of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway for their support in building an electromagnetic railway locomotive. Davidson aimed to show the new railway company that electric locomotives were a practical option. He obtained the endorsement of the Royal Scottish Society for Arts in his ventures and they made him a £15 grant. He built a full size locomotive, Galvani of 1842, which was a four-wheeled machine, 16 feet long and powered by Davidson's batteries. It was trialled on a section of the Edinburgh to Glasgow line in 1842 and was thus the world's first electrically powered railway locomotive. This was its only claim to fame as the locomotive only managed to achieve a speed of 4 mph and as the batteries were not rechargeable, it was hardly practical. The directors were not sufficiently impressed to asked Davidson to take the concept further. The locomotive was reported as being destroyed whilst stored in the engine house at Perth. Davidson's legacy He has been described as a forgotten hero and electrical visionary. He could not interest the rail companies; the technology he employed was too expensive. In 1840, the Aberdeen Banner had predicted that the type of machinery he was producing "will in no distant date supplant steam"; however, it was only when electric locomotives were introduced in the 1890s that the media came to recognize what he had done. He was described as the "oldest living electrician" and The Electrician magazine reported " Robert Davidson was undoubtedly the first to demonstrate the possibility of electrical traction in a practical way". A working model of his electrical motor can be seen at the Grampian Transport Museum. Business After 1843, at home in Aberdeen, he settled down to family life and, for the next fifty years, the running of his business at Canal Road. His earlier invention of a method for large-scale production of yeast, one of the staples of his chemical business, and the manufacture of perfumes were so remunerative that it allowed him to indulge his many interests of astronomy, collecting of fine china, valuable pictures and a large collection of violins. See also Neale (electric car) References Further reading The Practical Mechanic Vol II, November 1842 pp 48–51. J.H.R. Body, "A Note on Electro-Magnetic Engines", Newcomen Society Transactions: 14: 103–107. Robert C. Post (1974) "Electro-Magnetism and Motive Power: Robert Davidson's "Galvani" of 1842", Railroad History, pages 5–23. A.C. Davidson (January 1976)