The 'Pioneer': Light Passenger Locomotive of 1851 Part 1

The 'Pioneer': Light Pa.s.senger Locomotive of 1851.

by John H. White.

The "PIONEER": LIGHT Pa.s.sENGER LOCOMOTIVE of 1851

_In the Museum of History and Technology_

_In the mid-nineteenth century there was a renewed interest in the light, single-axle locomotives which were proving so very successful for pa.s.senger traffic. These engines were built in limited number by nearly every well-known maker, and among the few remaining is the 6-wheel "Pioneer," on display in the Museum of History and Technology, Smithsonian Inst.i.tution. This locomotive is a true representation of a light pa.s.senger locomotive of 1851 and a historic relic of the mid-nineteenth century._

THE AUTHOR: _John H. White is a.s.sociate curator of transportation in the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution's Museum of History and Technology._

The "PIONEER" is an unusual locomotive and on first inspection would seem to be imperfect for service on an American railroad of the 1850's.

This locomotive has only one pair of driving wheels and no truck, an arrangement which marks it as very different from the highly successful standard 8-wheel engine of this period. All six wheels of the _Pioneer_ are rigidly attached to the frame. It is only half the size of an 8-wheel engine of 1851 and about the same size of the 4--2--0 so common in this country some 20 years earlier. Its general arrangement is that of the rigid English locomotive which had, years earlier, proven unsuitable for use on U.S. railroads.

These objections are more apparent than real, for the _Pioneer_, and other engines of the same design, proved eminently successful when used in the service for which they were built, that of light pa.s.senger traffic. The _Pioneer's_ rigid wheelbase is no problem, for when it is compared to that of an 8-wheel engine it is found to be about four feet less; and its small size is no problem when we realize it was not intended for heavy service. Figure 2, a diagram, is a comparison of the _Pioneer_ and a standard 8-wheel locomotive.

Since the service life of the _Pioneer_ was spent on the c.u.mberland Valley Railroad, a brief account of that line is necessary to an understanding of the service history of this locomotive.

_Exhibits of the "Pioneer"_

The _Pioneer_ has been a historic relic since 1901. In the fall of that year minor repairs were made to the locomotive so that it might be used in the sesquicentennial celebration at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. On October 22, 1901, the engine was ready for service, but as it neared Carlisle a copper flue burst. The fire was extinguished and the _Pioneer_ was pushed into town by another engine. In the twentieth century, the _Pioneer_ was displayed at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1904, and at the Wheeling, West Virginia, semicentennial in 1913. In 1927 it joined many other historic locomotives at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's "Fair of the Iron Horse" which commemorated the first one hundred years of that company. From about 1913 to 1925 the _Pioneer_ also appeared a number of times at the Apple-blossom Festival at Winchester, Virginia. In 1933-1934 it was displayed at the World's Fair in Chicago, and in 1948 at the Railroad Fair in the same city. Between 1934 and March 1947 it was exhibited at the Franklin Inst.i.tute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The c.u.mberland Valley Railroad

The c.u.mberland Valley Railroad (C.V.R.R.) was chartered on April 2, 1831, to connect the Susquehanna and Potomac Rivers by a railroad through the c.u.mberland Valley in south-central Pennsylvania. The c.u.mberland Valley, with its rich farmland and iron-ore deposits, was a natural north-south route long used as a portage between these two rivers. Construction began in 1836, and because of the level valley some 52 miles of line was completed between Harrisburg and Chambersburg by November 16, 1837. In 1860, by way of the Franklin Railroad, the line extended to Hagerstown, Maryland. It was not until 1871 that the c.u.mberland Valley Railroad reached its projected southern terminus, the Potomac River, by extending to Powells Bend, Maryland. Winchester, Virginia, was entered in 1890 giving the c.u.mberland Valley Railroad about 165 miles of line. The railroad which had become a.s.sociated with the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1859, was merged with that company in 1919.

