A small, nonoperable model of the John Bull and its tender ([figure 37]), with two of the cars of the 1831 period, together about 6½ feet long, was made in the National Museum by C. R. Luscombe about 1900, and is included in the Museum’s collection (USNM 233510). The units are represented as the originals appeared in 1831, without the pilot on the locomotive, and without the sides and top on the tender.
Three Grasshoppers
As a result of the success of Phineas Davis’ York on the Baltimore and Ohio (see [p. 24]), about 18 more small locomotives with vertical boilers were built for the B & O between 1832 and 1837, the first few by Davis[2] and his partner Israel Gartner,[3] several by Charles Reeder, and the remainder by George Gillingham and Ross Winans. These machines, with their vertical cylinders and their walking beams, earned the name “grasshopper” because of their peculiar appearance when under way.
Of the many “grasshoppers” constructed, three have survived. The earliest, the John Quincy Adams, was built in July 1835 and is now exhibited in Carillon Park at Dayton, Ohio, where it has been for several years, the gift of the Baltimore and Ohio. The remaining two, the Andrew Jackson and the John Hancock, were built in 1836 and are now housed in the B & O Museum at Baltimore.
The history of these three locomotives is somewhat complicated. All were in use at the Mount Clare station in Baltimore as recently as 1892, then serving as switching engines. At that time, with a fourth, the Martin Van Buren of 1836, they were retired from active service so they could be modified for the exhibit the B & O was planning for the following year at the World’s Columbian Exposition.
As it was the desire of the B & O to show in this exhibit some earlier “grasshoppers,” the Andrew Jackson ([figure 38]) was altered to resemble the first “grasshopper” built, Davis’ Atlantic of 1832 ([figure 39]); while the John Quincy Adams was rebuilt to resemble the Traveller (originally named the Indian Chief) of 1833.
The John Hancock, unaltered, was merely renamed the Thomas Jefferson ([figure 40]), a “grasshopper” of 1835. Why the John Quincy Adams, itself built in 1835, was not used for this purpose under its original name, is not now understood. (The Martin Van Buren, now no longer in existence, was altered considerably at that time to resemble the Mazeppa, a so-called “crab” engine of 1838.)
Figure 38.—Andrew Jackson, bearing number “7,” in a photo taken between 1850 and January 1, 1884, at which time it was renumbered “2.” Note tender.
