George Stephenson

4 Key excerpts on "George Stephenson"

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  eBook - ePub

  An Economic History of Europe

  • Antonio Di Vittorio, Antonio Di Vittorio(Authors)
  • 2006(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  It became autonomous with the invention of the locomotive (1825), which was the most important invention in nineteenth century transport. After the introduction of the tubular boiler, the engineer George Stephenson (1781–1848) developed the Liverpool to Manchester line (1826–1829) in the heart of a great industrial area; it demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of the railway for the transport of both goods and passengers, with most of the technical problems being empirically solved at the same time. Subsequently, technical development followed two directions: seeking to achieve high speeds, and seeking to obtain the maximum energy to enable mass transport. The first objective was achieved very rapidly and in 1835 a locomotive exceeded 100 kph. By the end of the century, journey speeds (excluding stops) had risen from 60 kph to 75 kph for French expresses, 40–55 kph for ordinary trains, while goods trains made do with a speed of 20–30 kph, which, however, was five to seven times faster than that of the horse-drawn wagon. In order to achieve the second objective, the weight and adhesion of locomotives was increased, the number of axles was doubled, and rolling stock, mounted on bogies, became longer. By 1865, a train could transport 200 tons and by 1900 as much as 2,500 tons. 5 Steel replaced iron and cast iron, and in the 1860s rail strength and wagon capacity increased. Continual refinements improved the performance of the railway. These included fuel economies made possible by compound boilers in 1876, and superheating; better safety with the compressed air brake of 1868; gauge standardization and progress in management techniques. Natural obstacles were also surmounted: bridges, viaducts and tunnels enabled the railways to go across rivers, valleys and through mountains. In order to exploit traffic in northern Italy to their advantage, the German railways financed the boring of the St

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  Northumberland

  Romans to Victorians

  • Craig Armstrong(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Pen and Sword Local History

    (Publisher)

  Stephenson constructed approximately sixteen engines during his time at Killingworth and, together with William Losh, introduced several innovations including new rail joints and steam-spring suspension. Among the engines he went on to design was one which was built at Robert Stephenson & Co. and named Killingworth Billy. It was originally thought that this was a later design built in 1826, but research undertaken in 2018 shows that it was in fact built ten years earlier. The engine is available to view at the Stephenson Railway Museum on North Tyneside. In 1821 Stephenson, assisted by 18-year-old son Robert, was contracted to work on the newly commissioned Stockton & Darlington Railway. For this large contract a new company, Robert Stephenson & Co., was established in Newcastle. Another partner in the contract was Michael Longridge, whose Bedlington Ironworks produced the wrought-iron rails at the 4ft 8½in gauge requested by Stephenson (this gauge became, and remains, the world standard). With the success of the Stockton & Darlington Railway behind him, Stephenson next worked on the wildly successful Liverpool & Manchester Railway. His success on this high-profile project attracted a great deal of praise and fame. Although Stephenson was somewhat dogged by an overly cautious attitude, and by his casual forecasts of costs, the offers of work both at home and abroad poured in. In many ways, however, Stephenson’s greatest legacy was the influence he had on the Industrial Revolution and on fellow engineers such as his son, Robert, his former assistant, Joseph Locke, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Because of his success he became known as the ‘Father of the Railways’, but his success also took him away from his native North East to Leicestershire and then Derbyshire. George Stephenson died at Tapton House, Chesterfield, in 1848. In 1862 a classical statue of George Stephenson was placed at the junction of Neville Street in Newcastle, near to the city’s Central Station

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  The Engineering Revolution

  How the Modern World was Changed by Technology

  • Angus Buchanan(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Pen & Sword History

    (Publisher)

  With growing experience of canals and increased engineering confidence, the canals grew in size and complexity, promoting cross-country routes such as John Rennie's Kennet & Avon Canal linking Bristol to London, and John Smeaton's Forth & Clyde Canal across the central lowlands of Scotland. They also led to strategic canals such as Thomas Telford's Caledonian Canal through the Great Glen in Scotland, which in theory avoided the need for naval vessels to sail round the north of Britain. By the time it was complete, however, in 1822, the strategic need for such a short cut had faded, and for all its magnificent engineering the whole canal system was on the point of becoming virtually obsolete. The reason for this was that the steam engine had already begun to provide alternative transport systems in the shape of the railways and the steam ship, which promised to deliver more quickly and reliably than either the canals or the turnpike roads.

