The Rocket was the third of the Reading's locomotives, 

 having been preceded by the Baldwin-buih Neversink in Au- 

 gust 1836 and the Winans-built Delaware in January 1838. 

 It was delivered at Philadelphia by boat in March 1838, and 

 was then carried up the Schuylkill Canal to the foot of Penn 

 Street in Reading. From there it was hauled by team to the 

 terminus of the Reading-to-Pottstown line at Seventh and 

 Penn Streets, where it participated in the opening of this 

 portion of the road in May 1838. It was first used in passen- 

 ger service in July 1838, but in 1845, as the need grew for 

 heavier motive power, it was relegated to the Construction 

 and Roadway Department, where it remained in service 

 until 1865. Next used for a short time to move and assort 

 cars at Reading, it was finally transferred to the wharves at 

 Port Richmond, Philadelphia, where it worked until retire- 

 ment in March 1879, covering during its career some 

 310,164 miles. 



The Rocket was constructed as a wood burner, but in 1862 

 was modified to burn anthracite coal. At that time it was 

 also converted into a tank locomotive, a cab was added, and, 

 it is now thought, the original wheels were replaced by the 

 standard Philadelphia and Reading wheels shown in figure 

 51. Its present wheels, undoubtedly installed when the loco- 



Figure 51. — Photo, taken about 1887, of Roclcet as it appeared during final 

 stages of its life as P & R locomotive No. 1 . Note absence of builder's plate. 



