Talk:George Stephenson

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points for any expansion

a) the inventor of the 'Geordie lamp' (and dispute over priority with the Davy lamp b) Chat Moss / Kilsby tunnel

possibly also what GS's loco improvements were, and his difficulty with L&M survey Rjccumbria 06:55, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Legacy

George Stephenson High School, situated in killingworth, North Tyneside is also named after him.

Hydrogen vs Fire Damp

Apropos of nothing, I assume it would be methane. Chevin 15:57, 2 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yep. I'm using the terminology of the time.--Old Moonraker 16:25, 2 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Business dealings

I believe Stephenson was also accused of being involved in some shady business deals in his time, surely the article should mention this. PatGallacher 00:19, 12 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If you could perhaps cite what you say with some evidence it might be something an editor looks into. Unfortunately I don't know anything in particular about what you're intimating, and it might be that nobody else does either. Given it has been 3 months since this topic was flagged for a reason I have yet to see evidence on, I am removing the "neutral" flag unless someone can come up with something.--Koncorde (talk) 18:24, 2 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Family tree?

The page on George Robert Stephenson (engineer) has this little gem:

Stephenson was born to Robert Stephenson Senior in Newcastle upon Tyne. He was born into a great family of civil engineers, his father was engineer of Pendleton Colliery and Nantlle Railway, his elder brother George Stephenson was a prolific railway engineer as were his uncle George Stephenson and cousin Robert Stephenson.

Has anyone got a brief family tree of the Railway Stephensons? I am having trouble telling all the Georges, Roberts and Robert Georges apart! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.171.3.126 (talk) 12:00, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Reference to Robert Stephenson

The following reference occurs in the article: Robert Stephenson had tried a locomotive on the freight line between Kilmarnock and Troon, in 1815, nine years prior to the Darlington Stockton railway line, however it had proved unsuccessful. Robert was about twelve years old at the time. Is this meant to refer to George? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dposte46 (talk • contribs)

Fixed. Thanks for pointing this out. --Old Moonraker (talk) 11:04, 12 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

HIs life was great —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.172.18.179 (talk) 17:21, 21 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Word order

"That he invented to grow his cucumbers in" is wrong, citing preposition: "a preposition...precedes its phrase". Perhaps editors have overlooked this, and the name preposition (clue!). Should be reverted, once again, to the correct version from 15 March. --Old Moonraker (talk) 18:37, 25 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

However I don't agree with the version to which the article has been reverted. You can't say 'in which he invented' about the glass tubes. That implies that he was inside the tubes when he made his invention. I have therefore changed the sentence to avoid the use of 'in. Dposte46 (talk) 11:35, 26 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Looks a bit lumpy, but as a compromise works well.--Old Moonraker (talk) 11:59, 26 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Geordie theory

This derivation is now labelled a "theory" in the article. My initial response was that the OED doesn't do "theory", only fact. However, the work is quite specific about the lamp so describing the later transfer of the word to Tynesiders generally as "theory" wouldn't directly contradict the source. I suggest, once again in the "spirit of compromise", leaving the new introductory sentence as it is but in the second sentence attaching it just to this bit, thus allowing the distinction. --Old Moonraker (talk) 17:34, 14 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My attitude to this is that despite what the OED mights say (and I don't think the OED is infallible) there is more than one theory regarding the origin of the word "Geordie" and that there is no concrete evidence to support either. The two main theories seem to be the one regarding George Stephenson's lamp and the one based on the fact that the town of Newcastle stood out against the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, and in favour of King George. Both theories only seem to be based on anecdotal evidence which is fairly insubstantial. A lot seems to depend on the earliest recorded date in which the term "Geordie" was used. I don't personally favour either explanation, apart from the fact that the earliest use of the term "Geordie" was restricted to people from Newcastle and was only later extended to people from Tyneside. Given that north-east miners were spread all over the region, if they all used George Stephenson's lamp, why would Geordies be restricted to Newcastle? I think that the Wikipedia article on "Geordie" covers the question adequately without coming down on either side. I don't suggest that the idea of George Stephenson giving his name to the Geordies is wrong, but I am concerned that it is not an established fact and I don't think that alternative theories should be ignored. Dposte46 (talk) 20:40, 14 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]