American Locomotives

In 1835, there were 175 steam locomotives in service in the USA. By 1900, that number had increased to 37,663. In this book, railroad historian John H. White, Jr, chronicles the explosive growth and development of the steam locomotive in America, from the first British imports to the New York elevated locomotives of the 1880s. This revised and expanded edition contains more than 50 new pages of illustrations and text.;Beginning with the early era of locomotive design, White describes the background and methods of the first American builders, the special requirements of American railroads, construction materials, locomotive types, performance, and costs. He then turns to the development of individual components: boilers and running gears, headlights and cowcatchers, sandboxes, bells, and whistles. Throughout, detailed scale drawings - many reproduced from the original working drawings - illustrate design features and modifications.;For this edition, White offers 11 new detailed and comprehensive case histories of individual locomotives, beginning with the 1843 "La Junta". Each case history provides historical background, mechanical information, and engineering analysis. A special section updates and annotates the information found in the original edition.