(one is in the Henry Ford Museum at Dearborn, Mich., 

 another is in the Museum of Science and Industry at 

 Chicago, 111.). These replicas, built 100 years later by Robert 

 Stephenson & Co., Ltd., of Darlington, England, do not rep- 

 resent a locomotive actually used in North America during 

 the pioneering days of railroading here, and therefore do not 

 fall into the category covered by this work. 



Various old models of suggested designs for locomotives 

 would not seem to come within the scope of this publication 

 either, as the full sized versions never came into being. One 

 such example is the model said to have been built by John 

 Fitch, and now exhibited in the Ohio State Archaeological 

 and Historical Society at Columbus, Ohio. As Fitch died in 

 July 1798, the model might, if authenticated as to builder 

 and purpose, be a very early example of an idea along the 

 lines of a steam locomotive. 



On the other hand, there is no assurance that the model 

 referred to was intended by its builder to represent a loco- 

 motive. It is thought by most historians that the model is that 

 of a proposed power plant for a boat, for Fitch is known to 

 have constructed several successful steamboats a few years 

 before his death. 



America's First Roil Locomotive 



Col. John Stevens of Hoboken, N. J., had by 1825 long 

 been intrigued with the idea of constructing a steam locomo- 

 tive, having had considerable success with steam as a method 

 of propulsion on water. In that year he constructed a small 

 experimental 4-wheeled engine, the first rail locomotive to 

 be built in this country. The unflanged wheels were kept on 

 the flat rails by vertical bars that projected down from each 

 corner of the locomotive. These were fitted on their lower 

 ends with horizontal rollers bearing on the inside of the rails. 



Equipped with a vertical water-tube boiler, and with its 

 horizontal 1 -cylinder power plant geared to a rack located 

 between the two rails, it was built only for demonstration 

 and experimentation. It was often run, however, on a small 

 circular track laid out on the lower lawn of Stevens' estate 

 at Hoboken. This was the first steam railroad in America. 



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