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@ HOW TO BECOME AN ENGINEER.
Steam horses were “contrary to nature;” they were
‘‘Jamaging to good morals and religion;” the smoke of. the.
locomotive would “obscure the sun, and thereby ruin the
- crops.” Farmyards and farmhouses would be burned by —
their sparks; the clanking, puffing locomotive would have
such an effect on the mind as to drive people crazy (this was
backed up by certificates from a dozen doctors); locomotives
would cause springs to dry up and tields to become sterile;
they would create great chasms by constantly running over
the same ground, .
What twaddle! :
Yet all their objections were made in ood faith, and we
have by no means selected the most absurd.
Old No. 1, proving too clumsey, a lighter locomotive was
goon after built by Stephenson, called the « Rocket,” which
we illustrate. It won a prise of $1.500 in 1829, and is still -
preserved in the great locomotive works at Newcastle-on- |
Tyne, England.
The first railroad in America was built from the granite
quarries of Quincy, Mass., to the Neponset river, a few
miles distant. .
Peter Cooper built one of the first American locomotives.
lt ran on the Baltimore and Ohio R. R., and was called the
Tom Thumb. \
The boiler of the Tom Thumb was built of gun barrels and -
shaped like a huge bottle standing upright upon a simple
platform car.
Such was the beginning of the locomotive.
In Great Britain alone over 600,000,000 people are annual-.
ly drawn by locomotives.
Add to these figures, which represent only a small island,
the persons drawn by locomotives in America, Europe, and.
other parts of the world, and the number becomes stupend-
ous almost beyond belief.
CHAPTER IL . 4
DESCRIPTION OF THE LOCOMOTIVE.
In order to become an engineer, the first thing necessary
is to gain a thorough understanding of the peculiarly com-
plicated machine which it is the duty of engineers to con-
trol.
This fs of the highest importance, and a careful study of
this chapter and the diagrams accompanying it will be of
ereat assistance to any body who contemplates becoming an
— engineer.
‘There are locomotives and locomotives, all built on tho
same general plan, but varying in details according to the