[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 15th of September, 1830, 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 "Phœnix," 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.