Figure 24.—Wheel, said to be from original De Witt Clinton, in National Museum.
The De Witt Clinton was never completely satisfactory, and after infrequent use in 1831 and 1832 it was disassembled and disposed of piece by piece. Some of the parts were listed as sold on April 20, 1835, others on September 13 and October 29, 1836. A total of $485 was realized from the various sales.
In 1891, a wheel said to have been one of the wheels of the original De Witt Clinton, was deposited in the National Museum (USNM 180947) by William Buchanan, at that time superintendent of motive power of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Co. The all-metal wheel (figure 24) contains 14 round, 1-inch-diameter spokes staggered around the hub, and is 52½ inches in diameter. The flanged metal tire is missing from the rim, which is 4⅛ inches wide, but its presence would undoubtedly bring the overall diameter of the wheel up to 54 inches.
Figure 25.—Full sized operable replica of De Witt Clinton, built in 1893 by New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Co., at World’s Columbian Exposition, in Chicago, in 1893.
Figure 26.—Replica of De Witt Clinton photographed during an appearance in 1921.
This wheel, or an identical one, was used in the very early 1890’s by the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Co. as a guide in their construction of the full sized operable replica of the De Witt Clinton locomotive, tender, and cars, first shown at the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893 (figure 25). The replica, constructed from the original plans of 1831, was made at the railroad’s shops at West Albany, N. Y. During the past 60 years the replica has undergone a number of repair operations, but it remains authentic. It has been exhibited on many occasions (figure 26).
Since the 1893 unveiling of the replica of the train at Chicago, it has been displayed at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis in 1904, the Fair of the Iron Horse (figure 27), the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933 and 1934, the New York World’s Fair in 1939 and 1940, the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1948 and 1949, and on many other occasions. For years the train was exhibited on a balcony within New York City’s Grand Central Terminal, but since 1935 it has been on loan from the New York Central System to the Henry Ford Museum at Dearborn.
An exquisitely made nonoperable model of the De Witt Clinton, its tender, and three cars, together about 3 feet long ([figure 28]), was made in 1932 by Peyton L. Morgan of Lynchburg, Va., and has been since 1935 in the collection of the National Museum (USNM 310961).