  The Railway Age

  The value of designated tracks of rails in the form of iron plateways or tramways to carry commodities in wagons was first exploited by British colliery owners in the North East coalfield to carry coal from their mines to wharves on the Tyne, the Wear, and the Tees, from which it could be shipped to London and other markets, where it was welcomed as 'sea-coal'. It was here, also, that the ability of the steam locomotive as invented by William Murdoch and Richard Trevithick was first applied to the task of pulling heavy 'trains' of wagons over prepared stretches of the track. The key person in promoting this transport system was a colliery engine-man, George Stephenson, who developed remarkably successful steam locomotives for this purpose, and quickly realised their potential for securing a much wider market for his coal. Stephenson's vision became that of constructing a network of railways serving markets all over the country. As a first step towards this objective he persuaded a group of entrepreneurs to establish a company for which he built the Stockton & Darlington Railway, opened in 1825, and equipped it with his Locomotive No.1 as its first engine.

  The idea quickly caught on, and another group of merchants in Lancashire formed the Liverpool & Manchester Railway (L&MR) to link the two towns and commissioned George Stephenson to build it for them. Although not a professional civil engineer, he overcame some serious problems in laying a level and stable track, and the railway was oficially opened in 1830, becoming the first main-line railway in the world running a regular scheduled service of goods and passenger trains. Stephenson had established his son Robert as a mechanical engineer, and the young man had shown exceptional talent in designing a new locomotive for the railway, which had won the competition held at Rainshill, near Liverpool, in September 1829 to determine which power unit to adopt. It was this engine, Rocket, with a multi-tube boiler and steam blast and diagonally placed cylinders driving directly onto the front two wheels, which thus set the style for the L&MR. The Stephensons immediately capitalised on their success by improving the design and by placing the engine cylinders horizontally under the boiler, thus producing in Planet

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  The Locomotive Pioneers

  Early Steam Locomotive Development 1801–1851

  • Anthony Burton(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Pen & Sword Transport

    (Publisher)

  At the start of the 1850s, there was a great diversity of engine builders, ranging from the railway companies themselves to individual engineering companies. Many of the latter were also more general engineering firms, producing a wide range of products. William Fairbairn was one of the exhibitors at the Crystal Palace, and the history of the company is one of almost endless diversification. The founder was born in Scotland in 1789, but when the family moved to a farm near Newcastle upon Tyne, William got a job with the local colliery. During his time there he got to know George Stephenson, but later left mining to work as a millwright. Eventually, he was able to set up in business on his own in Manchester as a manufacturer of textile machinery. In the 1830s, he opened up a new business manufacturing paddle steamers, which soon outgrew the Manchester base and was moved to the Thames at Millwall. It was during this time that he first became actively involved with the world of railways. Robert Stephenson was working as chief engineer for the line to Holyhead, which involved crossing the Menai Straits. His plan was to produce a tubular wrought iron girder bridge, and he went to Fairbairn, simply because he was an experienced builder of iron ships. Fairbairn was able to demonstrate that the tubular girders wouldn’t sag and buckle, by showing him an iron vessel, whose hull was only supported at either end. The bridge was opened in 1846 and Stephenson and Fairbairn took out a joint patent. By this time, Fairbairn had abandoned work in shipbuilding and concentrated on the Manchester works, which had now become William Fairbairn & Sons. It was there that they began manufacturing locomotives of the Bury type, mainly comparatively light engines for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. But that was never the company’s only output. They built a variety of other items, including steam cranes with a distinctive curved jib. One of these machines can still be seen at the dockside in Bristol.

  The British scene in 1851 was one marked by a variety of manufacturers and their products. In America, on the other hand, there was remarkable agreement on what was best suited for that country’s railroads, what came to be known as the ‘American Standard’. This was the 4-4-0 locomotive, first introduced in the 1830s. The earliest examples were comparatively light, seldom more than 15 tons, with short boilers, low driving wheels and the carrying wheels on the front truck were placed quite close together. By the start of the 1850s, the engines had been refined. Boilers had been lengthened, horizontal cylinders were centred above the leading truck and for the first time drivers enjoyed the luxury of a proper cab. They were also much larger, now weighing up to twenty-five tons. Where the early versions had been quite plain, the new engines were quite ornate. Warning bells and whistles were of polished brass; the iron boiler plates highly polished and the cabin of varnished wood. Wheels were colourfully painted, and many locomotives featured elaborate murals on the tenders. These were the engines we have all seen in hundreds of Westerns. One of the great railway movies has to be Buster Keaton’s The General. It is based on an actual event in the American Civil War, a raid by Confederates who managed to get away with two Unionist locomotives, one of which was The General

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