The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-07-14
The First Locomotive.

The first engine to draw railway
train on this continent was run at
Honesdale, Pa, August 8, 1920. on the
newly-fnished road connecting the
Lackawanna coal fields with tide-water
by way of the Delaware and Hudson
canal. This, says \ New York paper,
was the first road of any consequence in
the3 republic to adopt practically the
economic system of inclined planes and
gravity locomotion, since adopted by en-
gineers 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 Stephenson's ex-
periments with steam machines for
roads were watched throughout civ
ilization with the deepest interest.
In 1928. John B. Jervis, chief engineer
of the Delaware and Hudson canal, sent
his assistant, Horatio Allen, to England
to Investigate the application of steam
to land transportation. Allen became
convinced that Stephenson's ideas were
destined to revolutionize commerce,
and he, therefore, bought for the canal
company three engines to be used on
the initial railway in the United States.
| In May, 1899, the first offthe zgngiHes'
was landed in New York; was put to-
gether by Allen. and exhibited at the
foundry for some weeks. 1t was queer
looking enough, having four wheels
connected by side rods. Vertical cylin-
ders on each side of the rear end Of the
boiler communicated motion to vast
walking beam, attached to the side.rods
of the driving-whacls by other long iron
rods. The engine was indeed, so
covered with rods and Joints that it re-
sembled vast graSshopper. Having
been delivered at Honesdale in due sea-
son, Allen had it put on the track. con-
sisting of hemlock rails, eight by ten
inches thick. four feet three inches
apart, and spiked to hemlock ties with
ten feet space between them. The
engine weighed seven instead Of three
tons, as had been agreed upon; the rails
had been warped, and as the road
crossed the Lackawaxen river, after a
sharp curve, ,on a slender hemlock trestle,
which, it was believed, would not sup
port the engine, Allen was besought not
to imperil his life on it. 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, ana then invited some of the
large, assembly present to accompany
him. Nobody accepted. and, pulling
the throttle-valve open, he said good
bye to the crowd, and dashed away
from the village around the abrupt
curve, and over the trembling trestle,
amid deafcning cheers, at the rate Of
ten miles an hour. The Stourbridge
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 docks.
But it could not be employed to advan-
tage on so slight railway, which could
not be fitted to the engine on account Of
the expenses required. The. Lion"
was, therefore, placed in a shanty on
the docks, and staid there for years.
Finally, it was taken to pieces, its boiler
being carried to Carbondale and put in
foundry, where it is still in use. The
other two engines shared the same fate.
John B. JerVis is still living, at eighty
and upward, a. Rome, in New York,
and Horatio Allen, over seventy, re-
sides at Orange, N. J. What marvel
Gus progress men Of their age have seen
in their day.