Engines and Men

Front matter

Engines and Men

The History of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen

A Survey of Organisation of Railways and Railway Locomotive Men

The Author's Preface

The Author's Preface

First, I must put on record a sense of deep appreciation of the responsible task entrusted to me by Mr. Bromley and the Executive Committee. I have enjoyed the execuition of it, the long months of exploration into the record, minutes and transactions of forty years. At times it has been arduous, but I think the writing of such a book is something worth living for. I have been able to trace the Society from a membership of 600 to one of 75,000, and for the change in conditions of work I must refer you to the story itself. By organisation you have won great things, and will yet win greater.

My second note must be of thanks, too, to Mr. Bromley for his advice and for the helpful manner in which he gave me carte-blanche and placed everything at my disposal; to Mr. Worthy Cooke for many helpful suggestions when he first read the manuscript; to Mr. Moore, Mr. Crossland, Mr. Wilson and other members of Head Office Staff for constant help in securing some wanted document. They have all contributed to make conditions as pleasant as possible.

I must also acknowledge the great help furnished by an index to articles on railway service, prepared for Mr. Fox by Mr. John Healey, of Sheffield, and covering the period 1879-1905.

Several pointed questions have been addressed to me about the evolution of locomotives, and I have decided to leave the reader who is interested to follow up that subject himself. My interest has been that of men, and if this book stirs many keen questions I shall be the better pleased. At the conclusion will be found a list of all the books consulted for the present work, and I only hope my readers will be so interested as to follow on with some of them.

John R. Raynes

Foreword

Foreword

By Mr. John Bromley, General Secretary.

It has long been my desire to have compiled a History of our Society, as I have felt that the record of a Society like our own, which has had such a continued struggle, would lend itself particularly well to such a project, and that it would be not only a source of delight to our older members, and an inspiration to the younger ones, but a great record for us all,

It was not, however, until June, 1920, that I was able to find time to collect all the mass of requisite material and place the matter in the hands of Mr. J. R. Raynes, himself a skilled Journalist and a writer of books, with the result that after nearly a year of hard work on the part of Mr. Raynes I am able to write foreword to this volume and present it to our members, in the hope and with the sincere wish that it may be a delight to every one of its readers; that older members may in its pages be able to fight their battles over again, and joy in the accomplishment of at least some of their Sadly ideas, and in dreams which have come true. That younger members may, by reading of the

"Old, unhappy, far-off things And battles long aga,"

realise some of the immensity of the early struggles, and thereby he enthused to carry on the good work with renewed courage and ever greater energy.

I feel that not only will this book be valuably informative as a chronological record of the Society's progress, but a real inspiration to all interested members, for it will be impossible for anyone reading, first of the formation and early vicissitudes of the Society, then tracing its progress step by step through forty years of storm and sun, until finally success begins to crown the efforts and our present position is reached, without themselves feeling an uplifting and a keen desire to buckle on their own armour and perform deeds of "derring do" in carrying the Society to yet greater successes in the near and distant future.

This History is packed with solid information for the student of our Society's work and efforts, and also carries with it a condensed record of the evolution of the Locomotive and of the Railways of this country generally, and should therefore commend itself to every one of our members.

It is in some respects almost pathetic to read of the very moderate demands of the members in years gone by, and to compare them with those of the present day, put forward by men strong in their knowledge of a powerful Union behind them, with a greater realisation of what they are entitled to demand from society, and with a breadth of vision undared by the early pioneers:

How interesting to compare the figures of funds and membership at the end of 1882 with those of the close of 1920. In the former year we find the total receipts to have been £1,652 17s. 6d., expenditure £873 2s. 7½d., the funds at the end of the year being E2,966 3s: 3½d,, whilst some twenty. Branches boasted of a combined total membership of 671. At the end of 1920 we find 439 Branches with 71,344 members, several individual Branches having a greater number of members than the whole Society numbered in 1882, income £123,536 7s. 11d., expenditure £68,164 10s. 9d., and total funds £256,468 3s. 7d.

