The Cumberland Valley had a tank locomotive built by Seth Wilmarth in 1851, which was intended for passenger trains with a small number of passengers. The basic idea was to keep the ratio of the empty weight of the locomotive to the weight of the train as advantageous as possible in order to save costs. The wheel arrangement 2-2-2 was used, which was generally very rare in tank locomotives and was hardly found in the USA, even with tender locomotives. In addition to the “Pioneer” there was also the almost identical “Jenny Lind” and two other very similar locomotives.

Schematic drawing

Railway and Locomotive Engineering, October 1903

The “Pioneer” could accelerate a train of four passenger cars to 40 mph and achieved a high mileage for several years for her standards. After the Civil War, it was used in front of construction trains because its performance was no longer sufficient for modern passenger trains. Although it was later put into storage, it officially remained in service until 1901. It was then donated to the Smithsonian Institution and used as a working display at appropriate events.

This was a single tank engine built for light duties on branch lines. Special features were an outer sandwich frame in which the carrying axles were mounted and an inner frame made of metal in which the driving axle was mounted. It left the Brighton Works in 1859 and initially bore no name. In 1873 it was christened “Seaford” and renumbered twice. There are reports of two accidents involving it. It was retired in September 1879 after being used on the Bognor branch.

The North Eastern Railway ran two individual tank locomotives under the name “Aerolite”, the second of which survived the decades in different forms. They were developed to pull the “Mechanical Engieer's saloon”. The first “Aerolite” was actually built by Kitson, Thompson & Hewitson for the Leeds Northern Railway in 1851 and was a 2-2-2T tank engine with water storage between the side rails and six feet driving wheels. It was shown at the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace that same year and was destroyed in an accident in 1868.

The first Aerolite from 1851

Locomotive Magazine, October 1911

This was followed in 1869 by the second “Aerolite” built by the North Eastern workshops in Gateshead. It also had the same basic design as its predecessor, but received additional side tanks in 1886 for a larger water supply. While it previously only bore its name, it was now given the number 66 as well.

The second Aerolite from 1869

Locomotive Magazine, July 1926

In 1892 a rebuild took place, which corresponded to almost a complete new building. The resulting locomotive now had a leading bogie and carried its entire water supply in side tanks. The power plant was now a two-cylinder compound engine based on the Worsdell-Von Borries system with cylinders of 13 and 18.5 inches in diameter.

Another conversion took place in 1902, in which the wheel arrangement changed again. The bogie was now at the rear, while at the front there was only one axle. The cylinder configuration remained unchanged. The locomotive continued to serve the purpose that the first version had already served. Even after 1923, it remained in service with the LNER as the X1 class, where its braking system was adapted to the standards of the LNER. The last mechanical engineer A.C. Stamer used the machine until his retirement in 1933, after which it was retired. It was soon brought to the National Railway Museum in York and can still be seen there today.