BOYS' OWN COLUMN.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 261, 3 November 1928, Page 22 (Supplement)

BOYS' OWN COLUMN.

A COMPARISON OF RAILWAYS, STEPHENSON'S FIRST ROCKET ENGINE. Dear Boys,— In England a popular pastime among the kiddies who live near a railway line- is the collecting of the names of the engines. Each company has its special engine, and amongst the world-famous locomotives is the "Flying Scotsman." All Englishmen swell with pride when this glorious monster is mentioned, but more famous still is the "Puffing Billy," and the "Rocket" of olden times, for in them hung the future of the railway. Parliamentarians, the workmen of those days, and the newspapers were all pessimistic; all said that no engine could be made to run on lines; said that the wheels would not grip on the smooth surface; said that the whole engine would blow up and shatter the train into a thousand pieces! Such was the opposition that the mechanical genius had not only to the stubborn machinery, overcome the hundreds of faults caused by lack of proper materials, and develop new ideas, but had also to fight the Parliament in order to give the world a contrivance which would bring wealth and happiness to everyone. The steam engine, like so many other inventions, is not the work of any one man. The stationary steam engine was already widely used in collieries to pump water from the mines:, and a few daring inventors attempted and indeed succeeded in constructing steam coaches, but it was not until George Stephenson came to the fore with his "Rocket" that railways made a start. A company had been formed to lay a line along which a horse tram was to have been run, but George Stephenson, appointed as their engineer, succeeded in persuading them to use steam engines on the line. After much public ridicule, the four miles of line was laid, and on September 27, 1825, George mounted his engine and made the initial run of the first passenger and goods train. On the return journey the train carried 600 passengers. The experiment was a complete success, and railways sprang up all over the country. Inventors were still busy and better engines were the result. Telegraphy was developed and a signal system was made that eliminated most dangers, and when Westinghouse patented his air brake the modern locomotive was complete. Electricity, perhaps, is being substituted for steam, but of one thing we can be certain, without f \/ steam, progress would have been delayed many hundreds of years.