National Republican., 1883-05-04
THE ORIGINAL ENGINE.
The First Successful Locomotive Ever Built is
Still in Use at Baltimore
She Killed Her Inventor on Her First
Trip hut Has Behaved Herself Since.

The Baltimore and Ohio Railway company
will send to the Chicago railway exposition,
among other articles of their exhibit, the
first locomotive engine built for their road
which proved successful. This locomotive
is the celebrated ARABIAN" No. 1, which,
like all prominent objects in Baltimore, has
a family history. 1t is not, as is generally
supposed either the first engine built by the
company or the first engine that pulled o
train on o curved road. The first engine
was built by Peter Cooper. Pangborn, in his
valuable history of the Baltimore and Ohio
road. says: Cooper came to Baltimore with
an odd looking contrivance called u steam
engine. The boiler was not as large as that
of modern Kitchen range. 1t was about
the same diameter but not more than half
the height, and had q smokestack that
looked like an aggravated putty blower.
| This was the first locomotive for railway pur-
poses built in America and drew the first
passenger car propelled by steam upon any
railway in the world"
| This locomotive was beaten by horse in
fair race. and caused the first railway acci-
dent that ever occurred. In trying to adjust
some gearing that had slipped Mr.. Cooper
lacerated his hand Tho locomotive was un-
satisfactory, and premiums were offered for
others. Mr. Phineas Davis master of ma
/
Pa, which weighed two and one-half tons,
and was found too light. Two others were
built by Reeder at Hughes's quay on the
south side Of the harbor, but didn't amount
to anything. Then Mr.. Davis de-
signed the Arabian. This engine was
built at the company's shops under the
| supervision of its designer. 1t went into
service June, 1884. 1t has been carefully
taken care of and repaired, and with very little
difference is precisely the same engine that it
was forty-nine years ago. 1t is claimed to be
the oldest effective locomotive engine in the
United States and perhaps in the world. 1t
is geared engine, having vertical cylinder
with ws<Sing beam. 1t has four driving
wheels, each SO inches in diameter, or nearly
one-half the size of the drivers used on modern
passenger locomotives. The weight of the
Arabian is thirteen TONS about ono-third that
of the modern locomotive. Its tractive power
is 5000 pounds. 1t used to have fans con-
nected with tho exhaust, but those
became broken, and no attempt has
been made to restore them. With
this exception, it is the same engine as when
first made. 1t is in active service at the
Mount Clare yards, and works as well now as
when first put on the road. 1t was for many
years passenger engine, drawing trains on
both the Washington branch and the main
stem. So far as could be learned it had never
met with an accident, never jumped rail OF
run off the track, with one exception. THAI
exception was a notable one. Before it wal
finished Mr.. Davis promised the workmen en-
gagged in the shops some 300, to take them ant
their families on tho train drawn by the Ara
bian as far as it went, then to 60 to Washington
and have dinner at Browns (now the Metro
politan) hotel. The Washington branch wa
then opened nearly to Bladensburg. The triJ
was made, William Duff being the engineer
Just west Of Jessup's cut, thirteen and hal
miles this side of Baltimore, the Arabian raj
of the track. Mr.. Davis was sitting witt
Mr.. Duff when the accident occurred. Th
engine rolled on its side. Neither Duff mo-
anybody else in the train was hurt, even IL
the least, but Mr.. Davis. He was killed
There seemed to be a special fate in the mat
ter. Nobody could ever tell why the Arabian
ran off the track. There was no evdenc
over shown, although the fullest investiga
ton was made, that any cause existed /,
throw it OIL AS the Bullock press, which
the first time it was put to work, caught it
inventor and printed him into its first i'm
preston, so the Arabian on its first trip killet
its designer and maker. An imaginativ,
man, gifted with little superstition, nigh
think that matter had been imbued with in
telligence that resented its creation thu
tercely on its creator. .
The Arabian will be engineered to Chicag,
by Mr.. Thomas Galloway. The Chicagoan
will thus see the oldest effective locomotive
engine in the world run by the Oldest lvinj
railway engineer, an incident in railway his
tory that deserves a more lasting record thai
that Of q newspaper article.