vi PREFACE.
and lastly as a passenger-engine. The accomplishment of these results, giving us a speed of sixty miles an hour, and every suburban comfort against the anxiety of the city, demanded characters of the highest standard, and such as could be regarded with pride. The men who gave us our railways could not boast of a long roll of ancestors; they were working men in every sense. of the words, and on this account they were reasonable models. Again, they were, in feeling and opinion, aiming in their lives at something better than had ever been done before, and straining both heart and brain to accomplish it; and in this respect they were like ourselves, endeavouring to overcome every-day difficulties, and obtain some encour- agement to make good any deficiency of which we may be conscious. A fellow-feeling makes the world kin, and by looking into the scenes surrounding the progress of the locomotive, in which Murdoch, Trevethick, Hedley, and Stephenson took part, there may be read page after page of gracious moments and dire despair. The struggle went on single-handed; signs of improvement everywhere were very faint, until at last, by the victory achieved at Rainhill, in October, 1829, Stephenson settled the question of the loco- motive for ever. I hope the account of their life-struggles, of which I could only mention a few, will prove of encour- agement to many; and as they belonged to the class of rail- way men, so railway men at the present day will find much to remind them of their own experience. The strong mind of George Stephenson is pourtrayed in the likeness of him which forms the frontispiece of this work. Not many engineers can hope to rival in their lives the suc- cessful career of the man; but, at the least, his example may be followed, at whatever distance. The rules laid down, for the first time, in these pages for the guidance of engine-boys, firemen, and engineers, have been carefully considered in order to insure success.
