The First Quarter-Century of Steam Locomotives in North America / Remaining Relics and Operable Replicas with a Catalog of Locomotive Models in the U. S. National Museum. United States National Museum Bulletin 210

by Smith Hempstone Oliver

Two Midwestern Locomotives

Among the early locomotives that have survived is the Pioneer ([figure 46]), the first to have steamed out of Chicago, this having occurred on October 25, 1848, at the opening of the Galena and Chicago Union Rail Road. Built early in 1836, the Pioneer was the 37th constructed by Matthias W. Baldwin and is the oldest Baldwin locomotive now in existence.

It was originally sold to the Utica and Schenectady Rail Road, in New York’s Mohawk Valley, and was their locomotive No. 7. Later it was sold to the Michigan Central Railroad, by whom it was reportedly renamed the Alert, a name that is open to question. From the latter road the Galena and Chicago Union obtained it in 1848.

In order to get the locomotive to Chicago, it had to be shipped by boat across Lake Michigan from Michigan City, Ind., and hauled by teams to the tracks. The little Baldwin locomotive at this time was given the name Pioneer. Its new owner, the Galena and Chicago Union, later, in 1864, was merged into the then 5-year-old Chicago and North Western Railway Co.

Figure 46.—Chicago and North Western’s Pioneer, built in 1836 and oldest Baldwin locomotive in existence, as repainted for Chicago Railroad Fair of 1948.

Figure 47.—Earliest known photo of Pioneer, showing it at work in bridge construction at Rockford, Ill., in 1869.

The Pioneer had a full and active life, for it was in operation 12 years prior to its acquisition by the Galena road and 26 years after ([figure 47]). It was at one time temporarily lent to the new Chicago, Burlington and Quincy line, until that company was able to buy an engine of its own, and was finally retired by the Chicago and North Western in 1874.

The Pioneer is a typical Baldwin design of the period. A wood burner, it weighs 10 tons, has slightly inclined cylinders 11 by 18 inches in size, one pair of 54-inch driving wheels at the rear, and a 4-wheeled swiveling truck at the front. The cylinder bore was originally 10 inches, but in 1872 the Chicago and North Western changed it to the present slightly larger dimension.

While owned by the Michigan Central, it had been altered in several ways, the principal change being in the valve motion. The locomotive originally had a single fixed eccentric for each cylinder, with two arms extending backward. These arms were fitted with drop hooks to engage with a pin on a rocker arm that actuated the valve rod. The new motion, installed by the Michigan Central, uses double eccentrics with V-hooks for each cylinder. The cab and the cowcatcher, not applied to the locomotive when it was constructed in 1836, are of a slightly later period according to an article in “Baldwin Locomotives” (vol. 10, No. 2, October 1931, pp. 3, 4).

In common with many of the other surviving old locomotives, the Pioneer has been on exhibition at many places, including the Exposition of Railway Appliances at Chicago in 1883, the World’s Columbian Exposition held there 10 years later, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis in 1904, the Chicago World’s Fair 30 years later, and the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1948 and 1949. At the latter fair it operated under its own power every day each summer, requiring only the replacement of the old boiler flues with new ones of sturdier construction to make it again serviceable. In recent years it has been exhibited at the Museum of Science and Industry at Chicago, but is now stored in that city in one of the shops of the Chicago and North Western.

Not a great deal is known of the early history of the Mississippi ([figure 48]), which is now exhibited at the Museum of Science and Industry at Chicago. Originally it was used on a pioneering railroad operating east out of Natchez in the late 1830’s. Some writers have contended that it was imported from England. Others, including Angus Sinclair, the railroad historian, have stated that it was probably built by the New York firm of H. R. Dunham and Co.

Figure 48.—Mississippi, probably built in the 1830’s, with tender of a later period. Photo may have been taken after locomotive was rebuilt for exhibition at World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago, in 1893.

The Mississippi, however, has none of the characteristics of English locomotives of its period, and it is well known that a representative of Dunham took several locomotives from New York to Natchez in late 1836. It is most probable that the Mississippi is a Dunham-built locomotive of the middle 1830’s.

Its first recorded service began in April 1837, between Natchez and Hamburg, Miss., a distance of about 19 miles. A violent storm lashed Natchez on May 7, 1840, and destroyed considerable railroad property. From this and subsequent financial blows the little railroad shortly succumbed, and the Mississippi passed to other owners. Among these were the Grand Gulf and Port Gibson Railroad, the Mississippi Valley and Ship Island Railroad, and the Meridian, Brookhaven and Natchez Railroad. The latter road was acquired in 1891 by the Illinois Central Railroad Co.

In the spring of 1893 the locomotive was rebuilt at the McComb, Miss., shops of the Illinois Central and then was taken under its own power from McComb to Chicago, a distance of 815 miles. There it was exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition. It has since been seen in many places, including the old Field Museum at Chicago, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904, the Semicentennial of Wheeling, W. Va., held in June 1913, and the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933 and 1934. The tender usually seen with the locomotive and marked “Natchez & Hamburg R. R.” is not the original one, but is of a considerably later period.

The Mississippi is a wood burner, weighs 7 tons, has wheels 43 inches in diameter, and, according to Sinclair, has cylinders with a bore and stroke of 9½ and 16 inches. Its tractive force is said to be 4,821 pounds.