The oldest steam locomotive in the MOT collection and one of the oldest surviving locomotives in the nation, the “Daniel Nason” was built between 1858 and 1863 by the Boston & Providence Railroad in its Roxbury, MA, shop, one of 28 which were produced by the railroad under the direction of George S. Griggs. Although Mr. Griggs called himself a “machinist,” he was actually one of the country’s most respected locomotive designers. With a 4-4-0 wheel arrangement, the locomotive is the only surviving “insider,” a design popular

with railroads before the Civil War, with cylinders and main driving rods between (rather than outside of) the locomotive side frames. Backdated with a typical woodburner smokestack even though it burned coal, it was displayed at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The locomotive was then loaned to Purdue University, which was assembling a transportation collection. In the late 1930s, the New Haven Railroad requested its return for exhibition at the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair.

Boston & Providence,
"Daniel Nason," 1893