Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad "The Fair of the Iron Horse" 1927 100th anniversary of the trains and railroads in America

To celebrate it's 100th birthday, the history-conscious B&O in 1926 held the "Fair of the Iron Horse," a parade of mostly it's own significant locomotives.

They had rebuilt the 1830s Baltimore and Ohio train, the "Atlantic" which is comical looking, but hey, they didn't have much to draw from for inspiration, and did what seemed to make sense





this 1927 recreated train is in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum http://www.borail.org/Ohio-Coach.aspx in Baltimore Maryland

Richard Imlay, a Baltimore carriage builder, built six carriages for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad for use on the track leading to Ellicott Mills from Baltimore in 1830. Imlay used the pattern and design of the standard turnpike stagecoach to develop his rail cars.

 The carriage body was perched on four un-sprung wheels and cradled by heavy leather straps, and a brake lever was placed next to the outside seat. These carriages were meant for use on low speed horse operation railroads and later, early steam locomotives.

 The railroad soon learned that these designs were impractical because they were unstable and passengers were discomforted by the hot ash and cinders blowing back in their direction. In addition, railroads found that passengers wanted the freedom to stand up and move around while traveling, which eventually lead to the adoption of standard rectangular coaches with center aisles and bench seats.

The “Atlantic” displayed at the fair, was actually the “Andrew Jackson” #7, built in 1836, and adapted in 1892 for the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, IL.

http://www.borail.org/Maryland-Coach.aspx

By far the best webpage that goes thoroughly into the entire fair, and all the trains, is http://www.rgusrail.com/mdfotih.html

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