American Single Locomotives and the “Pioneer”

Abstract

In the mid-nineteenth century there was a renewed interest in the light, single-axle locomotives which were proving so very successful for passenger traffic. These engines were built in limited number by nearly every well-known maker, and among the few remaining is the six-wheel Pioneer, on display in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of History and Technology. This locomotive is a true representation of a light passenger locomotive of 1851 and a historic relic of the mid-nineteenth century.