Trains
Posted by Mark Woodard
The
1820’s had been hard years for
Charleston. Since the
founding of Augusta Georgia in 1736, there was competition on
who would ship products. Now if things came
to Charleston, we were right on
the Atlantic Ocean and shipping
was no big deal. But for those who were
mid-state South Carolina, it
was a long way to get their products to
Charleston.
Augusta was situated on the
Savannah River and it was much closer.
By boat you could ship your products down the Savannah
River to Savannah
Georgia.
Charleston
knew business was declining; they wanted to get the business
back. For years, they had heard of railroads.
In the late 1700’s, England had
experimented with railroads. Some railroad
cars were horse drawn, some cars had sails for wind power, and
the latest was steam power driven locomotives.
Some
prominent businessmen in
Charleston
got together and talked about what could be done. They decided
the best thing to do, was build a railroad from
Charleston to Hamburg. Hamburg was just across
the river from Augusta Georgia. The men
figured a train would make it possible to ship products to Charleston. They filed with
the state of South Carolina
and on Dec 19, 1827, were given a charter for the Charleston and Hamburg Railroad.
Mr. Alexander Black was proposed to build the railroad.
A month and a half later on January 30, 1828 the charter
was changed to the South Carolina Canal
and Railroad. This new charter gave the men
more room to move. For years after this, the
company was known as the Charleston Hamburg Railroad, when in
fact, it was part of the
South Carolina
Canal and Railroad. The
men got busy surveying routes. It was finally decided the best
route was to go straight up from Charleston between the Ashley
and Cooper Rivers, going northwest all the way to Aiken, then
turning south, going to Hamburg, South Carolina. There was also
talk about going to Columbia,
Camden and many others cities in South Carolina?
Horatio Allen, a well known name in railroad circles, came to Charleston and took the position of chief
engineer for the Charleston Hamburg Railroad. Alan was born in Schenectady, NY,
on May 10, 1802. He had become the chief
engineer, for the
Delaware
and Hudson Canal Company. Horatio Allen was the
first person to operate a locomotive in the western hemisphere.
He left his previous job, when they decided horse power
was better than steam. He pushed the benefits
of the steam locomotive.
The
stockholders formed the
South Carolina
Canal and Railroad on May
12, 1828. It was the second railroad company
in the United
States. The South Carolina Canal
and Railroad had no money, but local businessman E. L. Miller
provided $4,000.00 to purchase a locomotive. It was understood
that Charleston and Hamburg Railroad would buy the
machine if it proved to meet the requirements. Miller had
preliminary plans drawn up by Christan Dettmold, of Eason and
Dotterer. The plans were sent to the West
Point Foundry, in New
York City. Work
started the early part of the summer of 1830.
The engine a 0-4-0, vertical boiler was called the Best Friend
of Charleston. This was the first practical
steam locomotive built in America, all
four were driver wheels.
In
the fall of 1830, the Best Friend of Charleston was ready.
The locomotive was disassembled and shipped down the
Atlantic coast, on board the ship, Niagara.
At about the same time in August 1830, the Tom Thumb locomotive,
built in England, had
several trial runs. The Tom Thumb was an
experimental locomotive, built for the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad.
The Best Friend
of Charleston arrived in Charleston, October 23,
1830. It was taken from the boat to the shop
of Thomas Dotterer and his partner, Eason, and was reassembled.
The locomotive weighed about 4½ tons but could produce only six
horsepower.
In January of 1830, construction of the tracks was started. The
tracks began at Line Street and by
Christmas day, the tracks went to San Souci. On Christmas Day
1830, 141 passengers rode in two passenger cars up to San Souci.
Traveling speed was 15 to 25 miles per hour. On Christmas Eve,
the Charleston papers contained the following
announcement, “The time of leaving the station in Line Street, will be 8:00AM, at 10:00 AM,
at 1:00 PM, and half past 3 PM”. That first trip of the Best
Friend of Charleston was reported around the world. This was the
first regularly scheduled passenger train to operate in America.
