THE PIONEER

THE PIONEER

The six-wheeled Pioneer was the first locomotive to operate west of the Great Lakes and, on October 25, 1848, became the first to run out of Chicago. She was Matthias W. Baldwin’s thirty-seventh iron horse. He built her in June, 1836. for the Utica & Schenectady Railroad, a precursor of the New York Central system. She weighed ten tons and had one pair of driving wheels. Her maximum speed was 25 miles per hour. After serving the Utica & Schenectady nearly twelve years she was bought by the Chicago & Galena Union Railroad, which later became part of the Chicago & North Western system, and assigned to a ten-mile run between Chicago and what is now Maywood. Illinois. Since her retirement in 1873 she has been exhibited at world’s fairs and in museums. Today, still intact, she is one of the oldest American-built locomotives capable of running under her power.

CHICAGO AND NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY