Transportation - Overview
Americans have always been a people on the move—on rails, roads, and waterways (for travel through the air, visit the National Air and Space Museum). In the transportation collections, railroad objects range from tools, tracks, and many train models to the massive 1401, a 280-ton locomotive built in 1926. Road vehicles include coaches, buggies, wagons, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, and automobiles—from the days before the Model T to modern race cars. The accessories of travel are part of the collections, too, from streetlights, gas pumps, and traffic signals to goggles and overcoats.
In the maritime collections, more than 7,000 design plans and scores of ship models show the evolution of sailing ships and other vessels. Other items range from scrimshaw, photographs, and marine paintings to life jackets from the Titanic.
"Transportation - Overview" showing 32 items.
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Edwin Price Reminiscences, 1893
- Notes
- Edwin Price was a locomotive engineer for various railroad companies, ca. 1851-1886. He began his career on the Nashville & Chattanooga where he worked for five years. He was employed for eighteen years on the Little Miami Railroad. He describes the responsibility of his position, "One million one hundred and fourtee[n] thousand nine hundred and twenty three miles or equal to forty two time[s] around the world without crippling, wounding or killing a single soul rideing [sic] behind me."
- Summary
- One original journal and a typed transcript of the original
- Cite as
- Edwin Price Reminisences, 1893, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of Miriam Price Taylor
- Date
- 1893
- 19th century
- author
- Price, Edwin (locomotive engineer) 1829-1901
- donor
- Taylor, Miriam Price
- collector
- Transportation, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Half Hull Model of Clipper Ship Young America
- Description
- This is the original builder’s half hull model of the famous ship Young America, constructed by the renowned shipbuilder William Webb in 1852/53 at his New York shipyard. Measuring 243 feet long on deck and 1,961 tons, the Young America was an extreme clipper, characterized by a sharp bow and long, narrow hull. Constructed lightly for speed and commonly sailing the harsh waters of Cape Horn off the southern tip of South America with crews of up to 100 men, clippers often lasted only about ten years before being sold to foreign owners.
- Costing $140,000 to build, the Young America set a number of speed records. It sailed from New York to San Francisco 20 times, averaging 118 days per trip. Its reputation for strength and speed earned high freight rates—its maiden voyage from New York to San Francisco earned $86,400. The clipper traded mainly between Liverpool, New York and San Francisco, but also sailed to China, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, the Philippines, Mauritius and other countries. After a very long and profitable 30-year career, the Young America was sold to Austrian owners in 1883 and renamed the Miroslav. In February 1886, the ship cleared Delaware for a trading voyage and was never seen again.
- Half hull models were the first step in the construction of a ship. They were carved out of horizontal strips of wood known as lifts, and only one side was needed since ships are symmetrical. After a model was approved, its lines were taken (measured) and it was disassembled. Then the lines were lofted, or drawn at full scale on the floor. The actual ship’s frames were cut to fit the lines on the floor and then set in place along the keel during the construction process. Sometimes the models were discarded or even burned as firewood after use, but many original examples are preserved today.
- Date made
- 1853
- sold and renamed
- 1883
- ship disappeared after setting sail from Delaware
- 1886
- maker
- Webb, William H.
- ID Number
- TR*160135
- catalog number
- 160135
- accession number
- 15059
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Patent Model, Life Boat
- Description
- In 1845, Joseph Francis patented the use of stamped corrugated metal to make boats. Through collaboration with the Novelty Iron Works in New York, he began to manufacture lifeboats, military cutters, and coastal rescue craft, along with other marine safety gear. His sturdy products proved popular, and he sold many to commercial steamship operators, life-saving stations, and the United States Navy. By 1853, strong sales warranted the construction of a dedicated factory at Green Point, New York, where each hydraulic press could turn out parts for 40 boats a day. Francis continually experimented with new designs for his stamping process, and this patent model reflects changes to the shape of his boats’ corrugations that he developed in the late 1850s.
