year, and he was sent over to liverpool by his father to give mr. james such assistance as he could. robert stephenson was present with mr. james on the occasion on which he tried to lay out the line across chat moss--a proceeding which was not only difficult, but dangerous. the moss was very wet at the time, and only its edges could be ventured on. mr. james was a heavy, thick-set man; and one day, when endeavoring to obtain a stand for his theodolite, he felt himself suddenly sinking. he immediately threw himself down, and rolled over and over until he reached firm ground again, in a sad mess. other attempts which he subsequently made to advance into the moss for the same purpose were abandoned for the same reason--the want of a solid stand for the theodolite. as mr. james proceeded with his survey, he found a host of opponents springing up in all directions, some of whom he conciliated by deviations, but others refused to be conciliated on any terms. among these last were lords derby and wilton, mr. bradshaw, and the strafford family. the proposed line passed through their lands, and, regarding it as a nuisance, without the slightest compensating advantage to them, they determined to oppose it at every stage. their agents drove the surveyors off their land; the farmers set men at the gates armed with pitchforks to resist their progress; and the survey proceeded with great difficulty. mr. james endeavored to avoid lord derby's knowsley estate, but as he had received instructions from messrs. ewart and gladstone to lay out the line so as to enable it to be extended to the docks, he found it difficult to accomplish this object and at the same time avert the hostility of the noble lord. the only large land-owners who gave the scheme their support were mr. legh and mr. wyrley birch, who not only subscribed for shares, but attended several public meetings, and spoke in favor of the proposed railroad. public opinion was, however, beginning to be roused, and the canal companies began at length to feel alarmed. "at manchester," mr. james wrote to mr. sandars, "the subject engages all men's thoughts, and it is curious as well as amusing to hear their conjectures. the canal companies (southward) are alive to their danger. i have been the object of their persecution and hate; they would immolate me if they could; but if i can die the death of samson, by pulling away the pillars, i am content to die with these philistines. be assured, my dear sir, that not a moment shall be lost, nor shall my attention for a day be diverted from this concern, which increases in importance every hour, as well as in the certainty of ultimate success." mr. james was one of the most enthusiastic of men, especially about railways and locomotives. he believed, with thomas gray, who brought out his book about this time, that railways were yet to become the great high roads of civilization. the speculative character of the man may be inferred from the following passage in one of his letters to mr. sandars, written from london: "every parliamentary friend i have seen--and i have many of both houses--eulogizes our plan, and they are particularly anxious that engines should be introduced in the south. i am now negotiating about the wandsworth railroad. a fortune is to be made by buying the shares, and introducing the engine system upon it. i am confident capital will treble itself in two years. i do not choose to publish my views _here_, and i wish to god some of our liverpool friends would take this advantage. i have bought some shares, but my capital is locked up in unproductive lands and mines." as the survey of the liverpool and manchester line proceeded, mr. james's funds fell short, and he was under the necessity of applying to mr. sandars and his friends from time to time for farther contributions. it was also necessary for him to attend to his business as a surveyor in other parts of the country, and he was at such times under the necessity of leaving the work to be done by his assistants. thus the survey was necessarily imperfect, and when the time arrived for lodging the plans, it was found that they were practically worthless. mr. james's pecuniary difficulties had also reached their climax. "the surveys and plans," he wrote to mr. sandars, "can't be completed, i see, till the end of the week. with illness, anguish of mind, and inexpressible distress, i perceive i must sink if i wait any longer; and, in short, i have so neglected the suit in chancery i named to you, that if i do not put in an answer i shall be outlawed." mr. james's embarrassments increased, and he was unable to shake himself free from them. he was confined for many months in the queen's bench prison, during which time this indefatigable railway propagandist wrote an essay illustrative of the advantages of direct inland communication by a line of engine railroad between london, brighton, and portsmouth. meanwhile the liverpool and manchester scheme seemed to have fallen to the ground. but it only slept. when its promoters found that they could no longer rely on mr. james's services, they determined to employ another engineer. mr. sandars had by this time visited george stephenson at killingworth, and, like all who came within reach of his personal influence, was charmed with him at first sight. the energy which he had displayed in carrying on the works of the stockton and darlington railway, now approaching completion; his readiness to face difficulties, and his practical ability in overcoming them; the enthusiasm which he displayed on the subject of railways and railway locomotion, concurred in satisfying mr. sandars that he was, of all men, the best calculated to help forward the undertaking at this juncture; and having, on his return to liverpool, reported this opinion to the committee, they approved his recommendation, and george stephenson was unanimously appointed engineer of the projected railway. on the th of may, , mr. sandars wrote to mr. james as follows: "i think it right to inform you that the committee have engaged your friend george stephenson. we expect him here in a few days. the subscription-list for £ , is filled, and the manchester gentlemen have conceded to us the entire management. i very much regret that, by delays and promises, you have forfeited the confidence of the subscribers. i can not help it. i fear now that you will only have the fame of being connected with the commencement of this undertaking." it will be observed that mr. sandars had held to his original purpose with great determination and perseverance, and he gradually succeeded in enlisting on his side an increasing number of influential merchants and manufacturers both at liverpool and manchester. early in he published a pamphlet, in which he strongly urged the great losses and interruptions to the trade of the district by the delays in the forwarding of merchandise; and in the same year he had a public declaration drawn up, and signed by upward of of the principal merchants of liverpool, setting forth that they considered "the present establishments for the transport of goods quite inadequate, and that a new line of conveyance has become absolutely necessary to conduct the increasing trade of the country with speed, certainty, and economy." a public meeting was then held to consider the best plan to be adopted, and resolutions were passed in favor of a railroad. a committee was appointed to take the necessary measures; but, as if reluctant to enter upon their arduous struggle with the "vested interests," they first waited on mr. bradshaw, the duke of bridgewater's canal agent, in the hope of persuading him to increase the means of conveyance, as well as to reduce the charges; but they were met by an unqualified refusal. he would not improve the existing means of conveyance; he would have nothing to do with the proposed railway; and, if persevered in, he would oppose it with all his power. the canal proprietors, confident in their imagined security, ridiculed the proposed railway as a chimera. it had been spoken about years before, and nothing had come of it then; it would be the same now. in order to form a better opinion as to the practicability of the railroad, a deputation of gentlemen interested in the project proceeded to killingworth to inspect the engines which had been so long in use there. they first went to darlington, where they found the works of the stockton line in progress, though still unfinished. proceeding next to killingworth with george stephenson, they there witnessed the performances of his locomotive engines. the result of their visit was, on the whole, so satisfactory, that on their return to liverpool it was determined to form a company of the proprietors for the construction of a double line of railway between liverpool and manchester. the original promoters of the undertaking included men of the highest standing and local influence in liverpool and manchester, with charles lawrence as chairman, lister ellis, robert gladstone, john moss, and joseph sandars as deputy chairmen; while among the ordinary members of the committee were robert benson, james cropper, john ewart, wellwood maxwell, and william rathbone, of liverpool, and the brothers birley, peter ewart, william garnett, john kennedy, and william potter, of manchester. the committee also included another important name--that of henry booth, then a corn-merchant of liverpool, and afterward the secretary and manager of the liverpool and manchester railway. mr. booth was a man of admirable business qualities, sagacious and far-seeing, shrewd and practical, of considerable literary ability, and he also possessed a knowledge of mechanics, which afterward proved of the greatest value to the railway interest; for to him we owe the suggestion of the multitubular boiler in the form in which it has since been employed upon all railways, and the coupling-screw, as well as other important mechanical appliances which have come into general use. the first prospectus, issued in october, , set forth in clear and vigorous language the objects of the company, the urgent need of additional means of communication between liverpool and manchester, and the advantages offered by the railway over all other proposed expedients. it was shown that the water-carriers not only exacted the most arbitrary terms from the public, but were positively unable to carry the traffic requiring accommodation. against the indefinite continuance or recurrence of those evils, said the prospectus, the public have but one security: "it is competition that is wanted; and the proof of this assertion may be adduced from the fact that shares in the old quay navigation, of which the original cost was £ , have been sold as high as £ each!" the advantages of the railway over the canals for the carriage of coals was also urged, and it was stated that the charge for transit would be very materially reduced. "in the present state of trade and of commercial enterprise (the prospectus proceeded), dispatch is no less essential than economy. merchandise is frequently brought across the atlantic from new york to liverpool in twenty-one days, while, owing to the various causes of delay above enumerated, goods have in some instances been longer on their passage from liverpool to manchester. but this reproach must not be perpetual. the advancement in mechanical science renders it unnecessary--the good sense of the community makes it impossible. let it not, however, be imagined that, were england to be tardy, other countries would pause in the march of improvement. application has been made, on behalf of the emperor of russia, for models of the locomotive engine; and other of the continental governments have been duly apprised of the important schemes for the facilitating of inland traffic, now under discussion by the british public. in the united states of america, also, they are fully alive to the important results to be anticipated from the introduction of railroads; a gentleman from the united states having recently arrived in liverpool, with whom it is a principal object to collect the necessary information in order to the establishment of a railway to connect the great rivers potomac and ohio." it will be observed that the principal, indeed almost the sole, object contemplated by the projectors of the undertaking was the improved carriage of merchandise and coal, and that the conveyance of passengers was scarcely calculated on, the only paragraph in the prospectus relating to the subject being the following: "moreover, as a cheap and expeditious means of conveyance for travelers, the railway holds out the fair prospect of a public accommodation, the magnitude and importance of which can not be immediately ascertained." the estimated expense of forming the line was set down at £ , --a sum which was eventually found quite inadequate. the subscription list, when opened, was filled up without difficulty. while the project was still under discussion, its promoters, desirous of removing the doubts which existed as to the employment of steam-power on the proposed railway, sent a second deputation to killingworth for the purpose of again observing the action of stephenson's engines. the cautious projectors of the railway were not yet quite satisfied, and a third journey was made to killingworth in january, , by several gentlemen of the committee, accompanied by practical engineers, for the purpose of being personal eye-witnesses of what steam-carriages were able to perform upon a railway. there they saw a train, consisting of a locomotive and loaded wagons, weighing in all tons, traveling at the average rate of about miles an hour, the greatest speed being about - / miles an hour. but when the engine was run with only one wagon attached containing twenty gentlemen, five of whom were engineers, the speed attained was from to miles an hour. in the mean time the survey was proceeded with, in the face of great opposition on the part of the proprietors of the lands through which the railway was intended to pass. the prejudices of the farming and laboring classes were strongly excited against the persons employed upon the ground, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the levels could be taken. this opposition was especially manifested when the attempt was made to survey the line through the properties of lords derby and sefton, and also where it crossed the duke of bridgewater's canal. at knowsley, stephenson and his surveyors were driven off the ground by the keepers, and threatened with rough handling if found there again. lord derby's farmers also turned out their men to watch the surveying party, and prevent them entering on any lands where they had the power of driving them off. afterward stephenson suddenly and unexpectedly went upon the ground with a body of surveyors and their assistants who outnumbered lord derby's keepers and farmers, hastily collected to resist them, and this time they were only threatened with the legal consequences of their trespass. the same sort of resistance was offered by lord sefton's keepers and farmers, with whom the following ruse was adopted. a minute was concocted, purporting to be a resolution of the old quay canal company to oppose the projected railroad by every possible means, and calling upon land-owners and others to afford every facility for making such a survey of the intended line as should enable the opponents to detect errors in the scheme of the promoters, and thereby insure its defeat. a copy of this minute, without any signature, was exhibited by the surveyors who went upon the ground, and the farmers, believing them to have the sanction of the landlords, permitted them to proceed with the hasty completion of their survey. the principal opposition, however, was experienced from mr. bradshaw, the manager of the duke of bridgewater's canal property, who offered a vigorous and protracted resistance to the survey in all its stages. the duke's farmers obstinately refused permission to enter upon their fields, although stephenson offered to pay for any damage that might be done. mr. bradshaw positively refused his sanction in any case; and being a strict preserver of game, with a large staff of keepers in his pay, he declared that he would order them to shoot or apprehend any persons attempting a survey over his property. but one moonlight night a survey was effected by the following ruse. some men, under the orders of the surveying party, were set to fire off guns in a particular quarter, on which all the gamekeepers on the watch made off in that direction, and they were drawn away to such a distance in pursuit of the supposed poachers as to enable a rapid survey to be made during their absence. describing before parliament the difficulties which he encountered in making the survey, stephenson said: "i was threatened to be ducked in the pond if i proceeded, and, of course, we had a great deal of the survey to take by stealth, at the time when the people were at dinner. we could not get it done by night; indeed, we were watched day and night, and guns were discharged over the grounds belonging to captain bradshaw to prevent us. i can state farther that i was myself twice turned off mr. bradshaw's grounds by his men, and they said if i did not go instantly they would take me up and carry me off to worsley." the same kind of opposition had to be encountered all along the line of the intended railway. mr. clay, one of the company's solicitors, wrote to mr. sandars from the bridgewater arms, prescott, on the st of december, that the landlords, occupiers, trustees of turnpike roads, proprietors of bleach-works, carriers and carters, and even the coal-owners, were dead against the railroad. "in a word," said he, "the country is up in arms against us." there were only three considerable land-owners who remained doubtful; and "if these be against us," said mr. clay, "then _the whole_ of the great proprietors along the whole line are dissentient, excepting only mr. trafford." the cottagers and small proprietors were equally hostile. "the trouble we have with them," wrote mr. clay, "is beyond belief; and those patches of gardens at the end of manchester bordering on the irwell, and the tenants of hulme hall, who, though insignificant, must be seen, give us infinite trouble, all of which, as i have reason to believe, is by no means accidental." there was also the opposition of the great bradshaw, the duke's agent. "i wrote you this morning," said mr. clay, in a wrathful letter of the same date, "since which we have been into bradshaw's warehouse, now called the knot mill, and, after traversing two of the rooms, we got very _civilly_ turned out, which, under all the circumstances, i thought very lucky, and more than we deserved. however, we have seen more than half of his d--d cottagers." there were also the canal companies, who made common cause, formed a common purse, and determined to wage war to the knife against all railways. the following circular, issued by the liverpool railroad company, with the name of mr. lawrence, the chairman, attached, will serve to show the resolute spirit in which the canal proprietors were preparing to resist the bill: "sir,--the leeds and liverpool, the birmingham, the grand trunk, and other canal companies having issued circulars, calling upon 'every canal and navigation company in the kingdom' to oppose _in limine_ and by a united effort the establishment of railroads wherever contemplated, i have most earnestly to solicit your active exertions on behalf of the liverpool and manchester railroad company, to counteract the avowed purpose of the canal proprietors, by exposing the misrepresentations of interested parties, by conciliating good will, and especially by making known, as far as you have opportunity, not only the general superiority of railroads over other modes of conveyance, but, in our peculiar case, the absolute necessity of a new and additional line of communication, in order to effect with economy and dispatch the transport of merchandise between this port and manchester. "(signed) charles lawrence, chairman." such was the state of affairs and such the threatenings of war on both sides immediately previous to the parliamentary session of . when it became known that the promoters of the undertaking were determined--imperfect though the plans were believed to be, from the obstructions thrown in the way of the surveying parties--to proceed with the bill in the next session of parliament, the canal companies appealed to the public through the press. pamphlets were published and newspapers hired to revile the railway. it was declared that its formation would prevent the cows grazing and hens laying, while the horses passing along the road would be driven distracted. the poisoned air from the locomotives would kill the birds that flew over them, and render the preservation of pheasants and foxes no longer possible. householders adjoining the projected line were told that their houses would be burnt up by the fire thrown from the engine chimneys, while the air around would be polluted by clouds of smoke. there would no longer be any use for horses; and if railways extended, the species would become extinguished, and oats and hay be rendered unsalable commodities. traveling by rail would be highly dangerous, and country inns would be ruined. boilers would burst and blow passengers to atoms. but there was always this consolation to wind up with--that the weight of the locomotive would completely prevent its moving, and that railways, even if made, could _never_ be worked by steam-power. although the press generally spoke of the liverpool and manchester project as a mere speculation--as only one of the many bubble schemes of the period[ ]--there were other writers who entertained different views, and boldly and ably announced them. among the most sagacious newspaper articles of the day, calling attention to the application of the locomotive engine to the purposes of rapid steam-traveling, on railroads, was a series which appeared in , in the "scotsman" newspaper, then edited by mr. charles maclaren. in those publications the wonderful powers of the locomotive were logically demonstrated, and the writer, arguing from the experiments on friction made more than half a century before by vince and coulomb, which scientific men seemed to have altogether lost sight of, clearly showed that, by the use of steam-power on railroads, the cheaper as well as more rapid transit of persons and merchandise might be confidently anticipated. not many years passed before the anticipations of the writer, sanguine and speculative though they were at that time regarded, were amply realized. even mr. nicholas wood, in , speaking of the powers of the locomotive, and referring doubtless to the speculations of the "scotsman" as well as of his equally sanguine friend stephenson, observed: "it is far from my wish to promulgate to the world that the ridiculous expectations, or rather professions, of the enthusiastic speculist will be realized, and that we shall see engines traveling at the rate of twelve, sixteen, eighteen, or twenty miles an hour. nothing could do more harm toward their general adoption and improvement than the promulgation of such nonsense."[ ] among the papers left by mr. sandars we find a letter addressed to him by sir john barrow, of the admiralty, as to the proper method of conducting the case in parliament, which pretty accurately represents the state of public opinion as to the practicability of locomotive traveling on railroads at the time at which it was written, the th of january, . sir john strongly urged mr. sandars to keep the locomotive altogether in the background; to rely upon the proved inability of the canals and common roads to accommodate the existing traffic; and to be satisfied with proving the absolute necessity of a new line of conveyance; above all, he recommended him not even to hint at the intention of carrying passengers. "you will at once," said he, "raise a host of enemies in the proprietors of coaches, post-chaises, innkeepers, etc., whose interests will be attacked, and who, i have no doubt, will be strongly supported, and for what? some thousands of passengers, _you_ say--but a few hundreds _i_ should say--in the year." he accordingly urged that _passengers_ as well as _speed_ should be kept entirely out of the act; but, if the latter were insisted on, then he recommended that it should be kept as low as possible--say at five miles an hour! indeed, when george stephenson, at the interviews with counsel held previous to the liverpool and manchester bill going into committee of the house of commons, confidently stated his expectation of being able to run his locomotive at the rate of twenty miles an hour, mr. william brougham, who was retained by the promoters to conduct their case, frankly told him that if he did not moderate his views, and bring his engine within a _reasonable_ speed, he would "inevitably damn the whole thing, and be himself regarded as a maniac fit only for bedlam." the idea thrown out by stephenson of traveling at a rate of speed double that of the fastest mail-coach appeared at the time so preposterous that he was unable to find any engineer who would risk his reputation in supporting such "absurd views." speaking of his isolation at the time, he subsequently observed at a public meeting of railway men in manchester: "he remembered the time when he had very few supporters in bringing out the railway system--when he sought england over for an engineer to support him in his evidence before parliament, and could find only one man, james walker, but was afraid to call that gentleman, because he knew nothing about railways. he had then no one to tell his tale to but mr. sandars, of liverpool, who did listen to him, and kept his spirits up; and his schemes had at length been carried out only by dint of sheer perseverance." george stephenson's idea was at that time regarded as but the dream of a chimerical projector. it stood before the public friendless, struggling hard to gain a footing, scarcely daring to lift itself into notice for fear of ridicule. the civil engineers generally rejected the notion of a locomotive railway; and when no leading man of the day could be found to stand forward in support of the killingworth mechanic, its chances of success must indeed have been pronounced but small. when such was the hostility of the civil engineers, no wonder the reviewers were puzzled. the "quarterly," in an able article in support of the projected liverpool and manchester railway, while admitting its _absolute necessity_, and insisting that there was no choice left but a railroad, on which the journey between liverpool and manchester, whether performed by horses or engines, would always be accomplished "within the day," nevertheless scouted the idea of traveling at a greater speed than eight or nine miles an hour. adverting to a project for forming a railway to woolwich, by which passengers were to be drawn by locomotive engines moving with twice the velocity of ordinary coaches, the reviewer observed: "what can be more palpably absurd and ridiculous than the prospect held out of locomotives traveling _twice as fast_ as stage-coaches! we would as soon expect the people of woolwich to suffer themselves to be fired off upon one of congreve's ricochet rockets, as trust themselves to the mercy of such a machine going at such a rate. we will back old father thames against the woolwich railway for any sum. we trust that parliament will, in all railways it may sanction, limit the speed to _eight or nine miles an hour_, which we entirely agree with mr. sylvester is as great as can be ventured on with safety." [illustration: surveying on chat moss.] footnotes: [ ] "many years ago i met in a public library with a bulky volume, consisting of the prospectuses of various projects bound up together, and labeled, 'some of the bubbles of .' among the projects thus described was one that has since been productive of the greatest and most rapid advance in the social condition of mankind effected since the first dawn of civilization: it was the plan of the company for constructing a railway between liverpool and manchester."--w. b. hodge, in "journal of the institute of actuaries," no. , july, . [ ] "wood on railroads," ed. , p. . chapter x. parliamentary contest on the liverpool and manchester bill. the liverpool and manchester bill went into committee of the house of commons on the st of march, . there was an extraordinary array of legal talent on the occasion, but especially on the side of the opponents to the measure. their wealth and influence enabled them to retain the ablest counsel at the bar; mr. (afterward baron) alderson, mr. stephenson, mr. (afterward baron) parke, mr. rose, mr. macdonnell, mr. harrison, mr. erle, and mr. cullen, appeared for various clients, who made common cause with each other in opposing the bill, the case for which was conducted by mr. adam, mr. sergeant spankie, mr. william brougham, and mr. joy. evidence was taken at great length as to the difficulties and delays in forwarding raw goods of all kinds from liverpool to manchester, as also in the conveyance of manufactured articles from manchester to liverpool. the evidence adduced in support of the bill on these grounds was overwhelming. the utter inadequacy of the existing modes of conveyance to carry on satisfactorily the large and rapidly-growing trade between the two towns was fully proved. but then came the main difficulty of the promoters' case--that of proving the practicability of constructing a railroad to be worked by locomotive power. mr. adam, in his opening speech, referred to the cases of the hetton and the killingworth railroads, where heavy goods were safely and economically transported by means of locomotive engines. "none of the tremendous consequences," he observed, "have ensued from the use of steam in land carriage that have been stated. the horses have not started, nor the cows ceased to give their milk, nor have ladies miscarried at the sight of these things going forward at the rate of four miles and a half an hour." notwithstanding the petition of two ladies alleging the great danger to be apprehended from the bursting of the locomotive boilers, he urged the safety of the high-pressure engine when the boilers were constructed of wrought iron; and as to the rate at which they could travel, he expressed his full conviction that such engines "could supply force to drive a carriage at the rate of five or six miles an hour." the taking of the evidence as to the impediments thrown in the way of trade and commerce by the existing system extended over a month, and it was the st of april before the committee went into the engineering evidence, which was the vital part of the question. on the th george stephenson was called into the witness-box. it was his first appearance before a committee of the house of commons, and he well knew what he had to expect. he was aware that the whole force of the opposition was to be directed against him; and if they could break down his evidence, the canal monopoly might yet be upheld for a time. many years afterward, when looking back at his position on this trying occasion, he said: "when i went to liverpool to plan a line from thence to manchester, i pledged myself to the directors to attain a speed of ten miles an hour. i said i had no doubt the locomotive might be made to go much faster, but that we had better be moderate at the beginning. the directors said i was quite right; for that if, when they went to parliament, i talked of going at a greater rate than ten miles an hour, i should put a cross upon the concern. it was not an easy task for me to keep the engine down to ten miles an hour, but it must be done, and i did my best. i had to place myself in that most unpleasant of all positions--the witness-box of a parliamentary committee. i was not long in it before i began to wish for a hole to creep out at! i could not find words to satisfy either the committee or myself. i was subjected to the cross-examination of eight or ten barristers, purposely, as far as possible, to bewilder me. some member of the committee asked _if i was a foreigner_,[ ] and another hinted that _i was mad_. but i put up with every rebuff, and went on with my plans, determined not to be put down." george stephenson stood before the committee to prove what the public opinion of that day held to be impossible. the self-taught mechanic had to demonstrate the practicability of accomplishing that which the most distinguished engineers of the time regarded as impracticable. clear though the subject was to himself, and familiar as he was with the powers of the locomotive, it was no easy task for him to bring home his convictions, or even to convey his meaning, to the less informed minds of his hearers. in his strong northumbrian dialect, he struggled for utterance, in the face of the sneers, interruptions, and ridicule of the opponents of the measure, and even of the committee, some of whom shook their heads and whispered doubts as to his sanity when he energetically avowed that he could make the locomotive go at the rate of twelve miles an hour! it was so grossly in the teeth of all the experience of honorable members, that the man "must certainly be laboring under a delusion!" and yet his large experience of railways and locomotives, as described by himself to the committee, entitled this "untaught, inarticulate genius," as he has been described, to speak with confidence on the subject. beginning with his experience as a brakesman at killingworth in , he went on to state that he was appointed to take the entire charge of the steam-engines in , and had superintended the railroads connected with the numerous collieries of the grand allies from that time downward. he had laid down or superintended the railways at burradon, mount moor, springwell, bedlington, hetton, and darlington, besides improving those at killingworth, south moor, and derwent crook. he had constructed fifty-five steam-engines, of which sixteen were locomotives. some of these had been sent to france. the engines constructed by him for the working of the killingworth railroad, eleven years before, had continued steadily at work ever since, and fulfilled his most sanguine expectations. he was prepared to prove the safety of working high-pressure locomotives on a railroad, and the superiority of this mode of transporting goods over all others. as to speed, he said he had recommended eight miles an hour with twenty tons, and four miles an hour with forty tons; but he was quite confident that much more might be done. indeed, he had no doubt they might go at the rate of twelve miles. as to the charge that locomotives on a railroad would so terrify the horses in the neighborhood that to travel on horseback or to plow the adjoining fields would be rendered highly dangerous, the witness said that horses learned to take no notice of them, though there _were_ horses that would shy at a wheelbarrow. a mail-coach was likely to be more shied at by horses than a locomotive. in the neighborhood of killingworth, the cattle in the fields went on grazing while the engines passed them, and the farmers made no complaints. mr. alderson, who had carefully studied the subject, and was well skilled in practical science, subjected the witness to a protracted and severe cross-examination as to the speed and power of the locomotive, the stroke of the piston, the slipping of the wheels upon the rails, and various other points of detail. stephenson insisted that no slipping took place, as attempted to be extorted from him by the counsel. he said, "it is impossible for slipping to take place so long as the adhesive weight of the wheel upon the rail is greater than the weight to be dragged after it." there was a good deal of interruption to the witness's answers by mr. alderson, to which mr. joy more than once objected. as to accidents, stephenson knew of none that had occurred with his engines. there had been one, he was told, at the middleton colliery, near leeds, with a blenkinsop engine. the driver had been in liquor, and put a considerable load on the safety-valve, so that upon going forward the engine blew up and the man was killed. but he added, if proper precautions had been used with that boiler, the accident could not have happened. the following cross-examination occurred in reference to the question of speed: "of course," he was asked, "when a body is moving upon a road, the greater the velocity the greater the momentum that is generated?" "certainly." "what would be the momentum of forty tons moving at the rate of twelve miles an hour?" "it would be very great." "have you seen a railroad that would stand that?" "yes." "where?" "any railroad that would bear going four miles an hour: i mean to say, that if it would bear the weight at four miles an hour, it would bear it at twelve." "taking it at four miles an hour, do you mean to say that it would not require a stronger railway to carry the same weight twelve miles an hour?" "i will give an answer to that. i dare say every person has been over ice when skating, or seen persons go over, and they know that it would bear them better at a greater velocity than it would if they went slower; when they go quick, the weight in a measure ceases." "is not than upon the hypothesis that the railroad is perfect?" "it is; and i mean to make it perfect." it is not necessary to state that to have passed through his severe ordeal scatheless needed no small amount of courage, intelligence, and ready shrewdness on the part of the witness. nicholas wood, who was present on the occasion, has since stated that the point on which stephenson was hardest pressed was that of speed. "i believe," he says, "that it would have lost the company their bill if he had gone beyond eight or nine miles an hour. if he had stated his intention of going twelve or fifteen miles an hour, not a single person would have believed it to be practicable." mr. alderson had, indeed, so pressed the point of "twelve miles an hour," and the promoters were so alarmed lest it should appear in evidence that they contemplated any such extravagant rate of speed, that immediately on mr. alderson sitting down, mr. joy proceeded to re-examine stephenson, with the view of removing from the minds of the committee an impression so unfavorable, and, as they supposed, so damaging to their case. "with regard," asked mr. joy, "to all those hypothetical questions of my learned friend, they have been all put on the supposition of going twelve miles an hour: now that is not the rate at which, i believe, any of the engines of which you have spoken have traveled?" "no," replied stephenson, "except as an experiment for a short distance." "but what they have gone has been three, five, or six miles an hour?" "yes." "so that those hypothetical cases of twelve miles an hour do not fall within your general experience?" "they do not." the committee also seem to have entertained some alarm as to the high rate of speed which had been spoken of, and proceeded to examine the witness farther on the subject. they supposed the case of the engine being upset when going at nine miles an hour, and asked what, in such a case, would become of the cargo astern. to which the witness replied that it would not be upset. one of the members of the committee pressed the witness a little farther. he put the following case: "suppose, now, one of these engines to be going along a railroad at the rate of nine or ten miles an hour, and that a cow were to stray upon the line and get in the way of the engine; would not that, think you, be a very awkward circumstance?" "yes," replied the witness, with a twinkle in his eye, "very awkward--_for the coo_!" the honorable member did not proceed farther with his cross-examination; to use a railway phrase, he was "shunted." another asked if animals would not be very much frightened by the engine passing at night, especially by the glare of the red-hot chimney? "but how would they know that it wasn't painted?" said the witness. on the following day (the th of april) the engineer was subjected to a most severe examination. on that part of the scheme with which he was most practically conversant, his evidence was clear and conclusive. now, he had to give evidence on the plans made by his surveyors, and the estimates which had been founded on those plans. so long as he was confined to locomotive engines and iron railroads, with the minutest details of which he was more familiar than any man living, he felt at home and in his element. but when the designs of bridges and the cost of constructing them had to be gone into, the subject being comparatively new to him, his evidence was much less satisfactory. he was cross-examined as to the practicability of forming a road on so unstable a foundation as chat moss. "'now, with respect to your evidence upon chat moss,' asked mr. alderson, 'did you ever walk on chat moss on the proposed line of the railway?' 'the greater part of it, i have.' "'was it not extremely boggy?' 'in parts it was.' "'how deep did you sink in?' 'i could have gone with shoes; i do not know whether i had boots on.' "'if the depth of the moss should prove to be feet instead of , would not this plan of the railway over this moss be impracticable?' 'no, it would not. if the gentleman will allow me, i will refer to a railroad belonging to the duke of portland, made over a moss; there are no levels to drain it properly, such as we have at chat moss, and it is made by an embankment over the moss, which is worse than making a cutting, for there is the weight of the embankment to press upon the moss.' "'still, you must go to the bottom of the moss?' 'it is not necessary; the deeper you get, the more consolidated it is.' "'would you put some hard materials on it before you commenced?' 'yes, perhaps i should.' "'what?' 'brushwood, perhaps.' "'and you, then, are of opinion that it would be a solid embankment?' 'it would have a tremulous motion for a time, but would not give way, like clay.'" mr. alderson also cross-examined him at great length on the plans of the bridges, the tunnels, the crossings of the roads and streets, and the details of the survey, which, it soon appeared, were in some respects seriously at fault. it seems that, after the plans had been deposited, stephenson found that a much more favorable line might be laid out, and he made his estimates accordingly, supposing that parliament would not confine the company to the precise plan which had been deposited. this was felt to be a serious blot in the parliamentary case, and one very difficult to get over. for three entire days was our engineer subjected to cross-examination by mr. alderson, mr. cullen, and the other leading counsel for the opposition. he held his ground bravely, and defended the plans and estimates with remarkable ability and skill, but it was clear they were imperfect, and the result was, on the whole, damaging to the bill. mr. (afterward sir william) cubitt was called by the promoters, mr. adam stating that he proposed by this witness to correct some of the levels as given by stephenson. it seems a singular course to have been taken by the promoters of the measure, for mr. cubitt's evidence went to upset the statements made by stephenson as to the survey. this adverse evidence was, of course, made the most of by the opponents of the scheme. mr. sergeant spankie then summed up for the bill on the d of may, in a speech of great length, and the case of the opponents was next gone into, mr. harrison opening with a long and eloquent speech on behalf of his clients, mrs. atherton and others. he indulged in strong vituperation against the witnesses for the bill, and especially dwelt upon the manner in which mr. cubitt, for the promoters, had proved that stephenson's levels were wrong. "they got a person," said he, "whose character and skill i do not dispute, though i do not exactly know that i should have gone to the inventor of the treadmill as the fittest man to take the levels of knowsley moss and chat moss, which shook almost as much as a treadmill, as you recollect, for he (mr. cubitt) said chat moss trembled so much under his feet that he could not take his observations accurately.... in fact, mr. cubitt did not go on to chat moss, because he knew that it was an immense mass of pulp, and nothing else. it actually rises in height, from the rain swelling it like a sponge, and sinks again in dry weather, and if a boring instrument is put into it, it sinks immediately by its own weight. the making of an embankment out of this pulpy, wet moss is no very easy task. who but mr. stephenson would have thought of entering into chat moss, carrying it out almost like wet dung? it is ignorance almost inconceivable. it is perfect madness, in a person called upon to speak on a scientific subject, to propose such a plan.... every part of the scheme shows that this man has applied himself to a subject of which he has no knowledge, and to which he has no science to apply." then, adverting to the proposal to work the intended line by means of locomotives, the learned gentleman proceeded: "when we set out with the original prospectus, we were to gallop i know not at what rate--i believe it was at the rate of twelve miles an hour. my learned friend, mr. adam, contemplated--possibly alluding to ireland--that some of the irish members would arrive in the wagons to a division. my learned friend says that they would go at the rate of twelve miles an hour with the aid of the devil in the form of a locomotive sitting as postillion on the fore horse, and an honorable member sitting behind him to stir up the fire, and keep it at full speed. but the speed at which these locomotive engines are to go has slackened: mr. adam does not go faster now than five miles an hour. the learned sergeant (spankie) says he should like to have seven, but he would be content to go six. i will show he can not go six; and probably, for any practical purposes, i may be able to show that i can keep up with him _by the canal_.... locomotive engines are liable to be operated upon by the weather. you are told they are affected by rain, and an attempt has been made to cover them; but the wind will affect them; and any gale of wind which would affect the traffic on the mersey would render it _impossible_ to set off a locomotive engine, either by poking of the fire, or keeping up the pressure of the steam till the boiler was ready to burst." how amusing it now is to read these extraordinary views as to the formation of a railway over chat moss, and the impossibility of starting a locomotive engine in the face of a gale of wind? evidence was called to show that the house property passed by the proposed railway would be greatly deteriorated--in some places almost destroyed; that the locomotive engines would be terrible nuisances, in consequence of the fire and smoke vomited forth by them; and that the value of land in the neighborhood of manchester alone would be deteriorated by no less than £ , ! evidence was also given at great length showing the utter impossibility of forming a road of any kind upon chat moss. a manchester builder, who was examined, could not imagine the feat possible, unless by arching it across in the manner of a viaduct from one side to the other. it was the old story of "nothing like leather." but the opposition mainly relied upon the evidence of the leading engineers--not, like stephenson, self-taught men, but regular professionals. mr. francis giles, c.e., was their great card. he had been twenty-two years an engineer, and could speak with some authority. his testimony was mainly directed to the utter impossibility of forming a railway over chat moss. "_no engineer in his senses_," said he, "would go through chat moss if he wanted to make a railroad from liverpool to manchester. in my judgment, _a railroad certainly can not be safely made over chat moss without going to the bottom of the moss_." the following may be taken as a specimen of mr. giles's evidence: "'tell us whether, in your judgment, a railroad can be safely made over chat moss without going to the bottom of the bog?' 'i say, _certainly not_.' "'will it be necessary, therefore, in making a permanent railroad, to take out the whole of the moss to the bottom, along the whole line of road?' 'undoubtedly.' "'will that make it necessary to cut down the thirty-three or thirty-four feet of which you have been speaking?' 'yes.' "'and afterward to fill it up with other soil?' 'to such height as the railway is to be carried; other soil mixed with a portion of the moss.' "'but suppose they were to work upon this stuff, could they get their carriages to this place?' '_no carriage can stand on the moss short of the bottom._' "'what could they do to make it stand--laying planks, or something of that sort?' 'nothing would support it.' "'so that, if you would carry a railroad over this fluid stuff--if you could do it, it would still take a great number of men and a great sum of money. could it be done, in your opinion, for £ ?' 'i should say £ , would not get through it.' "'my learned friend wishes to know what it would cost to lay it with diamonds?'" mr. h. r. palmer, c.e., gave evidence to prove that resistance to a moving body going under four and a quarter miles an hour was _less_ upon a canal than upon a railroad; and that, when going against a strong wind, the progress of a locomotive was retarded "very much." mr. george leather, c.e., the engineer of the croydon and wandsworth railway, on which he said the wagons went at from two and a half to three miles an hour, also testified against the practicability of stephenson's plan. he considered his estimate a "very wild" one. he had no confidence in locomotive power. the weardale railway, of which he was engineer, had given up the use of locomotive engines. he supposed that, when used, they traveled at three and a half to four miles an hour, because they were considered to be then more effective than at a higher speed. when these distinguished engineers had given their evidence, mr. alderson summed up in a speech which extended over two days. he declared stephenson's plan to be "the most absurd scheme that ever entered into the head of man to conceive:" "my learned friends," said he, "almost endeavored to stop my examination; they wished me to put in the plan, but i had rather have the exhibition of mr. stephenson in that box. i say he never had one--i believe he never had one--i do not believe he is capable of making one. his is a mind perpetually fluctuating between opposite difficulties: he neither knows whether he is to make bridges over roads or rivers of one size or of another, or to make embankments, or cuttings, or inclined planes, or in what way the thing is to be carried into effect. whenever a difficulty is pressed, as in the case of a tunnel, he gets out of it at one end, and when you try to catch him at that, he gets out at the other." mr. alderson proceeded to declaim against the gross ignorance of this so-called engineer, who proposed to make "impossible ditches by the side of an impossible railway" over chat moss; and he contrasted with his evidence that given "by that most respectable gentleman we have called before you, i mean mr. giles, who has executed a vast number of works," etc. then mr. giles's evidence as to the impossibility of making any railway over the moss that would stand short of the bottom was emphatically dwelt upon; and mr. alderson proceeded: "having now, sir, gone through chat moss, and having shown that mr. giles is right in his principle when he adopts a solid railway--and i care not whether mr. giles is right or wrong in his estimate, for whether it be effected by means of piers raised up all the way for four miles through chat moss, whether they are to support it on beams of wood or by erecting masonry, or whether mr. giles shall put a solid bank of earth through it--in all these schemes there is not one found like that of mr. stephenson's, namely, to cut impossible drains on the side of this road; and it is sufficient for me to suggest, and to show, that this scheme of mr. stephenson's is impossible or impracticable, and that no other scheme, if they proceed upon this line, can be suggested which will not produce enormous expense. i think that has been irrefragably made out. every one knows chat moss--every one knows that mr. giles speaks correctly when he says the iron sinks immediately on its being put upon the surface. i have heard of culverts which have been put upon the moss, which, after having been surveyed the day before, have the next morning disappeared; and that a house (a poet's house, who may be supposed in the habit of building castles even in the air), story after story, as fast as one is added, the lower one sinks! there is nothing, it appears, except long sedgy grass, and a little soil, to prevent its sinking into the shades of eternal night. i have now done, sir, with chat moss, and there i leave this railroad." mr. alderson, of course, called upon the committee to reject the bill; and he protested "against the despotism of the exchange at liverpool striding across the land of this country. i do protest," he concluded, "against a measure like this, supported as it is by such evidence, and founded upon such calculations." the case of the other numerous petitioners against the bill still remained to be gone into. witnesses were called to prove the residential injury which would be caused by the "intolerable nuisance" of the smoke and fire from the locomotives, and others to prove that the price of coals and iron would "infallibly" be greatly raised throughout the country. this was part of the case of the duke of bridgewater's trustees, whose witnesses "proved" many very extraordinary things. the leeds and liverpool canal company were so fortunate as to pick up a witness from hetton who was ready to furnish some damaging evidence as to the use of stephenson's locomotives on that railway. this was mr. thomas wood, one of the hetton company's clerks, whose evidence was to the effect that the locomotives, having been found ineffective, were about to be discontinued in favor of fixed engines. the evidence of this witness, incompetent though he was to give an opinion on the subject, and exaggerated as his statements were afterward proved to be, was made the most of by mr. harrison when summing up the case of the canal companies. "at length," he said, "we have come to this--having first set out at twelve miles an hour, the speed of these locomotives is reduced to six, and now comes down to two or two and a half. they must be content to be pulled along by horses and donkeys; and all those fine promises of galloping along at the rate of twelve miles an hour are melted down to a total failure; the foundation on which their case stood is cut from under them completely; for the act of parliament, the committee will recollect, prohibits any person using any animal power, of any sort, kind, or description, except the projectors of the railway themselves; therefore i say that the whole foundation on which this project exists is gone." after farther personal abuse of mr. stephenson, whose evidence he spoke of as "trash and confusion," mr. harrison closed the case of the canal companies on the th of may. mr. adam replied for the promoters, recapitulating the principal points of their case, and vindicating mr. stephenson and the evidence which he had given before the committee. the committee then divided on the preamble, which was carried by a majority of only _one_--thirty-seven voting for it, and thirty-six against it. the clauses were next considered, and on a division, the first clause, empowering the company to make the railway, was lost by a majority of nineteen to thirteen. in like manner, the next clause, empowering the company to take land, was lost; on which mr. adam, on the part of the promoters, withdrew the bill. thus ended this memorable contest, which had extended over two months--carried on throughout with great pertinacity and skill, especially on the part of the opposition, who left no stone unturned to defeat the measure. the want of a new line of communication between liverpool and manchester had been clearly proved; but the engineering evidence in support of the proposed railway having been thrown almost entirely upon george stephenson, who fought this, the most important part of the battle, single-handed, was not brought out so clearly as it would have been had he secured more efficient engineering assistance, which he was not able to do, as all the engineers of eminence of that day were against the locomotive railway. the obstacles thrown in the way of the survey by the land-owners and canal companies, by which the plans were rendered exceedingly imperfect, also tended in a great measure to defeat the bill. mr. gooch says the rejection of the scheme was probably the most severe trial george stephenson underwent in the whole course of his life. the circumstances connected with the defeat of the bill, the errors in the levels, his severe cross-examination, followed by the fact of his being superseded by another engineer, all told fearfully upon him, and for some time he was as terribly weighed down as if a personal calamity of the most serious kind had befallen him. it is also right to add that he was badly served by his surveyors, who were unpracticed and incompetent. on the th of september, , we find him writing to mr. sandars: "i am quite shocked with auty's conduct; we must throw him aside as soon as possible. indeed, i have begun to fear that he has been fee'd by some of the canal proprietors to make a botch of the job. i have a letter from steele,[ ] whose views of auty's conduct quite agree with yours." the result of this first application to parliament was so far discouraging. stephenson had been so terribly abused by the leading counsel for the opposition in the course of the proceedings before the committee--stigmatized by them as an ignoramus, a fool, and a maniac--that even his friends seem for a time to have lost faith in him and in the locomotive system, whose efficiency he continued to uphold. things never looked blacker for the success of the railway system than at the close of this great parliamentary struggle. and yet it was on the very eve of its triumph. the committee of directors appointed to watch the measure in parliament were so determined to press on the project of a railway, even though it should have to be worked merely by horse-power, that the bill had scarcely been defeated ere they met in london to consider their next step. they called their parliamentary friends together to consult as to their future proceedings. among those who attended the meeting of gentlemen with this object in the royal hotel, st. james's street, on the th of june, were mr. huskisson, mr. spring rice, and general gascoyne. mr. huskisson urged the promoters to renew their application to parliament. they had secured the first step by the passing of their preamble; the measure was of great public importance; and, whatever temporary opposition it might meet with, he conceived that parliament must ultimately give its sanction to the undertaking. similar views were expressed by other speakers; and the deputation went back to liverpool determined to renew their application to parliament in the ensuing season. it was not considered desirable to employ george stephenson in making the new survey. he had not as yet established his reputation beyond the boundaries of his own district, and the promoters of the bill had doubtless felt the disadvantages of this in the course of their parliamentary struggle. they therefore resolved now to employ engineers of the highest established reputation, as well as the best surveyors that could be obtained. in accordance with these views, they engaged messrs. george and john rennie to be the engineers of the railway; and mr. charles vignolles, on their behalf, was appointed to prepare the plans and sections. the line which was eventually adopted differed somewhat from that surveyed by stephenson, entirely avoiding lord sefton's property, and passing through only a few detached fields of lord derby's at a considerable distance from the knowsley domain. the principal parks and game preserves of the district were also carefully avoided. the promoters thus hoped to get rid of the opposition of the most influential of the resident land-owners. the crossing of certain of the streets of liverpool was also avoided, and the entrance contrived by means of a tunnel and an inclined plane. the new line stopped short of the river irwell at the manchester end, and thus, in some measure, removed the objections grounded on an anticipated interruption to the canal or river traffic. and, with reference to the use of the locomotive engine, the promoters, remembering with what effect the objections to it had been urged by the opponents of the measure, intimated, in their second prospectus, that, "as a guarantee of their good faith toward the public, they will not require any clause empowering them to use it; or they will submit to such restrictions in the employment of it as parliament may impose, for the satisfaction and ample protection both of proprietors on the line of road and of the public at large." it was found that the capital required to form the line of railway, as laid out by the messrs. rennie, was considerably beyond the amount of stephenson's estimate, and it became a question with the committee in what way the new capital should be raised. a proposal was made to the marquis of stafford, who was principally interested in the duke of bridgewater's canal, to become a shareholder in the undertaking. a similar proposal had at an earlier period been made to mr. bradshaw, the trustee for the property; but his answer was "all or none," and the negotiation was broken off. the marquis of stafford, however, now met the projectors of the railway in a more conciliatory spirit, and it was ultimately agreed that he should become a subscriber to the extent of a thousand shares. the survey of the new line having been completed, the plans were deposited, the standing orders duly complied with, and the bill went before parliament. the same counsel appeared for the promoters, but the examination of witnesses was not nearly so protracted as on the former occasion. mr. erle and mr. harrison led the case of the opposition. the bill went into committee on the th of march, and on the th the preamble was declared proved by a majority of forty-three to eighteen. on the third reading in the house of commons, an animated, and what now appears a very amusing discussion, took place. the hon. edward stanley (since earl of derby, and prime minister) moved that the bill be read that day six months. in the course of his speech he undertook to prove that the railway trains would take _ten hours_ on the journey, and that they could only be worked by horses; and he called upon the house to stop the bill, "and prevent this mad and extravagant speculation from being carried into effect." sir isaac coffin seconded the motion, and in doing so denounced the project as a most flagrant imposition. he would not consent to see widows' premises and their strawberry-beds invaded; and "what, he would like to know, was to be done with all those who had advanced money in making and repairing turnpike roads? what with those who may still wish to travel in their own or hired carriages, after the fashion of their forefathers? what was to become of coach-makers and harness-makers, coach-masters and coachmen, innkeepers, horse-breeders, and horse-dealers? was the house aware of the smoke and the noise, the hiss and the whirl, which locomotive engines, passing at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour, would occasion? neither the cattle plowing in the fields or grazing in the meadows could behold them without dismay. iron would be raised in price per cent., or more probably exhausted altogether! it would be the greatest nuisance, the most complete disturbance of quiet and comfort in all parts of the kingdom that the ingenuity of man could invent!" mr. huskisson and other speakers, though unable to reply to such arguments as these, strongly supported the bill, and it was carried on the third reading by a majority of eighty-eight to forty-one. the bill passed the house of lords almost unanimously, its only opponents being the earl of derby and his relative the earl of wilton. the cost of obtaining the act amounted to the enormous sum of £ , . footnotes: [ ] george's northumberland "burr" was so strong that it rendered him almost unintelligible to persons who were unfamiliar with it; and he had even thoughts of going to school again, for the purpose, if possible, of getting rid of it. in the year , when stephenson was forty-two years of age, we find his friend thomas richardson, of lombard street, writing to samuel thoroughgood, a schoolmaster at peckham, as follows: "dear friend,--my friend george stephenson, a man of first-rate abilities as an engineer, but of little or no education, wants to consult thee or some other person to see if he can not improve himself--he has so much northumberland dialect, etc. he will be at my house on sixth day next, about five o'clock, if thou could make it convenient to see him. thy assured friend, thos. richardson." [ ] hugh steele and elijah galloway afterward proceeded with the survey at one part of the line, and messrs. oliver and blackett at another. the former couple seem to have made some grievous blunder in the levels on chat moss, and the circumstance weighed so heavily on steele's mind that, shortly after hearing of the rejection of the bill, he committed suicide in stephenson's office at newcastle. mr. gooch informs us that this unhappy affair served to impress upon the minds of stephenson's other pupils the necessity of insuring greater accuracy and attention in future, and that the lesson, though sad, was not lost upon them. chapter xi. chat moss--construction of the railway. the appointment of principal engineer of the railway was taken into consideration at the first meeting of the directors held at liverpool subsequent to the passing of the act of incorporation. the magnitude of the proposed works, and the vast consequences involved in the experiment, were deeply impressed on their minds, and they resolved to secure the services of a resident engineer of proved experience and ability. their attention was naturally directed to george stephenson; at the same time, they desired to have the benefit of the messrs. rennie's professional assistance in superintending the works. mr. george rennie had an interview with the board on the subject, at which he proposed to undertake the chief superintendence, making six visits in each year, and stipulating that he should have the appointment of the resident engineer. but the responsibility attaching to the direction in the matter of the efficient carrying on of the works would not admit of their being influenced by ordinary punctilios on the occasion, and they accordingly declined mr. rennie's proposal, and proceeded to appoint george stephenson principal engineer at a salary of £ per annum. he at once removed his residence to liverpool, and made arrangements to commence the works. he began with the "impossible thing"--to do that which some of the principal engineers of the day had declared that "no man in his senses would undertake to do"--namely, to make the road over chat moss! it was, indeed, a most formidable undertaking, and the project of carrying a railway along, under, or over such a material as that of which it consisted would certainly never have occurred to an ordinary mind. michael drayton supposed the moss to have had its origin at the deluge. nothing more impassable could have been imagined than that dreary waste; and mr. giles only spoke the popular feeling of the day when he declared that no carriage could stand on it "short of the bottom." in this bog, singular to say, mr. roscoe, the accomplished historian of the medicis, buried his fortune in the hopeless attempt to cultivate a portion of it which he had bought. chat moss is an immense peat-bog of about twelve square miles in extent. unlike the bogs or swamps of cambridge and lincolnshire, which consist principally of soft mud or silt, this bog is a vast mass of spongy vegetable pulp, the result of the growth and decay of ages. spagni, or bog-mosses, cover the entire area; one year's growth rising over another, the older growths not entirely decaying, but remaining partially preserved by the antiseptic properties peculiar to peat. hence the remarkable fact that, though a semifluid mass, the surface of chat moss rises above the level of the surrounding country. like a turtle's back, it declines from the summit in every direction, having from thirty to forty feet gradual slope to the solid land on all sides. from the remains of trees, chiefly alder and birch, which have been dug out of it, and which must have previously flourished on the surface of the soil now deeply submerged, it is probable that the sand and clay base on which the bog rests is saucer-shaped, and so retains the entire mass in position. in rainy weather, such is its capacity for water that it sensibly swells, and rises in those parts where the moss is the deepest. this occurs through the capillary attraction of the fibres of the submerged moss, which is from twenty to thirty feet in depth, while the growing plants effectually check evaporation from the surface. this peculiar character of the moss has presented an insuperable difficulty in the way of draining on any extensive system--such as by sinking shafts in its substance, and pumping up the water by steam-power, as has been proposed by some engineers. for, supposing a shaft of thirty feet deep to be sunk, it has been calculated that this would only be effectual for draining a circle of about one hundred yards, the water running down an incline of about to ; indeed, it was found, in the course of draining the bog, that a ditch three feet deep only served to drain a space of less than five yards on either side, and two ditches of this depth, ten feet apart, left a portion of the moss between them scarcely affected by the drains. the three resident engineers selected by mr. stephenson to superintend the construction of the line were mr. joseph locke, mr. allcard, and mr. john dixon. the last was appointed to that portion which included the proposed road across the moss, the other two being any thing but desirous of exchanging posts with him. on mr. dixon's arrival, about the month of july, , mr. locke proceeded to show him over the length he was to take charge of, and to instal him in office. when they reached chat moss, mr. dixon found that the line had already been staked out and the levels taken in detail by the aid of planks laid upon the bog. the cutting of the drains along each side of the proposed road had also been commenced, but the soft pulpy stuff had up to this time flowed into the drains and filled them up as fast as they were cut. proceeding across the moss on his first day's inspection, the new resident, when about half way over, slipped off the plank on which he walked, and sank to his knees in the bog. struggling only sent him the deeper, and he might have disappeared altogether but for the workmen, who hastened to his assistance upon planks, and rescued him from his perilous position. much disheartened, he desired to return, and even for the moment thought of giving up the job; but mr. locke assured him that the worst part was now past; so the new resident plucked up heart again, and both floundered on until they reached the farther edge of the moss, wet and plastered over with bog sludge. mr. dixon's assistants endeavored to comfort him by the assurance that he might in future avoid similar perils by walking upon "pattens," or boards fastened to the soles of his feet, as they had done when taking the levels, and as the workmen did when engaged in making drains in the softest parts of the moss. still the resident engineer could not help being puzzled by the problem of how to construct a road for a heavy locomotive, with a train of passengers or goods, upon a bog which he had found to be incapable of supporting his own individual weight! stephenson's idea was that such a road might be made to _float_ upon the bog simply by means of a sufficient extension of the bearing surface. as a ship, or a raft capable of sustaining heavy loads, floated in water, so, in his opinion, might a light road be floated upon a bog which was of considerably greater consistency than water. long before the railway was thought of, mr. roscoe had adopted the remarkable expedient of fitting his plow-horses with flat wooden soles or pattens, to enable them to walk upon the moss land which he had brought into cultivation. these pattens were fitted on by means of a screw apparatus, which met in front of the foot and was easily fastened. the mode by which these pattens served to sustain the horse is capable of easy explanation, and it will be observed that the _rationale_ alike explains the floating of a railway. the foot of an ordinary farm-horse presents a base of about five inches diameter, but if this base be enlarged to seven inches--the circles being to each other as the squares of the diameters--it will be found that, by this slight enlargement of the base, a circle of nearly double the area has been secured, and consequently the pressure of the foot upon every unit of ground on which the horse stands has been reduced one half. in fact, this contrivance has an effect tantamount to setting the horse upon eight feet instead of four. apply the same reasoning to the ponderous locomotive, and it will be found that even such a machine may be made to stand upon a bog by means of a similar extension of the bearing surface. suppose the engine to be twenty feet long and five feet wide, thus covering a surface of a hundred square feet, and, provided the bearing has been extended by means of cross sleepers supported upon a matting of heath and branches of trees covered with a few inches of gravel, the pressure of an engine of twenty tons will be only equal to about three pounds per inch over the whole surface on which it stands. such was george stephenson's idea in contriving his floating road--something like an elongated raft--across the moss; and we shall see that he steadily kept it in view in carrying the work into execution. the first thing done was to form a footpath of ling or heather along the proposed road, on which a man might walk without risk of sinking. a single line of temporary railway was then laid down, formed of ordinary cross-bars about three feet long and an inch square, with holes punched through them at the end and nailed down to temporary sleepers. along this way ran the wagons in which were conveyed the materials requisite to form the permanent road. these wagons carried about a ton each, and they were propelled by boys running behind them along the narrow bar of iron. the boys became so expert that they would run the four miles across at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour without missing a step; if they had done so, they would have sunk in many places up to their middle.[ ] the slight extension of the bearing surface was sufficient to enable the bog to bear this temporary line, and the circumstance was a source of increased confidence and hope to our engineer in proceeding with the formation of the permanent road alongside. the digging of drains had been proceeding for some time along each side of the intended railway, but they filled up almost as soon as dug, the sides flowing in and the bottom rising up, and it was only in some of the drier parts of the bog that a depth of three or four feet could be reached. the surface-ground between the drains, containing the intertwined roots of heather and long grass, was left untouched, and upon this were spread branches of trees and hedge-cuttings; in the softest places rude gates or hurdles, some eight or nine feet long by four feet wide, interwoven with heather, were laid in double thicknesses, their ends overlapping each other; and upon this floating bed was spread a thin layer of gravel, on which the sleepers, chairs, and rails were laid in the usual manner. such was the mode in which the road was formed upon the moss. it was found, however, after the permanent road had been thus laid, that there was a tendency to sinking at those parts where the bog was the softest. in ordinary cases, where a bank subsides, the sleepers are packed up with ballast or gravel, but in this case the ballast was dug away and removed in order to lighten the road, and the sleepers were packed instead with cakes of dry turf or bundles of heath. by these expedients the subsided parts were again floated up to the level, and an approach was made toward a satisfactory road. but the most formidable difficulties were encountered at the centre and toward the edges of the moss, and it required no small degree of ingenuity and perseverance on the part of the engineer successfully to overcome them. the moss, as has been already observed, was highest in the centre, and it there presented a sort of hunchback with a rising and falling gradient. at that point it was found necessary to cut deeper drains in order to consolidate the ground between them on which the road was to be formed. but, as at other parts of the moss, the deeper the cutting the more rapid was the flow of fluid bog into the drain, the bottom rising up almost as fast as it was removed. to meet this emergency, a quantity of empty tar-barrels was brought from liverpool, and, as soon as a few yards of drain were dug, the barrels were laid down end to end, firmly fixed to each other by strong slabs laid over the joints, and nailed; they were then covered over with clay, and thus formed an underground sewer of wood instead of bricks. this expedient was found to answer the purpose intended, and the road across the centre of the moss having thus been prepared, it was then laid with the permanent materials. the greatest difficulty was, however, experienced in forming an embankment on the edge of the bog at the manchester end. moss, as dry as it could be cut, was brought up in small wagons by men and boys, and emptied so as to form an embankment; but the bank had scarcely been raised three or four feet in height when the stuff broke through the heathery surface of the bog and sunk overhead. more moss was brought up and emptied in with no better result, and for many weeks the filling was continued without any visible embankment having been made. it was the duty of the resident engineer to proceed to liverpool every fortnight to obtain the wages for the workmen employed under him, and on these occasions he was required to color up, on a section drawn to a working scale suspended against the wall of the directors' room, the amount of excavation, embankment, etc., executed from time to time. but on many of these occasions mr. dixon had no progress whatever to show for the money expended on the chat moss embankment. sometimes, indeed, the visible work done was _less_ than it had appeared a fortnight or a month before! the directors now became seriously alarmed, and feared that the evil prognostications of the eminent engineers were about to be fulfilled. the resident himself was greatly disheartened, and he was even called upon to supply the directors with an estimate of the cost of filling up the moss with solid stuff from the bottom, as also the cost of piling the roadway, and, in effect, constructing a four-mile viaduct of timber across the moss, from twenty to thirty feet high. but the expense appalled the directors, and the question then arose whether the work was to be proceeded with or _abandoned_! stephenson himself afterward described the alarming position of affairs at a public dinner given at birmingham on the d of december, , on the occasion of a piece of plate being presented to his son after the completion of the london and birmingham railway. he related the anecdote, he said, for the purpose of impressing upon the minds of those who heard him the necessity of perseverance. "after working for weeks and weeks," said he, "in filling in materials to form the road, there did not yet appear to be the least sign of our being able to raise the solid embankment one single inch; in short, we went on filling in without the slightest apparent effect. even my assistants began to feel uneasy, and to doubt of the success of the scheme. the directors, too, spoke of it as a hopeless task; and at length they became seriously alarmed, so much so, indeed, that a board meeting was held on chat moss to decide whether i should proceed any farther. they had previously taken the opinion of other engineers, who reported unfavorably. there was no help for it, however, but to go on. an immense outlay had been incurred, and great loss would have been occasioned had the scheme been then abandoned, and the line taken by another route. so the directors were _compelled_ to allow me to go on with my plans, of the ultimate success of which i myself never for one moment doubted." during the progress of this part of the works, the worsley and trafford men, who lived near the moss, and plumed themselves upon their practical knowledge of bog-work, declared the completion of the road to be utterly impracticable. "if you knew as much about chat moss as we do," they said, "you would never have entered on so rash an undertaking; and depend upon it, all you have done and are doing will prove abortive. you must give up altogether the idea of a floating railway, and either fill the moss up with hard material from the bottom, or else deviate the line so as to avoid it altogether." such were the conclusions of science and experience. in the midst of all these alarms and prophecies of failure, stephenson never lost heart, but held to his purpose. his motto was "persevere!" "you must go on filling in," he said; "there is no other help for it. the stuff emptied in is doing its work out of sight, and if you will but have patience, it will soon begin to show." and so the filling in went on; several hundreds of men and boys were employed to skin the moss all round for many thousand yards, by means of sharp spades, called by the turf-cutters "tommy-spades;" and the dried cakes of turf were afterward used to form the embankment, until at length, as the stuff sank and rested upon the bottom, the bank gradually rose above the surface, and slowly advanced onward, declining in height and consequently in weight, until it became joined to the floating road already laid upon the moss. in the course of forming the embankment, the pressure of the bog turf tipped out of the wagons caused a copious stream of bog-water to flow from the end of it, in color resembling barclay's double stout; and when completed, the bank looked like a long ridge of tightly-pressed tobacco-leaf. the compression of the turf may be understood from the fact that , cubic yards of raw moss formed only , cubic yards of embankment at the completion of the work. at the western, or liverpool end of the chat moss, there was a like embankment; but, as the ground there was solid, little difficulty was experienced in forming it, beyond the loss of substance caused by the oozing out of the water held by the moss-earth. at another part of the liverpool and manchester line, parr moss was crossed by an embankment about a mile and a half in extent. in the immediate neighborhood was found a large excess of cutting, which it would have been necessary to "put out in spoil-banks" (according to the technical phrase) but for the convenience of parr moss, into which the surplus clay, stone, and shale were tipped, wagon after wagon, until a solid but congealed embankment, from fifteen to twenty feet high, was formed, although to the eye it appears to be laid upon the level of the adjoining surface, as at chat moss. the road across chat moss was finished by the st of january, , when the first experimental train of passengers passed over it, drawn by the "rocket;" and it turned out that, instead of being the most expensive part of the line, it was about the cheapest. the total cost of forming the line over the moss was £ , , whereas mr. giles's estimate was £ , ! it also proved to be one of the best portions of the railway. being a floating road, it was as smooth and easy to run upon as dr. arnott's water-bed is soft and easy to lie upon--the pressure being equal at all points. there was, and still is, a sort of springiness in the road over the moss, such as is felt when passing along a suspended bridge; and those who looked along the moss as a train passed over it said they could observe a waviness, such as precedes and follows a skater upon ice. during the progress of the works the most ridiculous rumors were set afloat. the drivers of the stage-coaches, who feared for their calling, brought the alarming intelligence into manchester from time to time that "chat moss was blown up!" "hundreds of men and horses had sunk in the bog; and the works were completely abandoned!" the engineer himself was declared to have been swallowed up in the serbonian bog; and "railways were at an end forever!" in the construction of the railway, george stephenson's capacity for organizing and directing the labors of a large number of workmen of all kinds eminently displayed itself. a vast quantity of ballast-wagons had to be constructed for the purposes of the work, and implements and materials had to be collected, before the mass of labor to be employed could be efficiently set in motion at the various points of the line. there were not at that time, as there are now, large contractors, possessed of railway plant, capable of executing earthworks on a large scale. our engineer had, therefore, not only to contrive the plant, but to organize the labor, and direct it in person. the very laborers themselves had to be trained to their work by him; and it was on the liverpool and manchester line that mr. stephenson organized the staff of that formidable band of railway navvies, whose handiworks will be the wonder and admiration of succeeding generations. looking at their gigantic traces, the men of some future age may be found to declare, of the engineer and of his workmen, that "there were giants in those days." although the works of the liverpool and manchester railway are of a much less formidable character than those of many lines that have since been constructed, they were then regarded as of a stupendous kind. indeed, few works of such magnitude had before been executed in england. it had been the engineer's original intention to carry the railway from the north end of liverpool round the red sandstone ridge on which the upper part of the town is built, and also round the higher rise of the coal formation at rainhill, by following the natural levels to the north of knowsley. but the opposition of the land-owners having forced the line more to the south, it was rendered necessary to cut through the hills, and go over the high grounds instead of round them. the first consequence of this alteration in the plans was the necessity for constructing a tunnel under the town of liverpool a mile and a half in length, from the docks at wapping to the top of edgehill; the second was the necessity for forming a long and deep cutting through the red sandstone rock at olive mount; and the third and worst of all was the necessity for ascending and descending the whiston and sutton hills by means of inclined planes of in . the line was also, by the same forced deviation, prevented passing through the lancashire coal-field, and the engineer was compelled to carry the works across the sankey valley at a point where the waters of the brook had dug out an excessively deep channel through the marl-beds of the district. the principal difficulty was experienced in pushing on the works connected with the formation of the tunnel under liverpool, yards in length. the blasting and hewing of the rock were vigorously carried on night and day; and the engineer's practical experience in the collieries here proved of great use to him. many obstacles had to be encountered and overcome in the formation of the tunnel, the rock varying in hardness and texture at different parts. in some places the miners were deluged by water, which surged from the soft blue shale found at the lowest level of the tunnel. in other places beds of wet sand were cut through, and there careful propping and pinning were necessary to prevent the roof from tumbling in until the masonry to support it could be erected. on one occasion, while stephenson was absent from liverpool, a mass of loose moss-earth and sand fell from the roof, which had been insufficiently propped. the miners withdrew from the work; and on the engineer's return he found them in a refractory state, refusing to re-enter the tunnel. he induced them, however, by his example, to return to their labors; and when the roof had been secured, the work went on again as before. when there was danger, he was always ready to share it with the men; and, gathering confidence from his fearlessness, they proceeded vigorously with the undertaking, boring and mining their way toward the light. [illustration: olive mount cutting. [by percival skelton.]] the olive mount cutting was the first extensive stone cutting executed on any railway, and to this day it is one of the most formidable. it is about two miles long, and in some parts more than a hundred feet deep. it is a narrow ravine or defile cut out of the solid rock, and not less than four hundred and eighty thousand cubic yards of stone were removed from it. mr. vignolles, afterward describing it, said it looked as if it had been dug out by giants. [illustration: sankey viaduct. [by percival skelton.]] the crossing of so many roads and streams involved the necessity for constructing an unusual number of bridges. there were not fewer than sixty-three, under or over the railway, on the thirty miles between liverpool and manchester. up to this time bridges had been applied generally to high roads, where inclined approaches were of comparatively small importance, and in determining the rise of his arch the engineer selected any headway he thought proper. every consideration was indeed made subsidiary to constructing the bridge itself, and the completion of one large structure of this sort was regarded as an epoch in engineering history. yet here, in the course of a few years, no fewer than sixty-three bridges were constructed on one line of railway! mr. stephenson early found that the ordinary arch was inapplicable in certain cases, where the headway was limited, and yet the level of the railway must be preserved. in such cases he employed simple cast-iron beams, by which he safely bridged gaps of moderate width, economizing headway, and introducing the use of a new material of the greatest possible value to the engineer. the bridges of masonry upon the line were of many kinds; several of them were skew bridges, while others, such as those at newton and over the irwell at manchester, were straight and of considerable dimensions. but the principal piece of masonry on the line was the sankey viaduct. this fine work is principally of brick, with stone facings. it consists of nine arches of fifty feet span each. the massive piers are supported on two hundred piles driven deep into the soil; and they rise to a great height--the coping of the parapet being seventy feet above the level of the valley, in which flow the sankey brook and canal. its total cost was about £ , . by the end of the directors found they had expended £ , on the works, and that they were still far from completion. they looked at the loss of interest on this large investment, and began to grumble at the delay. they desired to see their capital becoming productive; and in the spring of they urged the engineer, to push on the works with increased vigor. mr. cropper, one of the directors, who took an active interest in their progress, said to stephenson one day, "now, george, thou must get on with the railway, and have it finished without farther delay: thou must really have it ready for opening by the first day of january next." "consider the heavy character of the works, sir, and how much we have been delayed by the want of money, not to speak of the wetness of the weather: it is impossible." "impossible!" rejoined cropper; "i wish i could get napoleon to thee--he would tell thee there is no such word as 'impossible' in the vocabulary." "tush!" exclaimed stephenson, with warmth, "don't speak to me about napoleon! give me men, money, and materials, and i will do what napoleon couldn't do--drive a railroad from liverpool to manchester over chat moss!" and truly the formation of a high road over that bottomless bog was apparently a more difficult task than the making even of napoleon's far-famed road across the simplon. the directors had more than once been embarrassed by want of funds to meet the heavy expenditure. the country had scarcely yet recovered from the general panic and crash of , and it was with difficulty that the calls could be raised from the shareholders. a loan of £ , was obtained from the exchequer loan commissioners in ; and in an act was passed enabling the company to raise farther capital, to provide working plant for the railway. two acts were also obtained during the progress of the undertaking, enabling deviations and alterations to be made; one to improve the curves and shorten the line near rainhill, and the other to carry the line across the irwell into the town of manchester. thanks to the energy of the engineer, the industry of his laborers, and the improved supply of money by the directors, the railway made rapid progress in the course of the year . double sets of laborers were employed on chat moss and at other places in carrying on the works by night and day, the night shifts working by torch and fire light; and at length, the work advancing at all points, the directors saw their way to the satisfactory completion of the undertaking. it may well be supposed that stephenson's time was fully occupied in superintending the extensive and for the most part novel works connected with the railway, and that even his extraordinary powers of labor and endurance were taxed to the utmost during the four years that they were in progress. almost every detail in the plans was directed and arranged by himself. every bridge, from the simplest to the most complicated, including the then novel structure of the "skew bridge," iron girders, siphons, fixed engines, and the machinery for working the tunnel at the liverpool end, had all to be thought out by his own head, and reduced to definite plans under his own eyes. besides all this, he had to design the working plant in anticipation of the opening of the railway. he must be prepared with wagons, trucks, and carriages, himself superintending their manufacture. the permanent road, turn-tables, switches, and crossings--in short, the entire structure and machinery of the line, from the turning of the first sod to the running of the first train of carriages on the railway, went on under his immediate supervision. and it was in the midst of this vast accumulation of work and responsibility that the battle of the locomotive engine had to be fought--a battle not merely against material difficulties, but against the still more trying obstructions of deeply-rooted mistrust and prejudice on the part of a considerable minority of the directors. he had no staff of experienced assistants--not even a staff of draughtsmen in his office--but only a few pupils learning their business, and he was frequently without even their help. the time of his engineering inspectors was fully occupied in the actual superintendence of the works at different parts of the line, and he took care to direct all their important operations in person. the principal draughtsman was mr. thomas gooch, a pupil he had brought with him from newcastle. "i may say," writes mr. gooch, "that nearly the whole of the working and other drawings, as well as the various land-plans for the railway, were drawn by my own hand. they were done at the company's office in clayton square during the day, from instructions supplied in the evenings by mr. stephenson, either by word of mouth, or by little rough hand sketches on letter-paper. the evenings were also generally devoted to my duties as secretary, in writing (mostly from his own dictation) his letters and reports, or in making calculations and estimates. the mornings before breakfast were not unfrequently spent by me in visiting and lending a helping hand in the tunnel and other works near liverpool--the untiring zeal and perseverance of george stephenson never for an instant flagging, and inspiring with a like enthusiasm all who were engaged under him in carrying forward the works."[ ] [illustration: stephenson's baiting-place at sankey.] the usual routine of his life at this time--if routine it could be called--was to rise early, by sunrise in summer and before it in winter, and "break the back of the day's work" by midday. while the tunnel under liverpool was in progress, one of his first duties in the morning before breakfast was to go over the various shafts, clothed in a suitable dress, and inspect the progress of the work at different points; on other days he would visit the extensive workshops at edgehill, where most of the "plant" for the line was manufactured. then, returning to his house in upper parliament street, windsor, after a hurried breakfast, he would ride along the works to inspect their progress, and push them on with greater energy where needful. on other days he would prepare for the much less congenial engagement of meeting the board, which was often a cause of great anxiety and pain to him; for it was difficult to satisfy men of all tempers, some of which were not of the most generous kind. on such occasions he might be seen with his right-hand thumb thrust through the topmost button-hole of his coat-breast, vehemently hitching his right shoulder, as was his habit when laboring under any considerable excitement. occasionally he would take an early ride before breakfast, to inspect the progress of the sankey viaduct. he had a favorite horse, brought by him from newcastle, called "bobby"--so tractable that, with his rider on his back, he would walk up to a locomotive with the steam blowing off, and put his nose against it without shying. "bobby," saddled and bridled, was brought to stephenson's door betimes in the morning, and, mounting him, he would ride the fifteen miles to sankey, putting up at a little public house which then stood upon the banks of the canal. there he had his breakfast of "crowdie," which he made with his own hands. it consisted of oatmeal stirred into a basin of hot water--a sort of porridge--which was supped with cold sweet milk. after this frugal breakfast he would go upon the works, and remain there, riding from point to point for the greater part of the day. if he returned home before midday it would be to examine the pay-sheets in the different departments sent in by the assistant engineers, or by the foremen of the workshops; all this he did himself with the greatest care, requiring a full explanation of every item. after a late dinner, which occupied very short time and was always of a plain and frugal description,[ ] he would proceed to dispose of his correspondence, or prepare sketches of drawings, and give instructions as to their completion. he would occasionally refresh himself for this evening work by a short doze, which, however, he would never admit had exceeded the limits of "winking," to use his own term. mr. frederick swanwick, who officiated as his secretary after the appointment of mr. gooch as resident engineer to the bolton and leigh railway, has informed us that he then remarked--what in after years he could better appreciate--the clear, terse, and vigorous style of stephenson's dictation; there was nothing superfluous in it, but it was close, direct, and to the point--in short, thoroughly business-like. and if, in passing through the pen of the amanuensis, his meaning happened in any way to be distorted or modified, it did not fail to escape his detection, though he was always tolerant of any liberties taken with his own form of expression, so long as the words written down conveyed his real meaning. his strong natural acumen showed itself even in such matters as grammar and composition--a department of knowledge in which, it might be supposed, he could scarcely have had either time or opportunity to acquire much information. but here, as in all other things, his shrewd common sense came to his help, and his simple, vigorous english might almost be cited as a model of composition. his letters and reports written, and his sketches of drawings made and explained, the remainder of the evening was usually devoted to conversation with his wife and those of his pupils who lived under his roof, and constituted, as it were, part of the family. he then delighted to test the knowledge of his young companions, and to question them upon the principles of mechanics. if they were not quite "up to the mark" on any point, there was no escaping detection by evasive or specious explanations on their part. these always met with the verdict of, "ah! you know naught about it now; but think it over again, and tell me the answer when you understand it." if there was even partial success in the reply, it would at once be acknowledged, and a full explanation was given, to which the master would add illustrative examples for the purpose of impressing the principle more deeply upon the pupil's mind. it was not so much his object and purpose to "cram" the minds of the young men committed to his charge with the _results_ of knowledge as to stimulate them to educate themselves--to induce them to develop their mental and moral powers by the exercise of their own free energies, and thus acquire that habit of self-thinking and self-reliance which is the spring of all true manly action. in a word, he sought to bring out and invigorate the _character_ of his pupils. he felt that he himself had been made stronger and better through his encounters with difficulty, and he would not have the road of knowledge made too smooth and easy for them. "learn for yourselves--think for yourselves," he would say: "make yourselves masters of principles--persevere--be industrious--and there is then no fear of you." and not the least emphatic proof of the soundness of this system of education, as conducted by george stephenson, was afforded by the after history of the pupils themselves. there was not one of those trained under his eye who did not rise to eminent usefulness and distinction as an engineer. he sent them forth into the world braced with the spirit of self-help--inspired by his own noble example; and they repeated in their after career the lessons of earnest effort and persistent industry which his daily life had taught them. mr. stephenson's evenings at home were not, however, exclusively devoted either to business or to the graver exercises above referred to. he would often indulge in cheerful conversation and anecdote, falling back from time to time upon the struggles and difficulties of his early life. the not unfrequent winding up of his story, addressed to those about him, was, "ah! ye young fellows don't know what _wark_ is in these days!" mr. swanwick delights recalling to mind how seldom, if ever, a cross or captious word, or an angry look, marred the enjoyment of those evenings. the presence of mrs. stephenson gave them an additional charm: amiable, kind-hearted, and intelligent, she shared quietly in the pleasure of the party; and the atmosphere of comfort which always pervaded her home contributed in no small degree to render it a centre of cheerful, hopeful intercourse, and of earnest, honest industry. [illustration: chat moss--works in progress.] when stephenson retired for the night, it was not always that he permitted himself to sink into slumber. like brindley, he worked out many a difficult problem in bed; and for hours he would turn over in his mind and study how to overcome some obstacle, or to mature some project, on which his thoughts were bent. some remark inadvertently dropped by him at the breakfast-table in the morning served to show that he had been stealing some hours from the night in reflection and study. yet he would rise at his accustomed early hour, and there was no abatement of his usual energy in carrying on the business of the day. footnotes: [ ] when the liverpool directors went to inspect the works in progress on the moss, they were run along the temporary rails in the little three-feet gauge wagons used for forming the road. they were being thus impelled one day at considerable speed when the wagon suddenly ran off the road, and mr. moss, one of the directors, was thrown out in a soft place, from which, however, he was speedily extricated, not without leaving a deep mark. george used afterward laughingly to refer to the circumstance as "the meeting of the mosses." [ ] mr. gooch's letter to the author, december th, . referring to the preparation of the plans and drawings, mr. gooch adds, "when we consider the extensive sets of drawings which most engineers have since found it right to adopt in carrying out similar works, it is not the least surprising feature in george stephenson's early professional career that he should have been able to confine himself to so limited a number as that which could be supplied by the hands of one person in carrying out the construction of the liverpool and manchester railway; and this may still be said, after full allowance is made for the alteration of system involved by the adoption of the large contract system." [ ] while at liverpool stephenson had very little time for "company;" but on one particular occasion he invited his friend mr. sandars to dinner, and, as that gentleman was a connoisseur in port wine, his host determined to give him a special treat of that drink. stephenson accordingly went to the small merchant with whom he usually dealt, and ordered "half a dozen of his very best port wine," which was promised of first-rate quality. after dinner the wine was produced; and when mr. sandars had sipped a glass, george, after waiting a little for the expected eulogium, at length asked, "well, sandars, how d'ye like the port?" "poor stuff!" said the guest, "poor stuff!" george was very much shocked, and with difficulty recovered his good humor. but he lived to be able to treat mr. sandars to a better article at tapton house, when he used to laugh over his first futile attempt at liverpool to gain a reputation for his port. chapter xii. robert stephenson's residence in colombia, and return--the battle of the locomotive--"the rocket." we return to the career of robert stephenson, who was absent from england during the construction of the liverpool railway, but was now about to rejoin his father and take part in "the battle of the locomotive" which was impending. we have seen that, on his return from edinburg college at the end of , he had assisted in superintending the works of the hetton railway until its opening in , after which he proceeded to liverpool to take part with mr. james in surveying the proposed railway there. in the following year we found him assisting his father in the working survey of the stockton and darlington railway; and when the locomotive engine works were started in forth street, newcastle, he took an active part in that concern. "the factory," he says, "was in active operation in ; i left england for colombia in june of that year, having finished drawing the designs of the brusselton stationary engines for the stockton and darlington railway before i left."[ ] speculation was very rife at the time, and among the most promising adventures were the companies organized for the purpose of working the gold and silver mines of south america. great difficulty was experienced in finding mining engineers capable of carrying out those projects, and young men of even the most moderate experience were eagerly sought after. the colombian mining association of london offered an engagement to young stephenson to go out to mariquita and take charge of the engineering operations of that company. robert was himself desirous of accepting it, but his father said it would first be necessary to ascertain whether the proposed change would be for his good. his health had been very delicate for some time, partly occasioned by his rapid growth, but principally because of his close application to work and study. father and son proceeded together to call upon dr. headlam, the eminent physician of newcastle, to consult him on the subject. during the examination which ensued, robert afterward used to say that he felt as if he were upon trial for life or death. to his great relief, the doctor pronounced that a temporary residence in a warm climate was the very thing likely to be most beneficial to him. the appointment was accordingly accepted, and, before many weeks had passed, robert stephenson had set sail for south america. after a tolerably prosperous voyage he landed at la guayra, on the north coast of venezuela, on the d of july, from thence proceeding to caraccas, the capital of the district, about fifteen miles inland. there he remained for two months, unable to proceed in consequence of the wretched state of the roads in the interior. he contrived, however, to make occasional excursions in the neighborhood with an eye to the mining business on which he had come. about the beginning of october he set out for bogotá, the capital of colombia or new granada. the distance was about twelve hundred miles, through a very difficult region, and it was performed entirely upon mule-back, after the fashion of the country. in the course of the journey robert visited many of the districts reported to be rich in minerals, but he met with few traces except of copper, iron, and coal, with occasional indications of gold and silver. he found the people ready to furnish information, which, however, when tested, usually proved worthless. a guide, whom he employed for weeks, kept him buoyed up with the hope of finding richer mining places than he had yet seen; but when he professed to be able to show him mines of "brass, steel, alcohol, and pinchbeck," stephenson discovered him to be an incorrigible rogue, and immediately dismissed him. at length our traveler reached bogotá, and after an interview with mr. illingworth, the commercial manager of the mining company, he proceeded to honda, crossed the magdalena, and shortly after reached the site of his intended operations on the eastern slope of the andes. mr. stephenson used afterward to speak in glowing terms of this his first mule-journey in south america. every thing was entirely new to him. the variety and beauty of the indigenous plants, the luxurious tropical vegetation, the appearance, manners, and dress of the people, and the mode of traveling, were altogether different from every thing he had before seen. his own traveling garb also must have been strange even to himself. "my hat," he says, "was of plaited grass, with a crown nine inches in height, surrounded by a brim of six inches; a white cotton suit; and a _ruana_ of blue and crimson plaid, with a hole in the centre for the head to pass through. this cloak is admirably adapted for the purpose, amply covering the rider and mule, and at night answering the purpose of a blanket in the net-hammock, which is made from the fibres of the aloe, and which every traveler carries before him on his mule, and suspends to the trees or in houses, as occasion may require." the part of the journey which seems to have made the most lasting impression on his mind was that between bogotá and the mining district in the neighborhood of mariquita. as he ascended the slopes of the mountain range, and reached the first step of the table-land, he was struck beyond expression with the noble view of the valley of magdalena behind him, so vast that he failed in attempting to define the point at which the course of the river blended with the horizon. like all travelers in the district, he noted the remarkable changes of climate and vegetation as he rose from the burning plains toward the fresh breath of the mountains. from an atmosphere as hot as that of an oven he passed into delicious cool air, until, in his onward and upward journey, a still more temperate region was reached, the very perfection of climate. before him rose the majestic cordilleras, forming a rampart against the western sky, and at certain times of the day looking black, sharp, and even at their summit almost like a wall. our engineer took up his abode for a time at mariquita, a fine old city, though then greatly fallen into decay. during the period of the spanish dominion it was an important place, most of the gold and silver convoys passing through it on their way to cartagena, there to be shipped in galleons for europe. the mountainous country to the west was rich in silver, gold, and other metals, and it was mr. stephenson's object to select the best site for commencing operations for the company. with this object he "prospected" about in all directions, visiting long-abandoned mines, and analyzing specimens obtained from many quarters. the mines eventually fixed upon as the scene of his operations were those of la manta and santa anna, long before worked by the spaniards, though, in consequence of the luxuriance and rapidity of the vegetation, all traces of the old workings had become completely overgrown and lost. every thing had to be begun anew. roads had to be cut to open a way to the mines, machinery had to be erected, and the ground opened up, when some of the old adits were eventually hit upon. the native peons or laborers were not accustomed to work, and they usually contrived to desert when they were not watched, so that very little progress could be made until the arrival of the expected band of miners from england. the authorities were by no means helpful, and the engineer was driven to an old expedient with the object of overcoming this difficulty. "we endeavor all we can," he says, in one of his letters, "to make ourselves popular, and this we find most effectually accomplished by 'regaling the venal beasts.'" he also gave a ball at mariquita, which passed off with éclat, the governor from honda, with a host of friends, honoring it with their presence. it was, indeed, necessary to "make a party" in this way, as other schemers were already trying to undermine the colombian company in influential directions. the engineer did not exaggerate when he said, "the uncertainty of transacting business in this country is perplexing beyond description." in the mean time laborers had been attracted to santa anna, which became, the engineer wrote, "like an english fair on sundays: people flock to it from all quarters to buy beef and chat with their friends. sometimes three or four torros are slaughtered in a day. the people now eat more beef in a week than they did in two months before, and they are consequently getting fat."