he opening, some to see the "bubble burst;" and there were
many prophets of evil who would not miss the blowing up of the boasted
travelling engine. The opening was, however, auspicious. The
proceedings commenced at Brusselton Incline, about nine miles above
Darlington, where the fixed engine drew a train of loaded waggons up the
incline from the west, and lowered them on the east side. At the foot of
the incline a locomotive was in readiness to receive them, Stephenson
himself driving the engine. The train consisted of six waggons loaded
with coals and flour; after these was the passenger-coach, filled with
the directors and their friends, and then twenty-one waggons fitted up
with temporary seats for passengers; and lastly came six waggon-loads of
coals, making in all a train of thirty-eight vehicles. The local
chronicler of the day almost went beside himself in describing the
extraordinary event:--"The signal being given," he says, "the engine
started off with this immense train of carriages; and such was its
velocity, that in some parts the speed was frequently 12 miles an hour!"
By the time it reached Stockton there were about 600 persons in the train
or hanging on to the waggons, which must have gone at a safe and steady
pace of from four to six miles an hour from Darlington. "The arrival at
Stockton," it is added, "excited a deep interest and admiration."

The working of the line then commenced, and the results were such as to
surprise even the most sanguine of its projectors. The traffic upon
which they had formed their estimates of profit proved to be small in
comparison with that which flowed in upon them which they had never
dreamt of. Thus, what the company had principally relied upon for their
receipts was the carriage of coals for land sale at the stations along
the line, whereas the haulage of coals to the seaports for exportation to
the London market was not contemplated as possible. When the bill was
before Parliament, Mr. Lambton (afterwards Earl of Durham) succeeded in
getting a clause inserted, limiting the charge for the haulage of all
coal to Stockton-on-Tees for the purpose of shipment to 0.5d. per ton per
mile; whereas a rate of 4d. per ton was allowed to be taken for all coals
led upon the railway for land sale. Mr. Lambton's object in enforcing
the low rate of 0.5d. was to protect his own trade in coal exported from
Sunderland and the northern ports. He believed, in common with everybo