Page:History and characteristics of Bishop Auckland.djvu/61

40 mSTOBY OF BISHOP AUCKLAND. into the locality, and merchants and scientific men were finding a congenial sphere for their genius and undertakinga That mighty era in the history of human invention — ^the application of steam as a locomotive power, which was destined to bring about such a great change, not only in this locality by the opening out of the coal fields, but throughout the whole world — ^was fast drawing nigh; a time when the stage coach and the carrier's waggon, along with its predecessor, the pack horse, were all to become things of the past. It was no uncommon sight to witness in the streets of Bishop Auckland three or fom* droves of mules and donkeys,* of from twenty to thirty each, wending their way from Old Beechbum or Old Etherley Collieries, laden with coal, consigned for the East Coast, or for the northern parts of Yorkshira Many schemes were propounded for the purpose of conveying the immense amount of mineral wealth which the more advanced scientific men of that age saw was buried beneath the surface in the county of Durham. Amongst these was a proposal to cut a canal from Stockton to Darlington, and from thence to Staindrop. The coals from the Cockfield and West Auckland districts were to be conveyed by a branch canal to the top of Keverstone Bank, down which they were to be conveyed by a self- acting incline till they reached the canal in the valley below. A dep6t was also projected at the top of Grand Bank, to supply carts coming out of Yorkshire, by way of Piercebridge and Winston. George Dixon, of Cockfield, who is said to have been the originator of the scheme, cut a short canal on Cockfield Fell, and placed a flat-bottomed boat upon it, to prove to the Earl of Darlington the practicability of the scheme ; but his lordship refused to advance any money, and the project was therefore abandoned. The minds of such men as George Stephenson and Edward Pease, however, were brought to bear upon the subject, and the result of their labours was that on the 27th of September, 1825, the " Puffing BiUy," as the locomotive engine was first called, came steaming up to the place where New Shildon now stands. This event forms such a remarkable epoch in the history of this neighbourhood, that we give it in full, extracted from the same local work above quoted : — The Act passed in 1821. It was "for making and maintaining a railway or tramroad from the River Tees at Stockton to Witton Park Colliery, with several branches therefrom, all in the connty of Durham." The first rail was laid by Thomas Meynell, Esq., of Yarm, near St. John's Well, Stockton, where the dep6t for coals was afterwards erected 23rd May, 1822, with public ceremony and rejoicing. George Stephenson was retained. He had got leave to go to Killingworth to lay down a railway at Hetton, and now he came to Darlington. The works were rapidly completed. In 1824, in partnership with his son Robert, Messrs. Pease of Darlington, and Mr. Michael Longridge, Mr. Stephenson founded that famous engine-building establishment at Newcastle, which had so long a run of prosperity ; and on September 27th, 1825,. the railway was to be opened, and a locomotive engine was to be the instrument. The work was then a single line of raih 25 miles in length. It extended from Witton Park and Etherley, near West Auckland, to Stockton-upon-Tees, with branches to Darlington, Yarm, &c., and was chiefly composed of malleable iron rails. At the western extremity of the line a deep ravine occurred at the river Gaunless, on the summit of the hill, on each side of which a permanent steam-engine was fixed. The engine on the western side of the vale was called the " Etherley Engine," and that on the eastern side the " Brusselton Engine." The latter, in addition to conve3ring the goods from West Auckland, continued the transit down the eastern side of the ridge. Below this to the east, the conveyance was performed by locomotive engines. The proprietors were to assemble at the permanent engine, below Brusselton Tower, about nine miles west of Darlington, at eight o'clock. Accordingly the committee, after inspecting the Etherley engine plane, assembled at the bottom of Brusselton engine plane, near West Auckland, and the carriages, loaded with coals and merchandise, were drawn up the eastern ridge by the Brusselton engine, a distance of 1,960 yards in seven and a half minutes, and then lowered down the plane on the east side of the hill 880 yards in five minutes. At the foot of the plane the locomotive engine was ready to receive the carriages ; and here the novelty of the scene had attracted an immense concourse of spectators, the fields on each side of the railway being literally covered with ladies and gentlemen on horseback, and pedestrians of all kinds. The train of carriages was then attached to Stephenson's locomotive engine in the following order : — ^Locomotive engine, with the engineer (Mr. Stephenson), and assistants ; tender, with coal and water ; six waggons loaded with coal and flour ; a covered coach, with committee and proprietors ; twenty-one waggons fitted up for passengers ; and, lastly, six waggons loaded with coals — ^making a train of thirty-eighty ^ * Bishop Aackland tmned oat so many donkeys in those days that they became a synonym for its inhabitants in many of the neighbonring towns. If any individual had been startled in the dark by the sudden appearance of one of the long-eared tribe, their surprise^ on asoertaining what it was, nsnally ended with, ** Oh, iVs only an Auckland lad." Digitized by Google