A Conodion Relic 



Figure 53. — Photo of Samson, built in England in 1 838 by Hackworth, taken in 

 Nova Scotia by a New Glasgow photographer some time before 1 890. Observe 

 chairs provided for engineer. 



The third and last of the three complete British locomo- 

 tives of the 1825-1849 period remaining in North America 

 is also the only extant locomotive of the period on this con- 

 tinent located outside the United States."^ 



The Samson (figure 53) was built by Timothy Hackworth 

 at New Shildon, Durham, England, in the summer of 1838, 



' Railroads are known not to have existed in Mexico prior to 1850, and although 

 locomotives of the 1825-1849 period could possibly have found their way into that 

 country at some later date, none are to be found there today, according to advice 

 from the Mexican National Railways (Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico). Central 

 America falls outside the scope of this work, as do the Islands of the Caribbean. 

 However, a railroad was opened in Cuba in 1837, and another was started across 

 the Isthmus of Panama in 1849 and completed in 1855 (its first locomotive was re- 

 ceived soon after the midcentury mark had been passed), so there is the remote 

 possibility that somewhere in this area the remains of a pre- 1850 locomotive could 

 exist. 



353689 O -56 -5 



63 



