   #copyright

Stourbridge Lion

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Railway transport

   CAPTION: Stourbridge Lion

   Stourbridge Lion
   The Stourbridge Lion's first run, as depicted by Clyde Osmer DeLand c.
   1916
   Power type Steam
   Builder Foster, Rastrick and Company
   Build date 1828
   Configuration 0-4-0
   Gauge 4 ft 3 in (1295 mm)
   Driver size 48 in (1.2 m) dia.
   Total weight 7.5 tons
   Boiler 48 in (1.2 m) dia. x 10.5 ft (3.2 m) long
   Fire grate area 8 ft² (0.7 m²)
   Cylinder size 8.5 in (216 mm) dia. x 36 in (914 mm) stroke
   Career Delaware & Hudson Canal Company (D&H)
   First run August 8, 1829
   Retired 1834
   Current owner Smithsonian Institution
   Disposition only the boiler remains; other parts were scrapped or
   stolen in the 1800s

   The Stourbridge Lion was a railroad steam locomotive. It was not only
   the first locomotive to be operated in the United States, it was also
   one of the first locomotives to operate outside of England, where it
   was manufactured in 1828.

   The locomotive earned the name Lion from the picture of a lion's face
   that was painted on the front of the locomotive by its builder. The
   Stourbridge portion of the name is from the town of Stourbridge in
   England, where the locomotive was manufactured.

History

   One of the first railroads in the United States, the Delaware & Hudson
   Canal Company (D&H), was originally chartered in 1823 to build and
   operate canals between New York, NY and the coal fields around
   Carbondale, PA. While the line was originally planned as a canal for
   the entire route, company engineers began thinking about rail
   transportation as early as 1825; the initial plan was to build a
   railroad between the mines and the western end of the canal as a way to
   get the coal to the canal boats.

   John B. Jervis, who later became the designer of the 4-2-0 (the Jervis
   type) locomotive, was named the D&H's chief enginer in 1827. Jervis
   planned out a series of inclines connected by level, but themselves
   disconnected, railroads. The company directors liked Jervis's plan and
   authorized its construction with some hesitation for the as-yet
   unproven railroad technology.

   In 1828, a former coworker of Jervis, Horatio Allen went on a railroad
   research tour of England. Through Allen, Jervis sent specifications for
   locomotives that could be used on the D&H. Allen wrote back in July
   that four locomotives had been ordered, three from Foster, Rastrick and
   Company and one from Robert Stephenson and Company, for the D&H.

   Stourbridge Lion was one of these three locomotives built by Rastrick,
   but Stephenson's shop had completed their locomotive, the Pride of
   Newcastle before any of Rastrick's locomotives. The Pride of Newcastle
   even arrived in America nearly two months before the Stourbridge Lion,
   but it was the latter that was used for the first railroad trials.

   The locomotive was assembled after shipment at the West Point Foundry
   in New York where it was first tested under steam in 1829. Its first
   official run took place on August 8 of that year in Honesdale, PA. The
   locomotive performed admirably, but the track that was built on which
   to run it was insufficient for the task. Jervis had specified that the
   locomotives should weigh no more than 4 tons; the Stourbridge Lion
   weighed nearly double that, 7.5 tons.

   Rastrick built another engine after completing the three that were sent
   to America. This engine, the Agenoria, is believed to be a duplicate of
   the Stourbridge Lion. The Agenoria was built in 1829 and is currently
   preserved at the National Railway Museum in York.

   By 1834, documents show that the railroad attempted to sell the
   Stourbridge Lion and its early sisters to the Pennsylvania Canal
   Commission, but the deal was not finalized. The locomotives were deemed
   too unsuitable for the now expanding railroads; American locomotive
   manufacturers had begun producing their own locomotives of improved
   designs as early as 1830. The four locomotives were used as sources of
   English wrought-iron bar stock until the middle of the 1840s.

   By 1845, all that was left of the Stourbridge Lion was its boiler. The
   boiler was still functional, however, and it was used in a foundry in
   Carbondale for about another five years until the foundry's owner
   headed west to try his luck as a Forty-niner. The foundry was sold a
   few years later to new owners who recognized the boiler's value as a
   piece of history, and reportedly tried to sell it for $1,000 in 1874.
   The owners weren't able to find a buyer so they hung onto it
   themselves.

   In 1883, the D&H borrowed the boiler to display at the Exposition of
   Railway Appliances in Chicago, IL. Unfortunately, security around the
   boiler's transportation was lax; souvenir hunters pulled every loose
   item that they could off of the now historic boiler, even resorting to
   hammers and chisels to remove portions of it.

   The boiler was stored again and eventually acquired by the Smithsonian
   Institution in 1890. A few other parts that are believed to have been
   from the Stourbridge Lion are also preserved, but their authenticity is
   questioned. These other parts may have come from one or more of the
   locomotive's sister engines. The museum has made a few attempts to
   rebuild the locomotive with the parts that remain. However, with the
   parts' origins still in question, and the lack of a few other key
   parts, the locomotive's reconstruction has never been completed. The
   boiler and assembled parts are currently on display at the Baltimore &
   Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore, MD.

   The D&H built their own replica of the Stourbridge Lion in 1932 from
   plans that were made based on the parts remaining in existence.

Mechanical description

   The piston rods connected to a pair of walking beams (one for each
   piston) mounted above the boiler. A driving rod near the piston end of
   the walking beams connected to the rear axle's wheels, where it also
   connected to a rod that connected to the front wheels.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stourbridge_Lion"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
