Smith Hempstone Oliver

“ Here and there a steam engine will be saved, but the people of a different era will note them and quickly pass on, wondering. Only a few will pause to marvel and ponder over the development of the steam locomotive. ”

“ Each unit is equipped with two General Motors 12-cylinder V-type 2-cycle diesel engines having a bore of 81⁄2 inches and a stroke of 10 inches, and developing 1,000 horsepower 103 at 800 revolutions per minute, a total of 4,000 horsepower for the two units combined. Each engine is directly coupled to a generator that supplies direct current to the two traction motors, geared, respectively, to the front and rear axles of its corresponding truck. No power is applied to the center axle, which is for weight distribution only. The joint tractive force of the two units is 108,950 pounds. ”

“ The brakes on the model are inoperative, as the actuating cylinders for the brake system are dummies. On the other hand, such parts as the boiler, firebox, steam gauge, water gauge, throttle, and valve motion are all operable, and the donor has asserted that there is even ring packing in the cylinders. Although capable of being fired and steamed up, using coal as the fuel, the locomotive has never been operated. ”

“ The Atlantic, or 4-4-2, type locomotive was developed in an effort to retain the desirable features of the American, or 4-4-0, type of locomotive and at the same time to produce a locomotive in answer to the demand for greater power. To do this, the firebox was increased in area by making it considerably wider, so that a greater amount of soft coal could be burned. The diameter of the barrel of the boiler was increased to allow for greater heating surface, which, of course, increased the weight on the drivers. ”

“ The boiler when new is reported to have sustained with safety a steam pressure of 550 pounds per square inch. The design of the boiler was patented by Stevens on April 11, 1803.
The safety valve (figure 2) is of simple design. It consists of a lever 10 inches long from which a 4-pound lead ball about 21⁄2 inches in diameter is suspended. Beneath the lever, and about 1 inch in from the fulcrum, is a disk valve controlled by the weight of the ball, which hangs by a stirrup that can be moved to any of several notches, so that it can be set for different pressures at which the valve will open. ”

“ The design of the Memnon class of locomotives followed closely that of the Dragon, a slightly smaller locomotive built 72 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. ”

“ The Museum’s nonoperable model (figure 69) of the famous 999, long the holder of the world’s speed record, was built especially for the Museum’s collection (USNM 313161) , and was the gift in 1947 of the New York Central System. Constructed by Edwin P. Alexander of Yardley, Pa., it is about 15 inches long with tender and is accompanied by a train of four model cars of the period. Locomotive and cars are built to a scale of 1⁄4 inch to the foot. ”

“ All four wheels of each are (or were) connected by gearing and rods to the two cylinders. In converting the Andrew Jackson to represent the Atlantic, however, the side rods were removed so that only its rear wheels now serve as drivers, as did those of the original Atlantic.
It is of interest that at least one other “grasshopper” locomotive was built by Gillingham and Winans, but not for the B & O. Named the Columbus, this generally little known example was made in 1836 for the Leipzig to Dresden Railroad in Germany, and quite probably was the first American locomotive ever built for export. ”

“ A 4-4-0 of exquisite workmanship in brass and steel, the model is 21 inches long and has a gauge of 21⁄2 inches.
It was constructed during the 7-year period from 1907 to 1914 by George Boshart, a toolmaker of Brookline, near Philadelphia, Pa. All rotating and reciprocating parts are operable, though the boiler is apparently not capable of generating steam. There is no tender with the locomotive, none having been built. ”

“ Probably the most famous and historic old locomotive in the United States today is the John Bull, the oldest complete and operable locomotive in the country (figure 29) . Built in England in 1831 by Robert Stephenson & Co. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, it was officially placed in service on November 12, 1831, at Bordentown, N. J., on the lines of the Camden and Amboy Rail Road and Transportation Co., now a part of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. In regular service until 1865, the locomotive was given by the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. to the National Museum in 1885 (USNM 180001) . ”

“ The fully loaded weight is 433,200 pounds, of which 272,400 pounds is on the twelve 56-inch drivers. While operating on alternating current, the continuous tractive force is 24,100 pounds, and the continuously available horsepower 3,600. The maximum available horsepower from the six twin-armature, 12-pole motors is 7,600. Slightly different results are obtained while operating on direct current. The maximum safe speed is 93 miles an hour.
American Locomotive Co. ”

“ The Pioneer is a typical Baldwin design of the period. A wood burner, it weighs 10 tons, has slightly inclined cylinders 11 by 18 inches in size, one pair of 54-inch driving wheels at the rear, and a 4-wheeled swiveling truck at the front. The cylinder bore was originally 10 inches, but in 1872 the Chicago and North Western changed it to the present slightly larger dimension. ”

“ The Delaware and Hudson as late as 1866, for example, carried coal by rail from the mines of Scranton and Carbondale, Pa., to its canal at Honesdale, Pa., and thence on barges by way of Port Jervis, Ellenville, and Rondout, N. Y., to New York City. On some early railroads, horses drew the cars on level stretches, but in hilly country where grades were very steep, gravity roads with switchbacks and inclined planes were often used. ”

