Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1883-05-17
WILLIAM BIssELL, Editor.
AN INTERESTING EXHIBITION.


The exhibition of railway plant, at
Chicago, promises to be very complete
and interesting show. George Stephen
sons Rocket the first locomotive
built in England, will be displayed, as,
will also the Arabian, - the first really
successful American Il como i've, built
for the B. & . road in 1854, and first
used in June of that year. The ga a
bian" is geared engine, having YER
teal cylinder with walking beam. Tt
has four driving wheels, each SO inches
in diameter, or nearly one-half the size
of the drivers I sed on modern passenger
LOGON oti es- The weight of the cara
bian' is thirteen tons, about one-third
that of modern locomotives. It's at
tractive power is 5000 pounds. Itused
to have fans connected with the exhaust,
but those became broken, and no at
tempt has been made to restore them.
With this exception, it is the same en-
CINE as when first made. 1t is to be
engineered to Chicago by Thomas Gal
loway, the oldest living locomotive, en-
gineer, of whom The Champion gave
an account yesterday. Those attending
the Chicago exhibition will see the old
est effective locomotive engine in the
world, run by the Oldest living railway
engineer, VIII has travelled on a loco
motive 1897, 100 miles, or more than
ffty-six times the circumference of the
earth, and never had a serious accident.
A curious history this old locomotive
has had, too. It is still in active SER
vice at the Mount Claire yards, Balti-
more. For many years it drew passen-
ger trains on the Washington branch
and main line of the B. & O.. road. 1t
was built by Phineas Davis, at the com
pany's shops, and as the Bullock print
ing press, the first time it was put to
work, caught its inventor and printed
him into it's first impression, so the
sArabian' on its first trip killed it's de-
8 gner and maker. The story is thus
Id by the Washington Republican:
8 never met with an accident, never
] nped rail or run off the track, with
ut one exception. That exception was
II notable one. Before it was finished
Mr.. Davis promised the Workmen en-
gagged in the shops, some 800, to take
them and their families on the train
drawn by the Arabian as far as it went,
then to 90 to Washington. and have
"a 80
jngton branch was then opened near
made. " illiam Duff being the engin-
and half miles this side of Baltimore,
the Arabian ran off the track. Mr.. Da-
Wis was sitting with Mr.. Duff when the
accident occurred. The engine rolled
on its side. Neither Duff nor anybody
else in the train was hurt, even in the
least, but Mr.. Davis. He was killed
matter. Nobody could ever tell why
the Arabian ran off the track. There
was no evidence ever shown, although
the fullest investigation was made, that
anv cause existed to throw it off,
The Arabian was not the first lOcOmo-
til b tilt in this country, but was the
July, 1929, the late Peter'Cooper built a
little locomotive, which was publicly
tried on the line of the B.. & o. road,
August 28th, 1880 1t made the trip
from Baltimore to ElliOt's Mills, thir-
teen miles, in seventy-fve minutes, and
back in sixty-one minutes, one mile be-
ing made in three minutes and fifty
seconds. Pangcorp, in his history al
the B. & o. road, says of this engine:
'1Cooper came to Baltimore with an
odd looking Continuance called steam
engine. The boiler was not as large as
that of modern kitchen range. p 1t was
about the same diameter, but not more
than half the height, and had q smoke
stack that looked like an aggravated
putty blower. This was the first loco
motive for railway purposes built in
America, and drew the first passen-
ger car propelled by steam upon any rail-
way in the world.'' a-- "
Mr.. Cooper's locomotive was tried a
year before the ''De Witt Clinton was
tried on the track from Albany to
Schenectady, New York, and three
weeks before the time that Stephenson
made his successful public experiment
with the ''ROcket,' in England. .
Mr.. Davis, the designer of the Sara
bian,' built another locomotive at York,
Pa. before he constructed the ''Arabi-
an.'' 1t weighed only two and hall
tons, and was found to be too light.
Two others were built by q mechanic
named Reeder, but they also proved IN
satisfactory. Mr.. Davis then built the
Guardian. '-AtchisOn Champion.
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The names of all the persons draw.
ing pensions are being printed, and il
IL said that .fhE.u will. fill fnrtr.a inht vol.