While the railroad was being constructed, three locomotives were being built in England by Timothy Hackworth. They were landed at Pictou in May 1839 and brought up the East River in lighters, towed by a Mining Company steamship. The locomotives were Samson, Hercules, and John Buddle. The three locomotives were accompanied by John Stubbs, Hackworth's shop foreman, who directed their assembly before returning to England. Two locomotive engineers also came with the engines, George Greathead (whose name does not appear in the Nova Scotia record) and George Davidson. Davidson served as Samson's driver throughout the engine's working life and accompanied the locomotive to railway exhibits in Chicago in 1883 and 1893.