The success of the Stockton and Darlington railway was so immense
and unexpected, the number of passengers who went by it was so
great, and the quantity of coal carried for shipment so far beyond
anything the projectors themselves could have anticipated, that a
desire soon began to be felt for similar works in other places.
There are no two towns in England which absolutely need a railway
communication from one to the other so much as Liverpool and
Manchester. The first is the great port of entry for cotton, the
second is the great centre of its manufacture. The Bridgewater
canal had helped for a time to make up for the want of water
communication between those two closely connected towns; but as
trade developed, the canal became too small for the demands upon
it, and the need for an additional means of intercourse was deeply
felt. A committee was formed to build a railway in this busy
district, and after a short time George Stephenson was engaged to
superintend its construction.

A long and severe fight was fought over the Liverpool and Manchester
railway, and it was at first doubtful whether the scheme would ever
be carried out. Many great landowners were strongly opposed to it,
and tried their best to keep the bill for authorizing it from
passing through Parliament. Stephenson himself was compelled to
appear in London as a witness before a parliamentary committee, and
was closely cross-examined as to the possibilities of his plan. In
those days, even after the success of the Stockton and Darlington
line, his views about the future of railways were still regarded by
most sober persons as ridiculously wild and enthusiastic; while the
notion that trains might be made to travel twice as fast as
stage-coaches, was scouted as the most palpable and ridiculous