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 18 items.
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Model of the 1839 Steam Locomotive, Gowan & Marx
- Description
- This is a 1/2" scale model of the Gowan and Marx, a 4-4-0 freight locomotive built in 1839 for the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. The model consists of an engine with two inclinded cylinders, horizontal boiler, a domed firebox and a four wheel tender.
- As trains grew longer and heavier, railroad companies needed more powerful locomotives. One way to increase power was to build machines with more driving wheels, or powered wheels. However, such locomotives had previously proved too rigid for the rough tracks of early American railroads, derailing often or damaging the track. On the Gowan and Marx, locomotive builders Eastwick and Harrison of Philadelphia introduced the equalizing lever, a spring suspension that distributed the engine’s weight over three points. In this arrangement, each of the four driving wheels could bounce independently as the engine negotiated rough track, greatly improving stability and traction. According to John H. White in American Locomotives: 1830-1880, the equalizing lever, which allowed the successful operation of engines with multiple pairs of driving wheels, “was possibly the most important American contribution to locomotive design.” Eastwick and Harrison’s equalizing lever proved so successful that it was used through the end of steam locomotive construction in the 1950s.
- Steam locomotives are often classified by wheel arrangement, in the order of leading, driving, and trailing wheels. The Gowan and Marx has four leading wheels, four driving wheels, and no trailing wheels. It is therefore classified as a 4-4-0 locomotive. When compared to an earlier 4-2-0 type engine, like Baldwin’s Lancaster, the 4-4-0’s additional pair of driving wheels brought a great increase in power. Intended for slow speed, heavy coal trains, the Gowan and Marx performed extremely well; on one occasion, it pulled a 101-car train of 423 tons at an average speed of 9.8 miles per hour. After 1840, the 4-4-0 or “American type” became the most popular locomotive in the country. The exceptional performance of the Gowan and Marx greatly enhanced the reputation of Eastwick and Harrison. They were subsequently invited to Russia to build locomotives for the Moscow and St. Petersburg Railway.
- Location
- Currently on loan
- date made
- 1962
- Gowan & Marx locomotive constructed
- 1839
- maker
- Shawcraft (Models) Ltd.
- ID Number
- TR*320630
- accession number
- 242186
- catalog number
- 320630
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Rigged Model, Massachusetts Privateer Rhodes
- Description
- Although the Salem, Massachusetts privateer Rhodes was less than 98 feet long, it had a crew of 90. Privateers needed large crews not only to intimidate their prey and hopefully make them surrender quickly, but also to overpower their enemies if a battle occurred. After a fight, the winner also needed to put a “prize” crew aboard to sail the captured vessel into port, where the ship and contents could be inventoried and sold. The auction proceeds were then distributed among the owners, the ship officers and the crew.
- The three-masted ship Rhodes was sharply built for speed and heavily armed, with 20 cannon. Despite these features, it was captured on a cruise in the West Indies by H.M.S. ship Prothé in February 1782. It was taken back to England, where its hull shape was drawn on paper to document how it might have obtained its speed. The Royal Navy then purchased it and renamed it H.M.S. Barbadoes.
- Date made
- 1962
- privateer captured
- 1782-02
- ID Number
- TR*320667
- catalog number
- 320667
- accession number
- 245900
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Skylight and Plaster Panels from RMS Majestic
- Description
- Built in 1890 by Belfast shipbuilders Harland & Wolff, the RMS Majestic was designed for luxury ocean travel. Like its sister ship, the RMS Teutonic, which was launched the previous year, the Majestic was built for the White Star Line’s service between Liverpool and New York.
- The interior of the Majestic was opulent. Staterooms featured colored glass screens over the ports, while the smoking room walls were embossed with gilded leather and mahogany panels. Skylights, or lanterns, were installed in the ship’s dining rooms and other common areas. The lantern domes were designed to allow natural light to filter into the Majestic’s interior spaces.
