Reading No. 1

The Reading No. 1 named, The Rocket is an 0-4-0 type steam locomotive built in 1838 by Braithwaite, Milner & Co., in London, England, a short lived producer of steam locomotives.
The locomotive arrived in Philadelphia in March 1838 and was taken to Reading by canal boat. It then served on the Reading to Pottstown section of the railroad for forty-one years, clocking up 310,164 miles. When it was retired in 1879, it sat in storage but later "The Rocket" came out of retirement in 1893 for the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition.
It was also shown at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904 and the Fair of the Iron Horse in 1927.
Today the locomotive is on static display at the Franklin Institute Science Museum.
==Trivia==
*Since 1933, the 177-foot long, 26,550 pound coal burner has been on display the Franklin Institute on a portion of the original track in use in 1838.
*The majority of their output went to the Eastern Counties Railway in England or was exported to US railroads, particularly the Philadelphia & Reading.
*It then went on display at the Reading Terminal, at 12th and Market Streets in Philadelphia, PA, and was donated to the museum in 1933.
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:Four-coupled locomotives
Category:0-4-0 locomotives
Category:0-4-0 steam locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:Reading Locomotives
Category:Built in 1838
Category:Preserved locomotives
Category:Preserved steam locomotives