afforded the builder, Francis Spies, secretary of the Panama com- 

 pany, also reported that "... from the information I have been 

 able to gather about the engines built by Mr. Sellers, they perform 

 well but are too light to draw much of a load being only about 1 2 

 tons." 121 



Sellers took the Panama company to court, at first winning a 

 judgment on the $10,000 in stock promised him for use of the patent. 

 This decision was reversed, and he was without funds to continue to 

 fight in the courts. As late as February 1853 he petitioned the direc- 

 tors for payment; however, the company replied, and not without 

 justification, that nothing was due him since the center-rail system 

 had not been used.i-- Financially exhausted by this venture. Sellers 

 was forced to close his shop. Coleman and Whetstone went to work 

 for the Niles brothers, who had by this time added locomotive build- 

 ing to their business. Whetstone accepted tools from George in 

 return for back wages. 



In order to repay his debt to Niles for the work they had done on 

 the Panama engines. Sellers undertook much of their drafting work 

 at his home, regularly working until 10 o'clock in the evening. To 

 support his family he became, in addition to performing some engi- 

 neering duties, a traveling salesman for Niles: he received $100 for 

 each locomotive sold. Indeed, his prospects for the moment were 

 dim. 



At the time the center-rail locomotive seemed entirely dead, J. C. 

 Trautwine became associated with the Coal Run Improvement 

 Railroad, to be built in the coal mining area near Mount Carmel, 

 Pennsylvania. Unusual grades, as great as 150 feet per mile, were 

 encountered where the road was to cross "the summit which divided 

 the waters of the Susquehanna from those of the Delaware near the 

 Catawissa stage road. "123 At first an inclined plane or a switchback 

 was thought necessary to overcome this heavy grade. Trautwine 

 proposed the center-rail system, a suggestion readily received by the 

 company's directors. In a letter to Sellers of November g, 1853, 124 



121 Ibid. 



122 Ibid., directors' minutes, February 15, 1853. 



^-3 Abstract of First Annual Report of the Coal Run Improvement Railroad, in Railroad 

 Record (March 9, 1854), vol. 2. pp. 22-23. 

 12* Peale-Sellers papers. 



84 



