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 were 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 pluck to push the matter through.
So everything about the new road went by the board. It 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 seems to be should have taken years of thought and experiment to do it. Nothing looks easier to prepare 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 on 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 powers of a locomotive; even 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 uphill, 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.