The times-news., 1938-11-28
NEWSPAPERS OPINIONS
RAILROADS ON PARADE

ol Jaws in American railroad
1'0l. =, ~ featured at New Iork's Worid fair'
rs,,,h,sis seems to be placed on the '9'o" rte
Enipi"T T.o pes+ Friend of Charleston, the loh. ON
IT, FL tbo Dewitt Clinton and the JONI DUH ~
NUM- ~, pos+ Friend was first IN regular service
't4e'- t,il+ II went into scheduled service On
- "A - nov 1890. It has been reproduced oy
EN' S'tLorr Railway, and so has Its httle trail'
/ been reproduced ,,robosed for the
=. I'D undson company and was given d
test August 8, 1929, at HoneSV"ie' @. C,,D.,o~
was Horatio Allen who later came TO 'he o""tle.
tom and Hamburg railroad Because 'ne io"O "H'
fonnd not suitable for steam ioeo',,0' ~
sto,1rbridge Lion run on the Tails N'"l -
cana, dock and stood there tourteeh yeats'
bo;,er was stripped to make steam 1or s'a1ion".'
engine in the Carbondae shops. II was Ouil' III
England. I'm O,J ,,,,s-
The Tom Thumb was Amcrlcan-ouh. oia w mus
ket barrels were used for its boiler 1iues.
Frederick Carter says that it was not lntenaea ~
act,tal service but only as working heouel' no"
over, it was given trial on what is no" tne bai'-
more and Ohio railroad. Peter Cooper ltS OuiIoet'
gave it the name of Tom Thumb
August %, 1880, the Tom Thumb was run 70
Ellicotts Mills, thirteen miles from baltimore
Thirtv-six men were in the car drawn oy the llItle
1oconot;ve The run was made in an hour ana
twelve minutes On the return trip, according 10
Carter If was met at the Relay House, half way to
Ralt;nor.e bv ear TO which was htched the hnest
horse Stockton & Stokes stagelne owners, pos
sessed. He was fine, clean-limbed young gray
For a time the Tom Thumb outdistanced the
horse. hut the belt working the blower slipped and
steam began to 90 down. The horse won that race
The performance by the Tom Thumb however,
convinced the Baltimore and Ohio's directors that
steam would solve their problem and their hrst To-
comotive, the York, delivered in the early sum-
mer of 1881 (more than six months after the BEST
Friend had gone into regular service at Charles
TOM
The first of many John Bulls made an exhibition
trip November II, 1881, for the Camden and Am
boy railroad (now in the Pennsylvania system.)
Among the passengers Madame Murat, wife of
Prince Murat, Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew Her
mother was Virgnian lady who married Scotch
officer in the British army.
The Dewitt Clinton was built for the Mohawk
and Hudson railroad (now in the New York Cen
tral lines) and came from the foundry In which
the Best Friend of Charleston had been made al
most year before.
Enough has been cited to prove that the Best
Friend of Charleston was the first locomotive in
commercial service in the Western hemisphere. 1t
was also the first American-built locomotive in reg
ular service The claim that the Charleston and
Hamburg was Americas first steam railroad for
passengers and freight has been substantiated.
81" Georgia claims an earlier railroad. 1t was near
Savannah It was operated for McAlpin's brick
works on the Savannah river bringing clay to the
kilns. However, when one discusses American rail-
roads, he is thinking of commercial railroads and
of these the Charleston and Hamburg was the first
which used steam for power.-Charleston News
and Courier. ....