NG Express

THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE PORT ELIZABETH APPLE EXPRESS
Postnet Suite 124, Private Bag 13130, Humewood, Port Elizabeth

The following is an extract from the “The South Western Gazette” of June 1st 1893.
The origin of the railway whistle is somewhat peculiar. In the beginning of the year 1833, the engine ‘Samson’ running on the railway between Leicester and Swanington* came into collision with a cart and horse. The cart was loaded with beetroot and eggs for the Leicester market. The engine driver could only use the horn he held in his hand as a means of warning and the consequence was the cart overturned.
The accident caused some confusion and Mr.Ashlett Bagster, the director of the railway, went the very same day to Alton Grange where George Stephenson resided to consult with him. Bagster asked whether a whistle could not be placed on the engine which would let off the steam.
Stephenson replied that the idea was a good one and worth trying. The first whistle was made by a musical instrument manufacturer and gave such good results that the Board of Directors decided to establish similar whistles on all the company engines. As the company had to pay for the horse and cart, 50 lbs of beetroot and eighty dozen broken eggs, we may say that the whistle has it’s origin in 960 broken eggs.

After this, regulations were enforced which forbade the circulation of locomotives which were not furnished with a steam whistle or as it might well be called in those days, a “steam trumpet”. Whistles as we know them now were introduced into England in 1836 and into France in 1837 on the first railway of St Germain. We are told that Mr. Fyffe, Director of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the first to introduce the present day whistle in 1835. The early whistles consisted of a cylindrical bell of great height with a flat bottom very like the deep sounding sirens on steam boats. Later on, the cylindrical bell was replaced by a hemispherical one with a sharp sound. The old form of whistle is sometimes to be met with on American locomotives.
*Note. Leicester and Swanington Railway opened on the 4 July 1832 and was absorbed into the Midland Railway in August 1845.
The above incident is purported to have occurred at Bagworth on the 4th May 1833 but no written evidence exists and the story must remain part of railway legend.

Since the demise of steam on the narrow gauge railway here in the Eastern Cape and the ‘take over’ by the Class 91 diesel locomotives, a number of the steam locomotives that were working on the Avontuur line have, over the years, been sold to overseas buyers. Here is a list of where they are now.