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!