What an achievement, having regard to the difficulties which have been overcome. Yet we know there are yet greater heights to climb, greater events even than those recorded here are before us, and in humbly submitting this book to all our splendid members who man the iron horse or juggle with the electric mystery, I hope and believe that the men will be found to do credit to the heritage our pioneers have left to us, by fearlessly facing and overcoming all dangers and difficulties; and that our great Society may carry on from strength to strength, from success to even greater success, is the earnest wish of

Yours sincerely,

J. Bromley.

Synopsis

1

Chapter II

14

Chapter III

25

Chapter IV

36

Chapter V

49

Chapter VI

Trouble on the Midland—First Emblems and Medallions—The Model Engines—A Calamitous Strike—The Generous Executive—Bitter Memories—The Tragedy of Tom Ball—Dot and Wool Tests~A North Eastern Programme

61

Chapter VII

Railway Accidents—Footboards, Subways, and Bridges—Ne Compensation— Exhaustion by Long Hours—Conditions of Slavery—A Sooth Eastern Programme—Scottish Drivers Victimised—Terrible Records

71

Chapter VIII

The Hexthorpe Disaster Trial—Taylor and Davies Acquitted—A Great Victory—Growth of the Society—North Eastern and Great Western Wage Movements—Advice Against Strikes—Messages from America—The L. & N.W. in 1890—New Rules of 1889.

80

Chapter IX

Wages and Engine Power—The Taff Vale Strike—Select Committee on Railway Workers' Hours—An Associated Programme—The Miners’ Strike of 1893—Fines and Suspensions—A Year of Testing

92

Chapter X

Mr. Parfitt's Recollections—The First Representative E.C.—The Society in London—Taft Vale Trouble—A Proud Position—England's Wealthiest Society—The Orphan Fund—Events of Jubilee Year—The Engineers’ Strike—Talk of Federation

103

Chapter XI

The Twentieth Century—A Veteran's Visit—American Engines—Death of Mr. Sunter—A Notable Loss—Mr. Fox Elected General Secretary—The Important Year 1903—Mr. Parfitt Appointed Organiser—Centralisation of Funds—Labour Representation—The Federation Scheme—Its History

112

Chapter XII

Still Growing —The Loughor Inquiry —Coroners and Organisers—Friction with the A.S.R.S.—The 1907 Programme—Recognition Refused—Driver Webster Acquitted—The South Leeds Contests—Three Organisers —Salisbury and Grantham Disasters—A Rough Night at Barry—Driver Gourlay's Sentence

126

Chapter XIII

The Crisis of 1907—The Recognition Question—Mr. Bell's Attitude—The Shrewsbury Disaster—Conciliation Boards—Mr. Fox Visits America—~American Delegates to England—Brakes and Heavy Loads—A Libel Action— The Fourth Organiser—Mr.

Moore Elected Assistant Secretary—The Osborne Judgment

138

Chapter XIV

"Confiscation" Boards—The First National Strike—Mr. Asquith's Threat—A Prompt Reply—Batons and Bayonets—The Royal Commission—Wages and Dividends—Two Railway disasters—The Sympathetic Strike—1912 Conference

147

Chapter XV

Illness of Mr. Fox—A "Daily Express" Canard—End of a Strennuous Life—A Difficult Time—Local Strikes in 1913 —The N.U.R.—Conciliation Again—Aisgill Disaster— The Eight Hours Ballot—Mr. Bromley Elected General Secretary—A New Era Opens

160

Chapter XVI

The Declaration of War—Wages and Prices—Partial Employment—The First Bonus—Profiteering—Members Enlisting—The "White Feather" Taunt—Mr. Mason's Election—A Writ for Libel—Another Bonus (October 1915)—A Trying Time (September 1916)—Members in Public Life

