Best Friend of Charleston
| Best Friend of Charleston | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Number: | 1 |
| Manufacturer: | West Point Foundry |
| Year of construction (s): | 1830 |
| Retirement: | June 17, 1831 ( boiler explosion ) |
| Type : | B n2 |
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) |
| Length: | 4.5 m |
| Service mass: | 4 t |
| Wheel set mass : | 2 t |
| Starting tractive effort: | 2 kN |
| Coupling wheel diameter: | 1371 mm |
| Driving wheel diameter: | 1370 mm |
| Number of cylinders: | 2 |
| Cylinder diameter: | 152 mm |
| Piston stroke: | 406 mm |
| Boiler overpressure: | 3.5 kg / cm² = 3.4 bar |
| Grate area: | 2 m² |
| Water supply: | 0.64 m² |
| Fuel supply: | Wood |
The Best Friend of Charleston was a steam locomotive in the United States . It is considered to be the first steam locomotive built entirely in the USA and the first steam locomotive in the USA to be destroyed by a boiler explosion .
history
The locomotive was built in 1830 for the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company by the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, New York . It was dismantled again for transport to its future location and taken on a ship to Charleston (South Carolina) , where it arrived in October 1830. When reassembled, it was unofficially named the Best Friend of Charleston . After the opening run at Christmas 1830, the locomotive was used from January 15, 1831 for passenger traffic on the ten-kilometer model route of the future Charleston – Hamburg line. The locomotive reached a speed of 25 km / h to 40 km / h - speeds that at that time could only be achieved by an experienced rider with a trained horse.
The South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company had the task of building a 219 km stretch for the transport of cotton from Charleston to Hamburg (South Carolina). The chief engineer of the company was Horatio Allen , who already wanted to introduce steam operation on the railroad with the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company . The tracks of this railway were not designed for the weight of locomotives, so that the Stourbridge Lion and its sister machines were only used for a few test drives and then parked. In contrast to this line, the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company planned to operate steam from the start and the tracks were designed accordingly.
When the continuous operation opened in 1833, the Best Friend of Charleston no longer existed. It was destroyed in a boiler explosion on June 17, 1831, because the stoker , a slave , had set the manual control lever of the boiler's safety valves in the closed position and sat on it. The accident occurred in North Charleston when the stoker was turning the locomotive on a turntable for the return journey to Charleston while the driver checked the wagons loaded with wood to be attached. The stoker lost his life in this accident, the engine driver was scalded in the back and several other people were injured. The accident is considered to be the first documented boiler explosion of a steam locomotive in America, although there are suspicions that the America was destroyed by a boiler explosion at the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company on July 26, 1829 .
After the incident, safety valves were introduced which could not be locked in the closed position. The railway also included in the set of rules that the train driver always had to stay with the locomotive while on duty and hired an additional conductor to take care of wagons, switches and travelers so that the train driver no longer had to leave his workplace .
The still usable parts of the destroyed Best Friend of Charleston were used to build the Phoenix locomotive , which was in use until the Civil War .
technology
The Best Friend of Charleston was designed by EL Miller from Charleston. It weighed about 4.5 tons and had a standing wood-fired smoke tube boiler with a chimney, which was arranged in the rear of the locomotive and designed for an operating pressure of 3.4 bar. The water supply was carried in a box under the front end of the frame. The two cylinders, which were arranged at a slight incline at the front next to the driver, had a diameter of 15 cm and a stroke of 41 cm. The drive wheels had a diameter of 137 cm. The locomotive had an output of 12 hp and reached 32 km / h with a train of five cars, which were occupied by 50 passengers.
Replicas
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In 1928 the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) built a working replica of the train from the early years to celebrate the centenary of the line . Two matching passenger coaches were also built for the Best Friend of Charleston . The NS is today's successor to the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company , which operated the route. The train, based on the original plans, was shown and demonstrated at events throughout the United States in the following years. In 1993 the train was handed over to the City of Charleston and exhibited in a former engine shed, the Best Friend of Charleston Engine House , at 32 Ann Street . The museum was operated by the Charleston branch of the National Railway Historical Society. It closed in 2000.
In August 2007 the Best Friend Zug was loaned to the NS for six years. It was processed in the NS workshops in Chattanooga, Tennessee , before it was brought to New York , where it was exhibited on December 12, 2005 in front of the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the NS company. On the way back, the locomotive stopped in front of NS headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia on December 15 and 16 and was then exhibited at NS headquarters at 1200 Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta . 2013 replica returned to Charleston, where he in a new museum at the John St is issued. The museum opened in May 2014 in the Charleston Historic District.
Another replica is on display at the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Christopher T. Baer: 1829. (PDF; 37 kB) In: A general chronology of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company its predecessors and successors and its historical context. 2005, accessed October 17, 2013 .
- ^ Articles in the Charleston Mercury about Rail Road Accident, June 18, 1831. (No longer available online.) In: Teaching American History in South Carolina. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013 ; accessed on December 15, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Thomas T. Fetters: The Charleston & Hamburg: A South Carolina Railroad and an American Legacy . The History Press, 2008, ISBN 978-1-59629-420-2 ( Google Book [accessed May 27, 2016]).
- ^ Peter Hughes: The South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company. In: Henry Shultz and his Town of Hamburg, SC. December 31, 2013, accessed May 27, 2016 .
- ^ Brian Solomon: American Steam Locomotive . Voyageur Press, 1998, ISBN 978-1-61060-610-3 , p. 17.
- ^ Charleston Chapter Artifacts. 2003, accessed December 18, 2013 .
- ↑ NS: Norfolk Southern's 'Best Friend' visits stock exchange for opening bell ceremony. December 12, 2005, accessed December 15, 2013 .
- ↑ Bruce Smith: Best Friend of Charleston Train Replica To Now Live In Free City Museum. (No longer available online.) Huffington Post, October 29, 2013, archived from the original on December 25, 2013 ; accessed on December 15, 2013 .
- ↑ Best Friend of Charleston "the little engine that could" on display at the State Museum. (No longer available online.) Shoutaboutcarolina.com, April 10, 2008, archived from the original ; accessed on December 18, 2013 .
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