page_title: Best Friend of Charleston
section_title: Replicas
hierarchical_section_title: Best Friend of Charleston / Replicas
caption_attribution_description: English: 32 Ann Street, Charleston, South Carolina
context_page_description: The Best Friend of Charleston was a steam-powered railroad locomotive which is widely acclaimed as the first locomotive to be built entirely within the United States for revenue service. It produced the first locomotive boiler explosion in the United States.
context_section_description: Today, an operable replica of this locomotive is in the hands of the Charleston, SC Chapter, National Railway Historical Society. This replica was built in 1928 to commemorate the centenary of the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road and was widely exhibited in the following years. On August 6, 2005, the Best Friend replica was lent by the City of Charleston to the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), the current operator of the original SCRR line, for five years.  After refurbishing at NS shops in Chattanooga, NS brought the replica to New York City for display on December 12, 2005, outside the New York Stock Exchange in a ceremony commemorating 175 years of American railroad history. This replica, which was on public display at NS Atlanta headquarters at 1200 Peachtree Street in midtown Atlanta, was transported by truck in October 2013 to Charleston, SC. Another full-size replica is on exhibit at the South Carolina State Museum, in Columbia, South Carolina.
caption: In 2013, a new display area for the 1928 replica of the Best Friend of Charleston was built at 32 Ann St. in downtown Charleston.
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