In 1839 the Philadelphia locomotive building firm of Eastwick and
Harrison constructed to the order of Moncure Robinson for the
Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road Co. a noteworthy anthracite-burning
locomotive, named the _Gowan and Marx_ after an English banking firm.
This engine during trials on February 20, 1840, turned in what was for
the time an outstanding performance. It hauled from Reading to the
inclined plane on the Columbia and Philadelphia Rail Road, located
several miles from Vine and Broad Streets in Philadelphia, 101 cars of
freight, a load of 423 long tons (2,240 pounds). The total weight of
this load was 947,520 pounds not including the weight of the engine
itself and its tender. The engine, in running order, weighed 24,660
pounds. The story of this remarkable feat is told by Joseph Harrison,
Jr., in his book, “The Locomotive Engine, and Philadelphia’s Share in
Its Early Improvements.”
So pleased was the Philadelphia and Reading with this locomotive that
the road decided to order more of the same general style. However, as
Eastwick and Harrison shortly became involved with plans to construct
locomotives in Russia, and contemplated closing their Philadelphia
works, most of these additional locomotives were made by other builders.
A dozen or so, somewhat similar to the _Gowan and Marx_, were built in
the machine shop of a Lowell, Mass., firm named “Proprietors of Locks
and Canals on Merrimack River.” Others were built by the New Castle
Manufacturing Co. at New Castle, Del.
At least two, however, the _Boston_ and the _J. E. Thayer_, were built
by Eastwick and Harrison, and placed in service on the Philadelphia and
Reading in September and October, respectively, of 1842.
What is thought to be one of these now famous locomotives has survived
(figure 56). It is the earliest extant 4-4-0, or American type. Known
today as the _Peoples’ Railway No. 3_, it was obtained at fourth or
fifth hand in about 1872 by the Peoples’ Railway, which was then
establishing a line from the York Street station at Pottsville to
Minersville, Pa., a distance of about 4½ miles. Seldom used by the
Peoples’ Railway after 1883, it was obtained by the Reading Co. in the
early 1920’s when that road took over some of the rolling stock of the
Peoples’ Railway. Since October 1933 it has been on loan to The Franklin
Institute in Philadelphia, where it is exhibited with the
Braithwaite-built _Rocket_ of 1838, also owned by the Reading Co.
The _No. 3_ has been the subject of much speculation and investigation
since it was obtained by the Reading. Its origin and the name of its
builder are not definitely known, nor is it absolutely certain for whom
it was constructed. Without question, however, it is of the period of
the early 1840’s, and is similar in appearance to the famous _Gowan and
Marx_, although of considerably longer wheelbase.
Paul T. Warner, for many years writer and historian for the Baldwin
Locomotive Works, conducted an intensive examination of the _No. 3_, and
in January 1934 prepared a thorough paper on his findings, based on a
careful comparison of the _No. 3_ with contemporary drawings of the
various other locomotives, and on a comparison of its dimensions with
those still known of the others.
He concluded that from the information at hand it was not possible to
state positively which, if any, of these locomotives it was, or even if
it had been built for the Philadelphia and Reading. Similar engines, he
pointed out, had also been built by Eastwick and Harrison for other
railroads in eastern Pennsylvania, among them the Beaver Meadow Rail
Road and Coal Co. and the Hazelton (sic) and Lehigh Rail Road. The _No.
3_ could easily have been built for one of these roads before falling
into the possession of the Peoples’ Railway, particularly since it is
known to have had a number of prior owners.
It was Warner’s opinion, however, that if it had originally been a
Philadelphia and Reading engine, it was more likely to have been either
the _Boston_ or the _J. E. Thayer_ of Eastwick and Harrison rather than
a locomotive built by another firm, of which the Lowell-built
_Conestoga_ of 1842 had been considered by some to be the chief
possibility.