172

Chapter XVII

Food Control—Compulsory Military Service—The Man Power Bill—N.U.R, and Craft Unions—A Libel Action—War Time Problems—Demand for Railway Nationalisation—The Sliding Scale—Death of the President—Ministry of Labour

184

Chapter XVIII

The Year 1917—Growth of Activity—A Memorable Conference—Compulsory Enlistment—A National Crisis—Special Conference Summoned—Sir A. Stanley's Pledge—Its Redemption Secured—The Eight Howe Day A Triumph for the Society

195

Chapter XIX

1917 Conciliation Scheme—The National Programme—The Committee on Production—Another Advance—The Stream of War Traffic Tributes to Railway Workers— Women as Engine Cleaners—The Gretna Disaster—Presentation to Mr. Wride—District Councils—The Comb Out—Luxury Spending—Extra Food Allowance

208

Chapter XX

The One Union Movement—The April (1918) Wage Advance —Panel of Parliamentary Candidates—New and Increased Benefits—The District Councils at Work—The September Advance—The Strikes of 1918

220

Chapter XXI

A Boon to Members—Chafing Under the Truce—End of the War—The Improved National Programme—A General Election—London Traffic Agreement—-The Tube Strike—National Programme Presented—Story of Famous Negotiations

232

Chapter XXII

Change from War Conditions—The Coal Commission—The Ministry of Transport—Railway War Records—Society and the N.U.R.—Reinstatement on the G.N.R.—North Eastern Strike—Two New Organisers—Victimised Police—A Wage Agreement at Last

246

Chapter XXIII

Standardisation—A National Strike—Nine Days Wonder—Solidarity and Victory—Many Congratulations—Rapid Growth—Railway Control—The Ministry of Transport—Zonal System—Joint Control—The Society Promotes a Bill

263

Chapter XXIV

Irish Questions—~Fraternal Visitors—Eyesight Test—75,000 Members—Further Advances—Supervisory Members—The Miners' Strike—Marching Forward—The Best is yet to be

281

An Early Emblem of the Society, painted in water colours but never reproduced.

Chapter I

Chapter I

The Early Days of Railways—The First Locomotives—A Link Between Stephenson and the A.S.L.E. & F.—Stephenson's Success.

As we look back upon all the wonderful changes presented by the nineteenth century, from the steamship to the telegram, it is probably the steam engine which comes puffing into the centre of the picture as the greatest and most substantial innovation of them all. The locomotive indeed filled a priceless place in the scheme of things, for it linked up in a manner never before comprehended the goods and the market. It diminished distances and raced against time. Small towns in the path of this monster of strength grew into cities, and England began to change in character very markedly. The changes were social as well as industrial, for the era of steam power affected the whole life of the nation. So deeply do railways affect the body politic that I soon found it would be impossible to begin the history of the A.S.L.E. & F, at the year 1880. Circumstances were preparing the way for it fifty years earlier, and all the forces at work in the half century that followed were really forging and shaping the destiny of the Society. It became as essential to enginemen as the engine itself was to this nation and others. The whole service turned completely upon engineers and firemen, who in those early days were the silk-hatted aristocracy of the line.

Not many of our 75,000 members to-day will be aware that one of our earliest members was actually a driver with and his son Robert Stephenson in 1832, but such was the case. This and other important connecting links with railway history make it essential that our history should begin with a survey of the early history of railways, and of the earlier organisations of men which preceded the A.S.L.E. & F., and finally of the conditions prevailing on the service generally in the year 1880, when the Society sprang into life.

