Seth Wihihivth 



Little is known of the builder of the Pioneer, 

 Seth Wilmarth, and nothing in the way of a 

 satisfactory history of his business is available. 

 For the reader's general interest the following 

 information is noted. 16 



Seth Wilmarth was born in Brattleboro, 

 Vermont, on September 8, 1810. He is 

 thought to have learned the machinist trade 

 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, before coming 

 to Boston and working for the Boston Loco- 

 motive Works, Hinkley and Drury proprietors. 

 In about 1836 he opened a machine shop 

 and, encouraged by an expanding business, 

 in 1841 he built a new shop in South Boston 

 which became known as the Union Works. 17 

 Wilmarth was in the general machine business 

 but his reputation was made in the manufac- 

 ture of machine tools, notably lathes. He is 

 believed to have built his first locomotive in 

 1842, but locomotive building never be- 

 came his main line of work. Wilmarth 

 patterned his engines after those of Hinkley 

 and undoubtedly, in common with the other 

 New England builders of this period, favored 

 the steady-riding, inside-connection engines. 

 The "Shanghais," so-called because of their 

 great height, built for the Boston and Worces- 

 ter Railroad by Wilmarth in 1849, were among 

 the best known inside-connection engines 



'■■Railroad Gazelle (Septembei 27, 1907), vol. 43, no. 13, 

 pp. 357-360. These notes on Wilmarth locomotives by C. 

 I I. ( laruthers were printed with several errors concerning the 

 locomotives of the Cumberland Valley Railroad and prompt- 

 ed the preparation of these present remarks on the histor) 

 ill U ill ii.ii ih's acth Lties. Note that on page 359 it is reported 

 that mils one compensating-lever engine was built for the 

 C.Y.K.K in ll!")l. .mil not two such engines in 18 . ' ["hi 

 i incorrectly identified as a "Shanghai." and as 

 being one of liner such engines built in 1871 by Wilmarth. 



> : the author is indebted to Thomas Norrell for these and 

 many of the other facts relating to Wilmarth's Union Works. 



operated in this country (fig. 14). While the 

 greater part of Wilmarth's engines was built 

 for New England roads, many were con- 

 structed for lines outside that area, including 

 the Pennsylvania Railroad, Ohio and Penn- 

 sylvania Railroad, and the Erie. 



A comparison of the surviving illustrations 

 of Hinkley and Wilmarth engines of the 1850's 

 reveals a remarkable similarity in their details 

 (figs. 14 and 15). Notice particularly the 

 straight boiler, riveted frame, closely set truck 

 wheels, feed-water pump driven by a pin on 

 the crank of the driving wheel, and details 

 of the dome cover. All of the features are 

 duplicated exactly by both builders. This 

 is not surprising considering the proximity 

 of the plants and the fact that Wilmarth had 

 been previously employed by Hinkley. 



In 1854 Wilmarth was engaged by the New 

 York and Erie Railroad to build fifty 6-foot 

 gauge engines. 1S After work had been started 

 on these engines, and a large store of material 

 had been purchased for their construction, 

 Wilmarth was informed that the railroad could 

 not pay cash but that he would have to take 

 notes in payment. 19 There was at this time 

 a mild economic panic and notes could be 

 sold only at a heavy discount. This crisis 

 closed the Union Works. The next year, 1855, 

 Seth Wilmarth was appointed master me- 

 chanic of the Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, 

 where he worked for twenty years. He died 

 in Maiden, Massachusetts, on November 5, 

 1886. 



is Railroad Gazette (October 1907), vol. 43, p. 382. 



is Boston Daily Evening Telegraph (Boston, Mass.), August 

 11. 1854. The article stated that one engine a week was 

 built and that 10 engines were already completed for the 

 Erie. Construction had started on 30 others. 



260 



BULLETIN 240: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



