It might have been supposed that the Fontaine experiment http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2014/08/unusual-locomotive-design.html would have deterred others from trying such an expensive experiment again; but when an amateur gets seized with the malady for designing a locomotive of an entirely new pattern, he generally produces something startling.
"They are advertising in Philadelphia papers that a company has been formed to sell this kind of locomotive,they make the claim that this sort of engine is destined to be the locomotive of the future."
"When we first heard of the Holman locomotive we supposed that it was the invention of some harmless crank who did not understand the elementary principles of mechanics, but we now believe that it has been, since its inception, an ostentatious machine designed to allure unwary capitalists into an investment which will be of the same real value as throwing gold coin over Niagara Falls."
The engine was run a few trips on a straight railroad in New Jersey, which was used merely as a stimulant to stock selling. Unfortunately many people with limited savings were lured into investing their hard earned money in this swindle
History from Curiosities of Locomotive Design. Development of the Locomotive Engine, by Angus Sinclair. Railway and Locomotive Engineering—September-December, 1907
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