ABSTRACT
After a century and a half of active life the steam locomotive is now widely thought to be obsolescent. But the importance of George and Robert Stephenson, who more than any other two men were responsible for inaugurating the steam-railway era in this country, deserves a reassessment. Between 1815 and 1819, in collaboration with William Losh, George Stephenson improved the fixing and jointing of the rails, the structure of the engine wheels and the general arrangement of the locomotive. He then planned his first railway—the Hetton colliery line from the pit to the River Wear. Between 1819 and 1822, Robert gained practical experience of coal mining as apprentice to the celebrated Nicholas Wood, head viewer at the West Moor pit of Killingworth colliery. In 1824 Robert set off for South America with the luckless post of engineer to the Colombian Mining Association of London, which had as its object the resuscitation of the derelict silver mines of Santa Ana.
