Figure 19.—In 1833 the South-Carolina Canal and Rail-Road was the longest continuous railroad in the world.
Figure 20.—Old locomotive wheel at Redwood Library, Newport, R. I., claimed to be “wheel of first locomotive used on first railroad of any length in America,—Charleston, S. C., to Augusta, Ga., 1835.”
The Best Friend, as such, was short-lived. It gave service that was entirely satisfactory up to the moment its boiler exploded on June 17, 1831, when one of the helpers on the locomotive deliberately held the safety valve closed.
According to the statement in 1869 of Nicholas W. Darrell, first engineer of the Best Friend and later superintendent of machinery of the South-Carolina Canal and Rail-Road, the salvageable parts were used in constructing another locomotive which was appropriately named the Phoenix. Darrell’s recollection is confirmed by the early reports of the company, which also reveal that the machinery and new boiler were arranged differently on the Phoenix, the cylinders being placed outside the frame, and the weight being much more evenly distributed. The Phoenix was put in service on October 18, 1832.
Although no documented relics of either of these two locomotives remain, the Redwood Library at Newport, R. I., now exhibits an all-metal wheel ([figure 20]) claimed to be from the “first locomotive used on first railroad of any length in America. Charleston, S. C., to Augusta, Ga., 1835.” Quite probably it is a replacement wheel from the Phoenix, for Darrell also stated in 1869 that cast wheels with wrought tires were used to replace the original wooden wheels with iron tires that were on the Best Friend when it was salvaged to construct the Phoenix.
Figure 21.—Full sized operable replica of Best Friend of Charleston, built in 1928 by Southern Railway System.
The wheel at Newport is built up of parts, and consists of a large round hub, 12 round 1¼-inch-diameter spokes, a rim approximately 46 inches in diameter and 4½ inches wide, and a flanged tire 4¾ inches wide and about 1 inch thick, the flange of which is 2 inches wide on its outside face. The wheel, therefore, has a diameter of about 48 inches. The spokes are staggered in the hub and appear to be fastened to it by threaded nuts. Four keyways are cut into the hole in the hub. The complete history and exact origin of this wheel, given to the Redwood Library in January 1863 by Isaac P. Hazard of Newport, will probably remain a mystery.
As with other early locomotives, a full sized operable replica of the Best Friend has been built. The Southern Railway System, which now includes the old South-Carolina Canal and Rail-Road, in 1928 constructed a faithful replica of the locomotive at its Birmingham, Ala., shops, and in the same year reproduced the original tender and several cars at its shops at Hayne, S. C. ([figure 21]). A new boiler was installed on the replica in 1948.