

boiler and cylinder, but, busy with other affairs in 
New York, he asked George Johnson to complete the 
machine. ‘Thus young Millholland had a direct hand 
in the building of the Yom Thumb—completed in 
1830—and shared in a pioneer effort to introduce 
mechanical transport in America. Considering Muill- 
holland’s later involvement with anthracite coal, it 
was somewhat prophetic that the 7om Thumb was de- 
signed to burn this fuel. 
Millholland next assisted his employer in building 
a second locomotive, named the George W. Johnson in 
honor of its designer. It was completed in 1831 and 
won $1000 as second prize in a contest sponsored by 
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The Johnson em- 
ployed a curious assemblage of design features, in- 
cluding walking beams, geared transmission, and a 
divided firebox, but the machine was not a success 
and was retired after brief service. 
The only authentic illustration of the Johnson is a 
little sketch made by Millholland in 1873 (fig. 2). 
The several illustrations which were subsequently 
published are based on this sketch.? 
Millholland left his native city for New York in 
1832 and entered the employment of the Allaire 
Works, a firm famous for marine engines. With 
the exception of a brief sojourn in Mobile, Alabama, 
where he worked on a sawmill during 1836, he stayed 
with Allaire until 1837. In his 25th year, like most 
other young mechanics, he was obscure and unknown, 
* Reconstructions of the Johnson appeared in Railway Age 
(July 7, 1893), vol. 18, p. 531, and in J. G. PAncporn, World’s 
Railways (New York: Winchell Printing Co., 1894), p. 52. 
Figure 2.—TRACING OF MILLHOLLAND’S 
sketch of the George JW. Johnson, built 
in 1831 for the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad. 
TRACED 1966 
VAM. wD, 
but, unlike most, Millholland was about to embark on 
a distinguished career. 
His great opportunity came in 1838 when he 
returned to railroad work in Baltimore and was 
appointed master mechanic of the Baltimore and 
Susquehanna Railroad. The prestige of his new 
position possibly was more apparent than real, for 
the Baltimore and Susquehanna was a threadbare 
little company whose serpentine road wound a dis- 
tance of 58 miles between Baltimore, Maryland, and 
York, Pennsylvania. It had 80 bridges, too many 
curves, and too few locomotives or cars. The novice 
master mechanic soon was put to the test of keeping 
in working order the road’s 10 engines, which could 
not have been more poorly adapted to the needs of 
the company. Three were British made. The rest 
were built on patterns similar to the British engines 
by the Locks and Canals machine shop of Lowell, 
Massachusetts. All of the engines proved too light 
for steep grades and too rigid to negotiate the road’s 
sharp curves. Fortunately, the company had a 
fairly well-equipped repair terminal in Baltimore, 
adjacent to the present Mt. Royal Station, known as 
the Bolton shops. Millholland there began remodel- 
ing the road’s motive power as fast as funds permitted. 
One of the most extensive locomotive remodelings 
Millholland executed for the Baltimore and Sus- 
quehanna was the reconstruction of the Herald,® 
the first engine on the line. It was a Sampson-class 
3 The facts presented on the Herald are from the Baltimore 
and Susquehanna Railroad’s annual report for 1854, and in 
Railroad Advocate (May 26, 1855), vol. 2, p. 2. 
4 BULLETIN 252: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 
