Not so Fast, Tom Thumb: The Story of the Horse Who Raced an American Steam Locomotive

On May 24, 1830, the first train service in the United States commenced in Baltimore, Maryland. Lucius Stockton’s horses pulled these train carriages, but Peter Cooper believed he could invent a steam locomotive that could go faster than a horse.

On August 22, Cooper put the first American-made locomotive, Tom Thumb, on the tracks. Stockton and Cooper agreed to a horse versus steam engine race.

Not So Fast, Tom Thumb tells the story of one of the most remarkable and surprising contests in American history.