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[Transcriber's Notes:

This is Paper 42 from the Smithsonian Institution United States National Museum Bulletin 240, comprising Papers 34-44, which will also be available as a complete e-book.

The front material, introduction and relevant index entries from the Bulletin are included in each single-paper e-book.

The Sections entitled "Alba F. Smith" and "Seth Wilmarth" appear in the original as boxed "side bars". They have been moved, along with Figure 13, from their original locations to the end of the paper to preserve the flow of the text.

Typographical errors have been corrected as follows: p259: "as late as 1880 and has been under steam" (was stream). p267: "made with parabolic reflectors" (was parobolic).]

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM

BULLETIN 240

SMITHSONIAN PRESS

MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY

_Papers 34-44_ _On Science and Technology_

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION . WASHINGTON, D.C. 1966

_Publications of the United States National Museum_

The scholarly and scientific publications of the United States National Museum include two series, _Proceedings of the United States National Museum_ and _United States National Museum Bulletin_.

In these series, the Museum publishes original articles and monographs dealing with the collections and work of its constituent museums--The Museum of Natural History and the Museum of History and Technology--setting forth newly acquired facts in the fields of anthropology, biology, history, geology, and technology. Copies of each publication are distributed to libraries, to cultural and scientific organizations, and to specialists and others interested in the different subjects.

The _Proceedings_, begun in 1878, are intended for the publication, in separate form, of shorter papers from the Museum of Natural History. These are gathered in volumes, octavo in size, with the publication date of each paper recorded in the table of contents of the volume.

In the _Bulletin_ series, the first of which was issued in 1875, appear longer, separate publications consisting of monographs (occasionally in several parts) and volumes in which are collected works on related subjects. _Bulletins_ are either octavo or quarto in size, depending on the needs of the presentation. Since 1902 papers relating to the botanical collections of the Museum of Natural History have been published in the _Bulletin_ series under the heading _Contributions from the United States National Herbarium_, and since 1959, in _Bulletins_ titled "Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology," have been gathered shorter papers relating to the collections and research of that Museum.

The present collection of Contributions, Papers 34-44, comprises Bulletin 240. Each of these papers has been previously published in separate form. The year of publication is shown on the last page of each paper.

FRANK A. TAYLOR _Director, United States National Museum_

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY: PAPER 42

THE "PIONEER": LIGHT PASSENGER LOCOMOTIVE OF 1851 IN THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY

_John H. White_

THE CUMBERLAND VALLEY RAILROAD 244

SERVICE HISTORY OF THE "PIONEER" 249

MECHANICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE "PIONEER" 251

[FOOTNOTES]

[INDEX]

_John H. White_

The "PIONEER": LIGHT PASSENGER 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 passenger 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 Institution. This locomotive is a true representation of a light passenger locomotive of 1851 and a historic relic of the mid-nineteenth century._

THE AUTHOR: _John H. White is associate curator of transportation in the Smithsonian Institution'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 passenger 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 Cumberland 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 Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Cumberland Valley Railroad

The Cumberland Valley Railroad (C.V.R.R.) was chartered on April 2, 1831, to connect the Susquehanna and Potomac Rivers by a railroad through the Cumberland Valley in south-central Pennsylvania. The Cumberland 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 Cumberland Valley Railroad reached its projected southern terminus, the Potomac River, by extending to Powells Bend, Maryland. Winchester, Virginia, was entered in 1890 giving the Cumberland Valley Railroad about 165 miles of line. The railroad which had become associated with the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1859, was merged with that company in 1919.

By 1849 the Cumberland 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 substituted for the passenger 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 passenger trains with a locomotive weighing about 20 tons; the total weight was about 75 tons, equalling the uneconomical deadweight of 1200 pounds per passenger. Since speed was not an important consideration (30 mph being a good average), the use of lighter engines would improve the deadweight-to-passenger 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 passed, 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 passed 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 Passenger transportation of our Road--and after as thorough a trial as circumstances 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.

_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_

Cumberland 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 passenger 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 Cumberland 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 Cumberland 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 Cumberland Valley road at Chambersburg.

While there seems little question that these locomotives were not built as a direct order for the Cumberland 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 Cumberland 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 circumstances under which these engines are worked on the Cumberland 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.

