and his son Robert Stephenson in 1832, but such was the case. This and other important connecting links with railway history make it essential that our history should begin with a survey of the early history of railways, and of the earlier organisations of men which preceded the A.S.L.E. & F., and finally of the conditions prevailing on the service generally in the year 1880, when the Society sprang into life.
Thomas West Smith, of Leicester, the member referred to, was the last survivor of the Stephenson group of pioneer drivers. He was born in the year 1808, and began in the railway service in his twenty-third year. He was first employed as a porter at Westbridge Station, on the Leicester & Swannington Railway, which was opened on July 17th, 1832. He later cleaned and fired "The Comet," built by Stephenson at Newcastle, conveyed by sea to Hull and then by canal to Leicester. This water carriage was made necessary by the absence of any railways, and it was some months after the safe delivery of "The Comet," which made a great sensation at Leicester, that the tender came along in the same way to keep it company. During those months the water was carried in a large cask in a coal waggon. Other engines which joined the same service later were "The Phoenix," "Samson," "Goliath," and "Hercules"; and the drivers had many experiences with George Stephenson and "young Robert," as they called him. The signals on those early lines consisted of a pole with a pulley, and the rule was "go ahead" unless a red flag or a red lamp was showing. The drivers carried bugles to give warning of their approach at level crossings, but after a few carts had been wrecked by the new monsters, the engines were fitted with whistles which were like little steam trumpets.
Even by day the passage of an engine caused wonder and amazement, but when they began to run through the darkness of night they caused consternation. They were pictured as lurid ogres of fire and steel tearing through the peaceful country, stampeding horses and cattle and alarming old folks. The airships of the twentieth century caused less astonishment and interest than did