With the success of the Charleston Hamburg Railroad, they
decided to order a second locomotive from the
New York
foundry. It was called the “West Point”.
It had a horizontal boiler, and it was a 0-4-0.
The railroad experienced several problems during 1831. Train
derailments, but no loss of life. Hot ashes from
the locomotive, completely burned a freight car and the wooden
tracks. This happened about five miles north of Summerville.
The biggest event was the explosion of the Best
Friend of Charleston.
On June 17, 1831 engineer Nicholas Darrell and his
firemen ran up the line to eight mile house to pickup some cars
hauling lumber. It was there a turntable had been installed to
turn the locomotive around. When they arrived, Nicholas went
over to inspect the lumber cars and left his firemen to turn the
engine around. The firemen finished the task of getting the
locomotive turned around on the turntable. He was sitting,
waiting for Nicholas Darrell to get back. Suddenly, the up right
cylinder of iron that held the boiling water exploded at the
bottom. The iron boiler was thrown some 25ft. from the platform.
Boiling water was also thrown. Darrell wrote about the accident
later. ” when I ran the best friend, I had a Negro fireman to
fire, clean, and grease the machine. This Negro annoyed at the
noise occasioned by the blowing off the steam, fastened the
valve lever down and sat upon it which caused the explosion,
deadly injuring him, from the effects of which he died afterward
and scalding me.” The death of the fireman was the first
fatality on an American railroad. It was at this time the
company started mandating a flat car which was
loaded with 6 bales of cotton behind the locomotive to protect
the passengers from another explosion. The
enthusiasm of the work already completed, was dampened.
Charleston
Hamburg Railroad was the first railroad to carry the U.S. mail. It would leave Line Street in Charleston and would go up
twelve mile house. There the mail bags would be transported to
stagecoaches. This started in November of 1831. The further
northwest the train went, the further the mail would go.
By
the end of 1831, the railroad was eighteen miles long and
reached the area of Woodstock. The Charleston
Hamburg Railroad went on to buy many other locomotives.
Locomotives like the, South Carolina
{2-4-2}, Phoenix
{0-4-0}, Charleston {2-4-2},
Barnwell {2-4-2}, and Edisto
{2-4-2} and many others.
The tracks reached Summerville in the summer of 1832.
It was the first town of consequence to be reached. On
October 3, 1832, the company started running passenger trains,
two times a day. The passenger trains did not haul freight. The
people loved it. Now you could live in Summerville and work down
town Charleston.
The railroad kept growing. There were very few towns or
villages along the way, but when the train came, so did the
people. Many of the towns were named for railroad people.
Blackville was named for Alexander Black. Aiken
was named for William Aiken, the first president of the
railroad. William Aiken died in 1831. He never had the privilege
of visiting the town that bears his name.
The train finally reached
Hamburg, South Carolina on October 2,
1833. The fare between Charleston and
Hamburg
was $8.00. The Charleston Hamburg Railroad was the longest
railroad in the world at that time. The cost of building the
railroad was close to its estimation, $950,000.00. Henry
Schultz, who founded Hamburg in 1821, donated land for the
depositary at the end of the line. Elias Horry was president of
the Charleston and
Hamburg
railroad from 1831 to 1834.
The South Carolina railroad
was finally able to purchase a license for $150,000 from Augusta
Georgia. In July of 1852, they built a bridge and came into the
city of Augusta. The Georgia Railroad had been
operating westward out of
Augusta
since 1837. The South Carolina Railroad paid 50% and the Georgia
Railroad and others paid the remainder. The bridge was completed
in the summer of 1853 but there was still a gap of one mile
between the trains. The Augusta City Council said that freight
should be unloaded from one train and transferred using
horsepower to the other train. This ruling
lasted for only 4 years. In 1857, the rule changed and they did
not have to use horsepower.
On December 28, 1837 the Louisville,
Cincinnati, and Charleston Railroad purchased the
parent company, the South Carolina Canal
and Railroad for $2,400,000.
Mark D. Woodard
June 2009
Summerville Tours
{843} 817-8618
