This announcement did not mean that in wet weather horses _would be attached to the locomotive_ to aid if in drawing the train, but that the usual horse-cars would be employed in making the trips upon the road without the engine. Upon making the first trip to Germantown with a passenger train with the Ironsides, one of the drivers slipped upon the axle, causing the wheels to track less than the gauge of the road and drop in between the rails. It was also discovered that the valve arrangement of the pumps was defective, and they failed to supply the boiler with water. The shifting of the driving wheel upon the axle fastened the eccentric, so that it would not operate in backward motion. These mishaps caused delay, and prevented the engine from reaching its destination, to the great disappointment of all concerned. They were corrected in a few days, and the machine was used in experimenting upon its efficiency, making occasional trips with trains to Germantown. The road had an ascending grade, nearly uniform, of thirty-two feet per mile, and for the last half-mile of forty-five feet per mile, and it was found that the engine was too light for the business of the road upon these grades. Such was Mr. Baldwin's first locomotive; and it is related of him that his discouragement at the difficulties which he had undergone in building it and in finally procuring a settlement for it was such that he remarked to one of his friends, with much decision, "That is our last locomotive." It was some time before he received an order for another, but meanwhile the subject had become singularly fascinating to him, and occupied his mind so fully that he was eager to work out his new ideas in a tangible form. [Illustration: Fig. 2.--HALF-CRANK.]