The Little Schuylkill Navigation, Railroad & Coal Co. was incorporated in 1826. Amazingly, that was 200 years ago. As that time predates the common use of photography there are no photographs of the first locomotives.
This one, the Catawissa, was made in England by Edward Bury of Liverpool and was one of two ordered by the company. By 1832 it was running a 28 mile track in Pennsylvania from Port Clinton to Tamaqua. This photograph of unknown age shows the locomotive later in its career with an added cab, stack, pilot and sandbox. The locomotive was still on the property in 1863 and was sold to the American Dredging Company in 1871.
3 comments:
That cab window is fantastic. When a cab was really a cabin. There were a couple of imported locos in the very early days which were modified for North American conditions and to British eyes, the stack and the pilot or cow catcher is the most distinctive thing about them. Cattle were well enclosed in Britainso it was not considered a significant risk. Britain was then too wet to worry about sparks outside of urban areas. e.g London and Greenwich railway built entirely on viaduct in 1836. By the 1860s the basic layout of locos in every nation had been pretty much set. It is 200 years ago and nobody gives much of a damn. After all we've got a fairground attraction VTOL Tesla.
I found a book about the Long Island railway the other day; didn't buy it but was quite tempted... D.
I have at least two on the subject, if I could find just them....,
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