In a competition sponsored by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Phineas Davis, a watchmaker of York, Pennsylvania, built a locomotive which was referred to as the “grasshopper” type because of its appearance and the up-and-down motion of its driving rods. This was really the first successful steam railroad engine in this country.
Turning to the stationary steam engine for the production of direct power and for generating electricity, we find that the greatest advance in this field was the Corliss engine. This engine which incorporated new principles of control and fuel economy was the invention of George H. Corliss, a New England inventor who, as much as any other man, was responsible for the development of the power facilities which have made possible the industrialization of this nation.
The Grasshopper locomotive and the Corliss engine, each in its own way, made a vital contribution to the development of America. Each is included in the Carillon Park exhibits because it represents a significant forward step in man’s constant quest for a better and fuller life.
Steam Comes to the Rails
The famed “Atlantic” drawing early type railroad coaches in Baltimore and Ohio railroad exhibit. The “Atlantic” is original, the coaches replicas.
The steam railroad represents an evolution unique in the story of man’s progress. Its expansion from almost primitive beginnings unfolds one of the epics of transport. Today’s network of steel rails is tribute to the originality and persistency of courageous and far-seeing men.
Nowhere has the railroad undergone such a transformation as in the United States. Although England stood in the van of locomotive construction, American ingenuity perfected the most powerful type. From an average of twelve to fourteen tons, the weight of the first Grasshopper engine, they have expanded to the monsters of more than five hundred tons. In 1840, a little more than a decade after the incorporation of our first railroad, the total mileage in this country was 2,810. Today the operated mileage is 398,000.
The real birth of the railroad, however, was in England. As in the United States, tramways provided the predecessor. They were first employed in the coal districts adjacent to Newcastle, to convey coal from the pits to the River Tyne for shipment abroad.