Talk:Tom Thumb (locomotive)

message: Should we get more information about that original test up there? (i.e. the date?)  It's such a symbolically important event.  How much is known though?  DHDiamond (talk) 17:40, 3 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Horse Race

message: I've removed the large data dump that looked suspiciously like a copyvio.  If it wasn't, the data (which is still in the page history) will need to be better integrated into the article text.  I've started this with the infobox, and I intend to return to this article with a few references that I've got for early locomotives (including ). Slambo (Speak) 10:59, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm going to pick up Sagle's discussion in B&O Power this evening (I hope). Mangoe 12:30, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Data removal 

message: Here the article states that Coopers TT was an 0-2-2 which makes more sense if you follow Whyte Notation but I've seen a few articles else where that claim it was an 0-4-0 (trains.com being one of them) which doesn't make sense to me or by the standard. The simple fact that proves it wrong is that there was only 2 drive wheels via one driven axle and 2 trailing wheels (0-2-2). If it were an 0-4-0 it would require no leading wheels, 4 driven wheels and no trailing wheels. I know which one is true and I don't dispute the editors entry; but shouldn't that statement be cited just to minimize any opportunity for someone to argue about it? I've tried to find citations but unfortunately the only ones I found that even mention it's Whyte Notation class is trains.com and a few others that look like they got their info from trains.com. Not a complaint just a thought.
:--Dp67 | QSO | Sandbox | UBX's 05:08, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: OK, now I'm even more confused. I found some clearer images of Tom Thumb and it appears that the locomotive was a 2-2-0 because it shows the rear wheels are driven not the front. Which is which anyone know the solution to this mystery?  --Dp67 | QSO | Sandbox | UBX's 17:02, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  0-4-0 or 0-2-2? 

message: Tom Thumb was indeed 2-2-0, 2 front guide wheels, 2 driven wheels and 0 trailing wheels. Although this locomotive was designed before Whyte notations were standard it does make better sense to follow it. --DP67 talk/contribs 22:17, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: This is not correct, the original 0-2-2 is correct.  Mr. Latrobe writes, "On the crank shaft, which rested on the frame of the car, was a spur-wheel which geared with a pinion on the forward road wheels so as to increase speed;..", "The Early Motive Power Of The Baltimore And Ohio Railroad (1912)" by J. Snowden Bell, page 7.  The front axil was powered by the single cylinder engine, the rear axil was not powered and might have had the drum attached to it for the blower fan.  Mr. Latrobe writes, "The fuel was anthracite coal, and an artificial draught, in the fire-box at the bottom of the boiler, was created by a fan, driven by a belt passing around a wooden drum attached to one of the road-wheels,..", same attribute. - Grimm1966 (talk) 07:29, 22 March 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Changed wheel config per Whyte Notation

message: There are many links that containing several different dates of the race between Tom Thumb and the horse. Wich date is correct August 18 1830        or September 18 1830     or August 25 1829 ?  Blast furnace chip worker (talk) 14:27, 26 August 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: According to Anthony J. Bianculli's Trains and Technology: Locomotives, 'In August of 1830 the tiny Tom Thumb carried B&O directors thirteen miles along the road in one hour and twelve minutes.  The return trip was made in fifty-seven minutes, excluding four minutes for a water stop midway.  Tom Thumb's successful run will ever be overshadowed by the loss of a fateful race with a horse, generally, but wrongly, reported to have occurred on the return trip with the directors.'  So when was it?  'There is strong evidence that the contest occurred on 18 September 1830'.  The phrase 'strong evidence' suggests that the precise date can't be proved beyond all doubt. --Antiquary (talk) 09:24, 27 August 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Thank you for the answer. But that is about unother dates? Why they exist in some links? There they have been took from? Do you know? Blast furnace chip worker (talk) 10:41, 27 August 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: According to Dilts in "The Great Road", page 95, quote, "The race on the B&O probably did not take place on August 28, as Latrobe indicated. The more likely date is September 20, 1830, when Charles Carrol of Carrollton celebrated his ninety-third birthday by taking a ride on the railroad with other dignitaries. "On the return of the guests to Baltimore, they were met by Mr. Cooper's Locomotive Engine," the Gazette reported.  Speed trials were conducted, during which the engine's "connecting band" (the belt powering the fan blower) broke.  When questioned in 1882 by a reporter who hinted that the Tom Thumb had been beaten, Cooper responded: "Yes--no--not exactly; they tried a little race one day...It was some time after our first experiments; we had been out several times, when the men, whose horses had been out there, came on the track to try paces with us, but it didn't amount to anything. It was rather funny, and the locomotive got out of gear."" - Grimm1966 (talk) 07:28, 22 March 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Which date of the race is correct? 

message: The name "Tom Thumb" was coined by John H. B. Latrobe in a speech at the Maryland Institute on March 23, 1868.  In his speech he said, "But the triumph of this Tom Thumb engine was not altogether without a drawback. The great stage proprietors of the day were Stockton & Stokes; and on this occasion a gallant gray of great beauty and power was driven by them from town, attached to another car on the second track—for the company had begun by making two tracks to the Mills—and met the engine at the Relay House on its way back."  Once Peter Cooper read Latrobe's speech, he also started using the name "Tom Thumb" for the engine, and it stuck.  The locomotive was called "Alderman Cooper's engine/locomotive" during the time of it's use. Grimm1966 (talk) 08:12, 22 March 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tom Thumb name 

message: If someone can find this, it would be interesting to add to the article: what was the blower belt made of? It predated vulcanized rubber. It seems that leather would tend to slip.  Also, how were the gas line connections made? I suppose the temperatures involved could have been low enough to allow the use of lead solder, but that doesn't make a really strong connection.Dakane2 (talk) 15:56, 28 August 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Materials 

message: The redirect Great Train Race has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached.  Fork99 (talk) 23:36, 13 October 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  "[[:Great Train Race]]" listed at [[Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion|Redirects for discussion]]