Although Stephenson's locomotives were in daily use at Killingworth, and had been for years, nobody paid any attention to them except a mine owner here and there. There seemed little prospect that the locomotive would come into general use. Stephenson, however, had a growing faith in his invention.

In 1821, Mr. Edward Pease obtained from Parliament authority to construct a tramway between Stockton and Darlington. Not many days later, a stranger called on Mr. Pease, describing himself as "only the engine wright at Killingworth." George Stephenson wished to be the engineer of the new road. Mr. Pease saw that he was the very man for the place.

When the Stockton and Darlington Railroad was planned, there was no thought of using locomotives on it. None of the directors had any faith in them. Stationary engines were to be put at the very steepest grades, but the bulk of the hauling was to be done by horses. Stephenson lost no chance to tell Mr. Pease of his locomotives. "One locomotive," said he, "is worth fifty horses. Come over to Killingworth and see what my engines can do; seeing is believing." Mr. Pease finally went to Killingworth and with him seeing was believing. Three of Stephenson's locomotives were ordered to be ready for the opening of the road.

As the time for opening the road came near, Stephenson became anxious. He was hopeful, however. At dinner with his son Robert one evening, he said: "I venture to tell you that I think you will live to see the day when railways will take the place of all other methods of conveyance in this country,—when mail coaches will go by railway, and railroads will become the great highways for the king and his subjects. The time is coming when it will be cheaper for a workman to travel upon a railway than to walk on foot. I know there are great difficulties to be faced; but what I have said will come to pass, as sure as you live. I only wish I may live to see the day, though I can scarcely hope for that, as I know how slow progress is, and with what difficulty I have been able to get the locomotive thus far adopted, notwithstanding my ten years' successful experiment at Killingworth."

The first of the three engines to be delivered was engine number one, Locomotion. These engines were built after Stephenson's latest plans, in his own factory at Newcastle. They did not differ much from the engines built eight or ten years before at Killingworth, but the workmanship was better.

A great crowd gathered to see the new road opened. The locomotive was the center of attraction. Some came to rejoice, but many came to see the traveling engine blow up. A great procession was formed with engine number one at its head. Stephenson was the engineer. The train was made up of twelve cars loaded with coal and flour, a passenger coach for the directors and their friends, and twenty-one coal cars for other passengers, in all a train of thirty-four cars. At the head of the procession rode a man on a horse, carrying a banner with these words on it: "Private Risk is the Public's Gain."  At the signal, off started the great train. It moved at first at a rate of six to eight miles an hour. Stephenson finally decided to try the speed of the engine. He signaled the horseman to get out of the way, and put on the steam. The train now rushed toward Darlington at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, a marvelous speed for the day. The success of the engine excited great interest and admiration.

The number of passengers to be carried was a surprise. Not much had been thought of carrying passengers, and when the road was opened the company had only one passenger car, the Experiment. Other cars were soon added. The bodies of some old stagecoaches were bought and fastened to the wheels of coal cars. These passenger cars were first drawn by horses, but it was not long before one of Stephenson's locomotives could be seen steaming merrily along, drawing a train made up of a number of loaded coal cars and one or two of these grotesque passenger coaches.

The success of the Stockton and Darlington encouraged a group of men who contemplated building a railroad between Liverpool and Manchester. Some of them went to Killingworth to see Stephenson's engines. After seeing them, one of the men wrote: "Here is an engine that will before long effect a complete change in society. Mr. Stephenson is the greatest practical genius of the age, and if he develops the full powers of that engine his fame in the world will be equal to that of Watt." Naturally enough, when it was decided to build the new road, Stephenson was chosen engineer.

The new railroad stirred up much opposition, among the owners of turnpikes and canals. The newspapers printed all sorts of ridiculous things. The railroad would keep the cows from grazing and the hens from laying. The poisonous smoke from the locomotives would kill the birds, the grass, and the trees. The sparks would burn all the houses along the way. There would no longer be any use for horses,—indeed, it would not be long before there would be no horses, and therefore oats and hay would be worthless. The price of land would be lowered, for it would be impossible to plow the neighboring fields, and dangerous to drive along the near-by wagon roads. Besides, any number of people would be killed by the bursting boilers. All these fears seem ridiculous to us, but they were very real then.

