The Old Locomotive "Samson.

"
By D. W. Rebb, Amherst, N.S. (Member of the Society)
At the Albion coal-mines in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, may be found a curious
collection of old machinery, mostly lying rusty and disused, which, to the
engineer of to-day, recalls the times of Watt and Stephenson, and the early days
of the steam-engine. While making a recent visit to this place, the writer was
shown many mechanical curiosities, notably three old locomotives, built by
Timothy Hackworth in the shops of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, in
England, in the year 1838; also a condensing beam engine, built about 1828, with
ponderous flywheel and square driving shaft. A blowing cylinder, used to supply
air to a foundry cupola of ancient construction, still in use, is connected with one
end of the beam, the crank shaft being connected with the other end and the
steam cylinder nearer the center of the beam. Steam for this engine was
furnished by an old-fashioned egg-shaped boiler. The working pressure did not
exceed five pounds above the atmosphere, and the water was supplied by
gravity from a tank placed a few feet above it. Leaks were repaired by simply
fitting a plate over the leak, in the inside, well packed with potatoes or horse
dung, the very moderate pressure rendering rivets or bolts unnecessary. One of
the locomotives referred to, the "Samson", was in use as late as the year 1882, is
in a fairly good state of preservation, and, as it is a good example of the first
English locomotives, a brief description may not be uninteresting. As previously
stated, it was built at the repair shops of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, at
New Sheldon, Durham Co., England, and was brought out with two similar
locomotives, in 1839, to run on a railway, built for the Albion mines, to convey
coal from its pits at Stellarton, to Pictou Harbor, a distance of six miles. As will be
seen from the illustration (missing), the "Samson" has three pairs of driving
wheels, coupled in the usual manner, and not differing very much in appearance
from the driving wheels of the modern "mogul" locomotives. These wheels
consist of a cast iron center and an outer rim, also of cast iron, twelve wooden
plugs being driven between the center and rim to hold the rim in place, tires are
of iron or steel, shrunk on in the usual manner, axles, which are five and five-
eighths inches in diameter, ordinary journal boxes, bolted to brackets made of
boiler plate, which are riveted to the shell of the boiler. The boiler is a plain
cylindrical shell, fifty-four inches in diameter, and about thirteen feet long,
containing a single return flue, twenty inches in diameter; one end being fitted
with grates was used as a furnace. The products of combustion following the flue
to the front end of the boiler, were then returned direct to the smoke-stack,
which is at the rear end of the locomotive. The cylinders and driving gear are at
the front end of the locomotive, and the driver's place was at the front, so that he
could keep a good lookout ahead. The fireman was stationed at the rear.

The cylinders (15 3/8" dia. x 18" stroke) are vertical, resting on cast-iron box-
like frames, forming part of a bonnet or hood which partially encloses the valve
gear, pumps, throttle and reversing levers and other working parts. The cross
heads, instead of being guided by slides in the ordinary way, have an
arrangement of levers and sliding block. That this device caused very little
friction is shown by the fact that the original pins and brass bushes in the levers
and sliding block are still in place, and show very little wear, after forty years of
almost constant use. The valve gears consists of four eccentrics, attached to the
axle to which the cylinders are connected; the eccentric rods extending up into
the hood on the front end of the boiler, have forked ends which engage the pins
of a rock arm, which is connected with the slide valves; these eccentric rods are
controlled by the reversing lever, respectively engaging or disengaging them for
the forward or backward motion. The feed pumps, two in number, are
connected with the eccentric rods, and were thus brought within the hood in full
view of the driver; in fact, this arrangement of cylinders and valve motion gave
the driver a convenient oversight of all the working part of the engine while in
motion, and without leaving his place; but, strange to say, he was compelled to go
outside to ascertain the height of water or pressure of steam, the water gauges
and steam gauge being located on the side of the boiler. The steam gauge
consists of a spring scale attached to the lever of the safety-valve. The pressure
of steam did not exceed forty pounds, the spring scale being graduated to fifty.
The exhaust steam after leaving the cylinders was conveyed within the shell of
the boiler to the smoke-stack. The reason for thus reheating the exhaust system
is difficult to understand. Probably the idea was that the heat of the exhaust
could be utilized within the boiler, the designer overlooking or not clearly
understanding the higher temperature of the live steam within the boiler.

That the engineers of that date (1838) had, to some extent, grasped the
requirements of locomotive construction, may be gathered from the many
devices made use of in this early representative of the "species locomotive"
which are still in use; such as the three pairs of coupled driving wheels, placed as
near together as possible, the center pair being without flange, the forced
draught obtained by means of the exhaust in the smoke-stack, and the cylinders
connected outside the frame.

One of these locomotives was driven by George Davidson, who worked on

them while being built in England, and came out to Nova Scotia with them in
1839; he is therefore one of the oldest if not the oldest locomotive driver in
America. He is still hale and hearty, and tells many reminiscences of his forty
years on the rail. Donald Thompson, a "canny Scot," and another faithful veteran,
scorns the modern locomotive with its complicated gauges, air-brakes, etc., and
delights to recount a feat of hauling a train of about one hundred and eighty-nine
tones of coal out of a crooked siding on a wet day, which one of the Intercolonial
R. R. engines failed to move. In reply to the writer's inquiry as to the effect of
winter weather on the unprotected, cabless "Samson," the veteran replied: "Au'
the rain an' wind an' snaw for forty year never made auld Donald Tampson
shiever yet." Further interrogation as to the care of his engine elicited the
following: "'Deed an' I was far more carefu' o' her than of the gude wife."

The sand-box of the "Samson" consisted of two buckets of sand, one at each
end of the locomotive, the sand being thrown by hand on the rails. This duty was
attended to by the driver when moving ahead, and by the fireman when moving
backward.

Also extensive general history – Pictou, SAMSON, TH etc

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