[ ] at last stephenson's party of miners arrived from england, but they gave him even more trouble than the peons had done. they were rough, drunken, and sometimes ungovernable. he set them to work at the santa anna mine without delay, and at the same time took up his abode among them, "to keep them," he said, "if possible, from indulging in the detestable vice of drunkenness, which, if not put a stop to, will eventually destroy themselves, and involve the mining association in ruin." to add to his troubles, the captain of the miners displayed a very hostile and insubordinate spirit, quarreled and fought with the men, and was insolent to the engineer himself. the captain and his gang, being cornishmen, told robert to his face that because he was a north-country man, and not brought up in cornwall, it was impossible that he should know any thing of mining. disease also fell upon him--first fever, and then visceral derangement, followed by a return of his "old complaint, a feeling of oppression in the breast." no wonder that in the midst of these troubles he should longingly speak of returning to his native land. but he stuck to his post and his duty, kept up his courage, and by a mixture of mildness and firmness, and the display of great coolness and judgment, he contrived to keep the men to their work, and gradually to carry forward the enterprise which he had undertaken. by the beginning of july, , quietness and order had been restored, and the works were proceeding more satisfactorily, though the yield of silver was not as yet very promising, the engineer being of opinion that at least three years' diligent and costly operations would be necessary to render the mines productive. in the mean time he removed to the dwelling which had been erected for his accommodation at santa anna. it was a structure speedily raised after the fashion of the country. the walls were of split and flattened bamboo, tied together with the long fibres of a dried climbing plant; the roof was of palm-leaves, and the ceiling of reeds. when an earthquake shook the district--for earthquakes were frequent--the inmates of such a fabric merely felt as if shaken in a basket, without sustaining any harm. in front of the cottage lay a woody ravine, extending almost to the base of the andes, gorgeously clothed in primeval vegetation--magnolias, palms, bamboos, tree-ferns, acacias, cedars; and towering over all were the great almendrons, with their smooth, silvery stems, bearing aloft noble clusters of pure white blossom. the forest was haunted by myriads of gay insects, butterflies with wings of dazzling lustre, birds of brilliant plumage, humming-birds, golden orioles, toucans, and a host of solitary warblers. but the glorious sunsets seen from his cottage-porch more than all astonished and delighted the young engineer, and he was accustomed to say that, after having witnessed them, he was reluctant to accuse the ancient peruvians of idolatry. [illustration: robert stephenson's cottage at santa anna.] but all these natural beauties failed to reconcile him to the harassing difficulties of his position, which continued to increase rather than diminish. he was hampered by the action of the board at home, who gave ear to hostile criticisms on his reports; and although they afterward made handsome acknowledgment of his services, he felt his position to be altogether unsatisfactory. he therefore determined to leave at the expiry of his three years' engagement, and communicated his decision to the directors accordingly.[ ] on receiving his letter, the board, through mr. richardson, of lombard street, one of the directors, communicated with his father at newcastle, representing that if he would allow his son to remain in colombia the company would make it "worth his while." to this the father gave a decided negative, and intimated that he himself urgently needed his son's assistance, and that he must return at the expiry of his three years' term--a decision, robert wrote, "at which i feel much gratified, as it is clear that he is as anxious to have me back in england as i am to get there." at the same time, edward pease, a principal partner in the newcastle firm, privately wrote robert to the following effect, urging his return home: "i can assure thee that the business at newcastle, as well as thy father's engineering, have suffered very much from thy absence, and, unless thou soon return, the former will be given up, as mr. longridge is not able to give it that attention it requires; and what _is_ done is not done with credit to the house." the idea of the manufactory being given up, which robert had labored so hard to establish before leaving england, was painful to him in the extreme, and he wrote to mr. illingworth, strongly urging that arrangements should be made for enabling him to leave without delay. in the mean time he was laid prostrate by another violent attack of aguish fever; and when able to write, in june, , he expressed himself as "completely wearied and worn down with vexation." at length, when he was sufficiently recovered from his attack and able to travel, he set out on his voyage homeward in the beginning of august. at mompox, on his way down the river magdalena, he met mr. bodmer, his successor, with a fresh party of miners from england, on their way up the country to the quarters which he had just quitted. next day, six hours after leaving mompox, a steam-boat was met ascending the river, with bolivar the liberator on board, on his way to st. bogotá; and it was a mortification to our engineer that he had only a passing sight of that distinguished person. it was his intention, on leaving mariquita, to visit the isthmus of panamá on his way home, for the purpose of inquiring into the practicability of cutting a canal to unite the atlantic and pacific--a project which then formed the subject of considerable public discussion; but mr. bodmer having informed him at mompox that such a visit would be inconsistent with the statements made to the london board that his presence was so anxiously desired at home, he determined to embrace the first opportunity of proceeding to new york. arrived at the port of cartagena, he found himself under the necessity of waiting some time for a ship. the delay was very irksome to him, the more so as the place was then desolated by the ravages of the yellow fever. while sitting one day in the large, bare, comfortless public room of the miserable hotel at which he put up, he observed two strangers, whom he at once perceived to be english. one of the strangers was a tall, gaunt man, shrunken and hollow-looking, shabbily dressed, and apparently poverty-stricken. on making inquiry, he found it was trevithick, the builder of the first railroad locomotive! he was returning home from the gold mines of peru penniless. robert stephenson lent him £ to enable him to reach england; and though he was afterward heard of as an inventor there, he had no farther part in the ultimate triumph of the locomotive. but trevithick's misadventures on this occasion had not yet ended, for before he reached new york he was wrecked, and robert stephenson with him. the following is the account of the voyage, "big with adventures," as given by the latter in a letter to his friend illingworth: "at first we had very little foul weather, and, indeed, were for several days becalmed among the islands, which was so far fortunate, for a few degrees farther north the most tremendous gales were blowing, and they appear (from our future information) to have wrecked every vessel exposed to their violence. we had two examples of the effects of the hurricane; for, as we sailed north, we took on board the remains of two crews found floating about on dismantled hulls. the one had been nine days without food of any kind except the carcasses of two of their companions who had died a day or two previously from fatigue and hunger. the other crew had been driven about for six days, and were not so dejected, but reduced to such a weak state that they were obliged to be drawn on board our vessel by ropes. a brig bound for havana took part of the men, and we took the remainder. to attempt any description of my feelings on witnessing such scenes would be in vain. you will not be surprised to learn that i felt somewhat uneasy at the thought that we were so far from england, and that i also might possibly suffer similar shipwreck; but i consoled myself with the hope that fate would be more kind to us. it was not so much so, however, as i had flattered myself; for on voyaging toward new york, after we had made the land, we ran aground about midnight. the vessel soon filled with water, and, being surrounded by the breaking surf, the ship shortly split up, and before morning our situation became perilous. masts and all were cut away to prevent the hull rocking, but all we could do was of no avail. about eight o'clock on the following morning, after a most miserable night, we were taken off the wreck, and were so fortunate as to reach the shore. i saved my minerals, but empson lost part of his botanical collection. upon the whole, we got off well; and, had i not been on the american side of the atlantic, i 'guess' i would not have gone to sea again." after a short tour in the united states and canada, robert stephenson and his friend took ship for liverpool, where they arrived at the end of november, and at once proceeded to newcastle. the factory, we have seen, was by no means in a prosperous state. during the time robert had been in america it had been carried on at a considerable loss; and edward pease, very much disheartened, wished to retire from it, but george stephenson being unable to raise the requisite money to buy him out, the establishment was of necessity carried on by its then partners until the locomotive could be established in public estimation as a practicable and economical working power. robert stephenson immediately instituted a rigid inquiry into the working of the concern, unraveled the accounts, which had been allowed to fall into confusion during his father's absence at liverpool, and very shortly succeeded in placing the affairs of the factory in a more healthy condition. in all this he had the hearty support of his father, as well as of the other partners. the works of the liverpool and manchester railway were now approaching completion. but, strange to say, the directors had not yet decided as to the tractive power to be employed in working the line when opened for traffic. the differences of opinion among them were so great as apparently to be irreconcilable. it was necessary, however, that they should come to some decision without farther loss of time, and many board meetings were accordingly held to discuss the subject. the old-fashioned and well-tried system of horse-haulage was not without its advocates; but, looking at the large amount of traffic which there was to be conveyed, and at the probable delay in the transit from station to station if this method were adopted, the directors, after a visit made by them to the northumberland and durham railways in , came to the conclusion that the employment of horse-power was inadmissible. fixed engines had many advocates; the locomotive very few: it stood as yet almost in a minority of one--george stephenson. the prejudice against the employment of the latter power had even increased since the liverpool and manchester bill underwent its first ordeal in the house of commons. in proof of this, it may be mentioned that the newcastle and carlisle railway act was conceded in on the express condition that it should _not_ be worked by locomotives, but by horses only. grave doubts still existed as to the practicability of working a large traffic by means of traveling engines. the most celebrated engineers offered no opinion on the subject. they did not believe in the locomotive, and would scarcely take the trouble to examine it. the ridicule with which george stephenson had been assailed by the barristers before the parliamentary committee had not been altogether distasteful to them. perhaps they did not relish the idea of a man who had picked up his experience in newcastle coal-pits appearing in the capacity of a leading engineer before parliament, and attempting to establish a new system of internal communication in the country. the directors could not disregard the adverse and conflicting views of the professional men whom they consulted. but stephenson had so repeatedly and earnestly urged upon them the propriety of making a trial of the locomotive before coming to any decision against it, that they at length authorized him to proceed with the construction of one of his engines by way of experiment. in their report to the proprietors at their annual meeting on the th of march, , they state that they had, after due consideration, authorized the engineer "to prepare a locomotive engine, which, from the nature of its construction and from the experiments already made, he is of opinion will be effective for the purposes of the company, without proving an annoyance to the public." the locomotive thus ordered was placed upon the line in , and was found of great service in drawing the wagons full of marl from the two great cuttings. in the mean time the discussion proceeded as to the kind of power to be permanently employed for the working of the railway. the directors were inundated with schemes of all sorts for facilitating locomotion. the projectors of england, france, and america seemed to be let loose upon them. there were plans for working the wagons along the line by water-power. some proposed hydrogen, and others carbonic acid gas. atmospheric pressure had its eager advocates. and various kinds of fixed and locomotive steam-power were suggested. thomas gray urged his plan of a greased road with cog-rails; and messrs. vignolles and ericsson recommended the adoption of a central friction-rail, against which two horizontal rollers under the locomotive, pressing upon the sides of this rail, were to afford the means of ascending the inclined planes. the directors felt themselves quite unable to choose from amid this multitude of projects. their engineer expressed himself as decidedly as heretofore in favor of smooth rails and locomotive engines, which, he was confident, would be found the most economical and by far the most convenient moving power that could be employed. the stockton and darlington railway being now at work, another deputation went down personally to inspect the fixed and locomotive engines on that line, as well as at hetton and killingworth. they returned to liverpool with much information; but their testimony as to the relative merits of the two kinds of engines was so contradictory, that the directors were as far from a decision as ever. they then resolved to call to their aid two professional engineers of high standing, who should visit the darlington and newcastle railways, carefully examine both modes of working--the fixed and the locomotive--and report to them fully on the subject. the gentlemen selected were mr. walker, of limehouse, and mr. rastrick, of stourbridge. after carefully examining the working of the northern lines, they made their report to the directors in the spring of . they concurred in the opinion that the cost of an establishment of fixed engines would be somewhat greater than that of locomotives to do the same work, but they thought the annual charge would be less if the former were adopted. they calculated that the cost of moving a ton of goods thirty miles by fixed engines would be · _d._, and by locomotives, · _d_., assuming a profitable traffic to be obtained both ways. at the same time, it was admitted that there appeared more grounds for expecting improvements in the construction and working of locomotives than of stationary engines. "on the whole, however, and looking especially at the computed annual charge of working the road on the two systems on a large scale, messrs. walker and rastrick were of opinion that fixed engines were preferable, and accordingly recommended their adoption to the directors."[ ] and in order to carry the system recommended by them into effect, they proposed to divide the railroad between liverpool and manchester into nineteen stages of about a mile and a half each, with twenty-one engines fixed at the different points to work the trains forward. such was the result, so far, of george stephenson's labors. the two best practical engineers of the day concurred in reporting substantially in favor of the employment of fixed engines. not a single professional man of eminence could be found to coincide with the engineer of the railway in his preference for locomotive over fixed engine power. he had scarcely a supporter, and the locomotive system seemed on the eve of being abandoned. still he did not despair. with the profession against him, and public opinion against him--for the most frightful stories went abroad respecting the dangers, the unsightliness, and the nuisance which the locomotive would create--stephenson held to his purpose. even in this, apparently the darkest hour of the locomotive, he did not hesitate to declare that locomotive railroads would, before many years had passed, be "the great highways of the world." he urged his views upon the directors in all ways, in season, and, as some of them thought, out of season. he pointed out the greater convenience of locomotive power for the purposes of a public highway, likening it to a series of short unconnected chains, any one of which could be removed and another substituted without interruption to the traffic; whereas the fixed-engine system might be regarded in the light of a continuous chain extending between the two termini, the failure of any link of which would derange the whole.[ ] but the fixed-engine party were very strong at the board, and, led by mr. cropper, they urged the propriety of forthwith adopting the report of messrs. walker and rastrick. mr. sandars and mr. william rathbone, on the other hand, desired that a fair trial should be given to the locomotive; and they with reason objected to the expenditure of the large capital necessary to construct the proposed engine-houses, with their fixed engines, ropes, and machinery, until they had tested the powers of the locomotive as recommended by their own engineer. george stephenson continued to urge upon them that the locomotive was yet capable of great improvements, if proper inducements were held out to inventors and machinists to make them; and he pledged himself that, if time were given him, he would construct an engine that should satisfy their requirements, and prove itself capable of working heavy loads along the railway with speed, regularity, and safety. at length, influenced by his persistent earnestness not less than by his arguments, the directors, at the suggestion of mr. harrison, determined to offer a prize of £ for the best locomotive engine, which, on a certain day, should be produced on the railway, and perform certain specified conditions in the most satisfactory manner.[ ] the requirements of the directors as to speed were not excessive. all that they asked for was that ten miles an hour should be maintained. perhaps they had in mind the animadversions of the "quarterly reviewer" on the absurdity of traveling at a greater velocity, and also the remarks published by mr. nicholas wood, whom they selected to be one of the judges of the competition, in conjunction with mr. rastrick, of stourbridge, and mr. kennedy, of manchester. it was now felt that the fate of railways in a great measure depended upon the issue of this appeal to the mechanical genius of england. when the advertisement of the prize for the best locomotive was published, scientific men began more particularly to direct their attention to the new power which was thus struggling into existence. in the mean time public opinion on the subject of railway working remained suspended, and the progress of the undertaking was watched with intense interest. during the progress of this important controversy with reference to the kind of power to be employed in working the railway, george stephenson was in constant communication with his son robert, who made frequent visits to liverpool for the purpose of assisting his father in the preparation of his reports to the board on the subject. mr. swanwick remembers the vivid interest of the evening discussions which then took place between father and son as to the best mode of increasing the powers and perfecting the mechanism of the locomotive. he wondered at their quick perception and rapid judgment on each other's suggestions; at the mechanical difficulties which they anticipated and provided for in the practical arrangement of the machine; and he speaks of these evenings as most interesting displays of two actively ingenious and able minds stimulating each other to feats of mechanical invention, by which it was ordained that the locomotive engine should become what it now is. these discussions became more frequent, and still more interesting, after the public prize had been offered for the best locomotive by the directors of the railway, and the working plans of the engine which they proposed to construct had to be settled. one of the most important considerations in the new engine was the arrangement of the boiler and the extension of its heating surface to enable steam enough to be raised rapidly and continuously for the purpose of maintaining high rates of speed--the effect of high-pressure engines being ascertained to depend mainly upon the quantity of steam which the boiler can generate, and upon its degree of elasticity when produced. the quantity of steam so generated, it will be obvious, must chiefly depend upon the quantity of fuel consumed in the furnace, and, by necessary consequence, upon the high rate of temperature maintained there. it will be remembered that in stephenson's first killingworth engines he invited and applied the ingenious method of stimulating combustion in the furnace by throwing the waste steam into the chimney after performing its office in the cylinders, thereby accelerating the ascent of the current of air, greatly increasing the draught, and consequently the temperature of the fire. this plan was adopted by him, as we have seen, as early as , and it was so successful that he himself attributed to it the greater economy of the locomotive as compared with horse-power. hence the continuance of its use upon the killingworth railway. though the adoption of the steam-blast greatly quickened combustion and contributed to the rapid production of high-pressure steam, the limited amount of heating surface presented to the fire was still felt to be an obstacle to the complete success of the locomotive engine. mr. stephenson endeavored to overcome this by lengthening the boilers and increasing the surface presented by the flue-tubes. the "lancashire witch," which he built for the bolton and leigh railway, and used in forming the liverpool and manchester railway embankments, was constructed with a double tube, each of which contained a fire, and passed longitudinally through the boiler. but this arrangement necessarily led to a considerable increase in the weight of those engines, which amounted to about twelve tons each; and as six tons was the limit allowed for engines admitted to the liverpool competition, it was clear that the time was come when the killingworth engine must undergo a farther important modification. for many years previous to this period, ingenious mechanics had been engaged in attempting to solve the problem of the best and most economical boiler for the production of high-pressure steam. the use of tubes in boilers for increasing the heating surface had long been known. as early as , matthew boulton employed copper tubes longitudinally in the boiler of the wheal busy engine in cornwall--the fire passing _through_ the tubes--and it was found that the production of steam was thereby considerably increased.[ ] the use of tubular boilers afterward became common in cornwall. in , woolf, the cornish engineer, patented a boiler with tubes, with the same object of increasing the heating surface. the water was _inside_ the tubes, and the fire of the boiler outside. similar expedients were proposed by other inventors. in trevithick invented his light high-pressure boiler for portable purposes, in which, to "expose a large surface to the fire," he constructed the boiler of a number of small perpendicular tubes "opening into a common reservoir at the top." in w. h. james contrived a boiler composed of a series of annular wrought-iron tubes, placed side by side and bolted together, so as to form by their union a long cylindrical boiler, in the centre of which, at the end, the fireplace was situated. the fire played round the tubes, which contained the water. in james neville took out a patent for a boiler with vertical tubes surrounded by the water, through which the heated air of the furnace passed, explaining also in his specification that the tubes might be horizontal or inclined, according to circumstances. mr. goldsworthy gurney, the persevering adaptor of steam-carriages to traveling on common roads, applied the tubular principle in the boiler of his engine, in which the steam was generated _within_ the tubes; while the boiler invented by messrs. summers and ogle for their turnpike-road steam-carriage consisted of a series of tubes placed vertically over the furnace, through which the heated air passed before reaching the chimney. about the same time george stephenson was trying the effect of introducing small tubes in the boilers of his locomotives, with the object of increasing their evaporative power. thus, in , he sent to france two engines constructed at the newcastle works for the lyons and st. etienne railway, in the boilers of which tubes were placed containing water. the heating surface was thus considerably increased; but the expedient was not successful, for the tubes, becoming furred with deposit, shortly burned out and were removed. it was then that m. seguin, the engineer of the railway, pursuing the same idea, is said to have adopted his plan of employing horizontal tubes through which the heated air passed in streamlets, and for which he took out a french patent. in the mean time mr. henry booth, secretary to the liverpool and manchester railway, whose attention had been directed to the subject on the prize being offered for the best locomotive to work that line, proposed the same method, which, unknown to him, matthew boulton had employed, but not patented, in , and james neville had patented, but not employed, in ; and it was carried into effect by robert stephenson in the construction of the "rocket," which won the prize at rainhill in october, . the following is mr. booth's account in a letter to the author: "i was in almost daily communication with mr. stephenson at the time, and i was not aware that he had any intention of competing for the prize till i communicated to him my scheme of a multitubular boiler. this new plan of boiler comprised the introduction of numerous small tubes, two or three inches in diameter, and less than one eighth of an inch thick, through which to carry the fire, instead of a single tube or flue eighteen inches in diameter, and about half an inch thick, by which plan we not only obtain a very much larger heating surface, but the heating surface is much more effective, as there intervenes between the fire and the water only a thin sheet of copper or brass, not an eighth of an inch thick, instead of a plate of iron of four times the substance, as well as an inferior conductor of heat. "when the conditions of trial were published, i communicated my multitubular plan to mr. stephenson, and proposed to him that we should jointly construct an engine and compete for the prize. mr. stephenson approved the plan, and agreed to my proposal. he settled the mode in which the fire-box and tubes were to be mutually arranged and connected, and the engine was constructed at the works of messrs. robert stephenson and co., newcastle-on-tyne. "i am ignorant of m. seguin's proceedings in france, but i claim to be the inventor in england, and feel warranted in stating, without reservation, that until i named my plan to mr. stephenson, with a view to compete for the prize at rainhill, it had not been tried, and was not known in this country." from the well-known high character of mr. booth, we believe his statement to be made in perfect good faith, and that he was as much in ignorance of the plan patented by neville as he was of that of seguin. as we have seen, from the many plans of tubular boilers invented during the preceding thirty years, the idea was not by any means new; and we believe mr. booth to be entitled to the merit of inventing the method by which the multitubular principle was so effectually applied in the construction of the famous "rocket" engine. the principal circumstances connected with the construction of the "rocket," as described by robert stephenson to the author, may be briefly stated. the tubular principle was adopted in a more complete manner than had yet been attempted. twenty-five copper tubes, each three inches in diameter, extended from one end of the boiler to the other, the heated air passing through them on its way to the chimney; and the tubes being surrounded by the water of the boiler, it will be obvious that a large extension of the heating surface was thus effectually secured. the principal difficulty was in fitting the copper tubes in the boiler-ends so as to prevent leakage. they were manufactured by a newcastle coppersmith, and soldered to brass screws which were screwed into the boiler-ends, standing out in great knobs. when the tubes were thus fitted, and the boiler was filled with water, hydraulic pressure was applied; but the water squirted out at every joint, and the factory floor was soon flooded. robert went home in despair; and in the first moment of grief he wrote to his father that the whole thing was a failure. by return of post came a letter from his father, telling him that despair was not to be thought of--that he must "try again;" and he suggested a mode of overcoming the difficulty, which his son had already anticipated and proceeded to adopt. it was, to bore clean holes in the boiler-ends, fit in the smooth copper tubes as tightly as possible, solder up, and then raise the steam. this plan succeeded perfectly, the expansion of the copper tubes completely filling up all interstices, and producing a perfectly water-tight boiler, capable of withstanding extreme external pressure. the mode of employing the steam-blast for the purpose of increasing the draught in the chimney was also the subject of numerous experiments. when the engine was first tried, it was thought that the blast in the chimney was not sufficiently strong for the purpose of keeping up the intensity of the fire in the furnace, so as to produce high-pressure steam with the required velocity. the expedient was therefore adopted of hammering the copper tubes at the point at which they entered the chimney, whereby the blast was considerably sharpened; and on a farther trial it was found that the draught was increased to such an extent as to enable abundance of steam to be raised. the rationale of the blast may be simply explained by referring to the effect of contracting the pipe of a water-hose, by which the force of the jet of water is proportionately increased. widen the nozzle of the pipe, and the jet is in like manner diminished. so is it with the steam-blast in the chimney of the locomotive. doubts were, however, expressed whether the greater draught obtained by the contraction of the blast-pipe was not counterbalanced in some degree by the negative pressure upon the piston. hence a series of experiments was made with pipes of different diameters, and their efficiency was tested by the amount of vacuum that was produced in the smoke-box. the degree of rarefaction was determined by a glass tube fixed to the bottom of the smoke-box, and descending into a bucket of water, the tube being open at both ends. as the rarefaction took place, the water would of course rise in the tube, and the height to which it rose above the surface of the water in the bucket was made the measure of the amount of rarefaction. these experiments proved that a considerable increase of draught was obtained by the contraction of the orifice; accordingly, the two blast-pipes opening from the cylinders into either side of the "rocket" chimney, and turned up within it, were contracted slightly below the area of the steam-ports; and before the engine left the factory, the water rose in the glass tube three inches above the water in the bucket. the other arrangements of the "rocket" were briefly these: the boiler was cylindrical, with flat ends, six feet in length, and three feet four inches in diameter. the upper half of the boiler was used as a reservoir for the steam, the lower half being filled with water. through the lower part the copper tubes extended, being open to the fire-box at one end, and to the chimney at the other. the fire-box, or furnace, two feet wide and three feet high, was attached immediately behind the boiler, and was also surrounded with water. the cylinders of the engine were placed on each side of the boiler, in an oblique position, one end being nearly level with the top of the boiler at its after end, and the other pointing toward the centre of the foremost or driving pair of wheels, with which the connection was directly made from the piston-rod to a pin on the outside of the wheel. the engine, together with its load of water, weighed only four tons and a quarter; and it was supported on four wheels, not coupled. the tender was four-wheeled, and similar in shape to a wagon--the foremost part holding the fuel, and the hind part a water-cask. [illustration: the "rocket."] when the "rocket" was finished, it was placed upon the killingworth railway for the purpose of experiment. the new boiler arrangement was found perfectly successful. the steam was raised rapidly and continuously, and in a quantity which then appeared marvelous. the same evening robert dispatched a letter to his father at liverpool, informing him, to his great joy, that the "rocket" was "all right," and would be in complete working trim by the day of trial. the engine was shortly after sent by wagon to carlisle, and thence shipped for liverpool. the time so much longed for by george stephenson had now arrived, when the merits of the passenger locomotive were about to be put to the test. he had fought the battle for it until now almost single-handed. engrossed by his daily labors and anxieties, and harassed by difficulties and discouragements which would have crushed the spirit of a less resolute man, he had held firmly to his purpose through good and through evil report. the hostility which he experienced from some of the directors opposed to the adoption of the locomotive was the circumstance that caused him the greatest grief of all; for where he had looked for encouragement, he found only carping and opposition. but his pluck never failed him; and now the "rocket" was upon the ground to prove, to use his own words, "whether he was a man of his word or not." great interest was felt at liverpool, as well as throughout the country, in the approaching competition. engineers, scientific men, and mechanics arrived from all quarters to witness the novel display of mechanical ingenuity on which such great results depended. the public generally were no indifferent spectators either. the populations of liverpool, manchester, and the adjacent towns felt that the successful issue of the experiment would confer upon them individual benefits and local advantages almost incalculable, while populations at a distance waited for the result with almost equal interest. on the day appointed for the great competition of locomotives at rainhill the following engines were entered for the prize: . messrs. braithwaite and ericsson's[ ] "novelty." . mr. timothy hackworth's "sanspareil." . messrs. r. stephenson and co.'s "rocket." . mr. burstall's "perseverance." another engine was entered by mr. brandreth, of liverpool--the "cycloped," weighing three tons, worked by a horse in a frame, but it could not be admitted to the competition. the above were the only four exhibited, out of a considerable number of engines constructed in different parts of the country in anticipation of this contest, many of which could not be satisfactorily completed by the day of trial. the ground on which the engines were to be tried was a level piece of railroad, about two miles in length. each was required to make twenty trips, or equal to a journey of seventy miles, in the course of the day, and the average rate of traveling was to be not under ten miles an hour. it was determined that, to avoid confusion, each engine should be tried separately, and on different days. the day fixed for the competition was the st of october, but, to allow sufficient time to get the locomotives into good working order, the directors extended it to the th. on the morning of the th the ground at rainhill presented a lively appearance, and there was as much excitement as if the st. leger were about to be run. many thousand spectators looked on, among whom were some of the first engineers and mechanicians of the day. a stand was provided for the ladies; the "beauty and fashion" of the neighborhood were present, and the side of the railroad was lined with carriages of all descriptions. it was quite characteristic of the stephensons that, although their engine did not stand first on the list for trial, it was the first that was ready, and it was accordingly ordered out by the judges for an experimental trip. yet the "rocket" was by no means the "favorite" with either the judges or the spectators. nicholas wood has since stated that the majority of the judges were strongly predisposed in favor of the "novelty," and that "nine tenths, if not ten tenths, of the persons present were against the 'rocket' because of its appearance."[ ] nearly every person favored some other engine, so that there was nothing for the "rocket" but the practical test. the first trip made by it was quite successful. it ran about twelve miles, without interruption, in about fifty-three minutes. the "novelty" was next called out. it was a light engine, very compact in appearance, carrying the water and fuel upon the same wheels as the engine. the weight of the whole was only three tons and one hundred weight. a peculiarity of this engine was that the air was driven or _forced_ through the fire by means of bellows. the day being now far advanced, and some dispute having arisen as to the method of assigning the proper load for the "novelty," no particular experiment was made farther than that the engine traversed the line by way of exhibition, occasionally moving at the rate of twenty-four miles an hour. the "sanspareil," constructed by mr. timothy hackworth, was next exhibited, but no particular experiment was made with it on this day. this engine differed but little in its construction from the locomotive last supplied by the stephensons to the stockton and darlington railway, of which mr. hackworth was the locomotive foreman. [illustration: locomotive competition at rainhill.] the contest was postponed until the following day; but, before the judges arrived on the ground, the bellows for creating the blast in the "novelty" gave way, and it was found incapable of going through its performance. a defect was also detected in the boiler of the "sanspareil," and some farther time was allowed to get it repaired. the large number of spectators who had assembled to witness the contest were greatly disappointed at this postponement; but, to lessen it, stephenson again brought out the "rocket," and, attaching to it a coach containing thirty persons, he ran them along the line at the rate of from twenty-four to thirty miles an hour, much to their gratification and amazement. before separating, the judges ordered the engine to be in readiness by eight o'clock on the following morning, to go through its definitive trial according to the prescribed conditions. on the morning of the th of october the "rocket" was again ready for the contest. the engine was taken to the extremity of the stage, the fire-box was filled with coke, the fire lighted, and the steam raised until it lifted the safety-valve loaded to a pressure of fifty pounds to the square inch. this proceeding occupied fifty-seven minutes. the engine then started on its journey, dragging after it about thirteen tons' weight in wagons, and made the first ten trips backward and forward along the two miles of road, running the thirty-five miles, including stoppages, in an hour and forty-eight minutes. the second ten trips were in like manner performed in two hours and three minutes. the maximum velocity attained during the trial trip was twenty-nine miles an hour, or about three times the speed that one of the judges of the competition had declared to be the limit of possibility. the average speed at which the whole of the journeys were performed was fifteen miles an hour, or five miles beyond the rate specified in the conditions published by the company. the entire performance excited the greatest astonishment among the assembled spectators; the directors felt confident that their enterprise was now on the eve of success; and george stephenson rejoiced to think that, in spite of all false prophets and fickle counselors, the locomotive system was now safe. when the "rocket," having performed all the conditions of the contest, arrived at the "grand stand" at the close of its day's successful run, mr. cropper--one of the directors favorable to the fixed engine system--lifted up his hands, and exclaimed, "now has george stephenson at last delivered himself." neither the "novelty" nor the "sanspareil" was ready for trial until the th, on the morning of which day an advertisement appeared, stating that the former engine was to be tried on that day, when it would perform more work than any engine on the ground. the weight of the carriages attached to it was only about seven tons. the engine passed the first post in good style; but, in returning, the pipe from the forcing-pump burst and put an end to the trial. the pipe was afterward repaired, and the engine made several trips by itself, in which it was said to have gone at the rate of from twenty-four to twenty-eight miles an hour. the "sanspareil" was not ready until the th; and when its boiler and tender were filled with water, it was found to weigh four hundred weight beyond the weight specified in the published conditions as the limit of four-wheeled engines; nevertheless, the judges allowed it to run on the same footing as the other engines, to enable them to ascertain whether its merits entitled it to favorable consideration. it traveled at the average speed of about fourteen miles an hour, with its load attached; but at the eighth trip the cold-water pump got wrong, and the engine could proceed no farther. it was determined to award the premium to the successful engine on the following day, the th, on which occasion there was an unusual assemblage of spectators. the owners of the "novelty" pleaded for another trial, and it was conceded. but again it broke down. then mr. hackworth requested the opportunity for making another trial of his "sanspareil." but the judges had now had enough of failures, and they declined, on the ground that not only was the engine above the stipulated weight, but that it was constructed on a plan which they could not recommend for adoption by the directors of the company. one of the principal practical objections to this locomotive was the enormous quantity of coke consumed or wasted by it--about lbs. per hour when traveling--caused by the sharpness of the steam-blast in the chimney, which blew a large proportion of the burning coke into the air. the "perseverance" of mr. burstall was found unable to move at more than five or six miles an hour, and it was withdrawn from the contest at an early period. the "rocket" was thus the only engine that had performed, and more than performed, all the stipulated conditions, and it was declared to be entitled to the prize of £ , which was awarded to the messrs. stephenson and booth accordingly. and farther to show that the engine had been working quite within its powers, george stephenson ordered it to be brought upon the ground and detached from all incumbrances, when, in making two trips, it was found to travel at the astonishing rate of thirty-five miles an hour. the "rocket" had thus eclipsed the performances of all locomotive engines that had yet been constructed, and outstripped even the sanguine expectations of its constructors. it satisfactorily answered the report of messrs. walker and rastrick, and established the efficiency of the locomotive for working the liverpool and manchester railway, and, indeed, all future railways. the "rocket" showed that a new power had been born into the world, full of activity and strength, with boundless capability of work. it was the simple but admirable contrivance of the steam-blast, and its combination with the multitubular boiler, that at once gave locomotion a vigorous life, and secured the triumph of the railway system.[ ] as has been well observed, this wonderful ability to increase and multiply its powers of performance with the emergency that demands them has made this giant engine the noblest creation of human wit, the very lion among machines. the success of the rainhill experiment, as judged by the public, may be inferred from the fact that the shares of the company immediately rose ten per cent., and nothing farther was heard of the proposed twenty-one fixed engines, engine-houses, ropes, etc. all this cumbersome apparatus was thenceforward effectually disposed of. very different now was the tone of those directors who had distinguished themselves by the persistency of their opposition to george stephenson's plans. coolness gave way to eulogy, and hostility to unbounded offers of friendship, after the manner of many men who run to the help of the strong. deeply though the engineer had felt aggrieved by the conduct exhibited toward him during this eventful struggle by some from whom forbearance was to have been expected, he never entertained toward them in after life any angry feelings; on the contrary, he forgave all. but, though the directors afterward passed unanimous resolutions eulogizing "the great skill and unwearied energy" of their engineer, he himself, when speaking confidentially to those with whom he was most intimate, could not help pointing out the difference between his "foul-weather and fair-weather friends." mr. gooch says that, though naturally most cheerful and kind-hearted in disposition, the anxiety and pressure which weighed upon his mind during the construction of the railway had the effect of making him occasionally impatient and irritable, like a spirited horse touched by the spur, though his original good nature from time to time shone through it all. when the line had been brought to a successful completion, a very marked change in him became visible. the irritability passed away, and when difficulties and vexations arose they were treated by him as matters of course, and with perfect composure and cheerfulness. [illustration: railway _versus_ road.] footnotes: [ ] letter to the author. [ ] letter to mr. illingworth, september th, . the reports made to the directors and officers of the company, which we have seen, contain the details of the operations carried on at the mines, but they are as dry and uninteresting as such reports usually are, and furnish no materials calculated to illustrate the subject of the text. [ ] in a letter to mr. illingworth, then resident at bogotá, dated the th of march, , robert wrote as follows: "nothing but the fullest consent of my partners in england could induce me to stay in this country, and the assurance that no absolute necessity existed to call me home. i must also have the consent of my father. i know that he must have suffered severely from my absence, but that having been extended so far beyond the period he was led to expect, may have induced him to curtail his plans, which, had they been accomplished, as they would have been by my assistance, would have placed us both in a situation far superior to any thing that i can hope for as the servant of an association however wealthy and liberal. what i might do in england is perhaps known to myself only; it is difficult, therefore, for the association to calculate upon rewarding me to the full extent of my prospects at home. my prosperity is involved in that of my father, whose property was sacrificed in laying the foundations of an establishment for me; his capital being invested in a concern which requires the greatest attention, and which, with our personal superintendence, could not fail to secure that independence which forms so principally the object of all our toil." [ ] mr. booth's account, p. - . while concurring with mr. rastrick in recommending "the stationary reciprocating system as the best" if it was the directors' intention to make the line complete at once, so as to accommodate the traffic expected by them, or a quantity approaching to it (_i.e._, tons of goods and passengers from liverpool toward manchester, and tons from manchester toward liverpool), mr. walker added, "but if any circumstances should induce the directors to proceed by degrees, and to proportion the power of conveyance to the demand, then we recommend locomotive engines upon the line generally; and two fixed engines upon rainhill and sutton planes, to draw up the locomotive engines as well as the goods and carriages;" and "if on any occasion the trade should get beyond the supply of locomotives, the horse might form a temporary substitute." as, however, it was the directors' determination, with a view to the success of their experiment, to open the line complete for working, they felt that it would be unadvisable to adopt this partial experiment; and it was still left for them to decide whether they would adopt or not the substantial recommendation of the reporting engineers in favor of the stationary-engine system for the complete accommodation of the expected traffic. [ ] the arguments used by mr. stephenson with the directors in favor of the locomotive engine were afterward collected and published in by robert stephenson and joseph locke, as "compiled from the reports of mr. george stephenson." the pamphlet was entitled "observations on the comparative merits of locomotive and fixed engines." robert stephenson, speaking of the authorship many years after, said, "i believe i furnished the facts and the arguments, and locke put them into shape. locke was a very flowery writer, whereas my style was rather bald and unattractive; so he was the editor of the pamphlet, which excited a good deal of attention among engineers at the time." [ ] the conditions were these: . the engine must effectually consume its own smoke. . the engine, if of six tons' weight, must be able to draw after it, day by day, twenty tons' weight (including the tender and water-tank) at ten miles an hour, with a pressure of steam on the boiler not exceeding fifty pounds to the square inch. . the boiler must have two safety valves, neither of which must be fastened down, and one of them be completely out of the control of the engine-man. . the engine and boiler must be supported on springs, and rest on six wheels, the height of the whole not exceeding fifteen feet to the top of the chimney. . the engine, with water, must not weigh more than six tons; but an engine of less weight would be preferred on its drawing a proportionate load behind it; if of only four and a half tons, then it might be put on only four wheels. the company to be at liberty to test the boiler, etc., by a pressure of one hundred and fifty pounds to the square inch. . a mercurial gauge must be affixed to the machine, showing the steam pressure above forty-five pounds per square inch. . the engine must be delivered, complete and ready for trial, at the liverpool end of the railway, not later than the st of october, . . the price of the engine must not exceed £ . many persons of influence declared the conditions published by the directors of the railway chimerical in the extreme. one gentleman of some eminence in liverpool, mr. p. ewart, who afterward filled the office of government inspector of post-office steam packets, declared that only a parcel of charlatans would ever have issued such a set of conditions; that it had been _proved_ to be impossible to make a locomotive engine go at ten miles an hour; but if it ever was done, he would undertake to eat a stewed engine-wheel for his breakfast! [ ] some correspondence took place between boulton and watt on the subject, when the latter was scheming the application of the steam-engine to locomotive purposes. in a letter to boulton, dated the th of august, , watt said, "perhaps some means may be hit upon to make the boiler cylindrical _with a number of tubes passing through_, like the organ-pipe condenser, whereby it might be thinner and lighter; but," he added, "i fear this would be too subject to accidents." [ ] the inventor of this engine was a swede, who afterward proceeded to the united states, and there achieved considerable distinction as an engineer. his caloric engine has so far proved a failure, but his iron cupola vessel, the "monitor," must be admitted to have been a remarkable success in its way. [ ] mr. wood's speech at newcastle, th of october, . [ ] when heavier and more powerful engines were brought upon the road, the old "rocket," becoming regarded as a thing of no value, was sold in . it was purchased by mr. thompson, of kirkhouse, the lessee of the earl of carlisle's coal and lime works, near carlisle. he worked the engine on the midgeholme railway for five or six years, during which it hauled coals from the pits to the town. there was wonderful vitality in the old engine, as the following circumstance proves. when the great contest for the representation of east cumberland took place, and sir james graham was superseded by major aglionby, the "rocket" was employed to convey the alston express with the state of the poll from midgeholme to kirkhouse. on that occasion the engine was driven by mr. mark thompson, and it ran the distance of upward of four miles in four and a half minutes, thus reaching a speed of nearly sixty miles an hour, proving its still admirable qualities as an engine. but again it was superseded by heavier engines; for it only weighed about four tons, whereas the new engines were at least three times that weight. the "rocket" was consequently laid up in ordinary in the yard at kirkhouse, from whence it has since been transferred to the museum of patents at kensington, where it is still to be seen. chapter xiii. opening of the liverpool and manchester railway, and extension of the railway system. the directors of the railway now began to see daylight, and they derived encouragement from the skillful manner in which their engineer had overcome the principal difficulties of the undertaking. he had formed a solid road over chat moss, and thus achieved one "impossibility;" and he had constructed a locomotive that could run at a speed of thirty miles an hour, thus vanquishing a still more formidable difficulty. a single line of way was completed over chat moss by the st of january, , and on that day the "rocket," with a carriage full of directors, engineers, and their friends, passed along the greater part of the road between liverpool and manchester. mr. stephenson continued to direct his close attention to the improvement of the details of the locomotive, every successive trial of which proved more satisfactory. in this department he had the benefit of the able and unremitting assistance of his son, who, in the workshops at newcastle, directly superintended the construction of the engines required for the public working of the railway. he did not by any means rest satisfied with the success, decided though it was, which had been achieved by the "rocket." he regarded it but in the light of a successful experiment; and every successive engine placed upon the railway exhibited some improvement on its predecessors. the arrangement of the parts, and the weight and proportion of the engines, were altered as the experience of each successive day, or week, or month suggested; and it was soon found that the performances of the "rocket" on the day of trial had been greatly within the powers of the improved locomotive. the first entire trip between liverpool and manchester was performed on the th of june, , on the occasion of a board meeting being held at the latter town. the train was on this occasion drawn by the "arrow," one of the new locomotives, in which the most recent improvements had been adopted. george stephenson himself drove the engine, and captain scoresby, the circumpolar navigator, stood beside him on the foot-plate, and minuted the speed of the train. a great concourse of people assembled at both termini, as well as along the line, to witness the novel spectacle of a train of carriages drawn by an engine at the speed of seventeen miles an hour. on the return journey to liverpool in the evening, the "arrow" crossed chat moss at a speed of nearly twenty-seven miles an hour, reaching its destination in about an hour and a half. in the mean time mr. stephenson and his assistant, mr. gooch, were diligently occupied in making the necessary preliminary arrangements for the conduct of the traffic against the time when the line should be ready for opening. the experiments made with the object of carrying on the passenger traffic at quick velocities were of an especially harassing and anxious character. every week, for nearly three months before the opening, trial trips were made to newton and back, generally with two or three trains following each other, and carrying altogether from two to three hundred persons. these trips were usually made on saturday afternoons, when the works could be more conveniently stopped and the line cleared for the occasion. in these experiments mr. stephenson had the able assistance of mr. henry booth, the secretary of the company, who contrived many of the arrangements in the passenger carriages, not the least valuable of which was his invention of the coupling screw, still in use on all passenger railways. at length the line was finished and ready for the public opening, which took place on the th of september, , and attracted a vast number of spectators from all parts of the country. the completion of the railway was justly regarded as an important national event, and the ceremony of its opening was celebrated accordingly. the duke of wellington, then prime minister, sir robert peel, secretary of state, mr. huskisson, one of the members for liverpool and an earnest supporter of the project from its commencement, were among the number of distinguished public personages present. eight locomotive engines, constructed at the stephenson works, had been delivered and placed upon the line, the whole of which had been tried and tested, weeks before, with perfect success. the several trains of carriages accommodated in all about six hundred persons. the "northumbrian" engine, driven by george stephenson himself, headed the line of trains; then followed the "phoenix," driven by robert stephenson; the "north star," by robert stephenson senior (brother of george); the "rocket," by joseph locke; the "dart," by thomas l. gooch; the "comet," by william allcard; the "arrow," by frederick swanwick; and the "meteor," by anthony harding. the procession was cheered in its progress by thousands of spectators--through the deep ravine of olive mount; up the sutton incline; over the great sankey viaduct, beneath which a multitude of persons had assembled--carriages filling the narrow lanes, and barges crowding the river; the people below gazing with wonder and admiration at the trains which sped along the line, far above their heads, at the rate of some twenty-four miles an hour. at parkside, about seventeen miles from liverpool, the engines stopped to take in water. here a deplorable accident occurred to one of the illustrious visitors, which threw a deep shadow over the subsequent proceedings of the day. the "northumbrian" engine, with the carriage containing the duke of wellington, was drawn up on one line, in order that the whole of the trains on the other line might pass in review before him and his party. mr. huskisson had alighted from the carriage, and was standing on the opposite road, along which the "rocket" was observed rapidly coming up. at this moment the duke of wellington, between whom and mr. huskisson some coolness had existed, made a sign of recognition, and held out his hand. a hurried but friendly grasp was given; and before it was loosened there was a general cry from the by-standers of "get in, get in!" flurried and confused, mr. huskisson endeavored to get round the open door of the carriage, which projected over the opposite rail, but in so doing he was struck down by the "rocket," and falling with his leg doubled across the rail, the limb was instantly crushed. his first words, on being raised, were, "i have met my death," which unhappily proved true, for he expired that same evening in the parsonage of eccles. it was cited at the time as a remarkable fact that the "northumbrian" engine, driven by george stephenson himself, conveyed the wounded body of the unfortunate gentleman a distance of about fifteen miles in twenty-five minutes, or at the rate of thirty-six miles an hour. this incredible speed burst upon the world with the effect of a new and unlooked-for phenomenon. the accident threw a gloom over the rest of the day's proceedings. the duke of wellington and sir robert peel expressed a wish that the procession should return to liverpool. it was, however, represented to them that a vast concourse of people had assembled at manchester to witness the arrival of the trains; that report would exaggerate the mischief if they did not complete the journey; and that a false panic on that day might seriously affect future railway traveling and the value of the company's property. the party consented accordingly to proceed to manchester, but on the understanding that they should return as soon as possible, and refrain from farther festivity. as the trains approached manchester, crowds of people were found covering the banks, the slopes of the cuttings, and even the railway itself. the multitude, become impatient and excited by the rumors which reached them, had outflanked the military, and all order was at an end. the people clambered about the carriages, holding on by the door-handles, and many were tumbled over; but, happily, no fatal accident occurred. at the manchester station the political element began to display itself; placards about "peterloo," etc., were exhibited, and brickbats were thrown at the carriage containing the duke. on the trains coming to a stand in the manchester station, the duke did not descend, but remained seated, shaking hands with the women and children who were pushed forward by the crowd. shortly after, the trains returned to liverpool, which they reached, after considerable delays, late at night. on the following morning the railway was opened for public traffic. the first train of passengers was booked and sent on to manchester, reaching it in the allotted time of two hours; and from that time the traffic has regularly proceeded from day to day until now. it is scarcely necessary that we should speak at any length of the commercial results of the liverpool and manchester railway. suffice it to say that its success was complete and decisive. the anticipations of its projectors were, however, in many respects at fault. they had based their calculations almost entirely on the heavy merchandise traffic--such as coal, cotton, and timber--relying little upon passengers; whereas the receipts derived from the conveyance of passengers far exceeded those derived from merchandise of all kinds, which for a time continued a subordinate branch of the traffic. in the evidence given before the committee of the house of commons, the promoters stated their expectation of obtaining about one half of the whole number of passengers which the coaches then running could carry, or about a day. but the railway was scarcely opened before it carried on an average about passengers daily; and five years after the opening, it carried nearly half a million of persons yearly. so successful, indeed, was the passenger traffic, that it engrossed the whole of the company's small stock of engines. for some time after the public opening of the line, mr. stephenson's ingenuity continued to be employed in devising improved methods for securing the safety and comfort of the traveling public. few are aware of the thousand minute details which have to be arranged--the forethought and contrivance that have to be exercised--to enable the traveler by railway to accomplish his journey in safety. after the difficulties of constructing a level road over bogs, across valleys, and through deep cuttings have been overcome, the maintenance of the way has to be provided for with continuous care. every rail, with its fastenings, must be complete, to prevent risk of accident, and the road must be kept regularly ballasted up to the level to diminish the jolting of vehicles passing over it at high speeds. then the stations must be protected by signals observable from such a distance as to enable the train to be stopped in event of an obstacle, such as a stopping or shunting train being in the way. for some years the signals employed on the liverpool railway were entirely given by men with flags of different colors stationed along the line; there were no fixed signals nor electric telegraphs; but the traffic was nevertheless worked quite as safely as under the more elaborate and complicated system of telegraphing which has since been established. from an early period it became obvious that the iron road, as originally laid down, was quite insufficient for the heavy traffic which it had to carry. the line was in the first place laid with fish-bellied rails of only thirty-five pounds to the yard, calculated only for horse-traffic, or, at most, for engines like the "rocket," of very light weight. but as the power and the weight of the locomotives were increased, it was found that such rails were quite insufficient for the safe conduct of the traffic, and it therefore became necessary to relay the road with heavier and stronger rails at considerable expense. the details of the carrying stock had in like manner to be settled by experience. every thing had, as it were, to be begun from the beginning. the coal-wagon, it is true, served in some degree as a model for the railway-truck; but the railway passenger-carriage was an entirely novel structure. it had to be mounted upon strong framing, of a peculiar kind, supported on springs to prevent jolting. then there was the necessity for contriving some method of preventing hard bumping of the carriage-ends when the train was pulled up, and hence the contrivance of buffer-springs and spring-frames. for the purpose of stopping the train, brakes on an improved plan were also contrived, with new modes of lubricating the carriage-axles, on which the wheels revolved at an unusually high velocity. in all these contrivances mr. stephenson's inventiveness was kept constantly on the stretch; and though many improvements in detail have been effected since his time, the foundations were then laid by him of the present system of conducting railway traffic. as a curious illustration of the inventive ingenuity which he displayed in contriving the working of the liverpool line, we may mention his invention of the self-acting brake. he early entertained the idea that the momentum of the running train might itself be made available for the purpose of checking its speed. he proposed to fit each carriage with a brake which should be called into action immediately on the locomotive at the head of the train being pulled up. the impetus of the carriages carrying them forward, the buffer-springs would be driven home, and, at the same time, by a simple arrangement of the mechanism, the brakes would be called into simultaneous action; thus the wheels would be brought into a state of sledge, and the train speedily stopped. this plan was adopted by mr. stephenson before he left the liverpool and manchester railway, though it was afterward discontinued; and it is a remarkable fact, that this identical plan, with the addition of a centrifugal apparatus, was recently revived by m. guérin, a french engineer, and extensively employed on foreign railways. finally, mr. stephenson had to attend to the improvement of the power and speed of the locomotive--always the grand object of his study--with a view to economy as well as regularity in the working of the railway. in the "planet" engine, delivered upon the line immediately subsequent to the public opening, all the improvements which had up to this time been contrived by him and his son were introduced in combination--the blast-pipe, the tubular boiler, horizontal cylinders inside the smoke-box, the cranked axle, and the fire-box firmly fixed to the boiler. the first load of goods conveyed from liverpool to manchester by the "planet" was eighty tons in weight, and the engine performed the journey against a strong head wind in two hours and a half. on another occasion, the same engine brought up a cargo of voters from manchester to liverpool, during a contested election, within a space of sixty minutes. the "samson," delivered in the following year, exhibited still farther improvements, the most important of which was that of _coupling_ the fore and hind wheels of the engine. by this means the adhesion of the wheels on the rails was more effectually secured, and thus the full hauling power of the locomotive was made available. the "samson," shortly after it was placed upon the line, dragged after it a train of wagons weighing a hundred and fifty tons at a speed of about twenty miles an hour, the consumption of coke being reduced to only about a third of a pound per ton per mile. the rapid progress thus made will show that the inventive faculties of mr. stephenson and his son were kept fully on the stretch; but their labors were amply repaid by the result. they were, doubtless, to some extent stimulated by the number of competitors who about the same time appeared as improvers of the locomotive engine. but the superiority of stephenson's locomotives over all others that had yet been tried induced the directors of the railway to require that the engines supplied to them by other builders should be constructed after the same model. mr. stephenson himself always had the greatest faith in the superiority of his own engines over all others, and did not hesitate strongly to declare it. when it was once proposed to introduce the engines of another maker on the manchester and leeds line, he said, "very well; i have no objection; but put them to this fair test. hang one of ----'s engines on to one of mine, back to back. then let them go at it; and whichever walks away with the other, _that's the engine_." the engineer had also to seek out the proper men to maintain and watch the road, and more especially to work the locomotive engines. steadiness, sobriety, common sense, and practical experience were the qualities which he especially valued in those selected by him for that purpose. but where were the men of experience to be found? very few railways were yet at work, and these were almost exclusively confined to the northern coal counties; hence a considerable proportion of the drivers and firemen employed on the liverpool line were brought from the neighborhood of newcastle. but he could not always find skilled workmen enough for the important and responsible duties to be performed. it was a saying of his that "he could engineer matter very well, and make it bend to his purpose, but his greatest difficulty was in engineering _men_." he often wished that he could contrive heads and hands on which he might rely, as easily as he could construct railways and manufacture locomotives. as it was, stephenson's mechanics were in request all over england--the newcastle workshops continuing for many years to perform the part of a training-school for engineers, and to supply locomotive superintendents and drivers, not only for england, but for nearly every country in europe--preference being given to them by the directors of railways, in consequence of their previous training and experience, as well as because of their generally excellent qualities as steady and industrious workmen. the success of the liverpool and manchester experiment naturally excited great interest. people flocked to lancashire from all quarters to see the steam-coach running upon a railway at three times the speed of a mail-coach, and to enjoy the excitement of actually traveling in the wake of an engine at that incredible velocity. the travelers returned to their respective districts full of the wonders of the locomotive, considering it to be the greatest marvel of the age. railways are familiar enough objects now, and our children who grow up in their midst may think little of them; but thirty years since it was an event in one's life to see a locomotive, and to travel for the first time upon a public railroad. in remote districts, however, the stories told about the benefits conferred by the liverpool railway were received with considerable incredulity, and the proposal to extend such roads in all directions throughout the country caused great alarm. in the districts through which stage-coaches ran, giving employment to large numbers of persons, it was apprehended that, if railways were established, the turnpike roads would become deserted and grown over with grass, country inns and their buxom landladies would be ruined, the race of coach-drivers and hostlers would become extinct, and the breed of horses be entirely destroyed. but there was hope for the coaching interest in the fact that the government were employing their engineers to improve the public high roads so as to render railways unnecessary. it was announced in the papers that a saving of thirty miles would be effected by the new road between london and holyhead, and an equal saving between london and edinburg. and to show what the speed of horses could accomplish, we find it set forth as an extraordinary fact that the "patent tally-ho coach," in the year (when the birmingham line had been projected), performed the entire journey of miles between london and birmingham--breakfast included--in seven hours and fifty minutes! great speed was also recorded on the brighton road, the "red rover" doing the distance between london and brighton in four hours and a half. these speeds were not, however, secured without accidents, for there was scarcely a newspaper of the period that did not contain one or more paragraphs headed "another dreadful coach accident." the practicability of railway locomotion being now proved, and its great social and commercial advantages ascertained, the extension of the system was merely a question of time, money, and labor. a fine opportunity presented itself for the wise and judicious action of the government in the matter, the improvement of the internal communications of a country being really one of its most important functions. but the government of the day, though ready enough to spend money in improving the old turnpike roads, regarded the railroads with hostility, and met them with obstructions of all kinds. they seemed to think it their duty to protect the turnpike trusts, disregarding the paramount interest of the public. this may possibly account for the singular circumstance that, at the very time they were manifesting indifference or aversion to the locomotive on the railroad, they were giving every encouragement to the locomotive on turnpike roads. in , we find a committee of the house of commons appointed to inquire into and report upon--not the railway system, but--the applicability of the steam-carriage to common roads; and, after investigation, the committee were so satisfied with the evidence taken, that they reported decidedly in favor of the road locomotive system. though they ignored the railway, they recognized the steam-carriage. but even a report of the house of commons, powerful though it be, can not alter the laws of gravity and friction; and the road locomotive remained, what it ever will be, an impracticable machine. not that it is impossible to work a locomotive upon a common road, but to work it to any profit at all as compared with the locomotive upon a railway. numerous trials of steam-carriages were made at the time by sir charles dance, mr. hancock, mr. gurney, sir james anderson, and other distinguished gentlemen of influence. journalists extolled their utility, compared with "the much-boasted application on railroads."[ ] but, notwithstanding all this, and the house of commons' report in its favor, stephenson's first verdict, pronounced on the road locomotive many years before, when he was only an engine-wright at killingworth, was fully borne out by the result, and it became day by day clearer that the attempt to introduce the engine into general use upon turnpike roads could only prove a delusion and a snare. although the legislature took no initiative step in the direction of railway extension, the public spirit and enterprise of the country did not fail it at this juncture. the english people, though they may be defective in their capacity for organization, are strong in individualism, and not improbably their admirable qualities in the latter respect detract from their efficiency in the former. thus, in all times, their greatest national enterprises have not been planned by officialism and carried out upon any regular system, but have sprung, like their constitution, their laws, and their entire industrial arrangements, from the force of circumstances and the individual energies of the people. hence railway extension, like so many other great english enterprises, was now left to be carried out by the genius of english engineers, backed by the energy of the british public. the mode of action was characteristic and national. the execution of the new lines was undertaken entirely by joint-stock associations of proprietors, after the manner of the stockton and darlington, and liverpool and manchester companies. these associations are conformable to our national habits, and fit well into our system of laws. they combine the power of vast resources with individual watchfulness and motives of self-interest; and by their means gigantic undertakings, which elsewhere would be impossible to any but kings and emperors with great national resources at command, were carried out by the co-operation of private persons. and the results of this combination of means and of enterprise have been truly marvelous. within the life of the present generation, the private citizens of england engaged in railway extension have, in the face of government obstructions, and without taking a penny from the public purse, executed a system of communications involving works of the most gigantic kind, which, in their total mass, their cost, and their public utility, far exceed the most famous national undertakings of any age or country. mr. stephenson was, of course, actively engaged in the construction of the numerous railways now projected by the joint-stock companies. during the formation of the manchester and liverpool line he had been consulted respecting many projects of a similar kind. one of these was a short railway between canterbury and whitstable, about six miles in length. he was too much occupied with the works at liverpool to give this scheme much of his personal attention; but he sent his assistant, mr. john dixon, to survey the line, and afterward mr. locke to superintend the execution of the works. the act was obtained in , and the line was opened for traffic in . it was partly worked by fixed engine-power, and partly by stephenson's locomotives, similar to the engines used upon the stockton and darlington railway. but the desire for railway extension principally pervaded the manufacturing districts, especially after the successful opening of the liverpool and manchester line. the commercial classes of the larger towns soon became eager for a participation in the good which they had so recently derided. railway projects were set on foot in great numbers, and manchester became a centre from which main lines and branches were started in all directions. the interest, however, which attaches to these later schemes is of a much less absorbing kind than that which belongs to the early history of the railway and the steps by which it was mainly established. we naturally sympathize more with the early struggles of a great principle, its trials and its difficulties, than with its after stages of success; and, however gratified and astonished we may be at its results, the interest is in a great measure gone when its triumph has become a matter of certainty. the commercial results of the liverpool and manchester line were so satisfactory, and, indeed, so greatly exceeded the expectations of its projectors, that many of the abandoned projects of the speculative year were forthwith revived. an abundant crop of engineers sprang up, ready to execute railways of any extent. now that the liverpool and manchester line had been made, and the practicability of working it by locomotive power had been proved, it was as easy for engineers to make railways and to work them as it was for navigators to find america after columbus had made the first voyage. mr. francis giles himself took the field as a locomotive railway engineer, attaching himself to the newcastle and carlisle and london and southampton projects. mr. brunel appeared, in like manner, as the engineer of the line projected between london and bristol; and mr. braithwaite, the builder of the "novelty" engine, as the engineer of a line from london to colchester. the first lines, however, which were actually constructed subsequent to the opening of the liverpool and manchester railway were in connection with it, and principally in the county of lancaster. thus a branch was formed from bolton to leigh, and another from leigh to kenyon, where it formed a junction with the main line between liverpool and manchester. branches to wigan on the north, and to runcorn gap and warrington on the south of the same line, were also formed; and a continuation of the latter, as far south as birmingham, was shortly after projected, under the name of the grand junction railway. the last-mentioned line was projected as early as the year , when the liverpool and manchester scheme was under discussion, and mr. stephenson then published a report on the subject. the plans were deposited, but the bill was thrown out on the opposition of the land-owners and canal proprietors. when engaged in making the survey, stephenson called upon some of the land-owners in the neighborhood of nantwich to obtain their assent, and was greatly disgusted to learn that the agents of the canal companies had been before him, and described the locomotive to the farmers as a most frightful machine, emitting a breath as poisonous as the fabled dragon of old; and telling them that if a bird flew over the district when one of these engines passed, it would inevitably drop down dead! the application for the bill was renewed in , and again failed; and at length it was determined to wait the issue of the liverpool and manchester experiment. the act was eventually obtained in , by which time the projectors of railways had learned the art of "conciliating" the landlords--and a very expensive process it proved. but it was the only mode of avoiding a still more expensive parliamentary opposition. when it was proposed to extend the advantages of railways to the population of the midland and southern counties of england, an immense amount of alarm was created in the minds of the country gentlemen. they did not relish the idea of private individuals, principally residents in the manufacturing districts, invading their domains, and they every where rose up in arms against the "new-fangled roads." colonel sibthorpe openly declared his hatred of the "infernal railroads," and said that he "would rather meet a highwayman, or see a burglar on his premises, than an engineer!" mr. berkeley, the member for cheltenham, at a public meeting in that town, re-echoed colonel sibthorpe's sentiments, and "wished that the concoctors of every such scheme, with their solicitors and engineers, were at rest in paradise!" the impression prevailed among the rural classes that fox-covers and game-preserves would be seriously prejudiced by the formation of railroads; that agricultural communications would be destroyed, land thrown out of cultivation, land-owners and farmers reduced to beggary, the poor-rates increased through the number of persons thrown out of employment by the railways, and all this in order that liverpool, manchester, and birmingham shop-keepers and manufacturers might establish a monstrous monopoly in railway traffic. the inhabitants of even some of the large towns were thrown into a state of consternation by the proposal to provide them with the accommodation of a railway. the line from london to birmingham would naturally have passed close to the handsome town of northampton, and was so projected. but the inhabitants of the place, urged on by the local press, and excited by men of influence and education, opposed the project, and succeeded in forcing the promoters, in their survey of the line, to pass the town at a distance. the necessity was thus involved of distorting the line, by which the enormous expense of constructing the kilsby tunnel was incurred. not many years elapsed before the inhabitants of northampton became clamorous for railway accommodation, and a special branch was constructed for them. the additional cost involved by this forced deviation of the line could not have amounted to less than half a million sterling; the loss falling, not upon the shareholders only, but upon the public. other towns in the south followed the example of northampton in howling down the railways. when the first railway through kent was projected, the line was laid out so as to pass by maidstone, the county town. but it had not a single supporter among the townspeople, while the land-owners for many miles round continued to oppose it. a few years later the maidstone burgesses, like those of northampton, became clamorous for a railway, and a branch was formed for their accommodation. in like manner, the london and bristol (afterward the great western) railway was vehemently opposed by the people of the towns through which the line was projected to pass; and when the bill was thrown out by the lords--after £ , had been expended by the promoters--the inhabitants of eton assembled, under the presidency of the marquis of chandos, to rejoice and congratulate themselves and the country upon its defeat. eton, however, has now the convenience of two railways to the metropolis. during the time that the works of the liverpool and manchester line were in progress, our engineer was consulted respecting a short railway proposed to be formed between leicester and swannington, for the purpose of opening up a communication between the town of leicester and the coal-fields in the western part of the county. mr. ellis, the projector of this undertaking, had some difficulty in getting the requisite capital subscribed for, the leicester townspeople who had money being for the most part interested in canals. george stephenson was invited to come upon the ground and survey the line. he did so, and then the projector told him of the difficulty he had in finding subscribers to the concern. "give me a sheet," said stephenson, "and i will raise the money for you in liverpool." the engineer was as good as his word, and in a short time the sheet was returned with the subscription complete. mr. stephenson was then asked to undertake the office of engineer for the line, but his answer was that he had thirty miles of railway in hand, which was enough for any engineer to attend to properly. was there any person he could recommend? "well," said he, "i think my son robert is competent to undertake the thing." would mr. stephenson be answerable for him? "oh yes, certainly." and robert stephenson, at twenty-seven years of age, was installed engineer of the line accordingly. [illustration: map of the leicester and swannington railway.] the requisite parliamentary powers having been obtained, robert stephenson proceeded with the construction of the railway, about sixteen miles in length, toward the end of . the works were comparatively easy, excepting at the leicester end, where the young engineer encountered his first stiff bit of tunneling. the line passed under ground for a mile and three quarters, and yards of its course lay through loose running sand. the presence of this material rendered it necessary for the engineer, in the first place, to construct a wooden tunnel to support the soil while the brick-work was being executed. this measure proved sufficient, and the whole was brought to a successful termination within a reasonable time. while the works were in progress, robert kept up a regular correspondence with his father at liverpool, consulting him on all points in which his greater experience was likely to be of service. like his father, robert was very observant, and always ready to seize opportunity by the forelock. it happened that the estate of snibston, near ashby-de-la-zouch, was advertised for sale, and the young engineer's experience as a coal-viewer and practical geologist suggested to his mind that coal was most probably to be found underneath. he communicated his views to his father on the subject. the estate lay in the immediate neighborhood of the railway; and if the conjecture proved correct, the finding of the coal must necessarily prove a most fortunate circumstance for the purchasers of the land. he accordingly requested his father to come over to snibston and look at the property, which he did; and after a careful inspection of the ground, he arrived at the same conclusion as his son. the large manufacturing town of leicester, about fourteen miles distant, had up to that time been exclusively supplied with coal brought by canal from derbyshire, and the stephensons saw that the railway under construction from swannington to leicester would furnish a ready market for any coals which might be found at snibston. having induced two of his liverpool friends to join him in the venture, the snibston estate was purchased in , and shortly after stephenson removed his home from liverpool to alton grange, for the purpose of superintending the sinking of the pit. sinking operations were immediately begun, and proceeded satisfactorily until the old enemy, water, burst in upon the workmen, and threatened to drown them out. but by means of efficient pumping-engines, and the skillful casing of the shaft with segments of cast iron--a process called "tubbing,"[ ] which stephenson was the first to adopt in the midland counties--it was eventually made water-tight, and the sinking proceeded. when a depth of feet had been reached, a still more formidable difficulty presented itself--one which had baffled former sinkers in the neighborhood, and deterred them from farther operations. this was a remarkable bed of whinstone or greenstone, which had originally been poured out as a sheet of burning lava over the denuded surface of the coal measures; indeed, it was afterward found that it had turned to cinders one part of the seam of coal with which it had come in contact. the appearance of this bed of solid rock was so unusual a circumstance in coal-mining that some experienced sinkers urged stephenson to proceed no farther, believing the occurrence of the dike at that point to be altogether fatal to his enterprise. but, with his faith still firm in the existence of coal underneath, he fell back on his old motto of "persevere!" he determined to go on boring; and down through the solid rock he went until, twenty-two feet lower, he came upon the coal measures. in the mean time, however, lest the boring at that point should prove unsuccessful, he had commenced sinking another pair of shafts about a quarter of a mile west of the "fault," and, after about nine months' labor, he reached the principal seam, called the "main coal." the works were then opened out on a large scale, and george stephenson had the pleasure and good fortune to send the first train of main coal to leicester by railway. the price was immediately reduced there to about _s._ a ton, effecting a pecuniary saving to the inhabitants of the town of about £ , per annum, or equivalent to the whole amount then collected in government taxes and local rates, besides giving an impetus to the manufacturing prosperity of the place, which has continued to the present day. the correct principles upon which the mining operations at snibston were conducted offered a salutary example to the neighboring colliery owners. the numerous improvements there introduced were freely exhibited to all, and they were afterward reproduced in many forms all over the midland counties, greatly to the advantage of the mining interest. nor was mr. stephenson less attentive to the comfort and well-being of those immediately dependent upon him--the work-people of the snibston colliery and their families. unlike many of those large employers who have "sprung from the ranks," he was one of the kindest and most indulgent of masters. he would have a fair day's work for a fair day's wages, but he never forgot that the employer had his duties as well as his rights. first of all, he attended to the proper home accommodation of his work-people. he erected a village of comfortable cottages, each provided with a snug little garden. he was also instrumental in erecting a church adjacent to the works, as well as church schools for the education of the colliers' children; and with that broad catholicity of sentiment which distinguished him, he farther provided a chapel and a school-house for the use of the dissenting portion of the colliers and their families--an example of benevolent liberality which was not without a salutary influence upon the neighboring employers. [illustration: stephenson's house at alton grange.] footnotes: [ ] letter of mr. john herapath in "mechanics' magazine," vol. xv., p. . [ ] tubbing is now adopted in many cases as a substitute for brick-walling. the tubbing consists of short portions of cast-iron cylinder fixed in segments. each weighs about - / cwt., is about three or four feet long, and about three eighths of an inch thick. these pieces are fitted closely together, length under length, and form an impermeable wall along the sides of the pit. [illustration: (robert stephenson.) _engraved by w. hall, after a photograph by claudet._ new york, harper & brothers.] chapter xiv. robert stephenson constructs the london and birmingham railway. of the numerous extensive projects which followed close upon the completion of the liverpool and manchester line and the locomotive triumph at rainhill, that of a railway between london and birmingham was the most important. the scheme originated at the latter place in . two committees were formed, and two plans were proposed. one was of a line to london by way of oxford, and the other by way of coventry. the object of the promoters of both schemes being to secure the advantages of railway communication with the metropolis, they wisely determined to combine their strength to secure it. they resolved to call george stephenson to their aid, and requested him to advise them as to the two schemes which were before them. after a careful examination of the country, stephenson reported in favor of the coventry route. the lancashire gentlemen, who were the principal subscribers to the project, having confidence in his judgment, supported his decision, and the line recommended by him was adopted accordingly. at the meeting of gentlemen held at birmingham to determine upon the appointment of the engineer for the railway, there was a strong party in favor of associating with stephenson a gentleman with whom he had been brought into serious collision in the course of the liverpool and manchester undertaking. when the offer was made to him that he should be joint engineer with the other, he requested leave to retire and consider the proposal with his son. the two walked into st. philip's church-yard, which adjoined the place of meeting, and debated the proposal. the father was in favor of accepting it. his struggle heretofore had been so hard that he could not bear the idea of missing so promising an opportunity of professional advancement. but the son, foreseeing the jealousies and heartburnings which the joint engineership would most probably create, recommended his father to decline the connection. george adopted the suggestion, and, returning to the committee, announced to them his decision, on which the promoters decided to appoint him the engineer of the undertaking in conjunction with his son. this line, like the liverpool and manchester, was very strongly opposed, especially by the land-owners. numerous pamphlets were published, calling on the public to "beware of the bubbles," and holding up the promoters of railways to ridicule. they were compared to st. john long and similar quacks, and pronounced fitter for bedlam than to be left at large. the canal proprietors, land-owners, and road trustees made common cause against them. the failure of railways was confidently predicted--indeed, it was elaborately attempted to be proved that they had failed; and it was industriously spread abroad that the locomotive engines, having been found useless and highly dangerous on the liverpool and manchester line, were immediately to be abandoned in favor of horses--a rumor which the directors of the company thought it necessary publicly to contradict. public meetings were held in all the counties through which the line would pass between london and birmingham, at which the project was denounced, and strong resolutions against it were passed. the attempt was made to conciliate the landlords by explanations, but all such efforts proved futile, the owners of nearly seven eighths of the land being returned as dissentients. "i remember," said robert stephenson, describing the opposition, "that we called one day on sir astley cooper, the eminent surgeon, in the hope of overcoming his aversion to the railway. he was one of our most inveterate and influential opponents. his country house at berkhampstead was situated near the intended line, which passed through part of his property. we found a courtly, fine-looking old gentleman, of very stately manners, who received us kindly, and heard all we had to say in favor of the project. but he was quite inflexible in his opposition to it. no deviation or improvement that we could suggest had any effect in conciliating him. he was opposed to railways generally, and to this in particular. 'your scheme,' said he, 'is preposterous in the extreme. it is of so extravagant a character as to be positively absurd. then look at the recklessness of your proceedings! you are proposing to cut up our estates in all directions for the purpose of making an unnecessary road. do you think for one moment of the destruction of property involved by it? why, gentlemen, if this sort of thing be permitted to go on, you will in a very few years _destroy the noblesse_!' we left the honorable baronet without having produced the slightest effect upon him, excepting perhaps, it might be, increased exasperation against our scheme. i could not help observing to my companions as we left the house, 'well, it is really provoking to find one who has been made a "sir" for cutting that wen out of george the fourth's neck, charging us with contemplating the destruction of the _noblesse_ because we propose to confer upon him the benefits of a railroad.'" such being the opposition of the owners of land, it was with the greatest difficulty that an accurate survey of the line could be made. at one point the vigilance of the land-owners and their servants was such that the surveyors were effectually prevented taking the levels by the light of day, and it was only at length accomplished at night by means of dark lanterns. there was one clergyman, who made such alarming demonstrations of his opposition, that the extraordinary expedient was resorted to of surveying his property during the time he was engaged in the pulpit. this was managed by having a strong force of surveyors in readiness to commence their operations, who entered the clergyman's grounds on one side the moment they saw him fairly off them on the other. by a well-organized and systematic arrangement, each man concluded his allotted task just as the reverend gentleman concluded his sermon; so that, before he left the church, the deed was done, and the sinners had all decamped. similar opposition was offered at many other points, but ineffectually. the laborious application of robert stephenson was such that, in examining the country to ascertain the best line, he walked the whole distance between london and birmingham upward of twenty times. when the bill went before the committee of the commons in , a formidable array of evidence was produced. all the railway experience of the day was brought to bear in support of the measure, and all that interested opposition could do was set in motion against it. the necessity for an improved mode of communication between london and birmingham was clearly demonstrated, and the engineering evidence was regarded as quite satisfactory. not a single fact was proved against the utility of the measure, and the bill passed the committee, and afterward the third reading in the commons, by large majorities. it was then sent to the lords, and went into committee, when a similar mass of testimony was again gone through. but scarcely had the proceedings been opened when it became clear that the fate of the bill had been determined before a word of the evidence had been heard. at that time the committees were open to all peers; and the promoters of the measure found, to their dismay, many of the lords who were avowed opponents of the measure as land-owners, sitting as judges to decide its fate. their principal object seemed to be to bring the proceedings to a termination as quickly as possible. an attempt at negotiation was made in the course of the proceedings in committee, but failed, and the bill was thrown out on the motion of earl brownlow, one of lady bridgewater's trustees; but, though carried by a large majority, the vote was far from unanimous. as the result had been foreseen, measures were taken to neutralize the effect of this decision as regarded future operations. not less than £ , had been expended in preliminary and parliamentary expenses up to this stage; but the promoters determined not to look back, and forthwith made arrangements for prosecuting the bill in a future session. a meeting of the friends of the measure was held in london, attended by members of both houses of parliament and by leading bankers and merchants, when a series of resolutions was passed, declaring their conviction of the necessity for the railway, and deprecating the opposition by which it had been encountered. lord wharncliffe, who had acted as the chairman of the lords' committee, attributed the failure of the bill entirely to the land-owners; and mr. glyn subsequently declared that they had tried to smother it by the high price which they demanded for their property. it was determined to reintroduce the bill in the following session ( ), and measures were taken to prosecute it vigorously. strange to say, the bill on this occasion passed both houses silently and almost without opposition. the mystery was afterward solved by the appearance of a circular issued by the directors of the company, in which it was stated that they had opened negotiations with the most influential of their opponents; that "these measures had been successful to a greater extent than they had ventured to anticipate; and the most active and formidable had been conciliated." an instructive commentary on the mode by which these noble lords and influential landed proprietors had been "conciliated" was found in the simple fact that the estimate for land was nearly trebled, and that the owners were paid about £ , for what had been originally estimated at £ , . the total expenses of carrying the bill through parliament amounted to the enormous sum of £ , . the land-owners having been thus "conciliated," the promoters of the measure were at length permitted to proceed with the formation of their great highway. robert stephenson was, with his father's sanction, appointed engineer-in-chief of the line, at a salary of £ a year. he was now a married man, having become united to miss frances sanderson in , since which his home had been at newcastle, near to the works there; but, on receiving his new appointment, he removed with his wife to london, to a house on haverstock hill, where he resided during the execution of the birmingham railway. steps were at once taken to proceed with the working survey, to prepare the working drawings, and arrange for the prosecution of the undertaking. eighty miles of the line were shortly under construction; the works were let (within the estimates) to contractors, who were necessarily, for the most part, new to such work. the business of railway construction was not then well understood. there were no leviathans among contractors as now, able to undertake the formation of a line of railway hundreds of miles in length; they were, for the most part, men of small capital and slender experience. their tools and machinery were imperfect; they did not understand the economy of time and piece labor; the workmen, as well as their masters, had still to learn their trade; and every movement of an engineer was attended with outlays, which were the inevitable result of a new system of things, but which each succeeding day's experience tended to diminish. [illustration: (map of london and birmingham railway)] the difficulties encountered in the construction of this railway were thus very great, the most formidable of them originating in the character of the works themselves. extensive tunnels had to be driven through unknown strata, and miles of underground excavation had to be carried out in order to form a level road from valley to valley under the intervening ridges. this kind of work was the newest of all to the contractors of that day. robert stephenson's experience in the collieries of the north rendered him well fitted to grapple with such difficulties; yet even he, with all his practical knowledge, could scarcely have foreseen the serious obstacles which he was called upon to encounter in executing the formidable cuttings, embankments, and tunnels of the london and birmingham railway. it would be an uninteresting, as it would be a fruitless task, to attempt to describe these works in detail; but a general outline of their extraordinary character and extent may not be out of place. the length of railway to be constructed between london and birmingham was - / miles. the line crossed a series of low-lying districts, separated from each other by considerable ridges of hills, and it was the object of the engineer to cross the valleys at as high an elevation, and the hills at as low a one as possible. the high ground was therefore cut down, and the "stuff" led into embankments, in some places of great height and extent, so as to form a road upon as level a plane as was considered practicable for the working of the locomotive engine. in some places the high grounds were passed in open cuttings, while in others it was necessary to bore through them in tunnels with deep cuttings at either end. the most formidable excavations on the line are those at tring, denbigh hall, and blisworth. the tring cutting is an immense chasm across the great chalk ridge of ivinghoe. it is two miles and a half long, and for a quarter of a mile is fifty-seven feet deep. a million and a half cubic yards of chalk and earth were taken out of this cutting by means of horse-runs, and deposited in spoil-banks, besides the immense quantity run into the embankment north of the cutting, forming a solid mound nearly six miles long and about thirty feet high. passing over the denbigh hall cutting, and the wolverton embankment of a mile and a half in length across the valley of the ouse, we come to the excavation at blisworth, a brief description of which will give the reader an idea of one of the most formidable kinds of railway work. [illustration: blisworth cutting. [by percival skelton.]] the blisworth cutting is a mile and a half long, in some places sixty-five feet deep, passing through earth, stiff clay, and hard rock. not less than a million cubic yards of these materials were dug, quarried, and blasted out of it. one third of the cutting was stone, and beneath the stone lay a thick bed of clay, under which were found beds of loose shale so full of water that almost constant pumping was necessary at many points to enable the works to proceed. for a year and a half the contractor went on fruitlessly contending with these difficulties, and at length he was compelled to abandon the adventure. the engineer then took the works in hand for the company, and they were vigorously proceeded with. steam-engines were set to work to pump out the water; two locomotives were put on, one at either end of the cutting, to drag away the excavated rock and clay; and eight hundred men and boys were employed along the work, in digging, wheeling, and blasting, besides a large number of horses. some idea of the extent of the blasting operations may be formed from the fact that twenty-five barrels of gunpowder were exploded weekly, the total quantity used in forming this one excavation being about three thousand barrels. considerable difficulty was experienced in supporting the bed of rock cut through, which overlaid the clay and shale along either side of the cutting. it was found necessary to hold it up by strong retaining walls, to prevent the clay bed from bulging out, and these walls were farther supported by a strong invert--that is, an arch placed in an inverted position under the road--thus binding together the walls on both sides. behind the retaining walls, a drift or horizontal drain was run to enable the water to escape, and occasional openings were left in the walls themselves for the same purpose. the work was at length brought to a successful completion, but the extraordinary difficulties encountered in executing the undertaking had the effect of greatly increasing the cost of this portion of the railway. the tunnels on the line are eight in number, their total length being yards. the first high ground encountered was primrose hill, where the stiff london clay was passed through for a distance of about yards. the clay was close, compact, and dry, more difficult to work than stone itself. it was entirely free from water; but the absorbing properties of the clay were such that when exposed to the air it swelled out rapidly. hence an unusual thickness of brick lining was found necessary; and the engineer afterward informed the author that for some time he entertained an apprehension lest the pressure should force in the brick-work altogether, as afterward happened in the case of the short preston brook tunnel upon the grand junction railway, constructed by his father. the pressure behind the brick-work was so great that it made the face of the bricks to fly off in minute chips, which covered his clothes while he was inspecting the work. the materials used in the building were, however, of excellent quality, and the work was happily brought to a completion without accident. at watford the chalk ridge was penetrated by a tunnel about yards long, and at northchurch, lindslade, and stowe hill there were other tunnels of minor extent. but the chief difficulty of the undertaking was the execution of that under the kilsby ridge. though not the largest, this is in many respects one of the most interesting works of the kind. it is about two thousand four hundred yards long, and runs at an average depth of about a hundred and sixty feet below the surface. the ridge under which it extends is of considerable extent, the famous battle of naseby having been fought upon one of the spurs of the same high ground, about seven miles to the eastward. [illustration: line of the shafts over kilsby tunnel. [by percival skelton.]] previous to the letting of the contract, the character of the underground soil was fairly tested by trial shafts, which indicated that it consisted of shale of the lower oolite, and the works were let accordingly. but they had scarcely been commenced when it was discovered that, at an interval between the two trial-shafts, which had been sunk about two hundred yards from the south end of the tunnel, there existed an extensive quicksand under a bed of clay forty feet thick, which the borings had escaped in the most singular manner. at the bottom of one of these shafts, the excavation and building of the tunnel were proceeding, when the roof at one part suddenly gave way, a deluge of water burst in, and the party of workmen with the utmost difficulty escaped with their lives. they were only saved by means of a raft, on which they were towed by one of the engineers swimming with the rope in his mouth to the lower end of the shaft, out of which they were safely lifted to the daylight. the works were of course at that point immediately stopped. the contractor who had undertaken the construction of the tunnel was so overwhelmed by the calamity that, though he was relieved by the company from his engagement, he took to his bed and shortly after died. pumping-engines were erected for the purpose of draining off the water, but for a long time it prevailed, and sometimes even rose in the shaft. the question arose whether, in the face of so formidable a difficulty, the works should be proceeded with or abandoned. robert stephenson sent over to alton grange for his father, and the two took serious counsel together. george was in favor of pumping out the water from the top by powerful engines erected over each shaft, until the water was fairly mastered. robert concurred in that view, and, although other engineers who were consulted pronounced strongly against the practicability of the scheme and advised the abandonment of the enterprise, the directors authorized him to proceed, and powerful steam-engines were ordered to be constructed and delivered without loss of time. in the mean time robert suggested to his father the expediency of running a drift along the heading from the south end of the tunnel, with the view of draining off the water in that way. george said he thought it would scarcely answer, but that it was worth a trial, at all events until the pumping-engines were got ready. robert accordingly gave orders for the drift to be proceeded with. the excavators were immediately set to work, and they had nearly reached the quicksand, when one day, while the engineer, his assistants, and the workmen were clustered about the open entrance of the drift-way, they heard a sudden roar as of distant thunder. it was hoped that the water had burst in--for all the workmen were out of the drift--and that the sand-bed would now drain itself off in a natural way. instead of which, very little water made its appearance, and on examining the inner end of the drift, it was found that the loud noise had been caused by the sudden discharge into it of an immense mass of sand, which had completely choked up the passage, and thus prevented the water from draining off. the engineer now found that nothing remained but to sink numerous additional shafts over the line of the tunnel at the points at which it crossed the quicksand, and endeavor to master the water by sheer force of engines and pumps. the engines, which were shortly erected, possessed an aggregate power of horses; and they went on pumping for eight months, emptying out an almost incredible quantity of water. it was found that the water, with which the bed of sand extending over many miles was charged, was in a great degree held back by the particles of the sand itself, and that it could only percolate through at a certain average rate. it appeared in its flow to take a slanting direction to the suction of the pumps, the angle of inclination depending upon the coarseness or fineness of the sand, and regulating the time of the flow. hence the distribution of the pumping power at short intervals along the line of the tunnel had a much greater effect than the concentration of that power at any one place. it soon appeared that the water had found its master. protected by the pumps, which cleared a space for engineering operations--carried on, as it were, amid two almost perpendicular walls of water and sand on either side--the workmen proceeded with the building of the tunnel at numerous points. every exertion was used to wall in the dangerous parts as quickly as possible, the excavators and bricklayers laboring night and day until the work was finished. even while under the protection of the immense pumping power above described, it often happened that the bricks were scarcely covered with cement ready for the setting ere they were washed quite clean by the streams of water which poured from overhead. the men were accordingly under the necessity of holding over their work large whisks of straw and other appliances to protect the bricks and cement at the moment of setting. the quantity of water pumped out of the sand-bed during eight months of this incessant pumping averaged two thousand gallons per minute, raised from an average depth of feet. it is difficult to form an adequate idea of the bulk of water thus raised, but it may be stated that if allowed to flow for three hours only, it would fill a lake one acre square to the depth of one foot, and if allowed to flow for an entire day it would fill the lake to over eight feet in depth, or sufficient to float a vessel of a hundred tons' burden. the water pumped out of the tunnel while the work was in progress would be nearly equivalent to the contents of the thames at high water between london and