Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-07-02
The First Locomotive Engine in
America.

The first engine to draw a railway train on
this continent was run at Honesdalo, Penn,
Aug. <, 1929, on the newly finished road con-
Meeting the Lackawanna coal-felds with tide
water by way of the Delaware and Hudson
canal This was the first road of any conse-
qucnce in the Republic to adopt practically
the economic system of inclined planes and
gravity locomotion, since adopted by engi-
nocrs wherever practicable. At that time
railways were just beginning to attract the
attention of capitalists. The Liverpool and
Manchester road, the pioneer enterprise of
the kind, had been for some time building,
and was near completion George Stephen
sons experiments with steam machines for
roads were watched throughout civilization
with the deepest interest. In 1928, John j.
Jcrvg, chief engineer of the Delaware and
Hudson canal sent his assistant IIorntio Al
len, TO England TO investigate the application
of steam to land transportation. Allen be-
came convinced that Stephenson's ideas were
destined TO rcvolutionize commerce, and he,
therefore, bought for the canal company
three engines to be used on the initial rail
way in the United States. In May, 1929, tho
first of the engines was landed here; was
put together by Allen, and exhibited at the
foundry for some weeks. 1t was queerlook-
ing enough, having four wheels connected by
side rods. Vertical cylinders on each side Of
the rear end of the boiler communicated mo-
ton to a vast walking beam, attached to the
sidc-rods of the drivng-wheels by other long
iron rods. The engine was, indeed, so COW
cred with rods and Joints that it resembled
n vast grasshopper Having been delivered
at Honesdalc in due season, Allen had it put
on the track, consisting of hemlock rails,
by 10 inches thick, 4 feet inches apart, and
spiked to hemlock ties with 10 feet space be-
tween them. The engine weighed Z, instead
of 3, tons, as had been agreed upon; tho
rails had been warped, and as the road cross
ed the Lackawaxen river, after a sharp curve,
on n slender hemlock trcstle which, it was
believed, would not support the engine Al
len was besOught not to imperil his life on 1t.
He knew there was danger but, ambitious TO
connect his name with the first railway in
America, he determined to take the risk. He
ran the engine up and down along the coal
dock for a few minutes, and then invited
some one Of the large assembly present to ac-
company him. Nobody accepted, and, pull
ing the tb[ottle-valve open, he said goodbye
to the crowd and dashed away from the vii
lage, around the abrupt curve, and over the
trembling trestle amid deafening cheers, at
the rate Of II miles an hour. The Stour-
bridge Lion, as the engine was named from
its place of facture, was attached, after the
trial to trains Of coal cars, and drew them
satisfactorily on the COCKS But IL cOulu not
be employed TO advantage on SO slight rail
way, which could not be fitted to the engine
on account of the expense required. The
Lion was, therefore, placed in shanty on
the docks, and staid there for years. Finally,
it was taken to pieces, its boiler being car
ried to Carbondale and put in foundry,
where it is still in use. The other two en-
gines shared the same fate John b. Jervis
is still living at 50 aud upward, at Rome, in
this State, and Horatio Allen, over 20, resides
at Orange, n. IN. y. Times