There was also great opposition in Parliament when the bill to construct the road was secured. People were not ready to believe that an engine could fly across the country, with hundreds of persons in its train, faster than the fleetest horse or dog could run. The very idea was absurd.

All sorts of amusing questions were asked: What would happen when the engine came to a curve in the track? How could an engine go in the face of a strong wind?

"Suppose now," said one member of Parliament, "that a cow got in the way of the engine; would not that be an awkward circumstance?"

"Yes," replied Stephenson, "very awkward for the cow."

Not only were Stephenson and his idea of a steam railroad ridiculed, but the best engineers of the day were called in to show that the road could not be built where Stephenson was going to build it. At one point the road passed over a great swamp, Chat Moss. "No engineer in his senses," said one of these experts, "would go through Chat Moss. Who but Mr. Stephenson would have thought of entering Chat Moss? It is ignorance . . . . Every part of the scheme shows that this man has applied himself to a subject of which he has no knowledge."

Thus George Stephenson, "the engine wright of Killingworth," with only his practical knowledge to guide him and his genius to inspire him, battled for his ideas against the most learned men of the day. He stood alone. He was called "ignorant," "out of his senses," and "mad"; but as he said later, "I put up with every rebuff and went on with my plans, determined not to be put down."

When the Liverpool and Manchester road was nearly done, the directors were puzzled as to whether it was better to use stationary engines or locomotives. The engineers they consulted advised the use of a system of stationary engines placed at intervals along the way. Stephenson alone held out for the locomotive. With public opinion against him,—for the most frightful stories were told about how dangerous and terrible the locomotive was,—he urged his view upon the directors in and out of season. Even in his darkest hour, he declared: "Locomotive railroads will, before many years, be the great highways of the world." At length the directors decided to offer a prize of two thousand dollars for the best locomotive. Four were entered for the prize: the Novelty, the Sanspareil, the Rocket, and the Perseverance.

The Rocket was Stephenson's engine. It did not look much like the engines built at Killingworth or for the Stockton and Darlington, but the principles followed in making the Rocket were the same as in the earlier engines: few parts, and direct connection between the cylinders and the driving wheels. There was one important improvement. The earlier engines had a single large flue running through the boiler between the fire box and the smokestack. The Rocket was fitted with a boiler, in which there were twenty-five copper tubes, each three inches in diameter. This style of boiler, to be found now in all locomotives, made it easier to keep up the steam. The Rocket was therefore the best and fastest engine that Stephenson had built.

The trial was held at Rainhill, in 1829. Thousands of people, including many engineers and interested persons the world over, came to see the contest. The Novelty ran at the rate of twenty-four miles an hour, but it broke down. The Sanspareil  traveled at an average speed of fourteen miles an hour, but its pumps got out of order and it had to stop. The Perseverance  was unable to go more than four or five miles an hour, and was withdrawn from the contest. There yet remained the Rocket. On the Rocket, George Stephenson pinned all his hopes. He had battled for years for a great idea. He had done work and had faced difficulties which would have crushed many another man, but his courage had never failed him. Now, the Rocket  would show the world whether or not he was "ignorant," "out of his senses," and "mad," and whether or not the steam railroad would become the "great highway of the world."

The Rocket  made the trial trip at a maximum speed of twenty-nine miles an hour and at an average speed of fifteen. She met every condition of the contest. The spectators were greatly astonished at the wonderful performance.

The Liverpool and Manchester Railroad was opened to the public in 1830. The event was justly looked upon as of national importance, and there was a big celebration. A great procession went from Liverpool to Manchester and back again. Thousands upon thousands of people gathered along the way to view the great sight, but few of those who on that day saw a locomotive for the first time, realized the importance of the invention made by the "engine wright of Killingworth."

In a very few years after that memorable contest at Rainhill, many counties saw the locomotives busy hauling raw materials to the mills and factories, busy carrying the manufactured products where they were needed, and busy in speeding passengers from place to place. The different sections of the same county were thus brought nearer together. Frontier regions were easily settled, new industries were developed, and new markets opened. The locomotive is therefore to be ranked as one of the world's great inventions, and George Stephenson as one of the world's great men.