woolwich. it is a curious circumstance, that notwithstanding the quantity of water thus removed, the level of the surface in the tunnel was only lowered about two and a half to three inches per week, showing the vast area of the quicksand, which probably extended along the entire ridge of land under which the railway passed. the cost of the line was greatly increased by the difficulties thus encountered at kilsby. the original estimate for the tunnel was only £ , ; but by the time it was finished it had cost about £ per lineal yard forward, or a total of nearly £ , . the expenditure on the other parts of the line also greatly exceeded the amount first set down by the engineer, and, before the railway was complete, it had been more than doubled. the land cost three times more than the estimate, and the claims for compensation were enormous. although the contracts were let within the estimates, very few of the contractors were able to finish them without the assistance of the company, and many became bankrupt. speaking of the difficulties encountered during the construction of the line, robert stephenson subsequently observed to us: "after the works were let, wages rose, the prices of materials of all kinds rose, and the contractors, many of whom were men of comparatively small capital, were thrown on their beam-ends. their calculations as to expenses and profits were completely upset. let me just go over the list. there was jackson, who took the primrose hill contract--he failed. then there was the next length--nowells; then copeland and harding; north of them townsend, who had the tring cutting; next norris, who had stoke hammond; then soars; then hughes: i think all of these broke down, or at least were helped through by the directors. then there was that terrible contract of the kilsby tunnel, which broke the nowells, and killed one of them. the contractors to the north of kilsby were more fortunate, though some of them pulled through only with the greatest difficulty. of the eighteen contracts in which the line was originally let, only seven were completed by the original contractors. eleven firms were ruined by their contracts, which were relet to others at advanced prices, or were carried on and finished by the company. the principal cause of increase in the expense, however, was the enlargement of the stations. it appeared that we had greatly under-estimated the traffic, and it accordingly became necessary to spend more and more money for its accommodation, until i think i am within the mark when i say that the expenditure on this account alone exceeded by eight or ten fold the amount of the parliamentary estimate." the magnitude of the works, which were unprecedented in england, was one of the most remarkable features in the undertaking. the following striking comparison has been made between this railway and one of the greatest works of ancient times. the great pyramid of egypt was, according to diodorus siculus, constructed by three hundred thousand--according to herodotus, by one hundred thousand--men. it required for its execution twenty years, and the labor expended upon it has been estimated as equivalent to lifting , , , of cubic feet of stone one foot high; whereas, if the labor expended in constructing the london and birmingham railway be in like manner reduced to one common denomination, the result is , , , of cubic feet _more_ than was lifted for the great pyramid; and yet the english work was performed by about , men in less than five years. and while the egyptian work was executed by a powerful monarch concentrating upon it the labor and capital of a great nation, the english railway was constructed, in the face of every conceivable obstruction and difficulty, by a company of private individuals out of their own resources, without the aid of government or the contribution of one farthing of public money. the laborers who executed these formidable works were in many respects a remarkable class. the "railway navvies,"[ ] as they were called, were men drawn by the attraction of good wages from all parts of the kingdom; and they were ready for any sort of hard work. many of the laborers employed on the liverpool line were irish; others were from the northumberland and durham railways, where they had been accustomed to similar work; and some of the best came from the fen districts of lincoln and cambridge, where they had been trained to execute works of excavation and embankment. these old practitioners formed a nucleus of skilled manipulation and aptitude which rendered them of indispensable utility in the immense undertakings of the period. their expertness in all sorts of earth-work, in embanking, boring, and well-sinking--their practical knowledge of the nature of soils and rocks, the tenacity of clays, and the porosity of certain stratifications--were very great; and, rough-looking as they were, many of them were as important in their own department as the contractor or the engineer. during the railway-making period the navvy wandered about from one public work to another, apparently belonging to no country and having no home. he usually wore a white felt hat with the brim turned up, a velveteen or jean square-tailed coat, a scarlet plush waistcoat with little black spots, and a bright-colored kerchief round his herculean neck, when, as often happened, it was not left entirely bare. his corduroy breeches were retained in position by a leathern strap round the waist, and were tied and buttoned at the knee, displaying beneath a solid calf and foot incased in strong high-laced boots. joining together in a "butty gang," some ten or twelve of these men would take a contract to cut out and remove so much "dirt"--as they denominated earth-cutting--fixing their price according to the character of the "stuff," and the distance to which it had to be wheeled and tipped. the contract taken, every man put himself to his mettle; if any was found skulking, or not putting forth his full working power, he was ejected from the gang. their powers of endurance were extraordinary. in times of emergency they would work for twelve and even sixteen hours, with only short intervals for meals. the quantity of flesh-meat which they consumed was something enormous; but it was to their bones and muscles what coke is to the locomotive--the means of keeping up the steam. they displayed great pluck, and seemed to disregard peril. indeed, the most dangerous sort of labor--such as working horse-barrow runs, in which accidents are of constant occurrence--has always been most in request among them, the danger seeming to be one of its chief recommendations. [illustration: kilsby tunnel. [north end.]] working together, eating, drinking, and sleeping together, and daily exposed to the same influences, these railway laborers soon presented a distinct and well-defined character, strongly marking them from the population of the districts in which they labored. reckless alike of their lives as of their earnings, the navvies worked hard and lived hard. for their lodging, a hut of turf would content them; and, in their hours of leisure, the meanest public house would serve for their parlor. unburdened, as they usually were, by domestic ties, unsoftened by family affection, and without much moral or religious training, the navvies came to be distinguished by a sort of savage manners, which contrasted strangely with those of the surrounding population. yet, ignorant and violent though they might be, they were usually good-hearted fellows in the main--frank and open-handed with their comrades, and ready to share their last penny with those in distress. their pay-nights were often a saturnalia of riot and disorder, dreaded by the inhabitants of the villages along the line of works. the irruption of such men into the quiet hamlet of kilsby must, indeed, have produced a very startling effect on the recluse inhabitants of the place. robert stephenson used to tell a story of the clergyman of the parish waiting upon the foreman of one of the gangs to expostulate with him as to the shocking impropriety of his men working during sunday. but the head navvy merely hitched up his trowsers and said, "why, soondays hain't cropt out here yet!" in short, the navvies were little better than heathens, and the village of kilsby was not restored to its wonted quiet until the tunnel-works were finished, and the engines and scaffolding removed, leaving only the immense masses of _débris_ around the line of shafts which extend along the top of the tunnel. footnote: [ ] the word "navvie," or "navigator," is supposed to have originated in the fact of many of these laborers having been originally employed in making the navigations, or canals, the construction of which immediately preceded the railway era. chapter xv. manchester and leeds, and midland railways--stephenson's life at alton--visit to belgium--general extension of railways and their results. the rapidity with which railways were carried out, when the spirit of the country became roused, was indeed remarkable. this was doubtless in some measure owing to the increased force of the current of speculation at the time, but chiefly to the desire which the public began to entertain for the general extension of the system. it was even proposed to fill up the canals and convert them into railways. the new roads became the topic of conversation in all circles; they were felt to give a new value to time; their vast capabilities for "business" peculiarly recommended them to the trading classes, while the friends of "progress" dilated on the great benefits they would eventually confer upon mankind at large. it began to be seen that edward pease had not been exaggerating when he said, "let the country but make the railroads, and the railroads will make the country!" they also came to be regarded as inviting objects of investment to the thrifty, and a safe outlet for the accumulations of inert men of capital. thus new avenues of iron road were soon in course of formation, branching in all directions, so that the country promised in a wonderfully short space of time to become wrapped in one vast network of iron. in the grand junction railway was under construction between warrington and birmingham--the northern part by mr. stephenson, and the southern by mr. rastrick. the works on that line embraced heavy cuttings, long embankments, and numerous viaducts; but none of these are worthy of any special description. perhaps the finest piece of masonry on the railway is the dutton viaduct across the valley of the weaver. it consists of arches of feet span, springing feet from the perpendicular shaft of each pier, and feet in height from the crown of the arches to the level of the river. the foundations of the piers were built on piles driven feet deep. the structure has a solid and majestic appearance, and is perhaps the finest of george stephenson's viaducts. [illustration: the dutton viaduct.] the manchester and leeds line was in progress at the same time--an important railway connecting yorkshire and lancashire, passing through a district full of manufacturing towns and villages, the hives of population, industry, and enterprise. an attempt was made to obtain the act as early as the year ; but its promoters were defeated by the powerful opposition of the land-owners, aided by the canal companies, and the project was not revived for several years. the act authorizing the construction of the line was obtained in ; it was amended in the following year, and the first ground was broken on the th of august, . an incident occurred while the second manchester and leeds bill was before the committee of the lords which is worthy of passing notice in this place, as illustrative of george stephenson's character. the line which was authorized by parliament in had been hastily surveyed within a period of less than six weeks, but before it received the royal assent the engineer became convinced that many important improvements might be made in it, and he communicated his views to the directors. they determined, however, to obtain the act, although conscious at the time that they would have to go for a second and improved line in the following year. the second bill passed the commons in without difficulty, and was expected in like manner to pass the lords' committee. quite unexpectedly, however, lord wharncliffe, who was interested in the manchester and sheffield line, which passed through his colliery property in the south of yorkshire, conceiving that the new manchester and leeds line might have some damaging effect upon it, appeared as an opponent of the bill. himself a member of the committee, he adopted the unusual course of rising to his feet, and making a set speech against the measure while the engineer was under examination. he alleged that the act obtained in the preceding session was one that the promoters had no intention of carrying out, that they had only secured it for the purpose of obtaining possession of the ground and reducing the number of the opponents to their present application, and that, in fact, they had been practicing a deception upon the house. then, turning full round upon the witness, he said, "i ask you, sir, do you call that conduct _honest_?" stephenson, his voice trembling with emotion, replied, "yes, my lord, i _do_ call it honest. and i will ask your lordship, whom i served for many years as your engine-wright at the killingworth collieries, did you ever know me to do any thing that was not strictly honorable? you know what the collieries were when i went there, and you know what they were when i left them. did you ever hear that i was found wanting when honest services were wanted, or when duty called me? let your lordship but fairly consider the circumstances of the case, and i feel persuaded you will admit that my conduct has been equally honest throughout in this matter." he then briefly but clearly stated the history of the application to parliament for the act, which was so satisfactory to the committee that they passed the preamble of the bill without farther objection; and lord wharncliffe requested that the committee would permit his observations to be erased from the record of the evidence, which, as an acknowledgment of his error, was allowed. lord kenyon and several other members of the committee afterward came up to mr. stephenson, shook him by the hand, and congratulated him on the manly way in which he had vindicated himself from the aspersions attempted to be cast upon him. in conducting this project to an issue, the engineer had the usual opposition and prejudices to encounter. predictions were confidently made in many quarters that the line could never succeed. it was declared that the utmost engineering skill could not construct a railway through such a country of hills and hard rocks; and it was maintained that, even if the railway were practicable, it could only be made at a cost altogether ruinous. [illustration: entrance to the summit tunnel, littleborough. [by percival skelton.]] during the progress of the works, as the summit tunnel near littleborough was approaching completion, the rumor was spread abroad in manchester that the tunnel had fallen in and buried a number of the workmen. the last arch had been keyed in, and the work was all but finished, when a slight accident occurred which was thus exaggerated by the lying tongue of rumor. an invert had given way through the irregular pressure of the surrounding earth and rock at a part of the tunnel where a "fault" had occurred in the strata. [illustration: the littleborough tunnel. [the walsden end.]] a party of the directors accompanied the engineer to inspect the scene of the accident. they entered the tunnel mouth preceded by upward of fifty navvies, each bearing a torch. after walking a distance of about half a mile, the inspecting party arrived at the scene of the "frightful accident," about which so much alarm had been spread abroad. all that was visible was a certain unevenness of the ground, which had been forced up by the invert under it giving way; thus the ballast had been loosened, the drain running along the centre of the road had been displaced, and small pools of water stood about. but the whole of the walls and the roof were as perfect as at any other part of the tunnel. the engineer explained the cause of the accident; the blue shale, he said, through which the excavation passed at that point, was considered so hard and firm as to render it unnecessary to build the invert very strong there. but shale is always a deceptive material. subjected to the influence of the atmosphere, it gives but a treacherous support. in this case, falling away like quicklime, it had left the lip of the invert alone to support the pressure of the arch above, and hence its springing inward and upward. stephenson then directed the attention of the visitors to the completeness of the arch overhead, where not the slightest fracture or yielding could be detected. speaking of the work in the course of the same day, he said, "i will stake my character, my head, if that tunnel ever give way, so as to cause danger to any of the public passing through it. taking it as a whole, i don't think there is another such a piece of work in the world. it is the greatest work that has yet been done of this kind, and there has been less repairing than is usual--though an engineer might well be beaten in his calculations, for he can not beforehand see into those little fractured parts of the earth he may meet with." as stephenson had promised, the invert was put in, and the tunnel was made perfectly safe. [illustration: (map of midland railway)] the construction of this subterranean road employed the labor of above a thousand men for nearly four years. besides excavating the arch out of the solid rock, they used , , of bricks and tons of roman cement in the building of the tunnel. thirteen stationary engines, and about horses, were also employed in drawing the earth and stone out of the shafts. its entire length is yards, or nearly a mile and three quarters, exceeding the famous kilsby tunnel by yards. the midland railway was a favorite line of mr. stephenson's for several reasons. it passed through a rich mining district, in which it opened up many valuable coal-fields, and it formed part of the great main line of communication between london and edinburg. the line was originally projected by gentlemen interested in the london and birmingham railway. their intention was to extend that line from rugby to leeds; but, finding themselves anticipated in part by the projection of the midland counties railway from rugby to derby, they confined themselves to the district between derby and leeds, and in a company was formed to construct the north midland line, with george stephenson for its engineer. the act was obtained in , and the first ground was broken in february, . although the midland railway was only one of the many great works of the same kind executed at that time, it was almost enough of itself to be the achievement of a life. compare it, for example, with napoleon's military road over the simplon, and it will at once be seen how greatly it excels that work, not only in the constructive skill displayed in it, but also in its cost and magnitude, and the amount of labor employed in its formation. the road of the simplon is miles in length; the north midland railway - / miles. the former has bridges and tunnels, measuring together feet in length; the latter has bridges and tunnels, measuring together , feet, or about - / miles. the former cost about £ , sterling, the latter above £ , , . napoleon's grand military road was constructed in six years, at the public cost of the two great kingdoms of france and italy, while stephenson's railway was formed in about three years by a company of private merchants and capitalists out of their own funds and under their own superintendence. it is scarcely necessary that we should give any account in detail of the north midland works. the making of one tunnel so much resembles the making of another--the building of bridges and viaducts, no matter how extensive, so much resembles the building of others--the cutting out of "dirt," the blasting of rocks, and the wheeling of excavation into embankments, is so much matter of mere time and hard work, that it is quite unnecessary to detain the reader by any attempt at their description. of course there were the usual difficulties to encounter and overcome, but the railway engineer regarded these as mere matters of course, and would probably have been disappointed if they had not presented themselves. on the midland, as on other lines, water was the great enemy to be fought against--water in the claycross and other tunnels--water in the boggy or sandy foundations of bridges--and water in cuttings and embankments. as an illustration of the difficulties of bridge building, we may mention the case of the five-arch bridge over the derwent, where it took two years' work, night and day, to get in the foundations of the piers alone. another curious illustration of the mischief done by water in cuttings may be briefly mentioned. at a part of the north midland line, near ambergate, it was necessary to pass along a hill-side in a cutting a few yards deep. as the cutting proceeded, a seam of shale was cut across, lying at an inclination of to ; and shortly after, the water getting behind it, the whole mass of earth along the hill above began to move down across the line of excavation. the accident completely upset the estimates of the contractor, who, instead of fifty thousand cubic yards, found that he had about five hundred thousand to remove, the execution of this part of the railway occupying fifteen months instead of two. [illustration: land-slip on north midland line, near ambergate.] the oakenshaw cutting near wakefield was also of a very formidable character. about six hundred thousand yards of rock shale and bind were quarried out of it, and led to form the adjoining oakenshaw embankment. the normanton cutting was almost as heavy, requiring the removal of four hundred thousand yards of the same kind of excavation into embankment and spoil. but the progress of the works on the line was so rapid during that no less than , cubic yards of excavation were accomplished per month. [illustration: bull bridge, near ambergate.] as a curiosity in construction, we may also mention a very delicate piece of work executed on the same railway at bull bridge in derbyshire, where the line at the same point passes _over_ a bridge which here spans the river amber, and _under_ the bed of the cromford canal. water, bridge, railway, and canal were thus piled one above the other, four stories high. in order to prevent the possibility of the waters of the canal breaking in upon the railway works, stephenson had an iron trough made, feet long, of the width of the canal, and exactly fitting the bottom. it was brought to the spot in three pieces, which were firmly welded together, and the trough was then floated into its place and sunk, the whole operation being completed without in the least interfering with the navigation of the canal. the railway works underneath were then proceeded with and finished. another line of the same series, constructed by george stephenson, was the york and north midland, extending from normanton--a point on the midland railway--to york; but it was a line of easy formation, traversing a comparatively level country. the inhabitants of whitby, as well as york, were projecting a railway to connect these towns as early as , and in the year following whitby succeeded in obtaining a horse line of twenty-four miles, connecting it with the small market-town of pickering. the york citizens were more ambitious, and agitated the question of a locomotive line to connect them with the town of leeds. stephenson recommended them to connect their line with the midland at normanton, and they adopted his advice. the company was formed, the shares were at once subscribed for, the act was obtained in the following year, and the works were constructed without difficulty. as the best proof of his conviction that the york and north midland would prove a good investment, stephenson invested in it a considerable portion of his savings, being a subscriber for shares. the interest taken in this line by the engineer was on more than one occasion specially mentioned by mr. hudson, then lord-mayor of york, as an inducement to other persons of capital to join the undertaking; and had it not been afterward encumbered and overlaid by comparatively useless and profitless branches, in the projection of which stephenson had no part, the sanguine expectations which he early formed of the paying qualities of that railway would have been more than realized. there was one branch, however, of the york and north midland line in which he took an anxious interest, and of which he may be said to have been the projector--the branch to scarborough, which proved one of the most profitable parts of the railway. he was so satisfied of its value, that, at a meeting of the york and north midland proprietors, he volunteered his gratuitous services as engineer until the company was formed, in addition to subscribing largely to the undertaking. at that meeting he took an opportunity of referring to the charges brought against engineers of so greatly exceeding the estimates: "he had had a good deal to do with making out the estimate of the north midland railway, and he believed there never was a more honest one. he had always endeavored to state the truth as far as was in his power. he had known a contractor who, when he (mr. stephenson) had sent in an estimate, came forward and said, 'i can do it for half the money.' the contractor's estimate went into parliament, but it came out his. he could go through the whole list of the undertakings in which he had been engaged, and show that he had never had any thing to do with stock-jobbing concerns. he would say that he would not be concerned in any scheme unless he was satisfied that it would pay the proprietors; and in bringing forward the proposed line to scarborough, he was satisfied that it would pay, or he would have had nothing to do with it." during the time that our engineer was engaged in superintending the execution of these undertakings, he was occupied upon other projected railways in various parts of the country. he surveyed several lines in the neighborhood of glasgow, and afterward alternate routes along the east coast from newcastle to edinburg, with the view of completing the main line of communication with london. when out on foot in the field on these occasions, he was ever foremost in the march, and he delighted to test the prowess of his companions by a good jump at any hedge or ditch that lay in their way. his companions used to remark his singular quickness of observation. nothing escaped his attention--the trees, the crops, the birds, or the farmer's stock; and he was usually full of lively conversation, every thing in nature affording him an opportunity for making some striking remark or propounding some ingenious theory. when taking a flying survey of a new line, his keen observation proved very useful, for he rapidly noted the general configuration of the country, and inferred its geological structure. he afterward remarked to a friend, "i have planned many a railway traveling along in a post-chaise, and following the natural line of the country." and it was remarkable that his first impressions of the direction to be taken almost invariably proved correct; and there are few of the lines surveyed and recommended by him which have not been executed, either during his lifetime or since. as an illustration of his quick and shrewd observation on such occasions, we may mention that when employed to lay out a line to connect manchester, through macclesfield, with the potteries, the gentleman who accompanied him on the journey of inspection cautioned him to provide large accommodation for carrying off the water, observing, "you must not judge by the appearance of the brooks; for after heavy rains these hills pour down volumes of water, of which you can have no conception." "pooh! pooh! _don't i see your bridges_?" replied the engineer. he had noted the details of each as he passed along. among the other projects which occupied his attention about the same time were the projected lines between chester and holyhead, between leeds and bradford, and between lancaster and maryport by the west coast. this latter was intended to form part of a western line to scotland; stephenson favoring it partly because of the flatness of the gradients, and because it could be formed at comparatively small cost, while it would open out a valuable iron-mining district, from which a large traffic in ironstone was expected. one of its collateral advantages, in the engineer's opinion, was that, by forming the railway directly across morecambe bay, on the northwest coast of lancashire, a large tract of valuable land might be reclaimed from the sea, the sale of which would considerably reduce the cost of the works. he estimated that, by means of a solid embankment across the bay, not less than , acres of rich alluvial land would be gained. he proposed to carry the road across the ten miles of sands which lie between poulton, near lancaster, and humphrey head on the opposite coast, forming the line in a segment of a circle of five miles' radius. his plan was to drive in piles across the entire length, forming a solid fence of stone blocks on the land side for the purpose of retaining the sand and silt brought down by the rivers from the interior. the embankment would then be raised from time to time as the deposit accumulated, until the land was filled up to high-water mark; provision being made, by means of sufficient arches, for the flow of the river waters into the bay. the execution of the railway after this plan would, however, have occupied more years than the promoters of the west coast line were disposed to wait, and eventually mr. locke's more direct but less level line by shap fell was adopted. a railway has, however, since been carried across the head of the bay, in a modified form, by the ulverstone and lancaster railway company; and it is not improbable that stephenson's larger scheme of reclaiming the vast tract of land now left bare at every receding tide may yet be carried out. while occupied in carrying out the great railway undertakings which we have above so briefly described, george stephenson's home continued, for the greater part of the time, to be at alton grange, near leicester. but he was so much occupied in traveling about from one committee of directors to another--one week in england, another in scotland, and probably the next in ireland, that he often did not see his home for weeks together. he had also to make frequent inspections of the various important and difficult works in progress, especially on the midland and manchester and leeds lines, besides occasionally going to newcastle to see how the locomotive works were going on there. during the three years ending --perhaps the busiest years of his life[ ]--he traveled by post-chaise alone upward of , miles, and yet not less than six months out of the three years were spent in london. hence there is comparatively little to record of mr. stephenson's private life at this period, during which he had scarcely a moment that he could call his own. to give an idea of the number of projects which at this time occupied our engineer's attention, and of the extent and rapidity of his journeys, we subjoin from his private secretary's journal the following epitome of one of them, on which he entered immediately after the conclusion of the heavy parliamentary session of . "august th. from alton grange to derby and matlock, and forward by mail to manchester, to meet the committee of the south union railway. august th. manchester to stockport, to meet committee of the manchester and leeds railway; thence to meet directors of the chester and birkenhead, and chester and crewe railways. august th. liverpool to woodside, to meet committee of the chester and birkenhead line; journey with them along the proposed railway to chester; then back to liverpool. august th. liverpool to manchester, to meet directors of the manchester and leeds railway, and traveling with them over the works in progress. august th. continued journey over the works, and arrival at wakefield; thence to york. august th. meeting with mr. hudson at york, and journey from york to newcastle. august th. at newcastle, working up arrears of correspondence. august th. meeting with mr. brandling as to the station for the brandling junction at gateshead, and stations at other parts of the line. august th. carlisle to wigton and maryport, examining the railway. august th. maryport to carlisle, continuing the inspection. august th. at carlisle, examining the ground for a station; and working up correspondence. august st. carlisle to dumfries by mail; forward to ayr by chaise, proceeding up the valley of the nith, through thornhill, sanquhar, and cumnock. august d. meeting with promoters of the glasgow, kilmarnock, and ayr railway, and journey along the proposed line; meeting with the magistrates of kilmarnock at beith, and journey with them over mr. gale's proposed line to kilmarnock. august d. from kilmarnock along mr. miller's proposed line to beith, paisley, and glasgow. august th. examination of site of proposed station at glasgow; meeting with the directors; then from glasgow, by falkirk and linlithgow, to edinburg, meeting there with mr. grainger, engineer, and several of the committee of the proposed edinburg and dunbar railway. august th. examining the site of the proposed station at edinburg; then to dunbar, by portobello and haddington, examining the proposed line of railway. august th. dunbar to tommy grant's, to examine the summit of the country toward berwick, with a view to a through line to newcastle; then return to edinburg. august th. at edinburg, meeting the provisional committee of the proposed edinburg and dunbar railway. august th. journey from edinburg, through melrose and jedburg, to horsley, along the route of mr. richardson's proposed railway across carter fell. august th. from horsley to mr. brandling's, then on to newcastle; engaged on the brandling junction railway. august th. engaged with mr. brandling; after which, meeting a deputation from maryport. august st. meeting with mr. brandling and others as to the direction of the brandling junction in connection with the great north of england line, and the course of the railway through newcastle; then on to york. september st. at york; meeting with york and north midland directors; then journeying over lord howden's property, to arrange for a deviation; examining the proposed site of the station at york. september d. at york, giving instructions as to the survey; then to manchester by leeds. september d. at manchester; journey to stockport, with mr. bidder and mr. bourne, examining the line to stockport, and fixing the crossing of the river there; attending to the surveys; then journey back to manchester, to meet the directors of the manchester and leeds railway. september th. sunday at manchester. september th. journey along part of the manchester and leeds railway. september th. at manchester, examining and laying down the section of the south union line to stockport; afterward engaged on the manchester and leeds working plans, in endeavoring to give a greater radius to the curves; seeing mr. seddon about the liverpool, manchester, and leeds junction railway. september th. journey along the manchester and leeds line, then on to derby. september th. at derby; seeing mr. carter and mr. beale about the tamworth deviation; then home to alton grange. september th. at alton grange, preparing report to the committee of the edinburg and dunbar railway." such is a specimen of the enormous amount of physical and mental labor undergone by the engineer during the busy years above referred to. he was no sooner home than he was called away again by some other railway or business engagement. thus, in four days after his arrival at alton grange from the above journey into scotland, we find him going over the whole of the north midland line as far as leeds; then by halifax to manchester, where he staid for several days on the business of the south union line; then to birmingham and london; back to alton grange, and next day to congleton and leek; thence to leeds and goole, and home again by the sheffield and rotherham and the midland works. and early in the following month (october) he was engaged in the north of ireland, examining the line, and reporting upon the plans of the projected ulster railway. he was also called upon to inspect and report upon colliery works, salt works, brass and copper works, and such like, in addition to his own colliery and railway business. he usually also staked out himself the lines laid out by him, which involved a good deal of labor since undertaken by assistants. and occasionally he would run up to london, attending in person to the preparation and depositing of the plans and sections of the projected undertakings for which he was engaged as engineer. his correspondence increased so much that he found it necessary to engage a private secretary, who accompanied him on his journeys. he was himself exceedingly averse to writing letters. the comparatively advanced age at which he learned the art of writing, and the nature of his duties while engaged at the killingworth colliery, precluded that facility in correspondence which only constant practice can give. he gradually, however, acquired great facility in dictation, and had also the power of laboring continuously at this work, the gentleman who acted as his secretary in the year having informed us that during his busy season he one day dictated no fewer than thirty-seven letters, several of them embodying the results of much close thinking and calculation. on another occasion he dictated reports and letters for twelve continuous hours, until his secretary was ready to drop off his chair from sheer exhaustion, and at length pleaded for a suspension of the labor. this great mass of correspondence, though closely bearing on the subjects under discussion, was not, however, of a kind to supply the biographer with matter for quotation, or to give that insight into the life and character of the writer which the letters of literary men so often furnish. they were, for the most part, letters of mere business, relating to works in progress, parliamentary contests, new surveys, estimates of cost, and railway policy--curt, and to the point; in short, the letters of a man every moment of whose time was precious. fortunately, george stephenson possessed a facility of sleeping, which enabled him to pass through this enormous amount of fatigue and labor without injury to his health. he had been trained in a hard school, and could bear with ease conditions which, to men more softly nurtured, would have been the extreme of physical discomfort. many, many nights he snatched his sleep while traveling in his chaise; and at break of day he would be at work, surveying until dark, and this for weeks in succession. his whole powers seemed to be under the control of his will, for he could wake at any hour, and go to work at once. it was difficult for secretaries and assistants to keep up with such a man. it is pleasant to record that in the midst of these engrossing occupations his heart remained as soft and loving as ever. in spring-time he would not be debarred of his boyish amusement of bird-nesting, but would go rambling along the hedges spying for nests. in the autumn he went nutting, and when he could snatch a few minutes he indulged in his old love of gardening. his uniform kindness and good temper, and his communicative, intelligent disposition, made him a great favorite with the neighboring farmers, to whom he would volunteer much valuable advice on agricultural operations, drainage, plowing, and labor-saving processes. sometimes he took a long rural ride on his favorite "bobby," now growing old, but as fond of his master as ever. toward the end of his life "bobby" lived in clover, his master's pet, doing no work; and he died at tapton in , more than twenty years old. during one of george's brief sojourns at the grange he found time to write to his son a touching account of a pair of robins that had built their nest within one of the empty upper chambers of the house. one day he observed a robin fluttering outside the windows, and beating its wings against the panes, as if eager to gain admission. he went up stairs, and there found, in a retired part of one of the rooms, a robin's nest, with one of the parent birds sitting over three or four young--all dead. the excluded bird outside still beat against the panes; and on the window being let down, it flew into the room, but was so exhausted that it dropped upon the floor. stephenson took up the bird, carried it down stairs, and had it warmed and fed. the poor robin revived, and for a time was one of his pets. but it shortly died too, as if unable to recover from the privations it had endured during its three days' fluttering and beating at the windows. it appeared that the room had been unoccupied, and the sash having been let down, the robins had taken the opportunity of building their nest within it; but the servant having closed the window again, the calamity befell the birds which so strongly excited the engineer's sympathies. an incident such as this, trifling though it may seem, gives a true key to the heart of a man. the amount of his parliamentary business having greatly increased with the projection of new lines of railway, the stephensons found it necessary to set up an office in london in . george's first office was at no. duke street, westminster, from whence he removed in the following year to - / great george street. that office was the busy scene of railway politics for several years. there consultations were held, schemes were matured, deputations were received, and many projectors called upon our engineer for the purpose of submitting to him their plans of railways and railway working. his private secretary at the time has informed us that at the end of the first parliamentary session in which he had been engaged as engineer for more companies than one, it became necessary for him to give instructions as to the preparation of the accounts to be rendered to the several companies. in the simplicity of his heart, he directed mr. binns to take his full time at the rate of ten guineas a day, and charge the railway companies in the proportion in which he had actually been employed in their respective business during each day. when robert heard of this instruction, he went directly to his father and expostulated with him against this unprofessional course; and, other influences being brought to bear upon him, george at length reluctantly consented to charge as other engineers did, an entire day's fee to each of the companies for which he was concerned while their business was going forward; but he cut down the number of days charged for, and reduced the daily amount from ten to seven guineas. besides his journeys at home, george stephenson was on more than one occasion called abroad on railway business. thus, at the desire of king leopold, he made several visits to belgium to assist the belgian engineers in laying out the national lines of the kingdom. that enlightened monarch at an early period discerned the powerful instrumentality of railways in developing a country's resources, and he determined at the earliest possible period to adopt them as the great high roads of the nation. the country, being rich in coals and minerals, had great manufacturing capabilities. it had good ports, fine navigable rivers, abundant canals, and a teeming, industrious population. leopold perceived that railways were eminently calculated to bring the industry of the country into full play, and to render the riches of the provinces available to the rest of the kingdom. he therefore openly declared himself the promoter of public railways throughout belgium. a system of lines was projected at his instance, connecting brussels with the chief towns and cities of the state, extending from ostend eastward to the prussian frontier, and from antwerp southward to the french frontier. mr. stephenson and his son, as the leading railway engineers of england, were consulted by the king, in , as to the best mode of carrying out his intentions. in the course of that year they visited belgium, and had several interesting conferences with leopold and his ministers on the subject of the proposed railways. the king then appointed george stephenson by royal ordinance a knight of the order of leopold. at the invitation of the monarch, mr. stephenson made a second visit to belgium in , on the occasion of the public opening of the line from brussels to ghent. at brussels there was a public procession, and another at ghent on the arrival of the train. stephenson and his party accompanied it to the public hall, there to dine with the chief ministers of state, the municipal authorities, and about five hundred of the principal inhabitants of the city; the english embassador being also present. after the king's health and a few others had been drunk, that of mr. stephenson was proposed; on which the whole assembly rose up, amid great excitement and loud applause, and made their way to where he sat, in order to "jingle glasses" with him, greatly to his own amazement. on the day following, our engineer dined with the king and queen at their own table at laaken, by special invitation, afterward accompanying his majesty and suite to a public ball, given by the municipality of brussels in honor of the opening of the line to ghent, as well as of their distinguished english guests. on entering the room, the general and excited inquiry was, "which is stephenson?" the english engineer had not before imagined that he was esteemed to be so great a man. the london and birmingham railway having been completed in september, , after being about five years in progress, the great main system of railway communication between london, liverpool, and manchester was then opened to the public. for some months previously the line had been partially open, coaches performing the journey between denbigh hall (near wolverton) and rugby--the works of the kilsby tunnel being still incomplete. it was already amusing to hear the complaints of the travelers about the slowness of the coaches as compared with the railway, though the coaches traveled at a speed of eleven miles an hour. the comparison of comfort was also greatly to the disparagement of the coaches. then the railway train could accommodate any quantity, whereas the road conveyances were limited; and when a press of travelers occurred--as on the occasion of the queen's coronation--the greatest inconvenience was experienced, as much as £ having been paid for a seat on a donkey-chaise between rugby and denbigh. on the opening of the railway throughout, of course all this inconvenience and delay was brought to an end. numerous other openings of railways constructed by george stephenson took place about the same time. the birmingham and derby line was opened for traffic in august, ; the sheffield and rotherham in november, ; and in the course of the following year, the midland, the york and north midland, the chester and crewe, the chester and birkenhead, the manchester and birmingham, the manchester and leeds, and the maryport and carlisle railways, were all publicly opened in whole or in part. thus miles of railway (exclusive of the london and birmingham), constructed under mr. stephenson's superintendence, at a cost of upward of eleven millions sterling, were, in the course of about two years, added to the traffic accommodation of the country. the ceremonies which accompanied the public opening of these lines were often of an interesting character. the adjoining population held general holiday; bands played, banners waved, and assembled thousands cheered the passing trains amid the occasional booming of cannon. the proceedings were usually wound up by a public dinner; and in the course of his speech which followed, mr. stephenson would revert to his favorite topic--the difficulties which he had early encountered in the promotion of the railway system, and in establishing the superiority of the locomotive. on such occasions he always took great pleasure in alluding to the services rendered to himself and the public by the young men brought up under his eye--his pupils at first, and afterward his assistants. no great master ever possessed a more devoted band of assistants and fellow-workers than he did; and it was one of the most marked evidences of his admirable tact and judgment that he selected, with such undeviating correctness, the men best fitted to carry out his plans. indeed, the ability to accomplish great things, to carry grand ideas into practical effect, depends in no small measure on that intuitive knowledge of character which our engineer possessed in so remarkable a degree. at the dinner at york, which followed the partial opening of the york and north midland railway, mr. stephenson said "he was sure they would appreciate his feelings when he told them that, when he first began railway business, his hair was black, although it was now gray; and that he began his life's labor as but a poor plowboy. about thirty years since he had applied himself to the study of how to generate high velocities by mechanical means. he thought he had solved that problem; and they had for themselves seen, that day, what perseverance had brought him to. he was, on that occasion, only too happy to have an opportunity of acknowledging that he had, in the latter portion of his career, received much most valuable assistance particularly from young men brought up in his manufactory. whenever talent showed itself in a young man, he had always given that talent encouragement where he could, and he would continue to do so." that this was no exaggerated statement is amply proved by many facts which redound to stephenson's credit. he was no niggard of encouragement and praise when he saw honest industry struggling for a footing. many were the young men whom, in the course of his career, he took by the hand and led steadily up to honor and emolument, simply because he had noted their zeal, diligence, and integrity. one youth excited his interest while working as a common carpenter on the liverpool and manchester line; and before many years had passed he was recognized as an engineer of distinction. another young man he found industriously working away at his by-hours, and, admiring his diligence, he engaged him as his private secretary, the gentleman shortly after rising to a position of eminent influence and usefulness. indeed, nothing gave the engineer greater pleasure than in this way to help on any deserving youth who came under his observation, and, in his own expressive phrase, to "make a man of him." the openings of the great main lines of railroad communication shortly proved the fallaciousness of the numerous rash prophecies which had been promulgated by the opponents of railways. the proprietors of the canals were astounded by the fact that, notwithstanding the immense traffic conveyed by rail, their own traffic and receipts continued to increase; and that, in common with other interests, they fully shared in the expansion of trade and commerce which had been so effectually promoted by the extension of the railway system. the cattle-owners were equally amazed to find the price of horseflesh increasing with the extension of railways, and that the number of coaches running to and from the new railway stations gave employment to a greater number of horses than under the old stage-coach system. those who had prophesied the decay of the metropolis, and the ruin of the suburban cabbage-growers, in consequence of the approach of railways to london, were disappointed; for, while the new roads let citizens out of london, they also let country-people in. their action, in this respect, was centripetal as well as centrifugal. tens of thousands who had never seen the metropolis could now visit it expeditiously and cheaply; and londoners who had never visited the country, or but rarely, were enabled, at little cost of time or money, to see green fields and clear blue skies far from the smoke and bustle of town. if the dear suburban-grown cabbages became depreciated in value, there were truck-loads of fresh-grown country cabbages to make amends for the loss: in this case, the "partial evil" was a far more general good. the food of the metropolis became rapidly improved, especially in the supply of wholesome meat and vegetables. and then the price of coals--an article which, in this country, is as indispensable as daily food to all classes--was greatly reduced. what a blessing to the metropolitan poor is described in this single fact! the prophecies of ruin and disaster to landlords and farmers were equally confounded by the openings of the railways. the agricultural communications, so far from being "destroyed," as had been predicted, were immensely improved. the farmers were enabled to buy their coals, lime, and manure for less money, while they obtained a readier access to the best markets for their stock and farm-produce. notwithstanding the predictions to the contrary, their cows gave milk as before, the sheep fed and fattened, and even skittish horses ceased to shy at the passing trains. the smoke of the engines did not obscure the sky, nor were farmyards burnt up by the fire thrown from the locomotives. the farming classes were not reduced to beggary; on the contrary, they soon felt that, so far from having any thing to dread, they had very much good to expect from the extension of railways. landlords also found that they could get higher rent for farms situated near a railway than at a distance from one. hence they became clamorous for "sidings." they felt it to be a grievance to be placed at a distance from a station. after a railway had been once opened, not a landlord would consent to have the line taken from him. owners who had fought the promoters before parliament, and compelled them to pass their domains at a distance, at a vastly increased expense in tunnels and deviations, now petitioned for branches and nearer station-accommodation. those who held property near towns, and had extorted large sums as compensation for the anticipated deterioration in the value of their building land, found a new demand for it springing up at greatly advanced prices. land was now advertised for sale with the attraction of being "near a railway station." the prediction that, even if railways were made, the public would not use them, was also completely falsified by the results. the ordinary mode of fast traveling for the middle classes had heretofore been by mail-coach and stage-coach. those who could not afford to pay the high prices charged by such conveyances went by wagon, and the poorer classes trudged on foot. george stephenson was wont to say that he hoped to see the day when it would be cheaper for a poor man to travel by railway than to walk, and not many years passed before his expectation was fulfilled. in no country in the world is time worth more money than in england; and by saving time--the criterion of distance--the railway proved a great benefactor to men of industry in all classes. many deplored the inevitable downfall of the old stage-coach system. there was to be an end of that delightful variety of incident usually attendant on a journey by road. the rapid scamper across a fine country on the outside of the four-horse "express" or "highflyer;" the seat on the box beside jehu, or the equally coveted place near the facetious guard behind; the journey amid open green fields, through smiling villages and fine old towns, where the stage stopped to change horses and the passengers to dine, was all very delightful in its way, and many regretted that this old-fashioned and pleasant style of traveling was about to pass away. but it had its dark side also. any one who remembers the journey by stage from london to manchester or york will associate it with recollections and sensations of not unmixed delight. to be perched for twenty-four hours, exposed to all weathers, on the outside of a coach, trying in vain to find a soft seat--sitting now with the face to the wind, rain, or sun, and now with the back--without any shelter such as the commonest penny-a-mile parliamentary train now daily provides--was a miserable undertaking, looked forward to with horror by many whose business required them to travel frequently between the provinces and the metropolis. nor were the inside passengers more agreeably accommodated. to be closely packed in a little, inconvenient, straight-backed vehicle, where the cramped limbs could not be in the least extended, nor the wearied frame indulge in any change of posture, was felt by many to be a terrible thing. then there were the constantly-recurring demands, not always couched in the politest terms, for an allowance to the driver every two or three stages, and to the guard every six or eight; and if the gratuity did not equal their expectations, growling and open abuse were not unusual. these _désagrémens_, together with the exactions practiced on travelers by innkeepers, seriously detracted from the romance of stage-coach traveling, and there was a general disposition on the part of the public to change the system for a better. the avidity with which the public at once availed themselves of the railways proved that this better system had been discovered. notwithstanding the reduction of the coach-fares on many of the roads to one third of their previous rate, the public preferred traveling by the railway. they saved in time, and they saved in money, taking the whole expenses into account. in point of comfort there could be no doubt as to the infinite superiority of the locomotive train. but there remained the question of safety, which had been a great bugbear with the early opponents of railways, and was made the most of by the coach-proprietors to deter the public from using them. it was predicted that trains of passengers would be blown to pieces, and that none but fools would intrust their persons to the conduct of an explosive machine such as the locomotive. it appeared, however, that during the first eight years not fewer than five millions of passengers had been conveyed along the liverpool and manchester railway, and of this vast number only two persons had lost their lives by accident. during the same period, the loss of life by the upsetting of stage-coaches had been immensely greater in proportion. the public were not slow, therefore, to detect the fact that traveling by railways was greatly safer than traveling by common roads, and in all districts penetrated by railways the coaches were very shortly taken off for want of support. george stephenson himself had a narrow escape in one of the stage-coach accidents so common thirty years since, but which are already almost forgotten. while the birmingham line was under construction, he had occasion to travel from ashby-de-la-zouch to london by coach. he was an inside passenger with several others, and the outsides were pretty numerous. when within ten miles of dunstable, he felt, from the rolling of the coach, that one of the linchpins securing the wheels had given way, and that the vehicle must upset. he endeavored to fix himself in his seat, holding on firmly by the arm-straps, so that he might save himself on whichever side the coach fell. the coach soon toppled over, and fell crash upon the road, amid the shrieks of his fellow-passengers and the smashing of glass. he immediately pulled himself up by the arm-strap above him, let down the coach-window, and climbed out. the coachman and passengers lay scattered about on the road, stunned, and some of them bleeding, while the horses were plunging in their harness. taking out his pocket-knife, he at once cut the traces and set the horses free. he then went to the help of the passengers, who were all more or less hurt. the guard had his arm broken, and the driver was seriously cut and contused. a scream from one of his fellow-passenger "insides" here attracted his attention: it proceeded from an elderly lady, whom he had before observed to be decorated with one of the enormous bonnets in fashion at the time. opening the coach-door, he lifted the lady out, and her principal lamentation was that her large bonnet had been crushed beyond remedy! stephenson then proceeded to the nearest village for help, and saw the passengers provided with proper assistance before he himself went forward on his journey. it was some time before the more opulent classes, who could afford to post to town in aristocratic style, became reconciled to the railway train. it put an end to that gradation of rank in traveling which was one of the few things left by which the nobleman could be distinguished from the manchester manufacturer and bagman. but to younger sons of noble families the convenience and cheapness of the railway did not fail to commend itself. one of these, whose eldest brother had just succeeded to an earldom, said to a railway manager, "i like railways--they just suit young fellows like me, with 'nothing per annum paid quarterly.' you know, we can't afford to post, and it used to be deuced annoying to me, as i was jogging along on the box-seat of the stage-coach, to see the little earl go by, drawn by his four posters, and just look up at me and give me a nod. but now, with railways, it's different. it's true, he may take a first-class ticket, while i can only afford a second-class one, but _we both go the same pace_." for a time, however, many of the old families sent forward their servants and luggage by railroad, and condemned themselves to jog along the old highway in the accustomed family chariot, dragged by country post-horses. but the superior comfort of the railway shortly recommended itself to even the oldest families; posting went out of date; post-horses were with difficulty to be had along even the great high roads; and nobles and servants, manufacturers and peasants, alike shared in the comfort, the convenience, and the dispatch of railway traveling. the late dr. arnold, of rugby, regarded the opening of the london and birmingham line as another great step accomplished in the march of civilization. "i rejoice to see it," he said, as he stood on one of the bridges over the railway, and watched the train flashing along under him, and away through the distant hedgerows--"i rejoice to see it, and to think that feudality is gone forever: it is so great a blessing to think that any one evil is really extinct." it was long before the late duke of wellington would trust himself behind a locomotive. the fatal accident to mr. huskisson, which had happened before his eyes, contributed to prejudice him strongly against railways, and it was not until the year that he performed his first trip on the southwestern railway, in attendance upon her majesty. prince albert had for some time been accustomed to travel by railway alone, but in the queen began to make use of the same mode of conveyance between windsor and london. even colonel sibthorpe was eventually compelled to acknowledge its utility. for a time he continued to post to and from the country as before. then he compromised the matter by taking a railway ticket for the long journey, and posting only a stage or two nearest town; until, at length, he undisguisedly committed himself, like other people, to the express train, and performed the journey throughout upon what he had formerly denounced as "the infernal railroad." [illustration: coalville and snibston colliery.] footnote: [ ] during this period he was engaged on the north midland, extending from derby to leeds; the york and north midland, from normanton to york; the manchester and leeds; the birmingham and derby, and the sheffield and rotherham railways; the whole of these, of which he was principal engineer, having been authorized in . in that session alone, powers were obtained for the construction of miles of new railways under his direction, at an expenditure of upward of five millions sterling. [illustration: tapton house. [by percival skelton.]] chapter xvi. george stephenson's coal-mines--appears at mechanics' institutes--his opinion on railway speeds--atmospheric system--railway mania--visits to belgium and spain. while george stephenson was engaged in carrying on the works of the midland railway in the neighborhood of chesterfield, several seams of coal were cut through in the claycross tunnel, when it occurred to him that if mines were opened out there, the railway would provide the means of a ready sale for the article in the midland counties, and even as far south as the metropolis itself. at a time when every body else was skeptical as to the possibility of coals being carried from the midland counties to london, and sold there at a price to compete with those which were sea-borne, he declared his firm conviction that the time was fast approaching when the london market would be regularly supplied with north-country coals led by railway. one of the great advantages of railways, in his opinion, was that they would bring iron and coal, the staple products of the country, to the doors of all england. "the strength of britain," he would say, "lies in her iron and coal beds, and the locomotive is destined, above all other agencies, to bring it forth. the lord chancellor now sits upon a bag of wool; but wool has long since ceased to be emblematical of the staple commodity of england. he ought rather to sit upon a bag of coals, though it might not prove quite so comfortable a seat. then think of the lord chancellor being addressed as the noble and learned lord _on the coal-sack_! i am afraid it wouldn't answer, after all." to one gentleman he said: "we want from the coal-mining, the iron-producing and manufacturing districts, a great railway for the carriage of these valuable products. we want, if i may so say, a stream of steam running directly through the country from the north to london. speed is not so much an object as utility and cheapness. it will not do to mix up the heavy merchandise and coal-trains with the passenger-trains. coal and most kinds of goods can wait, but passengers will not. a less perfect road and less expensive works will do well enough for coal-trains, if run at a low speed; and if the line be flat, it is not of much consequence whether it be direct or not. whenever you put passenger-trains on a line, all the other trains must be run at high speeds to keep out of their way. but coal-trains run at high speeds pull the road to pieces, besides causing large expenditure in locomotive power; and i doubt very much whether they will pay, after all; but a succession of long coal-trains, if run at from ten to fourteen miles an hour, would pay very well. thus the stockton and darlington company made a larger profit when running coal at low speeds at a halfpenny a ton per mile, than they have been able to do since they put on their fast passenger-trains, when every thing must needs be run faster, and a much larger proportion of the gross receipts is consequently absorbed by working expenses." in advocating these views, george stephenson was considerably ahead of his time; and although he did not live to see his anticipations fully realized as to the supply of the london coal-market, he was nevertheless the first to point it out, and to some extent to prove, the practicability of establishing a profitable coal-trade by railway between the northern counties and the metropolis. so long, however, as the traffic was conducted on main passenger-lines at comparatively high speeds, it was found that the expenditure on tear and wear of road and locomotive power--not to mention the increased risk of carrying on the first-class passenger traffic with which it was mixed up--necessarily left a very small margin of profit, and hence our engineer was in the habit of urging the propriety of constructing a railway which should be exclusively devoted to goods and mineral traffic run at low speeds as the only condition on which a large railway traffic of that sort could be profitably conducted. [illustration: lime-works at ambergate. [by percival skelton.]] having induced some of his liverpool friends to join him in a coal-mining adventure at chesterfield, a lease was taken of the claycross estate, then for sale, and operations were shortly after begun. at a subsequent period stephenson extended his coal-mining operations in the same neighborhood, and in he himself entered into a contract with owners of land in the townships of tapton, brimington, and newbold for the working of the coal thereunder, and pits were opened on the tapton estate on an extensive scale. about the same time he erected great lime-works, close to the ambergate station of the midland railway, from which, when in full operation, he was able to turn out upward of two hundred tons a day. the limestone was brought on a tram-way from the village of crich, about two or three miles distant from the kilns, the coal being supplied from his adjoining claycross colliery. the works were on a scale such as had not before been attempted by any private individual engaged in a similar trade, and we believe they proved very successful. tapton house was included in the lease of one of the collieries, and as it was conveniently situated--being, as it were, a central point on the midland railway, from which the engineer could readily proceed north or south on his journeys of inspection of the various lines then under construction in the midland and northern counties--he took up his residence there, and it continued his home until the close of his life. tapton house is a large, roomy brick mansion, beautifully situated amid woods, upon a commanding eminence, about a mile to the northeast of the town of chesterfield. green fields dotted with fine trees slope away from the house in all directions. the surrounding country is undulating and highly picturesque. north and south the eye ranges over a vast extent of lovely scenery; and on the west, looking over the town of chesterfield, with its church and crooked spire, the extensive range of the derbyshire hills bounds the distance. the midland railway skirts the western edge of the park in a deep rock cutting, and the locomotive's shrill whistle sounds near at hand as the trains speed past. the gardens and pleasure-grounds adjoining the house were in a very neglected state when mr. stephenson first went to tapton, and he promised himself, when he had secured rest and leisure from business, that he would put a new face upon both. the first improvement he made was in cutting a woodland footpath up the hill-side, by which he at the same time added a beautiful feature to the park, and secured a shorter road to the chesterfield station; but it was some years before he found time to carry into effect his contemplated improvements in the adjoining gardens and pleasure-grounds. he had so long been accustomed to laborious pursuits, and felt himself still so full of work, that he could not at once settle down into the habit of quietly enjoying the fruits of his industry. [illustration: forth-street works, newcastle.] he had no difficulty in usefully employing his time. besides directing the mining operations at claycross, the establishment of the lime-kilns at ambergate, and the construction of the extensive railways still in progress, he occasionally paid visits to newcastle, where his locomotive manufactory was now in full work, and the proprietors were reaping the advantages of his early foresight in an abundant measure of prosperity. one of his most interesting visits to the place was in , on the occasion of the meeting of the british association there, when he acted as one of the vice-presidents in the section of mechanical science. extraordinary changes had taken place in his own fortunes, as well as in the face of the country, since he had first appeared before a scientific body in newcastle--the members of the literary and philosophical institute--to submit his safety-lamp for their examination. twenty-three years had passed over his head, full of honest work, of manful struggle, and the humble "colliery engine-wright of the name of stephenson" had achieved an almost world-wide reputation as a public benefactor. his fellow-townsmen, therefore, could not hesitate to recognize his merits and do honor to his presence. during the sittings of the association, the engineer took the opportunity of paying a visit to killingworth, accompanied by some of the distinguished savans whom he numbered among his friends. he there pointed out to them, with a degree of honest pride, the cottage in which he had lived for so many years, showing what parts of it had been his handiwork, and told them the story of the sun-dial over the door, describing the study and the labor it had cost him and his son to calculate its dimensions and fix it in its place. the dial had been serenely numbering the hours through the busy years that had elapsed since that humble dwelling had been his home, during which the killingworth locomotive had become a great working power, and its contriver had established the railway system, which was now rapidly becoming extended in all parts of the civilized world. about the same time, his services were very much in request at the meetings of mechanics' institutes held throughout the northern counties. from a very early period in his history he had taken an active interest in these valuable institutions. while residing at newcastle in , shortly after his locomotive foundery had been started in forth street, he presided at a public meeting held in that town for the purpose of establishing a mechanics' institute. the meeting was held; but, as george stephenson was a man comparatively unknown even in newcastle at that time, his name failed to secure "an influential attendance." among those who addressed the meeting on the occasion was joseph locke, then his pupil, and afterward his rival as an engineer. the local papers scarcely noticed the proceedings, yet the mechanics' institute was founded and struggled into existence. years passed, and it was felt to be an honor to secure mr. stephenson's presence at any public meetings held for the promotion of popular education. among the mechanics' institutes in his immediate neighborhood at tapton were those of belper and chesterfield, and at their soirées he was a frequent and a welcome visitor. on these occasions he loved to tell his auditors of the difficulties which had early beset him through want of knowledge, and of the means by which he had overcome them. his grand text was--persevere; and there was manhood in the word. on more than one occasion the author had the pleasure of listening to george stephenson's homely but forcible addresses at the annual soirées of the leeds mechanics' institute. he was always an immense favorite with his audiences there. his personal appearance was greatly in his favor. a handsome, ruddy, expressive face, lit up by bright dark blue eyes, prepared one for his earnest words when he stood up to speak, and the cheers had subsided which invariably hailed his rising. he was not glib, but he was very impressive. and who, so well as he, could serve as a guide to the working-man in his endeavors after higher knowledge? his early life had been all struggle--encounter with difficulty--groping in the dark after greater light, but always earnestly and perseveringly. his words were therefore all the more weighty, since he spoke from the fullness of his own experience. nor did he remain a mere inactive spectator of the improvements in railway working which increasing experience from day to day suggested. he continued to contrive improvements in the locomotive, and to mature his invention of the carriage-brake. when examined before the select committee on railways in , his mind seems to have been impressed with the necessity which existed for adopting a system of self-acting brakes, stating that, in his opinion, this was the most important arrangement that could be provided for increasing the safety of railway traveling. "i believe," he said, "that if self-acting brakes were put upon every carriage, scarcely any accident could take place." his plan consisted in employing the momentum of the running train to throw his proposed brakes into action immediately on the moving power of the engine being checked. he would also have these brakes under the control of the guard, by means of a connecting line running along the whole length of the train, by which they should at once be thrown out of gear when necessary. at the same time he suggested, as an additional means of safety, that the signals of the line should be self-acting, and worked by the locomotives as they passed along the railway. he considered the adoption of this plan of so much importance that, with a view to the public safety, he would even have it enforced upon railway companies by the legislature. he was also of opinion that it was the interest of the companies themselves to adopt the plan, as it would save great tear and wear of engines, carriages, tenders, and brake-vans, besides greatly diminishing the risk of accidents upon railways. while before the same committee, he took the opportunity of stating his views with reference to railway speeds, about which wild ideas were then afloat, one gentleman of celebrity having publicly expressed the opinion that a speed of a hundred miles an hour was practicable in railway traveling! not many years had passed since mr. stephenson had been pronounced _insane_ for stating his conviction that twelve miles an hour could be performed by the locomotive; but, now that he had established the fact, and greatly exceeded that speed, he was thought behind the age because he recommended it to be limited to forty miles an hour. he said: "i do not like either forty or fifty miles an hour upon any line--i think it is an unnecessary speed; and if there is danger upon a railway, it is high velocity that creates it. i should say no railway ought to exceed forty miles an hour on the most favorable gradient; but upon a curved line the speed ought not to exceed twenty-four or twenty-five miles an hour." he had, indeed, constructed for the great western railway an engine capable of running fifty miles an hour with a load, and eighty miles without one. but he never was in favor of a hurricane speed of this sort, believing it could only be accomplished at an unnecessary increase both of danger and expense. "it is true," he observed on other occasions,[ ] "i have said the locomotive engine _might_ be made to travel a hundred miles an hour, but i always put a qualification on this, namely, as to what speed would best suit the public. the public may, however, be unreasonable; and fifty or sixty miles an hour is an unreasonable speed. long before railway traveling became general, i said to my friends that there was no limit to the speed of the locomotive, _provided the works could be made to stand_. but there are limits to the strength of iron, whether it be manufactured into rails or locomotives, and there is a point at which both rails and tires must break. every increase of speed, by increasing the strain upon the road and the rolling stock, brings us nearer to that point. at thirty miles a slighter road will do, and less perfect rolling stock may be run upon it with safety. but if you increase the speed by say ten miles, then every thing must be greatly strengthened. you must have heavier engines, heavier and better-fastened rails, and all your working expenses will be immensely increased. i think i know enough of mechanics to know where to stop. i know that a pound will weigh a pound, and that more should not be put upon an iron rail than it will bear. if you could insure perfect iron, perfect rails, and perfect locomotives, i grant fifty miles an hour or more might be run with safety on a level railway. but then you must not forget that iron, even the best, will 'tire,' and with constant use will become more and more liable to break at the weakest point--perhaps where there is a secret flaw that the eye can not detect. then look at the rubbishy rails now manufactured on the contract system--some of them little better than cast metal: indeed, i have seen rails break merely on being thrown from the truck on to the ground. how is it possible for such rails to stand a twenty or thirty ton engine dashing over them at the speed of fifty miles an hour? no, no," he would conclude, "i am in favor of low speeds because they are safe, and because they are economical; and you may rely upon it that, beyond a certain point, with every increase of speed there is a certain increase in the element of danger." when railways became the subject of popular discussion, many new and unsound theories were started with reference to them, which stephenson opposed as calculated, in his opinion, to bring discredit on the locomotive system. one of these was with reference to what were called "undulating lines." dr. lardner, who at an earlier period was skeptical as to the powers of the locomotive, now promulgated the idea that a railway constructed with rising and falling gradients would be practically as easy to work as a line perfectly level. mr. badnell went even beyond him, for he held that an undulating railway was much better than a level one for purposes of working.[ ] for a time this theory found favor, and the "undulating system" was extensively adopted; but george stephenson never ceased to inveigh against it, and experience has proved that his judgment was correct. his practice, from the beginning of his career until the end of it, was to secure a road as nearly as possible on a level, following the course of the valleys and the natural line of the country; preferring to go round a hill rather than to tunnel under it or carry his railway over it, and often making a considerable circuit to secure good workable gradients. he studied to lay out his lines so that long trains of minerals and merchandise, as well as passengers, might be hauled along them at the least possible expenditure of locomotive power. he had long before ascertained, by careful experiments at killingworth, that the engine expends half its power in overcoming a rising gradient of in , which is about feet in the mile; and that when the gradient is so steep as in , not less than three fourths of its power is sacrificed in ascending the acclivity. he never forgot the valuable practical lessons taught him by these early trials, which he had made and registered long before the advantages of railways had become recognized. he saw clearly that the longer flat line must eventually prove superior to the shorter line of steep gradients as respected its paying qualities. he urged that, after all, the power of the locomotive was but limited; and, although he and his son had done more than any other men to increase its working capacity, it provoked him to find that every improvement made in it was neutralized by the steep gradients which the new school of engineers were setting it to overcome. on one occasion, when robert stephenson stated before a parliamentary committee that every successive improvement in the locomotive was being rendered virtually nugatory by the difficult and almost impracticable gradients proposed on many of the new lines, his father, on his leaving the witness-box, went up to him, and said, "robert, you never spoke truer words than those in all your life." to this it must be added, that in urging these views george stephenson was strongly influenced by commercial considerations. he had no desire to build up his reputation at the expense of railway shareholders, nor to obtain engineering _éclat_ by making "ducks and drakes" of their money. he was persuaded that, in order to secure the practical success of railways, they must be so laid out as not only to prove of decided public utility, but also to be worked economically and to the advantage of their proprietors. they were not government roads, but private ventures--in fact, commercial speculations. he therefore endeavored to render them financially profitable; and he repeatedly declared that if he did not believe they could be "made to pay," he would have nothing to do with them.[ ] nor was he influenced by the sordid consideration merely of what he could _make_ out of any company that employed him, but in many cases he voluntarily gave up his claim to remuneration where the promoters of schemes which he thought praiseworthy had suffered serious loss. thus, when the first application was made to parliament for the chester and birkenhead railway bill, the promoters were defeated. they repeated their application on the understanding that in event of their succeeding the engineer and surveyor were to be paid their costs in respect of the defeated measure. the bill was successful, and to several parties their costs were paid. stephenson's amounted to £ , and he very nobly said, "you have had an expensive career in parliament; you have had a great struggle; you are a young company; you can not afford to pay me this amount of money; i will reduce it to £ , and i will not ask you for the £ until your shares are at £ premium; for, whatever may be the reverses you have to go through, i am satisfied i shall live to see the day when your shares will be at £ premium, and when i can legally and honorably claim that £ ."[ ] we may add that the shares did eventually rise to the premium specified, and the engineer was no loser by his generous conduct in the transaction. another novelty of the time with which george stephenson had to contend was the proposed substitution of atmospheric pressure for locomotive steam-power in the working of railways. the idea of obtaining motion by means of atmospheric pressure originated with denis papin more than a century and a half ago; but it slept until revived in by mr. medhurst, who published a pamphlet to prove the practicability of carrying letters and goods by air. in , mr. vallance, of brighton, took out a patent for projecting passengers through a tube large enough to contain a train of carriages, the tube ahead of the carriages being previously exhausted of its atmospheric air. the same idea was afterward taken up, in , by mr. pinkus, an ingenious american. several scientific gentlemen, dr. lardner and mr. clegg among others, advocated the plan, and an association was formed to carry it into effect. shares were created, and £ , raised; and a model apparatus was exhibited in london. mr. vignolles took mr. stephenson to see the model; and after carefully examining it, he observed emphatically, "_it won't do_: it is only the fixed engines and ropes over again, in another form; and, to tell you the truth, i don't think this rope of wind will answer so well as the rope of wire did." he did not think the principle would stand the test of practice, and he objected to the mode of applying the principle. the stationary-engine system was open to serious objections in whatever form applied; and every day's experience showed that the fixed engines could not compete with locomotives in point of efficiency and economy. stephenson stood by the locomotive engine, and subsequent experience proved that he was right. messrs. clegg and samuda afterward, in , patented their plan of an atmospheric railway, and they publicly tested its working on a portion of the west london railway. the results of the experiment were considered so satisfactory, that the directors of the dublin and kingstown line adopted it between kingstown and dalkey. the london and croydon company also adopted the atmospheric principle; and their line was opened in . the ordinary mode of applying the power was to lay between the line of rails a pipe, in which a large piston was inserted, and attached by a shaft to the framework of a carriage. the propelling power was the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere acting against the piston in the tube on one side, a vacuum being created in the tube on the other side of the piston by the working of a stationary engine. great was the popularity of the atmospheric system; and still george stephenson said, "it won't do; it's but a gimcrack." engineers of distinction said he was prejudiced, and that he looked upon the locomotive as a pet child of his own. "wait a little," he replied, "and you will see that i am right." it was generally supposed that the locomotive system was about to be snuffed out. "not so fast," said stephenson. "let us wait to see if it will pay." he never believed it would. it was ingenious, clever, scientific, and all that; but railways were commercial enterprises, not toys; and if the atmospheric railway could not work to a profit, it would not do. considered in this light, he even went so far as to call it "a great humbug." no one can say that the atmospheric railway had not a fair trial. the government engineer, general pasley, did for it what had never been done for the locomotive--he reported in its favor, whereas a former, government engineer had inferentially reported against the use of locomotive power on railways. the house of commons had also reported in favor of the use of the steam-engine on common roads; yet the railway locomotive had vitality enough in it to live through all. "nothing will beat it," said george stephenson, "for efficiency in all weathers, for economy in drawing loads of average weight, and for power and speed as occasion may require." the atmospheric system was fairly and fully tried, and it was found wanting. it was admitted to be an exceedingly elegant mode of applying power; its devices were very skillful, and its mechanism was most ingenious. but it was costly, irregular in action, and, in particular kinds of weather, not to be depended upon. at best, it was but a modification of the stationary-engine system, and experience proved it to be so expensive that it was shortly after entirely abandoned in favor of locomotive power.[ ] one of the remarkable results of the system of railway locomotion which george stephenson had by his persevering labors mainly contributed to establish was the outbreak of the railway mania toward the close of his professional career. the success of the first main lines of railway naturally led to their extension into many new districts; but a strongly speculative tendency soon began to display itself, which contained in it the elements of great danger. the extension of railways had, up to the year , been mainly effected by men of the commercial classes, and the shareholders in them principally belonged to the manufacturing districts--the capitalists of the metropolis as yet holding aloof, and prophesying disaster to all concerned in railway projects. the stock exchange looked askance upon them, and it was with difficulty that respectable brokers could be found to do business in the shares. but when the lugubrious anticipations of the city men were found to be so entirely falsified by the results--when, after the lapse of years, it was ascertained that railway traffic rapidly increased and dividends steadily improved--a change came over the spirit of the london capitalists. they then invested largely in railways, the shares in which became a leading branch of business on the stock exchange, and the prices of some rose to nearly double their original value. a stimulus was thus given to the projection of farther lines, the shares in most of which came out at a premium, and became the subject of immediate traffic. a reckless spirit of gambling set in, which completely changed the character and objects of railway enterprise. the public outside the stock exchange became also infected, and many persons utterly ignorant of railways, but hungering and thirsting after premiums, rushed eagerly into the vortex. they applied for allotments, and subscribed for shares in lines, of the engineering character or probable traffic of which they knew nothing. provided they could but obtain allotments which they could sell at a premium, and put the profit--in many cases the only capital they possessed[ ]--into their pockets, it was enough for them. the mania was not confined to the precincts of the stock exchange, but infected all ranks. it embraced merchants and manufacturers, gentry and shop-keepers, clerks in public offices, and loungers at the clubs. noble lords were pointed at as "stags;" there were even clergymen who were characterized as "bulls," and amiable ladies who had the reputation of "bears," in the share-markets. the few quiet men who remained uninfluenced by the speculation of the time were, in not a few cases, even reproached for doing injustice to their families in declining to help themselves from the stores of wealth that were poured out on all sides. folly and knavery were for a time in the ascendant. the sharpers of society were let loose, and jobbers and schemers became more and more plentiful. they threw out railway schemes as lures to catch the unwary. they fed the mania with a constant succession of new projects. the railway papers became loaded with their advertisements. the post-office was scarcely able to distribute the multitude of prospectuses and circulars which they issued. for a time their popularity was immense. they rose like froth into the upper heights of society, and the flunkey fitz plushe, by virtue of his supposed wealth, sat among peers and was idolized. then was the harvest-time for scheming lawyers, parliamentary agents, engineers, surveyors, and traffic-takers, who were ready to take up any railway scheme however desperate, and to prove any amount of traffic even where none existed. the traffic in the credulity of their dupes was, however, the great fact that mainly concerned them, and of the profitable character of which there could be no doubt. parliament, whose previous conduct in connection with railway legislation was so open to reprehension, interposed no check--attempted no remedy. on the contrary, it helped to intensify the evils arising from this unseemly state of things. many of its members were themselves involved in the mania, and as much interested in its continuance as the vulgar herd of money-grubbers. the railway prospectuses now issued--unlike the original liverpool and manchester, and london and birmingham schemes--were headed by peers, baronets, landed proprietors, and strings of m.p's. thus it was found in that no fewer than members of parliament were on the lists of new companies as subscribers for sums ranging from £ , downward! the projectors of new lines even came to boast of their parliamentary strength, and of the number of votes which they could command in "the house." at all events, it is matter of fact, that many utterly ruinous branches and extensions projected during the mania, calculated only to benefit the inhabitants of a few miserable boroughs accidentally omitted from schedule a, were authorized in the memorable sessions of and . george stephenson was anxiously entreated to lend his name to prospectuses during the railway mania, but he invariably refused. he held aloof from the headlong folly of the hour, and endeavored to check it, but in vain. had he been less scrupulous, and given his countenance to the numerous projects about which he was consulted, he might, without any trouble, have thus secured enormous gains; but he had no desire to accumulate a fortune without labor and without honor. he himself never speculated in shares. when he was satisfied as to the merits of an undertaking, he would sometimes subscribe for a certain amount of capital in it, when he held on, neither buying nor selling. at a dinner of the leeds and bradford directors at ben rydding in october, , before the mania had reached its height, he warned those present against the prevalent disposition toward railway speculation. it was, he said, like walking upon a piece of ice with shallows and deeps; the shallows were frozen over, and they would carry, but it required great caution to get over the deeps. he was satisfied that in the course of the next year many would step on to places not strong enough to carry them, and would get into the deeps; they would be taking shares, and afterward be unable to pay the calls upon them. yorkshiremen were reckoned clever men, and his advice to them was to stick together and promote communication in their own neighborhood--not to go abroad with their speculations. if any had done so, he advised them to get their money back as fast as they could, for if they did not they would not get it at all. he informed the company, at the same time, of his earliest holding of railway shares; it was in the stockton and darlington railway, and the number he held was _three_--"a very large capital for him to possess at the time." but a stockton friend was anxious to possess a share, and he sold him _one_ at a premium of _s._; he supposed he had been about the first man in england to sell a railway share at a premium. during , his son's office in great george street, westminster, was crowded with persons of various conditions seeking interviews, presenting very much the appearance of the levee of a minister of state. the burly figure of mr. hudson, the "railway king," surrounded by an admiring group of followers, was often to be seen there; and a still more interesting person, in the estimation of many, was george stephenson, dressed in black, his coat of somewhat old-fashioned cut, with square pockets in the tails. he wore a white neckcloth, and a large bunch of seals was suspended from his watch-ribbon. altogether, he presented an appearance of health, intelligence, and good humor, that it gladdened one to look upon in that sordid, selfish, and eventually ruinous saturnalia of railway speculation. being still the consulting engineer of several of the older companies, he necessarily appeared before parliament in support of their branches and extensions. in his name was associated with that of his son as the engineer of the southport and preston junction. in the same session he gave evidence in favor of the syston and peterborough branch of the midland railway; but his principal attention was confined to the promotion of the line from newcastle to berwick, in which he had never ceased to take the deepest interest. powers were granted by parliament in to construct not less than miles of new railways in britain, at an expenditure of about forty-four millions sterling! yet the mania was not appeased; for in the following session of , applications were made to parliament for powers to raise £ , , sterling for the construction of farther lines; and they were actually conceded to the extent of miles (including miles of tunnels), at a cost of about £ , , sterling.[ ] during this session mr. stephenson appeared as engineer for only one new line--the buxton, macclesfield, congleton, and crewe railway--a line in which, as a coal-owner, he was personally interested; and of three branch lines in connection with existing companies for which he had long acted as engineer. at the same period all the leading professional men were fully occupied, some of them appearing as consulting engineers for upward of thirty lines each! one of the features of this mania was the rage for "direct lines" which every where displayed itself. there were "direct manchester," "direct exeter," "direct york," and, indeed, new direct lines between most of the large towns. the marquis of bristol, speaking in favor of the "direct norwich and london" project at a public meeting at haverhill, said, "if necessary, they might _make a tunnel beneath his very drawing-room_ rather than be defeated in their undertaking!" and the rev. f. litchfield, at a meeting in banbury on the subject of a line to that town, said, "he had laid down for himself a limit to his approbation of railways--at least of such as approached the neighborhood with which he was connected--and that limit was, that he did not wish them to approach any nearer to him than _to run through his bedroom, with the bedposts for a station_!" how different was the spirit which influenced these noble lords and gentlemen but a few years before! the course adopted by parliament in dealing with the multitude of railway bills applied for during the prevalence of the mania was as irrational as it proved unfortunate. the want of foresight displayed by both houses in obstructing the railway system so long as it was based upon sound commercial principles was only equaled by the fatal facility with which they now granted railway projects based upon the wildest speculation. parliament interposed no check, laid down no principle, furnished no guidance, for the conduct of railway projectors, but left every company to select its own locality, determine its own line, and fix its own gauge. no regard was paid to the claims of existing companies, which had already expended so large an amount in the formation of useful railways; and speculators were left at liberty to project and carry out lines almost parallel with theirs. the house of commons became thoroughly influenced by the prevailing excitement. even the board of trade began to favor the views of the new and reckless school of engineers. in their "report on the lines projected in the manchester and leeds district," they promulgated some remarkable views respecting gradients, declaring themselves in favor of the "undulating system." they there stated that lines of an undulating character "which gave gradients of in or in distributed over them in short lengths, may be positively _better_ lines, _i.e._, _more susceptible of cheap and expeditious working_, than others which have nothing steeper than in or in !" they concluded by reporting in favor of the line which exhibited the worst gradients and the sharpest curves, chiefly on the ground that it could be constructed for less money. sir robert peel took occasion, when speaking in favor of the continuance of the railways department of the board of trade, to advert to this report in the house of commons on the th of march following, as containing "a novel and highly important view on the subject of gradients, which, he was certain, never could have been taken by any committee of the house of commons, however intelligent;" and he might have added, that the more intelligent, the less likely would they be to arrive at any such conclusion. when george stephenson saw this report of the premier's speech in the newspapers of the following morning, he went forthwith to his son, and asked him to write a letter to sir robert peel on the subject. he saw clearly that if such views were adopted, the utility and economy of railways would be seriously curtailed. "these members of parliament," said he, "are now as much disposed to exaggerate the powers of the locomotive as they were to underestimate them but a few years ago." robert accordingly wrote a letter for his father's signature, embodying the views which he so strongly entertained as to the importance of flat gradients, and referring to the experiments conducted by him many years before in proof of the great loss of working power which was incurred on a line of steep as compared with easy gradients. it was clear, from the tone of sir robert peel's speech in a subsequent debate, that he had carefully read and considered mr. stephenson's practical observations on the subject, though it did not appear that he had come to any definite conclusion thereon farther than that he strongly approved of the trent valley railway, by which tamworth would be placed upon a direct main line of communication. the result of the labors of parliament was a tissue of legislative bungling, involving enormous loss to the nation. railway bills were granted in heaps. two hundred and seventy-two additional acts were passed in . some authorized the construction of lines running almost parallel with existing railways, in order to afford the public "the benefits of unrestricted competition." locomotive and atmospheric lines, broad-gauge and narrow-gauge lines, were granted without hesitation. committees decided without judgment and without discrimination; and in the scramble for bills, the most unscrupulous were usually the most successful. as an illustration of the legislative folly of the period, robert stephenson, speaking at toronto, in upper canada, some years later, adduced the following instances: "there was one district through which it was proposed to run two lines, and there was no other difficulty between them than the simple rivalry that, if one got a charter, the other might also. but here, where the committee might have given both, they gave neither. in another instance, two lines were projected through a barren country, and the committee gave the one which afforded the least accommodation to the public. in another, where two lines were projected to run, merely to shorten the time by a few minutes, leading through a mountainous country, the committee gave both. so that, where the committee might have given both, they gave neither, and where they should have given neither, they gave both." among the many ill effects of the mania, one of the worst was that it introduced a low tone of morality into railway transactions. the bad spirit which had been evoked by it unhappily extended to the commercial classes, and many of the most flagrant swindles of recent times had their origin in the year . those who had suddenly gained large sums without labor, and also without honor, were too ready to enter upon courses of the wildest extravagance; and a false style of living arose, the poisonous influence of which extended through all classes. men began to look upon railways as instruments to job with. persons sometimes possessing information respecting railways, but more frequently possessing none, got upon boards for the purpose of promoting their individual objects, often in a very unscrupulous manner; land-owners, to promote branch lines through their property; speculators in shares, to trade upon the exclusive information which they obtained; while some directors were appointed through the influence mainly of solicitors, contractors, or engineers, who used them as tools to serve their own ends. in this way the unfortunate proprietors were in many cases betrayed, and their property was shamefully squandered, much to the discredit of the railway system. one of the most prominent celebrities of the mania was george hudson, of york. he was a man of some local repute in that city when the line between leeds and york was projected. his views as to railways were then extremely moderate, and his main object in joining the undertaking was to secure for york the advantages of the best railway communication. the company was not very prosperous at first, and during the years and the shares had greatly sunk in value. mr. alderman meek, the first chairman, having retired, mr. hudson was elected in his stead, and he very shortly contrived to pay improved dividends to the proprietors, who asked no questions. desiring to extend the field of his operations, he proceeded to lease the leeds and selby railway at five per cent. that line had hitherto been a losing concern; so its owners readily struck a bargain with mr. hudson, and sounded his praises in all directions. he increased the dividends on the york and north midland shares to ten per cent., and began to be cited as the model of a railway chairman. he next interested himself in the north midland railway, where he appeared in the character of a reformer of abuses. the north midland shares also had gone to a heavy discount, and the shareholders were accordingly desirous of securing his services. they elected him a director. his bustling, pushing, persevering character gave him an influential position at the board, and he soon pushed the old members from their stools. he labored hard, at much personal inconvenience, to help the concern out of its difficulties, and he succeeded. the new directors, recognizing his power, elected him their chairman. railways revived in , and public confidence in them as profitable investments was gradually increasing. mr. hudson had the benefit of this growing prosperity. the dividends in his lines improved, and the shares rose in value. the lord-mayor of york began to be quoted as one of the most capable of railway directors. stimulated by his success and encouraged by his followers, he struck out or supported many new projects--a line to scarborough, a line to bradford, lines in the midland districts, and lines to connect york with newcastle and edinburg. he was elected chairman of the newcastle and darlington railway; and when--in order to complete the continuity of the main line of communication--it was found necessary to secure the durham junction, which was an important link in the chain, he and george stephenson boldly purchased that railway between them, at the price of £ , . it was an exceedingly fortunate purchase for the company, to whom it was worth double the money. the act, though not strictly legal, proved successful in the issue, and was much lauded. thus encouraged, mr. hudson proceeded to buy the brandling junction line for £ , in his own name--an operation at the time regarded as equally favorable, though he was afterward charged with appropriating of the shares created for the purchase, when worth £ premium each. the great north of england line being completed, mr. hudson had thus secured the entire line of communication from york to newcastle, and the route was opened to the public in june, . on that occasion newcastle eulogized mr. hudson in its choicest local eloquence, and he was pronounced to be the greatest benefactor the district had ever known. the adulation which followed mr. hudson would have intoxicated a stronger and more self-denying man. he was pronounced the man of the age, and hailed as "the railway king." the highest test by which the shareholders judged him was the dividends that he paid, though subsequent events proved that these dividends were in many cases delusive, intended only "to make things pleasant." the policy, however, had its effect. the shares in all the lines of which he was chairman went to a premium, and then arose the temptation to create new shares in branch and extension lines, often worthless, which were issued at a premium also. thus he shortly found himself chairman of nearly miles of railway, extending from rugby to newcastle, and at the head of numerous new projects, by means of which paper-wealth could be created as it were at pleasure. he held in his own hands almost the entire administrative power of the companies over which he presided: he was chairman, board, manager, and all. his admirers for the time, inspired sometimes by gratitude for past favors, but oftener by the expectation of favors to come, supported him in all his measures. at the meetings of the companies, if any suspicious shareholder ventured to put a question about the accounts, he was snubbed by the chair and hissed by the proprietors. the railway king was voted praises, testimonials, and surplus shares alike liberally, and scarcely a word against him could find a hearing. he was equally popular outside the circle of railway proprietors. his entertainments at albert gate were crowded by sycophants, many of them titled; and he went his rounds of visits among the peerage like a prince. of course mr. hudson was a great authority on railway questions in parliament, to which the burgesses of sunderland had sent him. his experience of railways, still little understood, though the subject of so much legislation, gave value and weight to his opinions, and in many respects he was a useful member. during the first years of his membership he was chiefly occupied in passing the railway bills in which he was more particularly interested; and in the session of , when he was at the height of his power, it was triumphantly said of him that "he walked quietly through parliament with some sixteen railway bills under his arm." one of these bills, however, was the subject of a severe contest--we mean that empowering the construction of the railway from newcastle to berwick. it was almost the only bill in which george stephenson was concerned that year. mr. hudson displayed great energy in supporting the measure, and he worked hard to insure its success both in and out of parliament; but he himself attributed the chief merit to stephenson. he accordingly suggested to the shareholders that they should present the engineer with some fitting testimonial in recognition of his services. indeed, a stephenson testimonial had long been spoken of, and a committee was formed for raising subscriptions for the purpose as early as the year . mr. hudson now revived the subject, and appealed to the newcastle and darlington, the midland, and the york and north midland companies, who unanimously adopted the resolutions which he proposed to them amid "loud applause," but there the matter ended. the hudson testimonial was a much more taking thing, for hudson had it in his power to allot shares (selling at a premium) to his adulators. but stephenson pretended to fill no man's pocket with premiums; he was no creator of shares, and could not therefore work upon shareholders' gratitude for "favors to come." the proposed testimonial to him accordingly ended with resolutions and speeches. the york, newcastle, and berwick board--in other words, mr. hudson--did indeed mark their sense of the "great obligations" which they were under to george stephenson for helping to carry their bill through parliament by making him an allotment of thirty of the new shares authorized by the act. but, as afterward appeared, the chairman had at the same time appropriated to himself not fewer than , of the same shares, the premiums on which were then worth, in the market, about £ , . this shabby manner of acknowledging the gratitude of the company to their engineer was strongly resented by stephenson at the time, and a coolness took place between him and hudson which was never wholly removed, though they afterward shook hands, and stephenson declared that all was forgotten. mr. hudson's brief reign drew to a close. the saturnalia of was followed by the usual reaction. shares went down faster than they had gone up; the holders of them hastened to sell in order to avoid payment of the calls, and many found themselves ruined. then came repentance, and a sudden return to virtue. the betting man, who, temporarily abandoning the turf for the share-market, had played his heaviest stake and lost; the merchant who had left his business, and the doctor who had neglected his patients, to gamble in railway stock and been ruined; the penniless knaves and schemers who had speculated so recklessly and gained so little; the titled and fashionable people, who had bowed themselves so low before the idol of the day, and found themselves deceived and "done;" the credulous small capitalists, who, dazzled by premiums, had invested their all in railway shares, and now saw themselves stripped of every thing, were grievously enraged, and looked about them for a victim. in this temper were shareholders when, at a railway meeting in york, some pertinent questions were put to the railway king. his replies were not satisfactory, and the questions were pushed home. mr. hudson became confused. angry voices rose in the meeting. a committee of investigation was appointed. the golden calf was found to be of brass, and hurled down, hudson's own toadies and sycophants eagerly joining the chorus of popular indignation. similar proceedings shortly after followed at the meetings of other companies, and the bubbles having by that time burst, the railway mania thus came to an ignominious end. while the mania was at its height in england, railways were also being extended abroad, and george stephenson continued to be invited to give the directors of foreign undertakings the benefit of his advice. one of the most agreeable of his excursions with that object was his third visit to belgium in . his special purpose was to examine the proposed line of the sambre and meuse railway, for which a concession had been granted by the belgian legislature. arrived on the ground, he went carefully over the entire length of the proposed line, by couvins, through the forest of ardennes, to rocroi, across the french frontier, examining the bearing of the coal-field, the slate and marble quarries, and the numerous iron-mines in existence between the sambre and the meuse, as well as carefully exploring the ravines which extended through the district, in order to satisfy himself that the best possible route had been selected. stephenson was delighted with the novelty of the journey, the beauty of the scenery, and the industry of the population. his companions were entertained by his ample and varied