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“The Mercury”

The “Mercury” was built in 1842 for the Baltimore & Ohio by Eastwick & Harrison, and was the first locomotive to employ a single long spring in the leading truck. Each end rested on one of the journal boxes and carried one end of a wrought iron bolster on its centre. In 1844 the “Mercury” travelled 37,000 miles, which was assumed to be the largest mileage on record up to that time. She was exceptionally fast, frequently attaining a speed of a mile a minute with the average passenger train. The “Mercury” had 14 × 20 inch cylinders and 60 inch driving wheels, and the driving axles were equalized, thereby overcoming the defect of the Campbell engine.

(From “The Development of the Locomotive” published by The Central Steel Company, Massillon, Ohio, U.S.A.).