- The lantern in the Majestic's first class dining saloon was designed by British architect George Thomas Robinson. It was made up of 56 individual pieces, including eight plaster friezes, leaded stained glass and wood paneling. The plaster friezes depicted the “shipbuilder’s art from the early days of the Spanish Armada to the Battle of Trafalgar.”
- When the Majestic was broken up in 1914, parts of the first class dining saloon lantern were sold to a ship salvage company, including the plaster panels. Several of these were paired with a smaller lantern from the ship and installed in the executive board room of Thomas W. Ward Ltd., in Sheffield, England. In the early 1970s, the director of the company donated this lantern and the plaster panels from the Majestic to the Smithsonian. He pointed out that the lantern had been saved three times, once when the ship was broken up and twice during the world wars of the twentieth century. He thought it fitting to donate this survivor to the United States “in memory of the many very gallant merchant seamen . . . who served in the Atlantic during the two World Wars.”
- date made
- 1890
- ship was broken up
- 1914
- lantern and panels were donated to the Smithsonian
- 1970s
- architect
- Robinson, George Thomas
- ID Number
- TR*336295
- accession number
- 1978.0206
- catalog number
- 336295
- 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
Ship Model, Tobacco Ship Brilliant
- Description
- This is a 1/8-scale model of the tobacco ship Brilliant, a 250-ton vessel built in Virginia in 1775 for British owners. The Brilliant's first and probably only commercial venture from Virginia took place when it set sail for Liverpool, with a full hold of tobacco, in the summer of 1775. Typically the Brilliant would have returned with manufactured goods, but because of growing hostilities between Britain and the colonies, the ship remained in England. Records show that the Brilliant made one voyage to Jamaica and returned to London in 1776. Later that year, the Royal Navy purchased the vessel for just over £3,000 and converted it to a ship of war for service in the American Revolution.
- The ship Brilliant had three masts and square-rigged sails. Its lower deck was 89'-3" long, its breadth was 27'-1/2", and the depth of the hold was 12'-2". The ship was built of oak, pine, and cedar. When purchased for war service, the Royal Navy assessed its hull, masts, and yards at £2,143. The cordage, including halyards, sheets, tack, and anchor cables, were assessed at £340. Brilliant's sails, 27 in all, were valued at £143. Five anchors were assessed at £58, while a long boat with a sailing rig and oars was estimated to be worth £45. Other items aboard the Brilliant were inventoried, including block and tackle, metal fittings, iron-bound water casks, hour and minute glasses, compasses, hammocks, an iron fire hearth, and 10 tons of coal.
- After its conversion in 1776 as a ship of war in the Royal Navy, the Brilliant was commissioned as the HMS Druid. Its first voyage westbound across the Atlantic was as an escort for a convoy to the West Indies. The vessel served as the Druid until 1779, after which it became the fire ship Blast. In 1783, it was sold out of the service for £940 and, for the next 15 years, the former Virginia tobacco ship served as a whaler in Greenland. The vessel was lost in the Arctic in 1798.
- This model was built by Charles and N. David Newcomb of Bolingbroke Marine in Trappe, Md. The model makers began their work in March 1975, scaling every timber to size and making everything out of the same type of wood as the original. They devised miniature rope-making equipment to manufacture the 5,000 feet of rigging and anchor cable required in 20 different sizes. Women from the Newcomb family and the surrounding community made the rigging and sails.
- The model makers left the starboard side of the vessel unplanked to reveal the timbering and joinery of the hull and to permit a view of the vessel’s living accommodations in the stern and cargo stowage, complete with tobacco hogsheads.
- Date made
- 1978
- ship built
- 1775
- voyage to Jamaica
- 1776
- became a ship of war in Royal Navy
- 1776
- ship lost at sea
- 1798
- maker
- Newcombe, Charles J.
