George
Stephenson was chosen to be chief engineer, at one thousand
pounds a year.
Chat Moss was conquered by an ingenious device which practically
floated the road-bed upon its spongy surface. Tunnels were driven
through the hills, deep cuttings were made wherever needed, a
ravine was crossed by a viaduct of brick and stone, and more than
threescore bridges were thrown across the streams. All the plans
for this complicated work passed under the eye, and many of them
took their first form in the mind of the chief, whose skill as a
mechanic was for the time sunk in his genius for civil
engineering. By dint of the most strenuous application, and by
the dominance of a spirit of perseverance which no discouragement
or obstacle could daunt, Stephenson brought the road to
triumphant completion. The next thing was to convince the
directors that the steam locomotive was the proper equipment for
a public railway. As a beginning, he persuaded the company to
place one of his engines upon its construction trains. The
experts who were employed to investigate the many proposed
applications of power decided, however, that the most feasible
equipment was a series of twenty-one stationary engines located
at intervals along the right of way and hauling the cars stage
after stage by means of a rope wound upon a drum-the principle of
the cable railway which afterwards had its day in our streets.
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