Thomas West Smith, of Leicester, the member referred to, was the last survivor of the Stephenson group of pioneer drivers. He was born in the year 1808, and began in the railway service in his twenty-third year. He was first employed as a porter at Westbridge Station, on the Leicester & Swannington Railway, which was opened on July 17th, 1832. He later cleaned and fired "The Comet," built by Stephenson at Newcastle, conveyed by sea to Hull and then by canal to Leicester. This water carriage was made necessary by the absence of any railways, and it was some months after the safe delivery of "The Comet," which made a great sensation at Leicester, that the tender came along in the same way to keep it company. During those months the water was carried in a large cask in a coal waggon. Other engines which joined the same service later were "The Phoenix," "Samson," "Goliath," and "Hercules"; and the drivers had many experiences with George Stephenson and "young Robert," as they called him. The signals on those early lines consisted of a pole with a pulley, and the rule was "go ahead" unless a red flag or a red lamp was showing. The drivers carried bugles to give warning of their approach at level crossings, but after a few carts had been wrecked by the new monsters, the engines were fitted with whistles which were like little steam trumpets.

Even by day the passage of an engine caused wonder and amazement, but when they began to run through the darkness of night they caused consternation. They were pictured as lurid ogres of fire and steel tearing through the peaceful country, stampeding horses and cattle and alarming old folks. The airships of the twentieth century caused less astonishment and interest than did the steam engines of the 1830 period. The old open-topped carriages gave passengers the mixed blessings of scenery and breeze and smuts from the engine. They afforded opportunity for sportsmen ta shoot at rooks and other birds on their rail journeys, until their practice became dangerous to others, and it had to be forbidden. Many of the wayside stations consisted of a single hut, which served duty as stationmaster's office, weighing machine room, passengers' waiting room, and licensed house, the stationmaster having the further duty of innkeeper.

The goods guards of those carly days had no vans or waggons, but rode in an exalted position on top at the rear, after the pattern of the guard or conductor of the stage coach they were rapidly superseding. To stop the train they ran along the top to apply the brake with a sort of forked stick, known as a "sprigger." On the narrow little footplates of the engines the levers were always in motion, causing many drivers to receive smart raps and bruises. The cab, as we know it to-day, was in 1830 only a strip of standing room flanked by a short sailing.

Wooden ways, with wood or cast iron rails on wood sleepers, had been instituted as early as 1630 to facilitate horse transit upon constantly used tracks, and in 1767 the Colebrookedale Ironworks cast iron plate rails. In 1789 William Jessop, of Loughborough, introduced flanged wheels, but the nineteenth century had run more than twenty years of its course before men thought of using the power of steam to expedite transport. When Geo. Stephenson asserted that he could run passenger coaches at twelve to fifteen miles an hour he was regarded with suspicion as an optimist, but now "on fire horses and wind horses we career," as Carlyle said, at anything up to eighty miles an hour.

Steam power was realised as much as 2,000 years ago, for Hero of Alexandria, about 200 B.C., wrote a book on the expansive force of steam, in which he described the cylinder, piston, slide-valve, and common clack-valve. The first attempts to harness steam and to make it do the behest of men was about 250 years ago, for stationary engines. It was not, however, until the year 1803 that the first tramroad or railway locomotive engine was constructed. The name "locomotive" is derived from two Latin words, "locus," a place; and "motio," motion; the locomotive engine being therefore an engine capable of moving itself from place to place.

Richard Trevithick is without any doubt the father of the locomotive engine. He built the first in 1803, with money provided by his cousin Vivian. He employed high pressure steam, smooth fat wheels, and conveyed the exhaust steam from the cylinder to the chimney by a pipe. The first engine is naturally a matter of close interest to those who man the giants of to-day, and it may be added that the boiler of Trevithick's engine was six feet in length, and contained a return flue tube, the chimney being at the same end as the fire door. The engine had one cylinder placed horizontally, eight inches diameter, the stroke being extremely long, four feet six inches. It was an extraordinary looking object, with its conspicuous cog wheels and tall chimney.

