Mount Savage Locomotive Works
Encyclopedia
The Mount Savage Locomotive Works was a railroad workshop established at Mount Savage, Maryland
, USA. The Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad
locomotive shops were established in Mt. Savage in 1866, under the direction of James Millholland. The original locomotive shop was constructed of stone and was 90 feet x 250 feet in size with a 33 foot high roof. An adjoining car shop, built at about the same time, was also of stone and was later extended with a wooden structure. These buildings still stand in Mt. Savage.
. Millholland was a master mechanic and an “advocate of plain engines and simplicity.” He had extensive experience in keeping Winans camel
engines running from his earlier work in Pennsylvania
with the Baltimore & Susquehanna Railroad and he was credited with many important locomotive innovations. He came in 1866 as the President of Consolidation Coal, and of the C&P. He resigned in 1869, to his estate on the Valley Road, in Cumberland
. He was credited with developing the first anthracite burning locomotive, and was Superintendent of Motive Power for the line for many years. He is also credited with constructing the first iron deck girder bridge in the U.S. for the Baltimore & Susquehanna near Bolton in the period 1846-47. He was responsible for so many improvements to the basic Winans camel engine, the class was referred to as "Millholland Camels". He is credited with designing a 12-wheeled camel engine, built in the P&R shops in 1863.
Millholland bought good machine tool
s, which were still in use 40 years later as evidenced by the 1917 ICC
valuation. He equipped the shops with metal working machinery from Bement & Dougherty, probably a predecessor of Wm. B. Bement & Son of Philadelphia.
. It was a modernization project in which, among other things, the cab was relocated from on top of the boiler to the rear position. The C&P shops also provided repair services to its rivals in the Georges Creek
coal region.
unit in 1868. This could have been a modification to a Winans Camel. By the 1880s, the shops that Millholland had set up apparently had built quite an extensive operation, able to offer custom built locomotives for sale in addition to meeting the requirements of the parent C&P.
The period beginning in 1883 was an exciting one for heavy manufacturing in Mount Savage. A locomotive catalog was issued for the Works by their agent, Thomas B. Inness & Co. of Broadway, New York
. The catalog listed five types of engines for sale, and their specifications. Evidence was that the catalog was successful, and numerous sales to other roads resulted. This helped finance production for the home road, spurred development, and helped employment. Narrow gauge
engines proved so popular a product that the works installed a third rail
up the main line from Mount Savage for customer acceptance testing.
Engine production was active between 1885 and 1917. Engines were produced for other roads as well. The production figures for 1882 list 19 passenger and freight engines outshopped, with 16 more in 1883.
One particularly good customer was T. H. Paul & Sons of Frostburg
. A former C&P master mechanic himself (1854-1855), Paul established shops in Cumberland and Frostburg. He built mine engines and smaller narrow gauge locomotives at his shops, but contracted with Mount Savage for his larger orders. His Frostburg works were located near the existing C&P Passenger station, and some of the buildings still stand in 1999.
, in Pennsylvania.
Equipment from Bement & Dougherty, unless otherwise noted
Car shop
The car shop would build the wooden parts of the engine, such as the cab.
Blacksmith shop
and later, steel
.
According to White, experience at the Norris Locomotive Works
showed that a team of 14 men could build a locomotive in 15 days. This was assuming the parts were on hand. A locomotive is a carefully integrated collection of a large number of specialty parts.
was constructed of 5/16” wrought iron, starting as plate, and rolled to shape. The lap joints were single rivet
ed. There is a long way between watertight and steam tight. Later, double riveting, and reinforced butt joints were used. Welding
was not yet a developed technology, particularly for a pressure vessel. Boiler tubes were typically iron tubing of 2 inches diameter. They were lap welded, and reportedly difficult to flange.
