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. As George Patterson reports, the ceremonial opening in 1839 was celebrated province-wide: Herb MacDonald similarly recounts the celebrations: The Pictou Observer [24 September 1839] reported: Today the Albion Mines Railway is commemorated by the "Samson Trail" following the route of the old railway from the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry along the East River towards Abercrombie. The railway's locomotive Samson is preserved at the museum and is the oldest surviving locomotive in Canada. Other engineering projects Crerar's earliest recorded work was the drawing up plans for St. James' Anglican Church, Pictou in 1824. The main figure behind this church’s construction was Henry Hatton, later to be Crerar's son’s father-in-law. Throughout his life he served as a surveyor on roads and projects in the Pictou area, including the road between Mount Thom and Pictou, the Fisher's Grant Road, the French River, Huggins, and Sutherland Bridges, the pier at Arisaig, the Wallace Bridge, and the road from West Chester to Amherst. In 1845 he was a member of a local committee in Pictou County formed to support the proposed Halifax and Quebec Railway project. In 1851, as part of the first phase of planning for the Nova Scotia Railway, he carried out surveys for a proposed route north from Truro to Pictou. When built, the "Pictou Branch" followed another route selected by Sandford Fleming. Crerar served as Deputy Registrar General of Pictou County. He was later made Commissioner for Improvements to the Pictou section of the Main Post Road of Pictou. Emigration to Nova Scotia His only known residence in Scotland was the farm of Cuiltrannich, in Lawers, Kenmore Parish, on the north shore of Loch Tay. His family departed for Nova Scotia in July 1817, probably aboard the Brig Hope, which sailed from Greenock to Pictou in 1817. He first gained employment as a schoolteacher. Family His wife was Anne Clarke (born circa 1791 Nessintully, Laggan, Invernesshire - died 15 April 1865 Pictou, Nova Scotia), daughter of Ewan Clarke. Peter and Anne had eight children: John Crerar (born 18 August 1815, Cuiltrannich, Lawers, Kenmore