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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 was also the engine involved in the first locomotive boiler explosion in the US.
History
The locomotive was built by the West Point Foundry in New York in 1830. It was disassembled for shipment by boat to South Carolina, where it arrived in October of that year. The merchants of Charleston, eager for a faster and more reliable method of transportation, unofficially named the locomotive 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 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." [1] (http://206.74.162.2/org/railroad/) The only mode of travel that was any faster was by an experienced horse and rider.
Soon after regular passenger service was established, the Best Friend earned a rather grisly first — it became the first locomotive in the US to suffer a boiler explosion, killing 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. The closed valve caused the pressure within the boiler to exceed its capacity, and it exploded.
The salvageable parts from the Best Friend were reused and a new locomotive was built from these parts. The new locomotive was appropriately named Phoenix.
Today, an operable replica of this locomotive is on display in Charleston.
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
References
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