NEW MUSEUM ACQUISITION:

PINK B&O CENTENARY PATTERN SAMPLE PLATE

The B&O Railroad Museum is thrilled to announce the acquisition of an extremely rare piece of B&O Centenary China. In 1927, the B&O Railroad put in the first order of its famous blue Centenary patterned china. This china was produced by a number of manufacturers as recently as the 1990s. Today it remains on of the most collectable B&O Railroad items around. 

Pictured above is an early example of B&O Centenary China. This plate was produced by Scammell's Lamberton, ca. 1927-1930.

In the late 1930s three major china manufacturers produced off color samples of the already popular Centenary pattern china. During this period, Scrammell's Lamberton, Buffalo Pottery, and Shenango brought their samples to the B&O Railroad and pitched the idea of having different colored china to supplement the blue pattern. The B&O ordered one of these new colors in August 1937 from Scammell's Lamberton; however, the order was cancelled as a cost cutting measure. Today, one pink and two black Scammell's Lamberton sample plates are known to exist.

Between 1937 and 1939, the B&O ordered a single run of blue Centenary China from the Buffalo Pottery Company. B&O management disliked the quality of this run and requested no further orders from Buffalo. Like Scammell's Lamberton, Buffalo also produced sample off color plates of the centenary pattern to pitch to the B&O. This idea was once again rejected. Today, one pink, one black, and one green Buffalo sample plates are known to exist.

Shenango China of New Castle, Pennsylvania became the sole producer of Centenary China by the late 1950s. As early as 1949, the B&O began to place orders for the blue Centenary pattern with Shenango. Additional off color sample plates emerged from this company. Today, two pink Shenango sample plates are known to exist.

Around the border of Centenary pattern plates are illustrations of significant locomotives from the B&O's history, beginning with the 1830 Horse Drawn Car and ending with the 1937 streamlined Diesel Electric B&O No. 51. The illustration of the No. 51 did not become a part of the pattern until around mid-1942. Both of the existing pink samples plates produced by Shenango have the original design, without the B&O No. 51 illustration. It is believed each was produced between 1938 and 1939.

Both of the known pink Shenango sample plates have spent time at the B&O Railroad Museum in recent years. One was loaned to the museum and displayed in the Dinner in the Diner Exhibition from 2011-2013. The other sample, from a different private collection, was loaned to the museum and exhibited from 2014 to April 2017. The B&O Railroad Museum acquired this second plate November 2017.

The 9-inch pink luncheon plate, produced by the Shenango China Company, will go on display in the Dinner in the Diner Exhibition in December 2017.

The pink B&O Centenary pattern sample plate, produced by Shenango China, ca. 1938. It will go on exhibit in December 2017.

The backside of the plate features the Shenango China logo. On the upper left of the plate near the rim is the number "22". This is a manufacturer's number of some kind and does not indicate a quantity of "22". Both of the known Shenango examples have the same number.

by Harrison Van Waes
Curator, B&O Railroad Museum

A UNIQUE ACQUISITION

Rifleman's powder horn measuring 14.5" overall depicting an early train

Recently the museum acquired by purchase a rare and unique object from the earliest days of American railroading. Presented here is a rifleman's gunpowder horn scrimshawed with an early depiction of a train. Scrimshawed powder horns used by the common man on the early American frontier are not that uncommon. Depictions of towns, ships, flowers and trees, figures, flags and other man made and natural elements are typical designs. While some horns were decorated by professional carvers, most were scrimshawed by amateur hands, like this one, using a simple knife or other sharp tool.

Close-up view of the scrimshawed train showing detail

Detail of the carved locomotive and building

This horn displays a number of decorative elements including sailing ships, buildings,a fortress, and some floral designs but the preeminent feature is the locomotive, tender and 4 railroad cars. Running nearly the entire length of one side the train is bookended by a large archway and a small two story building with a flagpole. 

Early sailing ships carved on the opposite side of the horn

The unknown carver included a high level of detail including passengers in the cars, the engineer and fireman on the locomotives and the iron spokes in the wheels. The locomotive design is typically British and dates to the period 1830-40 which also dates the powder horn to that period.

