Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-20

and it's mates were too light and the
steam devils" We're laid aside. The tracks
were filled in with dirt, and mules pa
tiently pulled the cars that had been built
for the Lion. For nearly fifteen years no
attempt was made to again try steam for
pulling loaded coal cars. Mules had al
days done the work and done IT well: the
engine was too heavy and failed.
Consigned to the scrap heap the Stour-
bridge Lion rusted away. Some of her
many parts were stolen, many were taken
and utilized for other purposes. The Lion
had a walking beam and two cylinders.
The walking beam and one Of the cylin-
ders have disappeared.
There is something really pathetic In
the wreck Of this old engine. which In its
day stood for far more than does the
mighty machine which now treats dis
tance with contempt. One gazes with
awe on it's rusted boiler and its tiny
wooden wheels. In all this engine weighed
less than ten tons The modern engine
weighs upward of 300 tons. In those
days. however, everything was made
from wood. The tracks. which found
ply wooden rails with strips of iron
screwed along their top in six-foot
lengths.
One turns suddenly around and sees a
Friend. This is made accurately to
scale and is faithfully true to life. This
was the first locomotive built for actual
service on railroad in the United States.
y
various sections Of the east. but the Best
Friend arrived first.
The Best Friend made it's debut In 1884
when 1t made a run from Augusta Ga,
to Charleston. s. c.. distance Of but l35
miles. 1t was then the longest railway
in the world. The Best Friend was not
even fair prophecy OF what was to
come later in engine construction. With
her wooden frame, wooden wheels, up
right boiler and perpendicularly mounted
cylinders. she did not even remotely sug-
gest the huge mogul or Baldwin of to-
day. 1t was built in New York and
shipped to Charleston in sailing vessel.
Among the rarities of the railroad COL
lection are many old photographs and
drawings showing how the trains of sew
enty-fiye years ago appeared. One shows
the Best Friend hauling a fat car and
two coaches filled with curiously dressed
people. On the fiat car are field piece
and man holding an American flag.
Not the least interesting exhibit in the
transportation corner are various things
which show the evolution of the manu-
facture Of steel rails, spikes and methods
of fastening them to the ground
John Stevens was the first man in
America to build a Locomotive which
ran. It was nothing more than an ex-
pertinent. After reading accounts OF
Stephenson's success in England. he
made an engine which he ran on a small
circular track In New Jersey His engine
worked with a set of cogs and never de-
veloped a speed of more than three miles
an hour. 1t had upon it the first tubular
boiler built in America This boiler is
shown In the old Smithsonian building.
Uncle Sam has gathered in every epoch
making locomotive which he can lay his
hat
represented by models.
Peter Cooper built an engine in Bald
more in 1929 which he named Tom
Thumb 1t drew a car with twenty
passengers thirteen miles in seventy-two
minutes. and returned in fifty-seven
minutes. This all happened on the Bal
timore and Ohio road when 1t was In its
infancy. Cooper gave locomotive con-
struction a powerful impetus and 1t was
comparatively short time before count
less designs and supposed inventions
were tried out
Finally came the famous Grasshop-
per. This was the last worl I'm loco
motives. Learned engineers said that this
type would exist forever. The model in
the Smithsonian shows that IL had two
walking beams. similar to those always
shown on pictures of a Mississippi river
steamboats, dozen cranks and many
valves and levers.
Matthias Baldwin's famous engine.
Old Ironsides, is shown in miniature
This was used for passenger service in
Pennsylvania in 1892 1t was used until
about 1910. and then consigned to the
scrap heap. Also, there is a model of
the Flying Dutchrnan, a machine which
derived its propelling power from q
treadmill worked by a horse