The 'Pioneer': Light Passenger Locomotive of 1851 Part 3

[Ill.u.s.tration:

UNION WORKS,

SOUTH BOSTON,

SETH WILMARTH, Proprietor,

[Ill.u.s.tration]

MANUFACTURER OF

LOCOMOTIVES,

STATIONARY STEAM ENGINES AND STEAM BOILERS,

OF THE VARIOUS SIZES REQUIRED,

_Parts connected with Railroads, including Frogs, Switches, Chairs and Hand Cars._

MACHINISTS' TOOLS, of all descriptions, including _TURNING LATHES_, of sizes varying from 6 feet to 50 feet in length, and weighing from 500 pounds to 40 tons each; the latter capable of turning a wheel or pulley, _thirty feet in diameter_.

PLANING MACHINES,

Varying from 2 feet to 60 feet in length, and weighing from 200 lbs. to 70 tons each, and will plane up to 55 feet long and 7 feet square.

Boring Mills, Vertical and Horizontal Drills, Slotting Machines, Punching Presses, Gear and Screw Cutting Machines, &c. &c. Also,

Mill Gearing and Shafting.

JOBBING AND REPAIRS, and any kind of work usually done in Machine Shops, executed at short notice.

Figure 13.--ADVERTIs.e.m.e.nT OF SETH WILMARTH appearing in Boston city directory for 1848-1849.]

_Seth Wilmarth_

Little is known of the builder of the _Pioneer_, Seth Wilmarth, and nothing in the way of a satisfactory history of his business is available. For the reader's general interest the following information is noted.[16]

Seth Wilmarth was born in Brattleboro, Vermont, on September 8, 1810. He is thought to have learned the machinist trade in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, before coming to Boston and working for the Boston Locomotive Works, Hinkley and Drury proprietors. In about 1836 he opened a machine shop and, encouraged by an expanding business, in 1841 he built a new shop in South Boston which became known as the Union Works.[17] Wilmarth was in the general machine business but his reputation was made in the manufacture of machine tools, notably lathes. He is believed to have built his first locomotive in 1842, but locomotive building never became his main line of work. Wilmarth patterned his engines after those of Hinkley and undoubtedly, in common with the other New England builders of this period, favored the steady-riding, inside-connection engines.

The "Shanghais," so-called because of their great height, built for the Boston and Worcester Railroad by Wilmarth in 1849, were among the best known inside-connection engines operated in this country (fig. 14).

While the greater part of Wilmarth's engines was built for New England roads, many were constructed for lines outside that area, including the Pennsylvania Railroad, Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad, and the Erie.

A comparison of the surviving ill.u.s.trations of Hinkley and Wilmarth engines of the 1850's reveals a remarkable similarity in their details (figs. 14 and 15). Notice particularly the straight boiler, riveted frame, closely set truck wheels, feedwater pump driven by a pin on the crank of the driving wheel, and details of the dome cover. All of the features are duplicated exactly by both builders. This is not surprising considering the proximity of the plants and the fact that Wilmarth had been previously employed by Hinkley.

In 1854 Wilmarth was engaged by the New York and Erie Railroad to build fifty 6-foot gauge engines.[18] After work had been started on these engines, and a large store of material had been purchased for their construction, Wilmarth was informed that the railroad could not pay cash but that he would have to take notes in payment.[19] There was at this time a mild economic panic and notes could be sold only at a heavy discount. This crisis closed the Union Works. The next year, 1855, Seth Wilmarth was appointed master mechanic of the Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, where he worked for twenty years. He died in Malden, Ma.s.sachusetts, on November 5, 1886.

Footnotes

[1] _Minutes of the Board of Managers of the c.u.mberland Valley Railroad._ This book may be found in the office of the Secretary, Pennsylvania Railroad, Philadelphia, Pa., June 25, 1851. Hereafter cited as "Minutes C.V.R.R."

[2] Ibid.

[3] Minutes C.V.R.R.

[4] _Franklin Repository_ (Chambersburg, Pa.), August 26, 1909.

[5] _Railroad Advocate_ (December 29, 1855), vol. 2, p. 3.

[6] C. E. FISHER, "Locomotives of the New Haven Railroad," _Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin_ (April 1938), no. 46, p. 48.

[7] Minutes C.V.R.R.

[8] _Evening Sentinel_ (Carlisle, Pa.), October 23, 1901.

[9] _Norwich Bulletin_ (Norwich, Conn.), July 24, 1879. All data regarding A. F. Smith is from this source unless otherwise noted.

[10] _Railway Age_ (September 13, 1889), vol. 14, no. 37. Page 600 notes that Tyler worked on C.V.R.R. 1851-1852; Smith's obituary (footnote 9) mentions 1849 as the year; and minutes of C.V.R.R. mention Tyler as early as 1850.

[11] Minutes C.V.R.R.

[12] A. F. HOLLEY, _American and European Railway Practice_ (New York: 1861). An ill.u.s.tration of Smith's superheater is shown on plate 58, figure 13.

[13] JOHN H. WHITE, "Introduction of the Locomotive Safety Truck,"

(Paper 24, 1961, in _Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology: Papers 19-30_, U.S. National Museum Bulletin 228; Was.h.i.+ngton: Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, 1963), p. 117.

[14] _Annual Report_, C.V.R.R., 1853.

[15] ZERAH COLBURN, _Recent Practice in Locomotive Engines_ (1860), p.

71.

[16] _Railroad Gazette_ (September 27, 1907), vol. 43, no. 13, pp.

357-360. These notes on Wilmarth locomotives by C. H. Caruthers were printed with several errors concerning the locomotives of the c.u.mberland Valley Railroad and prompted the preparation of these present remarks on the history of Wilmarth's activities. Note that on page 359 it is reported that only one compensating-lever engine was built for the C.V.R.R. in 1854, and not two such engines in 1852. The _Pioneer_ is incorrectly identified as a "Shanghai," and as being one of three such engines built in 1871 by Wilmarth.

[17] The author is indebted to Thomas Norrell for these and many of the other facts relating to Wilmarth's Union Works.

[18] _Railroad Gazette_ (October 1907), vol. 43, p. 382.

[19] _Boston Daily Evening Telegraph_ (Boston, Ma.s.s.), August 11, 1854.

The article stated that one engine a week was built and that 10 engines were already completed for the Erie. Construction had started on 30 others.

[20] The restoration work has been ably handled by John Stine of the Museum staff. Restoration started in October 1961.

[21] S. H. OLIVER, _The First Quarter Century of the Steam Locomotive in America_ (U.S. National Museum Bulletin 210; Was.h.i.+ngton: Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, 1956), pp. 38-46.