Preface 



Although several detailed studies and numerous articles on 

 eastern locomotive builders have been prepared, the early mid- 

 western builders have been largely neglected. To many who profess 

 an interest in locomotive history, their very existence is virtually 

 unknown. 



The history of the Cincinnati builders might well be viewed as 

 a case study of the industry as practiced west of the Alleghenies 

 before the Civil War. Surely, a better example would be hard to 

 find. Except, perhaps, for McClurg, Wade & Company of Pitts- 

 burgh (a firm which built only five locomotives in the late 1830's 

 and dropped this line of work for more profitable business), Cincin- 

 nati firms were the area's earliest commercial producers of loco- 

 motive engines. The Cincinnati shops, although largely imitators 

 of eastern machines, introduced certain mechanical improvements. 

 Their products, an estimated 500 engines, were to be found on 

 lines from Panama to the western United States and were respected 

 as more than cheap machines hastily fabricated to capture a tem- 

 porary local market. 



The Cincinnati Locomotive Works (Moore & Richardson) alone 

 survived the Panic of 1857, which closed the early locomotive 

 industry in the Midwest. The industry was not revived until the 

 Pittsburgh (1867) and Lima (1879) shops opened after the Civil 

 War. In Cincinnati itself, there is little question that locomotive 

 building ceased entirely once Robert Moore closed his shop in 



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