, to reduce hear loss, and increase efficiency. Wood slats were used originally. After 1900, asbestos
was a favored lagging material. It was common for the slabs of the mineral to be machined to fit. This produced large clouds of asbestos dust that is now known to be a major carcinogen, a significant cause of lung cancer. The use of dust masks, hearing protection, and safety glasses was unknown at the time. The boiler shops were a haze of asbestos dust.
water injector
s, based on the favorable experience with them on the Reading line. He was also an early advocate of feedwater heater
s, using them as early as 1855. His designs have them on the right side, under the engine running board. They are about 10 feet long, and 8” in diameter. These are a visible clue to engines produced in Mount Savage. Millholland is also responsible for the development of the poppet throttle, originally retrofitted on Camel engines in Pennsylvania.
were usually cast in halves, assembled, and bored to size. This represented the most complex and expensive operation of the whole locomotive assembly. In 1856, it was common for the boring operation to consume 2 days. The piston
s were cast iron
, with fitted brass
piston ring
s.
s were typically cast iron, and axle
s were usually 6” diameter wrought iron. Driving wheels were fitted with replaceable tires
. On the basis of his previous experience, Millholland favored cast iron tires, shrunk onto the wheels. His father had experimented with steel tires around 1851-52, and they became standard later. Some early accidents on the C&P involved wheel failures. In 1872, Engine No. 11 broke a wheel below Frostburg, requiring the assistance of the work train, and delaying the pay car, according to the Frostburg Mining Journal.
, and bearings
were brass and/or Babbitt metal. The early lubricant
s were all animal fat based, and only suitable for low temperature applications. Later, petroleum
based lubricants provided much better performance.
for boiler water level were not popular until the 1890’s. Part of the problem was production of the proper glass, and the sealing of the gauge.
to produce acetylene gas, which burned with a bright light. Later, electric lamps and generators were fitted. C&P tenders were also fitted with lamps on the rear, since the engines frequently operated in reverse on the various coal branches where they could not be turned.
Mount Savage, Maryland
Mount Savage is an unincorporated community in Allegany County, Maryland, United States. A small blue-collar community, Mount Savage lies at the base of Big Savage Mountain in the Allegheny Mountains, between the cities of Frostburg and Cumberland...
, USA. The Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad
Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad
The Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad was an American railroad which operated in Western Maryland. Primarily a coal hauler, it was owned by the Consolidation Coal Company, and was absorbed into the Western Maryland Railway in 1944....
locomotive shops were established in Mt. Savage in 1866, under the direction of James Millholland. The original locomotive shop was constructed of stone and was 90 feet x 250 feet in size with a 33 foot high roof. An adjoining car shop, built at about the same time, was also of stone and was later extended with a wooden structure. These buildings still stand in Mt. Savage.
James Millholland senior
James Millholland, Senior was 54 years old when he and his family came to Mt. Savage from Reading, PennsylvaniaReading, Pennsylvania
Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...
. Millholland was a master mechanic and an “advocate of plain engines and simplicity.” He had extensive experience in keeping Winans camel
Camelback locomotive
A camelback locomotive is a type of steam locomotive with the driving cab placed in the middle, astride the boiler...
engines running from his earlier work in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
with the Baltimore & Susquehanna Railroad and he was credited with many important locomotive innovations. He came in 1866 as the President of Consolidation Coal, and of the C&P. He resigned in 1869, to his estate on the Valley Road, in Cumberland
Cumberland, Maryland
Cumberland is a city in the far western, Appalachian portion of Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Allegany County, and the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,859, and the metropolitan area had a...
. He was credited with developing the first anthracite burning locomotive, and was Superintendent of Motive Power for the line for many years. He is also credited with constructing the first iron deck girder bridge in the U.S. for the Baltimore & Susquehanna near Bolton in the period 1846-47. He was responsible for so many improvements to the basic Winans camel engine, the class was referred to as "Millholland Camels". He is credited with designing a 12-wheeled camel engine, built in the P&R shops in 1863.
