It wasn't Rocket science
Mike Norman
A story of a grandson's quest to uncover the truth about one of the pioneers of the locomotives whose efforts swept the Industrial Revolution into the pages of history. The Stockton and Darlington Railway that he worked for was the pioneering first railway in the world, and he saved it from going off the rails...
Told against the backdrop of the famed Chicago World's Fair that brought the world to the united states of America, Superintendent Timothy Hackworth Young brings his own experience and knowledge of locomotive transport to bear. The inventions and skill of his grandfather left others standing in his shadow and, with the support of the prestigious Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, he is due his rightful place in history.
Major Pangborn's challenge to the family
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I had travelled across the ocean to Europe and sought out all I could about the 'iron horse'. It is difficult to believe how primitive was the start of this revolution in transport.
The coup of bringing the celebration of the discovery by Columbus of America to Chicago was only matched by adding transport as a wonder to be shown in all its glory at the Exposition. And the burnished and colourful entrance to the Transportation Department stole the show!
John Garett, founder of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, recognised from the start that it was passengers who would make the railway. It would excite and transport people into a new world.
The story I wanted for everyone who came to wonder at this World's Fair was about the locomotive. It was for them to see and feel the work of the pioneers, and there were five such men. First among them was Timothy Hackworth - the man whose work breathed life into the very first public railway - the Stockton and Darlington Railway. His 'Royal George' locomotive was the one that set the pace and kept them on the right rails.
Size isn't everything...
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The honour of bringing the fastest locomotive in the world to the Exposition fell to me too. Another coup to make the endeavours of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company stand out. A New York Express No.999 that was timed at an unbelievable 100 miles per hour. At 50 tons weight and with driving wheels more than 7ft in diameter, it was nearer to the practical world and experience of Timothy Young.
I made sure it was carefully placed alongside one of the earliest American locomotives.That way visitors could get a clear impression of how far America had come in firing its way forward as a new country - how we were at the front of locomotive development.
Among the rest of the original locomotives I made sure were on display there was the diminutive 'Tom Thumb'. It looked the part of a pioneering locomotive - a boiler set up on its end making the steam power. And it ran fast enough for all that it was a midget.
Just like the replica I had of 'Novelty', which was one of the locomotives that competed for the prize at the Rainhill Trials in England at the very start of the age of steam. There were things about science that were not understood then. It too was a lightweight, but showed a turn of speed that surprised.
A magnificent achievement...
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The Exposition brought to Chicago 27 million visitors. It covered 700 acres of grounds. There were pavilions for each of the American States, each vying with the other for attention. Through it all spread the means of transport for visitors - the electric railway that covered the extent of the grounds, the motor launches and gondolas for transport across the lakes, the moving chairs that ran the length of the piers. Singled out were the departments of Manufacture, Fishing, Art, Electricity and Transportation housed in their huge buildings.
There were restaurants aplenty and the entertainments of the Midway Plaisance - a one mile long celebration of the countries of the world. Ireland's Blarney Castle, the streets of Vienna, the Arab Quarter and towering above it all the Ferris Wheel that topped the Eiffel Tower.
It was the work of months by three men that brought the pioneering times to life and made the locomotive display in the Transportation Department a show-stopping success.
Samuel Holmes, the eldest of Timothy Hackworth's grandsons, opened up the family history. Major Pangborn with his 50 replicas of the first locomotives gave substance to the early struggles. Timothy Young, the youngest grandson, applied the diligence of a railroad man to the task at hand.
Between these three, there came for the first time a clear understanding of the merit, inventiveness and standing of one man - Timothy Hackworth.
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