- Joseph Francis (1801-93) is best known today for designing an enclosed rescue craft called a life-car, which was extensively used in coastal life-saving stations in the second half of the 19th century. The first life-car he made was used to spectacular effect in the rescue of all but one of the passengers and crew of the immigrant vessel Ayrshire, which ran aground on the New Jersey shore in a storm in January 1850. The Smithsonian preserves that life-car in addition to numerous models and ephemera documenting Joseph Francis’s work.
- Date made
- 1858
- patent date
- 1858-03-23
- patentee
- Francis, Joseph
- manufacturer
- Novelty Iron Works
- inventor
- Francis, Joseph
- ID Number
- TR*308546
- catalog number
- 308546
- accession number
- 89797
- patent number
- 19,693
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Painting, Owen Potter
- Description
- Owen Potter was built by Jonathan Fell, in Workington, county of Cumberland (now Cumbria) in 1850. The ship was purchased by Potter Brothers & Co. It measured 148.8 feet and 780 tons. The Owen Potter was built for trade in the Far East and frequently traveled to Calcutta. The ship went missing in 1857.
- The painting is a portside and rear ¾ view of the ship. The ship's location in the painting is the North West Lightship, Liverpool Bay. In the central port profile the pilot jack is in the process of being hoisted to the fore masthead. The houseflag is depicted as a black horse on white ground, which confirms the ship owners as Potter Brothers & Co. Joseph Heard was born in 1799 in Whitehaven, Cumberland. Following a brief stay in London, Heard moved to Liverpool sometime after the mid 1820's. He shared a studio with his brother who painted portraits. Heard became extremely popular second only to Samuel Walters. Joseph died in 1859.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1850
- maker
- Heard, Joseph
- ID Number
- 2005.0279.024
- accession number
- 2005.0279
- catalog number
- 2005.0279.024
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Painting, Muscat
- Description
- The painting shows a view of Muscat Harbor, on the Gulf of Oman on the southeast coast of Arabia. Entering the fortified harbor is a pirate galley, flying a red flag.
- Thomas L. Hornbrook (1780-1850) was born in Plymouth, England. He specialized in scenes depicting British trading vessels. He became the official marine painter for both the Duchess of Kent and Queen Victoria. Typically, his signature appears on a piece of wood floating in the foreground found in most of his paintings. He possibly visited the East Indies between 1806 and 1810.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1850
- maker
- Hornbrook, Thomas L.
- ID Number
- 2005.0279.059
- accession number
- 2005.0279
- catalog number
- 2005.0279.059
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Patent Model, Life and Treasure Buoy
- Description
- This patent model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office by Francis D. Lee, an architect in Charleston, South Carolina, to illustrate his idea for a shipboard water tank that would float free of a sinking ship if drained in time. Passengers would cling to its exterior while a “treasure safe” suspended below the tank would save “bullion, mails, and other valuables.” If the tank itself sank, a smaller cork buoy would float out of the turret at the top to “mark the location of the lost treasure.” Lee’s first design of this invention was patented in 1857. This is the model for his revised version, also awarded a patent, in 1858.
- The model is made of brass and measures 5” square and 6” high. A collar faced in wood separates the buoy’s square upper portion from its pyramidal lower section. Aboard ship, the square portion would sit exposed on the open deck, while the inverted pyramid would extend below. A strongbox, now missing from the model, would attach to the very tip of the pyramid. In an emergency, crew would stand on the wood-faced collar and hold fast to the rope lifelines. One man would turn a handle on the buoy’s side to open the hatches in the faces of the pyramid and drain the interior of its store of water. A small amount of water would remain in the bottom of the tank to act as ballast. If all went well, the buoy and its passengers would float away from the foundering ship.
- In the 19th century, the U.S. Patent Office granted hundreds of patents for a wide variety of lifepreserving boats, rafts, clothing, and other gear. The surge in interest in lifesaving at sea was triggered by an increase in the number of passengers crossing the world’s oceans and by the expanded distribution of print media, which brought shipwreck details into more family parlors than ever before.
- Date made
- 1858
- patent date
- 1858-04-17
- 1858-04-27
- patentee
- Lee, Francis D.
- inventor
- Lee, Francis D.