When the English railway the Stockton and Darlington opened in 1825 and the B&O Railroad ran its first steam locomotive in 1830 a "railroad craze" began that would last nearly a decade. Following the early success of the B&O, when railroads were being built with great fervor we see locomotives and trains depicted on bottles, porcelain plates, in textiles, art works and in popular culture throughout. The earliest designs illustrated British type trains since those images were most readily available. Indeed railroad decorated works were being imported to the United States from England as well to feed the hungry souvenir market. 

A powder horn, however, was a very personal object. One used every day for hunting on the frontier and, of course, for protecting one's family in early America. Obviously the owner of this horn, most likely the carver too, got caught up in the railroad craze himself.

We are very pleased to have this in our world class collection and to be able to preserve this piece of early American railroading for future generations. We will, likely, never see another. Without your generous support this would not be possible.

Thank you,

Courtney B. Wilson

Executive Director

“York” Reception

 A reception was recently held to celebrate B&O Railroad Museum’s acquisition of the 1831 Locomotive “York”.  In attendance were some of the Museum’s most generous supporters along with elected officials from Baltimore and York, PA, including Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake of Baltimore and Mayor C. Kim Bracey of York.  Guests also included members of the Historical and Heritage Societies of both cities.

In 1831 the B&O Railroad planned a locomotive competition.  The winning locomotive was the “York,” named for York, Pennsylvania where the locomotive was constructed by Phineas Davis (1795-1835), a watch-maker and early steam advocate, with the help of his partner Morris J. Garner.  The “York” represented an important technological step in railroad motive power development that would define how steam engines were built well into the 1950’s.

The “York” was purchased at auction from the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry with a grant from the France-Merrick Foundation.  This acquisition is significant because it completes the Museum’s collection of the three working replicas of early B&O locomotives built by the B&O’s own Mount Clare Shops in Baltimore for “The Fair of the Iron Horse” held in Halethorpe, Maryland in 1927. 

Pictured (l to r): Courtney B. Wilson, Executive Director of the B&O Railroad Museum, Francis X. Smyth, Chairman, B&O Railroad Museum Board of Directors, The Honorable C. Kim Bracey, Mayor of York, PA, The Honorable Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Mayor of Baltimore, and Chris Reilly, York County Commissioner.

1831 York Locomotive

B&O Railroad Museum Brings Historic One-of-a-Kind Locomotive Back to Baltimore

The B&O Railroad Museum announced today that it has acquired at auction the locomotive "York" from the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.   Acquisition of this 1926 replica of the 1831 B&O Railroad Locomotive “York” completes the Museum's collection of the three
working replicas of early B&O locomotives built by the B&O's own Mt. Clare Shops in Baltimore for “The Fair of the Iron Horse”.  The Fair was the two-week long extravaganza held at Halethorpe, Maryland in the fall of 1927 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the B&O Railroad.  As America's First Railroad, the B&O's Centenary celebrated not only the history of the B&O, but the transformational effect of railroads on the history of America.  The Fair attracted over a million people from all over the world to Baltimore. Locomotives both historic and modern from other railroads from as far away as England were on site to help with the celebration. 

The B&O was not only the nation's first long distance commercial railroad - it was also the railroad most devoted to preserving the key artifacts of its history.  While the original York had long been lost by 1927, enough of its "descendants" were still around to make possible a highly authentic replica.  The “York” will shortly rejoin the other two replicas built in 1927 for the Fair -  Peter Cooper’s “Tom Thumb” (original 1830) and “Lafayette” (original 1837) - in the Museum’s spectacular Roundhouse on West Pratt Street.

Courtney B. Wilson, the Museum’s Executive Director, remarked; “…this acquisition repatriates an important locomotive to Baltimore. The “York” represented an important technological step in early railroad motive power development with features that would define how steam engines were built into the 1950’s.  We are delighted to now be able to showcase this important step in locomotive evolution to our visitors.”

In 1831 the B&O Railroad planned a locomotive competition similar to the Liverpool & Manchester's famous Rainhill trials of 1829 in England. Five locomotives were entered in the competition, held between January and June of that year. The winning locomotive was the “York,” named for York, Pennsylvania where the locomotive was constructed. It was the work of Phineas Davis (1795-1835), a watch-maker and early steam advocate, and built with the help of his partner Morris J. Garner (sometimes spelled Gartner).

