Steam Locomotive
Dublin Core
Title
Steam Locomotive
Subject
Bicentennial quilt; steam locomotive; Essex Steam Train; Essex, Connecticut; trains
Description
The Connecticut Valley Railroad, chartered in 1868, was built in 1870-1871. The construction was completed for the first run, from Hartford to Saybrook, on July 29, 1871. Ulysses S. Grant was in the White House and the first transcontinental railroad was barely two years old.
When the Connecticut Valley Railroad was built, the town of Essex purchased stock in it, and records show the following: "In response to the petition of 157 voters, as taxpayers of the town, a meeting was held on September 25, 1869, at which it was voted that the town should subscribe for 480 shares of certified stock of the company, and Carnot O. Spencer was appointed the agent of the town to subscribe for the stock and cast its votes in the stockholders' meetings".
It began as an industrious line carrying cargo of lumber, farm produce, ivory piano keys and witch hazel. At its peak it operated from Hartford to Fenwick Station, on the Sound below Saybrook. However, by 1879, the railroad was in receivership and had to be reorganized. It became the Hartford and Connecticut Valley Railroad. It declared bankruptcy in 1881. In 1882 the New York, New Haven and Hartford took over controlling interest and in 1889, they took it over completely.
Steam locomotives were used exclusively when railroading began, and for many years afterwards. "Old 103", the little engine that could, with almost a century of service and the ribbon breaker at the newly formed Valley Railroad in 1971, is known to railroad buffs as a Baldwin 2-6-2 which refers to the number and arrangement of drive and pilot wheels or, as a "Prairie", in the special vernacular of railroading. She was built as a lumber hauler.
The Valley branch was abandoned by the "New Haven Railroad" in 1967 after having leased the line since 1887. Passenger service was abandoned in 1938. A tentative effort to put the line back into service began around 1945 by a group of private citizens, but was unsuccessful. Then the state bought the road and leased 21.67 miles, from a siding below Middletown to the present Essex Station.
The new Valley Railroad obtained its Connecticut Charter in 1967. The state granted the permit for the railroad to go back to work under lease, with the state retaining the right-of-way land in the public domain. It took time, money, determination, and hard work, it took enthusiastic railroad buffs, and on July 29, 1871, the ribbon having been cut by Lieutenant Governor Hull and Railroad President Oliver Jensen, Locomotive 103 went "wooooshhhh", let out a cloud of steam, made a hell-of-a-racket , and hauled 400 passengers to a rendezvous in Deep River with a river-tour boat, and commenced the first known boat-train passenger service in this country in the past fifty years.
When a train goes "wooooshhhh", the engine is being "blown down", indicating there is too much water in the boiler. Boilers are never filled up completely, as they need room for steam. The "blowing down" blows out scale and muck.
It is coal that fuels the engine and there is a special way to shovel the coal. The fireman cannot simply throw the coal in, he must give the shovel filled with coal a special turn as he meets the firebox, being sure the coal gets into the corners. If not done properly, the corners become dead areas, which create smoke. A fireman has to know his job well, and has to work hand in hand with the engineer.
When it is time to move, the engineer checks his pressure and water gauges, flips off the train brake and engine brake, and pushes the reverse brake backwards completely. The reverse level also regulates the amount of travel in the piston, the more travel, the more power. Then the engineer gives the throttle a pull, and another pull, and the train starts.
The charm of the steam train is its music, clickedy-clack, clickedy-clack, and the chug-chugging of the engine huffing and puffing away in its three-quarter time, quarter-quarter, eight-eight. It is like a band melody or a heart beat.
The engine has breath with its smoke, and its warmth with its firebox, and a heartbeat, like rhythm. However the most wonderful music of the steam locomotive is its whistle. "An engineer can make music with the whistle. Coming to a crossing, its likely to be short and sharp, like 'whee-up', then long with a gradual peak, 'whooooooo whoooa', cutting it gradually, then another long 'whoooooo-whoooa', then cutting it again sharply and giving her a short 'whoop'; then he can ring the bell and she's through the crossing".