- ID Number
- TR*308537
- accession number
- 89797
- catalog number
- 308537
- patent number
- 20,072
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Oil Painting, Black Ball Packet Ship Isaac Webb
- Description
- Operating out of New York, the Black Ball Line pioneered scheduled packet ship service to Liverpool, England in 1818, and the firm continued operating until it was dissolved in 1879. Its success resulted from focusing on the lucrative passenger trade, at a time when immigration to the United States was at its highest level.
- In 1851, the massive three-deck packet Isaac Webb was the seventh and last Black Baller launched from the shipyard of famous New York shipbuilder William H. Webb, who also owned a 1/16 share of the ship. Named after the builder’s father, the Isaac Webb measured 185 feet in length and 1,359 tons. It made about four round trips per year between New York and Liverpool, England from 1851–1879. The average length of a passage was 37 days, with the shortest voyage recorded as 25 days.
- In June 1863, while westbound from Liverpool to New York with 658 passengers, the Isaac Webb was captured by the Confederate commerce raider Florida. A bond for a $40,000 ransom freed the ship to complete the passage. In late December 1866, while westbound for New York, the Webb encountered a gale so cold that it killed three crew, and several others were badly frostbitten. On the same passage nearly two years later, another powerful gale killed the captain.
- The Isaac Webb continued to sail after the Black Ball Line closed. In late October 1880, while bound from Europe to New York, it was abandoned at sea by its crew of 24, who were rescued by a passing steamship bound for Boston. British marine painter Samuel Walters completed this oil painting around 1851, when the ship was new.
- Date made
- 1851
- ship was launched
- 1851
- ship made transatlantic voyages from New York and Liverpool
- 1851-1880
- ship was abandoned
- 1880-10
- shipping firm
- Black Ball Line
- shipbuilder
- Webb, William H.
- ship's namesake
- Webb, Isaac
- maker
- Walters, Samuel
- ID Number
- TR*317527
- catalog number
- 317527
- accession number
- 229943
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Cumberland Valley Railroad Steam Locomotive, Pioneer
- Description
- The Pioneer is a steam locomotive made in 1851 by Seth Wilmarth, owner of a large machine shop in Boston who made few locomotives. Pioneer is an early type of steam locomotive on U.S. railroads and used only on a very few of them. This locomotive is significant only because of that rarity. Its age is also unusual among preserved locomotives; Pioneer was built just two decades after America’s first domestically made locomotive. Its general type was obsolete on almost all railroads in the U.S. by 1850.
- Pioneer served the Cumberland Valley RR, connecting Harrisburg, Pa. with Hagerstown, Md. and Winchester, Va. The locomotive was designed specifically to pull two-car passenger trains. Pioneer was one of several locomotives badly damaged by fire during the Civil War, during a Confederate raid on the CVRR roundhouse at Chambersburg, Pa. The CVRR rebuilt the engine, operated it on light, one- and two-car passenger trains till the mid 1880s, and then saved and exhibited it as an historic relic. The Pennsylvania RR (then one of the nation’s largest) absorbed the CVRR soon after. The PRR entirely repainted Pioneer in 1947 for the 1947-48 Chicago Railroad Fair. The lettering on the fenders, “PIONEER,” is inauthentic. A replica headlight was added by NMAH (then NMHT) in Dec 1965.
- In the standard type nomenclature for steam locomotives, Pioneer is a “2-2-2T” type, meaning that it has an unpowered leading pair of wheels; a single powered axle (the larger-diameter wheels, driven by the steam cylinders via connecting (or “main”) rods; and another unpowered pair of wheels at the rear. The “T” stands for “tank engine,” meaning one that has no separate tender for carrying its fuel (wood) and water for the boiler; fuel and water is carried on the same single chassis as the boiler, cab, and running gear.
- Location
- Currently on loan
- date made
- 1851
- used date
- 1851-1948
- maker
- Seth Wilmarth
- Union Works
- ID Number
- TR*317547.01
- accession number
- 230385
- catalog number
- 317547.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Oil Painting, Collins Line Steamship SS Atlantic
- Description
- In 1840, Canadian Samuel Cunard inaugurated regular transatlantic steamship service from Liverpool, England to North America. Within a few years, he had two competitors, one of whom was American Edward Knight Collins (1802-1878), owner of the Dramatic Line of Atlantic sailing packets.