Significantly, “York” was a four-wheel, vertical boiler locomotive with a short wheel base similar to Cooper's “Tom Thumb.” It featured a pair of vertical cylinders that drove vertical main rods that connected to horizontal side rods, which powered the wheels. Designed to burn anthracite coal, the “York” was deemed most successful of the five locomotives in the competition and after some alterations entered service on the B&O where it hauled passenger trains on the line from Baltimore to Ellicott’s Mills (now Ellicott City), Maryland. In July 1831, it was reported to have hauled a five car train with 150 passengers on board. It was capable of hauling 15 tons at 15 mph on level track, and could reach speeds of 30 mph, truly impressive statistics for the period.

After its performance at the “Fair of the Iron Horse,” the locomotive was sent to Chicago to participate in the Century of Progress fair held in 1933 and 1934. Afterwards, B&O Railroad officials donated the replica to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry for its permanent collection. In 1966, it was loaned for display in York, Pennsylvania, where it resided until 1976, when it was then loaned to the B&O Railroad Museum (then operated by the Chessie System) as part of Baltimore & Ohio's 150th anniversary displays in 1977. Although Chessie System officials and the Museum coveted the replica and hoped to keep it on long term loan, in 1980 it was returned to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry to be part of a railroad-themed exhibition.

The B&O Railroad Museum will develop plans to incorporate “York” into its permanent exhibition “Roads to Rails” which interprets the birth and early development of railroading in the Western Hemisphere. Museum officials are working to have the locomotive transported from Chicago to Baltimore over the next thirty to sixty days.

Historic Telegraph Key Comes Home to Ellicott City Station

In early August 2015 Albert Grimes, the President of Curtis Engine headquartered in Baltimore, contacted the Museum and donated his grandfather’s telegraph key used when he was stationed at the Ellicott City Station in the 1940’s. Al’s memories of his grandfather are rich and inspiring. So much so that, early in his career, Al followed his grandfather’s legacy and went to work for the B&O doing various administrative and operational duties from being a warehouseman to working in the real estate department.

 

Francis Vernon Grimes (1902-1988)

Francis Vernon Grimes (1902-1988) worked for the B&O Railroad for 51 years from the 1920s through the 1970s. He started his career loading water into steam engine tenders and after learning telegraphy he served in many B&O depots on the Old Main Line including a long stint as the telegrapher at Ellicott City Station in the 1940s. In fact he met his future wife on the platform in Ellicott City! He ended his long career as the interlocking tower operator at Riverside in the Locust Point section of Baltimore City.

Vibroplex Semi-Automatic "Bug" Key used by Francis Grimes at Ellicott City Station

The key is a Vibroplex Semi-Automatic “Bug’ Key. Telegraph operators that used a standard or “straight” telegraph key for long periods could develop a type of repetitive motion disorder known as glass arm or telegrapher’s paralysis.  In 1904, New York inventor Horace Martin patented a different type of key. It used a side to side motion as opposed to the up and down motion of the standard key. Martin called his invention a Vibroplex. It used mechanical vibration to send dots when the lever was held to the right. Dashes were made by pressing the lever to the left. This semi-automatic action not only relieved telegraphers of the dreaded glass arm syndrome, they could also send messages faster, over 40 words per minute when operators of standard keys could only send about 25 to 30 words per minute. Since many employers were slow to adopt the new type of key, telegraphers would often purchase their own to use “on the wire.” The copper plug on the end of the cord could quickly be connected to the standard key in the telegraph office.

The term “bug” was old telegrapher slang for a poor performing operator. When the semi-automatic key came on the market, it took time to get used to it and send accurate Morse Code. Other operators on the line called the person with the new key a “bug.” Soon the key itself became known as a “bug.” The Vibroplex Company came to adopt the term and used an insect for their logo. Vibroplex is still in business today and continues to manufacture “bug” keys for amateur radio operators who use Morse code.

Mr. Al Grimes (left) presents his grandfather's telegraph key to B&O Museum Director Courtney B. Wilson on August 4, 2015.

We are very grateful to Mr. Al Grimes for returning this historic key, along with information about his grandfather Francis Vernon Grimes, to our historic Ellicott City Station.  An exhibit is being prepared share this artifact with our visitors. Keep an eye out for a notice of when it is open.