At first glance the _No. 3_ appears much more modern than its actual
age, but this is mainly because it has the 4-4-0 wheel arrangement with
which people today are more familiar. The cab, not original, is of a
design similar to that used on the _Pawnee_ class of engines first built
at the Reading shops in 1852. Also not original are the headlight, the
sandboxes, and the truck wheels. Sandboxes worked from the cab were not
used in this country prior to 1846; the truck wheels, 30 inches in
diameter, are of cast iron, manufactured by A. Whitney & Sons of
Philadelphia, whose wheel foundry was established in 1846. The
smokestack has obviously been altered, if not replaced entirely.
The _No. 3_, now an anthracite-burning locomotive, is thought to have
been originally a wood burner. The firebox is of the Bury type, which
was in common use up to 1850.
The four driving wheels of the _No. 3_ are 42½ inches in diameter, the
extreme wheelbase is 178 inches, and the distance between the two
driving axles is 55½ inches. The inclined cylinders are connected by
long rods to the rear drivers. The exact cylinder bore, which had not
been known for many years, was measured in October 1954 by
representatives of the Reading Co. and found to be 12¾ inches. The
stroke is 18 inches.
The type of reversing mechanism designed by Andrew M. Eastwick in 1835
is thought to have been originally applied, and it is also thought that
the original steam chests are still on the locomotive. The old valve
gear has been replaced by a double-eccentric motion, the two eccentric
rods being respectively attached to the top and bottom of a straight
link. When the new motion was applied, the old reversing blocks were
removed from the steam chests and discarded, the new valves being placed
directly on the valve seats. This made it necessary to use only the
lower stuffing boxes for the valve rods, and so the upper openings were
permanently closed by suitable fittings. There are but two positions for
the reverse lever, as was the case with the original valve gear, and the
valves are always worked full stroke.
The absence of definitive facts concerning the early history of the _No.
3_ is challenging, and it would add much to railroad history if in the
near future the complete story could be developed as a result of further
study of the locomotive itself, and of the written records.
Of the many hundreds of locomotives built by Holmes Hinkley, the only
one extant is the interesting old _Lion_ (figure 57), built in 1846 in
Boston at the Hinkley and Drury plant. It is not Hinkley’s first
locomotive, as has often been said, nor is it his first _Lion_, as his
22d locomotive, built in 1844 for the Nashua and Lowell Railroad, also
bore that name.
[Illustration: Figure 56.—Controversial _Peoples’ Railway No. 3_,
built in the 1840’s, as it appeared in 1923.]
The second _Lion_, now preserved in the Crosby Mechanical Laboratory at
the University of Maine at Orono, Maine, was built for the Machiasport
Railroad (later called the Whitneyville and Machiasport Railroad)
running between the towns of Whitneyville and Machiasport in Maine.
Strictly a lumber road about 7½ miles long, it was abandoned in the
early 1890’s when lumber became scarce in that region. The _Lion_ and a
similar but slightly older Hinkley locomotive, the _Tiger_, fell into
disuse, and were subsequently sold as junk to Thomas Towle of Portland.
What happened to the _Tiger_ is today not known, but quite probably it
was broken up for scrap.
Alderman E. E. Rounds of Portland succeeded in raising funds to acquire
the _Lion_ for exhibition in the Fourth of July parade held in Portland
in 1898. It then remained in Portland on city property until 1905 when,
through the efforts of Alderman Rounds, the President and alumni of the
University of Maine, and friends of the University, it was shipped to
the University to be preserved as a museum piece. Once on the campus it
was stored in various places and received little attention, until it was
moved in 1929 to the then newly completed Crosby Mechanical Laboratory.
[Illustration: Figure 57.—_Lion_, built in 1846 by Holmes Hinkley of
Boston, as it appeared in what is probably the Portland, Maine,
junkyard from which it was rescued in 1898.]
As the result of a study made in the fall of 1929, some missing parts of
the _Lion_ were replaced, and it was restored to the point where it can
now be operated on compressed air. Today the locomotive, jacked up so
that its four wheels can be made to operate, is a valued relic at the
University of Maine (figure 58).
[Illustration: Figure 58.—_Lion_ as now exhibited at University of
Maine.]
It has been stated that the _Lion_ cost $2,700, exclusive of the tender.