James Millholland junior
His son, James Junior was 24, when the family moved to Mt. Savage. He had been born in Reading in 1842, and had apprenticed in the railroad shops. He also joined the C&P, becoming Master Mechanic, and was vice-president by the time his father retired. He left the C&P in 1879 to join the George's Creek and Cumberland Railroad. The younger Millholland was tasked with building the C&P shops, to maintain the mixed fleet of motive power. He had the right experience for the job.Millholland bought good machine tool
Machine tool
A machine tool is a machine, typically powered other than by human muscle , used to make manufactured parts in various ways that include cutting or certain other kinds of deformation...
s, which were still in use 40 years later as evidenced by the 1917 ICC
Interstate Commerce Commission
The Interstate Commerce Commission was a regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads to ensure fair rates, to eliminate rate discrimination, and to regulate other aspects of common carriers, including...
valuation. He equipped the shops with metal working machinery from Bement & Dougherty, probably a predecessor of Wm. B. Bement & Son of Philadelphia.
Repair and rebuilding
Initially, the work supervised by Millholland at the Mt. Savage Shops was limited to repairing and rebuilding the Winans Camels and other early C&P locomotives. The shop force gained much hands-on experience during the first twenty years; at least 15 of the C&P’s camel-backed locos were rebuilt at Mt. Savage (some twice). Typical of the rebuilds was the engine Highlander, a Winans Camel inherited from the Mount Savage RailroadMount Savage Railroad
The Mount Savage Railroad was a railroad operated by the Mount Savage Coal and Iron Company of Mount Savage, Maryland between 1845 and 1854. The 14.9 miles rail line ran from Frostburg to Cumberland, Maryland.-History:...
. It was a modernization project in which, among other things, the cab was relocated from on top of the boiler to the rear position. The C&P shops also provided repair services to its rivals in the Georges Creek
Georges Creek
Georges Creek is a tributary stream of the North Branch Potomac River in western Maryland. The creek has its headwaters near Frostburg and empties into the North Branch Potomac River at Westernport, all in western Allegany County. Along the Georges Creek Valley, there exists a series of small...
coal region.
New build
Initially, the Winans Camels and other early locomotives were extensively rebuilt, and much hands-on experience was gained during the period from 1866-1888. The first recorded engine ‘build’ was a 0-10-00-10-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-10-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, ten powered and coupled driving wheels on five axles, and no trailing wheels...
unit in 1868. This could have been a modification to a Winans Camel. By the 1880s, the shops that Millholland had set up apparently had built quite an extensive operation, able to offer custom built locomotives for sale in addition to meeting the requirements of the parent C&P.
The period beginning in 1883 was an exciting one for heavy manufacturing in Mount Savage. A locomotive catalog was issued for the Works by their agent, Thomas B. Inness & Co. of Broadway, New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The catalog listed five types of engines for sale, and their specifications. Evidence was that the catalog was successful, and numerous sales to other roads resulted. This helped finance production for the home road, spurred development, and helped employment. Narrow gauge
Narrow gauge
A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :...
engines proved so popular a product that the works installed a third rail
Dual gauge
A dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway has railway track that allows trains of different gauges to use the same track. Generally, a dual-gauge railway consists of three rails, rather than the standard two rails. The two outer rails give the wider gauge, while one of the outer rails and the inner rail...
up the main line from Mount Savage for customer acceptance testing.
Engine production was active between 1885 and 1917. Engines were produced for other roads as well. The production figures for 1882 list 19 passenger and freight engines outshopped, with 16 more in 1883.
One particularly good customer was T. H. Paul & Sons of Frostburg
FROSTBURG
FROSTBURG was a Connection Machine 5 supercomputer used by the US National Security Agency to perform higher-level mathematical calculations. The CM-5 was built by the Thinking Machines Corporation, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at a cost of US$25 million. The system was installed at NSA in...
. A former C&P master mechanic himself (1854-1855), Paul established shops in Cumberland and Frostburg. He built mine engines and smaller narrow gauge locomotives at his shops, but contracted with Mount Savage for his larger orders. His Frostburg works were located near the existing C&P Passenger station, and some of the buildings still stand in 1999.
