Lot 248: STEPHENSON (GEORGE)

Letter signed ("Geo. Stephenson"), to Edward Pease, giving news of his progress on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway: "We are getting on with our work here pretty well, and the whole of our Directors are using their best exertions to push the concern forward – We shall be through the Tunnel in about three Months – we have completed 19,000 yards out of 22,000 – the actual cost of it will come very near the estimate – We shall complete the long cutting of 70 feet in depth near Liverpool, this summer"; and giving news of the progress of the Clarence Railway bill through Parliament, in the face of fierce opposition from the coal interest; with integral address leaf, postmarked, 2 pages, small old stain and in inner margin, leaves separating, 4to, Liverpool, 21 March 1828

"WE SHALL COMPLETE THE LONG CUTTING OF 70 FEET IN DEPTH NEAR LIVERPOOL, THIS SUMMER": GEORGE STEPHENSON BUILDS THE WORLD'S FIRST PASSENGER RAILWAY. In this report on the progress of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway to Edward Pease, his chief financial backer, Stephenson refers to the extraordinary 2,250 yard Wapping Tunnel from Liverpool Docks to Edge Hill, followed by the spectacular two-mile long cutting, seventy foot deep in places, made through the rock at Mount Olive near Liverpool. It is less immediately obvious what constitutes the 20,000 yard stretch to which he refers in the same paragraph. Were he not discussing works at the Liverpool end of the operation, it might be taken as reference to the laying of the line over the great Chat Moss bog just outside Manchester, which indeed extends to about twelve square miles. Chat Moss, together with the Wapping Tunnel and Mount Olive, form the culmination of work on the Manchester & Liverpool line; in the words of W.O. Skeat: "The phenomenal determination shown by Stephenson, at this time, compels one's deepest admiration. He was engaged on the greatest engineering project ever attempted in Britain; and he was solving its problems without any previous experience to guide him" (George Stephenson: The Engineer and His Letters, Institute of Mechanical Engineers, 1973, p.109).

Edward Pease, the recipient of this letter, had been the driving force behind the earlier Stockton & Darlington Railway and funded the family's engine-building works, Robert Stephenson & Co (see the following lot). The Clarence Railway bill, which this letter also discusses, was for an extension of the Stockton & Darlington line from Simpasture down to the Tees. See illustration on preceding page.

Sold for the Benefit of the Newcomen Society.