Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) No. 305 named, Ross Winans (and also nicknamed "The Camel") is a 4-6-0 that sits on display at the B&O Railroad Museum.
History[]
Built in 1869 at the B&O Mt. Clare shops as No. 305 it was part of the "Camel" series of locomotives that were the first produced in large quantities and was used to work hauling passenger and freight trains on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad until it was retired from service in 1892 and was displayed at the 1893 World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago as No. 129 and then renumbered as No. 217 in 1927 for the Fair of the Iron Horse.
Today it's at the B&O Railroad Museum for static display.
Trivia[]
- It was renumbered No. 187 in 1884.
- It also appeared at the 1933-34 Chicago World's Fair and the 1939-40 New York World's Fair.
- The name "Camel" refers to the locomotives' unique shape with a large firebox behind the engine's mainframe and the engineer's cab above the boiler. In more typical designs, the engineer and the fireman are together in a cab behind the boiler and ahead of the coal and water storage. This type of locomotive is also often referred to as a "Camelback" or "Mother Hubbard" as well.
- With the "Camel" design, the engineer is above the boiler in a separate space from the fireman who is keeping the boiler stoked. The design, although productive from a locomotive perspective, was dangerous for the engineer who would not likely survive a derailment and impractical for the separated crew who were unable to communicate, and was eventually outlawed by the Interstate Commerce Commission.
- No. 305 is one of five known "Camel" type locomotives to have survived into preservation.
- No. 305 was involved in a B&O Railroad Museum roof collapse in 2003, but at that time it was numbered as #217.[1]
Gallery[]
