Figure i o. — The Hudson-Bissell truck permitted the introduction of Mogul and ConsoHdation type freight 

 locomotives. This drawing shows a typical installation for a Consolidation of the i88o"s. Item A is the 

 equalizing lever which connects the truck to the springs of the front driving wheels. From figures 891-3 

 in J. G. A. Meyer, Modern Locomotive Construction, New York, John Wiley, 1904, p. 543. 



no lateral freedom. For the test the front pedestals, 

 which held the journal boxes of the leading wheels, 

 were cut off and a Bissell pony truck was substituted. 

 About a year later Alexander L. Holley reported on 

 the success of the test.^^ The 248 had operated 

 17,500 miles, at speeds up to 50 m.p.h., safely and 

 satisfactorily. The engine not only rode more 

 steadily but showed a remarkable reduction in flange 

 wear. The road was so pleased that by 1866 they 

 had equipped 21 locon:iotives with Bissell trucks.-" 

 Several other British lines followed the example of the 

 Eastern Counties Railway. 



" American Railway Review, June 8, 1860, vol. 2, p. 392. 

 Holley was a well known authority on locomotive engineering 

 and the author of several books on the subject. 



^"Engineering May 11, 1866, vol. 1, p. 313. By this time 

 (1866), the Eastern Counties Railway had become part of the 

 Great Eastern system. 



At first Bissell's 2-wheel truck received wider appli- 

 cation in Europe than in this country, because most 

 American roads, despite the interest in developing 

 heavier freight locomotives, continued to depend 

 upon the 4-4-0 as a dual-purpose machine. It was 

 not until after 1870, when Mogul and Consolidation 

 types appeared in greater numbers, that the 2-wheel 

 truck became common in the United States. 



The first use, known to the writer, of the Bissell 

 pony in this country occurred in November or De- 

 cember of 1859 on the Memphis and Charleston 

 Railroad. D. H. Feger, master mechanic of the 

 railroad reported, eight months later, that since the 

 locomotive had been fitted with the Bissell truck 

 "she has never left the rail and previous to her having 

 this truck she was off the rail almost daily." -' In 



21 American Railway Review }u\y 26, 1860, vol. 2, p. 38. 



128 



BULLETIN 228: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



