The Lion (locomotive)
| The Lion | |||
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| National Register of Historic Places | |||
 The Lion, Maine State Museum, Augusta |
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| location | Maine State Museum , Augusta, Maine | ||
| Coordinates | 44 ° 20 '5.7 " N , 69 ° 44' 3.1" W | ||
| Built | 1846 | ||
| architect | Hinkley & Drury | ||
| NRHP number | 76000118 | ||
| The NRHP added | 15th December 1976 | ||
The Lion is a steam locomotive that is now in the Maine State Museum in Augusta , Maine . Built in 1846 for use on a logging line, it is the oldest known American locomotive in New England. In 1976 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places .
description
The frame of The Lion has a size of 3.8 m in length and 2.25 m in width. The frame was made of oak. The timbers were connected with iron bands. On this frame sits a five-shot kettle with a steam dome near the center from which the steam is directed to the steam cylinder. The boiler and cylinder are insulated with a thin layer of wood and covered with sheet iron. The chimney is at the front and has an unusual inverted cone shape that is obviously intended to deflect sparks and slag coming out of the chimney.
The locomotive was built in 1846 by Isaac Hinkley of Hinkley & Drury at the Hinkley Locomotive Works in Boston . The cost of building the steam locomotive was $ 2,700. This cost did not include the tender .
It ran the Whitneyville and Machiasport Railroad from 1846 to 1890. The locomotive was sold in 1897 to Thomas Towle of Portland for scrap value and then used by the City of Portland for the July 4th 1898 parade.
Eventually it was transferred to the University of Maine in 1905 and housed in Crosby Hall on campus in 1928. There, Professor WJ Sweetser from the Department of Mechanical Engineering became interested in the locomotive, who researched its history and construction. It remained there until 1967, until the renovation of Crosby Hall, after which it was stored and in 1975 transferred to the collection of the Maine State Museum in Augusta.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b NRHP application for # 76000118 (PDF) , accessed on July 20, 2018
- ^ Bulletin - United States National Museum . Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.]; for sale by the Supt. of Docs., US Govt Print. Off., 1877.
- ^ Fogler Library: Finding Guide to the Lion Locomotive Collection. In: umaine.edu. 2014, archived from the original on April 28, 2014 ; accessed on August 5, 2018 .