By 1849 the c.u.mberland Valley Railroad was in poor condition; the strap-rail track was worn out and new locomotives were needed. Captain Daniel Tyler was hired to supervise rebuilding the line with T-rail, and easy grades and curves. Tyler recommended that a young friend of his, Alba F. Smith, be put in charge of modernizing and acquiring new equipment. Smith recommended to the railroad's Board of Managers on June 25, 1851, that "much lighter engines than those now in use may be subst.i.tuted for the pa.s.senger transportation and thereby effect a great saving both in point of fuel and road repairs...."[1] Smith may well have gone on to explain that the road was operating 3- and 4-car pa.s.senger trains with a locomotive weighing about 20 tons; the total weight was about 75 tons, equalling the uneconomical deadweight of 1200 pounds per pa.s.senger. Since speed was not an important consideration (30 mph being a good average), the use of lighter engines would improve the deadweight-to-pa.s.senger ratio and would not result in a slower schedule.

The Board of Managers agreed with Smith's recommendations and instructed him "... to examine the two locomotives lately built by Mr. Wilmarth and now in the [protection?] of Captain Tyler at Norwich and if in his judgment they are adequate to our wants ... have them forwarded to the road."[2] Smith inspected the locomotives not long after this resolution was pa.s.sed, for they were on the road by the time he made the following report[3] to the Board on September 24, 1851:

In accordance with a resolution pa.s.sed at the last meeting of your body relative to the small engines built by Mr. Wilmarth I proceeded to Norwich to make trial of their capacity--fitness or suitability to the Pa.s.senger transportation of our Road--and after as thorough a trial as circ.u.mstances would admit (being on another Road than our own) I became satisfied that with some necessary improvements which would not be expensive (and are now being made at our shop) the engines would do the business of our Road not only in a manner satisfactory in point of speed and certainty but with greater ultimate economy in Expenses than has before been practised in this Country.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 2.--DIAGRAM COMPARING the _Pioneer_ (shaded drawing) with the _Columbia_, a standard 8-wheel engine of 1851.

(Drawing by J. H. White.)]

_Columbia_

Hudson River Railroad Lowell Machine Shop, 1852 Wt. 27-1/2 tons (engine only) Cyl. 16-1/2 x 22 inches Wheel diam. 84 inches

_Pioneer_

c.u.mberland Valley Railroad Seth Wilmarth, 1851 12-1/2 tons 8-1/2 x 14 inches 54 inches

After making the above trial of the Engines--I stated to your Hon. President the result of the trial--with my opinion of their Capacity to carry our pa.s.senger trains at the speed required which was decidedly in favor of the ability of the Engines. He accordingly agreed that the Engines should at once be forwarded to the Road in compliance with the Resolution of your Board. I immediately ordered the Engines shipped at the most favorable rates. They came to our Road safely in the Condition in which they were shipped. One of the Engines has been placed on the Road and I believe performed in such a manner as to convince all who are able to judge of this ability to perform--although the maximum duty of the Engines was not performed on account of some original defects which are now being remedied as I before stated.

Within ten days the Engine will be able to run regularly with a train on the Road where in shall be enabled to judge correctly of their merits.

An accident occurred during the trial of the Small Engine at Norwich which caused a damage of about $300 in which condition the Engine came here and is now being repaired--the cost of which will be presented to your Board hereafter. As to the fault or blame of parties connected with the accident as also the question of responsibility for Repairs are questions for your disposal. I therefore leave the matter until further called upon.

The Expenses necessarily incurred by the trial of the Engines and also the Expenses of transporting the same are not included in the Statement herewith presented, the whole amount of which will not probably exceed $400.00.

These two locomotives became the c.u.mberland Valley Railroad's _Pioneer_ (number 13) and _Jenny Lind_ (number 14). While Smith notes that one of the engines was damaged during the inspection trials, Joseph Winters, an employee of the c.u.mberland Valley who claimed he was accompanying the engine enroute to Chambersburg at the time of their delivery, later recalled that both engines were damaged in transit.[4] According to Winters a train ran into the rear of the _Jenny Lind_, damaging both it and the _Pioneer_, the accident occurring near Middletown, Pennsylvania.

The _Jenny Lind_ was repaired at Harrisburg but the _Pioneer_, less seriously damaged, was taken for repairs to the main shops of the c.u.mberland Valley road at Chambersburg.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 3.--"PIONEER," ABOUT 1901, showing the sandbox and large headlamp. Note the lamp on the cab roof, now used as the headlight. (Smithsonian photo 49272.)]

