✍ Scribed by A.C. Carlton
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Although Cugnot in France (1769) and Oliver Evans in America (1805) had demonstrated the possibility of using steam traction on land, the first railroad pioneers had horse drawn traction in mind for their purpose. Horse drawn carts were running on rails in England and America before the first steam locomotive was built.
After the famous Rainhill trails in England, in 1829, had proved that the steam locomotive was more efficient and economical than horses, the development of steam railroads was pushed energetically forward. The first locomotives used on American railroads were built in England.
The Institute Museum is the fortunate possessor of one of these old locomotives, in fact one of the very last that was imported. This was built by Braithwaite, who was the principal competitor of the Stephensons whose locomotive of the same name had won the Rainhill trials. The Reading Railroad Company had placed an order for the delivery of four locomotives to be delivered between 1838 and 1841. The Rocket "The Rocket," 1838.
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