Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, Baltimore, MD

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Early steam locomotives

Hi All,

Today I had a trip over to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. There is a very good collection showing the early development of steam locomotives housed in the old roundhouse (plus train rides in stainless steel Budd streamliners). Too much for one post, so I'll start with two of the very early ones.

The Stourbridge Lion
. Built by Foster, Rastrick and Company of Stourbridge in 1828 for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, it was the first commercial steam locomotive to run in North America in 1929. Sadly all that remains is the boiler, one cylinder and a part of one of the rocker beams. A one flue boiler with no separate firebox and no external opening into the smoke box, there was no provision for the ash to be removed while working. The coal fire was set in the bottom of the flue pipe. An external steam pipe led to a blast pipe at what would be the base of the chimney (second picture). The flue design is interesting (third picture). The detail on the model (forth picture) is outstanding.










Tom Thumb.
This was the first American-built steam locomotive to run on a common carrier in 1830, built by Peter Cooper to convince the newly formed Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to use steam rather horse power. The locomotive in the museum is a replica, built in 1927. It is apparently in working order. It's a one cylinder engine, driving one axle through a crank and gear arrangement. Water and coal on the locomotive, so no need for a tender. All those gauges and water gauges are later additions as it gets taken out for a run every now and again. The last photograph shows the pin and bar connection between the locomotive and the directors car (coach) it is pulling. No real standardization in coupler heights at this date (or even gauges). One of the reasons for the visit to the museum was to do a bit of research on pin and bar/link couplers, as I'll be using them on the On30 layout. This is about as simple as you can get.









OK, enough for this post. More to come.

Nigel
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Hi all,

Moving along around the roundhouse to the next steam locomotive.

Lafayette. This 4-2-0 was built for the B&O in 1837 by the Norris Locomotive Works of Philadelphia. A locomotive to the same design, named England, was exported in 1836 to the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway for work on the Lickey Incline, English manufacturers had apparently declined to submit plans or build a locomotive in the belief that steam locomotives could not clime steep gradients. Trials in 1836 with the 4-2-0 George Washington of the same design had demonstrated that the 4-2-0 could haul better than its own eight up a 1:15 incline. Things had advanced considerably in 5 years since the York - outside cylinders and pistons located at the smokebox driving a cranked wheel instead of a cranked or geared axle, steam chests atop the cylinders, firebox behind the driving wheels, separate tender for the coal and water, rotating 4 wheel bogie/truck. This configuration was to remain unchanged for the next 120 years. The beehive firebox and steam dome has a lot of modern plumbing as this is also a running locomotive.










Memnon. This O-8-0 coal burner was built for the B&O by the New Castle Manufacturing Company, New Castle, Delaware, in 1848 for freight service.It was one of 6 locomotives ordered. Memnon saw extensive service for the Union in the civil war, earning the nickname "Old War Horse". The middle 2 driving wheels are flangeless. Manning Wardle used the slanted cylinder design extensively in it's 2-8-0 export locomotives. I'm always amazed at the creature comforts and room afforded to the crew t this date when compared to UK locomotives of the same era, where they were lucky to get a spectacled front plate, forget a roof, sides or back. US steam locomotives were all about ease of access and use - note the mechanical injector below the cab driven by a crank from the last wheel. And the sand dome on the roof - the heat keeps the sand dry and means only one sand container has to be filled. Plus a big headlight to see where you were going in the dark.








That's enough for this post, onto some others Monday.

Nigel






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Hi All,

Couple of unusual ones today.

Camel 4-6-0 of 1869, B&O. This one was designed for freight duties. One of the locomotive industry oddities, Camels were designed to make the use of coal more efficient. This was done by perching the engineer on the boiler, with the fireman at the back. The firebox was very large, coaling would have been continuous. The engineer has always hot, a derailment or boiler explosion was usually lethal, and the fireman was buffeted by the wind and weather, and was continually at risk of falling off. Not the nicest place to be in the winter, and given the height of the cab and the smoke stack probably very dirty as all that smoke was sucked down. Plus deaf from the noise of the bell.The coupler at the front was still link and pin, note the various heights to accommodate various coupler heights.










Next up - 3 truck Shay. Built by the Lima Locomotive Works in 1905, it weighed 70 tons and had 33,000 lb tractive effort. The 3-truck versions were the heavyweights, usually found on standard gauges, the 2-truck versions were often found on narrow gauge railways. Three cylinders mounted on the outside of the frame driving an external crank and articulated cardan shafts to 3 geared trucks (bogies). The type was used on logging sites with rough track and steep inclines, every wheel (12 in total, this is an 0-12-0), was driven with lots of weight above the wheels for traction. Lat photo shows the characteristic left-offset boiler to compensate for the weight of the pistons and crank on the right. Maximum speed probably around 15-20 mph.














Enough for today, more to come.

Nigel





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Hi All,

Atlantic Camelback 592. Yet another dromedary - this one was a bit of a speed merchant compared to the previous one. Atlantic 592 was a Central New Jersey passenger express locomotive capable of speeds in excess of 90 mph (contemporary reports say 100 mph). Built by the American  Locomotive Company (ALCO) in 1901 it was retired in 1954 and donated to the museum. The double firebox doors must have kept the fireman (firemen?) busy (and cool). At least they had a decent roof.









And how many volunteers does it take to couple two locomotives together? After a good discussion and review of the problem.for 20 minutes another 10 arrived. And then they all went for lunch.



That's it, more modern ones coming in a separate post.

Nigel





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