The ''Samson'' is an English-built

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

made in 1838 that ran on the Albion Mines Railway in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is preserved at the

Nova Scotia Museum of Industry The Nova Scotia Museum of Industry is a provincial museum located in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, dedicated to the story of Nova Scotia work and workers. Part of the Nova Scotia Museum system, the museum aims to explain how Nova Scotia was affected by ...

Stellarton, Nova Scotia Stellarton is a town located in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is adjacent and to the south of the larger town of New Glasgow. In pioneer times the area was called Coal Mines Station, and from 1833 until 1889, it was known as Albion Min ...

and is the oldest locomotive in Canada.

Construction

The locomotive was built in 1838 by

Timothy Hackworth Timothy Hackworth (22 December 1786 – 7 July 1850) was an English steam locomotive engineer who lived in Shildon, County Durham, England and was the first locomotive superintendent of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Youth and early work ...

at his Soho Works in

Durham, England Durham ( , locally ), is a cathedral city and civil parish on the River Wear, County Durham, England. It is an administrative centre of the County Durham District, which is a successor to the historic County Palatine of Durham (which is dif ...

. ''Samson'' represents an early design of steam locomotive with a return-flue boiler. The fireman and engineer worked separately on open platforms at either end of the locomotive. It was commissioned for the

General Mining Association The General Mining Association was a London coal mining company operating in Nova Scotia. It was formed by Rundell & Bridge in 1827. It held a mining monopoly in Nova Scotia until 1858. History In 1788, King George III had drafted a lease in ...

along with two other locomotives, ''Hercules'' and ''John Buddle'', for the Albion Mines Railway to serve mines in

Pictou County, Nova Scotia Pictou County is a county in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It was established in 1835, and was formerly a part of Halifax County from 1759 to 1835. It had a population of 43,657 people in 2021, a decline of 0.2 percent from 2016. Furthermo ...

Arrival

The locomotives arrived unassembled aboard the brig ''Ythan'' in May 1839. Two engineers arrived with the locomotives (the ''Samson'', the ''John Buddle'' and the ''Hercules''), including George Davidson, who helped build the locomotives in England and would settle in Nova Scotia to work with ''Samson'' for the rest of his career. Also accompanying the locomotives on the journey was John Brown Stubbs (Stobbs), Hackworth's master mechanic. He too helped build the locomotives and when the job was complete, he returned to Hackworth's employ in England. The new railway officially opened with a large celebration on 19 September 1839, although the tracks were not actually completed to the coal pier until May 1840.

Career

''Samson'' served from 1839 to 1867 carrying coal on the six-mile line from the mines around Stellarton and

New Glasgow New Glasgow is a town in Pictou County, in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated on the banks of the East River of Pictou, which flows into Pictou Harbour, a sub-basin of the Northumberland Strait. The town's population was 9,075 ...

to the East River loading pier. It proved a strong and reliable locomotive, considered "slow but of great power" by railway workers of the day.The Saga Of The Samson: Canada's Oldest Locomotive
''Pictou County Historical Society'' (1968) digitized by Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library One former engineer recalled how it moved a heavy string of coal cars from a crooked siding on a wet day when a more modern locomotive failed to move them. In addition to its regular duties moving coal cars, ''Samson'' also saw service carrying passengers in an early design of a passenger coach. The locomotive was semi-retired in 1867 but continued to operate when necessary until 1885. It was sent to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to the National Exhibition of Railway Appliances in 1883.

Preservation

''Samson'' languished on a scrapline until 1893 when it was displayed at the Chicago World’s Fair as an antique, and acquired along with one of its passenger coaches by the

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

where it was preserved. In 1927 Samson was returned to Nova Scotia. The passenger coach stayed behind and may be seen today at the

B&O Railroad Museum The B&O Railroad Museum is a museum and historic railway station exhibiting historic railroad equipment in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) company originally opened the museum on July 4, 1953, with the name of the Balti ...

. ''Samson'' was displayed beside the Halifax train station until 1950 when the locomotive was moved to New Glasgow. Today it is displayed in the Age of Steam Gallery at the

in Stellarton, part of the

Nova Scotia Museum Nova Scotia Museum (NSM) is the corporate name for the 28 museums across Nova Scotia, Canada, and is part of the province's tourism infrastructure. The organization manages more than 200 historic buildings, living history sites, vessels, and speci ...

system where it is restored to its appearance at the end of its working life. A careful survey of the structure of the locomotive before restoration found it remarkably well preserved, retaining 90% of its end of service parts. Examination of the parts show various repairs and evolutionary modifications which were added to the original Hackworth assembly by the shops of the Albion Mines Railway during the locomotive's long working career. A small number of parts such as the steel tires were added by the B & O railroad museum after the locomotive retired.Michael R. Bailey and John P. Glithero, "Learning Through Restoration: The Samson Locomotive Project", ''Early Railways: A selection of Papers from the First International Early Railways Conference'', The Newcomen Society, London (2001), p. 281 Samson first locomotive in Canada

Significance

''Samson'' was the first locomotive in Canada to run on iron rails. It is the oldest surviving locomotive in Canada, one of the oldest in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and one of only three surviving locomotives designed by engineer

(the others being ''Derwent'' and ''

Sans Pareil ''Sans Pareil'' is a steam locomotive built by Timothy Hackworth which took part in the 1829 Rainhill Trials on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, held to select a builder of locomotives. The name is French and means 'peerless' or 'withou ...

'').

References

*Shirley Woods, ''Cinders & Saltwater: The Story of Atlantic Canada's Railways'' Nimbus Publishing, Halifax (1992), pages 12–13.

External links

Early Images of ''Samson'', ''Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library''''Samson'', ''Nova Scotia Museum of Industry''
{{coord, 45, 34, 04.1, N, 62, 39, 27.2, W, display=title

Samson Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...

0-6-0 locomotives Early steam locomotives Rail transport in Nova Scotia Transport in Pictou County Steam locomotives of Canada Preserved steam locomotives of Canada Albion Mines Railway 1838 establishments in England Timothy Hackworth