The Washington herald., 1915-12-19

~ the locomotive. probably the
greatest factor in the marvellous
development of the world in the past
century. 1t was just a hundred years
ago, late in 1915. that George Stephen
son completed the first engine to be op
Grated on a railroad by direct transmits
sion of power. Railroads there had been
for years, but only strips of iron along
which horses pulled wagons. generally
In the quarries of England.
Stephenson, an ignorant young miner,
rose to be master mechanic and then
an engineer. His first locomotive,
called the "Blucher." was a crude and
primitive affair, operated by means of
spur wheels. His second attempt, BILLY
No. l." was finished in 1915 and was the
forerunner of the giant Moguls and Mi
kados of today. In it the power was
transmitted directly to the driving
wheels by means of connecting rods and
cranks. From that date on the develop
ment of the locomotive was rapid, but it
was not until the introduction of coal as
fuel in the '70s that the modern types
were evolved.
Stephenson's Billy No l." now known
as the killingworth engine from the COL
liery in which il was operated, was fol-
lowed by others in steady procession, all
built by Stephenson and his son, Robert.
WHO acquired lalne ana wealth. as iOCOfnO-
tive constructors. In 1929 the Rocket
attained n speed of twenty-nine miles an
hour. A few years before the first steam
railway had been opened between Stock
ton and Darlington. and soon the Man
chester and Liverpool railway was an ac-
complished fact. From that time on the
growth of the railroad in England was
steady if not rapid.
But it is in America that the greatest
strides have been made the past century
and the history of the locomotive is in
part the history of the development of
this great country from coast to coast.
1t is a far cry from Stephensons Billy
No. l." weighing four tons, hauling ten
wagons and only nine feet long. 10 the
Erie railroads monster Matt. H. Shay
the 105-foot "centipede" weighing 42o
tons. which can haul $40 freight cars
a train nearly five miles in length and
weighing $1,000, 900 pounds.
The first locomotive came to America
in 1929 and was called the "Stourbridge
Lion" 1t did little more than demon
strate the possibilities of steam driven
engines. Americans were to develop the
great industry which made possible the
exploitation of continent. In 1927 a
crude railway had been opened between
Boston and Quincy for the transportation
of granite for the Bunker Hill monu-
ment Horse power was used. In Au-
gust, 1929. the Carbondale railroad was
opened by the Delaware & Hudson Canal
Company and extended from Honesdale,
Pa, to Carbondale, a distance Of sixteen
miles. 1t was the first road on which
locomotive was used in this country,
and the engine used was the 'Stour-
bridge Lion
In May, 1880. the first division of the
Baltimore & Ohio railroad, extending
from Baltimore to Ellicotts Mills. a dis
tanCe of fifteen miles, was formally
opened, but the passenger service was
not inaugurated till July of the same
year, owing to scarcity of cars. Horse
power was employed till the road was
completed to Frederick in 1882.
Peter Cooper designed the first locomo-
tive to he built in America. 1t was a
diminutive machine. weighing about a
ton, named the Tom Thumb and it
was run once or twice only in 1880 on the
Baltimore & Ohio railroad. then under
construction
Soon afterwards the West Point Foun
dry in New York completed the Best
Friend of Charleston" which was the
earliest American-built locomotive to car
~ passengers in actual service Put in
service on a line running into Charleston
January 15 1881. it did service for many
years The third American-built loco
motive was the DE Witt Clinton" de-
signed and constructed at the West Point
Foundry Works. Its first run was made
August 90 1881. on the Mohawk & Hud-
son railroad. This locomotive attained
the speed of forty miles an hour.
The earliest locomotive in the world
to be equipped with bell, headlight and