Figure 20. — Old locomotive wheel 

 at Redwood Library, Newport, R. I., 

 claimed to be "wheel of first loco- 

 motive used on first railroad of any 

 length in America, — Charleston, 

 S. C, to Augusta, Go., 1 835." 



The Best Friend, as such, was short-lived. It gave service 

 that was entirely satisfactory up to the moment its boiler 

 exploded on June 17, 1831, when one of the helpers on the 

 locomotive deliberately held the safety valve closed. 



According to the statement in 1869 of Nicholas W. 

 Darrell, first engineer of the Best Friend and later superin- 

 tendent of machinery of the South-Carolina Canal and 

 Rail-Road, the salvageable parts were used in constructing 

 another locomotive which was appropriately named the 

 Phoenix. Darrell's recollection is confirmed by the early 

 reports of the company, which also reveal that the machin- 

 ery and new boiler were arranged differently on the Phoenix, 

 the cylinders being placed outside the frame, and the weight 

 being much more evenly distributed. The Phoenix was put in 

 service on October 18, 1832. 



Although no documented relics of either of these two loco- 

 motives remain, the Redwood Library at Newport, R. I., 

 now exhibits an all-metal wheel (figure 20) claimed to be 

 from the "first locomotive used on first railroad of any length 

 in America. Charleston, S. C, to Augusta, Ga., 1835." Quite 

 probably it is a replacement wheel from the Phoenix, for Dar- 

 rell also stated in 1869 that cast wheels with wrought tires 

 were used to replace the original wooden wheels with iron 

 tires that were on the Best Friend when it was salvaged to 

 construct the Phoenix. 



29 