The bore and stroke of its cylinders are 9¼ inches and 17 inches,
respectively, and the diameter of the four wheels is approximately 42½
inches. The gauge is standard, 56½ inches. The locomotive alone weighs 9
tons.
The final survivor of this group of early locomotives is the _Memnon_
(figure 59), built for the Baltimore and Ohio in 1848 by the New Castle
Manufacturing Co., New Castle, Del., under subcontract to Matthias W.
Baldwin. It is one of a small group of similar freight engines built by
Baldwin, who won the contract as a result of his bid in reply to a B & O
advertisement in the “American Railroad Journal” of October 1847.
The design of the _Memnon_ class of locomotives followed closely that of
the _Dragon_, a slightly smaller locomotive built by Baldwin in late
1847 and placed on the road in January 1848. All had an 0-8-0 wheel
arrangement, and were intended for heavy-duty work with freight trains.
The general design of these locomotives had been originated by Baldwin
in 1846 in an order of freight engines built by him for the Philadelphia
and Reading.
The _Memnon_ type of engine had four coupled driving wheels on each
side, and early reports give their diameter as 43 inches. Today’s
measurement of the _Memnon_ reveals the diameter of its wheels,
undoubtedly replacements, to be only 41 inches. The wheels on the two
center axles are unflanged, the better to negotiate curves of limited
radius with its wheelbase of 135 inches (in 1847 the shortest curve on
the B & O had a 400-foot radius).
The inclined cylinders have a 17-inch bore and a 22-inch stroke, and the
valve gear is of the Gooch stationary link type. The _Memnon_ is now
operated on a steam pressure of 65 pounds per square inch, although it
originally operated on 100.
[Illustration: Figure 59.—Recent photo of _Memnon_, built in 1848 by
New Castle Manufacturing Co.]
[Illustration: Figure 60.—_Memnon_ as it appeared shortly after
January 1, 1884, when it had been renumbered “13.” A few years later
it was given back its original number, “57.”]
The original specifications, as set forth in the B & O advertisement,
called for a locomotive weight not to exceed 20 tons (of 2,240 pounds).
According to J. Snowden Bell, the weight amounted to about 52,000 pounds
at first, but changes reduced it to about 47,000 pounds. It would be
interesting to know what parts, unnecessary enough to justify their
removal or so sturdy that they could be drastically lightened, were
involved in changes that reduced the total weight by 5,000 pounds.
Today, the unloaded weight of the engine and tender together is 74,700
pounds. The tractive force is 8,580 pounds. As was true of the
Baldwin-built _Pioneer_, the cowcatcher of the _Memnon_ was not
installed originally.
This class of locomotive, which burned bituminous coal, introduced to
the B & O the grate having a rocking bar in the center, with fingers on
each side that interlocked with projections on fixed bars in front and
behind. The rocking bar operated from the footboard.
The _Memnon_ has appeared with other engines in the historic collection
of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at many expositions, fairs, and
railroad pageants. Its permanent home is now that railroad’s
transportation museum at Baltimore. Originally numbered _57_, the
_Memnon_ was renumbered _13_ on January 1, 1884 (figure 60), and when on
exhibition at St. Louis in 1904 it was incorrectly labeled _Dragon_.
Today, however, bearing its correct name and number, it stands on the
roster as the oldest of all extant B & O freight locomotives, as well as
the last of the locomotives to have survived the first quarter-century
of railroading in North America.
[Illustration: Uncaptioned locomotive.]
SUPPLEMENT
Models, in the National Museum, of Locomotives Not Included in This Work
Certain of the locomotives, locomotive parts, and models described in
the foregoing pages have been noted as being in the collection of the
United States National Museum. In addition to these, the collection of
the Museum includes 21 models of locomotives that do not fall into the
scope of this work, as the originals they represent are either no longer
in existence, are of too recent vintage, or were not used in North
America. Among them are five operable models—four steam and one
electric.
The originals represented by many of these models were involved in
notable events in the history of railroading or mark major steps in its
progress. For these reasons, and in order to provide the reader with a
complete catalog of the locomotive collection of the United States
National Museum, a brief description of each will be given on the pages
that follow.