DeWitt Clinton (locomotive)
| DeWitt Clinton | |
|---|---|
.jpg) DeWitt Clinton
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| Number: | 1 |
| Manufacturer: | West Point Foundry Association |
| Year of construction (s): | 1831 |
| Retirement: | 1833 and scrapped |
| Axis formula : | B. |
| Empty mass: | 3.5 t |
| Top speed: | 50 km / h |
The DeWitt Clinton was in 1831 , the third of the West Point Foundry Association in New York for the railway company Mohawk and Hudson Railroad built (M & H) steam locomotive and the first in the state of New York . M&H, which was founded on April 17, 1826, changed its name to Albany and Schenectady Railroad on April 19, 1847 and was incorporated into the New York Central Railroad company on May 17, 1853 .
The passengers sat in five stagecoaches , on railway - chassis had been set. With these five yellow passenger cars , the DeWitt Clinton, powered by anthracite coal , was able to reach 50 km / h on a flat stretch of road . The DeWitt-Clinton train needed 46 minutes for the trunk line from Albany (New York) to Schenectady, which opened on September 24, 1831 . It was named after former New York State Governor DeWitt Clinton . With this first scheduled train connection, the age of the locomotive was finally heralded in the USA .
Since 1891 the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, part of the National Museum of American History , has owned a DeWitt Clinton wheel with the sentence "First Trip, August 9th 1831" written on it.
A roadworthy replica of the DeWitt Clinton was shown during the New York World's Fair in 1939 and at the Chicago Railroad Show in 1949. This vehicle is now in the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit .
On September 24, 1956 , a first day cover appeared in the USA on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the first DeWitt-Clinton trip .
Web links
- Smithsonian's National Museum of American History ( Smithsonian Institution ) Original DeWitt Clinton wheel
- Replica of the locomotive in the Henry Ford Museum