www.timothyhackworth.com
Major Pangborn's challenge to the family
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.