stores of practical information on all subjects, and his conversation was full of reminiscences of his youth, on which he always delighted to dwell when in the society of his more intimate friends. the journey was varied by a visit to the coal-mines near jemappe, where stephenson examined with interest the mode adopted by the belgian miners of draining the pits, inspecting their engines and brakeing machines, so familiar to him in early life. the engineers of belgium took the opportunity of the engineer's visit to invite him to a magnificent banquet at brussels. the public hall, in which they entertained him, was gayly decorated with flags, prominent among which was the union jack, in honor of their distinguished guest. a handsome marble pedestal, ornamented with his bust crowned with laurels, stood at one end of the room. the chair was occupied by m. massui, the chief director of the national railways of belgium; and the most eminent scientific men of the kingdom were present. their reception of the "father of railways" was of the most enthusiastic description. stephenson was greatly pleased with the entertainment. not the least interesting incident of the evening was his observing, when the dinner was about half over, the model of a locomotive engine placed upon the centre table, under a triumphal arch. turning suddenly to his friend sopwith, he exclaimed, "do you see the 'rocket?'" it was, indeed, the model of that celebrated locomotive; and the engineer prized the delicate compliment thus paid him perhaps more than all the encomiums of the evening. the next day (april th) king leopold invited him to a private interview at the palace. accompanied by mr. sopwith, he proceeded to laaken, and was cordially received by his majesty. the king immediately entered into familiar conversation with him, discussing first the railway project which had been the object of his visit to belgium, and then the structure of the belgian coal-fields, his majesty expressing his sense of the great importance of economy in a fuel which had become indispensable to the comfort and well-being of society, which was the basis of all manufactures, and the vital power of railway locomotion. the subject was always a favorite one with george stephenson, and, encouraged by the king, he proceeded to explain to him the geological structure of belgium, the original formation of coal, its subsequent elevation by volcanic forces, and the vast amount of denudation. in describing the coal-beds he used his hat as a sort of model to illustrate his meaning, and the eyes of the king were fixed upon it as he proceeded with his description. the conversation then passed to the rise and progress of trade and manufactures, stephenson pointing out how closely they every where followed the coal, being mainly dependent upon it, as it were, for their very existence. the king seemed greatly pleased with the interview, and at its close expressed himself as obliged by the interesting information which the engineer had communicated. shaking hands cordially with both the gentlemen, and wishing them success in their important undertakings, he bade them adieu. as they were leaving the palace, stephenson, bethinking him of the model by which he had just been illustrating the belgian coal-fields, said to his friend, "by-the-by, sopwith, i was afraid the king would see the inside of my hat; it's a shocking bad one!" george stephenson paid a farther visit to belgium in the course of the same year, on the business of the west flanders railway, and he had scarcely returned from it ere he was requested to proceed to spain, for the purpose of examining and reporting upon a scheme then on foot for constructing "the royal north of spain railway." a concession had been made by the spanish government of a line of railway from madrid to the bay of biscay, and a numerous staff of engineers was engaged in surveying the proposed line. the directors of the company had declined making the necessary deposits until more favorable terms had been secured; and sir joshua walmsley, on their part, was about to visit spain and press the government on the subject. george stephenson, whom he consulted, was alive to the difficulties of the office which sir joshua was induced to undertake, and offered to be his companion and adviser on the occasion, declining to receive any recompense beyond the simple expenses of the journey. he could only arrange to be absent for six weeks, and he set out from england about the middle of september, . the party was joined at paris by mr. mackenzie, the contractor for the orleans and tours railway, then in course of construction, who took them over the works and accompanied them as far as tours. they soon reached the great chain of the pyrenees, and crossed over into spain. it was on a sunday evening, after a long day's toilsome journey through the mountains, that the party suddenly found themselves in one of those beautiful secluded valleys lying amid the western pyrenees. a small hamlet lay before them, consisting of some thirty or forty houses and a fine old church. the sun was low on the horizon, and under the wide porch, beneath the shadow of the church, were seated nearly all the inhabitants of the place. they were dressed in their holiday attire. the bright bits of red and amber color in the dresses of the women, and the gay sashes of the men, formed a striking picture, on which the travelers gazed in silent admiration. it was something entirely novel and unexpected. beside the villagers sat two venerable old men, whose canonical hats indicated their quality as village pastors. two groups of young women and children were dancing outside the porch to the accompaniment of a simple pipe, and within a hundred yards of them some of the youths of the village were disporting themselves in athletic exercises, the whole being carried on beneath the fostering care of the old church, and with the sanction of its ministers. it was a beautiful scene, and deeply moved the travelers as they approached the principal group. the villagers greeted them courteously, supplied their present wants, and pressed upon them some fine melons, brought from their adjoining gardens. george stephenson used afterward to look back upon that simple scene, and speak of it as one of the most charming pastorals he had ever witnessed. they shortly reached the site of the proposed railway, passing through irun, st. sebastian, st. andero, and bilbao, at which places they met deputations of the principal inhabitants who were interested in the object of their journey. at raynosa stephenson carefully examined the mountain passes and ravines through which a railway could be made. he rose at break of day, and surveyed until the darkness set in, and frequently his resting-place at night was the floor of some miserable hovel. he was thus laboriously occupied for ten days, after which he proceeded across the province of old castile toward madrid, surveying as he went. the proposed plan included the purchase of the castile canal, and that property was also examined. he next proceeded to el escorial, situated at the foot of the guadarama mountains, through which he found it would be necessary to construct two formidable tunnels; added to which, he ascertained that the country between el escorial and madrid was of a very difficult and expensive character to work through. taking these circumstances into account, and looking at the expected traffic on the proposed line, sir joshua walmsley, acting under the advice of mr. stephenson, offered to construct the line from madrid to the bay of biscay on condition that the requisite land was given to the company for the purpose; that they should be allowed every facility for cutting such timber belonging to the crown as might be required for the purposes of the railway; and also that the materials required from abroad for the construction of the line should be admitted free of duty. in return for these concessions the company offered to clothe and feed several thousand convicts while engaged in the execution of the earthworks. general narvaez, afterward duke of valencia, received sir joshua walmsley and mr. stephenson on the subject of their proposition, and expressed his willingness to close with them; but it was necessary that other influential parties should give their concurrence before the scheme could be carried into effect. the deputation waited ten days to receive the answer of the spanish government, but no answer of any kind was vouchsafed. the authorities, indeed, invited them to be present at a spanish bull-fight, but that was not quite the business stephenson had gone all the way to spain to transact, and the offer was politely declined. the result was that stephenson dissuaded his friend from making the necessary deposit at madrid. besides, he had by this time formed an unfavorable opinion of the entire project, and considered that the traffic would not amount to one eighth of the estimate. mr. stephenson was now anxious to be in england. during the journey from madrid he often spoke with affection of friends and relatives, and when apparently absorbed by other matters he would revert to what he thought might then be passing at home. few incidents worthy of notice occurred on the journey homeward, but one may be mentioned. while traveling in an open conveyance between madrid and vittoria, the driver urged his mules down hill at a dangerous pace. he was requested to slacken speed; but, suspecting his passengers to be afraid, he only flogged the brutes into a still more furious gallop. observing this, stephenson coolly said, "let us try him on the other tack; tell him to show us the fastest pace at which spanish mules can go." the rogue of a driver, when he found his tricks of no avail, pulled up and proceeded at a more moderate speed for the rest of the journey. urgent business required mr. stephenson's presence in london on the last day of november. they traveled, therefore, almost continuously, day and night, and the fatigue consequent on the journey, added to the privations endured by the engineer while carrying on the survey among the spanish mountains, began to tell seriously on his health. by the time he reached paris he was evidently ill, but he nevertheless determined on proceeding. he reached havre in time for the southampton boat, but when on board pleurisy developed itself, and it was necessary to bleed him freely. after a few weeks' rest at home, however, he gradually recovered, though his health remained severely shaken. [illustration: claycross works.] footnotes: [ ] it may be mentioned that these views were communicated to the author by robert stephenson, and noted down in his presence. [ ] "treatise on railway improvements." by mr. richard badnell, c.e. [ ] he often refused to act as engineer for lines which he thought would not prove remunerative, or when he considered the estimates too low. thus, when giving evidence on the great western bill, stephenson said, "i made out an estimate for the hartlepool railway, which they returned on account of its being too high, but i declined going to parliament with a lower estimate. another engineer was employed. then, again, i was consulted about a line from edinburg to glasgow. the directors chalked out a line and sent it to me, and i told them i could not support it in that case." hence the employment of another engineer to carry out the line which stephenson could not conscientiously advocate. [ ] speech of wm. jackson, esq., m.p., at the meeting of the chester and birkenhead railway company, held at liverpool, october, . [ ] the question of the specific merits of the atmospheric as compared with the fixed engine and locomotive systems will be found fully discussed in robert stephenson's able "report on the atmospheric railway system", , in which he gave the result of numerous observations and experiments made by him on the kingstown atmospheric railway, with the object of ascertaining whether the new power would be applicable for the working of the chester and holyhead railway then under construction. his opinion was decidedly against the atmospheric system. [ ] the marquis of clanricarde brought under the notice of the house of lords, in , that one charles guernsey, the son of a charwoman and a clerk in a broker's office at _s._ a week, had his name down as a subscriber for shares in the london and york line for £ , . [ ] on the th of november, , mr. spackman published a list of the lines _projected_ (many of which were not afterward prosecuted), from which it appeared that there were then new railway projects before the public, requiring a capital of £ , , . [illustration: newcastle, from the high-level bridge. [by r. p. leitch.]] chapter xvii. robert stephenson's career--the stephensons and brunel--east coast route to scotland--royal border bridge, berwick--high-level bridge, newcastle. the career of george stephenson was drawing to a close. he had for some time been gradually retiring from the more active pursuit of railway engineering, and confining himself to the promotion of only a few undertakings, in which he took a more than ordinary personal interest. in , when the extensive main lines in the midland districts had been finished and opened for traffic, he publicly expressed his intention of withdrawing from the profession. he had reached sixty, and, having spent the greater part of his life in very hard work, he naturally desired rest and retirement in his old age. there was the less necessity for his continuing "in harness," as robert stephenson was now in full career as a leading railway engineer, and his father had pleasure in handing over to him, with the sanction of the companies concerned, nearly all the railway appointments which he held. robert stephenson amply repaid his father's care. the sound education of which he had laid the foundations at school, improved by his subsequent culture, but more than all by his father's example of application, industry, and thoroughness in all that he undertook, told powerfully in the formation of his character not less than in the discipline of his intellect. his father had early implanted in him habits of mental activity, familiarized him with the laws of mechanics, and carefully trained and stimulated his inventive faculties, the first great fruits of which, as we have seen, were exhibited in the triumph of the "rocket" at rainhill. "i am fully conscious in my own mind," said the son at a meeting of the mechanical engineers at newcastle in , "how greatly my civil engineering has been regulated and influenced by the mechanical knowledge which i derived directly from my father; and the more my experience has advanced, the more convinced i have become that it is necessary to educate an engineer in the workshop. that is, emphatically, the education which will render the engineer most intelligent, most useful, and the fullest of resources in times of difficulty." robert stephenson was but twenty-six years old when the performances of the "rocket" established the practicability of steam locomotion on railways. he was shortly after appointed engineer of the leicester and swannington railway; after which, at his father's request, he was made joint engineer with himself in laying out the london and birmingham railway, and the execution of that line was afterward intrusted to him as sole engineer. the stability and excellence of the works of that railway, the difficulties which had been successfully overcome in the course of its construction, and the judgment which was displayed by robert stephenson throughout the whole conduct of the undertaking to its completion, established his reputation as an engineer, and his father could now look with confidence and pride upon his son's achievements. from that time forward, father and son worked together cordially, each jealous of the other's honor; and on the father's retirement it was generally recognized that, in the sphere of railways, robert stephenson was the foremost man, the safest guide, and the most active worker. robert stephenson was subsequently appointed engineer of the eastern counties, the northern and eastern, and the blackwall railways, besides many lines in the midland and southern districts. when the speculation of set in, his services were, of course, greatly in request. thus, in one session, we find him engaged as engineer for not fewer than thirty-three new schemes. projectors thought themselves fortunate who could secure his name, and he had only to propose his terms to obtain them. the work which he performed at this period of his life was indeed enormous, and his income was large beyond any previous instance of engineering gain. but much of the labor done was mere hackwork of a very uninteresting character. during the sittings of the committees of parliament, much time was also occupied in consultations, and in preparing evidence or in giving it. the crowded, low-roofed committee-rooms of the old houses of parliament were altogether inadequate to accommodate the press of perspiring projectors of bills, and even the lobbies were sometimes choked with them. to have borne that noisome atmosphere and heat would have tested the constitutions of salamanders, and engineers were only human. with brains kept in a state of excitement during the entire day, no wonder their nervous systems became unstrung. their only chance of refreshment was during an occasional rush to the bun and sandwich stand in the lobby, though sometimes even that resource failed them. then, with mind and body jaded--probably after undergoing a series of consultations upon many bills after the rising of the committees--the exhausted engineers would seek to stimulate nature by a late, perhaps a heavy dinner. what chance had any ordinary constitution of surviving such an ordeal? the consequence was, that stomach, brain, and liver were alike injured, and hence the men who bore the heat and brunt of those struggles--stephenson, brunel, locke, and errington--have already all died, comparatively young men. in mentioning the name of brunel, we are reminded of him as the principal rival and competitor of robert stephenson. both were the sons of distinguished men, and both inherited the fame and followed in the footsteps of their fathers. the stephensons were inventive, practical, and sagacious; the brunels ingenious, imaginative, and daring. the former were as thoroughly english in their characteristics as the latter perhaps were as thoroughly french. the fathers and the sons were alike successful in their works, though not in the same degree. measured by practical and profitable results, the stephensons were unquestionably the safer men to follow. robert stephenson and isambard kingdom brunel were destined often to come into collision in the course of their professional life. their respective railway districts "marched" with each other, and it became their business to invade or defend those districts, according as the policy of their respective boards might direct. the gauge of feet fixed by brunel for the great western railway, so entirely different from that of feet - / inches adopted by the stephensons on the northern and midland lines,[ ] was from the first a great cause of contention. but brunel had always an aversion to follow any man's lead; and that another engineer had fixed the gauge of a railway, or built a bridge, or designed an engine in one way, was of itself often a sufficient reason with him for adopting an altogether different course. robert stephenson, on his part, though less bold, was more practical, preferring to follow the old routes, and to tread in the safe steps of his father. mr. brunel, however, determined that the great western should be a giant's road, and that traveling should be conducted upon it at double speed. his ambition was to make the _best_ road that imagination could devise, whereas the main object of the stephensons, both father and son, was to make a road that would _pay_. although, tried by the stephenson test, brunel's magnificent road was a failure so far as the shareholders in the great western company were concerned, the stimulus which his ambitious designs gave to mechanical invention at the time proved a general good. the narrow-gauge engineers exerted themselves to quicken their locomotives to the utmost. they improved and reimproved them. the machinery was simplified and perfected. outside cylinders gave place to inside; the steadier and more rapid and effective action of the engine was secured, and in a few years the highest speed on railways went up from thirty to about fifty miles an hour. for this rapidity in progress we are in no small degree indebted to the stimulus imparted to the narrow-gauge engineers by mr. brunel. it was one of the characteristics of brunel to _believe_ in the success of the schemes for which he was professionally engaged as engineer, and he proved this by investing his savings largely in the great western railway, in the south devon atmospherical line, and in the great eastern steam-ship, with what results are well known. robert stephenson, on the contrary, with characteristic caution, toward the latter years of his life avoided holding unguaranteed railway shares; and though he might execute magnificent structures, such as the victoria bridge across the st. lawrence, he was careful not to embark any portion of his own fortune in the ordinary capital of these concerns. in he shrewdly foresaw the inevitable crash that was about to succeed the mania of that year, and while shares were still at a premium he took the opportunity of selling out all that he held. he urged his father to do the same thing, but george's reply was characteristic. "no," said he "i took my shares for an investment, and not to speculate with, and i am not going to sell them now because people have gone mad about railways." the consequence was, that he continued to hold the £ , which he had invested in the shares of various railways until his death, when they were at once sold out by his son, though at a great depreciation on their original cost. one of the hardest battles fought between the stephensons and brunel was for the railway between newcastle and berwick, forming part of the great east coast route to scotland. as early as george stephenson had surveyed two lines to connect edinburg with newcastle: one by berwick and dunbar along the coast, and the other, more inland, by carter fell, up the vale of the gala, to the northern capital. two years later he made a farther examination of the intervening country, and reported in favor of the coast line. the inland route, however, was not without its advocates. but both projects lay dormant for several years longer, until the completion of the midland and other main lines as far north as newcastle had the effect of again reviving the subject of the extension of the route as far as edinburg. on the th of june, , the newcastle and darlington line--an important link of the great main highway to the north--was completed and publicly opened, thus connecting the thames and the tyne by a continuous line of railway. on that day george stephenson and a distinguished party of railway men traveled by express train from london to newcastle in about nine hours. it was a great event, and was worthily celebrated. the population of newcastle held holiday; and a banquet given in the assembly rooms the same evening assumed the form of an ovation to mr. stephenson and his son. after the opening of this railway, the project of the east coast line from newcastle to berwick was revived, and george stephenson, who had already identified himself with the question, and was intimately acquainted with every foot of the ground, was again called upon to assist the promoters with his judgment and experience. he again recommended as strongly as before the line he had previously surveyed; and on its being adopted by the local committee, the necessary steps were taken to have the scheme brought before parliament in the ensuing session. the east coast line was not, however, to be allowed to pass without a fight. on the contrary, it had to encounter as stout an opposition as stephenson had ever experienced. we have already stated that about this time the plan of substituting atmospheric pressure for locomotive steam-power in the working of railways had become very popular. many eminent engineers avowedly supported atmospheric in preference to locomotive lines; and many members of parliament, headed by the prime ministers, were strongly disposed in their favor. mr. brunel warmly espoused the atmospheric principle, and his persuasive manner, as well as his admitted scientific ability, unquestionably exercised considerable influence in determining the views of many leading members of both houses. among others, lord howick, one of the members for northumberland, advocated the new principle, and, possessing great local influence, he succeeded in forming a powerful confederacy of the landed gentry in favor of brunel's atmospheric railway through the country. george stephenson could not brook the idea of seeing the locomotive, for which he had fought so many stout battles, pushed to one side, and that in the very county in which its great powers had been first developed. nor did he relish the appearance of mr. brunel as the engineer of lord howick's scheme, in opposition to the line which had occupied his thoughts and been the object of his strenuous advocacy for so many years. when stephenson first met brunel in newcastle, he good-naturedly shook him by the collar, and asked "what business he had north of the tyne?" george gave him to understand that they were to have a fair stand-up fight for the ground, and shaking hands before the battle like englishmen, they parted in good-humor. a public meeting was held at newcastle in the following december, when, after a full discussion of the merits of the respective plans, stephenson's line was almost unanimously adopted as the best. the rival projects went before parliament in , and a severe contest ensued. the display of ability and tactics on both sides was great. robert stephenson was examined at great length as to the merits of the locomotive line, and brunel at equally great length as to the merits of the atmospheric. mr. brunel, in his evidence, said that, after numerous experiments, he had arrived at the conclusion that the mechanical contrivance of the atmospheric system was perfectly applicable, and he believed that it would likewise be more economical in most cases than locomotive power. "in short," said he, "rapidity, comfort, safety, and economy are its chief recommendations." notwithstanding the promise of mr. sergeant wrangham, the counsel for lord howick's scheme, that the northumberland atmospheric was to be "a _respectable_ line, and not one that was to be converted into a road for the accommodation of the coal-owners of the district," the locomotive again triumphed. the stephenson coast line secured the approval of parliament, and the shareholders in the atmospheric company were happily prevented investing their capital in what would unquestionably have proved a gigantic blunder. for, less than three years later, the whole of the atmospheric tubes which had been laid down on other lines were pulled up and the materials sold, including mr. brunel's immense tube on the south devon railway[ ]--to make way for the working of the locomotive engine. george stephenson's first verdict of "it won't do" was thus conclusively confirmed. robert stephenson used afterward to describe with gusto an interview which took place between lord howick and his father, at his office in great george street, during the progress of the bill in parliament. his father was in the outer office, where he used to spend a good deal of his spare time, occasionally taking a quiet wrestle with a friend when nothing else was stirring.[ ] on the day in question, george was standing with his back to the fire, when lord howick called to see robert. oh! thought george, he has come to try and talk robert over about that atmospheric gimcrack; but i'll tackle his lordship. "come in, my lord," said he; "robert's busy; but i'll answer your purpose quite as well; sit down here, if you please." george began, "now, my lord, i know very well what you have come about: it's that atmospheric line in the north; i will show you in less than five minutes that it can never answer." "if mr. robert stephenson is not at liberty, i can call again," said his lordship. "he's certainly occupied on important business just at present," was george's answer, "but i can tell you far better than he can what nonsense the atmospheric system is: robert's good-natured, you see, and if your lordship were to get alongside of him you might talk him over; so you have been quite lucky in meeting with me. now just look at the question of expense," and then he proceeded in his strong doric to explain his views in detail, until lord howick could stand it no longer, and he rose and walked toward the door. george followed him down stairs to finish his demolition of the atmospheric system, and his parting words were, "you may take my word for it, my lord, it will never answer." george afterward told his son with glee of "the settler" he had given lord howick. so closely were the stephensons identified with this measure, and so great was the personal interest which they were both known to take in its success, that, on the news of the passing of the bill reaching newcastle, a sort of general holiday took place, and the workmen belonging to the stephenson locomotive factory, upward of eight hundred in number, walked in procession through the principal streets of the town, accompanied by music and banners. [illustration: royal border bridge, berwick. [by r. p. leitch, after his original drawing.]] it is unnecessary to enter into any description of the works of the newcastle and berwick railway. there are no fewer than a hundred and ten bridges of all sorts on the line--some under and some over it--the viaducts over the ouseburn, the wansbeck, and the coquet being of considerable importance. but by far the most formidable piece of masonry work on this railway is at its northern extremity, where it passes across the tweed into scotland, immediately opposite the formerly redoubtable castle of berwick. not many centuries had passed since the district amid which this bridge stands was the scene of almost constant warfare. berwick was regarded as the key of scotland, and was fiercely fought for, being sometimes held by a scotch and sometimes by an english garrison. though strongly fortified, it was repeatedly taken by assault. on its capture by edward i., boetius says, , persons were slain, so that its streets "ran with blood like a river." within sight of the ramparts, a little to the west, is halidon hill, where a famous victory was gained by edward iii. over the scottish army under douglas; and there is scarcely a foot of ground in the neighborhood but has been the scene of contention in days long past. in the reigns of james i. and charles i., a bridge of fifteen arches was built across the tweed at berwick; and now a railway bridge of twenty-eight arches was built a little above the old one, but at a much higher level. the bridge built by the kings out of the national resources cost £ , , and occupied twenty-four years and four months in the building; the bridge built by the railway company, with funds drawn from private resources, cost £ , , and was finished in three years and four months from the day of laying the foundation stone. this important viaduct, built after the designs of robert stephenson, consists of a series of twenty-eight semicircular arches, each feet inches in span, the greatest height above the bed of the river being feet. the whole is built of ashlar, with a hearting of rubble, excepting the river parts of the arches, which are constructed with bricks laid in cement. the total length of the work is feet. the foundations of the piers were got in by coffer-dams in the ordinary way, nasmyth's steam-hammer being extensively used in driving the piles. the bearing piles, from which the foundations of the piers were built up, were each capable of carrying tons. another bridge, of still greater importance, necessary to complete the continuity of the east coast route, was the master-work erected by robert stephenson between the north and south banks of the tyne, at newcastle, commonly known as the high-level bridge. mr. r. w. brandling, george stephenson's early friend, is entitled to the merit of originating the idea of this bridge, as it was eventually carried out, with a central terminus for the northern railways in the castle garth. the plan was first promulgated by him in ; and in the following year it was resolved that george stephenson should be consulted as to the most advisable site for the proposed structure. a prospectus of a high-level bridge company was issued in , the names of george stephenson and george hudson appearing on the committee of management, robert stephenson being the consulting engineer. the project was eventually taken up by the newcastle and darlington railway company, and an act for the construction of the bridge was obtained in . the rapid extension of railways had given an extraordinary stimulus to the art of bridge-building; the number of such structures erected in great britain alone, since , having been above thirty thousand, or far more than all that previously existed in the country. instead of the erection of a single large bridge constituting, as formerly, an epoch in engineering, hundreds of extensive bridges of novel design were simultaneously constructed. the necessity which existed for carrying rigid roads, capable of bearing heavy railway trains at high speed, over extensive gaps free of support, rendered it apparent that the methods which had up to that time been employed for bridging space were altogether insufficient. the railway engineer could not, like the ordinary road engineer, divert his road, and make choice of the best point for crossing a river or a valley. he must take such ground as lay in the line of his railway, be it bog, or mud, or shifting sand. navigable rivers and crowded thoroughfares had to be crossed without interruption to the existing traffic, sometimes by bridges at right angles to the river or road, sometimes by arches more or less oblique. in many cases great difficulty arose from the limited nature of the headway; but, as the level of the original road must generally be preserved, and that of the railway was in a measure fixed and determined, it was necessary to modify the form and structure of the bridge in almost every case, in order to comply with the public requirements. novel conditions were met by fresh inventions, and difficulties of an unusual character were one after another successfully surmounted. in executing these extraordinary works, iron has been throughout the sheet-anchor of the engineer. in the various forms of cast and wrought iron it offered a valuable resource where rapidity of execution, great strength and cheapness of construction in the first instance were elements of prime importance, and by its skillful use the railway architect was enabled to achieve results which thirty years since would scarcely have been thought possible. in many of the early cast-iron bridges the old form of the arch was adopted, the stability of the structure depending wholly on compression, the only novel feature consisting in the use of iron instead of stone. but in a large proportion of cases, the arch, with the railroad over it, was found inapplicable in consequence of the limited headway which it provided. hence it early occurred to george stephenson, when constructing the liverpool and manchester railway, to adopt the simple cast-iron beam for the crossing of several roads and canals along that line--this beam resembling in some measure the lintel of the early temples--the pressure on the abutments being purely vertical. one of the earliest instances of this kind of bridge was that erected over water street, manchester, in ; after which, cast-iron girders, with their lower webs considerably larger than their upper, were ordinarily employed where the span was moderate, and wrought-iron tie-rods below were added to give increased strength where the span was greater. the next step was the contrivance of arched beams or bow-string girders, firmly held together by horizontal ties to resist the thrust, instead of abutments. numerous excellent specimens of this description of bridge were erected by robert stephenson on the original london and birmingham railway; but by far the grandest work of the kind--perfect as a specimen of modern constructive skill--was the high-level bridge, which we owe to the genius of the same engineer. the problem was to throw a railway bridge across the deep ravine which lies between the towns of newcastle and gateshead, at the bottom of which flows the navigable river tyne. along and up the sides of the valley--on the newcastle bank especially--run streets of old-fashioned houses, clustered together in the strange forms peculiar to the older cities. the ravine is of great depth--so deep and gloomy-looking toward dusk, that local tradition records that when the duke of cumberland arrived late in the evening, at the brow of the hill overlooking the tyne, on his way to culloden, he exclaimed to his attendants, on looking down into the black gorge before him, "for god's sake, don't think of taking me down that coal-pit at this time of night!" the road down the gateshead high street is almost as steep as the roof of a house, and up the newcastle side, as the street there is called, it is little better. during many centuries the traffic north and south passed along this dangerous and difficult route, across the old bridge which spans the river in the bottom of the valley. for some thirty years the newcastle corporation had discussed various methods of improving the communication between the towns; and the discussion might have gone on for thirty years more, but for the advent of railways, when the skill and enterprise to which they gave birth speedily solved the difficulty and bridged the ravine. the local authorities adroitly took advantage of the opportunity, and insisted on the provision of a road for ordinary vehicles and foot passengers in addition to the railroad. in this circumstance originated one of the most remarkable peculiarities of the high-level bridge, which serves two purposes, being a railway above, with a carriage roadway underneath. the breadth of the river at the point of crossing is feet, but the length of the bridge and viaduct between the gateshead station and the terminus on the newcastle side is about feet. it springs from pipewell gate bank, on the south, directly across to castle garth, where, nearly fronting the bridge, stands the fine old norman keep of the _new_ castle, now nearly eight hundred years old; and a little beyond it is the spire of st. nicholas church, with its light and graceful gothic crown, the whole forming a grand architectural group of unusual historic interest. the bridge passes completely over the roofs of the houses which fill both sides of the valley, and the extraordinary height of the upper parapet, which is about feet above the bed of the river, offers a prospect to the passing traveler the like of which is perhaps nowhere else to be seen. far below lie the queer chares and closes, the wynds and lanes of old newcastle; the water is crowded with pudgy, black coal keels; and, when there is a lull in the great clouds of smoke which usually obscure the sky, the funnels of steamers and the masts of the shipping may be seen far down the river. the old bridge lies so far beneath that the passengers crossing it seem like so many bees passing to and fro. the first difficulty encountered in building the bridge was in securing a solid foundation for the piers. the dimensions of the piles to be driven were so huge that the engineer found it necessary to employ some extraordinary means for the purpose. he called nasmyth's titanic steam-hammer to his aid--the first occasion, we believe, on which this prodigious power was employed in bridge pile-driving. a temporary staging was erected for the steam-engine and hammer apparatus, which rested on two keels, and, notwithstanding the newness and stiffness of the machinery, the first pile was driven on the th of october, , to a depth of feet in four minutes. two hammers of cwt. each were kept in regular use, making from to strokes per minute, and the results were astounding to those who had been accustomed to the old style of pile-driving by means of the ordinary pile-frame, consisting of slide, ram, and monkey. by the old system the pile was driven by a comparatively small mass of iron descending with great velocity from a considerable height--the velocity being in excess and the mass deficient, and calculated, like the momentum of a cannon-ball, rather for destructive than impulsive action. in the case of the steam pile-driver, on the contrary, the whole weight of a heavy mass is delivered rapidly upon a driving-block of several tons weight placed directly over the head of the pile, the weight never ceasing, and the blows being repeated at the rate of a blow a second, until the pile is driven home. it is a curious fact, that the rapid strokes of the steam-hammer evolved so much heat, that on many occasions the pile-head burst into flame during the process of driving. the elastic force of steam is the power that lifts the ram, the escape permitting its entire force to fall upon the head of the driving-block; while the steam above the piston on the upper part of the cylinder, acting as a buffer or recoil-spring, materially enhances the effect of the downward blow. as soon as one pile was driven, the traveler, hovering overhead, presented another, and down it went into the solid bed of the river with almost as much ease as a lady sticks pins into a cushion. by the aid of this formidable machine, what before was among the most costly and tedious of engineering operations was rendered simple, easy, and economical. when the piles had been driven and the coffer-dams formed and puddled, the water within the inclosed spaces was pumped out by the aid of powerful engines, so as to lay bare the bed of the river. considerable difficulty was experienced in getting in the foundations of the middle pier, in consequence of the water forcing itself through the quicksand beneath as fast as it was removed. this fruitless labor went on for months, and many expedients were tried. chalk was thrown in in large quantities outside the piling, but without effect. cement concrete was at last put within the coffer-dam until it set, and the bottom was then found to be secure. a bed of concrete was laid up to the level of the heads of the piles, the foundation course of stone blocks being commenced about two feet below low water, and the building proceeded without farther difficulty. it may serve to give an idea of the magnitude of the work when we state that , cubic feet of ashlar, rubble, and concrete were worked up in the piers, and , cubic feet in the land-arches and approaches. [illustration: high-level bridge--elevation of one arch.] plan of one arch.] the most novel feature of the structure is the use of cast and wrought iron in forming the double bridge, which admirably combines the two principles of the arch and suspension, the railway being carried over the back of the ribbed arches in the usual manner, while the carriage-road and footpaths, forming a long gallery or aisle, are suspended from these arches by wrought-iron vertical rods, with horizontal tie-bars to resist the thrust. the suspension-bolts are inclosed within spandril pillars of cast iron, which give great stiffness to the superstructure. this system of longitudinal and vertical bracing has been much admired, for it not only accomplishes the primary object of securing rigidity in the roadway, but at the same time, by its graceful arrangement, heightens the beauty of the structure. the arches consist of four main ribs, disposed in pairs, with a clear distance between the two inner arches of feet inches, forming the carriage-road, while between each of the inner and outer ribs there is a space of feet inches, constituting the footpaths. each arch is cast in five separate lengths or segments, strongly bolted together. the ribs spring from horizontal plates of cast iron, bedded and secured on the stone piers. all the abutting joints were carefully executed by machinery, the fitting being of the most perfect kind. in order to provide for the expansion and contraction of the iron arching, and to preserve the equilibrium of the piers without disturbance or racking of the other parts of the bridge, it was arranged that the ribs of every two adjoining arches resting on the same pier should be secured to the springing-plates by keys and joggles; while on the next piers, on either side, the ribs remained free, and were at liberty to expand or contract according to temperature--a space being left for the purpose. hence each arch is complete and independent in itself, the piers having simply to sustain their vertical pressure. the arches are six in number, of feet span each, the two approaches to the bridge being formed of cast-iron pillars and bearers in keeping with the arches. the result is a bridge that for massive solidity may be pronounced unrivaled. it is one of the most magnificent and striking of the bridges to which railways have given birth, and has been worthily styled "the king of railway structures." it is a monument of the highest engineering skill of our time, with the impress of power grandly stamped upon it. it will also be observed from the drawing placed as the frontispiece to this life, that the high-level bridge forms a very fine object in a picture of great interest, full of striking architectural variety and beauty. the bridge was opened on the th of august, . a few days after, the royal train passed over it, halting for a few minutes to enable her majesty to survey the wonderful scene below. in the course of the following year the queen opened the extensive stone viaduct across the tweed above described, by which the last link was completed of the continuous line of railway between london and edinburg. over the entrance to the berwick station, occupying the site of the once redoubtable border fortress, so often the deadly battle-ground of the ancient scots and english, was erected an arch under which the royal train passed, bearing in large letters of gold the appropriate words, "_the last act of the union_." the warders at berwick no longer look out from the castle walls to descry the glitter of southron spears. the bell-tower, from which the alarm was sounded of old, though still standing, is deserted; the only bell heard within the precincts of the old castle being the railway porter's bell announcing the arrival and departure of trains. you see the scotch express pass along the bridge and speed southward on the wings of steam. but no alarm spreads along the border now. northumbrian beeves are safe. chevy chase and otterburn are quiet sheep-pastures. the only men-at-arms on the battlements of alnwick castle are of stone. bamborough castle has become an asylum for shipwrecked mariners, and the norman keep at newcastle has been converted into a museum of antiquities. the railway has indeed consummated the union. footnotes: [ ] the original width of the coal tram-roads in the north virtually determined the british gauge. it was the width of the ordinary road-track--not fixed after any scientific theory, but adopted simply because its use had already been established. george stephenson introduced it without alteration on the liverpool and manchester railway, and the lines subsequently formed in that district were laid down of the same width. stephenson from the first anticipated the general extension of railways throughout england, and one of the ideas with which he started was the essential importance of preserving such a uniformity as would admit of perfect communication between them. when consulted about the gauge of the canterbury and whitstable, and leicester and swannington railways, he said, "make them of the same width: though they may be a long way apart now, depend upon it they will be joined together some day." all the railways, therefore, laid down by himself and his assistants in the neighborhood of manchester, extending from thence to london on the south, and to leeds on the east, were constructed on the liverpool and manchester, or narrow gauge. besides the great western railway, where the gauge adopted was seven feet, the only other line on which a broader gauge than four feet eight and a half inches was adopted was the eastern counties, where it was five feet, mr. braithwaite, the engineer, being of opinion that an increase of three and a half inches in the width of the line would afford better space for the machinery of the locomotive. but when the northern and eastern extension of the same line was formed, which was to work into the narrow-gauge system of the midland railway, robert stephenson, its new engineer, strongly recommended the directors of the eastern counties line to alter their gauge accordingly, for the purpose of securing uniformity, and they adopted his recommendation. [ ] the atmospheric lines had for some time been working very irregularly and very expensively. robert stephenson, in a letter to mr. t. sopwith, f.r.s., dated the th of january, , wrote: "since my return [from italy] i have learned that your atmospheric friends are very sickly. a slow typhus has followed the high fever i left them in about three months ago. i don't anticipate, however, that the patient will expire suddenly. there is every appearance of the case being a protracted one, though a fatal termination is inevitable. when the pipes are sold by auction, i intend to buy one and present it to the british museum." during the last half year of the atmospheric experiment on the south devon line in , the expenditure exceeded the gross income (£ , ) by £ , or about - / per cent. excess of working expenses beyond the gross receipts. [ ] "when my father came about the office," said robert, "he sometimes did not well know what to do with himself. so he used to invite bidder to have a quiet wrestle with him, for old acquaintance sake. and the two wrestled together so often, and had so many 'falls' (sometimes i thought they would bring the house down between them), that they broke half the chairs in my outer office. i remember once sending my father in a joiner's bill of about £ _s._ for the mending of broken chairs." chapter xviii. chester and holyhead railway--menai and conway bridges. we have now to describe briefly another great undertaking, begun by george stephenson, and taken up and completed by his son, in the course of which the latter carried out some of his greatest works--we mean the chester and holyhead railway, completing the railway connection with dublin, as the newcastle and berwick line completed the connection with edinburg. it will thus be seen how closely telford was followed by the stephensons in perfecting the highways of their respective epochs; the former by means of turnpike roads, and the latter by means of railways. george stephenson surveyed a line from chester to holyhead in , and at the same time reported on the line through north wales to port dynallen, as proposed by the irish railway commissioners. his advice was strongly in favor of adopting the line to holyhead, as less costly and presenting better gradients. a public meeting was held at chester in january, , in support of the latter measure, at which he was present to give explanations. mr. uniacke, the mayor, in opening the proceedings, observed that it clearly appeared that the rival line through shrewsbury was quite impracticable. mr. stephenson, he added, was present in the room, ready to answer any questions which might be put to him on the subject; and "it would be better that he should be asked questions than required to make a speech; for, though a very good engineer, he was a bad speaker." one of the questions then put to mr. stephenson related to the mode by which he proposed to haul the passenger-carriages over the menai suspension bridge by horse-power; and he was asked whether he knew the pressure the bridge was capable of sustaining. his answer was that "he had not yet made any calculations, but he proposed getting data which would enable him to arrive at an accurate calculation of the actual strain upon the bridge during the late gale. he had, however, no hesitation in saying that it was more than twenty times as much as the strain of a train of carriages and a locomotive engine. the only reason why he proposed to convey the carriages over by horses was in order that he might, by distributing the weight, not increase the wavy motion. all the train would be on at once, but distributed. this he thought better than passing them linked together, by a locomotive engine." it will thus be observed that the practicability of throwing a rigid railroad bridge across the straits had not yet been completed. the dublin chamber of commerce passed resolutions in favor of stephenson's line after hearing his explanations of its essential features. the project, after undergoing much discussion, was at length embodied in an act passed in , and the work was brought to a successful completion by his son, with several important modifications, including the grand original feature of the tubular bridges across the menai straits and the estuary of the conway. excepting these great works, the construction of this line presented no unusual features, though the remarkable terrace cut for the accommodation of the railway under the steep slope of penmaen mawr is worthy of a passing notice. about midway between conway and bangor, penmaen mawr forms a bold and almost precipitous headland, at the base of which, in rough weather, the ocean dashes with great fury. there was not space enough between the mountain and the strand for the passage of the railway; hence in some places the rock had to be blasted to form a terrace, and in others sea walls had to be built up to the proper level, on which to form an embankment of sufficient width to enable the road to be laid. a tunnel of - / chains in length was cut through the headland itself; and on its east and west sides the line was formed by a terrace cut out of the cliff, and by embankments protected by sea walls, the terrace being three times interrupted by embankments in its course of about a mile and a quarter. the road lies so close under the steep mountain face that it was even found necessary at certain places to protect it against possible accidents from falling stones, by means of a covered way. the terrace on the east side of the headland was, however, in some measure, protected against the roll of the sea by the mass of stone run out from the tunnel, which formed a deep shingle-bank in front of the wall. [illustration: penmaen mawr. [by percival skelton, after his original drawing.]] the part of the work which lies to the westward of the headland penetrated by the tunnel was exposed to the full force of the sea, and the formation of the road at that point was attended with great difficulty. while the sea wall was still in progress, its strength was severely tried by a strong northwesterly gale which blew in october, , accompanied with a spring tide of feet. on the following morning it was found that a large portion of the rubble was irreparably injured, and yards of the wall were then replaced by an open viaduct, with the piers placed edgeways to the sea, the openings between them being spanned by ten cast-iron girders feet long. this accident farther induced the engineer to alter the contour of the sea wall, so that it should present a diminished resistance to the force of the waves. but the sea repeated its assaults, and made farther havoc with the work, entailing heavy expenses and a complete reorganization of the contract. increased solidity was then given to the masonry, and the face of the wall underwent farther change. at some points outworks were constructed, and piles were driven into the beach about feet from the base of the wall for the purpose of protecting its foundations and breaking the force of the waves. the work was at length finished after about three years' anxious labor; but mr. stephenson confessed that if a long tunnel had been made in the first instance through the solid rock of penmaen mawr, a saving of from £ , to £ , would have been effected. he also said he had arrived at the conclusion that in railway works engineers should endeavor as far as possible to avoid the necessity of contending with the sea;[ ] but if he were ever again compelled to go within its reach, he would adopt, instead of retaining walls, an open viaduct, placing all the piers edgeways to the force of the sea, and allowing the waves to break upon a natural slope of beach. he was ready enough to admit the errors he had committed in the original design of this work; but he said he had always gained more information from studying the causes of failures and endeavoring to surmount them, than he had done from easily-won successes. while many of the latter had been forgotten, the former were indelibly fixed in his memory. but by far the greatest difficulty which robert stephenson had to encounter in executing this railway was in carrying it across the straits of menai and the estuary of the conway, where, like his predecessor telford, when forming his high road through north wales, he was under the necessity of resorting to new and altogether untried methods of bridge construction. at menai, the waters of the irish sea are perpetually vibrating along the precipitous shores of the strait, rising and falling from to feet at each successive tide, the width and depth of the channel being such as to render it available for navigation by the largest ships. the problem was to throw a bridge across this wide chasm--a bridge of unusual span and dimensions--of such strength as to be capable of bearing the heaviest loads at high speeds, and of such a uniform height throughout as not in any way to interfere with the navigation of the strait. from an early period mr. stephenson had fixed upon the spot where the britannia rock occurs, nearly in the middle of the channel, as the most eligible point for crossing, the water width from shore to shore at high water being there about feet. [illustration: map of menai strait; britannia bridge] the engineer's first idea was to construct the bridge of two cast-iron arches of feet span each. there was no novelty in this idea; for, as early as the year , mr. rennie prepared a design of a cast-iron bridge across the strait at the swilly rocks, the great centre arch of which was to be feet span; and at a later period, in , telford submitted a design of a similar bridge at inys-y-moch, with a single cast-iron arch of feet. but the same objections which led to the rejection of rennie's and telford's designs proved fatal to robert stephenson's, and his iron-arched railway bridge was rejected by the admiralty. the navigation of the strait was under no circumstances to be interfered with; and even the erection of scaffolding from below, to support the bridge during construction, was not to be permitted. the idea of a suspension bridge was dismissed as inapplicable, a degree of rigidity and strength greater than could be secured by any bridge erected on the principle of suspension being considered an indispensable condition of the proposed structure. mr. stephenson next considered the expediency of erecting a bridge by means of suspended centering, after the ingenious method proposed by telford in ,[ ] by which the arching was to be carried out by placing equal and corresponding voussoirs on opposite sides of the pier at the same time, tying them together by horizontal tie-bolts. the arching, thus extended outward from each pier and held in equilibrium, would have been connected at the crown with the extremity of the arch advanced in like manner from the adjoining pier. it was, however, found that this method of construction was not applicable at the crossing of the conway, and it was eventually abandoned. various other plans were suggested; but the whole question remained unsettled even down to the time when the company went before parliament in for power to construct the proposed bridges. no existing kind of structure seemed to be capable of bearing the severe extension to which rigid bridges of the necessary spans would be subjected, and some new expedient of engineering therefore became necessary. mr. stephenson was then led to reconsider a design which he had made in for a road bridge over the river lea at ware, with a span of feet, the conditions only admitting of a platform or inches thick. for this purpose a wrought-iron platform was devised, consisting of a series of simple cells, formed of boiler-plates riveted together with angle-iron. the bridge was not, however, carried out after this design, but was made of separate wrought-iron girders composed of riveted plates.[ ] recurring to his first idea of this bridge, the engineer thought that a stiff platform might be constructed, with sides of strongly-trussed frame-work of wrought iron, braced together at top and bottom with plates of like material riveted together with angle-iron, after a method adopted by mr. rendel in stiffening the suspension bridge at montrose with wooden trellis-work a few years before; and that such platform might be suspended by strong chains on either side to give it increased security. "it was now," says mr. stephenson, "that i came to regard the tubular platform as a beam, and that the chains should be looked upon as auxiliaries." it appeared to him, nevertheless, that without a system of diagonal struts inside, which of course would have prevented the passage of trains _through_ it, this kind of structure was ill suited for maintaining its form, and would be very liable to become lozenge-shaped. besides, the rectangular figure was deemed objectionable, from the large surface which it presented to the wind. it then occurred to him that circular or elliptical tubes might better answer the intended purpose; and in march, , he gave instructions to two of his assistants to prepare drawings of such a structure, the tubes being made with a double thickness of plate at top and bottom. the results of the calculations made as to the strength of such a tube were considered so satisfactory, that mr. stephenson says he determined to fall back upon a bridge of this description on the rejection of his design of the two cast-iron arches by the parliamentary committee. indeed, it became evident that a tubular wrought-iron beam was the only structure which combined the necessary strength and stability for a railway, with the conditions deemed essential for the protection of the navigation: "i stood," says mr. stephenson, "on the verge of a responsibility from which, i confess, i had nearly shrunk. the construction of a tubular beam of such gigantic dimensions, on a platform elevated and supported by chains at such a height, did at first present itself as a difficulty of a very formidable nature. reflection, however, satisfied me that the principles upon which the idea was founded were nothing more than an extension of those daily in use in the profession of the engineer. the method, moreover, of calculating the strength of the structure which i had adopted was of the simplest and most elementary character; and whatever might be the form of the tube, the principle on which the calculations were founded was equally applicable, and could not fail to lead to equally accurate results."[ ] mr. stephenson accordingly announced to the directors of the railway that he was prepared to carry out a bridge of this general description, and they adopted his views, though not without considerable misgivings. while the engineer's mind was still occupied with the subject, an accident occurred to the _prince of wales_ iron steam-ship, at blackwall, which singularly corroborated his views as to the strength of wrought-iron beams of large dimensions. when this vessel was being launched, the cleat on the bow gave way in consequence of the bolts breaking, and let the vessel down so that the bilge came in contact with the wharf, and she remained suspended between the water and the wharf for a length of about feet, but without any injury to the plates of the ship, satisfactorily proving the great strength of this form of construction. thus mr. stephenson became gradually confirmed in his opinion that the most feasible method of bridging the strait at menai and the river at conway was by means of a hollow tube of wrought iron. as the time was approaching for giving evidence before parliament on the subject, it was necessary for him to settle some definite plan for submission to the committee. "my late revered father," says he, "having always taken a deep interest in the various proposals which had been considered for carrying a railway across the menai straits, requested me to explain fully to him the views which led me to suggest the use of a tube, and also the nature of the calculations i had made in reference to it. it was during this personal conference that mr. william fairbairn accidentally called upon me, to whom i also explained the principles of the structure i had proposed. he at once acquiesced in their truth, and expressed confidence in the feasibility of my project, giving me at the same time some facts relative to the remarkable strength of iron steam-ships, and invited me to his works at millwall to examine the construction of an iron steam-ship which was then in progress."[ ] the date of this consultation was early in april, , and mr. fairbairn states that, on that occasion, "mr. stephenson asked whether such a design was practicable, and whether i could accomplish it; and it was ultimately arranged that the subject should be investigated experimentally, to determine not only the value of mr. stephenson's original conception (of a circular or egg-shaped wrought-iron tube, supported by chains), but that of any other tubular form of bridge which might present itself in the prosecution of my researches. the matter was placed unreservedly in my hands; the entire conduct of the investigation was intrusted to me; and, as an experimenter, i was to be left free to exercise my own discretion in the investigation of whatever forms or conditions of the structure might appear to me best calculated to secure a safe passage across the straits."[ ] mr. fairbairn then proceeded to construct a number of experimental models, for the purpose of testing the strength of tubes of different forms. the short period which elapsed, however, before the bill was in committee, did not admit of much progress being made with those experiments; but from the evidence in chief given by mr. stephenson on the subject on the th of may following, it appears that the idea which prevailed in his mind was that of a bridge with openings of feet (afterward increased to feet), with a roadway formed of a hollow wrought-iron beam about feet in diameter, presenting a rigid platform suspended by chains. at the same time, he expressed the confident opinion that a tube of wrought iron would possess sufficient strength and rigidity to support a railway train running inside of it without the help of the chains. while the bill was still in progress, mr. fairbairn proceeded with his experiments. he first tested tubes of a cylindrical form, in consequence of the favorable opinion entertained by mr. stephenson of tubes in that shape, extending them subsequently to those of an elliptical form.[ ] he found tubes thus shaped more or less defective, and proceeded to test those of a rectangular kind. after the bill had received the royal assent, on the th of june, , the directors of the company, with great liberality, voted a sum for the purpose of enabling the experiments to be prosecuted, and upward of £ were thus expended to make the assurance of their engineer doubly sure. mr. fairbairn's tests were of the most elaborate and eventually conclusive character, bringing to light many new and important facts of great practical value. the due proportions and thicknesses of the top, bottom, and sides of the tubes were arrived at after a vast number of separate trials, one of the results of the experiments being the adoption of mr. fairbairn's invention of rectangular hollow cells in the top of the beam for the purpose of giving it the requisite degree of strength. about the end of august it was thought desirable to obtain the assistance of a mathematician, who should prepare a formula by which the strength of a full-sized tube might be calculated from the results of the experiments made with tubes of smaller dimensions. professor hodgkinson was accordingly called in, and he proceeded to verify and confirm the experiments which mr. fairbairn had made, and afterward reduced them to the required formulæ, though mr. fairbairn states that they did not appear in time to be of any practical service in proportioning the parts of the largest tubes.[ ] mr. stephenson's time was so much engrossed with his extensive engineering business that he was in a great measure precluded from devoting himself to the consideration of the practical details, which he felt were safe in the hands of mr. fairbairn--"a gentleman," as he stated to the committee of the commons, "whose experience was greater than that of any other man in england." the results of the experiments were communicated to him from time to time, and were regarded by him as exceedingly satisfactory. it would appear, however, that while mr. fairbairn urged the sufficient rigidity and strength of the tubes without the aid of chains, mr. stephenson had not quite made up his mind upon the point. mr. hodgkinson, also, was strongly inclined to retain them.[ ] mr. fairbairn held that it was quite practicable to make the tubes "sufficiently strong to sustain not only their own weight, but, in addition to that load, tons equally distributed over the surface of the platform--a load ten times greater than they will ever be called upon to support." it was thoroughly characteristic of mr. stephenson, and of the caution with which he proceeded in every step of this great undertaking--probing every inch of the ground before he set his foot down upon it--that he should, early in , have appointed his able assistant, mr. edwin clark, to scrutinize carefully the results of every experiment, whether made by mr. fairbairn or mr. hodgkinson, and subject them to a separate and independent analysis before finally deciding upon the form or dimensions of the structure, or upon any mode of procedure connected with it. that great progress had been made by the two chief experimenters before the end of appears from the papers on the subject read by messrs. fairbairn and hodgkinson before the british association at southampton in september of that year. in the course of the following month mr. stephenson had become satisfied that the use of auxiliary chains was unnecessary, and that the tubular bridge might be made of such strength as to be entirely self-supporting.[ ] while these important discussions were in progress, measures were taken to proceed with the masonry of the bridges simultaneously at conway and the menai strait. the foundation-stone of the britannia bridge was laid by mr. frank forster, the resident engineer, on the th of april, ; and on the th of may following that of the conway bridge was laid by mr. a. m. ross, resident engineer at that part of the works. suitable platforms and workshops were also erected for proceeding with the punching, fitting, and riveting of the tubes; and when these operations were in full progress, the neighborhood of the conway and britannia bridges presented scenes of extraordinary bustle and industry. on the th of july, , mr. clark informed mr. stephenson that "the masonry gets on rapidly. the abutments on the anglesea side resemble the foundations of a great city rather than of a single structure, and nothing appears to stand still here." about men were employed on the britannia bridge alone, and they mostly lived upon the ground in wooden cottages erected for the occasion. the iron plates were brought in ship-loads from liverpool, anglesea marble from penmon, and red sandstone from runcorn, in cheshire, as wind and tide, and shipping and convenience, might determine. there was an unremitting clank of hammers, grinding of machinery, and blasting of rock going on from morning to night. in fitting the britannia tubes together not less than , , of bolts were riveted, weighing some tons. the britannia bridge consists of two independent continuous tubular beams, each feet in length, and each weighing tons, independent of the cast-iron frames inserted at their bearings on the masonry of the towers. these immense beams are supported at five places, namely, on the abutments and on three towers, the central of which is known as the great britannia tower, feet high, built on a rock in the middle of the strait. the side towers are feet less in height than the central one, and the abutments feet lower than the side towers. the design of the masonry is such as to accord with the form of the tubes, being somewhat of an egyptian character, massive and gigantic rather than beautiful, but bearing the unmistakable impress of power. the bridge has four spans--two of feet over the water, and two of feet over the land. the weight of the longer spans, at the points where the tubes repose on the masonry, is not less than tons. on the centre tower the tubes lie solid; but on the land towers and abutments they lie on roller-beds, so as to allow of expansion and contraction. the road within each tube is feet wide, and the height varies from feet at the ends to feet at the centre. to give an idea of the vast size of the tubes by comparison with other structures, it may be mentioned that each length constituting the main spans is twice as long as london monument is high; and if it could be set on end in st. paul's church-yard, it would reach nearly feet above the cross. [illustration: construction of the main britannia tube on the staging.] the conway bridge is, in most respects, similar to the britannia, consisting of two tubes of feet span, placed side by side, each weighing tons. the principle adopted in the construction of the tubes, and the mode of floating and raising them, was nearly the same as at the britannia bridge, though the general arrangement of the plates is in many respects different. it was determined to construct the shorter outer tubes of the britannia bridge on scaffoldings in the positions in which they were permanently to remain, and to erect the larger tubes upon wooden platforms at high-water-mark on the caernarvon shore, from whence they were to be floated in pontoons--in like manner as rennie had floated into their places the centerings of his waterloo and other bridges--and then raised into their proper places by means of hydraulic power, after a method originally suggested by mr. edwin clark. the tubes of the conway bridge also were to be constructed on shore, and floated to their places on pontoons, as in the case of the main centre tubes of the britannia bridge. [illustration: conway bridge. [by percival skelton.]] the floating of these tubes on pontoons, from the places where they had been constructed to the recesses in the masonry of the towers, up which they were to be hoisted to the places they were permanently to occupy, was an anxious and exciting operation. the first proceeding of this nature was at conway, where mr. stephenson directed it in person, assisted by captain claxton, mr. brunel, and other engineering friends. on the th of march, , the pontoons bearing the first great tube of the up-line were floated round quietly and majestically into their place between the towers in about twenty minutes. unfortunately, one of the sets of pontoons had become slightly slued by the stream, by which the conway end of the tube was prevented from being brought home, and five anxious days to all concerned intervened before it could be set in its place. in the mean time, the presses and raising machinery had been fitted in the towers above, and the lifting process was begun on the th of april, when the immense mass was raised feet, at the rate of about inches a minute. on the th the tube had been raised and finally lowered into its permanent bed; the rails were laid within it; and on the th mr. stephenson passed through with the first locomotive. the second tube was proceeded with on the removal of the first from the platform, and was completed and floated in seven months. the rapidity with which this second tube was constructed was in no small degree owing to the jacquard punching-machine, contrived for the purpose of punching the holes for the rivets by mr. roberts, of manchester. the tube was finally fixed in its permanent bed on the d of january, . the floating and fixing of the great britannia tubes was a still more formidable enterprise, though the experience gained at conway rendered it easy compared with what it otherwise would have been. mr. stephenson superintended the operation of floating the first in person, giving the arranged signals from the top of the tube on which he was mounted, the active part of the business being performed by a numerous corps of sailors, under the immediate direction of captain claxton. thousands of spectators lined the shores of the strait on the evening of the th of june, . on the land attachments being cut, the pontoons began to float off; but one of the capstans having given way from the too great strain put upon it, the tube was brought home again for the night. by next morning the defective capstan was restored, and all was in readiness for another trial. at half past seven in the evening the tube was afloat, and the pontoons swung out into the current like a monster pendulum, held steady by the shore guide-lines, but increasing in speed to almost a fearful extent as they neared their destined place between the piers. "the success of this operation," says mr. clark, "depended mainly on properly striking the 'butt' beneath the anglesey tower, on which, as upon a centre, the tube was to be veered round into its position across the opening. this position was determined by a -inch line, which was to be paid out to a fixed mark from the llanfair capstan. the coils of the rope unfortunately overrode each other upon this capstan, so that it could not be paid out. in resisting the motion of the tube, the capstan was bodily dragged out of the platform by the action of the palls, and the tube was in imminent danger of being carried away by the stream, or the pontoons crushed upon the rocks. the men at the capstan were all knocked down, and some of them thrown into the water, though they made every exertion to arrest the motion of the capstan-bars. in this dilemma, mr. charles rolfe, who had charge of the capstan, with great presence of mind called the visitors on shore to his assistance; and handing out the spare coil of the -inch line into the field at the back of the capstan, it was carried with great rapidity up the field, and a crowd of people, men, women, and children, holding on to this huge cable, arrested the progress of the tube, which was at length brought safely against the butt and veered round. the britannia end was then drawn into the recess of the masonry by a chain passing through the tower to a crab on the far side. the violence of the tide abated, though the wind increased, and the anglesey end was drawn into its place beneath the corbeling in the masonry; and as the tide went down, the pontoons deposited their valuable cargo on the welcome shelf at each end. the successful issue was greeted by cannon from the shore and the hearty cheers of many thousands of spectators, whose sympathy and anxiety were but too clearly indicated by the unbroken silence with which the whole operation had been accompanied."[ ] by midnight all the pontoons had been got clear of the tube, which now hung suspended over the waters of the strait by its two ends, which rested upon the edges cut in the rock for the purpose at the base of the britannia and anglesey towers respectively, up which the tube had now to be lifted by hydraulic power to its permanent place near the summit. the accuracy with which the gigantic beam had been constructed may be inferred from the fact that, after passing into its place, a clear space remained between the iron plating and the rock outside of it of only about three quarters of an inch! mr. stephenson's anxiety was, of course, very great up to the time of effecting this perilous operation. when he had got the first tube floated at conway and saw all safe, he said to captain moorsom, "now i shall go to bed." but the britannia bridge was a still more difficult enterprise, and cost him many a sleepless night. afterward describing his feelings to his friend mr. gooch, he said, "it was a most anxious and harassing time with me. often at night i would lie tossing about, seeking sleep in vain. the tubes filled my head. i went to bed with them and got up with them. in the gray of the morning, when i looked across the square,[ ] it seemed an immense distance across to the houses on the opposite side. it was nearly the same length as the span of my tubular bridge!" when the first tube had been floated, a friend observed to him, "this great work has made you ten years older." "i have not slept sound," he replied, "for three weeks." sir f. head, however, relates that, when he revisited the spot on the following morning, he observed, sitting on a platform overlooking the suspended tube, a gentleman, reclining entirely by himself, smoking a cigar, and gazing, as if indolently, at the aerial gallery beneath him. it was the engineer himself, contemplating his newborn child. he had strolled down from the neighboring village, after his first sound and refreshing sleep for weeks, to behold in sunshine and solitude that which, during a weary period of gestation, had been either mysteriously moving in his brain, or, like a vision--sometimes of good omen and sometimes of evil--had, by night as well as by day, been flitting across his mind. the next process was the lifting of the tube into its place, which was performed very deliberately and cautiously. it was raised by powerful hydraulic presses, only a few feet at a time, and carefully under-built, before being raised to a farther height. when it had been got up by successive stages of this kind to about feet, an extraordinary accident occurred, during mr. stephenson's absence in london, which he afterward described to the author in as nearly as possible the following words: "in a work of such novelty and magnitude, you may readily imagine how anxious i was that every possible contingency should be provided for. where one chain or rope was required, i provided two. i was not satisfied with 'enough:' i must have absolute security, so far as that was possible. i knew the consequences of failure would be most disastrous to the company, and that the wisest economy was to provide for all contingencies, at whatever cost. when the first tube at the britannia had been successfully floated between the piers, ready for being raised, my young engineers were very much elated; and when the hoisting apparatus had been fixed, they wrote to me, saying, 'we are now all ready for raising her: we could do it in a day, or in two at the most.' but my reply was, no; you must only raise the tube inch by inch, and you must build up under it as you rise. every inch must be made good. nothing must be left to chance or good luck. and fortunate it was that i insisted upon this cautious course being pursued; for, one day, while the hydraulic presses were at work, the bottom of one of them burst clean away! the cross-head and the chains, weighing more than tons, descended with a fearful crash upon the press, and the tube itself fell down upon the packing beneath. though the fall of the tube was not more than nine inches, it crunched solid castings, weighing tons, as if they had been nuts. the tube itself was slightly strained and deflected, though it still remained sufficiently serviceable. but it was a tremendous test to which it was put, for a weight of upward of tons falling even a few inches must be admitted to be a very serious matter. that it stood so well was extraordinary. clark immediately wrote me an account of the circumstance, in which he said, 'thank god you have been so obstinate; for if this accident had occurred without a bed for the end of the tube to fall on, the whole would now have been lying across the bottom of the straits.' five thousand pounds extra expense was caused by this accident, slight though it might seem. but careful provision was made against future failure; a new and improved cylinder was provided; and the work was very soon advancing satisfactorily toward completion."[ ] when the queen first visited the britannia bridge, on her return from the north in , robert stephenson accompanied her majesty and prince albert over the works, explaining the principles on which the bridge had been built, and the difficulties which had attended its erection. he conducted the royal party to near the margin of the sea, and, after describing to them the incident of the fall of the tube, and the reason of its preservation, he pointed with pardonable pride to a pile of stones which the workmen had there raised to commemorate the event. while nearly all the other marks of the work during its progress had been obliterated, that cairn had been left standing in commemoration of the caution and foresight of their chief. [illustration: menai bridge. [by percival skelton, after his original drawing.]] the floating and raising of the remaining tubes need not be described in detail. the second was floated on the d of december, and set in its permanent place on the th of january, . the others[ ] were floated and raised in due course; on the th of march mr. stephenson put the last rivet in the tube, and passed through the completed bridge, accompanied by about a thousand persons, drawn by three locomotives. the bridge was found almost entirely rigid, scarcely showing the slightest deflection. when, in the course of the day, a train of tons of coal was allowed to rest with all its weight, for two hours, in the centre of the eastern land tube, the deflection was only four tenths of an inch, or less than that produced upon the structure by half an hour's sunshine;[ ] while the whole bridge might with safety, and without injury to itself, be deflected to the extent of inches. the bridge was opened for public traffic on the th of march. the cost of the whole work was £ , . the britannia bridge is one of the most remarkable monuments of the enterprise and skill of the present century. robert stephenson was the master spirit of the undertaking. to him belongs the merit of first seizing the ideal conception of the structure best adapted to meet the necessities of the case, and of selecting the best men to work out his idea, himself watching, controlling, and testing every result by independent check and counter-check. and, finally, he organized and directed, through his assistants, the vast band of skilled workmen and laborers who were for so many years occupied in carrying his magnificent original conception to a successful practical issue. but it was not accomplished without the greatest anxiety and mental pressure. mr. clark has well observed that few persons who merely witness the results of the engineer's labors can form any conception of the real difficulties overcome, and the intense anxiety involved in their elaboration. "if the stranger," he says, "who contemplates the finished reality, requires so much thought to appreciate its principles and comprehend its detail, what weary hours must he have undergone who first conceived its bold proportions--who, combating, almost alone, every prejudice that assailed him, and with untiring labor discussing every objection, listening to every opinion, and embodying every inquiry, at length matured, step by step, this noble monument?" on the occasion of raising the last tube into its place, mr. stephenson declared, in reply to the felicitations of a large company who had witnessed the proceedings with intense interest, that not all the triumph which attended this great work, and the solution of the difficult problem of carrying a rigid roadway across an arm of the sea at such a height as to allow the largest vessels to pass with all their sails set beneath it, could repay him for the anxieties he had gone through, the friendships he had compromised, and the unworthy motives which had been attributed to him; and that, were another work of the same magnitude offered to him with like consequences, he would not for worlds undertake it! the britannia bridge was indeed the result of a vast combination of skill and industry. but for the perfection of our tools, and the ability of our mechanics to use them to the greatest advantage--but for the matured powers of the steam-engine--but for the improvements in the iron manufacture, which enabled blooms to be puddled of sizes before deemed impracticable, and plates and bars of immense size to be rolled and forged--but for these, the britannia bridge would have been designed in vain. thus it was not the product of the genius of the railway engineer alone, but of the collective mechanical genius of the english nation. [illustration: conway bridge--floating the first tube.] footnotes: [ ] the simple fact that in a heavy storm the force of impact of the waves is from one and a half to two tons per square foot, must necessarily dictate the greatest possible caution in approaching so formidable an element. mr. r. stevenson (edinburg) registered a force of three tons per square foot at skerryvore during a gale in the atlantic, when the waves were supposed to run twenty feet high. [ ] see "lives of the engineers," vol. ii., p. . it appears that mr. fairbairn suggested this idea in his letter to mr. stephenson, dated the d of june, , accompanied by a drawing. see his "account of the construction of the britannia and conway tubular bridges," etc. london, . [ ] robert stephenson's narrative of the early history of the design, in edwin clark's "britannia and conway tubular bridges," vol. i., p. , london, . [ ] robert stephenson's narrative in clark's "britannia and conway tubular bridges," vol. i., p. . [ ] robert stephenson's narrative in clark's "britannia and conway tubular bridges," vol. i., p. . [ ] "account of the construction of the britannia and conway tubular bridges." by w. fairbairn, c.e., london, . [ ] mr. stephenson continued to hold that the elliptical tube was the right idea, and that sufficient justice had not been done to it. a year or two before his death, mr. stephenson remarked to the author that, had the same arrangement for stiffening been adopted to which the oblong rectangular tubes owe a great part of their strength, a very different result would have been obtained. [ ] "mr. fairbairn's account," p. . [ ] the following passage occurs in robert stephenson's report to the directors of the chester and holyhead railway, dated the th of february, : "you will observe in mr. fairbairn's remarks that he contemplates the feasibility of stripping the tube entirely of all the chains that may be required in the erection of the bridge; whereas, on the other hand, mr. hodgkinson thinks the chains will be an essential, or, at all events, a useful auxiliary, to give the tube the requisite strength and rigidity. this, however, will be determined by the proposed additional experiments, and does not interfere with the construction of the masonry, which is designed so as to admit of the tube, with or without chains. the application of chains as an auxiliary has occupied much of my attention, and i am satisfied that the ordinary mode of applying them to suspension bridges is wholly inadmissible in the present instance; if, therefore, it be hereafter found necessary or desirable to employ them in conjunction with the tube, another mode of employing them must be devised, as it is absolutely essential to attach them in such a manner as to preclude the possibility of the smallest oscillation." [ ] in a letter of mr. fairbairn to mr. stephenson, dated july th, , he says: "to get rid of the chains will be a desideratum; and i have made the tube of such strength, and intend putting it together upon such a principle, as will insure its carrying a dead weight, equally distributed over its hollow surface, of tons. with a bridge of such powers, what have we to fear? and why, in the name of truth and in the face of conclusive facts, should we hesitate to adopt measures calculated not only to establish the principle as a triumph of art, but, what is of infinitely more importance to the shareholders, the saving of a large sum of money, nearly equal to half the cost of the bridge? i have been ably assisted by mr. clark in all these contrivances; but in a matter of such importance we must have your sanction and support."--"mr. fairbairn's account," p. . [ ] "the britannia and conway tubular bridges." by edwin clark. vol. ii., p. - . [ ] no. gloucester square, hyde park, where he lived. [ ] the hydraulic presses were of an extraordinary character. the cylinders of those first constructed were of wrought iron (cast iron being found altogether useless), not less than inches thick. they were tested by being subjected to an internal pressure of or - / tons to the circular inch. the pressure was such that it squeezed the fibres of the iron together; so that, after a few tests of this character, the piston, which at first fitted it quite closely, was found considerably too small. "a new piston," says mr. clark, "was then made to suit the enlarged cylinder; and a farther enlargement occurring again and again with subsequent use, the new pistons became as formidable an obstacle as the cylinders. the wrought-iron cylinder was on the point of being abandoned, when mr. amos (the iron manufacturer), having carefully gauged the cylinder inside and out, found to his surprise that, although the internal diameter had increased considerably, the external diameter had retained precisely its original dimensions. he consequently persevered in the construction of new pistons, and ultimately found that the cylinder enlarged no longer, and to this day it continues in constant use. layer after layer having attained additional permanent set, sufficient material was at length brought into play, with sufficient tenacity to withstand the pressure; and thus an obstacle, apparently insurmountable, and which threatened at one time to render much valuable machinery useless, was entirely overcome. the workman may be excused for calling the stretched cylinder stronger than the new one, though it is only stronger as regards the amount of its yielding to a given force."--clark, vol. i., p. . the hydraulic presses used in raising the tubes of the britannia bridge, it may be remembered, were afterward used in starting the _great eastern_ from her berth on the shore at milwall, where she had been built. [ ] while the preparations were in progress for floating the third tube, mr. stephenson received a pressing invitation to a public railway celebration at darlington, in honor of his old friend, edward pease. his reply, dated the th of may, , was as follows: "i am prevented having the pleasure of a visit to darlington on the d, owing to that or the following day having been fixed upon for floating the next tube at the menai straits; and as this movement depends on the tide, it is, of course, impossible for me to alter the arrangements. i sincerely regret this circumstance, for every early association connected with my profession would have tended to render my visit a gratifying one. it would, moreover, have given me an opportunity of saying publicly how much the wonderful progress of railways was dependent upon the successful issue of the first great experiment, and how much that issue was influenced by your great discernment, and your confidence in my late revered father. in my remembrance you stand among the foremost of his patrons and early advisers; and i know that throughout his life he regarded you as one of his very best friends. one of the things in which he took especial delight was in frequently and very graphically describing his first visit to darlington, on foot, to confer with you on the subject of the stockton and darlington railway." [ ] the effect of sunshine in deflecting the bridge is very curious. when the first main tube was tested, ballast-wagons loaded with iron were drawn into the centre and left standing there. the first tons increased the deflection an eighth of an inch, and with tons the deflection was inches. after standing all night, the deflection in the morning was found to be only - / inches. how was this to be accounted for? mr. clark says: "this was attributed at the time to an error made in the reading; but this, and many other anomalies in the deflection, were afterward fully accounted for by local changes of temperature. _a gleam of sunshine_ on the top of the tube raised it on one occasion nearly an inch in half an hour with tons at the centre, the top plates being expanded by increase of temperature, while the lower plates remained constant from radiation to the water immediately beneath them. in a similar manner, the tube was drawn sidewise to the extent of an inch from _the sun shining on one side_, and returned immediately as clouds passed over the sun, being, in fact, a most delicate thermometer in constant motion, both vertically and laterally." [illustration: view in tapton gardens. [by percival skelton.]] chapter xix. closing years of george stephenson's life--illness and death--character. in describing the completion of the series of great works detailed in the preceding chapter, we have somewhat anticipated the closing years of george stephenson's life. he could not fail to take an anxious interest in the success of his son's designs, and he paid many visits to conway and to menai during the progress of the bridges. he was present on the occasion of the floating and raising of the first conway tube, and there witnessed a proof of the soundness of robert's judgment as to the efficiency and strength of the structure, of which he had at first expressed some doubt; but before the like test could be applied at the britannia bridge, george stephenson's mortal anxieties were at an end, for he had then ceased from all his labors. toward the close of his life, george stephenson almost entirety withdrew from the active pursuit of his profession. he devoted himself chiefly to his extensive collieries and lime-works, taking a local interest only in such projected railways as were calculated to open up new markets for their products. at home he lived the life of a country gentleman, enjoying his garden and grounds, and indulging his love of nature, which, through all his busy life, had never left him. it was not until the year that he took an active interest in horticultural pursuits. then he began to build new melon-houses, pineries, and vineries, of great extent; and he now seemed as eager to excel all other growers of exotic plants in his neighborhood, as he had been some thirty years before to surpass the villagers of killingworth in the production of cabbages and cauliflowers. he had a pine-house built feet in length and a vinery feet. workmen were constantly employed in enlarging them, until at length he had no fewer than ten glass forcing-houses. he did not take so much pleasure in flowers as in fruits. at one of the county agricultural meetings he said that he intended yet to grow pine-apples at tapton as big as pumpkins. the only man to whom he would "knock under" was his friend paxton, the gardener to the duke of devonshire; but he was so old in the service, and so skillful, that he could scarcely hope to beat him. yet his "queen" pines did take the first prize at a competition with the duke, though this was not until shortly after his death, when the plants had become fully grown. stephenson's grapes also took the first prize at rotherham, at a competition open to all england. he was extremely successful in producing melons, having invented a method of suspending them in baskets of wire gauze, which, by relieving the stalk from tension, allowed nutrition to proceed more freely, and better enabled the fruit to grow and ripen. he also took much pride in his growth of cucumbers. he raised them very fine and large, but he could not make them grow straight. place them as he would, notwithstanding all his propping and humoring of them by modifying the application of heat and the admission of light, they would still insist on growing crooked in their own way. at last he had a number of glass cylinders made at newcastle, and into these the growing cucumbers were inserted, when at last he succeeded in growing them perfectly straight. carrying one of the new products into his house one day, and exhibiting it to a party of visitors, he told them of the expedient he had adopted, and added, "i think i have bothered them noo!" farming operations were also carried on by him with success. he experimented on manure, and fed cattle after methods of his own. he was very particular as to breed and build in stock-breeding. "you see, sir," he said to one gentleman, "i like to see the _coo's_ back at a gradient something like this" (drawing an imaginary line with his hand), "and then the ribs or girders will carry more flesh than if they were so--or so." when he attended the county agricultural meetings, which he frequently did, he was accustomed to take part in the discussions, and he brought the same vigorous practical mind to bear upon questions of tillage, drainage, and farm economy which he had before been accustomed to exercise on mechanical and engineering matters. all his early affection for birds and animals revived. he had favorite dogs, and cows, and horses; and again he began to keep rabbits, and to pride himself on the beauty of his breed. there was not a bird's nest in the grounds that he did not know of; and from day to day he went round watching the progress which the birds made with their building, carefully guarding them from harm. his minute knowledge of the habits of british birds was the result of a long, loving, and close observation of nature. at tapton he remembered the failure of his early experiment in hatching birds' eggs by heat, and he now performed it successfully, being able to secure a proper apparatus for maintaining a uniform temperature. he was also curious about the breeding and fattening of fowls; and when his friend edward pease, of darlington, visited him at tapton, he explained a method which he had invented of fattening chickens in half the usual time. the chickens were confined in boxes, which were so made as to exclude the light. dividing the day into two or three periods, the birds were shut up at the end of each after a heavy feed, and went to sleep. the plan proved very successful, and mr. stephenson jocularly said that if he were to devote himself to chickens he could soon make a little fortune. mrs. stephenson tried to keep bees, but found they would not thrive at tapton. many hives perished, and there was no case of success. the cause of failure was long a mystery to the engineer; but one day his acute powers of observation enabled him to unravel it. at the foot of the hill on which tapton house stands, he saw some bees trying to rise up from among the grass, laden with honey and wax. they were already exhausted, as if with long flying; and then it occurred to him that the height at which the house stood above the bees' feeding-ground rendered it difficult for them to reach their hives when heavy laden, and hence they sank exhausted. he afterward incidentally mentioned the circumstance to mr. jesse, the naturalist, who concurred in his view as to the cause of failure, and was much struck by the keen observation which had led to its solution. george stephenson had none of the habits of the student. he read very little; for reading is a habit which is generally acquired in youth, and his youth and manhood had been, for the most part, spent in hard work. books wearied him and sent him to sleep. novels excited his feelings too much, and he avoided them, though he would occasionally read through a philosophical work on a subject in which he felt particularly interested. he wrote very few letters with his own hand. nearly all his letters were dictated, and he avoided even dictation when he could. his greatest pleasure was in conversation, from which he gathered most of his imparted information. it was his practice, when about to set out on a journey by railway, to walk along the train before it started, and look into the carriages to see if he could find "a conversible face." on one of such occasions, at the euston station, he discovered in a carriage a very handsome, manly, and intelligent face, which he afterward found was that of the late lord denman. he was on his way down to his seat at stony middelton, in derbyshire. stephenson entered the carriage, and the two were shortly engaged in interesting conversation. it turned upon chronometry and horology, and the engineer amazed his lordship by the extent of his knowledge on the subject, in which he displayed as much minute information, even down to the latest improvements in watch-making, as if he had been bred a watchmaker and lived by the trade. lord denman was curious to know how a man whose time must have been mainly engrossed by engineering had gathered so much knowledge on a subject quite out of his own line, and he asked the question. "i learned clockmaking and watchmaking," was the answer, "while a working-man at killingworth, when i made a little money in my spare hours by cleaning the pitmen's clocks and watches; and since then i have kept up my information on the subject." this led to farther questions, and then he proceeded to tell lord denman the interesting story of his life, which held him entranced during the remainder of the journey. many of his friends readily accepted invitations to tapton house to enjoy his hospitality, which never failed. with them he would "fight his battles o'er again," reverting often to his battle for the locomotive; and he was never tired of telling, nor were his auditors of listening to, the lively anecdotes with which he was accustomed to illustrate the struggles of his early career. while walking in the woods or through the grounds, he would arrest his friends' attention by allusion to some simple object--such as a leaf, a blade of grass, a bit of bark, a nest of birds, or an ant carrying its eggs across the path--and descant in glowing terms on the creative power of the divine mechanician, whose contrivances were so exhaustless and so wonderful. this was a theme upon which he was often accustomed to dwell in reverential admiration when in the society of his more intimate friends. one night, when walking under the stars, and gazing up into the field of suns, each the probable centre of a system, forming the milky way, a friend observed, "what an insignificant creature is man in sight of so immense a creation as this!" "yes!" was his reply: "but how wonderful a creature also is man, to be able to think and reason, and even in some measure to comprehend works so infinite!" a microscope which he had brought down to tapton was a source of immense enjoyment, and he was never tired of contemplating the minute wonders which it revealed. one evening, when some friends were visiting him, he induced each of them to puncture his skin so as to draw blood, in order that he might examine the globules through the microscope. one of the gentlemen present was a teetotaler, and stephenson pronounced his blood to be the most lively of the whole. he had a theory of his own about the movement of the globules in the blood, which has since become familiar. it was, that they were respectively charged with electricity, positive at one end and negative at the other, and that they thus attracted and repelled each other, causing a circulation. no sooner did he observe any thing new than he immediately set about devising a reason for it. his training in mechanics, his practical familiarity with matter in all its forms, and the strong bent of his mind, led him first of all to seek for a mechanical explanation; and yet he was ready to admit that there was a something in the principle of _life_--so mysterious and inexplicable--which baffled mechanics, and seemed to dominate over and control them. he did not care much, either, for abstruse mechanics, but only for the experimental and practical, as is usually the case with those whose knowledge has been self-acquired. [illustration: (footpath to tapton house)] even at his advanced age the spirit of frolic had not left him. when proceeding from chesterfield station to tapton house with his friends, he would almost invariably challenge them to a race up the steep path, partly formed of stone steps, along the hill-side. and he would struggle, as of old, to keep the front place, though by this time his "wind" greatly failed him. he would occasionally invite an old friend to take a wrestle with him on the lawn, to keep up his skill, and perhaps to try some new "knack" of throwing. in the evening he would sometimes indulge his visitors by reciting the old pastoral of "damon and phyllis," or singing his favorite song of "john anderson my joe." but his greatest enjoyment on such occasion was "a crowdie." "let's have a crowdie night," he would say; and forthwith a kettle of boiling water was ordered in, with a basin of oatmeal. taking a large bowl, containing a sufficiency of hot water, and placing it between his knees, he poured in oatmeal with one hand, and stirred the mixture vigorously with the other. when enough meal had been added, and the stirring was completed, the crowdie was made. it was then supped with new milk, and mr. stephenson generally pronounced it "capital!" it was the diet to which he had been accustomed when a working-man, and all the dainties with which he had become familiar in recent years had not spoiled his simple tastes. to enjoy crowdie at his years, besides, indicated that he still possessed that quality on which no doubt much of his practical success in life had depended--a strong and healthy digestion. he would also frequently invite to his house the humbler companions of his early life, and take pleasure in talking over old times with them. he never assumed any of the bearings of the great man on such occasions, but treated his visitors with the same friendliness and respect as if they had been his equals, sending them away pleased with themselves and delighted with him. at other times, needy men who had known him in their youth would knock at his door, and they were never refused access. but if he had heard of any misconduct on their part, he would rate them soundly. one who knew him intimately in private life has seen him exhorting such backsliders, and denouncing their misconduct and imprudence, with the tears streaming down his cheeks. and he would generally conclude by opening his purse, and giving them the help which they needed "to make a fresh start in the world." his life at tapton during his later years was occasionally diversified by a visit to london. his engineering business having become limited, he generally went there for the purpose of visiting friends, or "to see what there was fresh going on." he found a new race of engineers springing up on all sides--men who knew him not; and his london journeys gradually ceased to yield him pleasure. a friend used to take him to the opera, but by the end of the first act he was generally observed in a profound slumber. yet on one occasion he enjoyed a visit to the haymarket, with a party of friends on his birthday, to see t. p. cooke in "black-eyed susan"--if that can be called enjoyment which kept him in a state of tears during half the performance. at other times he visited newcastle, which always gave him great pleasure. he would, on such occasions, go out to killingworth and seek up old friends, and if the people whom he knew were too retiring and shrunk into their cottages, he went and sought them there. striking the floor with his stick, and holding his noble person upright, he would say, in his own kind way, "well, and how's all here to-day?" to the last he had always a warm heart for newcastle and its neighborhood. sir robert peel, on more than one occasion, invited george stephenson to his mansion at drayton, where he was accustomed to assemble round him men of the highest distinction in art, science, and legislation, during the intervals of his parliamentary life. the first invitations were respectfully declined; but sir robert again pressing him to come down to tamworth, where he would meet buckland, follett, and others well known to both, he at last consented. stephenson's strong powers of observation, together with his native humor and shrewdness, imparted to his conversation at all times much vigor and originality. though mainly an engineer, he was also a profound thinker on many scientific questions, and there was scarcely a subject of speculation or a department of recondite science on which he had not employed his faculties in such a way as to have formed large and original views. mr. sopwith, f.r.s., has informed us that the conversation at drayton, on one occasion, turned on the theory of the formation of coal, in the course of which stephenson had an animated discussion with dr. buckland. but the result was, that dr. buckland, a much greater master of tongue-fence, completely silenced him. next morning, before breakfast, when he was walking in the grounds deeply pondering, sir william follett came up and asked what he was thinking about. "why, sir william, i am thinking over that argument i had with buckland last night. i know i am right, and that, if i had only the command of words which he has, i'd have beaten him." "let me know all about it," said sir william, "and i'll see what i can do for you." the two sat down in an arbor, where the astute lawyer made himself thoroughly acquainted with the points of the case, entering into it with the zeal of an advocate about to plead the interests of his client. after he had mastered the subject, sir william said, "now i am ready for him." sir robert peel was made acquainted with the plot, and adroitly introduced the subject of the controversy after dinner. the result was, that in the argument which followed, the man of science was overcome by the man of law. "and what do _you_ say, mr. stephenson?" asked sir robert, laughing. "why," said he, "i say this, that of all the powers above and under the earth, there seems to me to be no power so great as the gift of the gab." one sunday, when the party had just returned from church, they were standing together on the terrace near the hall, and observed in the distance a railway flashing along, tossing behind its long white plume of steam. "now, buckland," said stephenson, "i have a poser for you. can you tell me what is the power that is driving that train?" "well," said the other, "i suppose it is one of your big engines." "but what drives the engine?" "oh, very likely a canny newcastle driver." "what do you say to the light of the sun?" "how can that be?" asked the doctor. "it is nothing else," said the engineer: "it is light bottled up in the earth for tens of thousands of years--light, absorbed by plants and vegetables, being necessary for the condensation of carbon during the process of their growth, if it be not carbon in another form--and now, after being buried in the earth for long ages in fields of coal, that latent light is again brought forth and liberated, made to work as in that locomotive, for great human purposes."