Electromagnetism as a theory did not work until Maxwell removed a bunch of imaginary pulleys and weights intended to simulate real objects. Did Einstein rocket

Electromagnetism as a theory did not work until Maxwell removed a bunch of imaginary pulleys and weights intended to simulate real objects. Did Einstein rocket off at the speed of light before coming up with relativity? All those things were later refined as they were the correct cognitive framework with inaccurate physical models behind them.