of the 'gift of gab;' he could no more
explain to others what he meant to do and how he meant to do it, than he
could fly, and therefore the members of the House of Commons, after
saying 'There is a rock to be excavated to a depth of more than sixty
feet, there are embankments to be made nearly to the same height, there
is a swamp of five miles in length to be traversed, in which if you drop
an iron rod it sinks and disappears; how will you do all this?' and
receiving no answer but a broad Northumbrian, 'I can't tell you how I'll
do it, but I can tell you I _will_ do it,' dismissed Stephenson as a
visionary. Having prevailed upon a company of Liverpool gentlemen to be
less incredulous, and having raised funds for his great undertaking, in
December of 1826 the first spade was struck in the ground. And now I
will give you an account of my yesterday's excursion. A party of sixteen
persons was ushered into a large court-yard, where, under cover, stood
several carriages of a peculiar construction, one of which was prepared
for our reception. It was a long-bodied vehicle with seats placed across
it back to back; the one we were in had six of these benches, and was a
sort of uncovered _char a banc_. The wheels were placed upon two iron
bands, which formed the road, and to which they are fitted, being so
constructed as to slide along without any danger of hitching or becoming
displaced, on the same principle as a thing sliding on a concave groove.
The carriage was set in motion by a mere push, and, having received this
impetus, rolled with us down an inclined plane into a tunnel, which forms
the entrance to the railroad. This tunnel is four hundred yards long (I
believe), and will be lighted by gas. At the end of it we emerged from
darkness, and, the ground becoming level, we stopped. There is another
tunnel parallel with this, only much wider and longer, for it extends
from the place we had now reached, and where the steam carriages start,
and which is quite out of Liverpool, the whole way under the town, to the
docks. This tunnel is for wagons and other heavy carriages; and as the
engines which are to draw the trains along the railroad do not enter
these tunnels, there is a large building at this entrance which is to be
inhabited by steam engines of a stationary turn of mind, and different
constitution from the travelling ones, which are to propel the trains
through the tunnels to the terminus in the town, without going