It was tried on February 24th, 1804, upon the Perrydarran cast-iron plateway, or tramroad, when it conveyed trucks containing ten tons of bar iron and about seventy excited persons for a distance of nine miles to Merthyr Tydvil. This triumph showed that Trevithick had started well, and on sound principles. He did not follow up the perfecting of his machine, leaving that to others, but to him goes the honour of building, and to Merthyr goes the honour of receiving, the first locomotive that ever ran a journey on rails.

The scene is transferred to Leeds in the year 1811, when Mr. , proprietor of the Middleton Colliery, near that city, decided to have his coals conveyed from Middleton to Leeds by a locomotive engine instead of by horses. He therefore gave an order to , a Leeds engineer, to construct such an engine. Murray and Blenkinsop agreed that sufficient adhesion could not be obtained between smooth wheels and smooth rails to control loads, and they adopted the rack-rail and cog-wheel gear. The power developed by the steam cylinders was communicated to the large cog or driving wheel, the four ordinary wheels of the engine being simply for support, and having no contact with the motive force. This engine ran its first trip in August of 1812, and for several years worked with others of a similar design in conveying coal from Middleton to Leeds.

In the meantime Chapman's chain engine had been tried on the Hetton Colliery Tramroad, near Newcastle-on-Tyne (patented December, 1811), but it proved a failure. There were other failures too, for , in February, 1813, tried his first locomotive, intended for use on Mr. Blackett's Wylam Colliery line, but it proved a failure for want of steam. Mr. Blackett, however, retained his faith in steam power, and he instructed Hedley to build a second engine, completed in May of 1813, named "Puffing Billy." This engine, tried on the Wylam line, had a wrought iron boiler, with a return flue, and like Trevithick's pioneer engine, it had the chimney at the same end as the fire-door, It had two vertical cylinders, the piston-rods being connected to beams, from which motion was communicated to the four smooth driving wheels by means of toothed gear. This engine continued working at Wylam until 1862, when it was removed to the South Kensington Museum. Hedley and Blackett, it should be noticed, followed Trevithick in preferring smooth wheels on smooth rails, and they did not follow Murray and Blenkinsop as to cogs.

A patent was obtained in 1813 by Mr. Brunton, of the Butterley Ironworks, Derbyshire, for the locomotion of an engine without the aid of the adhesion of the wheels. It was literally a steam horse, having a pair of hind legs actuated by steam cylinders, but it proved a failure.

We now come to the entry of George Stephenson into the locomotive world, Ideas had hitherto been confined ta crude engines intended to pull coal along colliery tracks, but Stephenson nursed an altogether wider vision of the new possibilities. Let us briefly trace the life of this remarkable man, the father of footplate workers. He was born in a small cottage between Close House and Wylam, in Northumberland, within nine miles of Newcastle, about 1772, and on June 9th, 1781, he started work at twopence per day on a farm, and was attending the plough at early hours when little children ought to be in bed. His next duty was to pick bats and coal droppings, and when the overseer came round he used to hide lest he be thought too little to earn a living. Like all the poor children of his day, he was working hard before he could read or write, but he mastered those arts later.

Shortly after the age of 13, George Stephenson worked as a brake-man for Waterrow Pit, on the tramway between Wylam and Newburn, his father being at Walbottle. A large dog fetched his dinner daily from Walbottle to Wylam tramway. A removal of the family brought him to Killingworth, where George Stephenson became stoker to a colliery engine. Working early and late and at all hours of the night, his wages were then only one shilling a day. He really thought his fortune was made when his wage rose to twelve shillings weekly. He was still a stoker when advanced to 17s. a week, with overtime added, and as a young man he was sober, industrious, and very studious of all the ways of steam engines. He ran the risk of being forced into the Militia, or being seized by a press gang for the Navy, and, like many other young men, thought of going to America. He was married at the age of 22, and in 1803 his only child Robert was born.

