[74] 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 1837. 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 When the great contest for the representation of East Cumberland took place, and Sir James Graham was superseded by Major Aglionby, the "Rocket" was employed to convey the Alston express with the state of the poll from Midgeholme to Kirkhouse.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 But again it was superseded by heavier engines; for it only weighed about four tons, whereas the new engines were at least three times that weight.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.
[75] Letter of Mr. John Herapath in "Mechanics' Magazine," vol. xv., p. 123.
[76] 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 4-1/2 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.
[77] 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.
[78] 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 1836. In that session alone, powers were obtained for the construction of 214 miles of new railways under his direction, at an expenditure of upward of five millions sterling.
[79] It may be mentioned that these views were communicated to the author by Robert Stephenson, and noted down in his presence.
[80] "Treatise on Railway Improvements." By Mr. Richard Badnell, C.E.
[81] 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.
[82] Speech of Wm. Jackson, Esq., M.P., at the meeting of the Chester and Birkenhead Railway Company, held at Liverpool, October, 1845.
[83] 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", 1844, 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.