Civil War Era Locomotive

I was at the Henry Ford Museum a couple weeks ago, and they have a dozen or so restored locomotives. I thought at least one might fit your requirements. In searching for information about these, I found this website, which seems to have a list of all the steam locomotives in the US. It's a bit hard to search for locomotives meeting your precise requirements, but I'll bet if you email the webmaster, he could give you some sort of answer.

By the way, the one I was thinking of was this one, which was built in 1858, but is a standard gauge rather than narrow.

I'm not big on steam locomotives, but for what's it worth:

In the 1860s, most locomotives were Americans, or 4-4-0. This means they had four lead wheels, four driving wheels, and no trailing wheels. Locomotives were still frequently made by the railroad that would end up owning them. This was when mass production was beginning. The Shay locomotive, which were geared and designed for the type of railroading that tends to be narrow gauge, wasn't developed until around 1880.

One web site where you probably can find people who really know this stuff is MODEL RAILROADER. It also publishes TRAINS magazine.

Narrow guage railroads were used primarily for logging and mining. The two states that pop into my mind are Maine and Colorado, but I know there a lot others. I know Maine still has a narrow gauge running as a tourist railroad.

There are numerous books out on narrow gauge railroading. I'd get one on a railroad that meets your requirements and read it. I think you'll find the answer to your questions.

Jim Clark-Dawe

You might consider contacting Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. They have a train exhibit that consists of both model trains and real trains. Whoever is responsible for it might be able to answer your questions.

Or check out the websites of some of the narrow gauge railroads that are now running as tourists attractions - the one in Colorado (Denver and Rio Grande?) that runs through Telluride comes to mind. There should be a lot of material available on the web and in libraries. Puma

With your location, I'd think about purchasing a locomotive from the Baltimore and Ohio (B & O). It had the capiblitlity and is close by. Changing the guage of a locomotive is not a big problem. I'd also seriously think about having the railroad make its own. It was a normal practice back then. Either way, it would be a 4-4-0.

There's an unfinished railroad cut that goes through the battlefield. If you go to the battlefield, or contact them, they could probably give you some information on it. I don't know how close any railroad came to the battlefield. I know a line runs through Manassas.

Jim Clark-Dawe