"When they came, thirty-six persons got into a car which we took in tow, with six men on the locomotive which carried its own fuel and water; and to make the passage we had to go up an average ascent eighteen feet to the mile, turning all the short curves in its passage, which we succeeded in doing, so that we made the passage of thirteen miles in an hour and twelve minutes and then returned in fifty-seven minutes, and would have come sooner but for a little accident that happened in going back by the belt running off from the wheel which was formed to drive the blower to increase the fire to enable me to get the necessary quantity of steam from a very small boiler. Mr. Latrobe, the counsel for the road, took an exact count of the time expended in passing every mile both going and coming, and his account of it will be seen in his own words, as already stated, in the address he made in Baltimore and afterwards gave the same to me in pamphlet form."
A full scale working model of the Tom Thumb with carriage in tow
Full scale working model of the Tom Thumb
