The "Black Hawk," built for
the Philadelphia & Trenton R. R. by The Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1835.
The first Baldwin Engine with outside cylinders
really required was a line of railroad traversing the entire state,
and thus giving Philadelphia an outlet westbound which would enable it
to successfully compete with other cities such as New York and Baltimore.
Accordingly on April 13, 1846, the state Legislature passed an act incorporating
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and the charter was granted by Governor
Shunk on February 25, 1847. This charter authorized the Company to construct
a line of railroad from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, there being already railroad
connection between Harrisburg and Philadelphia via the Harrisburg and Lancaster
Railroad* and the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad (State road).
Under the supervision of John Edgar Thomson,
Chief Engineer of the new Company, who was a man of exceptional ability,
the grading of the first 20 miles of line west of Harrisburg was let on
July 17, 1847; and on July 22, 1847, the first 15 miles east of Pittsburgh
were placed under contract. On September 1, 1849, the First Division, extending
from Harrisburg to Lewistown, 61 miles, was opened. On December 10, 1852,
cars were run through from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, using the Portage
Railroad over the mountains; and on February 15, 1854, |
the Pennsylvania's own line over the mountains
was formally opened, and trains were run through without using the inclined
planes. The system of State Railroads was purchased by the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company on August 1, 1857, and the Harrisburg and Lancaster Railroad
was leased on December 29, 1860, for 999 years, thus finally giving the
Pennsylvania its own line between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
The early motive power history of the Pennsylvania
Railroad was typical of that of the majority of the railroads of the period.
There were in existence a comparatively large number of independent locomotive
builders, each of whom had standards of his own which he naturally maintained
were superior to those of his competitors; and as the Motive Power departments
of the rail
The first true Mogul Locomotive,
built by the Rogers Locomotive works for the New Jersey R. R. & Transportation
Co., 1863
roads were not sufficiently well organized to prepare designs, the result
was a remarkable variety of locomotive types on each road, having detail
parts which were anything but interchangeable. In the case of the Pennsylvania
Railroad this condition was to some extent aggravated by reason of the
various types of locomotives owned by the roads which were from time to
time leased or purchased.
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* The full name of this line, which
was organized in 1835, was the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mt. Joy and Lancaster
Railroad, but it is usually referred to as the Harrisburg and Lancaster. |