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George Stephenson

George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public intercity railway line in the world to use steam locomotives.


G. Stephenson was born in Wylam, 9.3 miles (15km) west of Newcastle. His father was a fireman, earning a very low wage, so there was no money for schooling. At the age of 17, Stephenson became an engineman. He realized the value of education and paid to study at night school to learn reading, writing and arithmetic. In 1802 he moved to Willington Quay where he worked as a brakeman, made shoes and mended clocks to supplement his income.




In 1811 the pumping engine at his work was not working properly and Stephenson offered to fix it. He did so with such success that he was promoted to maintain and repair all the colliery engines. He became an expert in steam-driven machinery.




Stephenson designed his first locomotive in 1814. The locomotive could haul 30 tons of coal up a hill at 4 mph (6.4 km/h). The new engines were too heavy to run on wooden rails, and iron rails were in their infancy, with cast iron exhibiting excessive brittleness. Stephenson improved the design of cast-iron rails to reduce breakage and managed to solve the problem caused by the weight of the engine on the primitive rails.



The years between 1830-1840 were the busiest in Stephenson life. Many of the first American railroad builders came to Newcastle to learn fr om Stephenson. But G. Stephenson cannot claim to have invented the locomotive. Richard Trevithick deserves that credit. But Stephenson was the first to suggest the standard gauge, sometimes called “Stephenson gauge” which is now used throughout the world. As a tribute to his life and works, a bronze statue was unveiled at Chesterfield railway station in the town wh ere Stephenson spent the last ten years of his life.





G. Stephenson died aged 67, on 12 August 1848 in Chesterfield.