Two years before a road had been chartered to
connect the Durham coal-fields with tidewater. Stephenson heard
of the project, and at once proposed to the company to make an
iron railroad of the new wooden tramway and equip it with his
traveling engines. His arguments and demonstrations won over the
skeptical directors. They had their charter amended so as to
authorize the use of steam as motive power for the transport of
passengers as well as merchandise. Thus began the Stockton and
Darlington Railway, the first in the world with a passenger
charter. The chief engineer was George Stephenson, on a salary of
five hundred pounds. At the same time, with the assistance of the
railroad people, he founded the locomotive shops at Newcastle.
The new railroad, the first public line, was opened in September,
1825. As its construction progressed, its engineer had become
increasingly sanguine of success. He said to his son Robert at
this time: "I venture to tell you that I think you will live to
see the day when railways will supersede almost all other methods
of conveyance in this country--when mail coaches will go by
railway, and railroads will become the great highway for the King
and all his subjects. The time is coming when it will be cheaper
for a workingman to travel upon a railway than to walk on foot.
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