Stephenson tried his hand at laying down tramways, or waggonways as they were called, and he was making headway as a mining engineer. "I was, however, a poor man," he afterwards said, and in order to educate his son, "How do you think I did? I betook myself to mending my neighbours' clocks and watches at night after my day's work was done, and thus I got the means of bringing up my son." He had seen a locomotive as Wylam, and set himself to contrive one which would work much better, as the irregular action of the cylinders made such jerks in the working as continually tended to shake it to pieces. Lord Ravensworth and the Killingworth owners supplied him with money to make a locomotive, and in July 1814, it was tried upon the tramway, being patented in 1815, and bearing the name of "Blucher."

It was fifteen years after building his first engine, years crowded with effort and further adventure, that the victory of Stephenson's life was won on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. The intervening period was, however full of importance. Stephenson built a second engine in 1815, in which the connecting-rods were attached direct to crank-pins on the wheels. The ordered one of his engines in 1817, for use on his Kilmarnock and Troon tramroad, but here the cast-iron were found too weak to carry any engine.

The owners of the Hetton Colliery decided in 1819 to alter their old horse tramroad into a locomotive line, and engaged Stephenson to lay out the line and build the engines. This was completed for opening on November 18th, 1822, when five of Stephenson's engines were working on the system.

Up to this stage locomotives were still confined to private colliery lines, but the Stockton & Darlington public railway project proved a turning point in Stephenson's career, and in locomotive history. Stephenson was appointed engineer, and application was made to Parliament for powers in 1818, but twice the Bill was rejected, being eventually passed in 1821. This, the first public railway in the world, was opened for traffic on Tuesday. September 27th, 1825, and the only engine possessed by the company when the first train steamed out bore the name "Locomotion." Handbills announcing this novel service of steam carriages depicted "Locomotion" as "The Company's Locomotive Engine and the Engine's Tender." The total weight of this first publicly used engine and tender was eight tons, and her full dimensions will always be a matter of interest to enginemen. They were as follow:—

Cylinders, 10 inches diameter; stroke, 24 inches; wheels, 4 feet diameter; boiler, 10 feet in length, 4 feet diameter; boiler pressure, 25 lbs, to square inch: weight of engine without tender, 64 tons. She worked on the Stockton & Darlington line from September 27th, 1825, to 1841, and is still in working order and capable of being put in steam. It remains on a pedestal at the entrance to North Road Station, Darlington. At the opening of the Middlesbrough & Redcar Railway, this engine headed the procession, and it was taken from its pedestal to work on the Darlington section of the North Eastern Railway at the Stockton and Darlington Jubilee in 1875. The following year it went to the Philadelphia Exhibition, and van for the Stephenson Centenary in 1881. Her show career also included the Liverpool Exhibition of 1886, and the Paris Exhibition of 1889. Stephenson erected three similar engines for the Stockton & Darlington Railway; their "No. 5" was supplied by Messrs. Gilkes, Wilson & Co., of Leeds, and "No. 6" was Stephenson's engine, "Experiment," having six coupled wheels and outside inclined cylinders. Messrs. Stephenson & Co, built in 1827 an engine named "Twin Sisters," employed as a ballast engine on the construction of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. It had twin hailers and two tall chimneys, with two blast pipes. In 1828, Stephenson & Co, built a four-wheeled coupled engine, named "The Lancashire Witch," for the Bolton & Leigh Railway, with cylinders outside and inclined. This engine hauled 58 tons up a gradient of 1 in 432 at nearly nine miles an hour, and worked traffic for several years. To Messrs. Foster, Rastrick & Co., of Stourbridge, belongs the honour of building the first locomotive ever tried on rails in America. This engine, "Stourbridge Lion," was one of two built in 1829, and when it was tried on a short section of local line in America, in 1830, it caused a great sensation, people gathering from considerable distances to see the trial of this strange British steam engine.