[ ] during the same visit mr. stephenson one evening repeated his experiment with blood drawn from the finger, submitting it to the microscope in order to show the curious circulation of the globules. he set the example by pricking his own thumb; and the other guests, by turns, in like manner gave up a small portion of their blood for the purpose of ascertaining the comparative liveliness of their circulation. when sir robert peel's turn came, stephenson said he was curious to know "how the blood globules of a great politician would conduct themselves." sir robert held forth his finger for the purpose of being pricked; but once and again he sensitively shrunk back, and at length the experiment, so far as he was concerned, was abandoned. sir robert peel's sensitiveness to pain was extreme, and yet he was destined, a few years after, to die a death of the most distressing agony. in , the year before his death, george stephenson was again invited to join a distinguished party at drayton manor, and to assist in the ceremony of formally opening the trent valley railway, which had been originally designed and laid out by himself many years before. the first sod of the railway had been cut by the prime minister in november, , and the formal opening took place on the th of june, , the line having thus been constructed in less than two years. what a change had come over the spirit of the landed gentry since the time when george stephenson had first projected a railway through that district! then they were up in arms against him, characterizing him as the devastator and spoiler of their estates, whereas now he was hailed as one of the greatest benefactors of the age. sir robert peel, the chief political personage in england, welcomed him as a guest and friend, and spoke of him as the chief among practical philosophers. a dozen members of parliament, seven baronets, with all the landed magnates of the district, assembled to celebrate the opening of the railway. the clergy were there to bless the enterprise, and to bid all hail to railway progress, as "enabling them to carry on with greater facility those operations in connection with religion which were calculated to be so beneficial to the country." the army, speaking through the mouth of general a'court, acknowledged the vast importance of railways, as tending to improve the military defenses of the country. and representatives from eight corporations were there to acknowledge the great benefits which railways had conferred upon the merchants, tradesmen, and working classes of their respective towns and cities. in the spring of george stephenson was invited to whittington house, near chesterfield, the residence of his friend and former pupil, mr. swanwick, to meet the distinguished american, emerson. on being introduced to each other they did not immediately engage in conversation; but presently stephenson jumped up, took emerson by the collar, and, giving him one of his friendly shakes, asked how it was that in england we could always tell an american. this led to an interesting conversation, in the course of which emerson said how much he had every where been struck by the haleness and comeliness of the english men and women, from which they diverged into a discussion of the influences which air, climate, moisture, soil, and other conditions exercised on the physical and moral development of a people. the conversation was next directed to the subject of electricity, on which stephenson launched out enthusiastically, explaining his views by several simple and some striking illustrations. from thence it gradually turned to the events of his own life, which he related in so graphic a manner as completely to rivet the attention of the american. afterward emerson said "that it was worth crossing the atlantic were it only to have seen stephenson--he had such force of character and vigor of intellect." the rest of george stephenson's days were spent quietly at tapton, among his dogs, his rabbits, and his birds. when not engaged about the works connected with his collieries, he was occupied in horticulture and farming. he continued proud of his flowers, his fruits, and his crops, while the old spirit of competition was still strong within him. although he had for some time been in delicate health, and his hand shook from nervous debility, he appeared to possess a sound constitution. emerson had observed of him that he had the lives of many men in him. but perhaps the american spoke figuratively, in reference to his vast stores of experience. it appeared that he had never completely recovered from the attack of pleurisy which seized him during his return from spain. as late, however, as the th of july, , he felt himself sufficiently well to be able to attend a meeting of the institute of mechanical engineers at birmingham, and to read to the members his paper "on the fallacies of the rotatory engine." it was his last public appearance. shortly after his return to tapton he had an attack of intermittent fever, from which he seemed to be recovering, when a sudden effusion of blood from the lungs carried him off, on the th of august, , in the sixty-seventh year of his age. when all was over, robert wrote to edmund pease, "with deep pain i inform you, as one of his oldest friends, of the death of my dear father this morning at o'clock, after about ten days' illness from severe fever." mr. starbuck, who was also present, wrote: "the favorable symptoms of yesterday morning were toward evening followed by a serious change for the worse. this continued during the night, and early this morning it became evident that he was sinking. at a few minutes before to-day he breathed his last. all that the most devoted and unremitting care of mrs. stephenson[ ] and the skill of medicine could accomplish has been done, but in vain." george stephenson's remains were followed to the grave by a large body of his work-people, by whom he was greatly admired and beloved. they remembered him as a kind master, who was ever ready actively to promote all measures for their moral, physical, and mental improvement. the inhabitants of chesterfield evinced their respect for the deceased by suspending business, closing their shops, and joining in the funeral procession, which was headed by the corporation of the town. many of the surrounding gentry also attended. the body was interred in trinity church, chesterfield, where a simple tablet marks the great engineer's last resting-place. [illustration: trinity church, chesterfield.] the statue of george stephenson, which the liverpool and manchester and grand junction companies had commissioned, was on its way to england when his death occurred; and it served for a monument, though his best monument will always be his works. the statue referred to was placed in st. george's hall, liverpool. a full-length statue of him, by bailey, was also erected, a few years later, in the noble vestibule of the london and northwestern station, in euston square. a subscription for the purpose was set on foot by the society of mechanical engineers, of which he had been the founder and president. a few advertisements were inserted in the newspapers, inviting subscriptions; and it is a notable fact that the voluntary offerings included an average of two shillings each from working-men, who embraced this opportunity of doing honor to their distinguished fellow-workman. but the finest and most appropriate statue to the memory of george stephenson is that which was erected in , after the design of john lough, at newcastle-upon-tyne. it is in the immediate neighborhood of the literary and philosophical institute, to which both george and his son robert were so much indebted in their early years; close to the great stephenson locomotive foundery established by the shrewdness of the father; and in the vicinity of the high-level bridge, one of the grandest products of the genius of the son. the head of stephenson, as expressed in this noble work, is massive, characteristic, and faithful; and the attitude of the figure is simple, yet manly and energetic. it stands on a pedestal, at the respective corners of which are sculptured the recumbent figures of a pitman, a mechanic, an engine-driver, and a plate-layer. the statue appropriately stands in a very thoroughfare of working-men, thousands of whom see it daily as they pass to and from their work; and we can imagine them, as they look up to stephenson's manly figure, applying to it the words addressed by robert nicoll to robert burns, with perhaps still greater appropriateness: "before the proudest of the earth we stand, with an uplifted brow; like us, thou wast a toiling man-- and we are noble, now!" the portrait prefixed to this volume gives a good indication of george stephenson's shrewd, kind, honest, manly face. his fair, clear countenance was ruddy, and seemingly glowed with health. the forehead was large and high, projecting over the eyes, and there was that massive breadth across the lower part which is usually observed in men of eminent constructive skill. the mouth was firmly marked, and shrewdness and humor lurked there as well as in the keen gray eye. his frame was compact, well knit, and rather spare. his hair became gray at an early age, and toward the close of his life it was of a pure silky whiteness. he dressed neatly in black, wearing a white neckcloth; and his face, his person, and his deportment at once arrested attention, and marked the gentleman. [illustration: tablet in trinity church, chesterfield.] footnotes: [ ] this was a favorite notion of george stephenson's, and he held that what produced light and heat had originally been light and heat. mr. fearon, solicitor, has informed the author that he accompanied stephenson on one of his visits to belgium, when it seemed to him that the engineer did not take much interest in the towns, churches, or public buildings of belgium, probably because he knew little of history, and they recalled no associations with the past. one day the party went to see the beautiful hôtel de ville at brussels, but stephenson did not seem moved by it. on passing out of the square, however, by the little street which leads toward the montague de la cour, his interest was thoroughly roused by the sight of an immense fat pig hung up in a butcher's shop. he immediately took out his foot-rule, measured the pig, and expressed a desire to have some conversation with the butcher as to how it had been fed. the butcher accordingly waited upon them at the hotel, and told all he knew about the feeding of the pig; and then, says mr. fearon, "george went off into his favorite theory of the sun's light, which he said had fattened the pig; for the light had gone into the pease, and the pease had gone into the fat, and the fat pig was like a field of coal in this respect, that they were, for the most part, neither more nor less than bottled sunshine." [ ] the second mrs. stephenson having died in , george married a third time in , about six months before his death. the third mrs. stephenson was an intelligent and respectable lady, who had for some years officiated as his housekeeper. [illustration: victoria bridge, montreal.] chapter xx. robert stephenson's victoria bridge, lower canada--illness and death. george stephenson bequeathed to his son his valuable collieries, his share in the engine manufactory at newcastle, and his large accumulation of savings, which, together with the fortune he had himself amassed by railway work, gave robert the position of an engineer millionaire--the first of his order. he continued, however, to live in a quiet style; and although he bought occasional pictures and statues, and indulged in the luxury of a yacht, he did not live up to his income, which went on accumulating until his death. there was no longer the necessity for applying himself to the laborious business of a parliamentary engineer, in which he had now been occupied for some fifteen years. shortly after his father's death, edward pease recommended him to give up the more harassing work of his profession; and his reply ( th of june, ) was as follows: "the suggestion which your kind note contains is quite in accordance with my own feelings and intentions respecting retirement; but i find it a very difficult matter to bring to a close so complicated a connection in business as that which has been established by twenty-five years of active and arduous professional duty. comparative retirement is, however, my intention, and i trust that your prayer for the divine blessing to grant me happiness and quiet comfort will be fulfilled. i can not but feel deeply grateful to the great disposer of events for the success which has hitherto attended my exertions in life, and i trust that the future will also be marked by a continuance of his mercies." although robert stephenson, in conformity with this expressed intention, for the most part declined to undertake new business, he did not altogether lay aside his harness, and he lived to repeat his tubular bridges both in egypt and canada. the success of the tubular system, as adopted at menai and conway, was such as to recommend it for adoption wherever great span was required, and the peculiar circumstances connected with the navigation of the nile and the st. lawrence may be said to have compelled its adoption in carrying railways across both those rivers. two tubular bridges were built after our engineer's designs across the nile, near damietta, in lower egypt. that near benha contains eight spans or openings of feet each, and two centre spans, formed by one of the largest swing-bridges ever constructed, the total length of the swing-beam being feet, a clear waterway of feet being provided on either side of the centre pier. the only novelty in these bridges consisted in the road being carried upon the tubes instead of within them, their erection being carried out in the usual manner by means of workmen, materials, and plant sent out from england. the tubular bridge constructed in canada, after mr. stephenson's designs, was of a much more important character, and deserves a fuller description. the important uses of railways had been recognized at an early period by the inhabitants of north america, and in the course of about thirty years more than , miles of railway, mostly single, were constructed in the united states alone. the canadians were more deliberate in their proceedings, and it was not until the year that their first railway, miles in length, was constructed between laprairie and st. john's, for the purpose of connecting lake champlain with the river st. lawrence. from this date, however, new lines were rapidly projected; more particularly the great western of canada, and the atlantic and st. lawrence (now forming part of the grand trunk), until in the course of a few years canada had a length of nearly miles of railway open or in course of construction, intersecting the provinces almost in a continuous line from rivière du loup, near the mouth of the st. lawrence, to port sarnia, on the shores of lake huron. but there still remained one most important and essential link to connect the lines on the south of the st. lawrence with those on the north, and at the same time place the city of montreal in direct railway connection with the western parts of canada. the completion of this link was also necessary in order to maintain the commercial communication of canada with the rest of the world during five months in every year; for, though the st. lawrence in summer affords a splendid outlet to the ocean--toward which the commerce of the colony naturally tends--the frost in winter is so severe, that during that season canada is completely frozen in, and the navigation hermetically closed by the ice. the grand trunk railway was designed to furnish a line of land communication along the great valley of the st. lawrence at all seasons, following the course of the river, and connecting the principal towns of the colony. but stopping short on the north shore, nearly opposite montreal, with which it was connected by a dangerous and often impracticable ferry, it was felt that, until the st. lawrence was bridged by a railway, the canadian system of railways was manifestly incomplete. but how to bridge this wide and rapid river! never before, perhaps, was a problem of such difficulty proposed for solution by an engineer. opposite montreal, the st. lawrence is about two miles wide, running at the rate of about ten miles an hour; and at the close of each winter it carries down the ice of square miles of lakes and rivers, with their numerous tributaries. as early as the year , the construction of a bridge at montreal was strongly advocated by the local press as the only means of connecting that city with the projected atlantic and st. lawrence railway. but the difficulties of executing such a work seemed almost insurmountable to those best acquainted with the locality. the greatest difficulty was apprehended from the tremendous shoving and pressure of the ice at the break-up of winter. at such times, opposite montreal, the whole river is packed with huge blocks of ice, and it is often seen piled up to a height of from to feet along the banks, placing the surrounding country under water, and occasionally doing severe damage to the massive stone buildings erected along the noble river front of the city. but no other expedient presented itself but a bridge, and a survey was made accordingly at the instance of the hon. john young, one of the directors of the railway. a period of colonial depression having shortly after occurred, the project slept for a time, and it was not until six years later, in , when the grand trunk railway was under construction, that the subject was again brought under discussion. in that year, mr. alexander m. ross, who had superintended the construction of robert stephenson's tubular bridge at conway, visited canada, and inspected the site of the proposed structure, when he at once formed the opinion that a tubular bridge carrying a railway was the most suitable means of crossing the st. lawrence, and connecting montreal with the lines on the north of the river. the directors felt that such a work would necessarily be of a most formidable and difficult character, and before coming to any conclusion they determined to call to their assistance mr. robert stephenson, as the engineer most competent to advise them in the matter. mr. stephenson considered the subject of so much interest and importance that, in the summer of , he proceeded to canada to inquire as to all the facts, and examine carefully the site of the proposed work. he then formed the opinion that a tubular bridge across the river was not only practicable, but by far the most suitable for the purpose intended, and early in the following year he sent an elaborate report on the whole subject to the directors of the railway. the result was the adoption of his recommendation and the erection of the victoria bridge, of which robert stephenson was the designer and engineer, and mr. a. m. ross the joint and resident engineer in directly superintending the execution of the undertaking. the details of the plans were principally worked out in mr. stephenson's office in london, under the superintendence of his cousin, mr. george robert stephenson, while the iron-work was for the most part constructed at the canada works, liverpool, from whence it was shipped, ready for being fixed in position on the spot. the victoria bridge is, without exception, the greatest work of its kind in the world. for gigantic proportions, and vast length and strength, there is nothing to compare with it in ancient or modern times. the entire bridge, with its approaches, is only about sixty yards short of _two miles_ in length, being five times longer than the britannia bridge across the menai straits, seven and a half times longer than waterloo bridge, and more than ten times longer than chelsea bridge. the two-mile tube across the st. lawrence rests on twenty-four piers, which, with the abutments, leave twenty-five spaces or spans for the several parts of the tube. twenty-four of these spans are feet wide; the centre span--itself a huge bridge--being feet. the road is carried within the tube feet above the level of the river, so as not to interfere with its navigation. [illustration: side elevation of pier.] as one of the principal difficulties apprehended in the erection of the bridge was that arising from the tremendous "shoving" and ramming of the ice at the break-up of winter, the plans were carefully designed so as to avert all danger from this cause. hence the peculiarity in the form of the piers, which, though greatly increasing their strength for the purpose intended, must be admitted to detract considerably from the symmetry of the structure as a whole. the western face of each pier--that is, the up-river side--has a large wedge-shaped cutwater of stone-work, presenting an inclined plane toward the current, for the purpose of arresting and breaking up the ice-blocks, and thereby preventing them from piling up and damaging the tube carrying the railway. the piers are of immense strength. those close to the abutments contain about tons of masonry each, while those which support the great centre tube contain about , tons. the former are feet wide, and the latter . scarcely a block of stone used in the piers is less than seven tons in weight, while many of those opposed to the force of the breaking-up ice weigh fully ten tons. as might naturally be expected, the getting in of the foundations of these enormous piers in so wide and rapid a river was attended with many difficulties. to give an idea of the water-power of the st. lawrence, it may be mentioned that when the river comes down in its greatest might, large stone boulders weighing upward of a ton are rolled along by the sheer force of the current. the depth of the river, however, was not so great as might be supposed, varying from only five to fifteen feet during summer, when the foundation-work was carried on. the method first employed to get in the foundations was by means of dams or caissons, which were constructed on shore, floated into position, and scuttled over the places at which the foundations were to be laid, thus at once forming a nucleus from which the dams could be constructed. the first of such dams was floated, got into position, scuttled, and sunk, and the piling fairly begun, on the th of june, . by the th of the following month the sheet-piling and puddling was finished, when the pumping of the water out of the inclosed space by steam-power was proceeded with, and in a few hours the bed of the river was laid almost dry, the toe of every pile being distinctly visible. by the d the first stone of the pier was laid, and on the th of august the masonry was above water-level. the getting in of the foundations of the other piers was proceeded with in like manner, though frequently interrupted by storms, inundations, and collisions of timber-rafts, which occasionally carried away the moorings of the dams. considerable difficulty was in some places experienced from the huge boulder-stones lying in the bed of the river, to remove which sometimes cost the divers several months of hard labor. in getting in the foundations of the later piers, the method first employed of sinking the floating caissons in position was abandoned, and the dams were constructed of "crib-work,"[ ] which was found more convenient, and less liable to interruption by accident from collision or otherwise. by the spring of a sufficient number of piers had been finished to enable the erection of the tubes to be proceeded with. the operations connected with this portion of the work were also of a novel character. instead of floating the tubes between the piers and raising them into position by hydraulic power, as at conway and menai, which the rapid current of the st. lawrence would not permit, the tubes were erected _in situ_ on a staging prepared for the purpose, as shown in the following engraving. [illustration: works in progress, --view from above the south abutment.] floating scows, each feet by , were moored in position, and kept in their place by piles sliding in grooves. these piles, when firmly fixed in the bed of the river, were bolted to the sides of the scows, and the tops were leveled to receive the sills upon which the framing carrying the truss and platform was erected. timbers were laid on the lower chords of the truss, forming a platform feet wide, closely planked with deals. the upper chords carried rails, along which moved the "travelers" used in erecting the tubes. the plates forming the bottom of each tube having been accurately laid and riveted, and adjusted to level and centre by oak wedges, the erection of the sides was next proceeded with, extending outward from the centre on either side, this work being closely followed by the plating of the top. each tube between the respective pairs of piers was in the first place erected separate and independent of its adjoining tubes; but after completion, the tubes were joined in pairs and firmly bolted to the masonry over which they were united, their outer ends being placed upon rollers so arranged on the adjoining piers that they might expand or contract according to variations of temperature. the work continued to make satisfactory progress down to the spring of , by which time fourteen out of the twenty-four piers were finished, together with the formidable abutments and approaches to the bridge. considerable apprehensions were entertained as to the security of the piers and the unfinished parts of the work at the usual breaking-up of the ice. we take the following account from a letter written by mr. ross to mr. stephenson descriptive of the scene. "on the th of march, the ice above montreal began to show signs of weakness, but it was not until the st that a general movement became observable, which continued for an hour, when it suddenly stopped, and the water rose rapidly. on the following day, at noon, a grand movement commenced; the waters rose about four feet in two minutes, up to a level with many of the montreal streets. the fields of ice at the same time were suddenly elevated to an incredible height; and so overwhelming were they in appearance, that crowds of the townspeople, who had assembled on the quay to watch the progress of the flood, ran for their lives. this movement lasted about twenty minutes, during which the jammed ice destroyed several portions of the quay wall, grinding the hardest blocks to atoms. the embanked approaches to the victoria bridge had tremendous forces to resist. in the full channel of the stream, the ice in its passage between the piers was broken up by the force of the blow immediately on its coming in contact with the cutwaters. sometimes thick sheets of ice were seen to rise up and rear on end against the piers, but by the force of the current they were speedily made to roll over into the stream, and in a moment after were out of sight. for the two next days the river was still high, until on the th of april the waters seemed suddenly to give way, and by the following day the river was flowing clear and smooth as a millpond, nothing of winter remaining except the masses of bordage ice which were strewn along the shores of the stream. on examination of the piers of the bridge, it was found that they had admirably resisted the tremendous pressure; and though the timber "crib-work" erected to facilitate the placing of floating pontoons to form the dams was found considerably disturbed and in some places seriously damaged, the piers, with the exception of one or two heavy stone blocks, which were still unfinished, escaped uninjured. one block of many tons' weight was carried to a considerable distance, and must have been torn out of its place by sheer force, as several of the broken fragments were found left in the pier." toward the end of january, , the plating of the bottom of the great central tube was begun. the execution of this part of the undertaking was of a very formidable and difficult character. the gangs of men employed upon it were required to work night and day, though the season was mid-winter, as it was of great importance to the navigation that the staging should be removed by the time that the ice broke up and the river became open. the night gangs were lighted at their work by wood-fires filling huge braziers, the bright glow of which illumined the vast snow-covered ice-field in the midst of which they worked at so lofty an elevation; and the sight as well as the sounds of the hammering and riveting, the puffing of the steam-engines, and the various operations thus carried on, presented a scene the like of which has rarely been witnessed. the work was not conducted without considerable risk to the men, arising from the intense cold. the temperature was often ° below zero, and notwithstanding that they all worked in thick gloves, and that care was taken to protect every exposed part, many of them were severely frostbitten. sometimes, when thick mist rose from the river, they would become covered with icicles, and be driven from their work. [illustration: erection of main central tube.] notwithstanding these difficulties, the laying of the great central tube made steady progress. by the th of february the first pair of side-plates was erected; on the th, the bottom was riveted and completed; feet of the sides was also in place, and feet of the top was plated; and on the st of march the whole of the plating was finished. a few days later the wedges were knocked away, and the tube hung suspended between the adjoining piers. on the th of may following the staging was all cleared away, with the moored scows and the crib-work, and the centre span of the bridge was again clear for the navigation of the river. the first stone of the bridge was laid on the d of july, . the works continued in progress for a period of five and a half years, until the th of december, , when the first train passed over the bridge; and on the th of august, , it was formally opened for traffic by the prince of wales. it was the greatest of robert stephenson's bridges, and worthy of being the crowning and closing work of his life. but he was not destined to see its completion. two months before the bridge was finished he had passed from the scene of all his labors. * * * * * we have little to add as to the closing events in robert stephenson's life. retired in a great measure from the business of an engineer, he occupied himself for the most part in society, in yachting, and in attending the house of commons and the clubs. it was in the year that he entered the house of commons as member for whitby; but he does not seem to have been very regular in his attendance, and only appeared on divisions when there was a "whip" of the party to which he belonged. he was a member of the sewage and sanitary commissions, and of the commission which sat on westminster bridge. he very seldom addressed the house, and then only on matters relating to engineering. the last occasions on which he spoke were on the suez canal[ ] and the cleansing of the serpentine. besides constructing the railway between alexandria and cairo, he was consulted, like his father, by the king of belgium as to the railways of that country; and he was made knight of the order of leopold because of the improvements which he had made in locomotive engines, so much to the advantage of the belgian system of inland transit. he was consulted by the king of sweden as to the railway between christiana and lake miösen, and in consideration of his services was decorated with the grand cross of the order of st. olaf. he also visited switzerland, piedmont, and denmark, to advise as to the system of railway communication best suited for those countries. at the paris exhibition of the emperor of france decorated him with the legion of honor in consideration of his public services; and at home the university of oxford made him a doctor of civil laws. in he was elected president of the institute of civil engineers, which office he held with honor and filled with distinguished ability for two years, giving place to his friend mr. locke at the end of . mr. stephenson was frequently called upon to act as arbitrator between contractors and railway companies, or between one company and another, great value being attached to his opinion on account of his weighty judgment, his great experience, and his upright character; and we believe his decisions were invariably stamped by the qualities of impartiality and justice. he was always ready to lend a helping hand to a friend, and no petty jealousy stood between him and his rivals in the engineering world. the author remembers being with mr. stephenson one evening at his house in gloucester square when a note was put into his hand from his friend brunel, then engaged in his fruitless efforts to launch the _great eastern_. it was to ask stephenson to come down to blackwall early next morning, and give him the benefit of his judgment. shortly after six next morning stephenson was in scott russell's building-yard, and he remained there until dusk. about midday, while superintending the launching operations, the balk of timber on which he stood canted up, and he fell up to his middle in the thames mud. he was dressed as usual, without great-coat (though the day was bitter cold), and with only thin boots upon his feet. he was urged to leave the yard and change his dress, or at least dry himself; but, with his usual disregard of health, he replied, "oh, never mind me; i'm quite used to this sort of thing;" and he went paddling about in the mud, smoking his cigar, until almost dark, when the day's work was brought to an end. the result of this exposure was an attack of inflammation of the lungs, which kept him to his bed for a fortnight. he was habitually careless of his health, and perhaps he indulged in narcotics to a prejudicial extent. hence he often became "hipped," and sometimes ill. when mr. sopwith accompanied him to egypt in the _titania_, in , he succeeded in persuading mr. stephenson to limit his indulgence in cigars and stimulants, and the consequence was that by the end of the voyage he felt himself, as he said, "quite a new man." arrived at marseilles, he telegraphed from thence a message to great george street, prescribing certain stringent and salutary rules for observance in the office there on his return. but he was of a facile, social disposition, and the old associations proved too strong for him. when he sailed for norway in the autumn of , though then ailing in health, he looked a man who had still plenty of life in him. by the time he returned his fatal illness had seized him. he was attacked by congestion of the liver, which first developed itself in jaundice, and then ran into dropsy, of which he died on the th of october, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. he was buried by the side of telford in westminster abbey, amid the departed great men of his country, and was attended to his resting-place by many of the intimate friends of his boyhood and his manhood. among those who assembled round his grave were some of the greatest men of thought and action in england, who embraced the sad occasion to pay the last mark of their respect to this illustrious son of one of england's greatest working-men. * * * * * it would be out of keeping with the subject thus drawn to a conclusion to pronounce any panegyric on the character and achievements of george and robert stephenson. these, for the most part, speak for themselves; and both were emphatically true men, exhibiting in their lives many valuable and sterling qualities. no beginning could have been less promising than that of the elder stephenson. born in a poor condition, yet rich in spirit, he was from the first compelled to rely upon himself, every step of advance which he made being conquered by patient labor. whether working as a brakesman or an engineer, his mind was always full of the work in hand. he gave himself thoroughly up to it. like the painter, he might say that he had become great "by neglecting nothing." whatever he was engaged upon, he was as careful of the details as if each were itself the whole. he did all thoroughly and honestly. there was no "scamping" with him. when a workman, he put his brains and labor into his work; and when a master, he put his conscience and character into it. he would have no slop-work executed merely for the sake of profit. the materials must be as genuine as the workmanship was skillful. the structures which he designed and executed were distinguished for their thoroughness and solidity; his locomotives were famous for their durability and excellent working qualities. the engines which he sent to the united states in are still in good condition; and even the engines built by him for the killingworth colliery, upward of thirty years since, are working there to this day. all his work was honest, representing the actual character of the man. he was ready to turn his hand to any thing--shoes and clocks, railways and locomotives. he contrived his safety-lamp with the object of saving pitmen's lives, and periled his own life in testing it. with him to resolve was to do. many men knew far more than he, but none was more ready forthwith to apply what he did know to practical purposes. it was while working at willington as a brakesman that he first learned how best to handle a spade in throwing ballast out of the ships' holds. this casual employment seems to have left upon his mind the most lasting impression of what "hard work" was; and he often used to revert to it, and say to the young men about him, "ah, ye lads! there's none o' ye know what _wark_ is." mr. gooch says he was proud of the dexterity in handling a spade which he had thus acquired, and that he has frequently seen him take the shovel from a laborer in some railway cutting, and show him how to use it more deftly in filling wagons of earth, gravel, or sand. sir joshua walmsley has also informed us that, when examining the works of the orleans and tours railway, stephenson, seeing a large number of excavators filling and wheeling sand in a cutting, at a great waste of time and labor, went up to the men and said he would show them how to fill their barrows in half the time. he showed them the proper position in which to stand so as to exercise the greatest amount of power with the least expenditure of strength; and he filled the barrow with comparative ease again and again in their presence, to the great delight of the workmen. when passing through his own workshops he would point out to his men how to save labor and get through their work skillfully and with ease. his energy imparted itself to others, quickening and influencing them as strong characters always do, flowing down into theirs, and bringing out their best powers. his deportment to the workmen employed under him was familiar, yet firm and consistent. as he respected their manhood, so they respected his masterhood. although he comported himself toward his men as if they occupied very much the same level with himself, he yet possessed that peculiar capacity for governing which enabled him always to preserve among them the strictest discipline, and to secure their cheerful and hearty services. mr. ingham, m.p. for south shields, on going over the workshops at newcastle, was particularly struck with this quality of the master in his bearing toward his men. "there was nothing," said he, "of undue familiarity in their intercourse, but they spoke to each other as man to man; and nothing seemed to please the master more than to point out illustrations of the ingenuity of his artisans. he took up a rivet, and expatiated on the skill with which it had been fashioned by the workman's hand--its perfectness and truth. he was always proud of his workmen and his pupils; and, while indifferent and careless as to what might be said of himself, he fired up in a moment if disparagement were thrown upon any one whom he had taught or trained." in manner, george stephenson was simple, modest, and unassuming, but always manly. he was frank and social in spirit. when a humble workman, he had carefully preserved his sense of self-respect. his companions looked up to him, and his example was worth much more to many of them than books or schools. his devoted love of knowledge made his poverty respectable, and adorned his humble calling. when he rose to a more elevated station, and associated with men of the highest position and influence in britain, he took his place among them with perfect self-possession. they wondered at the quiet ease and simple dignity of his deportment; and men in the best ranks of life have said of him that "he was one of nature's gentlemen." probably no military chiefs were ever more beloved by their soldiers than were both father and son by the army of men who, under their guidance, worked at labors of profit, made labors of love by their earnest will and purpose. true leaders of men and lords of industry, they were always ready to recognize and encourage talent in those who worked for and with them. thus it was pleasant, at the openings of the stephenson lines, to hear the chief engineers attributing the successful completion of the works to their assistants; while the assistants, on the other hand, ascribed the principal glory to their chiefs. george stephenson, though a thrifty and frugal man, was essentially unsordid. his rugged path in early life made him careful of his resources. he never saved to hoard, but saved for a purpose, such as the maintenance of his parents or the education of his son. in his later years he became a prosperous and even a wealthy man; but riches never closed his heart, nor stole away the elasticity of his soul. he enjoyed life cheerfully, because hopefully. when he entered upon a commercial enterprise, whether for others or for himself, he looked carefully at the ways and means. unless they would "pay," he held back. "he would have nothing to do," he declared, "with stock-jobbing speculations." his refusal to sell his name to the schemes of the railway mania--his survey of the spanish lines without remuneration--his offer to postpone his claim for payment from a poor company until their affairs became more prosperous, are instances of the unsordid spirit in which he acted. another marked feature in mr. stephenson's character was his patience. notwithstanding the strength of his convictions as to the great uses to which the locomotive might be applied, he waited long and patiently for the opportunity of bringing it into notice; and for years after he had completed an efficient engine, he went on quietly devoting himself to the ordinary work of the colliery. he made no noise nor stir about his locomotive, but allowed another to take credit for the experiments on velocity and friction which he had made with it upon the killingworth railroad. by patient industry and laborious contrivance he was enabled, with the powerful help of his son, almost to do for the locomotive what james watt had done for the condensing engine. he found it clumsy and inefficient, and he made it powerful, efficient, and useful. both have been described as the improvers of their respective engines; but, as to all that is admirable in their structure or vast in their utility, they are rather entitled to be described as their inventors. they have both tended to increase indefinitely the mass of human comforts and enjoyments, and to render them cheap and accessible to all. but stephenson's invention, by the influence which it is daily exercising upon the civilization of the world, is even more remarkable than that of watt, and is calculated to have still more important consequences. in this respect it is to be regarded as the grandest application of steam-power that has yet been discovered. george stephenson's close and accurate observation provided him with a fullness of information on many subjects which often appeared surprising to those who had devoted to them a special study. on one occasion the accuracy of his knowledge of birds came out in a curious way at a convivial meeting of railway men in london. the engineers and railway directors present knew each other as railway men and nothing more. the talk had been all of railways and railway politics. stephenson was a great talker on those subjects, and was generally allowed, from the interest of his conversation and the extent of his experience, to take the lead. at length one of the party broke in with, "come, now, stephenson, we have had nothing but railways! can not we have a change, and try if we can talk a little about something else?" "well," said stephenson, "i'll give you a wide range of subjects; what shall it be about?" "say _birds' nests_!" rejoined the other, who prided himself on his special knowledge of the subject. "then birds' nests be it." a long and animated conversation ensued: the bird-nesting of his boyhood--the blackbird's nest which his father had held him up in his arms to look at when a child at wylam--the hedges in which he had found the thrush's and the linnet's nests--the mossy bank where the robin built--the cleft in the branch of the young tree where the chaffinch had reared its dwelling--all rose up clear in his mind's eye, and led him back to the scenes of his boyhood at callerton and dewley burn. the color and number of the birds' eggs--the period of their incubation--the materials employed by them for the walls and lining of their nests, were described by him so vividly, and illustrated by such graphic anecdotes, that one of the party remarked that, if george stephenson had not been the greatest engineer of his day, he might have been one of the greatest naturalists. his powers of conversation were very great. he was so thoughtful, original, and suggestive. there was scarcely a department of science on which he had not formed some novel and sometimes daring theory. thus mr. gooch, his pupil, who lived with him when at liverpool, informs us that when sitting over the fire, he would frequently broach his favorite theory of the sun's light and heat being the original source of the light and heat given forth by the burning coal. "it fed the plants of which that coal is made," he would say, "and has been bottled up in the earth ever since, to be given out again now for the use of man." his son robert once said of him, "my father flashed his bull's eye full upon a subject, and brought it out in its most vivid light in an instant: his strong common sense and his varied experience, operating on a thoughtful mind, were his most powerful illuminators." the bishop of oxford related the following anecdote of him at a recent public meeting in london: "he heard the other day of an answer given by the great self-taught man, stephenson, when he was speaking with something of distrust of what were called competitive examinations. stephenson said, 'i distrust them for this reason--they will lead, it seems to me, to an unlimited power of cram;' and he added, 'let me give you one piece of advice--never to judge of your goose by its stuffing!'" george stephenson had once a conversation with a watchmaker, whom he astonished by the extent and minuteness of his knowledge as to the parts of a watch. the watchmaker knew him to be an eminent engineer, and asked how he had acquired so extensive a knowledge of a branch of business so much out of his sphere. "it is very easily to be explained," said stephenson; "i worked long at watch-cleaning myself, and when i was at a loss, i was never ashamed to ask for information." his hand was open to his former fellow-workmen whom old age had left in poverty. to poor robert gray, of newburn, who acted as his brideman on his marriage to fanny henderson, he left a pension for life. he would slip a five-pound note into the hand of a poor man or a widow in such a way as not to offend their delicacy, but to make them feel as if the obligation were all on his side. when farmer paterson, who married a sister of george's first wife, fanny henderson, died and left a large young family fatherless, poverty stared them in the face. "but ye ken," said our informant, "_george struck in fayther for them_." and perhaps the providential character of the act could not have been more graphically expressed than in these simple words. on his visit to newcastle, he would frequently meet the friends of his early days, occupying very nearly the same station in life, while he had meanwhile risen to almost world-wide fame; but he was not less hearty in his greeting of them than if their relative position had remained the same. thus, one day, after shaking hands with mr. brandling on alighting from his carriage, he proceeded to shake hands with his coachman, anthony wigham, a still older friend, though he only sat on the box. robert stephenson inherited his father's kindly spirit and benevolent disposition. we have already stated that he was often called in as an umpire to mediate between conflicting parties, more particularly between contractors and engineers. on one occasion brunel complained to him that he could not get on with his contractors, who were never satisfied, and were always quarreling with him. "you hold them too tightly to the letter of your agreement," said stephenson; "treat them fairly and liberally." "but they try to take advantage of me at all points," rejoined brunel. "perhaps you suspect them too much?" said stephenson. "i suspect all men to be rogues," said the other, "till i find them to be honest." "for my part," said stephenson, "i take all men to be honest till i find them to be rogues." "ah! then, i fear we shall never agree," concluded brunel. robert almost worshiped his father's memory, and was ever ready to attribute to him the chief merit of his own achievements as an engineer. "it was his thorough training," we once heard him say, "his example, and his character, which made me the man i am." on a more public occasion he said, "it is my great pride to remember that, whatever may have been done, and however extensive may have been my own connection with railway development, all i know and all i have done is primarily due to the parent whose memory i cherish and revere."[ ] to mr. lough, the sculptor, he said he had never had but two loves--one for his father, the other for his wife. like his father, he was eminently practical, and yet always open to the influence and guidance of correct theory. his main consideration in laying out his lines of railway was what would best answer the intended purpose, or, to use his own words, to secure the maximum of result with the minimum of means. he was pre-eminently a safe man, because cautious, tentative, and experimental; following closely the lines of conduct trodden by his father, and often quoting his maxims. in society robert stephenson was simple, unobtrusive, and modest, but charming and even fascinating in an eminent degree. sir john lawrence has said of him that he was, of all others, the man he most delighted to meet in england--he was so manly yet gentle, and withal so great. while admired and beloved by men of such calibre, he was equally a favorite with women and children. he put himself upon the level of all, and charmed them no less by his inexpressible kindliness of manner than by his simple yet impressive conversation. his great wealth enabled him to perform many generous acts in a right noble and yet modest manner, not letting his right hand know what his left hand did. of the numerous kindly acts of his which have been made public, we may mention the graceful manner in which he repaid the obligations which both himself and his father owed to the newcastle literary and philosophical institute when working together as fellow experimenters many years before in their humble cottage at killingworth. the institute was struggling under a debt of £ , which impaired its usefulness as an educational agency. mr. stephenson offered to pay one half the sum provided the local supporters of the institute would raise the remainder, and conditional also on the annual subscription being reduced from two guineas to one, in order that the usefulness of the institution might be extended. his generous offer was accepted and the debt extinguished. both father and son were offered knighthood, and both declined it. during the summer of , george stephenson was invited to offer himself as a candidate for the representation of south shields in parliament. but his politics were at best of a very undefined sort. indeed, his life had been so much occupied with subjects of a practical character that he had scarcely troubled himself to form any decided opinion on the party political topics of the day, and to stand the cross-fire of the electors on the hustings might possibly have proved an even more distressing ordeal than the cross-questioning of the barristers in the committees of the house of commons. "politics," he used to say, "are all matters of theory--there is no stability in them; they shift about like the sands of the sea; and i should feel quite out of my element among them." he had, accordingly, the good sense respectfully to decline the honor of contesting the representation of south shields. we have, however, been informed by sir joseph paxton that, although george stephenson held no strong opinions on political questions generally, there was one question on which he entertained a decided conviction, and that was the question of free trade. the words used by him on one occasion to sir joseph were very strong. "england," said he, "is, and must be, a shopkeeper; and our docks and harbors are only so many wholesale shops, the doors of which should always be kept wide open." it is curious that his son should have taken precisely the opposite view of this question, and acted throughout with the most rigid party among the protectionists, supporting the navigation laws and opposing free trade, even to the extent of going into the lobby with colonel sibthorp, mr. spooner, and the fifty-three "cannon-balls," on the th of november, . robert stephenson to the last spoke in strong terms as to the "betrayal of the protectionist party" by their chosen leader, and he went so far as to say that he "could never forgive peel." but robert stephenson will be judged in after times by his achievements as an engineer rather than by his acts as a politician; and, happily, these last were far outweighed in value by the immense practical services which he rendered to trade, commerce, and civilization, through the facilities which the railways constructed by him afforded for free intercommunication between men in all parts of the world. speaking in the midst of his friends at newcastle in , he observed: "it seems to me but as yesterday that i was engaged as an assistant in laying out the stockton and darlington railway. since then, the liverpool and manchester, and a hundred other great works have sprung into existence. as i look back upon these stupendous undertakings, accomplished in so short a time, it seems as though we had realized in our generation the fabled powers of the magician's wand. hills have been cut down and valleys filled up; and when these simple expedients have not sufficed, high and magnificent viaducts have been raised, and, if mountains stood in the way, tunnels of unexampled magnitude have pierced them through, bearing their triumphant attestation to the indomitable energy of the nation, and the unrivaled skill of our artisans." as respects the immense advantages of railways to mankind there can not be two opinions. they exhibit, probably, the grandest organization of capital and labor that the world has yet seen. although they have unhappily occasioned great loss to many, the loss has been that of individuals, while, as a national system, the gain has already been enormous. as tending to multiply and spread abroad the conveniences of life, opening up new fields of industry, bringing nations nearer to each other, and thus promoting the great ends of civilization, the founding of the railway system by george stephenson and his son must be regarded as one of the most important events, if not the very greatest, in the first half of this nineteenth century. [illustration: the stephenson memorial schools, willington quay.] footnotes: [ ] the dams of "crib-work" were formed by laying flattened pine logs along the whole outer edge of the work, and at intervals of from to feet parallel therewith throughout the whole of the breadth, connected with transverse timbers firmly treenailed and notched into them. when one course was formed, another was laid upon and firmly treenailed to it. after two or three courses were laid, transverse timbers were placed over them close together, so as to form a flooring, on which stone was placed to suit the crib as the work progressed. when the under side of the crib touched the bottom, it was carefully filled with loose stones and clay puddle to the water level. the process of puddling and pumping out the water, and building up the pier within the dam thus formed, then proceeded in the usual manner. in some cases a powerful steam dredge was employed to clear out the puddle-chambers. [ ] mr. stephenson entertained a very strong opinion as to the inexpediency of making this canal, and the impracticability of keeping it open except at an enormous expense. of course it was possible to make the canal provided there was money enough raised for the purpose. but, even if made, he held that it would not long be used, for there would not be traffic enough to pay working expenses. in , mr. stephenson carefully examined the country along the line of the proposed canal, from tineh on the mediterranean, to suez on the red sea, in company with the agents of m. talabot, a french engineer, and m. de negrelli, an austrian engineer. they ascertained that there was no difference of level between the two seas, and that consequently a canal capable of being scoured by the waters of either was impracticable. on the occasion of captain pim's reading a paper on the subject of the revived project of the canal before the geographical society on the th of april, , mr. stephenson took part in the discussion which followed. he held that any harbor constructed at port said, however far it might be extended into the sea, would only act as a mud-trap, and that it would be impracticable to keep such a port open. mr. george rennie had compared the proposed breakwater at pelusium with the breakwater at portland, on which mr. stephenson observed, "why, at portland, the stones are carried out from the shore and thrown into the sea, but at pelusium there is no solid shore, and all the stones must be brought miles. can there be any comparison between a breakwater at portland and one in the mediterranean on a lee-shore, where there is no stone and no foundation whatever? it is only the silt of the nile. the nile brings down millions of tons of mud yearly, and hence the delta formed at its mouth. the moment you construct a harbor at port said and project piers into the sea, you immediately arrest the course of the mud, and will never be able to keep the port open. it would be the most extraordinary thing in the world to project two jetties into an open sea on a lee-shore, which has for almost three months in the year a northeast wind blowing upon it. there is no seaman, except in fair weather, who would venture to approach such a place. to render it at all accessible and safe, there must be a harbor of refuge made, and we know from experience in our own country what a large question that would open up. but even suppose such a harbor to be made. the current carries the mud of the nile in an easterly direction; and if you provide a harbor of refuge, which means a quiescent harbor, it will act merely as a gigantic mud-trap. i believe it to be nearly if not absolutely true, that there is no large harbor in the world maintained on the delta of a large river. any such harbor would be silted up in a few years. and whoever has traveled over the district between port said and suez, and seen the moving sands, must see that it would be necessary to dredge, not only that harbor, but the canal itself." mr. stephenson's conclusion accordingly was that the scheme was impracticable, that it would not justify the expenditure necessary to complete it, and that, if ever executed, it would prove a commercial failure. [ ] address as president of the institution of civil engineers, january, . index. accident, g. stephenson's stage-coach, . accidents in coal-mines, , . adam, mr., counsel for liverpool and manchester railway bill, . adhesion of wheel and rail, , , , . albert, prince, an early traveler by rail, . alderson, mr., counsel against liverpool and manchester railway bill, , , , . allcard, wm., . alton grange, g. stephenson's house at, . ambergate, land-slip at, ; lime-works at, , . anderson, dr., his early advocacy of railroads, . arnold, dr., on railways, . atmospheric railways, , , - . bald, robert, mining engineer, , . barrow, sir john, on railway speed, . beaumont, mr., his wooden wagon-ways, . belgium, railways in, ; g. stephenson's visits to, , , . benton colliery and village, , , . berkeley, mr., on railways, . berwick, royal border bridge at, . bird-nesting, g. stephenson's love of, , , , . black callerton colliery, , , . blackett, mr. wylam, , , , - . blast, the steam, its invention, . blenkinsop, mr., leeds, his locomotive, - , . blisworth cutting, . boiler, the multitubular, its invention, - . booth, henry, , , , . boulton, matthew, his tubular boiler, - . boulton and watt, and the locomotive, - . bradshaw, mr., his opposition to liverpool and manchester line, , . braithwaite and ericsson's "novelty," - . brake, g. stephenson's self-acting, , . brakeing of colliery engines, - , . brandling, messrs., , , , . brandreth's "cycloped," . bridge building, rapid progress of, , . bridges-- royal border, ; high-level, newcastle, ; britannia (menai), - ; conway, ; victoria, lower canada, . britannia bridge, north wales, , - . brougham, william, counsel for liverpool and manchester bill, , . bruce, mr., r. stephenson's schoolmaster, . brunel, i. k., - , . brunton's "mechanical traveler," . brussels, railway celebrations at, , . buckland, dr., . bull bridge, near ambergate, . bull, edward, his cornish engine, ; william, partner of trevithick, , . burrell, g. stephenson's partner, . burstall's "perseverance," , . callerton colliery and village, , , . canada, railways in, _pref._, v., . canal companies' opposition to railways, , . cardiff and merthyr railroad, . carrying stock of railways, _pref._, ix., . cattle brought to london by rail, _pref._, xx. chapman's locomotive, , . "charlotte dundas," the first practical steam-boat, . chat moss, surveying on, , ; railway constructed on, - . chester and birkenhead railway, ; and holyhead railway, . chesterfield, town of, , . clanny, dr., his safety-lamp, , . clark, edwin, r. stephenson's assistant, . claycross colliery, , . coach, first railway, . coal, working of, , ; supply of, to london, _pref._, xxv.; haulage of, , ; supply of, by railways, , . coal railways, g. stephenson on, . cochrane, lord, and peruvian revolution, . coe, william, , , , . coffin, sir isaac, on railways, . collieries, g. stephenson's, at snibston, ; at claycross, . colombia, r. stephenson's residence in, - . companies, joint-stock railway, , . contractors and railways, , , , . conversation, g. stephenson's love of, , . conway, tubular bridge at, , . cooper, sir a., r. stephenson's interview with, . cornish engineers, early, , . correspondence, g. stephenson's, , , . crib-work, victoria bridge, , . cropper, isaac, liverpool, , , . "crowdie night," a, . croydon and merstham railroad, , . cubitt, w., evidence of, on liverpool and manchester railway, . cugnot, n., his road locomotive, . curr, john, his cast-iron tram-way, . cuttings-- olive mount, ; tring, ; blisworth, ; ambergate, ; oakenshaw, . darlington, railway projected at, . darwin, erasmus, his fiery chariot, - . davy, sir h., on trevithick's steam-carriage, ; his paper on fire-damp, ; his safety-lamp, ; testimonial to, ; his lamp compared with stephenson's, . denman, lord, . derby, earl of, and liverpool and manchester railway, , , . dewley burn colliery, - . direct lines, rage for, . dixon, john, assists in survey of stockton and darlington railway, , ; resident engineer liverpool and manchester railway, . dodds, ralph, killingworth, , . dutton viaduct, . east coast route to scotland, . edgeworth, r. l., early speculations on railways, , . eggs, brought to london by rail, _pref._, xxii. egypt, r. stephenson's tubular bridges in, ; suez canal, , . electric telegraphing on railways, _pref._, xiii. emerson, g. stephenson's meeting with, , . ericsson's "novelty," - . evans, oliver, his steam-carriage, , ; his boiler, . explosions from fire-damp, . fairbairn, william, c.e., early friendship with g. stephenson, , ; experiments on iron tubes for r. stephenson, . fire-damp, explosions of, . fish brought to london by rail, _pref._, xxi. fitch, john, american engineer, . food brought to london by rail, _pref._, xix. forth-street works, newcastle, , . foster, jonathan, wylam, . foundations--of bridge on the derwent, ; of high-level bridge, newcastle, ; of victoria bridge, montreal, . free trade, g. stephenson's notions of, , . friction, g. stephenson's early experiments in, ; and gradients, . frolic, g. stephenson's love of, , , . gauge of railways, , . "geordy" safety-lamp, - . gilbert, davies, and trevithick, , , . giles, francis, c.e., his evidence against liverpool and manchester railway bill, , , . gooch, thomas, c.e., , , , . government and railways, , . gradients and friction, , . grand allies, killingworth, . grand junction railway, , . grand trunk railway, canada, . gray, thomas, and the locomotive, , . great western railway, , , . greenwich railway opened as a "show," _pref._, xv. gurney, goldsworthy, , . hackworth, t., and the steam-blast, ; his locomotive "sanspareil," , , , . half-lap joint, g. stephenson's, . harrison, mr., counsel against liverpool and manchester bill, , , . harvey, mr., engineer, hayle, . hedley, william, wylam, , , . henderson, fanny, g. stephenson's first wife, , , , . heppel, kit, killingworth, , . hetton railway constructed by g. stephenson, . high-level bridge, newcastle, . hindmarsh, miss, g. stephenson's second wife, . hodgkinson, professor, his calculations as to strength of iron tubes, . holyhead, railway to, . hornblower, jonathan, , . horticulture, g. stephenson's experiments in, , . horse traction on railways, , , , , , , . howick, lord, his support of atmospheric railways, ; g. stephenson's interview with, , . hudson, george, the "railway king," , . huskisson, mr., an early advocate of railways, , ; fatal accident to, . hydraulic press used to lift the tubes at the britannia bridge, . ice-flood at montreal, , . inclined planes, self-acting, , , . india, railways in, _pref._, iv. iron bridge building, progress in, , . italian railways, _pref._, iv. james, william, surveys liverpool and manchester railway, ; visit to killingworth, ; arrangement with stephenson and losh, ; compelled to relinquish the survey, , . james, w. h., his tubular boiler, . jameson, professor, edinburg, . jessop, william, his cast-iron edge-rail, . joy, mr., counsel for liverpool and manchester bill, , . keelmen of the tyne, , . kent, opposition to railways in, . killingworth, , ; high pit, ; locomotive, ; underground machinery, ; visited by edward pease, ; w. james, ; promoters of liverpool and manchester railway, . kilmarnock and troon tram-road, . kilsby tunnel, , - , . lambton, mr. (earl of durham), . lamp, invention of the safety, . land-slip at ambergate, . landlords and railways, , , , , . lardner, dr., on undulating lines, . leicester and swannington railway, . leopold, king, g. stephenson's interviews with, , , . lime-works at ambergate, , . littleborough tunnel, . liverpool and manchester railway projected, ; survey by w. james, ; george stephenson appointed engineer, ; virulent opposition, , ; the bill in committee, ; rejected, ; renewed application, ; the bill passed, ; the railway constructed, ; discussion as to the power to be employed to work the line, ; prize offered for the best locomotive, ; the competition at rainhill, ; triumph of the "rocket," ; public opening of the railway, ; its success, . locke, joseph, c.e., resident engineer on liverpool and manchester railway, . locomotive engine gradually perfected, ; sir i. newton's idea, ; darwin's, - ; cugnot's, - ; james watt's, , ; william murdock's model locomotive, ; william symington's model, - ; oliver evans's ; richard trevithick's steam-carriage and first locomotive, - ; blenkinsop's leeds locomotive, ; blackett's wylam locomotive, - ; stephenson's killingworth locomotive, - ; farther improvements by stephenson, , ; locomotives constructed for stockton and darlington railway, ; the "rocket," ; farther improvements in locomotives, ; number of locomotives in the united kingdom, _pref._, ix., x.; self-feeding apparatus of, _ib._, xiv. locomotive workshops at newcastle, the stephensons', , . london and birmingham railway, - . london, railways in, opening or the greenwich line, _pref._, xv.; magnitude of suburban traffic, _ib._, xvi.; new lines opened, _ib._, xvi.; population increased by, _ib._, xviii.; provisioning of london, _ib._, xix.; coal supply of, _ib._, xxv. losh, mr. stephenson's partner, , . lough's statue of g. stephenson, . mackworth, sir h., his sailing-wagon, . mail service by railway, _pref._, xxvi. manchester, railways projected in connection with, ; and leeds railway, . mania, the railway, , . maps-- of newcastle district, ; stockton and darlington railway, ; liverpool and manchester railway, - ; leicester and swannington railway, ; london and birmingham railway, ; midland railway, ; straits of menai, . mechanics' institutes, g. stephenson at meetings of, . menai, bridge over straits of, . merchandise, traffic of london, _pref._, xxvi. merstham tram-road, , . merthyr tram-road, ; trevithick's locomotive tried on, . middlesborough-on-tees, growth of, . midland railway, . milk brought to london by rail, _pref._, xxiv. miller, mr., dalswinton, and steam navigation, . montreal, victoria bridge at, . moore, francis, his patent for steam-carriages, . morecambe bay, g. stephenson's proposed line across, . moss, chat (see _chat moss_). multitubular boiler, invention of the, . murdock, william, his model locomotive, ; watt discourages his application to the subject, , . murray, matthew, and the leeds locomotive, . nasmyth's steam-hammer first applied to pile-driving, . navvies, railway, . newcastle-on-tyne, early history, ; literary and philosophical institute, , , , , ; mechanics' institute, ; high-level bridge, . newcastle and berwick railway, . newcomen's atmospheric engine, . neville's tubular boiler, , . newton, sir i., his idea of steam locomotion, . nicholson's steam-jet, , . nile, r. stephenson's tubular bridges over the, . north midland railway, , , . north, roger, description of early tram-roads, . northampton, opposition of, to railways, . northumberland atmospheric railway, . "novelty" locomotive, . oaks pit colliery explosion, . offices, stephenson's london, , . old quay navigation, liverpool, . olive mount cutting, . openings of railways-- hetton, ; stockton and darlington, ; liverpool and manchester, ; london and birmingham, ; in midland counties, ; east coast route to scotland, , : britannia bridge, ; trent valley, . opposition to railways-- in country districts, , ; at northampton, ; in kent, ; at eton, ; to london and birmingham, . organization--of early railways, , ; of modern railways, _pref._, xi. outram's railway, first use of stone blocks, . parliament and railways, , , . parr moss, railway across, . passenger-carriage, the first, . passenger-traffic, beginnings of, _pref._, vii., xv., , , , ; of london, _pref._, xvii. pease, edward, promotes stockton and darlington railway, his character, ; anticipations concerning railways, ; intercourse with george stephenson, , , , , ; assists george stephenson with capital, ; faith in the locomotive, , ; letter to robert stephenson, , . peel, sir r., on undulating lines, , ; g. stephenson's visit to, . penmaen mawr, railway under, . pen-y-darran, trevithick's locomotive made and tried at, - . permanent way, _pref._, viii., xi., , . peruvian mining, trevithick's adventures in connection with, . petherick, j., his description of trevithick's steam-carriage, , . phillips, sir richard, on railroads, . pile-driving by steam, pitmen, habits and character of newcastle, , . plate-ways, , . politics, g. and r. stephenson's, . population of london, how influenced by railways, _pref._, xviii. postal service and railways, _pref._, xxvii. potatoes brought to london by rail, _pref._, xxiii. poultry brought to london by rail, _pref._, xxii. primrose hill tunnel, . professional charges, g. stephenson's, . provisioning of london, _pref._, xix. pyrenean pastoral, . _quarterly review_ on railway speed, . queen, the, her first use of the railway, ; opens the high-level and royal border bridges, ; visits the britannia bridge, . rails-- stone blocks first used, ; planks, ; plates of iron, ; cast-iron rails, ; flanched rails, ; tram-plates at merthyr, ; wylam wagon-way, ; rack-rail, , , , ; heavier cast-iron rails used, ; roughly laid, ; stephenson's half-lap joint, ; stephenson recommends wrought-iron rails, ; temporary rails in constructing roads, ; vignolles's and ericsson's central friction, ; strained by high speed, . railway locomotive (see _locomotive_). railway king, the, , . railway speed (see _speed_). railway speculation and mania, , - . railways, length of, constructed, _pref._, iii.; in india, _ib._, iv.; in united states, _ib._, vi.; carrying stock of, _ib._, ix.; effects of, _ib._, xv.; in london, _ib._, xv.; number of workmen employed on, _ib._, xxviii. railways constructed and opened-- cardiff and merthyr, ; sirhowy, ; wandsworth, croydon, and merstham, , ; wylam, ; kilmarnock and troon, ; hetton, ; stockton and darlington, ; liverpool and manchester, ; canterbury and whitstable, ; grand junction, , ; leicester and swannington, ; london and birmingham, ; manchester and leeds, ; midland, ; in belgium, ; chester and birkenhead, ; newcastle and darlington, ; newcastle and berwick, , ; royal north of spain, ; chester and holyhead, ; trent valley railway, ; grand trunk, lower canada, . rainhill, locomotive contest at, . ramsbottom's locomotive self-feeding apparatus, _pref._, xiv. rastrick, mr., c.e., , , . ravensworth, lord, , . rennie, john, c.e., , ; messrs. rennie and liverpool and manchester line, , . residential area of london, enlarged by railways, _pref._, xvii. richardson, thomas, lombard street, , , , , . road locomotion-- stevin's sailing-coach, ; mackworth's and edgeworth's sailing-wagons, , , ; cugnot's road locomotive, ; murdock's model, ; symington's steam-carriage, ; oliver evans's locomotive, , ; trevithick's steam-carriage, ; g. stephenson's views of locomotion on common roads, - ; house of commons report in favor of, . robins at alton grange, anecdote of, . "rocket" locomotive, the, - . roscoe, mr., his farm on chat moss, , . ross, a. m., joint engineer of victoria bridge, montreal, . royal border bridge, berwick, . safety-lamp-- dr. clanny's, ; george stephenson's first lamp, ; second and third lamps, ; sir h. davy's paper on fire-damp, ; his lamp, ; dates when lamps produced, ; controversy davy _v._ stephenson, ; comparative merits of lamps, . safety of railway traveling, _pref._, x. sailing-coaches and wagons, , , . saint fond on colliery wagon-roads, . saint lawrence river, victoria bridge across, - . sandars, mr., liverpool and manchester railway, , , , , , , , . sankey viaduct, , . "sanspareil" locomotive, hackworth's, , . scarborough, railway to, . screw-propeller patented by trevithick, . seguin, m., his tubular boiler, , . self-feeding apparatus of boilers, _pref._, xiv. sheep carried to london by rail, _pref._, xxi. sibthorp, col., on railways, , , . signaling of railway trains, _pref._, xi. simplon, midland railway compared with road over the, . sirhowy railroad, . snibston, george stephenson's sinking for coal at, . sopwith, mr., f.r.s., , . south devon atmospheric railway, . spain, george stephenson's visit to, . spankie, mr. sergeant, counsel for liverpool and manchester railway bill, . speculation in railways, , ; g. stephenson on, , ; r. stephenson and, . speed, railway, _pref._, viii.; on liverpool and manchester line, ; george stephenson on, , . spur-gear, george stephenson's, , . stage-coach traveling, _pref._, vii., , , . statues of george stephenson, . steam-blast, invention of the, , ; rival claims, , ; of the "rocket," . steam-boat, the first working, . stephenson family, the-- robert and mabel, george's father and mother, - ; brothers and sisters, , ; old robert, ; maintained by his son george, . stephenson, george, birth and birthplace, , ; his parents, ; boyhood, - ; fireman and engine-man, - ; learns to read, ; learns to brake, , ; makes and mends shoes and "falls in love," ; thrashes a bully, , ; self-improvement, ; removes to willington, ; marries fanny henderson, ; studies mechanics, perpetual motion, ; cleans clocks, ; birth of only son and removal to killingworth, ; death of his wife, ; goes to scotland, his pump boot, ; returns to killingworth, _ibid._; brakesman at west moor pit, ; joins in a brakeing contract, , ; cures a pumping-engine, - ; appointed engine-wright, ; education of his son, - ; his cottage at west moor, ; the sun-dial, , ; studies the locomotive, , - ; his first traveling-engine, - ; invents his safety-lamp, - ; improves underground machinery at killingworth, ; patent for improved rails and chairs, , ; experiments on friction, ; constructs hetton railroad, ; marries elizabeth hindmarsh, ; appointed engineer of the stockton and darlington railway, , ; commences locomotive factory at newcastle, ; supplies locomotives to stockton and darlington railway, ; appointed engineer to liverpool and manchester railway, ; obstructions to the survey, , ; his evidence in committee, ; bill rejected, ; reappointed engineer, ; construction of liverpool and manchester railway, - ; battle of the locomotive, - ; triumph of the "rocket" at rainhill, - ; organization of the railway traffic, ; improvements of the locomotive, ; the self-acting brake, , ; leases the snibston estate, ; engineer of manchester and leeds railway, ; engineer of north midland, ; of york and north midland, ; quickness of observation, ; proposed line across morecambe bay, ; immense labors, ; extensive correspondence, , ; london office, ; visits to belgium, , ; leases claycross estate and colliery, ; on railway speculation, , ; third visit to belgium, ; visit to spain, ; interview with lord howick, , ; life in retirement at tapton, ; visit to sir robert peel, ; theory about sun's light, ; illness and death, ; statues of, ; characteristics, - . stephenson, robert, his birth, ; boyhood and education, - ; boyish tricks, , ; scientific amusements, ; teaches algebra, ; joint production with his father of a sun-dial, , ; assists his father in safety-lamp experiments, , ; newcastle institute, ; apprenticed as coal-viewer, ; coal-pit explosion, narrow escape, joint studies with his father, ; sent to edinburg university, ; his notes of lectures, ; life in edinburg, ; geological excursion in the highlands, return to killingworth, , ; assists mr. james in survey of liverpool and manchester railway, ; makes drawings for engines, ; engages with colombian mining association, and residence in south america, - ; resigns his situation, ; meeting with trevithick at cartagena, ; shipwreck, ; tour in the united states, and return home, ; cooperates with his father in the locomotive competition, ; builds the "rocket," ; engineer of leicester and swannington railway, ; engineer of london and birmingham railway, ; marriage to miss sanderson, ; report on atmospheric system, ; succeeds his father generally as engineer, ; his extensive practice, , ; his caution, , , ; engineer of high-level bridge, newcastle, ; engineer of chester and holyhead railway, ; designs the first iron tubular bridge, ; opens the britannia bridge, ; designs tubular bridges over the nile, ; designs the victoria tubular bridge, lower canada, ; member of house of commons, ; honors, ; present at launch of "great eastern," ; illness and death, ; characteristics, - . stevin's sailing-coach, . stockton and darlington railway projected and surveyed, ; edward pease, promoter, ; act obtained, ; george stephenson resurveys and constructs line, , ; line opened, ; coal-traffic, ; first passenger-traffic, , ; growth of middlesborough, . straits of menai, bridge over, . strathmore, earl of, , . suez canal, robert stephenson's opinion of, , . summers and ogle's tubular boiler, . sun-dial at killingworth, , , . sun's light and coal formation, g. stephenson's ideas on, , . sunshine, effect of, on tubes of britannia bridge, . superheated steam, trevithick's use of, . swanwick, frederick, g. stephenson's secretary, , , . sylvester, mr., on maximum speed, . symington, william, his working model of a road locomotive, ; co-operation with miller of dalswinton in applying power to boats, ; his misfortunes and death, . tapton house, george stephenson's residence at, , , . telegraph signaling on railways, _pref._, xiii. thames tunnel begun by trevithick, , . thirlwall, william, engineer, . thomas, mr., of denton, on railways, . traffic, passenger, beginnings of, _pref._, vi., xv., , , , , ; cattle, _pref._, xx.; coal, _ib._, xxv., , , , ; food, _pref._, xix.; merchandise, _ib._, xxvi.; poultry, etc., _ib._, xxii.; postal, _ib._, xxvi. train service of london, _pref._, xvii. tram-ways, early, , , , , . trevithick, richard, birth and education, ; engineering ability in youth, ; partner with andrew vivian at camborne, ; his improved engine and boiler, ; his steam-carriage for roads, - ; carriage exhibited in london, , ; constructs the first railway locomotive, ; dredges the thames by steam-power, ; his high-pressure engines and new patents, , ; partly constructs a thames tunnel, , ; returns to camborne, new patents, ; his tubular boiler, engines for peru, , ; goes to lima, received with honors, ; civil war and ruin, ; meets robert stephenson at cartagena, ; shipwreck and return to england, ; new inventions, his last days and death in poverty, , ; his character, his important inventions, _ibid._; his locomotive, , , , . tring cutting, . trinity church, chesterfield, g. stephenson's burial-place, . "tubbing" in coal-pits, . tubes, floating of, at conway, , ; at menai strait, ; lifting of the, ; erection of, at victoria bridge, montreal, . tubular boilers by various inventors, . tubular bridges-- over menai straits, ; at conway, , ; at damietta and benha, lower egypt, ; at montreal, . tunnels-- at liverpool, ; at primrose hill, ; at kilsby, ; at littleborough, . turner, rev. william, newcastle, . undulating railways, theory of, . united states, railways in, _pref._, v. uvillé, m., and trevithick, - . vegetables carried to london by rail, _pref._, xxiii. viaducts-- sankey, ; dutton, ; berwick, ; newcastle, . victoria bridge, montreal, . vignolles, charles, c.e., , , . vivian, andrew, trevithick's partner, . walker, james, c.e., report on fixed and locomotive engines, . wallsend, . walmsley, sir joshua, , . waters, mr., gateshead, . watt, james, his model locomotive, ; his scheme of , , ; discourages application of steam to locomotion, . "way-leave" tram-ways, . wellington, duke of, and railways, - , . west moor colliery, , . wharncliffe, lord, and george stephenson, , . wheat carried to london by rail, _pref._, xx. whinfield, mr., gateshead, . wigham, john, g. stephenson's teacher, . williams, mr. scorrier, his gratitude to trevithick, . willington quay, g. stephenson at, . wind, power of, employed in locomotion, , . wood, nicholas, testimony concerning stephenson's invention of the steam-blast, - ; makes drawing for stephenson's safety-lamp, ; assists in experiments, , , , , ; in colliery explosions, ; on the locomotive, , , . woolf, cornish engineer, , . workmen, railway, _pref._, xxviii., , . wylam colliery and village, - ; wagon-way, . york and north midland railway, , ; public opening of, . young, arthur, on early tram-ways, . the end. books of travel and adventure published by harper & brothers, new york. harper & brothers will send any of the following works by mail, postage free, to any part of the united states, on receipt of the price. harper's catalogue of travel-books _is one of the literary curiosities of the day, exhibiting at a glance the contributions of modern travel to geographical and other knowledge. commencing with south africa, and marking on a map the tracks of these travelers, the reader will be astonished to see how thoroughly they cover the length and breadth of africa. livingstone, ellis, burton, du chaillu, reade, andersson, speke, davis, wilson, and others, have within a few years explored africa pretty thoroughly; egypt and the holy land have been repeatedly described in late times; layard had given us the revelations of the euphrates and the tigris valleys; atkinson had written his admirable accounts of siberia, illustrated by his own most brilliant pencil; huc and others described china; and now a hitherto almost unknown portion of the very heart of asia is opened to us by the delightful book of vámbéry._--n. y. journal of commerce. * * * * * =livingstone's zambesi.= narrative of an expedition to the zambesi and its tributaries; and of the discovery of lakes shirwa and nyassa, - . by david and charles livingstone. with map and illustrations. vo, cloth, $ . =dr. livingstone's south africa.= missionary travels and researches in south africa; including a sketch of sixteen years' residence in the interior of africa, and a journey from the cape of good hope to loando on the west coast; thence across the continent, down the river zambesi, to the eastern ocean. by david livingstone, ll.d., d.c.l. with portrait, maps by arrowsmith, and numerous illustrations. vo, cloth, $ . =social life of the chinese=: with some account of their religious governmental, and business customs and opinions. with special but not exclusive reference to fuhchau. by rev. justus doolittle, fourteen years member of the american board. with over illustrations. in two volumes. mo, cloth. beveled edges, $ =the story of the great march=: diary of general sherman's campaign through georgia and the carolinas. by brevet major george ward nichols, aid-de-camp to general sherman. with a map and numerous illustrations, and an appendix, containing official reports by major-general sherman, quarter-master and commissary reports, &c. twenty-second edition. mo, cloth, beveled edges, $ . =captain hall's arctic researches= and life among the esquimaux. arctic researches and life among the esquimaux: being the narrative of an expedition in search of sir john franklin, in the years , , and . by charles francis hall. with maps and illustrations. vo, cloth, $ . =vámbéry's central asia.= travels in central asia. being the account of a journey from teheran across the turkoman desert, on the eastern shore of the caspian, to khiva, bokhara, and samarcand, performed in the year . by arminius vÁmbÉry. with map and woodcuts. vo, cloth, $ . =reade's savage africa.= western africa: being the narrative of a tour in equatorial, southwestern, and northwestern africa; with notes on the habits of the gorilla; on the existence of unicorns and tailed men; on the slave trade; on the origin, character, and capabilities of the negro, and of the future civilization of western africa. by w. winwood reade. with illustrations and a map. vo, cloth. $ . =speke's africa.= journal of the discovery of the source of the nile. by captain john hanning speke. with maps and portraits, and numerous illustrations, chiefly from drawings by captain grant. vo, cloth, uniform with livingstone, barth, burton, &c. price $ . =du chaillu's africa.= explorations and adventures in equatorial africa: with accounts of the manners and customs of the people, and of the chase of the gorilla, the crocodile, leopard, elephant, hippopotamus, and other animals. by paul b. du chaillu, corresponding member of the american ethnological society; of the geographical and statistical society of new york; and of the boston society of natural history. with numerous illustrations. vo, cloth, $ . =squier's central america=, the states of central america: their geography, topography, climate, population, resources, productions, commerce, political organization, aborigines, &c, &c. comprising chapters on honduras, san salvador, nicaragua, costa rica, guatemala, belize, the bay islands, the mosquito shore, and the honduras inter-oceanic railway. by e. g. squier, formerly chargé d'affaires of the united states to the republics of central america. with numerous original maps and illustrations. a new and enlarged edition. vo, cloth, $ . =squier's nicaragua=. nicaragua: its people, scenery, monuments, resources, condition, and proposed canal. with maps and illustrations. by e. g. squier, formerly chargé d'affaires of the united states to the republics of central america. a revised edition. vo, cloth, $ . =squier's waikna.= waikna; or, adventures on the mosquito shore. by samuel a. bard. with a map of the mosquito shore, and upward of original illustrations. mo, cloth, $ . =burton's city of the saints.= the city of the saints; and across the rocky mountains to california. by captain richard f. burton, fellow and gold medalist of the royal geographical societies of france and england; h. m. consul in west africa; author of "the lake regions of central africa." with maps and numerous illustrations. vo, cloth, $ . =burton's lake regions of central africa.= the lake regions of central africa, a picture of exploration. by richard f. burton, captain h.m.i. army; fellow and gold medalist of the royal geographical society. with maps and engravings on wood. vo, cloth, $ . =atkinson's amoor regions.= travels in the regions of the upper and lower amoor, and the russian acquisitions on the confines of india and china. with adventures among the mountain kirghis; and the manjours, manyargs, toungouz, touzemtz, goldi, and gelyaks; the hunting and pastoral tribes. by thomas witlam atkinson, f.g.s., f.r.g.s., author of "oriental and western siberia." with a map and numerous illustrations. vo, cloth, $ . =andersson's okavango river.= the okavango river. a narrative of travel, exploration, and adventure. by charles john andersson, author of "lake ngami." with a steel portrait of the author, numerous woodcuts, and a map, showing the regions explored by andersson, cumming, livingstone, and du chaillu. vo, cloth, $ . =stephens's travels in central america.= travels in central america, chiapas, and yucatan. by j. l. stephens. with a map and engravings. vols., vo, cloth, $ . =stephens's travels in yucatan.= incidents of travel in yucatan. by j. l. stephens. engravings, from drawings by f. catherwood. vols., vo, cloth, $ . =stephens's travels in egypt.= travels in egypt, arabia petræa, and the holy land. by j. l. stephens. engravings. vols., mo, cloth, $ . =stephens's travels in greece.= travels in greece, turkey, russia, and poland. by j. l. stephens. engravings. vols., mo, cloth, $ . =arizona and sonora.= the geography, history, and resources of the silver region of north america. by sylvester mowry, late lieutenant united states army, late united states boundary commissioner, &c. with illustrations. mo, cloth, $ . "=from dan to beersheba=;" or, the land of promise as it now appears. including a description of the boundaries, topography, agriculture, antiquities, cities, and present inhabitants of that wonderful land. with illustrations of the remarkable accuracy of the sacred writers in their allusions to their native country. by rev. j. p. newman, d.d. maps and engravings. mo, cloth, $ . =hunting in south africa.= african hunting from natal to the zambesi, including lake ngami, the kalahari desert, &c., from to . by william charles baldwin, esq., f.r.g.s. with illustrations by james wolf and j. b. zwecker. mo, cloth, $ . =wyoming=; its history, stirring incidents, and romantic adventures. by george peck, d.d. with illustrations. mo, cloth, $ . =journal of a residence on a georgia plantation= in - . by frances anne kemble. mo, cloth, $ . three years in japan. the capital of the tycoon: a narrative of a three years' residence in japan. by. sir rutherford alcock, k.c.b., her majesty's envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary in japan. with maps and numerous illustrations. vols., mo, cloth, $ . =the sioux war.= history of the sioux war and massacres of and . by isaac v. d. heard. with portraits and illustrations. mo, cloth, $ . =crusoe's island=: a ramble in the footsteps of alexander selkirk. with, sketches of adventure in california and washoe. by j. ross browne. with illustrations. mo, cloth, $ . =davis's carthage.= carthage and her remains: being an account of the excavations and researches on the site of the phoenician metropolis in africa and other adjacent places. conducted under the auspices of her majesty's government. by dr. davis, f.r.g.s. profusely illustrated with maps, woodcuts, chromo-lithographs, &c., &c. vo, cloth, $ . =lamont's seasons with the sea-horses.= seasons with the sea-horses, or, sporting adventures in the northern seas. by james lamont, esq., f.g.s. with map and illustrations. vo, cloth, $ . =life and adventure in the south pacific.= by jones. with illustrations. vo, cloth, $ . =pfeiffer's last travels and autobiography.= the last travels of ida pfeiffer: inclusive of a visit to madagascar. with an autobiographical memoir of the author. translated by h. w. duloken. steel portrait. mo, cloth, $ . =lord elgin's mission to china, &c.= narrative of lord elgin's mission to china and japan in , ' , ' . by laurence oliphant, secretary to lord elgin. illustrations. vo, cloth, $ . =life in spain.= past and present. by walter thornbury, author of "every man his own trumpeter," "art and nature," "songs of the cavaliers and roundheads," &c. with illustrations. mo, cloth, $ . =the prairie traveller.= a hand-book for overland emigrants. with maps, illustrations, and itineraries of the principal routes between the mississippi and the pacific by randolph b. marcy, u. s. army. published by authority of the war department. mo, cloth, $ . =ellis's madagascar.= three visits to madagascar during the years -- -- . including a journey to the capital, with notices of the natural history of the country and of the present civilization of the people. by the rev. william ellis, f.h.s., author of "polynesian researches." illustrated by a map and woodcuts from photographs, &c. vo, cloth, $ . =fankwei=; or, the san jacinto in the seas of india, china, and japan. by william maxwell wood, m.d., u.s.n., late surgeon of the fleet to the united states east india squadron, author of "wandering sketches in south america, polynesia," &c., &c. mo, cloth, $ . =page's la plata.= la plata: the argentine confederation and paraguay. being a narrative of the exploration of the tributaries of the river la plata and adjacent countries, during the years , ' , ' , and ' , under the orders of the united states government. by thomas j. page, u.s.n., commander of the expedition. with maps and numerous engravings. vo, cloth, $ . =the land and the book=; or, biblical illustrations drawn from the manners and customs, the scenes and the scenery of the holy land. by w. m. thomson, d.d., twenty-five years a missionary of the a.b.c.f.m. in syria and palestine. with two elaborate maps of palestine, an accurate plan of jerusalem, and _several hundred engravings_, representing the scenery, topography, and productions of the holy land, and the costumes, manners, and habits of the people. two elegant large mo volumes, cloth, $ . transcriber's note italic text is denoted by _underscores_. bold text is denoted by =equals signs=. the oe and oe ligatures have been replaced by 'oe' and 'oe'. obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources. except for those changes noted below, misspelling by the author, inconsistent or archaic usage, has been retained. for example, chainman, chain-man; lifetime, life-time; mail train, mail-train; wrought iron, wrought-iron; 'savans' retained (archaic form of 'savants'). p. ix 'kingdon' changed to 'kingdom'. p. 'frith' changed to 'firth'. p. "robin cowen's" changed to "robin cowens's". p. 'and, and mr.' changed to 'and mr.' p. 'o' with macron replaced by 'o' in 'hydrogen,'. p. 'compararatively' changed to 'comparatively'. p. 'frith' changed to 'firth'. p. 'frith' changed to 'firth'. p. 'orginal' changed to 'original'. p. 'cenveniently' changed to 'conveniently'. p. 'tisue' changed to 'tissue'. p. 'enconiums' changed to 'encomiums'. p. 'cleet' changed to 'cleat'. index entry: 'egypt' page ' ' changed to ' '. the cambridge manuals of science and literature electricity in locomotion cambridge university press london: fetter lane, e.c. c. f. clay, manager [illustration] edinburgh: , princes street london: h. k. lewis, , gower street, w.c. berlin: a. asher and co. leipzig: f. a. brockhaus new york: g. p. putnam's sons bombay and calcutta: macmillan and co., ltd. _all rights reserved_ electricity in locomotion an account of its mechanism, its achievements, and its prospects by adam gowans whyte, b.sc. editor of _electrical industries_ and _electrics_ cambridge: at the university press to emile garcke _with the exception of the coat of arms at the foot, the design on the title page is a reproduction of one used by the earliest known cambridge printer, john siberch, ._ preface in the following pages an attempt is made to give a clear picture of the part which electricity has taken and will continue to take in the development of locomotion. some of the aspects of electric traction are highly technical; others are purely financial. it is impossible to understand the achievements and possibilities of electricity in locomotion without a certain amount of discussion of both these points of view; but it is not necessary to go deeply into either in order to catch some of the enthusiasm which inspires the electrical engineer in his efforts to extend electric traction everywhere on road and rail. the hopes of electrical conquest extend, indeed, to locomotion on the sea and in the air as well as on the land. at the root of these hopes there lies a firm faith in the superior economies and flexibility of electricity as a mode of motion. in the explanations which are given of electric tramways, electric railways, electric automobiles, electric propulsion on ships, and the other phases of electric traction, nothing but the most elementary knowledge of electricity is presupposed. a certain amount of technical description is unavoidable, but i have restricted it as far as possible to essential matters which throw light upon the meaning of the various systems of electric traction and explain the economic and physical reasons for their adoption. anyone who glances over the history of electric traction will be struck by the absence of outstanding names. there is no man who occupies the same position in the sphere of electric locomotion as watt does in the world of steam, or stephenson in the world of railways. as a pioneer, dr. wernher von siemens perhaps deserves more honour than any other. but the leading ideas embodied in electric traction systems were contributed by engineers who worked in the general field of electrical engineering; and they have been applied and developed by a numerous band of men who have added one brick of experience and ingenuity to another until the imposing structure was made visible to the world. nevertheless, i hope the story as told briefly in the following chapters will not be found devoid of human interest. it has the advantage, at any rate, of the attraction which anything pertaining to electricity holds for all sections of the public. this attraction deepens upon closer acquaintance with the mechanism and the history of electricity in action; and if any of the descriptions and forecasts are found to be prejudiced in favour of a single instrument of locomotion, the fault may be considered to rest with the spell which electricity throws upon everyone who is concerned in any way with its applications in the service of man. i have to acknowledge the kind assistance of mr. frank broadbent, m.i.e.e., in looking over the proofs of this volume. a. g. w. _ april _ contents page preface vi chap. i. the wheel and the public ii. early tramroads and railways iii. the birth of electric traction iv. the essential advantages of electric traction on tramways v. the mechanism of an electric tramcar: the overhead system vi. conduit and surface-contact tramway systems vii. the backwardness of electric traction in great britain viii. electric tramway stagnation. the trolley omnibus ix. regenerative control x. accumulator electric traction. the electric automobile xi. petrol-electric vehicles and main marine propulsion by electricity xii. the pioneer electric railways xiii. electric railways from the engineering point of view xiv. electric traction on main line railways xv. curiosities of electric traction xvi. the future index chapter i the wheel and the public one of the greatest of unknown men of genius was the inventor of the wheel. probably--as in the case of most inventions--he shares the credit with others who prepared the way for him by discovering that heavy weights could be more easily rolled than dragged. but, whatever the origin of the wheel and axle, the combination was so admirable that it remained unchanged in its essential features for centuries and still forms the primary element in locomotion. some of the earliest forms of vehicle can be found co-existing with the very latest. in oporto, for instance, there are electric tramways, but there are also ox wagons which seem to belong to the childhood of the world. the wheels are rigidly fixed to rotating axles (the oldest known arrangement) and the supports of both the front and the back axles are rigidly fixed to the wagon. the result is that the vehicle cannot 'steer' and must be dragged round corners. some time ago the authorities, realising at last that this dragging was ruinous to the road surfaces, made a regulation that all wagons should have their front axles pivoted. this attempt at improvement caused more agitation than the revolution itself. the owners of wagons argued--with perfect justice--that the rigid wagon had served for innumerable generations; and they refused, in the face of fines, to make the change. their resistance was so general and so dogged that the law became a dead letter, and the people reverted with great content to the ancient system which divided the business of local transport between yoked oxen and women who had been trained from girlhood to carry heavy loads upon their heads. this example of conservatism, though extreme, is characteristic of the attitude of the general public towards innovations in locomotion. until mechanical power came to be used, there was--for many centuries--nothing which could be described as a radical innovation in transport. roads were multiplied and improved; some advance was made in the design and construction of carriages; and the organisation of posting and stage-coach services was developed. but little more was done. compared with these superficial changes, the idea of using steam power on the highway or on a railroad was so drastic a change that it roused tremendous opposition. the railway companies fought this opposition and overcame it, but the use of steam carriages on ordinary roads was postponed until the appearance of the petrol motor encouraged a movement--once more against strong prejudice--for the repeal of the legislation which restricted the use of mechanically-propelled vehicles on the roads. in a similar way horse tramways were violently attacked; and their conversion to electric traction was opposed by a determined minority in every town. more recently, there was a vigorous agitation against the substitution of motor omnibuses for horse omnibuses in london and elsewhere. to some extent this recurrent opposition was reasonable enough. the new forms of locomotion had dangers of their own; they were generally noisy and sometimes dirty; and occasionally, as in the case of early tramways, they were a nuisance to existing traffic. but it may be noted that electricity claims to provide a means of locomotion not only more rapid and more efficient (in most cases) than any other, but free from many of the drawbacks which gave conservatism an excuse for opposing the introduction of steam and other forms of locomotion. in the following pages i hope to give a clear account of the achievements of electricity in the field of locomotion and also to indicate some of its more immediate potentialities. chapter ii early tramroads and railways it has sometimes been remarked, by unfriendly critics, that tramways are an apology for bad roads. that is to say, if road surfaces were perfect, there would be no need to lay rails in order to allow vehicles to run easily. although this view of the case may be no better than a quarter-truth, it is justified to the extent that tramways were, as a matter of fact, the outcome of an attempt to escape from bad road surfaces. in the early days of mining, coals were taken by horsedrawn wagons from the pits to the harbours. the passage and re-passage of heavy vehicles on the same roadway led to the formation of deep ruts; and the first step towards both the tramway and the railway was taken when logs of wood or 'trams' were laid in the ruts to facilitate transport. the next step was to make the upper surface of the log round and the rims of the wheels hollow, so that they fitted over the rails and kept the wagons on the track. owing to the upper part of the rails wearing away quickly, thin plates of iron were in some cases nailed to them. this improvement led to the adoption of a cast-iron rail, fastened to wooden sleepers. the earliest cast-iron railway was laid down before the middle of the eighteenth century, about one hundred years after the first wooden 'tram-ways.' half a century later we find the first rail-and-wheel combination as we know it on modern tramways and railways, where the wheel carries an inner flange and runs upon the head of a narrow metal rail. this is the form which experience has proved to be best adapted for safety, speed, and economy in power. the improvements made since the beginning of the nineteenth century have been in matters of detail. many miles of colliery tramroads were in existence when--at the beginning of the nineteenth century--the idea of using the steam engine in place of the horse was taken up by engineers. they were concerned at first solely with the carriage of coal; the idea of conveying passengers arose at a later date, after the steam automobile had been tried and abandoned for the time being. george stephenson, for instance, ran his first locomotives on colliery tramroads; and the first railway--between stockton and darlington--was used for passengers merely as an afterthought. it was, in fact, designed to be a tramroad for the use of the public in general transport by horse traction. the most curious feature of this stage in the evolution of locomotion was that, although stephenson's locomotives had been at work for several years and although several schemes of iron roads had been projected, very few people had any conception of the development awaiting the locomotive and iron road in combination. they did not even appreciate the proved fact that the locomotive was a more efficient means of transport than the horse. an immense amount of pioneering work had to be done before the impression of a new era could be borne in upon the public mind. these were the days when the _quarterly review_ backed 'old father thames against the woolwich railway for any sum' and when a witness before a parliamentary committee (on the liverpool and manchester railway bill, in ) thought himself safe in suggesting that a steam locomotive could not start against a gale of wind. when these prejudices were overcome, many years had to pass before the objections of landowners and citizens were worn down. railway engineers spent most of their time in a form of diplomatic warfare with opponents to their schemes; huge sums--part of which still lingers in the capital accounts of railway companies--were spent in parliamentary proceedings over railway bills. this barren process had to be repeated when electric traction made its appearance; but happily the electrical fight was not upon quite so extensive a scale, nor was the period of preparation followed by anything comparable to the railway mania of , when the public made up for its early contempt of railway enterprise by tumbling over itself to get shares in some of the most crazy schemes which were ever put into shape by unscrupulous company promoters. the early history of the steam railway is interesting in connection with electrical locomotion for two reasons. it shows that the railroad proper evolved out of the tramroad or 'light railway,' as it would now be called--a type of line which is specially suited to electrical operation. it also includes a controversy between three modes of traction; and this controversy forms a very good introduction to a discussion of the reasons why electricity is so economical in locomotion. these three modes were ( ) stationary engines: ( ) locomotives: ( ) the device known as the 'atmospheric railway.' in both the first and third, engine houses were placed close to the line at convenient intervals. in the first, each steam engine operated an endless rope to which the train of carriages was attached. the system is still in use for colliery working and is also employed (in an improved form, of course) for funicular railways. george stephenson himself employed it to assist locomotives up heavy gradients. in the atmospheric railway the stationary engines were used to exhaust the air from a length of cast-iron piping laid close to the railway. the principle is the same as that of the 'pneumatic tube' which the post office uses for sending papers over short distances. the papers are placed in a cylinder which fits the interior of the tube; and when the air is exhausted from the tube in front of the cylinder, the pressure of the air behind it drives the cylinder forward. nowadays it is difficult to realise that such a system was seriously proposed for railway work and actually adopted by an engineer of such eminence as brunel. but in point of fact it was recommended by two board of trade experts in and by a select committee appointed in to consider several bills for atmospheric railways. it was tried at dalkey and croydon, and it was installed under brunel's supervision on a six-mile line in devon. the carrier in the tube was connected to the train through a longitudinal slit at the top of the tube. the slit was closed by a leather flap, except when momentarily lifted by the passage of the train. a great deal of ingenuity was exhausted in attempting to make this 'longitudinal valve' efficient, but it was found that heat, moisture, and frost made the leather deteriorate so rapidly as to render it hopelessly ineffective in a short time. after a series of misfortunes the atmospheric railway became a mere curiosity in the history of invention. stephenson was right in regarding the atmospheric railway as 'only the fixed engine and ropes over again, in another form.' he was also right in his belief that the steam locomotive was more economical than either of its rivals. but the stationary engine idea had the germ of an even sounder principle than that of the locomotive. both in electric tramways and electric railways the power is obtained from stationary engines. the main difference between the electric system and the old rope and atmospheric systems lies in the superior economy with which the power is conveyed electrically to the trains. there are other important differences; but the essential point is that both rope traction and pneumatic propulsion wasted so much power between the engine and the train that their other advantages were annulled, and it was found cheaper to put the engine on wheels and make it drag itself as well as the train. brunel's reasons for his faith in the atmospheric railway are well worth quoting for the light they throw indirectly upon the advantages of electric traction. he argued that stationary power, if freed from incumbrances such as the friction and dead weight of a rope, was superior to locomotive power, on the following grounds: (_a_) a given amount of power may be supplied by a stationary engine at a less cost than if supplied by a locomotive. (_b_) the dead weight of a locomotive forms a large proportion of the whole travelling load, and thus inherently involves a proportionate waste of power--a waste which is enhanced by the steepness of the gradients and the speed of the trains. experience has proved the soundness of these principles. there has been a steady improvement in the power and efficiency of locomotives, but progress has reached a point at which further increases in speed and accelerating power (a very important matter) are not attainable without a prohibitive increase in the consumption of coal and a costly strengthening of the railway track to stand the strain of heavier engines pounding along at very high speeds. electric traction, which is a reversion in part to the stationary engine system, offers a means of escape from the limitations of the locomotive. there is still some doubt in the minds of railway engineers whether electric traction is really superior to the steam locomotive on the main railway lines, where distances are great and train loads heavy. but the superiority is admitted on suburban lines and also on tramways, where electricity has almost completely supplanted both horse and steam traction. if brunel had foreseen how economical electricity would be in the transmission of power between engine and train, he would have felt still more confident in his defence of the stationary engine. chapter iii the birth of electric traction the story of electric traction really begins in the laboratory of faraday. he was the first to produce mechanical rotation by electrical means; and, although he had no practical end in view, his investigations produced the germ of the commercial dynamo and thence of the commercial electric motor. that germ, however, took about half a century to develop. it is true that in (about ten years after faraday's discovery) robert davidson experimented with an electric locomotive on the edinburgh and glasgow railway; it is also true that jacobi, two years later, propelled a boat on the neva with electric power. but these early attempts were not on a commercial scale. not only was the motor a crude contrivance, but the method of producing the electric power was hopelessly extravagant. at that period the 'primary battery'--similar in character to those still used for laboratory purposes, ringing electric bells, and so on--was the best available source of electricity. such batteries generate current by the chemical consumption of zinc. in order to obtain sufficient power to move a boat, a large number of batteries had to be coupled together. they were expensive in first cost, expensive in the zinc which was their 'fuel'; and they became rapidly exhausted. [illustration: =dynamo= =motor= fig. . diagram to illustrate the essential identity of the dynamo and the motor. the dynamo generates electricity when the armature or group of coils is forcibly revolved close to magnets, thus converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. the motor causes its armature to revolve forcibly when current is supplied to it from the dynamo. thus the motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.] the essential step towards the commercial plane was taken when an efficient means was devised for transforming mechanical into electrical energy on a large scale. the first 'dynamo-electric' machines, invented about the middle of last century, were merely hand machines. their power was limited by the strength of the permanent magnets employed in their construction; and although an increase in power was obtained by multiplying the number of magnets and driving by steam power, it was not sufficient for commercial purposes. in electro-magnets were first employed by siemens and wheatstone; and from this application there was developed a machine whose power as a generator of electricity was limited only by its size and the speed at which it was run. it is unnecessary for our present purpose to enter into the technical details of the modern electric generator and the modern electric motor. the principles underlying them are quite simple, although the theory of their design and the practice of their construction and operation are almost a science in themselves. a dynamo or electric generator is a machine for transforming mechanical into electrical energy; an electric motor is a machine for transforming electrical energy into mechanical energy. if, therefore, we place an electric motor upon a vehicle and supply it continuously with current from a dynamo, the motor will rotate and can be used to propel the vehicle. that is the essential mechanism of electric traction. the simplicity of the arrangement is enhanced by the fact that the dynamo and the motor are virtually the same machine. in the dynamo, a cylindrical 'armature' of coils is forced to rotate close to the poles of electro-magnets; the energy exerted in turning the armature against the influence of the electro-magnets is transformed into the energy of electric currents in the coils of the armature. in the motor, which also consists of an armature close to the poles of electro-magnets, the process is reversed. when a current is passed through the coils of the armature, the reaction between these currents and the electro-magnets causes the armature to revolve. this reversibility of the dynamo was, according to a story frequently repeated, first discovered quite by accident. in a paris exhibition a number of gramme dynamos--or dynamo-electric machines, as they were then called--were being separately connected to lamps and other devices for showing the effect of electric currents; and when one was started up it was found that another was being _driven_ at a rapid rate. investigation showed that the second one had been coupled up to the first by mistake and was therefore being worked as a motor by it. this was in the year ; and the story of the incident served to draw general attention to the discovery of a new and efficient means of transmitting power. engineers recognised that in the steam-driven dynamo they had the means of producing powerful electric currents, while in the electric motor, connected by wires to the dynamo, they had the means of reproducing the power in mechanical form at a distance. there were, of course, losses of energy in the process. a certain percentage was lost in the dynamo itself, some in the transmitting wires, and some in the motor. but the all-round efficiency of the arrangement was much higher than that of any other system of transmitting power from one point to another several miles distant. in order to apply this system to propelling vehicles it was only necessary to devise a continuous connection between the motor on the vehicle and the stationary dynamo. this was done on the first electric railway by means of a 'third rail,' substantially in the same way as is now familiar on underground and other electric lines. the third rail was a metal conductor supported on insulators and connected to the dynamo. the vehicle or car was furnished with a metal brush or skate which rubbed along the third rail as the car moved forward. the current thus collected was led through the motor (which drove the axle of the car through toothed wheels) and thence to the track rails, which conveyed the current back to the dynamo and so completed the electrical circuit. messrs siemens and halske exhibited the first electric railway of this type at the berlin industrial exhibition of . another method of collecting the current was tried soon afterwards and formed the direct forerunner of the electric tramway on the now standard 'overhead' system. the disadvantage of the third rail system is that it involves an exposed 'live' conductor close to the ground. it is therefore quite unsuited for use on streets. consequently the next step towards the electric tramway was to carry the electrical conductors overhead by supporting them on poles erected at the side of the track. the first installation of this kind was laid down at the paris exhibition of . in that case the conductor was an iron tube with a slot along its lower side; and inside the tube was a 'boat' which slid along and was connected to the car by means of a flexible wire. a second tube, also with a boat and connecting wire, was provided to carry the return current. we shall see later how this arrangement evolved into the familiar 'trolley' system. the mention of a slotted tube recalls the atmospheric system and, in so doing, emphasises the superiority of the electric system in simplicity, flexibility, reliability, and economy. brunel's faith in the advantages of stationary engines and the transmission of power therefrom to moving trains would have been justified by the event if the pneumatic system of power transmission had been as practicable as the electric system. but there is an obvious contrast between the huge pipe of the atmospheric railway, with its impossible 'longitudinal valve,' and the small tube of the first overhead electric line or the third rail of the first electric railway. there is also a pathetic contrast between the prolonged struggles which brunel and the inventors of the atmospheric system underwent before they were forced to acknowledge failure, and the rapid ease with which electric traction entered into its kingdom when the commercial dynamo and motor were first produced. the intrinsic difficulties which electric traction engineers had to meet were not serious. designers passed, step by step, from the model electric railway at the berlin exhibition to public lines on a larger scale, and from the model electric overhead tramway to the 'street railway' or tramway which gradually supplanted the horse tramway. each step consisted in an extension of the distance covered and an increase in the power required, coincident with a gradual improvement in the details of motors, dynamos, and transmission equipment. chapter iv the essential advantages of electric traction on tramways a railway journal once committed itself to the statement that horse traction was superior to electric traction on roads because the horse possessed the 'vital principle' of energy in its constitution. it is distinctly curious to find an authority on locomotion describing the essential drawback of horse traction as its distinguishing advantage. the 'vital principle,' unfortunately, needs food and rest to maintain it not only during working hours but during the hours of inactivity as well. in actual practice four horses out of every five in a tramway stud are in the stables while the fifth is at work. moreover, the same stud has to be kept up, at a practically uniform cost, whether the daily traffic be light or heavy. thirdly, the 'vital principle' has only a limited number of years during which--apart from sickness and disease--it is effective for traction purposes. [illustration: fig. . a typical electric tramway on the overhead system.