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 £300 for the survey, or at the rate of about £10 a mile. Mr. James's first interview with Mr. Sandars was in the beginning of July, 1821, 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.
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.
MAP OF LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY. [Eastern Part.]