Best Friend of Charleston

Infobox Locomotive
name="Best Friend of Charleston"
powertype=Steam
whytetype=0-4-0
firstrun=December 25 1830
builder=West Point Foundry
locale=Charleston, South Carolina
disposition=Boiler exploded June 17 1831Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (2005), " [http://avenue.org/nrhs/histjun.htm This Month in Railroad History - June] ". Retrieved June 13 2005.] ; some parts reused to build "Phoenix"
deliverydate=October 1830
The "Best Friend of Charleston" was a steam-powered railroad locomotive. It is widely acclaimed as the first locomotive to be built entirely within the United States. It also produced the first locomotive boiler explosion in the US.

History

The locomotive was built for the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company by the West Point Foundry of New York in 1830. Disassembled for shipment by boat to Charleston, SC, it arrived in October of that year and was unofficially named "the Best Friend of Charleston".

After its inaugural run on Christmas Day, the "Best Friend" was used in regular passenger service along a six mile demonstration route in Charleston. For the time, this locomotive was considered one of the fastest modes of transport available, taking its passengers "on the wings of wind at the speed of fifteen to twenty-five miles per hour." [ [http://206.74.162.2/org/railroad/ 206.74.162.2] ] The only mode of travel that was any faster was by an experienced horse and rider.

On June 17, 1831, the "Best Friend" earned a rather grisly first — it became the first locomotive in the US to suffer a boiler explosion, seriously injuring the engine's crew. The explosion is said to have been caused by the fireman tying down the steam pressure release valve; he had tired of listening to it whistle, so to stop the noise he closed the valve permanently (another account has the fireman placing a stout piece of lumber on the safety valve and sitting on it). The blocked valve caused the pressure within the boiler to exceed its capacity, and it exploded. The resulting blast was said to have hurled metal fragments over a wide area, as well as kill the fireman.

According to Centennial History of South Carolina Railroad, this wrote a new rule in the SCC&RR operating manual that engineers were to remain on station at all times, with the aid of newly hired conductors to manage cars, passengers and switches. Salvageable parts from the "Best Friend" were used to build the "Phoenix" which seems to have run up to the time of the War.

Today, an operable replica of this locomotive is in the hands of the Charleston, SC Chapter,National Railway Historical Society. This replica was built in 1928 to commemorate the centenary of the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road and was widely exhibited in the following years. On August 6 2007, the "Best Friend" replica was loaned by the City of Charleston to the Norfolk Southern (NS)Corporation, the current operator of the original SCRR line, for five years. After refurbishing at NS shops in Chattanooga, NS brought the replica to New York City for display on December 12 2005, outside the New York Stock Exchange in a ceremony commemorating 175 years of American railroad history. [Norfolk Southern Railroad (reprinted by Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, December 13 2005), " [http://www.ble.org/pr/news/headline.asp?id=15127 Norfolk Southern's 'Best Friend' visits stock exchange for opening bell ceremony] ". Retrieved December 14 2005.] [Roanoke Times (reprinted by Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, December 13 2005), " [http://www.ble.org/pr/news/headline.asp?id=15126 NS rings in 175th anniversary] ". Retrieved December 14 2005.] [Norfolk Southern Railroad, " [http://www.nscorp.com/nscorp/application;JSESSIONID_nscorp=Dgrdef2tm0tUZEH91PvW42jrDCkr85gspac2Faitv8LUnPjkXOce!330050274?origin=content.jsp&event=bea.portal.framework.internal.refresh&pageid=NS+News&contentId=english/nscorp/news/whats_new/whats_new/news121205b.html Norfolk Southern's "Best Friend" Visits Stock Exchange] ". Retrieved December 14 2005.] This replica is now on public display at NS Atlanta headquarters at 1200 Peachtree Street in midtown Atlanta.

Another full size replica is on exhibit at the South Carolina State Museum, in Columbia, South Carolina.

Timeline

* October 1830: the "Best Friend" arrives in Charleston from West Point Foundry.
* December 25 1830: The "Best Friend" runs for the first time in Charleston.
* 1831: The boiler explodes on the "Best Friend"
* Remains of "Best Friend" rebuilt in Charleston as "Phoenix", which runs until the War

References

* [http://206.74.162.2/org/railroad/ Best Friend history]
* [http://www.history.rochester.edu/steam/brown/chpt29.html Explosion of "Best Friend"]