Heavy machinery
The following table shows some of the machinery used in the original shop. All of the rotating power machinery was driven by leather belts from overhead master shafts. These, in turn, were powered by a stationery steam engine in the adjacent power house. A similar facility may be seen today at the East Broad Top RailroadEast Broad Top Railroad
The East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Company is a for-profit heritage railroad headquartered in Rockhill Furnace, Pennsylvania, north of Interstate 76 and south of U.S. Route 22, the William Penn Highway. The railroad operates excursion trains on a seasonal schedule.-History:The East Broad Top...
, in Pennsylvania.
Equipment from Bement & Dougherty, unless otherwise noted
- Engine lathe, 28” x 8 foot bed
- Horizontal boring and drilling machine, table size 24” x 44”
- 18” x 48” engine lathe, C&P
- 18” x 24” engine lathe, C&P
- vertical boring mill 54”
- car wheel boring mill, 48” table
- 10” slotter
- wooden jib crane, 20’ mast, 15’ boom, 4.5 ton capacity, C&P
- punch & shear, 30” throat (used for rivet holes)
Car shop
The car shop would build the wooden parts of the engine, such as the cab.
- 18” rip saw
- Lowell drill press
- Tice shaper/molder
Blacksmith shop
- Fulton 500 pound power hammer (for forging)
Manufacturing procedures
Locomotive manufacturing during this period was hard, heavy, dangerous work. It proceeded according to numerous ‘rules of thumb’ developed by the master mechanic over the years. Innovations were introduced slowly. There were continuous efforts to reduce costs, and increase performance. Weight reduction was not desirable, as weight-on-drivers contributed directly to tractive effort. Locomotive frames were usually riveted, built-up construction, of wrought ironWrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
and later, steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
.
According to White, experience at the Norris Locomotive Works
Norris Locomotive Works
The Norris Locomotive Works was a steam locomotive manufacturing company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that produced about a thousand railroad engines between 1832 and 1866. It was the dominant American locomotive producer during most of that period, and even sold its popular 4-2-0 engines...
showed that a team of 14 men could build a locomotive in 15 days. This was assuming the parts were on hand. A locomotive is a carefully integrated collection of a large number of specialty parts.
Boilers
The typical boilerBoiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
was constructed of 5/16” wrought iron, starting as plate, and rolled to shape. The lap joints were single rivet
Rivet
A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite the head is called the buck-tail. On installation the rivet is placed in a punched or pre-drilled hole, and the tail is upset, or bucked A rivet...
ed. There is a long way between watertight and steam tight. Later, double riveting, and reinforced butt joints were used. Welding
Welding
Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes...
was not yet a developed technology, particularly for a pressure vessel. Boiler tubes were typically iron tubing of 2 inches diameter. They were lap welded, and reportedly difficult to flange.
Lagging
Boilers were covered, or laggedThermal insulation
Thermal insulation is the reduction of the effects of the various processes of heat transfer between objects in thermal contact or in range of radiative influence. Heat transfer is the transfer of thermal energy between objects of differing temperature...
, to reduce hear loss, and increase efficiency. Wood slats were used originally. After 1900, asbestos
Asbestos
Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...
was a favored lagging material. It was common for the slabs of the mineral to be machined to fit. This produced large clouds of asbestos dust that is now known to be a major carcinogen, a significant cause of lung cancer. The use of dust masks, hearing protection, and safety glasses was unknown at the time. The boiler shops were a haze of asbestos dust.
Water feed
Millholland favored Giffard’sHenri Giffard
Henri Giffard was a French engineer. In 1852 he invented the steam injector and the powered airship.-Career:Baptiste Henri Jacques Giffard was born in Paris in 1825...
water injector
Injector
ʎ̩An injector, ejector, steam ejector, steam injector, eductor-jet pump or thermocompressor is a pump-like device that uses the Venturi effect of a converging-diverging nozzle to convert the pressure energy of a motive fluid to velocity energy which creates a low pressure zone that dɯaws in and...
s, based on the favorable experience with them on the Reading line. He was also an early advocate of feedwater heater
Feedwater heater
A feedwater heater is a power plant component used to pre-heat water delivered to a steam generating boiler. Preheating the feedwater reduces the irreversibilities involved in steam generation and therefore improves the thermodynamic efficiency of the system...
s, using them as early as 1855. His designs have them on the right side, under the engine running board. They are about 10 feet long, and 8” in diameter. These are a visible clue to engines produced in Mount Savage. Millholland is also responsible for the development of the poppet throttle, originally retrofitted on Camel engines in Pennsylvania.
