George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was an English engineer who built the first public inter-city railway line in the world to use steam locomotives, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", his rail gauge of 4 feet 8 1⁄2 inches (1,435 mm), sometimes called "Stephenson gauge", is the standard gauge by name and by convention for most of the world's railways by far.
George Stephenson was born in a very poor family; his father was the fireman, earning a very low wage, so there was no money for schooling. George realized the value of education and paid to study at night school to learn reading, writing and arithmetic – he was illiterate until the age of 18. George made shoes and mended clocks to supplement his income. He was teaching himself to read and write (though writing would never be his strong suit) and was also getting basic tuition in arithmetic. He worked at various other collieries in the area in the early 1800s and developed such skill with engines that in 1812 he was appointed ‘engine wright’, or chief mechanic, at Killingworth. At last he became an expert in steam-driven machinery.
On that time Richard Trevithick is credited with the first realistic design for a steam locomotive in 1802. When he visited Tyneside and built an engine there for a mine-owner. Several local men were inspired by this, and wanted to design their own engines. And George Stephenson decided to invent his own engine; he designed his first locomotive in 1814. A travelling engine designed for hauling coal on the Killingworth mine. The locomotive could haul 30 tons of coal up a hill at 4 mph (6.4 km/h), and was the first successful flanged-wheel adhesion locomotive: its traction depended on contact between its flanged wheels and the rail. It was the first fully effective steam railway locomotive.
But the new engines were too heavy to run on wooden rails, and iron rails were in their infancy, with cast iron exhibiting excessive brittleness. Stephenson improved the design of cast iron rails to reduce breakage; and rails were briefly made at ironworks. Stephenson managed to solve the problem caused by the weight of the engine on the primitive rails. He experimented with a 'steam spring' (to 'cushion' the weight using steam pressure), but soon followed the practice of 'distributing' weight by utilizing a number of wheels. For the Stockton and Darlington Railway Stephenson used wrought iron rails.
In 1821, a parliamentary bill was passed to allow the building of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR). The 25-mile (40 km) railway should be connected collieries. The original plan was to use horses to draw coal carts on metal rails, but after company director Edward Pease met Stephenson, he agreed to change the plans. Stephenson surveyed the line in 1821, assisted by his eighteen-year-old son Robert and construction began the same year.
The Stockton and Darlington Railway opened on 27 September 1825. Driven by Stephenson, Locomotion hauled an 80-ton load of coal and flour nine miles (15 km) in two hours, reaching a speed of 24 miles per hour (39 km/h). The first purpose-built passenger car was attached and carried dignitaries on the opening journey. It was the first time passenger traffic had been run on a steam locomotive railway. The rails used for the line were wrought-iron; they could be produced in longer lengths than cast-iron and were less liable to crack under the weight of heavy locomotives. The gauge Stephenson chose for the line was 4 feet 8 1⁄2 inches (1,435 mm) which subsequently was adopted as the standard gauge for railways, not only in Britain, but throughout the world.
By 1830 Stephenson’s new locomotive, the Rocket, which could achieve a speed of 36 miles per hour, was operating on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in Lancashire with other ‘iron horses’ built in the factory he had now opened in Newcastle. The railway age had begun and George Stephenson was its guiding spirit.
Exercise 2 Answer the following questions.
1. Who was George Stephenson? 2. What is he famous for? 3. Where did he study? 4. What was his first job? 5. What was the first Stephenson’s locomotive hauling? 6. What were first rails made of? 7. What materials Stephenson solved to use for fails? 8. When was opened the Stockton and Darlington Railway? 9. Did it carry only freights? 10. What do you know about the "Stephenson gauge"?
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