GEORGE & ROBERT STEPHENSON: A Passion for Success

Every one of us have had an interest in the Stephensons since we became aware of their locomotive creation the 'Rocket'. Told chronologically, the book covers all the major work including the Stockford to Darlington Goods Railway and the Liverpool to Manchester Passenger Railway served by the groundbreaking Rocket steam locomotives. Robert Stephenson's work included the 'tubular' Conway and Britannia Railway bridges and the high-level Newcastle twin deck bridge. From poverty to immense wealth, from humble beginnings to international celebrity, George and Robert Stephenson's was an extraordinary joint career. Together they overshadow all other engineers except perhaps Robert's friend Isambard Kingdom Brunel for one reason - they were winners. Colossal in confidence, ability, energy and ambition, George was also a man of huge rages and jealousies, determined to create his own legend. Robert was brought up from infancy by his father and was a very different person who struggled with self-distrust and morbid depression and more than once his career and reputation teetered on the edge of disaster. Yet he emerges as a far more appealing and sympathetic figure than the conventional picture of the 'eminent engineer.' Later in the book we learn that Robert commissioned a seagoing yacht and sailed to Egypt and other Mediterranean ports and we learn about his close relationship with Brunel and the railway king George Hudson. Robert and Brunel both suffered from Bright's kidney disease and died within months of each other. A wonderful dual biography which is both authoritative and contains many new discoveries. Large softback, 318pp, illus.