have.

Cugnot's locomotive actually existed though, and was undoubtedly the first. It was operated by means of two bronze cylinders, into which the steam passed through a tube from the boiler—escaping through another tube.

The boiler was fastened on the front of the car, which moved on three wheels—the steam acted only on the foremost wheel.

The speed of Cugnot's locomotive was about three miles an hour. On the first trial it ran into a building and was broken to pieces.

In 1784 the famous Watt patented a steam locomotive engine in England, which, however, never was put to use.

In 1802, Trevethick and Vivian patented a locomotive, which, in 1804, traveled at the rate of five miles an hour, drawing behind it a load of ten tons of coal.

Several other "traveling engines," as they were then styled, were invented by other mechanical engineers with only moderate success, it being reserved for Stephenson, in 1811, to build the first locomotive that should prove of practical use.

About this time a man named Thomas Gray, of Nottingham, England, brought upon himself the contempt and ridicule of the whole English nation by pushing forward the idea of the locomotive in connection with coal mines.

Old No. 1.

"It is all very well to spend money on these railway schemes," said a member of parliament about that time referring to Gray's projects, "it will do some good to the poor, but I will eat all the coals your railways will ever carry."

127,000,000 tons were carried recently in one year, on English railroads alone. What a tough time this parliamentary slow coach would have had to swallow all that!

The first practical locomotive in the world—Stephenson's invention, was Old No. 1, which pulled the first regular train on the Stockton and Darlington R. R. on Tuesday, September 27, 1825.

Old No. 1 cost $2,500 to build. It was a very clumsy affair; nothing better, in fact, than a big boiler on four wheels, which were moved by great levers worked by pistons from the top of the machine.

The Rocket.

Old No. 1 has been preserved, and was, in the year 1859, placed upon a pedestal in that English town of Darlington as a public memorial of the beginning of the railway.

No sooner had the Stockton and Darlington R. R. proved itself a success than all England was in arms against it. Here are some of the absurd objections urged against railroads, taken from the newspapers of the day.

Steam horses were "contrary to nature;" they were "damaging 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 fields to become sterile; they would create great chasms by constantly running over the same ground.

What twaddle!

Yet all their objections were made in good faith, and we have by no means selected the most absurd.

Old No. 1. proving too clumsy, a lighter locomotive was soon after built by Stephenson, called the "Rocket," which we illustrate. It won a prize 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. It 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 annually 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 stupendous almost beyond belief.

CHAPTER II.

DESCRIPTION OF THE LOCOMOTIVE.

In order to become an engineer, the first thing necessary is to gain a thorough understanding of the peculiarly complicated machine which it is the duty of engineers to control.

This is of the highest importance, and a careful study of this chapter and the diagrams accompanying it will be of great assistance to anybody who contemplates becoming an engineer.

There are locomotives and locomotives, all built on the same general plan, but varying in details according to the ideas of their builders, and the class of work which they are expected to perform.

An American Locomotive with Two Driving Wheels.

Thus for elevated roads and short surface lines, devoted principally to passenger travel, locomotives of light capacity are employed; costing less at the start, and being less expensive to run.

American Locomotive With Four Driving Wheels.

The "dummy" is even a grade below these, being practically a stationary engine set on a car with driving wheels attached.

Outside View of Locomotive.

Inside View of Locomotive.

In America our locomotives are built with long boilers and have a general trim appearance.

Some have two driving wheels, others, still longer, have four. We illustrate both of them.

English locomotives present a clumsy appearance alongside the American.

For us to attempt to decide which is the best, would be the height of presumption.

Certain it is, however, that English locomotives do run at a greater average speed than those in the United States.

We will now proceed to describe by tabular arrangement, an English locomotive.

This description will practically describe the American locomotive as well.

We cannot enter into a detailed description of both for want of space, and select therefore the