So in our bicentennial year, as we hear the "whoooooo, whoooa" of steam locomotive "103", one can be transposed to another romantic era of our past.
When the Connecticut Valley Railroad was built, the town of Essex purchased stock in it, and records show the following: "In response to the petition of 157 voters, as taxpayers of the town, a meeting was held on September 25, 1869, at which it was voted that the town should subscribe for 480 shares of certified stock of the company, and Carnot O. Spencer was appointed the agent of the town to subscribe for the stock and cast its votes in the stockholders' meetings".
It began as an industrious line carrying cargo of lumber, farm produce, ivory piano keys and witch hazel. At its peak it operated from Hartford to Fenwick Station, on the Sound below Saybrook. However, by 1879, the railroad was in receivership and had to be reorganized. It became the Hartford and Connecticut Valley Railroad. It declared bankruptcy in 1881. In 1882 the New York, New Haven and Hartford took over controlling interest and in 1889, they took it over completely.
Steam locomotives were used exclusively when railroading began, and for many years afterwards. "Old 103", the little engine that could, with almost a century of service and the ribbon breaker at the newly formed Valley Railroad in 1971, is known to railroad buffs as a Baldwin 2-6-2 which refers to the number and arrangement of drive and pilot wheels or, as a "Prairie", in the special vernacular of railroading. She was built as a lumber hauler.
The Valley branch was abandoned by the "New Haven Railroad" in 1967 after having leased the line since 1887. Passenger service was abandoned in 1938. A tentative effort to put the line back into service began around 1945 by a group of private citizens, but was unsuccessful. Then the state bought the road and leased 21.67 miles, from a siding below Middletown to the present Essex Station.
The new Valley Railroad obtained its Connecticut Charter in 1967. The state granted the permit for the railroad to go back to work under lease, with the state retaining the right-of-way land in the public domain. It took time, money, determination, and hard work, it took enthusiastic railroad buffs, and on July 29, 1871, the ribbon having been cut by Lieutenant Governor Hull and Railroad President Oliver Jensen, Locomotive 103 went "wooooshhhh", let out a cloud of steam, made a hell-of-a-racket , and hauled 400 passengers to a rendezvous in Deep River with a river-tour boat, and commenced the first known boat-train passenger service in this country in the past fifty years.
When a train goes "wooooshhhh", the engine is being "blown down", indicating there is too much water in the boiler. Boilers are never filled up completely, as they need room for steam. The "blowing down" blows out scale and muck.
It is coal that fuels the engine and there is a special way to shovel the coal. The fireman cannot simply throw the coal in, he must give the shovel filled with coal a special turn as he meets the firebox, being sure the coal gets into the corners. If not done properly, the corners become dead areas, which create smoke. A fireman has to know his job well, and has to work hand in hand with the engineer.
When it is time to move, the engineer checks his pressure and water gauges, flips off the train brake and engine brake, and pushes the reverse brake backwards completely. The reverse level also regulates the amount of travel in the piston, the more travel, the more power. Then the engineer gives the throttle a pull, and another pull, and the train starts.
The charm of the steam train is its music, clickedy-clack, clickedy-clack, and the chug-chugging of the engine huffing and puffing away in its three-quarter time, quarter-quarter, eight-eight. It is like a band melody or a heart beat.
The engine has breath with its smoke, and its warmth with its firebox, and a heartbeat, like rhythm. However the most wonderful music of the steam locomotive is its whistle. "An engineer can make music with the whistle. Coming to a crossing, its likely to be short and sharp, like 'whee-up', then long with a gradual peak, 'whooooooo whoooa', cutting it gradually, then another long 'whoooooo-whoooa', then cutting it again sharply and giving her a short 'whoop'; then he can ring the bell and she's through the crossing".
So in our bicentennial year, as we hear the "whoooooo, whoooa" of steam locomotive "103", one can be transposed to another romantic era of our past.
Creator
Davis, Helen H.
Publisher
Essex Historical Society
Date
1976
Contributor
Little, Matthew W.
