may ascertain for yourself the actual cost of working. And I
must tell you that the economy of the locomotive engine is no longer a
matter of theory, but a matter of fact." So confident was the tone in
which Stephenson spoke of the success of his engines, and so important
were the consequences involved in arriving at a correct conclusion on the
subject, that Mr. Pease at length resolved upon paying a visit to
Killingworth in the summer of 1822, to see with his own eyes the
wonderful new power so much vaunted by the engineer.

When Mr. Pease arrived at Killingworth village, he inquired for George
Stephenson, and was told that he must go over to the West Moor, and seek
for a cottage by the roadside, with a dial over the door--"that was where
George Stephenson lived." They soon found the house with the dial; and
on knocking, the door was opened by Mrs. Stephenson--his second wife
(Elizabeth Hindmarsh), the daughter of a farmer at Black Callerton, whom
he had married in 1820. {129} Her husband, she said, was not in the
house at present, but she would send for him to the colliery. And in a
short time Stephenson appeared before them in his working dress, just as
he had come out of the pit.

He very soon had his locomotive brought up to the crossing close by the
end of the cottage,--made the gentlemen mount it, and showed them its
paces. Harnessing it to a train of loaded waggons, he ran it along the
railroad, and so thoroughly satisfied his visitors of its power and
capabilities, that from that day Edward Pease was a declared supporter of
the locomotive engine. In preparing the Amended Stockton and Darlington
Act, at Stephenson's urgent request Mr. Pease had a clause inserted,
taking power to work the railway by means of locomotive engines, and to
employ them for the haulage of passengers as well as of merchandise.
{130} The Act was obtained in 1823, on which Stephenson was appointed
the company's engineer at a salary of 300 pounds per annum; and it was
determined that the line should be constructed and opened for traffic as
soon as practicable.

He at once proceeded, accompanied by his assistants, with the working
survey of the line, laying out every foot of the ground himself. Railway
surveying was as yet in its infancy, and was slow and difficult work. It
afterwards became a separate branch of railway business, and was
entrusted to a special staff. Indeed on no subsequent line did George
Stephenson take the s