Samson (locomotive)

Samson

Samson with its coal tender and passenger coach, The Nova Scotia Pioneer, circa 1880

Type and origin Power type Steam Builder Timothy Hackworth, Durham, England Build date 1838

Specifications Configuration 0-6-0 vertical cylinder Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Driver dia. 4 ft (1.2 m) Loco weight 18 short tons (16 t) Boiler 540 US gallons (2,000 l; 450 imp gal) capacity Cylinder size 15 in (380 mm) bore and 16 1⁄2 in (420 mm) stroke

Performance figures Maximum speed 8 mph (13 km/h)

Career Operators 1839-1893 Albion Mines Railway Official name Samson Delivered May 1839 First run December 1838 Retired 1885 Restored 1893 Current owner Nova Scotia Museum of Industry, part of the Nova Scotia Museum Disposition Static display at the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry in Stellarton, Nova Scotia

The Samson is an English-built railroad steam locomotive made in 1838 that ran on the Albion Mines Railway in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is preserved at the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry in Stellarton, Nova Scotia and is the oldest locomotive in Canada.

The locomotive was built in 1838 by Timothy Hackworth at his Soho Works in Durham, England. 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 along with two other locomotives, "Hercules" and "John Buddle" for the Albion Mines Railway to serve mines in Pictou County, Nova Scotia.

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), Mr. Hackworth's master mechanic. He too helped build the locomotives and when the job was complete, he returned to Mr. Hackworth's employ in England. The new railway officially opened with a large celebration on September 19, 1839, although the tracks were not actually completed to the coal pier until May 1840.

Samson served from 1839 to 1867 carrying coal on the six-mile line from the mines around Stellarton and New Glasgow 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. 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 to the National Exhibition of Railway Appliances in 1883.