The locomotive _Old Ironsides_ is represented in the Museum’s collection
by a nonoperable model (figure 64) that, with its tender, is 3 feet
long. The model (USNM 180114) was given to the Museum in 1889 by
Burnham, Parry, Williams & Co., who were then proprietors of the Baldwin
Locomotive Works.
[Illustration: Figure 64.—Model of Baldwin _Old Ironsides_, 1832.]
The original _Old Ironsides_ was the first full sized locomotive built
by Matthias W. Baldwin, a jeweler turned machinist, of Philadelphia. It
was constructed for the Philadelphia, Germantown, and Norristown
Rail-Road Co., which had been using horse cars in operating a short line
of only 6 miles between Philadelphia and Germantown.
The line’s first locomotive, _Old Ironsides_, was initially operated on
the road on November 23, 1832, and was a success from the start, though
a few understandable imperfections were noted during the trials and
shortly corrected. The fairly new locomotive _John Bull_ of the Camden
and Amboy Rail Road and Transportation Co. had been inspected by Baldwin
before he undertook the project. Undoubtedly it furnished helpful
suggestions to the man whose locomotive building enterprise was
ultimately to eclipse anything possibly dreamed of by him.
The locomotive, contracted for at $4,000 but for which Baldwin was,
after some difficulty, able to collect only $3,500, was somewhat similar
to the locomotives of the English _Planet_ class quite popular at the
time. The two driving wheels, located at the rear, were larger than the
carrying ones at the front, the diameters being 54 and 45 inches,
respectively. The two cylinders had a bore of 9½ inches and a stroke of
18. The exhaust steam was discharged into the chimney in order to
increase the draft. The boiler, 30 inches in diameter, contained 72
copper tubes 1½ inches in diameter and 7 feet long.
A complete description of _Old Ironsides_ and detailed accounts of its
first trials are to be found in “History of the Baldwin Locomotive
Works, 1831-1923.”