Rights
Essex Historical Society
Format
Digital Image, Adobe pdf
Language
English
Type
Still Image
Identifier
Quilt_36
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
The Connecticut Valley Railroad, chartered in 1868, was built in 1870-1871. The construction was completed for the first run, from Hartford to Saybrook, on July 29, 1871. Ulysses S. Grant was in the White House and the first transcontinental railroad was barely two years old.
When the Connecticut Valley Railroad was built, the town of Essex purchased stock in it, and records show the following: "In response to the petition of 157 voters, as taxpayers of the town, a meeting was held on September 25, 1869, at which it was voted that the town should subscribe for 480 shares of certified stock of the company, and Carnot O. Spencer was appointed the agent of the town to subscribe for the stock and cast its votes in the stockholders' meetings".
It began as an industrious line carrying cargo of lumber, farm produce, ivory piano keys and witch hazel. At its peak it operated from Hartford to Fenwick Station, on the Sound below Saybrook. However, by 1879, the railroad was in receivership and had to be reorganized. It became the Hartford and Connecticut Valley Railroad. It declared bankruptcy in 1881. In 1882 the New York, New Haven and Hartford took over controlling interest and in 1889, they took it over completely.
Steam locomotives were used exclusively when railroading began, and for many years afterwards. "Old 103", the little engine that could, with almost a century of service and the ribbon breaker at the newly formed Valley Railroad in 1971, is known to railroad buffs as a Baldwin 2-6-2 which refers to the number and arrangement of drive and pilot wheels or, as a "Prairie", in the special vernacular of railroading. She was built as a lumber hauler.
The Valley branch was abandoned by the "New Haven Railroad" in 1967 after having leased the line since 1887. Passenger service was abandoned in 1938. A tentative effort to put the line back into service began around 1945 by a group of private citizens, but was unsuccessful. Then the state bought the road and leased 21.67 miles, from a siding below Middletown to the present Essex Station.
The new Valley Railroad obtained its Connecticut Charter in 1967. The state granted the permit for the railroad to go back to work under lease, with the state retaining the right-of-way land in the public domain. It took time, money, determination, and hard work, it took enthusiastic railroad buffs, and on July 29, 1871, the ribbon having been cut by Lieutenant Governor Hull and Railroad President Oliver Jensen, Locomotive 103 went "wooooshhhh", let out a cloud of steam, made a hell-of-a-racket , and hauled 400 passengers to a rendezvous in Deep River with a river-tour boat, and commenced the first known boat-train passenger service in this country in the past fifty years.
When a train goes "wooooshhhh", the engine is being "blown down", indicating there is too much water in the boiler. Boilers are never filled up completely, as they need room for steam. The "blowing down" blows out scale and muck.
It is coal that fuels the engine and there is a special way to shovel the coal. The fireman cannot simply throw the coal in, he must give the shovel filled with coal a special turn as he meets the firebox, being sure the coal gets into the corners. If not done properly, the corners become dead areas, which create smoke. A fireman has to know his job well, and has to work hand in hand with the engineer.
When it is time to move, the engineer checks his pressure and water gauges, flips off the train brake and engine brake, and pushes the reverse brake backwards completely. The reverse level also regulates the amount of travel in the piston, the more travel, the more power. Then the engineer gives the throttle a pull, and another pull, and the train starts.
The charm of the steam train is its music, clickedy-clack, clickedy-clack, and the chug-chugging of the engine huffing and puffing away in its three-quarter time, quarter-quarter, eight-eight. It is like a band melody or a heart beat.
The engine has breath with its smoke, and its warmth with its firebox, and a heartbeat, like rhythm. However the most wonderful music of the steam locomotive is its whistle. "An engineer can make music with the whistle. Coming to a crossing, its likely to be short and sharp, like 'whee-up', then long with a gradual peak, 'whooooooo whoooa', cutting it gradually, then another long 'whoooooo-whoooa', then cutting it again sharply and giving her a short 'whoop'; then he can ring the bell and she's through the crossing".
So in our bicentennial year, as we hear the "whoooooo, whoooa" of steam locomotive "103", one can be transposed to another romantic era of our past.
