was built to the gauge of the engine. This fact has been given 

 as the reason why the legislature of Ohio at one time passed 

 an act requiring all railroads built in Ohio to be of 58-inch 

 gauge. On April 1 1, 1838, regular trips for the conveyance 

 of passengers commenced between Bellevue and Sandusky, 

 a distance of 16 miles, and the locomotive Sandusky was used. 



The Sandusky resembled the early Stephenson engines in 

 some respects, but differed principally in having a 4-wheeled 

 leading truck, the wheels of which were 30 inches in diam- 

 eter. The two driving wheels, made of cast iron and with 

 hollow spokes and rims, were 54 inches in diameter. The 

 crankshaft throws were counterbalanced by a method of 

 balancing devised by Thomas Rogers, who had filed a patent 

 application on it dated July 12, 1837. This consisted of hav- 

 ing the part of the wheel rim opposite the crank throw cast 

 solid, while the rest of the rim was hollow. 



The driving wheels and the inclined 11- by 16-inch cyl- 

 inders were inside the frame, whereas the eccentric rods, 

 working off the outer ends of the driving axle, were outside. 

 The bonnet-type smokestack had a deflecting cone in its 

 center and a wire mesh on the top to prevent the escape of 

 sparks. 



Rogers, Ketchum & Grosvenor Locomotive General, 1 855 



The smallest locomotive model in the National Museum 

 (figure 67) is of the wood-burning locomotive General that 

 figured so prominently in the famous Civil War locomotive 

 chase of April 12, 1862. (In William Pittenger's "The Great 

 Locomotive Chase" is told the complete story of this epic 

 adventure, which took place when a group of Northern 

 raiders stole the General and its train at Big Shanty, Ga. The 

 Confederates finally recaptured the General minus the cars, 

 which had been cut loose to delay the pursuers, but with 

 most of the raiders, after a thrilling pursuit that led them 90 

 miles away, to Ringgold, Ga., just south of Chattanooga, 

 Tenn.) 



The Museum's display is constructed from a pair of model 

 kits, to which a great many engineering details have been 



84 