--the trolley standard carries the wires for supplying current to the cars on both the up and down tracks. the driver has his left hand on the controller handle and his right hand on the brake handle. (photograph reproduced by courtesy of dick, kerr and company, limited.)] another disadvantage is that the pull which a horse can actually exercise on a car is strictly limited and is only a small fraction of the total power represented by the fodder which the horse consumes. the strain upon a horse in starting a car or omnibus is so great that a 'lover of animals' used to supply london omnibuses with appeals to passengers not to stop the omnibus more often than was necessary, especially on an incline. this was a recognition of the fact that the horse cannot cope easily with the heavy strain at starting, and that he requires assistance on heavy gradients. it was not surprising, therefore, that on horse tramway systems the speed was low, the cars of limited capacity, and the fares comparatively high. the shortness of the journey which a tramway horse was able to cover without fatigue also tended to limit the length of routes. on all these points electric traction was soon found to be distinctly superior to horse traction. it was more economical in power; it was able to maintain higher speeds with larger and more commodious cars; and there was no narrow limit to the length of routes or the gradients which could be surmounted. consequently electric traction offered the public an improved service at lower fares. the whole of the power-producing plant for a typical electric tramway system is concentrated at a generating station placed (if possible) near the centre of the system. from this station runs a network of electric mains to feed the lines with current at convenient points. this concentration is a benefit on several grounds. a large generating equipment is cheaper in first cost than a multitude of small power-producing plants, and it is much more economical in operation. if every car had its own power equipment, that equipment would need to be powerful enough to haul itself and the loaded car up the steepest gradient on the route. that is to say, the sum of the car capacities would be equal to the sum of the maximum demands. but when the power is obtained from a single stationary source we do away with the dead weight of the power equipment on the car, and secure the very vital advantage that the capacity of the stationary source need not be so great as the sum of the maximum demands. in actual working it never happens that all the cars are full of passengers and ascending the steepest gradients simultaneously. while some are running up-hill, others are going down-hill; while some are full, others are half full or almost empty. the result is that the total demand for power at any time is always very much less than the total of the maximum demands made by each car; and the capacity of the generating station need be sufficient to cope only with the smaller amount. this advantage reduces the expenditure necessary upon boilers, engines, and dynamos at the tramway generating station. and it is enhanced by two valuable capabilities of the electric motor. the first is its power of taking a heavy overload for a limited period without injury. there is no difficulty about making an electric motor, whose normal capacity is horse power, give horse power momentarily, horse power for several minutes, and horse power during the best part of an hour. applied to tramway work, this advantage means that the rated capacity of the motor equipment of a car may be less than what is required to haul a loaded car at an adequate speed up the steepest gradient on the system. such maximum demands, which only occur at intervals with each car, can be met by the readiness of the electric motor for overwork. the motors may therefore be reduced in size, saving money in first cost and in the current consumed. the second valuable peculiarity of the electric motor is that it gives its 'maximum torque' at starting. that is to say, it exercises the highest propulsive effort at the precise moment when it is required. when horses are employed, they have to endure an abnormal strain in overcoming the inertia of a stationary vehicle; everyone must have noticed how horses have to struggle to start a car which they can keep going at an easy trot once it has got up speed. the electric motor--to use an apparent paradox--gives this abnormal pull as part of its normal action. as the inertia of the car is gradually overcome, the speed of rotation of the motor increases and its torque decreases, automatically and precisely in accordance with the demands of the case. the starting torque of a motor is such an emphatic phenomenon that the driver of an electric car may, if he is careless and switches the current on too suddenly, jerk any standing passenger off his feet, even though the total weight of the car may be ten tons or more. properly employed, however, the electric motor gives an even and _rapid_ acceleration. this is a far more important point in tramway economics than it appears to be at first sight. the superiority of the electric tramway over the horse tramway depends less upon higher speed than upon the fact that less time is wasted in stopping to pick up and set down passengers. time is the vital element in all transport, and it is especially vital in connection with tramways, which have to stop with great frequency. if the time which elapses between putting on the brakes at each stop and getting up to full speed again can be materially shortened, then the average speed of the tramway journey can be materially raised. it is easy, by means of powerful brakes, to bring a car to rest quickly; the electric motor enables speed to be regained quickly. in this way a high average speed may be maintained in spite of numerous stops; and, with larger cars, the electric tramway is able to handle a larger volume of traffic in a shorter space of time than the horse tramway. the time lost in stopping is of so much consequence that, when electric tramways were introduced, the old custom of stopping the cars at any desired point was abandoned. stopping places were arranged at convenient points along the route, some of them being regular stops and others optional at a signal from passengers desiring to alight or to board the car. the public soon got used to walking a short distance to a stopping place, although they did not, perhaps, appreciate how much the collection of traffic at a reduced number of points tended to improve the general tramway service. a high average speed with numerous stops was, however, only one of the improvements which the public derived from electric traction. tramway passengers expect to find a car not only at a convenient point but within a convenient period of waiting. with electric traction the service became much more frequent than with horse traction. it is quite possible to run a horse tramway service profitably with cars at intervals of fifteen to thirty minutes, if the passengers are patient enough to wait and fill each vehicle. but with electric traction the main item is the cost of the standing equipment--the power house, mains, and overhead lines--and unless that equipment is adequately utilised the revenue will not cover the standing charges. a fifteen-minute service is, generally speaking, the lowest economic limit on an electric tramway. every tramway manager tries to attract sufficient passengers for a more frequent service; and, as a matter of fact, it was found that where there was sufficient population the provision of a frequent and rapid service encouraged tramway travelling so much that cars had to be run at far shorter intervals than had been customary on horse tramways. the increase of traffic brought with it the demand for larger as well as speedier cars with a shorter 'headway' or interval between one car and another. the capacity of a horse car is limited by the fact that it is not convenient to harness more than two horses to a single vehicle. but with electric cars there is no extraneous limitation to carrying capacity. large double-decked cars with seats for seventy passengers are now quite common. in america it is a frequent practice to attach 'trailers' to the cars, making a short tramway train. experiments have recently been arranged on similar lines in london, for the handling of the heavy traffic at rush hours. these instances show that electric tramway capacity is flexible and may be adjusted to the density and the fluctuating character of the demand. finally, it falls to be noted that the power consumed by a tramcar is, roughly, proportional to the useful work which the car performs. as already mentioned, it costs about as much to work a horse tramway when the cars are empty as when they are full, since the main item is the maintenance of the 'vital principle' of a certain number of horses independently of the traffic. but with electric traction the motors require less power when the cars are running light. and less current for the motors means less current generated at the power station--that is to say, less steam, less oil, less coal, less wear and tear. if more current is demanded, it is because more passengers are being carried and more revenue earned. reviewing the subject broadly, it is apparent that the adoption of electric traction on a tramway is not so much a step in advance as a beneficent revolution. the higher speeds with more frequent, more comfortable, and more commodious cars have created a volume of traffic far beyond what could have been handled with horse traction. the change also led to a great increase in the length of tramway routes and to the construction of new tramway systems. in , when the electric tramway movement began in earnest, there were miles of tramway in the united kingdom. now there are miles, and the number of tramway passengers is more than double the total of third class passengers on the whole system of british railways. the number of tramway passengers carried during - (the last period covered by the published official returns) was equal to about times the estimated population of the united kingdom. while the traffic has multiplied in this remarkable fashion, there has been a heavy reduction in the fares charged. this has been made possible by the economical features of electric traction. in the old days a horse tramway had to spend about £ to earn £ ; an electric tramway need spend only about £ . with this reduction in the proportion of expenses to receipts, and with the greater volume of business, it became feasible to stimulate traffic still further by giving passengers much longer distances for their money. in fact, electric traction proved so economical that people began to imagine that there was no limit to the reductions which might be made with financial safety. however, there is plenty of evidence that a limit exists. in many cases it has been touched, if not passed, but the public continues to clamour for all sorts of concessions. these demands are a great compliment to electric traction, but they are a decided embarrassment to the tramway manager who believes in a reasonable margin between his total expenses and his total revenue. chapter v the mechanism of an electric tramcar: the overhead system a rough idea has already been given of the elementary mechanism of electric traction--the combination of generating station, of cars fitted with electric motors, and of a sliding contact between the two. it is in connection with the sliding contact that the ingenuity of tramway engineers has been mainly exercised. three distinct solutions were evolved for tramway work, giving rise to three systems--( ) the overhead or trolley system; ( ) the conduit system; and ( ) the surface-contact system. the first system is now almost universal in the united kingdom. part of the london system is equipped on the conduit system; and the tramways at lincoln and wolverhampton are constructed on the surface-contact system. beyond these cases the trolley holds the field. in the united states and on the continent there is a larger proportion of conduit work, but from a practical point of view it would hardly be necessary to mention either conduit or surface-contact if it were not for the great engineering interest which they possess and for the controversies to which they have given rise. [illustration: fig. . diagrammatic illustration of the general arrangement of an electric tramway on the overhead system. at the foot is shown the generating station which supplies alternating current at high-pressure (for economy in transmission) to a sub-station where it is 'transformed' to low pressure and 'converted' in a motor-generator to continuous current for distribution to the trolley wire from which each car takes its current. the course of the current through the trolley pole and controller and thence to the motors and back by the rails is indicated by arrows.] the overhead system has conquered because it is cheapest in first cost, cheapest to maintain, most economical in current, and most reliable in action. later developments in surface-contact traction have run it very close on some of these points, but have not--for reasons which will be explained--affected the established position of the overhead system. in its essential features the overhead system has not altered very much from the experimental line erected at the paris exhibition of . the slotted tube has been replaced by a solid copper wire; and the 'boat' sliding within it has been replaced by a wheel or a bow pressed against the lower side of the wire by means of a pivoted arm controlled by springs. the sliding bow is common on the continent, but it has been adopted on only one british tramway--that at sheerness. its use for electric traction on railways will be mentioned later, but as far as british tramways are concerned the bow is the exception which proves the trolley wheel rule. the function of the trolley wheel is to collect current from the wire along which it rolls. this current passes through insulated wires down the trolley arm to the controller, which the driver of the car operates by means of a handle. the controller, which is really a series of electrical resistances, is analogous to a water tap. by its means the current may be completely shut off from the motors, or allowed to flow in varying degree as required by the speed of the car. in starting a car, the driver moves the controller handle notch by notch, so as to get a uniform rise in speed until the full current is allowed to pass through the motors. with such a mechanism, supplemented by brakes, the driver has the movements of the car under control. in a four-wheeled car, each axle is driven by a motor. in a bogie car (one with a set of four wheels at each end) the axles of the larger wheels of the bogie are each driven by a motor; but not directly. considerations of space make it necessary to keep the motor as small as possible, but if a motor is to be small and also powerful it must rotate at a high speed. on the tramcar, therefore, the motor drives a small toothed wheel which drives a large toothed wheel fixed to the axle, thus effecting a reduction of speed between the motor and the wheel. the same considerations of space join with others in making two motors on each car the general rule. and the use of two motors enabled the tramway engineer to introduce a refinement into the method of control. this refinement is known as the 'series-parallel system.' one of its objects is to give a large 'starting torque' and so enable the car to gain speed quickly. when the current is first switched on by the controller it passes through the motors in tandem or in 'series,' thus dividing the pressure of the current (analogous to a 'head' of water) between them. the starting torque of a tramway motor (or the turning moment which it exerts when current is first passed through it) is dependent on the current but independent of the pressure. thus the tandem or 'series' arrangement, which passes the full current through each motor, gives the maximum starting torque without an undue consumption of current. after the car is well started, the next movement of the controller puts the motors in 'parallel,' opening up two paths for the current instead of one, so that each motor receives the full pressure. the practical result is that there is a very rapid acceleration at starting, with marked economy in current. if the motors were kept in 'parallel' right through, twice as much current would be required to get the same starting torque. it will be seen later how valuable this arrangement for getting a rapid start, without excessive current consumption, may be in improving the physical and economic conditions of a tramway or train service. after having passed through the motors and done its work, the current is led to the wheels of the car and returns by way of the rails, which are linked together by copper bonds so as to form a continuous conductor. the passage of the current from the wheel to the rail is indicated by sparks when the rails are rough or very dry and dirty. although the rails, like the overhead wires, are thus carrying current, there is no danger of shock from them, as the electrical pressure in them is only a few volts, at the outside, while the pressure in the overhead wires is volts. it is this difference of pressure which--like the 'head' of water in a turbine--supplies the motive power for the car. each car on a tramway system may thus be regarded as a bridge which completes an electrical circuit. when the driver moves his controller, current flows from the generating station at a high pressure, passes through the controller, operates the motors, and returns to the generating station at a low pressure. this typical circuit is completed through every car, so that the demand on the generating station at any moment is the sum of the demands of the cars at that moment. the business of the engineer at the generating station is to maintain the electrical pressure in the overhead wire at the normal level of volts; and in order to do this on an ordinary tramway system it is found convenient to divide the overhead wire into half-mile sections, each of which has a separate main or 'feeder' from the generating station. the passenger can detect the change from one section to another by the click of the trolley wheel across the gap which insulates one half-mile section from another. at the same spot he can see the short square 'feeder-pillar' at the roadside (containing the switches by which current can be turned off from that section) and the cables which pass along the arm of the trolley standard and terminate in the overhead wire. on an extensive tramway system the power-supply arrangements become more complicated. the central generating station remains the primary source of power, but sub-stations are erected at convenient points between the central station and the outskirts of the tramway area. these sub-stations are secondary stations for the distribution of electricity. they receive power at extra-high pressure ( volts or more) from the central station; they contain special machinery for reducing the pressure to volts for distribution to the various tramway feeders. the object of this arrangement is partly technical but mainly economical. electric power can be transmitted at a lower cost in mains and with less loss of energy at high pressures than at low. consequently when the termini of tramway routes are several miles from the generating centre, greater all-round efficiency is secured by transmitting current at high pressure to a number of well selected sub-stations. [illustration: fig. . photograph of a car on a conduit section of the london county council tramways. the centre line on the vacant track indicates the slot rail through which the 'plough' on the car passes to make contact with the conductors in the underground conduit. (photograph reproduced by courtesy of dick, kerr and company, ltd.)] chapter vi conduit and surface-contact tramway systems roughly speaking, the arrangements for generating electricity, distributing it, and utilising it on the car, remain the same in conduit tramways and surface-contact tramways as on the overhead system. the differences between the three systems are, as already indicated, confined to the means of collecting the current for each car. both the conduit and the surface-contact system were suggested as a means of escape from the main objection to the overhead system--the exposure of 'live' wires in the street. the cable tramway, with its concrete trough and slot, gave an obvious hint. there would be no difficulty, apparently, in carrying wires on insulators in the trough or conduit, and utilising the slot for a 'plough' which would slide along inside the conduit, keeping contact with the wires, and so conveying the current to the car. this was tried for the first time in blackpool, where--in --a length of conduit tramway was laid along the front street of the town. the conditions could hardly have been less favourable for the system, as the sea frequently washed over the roadway, flooding the conduit with water and sand. further, the conduit was so shallow that children were able to get at the conductors with their metal spades. as the conduit carried the return wire, the effect of a metallic contact between the two conductors was to cause a 'short circuit,' with very entertaining fireworks but with no amusing results for the tramway engineer. after a heroic trial, the system had to be abandoned. bournemouth was the next british town to adopt the conduit. it did so as a token of its exceptional civic pride. three times, in fact, the bournemouth corporation declared that it did not want tramways of any kind whatever within its gates. and when the pressure of public opinion forced its consent, the arrangement was made that no overhead wires should appear in the central district of the town. several miles of conduit tramway were therefore constructed (the trolley system being used for the outer tramway routes); and as by that time a good deal of experience had been gained in conduit work both in america and on the continent, the contractors were able to give the corporation a conduit system built to endure. at first the corporation was reconciled to the fact that the conduit sections had cost about twice as much per mile as the trolley lines, but as years went on, and as the financial results of the system continued to prove unsatisfactory, the corporation's contentment became modified. an examination of the accounts showed that the conduit sections could be reconstructed on the overhead system at a cost equal to the annual expense of maintaining these sections in good working order. since the public had got used to the overhead wires on the other sections, and since they had not got used to owning tramways which produced a heavy loss, the decision was made to abandon the conduit system altogether. in london the conduit system was adopted by the london county council for various reasons. one was that the council felt that london ought to have the best, the very best, and nothing but the best. another was that the streets were so congested with traffic, lamp standards, telegraph and telephone poles, and other obstructions, that trolley wires and trolley standards would be a great nuisance and a serious danger. aesthetic reasons were also advanced, but it is difficult to realise that they had much weight in connection with the majority of metropolitan streets. trolley wires were, in fact, freely erected in suburban streets where there was a certain amount of beauty worth preserving. the main underlying reason, no doubt, was the feeling that london could afford the most costly system. in any ordinary city (and perhaps in london as well) the conduit must be regarded as a luxury. it involves a continuous road excavation so deep that a great deal of incidental work has frequently to be done in moving gas, water, and drain pipes out of the way. the conduit itself is a thick channel of concrete, strengthened at intervals of a few feet with heavy cast iron 'yokes' which support the 'rails' forming the lips of the slot through which the 'plough' of the car passes. elaborate arrangements have to be made for draining the conduit, as any accumulation of mud or water in contact with the conductors, or the special insulators supporting them, would be fatal to the working of the system. and in practice the ordinary drainage has to be assisted by continual scraping of the conduit with special brushes and by repeated flushing during the hours when the cars are not running. heavy rains and snowstorms are therefore liable to upset the working of the system; and the tramway manager has to employ quite an army of men simply to keep the conduit in working order. trouble is also apt to be caused by purely mechanical means. on one occasion a child's hoop fell through the slot and caused a short circuit. as the ordinary scrapers slipped over the hoop, its presence was not detected for a considerable time, during which the tramway service was at a standstill. altogether there is a greater liability to interruption on the conduit system than on the overhead system. [illustration: fig. . the upper portion of the illustration shows a section of a typical conduit system of electric tramway traction. this section is taken at one of the cast-iron 'yokes' which support the rails forming the slot through which the 'plough' passes from the car to make contact with the conductor rails. the lower illustration gives a longitudinal and transverse section of the 'g-b.' system of surface-contact tramway traction. the rope-like cable carries the current and is supported on insulators. when the collector on the car covers the stud, the action of the magnet draws the lower part of the stud into contact with the cable, thus supplying current to the car. after the car has passed, the lower part of the stud rises by the action of a spring and, breaking contact with the 'live' cable, becomes dead. (in actual practice contact would be made under the conditions shown in the left-hand diagram.)] experience of these drawbacks led the london county council to seek an alternative to the conduit when constructing electric lines in the north of london. many of the borough councils, following the county council's own previous arguments, would not listen to the suggestion of the overhead system; and a freshly-elected council, pledged to a policy of economy, determined to try the surface-contact system. how this trial gave rise to a violent political controversy, leading to the abandonment of the project and culminating in important libel actions, forms a picturesque story which need not be told in detail here. its main interest lies, for the moment, in the emphasis which the incidents give to a characteristic of the surface-contact system--its sensitiveness to minute alterations in detail. the surface-contact or 'stud' system is really a modification of the conduit system. it has, in fact, been called the 'closed conduit.' the electric wires are again placed in a channel or pipe underground, but instead of being accessible through a slot, contact can be made with them only through metal studs placed at intervals flush with the roadway. by special electro-mechanical devices in the stud and on the car, the stud is brought into contact with the 'live' underground wire only when the car is over it. that is to say, the studs covered and protected by the car will be 'live' and supplying power to the car through a sliding brush or 'skate,' while those not so protected will be 'dead' and therefore of no danger to the public. an immense amount of ingenuity has been expended by many engineers in devising studs to act with absolute certainty under all conditions. in the laboratory or the workshop, and even on an experimental track, it was simple enough to arrange a mechanism which would 'make' and 'break' contact with admirable regularity. but when it came to putting the mechanism down on an ordinary roadway, to be covered with mud, pounded by heavy traffic, and subjected to the action of damp, frost, heat, and all sorts of unexpected influences, much less satisfactory results were obtained. time and again the hopes of engineers were dashed by a succession of petty troubles--some of them obscure, most of them unforeseen. the weak points in nearly all the systems were the insulation of electrical parts and the road construction work. lack of simplicity and rigidity led to the introduction of moisture and to the shifting of parts so that studs jammed and remained 'alive' after the car had passed over them. but even after the practical elimination of these troubles the success of the surface-contact system seemed as sensitive as the system itself. one system was tried at torquay, and discontinued after a protracted trial on a large scale. another system--the lorain system--was installed at wolverhampton and is still in operation, but without imitators. a third system--the griffiths-bedell or g-b. system--was installed in at lincoln, with satisfactory results. it was the g-b. system which was offered to the metropolitan borough councils as an alternative to the conduit and the trolley. a trial section was laid down in in the bow road, and a certain amount of trouble was experienced with live studs and with various parts of the equipment. owing to the stud system having been suggested by the moderate party, the experimental difficulties were extensively advertised by members of the progressive party, who condemned the system as dangerous and unworkable. public feeling was worked up to such a pitch that, in the face of expert advice in favour of the system in a somewhat modified form, the council decided to abandon the experiment. libel actions by the owners of the 'g-b.' patents followed, part of the plaintiffs' case being that the system as laid down was altered in a number of small but vitally important details by the council's officers and was therefore not the 'g-b.' system proper. the results with the 'g-b.' system at lincoln prove that it is possible to construct surface-contact tramways at a cost about per cent. more than that of trolley tramways, and to operate them, safely and with reliability, at a cost not appreciably more than the general working expenses of an overhead line. but this proof has not only been enfeebled for the special reasons just described, but it came at a time when the public had got quite accustomed to the trolley and also when most towns had already been equipped with electric traction. ten or fifteen years earlier, such a proof might have changed the course of tramway development; now it can have no great material effect. the upshot of the contest between the three systems has, therefore, been the survival of the one which was most despised at the outset. chapter vii the backwardness of electric traction in great britain popular objections to the overhead system are not, of course, quite dead. every tramway proposal in districts where the trolley has not already penetrated is still opposed on the ground of disfigurement and danger. this opposition serves as an index to the severity of the struggle which the advocates of the trolley system had to encounter before they made it almost universal in large cities. but the dislike of the public for a questionable novelty was not the sole reason why electric tramway enterprise was backward in great britain. it is not strictly accurate to say that electric tramway _enterprise_ was backward. the enterprise was there, in spirit, but circumstances were very much against it. tramway schemes are controlled by special legislation which was passed before electric traction was contemplated; and this legislation has not been amended in any material degree to suit the altered conditions brought about by the use of electricity. the tramways act, --which is the master act of the situation--was framed at a time of reaction against public monopolies. before that time, gas, water, railway, and other companies had been granted statutory powers in perpetuity; and when a local authority wanted to take the supply of gas or water into its own hands, it had to buy the existing undertakings at the valuation put upon them by the owners themselves. there were frequent complaints about excessive purchase terms, and also about extortionate rates charged by the monopolist companies. consequently, when horse tramways came on the scene, the legislature determined to put the new 'monopoly' on quite a different basis. the tramways act provided, first, that no application for tramway powers would be so much as considered if it did not gain the consent of the local authorities interested; second, that the period of tenure should be limited to twenty-one years; and third, that the local authorities should have the option, at the end of the period or at seven-year intervals afterwards, of buying the tramway undertaking at the 'then value' of the plant (rails, horses, cars, depots, etc.) without any allowance for compulsory purchase, goodwill, future profits or any other consideration whatsoever. this act was passed with the very best of intentions. it had the advantage of substituting, for the costly and clumsy procedure by private bill, the simple and cheap process of applying to the board of trade for a 'provisional order' which would acquire the full force of an act when ratified (in a more or less automatic way) by parliament. but in spite of its good intentions it proved a serious stumbling-block, especially when electric traction was proposed. the effect of the limited tenure system, with compulsory expropriation on what were called 'scrap-iron' terms, was to make the companies very reluctant to spend one penny more than was absolutely necessary during the concluding years. capital expenditure on improvements in equipment was regarded as out of the question, since there was not sufficient time to recoup the difference between first cost and the 'then value' at the purchase period. money was grudged for the upkeep of track, the repair and painting of cars, and the hundred and one items of expense which are essential to a well-conducted tramway. system after system fell into a state of shabby gentility, hoarding money against its inevitable end. this was the condition when, in the middle eighties, electric traction was suggested. the public, suffering from the decay of the tramway service, but not realising that the cause lay with an act devised for the public benefit, expected the tramway companies to adopt the new mode of propulsion. but as the conversion to electric working involved track-work costing several thousands of pounds per mile, and new cars costing several hundreds each, together with a large generating plant and new car depots, the change was commercially impossible to companies which were forced to retain their old horse equipment in order to realise something for the shareholders in the day of expropriation. from these causes there arose a demand that the municipalities should take over the tramway systems and do what the companies appeared too slow to undertake. thus a strong impetus was given to municipal tramway enterprise. but this impetus did not remove the causes of delay. the local authorities had good economic reasons for waiting until the existing tramway leases ran out and so enabled purchase to be made upon the most advantageous terms. they were also obliged to move very cautiously in adopting so radical and so novel a change as electric traction. municipalities are not speculative traders, who are ready to take risks after a rapid expert investigation of a new policy. further, no municipality likes to accept the decision of another as valid for its own district. the consequence was that each municipality thought it necessary to get its own expert report on the subject and, in many cases, to send its own deputation to inspect continental tramway systems. these preliminary studies, with debates in council chambers and newspaper columns, with public meetings of encouragement or protest, and with the erection of experimental lines, took up so much time that little of a substantial nature was done until several years after engineers were ready and willing to carry out the conversion of large systems of horse tramways to electric working. the municipalities, however, were not the only forces at work. towards the year , when a large number of tramway leases were running out, a considerable amount of business was done by private capital in buying up horse tramways with a view to conversion and also to extension far beyond the limits of the existing routes. the essential condition of the success of such enterprise was, of course, the renewal of the tenure of the tramways for at least another twenty-one years. here--and in the accompanying applications for extensions of route--the true inwardness of the tramways act was shown. everything was in the hands of the local authorities. they had only to withhold their consent, and nothing could be done. and this power of veto enabled them to drive any bargain they pleased with the promoters of tramway schemes. most electric tramway proposals covered the areas of several local authorities, so that negotiations had to be entered into with each in turn. the municipalities, being the guardians of the public interests, considered it their duty to impose the heaviest conditions which the promoters could be induced to accept, rather than abandon the enterprise. it was a case of hobson's choice in every parish. in some instances direct payments for wayleaves were demanded. in others the promoters were forced to bear the cost of street widenings and other 'public improvements' which were not always necessary for tramway purposes. in nearly every town the fares and stages were determined by the local authority--on the strength of the veto, not on commercial principles. the cost of construction was frequently increased by onerous conditions regarding the standard of overhead wire and track work. under the tramways act, tramway companies were compelled to maintain the roadway between the rails and also outside for a space of eighteen inches--a provision which was sensible enough when horses were used. but the condition was not only enforced within these statutory limits when the promoters were about to use a form of traction which spared the road surface; it was extended in numerous cases to an obligation to pave the entire roadway and to maintain it--often with expensive wood paving where macadam had previously been considered quite good enough for the traffic. one effect of this state of affairs was delay. the preliminary negotiations with local authorities--the interviews with mayors, aldermen, councillors, town clerks, and borough surveyors, to say nothing of the 'frontagers' along the line of route--usually occupied far more time than the actual construction of the tramways. they were also much more troublesome, since it was within the power of a single local authority in a central position to 'hold up' a complete scheme, while most districts had strong local patriotism and wanted a municipal system to themselves. very little is known by the general public of the anxiety, difficulty, and expense attending such negotiations with local bodies divided into parties or cliques and furnished with an absolute power of veto. looking back on the history of electric traction, it really seems extraordinary that engineers and financiers had the patience to undertake this work and carry it through. their reward, as will be seen, was not great in a pecuniary sense; and, as regards reputation, they are generally accused of being extravagant, avaricious, and wanting in enterprise. the ultimate effect was that the actual cost of electric tramways exceeded the estimates prepared on the basis of continental and american experience. the more prolonged and difficult the negotiations preliminary to a scheme became, the greater the expense. and the conditions imposed by local authorities as the price of their consent loaded the capital account of electric tramway undertakings with items which had no direct concern with the tramway. the board of trade assisted the increase in cost by prescribing a standard of construction which was higher than that allowed in other countries. the net result has been that while electric tramways were expected to cost about £ per mile, they have actually cost over £ , per mile. the revenue side of the account has also been affected by the power of veto. a local authority has no hesitation in imposing low fares and long stages (with high wages and short hours for employees) upon a tramway company seeking its consent. the standard usually adopted is that of large urban systems with dense traffic, so that systems in scattered districts are often unfairly treated. in municipal systems themselves the fares are apt to be determined by the promises of councillors at election times rather than by the simple consideration of a fair price for improved traffic facilities. workmen's fares, for instance, are a dead loss on practically every tramway system. every now and again there is an agitation for halfpenny fares, for the extension of stages, for cheap rates for school children, for free transport for the blind, and so on. a leading municipal tramway manager once remarked that it was almost impossible for men in his position to resist the pressure for such concessions, especially at local election periods. the chairman of the highways committee of the london county council recently stated that never a day passes without some appeal for concessions in tramway fares. most of the large urban systems are under municipal control, and therefore they have the rates in reserve, as well as the most favourable traffic conditions, to encourage them in giving the public more and more for less money. but the tramway companies, working for the greater part in less thickly populated areas, with no extraneous means of making up losses, are put in a difficult position when similar concessions are forced upon them. the upshot is that the average return on the capital of electric traction companies amounts to only · per cent. better profits were, in fact, made in the horse tramway days; and the electric traction industry is a fine example of the way in which the enterprise of engineers and capitalists may bring little comfort to themselves but enormous benefit to the public, which shows its gratitude by asking for greater blessings at their expense. chapter viii electric tramway stagnation. the trolley omnibus the revenue of a tramway is built up of pennies; and a minute increase in the average earnings per passenger will therefore have a large effect on the total receipts. for instance, it was calculated (in ) that an increase of one-tenth of a penny in the average fare on the sixty systems under the control of the british electric traction company would mean an increase of over £ , in the revenue. similarly, a fractional decrease in one of the operating expenses--say, the cost of electric current--might transform a shaky undertaking into a sound one. tramway finance, in fact, is a question of infinitesimals. so long as fares are determined by arbitrary conditions, little can be done to increase the revenue on an electric tramway system. such matters as the weather and the extent of building operations have far more influence on tramway traffic than anything the tramway manager can do to assist it. apart from the development of parcels traffic, his best opportunities lie in the skilful adjustment of the service to the varying needs of the public, so that the 'rush' hours find an adequate supply of cars, while the quieter hours find no 'waste car mileage' in the form of empty cars. he can also do a good deal in the way of inducing the drivers not to waste current. by putting an electricity meter on each car it is possible to check the current consumption and, by a system of bonuses, to encourage the economical driver. there are many other directions in which small financial leakages may be arrested, giving an aggregate saving which is well worth the trouble. [illustration: fig. . photograph of an electric trolley omnibus built by the railless electric traction company ltd. in and operated at hendon for experimental purposes. later cars built by this company are of a lighter and simpler design, but the illustration shows clearly the arrangement of a double trolley for supplying current to a vehicle which 'steers' like an ordinary motor omnibus.] the fact remains, however, that on the whole the electric tramway business depends upon too narrow a margin between costs and receipts. the recognition of this fact, coupled with the legislative difficulties already described, led to the practical cessation of tramway development in great britain at a point far short of what was once expected. at one stage, no doubt, people were a little too enthusiastic about electric traction. they imagined that electric traction would create profitable traffic along the most deserted of side streets. acting on that theory, municipalities constructed--or forced tramway companies to construct--lines along roads which could never supply enough traffic to justify the expenditure involved. the interest on capital and other standing charges for an electric tramway route are so substantial that a certain minimum of traffic density must exist before any profit at all can be earned. however, after every allowance is made for such local excesses of enthusiasm, the under-developed condition of electric traction in great britain remains conspicuous enough. a sensible relaxation of legislative restrictions would go a long way to improve matters--if, that is to say, financiers could be induced to re-enter a field in which they have had many disappointments. great hopes of improvement were entertained when the light railways act, , was passed. the primary object of this act was to encourage the building of cheap railways for agricultural and fishery purposes, but it was drafted on lines broad enough to include electric tramways. arrangements were made for state and local contributions to the cost of such schemes, in cases where subsidies appeared to be justifiable. the procedure in obtaining powers was made as simple and as economical as possible. applications for 'light railway orders' had to be made to the light railway commission, one of whose members then arranged to hold a local inquiry into the proposal. if sanctioned, the scheme was passed on to the board of trade for approval, and the order, if confirmed, thus secured the validity of a private act of parliament. nothing was said in this act about the consent of local authorities, or about limited tenure, or about expropriation upon scrap-iron terms. but the light railway commissioners chose to interpret the act in terms of the tramways act, with the result that, when there was any opposition on the part of local authorities, the tramway promoter using the light railways act was not much better off than before. he had to face a new difficulty in a clause of the light railways act, which provided that when the proposed light railway was of sufficient magnitude and in such a position that it offered competition with an existing railway, the scheme should be submitted to parliament as a private bill--that is to say, should face the most costly and cumbersome procedure of all. the light railways act thus proved a great disappointment. its failure to afford relief seems to have taken away the tramway promoter's last hope of genuine legislative betterment. he has resigned himself to things as they are; and the utmost he does is to assert, when occasion offers, that there are many districts which might enjoy the benefits of electric traction if means were provided for bringing every scheme directly before an independent tribunal for consideration on its merits alone; if arrangements were made for obtaining wayleaves and land on favourable terms, and if he were allowed to construct and equip the line on a less costly basis than the board of trade now demands, even in rural districts. pending that revolution, tramway authorities are seeking to develop a cheaper means of electric traction than the tramway. at the present stage, urban tramways have spread through suburbs towards villages and small towns which are anxious for better transport facilities but have not sufficient population to justify a tramway extension. inter-urban tramway systems--those connecting towns with a network of lines--are also adjacent to such minor centres of traffic. from time to time attempts have been made to meet the demand by means of petrol omnibuses, but they have rarely been successful--partly, no doubt, owing to the difficulty of working a limited petrol omnibus service economically at the extremities of an electric tramway system. the latest solution of the problem is the 'trackless trolley' or, more correctly, the 'trolley omnibus.' in the session over a dozen tramway authorities applied for powers to use this device; and, if the financial results of the first attempts are successful, there will probably be a considerable growth in this type of electric traction. the trolley omnibus is a hybrid between the trolley tramcar and the omnibus. it is akin to the first, because it derives its power from an overhead wire through a flexible trolley pole. it is akin to the second, because it does not run on rails but is fitted with solid rubber tyres and uses the surface of the road in the usual way. roughly speaking, its electrical equipment is similar to that of a tramcar. the trolley pole conveys the electric current to the controller, which admits it to motors geared on to the back axles. there are, however, one or two important differences. the absence of a rail which might act as a return conductor necessitates the provision of a second overhead wire and a second trolley-pole to connect with it. thus the electrical circuit is from the power station, along the first overhead wire, down the first trolley-pole, through the controller and motors, up the second trolley-pole, and back by the second overhead wire to the power station. owing to the vehicle being a steerable one, the trolley-poles have to be specially designed to give plenty of free play sideways. the vehicle itself is similar in appearance to a single-decked motor omnibus, and it runs on solid rubber tyres or spring wheels. the first thing which strikes one about the trolley omnibus in comparison with the electric tramcar is the cheapness in first cost. all the expense of concrete foundations, heavy rails, and granite paving is avoided. on ordinary roads the overhead construction is much less costly, as a single line of poles supporting two wires is sufficient for the up and down services. estimates show that the equipment of a mile of roadway on this system will cost only from one-fourth to one-third of the corresponding tramway system. following on this economy there is the saving in the cost of maintenance and repairs--a serious item on the ordinary tramway. in actual working, the system has the advantage that the vehicles can steer past slow-going traffic, thus avoiding the delay caused on tramway systems through carts having to draw out, away from the track, when overtaken by cars. this steering or 'overtaking' power enables a trolley omnibus service to be maintained without obstruction on a narrow roadway which would be badly congested by tramcars running on a rigid track. when there is only one pair of wires, two trolley omnibuses may pass each other (whether going in the same or opposite directions) by the simple process of pulling down the trolley poles of one car and swinging them out of the way for a few seconds. on a single-line tramway it is necessary to provide loops at intervals for crossing purposes and also to arrange the service so that cars arrive at the loops simultaneously. the other side of the picture is shown when we come to look into the costs of working. no matter how good the road surface may be or how excellent the design of the wheel, the tractive effort required for a trolley omnibus must be relatively greater than that required for a tramcar. nothing demands a lower tractive effort than a steel wheel running on a steel rail. consequently the trolley omnibus takes more power per ton moved than the tramcar. when the road surface is wet or uneven, or muddy or loose, this difference is of course multiplied. another addition to the working cost is produced by the tyres, which, if of rubber, may wear away at the rate of - / _d._ or _d._ per mile per vehicle. owing to the uniform control of speed afforded by the electric system, there is less jerking at starting or stopping than is general with a petrol-driven omnibus; but in spite of that advantage, tyre wear on a trolley omnibus must remain an important item. something must also be allowed for the effect of vibration upon the car body and electrical equipment--an effect which is of course much less pronounced when a vehicle runs on rails. the balance between these advantages and disadvantages is not easy to strike, even on a general basis. and it varies so much under local conditions that tramway engineers debated a long time before they decided in certain cases to try the trolley omnibus in extending their traffic facilities. all they had to go upon was the experience gained on certain continental routes, where trolley omnibuses have been running for several years. that experience encouraged the hope that trolley omnibuses might be a profitable means of developing traffic in conjunction with a tramway system, and along routes which would not provide sufficient business for a regular tramway. the simultaneous adoption of the trolley omnibus on a number of tramway 'feeders' gave rise to an impression that tramway authorities had discovered the wheel-on-rail system to be less efficient than the tyre-on-road system. as a general proposition, nothing could be further from the truth. tramway authorities have adopted the new system in certain cases where the possible traffic is comparatively small, not as a substitute for tramways, but as an alternative to self-propelled omnibuses. the carrying capacity of a trolley omnibus is about twenty, while that of a tramcar is frequently as high as seventy. the speed of a tramcar runs up to twenty miles an hour, while twelve miles an hour is as much as is comfortable (to say the least) with a vehicle running with solid tyres on an ordinary road. therefore, where large volumes of traffic have to be handled swiftly, the tramway will remain. but where a twenty-minute or half-hourly service of small vehicles is sufficient for the available passengers, a system which is much cheaper in first cost is clearly more suitable, even though it may not reach the standard of economy in working set by the large urban tramway. that is to say, the choice between the two systems depends entirely upon local circumstances. [illustration: fig. . the 'auto-trolley' system of electric traction applied to the haulage of goods in a german quarry. (from _electrical industries_.)] as an emphasis upon this statement, it is significant that many tramway engineers regard the trolley omnibus merely as the forerunner of a tramway. for this reason they favour the adoption of the particular trolley omnibus system where the overhead equipment is adaptable with trifling changes to tramway purposes. they argue that, in the case of a village of a few thousand inhabitants, situated a mile or so beyond the terminus of a tramway route, a trolley omnibus service will not only be sufficient for the existing traffic, but will show whether the traffic is likely to increase (through the stimulation of building enterprise) up to the point where it would make the laying of rails worth while. when that point is reached, the rails will be laid and the trolley omnibus vehicles put on some other route which is at one and the same time a tramway 'feeder' and a tramway 'feeler.' chapter ix regenerative control before going on to discuss the 'accumulator' or 'storage battery' system of electric traction, reference should be made to an invention which holds the germ of great economies in electric traction. this invention is known under the name of 'regenerative control.' it has already been explained that the dynamo is reversible--that is to say, a dynamo may act as a motor, or a motor as a dynamo. this fact is usefully applied in braking tramcars. when a car has gained speed, its momentum represents a certain amount of stored energy. in stopping the car, this energy has to be absorbed or dissipated in some way or other. one method is to utilise the friction of brake blocks on the wheels, or of skids on the rails themselves. with the electric car, however, it is possible to absorb the energy by making it drive the motors as if they were dynamos. the moving car drives the wheels, which in turn drive the motors; and the current so generated may either be absorbed in electrical 'resistances' or led to electro-magnets which are so placed that they exercise a retarding pull on the rails. in any of these cases a car which is being stopped, or is being 'held back' by the brakes when going down-hill, is wasting power. it is clear, therefore, that a great deal of power could be saved if the current generated by the motors in retarding could be pumped back, as it were, into the electrical circuit. this is the problem of 'regeneration' which has fascinated many electrical engineers. the practical difficulties underlying it are very great; and perhaps the only man to get within measurable distance of surmounting them was mr j. s. raworth, whose system of regenerative control was tried on a number of tramway systems and installed on the rawstenstall tramways in . it cannot be said with confidence that all the difficulties have been overcome; on the other hand, it would be rash to say that they are insurmountable. mr raworth, at any rate, retains his faith in ultimate victory; and the theoretical beauty of the system is so complete that it is bound to retain its fascination. the practical result of regeneration is to eliminate the effect of hills. a regenerative car in descending a hill gives back to the generating station some of the excess energy required to take it up the hill. in the same way each car, in coming to a standstill, gives back a portion of the energy required to start it. a regenerative tramway may thus be represented, from the energy point of view, as one in which all the cars are running at normal speeds on level roads. incidentally the regenerative system gives a very perfect control of the speed of the car on all gradients, owing to the regeneration which begins automatically when the motors start 'coasting.' it is a power-saver and a brake in one; and its efficacy as a means of control is so great that, if its incidental drawbacks could be avoided, it would be worth adopting for this purpose alone, both on electric tramways and on electric railways. chapter x accumulator electric traction. the electric automobile the use of the accumulator or storage battery in electric traction affords a very good example of how a means of propulsion may fail in one set of circumstances and contrive to succeed in another. its history serves to remind us that the problem of cheap transport is really a group of problems, each one of which demands a particular solution. the accumulator is a device for storing electrical energy in the form of chemical energy. its action depends upon the effect of currents of electricity on lead plates in a bath of sulphuric acid. the passage of the current through the battery produces chemical changes which enable the battery to give out current when required. as the battery may remain 'charged' for several days, and may be discharged slowly or quickly, it provides a means of 'storing' electrical energy. in practice, and under favourable conditions, the efficiency of the storage battery is about per cent. that is to say, there is a loss of about per cent. in the process of conversion and re-conversion. [illustration: fig. . a modern electric automobile.--the electric battery is placed under the front half of the car, and the motors drive the back axle through chains. (british electric automobile co., ltd.)] great hopes were once entertained of accumulator traction on tramways. the storage battery offered a means of escape from all the difficulty and expense of carrying electric mains overhead or underground. by fitting each car with a storage battery, it could be made an independent self-contained locomotive, capable of running a certain number of miles until the battery was approaching exhaustion. by providing centres where the batteries could be re-charged--or, to save time, replaced by batteries previously charged--a continuous service could be maintained on a tramway system. the advantages of accumulator traction, apart from the saving in first cost, are the absence of obstruction and danger from overhead wires, and of the risk of a general stoppage of the service when the current at the generating station fails from any accidental cause. when accumulators are used, the conversion of a horse tramway to an electric tramway becomes a very simple matter. all that is required is to erect a generating station and provide each car with a storage battery and electrical equipment. this equipment, it may be mentioned, is substantially the same as with ordinary electric cars. the current flows from the accumulator through the controller and the motors back to the accumulator. many trials were made with this system in the early days of electric traction, but there are no survivals. the failures were due in part to weaknesses in the batteries and to the difficulty of handling them with proper care under the rough and ready conditions of tramway service. the main cause, however, was the inherent drawback of all locomotive systems--the fact that the tractor has to haul its own dead weight in addition to the weight of the car and passengers. lead being one of the heaviest of metals, this dead weight was a very serious item on accumulator tramcars. it proved to be a fatal item when the attempt was made to run large cars on heavy gradients. the rush of current demanded in starting such cars up-hill was in itself too severe a tax on the delicate structure of the batteries. in practice, moreover, the necessity of bringing each car back to the depot for re-charging, after a limited journey, proved very troublesome. the more extensive the system and the more frequent the service, the more troublesome this necessity became. even the most enthusiastic advocate of the storage battery was at last forced to admit that it was not applicable to a system of transport, which demanded comparatively high speeds with large cars on all gradients and over a range of several miles from the centre of power. after the admitted failure of accumulator tramways, the storage battery was for some time used only on river launches and small private vehicles. the conditions in both cases--and especially in the former--are very favourable to its operation. on a river launch the weight of the battery is not a serious item, as it serves to some extent in the place of ballast. launches, moreover, are generally required for trips of a limited number of miles up and down the river from the boathouse or charging station of the owner. in contrast with the tramway, there is no demand for rapid acceleration at starting or for abnormal power at intervals. the batteries discharge slowly and fairly evenly, and are not subjected to serious vibration. the electrical equipment is extremely simple, as the motor is fixed on to the propeller shaft and operated by a controller on the deck close to the steering wheel. however, if economy were the only consideration, it is doubtful whether the electric launch would have survived against the competition of steam and petrol launches. it has survived because the simplicity of the equipment, its silent running, and the absence of heat, smoke and fumes, make it the ideal thing for river work. the hire of an electric launch on the thames costs more than that of a steam launch, but plenty of people are willing to pay the additional charge to avoid the drawbacks of steam propulsion on a small vessel. similar considerations underlie the extensive use of electric broughams in cities. such vehicles are required only for travel within a restricted area and on streets where the gradients are seldom severe. their carrying capacity is generally limited to two or four passengers, so that the batteries do not require to be unduly heavy. a maximum speed of miles an hour is quite sufficient for city streets; and with careful treatment the batteries can be very economically used and will not deteriorate nearly so rapidly as they would under tramway conditions. considerations of economy, on the other hand, do not weigh very heavily with the class of people who use private electric broughams. they are prepared to pay for the best available; and the electric brougham, with its noiselessness, its easy running, its absence of smell or other nuisance, is regarded as the ideal which other modes of city transport must do their best to approach. in london a certain amount of business has been done for some years in hiring electric broughams for various periods on terms which include current, maintenance, garage facilities, driver's wages, and all other charges. the convenience of such an arrangement to the hirer need not be emphasised, since what is wanted in this case is a vehicle which is always ready at a telephone call. but the system has another important advantage, which bears upon the economic prospects of accumulator traction. by retaining the vehicles under its control the hiring company not only centralises the arrangements for storing and re-charging, but it is able to take care that the batteries are properly treated. just as the success of the surface-contact system depends on minutiae of design, so the success of accumulator traction depends upon minutiae of treatment. carelessness in driving the vehicles and in handling the batteries at the garage may transform a perfectly satisfactory mode of city transport into an extravagant nuisance. consequently the success of this class of business depends upon an organisation which permits of constant supervision over every vehicle and every driver. a good deal of ingenuity has been exercised upon the electrical equipment of broughams; and it is probable that further improvements will be made. in some cases the front axle is driven by the motor; in some cases the back axle. the earliest cars used toothed-wheel gearing in order to reduce the speed of the small fast-running motor. improved types on this principle still exist, but there are some interesting forms in which the motors are placed right at the hub of the wheels and effect speed reduction and control by electrical means, without any intermediate gearing. in addition to these improvements, the storage battery itself has made a distinct advance in design and construction. it is more efficient, more durable, and more reliable now than ever it was before. the closer attention given to its treatment tends in the same direction; and the result is that storage-battery makers and engineers have a very accurate knowledge of what the accumulator will do at a certain cost under certain conditions. the conditions being the variable factors in the problem, and being in large measure determinable by choice, it is rather remarkable that the engineers and financiers should have selected, at the outset, the very conditions which were least suited to the peculiarities of the accumulator. the attempt to adapt battery traction to tramway work is a conspicuous case in point, but it is not perhaps so conspicuous in the public memory as the efforts to organise electric cab and electric omnibus services in london and elsewhere. these efforts have been made so often and failed so regularly that they have made it difficult to obtain capital for any form of electric battery propulsion. the electric omnibus has many of the drawbacks of the storage-battery tramcar, but they are not so serious in the case of an urban service, adequately met by small cars running at moderate speeds on short routes with moderate gradients. it is possible that if recent metropolitan electric omnibus enterprises had been as happy in their finance as in their engineering, they would have succeeded well enough. but even in their engineering they had to meet great difficulties. they sought to protect themselves against excessive costs by entering into maintenance agreements with the makers of the batteries; and although the terms of these agreements were satisfactory enough, their validity depended on careful treatment of the batteries by the drivers of the cars--a matter which it is rather difficult to guarantee. moreover, the number of omnibuses put on the road was so small that the garage costs and other standing charges were proportionally very heavy. with a larger fleet and with efficient organisation, much better results might have been achieved in spite of the inherent difficulties of the situation. although the electric cab has the advantage of being a smaller vehicle and therefore more adapted to economical propulsion by storage batteries, the conditions of the cab service are not at all favourable to the system. the essential feature of a cab is that it should be available anywhere, to go anywhere at a moment's notice. an accumulator-driven vehicle, on the other hand, is tied by an invisible cord to the charging station. even if charging stations were multiplied enormously, the electric cab would have no real freedom of action, since several hours are required for the process of re-charging. we have only to compare the limitations of the electric cab with the freedom of the petrol cab (which can renew its supply of petrol in a minute or two at any motor depot) to realise that the roving commission is not at all suited to the former. in a very bold effort was made to establish an electric cab service in london. to inaugurate the service a procession of the cabs was formed, but it excited more ridicule than serious interest. the clumsy appearance of the cabs was against them; and their behaviour was not satisfactory enough--as to speed and reliability--to overcome the first unfavourable impressions. they soon disappeared, to add another failure to the long list of disappointments in connection with accumulator traction. the private electric automobile remains, however, because it has been organised under conditions which suit the peculiarities of the storage battery. its survival, in conjunction with the failure of a similar means of transit for tramway, omnibus, and public cab services, has pointed to another direction in which the electric automobile should be a commercial possibility. that is, in connection with the local distribution of goods from large stores and other centres. the united states have given a very distinct lead in this matter. in new york, chicago, washington, and other large cities the electric automobile for private use is highly developed and there is also an extensive service of electric vehicles ranging in size from a small parcels van to a large lorry capable of carrying loads up to several tons. no doubt the local cost of other means of transport has something to do with this american development, which has, moreover, been strongly supported by the companies which supply electricity to the public. but the fundamental reason lies in the special character of the service demanded. the vans belonging to a large store all start from a certain point and return to it after journeys of limited range. owing to the period occupied in loading up, and also to the pre-determined hours of most of the deliveries, there is no difficulty about affording the time required for re-charging the batteries, or in arranging each journey so that the vehicle returns before the batteries are exhausted. with a standardised fleet of vehicles, it is possible to remove the discharged batteries and replace them with charged ones in a few minutes. the whole arrangement, in fact, is like a private automobile garage, with the advantage that the probable demand can be forecast with a somewhat greater degree of certainty. steam and petrol-driven wagons run most economically on long steady journeys at fairly high speeds, and the electric automobile does not attempt to compete with them on these lines. but it offers competition within city limits for door-to-door delivery; and its prospects are particularly good for light parcel service, where the horse is still maintaining its position against the petrol vehicle. the advantages of the electric vehicle in neatness and noiselessness will certainly secure its success if the cost can be proved to be not appreciably greater than that of its rivals. apart from the necessity of careful organisation, the main essential of success in electric automobile work is a supply of cheap electricity. owners of private electric launches have to pay anything from _d._ to _s._ _d._ per unit for re-charging their batteries, but these high prices are due to the intermittent character of the demand and also (in some cases) to the cost of providing machinery to supply current at special pressures for particular launches. an electric automobile garage, situated close to a public generating station and offering a larger and more regular demand, will of course obtain current much cheaper. and it is possible that arrangements may be made for supplying electricity to automobiles at a much lower rate even than that customary for general power demands. in the metropolitan borough of marylebone, for instance, an electric garage may obtain current during the small hours of the night at / _d._ per unit, which is half the standard rate for power purposes. this low price is offered because there is otherwise practically no demand at all for electricity during these hours. if, therefore, a garage arranges--and the arrangement is quite feasible--to charge its batteries overnight, the power bill may be divided by two. the electric automobile has been used to some extent as a touring car, but although journeys up to miles have been performed on a single charge, the time occupied in re-charging, and the difficulty of finding convenient charging stations, are fatal to any development in this field. chapter xi petrol-electric vehicles and main marine propulsion by electricity between the petrol-driven vehicle and the electric automobile there is an interesting series of links provided by 'petrol-electric' systems. at one end of the chain, electricity plays an important part in supplying power to drive the car. at the other end, electrical apparatus is introduced merely as a form of transmission gear between the petrol engine and the driving axle. the reason for attempting the petrol-electric combination will be most readily understood by considering the latter arrangement first. the petrol engine is a high-speed engine, capable of working most satisfactorily when it runs at a uniform rate with a constant load. on the other hand, the speed of the driving axle of a car varies from a very much lower speed down to zero. it is therefore necessary, when driving a vehicle with a petrol engine, to arrange some forms of variable speed-reducing transmission gear between the engine and the driving axle. the problem is further complicated by the fact that the petrol engine is irreversible, has practically no 'starting torque,' and has a very slight overload capacity. it has to be started running 'light' and then switched on to a low gear which gives sufficient power to overcome the inertia of the car. as the speed of the car rises, there have to be successive changes of gear. these difficulties are, of course, accentuated when dealing with the heavy weight of an omnibus. [illustration: fig. . elevation and plan of a petrol-electric motor omnibus equipped by w. a. stevens, ltd. directly behind the front wheels is the petrol engine, driving a dynamo through a flexible coupling. the dynamo supplies current to the motor directly behind it; and the motor drives the rear wheels through a cardan shaft. the transmission of power between the engine and the shaft is electrical at all speeds.] practically all the troubles with petrol motor omnibuses have resided in the gear; and even the most ardent enthusiast for the all-electric faith must admit that the motor engineer has overcome these troubles (in great part if not wholly) with remarkable skill and ingenuity. but the complications of an adjustable mechanical bridge between a high-speed engine and a varying low-speed axle are so great that an electrical bridge was proposed as a substitute. by coupling the engine direct to a dynamo and by using the current so generated to drive variable-speed motors geared to the driving axle, the electrical engineer hoped to get better working results from the petrol motor than could be obtained with any mechanical transmission gear. the most conspicuous advantage, apart from the quietness of running at all speeds, lies in the ease and smoothness with which the petrol-electric motor can start and gain speed. in this respect the combination system is practically on the same level as (or even superior to) the electric tramcar or the electric automobile. there is an entire absence of the jerks and jarring noises which usually accompany the starting of a motor omnibus. the same facility of control is of advantage in adjusting speed to suit the other traffic on the road, and also in negotiating hills. in one class of petrol-electric vehicles the electric transmission gear is continuously used. in another, it is used at all speeds except the highest, when the engine is coupled directly (by a magnetic clutch) to a mechanical driving gear. in a third class the arrangement is more complicated, as it involves the use of storage batteries as an auxiliary to the power provided directly by the petrol engine. the fischer type of petrol-electric vehicle uses electric transmission solely and has a fairly large battery to supplement the engine-produced current when steep hills are being negotiated. at ordinary speeds on level roads the surplus power produced by the engine goes to charge the battery. the 'automixte' type is peculiar in using the mechanical transmission gear all the time. the dynamo coupled to the engine supplies current to a small battery when surplus power is available; the same dynamo may be driven as a motor by current from the battery when such assistance is wanted at starting or on steep hills. the electric part of the equipment thus acts first as a generator and then as a motor, the change taking place automatically. these different petrol-electric devices are very attractive from the engineering point of view, but at the present time it is uncertain whether they will realise the hopes of their inventors. the additional weight of the electric equipment is against them; and in some cases there appears to be a lower all-round efficiency. so that the motor-omnibus world, as a whole, continues to fix its faith upon the improved forms of mechanical transmission. the underlying idea of the petrol-electric system has, however, been suggested for marine propulsion with a somewhat better prospect of success. there is a partial analogy between the conditions of motor omnibus working and of ship propulsion with turbines. the steam turbine is, like the petrol engine, essentially a high-speed machine. the screw propeller, on the other hand, works most efficiently at low speeds. therefore the marine engineer has to try and find some common denominator between an engine which runs most efficiently at high speeds and a propeller which is at its best when revolving comparatively slowly. [illustration: fig. . diagrammatic section of a steamship which has been 'converted' from the ordinary method of propulsion to the 'paragon' system of electric main marine propulsion. the reciprocating engine has been replaced by a steam turbine, coupled direct to an electric generator which supplies current to a motor attached to the propeller shaft. the tests carried out with this vessel will indicate the advantages of the electric method of propulsion even with the usual long length of shaft. the vessel has a gross tonnage of , and its speed is knots. the engines replaced ran at revolutions per minute and gave brake horse power. the turbine now installed runs at r.p.m., and develops brake horse power. (illustration reproduced by courtesy of _the electrician_.)] the gulf between the two has been narrowed by the improved design of propellers. some engineers assert that continued improvements will bridge the gulf completely. others have sought the solution in the same way as the motor engineer--by the use of mechanical change-speed gears. the suggestion has also been made to employ hydraulic gear as an intermediary; and in some recent vessels reciprocating engines with comparatively low-speed turbines driven by exhaust steam have been adopted. in the electric system the turbine is coupled direct to an electric generator and may run continuously at the highest economical speed. the propeller shaft may be quite short and is driven by a slow speed motor connected by cables to the generator. various arrangements for controlling the supply of current to the motor (with appropriate design of generator and motor) have been devised by mr durtnall, mr mavor, and other workers in this field; but whatever the details of these arrangements may be, they all give a wide range of speed both ahead and astern. the direct drive with the steam turbine has really only one speed--full speed ahead; and as the turbine is irreversible, 'astern' turbines have to be installed in addition. these limitations and complications are removed entirely when electrical transmission is adopted. moreover, the electric system can be so arranged that the control gear may be operated from the bridge itself. the facility in manoeuvring is, in fact, so marked that it would recommend electric marine propulsion even if that system offered no advantages on the score of economy in weight, space, and steam consumption over the existing systems. the steam turbine, it may be noted, has been adopted so far only in high-speed vessels; and it is generally recognised that its extension to vessels which run at or knots depends upon its adaptation to slow-speed propellers. advocates of electric marine propulsion claim that they hold the most efficient solution of this problem. it may also be pointed out that a considerable section of marine engineers look forward to the use of internal combustion engines (driven by oil or gas) on board ship. for naval purposes especially it would be a great advantage to do away with funnels and so leave the decks more free for gun mountings. as internal combustion engines are irreversible, the electric system offers a means of escape from a fundamental drawback to their use at sea. here again the perfection of manoeuvring power, especially with twin screws (either of which may be controlled from the bridge through a wide range of speed ahead or astern), gives the electric system a strong claim for consideration by the naval authorities. it is hardly necessary, except as a matter of curiosity, to refer to the suggestions made, from time to time, of accumulator-driven ocean steamships. some wonderful pictures have been published of large vessels with tons of ballast in the form of storage batteries. they are likely to remain in this ideal condition, for although the driving of a large vessel by stored electricity is quite possible, it is also about the most expensive method which has ever been proposed. electric power from storage batteries has been used as an auxiliary in the propulsion and manoeuvring of submarines. in aerial navigation electricity has so far been employed to a very limited extent. small airships have been designed to carry electric accumulators connected with various motor-driven propellers for raising, lowering, going ahead or astern, and steering. the switches which control the passage of the current to these propellers are connected with a wireless telegraph receiver, so that each operation may be started or stopped by a particular ether wave or series of waves. demonstrations of such 'wireless-controlled' airships have been given in theatres; their field of usefulness, if any, is in connection with war on land or sea. whether they will have any better fate than other devices for dropping bombs over the enemy's camps or ships remains to be seen. one inventor has, i believe, suggested a means of direct electrical propulsion for aeroplanes, the current being derived from a petrol-driven generator and carried to motors attached to propellers so arranged as to give certain advantages in stability and manoeuvring. as yet, however, the probability of electricity being applied to locomotion in the air as well as on land and on sea is somewhat remote. chapter xii the pioneer electric railways electric tramways have reached a period of middle age in which they are more concerned about their internal economy than the prospect of enterprise in new directions. such development as they feel capable of making under present legislative conditions is only by proxy and tentatively, with the aid of the trolley omnibus. electric railways, however, have still many worlds to conquer. they are now in much the same position as electric tramways held about the year . that is to say, they have already given practical proof of their capabilities and enabled engineers to point out the directions along which they are certain to develop. in the railway world there is a growing conviction that the adoption of electric traction on all suburban and inter-urban railways must be simply a matter of time. for main line traffic the possibilities of using electricity are as yet only an article of faith among electrical engineers. although the earliest experiments in electric traction were made in the railway form, the first electric lines could hardly be regarded as railways in the ordinary sense. they were really light railways, in which the traffic conditions approximated to those of tramways. the routes were short, the cars small, and the traffic of modest dimensions. they contained the germ of both the tramway and the railway; but, in the case of the railway, many years of technical development had to pass before the problem of applying electricity to the handling of large masses of traffic under standard railway conditions was solved. the fact that the first electric railway in the united kingdom was constructed at the giant's causeway (in ) is significant. the giant's causeway is one of the few places in our islands where water power is available close to a district with a demand for traffic facilities. in another electric railway deriving its energy from water-driven turbines was built between bessbrook and newry. at that period it was considered that waterfalls provided the only really feasible source of cheap electricity on a large scale. even yet the impression survives that electric power stations using steam cannot produce current so cheaply as those which 'harness' waterfalls. many people, in fact, are inclined to attribute the comparative backwardness of electrical development in great britain, not to legislative conditions, but to the lack of large waterfalls. there might have been more active progress in the pioneering days if the presence of water power at convenient points had encouraged electrical engineers to repeat the experiments at portrush and bessbrook. but at an early stage in electrical history it became clear to engineers that coal was just as feasible a source of cheap power as water. the idea that a waterfall provides power 'for nothing' is one of those superficial conceptions which make the hardiest of fallacies. to 'harness' a waterfall requires a heavy expenditure of capital on conduits, pipe-lines, dams, and other works. the interest upon that capital is a heavy item, apart from the cost of maintenance and repairs. waterfalls are situated in mountainous country, generally remote from the centres of industry; the water-power station, therefore, has to face the cost of transmission mains and the loss of energy involved in conveying the power to the place where it is wanted. further, waterfalls and the adjacent ground belong either to individuals or to the state; and payment is generally exacted for the right to use them. all these items have to be covered in the price charged for current to the public or to railway undertakings. nature may provide the 'head' of water 'free,' but man has to spend money in utilising it, just as he has to do in mining and in obtaining heat from the coal which is also provided 'free.' anything which is obtained 'for nothing' is generally worth nothing. the full economies of generating electricity by steam power are not, however, realised until business is done on a large scale. as the first essential of a successful electric railway is a plentiful supply of cheap power, development from the experimental stage of portrush had to wait until engineers mastered the art of producing electricity from large generators. they gained the necessary experience with electric tramways and in electric lighting. we have seen how, as regards tramways, legislation delayed and hampered progress. a similar cause was at work in connection with electric lighting. in an act was passed regulating electric lighting on lines modelled upon the principles of the tramways act, . capitalists declined to work under this act; and it was not until after , when the act was amended, that any money could be found in great britain for electric lighting schemes. this delay was a serious handicap not only to electric lighting but to the business of british electrical manufacturing, as there was, comparatively speaking, no demand for electrical plant for over six years. meanwhile, matters had been advancing on normal lines in other countries; and when the demand came at last, the manufacturers on the continent and in america were the only ones organised and ready to meet it. these points must be touched upon in order to understand why so long a period elapsed between the pioneer electric railways and the real electric railway movement as we know it to-day. they also serve to explain the prominent part which american and german firms took in electrical developments here. engineering and legislative conditions combined to retard electric railway enterprise so that it did not begin to take firm root in great britain until about , and did not attain to any conspicuous growth until the beginning of the twentieth century. until after the only electric railways in great britain taking power from steam dynamos were those at brighton beach, ryde pier (isle of wight) and southend pier, opened in , and respectively. these were all, of course, of short length. the brighton beach railway, designed and constructed by mr magnus volk, was a unique piece of work. the rails were laid on heavy concrete blocks below high-water mark; and the cars were platforms raised on a light iron structure. power was conveyed to the cars from wires hung on posts like the standards of a tramway on the trolley system. the unusual sensation of travelling over the water was enjoyed by hundreds of people until the difficulty of maintaining the track (owing to the erosive action of the waves) led to the railway being abandoned and another line of more ordinary character being laid on the level of the undercliff roadway. the first indication of the genuine electric railway movement was given in , when the liverpool overhead railway was opened. this line was constructed to afford communication along the line of docks fringing the mersey. the track was carried on a continuous bridge in order to avoid obstruction between the docks and the streets behind; and being overhead, there were serious disadvantages attached to the use of steam locomotives. electric locomotives were therefore employed. in this case, it should be noted, electricity was not adopted because it was more economical or efficient than steam. the reason lay with the peculiar situation of the railway. a similar reason decided the promoters of the city and south london railway to try electric locomotives on their line. this railway, which was opened in , was the first deep level or 'tube' railway in the world. moreover, it was constructed and equipped throughout by british engineers, and at a time when the art of tunnelling was much less advanced than it is now. in the later and more imposing development of tube railways in london, the foresight and enterprise displayed by the pioneers of the city and south london railway are apt to be overlooked. it was, however, the success of the original line from the monument to clapham which made it possible to raise capital for the central london railway (opened in ) and for the extensive tube railway system organised by the underground electric railways company of london. on a deep-level railway, steam is, of course, out of the question. even on the old 'underground,' built close to the surface and furnished with frequent openings at the stations, and by means of ventilating shafts, the atmospheric conditions were abominable. the sulphurous fumes were indeed recommended for asthma and other complaints, but on a tube railway they would have been sufficient to cure every human ailment. therefore the choice lay between electric traction and haulage by cables, compressed air, or some other innocuous system. within these limits electricity was chosen on its merits. the first railway in great britain to undertake conversion was one in which both the physical and economic troubles were exceptionally serious. the mersey railway is little more than a tunnel under the river, and it is distinguished by heavy gradients and by the continuous necessity of pumping out the water which drains into it. with steam traction the difficulty of ventilating the tunnel was an added trouble. owing to these various causes the working expenses were abnormally heavy, and led ultimately to a receivership. electric traction was adopted as the only possible cure. the pumping and ventilation arrangements were both reorganised for electric power; and the trains were equipped with electric traction on the 'multiple-unit' system, an arrangement--to be described in the next chapter--which is well suited to the economical handling of steep gradients. the practical result was a great increase in traffic, with a marked decrease in the proportion of expenses to receipts. no other british railways, happily, were in so desperate a condition as the mersey line, but all of them were, at the end of last century, feeling the effect of certain disquieting tendencies. these tendencies were most marked in connection with suburban and short-distance inter-urban traffic, which is quite distinct in character from the main-line traffic. we talk glibly enough of railway traffic as if it were a unity, but it is clear that very different considerations govern the traffic on a main line between, say, london and glasgow, and those which control the traffic on london suburban routes or on a railway connecting the adjacent towns of the potteries. some railways have to deal with all three classes at the same time and occasionally on the same lines of rails. electric traction has, so far, made itself felt only where the suburban or similar inter-urban traffic has been separable from the main line traffic. the growth which took place in suburban traffic before and after the end of the century ought to have brought increased prosperity to the railway companies, but it did not always do so. competition between the various companies led to a reduction in fares; parliament, by establishing workmen's fares, forced the companies to carry an ever-increasing number of passengers at a loss, or at least without profit; wages tended to increase and hours of working to decrease--both affecting the cost of operation; rates and taxes became heavier and heavier with the growth of municipal expenditure; and a higher standard of comfort and efficiency was demanded by the public. in some instances the situation was aggravated by the competition of electric tramways along routes parallel to the railways. this competition was limited to point-to-point traffic, its maximum range being about three miles; but it was a grievance against which the railway companies protested very loudly, especially when the tramways were owned by local authorities to which the railways paid large sums in rates. the general effect of all these factors was to reduce the margin of profit on which the railways were working. we have seen, in the case of tramways, how easy it is for a slight change in a frequently-recurring expense to have a serious effect in the aggregate. railways are in much the same position; and the various influences at work upon the suburban traffic brought them face to face with the importance, if not the necessity, of finding some means of dealing with larger volumes of traffic on a basis more economical than that provided by steam locomotives. this means they found in electric traction; but it may be noted that even railway engineers took some time to realise exactly what electric traction offered them. they were looking for something to reduce their annual expenses; and when they made calculations about electric traction they found that, when the expense of providing the electrical equipment was taken into account, the total cost of hauling the trains electrically on the existing schedule might be greater instead of less than the cost of steam haulage. they were therefore inclined to look upon the economic benefits of electric traction as an illusion. in course of time, however, it came to be recognised that the function of electricity is not to act like a blue pencil on the debit side of the revenue account. its essential purpose is to increase the volume of traffic. from the public point of view this is very much more valuable. passengers are not directly concerned with means of reducing working expenses, but they are closely interested in the improvement of the frequency and speed of the service. the adoption of electricity on suburban lines has really been dictated by the demand for increased facilities. at the 'rush' hours of the morning and evening, when the great tide of workers flows and ebbs, the capacity of the steam lines was taxed to the utmost. and with the growth of population the difficulty of running sufficiently frequent trains became almost insuperable. apart from these particular necessities, the general features of railway economics point to the supreme advantage of increasing the volume of traffic in every possible way. in a railway, as in a tramway, the preponderating item is the cost of construction and maintenance; and unless a certain minimum of traffic is carried, the most economical working in the world will not secure a profit. the standing charges fall upon the idle hours as well as upon the busy; for every minute that a line of rails stands empty there is a loss of money. railway progress depends upon reducing the proportion of idle hours; and that can only be done where there is scope for the growth of traffic, and where there is means--such as electric traction--of dealing with that growth on an economical basis. in the succeeding chapter it is explained how electric traction enables a more frequent service to be run with advantage even on systems which were worked to the maximum limit possible under steam conditions. but in the meantime it will be interesting to trace the effect itself on a railway which soon followed the mersey railway in making the change from steam to electricity--the metropolitan district railway. [illustration: fig. . an electric train on the metropolitan district railway, equipped by the british thomson houston company. the front and rear cars and one intermediate car are equipped with electric motors, all controlled from the 'cab' at the end of the train. the controller handle may be seen close to the nearest window of the first car. the rail immediately in front of the foot of the guard is the conductor rail which conveys the current to the train. the rail between the track rails carries the return current.] throughout the steam age the finance of the district railway company was as unattractive as the physical conditions of the railway itself. no dividend was ever paid on the ordinary shares; and even with the growth of london there was little prospect of any dividend ever being paid. when--about ten years ago--the late mr c. t. yerkes came over from america and obtained a controlling interest in the district railway company with a view to converting it to electric traction, he was regarded as a philanthropic enthusiast. many of the shareholders themselves were reluctant to give their assent to the change; they preferred to bear the ills they knew than fly to others which might be introduced by an american financier. but mr yerkes and those who worked with him had something more in view than the improvement of traffic on the district railway. they acquired control of several tube railway schemes and obtained powers for new lines, so as to organise a comprehensive system of underground electric transport in london. they had sufficient faith in the traffic possibilities of london to find the enormous capital required to construct these tube railways and also to convert the whole district railway to electric traction. the constructional work occupied several years; and after the lines were opened one by one, arrangements had to be developed for through-bookings among the various lines and between them all and the existing underground railways like the central london railway, the metropolitan railway (closely linked with the metropolitan district) and the city and south london railway. a systematic attempt was also made to develop the travelling habit in london by persistent advertising of the railway services and by increasing the frequency and rapidity of the trains. from these points of view the organisation of the network of lines comprehensively known by the title of 'underground' is certainly unsurpassed. the difficulties which had to be overcome in this great work were enormous, but there has been no break in the thread of progress. the 'tubes' are paying dividends which, though modest, are an encouragement to further developments. the finance of the district railway has lost its element of chronic despair. considered as a whole, the results prove that where there is the potentiality of large traffic, electricity is the instrument which must be applied. during the steam days, the most crowded part of the district railway (the 'inner circle') carried a maximum of trains per hour. with electric traction that figure has been raised to trains per hour. and the remarkable thing is that with each increase in the service the traffic grows. many people welcomed the electrification of the district as a measure of relief from the overcrowding on the steam trains during the busy hours. but with a service of trains more than doubled in frequency and also increased in capacity per train, overcrowding continues and the 'straphanger' has become an established institution. it may be accepted as substantially proved that, on suburban and inter-urban railways in populous districts, electric traction is a means of increasing traffic and diminishing the proportion of working costs. moreover, these results have been achieved in conjunction with substantial reductions in fares and with marked improvements in the comfort of travelling. the engineering aspect of these changes has now to be considered. chapter xiii electric railways from the engineering point of view when electric railways were first considered, the natural tendency of engineers was to follow the existing model and merely substitute electric locomotives for steam locomotives. in point of fact, however, the engineering method now adopted is an evolution from the tramway model, not from that of the typical railway. a certain advantage was, of course, to be gained by replacing steam locomotives by electric ones. the greater 'starting torque' of the electric locomotive enables it to get a train up to full speed more quickly; and the capacity of the electric motor for taking heavy overloads assists the electric train in surmounting heavy gradients. some advantage was also gained by producing all the power at a central source, instead of having a large number of steam locomotives, which are really power stations on wheels. but the electric locomotive had still to be made heavy enough to get sufficient grip of the rails; it had to haul its own dead weight; and it had to be made powerful enough to tackle a full-sized train on the steepest gradient with its complement of passengers, although the general demand upon it might be considerably less than that maximum. the electric locomotive, in short, was an advance upon the steam locomotive, but it did not get past the essential drawbacks of the locomotive system. a locomotive is most economical when hauling full trains for long distances at a uniform speed; it is essentially a long-distance machine. the first demand for electrification came, however, from suburban railways, where the stations are close together and where, therefore, the speed is constantly varying from zero up to a maximum and back to zero again. the traffic also fluctuates between extreme limits; and there is obvious waste in having to run heavy locomotives and trains backwards and forwards during the slack hours. there was therefore a demand for some method of propulsion which would enable the length of trains and the consumption of power to be adjusted more closely to the variations in the traffic. a step in the right direction was taken when the locomotive equipment was placed on a car, thus utilising the weight of the passengers to increase the adhesion on the rails. but the full advantages of electric traction were not realised until what is known as the 'multiple-unit' system was adopted. the idea underlying this system is quite simple. if, instead of concentrating the motive power on a single locomotive or driving unit, we distribute it among the cars forming a train, we get the multiple-unit system. an electric tramcar and a trailer attached to another tramcar and trailer, with a third tramcar behind, would form a model for a multiple-unit train. by connecting the electrical equipments on the three tramcars--front, middle, and rear--it would be possible to control the train from either end or from the middle. this is the principle upon which all the electric railways in great britain are now worked, with the exception of the city and south london railway, where locomotives are still used and where the trains are comparatively short and light. it will be seen that each multiple-unit train is readily divisible. a single motor car may be run, or a car with one or two trailers, or a long train made up of as many motor cars and trailers as the platforms will accommodate. and whether the trains are long or short, the power absorbed is in proportion to the length of the train and the load of passengers. by this simple means power is economised, and the railway engineer is able to reduce the proportion of idle rolling stock. the adjustment of the length of trains to the fluctuations of the service is made easier by the absence, in the multiple-unit system, of the necessity of shunting at the termini. as a multiple-unit train can be controlled from either end, a more frequent as well as a more flexible service can be run. with steam traction the number of trains which may enter or leave a terminus is limited by the time occupied in shunting and by the necessity of leaving lines of rails free for that operation. with an electric train on the multiple-unit system, no more time is lost than the few seconds necessary for the driver to walk from the front of the train to the rear, which then becomes the 'front.' no lines have to be kept open for shunting locomotives, so that the available accommodation for trains is considerably increased. some of the london railway companies have spent enormous sums in enlarging their terminal accommodation and have found that it is still inadequate to the demands of the 'rush' traffic. electric traction therefore offers them an improvement of enormous value without the expenditure of a penny on station alterations. the crowning advantage of electric traction lies, however, in the more rapid acceleration which it affords. we have already seen how important this item is on tramways. it is still more important on suburban railways, where a high average speed, in spite of frequent stops, is a vital matter. on the district railway the rate of acceleration in the old steam days was about inches per second per second. it was, in fact, so low that the trains could not reach a fair speed before the brakes had to be applied to bring the train to a stop at the next station. with electric traction the rate of acceleration has risen to about inches per second per second. on the liverpool overhead railway a rate of inches per second per second was reached in certain tests. heavy starting currents are, of course, necessary to bring a train from rest to full speed at such a rapid rate, but it is quite possible for the electrical engineer, without being unduly extravagant in current, to accelerate a train more quickly than the passengers would find comfortable. the practical result of rapid acceleration (combined with rapid braking) is not only to give a higher average speed but also to enable a more frequent service to be run. owing to the block system on railways it is impossible for trains to follow each other closely in the manner of tramcars; and it is therefore of cardinal importance that no train should occupy a block for one second more than is necessary. rapid acceleration becomes all the more important in this respect because of the difficulty of setting down and picking up passengers quickly. this difficulty is overcome in part by using saloon carriages with middle and end doors, in place of compartment carriages. at first the district railway tried to help matters by operating these doors pneumatically, but the mechanism became unpopular after a number of late-comers had been pinched by closing doors. the management has reverted to hand operation; and it has probably achieved more by educating the public to move quickly than it would have gained with its too-perfect mechanical system. london travellers have become so accustomed to entering and leaving trains quickly that it is possible for an observer to distinguish strangers by their slower movements on an underground railway. thus the passenger, as well as the service, has been 'speeded-up.' the more frequent service of trains with a higher average speed would not have been possible, however, without an improvement upon the old methods of signalling. there is no need to dwell upon the weakness