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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 5 (September 24, 1926)

The Locomotive Whistle

The Locomotive Whistle.

Though one of the most familiar everyday sounds is the railway locomotive's whistle, like many other such, its origin is little known (writes a correspondent in “T.P.'s and Cassell's Weekly”). Formed under Act 110, Geo. IV. cap. 58, and having a capital of £90,000 in £50 shares, the Leicester and Swannington Railway Company's line (the second oldest section of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway) was opened for traffic on July 17th, 1832, the main line running from West Bridge, Leicester, to Swannington, a distance of nearly sixteen miles. Early in 1833, the company's locomotive, No. 3 Samson, was put in service on the line, and on May 4th of that year it ran into a horse and cart conveying butter and eggs for Leicester market, at Thornton level-crossing.

To sound an alarm, the company's drivers were provided with horns (as on the old road coaches), and Samson blew his on this occasion, but without attracting the attention of the man in charge of the horse and cart. The man and horse got clear of the oncoming train, but the engine struck and wrecked the vehicle and its contents.

The accident was duly reported to the engineer of the line, George Stephenson, by the traffic manager. The latter suggested the fitting of a steam alarm to the locomotive, and Stephenson, observing that it was “a good idea,” ordered one to be made and tried. Accordingly, a Leicester musical-instrument maker was commissioned, and he made a steam-trumpet, which was fitted on a mounting on the top of Samson's firebox. The experiment proving successful, the rest of the company's locomotives were likewise provided with these steam alarms, which, having a height of eighteen inches and a diameter at the top of six inches, were the forerunners of the present-day locomotive whistles.

The Edge Of The Precipice.

There is a story of an old gentleman who once advertised for a coachman. Of each applicant he asked this question: “How near to a precipice would you drive without going over”! One answered within a yard, another a foot, etc., but one answered: “I would keep as far from it as possible.” He got the job.

The habit of keeping as far as possible from the verge of folly, alone brings safety. The man trained in such habits of care and thought that he will foresee possibilities of accident and avoid them, is not only a blessing to himself, but a guide to others.

“Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace, And I their toys to the great children leave.”