Cylinders
The cylindersCylinder (engine)
A cylinder is the central working part of a reciprocating engine or pump, the space in which a piston travels. Multiple cylinders are commonly arranged side by side in a bank, or engine block, which is typically cast from aluminum or cast iron before receiving precision machine work...
were usually cast in halves, assembled, and bored to size. This represented the most complex and expensive operation of the whole locomotive assembly. In 1856, it was common for the boring operation to consume 2 days. The piston
Piston
A piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder and is made gas-tight by piston rings. In an engine, its purpose is to transfer force from...
s were cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
, with fitted brass
Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...
piston ring
Piston ring
A piston ring is a split ring that fits into a groove on the outer diameter of a piston in a reciprocating engine such as an internal combustion engine or steam engine.The three main functions of piston rings in reciprocating engines are:...
s.
Driving wheels
The driving wheelDriving wheel
On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons...
s were typically cast iron, and axle
Axle
An axle is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to its surroundings, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, bearings or bushings are provided at the mounting points where the axle...
s were usually 6” diameter wrought iron. Driving wheels were fitted with replaceable tires
Railway tires
-Installation:The steel wheels of steam locomotives and other older types of rolling stock were usually fitted with steel tires or tyres to provide a replaceable wearing element on a costly wheel....
. On the basis of his previous experience, Millholland favored cast iron tires, shrunk onto the wheels. His father had experimented with steel tires around 1851-52, and they became standard later. Some early accidents on the C&P involved wheel failures. In 1872, Engine No. 11 broke a wheel below Frostburg, requiring the assistance of the work train, and delaying the pay car, according to the Frostburg Mining Journal.
Connecting rods
Connecting rods were castCasting
In metalworking, casting involves pouring liquid metal into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowing it to cool and solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process...
, and bearings
Bearing (mechanical)
A bearing is a device to allow constrained relative motion between two or more parts, typically rotation or linear movement. Bearings may be classified broadly according to the motions they allow and according to their principle of operation as well as by the directions of applied loads they can...
were brass and/or Babbitt metal. The early lubricant
Lubricant
A lubricant is a substance introduced to reduce friction between moving surfaces. It may also have the function of transporting foreign particles and of distributing heat...
s were all animal fat based, and only suitable for low temperature applications. Later, petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
based lubricants provided much better performance.
Gauges
Engine safety appliances were sparse. The Bourdon gauge for pressure readings was patented in 1849. A rival gauge was developed in 1857 by Wooten. Glass sight gaugesSight glass
A sight glass or water gauge is a transparent tube through which the operator of a tank or boiler can observe the level of liquid contained within.-Liquid in tanks:...
for boiler water level were not popular until the 1890’s. Part of the problem was production of the proper glass, and the sealing of the gauge.
Lamps
Head lights were originally oil lamps. These units were box-shaped, and had a 18-22” parabolic reflector. They could cast a 1000’ beam, sufficient for low-speed operation in darkness. An important improvement was introduced with the advent of lamps powered by carbide. Similar to the lamps used by miners, these lamps used the reaction of water and the mineral calcium carbideCalcium carbide
thumb|right|Calcium carbide.Calcium carbide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula of CaC2. The pure material is colorless, however pieces of technical grade calcium carbide are grey or brown and consist of only 80-85% of CaC2 . Because of presence of PH3, NH3, and H2S it has a...
to produce acetylene gas, which burned with a bright light. Later, electric lamps and generators were fitted. C&P tenders were also fitted with lamps on the rear, since the engines frequently operated in reverse on the various coal branches where they could not be turned.