We have seen so far the first locomotives built and proved worthy, we have seen the opening of the world's first public railway, and the emergence of George Stephenson to fame as a pioneer of locomotive construction. We now come to a conspicuous success of his career, the romantic way in which he scored at the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, which has been truly designated as the Grand British Experimental Railway. The structure and opening of this line was mooted in 1829, and the question how to work the projected line naturally came before the directors—should they rely upon horses, fixed engines and ropes, or the new locomotives. They preferred the last named, and one

Robert Stephenson & co., Engineers,

Newcastle-On-Tyne.

1829.

"The Great Bear," Great Western Railway, 1920.

of their number, Mr. Harrison, proposed that a reward be publicly offered for the most likely method of achieving their object. They decided to that effect on April 20th, 1829, and on April 25th appeared the announcement of a premium of £500 offered for the best locomotive engine, subject to eight conditions as to weight, load, pressure of steam, price, and speed,

The public trials of competing engines took place on the Manchester side of Rainhill Bridge, upon a level portion of line, from October 8th to 14th, 1829.

| Those entered were:—

The Rocket | George Stephenson

The Novelty | Braithwaite & Erickson.

The Sans Pareil | Hackworth.

The Perseverance | Burstall.

The tests conclusively proved "The Rocket" to be the best engine, meeting all the conditions laid down and performing all tests in a more than satisfactory manner, "The Novelty" and "Sans Pareil" broke down, and "Perseverance," an engine designed for road work as well, was withdrawn. To George Stephenson was awarded the prize of £500, and it may be said that at Rainhill, in 1829, Stephenson proved the locomotive to be a practical proposition, and laid the foundation of the railways of the world.

"The Rocket," in working trim, without tender, weighed 4 tons 5 cwts., and her dimensions were:—Cylinders, 8 ins, diameter; stroke, 16 inches; driving wheels, 4 feet 8½ inches; boiler, 6 feet long, 3 feet 4 inches diameter; pressure of steam in boiler, 50 lbs, per square inch; firebox, 2 feet long, 3 feet broad by 3 feet deep; tubes, 25 of 3 inches diameter; area of fire grate, 6 square feet; weight of loaded tender, 3 tons 4 cwts. The maximum speed attained by "The Rocket" at the Rainhill trials was 29 miles an hour. To take the test she was conveyed by road to Carlisle, and thence by water to the Mersey.

"The Rocket" is preserved in the South Kensington Museum, and has been described as consisting of "a boiler, a stove, a space, and a bench." At the conclusion of the trials. Stephenson received orders to build seven other engines to he ready for the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. These, constructed in 1830, were "Meteor," "Comet," "Arrow," "Dart," "Phoenix," "North Star," and "Northumbrian," all "outside" cylinder engines. When the line was opened on September 15th, these eight engines drew trains containing about 600 people in procession from Liverpool

| in the following order:—

The Northumbrian, | driven by George Stephenson.

Phoenix | driven by Robert Stephenson.

North Star | driven by (brother of George).

Rocket | driven by Joseph Locke.

Dart | driven by T.C. Gooch.

Comet | driven by .

Arrow | driven by .

Meteor | driven by Anthony Harding.

It was at this triumphal opening that Mr. Huskisson was knocked down and run over by "The Rocket" at Parkside, and George Stephenson ran the dying man fifteen miles in 25 minutes, a speed of 36 miles an hour, on "The Northumbrian," to Eccles Hospital. Mr. Huskisson was a member for Liverpool, and had rendered great service in getting the Bill through Parliament. He had just stepped aside to speak to the Duke of Wellington, who was on the train, when be was knocked down. A monument at Parkside, 17 miles from Liverpool, marks the spot. On the following day the regular traffic of the line commenced, and "The Northumbrian" conveyed a train of 130 people from Lime Street. Liverpool, to Manchester (Liverpool Road Station), a distance of 30 miles 53 chains, in one hour and 50 minutes. The reader may recall how John Ridd, the hero in "Lorna Doone," thought it was tempting Providence when stage coaches began to run at twelve miles an hour. When "The Rocket' made 36 miles a world's record in speed was attained.