The Fireless Locomotive

by Anonymous

The Rubicon, as yet unnamed, arrived at NCR in 1909 on a flat car, just as its successor was welcomed more than half a century later.

Most things yield to progress—and that, of course, is how museums are made. The Corliss engine now on display at Carillon Park labored mightily during the formative years of American industry, yet more economical electric power systems eventually sent that steam giant into retirement at the Park. The Conestoga wagon and the Concord coach, the Grasshopper locomotive and the high-wheeled Cadillac—all served their purpose. And then, with sentimental if somewhat whimsical ceremony, they were consigned to their final resting place.

In the summer of 1962, Carillon Park made room for what is probably its most unusual example of antique “rolling stock.”

“The Three Little Engines” are pictured soon after their purchase by NCR. The Carillon Park relic, the Rubicon, is pushing the first electric express car used by The Ohio Electric Company. The exhaust stacks of all three fireless engines originally extended up the front of the storage tanks, fully exposed, but the tanks were later given false fronts so the Rubicon, The Dayton and the South Park would resemble conventional railroad locomotives.

The Dayton

The South Park