Figure 44.—John Hancock photographed during a recent appearance.
Figure 45.—John Quincy Adams as restored for exhibition at Dayton, Ohio. This is the oldest complete American-built locomotive in existence. Metal water tank is not original.
The John Quincy Adams ([figure 45]), recently restored and repainted and no longer referred to as the Traveller, is the oldest complete American-built locomotive in existence.
These “grasshoppers” burned anthracite, as did the York. The cylinders of the newer two of the survivors have a 22-inch stroke and a 12½-inch bore (according to the 10th annual report of the B & O, for 1836, p. 22) and originally operated on a steam pressure of 50 pounds per square inch. With their thoroughly overhauled boilers, they now operate on 75. The bore of the John Quincy Adams is slightly smaller, 12¼ inches (according to the 9th annual report of the B & O, for 1835, p. 24), unless it has been increased by wear or replacement.
The wheelbase of each “grasshopper” is 49 inches, and the weight was originally about 8½ tons. The wheels, modern replacements, are about 34 inches in diameter but the original ones were several inches larger. All four wheels of each are (or were) connected by gearing and rods to the two cylinders. In converting the Andrew Jackson to represent the Atlantic, however, the side rods were removed so that only its rear wheels now serve as drivers, as did those of the original Atlantic.
It is of interest that at least one other “grasshopper” locomotive was built by Gillingham and Winans, but not for the B & O. Named the Columbus, this generally little known example was made in 1836 for the Leipzig to Dresden Railroad in Germany, and quite probably was the first American locomotive ever built for export. A description and illustration of it are found in the German publication “Hundert Jahre deutsche Eisenbahnen,” published in 1935.
Two Midwestern Locomotives
Among the early locomotives that have survived is the Pioneer ([figure 46]), the first to have steamed out of Chicago, this having occurred on October 25, 1848, at the opening of the Galena and Chicago Union Rail Road. Built early in 1836, the Pioneer was the 37th constructed by Matthias W. Baldwin and is the oldest Baldwin locomotive now in existence.