This is the first contact I've had with Wikipedia and hope it will spark interest and add to the history of the building of the train and the railway. My gt-gt-grandfather Isaac Sheldon was one of five brothers who by family tradition I know to have built and rode on the first steam engine in the whole of the Russias. They came from Russia to work at Shildon, County Durham, UK. where they built the train for the Tsar's own personal use - a model of this used to be in the Shildon Railway Museum. One of the greatest points of is that they were Jews and were taken to live and work in Tsarskoye Selo at a time when all Jews were restricted to live within the infamous Pale of Settlement - unless they had a licence to go outside it. They must've been great engineers to be sent from Russia to Shildon to build this personal train.My son is a design engineer and is virtually identical in appearance to his gt=gt=gt=grandfather, so innovative engineering still runs in the blood.
I believe my grandfather had 9 children, of whom my Grandmother Margaret was one. Three of them survived and became foremen with Armstrong-Whitworth at Scotswood, Newcastle upon Tyne. I'd love to read of others with memories to add to this family and historical story.
I2willremember
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