The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1886-08-26
OUR FIRST LOCOMOTIVE.
The Trial Trip of the Stourbridge Lion at
HOnesdale. August 3, 1929.

oOh fIIISI LoCONoIltE He
The Trial Trip of the stourbrIdge Lion at
HonesdaIe, August 8, 1929.
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 MIR. j. w. Burdict, the general pas
senger agent of the Delaware and Hud-
son Canal company's railroad, in a
little pamphlet just issued, has been at
some pains to present what he deems
trustworthy facts about the first locomo-
tive that ever ran upon an American
railroad. According TO him, the first of
these engines was the Stourbridge Lion,
so called because it bore a lions head
on the front of its boiler and was made
by Foster, Boswick & Co. in Stour-
bridge, England. Horatio Allen, a
young civil engineer, had been sent to
England by the canal company to buy
strap-iron for the rails. chains for the
inclined planes, and three locomotives
for the levels of the projected railroad.
locomotives reached New York in May,
1929. 1t was set up at the West Point
foundry at the foot of Beach street, in
ped by boat to Honesdale, where it was
put upon the iron-strapped wooden rails
of the new road. 1t was of the pattern
afterward known by the name of grass
hoppers," because of the walking g-beams
that elbowed up and down over the
boiler, like the leg joints of those in
sects. 1t weighed seven tons, or less
than one of our elevated railroad loco
hItt ho1
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-
tlons of failure were not wanting; the
breaking down of the track, which was
built largely on trestles and piles, was
especially apprehended. and there was
little. inclination on the part of those
present to trust themselves on the new
vehicle. MIR. Allen, declaring that if
there was any danger he was ready to
meet it, took his position on the iocomo-
tive, and, after running slowly back
ward and forward a few times before
the assembled multitude. pulled. the
throttle valve open, and. shouting a
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 a wheel in the western
hxr,, Iss,Nl e
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 become warped, and in
some places raised from the ground, by
exposure to the sun. The road crossed
the Lackawaxen river over a 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 roadbed,
with no little creaking and groaning.
The locomotive proved to be all that
the engineer had expected. After run
ming at fair rate of speed as far as
Seelyville, the Lion was reversed, and
returned to the dock at Honesdale amid
the shouts of the people and the BOOM
ing of the cannon, having met with no
accident and encountered no difficulty.
The trial trip was thus completed, and
the locomotive was pronounced a sue
cess. MIR. Allen remained in Homes
dale three weeks after this experimental
trip, during which time he made some
improvements in the locomotive. After
his departure, however, the company
not being rich enough to purchase iron
rails. and the wooden ones proving too
frail for the engine, it was housed in a
shanty on the canal dock, where it Law
for years, a prey to rust and decay. The
boiler was afterward used in foundry
at Carbondale; the pump was used for
several years by an employe of the COM
pany, and the rest of the old hulk was
and partly sold for old iron.
On Oct 6, 1929, less than two months
after the historic ride in the Stourbridge
Lion, the famous competitive test of To-
comotives at Liverpool took place. The
result of this was the firm establishment
of the steam railroad at the head of all
methods of land transportation. There
were four engines in competition, and
Stephenson's Rocket won the prize.
Eleven months after this the Liverpool
and Manchester railroad was estab-
lished, and the Rocket ran fifteen miles
at speed of thirty-seven miles an hour.
Then there were only twenty-three
miles of railroads in this country, and
now the number of miles of track ex-
ceeds 100000.