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(1) Samuel Smiles described Chat Moss in his book Lives of the Engineers (1899)
Chat Moss is an immense peat bog of about twelve square miles. Unlike the bogs or swamps of Cambridge and Lincolnshire, which consist principally of soft mud or silt, this bog is a vast mass of spongy vegetable pulp. The spagni, or bog-mosses, cover the entire area; one year's growth rising over another, the older growths not entirely decaying. the peculiar character of the Moss has prevented an insuperable difficulty in the way of reclaiming it by any system of extensive drainage.
(2) Thomas Harrison, an opponent of the proposed Liverpool & Manchester Railway, criticised Stephenson's plan to cross Chat Moss.
It is ignorance almost inconceivable. It is perfect madness. Every part of the scheme shows that this man has applied himself to a subject of which he has no knowledge, and to which he has no science to apply.
(3) On 25th April, 1825, George Stephenson gave evidence to the House of Commons committee looking into the proposed Liverpool & Manchester Railway. Edward Alderson, criticised Stephenson's plans for Chat Moss.
Everybody knows that the iron sinks immediately on its being put upon the surface. I have heard of culverts, which have been put upon the Moss, which after been surveyed the day before, have the next morning disappeared. As fast as one is added, the lower one sinks! There is nothing, it appears, except long sedgy grass, and a little soil to prevent it sinking into the shades of eternal night.
(4) On 23rd December, 1837 George Stephenson made a speech in Birmingham about building the railway over Chat Moss.
After working for weeks and weeks we went on filling in without the slightest apparent effect. Even my assistants began to feel uneasy and to doubt the success of the scheme. The directors, too, spoke of it as a hopeless task, and at length they became seriously alarmed, so much so, indeed, that a board meeting was held on Chat Moss to decide whether I should proceed any further. they had previously taken the opinion of other engineers, who reported unfavourably. We had to go on. An immense outlay had been incurred and a great loss would have been occasioned had the scheme been then abandoned.
(5) Samuel Smiles later interviewed George Stephenson and Robert Stephenson about how they managed to overcome Chat Moss.
George Stephenson's idea was, that a railroad might be made to float upon the bog. As a ship, or raft, capable of sustaining heavy loads floated in water, so in his opinion, might a light road be floated upon a bog. The first thing done was to form a footpath of heather along the proposed road, on which a man might walk without risk of sinking. A single line of temporary railway was then laid down, formed of ordinary cross-bars about 3 feet long and an inch square, with holes punched through them at the ends and nailed down to temporary sleepers. Along this way ran the waggons in which were conveyed the materials requisite to form the permanent road. These waggons carried about a ton each, and were propelled by boys running behind them along the narrow iron rails. The boys became so expert that they would run the 4 miles at the rate of 7 or 8 miles an hour without missing a step.