When the Connecticut Valley Railroad was built, the town of Essex purchased stock in it, and records show the following: "In response to the petition of 157 voters, as taxpayers of the town, a meeting was held on September 25, 1869, at which it was voted that the town should subscribe for 480 shares of certified stock of the company, and Carnot O. Spencer was appointed the agent of the town to subscribe for the stock and cast its votes in the stockholders' meetings".
It began as an industrious line carrying cargo of lumber, farm produce, ivory piano keys and witch hazel. At its peak it operated from Hartford to Fenwick Station, on the Sound below Saybrook. However, by 1879, the railroad was in receivership and had to be reorganized. It became the Hartford and Connecticut Valley Railroad. It declared bankruptcy in 1881. In 1882 the New York, New Haven and Hartford took over controlling interest and in 1889, they took it over completely.
Steam locomotives were used exclusively when railroading began, and for many years afterwards. "Old 103", the little engine that could, with almost a century of service and the ribbon breaker at the newly formed Valley Railroad in 1971, is known to railroad buffs as a Baldwin 2-6-2 which refers to the number and arrangement of drive and pilot wheels or, as a "Prairie", in the special vernacular of railroading. She was built as a lumber hauler.
The Valley branch was abandoned by the "New Haven Railroad" in 1967 after having leased the line since 1887. Passenger service was abandoned in 1938. A tentative effort to put the line back into service began around 1945 by a group of private citizens, but was unsuccessful. Then the state bought the road and leased 21.67 miles, from a siding below Middletown to the present Essex Station.
The new Valley Railroad obtained its Connecticut Charter in 1967. The state granted the permit for the railroad to go back to work under lease, with the state retaining the right-of-way land in the public domain. It took time, money, determination, and hard work, it took enthusiastic railroad buffs, and on July 29, 1871, the ribbon having been cut by Lieutenant Governor Hull and Railroad President Oliver Jensen, Locomotive 103 went "wooooshhhh", let out a cloud of steam, made a hell-of-a-racket , and hauled 400 passengers to a rendezvous in Deep River with a river-tour boat, and commenced the first known boat-train passenger service in this country in the past fifty years.
When a train goes "wooooshhhh", the engine is being "blown down", indicating there is too much water in the boiler. Boilers are never filled up completely, as they need room for steam. The "blowing down" blows out scale and muck.
It is coal that fuels the engine and there is a special way to shovel the coal. The fireman cannot simply throw the coal in, he must give the shovel filled with coal a special turn as he meets the firebox, being sure the coal gets into the corners. If not done properly, the corners become dead areas, which create smoke. A fireman has to know his job well, and has to work hand in hand with the engineer.
When it is time to move, the engineer checks his pressure and water gauges, flips off the train brake and engine brake, and pushes the reverse brake backwards completely. The reverse level also regulates the amount of travel in the piston, the more travel, the more power. Then the engineer gives the throttle a pull, and another pull, and the train starts.
The charm of the steam train is its music, clickedy-clack, clickedy-clack, and the chug-chugging of the engine huffing and puffing away in its three-quarter time, quarter-quarter, eight-eight. It is like a band melody or a heart beat.
The engine has breath with its smoke, and its warmth with its firebox, and a heartbeat, like rhythm. However the most wonderful music of the steam locomotive is its whistle. "An engineer can make music with the whistle. Coming to a crossing, its likely to be short and sharp, like 'whee-up', then long with a gradual peak, 'whooooooo whoooa', cutting it gradually, then another long 'whoooooo-whoooa', then cutting it again sharply and giving her a short 'whoop'; then he can ring the bell and she's through the crossing".
So in our bicentennial year, as we hear the "whoooooo, whoooa" of steam locomotive "103", one can be transposed to another romantic era of our past.
Original Format
Cloth fabric, quilting square, handicraft art
Collection
Citation
Davis, Helen H., “Steam Locomotive,” Essex Library Association digital quilt, accessed May 11, 2024, https://bicentennialquilt.omeka.net/items/show/36.