It is to the everlasting credit of our forebears that some 

 few examples and relics of the early engines have been pre- 

 served; and the appearance of this study of them, coming in 

 the final hour of the steam locomotive, is most appropriate. 

 The author has gone to painstaking lengths to find and sift 

 and bring together the most complete record ever compiled 

 of these examples and relics remaining of the earliest of 

 North American railway engines and of working replicas of 

 them. 



Students of locomotive and railroad history are familiar 

 with the almost impossible task confronting the researcher 

 who undertakes to trace the history of early engines. The 

 contemporary account is often a will-o'-the-wisp pursued 

 endlessly through the yellowed pages of century-old news- 

 papers and books; the seemingly authentic fragment of fact 

 is found to be faulty just when it seems flawlessly correct; 

 the colorful description of some ephemeral engine of the past 

 just cannot be reconciled with contemporary accounts and 

 finally proves to have been prepared long afterward, replete 

 with the inaccuracies which most unfortunately result from. 

 the inroads made by time upon the recollections of the most 

 careful observer. 



Through all this confusing maze the author step by step 

 has made his way, the result being a most noteworthy and 

 valuable contribution to the literature of the steam locomo- 

 tive. To students of its history, to the vast body of railway 

 enthusiasts all over the world, and to those generally inter- 

 ested in the development of mechanical industry and trans- 

 portation, this work must appeal as unique and one that will 

 be long remembered. 



THOMAS NORRELL 



July 1955 



Silver Spring, Maryland 



