"And in order to show that an engine could be made to pass around those short turns I took from my own factory the small engine that I have just mentioned, frame and all, to Baltimore, where I went into a coach-maker's shop and got permission to buildup in that shop a locomotive out of the driving power of this little [engine] I had gotten up for the experiment to show the method of getting power without a crank. This little engine, with that arrangement, was actually in that form the first that moved by steam on that railroad.
19th Century Reenactment of Peter Cooper and the Tom Thumb
"When I had got it complete I arranged for an experiment on one Saturday evening just about sundown. I got it ready and steam up to see whether it would go or not, and the president of the road, Mr. Philip B. Thomas, and one or two other gentlemen, stepped on to the locomotive, when we went out a few miles and return, which was the first effort I had made with it, and the only one with an engine in that particular shape. During the time from Saturday night to Monday morning, when it came to be Monday morning, I found that some unprincipled person had got into where the engine was and wrung off all the copper pipes and stolen and sold it for the value of old copper. After great difficulty I got it arranged again for another trial, and someone had gotten into the building, where it was so light that men could shove it and they had done so, not understanding the effect of running the thing backwards and forwards on the rail where it stood. They had broken a bit of a piece out of one of the wheels and that prevented me from being able to make the experiment as I intended, for I had to get another wheel made; and when that was done and fixed I had a second difficulty of the same kind, as someone had again broken a piece out of one or the other wheels, it being so small that they could shove it backwards and forwards. I then went and got a third wheel cast and, watching it while it was being completed in the turning lathe, the man who was doing this work, trying one of the keys in the edge of it to see if it was perfect, the key slipped out of his hand while the turning lathe was in motion and broke a piece out of that wheel. I was so discouraged that I determined that I would not be balked entirely, that I had the engine so changed as to use its power with an ordinary shackle bar connected with a crank; and when completed with this last alteration I invited the directors to witness the experiment.
Model of the Tom Thumb Locomotive
"I acted as engineer and found that my springs that I had placed to govern the pressure of steam in the boiler were not strong enough to prevent it from being blown to waste, when I caught a wire that was then on the engine and fastened the safety valve down, and held there in my hand. No one can ever know the difficulties that I encountered and the anxiety that I passed through that day, in addition to the difficulties I had previously experienced."