- Collins had been lobbying the U.S. government for nearly a decade for the subsidy of an American overseas steamship mail service, and in 1847 Congress authorized an annual transatlantic mail contract for $385,000. Won by Collins, the contract called for five steamships and bimonthly mail service from New York to Liverpool.
- Collins founded the New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company (known as the Collins Line) and commissioned the four sister steamships Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic and Baltic. When service started in 1850, the Collins ships were the fastest, largest, and most magnificently appointed steamships in the world, with stained glass skylights, steam heat in the public rooms and 3,500-bottle wine cellars.
- This painting shows the arrival of the Collins liner Atlantic in May 1850 after her maiden voyage from New York to Liverpool. Measuring 282 feet long and 2,856 tons, the Atlantic set a speed record on this passage, while consuming 87 tons of coal per day. Although the Collins line ceased operations in February 1858, the Atlantic was acquired by the U.S. Government for Civil War service. After the war it was operated by other owners until scrapped in 1871.
- date made
- 1800s
- US Congress awarded an annual transatlantic mail contract to Collins
- 1847
- Collins Line service started
- 1850
- Collins Line service ended
- 1858
- Atlantic acquired by the government for Civil War service
- 1858
- Atlantic scrapped
- 1871
- Collins steamship line
- New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company
- ship owner
- Collins, Edward Knight
- ship owner and Knight's competitor
- Cunard, Samuel
- built SS Atlantic
- Dramatic Line of Atlantic Sailing Packets
- maker
- Louis Honore Frederick Gamain
- ID Number
- TR*336491
- accession number
- 1978.0362
- catalog number
- 336491
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
Samuel Morse Felton Family Papers, 1841-1930
- Notes
- Felton (1), civil engineer, is best known as the president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore RR (PWBRR,) which he rebuilt and restored; president of the Pennsylvania Steel Company; and in 1869 as a commissioner appointed by President Grant to inspect the Pacific railroads. In April 1857, Felton placed the engine "Daniel Webster" in service on the PWBRR--probably the first successful coal-burning passenger engine in regular service on any American railroad. He was born in Philadelphia, 1853; graduated from M.I.T. 1873. 1889: became president of the Chicago and Alton Railroad, later assumed the presidency of the Mexican Central Railroad, and became president of the Chicago Great Western Railroad in 1909. During World War I he was appointed Director General of Military Railways and had charge of the organization and dispatch to France of all American railway forces and supplies. As of 1928 he was Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Great Western Railroad; president, Western Railroad Association; and chairman, Western Association of Railway Executives, to name only a few of his positions. At his death he was an advisor and associate of the Central Trust Company of Illinois
- Summary
- Biographical material on both Feltons; correspondence, 1861-1927 to and from both Feltons; a report by Felton on the construction of the Norfolk Co. railroad, 1847-49; reports, 1917-19; and news clippings and articles, 185?-1930. The correspondence includes a 1926 letter regarding Conray Felton's article about an attempt to asssassinate Abraham Lincoln
- Cite as
- Samuel Morse Felton Family Papers, 1841-1930, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1841
- 1841-1930
- 1840-1930
- Civil War, 1861-1865
- 1840-1940
- author
- Felton, Samuel Morse (son) 1853-1930
- Felton, Samuel Morse (civil engineer) 1809-1889
- collector
- Transportation, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Subject
- Fletcher, Andrew
- Atterbury, W.W
- Davis, Robert C
- McAdoo, W.G
- Ames, Oliver
- Smith, M.H
- Milliken, J
- Lomonossoff, G
- Cooke, Jay
- Scott, Thomas A
- Lincoln, Abraham 1809-1865
- Philadelphia RR
- Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore RR
- Louisville Southern Railway Co
- Southern Railway and Steamship Association
- American Locomotive Sales Corporation
- United States. War Department
- United States Army
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH