Civil and mechanical engineer
Robert Stephenson built on the considerable achievements of his father, George. His forward thinking enabled the significant expansion of railways during the ‘railway mania’ of the mid nineteenth century. His expertise in both civil and mechanical engineering established the concept of the railway which developed in this country, and was then exported to the world.
罗伯特·斯蒂芬森，乔治斯蒂斯森的唯一儿子出生于1803年10月16日。斯蒂芬森家族的时代难以居住在一个房间住宅，而乔治在不同的煤矿和米尔斯的各种机器上工作。尽管如此，乔治确保罗伯特得到了完全教育，这与父亲的财富增加了。在1819年在纽卡斯尔离开布鲁斯学院后，年轻的罗伯特被认为是Killingworth Colliery的学徒挖掘工程师。随着对工程的越来越多的了解，他帮助他的父亲在调查斯托克顿和达林顿铁路线上，让他有助于利物浦和曼彻斯特铁路的第一次调查。
1803: 16 October, Robert Stephenson is born at Willington Quay, near Newcastle upon Tyne, the only son of George Stephenson.
1804: Robert and his father George move to Killingworth. Robert attends the local parish school.
1806: 14 May, Robert’s mother dies.
1815：Robert被送到布鲁斯的学院，纽卡斯尔·泰恩州纽卡斯尔接受正规教育。
1819: Robert is apprenticed at Killingworth Colliery.
1821：Robert帮助他父亲乔治调查斯托克顿和达林顿铁路。
1822年: Robert assists with the first survey of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. He advocates the use of ‘travelling’ rather than fixed engines on the new line. He studies at Edinburgh University for six months, taking classes in mathematics, chemistry and geology.
1823年: Robert becomes managing partner of locomotive builders Robert Stephenson & Co in Newcastle, the first locomotive company in the world.
1824年: 18 June, Robert travels to Colombia as engineer to the Colombian Mining Association. He meets Richard Trevithick on the return journey in 1827. December: George Stephenson establishes the firm George Stephenson & Son, ‘an office for engineering and railway surveying’. Robert, although in Colombia, is appointed its chief engineer.
1825年: 27 September, the Stockton & Darlington Railway opens using locomotives from the firm Robert Stephenson & Co.
1827年: December, Robert returns to Britain and assists his father George with construction of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. Based in Newcastle, Robert focuses on the locomotives that would run on the line.
1829年：10月，Robert Stephenson＆Co的机车火箭赢得了雨艇试验。利物浦＆曼彻斯特铁路与公司订购订单，了解更多引擎。6月17日：弗朗西斯桑德森
1830年: Robert is appointed to survey a line between London and Birmingham. He becomes a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers
1833年: The London & Birmingham Railway is authorised. Robert is appointed chief engineer responsible for all aspects of building the railway. Robert and his wife move to London.
1837年: Robert establishes an office in Great George Street, London.
1838年: The London & Birmingham Railway is opened, his tunnels at Kilsby and Primrose Hill being major civil engineering works on the line.
1842年: 4 October, Robert’s wife Frances dies.
1846年: Stephenson contributes to the debate known as ‘the battle of the gauges’. The Gauge Act is passed making Stephenson’s’ 4ft81/4in gauge the standard in Britain, which is later adopted worldwide.
1847年: 30 July, Robert becomes Tory MP for Whitby, representing the town until his death.
1849年:康威铁路桥,第一管式桥ing wrought iron plates opens.
1849年: High Level bridge, Newcastle opened by Queen Victoria.
1849 -1853: President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
1850年: The Royal Border Bridge, Berwick is opened by Queen Victoria. The Britannia Bridge, North Wales opened Robert declines a knighthood.
1851年：指定埃及铁路的总工程师，在埃及的亚历山大和开罗之间建造。铁路于1853年开放。穿过尼罗河的桥梁。向Christiania（奥斯陆）指定的总工程师来到Mioss湖铁路。
1851年：任命伦敦伟大展览的皇家专员。
1853年: Robert goes to Canada where he designs a tubular bridge crossing the St. Lawrence River at Montreal.
1855年: Awarded the gold medal of honour at the Paris Exhibition for his invention of tubular plate railway bridges (the Britannia Bridge and others in Canada and Egypt).
1856年: Robert appointed President of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
1859年：Robert的蒙特利尔圣劳伦斯河上的管状维多利亚桥完成了。这是世界上最长的桥梁（6650英尺）。
1859年: 12 October, Robert dies in London and is buried in Westminster Abbey.
铁路曼尼亚
成功打开后,斯托克顿& Darlington Railway and the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, Robert was in demand as a railway engineer. During the years of ‘railway mania’ during the 1830s and 1840s, he was appointed engineer to a great number of railways in the midlands, north of England and north Wales. His first major commission was the London & Birmingham Railway; opened in 1838 it was the first railway into London. With its terminus at Euston it went north west to Birmingham Curzon Street, forming a junction with the Grand Junction Railway and connecting the new line with the cities of Liverpool and Manchester. Works at Kilsby Tunnel (near Rugby) and the cuttings at Tring and Roade were major civil engineering undertakings. For the Chester & Holyhead Railway and the Newcastle & Berwick Railway he designed four very notable and different railway bridges, all of which are still in use today. The highly distinctive Conway (1848) and Britannia (1850) bridges in North Wales both incorporated box section wrought iron tubes. The High Level Bridge (1849), between Newcastle and Gateshead carried both a railway and a roadway from the outset on cast iron spans, while the Royal Border Bridge (1850) was a simple masonry structure.
Locomotives and the Rainhill Trials
Robert Stephenson＆Co，纽卡斯尔于1823年由George Stephenson成立，Robert是公司的管理伙伴。预见对新铁路的蒸汽发动机的需求，是世界上第一个机车工作。该公司于1825年9月，刚刚及时完成了其第一个蒸汽机机器人，以便于斯托克顿和达灵顿铁路的仪式开放。
As early as 1822 while working on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, Robert Stephenson strongly advocated the use of ‘travelling’ rather than fixed engines on the line, despite the preference of both the company directors and his father George for a fixed arrangement. After his return from South America in 1827, Robert found the question still under debate. The Directors proposed a competition to decide the best mode of traction for their new railway. Robert Stephenson & Co entered their locomotive Rocket into the Rainhill Trails in October 1829. It won, and convinced a watching world that locomotives were the future for the new railway. Robert Stephenson continued to improve on Rocket’s design, its multi-tubular boiler providing the template for steam locomotives built worldwide during the 19th and 20th centuries.
世界铁路
With his growing reputation for railway engineering, both civil and mechanical, Robert Stephenson was able to travel abroad on various consultancies for overseas railways during the 1840s and 1850s. His most notable structures were all tubular bridges; the Victoria Bridge over the St Lawrence River in Montreal, and bridges over the Nile for the Egyptian Railway between Alexandria and Suez via Cairo. As either chief engineer or consultant to railway projects his work influenced the development of railways in Belgium, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Italy, and India. It is no coincidence that these railways made use of the Stephenson ‘standard’ gauge and had locomotives designed and built by Robert Stephenson & Co, Newcastle. By the time of his death, Robert Stephenson had received honours from many of the countries that had made use of his engineering talents; his vision of the railway had been taken to the world.
你知道吗？
世界上60％的铁路使用Stephenson的“标准”规范为4英尺/ 4英寸