Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1886-08-12
AMERICAS FIRST LOCOMOTIVE.
The Trial Trip of the Stourbridge
Lion mt nonesda1e, Aug. 8, 1890.


The Trial Trip of the stourbridge
Lion ut Honesda1c, Aug. 8, 1890.
Guide-books, as rule, possess no in
terest that is at all dependent on any
inherent value in the facts that are pre-
sented in them says The New York San,
but Mr.. j. w. Burdict, the general
passenger agent of the Delaware and
Hudson Canal company's railroad, in
little pamphlet just issued, has been at
some pains to present what he deems
trustworthy facts about the first loco
motive that ever ran upon an American
railroad. According to him, the first
of these engines was the Stourbridge
Lion, so called because it lore lions
head on the front of its DO Ter and was
made by Foster, Boswick & Co. in
Stourbridge. England, Horato Allen,
young civil engineer. had been sent to
Engla by the canal company TO buy
strap-iron for the rails, chains for til.
inclined planes. and three locomotives
for the levels of the projected RI lroad.
He returned in 1928 and the first of the
locomotives reached New York in Nav.
1929. Ii was set up at the West Pc mt
foundry at the foot of Beach street. in
this city, and in the summer was ship
ell by boat to Honesdale, where il was
put upon the IRON strapped wooden
rails of the new road. 1t was of the
pattern afterward known by the name
of ''grasshoppers," because of the
walking beams that elbowed up and
down over the boiler, like the leg
Joints of those insects. 1t weighed
seven tons. or less than one of our ee-
waited railroad locomotives, but it had
no such pulling power as they possess.
1t was big and clumsy, with four
wooden wheels. spoked and with iron
tires. 1t had no cab, and the cylinders
were upright. The first trip was made
on Aug. 8, 1929. in the presence of
crowd collected from forty miles
around
An old Queen Anne cannon was
brought up from New York to add Its
voice to those of the people. Predic-
tons of failure were not wanting; the
breaking down of the track, which was
built largely on trestles or piles, was
especially apprehended, and there was
little inclination on the part of those
present to trust themselves on the new
vehicle. Mr.. Allen, declaring that if
there was any danger he was ready to
meet it, took his position on the loco
motive, and, after running slowly back
ward and forward few times before
the assembled multitude, pulled the
throttle valve open, and, shouting q
loud good-by to the crowd, dashed
swiftly away around the dangerous
curve and over the swaying trestle, set
ting in motion the first locomotive that
ever turned wheel in the western
! hemisphere The track was of strap
iron, spiked next the inner edge to
large hemlock sleepers laid on cross
ties. At the time of the trial trip the
timbers and ties, though securely con-
nected, had been warped, and in some
places raised from the ground, by ex-
posure to the sun. The road crossed
the Lackawaxen river over frail hem
lock trestle one hundred feet in height,
and as the locomotive was found to
weigh seven tons instead of four. as the
contract had stipulated, it was feared
by everybody that the trestle would not
bear its weight.
| As the Lion passed over the road the
weight pressed everything underneath
firmly down to its place on the road
bed, with no little 'creaking and groan-
ing. The locomotive proved to be all
that the engineer had expected. After
running at a fair rate of speed as far as
Seelyv lie, the Lion was reversed, and
returned to the dock at Honesdale
amid the shouts of the people and the
booming OF the cannon, having met
with no accident and encountered no
difficulty. The trial trip was thus COM
pleted, and the locomotive was pro-
nounced success. Mr.. Allen remain
1 ed in Honeslale three weeks after this
experimental "trip. during which time
he made some improvements in the
locomotive. After h $ departure. how
ever, the company not being rich
enough to purchase iron rails. and the
wooden ones proving too frail for the
engine, it was housed in shauty on
the canal dock, where 1t lay for years,
a prey to rust and decay. The boiler
was aftcrward used in q foundry at
Carbondale; the pump was used for
several years by an employee Of the com
pany, and the rest OF the old hulk was
partly hacked to pieces by relic hunters
and partly sold for old iron.
On October 6. 1929. less than two
months after the historic ride in the
Stourbridge Lion, the famous compete
tive test of locomotives at liverpool
took place The result of this was the
firm establishment of the steam rail.
road at the head of all methods of
land transportation. There were four
engines in competition, and Stephen
sons Rocket won the prize. Eleven
months after this the Liverpool and
Manchester railroad was established,
and the Racket ran thirty-seven miles
an hour. Then there were only twen-
ty-three miles of railroads in this coun-
try. and now the number of miles of
track exceeds 100000
A Young man Mt Halifax Nova Scotia.