The Carbon County news., 1929-08-01

If~3ESt-,1 Inc locomotive the Stour
III III II bridge Lion. 1t was built in Eng
U.s. land and shipped to this country
in February, 1929, as the property
of the Delaware 4 Hudson Canal
company, and on August it was put into opera
tioh on a three-me stretch of track near the
scene OF the company's operations at Honesdale
Inc first trial run of the locomotive demon
stfateo conclusively that steam transportation
was practical and that the Lion would operate
but officials of the company found that the wood
en- rails, covered with thin strip of iron could
not stand heavy duty and the Lion was never
used for practical work.
But even though the Lion was not kept in
service, to its trial trip belongs the honor of be-
ing the hrst time practicable locomotive ran
upon permanent railroad track in America and
to Horatio Allen who operated it, goes the dis
tinction of being the first American locomotive
engineer. SO at the Honesdale celebration a mon
umenl to the locomotive will be dedicated and a
transportation parade, depicting all modes of
travel from oxcart to airpane will be held
The development of railroads in the United
States is another story of American magic. From
those three miles of track near Honesdae has
grown network of nearly 250000 miles of steel
rails which penetrate to every part of the coun-
try The progeny of this first "iron horse' now
number more than 10000. Whereas their ances-
tor weighed only tons and puffed along at the
rate OF three or four miles an hour some of these
colts are giants weighing more than 300 tons
ana they roar across the country at the rate of
50 miles an hour. A century is a comparatively
short time in the history of nation, vet the
past 100 years of railroad history in the United
States has seen such marvellous changes as TO
make its story sound like tale from the Arabian
Nights.
To appreciate fully its marves, we must turn
to the early days of railroadng and in the vol
ume "Ihe March of Commerce" in the "Paceanr
of America series, published by the Yale Uni
versity Press one may read the following inter-
esting account of the ''ron horses" beginnings.
For fifty years after Watt gave the world his
steam engine in 1878 other inventors toyed with
the idea OF making steam engine move itself
Among Americans who experimental with steam
road wagons or steam locomotives were oliver
Evans, Benjamin Dearborn and John Stevens Manv
British inventors, Including Richard Trsvithck
also experimental with the problem. The weakness
in all their machines that they could not pro-
duce steam as rapidly as they used it, nor did their
engines have enough power to move quickly or to
pull more than their weight
In 1929 the progress of British invention tusti-
fed competitive trial held by the Liverpool &
Manchester Railway. At this test the Rocket
engine invented by George and Robert Stenhen-
son. father and son, was the victor The Rocket
combined two features which enabled it to elimi-
nate the faults of its predecessors and comnattnrs.
1t had tubular boiler and forced draft Stepb-
ensons boiler exposed the maximum of heating
surface to the burning fuel, and the forced draft
occaslohed oy turning the exhaust steam from the
cylinders into the stack famed fire fierce enough
to produce steam faster than it was used Tbns
although Stephenson alone is not to be credited
with the invention of the locomotive he was re-
sponsible for setting forth practicable combina-
ton of known principles by which for the first
time the machine desired by other inventors was
obtained Consequently his fame Is deserved
With the winning of the Liverpool &
Manchester railway prize of 500 pounds Steph-
enso1 became and for the of his life remained
the most successful locomotive builder In Great
Britain and all Europe.
Our interest In this English inventor lies in the