A One-Armed Billy 



Figure 49. — Full sized operable replica of Lafayette, built in 1927 by Baltimore 

 and Ohio Railroad Co. 



An operable replica (figure 49) of another locomotive of 

 the same period also exists. The Lafayette, built in 1837 by 

 William Norris of Philadelphia, was the first Baltimore and 

 Ohio locomotive to have either a horizontal boiler or six 

 wheels. As B & O No. 13, with a 4-2-0 wheel arrangement, 

 it represented the first stage of the transition from the old 

 4-wheeled vertical-boiler types. It was the first of a group of 

 eight ordered from Norris and was placed on the road in 

 April 1837. 



According to the railroad historian J. Snowden Bell, these 

 locomotives were known as "one-armed Billys," a term de- 

 rived from the name of the builder and the single connecting 

 rod on each side. Some of them were in service with light 

 local passenger trains as late as 1857, but by 1839 it had 

 been realized that they could not meet the rapidly increas- 

 ing requirements of the expanding B & O railroad system. 

 As a result, only the eight "one-armed Billys" were bought 

 by the company, and as early as September 1839 the road 



58 