of the human element in railway signalling; and it will be clear even to the layman that the strain of handling traffic with a headway of one minute and a half, or less, would be more than men could stand. automatic signalling had therefore to be adopted to obviate the risk of disaster. each train, as it leaves a block or section, 'clears' the signals for that block; and when any train attempts to enter a block against signals, the current is automatically switched off and the brakes applied. the system is so perfect that, in spite of the enormous traffic worked under it, there has been no failure and no accident. it is, of course, costly to install; and its cost can be justified (financially) only when the traffic is very heavy--that is to say, when the conditions make it almost a necessity. the supply of electric power to electric railways is organised on practically the same lines as in the case of tramways. that is to say, current is generated at a central station, transmitted at high pressure to various sub-stations, and supplied from there at working pressure through 'feeders' to each section of the system. in the case of the 'underground' system, most of the power is taken from a single huge electric station at chelsea. current from that station drives trains as far west as wimbledon, hounslow, and ealing, as far north as highgate and golder's green, and as far east as barking. this is a magnificent example of the concentration which gives economy. if each of the underground railways forming the system had erected its own generating station, the total initial outlay, on land, buildings, and machinery, would have been greater, and the cost of current would have been higher, owing to the smaller output and the more irregular demand which a single railway affords. the ideal electric power station is one which is constructed with the largest generating units and produces current at its maximum capacity throughout the twenty-four hours of each day. the chelsea power station is nearer the ideal than a smaller one supplying a short railway could be. and a station of the latter class is, it may be noted, nearer the ideal than the arrangements on a steam railway, where the sources of power are scattered in hundreds of locomotives. the concentration of power is therefore one of the many factors which have enabled electric railways to give a vastly improved service at lower fares. with two exceptions--to be considered in the next chapter--the electric railways of great britain are constructed on the 'third-rail' system. they are thus a reversion to--or, rather, a survival of--the original type adopted by siemens in . the 'third-rail' is carried on insulators a few inches outside the track rail; and the motor cars are provided with a 'brush' or 'shoe' which slides along it and collects the current. in the centre of the track there is generally a second insulated rail to carry the return current, as it is more convenient, under railway conditions, to have a conductor independent of the track rails than to follow the tramway plan of using the rails 'bonded' together. in stations and at crossings the third or 'live' rail is protected by a wooden board in order to reduce the risk of shock to anyone falling on the line or walking upon it. the board is placed high enough over the rail to allow the shoe to pass freely. as regards the motor equipment on the cars, tramway models have been followed very closely. the 'series-parallel' system of control is again adopted in order to get the high starting torque which gives rapid acceleration with moderate current consumption. the course of the current is again from the live rail, through the controller, through the motors, and thence to the return rail. the controller itself is more or less on the tramway principle; and the main modification in it is the arrangement which enables all the motors on a multiple-unit train to be operated by a single controller. this is done by connecting the controllers electrically and using electric power so that they all work in unison. some companies use, for this purpose, compressed air controlled by electricity instead of electric power alone, but in both cases the principle is essentially the same. considered as a whole, the difference between a tramway and an electric railway on the third-rail system is a difference in degree, not in kind. the traffic is greater and the speeds higher, but both serve the purposes of comparatively short-distance transit. indeed, within certain limits they compete with each other. there remains to be considered another type of british electric railway which points the way to the extension of the new mode of traction to main line railways. chapter xiv electric traction on main line railways on tramways, automobiles, and 'third-rail' lines, the electric current used belongs to the type described as 'continuous' or 'direct,' because the flow is always in the same direction. the other type of current is known as 'alternating,' as it flows backwards and forwards many times per second. there are several kinds of alternating current--single-phase, two-phase, three-phase, and polyphase--each produced from generators designed in a particular way. it is not possible to give any adequate account of these different kinds of alternating current without going rather deeply into the theory of electricity. the ultimate practical point is that in transmitting alternating currents the circuits increase in number with the phases. thus, three-phase current requires three wires, two-phase current three or four wires, and single-phase current a single circuit like that of continuous current[ ]. [illustration: fig. . photograph of a train on the electrified section of the london, brighton and south coast railway. the overhead wire is suspended from cables stretched between insulators, and current is conveyed from it to the trains through a 'bow' which slides along its lower side. the photograph is taken from the rear part of the train. the front and rear cars are both equipped with electric motors.] where current has to be conveyed economically over long distances, it is generally done in the form of alternating current at high pressure. for instance, the transmission from a tramway power station to the sub-stations is almost uniformly by three-phase current at, say, volts. when it reaches the sub-station, it is 'transformed' down to the working pressure of volts and 'converted' from alternating to continuous current by means of rotary machinery. the transforming is done by a stationary piece of apparatus similar in principle to the familiar induction coil. an induction coil takes current at a few volts from a battery into its primary circuit and transforms it, by induction in the secondary circuit, into current of high enough voltage to give a long spark. a transformer can be designed to 'step-up' or 'step-down' the pressure according to the requirements of the case. so much explanation is necessary to give some account of the alternating current railways on the continent and thence of the single-phase system on the london, brighton and south coast railway. the morecambe and heysham section of the midland railway is also equipped on the single-phase system. most of the earliest electric railways on the continent derived their power from waterfalls and had to transmit it for a considerable distance. three-phase current at high pressure being adopted for this purpose, the continental engineers set to work to find some means of utilising the high-pressure three-phase current directly. they did this by carrying the three wires on poles alongside the railway track, and using three 'bow' collectors (in place of trolley wheels) to convey the current to transformers on the motor cars or locomotives. in these transformers the current was brought down to working pressure and then led to motors designed for three-phase current. an immense amount of technical ingenuity was exercised in developing this system; and when the metropolitan railway decided to follow the district in electrifying its lines, a three-phase system was proposed. as the metropolitan and metropolitan district companies share the working of the inner circle, it was necessary that both should adopt the same system. the result was that the question between three-phase and continuous current working had to go to arbitration. after a long discussion of masses of technical evidence, mr lyttelton, the arbitrator, decided that the direct current system was better suited to the conditions of traffic on an underground railway in london. the wisdom of that decision will not be questioned now. three-phase motors do not give the rapid acceleration which is so urgently required on suburban lines; there are complications in speed control; and the necessity of having three overhead conductors is also a serious drawback. for comparatively long-distance traffic with few stops, however, the three-phase system is quite suitable. that is to say, it is a possible solution of the main line problem. the great simplicity and flexibility of the power supply arrangements in the case of alternating current traction encouraged engineers to find something better adapted to ordinary railway conditions than the three-phase motor. their problem was to find an arrangement which required one overhead conductor instead of three, and also provided a motor with the high starting torque and easy speed control of the continuous-current motor. after much theoretical and experimental work, they found it in the single-phase system, using a motor which is similar in many respects to the continuous-current motor but capable of being operated by alternating current. on the advice of mr philip dawson, the london, brighton and south coast railway company decided to experiment with this system on the double line connecting london bridge and victoria stations, about miles long. power is supplied to each track by a single overhead conductor carrying current at volts. transformers are placed on the trains to bring the pressure down to volts; the current is then led through controllers to single-phase motors in much the usual way. the reason for using so high a pressure on the overhead line is not only economy in transmission. if lower pressures were used, the heavy currents required for train propulsion would require a thicker conductor and correspondingly heavier supports. at volts it is possible for two double sliding bows to collect sufficient current for a heavy train from a wire which is comparable in thickness to the ordinary trolley wire of a tramway. the power distribution arrangements, it will be noticed, are very much simpler than with continuous current on the third-rail system. there are no sub-stations with rotary machinery. power is supplied direct from the generating station to the overhead line and is transformed down by stationary plant on the train itself. single-phase traction represents, in fact, power transmission for railway purposes reduced to its simplest elements. the overhead construction differs, however, in some important points from the tramway standard. the supports, which are in both bridge and bracket form, are stronger; the insulators are, owing to the much higher pressure employed, more massive; and a different means of suspension has been adopted. each conductor is hung by links from two steel cables stretched chain-wise between the supports. this method of 'catenary suspension' enables the bow to slide along the wire without the jolts which are noticeable with a tramway trolley. such smooth running keeps the bow continuously at an even pressure on the wire--an advantage which is of great importance at high speeds. the trains are arranged on the multiple-unit system. the full financial results obtained on this railway have not so far been made public; but it is sufficient for our purpose to note that the company, after more than a year's full trial, extended the system to the crystal palace and to croydon. further extensions are, it is understood, contemplated over the suburban lines to sutton and elsewhere; and in course of time the conversion of the main line to brighton will be undertaken. here we touch upon the most interesting aspect of this demonstration of electric traction on the single-phase system. the system was adopted in the first instance because the third-rail system would lead to complications and dangers which could not be permitted at crowded railway termini shared by all kinds of traffic, suburban and main line. but the advisers of the company had also in view the possibility of development beyond the range of suburban traffic. they therefore sought a system which, while comparable to the third-rail continuous current in the handling of suburban business, would be adaptable to main line conditions, where infrequent stops and long runs at high speeds are the rule. the adoption of electric traction on such a route as the brighton main line would be a benefit in several ways. it would lead to a faster express service, as the high overload capacity of the electric motor enables it to take small account of gradients. it would also lead to a more frequent service, as the electric system is free from the conditions which force a steam railway to try to concentrate traffic on a limited number of long trains. further, it would, by reducing the time lost in stopping and starting, bring the average speed of stopping trains much closer to that of express trains. all these improvements--assisted, probably, by lower fares--should lead to a great increase in the volume of traffic, thus reproducing the characteristic results of electric traction on suburban lines. [footnote : an admirable explanation of alternating currents will be found in mr frank broadbent's _chats on electricity_. (werner laurie, .)] chapter xv curiosities of electric traction like many other industries, electric traction has had its history brightened and made picturesque by curiosities of invention. locomotion has, in fact, been a favourite field for the freak inventor; and some of his efforts with electric cars have been as weird and as fatuous as the most remarkable of perpetual motion devices. one of these electrical monstrosities was, indeed, a kind of perpetual motion arrangement. it was invented about the year and consisted of a car equipped with accumulators which supplied power to a motor which drove a hydraulic pump, which in turn worked a dynamo supplying current to motors driving the axles of the car, and also to the accumulator for re-charging purposes. the inventor was so sure that he had got the better of the law of the conservation of energy that he provided his car with pointed ends, fitted with revolving fans to break down the air-pressure, in order that a speed of miles per hour might be achieved. his name was amen; and it provides a fitting comment upon his scheme. [illustration: fig. . illustration of elberfeld-barmen hanging electric railway. from _the electrical industry_ (books on business), published by messrs methuen.] several electric flying-machine ideas found their way on to the patent records. in a frenchman registered a design for an air-ship with a cigar-shaped body and electrically-driven propellers. there was, however, more originality in an american idea that the progress of trains on the overhead railway might be assisted by the action of balloons in taking the weight of the cars off the rails. curiously enough, other original inventors tried to get the opposite effect, by devising magnetic arrangements to increase the adhesion of the wheels to the rails. more plausible forms of super-ingenuity have been exercised in connection with established modes of electric traction. for the conduit system one inventor suggested a kind of reversion to the 'continuous valve' of the old atmospheric railway. the slot of the conduit was closed by a continuous series of springs which would be opened in succession by the plough as it passed along. this arrangement was actually tried on an experimental track in london. another inventor proposed a novel plan for keeping the conductor in a conduit free from damp. the conductor was to be made hollow, so that hot air could be pumped through it to dry off any accumulated moisture. [illustration: fig. . the heilmann electric locomotive--a generating station on wheels. the general arrangement of this locomotive should be compared with that of the modern electric turbo-locomotive described on p. and illustrated in fig. .] the most entertaining freak in connection with the trolley system was a device to enable two lines of car to use a single trolley wire. cars going in one direction were to carry a double-ended inclined plane which would lift the trolley wheels of passing cars off the wire and let them slip back again. the only drawback to this arrangement was that it would not work. another inventor who was apparently impressed with the noise of trolley wheels on the wires designed a trolley head fitted with a pneumatic tyre. if he could have persuaded indiarubber to be anything but one of the best of insulators, he would have been completely successful. one of the best known of electrical freaks--the heilmann locomotive (fig. )--is a very good example of the way in which an invention may be tried with enthusiasm, rejected with contumely, and revived at a much later date in an improved and more promising form. the heilmann locomotive was practically a generating station on wheels. it carried a boiler and engines, which drove a dynamo, the current from which was led through controllers to motors coupled to the wheel axles. it was an enormous affair, over metres long and running on sixteen wheels; extensive trials were made with it on the western railway of france in the early nineties. some advantage was gained in smoothness of running, ease and uniformity of control, and improved acceleration; but its great weight, cost, and complexity were against it. in spite of the cordial support given to it by railway engineers, it was soon relegated to the scrap-heap. [illustration: fig. . electro-turbo-locomotive built by the north british locomotive company for experimental purposes. this locomotive is a 'generating station on wheels.' it carries a steam turbine driving a dynamo which supplies current through a controller to motors geared to the axles.] the heilmann locomotive, it will be noticed, is similar in principle to the petrol-electric systems of propulsion now in use for road traction. but it is probable that the idea would never have been heard of again in connection with railway work had it not been for the appearance of the steam turbine. it was natural that the locomotive engineer should consider how the turbine could be applied to his purposes; and the first step in this inquiry made it plain that some electric method of control was necessary between the high-speed turbine and the driving axle. consequently, when the engineers of the north british locomotive company set to work in to design an 'electric turbo-locomotive,' they produced something not at all unlike the heilmann locomotive. the equipment consists of a steam turbine, with elaborate condensing plant, a generator, and a group of driving motors (fig. ). the turbine runs at revolutions per minute and drives a continuous-current dynamo, the current from which passes through controllers to four motors which can be run in series, or two in series and two in parallel, or all in parallel, according to the draw-bar pull required. trials with this locomotive were begun early in , but it is yet too early to say whether it will be more fortunate than the heilmann locomotive, and whether it is likely to delay the advance of the electric locomotive proper, fed with power by overhead wires from a central power station. [illustration: fig. . diagrammatic sections of the behr electric mono-rail car. the car is balanced on the summit of a continuous trestle and is designed for speeds up to miles per hour.] the possibilities of high speed on a mono-railway, and especially an electric mono-railway, have acted like a will-o'-the-wisp to the imaginations of many engineers. of the various systems suggested, only one--the gyroscopic mono-railway invented by mr brennan--seems likely to survive; and even in that case victory under practical conditions is not yet certain. at ballybunnion there is a steam mono-railway which has been at work since . it has had, so far as i am aware, no imitators; but its engineer, mr behr, retained so much faith in the principle that he decided to apply it to the problem of high-speed electric traction. during the session he promoted a bill for the construction of a mono-railway between liverpool and manchester. there was tremendous opposition from the existing railway companies, which brought experts to prove that mr behr was a vain dreamer; but the bill succeeded. the promoters, however, found it much harder work to raise capital for the project. they needed close upon £ , , , but the public response to the first invitation was so small that the scheme was abandoned. the line, as projected, was nearly miles long; and a speed of miles per hour was intended, reducing the time of the liverpool-manchester journey to twenty minutes. at each end of the line (which was a double one) a steep gradient was arranged to facilitate starting and stopping--an arrangement, by the way, which is adopted to a certain extent on london tubes. the track itself was shaped like an inverted v, and practically the whole of the weight of the cars was borne upon a rail at the top. the wheels, therefore, were right in the centre of the car, which balanced itself on the trestle with its centre of gravity below the rail. each side of the trestle carried two guide-rails which bore against free-running horizontal wheels on the car to prevent any undue lateral movement. each car was designed to carry four motors with a total normal capacity of horse power and an overload capacity up to horse power. the rails for carrying the current were placed on the track in very much the same position as the ordinary rails occupy on a normal railway. in another form of mono-railway--the kearney high-speed railway--the wheels are placed below the car and run on a single rail laid direct on sleepers. the cars are held upright by flanged wheels on the top, running on a rail fixed to the roof of tunnels or to standards not unlike those of an overhead trolley. this railway has been exhibited in the form of a model. [illustration: fig. . the brennan gyroscopic mono-railway.--the car is electrically driven, and its equilibrium is maintained by the action of two gyroscopes, also electrically driven.] mr brennan's gyroscopic mono-railway was first shown, in a small size, at a conversazione of the royal society in . full-sized cars were constructed later, and one was seen at work during the japan-british exhibition of . the distinguishing feature of the vehicle is the use of two gyroscopes (electrically driven), one horizontal and the other vertical, to maintain the car upright on a single rail, even when loaded unevenly and running at a fair speed round sharp curves. from one point of view, the gyroscopic car is no more wonderful than a spinning top, but the spectacle of a vehicle running steadily on a single rail was so extraordinary that the interest of the whole world was immediately aroused. support was given to mr brennan's experiments by the india office and the colonial office, on the ground that a railway which required only one rail, and was more or less independent of both curves and gradients, would be of great value in districts where the ordinary two-track railway might be both inconvenient and too costly. one drawback to the arrangement is the necessity of fitting each vehicle with gyroscopes, which are expensive and delicate pieces of apparatus. but the ingenuity of the invention is so great that mr brennan ought to reap the reward of seeing a gyroscopic railway in full operation before long. the only electric mono-railway actually at work is the 'hanging railway' at elberfeld in germany (fig. ). this railway is an evolution from the system of 'telpherage' which was devised in the very infancy of electric traction for the transport of goods. the root idea is to make the overhead wire carrying the current the track rail as well, the whole contrivance--rails and cars--being suspended from girders or cables supported by a series of standards or bridges. at elberfeld the cars pass over streets and also over canals. there are no signs, however, that the 'hanging railway' will have any imitators. in appearance and in cost of construction and operation it does not seem to have any conspicuous advantages over a double-track overhead railway. the system of telpherage is therefore likely to be confined to the carriage of goods from one part of a factory to another, and (in the form of cable-ways) to the handling of materials in mines and other extensive engineering works. for such purposes it is having an increasingly extended application. [illustration: fig. . the 'telpher' system of electrical locomotion adapted to the transport of materials in a factory. the 'car' is suspended from a girder and is operated by the driver in the same way as an electric car. (from _electrics_.)] chapter xvi the future nothing irritates an electrical engineer more readily than the repetition of the phrase, 'electricity is in its infancy.' the words have been used by countless mayors and aldermen while 'inaugurating' tramway or electric lighting schemes; they have been echoed by innumerable journalists who persist in maintaining a jules-verne attitude towards the electrical industry. and what disturbs the electrical engineer is not only the banality of the phrase but the use of it as a comment upon the achievements to which he has devoted his life. nevertheless it will be admitted, from the rapid survey which we have taken of electric traction, that the potentialities of electricity in locomotion make an even stronger appeal than the actualities. except in one field--the tramway field--engineers have only touched the fringe of possible developments in electric locomotion. even in tramway work we may, if legislative conditions improve and if current becomes much cheaper, see a considerable development in passenger and also in agricultural lines. meanwhile the trolley omnibus offers a prospect of extension in electric road traction; and there is a great deal yet to be done with petrol-electric vehicles and with electric automobiles in certain classes of transport. the great field, however, lies in railway traction. there are miles of electric railway in the united kingdom; and there are nearly , miles of steam railway. not even the most sanguine electrical missionary will believe that this difference can be materially altered within the next decade, but there is ample ground for faith in the steady increase of the electrical figure. if the advance of electric traction on railways must be slow, it is because financial and not engineering considerations govern the speed of conversion. no railway company can take a step involving hundreds of thousands of pounds, and a revolution in working methods, without prolonged consideration and elaborate preparation. on roads, on tramways, and on railroads, the future lies with electricity--wholly on railroads and tramways, perhaps not wholly on roads. there is scope for it also at sea; and if our canals are worth the cost of reconstruction on modern lines, electric haulage will be used there on the model of the canal haulage installations which exist here and there on the continent. for marine work the advantages of electricity have yet to be confirmed by practical experience; but on land it has already proved that it supplies a means of locomotion which is more efficient, cleaner and more attractive, and more closely adapted to the needs and distribution of modern population than any other. the fashion for devising utopias is not so popular as it used to be, but in every ideal world which is more than a spiritual vision, and in every intelligent forecast of an advanced civilisation, universal electric transport is taken for granted. electrical engineers are ready to prove that this standard element in utopia is available at the present day on the basis which is the ultimate justification of all engineering projects in this workaday world--the basis of profit. their confidence will be intensified when we approach the 'all-electric' age prophesied by mr ferranti in his presidential address to the institution of electrical engineers in . mr ferranti looks forward to a national scheme for the supply and distribution of electric power. under this scheme, the production of electricity would be concentrated in one hundred huge power stations, using engines of enormous capacity and acting as wholesale suppliers of electrical energy to towns, railways, tramways, and factories. the price of electricity would then be a fraction of what it is now; and all the economies of electricity in action would be multiplied accordingly. technically, the scheme is quite feasible; and it could be realised in the near future if capitalists and the government could be brought to appreciate the tremendous stimulus it would offer to industrial activity and the effect it would have in conserving the power which is latent in our coal measures. index acceleration, _et seq._ on electric railways, , accumulators, on air ships, on ships, aeroplanes, alternating current, , automixte (petrol-electric), automobiles (electric), _et seq._ advantages of, hiring of, in united states, batteries (electric), behr, f. b., blackpool, bournemouth, braking, brennan, l., , brighton line electrification, broadbent, f., vii, brunel, , , cab (electric), city and south london railway, conduit system, , , continuous current, district railway, , durtnall, w. p., dynamo, reversibility of, , elberfeld-barmen railway, , electric traction advantages of, _et seq._ automobiles, _et seq._ backwardness of, _et seq._ on main line railways, , faraday, ferranti, fischer (petrol-electric), giant's causeway, griffiths-bedell (g-b.) system, gyroscopic railways, hanging railway, , heilmann locomotive, kearney, e. w. c., launches (electric), light railways act, liverpool overhead railway, , locomotive (electric), , , heilmann, turbo-electric, london electric cabs in, electric railways in, , tramways in, , lorain system, lyttelton, a., marylebone, mavor, h., mersey railway, mono-railways, _et seq._ gyroscopic, motor (electric), multiple-unit system, , omnibus (electric), petrol-electric, overhead system, , 'paragon' system (ship propulsion), petrol-electric system, _et seq._ provisional orders (tramways), railless traction (_see_ trolley omnibus) railways atmospheric, cheap power for, experimental electric, finance of, opposition to, pioneer electric, , rope, raworth, j. s., regenerative control, series-parallel system, , ship propulsion, siemens, vii, , , signalling (automatic), single-phase system, starting torque, (_see_ also acceleration) stephenson, vii, , storage batteries, _et seq._ 'stud' system, telpher system, third rail, three-phase system, torquay, trackless trolley (_see_ trolley omnibus) trailers, tramcars equipment of, tramroads early, tramways accumulators on, conduit, , , cost of, generating equipment for, inter-urban, legislation for, municipal, overhead system on, , statistics, , surface-contact, , tramways act ( ), trolley omnibus, , _et seq._ in relation to tramways, trolley system , _et seq._ bow, tube railways, turbo-electric locomotive, veto (tramway), , waterfalls electric power from, watt, vii wheatstone, wolverhampton, workmen's fares, yerkes, c. t., _cambridge:_ printed by john clay, m.a. at the university press transcriber's note: italics are indicated by _underscores_. bolds are indicated by =equal signs=. small capitals have been rendered in full capitals. footnote is placed to the end of chapter. a number of minor spelling errors have been corrected without note. american society of civil engineers instituted transactions paper no. locomotive performance on grades of various lengths. by beverly s. randolph, m. am. soc. c. e. with discussion by messrs. c. d. purdon, john c. trautwine, jr., and beverly s. randolph. in the location of new railways and the improvement of lines already in operation, it is now well recognized that large economies can be effected by the careful study of train resistance due to grades and alignment, distributing this resistance so as to secure a minimum cost of operation with the means available for construction. while engaged in such studies some years ago, the attention of the writer was attracted by the fact that the usual method of calculating the traction of a locomotive--by assuming from to % of the weight on the drivers--was subject to no small modification in practice. in order to obtain a working basis, for use in relation to this feature, he undertook the collection of data from the practical operation of various roads. subsequent engagements in an entirely different direction caused this to be laid aside until the present time. the results are given in table , from which it will be seen that the percentage of driver weight utilized in draft is a function of the length as well as the rate of grade encountered in the practical operation of railways. in this table, performance will be found expressed as the percentage of the weight on the drivers which is utilized in draft. this is calculated on a basis of lb. per ton of train resistance, for dates prior to , this being the amount given by the late a. m. wellington, m. am. soc. c.. e.,[a] and . lb. per ton for those of - , as obtained by a. c. dennis, m. am. soc. c. e.,[b] assuming this difference to represent the advance in practice from to the present time. most of the data have been obtained from the "catalogue of the baldwin locomotive works" for , to which have been added some later figures from "record no. " of the same establishment, and also some obtained by the writer directly from the roads concerned. being taken thus at random, the results may be accepted as fairly representative of american practice. attention should be directed to the fact that the performance of the - e, consolidation locomotive on the lehigh valley railroad in is practically equal to that of the latest mallet compounds on the great northern railway. in other words, in the ratio between the ability to produce steam and the weight on the drivers there has been no change in the last forty years. this would indicate that the figures are not likely to be changed much as long as steam-driven locomotives are in use. what will obtain with the introduction of electric traction is "another story." these results have also been platted, and are presented in fig. , with the lengths of grade as abscissas and the percentages of weight utilized as ordinates. the curve sketched to represent a general average will show the conditions at a glance. the results may at first sight seem irregular, but the agreement is really remarkable when the variety of sources is considered; that in many cases the "reputed" rate of grade is doubtless given without actual measurement; that the results also include momentum, the ability to utilize which depends on the conditions of grade, alignment, and operating practice which obtain about the foot of each grade; and that the same amount of energy due to momentum will carry a train farther on a light grade than on a heavy one. there are four items in table which vary materially from the general consensus. for item , the authorities of the road particularly state that their loads are light, because, owing to the congested condition of their business, their trains must make fast time. item represents very old practice, certainly prior to , and is "second-hand." the load consisted of empty coal cars, and the line was very tortuous, so that it is quite probable that the resistance assumed in the calculation is far below the actual. items and are both high. to account for this, it is to be noted that this road has been recently completed, regardless of cost in the matter of both track and rolling stock, and doubtless represents the highest development of railroad practice. its rolling stock is all new, and is probably in better condition to offer low resistance than it will ever be again, and there were no "foreign" cars in the trains considered. the train resistance, therefore, may be naturally assumed to be much less than that of roads hauling all classes of cars, many of which are barely good enough to pass inspection. as the grades are light in both cases, this feature of train resistance is larger than in items including heavier grades. attention should be called to the fact that a line connecting the two points representing these items on fig. would make only a small angle with the sketched curve, and would be practically parallel to a similar line connecting the points represented by items and . there is, therefore, an agreement of ratios, which is all that needs consideration in this discussion. [illustration: fig. .--diagram showing percentage of weight on drivers which is utilized in traction on grades of various lengths] wellington, in his monumental work on railway location, presents a table of this character. the percentages of weight on the drivers which is utilized in draft show the greatest irregularity. he does not give the length of the grades considered, so that it is impossible to say how far the introduction of this feature would have contributed to bring order out of the chaos. in his discussion of the table he admits the unsatisfactory character of the results, and finally decides on % as a rough average, "very approximately the safe operating load in regular service." he further states that a number of results, which he omits for want of space, exceeds per cent. the highest shown in table will be found in item ( . mile, . grade), showing per cent. there is no momentum effect here, as the grade is a short incline extending down to the river, and the start is necessarily a "dead" one. the reports of item , which shows %, and item , which shows %, state specifically that the locomotives will stop and start the loads given at any point on the grade. the results of a series of experiments reported by mr. a. c. dennis in his paper, "virtual grades for freight trains," previously referred to, indicate a utilization of somewhat more than %, decreasing with the speed. all this indicates that the general failure of locomotives to utilize more than from to % on long grades, as shown by table , can only be due to the failure of the boilers to supply the necessary steam. while the higher percentage shown for the shorter grades may be ascribed largely to momentum present when the foot of the grade is reached, the energy due to stored heat is responsible for a large portion of it. when a locomotive has been standing still, or running with the steam consumption materially below the production, the pressure accumulates until it reaches the point at which the safety valve is "set." this means that the entire machine is heated to a temperature sufficient to maintain this pressure in the boiler. when the steam consumption begins to exceed the production, this temperature is reduced to a point where the consumption and production balance. the heat represented by this difference in temperature has passed into the steam used, thus adding to the energy supplied by the combustion going on in the furnace. the engines, therefore, are able to do considerably more work during the time the pressure is falling than they can do after the fall has ceased. the curve in fig. would indicate that the energy derived from the two sources just discussed is practically dissipated at miles, though the position of the points representing items , , , , and would indicate that this takes place more frequently between and miles. from this point onward the performance depends on the efficiency of the steam production, which does not appear to be able to utilize more than % of the weight on the drivers. the diagrams presented by mr. dennis in his paper on virtual grades, and by john a. fulton, m. am. soc. c. e., in his discussion of that paper, indicate that similar results would be shown were they extended to include the distance named. from this it would appear that a locomotive is capable of hauling a larger train on grades less than miles in length than on longer grades, and that, even when unexpectedly stopped, it is capable of starting again as soon as the steam pressure is sufficiently built up. conversely, it should be practicable to use a higher rate of ascent on shorter grades on any given line without decreasing the load which can be hauled over it. in other words, what is known as the "ruling grade" is a function, strictly speaking, of the length as well as the rate of grade. in any discussions of the practicability of using a higher rate on the short grades, which the writer has seen, the most valid objection has appeared to be the danger of stalling and consequent delay. as far as momentum is relied on, this objection is valid. within the limits of the load which can be handled by the steam, it has small value, as it is only a question of waiting a few minutes until the pressure can be built up to the point at which the load can be handled. as this need only be an occasional occurrence, it is not to be balanced against any material saving in cost of construction. the writer does not know of any experiments which will throw much light on the value of heat storage as separated from momentum, though the following discussion may prove suggestive: a train moving at a rate of ft. per sec., and reaching the foot of a grade, will have acquired a "velocity head" of . ft., equivalent to stored energy of . × , = , ft-lb. per ton. on a . grade (as in item of table ) the resistance would be, gravity lb. + train . lb. = . lb., against which the energy above given would carry the train through , ÷ . = , ft., say, . miles, leaving miles to be provided for by the steam production. examining the items in the table having grades in excess of miles, it will be noted that % is about all the weight on drivers which can be utilized by the current supply of steam. in item the energy derived from all sources is equivalent to . %; hence the stored heat may be considered as responsible for an equivalent of . % - % = . % for a distance of miles. table . =========================================================================== item no. |length of grade, in miles. | |rate of grade. | | |maximum curvature. | | | |compensation. | | | | |gross weight of load, in tons. | | | | | |weight of tender, in tons. | | | | | | |weight of locomotive, in tons. | | | | | | | |weight on drivers, in tons. | | | | | | | | |percentage of weight on | | | | | | | | |drivers utilized in draft. | | | | | | | | | |class. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | --+-----+------+------+----+-----+--+-----+-----+-----+-------------------- | . | . | | | | | . | | . | - - / c | . | . | ° '| | | | | | . | - c | . | . | ° | . | | | . | | . | - e | . | . | | | | | | . | . |mogul. | . | . | ° '| | | | | | . | - e | . | . | | | , | | | | . | - e | . | . | ° | | | | | | . | - e | . | . | ° | | | | | | . | - e | . | . | | | , | | . | . | . | h - a | . | . | ° | | | | | | . | | . | . | ° | . | | | . | | . | - e | . | . | ° | | , | | | | . | - e | . | . | | | | | | | . | - d | . | . | ° | . | | | . | | . | - e | . | . | | c | , | | . | . | . |mallet. | . | . | | | | | | | . | | . | . | | c | , | | | | . |mallet. | . | . | ° | | | | | | . | - e | . | . | | | | | | | . |d-d | . | . | | | | | | | . |d-d | . | . | ° | | | | | | . |consol. | . | . | | | | | | | . | - e | . | . | | | | | . | | . |f , consol. | . | . | | | | | | | . |l- , mallet. =========================================================================== ============================================================================ |maker. |railroad. |reporting officer. |year. --+--------+----------------------------+-----------------------------+----- |baldwin.|morgan's louisiana & texas |newell tilton, asst. supt. | | " |long island |s. spencer, gen. supt. | | " |atchison, topeka & santa fe |j. d. burr, asst. engr. | | " |chillan & talcahuana |j. e. martin, local supt. | | " |chicago, burlington & quincy|h. b. stone | | " |chicago, burlington & quincy| " | | " |chicago, burlington & quincy| " | | " |st. louis & san francisco |c. w. rogers, gen. mgr. | |pa. r.r |cumberland valley. | | | | | | |baldwin.|atchison, topeka & santa fe |j. d. burr, asst. engr. | | " |missouri pacific |john hewitt, supt. m. p. | | " |western maryland |d. holtz, m. of mach'y. | | " |atchison, topeka & santa fe |j. d. burr, asst. engr. | | " |virginian ry. | | | |pennsylvania | | |baldwin.|virginian ry. | | | " |lehigh valley, wyoming div. |a. mitchell, div. supt. | | " |great northern |grafton greenough. | | " |great northern |grafton greenough. | | " |baltimore & ohio |f. e. blaser, div. supt. | | " |central of n. j. |w. w. stearns, asst.gen.supt.| | " |great northern |grafton greenough. | | " |great northern |grafton greenough. | ============================================================================ ============================================================================== |source of data. |remarks. --+-----------------------------------------+--------------------------------- |baldwin catalogue, , p. | | " " , " | miles per hour. | " " , " | " " " | | stops and starts on grade. | " " , " | | " " , " |stops and starts at any point | | on grade. | " " , " | | " " , " | | " " , " | | | |trautwine's pocket book, ed. , p. |empty cars; many curves and | | reversions. |baldwin catalogue, , p. | | " " , " | | " " , " | miles per hour. | " " , " | " " " |_engineering news_, jan. , . | |trautwine's pocket book, ed. , p. | |_engineering news_, jan. , . |road locomotive and helper. |baldwin catalogue, , p. | |baldwin loco. wks. record, no. , p. | |baldwin loco. wks. record, no. , p. | | |very crooked line. uncompensated. |baldwin catalogue, , p. | |baldwin loco. wks. record, no. , p. | |baldwin loco. wks. record, no. , p. | ============================================================================== in proportioning grade resistance for any line, therefore, a locomotive may be counted on to utilize . % of the weight on the drivers for a distance of miles on a . grade without any assistance from momentum, and, in the event of an unexpected stop, should be able, as soon as a full head of steam is built up, to start the train and carry it over the grade. this is probably a maximum, considering the condition of the equipment of this virginian railway, as previously mentioned. treating item in the same way, a distance of , ft. is accounted for by momentum, leaving, say, . miles for the steam, or the length of a . grade on which a locomotive may be loaded on a basis of tractive power equal to . % of the weight on the drivers. from these figures it may be concluded that on lines having grades from to or more miles in length, grades of to miles in length may be inserted having rates % in excess of that of the long grades, without decreasing the capacity of the line. this statement, of course, is general in its bearings, each case being subject to its especial limitations, and subject to detailed calculations. it may be noted that the velocity of ft. per sec., assumed at the foot of the grade, is probably higher than should be expected in practice; it insures, on the other hand, that quite enough has been allowed for momentum, and that the results are conservative. arguments like the foregoing are always more or less treacherous; being based on statistics, they are naturally subject to material modifications in the presence of a larger array of data, therefore, material assistance in reaching practical conclusions can be given by the presentation of additional data. discussion c. d. purdon, m. am. soc. c. e. (by letter).--some years ago the writer, in making studies for grade revision, found that the tractive power of a locomotive up grade becomes less as the length of the grade increases, and in some unknown proportion. this was a practical confirmation of the saying of locomotive engineers, that the engine "got tired" on long grades. on a well-known western railroad, with which the writer is familiar, experiments were made for the purpose of rating its locomotives. the locomotives were first divided into classes according to their tractive power, this being calculated by the usual rule, with factors of size of cylinders, boiler pressure, and diameter of drivers, also by taking one-fourth of the weight on the drivers, and using the lesser of the two results as the tractive power. locomotives of different classes, and hauling known loads, were run over a freight division, the cars being weighed for the purpose; thus the maximum load which could be handled over a division, or different parts of a division, was ascertained, and this proportion of tonnage to tractive power was used in rating all classes. of course, this method was not mathematically accurate, as the condition of track, the weather, and the personal equation of the locomotive engineers all had an effect, but, later, when correcting the rating by tests with dynamometers, it was found that the results were fairly practical. there were three hills where the rate of grade was the same as the rest of the division, but where the length was much in excess of other grades of the same rate. designating these hills as _a_, _b_, and _c_, the lengths are, respectively, . , . , and . miles. there were no other grades of the same rate exceeding mile. in one class of freight engines, -wheel brooks, the weight of the engine was , lb.; tender, , lb.; weight on drivers, , lb.; boiler pressure, lb.; and tractive power of cylinders, , lb. on hill _a_ these engines are rated at tons, as compared with on other parts of the division. as the engine weighs tons and the caboose tons, tons should be added, making the figures, , and , tons. thus the length of the grade, . miles, makes the tractive power on it % of that on shorter grades. on hill _b_, the rating, adding tons as above, is , and , tons, respectively, giving % for . miles. on hill _c_, the rating, with tons added, is , and , tons, making % for . miles. taking the same basis as the author, namely, . lb. per ton, rate of grade × , and weight on drivers, gives: hill _a_, . %, remainder of division, . % hill _b_, . %, " " " . % hill _c_, . %, " " " . % it will be noted that the author uses the weight on the drivers as the criterion, but the tractive power is not directly as the weight on the drivers, some engines being over-cylindered, or under-cylindered; in the class of engines above mentioned the tractive power is . % of the weight on the drivers. the writer made a study of several dynamometer tests on hill _c_. there is a grade of the same rate, about mile long, near this hill, and a station near its foot, but there is sufficient level grade between this station and the foot of the hill to get a good start. all the engines of the above class, loaded for hill _c_, gained speed on the -mile grade, but began to fall below the theoretical speed at a point about - / miles from the foot of the hill. this condition occurred when the trains stopped at the station and also when they passed it at a rate of some or miles per hour, the speed becoming less and less as the top of the hill was approached. the writer concludes that the author might stretch his opinion as to using heavier rates of grade on shorter hills than miles, and indeed his diagram seems to intimate as much, and that, for economical operation, the maximum rate of grade should be reduced after a length of about miles has been reached, and more and more in proportion to the length of the hill, in order that the same rating could be applied all over a division. this conclusion might be modified by local conditions, such as an important town where cars might be added to or taken from the train. while it does not seem practicable to the writer to calculate what the reduction of rate of grade should be, a consensus of results of operation on different lengths of grade might give sufficient data to reach some conclusion on the matter. the american railway engineering and maintenance of way association has a committee on "railway economics," which is studying such matters, but so far as the writer knows it has not given this question any consideration. the writer hopes that the author will follow up this subject, and that other members will join, as a full discussion will no doubt bring some results on a question which seems to be highly important. john c. trautwine, jr., assoc. am. soc. c. e. (by letter).--in his collection of data, mr. randolph includes two ancient cases taken from the earliest editions ( - ) of trautwine's "civil engineer's pocket-book," referring to performances on the mahanoy and broad mountain railroad (now the frackville branch of the reading) and on the pennsylvania railroad, respectively. in the private notes of john c. trautwine, sr., these two cases are recorded as follows: "on the mahanoy & broad mtn. r. r., _tank_ engines of tons, _all on drivers_, draw _empty_ coal cars weighing tons, _up_ a continuous grade of ft. per mile for - / miles; & around curves of , , ft. &c. rad., at miles an hour. ( ) this is equal to - / tons for a -ton engine." (vol. iii, p. .) "on the penn central ft. grades for - / miles, a -ton engine all on drivers takes tons of freight and tons of engine, tender, & cars, in all tons,[c] and a passenger engine takes up cars at miles an hour (large wheels). when more than , an auxiliary engine." it will be seen that mr. randolph is well within bounds in ascribing to the mahanoy and broad mountain case (his no. ) a date "certainly prior to ," the date being given, in the notes, as ; while another entry just below it, for the pennsylvania railroad case, is dated . it also seems, as stated by mr. randolph, quite probable that the frictional resistance ( lb. per , lb.) assumed by him in the calculation is far below the actual for this case . the small, empty, four-wheel cars weighed only , lb. each. furthermore, the "tons," in the trautwine reports of these experiments, were tons of , lb. on the other hand, the maximum curvature was ° ' (not °, as given by the author), and the engine was a tank locomotive, whereas the author has credited it with a -ton tender. after making all corrections, it will be found that, in order to bring the point, for this case , up to the author's curve, instead of his lb. per , lb., a frictional resistance of lb. per , lb. would be required, a resistance just equal to the gravity resistance on the . % grade, making a total resistance of lb. per , lb. while this lb. per ton is very high, it is perhaps not too high for the known conditions, as above described. for modern rolling stock, mr. a. k. shurtleff gives the formula:[d] frictional resistance, on tangent, } in pounds per , pounds } = + ÷ c, where _c_ = weight of car and load, in tons of , lb. this would give, for , -lb. ( . -ton) cars, a frictional resistance of lb. per , lb.; and, on the usual assumption of . lb. per , lb. for each degree of curvature, the . ° curves of this line would give lb. per ton additional, making a total of lb. per , lb. over and above grade resistance, under modern conditions. in the th to th editions of trautwine ( - ), these early accounts were superseded by numerous later instances, including some of those quoted by the author. in the th and th editions ( - ) are given data respecting performances on the catawissa branch of the reading (shamokin division) in - . these give the maximum and minimum loads hauled up a nearly continuous grade of . ft. per mile ( . %) from catawissa to lofty ( . miles) by engines of different classes, with different helpers and without helpers. table (in which the writer follows the author in assuming frictional resistance at . lb. per , lb.) shows the cases giving the maximum and minimum values of the quantity represented by the ordinates in the author's diagram, namely, "traction, in percentage of weight on drivers." it will be seen that the maximum percentage ( . ) is practically identical with that found by the author ( ) for grade lengths exceeding miles. near the middle of the -mile distance there is a stretch of . miles, on which the average grade is only . ft. per mile ( . %), and this stretch divides the remaining distance into two practically continuous grades, . and . miles long, respectively; but, as the same loads are hauled over these two portions by the same engines, the results are virtually identical, the maxima furnishing two more points closely coinciding with the author's diagram. table .--tractive force, catawissa to lofty. ======================================================================== length of grade, in miles | | . | | grade {in feet per mile | | . {percentage |_a_ | . | | resistances, in pounds per , lb., | | gravity (= _a_) = . . friction = . |_b_ | . | | load: | cars. | locomotive.| tender. | | maximum[e] | , | . | . |_c_ | , minimum[f] | , | . | . |_c_ | , | | traction (= _b_ _c_ ÷ , ) maximum[e] |_d_ | . minimum[f] |_d_ | . weight on drivers: | locomotive.| helper. | | maximum[e] | . | . |_e_ | . minimum[f] | . | . |_e_ | . | | percentage ( = _d_ ÷ _e_ ). | | maximum |_f_ | . minimum |_f_ | . ======================================================================== footnotes: [footnote e: giving maximum values of percentage, _f_.] [footnote f: giving minimum values of percentage, _f_.] beverly s. randolph, m. am. soc. c. e. (by letter).--the percentages given by mr. purdon would seem to indicate that the length of the grades did not affect the loads in the cases cited, but these percentages are so much below those shown in the table, for similar distances, as to indicate some special conditions which the writer has been unable to find in the text. the use of the percentage of weight on drivers which is utilized in traction as a measure of the efficiency of the locomotive, while, probably, not applicable to individual machines, is sound for the purposes of comparison of results to be obtained on various portions of a line as far as affected by conditions of grade and alignment. it has the advantage of disregarding questions of temperature, condition of track, character of fuel, etc., which, being the same on all portions of the line, naturally balance and do not affect the comparison. it is, of course, simply a method of expressing the final efficiency of the various parts of the locomotive, and, since it depends entirely on actual results already accomplished, leaves no room for difference of opinion or theoretical error. the writer has always considered an "under-cylindered" locomotive as a defective machine. all weight is a distinct debit, in the shape of wear and tear of track and running gear, resistance due to gravity on grades, interest on cost, etc. when this weight fails to earn a credit in the way of tractive efficiency, it should not be present. the statement relative to the performance of locomotives on "hill _c_" is interesting, especially in that it appears to have been immaterial whether they made a dead start after stopping at the station or approached the foot of the hill at to miles per hour. the momentum would appear to be an insignificant factor. it is gratifying to note that mr. trautwine has been able to brace up the weak member of table so completely with his detailed data; also that his other results strengthen the conclusions reached in the paper. footnotes: [footnote a: "the economic theory of railway location," edition, p. .] [footnote b: _transactions_, am. soc. c. e., vol. l, p. .] [footnote c: "nearly tons _exclusive_ of eng. & ten." (vol. iii, p. - / .)] [footnote d: american railway engineering and maintenance of way association, bulletin , february, , p. .] american society of civil engineers instituted transactions paper no. final report of special committee on rail sections.[a] your special committee on steel rails, since their appointment in , have held numerous meetings, not only of their own body, but also in conference with committees representing other societies and the steel rail makers. the results of their deliberations have been presented to the society in their reports presented on-- january st, [b] " th, " th, " th, july th, december th, " th, november th, as previously reported to you, the rail committee of the american railway engineering and maintenance of way association is also acting for the american railway association; and the latter organization has guaranteed to it the necessary funds to make exhaustive tests and observations as to the wear, breakage, etc., etc., of steel rails. this work is being prosecuted, and will of necessity require several years. your committee feels that it has nothing to add to the several reports which it has presented to the society, particularly as, so far, the several cardinal principles outlined in them are being practically followed in the several used and proposed specifications and rail sections. in view of the foregoing, your committee would respectfully ask to be discharged so that the field may be clear if at any future time the society should desire to again place the subject in the hands of a committee. joseph t. richards, c. w. buchholz, e. c. carter, s. m. felton, robert w. hunt, john d. isaacs, richard montfort, h. g. prout, percival roberts, jr., george e. thackray, edmund k. turner, approved in connection with the attached report: william r. webster. june, . philadelphia, june st, . i have signed the report of the a. s. c. e. rail committee,--"approved in connection with the attached report," as i feel that the report is too condensed, and assumes that all are familiar with the rail situation, especially what has been done by the other societies. the work undertaken by this committee has been delegated by the american railway association to the rail committee of the american railway engineering and maintenance of way association, and it therefore seems appropriate to give the results of their work, up to date, to our members in convenient form for reference, especially as our rail specifications have not been worked to, and they have offered a better specification that will be worked to, and no doubt largely used by the members of this society. the specification is attached to this report. in presenting this specification to the annual meeting at chicago in march last, the committee said:[c] "a new specification should not be proposed at this time without careful consideration. so far as we know, no railroad company has purchased rails under the specifications approved by the american railway association and referred to us; nor do we know of any railway company that has succeeded in buying rails during the past two years according to a specification entirely satisfactory to the railroad company. we believe that all of the specifications under which rails have been rolled have been compromises on the part of both parties, with the general result that neither party is entirely satisfied. our experience during the year has brought to our attention some defects in all of the specifications now before us, and acting under the impression that there is a distinct feeling that we should revise our specifications, we offer the attached specifications for your consideration. our association has no specification for open-hearth steel rails, and in order to comply with the instructions, a specification for open-hearth steel rails is included. "we believe it necessary to submit a sliding scale for the percentages of carbon and phosphorus, which provides for increasing the carbon as the phosphorus decreases. the fixing of this scale properly is a matter requiring care, and we admit that our knowledge on the subject is limited. the american railway association specification calls attention to this matter in the following words: 'when lower phosphorus can be secured, a proper proportionate increase in carbon should be made.' the amount of increase is not provided for in the specifications, and this appears to us to be necessary in order to secure uniformity of practice; otherwise, the fixing of these percentages becomes a matter of special arrangement. bessemer rails are being furnished regularly with phosphorus under the maximum allowed, and where this is done, the carbon should be raised above the higher limit now fixed in our specifications, or a soft and poor wearing rail will result; yet this condition has not been fully guarded against in rails furnished under existing specifications. the lower and upper limits for carbon have heretofore been fixed with the intention that the mills furnish rails with a composition as near between the two limits as possible. the mills, however, in order to meet the prescribed drop tests with the least difficulty, keep both the carbon and manganese as nearly as possible to the lower limits, with the corresponding result that a generally poor-wearing rail is furnished. "some roads have prescribed the limits of deflection to be allowed under the drop test. with our present knowledge, we believe that we should fix a minimum deflection to eliminate brittle rails and to secure greater uniformity of product; also maximum deflection to eliminate soft rails. we are not able at the present time to fix these limits, but our ultimate object will be to determine and fix such limits for the specifications. "with reference to the amount of discard, time of holding in ladle, size of nozzles, and other such details of manufacture or machinery, we are of the opinion that the physical and chemical tests required should be prescribed, and that we should see that the material submitted for acceptance meets the prescribed tests. we should not dictate to the manufacturers the amount of crop which shall be removed from the top of the ingot, as this should vary with the care and time consumed at the various mills. the railroads should not be asked to take anything but sound material in their rails. the mills can furnish such sound material if the proper care and sufficient time are taken in the making of the ingots. information derived from the tests being made at the watertown arsenal shows definitely that sound rails cannot be made from unsound ingots, and that, therefore, the prime requisite in securing a sound rail is to first secure the sound ingot. "we recommend that the present specifications for steel rails be withdrawn from the manual of recommended practice of the association, as no longer representing the current state of the art. "we submit herewith, as appendix 'a,' a form for specifications. it will have to be amended from time to time as we receive further information on the subject." the specifications referred to above were modified and presented at the meeting in _supplement to bulletin no. _, of march, , and in this final form are attached hereto. these specifications do not represent the work of any one society or the work of any one committee, but are the result of all the work of the different societies, as the members of all are so interwoven that whatever work is done in any one society, or by the committee of a society, has very naturally and fortunately been carried into the others. at the chicago meeting these specifications were accepted without a single change, and this is very unusual and shows how generally acceptable they were, as the members of all rail committees were present at the meeting. the main points in this specification were discussed and agreed upon by the members of the committee and the rail committee of the manufacturers who have co-operated with them in this work. in the matter of rail sections, the rail committee of the american railway engineering and maintenance of way association has not arrived at any definite conclusions. the new sections "a" and "b" of the american railway association have not given as good results as was expected of them, and the whole matter is yet under consideration. the committee reported as follows:[d] "the instructions of the american railway association require us to study the a. r. a. sections 'a' and 'b' in use and submit a single type for standard. owing to the conditions existing in , very little rail was laid, and practically none of the a. r. a. sections, in such manner as to give the needed information. this year, several roads have laid a. r. a. sections of rail, with a view of determining the relative merits of the respective sections. these rails have been in the track so short a time that we are not justified in drawing any conclusions as to which of the a. r. a. types, 'a' or 'b,' or if either, is better than the a. s. c. e. sections. "_bulletin no. _, issued october, , gives the statistics for rail failures for six months from october , , to april , , as reported to the committee. these statistics do show that the difference in section can be entirely annihilated by difference in chemical composition and by the treatment in furnace and mill. "the results so far obtained from the heavy base a. r. a. sections are disappointing, as we have received some rail from the mills of the new section which was as bad as we did with the old a. s. c. e. section, showing that the quality of the rail does not depend entirely upon the section. "the tests to be inaugurated by the committee, combined with the results of the tests at watertown and the performance of the rail in the track, will give us valuable data to aid us in coming to a final conclusion." a careful study of the results already obtained, on both bessemer and open-hearth steel rails, indicates that the next necessary step will be the use of a much heavier rail, and i think the sooner this is admitted and trial lots of say , tons each of -lb., -lb. and -lb. rails rolled, of bessemer and open-hearth steel, and put in service under the most severe conditions, the sooner we will get rid of the present difficulties with our rails. wm. r. webster. "specifications for steel rails.[e] [sidenote: process of manufacture.] " . the entire process of manufacture shall be in accordance with the best current state of the art. "(_a_) ingots shall be kept in a vertical position until ready to be rolled, or until the metal in the interior has had time to solidify. "(_b_) bled ingots shall not be used. [sidenote: chemical composition.] " . the chemical composition of the steel from which the rails are rolled shall be within the following limits: =================+============================+============================ | bessemer. | open-hearth. +-------------+--------------+-------------+-------------- | lbs. and | | lbs. and | | over, but | to lbs.| over, but | to lbs. |under lbs.| inclusive. |under lbs.| inclusive. -----------------+-------------+--------------+-------------+-------------- carbon | . to . | . to . | . to . | . to . manganese | . to . | . to . | . to . | . to . silicon | . to . | . to . | . to . | . to . phosphorus, | | | | not to exceed | . | . | . | . sulphur, | | | | not to exceed | . | . | . | . =================+=============+==============+=============+============== " . when the average phosphorus content of the ingot metal used in the bessemer process at any mill is below . and in the open-hearth process is below . , the carbon shall be increased at the rate of . for each . that the phosphorus content of the ingot metal used averages below . for bessemer steel, or . for open-hearth steel. "the percentage of carbon in an entire order of rails shall average as high as the mean percentage between the upper and lower limits. [sidenote: shearing.] " . the end of the bloom formed from the top of the ingot shall be sheared until the entire face shows sound metal. "all metal from the top of the ingot, whether made from the bloom or the rail, is the top discard. [sidenote: shrink] " . the number of passes and speed of train shall be so regulated that, on leaving the rolls at the final pass, the temperature of the rails will not exceed that which requires a shrinkage allowance at the hot saws, for a -ft. rail of lb. section, of - / in. for thick base sections and - / in. for a. s. cc. e. sections, and / in. less for each ten pounds decrease of section, these allowances to be decreased at the rate of - in. for each second of time elapsed between the rail leaving the finishing rolls and being sawed. "the bars shall not be held for the purpose of reducing their temperature, nor shall any artificial means of cooling them be used between the leading and finishing passes, nor after they leave the finishing pass. [sidenote: section] " . the section of rail shall conform as accurately as possible to the templet furnished by the railroad company. a variation in height of - in. less or - in. greater than the specified height, and - in. in width of flange, will be permitted; but no variations shall be allowed in the dimensions affecting the fit of splice bars. [sidenote: weight] " . the weight of the rail shall be maintained as nearly as possible, after complying with the preceding paragraph, to that specified in the contract. "a variation of one-half of one per cent. from the calculated weight of section, as applied to an entire order, will be allowed. "rails will be accepted and paid for according to actual weight. [sidenote: length] " . the standard length of rail shall be ft. "ten per cent. of the entire order will be accepted in shorter lengths varying by ft. from ft. to ft. "a variation of / in. from the specified lengths will be allowed. "all no. rails less than ft. shall be painted green on both ends. [sidenote: finishing] " . care shall be taken in hot-straightening rails, and it shall result in their being left in such condition that they will not vary throughout their entire length more than four ( ) in. from a straight line in any direction for thick base sections, and in. for a. s. c. e. sections when delivered to the cold-straightening presses. those which vary beyond that amount, or have short kinks, shall be classed as second quality rails and be so marked. "the distance between supports of rails in the straightening press shall not be less than forty-two ( ) in.; supports to have flat surfaces and out of wind. rails shall be straight in line and surface and smooth on head when finished, final straightening being done while cold. "they shall be sawed square at ends, variations to be not more than - in., and prior to shipment shall have the burr caused by the saw cutting removed and the ends made clean. [sidenote: drilling] " . circular holes for joint bolts shall be drilled in accordance with specifications of the purchaser. they shall in every respect conform accurately to drawing and dimensions furnished and shall be free from burrs. [sidenote: branding] " . the name of the manufacturer, the weight of the rail, and the month and year of manufacture shall be rolled in raised letters and figures on the side of the web. the number of the heat and a letter indicating the portion of the ingot from which the rail was made shall be plainly stamped on the web of each rail, where it will not be covered by the splice bars. rails to be lettered consecutively a, b, c, etc., the rail from the top of the ingot being a. in case of a top discard of twenty or more per cent. the letter a will be omitted. open-hearth rails to be branded or stamped o. h. all marking of rails shall be done so effectively that the marks may be read as long as the rails are in service. [sidenote: drop testing.] " . (_a_) drop tests shall be made on pieces of rail rolled from the top of the ingot, not less than four ( ) ft. and not more than six ( ) ft. long, from each heat of steel. these test pieces shall be cut from the rail bar next to either end of the top rail, as selected by the inspector. "the temperature of the test pieces shall be between forty ( ) and one hundred ( ) degrees fahrenheit. "the test pieces shall be placed head upward on solid supports, five ( ) in. top radius, three ( ) ft. between centers, and subjected to impact tests, the tup falling free from the following heights: lb. rail ft. , and lb. rail ft. lb. rail ft. "the test pieces which do not break under the first drop shall be nicked and tested to destruction. "(_b_) (it is proposed to prescribe, under this paragraph, the requirements in regard to deflection, fixing maximum and minimum limits, as soon as proper deflection limits have been decided upon.) [sidenote: tests.] " . (a) two pieces shall be tested from each heat of steel. if either of these test pieces breaks, a third piece shall be tested. if two of the test pieces break without showing physical defect, all rails of the heat will be rejected absolutely. if two of the test pieces do not break, all rails of the heat will be accepted as no. or no. classification (according as the deflection is less or more, respectively, than the prescribed limit[a]). "(b) if, however, any test piece broken under test a shows physical defect, the top rail from each ingot of that heat shall be rejected. "(c) additional tests shall then be made of test pieces selected by the inspector from the top end of any second rails of the same heat. if two out of three of these second test pieces break, the remainder of the rails of the heat will also be rejected. if two out of three of these second test pieces do not break, the remainder of the rails of the heat will be accepted, provided they conform to the other requirements of these specifications, as no. or no. classification (according as the deflection is less or more, respectively, than the prescribed limit[f]). "(d) if any test piece, test a, does not break, but when nicked and tested to destruction shows interior defect, the top rails from each ingot of that heat shall be rejected. [sidenote: drop testing machine.] " . the drop-testing machine shall be the standard of the american railway engineering and maintenance of way association, and have a tup of , lbs. weight, the striking face of which shall have a radius of five ( ) in. "the anvil block shall be adequately supported and shall weigh , lbs. "the supports shall be a part of or firmly secured to the anvil. [sidenote: no. rails.] " . no. rails shall be free from injurious defects and flaws of all kinds. [sidenote: no. rails.] " . rails which, by reason of surface imperfections, are not accepted as no. rails, will be classed as no. rails, but rails containing physical defects which impair their strength, shall be rejected. "no. rails to the extent of five ( ) per cent. of the whole order will be received. all rails accepted as no. rails shall have the ends painted white, and shall have two prick punch marks on the side of the web near the heat number near the end of the rail, so placed as not to be covered by the splice bars. "rails improperly drilled, straightened, or from which the burrs have not been properly removed, shall be rejected, but may be accepted after being properly finished. "different classes of rails shall be kept separate in shipment. "all rails shall be loaded in the presence of the inspector. [sidenote: inspection.] " . (_a_) inspectors representing the purchaser shall have free entry to the works of the manufacturer at all times while the contract is being executed, and shall have all reasonable facilities afforded them by the manufacturer to satisfy them that the rails have been made in accordance with the terms of the specifications. "(_b_) for bessemer steel the manufacturer shall, before the rails are shipped, furnish the inspector daily with carbon determinations for each heat, and two complete chemical analyses every twenty-four hours representing the average of the other elements specified in section hereof contained in the steel, for each day and night turn respectively. these analyses shall be made on drillings taken from the ladle test ingot not less than / in. beneath the surface. "for open-hearth steel, the makers shall furnish the inspectors with a complete chemical analysis of the elements specified in section hereof for each melt. "(_c_) on request of the inspector, the manufacturer shall furnish drillings from the test ingot for check analysis. "(_d_) all tests and inspections shall be made at the place of manufacture, prior to shipment, and shall be so conducted as not to unnecessarily interfere with the operation of the mill." footnotes: [footnote a: presented to the annual convention, june st, .] [footnote b: these reports were published in _proceedings_, am. soc. c. e., as follows: february, , p. ; february, , p. : february, , p. ; february, , p. ; august, , p. ; february, , p. ; february, , p. ; february, , p. .] [footnote c: bulletin no. , december, .] [footnote d: bulletin no. . december, .] [footnote e: reprinted from _supplement to bulletin no. _ of the american railway engineering and maintenance of way association (march, ).] [footnote f: note: the clause in brackets in sections a and c to be added to the specifications when the deflection limits are specified.] "puffing billy" and the prize "rocket." [illustration: george stephenson.] "puffing billy" and the prize "rocket;" or, the story of the stephensons and our railways. by mrs. h. c. knight. london: s. w. partridge & co., , paternoster row. geo. watson & co., printers, , charles street, farringdon road, london, e.c. preface. a brief book for the boys. god gives you work to do in the world. he gives you honourable work. there is much done that is mean and dishonourable. depend upon it, _that_ is not his. in the beginning of your work, character grows _out_ of it; as you go on, your character goes _into_ it. therefore the bible declares that "god, without respect of persons, judgeth according to every man's work." we judge in the same way. this little book will show you how much the practice of the virtues--the humbler virtues--has to do with making good work. a superior article cannot be produced without them. but keep ever in mind that these virtues, however useful and important for your work in this world, have no _saving_ power in them; they form no plea for the favour of god; the key which unlocks the door of heaven is not found among them. like the young man in the gospel, you may have the loveliness of every natural virtue, and yet be lost. as sinners in the sight of god, you need the atoning blood of the redeemer; you need repentance and faith in that blood. make jesus christ, therefore, the cornerstone of your character; on _that foundation build_ your character. cultivate the graces of the gospel. baptize the virtues with your saviour's love. a noble christian manhood can only be attained by the steady endeavours of a heart fixed on god, and a hand diligent, and delighting in the work he has given it to do. h. c. k. contents. chapter i. life among the coal-pits chapter ii. mending and making-- little bob chapter iii. who began railroads-- "puffing billy" chapter iv. two cities that wanted to get near each other-- a new friend chapter v. hunting up his own work--an enterprising quaker-- what was the result? chapter vi. the two cities trying again--bugbears chapter vii. grappling with difficulties--the bog--a puzzle-- the prize offer chapter viii. robert's return--a curious encounter-- the prize engine chapter ix. opening of the new road--difficulties vanish-- a new era chapter i. life among the coal-pits. what useful little fellow is this, carrying his father's dinner to him at the coal-pit? he takes care, also, of his little brothers and sisters, keeping them clear of the coal-waggons, which run to and fro before the cottage door. then he is seen tending a neighbour's cows. now he is moulding mud engines, sticking in hemlock sticks for blowpipes; besides cutting many a good caper, and uttering all sorts of drolleries for the benefit of other little boys, who, like himself, swarm round, too poor to go to school, if school there were--but schools there were none. the boys call him "geordie steve." a lad is wanted to shut the coal-yard gates after work is over. geordie offers his services and gets the post, earning by it twopence a day. a neighbour hires him to hoe turnips at fourpence. he is thankful to earn a bit, for his parents are poor, and every little helps. he sees work ahead, however, more to his taste. what? he longs to be big enough to go and work at the coal-pits with his father. for the home of this little fellow, as you already perceive, is in a coal region. it is in the coal district of newcastle, in the north-eastern part of england. you had better find it on the map. i suppose you never visited a colliery. coal is found in beds and veins underground. deep holes are made, down which the miners go and dig it out; it is hoisted out by means of steam-engines. these holes are called shafts. the pitmen have two enemies to encounter down in the coal-pits--water, and a kind of gas which explodes on touching the flame of a candle. the water has to be pumped out; and miners are now provided with a lamp, called a safety-lamp, which is covered with a fine wire gauze to keep the gas away from the flame. the coal is brought up from the pit in baskets, loaded on waggons, running then on tramroads, and sent to the sheds. tramroads were a sort of wooden railway. a colliery is a busy and odd-looking spot. geordie's family lived in one room--father, mother, four boys, and two girls--curious quarters, one would think; but working men at that time had smaller wages and poorer homes than now, for geordie was born in , in the little village of wylam, seven miles from newcastle, and his full name is george stephenson. james, an older brother, is "picker;" and by-and-by george is old enough to be picker too, going with his father and brother to their daily tasks like a man. to clear the coal of stones and dross is their business. there are a number of pits around, and each one has a name, "dolly pit," "water-run pit," and so on. i do not know how long george was picker, but we next find him driving a gin-horse at a pit two miles off, across the fields. away he goes in the early morning, gladdened all along by many bird songs. george and the birds are fast friends. he knows where their nests are in the hedgerows, but he never robs them, and watches over them with fatherly affection. at home he has tame birds, whose pretty, knowing ways are the wonder of the neighbourhood. for many years a tame blackbird was as much one of the family as george himself, coming and going at pleasure, and roosting at night over his head. sometimes it spent the summer in the woods, but was sure to come back with cold weather to share his care and crumbs through the winter. george, too, had a famous breed of rabbits; and as for his dog, it was one of the most accomplished and faithful creatures in the district. in fact, the boy had an insight into animal nature, as we shall find he had into other things, that gave him power over it--a power which he never abused. george next arose to be assistant fireman with his father, at a shilling a day. he was fourteen, and so small of his age that he used to hide when the inspector came round, lest he should be thought too small for his wages. if small in body, he was large in heart, intent in all things to _do his best_. and this made his work so well done that it could not escape the notice of his employers. when he went to the office on the saturday night to receive his wages, double pay was given him, twelve instead of six shillings. george could scarcely believe in his good luck. when he found it was really no mistake, he took the money and rushed out of the office, exclaiming, "i am now a made man for life!" george rapidly shot ahead of his father, a kind old man who always stayed as fireman, while his boy climbed one round after another up the ladder of promotion. at seventeen we find him plugman. what is that? a plugman has charge of a pumping-engine, and when the water in the pit is below the suction holes he goes down the shaft and plugs the tube, in order to make the pump more easily draw. the post required more skill and knowledge of machinery than any he had filled before, and george proved himself equal to it. indeed he loves his engine as he loves his birds. it is quite a pet with him. he keeps it in prime order. he takes it to pieces and cleans it and studies it; pries into the why and wherefore, and is never satisfied until he understands every spring and cog of the machinery, and gets the mastery of it. you never find him idling away his time. in leisure moments he is at his old study, moulding clay engines, and putting new thoughts into them. he wished he knew the history of engines, and how they were thought out at first. somebody told him about watt, the father of steam-power, and that there were books which would satisfy his curiosity. books! what good would books do poor george? he cannot read. not read? no. he is eighteen, and hardly knows his letters. few of the colliers could. they were at that time a rough and generally ignorant set of men, whose pay-day was a holiday, when their hard-won earnings were squandered at cock-fights and ale-houses. if one was found who _did_ read, what a centre of light was he! at night the men and boys gathered around him, when by the light of his engine-fire he would give them the news from an old newspaper, or a scrap of knowledge from some stray magazine, or a wild story from an odd volume; and on these occasions no one listened with more profound attention than george. oh, it was so wonderful to read, he thought! it was to open the gates into great fields of knowledge. read he must. the desire grew upon him stronger and stronger. in the neighbouring hamlet of welbottle old robin cowens taught an evening school. "i'll go," cried george. "and i too," echoed tommy musgrove, a fellow-workman, quite carried away by george's enthusiasm. now they went to robin's school three evenings a week. i do not know how it was with tommy, but old robin never had a better scholar than george; indeed, he soon out-learned his master. his schooling cost him threepence a week, and, poor as it was, put into his hand the two keys of knowledge, reading and writing. these mastered, he longs to use them. andrew robertson opens an evening school nearer than welbottle, and andrew proposes to teach arithmetic, a branch george is anxious to grapple with next. "and he took to figurin' wonderful," said master andrew, speaking of his new scholar, who soon left his class-mates far behind. and no wonder. every spare moment to george was more precious than gold-dust, and was used accordingly. when not on duty he sits by his engine and works out his sums. no beer-shop enticed him to its cups. no cock-fight tempted him to be its spectator. he hates everything low and vulgar. andrew was proud of his pupil, and when george removed to another pit the old schoolmaster shifted his quarters and followed him. his books did not damage his interest in business. was the plugman going to stay plugman? no. bill coe, a friend of his, advanced to a brakeman, offered to show george all about the machinery. the other workmen objected. one man stopped the working of the engine when george took hold of it, "for," he cried angrily, "stephenson _can't_ brake, and is too clumsy ever to learn." a brakeman has charge of an engine for raising coal from a pit. the speed of the ascending coal, brought up in large hazel-wood baskets, was regulated by a powerful wooden brake, acting on the rim of the fly-wheel, which must be stopped just when the baskets reach the settle-board where they are to be emptied. brakemen were generally chosen from experienced engine-men of steady habits; and in spite of the grumbling of older colliers, envious perhaps of his rise, it was not long before george learned, and was appointed brakeman at the "dolly pit." this was in . [illustration: stephenson's cottage.] chapter ii. mending and making--little bob. george was now twenty; sober, faithful, and expert. finding a little spare time on his hands, he took to cobbling to increase his gains, and from this source contrived to save his first guinea. to this greater diligence he was urged by his love for fanny henderson, a fine, sweet-tempered girl, whom he shortly married, and went to housekeeping in the upper room of a small cottage in willington, six miles from newcastle. happy were they in each other, and in their simple, industrious, and frugal habits; and when a little son was born to them, george, who loved birds, rabbits, and dogs so well, welcomed with all the tenderness of a father's heart the little bobby. robert he was named, after his grandfather. accidents, they say, will happen in the best regulated families. fanny's family was not an exception. one day the cottage chimney got on fire, and the neighbours, with friendly zeal, not only poured water enough down the chimney to put out a much bigger and more alarming fire, but enough to deluge the poor little home of the brakeman with soot and water, making a pitiful sight to the young husband when he reached it. his eight-day clock, the choicest bit of furniture the young couple had, was completely smothered by ashes. what was to be done? sending it to a clock-maker for repairs was quite out of the question--it would cost too much. "i'll try my own hand at it," said george. after righting everything else he attacked the clock, took it to pieces, carefully cleaned it, put it together, set it, and it _ticked_, ticking on as faithfully as ever. the astonished neighbours now sent him their clocks, and george became one of the most famous clock doctors in the district! the young man's reputation for business soon won him a situation in killingworth, the best and largest colliery in the region. but his brightened worldly prospects were soon clouded by a dark sorrow--the death of his young wife, after three happy years of married life. poor george felt it deeply, which was perhaps one reason for accepting a situation in scotland, hoping in a change of scene to divert the mournful current of his thoughts. leaving his little boy in kind hands, he set off to the north with his pack on his back, a-foot and alone, for montrose, a long journey in those days. good wages he received, and good friends he no doubt made, for everybody loved his honest and generous character; yet by the end of the year he yearned to get back to the friends and scenes of his early days. it was not home in scotland, for it is only home where the heart is. with his savings in his pocket--twenty-eight pounds--back he trudged to killingworth; and not before his friendly presence was greatly needed to comfort his aged parents, plunged in debt and affliction. by a terrible accident his father had lost his eyesight. no longer able to work, and receiving little or no help from his other children, who were barely able to maintain themselves, the old couple had a hard battle with life. but george is back again; all is now righted. he paid off their debts, and moved them to comfortable lodgings beside his own. he has father, mother, and bobby to look after, and is thankful and happy in doing it. those were dark days, however, for the working-men of england. war was draining the country of men and money. taxes were high, wages low, bread scarce, and able-bodied men were liable at any time to be impressed for the army or naval service. george himself was drawn, and go he must, or find a substitute; he found one, but it cost all he had to hire him. poor george was in straits. his spirits were much damped by the prospect of things around and before him. all business was in a discouraging condition. some of his friends were about emigrating to america, and he at one time nearly concluded to join them. it was a sore trial to the young man. he loved his english home; and bitter tears did he in secret shed as he visited old haunts, the fields and lanes and scenes of his boyhood, feeling and fearing that all too soon the wide atlantic might roll between him and them. but the necessary funds for such an enterprise were not forthcoming. george gave it up, therefore, and went to work for what wages the times would allow. better times would come. the thing nearest his heart was affording his little son an education. keenly alive to his own early deficiencies and disadvantages, he determined to make them up in robert. every spare moment was of twofold value to him; and all the work he could pick up he cheerfully did. besides tinkering old clocks and cobbling old shoes he took to cutting out the pitmen's clothes. never was there such a fit; for george acted fully up to the principle that everything which was worth doing was worth doing well. busy as were his hands, his mind was no less busy, catching up and using every scrap of knowledge which came in his way. and it was a perpetual surprise to his fellow-workmen to see what a knack he had at bettering things. everything improved in his hands. there was always progress on his track. a new pit was opened at one of the collieries. streams of water rushed in, which the most vigorous strokes of the pump could not lower. on the engine went, pumping, pumping, pumping for a year, and the water continued to flow in, until they nearly concluded to give up the pit as a failure. george's curiosity and interest were much excited, and always, on seeing the men, he asked how matters were coming on. "drowned out, drowned out," was the one and the same answer. over he went to the poor pit as often as he could to see for himself, and over he turned in his mind again and again the whys and wherefores of the failure. "weel, george," said his friend kit one day, "what do you mak' o' her? do you think you could doctor her?" "man," answered george, "in a week's time i could send you to the bottom." the regular engineers were in high dudgeon with the forth-putting brakeman. what right had _he_ to know how to cure an evil that had baffled them? his words, however, were reported at head-quarters, and the contractor was not long hastening over to see if he could make his words good. "well, george," he said, "they tell me you think you can put that engine to rights." "yes, sir," replied the young man modestly, "i think i can." as matters could be no worse, mr. dodds was ready to let him try. and george agreed, on condition that he should choose his own men to help him. the old hands were highly indignant, but there was no help for it. so they were ordered off, and george with his gang went on. the engine was taken to pieces, examined, righted, and put together again. it was set to work. did it go? many a looker-on shook his head doubtfully, and prophesied in his inmost heart, "_no_ go." it pumped and pumped. the obstinate water found it had an antagonist that could master it. in less than two days it disappeared from the pit, and workmen were sent to the bottom. who could gainsay george's skill? mr. dodds, of course, was delighted. over and above his wages he put a ten-pound note into the young man's hand, and engaged him to superintend his works for the future. a profitable job was this. the fame of this engineering exploit spread far and wide. as an engine doctor he took the lead, and many a weezy old thing was brought to him to cure. envious engineers tried to put him down. but real merit cannot be put down. it is stern stuff. george's cottage showed the bent of his tastes. it was like an old curiosity shop; full of models of engines, complete or in parts, hanging and standing round; for busy as he had need to be eking out his means by engineering clocks and coats, the construction and improvement of machinery for the collieries was his hobby. likeness of tastes drew a young farmer often to the cottage, john wigham, who spent most of his evenings in george's society. john had a smattering of chemistry and philosophy, and a superior knowledge of mathematics, which made him a desirable companion. george put himself under his tuition, and again took to "figuring;" tasks set him in the evening were worked out among the rough toils of the day. and so much honest purpose did not fail to secure progress. drawing was another new line of effort. sheets of plans and sections gave his rude desk the air of mindwork somewhere. thus their winter evenings passed away. bobby was growing up in a little thought-world by himself; for he could not fail to be interested in all that interested his father, that father always making his son the companion of his studies, and early introducing him into the curious and cunning power of machinery. ah, that was a proud day when little bob was old enough, and knew enough, to be sent to the academy at newcastle. he was thirteen. his father's means had happily been increased. the old engine-wright of the colliery having died, george stephenson was promoted to the post, on the salary of over a hundred pounds a year. this was in . the new office relieving him from incessant hard work, and the necessity of earning a shilling by extra labours, he had more time for study, and for verifying his plans of practical improvement; and the consequence was very considerable improvement in the machinery of the colliery to which he was attached. meanwhile robert's education went on apace. the boy was hungry for knowledge, not only for himself, but to satisfy the voracious appetite of his father, and the no less keen one of john wigham. robert joined a literary and philosophical society at newcastle, whose fine library opened a rich storehouse of material. here the boy spent most of his time out of school, storing his mind with principles, facts, and illustrations, to carry home on saturday afternoon. books also. the edinburgh encyclopædia was at his command. a volume of that at the cottage unfolded a world of wonders. but the library had some books too choice to be trusted away. how was robert to get the gist of these home? his father had often said that a "good drawing and a well-executed plan would always explain itself," and many a time he had placed a rough sketch of machinery before his son and told him to describe it. robert, therefore, when he could do no better, put his drilling to test, and copied diagrams and drew pictures, thus taking many an important and perhaps rare specimen of machinery and science to killingworth, for his father's benefit. we can well imagine saturday afternoon was as much a holiday to father as to son. robert's coming was hailed with delight. john did not lag far behind. some of the neighbours dropped in to listen to discussions which made the little room a spot of lively interest and earnest toil. wide-awake mind allows nothing stagnant around it. among the borrowed books of the day was ferguson's "astronomy," which put father and son to calculating and constructing a sun-dial for the latitude of killingworth. it was wrought in stone, and fixed on the cottage door; and there it stands still, with its date, august , --a year or two before robert left school--a fair specimen of the drift of his boyish tastes. chapter iii. who began railroads--"puffing billy." familiar as it has become to us, who does not stop to look with interest at the puffing, snorting, screaming steam-horse? and who does not rejoice in the iron-rail, which binds together with its slender threads the north and the south, and makes neighbours of the east and the west? "who _began_ railroads?" ask the boys again and again. the first idea of the modern railroad had its birth at a colliery nearly two hundred years ago. in order to lighten the labour of the horses the colliers let straight pieces of wood into the road leading from the pit to the river where the coal was discharged; and the waggons were found to run so much easier, that one horse could draw four or five chaldrons. as wood quickly wore out, and moreover was liable to rot, the next step was nailing plates of iron on the wooden rail, which gave them for a time the name of "plateway" roads. a mr. outram making still farther improvements, they were called outram roads, or, for shortness' sake, "tram-roads"; and tramroads came into general use at the english collieries. "there's mischief in those tramroads," said a large canal owner, foreseeing they would one day push canal stock quite out of the market. improvements thus far had centred on the roads. to convey heavy loads easier and faster was the point aimed at. nobody had yet thought of self-going teams. watt, the father of steam-engines, said steam-carriages might be built. he, however, never tried one; but rather left the idea to sprout in the brain of an old pupil of his, william murdock, who did construct a very small one, running on thin wheels, and heated by a lamp. it was a curious success in its way, and set other minds thinking. one of these was a tin-miner of cornwall, captain trevethick, a friend of murdock, who joined a cousin of his in getting a patent for building a steam-carriage. it was built, and an odd piece of machinery it was. it ran on four wheels over a common road, looked like a stage-coach, and delighted both the inventor and his friends. they determined to exhibit it at london. while on its journey, driving it one day at the top of its speed, they saw a toll-gate in the distance; not being able to check it in time, bump it went against the gate, which flew open in a trice, leaving the affrighted tollman, in answer to their inquiries, "how much to pay?" only able to gasp out, "no--noth-ing to pay--drive off as fast as you can! nothing to pay!" it reached london in safety, and was some time on exhibition. multitudes flocked to see it, and some called it a "fiery dragon." "ah," said sir humphrey davy, very much interested in the invention, "i hope to see the captain's 'dragons' on all the roads of england yet." but the captain exhibited it only as a curiosity, the unevenness of the roads rendering it for all practical purposes a failure; and the captain had neither pluck nor genius enough to lay or clear a track for it himself. this was in . the idea, however, was in england, lodging itself here and there in busy brains; until at last a colliery owner in newcastle, seeing the great advantage of having a locomotive on his tram-roads, determined to try what _he_ could do. accordingly he had one built after the cornish captain's model. it burst up at starting. noways baffled, he tried again. the engine proved a clumsy affair, moved at a snail's pace, often got off the rails, and at length, voted by the workmen a "perfect plague," it was taken off. the unsuccessful inventor was called a fool by his neighbours, and his efforts an apt illustration that "a fool and his money are soon parted." in spite of failure, mr. blackett had faith that the thing _could_ be done. he built a third, and ran it on the tramroad that passed by old bob stephenson's cottage door. and george at his colliery, seven miles off, as you may suppose, listened to every account of it with profound interest. over he went, as often as he could, to see "black billy," a rough specimen of machinery at best, doing very little service beyond what a good horse could do. george carried "black billy" back in his mind to killingworth, studying its defects and laying plans to improve it. i do not know how long he was coming to it, but he at length gave it as his opinion that he could make a better "travelling engine" than that. tidings came to killingworth about this time that the trial of a new engine was to take place on a certain day at leeds, and george did not lose the chance of being present. though the engine moved no faster than three miles an hour, its constructor counted it a success. it proved, however, unsteady and unreliable, and at last blew up, which was the end of it. what did george think then? he more than ever wanted to try _his_ hand at the business. lord ravensworth, knowing enough of stephenson to have faith in him, hearing of this, advanced means for the enterprise. good tools and good workmen were alike wanting; but after much labour, alteration, and anxiety, in ten months' time the engine was completed and put on the railway, july , . although the best yet made, it was awkward and slow. it carried eight loaded waggons of thirty tons' weight at a speed not above four miles an hour. the want of springs occasioned a vast deal of jolting, which damaged the machinery, and at the close of a year's trial it was found about as costly as horse-power. how to increase the power of his engine--that was the puzzling question which george studied to answer. he wrestled with it day and night, and at length determined to try again. in due time another was built, "puffing billy," which most persons looked upon as a marvel, but, shaking their heads, prophesied it would make a terrible blow-up some day. "puffing billy," however, went to work, and worked steadily on, a vast advance on all preceding attempts. it attracted little or no attention outside the narrow circle of the collieries. the great men of england did not know that in a far-off nook of the realm there was slowly generating a power, under the persistent thought of a humble working-man, which, before many years, would revolutionize the trade of the kingdom and create a new source of wealth. "puffing billy," in fact, humble as its pretensions were, has proved to have been the type of all locomotives since. had george stephenson satisfied himself? no. his evenings were chiefly spent at home with his son robert, now under him in the colliery, studying and discussing together how to evoke the hidden power yet pent up in "puffing billy." the son was even more sanguine than his father, and many an amendment had "billy" to undergo to satisfy the quick intellect and practical judgment of the youth. mr. stephenson, delighted with robert's scientific tastes and skill, and ever alive to the deficiencies of his own education, was anxious to give him still further advantages. for this purpose he took him from a promising post at the colliery and sent him to the university of edinburgh. here he enjoyed a six months' course of study; and so well prepared was he for it by his wellformed habits of application and thinking, that he gained in six months as much as many a student did in three years. certain it was his father felt amply repaid for the draft it made on his purse, when robert reappeared at the cottage in the spring, with a prize for successful scholarship in mathematics. he was eighteen then. chapter iv. two cities that wanted to get near each other--a new friend. manchester, thirty miles south-east of liverpool, is the great centre of our cotton trade. its cloths are found in every market in the world. cotton coming to liverpool is sent to the manchester mills, and the goods which the mills turn out are returned to liverpool to be shipped elsewhere. the two cities, therefore, are intimately connected by constant intercourse and mutual interest. two water communications existed between them: one by the rivers mersey and irwell, the other by the famous bridgewater canal, which did an immense business at an enormous profit. but the manchester mills were fast outgrowing these slow and cumbersome modes of travel. liverpool warehouses were piled with bales of cotton waiting to go, and the mills at manchester had often to stop because it did not come. goods also found as much difficulty in getting back. merchants and manufacturers both grumbled. business was in straits. what was to be done? carting was quite out of the question. canal owners were besought to enlarge their water power. no, they would do nothing. they were satisfied with things as they were. their dividends were sure. but want demands supply. need creates resources. something _must_ be done to facilitate the transit of goods between the two cities. what? build a tramroad, or a _railroad_. nobody, however, but a very fast man would risk his good sense by seriously advising a railroad. prudent men would certainly shun him. a tramroad was a better understood thing. the collieries had used small pieces of them for years. a tramroad then. business men put their heads together, and began earnestly to talk of a tramroad. edward james, a rich and enterprising man, entered heartily into the project, and undertook to make surveys for a suitable route. and not long after a party of surveyors were seen in the fields near liverpool. their instruments and movements excited attention. people eyed them with anxiety: suspicions were roused: the inhabitants became alarmed. who were they, making such mysterious measurements and calculations on other people's land? a mob gradually gathered, whose angry tones and threatening gestures warned the surveyors of a storm brewing over their heads. wisely considering that flight was better than fight, they took themselves off, and by-and-by turned up farther on. the landowners, who might be supposed to have known better, told the farmers to drive them off; and the farmers, with their hands, were only too ready to obey. they stationed themselves at the field gates and bars with pitchforks, rakes, shovels, sticks, and dared the surveyors to come on. a poor chain-man, not quite as nimble as his pursuers, made his leap over a fence, quickened by a pitchfork from behind. even women and children joined the hue and cry, pelting the strangers with stones and dirt whenever they had a chance. the colliers were not behind the farmers in their foolish hostility. a stray surveyor was caught and thrown into a pond. at a sight of the theodolite their fury knew no bounds. that unoffending instrument they seemed to regard as the very stronghold of the enemy, to seize and destroy which was to win the day. the surveyors, therefore, hired a noted boxer to carry it, who could make good his threats on the enemy. a famous fighter among the colliers, determined not to be outdone, marched up to the theodolite to capture it. a fight took place; the collier was sorely beaten, but the rabble, taking his part against the poor instrument, pelted it with stones and smashed it to pieces. you may well suppose that surveying under such circumstances was no light matter. what was the gist of the hostility? it is hard to tell. the canal owners might have had a hand in scattering these wild fears; fears of what, however, it is not so easy to find out. there was nothing in a simple horse railroad, or tramroad, as it is called, to provoke an opposition so bitter from the people. it was a _new thing;_ and new things, great improvements as they may be on old ones, often call up a thousand doubts and fears among the ignorant and unthinking. nor did the project generally secure the approval of those who would be most benefited by it. mr. james and his friends held public meetings in all the towns and villages along the way, enterprising men in liverpool and manchester delivered speeches, and tried to create a public interest; but there was a holding back, which, while it checked all actual progress in the enterprise, did not cause it to be altogether given up. the time had not come. that was all. mr. james had a secret leaning towards the use of steam on the new road. he would have immediately and unhesitatingly advocated a railroad run by locomotives. but that was out of the question. the public were far behind that point, and to have openly advocated it would have risked his judgment and good sense in the opinion of the best men. therefore mr. james held his tongue. but hearing of the killingworth locomotives, and a collier who had astonished the natives by his genius, he determined to make a journey to newcastle, and see the lions for himself. stephenson was not at home. "puffing billy" _was_, and "billy" puffed in a way that took mr. james's heart at once. he seemed to see at a glance "billy's" remarkable power, and was struck with admiration and delight. "here is an engine," he exclaimed, "that is destined before long to work a complete revolution in society." the image of "puffing billy" followed him home. "why," he wrote to stephenson's partner in the patent, "it is the greatest wonder of the age, and the forerunner, i believe, of most important changes in the modes of travel in the kingdom." a few weeks later he made another visit to killingworth, taking his two sons with him. "puffing billy" was at work as usual. the boys were frightened at the sight of the snorting monster; but stephenson encouraged them to mount with their father, and see how harmless and manageable the giant was. the second visit was even more gratifying than the first. "mr. stephenson," said james, "is the greatest practical genius of the age. his fame will rank with that of watt." mr. james lost all hesitation now about speaking his mind. "puffing billy" had driven the backwardness out of him, and he was willing, at all hazards, boldly to advocate railroads and the steam-horse. no more tramroads; steam or nothing. this was in . mr. james entered heart and soul into the new idea of the age. on his return to liverpool it was everywhere his theme; and wherever he had influence he tried to stir up men's minds to the benefits and blessings puffing out in "puffing billy." stephenson rejoiced in such a friend. it was just what he and "billy" most needed--somebody to introduce them into the great world. and stephenson and his partner offered him a share in the profits of whatever business he could secure to them. but what can one man, or a few men, do in an enterprise like this, depending upon the verdict of that important power--public opinion? and public opinion had not yet made up its mind to it. a thousand difficulties bristled in the way; there was both the indifference of friends and the opposition of enemies at home. in addition to this, a violent opposition was foreseen in parliament, which it needed all the strength and courage of a united constituency to meet. under these discouraging circumstances there were not enough men of courage to push the matter through. so everything about the new road was laid on the shelf, at least for the present, and liverpool and manchester trade jogged on as before. chapter v. hunting up his own work--an enterprising quaker--what was the result? it appears strange to us that so simple a thing as the laying of a rail or the making of a tunnel seems to be, should have taken years of thought and experiment to do it. nothing looks easier to have done than the straight smooth track of a railway, such as we now see in use; and yet it was only arrived at by slow steps through two hundred years. in pondering upon the powers of "puffing billy," george stephenson saw that the efficiency of locomotives must, in a great measure, depend upon what kind of roads they had to run upon. many were sanguine that steam-carriages would some day come into use on common roads. after a long series of experiments george stephenson said, "no, the thing wouldn't pay." for a rough surface seriously impairs the power of a locomotive; sand scattered upon the rails is sufficient to slacken and even stop an engine. the least possible friction is desirable, and this is found on the smooth rail. could they ever be laid up hill, or on "ascending gradients," as the scientific term is? no; as nearly level as possible, stephenson's experiments showed, was the best economy of power. then how to get rid of the jolts and jars and breakages of the rails as they were then laid? he studied and experimented upon both chairs and sleepers, and finally embodied all his improvements in the colliery railway. "puffing billy" was in every respect a most remarkable piece of machinery, and its constructor one of the most sagacious and persistent of men; but how was the public, ever slow in discovering true merit, or accepting real benefits, to discover and appreciate them? neither influence, education, nor patronage had stephenson to command mind and means, or to drive his engine through prejudice, indifference, and opposition to profit and success. but what he could not do other men could do and did do. yes, there were already men of property and standing ready to listen to a new idea. while he worked they talked. as yet unknown to each other, but each by himself clearing the track for a grand junction. one of these wide-awake men was mr. edward pease, a rich "friend," of darlington, who, his friends said, "could look a hundred miles ahead." he needed a quicker and easier transit for his coal from the collieries north of darlington to stockton, where they were shipped; and mr. pease began to agitate, in his mind, for a railroad. a company for this purpose was formed chiefly of his own friends, whom he fairly talked into it. scarcely twenty shares were taken by the merchants and shipowners of stockton, whose eyes were not yet open to the advantage it would by-and-by be to them. a survey of the proposed road was made, when to the indifference of the many was added the opposition of the few. a duke was afraid for his foxes. shareholders in the turnpikes declared it would ruin their stock. timid men said it was a new thing, and it was best to let new things alone. the world would never improve much under _such_ counsel. mr. pease was hampered on all sides. nobody convinced him that his first plan was not the right one; but what can a man do in any public enterprise without supporters? so he reluctantly was obliged to give up his railroad, and ask parliament for liberty to build a tramroad--horse-power instead of steam-power; he seemingly could do no better, and even this was obtained only after long delay and at considerable cost. among the thousands who carelessly read in the newspapers the passage through parliament of the stockton and darlington act, there was one humble man whose eye kindled as he read it. in his bosom it awakened a profound interest. he went to bed and got up brooding over it. he was hungry to have a hand in it; until at last, yearning with an irrepressible desire to do his own work in the world, he felt he must go forth to seek it. one night a couple of strangers knocked at the door of mr. edward pease's house in darlington, and introduced themselves as two killingworth colliers. one of them handed the master of the mansion a letter of introduction from a gentleman of newcastle, recommending him as a man who might prove useful in carrying out his contemplated road. to support the application a friend accompanied him. the man was george stephenson, and his friend was nicholas wood. it did not take long for edward pease to see that stephenson was precisely the man he wanted. "a railway, and not a tramroad," said stephenson, when the subject was fairly and fully opened. "a horse railway?" asked mr. pease. "a locomotive engine is worth fifty horses," exclaimed stephenson; and once on the track, he launched out boldly in its behalf. "come over to killingworth, and see my 'puffing billy,'" said george; "seeing is believing." and mr. pease, as you may suppose, was quite anxious to see a machine that would outride the fleetest horse. yet he did not need "puffing billy" to convince him that its constructor knew what he was advocating, and could make good his pledges. the good quaker's courage rapidly rose. he took a new start, and the consequence was that all other plans and men were thrown aside, and stephenson was engaged to put the road through much in his own way. the first thing to be done was to make an accurate survey of the proposed route. taking robert with him, who had just come from college, and entered as heartily into the enterprise as his father, with two other tried men, they began work in good earnest. from daylight till night the surveyors were on duty. one of the men going to darlington to sleep one night, four miles off. "now, you must not _start_ from darlington at daybreak," said stephenson, "but be here, ready to begin work, at daybreak." he and robert used to make their home at the farm-houses along the way, where his good-humour and friendliness made him a great favourite. the children loved him dearly; the dogs wagged their approving tails at his approach; the birds had a delighted listener to their morning songs; and every dumb creature had a kind glance from his friendly eye. but george was not satisfied until mr. pease came to killingworth to see "puffing billy," and become convinced of its economical habits by an examination of the colliery accounts. he promised, therefore, to follow george thither, bringing with him a large capitalist; and over they went in the summer of . inquiring for george stephenson, they were directed to the cottage with a stone dial over the door. george drove his locomotive up, hoisted in the gentlemen, harnessed on a heavy load, and away they went. george no doubt showed "billy" off to the best advantage. "billy" performed admirably, and the two wondering passengers went home enthusiastic believers in locomotive power. a good many things had to be settled by the darlington project. one was the width of the gauge, that is, the distance between the rails. how wide apart should they be? stephenson said the space between the cart and waggon wheels of a common road was a good criterion. the tramroads had been laid down by this gauge--four feet and eight inches--and he thought it about right for the railway; so this gauge was adopted. one thing which hampered stephenson not a little was a want of the right sort of workmen--quick-minded, skilful mechanics, who could put his ideas into the right shape. the labour of originating so much we can never know. he had nothing to copy from, and nobody's experience to go by. happily he proved equal to his task. we can readily imagine his anxiety as the work progressed. hope and fear must have in turn raised and depressed him. not that he had any doubts in regard to the final issue of the grand experiment of railroads--they _must_ go. dining one day at a small roadside house with robert and john dixon, after walking over the route, then nearly completed, "lads," he said, "i think you will live to see the day when railroads will be the great highway for the king and all his subjects. the time is coming when it will be cheaper for a working-man to travel on a railway than to walk on foot. there are big difficulties in the way, i know; but it will surely come to pass. i can hardly hope to live to see that day, much as i should like to; for i know how slow all human progress is, and how hard it is to make men believe in the locomotive, even after our ten years' success in killingworth." while the father roughed it through, robert's health failed. his close application to business made sad inroads upon a frame naturally more delicate than his father's, and an offer to go out and superintend some mining operations in south america was thankfully accepted, in the hope that a sea voyage and less exciting labours might restore him. robert shortly sailed; and his father pushed on alone, with that brave spirit which carried him through many a darker hour. on the th of september the stockton and darlington railway was finished and opened. a great many came to see the new mode of travelling, which had proved a fruitful subject of talk, far and near, for many months: some to rejoice; some to see the bubble burst; some with wonder, not knowing what to think; some with determined hostility. the opposition was strong--old england against young england--the counter currents of old and new ideas. the road ran from stockton to darlington, a distance of twelve miles, and thence to the etherly collieries; in all thirty-two miles. four steam-engines were employed, and two stationary engines, to hoist the trains over two hills on the route. the locomotives were of six-horse power, and went at the rate of five or six miles an hour. slow as this was, it was regarded with wonder. a "travelling engine" seemed almost a miracle. one day a race came off between a locomotive and a coach running on the common highway, and it was regarded as a great triumph that the former reached stockton first, leaving the coach one hundred yards behind. the road was built for a freight road, to convey lime, coal, and bricks from the mines and kilns in the interior to the seaboard for shipment abroad. carrying passengers was not thought of. enterprise, however, in this direction took a new start. a company was soon formed to run two coaches on the rails between darlington and stockton by horse-power. each coach accommodated six inside passengers, and from fifteen to twenty outside; was drawn by one horse, and went at the rate of nine miles an hour. "we seated ourselves," said a traveller of those days, "on the top of the defence coach, and started from stockton, highly interested with the novelty of the scene, and of this new and extraordinary conveyance. nothing could be more surprising than the rapidity and smoothness of the motion." yet the coach was without springs, and jerked and jolted over the joints of the rails with a noise like the clinking of a millhopper. "such is the first great attempt to establish the use of railways," writes a delighted editor, "for the general purposes of travelling; and such is its success that the traffic is already great; and, considering that there was formerly no coach at all on either of the roads along which the railroad runs, quite wonderful. a trade and intercourse have arisen out of nothing, and nobody knows how." such was their small and imperfect beginning, we should say, now that railroads, improved and perfected, have fulfilled stephenson's prediction, and have become the great highways of the civilized world. these wonders stirred the enterprise of old massachusetts. bunker-hill monument was then being built, and built of quincy granite. to make an easier and cheaper transit to the water, the company built a railway from the quarries to the wharf, a distance of three miles, whence the blocks were carried in boats across the harbour to charlestown. the rails were made of oak and pine, and the cars ran by horses. this was the first railroad in the united states. the example of the monument building committee, and the success of the stockton road, put the boston people on a new track to get into the country. by the old modes of travel, the connecticut river valley was very far off. intercourse with the interior towns cost time and money. going to boston was a long and expensive journey. of course there were not many journeys made, and no more trading than was absolutely necessary. cheap and easy travelling was the need: boston wanted what the country produced, and the country wanted what boston merchants had to sell. a canal was talked of, and routes surveyed. but nobody was sure it was the best thing, when english newspapers broached railroads. ah, there it was; the best thing! two advantages it had over a canal. a canal must only be a skating-ground for boys some months in the year, while a railway could be run winter and summer. it was also quicker and pleasanter for passengers. so, as early as , the subject was stirring the minds of business men, and brought before the notice of the legislature. it was a horse-railway they were thinking of, and nothing more. it, however, came to nothing. the first passenger railway in america, the baltimore and ohio, was opened for fifteen miles, in , with horse-power; and the mohawk and hudson, from albany to schenectady, sixteen miles, was run with horses in . a few months later the steam-horse, with its iron sinews, drove them off, never to yield the right of way again. chapter vi. the two cities trying again--bugbears. one, two, three years passed by, and the liverpool and manchester project started up again. it was not dead, it had only slept; and the three years had almost worn out the patience of both merchants and manufacturers. trade between the two cities must have speedier and easier transit. trade is one of the great progressive elements in the world. it goes ahead. it will have the right of way. it will have the right way--the best, safest, cheapest way--of doing its business. yet it is not selfish: its object is the comfort and well-being of men. to do this it breaks down many a wall which selfishness has built up. it cuts through prejudices. it rides over a thousand "can't bes" of timid and learned men. for learned men are not always practical. they sometimes say things cannot be done when it only needs a little stout trying to overcome difficulties and do them. a learned man once said crossing the atlantic by steam was impossible. "for the good of the race we must have something truer than wind and tougher than sails," said trade. and it was not many years before ships steamed into every port. "carriages travelling at twelve, sixteen, eighteen, twenty miles an hour! such gross exaggerations of the power of a locomotive we scout--it can never be!" cries a sober quarterly. "you may scout it as much as you please," rejoins trade; "but just as soon as people need cheaper, pleasanter, swifter modes of travel, it will be _done_;" and now the railroad threads the land in its arrowy flight. "the magnetic telegraph!