style and is made of a '[(-inch thick, wrought-iron 

 plate. The barrel is very small, in keeping with the 

 size of the engine, being only 27 inches in diameter. 

 While some readers may believe this to be an ex- 

 tremely early example of a wagon-top boiler, we 

 should remember that most New England builders 

 produced few locomotives with the Bury (dome) 

 boiler and that (lie chief advocates of this later style 

 wen- the Philadelphia builders. By the early 1850's 

 tin- I'.iiia boiler passed out of favor entirely and the 

 wagon top became the standard type of boiler with 

 .ill builders in this country. 



Sixty-three iron tubes, I 7 , inches b) 85 inches long 

 are used. The original tubes may have been copper 



or brass since these were easiei to keep tighl than the 

 less malleable iron tubes. The present tube sheet is of 

 iron but was originall) copper. Its thickness cannot 



be conveniently measured, but it is greater than that 



of the boiler shell, probably aboul to inch. While 

 copper tubes and tube sheets were not much used 

 in this country a Iter about 1870, copper was employed 

 as recently as 1950 by Robert Stephenson & Haw- 

 thorns, Ltd., on some small industrial locomotives. 



The boiler shell is lagged with wooden tongue-and- 

 groove strips about 2% inches wide (felt also was used 

 for insulation during this period). The wooden 

 lagging is covered with Russia sheet iron which is 

 held in place and the joints covered by polished brass 



Alba F. Smith 



Alba F. Smith, the man responsible for the 

 purchase of the Pioneer, was born in Lebanon, 

 Connecticut. June 28, 1817.'' Smith showed 

 promise as a mechanic at an early age and 

 by the time be was 22 bad established leadpipe 

 works in Norwich. His attention was drawn 

 particularly to locomotives since the tracks of 

 the Norwich and Worcester Railroad passed 

 bis shop. His attempts to develop a spark 

 arrester for locomotives brought Smith to the 

 favorable attention of Captain Daniel Tyler 

 (1799-1882), president of the Norwich and 

 Worcestei Railroad. When Tyler was hired 

 by the Cumberland Valley Railroad in 1850 

 to supervise the line's rebuilding, be persuaded 

 the managers of that road to hire Smith as 

 superintendent of machinery. 1 " Smith was 

 appointed as superintendent of the machine 

 shop of the Cumberland Valley Railroad 

 on July 22. 1850." On January 1. 1851, he 

 became superintendent ol the road. 



» Norwich Bulletin (Norwich, Conn.), July 24, IE 

 data regarding A. F. Smith is from this source unless other- 

 \\ isr noted. 



i" Railway Age (September 13. 1889), vol. 14. no. ! Pagi 

 600 notes that I j ler worked on C.V.R.R. 1851-1852; 



Smith's dIiiiii. 1 1 \ foot e 9 mentions 1849 .is the year; 



and minutes of C.V.R.R. mention Tyler as early as 1850 



it Minutes C.V.R R 



In March of 1856 Smith resigned his position 

 with the Cumberland Valle) Railroad and 

 became superintendent of the Hudson Rivet- 

 Railroad, where he remained for only a year. 

 During that time he designed the coal-burning 

 locomotive Irvington, rebuilt the Waterman con- 

 densing dummy locomotive for use in hauling 

 trams through i it) streets, and developed a 

 superheater." 



After retiring from the Hudson River Rail- 

 road he returned to Norwich and became 

 active in enterprises in that area, including 

 the presidency of the Norwich and Worcester 

 Railroad. While the last years of Smith's 

 life were devoted to administrative work, he 

 found time for mechanical invention as well. 

 In 1862 be patented a safety truck foi loco- 

 motives, and became president of a concern 

 which controlled the- most important patents 

 for such devices.' Alba 1". Smith died on 

 July 21, 1879, in Norwich. Connecticut. 



\ I Holley, [merican and European Railu . 

 i New Y'.rk: 1861 An illustration of Smith's superheater 

 is shown mi plate 58, figure 13. 



[ohn II White, "Introduction of the Locomoti 

 1 1 ink." i Paper 2i. 1961, in Contributions from the \i 



U.S National Museum 

 Bulletin 22S: Washington: Smithsonian [restitutio 

 p. 117. 



PAPER 42: THE "PIONEER" Ol- 1851 



253 



