At least two, however, the Boston and the J. E. Thayer, were 

 built by Eastwick and Harrison, and placed in service on the 

 Philadelphia and Reading in September and October, 

 respectively, of 1842. 



What is thought to be one of these now famous locomo- 

 tives has survived (figure 56). It is the earliest extant 4-4-0, 

 or American type. Known today as the Peoples' Railway No. 3, 

 it was obtained at fourth or fifth hand in about 1872 by the 

 Peoples' Railway, which was then establishing a line from 

 the York Street station at Pottsville to Minersville, Pa., a dis- 

 tance of about 4^2 miles. Seldom used by the Peoples' Rail- 

 way after 1883, it was obtained by the Reading Co. in the 

 early 1920's when that road took over some of the rolling 

 stock of the Peoples' Railway. Since October 1933 it has 

 been on loan to The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, 

 where it is exhibited with the Braithwaite-built Rocket of 

 1838, also owned by the Reading Co. 



The No. 3 has been the subject of much speculation and 

 investigation since it was obtained by the Reading. Its origin 

 and the name of its builder are not definitely known, nor is 

 it absolutely certain for whom it was constructed. Without 

 question, however, it is of the period of the early 1840's, and 

 is similar in appearance to the famous Gowan and Marx, 

 although of considerably longer wheelbase. 



Paul T. Warner, for many years writer and historian for 

 the Baldwin Locomotive Works, conducted an intensive ex- 

 amination of the No. 3, and in January 1934 prepared a 

 thorough paper on his findings, based on a careful compari- 

 son of the No. 3 with contemporary drawings of the various 

 other locomotives, and on a comparison of its dimensions 

 with those still known of the others. 



He concluded that from the information at hand it was not 

 possible to state positively which, if any, of these locomotives 

 it was, or even if it had been built for the Philadelphia and 

 Reading. Similar engines, he pointed out, had also been 

 built by Eastwick and Harrison for other railroads in eastern 

 Pennsylvania, among them the Beaver Meadow Rail Road 

 and Coal Co. and the Hazelton (sic) and Lehigh Rail Road. 

 The No. 3 could easily have been built for one of these roads 

 before falling into the possession of the Peoples' Railway, 



67 