--a miserable chimera," cries a knowing member of parliament. "nobody who does not read outlandish jargon can understand what a telegraph means." "you will soon find out," answers trade; and now it buys flour by the hundred barrels, and sells grain by the thousand bushels, while fleets sail at its bidding, treaties are signed at its word, and the telegraph girdles the world. you see trade is a civilizer, and christian civilization makes all the difference in the world between arabs and englishmen. liverpool merchants were now fairly awake. "what is to be done?" was the question. something. could there be a _third_ water-line between the two cities? no; there was not water enough for that. would the bridgewater canal increase its power, and reduce its charges? no. a tramroad or railroad, then; there was no other alternative. mr. james, who was so much interested before, had failed and left the country. when he left he said to his friends, "when you build a road, build a railroad, and get george stephenson to do it." the darlington and stockton enterprise could not fail to be known at liverpool, and a drift of opinion gradually began to set strongly in favour of the railway. people talked about it in good earnest. "a railway!" cried the canal owners, "it is absurd--it is only got up to frighten us; it will fall through as it did before." they were easy. "let us go to darlington and killingworth, and see for ourselves," said the merchants; and four gentlemen were sent on a visit of inquiry. they went first to darlington, where the works were in vigorous progress, though not done. it was in , the year before they were finished. here they met stephenson. he took them to killingworth to see "puffing billy." seeing was believing. "billy's" astonishing feats won them completely over, and they went back to liverpool warm for a railroad. their clear and candid report convinced merchants, bankers, and manufacturers, who gave a verdict in its favour. public opinion was now coming over. books were opened for funds. there was no lack of subscribers. money was ready. to be sure of the _safety_ of locomotive power, a second deputation was sent to killingworth, taking with them a practical mechanic, better able to judge about it than themselves. the man had sense enough to see and to own that while he could not ensure safety over nine or ten miles an hour, there was nothing to be afraid of slower than that. then a third body went. the enterprise required caution, they thought. yes, it did. having decided upon steam power, the next thing was to secure the right sort of man to carry on the work. stephenson was that man. his energy and ability were indispensable. before trying to get an act of parliament, the route needed to be surveyed again, and a careful estimate of expenses made. the stockton road done, stephenson was free to engage in this new enterprise, his success in that proving his principles true on a larger scale. the canal owners now took alarm. they saw there was a dangerous rival, and they came forward in the most civil and conciliatory manner, professing a wish to oblige, and offering to put steam power on their canals. it was too late. their day had gone by. you know the violent opposition made to a former survey. how would it be again? did three years scatter the ignorance out of which it grew? ah, no. there was little if any improvement. the surveyors were watched and dogged by night and by day. boys hooted at them, and gangs of roughs threatened them with violence. mr. stephenson barely escaped duckings, and his unfortunate instruments capture and destruction. indeed, he had to take with him a body-guard to defend them. much of the surveying had to be done by stealth, when people were at dinner, or with a dark lantern at night. when dukes and lords headed the hostility, you cannot wonder that their dependents carried it on. one gentleman declared he would rather meet a highwayman or see a burglar on his premises than an engineer; and of the two classes, he thought the former the most respectable! widows complained of damaged corn-fields, and gardeners of their violated strawberry beds; and though stephenson well knew that in many cases not a whit of damage had been done, he paid them for fancied injuries in hope of stopping their tongues. a survey made under such circumstances must needs have been imperfect, but it was as good as could be made. and no time was lost in taking measures to get a bill before parliament. a storm of opposition against railways suddenly arose, and spread over every corner of the kingdom. newspapers and pamphlets swarmed with articles crying them down. canal and turnpike owners spared no pains to crush them. the most extraordinary stories were set afloat concerning their dangers. boilers would burst, and passengers be blown to atoms. houses along the way would be burnt; the air would become black with smoke and poisoned with cinders, and property on the road be stripped of its value. the liverpool and manchester bill, however, got into parliament, and went before a committee of the house of commons to decide upon it, in march, . first its friends had to show the _necessity_ of some new mode of travel between the two cities, and that it was not difficult to do. but when it came to asking for liberty to build a railway and run a locomotive, the matter was more difficult to manage. and to face the tremendous opposition leagued against it, the courage of its friends was severely tried. the battle had to be fought inch by inch. stephenson of course was the chief witness for locomotives. but what headway could he, an uneducated northumbrian mechanic, make against members of parliament, backed by all the chief engineers of the kingdom. for very few had faith in him; but those few had strong faith. he was examined and cross-examined. they tried to bully him, to puzzle him, to frighten him. on the subject of locomotives his answers were clear. he declared he could drive an engine, and drive it safely, at the rate of twelve miles an hour! "who can believe what is so notoriously in the teeth of all experience?" cried the opposition; "the witness is a madman!" famous engineers were called as witnesses. what had _they_ to say? one declared the scheme a most wild one. he had no confidence in locomotives. they were affected by the wind, the weather; with difficulty were kept on the track, and were liable to constant accidents; indeed, a gale of wind would render it impossible to start a locomotive, either by poking the fire or keeping up the steam till the boiler should burst: they could never be relied on. the proposed route had to cross an ugly quagmire, several miles in extent, called chat moss, a very shaky piece of land, no doubt; and here the opposition took a strong stand. "no engineer in his senses," cried one, "would think of going through chat moss. no carriage could stand on the moss short of the bottom." "it is absurd to hold out the notion that locomotives can travel twice as fast as stage-coaches," says another; "one might as soon trust himself to a rocket as to the mercy of a machine going at that rate." "carriages cannot go at anything like that speed," added another; "if driven to it, the wheels would only spin on their axles like a top, and the carriages would stand stock-still!" so much for learned arguments against it. then came the dangers of it. the dumb animals would never recover from the sight of a locomotive; cows would not give their milk; cattle could not graze, or horses be driven along the track, cried the opposition. "as to that," said stephenson, "come to killingworth and see. more quiet and sensible beasts cannot be found in the kingdom. the farmers _there_ never complain." "well," asked one of them, "suppose, now, one of those engines to be going along a railroad at the rate of nine or ten miles an hour, and that a cow were to stray upon the line and get in the way of the engine; would not _that_, think you, be a very awkward circumstance?" "yes," answered stephenson, with a droll twinkle in his eye, "very awkward indeed--_for the coo_!" the inquirer, as you may suppose, was silent. the danger in other respects was thus dwelt on: "in addition to the smoke and the noise, the hiss and the whirl, which locomotive engines make going at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour, and filling the cattle with dismay, what," asked an honourable member, "is to be done with all those who have advanced money in making and mending turnpikes? what with those who may still wish to travel in their own or hired carriages, after the fashion of their forefathers? what is to become of coach-makers and harness-makers, coach-masters and workmen, innkeepers, horse-breeders, and horse-dealers? iron would be raised one hundred per cent., or more probably exhausted altogether. the price of coal would be ruinous. why, a railroad would be the greatest nuisance, the biggest disturbance of quiet and comfort, in all parts of the kingdom, that the ingenuity of man could invent." not content with decrying his engine, they could not stop short of abusing stephenson himself. "he is more fit for bedlam than anywhere else," they cried; "he never had a plan, he is not capable of making one. whenever a difficulty is pressed, as in the case of a tunnel, he gets out of it at one end; and when you try to catch him at that, he gets out at the other." "we protest," they said, "against a measure supported by such evidence and founded upon such calculations. we protest against the exchange of liverpool striding across the land of this country. it is despotism itself." what had the friends of steam-power to say? "we beseech you," they pleaded to the committee, "not to crush it in its infancy. let not this country have the disgrace of putting a stop to that which, if cherished, may in the end prove of the greatest advantage to our trade and commerce. we appeal to you in the name of the two largest towns in england--we appeal to you in the name of the country at large--and we implore you not to blast the hopes that this powerful agent, steam, may be called in aid for the purpose of land communication; only let it have a fair trial, and these little objections will be done away." flaws were picked in the surveys, and the estimate of costs based on them. the surveys, quite likely, were imperfect; indeed, how could they be otherwise, when every mile of the line had to be done at the risk of their necks? the battle lasted two months, and a very exciting one it was. it was skilfully and powerfully carried on. who beat? _the opposition._ the bill was lost. matters looked dark enough. judging from appearances the enterprise was laid on the shelf, and the day of railways long put off. as for poor stephenson, his short day of favour seemed about gone. his being called a madman and regarded as a fool, as he had been by the opposition, was not without its effect upon his newly-made friends. their faith in him sensibly cooled. but he did not lose faith in himself, not he. he had waited long for the triumph of his engine, and he could wait longer. a great blessing to the nation was locked up in it he well knew, and the nation would have it some time, in spite of everything. was the enterprise a second time to be abandoned? no, no. taking breath, its friends again started on their feet. never give up, was their motto, for they were in earnest. they rallied, and met in london to consult what to do next. mr. huskisson, a member of parliament for liverpool, came into the meeting and urged them to try again--to try at the next session of parliament. "parliament must in the end grant you an act," he said, "if you are determined to have it." and try they determined to, for a horse railroad at least. for this purpose another and more careful survey had to be made. stephenson was left out. a _known_ man must be had. they meant to get surveyors and engineers with well-established reputations to back them up, stephenson was too little known. he had no fame beyond a little circle in one corner of the kingdom. how did he feel to be thus thrown in the background? george was not a man to grumble; he was too noble to complain. in fact, you see, he was ahead of the times--too far ahead to be understood and appreciated. he could afford to wait. two brothers by the name of rennie were appointed in his stead. in time the new survey was finished, the plans drawn, and the expense reckoned up. changes were made in the route. ill-tempered land-owners were left on one side, and every ground of complaint avoided that could be. the new bill was then carried to parliament, and went before the committee in march the next year. the opposition was strong indeed, but less furious. much of its bitterness was gone. it made a great show of fears, which the advocates of the bill felt it was not worth while to waste words in answering. they left it to the road to answer them. build it, and see. mr. huskisson and others supported it in a strong and manly tone, and after a third reading the bill passed in the house of commons. so far so good. it then had to go to the house of lords. what would befall it there? the same array of evidence on both sides was put forward. the poor locomotive engine, which had proved such a bugbear in the house of commons, was regarded as quite a harmless affair by most of the lords; and the opposition made such poor work in showing off its dangers that no plea in its behalf was called for. they were satisfied, they said, and the bill passed almost unanimously, victory! victory! the victory cost more than four thousand five pound bank-notes! for a first cost it looked large. but nothing worth doing can be done without effort, and effort made _on faith_. nothing done, nothing have. chapter vii. grappling with difficulties--the bog--a puzzle--the prize offer. the real work was now to be done. hopes and fears had yet to be verified. at the first meeting of the directors, a man to put the enterprise through was to be chosen. who? the rennies were anxious to get the appointment. they naturally expected it. they had made the survey, and their name had had weight in getting the act of parliament. but they could not superintend the details of the work. they had other enterprises on foot. stephenson, no doubt, was _the_ man. the directors felt him to be so. no one could long be with him without feeling his power. besides, what he had done had been ably done. at the risk of offending the rennies and their friends, they chose him, and the result proved the wisdom of their choice. on receiving the appointment, he immediately moved to liverpool, and the work began in good earnest. it was a stupendous undertaking for those days. chat moss had to be filled in, sixty-three bridges built, excavations made, tunnels erected, and all the practical details carried out, with very little past experience to profit by. neither was the kind of labour well understood, nor was there that division of labour between contractors and engineers which relieves one man of too heavy a responsibility. in fact, both tools and men had to be made, and stephenson had to do it. the great quagmire was first grappled with. "no man in his senses would undertake to make a road over chat moss," opposers said in parliament: "that was to undertake the impossible." stephenson, however, meant to try. formidable it certainly was. cattle ploughing on farms bordering the bog, where it ran underneath the tilled land, had to wear flat-soled boots in order to keep their hoofs from sinking down into the soft soil. the proposed route ran four miles across it, and the way had to be drained and filled in with sand and gravel. the drainage tasked their ingenuity to the utmost, and almost baffled the workmen. after that was in some degree accomplished, waggon after waggonful of earth was thrown on for weeks and weeks, and it only sank into the mire and disappeared--not an inch of solid footing seemed gained; and on they went, filling and filling, without apparently having made the least impression on the moss: the greedy bog only cried out for more. stephenson's men began to have their doubts. the opposition might have judged more correctly, after all. they asked him what he thought. "go ahead," was his answer. by and by the directors began to have _their_ fears. it looked to them like a very unpromising job. so it was. after waiting and waiting in vain for signs of progress, they called a meeting on the edge of the moss, to see if it were not best to give it up as a bad job. the bog, they were afraid, might swallow up all their funds, as it had everything else. stephenson lost not a whit of his courage. "go ahead," was his counsel. he never for a moment doubted of final success. and considering the great outlay already made, they wisely gave in to him. monstrous stories were afloat of the terrible accidents taking place there. every now and then the drivers of the coaches brought into manchester the astonishing news of men, horses, carts, and stephenson himself submerged and sunk for ever in the insatiable quagmire. time corrected one only to publish another. newsmongers were kept in a state of delightful excitement, and tea-table gossip was spiced to suit the most credulous and marvel-loving taste, until the moss was conquered, as conquered it was acknowledged to be, when, six months after the directors had met to vote to leave it to its original unproductiveness, they were driven over it on a smooth and secure rail to manchester. another tough job was tunnelling liverpool; excavating a mile and a third of road through solid rock. night and day the boring, blasting, and hewing were kept in vigorous execution. sometimes the miners were deluged with water, sometimes they were in danger of being overwhelmed by heavy falls of wet sand from overhead. once, when stephenson was gone from town, a mass of loose earth came tumbling on the heads of the workmen, frightening them, if nothing more. on his return they were in a most refractory state, complaining of the dangers, and stoutly refusing to go back to work. wasting no time on words, stephenson shouldered a pickaxe, and called for recruits to follow. into the tunnel he marched, and the whole gang after him. nothing more was heard of fears, and the work went bravely on. besides laying out all the work, stephenson had to make his tools. all their waggons, trucks, carriages, switches, crosses, signals were planned and manufactured under his superintendence, besides meeting and providing for a thousand exigencies constantly occurring in a new enterprise like this, giving full scope to all the sagacity, invention, and good-humour which naturally belonged to him. the expenses of the road were heavy, and money was not always forthcoming. if the works lagged in consequence of it, the hopes of the directors fell; so that stephenson's energies were taxed to the utmost during the four years of the work, and he showed, what observation and history both teach us, that efficient men are men of _detail_, as well as men of great plans. remember this, boys--for we sometimes despise little particulars, and the day of small things--that the secret of effective doing lies not only in making wise plans, but in filling up the minutest parts with promptness and fidelity. there must be detail to achieve any great and good work. if you would possess the fruits of learning, you must get them by the toil of daily drudgery. if you undertake to become rich, you must not despise the small gains and little economies by which a fortune is made. if you would obtain a noble christian manhood, you must not neglect hourly self-restraint, watchfulness, and prayer, or the daily exercise of those humbler virtues and godly industries which make the woof of character. stephenson strikingly illustrated the practical force of this principle. the minutest detail of every plan in this new enterprise was thought out and carried on by himself, or under his direct supervision. both in summer and winter he rose early. before breakfast you might find him on a morning round, visiting the extensive workshops where their machines and tools were made. or perhaps "bobby" is brought to the door, and, mounted on this his favourite horse, he is off fifteen miles to inspect the progress of a viaduct, a ride long enough to whet the appetite for a tempting breakfast, one would think. but nothing tempts him from his frugal habits; he eats "crowdie," and that made by himself, which is nothing more or less than oatmeal hasty-pudding and milk. again he is off, inspecting the labours of his men all along the line from point to point, pushing the works here, advising there, and inspiring everywhere. "bobby" is a living witness that one beast at least is not to be scared by a locomotive. he can face the snorting monster without so much as a shy step or a prick of the ears. _he_ afraid? not "bobby." returning home, bills are to be examined perhaps, when every item of expense must be accounted for; or drawings are to be made, or directions given, or letters written. several young men were received into his family, to be trained for engineers. a second wife, frugal, gentle, and friendly, superintended his household. their evenings were passed in study and conversation, brightened by the genial humour of the remarkable man whose genius drew them together, and whose good-tempered pleasantries relieved the heavier tasks of mind and body. the compendium of all his instructions was, learn for yourselves; think for yourselves; master principles; persevere; be industrious, and there is no fear for you. it is an indication of the value of these instructions that every young man trained under him rose to eminent usefulness. "ah," he sometimes said, on relating a bit of his own early history, "you don't know what work is, these days." and yet work is work, all the world over. in spite of the best stephenson could do, the directors, looking at their unproductive capital, and not fully comprehending all the difficulties to be overcome, sometimes urged greater despatch. "now, george," said friend cropper one day, "thou must get on with the railway; thou must really have it opened by the first of january next." "consider the heavy nature of the works, sir," rejoined george, "and how much we have been delayed by want of money, to say nothing of the bad weather. the thing is impossible." "impossible!" cried cropper; "i wish i could get napoleon to thee; he would tell thee there is no such word as 'impossible.'" "tush!" exclaimed george, "don't tell me about napoleon. give me men, money, and material, and i'll do what napoleon couldn't do--drive a railroad over chat moss." he might have retorted, more significantly, by asking the directors what _they_ meant to do; for liverpool was tunnelled, and chat moss railed, before they could agree what kind of power to put on it. there were some who insisted upon using horse-power; but the majority thought that was out of the question. meeting after meeting was held, debate followed debate, and the whole body became more and more puzzled as the road itself neared completion. some kind of machine, but _what_? ah, that was the question. you would naturally have thought a locomotive, of course. but no; since parliamentary opposition raged against it, steam had lost ground in the public estimation, and it was very slow in getting back to favour. locomotives, or travelling engines, as they were called, were hid in a cloud of doubts; and more than ever since the parliamentary debates. they were dangerous, they were frightful, "they could never go fast enough," their utmost speed would not be ten miles an hour. some of the most distinguished engineers would give no opinion of them at all. they had none. it was certainly hard to patronize them, in spite of their indifference, and possibly their sneers. certainly, if the poor locomotive depended upon their verdict its fate was sealed. one staunch friend remained. stephenson stood faithfully by "puffing billy," puffing away in his far off northumberland home. he never flinched advocating its principles, and urged the directors to try one on the road. they at last ordered one to be built, one that would be of service to the company, and no great nuisance to the public. it was built, and excellent service it did, drawing marl from the cuttings and excavations to fill up the bogs and hollows. nevertheless, it settled nothing, and convinced nobody not already convinced. meanwhile the directors were deluged with projects, plans, and advice for running their road. scheme upon scheme was let loose upon them. some engines to go by water-power; some by gas; some by cog-wheels. all the engineering science in the kingdom was ready to engineer for them in its own way; but who among all could pronounce the best way, and, upon the whole, decide which was the right motive power? a deputation was despatched to darlington and stockton to inspect the fixed and locomotive engines employed on that road. but the deputation came back differing so among themselves that the directors were more puzzled than ever. two professional engineers of high reputation were then sent, who on their return reported in favour of _fixed engines_: for safety, speed, economy, and convenience, fixed engines by all means; reiterating again and again all the frightful stories of danger and annoyance charged upon steam. they proposed dividing the road into nineteen stages, of a mile and a half in length, and having twenty-one stationary engines at different points to push and draw the trains along. the plan was carefully matured. poor stephenson! how did he feel? "well," he said, with the calm earnestness of a man of faith, "one thing i know, that before many years railroads will become the highways of the world." could the directors accept a project without consulting him? again they met. what had he to say concerning it? fight it he did. he dwelt upon its complicated nature, the liability of the ropes and tackling to get out of order, the failure of one engine retarding and damaging and stopping the whole line--a phase of the matter which did not fail to make an impression. the directors were moved. friend cropper, however, headed the stationary-engine party, and insisted upon adopting it. "but," answered the others, "ought we to make such an outlay of money without first giving the locomotive a fair trial?" and stephenson pleaded powerfully, as you may suppose, in its behalf. "_try_ it, _try_ it," he urged; "for speed and safety there is nothing like it." and the words of a man with strong faith are strong words. "besides," he said, "the locomotive is capable of great improvements. it is young yet; its capacities have never been thoroughly tested. when proper inducements are held out, a superior article will be offered to the public." never were directors in a greater strait. there was no withstanding stephenson, for he knew what he was talking about. all the rest were schemers. at last one of the directors said, "wait; let us offer a prize for a new locomotive, built to answer certain conditions, and see what sort of engine we can get." that was fair. it was right his engine should be properly tested. all agreed; and in a few days proposals were issued for the building of one. there were eight conditions, two of which were, that if the engine were of six tons' weight it should be able to draw twenty tons at a speed of _ten_ miles an hour. the prize was five hundred pounds. the offer excited a great deal of attention, and many people made themselves merry at its expense. the conditions were absurd, they said; nobody but a set of fools would have made them. it had already been proved impossible to make a locomotive engine go at ten miles an hour, and one gentleman in his heat even went so far as to say that if it ever _were_ done, he would undertake to eat a stewed engine wheel for his breakfast. as that condition was answered, it is to be hoped he was relieved from his indigestible dish. more candid minds turned with interest to the development of this new force struggling into notice. stephenson felt how much depended on the issue. and the public generally concluded to suspend its verdict upon the proper working of railways until time and talent gave them better means of judging. chapter viii. robert's return--a curious encounter--the prize engine. one step forward; yes, a great one too, stephenson thought. his beloved locomotive was to have a chance of being properly introduced to the great english public; and he felt that it only needed to be known to be valued. the building of it was a matter of no small moment, and he wanted above all things a tried and skilful hand to superintend and put into its construction every conceivable improvement. it must be the best engine yet built. where should he find the right man? no one would answer like his son robert, and robert he determined to send for. robert, you remember, went to south america three years before. there he had regained his health, and on receiving his father's letter made immediate preparations to return to england. on his way, at a poor little comfortless inn, in a poor little comfortless seaport on the gulf of darien, where he was waiting to take ship, he met two strangers, one evidently an englishman, who by his appearance looked as if the world had gone hard with him. a fellow-feeling drew the young man towards his poor countryman, and on inquiry, who should it prove to be, but the old cornwall tin-miner, captain trevethick, whose first steam-carriage awoke so much curiosity in london nearly a quarter of a century before. he had sown his idea to the winds. others had caught it up, cherished it, pondered over it, examined it, dissected it, improved it, embodied it, and by patient study and persistent endeavour had reduced it to a practical force. and robert stephenson was now on his way to inaugurate it as one of the great commercial values of the kingdom and of the world. the poor inventor, what had he done meanwhile? while others worked had he slept? oh, no! he had tried an easier and shorter road to fame and fortune. you remember he left his "dragon," as some people called his locomotive, in london, quite careless what became of it, and went scheming and speculating in other things. several years after, in a shop window, it attracted the attention of a french gentleman passing by. he was from peru, and had just come to england to get a steam-engine for pumping water from some gold-diggings in the new world. delighted with the model, he bought it for twenty guineas. taking it with him to lima, an engine was built on the plan of it, which worked admirably. the gentleman was then sent back to england to hunt up and bring out the inventor himself. the captain was found, and came forth from his obscurity into sudden notice and demand. the gentleman engaged him to make five pumping-engines according to his model, which he did, and shipped them to lima, the captain himself soon following. at lima he was received with great honours, and a public rejoicing. a guard of honour was appointed to wait on him; and in view of the wealth he was supposed to be able to engineer from their mines, a massive silver statue of him, as the benefactor of peru, began to be talked of. of course poor trevethick thought his fortune made, and no doubt looked back with pity on his humble english life. friends at home spread the news of his successes, and when they stated that the smallest estimate of his yearly income amounted to one hundred thousand pounds, no wonder he was pronounced a success! tardier steps to fortune seemed tedious; and many of his old associates perhaps sighed over the wholesome toil of a slower-paced prosperity. years passed on, and the poor captain next turns up at cartagena, penniless and pitiable. in crossing the country he had lost everything. fording rivers, penetrating forests, and fighting wild beasts, had left him little else than a desire to reach england again; and robert stephenson gave him fifty pounds to help him home. sudden fortunes are apt as suddenly to vanish; while those accumulated by the careful husbandry of economy, industry, and foresight reward without waste. so character is stronger than reputation. for one is built on what we are, the other on what we seem to be; and, like a shadow, reputation may be longer or shorter, or only a distorted outline of character. one holds out, because it is real; the other often disappears, because it is but shadow. robert reached home in december, , right heartily welcomed, we may well believe, by his father, who was thankful to halve the burden of responsibility with such a son. to build the prize locomotive was _his_ work. stephenson had long been a partner in a locomotive factory at newcastle, which had hitherto proved a losing concern to the owners. there was little or no market for their article, and they struggled on, year after year, waiting for better times. nobody saw better times but stephenson. he saw them ahead, shooting through the gloomy clouds of indifference and prejudice. and now, he calculated, it was very near. so he sent robert to newcastle to take charge of the works there, and construct an engine that would make good all his words. it was a critical moment, but he had no fears of the result. robert often came to liverpool to consult with his father, and long and interesting discussions took place between father and son concerning the best modes of increasing and perfecting the powers of the mechanism. one thing wanted was greater speed; and this could only be gained by increasing the quantity and the quality of the steam. for this effect a greater heating surface was necessary, and mechanics had long been experimenting to find the best and most economical boiler for high-pressure engines. young james, son of mr. james, who, when the new liverpool and manchester route was talked of, was the first to discover and acknowledge george stephenson's genius, made the model of an improved boiler, which he showed to the stephensons. perhaps he was one of the boys who went to killingworth with his father to see the wonders of "puffing billy," and whose terrors at the snorting monster were only smoothed by a pleasant and harmless ride on his back. whether this gave him a taste for steam-engines we do not know. at any rate, he introduces himself to our notice now, with a patented model of an improved boiler in his hand, which stephenson thinks it may be worth his while to make trial of. "try it," exclaimed the young inventor, "try it, and there will be no limit to your speed. think of thirty miles an hour!" "don't speak of thirty miles an hour," rejoined stephenson; "i should not dare talk about such a thing aloud." for i suppose he could hardly forget how parliamentary committees had branded him as a fool and a madman for broaching such beliefs. the improved boiler was what is called a multitubular boiler. you do not understand that, i suppose. an iron boiler is cast, six feet long, and three feet and a third in diameter. it is to be filled half full of water. through this lower half there run twenty-five copper tubes, each about three inches in diameter, opened at one end to the fire, through which the heat passes to the chimney at the other end. you see this would present a great deal of heating surface to the water, causing it to boil and steam off with great rapidity. the invention was not a sudden growth, as no inventions are. fire-tubes serving this use started in several fertile minds about the same time, and several persons claimed the honour of the invention; but it was stephenson's practical mind which put it into good working order, and made it available; for he told robert to try it in his new locomotive. he did. the tubes were of copper, manufactured by a newcastle coppersmith, and carefully inserted into the ends of the boiler by screws. water was put into the boiler, and in order to be sure there was no leaking, a pressure was put on the water; when lo, the water squirted out at every screw, and the factory floor was deluged. poor robert was in despair. he sat down and wrote his father that the whole thing was a failure. a failure indeed! back came a letter by the next post telling him to "go ahead and try again!" the letter, moreover, suggested a remedy for the disaster--fastening the tubes into the boiler by fitting them snugly into holes bored for the purpose, and soldering up the edges. and it proved to be precisely what robert himself had thought of, after the first bitter wave of disappointment had subsided. so he took heart and went to work again. success crowned his efforts. a heavy pressure was put on the water, and not a drop oozed out. the boiler was quite water-tight. this is precisely the kind of boiler now in use: some have fifty tubes; the largest engines one hundred and fifty. various other improvements were incorporated into the new engine, which, as you do not probably understand much about machinery, will not particularly interest you. at last the new engine was finished. it weighed only four tons and a quarter, little less than two tons under the weight required by the directors. the tender, shaped like a waggon, carried wood in one end and water in the other. it was forthwith put on the killingworth track, fired up, and started off. robert must have watched its operations with intense anxiety. nothing could have met his expectations like the new boiler. it in fact outdid his highest hopes. the steam made rapidly, and in, what seemed to him then, marvellous quantities. away went a letter to liverpool that very evening. "the 'rocket' is all right and ready," wrote the young man joyfully. that was the engine's name, "rocket," on account of its speed perhaps. "puffing billy" was quite cast into a shade. it was shortly shipped to liverpool in time for the grand trial. the trial, rapidly approaching, elicited a great and general interest. the public mind was astir. the day fixed was the first of october. engineers, mechanics, and scientific men, far and near, flocked to liverpool. the ground where the exhibition was to take place was a level piece of railroad two miles long, a little out of the city. each engine was to make twenty trips at a rate of speed not under ten miles an hour, and three competent men were appointed as judges. four engines were entered on the list, "the novelty," "sans-pareil," "the rocket," "perseverance." several others were built for the occasion in different parts of the kingdom, or rather projected and begun, but were not finished in time. in order to afford ample opportunity for their owners to get them in good working order, the directors postponed the trial to october th. the day arrived, and a glance at the country round showed that an unusual occasion was drawing people together. multitudes from the neighbouring towns assembled on the grounds at an early hour. the road was lined with carriages, and a high staging afforded the ladies an opportunity of witnessing the novel race. the "novelty" and "sans-pereil," though first on the list, were not ready at the hour appointed. what engine was? the "rocket." stephenson, next on the roll, was called for by the judges, and promptly the little "rocket" fired up at the call. it performed six trips in about fifty-three minutes. the "novelty" then proclaimed itself ready. it was a light, trim engine, of little more than three tons weight, carrying its wood and water with it. it took no load, and ran across the course sometimes at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour. the "sans-pareil" also came out. the "perseverance," not able to go faster than five or six miles an hour, withdrew from the contest. as the day was now far spent, further exhibition was put off till the morrow. what exciting discussion must have taken place among rival competitors and their friends! what a scrutiny of the merits and demerits, the virtues and defects, of opposing engines! before the appointed hour the next day the bellows of the "novelty" gave out, and as this was one of its merits--a bellows to increase the draft of the air-blast--its builders were forced to retire from the list. soon after a defect was discovered in the boiler of the "sans-pareil." mr. hackworth begged for time to mend it; as there was no time, none could be granted, and he, too, withdrew his claims. the "rocket" alone stood its ground. the "rocket," therefore, was called for. stephenson attached to it a carriage large enough to hold a party of thirty, and drove his locomotive along the line at the rate of twenty-five and thirty miles an hour, to the amazement and delight of every one present. the next morning it was ordered to be in readiness to answer the various specifications of the offer. it snorted and panted, and steamed over the race-ground in proud trim, drawing about thirteen tons weight. in twenty trips, backward and forward, its greatest speed was twenty-nine miles an hour, three times greater than nicholas wood, one of the judges, declared to be possible. its average rate was fifteen miles, five miles beyond the rate specified for the prize. the performance appeared astonishing. spectators were filled with wonder. the poor directors began to see fair weather; doubts were solved, disputes settled; the "rocket" had cleared the track for them. there could no longer be any question how to run the road. george cropper, who had steadily countenanced stationary engines, lifted up his hands, exclaiming, "stephenson has at last delivered himself!" the two other locomotives, however, were allowed to reappear on the stage; but both broke down, and the "rocket" remained victor to the last. it had performed, and more than performed, all it promised, fulfilled all the conditions of the directors' offer, and was accordingly declared to have nobly earned the prize, five hundred pounds. but the money was little compared to the profound satisfaction which the stephensons felt at this public acknowledgment of the worth of their life-long labours. george's veracity, skill, and intelligence had all been doubted, denied, and derided by men of all classes. even old friends turned against him, and thought his mind was crazed by "one idea." he had to struggle on alone; faithful to his convictions, patiently biding his time, yet earnestly pleading his cause on every suitable occasion. he had a blessing for the world, and he knew when it felt its want of it, it would have it. that time had come. the directors flocked around him with flattering congratulations. all shyness and coolness vanished. friends were no longer few. the shares of the company immediately rose ten per cent. men and means were at his disposal. george stephenson was a happy man. the "rocket" had blown stationary engines to the winds. and steam that day, on the land as well as the water, took its place as one of the grand moving powers of the world. chapter ix. opening of the new road--difficulties vanish--a new era. there was no more waiting for work at the locomotive factory in newcastle. orders immediately arrived from the directors to build eight large engines for the new road, and all the workshops were astir with busy life. the victorious little "rocket" was put on the road, and sensibly helped to finish it. neither faith, men, nor means were now wanting, and the labour in every part went heartily on. in june a meeting of the directors was held in manchester, when the "rocket" made a trip from liverpool to that city with a freight and passenger train, running through in two hours. chat moss never quivered; and the directors, i daresay, would have been very glad to forget their disconsolate meeting on the edge of it, when they nearly voted themselves beaten by the bog, only stephenson would not let them. on the th of september, , there was to be a public opening of the road, and preparations were made at each end, and all along the way, for the grand event. the occasion awakened a deep and universal interest. it was justly regarded as a national event, to be celebrated with becoming honours. the duke of wellington, then prime minister, was present; also sir robert peel and mr. huskisson, whose stirring words revived the drooping spirits of the directors after their defeat in parliament, and whose influence served to get their bill successfully through at last. no one, perhaps, had watched the progress of the enterprise with deeper interest than mr. huskisson, or rejoiced more in the vanquishing of one difficulty after another to its final finishing. great numbers came from far and near, who, assembling by the slow mode of travel of those days, took time accordingly. carriages lined the roads and lanes; the river was crowded with boats; and soldiers and constables had their hands full to keep the people from the track. the new locomotives, eight in number, having been faithfully tested, steamed proudly up. the "northumbrian," driven by george stephenson, took the lead. next the "phoenix," under robert's charge; then the "north star," by a brother of george. the "rocket," and the rest, with their trains, followed. six hundred persons were in this procession, flying at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour! oh, the wonder and admiration which the spectacle excited! these noble steam-horses panting, prancing, snorting, puffing, blowing, shooting through tunnels, dashing across bridges, coursing high embankments, and racing over the fields and far away. england and the world never saw before a sight like that. but the joy and the triumph of the occasion were destined to be dampened by a terrible disaster. at parkenside, seventeen miles from liverpool, the "northumbrian," which carried the duke and his party, was drawn up on one track, in order to allow the other trains to pass in review before them on the other. mr. huskisson alighted, and, standing outside, was talking with the duke, when a hurried cry of "get in! get in!" went up from the bystanders; for on came the "rocket," steaming along at full speed. mr. huskisson, startled and confused, attempted to regain the carriage an instant too late; he was struck down, and the "rocket" went over him. "i have met my death!" exclaimed the unfortunate statesman; which, alas! proved but too true, for he died that evening. a sad confusion prevailed. the body of the wounded gentleman was lifted into the car, or carriage as it then was, and the "northumbrian" took him over the track home, a distance of fifteen miles, in about twenty minutes. so swiftly and easily done! the use rather than the abuse of the new power made the strongest impression. the mournful accident threw a cloud over the occasion. the duke wished to stop the celebration, and immediately return to liverpool. mr. huskisson's friends joined with him in the wish. others felt that manchester should not be disappointed in witnessing the arrival of the trains, and that the accident might become magnified and misrepresented, and thus operate mischievously upon public sentiment in relation to railroads; the party therefore consented to proceed to their journey's end, but were unwilling to mingle in any of the rejoicings common to such occasions. but the railroad needed no such demonstrations to prove its worth. it had within itself more substantial proof. time was saved; labour was saved; money was saved. coal, cotton, and every article of merchandise useful to men could be carried cheaper, could be had cheaper, than ever before, and, what was better, had in quantities sufficient to satisfy the industry and necessities of men. and with cheapness was combined comfort and safety. the first eighteen months seven hundred thousand persons were carried over the road, and not an accident happened. but were not people frightened by the smoke, cinders, fire, and noise of the engines, as the opposition in parliament declared they would be? no, no. it was not long before everybody wanted land near the track; and land, therefore, near the road rapidly rose in value. the farmers who had scouted the surveyors from their fields now complained of being left on one side; and those who had farms near the stations to rent rented them at a much higher rate than ever before. barren lots became suddenly profitable, and even chat moss was turned into productive acres. in an old writer states, "there is an admirable commodiousness both for men and women of the better rank to travel from london, the like of which has not been known in the world; and that is, by stage-coaches, wherein one may be transferred to any place, sheltered from foul weather, with a velocity and speed equal to the fastest posts in foreign countries; for the stage-coaches called 'flying-coaches' make forty or fifty miles a day." an english paper, bearing the date of january, , has this advertisement, "hereford machine. in a day and a half, twice a week, continues flying from the 'swan' in hereford, monday and thursday, to london." what would the people of those days say to a railroad carriage, especially on the "lightning train?" the first stage-coach between boston and new york began, june , , to run once a fortnight, starting on the thirteenth, and arriving on the twenty-eighth, fifteen days' travel. now the distance is gone over in less than the same number of hours. and so the first stage-coach between new york and philadelphia, begun in , occupied three days in the journey. three days dwindle down to three hours in the train. in the scriptures we find isaiah with prophetic eye looking over the centuries to these later times, and penning down, "every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain;" and "swift messengers" are seen executing the world's affairs--no meagre description of the great means of intercourse in our day, the railway and telegraph. the prophet saw in it a clearing of the track for the coming kingdom of the redeemer, which is, some time, to spread over the whole earth as "the waters cover the sea." men make good tools and instruments for themselves. they forget they are perfecting them for god also, who is using them, and who will use them to make known the precious gospel of his son, "peace on earth, and good will to men." what powerful preachers for the sabbath are the railway and telegraph, doing away with all necessity and every excuse for sabbath travelling, as they do. long journeys and the most urgent business can be done between sabbath and sabbath, giving a rest-day to the nation. and this view of them is deserving more and more regard. the institution of the sabbath was founded with the human race. it was meant to be the rest-day of the entire world. it was set up as a blessing: "the lord blessed the sabbath-day, and hallowed it." the bodies of man and beast need it. the muscles, bones, nerves, sinews, and brain cannot endure the strain of constant and uninterrupted work. it is a day of making up the waste of the animal frame under continual labour and excitement. night rest is not enough. the god of nature and the god of the sabbath has fitted the one to the other. when the knowledge of god had faded out of the earth, and god chose a people to restore and preserve it, besides a code of national laws particularly for them, he enacted from sinai a code of moral laws for man. among them was the rest-law of the sabbath. it is the fourth commandment of the decalogue, taught in all our sabbath-schools, pulpits, and homes: "remember the sabbath-day, to keep it holy: in it thou shalt do no work," man or beast. farther, god promises great reward to those who call "the sabbath a delight, the holy of the lord, honourable * * not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, but delighting thyself in the lord;" showing not only the rest-use of the sabbath, but its soul-use, as a day of special intercourse with god. "the sabbath was made for man," says jesus christ; and the _christian_ sabbath incorporated into it the finishing of the great plan of our redemption, when christ, "who endured the cross and grave, sinners to redeem and save," left the tomb and ascended to heaven. thus it is appropriately called "the lord's day," the day when our worldly business is to be set aside, and christ presses his claims upon the hearts and consciences of men. it is a break in the hurrying whirl of this life's interests, to consider the solemn issues of eternity, and that atoning love which is mighty to save all who, by repentance and faith, accept its terms of mercy. we find it was on the observance or desecration of the sabbath that the prosperity of the hebrew nation hung. "you bring wrath upon the nation," cried nehemiah to the sabbath-breaking traders. "this very profanation has been the cause of our disasters in times past." for sabbath profanation leads to forgetfulness of god; and god left out, what becomes of man? ruin stares him in the face. "the ungodly shall not prosper." what becomes of a nation? ruin. they shall be left to their own doings. the french nation blotted out the sabbath, and showed what it was _to be left of god_. when an african prince sent an ambassador to queen victoria with costly presents, and asked her to tell him in return the secret of england's greatness and england's glory, presenting him with a copy of the bible, the queen replied, "tell your prince that _this_ is the secret of england's greatness." if this is true of england, much more must it prove true of america. for all our institutions, all our civil and religious interests, month by month and year by year, are in the hands of and are subject to the will of the people. what ought such a people to be. pre-eminently they need the morality of the bible, the conscience and the self-restraint which the bible enjoins; and for this purpose they must vigorously support the institutions of the bible. foremost in the foreground is the sabbath. it has come down to us through the ages, the great anniversary-day of a finished creation and a completed atonement, summoning men to call on the name of the lord, and bless and praise his holy name. [illustration: holy bible] on its observance the highest moral education of the people depends. every railroad corporation is bound to be a sabbath-keeping corporation. it _makes time enough_ to do its work. the _nature_ of its work demands responsible men. an immense amount of property is in its hands, requiring officers of scrupulous integrity to manage its interests. the gross receipts of eight of the railways terminating in london are over two hundred and fifty thousand pounds a week. it has the life and limbs of thousands upon thousands entrusted to its charge, at the mercy of its employers, engineers, firemen, brakemen, switchmen, the recklessness or unfaithfulness of any of whom can bring sudden death to scores, and plunge a nation into mourning. these men, to be _kept_ the right men, need the sabbath. to be honest, responsible, vigilant, true, god-fearing men, fit for their posts of duty, they _must have_ the sabbath. many roads are sabbath-keeping. some of those which do run on that day are poorly paid. carrying the mail helps them out. they run, perhaps, for that purpose. but is it _necessary_ to keep up sabbath violation on our great routes in order to forward the mail? does not the saturday telegraph do away with that necessity? every important item of business can be put through on the wires in time. the side of the sabbath is the side of god. * * * * * what became of george stephenson and his son robert? the boys will have the curiosity to ask. george and robert stephenson took their rank among the great men of england--that class of great men who contribute to the true prosperity of the world, by giving it better tools to do its labour with. a good tool is a great civilizer. the more perfect the instrument, the better the work. the more perfect the instrument, the greater the number of persons benefited: for the sagacity necessary to invention and discovery, and the intelligence required to mature them, are large-hearted and broad-minded. they work for the many, not the few. the history of railways in england it is not my object to give you, and that enters largely into the remaining period of george stephenson's life; you will find it fully detailed in smiles' life of him. he became rich and famous, yet he always preserved the simple habits and tastes of his early days. though asked to dine at the richly-spread tables of lords and baronets, no dish suited his taste better than his frugal oatmeal "crowdie," and no cook served it better than himself. kings and queens thought it a privilege to talk with him. liverpool erected a statue of him. the king of belgium knighted him. but he cared little for honours. when somebody, wishing to dedicate a book to him, asked what his "ornamental initials" were, "i have to state," replied he, "that i have no flourishes to my name, either before or after. i think it will be as well if you merely say, 'george stephenson.'" young men beginning life often called upon him for advice and assistance. he hated show and foppery, and a weakness in that direction often got reproof. one day one came flourishing a gold-headed cane. "put by that stick, my man," said stephenson, "and i will talk with you." "you will, sir, i hope, excuse me," he said, on another occasion, to a gaily-dressed youth; "i am plain spoken, and am sorry to see a clever young man like you disfigured by that fine-patterned waistcoat, and all those chains and fang-dangs. if i, sir, had bothered _my head_ with those things when i was of your age _i should not have been where i now am_." wholesome as were his reproofs, his counsel was as reliable, and his help as timely. from the mine of his own rugged experience he had gathered truths richer than grains of gold; and he never allowed any good opportunity to pass without insisting upon the practice of those homelier and sterner virtues which form the strong woof of character. when building a road between birmingham and london, robert walked twenty times over the entire route, illustrating the patient assiduity taught him by his father. no slip-shod work could escape their eye. _"neglect nothing_," was their motto. as a killingworth collier, george put his brains and his heart into his work; as a master-builder, he put his conscience into it. all his work was honest, representing the actual character of the man. when the rough and tumble of life began to subside, and he became a more stationary engine, with greater leisure for the enjoyment of his now ample home, his old love for birds, dogs, horses, and rabbits revived. there was not a bird's nest upon his grounds that he did not know, and he often watched their building with a builder's interest; a blade of grass, a bit of bark, a nest of birds, an ant tugging for one poor grain, were all to his mind revelations of the wonderful mechanism and creative power of god. he died in august, , in the sixty-seventh year of his age. robert proved himself worthy of such a father. they were alike in character, intimately associated in the great engineering enterprises of their day, and bound to each other by the fondest affection. george built roads, robert bridges to run them over; for railroads have given birth to the most stupendous and splendid bridges the world ever saw. the famous tubular bridge over the straits of menai, connecting holyhead with the main land, and the high level bridge of newcastle, built by him, are monuments of engineering skill. you often see pictures of them. the most remarkable work of his genius, however, is on _the american_ side of the atlantic ocean. the grand trunk railway of canada, terminating at montreal, wanted to connect with the seaboard; and the road was extended from montreal to portland, maine. but the river st. lawrence, deep and broad, sweeping down its mighty current the waters and ice of the great lakes, broke the line, and separated the road into two parts. the river must be spanned. a bridge must be built. it was a stupendous undertaking, but robert stephenson can do it. robert stephenson did do it. it is thrown from languire to a point half a mile below the city, a distance of nearly two miles. it is composed of twenty-four spans, and has three million feet of solid masonry in it. the road runs through iron tubes, sixty feet above the river, and the train is nine minutes going across. there are ten thousand tons of iron in the tubes. it was six years in building. it is called the goliath of bridges, and is named the victoria bridge, in honour of the queen. [illustration: tubular bridge over the menai straits.] robert drafted, calculated, estimated, and superintended section after section of this immense work, and yet never visited the scene of labour; photographs were sent him of its progress step by step. it was finished december, , and opened with all the festal honours possible in that season of the year. at the entertainments given there was one sentiment: "robert stephenson, the greatest engineer the world ever saw," followed by no cheers. a deep hush swept over the assembly. for robert stephenson was dead. he died the twelfth of october, two months before the full completion of the work, in the rich prime of a noble manhood. his death was looked upon as a public calamity, and england, with a true sense of his worth, laid him side by side with her most honourable dead. he was buried in westminster abbey, with her kings and queens, her princes and poets, her warriors and statesmen. the funeral procession was between two and three miles long; thousands lined the streets, and thousands pressed into the abbey. tickets were necessary in order to get entrance; and one of the most pressing applicants was a humble working-man, who, years before, drove the first locomotive engine from birmingham to london, with robert stephenson at his elbow. the humble newcastle collier-boy crowned his life with honourable toil, and at his death a nation mourned a great man fallen. * * * * * you have read this short history with great interest, i doubt not, my young friends; and some i hear say, "i wish _i_ could achieve some great and useful work in the world, and have my name written in a book." it is not a mean aspiration. every noble spirit desires to be better and greater than it is, and god gives to each of you a great and precious work to do. you have a saviour to serve and glorify, and heaven to win, which is indeed our great life-work here. the lord jesus, having bought our redemption by his own blood on the cross, has set up his kingdom in the world, and says to you and to every one, "son, give me thy heart." and there is but one true purpose to make before every other purpose in life: "as for me, _i_ will serve the lord." if by true repentance and faith in the lord jesus christ you give yourself to him, the noblest life is before you. this work will bless all other work. this path will make all other paths safe. no matter what your situation in this world may be, high or low, rich or poor, your master is most honoured by godliness and humility, and they are out of place nowhere. the world is so poor that it can give its honours to but a few. god, in his infinite richness, offers heaven to us all; and by the gift of his holy spirit, for which we must ever pray, a life of piety is within the reach even of a little child. the steady trust and singleness of purpose which have so delighted you in the lives of the stephensons, may you have, my children, in the service of your blessed lord, who will make you victorious over every hindrance, and bring you safe to his sweet presence in heaven at last. there you will find your name written in the lamb's _book of life_, never, never to perish. george watson and co., printers, , charles street, farringdon road, london. * * * * * catalogue of illustrated publications london: s. w. partridge & co., , paternoster row. illustrated periodicals. new penny periodical. with numerous engravings by first-class artists. weekly welcome. the articles are by popular authors, and are suitable for the entertainment of both young and old. a page of music, in both notations, appears in every number, which will be found serviceable as singing lessons. a superb steel engraving will usually be added as a frontispiece to the monthly parts. weekly numbers, one penny, monthly parts, sixpence. the two half-yearly volumes for (jan. to june, july to dec.) may be had, cloth, plain, s.; gilt edges, s. d. the volume for may be had in two bindings--cloth, s.; cloth, gilt edges, s. one penny monthly, fourpence quarterly. new series. the family friend. vol. for . covers printed in colours, s. d.; cloth, s.; gilt, s. d. each. illustrated by first-class artists. with narratives and articles for fathers, mothers, children, and servants. a piece of music, suitable for the family or the nursery, in each number. printed on toned paper. volume for and still on sale. in numbers, monthly, one halfpenny. band of hope review. with full-page pictures. the yearly part for , with cover printed in colours, price s.; cloth, gilt edges, s. the second series ( to ; to ), in two volumes, cloth s. gilt s. each. all the yearly parts from the commencement ( ) are at present on sale. in numbers, monthly, price one penny. british workman. with full-page pictures. the yearly part for , with cover printed in colours, price s. d.; cloth, gilt edges, s. d. the yearly parts for and are at present kept on sale. in numbers, monthly, price one penny. children's friend. with full-page pictures. the yearly volume for , with cover printed in colours, price s. d.; cloth, s.; gilt edges, s. d. each. a piece of music suitable for children appears in each number. the volume for is at present kept on sale, in three sorts of binding, as above. in numbers, monthly, price one penny. infant's magazine. with full-page pictures. the yearly volume for , with cover printed in colours, s. d.; cloth, s.; gilt edges, s. d. a piece of music appears in each number. the volumes from kept on sale, in three sorts of binding, as above. in numbers, monthly, price one penny. friendly visitor. illustrated. a magazine for the aged. printed in bold type. the yearly volume for , coloured cover, s. d. cloth s.; gilt edges s. d. volumes for in three sorts of binding, as above. for sunday schools, libraries, etc. three people. a story of the american crusade. giving an interesting history of the lives of three young men from the day of their birth to the sad death of one, and the great success and happiness, after great struggles, of the other two. it is an excellent and interesting gift-book for young and old. with twenty-nine full-page illustrations. large crown quarto, cloth, s. anecdotes for the family. being a selection of interesting anecdotes, suitable for the social circle. cloth, s. d. the brook's story, and other tales. by mrs. bowen. an interesting story for the young; teaching them from references to nature to make the best use of their early days. with full-page illustrations. cloth, s. d. a bunch of cherries, gathered and strung by j. w. kirton. cloth, s. d. morning dew-drops; or, the young abstainer. by mrs. c. l. balfour. a revised and illustrated edition of this most valuable temperance book for the young is just ready. cloth, s. d. the bible picture roll. containing a large engraving of a scripture subject with a few lines of letterpress for each day of the month. suitable for the schoolroom and nursery. with coloured cover, s. gerard mastyn; or, the son of a genius. by e. h. burrage. with illustrations, cloth, s. d. illustrated anecdotes and pithy pieces of prose and verse. compiled by t. b. s. with numerous illustrations. cloth plain, s. d. leaves from the tree of life. by rev. r. newton, d.d. with numerous illustrations. cloth, s. d. life of jas. mccurrey, edited by mrs. balfour. cl, s. d. nature's mighty wonders. by the rev. dr. newton. cloth, s. d. rays from the sun of righteousness. by the rev. dr. newton. with numerous illustrations, cloth, s. d. the best things. by the rev. dr. newton. with numerous illustrations. cloth, s. d. the king's highway. by the rev. dr. newton. with numerous illustrations. cloth, s. d. the safe compass, and how it points. by the rev. dr. newton. with numerous illustrations. cloth, s. d. "my text roll." containing thirty-one large engraved texts in handsome borders, for hanging on the walls of rooms. with illuminated cover, s. d. bible jewels. by the rev. dr. newton. cloth, s. d. a more excellent way, and other stories of the temperance crusade in america. by m. e. winslow. containing incidents founded on facts in connection with woman's work in this branch of temperance labour. with eight full-page engravings. crown vo, cloth, s. d. bible wonders. by the rev. dr. newton. cloth, s. d. the dairyman's daughter. by the rev. legh richmond, m.a. cloth, s. d.; gilt, s. d. the great pilot and his lessons. by the author of "the giants, and how to fight them." cloth, s. d. illustrated sabbath facts; or, god's weekly gift to the weary. reprinted from the "british workman." cloth, s. d. the little woodman and his dog cæsar. by mrs. sherwood. cloth, s. d. "puffing billy" and the prize "rocket;" or, the story of the stephensons and our railways. by mrs. h. c. knight. cloth plain, s. d. rag and tag. by mrs. e. j. whittaker. containing an account of two ragged children who are taken in hand by christian people and become worthy members of society. with ten full-page illustrations. cloth, s. d. rills from the fountain of life. by the rev. dr. newton. cloth, s. d. divine and moral songs. by dr. watts. cloth, s. the giants; and how to fight them. by the rev. dr. newton. cloth, s. how paul's penny became a pound. by the author of "dick and his donkey." with illustrations. new edition. cloth, s. how peter's pound became a penny. by the author of "jack the conqueror," &c. with illustrations. cloth, s. jenny's geranium; or, the prize flower of a london court. cloth, s. joe and sally; or, a good deed and its fruits. by the author of "grumbling tommy." with illustrations. cloth, s. john oriel's start in life. by mary howitt. with many illustrations. cloth, s. a mother's stories for her children. by the late mrs. carus wilson. cloth, s. "not a minute to spare." a thought for the times. by s. clarence. with illustrations. cloth, s. prince consort, the late. reminiscences of his life and character. by rev. j. h. wilson. with numerous illustrations. cloth, s. snowdrops; or, life from the dead. with numerous illustrations. cloth, s. toil and trust; or, life story of patty, the workhouse girl. by mrs. balfour. cloth, s. widow green and her three nieces. by mrs. ellis. cl., s. no work, no bread. by the author of "jessica's first prayer." with illustrations. cloth, d. the pearly gates. by mrs. c. rigg. with illustrations. cloth, d. willie turner, the cripple; or, "safe in the arms of jesus." by mrs. fry. cloth, d. temperance. (_many of these are suitable for sunday school library_) three people. a story of the american crusade. giving an interesting history of the lives of three young men from the day of their birth to the sad death of one, and the great success and happiness, after great struggles, of the other two. it is an excellent and interesting gift-book for both young and old. with twenty-nine full-page illustrations. large crown quarto, cloth, s. a bunch of cherries. gathered and strung by j. w. kirton, esq., author of "buy your own cherries." cloth, s. d. morning dew-drops; or, the young abstainer. by mrs. c. l. balfour. a revised and illustrated edition of this most valuable temperance book for the young is just ready. cloth, s. d. life of james m'currey, the. edited by mrs. c. l. balfour. cloth, s. d. a more excellent way, and other stories of the temperance crusade in america. by m. e. winslow. containing incidents founded on facts in connection with woman's work in this branch of temperance labour. with eight full-page engravings. crown vo, cloth, s. d. the four pillars of temperance. by the author of "buy your own cherries." cloth, s. d. illustrated temperance anecdotes; or, facts and figures for the platform and the people. compiled by the editor of the "british workman." st and nd series. cloth, s. d. each. church of england temperance tracts. illustrated. assorted packets, s. nos. to . club night: a village record. by mrs. balfour. cloth, s. come home, mother. a story for mothers. cloth, s. cousin bessie: a story of youthful earnestness. cloth, s. digging a grave with a wine glass. by mrs. s. c. hall. cloth, s. frank spencer's rule of life. by j. w. kirton, author of "buy your own cherries." cloth, s. moderate drinking. containing the speeches on the above subject by sir h. thompson, f.r.c.s.; dr. b. w. richardson, f.r.s.; rev. canon farrar, d.d., f.r.s.; edward baines, esq.; admiral sir james sulivan, k.c.b.; and rev. h. sinclair paterson, m.d. with portraits of the above speakers. cloth, s. without portraits and first three speeches only, paper cover, d. nothing like example. by nelsie brook. with engravings. cloth, s. parish difficulty and its remedy. by k. ashley. cloth, s. passages in the history of a shilling. by mrs. c. l. balfour. cloth, s. wanderings of a bible, and my mother's bible. cloth, s. the black bull. by the widow of a publican. a story for the times. cloth, d. "buy your own cherries." prose edition. by j. w. kirton, esq. cloth, d. "buy your own cherries." versified from the original edition. cloth, d. christopher thorpe's victory. a tale for the upper classes. by nelsie brook. cloth, d. john worth; or, the drunkard's death. cloth, d. no work, no bread. by the author of "jessica's first prayer." with illustrations. cloth, d. pastor's pledge. by rev. william roaf. d. elizabeth comstock's address. d. jim lineham's happy blunder. d. how rachel hunter bought her own cherries. d. history and mystery of a glass of ale. by the author of "buy your own cherries." d. "good fruit." with cover, d. "he drinks." with cover, d. "not a drop more, daniel." with coloured cover, d. old boots. d. tottie's christmas shoes. d. william and mary; or, the fatal blow. by mrs. ellis. d. buy your own cherries. by j. w. kirton. d. clergyman's reasons for teetotalism. d. family pledge card. d. put on the break, jim! d. kindness to animals, etc. our zoological friends. by harland coultas. cl., s. animals and their young. by harland coultas. with full-page engravings. cloth, s. stories about horses. with numerous full-page illustrations. cloth, s. birdie and her dog; and other stories of canine sagacity. with numerous illustrations. cl., s. d. our four-footed friends; or, the history of manor farm, and the people and animals there. by mary howitt. with numerous illustrations. cloth, s. d. natural history picture roll. consisting of illustrated leaves, with simple large type letterpress, suitable to hang up in the nursery, schoolroom, &c. price s. our duty to animals. by mrs. c. bray, author of "physiology for schools," &c. intended to teach the young kindness to animals. cloth, s. d.: school edition, s. d. a mother's lessons on kindness to animals. st, nd, and rd series. cloth, s.; limp, d. each. claims of animals. a lecture on the duty of promoting kindness to the animal creation. in large type, with illustrations. cloth, s. kindness to animals. by charlotte elizabeth. with numerous illustrations. cloth, s. poor blossom. the story of a horse. by e. h. b. with many illustrations. cloth, s. dick and his donkey; or, how to pay the rent. cloth, d. little fan. cloth, d. only a ladybird. cloth, d. richard barton; or, the wounded bird. cloth, d. sparrow club. by the author of "whose dog is it?" &c. showing the folly of farmers, &c., banding themselves together to destroy sparrows, &c. with illustrations. cloth. d. "whose dog is it?" or, the story of poor gyp. with illustrations. cloth, d. old janet's christmas gift. an interesting story of a donkey. coloured cover, d. anecdotes of animals. with cover, and full of illustrations. d. each. . anecdotes of horses. . anecdotes of dogs. . anecdotes of donkeys. . neddy and me. . blackbird's nest. . on the management of horses. . the brother drovers. . kind-hearted ralph. animals' friend sheet almanac. annually. d. halfpenny books. kindness to animals. peter's pets. "only for fun." the useful donkey. mercy to animals. emma's visit to the country. the chaffinch's story. the sparrow's sermon. bobby and the birds. the feathered friends. annie and the butterfly. roland, the champion. illustrated fly-leaves. s. d. per . no. . a plea for the birds. illustrated wall papers. d. each. no. . a plea for the donkey. " . a plea for the birds. " . horses and their masters. " . the shoeing forge. " . robin and the railway guard. " . how to manage horses. " . our little feathered friends. " . the cow's complaint. " . man's noble friend--the horse. " . a royal society. " . the costermonger. " . anecdotes of elephants. for soldiers and sailors. out at sea: a few simple ballads addressed to sailors. cl., d. & s. ben and his mother. by mrs. carns wilson. cloth, d. articles of war: a dialogue between two soldiers. d. ned stokes, the man-o'-war's man. by agnes e. weston. d. "he drinks!" with cover, d. "the drummer boy." with cover, d. does it answer. d. right about face. d. going aloft. d. for working men. illustrated penny readings: being twelve separate readings in each series. in paper covers. third series, s. sparks from the anvil. by elihu burritt. cloth, s. d. never give up. a christmas story for working men and their wives. by nelsie brook. cloth, s. nothing like example. by nelsie brook. with engravings. cloth, s. the best master; or, can coachmen have their sundays? by the author of "household proverbs." cloth, d. the black bull. by the widow of a publican. a story for the times. cloth, d. "buy your own cherries." by j. w. kirton, esq. cloth, d. lost in the snow; or, the kentish fisherman. by mrs. c. rigg. with numerous illustrations. cloth, d. "british workman" series of tracts. intended for circulation amongst the working classes. d. each. . darby brill . the carpenter's speech . the sailor's parrot . tom carter's way of doing good . the last customer . going aloft . "right about face" . john harding's locket . he drinks . doing his duty . good fruit . the bent shilling . the drummer boy . inch auger . split navvy . put on the break, jim! . taking up of barney o'rourke . the house that john built . articles of war . little sam groves . poor man's house repaired . richard harvey . only one glass . how rachel hunter, &c. . robert gray mason . my mother's gold ring . the emperor's proclamation. . the sign of the fox. . john jarvis . elizabeth comstock's address . the polite postmaster . the home concert . temperance and intemperance . cure for strikes . betty brown, the orange girl coloured tracts. twenty pages. with coloured cover, d. each. . buy your own cherries . matthew hart's dream . old janet's christmas gift . a little child shall lead them . the last penny . out of work . john stepping forth . the independent labourer . bought with a price. by a. l. o. e. . bethlehem . the three bags of gold . the hidden foe. by a. l. o. e. . no work, no bread . light in the bars . tramp's story . thady o'connor . the shadow on the door . fisherman's shagreen box . going down hill . not a drop more, daniel . mike slattery . the holly boy . melodious mat . blind mary of the mountain . old boots . tottie's christmas shoes . died at his post . jim lineham's happy blunder . the emperor's proclamation work and wages. by j. w. kirton, author of "buy your own cherries." d. buy your own cherries. prose. by j. w. kirton. d. put on the break, jim! d. illustrated wall papers. reprints in large type from the "british workman." for the walls of workshops and schools, ships' cabins, barbers' shops, &c. one penny each. and done up in one shilling packets, containing twelve numbers. five shilling packets containing nos. to . . "no swearing allowed" . bob, the cabin-boy . "swallowing a yard of land" . "knock off those chains" . "he stands fire!" . fisherman and porter . "will father be a goat?" . man with a cross on his back . john maynard, the brave pilot . my account with her majesty . a plea for the donkey . preparing for the flower show . gin shop . thomas paine's recantation . oil and stewed eels . the blue jacket's sampler . buy your own cherries . fred harford's great coat . reduced to the ranks . musical coal man . the fool's pence . "what's that to me?" . a plea for the birds . a pledge for a pledge . the first snowdrop . the losings bank and the savings bank . mike donovan's looking glass . john morton's new harmonium . on the look-out . the "'tis buts" box . the prodigal son . the christmas arm chair . the village gleaner . the ambitious blacksmith . my first ministerial difficulty . something to show for your money . stop! mend your buckle . horses and their masters . the parable of the sower . jack and the yellow boys . the christmas sheaf . discontented pendulum . the life boat . providence will provide . celebrated italians . dust ho! . a plea for washerwomen . the nativity . the name in gold letters . john rose's freehold . the shoeing forge . robin and railway guard . in the far country . canute's rebuke . tom carter's way of doing good . the two gardeners . dip your roll in your own pot . our christmas tree . how to manage horses . home-coming of darby brill . scripture patchwork quilt . michael donovan . "that's thee, jem" . the secret of england's greatness . my uncle's life motto . should museums be opened on sundays? . where are you going, thomas brown? . our little feathered friends . tim's oration . live and let live . the story of a violin . the cow's complaint . man's noble friend--the horse . a royal society . hints for working men . the well-to-do cabman . the costermonger . eric, the russian slave . herrings for nothing . died at his post . conditions of sale . the emperor's proclamation . the brazen serpent . the polite postmaster . anecdotes of elephants . the workman's home concert jeffrey the murderer. by the rev. g. w. mccree. d. providence row; or, the successful collier. by rev. t. h. walker. d. slavery in england. a vision of the night. d. sunday on "the line;" or, plain facts for working men. d. "british workman" placards. adapted for workshops, &c., d.; nos. to . nos. to done up in packets, s. if an order be sent with stamps, the complete set will be forwarded post free. books for boys. (_see also temperance, etc._) jack the conqueror; or, difficulties overcome. by the author of "dick and his donkey." cloth, s. morning dewdrops; or, the young abstainer. by mrs. c. l. balfour. with illustrations. cl., s. d. three people. a story of the american crusade. giving an interesting history of the lives of three young men from the day of their birth to the sad death of one, and the great success and happiness, after great struggles, of the other two. it is an excellent and interesting gift-book for both young and old. with twenty-nine full-page illustrations. large crown quarto, cloth, s. gerard mastyn; or, the son of a genius. by e. h. burrage. with illustrations. cloth, s. d. the little wood-man and his dog cæsar. by mrs. sherwood. cloth, s. d.; gilt, s. d. "puffing billy" and the prize "rocket"; or, the story of the stephensons and our railways. by mrs. h. c. knight. cloth, plain, s. d. rag and tag. by mrs. e. j. whittaker. containing an account of two ragged children who are kindly taken in hand by christian people and become worthy members of society. with ten full-page illustrations. cloth, s. d. vignettes of american history. by mary howitt. cloth, s. d. frank spencer's rule of life. by j. w. kirton, author of "buy your own cherries." cloth, s. how paul's penny became a pound. by the author of "dick and his donkey." new edition. with illustrations. cloth, s. how peter's pound became a penny. by the author of "jack the conqueror," &c. with illustrations. cloth, s. joe and sally; or, a good deed and its fruits. by the author of "grumbling tommy." with illustrations. cloth, s. john oriel's start in life. by mary howitt. with many illustrations. cloth, s. "not a minute to spare." a thought for the times. by s. clarence. with illustrations. cloth, s. no gains without pains; a true story. by h. c. knight. cloth, s. willy heath and the house rent. by william leask, d.d. cloth, s. dick and his donkey; or, how to pay the rent. cloth, d. story of two apprentices. the dishonest and the successful. by the rev. j. t. barr. cloth, d. scrub, the work-house boy. by mrs. balfour. d. the tiny library. books printed in large type. cloth, d. nos. to may be had in two boxes (a & b), price s. d. each, or in one box, price s. each. . hot coals . the golden rule . grandpapa's walking-stick . honesty the best policy . silver cup . short stories . brave little boys . ben and his mother . little david . richard barton; or, the wounded bird . little jim, the rag merchant . curious jane . jenny and the showman . little fan . broken window . letty young . matty and tom . the orphans . john madge . philip reeve . henry harris . £ and £ , . brave little tom . ella's rose-bud . the pedlar's loan . milly's new year . only a ladybird . the first false step . richard shaw . he would not think willie turner, the cripple; or, "safe in the arms of jesus." by mrs. fry. cloth, d. a lad with a good character. d. orphan boy; or, how little john was reclaimed. d. son of my friend. d. juvenile library. small books containing stories for children. well illustrated. nos. to . one halfpenny each; and may also be had in assorted sixpenny packets, a, b, c, d, e, f, and g. . fear of ridicule . the two nests . little helpers . anecdotes of dogs . the two bears . questions with answers . beautiful garment . the bird's nest . the organ boy . lessons on kindness . spring flowers . true duncan . bread cast upon the waters . greek testament . brave sailor boy . "you can't straighten it." . child colporteur . boy that could be trusted . the golden star . what a blind child can do . be truthful . child's resolution . soldier and princess . have you a winter garden? . trembling eyelid . willie harris . the "cry" boy . troublesome joe . the tell-tale . john reynolds . pleasures of the country . bennie wilson's, anti-society . robert, the stone-thrower . little frank and old "dobbin" . true bravery . nellie lindsay . a youthful hero . the clever boy . little hugh's tool-box . try company . remarkable answer to prayer . what echo said . girl at the well . juvenile inquiries . the young cadet . elijah in the desert . greedy bill . a happy new year . "please, sir" . young sailor . horses from the wood . little bertha . white feather of peace . helping father to garden . indian chief . christmas tree . it rains . young patriot . "with a will, joe" . letter to little boys and girls . young drummer's patchwork quilt . poor boy who became a great painter . little gleaner . pincher's friend . help a fellow-creature . bargain with the pump . bridal wine-cup . plymouth boatman . true and false courage . be kind to your mother . what the birds say . ministry of flowers . kindness to animals . peter's pets . only for fun . the useful donkey . mercy to animals . emma's visit to the country . the chaffinch's story . the sparrow's sermon . bobby and the birds . the feathered friends . annie and the butterfly . roland, the champion books for girls. birdie and her dog; and other stories of canine sagacity, with numerous illustrations. cl., s. d. the brook's story, and other tales. by mrs. c. e. bowen. an interesting story for the young; teaching them from references to nature to make the best use of their early days. with numerous illustrations. cloth, s. d. the dairyman's daughter. cloth, s. d., gilt, s. d. rag and tag. by mrs. e. j. whittaker. containing an account of two ragged children who are kindly taken in hand by christian people and become worthy members of society. with ten full-page illustrations. cloth, s. d. come home, mother! a story for mothers. by nelsie brook. cloth, s. cousin bessie. a story of youthful earnestness. cloth, s. the governess; or, the missing pencil case. cloth, s. jenny's geranium; or, the prize flower of a london court. cloth, s. jessie dyson. a tale for the young. by john a. walker. with numerous illustrations. cloth, s. joe and sally; or, a good deed and its fruits. by the author of "grumbling tommy." with illustrations. cloth, s. lucy bell's first place. a story for domestics. cloth, s. mind whom you marry; or, the gardener's daughter. by the rev. c. g. rowe. cloth, s. mother's stories for her children. by mrs. carus wilson. cloth, s. rosa; or, the two castles. by miss bradburn. cloth, s. snowdrops; or, life from the dead. with numerous illustrations. cloth, s. the giants; and how to fight them. by rev. dr. newton. cl., s. procrastinating mary. a story for young girls. d. the tiny library. see "books for boys." tottie's christmas shoes. d. the pearly gates. by mrs. c. rigg. with illustrations. cloth, d. on dress. by the rev. john wesley. d. carletta. no. of the earlham series. / d. 'does you love god?' no. of the earlham series, / d. for kitchen libraries. the dairyman's daughter: an authentic narrative. by the rev. legh richmond, m.a. cloth, s. d.; gilt, s. d. good servants, good wives, and happy homes. by the rev. t. h. walker. cloth, s. d. lucy bell's first place. a story for domestics. by nelsie brook. cloth, s. mind whom you marry; or, the gardener's daughter. by the rev. c. g. rowe. cloth, s. toil and trust; or, life story of patty, the workhouse girl. by mrs. balfour. cloth, s. bible pattern of a good woman. by mrs. balfour. cl., s. cliff hut; or, the perils of a fisherman's family. cloth, s. widow green and her three nieces. by mrs. ellis. cloth, s. scrub; or, the workhouse boy's first start in life. cloth, d. address to young servants, especially to those just entering service. d. a message from whitechapel; or, scenes in a london hospital. by augustus johnstone. d. for the nursery, etc. little sunbeam's album. with full-page illustrations, and a page of easy reading to each picture, being one of "my pet's album" series. cloth, s. the nursery favourite. engravings. cloth, s. my darling's album. a companion volume to "my pet's album." illustrations. cloth, s. the bible picture roll. containing a large engraving of a scripture subject with a few lines letterpress for each day of the month. suitable for the schoolroom and nursery. with coloured cover, s. children's picture roll. consisting of illustrated leaves, with large-type letterpress, suitable to hang up in the nursery, schoolroom, etc. price s. natural history picture roll. consisting of illustrated leaves, with simple large-type letterpress, suitable to hang up in the nursery, schoolroom, etc. price s. music for the nursery. revised by philip phillips, the "singing pilgrim." a collection of fifty of the sweet pieces for the "little ones" that have appeared in the "infant's magazine," etc. handsomely bound in cloth, s. d. "my text roll." containing thirty-one large engraved texts in handsome borders for hanging on the walls of rooms. with illuminated cover, s. d. songs and hymns for the little ones. compiled by uncle john. with numerous engravings. new edition. cloth, s. d. important truths in simple verse. cloth, s. d. kitty king. a book for the nursery. with full-page engravings. cloth, s. d. rhymes worth remembering. cloth, s. the tiny library. books printed in large type. nos. to . cloth, d. each. nos. to may be had in two boxes, (a & b), price s. d. each, and in one box, price s. each. . hot coals . the golden rule . grandpapa's walking-stick . honesty the best policy . silver cup . short stories . brave little boys . ben and his mother . little david . richard barton; or, the wounded bird . little jim, the rag merchant . curious jane . jenny and the showman . little fan . broken window . letty young . matty and tom . the orphans . john madge . philip reeve . henry harris . £ and £ , . brave little tom . ella's rose-bud . the pedlar's loan . milly's new year . only a ladybird . the first false step . richard shaw . he would not think juvenile library. small books containing stories for children. well illustrated. nos. to , one halfpenny each, and may be had in assorted sixpenny packets--a b, c, d, e, f, and g. against smoking. what put my pipe out; or, incidents in the life of a clergyman. cloth, s. what's that to me? number of the illustrated wall papers. d. mr. collins and the smoker. no. of the illustrated fly leaves. d. per dozen. the sabbath, etc. the christian monitor; or, selections from pious authors. cloth, gilt edges, s. d. illustrated sabbath facts; or, god's weekly gift to the weary. reprinted from the "british workman." cloth, s. d. the belief. printed in colours on cartridge paper. by . d. is half better than the whole? a conversation about sunday trading. d. slavery in england. a vision of the night. price d. "sunday on the line;" or, plain facts for working men. price d. the sunday excursion train. by the rev. dr. leask. d. the weekly rest day series. small crown mo. tracts with illustrations. / d. each. . should museums be opened on sundays? . live and let live. miscellaneous. half-hours with the kings and queens of england. containing short sketches by w. r. g. kingston, and portraits drawn by edward hughes, from the best authorities in the british museum, of each monarch. cl., gilt edges, s. d., plain cl. s. d. four sermons. by the rev. john wesley. cloth, plain, d. the rod and its uses; or, thomas dodd and bill collins. by the author of "my flowers." cloth, d. readings for the drawing-room and lecture hall. well printed with cover. price d. . the learned jew . dan, the boy bishop two irish scenes. d. chimney sweepers and their friends. by r. p. scott. d. election papers. pp. tracts written by various authors. d. each. . don't sell your birthright . ned biddle's teasers . how shall you vote? . i'll vote for you . honest voter "god save the green." a few words to the irish people. by mrs. s. c. hall. d. stories of irish life. by henry martin. nos. to now ready. single nos. d. each; double nos. d. each. contents of nos. to . nos. to in one volume, cl., s. d. . farmer o'shaugnessy and his son. & . the michelstown caves. . brian gallagher. . the last of the o'g's. . phelim m'carthy. . ned cassidy of the lakes. . ned cassidy on the lakes. . larry o'toole. & . ned cassidy of the lakes in "the steel bracelets." . barny o'brien on "home rule." . larry corcoran, the blacksmith. . thady o'connor. bethlehem. a little narrative for christmas. d. going home for christmas. d. how to grow a plant and win a prize. d. on the use of money. by rev. john wesley. d. on redeeming the time. by rev. john wesley. d. sam adams, welsh. d. halfpenny illustrated books. mo. an assorted packet may be had, containing one of each of nos. to , price s. foreign "british workman." printed in the following languages. d. each number. malagasy no. german " - dutch " spanish " - italian " - french " - polish " - norwegian " portuguese " french "children's friend." nos. to . d. each number. foreign "infant's magazine." printed in various languages. d. each number. french nos. - spanish " - jacobi ben israel, the learned jew. in hebrew. paper cover and gilt edges. foreign illustrated wall papers. printed in the following languages. d. each. malagasy nos. maori " italian " - - welsh " - spanish " - persian " chinese " - hawaiian " french " - fijian " - hebrew " turkish " urdu " - tamil " - hindi " - five shilling packets of back numbers of any of the following illustrated periodicals may be had as under, being less than half-price: weekly welcome packet, copies, s. british workman packet, copies, s. children's friend packet, copies, s. friendly visitor packet, copies, s. band of hope review pkt., copies, s. infant's magazine packet, copies, s. family friend packet, copies, s. the above charges do not include the cost of carriage, and only refer to back nos. please be careful to order "back nos. packets." illustrated flyleaves. four-page reprints from the "friendly visitor," "british workman," &c. specially commended to tract distributors, sunday-school teachers, &c. . providence will provide . poor joseph . a remarkable contrast . doing things on a large scale . patched window . a thoughtful wife . daily teachings . a crown: or, does it pay? . railway guard . old uncle johnson . the debt is paid . please, sir, will you read it? . please, father, come home early . rees pritchard and the goat . the beaten carpet . blue cart with the red wheels . secret of england's greatness . uncle anthony . blind mary . niff and his dogs . the singing cobbler of hamburg . hunter's home, &c. . that great fountain . losses by religion . officer and the verse on the wall . what's this? . the infidel officer . the singing carpenter . alone with god . old sailor and the bible reader . a lady and the card players . the windmill's defect . the singing pilgrim . thomas brown . five "wadmen" in workhouse . "there, you've gone over it!" . "father, don't go" . "hold! fire if you dare!" . the great spirit . the weekly day of rest . sailor's funeral . aunt bessy's proverb . auction at sea . gooseberry basket . sea-boy's story . sunday morning's dream . jack and the yellow boys . albatross and the soldier . turning point . scripture patchwork quilt . dark without, light within . michael donovan . old deist . dr. ely and the old negress . how can these things be? . blind cobbler . the reprieve . a little child shall lead them . wilt thou use or abuse thy trust? . no swearing allowed . the soldier in the cell . a prodigal's return . "does you love god?" . jim lineham's happy blunder . mr. collins and the smoker . yeddie's first and last communion . meeting of chimney sweepers . how john ross began to kneel down . a life for a life . pull out the staple! . a happy change; or, good for trade . john brown, the sensible gravedigger . twopence a day, and what it accomplished . a gentle reproof . "will father be a goat, mother?" . the collier's widow . lost! lost! . the five steps . the door in the heart . the richest man in the parish . a prodigal restored . the lost sheep . john morton's new harmonium . losings bank and savings bank . buy your own cherries . harry's pint; or, threepence a day . a plea for the birds . the false pilot and the true one . swallowing a yard of land . sceptic and welsh girl . the logic of life . the life preserver . the lawyer's son; or, the changed family . the plunge into the river . the sceptic and the minister . "i will knock again" . ned stokes, the man-o'-war's-man . the two gardeners . the weaver's lamp . the french nobleman and physician . herrings for nothing . the heart made captive . died at his post . bob the cabin boy . the bible better than pistols . the emperor's proclamation . the reclaimed sceptic . "have you got the shilling?" . the man who swallowed three brick fields and eight houses . "thank you, captain" . the speaking tile . say your prayers in fair weather these illustrated fly-leaves may be had through any bookseller, or from , paternoster-row, london, at the rate of s. d. per , or in an assorted packet, s. d.; or in shilling packets; in two volumes, cloth, s. d. each; gilt edges, s. d., containing assorted numbers in each, and complete volume to , cloth plain, s. d.; gilt edges, s. almanacs. animals' friend almanac. with costly engravings and letterpress. d. band of hope almanac. with costly engravings and letterpress. d. british workman almanac. with costly engravings and letterpress. d. everyone's almanac. pages. to. with numerous engravings. d. new envelope series. packet a, containing nos. to , price sixpence. . "that's thee, jem" . richest man . england's greatness . "the debt is paid" . patchwork quilt . the life preserver . gentle reproof . "hold! fire, if you dare!" . blind marv of the mountain . tubb's watch . conditions of sale . how to use money the earlham series. -page illustrated tracts, well printed on good paper, suitable for presentation to both rich and poor. in assorted packets a, b, c, and d, d. each. [illustration: specimen of illustrations] contents of packets a, b, c, and d ( nos. each.) . the singing cobbler . the french nobleman . "i will knock again" . michael donovan . the king's messenger . the best weapon . 'will father be a goat?' . the logic of the life . eric the slave . carletta . the two voyages . "knock off those chains" . "herrings for nothing" . astonished infidel . old moses . yeddie's first and last communion . life preserver . singing carpenter . sunday morning's dream . "hold! fire, if you dare!" . died at his post . patchwork quilt . "the debt is paid." . bob, the cabin-boy . "that's thee, jim!" . richest man in the parish. . ransomed slave . blind mary of the mountain. . general taylor . poor joseph . "does you love god?" . solomon's quarry . speaking tile . old jack sibley . the secret of england's greatness . "have you got the shilling?" . the emperor's proclamation . "thank you, captain" . the prophet's warning . the conscript's substitute . the snow track . the empty cradle . the reprieve . losses by religion . donald's success . the broken buckle . the indian's speech . two strong men transcriber's note: archaic and inconsistent spelling and punctuation retained.