nent road was a matter
of considerable importance. A wooden tramroad had been contemplated when
the first Act was applied for; but Stephenson having advised that an iron
road should be laid down, he was instructed to draw up a specification of
the rails. He went before the directors to discuss with them the kind of
material to be specified. He was himself interested in the patent for
cast-iron rails, which he had taken out in conjunction with Mr. Losh in
1816; and, of course, it was to his interest that his articles should be
used. But when requested to give his opinion on the subject, he frankly
said to the directors, "Well, gentlemen, to tell you the truth, although
it would put 500 pounds in my pocket to specify my own patent rails, I
cannot do so after the experience I have had. If you take my advice, you
will not lay down a single cast-iron rail." "Why?" asked the directors.
"Because they will not stand the weight, and you will be at no end of
expense for repairs and relays." "What kind of road, then," he was
asked, "would you recommend?" "Malleable rails, certainly," said he;
"and I can recommend them with the more confidence from the fact that at
Killingworth we have had some Swedish bars laid down--nailed to wooden
sleepers--for a period of fourteen years, the waggons passing over them
daily; and there they are, in use yet, whereas the cast rails are
constantly giving way."

The price of malleable rails was, however, so high--being then worth
about 12 pounds per ton as compared with cast-iron rails at about 5
pounds 10s.--and the saving of expense was so important a consideration
with the subscribers, that Stephenson was directed to provide, in the
specification, that only one-half of the rails required--or about 800
tons--should be of malleable iron, and the remainder of cast-iron. The
malleable rails were of the kind called "fish-bellied," and weighed 28
lbs. to the yard, being 2.25 inches broad at the top, with the upper
flange 0.75 inch thick. They were only 2 inches in depth at the points
at which they rested on the chairs, and 3.25 inches in the middle or
bellied part.

When forming the road, the proper gauge had also to be determined. What
width was this to be? The gauge of the first tramroad laid down had
virtually settled the point. The gauge of wheels of the common vehicles
of the country--of the carts and waggons employed on common roads, which
were first used on the tramroads--was about