“ The author has gone to painstaking lengths to find and sift and bring together the most complete record ever compiled of these examples and relics remaining of the earliest of North American railway engines and of working replicas of them.
Students of locomotive and railroad history are familiar with the almost impossible task confronting the researcher who undertakes to trace the history of early engines. The contemporary account is often a will-o’-the-wisp pursued endlessly through the yellowed pages of century-old newspapers and books ”

“ Two steam turbines, similar to the type that drive the larger fighting ships of the U.S. Navy, powered the original locomotive. The more complex and powerful of the two, the forward-drive turbine, developed a maximum of 7,250 horsepower and was at all times engaged with the wheels. (Although 6,500 horsepower has usually been the quoted figure for the forward-drive turbine, 7,250 was actually developed on October 22, 1946, at the Altoona Locomotive Testing Plant.) ”

“ The Best Friend was a four-wheel engine, all four wheels drivers. Two inclined cylinders at an angle, working down on a double crank, inside of the frame, with the wheels outside of the frame, each wheel connecting together outside, with outside rods. The wheels were iron hub, wooden spokes and felloes, with iron tire, and iron web and pins in the wheels to connect the outside rods to. ”

“ In order to attach the pilot to the front axle, the outside rods and cranks connecting the front and back axles had to be permanently removed, thus reducing the number of drivers from four to two. The John Bull has ever since been driven by only the two rear wheels (figure 30) . The wheels of the pilot are 29 inches in diameter.
Another early permanent change was the replacement of the wooden-spoked wheels with those of cast iron. The old wooden carriage-type wheels could not stand up under service in America, where sharp curves in the tracks prevailed. ”

“ Earlier, in 1888, the Delaware and Hudson Canal Co. had given to the Museum several locomotive parts, all thought to have been from the Stourbridge Lion. It has been established, however, through correspondence with E. A. Forward, formerly of the Science Museum, South Kensington, London, and with the firm of Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns, Ltd., that the three crank rings (USNM 180030-C) received at that time are actually relics of the America. ”

“ Published descriptions of the Rocket refer to 413⁄4-inch wheels, but this figure probably applies to an earlier set, possibly that installed in 1862. The Rocket was formerly driven by all four wheels, but today only the rear two wheels are drivers.
The cylinders of the locomotive, which are inside, have a 101⁄2-inch bore and a 16-inch stroke. The wheelbase is 58 inches and the weight was originally 8.4 tons. This was raised during the 1862 rebuilding to 11.8 tons. The gauge is standard—561⁄2 inches. The present smokestack is not original, and a headlight was not installed until recent years. ”

“ They were probably made and installed at the time it was refurbished for exhibition at Chicago in 1893.
[5] Railroads are known not to have existed in Mexico prior to 1850, and although locomotives of the 1825-1849 period could possibly have found their way into that country at some later date, none are to be found there today, according to advice from the Mexican National Railways (Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico) . Central America falls outside the scope of this work, as do the Islands of the Caribbean. ”

“ Trevithick, who a few years earlier had constructed several successful steam vehicles for use on the highways, in February 1804 completed the construction of a machine at Pen-y-darran, near Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, Wales, for use at the Pen-y-darran Iron Works of Samuel Homfray. It is thought to have been the first steam locomotive ever propelled along a railway.
The first trip was made on Monday, February 13, 1804. Among the several trips made by the locomotive was one of 9 miles, between Merthyr Tydfil and Abercynon, drawing 5 cars with a load of 10 tons of iron and 70 men. ”

“ The train consists of the Hudson-type, or 4-6-4, steam locomotive Lord Baltimore and tender, together 2 feet long, plus five cars. Beautiful in workmanship, and powered with a small electric motor, the model is built to a scale of 1⁄4 inch to the foot. ”

“ Figure 11.—Stourbridge Lion partially reassembled from original parts in National Museum. Frame and wheels are not original, and the crank rings are undoubtedly from the America.
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Other definite relics of the Lion received from the Delaware and Hudson Canal Co. in 1888, from Lindsay and Early in 1890, from G. T. Slade in 1901, and from Mrs. Townsend Poore of Scranton, Pa., in 1913, include the boiler, one of the two cylinders, the two 6-foot-long walking beams (figure 10) , and the 48-inch-diameter flanged metal tires of the four driving wheels. ”

“ It had made possible the confederation of the isolated provinces of Canada into a great Dominion. Now, by the 1950’s, owing to the emergence of another type of motive power, it had become obsolete and its days could be numbered. ”

“ Figure 75.—Operable model of General Electric locomotive, 1926.
With an operating weight of 292,600 pounds, the locomotives of the T-3A class develop 1,908 horsepower continuously, with a tractive force of 12,750 pounds, and they can develop 2,488 horsepower for 1 hour, with a tractive force of 18,440 pounds. The maximum speed of a T-3A is 75 miles an hour. ”

“ As it was the desire of the B & O to show in this exhibit some earlier “grasshoppers,” the Andrew Jackson (figure 38) was altered to resemble the first “grasshopper” built, Davis’ Atlantic of 1832 (figure 39) ; while the John Quincy Adams was rebuilt to resemble the Traveller (originally named the Indian Chief) of 1833. ”