While there seems little question that these locomotives were not built as a direct order for the c.u.mberland Valley Railroad, an article[5]

appearing in the _Railroad Advocate_ in 1855 credits their design to Smith. The article speaks of a 2--2--4 built for the Macon and Western Railroad and says in part:

This engine is designed and built very generally upon the ideas, embodied in some small tank engines designed by A. F. Smith, Esq., for the c.u.mberland Valley road. Mr. Smith is a strong advocate of light engines, and his novel style and proportions of engines, as built for him a few years since, by Seth Wilmarth, at Boston, are known to some of our readers. Without knowing all the circ.u.mstances under which these engines are worked on the c.u.mberland Valley road, we should not venture to repeat all that we have heard of their performances, it is enough to say that they are said to do more, in proportion to their weight, than any other engines now in use.

The author believes that the _Railroad Advocate's_ claim of Smith's design of the _Pioneer_ has been confused with his design of the _Utility_ (figs. 6, 7). Smith designed this compensating-lever engine to haul trains over the C.V.R.R. bridge at Harrisburg. It was built by Wilmarth in 1854.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 4.--MAP OF THE c.u.mBERLAND VALLEY Railroad as it appeared in 1919.]

According to statements of Smith and the Board of Managers quoted on page 244, the _Pioneer_ and the _Jenny Lind_ were not new when purchased from their maker, Seth Wilmarth. Although of recent manufacture, previous to June 1851, they were apparently doing service on a road in Norwich, Connecticut. It should be mentioned that both Smith and Tyler were formerly a.s.sociated with the Norwich and Worcester Railroad and they probably learned of these two engines through this former a.s.sociation. It is possible that the engines were purchased from Wilmarth by the c.u.mberland Valley road, which had bought several other locomotives from Wilmarth in previous years. It was the practice of at least one other New England engine builder, the Taunton Locomotive Works, to manufacture engines on the speculation that a buyer would be found; if no immediate buyers appeared the engine was leased to a local road until a sale was made.[6]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 5.--AN EARLY BROADSIDE of the c.u.mberland Valley Railroad.]

Regarding the _Jenny Lind_ and _Pioneer_, Smith reported[7] to the Board of Managers at their meeting of March 17, 1852:

The small tank engines which were purchased last year ... and which I spoke in a former report as undergoing at that time some necessary improvements have since that time been fairly tested as to their capacity to run our pa.s.senger trains and proved to be equal to the duty.

The improvements proposed to be made have been completed only on one engine [_Jenny Lind_] which is now running regularly with pa.s.senger trains--the cost of repairs and improvements on this engine (this being the one accidentally broken on the trial) amounted to $476.51. The other engine is now in the shop, not yet ready for service but will be at an early day.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 6.--THE "UTILITY" AS REBUILT TO AN 8-WHEEL ENGINE, about 1863 or 1864. It was purchased by the Carlisle Manufacturing Co.

in 1882 and was last used in 1896. (Smithsonian photo 36716F.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 7.--THE "UTILITY," DESIGNED BY SMITH A. F. and constructed by Seth Wilmarth in 1854, was built to haul trains across the bridge at Harrisburg, Pa.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 8.--THE EARLIEST KNOWN ILl.u.s.tRATION of the _Pioneer_, drawn by A. S. Hull, master mechanic of the c.u.mberland Valley Railroad in 1876. It depicts the engine as it appeared in 1871.

(_Courtesy of Paul Westhaeffer._)]

The _Pioneer_ and _Jenny Lind_ achieved such success in action that the president of the road, Frederick Watts, commented on their performance in the annual report of the c.u.mberland Valley Railroad for 1851. Watts stated that since their pa.s.senger trains were rarely more than a baggage car and two coaches, the light locomotives "... have been found to be admirably adapted to our business." The c.u.mberland Valley Railroad, therefore, added two more locomotives of similar design in the next few years. These engines were the _Boston_ and the _Enterprise_, also built by Wilmarth in 1854-1855.

Watts reported the _Pioneer_ and _Jenny Lind_ cost $7,642. A standard 8-wheel engine cost about $6,500 to $8,000 each during this period. In recent years, the Pennsylvania Railroad has stated the _Pioneer_ cost $6,200 in gold, but is unable to give the source for this information.

The author can discount this statement for it does not seem reasonable that a light, cheap engine of the pattern of the _Pioneer_ could cost as much as a machine nearly twice its size.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 9.--ANNUAL Pa.s.s of the c.u.mberland Valley Railroad issued in 1863.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 10.--TIMETABLE OF THE c.u.mberland Valley Railroad for 1878.]

Service History of the _Pioneer_