- Newcomb, N. David
- ID Number
- TR*335672
- catalog number
- 335672
- accession number
- 1978.0403
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ship Model, SS Frisia
- Description
- This model is a cutaway of the German steamship Frisia. Originally launched as the Alsatia, the Frisia was a transatlantic passenger ship, with room for 820 passengers. Built in 1872 by Caird & Co. in Scotland, Frisia was owned by the Hamburg-American Line. Rigged for both sail and steam power, the Frisia could make the Atlantic crossing in about 12 days.
- Many of the passengers who traveled aboard the Frisia were immigrants bound for America. In 1876, a group of some 70 Russian immigrants boarded the Frisia in Hamburg, Germany. Originally from Kratzke, a city in Russia near the Volga River, these men, women, and children left their homes with hopes of owning farmland in the United States. Upon arriving in New York, the Kratzke immigrants traveled west and settled in Russell County, Kansas, in October 1876. Although life was hard on the prairie, most immigrants did not return to their homeland. More Russian immigrants arrived in December 1876, and together they founded the Bender Hill community in Kansas.
- The Frisia was one of the last iron steamships of its era. Shortly afterwards, steel-hulled ships became standard. Following its run as an immigrant ship, the Frisia was renamed and sold to Italian owners who converted it into a coal carrier. In 1902, the SS Frisia, then known as the Arno, was scrapped in Italy.
- Date made
- ca 1975
- SS Frisia built
- 1872
- SS Frisia scrapped
- 1902
- made for
- Division of the History of Technology. Transportation
- built SS Frisia
- Caird & Co.
- owned SS Frisia
- Hamburg-American Line
- ID Number
- TR*336909
- catalog number
- 336909
- accession number
- 1979.0408
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ship Model, Chesapeake Bay Log Canoe
- Description
- This model of a Chesapeake Bay log canoe was built in 1880 and displayed at the Great International Fisheries Exhibition in London in 1883. It shows a two-masted log canoe with a mustard-colored hull. Although this model may look more like a recreational sailboat than a traditional paddling canoe, its roots can be traced back to the dugouts built and used by American Indians. Native Americans along the bay used dugouts, made by hollowing out a single tree trunk, to spear fish, gather oysters, and travel from one village to another. Europeans adopted the log-canoe technology shortly after arriving in the region in the early 1600s. By the start of the 18th century, colonists had modified the standard, single-log dugout, by hewing and shaping several logs and fitting them together to enlarge the craft. They added masts and sails, providing the means to travel farther and giving the vessels their distinctive appearance.
- Despite the widespread use of frame-and-plank shipbuilding techniques around the Chesapeake, watermen continued building and using log canoes well into the 20th century. The canoes were ideal for oyster tonging in the many protected creeks and rivers that flow into the bay. This model includes a pair of hand tongs of the sort made by local blacksmiths for oystermen. A waterman would anchor his canoe over an oyster bed and lower the tongs into the water. With a scissoring motion, he would rake the tongs together until the iron basket was full and ready to be lifted onboard.
- In terms of construction, the log canoe is the forerunner to the bugeye, which is essentially an enlarged canoe built of seven or nine logs with a full deck added over the hold. While log canoes are no longer used in commercial fishing, they can still be seen in special sailboat races on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake.
- date made
- 1880
- ID Number
- TR*025003
- catalog number
- 025003
- accession number
- 4586
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Whaler's Shoulder or Darting Gun
- Description
- By the later 19th century, guns had replaced most hand harpoons and lances, since they were far more efficient and deadly to the prey. They also could be shot from a safer distance from the prey than the hand tools could be wielded. The darting gun was one of the more popular types. Loaded with different darts, this versatile weapon could be used both for harpooning and killing whales.
- This particular gun was displayed at the 1883 International Fisheries Exhibition in London, England. After the display ended, it was donated to the Smithsonian by its inventor, Capt. Eben Pierce of New Bedford, Mass.
- date made
- 1880s
- guns replaced hand tools
- late 19th century
- displayed at the International Fisheries Exhibition
- 1883
- maker
- Pierce, Eben
- ID Number
- TR*316550
- catalog number
- 316550
- accession number
- 66767
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center