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 associated with the Norwich and Worcester Railroad and they probably learned of these two engines through this former association. It is possible that the engines were purchased from Wilmarth by the Cumberland 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]

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 passenger 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 passenger 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.

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 Cumberland Valley Railroad for 1851. Watts stated that since their passenger 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 Cumberland 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.

Service History of the _Pioneer_

After being put in service, the _Pioneer_ continued to perform well and was credited as able to move a 4-car passenger train along smartly at 40 mph.[8] This tranquility was shattered in October 1862 by a raiding party led by Confederate General J. E. B. Stuart which burned the Chambersburg shops of the Cumberland Valley Railroad. The _Pioneer_, _Jenny Lind_, and _Utility_ were partially destroyed. The Cumberland Valley Railroad in its report for 1862 stated:

The Wood-shop, Machine-shop, Black-smith-shop, Engine-house, Wood-sheds, and Passenger Depot were totally consumed, and with the Engine-house three second-class Engines were much injured by the fire, but not so destroyed but that they may be restored to usefulness.

However, no record can be found of the extent or exact nature of the damage. The shops and a number of cars were burned so it is reasonable to assume that the cab and other wooden parts of the locomotive were damaged. One unverified report in the files of the Pennsylvania Railroad states that part of the roof and brick wall fell on the _Pioneer_ during the fire causing considerable damage. In June 1864 the Chambersburg shops were again burned by the Confederates, but on this occasion the railroad managed to remove all its locomotives before the raid. During the Civil War, the Cumberland Valley Railroad was obliged to operate longer passenger trains to satisfy the enlarged traffic. The _Pioneer_ and its sister single-axle engines were found too light for these trains and were used only on work and special trains. Reference to table 1 will show that the mileage of the _Pioneer_ fell off sharply for the years 1860-1865.

TABLE 1.--YEARLY MILEAGE OF THE PIONEER

(From Annual Reports of the Cumberland Valley Railroad)

_Year_: _Miles_

1852 3,182[a] 1853 20,722[b] 1854 18,087 1855 14,151 1856 20,998 1857 22,779 1858 29,094 1859 29,571 1860 4,824 1861 4,346 1862 ([c]) 1863 5,339 1864 224 1865 2,215 1866 20,546 1867 5,709 1868 13,626 1869 1,372 1870 ... 1871 2,102 1872 4,002 1873 3,721 1874 3,466 1875 636 1876 870 1877 406 1878 4,433 1879 ... 1880 8,306 1881 ([d]) --------- Total 244,727[e]

FOOTNOTES TO TABLE 1:

[a] Mileage 1852 for January to September (no record of mileage recorded in Annual Reports previous to 1852).

[b] 15,000 to 20,000 miles per year was considered very high mileage for a locomotive of the 1850's.

[c] No mileage reported for any engines due to fire.

[d] Not listed on roster.

[e] The Pennsylvania Railroad claims a total mileage of 255,675. This may be accounted for by records of mileages for 1862, 1870, and 1879.

In 1871 the _Pioneer_ was remodeled by A. S. Hull, master mechanic of the railroad. The exact nature of the alterations cannot be determined, as no drawings or photographs of the engine previous to this time are known to exist. In fact, the drawing (fig. 8) prepared by Hull in 1876 to show the engine as remodeled in 1871 is the oldest known illustration of the _Pioneer_. Paul Westhaeffer, a lifelong student of Cumberland Valley R. R. history, states that according to an interview with one of Hull's descendants the only alteration made to the _Pioneer_ during the 1871 "remodeling" was the addition of a handbrake. The road's annual report of 1853 describes the _Pioneer_ as a six-wheel tank engine. The report of 1854 mentions that the _Pioneer_ used link motion. These statements are enough to give substance to the idea that the basic arrangement has survived unaltered and that it has not been extensively rebuilt, as was the _Jenny Lind_ in 1878.

By the 1870's, the _Pioneer_ was too light for the heavier cars then in use and by 1880 it had reached the end of its usefulness for regular service. After nearly thirty years on the road it had run 255,675 miles. Two new passenger locomotives were purchased in 1880 to handle the heavier trains. In 1881 the _Pioneer_ was dropped from the roster, but was used until about 1890 for work trains. After this time it was stored in a shed at Falling Spring, Pennsylvania, near the Chambersburg yards of the C.V.R.R.

Mechanical Description of the _Pioneer_